#fred is scatter-brained and forgetful

[leafs-lover]

If He's Lucky I'll Let Him Join

Part 5: The moment when

Series Masterlist

A/N: This piece takes place immediately after part four.

Warnings: A little softness, swearing, mentions of drinking, smut 18+, (if you are a minor DO NOT READ), oral sex (female receiving)

Word Count: 4700

You don’t know how it happened.

Fred pulled you in for one final kiss at the door. His hand slid down the outside of your winter coat before finding your hips to pull you back towards him. The kiss even though partially in the hallway open to anybody coming or going was full of passion. His tongue covered in your flavour, licked the inside of your mouth while you gripped his tousled red locks to pull him towards you, closing the gap.

It was hot. So hot you almost walked back inside and closed the door behind you. But you had been there for two days straight, and he had a virtual meeting in a couple hours with some of the trainers and medical staff to go over a plan for his rehab. But it was extremely hard for you to step back.

Reluctantly you pulled away and walked towards the elevator but everything was hazy, the kiss fogging your brain. You heard the elevator ding and when the doors open you were met with a man, a plain black mask disguising most of his face. Even with the mask you immediately recognize the dark brown eyes and hair curling out under his hat. “Hey Auston,” you smile stepping in only to be greeted by a big black and white pile of floof jumping on you.

Ignoring his greeting you immediately bend down to your knees to pet the bernadoodle in front of you. “Oh aren’t you just the cutest,” you say, in your puppy voice, “Felix,” you add in noticing the name on the collar tag. Pulling your mask down slightly he licks up your face causing you to laugh almost knocking you over.

“Ugh,” you laugh turning so the next lick is on your cheek. “Normally I expect dinner first Felix,” you joke.

“Sorry, manners aren’t his strong suit,” Auston laughs, helping you back to your feet.

“How did I forget you have the cutest fluff ball ever?” you practically ignore Auston most of your attention on the energetic pup in front of you. Bending over to keep petting Felix, he sits in front of you constantly giving you paws, big black eyes eagerly smiling up at you.

“You never spend time at my place,” Auston chuckles. “We were actually just going to go for a walk, want to join us?”

You don’t even think you considered it, just completely distracted by the dog. How could you say no to his big black beady eyes and wagging tail? So you nodded and walked off the elevator while he led you to a nearby park. You were there for twenty minutes or so while Auston threw the ball and you eagerly gave Felix pets every time he returned it. Returning back to his building he asked if you wanted to come up for a drink and you agreed.

You remember him offering you wine before putting on the office. You started lying in the corner of the “L” shaped couch, with your head on his shoulder during the first two episodes. You descended into a comfortable conversation barely even paying attention to the show that plays in the background. He told you about growing up in Scottsdale, trying to become a hockey player while living in a desert.

You told him about your time in school, what inspired you to be a teacher. You talked about your families, him showing you pictures of his two sisters and sharing stories. It was fun seeing this side of him, getting to know him.

It’s not like you haven’t spent time with him over the past few months, you had hours together. Countless dinners with him, even fallen asleep beside him a time or two, but every time Fred was there with you. You only see him when either you or Fred asks about inviting him over. Over half your time with Fred is with Auston but you still have time without him.

Some nights after dinner Fred would do the dishes while Auston would lead you down the hall to his room. He would normally only give you a 15-20 minute head start, but most of that time you didn't spend talking.

This is the first time it’s just the two of you, no Fred. Not that you hadn’t seen Fred earlier, you still had some of his cum in your hair, and you could feel the burn of his beard between your legs.

You are really enjoying this side of him. It feels good, easy. But that was two hours ago. You have no idea how you ended up here.

On his couch.

Wearing his sweater.

Your leggings long gone.

Hands digging into your hips, tongue licking along your thigh.

Your hands anchored tightly into his locks, soft moans tumbling from your lips.

“This is nice,” he runs his hand over the navy lace fabric barely covering your core, “don’t think I’ve seen it before.”

“It’s new, came in a few days ago,” you gasp as his thick fingers dance over the cloth protecting your heat, forcing your head to fall back further and your hips to arch up. His fingers trail to your hip bone finding the early colours of a bruise, the bruises his friend left mere hours ago.

“Pretty,” he hums spreading your legs apart ignoring the marks on your body. He licks his lips slightly staring between your legs, fingers dancing along the lace.

“Some hockey player kept ripping my underwear had to get new ones,” you murmur. Auston chuckles in response, knowing that you are talking about him.

“’I’ll buy you a new pair,” he leans down placing some soft kisses on the inside of your thighs. With each caress of your most sensitive spot the desire pooling in your stomach only increased.

“Three,” you moan when his mouth presses the fabric into your clit, tongue gently flicking into it. Pulling back slightly he drags the fabric down your thighs with his teeth. “You’ve ripped three.”

Your hands tighten their grasp as he peppers kisses over your pubic bone. He nips the skin in the exact spot Fred did, causing some curse words to tumble from your lips. “I’ll buy you five just so I’m ahead of the count,” he chuckles the lace landing on the floor.

With a quick wink he drops his head back down, spreading your legs to showcase your glistening cunt. He licks his lips and wraps his mouth around your clit. You gasp and wince slightly, still sensitive from the time Fred spent down there mere hours ago. But that doesn’t stop him; instead it encourages him to press in further digging into your hips harder.

“God you taste so good,” he mumbles, flicking his tongue in and out. “Sweet as honey princess,” he adds, and you feel your walls flutter as the pet name rolls off his tongue.

“Aus,” you moan, barely audible, but he definitely heard sucking harder on your clit. Bucking your hips into his face-you feel him smirk against you. He encourages you, gently rolling your hips to bring you closer. The low burning in your gut slowly begins to bubble up. Legs clamp around his head, locking him against your heat.

Your legs tremble and incoherent sounds fall from your lips. Your moans are getting louder and louder, you tug harder on his dark brown curls. Skin is hot, burning into his lips. He groans into your heat, the feeling vibrating through your core and up your spine.

“I’m gonna cum,” you whine while his tongue continues to flick inside you. Over the past few weeks he has become very good at reading your body, recognizing the telltale signs of your orgasm sometimes before you do. He groans in response, pulling your body down, face smothered by your thighs.

“Fuck,” your hip arches up grinding further into his face. You begin to chant “Aus,” the second syllable getting lost in your pleasure. Euphoria floods your veins, your body tingles while little fires ignite throughout your entire body. The man between your legs doesn’t let up working you through your high, groaning while your juices spill onto his tongue.

“Fuck y/n,” Auston coos, slowly pulling his head away from your dripping heat. “You’re phenomenal.”

Crawling up your body he slides his tongue in your mouth, your body still in a post orgasmic haze. You can taste yourself on his tongue while his body presses against yours. Slowly your fog lifts and you deepen the kiss, moaning slightly when you feel his erection press against your thigh.

His large hand slides under your sweater, easily engulfing your breast in his large palm. Pulling the cup down he pinches your nipple smirking when you wince. But he has no idea the damage his friend left behind.

His tongue finds your neck, licking from your collarbone to your ear lobe. Pulling your skin through his teeth your entire body gets hot, sweat building in the valley of your breasts. Lips trail along your jaw then down your neck-leaving open mouthed kissed onto your skin. The feeling of his growing bulge against your dripping centre makes you moan again.

“Aus,” you barely manage a coherent thought as your sweater is pulled from your body leaving you in just a bra. He tosses his sweater aside, it landing somewhere amongst the clothes scattered on his floor.

“I like when you call me that,” he purrs in your ear.

“Take me to your bedroom,” you try to sound firm but it comes out as more of a desperate plea. Within seconds his feet hit the floor and he pulls you over his shoulder. Making his way through the living room and down his hall his large hand strokes over the back of your thigh.

You faintly hear Felix’s claws click against his wood floors. But when he brings a hand up placing a firm slap on your ass the sound fades, only able to focus on the burn of your skin. His hand soothes your bottom, before delivering another blow hitting the same spot.

“Auston,” you scold. With the back of his heel you hear his bedroom door slam shut, followed by a whimper from the pup on the other side. Your heart breaks a little for him but it doesn’t last long.

“Please you expect me to believe Fred wasn’t doing this to you a few hours ago,” he throws you onto the bed. Your eyes go wide as he pulls his shirt off tossing it towards the hamper, it landing a few feet short.

“You think I didn’t recognize the fucked-out look plastered on your face when you stepped into the elevator. Or that I don’t taste him on the inside of your thighs?” Before you can process his words his track pants are being shoved down his legs and he steps out them. Your eyes rake over his body, tattooed arm, broad shoulders and a firm rock hard chest. His long and deliciously thick cock springs free, slapping against his stomach. The swollen, flushed, pink tip oozing pearly white droplets of precum.

He quickly presses his body against yours, fingers tracing over the purple and blue marks that litter your hips. His fingers slowly follow the trail up your body, through the valley of your breast to your collar bone. His fingers work in the opposite direction of the trail Fred’s mouth left earlier in the day.

“You two have fun,” he asks sucking on your collarbone. Your back arches and he pops open your bra throwing it onto the floor. His mouth continues to press soft wet kisses over every bruise. You would expect some pain as he presses against the marks, but his touch is soft; featherlike, slowly drawing over the purple and blue. It’s almost soothing how his cold tongue caresses your sensitive skin.

That is until he finds your breast that Fred spent a lot of time on, sucking almost aggressively. You warned Fred a few times but he didn’t let up, instead sucking harder. He slowly dragged your nipple through his teeth; even nipping at the skin. At some point your entire breast became fully bruised but Fred still didn’t stop. Even when his thick dick was dragging in and out of your walls his mouth was still attached to your breast.

“I asked you a question princess,” Auston hums, nipping the skin around your nipple.

“Fuck,” you cry out feeling a tear hit the corner of your eye.

“You have fun with Fred earlier,” he asks more direct this time.

“Yes,” you hiss when he brings a thumb to press into your breast, swirling it on the bruises surrounding your nipple.

“Yeah, what did you guys do,” he muses pressing his throbbing erection against your hip. “Hmm princess. Did he use his tongue on you?”

Unable to focus, two of his large fingers dance over your folds. He gently plays with the opening, soaking up the juices that have begun to coat his digits. His tongue slowly draws up the valley of your breast and he sinks his teeth into your collarbone.

“He use his fingers to open you up?” his digits grazing over your clit with every swoop.

Your moans become incoherent; a mix of curse words and grunts. He slowly rolls on top of you, resting on his elbows, hands gripping your hair while his tip pokes at your entrance. “He make you feel this good baby?” slowly his tip begins to spread open your folds while he slides in.

“He stretch you like I do?” he bottoms out. Hips hitting hips, his length pressing into what feels like your stomach. “He fuck you like I do princess?” he pulls his hips back and slams back in, his face centimetres from yours. “Did your heat flutter around him with every thrust?”

Barely able to function you tightly grip his chain and pull his face closer to yours. Trying to bring his lips to yours, he skirts around, lips finding the shell of your ear.

“God I’ve wanted this for so long,” his pace increases while your hips roll up towards his. He drags his cock in and out of your soaking pussy, the sound from between your legs is absolutely disgusting but you love it. “I have wanted to fuck you away from him. Fuck you as much as I want, as fast or slow as I want, as many times as I want without Fred cutting in for his turn.”

Your mind is swirling with his admission. But you can barely focus or process it when he harshly thrusts in again. “Wanted to wrap my hand around your throat,” he brings his hand up resting it against your trachea. “Have you under me gasping for air with each thrust.”

“Aus,” you whimper as he begins to tighten his grip. Slowly air begins to leave your lungs, “remember the word princess?” You only have the strength to muster a slight nod. “I need to hear you say it,” he completely stops thrusting and eases his grip on your throat. His dick still seethed inside you, filling you until you almost overflow, but he remains still.

“Yellow,” you manage to croak. With a devilish grin his hips begin to rock in and out of you again his hand gripping your throat restricting the air.

“You’re such a good girl for me Y/N,” he mumbles.

After your weekend with Fred you didn’t think you can handle anymore. Your sensitivity makes it easy for your orgasm to come rolling through, and unexpectedly wash over you. You’re entire body jolts as he continues his long hard thrusts mumbling filth in your ear.

Coming down from your high he doesn’t stop, instead he picks up his pace. Headboard is rattling against the wall; your whimpers are getting louder.

“Aus, I need a minute,” you manage to choke out around his tightening grip on your hand.

“You need a minute you say the word, otherwise I’m gonna keep going,” he gives you a painful thrust, your head hitting the headboard. “Because I know you always want a minute,” he tightens his grip further restricting your airway, “but you don’t need it. In seconds you’re going to be crying out for me to hit you harder, faster. You just gotta wait for it princess.”

Your mouth opens into a silent O and your nails find the back of his neck, tugging on the hair. His dark eyes blown with fire burn down at you. His lips begin to curl when he sees your face change, pleasure taking over and eagerly seeking for your next release.

“There you go baby,” he smirks sensing your shift.

The hand on your throat is barely letting air through, but there is something about him saying the word baby that causes your body to tingle. He has never called you that before, always your name or princess. Fred calls you baby.

You would expect it to feel wrong, that guilt would wash over you thinking of Fred. Peering up into his eyes, while brown like Fred’s, Auston’s are much darker. You expect that to be the moment you are flooded with remorse, the weight of what you’ve done. Instead he is staring at you through hooded lenses, clouded with lust and it spurs you on.

You’re panting Auston’s name while your chest heaves, lungs still deprived of oxygen. Rolling your hips one leg wraps around his large muscular back and your heel digs in to hold him close to you.

Your pussy is swollen; it’s taken a beating this weekend you didn’t think it could handle. But here you are crying out for him to hit you faster, and of course he eagerly agrees. Your nails are firmly anchored into his skin, your other hand tangled around his chain pulling his face to yours.

His lips hover near your ear and he mumbles praise and filth to you. Auston has never been big on the dirty talk when it’s just the two of you. Once Fred is in the room the words tumble from his lips like sand in a desert, but when it’s just the two of you he is more reserved.

But not today.

Strings of filth are pouring out and you love it. His cock driving against your g-spot, hand cutting off your air supply and a vile tongue spewing venom in your ear. It all is becoming too much. And he knows it.

“Freddie make you cum this much?”

“He make you cum this hard?”

“He make you feel this good?”

“Fuck Princess, cum on my cock once more”

“Coat it in your juices”

Your ears ring and you don’t hear another word he says, but his warm breath indicates he is still talking to you. Your moan turns into a scream and with a final harsh thrusts euphoria floods you, your vision going white. Little shockwaves course through your body as you stop bucking your hips to meet his, your grip loosening on his chain and neck.

Still revelling in your post orgasmic haze, you feel him get sloppier as his climax draws closer. Breathing getting heavier and with a loud grunt he pulls out. Ropes of sticky white warmth coating your stomach. He pumps himself until he is dry, falling onto the bed beside you.

Your body is hot and clammy. Auston slowly draws a finger up and down your forearm as your chests heaves. Slowly you turn to look at him, sweat drenching the roots of his hair. He smiles when met with your face and hesitantly leans down. Millimetres separate your faces, slowly the gap closing. You take it upon yourself to pull his face down. You can taste the salt on his lips, his mustache tickling over your upper lip. “You need to trim this,” you laugh running your thumb over it.

“I like it,” he chuckles, placing another soft kiss on your lips. “Let’s go shower.”

“Ugh I can’t,” you groan knowing your knees will buckle if you try to stand.

“My shower has a bench you can sit on for a bit,” he presses his lips to your again. “But we need to clean this up,” he eyes down to the mess on your stomach. He is right, but still neither of you move; needing a few more minutes.

“You know you can,” you trail off slightly thinking over your thoughts but also recapturing your breath, “you don’t have to pull out.”

The feeling of cum inside you is relatively new, having felt it for the first time a year ago. The first time when you and Fred foregone a condom you were so infatuated with the thought of Auston, imagining his body on yours, it just slipped from your lips. You weren’t even sure if you meant it. But once you felt Fred spill inside you, sticky warmth dripping from your cunt and down your thighs, you couldn’t imagine it any other way.

The thought of it alone makes you wet. But one thing you have loved even more is when Fred’s cum is dripping from your slick, sometimes he will bring his fingers in. With a few thrusts the warmth is spilling out around his digits and he’ll bring them to your mouth for you to lick clean.

It’s like magic.

And you’d be lying if you hadn’t thought of what it would feel like to be full of both men. So much your walls are unable to hold it in, just a mixture of the three of you spilling out.

“Oh um,” his eyes dart around your face. His tone is soft and nervous before he continues, “we never talked about it, so I figured I should. That first time was…I uh…I didn’t mean to the first time. Just really in the moment, and you were so shocked when it happened. I actually felt like shit for not using a condom that night, let alone not pulling out. When the second time came around I figured I should at least pull out.”

“I mean Fred -” you start, but you don’t want to bring sex with him into this moment. “I work around kids so I am very good at birth control,” you laugh slightly. “It’s 100% your choice obviously. I’m just saying I wouldn’t hate it if you didn’t.”

Auston has a wide smile on his face hearing your revelation, and he brings you down for a sloppy kiss. Pulling away you are almost certain you could fall asleep, whimpering when Auston moves leaving you alone on the cold bed.

A few minutes later he is scooping you up and gently placing you on his shower bench. Leaning your head against the cool tile, steam filling the shower, you watch Auston. He shoots you playful winks and asks if you are okay before finally pulling you to your feet and rubs shampoo in your hair.

Once re-dressed and in his living room you notice it is getting late in the day, the sky beginning to get dark. Felix’s ears perk up and you immediately go to him giving him some pets before you head out for the evening. His tail eagerly slaps against the couch and you don’t stop until he places a few licks on your cheek.

Turning around Auston pulls you into his chest, holding you tight while you listen to the gentle beating of his heart. Grabbing a handful of his sweater you aren’t quite ready to let him go. Tilting your head upwards he smiles down at you. Felix eagerly joins the two of you, jumping on you, bashing against both of your legs. Auston softly brushes the hair from your forehead and stands feet firmly planted staring down at you with soft and tender eyes.

“I had a great time,” he finally whispers, but you get the feeling that isn’t what he wants to say.

“Mmm me too,” you mumbles in agreeance, but you’re not just talking about the sex. He closes the gap and brushes his lips against yours, the kiss starting out soft. It’s not until one of your hands slide up his back that he deepens the kiss, his tongue sliding inside your mouth. Hands snake down your body to your hips, but when he gives your ass a playful squeeze, you pull away laughing.

“Sorry”, he mumbles, but you can tell from the smirk on his face he is lying; it was 100% intentional.

“Think I can get your number,” he asks taking a deep breath. His voice is uneasy; it’s the first time in the months you’ve known him his confidence seems shaken. Before you can even take a breath he continues, “I always see these memes that make me think of you, but I can’t send them to you.”

A light chuckle gets caught in your throat, “right to send memes” you smirk, quirking an eyebrow to him. Pursed lips you gaze over his face for a few seconds, you can see his is nervous while he awaits your response. With a slight nod you hold your hand out “phone.”

Quickly he is in his pocket, unlocking the device and handing it to you. Putting your digits in you rise to your tippy toes and place a soft kiss to his cheek. “What time do you have to be up tomorrow,” he asks checking his phone, before putting it away. “If it’s not too early you could stay over,” he trails off at the end, his words coming out almost a whisper.

“I actually uh don’t,” you stutter.

“Oh is it a holiday of some kind?”

“Uh no…Long story but I don’t have a job right now, so I don’t have to be up in the morning.”

“You wanna talk –“

“Nope I do not,” you quickly cut him off, not wanting to relive it. “But I can stay,” you smile and he presses his lips back to yours.

“Felix is very excited,” he says and you laugh hearing the pup come up beside you with one of his squeaky toys. Pulling away you bend down to take his toy dinosaur from his mouth and throw it to the other side of the room for him to chase.

“Wait, what do you do with him when you’re on the road?”

“Steph, one of the guys’ girlfriends watches him.”

“Let me watch him,” you lean in to kiss his nose and he places a lick on your cheek.

“Well Fred thinks he’ll be out for a couple weeks. I’ll probably see if he can watch him,” Auston explains.

“Seriously? Why does Fred get to watch Felix,” you groan. Felix’s ears perk up when you say Fred’s name and you’d be lying if you said you weren’t slightly jealous he knows Fred’s name but not yours yet. You scratch his face, rubbing behind his big floppy ears while Felix leans into the pets slightly.

