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luvly-writer · 5 months

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“XOXO”

Ch. 3 Part-Time lovers, full time problem

—•—

Tim Drake x reader

Fic + social media Au

warnings:

taglist: @w31rdg1rl @mxtokko @loonymoonystuff @grandstrangerphantom

Author’s note: One thing i love about Christmas is all the free time i have to write new stuff after finals 🤭 (she said as she still has a few finals to finish 😍). HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS CHAPTER!

For those wondering about “BOCM” i am having such a hard time finishing it. When my phone got changed the notes i had on that story got deleted and so i had to improvise a little cause i forgot its ending and it’s so frustrating cause i always want to give you guys quality content. I am scratching my head trying to finish it so i’ll continue this one and update slowly so that i can finish it correctly. Love you all and thank you for your patience.

Masterlist:

“Absolutely insufferable, she is,” said Tim to himself as he ran his hand through his hair. He had been begrudgingly cleaning his apartment. He was tempted to leave it dirty just to take a piss at Yn but he was sure that wouldn’t look good for his reputation so here he was. He would have hired someone to do it for him but recalling all the things he had regarding his alter ego, he knew he would have been fucked and he really couldn’t risk someone else knowing.

Finally, he finished ensuring everything looked great and sat back on his couch with his laptop. "There must be something about her that I can find. I refuse to be outdone and unprepared for this," he said, searching for any leverage he could hold over Y/n's head to bargain for his secret to remain so. Thirty minutes later he had found absolutely nothing. Unlike her two best friends, Clara Dupont and Satine Abbott, who were known to be found in scandal after scandal every week, Y/n had a clean slate. Satine was constantly partying during some fashion week or getting caught sleeping around with some governor's son or a married businessman. Clara has been known to pay off people to do her bidding, caught buying off police, lawyers, teachers, professors, judges and so, to run the city however she pleased. Yet, Y/n had nothing against her. Every article he found was about a charity she had worked on, a program she had opened, or an award she was given; and were all of them legit. She seemed like the angel in their group, but Tim knew better than to trust the all-too-shiny act. He has some recollection of them during high school though; he was a grade above them. They were known for their tight and exclusive group of three. He remembers how girls would do anything to become one of them. If it meant they had to step on someone else to appease one of the three, they would have done so. After all, having them as a connection moved mountains. Tim quickly grew frustrated. No psycho exes, no drug addiction, no jail time, no one dead, no bribes, nothing that could have stained the Vanderbilt name.

Throwing his head back, he heard his phone ring. Y/n was here. He sets his laptop on the coffee table and walks to the door, opening it and revealing a dazzling young woman in an outfit he thought someone as flashy as she never would wear. White Converse, comfortable mom jeans, a laid-back button-up up, and a cozy long brown coat. Her hair was loose and her face fresh with little makeup. Even after spending hours looking at pictures of her during his search, she still managed to take his breath away every time he was in her presence.

"I know I'm mesmerizing, but can you please let me inside? I'm freezing here," she said with her nose a little red.

He rolls his eyes with a laugh and lets her in. "I was gonna go more for repulsive but if that helps you sleep at night."

"Says the one that looks like sewer trampled rat" she quips back.

Tim couldn't help the snort that came out of him. She was an endless supply of good comebacks. He wonders how an interaction between his brothers and her would go, maybe he finally found someone to go head-to-head with Damian. She takes her coat off and lays it on the couch, together with her Burberry bag. He takes notice that her coat is also Burberry and decides to tease her a little. "And here I thought you were actually looking a little humble, but the coat and the bag ruin the look," he says as he scrunches his nose. He feels laughter bubbling as he catches the deadpan she gives him. "Whose less humble, me for wearing it and not saying a single thing or you for identifying it rather quickly and feeling the need to point it out?" she asks as she places a hand on her hip smirking at him.

"Touche"

She nods satisfied at his response and sits on the couch in front of him. "Ok. First order of business-"

"First order of business is giving me the reason as to why you are doing this." Tim interrupts her. She sighs and looks up, "God give me strength to not strangle him" she whispers and Tim tries to hold back a smirk.

"I wAS going to get to that before you so rudely interrupted me. The first order of business is giving you the context I am sure you are dying to hear." she pauses to look at him and he gestures for her to continue. He sees her look down and seem almost embarrassed. He can tell she is hesitating so he tries his best guess, "Are you trying to make someone jealous?"

"No, it's not that, it..." She takes a deep breath and spills it out. "My parents want me to marry a man who is very much too much older than me with the idea that it will help solidify the family lineage which I think is absurd because my sisters are right there AND THEY ARE MARRIED already to someone they love. But because Aurora and Charlisse keep on fighting to become the next CEO, my parents think it is only right to marry ME off to a very wrinkly and truly disturbing man who i am sure 20 years older than me because someone should continue the line whilst the other two are focused on their careers and making something out of their lives. SO, I needed to find a boyfriend who would be suitable for their standards whilst Aurora and Charlisse sort it out so that when they do, the attention and pressure of continuing the line will go back to them and not me." Y/n finishes breathing out. Tim was taken aback. Not only the normally composed girl he was used to seeing, spoke 7 words per second, but he was blown away by the information she had just given him.

"I need...a drink? Do you want one?" he said standing up and heading to the kitchen. No wonder she said this might take a while.

"Yes please" she said with a tense smile. "do you have wine?"

Tim made a sound of confirmation as he poured some scotch. He wasn't much of a drinker, but years of being part of the business world made him earn some appreciation for the drink. Especially on times like these. He poured some wine for her in a glass and walked back with both drinks. He gave her the glass and sat down. "Isn't that a little medieval?"

"Old money has habits that are tough to kill, unfortunately" she mutters dejectedly to her glass. "So, Timothy, any questions?"

"A few actually"

"Go ahead" she sad as she leaned back and got comfortable.

"Whose the old man?"

"Mr. Morris."

"You are fucking with me!" Tim reacted horrified, making Y/n laugh. If he hadn't been so shocked he would have delighted in her laughter but atlas, the situation did not give him the flexibility to do so. "Y/n say you are lying! That man is too old"

"I know, next question."

"Why me?"

"You are a good candidate and a lucky coincidence. I was going to ask Satine and Clara to help me but, that frankly would have ended in a disaster. I believe that as long as a plan stays between the parties involved who have something to lose, it will be successful. Satine would have chosen some random man who she's probably been involved with and Clara knows everything about everyone in the city-"

"Everything?"

"Except this of course, as I was saying she probably would have created a fake identity, assigned it to someone then, bribed them into playing the part."

"Much like you did?"

"I blackmailed you, not bribed you, get it right. Continuing, it was rather easy to choose you. You are Bruce Wayne's son, and even without that, you come from high society from your biological family, so you know the social cues and the ways of the people I am constantly surrounded by. You have proven to be quite ingenious as well as a good businessman. Knowing your "other me" proves you might as well be honorable too and what hero is not dammed with a savior complex can resist a damsel in distress? It is in your nature to want to influence things to be okay. My parents are friendly with Bruce therefore making things more appealing for the situation. I had the perfect leverage, the perfect candidate, and now I just need the perfect situation. So, lucky me when you bumped into me"

"You mean when you bumped into me?" he asked and she glared at him. "Careful, pretty boy," she said, and the way she said it caused chills to go down his spine.

"Any more questions, perhaps about my clean histoy and my best friend's not so clean image?"

Tim looked at her and she gestured to his laptop.

"What do you have to hide?" ha asked leaning foward.

"Wouldn't you like to know? Next question." she smiled as she also leaned forward in her seat. "What's our story?" he asked looking down at her lips, a little bit stained by the wine she had been drinking. Tempting

"Well, that's why I'm here huh, detective?" That nickname shouldn't have had the effect it did on him, but God, he wanted to hear those words from her again. "Show me why Red Robin is the world's greatest mind, second to Batman's only," she said leaning back and taking a sip of her glass once again.

"World's greatest detective, not mind, and some would say I have surpassed Batman, get it right," he said as he repeated her words in the end. "We need cero plotholes, so much so that it has to be so good that not even my family can find them. We are after all a family of detectives"

"Amazing" she said, sitting up straight, her entire focus solely on him.

"We both went to GA, so that's a starting point, we may not even have to lie. We met at Gotham Academy a few years back, you crushed on me for some time seeing as I was a year above you, and then forgot about me when I dropped out. Years later, we bump into each other on the street, and sparks fly or whatever the fuck will make the crowd fall in love with us, and then we start from there. Depending on how desperate are our odds, we will explain our timeline, but we have to agree on it before going public. How did you react when your parents told you the news?

"It waaaass..messy. A lot of screaming and crying"

"Then you will tell your parents of how heartbroken you were when they told you because you finally get the chance to be with your one true love and"

"Wait wait wait wait! Why do I have to be the lovesick puppy in this and you the prince charming" she said narrowing her eyes at him.

"Whose the one in dire need of escaping the situation?"

"Who's identity is in danger?"

"Who will be recreating the handmaid's tale?"

"You bitch!" She gasped at his insinuation

"Exactly so, puppy love for you it is. As I was saying, you finally got the chance to be with the love of your life, and the moment you are prepared to tell them, they spring this news onto you. So how dare they. We can coordinate public appearances, photos, family dinners, and posts so that everything will flow perfectly. Finally, once, you are liberated, we coordinate and stage a breakup and you hand me all the information you have on me cause I know you made copies of everything and I will eliminate all. of. it. We will just be another famous couple that got together and broke up and moved on." Tim was satisfied with his work. Y/n looked absolutely amazed by him.

"Wow...and you came up with all of that, that fast?" she said full of wonder. Tim felt a tug in his heart due to her reaction. It had been a long time since he had managed to make someone truly amazed by him in a really long time. He had been so used to being surrounded by skilled detectives, assassins, meta-humans, and aliens, that he forgot how great it felt to simply just be and have someone admire you for it. The little praise-seeking self in the back of his mind was thriving on her admiration. "Yes."

"Fuck...I think I couldn't have ever picked a better partner for this if I tried. Your reputation does you justice, Timothy, you are brilliant." she smiled. Y/n felt relieved. She was soon going to be free from her family's pressure. Another scheme has gone perfectly. She cleared her throat and masked her face once again. "We have to make a contract, establish some ground rules."

"By all means," said Tim. "I am serious. First rule, I get all evidence of my alter ego destroyed once it's over. I am doing this only if that is assured."

"Deal. Second rule, no one, absolutely NO ONE, knows except for the two of us." she said and he nodded, "I agree"

"Third rule, Kissing only happens if the situation requires it," she said. He hadn't noticed she had opened a doc in his laptop and was writing this entire thing down. He hummed in agreeance, too busy admiring her....admiring her...WOOP WOOP! EARTH TO TIM! This is a fake relationship and you are already getting fond of her?!?!??! WAKE UP

"Fourth rule, no feelings. This is strictly professional" he snapped, making her look at him strangely. "I think that was already implied but sure, if you want it written, I'll add it" and turned to his laptop again.

He felt a pit in his stomach. This was professional and besides, he just found her attractive, he can anyone attractive and it doesn't mean anything. Plus she is kind of an asshole. She is blackmailing him into a fake relationship...to save herself from being sold like cattle and forced to marry a creepy man which if he thinks of it maybe it is the best way she saw fit. AND AND she was very rude to him and has quite the attitude..although it is so attractive how she goes head to head with him. Tim was sweating' bullets.

"And done. I added a few things such as we have to have some sort of PDA, and how we might coordinate things. You know, some silly stuff that most people think isn't important but might end up being so. Do you have a printer?" She asked to which he nodded and gestured to his office. She sent the paper to print and went to look for it. Tim took a deep sigh, he just needed to calm down. He just found her attractive and interesting like a new case that needed to be cracked.

"Perfect, I printed two contracts; one for you and one for me. I also took one of your blue pens and signed on both papers, here, sign here and here." After it was done, she had noticed that a few hours had passed. "I should get going. I promised Satine and Clara that I would have dinner with them if they kept the paparazzi off me so that I could get here unbothered and we didn't have any issues." She said as she went for her coat and her purse. "Have a nice night, Timothy"

"Tim"

"Huh?"

"My friends and family call me Tim," he said looking at her.

She smiled softly, "Okay...Timmy, have a good night and get some rest." His heart melted at the fact that she took his nickname and altered it to make it hers. She heard her driver arrive outside and walked towards the door, Tim not so far behind. He noticed she faltered her step a little and looked at him hesitating. "Be....be careful tonight" she said but it was more like a whisper.

Tim nodded, "Thank you, enjoy dinner and get home safe," he told her as she went outside and went to her car. He stayed there until she got in the car and it began moving.

As she left, Y/n unfolded the contract from her purse and read the last rule...no feelings...

"you are going to be trouble.." she said fighting off a tiny smile and thinking of the handsome boy with the sharp quips, magnificent brain, and gorgeous blue eyes.

"What was that, miss Vanderbilt?" asked Donnie, her driver.

"Oh, it's nothing, Don. We are headed to L'amico, I'm meeting the girls for dinner," she said sweetly and her driver nodded.

Author's note: What do you think of their dynamic? Liking it so far? Feel free to give me any feedback you'd like.

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friends-to-lovers-tournament · 10 months

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Friends to Lovers Tournament: Round 1, Side A, Match 9

propaganda under the cut!

Iruclarazz:

LISTEN THEY ARE THE OT3 TO BEAT ALL OTHER OT3's LIKE THEY HOLD SO MUCH POWER!!!

1. THEY ARE SO FUCKING FLUFFY AND COLOURFUL AND PURE AND ADORABLE AND—*chokes on emotions* anyways they're literally the most wholesome and supportive of all ships like i can't even begin to summarize how much they care for each other

2. THEY CANONLY CALL EACH OTHER SOULMATES and even if clara and azz don't understand what a soulmate is (they're demons) they're just happy to be close to iruma.

3. whenever one of them is upset or bothered, the other two form a team and they go ALL OUT to lift the third person's mood!!! they try to solve the problem but if that's not possible, they just stay with that person and try to make them feel better so that they can face their problem with a better mood and more strength

4. they're ALWAYS together. and none of them are bothered by it!! and instead of being toxic about the need to stay close, they establish boundaries! like they have their own secrets they can't tell the others and that's totally fine! no pressure at all in their squad

5. listen these three help each other become better people!! like they bring out the best in each other and it's the most wholesome, encouraging, healthy, lovey dovey ship ever!!! like clara becomes more responsible despite her need for chaos bc she wants to make sure azz and iruma can depend on her! azz stops putting up walls and allows people to approach him because he wants to get involved in the other two's lives! and iruma learns how to set boundaries with these two where he could never say no to anyone!! like if that isn't the most awesome and perfect relationship idk what is!!!

6. one tol and two smols that's all.

THERE IS JUST SO MUCH MORE IN CANON THAT SHOWS HOW AWESOME THESE TRIO ARE AS AN OT3 BUT YEAH IT'S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL POLY SHIP I'VE EVER SEEN IN MANGA!!!

Sunnflower:

ok listen their relationship is extremely important to the plot of the game so they get a lot of focus and a lot of the stuff they say abt each other is like????? bro thats kinda fruity ngl??????? theres like. a lot of stuff i could say about them. like a lot. too much actually

so instead ill just, idk summarize their relationship and then give some fun facts abt them

Sunny and Basil are best friends! They're shown to be very close to each other, closer than they are to the rest of their friends. They rely on each other to listen when they need to vent, and like to read books together! Before the events of the game, Sunny and Basil become involved in an incident that basically tears their friend group apart. Basil keeps the secret of their involvement from everyone because he cares too much about Sunny to let him get in trouble. They then don't talk for four years, and spend the entire time pining for each other!

