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jiilys · 3 years

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warm front

featuring The Line, also on ao3 here

“You’re a lot better at this than Ron.” Harry said into the phone.

“Well that’s not hard,” Ginny said, not mentioning how she still occasionally picked up the receiver upside down. “Speaking of, he’s started growing a moustache since you left. It’s ghastly.”

“Oi!” Ron’s voice, annoyed, in the background. Harry grinned.

“Oh yeah?”

“It looks like he’s got biscuit crumbs on his upper lip.” Harry laughed, and Millie glared at him from behind the post office counter, “Oh, lovely, he’s giving me the finger.”

“I’ve started growing a bit of a beard actually.”

“Come off it.”

“Feeling left out?” Harry joked

Ginny snorted. “Yes, desperately. Isn’t it hot?”

“Well I think so.”

She laughed, clear and quick, and Harry could imagine her, all limb, leaning against the kitchen cupboard curling the phone wire around her wrist. He’d bought the phone as a bit of joke before he’d left, and then as a joke she’d installed it, and then for a joke he’d rung her, and then this was how they talked now. Arthur had apparently worn a suit when the electrician came to install the power plug.

“Isn’t it hot though? Bill says Australian summers are killers”

Harry looked at Teddy, sat on the post office floor in nothing but shorts sucking an ice-pop. “I’ve been sunburnt in places I never have been before, but it’s mostly fine.”

“Wow, sexy.”

“Bet Ron loved hearing you say that to me.”

“I’m sorry Harry, you want to do what to me? Put that where?”

“Gin-“

“No, we couldn’t in my room, there’s not enough room. Lounge is better, more space. On the dining table.”

Harry could hardly talk. “Stop,” he choked, “He’ll never speak to me again.”

“He left when I said the bit about the lounge, said I was being ‘very immature.’”

Andromeda, desperate to get out, away, gone, bought the land in Australia six months after the war ended. She’d said it was because she’d always liked the heat, but when Harry got there he knew why. He’d never seen anywhere so unlike England, the Australian countryside was all scorched earth, red dirt, dry trees. It could have been a different planet entirely.

He’d followed her six months later to be with Teddy, who at almost a year had hair permanently sunshine yellow, except when it rained it went as grey as concrete. Harry liked the spiders, sand, sunburn of it all. Sometimes, dumbly, he found himself missing sheets of rain, but only when it was so hot he could barely see straight.

Mostly he liked how there was nothing to do there, nowhere he had to be. He was teaching himself how to drive, burying things for Teddy to sniff out (dog nose), going into the tiny town to talk to Ginny on the post office phone, and helping Andromeda build a shed out the back. He’d never used magic less. The days were long and the nights were longer, but it was so different here that that too felt right.

He didn’t know when he’d go home. He kept meaning to set a date and then just didn’t, and then everyone stopped asking. It was stupid, but he felt like he’d know when he was done.

“Dad won’t let me see the phone bill,” Ginny said, picking up on the third ring and not saying hello, “It arrived this morning and he’s been locked in his office all morning with it.”

“Oh, God, I can-“

“Don’t you dare offer to pay for it. I don’t even think it’s that much, I think he’s just trying to recreate the logo at the top or something.”

“I-“

“Stop trying to pay for it- “

“I’m not– “ Harry, who had been, was silent. Then: “Gin, please-“

“No- “

“But- “

“Shut up-“ she said, unbothered, “Mum asked if you got the stuff she sent.”

“I did, the biscuits were excellent. And the tea bags” Harry had cleaned out the tin so Teddy could use it as a hat, which he had been wearing for two days now.

“I told her they already had tea in Australia but she didn’t believe me.”

Harry smiled, “I didn’t mind.”

“She said that even if they did have tea they wouldn’t have English Breakfast, or they would call it something crazy like ‘Australian Outback Breakfast’.”

“How thoughtful of her.”

“Stop being nice about it, it’s ridiculous.”

“It was nice of her.”

“Australian Outback Breakfast, Harry”

“I hate tea and hate that it was graciously sent to me by your mum.” Harry obliged.

“There we go. Killed any snakes yet?”

“Oh yeah, loads. Bears too.”

He could hear her smiling, “Bears, huh?”

“All in your honour.”

“Naturally. Still no success in seducing Millie?”

Harry looked around to the post office reception desk, a stones-throw away from the phone, to where Millie– middle-aged, cardiganed, glasses– was pretending to read the paper and not hate him.

“Haven’t you heard? Wedding’s in the Spring.”

“Damn. Well, we had it good there for a while but true love always wins.”

He laughed, and Millie gave him a look. He waved. She ignored him and went back to the paper.

Ron sent letters, barely legible, by owls that had to be nursed back to health in the bath.

Harry,

Sorry for the writing but I’m on the muggle train because we’re going to Ireland for a few days to stay with her Hermione’s Aunt because she’s ‘dying to meet me’ (???). Anyway, Hermione also says to tell you that Ginny is thinking of cutting a fringe, because apparently that’s important. Apparently girls do that in a crisis, or whatever, she’ll write and explain it.

Ginny is basically living at ours now. The other day she put a Hollyhead Harpies poster up in the living room and when I tried to charm it off all the players screaming at me like Sirius’s fucking mum, so I just moved the cabinet in front of it. Bloody nightmare.

Honestly it isn’t even half bad having her around, she knows all these drinking games and set up your room and sometimes has a go reading over Hermione’s policy reports to the Ministry when I’ve sworn off them. Do not tell her I don’t mind her being round she’ll be annoying about it. I’m getting that Harpies poster off the wall.

Hope Teddy is good and everyone is demanding more photos as usual. All Victorie has to do is chew the carpet around here and everyone gets a bit teary, including me. George jinxed Perce’s glasses into binonoulars the other day and for a weird second everything felt like before and Vic giggled and then George looked like he’d been hit the fucking nightbus. I don’t even know how to explain it– kids really just have no idea about any of it.

Hope Andromeda is good and that the driving is going better. Dad’s framing all of the phone bills he gets which Gin probably already mentioned but I can’t tell you how weird it is to go into my old room and it’s just a bunch of framed bills. Hermione says hello which I’ve already written but she said I didn’t make it clear enough.

We miss you mate. Home soon yeah?

Ron

Often, he thought of the week he’d told them he was leaving. Hermione, drunk, talking to Ginny on the patio of the burrow when she thought everyone was inside. It makes sense, really, she’d said, He’s never been anywhere he wasn’t hunted too. Ron had looked at him and then loudly dropped his firewhiskey and the girls had jumped, turned around, stopped talking, but still. He’s never been anywhere he wasn’t hunted too. Huh.

“How’s driving?”

“Oh, fine. I killed a swan.” Harry said, demoralised. Ginny laughed for a good two minutes.

“What?”

“I hit the wrong pedal and speed up instead of slowing down. I didn’t know what to do so I just moved it off to the side of the road.”

“Ah, the Boy who Lived strikes again.”

“Stop,” He was smiling, “What if Teddy had seen it?”

“He’s not even two. He probably would have thought it was, like, having a lie down or something.”

Harry was laughing now, “A lie down?”

“Yeah, a spontaneous, truck-induced–“

“–Permanent–“

“–Permanent, lie-down. I’m almost jealous now actually.”

Andromeda was in her garden a lot. Getting anything to grow was near impossible, but she wouldn’t stop working at it. She kept saying that soon they’d be able to have a green beans salad, so Harry just drove to a market and stuck a few green beans in the ground to make her laugh. As a sort of joke they’d started calling the land ‘the farm’ even though nothing ever grew here.

They took Teddy to the ocean for the first time and his eyes went blue the second he saw it. The beach where they’d buried Dobby was overcast, water as grey as dishwater, but here the it glittered like glass, blue light come alive. Teddy sat in the shallows, trying to flatten waves with his fists, laughing.

Andromeda sat on a towel by the dunes under an enormous hat, tears running down her face, abruptly laughing when Teddy tried to eat sand or fell over a sandcastle. Harry knew how she felt. Impossible, how two years ago Teddy had two living parents and Harry had been seventeen, dead and walking, and now they were sat on the beach, people they loved dead for real, as Harry and Teddy lined up shells on the shore.

It was three in the morning but Harry snuck in through a backdoor, cloak on, having to jimmy the lock because he forgot his wand. The streets were pitch black, only three streetlights in the whole main street, with two of them not working anyway.

“Why’re you awake?” Ginny said lightning quick, knowing the time difference by heart, and Harry’s chest unlocked. It was stupidly comforting, Ginny’s voice, how she never said hello on the phone because she never learned, how if he really made her laugh she’d hold the receiver away from her, like he wasn’t desperate to hear it.

“I thought I saw Sirius today,” he couldn’t stop himself, “There was a dog on the farm and it was huge and I thought– I forgot he was dead. Isn’t that stupid?”

There was only Ginny’s breath down the phone. Picture: her in the kitchen, gripping the receiver, still. The memory looped in his brain, how Sirius’ name had risen in his throat, how odd it felt there, how long it had been since he’d said it aloud.

“No.” He almost didn’t hear her it’s so quiet, “I went to the shop yesterday and asked Ron if Fred was in the back. I forget too.”

His heart slowed, the memory of the shop: solid and real, running again, made for laughing, rose up, only then he shut his eyes and saw everyone laid out in rows, glassy eyes, and somehow he was walking through the forest again, going to die, but not soon enough–

“Harry.” Ginny’s voice, dragging him back to earth, “You did everything you could. Sirius knew. Everyone knew. No one could have done better.” She sounded so sure, voice as clear as glass, he’d be a fool not to believe her, “It hurts because they loved us. They loved us. That’s the part to remember.”

“You are kidding-!” This time Harry didn’t say hello.

“I’m sorry, who is this?”

“Harpies reserve!” Harry was yelling in the post office and Millie looked appalled, “They’ll promote you in two weeks, you genius, I knew it– “

“I’m sorry I really have no idea who this is.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t say anything.”

“I sent the letter!” Ginny dropped the joke, indignant.

“We spoke two days ago! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me then–”

“–I sent our fastest owl.”

“Marius is currently passed out in the sink–“

Ginny laughed, “I wanted you to get the letter,” she said, finally, “I wanted you to see it. Did you see Madeline McKinnon signed it?”

She sounded like a kid. He grinned. “I did.”

“Best beater this century sent a letter to my house, asking me to be on her team. Madness. The English team are after her you know, it’s all over the Prophet.”

“I hope you’re not expecting me to send the letter back because I think that really will finish Marius off.”

“Please, you think I sent the real thing? Dad made twenty copies. He hung two on Ron and Hermione’s fridge and sent one to Aunty Muriel.”

Harry grinned, “You’re brilliant, I’m hanging my copy on the front door, framed.”

“The moving logo may cause problems for the muggles”

“Who cares? I want to tell everyone about this. Chaser for the Harpies–“

“I’m a reserve.”

“For now.” He could hear her smile through the phone, “What did everyone say?”

“Ron said I was a traitor and that he was also proud. Mum cried. Hermione promised to actually watch a game, George reminded me about nicking his broom all that time so technically he was also partly on the team, Bill bought a season pass, Charlie hung a giant Harpies poster in his shite apartment and sent a photo, Luna sent me awful flowers that won’t stop smoking, and Percy called to congratulate me on my admission to the ‘Hollygrove Harps.’”

Harry laughed, “Incredible.”

“Yeah, Perce’s was particularly heartfelt.”

Harry,

I’m sat at the dining table and everyone’s still here, but Mum wanted me to recap Charlie’s birthday dinner right now because she doesn’t want you to miss anything. Hermione also agreed with this mental idea.

Dinner Summary:

Food was good

Hermione tried to explain the electric collage or whatever decides American elections to Dad, it was stupid.

Hermione says it was electoral college not the eccentric cage or whatever I wrote

George got Charlie a life-size model of the Horntail that he almost opened in the house. Mum had a fit.

Dad told a story about how the Muggle Foreign Minister ended up with a bathtub cursed to drown anyone in it.

Ginny wants me to say Percy is wearing a cardigan Millie would be proud of. I do not know what this means. Better not be a sex thing.

Hermione says hello (again she insisted I write this down like it isn’t obvious)

Mum wants me to say we all miss you still (again, obvious)

She also wants to know if you need her to make you any shorts (do not answer this)

Charlie wants to say cheers for the gift – apparently they only do that burn cream in Australia and it’s hard to come by

George doesn’t have anything to say he just wanted to be involved so I’ve written this so he’ll bugger off.

I’m bloody sending this now, I feel like a quick quotes quill (Fleur asks how you are). Have a good one mate.

Home soon yeah?

Ron.

Sometimes, when he was driving home from the post-office just after the sunset, everything sat in the new-dark, he’d remember when he used to be on watch, sat in front of the tent holding Hermione’s wand with everything going wrong, and how only then he’d let himself think about Ginny. Her voice, long laugh, longer legs, telling him to move over, pass the milk, look left, met her later, skip that flashcard, relax, put Luna in as chaser if it all goes arse up– she’s Ravenclaw but I’ll vouch for her. Dumb hours spent on the Quidditch pitch, sun going down, watching her get shot after shot past him like she even needed the practise. C’mon Potter at least try to save these, you’re making Ron look like Wood. Her hair everywhere, laughing, head back, both of them impossibly far from the ground

I really don’t want to die, Harry would think in the dark, wand out, ready for it, I really don’t want to die and miss out on you

Harry,

Sorry I couldn’t call but everything’s been nuts here and I wasn’t sure when I’d get to talk to you. Malcotti’s fucked her ankle so I may actually get put in for a game?? She’s been told to take it easy for a week and we play the Magpies in four days, so?? I’ll let you know when I can call. I’m currently writing this at the post-office desk and running late for practise.

Sidenote: this express owl cost me four galleons so I hope it does a dance on its arrival or at least arrives within the day. Tell Andromeda hello and that I’m still rooting for the green beans. Also, good luck for the driving test!! I’m sure you won’t hit anything living or dead and/or drive into a lake, but also if you do just confund the instructor. I solemnly swear not to tell Hermione.

Thinking of you. Kiss Teddy for me,

Gin

The click of the receiver: “I only have five minutes, we’re about to eat.”

Harry smiled, “How’s home?”

“Absolutely nothing to note. Victorie threw up on Bill yesterday, so that was a joy.”

“Supportive as usual.”

“Hey, I am supportive.” Harry could tell the phone was jammed between her shoulder and her ear, heard a knife on a cutting board, “Supportive of Victorie’s right to throw up on Bill whenever she wants.”

“Are you cooking?”

“I’m cutting potatoes by hand to avoid the lounge because Fleur and Mum are talking about how to discipline children.”

“Sounds tense.”

“You don’t know the half of it. Ron had to pretend to be on the phone with you earlier for ten minutes just to get out of there. He says hi– fuck!”

Harry heard the phone fall, “Ginny?”

A scrambling on the other end, distantly: “You’re bleeding on the potatoes!”

“Hi,” Ginny’s voice, a little breathless, “I cut myself.”

“You alright?” Harry asked, quick-shot.

“Oh, yeah. Just blood. Admirably everyone is showing a lot of concern” (Percy’s voice, distant and mournfully, “well there’s no way we can eat these now”)

He thought about going home sometimes, about the flat with Ron and Hermione he was currently paying for that he’d never lived in, what he’d do back in England. No one had ever come out to visit him here, some unspoken agreement they’d all made to give him space. Except, knowing Ron and Hermione and Mrs Weasley and he’s never been anywhere he wasn’t hunted to it probably was very much spoken, it’s just he wasn’t there for it.

The thing is, if he went home that meant no more seeing Teddy every day, sitting around eating cereal, watching him walk into walls or turn his nails pink, giving him ice cream for lunch and strap him into the truck, driving around the farm doing spins just to make him laugh. Even after all this time Australia was so far from the familiar, every night him and Andromeda sat on the deck lazily casting cooling charms, looking at all the stars.

On full moons Teddy got in bed with all the curtains open, blinds up, just to look at the moon. He couldn’t sleep unless he saw it. Harry wondered if he ever did anything like that, got pulled towards something of his parents without realising it. Quidditch, probably. Looking for something without knowing, not sure what you were really missing. Teddy’s huge eyes, the moon, and that familiar feeling: Stop, wait, I can’t believe I’ll never see you again. Come back, I wasn’t done yet. I don’t know how to do it without you.

It was pitch-black, four in the morning Queensland time, but it had been the only time she’d had free. Harry was leaning against the booth wall, letting the cloak slip, exhausted. Ginny cleared her throat in an odd way.

“So, you know I hate asking about this. It makes me– I don’t want to be that person” She sounded, wrong, uncomfortable, like white knuckles gripping the receiver, “But everyone’s been asking and I want– when do you think you’ll be coming home?”

Harry was quiet. All this time away– almost a year, eleven months, it occurred to him– and she’d never asked. She was the only one who hadn’t. “Oh, I don’t know. Soon, I guess.”

“Yeah.” She said, unreadable. A beat went past, and Harry could feel the shift, how that was the wrong thing. He could hear her breathing. “Do you want– if you want, we could take a break-“

“No” Harry said, so fast, “No, no I don’t want that. Do you want that?”

“No. No. I just– I don’t want this to be difficult. I don’t want you to feel, like– obligated. If you want like room away from everything I get it. Just tell me– I don’t want– Just tell me.”

Harry’s heart was going into his chest like an endlessly slamming door. How to explain it? You wouldn’t believe the space here, all this room, all this time I have. I didn’t think I’d get it. I want space but never from you.

“I’m not with you because I feel obligated. I’m– That isn’t how I feel. I don’t want space or a break or anything.”

Silence, endless, pouring down the phone. He could be sick. Then, Ginny’s voice: “Okay.”

“I’m coming back to England, Gin. I’m coming back, just, when I’m– when I’m done. I’m coming home. Soon.”

“Okay. I just wanted to make sure that this– that this is still good.”

“It is.” He was so stupid. A war ends and everything finally works out, everyone safe for real, and he goes running to the other side of the world and doesn’t say when he’s coming home. Ginny, at home, getting a phone wired up just to call him. He had no luck for seventeen years and then it all came at once, and now he doesn’t know what to do with it.

“I love you,” he said, which he never said because it felt heavy, full of gravity, and he spent all his time trying to make her laugh.

Deep breath. He could hear her shoulders unknotting through the phone. “I love you too.”

“Harry?”

“Ron?”

“Can you hear me? Is this?– how do I know if this is on?”

“It’s on,” Harry said, hurriedly, “Is everything alright?”

“I tried to give Pig a letter for you this morning and he bit me and flew into the window.” Harry started laughing, “So I thought I’d try give him a break.”