“He’s his stepdad,” Auston explains with a light laugh. “And I didn’t have your number until now, I couldn’t ask you.”

“Okay but now you do,” you pout as Felix spins in excited circles before falling to the floor for you to rub his belly.

“When Fred gets back to playing I’ll get you to watch him ‘kay”

“We would have so much fun eh Felix, get a million w-a-l-k ‘s a day” you spell the letters out so Felix doesn’t get excited. “So many treats and toys. I’m gonna be your favourite person in the world,” you say in your high pitched puppy voice while you eagerly rub his belly. His tail is slapping against the floor and you can hear Auston laughing and saying something, but you ignore it focusing your attention on the fourteen month old puppy that has captured your heart.

#if he's lucky i'll let him join #auston matthews fic #auston matthews x reader #auston matthews smut #auston matthews #fred andersen smut #freddie andersen fic #freddie andersen x reader #freddie andersen smut #freddie andersen #frederik andersen x reader #frederik andersen #frederik andersen smut #fred andersen #frederik andersen fic #nhl x reader #nhl smut #nhl fic #toronto maple leafs #toronto maple leafs fic #toronto maple leafs smut #felix matthews #Felix the one true star

[katherinewilliams221b]

in compensation for these months of silence (i’m super burnt out) here’s some  rough fragments I’ve probably posted before, from the first chapter of my wip

July, 3,  1998 - Lost

In a clearing near a forest, in the depths of Romania stood a tower with a single circular room at the top. Magically hidden from Muggles and even other wizards, Kate could work quietly without being interrupted, though in recent months she had used it as a bunker rather than a study.

There was a time when it was just ruins that Charlie had found when he moved into the small cottage down the road, but when they decided to move in together, partly because of Kate’s need not to depend on her family’s money and because they could no longer bear to live so far away from each other, Charlie refurbished it for her. All her papers, books, pots and jars would no longer be scattered around their small bedroom, but in this new space full of shelves, a makeshift greenhouse and even a raised area with a couple of old armchairs.

They never found out why it was there or who its original owner was.

Kate arrived at the building a few minutes after leaving the cabin in near darkness. Before entering through the heavy wooden door, she stared at the road behind her, only the dim light of her house was visible, and for a painful moment she wanted to run back to it to greet Charlie, who would be there when she arrived.

She climbed the spiral staircase to the top floor, where her little refuge was. The smell of smoke made her forget the tension in her home, replacing it with another kind of desperation; the need to use her hands, her brain, to make notes, to stay active, because if she stopped, she would have to face the image of Tonks lying on the floor; Lupin, next to her with his eyes open; screaming children, flashes of light and thunder; Fred.

She sighed and left her leather jacket on the coat rack next to the banister before heading for her desk. The candles on it were still burning, and it was the only thing that lit the place. At the sight of the mess on the table, she took a deep breath, slumping into the chair with a tired groan.

The last two months after the war had been draining; too many funerals, too many tears, too much guilt. The last funeral they attended was Fred’s and Kate didn’t dare look any member of the Weasley family in the face, not even Charlie.

She tilted her head to the side, bored, following the path of a viscous green liquid that made its way down her now broken cauldron, and glanced at her wand next to it. When would she find the courage to confess to Charlie that she had not been able to do magic since the battle? Wand, wandless, no potions, no transfigurations, not to mention that all her plants were dead or about to dry up completely. It didn’t take magic to care for a plant, so apparently her passion for herbology was diminishing a little more each day.

She snorted, thinking about her work; she couldn’t go back to the mediwizard world, either, after having....

She averted her gaze again, angry at the wooden stick taunting her from afar. She did a double-take when Grimoire, her bengal cat, leapt onto the table at that instant, getting a gasp from Kate.

“Freeze!” She stood up with one finger pointing at the animal. Grimoire stared wide-eyed as she picked up the shards of glass strewn across her desk. “I have to buy heat-resistant jars...” he muttered.

After the sudden reprimand, the cat sat by the cauldron, scanning the room with decaying interest.

“You know perfectly well you can’t be in here.” admonished Kate as she placed the broken jars to one side, away from Grimoire. He snorted in response.

Her hands tensed momentarily, and she quickly brushed her hair away from her face. Frustrated with the untamable locks, she pulled her hair back into a ponytail, twisted in on herself and reached across the desk for her wand, so she could pin the bun in place.

--

--

They stared at each other with the kitchen table in between them.

“It’s in my head and it hurts, and I don’t know if it’s going to be the right decision and I’m… sad. Thinking this way makes me sad.”

“To be honest, I… didn’t see this coming and I don’t know what that says about me… or us.”

Kate looked down and focused on her way too long nails, and momentarily considered going to the bathroom to give them a trim and escape from the conversation.

Charlie’s sudden doubts of their approximately five-year relationship took her by surprise, and the last thing she needed now was losing the only good thing that was happening in her life.

Looking up again, she took a deep breath and prepared for battle.

“I know that me being away all the time is not the ideal situation and I can look for another job if… if that’s what you mean, I know we’ve been relying on you but I told you we had my savings and…”

“It’s not that. I just… It’s hard. Doing this is hard. Watching you walk away all the time is hard and not knowing if you are coming back is even harder.”

“It’s not easy for me either, you know?”

“I didn’t say that it was.”

“I won’t stop working for the Order. I can’t do what you are asking me to do.”

“I’m not asking you to do anything. I’m just exposing how I feel!” Charlie rounded the table that separated them and stormed to the couch in front of the now empty chimney of their living room.

She was looking at the spot he left behind when he walked away, and it took a moment for her to remain calm and finally turn around.

Tentatively, she sat on an armchair in front of him and curled her legs under her.

“For how long have you been feeling this way?” she said, trying to sound as soft as possible.

“Just before you... arrived from your last mission, I was going to talk to Bill.”

“About?”

“Nothing in particular, but then he said something that made me think. You were unconscious and while we waited for you to wake up, he insinuated that...there’s a point in a relationship where... either you break up or you get married.”

Charlie took a peek at her, slowly enough to see her confused expression cross her face. She remained silent, afraid to look at him and insecure about how to proceed.

Anxious because of her lack of words, he spoke again, his voice above a whisper.

“Would you want to marry me?”

“I thought we agreed that marriage isn’t important to us.” She rushed to say.

“And what about... children?”

“I’m not ready to have that conversation now, and neither are you. Whatever Bill said about relationships may apply to him, but he doesn’t know us like we do.”

Kate stood now, suddenly brave, as she was now figuring out what may have happened with Charlie’s behaviour. She sat next to him on the couch, but he kept looking at his knees.

“I know that we’ve changed a lot since Hogwarts. We are not the same people we were when we got together.” She let out a breathy laugh that ended up being more watery than she intended. “We aren’t the same people as last year. I can...I can understand that maybe love isn’t enough anymore.”

At that, Charlie looked up and found her eyes, glossy with contained emotion and probably matching his own.

“It’s not that. Bloody hell, I shouldn’t have said anything!”

“No! Why? Because you think it can’t be fixed? We’re stronger than that.” He attempted to stand up, but she gently grabbed his wrist and pulled to make him sit by her side again. When he complied, a shaky breath left her mouth.

Her hand made its way up to his hand, grabbed it and brought it to rest on her lap. She traced his fingers and the lines of his palm, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly when he curled his fingers at the contact.

“Just for a moment,” she said, “tell me what you want and not what Bill or your mother expect you to do. Yes, I know your mom has a lot to do about what’s going on here.”

“It’s just so... confusing. I don’t want to end it and go separate ways, I really don’t.” A heavy weight was lifted from his shoulders at that moment. Without retrieving his hand from hers, he leaned back and stared at the ceiling.

They stayed like that for moments that seemed longer than they were, Kate caressing his hand looking out of the window while Charlie tried to keep his composure, shaking his head from time to time.

“What would happen if… if we break up?” He asked, still looking up.

Kate sighed and tried to answer as sincere as she could.

“I would probably go back to London. Get a flat somewhere. And beg Madame Louise to give me a job at St Mungo’s again.”

“Do you... would you prefer living in London?”

“I’m here because of you, Charlie. I’m not going to lie. If there’s nothing left for me here, then…”

“I thought you wanted to live here…” He tensed, and she noticed. She moved her other hand on top of his and secured it there. Perhaps to prevent him from running away, perhaps to have something to remind her what was at stake.

“I do not regret moving in with you. I would follow you anywhere. I hope you know that. I like the life we built here and I… I,” she choked up thinking about what was next, because it would probably hurt them both “I wish I could say I wouldn’t change it for anything but… I can’t sit here, knowing that a war is coming, and I didn’t, at least, try to prevent it.”

“I’m not asking you to quit for me. I’m… not like that.”

“I know.” She turned to look at him and squeezed his hand. Suddenly self-conscious, she feared how her face must have been looking: probably red and puffy from unshed tears.

“Do you think it would be easier to go on our own ways?” She threw the question too fast. She regretted asking immediately after she finished.

“Godric, no. No.” Kate took a deep breath and nodded. Maybe there could be hope.

“The only thing I can say is that begging for you to keep with this… would be unfair for you if...if this is not what you want. And that… the only good thing about my life right now is knowing that I can always come home to you. And just to make sure you know, yes. I would marry you, but not like this. Not because we may die in a near future or because we are expected to do that.”

Charlie nodded, but Kate’s hopes rapidly evaporated when he stood up to face the window.

Another instance of silence left Kate agonizing in her seat. She waited impatiently for his next words, and it took great strength not to pressure him further.

At last, Charlie turned again to face her. She searched his face, afraid of what she would find, but willing to search anyway.

“So…”

“So…”

“What do we do?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” He rubbed his face and tired eyes, on the verge of defeat.

“I want you to be happy, Charlie.”

“I won’t be.”

“But you aren’t happy now.”

Charlie chuckled sarcastically and shrugged. “Well, no, but just because there’s people that want to kill everyone I love.”

She laughed out of pure nerves, as well, and attempted to lift the mood, failing in gigantic proportions. “Yes, that’s pretty reasonable.”

Kate’s eyes unintentionally, or maybe not so, moved to a framed picture of them that rested on a table next to the couch.

She remembered that day well: it had been Barnaby’s birthday, and miraculously the gang managed to be all reunited for a night. Barnaby brought a camera he had been gifted and gave Kate and Charlie something to remember that day.

They looked happy, and they were for a few hours. She remembered how he sat on a stool at The Three Broomsticks, exhausted but with a grin plastered on his face; how she playfully sat on his lap and teased him about drinking enough fire whiskeys to make a dragon tipsy; how, after laughing, they noticed the flash of the camera that Andre was holding and that captured the moment they admired every day.

“We make a good team,” she started. “Your hands are warm, mine are cold; you know about animals, I know about plants; you like sports, I like sleeping…” At this point she was standing face to face with him, a sense of familiarity calming their nerves without knowing it.

“If you are going to say that you are the brain and I’m the muscle, I’m going to tickle you.”

“I said nothing of the sort…”

“You did! Once!”

“An insignificant slip.” She dismissed with a gesture of her hand.

They stared at each other with sad smiles and hearts, waiting for the other to say something reassuring or, at least, something that wouldn’t break their hearts in two.

Charlie inhaled deeply and yanked her to him, burying his head in the crook of her neck and circling his arms around her.

Kate tensed visibly, but when Charlie squeezed her to press her further against him, she finally relaxed.

She drew circles on his back, up his shoulders, tangling in his hair and down again. When he breathed, relieved, she mimicked him, pressing her face against his neck.

“You are worth fighting for.” he murmured into her hair. Kate just hugged him closer and both of them stayed that way; rocking gently from side to side and content knowing that it wasn’t all lost, after all.

“You are too.”

--

--

In a valley of the Carpathian Mountains, hidden from the Muggle and the untrained wizarding eye, an entire camp of explorers and lovers of winged creatures was spread out.

As Kate sat in her armchair with tears in her eyes, Charlie Weasley was thinking of her.

Sitting at a picnic table inside a tent, his gaze was fixed on a parchment with pictures on it that he kept out of focus, immersed in his thoughts.

“Well?”

He lifted his head to come face to face with Razvan’s hover chair, who was steering the brooms across the table.

“I don’t understand mechanics, Raz.” He said, handing him the parchment. His friend sighed and furrowed his big eyebrows, concentrating on his diagrams.

As muggle born as he was stubborn, Razvan only relied on magic in situations of utter necessity, convinced that he could help flightless dragons with devices of his own invention. When Charlie arrived at the sanctuary years ago, the two became best friends almost instantly.

Raz left his sketches on the table and waited for Charlie’s response, which never came. “The longer you wait, the worse it gets.”

The redhead clasped his hands in front of him, crestfallen.

“Honestly, I don’t know what your problem is.”

“I already explained it to you.” Charlie snorted, exasperated.

“Yeah, but I just don’t get it, mate. You’ve been like this for weeks.”

“It’s complicated.”

Razvan threw up his hands, surrendered, and floated over to the curtains that doubled as a door. “Don’t let Sonia see you whining in the corners, or she’ll send me to cheer you up.”

Charlie breathed a laugh and tapped the table before standing up. He smiled at his friend and he smiled back.

“And how are you?” They both walked out of the tent towards the last rays of sunlight that could be seen from the mountain. Charlie put a hand on his shoulder affectionately.

“Heh, ‘m fine. Waiting for the results... “Charlie tilted his head and frowned. “You really are slow these days. You took an exam and wrote a fucking 200 pages paper for this...”

Charlie tsked and with the movement of his head he saw Sonia’s blond dyed curls bounce towards them.

--

--

His mouth dropped open in realisation. That conversation, the book and the cardboard box were proof enough that Kate intended to leave Romania, and not for a mission for the Order, they were no longer necessary, no. This time it was for good.

Charlie headed towards the tower with a worried expression. He could see a faint light coming from his study, and that gave him some reassurance.

He pushed open the door and climbed the stairs to the top. Not seeing her from his position, he approached the desk to inspect the cardboard box. His heart clenched, fearing to find books, clothes or her notebooks. Instead, he stared directly at  broken glass.

He pulled his wand from his belt holster and muttered “repair,” causing the shards to return to their original form: eight potion bottles. A sniffing sound alerted him. Turning around, he made out Kate’s silhouette in the shadows, lying on one of the sofas. He placed his wand next to hers and made his way to the small living room, trying to take several calming breaths in the process. After reaching the table, he crouched down in front of it, leaving them facing each other.

Slowly, and trying to project an aura of calm, he rose, only to gently grab her shoulders and lift her upper body. He slid in behind her and sat down on the couch, letting her lean against his torso. Kate rested her head on his shoulder, finding warmth and a familiar sense of security in him. She felt his arm around her, pulling her even tighter against him.

Charlie stroked her hair as she sobbed, quickly losing control of his own emotions. He began circling her back to soothe her, and himself as well, when Kate grabbed a handful of his flannel. He met her hand, not letting it move from its place over his heart.

Without knowing it, they were both asking the same questions over and over again: would they be able to be in the same space, touch each other, look at each other... without suffering? What was the other holding back and why? How could they go back to the way they were before? And most importantly, did they want it?

#kate williams #wip #charlie weasley #charlie weasley fanfiction

[gingerteaonthetardis]

hi ging! been meaning to ask for a while (but chickened out a lot,,), but what got you shipping fremione? it’s definitely a ship combo i wouldn’t’ve thought of. anyhoo hope ya have a nice day ✨

aw, thanks for asking! (and for being brave enough to send an ask... i know the feeling!) but really, it’s kind of a long story, so strap in!

aeons ago, i saw this image:

and i thought, “huh! neat!” and proceeded to forget about it for... oh, several years, probably. just another useless potterfact. and i was a dr*mione shipper back then, anyway, so it didn’t mean much to me.

and then, in september of 2019, i re-watched goblet of fire. and i lost my whole. entire. mind. i sat down at my desk and i exhaled violently and i turned to my partner and said, “did you know that the twins were supposed to be hot?” and they said, “yes, obviously.” and then i turned to my friend on discord and said, “did you know that the twins were supposed to be hot?” and she said, “yes, obviously.” (i did that several more times to several more friends. all had the exact same answer.) and then i blacked out because i had apparently spent my teenage years with my head in the fucking sand, and i had missed out on appreciating undeniably the cutest and best characters in the whole stupid franchise.

particularly one character, who i had cried very intensely (and a some length) over the death of.

so, i had a new Interest and decided to explore the fred and george side of tumblr a bit. but then i remembered... that post... and i thought, “huh. are... fred and hermione... a thing?”

and the answer is, hilariously, no! that fact is fake!! there’s basically no canon evidence for them, whatsoever, at any point! the whole thing is us just grasping at straws, pepe silvia style!! not that it matters, because canon means nothing and j.k.’s opinion means less than nothing.

but, there are moments...

tiny, scattered little seconds...

[x]

when it seems like either the filmmakers, or the actors...

[x]

or the text itself...

had the slightest, tiniest scrap of intent...

of a relationship between hermione and fred.

and really, that’s all it took for a brain like mine. i started reading fic, and that basically sealed the deal for me. they’re two characters that i’ve always loved and connected to, and it just made sense to put them together in a shipping context. they each provide a nice sense of balance for the other, and they have something that the other lacks (and needs). they have the tol/smol dynamics!! the jock/nerd dynamics!! the right brain/left brain dynamics!! they have it all!!

there are enough little moments to cobble together an interesting backstory, if you fancy. or if you don’t... well, there’s always the future!

(because fred lives a long and happy life!!!! i know this for fact.)

#sorry for the length of this?!?!?! i'm feral #abbey.txt #fremione #hp #ludicrouslylorebound

[fishoutofcamelot]

I am once again thinking about a BBCM Mystery Skulls AU. Now, for those of you who are so woefully unaware of what Mystery Skulls is, allow me to set the scene.

(This ended up WAY longer than I was expecting, so I decided to put it all under the cut-off)

Merlin, Gwen, and Arthur have been friends since high school. Gwen is a spunky yet affectionate employee at a book store and despite her cutesy pastel aesthetic she has a bizarre interest in the occult/paranormal.

She came up with the idea for the three of them to form a ghost-hunting troop, and they call themselves the Mystery Skulls. And while Merlin and Arthur aren't nearly as invested in the idea as she is, since this is pretty much her hyperfixation, they are both very supportive nonetheless and enjoy going on adventures together.

Gwen has a pet lizard named Kilgharrah, and it's been in the family for a very long time, since before she was even born. Are lizards supposed to be able to live that long? She's never really given it much thought, but sometimes it seems almost...intelligent. Unnaturally so. Nevertheless, the weird and unexplainable is kinda their whole brand, and Kilgharrah has become something of a mascot for them, so they all let it slide.

Arthur is the Fred of the group. Muscular and almost-but-not-quite-a-himbo, he's the one driving the van with a cocky grin. Fearless, popular, everyone loves him, and besides some family issues he's got a good life. He and Gwen are in a relationship, and they're very lovey-dovey about it. He doesn't know much about the paranormal, certainly not as much as his girlfriend, but the idea of punching a ghost in the face is very alluring to him.

And then there's Merlin. He lives with his uncle Gaius due to...unexplained family drama, but the two of them have a good thing going. Gaius runs a mechanic shop on the edge of town, but his age is starting to catch up to him so Merlin has slid in as his replacement. Which makes sense, considering Merlin's near prodigy level of skill with machines. He's the one who fixed up an abandoned beat-up van and offered it up for their ghost-hunting endeavors. He quite likes Kilgharrah, ever a fan of pets and animals and the like, and Kilgharrah appears to begrudgingly return the sentiment.

Merlin has been third-wheeling Arthur and Gwen since high school. But he's not bitter about it, really he's not. He definitely doesn't feel left out, doesn't feel like an outsider, doesn't constantly worry that they would prefer it if he wasn't around, doesn't constantly feel forgotten and cast aside as he watches them get so absorbed in their two-way whirlwind passion. Not at all. So Merlin sits and smiles, because he truly is happy for his friends, and he pretends the loneliness doesn't bother him.

One day, they decide to investigate a mysterious cave. There are rumors of it being haunted by some kind of demonic entity. Merlin, as always, says it's a bad idea and they should turn back. Arthur, as always, teasingly calls him a coward. Gwen and Arthur exchange excited grins at the prospect of facing a real ghost. Merlin watches them wistfully, longingly. He fails to notice the way that Kilgharrah is getting increasingly anxious the closer they get to the cave.