Basil hopes for four years that Sunny will finally come back to him, meanwhile Sunny has retreated into a perfect dreamworld he uses to cope. All of his friends are there, and everyone is happy, and the dreamworld is full of things Basil loves. The most common food item is tofu(Basil's favorite food), there's an entire race of plant creatures that adore tofu(Basil likes to garden + his favorite food), his garden in the dreamworld is huge and has lots of flowers that represent each of his friends! Also, an important NPC says this abt Sunny and Basil's relationship: "He is special to you. A string of fate ties you together." A string of fate you say? Hmmm, I wonder why they phrased it like that...

Also, when Sunny and Basil finally do start talking again, Basil says stuff like this: "W...Wait... P-Please, SUNNY... Don't leave me... Not again..." "After all this time... you've finally come back for me. But... tomorrow... you're going away. H-HOW COULD YOU DO THAT!?!? That's mean, SUNNY. That's so mean!" Yeah... he's not doing too well...

But don't worry! After a year or two of therapy I'm sure these two can have a happy, healthy relationship!

Obviously I have a lot more to say abt them but it's all literary analysis and context clues and stuff, I just wanted to point out the more obvious stuff!

#friends to lovers tournament #welcome to demon school iruma kun #omori #iruclarazz #sunnflower #iruma suzuki #asmodeus alice #clara valac #omori sunny #omori basil #polls #tournament polls

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f1crecs · 6 months

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Meet the Team

As you may remember, a couple of weeks ago I put out a post asking for volunteers to help me collate recs for the lists and maintain the blog. I am so very happy to introduce them all to you now - and we will all be sharing our favourite fics, too. 🤍

thank you so much to everyone who put their name forward for this - I am so grateful.

click here to hear their #1 favourite f1c, and continue below the cut to learn more about them.

I hope you will all join me in welcoming them!

Briony x

Alison - @lydia-petze

favourite pairings: I am very unfussy but some of my favourite pairings are galex, carlando, piarles, yukierre, loscar, charlos and martian. favourite tropes: again, very unfussy but coffee shop, fake dating/marriage of convenience and bodyguard fic is all up there. about me: Hi, I'm Alison, lydia_petze on AO3. I'm very old in fandom years, having started back in the 90s when The X Files was the fandom du jour. I manage a rail station in my spare time, my number one job is cat servant, I like folk music and folklore and I can do the occasional Aussie-pick when it's needed

Briony - @boxboxbrioche

favourite pairings: piarles, galex, martian... but I truly will read most pairings. favourite tropes: childhood best friends to lovers. second chances. historical au's. soulmate au's!! about me: hi! it's nice to meet you. this fandom is so incredibly talented, and i started this blog in 2023 in order to shout it from the rooftops. i enjoy reading, walking, and esteban ocon

Caroleen - @blueballsracing

favourite pairings: love Lestappen, Brocedes, Galex, Loscar, Landoscar favourite tropes: enemies to lovers, magical realism, roommates, friends with benefits about me: Hi! I’m Caroleen, caroleen on ao3 and blueballsracing on tumblr! I’m a big cat lover, huge Taylor Swift stan, and am a huge nerd!

Clara - @frickinsweet

favourite pairings: Piarles, Lestappen, Galex, Brocedes – but I’m a Charles-girly first and foremost so I will read most things that involve him ❤️ favourite tropes: Enemies-to-lovers, mutual pining, magical realism, soulmates about me: Hiya, I’m Clara, frickinsweet on tumblr (and on AO3 where you can find me commenting on fics mostly). Eternally tired girl that wishes she could be a cat mom but god has cursed me with allergies. Fanartist (in theory only so far). Due to work related damages I have too many opinions on peoples teeth 🙈.

Katie - @singsweetmelodies

favourite pairings: Pierre/Charles, Seb/Lewis, Nico/Jenson favourite tropes: fake dating baby!!! but also, friends to lovers, mutual pining, idiots in love <3 about me: Hiii! I'm Katie, ohmygasly on AO3 and singsweetmelodies on Tumblr! in the words of a dear friend, my 3 personality traits are doctorate, taylor swift, and f1 (not necessarily in that order)

Leaf - @ocontraire

favourite pairings: I'm not very particular about pairings, though i gravitate towards those including lando, alonso, or esteban. favourite tropes: pining, fantasy settings, and moderately unreliable narrators about me: hello! i'm leaf, leafmeal0ne on ao3 and ocontraire on tumblr! i love poetry, country music, and far too many sports to be reasonable. i crochet frequently and am very bad at it.

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taki118 · 5 months

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IruClarAzz Master Post Part 10

Just collecting all of the cuteness of the Love Trio and adding my commentary. Spoilers ahead very current with the manga. (Also warning I may make jabs at the IruAmeri ship here and there just small comparisons showing why I don’t like it as much, no hate but if you don’t like your ship being talked about even slightly negatively probably look away.)

If you didn’t see it Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here, Part 3 here Part 4 here Part 5 here Part 6 here Part 7 here Part 8 here Bonus here Part 9 here

After the 13s dinner Iruma and Azz and big talking points at the school I just want to point out that they ONCE AGAIN are wearing matching glasses (like I guarantee Clara just added a mustache for fun)

Azz the man with a plan instructs them both on what to do

But when they get to class their classmates don't care and were just worried surprising the trio a bit

Look how happy Clara is that they are all worried for them though

Azz your tsundere is showing but also I LOVE how clara knows him so well.

Cuties calling them soulmates again

Field trip to the beach trio together

Again they are in a line glad to Azz showing his excitement openly

I like how Azz knows I like to think she told him cause hes the mom of the 3

I did a post on this but like Iruma only praises Clara and Azz only wants her picture while everyone else fawns over Elizabetta (sidebar I LOVE how the author didn't do cheap fan service and put them in swimsuits that actually feel like something they'd pick out)

I like that Clara is helping Azz I really got fed lately with showing how these two care about each other.

While playing together Iruma gets approached and again Azz has a similar look of dread as Clara

Clara with her boyfriends

Clara goes cling mode and Azz assists

Turns out she was a candidate for the 13s out with the newly appointed member I just like that Clara's still clinging But the 13 tells them there's problem in the area and cue kracken

So most of the class works to deal with it and we get this great teamwork moment. Like Azz leads the Kraken, Clara offers support in both getting Iruma set up and giving him what he needs to make his bow to take the shot. I just love this I hope we will get to see more.

Fucking look at this Azz is holding the both of them up (Got the whole world in his hands)

THings get settled and they head back and just

Look how cute they are!!!!!! I will never get tired of the trio sleepy on each other shot.

#welcome to demon school iruma kun #welcome to demon school #iruclarazz #welcome to demon school iruma #mairimashita! iruma kun #iruma suzuki #clara valac #asmodeus alice #love trio #manga #long post #spoilers

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spade-riddles · 6 days

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Submission: Death/Dying/Mortality & The Jack-O-Lantern of it all.

The first 🎃 was sent on May 13, 2023.

#4. 🎃 “Speaking of, I love Halloween, don’t you? I’m already counting the days until October.”

#11. 🎃 “Imagine this. It is 3 am and Halloween is over"

All Saints Day, while exact origins are uncertain, was originally most commonly celebrated in May (like, a LONG time ago. ~300-600 A.D). Specifically…MAY 13. The night before All Saints Day was called “All-Hallows Eve”, which is what we now know as Halloween. (I acknowledge that is through the Christianity lens, as I know there this is a holiday with pagan roots as well).

This is a celebration dedicated to remember the dead. I believe the use of the pumpkin/jack-o-lantern and the references to this celebration were easter eggs for the direction of TS11, before we even KNEW a new album was in the works. Furthermore, someone sent in a post identifying May 13 as the first documented date of JK & KK, which was also linked to the original spade riddles about MAY.

Now that it has been a few days since the release of TTPD, I’m shocked to see just how many references there are to the concept of death, dying, endings, resurrection, etc. Here is an incomplete list of all of the references to this theme throughout the TTPD rollout and release:

TN easter egg

“We hereby conduct this post-mortem” - AKA….after death. This was ultimately revealed to be lyrics from “How Did It End?”

Track 4 - Down Bad

“I might just die, it would make no difference.”

Track 5 - So Long, London

“My white knuckle dying grip holding tight to your quiet resentment.”

“I died on the altar waiting for the proof.”

Track 9 - Guilty As Sin

“One slip I’m falling back into the hedge maze, but what a way to die.”

Track 10 - Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?

“If you wanted me dead you should’ve just said. Nothing makes me feel more alive.”

Track 12 - loml

“Are they second hand embarrassed that I can’t get out of bed, cause something counterfeits dead?”

“And I’ll still see it until I die, You’re the loss of my life.”

Track 14 - The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived

“Were you sent by someone who wanted me dead?”

“I would’ve died for your sins, Instead, I just died inside.”

Track 16 - Clara Bow

“I’m not trying to exaggerate but I think I might die if it happened, die if it happened to me”

Track 17 - The Black Dog

“Old habits die screaming.”

“Now I wanna sell my house and set fire to all my clothes, and hire a priest to come and exorcise my demons, Even if I die screaming, And I hope you hear it.”

Track 19 - The Albatross:

“She’s the death you chose”

Track 21 - How Did It End:

“We hereby conduct this post-mortem”

“Say it once again with feeling, How the death rattle breathing, Silenced as the soul was leaving, The deflation of our dreaming, Leaving me bereft and reeling. My beloved ghost and me, Sitting in a tree,D-Y-I-N-G”

Track 23 - I Hate It Here

“I dreamed about it in the dark, the night I felt like I might die”

Track 25 - I Look In People’s Windows

“I had died the tiniest death.”

And finally…resurrection (note: I am not a religious person, I’m writing about this from a literature/contextual perspective).

Track 9 - Guilty as Sin:

What if I roll the stone away? They’re gonna crucify me anyway. What if the way you hold me is actually what’s holy? If long suffering propriety is what they want from me, they don’t know how you’ve haunted me so stunningly. I choose you and me, religiously

propriety (noun) - 1: the quality or state of being proper or suitable, 2: conformity to what is socially acceptable in conduct or speech, fear or offending against conventional rules of behavior especially between the sexes.

🫚 - 2/5/2024

Frost untouched, Conformity wins fights.

This 🫚 message seems to convey the message that conforming to what what society and the media, her fans, etc expect of her and will tolerate from her, is the only way she could gain enough traction to move forward. But in Guilty as Sin, she finally asks the questions “what happens if I roll away the stone?” Rolling away the stone, in a biblical sense, would reveal an empty tomb. An empty tomb was EVIDENCE that Jesus had risen from the dead.

So my thought is, what does rolling away the stone mean for Taylor? What are the implications of her asking, “What if I just give them all the evidence revealing my truth? They are going to judge me no matter what, so I might as well. If they want me to suffer my entire life by conforming to societal standards, they don’t know how impossible of an ask that is.”In Summary, 🫚 & 🎃 have absolutely proven themselves credible in foreshadowing the themes of this album and overarching story. And I’m sure as we continue to decipher their messages, we are going to find so much more.

#submission #🎃#🫚#this is excellent work

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enchantedchocolatebars · 4 months

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A continuation of this. Titling the written piece as "The Happy Human Meets The Winsome Witch" (get it lol) and deciding that it will definitely be a chapter in my full-length chapter story (I talk more about that here). "Clara" is my wittewife. Some things might not stay the same in the actual story, but this is what I have so far.

Enjoy! <3

"Alright, Syrup," Clara began, a bright and cheery smile on her face as she looked to the blue jay settled on her right shoulder. "You ready?"

Syrup, her palisman, responded with a small nod and a sweet tweet to the question.

Clara giggled at the cute chrip that left the bird's beak. "Same. Time to open the shop!"

As she sat on her stool, the witch used her magic to flip the 'closed' sign to 'open' and folded both of her hands together on the table.

Behind the witch was a sign in feminine lettering that was colored orange on a white background that read 'Clara's Charms'.

The tablecloth itself was decorated with an assortment of new, but also really random, knick knacks from the human world that she found during her trip to the shore.

Excitement started to fill her eyes.

She was so eager to sell them to some buyers who she hoped would be arriving soon to her stand.

The Bonesborough marketplace was always busy on midmorning weekends, which was beneficial for a saleswoman like Clara, but also disadvantageous because of all the other sellers.

The competition, while friendly at times, was also fierce, so she and Syrup had to ensure they were on their A game.

No messing around!

They've got this.

As the two waited patiently for a patron to approach their business, a demon dressed in a doublet walks by their display.

Clara's eyes instantly light up.

A possible customer, she thought to herself.

The witch was determined to seize this opportunity.

"Hello, sir!" She greeted cheerfully, grabbing his attention as he stopped and turned to see her.

"Oh, good morning, miss!" The demon greeted back with a smile, kindly lifting his hat some before setting it down.

"I have a question to ask. Would you be interested in buying this furry piece of fabric from the human world?" Clara asked, picking up a beaver pelt from her table to present to the man.

"It has a variety of uses! For example, you can use it as a scarf." Clara tied the pelt around her neck like a scarf as she flipped the longer end over her shoulder all sassy like.

As she untied the beaver skin, she continued her demonstration by balling it up before putting it on her head.

She then directed both her fingers at it. "A hat. Or..."

Clara removed the pelt from her head and put it back on the table, still in the shape of a ball, as she glanced at Syrup and gave her a nod.

Understanding the signal, the blue jay flew over to the pelt and nestled herself into it.

Jazz hands went to gesture gleefully at the new nest. "Ta-da! It can become a new bed for your palisman!" Clara exclaimed.

"So what do you think? Does this tickle your fancy? It can be all yours for only a total of ten sails!"

She made the material look intriguing enough for someone to be interested in buying it, right?

"That?" The man questioned. He shook his head, pulling out a beaver pelt of his own.

He shined her a somewhat sad smile.

"I'm really sorry, miss, but I had already purchased one from over there," He informed her, directing his finger at a stand that was a few stands away from hers.

It was being run by a literal piggy bank who sat on a stool with a sign above him that read "Mr. Piggy Bank's Human Collectibles".

As Mr. Piggy Bank finished selling a pelt to a customer, more customers came up to him with snails in their hands, eager to buy his items.

"He's selling them for only 5 snails."

Clara's expression slowly changed to sadness.

"Oh...," The witch went, her shoulders rounding forward as the man walked away.

Syrup flies over and settles on her owner's slump shoulder after seeing this, chirping some birdy encouragement in her pointed ear.

Her words would always match the sweetness of her name.

Clara let out a giggle and patted Syrup's head feathers with her index finger.

"You're right, Syrup," she told her blue jay companion, determination shining through in her small smile as she straightened her posture.

"We just have to keep trying."

Syrup tweeted again, giving a single nod of agreement.

A woman dressed regally in a red gown wearing a powdered wig and a fake mole passes by, which makes Clara grin excitedly as she greets her.

"Morning, madam." Clara cutely curtsied to the fanciful woman before continuing with a compliment.

"That red dress looks absolutely ravishing on you," she cheerfully states, finishing her sentence with a light hum.

Despite trying to make a sale to the woman, Clara genuinely meant her compliment.

The woman in red replied with a giggle, slight flush on her face from the polite praise. "Oh, why thank you," she said.

"You know what would go really well with your dress?"

With great elegance, Clara pulls from behind her a folded hand-held fan that is closed.

"This."

The fan is revealed to be the same color as the woman's dress when she opens it.

"It's a fan from the human realm!"

"Really?" the woman asked in amazement

Clara happily responded with a nod.

"Oh, say no more," the woman cheerfully states, reaching into her large, white wig to pull out two hand-held fans that are much more decorative than Clara's single fan.

The witch seller's smile starts to falter.

The woman starts to fan herself with both fans as she speaks.

"I just bought three from that stall there."

Her palisman, a white monkey, pops its head out of her wig and pulls out the third fan as they start fanning themselves gracefully.

