I will never get over the fact that alex is always in henry’s space and faces his direction when they sleep together… there’s way more space left on his side but they’re all cramped up on henry’s side and the way he just abandoned his pillow to sleep on henry’s. He just can’t sleep without cuddles and it helps with henry’s insomnia too 🥹
And he goes from cuddling his pillow at the DNC hotel to cuddling Henry at Kensington Palace, and it’s fine, I’m fine, this is a perfectly normal amount of emotions to be having on my Monday morning coffee break.
context: maria and my dm's are insanely chaotic. somehow we were talking about almond milk? and one of the things she sent me went like this: "now i need a fic where rowan's a foreigner learning the common tongue and he asks aelin for some nut milk." that's the prompt hehehehehe
Not a single one of the many, many romances Aelin had read in her lifetime had prepared her to meet the love of her life in a random aisle in a grocery store. No, all the books she read either involved small town meet-cutes, dreamy historical romances, arranged marriages that became love matches, and the occasional toe-curling bodice ripper. Love In Aisle 24B? She was convinced that would never happen.
Yet here she was, hand in hand with a man who was every single one of her dreams brought to life, leading him into her house.
But she was getting ahead of herself. Where to begin....?
~
Rice, flour, spinach, carrots, hot cocoa mix, espresso pods, almond milk. That was Aelin's list for her quick stop at the grocery store on her way home from work. She loathed shopping at five PM, knowing that the place would be overrun with harried parents, just-off-the-clock workers, and every single person in the vicinity who'd opened their fridge and realized they needed food for dinner.
Luckily, a parking spot opened up just as Aelin pulled into the parking lot, and she waved gratefully at the mom in the minivan who'd just vacated a spot that wasn't terribly far from the store entrance. She parked, got out, locked the car, and steeled herself for the chaos of dinner-crowd shoppers. It's just a quick trip, she reassured herself as she strode through the parking lot. Fifteen minutes, tops.
Entering the crowded store, she grabbed a basket and headed for the produce section, easily finding the spinach and carrots. Check, check. She wove through the maze of people and carts, muffling more than one curse, and ducked down an aisle to grab a bag of rice. Check. The baking supplies aisle was mercifully much emptier, and she found the brand of flour she liked and placed the familiar paper sack into her basket. Check. Hot cocoa mix was only a few paces away--and no, she didn't care that it was impractical for the late spring. It was always hot cocoa weather at Aelin Galathynius's house.
She braced herself as she stepped into the coffee and tea aisle and found it far too heavily occupied for her liking. Rolling her eyes, she decided to go grab almond milk and loop back to pick up espresso pods on her way to the checkout lines. Those would probably be their own nightmare, but she'd deal with that when the time came.
Aelin dodged shoppers pushing overfull carts and mothers desperately trying to keep a hand on their rambunctious children and made her way to the aisle with the non-dairy milk. Blessedly, it was empty, and she strode over to the almond milk section, found her favorite brand, and placed three cartons in her basket because it was on sale. She paused for a moment at the end of the aisle, sighed, and trudged back towards the coffee.
Just as she was about to turn into the coffee aisle, a hand tapped politely at her shoulder. "Excuse me?"
She turned, finding herself face to face--well, almost, since he was a good six inches taller than her--with a mouthwateringly gorgeous man wearing a shy half-smile. "Yes?"
"I do not mean rude, but you have the..." The man pronounced the words carefully, his voice bearing a distinctly foreign accent. Clearly he was still learning the language of Terrasen. "The...meelk? The milk! Milk of the nut."
Aelin spluttered a cough, stuffing down the lewd comment she immediately wanted to make. "I--um...I'm so sorry, I have the what?"
The man blushed, only making him more endearing. He pointed to the almond milk in her basket. "The nut meelk."
Understanding clicked in her brain. "Oh! The almond milk." She enunciated the words carefully.
"Al-mond meelk," he repeated, smiling in earnest. "Thank you, ma'am." He gave her an eccentric little dip of his head. "Please, show me where to find?"
"Of course!" Smiling back at him, she led him to the non-dairy milk aisle. "Here it is." She showed him the brand she bought. "I like this brand, but there are more options here."
The man picked up a carton of the same brand she bought; it looked comically small in his large hand. "Thank you," he said again, relief coating his accented words.
She grinned. "You're welcome..." She let the pause trail on, hoping he would give her his name.
"Pardon!" he exclaimed, then mumbled a few words in his native tongue. "I am such rude. I am Rowan."
"So rude," Aelin instinctively corrected. "We say so rude." She shook his offered hand. "My name is Aelin."
"Aelin," Rowan repeated, the syllables of her name turning thick and sweet as honey on his accented tongue.
Her blood turned to fire at the sound of his voice.
"Gods," she gasped, glancing at her watch. "I really need to get home, this was just supposed to be a quick trip."
Rowan stepped aside so she had a clear path. "Do not let me stop you," he grinned. "Thank you again, Aelin."
"You're very welcome, Rowan." Flashing him another grin, she headed towards the checkout counters, pausing briefly to grab espresso pods. The checkout lines were unbearably long, so she joined the much shorter line for self-checkout, waited for a few minutes, and went up to the machine when it was her turn. Efficiently, she scanned her items, placed them in her shopping bag, paid, and tore the receipt from the printer.
She was nearly out of the store when a commotion at the self-checkout caught her attention.
"I--I not understand!" Oh gods, that was Rowan's unmistakable accent. "No money?"
"Sir," the store employee all but snapped, "the sign says 'card only.' Can you even read?"