Merlin has a really bad feeling about this cave, and a gut feeling tells him to go back to the van and head home. No one heeds his instincts.

There are two diverging paths in the cave, and Merlin dreads the moment that Arthur will inevitably suggest they split up. They usually split up between Merlin and Kilgharrah, and Arthur and Gwen. Because of course Arthur will want to pair off with his girlfriend.

Arthur notices that Merlin is scared, which makes sense because Merlin is always scared during their investigations. Gwen is sympathetic yet encouraging like she usually is - but notices that Merlin is more frightened than usual, so she suggests that Arthur pair off with Merlin instead this time, while she takes Kilgharrah. This doesn't make Merlin feel any better.

Arthur and Merlin head down one path in the cave, which eventually leads them to a cliff. All the while, Merlin keeps hearing whispers. Whispers that speak of horrible, macabre, terrible things, and all those whispers keep rattling in his mind like sharp-edged marbles. Arthur says he hears nothing at all, and they both conclude that Merlin is just hearing things.

He is not, in fact, just hearing things.

Arthur comes to the edge of the cliff and peers over to see the sharp, jagged stalagmites at the bottom. He beckons Merlin to come over and check out this cool view - but Merlin can't.

Merlin is...frozen. Petrified. Unable to move because of all the whispers attacking his mind from all angles, pounding into him with a righteous headache. His thoughts have turned to static, and his vision is quickly growing dark. Starting at his fingertips, his arm begins to go numb. The numbness gradually crawls deeper and further into his body, until he knows no more.

The spirit of the cave, the demon, the entity, whatever it is...it sapped into him through his misery. Through his loneliness. Through his pain. His pain has made him vulnerable for possession, and the demon plans to take full advantage of this.

The possession begins at the fingertips, its demonic wispy presence infecting him from the hand up. By the time its control has reached all the way to Merlin's face, it has enough strength to surge Merlin's body forward while Merlin himself is unconscious.

The half of Merlin's face that is still free from possession remains slack and unaware, but the half that has fallen into the demon's clutches is alight with a grin. It pushes Merlin's hand into Arthur's chest and gives a powerful shove.

As Arthur falls from the cliff, he doesn't have time to notice how Merlin's normally blue eyes have turned a sickly green, nor to notice the jaundiced hue pervading his friend's flesh, nor the spectral mist clouding all around Merlin's body in a haze.

No. As Arthur falls, as Arthur crashes into the ground and feels a stalagmite rip into his chest, all he sees is the half of his friend's face that has been contorted into a demonic smile.

Meanwhile, Gwen and Kilgharrah's path led them down a different part of the cave, and eventually they reach the bottom of a deep chasm filled with stalagmites.

Gwen spots Arthur at the top of a nearby cliff and waves up to him, but her excitement is short-lived as she watches him fall. Watches a stalagmite pierce his chest. Watches blood splatter everywhere.

It is said that if someone wishes for something passionately and profoundly enough as they die, then their dying wish might be granted. In this case, Arthur wishes more than anything for Gwen not to see him die. To not remember this. To just forget.

His wish is granted, and Gwen faints from the sheer force of his dying wish turning all her thoughts into static.

Kilgharrah sees the demon at the top of the cliff. Sees the wretched beast puppeteering Merlin's flesh, and snarls.. How dare that horrible thing possess one of his humans!

You see, Kilgharrah is no ordinary lizard. But rather, a very ancient and very powerful dragon masquerading as such, tasked with the protection of Gwen's lineage - the reasons for which only he is old enough to know or remember.

But while he is supposed to look after just Gwen, he has taken quite a liking to her friends as well. All three of them are under his protection, and it would be a disgrace to let this pitiful demon steal Merlin away under his watch.

So Kilgharrah unfurls from his false lizard form and embraces his true form - that of a massive dragon - and does whatever he can to purge the demon from Merlin's vessel.

Unfortunately, there's only one thing he can do. Since the demon has so vehemently lodged itself in Merlin's arm, quickly spreading out through the rest of his body, Kilgharrah has only one option left to stop the demonic infection.

Hating himself for it all the while, Kilgharrah bites off Merlin's arm.

A day later, Gwen wakes up in the hospital. Not only can she not remember watching Arthur die, but she can't remember anything to do with Arthur at all. She wakes up in the hospital with no recollection of how she got there, her pet lizard a blood-spattered coil on her lap, and with everyone telling her that her best friend Merlin is in surgery.

When Merlin wakes up, he also has no recollection of what happened to Arthur. He remembers going into the cave, splitting up...but everything goes blank after that. He doesn't know where Arthur is. Doesn't know what happened to his arm.

And he certainly doesn't know why he has become so debilitatingly afraid of Kilgharrah. Kilgharrah, who is by all accounts an ordinary lizard, but in Merlin's dreams transforms into a massive beast with bloody teeth.

Gwen gets a glazed look in her eyes and suffers horrible migraines whenever anyone mentions Arthur, so Merlin eventually gives up trying to remind her. Her memory problems have made her a lot more...scatter-brained, and although Merlin gets easily spooked he's willing to go to a thousand seances if it'll help Gwen act like her old self again.

He also tries to go back to the cave, but it has mysteriously vanished from where he knows it was meant to be. Gwen says that if a place is haunted by something powerful enough, it can change its own location, or can make it so that it will only be found if it wants to be found.

But Merlin refuses to give up. He uses the spare parts lying around his uncle's shop and builds himself a mechanical prosthetic, and loses himself in a never-ending quest to find his friend, to figure out what happened to his arm, and to find a way to restore Gwen's memories.

When Arthur wakes up, he discovers he has turned into one of the same ghosts he and his friends used to hunt. He looks down and sees his body, bloody and broken and cold as it lays impaled on a stalagmite. He can't look at it for long without feeling sick.

He also feels angry. Very, very angry. While his death had happened fast, too fast, he can clearly remember Merlin pushing him. Merlin, who he thought was his best friend. Merlin, who he grew up with. Merlin, who has always been there for him.

Surging with betrayal and fury, Arthur's now spectral body floats out of the cave. He has only one objective on his mind: vengeance.

#do you like merlin angst? arthur angst? gwen angst? #then this is the right au for you! #seriously tho #you really should watch mystery skulls #theres 4 episodes out atm and theyre on youtube #i think their number order is in the thumbnails but #just in case youre wondering. #first is ghost. second is freaking out. then comes hellbent. and then fourth is future #hellbent and future are my two favorites ngl #they freaking BOP #i mean all of them bop. theyre animated music videos #but STILL #bbc merlin #msa #mystery skulls animated #mystery skulls au #merlin bbc #merlin #bbcm #fish post

[ex-vengeancedemon]

A Night at the Opera

Main Pairing: Cordelia Chase x Winifred Burkle

Characters: Cordelia Chase, Winifred (Fred) Burkle, Charles Gunn, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce

Summary: Set after Fred is rescued from Pylea and Angel is gone to grieve Buffy's death. Someone needs to help Fred come out of her shell - her shell being her room. Cordelia was making great progress... until she was hit with another head-splitting vision.

I guess there's a total of like 10 fanfictions on ao3 with this pairing (a shame) so I had to write it myself. Chapter 1 below cut. Read here or on ao3.

Chapter Index (out of 3):

Check Back for Updates

Chapter 1

"So," Gunn said, tapping his fingers on the front desk and looking over his shoulder. "Has she come out at all yet?"

Cordelia looked up from the case file she had been perusing and gave a wane smile. "I think she's making progress. She peaks her head out of her room sometimes now."

"Ah, yes," Wesley said. "Progress indeed."

The truth was that the hotel's new guest had been almost completely confined to her room since Angel had left. It was understandable. Winifred Burkle had been a captive of the dimension, Pylea, for the past 5 years, during which she spent her time living in a cave and writing on the walls. In a way, her room was her new cave... and she had yet to break the whole 'writing on walls' habit. Angel had been her savior, the one she trusted most. And he had left to take some time to... well, to mourn Buffy.

Cordy, Wes, and Gunn had been taking turns delivering food outside her door, primarily tacos. They would knock. She wouldn't answer. And they would leave the food on the floor outside. When they returned to check, the food would be gone. Cordelia had spotted her a few times from down the hall. Just glimpses here and there. Fred was still skittish, even of them.

"She can't stay up there forever," Gunn said, shaking his head. He stopped abruptly, as if reconsidering his prior statement. "She can't. Can she?"

Wesley sighed. "She spent five years in a cave with no plumbing. What's a month in a hotel room?"

Cordelia smiled and raised her pen. "With room service."

Gunn rolled his eyes, his eyes again wandering to the once grand staircase as if Fred might come walking down. "I don't know. It just doesn't seem like isolation is the way to help her reintegrate, you know?"

Wes nodded, but he seemed more focused on searching for a tome on the bookshelf than the conversation at hand. "Agreed."

"Well then," Cordelia said, turning to Gunn. "Why don't you go help reintegrate her then?"

Gunn shook his head. "Can't. Told Rondell I'd help him clean out a vamp nest setting up roots in the neighborhood. Gotta head out in an hour."

"Alright Wes, guess you're up to bat then," Cordelia amended.

"Hmm?" Wesley asked, looking up from a thick text coated in odd runic symbols. "What was that?"

Cordelia rolled her eyes and groaned. "Never mind!"

If you want something done... Guess she would have to be vision girl, office manager, detective, and guide to the newbie. That was fine. She could multitask.

Cordelia stood up from her desk, straightened her case files, and walked up the stairs like she knew exactly what she was going to do when she reached Fred's door.

She didn't.

When she reached Fred's door, she took a deep breath and knocked. Then she waited. And waited. There was no answer. She couldn't even hear any movement on the other side.

"Fred?" Cordy called out through the door. "It's me, Cordelia. Are you in there?"

After a long moment, a quiet voice replied, "Yeah. I'm fine, just fine! Thanks for checking. Bye!"

"Good! That's good!" Cordelia said, registering the jumpiness in her voice. "Can I come in? Maybe we could talk for a bit?"

"Talk? Yes, I've been thinking about the acoustics of the hotel and how the sound wave frequencies often seem to match the resonance of the ventilation system creating the disturbing creaks that seem to be everywhere at once and-" Fred's voice cut off. "Oh... well I suppose that probably wasn't what you wanted to talk about."

Cordelia nodded her head slowly. "Uh...huh... Well, I think the sound waves might travel better if you opened the door."

"Oh, right." Fred chuckled nervously and Cordelia could hear multiple bolts being unlocked.

Fred slowly opened the door a crack and gave a small smile. She pursed her lips and finally opened the door all the way.

Motioning an awkward invitation with her arm, Fred said, "Come in."

Cordelia walked into the dim room with the lights all off and the curtains drawn. She would almost think this was Angel's room given the seeming aversion to the light. However the darkness wasn't the most interesting thing about the room. Neither were the food wrappers that were scattered around on the floor. No, the most interesting thing in the room was the wall. Or rather, the walls. They were covered in hasty scrawl, most of which was impossible to make heads or tails of. Cordelia had no idea what it meant, only that it covered an extensive amount of wall space from the floor to the ceiling.

"Sorry for the mess," Fred said, kicking away a few stray wrappers with a measure of embarrassment. "Wasn't expectin' company."

"No!" Cordy replied, trying her best to sound reassuring. "Really, it's fine. I just came barging in!" She glanced around at the walls. "I love what you've done with the place! Very artsy. Custom wallpaper is all the rage these days."

Fred smiled and looked down at the floor. She seemed like she was trying to make herself smaller, to hide even in plain sight. For someone who was already petite to begin with, she looked downright tiny now.

"I just...," Fred began, "I just have to write it down. Don't wanna forget. To lose it. You know, things get lost. You think it and then it's gone. The electrochemical responses of the brain just don't leave a long enough impression for you to capture it indefinitely and the memory is so fallible and-"

"Fred, Fred," Cordelia cut her off with an empathetic look. "It's okay. You don't have to explain yourself to me. If you want to write on the walls, you write on the walls." Cordelia put up her hands and grinned. "And you know what? If you run out of wall, we can paint the walls and you can start over again."

Finally, Fred laughed. It was a quiet, nervous laugh, but Cordelia could tell it was genuine. She thought it was the first genuine laugh she'd heard Fred make since they met. It was sweet.

"You know I could get you some notebooks though," Cordelia continued. "You know, if you'd like."

"Gee I almost forgot about notebooks," Fred replied, "and pencils. In Pylea, I just used a sharp rock and some cypril powder."

"What's-"

"It's the excrement of-"

Cordelia held up a hand. "Never mind! I'm good."

Fred nodded, unfazed by Cordelia's reaction.

"Do you know when Angel will be back?" Fred asked suddenly. "He's been gone for a long time. You don't think- Well, he is coming back, right? He didn't just leave forever...right?"

Cordelia was taken aback by the anxiety and fear in Fred's voice. She knew they had bonded in Pylea. She may have underestimated just how much.

Cordelia shook her head vigorously. "No, no. Of course, he's coming back! He just needed some time to process and grieve."

"Over Buffy?"

"Yeah." Cordelia frowned, the news of Buffy's death had hit Angel hard. She hoped the meditation was helping him... but she kind of doubted it. "Buffy was his first love. And then she died. And he wasn't there."

Fred bit her cheek. "His first love. Right. That...that makes sense."

Cordelia moved to put a hand on Fred's shoulder, but Fred flinched and pulled away. Cordelia hastily pulled her hand back.

"Don't worry, he'll be back," Cordelia said, trying to reassure with her eyes instead. "I'm sure he's-"

A blinding flash of searing, white hot pain shot its way through Cordelia's head and all the way down her spine. She screamed out and collapsed to the floor, no longer able to see. Her body felt like it was on fire. It was as if she were having a migraine, heart attack, and stroke all at once while simultaneously being hit by a bus, soaked in gasoline, and set on fire. No, it was worse than that.

She could faintly hear Fred somewhere in the distance, but she couldn't make out what she was saying. Then her hearing was overtaken by screams that weren't her own. Flashes of a scene played out before her unseeing eyes. A girl. Brunette, dressed in an unmistakable designer Tommy Hilfiger dress.

Cordelia relayed the specifics through the pain to whoever might be listening. The girl was being chased by a vampire dressed in a suit. In some kind of theatre? Cordelia snapped out of the vision and the pain subsided slightly. It left her exhausted and aching all over.

She blinked a few times as her sight returned. Wesley and Gunn where hovering over her looking concerned. She felt the pillow beneath her head shift and she realized suddenly that her head was resting in Fred's lap. Fred leaned over so Cordelia could see her and brushed some stray hair out of her face.

"Did you guys get all that?" Cordelia asked, closing her eyes as she fought back a wave of nausea.

"Yeah," Gunn replied. "You got anymore information on this theatre?"

Cordelia thought back to the vision, trying to get a feel for it. "Um, definitely upscale. I think it's downtown. It was during a performance. Um, an opera. Aida."

Wesley nodded. "Okay, I'll go see what I can find about a showing of Aida at the downtown theatres. Gunn, I think you have a prior engagement you should be getting to." He then turned back to Cordelia. "We'll be back soon. You should get some rest."

Cordelia nodded and Gunn and Wesley left the room.

"How are you feelin'?" Fred looked down at her with concern, her long brown hair dangling over Cordelia's face. "You really gave me a fright."

Cordelia sighed and closed her eyes again. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "The visions can be pretty... well, ugly. But it's over now. I'll be fine."

Fred bit her cheek again. Cordelia didn't think she had quite fooled the surprisingly perceptive physicist. Fred continued to run her fingers over Cordelia's hair in a calming gesture and Cordelia drifted off. She could sleep here... just for a minute.

#ats #angel the series #ats fanfiction #angel the series fanfiction #cordelia chase #winifred burkle #cordelia chase x winifred burkle #winifred burkle x cordelia chase #rare pair #a night at the opera #chapter 1 #masterlist #femslash

[1littleshippergirl1]

They know

Summary: Harry and Percy are getting closer when the family finds out

@curiousfeline

--

To be clear, it wasn't their intention to try and leep their blossoming friendship and subsequent feelings hidden from the family. They weren't ashamed by any means, but Harry was always getting whisked away by Ron or Ginny for one reason or another.

So, they made it a habit of Harry sneaking out of bed to tip-toe down the hallway down to Percy's room, knocking gently with his knuckles until Percy would open the door and they would stay up for hours, just talking about anything and everything.

After the war ended, Percy temporarily moved out of his flat that was near Diagon Alley to come back to the Burrow and into his old bedroom. They were all hurt and in need of healing after what happened to Fred; Percy felt deeply guilty and sorry for everything he'd done and vowed to make it up to them.

Harry was there, too. Mrs. Weasley insisted he stay there now that Voldemort wasn't a threat anymore. The Dursleys certainly wouldn't welcome him back with open arms or at all, really. Last he heard, they were still in hiding for the time being; just until things settled down more.

Harry had always had mixed feelings regarding Percy. At first, he was just the somewhat stuck up, no fun older brother that scolded him and Ron sometimes. But than again, Harry never had an older brother figure in his life so maybe most of them were like that.

But, as he grew older, feelings started to arise that were far from friend or brother-like. It further complicated things, causing a swirl of anxiety to feel as though it was being dropped in his stomach like a ton of bricks. He was sure that Percy would never see him beyond being Ron's best mate.

Until, lately, that is.

Harry didn't see Percy as being much of a flirt, but as he would come to find out, there was much more to Percy Weasley than meets the eye.

A subtle brush against him as they passed each other, a shy smile exchanged more than once. They would glance at each other, quickly turning away. Harry once laughed a little too hard at a joke that Percy had said while talking to Charlie. Those nearby-Ron and Ginny-stared at him in bewilderment. Charlie raised his eyebrows and Percy looked downright amused.

Harry promptly turned red.

--

Harry was laying on Percy's bed, on his side with his head propped up with his elbow. He was listening attentively to Percy describing the work that the new Minister-Kingsley-had him doing as they diligently worked to repair what had been damaged during the time that the Death Eaters had taken over the Ministry.

Percy was always so passionate when he was talking about something that interested him. And Harry saw that shining through, with the redhead waving his arms around and his tone becoming excited.

Harry could have listened to him talk for hours, as cheesy as it was.

Percy abruptly calmed down, adjusting his glasses and giving Harry a sheepish smile. "I suppose I'm boring you aren't I?"

Harry shook his head. "No. Definitely not."

"You're sure?" Percy said, frowning. "I know it isn't the most riveting work out there."

"I'm sure," Harry reassured him. "Really. I'm glad you're sharing it with me. You don't really talk about it, otherwise."

Percy lowered his gaze. "Yes, well, no one wants to hear it. You've seen how everyone thinks of me as boring. I'm not deaf, you know. I hear them pretending to yawn and ask when it'll be over. I just act like I don't hear it."

A sense of shame filled Harry. He'd done that before, growing immensely bored at listening to Percy talk of cauldron bottoms and had nudged Ron to see if he was bored as Harry felt. It never occurred to him that Percy had caught what he said. "I'm sorry."

He needn't explain it. Percy came closer, standing up from his spot on his desk chair and sitting on the bed. He ruffled Harry's naturally untidy hair and the younger boy rolled his eyes. "It's alright," he assured, Harry.

"But it isn't," Harry protested. "You didn't deserve to be made fun of for that. No one makes fun of Charlie when he talks about dragons for hours and they don't pretend to be sleeping when Bill tells us the same stories about his job." He sat up, scooting closer to Percy and looked at the man earnestly. "It isn't fair to you."

"Harry-" Percy blinked, apparently caught off guard. "I...I didn't know you cared that much. I-thank you. I really appreciate it."

Harry leaned over to hug him, surprising them both. He wasn't all that affectionate, usually. "Of course I do," he muttered, getting momentarily distracted by the smell that was coming from Percy. He was wearing cologne. It suited him well.

It also was making Harry's brain short circuit.

Slowly, to linger to keep absorbing as much of the aroma as possible, Harry pulled away. A bit saddened at the loss of contact. But he didn't vocalize it.

Percy was looking at him quite funny. It made his stomach do that flip flop, like when he had his brief crush on Cho. He swallowed.

"What?"

"Nothing," Percy shook his head, giving a sound that was between a scoff and a breathy laugh. "I just- your eyes are very green, that's all."

"Err, okay," Harry said, bemusedly.

"S'stupid, I know. I just-"

"It's not," Harry interrupted him. "Guess I've just heard that a lot. I mean, I thought you knew."

