continued with @overnightheartbeats

She was surprised to hear from Laurel, she had planned on calling her that evening, meaning to do so sooner but life had gotten in the way. "No. I promise. I wasn't ghosting you." Nova wasn't sure if that was reassuring at all, considering she already had unintentionally done so. "I've had a slightly hectic few days. Time got away from me. I'm sorry."

011. in the dining room building a home: a gingerbread home! decorate the home and make it one fit for a little gingerbread man. - lydia!

🌙 * ― 𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐒: 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐌𝐀𝐒 𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ( a collection of various settings for drabbles or prompts, or both!) | @overnightheartbeats

011. in the dining room building a home: a gingerbread home! decorate the home and make it one fit for a little gingerbread man.

The first – and last – time Lydia attempted to build a gingerbread house, it had been a catastrophe. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong: the house itself crumbling, pieces not staying together, icing smudged the whole thing and the candy pieces of decoration fell off. Honestly? It had looked like the wolf from the Three Little Pigs story huffed and puffed and blew the silly, little gingerbread house down. It was all so completely unlike Lydia, someone notorious for her perfectionistic ways and meticulous precision. The hours she spent dedicated to it and nothing to show for it. A complete waste of time. And so, she vowed she would never ever waste her time trying to make one again. Never. Ever.

That was… until Aaron suggested trying to build one. Lydia’s face must have said it all, her nose scrunched up, eyebrows furrowed. “Why on earth would I want to waste time doing that when you can buy one that already looks nice enough from the store?” she questioned, a not-so-subtle ploy of trying to wriggle her way out of it. Aaron had gave her a look that said, really? She wondered what else was running through his mind. Maybe something along the lines of, since when does Lydia turn down a challenge? In that moment, she knew there was no way she was escaping it. Even a small smile threatened to worm its way on to her lips. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen? He’d said. She looked at him blankly, eyes going distant as she spoke, deadpanned, “The worst thing that can happen?” A dramatic pause. “I’ll show you.” With that, she cleared her throat, picked up her phone and scrolled through until she found the photo from a good few years ago. Without saying anything else, she passed her phone to Aaron, feeling quite triumphant with herself about being determined, not going through that ordeal ever again. Her gaze fixated on him as she watched his reaction, watched as his expression swiftly changed from being puzzled, to curious and morphed into amusement. Brows arched, Lydia mirrored his face, her hands on her hips as she demanded, “What’s so funny?” Trying to conceal the laughter in her voice as she quickly cleared her throat. But she couldn’t keep a straight face for long. The sound of his laugh was contagious, his smile so wonderful and infectious. Even if she had a severe case of Resting Bitch Face, she couldn’t stop herself from cracking. So, now they were both just laughing. 

In the end, he managed to persuade her to take another shot at building a gingerbread house. “The way I see it…it can only go up from here.” Or something along those lines. Some variations of it can’t get any worse. Earning a playful roll of her eyes, but in the end, she conceded. She’d already lost some of her pride and dignity the moment she showed him her poor first attempt. But at least if this one sucked, then they would suck together. But weren’t two heads supposed to be better than one? If it had been with anyone else, she may have disagreed. Having someone under her feet whilst she was trying to concentrate on achieving perfection? Lydia would’ve ushered them away and not-so-politely told them to go away. But nope, he was persistent. They were definitely doing this.

A quick trip to the store to get everything they need, and more just because they may as well since they’re there… and there they were, diving straight into it. Lydia read out the instructions from the recipe she found on Pinterest after tons and tons of scrolling, and they took it in turns to do all that was needed to do. Getting the things out as and when they needed, she was surprised how comfortable and easy it was to adjust, shuffling around each other. It was amazing how he fit in perfectly with her. No awkwardness, no Lydia getting frustrated because something was out of place or not done to her standards - a shocker. It was all very new to her but it didn’t feel new. It was like they’d been doing this forever. Shuffling around, arms occasionally brushing against each other, smiles on their faces all around. Christmas songs faintly played from the stereo, humming along as they made the dough; humming turned into singing as they waited for the gingerbread to break, happily setting up the dining room ready for decorating. She playfully swatted Aaron’s hand when she realised he was slipping the candies meant for decorating their work-in-progress gingerbread house in for a little treat. “Enough of that, we won’t have any for the -” Until he was the one plopping a gumdrop into her mouth - she wasn’t complaining then. Another laugh tumbled from her lips as she chewed it, leaning in to kiss his cheek gently before the timer on her phone beeped. They were ready!