The woman glances back at the stand where she had previously been, which was Mr. Piggy Bank's stand.

The pig was very prosperous as he stood silent on a large brown sack filled with snails, selling hand fans left and right to customers.

Clara opened her mouth to speak, but the woman was already walking away. "Thank you for the offer, though."

"You're...welcome," Clara whispered, gazing sadly at her booth table.

However, hearing nearby footsteps causes her to look up.

Clara quickly pulls out a silver coin (a quarter) from the human realm from inside her hair, hoping to sell it, only to see two potential buyers pass by with jars filled with the same coins from the direction of Mr. Piggy Bank's stand.

He now had two big sacks filled with snails sitting behind him, with two picture frames of his piggy bank kids being sent to one of the best colleges in Bonesborough standing on each sack.

When customers came to his stand, they would buy a jar from him, lift him, and shake out the silver coins that he kept inside his body into their jars before paying him in snails.

Clara sighed a second sad sigh, averting her gaze once more as Syrup quietly chriped, rubbing her beak against Clara's cheek.

The witch felt nothing but defeat wash over her.

"Why don't you turn that frown upside down and sell me some of your greatest charms?"

Clara was quick to look up when she heard the soft voice, which was full of happiness and kindness.

A stranger wearing a green cloak with his hood up caught her eye as he stood in front of her booth.

Clara was able to see a small part of his face, and he had the most beautiful brown eyes she had ever seen on a witch.

He also had an adorable blonde forelock sticking out of his hood.

"R-Really?" Clara sniffled in cute disbelief as she wiped away the start of tears from the corners of her hazel eyes.

The stranger nodded.

He saw how down she looked when he was leisurely walking through the marketplace and wanted to help her out.

Plus, her stand did look quite cute and unique.

"But don't you want to buy from him?" Clara asked, pointing at Mr. Piggy Bank's stand.

The stranger glances in the direction she's pointing and looks back at her.

"Despite the cuteness of that piggy bank, you're even cuter."

After receiving such a flirtatious response, Clara lets out a soft laugh and begins bagging her best items for the stranger, her cheeks becoming the lightest pink.

Her fondness for him was already starting to show.

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youranemicvampire · 4 months

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My favorite shows and movies that i've watched in 2023

Barbie (2023)

Always been a sucker for great production and costume design. Feminism aside, it’s so fun and smart with all the references. I just don’t like the Ken hype. He’s fun, sure, but a lot of fans are missing the point or just proving the message of the story.

Bottoms (2023)

Need more lesbian chaos as a comedy fan. Sapphic softcore is ok of course, but you know, there should be a variety of WLW cinema. Perfect also for the Y2K nostalgia. ‘Bring It On’ fan here!

Nocebo (2022)

I actually watched it last year, but it was too late to be on my 2022 list. Underrated political-horror film. Underrated cast! It should’ve had the same hype with Parasite and Triangle of Sadness. For me, it was simple and well-written. The structure of the story was smart but easy to absorb.

About Us But Not About Us (2022)

The first and last single-location film that I watched was Kisaragi (2007) and I’ve been waiting for something like that since then. One of the most important things i look for a media is the script so i really enjoyed it especially when they switched characters. Very intriguing.

The Little Mermaid (2023)

Been waiting for this since 2019! I’ve been a fan of Halle Bailey since that announcement. I rarely watch things on the cinema, but it’s something i couldn’t miss. Beautiful, pure and magical. Perfect casting and amazing chemistry!

Si Chedeng At Si Apple (2017)

Another chaotic lesbian film, but make it Filipino! It was funny and bloooody just like Bottoms so if you liked it then you should try this one. Not a spoiler, but part of the plot: That lady in yellow killed her abusive husband.

Maria Clara At Ibarra (2022)

I haven’t finished it yet! But i would recommend it! Brought back my trust and love for Filipino series. If you are not Filipino, it’s a good way to learn our history. Fun, written with passion + great set and costume design.

Mga Lihim Ni Urduja (2023)

After Maria Clara at Ibarra, i became more interested in Filipino series especially with historical fiction. This one is so underrated and empowering! Has the prettiest and hottest cast tbh and a queer undertone *wink*

Betcin (2021)

I have to say that this is the best Filo GL/WLW so far. It has an actual interesting story and interesting characters. Both leads are toxic AF, but it was sooooo entertaining. Top tier chemistry. Top tier acting!

Swarm (2023)

As a Beyhive, i don’t really like how they chose us coz there are more crazy fandoms out there, but still watched and finished it because of Dominique Fishback. SHE IS AMAZING. She deserves awards for this portrayal alone.

Ang Babae Sa Septik Tank 3: The Real Untold Story of Josephine Bracken (2011)

Another mockumentary that is to die (of laughter) for! I’ve always wanted to finish the trilogy, but i started with this because of history. Frustratingly funny. I don’t know if i would root for her or not lmao

The ultimatum: Queer love (2023)

I admit, watching reality shows is my guilty pleasure so imagine my excitement when it’s full of queer women??? The dramaaaa lmao i need more seasons of just sapphics. It’s also a cool and chaotic concept tho. I thought it was just a normal dating show at first.

Physical 100 (2023)

This is my kind of reality show! I hope it will have multiple versions from different countries. The best thing about it is how fitness is really measured by getting competitors from different backgroundsand giving them different challenges.

Rookie (2023)

The most anticipated movie of the Filipino sapphics! And if you’re a volleyball fan? I’m sure this would be automatically on your list. It’s just so cute and wholesome.

Ladies First: A story of women in Hip Hop (2023)

Must watch! Not only for the history of the rap girlies, but to trace back the struggles they faced and are still facing. You might discover talented women to stan in your music or lyrical style too.

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gwendolynlerman · 4 months

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Books I want to read in 2024

I was inspired by @fluencylevelfrench to write this post, so here are the 50 books I want to read in 2024, which is my provisional Goodreads goal. (I always set a lowish number and adjust it throughout the year depending on how my goal progresses.) Last year, I read 121 books, so I'm hoping to be able to read at least 100, but I have no idea what my year is going to look like.

1Q84 Book 1 by Haruki Murakami (currently reading)

1Q84 Book 2 by Haruki Murakami

1Q84 Book 3 by Haruki Murakami

Hamburg – hin und zurück by Felix & Theo

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Die Verwandlung by Franz Kafka

Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language by Steven Pinker

Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

International Relations Theory by Stephen McGlinchey

You Are What You Speak: Grammar Grouches, Language Laws and the Power of Words by Robert Lane Greene

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt

Meditations on Diplomacy: Comparative Cases in Diplomatic Practice and Foreign Policy by Stephen Chan

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Reflections on the Posthuman in International Relations: The Anthropocene, Security and Ecology by Clara Eroukhmanoff

In Cold Blood: A True Account of Multiple Murder and Its Consequences by Truman Capote

Haus ohne Hoffnung by Felix & Theo

Effi Briest by Theodor Fontane

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

Migration and the Ukraine Crisis: A Two-Country Perspective by Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska and Greta Uehling (eds.)

Writing Systems: An Introduction to Their Linguistic Analysis by Florian Coulmas

Nations under God: The Geopolitics of Faith in the Twenty-First Century by Luke M. Herrington

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell

Herr der Diebe by Cornelia Funke

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser

Park Statue Politics: World War II Comfort Women Memorials in the United States by Thomas J. Ward

The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

Restoring Indigenous Self-Determination: Theoretical and Practical Approaches by Marc Woons

Veronikas Geheimnis by Friedhelm Strack

The Sacred and the Sovereign by Özgür Taşkaya

1984 by George Orwell

Sounds of War: Aesthetics, Emotions and Chechnya by Susanna Hast

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Feminists Don't Wear Pink (And Other Lies): Amazing Women on What the F-Word Means to Them by Scarlett Curtis

Into the Eleventh Hour: R2P, Syria and Humanitarianism in Crisis by Robert W. Murray

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit

Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams

Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams

The Sources of Russia's Great Power Politics: Ukraine and the Challenge to the European Order by Taras Kuzio

Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams

Women, Race & Class by Angela Y. Davis

Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity by Chandra Talpade Mohanty

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

The “Clash of Civilizations” 25 Years On: A Multidisciplinary Appraisal by Davide Orsi

Making Space for Indigenous Feminism by Joyce Green

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

#bookblr

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lyxyhii · 1 year

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YO YO!!

To promote my book, "summer loving," on Wattpad, heres a chapter!! This is chapter three, party. I will link the hole story at the end. It is fairly new and getting updates almost everyday. Hope everyone enjoys this!!

WARNINGS:underage Drinking, parties, making out, betrayal, sexual mentions. Name calling.

I woke up to here chaos downstairs. They must be setting up. My clock said "10:15" so it makes sense.

I walked downstairs to see draco and his friends setting things up. Like a beer pong table and a mini bar.

Draco looked over at me standing there and said, "did I awake sleeping beauty?"

"Atleast you think I'm pretty." I joked.

He turned away, is he... blushing? What the actual fuck.

I'll ignore it..

I went back upstairs and called Bessy. Begging the goodie girl to come to a party.

She has gone to 1 party, blacked out, and found herself in a bathtub. Since then, she said she'd never go to one again.

I told her that her lovely crush, Blaise, will be there. As soon as those words left my mouth, she was on way there.

I helped set up a bit, ate a late lunch, than I looked at the time "5:23 PM."

"I'm going to get dressed," I said, excusing myself.

I heard giggling as I left, draco and his friends whispering something to one another.

I grabbed the one dress I could wear to a party. Surprise surprise, it was green.

I rarely got to wear any color other than blue and yellow. So I might as well wear the dress I bought years back for the first time.

It was a forest green dress with a built in corset. It went to my mid-thigh, a little shorter. It showed my cleavage and held them up a bit. Like a push-up bra

After slipping the dress on, I put some black heels on.

I curled my dark brown hair and blushed my slightly freckles cheeks.

I'm planning on getting fucked up tonight. I locked my bedroom door, to prevent people trying to hook up in it.

I walked downstairs to see alot of people had shown up. Most I've seen at parties before.

Scanning the crowd, I saw Bessy. She was hidden by the big shelves. Looks like she's looking for me.

"Well. Why are you coming downstairs in the Malfoy Manor? Did you stay the night with Draco or?" Bessy questions.

I let out a breath and said,

"I'm forced to stay with him this summer. Our parents are best friends and went on vacation together."

"OHHH okay," she said with a relieved face. "I thought you hooked up with the one dude you hate the most."

"It's very much a thing I don't dream of, Bessy," I laughed.

That could be seen as I lie. I wouldn't mind hooking up with Draco. I mean he's hot and cocky.

Arrogant and rude. But at the same time. He's athletic and can cook. He's one hell of a man.

We danced a bit, than I wanted to get a drink. I walked towards the make shift bar as got a shot of tequila.

I took 2, no 3 shots. After that I kinda lost all consciousness I had.

I was very gone. Drunk.

Bessy walked me around, making sure I was safe. She was my sober friend.

"You~ your so pretty bess" I said loudly, sluring my words.

"You really are drunk," she was dying of laughter.

I began to dance and run around, Bessy losing me every second. I ended up at the bear pong table some how.

I won the two games I played. What can I say, I've done that game alot.

There was a truth or dare circle on the sofas and do decided to join. Draco was sat with the group as well.

"Clara, truth or dare?" Asked a girl named ginny.

"Hmm~truth," I slurred with a smirk.

"Would you fuck anyone in this group?" She giggled.

I looked around. My drunk ass was going to say Draco. It was the truth. But I chose to just say,

"Sure."

"My turn, Draco, truth or dare?" Asked pansy.

I'm pretty sure her and draco dated for a bit. Hooked up for sure.

"Dare." He said.

"I dare you to kiss who you find hot for 30 seconds," her little giggles interrupted each word.

He looked around for abit than walked over to me, kissing me.

I was so gone. Sober me would have pushed him away and called my parents to come home. But drunk me on the other hand.

After 30 seconds, he pulled away and wiped his lips. Which we're now covered in my lipstick.

He walked back to his seat and sat down. he wiped the lipstick off his lips with his shirt.

Pansy looked angry. I don't know if they are broken up or it's a hookup thing but she was pissed.

I wiped my lips a bit, my lipstick was smeared all over.

"Truth or dare Clara!" Pansy said with an angry tone.

"Truth, again," I said calmly. I was so unaware how mad she was.

"Are you actually a whore?" He anger boiled over.

"That's to fucking far pansy," draco fought back.

"It's fine," I spoke for myself. "I'll answer.. I'm not a whore. But I mean if Draco, your crush, wants to hook up with me. you should really think why he doesn't want your ass in bed and myn instead."

She threw a punch at my face, I dodged it and pushed her onto the couch and threw a punch that will definitely leave a bruise.

I got off her and said "call me a whore all you want. Your just mad I can get it and you can't."

I laughed and walked towards draco with a little trip once and awhile.

I grabbed his black tie and pulled him up from his seat.

"I'll show you a whore bitch." I said and I kissed him.

I pulled away and grabbed Blaise and began to kiss him and draco back and forth.

Everyone claps for me and once I'm done, the best friends look at eachother in happy shock.

I walked away and Bessy followed after me.

"What. The. Fuck Clara!" She yelled.

"What?" I said confused.

"You don't kiss you best friends crush to prove a point to some bitch?!" She yelled.

I had forgotten she had a thing for Blaise. I'm so blinded by being drunk I forgot.

"I'm sorry bessy..i forgot in the moment." I tried to apologize.

"Once you are sober, than come talk to me," she stomped away.

I walked outside and sat against a pillar. How could I?

All I do is ruin perfect things.

I heard the backdoor open, I was just blanked out staring.

"Hey." A familiar voice said.

It was Draco.

"Hey," I said softly back.

"Are you okay? It's cold out here and your in just your short dress." Draco asked as he sat next to me.

"I ruined me and my best friends relationship, all to get revenge on pansy," I muttered.

I began to cry a bit.

I shivered a bit, he was right. It's cold as balls.

He put his coat over my shoulders. Trying to warm me up.

"Blaise isn't for Bessy. Bessy doesn't understand Blaise is well...very active." He joked.

I wiped my tears and let a little laugh out.

"I love her but he would ruin her life," I said. "Just how do I tell her that?"

"You don't. Let her find out the hard way," He tried to comfort me the best he could.

"Come inside. It's late and I think you should get to bed." He said, helping me to my feet.

He walked me inside and took me up to my room. I unlocked my door and he laid me down on my bed.

He turned to walk away when I grabbed him and kissed him.

I pulled away quickly and began to apologize frantically.

"I'm...I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me," I explained.

"Your okay. Goodnight Clara. Sleep well." He said as he closed my door and left.

I changed into some pajamas and locked my door again, I don't want some people trying to hook up coming in when I'm sleeping.

I cried for a couple hours. I ruined a perfect friendship. One of my only friends down the drain.

Once I felt ready for bed, I tried to sleep but it's a party.

I heard some kissing and moaning coming from dracos room. Maybe some people just snuck in.

That was till I heard a moan.

"Oh!! Oh god draco!!!"

What did I expect, he was going to hook up with someone. Just..I kinda wished it was me.

I tried to ignore it and went to bed. Tonight was... horrible and wonderful at the same time.

LINK TO THE BOOK:

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the-darklings · 2 years

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Hello hello i hope you're having a great day! I just finished reading COA yesterday (read it in Ao3 and binged it for 3 days straight), i figured i would finally read them since i was busy when it first came out, and while waiting for tibyim finale. And holy shit it's amazing literally the best fanfiction I've ever read and the longest thing I've read since middle school (attention span got fucked up when i got older). The way you weave your OCs/ reader inserts in stories is absolutely amazing, so amazing in fact i keep forgetting they're not canon. Everytime I would read a chapter, either coa or tibyim, i get motivated to write myself, in fact I have written multiple chapters of my own story because your writing had inspired/ motivated me so much. So thank you do much for sharing your wonderful works with us. Can't wait for the continuation of coa ( no pressure! I will literally wait for however long it takes) and the finale for tibyim. And if you're gonna post your original stories here I will definitely be reading it. Again thank you so much, you have definitely rekindled my love for reading.