" I did," Percy said, maintaining eye contact. "But I've never seen them this close up before. It's different."

"Oh," Harry whispered. "Alright."

"I like them," Percy said, quietly. "Your eyes. They're your best feature, really."

A brilliant flush washed over Harry's face. He wasn't used to being complimented for his appearance, much less from the man he'd taken a serious fancy to. "Thanks," he ducked his head. "I mean, they're alright, I suppose."

"I mean it," Percy licked his lips and Harry zeroed in on his tongue that lightly brushed over on the pink flesh.

Godric, help him.

"You're staring," Percy breathed and Harry knew he was caught.

"Sorry," Harry muttered. He was going to move, go back to Ron's bedroom where he found bury his face in the pillow to forget about this moment when Percy took ahold of his wrist, preventing him from leaving.

"Don't be," Percy's eyes were dilated. "I'm rather glad."

"You are?" Harry's own eyes widened slightly at the confession.

"Indeed. I quite like you, Harry."

"How do you like me?" Harry deliberately kept his voice low.

"I think you know," Percy said smoothly.

Harry's heart gave a leap.

"I want to kiss you," Percy admitted. "But this isn't the right time. We hardly know much about each other, not as much as we should."

Harry nodded wordlessly.

He longed to pull the other man by the loose tie he was still wearing and smash his lips against him, but Percy was right.

They both felt that connection.

That feeling of electricity that Harry had previously dismissed as being real.

They would take it slow. They wouldn't rush anything. Because they both wanted it to work.

It had to.

"We'll get there," Percy cut through his thoughts, speaking softly. "I promise you."

Harry could only nod again.

"Suppose I should go, then..."

"You don't have to," Percy shook his head. "If you don't want to, I mean. I like having you here." He laid on his back, his head resting against the pillow and he gestured for Harry to join him.

"Really?" Harry gawked at him. "You don't think it's too soon for that?"

Percy seemed a bit startled and propped himself on his elbows just as Harry had done earlier. "Do you?"

"I don't know," this was new territory for him. "I've never done this before."

"I understand," Percy said, sincerely. "You certainly don't have to if you dont want to."

Harry glanced over his shoulder at the closed door and back to Percy's slight apprehensive and hopeful face.

"I want to," he decided. He crawled next to Percy and the red head wrapped an arm around his shoulder, pulling him closer.

Harry's heartbeat quickened, the cologne infiltrating his nostrils once again. He'd never been that close in proximity to Percy before, where the freckles that were scattered on the man's face became more pronounced.

"Do I make you nervous?" Percy murmured. He'd turned his head, his breath hitting Harry's temple.

"A bit." Percy was having more of an affect on him, more than simply nerves. He was hardly doing much, and he might not have even known it, but the slight touch to Harry's skin was like fire.

Harry had never experienced such a feeling with anyone else and he didn't want it to end.

"A bit, how?" He could hear the smile in Percy's voice. His words were coquettish, thoroughly un-Percy-like.

"I think you know."

Percy's soft laugh reverberated off the walls.

They laid there for the longest time. Harry eventually allowed himself to relax, the tension from being so close to Percy fading away. For a while, until sleep began to override the red head and his hand went limp, his fingers had been running through Harry's hair.

It might've been Harry's imagination or a bit of a hallucination from exhaustion, but out of his peripheral vision, Harry could have sworn that Percy was going to kiss his forehead-before he retracted.

--

Harry noticed two things when he awoke the next morning.

One, he was laying right on Percy's chest. The red head was still asleep, blissfully oblivious to it, but his arms were wrapped around Harry's frame, keeping a decent grip for not being awake.

And two, Ginny was standing in the room, wide-eyed with her mouth agape, frozen.

"Ginny," he started, then stopped because what was he supposed to say that would somehow this when he was on her brother's chest, in his room when he should have been with Ron?

Ginny held her hands up, coughing lightly. "Mum, erm, was wondering where you went. Said to tell you, Ron and Percy that breakfast is ready."

"Right," Harry muttered. "Thanks."

Ginny nodded. A smirk came onto her face, now that her own awkwardness seemed to subside a bit. "Tell that to Percy when he wakes up, will you?"

Harry was trying to move at least one of Percy's arms, which was keeping him trapped. "Right," he said. "I'll do that. Close the door behind you, yeah?"

Ginny did just that and he was sure he heard her snicker as she turned away.

Once they were safe, privacy restored, Harry shook the red head gently. "Percy," he whispered, urgently. "Percy, wake up!"

Percy's face scrunched up and he looked blearily at Harry. "Hmm?" He grunted.

"Wake up," Harry repeated.

Percy released Harry when he moved his arms to rub at his eyes. "What time is it?" However, before Hary could get a word out, he sat straight up, suddenly looking more awake. "Oh, Merlin. We fell asleep."

Harry exhaled. "Yeah."

"You have to leave," Percy told him, quickly. "Mum's going to be wondering where you're at."

"Too late," Harry mumbled. He hesitated. "Ginny was here."

Percy groaned, falling back. "Merlin's beard, this isn't good."

"Sorry," Harry muttered, looking on over at the wall instead of Percy's eyes. "Should've left last night."

Unbeknownst to him, Percy frowned and sighed. "It's not your fault, now stop it. I was the one that invited you to lay down. I should've known better, we were both tired by that time."

"What will we tell them?" Harry wondered. "They're going to have questions."

"The truth," Percy shrugged.

"Really?" Harry blurted out.

Percy looked at him strangely. "Yes, if that's alright with you."

"Oh, yeah! Yeah, that's fine. I....I didn't think you'd want them to know."

"Why?" Percy was surprised. "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know," Harry shrugged now. "Figured you'd want to keep it quiet."

"But why?"

"I'm," Harry mulled over what he'd say, "not exactly the best person to be with right now."

"Harry, if this is about the war, I completely understand," Percy said softly.

"It's not that....people are going to talk, Percy."

"Let them," Percy said, immediately.

"But your job-"

"My job isn't going to dictate my personal life," Percy said, matter-of-factly. "If I want to see you and you're alright with that, then that's what I'll do."

A warm sensation filled Harry from his toes to his face. A goofy grin came onto his lips. "Oh," he murmured.

"Indeed," Percy agreed. There was a two second pause. "Shall I take it from your smile that you wouldn't mind seeing me?"

"You'd be right, Mr. Weasley," Harry said with a sense of playfulness that he didn't know he had in him.

Percy grinned.

--

Most of the family was there at the table, eating breakfast and drinking their tea without much talking going on. Bill and Fleur were back at their cottage, they'd decided against staying at the Burrow. And right after the battle, Charlie was summoned back to Romania to tend to one of the dragons that was injured from some falling debris.

Ron wasn't down there, yet, either. Harry was thankful. Perhaps he hadn't realized he was gone. Of course, that wouldn't stop Ginny or Mrs. Weasley from asking him about last night. He imagined they were bursting to know why he was in Percy's room, of all people.

"Morning," Harry kept his head low. Percy let him go ahead of him, while he dawdled.

Mrs. Weasley glanced at him, smiling. She was pouring tea in Ginny's cup. "Good morning, Harry, Dear. How did you sleep?"

Ginny snorted.

Harry cleared his throat. Mrs. Weasley was most likely not trying to tease him, but he still couldn't help but feel cornered. "Fine, thanks."

"Bet you did," Ginny mumbled.

Harry blushed, taking a seat.

"I noticed you weren't in Ron's room, Dear," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Err, yeah."

"Ginny told me you were in Percy's room, is that right?"

"Yeah," Harry said, quietly.

George almost spit out his tea. "Percy's room?" He said in disbelief. "What in Godric's name were you doing in there?"

Now Harry definitely felt cornered. "Nothing," he said hurriedly to avoid any unnecessary belief in thinking that they'd done more than they did. "We just talked, is all."

"Talked to who?" Ron came down, yanking behind his hand.

"Harrykins was talking to Percy," George informed him. "Last night in Percy's bedroom."

"Why?" Ron looked at Harry, blankly.

"Hush up, all of you," Mrs. Weasley had mercy on Harry. "If Harry wants to tell you, that's his business. And be nice, Percy is your brother. He's working hard to mend things so we should be making am effort as well." She gave her children a stern gaze, silently daring them to contradict her.

"Oh, come on, Mum," George protested, "you aren't the slight bit curious why Harry was with Percy, of all people?"

"No," she retorted.

Harry grimaced when Percy appeared, smiling at them. "Good morning," he greeted, kissing his mum on the cheek. "This looks delicious, Mum." He took a seat adjacent to Harry's.

"Why was Harry in your room, Perce?" Ron said, dumbly.

"It isn't it obvious?" Ginny mumbled under her breath.

But Ron didn't hear her.

"Not that it's any of your business," Percy said, pointedly, "but we were talking."

"About what?" George was confused. "What could you two have to talk about?"

"Plenty," Percy raised his eyebrows.

Harry itched to intervene before Ron or George said something hurtful, as they prone to do.

Ron blinked. "But why?" He pressed. "Harry never talks to you."

"Actually, Ron-"

"We do," Harry said and everyone's attention turned to him. "Talk, I mean. We've been doing it every night since Percy came back."

Ginny looked thoughtful. George and Ron were astounded. Mrs. Weasley had a smile on her face.

"You have?" Ron couldn't believe it.

"Yes," Harry said, slowly. "And that's not all." He glanced at Percy for permission. The red head nodded subtly. "We're, err, well-"

Percy, thank Godric, was able to articulate it for him. "What Harry means to say is, we've come to have certain....feelings for each other."

Mrs. Weasley squealed and gave them both a bone crushing hug. Harry had a nagging suspicion that wedding magazines would soon be popping up all over the place.

"Oh, that's wonderful!" She gushed, clapping her hands together.

Oh, yes, Harry could see the wedding bells in her eyes.

"We aren't together yet, Mum," Percy said, gently. "Not yet. We want to get to know each other first."

"Oh, nonsense. You've known each other for years!"

"But not on a personal level," Percy explained, patiently. "I know Harry as Ron's friend. But I want to know him further. I want to know him intimately."

Harry's felt awfully like a teenage girl, but he could not stop the happiness that was roaming around within him. He couldn't remember someone ever saying something like that to him before.

"You really like Percy like that, Harry?" Geotge spoke up, glancing between them. Ron was looking just as confused.

"Yes," Harry affirmed.

"Like a-a lover?" Ron was having difficulty getting the question out.

Ginny narrowed her eyes. "Ronald Weasley, if you even think about-"

"I don't care that he's gay!" Ron said, defensively. "He already told me, anyway. S'just weird, is all, liking my brother."

"You didn't react well when he was with Ginny, either," George snickered.

Said Weasley rolled her eyes.

"But I do agree with Ron on this," George continued, sobering. "Why Percy?" He looked to Harry.

Percy was trying to appear as though he didn't care that much about Harry's response, trying to nonchalantly stir the sugar into his tea; but Harry saw through that. He was obvious (to Harry), there came the little glances out of the corner of his eye as he waited for Harry to speak. "He's just..." Harry paused, "different. He made mistakes but he's trying to fix them and there's so much more about him that I never realized."

"Like what?" Ron asked.

"He's really passionate about things and he's got a wicked sense of humor."

"Percy?" George snorted. "Our Percy? Him? Percy Weasley?"

Percy looked mildly annoyed.

"Yes, him," Harry said. "You'd know if you paid more attention to him."

That got them thinking.

"Alright, then, why Harry?" Ron directed to Percy.

"He's different," Percy chuckled when his siblings rolled their eyes. "He makes me feel appreciated and I don't have to worry about boring him. It's just a different feeling, one that I never even shared with Penelope." He then added, "He's quite good looking, too."

Ginny laughed.

Mrs. Weasley beamed.

Harry shot him a dirty look, his cheeks reddening.

"Oh," was all Ron could say.

"You're not angry, are you?" Harry was concerned.

Ron immediately shook his head. "Course not. It'll take some time to get used to but you don't have to worry about anything, Harry. You're my best mate. I'll support you no matter what."

Inwardly, Harry gave a sigh of relief.

Ginny kicked George from underneath the table. "Ow! Sheesh, Gin. What was that for? If Harrykins likes Percy, then that's fine by me. He's just going to regret not picking up on a such a handsome bloke like myself," he said with an air of fake arrogance.

"You're not even gay," Ginny pointed out.

"The point still stands," George sniffed.

The Weasley siblings shared a laugh. Harry watched as Ginny affectionately ruffled Percy's hair and George promised to give Harry a "talking to" and later on, when Mr. Weasley came back from whatever he was working on in the shed, he was informed of the events he missed.

Now that it was out in the open, he and Percy didn't have to be so secretive. So, at dinner, they sat next to each other and Harry was free to glance over at his potential lover, observing how he easily brushed off his siblings' teasing about his (possible) relationship.

It was a good time, indeed.

--

I hope y'all liked it! I would love to do more Percy/Harry so if you guys have any requests, don't be afraid to message me!

#harry potter #harry james potter #percy weasley #percy weasley x harry potter #george weasley #ginny weasley #molly weasley #ron weasley #harry potter fanfiction

[extremelyblackandwhite]

i wanna know what love is - 08

Pairing: rockstar! sebastian stan x writer!reader

Warnings: none

A/N: i’ve been so happy to receive your feedback, it just always makes my day. thank you so much everyone xx

Last Chapter // Next Chapter

Sebastian and Y/N had left the cafe a few hours later to go pack for the hotel them and the rest of the band were staying at during the Las Vegas tour, once they finally arrived at WestGate where they were staying. Y/N couldn’t help but gasp at the mere idea of staying in a luxury hotel, much less the famously known WestGate. Sebastian has to be the one to pull her inside the reception as she had started to take various pictures of every single thing she saw, like a middle class tourist. 

Sebastian reached the reception, holding her by her wrist so she wouldn’t run off and take more pictures of stupid useless stuff. He removed the sunglasses, placing them on top of his cap and gave the receptionist one of those charming smiles, that even Y/N had to admit could get someone to do whatever they wanted. 

Y/N was far too busy taking pictures with one of her disposable cameras to even listen to what he was talking about with the receptionist. Every single thing in this luxury hotel seemed to take her breathe away and for the first time in forever she understood the appeal of the lifestyle Sebastian had and why most girls slept with him. Sleeping with him would mean getting at least a mere second of the gold and riches of this lifestyle.

   - Y/N, c’mon. You can take plenty of pictures after check-in. - he grabbed her wrist again, walking over to the lift where a very nice dressed man was standing. He pressed the button and gestured for them to enter only to follow right after. 

  - Where to sir? - he asked, further fascinating Y/N. Someone asking her where to go in the lift? People barely even looked at her whenever she got into a lift back home. 

  - The Tuscany Sky Villa, please. Thank you. - Sebastian gave the man a kind smile, unknowingly still holding onto her wrist. She was too excited about how fancy the lift itself was, with a velvet red coach standing behind her. She even felt guilty holding her old suitcase and using her very cheap on sale summer dress. The ding itself made her more excited as it showed them what looked like a very expensive painting on a very large hallway. Sebastian stood behind to pay the lift chauffeur as she rushed into the room coming face to face with a very large table. Rich people sure knew how to live the high life. 

  - Is this all ours? - she turned to face Sebastian who had placed his suitcase by the door and was taking his jacket off. 

  - It’s a 6 bedroom villa, so it’s just me, you, the boys and maybe one or two of their wives. I never really know which one of them comes in. - he looked around, trying to look for anything different in the villa but as always, it was the same thing. Y/N on the other hand was having her brain exploded every time she looked at the villa that seemed to have been carved out of pure gold, which he couldn’t help by smile at. - Talking about the boys, they should be arriving in no time so if you wanna go ...

 - Is that a pool? - she rushed over to the window, her eyes coming in contact with a private pool, her own private pool. - God, now I understand why you wanna leave the band. Imagine having this all to yourself. 

 - Would be a little bit empty, don’t you think doll? - he sat on one of the chairs, looking at his phone to check if any of the boys had said anything else but all they had said was to meet at the hotel villa. 

 - Doll? That’s new. - she kept looking around, discovering even more greatness where she thought couldn’t get any greater. - Can you show me to the bathroom? I could really do with a nice bubble bath. 

 - Sure. - he got up and gestured for her to follow her, leading to what she, once again, thought was the biggest bathroom she had ever seen with the biggest bath tube she had ever seen. The tiles were marbled with a big angel marbled picture above the bath tube followed by a chandelier in the middle of the bathroom. - There’s some bath robes in the drawers by the sink. After that just pick a room, let me know if you need anything.

 - Alright, thank you. - Y/N rushed over to the bath tube, turning on the tap on the hot water setting. There was nothing she loved more than a nice bubble bath, nothing was more soothing than that.

Meanwhile, Sebastian went back to the entry room and after a few minutes of looking at his phone, the boys and Fred’s wife Mary, came into the room holding milkshakes. Mary was definitely Sebastian’s favourite, she was the one who’d leave him be and not question him a lot. People like that were always his favourites. 

 - Hey man, we’re about to go the club in a bit. Wanna come? - Anthony asked, taking a sip of his favourite milkshake. 

 - No, I think I’m gonna stay in. - Sebastian wasn’t in the mood for club, he didn’t really understood why, he just didn’t feel like leaving and go outside and be photographed. 

 - Where’s Y/N, we gotta ask her. - Fred pointed out. 

 - She’s taking a bath right now. I’ll go scream it at her. - Sebastian got up and rushed over to the bathroom before one of them tried and convince him to go out, which in all honesty was something that was quite easy to do. He knocked on the door of the bathroom rather loudly making sure she heard it. - Hey Y/N, can I come in?

 - Sure. - he heard her from the inside and opened the door, expecting her to be in her bathrobe already. Instead what he saw was Y/N submerged in bubbles except from her shoulders up. Now, Sebastian had seen his fair share of naked women, more than fifteen that excluding the naked models for their album covers, however, for whatever reason in the world, the view of her naked shoulders made him blush. - Did you just come in to watch me bath or do you want anything?

 - Yeah ... yeah, the guys, they’re going to the club and they wanna know if you want to join them. - he leaned against the door looking at his shoes. 

 - No, I think I wanna stay in. I’ve spent all my free evenings working and I think I wanna binge some shows today. - she replied and he didn’t took a second before closing the door and walking to the entry room, trying to forget what he had just seen. The boys had taken to sit down on the chairs, waiting for Y/N’s answer but what they got was a very flustered Sebastian, a sight they never see. 

 - You alright? - Mary questioned, a tricky smile on her face. - You look very ... flustered. 

 - Suck it, Mary. - he blurted out to her before turning to his bandmates who looked equally interested on what had made him so flustered. - Y/N wants to stay in. 

 - Okay. When we get back ... - Anthony went to pick his coat. - Maybe you’ll want to tell us why you look like a tomato. 

Y/N meanwhile took no offence to her bath being interrupted and just kept soaking herself in the rose scented water until the water became too cold for her to handle. She got off the tub, pulling the plug so the water could go down, got dressed into one of the softest bathrobes she had ever tried, and started to lather herself with some lotion. After she was done, she opened the door of the bathroom and looked around, her suitcase still in hand, looking for the first room she saw. She saw one closer to the bathroom and decided this was now her room. 

The room had double doors that opened to her dream room. The same flower motif and panels were scattered around the room, and right in the centre against the wall was a king sized bed almost covered in pillows. At the bottom of the bed was a nice TV, and on top of the bed was a fruit basket. She rushed over to the bed, opening her suitcase and pulling her PJ. Afterwards, she started to go through the basket which was filled with lovely fruit, chocolates and ... a bottle of vodka. She certainly did not want that bottle of vodka all for herself, however she knew someone who’d enjoy it.

Her plan went downstream after she realised she had no idea if Sebastian was in and if he was, she had no idea where he could be. Luckily, the bright light from one of the rooms just near her made her believe that someone was at least in. She lightly knocked on the door, opening it to find Sebastian laying in bed watching TV. His eyes raised from the TV to hers and she raised the bottle of vodka in her hand. 

 - I got this in my bedroom, but I think you’d like it more. - she shook the bottle, walking into his bedroom and handing it to him. - Why didn’t you go out with the boys? I thought clubbing was your thing. 

 - Tired. - he took the cap of the bottle of vodka, downing a bit of bit followed by his grunting of how bitter it was. - Do you want some?

 - No, that one is all yours. - she smiled and turned her back of him, ready to go back to her room and have a very nice Netflix binging session followed by some free room service. 