“Now… now is make or break,” Lydia declared when the gingerbread finally cooled. Everything already set out, ready for them to dive straight in. First, to assemble the house. Her mind cast back to her first attempt, how disastrous the whole thing went. It will be better this time. Had to be. The aroma of cinnamon and ginger filled the cosy, festive-filled atmosphere, every inhale made it all the more tempting to just give it all up and dive right in to gobbling it all up. It was like she was waiting with bated breath, any moment it could crumble and fall apart. But Aaron’s extra pair of hands made it all worthwhile. He would help her assemble the little house piece by piece, holding things in place as she brought the next part out. So far, so good. It was like they had all the time in the world, every piece fitting together felt like a gigantic milestone worth celebrating. And at some stage, Lydia definitely cracked out the bottle of wine as incentive to keep them going.

In the end, it was all worth it. She hated to admit defeat but Aaron was right; it did only go up from there. Though, the bar was pretty low to begin with. And sure, maybe it wasn’t her ideal version of perfection but the time spent with him absolutely was. Lydia placed the final piece, the marshmallow snowman outside the newly built gingerbread house before leaning back against him with a content sigh. “We did it. I can’t believe we actually did it.” A beaming smile on her face as she tilted her head to look at him adoringly, before looking right back at their little creation before them. The walls of the house were slightly uneven, a few cracks in the icing revealed glimpses of golden-brown gingerbread underneath, gumdrop windows a little askew, and licorice shingles overlapped on the roof. These imperfections which, any other time would have had Lydia fuming and threatening to smash the whole thing over the kitchen counter, were the magic and beauty of it. Perfectly imperfect. It was magical because it was theirs. It was something they built together, and it was what they had to show for it. A funky yet whimsical-looking gingerbread house. Feeling him nudge her with his elbow, a grin curved Aaron’s face as he passed her something, a brief flicker of confusion etched on to her face as she lowered her gaze to her hands, a laugh leaving her as her fingers traced the ridges of the gingerbread man - or should she say woman? - before her. “Is this supposed to be me? Wow. Impressive. And, that’s funny, actually, because…” Biting her lip to conceal a laugh or give away the reveal. She couldn’t get her head around the fact they had both been doing the same thing without the other knowing. Putting her gingerbread persona to the side, she picked up the version of Aaron she’d secretly made, laughter finally escaping as she passed it to him. “I swear I didn’t steal your idea! We just…clearly have great minds that think alike.” 

In that moment it was inevitable: this was going down as one of the best Christmases Lydia had in a long, long time.

Closed starter for @overnightheartbeats based on this

He'd forgotten about her. Or rather, he'd placed her on a shelf somewhere in the back of his mind where he could safely disregard the memory of her and go about his life. And it was so safely situated there, that it took him a moment to register who was now standing before him. His brows furrowed, eyes raking over her features - and then the kid's. Then he pushed the door open - a clear invitation into his home. "I'm going to need an explanation." No hello, no uncertainty, no questions.

Cont. from @overnightheartbeats || Aaron and Tamara (x)

"I dunno, isn't it usually the cliche about the jealous ex and all that?" Tam gave a chuckle. "I could be mean and point out a bunch of things that are wrong with you, but that's just uncalled for. There's nothing wrong with you, Aaron. It's probably just taking some time getting used to the change."

closed starter for @overnightheartbeats vaughn starter based on (x second bullet point)

Perhaps he shouldn't have let him do the whole sleeping-over thing, and just left it at the casual fucking. At least that may have set some kind of boundaries, but it was a little late as he watched her stirring from her sleep. It wasn't supposed to happen that way, he had liked her because (or so he thought) she was hot, and it was good to have hot friends around. When she asked him to have a casual thing, he leapt at the chance, but now it was happening, it was getting dangerously close to something he never wanted to address.

