#he and James should both ditch their friends they don’t like that much and become besties

[shimmerluna]

Isaac needs new friends after s2 honestly

#shimmer's thoughts #heartstopper #isaac henderson #i feel like they were so weird to him all season #he’s always been super irrelevant in the friend group but they seemed to like/care about him at least #but then he had that outburst and no one apologized or at least asked if he was ok? really? #that one scene just irks me. maybe it'll get resolved in s3 but i also don't think he should have to come out to get an apology #or for them to ask if he's ok since they probably don't realize they did something wrong #i know it's proving a narrative point and the show probably doesn't have time to put that convo in but damn #he and James should both ditch their friends they don’t like that much and become besties #it’d be worth him leaving the show if he got to make friends who valued his friendship a little more #esp since he's aroace and less likely to have relationships other than friendships

[allthatyoulove]

12:51

Modern/Highschool AU James “Bucky” Barnes / Reader

Summary: Your ex best friend and his new band are performing for the first time and you decide to go watch them perform. You didn’t expect the song to be about you.

Warnings: angst, cussing, fluff

Words: 2.5k

A/N: My first one-shot!!! This was inspired by the song 12:51 by The Strokes! Let me know what you think, and give me any suggestions for future one-shots! (Also let me know if I missed any warnings) Thanks for stopping by :)

You know when you can feel, deep down somewhere, that whatever you’re about to do is a dumb fucking idea? I don’t know why I was ignoring that feeling, but there was nothing that could stop me now.

I shivered, wrapping my arms tighter around myself as I walked down the dimly lit street. As I got closer to my destination, the music coming from inside the house started to become louder. I pulled my hand from the inside of my jacket where I attempted to keep it warm to check the time.

12:45.

I had snuck out of my house to go to this party everyone was going to. It was a Friday night, and I was originally thinking of skipping this week’s party, until I found out who was playing.

Bucky Barnes.

Or, I guess, James Barnes.

James and I had been best friends since we were kids. I can’t even remember how we met, I just remember us being attached at the hip since kindergarten. We lived in the same houses, right next to each other, through our entire lives. We went through all of our worst phases together.

I started to get feelings for him in middle school, when I realized that was a thing that happened when you started to grow up. I never told him, scared I would ruin our friendship, and our lives continued as they always have.

Then, highschool started.

Bucky and I began our rebellious phase together, starting to sneak out every Friday night to the party that was happening that week. We would get forties and lay on the roof of our houses afterwards around 1 am, looking at the stars and talking or doing karaoke to our favorite songs. I fell more and more in love with him every day.

Towards the end of freshman year, the upperclassmen at the parties we went to started to take notice of him. They would dare him to jump off the roof into the pool, or to drink as much as he could through a beer funnel. And he would do it, always the people pleaser. They liked how he listened to them, and took him under their wing.

He stopped hanging out with me after that.

I would go up to him, and he would say he had to go to his next class or that his friends were waiting up for him so he couldn’t talk. He wouldn’t let me call him Bucky anymore, because everyone knew him as James and he didn’t want to explain our relationship, or lack-thereof, to them.

Eventually we stopped hanging out altogether, avoiding each other in school and day-to-day, and pretended we never knew each other.

It’s not like I didn’t have or make new friends, because I did, but it was never the same. Bucky- or, James- and I’s bond was something special. Something I couldn’t find with anyone else. I tried to adapt to the friends around me, tried to like the things they liked, but I always felt like James was the only person I could open up to.

Now we’re seniors, and James had started a band with a couple of his friends earlier that year. This party was the first time they were performing in front of people, and I wanted to go watch. I was curious.

A couple minutes later I finally walked into the party, looking around through the crowd of people. I said hi to a group of people I knew, when I heard him.

“Hey everyone, how are you guys feeling tonight?”

The crowd gave a response of shouts and cheers. While everyone looked towards the direction of the stage, I took the distraction as a chance to make my way towards them.

I found my way towards the front, standing behind a couple of people that were a couple of feet from the stage.

And there he was.

He was in a black shirt and black biker jacket with black jeans. His hair was tucked behind his ears, with a few strands in front of his face from slightly leaning down to the mic.

He looked good.

It wasn’t a very big or high stage, being that it’s in someone's house, but it made the view of them much easier to see.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” he laughed, “Well, my friends and I here got a song we’d like to perform for you. This one is called 12:51.”

More cheers erupted from the crowd.

I stood there, putting my hands in my jacket pockets, looking up at him. The people in front of me moved slightly to group with their friends, moving me more towards the front.

We made eye contact as I got shoved slightly towards the front. His eyes blinked a couple times, mouth slightly falling open upon seeing me for the first time. He blushed a little before the sound of the bass and drums started to play, snapping him back into reality. He looked down for a second before grabbing the mic and looking back up at me. I kept my gaze neutral, waiting for him to sing.

“Talk to me now, I’m older

Your friend told you ‘cause I told her

Friday nights have been lonely

Change your plans and then phone me”

He pulled away from the mic, clapping to the beat as he kept his gaze on me. He looked sad, not moving from my eyes as he began to sing again.

“We could go and get forties

Fuck going to that party

Oh really, your folks are away now?

Alright, let’s go, you convinced me”

My mouth slightly fell open at the first line, my eyes tearing up as he seemingly sang that line to me. My brows furrowed as I listened to the lyrics.

“12:51 is the time

My voice found the words I sought

Is it this stage I want?

The world is shutting out for us

Oh, we were tense for sure

But we was confident”

He grabbed the mic with both hands, making it obvious he was looking at me as he sang the rest of the song.

“Kiss me, now that I’m older

I won’t try to control you

Friday nights have been lonely

Take it slow but don’t warn me

We’d go out and get forties

Then we’d go to some party

Oh really, your folks are away now?

Alright I’m coming, I’ll be right there”

He stepped back from the mic, panting as the song finished. Everyone began to cheer and clap, as I stood there stunned. A tear had rolled down my cheek sometime before the song finished and I wiped it away as I stood there looking at him.

He looked around at the rest of the crowd briefly, smiling and saying thank you as he blew kisses towards the crowd.

I turned to leave as I pushed my way through the cheering group of people. A few tears begrudgingly fell as I tried to find my way out.

I didn’t know what to think.

The things he mentioned in the song were too specific to be about anyone else. What hurt the most was finding out how he felt about me like this. We hadn’t spoken in over 2 years. Now he’s in a band, writing songs about how he misses me and wants me to kiss him?

Fuck, I need a drink.

I made a detour to the kitchen before leaving to look for some alcohol. The kitchen island had many choices to choose from, all of the bottles sprawled across the table. I grabbed the first one I saw and drank from the bottle.

The burn of the drink going down my throat was exactly what I needed.

I wiped at my mouth with my sleeve as I put the bottle down and took a second to let the liquor go down.

I went back to my original route to the front door, when the group of friends I talked to earlier stopped me.

“Hey where ya going? We’re all thinking of doing s'more shots, wanna join?”

“I think I’m gonna head home, not really in the party mood anymore.”

“D’ya need someone to bring you home?”

I looked around the group, all of them struggling to stand up straight or laughing at nothing.

“No I’ll be fine. Thanks though, have a nice night.”

“Okay byeeeeeeee!!!”

I laughed and shook my head, turning to finish my walk out the door when someone called my name. I knew that voice. It was a voice I could recognize anywhere, no matter the amount of alcohol in my body or the blaring music that resumed over the speakers. I rushed out the door, turning left and speed-walking the way I came.

“Hey! Wait!” I heard the sound of someone running behind me.

Well, shit, I’m not gonna break into a sprint to get away from him.

I stopped walking on the sidewalk, turning around to face him.

He finished jogging up to me, out of breath. He stood there for a second staring at me and panting.

"Did you run over to me just to stare or do you have something you'd like to talk about?"

He laughed faintly, shaking his head at the ground and using his hand to push the side of his hair back.

"Sorry, I- uh, yeah I wanted to talk to you. It's been a while."

"Yup" I said, popping the "p". I lightly rocked back and forth on the heels of my feet as we looked at each other. I was getting impatient with standing here trying to decipher whatever code he was speaking in. Whatever he was trying to say needed to find its way out.

"So, what'd you think of the song?"

"Bucky" I sighed, "I think I should-"

"Y'know you're the only one who ever calls me Bucky"

I stopped mid-sentence, taking a second to process what he said.

"Until you told me to stop. Guess it's a still a habit"

He sighed and looked down, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

"Listen. Please. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for treating you so badly, and I'm sorry for ditching you like that, and I'm sorry for- well just being an asshole in general, and I-"

"Bucky."

"-know you probably don't want to hear this, because I'm about 3 years late, but I want you to know that I-"

"Bucky."

"miss you. So much. I have ever since I did that to you, and I don't know why I did it, but it took me this long to figure out that-"

"Bucky!"

"I'm in love with you."

He finally looked up at me, finishing his rant and even more out of breath than he was before. I froze, looking at him shocked.

"What?"

"I've loved you since elementary."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. My lifelong best friend, who I've been in love with since middle school, who abandoned me freshman year, has been in love with me too. For even longer. My mind was racing with questions.

"Wait- since elementary?"

"Yes."

"And you still are?"

"Yes."

"Even after not talking to me for over 2 years?"

He winced before answering. "Yes."

"Why did you end our friendship like that? How could you do that to me?"

He shook his head, averting his eyes back to the ground as he winced again.

"I'm so sorry, I- I just couldn't- I-I thought that coming into high school you would start making all these friends, and I guess freshman me thought it would be best if I just found some friends first. You know, to soften the blow I guess."

I furrowed my brows, looking at him incredulously.

"So you ended our lifelong friendship because you were scared I'd make friends?"

"Well fuck, when you put it like that-"

"How the fuck am I supposed to put it, Bucky? That's what happened, right?

"Yeah. That's what happened."

We met each other's eyes again. He looked defeated as he put his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

"Can you please tell me what you thought of the song" he whispered, blinking slowly at me.

I sighed sharply as my tongue pressed against the side of my mouth.

"Did you mean it? What you said?"

"Every word."

I shivered and shrugged, shaking my head.

"What do you want me to say, James?"

He winced for the third time at the sound of me using his name.

"I want you to say you'll think about forgiving me, I want you to say you feel the same, I want you to be in my life again. I want you."

I shut my eyes for a second and sighed. He's in love with me, and he wants me. He's in love with me. He has been since elementary. He wants me in his life. He loves me. A couple seconds passed before I responded.

"Of course I feel the same way, I have for, like, 5 years. And I'll think about forgiving you. Only because the song was sorta good-"

"Can I kiss you?"

The rest of my sentence died as I looked up at him confused. Did I hear him right?

"What did you say?"

"Can I kiss you?" he repeated, licking his lips as his gaze darted from my eyes to my lips.

"Yes."

He was closing the space between us as soon as the word left my lips. He pulled his hands from his jacket, using them to hold my face as he kissed me.

I leaned into the kiss, trying to ignore the fireworks going off in my stomach.

He moved his hands to go around my waist, wrapping his arms around me to hold me against him. I brought my arms up to wrap around the back of his head as the kiss deepened.

I pulled away and looked at him, running my fingers through his hair as his arms stayed locked around my waist. We smiled at each other as he darted between looking at my eyes and lips. I brushed his hair behind his ears before he spoke.

"What d'ya say we go to your house and sit on the roof, like we used to?"

"What about the drinks?"

"I think the amount of alcohol you chugged in the kitchen should be enough for tonight"

I laughed and kissed him again. With or without the alcohol, I was drunk on Bucky and the happiness in this moment we shared. It felt as if the years without him had turned me into a zombie, and this kiss brought me back to life. An antidote that I didn't know I needed.He eventually put me down as we began to walk back to our street, hand in hand.

I had gotten my best friend back.

#bucky barnes #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes modern au #james bucky barnes #james buchanan barnes #bucky imagine

[iliveiloveiwrite]

Soon // S.B.

Request: Ahhhh!!!!! Congratulations on such an AMAZING milestone🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉!!!!!! You deserve all this and sososo much more girly. I’m glad ur being recognized for ur amazing talents 😩💓 Now for the celebration. Could I suggest: Sirius, Hogwarts, Soulmate au, fluff #13, and Misc #5 - @leahstypewriter

Fluff 13: “Compared to you: stars pale, and the moon dulls.”

Misc 5: “Are you quoting a film at me?”

A/N: Thank you so much, lovely! Here’s your request! I hope you like! I love writing soulmate AUs and I had to go searching for one that I hadn’t done before so here we are! As always, I hope you like!

Pairing: Sirius Black x Fem!Reader

Warnings: I continue to wax lyrical about the history of soulmates, hopeless romantic (reader and writer lol).

Word count: 2.3k

The magic of soulmates was first discovered centuries ago; too long ago for the story to be remembered correctly, but through the years, the general gist remains the same amongst families of witches and wizards.

From birth, a witch and wizard are paired with another witch or wizard. It would take time to find their match; it would take patience of the strongest sort, but they will meet their soulmate should good fortune befall them.

How do they know they have a soulmate?

Anything written on skin; be it a word, a quote, a doodle – it all appears on their soulmates skin. Anything other than their name. Centuries of debate and arguments over the exact reason for this decree fell over the world. In the end, the ministries and the scholars across the world threw their hands up in exasperation, declaring that the decree relating to the naming of soulmates would have to stay and the reasoning being that those making the decree were too awkward and stubborn to think of making life easier for an entire society that had to go into hiding.

For years, witches and wizards, once old enough, are able to communicate with their destined other half. The itch of a sentence being written becomes familiar; almost tolerable. Over time, they get to know their penmanship and their inner most secrets only dared scrawled onto their skin that could be hurriedly washed away if needed.

By the time the young witches and wizards in the United Kingdom have reached the age to start Hogwarts, their soulmate is already a part of them.

Now it was just trying to whittle down the student population of the school to discover who exactly was your appointed other half from birth.

---------

Most soulmate matches at Hogwarts are made in the months April to July – it’s when the weather starts to warm up; becoming bearable enough for the short sleeved blouses and shirts to be dug out from the very bottom of trunks.

Arms are on display for most of the day. It means that matches are made in the corridor, in the classrooms, in the Great Hall. Everywhere across the castle matches are made.

It’s wonderful, it is. But it also makes you more impatient.

You’re in the library when another match is made. Madame Pince tries her hardest to hush the new match into some level of quiet, but it does no good and thankfully, she evicts them from the library and the hush soon falls back over the great room with the same sense of a comforting blanket.

Rolling the sleeve of your cardigan up, you delicately write, “I’ve just seen the third match made of the day and it’s not even noon.”

It doesn’t take long for your soulmate to reply, “I’ve seen two so far. Where was your third?”

“The library.”

“I bet Pince was thrilled.”

You snort at their reply; amused at how well they know the school’s librarian.

“When is it going to be our turn?” You ask somewhat hesitantly.

The reply takes a few minutes, but it comes all the same in the elegant script you’ve come to know, “Soon.”

You rag your sleeve back down in frustration, repressing the building groan. You didn’t know your soulmate’s name, but you had given him the nickname of ‘aloof’. He had gone to great personal care to not reveal too much about himself other than the fact that he was male, he went to Hogwarts and he was your age.

That was something at least, but your countless attempts to find out more had been rebuffed. When you asked why, he simply answered that he wanted to leave as much as he could a surprise. You understood that, but the curiosity got to you.

You sigh heavily returning to the homework laid in front of you, but your mind continues to play the realisation that had happened only moments ago. The happiness on their faces; their utter elation tied in with the adoration they already felt for the other.

It was hard, you realise, to be in love with someone you’ve only spoken to through words and doodles on your arm.

-----

The week doesn’t get any easier; the weather only turns warmer, so the outer robes are ditched completely. You leave the Great Hall the morning Lily Evans realised she had been talking to James Potter since she was a child. You couldn’t watch it and still feel the same empty feeling that had settled within you so long ago.

Your friend June and her boyfriend follow you from the Great Hall. They find you facing one of the many tapestries that depict the meeting of soulmates; they’re found all over the castle and each one feels like a dagger to the stomach.

“It’ll happen soon,” June comforts, placing a soft hand on your shoulder.

“Soon! Soon! That’s all he says,” You explode. Then you repeat in a quieter voice, “That’s all he says. He’s here and he’s close and all he says is soon. What if he doesn’t want to meet me, June?”

June tuts, “Then he’s a damn fool. However, he does want to meet you. He replies doesn’t he?”

You nod your head, but her words do nothing to comfort the growing sense of dread within you.

It was rare, but the soulmate bond could be rejected. There were those in the wizarding world who were born without a soulmate, but there were also those who simply didn’t want one, so they never replied to their partner’s pleading. Instead, they chose to ignore every word, every plea, every beg. For the bond to be accepted, the first reply is important. If words are never painted on your skin, the bond is rejected.

For not the first time that day, you sigh, “I know we have forever to know each other, but is it so wrong of me to want that to start now?”

June squeezes your shoulder, “It’s not wrong at all.”

You continue to stare at the tapestry a little while longer after June and her boyfriend depart; the depiction of soulmates shown in the quill being held by both parties.

Running a hand through your hair, you turn your back on the portrayal of true love, your mind focused on how long it would be until you experience something of the same magnitude.

-----

The day after James and Lily have their realisations, you find Sirius Black’s eyes on you at breakfast. When you meet eyes, he smiles at you, raising his hand in wave. You smile back politely, waving back awkwardly before shaking your head and returning to your breakfast and the latest letter from your brother and his new wife.

They had settled well into their new house; they loved their wedding present, thank you; and yes, you were to have a niece or nephew by the end of the year.

Wonderful.

Shoving the letter from your brother into your bag with more force than what is needed, you feel someone standing next to you. Looking up you meet the grey eyes of Sirius Black; he smiles down at you, “Are you okay?”

You fix him with a puzzled look, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

He shrugs, “You were frowning so big I noticed it from down the table. I thought I would come see if you’re okay.”

“Well, I’m fine. Thanks for checking on me though.”

He nods, shoving his hands into his trouser pockets. He doesn’t say anything else and you don’t offer to fill the void, so the silence sits between you as heavy as a rock.

You stand from the bench; throwing your bag onto your shoulder, “Thanks again, Sirius. I’ll see you later.”

Sirius shifts out of your way, clearing the path for you, “My pleasure. I’ll see you later.”

You shake your head as you walk away; the encounter being an odd one given that your social circle didn’t tend to include any of the Marauders. But there was something about his final words; something about the way he uttered them that made them sound as if they were a promise to you.

You rush the thought from your mind; refusing to let yourself being occupied by someone who wasn’t your soulmate.

---

Sirius begins to take more notice in you; he starts to strike up small conversations whenever he can as well as numerous attempts to catch your eye at any meal time.

He starts to take up a lot of your time; sitting with you in the library on the rare occasion, but also joining you in class when the other Marauders are occupied with other pursuits.

It’s odd.

Muggle Studies remains one of the few lessons that hasn’t been interrupted with the growing number of soulmate matches in your year. Arguably, this school year could be the one with the most matches – the final year of Hogwarts; that final rush to find the love of your life before being sent out into the whole wizarding world without that safety net of the school to fall back onto.

The longer the professor drones on, the harder you find it to focus your concentration. The professor paces the front of the classroom, explaining their brief overview of what they hope the next few lessons will shape up to be like, but your attention is shot. It flickers between the marauder who has, for some reason, taken an interest in you and your soulmate, who still won’t reveal any more information about themselves or when you’ll be meeting.

A headache is close to blooming behind your eyes at the stress of it all.

Shrugging off your cardigan, you dip your quill into the pot of black ink sat in its holder. With the practiced precision of someone used to drawing on themselves, you begin to doodle.

Stars, planets, and moons appear on your left arm – decorating the inner forearm with an entire galaxy. They’re pretty rudimentary drawings, but it’s enough to keep you occupied from the droll being spewed by the professor who definitely hasn’t noticed they’ve lost the attention of most of the class.

The bell rings; finally signally the start of your only free period of the day. With a grateful sigh, you drop your books into your bag and make your way to the library.

You never make it to the library. On your way there, a hand grabs the back of your robes, pulling you into an empty corridor. With an angry shout, you face your kidnapper, “Sirius!”

He lets out an amused laugh at your affronted expression, “I’m sorry, I just needed to talk to you in private.”

You exhale, adjusting the heavy bag on your shoulder, “Sirius, I have to know. Why are you paying me so much attention? Surely you have a soulmate to think of.”

“That’s what I wanted to talk about.”

“Really?”

Sirius nods. He takes a deep breath before saying, “Compared to you: stars pale, and the moon dulls.”

“Are you quoting a film at me?” You ask; an eyebrow raised.

Sirius shakes his head, repressing a laugh. He rolls up the sleeve of his jumper, revealing his left arm to you where decorating his inner forearm are the very same stars, planets and moons that you had doodled instead of focusing on the classwork.

Instead of saying anything, you roll your own sleeve up, lining your arm up beside Sirius’ where the patterns match perfectly.

It seemed that his attempts at conversation and his watching you from a distance was for a purpose.

Sirius Black is your soulmate.

“Oh…” You whisper.

“I told you we would meet soon,” Sirius whispers; a sight teasing lilt to his voice.

You shake your head, “I kept thinking you didn’t want to meet me; that you didn’t want a soulmate.”

Sirius grips both of your hands, “The complete opposite. I just needed to work up the nerve to find you.”

“When did you know?”

“Not that long ago. When James and Lily got together.”

You nod your head; remembering the day well.

“I overheard you talking to your friend when I was on my way to a lesson and you kept talking about how your soulmate kept promising you soon. And I realised that that was all I was saying to mine. Soon.”

You look down at your joined hands, “I never even had an inkling it was you.”

Sirius chuckles, “I suppose that should be flattering. I must be that good at concealing information, I should be a spy.”

You roll your eyes, “It almost drove me mad is what you mean.”

“Well we have a long time to get to know each other now,” He murmurs; voice soft and filled with promise for the future.

You smile shyly at the long-haired teenager, “We do?”

He nods, “Yeah, we do.”

Tentatively, you take a step closer to the long-haired Marauder. A small smile graces Sirius’ face as he takes in your movement. With a tug of his hands, you fall into him – an arm clasping itself around your waist, pressing you to him.

Sirius’ hand caresses your cheek; you lean into the touch, wondering if this is how every match felt when they found their soulmate or whether this was entirely Sirius’ effect on you. Either way, it was addicting… and he hadn’t even kissed you yet.

Finally though, after what feels like a lifetime of staring into each other’s eyes, Sirius dips his head to kiss you. You meet him halfway; the desire you feel for him controlling your every move. His grip on your waist tightens and your arms wind their way around his neck, holding him to you. This kiss is what breaks the dam; from the lightest pressure of his lips, long buried emotions bubble up to the surface and it’s all you can do to keep yourself in control.

Sirius breaks the kiss, but he doesn’t retreat far. He beams down at you; eyes bright with elation. It’s a smile that you return and more; happy to have found your soulmate, happy to know who he is and that he loves you just as much as you love him.

Happy to know that soon is now.

*******

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Sirius Black taglist: @approved-by-dentists @fific7 @susceptible-but-siriusexual​

#sirius black x reader #soulmate au #soulmate alternate universe #sirius black fanfiction #sirius black reader insert #Sirius Black #siriusblack #sirius x y/n #Sirius orion black #sirius black fanfic #sirius black fluff #sirius fluff #fluff #sirius x reader #sirius x you #x reader #reader insert #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter fanfic #hp fanfic #hp fanfiction #soulmates

[marauders-venting]

Hi,, I read your posts,, and they were all sooooo amazing!! I just loved them. That's why I wanna ask if you will write prompt for me. Prompt: Remus/ Sirius first date. Both of them are nervous, and share the reason of their nervousness with lily and James. Sirius/ Remus is nervous because he is preparing for the date. While other is nervous about looks or other stuff. And then how the date goes...,, English is not my mother tongue so, pardon me if their are some errors. <3

The Last Chance

pairing: wolfstar (remus x sirius)

genre: fluff

warnings: hints at death

words: 3865

note: i wrote this with @ probably_wizardingworld_art on instagram. I wrote the part with remus and lily and she wrote sirius and james and we wrote the rest together. they came up with the title too.

a/n: hi! thank you so much that makes me so happy :D! this is my first prompt so im very excited. i actually had a lot of fun writing this so if you guys want to send me requests/prompts i'd be glad to try write some of them (you can send the request on tumblr or instagram)! anyway sorry this took me so long to get to but i hope you like the result! :)

Sirius was nervous, which didn’t happen often so they were pathetic at dealing with it. He needed to talk to James immediately or his head would probably explode or something. When he entered the common room they were lucky enough that Prongs was already there; he was talking to Lily, but that didn't matter right now. He walked up to them and slightly tapped James onto the shoulder, making him jump a little.

“Hey James, can I talk to you for a moment?” Sirius asked nervously, fidgeting around with one of their many rings.

“Of course Pads,” James said. He seemed a bit concerned because Sirius Black was rarely that unconfident, especially when there were people around. “Wanna go onto the roof for it?” Too tense to give a proper answer Sirius just nodded. James gave Lily an excusing look and the two boys went up to their dorm, climbed out of the window and onto the rooftop.

“Okay Padfoot, tell me what's bothering you,” James requested softly. Sirius took a deep breath before he managed to start talking at least two times as fast as usual.

“I know it's silly and I know I'm probably already bothering you enough with this stuff but… you know our graduation is only a week from now and everyone is asking someone out? I wanna ask Moony out but I'm hella nervous about it and I don't know what to do…”

“I can tell,” James muttered quietly. Not quietly enough though, as Sirius still punched his arm slightly and called him an “insensitive idiot”.