 - She cheated on me. - he blurted out, making her stop in her tracks and turn to face him. - The reason why me and Melody broke up, she cheated on me. I came back from one of the shows one day, open the door to my bedroom and there she was riding one of the roadies like a cowgirl. 

 - Oh ... - that was way too much information, however, she did not know why he had decided to tell her. Had the alcohol hit his brain that fast? - Why did you decide to tell me that?

 - I figured you’d want something to put on your article. I’d rather you heard it from me than from someone else. Besides, you did tell me how your last relationship ended so I owed you that. 

 - I think you got me wrong. - she crossed her arms at him. - I’m not that type of writer. I am not gonna climb up to the top by dishing gossip on my articles, that’s not what I’m here for. 

 - Gossiping is what people want to read. - he placed the bottle on the nightstand and got up standing in front of her. - How are you gonna become a famous writer if you don’t gossip?

 - I don’t want to be a famous writer, I wanna be a good writer. - she looked at him, holding eye contact with him but her legs seem to want to fail her. - I certainly don’t wanna destroy you in the process of becoming a writer. Deal or no deal. 

 - So you’d rather tell you readers I’m a good person when I’m not?

 - You’re a good person, I know that you give your cut out to the charity, Anthony told me. If you weren’t a good person and were the sex crazed guy you portray yourself as you wouldn’t care that your ex-fianceé cheated on you but you care. You care about it and that’s why you’re constantly screwing around because you’d rather have the false fantasy of pleasure than actually meet someone who might cheat on you again. 

   - You got me all figured out, don’t you? - his hand brushed her hair back while his other hand went to rest against the other side of her head. His eyes were locked with hers, small breathes coming from her slightly parted lips. He grew closer quite fast, his lips colliding with hers and she swore she’d never felt something as electrifying as this. Her first kiss had nothing on this. 

They slowly pushed from each other, his hands leaving the side of her head and coming up to profusely apologise before she herself grew closer to him. Yet before their lips could touch again, the door burst open. 

  - I’m sorry Mr. Stan, I didn’t know you had company. - the employee said, holding a tray full of delicious food. Y/N got back into her senses, what was she doing. This was not what good writers did, this was a mistake. She moved away from Sebastian and started to rush into her room. 

  - Wait Y/N, wait. - Sebastian rushed after her but got stopped as the door slammed in his face. 

  - Mr. Stan, should I leave the tray on the bed?

  - Yeah, that would be alright. Thank You. - he walked back to his room, defeated.    

#sebastian stan #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan fanfic #sebastian stan imagine #sebastian stan AU #bucky barnes imagine

[zoocross0vers]

A Zootopian Christmas Carol Part 5: God Bless Us, Everyone! (Finale)

A/N: The last part, yay! :D

FF.net Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13461657/5/A-Zootopian-Christmas-Carol

…

Chapter 5: God Bless Us, Everyone!

“Spirit!” cried Bogo as he wrestled and kicked around in his blanket, “Spirit! Get me out! Get me out! Please! I’ll change! I’ll--” he rolled around and tangled himself around his bed’s curtains, tugging violently at the rings at the curtain rod, until they snapped off! 

THUD!

Bogo fell off his bed, “Ow,” he groaned as he massaged his head, “My head.” He looked around his surroundings and realized that he was back in his bedroom, “What in the--?!” He immediately stood, untangling the curtain and blanket from himself. He pressed his hooves against his chest. Yes, yes, there was no doubt about it -- he was alive!!!

A large smile immediately came to his face, “I’m alive. Hahahahaha!” he gave a boisterous, jovial laugh, “I’m alive!”

At that moment, the church’s bells rang, welcoming the new Christmas morning. “Could it be?” A happy Bogo rushed to the window and yanked open the wooden shutters, practically breaking them off the hinges. 

He smiled wide when he saw that it was morning -- Christmas morning that is! And what a gloriously beautiful morning it was! He could see that down below there were children playing in the snow, mammals singing Christmas carols, and mammals walking around with gifts and greeting one another with joyful, “Merry Christmas”, greetings! It was just as gorgeous a morning as when the Ghost of Christmas Present showed it to him.

There was no doubt about it, “It’s Christmas morning! I haven’t missed it!” cheered a relieved Bogo as tears of joy nearly threatened to leave his eyes. “The spirits have given me another chance!” He yelled out his window, not caring who heard him.

The happy buffalo dashed toward his coat rack and immediately tied the scarf that was hanging on it around his neck -- with the coat rack still attached to it. “I know just what I’ll do, hehe! They’ll be so surprised,” he chuckled with joyful cheer. In his ecstatic rush, he didn’t realize when it was that he stepped on his favorite top hat. He picked it up with a slight frown, “Mm, look at that. I stepped on my hat. What a wonderful day!” he chortled, not caring about his material possessions at the moment. There were more important things to be done!

“Oh, there’s so much to do! So much to do!” he exclaimed excitedly as he finally removed the coat rack from his back and grabbed his coat. He put his coat over his nightshirt and headed out the door. He stopped for a moment, as if realizing that something was off about what he had just done. He ran back up the stairs to his bedroom, “Am I mad? I can’t go out looking like this?!” In order to mend the situation, Bogo just grabbed his favorite cane and stood tall like a dignified gentlemammal. “There, that’s better.”

He ran back out the door.

Right as Bogo made his way down, a familiar hare and vixen couple made their way down his neighborhood after having collected charity donations from all the nearby businesses. They stopped for a moment, to allow a couple of poor raccoon kits to slide past them on a brand new sled -- they were very likely children who had benefited from the Zootopia Charitable Foundation’s toy donations. The two smiled at the children playing, proud of their organization’s work. 

Caught in the moment of the children’s merriment, Jack wrapped an arm around his wife and pressed a paw at her stomach. Though she wasn’t showing yet, it appeared that the two might be expecting their own kits sometime soon.

“Merry Christmas, to one and all!” they heard a familiar voice cheer behind them. It was Bogo, the buffalo who had so rudely kicked them out of this office just yesterday. Bogo spotted them and smiled, “Wait, I know you two!”

Jack and Skye stood on their guard. Jack placed a protective arm in front of his wife, while Skye glared daggers at the buffalo. Bogo approached them, “Yes, you’re the hare and vixen that came to my shop yesterday. The ones who were looking for donations!”

“Yes, we are,” said Jack with his ears pulled back, “Can we help you?”

“Indeed you can my good hare! And let me start off by saying that I’d sincerely like to apologize for my crude behavior yesterday. I was not in the right mind set.”

“That’s an understatement,” scoffed Skye under her breath.

“I suppose it is, isn’t it?” Bogo chuckled, overhearing the vixen.

Skye and Jack’s eyes widened in shock that he had heard her and was not the least bit angry.

“In any case, I’d like to make it up by giving a handsome donation to the Zootopia Charitable Foundation!” he grabbed the hare’s hat clean off his head and poured gold coins into it. He placed it back on the hare’s head, dropping several coins. 

Skye and Jack’s jaws dropped. “Oh my! There must be at least twenty gold pieces here!” Skye exclaimed in surprise. 

“Not enough?” the generous buffalo asked with a smile, “Here you go. Let’s make it fifty pieces then.” He opened his coat and pulled out a bag of gold coins, handing it to the hare.

The hare was speechless, “Uh...Th-That’s quite generous Mr. Bogo. It’s--”

“Still not enough! Haha, you drive a hard bargain,” he reached into his coat again and pulled out a few more bags, tossing them right to the hare and vixen. “Here you are! One hundred gold pieces! And not a penny more!” he chuckled happily. “Isn’t life grand?” he asked the stunned couple.

The two blinked as if their brains were still trying to catch up with everything, but they eventually managed a smile. “Y-Yes, I suppose it is,” replied the vixen.

“Haha, you two make a lovely couple and I hope you get to having kits some day! I have an employee who’s in a similar relationship to your own and he has the absolute most precious hybrid kits I’ve ever seen. Can’t have enough kits, I always say! So have as many little blessings as you can and populate this God forsaken world with more generous creatures such as yourselves!” Bogo declared with a giddy chuckle, “Merry Christmas to you!” he left, humming happily with a kick of his heels.

“Yes, yes, we will!” Skye called out to the buffalo, while pressing a paw at her stomach.

“Yes, and a Merry Christmas to you!” Jack added just as happy as he was surprised by the buffalo’s sudden change of heart regarding hare populations.

Bogo continued his Merry way down the street, greeting everyone who came his way with a tip of his hat and a, “Merry Christmas!”

He kept this up until he bumped into a couple of mammals who were coming out of a shop, carrying some gifts. “Oof!” exclaimed both parties as gifts scattered all over the ground. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” said the familiar young cape buffalo, despite not being at fault.

“No, no it was entirely my fault,” Bogo replied, crouching down to help collect the fallen gifts, “Here, let me help--” Bogo paused when he took a good look at the young buffalo’s face. “Fred?”

The young buffalo looked up at him, “Uncle Bogo?”

“Fred!” Bogo exclaimed excitedly and lifted the younger cape buffalo back up to his feet with a big bear hug, “My dear favorite nephew!”

“G-Good day to you too, uncle,” strained the younger buffalo. Bogo set him down to let him breath.

“How are you dear boy? Good?” Bogo asked him happily.

“Yes, I’m fine” Fred replied, eyeing the older buffalo with confusion. “Um...are you?”

“Never better nephew!” Bogo declared happily, “Getting in some Christmas shopping I see and oh--!” Bogo took notice of a young female cape buffalo that was accompanying Fred. She looked about as confused about the whole situation as Fred did. “I take it this radiant beauty is your wife?”

Fred smiled, “Oh, yes. This is my wife, Clara. Clara, this is my uncle, Ebeneezer Bogo.”

Clara smiled politely to Bogo and reached out to shake his hoof, “Hello Mr. Bogo, it’s a pleasure.”

“Fred you old rascal you, she’s absolutely stunning!” Bogo told his nephew. Bogo didn’t shake hooves with the girl. Instead, he pulled her in for a big hug!

Clara giggled, “Oh my, you’re not at all how Fred described you to be.”

“Oh? And how did my nephew describe me?” Bogo asked.

“Ah, honey,” Fred interrupted before she could answer, “I don’t think that would...uh would be a very good idea.”

“It’s alright Fred,” Bogo said reassuringly. “I imagine he told you that I’m a cheap and selfish old miser who hates Christmas?”

Clara’s eyes widened at how accurate he was at describing exactly what Fred had said about him, “Uh...well, yes.”

Bogo laughed, which caused Fred to glance over at his wife with a very confused shrug. Bogo calmed his laughter but kept his cheer just the same, “Yes, yes, that’s me to a tee alright.”

“But, you don’t seem cheap or selfish at all Mr. Bogo,” said Clara, “Why you actually seem quite pleasant and...happy today for a mammal who hates Christmas.”

“Well, that’s because I am happy and...I’d like to start anew with Christmas. I’d like to join you both for Christmas dinner if your offer still stands nephew.”

Fred’s mouth gaped and he stammered with a bewildered yet immensely excited smile, “Y-Yes, yes! We’d be absolutely honored to have you over uncle! We will be dining at five.”

“Wonderful,” Bogo smiled and offered his nephew his hoof. His nephew returned his smile in kind and took his uncle’s hoof, “Merry Christmas Fred.”

“Merry Christmas Uncle Bogo,” Fred gave his uncle’s hoof a proud, firm shake.

“Merry Christmas Clara,” Bogo said with a nod. 

“Merry Christmas Mr. Bogo.”

He began walking again when he suddenly remembered something, “Oh! Before I forget,” he reached into his coat, “Here you go.” He handed Fred a bag of money. “Just in case I accidentally damaged some of your gifts.”

“Oh, well, thank you uncle,” Fred smiled, remembering about his gifts. He collected them back up and Bogo was back on his way.

“Merry Christmas again you two! I shall be over later this evening!” Bogo called back to them.

Fred and Clara waved at him, “Good-bye uncle! And Merry Christmas!”

As Bogo disappeared from sight, Clara turned to Fred, “Why was he in his nightshirt?”

Fred chuckled with a shrug, “I guess my uncle has always been a bit peculiar.”

Children played and ran down the street when Bogo stepped outside of a toy shop, carrying a rather large bag. The children nearly bumped into Bogo but he evaded them. He didn’t mind though as he gave a good hearted chuckle. “What darling little ones.” 

He readjusted the large bag over his shoulder and hummed happily as he headed toward his destination.

A few moments later, he found himself outside the Wilde’s home. He chuckled quietly to himself, “This is going to be rich!” 

He wanted to laugh with excitement but he cleared his throat to compose himself. “Remember to stay in character,” he told himself as he took a deep breath and approached the door. He couldn’t help himself and chuckled a little more to get it out of his system. He cleared his throat once more and stood upright with his old sour frown plastered on his face. He knocked on the door. A second later, Nicholas opened the door.

“Whoa-ho!” Nicholas jumped back, holding his heart in horror when he saw that it was his boss at the door. And by the look on his face, he did NOT look happy to see him, “Uh...uh...M-Mr. Bogo! What brings you here?” he stammered nervously, “I see you’ve been doing some Christmas shopping by the looks of it. Hope you got everything you wanted.”

“Mm,” Bogo huffed, literally staring Nicholas down.

“Uh...just so you know, I-I was just about to head to work, but seeing how this was the first time I’ve ever gotten the chance to sit down and have Christmas Breakfast with my family, it was a little difficult for me to head out soon--” Bogo just barged in around the fox, “Won’t you come in?”

Judith and their children were collected together when Bogo approached them. Judith pulled her children away, except for Tiny Finn, who refused to move. He just innocently stared up at the large buffalo. 

Bogo noticed the child and he had to fight the urge to pick him up and cry with joy upon seeing that he was still alive. Instead, Bogo huffed and set the bag down, “I have a few choice words to say to you Wilde!” a small teddy bear plopped out of the bag when Bogo set it down. Tiny Finn noticed it and smiled up at Bogo. Bogo quickly swiped it from the ground and stuffed it in his coat pocket, hoping no one else had noticed it. 

“But sir, it’s Christmas Day,” Nicholas tried to reason with him.

“I don’t need to hear excuses Wilde!”

Finn reached up to Bogo’s pocket and peeked inside at the teddy bear. He smiled at it, happy that his little emerald eyes didn’t deceive him. Bogo acted quickly and stuffed the bear back into the bag before the curious kit inquired any further. He tied the bag with a loose knot.

That didn’t stop the kit however, the second the buffalo looked away, he curiously approached the bag and began trying to untie it.

Bogo then approached Nicholas, looming over him with an angry scowl, “And that’s another thing! You can forget about showing up to work today or any other Christmas Day after that! Because as of today, I swear to you that this will be the last Christmas you ever work for me!”

Nicholas gulped in horror. Was he being fired?! And in front of his family?!

Judith angrily tried to approach them, but her mother grabbed her arm before she could intervene.

  “I mean it Wilde, you’ve given me no alternative but to--” Bogo snickered, breaking character.

Nicholas raised a confused brow.

“Sorry,” Bogo cleared his throat, resisting the urge to laugh, “As I was saying,” he turned the scowl back on, “You’ve given me no alternative…” Bogo couldn’t help it, he began to flat out laugh.

Nicholas stepped away from him and eyed the buffalo with the most puzzled expression he’s ever had. Judith moved over by her husband and gave him a look that said, ‘is this normal?’

Nicholas shrugged in response and began to grow very uncomfortable at the laughing buffalo. He turned to his wife and whispered, “Carrots, run over to the nearest police officer and tell him we have a mad buffalo in our home.”

The chuckling Bogo finally managed to compose himself. “Sorry about that, but I couldn’t resist playing you Wilde.”

Nicholas and Judith glanced at one another then back at the buffalo, “Playing?”

“Yes,” Bogo laughed, “You should have seen the look on your face. You really thought I was going to fire you, didn’t you? Hahaha!”

Nicholas and Judith blinked in surprise, “So you’re not firing me?” Nicholas asked.

“No,” Bogo chuckled, placing a hoof on Nicholas’ shoulder, “I’m here to give you--”

“Toys!” shouted Tiny Finn in excitement when he finally managed to get the bag open.

“Yes, toys,” chuckled Bogo, “No, no, no,” he stammered, trying to correct himself. “I’m giving you a raise! And I’m making you my partner,” Bogo said sincerely.

Nicholas’ jaw hanged. As did Judith’s. They looked at each other then back at Bogo. “Uh...S-Say that again?” Nicholas stuttered, his brain struggling to register what he just heard. 

“Keep up Wilde,” Bogo gave his back a good natured bump, “I said I’m giving you a raise, and I’m making you my business partner.”

“P-P-Partner?!” Nicholas exclaimed in shock and joy.

His and Judith’s parents beamed with joy for their son/son-in-law. His children meanwhile were digging into the bag, picking out toys to play with.

“Should they be in there?” Nicholas asked, pointing toward his children.

“Of course,” replied a happy Bogo. “I bought those specifically for them.”

Nicholas exhaled a laugh, he still couldn’t believe that this was real, “Mr. Bogo, I...I-I don’t know what to say!”

“Say you’ll take the offer. After all, you’ve earned it...” Bogo extended a hoof to the fox, “Partner.”

Nicholas smiled over to Judith, who smiled back proudly at her husband. Nicholas shook Bogo’s hoof, “Thank you, sir. Uh...I mean, partner!”

Bogo nodded. A happy Nicholas exhaled another laugh and in his excitement turned to his wife and lifted her by the waist, causing the bunny to squeal in delight as he spun with her.

“Mrs. Wilde,” Bogo said, referring to Judith. Nicholas set her down so Bogo can speak with her.

“Yes?” Judith replied.

“It has come to my understanding that you and your father-in-law are in the tailoring business. Is that correct?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Well, I see that you have a suit lying over there that appears to be around my size and…” he gestured at his current attire, “I don’t seem to be properly dressed. I was wondering if I might try it on?”

“Oh, yes! Yes!” she shouted excitedly and rushed over to fetch it. She handed it over to Bogo.

The buffalo took it and tried it on over his nightshirt. He tucked the nightshirt into the pants. It was a perfect fit! “Incredible! It’s almost as if this was specifically tailored with me in mind. You’ve calculated my measurements quite perfectly!” Bogo said, admiring the suit.

“Thank you,” said Judith with a smile.

“Mrs. Wilde, how would you and your father-in-law like to go into business with me?”

“Business?” Judith asked as Jonathan walked over to stand beside her. “You mean, you’d like to invest in us?”

“Yes,” replied the buffalo, “Talent like this shouldn’t be denied to the rest of the world. That and I could use a skilled tailoress and tailor to design all of my future suits if they are to be of this remarkable caliber.”

Judith and her father-in-law exchanged eager glances. “We would be honored Mr. Bogo,” said the elder fox.

“Excellent, and I’d like to start our new partnership by first purchasing this fine suit from you two,” said Bogo holding onto the lapel of his new coat.

“You don’t have to do that Mr. Bogo, you’ve given us so much already,” replied Judith with a sweet smile. “You can consider that a Christmas gift from all of us to you for being so kind and generous,” Bogo felt a tender warmth in his heart. It had been so long since anyone had given him a Christmas gift. And until this day, no one had ever considered him generous. 

It felt good.

Bogo’s lip puckered, touched. But he fought the urge to cry tears of joy. Instead, he just said a simple, “Thank you, Mrs. Wilde.”

“Please, call me Judith,” she told the buffalo as she offered him her paw.

Bogo shook her paw with a nod, “Very well then, Judith.” Bogo looked up, turning his attention to Judith’s parents in the distance. “You know I support our local agricultural workers and I’m also in the business of purchasing suitable farming land. If your parents are ever in need of my help regarding something of that nature, I might be able to pull some strings and help them with that.” 

Judith grinned from ear to ear, “Can you really? My parents lost their farm a few months ago due to the soot that polluted the sky and land.”

“Well then, I suppose I can pull some strings,” Bogo winked playfully, “I just purchased some fertile land recently and I’ve yet to find someone with more than enough experience to till the land.”

A happy Judith turned to her parents who were beaming with hope. “Th-That would be really helpful Mr. Bogo,” said a happy and hopeful Stu.

“Then consider that the site of your new farm, my good sir,” Bogo nodded happily.

Stu teared up with joy, “Hear that Bon, we’re gettin’ our farm back! It’s a miracle! It’s--” he sniffled, his emotional state overpowering him. “Oh cripes, here come the waterworks…” he began sobbing into his wife’s shoulder.