"Morning." He murmured when her eyes fluttered open, feeling an affection for her he desperately tried to push far, far down.

|| welcome starter for @overnightheartbeats ||

willow had finished her classes for the week, deciding to take her dog out on a walk. she felt lucky that the dorms at her college allowed pets as long as they were well-behaved, which her dog was. suddenly, her dog yanked the leash hard when she wasn't looking and the leash slipped out of her hand. willow chased after lucky who was chasing a squirrel. as her dog came to a halt in front of a person, she sighed, picking up the leash as lucky licked the stranger happily. "sorry about him," willow smiled softly. seeing how lucky reacted to the person, she smiled again. "i think he likes you," she giggled.

“ if you have something to say, spit it out. “ // @overnightheartbeats

rules: shuffle your ‘on repeat’ playlist and post the first ten tracks, then tag 10 people.

1. 27 - fall out boy 2. francesca - hozier 3. viva las vengeance - panic! at the disco 4. better than me - the brobecks 5. the last great american dynasty - taylor swift 6. golden days - panic! at the disco 7. if you like it or not - the brobecks 8. ready to go (get me out of my mind) - panic! at the disco 9. so much (for) stardust - fall out boy 10. clusterhug - i don't know how but they found me

tagged by the most wonderful: @wintcrstcrfall and @overnightheartbeats tagging: you! please do this and tag me so i can see your answers

— CLOSED STARTER. @overnightheartbeats​

“Is it bad? It is bad, isn’t it?” Arnav said as he bit his lip, visibly nervous. He’d surprised her with a homemade dessert, trying to make up for a couple of hectic weeks at work, for the two of them. “Please, don’t eat it. I can’t stand it...” he said with a chuckle, shaking his head lightly. “Alright, no more crazy experiments. Let’s go out tonight, yeah?”

@overnightheartbeats​ asked for a starter

“You know, if you actually loved me you would’ve robbed that one jewelry store we passed by. Just because it’s the end of the world it doesn’t mean I now have to look pedestrian.“

Closed | @overnightheartbeats

“You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone.”

continued with @overnightheartbeats

"I kinda had a fire truck fall on my leg once." Even before the truck, Buck had always been one to shrug off his injuries, it had just gotten worse since then, especially now that he was off the blood thinners. He knew the cut on his arm looked bad, but he didn't want to bother anyone when he could probably patch it up himself. The firefighter knew when he wasn't going to win though, nodding instead. "Okay. We'll get it looked at."

i just don't understand how you don't miss me. - for zoe (shh don't look that I sent two)

THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT - THE ANTHOLOGY BY TAYLOR SWIFT PROMPT LIST | @overnightheartbeats

“You really don’t get it, do you?” A puff of breath slipped through her lips; a watery, broken laugh followed suit. If she so much as looked at him, Zoe knew her resolve would inevitably crumble. She looked everywhere but at him. The broken clock on the wall, out of time and ticking too fast - or was that just the beat of her heart? The piece of wallpaper in the corner opposite from them looked like it was about to fall off at any moment. Almost poetic and maybe even ironic, since it mirrored exactly how she felt in that moment. Her gaze averted to the floor, but not before she stole a glance at him on her way down. The heartbroken expression in his eyes, the love she could still see that lingered beyond them. How devastatingly beautiful he was, even when he looked gutted. The painstaking reminder: she did this to him, to them.

Did he not understand how much it was killing her to be apart from him? To purposely stay away from him when all she wanted to do was to pull him in closer, hold on tight to him with iron fists and never leave. But time and time again, she had hurt him with weaponised words of venom and spiteful declarations she could not retract so easily. Eric deserved more than that, deserved someone who could give him everything with no questions asked and not simply the crumbs she was willing to give depending on the day and the situation. She supposed it didn’t help how she kept coming to him for stupid things, and they ended up in circles and circles. One step forward, then two steps back. Then two steps forward and one step back. 

“I do miss you, Eric. I have missed you from the moment I left you. Even now, with you sitting here with me, I still miss you. That’s the problem.” And there it was. Raw, brutal honesty. “It’s a problem because I shouldn’t - I shouldn’t be missing you. Look at us. I did this to us.” Zoe knew she wasn’t making sense, that Eric wouldn’t understand - he never did. They had done this song and dance too many times before: all it would take is a moment, on the cusp of reigniting the flame once more but they fly too close to it. A fleeting moment of weakness for the two soon turns into a moment of regret for her, the guilt a permanent mark and it’s inevitable that she retreats, demanding and reinforcing boundaries whilst poor Eric attempted to fight for their relationship once again. If she couldn’t get past how badly she’d hurt him not once, but twice and probably more than that since she told him, ‘the more you love me, the more I hate myself’ and ‘I’m suffocating.’  Her own words haunted her, especially in the dark when she was alone again.