Harry pulled himself together, “Yeah maybe that’s for the best. How are you?”

“Oh, the usual. The shop is still nuts so Hermione stopped by to help out on Saturday and ate half a Bile Biscuit thinking it was shortbread– hilarious. George threatened to charge her. If Ginny’s not at a practise she’s at our place drinking all the milk, and Luna came by the other day and threw all the stuff in the fridge out because she said it was infected with ‘Mimilice’. You?”

“The same. Teddy turned his leg into the end of a snake the other day and I had a fit. Andromeda put him in the sink so he couldn’t slither away before phasing back. It’s currently 39 degrees.” Ron laughed.

“God, even your voice sounds hot.”

“Woah, mate. I’m seeing someone and so are you.”

“Ha ha.” Ron said sarcastically, “I wish I could turn this up so everyone in the empty living room could have heard that.”

“Please don’t try to use the speaker phone, you’ll accidentally dial the embassy or something.”

“’Speaker phone’? What could the phone have to say?”

Teddy turned two and Andromeda make him a cake by hand with a spider on it that moved. He blew out the candles and looked bemused, sat in a top Hermione had sent, still holding onto a scrap of ribbon. Harry took him outside and sat him on his Nimbus Seven Series, entirely too long, and Teddy did slow circles while Harry held the end, watching him laugh, tiny hands grasping the handle. Suddenly, like being thrown through a window, Remus was in front of him, standing in the Hogwarts Hallway, breathless and happy, saying his sons name.

The post office has been closing for a good fifteen minutes, but Harry brought the cloak, pretended to leave, then snuck back and picked up the phone again.

“I think I just saw Millie’s husband.”

“You’re kidding.”

“A guy came to pick her up, he had a hat on, she got in the front seat–“

“What kind of hat?”

“I don’t know, normal. Like a normal old-person hat.”

“You didn’t say he was old.”

Harry grinned, “You really thought Millie seemed the type to be with a 25-year-old?”

“Hey, you’re going out with me after all–“

Harry spluttered, “I’m a year older!”

“Year and a half–“

“You’re unbelievable. That is not the same.”

“Just because you like younger women–“

“I don’t like younger women, I like you, or I did until a few minutes ago. I’m now reconsidering.”

“You like me.” Ginny said, not really serious but also deadly so.

Harry smiled, said dryly, “What gave me away?”

Harry had started dreaming of home, the staring in the street, dishes washing themselves in the Burrow, Hogwarts lake dark and silky as eels. He couldn’t tell what had brought this on, only that he was now driving into town every day to talk to Ginny, and now Ron, Hermione, even Neville were coming to the phone.

“They miss you” Andromeda said, unprompted, drinking muggle wine on the deck one night after dinner, “Molly wrote last week asking if you mentioned when you’d be coming back.”

“Oh,” Harry said, because he couldn’t think of anything else. “Do you think you’ll come back?”

The question hung between them. Terrible thought: Teddy never back in England, Teddy growing up where Harry couldn’t see him.

“I will.” She looked back at him, unbearably, and it was everything that went unsaid.

“How?” Harry asked, unthinking.

Andromeda looked back out the window, the pressing dark, the unbearable heat. Even after all this time, making dinner, sitting on the dark deck, weeding the garden, she was still unreadable. Grief undid you in layers.

“Because Nymphadora would want me to.” She said, simply. “Because I want her to think I’m brave.”

The post office shuts for a week because Millie goes out of town, and the place is small enough that that means it’s not open till she gets back. Harry makes it four days before apparating hundreds of miles away, almost splinching himself in the heat, dizzy from lack of practise, and stumbling to a payphone at the side of a highway.

Click. “Didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.”

“Yeah, I went out of town to call.”

“Out of town huh? Miss me that much?” Ginny’s voice, joking.

Unbelievably, Harry thought. “Yeah well, Teddy isn’t much of a conversationalist.”

“Don’t let him hear you say that, you’ll knock his confidence.”

“He’ll get past it. How are you?”

“Fine. Well– actually, you won’t believe what happened at practise on Thursday, I hope you’re sitting down–“

“I’m not–” Harry grinned

“Squat then,” Ginny said blithely, “because Jacqueline has actually gone full bonkers–“

“My parents say its incredible “ Hermione’s voice, the only person in his life who spoke in a normal tone on the phone

“Yeah, we’ve been actually.” Harry didn’t have the heart to tell her that Teddy had found the Great Ocean Road blindingly boring and had only made it an hour in before him and Andromeda had decided it wasn’t worth the screaming anymore.

“Yeah, Mum and Dad were thinking of coming down, doing it again.”

Harry played along, “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She was endearingly fake-casual, “Maybe Ron and I would come too.”

“Ron wants to drive 150 miles along a stretch of boring road with your parents?”

“You didn’t say it was boring.”

“Slip of the tongue,” Harry smiled, “What about the Ministry? And the shop?”

“We’re thinking about doing travelling.”

“The year we spent in a tent in various country-sides not enough?”

“Funnily enough seeing the sights wasn’t top of mind then.”

Harry smiled darkly, “If we’re going travelling let’s do Italy, or America, or something. Soon. Somewhere none of us have ever been.”

Hermione left it a beat too long for it to be a normal silence, “I heard Italy is beautiful, the history there is incredible…”

Harry could almost hear talking to Ron later: “and then he said if we’re going travelling, ‘we’re’, Ron! And ‘soon’! he thinks he’ll be travelling with us ‘soon’!. And Ron, “so you didn’t ask when he’s coming back then?, and then Hermione: “didn’t you hear? soon! He said soon!”

He was walking back to the car from the post office one day, Teddy plodding beside him infatuated with a passing goose, with Ginny’s voice still swimming around him, the sound of Ron telling her to shut up, pass the receiver, I’ve got to tell him the Cannons score, and he walked into the travel agents and booked one-way ticket to England for next week. Just like that.

Stupid, really, how he heard their voices all the time (walking in the street, making a sandwich, fixing the plumbing) but had never made the connection. He was in the street like always, hearing the call all again, and thought I wish they were here for real, and then walked into the air-conditioning and pulled out his chequebook. It really was that easy. The goose was still outside when he left holding his ticket, Teddy squirming to get closer to it with a full-on beak that Harry was trying to hide with one hand.

Home soon Harry thought the whole drive home, the thought expanding in his chest, the window open, his hair blowing everywhere– longer than it had ever been. Even when he got back to the farm, told Andromeda (who promised to follow in a year), made dinner, went to bed, he imagined he would feel different. Something huge and unfelt before, but really everything was the the same as ever. He just missed them, is all. He was learning that sometimes love really was that simple, that it was reason enough.

“I read that people sometimes make signs at airports.”

Harry smiled, phone cord wrapped around his palm. “Saying what?”

“Guess you’ll find out tomorrow.”

“Oh, God.”

“Don’t worry, no magic involved. We don’t want to alarm the muggles. Luna asked if she could bring her lion hat but Hermione got intervened.”

“Luna’s coming?”

“Yes, duh. Everyone is. It’s been a year a half.”

Harry, who had had visions of kissing Ginny ridiculously for an hour in front of the plane, adjusted his expectations.

Ginny, as usual, reading his mind: “Don’t worry. I’ve briefed Ron that I’ll still be kissing you senseless so he had better start getting over it.”

Harry grinned, “Bet he loved that.”

“He called me a cocksucker, and then I pointed out that actually I hadn’t been in a year and a half–“

“Gin!”

“–and he said my name exactly like that, yeah.”

Harry couldn’t stop laughing, bright red in the post office for the last time as Millie shushed him, “You are unbelievable.”

“Well, believe me.” she said, dryly, “I’ll be seeing you in 29 hours.”

Harry, also counting, ducked his head, grinning. It turned out all his best luck was waiting at this part of his life, who knew. Thank God, Thank God, Thank God.

“I’m going to be totally unusable, you know. The flight’s twenty-one hours.”

“Yeah, you’re an idiot. I know you’re on a whole no-magic kick but this really is the limit. What are you going to eat?”

“Hermione says they serve eggs and stuff.”

“Wow, really? How?”

Harry considered. “I actually have no idea. Maybe please bring some chips or something to the airport.”

Ginny laughed, the best sound in the world, “Only if you bring me some eggs.”

#sorry this is late sorry to all my unanswered messages i had to post this today i had to get it away from me!!!#hinny #hinny fic #harry potter #ginny weasley #otp: several sunlit days #i have to run everyone is waiting on me sorry everyone i love you all lots i turn 21 in three days who could believe it!!!#carolineswritingtag

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minkoobi · 3 years

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𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡, 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 | 𝐣𝐣𝐤

⤳ pairing: gryffindor!jungkook x slytherin!reader ⤳ genre: rivals to lovers, fluff, slight angst ⤳ word count: 11.5k ⤳ summary: jeon jungkoook, quidditch rival and former best friend, attempts to rekindle your lost friendship- and maybe something more

The gates slowly rise up and you are met with the sun nearly blinding you. With one quick glance to your teammates, you hop on your broomstick and fly up and above the quidditch pitch. Students from different houses were cheering, waving flags and chanting with all their might.

“Slytherin! Slytherin!”

You soar above them with pride and confidence. Quidditch has always been more than a sport to you. It was your calling- your passion. You were the best player in your team after all, earning you the title of being Slytherin’s team captain. You have led your team to many wins, but also shared your losses, specifically against this one team.

As if on cue, the opposing team makes their entrance, flying around the pitch with smiles on their faces, one which caught your attention almost immediately.

That toothy grin with his nose scrunched up and eyes turned into crescents- they could only be that of Jeon Jungkook’s, Gryffindor’s team captain and best player. Simply put, he was your rival. You both had the position of being a chaser and are both known for being extremely competitive.

“Gryffindor! Gryffindor!”

You can see his smile grow bigger and you almost scowl at how easily his ego was boosted. But if you were being honest, you didn’t hate the guy, just disappointed at how your relationship turned out to be.

First Year

“Up.”

And just like that, your broomstick met your palm in an instant. Pride fills you at how easily you’ve done the task at hand. You were really looking forward to Flying Classes since it’s a step closer to learning quidditch.

To your left, the boy kept summoning his broomstick, having it float for a millisecond before it drops to the ground again. His fringe hung over his eyes but you could still make up his furrowed eyebrows. He groans in dismay and you can’t help but giggle.

“You have to put more force into it.”

The boy looks at you, eyes wide and a little flustered by the fact that you were watching him. You give him a small smile and a nod as if telling him to give it a try. He gulps before focusing on the broomstick and with one stern ’up’, he had it in his hand.

“Thanks!” the nameless boy smiles sheepishly.

“It’s nothing. I’m Y/N by the way,” You reach your hand out to him and he gives it a good shake.

“Jungkook.”

“Don’t zone out now Y/N, you wouldn’t want to lose to me again would you?” Jungkook smirks as he flies over to his side of the pitch. You notice Madam Hooch walking towards the wooden chest at the center of the field. The game’s about to start. You position yourself right across from Jungkook and mirror his smug look. “Wouldn’t dream about it.”

Madam Hooch blows on her whistle and throws the quaffle up into the air. Almost effortlessly, you catch it before darting towards the opposing goal. You see red come up from both your sides and as they near you, you throw the quaffle up into the air before your fellow teammate catches it and shoots it into the ring. A bell is heard and the commentator yells “ Slytherin scores first with 10 points!”

“Beaters, get the bludgers! Leave her to me,” Jungkook yells at his teammates before flying right behind your broomstick’s tail. It takes him no longer than a second until he is beside you and a little too close for your liking. You knew he was taunting you.

“You’re being too predictable nowadays,” his arrogance annoys you and you spare him a quick glance.

“I know how this will work out. You’ll have your little snakes catch the ball and have them hand it to you so you can make your goal.” From the corner of your eye, you see your teammate wave a hand at you. Without saying a word, you dart towards their direction and as he throws the ball towards you, Jungkook cuts in between and grabs the quaffle with one hand. He turns his head to face you. “Like I said, predictable.” He speeds towards your goal post and effortlessly shoots it through the ring.

“Yes! 10 points to Gryffindor!” The crowd goes wild as the scores are now tied. Your anger builds up and your determination to win adds up to your adrenaline. “Keeper, don’t let them score,” you say calmly as you fly up higher to the sky. From there you could see everything clearly. You observe your opposing team and are quick to catch on to their tactic. Turns out Jungkook was just as predictable as you.

You make your way to your teammates, sending them a look before spreading out. The Gryffindor team looked confused, watching you all fly aimlessly around them. As the distraction goes on, you and your closest teammate, Seulgi, fly up to Jungkook and trap him between your broomsticks. He is unable to nudge away from you two and causes him to lose his grip on the quaffle. You take this opportunity to snatch it off his hands and shoot it to their ring. Another bell is heard and Slytherin is leading again. “And I thought I was too predictable,” you mock Jungkook’s tone before flying away.

The game progresses intensely and everyone is on the edge of their seat, clearly intrigued by the feud between you and Jungkook. Points were scored here and there and it wasn’t until the commentator announced Slytherin’s win when you noticed your seeker holding the golden snitch. The students from your house were up on their seats, yelling in victory. We did it. I won against Jeon Jungkook. The thought alone made you so happy, you didn’t notice the latter flew closer to you.

“Good game, Y/N,” Jungkook says without any trace of sarcasm and you send him a small smile before going back to celebrating your team’s win.

Second Year

You practically slam the common room door behind you and rush to Jungkook’s side. “I am so so sorry for taking so long, I just misplaced my book somewhere and-“

“Yeah yeah, apologize later. We’re late for Potions Class!” The two of you make a run for it down the hallway, pushing past other students and earning weird looks from them. Professor Granger will not let this slide and will probably give you both extra work. You could already picture the cold, mean scowl on her face.

“I can’t believe you made me wait for you outside your dormitory. Do you know how many times I’ve been glared at by your fellow snakes? I could’ve sworn one of them was trying to hex me,” Jungkook pants as you both continue to sprint down the corridor.

“Shut it Jeon, this is just payback for when you made me late for Herbology.”

“That was a lame class anyway, you would’ve stayed in the courtyard with me if I didn’t remind you of the time.”

The two of you finally reach your classroom and as you step inside, you were fairly surprised to see that Professor Granger hasn’t arrived yet. “Wow, and I thought we were in trouble,” says Jungkook, clearly relieved. Just then, the door slams behind you. Both of you make a slow dramatic turn to see narrowed eyes looking down at you two.

“You’re late.”

Looking back, you can’t really pin-point where things started to go downhill between you two. You were practically inseparable, never found without the other.

During your first two years in Hogwarts, he was your companion as you were his. You both experienced getting lost in the hallways, going up the wrong flight of stairs (they always switch when you least expect them to), and getting spooked by the house ghosts who randomly pop out of walls. Jungkook was also your partner when it came to learning quidditch, since you two shared the same love for the sport.

But as third year came along, things slowly began to change. Jungkook started to gain the attention of many students and even professors. He became known for his exceptional skills in quidditch and everyone was certain that professional teams were already lined up to scout him. You on the other hand, didn’t receive any less recognition. Students, especially younger girls, looked up to you. Many have assumed that you already have a spot reserved in the Holyhead Harpies team, but you chose to stay away from that spotlight and simply focus on perfecting your skills.

But you can tell Jungkook is doing the exact opposite. You can see it in the way he enjoys having to carry a box of sweets and a dozen letters covered in pink and red hearts back to his dormitory almost everyday after class. It’s obvious in the way his cheeks flush pink when he walks in a room and girls start to gush over him.

Your differences with one another become more apparent, causing both of you to spend less time together, which eventually comes to a halt all together. Keeping in touch with each other was no longer a priority and neither of you tried to change that.

Maybe you both simply grew up, or rather, grew apart.

It’s a sad yet inevitable ending, you’ll admit that. But as you continue to stare at the boy surrounded by his rowdy group of friends in the Great Hall who sat not too far from you, you can’t help but feel a sense of longing.

“Y/N, did you even hear a word I said?”

“Huh? Sorry I didn't catch that,” you switch your attention back to your friends, hoping they didn’t notice you just now.

“It’s that Jungkook guy isn’t it.”

“No it’s not.”

“Oh the hell it is! You were practically gawking at him,” your friend imitates your expression, erupting a fit of laughter around you.

“Whatever Wendy, it’s not like you don’t do the same when it comes to Mark.”

“Hey at least I admit it.”

“What happened to you two anyway? You guys were like, best buds two years ago,” Seulgi remembers meeting up with you two in the library and finding it odd for a Gryffindor and a Slytherin to be so close. Now you’re in your fifth year and your conversations with Jungkook only ever happen when you’re both in the pitch. You weren’t even sure if you could consider them as conversations since all you ever say to each other are insults and sarcastic blows.

“I don’t know, his head grew the size of a hippogriff and suddenly he’s too cool to be my friend,” you shrug as you take a bite off your bagel. Jungkook still holds a special place in your life but you’re never going to admit that. Despite everything that happened between you two, he’ll always be that kid who had a hard time summoning his broomstick.

“What a tragic love story,” Wendy feigns pain, placing a hand over her chest before giggling. “But back to the main topic at hand, you and I still need to find a date.” That’s right, the Celestial Ball was just around the corner and you couldn’t care less about who to go with.

“Can’t I just fly solo? It’s not like anyone wants to take me anyway.”

“Might wanna rethink that statement Y/N,” Seulgi grins as she nods towards Jungkook’s direction. You turn back to see him staring right at you. He doesn’t even break his gaze, as if he was studying every little detail on your face. The intimacy of the situation was too much for you, so you look away.

On any given day, you would love to hang out in the courtyard. The gentle breeze and overall ambiance of the place was just the perfect setting for you to relax and even read a book in. But with the Celestial Ball only two weeks away, it wasn’t that much of a surprise to see the place filled with students and couples asking each other to be their dates. And no, you weren’t some bitter bystander who despised the thought of young love, but there’s a fine line between appropriate display of affection and snogging behind a tree.

You’ve just about had it and was about to give up on having some peaceful alone time when a shadow towers over you. You look up to see a boy with black and gold draping over his shoulders and a grin you could’ve easily mistaken for the sun.

“Hey! How’s my favorite chaser doing?”

Kim Seokmin, 6th year Hufflepuff and head boy. You knew each other from past quidditch games and were fairly acquainted with one another. He was his team’s keeper and with his tall, lean frame, you remember it being almost impossible getting a ball through their ring. Unfortunately, he got severely injured on his left leg from a game during a thunderstorm last year and has stopped playing since then. It’s a shame because he was one of the best players in all of Hogwarts.

“Not any better now that you’re here,” you jokingly respond. Seokmin simply chuckles at this and takes up the space next to yours on the bench.