Rowan faltered. "I--"
"Show some decency," Aelin drawled, calmly stepping between Rowan and the irritated teenage employee who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. "You should be able to tell from the man's accent that he's not from here."
"Well--um--" The teenager floundered. "Look, I'm not--"
"Capable? That much is clear," Aelin scoffed. "I'll help Rowan here finish checking out, and you can run along back to restocking ketchup or whatever the hell else you do." Turning to Rowan, she explained, "This machine only has a card reader. Do you have a credit card?"
Softly, he murmured, "No, not in wallet."
"It's all right," she reassured him. "I'll pay."
"You no need--"
"Don't worry about it." Aelin tapped her credit card on the card reader, took the receipt, and handed it to Rowan. "There. Quick and easy."
He picked up his almond milk--the only thing he'd had to buy--and followed her out of the store. As soon as they stepped into the parking lot, he swiped her bag of groceries from her, laughing at her shocked protest. "Let me, let me," he said. "As thank you."
"Such a gentleman," she teased. "All right then, you can carry my groceries to my car." He walked beside her through the parking lot, waited for her to unlock her car, and then carefully deposited her groceries on the back seat. "Thanks, Rowan," she smiled, truly meaning it. A thought flashed through her head. "I'm sorry if this is rude, but...do you have a car? Or how else are you getting home?"
He shook his head. "My..." He spoke a word in his language. "Not know how to say. Like brother, but...of father's brother?"
"Your cousin?"
"Aye, my cousin. He has the car. I took bus from apartment to store."
"Can I drive you home?" she asked.
Color splashed across his cheeks. "No need, please, I will take--"
"The bus is never on time during evening rush hour, and you'll get stuck in traffic when it does show up," she snorted. "I promise I'm a safe driver, Rowan, and before you pull your stupid chivalrous act, no, it's not too much trouble." She leaned against her car. "I live here. I can drive you home without getting stuck in terrible amounts of traffic."
He folded. "Okay. I will drive with you."
His oddly formal language made her smile. "You're rather cute with your blush and your accent, y'know, Rowan," she teased.
"Cute?" Impossibly, Rowan blushed harder. "If I am cute, Aelin, then you are perfect beauty."
That fire in her blood burned brighter. "I'll show you beauty," she murmured, more to herself than to him.
Buckling his seatbelt with ease, he leaned over and whispered in his language into her ear. Though she couldn't understand him, she knew the thickness of his voice had nothing to do with the words he was saying. "Was that a promise, Rowan?"
His emerald eyes deepened to smoky pine. "Yes." As she started the car and reversed out of her parking spot, his hand drifted casually--naturally--to her thigh, its weight warm, welcome, and teasing.
She was in such deep shit.
~
Instead of asking Rowan for his address, Aelin asked if he was okay coming to her house, and when he breathed another Yes into her ear, this time pairing it with the faintest brush of a kiss on the side of her neck, she shivered and headed home as fast as she legally could. She parked, got out, grabbed her groceries before he could insist on carrying them into the house, and took the bag inside, placing it on the counter.
Rowan hadn't followed.
So she went back out to the car, walking around to the passenger side. "Rowan? Is everything okay?"
He nodded. "So okay," he promised. "I...I needed a breath."
The corners of her lips quirked up. "Can I show you my house?" Feeling bold, she linked her fingers with his. "The kitchen, the living room..." A pause. "My bedroom."
That got him out of the car and on his feet, a smirk tinged with desire curling his lips. "Please do."
She led him up the front steps and into her house, kicking off her shoes in the entryway. "The kitchen is right here, if you wanted to know." She gestured to her left. "You can put your almond milk on the counter." And put your rowillymilk in me, she added under her breath.
He left the carton on the counter, slid his arm around her waist, and leaned down to kiss her. Aelin rose onto her tiptoes to meet his lips, the kiss starting soft and quickly turning deeper, passionate, filled with the inexplicable desire that crackled between them. Effortlessly, Rowan lifted her into his arms, not breaking the kiss as he took a couple of steps and stopped, remembering he didn't know where anything was. He pulled away, breathless.
"Aelin--"
"Upstairs," she panted, her chest heaving. "Come here."
And she led him up the stairs and into her room and kicked the door shut behind them.
“everybody wants you / but I don’t like a gold rush,
What must it be like to grow up that beautiful? / with your hair Fallin into place like Dominoes….my mind turns your life / into folklore / I can’t dare to dream about you anymore”
And Gorgeous is Alex crushing on Henry..
“You should take it as a compliment that I’m talking to everyone here but you / you should think about the consequence of you touching my hand in a darkened room
If you got a girlfriend, I’m jealous of her / but if you’re single, that’s honestly worse / cuz you’re so GORGEOUS it actually hurts
Ocean blue eyes / lookin in mine / I feel like I might / sink and drown and die”
When I say the men of TOG all easily beat out the ACOTAR boys I am not just referring to Dorian Havilliard or Rowan Whitethorn (the obvious standards) but THE HUNTER WHO WAITED FOR ASTERIN??? NOX OWEN???? ILLIAS THE SILENT ASSASSIN???? Men at every level of TOG are serving looks, loyalty, and respect that is unmatched ESPECIALLY compared to ACOTAR and CC
I’ve been rereading the complete TOG series since October and I’m on my favorite (Empire of Storms)…just overcome with how gorgeous this world and its characters are.
Im rooting for every single couple, I’m immersed in the world; even without Rowaelin I would adore TOG. It just happens to also have the best fantasy romance couple of all time.