Ps: you made me love Santino even though i couldn't care less about him in the movies. You just have that way of making me love characters throughout the story (ie: hector, step and cori too lmao) s/v forever and wanderer/ dream endgame.

Sorry this was so long, i just realized this is like a love letter lmaoo

-🥭

It’s been so fascinating seeing the crossover of some tibyim readers going back to coa. I really appreciate it. In all honesty coa could def use an edit to tighten it up (younger me loooooved to over-describe!!! everything!!! and my writing style is already descriptive) but I love coa lots and don’t worry it’s not cancelled or anything. She’s just taking a nap while I work on other things.

But have I got great news for you!!! You know how you said you love coa OCs? Well guess what that original novel I keep mentioning is about? This entire collab universe im making with a friend? : )

V? Why she’s going to be her own person, with her own arc and agency. Hector, Step, Lucien, Julian, Dario? All going to be major characters working as a team with V, or Clara now. You know how Marvel was too cowardly to give us that 2012 Avengers All Live Together And Are Friends And Do Domestic ThingsTM story we deserved? Well, I’m giving it to you. Do you love deep friendships/relationships? It got that. Do you love a torturously slow burn with heavy doze of sexual tension? It got that. Do you love a dark academia inspired setting, a mystery, power games, and a cast centred around ‘antagonists’? That’s the first novel. Do you enjoy a diverse group of misfits with their own demons all banding together for a heist/rescue/revenge mission? Good old found family and healing? Lovers to enemies? Why that’s the second novel : )

#every time you guys say tibyim/coa makes you want to write again my heart swells 3 sizes #one day if i’m very very very lucky you’ll get to read my original novel and I hope some of that love translates 😭#thank you dear 🥭 you’re the sweetest #I really made a fic and said ‘huh….wait hold these characters are pretty cool. what if-‘#all fun and games until wanderer gets that same treatment-#asks

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f0point5 · 6 months

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Like no words… processing with that latest part….

…

Ok. Now that I’ve done some processing, I’m gonna attempt to put some thoughts into words from the last few days.

1) Lando’s texts with Max & plans for COTA. “Big head & the body that carries it around” 😂😂😂 Lando knows what he’s doing with stirring the pot.

2) Elliot… she didn’t get your flirty implication or she chose to ignore it. Don’t ask something twice expecting a different result. And if a 3x WDC can’t teach her padel, what hope do you have? Also Elliot don’t make a big deal out of her not mentioning her birthday. Not everyone likes to talk about or bring up their birthday.

3) I really want to know what y/n’s response to Max’s come to my room and find out text… like 😏👀

4) I wonder what that package Lando had delivered to Max’s place was and if it had anything to do with the convo about Lando’s watch person & whatever surprise Max is cooking up.

5) what’s the dress y/n found for… like is it for a gala, a birthday, a dinner… like I want to know soo bad.

6) CLARA… MA’AM. her contact name for Max is great. And then she casually says she needs to ask Max a question, proceeds to send a lingère pic of Y/N and boldly just asks why he has her in friend zone. Cause it’s the question all their friends are thinking but no one has being willingly to straight up ask it like that. And then Max gets all flustered with who took the photo & says he shouldn’t be seeing it. And that he’s the wrong person to talk to about this.

7) What is Clara hinting at when she says I know what you did Max and he asks what she wants from him at the moment?

8) that last photo set with max & y/n’s messages where she can read him at the restaurant & wants to make sure he is ok. And cares more about him being ok than caring weather or not they have people over at their place after dinner.

9) I know he says he’s ok but I think he’s still processing that convo with Clara & that picture. I could be wrong but I was interpreting the shopping pics, Clara & Max’s texts & the dinner happening on the same day.

10) (didn’t realize I got to double digits already 😂😂😂) Christian’s & Max’s texts about COTA & where y/n is staying. Cause Christian asking if everything was ok cause of getting the call for an extra room. I feel like he wants them to be together as well but won’t say any of those opinons out loud.

11) (Last one I think for now. I need to just press ask before I think of more things as I type) Excited for race week content & how things will play out at COTA. I hope we find out at some point what plans you had before discovering Lando is now in the States.

Thoroughly enjoying this. Keep cooking

1) I almost didn’t put that joke in because it seemed too sophisticated for Lando lol

2) Lol tbf in my head Elliot is a better padel player than Max. That doesn’t make you a better teacher though and Y/N isn’t going to want to get sweaty and frustrated in front of a guy she’s dating. It’s not cute. Like…what was he even hoping for exactly!

3) She RAN to his room 🏃‍♀️💨

4) Max is cooking a surprise?

5) Haha it’s not that deep what it’s for necessarily

6) Clara is a whole wrecking ball lol she’s wild. She’s like Lando but 37x more unhinged. She will use everything at her disposal to get what she wants and she can get away with it. Love that for her lol.

7) She was referencing what he asked for her to help him with before Qatar.

8) They’re cute and telepathic lol

9) It all happened on the same day, and Max was processing. That wasn’t the end of his conversation with Clara, she has something on him, and he’s seen the Y/N pic, on top of everything else that’s already on his mind. On top of a day trip to Austria. Man’s probably knackered and anxious.

10) Christian wants his kids to be happy, and he wants peace lol

IT’S COOKING

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theforgottenmcrmy · 2 years

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Birds of a Feather (Chapter 3/?) ||| Bradley Bradshaw

Pairing: Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw x Sam “Merlin” Wells’ Daughter OC

Warnings: Explicit Language, Mentions of Death of Parent(s), Non-Explicit Sexual References, and even more awkwardness as young adults try and fail to rationalize their feelings.

Summary: … If she was going to do this crazy of a thing with anybody, Bradley Bradshaw was certainly at the top of her list. Hell, he was the only one on the list. She trusted him full-heartedly.

Word Count: 9200 ish.

DISCLAIMER: Spoilers for Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick ahead.

Masterlist /// Chapter 1 /// Chapter 2 /// Chapter 3 /// Chapter 4

A/N: Thank you all so much for the support you’ve shown for this story! It really makes me feel good (for a lack of better words) that something I’ve put a fair amount of work into has been received so well. As usual, any and all feedback is still welcomed and appreciated! This and the next chapters are going to be decently lengthy, but I felt like splitting them into three chapters would have jarred the pacing. Hopefully you all understand.

I hope you all have a good holiday, if you celebrate. (Personally, I’m going to be wearing black tomorrow, but that’s neither here nor there.👀) Either way, I hope you have a good and safe next couple of days.😊💙

Chapter 3: Out of the System

Lemoore, CA

5 years ago

…

Corpus Christi, and then Kingsville, to Lemoore would be a nice change of pace. Even if it was exchanging one hot environment for another. Either way, both had to be better than the humidity had been in Pensacola.

But, and perhaps more importantly, the move would create more socially acceptable opportunities to don the ever growing collection of Hawaiian shirts in Bradley’s possession.

Which is why, on the Saturday before his FRS training was set to commence, just after Bradley had up and left his temporary life in Texas for sunny California, he donned one of the said shirts. And, he’d chosen one of his particularly more “obnoxious” - as his fellow aviator and friend Natasha Trace had so lovingly put it- shirts for the hell of it.

Natasha made a deal of not wanting to be seen with him when he wore the shirt, but Bradley could tell she didn’t really hold any hard feelings for the brightly colored fabric. However, she did still roll her eyes at him exasperatedly as they entered the bar.

They’d been informed that the bar was the bar of preference for most everyone on base. In theory, it would be a good place to introduce themselves to others in a more casual setting before training formally began the following Monday. But as it turned out, the bar was a pretty nice place anyway. It was somewhat tucked away, hidden in plain sight among the small suburb of military housing nearby. Plus, the owner, a veteran named Jimmy, was more than a pleasant enough guy.

After a few beers, Natasha and Bradley had made some small talk with others they recognized from earlier stages of their training. Natasha had even ran into an old friend from her days in the Academy, Reuben Fitch.

As Natasha and Reuben caught up, Bradley nursed another beer and he leaned up against the bar. His eyes scanned around the room, looking for no one in particular, but rather getting a general feel of the room. He spotted a piano on the other side of the bar, and made a mental note of it for future reference.

Then, Bradley heard a laugh that made him double take. His eyes continued to scan the bar, though with a bit more urgency, as his curiosity got the best of him and he sought to confirm his initial reactive thought.

There she was. She was seated at a table across the bar, chatting with two guys and another woman who were also seated at the same table.

Clara Wells.

Throughout the most recent stages of their training, Bradley and Clara had kept in touch mainly by text, but also with the occasional phone call. Bradley had spoken to Clara enough to already know she’d be in California. After she had completed her training six months back, she’d been given orders to report to NAS Lemoore, where she'd been lucky enough to be assigned to be an NFO on her first preference- the F/A 18.

But Bradley and Clara hadn’t actually seen each other in person in nearly two years, and he definitely hadn’t expected to see her there at the bar that night. He would have thought- or, rather, hoped- that he would have had at least one or two days to come up with the just right words to say to her.

Though phone calls and texts over the months had been enough to preserve their friendship on the surface level, the thought of speaking to one another face to face had become somewhat of a daunting task. There’d been an unspoken mutual agreement to simply not address what had happened the night before Bradley left Pensacola.

Bradley knew he ought to have brought it up, but everytime he tried to work up the courage to do so, the fears of what could happen as a result of the conversation always outweighed his desire for clarity on where exactly they stood. Would things get weird between them? Would they get into an argument? Would they simply bring up the topic once, and drop it, never to be spoken of again? Bradley couldn’t be sure. Their lighthearted conversations already seemed fragile due to the distance between them straining the relationship. And Bradley wasn’t exactly leaping at the chance to add any further burden to what was supposed to have been a mutually beneficial friendship.

Not to mention, it had been too easy to simply pretend the kiss had not even happened at all when there had been a barrier of a phone between them for safety. But now, that barrier was gone.

And to make things worse, their chats had been spotty as of late, with Bradley having been primarily focused on completing his initial training and finally earning his Wings. He’d at least told Clara that he’d been given his first preference of what to fly- which was also the F/A 18. But he hadn’t told her whether was headed to Lemoore or Virginia Beach after the completion of his training. … Then again, Clara hadn’t explicitly asked, either.

Regardless, it all meant that Bradley had absolutely no idea what to say to Clara. It was an off-putting feeling, unsure of what to say to a friend of literal years, when he was - supposedly - full grown ass-adult who should have been more than capable of having a difficult conversation. But it was the awkward position he found himself in anyway. And until he could figure out what needed to be said, Bradley was of the mind that perhaps laying low and sticking to his own business would be his best course of action.

Besides… Clara looked more than comfortable chatting with her friends across the bar. The last thing Bradley wanted to do was to interrupt them and force an awkward conversation that he wasn’t even prepared for.

Even though he still cared about her.

God, did he still care about her.

He cared about her too much, really. More than he ought to have.

Unbeknownst to him, while he was in the midst of wrestling with his thoughts, Clara had already spotted him with Natasha and Reuben.

“Hey Jimmy, the damn jukebox’s broken again!”

In response, the bartender grumbled something about leaving the machine be.

“Bradshaw, is that a piano I see over there?” Natasha asked pointedly.

Bradley took another drink in lieu of answering her redundant question.

“Why don’t ya play us a little something?” Reuben asked, immediately catching on to Natasha’s subtle suggestion.

“Nah, I couldn’t,” Bradley replied, hoping Natasha would take the hint and just drop it. Making a scene in the bar by providing such entertainment, though it wouldn’t have been the first time, was one of the last things on Bradley’s mind at the moment given who was present on the opposite side of the room.

Unfortunately, Natasha mistook his hesitancy for shyness. “Don’t let him fool you,” she said to Reuben with a smile. “This guy right here knows his way around the keys.” She clapped a hand on Bradley’s shoulder encouragingly “Come on.”

Reluctantly, though as to not make any further of a scene, Bradley allowed her to guide him over to the piano. As soon as he was seated on the bench, a fair share of the eyes of the other bar patrons fell upon him, watching with mild interest. He refused to look at any of them in particular, apprehensive as to whose eyes he might actually meet.

Instead, he chose to focus on Natasha, who was beside him, smiling reassuringly. “Too late to chicken out now, Bradshaw. You’ve got an audience.”

Oh, didn’t he know it. He gave Natasha a small smile as he forced himself to play the opening chords to a song he knew how to play so well it was nearly the equivalent of riding a bike. As the first few notes sounded, and against his better judgment, Bradley dared to look over the top of the upright piano and out across the room.

Immediately, he locked eyes with Clara. She was too far away for him to properly discern the expression on her face, but he had no doubt that she saw him.

There’d be no flying under the radar now.

The first day of training had gone by somewhat unceremoniously. The replacement pilots and replacement WSOs were given the introductory speeches from the instructors and their CO. The more hands-on learning and training was set to begin the next day.

Most of the incomers seemed alright, Clara deduced, from her non-expert but several months’ experience of an opinion. There seemed to be a small number of them who would need to be taken down a peg, as one may have suspected, but that number was relatively small. To be fair, there were also some others who had joined the VFA-122 at the same time as her that could still stand to be humbled, even with six months of exposure under their belts.

Clara made it the entire day without having to speak to Bradley Bradshaw even once. And for that, she was thankful.

But that all changed as she entered the parking lot in her effort to go home.

“Clara!”

Clara didn’t want to hesitate, but she involuntarily did so as a gut-reaction upon the use of her name. Once she processed whose voice it was, she forced herself to continue on. Her car was just a few rows away, and with any luck, she’d reach it shortly before the person on her tail had a chance to catch up.

But it appeared luck wasn’t on her side that day, because a moment later, Bradley suddenly appeared by her side.

“Clara, come on,” he pleaded, audibly disheartened though he had no physical problem keeping up with her long strides and rushed pace. Though Clara was taken unpleasantly by surprise, at least Bradley spoke relatively quietly; the entire group had just been dismissed for the day, and they certainly weren’t alone in the parking lot.

“I didn’t know you’d be here,” Clara said casually, sparing him the briefest of glances out of the corner of her eye. In all fairness, she hadn’t asked where Bradley had been assigned to after his training, but part of her had hoped he would’ve shared the information with her anyway.

“I know, I should’ve told you,” Bradley admitted, sounding so apologetic and sincere Clara almost stopped walking then and there. Almost. “I think we need to talk.”

“What about?” Clara asked, feigning ignorance all too easy in her frustration.

“You know what about.”

Clara finally stopped in her tracks, and opened her mouth to retort, but shut it when was made ever more aware of the fact that others were in the area and could possibly overhear their conversation. She had no intention of making whatever they were about to discuss public; they were both professionals with budding careers. The last thing either of them needed was to be seen having a public spat, especially when as far as anyone else knew, they two had just met each other.

“I can count the number of times I’ve heard from you over the past month on one hand,” Clara said, fighting to keep her voice level and even. “Do you suddenly have something to say?”

Regret and remorse was very evident on Bradley’s face. He did his best to hide his pained expression, but Clara was able to see through the front easily. “Yeah, I do,” he informed her. “Please, Clara. Give me a chance to explain?”

“... Okay.” Clara offered up a tight-lipped smile to someone who passed by them and shot them a curious look. “But can we talk somewhere more private?”

Bradley gave her a relieved smile and tapped the hood of his Bronco, which Clara hadn’t even realized was parked where they had come to a stop. “My apartment?”

“Fine.”