“Aww c’mon, just because you won against Gryffindor you’re suddenly too good for me? I am hurt Y/N,” Seokmin clutches his chest in exaggerated pain, erupting a giggle from you as you grab the end of his scarf and swat it across his face.

“You’re so dramatic.”

“I got you to laugh though,” he wraps an arm around your shoulders and your eyes slightly widen at the unexpected contact. It’s very clear to you now how this guy was placed in Hufflepuff with his tangible enthusiasm radiating off of him. Looking at him now, you couldn’t help but notice how the yellow of his robes match his skin tone and the crinkle of his eyes when he smiles were the perfect embodiment of his House.

“Listen, I actually came up to you cause I have something important to ask,” he spoke in a lower, more serious tone this time.

“What is it?”

“Well.. with the ball coming up and from what I know, you currently don't have a date, i was just wondering if maybe.. you would want to go with me?” Seokmin glances over to your bewildered face, waiting for a response. You were definitely not expecting to be asked out, let alone by a 6th year student you’ve rarely talked to. As you internally debate on an answer, a voice startles you from behind.

“Y/N! I have been looking for you everywhere!” Jungkook sneaks up to you two from behind a pillar, effectively getting Seokmin to remove his arm from you out of shock. The doe eyed boy continues to nudge himself between you two, taking a seat on the already crowded bench.

“I should probably go, but let me know as soon as possible alright? See ya around,” Seokmin sends you a quick wink before jogging back to his group of friends.

“What’s up with you and Donkey Kong?” Jungkook lays across the bench and rests his head on your lap, placing his forearm over his eyes.

“First of all, it’s Seokmin, and second, what makes you think you can use me as your personal pillow?”

“Do you like him?” he asks, completely ignoring your retaliation.

“That’s none of your business Jungkook.”

“You’re dodging the question.”

“Why does it even matter to you?”

“He’s older than you.”

“He’s literally just a year above us and only a few months older than you.”

“Jeez now you’re defending him? Someone’s whipped,” Jungkook lowers his arm to send you a disgusted look, making you shove him off your lap. You’re satisfied to hear a muted thud as he lands on the ground.

“Whoever I like and dislike is not important, so drop it m’kay?” You’ve always hated confrontations since you were never really good at coming to terms with your own feelings. Yes, Seokmin may be a sweet guy, but having Jungkook press an answer out of you was very irritating. You get up to leave immediately when Jungkook grabs your wrist.

“Wait, what’s your next class?”

“I’m done for the day, I’m headed back to my dorm.”

“I’ll walk you back.” Jungkook doesn’t even wait for you to decline his offer as he practically drags you down the corridor. Only when you stop resisting is when Jungkook drops his grip on you.

The walk to your dorm was suffocatingly silent. It wasn’t because you were awkward around him, not at all. You’ve strolled around the castle together in silence multiple times yet this moment felt very new to you. Walking next to him, you notice how much taller he’s grown and how his shoulders have broadened, jawline more prominent and wavy hair just perfectly resting over his eyebrows. It felt like being next to a whole different person. But as he glances at you with those all too familiar eyes of his, you were certain that nothing has changed. That kid you once called your best friend was still in him.

“Dude, I know you hate me but you gotta stop shooting invisible lasers to my head.” There’s a small hop to his steps and you realize just how much you actually miss him.

“I don’t hate you.” You say this mostly to yourself but Jungkook hears it. He holds back the smile that creeps up to his lips, clearing his throat to break the tension between you two.

As much as you enjoyed having him around, your mind starts to go on overdrive. It has literally been years since the two of you hung out like this, so what’s with the sudden change? Losing touch with him was one of the worst things to have ever happened to you and you’re not sure if you ever want to experience that again. All those times of wondering what went wrong and blaming yourself for not being good enough of a friend came flashing back, causing you to stop on your tracks. It takes Jungkook a second to notice that you’ve trailed behind him before he turns to you. “You alright Y/N?”

“Why are you doing this?” Your eyes stay glued to the ground as you fidget on the sleeves of your robes, a habit of yours whenever you were nervous and Jungkook was quick to notice this.

“What do you mean?”

“You haven’t walked me back to my dorm in 2 years. Why are you doing this?” Jungkook remains silent. The truth is he knew exactly why, but he didn't know what took him so long to do so. Disappointed in his lack of his response, you trudge past him.

“Forget it, I can walk back from here. You can go.” You don’t even spare him a glance as you make your way down the stairs to the dungeon. Jungkook remains frozen in his spot as he watches your figure disappear before him, smacking the side of his head in annoyance. He may be confident and self-assured when it comes to quidditch, but dealing with you was a whole other ball game. He glances to his wristwatch before sprinting down the hallway to his Transfiguration class, which he purposely skipped on to accompany you to your dorm.

You couldn’t sleep that night. It was 2am and you have been tossing and turning in your bed for an hour now, causing a few groans and complaints from your roommates. You knew there was no point in trying to get some sleep so you quickly grab your sweater and broomstick before quietly sneaking out of the common room. After years of learning Mr. Filch’s schedule, you knew he was probably wandering around the Ravenclaw Tower by now.

Sneaking off to the quidditch pitch was something you frequently did whenever you felt troubled and needed a place to clear your mind. Something about being in that enclosed field just puts your mind at ease, whether it be flying around it or sitting on the bleachers. You make your way to the center of the pitch and look up at the towering rings that used to intimidate you. With the stars out in the midnight sky, it takes you back to the first time you and Jungkook snuck out here past curfew hours as curious first year students.

“Woah, they’re so much taller than i thought!” You practically gawk at the sky high goal posts. “Can you imagine flying any higher than that?”

“Please, one day I’m gonna fly soooo far up the sky, I bet you I can grab a star,” Jungkook muses, crossing his arms over his chest in fake arrogance.

“Don’t be ridiculous, that’s impossible,” you shake your head at the absurdity of his words.

“You underestimate my skills Y/N! Mark my words, one day I’m gonna grab all the stars in the sky and give them to you.” The confidence in his voice was so endearing, you unconsciously held onto the promise.

“Learn how to fly better than me first,” you playfully shove him before running across the field, having him chase after you.

Mr. Filch catches you two that night, landing both of you a whole week of detention. You smile at the bittersweet memory as you position yourself on your broomstick. How naive were you back then to assume he’d remain in your life forever. People eventually grow apart, you know this now as you soar above the quidditch pitch and fail to reach for a star.

It’s been a week since you last spoke to Jungkook and you rarely get to see him nowadays. The only times you did were during lunch and dinner in the great hall or in some of your shared classes. He was avoiding you, you knew that much, but you couldn't understand why it left a hole in your chest. This wasn’t anything new to you. Both of you rarely exchanged words with one another ever since you drifted apart, but to see him purposely avoid you bothered you more than you would like to admit.

“Y/N,” Seulgi snaps her fingers across your face to get your attention. You have been zoning out again.

“Hm?”

“Your potion,” You glance down to your cauldron to see its liquids overflowing and spilling on your work desk. You quickly grab the washcloth to clean up your mess, a bit irritated at how you screwed up.

“What’s gotten into you lately? It’s not like you to space out like that,” you can hear the worry in Seulgi’s voice but quickly dismiss her with a wave of your hand.

“It’s nothing, just didn’t get enough sleep last night.”

“I know, I hear you sneak out from time to time,” Seulgi helps you out with your potion, scanning through her textbook to read the ingredients. “You know you can talk to me if anything’s bothering you, right?” Your friends know you well enough to know that you cringe at sentiments, so you can’t help but chuckle at how passive Seulgi was trying to be at comforting you, not even sparing you a glance as she adds ingredients into your cauldron.

“I know.” You’re grateful for your friends. As much as you hated relying on other people for your problems, which was called out to be such a Slytherin trait of yours, it was nice knowing someone had your back. Besides, you weren’t going to let some boy bring your mood down like this. You were better than that. You swore from that day on that you were over the whole Jungkook situation. You were sure of it.

At least you thought you were.

Which was why you were surprised to see him two days later, waiting for you outside your common room.

“Jungkook?” He looks up at the sound of your voice and smiles as he walks up to you and Seulgi. “What are you doing here?”

“Our timetables match today so I thought we could go to class together,” he quickly glances over to Seulgi, slightly dipping his head. “May I borrow your friend for the day?”

“We actually made plans-”

“Right! I, uh, actually have to meet up with Wendy for this thing, we have, going on,” Seulgi sends you a knowing look. “You guys go ahead! I’ll see you at lunch?” she spares you no second to reply, side hugging you before speed walking down the hallway.

“I still find it weird how your dorm is literally next to the dungeons,” Jungkook leans down to whisper to your ear, causing you to jump back a bit. “Like c’mon, Salazar could’ve chosen a homier spot,”

“Why are you doing this?” This time, you were hoping for an actual answer. Cause honestly, you were mad, pissed even at how Jungkook thinks he could just approach you like this- like he hasn’t been avoiding you these past few days. But even as you glare at him, a small part of you is happy to see him. He keeps his calm composure and takes a step closer to you, careful not to break eye contact.

“I wanna do things right this time.”

You ponder at this for a second. “What does that even-”

“But that means you can’t ask questions,” he flashes you that stupid grin of his, before snatching your books from your hands. “Now let’s go! We’re gonna miss our first class!”

You choose not to question him since you were already confused as it is, but you must admit that the small gesture of him carrying your things warmed your heart. Jungkook seemed to be a lot more chatty this time, going on and on about his group of friends and the many shenanigans they’ve been up to. You recognized Yoongi and Jimin since they were in the same house as you and even spoke to the latter one a couple of times since he was your team’s seeker. You pretend to be disinterested in his stories when really you’ve been noting down every single detail in your head, piecing together what makes Jungkook the boy he is today. He’s grown more confident over the years and you can see it in the way he walks with his head held high, in every diction of his words, and how he isn’t afraid to voice out his opinions. It was nothing like the shy little kid who used to tail behind you all the time and had a stutter when he spoke- it was a whole new better version of him.

Jungkooks sits next to you in all your shared classes, pestering you in every way he can but still being careful not to cross the line. Every side comment he whispers earns him a smack or pinch on the arm, but you can’t help but laugh every single time. He kept you company through the dull lectures, casting little charms under your desk for entertainment. You watch as he whispers an incantation to the bird origami he folded just a few minutes ago, seeing it slowly flutter its wings. He picks it up and softly blows it towards your face. Your eyes follow the flying piece of paper in amusement as it floats above your head. How have you not heard of this charm before? The paper bird lands on Jungkook’s outstretched hand and he has this smug look on his face you can’t exactly read.

“What?”

“You're smiling.” He gestures to your lips. “It suits you. You should do that more often.”

It takes you a second to realize that there’s a little ache on your cheeks from grinning, and another second to completely wipe out the expression from your face. “You say that as if I have a permanent bitch face on me.”

He laughs. “Not at all. Let me rephrase that then. You should smile more often around me.”

You roll your eyes to hide the fact that you know that wouldn’t be too hard to do.

This goes on for another week and it’s been nothing but fun. The two of you have gotten more comfortable with each other and unconsciously settled in a routine. Jungkook continues to meet you outside your dorm everyday, dropping you off to your classrooms whenever he can. He eventually got you to agree on having lunch with him at least two times a week, just enough times so that you both can still hang out with your own sets of friends.

Although this doesn’t stop Jungkook from introducing them to you. When he asked you to meet up with him in the Clock Tower Courtyard, he didn’t mention six other boys would be tagging along. Just as you were about to make a run for it, he catches you before you can and obnoxiously yells out your name. Yeah, definitely can’t hide now.

If it weren’t for the obvious excitement in his eyes, you wouldn’t be walking towards the fountain they were gathered in. He introduces them to you and most of them were pretty welcoming (you can’t say the same for Yoongi and Namjoon though). It flattered you how Jungkook wanted to include you in this part of his life. It was something else witnessing it first hand. Seven boys from different Houses? You’d expect a clash of different personalities that will result in endless arguments and disagreements, but instead, they mix together beautifully.

You’re grateful Jungkoook has them. He grew up with the best kinds of people.

Then a thought crosses your mind. You could say he was living an almost perfect life right now. If your fall out with Jungkook led him to these people, to be the confident guy he is today, then maybe it was for the best. Maybe you don’t regret it a single bit.

Maybe you were holding him back this whole time.

Maybe he’s better off without you.

The thought alone leaves a bitter taste on your tongue and effectively changes your whole mood for the rest of the day. Luckily, you didn’t have any plans with Jungkook after classes so you use this time wisely; to mope around. What better way to deal with your whirlwind of mentions than by wallowing in self-pity?

Wendy seems to think otherwise.

“Y/N, you better start making some bloody sense.”

“Enough of this please.”

“Not until you explain to me why you’re acting this way!” A distant shush is heard and Wendy is suddenly reminded that you’re both in the library. She speaks in a quieter tone this time but you can still hear the annoyance through her gritted teeth.

“I just don’t get it. I specifically don't get you.”

“Well I didn’t ask you to meet me here to be understood. I just needed a friend to talk to, but clearly you don’t get that.” You continue to scribble down notes onto your parchment paper and try to block out any more of Wendy’s interrogation. You can tell she’s hurt from what you said but this definitely wasn’t the response you were expecting when you decided on opening up to her. You came to the conclusion that ending whatever it is you have with Jungkook will be beneficial to both of you and you expected Wendy to be on board with this. But apparently she is strongly against it.

“Y/N listen to me,” she snatches the quill from your hand and you knew better than to argue with her. “I’m not gonna pretend I know exactly what’s going on in that stubborn head of yours but you better learn how to come to terms with your feelings immediately or you’re gonna end up hurting someone,” she tosses the quill back to you before standing up to leave, but you don’t miss the last words she murmurs.

“Maybe even yourself.”

You hate it when she reads you like a book and especially hate it when you know she’s right. It doesn’t take a genius to know that you’re growing more attached to Jungkook by the second. Things are slowly going back to the way they were, but for what? A setup for more disappointment? You’ve convinced yourself that Jungkook doesn’t really need you in his life, so why is he trying to get you back in it? You’re afraid you know the answer to that already.

“Want some?” Jungkook’s mouth is stuffed with sweets as he hands you a box of chocolates. You eye it suspiciously. It was neatly decorated with pink sparkly wrappings and a red ribbon around it.

“Not when it looks like it’s tampered with some sort of love potion.” You lean away from it and Jungkook chuckles.

“Nah, I had Namjoon check it for me. We’re on the clear,” he continues to pop more of them between his lips. There’s a paper stuck to the box’s lid and you could easily make up the cursive writings on it.

‘Dear Jungkook

My heart only beats for you. Go to the Ball with me?

xoxo Arabella’

The thought of him receiving love letters and gifts bothered you a lot more than you hoped, which is rather stupid cause you can clearly see why. Jungkook is a very dateable guy after all. Did I just say that?

“Arabella huh? The cute redhead from Gryffindor?”

“I mean I guess she’s cute,” Jungkook continues to talk with a mouthful of chocolates. “A lil’ too quirky for my taste though. And she always stares at me in the common room! It’s very unsettling,” he shudders at the memory but is quick to notice the slight scowl on your face.

“Why? You jealous?” there’s a hint of tease to the way he says it and you scoff.

“Absolutely not.”

He laughs as you both continue to walk to the Great Hall. You weren’t supposed to have lunch together until next week but you found it easy to persuade Jungkook into making this exception. It pains you a bit to see how happy this made him when you were already composing the few sentences that will ultimately break this friendship in your head. This only lasts a second until you convince yourself that this will be much harder for you than it ever will be for him.

“So the Celestial Ball is in two days.”

“Yep, it sure is.”

“You have a date yet?”

“Nope.” You sigh in disinterest. You never thought much into having a date. As long as there’s good food, good music, and the company of your friends, you’re sold. But you’d be lying if you said you didn’t have someone in mind.

“Really? So you said no to Seokmin?” He seemed genuinely surprised and somewhat.. relieved?

“Not really. I just haven’t gotten the chance to talk to him.”

“So.. you’d say yes?”

“Oh for Merlin’s sake just worry about your own date!” You roll your eyes. “But I’m guessing you’d be going with Arabella?”

Jungkook frowns. “Do you think I should?” The question dangled carefully from his lips with hesitance. You can’t point it out exactly but it's like he was expecting a specific answer from you.

“Why should my opinion matter? It’s not like I’m your best friend or anything.” This comes out harsher than you intended and halts Jungkook in his tracks.

“Where the hell did that from?” He says this like it’s the most absurd thing he’s ever heard. But wasn’t it simply the truth? You try not to let his clear frustration get to you.

“Look, you can stop this whole ‘making amends with your old friend’ thing you’ve been doing. I don’t need a friend out of pity. That was two years ago and I no longer hold a grudge against you. Shit happens. We’ve changed since then. You’ve changed.”

He scoffs. “And that’s all on me, huh?” he takes a step closer until he’s only inches away from your face. “Everything that has ever gone wrong with us is all because of me. Is that what you’re trying to say?” Jungkook has never raised his voice at you until now. For once you were actually scared of him.

“I never said..”

“You changed too Y/N! Yet I never held that against you,” he was practically seething at this point. “I never once blamed your personal choices for getting in between our friendship, cause they were all for you! Even after you started spending less time with me out of nowhere, I just thought of it as you being your independent self. You think I wanted this to happen to us?”

You’re at loss for words. Up until now, neither of you have ever spoken about this. It was sort of a silent agreement to pretend that there wasn’t this looming tension between you two. You should’ve known one of you was bound to slip at some point. No one dares to speak up, both waiting for the other to say something, anything to end this.

“Is that really what you think this is?” His hand gestures between you two. “Is this really just some sort of compensation to you? That I’m doing this out of pity?" Your lack of denial forces him to believe so.

Every muscle in him was aching for you to reassure him that this past week meant just as much to you as it did to him. That he wasn’t clouded by the fake judgment that things were going extremely well. There’s a pleading look in his eyes when a voice interrupts you two.

“Y/N!” Seokmin runs up to you, completely oblivious. “Have you gotten my owl? I've been trying to reach you this whole week but never heard back from you! I was starting to worry.” It amazed you how dense someone could be. Jungkook doesn’t even spare him a glance as he continues to stare you down.

“Guess you never really knew me after all,” and with a twist of his heel, he walks away, discarding the box of chocolates to the nearest bin. What a waste of food.

You knew you should’ve chased after him. Jungkook may be a brat at times but he would never act on things irrationally. If you were to explain everything to him, this just might have ended on a better note.

But neither of that happens as you let him slip away from your life for the second time.

