Touch: A TFLC Short

The Cage

Atlanta, GA

United States of America

February 2017

“So I don’t mean to offend you two by saying this—”

“Because that makes it less offensive,” Mack deadpanned. 

Peters merely flipped him off and continued, “But do both of you know how many people from work as me if you’re a couple?” He looked directly at Tadashi and Aether upon finishing the question; in response, the former blinked while the latter’s cheeks turned a very, very mild red. “I’m not kidding. I think a couple of the interns were gossiping about it at the coffee machine?”

Tadashi’s brow furrowed. “And what exactly were they saying?”

“It was nothing bad, believe me.” Peters shrugged and took a long drink from his beer, “It was more on them commenting how cute the both of you looked when you were talking together last night. One of them probably spotted you guys as you were leaving last night.” Aether was about to respond, but Mack made a small ‘hmm’ noise and tapped his temples before eyeing the two. 

“Come to think of it,” he started slowly, “Both of you tend to look an awful lot like a legitimate couple. I mean, both of you right now give off that impression.” Peters nodded in agreement as Tadashi and Aether looked at each other, both of them surprised at Mack’s comment. “Don’t give me that look.” 

“But—”

“This is normal for us,” Aether said carefully. She looked up at Tadashi, the latter nodding. “How we act and what we do with one another? We’ve practically been like this for the longest time, probably since I started working at HQ.” 

Moodboards: #TadTher

Russ' Updates #120: TadTher Week

Hey, everybody! 

So I probably owe you guys an explanation on why I suddenly stopped posting for a couple of days. To put it simply, my laptop gave up on me on January 17. It really refused to work; for whatever reason, it just wouldn't boot. I was able to keep up at least by posting the shorts (which explains the different-looking headers, if you've noticed) and managing to do the gifset on another computer. 

...however, I couldn't post starting from the [date-th] because all the graphics I needed for the fourth week were in my laptop. 😅 I know, it's irresponsible of me to not back up my files to my external drive every so often, and I'll do my best to keep that in mind. 

Thankfully, though, my dad was able to somehow fix my laptop and get my files out! To avoid explaining really complicated shit, the hard drive is broken and I need to get it fixed asap. So hopefully I'll be able to get it fixed immediately; schoolwork is really staring to kick in and I need my baby back. 😭

"You'll make it, Russ."

All of that aside, though, I'm back! Agape Week starts today and will last until next Saturday as usual. Despite the delay, I hope you guys still stick around. 💛 We'll be getting to look at Tadashi and Aether's relationship for the next couple of days, and that's something I've been wanting to share for a long time! 

Have a great week, everyone 💫

Eros: A TFLC Playlist

012692: Birthday

"promise me that you'll change the world, aether." 

Tenderly: A TFLC Short

Aether and Mathieu’s Apartment
Atlanta, GA
United States of America

March 2017 

“And Mack—and Mack won the bet,” Aether laughed. “He won the bet against Peters. You’d think someone like him has a lower alcohol tolerance, but he’s able to hold his own pretty well. It was either that, or he was trying not to fall all over the floor. But God, it was so fucking funny, I have pictures—I have pictures of Peters giving up after his seventh shot.” Mathieu couldn’t help but smile as she told the story of the squad’s latest shenanigans; apparently a few nights ago, Peters and Mack had a bet to see which one had better alcohol tolerance. It ended up with Peters hunched over the toilet and Mack trying not to drunk dial his former conquests, but Mack won fair and square while the American protested in the middle of throwing up. It was an amusing tale, he had to admit, Mathieu could barely keep his eyes off her at all.

Aether continued her story, talking about how she and Tadashi had to make sure the other two would be able to somehow sober up in an hour. He listened, he really was; Aether was talking about how Mack weighed like almost nothing. Mathie just couldn’t help but keep his eyes on Aether, smiling quite fondly himself as he took in the sight of her.

Both of them were in sleeping attire; there was Mathieu with a shirt on and sweatpants while Aether had her hair tied up and face clear of makeup. She had on the kimono-style robe that he had gotten her the prior Christmas, and underneath she was merely wearing a romper designed for rest. She was smiling, almost grinning while she told him what happened after (apparently the two had wanted fast food as it was ‘worthy drunk food’, in their words) and as much as he wanted to listen, he could help but focus on her. Aether took the nearby wine glass and sipped before sighing happily, meeting his eyes and stopping her story to flash him a relaxed grin. “Are you still listening?” She teased, setting the glass back down and leaning in to playfully grab at the front of his shirt.

Mathieu had the decency, at least, to look a little embarrassed. Plastering a small smile on his lips, he admitted, “I’m listening, chérie.”

“It didn’t look like you were for a moment there.”

La Vie En Rose: A TFLC Short

Aether and Mathieu’s Apartment

Atlanta, GA

United States of America

February 2017

It was the middle of the night and Mathieu wasn’t at her side. 