Picking up the original issue, Prongs said, “Pads, we both know you've been wanting to ask him out for at least a whole year now and I also know you always kept saying you would do it next time. But Sirius, just in case it's not clear to you, there isn't gonna be a next time. No next weekend at Hogsmeade, nothing; this is our graduation Sirius, it's your last chance to do it. Don't let it slip like all the others. Ask him to go to the dance with you; you would regret it if you didn’t.”

James was right of course, this was his last chance but that made it even worse to him. There wouldn't be enough time after this to fix the friendship when Remus wouldn't want to go to the dance with him.

“For two years actually. But Prongs… what do I do when he says no? What if he doesn't like me this way? Our friendship would become weird and there would barely be time to fix it. I don't wanna ruin everything y'know?” They tried to explain his fear to the other boy.

“Well, if he says no you can still act as if you wanted to go as friends, can't you?” he shrugged. “Even if I can't see why he should say no. It won’t be much of a surprise when Moony likes you the same way you like him, honestly.”

“And if he will refuse because well, we're two boys and there are a lot of people and dammit we both know he hates getting a lot of attention. Do you think people would stare at us? Not that I’d mind, of course, just thinking about Moony there.” They knew the anxious tone of their voice betrayed his words, but he wouldn't admit that.

“You wouldn’t be the only ones though. Lily told me that Marlene asked Dorcas out, so there’s no need to be worried about being THE gay couple. I don’t know why you think you’d be that interesting anyway.” James earned a stern look for this comment, but he just laughed at that, then added, “really Pads, you’re thinking too much; that’s not good for you.”

“Okay… I will do it. I can do that. Totally not scared anymore. And HOW the fuck am I gonna do this?” They hadn’t even given himself a moment to let the decision sink in and had already started panicking again. James seemed to find it hilarious though because he was laughing his head off.

“Sirius, calm down for fuck’s sake. If I managed to ask Lily out you can ask out Moony; he really isn’t that scary.”

“I never said Moony would be scary, arsehole.” He gave James a playful shove before he continued. “Besides, you definitely can't compare that! You and Lily are already dating, she would have been goin’ with you anyway. AND Moony would KILL me if I would make it a big, public thing like you did. Would definitely fit my attitude, but if I want him to say yes I’m not gonna do it like you.”

“Guess you're right about that. Maybe just ask him to talk in private then? If you won’t get it done until tomorrow, I solemnly swear I’m gonna lock you two up in our dormitory,” Prongs said, grinning mischievously.

“Bloody hell, Potter! You definitely WON’T do that, got it??” James just poked out his tongue at that.

“Don't worry about it too much mate, it's gonna be alright,” he assured him.

“Thanks for helping out Prongs,” Sirius spoke genuinely.

“Any time Padfoot.” The two lads climbed back into the dormitory. James went searching for Lily to continue their conversation. Sirius was alone in the room so he sat down on his bed and started thinking about what he wanted to say to Remus, just in case he would remember any of it when he actually had to ask him out.

---------

“So do you know who you’re going to the dance with?” Lily asked.

“No,” Remus said.

“Why not?”

“Well, it may have escaped your notice but we don’t all have boyfriends who’ve been in love with us for six and a half years,” Remus snapped.

“Geez,” Lily said. “I’m sorry I mentioned it.”

“No, I’m sorry,” Remus said. “It’s not you, I just… I’m kind of really dreading this dance.”

“What? Why?” Lily asked. “It’ll be fun.”

“No it won’t,” Remus said. “It’ll be really stupid and there will be a ton of people. I don’t know, I just don’t really want to go.”

“You’re not going?” Lily asked.

“I don’t know,” Remus said again. “Probably not.”

“What? No, Rem, come on. You have to come. it’s better than sitting in your room stressing yourself out about how you did on your N.E.W.Ts.”

“Why? It’s not like anybody will miss me. You’ll be with James. Marlene and Dorcas will be together. Peter’s probably going to ask that Hufflepuff girl to go with him and he’ll spend all night with her. And Sirius… Sirius won’t miss me. He’ll be with their date.”

“Who is Sirius going with by the way? Do you know?”

“No,” Remus said, sounding agitated again.

“Then how do you know he has a date?”

“Lils, it’s Sirius. Of course, he has a date. Literally, half the school is head over heels for them.”

“Does that half include you then?” Lily muttered under her breath.

“W–what?” Remus said.

“Nothing, nothing,” Lily sighed. “So you’re really not going?”

“I’d just be standing there alone in the corner. I’ll be even more awkward than usual.”

“You wouldn’t be alone, Remus. Do you really think we’d all ditch you just because we have dates? We’re still your friends.”

“Fair enough,” Remus said. “And thanks for the offer but as much as I would enjoy third-wheeling with you and James, it’s a hard pass.”

“Come on, Remus, there must be somebody you want to ask to the dance,” Lily insisted.

“No,” Remus muttered. “There isn’t anybody I want to go with.” But the blush on his cheeks gave him away.

“Remus, you’re a horrible liar,” Lily said. “Now spill the secret. Who do you want to ask?”

“Nobody!” Remus insisted, but his blush only deepened. “There’s no secret!”

“You know you can tell me anything, Remus. Don’t you trust me with your secret? We’ve been best friends for seven years.”

“Which is exactly why I know not to trust you with my secret,” Remus said.

“Aha! I knew there was a secret!” Lily said. “Come on, just tell me.”

“You’ll laugh at me,” Remus said. “You’ll say I’m ridiculous for suggesting it.”

“No I won’t,” Lily said. “Rem, I swear on my life, I won’t. Just tell me.”

“Fine,” Remus swallowed. “Sirius.”

“I knew it!” Lily yelled. “I fucking knew it!”

“Keep your voice down!” Remus said.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “I knew it though.”

“Great, I’m a bad liar, you proved your point,” Remus said. “Now do you see why I would be going to the dance alone?”

“No, actually, I do not,” Lily said. “You want to ask Sirius to the dance so ask him to the dance.” Remus snorted.

“Yeah, right.”

“What?”

“Lily, if I ask Sirius to the dance one of two things is going to happen. One, they’ll assume I mean as friends and I’ll look like a complete idiot. Two, they’ll turn me down and then everything will get awkward and he’ll hate me and if that happens I might just die.”

“Oh calm down, Remus,” Lily said. “You accuse Sirius of being a drama queen all the time but you’re just as bad. First of all, Sirius would never hate you—”

“You don’t know that,” Remus said.

“Yes I do,” she insisted.

“How?” he asked skeptically, crossing his arms.

“Remus, a friend who undergoes a long and complex magical transformation for the sole purpose of helping you, is not going to hate you just because you have a crush on them.” He had to admit that Lily was making a pretty good point.

“That doesn’t mean it won’t be awkward,” Remus pressed.

“You know, Remus, I actually think they might like you,” Lily said. Remus laughed but even he could hear that it sounded bitter and forced.

“Lily, please,” Remus said. “Maybe he won’t hate me but they definitely do not like me. Not the way I like him.”

“Why not?” Lily said. “I was right about you liking him, wasn’t I? So who is to say that I’m not right about them liking you?”

“Lils, have you seen Sirius? He’s way out of my league. They literally have no reason to look at me like that.”

“Remus, you do not give yourself enough credit, honestly,” Lily sighed. “So how long have you liked them?”

“Since the start of fifth year,” Remus said, not meeting her eye.

“That’s almost three years,” she said.

“It is,” Remus sighed, still not looking at her.

“Remus,” Lily started, “I really think you should talk to him.”

“Lily—”

“No, Remus, listen. Do you trust me?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Bitch,” Lily said, jabbing him in the ribs with her elbow.

“Kidding,” Remus grunted.

“So talk to him,” she insisted. Remus hesitated.

“What if he already has a date?” he asked.

“Ask them,” Lily shrugged.

“And if they do?”

“Hmm I think you know exactly what you’re going to do if Sirius already has a date and you don’t need my advice at all so I would like to propose the alternative,” Lily said. “What if he doesn’t have a date?”

“I—” Remus buried his face in his palms, “I don’t fucking know.”

“Hey,” Lily said, gently. “It’s ok. Everything will be ok, regardless of what happens, Remus. I promise.”

“I don’t want to lose him,” he said, quietly.

“You won’t,” she said. “Remus, look at me.” He did. “You won’t. You know it as well as I do. You won’t lose him, no matter what.”

“Ok,” Remus sighed. “So I guess I’m asking Sirius Black to the dance.” He felt a flutter in his stomach as he said it. He was really going to do it.

“I guess you are,” Lily said, smiling.

---------

Remus walked into the dorm and found himself alone with Sirius, who looked up as he came in.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi.” Ask him, said a voice in his head. Lily’s voice. It was his chance; the dorm was empty, it was just the two of them. He needed to stop putting this off.

“So, um… do you have a date to the dance yet?” he asked timidly.

“Nope,” Sirius said, looking back at the floor. “Do you?”

“No,” Remus replied. “So the Sirius Black doesn’t have a date to the dance yet?” Remus added, trying to relax. Just talk, he told himself, just talk to him like you normally would.

“How’d that happen?” Sirius shrugged.

“I don’t know,” they said. “I just didn’t really fancy any of the people who asked me.”

“Is… is there someone you wanted to ask yourself?” Remus asked, heart racing in his chest. Sirius hesitated a moment before answering.

“Yes,” he said slowly.

“So why didn’t you?”

“Same reason as anybody, I suppose. I didn’t want to be turned down.”

“Pfft like anybody would turn you down,” Remus said.

“I will ask him, though.”

“When?”

“Within the next five minutes probably. What about you? Why don’t you have a date?” Well, here it goes.

“I’m hoping to,” Remus said. “Soon enough.” Maybe it was his imagination but Remus thought he saw the spark leave Sirius’ grey eyes, the smile faltering slightly on his lips.

“So who’s the lucky lad or lady who’s swept you off your feet?” Sirius asked. Suddenly some gusto of bravery possessed Remus and he took a step towards Sirius.

“Well, you know them,” he said.

“Do I, now?”

“Yep,” Remus said. “He’s in this room right now.” Sirius’ eyes darted in every direction but found Remus again when they realised that there was nobody there but the two of them.

“Wait,” Sirius said, realisation growing in his eyes. “Are—are you trying to ask me to the dance?” Remus gave a small nod.

“That,” he said, “and tell you that I… I’ve liked you for a long time now.”

“No, no, no, you can’t do that,” Sirius said. Remus ducked his head, feeling the tears filling his eyes. He knew it would end like this. It was stupid to cry when this was exactly what he had expected. But that didn’t make it hurt any less.

“Sirius, I’m so, so sorry. I never meant—”

“I was just about to ask you to the dance!” Sirius said. “You totally stole my moment!”

“I— what?” Remus said, looking up. “You… you were going to ask me to the dance?”

“Yes, I’ve been trying to all day,” Sirius said. “But I kept stalling until James told me to suck it up and just do it already.”

“Wait, I— wha— I’m so confused,” Remus said, trying to get a hold of the situation.

“You… you wanted to ask me to the dance?”

“Yes, Remus,” Sirius said, taking his hand in their own. “I wanted to tell you that I… I’ve had a crush on you since we were like fifteen and… nothing would make me happier than to go to this dance with you.”

“Really?” Remus asked.

“Yeah,” Sirius said, wiping the tears out of Remus’ eyes with his thumb. “But then you got there first.”

“Maybe next time try to be a little bit faster then,” Remus laughed.

“Fine,” Sirius said, grinning. And then before he knew it, Remus was being kissed by Sirius Black. Sirius had closed the gap between them, kissing Remus firmly on the lips. And for a moment, Remus couldn’t breathe. Because this was too good to be true. Far, far too good. Sirius wanted to go to the dance with him. And he wanted to go to the dance with Sirius. He was going to the dance with Sirius. He’s kissing Sirius right now.

---------

For the fifth and last time, Remus checked his reflection in the mirror. It hadn’t changed within the last few minutes of course, but he was nervous, really nervous.

“Calm down Remus, you look good.” It was James. He had just come out of the bathroom, finally wearing his suit too.

“Really Moony, you’re worrying too much,” Peter assured him.

All of them had decided to wear a simple, black suit but somehow they’d still managed to look completely different. Maybe it was the fact that James was wearing a normal tie, Peter was going for a bow tie and Remus himself had just left open the top two buttons of his shirt. Remus didn’t know what Sirius was going to wear, as they dressed with the girls to avoid Remus seeing him in his outfit before he was supposed to.

In less than a minute James and Remus were supposed to meet their dates in the Gryffindor common room so the three boys decided to get down there and wait for them.

As soon as they reached the common room the door of the girls’ dormitory swung open and Lily started walking down the stairs in a beautiful, emerald green, backless dress, followed by Sirius and Marlene.

Remus thought he’d faint when he saw Sirius’s outfit. He was wearing a DRESS. And they looked absolutely stunning in it. The dress was a beautiful dark blue and floor-length with a plunging V-neck and a split skirt, and he was wearing a goddamn underbust corset. It was breathtaking. He only noticed he’d been staring a bit long when Sirius was standing right in front of him, staring right back, lips slightly parted. They swallowed visibly before he said, “You look good Moony.”

His face was probably deep red, but somehow he still managed to say something.

“And you look absolutely marvellous in that dress.”

Was that possible? Sirius Black, blushing? Apparently, it was and it was cute.

They had to be at the Great Hall any minute now, so Remus took Sirius’ hand and they all started leaving the common room.

When they arrived at the Great Hall they saw that it had been entirely transformed for the event. The long house tables that were usually in the middle of the room were pushed against the walls and held a large variety of food, snacks and drinks, leaving the middle clear for students to dance. A big banner reading Class of ‘78 was strung against the back wall of the hall and there was music playing although where it was coming from remained a mystery.

Marlene and Peter spotted their dates already in the room and hurried to greet them.

“May I have this dance?” James asked Lily, kissing the back of her hand. Lily rolled her eyes but Remus noticed her blushing slightly.

“No, Potter, I came with you so that I could dance with somebody else,” she said sarcastically. “Of course you can have this dance. Come on.” And she dragged him onto the dance floor, leaving Remus and Sirius standing by the door.

“You wanna get something to drink?” Remus suggested, trying to delay the moment when he had to dance in front of everybody and make a fool of himself. Why had he come to this dance again?

“Yeah, sure,” Sirius said. They stood by the drinks table, drinking juice (yes, juice) and talking for a while but Remus saw Sirius looking wistfully at all the dancing people.

“You’re going to make me dance, aren’t you?” he said.

“Oh come on we have to dance a little,” Sirius said. “It is a dance after all.”

“But we both know that I cannot dance. Like at all.”

“Come on, babe, dance with me please,” Sirius pouted.

“Babe?” Remus said, a smirk playing on his lips.

“Um, I-I mean… uh…” Sirius stuttered, his cheeks flushed. They put their head on Remus’ shoulder, hiding his face. “Sorry.” Remus kissed the top of Sirius’ head, lingering to smell Sirius’ hair.

“Don’t be, I… I like it,” Remus said, blushing hard.

“You do?” Sirius asked.

“Yeah.”

“Ok. So will you dance with me?” Sirius asked hopefully. Remus hesitated a little before answering.

“Yeah,” he said. “I will.” And he took Sirius by the hand and pulled them into the center of the Great Hall.

Remus was right, of course. He could not dance. But he was trying. The more upbeat the songs were the more difficult but as soon as a slow song came on, Sirius wrapped him in their arms and took the lead, making it significantly easier to dance but also significantly harder to breathe.

Right now they were dancing in each other’s arms, swaying slowly to the music. Remus closed his eyes and rested his forehead against Sirius’.

“I love you, you know,” he said. “I’m in love with you.” Sirius stumbled on his feet and stopped moving.

“Really?” they asked. Remus froze, realising what he had said.

“Uh I–I mean…” Remus stuttered, “that depends, is this a good or bad reaction?”

“Good,” Sirius said, quietly. “The best.” And then he kissed Remus. There, in the middle of the great hall, in front of all their friends and all their classmates and all their teachers, Remus and Sirius stood, kissing each other like their lives depended on it, like they needed the other more than they needed oxygen. And at that moment, at that moment that Remus' lips connected with Sirius’, at that moment that Sirius slid their tongue into Remus’ mouth and pulled him closer, at that moment Remus didn’t have a care in the world. He didn’t care that people were watching, he didn’t care that he might fail his examinations, he didn’t care about the war waging outside the walls. All he cared about was Sirius and the feeling he had when they were together. As long as he had Sirius, nothing else mattered.

When they broke apart, Remus’ breaths were shallow. He held Sirius close, their foreheads pressed together, his arms around Sirius’ neck as Sirius’ hands cupped Remus’ face.

“I love you too,” Sirius whispered. He could’ve yelled it, could’ve made a scene. The whole room was watching them anyway. But this wasn’t just something for attention, Remus knew. Sirius meant it. They meant what he said. He really meant it.

“I thought you would hate me if you ever found out,” Remus said, not moving away.

“Well, then you’re an idiot,” Sirius said, “because I could never hate you. Not even if I tried.”

“Me neither,” Remus said. “I could never hate you either.” Remus knew it was true the moment he said it. But despite that, the universe decided to put him to the test. It was barely four years later when Remus was desperately trying to fall out of love with Sirius, to hate him. Because how could you love your best friend’s murderer? You shouldn’t. But apparently, he could. It took another twelve years for Remus to be able to admit that he had not hated Sirius. Not really. He thought back to the day he told Sirius that he could never hate them. He wasn’t lying that day. Remus was unsure of many things these days. Everything seemed rocky and unstable. Anything good could disappear at any moment and more often than not it did. But this he was certain of, without a shadow of a doubt: for as long he lived, he would be in love with Sirius Black. And nothing could change that.

#remus lupin #remus lupin fluff #sirius black #sirius black fluff #moony #padfoot #wolfstar #wolfstar fluff #wolfstar fanfic #wolfstar fanfiction #wolfstar oneshot #remus x sirius #sirius x remus #lily evans #lily evans fluff #james potter #james potter fluff #jily #jily fluff #prongsfoot #remus and lily #marauders #marauders fanfiction #marauders oneshot

[wonder-womans-ex]

Curtain Call

Act One, Scene Eight 

“I’m home!” Sirius calls, unlocking the door. 

It takes a few seconds, but then, “In here!” comes James’s voice from the living room. 

(‘Living room’ is probably a bit of a stretch, really, because ‘living room’ implies that there are also other rooms, and the fact of the matter is that they have two bedrooms and then a kitchen with a couch and a TV in one half and a table in the other.) (James is, evidently, in the designated couch half of the kitchen.) (Sirius had originally suggested calling it the ‘lounge,’ and it is a sad sign of how determined James is to grow up at least partially that this suggestion did not become a reality.)

Bending down to unlace his combat boots, he shrugs his backpack off and leaves it there on top of James’s checkered Vans and a pair of black sneakers he doesn’t recognize but probably belongs to him. 

He walks past the fridge, glances at the schedule held up by the J and S magnets they got from Peter when they moved into the apartment, and makes a mental note that he has his first rehearsal for Oliver tonight. 

“What’cha watching?” he begins, noticing the flicker of the TV screen, and then stops dead. 

There are a few moments of silence before Sirius grabs one of Elvendork’s catnip mice off the floor and chucks it at his younger brother. “You fucker!”

Regulus sits up from where his head had previously been resting on James’s lap. “Hello to you, too, Sirius.”

“You came to visit! And you didn’t tell me!” 

“In my defense, I didn’t even know I was coming until, like, ten this morning. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision.” 

“Hey, they didn’t tell me, either. Just showed up at the door an hour or two ago, knocking like their life depended on it. I thought it was the police coming to tell me you’d been arrested. Or found dead in a ditch.”

“Shut up, James,” Sirius says, rolling his eyes. “Of course they didn’t tell you—I’m his brother.”

“Well, I’m the love of his life.” 

Regulus buries their face in James’s shoulder. “Why did I tell you that?” he groans, and Sirius glances between the two of them, blinking. 

“Wait. Are you two—”

“No,” they say in unison, which clears up absolutely nothing.

“...I think I’m missing something.” 

“You’re definitely missing something.”

(Yes, but what?)

He watches nervously as a significant look passes between them. It’s a conversation, really, but instead of words everything is communicated with eyebrow raises (mostly Regulus) and exaggerated winks (all James). 

Finally, Regulus lets out a huff of breath. “All right,” they say. “Fine!” 

James protests when Regulus climbs off the couch—not at the climbing off the couch part, but because he takes the blanket with him. The two stick their tongues out at each other, and Sirius feels his heart swell. He loves them both so fucking much, and he’s never been so glad that Reg managed to get out of that house, too. He’s not sure what he’d do without his little brother. 

The walk in silence towards Sirius’s bedroom, and Regulus immediately jumps onto the bed once the door is opened. They bounce slightly when their body hits the springy mattress, and they flop over onto their back to stare at the ceiling. 

“I came out to James,” he says, not bothering with pleasantries or preamble. Regulus never has been one for that—straight and to the point is the only way they really know how to do anything. 

“You dated James.” Tact, Sirius, he reprimands himself immediately inside his head. Just because your brother is a conversation heathen you don’t necessarily have to stoop to their levels. 

“Yes, I know I dated James. But… I’m not gay.” 

“Okay.” Sirius pauses, waiting to see if Regulus is going to elaborate further. They don’t, so he prompts, “Do you know what you are?”

“Yeah.” 

(So they’re doing this the hard way, are they? All right—Sirius can work with that.)

“I’m not gay,” Regulus says again. “I’m not pan or bi or any of those things. I’m… I’m asexual. And aromantic.” 

Sirius blinks. He takes this in. He nods. 

He says something that, in fifteen years, he will look back on and want to dunk his head in very cold water for. “But… James.”

“James.” Regulus nods, sighing heavily. “James is different. I don’t know how to explain it—I don’t love him anymore. But… I did. I used to. And I haven’t felt like that about anyone else, well, ever. Yeah.”

Before Sirius can say anything, Regulus starts talking again. “It’s like—what was it you used to say? In high school? ‘Having a crush on James Potter doesn’t make you gay. It makes you human.’ I loved James, but that doesn’t make me allo. Make sense?”

“Yeah. Wait, actually, one thing—so, James is the only person you’re ever loved? Romantically?” 

“Uh huh.”

“And you told him this?”

Regulus brings his hands up, covering his face. “I know. It was a mistake, okay? I should have known it would only inflate his ego even more. I feel like an idiot.”

“Yeah, because you are an idiot.” Sirius reaches over, swatting them on the shoulder. “But at least you’re not as big of an idiot as the guy who knowingly and willingly flirted with his ex today.”

“What?!” 

“Mm hmm. But that’s a story for another time.” Smirking, Sirius glances over his shoulder before beginning to walk backwards out of the room. 

“You fucker!” 

Reg chases him all the (admittedly very short) way back to where James is sprawled on the couch, clearly making good use of his friends’ absence. Finally, Sirius can see what’s playing on the TV—it’s Ocean’s Eleven, and it’s already at least a good half hour in. He and Regulus look at each other, identical smirks etched onto their faces. Together, they jump, and James yelps. 

“Oh, don’t be such a baby,” Regulus tells him jokingly, and there comes a muffled groan from where James’s face is smashed into the pillows. 

Sirius makes sure that James can actually breathe before he starts to make himself comfortable. He’s perched on the small of James’s back; Regulus is settled in the gap between James’s feet. 

“Is this really,” James laments, “how you want to treat your best friend?”

“Yes,” Sirius says, and smothers a laugh. 

“And you, Reggie—have you no respect for the love of your life?”

Regulus pretends to think for a moment, then, “No,” they say. 

The muscles in James’s back tense suddenly, but Sirius doesn’t think much of it. He should, really, because barely an instant later, James heaves himself over, tipping both Black brothers onto the floor. 

“Ouch,” Sirius says, pouting. “My ass hurts.”

Regulus has an unbelievably shit-eating grin on their face. “Loser.” 

“I thought you were on my side!”

“I’m on no one’s side but my own.” 

This is a mistake, and Regulus knows it. His eyes widen when James and Sirius look at each other, nodding, and lunge forward. There is only one weakness to Regulus Arcturus Black, and the two of them know it better than anyone else in the world. 

Because Regulus may be coolly confident with a sharp sense of humour, but they are also extremely ticklish. Their shrieks and laughs are interrupted by the occasional ‘No!’ or ‘Mercy!,’ but it does nothing to quench Sirius and James’s combined ruthlessness. They are unstoppable, and Regulus can do nothing to beat them. 

George Clooney is shouting about something onscreen, but the three young men tussling pay him no mind. The movie plays on, forgotten, and Sirius lets himself forget—just for a moment—that Remus or heartbreak or that fucking writing class exist at all. 

***

“So,” James says through a mouthful of chow mein, “How was the class?”

“It was good.”

Regulus raises an eyebrow. “‘Good?’ You sound like a kid coming home from school to overly inquisitive parents.”

“Yeah, ‘cause you’d know all about that.” 

“Fuck off, they didn’t talk to you, either.”’

“Touché.” 

“Go on, Sirius,” James breaks in. “How was it?”

“It was better than last week, at least. Worse, too, I guess, but then it was better.”

“...Elaborate.”

He’s glad for the excuse to. He needs to talk to someone, and therapy’s an obvious no because he doesn’t have the money and also he has a bad track record of scaring therapists away on the first session, so James and Regulus are kind of the only options. (He’s not kidding anyone. He’s been dying to tell the two of them, specifically, for like forever, but Regulus hasn’t visited in ages.) “Well, I found out why Remus broke up with me. And then I met up with his friends at Frankie’s, and apparently they’re my friends now, too, which is cool, because at the moment my only friends are, well, you guys. Oh, and I helped set Marlene up with a girl.” 

There is a pause as both Regulus and James look at him, taking in this information. “Okay,” James says. “Do I want you to tell me more?”

Sirius pokes at his rice with one chopstick. “I dunno.”