“Oh Stu pull it together.” Bonnie just rolled her eyes and patted her husband’s back. “Thank you Mr. Bogo. Please, forgive him, things have just been a bit difficult since we lost the farm.”

“I understand,” said Bogo, already knowing about their financial troubles.

A still in awe Nicholas approached his boss, or rather -- his new partner, “Mr. Bogo, I...I-I really don’t know how to thank you for all that you’re doing for my family.”

“Don’t thank me yet Wilde. My gifts don’t end there,” Bogo opened the front door of the small house and whistled over to some unknown mammals, “Alright! You may bring those in now!”

Two wolves came in carrying the large salmon dinner from the window display at the food shop from Bogo’s encounter with the Ghost of Christmas Present. Behind them, a chubby fox and a black sheep entered, carrying the large carrot cake from the same shop.

Nicholas, Judith’s and their entire family’s jaws hanged. They couldn’t believe their eyes.

“I-Is that all for us?” Nicholas asked.

“You better believe it Wilde. I wanted to be certain your family would have a delicious Christmas feast. You have growing children after all, they must be well nourished if they are to grow big and strong.”

Nicholas turned to Bogo with his jaw still agape, but curled into a puzzled smile. “I--How--Why?” Nicholas stuttered. He took a breath and collected his thoughts, “Okay! Who are you and what have you done to the real Bogo?” he asked with his trademark half-lidded playful smirk. “Because there is no way the real Bogo would’ve just out of the blue, given me a raise and partnership, given my wife and father the investment opportunity of a lifetime, given my children dozens of new toys, given my in-laws a brand new farm and land, and given my entire family a full Christmas dinner that is sure to last us for days, all on the same day. And much less on Christmas Day of all days.”

Bogo chuckled humored. “Well let’s just say the old Bogo realized that he had been a bit of a...buffalo butt, for not rewarding you with all that you’ve earned over the years. Wouldn’t you say so Wilde?” Bogo nudged him with his elbow with a laugh.

Nicholas glanced over to Judith who returned to her husband’s side. The young fox gave her a mortified look that said, ‘how did he know I called him that?’ Nicholas just played along, hoping that the buffalo wouldn’t notice, “Uh, yeah hehe. Buffalo butt, th-that’s a good one.”

“Seriously though Wilde,” Bogo spoke sincerely, “I was unreasonably cruel to you for so many years and...I’ve unfairly judged you solely based on what you are and...and for that I’m sincerely sorry. You’re a fine employee and perhaps the best employee I’ve could have ever had the pleasure of being blessed with.” Nicholas smiled appreciatively at the buffalo, “And just as you were an exemplary employee, I know you will also be an outstanding partner.”

Judith snuggled up to Nicholas, proud of him. Nicholas meanwhile nodded, touched by the buffalo’s words. “Thank you Bogo.”

Jonathan with Amelia snuggled together, as did Bonnie and Stu. They couldn’t have been more happy or proud for their son/son-in-law. Or more thankful for Mr. Bogo.

The children meanwhile, giggled in the distance, picking out new toys to play with. Felicia picked out a bunny doll, James a toy boat, Johnny-Stu a train, and Tiny Finn the teddy bear that Bogo had earlier. The small crippled kit, limped over to Bogo and lifted his arms up to the buffalo. 

Bogo smiled at the boy and picked him up. Bogo turned back to Nicholas with the kit in his arms and said, “Merry Christmas Nicholas.”

The happy kit then threw his tiny arms around the buffalo’s thick neck and said, “And God bless us, everyone!”

Tiny Finn’s brothers and sister ran to Bogo, who took a seat in a nearby rocking chair. The kits sat on his lap and showed off their new toys. Bogo giggled happily and placed his top hat atop of Tiny Finn’s head. The hat covered almost all of the small kit’s body. At first Bogo was concerned, but then the kit popped his little smiling face from under it, adjusting it so it would fit as well as it could.

The other children grew a lot more comfortable and they all hugged Bogo, thankful for the toys and for the nice things he had done for their father and family.

An equally thankful Nicholas wrapped an arm around Judith’s shoulders and the two watched the happy scene as a now kindhearted Bogo smiled back.

It was then clear that though he had not lived the kindest life of any mammal, he had shown a willingness to change for the better and did so magnificently so.

Bogo proved that he was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Finn, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a mammal, as the good old city of Zootopia knew, or any other good old city, town, or burrow, in the good old world.

                                                       THE END.

…

A/N: 

Joy to the children,

Far and near

What a wondrous time of year,

Isn’t it just grand to say,

Merry, Merry Christmas

Merry, Merry Christmas

Merry, Merry Christmas

Merry, Merry Christmas

Oh what a Merry Christmas Day!

Just wanted to include this song here. It’s the one used at the end of Mickey's Christmas Carol :)

Though this ending has been posted after Christmas, I just hope you all did have a great Christmas and Holiday season this past year. And here’s to hoping that this year’s Christmas will prove to be just as good or better when we get to it. Let’s keep Christmas in our hearts all year round and always try to be a better person. Thanks for reading! :D

#zootopia #wildehopps #a christmas carol #crossover #fanfic #continuing christmas gift #conclusion #chief bogo #scrooge #charles dickens #gift that keeps on giving #christmas 2019 #happy new year #2020

[adrenaline-roulette]

He’ll save every one of us Chapter 2

Brian May x Reader with side notes of Roger Taylor x Original female character

Preview:  “I’ve been scouring the phone-book for over an hour now, and I think I’ve narrowed it down to two.  I just don’t know which one to go with.” “So, show up to the other address first so you won’t be late?” 

Chapter two: Joining an Amish community? 

“Help!”

“You need somebody?”

“Yes, help me Roger!”

“Oh, so not just anybody?”

“Help, you know I need someone!” Brian stands from his cross-legged position by the coffee table in his apartment, glaring at his blonde housemate. Roger can’t help but grin at the tall man before him. “I swear to God, if you continue quoting the Beatles, I will walk out of this apartment.

“This is your apartment though?”

“Yeah, well, that’s how annoying you’re being!” Brian groans, his frustration obvious across his features.

Roger raises a quizzical eyebrow, as he makes himself more comfortable on the old, patchwork sofa. “Alright, talk to me Bri.”

Brian rests his hands on his hips, looking down at Roger. “I’ve been scouring the phonebook for over an hour now, and I think I’ve narrowed it down to two Y/N Y/L/N’s. I just don’t know which one to go with. What if I turn up to the wrong doorstep? And then because I’m late in getting to the other address, which is where Y/N actually lives, she thinks I’ve stood her up, and then won’t go out with me!”

Roger blinks up at Brian, biting down on his bottom lip. “So, show up to the other address first so you won’t be late?”

There’s a moment of silence, before Brian can comprehend the amount of stupidity that was the sentence Roger had just uttered. “I will murder you, and make it look like an accident!” Brian roars, lunging for the thick phone book which he had left on the coffee table, and aiming it at Roger.

“Mercy! Please, have mercy!” Roger laughs, scrambling off the sofa, his sock clad feet slipping against the recently waxed floors, as he attempts to make a hasty get away.

Brian makes chase, still wielding the phone book in his left hand, as Freddie enters the apartment John following close behind. Both men stand in the doorway, heads tilted to the side, as their eyes follow the two men around the small room. “All that’s missing is the Benny Hill theme…” John murmurs to Freddie, who instantly grins, before humming the iconic tune.

The chase ends with Brian smacking the book against Roger, who clasps his palm over his now throbbing shoulder. He had never been smacked by a book before, and was entirely unsure whether it would bruise or not. If it did bruise, he wouldn’t be wearing his favourite black vest for their gig next week. The item of clothing showed off far too much upper arm to wear when sporting a massive bruise. “Ladies, ladies, please. What is this all about?” Freddie finally asks, as he and John fully enter the apartment. Despite having only met on the weekend, John had somehow found himself spending almost every day with Freddie, Brian and Roger. They had accepted him into their band of misfits, and had all grown used to Freddie walking in with John in tow.

 Brian shoots one final glare at Roger, before turning his attention to his fellow housemate, and the new bassist. Just as he is about to answer, Roger butts in, grinning merrily. “Brian here doesn’t know which house to pick his lady love up from tonight.” Hy says in a sing-songy voice.

“Yes, and whose fault is that? Remind me again, who was it who told Y/N that I knew where she lived?” Brian grumbles, folding his arms across his chest.

Freddie can’t help but laugh, a deep and melodic sound which emanated directly from his chest.  The glare which Brian shot at him however, soon cut his laughter short. “I’m sorry Brian, I truly am, but it was just so much fun picking on you!”

“Yes, well now because of your little joke, I have no idea what I’m going to do!”

This time, it’s John who speaks up, stepping forwards so he was in the centre of their odd little circle. He reaches into his back pocket, producing a folded napkin, carefully unravelling it so it lay smooth in his palm. “It would probably be best if you follow these directions. Should take you about twenty minutes to get there, so you may want to get ready now.”  

Three sets of eyes stare at the grinning bassist, though none seem to know quite what to say. “So, let me get this right, you don’t have the actual address written down, instead you have directions? How did you get those!” Brian sighs, as he takes the napkin from John’s outstretch hand.

“I have my ways Brian.”

Freddie squeals in delight, wrapping his arm over John’s shoulders in a side hug. “Oh, you wicked man! Dastardly Deacon I think we shall call you!”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit of a mouthful?” Brian calls over his shoulder, as he makes his way into the bathroom.

“How about Dastardly Deaks?” Roger suggests, as he collapses back on the sofa, slipping a fresh cigarette between his lips.

Freddie pouts as he mulls over the name suggestion, resting his index finger over his chin. “Dastardly Deaky?”

“We could lose the Dastardly part, and just go with Deaky?” John offers with a shrug. Roger and Freddie look between each other, grinning happily.

“Deaky it is! Welcome to the band Deaky!” Freddie cheers, as he saunters over to Roger, stealing one of his cigarettes.  Rogers bats his hand against Freddie’s in an attempt to keep him away from his pack of smokes, only for Freddie to raise an eyebrow in challenge up at him.

“Roger, don’t you go forgetting who paid for this pack.” Freddie warns. Roger quickly removes his hand, and opts for sulking instead.

“No offence Deaky, but technically he’s not in the band yet! We haven’t auditioned him yet!” Brian calls, his voice echoing throughout the tiled bathroom.

“Oh, he auditioned for me this morning! I decided he could be our new bassist.” Freddie smirks, lighting up his smoke.

Roger sighs, a pained expression crossing his face. “I’m about to channel my inner Brian here, but Fred, that sort of thing should be a group decision. Not that we don’t want you in the band Deaky, we love you.”

“Listen, I’ve known Deaky for only a few days, but if anything were to happen to him, I would kill whoever hurt him, and then myself.”  Freddie declares dramatically, throwing the pack of smokes and a lighter to the bassist.

Brian emerges from the bathroom, dressed in a fresh pair of jeans, and a clean shirt, a leather jacket draped over his shoulder. “Rog, I’m borrowing your jacket.” He calls, the blonde shrugging in response.

Freddie mutters under his breath as his eyes travel from Brian’s head, to toes, his eyes growing dark at the footwear his friend had chosen. “I swear to God Brian, if you are wearing clogs on a first date, I will kick you out of this band.” The three men had made themselves comfortable around the living room, with Roger sprawled out on the sofa once again, Freddie sitting cross-legged on the floor, with his back leaning against an old, and fraying armchair where Deaky was laying, with his legs dangling over the arm.

“What is wrong with clogs? They’re comfortable, and practical!” Brian defends.

“Practical? In what way? In case you get lost in an Amish village?!” Freddie shrieks. Deaky can’t help but laugh, the image of Brian attempting to churn butter, one that was unlikely to leave his mind anytime soon.

Brian simply shrugs, as he slips his wallet into his back pocket, slipping the borrowed jacket on, despite the warm weather. “Well, I suppose if I go missing, then you had better be sure to check all the nearby Amish communities just in case.”

“I think I heard about one near Wales, I’ll check there first!” Roger offers, waving him goodbye with a childlike grin. Brian wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or frightened that Roger would be the one to come looking for him if he didn’t return. Knowing how scatter brained the blonde could be, it would likely be at least four months before he realised Brian had never returned home.

“What time are you meeting up with Bree?” Brian asked, as he opened the front door, turning to his friend.

“Honestly, I don’t quite remember. I think we agreed around nine?”

“Do you have any idea where you’re meeting her?” Deaky smirked, shaking his head to remove a few stray strands of hair from his eyes.

“It was either the wobbly Elephant down the road, or maybe I told her to just come straight here. I can’t remember if we wanted to get drinks first or not.” Roger shrugged, and Brian sighed for what felt like the millionth time that afternoon.

“Welcome to the family Deaky, you’ll get used to Rog eventually.” Brian half smiled, before making his way out to the streets of London.

                                                                          ****

     You scowled at your closet, arms folded across your chest, willing an outfit to jump out at you. It shouldn’t be this hard, you had been on dates before, but you had never encountered this much difficulty in picking something to wear! You could almost guarantee that Bree wasn’t having anywhere near as much trouble as you were, granted though, from what you had picked up on her talking about her date with Roger, ‘date’ was a rather loose term. Most likely it wouldn’t matter what she wore, it wouldn’t be staying on for long. “Just reassure me one more time that tonight isn’t a double date!” You called out to Bree, who from what you had last seen of her, was currently collapsed on the sofa in your lounge room, counting how many empty beer cans were scattered around your shared apartment.

You could practically hear her roll her eyes at your question; you had asked the same thing at least five times today. “No it isn’t a double date. You and Brian are going out for dinner, and Roger is showing me his bass drum.”

“That’s code for something, I’m sure of it.”

“I would bloody well hope so. I did not get all dressed up, just for him to show me his drum set! I can look at your drums any time I want!”

This time, it’s your turn to roll your eyes, smirking at her clear desire of what her night will entail. “Here, what do you think of this one?” You ask, stepping out of your bedroom, holding up a denim jumpsuit, the sleeves covered half of your bicep, with a collar, and a zipper down to the waist band, and wide bellbottoms. As you presented the garment, you held up a bright red belt, it was wide with a circular buckle in the centre, and a perfect accompaniment to your overall outfit.

“Oh! Yes, that is fantastic! But what shoes?” Bree grins, pressing a fresh cigarette to her red painted lips, breathing inwards as she lit the end. “Wait, I have the perfect shoes!” She cries out, leaping off the sofa and hurrying to her bedroom. You lean against the arm of the sofa, folding your clothes over your forearms, as you await Bree’s return. “Here they are, these will be perfect!” Bree skips out of her room, dangling a pair of bright red blogs, the exact same colour as your belt, swinging them in front of you.

“I knew there was a reason you were my best friend!” You grin, as you take the shoes from her outstretched hand.

“Because I’m fabulously amazing, and the best singer in the entire world?”

“Sure, that’s why. It’s definitely not because we wear the same size shoe!”

“That had better not be the only reason why!”

“Love you Bree, thanks for the shoes!” You chuckle, making your way back into your room to get yourself ready for your date. You slip into the jumpsuit, sliding the zipper up halfway, revealing a decent amount of cleavage, before wrapping the belt around your waist, buckling it up so it sat neatly around your waist. After stepping into the clogs, you turn to look in the mirror, grinning at your reflection. “Not too shabby.”  You think aloud, before running your fingers through your hair, loosening the strands up so they fall around your face in a very Farrah Fawcett manner.

 “Lipstick or no?” You call out once again, as you held the black tube between our fingers. The lipstick you had selected was a nude shade, one that you and Bree had spent hours selecting a few months ago, you had been looking for the perfect shade to match your skin, and this was the first time you were considering wearing it.

“Depends on what colour? You know I’ll suggest a red lip, but that’s just who I am!”

“I think if I have red shoes, belt and lips then it might be a bit much, don’t you?”

You can hear Bree grumbling, though you can’t quite make out the words, most likely she’s upset about your choice to go against her suggestion. You swipe on the lipstick with expert precision, touching up the edges with a tissue so there were no flaws. Just as you finish, a sharp knock on the front door echoes throughout the apartment, and you can feel your heartbeat pick up pace, hammering against your chest.

“I’m pretty sure that will be for you.” Bree grins, as you make your way past her, she hadn’t made any move to get up and open the door, not that you had expected her to.

“Brian, hi! Glad you found the place ok!” You smile, as you swing the door open, revealing the handsomely tall guitarist. You wave Brian inside, as you step away from the door, and further into your apartment. “I was worried you might get lost, or that John might forget to give you the napkin.”

“Ah, so that’s where he got the directions. He refused to explain where the napkin had come from. It was rather creepy actually, I thought perhaps he had been stalking you.” Brian grins, his eyes sparkling with mirth.

You take the moment that follows to allow your eyes to travel over his body, he looks incredible, though you doubt you would be complaining if he had shown up wearing a trash bag. Your eyes fall to his feet, and your face lights up. There, on his feet are a pair of pristine white clogs. Unaware t you, Brian had spent the same moment to look you over also, and he liked what he saw. The icing on the cake, however, was your choice in footwear.

“Are you wearing clogs?” You both ask simultaneously, laughing as you look at each other.

“They’re perfect for every situation, comfortable and practical!” You smile, as you collect your small, brown leather handbag from the kitchen counter, slipping it over your shoulder.

“I said pretty much the exact same thing to Freddie earlier today.”

“That settles it then.”

“settles what?”

“Great minds think alike!” You smile, as you link your arm through Brian’s, leading him out of the apartment. “Have a nice night Bree!”

Bree doesn’t have a chance to reply before the front door closes behind the two of you, and she finds herself unable to keep the grins off her lips. “They’re perfect for each other. The bridesmaids and groomsmen will all be forced to wear matching clogs.”

Read Chapter Three

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One

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#brian may x reader #brian may x you #brian may fanfiction #queen fanfiction #queen band #funny #fluff #cute #love #romance #first date #clogs #everyone wears clogs #roger taylor x oc #bonding over clogs #freddie hates the clogs #swearing #shameless use of the beatles #i quote a lot of memes #brian attacks roger #roger deserved it

[thecrystalquill]

Unexpected (Part 1)

Fred Weasley x Slytherin!Reader

Summary: Everyone knew Fred Weasley, the cocky, confident, Griffindor beater and prank extraordinaire. Everything was pretty damn perfect, until he meets a girl who sweeps him off his feet… quite literally.

A/N: Sooo this is part 1, I'm pretty excited about this so feel free to let me know what you think! If you'd liked to be tagged don't hesitate to ask me. I can't guarantee when I'll post part 2 (because y'know… life) but I'll get around to it!! For now enjoy!

Don't forget to read the teaser!! :)

Masterlist    Series Masterlist

"George, stop laughing and hurry up!" Fred exclaimed as he sprinted down the long corridor. George was slowed down by his loud laughter and Filch, though he wasn't as fast as he used to be, was soon catching up.

This was the aftermath of yet another prank gone wrong; they were never meant to get caught. The Slytherins were meant to get drenched through, and the twins were supposed to have been hidden. But someone couldn't help laughing. Loudly. Thus why they were running from the scene of the crime, but no matter how many twists and turns they took, Filch was still right behind them like he knew just where they were going next.

George soon started to ease his laughing after he noticed Mrs. Norris was at his feet, trying to lash at his ankles. They could hear Filch yelling from behind them as they took another turn. "Lets split up," George suggested as he avoided another swipe from the aggressive cat, "at least then only one of us'll get caught." Fred risked a glance over his shoulder, Filch wasn't far behind and he'd be damned if he got caught; he didn't really fancy serving another detention tonight.

"Alright," he nodded, signalling which way he would go. George charged one way as Fred carried on, leading Filch away from his twin. Fred rounded a few more corners, he scanned behind him as he turned another only to bump into something and lose his balance.

Only, this something turned out to be a someone. He hit the body and turned to fall on his back, causing the person he hit to trip over and land on top of him with an umph.

Fred groaned and shook his head, trying to shake the dizziness away as soon as possible, when he realised what had just happened. He stared up to see a girl lifting herself from him, using her arms to raise her upper body from his. She took her head in one hand and left the other on the cold stone floor at the side; her legs were at either side of him and her books and papers were scattered on the floor. The girl look down at him with an exasperated expression on her face. "What the hell, Weasley?" She complained as she tried to get off of him, stumbling a little before she gained her balance. Offering him a hand, she looked around the corner that he came from to hear Filch making his way over.