She staggered out of bed; Aether rubbed her eyes and grabbed at a nearby robe which hung off one of the chairs, sliding it on before moving out of the bedroom. “Mathieu,” she croaked sleepily, squinting into the dark of the living room and making her way through. In her half-asleep state, Aether wondered where he was—they had ended up sleeping next to each other just a few hours before. The lack of warm presence at her side was what made her wake up. Still stumbling, she squinted and rubbed at her eyes yet again until they eventually focused on a figure standing by the window. 

Mathieu. She let out a relieved sigh and nearly stumbled to him, almost knocking over something in the process. He jumped at the noise; turned immediately with his eyes wide in alarm until they caught sight of her sleepy self. Mathieu relaxed visibly, pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Ma chérie,” he murmured. “You should be asleep.” 

“You weren’t there.” Aether closed her eyes as she leaned into his touch, “Woke up and you weren’t there…” He went quiet and merely kept holding her, Aether nearly falling back asleep until she heard him sigh quietly. She was about to open her mouth and speak when he lifted her, carrying her bridal style back to their bedroom. Aether said nothing; while she found it odd that he was just standing by the window in the middle of the night, she wanted to get back to sleep with him at her side. 

Before she knew it, she was back on the bed, stripped of her robe. She mumbled his name once again and there came his arms, pulling around her and securing around her waist. 

Warmth. 

Desire: A TFLC Graphic

Support: A TFLC Short

Aether and Mathieu’s Apartment

Atlanta, GA

United States of America

January 2017

“Hey,” he whispered.

“Hi to you too, liebe.” Mathieu grinned as Aether pulled her arms around him. She leaned her forehead against his, unable to stop herself from smiling as the male pressed a light kiss to her lips. “That was nice,” she murmured, gently running her fingers through his hair when he pulled away. “Do you feel better?”

“You have no idea.” He shifted; from his position right above her, Mathieu lay next to her and wrapped her in his arms. In response, she leaned her head against his chest, closed her eyes. Allowed herself to breathe as he pressed his lips to the top of her head next. “Spending time with you like this...I missed it.” Mathieu felt her nod and he held her a bit tighter, closing his eyes himself and both of them going quiet.

The two stayed like that for a while, resting comfortably with one another. She remained in his arms and he kept himself around her; he found that he really did miss spending time with just her, curled up on the bed. Saying nothing, doing nothing--but it was enough for them. He knew that well, and so did she. They kept quiet and Mathieu listened to her breathe just as she listened to his heart beat steadily in his chest.

Cuddling, lying in each other’s arms--it was something both of them enjoyed. If anything, both of them found it comforting. Aether tended to be in need of cuddles and affectionate touch after a long day at work, while Mathieu liked the feeling of holding her in general. It was something neither of them could explain well. The closest thing to an explanation was Aether explaining that she was a physically affectionate person to those she was comfortable with.

Moodboards: #MaEther

Russ' Updates #119: MaEther Week

Hello hello, everybody! 

Apologies for not posting yesterday--I had a late birthday celebration with my friends from high school, and it was pretty great! We pretty much drank and played card games for the entire night; it was pretty fun and I'm glad that I was able to see them again. 😁 Anyway, LysTher week ended! How did you find it? Admittedly, I had a bit of a hard time looking for writing prompts, but I was able to pull through somehow. I'm glad, though, that I was able to integrate a bit of the orphanage into one of the shorts. 

Now that it's the third week of January, we move on to our next relationship--something a little spicier and more on the romantic side of the spectrum. 😉 This week, #MaEther takes the spotlight! Arguably the main couple / OTP of Coalesce, and if you know me pretty well, then you'll know that they're my OG ship. Expect three shorts, two graphics, and one playlist as usual.

And to tease--there is a #MaEther short or two which I've been wanting to write for so long but never really found the opportune moment to. But now that this week is happening, we might finally be able to see what exactly those shorts are going to be about. 

"She's been excited for this week for a long time."

Also, I forgot to mention! I'm going back to school this Wednesday (January 18). Just a heads up; I'll still be posting once a day until the 31st so don't worry about that quite yet!

That's all for this week! ❤

Back to You: A TFLC Short

Lysette and Eugene's Flat

London, England

United Kingdom

March 2013

“It’s getting a little wild over here,” Aether admitted. Lysette watched as the other tied her hair up in a bun, taking a sip from her coffee cup right after. “You have no idea, Lys. I’m balancing college work and then training for headquarters. At this point, it doesn’t feel like I have much of a weekend anymore—what more time for myself and time to do things for me.”

“Ask for a break?” Lysette prompted. Aether just sighed and shook her head. “What, can’t they grant you a break even for the summer? They’ve got to let you rest somehow.”