“I—um—you mentioned you made some new friends?” continues James. Regulus stifles a laugh, and Sirius has to admit that the phrase ‘make some new friends’ sounds more fitting for a conversation with a grade three than a university student. “What are they like?” 

“Well, there’s Dorcas—the one who’s into Marlene—and she’s, like, the most extroverted extrovert to ever extrovert. Then there’s Frank, who doesn’t talk much, and Mary, who talks even less, but Mary’s got dyed hair so she’s all right, I guess. Alice is pretty cool, too, and then there’s Lily, who’s pretty but terrifying. Oh, and Fabian, who seems to be allergic to not being a nice person, and Caradoc, who I’m almost positive is related to Angelia Jolie because his cheekbones are just that sharp. And Remus, of course, but I’m sure I’ve told you guys enough about him to last a lifetime.” 

When he’s met by only silence, he scrambles for something to say. “They all strike me as the kind of people who would wear ‘gay rights’ t-shirts unironically, which is sort of my only prerequisite when it comes to friendship. Our resident emo not included, of course, because I would never want to force them into anything that isn’t some sort of My Chemical Romance merchandise.”

Regulus looks down at the shirt he’s currently wearing—it’s got the American Beauty/American Psycho album cover on the front—and then back up at Sirius. “Actually, this is Fall Out Boy.”

“Same difference.”

“How dare you.” 

Laughing, James spears another piece of broccoli and gestures with it between the two of them. “Reg, you can’t exactly blame him for his ignorance around your obsolete music tastes.”

“Says the guy who listens to the fucking Monkees—” 

“Fuck off! The Monkees were an icon; a legend—”

“The Monkees are trash.” 

“You’re trash!”

“Whoa, there,” Sirius breaks in. “I dodged a bullet when my only two friends in the world had a friendly breakup instead of an unfriendly one, and the last thing I want is to find out that that bullet is actually a boomerang.” 

Regulus groans. “Okay, first of all, we’ve always spent like fifty percent of our time arguing about music, even while we were dating—which you’d know if you hadn’t started avoiding the two of us like the plague the instant we got together.”

“Shots fired,” James says under his breath, but he’s immediately silenced by a glare from Regulus. 

“Secondly—and more importantly—if you ever make another analogy remotely like that one, I will hurt you. Are we clear?”

“Crystal,” Sirius assures them, but he’s struggling to hold back laughter. 

There’s a pause, and then Regulus crosses his arms, pouting. “What?” 

“Nothing.”

“You’re laughing.”

“Because you’re funny.”

“I’m not funny!”

“You’re cute.”

“I am not cute!”

“Yes, you are!”

Regulus turns on James once more. “James, am I cute?” Clearly, they think better of this, because they quickly add, “Wait, no, don’t answer that.”

“See, you’re cute! And you know it!”

“I give up!”

Sirius sits back in his chair. “You’ve lost, Reg. Admit it. And then get me a fortune cookie.”

“All right. Fine. I’ve lost. But I hope your fortune cookie tells you you’re going to get struck by lightning tomorrow.”

“Sweet; maybe I’ll get cool powers.”

“It doesn’t work like that, moron.”  

“Whatever you say.” 

For a moment, he thinks he’ll have to get the fortune cookies himself, because Reg isn’t going to, but then his little brother stands up and reaches into the brown paper bag on the counter. “Here,” they say, tossing the cookie at Sirius’s head. 

“Hey!” 

James gets a cookie, too, but his is placed on the table in front of him, not at all a threat to his health, well-being, and quite possibly his life. Sirius points this out, labeling it ‘favouritism,’ but Regulus only takes a bite of his cookie and calls him dramatic. 

“You first,” James says, nodding at Regulus, causing Sirius to gasp in betrayal. The other two pay him no mind, however, and Regulus clears his throat. 

“You will,” they say, “come into fair fortune or good will in the near future.” 

Almost immediately, James starts clapping. It’s tradition—after a fortune cookie reading comes the raucous applause. For them, it’s half the fun of ordering Chinese food. 

“All right, my turn.” James squints at the slip of paper in his hands. He holds it up to the light, and then, “Something will happen soon that will change how you look at the world.”

This time, Sirius and Regulus know to wait before they applaud. James always adds something funny after his fortunes, and they’re curious to see what it is he’ll come up with this time. 

“What,” he says, after a brief moment of thought, “will my glasses prescription change or something?”

Sirius looks at Regulus, and they both laugh as they clap. It’s cheesy, entirely too predictable, and basically the most James thing possible. Neither of them knows what really caused them to want to befriend James all those years ago in—oh fuck, it was grade four, wasn’t it?—but it sure as hell wasn’t his sense of humour. 

“Sirius?” It’s said like a question, and Sirius is quick to answer. “On it, Reg,” he says, and breaks his cookie in half with both hands. (Well, he says ‘half;’ it’s really more like a quarter and then the other three.)

He reads out his lucky numbers first, without even looking at the fortune itself—that’s his tradition; he’s the only one of the three of them who does it. “Three, thirteen, seventeen, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, forty.” 

“Isn’t that, like, the fifth time in a row you’ve gotten thirteen?” Regulus says. “That’s gotta mean something.”

“Shut up,” Sirius tells them, and finally he lets his eyes find the tiny lettering that is his fortune. 

Without letting himself hear the words in his head first, he reads them out loud. “You have forgiven easily in the past; it is time to do so again.”

There’s a silence. What is this? It’s not a fortune; it’s a statement. Advice, maybe, but even that’s stretching it a little.

“Well.” James says, and claps, Regulus following quickly after, but Sirius can tell it’s strained. They’re all obviously thinking about the same thing—Remus. 

Somewhere in his head, he knows that this doesn’t necessarily mean anything. It’s a fortune cookie, after all—what does it know? But… maybe it does mean something. He’s not sure which he’s hoping for. 

Seemingly just for something to say, James asks, “Don’t you have rehearsal tonight?”

Sirius is, in a way, glad for the excuse to stand up. “Yeah,” he says, “at seven-thirty—which is twenty minutes from now—so I should probably get going.”

“Probably,” agrees Regulus, as they begin to clear the table. “Need a ride?”

“Nah, I can take the bus,” Sirius begins, and then stops. “Wait, why are you offering? You don’t have a car.”

“Um—”

“Reg, is there something you aren’t telling me?” 

“...Maybe?”

“You have a car?”

“I mean, technically it’s a rental, so no, but—”

“Whatever.” Sirius doesn’t need to hear any more. “Yes, please, take me to rehearsal.”

James makes a noise of protest. “What, and leave me here alone?” 

“Yes, James; you can survive on your own. You’re an adult.”

“I don’t feel like one.”

“Or act like one,” Sirius adds under his breath, which earns him a definitive not helping look from Regulus. 

“You’ll be fine as long as you don’t burn the house down. Goodbye.”

Sirius grabs his script and his blue hoodie with the picture of a rubber duck on it from his bedroom, and when he walks back through the kitchen to the front door, Regulus looks him up and down once and hands him his backpack. 

The only sound that accompanies their walk down the hall and subsequent elevator ride is the faint jingling of the key ring in Regulus’s hand. It’s not until they’re in the car and pulling out of the parking lot that Regulus says, “And you’re all right with this?”

“All right with what?”

“Me being… you know.”

“A total asshole? No. Aroace? Yeah, of course. I’m your brother. I’m here for you, Reg.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

(Sirius ignores the ‘I guess.’) “Is James cool about it? Because if he isn’t, I’ll kick his ass.”

“No, he’s fine. He’s great. He made a couple jokes about himself having raised my expectations so much I could never be with anyone else, but that’s just James.” 

“That’s just James,” Sirius repeats. “And you know that you can always talk to me, right? If anyone tries to mess with your head?”

“Yeah. Now, enough about me. Let’s talk about the guy who ‘knowingly and willingly flirted with his ex’ earlier.”

Damn. He’s hoped Regulus had forgotten about that. 

For a moment, Sirius is trapped between the want to stubbornly refuse and the need to actually talk about his feelings. He settles on the latter, but not until they’re close enough to the rec centre where rehearsals are held that he knows he can hop out of the car and walk the rest of the way if need be. “He’s just… he’s everything, you know?

“And I know that he doesn’t want to get back together, and I know that we really shouldn’t even if he did. But he’s Remus. And I’m constantly flip-flopping back and forth between wanting to be his friend because we’ll never be anything more than that, and…”

“And what?”

“Being so in love with him it hurts.”

Regulus glances away from the road ahead for a split second, eyes flickering over Sirius's face, their expression unreadable. “Sounds like a you problem,” they say finally. 

“Reg?”

“Yeah?”

“Not helping.”

“Sorry.” 

“I just—my eyes basically turn to hearts whenever I look at him, but it also hurts, you know? Because he broke up with me, obviously, but also because today I found out that the reason he broke up with me was that he kissed someone else, so obviously that’s kind of shitty, and I don’t know how to feel about any of this because he’s basically the nicest person in the world, and can one mistake really change who a person is? But he also hasn’t tried to make up or anything, and we’re apparently pretending we’ve never met, and did I mention he’s got a fucking tattoo of the Sirius constellation that he never told me about, and… this is my stop.”

Regulus pulls over, wincing a little as the tire grates against the curb, and then turns to meet Sirius’s gaze. “So, it sounds like you’re not in a great place right now,” he says. “And I get that. You know this goes both ways, right? You can always talk to me, too.”

“I know. Love you.” He grabs his backpack, making sure it’s got everything he needs in it—phone, script, highlighter and pencil for notes and directions, bottle of red Gatorade—and closes the door. 

The window rolls down slightly, and Sirius watches his own reflection disappear with it and be replaced by his brother’s faint smile. “Love you, too,” Regulus says, and then he is gone.

#wolfstar #sirius black #remus lupin #sirius x remus #james potter #regulus black #cw food #james and sirius are bros #he/they regulus black #regulus black is an emo I don't make the rules #university au #muggle au #post-breakup #actor!sirius #I don't know how I feel about this chapter

[rjhpandapaws]

Secure the Stage

Ch 4: Two Flames Are Better Than One

Silas's first reaction when he got the email about on campus classes being cancelled was delight. He would get to spend more time at the theater. That was closely followed by guilt, someone could have been hurt. He turned off his school alarm and got ready for bed. Monday found him awake at his usual time despite the lack of an alarm. He knew he wasn’t going to be getting anymore sleep, so he got out of bed and started getting ready for the day. Luther had put the finishing touches on some pieces that Silas had needed help with. Luther would be stopping by the theater to drop them off at some point today. Silas filled his travel mug with hot water from the sink, added instant coffee, put the lid on and shook it. Connor would be disappointed, but Silas cared more about caffeine than taste at the moment. He grabbed his bag, checked to be sure he had everything he would need, put on his shoes and left for the theater. He wasn’t in his usual clothes today. He planned to paint the set pieces Luther was dropping off as well as others that needed it. So he had opted for an old tshirt that an ex-hook up had left behind and an older pair of jeans that had seen paint days before. Part of him wondered if he would be seeing Allen today, and if did he wondered what they would talk about this time. They talked on his smoke breaks because rehearsals kept him busy and Allen was on the clock and couldn’t just stop to chat. When he got to the theater, he sent Luther a text to check in.

Sixer: I just got here.  Sixer: Text me when you get here and I’ll open the delivery bay Sixer: Tell the girls hello if they are with you :) Superman: They say hello :) Superman: I should be there in a half hour Sixer: See you then!

He made his way to the side door and checked if it was locked. It wasn’t. He stepped back and then shoved his bodyweight against the door as he turned the knob to get it open. He grabbed the doorstop and wedged the door open so whoever came in next wouldn’t have to fight with it. He walked into the auditorium flicking the lights on as he went. He took the stairs to the left of the stage and set his bag down outside the supply closet. He opened the closet and got out what he would need. He let his mind wander as he got things set up. He was looking forward to seeing Allen today, if he was working today that is. After that awkward first day they had struck up a bit of an odd friendship. They didn’t talk often, only if Allen’s breaks lined up with his, or if Silas got to the theater early enough to catch him on his lunch break. They had built whatever this was on stolen conversations and the occasional wave from across the room. In spite of all that, he considered Allen to be one of his close friends. Not close enough to actively let his guard down, but closer than most.

Allen was his opposite in a lot of ways. The one that stood out the most to Silas was how open and inviting Allen was. Where Silas would think about how to answer a question truthfully but without giving any of himself away; Allen just answered them. He let people in close without thinking about the consequences. Not that Allen hadn’t gathered whole truths from him; because he had. The security guard could slip past his defenses without an issue. Silas hadn’t given him much yet, but Allen still knew more about him than anyone else outside of his carefully constructed family. It made him nervous. He learned a lot about Allen in their stolen moments. Some of them were little but personal. Like how he played the guitar and wrote his own songs sometimes. To broad but important things, like his desire to keep people safe. The thing that fueled his desire to become a SWAT captain. He lived in a house with four other people and was hoping to move out soon. Allen had so much he was freely willing to give. It amazed Silas, and remined him, in some ways of his twin. He was pulled out of his thoughts by the smash of of piano keys from his  back pocket.

Superman: I’m here Sixer: Alright I’ll get the door

He put his phone away and jumped off the stage. He made his way to the back of the theater and into the delivery bay. He typed in the security code, set the garage door to open, and ducked under it once it was high enough.

“Luther, you’re the fu- best” He caught himself mid curse when he saw Alice’s head pop out of the back window of the truck. “These go to the same place as before. The code has already been typed in so you don’t have to worry.” Luther nodded as he pulled the truck in a little closer. Once he came to a stop Silas climbed into the bed and started grabbing containers with some of the smaller props in them while Luther got out and started on the bigger stuff. He was trying to be quick because it looked like Luther was in charge of taking Alice to school today. “Kara’s still not feeling well?” He asked as they made their way to the stage with the first load of set pieces and props. “I’d have rescheduled if I’d known.” “She’s starting to feel better, today was just an off day.” He set down the set frames he had been carrying, “I made time for this, Alice won’t be late.” Silas was relieved for that at least, “I’m glad I didn’t mess anything up then.” Luther hummed in acknowledgement as he went to go get another load. Silas set his load on the tarp he had set up and then followed him. They managed to split the last of it between the two of them and get it put away. Silas followed Luther back to the truck. “Thanks again for all your help Luther.” Silas said with a smile, “I’d be up a creek without a paddle otherwise. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you.”

“It’s no problem Silas.” Luther squeezed Silas’s shoulder, “Thank you for giving Kara and Alice something they can both enjoy.” “I can’t take the credit for that. They were here before I was.” He ducked his head and Luther gave his shoulder another squeeze before he headed for the truck. Silas walked to the back window so he could say goodbye to Alice. “Have a good day at school peanut.” Silas said through the window, “I’ll be seeing you this afternoon right?” Alice smiled and waved at him from the back seat, “Bye Silas!” He waved and stepped away from the truck so Luther could leave. Once they were gone Silas closed the delivery bay and headed back to the auditorium. He opened the sound booth and connected his phone to the system via bluetooth. With music playing to help pass the time, he settled in on the tarp and got to work. Silas wasn’t sure how much time had passed before a shadow fell across the tarp and scared the life out of him. He wiped his hands off on his jeans and paused the music. “Hey.” He said flatly, annoyed at being interrupted. He looked up to find Allen looking down at him in confusion. “What’s up?” “Hey.” Allen echoed as he looked over the tarp. His brow furrowed more as he spoke, “Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”

Silas shrugged. Leave it to Allen to believe that Silas was ditching classes to be at the theater. He’d only done that once so far. “Classes are online for the time being. There was a fire on campus over the weekend so they have to rebuild.” He displayed his paint mess with a flourish of his paint stained hands, “I picked up a couple of extra shifts at work, but the rest of my time is going to be spent here.” “That sucks.” Allen said after a moment, “I’m sorry about your school.” Silas shrugged, “It was just a building an no one was hurt. So things should be back to business as usual in a few months.” “That’s one way to look at it I suppose.” Allen said as he looked over the mess on the tarp, “So you have a key to the side door then?” “Kinda.” Silas said in an attempt to dodge the question. Allen didn’t take it and motioned for him continue. “This building is pretty old and that door in particular is picky. So unless you have the deadbolt just the right way, it doesn’t lock. It’ll look locked though. One stiff push from the outside and you’re in.” Allen gave a slow nod and spoke after an almost awkward stretch of silence, “So you broke in.” Silas rolled his eyes, “If you want to get technical about it, sure. Though personally, I only use the term if I have to use the fire escape or delivery entrance to get in here.”

“Why not just wait for someone to let you in?” Allen asked, as any reasonable person would. “Because nobody gets here until like eight.” He grabbed his paintbrush so he could get back to work. He wanted to be at least halfway done before rehearsal started, “I get here around six, seven if I take a cab.” “Does the owner know?” He pressed. “James? Yeah.” He grabbed the set piece he had been working on before and proceeded to get more wet paint on his hands. He ignored it and started on the next coat, “Why do you think I know the code to the security system?” It was amusing to watch Allen’s expression go through a rollercoaster of expressions. Going from panic to slight amazement. He collected himself before he spoke again, “Well I should be getting to work then.” Silas lifted his hand in an absent wave, “I’ll be here if you get bored.” He started his music up again as Allen left. He was pulled back into painting and a few more hours passed before his body decided whatever was left of his coffee was actually not enough to function off of. He checked the time and decided there was enough time to take a break and still get what he wanted done for the day. Since they were the only ones here it seemed fair that he checked to see if Allen wanted anything. He wiped the excess paint off of his hands onto his jeans, hopped off the stage and made his way toward the security office.

He knocked on the office door but didn’t get a response. He tested the handle, and opened it when he found it unlocked. He opened it just enough so that he could lean into the room, “I was gonna go grab some food before everyone else got here this afternoon.” He took some delight in watching Allen’s head snap up, apparently he hadn’t noticed Silas yet, Do you want anything?” “You might want to clean up a bit first. You’ve got paint all over your face.” Allen stood and stretched, “I’ll take my lunch break and come with you. The person working the afternoon shift should be here soon.” He felt paint crinkle and peel at his skin as he furrowed his brow. He touched his cheek to see if any of it was wet and came away with nothing so he gave a noncommittal shrug. “This stuff is a pain in the ass to get off so I’ll just shower when I get home.” Allen wrote something down before he turned back to Silas, “Alright. What are you in the mood for?” “Chinese.” He didn’t even have to think about it. He stepped back into the hallway figuring Allen would follow him. “There’s this place down the street. The outside doesn’t look like much, but the sweet and sour pork is to die for.” Allen laughed. “I’ll take your word for it. Are we walking or driving?”

“It’s pretty close, so probably walking if you don’t mind.” Silas said as he turned toward the auditorium. “You might want to get some shoes on first though.” Allen said, “If you cut your feet up too much you won’t be able to perform.”  That was an odd thing to say, he was pretty sure he had shoes on. He looked down just to be sure, and found that he was, in fact barefoot. “Motherfucker!” Apparently he hadn’t put his shoes on before he went to find Allen, “One sec okay?” He took a few steps back and then ran at the stage and jumped up onto it when he had enough speed. He walked to the left of the stage and found his shoes right where he had left them, right beside his bag. He grabbed them and headed for the front of the stage. He put his socks and shoes on tying them tightly before he jumped off the stage again. “Alright.” he made his way back to Allen, “I’m ready.” He let Allen leave out the side door first, he flipped the deadbolt to unlocked before he followed suit. They made small talk as they walked toward the restaurant. He directed Allen toward the older building and got the door for him. He was surprised to see how crowded it was. “Is takeout okay?” Allen asked as he looked over the crowd. “Takeout is just fine.” He replied noncommittally. “I didn’t realize it was going to be this busy. We can just head to the counter and order, then when it’s up we can be on our way.”

They ordered their lunch and waited in easy silence for it to come up.  As soon as they got back to the theater Silas took his shoes off and put them by his bag. He joined Allen at the front of the stage and settled in to eat. “So this might be dumb to ask.” Allen started, “But why do you always have your shoes off?” Allen gestured to his bare feet, “Every time I see you you’re barefoot.” “I’m just more comfortable with them off.” He mimicked Allen’s gesture, “If I’m not in an environment that strictly requires shoes I’m gonna be barefoot.” Allen smiled and shook his head, “What happens if you step on something you shouldn’t? Like glass or something?” Silas shrugged, “Pull it out and hope for the best.” They talked until Allen had to go back to work. Silas cleaned up the mess he had made of the stage and threw away the trash from lunch. After that he started getting things ready for practice. He was hoping their streak of good luck would hold out. They were ahead of schedule, and if they kept it up they would be able to practice the play all the way through twice before opening night. With everything set up, he walked into the sound booth to check his phone. Daniel still hadn’t gotten back to him about tonight.

 Rehearsal was a disaster, if Silas had to pick a word. Half of the people who said they were going to be there didn’t show, and because of that they couldn���t work on the scene they were on. Instead, they ran through what they could with who they had, which was also a cluster fuck. The only thing that kept him from swearing up a blue streak was that there were kids present. He ended rehearsal an hour and a half early to help ease his frustration. “Are you mad at me?” Alice asked as they were waiting for Luther in front of the theater. “No, it’s not you Peanut, but some of the grown ups.” He said kindly, “You were great today Ally-cat.” Alice smiled and hugged him. He returned it and helped her down off the wall when he saw Luther’s truck pull into the lot. She rushed to meet her dad and Silas waved as they pulled off. “I need a fucking smoke.” He said to the open air. He grabbed his cigarettes from his pocket and paused when he didn’t feel his lighter with them. He checked his other pockets, his panic rising each time he came away with nothing. He put his cigarettes away and rushed inside to look for it. It had to be here somewhere. He didn’t know what he would do if it was lost. When the sound booth and concession stand proved to be dead ends he made his way back to the auditorium to look through his bag. He didn’t know what he was going to tell Richard if he had actually lost it. Getting something like that engraved had to have been expensive. When he dug in one of the side pockets and felt its outline he breathed out a sigh of relief.

“What were you looking for?” Allen asked as Silas jumped off the stage. Silas hadn’t notice him come in. “My lighter.” He said as he put the engraved silver lighter in his pocket with his cigarettes, “It was a gift so I don’t want to lose it.” He headed for the door, “I’m going for a smoke break. Care to join me?” “I don’t smoke.” Allen stated, “But I wouldn’t mind keeping you company out there?” Silas rolled his eyes as he opened the door, “I know you don’t smoke. You turn me down every time I offer you one.” He put space between them once they got outside so he wouldn’t have to worry about blowing smoke in Allen’s face. He sat on the short wall and lit a cigarette. He relaxed considerably on the first inhale and let the smoke out as a content sigh. “So how was rehearsal?” Allen asked just before the silence could get uncomfortable. Silas groaned, he had hoped he wouldn’t have to talk about it so soon. He took another longer drag. He tipped his head back and and blew the smoke into the air. He watched it curl away into nothing before he spoke.

“Horrible.” He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his free hand. “We’re far enough ahead that it didn’t hurt anything. It’s just frustrating, you know?” He took another drag and adjusted his position on the wall to one that was a little more comfortable, “But that’s what I get for bragging I guess. I run my mouth to a few friends about how well things are going and then it all falls to shit. Though its better to happen now than on opening night I suppose.” “You’ll be fine.” Allen reassured, “I’ve only been here a few months, but from the things I’ve heard the plays you’re a part of always seem to do well.” Silas smiled stiffly, that was part of the issue. He took a short drag and let the smoke ride on his words, “The plays I’m in do well. The ones I write and direct tend to fall through.” Allen hummed pensively, “So you’re not in this one then?” Silas shook his head. “I am. I took two minor roles that no one wound up auditioning for.” He took another puff, “I do a little talking and have about ten minutes of total stage time.” “You do a lot here.” Allen said with a slight smile, “You do a lot for this place; acting, writing, directing, building the sets, painting them, and probably other things too. Why not just go to a better theater? You’d probably find more recognition that way.”

Silas motioned toward the building. He loved this place. “Don’t get me wrong; when I got into this in high school, I was chasing the Broadway pipedream.” He could feel himself getting pulled down memory lane, it wasn’t anything overly personal so he didn’t mind telling Allen, “When I got to college; my freshman year, we had to do a project on local theaters and why so many of them fail.” He took another drag and let the smoke out with his words, “I learned how many of these little theaters fail because all anyone is worried about anymore is exposure, and I wanted to keep that from happening.” He sighed, “Established theaters are good for exposure, which is fantastic if that’s what you’re after; but I want to foster the love of theater in other people. So here I am.” His cigarette was down to the filter so he put it out. He was still pretty tightly wound so he lit a second one. When he looked at Allen, that concerned furrow was back in his brow and he was frowning. “What’s with that look?” He said a little sharper than he had intended. He took a breath and continued in a more conversational tone, “It’s only my third one today. After this one I’ll head back and we can clean up a bit.” “I was just surprised.” Allen said lifting a hand placatingly, “You normally only have one then we head in back inside.” Silas laughed humorlessly, “Today’s a two smoke kinda day. It’s nice out and I have good company.” “I suppose that’s true.” Allen agreed.

Silas turned to face Allen, “You look like you  want to give me a health lecture. My brother is a nursing student, so I’ve probably heard it. But if it makes you feel better, I’ll listen.” Allen sighed and looked away from him for a moment. “You sing and do a lot of the things you do rely on your voice.” He cleared his throat and looked back toward him, but not at him Silas noticed, “I mean, you seem to love doing this and I would hate to see you have to stop before you’re ready to.” “I am trying to quit.” He said a little defensively. “Trying being the optimal word. I’ve gotten down to having three or four a day, but I’ve never managed to actually stop. Every time I get to the point that trying seems like it would go well, something else I have going on gets fucked up and I start all over again.” “So its a stress thing?” He asked. “Kinda.” He said with a tired sigh. This conversation only made him want to smoke more, “That’s what it started out as. I like to say I do it to clear my head or gather my thoughts, which is also kind of true, but I also do it when I’m bored or nervous. It’s devolved into an all the time kind of thing. It helps keep me busy and that’s why its such a fucking crutch.” As proof of his point he took another drag to help ease the tension he felt coiled around his bones and let it out with the smoke, “I’m trying to quit now too. I’m trying to keep under a pack a day now, and then work my way down from there and hope for the best.” He shrugged, “The usual.”