The way Zoe saw it, she didn’t deserve to miss him because she was the one who held the responsibility for destroying it. Trying to defend herself, she ended up attacking him and her default stance of losing her temper and saying everything in the worst way imaginable resulted in saying awful things she could not so easily take back. “I lost the right to sit around moping the moment I broke your heart.” She left out the part where she absolutely, one hundred percent did exactly that. Moping, having a rage and sobbing until she fell asleep. But that was then and this was now. It was now, she realised, that she should have merely played along with it. Act like she didn’t miss him instead of confessing. Maybe he could move on quicker that way. It would break her heart, but her heart was already far beyond broken anyway. 

Having everything slip through her fingers was a familiar tale and maybe that’s why she seemed so indifferent; she had grown accustomed to life’s relentless game of losses, where each disappointment forced her to return to the start, at square one once again. Whether it was her parents’ letdowns or being screwed over by others, setbacks were her constant companion. Time and time again, she would gather the broken pieces and keep on forward, never looking back. It was second nature, muscle memory. But Eric? He defied her closed-minded processes with an undying love too strong to walk away from. He was the first person who made her feel safe. His love for her was sincere and sacred, a rarity in her world. Something that deserved nurturing, something that was worth holding on to. Despite her best efforts (‘best’ was probably an exaggeration, come to think of it) to safeguard it, she found herself inadvertently destroying the only thing she cherished. She was a tornado, chaos with every hurricane she brought and Eric was always the one trapped in the eye of it, bearing the brunt of her wreckage. How was it possible to ruin the one good thing she ever had?

“I don’t know what you want me to do. I can’t just -” Sighing in frustration, she rubbed at her temples. How could she articulate it all when she didn’t fully understand herself? “If I act like I don’t miss you for long enough, maybe one day I will actually stop…” she trailed off, hesitating as she tentatively peered into his eyes once more. And there she was, falling for him all over again with just one look. “And if I can do that,” she said, her voice wavering as she held eye contact. That felt like worlds away right now. A pause, an intake of shaky breath. “Then maybe one day, you will stop missing me, too.” Perhaps confessing her plan wasn’t the brightest idea. But when she looked at him, she couldn’t lie to him. “I know you refuse to listen when I say you deserve better but it doesn’t make it any less true. I love you and I know you love me, but we’ve seen how this ends, we’ve been here twice before. I’ll be damned before I do it to you again for the third time.” But with the words she spoke, it became apparent to Zoe that maybe she had just done exactly that. “I’m sorry, Eric. I just - I don’t know. I can’t keep doing this - we can’t keep doing this.”

Closed starter for @overnightheartbeats based on this

"I think we should go out." The bluntness of the statement wasn't exactly out of character for the brunette, but it was definitely crossing a line she wouldn't usually consider crossing. If only that bitch hadn't broken the cardinal rule, Meela would probably never have considered acting on the ever present attraction between herself and her former friend's older brother. But now that she had? All bets were off.

@overnightheartbeats

"I think your nerves rubbed off on me." Declan whispered, leaning towards Dani. He had met her family before, but nothing was the same and they had literally lied about their relationship then. If her family had forgiven them, shit did they even know that had been a lie. The fact that they were married was still a needed secret. He usually wasn't nervous about meeting parents but he also didn't usually have relationships as long as theirs. Her father had given him the cold shoulder even when he had come in as just a friend — now he was dating the mans daughter. If it was up to Dec, he'd try to bribe them off. Dani didn't think that was a good idea. Still, he wasn't showing up anywhere empty handed. "You sure you don't have any tips to win them over."

continued from here

" no no im not having doubts." svea confirmed. that was the truth. " i guess you can say im just scared you know? what if we don't work out in the real world and this was all for nothing ? i really don't want to be a divorced woman after some wild night out in vegas." though most of her life isn't want svea thought it would be. honestly if things didn't even work out, this would be a story to laugh at in the future. " i know this isn't exactly a fun conversation but i also do want to be realistic. where do you see this going?" // @overnightheartbeats