“I’m sorry, did I catch you at a bad time?” You can see the slight guilt in Seokmin’s eyes so you force yourself to smile at him.

“It’s nothing. Oh gosh I haven’t visited the owlery recently, your letters are probably still there! I’m really sorry,” and you genuinely were. But you just found it hard to care at the moment with Jungkook’s words still echoing at the back of your head.

Seokmin chuckles. “Hey, don’t worry about it. No harm done.” He looks at you pointedly. “But you still owe me an answer Y/N.”

You don’t doubt for a second that you would enjoy yourself if you were to go with him to the ball. Seokmin was known for being the light of the party with his funny antics and humor, anyone would be lucky to have him as a date.

You stare at yourself through the mirror, eyeing the emerald green cloth flow just above your ankles. You thought you looked pretty decent. To finish the look, you decide to tie your hair up into a ponytail to keep any loose strands from falling to your face.

Seulgi walks in the room dressed in a red mermaid dress that compliments her figure. She has her hair styled down and makeup done naturally. The ball isn’t for another two hours and she already looks ready to go. Her eyes immediately land on you, specifically on what you’re wearing.

“Um, you do know there’s a formal dress code, right?” She laughs nervously, hoping what she’s seeing is a practical joke. “Y/N please tell me you just got back from practice or something.” She scans the quidditch gear that covers you from top to bottom. This definitely wasn’t the dress you bought together in Diagon Alley before the year started.

“I’m not going Seulgi, I already told you this.”

“Nooo! You can’t ditch me and Wendy like this!”

“Don’t you guys have dates?” You quirk an eyebrow at her. “If anyone’s getting ditched, it'll be me if I attend the ball.”

“It’s not my fault you rejected Seokmin,” She sits on the edge of your bed. “And I promise I’ll ditch Teddy for you if you ever get bored, so can you pretty pretty pleeeease go with us?” She sprawls herself across your bedding and flashes you the saddest puppy dog eyes she could muster. You laugh and throw a pillow to her face.

“Nice try, but still no.”

“God you’re impossible.” Seulgi pushes herself up and walks to your closet. You glance back to the mirror as you tighten the straps of your quidditch gloves. A quick drill around the pitch will probably be enough to get your mind off everything.

After rummaging through your pile of clothes, Seulgi finds the piece of garment she was looking for. She pulls out a black sheath dress and holds it up close to your face.

“When I come back, you better be out of that uniform and in this beautiful dress I oh-so-carefully picked out for you, okay?” She shoves the clothing to your hands, flashing you a grin before darting towards the door. “Five minutes, Y/N! Then I’ll do your hair and makeup.”

You open your mouth to protest when Seulgi slams the dorm behind her. God she could be so pushy sometimes. The dress feels soft against your fingers as you lay it out across your bed to get a good look at it. Its sleeves are off shouldered with a modest slit on the skirt that ends just by the knee. Aside from the little lace patterns around the waistline, the dress is completely plain. It’s the perfect evening gown for you. Seulgi has a good eye for clothes, you must admit that.

It probably wouldn’t hurt to just try it on...

Two hours later, you’re standing near the entrance to the great hall with an overexcited Seulgi clinging onto your arm. Students dressed in suits and gowns slowly start to pack the venue, meeting up with their friends and partners and you unknowingly become more anxious at the thought of bumping into Jungkook.

“Over here!” Seulgi waves a hand to the sea of people and a guy maneuvers around them to get to you.

“Hello,” The boy you recognized as Teddy Lupin smiles, leaning in to hug Seulgi. “I’m glad you can make it!” he adds to you.

“My friend here can be very persuasive.”

Seulgi grins. “Damn right I am. So, shall we?”

The walls of the Great Hall had all been covered in velvety midnight blue textiles with silver sparkles that resemble those of stars, decorating them from top to bottom. The House tables had vanished; instead, there were about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people. Over your heads, thousands of candles were floating mid air and the enchanted ceiling no longer resembled the sky outside. Instead, it was filled with constellations and planets you learned about in Astronomy class. The three of you stare up at them in astonishment when Wendy sneaks up from behind you.

“Pretty cool huh?” she nods her head towards the ceiling. “I persuaded Professor McGonagall into letting the decorating committee change the view for the night. This place just didn’t scream ‘celestial’ to me before that.”

You’re still gazing at the ceiling when you reply. “Woah Wendy, you guys did a really good job with this place.”

“I know, I know, no need to flatter me,” she jokes. “Come on you guys, I still haven’t introduced to you my date!”

Of course Wendy was able to land herself a date and it wasn’t a surprise to you that it was with Mark, the guy she has been crushing on for months now. Their attires even matched in sapphire blue color and you were pleased to see how much they got along.

You didn't want to admit it, but you ended up having a blast that night. Your friends kept you company the whole time, being sure to include you in their conversations with their dates, who you found to be very friendly. You silently thank Seulgi in your head cause if it weren’t for her, you would be missing out on all this fun.

Across the room, you see Seokmin occupying a table with his friends. He took things well when you rejected his date proposal and made sure there weren’t any hard feelings between you two after that. His eyes meet yours and he sends you a smile, gesturing to the empty seat next to him. Turns out he ended up going dateless as well. He mouths the words ‘this could’ve been you’, making you laugh.

You’re glad things are okay between you two, but you wished you could say the same for Jungkook.

Come to think of it, you haven't seen that boy at all tonight.

Where is he anyway?

“Let’s dance!!” You watch your friends pull their partners with them to the end of the hall where a band was performing on stage. Dinner has ended and everyone is now up on their feet and headed to the dance floor. Seulgi gestures for you to join them but you instead wave a hand for them to go ahead.

“I’ll join you guys later! Just gonna go get some fresh air,” you practically yell over the thumping music before walking towards the entrance hall.

You stop just past the ceiling high doors when the music fades into faint beats. As you step away from the crowd of people, you let out a breath you’ve unknowingly been holding in. A cold breeze brushes against your skin, causing you to shiver. If you knew it was going to be chilly you would’ve brought a cloak with you or something.

“Need a jacket?” You’re surprised to see Jungkook’s friend standing next to you, offering you his blazer in his outstretched hand.

You shake your head. “I’m alright, thank you.”

“Y/N right?” He slings his blazer over his shoulders. “I’m sorry I’m really bad with names.”

“That’s me. And you’re Taehyung?”

He nods and shoots you a boxy grin. You both say nothing else after that and stand together in silence for a few minutes, turning to look back at the party every once in a while.

“He was looking for you, you know.”

“Jungkook’s here?”

“Well, was. He left right after dinner.” Taehyung turns to face you when u remain silent.

“He talks about you a lot you know, even way back when I first got acquainted with him.”

“Nothing too bad I hope,” you muster a small laugh to hide how nervous you are.

He shakes his head. “No no, he always gushes about how close you guys were and how you’re the reason he even plays quidditch in the first place.”

You finally face him, eyes wide in shock. “He said that?” Taehyung simply nods.

“Yeah, you clearly meant a great deal to him if any of the stuff he told me was something to go by,” Taehyung turns to face the open doors of the Great Hall and his eyes immediately land on someone.

“You know, out of all the guys I'm probably the one who relates with him the most.”

“Oh yeah? And why is that?”

He shrugs. “Let’s just say I know what it’s like to pine for someone so clueless.”

You cock a questioning brow at him. When he doesn’t acknowledge your reaction, you follow his gaze which lands on a girl with her back facing you two.

“What are you trying to say?”

“Jungkook’s a good guy, and unlike me, he’s not afraid to act on his feelings,” Taehyung smiles at you, bringing a hand up to ruffle your hair. “You guys should talk things out.”

The brotherly gesture warms your heart and you knew he was right. You owe it to Jungkook to explain everything that’s been on your mind- to finally come to terms with your own feelings.

“I don’t even know where he is,” you look down in dismay.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” and with one quick nudge of his elbow, he walks back to the party, glancing back at you after a few steps. “He’s a pretty predictable guy.”

Catching onto his subtle hint, you quickly thank him before sprinting down the corridor.

Being in the stands had a different kind of excitement to it. From where Jungkook was seated, he could see the landscape of the field that somehow seemed larger than usual compared to when he’s up flying around it. He starts to play scenes from old matches in his head, including the very first game he had against you.

You. The thought he had been trying to suppress the whole day.

It certainly didn’t help seeing you in the ball, all dressed up and happy despite the argument you two had only a few days back. He also hated to admit how pleased he was to see you without a date, as if he stood any chance with you to begin with.

“Why does she have to be so stubborn,” he breathes out to himself, chuckling at the situation he’s found himself in.

But he knew he had his faults. He felt that he shouldn’t have been so harsh on you that day. If he were being honest, he didn’t even know how things led to that. It’s as if something snapped in him, like everything he had pent up inside came rushing out. He was better than that. Not once has he ever let his emotions get the best of him like that.

It’s crazy how much you can affect him like this.

“I thought you’d be here.”

For a moment, Jungkook believes he’s hallucinating when he sees you standing a few rows down from where he sat. Only when you cautiously take a seat next to him is when he realizes that this is all very much real. Suddenly hyper aware of your presence, Jungkook sits upright and clears his throat.

“Boring party?”

“Oh not at all. I took advantage of the unlimited meals then dipped.”

Jungkook laughs and you’re convinced it's the most beautiful thing you’ve ever heard.

“I actually pocketed some of the flavored beans on our table,” he fishes them out from his dress robe and shows them to you. “Want one?”

You can’t help but giggle at the sight of him pulling out colorful beans from his dapper attire, as if it were the most normal thing to do. “Sure, but you know how bad my luck is when it comes to picking out the good flavors.”

“Hmm sucks to be you huh?” Jungkook smirks.

You both pick out a jelly bean from the bunch, clicking them together before popping them into your mouths. You’re pleased to taste cherries coat your tongue and clasp your hands together.

“I didn’t get a vomit flavoured one!”

You look over to Jungkook and see him grimace, sticking his tongue out in disgust. “That was definitely booger…”

You burst into a fit of laughter, throwing your body back and unknowingly lean on Jungkook’s shoulder. He frowns down at you but it contradicts the pink shade that began to taint his cheeks.

The two of you spend the rest of the night laughing and poking fun at each other, which later on settled into small conversations. The winter air makes itself known once more as it blows past you, making you shiver and the goosebumps on your arms rise. Jungkook notices this and quickly takes his coat off, draping them over your shoulders without acknowledging it. He knew you’d refuse the gesture if he did.

Suddenly you felt ashamed. Even after lashing out on him, Jungkook chose to be civil with you and act as if nothing happened. He could’ve easily gotten up and left as soon as he saw you yet here he is, still making you happy without fail.

You’ve decided that you’re done avoiding confrontation.

A moment of silence fills the air as your eyes meet.

“I’m sorry”

You both chorus at the same time. Jungkook chuckles, gesturing for you to continue. “Ladies first.”

Despite the cool weather, your palms clam up out of nerves as you focus on the unsteady beat of your heart. Wiping off the sweat against your skirt, you build up the courage to voice out the next words you’re about to say.

“Up until recently, I never realized how much I blamed you for our ‘falling-out’. I’ve convinced myself that the sole reason you and I were no longer friends was because you didn’t want to have anything to do with me anymore- or that I wasn’t cool enough to be your friend. Cause, well, I am pretty boring if you ask me,”

There’s a subtle tremble to your voice as you go on and you skillfully mask this with unnecessary arm gestures as you speak. At this very moment, Jungkook has never been more endeared. Maybe he’s always been this smitten, but seeing you ramble on all nervous around him, he can’t seem to fight the smile that sneaks onto his lips.

“but that's where I went wrong. I let my insecurities get the best of me and affect our friendship, relationship, or whatever it is we have going on-”

“You think there’s something going on between us?” Jungkook cuts you off mid babble. There’s a hint of playfulness in his tone and it takes you a second to catch onto his insinuations. You smack his arm.

“I’m being serious!” Your brows knit together in mock annoyance and Jungkook laughs, reaching a hand out to rest it on top of yours. “I’m sorry I’m sorry, please continue.”

You glance at your joined hands on your lap, his thumb rubbing soothing circles on the back of your palm. Now that you think about it, Jungkook has always been more physical in his love language and that may be why you guys got along so well. You were never really great with words, much less receiving them, and so was Jungkook. It was always either tight hugs or a shoulder to cry on whenever he would comfort you. But with the way Jungkook’s ears turn red, you can’t help but think that maybe there was more to those innocent touches.

“I had a lot of self-doubts, especially after spending so much time with you these past couple of days. I guess you could say I was intimidated? You just seemed better off with this new life you had without me. I don’t know- I just didn’t see a reason for you to want me back in it.”

Jungkook doesn’t speak but he keeps his eyes trained on you. He has his lips pressed in a thin line, clearly processing everything you just poured out to him. Sometimes you wonder if he knew he had this affect on you, cause most times you don’t even realize it yourself. You never really understood why a part of you would get all flustered over the menial things he did, but you have a pretty good guess lingering at the back of your head.

“You think too much.” This is the only response he gives you before you snatch your hands away from his grasp.

“E-excuse me??” You didn’t really know what to expect for a response, but this certainly wasn’t one of it. Jungkook clicks his tongue as he brings a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose, as if the answer was blaring right in front of you.

“Y/N, I never wanted you out of my life in the first place,” he says as a matter of fact. “and I hate how I let it happen. I shouldn’t have let it get to me, but the attention people gave me was so new and to be honest, I enjoyed it,” Jungkook pauses, leaning back with palms resting on either side of him. “You knew how shy I was back then and I wasn’t really confident in myself. Funnily enough, I was also intimidated by you,” he chuckles mostly to himself. “I wanted to be more than this timid kid who stuck by your hip 24/7. I wanted my quidditch skills to be recognized, to show people what I’m made of, and even though I got that in the end, I let you down in the process.”

He was intimidated by you? The Jeon Jungkook felt this way around you? It’s almost laughable how similar your thought process was this entire time. “Well shit, I guess we’re both stupid.”

Jungkook laughs and you watch as his eyes crinkle up. You always found that facial asset of his attractive.

“It also didn’t help how I had this big crush on you. Yes, I was this prepubescent boy trying so hard to impress y-”

“You what?” If you were a cartoon, your eyes would be popping out of its sockets right now. He liked me?

Jungkook finally looks at you with an arched brow. “Wait, you never knew?”

You practically scoff. “I’m not a damn mind reader!” You debate on whether you should ask what’s on your mind before giving in. “But.. had? As in, it’s in the past?”

You regret your question almost immediately when this playful smirk graces Jungkook's lips. It looked as if he was waiting for this exact moment the whole night. He sits up and turns his body to face you so you’re forced to look back at him. Jungkook leans dangerously close that you could smell his cologne from where he sat. “What do you think?” he asks in a lower register.

At this point, you can’t help the annoyance that flashes across your face. Why does he keep beating around the bush? Did he like making you this flustered? It takes a lot out of you to shove him back by the chest with an irritated huff. Literally anyone could get lost in those beautiful eyes of his. “That’s why I asked, genius.”

Jungkook grins as he was sure you weren’t as mad as you made yourself to be. This was the front you always had with everyone but he could see right through you. He admires this tough exterior of yours, but must admit that he enjoys breaking them down even more.

“I have something for you,” Jungkook completely changes the course of the conversation but your curiosity gets the better of you when you see him reaching for something in his pant pockets. Before he pulls the mystery item out, he looks at you. “but you should have your eyes closed.”

Too tired to fight back, you do as he says. “You better not be pulling out your wand to hex me or something.”

He giggles before it goes silent again. A few seconds pass and you think that he might have just up and left you alone in the bleachers. Before you could open your eyes to confirm this, you feel a cold, metallic sphere being placed on your right palm. You look down to see it’s a golden snitch.

“It’s not much but i’ve been wanting to give this to you for a while now. I found it in my room while I was cleaning some stuff out.”

“You stole this from the storage room?”

“Of course not!” Jungkook says defensively. “...Professor McGonagall caught me going through Madam Hooch’s things and let me keep it when I confessed.”

“That’s it?” You try to coax the whole story out, knowing full well Professor is not that forgiving.

“...She also gave me 2 weeks worth of detention.” This gets you to laugh, though you couldn’t help but wonder what’s so important about this golden snitch that he had to go through all that just to retrieve it. As if he’s read your mind, or from the way you were intently studying the ball, he continues. “Do you remember our first match against each other? During our 2nd year?”

You groan inwardly at this. “Yeah, your team won.”

“Because?” Jungkook eggs you on.

You openly glare at him this time, venom lacing into your response. “Because I committed Snitchnip*.”

Jungkook grins triumphantly at your admission. “Still don’t get how you made such mistake.” It amuses him how competitive you could get over such little things, but it was one of your many charms he was drawn into. He reaches out to teasingly pinch your cheek. From this close proximity, he notices the light makeup applied on your face- eyelids covered in a light brown hue and lips a darker shade of red. Not that you needed any to begin with in his opinion, but you looked exceptionally beautiful tonight. Has he mentioned that to you? He thought now wasn’t the right time to bring it up though. “There there, it’s all in the past. And besides, you’ve improved a lot since then.”

“Yeah cause I forced you to practice with me every night after that incident,” you smile at the memory. It didn’t matter at the time that you and Jungkook were from opposing teams that were known to rarely get along. All you knew was that you enjoyed training with him more than anyone, including your own teammates. You convince yourself that it was because he was the most challenging player to go against, but truthfully you just genuinely enjoyed his company. “So, is this the ball that made me lose?”

Jungkook hums in agreement before grabbing the golden snitch from your hand. “You know how these things have flesh memory, right?”

You nod. “That’s how they knew I caught it, by accident,” you emphasize the last two words.

“And which hand did you say caught it?”

You wondered where this was going. “Well I didn’t, but my left one.”

Jungkook bites the inside of his cheeks as he loosens his grip on the golden snitch until his palm is laid out flat. The snitch’s wings appear and slowly fly up, hovering just by his eye level. He turns to face you and gestures towards the ball. “I don’t know if it’ll work but, try grabbing it with your left hand.”

Despite the many questions you have, you do as you are told. Jungkook seemed nervous about this that you couldn’t help but anticipate what’s to happen next. Once it’s within your grasp, you look at Jungkook expectantly. This makes him giggle, his hand shyly rubbing the back of his nape. “It’s no star, but I hope it gets the message across.”

You’re about to ask what he meant by that when it suddenly hits you.

“One day I��m gonna grab all the stars in the sky and give them to you.”

You bring the golden snitch up with your left hand and study it once more. With a single swipe of your thumb against its center, enchanted writings start to appear.

“You shine brighter than anyone else,” you murmur the words to yourself.