“I can um. If you want, I could give you my number.” Allen suggested, “Then if you need a distraction you could call me instead. We could talk, or if it’s real bad I could come over and hang out.” “I’d appreciate that. Thank you Allen.” He found himself smiling around his cigarette as he patted himself down for his phone. It was still inside. “Fuck. Its still in the sound booth. “ “I’ll just send you a text, then you’ll have my number.” Allen said as he handed Silas his phone, “Problem solved.” Silas nodded hid acknowledgement and put his number in under the nickname Theater Bitch <3. Allen could change it if it made him uncomfortable. He smiled and handed the phone back. “Nicknames huh?” Allen remarked around a smile. Silas laughed, “Did you expect anything else from me?” “Not really no.” Allen teased. Silas put his free hand over his chest in mock offense and huffed out an over dramatic sigh, “You are so rude to me. I provide you free entertainment and this is the thanks I get.” Allen laughed, it was a sound Silas would never get tired of, “You’re so dramatic.” Silas put out his half smoked cigarette, “What part of Theater Bitch didn’t you get?” He got down off the wall and threw both cigarettes away. He made sure he still had his lighter before he headed for the door, “Let’s get the stage cleaned up.”

“Alright, let’s go.” Allen said after a moment. Silas dusted his feet off when they got back inside. He could hear his phone still playing music, it was still charging in the sound booth. He checked his feet once more and then made his way to the stage. He walked to the utility closet to grab what he needed for cleaning. He was not ready to hear his text tone blast over the speakers and it scared the life out of him. “Ah, fuck!” He yelp as he jumped and dropped the mop, “Fuck. I should change that.” He picked up the mop as well as the broom and made his way back to the main stage. He leaned them against the wall and then moved to start on the sets. “What do you need me to do?” Allen asked as he stepped up onto the stage. “Same as last time.” He said casually, “We’ll breakdown sets then I’ll do the rest myself.” They got to work and the small conversations they usually made fell away. Silas got pulled in enough that he began to sing along to what was playing on his phone. After a few songs he stopped, he remembered Allen was there. It didn’t stay quiet long, he started singing again. The cycle repeated itself a few times until everything was done and he had grabbed his phone from the sound booth. He had two messages. One from Daniel and one from Allen.

Danny <3: We’re still on for tonight ;) I’ll be to the theater soon. Then I have to go pick up Simon, so I’ll see you again at 9. That okay? Sixer: We’re golden. See you soon <3

Unknown Number: Guess who Theater Bitch :)

He set Allen’s contact The Okayest Captain. He was getting ready to got talk to Allen again, maybe have another smoke break when Daniel texted him again.

Danny <3: I’m here. Simon got off early so please be quick. Sixer: On it. I’ll be right out

“Fuck. My ride is here, I gotta go.”  He tossed his shoes into his bag and leapt off the stage and ran toward the side door. “I’ll text  you later! See you tomorrow Al!” Daniel was waiting outside with the top down on his car. Silas didn’t bother with the door, he boosted himself over the side and stuck his bag in the footwell. He kissed Daniel’s cheek before he put his seatbelt on as they headed for his apartment. “Let me guess, you didn’t tell Simon.” Silas remarked and they both cracked up. “You know how he is about these things.” Daniel responded, “I get he’s worried about the whole coworkers thing, but it’s you.” “We’ve been at this since what? Senior year? I’d hardly say the coworkers thing is something to be worried about.” When they got to his apartment he kissed Daniel’s cheek again before he got out. “You bringing the good stuff tonight?” Daniel just winked. Silas grabbed his bag and headed for the elevator. He texted Allen on the way up.

Sixer: Guess who :) Sixer: Sorry for running out on you! I have a friend coming over and I needed to clean my apartment. They Okayest Captain: You’re good. Have fun! Sixer: Thanks Sixer: Will I be seeing you tomorrow? The Okayest Captain: Yup Sixer: Cool. Have a good night! They Okayest Captain: You too.

Silas rushed to clean up his apartment. He took his time in the shower, because the paint was a bitch to get off and he wanted to be sure he got all of it. Afterwards he put on one of his favorite shirts, it was for Knights of the Black Death, and his favorite pair of socks. He felt like being a little shit so he took a picture in his full length mirror and sent it to Daniel.

Sixer: Still coming over? <3

He set his phone down for a moment. He and Connor hadn’t checked in a for a while so he decided to do that before he got distracted and forgot again. When he opened his messaging app he froze before he even got to Connor’s conversation. He hadn’t sent the picture to Daniel but to Allen. Well, that was one way to break the ice he supposed.

Sixer: I am SO sorry! Sixer: That was meant for a different friend! Sixer: I just hit the most recent contact. Sixer: You can keep it if you want thought <3 Sixer: I wouldn’t be opposed to you staying the night ;) Sixer: Just not tonight though. The Okayest Captain: No problem. The Okayest Captain: I’ll think about it ;) The Okayest Captain: Have fun and be safe.

Speaking of distracted, he had Allen on the brain again. The whole point of inviting Daniel over was to get his mind off the security guard, and now he was regretting not having invited him over. What was that saying about too many choices. He’d be pulled in when Daniel showed up, but for now he was left wanting and he hated it.

#Secure the Stage #StS #Hand Brewed Hope AU #HBH #Allen60 #Daniel60 #dbh captain allen #captain allen #dbh sixty #cyberlife tower Connor #rk800-60 #dbh daniel #dbh fic #dbh

[pricetagofficial]

Ghost -Part Twenty-Four

Warnings: Language, angst, mentions of alcohol, mentions of sex, light sexual content, fluff

Masterlist

Word Count: 4.6K

Tag list: @kishony-the-geek @unknowntoanyone​ @subtleappreciation​ @catxsnow​ @river-bottom-nightmare​ @screennamealreadyused​ @bikoncon​ @woahjaybird​ @offendedfishnoises​ @littleredwing89​ @arestorationofbalance​ @lostoctaviaaugusta​

A/N: I did something here and you’re welcome.

Tim held tight to Rory's arm as he led her down the hall towards the stairs that led down to the event, they followed the sounds of laughter and ballroom music.

"So what is our story exactly?" he asked, as they slowly descended the stairs, keeping an eye on the other attendees they passed.

"The cover my informant gave us is that we're newlyweds and decided to spend our honeymoon here in Paris. I am an old associate of hers, and it's how she managed to rope me into attending and I wanted to show off my husband."

That one sentence alone made Rory's and Tim's heads spin. Neither of them had thought that much about marriage outside of the simple joke here and there, but it was present in Tim's mind more and more with each passing day.

He had decided that he wanted to ask her to marry him but would wait until they both were ready for that. Hearing the story this informant of hers created only made him feel worse about it than he already did.

Clearing his throat, he glanced out of the corner of his eye at her. "Am I allowed to know our names, or are you going to make me guess?" he asked with an amused tone.

"We are James and Dinah King, and we are just enjoying our honeymoon," she responded. "That can't be too hard to pull off right?"

"As long as you don't punch me for making it look like we are married, then no it should not." Tim chuckled and helped her down another flight of stairs.

Tim couldn't keep his eyes off her, Rory looked stunning in her dress. As she walked a train of laced fabric followed behind her as her eyes scanned the room for every bit of information she could get. They had gotten to the bottom floor when someone tapped them on the shoulder.

"Miss Queen, ma dame requests to see you before you enter the event." a voice said. Rory turned to look and saw that it was Beau who greeted her with a smile and gave Tim a polite nod. "If you would kindly follow me, I shall lead you to her."

Rory gave Beau a nod and followed him down the hall, dragging Tim with her. The click of her heels sounded against the marble floor ar Beau led them to the last door and opened it for them. Upon entering, Tim and Rory were greeted with a dark room filled with bodyguards and a lone figure sitting in the chair with her back to them.

"It's been a long time amore, I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me." the woman in the chair said.

Tim looked at Rory and saw the amused look on her face. There was something about this woman that seemed familiar even though he was sure he had never met her before in his life. It was only when she swiveled around in her chair to face them did it all click in Tim's head.

He should have put the pieces together sooner.

Alexis Devereux gave them a grin as she rested her head on her hands. Like her note had said, she wore a slim-fitting white dress that had black floral designs all around the hem and up the side.

"How could I forget about you, Alexis? You won't let me." Rory grinned.

Tim watched as Rory walked closer, Alexis' gaze not leaving her for a second. The first time he had become aware of this woman was when Rory had a mission with Jason here in Paris to send her to jail. Well, it seemed that she had gotten out.

"Pardon my manners, but I'd love to be introduced to the man you ditched me for." Alexis grinned, glancing in Tim's direction who only stood there silently.

"Be nice." Rory scolded. "This is Tim, an old friend of mine."

The look Alexis gave her did not go unnoticed by Tim. There was something more to this that Rory wasn't telling him, and it wasn't just their friendship. They seemed to be way too close to be considered just friends.

The longer he thought on it, the more apparent it became to him.

Rory had been back in Paris since they broke up and he knew exactly what, or who she was doing.

"This is TImothy? Well, I must admit that he is much cuter in person than you described to me, Minette. But again, neither of us were doing much talking now were we?" she grinned.

Rory felt the heat rise in her face at her insinuation. Alexis was right, the last time Rory had seen her neither of them did much talking. They were more occupied in the bodies of the other person to really have a good conversation outside of never letting it happen again.

Tim crossed his arms and gave her a look. "You've got to be kidding me Rory, Alexis too?" he asked.

"Hey!" she snapped. "It was a one-time thing okay?"

Alexis pushed her chair back as she got to her feet. "I seem to recall it happening more than once amore," she said tilting Rory's head to look up at her. "It wouldn't be fair to lie to him now would it?"

Rory's face was a mixture of murder and embarrassment. This wasn't how she planned on Tim finding out that she had slept with Alexis. "Fine it was a two, three-time thing," she said grabbing her wrist and pulling Alexis' hand off her face.

"Three? Minette, darling we spent a whole weekend together. Three times is severely understating it." Alexis grinned, watching Rory fidget under her gaze as Tim focused on not getting upset.

He had to constantly remind himself that Rory was not his, he could protect her but he had no right to tell her what to do with her sex life. But that did not mean that he had to like it.

"I would appreciate it if you kept your hands off my wife for the evening," he said sternly.

Alexis and Rory both stopped and stared at him as several of the guards grabbed a hold of their guns in anticipation that he would try and do something.

"It's a bad look to ruin the cover story you created for us no? Real husband or not, I am here to make sure that no one lays a hand on her that Rory does not want there," he said. "And by the looks of it, she does not want you touching her."

Rory had to bite back the laugh that wanted to slip from her lips as she made her way back towards Tim. She did not mind Alexis' advancement, but sometimes she came off a little bit much. Standing next to him, Rory leaned into his side as he carefully wrapped an arm around her waist protectively.

He could sense just how uncomfortable she was, even if it was just from simple embarrassment. They both were meant to be on their a-game during the ball and could not risk Rory being distracted.

"We were summoned in here for a reason I presume, I'd like to get on with it."

Alexis eyed him and the way he held tightly to Rory. She was told that Rory had broken it off with her lover, but even an idiot could spot the way they clung to each other even if it was under the false pretense of marriage.

Waving the guards to relax, Alexis pulled out a piece of paper. "The bargaining chip you need is in there. No one knows of it but me so the secret will not get out. From what you have told me about this man, he is not one to be trusted yet you trust him." she handed the paper to Rory who unfolded it and took a glance at what it was.

Tim couldn't believe what it was that he was looking at. Rory hadn't been very forthcoming with the information she had on Malcolm, but she was confident that it would guarantee her what she wanted from him. He couldn't deny that this would get a response out of himself, but he wasn't sure if he would ever get to this point.

The paper was a picture of Malcolm, they could see his face clear as day and it seemed that he was making a deal with someone. Only, this person's face was hidden from view. In fact, neither Tim nor Rory could tell a single thing about this person. The only thing they could tell was the fact that Malcolm wanted it to be kept secret. That was to be their bargaining chip for the night.

"We really should head into the party before we really are late. Come on Tim." Rory said stuffing the paper into the pocket of his suit jacket and drug him to the door.

"Not so fast, I would like a word alone with you amore. Timothy can wait outside for us to finish up." Alexis said, holding her hand up. On queue, several guards grabbed Tim by the arm and attempted to pull him from Rory. On instinct, Tim tightened his hold around her waist and glared.

"I'm not going anywhere without her unless she says so." he snapped.

Rory looked up at him. "I'll be okay Tim, I promise. It'll only be a few minutes." she smiled softly.

The smile she gave him assured Tim, but only slightly. He still worried about her, there was a price on Rory's head and one of the people given the contract was in the very same building. If something happened to Rory under his watch, he would never forgive himself.

Slowly, he removed his hand from her waist and resisted the urge to cup her cheek. He was getting too wrapped up in the pretense of their cover. If he wasn't careful, he could let slip just how he really felt about her and now was not the time for it.

With a nod, the guards walked him out and shut the door leaving Rory and Alexis alone in the room.

"You know, he really is a fine man. Of course, you would know that already amore. Now that I have you all to myself, we have some unfinished business to attend to." she grinned picking up two glasses filled with what Rory assumed to be whiskey before handing it over.

Carefully taking it in her hand, Rory gave it a quick whiff and sure enough, it was whiskey. She may trust Alexis to a degree, but there was a point where that line ended. Alexis was still a criminal, a drug queen. Rory had thought that she had put her away for good all those years ago, but it seemed that she managed a get-out-of-jail-free card and was using it to get her empire back under her feet.

"What do you want from me?" she asked, watching as Alexis took the first sip before allowing herself to take one.

"I want from you what I've always wanted, to see my enemies crumble beneath me," she said watching Rory with an intense gaze. "I want their heads on silver platters and from what your new occupation is, you are just the person to hire."

Rory shook her head. "I'm not a mercenary Alexis, I have my own agenda and your enemies don't fit into it." With a final sip to finish off the glass, Rory set it down on the table roughly. "Find someone else to do your dirty work."

With that, she stormed out of the room and left Alexis behind her. Stepping out into the hall, her eyes immediately landed on Tim who was leaning against the wall glaring at the door she had just come out of. The second she came into view, he visibly relaxed and brushed off one of the guards who tried to stop him from moving closer to her.

"Everything alright?" he asked, taking her arm once more.

Rory gave him a nod. "She just wanted to hire me to kill some of her enemies. I told her no of course and that I am not a mercenary. Needless to say, I think she is less fond of me."

"I think that's a good thing honestly," he muttered, glancing over to see Rory's surprised face. "I-I mean in the sense of she clearly doesn't have your best interests at heart, asking you to do something like that. But Rory, I have to know just how much of your life is she aware of?"

Rory took a deep breath and looked around. "Not much actually, just the fact that I am an assassin and that I dated someone named Timothy. I tried to keep things as vague as possible so I don't think she knows anything incriminating at least."

The two of them continued the walk down the hall towards the double doors in front of them, their previous conversation forgotten about. "You ready to do this honeybuns?" she asked, the amusement clear in her tone.

"About as ready as you are cupcake." he chuckled and led her into the ballroom.

The doors opened to reveal a large open room that had a beautiful golden chandelier hanging from the top. Every member in attendance was dressed in black and white, but Rory's dress was by far the most obvious. Most women went for the simple look, but hers outshined them all.

Tim held her close to his side, they had to pretend that they were a couple and a married one at that. Glancing down at her, Tim could see Rory surveilling the entire room to see where all the cameras, guards, and exits were in case this turned ugly.

Carefully, he removed his arm from her hold and slid it back around her waist, and leaned down towards her. "You know, no one is going to believe that you are having any fun with you looking around like that," he muttered softly in her ear.

Rory turned her gaze to meet his eyes and let a soft smile graze her face. "You're right, how are we going to play this? We do have a cover to keep up you know?" she asked, leaning into his hold.

"How about we starting with a drink darling?" he asked, and began to walk them both over towards the refreshments, trying not to laugh at the face Rory made and the pet name he gave her.

"What? Too much?" he asked with a chuckle.

Rory laughed and grabbed drinks for them both. "Maybe a little, how about we stick with the usual huh Dragon Boy?" she asked, peeking up at him through her mask.

Tim looked down at her, taking in a sharp breath at the old pet name that she used to call him. It was personal, and even now it still sounded like she loved him when she said it. "I think that's a great idea Songbird," he said sipping his own.

From the first taste, they both could tell that whatever it was that they were drinking had alcohol in it. The two of them had to be careful, sure they both had high tolerances but that did not mean they could get sloppy with their job.

Rory eyed Tim as she drank from her cup. He looked really good in the suit that he was wearing, and the pale gray of his mask made the blue of his eyes stand out even more than usual in contrast. She could see the natural curiosity that lingered behind his gaze, Tim never stopped learning even when he was supposed to be relaxing.

But now, his gaze seemed focused not inquisitive. Tim's goal was to protect Rory, and it was obvious by the way he never let her farther than arm's reach.

Glancing around the room, they were right next to the dance floor where many couples were waltzing their way across the room. With an idea popping in her head, Rory grabbed his drink from his hand and set it to the side with hers.

"What are you doing?" he asked, clearly confused.

Taking his hand, Rory led them both closer to the dancefloor and placed his hands on her waist for him.

"We are going to dance while we look for Merlyn. Think you can pull that off?" she asked with a grin.

Tim laughed and adjusted his hold, his left hand rested firmly on her back now while his right one was intertwined with her left one; Rory's right one resting on his shoulder. "You do remember who taught you to dance right?" he asked, leading them into the waltz in time with the rest of the attendees.

Tims eyes never left hers as they waltzed around the room, he kept her body pressed close to his with the hold he had on her back. Rory tried to ignore the warmth of his hand on her bare back, but it was hard to when his hands shifted every so often.

"Do you remember the last time we danced?" he asked softly, his gaze not leaving hers.

Rory gave him a nod. "It was at the Wayne Christmas Eve Ball. That was the last public event we went to before-"

"Before you left." he finished.

Rory looked at him with wide eyes. Whenever her leaving was brought up, it usually ended with them in a fight of sorts and not speaking for days. It was obvious how painful it was for Tim to talk about it, Rory knew that she shattered his heart with her cruel words but it was the only way. She couldn't risk his life like she was risking hers.

"Tim, I-"

"Don't, I know there is something you aren't telling me and usually it's with good reason. But Rory, It's killing me having you this close and yet so far. I've tried to forget you, to stop loving you but I can't. I'm going to love you until I the day I die, and even with my last breath I'll be thinking of you."

Rory stared at him in shock, Tim still loved her? After all she put him through he still found the ability to love her. Her eyes were wide in surprise as Tim carefully leaned closer to her. It was as if he was testing the waters on what she would let him do. To the rest of the world, they were a newly married couple, but if she let him do what he wanted it would mean much more than it seemed.

Right as Tims's lips were about to brush hers, there was a tap on Tim's shoulder by a taller and older masked man. "May I have a dance with your beautiful partner?" he asked.

Tim cleared his throat and stood up quickly and took a step back. "Of course sir," he then looked at Rory with a pointed gaze. "I'll be by the drink table if you need me Songbird," he said softly and disappeared from sight as Rory was left to dance with the man in front of her.

Lucky enough, she recognized the man behind the mask immediately. "How nice of you to join me, Malcolm. I thought you would never show." she greeted.

Malcolm's lipped curved into a smile, as he began to dance with her around the room. "The second you entered the room, I knew who you were dear Aurora. I've told you once and I'll tell you again, you can't hide from me no matter how hard you try," he said, looking around as they danced.

Rory chuckled as she followed his steps. "Well, it's a good thing I wasn't hiding from you now isn't it?"

"You do remember that I was sent to kill you?" he asked, glancing at her.

Giving him a nod, Rory grinned. "But you and I both know that you won't kill me, the only thing you value more than money is your pride. Killing me would be destroying something you created, one of the greatest assassins in the world." she let out a chuckle. "No, what I'm here for is to see you."

"Well, you certainly have my attention along with Timothy's for sure. The poor kid can't keep his eyes off you." Malcolm pointed out. "But what do I owe the pleasure of being in your presence?" he asked.

"I guess I'll cut to the chase. I need you to run interference with the other assassins sent to kill me," she said quietly, to keep her voice unheard.

Malcolm looked intrigued at her words and shrugged. "Why would I do such a thing for you? I think that not killing you should be satisfactory enough," he said looking around.

"Bold of you to assume I don't have any leverage on you Malcolm. I have proof that you made a deal with someone. It's quite obvious that you don't want Ra's to know, so I would hope that you will take my offer. I'd hate to see what he does with this photo of mine." she grinned. The look on Malcolm's face was all she needed

"How long do you need me to interfere with the others contracted to kill you?" he asked stiffly as he glanced around the room once again.

"Long enough for me to find a way to get them off my back. If you get caught, just use the excuse that you want to kill the monster of your own creation." she chuckled.

Malcolm let out a sigh before a grin adorned his face. "Fine, I'll take your offer. But if you want people to believe that you are married, you might want to put in a bit more effort. You didn't fool me, think about how many people see right through you."

Rory sputtered at his words. 'What the hell are you talking about?"

"Why dear Aurora, most married couples can't keep their hands off each other. You've barely touched your so-called husband, I doubt he will forgive me for interrupting when I did." he chuckled. "If you can convince me, you can convince them all."

Frowning at his words, Rory resisted the urge to stomp on his foot. "What I do with him is none of your concern." she snapped.

"No, but next time maybe pick a cover that doesn't make it look weird when you refuse to touch him," he said and before Rory could answer, Malcolm left her in the middle of the dance floor and disappeared into the crowd.

Moments later Rory found Tim talking to a couple. He saw that she was done with her dance and waved her over with a smile. "Dinah sweetheart, please come meet this lovely couple" he smiled.

Rory's heart did flips at his smile, it was the same one he used to give her back when they were together. Slowly, she made her way over into Tim's arms as he wrapped one around her waist and held her close. "This is my lovely wife Dinah, we're here on our honeymoon as I told you both earlier," he said, gesturing to her.

The couple in front of them looked at Rory's dress in awe. "My Mrs. King, that is quite a dress you are wearing. Where ever did you get it?" the red-haired lady asked.

"A friend of mine made it for me, she knew my size and had it made for this event," she answered. "You should have seen James' reaction. He couldn't keep his eyes off me." Rory giggled and placed her hand on Tim's chest who turned to look down at her.

"Only because you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen Songbird, that dress only accents the beauty that is already there." the playful tone in his voice was gone. Rory stared up at him as her hand went to cup his face.

How had she not notice how he really felt before now? It's not like she was purposely avoiding it, but now it was even harder to ignore her own feelings for him. Malcolm was right, their cover was never going to work because of her. Rory couldn't detach herself from her feelings for Tim and they both could suffer because of it.

Instead of responding, Rory leaned up and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. "Thank you sweetheart." she smiled softly.

Tim's face froze at her actions, he couldn't believe that Rory actually kissed him and there was nothing more at that moment that he wanted to do than kiss her once more. Judging from the look on her face, Rory felt the same. At this point, he didn't care what they looked like; all he wanted was Rory and he'll be damned if he didn't do something about it finally.

"If you'll excuse us, I think we are being summoned by a friend." he smiled and took Rory by the hand and led her out of the ballroom and into the hall. No sooner were they alone did Tim cup her face and kiss her fully with everything he had in him.

Rory's body reacted instantly, leaning into him as Tim's lips laid claim to her own. Her hands gripped his to keep herself grounded, the lack of oxygen made her feel like she was on cloud nine as Tim kissed her.

This was what she had been waiting for, to feel him against her once more. Rory missed him more than anything and she regretted nothing more than leaving him, and she kissed him back with every ounce of emotion she had in her.

Pulling away to get some air, Tim closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers. "Rory, I love you so fucking much it hurts. Please, please tell me that meant something to you." he pleaded, his voice cracking at the end.

"I love you," she muttered in between short kisses. "I love you, and I never stopped. Don't you forget that."

His hands dropped from her waist and held her hips tightly as he held her against the wall, kissing her deeply. Soft moans left Rory's lips as she gripped the front of his jacket in her hands.

"Let me show you how much I love you, please?" he asked pressing kisses to the base of her throat.

"Show me."  

Before they knew it they were back in their suite with the door locked behind them and Tim's lips were on her's once again. His hands roamed across her clothed figure, desperately trying to rid her of the torturous fabric. Tim needed her, and he needed her now.

Rory pulled his jacket off and began to unbutton his shirt, sliding it off his shoulders in the process. "Songbird, please." he pleaded.

"Don't worry Timothy, I'll take care of you."

#Costly Affairs #Tim Drake #Timothy Drake #tim drake fanfic #tim drake fanfiction #Tim drake fanficition #tim drake x oc #Red Robin #red robin fanfic #red robin fanfiction #red robin fic #red robin x oc #DC comics #The Archer #The Aurora Queen Saga

[myhauntedsalem]

The True Story Of Annabelle

One of the creepiest parts of the truly scary The Conjuring is the evil possessed doll Annabelle, who makes up the cornerstone of Ed and Lorraine Warren’s spooky museum of trophies. Director James Wan redesigned Annabelle for the movie, giving her a much more disturbing appearance, but in real life Annabelle was just your run of the mill Raggedy Ann doll.

