#threewinksarelic

Nothing could keep us apart You'd be the one I was meant to find

So I finally watched The Greatest Showman and honestly all I could think about during this sequence/song was Natalie and Nick if they were in The Greatest Showman or any circus AU cus it has too much fluff potential. So here @threewinksarelic have this self-indulgent pic of our starstruck babies <333

“You got a problem?

Ava’s gaze flickered to the stranger who had paused on the sidewalk nearby, her expression steely and guarded.  They were the only ones on the street, standing in gentle drizzle of rain.  The hood of Ava’s jacket was pulled up, though it did little to hide her face from this distance - the dark circles under her eyes, the white lines of old scars, the fresh bruise blossoming at the corner of her mouth and her thin, chapped lips bloody and cracked.  A lit cigarette dangled between the fingers of her right hand.  Not that she liked them much, but it was something to chase off the cold and the shakiness in her hands, at least.

Her hands were carefully wrapped in grimy strips of cloth, covering the bruises and raw skin across her knuckles.  She stood leaning against a wall looking as if she was trying to melt into the background, to go unnoticed as another unremarkable feature of a battered city.  She didn’t exactly stand out - a frail wisp of a girl, smaller than she ought to be at her age but nonetheless looking quite a bit older than she was.  She was new to this part of town and the little alleyway she had found was hardly ideal, but it was out of the way and it wasn’t like she had anywhere better to go at the moment.  The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to herself, and so when she caught the stranger’s gaze she practically bristled.

“Oh hi tall, dark an’ broody! Didn’t see ya there!”

The presents were wrapped together neatly in a red shimmery paper, decorated with a dark green velvet bow that looked too impecable to be handmade. Especially once she opened the card attached, and found out the sender:

Merry Christmas, Nightshade. Thanks again for your help the other day. All best wishes, Nicholas

The first thing she did was sample a chocolate or two, or three, before moving on and inspecting the next present. The chocolates were rich and just delicious, an assortment of different flavors and fillings. The scarf was just the right thickness and amount of ‘fluff’. This was definitely what she needed when cruising on her bike on cold Winter nights.

The flower arrangement was placed on her desk, accompanied with a small box next to it. Inside it was the necklace and a small slip of paper:

A wish and a thank you. - Matthew Cordingley

—————

The flowers caught her attention first. Lir moved towards them,picking up one of the roses to smell before noticing the small box next to the flower arrangement. 

She replaced the rose with its peers, before picking up the box and opening it. She couldn’t stop a smile, then a laugh at the necklace within. Even without the note accompanying both jewelry and flowers, she’d know who they’d been from just by seeing the necklace, she thought amusedly.

When it comes to love, Lir is basically a cynic and one who guards her heart exceedingly well.

Why? Because she was badly burnt once before.

As a young agent, she fell in love with her partner. He led her on and ultimately betrayed her during a mission and left her for dead. She barely managed to survive and, once recovered, went after him, intent on murder.

When she did catch up with him, she was finally able to see him for what he was and she decided death was too easy, too quick for him. She hurt him, badly, mind  you, but let him live. He’s currently serving time in one of the multiverse’s worst prison facilities and he will never see any light ever again.

continued from here:

Officer Anne-Marie Coast had, of course, heard of the CIA agent temporarily working with the team, for a recent case she had not completely grasped yet–and from the rumors even some of the personnels inside the case hadn’t exactly grasped it either. She hadn’t, however, had the chance of meeting said agent first-hand. It seemed today was almost the day, but not quite.

Noting the terse tone and the cold glare, she understood well enough. The woman stood up and gave Matthew one last grin, and Lir a tentative one–She could’ve asked her politely, CIA agent or not–then slipped out of the room.

Matthew stood up also, wondering briefly if something had gone downhill with their case. He wasn’t left with the grim thought for long, as the next moment came the wish and the pulling and the kiss. His surprise was only shown fleetingly in his widened eyes but his response was quick enough. Hands wrapping around her, pulling her in, he returned the favor. Her lips were warm and soft and perfect against his, herself felt right in his arms, it would’ve been a crime to let it not happen, and when they finally pulled apart he smiled, gesturing deftly, { “Merry Christmas. Was that my present?” } Because if it had been, he’d like one more. Or many more. Though this part was not signed outwardly, for obvious reasons.

Lir had almost smiled at Matt’s downright puzzled expression at her furious entrance, but she hadn’t exactly left him in the dark for very long. She wondered, if briefly, if she’d closed the door behind her-perhaps the person who had exited had done so, she mused, a vague, fleeting thought of very little concern to her, since her entire attention was on nothing but Matt.