…

Bradley’s apartment was not too far from base. It was nothing too expansive, not that it was needed for just himself, but it was still nice. He was fortunate to live alone, which soothed Clara’s nerves about their impending conversation just a little.

When they first entered the room, he offered her a drink. She declined, but accepted a glass of water instead.

For a few minutes, the two sat on the couch in his living room in silence, each drinking their respective drinks and waiting to see who would cave and begin speaking first. Though the silence normally would have tormented her, she didn’t mind it this time. It allowed her to contemplate.

Perhaps she had maybe been a little too aggressive with Bradley in the parking lot, especially since it was the first time she was having a face-to-face conversation with him in almost two years. But she still needed answers for his odd behavior, even if she feared she wouldn’t like what he had to say.

“Look,” Clara began, looking away from him in the hope that doing so would give her some additional courage. She set down the glass of water on the nearby side table as she continued to search for the right words. “I’m just going to rip the bandaid off- I know I crossed a line when I kissed you that night. I don’t know what got into me… other than the alcohol, I guess. But there’s something I don’t understand about that night. If I crossed the line, why on earth did you kiss me back?”

Bradley remained silent for a beat, though Clara was well-aware of the fact that his eyes were on her, watching her intensely. When she finally dared to meet his eyes once again, she saw him purse his lips. His brows were furrowed, his eyes focused. He was obviously deep in thought. Or deliberation.

“It just… It felt right, I guess.”

… Felt right?

“What am I supposed to do with that information, Brad?” Clara asked quietly, feeling oddly helpless and more confused than she had ever been over the past month when he subtly but abruptly shut her out.

“I don’t know.”

Clara wanted to be able to make sense of whatever he was trying to convey, but it almost sounded like Bradley wasn’t even sure what he meant. It was a lost cause. “I completely understand if pursuing this- pursuing us- isn’t what you want right now… To be honest, I’m not even sure what I want anymore. All I do know is that I’ve missed you. A lot. And if I had known that kissing you was just going to make things weird between us and wreck what we had, I never would’ve done it in the first place.”

“I missed you too,” Bradley confessed. His tone was softer than before, it sounded a bit more wounded. Almost as though he’d been insulted that she’d even insinuated that he didn’t feel the same. “And I don’t think what we have is wrecked.”

“Then why haven’t I heard from you recently? … I know you’ve been busy. Believe me, I know. I’ve gone through training; I’ve been there. … But I would’ve at least thought you’d tell me you were coming here.”

Bradley sighed tiredly. “Do you want me to be honest with you?”

“Please.”

“Fine,” Bradley said, setting his drink down on the side table. “... I was afraid of having this exact conversation.”

Clara’s eyes widened in surprise; that wasn’t what she had been expecting.

“Once I found out I was coming here, I realized it would only be a matter of time until we had this conversation,” Bradley continued, looking away from her for the first time since their conversation began. “Since we didn’t really talk about what happened that night, I didn’t know how you felt about things between us… and I guess I was just worried we weren’t on the same page.”

In all honesty, Clara still wasn’t entirely sure what page Bradley was on. But, by the sound of it, she felt confident enough that she at least had the gist. It seemed that both of them wanted to keep the friendship, and neither were ready to pursue the avenue that the kiss had opened up for them. That damn kiss. If she hadn’t caved into her feelings in the moment, they wouldn’t have even had to have this conversation!

… Wait.

“How about we just forget anything ever happened?” she proposed. “We don’t think about it, or even bring it up again. We can go back to the way things were before that night.”

Bradley met her eyes once again. The somber look in his eyes was gone, replaced with interest, and, if she squinted, maybe even a dash of humor. “Just… forget it even happened?”

“Yes.”

“You really think it’ll work?”

“We’ll have to hold each other accountable to see to it that it does. But right now, it’s the only thing I can think of. I’m not ready to throw this friendship away.”

“Neither am I.”

“Then… it’s a deal?”

“... Deal.”

“Deal,” Clara agreed, nodding to herself as she began to process what all that would entail. “And if it doesn’t work, I guess we’ll have to find some other way to make the next six months bearable.”

In six months, Clara would receive her squadron assignment, and be headed off for who knew where, while it would be Bradley’s turn to be the one ‘left behind’ to finish the duration of his own training.

“Let’s start now,” Bradley proposed. “Friday night- let’s go back to that bar, just like we used to in Florida. I’ll even buy.”

“You don’t have to do that-”

“-But I want to. Consider it a consolation for dropping off the face of the earth for the past month. Are you in, or not?”

As much as she wanted to demonstrate some reluctance to his offer, Clara knew she was a sucker for the hopeful look on Bradley’s face. Damn him. “... Fine. I’m in.” Then, the memory struck her. “That was quite the performance you gave the other night, by the way.”

Bradley smirked. “I just knew you were gonna say something about that.”

“How could I not? You basically gave the whole bar a free concert! Who knew that one song could have so much sway?”

“It is a good song,” Bradley reasoned thoughtfully. “Though, it was kinda lonely up there, all by lonesome. I’m used to at least having a singing partner, you know?”

Clara knew exactly what he was referring to. She’d witnessed Bradley give similar performances at their old haunts in Pensacola. She’d been right beside him then, and had even sung along a handful of times. But perhaps it was too soon to stroke Bradley’s ego and indulge him.

“You seemed just fine,” Clara noted, though politely. “Who was that you were with?”

“Her name’s Natasha,” Bradley replied. “She came from Kingsville with me. I’ll introduce you two sometime. I think you two will get along.”

“... Is she-”

“Just a friend,” Bradley confirmed. Clara wanted to kick herself when he seemed to take too much satisfaction in her poorly-disguised interest in the matter.

“I was just asking,” Clara added quickly, hoping to throw him off her tracks.

“Mhmm.”

“Well, I should get going now,” Clara said as she rose up off the couch, desperately wanting to avoid digging herself into any deeper of a hole. Besides, the events of the day had made her brain feel all but fried, and she could practically hear her bed calling her name from miles away.

Bradley rose from the couch as well, following her as she walked over to the front door. “I’ll see you around, Red Cross.”

Clara almost did a double take at the nickname she hadn’t heard in a few years. Despite herself, she smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Brad.” She swore she saw the corners of his mouth twitch upwards at that… but maybe she had just imagined it. “Are you going to wear another one of those shirts on Friday?”

This time, Bradley gave her a clear smile. “Oh, you can count on it, Darling.”

“I still have the one you left behind, by the way.”

“Ah, so you didn’t burn it?”

“Ha ha,” Clara said sarcastically. “Do you want it back? I can run it over here later tonight if you want.”

Bradley shrugged nonchalantly, unbothered. “Keep it for now. You never know when I may be in need of a shirt.”

Clara laughed.

It wasn’t until she got back to her own apartment that she realized the possible deeper implications of Bradley’s off-handed joke.

“Ugh.”

“He is pretty insufferable, isn’t he?”

Bradley had offered to drive Clara back to his apartment after training the following Friday. Since they had plans to go out later that evening, it had only made sense and prevented any unnecessary driving back and forth.

On the way back to his apartment, their conversation had naturally drifted to one Jake Seresin- an incoming replacement pilot whose obnoxious ego and charm rivaled each other for dominance over his personality. He’d come from Meridian, so both of them had only known him for less than a week. However, they were both of the opinion that that short time was plenty enough for them to deduce just what he was about.

“I’m sure he’ll get knocked down a peg or two,” Clara said. “I’ve seen it first hand- it ain’t pretty.”

Bradley shrugged, his eyes still focused on the road. Though he liked the idea of that, and probably more than he should have, he had his doubts about whether anything would ever actually boot Jake Seresin off his high horse. “I don’t know- some of those Academy guys never seem to grow out of their egos.”

“Yeah?” Clara chucked. “Well, you were almost one of them yourself, remember? Are you admitting that you’d have a free pass to act like a jerk too?”

Bradley knew Clara only meant it as a joke, but he couldn’t bring himself to laugh or otherwise react to her question.

Unfortunately, Clara took his silence and jumped to a conclusion of her own. “... You’re not still mad about not getting into the Academy, are you?”

“No.”

“-Because I’ve already told you, I couldn’t even get a nomination. You, on the other hand, got the chance to actually apply. You had more of a chance than I ever did.”

“I’m not still mad about not getting into the Academy,” Bradley insisted truthfully. “That was years ago, for God’s sake.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

Bradley sighed, and readjusted his grip on the steering wheel. He should’ve kept his mouth shut, or at least minded his mouth when talking about Seresin and all the other Academy grads who thought they were still way up high on their pedestals. But he hadn’t, and in the spirit of keeping their rekindled friendship alive, he felt obligated to let Clara in fully on something he’d been keeping a secret for over a year.

“I’m not mad about not getting into the Academy,” he repeated. “... I may still be a bit upset with the reason as to why I didn’t get in.”

“How would you even know that?” Clara wondered. She laughed, “What did you do, go up to the Admissions Board and ask them why?”

Bradley chuckled dryly. “No… One of my instructors back in Kingsville was actually on the Board during the year I applied,” he informed her. “I just wanted some closure, you know? I thought if I knew what it was that held me back then, I could be more aware of it now, in case it ever plays a role down the road… So, after I got in his good graces, of course, I just asked him about it directly.”

“... And did he tell you?”

“Not at first; he didn’t want to,” Bradley recalled. “Hell, he definitely probably shouldn’t have told me at all. But I took him out for drinks one night, and you know what they say about loose lips. He told me all I needed to know.”

Bradley could feel Clara’s eyes on him. He knew why; talking about a fair share of stuff in his past was either hit or miss on whether it’d garner a strong emotional reaction from him. She was probably preparing herself for the worst.

“What did he say?” she inquired.

Bradley spared her a glance, confirming what he already knew; Clara was watching him carefully. “He told me my papers got pulled.”

“What?” Clara did a double take. “... That can actually happen?”

“Yes.”

“Well, you obviously didn’t have anything to do with it… So who pulled them?”

Bradley hesitated.

“Did he not tell you who it was?”

“No, he did.”

“Who was it?”

“Maverick.”

The silence that followed was an extremely weighted one. Bradley remained silent, not sure of what else to say in the moment, and wanting to allow Clara time to digest the bombshell information he’d just shared.

“Maverick?” Clara repeated, slowly and blankly. “Maverick Maverick? As in-”

“-Yes.”

Bradley saw Clara finally look away from him out of the corner of his eye. Instead, she stared straight out the front windshield, mimicking his own firm stance. “But that doesn’t make any sense,” she mumbled. “... Why would he do that?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. But my instructor was very clear as to who was behind my application getting pulled.”

“I can’t believe it,” Clara admitted wistfully. Quickly, she clarified, “I mean, I believe what you’re saying, I do… But Maverick? God, my dad still talks about that guy like he hung the damn moon!”

Bradley scoffed. “I know. Your dad tried asking me about him once, but if I remember right, you saved me from having to answer him.”

When Mr. Wells had asked about him several years back, Bradley hadn’t known the truth of what Maverick had done with his application to the Academy. But at the time, Bradley still hadn’t been too pleased with his later father’s best friend. He’d been way, way too eager to brush over Bradley’s supposed “rejection” from the Academy. ‘Well, that’s some tough luck, Kid… But you know how competitive it is to get into the Academy. Hell, I didn’t even get the chance to apply… And you know how worried your mother was about you. Maybe she can rest easier now.’

Just recalling the lame excuses that, in hindsight, Bradley should have taken as obvious clues got his blood boiling. But Maverick was not there anymore, and as much contempt as he held for him, Bradley would be damned if he’d let the old man impact his life and attitude anymore than he already had.

“The image I had of Maverick was already tainted by then,” Bradley confessed, referring back to the day in question. “... But I still couldn’t bring myself to ruin him in the eyes of your father, too.”

Clara said nothing, but he could tell she was still highly focused on the conversation.

“That’s why Seresin and the other Academy guys like him get to me so much. They walk around like their God’s personal gifts to the Navy, and hell, maybe they are. But they don’t acknowledge the advantage that they had. Four years of connections like that? … I would’ve done just about anything for that opportunity.”

“I’m really, really sorry, Bradley,” Clara apologized, sincerely dripping off of every solemn word. “What Maverick did- that wasn’t right. It shouldn’t have happened, and you more than deserved a fair chance. Does he know that you know? Have you confronted him about it?”

Bradley shook his head, his fingers gripping the steering wheel just a bit tighter as he slowed the car down for an upcoming red light. “No. I haven’t even talked to him in years.” Which was perfectly fine with him. “When I didn’t get into the academy, he tried to convince me that it was a blessing in disguise. I didn’t get why he was so adamant about it at the time, but now I know. And I try not to think about it, but, as you can tell, it still bothers me years later, so…”

Clara was silent once again.

“But I suppose there is a silver lining in all of it,” Bradley realized out loud for the first time.

“What’s that?”

The car came to a complete stop at the red light, and Bradley looked over at her with a small smile. “If things hadn’t gone the way they had for me, I wouldn’t have met you when I did.”

He turned his eyes back onto the road, but he swore he saw her smile out of the corner of his eye.

“Aw, Bradshaw, you’re going to make me tear up,” Clara said quietly after a moment, attempting to downplay the sentimentality of his statement. “Are you saying you don’t regret willfully letting me annoy you for going on seven years?”

“Surprisingly- no. I’m glad I met you when I did,” Bradley agreed with a smile. His focus was back on the road, where it would remain as he forced himself to finish the rest of his thoughts. “That’s when I needed someone like you the most.”

The smile she gave him in return made him feel some type of way. And it made him realize very quickly that keeping up his end of the deal and forgetting the kiss they’d shared was going to be a lot harder than he had anticipated.

Lemoore, CA

4.5 years ago

…

Due to it being a Saturday night, the bar was relatively crowded, as was the usual. In hindsight, they probably should have ventured to a place further away from base, but since Bradley had offered to pay, Clara had been in no position to argue.

“We playing the ‘game’ tonight?” Bradley asked her as he handed her a drink. He took a seat at the table they’d secured in one of the back corners of the bar. It was tucked away, and just about as private of a place they’d get in such a bustling environment.

The ‘game’ was a method they’d cooked up a few months prior, shortly after Bradley’s arrival on base. As it turned out, Bradley and Clara pretending to be involved with one another while out at bars had proven to be a relatively effective way to deter any flirtatious hopefuls when one of them wasn’t quite in the mood to be swooned. It confused the hell out of their peer aviators and WSOs who recognized them and saw their little bit, and it confused them even more so when the pair would repeatedly and vehemently deny anything had occurred between them when confronted about it afterwards. But that was a large part of the fun.

But, as it also turned out, Clara enjoyed partaking in the charade a little bit more than liked to admit. And she particularly didn’t care for the uncomfortable feeling she got whenever Bradley assured her that their arrangement was not necessary for an evening, and he would buy some other girl a drink and chat her up for an hour or so. If they had gone out together, he never ditched her for any of them, but there was no telling what he got up to when the two parted ways when leaving the bar.

Clara hated it all, actually. She hated how possessive it made her feel. Bradley could date, or not date, anyone he damn well pleased. She was his friend, nothing more. That was their agreement, and she knew that if she wanted to keep him a part of her life, she better stick to it.

Even if that meant ignoring how she actually had come to feel about him.

“I’m down,” Clara confirmed. “Unless you don’t want to...?”

Bradley put a hand over his heart, feigning offense. “Now, what kind of friend would I be if I ran off with some other girl on your last night here?”

Ah, there it was. Not even ten minutes into their little trip to the bar, and the elephant in the room had been addressed. Six months had passed by too quickly, and Clara would be leaving in the morning.

She’d been officially assigned to VFA-103. While finally getting assigned to a squadron was exciting, she couldn’t deny the fact that the past six months spent with her old friend had made the prospect of leaving less than favorable. With any luck, Bradley would get assigned to a squadron also stationed in Virginia Beach- or even better, a squadron assigned to the same carrier- so that they would at least see each other in some passing state, but that was pretty wishful thinking.