Donna got Annabelle from her mother in 1970; mom bought the used doll at a hobby store. Donna was a college student at the time, and living with a roommate named Angie, and at first neither thought the doll was anything special. But over time they noticed Annabelle seemed to move on her own; at first it was really subtle, just changes in position, the kinds of things that could be written off as the doll being jostled. But the movement increased, and within a few weeks it seemed to become fully mobile. The girls would leave the apartment with Annabelle on Donna’s bed and return home to find it on the couch.

Their friend Lou hated the doll. He thought there was something deeply wrong with it, something evil, but the girls were modern women and didn’t believe that sort of thing. There must be an explanation, they reasoned. But soon Annabelle’s actions got even weirder – Donna began to find pieces of parchment paper in the house with messages written on it. “Help us,” they would say, or “Help Lou.” Just to make the whole thing that much creepier nobody in the house had parchment paper. Where the hell was it coming from?

The escalation continued. One night Donna returned home to find Annabelle in her bed, with blood on her hands. The blood – or some sort of red liquid – seemed to be coming from the doll itself. That was enough; Donna finally agreed to bring in a medium. The sensitive sat with the doll and told the girls that long before their apartment complex had been built there had been a field on that property. A seven year old girl named Annabelle Higgins had been found dead in that field. Her spirit remained, and when the doll came into the house the girl latched on to it. She found Donna and Angie to be trustworthy. She just wanted to stay with them. She wanted to be safe with them.

Being sweet, nurturing types – they were both nursing students – Donna and Angie agreed to let Annabelle stay with them. And that’s when all hell broke loose.

Lou started having bad dreams, dreams where Annabelle was in his bed, climbing up his leg as he lay frozen, sliding up his chest to his neck and closing her stuffed hands around his throat, choking him out. He would wake up terrified, head pounding like all blood had been cut off to his brain. He was freaking out. He was worried about the girls.

A few days later he and Angie were hanging out, planning a road trip, when they heard someone moving around in Donna’s room. They froze – was it a break in? Was there an intruder in the apartment? Lou crept over to the door, listening to rustling within. He threw open the door and everything was as it should be – except Annabelle was off the bed and sitting in a corner. As he approached the doll Lou was consumed with that feeling, a burning on the back of the neck that indicates someone was staring at you and he spun around. Nobody was there. The room was empty. And then sudden pain on his chest. He looked in his shirt and saw a series of raking claw marks, rough ditches in his flesh that burned. He knew Annabelle had done it.

The weird claw marks began healing almost immediately. They were totally gone in two days. They were like no wounds any of them had ever seen before. They knew they needed more help, and they turned to an Episcopalian priest, who in turned called in Ed and Lorraine Warren.

It didn’t take the Warrens long to come to their conclusion: there was no ghost in this case. There was an inhuman spirit – a demon – attached to the doll. But they warned that the doll wasn’t possessed; demons don’t possess things, only people. It was clinging to the doll, manipulating it, in order to give the impression of a haunting. The target was really Donna’s soul.

A priest performed an exorcism on the apartment and the Warrens took possession of the doll. They put it in a bag and began the long drive home; Ed agreed to stay off the highways because there was a concern that the demon might fuck with the car, and at 65 miles an hour that would be disastrous. And sure enough, as they drove on the back roads, the engine kept cutting out, the power steering kept failing and even the brakes gave them trouble. Ed opened the bag, sprinkled the doll with holy water and the disturbances stopped… for the moment.

Ed left the doll next to his desk; it began levitating. That happened a couple of times and then it seemed to just quit, finally laying quiet. But in a couple of weeks Annabelle was back to her old tricks; she started appearing in different rooms in the Warren home. Sensing that the doll was ramping back up the Warrens called in a Catholic priest to exorcise Annabelle. The priest didn’t take it seriously, telling Annabelle “You’re just a doll. You can’t hurt anyone!” Big mistake: on his way home the priest’s brakes failed, and his car was totaled in a horrible accident. He survived.

Eventually the Warrens built a locked case for Annabelle, and she resides there to this day. The locked case seems to have kept the doll from moving around, but it seems like that whatever terrible entity is attached to it is still there, waiting. Biding its time. Ready for the day when it can again be free.

#The True Story Of Annabelle #paranormal #ghost and hauntings #ghost and spirits

[fathermarty]

hello hello, darling ! i hope your day has been lovely, thus far .

if you would be so kind as to ship me with an hp character (preferably marauders era), i would be v grateful !

i’m a slytherin, but i have a ton of gryffindor qualities, once you get to know me . i have different faces for different people, and people rarely see me cry . however- once you break my apprehensive barrier, i am extremely loud, funny, charasmatic, and just downright weird .

i have a lot of trauma, and i have depression/anxiety, so that adds some ✨spice✨ to my life . i’m not good with conveying emotions, but i am extremely empathetic, and am known as the extremely sarcastic, dry, yet incredibly kind, sweet, and loving, therapist/mom friend .

i am tall (5’9), a bit clumsy, but i think it fits my oddball personality . i’m good at holding down the fort, and i’m v good at handling rowdy personalities, and i am great at matching people’s energy .

oooh! i also loveeee music (huge one direction fan here ;)) and i am v good at art and makeup (if i do say so myself) .

hope this wasn’t a bore to read, and thank you for letting me request ! <33

hello dear! 

it has been good, It is currently storming its ass off here so that's fun. well besides the fact my car is white and is currently parked beside a FUCKING DIRT MOUNTAIN. it's fine it’s fine everything is fine. i hope you are doing well hun!

okay, so I personally ship you with Remus hard fucking core. like i don't know if anyone else should be shipped w him?!

So picture this: you guys meet in the hospital wing, him after having a rough full moon, and you from just being clumsy. You are stuck in the wing for the whole day like him, so you guys start chit-chatting. 

Remus is a bit weary because you are a Slytherin but he learns that you are different just from talking to you. At some point during the day, you both are roaring with laughter at something you said. Remus finds himself enjoying your company more and more as each minute passes. You guys become friends and you make Remus promise to reach out more.

“Don’t worry y/l/n, you are stuck with me now.”

Oh boy was he right. Every class you guys had together he would ditch his friends for you. You even found yourself sitting with the Mauraders. “Don’t get your jumper in a knot Potter, I am not here to steal Lily.” You said one particular day sending a wink in the direction of the boy's precious LilyFlower. Everyone who was in earshot roared with laughter and ever since then, the Mauraders have become your friends too.

You were always there to help James and Sirius with their crushes and just there for them in general. Even Peter would come to you for some advice when he was not sure what to do. This made Remus’ heart swell.

Anytime you were with the Mauraders you had them laughing, sometimes unintentionally because you are a klutz, but laughing nonetheless. 

It wasn’t long until you figured out about Remus's lycanthropy, and you never directly told him you knew but it was pretty obvious. You would “coincidentally” be in the hospital wing the day after the full moon with an “injury” but you and Remus both knew you were not hurt. You just wanted to be there for him.

After a few full moons, Remus officially told you in a panic and he let all his emotions out. You were there to be his shoulder to cry on. You sat on his lap with his head buried in your neck. You ran your hands through his hair as you consoled him. This was when you decided your barrier would come down for Remus.

Sure enough, the next time you had a depressive attack Remus was there. You came to his dorm  (he told you the common room door password) because at that moment you needed him. Your beautifully immaculate makeup that he has come to look forward to seeing every day was smudged as tears and down your face. Remus let you lay on his bed as he conjured up a makeup wipe to clean up your face, he knows how much you care about your skin. After he took your makeup off he turned on the record player so music couldn't softly play. Then he crawled beside you and did just what you needed, he held you while you cried. He held you to his chest as he rubbed your back and carefully cradled your neck rubbing small circles on the side.

You and Remus aren’t sure when everything became official but it was obvious that you guys were an item. He would take care of your small bumps and bruises from your clumsy rendezvous and you would take care of him before and after the full moon. You guys became each other's rock.

“Y/n you are the most incredible woman I have ever met. You are so incredibly strong and you wear your heart on your sleeve. Your beauty shines both on the outside and inside. You make life so much more enjoyable baby, I love you.”

Ayeeeee my third ship, thank you so much for requesting honey! I hope you like it <3 My inbox is open for more ships ^_^

xoxo father marty ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

mwah

[all1e23]

Aeipathy

Pairings: Hades!Bucky x Persephone!Reader

Summary:  You wandered into the forest on your own and met a handsome stranger.

Warnings:  Um, none for this chapter I don’t think? General series warnings: angst, death, bloodshed. Ya know, fun stuff. Bucky is still sappy. It is what it is.

A/N:   This is my entry for @itsbuckysworld​ Summer Writing Challenge. My prompt was Enchanted Forest AU. This was going to be a series but it will not be continued. It’s my own take/spin or whatever on Hades and Persephone and I am making shit up as go because I’m the writer and I can. 😉 Send me love, write me a song or come scream at me if you like it. Pic Credit [x]

***My fics are not to be saved or posted on any other sites without my written permission. Reblogs are my jam though! Thanks!*

“Y/n!” Steve hissed through his panting. He was running as fast as his small legs could take him, but you were still quicker.  “We can’t go into the Enchanted Forest. It’s forbidden! Everyone knows that."

"When have you ever cared about the rules?” You asked and slowed your pace to allow Steve the chance to catch up; his breathing was labored but nothing you needed to worry about, yet anyway. You wiggled your toes in tall strands of grass, you’ve always liked the way the soft grass felt against your bare feet. The gentle blades turned sharp the closer you got to the edge of the treeline, the shadows that lurked within enticing you as they always did. For as long as you could remember you’ve been told to fear the darkness before you, but now that you were standing on the edge of it you couldn't see why.

It was beautiful; even the shadows.

Steve rolled his eyes, stopping a few steps behind you to catch his breath. This was becoming your new normal. You had an obsession with finding out what was beyond those trees, and Steve had a feeling it was going to get you both in trouble. “That’s not the point. There’s a reason it’s forbidden. No one knows what lives in there. It’s been centuries since anyone has gone inside.”

You turned back to look at your best friend with a mischievous gleam in your eye. "Doesn’t that make you a little curious to see what lives in there?”

“Not even a little,” Steve answered you, dryly and slightly annoyed. “Come on. We need to get back. Your mother would have a fit if she knew we were out like this.”

You sighed but linked arms with Steve and allowed him to direct you back towards the castle. You smiled, amused as you listened to Steve, complain about the grief you were going to get from Sam. It was not the first time you ditched your personal guard and would not be the last. Before your mother agreed to let, Steve stay in the castle -- after you agreed to her terms, of course. Steve had to be by your side for your good, and you had to let a new girl, Wanda, be your lady in waiting -- before that happened, you often snuck out of the castle and out from under Sam’s nose so you could spend time with Steve.

He should be used to it by now, but by the look on his face as he waited outside the gate for your return, he was not used to it.

Sam raised his brow and pursed his lips the second he laid eyes on you, disappointment was oozing off him, and you couldn't help but smile. “I thought we had moved passed the sneaking out, my lady?”

“You don’t like to lie, Sam. I was saving you from having to lie for me.”

You continued right on by Sam, spotting the smile he wanted to hide from you. As much as he adored your adventurous spirit, it wasn’t safe for someone of your status to be out by herself. You weren’t royalty, but you weren’t nobodies either. Your family had enemies as did all prominent families you supposed.  

“You don’t have to follow so closely, Sam. I’m not going anywhere.”

“That’s what you said this morning.”

Steve snorted from his place next to you, and you shot him a playful glare. “You know what they say, Y/n. Fool a man once…”

“Hush, Steve.” You muttered under your breath as you approached your panicked mother.

“No.” Your mother said in a harsh whisper. “It’s best if that stays between us. You know what Heimdall said about her and that... thing. This stays here--” Her guard - Brock Rumlow, a terrible man, one that never failed to make you feel uneasy, cleared his throat and nodded behind her where you were approaching rather quickly, avoiding the man’s glare as you did.  

Sam wasn’t fond of him either from what you gathered over the years. He stood a little closer to you when Rumlow was around, but when you asked about it in private, he would never give his reasons, and you suspected he had plenty.

“Where have you been?!” Your mother's shout filled the bustling hallway startling nearly everyone walking nearby, enough to draw their attention.

“I was out picking flowers with Steve.” You pulled a small bundle of wildflowers from behind your back for proof, and Steve frowned. You saw the question in his eyes without him having to ask, when did you pick those? A small shrug of your shoulder had Steve narrowing his eyes. Your mother, on the other hand, simply nodded -- content with your answer. “Fine, but next time Samuel is to stay by your side and for the love of the Gods, change out of that dress before dinner. You have grass stain all over it.”

You glanced down at the blush-colored fabric and grimaced at the dark green and brown marks covering it. Another dress ruined then. Perhaps you should start wearing black, no need to worry about grass stains when everything you own is black. You opened your mouth to give another feeble excuse behind the stains, but she pointed to your bare feet covered in mud, and your mouth snapped shut.

“Honestly, Y/n. You’re not a teenager. You can’t expect to win over suitors running around with bare feet.”

“I don’t want to win--” Your mother lifted her hands, silencing the same argument you’ve had for months now, and ushered you towards your chambers.

Steve was quiet as he walked a few steps behind you like he was supposed to when you were in public. He waited until the hallway was empty and your room was within sight before he jogged up to your side and asked in a whisper, careful for any spying ears. “Where did those flowers come from? You didn’t have them when we walked through the gates.”

You grinned and linked your arms with the smaller man before placing a small sprig of lavender behind his ear. Your grin widened watching the blush on his cheek spread down his neck, turning his ears bright red.

“We are not supposed to talk about it, Stevie. It’s a secret.”

--------

The sun rose too early for most. Not for you. It was your favorite time of the day. Early morning, just before the sun had a chance to warm the air and spread its light over the olive-colored bushes that rest along the castle walls. It was rare that people were up and moving about the halls, so it gave you the perfect opportunity to sneak out, no Sam and no Steve to watch over you.

You loved them both dearly, but sometimes it was nice to have a few moments alone to be yourself, and it happened to be the perfect time to make your way into the Enchanted Forest. What could be so scary about a few flowers hidden amongst the trees?

That was the very question you asked yourself as you stood at the entrance once more -- alone this time, no one to tell you to go back or run and find Sam after you entered, who drag you back to the ‘safety’ of your home. Maybe you spent too much listening to whispers, there was a voice in your head telling you to go back, but the pull to go in was stronger. It felt as if there was a string wrapped around you and someone was pulling, pulling you into the dark. You pushed your fear aside and ventured into the blackness, passed the trees and thorny vines covering the only entrance for hundreds of miles and the sight before you sucked the air right out of your lungs.

It was beautiful.

Dreary, yes. The trees were nearly on top of each other, and they were so tall you could have sworn, now that you were standing under them, the tops had to touch the clouds. There were vines of some kind tangled from branch to branch connecting every tree you could see for miles. It was strange you couldn’t place the flowers that littered the ground under you. You knew every flower in existence but these, sweet-smelling purple buds had you falling in love with each petal you came across, and you didn’t even know its name.

You were so taken with the beauty surrounding you that you had not realized you wandered so deep the entrance was merely a speck behind you. You should turn back, stay near the edge of the forest but… were those steps? Yes, those were stone steps in the middle of what you knew was the trunk of a dying tree. You could feel it from where you stood, but your curiosity was outweighing the ache. A hundred questions were swimming in your head; how could the steps lead down to anything? And who put them there? Where they did lead to? What was… under all of this?

A preliminary step towards them had your heart racing, and the pull you had felt at the treeline was stronger than ever before. Before your feet could touch the stone, a sparkle caught your attention. You looked up to see what it was, and the darkness was glittering with hundreds of bright blue lights floating in the air.

You grinned and whispered into the quiet, “Fireflies…”

You leaned back against the closet tree, and a soft hum left your lips as you watched the light show above you before it disappeared with the rising sun.  

"Do you hear that?"

It sounded like humming -- the most beautiful humming to ever grace his ears. He didn’t know the song, but the siren that was singing it certainly had his attention. That was a first. Well, the first in a very long while.

"No, my king." The redhead didn’t even glance up. She had no interest in whatever James was talking about, but she could sense he had something on his mind. “I’ve told you over and over I can’t hear anything that happens up there unless I want to and right now, I do not. I’m assuming you’re going up to investigate whatever it is?”

He didn’t answer her question, only listened to the sugary melody drifting down. He liked the way there was no pause, the tune carried on as if she was unafraid of who would hear her. It was fascinating. No one stepped foot into the forest, let alone wandered this far into the middle near his home.

Perhaps he had been gone for too long if people are no longer scared of what lies within. It might be time to change that.

He pulled his legs off the arm of his chair, and gracefully rose to his feet, gently tapping the nose of the orange cat that laid next to him. “No, you stay, Goose. No eyes to scratch out.”  

The melody in his head was getting louder, and by the smirk on his face he had made up his mind, he was heading towards the surface. Natasha watched until he faded from her sight, but that didn’t ease the worry on her face. She leaned back against the chair she was resting in and took a deep breath, letting her bright green eyes fade to a foggy white. If he was going to the surface, she was going to keep a close watch over him.

It didn’t take him long to find the source of the humming. You were standing right on his doorstep, disturbing his rest and his underlings. Had no one taught you manners? Taught you of him? He watched as you leaned over an old tree trunk that was full of water, you let your fingers skim delicately over the top of the water. Manners or not, he was memorized by you. Your hand froze over the water, and you turned to face the trees he was watching you.

“Hello?”

He smirked but not unkindly; he liked the strength in your voice and the look of awe in your eyes as you took in your surroundings. Your eyes landed on the shadow he was hiding in as if you knew he was there and he watched as you took careful steps towards him -- fearful of scaring whoever or whatever was lurking nearby.

“Is someone there? You can come out. I promise I won’t hurt you.”  

He chuckled to himself, amused by your gentle words as if you could hurt him, even if you came with the intention to, you wouldn’t succeed. Your fingers were inches from finding him, and he decided to make himself known for if you inched any closer your hands would be pressed against his chest.

He wondered how long it would be until you were frightened.

"What's your name, sweet thing?" You startled at how close the voice was to you, and you quickly pulled your hand back from the shadow. Whoever it was, they didn’t sound scared of you.

"Y/n. What's yours?"

‘That is not her given name, but she’s unaware.’

The man grinned, and you swore something red glimmered in his eyes, but he spoke the red faded away to nothing, and you were back to staring at a shadow. "I'm afraid my real name would scare you. Didn't you hear about the dangers lurking within the shadows of this forest?"

There were dangers everywhere. What made this forest anymore threatening than the castle you grew up in? There were plenty of threats hiding behind those stone walls. At least out here, none were masking themselves behind pretty clothes and well-practiced smiles.

"What makes you so dangerous?"

The man laughed and slowly stepped out from behind the shadow of the century-old oak. He didn’t look frightening now that he was in the light. He was dressed in all black, dark brown hair tucked behind his ears and bright blue eyes that crinkled when he laughed at you. Only... his left hand, it looked black -- a glove perhaps.

"You don't think I'm dangerous?" He asked, amused, and humoring you no doubt.

Distracting? Yes. Dangerous? No, you would bet your life on it.

"You don't look like it to me."  

He grinned.

"Even roses have thorns, sweet thing."

You stood quietly, your fingers toying with the sheer black fabric of your gown as you watched him. You’ve never seen him before; you would have remembered him if you had. So where had he come from? He met your eyes and quickly averted his gaze; he did not like the way he reacted to feeling your eyes on him. His heart thumped against his chest for the first time in centuries, and it made his skin crawl.

Natasha’s voice in his head rang loudly in his head once more, and it was beginning to grate on his nerves. ‘You’re far too interested in her. Let her go and back home where you belong.’

"I know all about roses and their thorns.” You finally told him, still watching him curiously. “They don't scare me. Thorns can be just as pretty as the petals or haven’t you heard? There’s a bit of beauty in roughness.”

Bucky smirked, and this time she saw the red in his eyes thanks to the sun catching the burning flecks through the holes in the tree canopy. As much as you wanted to stay, you needed to go. The height of the sun meant you had stayed longer than you intended. Steve probably sent himself into an asthma attack looking for you.

"I overstayed my welcome. My friend will be looking for me. I should find him before he panics."

‘Let. Her. Go.’

Bucky snapped the fingers of his left hand, severing his connection to Natasha. He would discuss this with her later. He can only tolerate the Fate interfering in his affairs for so long. She was lucky he entertained it at all. Friend or not, his patience for her games only lasted so long.  

"Will you -- will you come back?" He grimaced at the weak, stutter in his voice. He did, however, like the way it made you smile.

"Would you like me to?"

"I'd like you never to leave." He answered, honestly.

You’ve only talked for a few seconds, and he was wondering when you would return? And where would you stay if you decided to? Sleep in the trees it would seem. It was an odd thing to say to someone you just met. Yes, you’ve met with lords and princes and soldiers, and yes, many were very forward with what they wanted from you, but not one sounded like that. None were a desperate plea to be in your company, and it made your insides warm.

“I can come back tomorrow. At the same time. I only have a few minutes before they realize I’m missing, but I… I can come back tomorrow.”

You pulled a deep red rose that appeared to be pulled out of thin air and held it out for him to take. He reached out with his right hand, leaving the left tucked safely into his side. Showing you his left arm now would only ensure you never came back and that would be a terrible, terrible waste.

“Be careful of the thorns. They pinch.”

He smiled at your worry and nodded towards the edge of the forest. “You better run along. I believe your.. friend is looking for you.”

You couldn’t hear any shouts or see much of anything thanks to how deeply you wandered, but you knew the stranger was right. Steve would have come here once he saw you were nowhere to be found in the castle. You started towards home with tentative steps because truthfully you did not want to go. You turned to peek back at the distractingly handsome man one more time, but he was already gone, and it felt like a hollow pit in your chest.

You hoped you wouldn’t have to sit with it until sunrise tomorrow.

The rose in his hand began to turn black as it slowly burned from the inside out, stemming from where his fingers were gripping it firmly. He watched as the flame delicately worked it’s way up the steam and turned the petals black, and it hardened to a dark stone. A thorn that had yet to turn stuck into his thumb, letting a bit of blood trickle down. He peeled his thumb away and gently sucked the blood from his thumb as he held up the rose to examine it.

He knew every inch of the forest, and this particular rose was not a resident. You just happened to have one at your fingertips.

Intriguing, but everything about you was very intriguing.

“What did you mean it is not her given name?” He asked into the empty surrounding him. A stretch of silence meant Natasha was still mad at him. She would answer him when her anger settled. He waited, staring at the stone flower in his hand as he progressed down the stairs, brick crumbling under the pressure of his feet. The light from above was stamped out by the darkness he carried with him and the screams of those trapped within his walls, and still, the flower in his hand consumed all of his thoughts.

‘Persephone. Her name is Persephone.’

#hades!bucky #hades!bucky x perdephone!reader #ibworldsummer19 #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky x you #bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #alternate universe #Enchanted Forest AU #james buchanan barnes #james bucky barnes

[ktrsss1fics]

Cake By The Ocean: Seven.

It was four o’clock in the afternoon and Georgina Ferguson was dancing her way around the kitchen. Her boyfriend was gingerly cutting vegetables beside her while Fleetwood Mac filled the air with happiness.

It had been three days since their secret was out. The entire house had gone through an array of emotions during those three days. Everyone did their own thing. Jenna, Keith, Mags and Jamie hit the beaches hard. Brittany and David went on a tour up the coast. Niall whisked Georgina off on a flora and fauna adventure hoping to put her in a better mood. 

It didn’t work though. 

She still spent a good amount of time in their room afraid of what was going to happen next. It wasn’t until a heart to heart phone call with her mother that she realized the best way to smooth things over with her friends was to show them how much she loved them. 

Because she did. She loved them more than they could ever know. They had become family and she was stupid for ever thinking they wouldn’t approve of her relationship with Niall. They had been rooting for them to get together from the moment they met. She should have known better.   

After a brief conference with her boyfriend, Georgina decided that a nice home cooked meal and a quiet night in was the best way to show her appreciation. They spent a majority of the morning preparing to do just that. 

By the time afternoon hit, Maggie and the rest of the gang were curious as to what was happening in the kitchen. Before anyone could ask what was going on, their favorite Irishman beat them to it. In his best posh accent, Niall informed the crew that they were expected to be back in the kitchen at 4:30 wearing their best lounge wear for the cocktail hour. Unsure if he was being serious, David led the troops back to their rooms until the time was right. 

After changing into something more comfortable, everyone made their way into the living room where they waited anxiously for the cocktail hour to begin. 

“We goin’ to a five star restaurant or what? I don’t need a starter hour. I need a main course. I’m bloody famished.” Dave groaned resting his head on Brittany’s shoulder.

“Oh, let them have their fun.” Jamie said. “I’m sure it’ll be lovely.”

“The Baby can’t properly season chicken.” Jenna quipped. “This meal is all Ferg— assuming we’re getting a meal.”

“Her secret talent is that she’s an ace in the kitchen.” Brittany said running her hands through David’s hair. “Rumor has it she’s making Lydia’s roast dinner.”

David’s eyes lit up. “I fucking hope she is.”

“I’m quite pleased with the dress code.” Keith said smoothing out the fabric of his joggers.

“Um excuse me, not to change the subject, but are you guys seeing what I’m seeing?” Mags said snapping towards the kitchen where  Niall was acting like a goofy boyfriend. “He’s beaming.”

“Forget, Ni. Look at how happy she looks.” Jamie said nodding towards Georgina. 

“I’ve never seen her like this.” 

“You’ve never seen her truly happy then. That little Irish shit has fought long and hard to keep the rain clouds that used to follow her around away.” Brittany said as she looked at her best friend. 

“I’d say this is probably the happiest she’s been in about a decade. Right, love?” David said with a sigh. 