“Too cheesy?” Jungkook quips nervously in an attempt to lessen the tension he’s built for himself. “I was actually worried the words won’t show up. You know, Seokjin taught me this enchantment just last week! They only appear when the snitch is in contact with it’s first touch. I didn’t think I could pull it off this well but oh thank Merlin it worked. I still feel like I could’ve gone with a better quote, but the guys said this was already good.”

His words have faded into white noise as you continue to stare at the writings engraved on the snitch. You can feel your heart swell up in happiness, excitement, literally every emotion in the book. He put so much thought into this gift and he dares say that it ‘isn’t much’? He could’ve given you a stone with a heart carved on it and you’d still think it was the sweetest thing ever.

You liked him. God, you liked him so much. How are you only realizing this now? Now that’s a lie, you knew you’ve had these feelings for him for a while now and you’ve been denying yourself of this for the longest time. It almost frustrates you how long it took for you to admit this to yourself. At this point, you knew you were openly staring at him with eyes filled with adoration, but he doesn’t seem to notice this as he is still rambling on.

“This also kinda answers the whole past or present question you had for me right? Ugh, I swear I could’ve dealt with this better if I wasn’t such a wuss back then. But hey, I’m here now pouring this all out to you and ready to get my heart stomped on and broken into a million pieces so please be gentle when you completely reject me-”

You shut him up the only way you seem fit at the moment. You press your lips against his and he visibly freezes. It seemed as if he forgot how to breathe, remaining completely still. Your confidence falters at this but just when you are about to pull away, Jungkook’s cups your cheek and kisses you back this time. His touch is feather light against your skin but it creates this huge wave of warmth inside of you- you were literally melting under his touch. His lips were warm and soft but would also slightly quiver as they glided against your own. You felt relieved to know that he was just as nervous as you are as it never crossed your mind that this was all new to him as well.

Jungkook on the other hand was on cloud nine. It was all too good to be true that even as he was kissing you, he found it hard to believe that any of this was really happening. He slowly pulls away from the kiss to look at you, the hand on your cheek moving to tuck a loose strand of hair behind your ear. Yep, this is real.

“Does this mean you like me back?” You both laugh at his question, foreheads resting against each other as you continue to look into each other's eyes.

“What do you think?” you imitate him, causing him to chuckle as he pulls you in for a hug. This better not be some wild jinx casted on him because he swears he’s never been this happy. Luck was definitely on his side today.

A roar of cheers echo the walls of the Great Hall. Students are crowded around the Gryffindor table, chanting the house name while waving their scarves and flags. As you push past them, you see the winning team celebrating with Jungkook, his teammates congratulating him with pats on the back and hair ruffles here and there. Amongst the commotion, he spots you as you smile at him and quickly excuses himself from the team. As he runs up to you, the students stand back to make way for him. Having everyone’s eyes on you two made you a bit uneasy, but this was eased off almost immediately when Jungkook wraps his arms around your waist, lifting you off the ground as he spins you around.

“Hey! Put me down, people are staring,” you say through giggles. Jungkook listens and carefully places you back on your feet but still keeps his arms around you.

“Sorry, I was just happy to see my girl cheer for me.” The petname makes you blush and Jungkook flashes that boyish grin of his. He has gotten a lot more cheesier ever since you started exclusively dating, you weren’t sure if you could handle much more.

“You do know this means you’re up against Slytherin for finals next week, right?” you tilt your head to the side and feign cluelessness.

Jungkook is quick to match your taunt. “U-huh, and I don’t plan on losing this time.”

In losing battles, you have to admit to defeat and surrender, just like how you’ve completely given in to Jungkook and let him win you over. But that doesn’t me you’re always going to go easy on him.

“Neither do I,” you retort back with a smirk.

*Snitchnip - a Quidditch foul that occurs when any player other than the Seeker catches or touches the Golden Snitch.

A/N: first story of the hogwarts series is finally up and its starring bestest boi koo! this took me longer than expected and the ending feels kind of rushed but i hope you guys like it! if this story ends up doing well, i might even post a mini jungkook pov :>

#bts hogwarts au #jungkook #fluff #angst #bts au #bts drabble #bts imagine #jungkook au #jungkook x you #jungkook x reader #jungkook imagine #jungkook fic #jungkook drabble #fanfic #jjk #jeon jungkook #minkoobi fics

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nerdzzone · 3 years

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Only For A Moment: August

Summary: A series of shorter one shots from Chris and Whitney’s life together throughout the pandemic. Some happy times, some harder times, some fluff and some things a little more sexy - they work through it all as they try to get settled in their new and blossoming relationship.

Chris Evans x OFC

Part of the Once Bitten/More Hearts series

Only For A Moment: July

Note: I’ve had a super busy day, but I wanted to get this posted so I edited it really quickly. Please forgive me if there’s any little mistakes!

Thank you to everyone who has liked, reblogged and commented! Hearing your thoughts really makes my day!

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August 2020

I think you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who actually enjoys moving - especially if that move involves a three year old who feels the need to be very involved in the packing, but is also incredibly easily distracted. And even more so when that child's father is almost just as distractible and, despite his insistence that he'd stay focused, does more to hinder the whole operation than help.

That was the situation that I found myself in at the end of the first summer of the pandemic because we were moving in with Chris.

While I was hesitant at first, it made the most sense and neither Grayson nor I were particularly eager to return to our tiny little apartment. I still felt that it was pretty early in our relationship for us to be living together, but we'd survived so far and moving back seemed like it would do more harm than good. Grayson had settled in nicely at Chris' house and another big change - like making him go back to having two homes - seemed like it would be very disruptive.

But moving came with it's own challenges.

After our conversation a few months earlier, Chris had told all of his most trusted friends about our change in relationship status. That came in handy as a few of his buddies - who had trucks - had volunteered to help us move things the last weekend of August, but packing had me feeling overwhelmed. I'd managed to give most of the furniture away - between our friends and Chris' family - but we still had way too much stuff.

It was on that Saturday morning that I found myself sitting in the middle of Grayson's old bedroom almost in tears. I'd packed up his mountain of toys the night before only to find Chris and Grayson unpacking several boxes the next morning while I was trying to finish up in the living room. Apparently, Grayson had wanted a certain toy that I'd already packed and instead of telling him to wait because he had several other things to play with that weren't boxed up, Chris helped him look for it.

He was trying to be helpful, thinking that repacking a few things would be easier to deal with than a meltdown from Grayson, but it had been a long, tiring week as I tried to get everything organized and their actions almost pushed me to my breaking point. I scolded them both and banished them to the little playground just outside the building while I set to work cleaning up their mess.

Almost twenty minutes later, I heard a knock on the front door as it creaked open. I poked my head out of the room I was in - ready to send the boys straight back outside - only to see Chris' oldest and closest friend, Tara. She was masked up for safety and knowing how sweet and helpful she was, she was a refreshing sight. I'd met her several times, mostly when Grayson was a baby and I lived with Chris, and she'd been a calming and encouraging presence back then so I was definitely relieved to see her during another time of high stress.

"Hey," I smiled. "What are you doing here?"

"I brought supplies," she informed me, holding up a tray of iced coffees. "Chris called and said that he thought you could use some help."

"You're a lifesaver," I groaned with pleasure as she put down the tray and handed me one of the drinks. "I need this, thank you so much."

"You're welcome," she returned my smile. "How's the packing going?"

"Not bad now that the boys are outside," I laughed. "It's pretty much all done, I think. You never realize how much junk you have until you have to pack it all up."

"Oh my god, I know. We moved last year and it felt like the piles of things we had to take was never ending."

"It's crazy," I agreed. "Especially with all Gray's stuff. I thought we did a good job of not spoiling him, but he has an insane amount of toys."

"I can imagine," she cringed. "But I have no plans all day so just tell me what you need help with and I'm all yours."

I thought for a moment as I sipped the coffee she'd brought me until I had an idea.

"Actually..." I started, feeling a bit sheepish. "Would you be willing to take Grayson for a bit? I know it's a big ask, especially while he's so excited, so feel free to say no."

"Are you kidding? I'd love to take him!"

I let out a breath of relief as I felt my body relax.

"Thank you so much. I really need Chris to help me carry these boxes and he's been so preoccupied with Grayson that he's been no use at all," I explained. "It's a big change and he's worried about him being freaked out by it all, which I totally get, but I need him to focus a bit too."

Tara laughed and shook her head.

"I get it, don't worry. I know what he can be like," she assured me. "I'll go down and get Gray now and send Chris up here."

"Thank you. You're the best, Tara."

She waved off my gratitude and insisted it was no problem before leaving me to turn my attention back to what I'd been doing before she arrived.

Once Grayson was in the safe care of Tara, Chris was much more useful. We were packing things with impressive speed and when it was almost time for his friends to show up with their trucks, we started moving things down to the lobby of the building to make the loading process quicker.

I was a tad nervous about the whole situation as I hadn't spent much time with most of Chris' friends and I didn't really know what they thought of me. I hoped they'd be understanding of our situation and give me a chance, but if he really had been pining away for me all these years - thinking that I didn't want to be with him - I worried that they'd think I was selfish and heartless.

Those worries, combined with my stress about getting everything organized, had me still feeling rather on edge. It didn't help that the creepy maintenance man that I'd warned Chris about was watching us like a hawk. I could feel his eyes on me every time I stepped foot in the lobby and the sensation made my skin crawl. I just wanted to get it all done and over with as fast as possible so we could get away from him, but Chris had clearly noticed him too and I could feel his annoyance rising as well.

He held it together until our last trip down when our spectator really crossed a line. I was bending over to place some boxes on the ground when I could have sworn I heard a groan of pleasure from behind me. I snapped back up to standing and looked over my shoulder to see the man with a smirk on his face and his eyes fixed on me. It made my stomach churn, but Chris was immediately by my side, his arm sliding around my waist. Before I could even question what he was doing, he pulled down his mask and then my own, cupped my jaw with his hand and pulled me in for a kiss.

It was a rather passionate embrace and I was surprised as he usually wasn't one for public displays of affection. Then it hit me why he was doing it and I felt a flash of annoyance run through me as he pulled away. There was a smirk on his face as he rested his forehead against mine, but all I could muster was a frown.

"Do you think he got the hint?"

I scoffed at his question.

"I think he got enough pictures to pay his bills for the next few months," I huffed, keeping my voice low so we wouldn't be overheard. "Are you done marking your territory now?"

Chris looked taken aback by my harsh tone and I sighed as I slipped out of his grasp and headed to the door. I wanted to see if his friends had arrived yet and get away from the creep, but Chris followed and wasn't prepared to let our conversation drop.

"What, so I'm not allowed to kiss you in public in case someone sees?" He asked once we got outside, his own annoyance coming through. "I thought you didn't care if people found out about us?"

I stopped walking and spun around to face him.

"I don't care," I snapped. "But I'd rather not give some pervert the chance to profit off of us just to save your wounded pride."

Even with his mask pulled back up, I could see Chris' jaw clench with frustration.

"He was being disrespectful. I was standing right there and he moans while staring at your ass? C'mon, he's a fuckin' asshole."

Another flare of anger washed over me as I fought to keep myself calm enough to explain to him why what he'd just said was almost as frustrating as the actions of the man who'd been ogling me.

"He was being disrespectful," I agreed, my voice steady despite my rising temper. "But to me, not to you! It doesn't matter if I have a boyfriend or not, he shouldn't behave like that towards any woman! I don't deserve to be respected because of you, I deserve to be respected because I'm a human being who has a right to feel safe in their own apartment building."

Chris' shoulders dropped as he took in my words and visibly calmed down, but I was still feeling wound up.

"Shit, Winnie, you're right," he relented. "I don't want anyone to treat you like that ever, not just because you're my girlfriend. It just pissed me off that he had the balls to do that even in front of me."

"So kissing me like that to send him a message was the best solution you could think of? Like, 'don't touch this one, she's mine'. It made me feel gross. I don't need you claiming me in public to scare off creeps, thanks."

"I didn't mean it like that," Chris insisted, looking slightly wounded by my scolding. "I'm sorry, I was being an idiot."

"Okay," I shrugged, somewhat blowing off his apology. "We should go to the parking lot. Your friends might be here."

"Are we good, Win?" He asked, clearly not as eager to let the subject drop. "I want to make this right if you're upset..."

"I'm fine," I sighed, knowing that was only half true. It was only half his fault though, the stress of the day overall was more to blame and, at that point, I just wanted it to be over so I could have a nice big glass of wine. "Let's just go see where your friends are."

He didn't argue as I walked off and when we turned the corner into the parking lot, his friends were all there lined up in the visitor's spots. I forced a smile despite the fact that it was hidden by my mask and waved as we walked over.

"Hey!" I greeted them. "Thanks so much for doing this. We really appreciate it."

"Ah, no worries!" Jon assured me. "But, are you really sure you want to move in with this guy?"

"Yeah, we were just talking," Zach continued. "And it feels a bit Stockholm syndrome-y. He confines you to a house and suddenly you fall in love? Seems a bit suspicious."

"Wow, guys, glad you're on my side," Chris laughed. "I wouldn't have asked you to help out if I knew you'd try and change her mind!"

"We just want to make sure we're not committing any crimes here," Luke insisted. "I don't want to be an accomplice to anything and we're all scratching our heads about what she could see in you."

Chris shook his head at their teasing and I tried to push our earlier discussion from my mind as I giggled and slid my hand into his. I felt him tense up in surprise at the gesture, but he relaxed as I squeezed it and leaned against his arm.

"There's no Stockholm syndrome here," I assured them. "It just took a pandemic and the constant threat of impending doom for me to come to my senses. I'm just lucky Chris was silly enough to wait for me."

Chris chuckled and leaned over to place a kiss on the top of my head as his friends rolled their eyes.

We quickly went over the game plan for the day once the initial greeting was over and as soon as his friends turned to head towards the building, I dropped my hand from Chris'. I knew I was being petty and sulky and from the sigh that fell from Chris' lips, he did too, but I couldn't help it - I needed some space to work through my cranky mood on my own. Luckily, Chris seemed to figure that out pretty fast and left me to my brooding as we followed his friends and got to work.

It didn't take us as long as I expected to load all the boxes into the trucks, but that was probably the benefit to having a team of strong men helping you move. Once it was all unloaded into the spare bedroom at Chris' place where I had been sleeping at the start of the pandemic, Chris broke out a few beers for his friends and fired up the grill while we waited for Tara and Gray to arrive. It was a beautiful, warm evening and perfect for an impromptu barbecue to thank all Chris' friends and it was a great opportunity for me to bond a bit more with some of the most important people in Chris' life.

Grayson knew them all better than I did, but we had some concerns that the lack of socialization would make him nervous around the now somewhat unfamiliar faces. But he put those worries to bed almost as soon as he arrived as he was the life of the party. He was thrilled to see the three men who were sitting in the lawn chairs dotted around our yard - in an effort to keep everyone somewhat distant from each other - and the cheer they let out as soon as they saw him made me think they were just as excited. They seemed to really adore him and he thrived on the attention. It warmed my heart to see the genuine care they all had for Grayson - it was wonderful to know he had so many people in his corner - and I was relieved when that care was extended to me.

Any doubts that I'd had about them accepting me were quickly pushed from my mind as they seemed to be just as eager to get to know me as I was to get to know them. They were all lovely, kind people and I wondered why I ever expected anything else from the people in Chris' inner circle.

They left as soon as Grayson's bedtime rolled around - partially because we were all tired from our long day of moving boxes and partially because we all knew there was no way that Gray was going to agree to go to bed while the party was still going. Once they were gone, he demanded Chris tuck him in so I tidied up in the kitchen while he handled bedtime.

As soon as I'd finished putting the last few dishes in the dishwasher, I felt his arms around my waist.

"Hey," he whispered in my ear, his chin resting on my shoulder. "Thanks for cleaning up."

"You don't need to thank me," I smiled, turning in his arms so we were face to face. "It's my house to keep clean too now, even if that's still weird to think about."

"Weird in a good way?"

"Definitely," I nodded. "It's felt like home here for a while now. It would have been awful to go back to that little apartment."

"It would have been weird for me too," Chris agreed. "I can't imagine being in this big house without you guys anymore."

"You'd have to move all your friends in," I teased, using it as a segue. "Who, by the way, are all very nice."

"Yeah?" Chris grinned. "You think so?"

"I do. I was a bit nervous about it," I admitted. "In case they resented me for how our relationship unfolded, but they're great."

"They never resented you at all," Chris chuckled. "Pretty much everyone who knows about our first night together was on your side about that and they've been pushing me to make a move ever since."

"Well, that's good to know."

Chris nodded and continued.

"They all really like you. Jon gave me clear instructions to not fuck it up."

I laughed at that, but felt a wave of relief.

"I appreciate their support."

"Well, you definitely have it."

Chris leaned down to press his lips against mine and I melted into his body, feeling the exhaustion from the stress of the day start to hit me. We stayed like that, just holding each other for a few minutes until Chris broke the silence around us.

"Can we talk about earlier?"

My stomach churned with embarrassment at the memory, but I nodded.

"Of course, we can. I'll start by saying that I'm sorry."

Chris leaned back slightly, just enough to look down at me with his confusion written all over his face.

"You're sorry? Why are you sorry?" He asked. "I brought it up so that I could apologize to you."

"You don't need to," I assured him. "I get why you did what you did. I just don't deal with stress very well and the whole day was overwhelming me. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"You don't deal with stress very well? I never would have known!" His words were laced with sarcasm as he smiled down at me and I laughed, gently smacking his chest in protest. "But seriously, I deserved a good scolding. You were absolutely right with what you said, I shouldn't have handled the situation like that."

"I appreciate that you can see where I was coming from," I sighed. "But there is no perfect way to handle a situation like that, really. It's best just to ignore it, but then it feels like you're letting the gross guy win."

"Well, if we're ever in a situation like that again, I'll follow your lead," he insisted. "But I can't say that I'll just ignore it. I might just punch the guy out for being a creep."

I laughed again before shaking my head.

"And then whoever is watching will have a different kind of picture to sell to the trashy magazines."

Chris cringed at that comment.

"I'm sorry. Do you really think he took pictures?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "But if he recognized you then I'd be surprised if he didn't."

Chris nodded, clearly getting lost in thought for a moment before he spoke again.

"And you really don't care if proof gets out that we're together?"

"I don't," I insisted. "I don't like the idea of some pervert making money off of us, but I don't care if people know we're together. It might be good for people to get used to the idea now, when we're hiding at home all the time anyway. By the time we can go outside again, no one will care enough to take pictures of us."

"That might be wishful thinking," Chris smiled. "But I'll do my best to keep you out of the spotlight."

