#oh amazing i could read twenty thousand more words

galwithalibrarycard:

A Single Thread of Gold

A Malina modern AU inspired by Taylor Swift’s “gold rush”and“invisible string.” A Malina Lovebots birthday gift for Elle / @hopskipaway. Hope you like it! Happy lovebots-aversary! :)

She walks into the restaurant and there he is, at the table in the corner with his hands in his pockets and his long legs crossed lazily under the table in the far corner. Mal has his gaze trained on the couple in the center of the room, a blond boy in a too-fancy suit and a dark-haired girl in a blue cocktail dress.

Mal and Alina are supposed to be watching for a signal, in case their friend Zoya wants them to bail her out of the blind date they’d set her up on. Alina takes the long way around the edge of the room, so Nikolai and Zoya won’t notice her coming in. They seem pretty engrossed in whatever they’re talking about anyway, Zoya’s eyes flashing as Nikolai laughs. Maybe this date will actually work out for them after all.

Mal is still none the wiser as Alina nears his table. He looks good. White dress shirt, blue slacks covered in a pattern of flowers that call to mind their many nature walks over the years. Newly buzzed hair,so that’s sad, Alina reflects. She’ll miss his curls. Short still looks great on him though, and she shoves down the impulsive desire to stroke his shorn head. The sleeves of his white button-down are cuffed at the elbows, displaying gloriously muscled forearms. She bites her lip.

Thank the Saints for Genya, she thinks.

Genya had lent her the perfect thing to wear tonight, the gold jumpsuit hugging her body in all the right places, accentuating her breasts, the curve of her ass. She has her favorite nose ring in, gold glitter on the abundant cleavage she’s let show, her hair up in a twist. If chaperoning the friends they’d set up on a blind date is the only way Mal will ask Alina to dinner, she’s gonna make sure she looks damn good, at least. Alina knows she looks hot, nothing like the little girl he used to know her as.

Trying desperately to hang onto the self-confidence she’s gained from Genya’s pre-dinner pep talk and mini makeover, she reaches the table and sits down.

She’s supposed to be mad at him. She’s supposed to be frustrated that he won’t notice her already. And yet… he’s apparently lost in thought, which gives her a moment to stare at him. Her childhood best friend, her favorite person.

But they’re not kids anymore. How well does she really know him, after so much of secondary school spent apart?

He used to be small and shy and bullied, and now… Mal is all grown up. Confident, strong, not needing her anymore. Instead of defending him in the schoolyard, she’s coming to his amateur boxing matches, trying not to die on the spot at how sexy he looks all shirtless and bloodied and grinning in the center of the ring. Time is a curious and mystical thing, bringing him back to her, the same sweet boy, ringed with years of memories she didn’t get to share.

And yet, Alina and Mal keep being pulled back into each other’s orbit. The invisible hand of fate, insisting they belong in each other’s lives. How else does she explain walking into her first class at Os Alta University and Mal being the first thing she saw, lounging in a seat at the back, beautiful as ever? She’s still kicking herself for sitting at the front of the room instead, the old instinct towards protective invisibility overriding the immediate pull she felt towards Mal. What are the odds?

She’s still staring, memorizing him, just in case the gold string of fate snaps taut again and forces them apart. The curve of his cheekbones, the flare of his nose, the soft smile he gives as he finally feels her moving beside him and looks up at her.

“Alina,” he says in surprise, and that’s all it takes before she’s smiling back. His mouth falls open slightly, eyes widening as he takes in her golden outfit. “You look… wow.”

He has no more words. Alina can’t wait to tell Genya about the look on his face. If nothing else happens tonight, that smoldering gaze will almost be worth it.