“Just about.” Britt smiled. Although she didn’t appreciate being kept in the dark, she was genuinely happy for both of her best friends. They deserved each other. 

“She’s in love with him.” Maggie said looking at Britt for confirmation. The blonde just nodded. 

“This is fucking brilliant.” Jamie said happily. 

The group of friends sat in silence as Georgina coached Niall through the prep work for her grandad’s special Yorkshire pudding. Her tone was gentle. Seeing Georgina’s soft side was a real treat for a majority of the group. The cold and standoffish woman they had first met was no longer there. Her guard was down and it was the most fascinating thing they had ever seen — and that was saying something.

“How are we gonna protect them?” Keith asked. 

That was the question that had popped into each of their heads as soon as the news broke. They knew how difficult it was for Niall to balance his public and private personas. Adding a serious relationship to that equation wasn’t going to be an easy feat. They didn’t know how they could help but they were going to try their hardest to keep their friends safe.

“Well for starters, no more randos.” Mags said glancing at Keith. 

“Yeah, Ferg made that real clear on Day One.” Keith said dryly making Jenna laugh. 

“I don’t think there is anything we can really do besides support them.” Jamie pointed out. They had  never really interfered with Niall’s life before and he didn’t think they should start now.

“No we can do more than that.” Jenna said as she was met by an assortment of confused glances. “We are going to stop inviting Marco and Ash to get-togethers and on vacation.” 

“I second that!” Mags said as her eyes lit up. “They are suppliers of constant drama and honestly she is bloody annoying now that she got her tits fixed.”

“I think the one way to protect Ferg and Niall is to not let Marco and Ash find out about them.” Keith said. “The less people that know the better.”

“Miller’s right. I don’t know how we are gonna do that though. I want them to be free around us but like how?” Jenna said. 

“I think we should just treat them the same as we’ve always treated ‘em.” Brittany said. “They are gonna need that now more than ever.”

“Britt’s right. Ferg and Ni are gonna need normalcy. Shitting on him and poking fun at her — that’s what will help protect them.” Dave said. “Moment we start acting weird, they might change. Then the foundation of their relationship could start to crumble and before we know it we have two broken hearts. Personally, I don’t want to deal with that shit.”

“How—How do we do that with the knowledge we have?” Maggie asked sounding hesitant. 

“Well if you lot didn’t shit on The Fearsome Foursome so much then you’d know how to do it.” Keith said with a smug smirk. 

“They neve—“ Britt started to say confused. 

“You wouldn’t know because you twats always ditch us.” Jenna said before nodding at Keith. “They get extra flirty and we just let it be. It’s our thing.”

“I find that hard to believe, Jens.” Maggie said. 

“It’s the fucking truth, Margaret.” Keith said a little louder than he intended. The group froze as they felt eyes on them from the kitchen. 

“Y'alright over there?” Niall asked munching on a carrot. 

“Bloody brilliant, babes.” Keith winked playfully. 

“Starters are ready.” Fergie called out as she walked past Niall. “Just finishing up the sangria.”

“She’s already drank half of it so hopefully you get a taste.” Niall popped off— earning himself a smack across the back of the head. A soft giggle escaped as he went back to finishing up his task.

“So to sum things up, we’ve  missed out on a lot of cute shit.” Dave said with a grin. “And personally, I’m excited to witness it first hand.”

“Why the fuck do you keep sayin’ personally? Is that your word of the day, mate?” Brittany teased looking down at him. 

“Georgina, Brittany is being rude to me.” Davey whined making the others laugh. 

“You probably deserve it, mate.” Fergie called back. 

“He most certainly does not. David is a goddamn angel. Never does anything wrong.” Niall said. 

“Exactly! Well except for when I told her to sit on your face in Aruba — that wasn’t a good comment to make.” Dave laughed. “I’ll admit that.”

“Yeah, that wasn’t a good look.” Jamie said scrunching up his face. “Or that time you made him take his top off before we FaceTimed her so he’d look like a proper lad.”

Niall’s eyes went wide. “We promised we would never speak about that day ever again, James.”

“What the fuck?” Jenna said looking around the room. 

“You guys always end up being shirtless together. I’m starting to get concerned.” Maggie said looking at her fiancé. “Why are you lot always shirtless?”

“Don’t ask me about my business, Kay.” Jamie said in an attempt to sound like Al Pacino. 

“What kind of business do you have that involves you getting your tits out?” Jenna asked. 

Keith shrugged. “Just lads’ stuff.”

“But like what’s—“ Brittany said before Niall stormed into the room cutting her off. 

With the Irishman leading the ship, a very passionate chant about being lads began while the group of men danced around the room. 

“You boys are fucking weirdos.” Georgina said as she looked at her girls. “Um, we’re ready for you.”

Ignoring the awkward mosh pit taking place around them, the girls headed quietly into the kitchen where a very delicious looking spread was waiting for them. Four glasses of sangria were sitting on the counter. 

“Next time we plan a vacation, let’s make it a Hen House only trip.” Georgina joked as the boys continued to act like fools. 

“Either that or we rent our own house without them.” Jenna said taking one of the glasses of wine. 

“It’d be drama free. That’s for sure.” Britt said.

“It would just be a lot of Spice Girls and wine.” Jenna said. 

“Sign me the fuck up for that.” Georgina said passing wine glasses to Mags and Brittany. 

The four women watched in silence as an impromptu jam sesh to Toto’s “Africa” filled the living room. 

“They are such idiots sometimes.” Jenna laughed as David placed Niall on his shoulders. 

“And to think they are all sober.” Mags said shaking her head. 

“They might be idiots but I wouldn’t change them for the world.” Brittany said scooting over towards her best friend. 

“You know, I’m really happy the universe brought us all together.” Georgina said clutching the glass in her hand. 

“Like think of all the little moments that were added together to get us to this point.”

“You on drugs, Blondie?” Brittany said eyeing her best friend playfully. 

“I’m just sayin’ I’m really thankful for this moment and for all of you and—and—“ Georgina said incapable of finding the right words to say. “I know I’m shit at this kinda stuff but thanks for putting up with me for all these years.”

“We love ya, Georgie.” Britt said resting her head on Georgina’s shoulder. “We’re always gonna love ya.”

“I’m sorry.” She said glancing at her friends. “I should have—“

“No, you shouldn’t have. I would have kept it a secret too.” Jenna said keeping her eyes on Niall. “He’s like a rare gem and I wouldn’t want anyone to find out about him until it was necessary.”

“Would we have liked to know you were in love with our best friend? Obviously, yes.” Mags said softly. “But like your safety and comfort are the most important thing to us. I would have waited to tell too. His life is hard and I wouldn’t want to jeopardize my relationship with him just to tell my friends.”

“Exactly!” Jenna said with a smile. 

Brittany wrapped her arm around Georgina’s and stood up straight. “Bottom line baby, we’re just happy that you’re happy.”

“So serious question, Georgina.” Maggie asked reaching out for a piece of pita bread. “You two made out in Vegas, yeah?” 

“I plead the fifth.” Georgina blushed.  

“What are we lying about in here?” Niall asked appearing in the kitchen with the rest of the boys. Each of them significantly out of breath. 

“She won’t admit you two made out in Vegas.” Mags said with a smirk. 

“He got her flowers. Obviously, they made out.” Dave said popping an olive into his mouth. 

“How’d you know he bought them?” Brittany asked. 

“C’mon babe. It’s Fergie and Niall.” Dave said making Georgina laugh. 

“They made out in Aruba. Beats your little Vegas obsession.” Keith said pouring himself a glass of sangria. 

“How do you know that?” Jenna asked confused. 

“Context clues, babygirl.” Keith winked. 

“Keith, you’re a fucking idiot, mate.” Georgina laughed. 

“Georgina! You cheeky little minx.” Mags said in shock. 

“He kissed me first!” Georgina said in defense. 

“Atta boy.” Keith said patting Niall on the back. 

“I don’t know why you lot are shocked over this. It was bound to happen — especially when these two use plant talk as foreplay.” David said.

“Hey! I’ve got more game than that.” Niall said in mock offense. 

“Oh I’m not discrediting that at all, babes.” Dave smiled before nodding over at Georgina. “But you start talking about a fuckin’ bougainvillea plant and this one nearly creams her pants.”

“David!” Brittany said with a sigh. 

“That’s rich coming from the lad who got a hard on when the pictures of that black hole were released.” Georgina shot back earning a few snickers from their friends. 

Dave opened his mouth to defend himself but nothing came out. Georgina took a sip of her drink while the rest of their friends laughed at the sight of a speechless David Watson. 

“Did Davey just get lawyered?” Jenna asked in shock. 

“More like annihilated.” Brittany said with a smirk.

“Speaking of annihilation, did you lot see the score of the Laker game the other day? Yikes.” Jamie said as a very detailed conversation about basketball began. 

Ignoring the conversation, David walked over and wedged himself between the two women he knew the longest. He slid an arm around Georgina, pulling her into his side. 

He leaned down and whispered,“You know I love you, right?”

Georgina nodded as she took a sip of her drink.

“We’re having a date at Perch when we get home.” He said with a smile.

She looked up at him in shock. “Really?”

David nodded. “Your personal growth deserves a lot more than a few drinks at a dive bar.”

Georgina leaned up and kissed Dave on the cheek. 

“Oi keep your mitts off me girlfriend, mate.” Niall popped off causing the room to grow quiet. 

“Your what?” Dave said with a smug look on his face. 

“Fergie’s my girlfriend.” Niall said with pride.

The look on his face let everyone know that things were going to be alright.

#cbto #one direction fanfiction #1dff #niall horan fanfiction #fergie and niall #cake by the ocean #ktrssss1

[coffeestainedpoems]

Hello, I have a theory! 

It is very much half cooked and I haven't thought it through enough to find loopholes but-

I feel like the songs: the 1, this is me trying, Betty, august, seven and Cardigan all involve the three same people.

James, Betty (who are childhood best friends) Inez (this *can* be a reach but I'm just believing that James mentioned the girl he ditched Betty for in 'betty', because honestly why would Taylor randomly mention an unrelated name?) 

I believe this is the timeline:

It starts with Betty and James and the song seven. This song is from when James and Betty are kids- quite obviously, about Betty falling in love with James who has an abusive father (explains the 'chosen family' references in 'Cardigan' and 'the 1', both girls implying in both songs that they could be James' chosen family, alluding the lack of a "natural" one, or abandonment)

It's about Betty's desperation to save James from the haunted house he lives in (a child's way of reasoning a mad and angry father) 

The girl in the song is Betty, and the kid she's in love with- James. A song about their childhood of sweet teas and tree climbing. This also explains how Betty is "the 1" for James. She's always loved him as she's always 'known' him. 

Next I think 'august' happens. 

A slip up. James' upbringing doesn't make it hard to believe that he can have commitment issues, the kind of thing he has with Betty can scare him into stepping back. Which can also lead into him distracting himself from the fact that he's 'dreaming' about his best friend he has just started kissing in 'dive bars' and his car. Which can lead into a summer fling. 

I love, love, love this song because Taylor has captured the awkward, lovely, confusing teenage love be so beautifully it makes me cry. 

Inez knows James isn't 'hers' but when you're young all you're trying to find is your self worth, and so the juvenile thought of having someone who is "someone else's" can seem very appealing. 

Lyrical easter eggs/ parallels

"Salt air, and the rust on your door, I never needed anything more, whispers of " are you sure?" "never have I ever before" 

This clearly tells us this thing started in summer with party games- Never have I ever the ultimate American fling starter. 

"your back beneath the sun, wishing I could write my name on it, will you call when you're back at school, I remember thinking I had you"

Homegirl's starting to catch feelings, which i feel like wasn't the intentention she started this with. Also school reference. 

"For me, it was enough, to live for the hope of it all, canceled plans just in case you'd call, and say, "meet me behind the mall"

Full disclosure: this isn't a fling for her anymore, she knows he doesn't love her, but she's too far gone to care. 

"Remember when I pulled up and said "get in the car""

Inez took the big step™ and James had the absolute audacity to call her a "figment of his worst intentions"- men deserve zero (0) rights. 

Now we move onto " this is me trying" 

This song describes James' thoughts after 'august'. This fits very well with 'Cardigan', obviously, this is James picking up the courage to go back to Betty. This is him facing his fears.

Lyrical easter eggs/ parallels:

"I didn't know if you'd care if I came back. I have a lot of regrets about that"

Having a hard time believing someone can care about you even after you fuck up? Welcome to the damaged kids club, James. 

"I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere, fell behind all my classmates and I ended up here"

Such clever lyricism, uff, so here James is telling us how he over thought himself a new reality because when he found love and friendship in the same person and- it felt too good to be true. But here is now, following his classmates to a party. At Betty's house.

"And it's hard to be at a party when I feel like an open wound. It's hard to be anywhere these days when all I want is you"

Need I explain? HE'S LOOKING FOR BETTY. He's also drunk now (explains the huge emotion shift in between Betty and this song)

 

Cardigan (Betty's POV) 

This is Betty after first learning about the rumours, because Inez isn't trying to keep quiet about her and James' summer fling, like, at all (and why should she?) What I like here is how Betty is more upset at James and not Inez, because it might be the more smart and sensible response to someone cheating on you, but it is not a common response that women have in many films and other media formats, they instead start attacking the woman their SO cheats with them on, totally absolving their SO of any malice, which is just plain absurd to me (and Taylor too now, started with BTR now we HERE) 

Lyrical Easter eggs/ parallels:

"I knew you, leaving like a father"

This I think is the biggest and most hurtful sentence Betty says to James, that he's become like his father. And it is so hurtful because it is true.

"A friend to all is a friend to none, chase two girls, lose the one"

Throughout the song we get a certain silent anger emanating from Betty, and rightfully so. I love how Betty attacks James in this song lol.

"But I knew you, playing hide-and-seek" 

"You drew stars around my scars, but now I'm bleedin"

These can be parallels to "Seven", alluding to childhood activities (drawing on each other, hide and seek). And Betty knowing James before anyone. More than anyone. 

"To kiss in cars and downtown bars was all we needed"

Parallel with "Betty"

Next we have : BETTY

This song is in James' POV, after "this is me trying", he's at Betty's party and now he's drunk. Which is why this whole song seems like something James is rambling, a little comical, which would be weird considering that he cheated on Betty- 

Easter eggs/parallels:

"You heard the rumors from Inez, you can't believe a word she says, most times, but this time it was true"

Okay why is Inez being slandered, I don't like this. 

"I was walking home on broken cobblestones"

Parallel with "cardigan" 

"Just thinking of you when she pulled up like,  figment of my worst intentions, she said "James, get in, let's drive"

Parallel with "august" 

"Yeah, I showed up at your party, will you have me? Will you love me? Will you kiss me on the porch, in front of all your stupid friends?"

Parallel with "cardigan"

 "Standing in your cardigan, kissin' in my car again"

Parallel with "cardigan"

So he gets her back, they start kissing again. Also remember this is a very public patch up, he's showed up at her porch, in front of her "stupid" friends. Inez must've been there too, since they go to the same school

 

And it ends with "the 1"

This song is Inez thinking what could've have been if she was "the one" for James and how some greatest love stories are never written. 

easter eggs in lyrics/ parallels

"I had this dream you're doing cool shit, having adventures on your own. You meet some woman on the internet and take her home" 

She's dreaming of James choosing a relative stranger (which Inez is, if you look at it with Betty's eyes) to take home.

Also that he's alone. No best friend. 

 "I, I, I persist and resist the temptation to ask you, if one thing had been different would everything be different today?"

I see this as parallel with "Cardigan"  because in that song Betty says James will be always a part of her what ifs- and he is, just Inez's now.

"In my defense, I have none, for digging up the grave another time". 

Ines apologizing for bringing this up again.

" We were something, don't you think so, Rosé flowing with your chosen family, and it would've been sweet, if it could've been me"

Parallel to "seven", she's saying they could've had their own family. Own James actually liked. 

#thistookmehourslol #taylor swift #folklore #the1 #betty #august #thisismetrying #seven #cardigan

[elopez7228]

Scenic Route 39/47

Read on AO3 : https://archiveofourown.org/works/18268208/chapters/43229774

Start over : https://elopez7228.tumblr.com/post/620919089893933056/scenic-route-0147

How many times can you make love before the coffee in your cup turns frigid? How many times before the motel staff inform you that you have to vacate the premises?

Ben and Rey found themselves in the parking lot, disheveled and hastily dressed, holding two long-cold coffees. They hadn't seen the morning go by, making love over and over again, as if their lives depended on it, and when Ben no longer had the stamina, he used his fingers, his mouth, and anything else. She was insatiable and surprisingly loud. 

"Eros and Thanatos, sweetheart," Ben explained, thoroughly amused by the situation. "Love and death. There are always baby booms after major disasters—people must have a carnal need to feel alive after having narrowly escaped death's grasp.”

"My love, my heart, sweetheart, baby".

Rey felt a touch of sadness; a few weeks ago she was preparing to become Mrs. Finn Storm. Today she was casually having breakfast with Ben Solo who peppered her with endearments as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Now I understand James Bond's sexual appetite," she replied. "And Austin Powers. Mikael Blomkvist. Indiana Jones? The list is long," said Rey pensively.

"You forgot the best," Ben quipped with a little smirk that dug a dimple in his cheek. "Rey Jakku."

Rey rolled her eyes, handing her bag to Ben who opened the trunk of the car.

"Novice spy, then. The awkward kind that falls in love with the bad guy, too."

Ben froze mid-gesture, and Rey covered her mouth with her hand.

“Sorry! Sorry...I didn't mean that, I—"

He ran a hand through his hair, averting her eyes as he put her belongins in the car.

"You wouldn't be the first to think so...it's a common complaint with the women in my life, I suppose. But don't feel too bad for me, we reap what we sow."

She felt the breeze lift her hair. Did Ben just call her "a woman in his life"? Was he also talking about his mother? Time stood still for a moment. Arms at her sides, fists clenched, she watched him motionlessly as he closed the trunk and lit a cigarette. He suddenly seemed fascinated by his shoes.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She finally asked, gathering all her courage. "You told me about your father last night...I don't know if I dreamt it. What really happened?"

Ben pursed his lips as if to moisten them, a sign that he was nervous. He seemed to be looking for a loophole, staring unseeingly at the ground, then the buildings, finally the cars.

"We're going to ditch the Lincoln," he said then. "Hux has definitely launched a search for it. I'll take you to San Francisco myself in the other car."

"Well—"

"Let's just go, okay?"

His eyes were sad, glistening. Rey felt a pang of hurt. She advanced slowly, took his hand, and standing on her tiptoes, drew her mouth against his. She gave him a long, very gentle kiss, savoring his lips. She opened her eyes and looked at his grief-stricken face.

"I'm not your enemy. I love you. Talk to me."

This time it was her turn to wipe a tear from Ben's cheek. He gently released himself from her embrace to take a drag of his cigarette.

Rey waited.

Finally, he took two steps away from her, and leaned against the car.

"I killed my father when I was fifteen," he started. "He took me out to the track where he did stunts on motorcycles, an obstacle course…he was a real daredevil. It was...a difficult time."

Rey said nothing. What could she say? She would ask her questions later. Silently, she listened, biting her thumbnail. Ben dropped the ash from his cigarette, taking another puff.

"I was always the black sheep...in the shadow of my amazing parents. I wasn't up to it. When they left I was unhappy, but when they were at the front I hoped they would die there."

He looked up at her.

"It would have been great, what a tragedy! Everyone would have pitied me and then left me in peace, blaming everything on the grief," Ben made a gesture with his hand, as if to sweep away a memory. "I didn't really mean it. It's the kind of thing you want when you're a teenager."

Rey couldn't agree. She hadn't known her parents and during her childhood at the foster home she had dreamt of countless secret backstories for herslef. Perhaps she was the daughter of a princess in exile...they were all tales to give herself somewhere to belong. Wishing for the death of her parents was a feeling she could hardly imagine. But she said nothing. Ben continued.

"He dragged me to the course, we yelled at each other, I'd been smoking cigarettes to piss him off, he blamed himself and swore that he would fuck me up to get rid of me...stuff he probably didn't really mean either. He was just angry. He left me in a corner and got on his bike to ride out the rage. He was going fast."

Ben rubbed his eyes

"I was on the edge of the circuit. I yelled that I hated him and wanted him to die. I threw my helmet on the course. He...he swerved to avoid it, lost control of his bike."

Rey bit her lip. She stepped forward slowly and took his hand. He broke contact, looking her right in the eye.

"I saw him fall. He died before my eyes. My mother doesn't know what happened, she believes he had an accident. She believes that Han Solo was too cocky with his bike, like he always was. But she's wrong. Han Solo would’ve never died such a stupid death. It was me who killed him."

His cigarette was finished. He crushed it under his sole. Rey took back his hand, the one he had taken away a moment earlier, and this time she didn't let it escape. With the tips of her fingers, she brushed away a lock of hair from his face. His eyes were red.

"Your mother is right, Ben. It was an accident. Come here."

She hugged him, pressing her cheek against his shoulder. He was so much larger than her. She felt him hugging her back, breathing in the scent of her hair. Deep inside, she struggled to find the words. Could anyone deny his responsibility in the death of his father? But it was an accident. A thoughtless gesture. In the end, it was best that Leia didn't know the truth. It wasn't technically wrong to belive that, and the truth was enough to break a mother's heart. It must have been hard for him too, growing up with this weight on his conscience.

He eased himself out of her embrace and checked the time on his phone. 11:40 AM. They were eight hours from San Francisco, no point in hanging around. They would get something to eat on the way.

"Ben," Rey sighed unhappily, "I don't think I should come with you to San Francisco..."

Ben sat behind the wheel. Rey knew he had driven as much (and as fast) as she had the day before, but she gladly accepted the favor. She needed to let herself think for a while. BB8 sat in the back of the car, for once not growling in her little corner.

The first part of the journey passed in silence. The weight of their imminent separation hung in the air. The road was like their future: a desert blackened by flames, still smoking from yesterday's fire. A lifeless landscape. Rey took advantage of the quiet to call Poe and ask about Finn. His bruises had faded, his eye was less swollen; he looked better. But he was still unconscious, and on a ventilator.

She didn't call Jessica, knowing that her friend would be full of questions about the time she spent with Ben—something she really didn't want to discuss in his very presence.

Rey sighed dejectedly. Her plane was leaving in a few days; the trial was in two weeks.

What was her future then? Going back to her former life, prancing around London in one of her endless pairs of pumps, sipping  overpriced coffees that were mostly sugar and cream?

And what about his future? Facing his own mother in court, falling into trouble, going to prison?

Why did her former life suddenly seem so futile? She felt like a completely different person. Would her best friends, Jessica, Poe and Finn, or the others—her colleagues, her boss, and her clients—understand the new Rey? What if they no longer recognized her? What if they no longer saw last year's bubbly employee of the month in her?

She needed a hug. Her hand rested on Ben's arm, it slipped to his thigh. She loved his muscular thighs. She loved his body.

Heat pooled in her abdomen again and she sighed, she wanted him. Again. How many times had they made love this morning? She'd lost count. He looked at her in confusion when she slid her fingers across the front of his jeans and started to stroke him, looking both innocent and seductive.

"Do you want to stop?" Ben asked, surveying the landscape around them.

Nothing but flat desert as far as the eye can see. Certainly not the most fitting background for a tryst.

"Not necessarily," Rey grinned mischievously, undoing his seat belt.

She undid his fly, slipping her fingers inside as she leaned over his thighs.

Ben let out a long moan when she closed her lips around his cock. He had to stay focused until the next exit, unwilling to let an accident finish what Syed had started.

Damn, it was good. His hands were shaking. He couldn't, it was impossible. He turned on the safety lights and took the very next exit to Elko, looking for a place to park.

He was met with empty road, not a speck of shade or a soul in sight.

Ben drove around aimlessly a while. Rey sucked him off thoroughly, making his heartbeat skyrocket and his vision go white at the corners.

Silos in the distance, trucks. It didn't matter.

He pulled over at the end of a dusty driveway and killed the engiine. Finally he was able to cry out his pleasure as she reduced him to pure feeling with her tongue.

As the pressure built in his lower abdomen, he reached over her body to open the glove compartment. Rey, disturbed, uttered a stifled protest; her mouth was full.

“Condoms,” he explained. “Glove box.”

He managed to open the small compartment, grabbing the black cardboard box. There were three left. Rey released him with a loud "pop" that left a trail of saliva in its wake.

“We're going to run out. There has to be a pharmacy here somewhere.”

Ben nodded, but looked away. They were not going to have any more stops. If he left her with Rose Tico in Winnemucca, as she had asked him to earlier, this would be their last time.

The last time in...forever probably, given the storm that was coming. He had given up his reputation, his career and his money, for the fleeting pleasure of holding her in his arms.

If he could go back—no, he would do it all over again. Without hesitation, in the blink of an eye. Having the chance to love this beautiful, outstanding woman was without a doubt the best thing that ever happened in his life.

He got out of the car, his erection straining against his jeans, and Rey laughed. The dry Nevada air was quickly undoing the work of her lips, so with a mischievous look, she took him in her mouth again, kneeling in the dust. Ben couldn't resist the need to grab her hair and guide her movements. She let him.

He felt his pleasure go spike, leaning against the car, eyes closed. He didn’t want to come in her mouth. He wanted to make love to her again, one last time. So he slid one hand under her cheek, urging her to look at him. He motioned for her to get up.

She stood up, wiping her mouth. Her lips were swollen and wet. He kissed her, madly. She unbuttoned her jeans, slipping them down her thighs, twisting the fabric impatiently past her calves before jumping a little to allow it to slide all the way down. Ben watched, taking in everything about her. The flush of her cheeks which brought out her freckles; the curve of her hips, the lilt of her English accent as she cursed in her struggle to undress. The adorable way she was hopping from one foot onto the other on the dusty ground and—uh oh—he leapt to catch her when she lost her balance.