I matched his smile and stretched up to place a kiss on his lips.

"I'm sure it'll be fine."

As I predicted, the creepy maintenance man did take pictures of us and he did sell them to some trashy magazine. The internet was horrified, the hearts of fangirls all over the world were broken and I was called every cruel name under the sun. There were rumours that I trapped him with another baby and rumours that I was a gold digger - just using Chris for his money so I didn't have to work during the pandemic. The general reception to the forced confirmation of our relationship was pretty abysmal, but nothing worse than we expected and at the end of the day we didn't care.

All the people who truly cared about us were happy for us and that was the most important thing.

September

Tags: @maggotzombie @moonlacebeam @mizzzpink @zaylaugh @flowery-mess @flowerjewels @njrronaldo7 @hockeychick10 @partypoison00 @theladybiers @sidepieces @firoozehmoon @patzammit @sparkledfirecracker @mytbel0st @chvntelle-99

#chris evans #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans fanfic #chris evans fan fiction #once bitten/more hearts #only for a moment

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hyunjilicious · 4 years

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one more drink [henry cavill - one shot]

Summary: you and Henry attend a fancy party and you decide to be a brat and push his buttons to see what happens. 0,1% plot. SMUT. 3.5k. filth :) feedback makes my day, so maybe tell me what you thought?

“Why don’t you put that drink down, hm?”

His voice was loud and clear, lips mere inches away from your ear as he secured his arms around your waist to get you to stop dancing.

You were ready to sink into him, but as soon as you saw his intention was to grab the glass out of your hand, you pulled back, and turned to him with a disappointed frown, “Not a chance, Cavill”

“Don’t call me that” he sighed, his head falling to the side, “How much have you had to drink?”

“Not enough” you pouted, nonchalantly bringing your alcoholic beverage to your lips, looking lewdly into his eyes as you took a big sip, “And apparently neither have you”

Had he not been grinning that widely, you would’ve seriously believed he was mad at you. His frown was consuming your entire being, and the cold stare plastered on his eyes begged you to not push his buttons - at least not when there were so many people around, “Why don’t you give me that?” he encouraged, pointing to your tall glass.

You looked down and noticed your perfectly manicured hand and fresh bubbles that were still present in your beverage. In the inebriated state that you were, the aesthetic blew your mind. Without thinking twice, you pulled out your phone with your free hand and opened the instagram app, determined to post it on your story.

The light of the flash reflected beautifully against the intricate design of the glass, but the picture did not turn out as expected.

Just when you pressed the button to capture the image, Henry’s hand grabbed your wrist, snatching the phone out of your hand, “Are you dead set on pissing me off?” he questioned in a low tone, his ice blue eyes pinning you in place.

“I don’t get what the problem is” you whined, waving your hands around your body. Your eyes traveled around the room, scanning the atmosphere, “You think I’m embarrassing you or something?”

“Embarrass me, no? What?” Henry cringed, “But you’re crossing some lines”

“I’m just letting loose”

“Too loose if you ask me” he frowned.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Henry grabbed your waist, and effortlessly spun you around until your back slammed against his chest. He lowered his head over your shoulder, “I’ll let you figure it out”

In front of you, the party was in full swing. People were dancing, chatting, drinking their night away, and in your eyes, there was no problem with that, “Use your words, Cavill, I don’t get it”

“One-” he said in a deeply dominating tone, making all the hairs on your body stand up, “Don’t call me that, and two, I could make you a list of all the men in this room that think about fucking you as we speak, and the fact that you can’t tell who they are, means you drank to much”

There was an internal battle going on inside your mind. The way he put you in your place forced a lump to block your throat, but it would be a lie to say you didn’t enjoy the moment.

“I think you’re pushing it a little” you said, pulling away from his hold and turning to face him.

Henry narrowed his eyes, “If I leave, they’ll swarm around you”

“Then don’t”

“Let’s go sit somewhere” he suggested, nodding his head to the side of the room, where a few arm chairs were available.

“After you” you agreed, and he happily took your hand.

Henry led you to the sitting area, contempt thinking he won this round. But you just saved your cards for later.

When you reached your destination, Henry sat down and opened his arms, motioning for you to sit in his lap. However, you just grabbed his hands, and started swaying to the unfamiliar beat of the song that was playing, arching your back and lowering yourself in front of him.

“You have no idea what you’re asking for” Henry chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I’m asking for you to have some fun!” you belted.

“This is your idea of fun?”

“Dancing?” you asked, playing dumb, “Yes”

Henry leaned to the side. He propped his elbow on top of the arm rest, bringing his hand up to rub his chin, “Sit down”

“Yes, daddy” you eventually said, knowing just how little patience he had left.

His arms instantly wrapped around your middle, his breathing aggravated by the way you managed to rile him up. And, determined to do more, you started rolling your hips back and forth against his thighs, managing to apply just the tiniest bit of pressure to his crotch.

“The fuck’s gotten into you, hm?” Henry snapped. His hold around you tightened, shaking your entire frame. “Why are you acting like this?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” you rolled your eyes, bringing your glass up to your lips and scanning the room as you sipped your drink.

It was only a matter of time until he’d drop this overly patient facade. “Look at me when I’m talking to you” he commanded, sinking his fingers into your bare thigh.

“Ouch!” you pouted, despite pain being the last thing on your mind.

“So? The fuck is going on with you, hm?”

“Nothing’s going on with me, you just need to learn how to have fun!”

“Whoring around is your idea of having fun?” he fumed.

You thought about it for a second, and the nodded, fairly convinced, “Could be, yeah”

“Behave for 15 minutes” Henry nodded, his smile giving away just how sure he was you were never going to achieve that, “And then we’ll dance”

“That’s it?” you scoffed, and as soon as he responded - with a smile nod, you breathed out satisfied, “Deal”

Clear as day, he was waiting for you to cave. Henry leaned back in his chair, and with his head hanging playfully to the side, he kept his eyes trained on you. With absolutely no intention to make this easy for you, his burning gaze made your blood boil. Oh, how the tables have turned.

You took another sip of your drink and then pulled out your phone, counting on Instagram to make the minutes pass faster. And maybe it would have been able to, with out of the corner of your eye you could see him. Black dress shirt hugging his body in a way that was so much more vulgar than any dance you could have come up with.

A video was playing on your phone, two puppies rolling down a hill, yet your eyes drifted instantly to the side. Pretending to pay attention to the screen, you watched Henry trace the rim of his glass with his pointer finger. Your eyes traveled along his forearm and you could’ve sworn you actually felt your heart skip a bit when you noticed just how sloppily he rolled up his sleeves.

“I swear-” you sighed, eyes trained on the ceiling as you shook your head in disbelief, “You never looked hotter.”

“What was that, love?” Henry mumbled, bouncing one of his legs up for the sole purpose of messing with you.

“How much time passed?” you whined.

“A little bit over a minute, darling” he responded proudly.

You were fuming. “I’ll go get another drink, want something?”

As soon as he nodded no, you were out of there. Forcing your way through the sea of people, you eventually reached the bar, and even in the dried up smoke infused air of the room, you finally felt like you were able to breathe properly. With your competitive side on full display, as you waited for your drink to be ready, you gave yourself the epitome of a pep talk. With your arms crossed over the wooden surface of the bar, you soaked up the possibilities. At this point, you still weren’t sure whether you wished to prove to him that you’d be able to keep calm, or whether you wanted him to give in first.

The answer to this dilemma came in the form of a model looking 20 something year old man - the golden curls that framed his sculpted features and the seductive grin he decided to use as an introduction, were everything you needed. Dropping the nice girl act you didn’t even bother too much to adopt, you responded to the stranger with an overly sweet smile, and nonchalantly dragged him to the dance floor without exchanging as much as two words.

After finally settling face to face, you started dancing. Not keen on getting too close to him, but also knowing that was what you needed to get on Henry’s nerves, you decided to explain yourself, “Listen, I need to ask you something-” you yelled over the music, leaning against his chest to get as close to his ear as possible.

The man circled an arm around your waist, as he bowed his head with a smile on his lips, eager to listen to what you had to say.

“I know it didn’t seem like it, but I’m here with my boyfriend”

He instantly tensed up, but you continued. This time you pressed yourself against him, and lowered your voice, “You wouldn’t mind helping me get his attention, would you?”

He looked you up and down, “What are you offering?”

Knowing full well that Henry was probably already thinking about intervening, you decided there was no reason to hold back. “What’s on your mind?”

“Think he’d be into a threesome?”

The thought made you gag, but you played it nicely. “Depends on how convincing you are”

“He shared you before?”

As he asked this, you found it incredibly hard not to burst into laughter, as that was probably the last thing on earth Henry would ever do, but that was not what the man needed to hear.

“Yeah, but he’s usually reluctant when it comes to strangers, you know?”

How he didn’t figure out you were bluffing shall forever remain a mystery.

“Ok, ok” he nodded, licking his lips, “Let’s talk to him”

As you turned around to look in your boyfriend's direction, the man placed his right hand on the small of your back, ready to walk wherever you’d guide him. However, not even a step needed to be taken, as Henry was already marching towards you.

The crowd of dancing souls parted for him to pass. His eyes ablaze, he reached the two of you in no time. Henry didn’t waste no time paying attention to you, instead he went straight to the blonde haired guy standing beside you.

“Get your hands off of her, or I’ll break both your arms”

And the threat wouldn’t have been nowhere near as menacing if Henry wasn’t a head taller, and his shoulders twice as broad the man’s he approached.

“Listen dude-” the stranger tried to defend himself despite the pure terror that coated his features.

“Want me to break your teeth in too and don’t know how to fucking ask?”

“Jesus I just-”

“Beat it” Henry scoffed, grabbing the man’s shoulder to spin him around. He was probably ready to kick his ass too had the stranger not ran off, steam coming out of his heels.

Instantly, Henry turned around to face you, the anger in his eyes making all the hairs on your body stand up. He didn't even bother to look at you, his stare trained somewhere in the distance, as he grabbed your arm.

"Henry, I-"

"You kind of lost your right to say anything, don't you think?" he groaned.

As soon as he finished his question, he looked down, his cold eyes finally meeting yours.

You opened your mouth to speak, but eventually decided against it. And he probably appreciated the fact that you didn't bitch any further, not that it would have made any difference at this point.

Without exchanging another word, Henry forcibly grabbed you by the arm, and dragged you from the dance floor. Despite finding it hard to keep up with his pace considering your attire wasn't made for rushing places, you again decided to keep your mouth shut.

You knew what was coming and there was no reason to ask any questions. It was what you planned all along, after all.

In a matter of seconds, you two reached the bathroom of the bar. Not even bothering to be civil about it, Henry kicked the door open with his foot, managing to catch the attention of everyone nearby.

You walked inside after him, didn't even get a chance to worry about the people already inside, as all that was needed to get them to hurry out of the room was the cold death stare Henry didn't bother to hide.

The girl that was reapplying her makeup in the mirror was the last to scatter out of the bathroom, and by the time she reached the door, Henry’s tie was already off and the first five buttons of his shirt undone.

Panting in anticipation, you found yourself leaning against the tiled wall, afraid to make the wrong move. When you were finally left alone, the sound of the bathroom door lock clicking was what forced your heart into overdrive.

“You proud of yourself?” Henry questioned, as he walked slowly in your direction, his tie stretched to the extreme in his hands.

“You’re the one who caved” you said and it was the last straw.

“Turn around” he commanded, nodding his head in the direction of the wall.

Despite not being anything less than riled up and aroused, you still hesitated.

What got you to move was the next step he took towards you. As if under a spell, you spun around on your heels, and prompted your hands against the smooth surface of the wall. However, Henry had other plans. In one swift but rough motion, he grabbed your wrists, pinning them up, against the vertical pipe that ran from the floor all the way up to the ceiling. Effortlessly, he bound your hands together, fastening them into place.

To no avail, you tried to bring them lower for better support, but the tie was so tightly wrapped that your blood barely had any place to pass.

“Can you-”

“Nope” Henry said, with a bit too much enthusiasm in his voice.

He lowered his head over your shoulder and spoke directly against your cheek, “Is it uncomfortable? Does it hurt your wrists?”

You nodded.

“Good” he concluded, along with an ardent slap against your ass.

The stinging sensation made you grit your teeth and suck in a deep breath. Just knowing this was only the beginning made your core burn with desire, and involuntarily, you pressed your thighs together, hoping that some pressure would alleviate the aching sensation that radiated all across your body.

With no remorse, Henry shoved his foot between your high heels, forcing your legs apart, “None of that, ok?”

“Fuck” you grunted, letting your forehead fall against the wall in front of you.

Completely out of your sight, Henry’s actions were unknown. However, the sound of his belt being unbuckled was crystal clear, as it echoed around the room. It was the only sound you were able to register. Not even your convulsive breathing had any importance.

Following this, the night reached a pace you found it really hard to keep up with. After Henry hiked up your black tight dress over your ass, your mind started blurring out every detail.

In a second, your lace underwear had pooled by your feet, and you were left completely exposed.

You didn’t have any time to feel your cheeks burn before the tip of his cock reached our entrance. He didn’t waste time probing you. After raking his nails across your scalp, Henry grabbed a fistful of your hair, and pulled hard. When your head fell back, he slammed his cock all the way inside of you.

A deep guttural moan rooted in absolute pleasure ripped your whole body in half. Your throat stung at the sensation that rushed to you. He was not far behind, his own pleasure - pure physical, consumed him.

Henry rolled his hips into yours with more aggression by the second, each time pulling his cock almost all the way out. With every passion infused slam of his body against yours, your whole frame rocked forwards, putting an immense strain on your shoulders.

Sinful, choked back moans burned your throat.

“Is this what you wanted, hm?” Henry taunted, his calloused fingers forcing your chin up. “To be fucked like a slut in a random bathroom?”

You just squeezed your eyes shut and sucked on your bottom lip, hoping it would be good enough of an answer.

“Didn’t hear that” he shook his head, forcing his cock balls deep inside your pussy, “Use your words, pet”

You swallowed thickly, digging your nails into your probably already bloody palms, “Yes”

“Yes, what?” Henry let your chin go for just a second, before returning with a wanton smack against your cheek, “Yes what, baby?”

“Yes…” you wailed, chest aching with every word, “I wanted you to fuck me”

Visibly unsatisfied with your answer, Henry let go of you, moving his hands to lay on your hips. His grip was steady and merciless, guiding your body for his own pleasure now.

“You think good girls get fucked like this?” he rasped, his voice breaking halfway through the sentence. No matter what he said or how he said it, he was just as weak for you as you were for him, and it showed.

“You had to act like a whore the whole evening, didn’t you” Henry chuckled in disbelief. “Might as well take my cock like one now, right?”

As he spoke, numerous smacks, varying in intensity consumed the sensitive skin of your ass, which was doomed to be left bruised and battered.

“Yes” you cried, “Yes…”

“You know daddy always gives you what you ask for” he said, “Especially when that means I get to use you like the set of holes that you are”

“Fuck, fuck… Henry-” you cried, arching your back and forcing your hips back against him.

“Use that cunt to suck the cum out of my cock”

“Fucking god” you shook your head, the ecstasy of the moment overwhelming all your senses. The frustration of not being able to rub your clit and alleviate the pain translated into a plethora of moans and screams. “Please, please- I’m close, I’m-”

“No, baby girl” Henry commanded, sinking his fingers into your hips, “I cum first, hold it”

“I can’t fucking hold it!” you yelled, covering your face into your shoulder.

“Try harder, angel”

“Fuck”

Multiple layers of unshed tears coated your eyes as you struggled to keep your body under control, but your knees were already shaking. Palms wet and trembling legs - you were already too far gone.

“I can’t-” you shook your head in desperation, “I’m gonna cum”

“Think twice, darling” Henry taunted, delivering one last blow to your ass, that along with the merciless pounding he kept up, managed to send you over the edge.

Your mind turned to blur as you fell spiraling into an earth shattering orgasm, your body spasming uncontrollably. Your muscles had a mind of their own, as you enjoyed the feeling of his cock spreading your pussy open until it completely consumed you.

“Henry, please, I-” you cried, panting desperately as not even standing up seemed like an easy task for you.

With your body turned to jelly into his arms, you somehow managed to find still find pleasure in the way he kept fucking your overly sensitive pussy.

“Never fucking listen do you-” Henry called with audible disappointment in his tone.

His question was cut short by a grave groan that forced its way out of his throat. His thrusts became sloppy and irregulated, deep and forced by the orgasm that soon ended up consuming his self control.

He kept going, allowing your cunt to milk every last drop of cum, not stopping until he didn’t have the power to move anymore. His body collapsed against yours, trapping you between his massive frame and the cold bathroom wall.

In a haze, he pulled out and undid the knot that had your wrists bound together. Weak in your knees, you stumbled to the sink, leaning against the marble garniture as your breathing was just now starting to return to normal.

With his pants pulled up but still undone, Henry came up behind you, engulfing you in a loving hug.

“I’m sorry” you whispered.

“Why?” he asked, slightly concerned.

“I came when you told me not to-”

“Oh god” Henry laughed out loud, before lowering himself to kiss your neck, “You didn’t listen to a word I said the whole night, and that’s what stuck with you?”

You couldn’t help but smile, “You still love me though”

“I fucking adore you, angel” Henry shook his head, “Next time just maybe don’t make me traumatize some poor guy”

Continuing with the small talk, you two got dressed, and prepared to get out of the bathroom.

“You know he wanted a threesome?” you said as you fixed your hair and makeup in the mirror.

“Ha!” Henry laughed, before his face turning dead serious, “Never”

#henry cavill #henry cavill imagine #henry cavill smut #geralt of rivia #henry cavill x reader #henry cavill writing #henry cavill fics #henry cavill fanfic #henry cavill fanfiction #geralt of rivia imagine #geralt of rivia smut #geralt of rivia fanfic #the witcher imagine

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kimistorm · 3 years

Text

[Lee Minho] Cats are the Worst

Fandom: Stray Kids

Pairing: Lee Know/Lee Minho x GN! reader

Requested by: AvatarKyarra

Prompts: 6) “That wasn’t supposed to happen” and 9) “Don’t freak out”

Word count: 1.7k

TW: Mentions of food

AN: Lol <1k was a bit of a lie apparently. Anywho, thank you for the request! Sorry if the writing feels a little clunky/repetitive TwT BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, Hyunjin is back!!

“I don’t know, do you think he’ll like it?” you asked your phone that was on speakerphone as you scrolled through the list of recipes on your screen.

You heard an exasperated sigh from the other end of the line, “of course he’s going to love it. You’re his significant other.”