“They do, but…” Aether trailed off. “It’s…the training is really mandatory. I can’t miss it unless within reason, and I don’t want to make them think that I’m not willing to push myself to the limits for this kind of opportunity.”

“You’re already pushing yourself.” Lysette frowned at the screen, pointing a finger at Aether through Skype. “I can see the bruises, Aether—you’ve got a lot of them. Seriously, how much are they pushing you during your training? How much is that Tadashi guy working you? Didn’t you say that you had to go for what, two or three hours a few times a week?” From her screen, Lysette watched as Aether counted the days on her fingers.

“Well…I usually go have training with him when I don’t have too many classes. That’s my Monday and Wednesday, and then I keep training during the weekend,” she explained. “It was hard to adjust to at first, but—I guess I’ve survived so far? I mean, the worst I’ve gotten are horrible bruises.” Aether gave Lysette a smile from where she was—all the way in the United States—as if to reassure the other that she was doing okay. “It’s fine, Lys. Really. I’m just worried about losing time and all of that.”

Storge: A TFLC Playlist

Puppy Love: A TFLC Short

Winchester, England

United Kingdom

July 2010

So you felt something, Lysette thinks. She scans over the letter once, twice before rereading it all, trying to understand the words even though she already does. You…felt something for me but never got to say it out loud. And you’ve felt it for what, two or three years? And you never made a move, not once…

Two weeks after Aether left for the United States, Lysette discovered a neatly-folded letter in the middle of one of the cabinets she used to store her old sketchbooks. She had opened the cabinet once again to look for one of the more recent ones; she had planned to use a sketch she had done months ago as some kind of reference point. But when she pulled it out, she noticed that there was a peculiar paper pressed in between the pages; initially she thought that it was one of her old sketches, but her name written in familiar script caught her attention. 

For Lysette.

That was how she ended up in her current position: seated on the wooden floor with her hair tied up, the letter in her hands. It ran for two, nearly three pages—some words and some phrases were crossed out. It almost made her smile. Aether, after all, was never the wordiest person even when it came to paper. 

After the first read, she had to read again and yet another time. The words remained the same as did the entire letter. The same words were crossed out, Lysette detected traces of Aether’s frustration (most likely at herself) at some areas. The letter’s purpose was clear, definitely—but she couldn’t wrap her head around it. Not at all. 

Commitment: A TFLC Graphic

Homesick: A TFLC Short

Winchester, England

United Kingdom 

December 2005

During the first month of Aether’s stay in the orphanage, she had a tendency to get homesick very quickly. It was normal; she had lost her parents, after all, only a month back. It was hard to get used to the new place—as nice as the people were and as warm as the place seemed, she refused to accept it as home. For Aether, home was half an hour away. Home was their two-storey house with the sprawling backyard and the brightly-colorer flowers her father planted on the weekends; home was listening to her mother play the piano and have her teach Aether slowly and surely until she was sure she could get it right. Home was having her own bedroom and racing down the stairs to eat with her parents every morning, kiss her father on the cheek before he want to work, and spend time with her mother before she was off to school. 

That was home. 

The orphanage? Not quite. It still intimidated her as much as she refused to admit it; there were more floors and more stairs, more to explore but also more to hide from. There was a garden she could stay in but chose not to because of the kids who would stare, a music room she could reside in but didn’t because the piano reminded her of her mother too much. It was a residence by definition, but not a home—not quite. 

She got homesick. The feeling would strike deep in the late nights when she was sure that everyone else was asleep, roommate included. Red-haired Lysette liked to stay up late and usually Aether would wait until the other was snoozing deeply into the night before she would over her face, bury herself underneath the blanket and let her tears out as quietly as she could. While first being a few hiccups, a few tears here and there, it would eventually escalate to something much more painful, far worse than a few twinges in her chest. Aether couldn’t help it—she cried and cried until her tears ran dry, until her cheeks were blotchy, and her green eyes tired, red. 

It happened quite a few times and went unnoticed. Lysette would notice in the morning that Aether looked like that she hadn’t gotten any sleep, but the latter would shrug it off and say that her allergies were acting up.

Moodboards: #LysTher

Russ' Updates #118: LysTher Week

Hi, everybody! 

Judging by the layout, I think you can tell who’s up this week! We’re going to be taking a further look into the relationship of Lysette Cross and Aether Maxwell; if you’ve been here since the DNAU days, then you might recognize that Lysette is pretty much a revamped version of Linda St. Matthews. Just a little fun fact there hehe. 

"A little hard to believe, but that was me."