As he held her, he pulled her towards him and kissed her again. She ran her tongue against his lips and he opened his mouth to greet hers. With his right hand, he grabbed the elastic of her underwear and pushed it down.

There she stood, Rey, bare to the touch, turning her back on him to lean suggestively against the car.

He wanted to take her in missionary again, or maybe on her knees in the back of the car, so that he could kiss her from behind, caress every inch and feel her skin—but Rey was on fire and she had other plans. With a swish of her hips she grabbed Ben's hand and guided it down her slit, wet and swollen. He felt himself harden as he palmed her sex and couldn't resist the urge to kneel in the dust behind her and run his tongue along her folds. Rey let out a strangled cry somewhere between surprise and delight, followed by a content sigh. His tongue lapped greedily at her clit, rubbing back and forth.

Ben's hands squeezed her buttocks and she arched her back, moaning with pleasure. Her nails were scratching as the metal exterior of the car. She felt him move back, allowing the breeze to caress her damp skin, followed by the brush of his knuckles as he lined himself up and pressed into her.

It was so sudden and deep that Rey’s breasts collided with the side of the car. She clung to the feeling, arching her back as much as possible, up on her toes, as he buried his fingers in the flesh of her hips to make her bounce on his cock with each thrust. She was breathless and disorientated, her balance threatening to fall apart, eyes closed, mouth open. She reveled in the brutality of it, the uncouth way in which his fingers and his cock bruised her flesh. But there was something truly desperate in his movements, in his voice, and she turned around, suddenly worried.

“Hey, are you okay?”

He withdrew, grabbed her by the waist, lifted her like she was no heavier than a sack of flour and plopped her on to the hood of the car. She barely had time to react as he pulled her hips towards him, spread her thighs and entered again, all the way to the hilt. Rey gasped. She was looking for something to hold on to with her hands, but the surface was smooth and sun-scorched, her body rubbed painfully against the polished metal.

“Hey!” she yelled, but he didn't seem to hear her. “HEY!” She shouted angrily, at the top of her lungs.

He stopped abruptly. He had red eyes, trembling lip, hair stuck to his face, and his fingers had left deep marks on his hips from Rey.

His eyes were red, his lips trembling. Damp strands of hair cling to his face. His hips were bruised too.

“Hey, careful, you're hurting me. What the bloody hell is wrong with you?”

He withdrew, wiping his eyes. She hopped off the car and approached him, brushing a lock of damp hair away from his forehead with her fingertips.

“Hey, baby, talk to me.”

He said nothing, but pulled her against him and buried his face in her hair. He kissed the shell of her ear, her neck, her throat, the tender skin under her chin, and finally her mouth.

“Let's take it easy,” she said. “I still want you.”

With her left hand, she opened the back  door of the car, and BB8 escaped with her usual enthusiasm. Rey paid no attention to the dog and motioned for Ben to come in and sit down. He followed.

She joined him, crawling between his open knees and gently settling against his thighs, leaving a trail of slick on the end of the condom. His arms encircled her neck, knees falling limply against the back seat as she sank down in a slow, sensuous rhythm. They sighed simultaneously and she kissed him again.

This was what he needed. A long kiss and a slow ride.

It was Rey who set the pace now, rolling her hips, undulating against him as she so pleased, and he devoted himself to being the object of her pleasure. Said nothing as she admired him and kissed him over and over. She could feel the tension building in her thighs, in her belly, slow and aching as her body clenched around him greedily in the height of ecstasy. She grabbed hold of his hair, pulling  forcefully, throwing her head back, eyes closed.

He never took his eyes off her. The way she used him for her own pleasure, the intense look in her eyes, flushed and heaving. His hands skimmed up her breasts under her cotton t-shirt. He pinched. She screamed, arching her back and yanking on his hair again. He rolled the nipple under his thumb teasingly before pinching it even harder.

"Fuck yes!" She cried over and over, her voice reverberating in the quiet. She leaned over him, sealed her mouth over his, and moaned against him as he continued to palm her breasts, nipping teasingly at his lips and tongue.

Her skin was scalding. Her face was bright red, her coordination an afterthought as she lost herself in bliss. So he untied their mouths, pressed his forehead against hers and didn’t hold back.

“I love you Rey Jakku!” He rasped.

“I love you Ben Sol-“ she said back, unable to finish the sentence.

Rey’s heart skipped a beat as her climax rolled through her body, she saw sparks erupt behind her eyelids. She felt it all the way down to her toes, her body contracting sharply against his. Her head fell back limply and Ben thought for a moment that she had lost consciousness, until a second orgasm had her clenching so tightly around him that he lost his own control.

His core burned with white-hot pleasure as he squeezed her breasts, pressing her body flush against his. He was lost in how good it felt, an electrifying, all-consuming wave that ignited his body, twisting wildly in his veins and making his mind go numb.

“Oh fuck,” he said, struggling to catch his breath.

“Fuck yeah!” Rey replied, kissing him again.

They remained entwined for a long time, skin against skin, soaked in sweat.  Rey lifted his knee to slide off of him and remove the condom. Ben was no longer smiling. He tied the condom with practiced ease and pulled up his fly.

Rey was still pleasantly warm and tingly.

“What was that, fireworks? It was like I saw a thousand candles!”

“Consider it a farewell,” Ben sighed, his voice broken.

#reylo #fanfiction #modern AU #scenic route

[marauders-venting]

Wish You Were Gay

pairing: dorlene (dorcas x marlene)

genre: fluff & angst, pining (is that a genre? it is now)

warnings: none

words: 3707

note: based on the song ‘wish you were gay’ by Claude

a/n: ooooo my first dorlene fic. this is pretty long but i loved writing it

Picture this: you and me in the morning kissing over the coffee you're pouring. It could be like that every day hate it that I wish you were

“Wake up,” Alice said, loudly. “Come on, people, wake up.” Dorcas opened her eyes and groaned, covering her head with the pillow, holding it to cover her ears.

“I hate this,” Alice said. “Why do I have to wake up four people who don’t want to be woken up every single morning?”

“Cause you’re the only one who naturally wakes up that early,” Lily mutters through the toothpaste in her mouth.

“Then get an alarm clock,” Alice grumbled.

“What’s that?” asks Marlene.

“You really need to take Muggle studies, Marls,” Mary says, getting up too. Dorcas was still trying to go back to sleep but Alice pulls the pillow out of her hand and hits her with it.

“Fine, fine, I’m up,” Dorcas said, getting out of bed. Marlene, who was already changing her clothes, smiled teasingly at her. Dorcas stuck her tongue out at her and went to brush her teeth, too tired to think of something snarky to say.

“Come on, Dorcas,” Marlene says once Dorcas comes out of the bathroom, tying her shoelaces. “Let’s go down to breakfast and I’ll get us some coffee.”

“Fine,” Dorcas said. Lily, Mary and Alice had already gone down but Marlene had waited for Dorcas. Warmth spread through Dorcas’ body at the thought and she couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on her face. She changes quickly, not bothering to search for matching socks and they go down to breakfast.

They sit across from each other and Marlene reaches for the coffee pot. She pours them both coffee. It takes all of Dorcas’ willpower not to lean over the table and kiss her, as she rubs the sleep out of her eyes. It’s the same thing every day, the same feeling every single morning. Every time Dorcas finds herself wondering how somebody so close could feel so far away. She assumes that it’s an inevitable side effect of being in love with your best friend. But all of these inevitable side effects are becoming increasingly harder to deal with.

Hoping that I'm a better replacement for the guys that you're always out chasing or should I accept things I can't change hate it that I wish you were

It had been a long time since Marlene and Sirius had broken up when Sirius had come out as gay. Dorcas still secretly wished it had been the other way around. She remembered being excited when Marlene told her that she and Sirius were no longer dating. And then feeling terrible about it.

“Are you ok?” Dorcas had asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Marlene said. “Like really fine. It was a bit weird anyway. Dating Sirius, I mean. I think it's better that we’re just friends.”

“Are you sure you’re not upset?” Dorcas asked. She would have known if Marlene had really been upset, she was sure of it. But she wanted to check with her anyway.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Marlene said, smiling at her.

“So why’d you break up?” Dorcas asked. Marlene bit her lip.

“I can’t tell you,” she said. “I’m sorry, Dorcas. I promise you’ll know soon anyway.”

“It’s fine,” Dorcas said. “You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to—” Marlene started but Dorcas put her hand on Marlene’s to stop her.

“It’s ok,” Dorcas said. “I believe you.”

Later that day, they had all been sitting in the common room — Dorcas, Marlene, Lily, Mary, Alice, Remus, Sirius, James and Peter — and Sirius had told them all the real reason he had broken up with Marlene. Based on their expression, Dorcas assumed he must have already told Remus, James and Peter. Or they had already guessed it for themselves. Dorcas wasn’t surprised either. This was just proof that her gaydar worked. Even Lily, Mary and Alice didn’t look all that surprised.

“Why aren’t you more shocked?” Sirius demanded.

“Because it was pretty obvious,” Dorcas said, smiling.

“Well clearly not to me,” Marlene said, rolling her eyes.

“So… you guys are really ok with this?” Sirius asked, tentatively.

“Of course,” Lily said. “You think we’d ditch you just because you like guys? Come on, we're not that shallow.”

“Don’t worry, Siri, we still love your stupid face,” said Marlene, swinging an arm around him. Dorcas felt a flare of jealousy. She wanted to be the one with Marlene’s arm around her, she wanted to hear Marlene say that she loved her. Dorcas remembered hoping that maybe she would be a better replacement for Sirius. Better than some guy. But Marlene obviously didn’t think so, seeing as she’d had several boyfriends since she and Sirius had broken up. Dorcas should just accept that there were certain things she couldn’t change.

I wish you were gay so you could just hold me. Call me your babe instead of your homie. Don't know what to say but I wish you were gay. I wish you were gay so it would be easy for me to say that I'm catching feelings. And I know you're straight but I wish you were gay

“Wait,” Peter had said that day that Dorcas had foolishly hoped that she might have a chance with Marlene. “Didn’t… didn’t you guys break up?” he asked Marlene and Sirius, who still had an arm around each other. 

“Yeah, so?” Sirius asked.

“We can still be besties,” Marlene said.

“Hey, stop stealing my bestie,” James said, hugging Sirius and refusing to let go.

“Tell your bestie to stop stealing my bestie,” Dorcas said to James, pulling Marlene’s arm towards her. Dorcas loved that Marlene was her best friend. But she wanted more than friendship. She wanted Marlene to hold her at night, to hear Marlene whisper to her under the covers, to feel Marlene’s lips on her skin.

“Jamie, you’re suffocating me,” Sirius said, laughing.

“Shhh, suffocate quietly, bestie, I’m trying to make a point,” James said.

It had not taken Dorcas a very long time to give up her hopes that Marlene might want her. But that didn’t stop her from wishing that Marlene was gay. If Marlene was gay, at least Dorcas would be able to admit her feelings. At least she would stand a chance if only a small one. But Marlene was straight. That much was clear.

Now I see you get off of the subway, haven't seen you in months but it's ok. I'd forgotten but I feel the same hate that I still wish you were. You walk up and I'm dreading the small talk with your boyfriend, he's chatting my ear off. So I lie and I say I can't stay hate it I still wish you were

Marlene hadn’t had a boyfriend for several months now and Dorcas thought that she might finally be over her crush. That is, until yesterday.

“Dorcas?” Marlene called, coming into the dorm.

“Yeah?” Dorcas replied. “I’m in the bathroom. Just one second.” Dorcas came out and saw Marlene, giddy and smiling.

“Ok, guess what?” she said, excitedly.

“What?” Dorcas asked, becoming equally excited.

“George Davies asked me out!” Marlene squealed. Immediately all of Dorcas’ feelings came rushing back like they’d never gone at all. She supposed that they hadn’t.

“Oh my god!” she squealed back, impressing herself with her acting skills. She sounded genuinely excited, although she could probably put that down to too much experience at pretending to be excited whenever Marlene announced that she was dating a new boy rather than actual talent. “Wait, remind me which one he is?”

“He’s the Keeper on the Ravenclaw team,” Marlene said.

“Oh right. Yeah, I know him,” Dorcas said. “Is he nice?”

“Yeah, he’s really sweet,” Marlene says. “And also so gorgeous. Like wow. I mean, did you see him in the game last week?”

“Oh yeah,” Dorcas said. “Yeah, he’s really hot.” Dorcas made a mental note to work on pretending to be straight cause right now she was failing miserably. Her last comment could not have sounded any more sarcastic but Marlene didn’t seem to have noticed.

“Ok I have to go,” Marlene said. “I told him I’d meet him by the courtyard at six o’clock but I just had to tell you.”

“Have fun,” Dorcas said.

“Thanks. See you later, Dorcas.” And with that, she hurried out of the dormitory and down the stairs.

Dorcas collapsed on her bed and sighed. She had forgotten the pain, the physical pain, that she felt in her chest every time Marlene started dating another guy but it was the same. Nothing had changed. She thought she was finally over this but turns out she wasn’t. I just need to clear my mind, she thought, think of something else. So she decided to go to dinner. Hopefully, some of her friends will be there to distract her.

When she walks into the Great Hall she immediately spots her friends at the Gryffindor table.

“Dorcas!” she hears. She recognises Marlene's voice but it takes her a minute to find her in the sea of students. She’s sitting at the far end of the Gryffindor table with a boy wearing Ravenclaw robes. George Davies. Her boyfriend.

Marlene gestures that Dorcas should join her. Dorcas bites her lip. She wants to sit with Marlene but she doesn’t want to talk to her boyfriend. But she decides to go anyway. Marlene is your best friend, she reminds herself, you should be happy for her.

“George, this is Dorcas,” Marlene says as Dorcas sits down beside her. “Dorcas, this is George.” She exchanges a smile with him and Dorcas curls her hand into fists.

“It’s nice to meet you,” he says.

“You too,” Dorcas says. Her voice sounds far less enthusiastic and her smile is forced. Dorcas had been dreading meeting George since Marlene suggested it (which, granted, was not that long ago but that didn’t make anything any better).

George starts talking about something but Dorcas is only half listening. She glances over at Marlene but Marlene doesn’t seem to be that interested either. In fact, when Dorcas looks at her, she finds that Marlene’s eyes were already on her. Marlene smiles at her but Dorcas can’t bring herself to smile back.

“I’m sorry, I have to go,” Dorcas says, interrupting George. “I’ve got a ton of homework to do. See you later, Marlene.” And with that, she gets up and walks out of the Great Hall.

She wasn’t lying. She really did have a lot of work to do. But she wasn’t planning on doing it. She got back to the dorm and flopped on her bed. Tears formed in her eyes but she held them back. This isn’t worth crying over, she told herself. She could’ve said it another million times but it wouldn’t have kept the tears from spilling onto her cheeks.

We'd be so good give me one look I know you don't mean it when you come to flirt the dreams that I'm having are just getting worse

Dorcas had mostly composed herself by the time Marlene got back to the dorm.

“Um, what was that all about?” Marlene asked later when it was just the two of them.

“What was what?” asked Dorcas.

“Why didn’t you want to talk to George? Do you not like him or something?”

“What? No, he’s fine,” Dorcas says. “He seems nice.”

“Then why did you pretend to have homework so that you didn’t have to talk to him?” Marlene asked, arms crossed.

“I didn’t pretend anything,” Dorcas says. “Besides, what's the big deal if I don’t want to talk to him? It’s not like it matters.”

“Uh, it matters to me,” Marlene said, angrily. “I really like him and I would appreciate it if you made an effort to get to know him. I don’t always like all of your friends but I’m still nice to them.”

“I just didn’t want to talk to him, ok?” Dorcas said, turning away. “I was just irritated.”

“So what is it about him that’s so irritating?” Marlene practically yells. Dorcas looks at her, eyes wide. Marlene hardly ever yells. Or at least, she hardly ever yells in anger. “Or is it just that I’m dating him? Cause for some reason you never seem to like anybody who I go out with. So what is it? Are you jealous or something?”

“Jealous?!” Dorcas exclaims. “What’s there to be jealous of? You can’t keep a guy for more than a month.” Dorcas knew it was a low blow. Are we seriously fighting about guys right now? Dorcas thinks. She doesn’t even like guys. How did they even get here?

“Well, at least I actually get guys. You’ve never even had a boyfriend,” Marlene snaps. “Fuck, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean th—” But Dorcas just laughs.

“Oh right. I wonder why that is. Maybe it’s cause I’m a fucking lesbian!” Silence. Dead silence.

“What?”

“Fuck.”

“Are you serious?”

“Fuck fuck fuck,” Dorcas says, burying her face in her hands. “Ok. Um. I’m sor—” And then Marlene’s arms are around her.

“It’s ok,” Marlene whispers to her. “It’s ok. I’m sorry I was such a bitch. I’m so happy for you, Dorcas. Thank you for telling me. I’m so proud of you.” It took Dorcas several moments to comprehend what the fuck was going on. And when she did, she did the exact opposite of what she should’ve done: she buried her face in the crook of Marlene's neck and let the tears stream from her eyes. She breathed in the smell of Marlene’s hair and let it calm her down. Then she realised exactly what she was doing and stepped away, shaking her head.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

“Shh, you have nothing to be sorry for,” Marlene says. Dorcas just shook her head. She looked at Marlene and their eyes met.

Dorcas knew that she and Marlene would be perfect together. They would be so good. And if Marlene just gave her one look, just considered looking at Dorcas differently, maybe it could happen. No, Dorcas told herself. She’s straight. She has a boyfriend. This was a fantasy that existed only in Dorcas’ dreams. And she did dream about it. The first time it happened she hoped it would be a one time thing, but her dreams had only gotten worse since then. It’s no use. I’m in love with Marlene McKinnon, she thought.

“I love you,” she mumbled.

“W-what?” Marlene asked.

“I’m in love with you, Marlene,” she said louder, looking up at her. “I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be, I-I… I should probably go.” Dorcas nodded, tears filling her eyes.

Marlene stumbled out of the room and ran down the stairs to the common room. She saw the rest of her friends come into the common room, Sirius talking loudly and drawing everybody’s attention. Sirius. He would know what to do. He always did.

“Sirius!” Marlene called. “Sirius!”

“Hey Marls, what up?” Sirius said, turning around. “Are you ok?”

“No, I-I need to talk to you,” she said shakily. “It’s really important.”

“Ok,” Sirius said. “Of course. whatever you need.”

“Come on,” she said, pulling him back outside the portrait hole and into an empty corridor.

“Marlene, what happened?” Sirius asked.

“Can I ask you something?” she said, ignoring his question. “It’s pretty personal.”

“Of course. You can ask me anything.”

“How did you know you were gay?”

“Oh. Wow um,” Sirius started. “I don’t really know how it happened. It kind of just hit me randomly one day and then I started to really think about it, I guess.” Marlene nodded, biting her lip. “I know that doesn’t really answer your question but that’s pretty much what happened. Was there something else you wanted to ask?”

“Just one more thing,” Marlene said slowly. “And you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, I just… how did you know you were in love with Remus?”

“Um. I mean it took a while to figure it out. But eventually, I just noticed it. I always loved spending time with him. I always wanted to be around him. Like every moment that I wasn’t with him felt wasted. I mean, don’t get me wrong I love hanging out with you and James and Peter. But with Remus, it was like… we’d be hanging out and it never felt like enough. I always wanted more.”

“To spend more time with him?”

“Well, that too. But also to do more with him. To be closer, to be touching more, hugging more, talking more. Eventually, I realized that I wanted to kiss him. That took a while though. To get to that point.” Marlene nodded and buried her face in her hands.

“Fuck,” she says. “I fucked things up so bad, Siri.”

“Marlene, what's going on? Are you… do you think you’re in love with someone?” Marlene nods. “Who?” Marlene swallows.

“Dorcas,” she whispers. Sirius' jaw drops.

“Wait is she gay?” Sirius asks.

“Apparently,” Marlene says.

“She told you this?”

“Yeah, just now.” Sirius nodded.

“And what did you do?” he asked.

“I hugged her. And I told her it’s ok and that I’m proud of her.”

“Then I don’t understand. That is a great reaction. Better than my friends going ‘yeah we know, what else is new?’ What did you fuck up?”

“She told me she’s in love with me.”

“Oh. And what did you say?”

“Nothing. I just walked out,” she said. Sirius winced. “It’s bad huh?”

“I’ll be honest with you, Marls, that was pretty fucking bad. I mean, if Remus had done that to me when I told him that I love him… well let’s just say it wouldn’t have been good.”

“I need to talk to her,” she said, standing up.

“Yes, you do. And Marlene?”

“Yeah?”

“Remember that whatever you’re feeling is ok. Your feelings are valid. Just try to be gentle with Dorcas’ feelings too ok?”

“Yeah,” Marlene sighs. “Ok. Thanks for everything, Siri. What would I do without you?”

“What would anyone do without me?” Sirius said. “And you’re welcome.”

Dorcas heard the door to the dormitory open and quickly stopped crying. She rolled over on her bed so it would look like she’s asleep. She didn’t want to be interrogated right now.

“Dorcas?” It was Marlene. Dorcas didn’t want to talk to her but Marlene would know that she wasn’t really asleep and Dorcas didn’t want to ignore her. So she turned around and sat up in bed.

“Dorcas, I’m so sorry,” Marlene said, coming over and sitting down on the edge of Dorcas’ bed. “I reacted terribly and I’m so so sorry.”

“I… I kinda just want to be alone now, Marlene,” Dorcas says, not looking at her.

“Ok,” Marlene says, biting her lip. “Ok. I just wanted to give you something.” Dorcas looks up at her. Marlene wipes away her tears gently with her thumb. And then she pulls Dorcas in and kisses her softly on the lips. The kiss is over before Dorcas even registers that it’s real. Her first thought is that she’s dreaming. Because there’s no way that Marlene is really kissing her. But it doesn’t feel like a dream. It doesn’t feel like everything could disappear in an instant. It feels real. It feels good. And then Marlene pulls away and Dorcas is left sitting there with a blank expression on her face and a mess inside her head. After several moments of silence, Marlene speaks.

“Sorry,” she says, standing up. “I don’t know why I did that. Um. I’ll just go, I guess.”

“No, wait!” Dorcas says, grabbing Marlene’s hand as she turns towards the door. “Don’t go, I— was that… the thing that just happened was it… was it real? Did you really just… I—” Dorcas had lost the ability to speak. There were so many things she wanted to ask, things she wanted to say but Marlene’s kiss seemed to have temporarily numbed her brain, rendering her incapable of speech. But Marlene knows what she’s trying to ask.

“Yeah,” she says and offers Dorcas a small smile. “We… we kissed.”

“But… but I… I mean, you… you have a boyfriend,” Dorcas blurts out.

“Not anymore,” Marlene shakes her head. “I told him that it’s not going to work out. I mean, even if you don’t want to be with me, I still think I need some time to—”

“Don’t want to be with you?” Dorcas says, incredulously. “Are you kidding me? That’s literally all I’ve wanted for years. I just… You’re my best friend. I know I told you that I love you and I’m sorry if I made you feel like you have to do something about it. Don’t feel like you have to do this just because I said something stupid.”

“I’m not doing anything because I feel like I have to,” Marlene says. “I’m doing this because I want to. And it wasn’t stupid,” she adds quietly.

“I don’t want to lose you,” Dorcas says, so quietly it’s almost a whisper.

“You won’t,” Marlene says, squeezing her hand. “You can’t.”

Marlene leans in again but this time she stops, her lips hovering over Dorcas’.

“Can I kiss you?” she whispers.

“Yes,” Dorcas whispers back, but she doesn’t give Marlene a chance. She closes the gap between them, fitting her lips with Marlene’s, kissing her like she’s been longing to do since they were fourteen years old. Her hands find Marlene’s waist and she lightly lays them on the curves of Marlene’s body. Marlene moves into the touch and sighs into Dorcas’ mouth, making her kiss Marlene harder.

When they break apart, Dorcas couldn’t keep the smile off her face even if she wanted to. She looks at Marlene, her clear, blue eyes glittering.

“Does this mean… are… are you gay?” Dorcas asked, though she still hadn’t quite regained the ability to speak.

“I don’t know,” Marlene said. “I’ve got no clue what I am. But I do know that I love you.” Dorcas smiled.

“Say it again.”

“I’m in love with you, Dorcas Meadowes.”