“Yeah, but he’s not that fond of sweets,” you bit your lip and ran a hand through your hair in frustration.

Han let out another groan from your hesitance, at this point, he was probably more frustrated than you, “have you seen him with Felix makes brownies?”

“Okay, but Felix’s brownies can make anyone melt.” You bit back in response as you thought to the cheery blond’s sweets. They always made you feel better, even after a rough day.

“He’s going to love anything you make him,” Han told you with finality, though this would be the fifth time he’s told you this. “But the more time you waste doing this the less time you have to make it.”

You snorted, knowing Han also had streaks of indecisiveness, “when did you become decisive?”

“Since you spent nearly an hour going in circles with me.” You let out a yelp of surprise, not realizing how much time had already passed. “Just make cookies! They’re going to be faster than a cake.” Your black-haired friend quickly told you, hoping to take this opportunity to give you a decision.

“Okay, okay, thank you!” you hurriedly clicked on the recipe with the highest rating and number of reviews.

“It’ll be amazing!” Han rushed to tell you as you fumbled with your phone to hang up.

“Thanks Han! If we have any extra I’ll bring you some!”

“Go, go go!” Han cheered before hanging up. With a determined nod, you ran around your shared kitchen for the ingredients. You frowned when you couldn’t find any more chocolate chips, Minho must’ve eaten them because you could’ve sworn you had some last week. It looks like you’ll have to change your plan and make sugar cookies. You found a simple recipe that allowed for decorating and decided that you’d decorate them. That’d be a cute gesture, right?

With clumsy precision, you measured out the ingredients and mixed them together to form the dough. You frowned as the recipe called to chill the dough for a couple of hours. You weren’t going to have time for that, so you’d have to skip that step and hope things still turned out all right. With the use of a couple of spoons and a butterknife, you were able to scoop out some relatively flat cookies onto the baking tray and pop them into the oven. It was a shame you couldn’t find the cat-shaped cookie cutters that you thought Felix gave you for Christmas, but they were very lost. Now that you think about it, you weren’t sure if you saw them since the day he gave them to you.

It was with a sinking heart when you realized you would have to wait for the cookies to cool before you could ice them. “It’ll be okay, right?” you worriedly mumbled as you glanced at your phone to see how much longer you had until Minho came home and the timer telling you that it would be close. Letting out a somewhat panicked but quiet, “aaaaaa,” you set to cleaning up the bowls and utensils you had used to make the dough. In no time they were on the drying rack and you grabbed a smaller bowl to make the icing.

You fished through to the back of your pantry for the somewhat old bag of powdered sugar that you used to decorate pancakes with and then never used again. You were glad to see it was still powdery and usable. You were measuring out the powder for the icing when a light body made its way to your side.

“Hey Doongie,” you cooed as you pet the cat who leaped onto the counter for some affection. “We’re going to make your dad cookies, what do you think?” dark eyes blinked at you lazily. “Ah, maybe that’s what I get for trying to talk to cats.” You sniggered when you got no response. You turned around to check the next steps of the recipe, but quickly spun around in fear when you heard the hollow ‘thunk’ of something plastic falling to the ground and an indignant ‘meow.’

“Oh no!” you panicked when you saw Doongie sitting cleanly on the counter where you left the white cat, but there was no bowl of powdered sugar. That was spilled on the ground. “Why’d you do that?” you wailed at the cat who you swore was smirking at you. You grew even more scared when you saw the disturbed flour on the ground. It was thrown all over the place and you saw pawprints leading out from the mess. “You didn’t!” you scolded as you followed the trail of white pawprints, already fearing for the mess that was being tracked all over your apartment.

Thanks to the visible trail, you were able to find the victim hidden in one of the cat houses perched on a scratching post. “You wanna come out?” you cooed to the cat enshrouded in darkness. You needed to see the damage that was done. Two eyes seemed to stare back at you from the darkness, blinking only once. You let out a sigh before returning to the kitchen to grab a cat treat. Doongie meowed pleadingly with you, going as far as to put a paw on your arm when you fished out a treat, “no.” You told the cat sassily, “you’ve caused enough trouble.” You swore Doongie rolled their eyes at you as you walked away.

“Come on out,” you gently cooed as you waved the treat in front of the opening to the cat housing. There was a moment of silence, and then a head popped out. You quickly moved your hand away so the cat would have to reach, and gasped when you saw the white cat who emerged. “Oh no Dori!” the normally striped gray cat was almost completely coated in powdered sugar. “On second thought,” you put the treat back into the housing, “you can stay in there.” You were not looking forward to washing the dark cat.

You left the cat to the darkness of the cat house and the treat before returning to the kitchen, letting out another wail when you saw Doongie playing around in the pile of sugar. “No! Bad cat!” you weren’t keen on another set of sugar tracks around the apartment so you slowly came closer to pick up Doongie. The white cat froze and stared at you, nimbly jumping out of the way when you lunged forward to pick them up. “No! Come back here!” you raced around the apartment chasing the white cat.

After a few seconds of chasing them, you decided to give up, hoping Doongie would calm down and sit instead of running around the entire apartment to cause an even bigger mess. You quickly closed the door to the bathroom where the cat was currently taking refuge and closed all the doors to the rooms. Hopefully this would keep the damage contained. With a sigh you set to cleaning up the powdered sugar that had splattered to the ground and somehow onto the cabinet right next to it.

You heard the deadbolt click and your heart sank as the door opened to reveal Minho, “hey,” while you were sad your cookies weren’t ready in time, seeing him always put a smile on your face and you got up from the ground to greet him, “you’re home early.”

“They let me leave earlier,” he smiled as the two of you quickly kissed. There was a meow and he looked down in confusion at the half-white half-gray Dori.

“Dori?” he kneeled down and rubbed the cat lovingly, “what happened?” he asked as he turned his attention to you.

“Don’t freak out.”

His dark eyes widened, “that’s not reassuring at all.”

“I was trying to bake you cookies, and then Doongie knocked the sugar bowl onto Dori.” Minho let out a quiet yelp and began inspecting Dori for any wounds. “Sorry.” You muttered shamefully, you were just trying to celebrate.

“Don’t worry about it,” Minho smiled as he pulled you into a hug, “that’s so sweet you tried to make something for me.”

“I guess I made something.” You muttered bitterly into his shirt, “a mess.”

“It’s the thought that counts,” he told you gently, “they’re self-cleaning,” he gestured toward Dori, “it’ll be fine. Probably.” You giggled at his last comment, relieved to find he wasn’t mad. He was an angel, if your positions were switched, you definitely wouldn’t be as cool-headed as he was right now. “Is something burning?” Minho asked after a moment and you let out a scream, running over to the oven and completely deflating when you saw the blackened cookies.

Minho aided you in opening the window and airing out the open oven so the fire alarm wouldn’t go off, “that wasn’t supposed to happen.” You mumbled sullenly as you took out the cookie sheet and cautiously broke one of them, causing it to completely shatter and reveal how deep the black reached. “I kind of don’t want to scrape off the burnt parts to get to the good stuff.

Minho peered over your shoulder and popped one of the broken pieces into his mouth. His eyes watered at the hot treat and he frantically waved a hand over his open mouth to try and cool it down. “Yeah, it’s kind of bad.” He answered honestly as he engulfed you in a back hug, “and it burned half of my taste buds before I even tasted it.” You deflated at his blunt comment, “don’t worry! Let’s go buy some cookies at the bakery down the street!”

“But I wanted to make you something to celebrate,” you pouted, looking sadly at the blackened sweets.

“Just being with you is enough,” he smiled into your neck.

You hummed and leaned into his touch, “you’re too nice.”

“Come on,” he gently tugged at you, “let’s clean up the cats and get some cookies.”

“I love you,” you told him softly as you gave him a kiss.

“Love you too.”

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lemonpeter · 3 years

Text

Tempting and Teasing

Based off of this post by @im-a-goner-foryou I hope everyone enjoys 💕 this was so much fun to write

Warnings: parent/teacher relationship, age difference, mild daddy kink, smut, top Tony, bottom Peter, definitely nff

3.3K words (whoops)

————

Peter liked to be in contact with all his student’s parents.

But there were some who didn’t handle the school stuff, so he didn’t really get to know them. One of these was Tony Stark. Father of his favorite student (not that he’d admit to it.) And all he knew about the man was that he was an asshole.

But he’d never actually met him. It was just his reputation. Peter didn’t like to judge but he didn’t have reason to think any different.

Until the open house.

Apparently Morgan’s mom couldn’t attend like she typically did with these events. So there Tony was in all his glory.

He looked like the type of guy that would flirt with your wife in front of you. Snarky, acting all cool and mysterious. He wore thousand dollar sunglasses inside during the evening. That kind of guy. It was like he believed he was still the high school baddie in every teen movie.

It instantly annoyed Peter. He didn’t like phony people. And he didn’t like cocky people. And Tony Stark seemed like the best of both worlds.

Except...when he came to the classroom to talk to Peter about Morgan, he was like a completely different person.

They were alone in the room, so apparently he didn’t feel the need to put on his cool persona. He was sweet and dorky and seemed kinda like the best dad ever.

Morgan showed him around the classroom, proudly presenting her class work from the day to him.

And Tony just listened to her, encouraging her and letting her do whatever she wanted. He sat down in one of the tiny plastic chairs at the desks, clearly uncomfortable. But as soon as Morgan started talking again he was completely in tune with her and everything she was telling him.

Peter just watched in silent awe, smiling a little as he leaned against the counter. Maybe he shouldn’t have judged so quickly. Because Tony Stark was clearly just a big softie that didn’t want to be seen.

When Morgan was done with her presenting, Tony stood back up and walked over to Peter. He cleared his throat, raking a hand through his hair.

The teacher watched the action, biting his lip slightly before catching himself. That was highly inappropriate. He couldn’t help his attraction to a nice silver fox, but he could put off the swooning until later when he was home. Not in front of the man himself.

Tony caught the lip bite but didn’t comment, just smirking a little. “I just wanted to thank you for being such a good teacher to Mo. She never stops talking about you at home. She’s one of the only kids I’ve ever known to want to go to school.” He chuckled. “But I guess that’s all thanks to a wonderful teacher.”

Oh, the compliments instantly made Peter feel all warm and fuzzy, melting from the inside out as he listened. “It’s what I love to do, no need to thank me. And she’s a wonderful kid. Don’t tell the other parents, but she’s the best in the class,” he joked lightly.

A softer, more genuine laugh pulled itself from Tony and Peter could feel himself turning to mush. No, that was not how the night was supposed to go. Not at all. He couldn’t get attached.

“I think she’s pretty okay too,” Tony teased, looking down at the girl and ruffling her hair. “But again. Thank you. Don’t stop doing what you’re doing.”

“I don’t plan on it.” The teacher smiled, watching the father and daughter interact.

Tony picked Morgan up, looking back to the younger man after a moment. “Well, I’ll let you go. I’m sure you have other parents and gremlins to meet with. And I’ve gotta drop this little one off with her mom.” He grinned a little. “I hope I’ll see you again soon.”

And then, Peter could have sworn he dreamed it, the man quickly wet his bottom lip with his tongue as he looked over the teacher. Then he left with a wink and Morgan calling over his shoulder about seeing him tomorrow.

An interaction with a parent was not supposed to leave Peter weak at the knees. It was so inappropriate. He couldn’t have thoughts about Tony that were any more than how good of a dad he was.

But of course, that made Peter wonder how good of a daddy he could be as well.

God, what had he done.

———

Of course, the next day had to be the day that Tony began driving Morgan to school.

Pepper typically did it, and she would continue to, but she needed someone for that morning and Tony jumped at the opportunity to see the pretty teacher again.

He was only human, after all. Weak for pretty young men who were kind. Peter’s sweetness made Tony want to ruin him that much more.

So he drove up to the school in his high dollar car, smirking as he watched other parents gawk and mutter among themselves. He parked to take Morgan inside instead of just doing the car line. Made it sure that he would see her teacher.

He walked her to the classroom, hands tucked in his pockets as he walked.

Peter saw him instantly, breath catching in his throat. “H-hey, Mr. Stark.”

“Just call me Tony, it’s alright,” he told the young man with a slight smirk. He loved how instantly flustered Peter was. “Just wanted to make sure that Mo got where she needed to be. She tends to wander.”

The young man nodded quickly. “Of course. Everyone is just playing outside right now, you’re here a bit early. So.” He leaned down, gently taking Morgan’s bag and hanging it on her designated hook. “You, little miss, can go play with Ms. Stacy’s kids that are here so far and the couple from your class. No running, no rough play, be careful,” he told her, running down the rules quickly.

He could feel Tony’s eyes on him and it made him feel hot all over.

Morgan quickly walked to the open door that led to the playground, not even bothering to wave bye to her dad.

Tony chuckled. “I guess whatever is out there is way more interesting than her old man, huh?”

“Oh, she just loves to play. You can’t take it personally.” Peter laughed softly, brushing a hand through his hair shyly. He was suddenly worried about how he looked. Damn the effect Tony had on him.

The older man smiled a little, nodding. “I guess.”

A moment of silence passed before Peter cleared his throat. “So, uh, I guess you can go now. Since she’s settled in and all.”

“Oh, well, she wasn’t the only reason I came,” Tony said smoothly. “I also just couldn’t help myself from seeing a certain teacher again.”

Peter watched him for a moment, clearly trying to work out what he meant. He had been the valedictorian of his high school class but couldn’t figure out that Tony meant him and not another teacher. “Then I guess you’d better go...find them,” he mumbled, a little disappointed. His eyes dropped to the ground in embarrassment.

Tony snorted a laugh. “Already found him, honey.” He stepped a little closer, watching the man.

“Him? Oh!” The teacher looked back up, meeting Tony’s eyes. “So you- me? You wanted to see me?”

“Of course I did, Mr. Parker,” he teased lightly. “I’m not one to deprive myself of the beauties in life.”

The younger man’s cheeks colored. “I’m not- you’re- oh, shut up.”

Tony was a little taken aback by the comment, but laughed. “What, can’t take a compliment?”

“I don’t appreciate teasing, Mr. Stark.”

“Oh that? That isn’t teasing. That’s genuine compliments. But I can tease if you’d like me to. How much time do you have?”

Peter stared at him, cheeks pink. “Mr. Stark- this is highly-“

“You want me to back off, just tell me and I will,” Tony told him boldly. “Just say the word.”

When Peter didn’t say anything, he smirked. “That’s what I thought.” He stepped forward, moving one hand to possessively cup the other man’s cheek. “You can tell me no at any time, alright?”

Peter knew that wouldn’t be happening.

He leaned up, catching Tony in a quick and hard kiss.

The older man eagerly kissed back, using his free hand to pull the teacher flush against his body.

Peter deepened the kiss, nipping at Tony’s bottom lip until the other man parted his lips with a groan, allowing the younger man to slip his tongue inside.

By the time they broke the kiss they were both panting and half hard, clearly not ready to stop anything they were doing.

“Give me one moment,” Peter whispered with a quick kiss pressed to Tony’s lips.

He walked to and opened the door, ducking his head outside.

“Gwen,” he said quickly.

The other teacher was watching her kids closely, slowly tearing her eyes away to look at Peter. “Yes…?”

“I need you to watch my kids for a little bit. Please. It won’t-” he glanced to Tony. “Well, it probably won’t take too long.”

The woman finally focused on him, then turned her eyes to the other man. She immediately knew what was going on and gave her coworker a disapproving look. “Peter, no. You can’t do that.”

“Pleeeease, Gwen. I’ll buy you lunch if you just watch my class. Twenty minutes tops.”

Tony snorted. “You’re definitely lowballing it a bit,” he mumbled. He shut up when the teacher nudged him.

Gwen sighed heavily, but nodded. “Fine. But just this one time, okay?”

“Of course, don’t even worry.”

He slipped back into the classroom, pulling Tony with him and locking the door.

Before he knew what was going on, he was pressed to the wall and lifted into the air as he yelped. “Tony!”

The older man chuckled, hands gripping the teacher’s thighs in order to hold him up. “Yes, honey?”

“A little warning next time would be nice,” Peter breathed before pulling Tony in for a kiss.

“Ooh, next time,” he said teasingly, instantly kissing back. He pressed his hips to Peter’s, allowing the man to feel how hard he was under his dress slacks.

The younger man hummed, rocking his hips weakly from his difficult position. “Is that all for me, Mr. Stark?”

Tony chuckled against his mouth, trailing kisses from his lips down to the collar of his sweater. “All for you, sweetheart. And yours to choose what to do with.”

Peter moved his hips again, working to try and get friction to his clothed cock. “I need you to fuck me, Tony.”

“See, I knew you could have a dirty mouth on you if you wanted,” he teased, gently nipping at a spot on the man’s neck.

The young man keened, mouth falling open around a quiet moan. “That’s not even half of it, sir. Just need to feel you so badly. I’ve thought about it since I saw you last night. Since you winked at me,” he rambled.

“That’s what got you?” Tony murmured, amused. “You’re so cute. Desperate for my cock just because of a wink.”

“And you- you licked your lips. Looking at me,” Peter recalled. “God, that messed with me.”

Tony slowly set Peter down to work on getting his pants off, listening to him with a hum. “Tell me, Mr. Parker, did you get off thinking about me last night? Did my little bit of interest I showed get you all hot and bothered?”

“Y-yes, sir. I had to get off as soon as I got home.”

“Tell me how you did,” the older man murmured, pushing Peter’s pants and tight briefs off. “Tell me how you took care of yourself.”

Peter’s cheeks flushed darker. “I fingered myself first-“

“How many fingers?”

“Th-three. Had to prep myself for a bigger toy.”

Tony hummed softly, nodding as he slid his hands over the teacher’s hips. “Used a toy on yourself?”

“I did. It’s my favorite, nice and thick. Not too long,” he described. He shivered at the way that Tony touched him, leaning up for another quick kiss.

“That sounds good,” the other man murmured. “So you like thick cocks?”

Peter nodded, cheeks burning as he eyed the bulge in the man’s slacks. “I do. Do you have one for me?”

Tony chuckled, unbuckling his belt and leaving it loose around his hips. “I’ll let you decide that for yourself.”

He unbuttoned his pants and unzipped just enough, getting his cock out of his boxers until it was visible.

And oh, it was even better than Peter had hoped.

Even thicker than his favorite toy, just about as long. He couldn’t wait to feel it inside of him. Tony had a gorgeous cock.

Tony grinned a little as he watched the teacher nearly drool over just the sight of him. “Is this acceptable?”

“More than. Way more than. Please, I need that inside of me,” Peter breathed, his own cock twitching as he watched the man start to stroke himself.