“Well, maybe it would make you a shitty friend,” Clara said, “But hardly anyone could blame you. See that blonde over by the bar? She’s been eyeing you since the moment we walked in.”

She directed her gaze over to the girl in reference pointedly. Bradley followed the gesture, and smirked as his eyes landed upon her.

“Nice,” he commented smugly.

Clara rolled her eyes and took a big drink from her glass.

“Damn…” Bradley whistled suddenly. “Do you feel those daggers she’s shooting at you?”

“What? No she’s not-”

Bradley put a hand on her arm as she went to turn, effectively stopping from looking back to see if he had been telling the truth. “Don’t look! She’ll know we were talking about her.”

“You were talking about her.”

Bradley paid her no mind as he rose, beer still in hand, and scooted his stool closer to hers. He sat back down, his back now to the woman at the bar, and gave her a grin.

“Well… What’s she going to think now?” Clara asked, unsure of what else to say as she processed their suddenly close proximity.

Bradley shrugged. “She’s probably thinking that we’re having an intimate conversation. So, unless you want to blow our cover, you better commit and pretend that you actually like me.”

Clara did her best to glare at him, but she didn’t have to see her own reflection to know that she wasn’t doing a very convincing job. For all her effort to do her best to forget about her feelings about him, Bradley’s mixed signals- whether he knew what he was doing or not- certainly didn’t help the matter.

“Bradshaw, do you really think I would have tolerated these little antics of yours for this many years if I didn’t like you?”

Judging by the content look on his face, that was exactly along the lines of what Bradley had been fishing for. “So, just how much do you like me?”

Clara laughed and took another drink in an effort to mask her involuntary blush. “Where the hell are you going with this?”

“Do you like me enough to do me a favor?” he asked plainly.

Bradley’s tone was serious, a stark comparison to the joking banter he’d fired off just a few seconds beforehand. Given their closeness, Clara had a pretty good view of his face. Though she had been avoiding meeting his eyes for too long throughout the night so far, she dared to after hearing his question, searching for any signs that he might have been anything less than genuine. She found none. His brown eyes, while still having a bit of light to them, looked suddenly somber.

“Yes.”

“Promise me you’ll take care of yourself?”

He sounded so sincere, she didn’t have the heart to do anything other than take his request as seriously as he posed it. Despite the vagueness, she knew exactly what he meant.

The whole process of training up until that moment hadn’t exactly been a cake walk; it certainly had had its dangerous moments. But being assigned to an actual squadron, where being deployed was inevitable, was another thing entirely. They both knew the risks of the careers they had chosen, and they accepted that it possibly would come at a heavy personal cost.

But that personal cost didn’t always mean sacrificing one’s own life; it also meant the possibility of losing someone else instead. And Clara knew Bradley understood the weight of that concept greatly.

“Of course I will,” Clara assured him, placing a light hand over his own as it laid flat upon the table. “I always do, you know that.”

“I know you do. But it’s not always in your control.”

It wasn’t, but that was something she had come to accept. Unsure of what else to say, she withdrew her hand slowly, and took another drink.

“Can I ask you something serious?” Bradley asked after a few moments.

“Serious?” Clara asked with a soft smile. “That’s a new one for you, isn’t it?”

“I know- but I mean it this time,” Bradley said, before finishing off the rest of his beer.

“What is it?”

Bradley scooted the empty bottle away from him as he leaned onto the table. He looked over at her, attentive eyes watching her every move. The way he was acting was more hesitant than what was usual for him, and it made her all the more intrigued.

“Why did you go through all of this training to not even try to be a pilot?”

Clara pushed her own now empty glass away from her on the table as she met his eyes once again. The look in his eyes was just as serious as it had been a few minutes before. It was definitely not the direction she had expected the evening to go, nor the question she would have guessed he would have asked of her. But she was more than willing to see where it would lead.

“It’s kind of late in the process to be asking me that question, isn’t it?”

Bradley shrugged. Though his reaction was nonchalant, Clara could tell he still expected an answer.

“You mean, besides my eyesight?” she joked in an attempt to lighten the mood between them. It wasn’t successful, the tension created by his question clung steadfast in the air between them. So, she racked her brain for the most honest, thoughtful, and easiest-to-convey answer she could produce. “... I guess I like being able to control what I can control. If I’m a WSO, I’ve got my role. I know what I’m supposed to do, and I can focus on making sure I do it the best I can. But if I had to actually fly the plane as well? … Seems like a lot.”

“You could’ve done it.”

“Maybe; maybe not. But, at the end of the day, I just never felt that drawn to it. And, I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have a pilot whose always known they’ve wanted to do what they do than a pilot who does what they do because they felt like they had to. Whoever I end up flying with can have whatever glory they want. I know I’m going to do the best job I can, and I know they’ll be able to handle the rest.”

Bradley visibly mused over her words thoughtfully for a few moments. “That’s a lot of trust to place in someone.”

His words made something click in Clara’s mind. Backseaters, specifically WSOs, or, back in the day, RIOs, had to place a lot of trust in the pilots they flew with.

Clara hadn’t ever really given too much thought as to why Bradley hadn’t opted to be an NFO in some capacity rather than a pilot. If he had chosen the other route, it certainly would have been a lot more comparable to his father’s career. But then, it hit her- it was about the control. Just like control had been the motivator for her own career path, it seemed highly likely that the concept of control was what had sparked Bradley’s decision as well. Though the recent grumblings throughout the squadron was that he was likely to transition to a single seater soon, Clara had little doubt that if Bradley would be assigned to fly with a WSO, their safety would be one of his top priorities.

It was hardly a surprise that Bradley was concerned about her, beyond what she would have expected of him by being his friend. He knew very well of a circumstance where a RIO’s trust in their pilot simply hadn’t been enough.

“It is a lot of trust,” Clara said, finally acknowledging his point. “But that’s the easiest way for me to rationalize it.” Another beat of silence passed between them, before she thought of something to lighten the mood. “Besides, someone’s gotta be the voice of reason for the thick-skulled pilots like you.”

Despite the intensity of the conversation, Bradley smirked at her joke.

“And you’re thinking of a worst case scenario,” Clara continued. “I could end up with someone perfectly safe and competent- someone like you. Or Natasha, even.”

Natasha Trace, a friend of Bradley’s from Kingsville, had also become a friend of Clara’s over the past six months. She admired the other young woman’s ability to hold her own. She’d witnessed more than one time where Natasha had put Jake Seresin in his place, and with each time, Clara gained more respect for her. Though Natasha took her job very seriously, she had no problem kicking back a bit outside of work, and was often a third party to their weekend happenings. In general, she was nice to be around, and in all honesty, Clara felt better about leaving knowing that Natasha and Bradley had each other’s backs.

“Maybe,” Bradley conceded, though he didn’t sound entirely convinced. “Or you could end up with someone like Seresin.”

“God, I hope not... But why are you asking all of this?” Clara wondered then.

For the first time in a few minutes, cracks showed in Bradley’s serious front, and he gave her a soft smile. “Oh, you know- I just felt like we were long overdue for a deep discussion.”

“Oh, really? Got anything else on your mind while you’re at it?” Clara half-joked.

“... I guess not.”

Though it wasn’t exactly a solid answer, if he wasn’t going to say anything further, it was not the night to push him. As open as they had been with each other since the start of their friendship, and as much as Clara didn’t mind, but actually rather enjoyed, the deep talks they had, if given the choice, Clara would opt for her memories of him from that night to be more light, happy. The nerves she was beginning to feel from the anticipation of leaving for Virginia Beach the following morning were beginning to feel like a heavy weight, but she hoped the memories of the night to come would help give her some peace.

And Bradley was quite the sight worth remembering that evening. Wind swept sandy brown hair that was a result of the ride in his Bronco. Dark brown eyes that could hold more emotional depth within them than most people ever got to see. The dazzling smile that almost always reached those eyes.

Even the Hawaiian shirt he donned was no deterrent from the hell of a sight he was.

Clara patted his hand lightly and rose from her seat, wanting to halt her rolling thoughts before they got out of control. “I’m gonna go get us another round.”

Bradley’s eyes traveled across the table to where their hands met. Clara noticed this immediately, and began to withdraw her hand slowly, before he stopped her by lightly wrapping his own around hers.

“Wait,” he said, looking at her seriously once again. “... There actually is something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

Clara nodded wordlessly, ignoring the buzzing sensation she got from the feeling of his calloused fingers running across her palm. She sat back down on the stool, but Bradley didn’t let go of her hand. Clara looked at him expectantly, trying her best to be patient as she waited for him to tell her what was so important.

“... I can’t hold up my end of the deal anymore, Clara.”

Her brows furrowed in confusion. “What deal?”

“The deal where we agreed to forget that anything happened between us.”

Her initial reaction was shock; she wasn’t sure she had heard him correctly.

Her second reaction was gratification; so he had known what he’d been doing over the last six months when he had been giving her mixed signals! It was nice to know that she wasn’t the only one who had been having a hard time letting go of the past, try as she might.

But her final reaction, and the one that hit her the strongest, was one of sadness.

They couldn’t have this conversation, not here, not now. She was about to leave to go across the country in the morning, and he still had six months left of training in California. They had had years to come to this sort of revelation about the nature of their relationship, and for one reason or another, neither had been able to do so. Though Clara felt some relief in the fact that she hadn’t been alone in her pining for him, the timing of it made it all the more difficult to accept.

“I see your mind running a million miles an hour, Red Cross.”

Clara knew Bradley hadn’t meant any harm by his attempt at a joke, but she couldn’t help but be slightly irritated by it anyway. “What do you expect me to say to that, Brad?”

“Have you held up your end of the deal?”

Clara frowned. “We were talking about you.”

“And now, I’m asking about you. Can you look me in the eyes and honestly tell me that you haven’t thought about the kiss at all since we made that agreement six months ago?”

She couldn’t. She knew he could tell, too. “We can’t talk about this right now. I’m leaving tomorrow, remember?”

“Then there’s no better time,” Bradley offered, as if the answer was simple.

Clara huffed at his casualness. “Okay, so we’ve both thought about it- what good would talking about it actually do? It won’t solve anything. If anything, it'll just make things between us more complicated. I want you in my life, Brad, and if that means ignoring these damn feelings I have for you until they go away and I can finally accept that it’s better for both of us to just be friends, I’m more than willing to do that.”

The way Bradley was looking at her was… intense, for a lack of better word. He regarded her carefully, his eyes boring into hers as contemplating his next words. “... What if we didn’t have to wait for the feelings to go away?”

“What do you mean?”

“Before I explain, you have to promise to hear me out.”

“Okay.”

“What if we… ‘got it out’ of our system?”

His gaze continued to hold her own as he watched her process the meaning of his subtle suggestion.

“... You’ve got to be fucking joking,” Clara grumbled, attempting to remove her hand from his and rising from her stool.

“Clara, hear me out. Please.”

His tone made her pause. There was no trace of laughter, no hint that this was a joke that he had taken too far. He sounded vulnerable. Part of her wanted him to squirm a little bit, knowing exactly what that felt like. But even though he had been the cause of such feelings for her, she didn’t have the heart to willingly subject him to the same.

Clara took mercy on Bradley and sat back down at the stool, ignoring the eyes of nearby nosey patrons who had begun to eye their table curiously.

Though he seemed relieved that she hadn’t stormed off, yet, Bradley still looked on edge. Whether that was from nerves about her reaction or just the sheer topic of their conversation was unclear. He slowly leaned in closer to her, and Clara found herself remaining rigidly still. His face was just inches from hers, and Clara could only imagine what the girl at the bar would think if she saw them at that moment.

An intimate conversation, indeed.

“Just say the word, and I will drop you off at your apartment, and never speak to you again,” Bradley said, his voice low. Had he not been so close, Clara would have had to strain in order to hear him. “Or, if you want, we can pretend like this conversation never happened- and I promise to hold up my end of the deal this time. You will never hear a peep about this from me, ever again.”

Not sure how to respond, Clara nodded wordlessly to acknowledge that she was very much paying attention.

“I know nothing serious can happen between us for a whole lot of reasons,” Bradley admitted, and if Clara hadn’t been so captivated by his every word at that moment, she would have sworn there was a hint of regret lacing his words. “But we still have tonight.”

Her mouth suddenly felt dry, but feeling no other option under his unwavering gaze, she willed herself to respond. “What exactly are you proposing we do?”

“... It’s not really romantic if I have to spell it out.”

Regardless of the situation, Clara couldn’t help chuckle. “Oh, so this is you trying to be romantic?”

“No, just- ugh.” Thankfully, her joke successfully eased some of the tension. Even Bradley looked a bit grateful for the sudden interruption, and he dropped his gaze to let out a brief, breathy laugh.

Feeling emboldened, Clara reached out, and placed a hand on his knee, not knowing- or even caring- if she had meant the gesture to be comforting or enticing.

Bradley’s eyes snapped up to hers once again, and the tension quickly magnified. “I don’t know what this is me trying to be. All I know is that I care about you, Clara, a lot more than I should. A lot more than I ever planned on. And, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounds like you feel the same about me.”

For how little Clara had to drink, his verbal admission of his feelings still had her feeling groggy with disbelief. “I care about you a lot more than I should, too.”

The hopeful smile he gave her made her heart skip a beat. “Then, would this really be that crazy? We’re both adults.”

They were. Adults who were probably far too willing to enable each other, but adults nonetheless.

“We could have tonight,” Bradley continued, “And then maybe we can finally be able to move on.”

The suggestion was risky, and emotional damage in some shape or form to one or both of them was very likely, if not imminent. And still, Clara was painfully aware of their hands, one of which was still intertwined with one of his on the table, and the other that was resting comfortably upon his knee. Just the small touches alone were extremely tempting, and she couldn’t help but crave more.

… If she was going to do this crazy of a thing with anybody, Bradley Bradshaw was certainly at the top of her list. Hell, he was the only one on the list. She trusted him full-heartedly.

“What’s your answer, Red Cross?” Bradley asked, sounding starkly meek despite his rather bold suggestion.

“Is that still your first beer?”

Brows furrowed, he glanced over at the beer bottle. “Yeah… Is that still your first drink?”

“Yes. I just wanted to make sure that this wasn’t the alcohol talking.”

“It’s not,” he promised.

“I know.”

“Then what-”

Clara silenced him by closing the distance between them and kissing him. Though he was stunned initially, Bradley returned the kiss with fervor a split second later, his free hand slowly coming up to rest on her waist.

They couldn’t be sure how long they were caught up with one another, but eventually, the need for air outweighed everything else, and the pair were forced to pull away.

“We really don’t have to do this,” Bradley mumbled quickly, his eyes darting towards her lips.

Clara’s heart wrenched a little at his clear concern for her. She squeezed his hand tighter. “I know. But I want to... I want to do this with you, Brad.”

She could tell by the look that flashed across Bradley’s face that her words meant as much to him as the notion did to her. Still, he insisted, “Well, you can still change your mind-”

“If I change my mind at any point tonight, I promise to tell you,” Clara assured him quickly, pulling him to her by his shirt and kissing him once again. When she pulled away a few moments later, she was tempted to laugh by the dazed expression on his face.

“Your place, or mine?” he managed to ask.

“Doesn’t matter, as long as I’m going with you,” she replied breathlessly, unable to control the giddy smile on her lips. But as the realization of what was actually going to happen dawned on her, she found herself suddenly nervous. “Just… Take me to home? Please.”

She would eventually come to realize that ‘home’ was simply wherever he was.

The smile he gave in response her did wonders to soothe her anxiousness. This was Bradley... She had no real cause to worry at all.