#dorcas meadowes #dorcas meadowes fluff #dorcas meadowes angst #marlene mckinnon #marlene mckinnon fluff #marlene mckinnon angst #dorlene #dorlene fluff #dorlene pining #dorlene fanfic #dorlene fanfiction #dorlene oneshot #dorcas x marlene #marlene x dorcas #wolfstar fluff #lily evans #mary macdonald #alice fortescue #james potter #sirius black #remus lupin #marauders #marauders fanfiction #marauders one shot #marauders era girls

[saudadeonly]

Sirius and Marlene's friendship (with benefits)

Okay but this

This got away from me because for some reason their friendship is just really important to me

They knew each other before obviously, they're both from high-profile pureblood families after all, but they hit it off in their sixth year, after the Snape Incident™ when Sirius really starts hanging out with Lily and consequently with her friends (he's friendly with Mary and Dorcas too but it's not the same)

They bond over their pureblood upbringings (while Marlene's family are not pureblood maniacs like Sirius's, they never outright said they supported Muggleborns (at least not until that point) like James's and are not cast out from the wizarding society) - they share many inside jokes only those who attended pureblood balls would understand

"Black, Rosier started on the third years again, we're going to make him look worse than his mother did in '74"

"Hear, hear"

"What happened in--"

"Don't ask, Mary, it's not for your ears"

Always pranking/getting into duels with the Death eater wannabes on Muggleborns' behalf

"Black, McKinnon, detention"

"Yes, professor McGonnagall"

They learn to become sneakier the third time around - they are never caught again

He helps her with Transfiguration and she helps him with Potions

Studying side by side in the library and later in the common room well into the night, along with Lily, because Sirius doesn't want to be in his dorm while the Marauders are still awake and they will both be damned if they leave him alone

Marlene actually staying up with him until dawn the first full moon after the Incident™

They don't actually study that much, Sirius just laments how badly he screwed up (Marlene already knows Remus is a werewolf because she's not an idiot)

"You should apologise"

"I already did"

"Do it again"

Gradually, the Marauders drift together again, when Sirius apologises again the night before the next full moon (Marlene wasn't there, but she's pretty sure there were tears involved)

Sirius doesn't stop hanging out with them even after he gets his friends back because he's nothing if not loyal and their two friends group just slowly drift together, merging over time (later on at Jily's wedding Sirius will pride himself on being the reason they're actually together) ("Don't be a prat, Black")

Marlene and Sirius making it their lifetime mission to get Lily and James together ("Fine, it was a team effort")

Trying to outdrink each other at parties because they can both hold their liquor

"Be careful, Mack, you don't want to pull a Parkinson" *mad cackles*

"WILL YOU STOP WITH THE PUREBLOOD INSIDE JOKES ALREADY?" - a very frustrated James, at 3 am

"You get used to it, after a while you just tune it out" - Dorcas, patting his shoulder

"Yeah, kind of like Blishwick tuned--"

Dorcas hexes him three ways to Sunday, and Marlene laughs herself hoarse

Sirius coming to Quidditch matches and cheering on Marlene just as loudly as James (Lily is right next to him, doing similarly)

Sirius draping a blanket over Marlene when he finds her asleep in the common one night

Marlene drawing on his face with one of Lily's (impermanent) markers when she finds him (but also covering him with a blanket)

56 nicknames for each other (Remus keeps count)

"Mack"

"Siri"

"She-devil"

"Ingrate"

"Marls"

"Doggo"

Pranking each other constantly - it gets worse when Marlene enlists Lily's help and Sirius Remus's

It's a week no one who was present at Hogwarts at that time speaks about

They call a truce when Sirius can say nothing but the truth for a whole day (safe to say he hides and avoids Moony the whole time) and Marlene has to mime every second word and has pink hair that doesn't change until she washes it in chocolate (she keeps just a lock of it dyed pink, to commemorate the week)

Talking in hushed voices late at night, when no one can hear their concerns for their friends

"I can't lose them, Sirius, I just can't"

"You won't"

Promising each other they will protect them with their lives (Sirius beats himself up for it later, in Azkaban, because he didn't keep his promise, not really, and she would be so disappointed)

They start their arrangement just after they return from Christmas break in their sixth year

They're at a party and they both have just a little too much to drink because there's a war outside their little bubble and they can do nothing about it and they stumble into the Marauders' empty dorm and onto Sirius's bed and forget about everything else for that time (Remus hears them when he comes up and turns around, he can't look at them for a week)

They find a much-needed distraction in each other and they don't stop

Sirius has hooked up before but it's never been like this and he realises that it's the first time he's had sex with someone he actually cares about and it's so he finds out he's demisexual (the only other person he's ever been attracted to is Remus and it's not like that is ever going to happen)

Nothing changes, of course, they're still friends, just friends who occasionally shag

No one knows for the longest time

Until Peter stumbles upon them in a broom closet, half unclothed, and proceeds to tell about his traumatic experience to all of their friends, the rat

James makes a big deal about it, (un)surprisingly, Lily just stares and Dorcas and Mary throw reproachful looks at Marlene, who rolls her eyes, Remus walks out of the Great Hall with a flimsy excuse at best (Sirius tries not to be affected)

"It's not a big deal, Prongs, let it go, we're just shagging"

"For almost half a year?!"

"Yes."

"It doesn't mean anything, Potter, we're not tragically in love"

No one believes them and soon enough the whole Hogwarts know

Half the girls come up to Marlene to congratulate her and ask her how exactly she got the Hogwarts's main heartbreaker to settle down

"I swear to Merlin, one more person ask me that question and I will hex them"

"Why so grumpy, Marlene? Not getting laid enough?"

James has a bruise for a week from the copy of History of Magic she throws at him (Sirius rolls on the floor laughing for solid ten minutes after the exchange)

They do a good job of deflecting all the random insinuations and not hexing anyone who asks them how long they've been together, overall (Sirius walks around with a barely-there limp for two weeks after the only time one of the nasty Slytherins right out comments on it - the Slytherin isn't seen for three weeks - but they both refuse to tell what exactly happened)

Nothing changes between them really

During the summer holidays they don't go out of their way to see each other, both preferring to do other things, but if they happen to have an opportunity they take full advantage

Sirius spends the holidays with the Potters, the last truly calm period of his life he will be able to remember later, Remus joins them weekly, it's the best two months of his life

They are both there when James gets his Head boy badge and they laugh themselves hoarse

Marlene cackles when Sirius tells her

At the start of the school year she and Lily squeeze into a compartment with the Marauders

It's one of the best times any of them has ever had

All of them knowing that this is the last year they get to be just kids

Taking full advantage of it

The two of them resume their dynamic fully and their friends start worrying again

It's a month after start of school, when Marlene's had a really bad week, and comes into the common room after practice on Friday and one thing leads to another and she gets into a fight with Dorcas

A lot of things are said, none of them really truly meant, but cutting deep

The peak being "And you're just turning a blind eye on this thing you have with Black, trying to ignore the fact you're in love with him and that he will ditch you for someone better the second he gets the chance"

Marlene turns around and walks out of the Common room without a word

Sirius comes into the Common room an hour later, just out of detention, noticing the tense atmosphere among the group

James pulls him aside and tells him what happened

"Dorcas what the bloody hell"

Sirius going up to the dorm without another word, but coming out two minutes later and walking out of the Common room

He finds her outside on the grass, just staring up at the stars with a blank look in her eyes

He doesn't say anything, just puts away the Map and hands her a bottle of Firewhiskey

It takes exactly 4 minutes and 5 gulps of Firewhiskey for her to start spilling her guts

"I just--she's so stupid, Sirius"

"I know"

"She can't even see that I'm not nowhere near in love with you"

"I know"

"She keeps saying you're going to break my heart when in reality she does it every day"

"I know"

"She's the only person I want to be with"

Sirius takes a swig then too and pulls her into his arms

"We should start a club for people with best friends who they're hopelessly in love with while they are stupidly oblivious and make it really hard for them to move on"

"That sounds really specific, I don't think anyone would join"

"You'd be surprised"

They don't return to the Gryffindor tower until hours later, well beyond tipsy, to (what they think is) a deserted common room

They say goodnight and Sirius is already up three stairs when she calls out to him

He turns around and she says "I do love you, though"

He smiles "I know, you just can't help it, can you, Mack, I'm too lovable"

She can read between the lines though and she knows she's not imaging the glossiness of his eyes when he turns away

Neither notices Remus curled up on the sofa

Marlene refuses to speak to Dorcas for two weeks and when she tries to corner her after some shared classes, Sirius is somehow always there, like some kind of a guard dog

Lily finally gets fed up with it and forces Marlene to talk to Dorcas while James distracts Sirius

Dorcas receiving threats from Sirius for days afterwards, like she's the one dating Marlene and not he

"We're not dating for Merlin's sake, Dorcas, open your eyes and see who she's really in love with"

Considering he shouted that for the whole Great Hall to hear, it makes for a rather awkward week

At least until it's Hogsmeade weekend and Sirius and Marlene manage to set up a plausible scenario in which Peter has detention, Mary is sick, Marlene just has to meet her mum in the Three Broomsticks and Dorcas has to come with because her mother wants her opinion on something and Sirius has a mountain of schoolwork to catch up on and Moony would you be so kind to help me with it

That leaves just Lily and James, who swore up and down they had nothing to do so they have no excuse to cancel, forcing them to go together

They start dating and Sirius's remark is forgotten by everyone except for the two people who were most supposed to forget about it (read: Dorcas and Remus)

Except unlike the other three, Dorcas actually is a true Gryffindor so she does something about it and corners Marlene in an empty classroom and they both spill their guts

Sirius, who waited for them ouf of general habit, witnesses them coming out of there half an hour later with the goofiest grins and he just smiles, mouthing at Marlene, I know

They don't tell anyone at first but it all goes downhill when Lily comes back from her study sessions prematurely one day, stumbles in their dorm and just fucking screams

Half the common room jumps but before anyone can check it out, Lily comes down the stairs with her face almost as red as her hair

She rounds on Sirius, who's lounging on a sofa, Remus's head resting in his lap as they study

"Care to explain why I just walked in on Dorcas and Marlene snogging, seconds away from actually shagging?"

Remus's book falls down on his face, James leaves a large ink splotch on his essay and Peter squeaks so loudly he actually falls out of the chair

But Sirius doesn't even look up from his book and just turns the page

"Well I'd imagine because they like and are attracted to each other, Lily"

"But--but you're--the two of you--you're--"

"Friends yes. With both of them, actually. Sit down, Lils, have a cuppa"

Remus whisks the book off his face, just staring at Sirius

James says "But you're dating Marlene"

"Don't know where you got that idea, we've never said it" he turns another page

Marlene and Dorcas come down by now and Marlene perches on the armrest next to Sirius, who readjusts himself immediately to accommodate her because despite the fact that she has what he thinks he can never achieve he is so brilliantly happy for her

And Lily just stares at the two of them, then at Dorcas and Marlene's linked hands and "ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS"

And Marlene just blinks and without missing a beat goes "Well not anymore"

#sirius black #sirius orion black #marlene mckinnon #remus lupin #remus john lupin #dorcas meadowes #james potter #lily evans #lily potter #peter pettigrew #blackinnon #(kind of) #wolfstar #dorcas x marlene #sirius x marlene #harry potter #marauders headcanon #marauders era #marauders au #mary macdonald #also pls don't kill me if you don't like it #I just really love them okay

[padfootagain]

Back To Life

Writing for my 3k event! Thank you for sending this request anon, I hope you like it :)

The following quote was asked for Sirius, and it was asked to be super angsty but with a fluffy ending :

72. "I love her."

"Does she love you?"

" I don't know now. Yesterday, you weren't alive."

"Well, I apologize for not being dead in a ditch."

"I don't think I can accept your apology."

"Is that a joke?"

"Yes, yes, sort of. I'm not... I've never been very good at jokes."

From Salmon Fishing In The Yemen (a pure jewel, you should all watch it).

Hope you all like it :)

Gif not mine

Word Count : 3574

Sirius loved you.

It was a truth he had known for years, way before he had a chance to be part of your life the way he did now.

By some miracle you had both survived this war that had torn your whole world apart.

You had not walked out of it undamaged though. Sirius had owned a large scar across his back. You had lost your boyfriend…

You were shattered when Vincent died. It took around a year for you to get back to your feet. Lily, James and Remus helped a lot, but your rock through this storm had been Sirius.

He had picked you up and had brought back the human in you. And after your mourning had fainted, he had become your whole life.

From time to time, you felt guilty. You felt guilty for being alive when Vincent was gone. You felt guilty to have a chance to be happy when he never did. And you felt guilty because… the truth was… you had never been as happy as you were now with Sirius. You should have been. You should have felt better with Vincent and missed him with every part of you and regretted this time you had with him.

But that wasn't fully the truth.

You missed Vincent. You were still grieving and you would always be. You wished he was still here. But as time flew by and the pain subsided, and you and Sirius grew closer and closer, you started to doubt that Vincent and you would have been able, if you had been given the chance, to stay together forever. As you looked at Sirius standing there, shirtless and wearing his pyjama pants, waving his wand around the kitchen to prepare your breakfast, his hair a mess, you felt so lucky to have him in your life, you found it hard to imagine yourself without him. Actually, you found it impossible.

He was humming a rock tune you had heard the day before on the muggle radio, pouring hot water in his cup of tea. You walked behind him and wrapped your arms around his torso, making him chuckle.

"Morning, handsome," you grinned, dropping a kiss on his shoulder.

"Morning, gorgeous," he turned around to wrap his arms around you.

Sirius dropped a sweet kiss on your nose, before guiding the kettle through the kitchen again. You kept on holding him against you for a little longer, and he tightened his embrace.

"Are you alright, love?"

"Yeah I just… wonder… what makes it that we get to have all this and some people… don’t? Cause I don’t feel like I deserve it more than them."

Sirius heaved a sigh, resting his cheek against the top of your head. He knew perfectly what you were talking about. He knew it was about Vincent and this wound in your heart that would never fully close. He accepted it though, that you would never love him like you had loved Vincent. He had disappeared from your life too tragically and too quickly, Sirius knew he would be irreplaceable. Somehow, Vincent would always own a part of your heart.

And about this, Sirius was not mistaken. Where he was wrong though, was that he thought he would never own more than a tiny piece of your love, when Vincent would always be the one. He was at peace with this fact though. He knew that you were the one for him, and he was lucky to have you by his side now. He did not ask for more love than what you would feel like offering him.

Outside the sun was shining brightly upon London. The city was lazily waking up on this Sunday morning, the summer air already warm. There was a taste of holidays in the air, of long hours spent in bed, walks under the sun, sweet breezes on the Thames and cocktails drank with the dying sun. You and Sirius were both enjoying the beginning of your holidays together as well.

"What should we do today?" He asked softly, ignoring your previous question.

"Cuddles. And cuddles. And then…"

"More than cuddles?" he proposed in a huskier tone.

"I was gonna propose even more cuddles but that sounds quite good too," you giggled.

"Actually… we could go back to bed right now if you want to cuddle and…"

You laughed as he left his sentence suspended in mid-air in a seductive way.

You were about to kiss him when you were interrupted by a knock on your front door. So instead of kissing Sirius, you tore yourself away from his arms and strode through the flat to open the door, your boyfriend making you laugh as he groaned in protest.

"Leave it! It's probably a mistake anyway!" he called through the apartment, but you ignored him.

You walked through the hall with a happy smile on your face…

… but it was replaced by shock when you opened the door.

You went through a thousand thoughts and a million different emotions. In all this whirlwind, your brain had managed to get both crazy and frozen simultaneously. For a moment, you guessed that you were seeing a ghost, but the person before you seemed tangible. And in just a few seconds you had pushed the thought of a ghost away. There was no doubt that it was a real, breathing, living man before you, only… only it was impossible.

Vincent had died years before, in the war, you had seen him falling from that bridge in the Thames, there was no way he could be alive… but then how could he be standing before you?

You felt your head spinning with too much emotions and too much thoughts, shock punching you in the stomach.

The man before you – Vincent although it couldn't be Vincent – gave you a shy smile, and when he spoke you recognized this voice you thought you would never hear again.

"Hello, Y/N."

Your head span faster and faster, until you could feel the ground disappear under your feet, and all went dark.

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------

 Sirius was going mad.

He was torn into pieces by so many emotions, and for most of them, he felt guilty.

Anger, jealousy, disappointment…

He was ashamed of admitting it, but he would have preferred Vincent to have died that day during the war… he had seen Vincent falling in the Thames with his own eyes… how could he have survived. And where had he been for so long?

Sirius blew the smoke of his cigarette, pushing it out of his lungs and creating a little cloud of smoke that went drifting towards the sky with the wind. It was late in the afternoon already. After you had fainted, it had taken you a while to get back to your senses. Once you were calmer, Vincent had started to tell you his tale. That he had been badly wounded and had needed months to recover. That he had been looking for you, but by the time he had find you again, you were already with Sirius. He had hesitated for months before finally deciding that he had to see you again.

Sirius was not fully convinced by the whole story, but that wasn't what bothered him the most. What bothered him the most was that Vincent was clearly here to get you back.

All Sirius's insecurities were slammed back right in his face. Deep down, ever since the beginning of your relationship, the thought that he would never have been with you if Vincent had not died had haunted him. He had always feared that you were with him as a second choice. He had come at peace with the idea that you would never love him as much as he loved you.

But now that Vincent was back in the equation, Sirius knew that it meant the end.

Vincent was the one for you, he had no doubt of that. If he asked you to choose, you would be back with your first love.

Sirius was not angry at you for making this choice though. He understood. If you had been the one coming back to him, he would have dropped everything to be back with you. It was only normal that you would give up on him to find back this life Vincent and you had been building together.

But Sirius couldn’t help his rage towards Vincent. And he wasn't proud for wishing that he had remained dead, his blood boiled in his veins at the thought that he was about to destroy Sirius's whole world. He took it personally, as if Vincent had faked his death on purpose and all for the mere purpose to give Sirius a taste of what he would never truly have, only to tear it away from him again. The scenario was ridiculous, and yet Sirius couldn't push it away. The thought came back and back and back, floating in circles in his mind, always here torturing him.

He heaved a sigh, running a hand through his messy hair. It was late already, but he hadn't taken a shower. He had merely put on a T-shirt since Vincent had arrived. He realized then that nor he nor you had eaten anything at all. He had never been able to finish these pancakes.

He sat down on the stairs before your home, watching the street as Wizards and Witches passed by without caring for a second about him and his dishevelled looks. You had asked to speak with Vincent alone, it had been almost two hours ago… The thought that the two of you could be snogging right now made his stomach sick.

Tears rose to his eyes, drowning the grey shades as he thought that the previous night was most certainly the last the two of you would spend together. You had fallen asleep together reading a book about Quidditch. He had woken up in the morning to find the two of you in a tangled mess of limbs. He had barely stayed five minutes with you in the bed then, watching you sleeping. How he regretted now not to have stayed to look at you longer…

All these plans that would never happen, all this future you wanted to build together that had crumbled… His whole life was gone…

What would he do without you?

He chased his tears away with the back of his hands, brushing them out of his eyes. And he wondered if he could be brave enough to still be your friend after all that you had shared. He also wondered if he could be brave enough to live without you.

The door behind him suddenly opened on Vincent, and he walked down the tiny stairs Sirius sat on, before turning towards him again.

"She asked to have a minute alone," he informed Sirius.

Your current boyfriend nodded.

"I'm sorry I have to make you go through all that," Vincent apologized, and Sirius wanted to punch him right on the face for his words.

"I understand," Sirius mumbled back.

"I don't want anything bad to happen to you Sirius, you know I don't. I've always considered you a friend. But Y/N… Y/N is the one for me. She's always been. I couldn’t just give up on her. Besides…"

He interrupted himself, but Sirius had guessed the words he had wanted to speak, and he was the one to utter them.

"You think that she might still want to be with you."

A heavy silence settled between the two men, mingling with the thick and hot summer air.

"I know you will try to convince her to stay…" Vincent began to speak again, but Sirius cut him off.

"You're wrong. Y/N is a big girl. She knows what she wants. She doesn't need me to beg her to keep me. She needs me to accept it if she prefers to be back with you."

"Would you really let her go?"

"If she asks me so, yes."

"Really? But why…?"

"I love her," Sirius answered as if it was the most obvious truth in the whole world.

"Does she love you?"

Vincent's voice was hesitant as he asked the question. Sirius shrugged.

" I don't know now. Yesterday, you weren't alive."

"Well, I apologize for not being dead in a ditch."

"I don't think I can accept your apology."

"Is that a joke?"

"Yes, yes, sort of. I'm not... I've never been very good at jokes."

"Sirius Black? Not good at jokes? What happened to you?"

A weak smile formed on Sirius's lips.

"Y/N happened."

Sirius let out a chuckle.

"I'm still hilarious, when I'm not about to have my life turned upside down…" he added.

"I'm sorry."

"No, you're not, Vincent. You want her to choose you and leave me behind. And I want her to choose me and leave you behind. So, let's cut the pretend. There's no need for that. We were friends, she loved you… and if I'm to be completely honest, I think she still does. So, let's not pretend like you're sorry for coming here and trying to get her back, and let's not pretend either that I'm happy to see you."

Vincent slowly nodded. He was about to speak again when the front door opened. You gave the two men a sad smile.

"Sorry for making you wait," you apologized.

Sirius gave you a reassuring smile. He was surprised as you took his hand, and gave him a grateful smile. You turned to Vincent, and Sirius was certain that it meant the end. You were giving one last moment of affection before running into Vincent's arms. That was it… he was losing you for good…

Instead of letting go of Sirius's hand, you tightened your hold a little. He thought it was meant for a farewell, but it didn't feel like it at all, actually. It felt like reassurance.

Your throat was tightened by emotions as you spoke.

"I'm so glad you're alive, Vince," you smiled, tears shining in your eyes. "I'm so glad you're fine… I missed you so much."

"I missed you too," Vincent breathed, his eyes filled with withheld tears as well. "I missed you so much…"

"I'm sure Sirius will agree when I say that you can come visit us whenever you like."

Both Sirius and Vincent exchanged a glance, and Vincent looked at you with a puzzled expression.

"Y/N… I love you. I've never stopped loving you. I thought that the reason I've come back was clear…"

"It was," you nodded.

You let go of Sirius's hand, and walked closer to Vincent. Sirius crossed his arms before his torso, feeling his throat tightening and vision getting blurry. He took a step back, not wanting to see you fall into his arms again, and yet unwilling to say goodbye just yet, he could steal a few more moments with you if he stayed. He was certain that he would never see you again after you chose Vincent. He had come to this decision. He would never be strong enough to see you loving him… he realized that now.

Sirius's breath caught in his throat. He had this strange feeling in his chest, heavy, painful feeling and he knew that his heart was about to be broken. He just had to wait for you to speak the words that would shatter it forever.

He thought for a second that he could fight for you. That he could give you a thousand arguments to choose him and not Vincent, he could punch Vincent in the face, do something to hold you back, anything… He would have done anything at all…

But was it really what was best for you?

Sirius was a fighter, but he loved you enough to give up. He had always been stubborn but he loved you enough to let go. With all the darkness he hid deep down inside him, and all these wounds that were never truly healed, and all the pain he had to carry… Sirius was more fragile than he looked. You knew it, you were one of the few to be allowed to see him without his armour.

Sirius had never thought that he deserved you. And if you asked him to, for once, he wouldn't fight. If you asked him to, he would let you go. For your own sake, for your happiness… he was ready to give up on you, pack his bag, and disappear.

But the words that passed your lips were not the ones he expected to hear at all…

"But Vincent, it's been so long… I'm not the girl you loved then, not anymore. I built another life for myself. I can't give up on everything for you…"

"Why not? We could build this life we wanted during the war, we could get a fresh start and have the life that we wanted, together."

"I can't do that. I… I'm sorry. But I don't want to do that."

You shook your head.

"I'm so happy you're here. I was devastated when you went missing, and I… It took me so long to feel free to move on. I still felt guilty because I got to have a happy life when you were gone. But I've changed. I've changed and… you will always have a place in my heart. But you don't own it anymore. Actually… I realize now that you never owned it at all. I loved you, but it wasn't the kind of love I have now. I don't want to sound harsh, but you can't… I can't be with you anymore. I don't want to. And it may sound selfish but knowing that you're fine is… liberating. I won't feel guilty to be happy anymore. So thank you, for coming here. And if you want, we can still be friends. But we won't be anything more. We had our time together, but the moment has passed. And you need to move on, just like I did."

"Are you sure?"

But you nodded, and when you exchanged a smile with Sirius, Vincent knew he was defeated. You had never looked at him the way you looked at Sirius…

"I'm sorry. But I love Sirius. And I'm very happy with him. Happier than I've ever been. And I wouldn't give up on him, not for anything. I'm sorry."

"Do you… do you love him more than you loved me?" Vincent asked in a trembling voice.

You nodded, a smile forming on your lips and a tear rolling down your cheek.

"I do. He's the one for me. I know he is. I'm sorry, Vince."

"I understand."

"If you want, you can come for dinner next Sunday…"

"I'm not sure it's a good idea, but thank you. As long as you're happy… And if I can't make you change your mind…"

You shook your head, and he could read in your eyes that indeed, you would never change your mind. He had lost you for good this time.

"I wish you both the best then. Farewell."

"Farewell, Vince."

He turned around and walked into the street, and you turned to walk back in your home, Sirius following close.

He leaned against the door as he closed it behind him, and Sirius took your hand, pulling you into his arms.

He heaved a sigh.

"Thank you," he breathed. "But are you sure about that…"

You shushed him by pressing your lips against his, and you held him tightly against you.

"I'm sure," you breathed as you finally broke away. "I'll always be sure about us."

Sirius gave you a bright smile, looking down at your eyes but still holding you in his arms.

"Well then… I propose pancakes and cuddles. A lot of cuddles. And I want to be little spoon… after almost losing you today, I deserve being little spoon," he laughed, but you didn't miss the tears in his eyes.

You shook your head, cupping his cheek.

"You will never lose me. You're the one who owns my heart, and you always will be."

And as you stared up at him, both of you crying and both of you smiling, you found yourself feeling more peaceful than ever. All traces of guilt had been lifted from your heart. This idea that you didn't deserve this happiness because Vincent had never had the chance to find anything like it had disappeared. His ghost had stopped haunting you. And it felt wonderful.

"I love you, Sirius."

He tightened his hold on you and pressed his face into your hair. You had chosen him. You had had a chance to be with Vincent, but you had chosen him. And these three words that you had spoken already before wore now a brand-new meaning. You really did love him. And not because you couldn't have Vincent. You loved him, because you had chosen to. And that was the best feeling he had ever experienced…

You loved him for the man he was. He guessed that it meant that he wasn't such a destroyed soul then, and that his wounds would be given a chance to keep on healing. You were the best remedy for his tortured soul, after all.

He silently promised himself to never let you go. He would keep on spending his life trying to make you just as happy as you made him.

"I love you, Y/N."

**************************************

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