Fred realised this too and quickly took her hand, "Hide me!" He pleaded, his heart racing as the footsteps grew louder. His eyes were wide and his red hair stuck to his freckled forehead. The girl seemed to ponder for a second, before letting out a huff and dragging the hand that was still in hers to a door near them. Rapidly, she shoved him inside and slammed the door, knowing Filch was only seconds away, and hurried to collect her things and put them back in her satchel. A scrawny old figure came jogging towards her and panted for a few seconds.

"Where did he go?" The man demanded, noticing her books and homework on the ground.

She looked up, shuffling the remaining papers with a scowl on her face, then pointed down another hallway. "He went that way," she grumbled, annoyance dripping from her lips. Filch was about to go when Mrs. Norris pawed at the door behind her, at which point Fred's heart almost stopped, before the girl shoo'd at the cat with her paper. "And get your bloody cat out of my way!"

Once Filch took off in the direction she pointed, she waited a moment before standing with her now full bag and opening the door. She leaned against the door with a subtle smirk. "What did you do now, Weasley?" The girl mused as he stood in the doorway.

Fred let out a breathy laugh and took this moment to take in the girl's features; the (h/l) (h/c) hair framing her face and the beautiful (e/c) eyes that stared into his soul to the glossy pink lips and rosy cheeks that he wanted to touch so badly.

He quickly recovered from his staring, and tore his eyes away from her for a second to regain his witty composure. "Y'know, just another prank. The usual really." He offered, until she raised an eyebrow to signal he wasn't saying enough. "Let's just say the fourth year Slytherins are soaked and smell like seaweed." He quipped, but noticing the colours of her tie he perceived that she might not actually be impressed.

However, he was more than surprised when she started giggling and held a genuine smile on her face. "You what?" She laughed again, obviously not holding any pity for her fellow Slytherins. At this point, Fred began to laugh as well; her giggling contagious.

Their laughter subsided to pleased grins and Fred registered that he had no idea who his saviour was. But in all fairness, she probably didn't know his name either (being a twin and all). So, in an attempt to keep his cool demeanour, he took out his hand and introduced himself. "I'm-uh-Fred Weasley by the way." Then immediately mentally kicked himself for almost stumbling over his words.

Instead of holding it against him like he expected, she just smiled and shook his hand. "(Y/N) (Y/L/N)."

"(Y/N)," He repeated, determined to make the name stick, "nice to meet you, (Y/N)." Fred was about to say something else when a group of angry Slytherins stomped around the corner, their shoes sloshing and robes dripping with each step they took. Without hesitating, he swiftly pulled (Y/N) into the small closet and shut the door in one fluid and quiet motion. She was about to protest when he hastily placed his hand over her mouth, shushing her as the sloppy, wet feet padded nearer.

The Slytherins started to bicker, ranting about the twins' prank and where they could've gone and what not. Meanwhile, the couple were starting to notice just how small the closet was; it was basically a small square room that would have fit them in fine if it didn't have so many large shelves and sweeping brooms filling the space. The two were pressed up against each other, shelves digging into their backs, while they tried to be still enough to avoid knocking anything over or making any noise. Fred had one hand over her lips and the other grasping her wrist, while she held his arm, neither of them dared move at risk of blowing their cover; and honestly, neither of them really wanted to.

But as the group began to clear, Fred removed his hand from her mouth, then taking in how close their faces were as he looked away from the door; and he thanked Merlin that the dark room hid his flushed cheeks. "S-sorry 'bout that," he stuttered, "I-um-I didn't want us getting caught."

He looked down at her, waiting for a response, for her to huff, or complain, or even jinx him. The longer he waited for her to say something the more nervous he got; which of course she knew, so keeping him waiting just a little longer brought another smirk to her lips.

"Well," she started, lifting her head a little higher to level her eyes with his, "I guess we wouldn't want that, would we?" Resting one hand on the door handle, (Y/N) readied herself to jump out, however, her Slytherin side wanted to tease the flustered boy some more. She placed her other hand over his bicep, noticing how he tensed at her touch. "What was you gonna say earlier, before we were interrupted?"

Fred gulped, racking his brain to think of what she was talking about - when was he gonna say something? What was he saying?

He raised his eyebrows when he recalled, opening and closing his mouth a few times, trying to get the words to come out and ignore her distracting squeeze on his arm. "Well-I was-uh- I was just gonna- um-I-I think we have divination together, r-right?" He stammered as his mouth dried out. His face grew hot with embarrassment; Fred Weasley doesn't stutter - he's Fred bloody Weasley! What was this girl doing to him?

She let a soft giggle escape her, looking at him warmly. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure we do, Fred." Merlin, did his name sound heavenly when she said it. (Y/N) brushed her fingertips down his arm, lifting her face closer to his; and he was so goddamn tempted to bring their lips just a little closer right now. But of course, she was just teasing him into oblivion. His breath hitched as their noses touched, they were so close but not close enough.

"I'll see you around, Fred Weasley." Before he even knew it she was out of the door and closing it behind her. Fred stood there, unmoving as he processed what had just happened. He quickly opened the door - hoping to catch a glimpse of the girl he'd just met, but frowned when she was nowhere in sight. A smile tugged at his lips; that girl was going to be the death of him.

@daisy-ato @strawberries-should-be-sweeter @broadwaytrash101 @gloriousgam3r @nickangel13

#fred weasley x reader #fred weasley #weasley twin x reader #harry potter golden era x reader #harry potter fanfic x reader #harry potter #harry potter x reader #reader insert #x reader #griffindor x slytherin #x slytherin!reader #slytherdor #fanficction #fanfic #fanfiction x reader #series #x y/n #unexpected fanfic #unexpected #unexpected part 1 #part 1 #golden era #golden era x reader

[shweereading]

It Means Victory

(A New Generation Harry Potter Fanfiction)

The love between Teddy Lupin and Victorie Weasley

By. Ashley N. Jackson

He remembers her as a toddler; a small, odd little thing sitting on Uncle Harry's lap, reaching a tiny hand out towards him. Teddy stands close, puts his face next to hers, watching her grasp her small fingers around a lock of his dark green hair, and tug.

He yells.

The toddler gasps and shakes her head, while Harry just laughs and hands the small girl to Auntie Hermione, saying something about Weasley women and their spirit.

“It's alright, Teddy, you don't have to like her right away." He smirks, ruffling his godson’s hair. The little girl just giggles, lolls her head on Hermione's shoulder and blows a spit bubble in his direction. Teddy rubs his head roughly at the now tender spot, glaring at her while the adults chatter on and on.

“I don't like you at all," he says to her in an assertive voice. "I really don't."

Her name means victory, say’s the birthday girl turning ten years old today, with her hands on her hips and her hair falling over her eyes.

“Not Victoria, Victoire. It's French," she spits dramatically. Even as this young age, she’s the very image of her mother; bright blue eyes, willowy frame, and sunshiny golden hair. Fleur Delacour, now Weasley, almost incarnate.  

But Teddy knows better than to judge her simply by looks. Victorie spent way too much time with Aunt Ginny growing up and knows too many ways to hex boys for someone who hasn't even received her Hogwarts letter, let alone a wand.

"Victoria's stupid, it's like an old lady Muggle name. I'm Victoire."

The rest of their cousins are scattered throughout the garden of the Burrow, scouring the grass for stray gnomes alongside Uncle George. Teddy snorts, twirling his wand between his fingers, as Victorie watches the sparks fly in a graceful arc before her envious eyes.

"Whatever you say, Victoria." He toys, smirking at her with a feeling of egotism familiar to the twelve-year-old boy.

"Victoire! Why are you so stupid?" She stomps her foot and crosses her arms at him obviously becoming more agitated by the minute.

"Why are you so stupid?"

She narrows her eyes at him, sticks her tongue out. "I'm named after the war, you uncultured porc! You know, the one our parents fought in? And came out victorious? Victory! Victoire!"

And Teddy thinks he hates her then, standing there so proud, with her beautiful French mother and her battle-scarred father, who are sitting only a few feet away instead of six feet in the ground. He hates the cake that her grandmother is going to bring out in a moment, he hates that they're going to blow out candles and celebrate not only Victorie’s birth but their parent’s victory during the Battle of Hogwarts. He hates the way she wears her name and birth date as a badge of honor, instead of the obelisk it should be.

He once asked Harry why he no longer goes to speak at Hogwarts on this day, and if that day no longer matters, or if everyone would rather just forget. His godfather did not answer for a long time. Until finally, he said, "No. No one's trying to forget. We'd just rather remember in different ways."

Teddy’s face turns as red as his locks, and now it's his turn to spit out the words, enjoying the way they taste around his mouth. "It wasn't a Victoire for everyone, you know." Her young face falls, and for a second, he almost feels guilty. But that feeling disappears the moment she turns away, running to the safety of her beloved parents, and he's back to hating her and all her sunshine again.

When she kisses him for the first time, she is thirteen and he is fifteen and they're in some Hogsmeade alley he's never been down before. But it doesn't matter because her lips are warm and only slightly chapped and her fingers are tangled in his ocean colored hair.

They break away for a moment only to breathe, and she bites her lip to stifle the grin that threatens to spread across her face. Though she has the looks of a Delacour, she has the genetic smirk of a Weasley.

"I like your hair like that."

"What?" Teddy looks up for a moment. "Blue?"

"Yeah. It suits you." She brushes some snow off the top of his head, giggles as it falls onto the shoulders of his coat. "You should keep it like that more often. Make it your default colour."

Teddy thinks on this for a moment, not because he really cared about his hair colour, but to think about this small bit of morphism and what it represented to him. His mother, Harry has to him, was a tremendous Metamorphmagus and could do so much more than simply change her hair color.

"Harry told me my mum liked pink."

"What, like hot pink?"

"No, bubble-gum."

"Oh."

They stand there in awkward silence for a minute more. His heart is still pounding as voices from the main road drift towards them, students enjoying a holiday from exams, local witches, and wizards doing their daily shopping. But Victoire is staring at him, her head tilted slightly and her eyes full of some emotion he can't quite describe. She does this often enough; looking at him with a mix of emotions that can’t be identified by anyone but herself.

He swallows tightly for a moment, thinking to himself, “she kissed me,” then stating to her, "Are you all right?"

She continues the pause for a moment, possibly for emphasis, then relaxes her head under the crook of his, "I wish I could have met your mum. She sounds like she'd be cool."

"Oh." He whispers.

There is that silence again, only broken when he lifts her head and leans down to kiss her first this time if only to stop himself from saying that he wishes he could have met his mum too.

Bill tells Harry during the World Cup finals that if he catches Teddy Lupin snogging his daughter somewhere in a dark corner one more time, he will castrate first, and ask questions later.

Harry goes home laughing so hard that Ginny asks him if James has slipped something into his butterbeer again and should the boy be grounded or not.

Teddy Lupin continues to snog Bill Weasley's daughter in dark corners around Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, and the Burrow. Victoire smiles against his lips and tells him that he'd better learn more metamorphism if he has any chance of hiding from her father.

"You'll be fine," Teddy says shaking his head with a smirk, as though Victorie had any reason to doubt herself or her fifteen-year-old brain.

"No, I won't." She groans, flopping herself down onto the floor, staring up at the ceiling pitifully.

"Come on, you know Uncle George only got, like, three O.W.L.'s and he did just fine."

"It doesn't matter, you know. Dad was Head Boy, and Maman's been.. Practically perfect her entire life, and – oh! I can't do this!"

"You need to take a break, c'mon," Teddy states, looking down at her only briefly, in hopes of not actually losing his concentration upon the paperweight he has been Charming to fly across the common room for the last half hour.

"Don't you have your own N.E.W.T.'s to study for? And why aren't you in your own common room? If a prefect catches you –"

"You worry too much, Victoire, this is me studying. If you don't watch out, your hair's gonna turn all white and fall out."

"Va te faire foutre, Teddy."

"Yikes, do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"Do you?" The paperweight hits the carpet with a dull thud, emphasizing the uncomfortable silences that followed. Victorie, realizing too late what she has done, covers her mouth slightly for a moment and watches her now tense boyfriend.

"I'm so sorry, Teddy, please…"

"I'm going to bed." He mumbles, returning his wand to his robes and standing up to leave.

Victorie sits up, watching him, "It slipped out, I'm sorry, I'm really tired, I'm so, so sorry."

"It's fine, I'm just gonna head to my dormitory."

"Teddy –"

"It's all right. Good night." Teddy swiftly walks to the common room door and closes it behind him, panting in the cold stone wall air around him. He leans against the common room door and hits his light pink hair covered head against it once before gathering the strength to walk back to his own room.

Her Maman was a Triwizard champion and Daddy was a war hero. "With a lineage like that," she tells him one late Christmas afternoon. "I wonder how I grew up to be such a coward."

They sit on opposite ends of the sofa in the Burrow, watching Rose and Albus draping popcorn and cranberry garlands on the tree. She has drawn her knees together, ankles crossed, hands folded neatly in her lap like the lady her mother raised her to be.

He doesn't know what to say to that, really. What do you say to that?

Teddy glanced over at her - she's balancing baby Louis on her knee and staring at the angel at the top of the tree, which Teddy is pretty sure is just a gnome that Fred and Roxanne Stunned and then stuffed into a tutu. For his cousins, Christmas was a time for a massive family reunion filled with smothering. For Teddy, Christmas reminded him of the small hole he had been missing the majority of his life.

She hasn't spoken to him for a good quarter of the hour.

Finally, he says, "You're not a coward."

Sometimes he thinks it's unfair, really, it is. He's heard the whispers that follow Victoire in the halls of Hogwarts, he’s glared at boys who stare at her and remark how they might want to try something part-veela. He knows James revels in being the "son of the Boy-Who-Lived", but Roxanne just wants to keep her nose down and get good marks. And does Fred see the way his father flinches, every single time someone says his name, and who decided this was a good idea, to make memorials out of children?

A long time ago, Teddy was afraid of people forgetting the war and the people lost in it, but now he wishes it was something he could put behind him. Now he wishes he didn't have to hear Fleur and Bill whispering in the kitchen every Christmas about what a "troubled young man he might be turning into" and how they "weesh zat Remus and Tonks could be 'ere".

Their war medals sparkle so brightly on the shelves of the Delacour/Weasley Shell Cottage. Teddy hears how they often stare down at Victoire every single day she's home, as though they aren’t sure where they went wrong. They rattle in the back of her mind for every failed grade, every letter sent home, for every single mark she doesn’t make. They sneer at her the same way the boys who play with her hair do when she pushes them away. They scream in her mind when she whispers into Louis's soft baby hair that she has no idea what she's supposed to be doing, Victoire with all her sunshine and no war to win.

So no.

He tells her that she's the bravest person he knows.

“You know, if I marry you, I'll really become a Weasley, and part of the family then."

"No, I'd be a Lupin, and you're part of the family, don't be stupid."

"I guess,” Teddy mumbled, running his hand through her golden hair while she studies for her N.E.W.T’s. It’s summer break and all the girl can think about is the final exam that will determine so much about her abilities to her Maman and Daddy. Seventeen years of pressure placed upon the girl of sunshine, all coming to an end with this final examination.

“Hey, Victoria-"

"Victoire, you spectacularly ignorant crapaud." She whispers aggressively back at him with that inherited smirk upon her lips.

"Alright, Victory - hey, do you ever think maybe you’d want your own name?"

Victoire furrows her eyebrows at him pushing the hair out of her face as Teddy earns her complete attention just then, “What do you mean?"

"Something not so heavy, I guess. Something lighter." He motions around him, as though something around them could further explain what he wanted to say. The summer air was warm and calm around him, the teal of the sky matching his spiked hair.

"I guess. Maybe. But.." She sighs and leans her head on his shoulder, the sweet end-of-summer smell of her hair slowly fogging his brain, and he closes his eyes against the weight of sleep and everything else expected of them.

“But,” he thinks, in a moment of resignation and maybe acceptance too long in coming, “There are worse things to carry.”

After he tells James to bugger off whilst standing in the dark alley of platform nine and three-quarters, Teddy watches the younger boy run away, presumably to tell Hugo and Rose and Albus and anyone else he can find. Teddy turns back to see Victorie laughing so hard tears are streaming down her cheeks. Her girlish laughing causing his own grin to escape him.

“Did you - did you see – his face?" She chokes, fanning her face with her hand. "He looked like – like…"

"Pretty shocked, yeah," Teddy grins back, running a hand through his hair. "Probably told half of the platform by now, too. He could work for Rita Skeeter, at this rate."

"Oh, the price of fame is so very, very high," she rolls her eyes and sticks her tongue out at him like she's seven years younger. "If you didn't like being talked about so much, you could find a way around it."

"Yeah, but it's so much of a hassle." He settles into her arms once more, leaning his head down so their foreheads touched. "Besides, getting caught's half the fun."

Victoire laughs at that and lifts her head up to give him a soft kiss, staring up at him with those bright blue eyes that see so much more than people would think. She reaches a hand up, traces the line of his jaw with her finger, brushes up against his lips as though memorizing his face just by touch. This is the first year in which Victorie will be returning to Hogwarts, and Teddy will not. Upon earning the appropriate marks on his N.E.W.T’s as of last spring, Teddy has begun his search for a part-time job in the Ministry of Magic.

Finally, she reaches around to run a hand through his hair, bright blue like cotton candy now, and gives it a gentle tug, the tiniest smile gracing her lips. And he thinks he hates her a little bit and he loves her a little bit more because he is a result and she is a memorial and they are just learning to navigate this world that kids like them built with shaky hands.

He leans down to kiss her, thinking that this is probably what his parents won the war for, wondering if they, too, were content to die with the taste of victory on their lips.

#harry potter fanfiction #teddy lupin #victorie weasley #teddy and victorie #it means victory #original #hp fanfic #hp fandom #hp fancast #harry potter aesthetic #the harry potter series #harry potter series #harry potter #teddy/victorie #the battle of hogwarts #reality check

[craniuum]

may - june 2019.

it’s been an insane 2 months and i’ve been meaning to write about it for a while now! things are changing so quickly and in the past 10 days alone, i’ve finished taking my first huge medical licensing exam, moved into a new house, and somehow started my third year of medical school???? this is going to be a stream of consciousness/bullet point list of ideas and i’m not sure where exactly i’m going with this but let’s go

DEDICATED. it’s how most medical schools refer to the 4-8 weeks that students spend studying for step 1 of the boards; my school gave us 6 weeks to study, which is CRAZY because the exam encompassed material that we’d learned during the first 2 YEARS of school.... needless to say it was really hard to prepare and after a while i felt like i was going stir crazy. for me, dedicated was may 6th through june 19th and it was... not the ideal way to spend 6 weeks of summer t b h

a typical day for me looked like: wake up at 5 (this was really hard to adjust to given that i am the exact opposite of a morning person), exercise for 30 minutes, shower/eat breakfast, and then drive to my school library to study for 10-12 hrs, and go to bed by 10. it was just as awful as it sounds, and the only thing that got me through everything was...

MY STUDY BREAKS. i would always feel guilty about taking these but there was only so much that my brain could handle and 12 hours of nonstop studying ain’t it chief. for anyone out there about to start their dedicated studying period, i can’t stress how important it is to some time off and recharge. it helped me focus more easily when going back to work, and it was a welcome change from having to memorize yet another mechanism of action for an anti-retroviral drug or some weird ass parasite that you get from walking around barefoot y’know

i gave myself a half-day the day before my exam and i went to the riverside canal in my city (pretty much the only tourist attraction my city has to offer smh) to do some meditation and self-reflection if things didn’t go well on exam day. i had my sufjan playlist on, and the weather was absolutely beautiful that day and i felt okay about things despite having had multiple panicky breakdowns throughout the past couple weeks....