Bradley rose from his stool swiftly, holding a hand out to her. “Show me the way, Darling.”

Bradley awoke the next morning to the sun streaming in through a small crack in the curtains. He closed his eyes, sighed contently, and reached out to the space on the bed beside him. When his hands were met with nothing but empty air, he opened his eyes again and frowned.

He sat up, head swiveling around the room as he searched for any sign of his companion who he’d come home with the previous night. Though there was no sign of her, or any of her belongings, for that matter, there were several signs of the activity they had partaken in a few hours before. Various things throughout the room were off just a bit- physically not where he recalled having left them, or otherwise missing from their usual place entirely.

It was almost comical. He didn’t remember them being so particularly clumsy the night before, but he reasoned that they had both been so engrossed on the task at hand that it probably took a back seat in their minds at the time.

It was… indescribable. Better than he had dared to hope for. Better than he probably deserved. Very much like their kiss a few years back, it just felt right. Not that it could ever feel wrong. Not with her.

But, just like that- it was over. Unceremoniously and anti-climatically, he’d been left to process what had happened all by himself. And Clara Wells was gone from his life for the foreseeable future. Again.

Something odd at the foot of Bradley’s bed broke his train of thought. His clothes from the night before were folded in both a neat and yet slightly disheveled fashion, as if it had been done intentionally but also with some haste. He almost laughed into the silent air at the thought of Clara trying to straighten up the room a little before sneaking out earlier in the morning.

At least all of his articles of clothing appeared to be accounted for… with one notable exception.

Bradley smiled fondly. His little kleptomaniac.

Despite himself, Bradley laughed. Being “buddies” was possibly one of the biggest understatements to exist ever when it came to the extent of his feelings about her. But, on a bare minimum level, it was technically true.

And if he had to decide between being buddies, or them being nothing at all, Bradley knew what he’d choose in a heartbeat.

Chapter 4

Masterlist

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Any and all feedback is most definitely welcomed and appreciated. If you would like to be added to the taglist, please feel free to let me know.😊💙

Taglist: @gretagerwigsmuse @unluckymonaghan @pansexualwitchwhoneedstherapy @roosterschanelslut @letusbewildflowers @roses-and-grasses

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padfootagain · 11 months

Text

Because We Are Made of Dreams (III)

Chapter 3 : Confessions

Hi everyone! Here I come with a new chapter for this fic! Still setting up stuff, we learn a few new things about my OC, Sirius is growing increasingly fond of her…

I hope you like this chapter! Tell me what you think!

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Pairings: Sirius Black x Original Female Character + Jily

Warnings for this chapter: None! Just cute and… nothing particular, really, just setting things into motion.

Warnings for the series: graphic depictions of violence and torture, graphic depiction and mentions of child abuse, mature themes.

Summary: The Marauders come back to Hogwarts to begin their sixth year there, and many things will change for them during these coming months. Outside the safety of their school, the world is growing darker. Inside the Castle, they'll find both new friends and enemies.

Word Count: 5896

Clara was about to commit a murder.

Never before had she thought about ending someone else’s life, but the more time ticked by, the more appealing this idea became.

She checked the time once more, and took her final decision: Lily was a dead woman.

Her and Liam had been together for a mere week, and Clara already wanted to commit manslaughter. But maybe, instead of killing her friend she could kill the boyfriend instead. Yes, that sounded much better to cut his tanned throat… how could she get away with it though?

She heaved a sigh, and rested her forehead on the table. The library was quiet, despite the early hour of the afternoon. There were quite many students around her, studying hard, even if the year was merely beginning. Any other day, Clara would have found the atmosphere soothing, surrounded by books and quiet whispers. But she was too annoyed for that.

In over five years of friendship, Clara had never seen Lily being late. Never. But all of a sudden, she had a boyfriend, and then Clara was forgotten. She closed her eyes, letting out another annoyed sigh.

How typical…

"Usually, libraries are for reading or studying, not napping. You know that, don't you?"

Clara jumped at the sound of a voice right by her table. She looked up to discover Sirius, a smile full of mischief painted on his handsome features.

"I wasn't sleeping, I was waiting," she answered, smiling back, although she couldn’t hide her irritation.

"Waiting? For what?"

"For whom. Lily."

Sirius nodded, clearly amused by now.

"Ah, I see! Now that she’s in a happy relationship with Super-Tan, she leaves you behind, right?"

Clara struggled to laugh discreetly.

"I'm definitely stealing this nickname from you. It fits Liam quite well.”

"Feel free to use it. This guy’s most definitely using some kind of spell to get that tan all year-round.”

“I’m suspecting he’s using some Muggle beauty products, actually.”

“Really? Even better!”

They both laughed, although they remained quiet. In the shy whispers that shook the library, even a breathy laughter was too loud.

“Why did the two of you had to meet here?” Sirius asked her, still standing by her table, pushing a strand of his long hair behind his ear.

"Work on the Transfiguration essay,” she answered with a wince.

"Maybe I can help you with that," Sirius offered with a happy smile, and Clara was quite surprised that he would make her such an offer. He even looked excited about it, that was definitely unexpected…

"Don't worry about me, she'll come, eventually," the girl reassured him. “I don’t want to bother you.”

Sirius merely shrugged.

"It's okay. I'm quite good at Transfiguration. And it wouldn’t bother me at all."

Before she could answer, he was taking the sit opposite her, opening his bag and taking out a quill, a piece of parchment and his Transfiguration textbook.

"It's really nice of you," she thanked him.

He shrugged again, starting to write.

"I'll have to do it sooner or later anyway," he answered nonchalantly.

"Where are the boys?" she asked him as she opened her own book and searched for the right chapter. “Aren’t you expected somewhere?”

"Peter is snoring in the dorms. James is with Remus."

"Is Remus okay?"

He took a careful glance at her before focusing on his book again. But she seemed genuinely worried now. Still, he was cautious with his choice of words when he spoke again.

"Sure. Why wouldn't he be?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Merlin! We all already know, Black!"

He stared intensely at her, and she felt like his grey eyes could pierce right through her.

"What do you think you know exactly?"

"I can read a moon chart. We figured it out almost two years ago."

He propped up an eyebrow, but in a flash his expression had changed and he looked preoccupied, his brow furrowed.

"And you didn't tell anyone?"

"Of course not. I'm not stupid."

"Who else knows?"

"Only the five of us."

"Merlin! And you're okay with it?"

Clara narrowed her eyes at him, looking almost offended.

"Remus is probably the sweetest guy in this school, Black. Of course, I don't care. None of us cares. As long as he doesn't try to devour us in our sleep, all is fine."

Sirius looked very surprised, but not that worried anymore.

"So, is he okay? The full moon was yesterday, wasn't it?" Clara asked again.

Sirius nodded, heaving a sigh, and he seemed much more worried now, tired as well, as if he had stopped hiding a burden he had to carry.

"It was a rough one, that's why he missed class this morning."

"Poor Remus. Of all people, why did it have to be him? He's so kind."

She heavily sighed, before shaking herself. Sirius kept staring at her, thinking hard, studying her and weighing the risks that her knowing his friend’s secret involved. But then again, if she had known for two years and said nothing, he reckoned that she wasn’t that dangerous, after all.

There was a ray of sunshine coming in from the nearby window falling right onto their table. It shone upon Sirius’s features, photons caught in his dark hair. He had dark bags under his eyes though, a five-hour shadow on his jaw and his eyes were reddened by his lack of sleep. Clara seemed to finally notice how tired he looked.

"You don't seem to have slept a lot yourself," she pointed out.

He smiled mischievously again.

"You don't want to hear about that, Clearwater."

She couldn't refrain a disgusted look, before hiding her reaction behind her book, and Sirius narrowed his eyes.

"What did I say?" he asked her.

"Nothing," she lied.

"Come on. What's wrong?"

"Nothing!"

Sirius stayed silent for a while, still staring at her, looking for a reason behind her strange behaviour. He rolled his eyes when he guessed.

"I didn't spend my night shagging anyone if that’s what you've understood."

She looked at him over her book.

"Really?"

"Really."

"It's not like I care, really," she justified herself, clearly embarrassed, her cheeks on fire, "it's just that I find the idea of you shagging someone in the Castle, where I could actually go, really disgusting. One thing is for sure, I could never enter a classroom again if I knew you were spending your nights there with some girl or boy..."

Sirius laughed hard, drawing scowls towards them from several tables. She shushed him, giggling herself.

"Well, you can go to McGonagall's class tomorrow safely," he teased.

"If I finish this essay that is."

"Of course," he chuckled again.

"So, how do you do this spell?"

She showed him a complicated incantation used to turn a howl into a galleon. The sun was hitting the old page, the stained glass on the upper part of the window colouring the parchment in blue and pink.

"This one is not the best to make this transfiguration actually," Sirius answered with a slight frown as he read through the page.

He took her book and looked for the right page, focused and thus paying no attention to his surroundings. Meanwhile, Clara was patiently waiting, but got distracted by the sound of giggles coming from the other side of the shelves set behind her.

"So, are you going to come see the try-outs?" asked one of the girls.

"Of course! The Gryffindor boys are so gorgeous!"

Clara rolled her eyes, now fully focused on the conversation while Sirius struggled with the pages.

"Their captain is so hot!" said another.

"Well, I'll go for Black personally, he's perfect..."

Clara rolled her eyes again, annoyed, and Sirius chose this very moment to look up at her, having finally managed to find the right spell. He frowned hard. She seemed… annoyed…

"Sorry if I'm so boring," he said, quite hurt.

"Sorry, what?" Clara asked, focusing on him again.

"I said: sorry if I'm so boring. You can tell me if you don't want me to stay."

"What?! That's..."

She finally understood.

"Oh, no! I'm sorry. You're not annoying at all. It's the group of girls behind us. They're talking about the Quidditch try-outs. Listen."

They both focused on the girls' conversation.

"Dearborn is handsome too."

"You can't compare him to Black, I mean... This man, is so bloody gorgeous!"

Sirius raised an eyebrow, trying not to laugh and biting on his lower lip in the process.

"You're right, I'll go for Black, one hundred percent."

"Yeah, but you know how he is with girls..."

"Who cares, really! If I could be thrown in a cupboard with him, sign me up, at any cost."

"She's right, you're mad!"

"I think I still prefer Dearborn."

"Bullshit," Sirius suddenly let out.

He and Clara looked at each other, before bursting into laughter, choking as they struggled to remain quiet.

"Do you think they know you're here?" Clara asked him as she was finally able to breathe again.

He shook his head.

"I don't think so. Are they annoying you?"

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not one of your groupies. And I think they're kind of idiots, really."

He grinned at her, his eyes full of mischief.

"All right then, give me a sec!"

Before she could say anything, Sirius had stood up and was heading towards the girls behind Clara. Her eyes wide, the Gryffindor turned on her chair and managed to glimpse at two of the girls, visible between the rows of books. One was from Ravenclaw, the other from Gryffindor, they seemed to be in their fifth year. Sirius approached their table and the girls went completely still as they recognised him. Wearing his most seductive smile, the boy leaned casually against the shelf.

"Hey, girls! Sorry to interrupt, but I'm trying to study right on the other side of this shelf with a friend, and you're talking too loudly for her, she can't focus. Could you lower the volume a bit, please?"

His voice was low and sweet, and the girls literally melted upon their chairs.

"Of course, we're sorry," answered the Gryffindor, barely breathing, her eyes wide.

"No problem, bye!"

"Bye!"

Clara was biting her fist hard to stop herself from laughing too loudly. The second Sirius sat down and caught her amused eyes, he was gone for. They were laughing so much for a while that they couldn't look at each other, or they would burst into laughter again. It lasted long minutes, and several students looked at them with disapproving smiles as they passed by their table.

"You're crazy!" Clara admonished him, wiping the tears from her face.

"That was so funny!" he replied, drying his cheeks with his sleeves too. "Have you seen their faces?!"

They were gone laughing again for a while, holding their painful sides, choking as they tried to be as silent as possible.

Clara’s stomach was so painful… she reckoned she hadn’t laughed that much in months…

"The Transfiguration essay," she finally managed to articulate, clearing her throat, but averting her eyes far away from Sirius, knowing that the mere sight of him would make her explode again.

"Right."

Sirius cleared his throat too, and finally helped her with the spell.

They worked quite quickly together, and less than an hour later, they had both finished their essay. It was still sunny outside when they closed their books and put away their homework, although the sky was turning from bright blue to pale gold.

"Do you have anything else to work on?" Sirius asked her.

"I'm done for tonight,” she answered with a shake of her head. “Thank you for your help! You really are quite good at Transfiguration."

Sirius smirked, and there was something mischievous in his eyes too when he held her stare, but she didn’t get what it meant, and he didn’t say a word.

"You're welcome. It was quite fun!"

They walked out of the library together, joking and laughing and smiling. And it felt nice, exciting.

The more time he spent with her, the more Sirius enjoyed Clara’s company.

"Where are you going now?" she asked once they were in the corridor, leaving whispering behind and speaking with her usual tone again. “To get yourself in trouble, I bet!”

"No, not today,” he chuckled. “I’ll go check on Remus, he must be back in the dorm by now. You?"

"I'll take a walk, I think. It’s not that late, and the weather is nice. Better enjoy it while it lasts. Autumn in Scotland is always a mess!"

Sirius seemed to think for a moment, eyes set onto hers. He tilted his head to the side a little, weighing options, before he would offer her a bright smile.

"Would you mind if I came with you? You’re right, it’s nice outside, I’d love to take a walk too."

She grinned at him.

"No, of course not! Come on! I know just the place!"

They headed towards the grounds, remaining silent until they reached the shores of the lake. Indeed, the sun was still warm enough to make their walk pleasant, and only a shy breeze disturbed the dark waters before them. In the distance, Hagrid’s hut was puffing a white smoke by its chimney. It was slow, leisurely, soothing… With no more sounds than the regular movement of water and wind passing through tall branches.

They sat against a tall oak and enjoyed the sight of the sinking sun setting the sky on fire and lighting up the water with golden shades. Clara took out a notebook and some pencils from her bag, and she started to draw, humming softly to herself.

"I didn't know you liked drawing," Sirius finally said, a small smile playing on his lips that was, perhaps, a little too fond.

"I love drawing, I spend much of my free time surrounded with pencils and paper,” she answered with a chuckle. “Does that bother you if I…”

“No, no! On the contrary, that’s nice! I have no talent whatsoever for it.”

“What about you, then? Any hobby? Besides preparing pranks, I mean…”

He smiled mischievously, wiggling his eyebrows to make her laugh, and he easily succeeded. He was more serious when he answered her question, though.

"Quidditch."

She shook her head, amused.

"I should have known."

"You don't like Quidditch yourself?"

"I do like Quidditch actually. I think I'll come to the try-outs this year."

Sirius propped up an eyebrow.

"Really? Which position?"

"Beater."

Sirius choked, trying to hold back a laugh.

"I can fly, you know?" she replied, failing to hide the hurt expression that came to her face.

"I don’t doubt that but… Are you sure you've got enough strength to be a Beater? You should rather try for Chaser. I bet you're fast."

But Clara shook her head.

"No, I want to play Beater."

"Sure?"

"Yep."

"Well then, we'll see how you do on Saturday, I guess."

"Get ready to be surprised."

"Something tells me that I will be!"

They smiled at each other, and Clara focused on her drawing again. Silence settled around them, but it was comfortable and warm, and none of them minded. They merely enjoyed each other’s company while the sun made the sky redden.

After a while, Clara finally spoke again, her voice quite shy.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"I... I know it's probably none of my business, but... Why was your brother so cold with you the other day?"

Sirius shifted, clearly uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, it's none of my business," she added quickly as she was noticing his reaction. "Never mind."