There isn’t much to say except to expect pretty much the same content that you’ve seen the past week! I hope you guys enjoyed #PeTher week and got to know more about the two and their relationship with one another. :’D Who knows--maybe this time around we'll get to see their interactions in a certain orphanage~

That's all! Check out the prior posts if you'd like, and I'll see you all again tomorrow. 💚

Wavelength: A TLFC Short

Peters’ Apartment

Atlanta, GA

United States of America

January 2017

“I suppose that Tadashi was right,” Aether admitted. Peters glanced at her. Both of them were in his apartment, casually drinking while waiting for the other two members of Squad A to arrive. “About both of us. That we have a lot more in common than we initially thought. Or than others tend to see.”

“Because we bicker a lot?”

“Because we bicker a lot,” Aether agreed. She raised her beer bottle and gently bumped it against Peters’, which was half-empty. “To be honest, though? I never quite expected us to be better friends than before, considering all the arguing we got into that time. Or considering that we almost fought it out in the middle of the hall.” 

“I had high hopes.” She cast him a look, to which he lifted his hands. “Not joking, Aether. I really did have high hopes for us, even though I thought that you were really far up your ass and thought that you were better than everyone else.” He expect her to scoff and defend herself at that point, but to his surprise she just snorted into her drink and nodded calmly, most likely remembering how she was that time. “You could have been nicer.”

“I know. But you could have been less cocky,” she pointed out. Peters responded with a sheepish smirk. “We both got on each other’s nerves, not going to lie about that. If I had to be honest, though, one of the reasons why I disliked you so much back then is actually something stupid. Really stupid, come to think of it now.”

“Try me.” 

Philia: A TFLC Playlist

Paired: A TFLC Short

Headquarters

Atlanta, GA

United States of America

April 2015

“I’m sorry,” Aether managed, “we have to what now?”

Tadashi was able to keep a straight face as he had repeated what he had just said. “Both of you were assigned to a mission. To put it simply, both of you have to infiltrate a party happening this Friday and must acquire as much information as possible,” he said calmly. Aether still looked shocked and Peters had his brows furrowed; both of them waited for the kicker. Tadashi inhaled slowly before delivering the other piece of information, “And you can’t go as separate individuals. Both of you have to go as a pair.”

“And by ‘pair’,” Peters asked carefully, “do you mean as a pair of acquaintances or do you mean something more than that?” the look on Tadashi’s face was all the answer they needed. In response, Aether buried her face into her hands and Peters groaned. “This feels like a fucking plot from some kind of James Bond shit, except that you shouldn’t expect us to be locking lips at the end of the night.”

“For once, I agree.”

“We don’t expect kissing of any kind—both of you just have to go as a couple. Engaged or married, it’s up to you.” He lifted a hand before either of them could protest, “Department has already assigned fake names and have gotten you both into the guest list. All you have to do is to play the part.”

“And why us?” Aether asked. “It could have been Ross and Sol, they’d be much more convincing than Peters and I.”

Comrades: A TFLC Graphic

Magic Hands: A TFLC Short

Headquarters

Atlanta, GA

United States of America

September 2016

For Aether, stress manifested both physically and emotionally. Working as Squad A’s Head tended to get to her; that, combined with the fact that there were reports to work on and meetings to attend, was enough for the stress to slowly take its toll on her as the months passed.

Emotionally, stress tended to make itself known when Aether was more irritated than usual, when she snapped more and when her temper ran low. On her worst days, she’d almost end up screaming (though that had happened only once, thankfully) and Tadashi would have to help calm her down to the best of his ability. If the rest of the squad had to be honest, then an angry Aether was never really the prettiest sight. Peters expressed this the most.

He tended to be on the receiving end of her anger; it had been that way since the first time they had met as members of the newly formed Squad A (then known as Squad S). Peters couldn’t understand her; Aether then was stiff, barely looked at him, and always wanted to prove herself to Tadashi. He initially thought that it was because she had a crush on the Korean, but as time passed he eventually learned that it wasn’t for the reason he had initially thought. The way he saw it before, she wanted to prove that she was could at what she could do. And that was fine with him. After all, he wanted to do the same, so he could sympathize.

If only she wasn’t so pushy about it.

Moodboards: #PeTher

Russ' Updates #117: TFLC Launch

Good evening, Darlings! Welcome to 2017, and with that, I'd like to welcome you all to the first celebration of the year! ❤️

The Four Loves Celebration is one that's focused on Aether Maxwell and her relationships with four different people; namely Samuel Peters, Lysette Cross, Mathieu Silvestre, and Tadashi Sato. This celebration is going to last from January 1 to 31, and each week will tackle a particular relationship. For the first week, we'll be having Peters and Aether!

"We don't kill each other, I promise."

In regards to posting schedule, it pretty much follows the same schedule or format I've followed before. RussDates will be on Sundays until the end of the celebration, and from Monday to Saturday I'll be posting once a day. You can expect three shorts, two graphics, and a playlist to be posted per week. 😄 That's pretty much it for this one--I hioe you're all looking forward to it! This celebration is pretty much close to my heart and I've been loooking forward to it for weeks already.

Onwards!