EXAM DAY. june 19th. step 1 was an 8 hour long ordeal.... 7 hour-long sections of 40 questions each, and an hour allocated for break time. it’s nice because if i finished a section early, that extra time got added to my break time, and i could move through the exam at whatever pace i wanted. i finished the exam in about 6.5 hours because i just wanted to get it over with, and i felt really unsure leaving the testing center. i had been scoring relatively well on practice tests during the week leading up to the exam, but encountering questions that i didn’t know the answer to on the real exam (which i knew would be inevitable) was jarring and it  shook my confidence up a bit. 

the first thing i did after leaving the testing site was to get a poke bowl and sleep for 12 hours, which was nice

i get my score in about a month so we’ll see how i did!! tbh i’m really glad that i still have no idea what i want to specialize in, because my step 1 score will be the biggest determinant of the things i’ll be able to specialize in. i’m not too attached to a particular field so we’ll see where my score takes me.

since test day i’ve just been chilling - albeit i only got a week of break time before starting third year, but in that time i got a new haircut and 2nd lobe piercings (something that i’ve been wanting for a while) and i’ve gotten to spend time with family and re-acclimating to society (this is not an exaggeration.... studying for 6 weeks straight literally made me forget how to talk to people)

MOVING FORWARD. my first day of third year was this past wednesday and it feels SURREAL. third year marks the transition from lecture halls to hospital wards, and i’m so excited to start being involved directly with patient care! i’m also very terrified because this is the year to step up and take responsibility and ask attending physicians if i can help with procedures or hop onto research projects, and i’m generally not that assertive of a person at all. this year is going to be a lot of me breaking out of my comfort zone and i hope i can do it.

my rotations are in this order: i start off with a neuropathology elective (which i’m really excited about!!!), then palliative care, family medicine, pediatrics, ob/gyn, neurology, psychiatry, internal medicine, and lastly surgery. i’ll be regularly updating y’all on my thoughts during these rotations because i’m sure i’ll have plenty to say

third year is also going to be a bit lonely - all of my friends are scattered all over the state, with different rotation schedules and sites. it’ll be hard to regularly see them and i’ve been worried about the toll it’ll take on my wellness, since my friend group is largely what kept me sane these past 2 years of med school :^(

WHAT ELSE? i just felt like tacking on this last section of miscellaneous updates just because. 

i moved into my own place!!! these past 2 years, i’ve had a roommate who was a classmate and once a friend, but she was an awful roommate and i’ve been waiting to get my own place for at least a year! the place i live in now is a short drive to the hospital and it comes with its own challenges (....namely no central AC.......... in 100 degree georgia weather lmao)

sufjan dropping an ep out of nowhere for pride month annihilated me

i watched a LOT of youtube during my study breaks and my favorite finds were bon appetit (oh my god... i am in absolute love with claire saffitz), kurtis connor, and lucas cruikshank (yes of fred fame)

i tried out a hello fresh subscription for a few weeks during studying and i guess i like cooking now????

so much is changing and i start rotations on monday !!!!!!!!!!!! i’m scared and nervous and excited AAAAAAAA

#med school blogging #this is so long if u read all of it ur a real one lmao #upa.txt

[ecoamerica]

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

#ACLA24 #ACLA24Leaders #youtube #youtube video #climate leaders #climate solutions #climate action #climate and environment #climate #climate change #climate and health #climate blog #climate justice #climate news #weather and climate #environmental news #environment #environmental awareness #environment and health #environmental #environmental issues #environmental justice #environment protection #environmental health #Youtube

[seasonofthegeek]

Dedicated to @baneismydragon because there is a serious lack of Nino this season and that needs to be fixed. Spoilers for Season 2, Episode 4 below.

“I think I covered up pretty well actually,” Nino sniffed, hooking up his sound equipment.

“You froze up like she turned you to stone and just sat there until the song was over,” Alya laughed. “Smooth, you were not.”

“I did tell her I was starting to like the song.”

“Believe me, she didn’t buy that. Can you hand me the banner?” Alya grabbed the end of the birthday banner from Nino and looked out over the group. “Ivan, a little help?”

Nino finished setting up and nodded in approval. He had perfected Marinette’s party playlist for maximum fun, even if it meant adding songs he wasn’t exactly fond of for the greater good. He grinned when he saw Adrien slip through the bushes, glancing around. It seemed safe to assume this was an unsanctioned Agreste outing.

“Okay, Mari’s on her way,” Alya beamed, slipping her phone back in her pocket. “I hope she likes everything!”

“You did a great job, Al.” Nino pulled her close and kissed her temple.

“Alya, would you like your father and I to go get the food now?” Marlena asked, stepping up to the DJ booth.

“Mari should be here any minute. Maybe we’ll do presents right away and you could get the food then?”

“Sounds good.”

Fred joined them. “What about ice?” 

“You could come with us and bring some from the hotel if you’d like,” Marlena offered. “That way the kids can have some time to themselves.” She winked at Alya and the young woman groaned.

______________________________

It all happened so fast. The akuma was just suddenly there and everyone was scattering. Nino had barely stepped off the stage when Manon was latching onto his leg, eyes wide with fear. “The bad man did it,” she whimpered. “It’s him.”

Nino felt his chest tighten as he watched the akuma advance on Alya and Marinette. He took a step towards them and felt Manon’s fingers dig into his leg through his jeans. He looked around for someone to take her but no one else was in sight. He picked the small girl up and caught Alya’s eye. She slightly shook her head, eyes too wide behind her glasses.

“I’ll be back,” he mouthed. He shifted Manon’s weight and took off in the direction of the hotel. Hopefully he could drop Manon off with Alya’s parents and get back to help. Ladybug and Chat Noir would be there soon. He was sure of it. Alya would be okay. She would be fine. She was smart and resourceful and...

Nino gritted his teeth and ran faster.

______________________________

All the blood was rushing into his ears and Nino doubled over, a sick feeling wrenching at his gut. Alya stood, ready to attack and encased in stone. He held a shaking hand above her shoulder but couldn’t bring himself to touch her. 

They were all statues. He moved numbly around the pavilion. Kim was frozen mid-leap on the stage, arms outstretched and eyes narrowed in determination. Nino eased around him gently, wincing as Kim rocked. Max was on the ground, one arm up shielding his face. Ivan had one arm reared back for a punch. Nathaniel’s shoulders were hunched defensively, his arms thrown out in front of Alix and Juleka’s crouched forms. 

He shouldn’t have run. He could have done something. He could have kept all this from happening somehow. Why hadn’t he made Manon hide behind a bush?! He mentally chastised himself as he tried not to remember how tightly she had held him, the usually fierce and energetic girl turned into something small and scared.

Nino wracked his brain to recall who else was at the party but his mind wouldn’t seem to make sense of anything. He knew he was forgetting people. He should be looking for them. If they weren’t statues they must have been turned into those terrifying angels. Why couldn’t he remember? Marinette! It was her party. He hoped the akuma hadn’t gotten her. Adrien was there, wasn’t he? He couldn’t remember seeing him when everything started to go down.

Nino eased himself to the ground near Alya’s feet. He stayed far enough away not to accidentally touch her. He was having flashbacks of cheesy horror films with frozen people being shattered into a million pieces. Ladybug’s Cure would fix this. It always fixed things. “Everything’s going to be fine,” he murmured to himself softly. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

______________________________

It was a surreal experience, watching the magical ladybugs swarm towards him. Nino was torn between wanting to close his eyes and not wanting to miss a moment of it. He held his breath as they swept up Alya’s body, bringing her back to life. She blinked rapidly and looked down at him, taking a deep breath. 

Nino jumped to his feet, wrapping his arms around her. “You can’t keep doing this to me, Al,” he muttered, squeezing her tight. “I swear my hair’s already turning gray in places.”

She chuckled softly, hugging him back. “Are you okay?”

“Just some mental scarring so no worse than usual,” he sighed. “You were temporarily possessed a couple of weeks ago, almost drowned in a coffin last week, and this week you were turned into a statue. Let’s take next week off, yeah?”

She relaxed in his hold. “Honestly, that sounds like a good plan.”

Prompt List

Buy me a coffee?

#nino lahiffe #oops I drabbled again #I had to go back to watch #because besides Nino #Marlena and Otis and Fred and Manon also disappear #so I wanted a reason #also you can't tell me Manon doesn't have issues after being akumatized #that would mess a kid up

[anders-hamada-blog]

Seems like Anders ‘Andi’ Hamada has  left the isle to come over to Auradon. they are the 'child' of Hiro Hamada and have one sibling. I’ve heard they’re known to  be optimistic + unpredictable. Rumor has it they have not teamed up with the villains. Maybe we should keep an eye on this one.

[General]

Andi’s name comes from the shortened form of the acronym that Hiro gave their programming, Adaptive Nano-Dependent Evolving Robotic System; Anders. But the name proved to be too strange with the main demographic of  San Fransokyo being a mix but still a large percentage Asian, the nickname stuck much better with their peers in early school years and Andi prefers it. 

Being genderflux actually has nothing to do with Andi being synthetic by design; they were aware of their varied gender identity early on in life, far earlier than they discovered the truth about their robotic state. While many children were testing out gender roles as early as middle or grade school Andi felt firmly that the expectations in those things were not right for them. Hiro encouraged them not to worry over the labels to it all but later on in their teens there were rough spots when people couldn’t understand. For the most part, however, Andi remains comfortable flexible on the gender spectrum. 

Sexuality was another point of discovery where Andi realized the typical assumptions did not fit them. Their interest in males, as it began to spark in their late pre-teens, was almost entirely shrugged aside until later on the Isle where sexuality in general was less of a subject not discussed. Since returning and getting back in touch with their father Andi found a comfortable acceptance from Hiro in regards to sexuality. So long as they meet a nice boy, of course, since the family is rather protective of them. 

Being a synthetic life-form does not stop Andi from having very human goals in many ways; they want to have a happy relationship the way most of their uncles and aunts do, want a family of their own eventually, and while Hiro had been hopeful that Andi would follow down the path of science and engineering they’ve already decided they want to be involved in the medical field like their uncle Baymax. Unfortunately that goal is a far more complicated one now with the suspicions of being banished to the Isle haunting them. 

Amusingly, Andi is fond of telling people they’re an alien and that Hiro adopted them from a UFO crash site when people question their quirks. It’s all just playful jest of course but also a deflection from more serious questions. Synthetic life-forms aren’t entirely unheard of anymore but the type that Andi is, self-aware and adaptive, is something very new and different..and something very appealing to people looking for a way to exploit that technology. 

Andi has a talent for taking things apart and putting them back together, the problem is when they get bored it’s not always the best idea to leave things nearby. Cell phones have fallen prey to this restless want to do something, computers, even a car at one point; really it’s about nervous energy and boredom and they don’t mean harm by it but it is still a little annoying to reach for your phone and find it in pieces when Andi might have gotten distracted by something else in the middle of putting it back together.

[Family]

Family is incredibly important to Andi and that’s one of the reasons life is difficult at times; no longer allowed to even step inside the city and with Hiro so often stuck working on the next big tech breakthrough, the two do not see as much of each other as Andi would like. That doesn’t even factor in uncles and aunts, and of course cousins; all of which Andi misses badly but has no choice but to wait until they come to him to visit. In some ways being away from that family has left Andi constantly searching for friends to get close to, and they do form quick bonds, but it’s still not the same as the comforts of home that they sorely miss. 

Andi has always known they were adopted; the fact that they look nothing like their father was something easy to notice from the start. Later on after they learned the truth to their synthetic state Hiro explained that since uncle Fred really didn’t have much of a hand in their tech development and programming but still wanted to be included he was given the task of helping design a physical appearance for the Nanobots to create. 

Being that most of Andi’s life early on involved staying in the laboratories that Hiro owned and worked at, along with his long-time close friends, Andi did pick up a great deal from their ‘aunts’ and ‘uncles’. Between Honey, Wasabi, Go-Go, Fred and of course their own father, and growing up with the children of Hiro’s friends, they have a rather scattered mix of traits; they’re very much a product of being raised by a ground rather than just a single person and that instilled a deep devotion to the idea of family being far more than just biological.

Andi’s sibling, technically half-sibling of sorts, is a complicated situation. Said sibling is Hiro’s biological child from a failed marriage that ended during the time that Andi’s programming was in the first stages so they never really were exposed to that family life as they were only a set of developing concepts Hiro was trying to patch together. Having an older sibling though, even one that Andi rarely saw growing up due to Hiro’s ex-wife maintaining custody because of the lack of time Hiro actually had to raise a child, is something Andi has always clung to in the hopes that eventually there will be more of a chance to build a relationship between the two of them. Interestingly, and a bit awkwardly, since Andi wasn’t first created as an infant due to the complications of trying to craft a synthetic body that small with all the necessary systems the age difference between the two of them isn’t exactly correct by most accounts of what should be years, Andi’s sibling is older but physically they’re closer in age due to those earliest years being skipped in Andi’s physical and mental development. 

While Andi has a cell phone they also have a ‘line’ to their family, and anyone else who has the number, where they can tap into directly to communicate. It’s a failsafe that Hiro insisted on once he knew Andi was going to be sent to the Isle; during their time there it wasn’t functional due to magical restriction of outside contact but it does function now. Of course it makes them look like they’re talking to themselves because it’s literally built into their brain so...that’s not really something to do in public.

[The Isle]

The crime that sent Andi to the Isle was one that involved the destruction of a large area of a populated area of their home via the transit systems being hacked into; not only was property destroyed but people died in the resulting chaos. It’s nothing that Andi recalls any details of; when it happened they were being entirely controlled by the outside force that gained access to their internal coding. With that, and the know-how to use it, Andi did make for a very effective weapon. And it was that fear, more than anything, that made people in San Fransokyo outraged to the point of not caring what the cause was. Being something new, synthetic by design and not truly human by technical standards, Andi really had no rights or any chance to plead innocence. It was only Hiro’s sway as one of the best minds in the scientific field, and the creator of a large amount of new advances the city depended on, that kept Andi from ending up in a worse state than banished. It was intended that Andi would remain on the Isle without any chance of leaving but when the offer was sent out to allow people to leave Andi managed to slip past on the grounds that during their time on the Isle they hadn’t been involved in anything directly. But only barely, and mostly because San Fransokyo wants to forget about the entire ordeal.

While on the Isle Andi had to develop some survival skills fast, and a reputation; the latter of which was the best cover they could manage. For all most people ever knew, or know now, they were there because of the disaster in the city but were the cause of it, an intensely talented hacker with some strange magic ability to connect with technology in a strange way. That much is partly true; Andi can interface with most anything electronic, change its’ programming, control it, but they loathe doing so because it does make them feel less human. They dealt mostly in trading and finding information, and ways to get around the rules of the Isle; that skill was invaluable and the best trade for necessities just to get by. 

Unfortunately now that fabricated persona is still holding up and people who knew them from the Isle still see them, by the most part, as the intense and dangerous recluse when the truth is most anyone who actually knew Andi well enough to really know them in those years also know how much of a lie it all is. People label it off as being quirky perhaps, but Andi just isn’t a villain in the least, nor do they want to be. Need put them in that spot but to the people they were close to on the Isle they know who Andi really is, short of what they really are, and also know that image is still a bit dire in some cases not to let it shatter because the abilities are still there and the wrong person might take advantage of them if they saw weakness in Andi or knew just how dire a threat it was to endanger people they care about. 

#andi headcanons

[hellotinywonder]

“breathe in...  breathe out”, or “Looking back after The O’Neill 2017″

So.... I need to write this before I forget, get wrapped up in my never-ending fight against mundanity, and start to really feel the distance from my people. I got home from The 2017 National Puppetry Conference yesterday, and promptly fell asleep.  We all did. I’ve been to The O’Neill before, and I left this one without the soul crushing sadness of finding your tribe and then being scattered away from them.  I know I will see some of them very soon, why, Cam and I are redcarpeting it up this weekend for a puppet film we worked on, see?  It’s going to be fine!  Still it’s sinking in slowly, that isolation I feel sometimes, so let me babble on a bit, please, while it’s still fresh. First off, I don’t know if it is impostor syndrome or what, I but I seem inherently convinced that I am incredibly easy to forget.  This means I work extra hard to make an impression and I desperately seek approval. I’m getting better at it, but I definitely introduced myself a few times to some people, either who I figured forgot me since last year or the year before, and even some people who I had met the day before.  “Hello, I’m Valerie” was often met with a politely bewildered: “Yes, we’ve met”.  So... thank you for indulging me. I worked with some amazing people this year, and it helped push me to accept that sometimes I just make friends with incredible people, and they are not just politely enduring the tedium of letting me tag along.  Top of that list is Tim Legasse and James Godwin, who I had surprisingly way more in common with than I realized and they shared a studio together for years, and well... it shows.  Also, yeah, I went in completely ready to re-introduce myself to both of them, but that was unnecessary.  Our dynamic reminds me quite a bit of my band family big brother types.  I especially liked messing around singing Morrissey songs with Tim, and mercilessly, mercilessly slaying B-52′s with James at karaoke.  And my separate hilarious conversations with both about my “previous career”. I finally was able to study with Jim Rose, who is a dear, and a master of his craft, and I would sit at the table with him and struggle to get past this weird shyness I have at times, and it was lovely.  Oh, and I made a marionette under his tutelage, and that’s not nothing.  And then strung it up and added trick strings with the help of Kurt Hunter and Phillip Huber (I suppressed my awkward shyness and went up to Phillip two years ago and asked if we could just be friends who said “hello” to each other, and we’ve been friends ever since)!   Martin P. Robinson is lovely, but I was also always a little shy of him when he’d pull out Telly Monster (Telly was my favourite), but I am not shy anymore (testing out dollar store generic KY jelly on his arm, to make sure no one reacted to it, will do that to a friendship, kicks it up a level).  I’m thrilled I’ll get to see him at Dragon Con this year, and he got my song “I’m Just a Fish” stuck in his head and was whistling it to himself while I was editing my film together.  It made my day.  He also asked me to perform it at every pub show he attended.  I’ve sent him a recording. Martin Kettling was one of my mentors two years back, and I got incredibly sick while I was there, and while I didn’t completely fail, I certainly had some pitfalls I pushed through.  He commented to me on the last night, this year, that I had incredible stage presence (thank you, Hellblinki), and he had this wonderful insight to how my brain works, and the nervous energy and strategy that is constantly playing in my brain, and fear and all that (I was in his writing strand, so if you know me... you get it).  Two years ago he had pretty much only seen that, since I was too sick to perform.  It really meant a lot to me to have someone observe and recognize both sides of my stage personality. Also... hugs for days! The best hugs.  I don’t really get much personal contact in my life, I’m not devoid of it, but I live alone, I am single, and it’s just not something I get much of these days.  The O’Neill is a constant string of supportive hand grabs, contact improv, hugs, shoulder squeezing, and piles of deliriously tired puppeteers on the beach waiting for sunrise.  I feel sort of like a story I read once of Pierrot in white, with black marks showing up where other children have touched him while playing... I’m too tired to remember the whole story.

Pam Arciero is like my puppet mom, and one of the people I am totally geeked out that I get to be friends with.  I didn’t make it to her office this year, possibly because I managed not to have a breakdown, but in doing so, I feel like I missed out on something.  Also her and Jean Marie do such amazing work at The O’Neill I owe all of these wonderful feelings to those two powerhouse ladies.  And I own Jean Marie some rhino drawings, I have not forgotten.

Fred Thompson was there this year, and that alone is reason for celebration.  Fred is great and I love our silly conversations, but also our serious ones.  I’ve gotten so much advice from him about life and art, he’s a fantastic creature, and I’m lucky to have gotten stuck at a lunch table alone with him 5 years ago. Mervyn Millar!  Gave me moldable plastic (it’s next to my kettle and I cannot wait to use it!) and agreed to befriend me.  This may not seem like a big deal, but I definitely introduced myself to him twice.  I had just indefinitely postponed my trip to London a few weeks back, but when I do sort it out, I have more artists to visit, and that is spectacular. Ronnie Burkett made us all cry and inspired the marionette strand kids to take turns holding eachother’s puppets so we could all kneel down and kiss the stage before the show.  It was magical.  Also, I have finally reached a level of self confidence around him to make dirty pearl-clutching jokes with him in voices from the early talking pictures.  I adore you, Ronnie. Last year shortly after leaving, I had my heart stomped, and my O’Neill inspiration high crushed (that probably had a bit to do with my perceived disposable nature or ease of being forgotten, it’s not true, and I have the photos, videos, and memories to prove it).  This is not going to be the case this year, and I am thankful of that. I have a bunch of work to do, and never enough time to do it. I know I am forgetting people, but I am super tired and this is a blog post no one is going to read.  To sleepy to edit, that’s me.  But at least it’s out on this digital paper medium, not just stored up in my unreliable head right now. This is all a bit interpersonal, which is great and all, but I also LEARNED SO MUCH. And I cannot wait to apply it.  Once I get some sleep. So from a very full, and very tired heart, I made you all this: https://youtu.be/HrOrIvefF5E?list=PLz0pM6yNwcaD6ofLs_j_SmFsyCv2cvark

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