He looked at her for a while, trying to decide if he should answer or not. A part of him was choosing the safest option, as always, and ordering him to keep his mouth shut. But another seemed willing to talk, and it was strange, unfamiliar. They didn’t know each other that much, even if they got along. And yet, there was this feeling in his chest, this aura about her… And Sirius wanted to tell her. For once, he did want to open his mouth, and let it all out.

Would she give him that look of pity he often received when he opened up, though? He would hate that. He would hate it if she gave him this look…

But then again, she was blushing now, clearly looking for something to say that would make him feel more comfortable again, and that was incredibly nice of her. He wasn’t used to that. To people being delicate with him and his feelings. It was nice though, it made him answer without really being willing to do so.

"It's quite complicated, with my family."

"Why?" she asked, looking up at him again.

"Many reasons."

She took just a quick glimpse at his expression, at the sudden clenching of his jaw, and the sadness that dulled the grey in his eyes. She nodded, offering him a kind smile.

"You don't have to answer, if you don't want to talk about it,” she reassured him. “I didn't know it was complicated for you to talk about your family. I shouldn't have asked in the first place. It’s none of my business."

He let out a breathy laugh, shaking his head, resting his forearms on his knees and holding his left wrist with his right hand. He lost his gaze on the lake, alit with burning lights.

Damn, that was exactly the right thing to say. And now, he wanted to say it all out loud…

He took a deep breath before diving though. The words were as heavy as lead on his tongue, but it felt good to let them out all the same. He hadn’t talked about all this to anyone but the boys.

"The thing is, I'm not part of the family anymore."

"What do you mean?" Clara asked with a frown, putting down her paper and pencils on the grass, right next to her bag, giving Sirius her full attention.

"I ran away last summer."

She stared at him, her eyes wide.

"You ran away? But... Why? Where did you go?"

"I went to the Potters'. They've always treated me like a son. They took me in without a hesitation, gave me a home..."

"Why did you run away?"

His throat tightened; he chose his words carefully. Because he didn’t want her to run away. Because it was painful, still, to talk about all this.

"I don't share my family's point of view upon many subjects and… one night I had enough. So, I took my things, and walked out."

"You ran away because you disagreed with your family? It must have been about quite important subjects..."

He shifted again. The conversation was heading in a direction he clearly didn't like, but it was too late to go back now. She patiently waited for him to speak again, and he was thankfully for it.

"They're all in the pure-blood mania, you know?” he answered in a breathy tone, looking at her once more. “And I'm not. I don't care that people are muggleborns or half-bloods, or muggles even. They're still people, end of story. I didn't fit in the familial mantra, evidently."

"I see," she answered.

He looked at the lake once more, but Clara guessed that he wasn't seeing it anymore. It was too hard to look into her green eyes though. They were too warm, too welcoming, too reassuring… he wasn’t used to that. It was still a struggle to him, to accept to be looked upon with kindness.

He cleared his throat before speaking once more. And maybe his confession went too far, but he didn’t really mind. That ought to mean something, right?

"I don't want the life they have designed for me," he continued, his gaze still lost upon the burning lake. "I don't want to get married with a cousin to have a pure-blood marriage. I don't want to marry someone because a bunch of pure-blood maniacs have decided that I should, even if I will never love her. I don't believe in the pure-blood supremacy in any way, and I have never accepted to keep my mouth shut about it in front of them all. I've never been the perfect soldier, quite the contrary actually. I'm a stranger to them, really… and my brother is the perfect son next to me. He entered Slytherin like everyone has done in my family since the school opened, and I was sorted into Gryffindor. He bends to all their manners and masks, and I always blow up sooner or later. He has accepted his arranged marriage, and shares the family idea that pure-bloods are worth more than other people; and I rejected the girl they had chosen for me and I'm friends with muggleborns, half-bloods and pure-bloods alike. We're quite different my brother and I, and I think he took the fact that I ran away personally, as if I was leaving him, and not my parents. And then again… I’ve spent many years protecting him from our parents. Now that I’m gone, it must be harder for him. So, you can see why it is quite tensed between us."

He smiled sadly, a pain badly hidden on his features. Meanwhile, Clara was speechless. What could she answer? She had always thought he was a prat and an idiot. She knew he was a pure-blood, and though she had never cared about it, she had always thought he must have been something of a spoiled child, really, with too much money and gifts and worship from his parents to be a good person in the end. But she had been wrong all along. He had evidently suffered a lot, and she could guess, even if he didn’t say it out loud, that he hadn’t been truly loved in his family. She didn’t know to which extent though. She couldn’t have imagined what he had gone through. Still, tears formed on the corners of her eyes.

"I didn't know..."

Her words stayed stuck in her throat. He shook himself, finally setting his eyes away from the burning water, to focus on her again.

"Oh, never mind that, I'm fine,” he offered her a reassuring smile. “Let's change the subject, okay? How is your drawing going on?"

She chuckled, shaking her head, and picked up her notebook once more. She had hardly drawn anything.

"I'm not very productive, actually."

He let out a laugh, that sounded much like a bark, while she picked up a pencil again and drew a colourful line across the white paper.

"I'm talking too much clearly, you can't focus!"

"It's okay, I like talking with you."

He kept on looking at her as she was drawing again.

"You're not as stupid and horrible as I thought you were," she added, narrowing her eyes as she was focusing on her page. "Or maybe you grew up a bit, which helped."

He laughed again.

"I may have grown up, that's true. If it means anything to you, you're not as boring and uptight as I thought you were."

She laughed too.

"Thanks, that's quite nice. But I've always been kind of the reckless one of the girls, you don't have the excuse of any changes on my part for not having noticed it before."

"But I was stupid and horrible before, remember?"

"True!"

She laughed again, and he found her laugh quite beautiful indeed... infectious… it was enough to make him smile.

"I'd better go check on Remus,” he finally added with a sigh. “I was supposed to replace James more than an hour ago, he's going to kill me."

He got up, and threw his bag upon his shoulder.

"I'd love to see this drawing of yours when you're finished, if you don't mind," Sirius added before he would leave.

She looked up at him and grinned.

"Sure, I'll show you."

"Great. See you later, Clearwater."

He started to walk away, but she called him back.

"What if we ate together tonight, Sirius?”

He smiled at the use of his first name. He liked it, the way she said it, it sounded softer when she was the one speaking it out loud.

He turned back towards her, shooting her a wink and a crooked smile, while still walking backwards towards the Castle.

“Sure, that would be nice! See you tonight, Clara!”

He turned towards the Castle again, grinning, heading for the dormitory where James was undoubtedly waiting for him with a death sentence.

Meanwhile, Clara was smiling as she kept on drawing. She quite enjoyed the way he said her name…

"Padfoot, you were supposed to come back more than an hour ago! A bloody, fucking hour ago!"

And here was the expected death sentence. Merlin...

Sirius rolled his eyes, throwing his bag by his bed.

"Where were you?" asked Peter, looking up from the magazine he was reading.

"With Clara," Sirius answered casually. "We were working on the Transfiguration essay.”

Sirius sat on his bed and took off his shoes, ignoring Remus’s raised eyebrow and James’s glare. He untied his tie too and threw it in his trunk.

“You were studying? With Clara? Nothing in this makes any sense…” Remus mumbled, letting his head fall back onto his pillow, exhausted.

“Very funny,” Sirius answered wryly. “Next time you need help in Charms, go fuck yourself.”

“How come you were with Clara?” Peter asked, disregarding his magazine completely now.

“I bumped into her while she was waiting for Lily in the Library. But Lily didn’t show, so I helped her instead. And I also completed my own essay!”

“I’ve been waiting for you for an hour,” James replied through gritted teeth, throwing his pillow at his friend, still mad. “Next time, I’ll turn you into a slug and leave you outside to be eaten by some bird…”

“Thanks, Prongs. I love you too.”

Sirius let himself fall back on his bed before turning towards Remus again.

"By the way, I now have some information that will interest you, Moony. So, you'd better be nice to me if you want me to tell you what I've just learned."

Remus was lying on his bed, his blanket up to his chin, still shaking with fever. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, annoyed.

"Padfoot, I'm really not in the mood for any kind of joke or gossips right now. I'm still terribly sick from last night, in case you hadn't noticed."

But Sirius merely smiled.

"Did you know that they know?"

Remus slowly averted his eyes on Sirius’s, and they grew round as he read in his friend’s grey stare that he had perfectly understood what he meant… He suddenly was even paler than before.

"What do you mean?" the boy asked slowly, needing confirmation anyway.

Meanwhile, James and Peter exchanged a worried glance, standing up from their own beds to get closer to their friends. James leaned against Sirius’s bedframe while Peter took a seat on the edge of Remus’s mattress.

"The girls know you're a werewolf, Clara asked me how you were feeling,” Sirius answered matter-of-factly. “They guessed over two years ago, apparently."

"Shit!"

Remus tightly closed his eyes, while the two other Marauders seemed more than worried now.

"But they’ve never talked about it!" said James, his brow furrowed.

"Nope, clearly they don't care,” Sirius reassured them, lifting his arms to rest his hands behind his head, before he would turn to Remus again. “When I asked Clara what they thought about it, she answered that you, my friend, were the sweetest guy in this school, and that as long as you were not attacking them at night, they didn't give a damn."

The boys looked at each other, before bursting into laughter, although not all traces of worry were gone from their features just yet.

"Merlin! I had no idea they knew," said Remus, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Well, they do."

The four friends kept on chatting for a while, until it was time for dinner, as Peter’s loud stomach reminded the group.

Sirius sighed, exhausted, and put on his shoes again. James helped Remus to get out of bed.

"Are you sure you don't want us to get you something?" asked Peter.

"No, I'm fine," answered Remus, standing straighter despite his fatigue and painful muscles. "And I reckon I should have a conversation with the girls."

They headed together for the Great Hall, although they took their time to walk there, unwilling to let Remus hurry in his tired state. Many students were already eating, but they did find some empty spots around the Gryffindor table next to Lily, Marlene, Dorcas and Alice. The Hall was busy and loud, the magical sky above their hands matching the starry night outside.

The girls were discussing Lily's date with Liam that had occurred earlier that evening when the Marauders joined them.

"He's such a sweetheart," sighed Marlene dreamily.

"He is," confirmed Lily.

James wisely stopped listening, but the conversation was over anyway, and so he didn't have to suffer more descriptions of Lily's perfect date with Super-Tan.

"Where is Clara?" asked Remus.

He barely touched any of his food, and the mere sight of meat was making him feel nauseous, but he needed to make sure the girls would not say anything to anyone about his secret.

"No idea," answered Alice with a shrug, taking a bite of her potato.

"She must still be at the Lake," answered Sirius, his mouth full with roasted chicken.

Lily furrowed her brow.

"How would you know?"

"I saw her in the library, where she was waiting for you to make her Transfiguration essay."

Lily's eyes grew wide.

"It was tonight?"

"I'm afraid it was," Sirius nodded with an amused smile.

"Oh, no! I totally forgot, I was sure it was tomorrow!"

She buried her head in her hands and closed her eyes.

"I suck as a friend."

"You just have a boyfriend, Lils, it's normal."

The girl jumped while Clara was laughing at her, standing right behind her friend. She smiled at Lily, taking the seat next to her, facing Sirius.

"Oh God, Clara, I'm so sorry!" the redhead apologized again.

"Don't be, it's okay. I got help anyway."

She pointed at Sirius, whom answered with a smile, trying to swallow his mouthful of bread. Lily didn’t seem fully convinced, but she smiled anyway and was about to resume her dinner when Remus cleared his throat. All turned to him. He seemed… uncomfortable, all of a sudden. Nervous, even.

"Girls, Sirius told me you... knew. About me... and… my secret."

The four girls looked at each other at first, but they quickly aimed accusatory glares towards Clara.

"What?" the girl asked innocently.

"You told him we knew?" asked Marlene in disbelief.

"I… not exactly… I told Sirius. Who apparently told Remus…"

"Why?" asked Lily.

"Why not?"

"Shit, Clara," replied Alice, shaking her head.

"What?! We don't even care."

"He shouldn't have learned we knew that way," explained Dorcas.

"Oh, come on, you're making a scene out of nothing right now, really."

"No, we're not!"

"Yes, you are!"

"Clara, we should have told him directly!"

"Lils, it doesn't matter really."

Clara turned her attention back to Remus, who’s wide eyes revealed how lost he was. He wasn’t sure if he ought to laugh or be terrified by the whole thing…

"We guessed two years ago,” Clara explained. “We don't care, and won't say anything to anyone. You don't have to worry about that."

"You're sure it's okay?" asked Remus, surprised.

"Of course, it's fine Remus," Lily reassured him, smiling kindly. "We don't care."

Remus sighed heavily, clearly relieved, his tensed shoulders visibly relaxing.

"Right then, I guess it's alright as long as you don't say anything to anyone."

"We won't, don't worry," Alice reassured him too.

"But why didn't you tell me anything?"

"We figured out that it was best if it came from you," explained Lily. "But as Clara can't keep her mouth shut..."

"I'm the one who should be angry tonight, not you Lils," Clara reminded her friend, adding some dramatic tone to her voice that made the Marauders chuckle. "I'm the one who was left abandoned in the library, when her best friend was snogging a boy in a dark corner."

Lily blushed hard and bent her head above her plate.

"We didn't snog."

Clara rolled her eyes, but didn't add anything. Facing her, Sirius was fighting his urge to let out a proper laugh. He felt like it was time to change the subject, so he cleared his throat and turned towards James.

"By the way, Clara wants to go to the try-outs on Saturday."

"Really?" asked James, suddenly terribly interested in the conversation.

"Yep! I'm finally coming this year. Marlene too, by the way."

"No, I'm not," replied Marlene, sending a look full of warning to Clara.

"Yes, you are," Lily fought back. "You love Quidditch, Marls! And as Clara is doing it, you should do it too."

“Marls, that would be awesome!” Dorcas nodded, overexcited. “We would play together! That would be amazing! I would finally stop being the only girl on the team… you’ve got to come to the try-outs!”

"Of course, you should!" James encouraged her.

Sirius nodded enthusiastically too.

"Which position will you try? Chaser I guess," added James.

"Marlene yes. I'm trying for Beater," answered Clara.

James propped up an eyebrow.

"Are you sure you're strong enough to be a Beater?" asked Peter.

Clara rolled her eyes.

"I'm not that fragile, I can fly and hit a Bludger with a bat. Yes, I'm strong enough, and yes, I'm sure I want to try for the position of Beater."

James shrugged.

"We'll see how you do on Saturday then."

"We'll see indeed."

It was a little strange still to chat like this with the Marauders, to laugh together and have full conversations with the whole group; strange, but nice all the same. That evening, once again, neither James nor Lily got upset, they even laughed together a couple of times.

After their dinner, they walked back to the Tower together, still chatting. As they entered the Common Room, about to break their large group and head for their dorms, Clara held Sirius back for a second.

"You said you wanted to see my drawing when it was done. Here you go!"

She took a piece of paper out of her bag and handed it to him. He unfolded it, and his mouth fell open as he was looking at a moving drawing of the Lake. A gentle breeze was making the trees sway, the lake and the sky were on fire and burning clouds were drifting slowly across the bright sky. It was beautiful.

"Merlin, Clara! You're really good at this!"

"You think so?" she asked shyly.

"Of course! It's amazing!"

She grinned, and shook her head as he was handing it back to her.

"You can keep it."

"You're sure?"

"Of course, I have hundreds of drawings of the Lake. Keep this one."

"Thank you. Good night, Clara."

"Good night, Sirius!"

They both headed to their dormitories, and Sirius put safely her drawing in his Transfiguration textbook. He was exhausted, and closed his curtains to sleep early, a grin on his face as he peacefully drifted away.

*****************

Taglist: @reg-arcturus-black @hells-escapees

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