“We haven’t even prepped you yet, honey. I wouldn’t want to hurt you.”

“Hurt me, Tony, fuck! I just need you,” he whined, hips bucking weakly into the air. “I’ll be fine.”

“Telling me to hurt you,” Tony mused. “That’s dangerous. Dangerous thing to tell me to do.”

“I want it so bad. Please hurt me,” Peter begged, chest rising and falling quickly with each heavy breath. He was so ready for Tony, no matter the discomfort he’d feel later.

The older man chuckled softly, picking Peter up again and pressing his back against the board. “Your wish is my command, honey.”

The teacher marveled at his strength as he used just one arm to hold him up. Then Tony used his free hand to guide his cock to Peter’s hole, pausing after a moment.

Wordlessly, he reached into his back pocket and grabbed a packet of lube that he quickly tore open and drizzled over his cock. “Almost forgot,” he murmured. “Although we both would have remembered quickly.”

Peter stared at him in disbelief for a moment before laughing. “You came prepared. You counted on this happening.”

“I did,” Tony confirmed. “I saw the way you looked at me yesterday. And...well, I was hoping you’d feel the same way as I did.” He grinned. “I just can’t wait sometimes.”

“Obviously.” The teacher laughed softly, hands feeling over the other man’s clothed arms and gripping gently to keep himself steady. And just feeling Tony up was nice too. Blame it on practicality and the sexy muscles he felt were just a bonus. Right. “Are we ready now?”

Tony slid the tip of his cock against Peter’s hole, feeling the tight muscle clench at the movement. “Relax,” he said gently. “Don’t want this to hurt you. Just relax.”

Peter nodded slowly, eyes staying on the man as he wrapped his legs around his waist. “I’m relaxed. Don’t stop, keep going. Please.”

He gasped when the head of Tony’s cock pushed in, the stretch burning slightly but nothing more than he could handle. “Fuck. Yeah, that’s it. Keep going, Tony!”

The older man smiled as he watched him, slowly pressing in until his balls were flush against the teacher’s ass. “Still feeling good?”

Peter’s high moan told him what words couldn’t. The sound told him to keep going. And so did the man’s fingers gently digging into his shoulders out of pleasure. Apparently the lack of preparation only affected him but so much.

So he started moving, hips thrusting forward at an even pace that quickly sped up.

Peter dropped his head back, eyes slipped shut as he groaned in obvious bliss.

The sight of his pale, unblemished neck was welcoming and Tony quickly attached his lips to a spot.

He kissed over the smooth skin at first, gentle in contrast to his harsh thrusts. But then he bit down, just hard enough that he knew there would be bruising later on.

He continued the cycle, kissing sweetly before biting or sucking marks into the teacher’s perfect skin. Peter’s skin had a garden of blooming bruises over his entire neck, more reds and purples showing than the creamy white it originally was.

Each mark pulled a new sound from him, pleasure he didn’t know was possible surging through his body at every dueling sensation.

Tony eventually just rested his lips in the junction of Peter’s shoulder, where his sweater had slipped slightly in their frantic activities. His hips kept up their bruising pace, fucking into the teacher quickly as they both felt their highs approaching.

“Tony,” Peter gasped out, opening his eyes once again to look at the other man. He clenched down hard around the cock inside of him, moaning louder. “Oh fuck, I’m gonna cum. Tony, I’m gonna cum,” he whimpered, breathing hard as his high rapidly got closer.

The only friction to his cock had been the way it had slapped against his stomach with every thrust Tony gave but that combined with the brutal fucking he was on the receiving end of was more than enough to get him to the edge. He felt his balls tightening with every continued movement and he knew it wouldn’t be much longer.

Tony nodded, weakly sucking one more mark onto his neck. “I’m close too,” he murmured, hips not faltering in their actions. “Cum for me, baby, come on. I know you need to, cum for daddy.”

Hearing Tony call himself that name was the last thing Peter needed to send him over the edge.

He cried out as his orgasm hit him, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes at the sheer intensity.

His cock jerked before spurting long ropes of cum in between his and Tony’s bodies. He was vaguely aware that they’d need to clean up but was too lost in his high to truly focus on it.

Tony wasn’t far behind him, thrusts finally stilling as he came. He held Peter close, pressed firmly against the other man as he spilled deep into him.

They came down from their highs together, holding each other more gently than before and working on evening out their breathing.

Peter was the first to speak, words coming out in between soft kisses he pressed to Tony’s jaw. “So this...uh...were you thinking this was like...a one time thing?”

Tony laughed softly, unable to help himself. He was still high on the feeling of everything going on that the event of it never happening again didn’t even occur to him. “No. This was...was way too good to just be once. If that’s alright with you.”

He slowly set the teacher down, softening cock slipping out of him. He grabbed a tissue from Peter’s desk and quickly cleaned himself up and got tucked away in his pants. Then he focused on cleaning up Peter.

As he worked, Peter talked. “I think this was...yes. Amazing.” He laughed a little. “But maybe...not here next time. Maybe my place? Somewhere I won’t get fired?”

Tony chuckled, gently dressing Peter again and nodding. “Somewhere else would be good. Your place, my place. Somewhere,” he agreed.

“Oh, good.”

They managed to get themselves mostly presentable just in time for the starting bell to ring.

Peter unlocked his door and let his students in, whispering a quick thank you to Gwen.

Tony left the building after kissing the teacher quickly, leaving him swooning and giggling. He was put together and smooth, like nothing at all had happened. The only indicator that something happened was the smug smirk on his face.

Peter on the other hand...the teacher looked like he’d been attacked by something. Where he was normally put together and perfect, he was a wreck. Curls wild and sticking up, bruises forming all over his neck, sore and limping, sweater still suspiciously stained (not that the kids would notice.)

But he was thrilled and had a huge smile on his face that wouldn’t leave.

And a certain parent’s number added to a new contact in his phone.

#starker #peter parker #tony stark #tony x peter #tony stark x peter parker #tw daddy kink #parent/teacher relationship #I don’t know what all to tag this #teacher!Peter Parker #parent!Tony Stark #my writing #let me know if i need to add any tags #too tired to tag lol #please don’t judge this too harshly #I like it #so #please don’t hate it lol

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jaminjims · 3 years

Text

heartbeat || p.jm

@jiminiestanposts requested: Hiii, could I request a top male reader x bottom jimin please?? Where the reader likes jimin but jimin doesn’t like him back. After a few months, though, jimin gets jealous when the reader and another member seem close, and this is when he realises that he loves the reader. Angst at the beginning, but fluffy at the end when reader and jimin get together😊 Thank youuuuuu!! 💜💜💜

a/n: ahh its been awhile hasn’t it? over the past few months sooo much has changed for me! i’m getting into the colleges i applied to (hallelujah) and i’m almost done with the college craziness (hopefully)! i’m so sorry this is posted so late, but my computer broke a few months ago and is still broken, so i had to write this using my phone (which was icky) but i hope my writing skills aren’t too rusty. thank you so so so much to the lovely jiminiestanposts for requesting and i hope this is what you were looking for bub! (also, i hope everyone has had a good holiday and is staying healthy!) 💖💖

pairing: jimin x male danceinstructor!reader

genre: angsty at the beginning, christmas fluff at the end <3

words: 2.1k

warnings: unrequited love (at the beginning), sadness, jealousy

~**~

Your hands were numb as you walked into the BigHit building. This winter has been grueling and even you can admit to being a baby when it comes to the cold.

You shrugged off your jacket and pulled off your hat once you entered one of the many dance practice rooms that BigHit had within its walls. Setting up the sound system was almost second nature as you were rounding the three month mark of being one of BigHit’s dance instructors. You technically weren’t supposed to be promoted as early as you were (you had been working as a back-up dancer for only a year before being promoted) but one of the instructors was on leave because his wife gave birth, and it quickly became apparent that the dance staff needed another set of hands for teaching.

But the other dance instructors didn’t look down on you for being promoted out of necessity, as did any of the other background dancers. They agreed that out of all of them, you were one of the most talented because of the sheer amount of power you held over your body and the dominance that you portrayed when you were dancing. Because of the talent you held, you were assigned to work with BTS themselves.

Today however you were working with the trainee’s because Miyoung, a fellow instructor, got sick with the flu and needed someone to take over. You were glad to help, but most of the trainee’s weren’t glad that you were teaching. You’ve been told that the way you taught was really hardcore and labor intensive, especially to people who don’t train with you often, but you just wanted them to be the best they could be.

The trainee’s didn’t see it that way.

So when the time came when you announced that practice was over, all of the younglings dropped to the ground and heaved out groans of relief. You could’ve sworn some even fall asleep.

It was then that Jimin decided to peak his head into the door of the practice room and smile at the scene. The trainee’s all scrambled to their feet to greet him but he just smiled and told them to rest. They made their way out of the room, thanking you timidly as they went.

Jimin started walking over to you and your heart skipped a beat. “Hyung! I thought we talked about working the young ones to death!” He laughed and you would’ve felt lightheaded if you weren’t leaning against the mirrored wall.

“If they wanna be as good of a dancer as you, Jiminie, then I have to be hard on them.” You laughed, still a bit out of breath.

Jimin just hit you on the shoulder and scoffed, “You are better than me 100 percent, hyung.”

You swore this boy was out to kill you.

Park Jimin was perfection in human form. While you wholeheartedly agreed that everyone in BTS was handsome (you had no qualms admitting it out loud) Jimin just did something to you that the other boys didn’t. His personality was nothing to look over, either. All Jimin had to do was be himself and you were there at his beck and call.

Ever since you had started working as BTS’ personal dance instructor, it was like a part of you that you didn’t know was missing fell into place. You had become fast friends with all of them, and there was a certain calmness you felt around them. They were like a family, and you were surrounded by that positive energy almost instantly and brought into their circle.

For a while you passed off your growing affection for Jimin as that. You were enveloped by the good vibes they gave off and that was how you rationalized suddenly wanting to be around Jimin. Hold his hand, make him smile.

But eventually you had to face the music. When your thoughts started to stray to him whenever you had any free time, or when you fantasized about kissing him, taking care of him, you knew what had happened.

You were falling head first in love with this man. (if you weren’t in love with him already)

Yet, you were also scared of what the implications of that were. You started to question yourself more. How does he feel about you? Is he even interested like you are? Does he feel the connection you do? There were so many questions and sometimes your feelings got overwhelming. There have been a couple close calls when you almost confessed just to get it off your chest.

But it’s not like you could just go around confessing your love to one of the members of the world’s biggest boy band.

You almost jumped when you felt a head on your shoulder. You looked down and got a face full of Jimin’s hair and you felt your skin burn where his bare arm touched yours.

He suddenly looked up at you with his big doe eyes and a pout on his face, “What’s on your mind? Are you ok?”

No, you were not ok and he was the reason.

You tried to sort through your thoughts as he looked at you like that, but all you could hear was your heartbeat all the way up in your throat. You were suddenly overcome with the strong urge to kiss him and pull him into a hug so you could protect him from the world. You battled with yourself as the both of you looked into each other’s eyes.

Screw it.

You pushed yourself off the wall (causing Jimin to stand up straight as well) and leaned down before you had the chance to chicken out (where this sudden braveness and affection came from, you would never know). Your lips met his soft ones as you grabbed his head in between your much larger hands.

It was sweet and soft, and you had no intention of deepening it if he didn’t want it. A few seconds went by before you felt his tiny hands push against your chest.

You leaned back and looked into his shocked eyes. Your hands were still cupping his cheeks as he struggled to make a sentence, “Y-Y/n I-“

You interrupted him; you had to let your feelings be known. It was unfair to both of you at this point, and you felt like you were going to explode. Besides, you were already to far over the edge to stop now. “I love you. I am in love with you, Park Jimin.”

His eyes widened even more than before and his mouth parted in disbelief. The room seemed to hold its breath with you as you waited for his response. After a few seconds he stepped back with a frown on his face.

Oh.

“I’m sorry Y/n, but I don’t feel the same.”

Oh.

He left the room, almost slamming the door behind him. In his place was the love that would never be reciprocated.

So much for not confessing.

It had been two months, three weeks, and six days since you confessed. Not that Jimin was counting or anything though.

After the Confession of 2020™️, as he had dubbed it, he’s felt rather misplaced. He doesn’t really know how to describe it.

After he had left the practice room that day, Jimin almost ran back to the dorms. His mind was on overdrive and he didn’t even know what to think, let alone feel.

You loved him. Not like, but love.

He couldn’t fathom how you, the dancer that got promoted in a year (that was a record), the guy that fit in so easily with him and his brothers, the one who had such a deep voice it made something inside him tremble, was in love with him. He was angry at first; how could you just say something that monumental, just out of the blue like that? What was Jimin even supposed to say? The lack of regard you seemed to have for his feelings on the matter made him angsty and upset.

What made him stop and think was the fact that you had pretended like nothing had ever happened.

You went back to treating him like you did before and didn’t bring it up again. But, there was a certain air about you. You seemed sad, and if you were a little more distant than usual, Jimin pretended not to know why when it was brought up one night while BTS was having dinner.

But after thinking about this for longer than he would like to admit, he realized that you only had his feelings in mind.

You decided to not let your feelings get in the way of your relationship with the others. You acted like nothing happened because he had rejected you, and you didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable.

Jimin felt like an ass after he figured it out. Of course you would be that considerate, that’s just the type of person you are.

The kind of awkward ‘what happens now’ energy surrounding you both went on for a couple more weeks, but it was when Jimin saw you in the practice room, lights off, head down, and shoulders shaking that he realized maybe you weren’t as ok as you made yourself out to be.

He wanted to go in and check on you, apologize, do something to make sure you were ok.

In the end, he didn’t.

Maybe that’s why, months later, he felt an uncomfortable prickly sensation deep in his gut when he saw you leaning against Hobi-hyung, laughing with tears in your eyes.

Yeah, he just felt guilty. Nothing else.

Yet that same prickly feeling only amplified when he saw you hanging out with Hoseok, dancing with him, grabbing lunch with him. Jimin didn’t get it.

All he knew was that he wanted you here with him instead of his hyung. He wanted you to be laughing, dancing, and eating with him, not anyone else. All of a sudden you were the one that he was thinking about. What were you doing at the moment? Were you smiling? Suddenly he missed your smile. Were you happy? Now he wanted to talk with you, to make you laugh.

This was getting ridiculous.

It was Christmas Eve, but Jimin was anything but cheery as he saw you hugging Hobi in greeting, thanking him for letting you spend the night on Christmas.

Was it just him or could he see you blushing?

All of a sudden, without really knowing what he was doing, Jimin pulled you away from Hoseok and marched you both into his room. You were surprised at the action and a little concerned as you looked at Jimin’s agitated face.

“Hey, are you alright? What’s up Jiminie?”

His heartbeat sped up.

You frowned when he didn’t answer your question. You put your head to his forehead because he looked a little red. “Are you sick? You don’t feel like you have a fever.”

Jesus christ, was this what it felt like to you when he would do anything? He could barely hear you over the sound of his own heartbeat. He wouldn’t be surprised if you could hear it too.

Your eyes softened when you saw tears at the corners of his eyes. You whipped at them softly, “Hey, whatever is bothering you, you can tell me.”

It was quiet for a minute and just as you thought he wasn’t going to answer, Jimin inhaled sharply.

“I love you.”

You paused, short-circuiting for a minute as you processed what he said.

He stepped closer to you, “I love you, L/n Y/n.”

His lips timidly met yours and before you knew what you were doing, you were kissing him back, full of passion.

You put every once of love, sadness, everything into the kiss to try to convey what you couldn’t say in words. You put your hands on his cheeks and tried to push him closer.

Once the two of you parted for air, you looked into his eyes. “God, I love you so much. Park Jimin, you have no idea what you do to me.” Both of you were a blushing mess.

A very small part of you wanted to be angry at him. He made you go through all that heartache, for what? But you would worry about that later; right now, you just wanted to be close to him.

You pulled him into a hug and his small hands found their place at your sides, tugging you closer. Jimin giggled into your chest, feeling lighter than he has in the last few months. “Merry Christmas, Y/n.”

You kissed his head, a giddy smile on your face. “Merry Christmas, Jiminie.”

[end]

~**~

end note: for some reason i love this fic so much!! maybe it’s because it’s my slow progression back into writing for them, but something about this one hits me in the feels (in a good way). i hope you guys have an amazing new year (here’s to hoping 2021 is bounds better than 2020!!🥂) and christmas break. again, thank you so so much to jiminiestanposts for the amazing prompt! and i want everyone to know that i support them and that they are loved 💖💜❤️

masterlist

request something!

taglist: @boba-tea1206

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deepperplexity · 3 years

Text

All Because You Love Me

Title: All Because You Love Me

Request: Hi love all of your stories, can you make a Snape X Half-Blood Professor reader where they have a love-hate relationship and in the end they end up confessing there love to each other when Severis becomes more nicer to her than all the other professors? Thank You I would very appreciate it. @large-obesession

A/N: This was difficult to write and I don't know if I managed to do the idea in my head justice but I am kind of satisfied with this anyway? O.O I hope you all will enjoy it!

+A/N: FIRST FIC ON THE FIRST DAY OF 2021! Yay! :D

Setting: Hogwarts

Pairing: Snape x Half-Blood!Teacher!Reader

ABBR.:│(y/n) - Your Name│ (y/l/n) - Your Last Name │

Word Count: 7280

Warnings: Angst, Hurt, Harsh Language, Alienation, Kissing, Love/Hate, Fighting

Masterlist page // Masterlist post

Why couldn't he just leave you the fuck alone? Was it really that hard to just mind his own damn business? You fumed as your feet pounded the stone floor on your way to your classroom. Not only had you been forced to deal with a crying student, the havoc-wreaking Peeves and so, consequentially, you also missed breakfast. Oh no, no, you also had to deal with him. Professor Severus Snape. The gloomy, dark, too fucking sexy professor that simply would not leave you the hell alone. He was everywhere, around every corner. Even at night when you slumbered deeply under the covers he infiltrated your mind with harsh words and domineering sneers that made you ache.

You sighed heavily as you pulled open the door to the classroom. All students already present and waiting for you. "Sorry for being late, had a bit of a poltergeist problem," you grumbled as you shut the door with a harsh bang that echoed through the room while you took quick, short steps in a hurry to get to the desk and start the first class of the new week. "Open your books, page 287. Hurry up," you said as your anger still simmered and brewed just below the surface. It was unfortunate for the sixth years that seemed to wonder what was up with you, you were usually so cheerful and happy while teaching. Well, not today apparently, bloody poltergeists and billowing cloaks with galaxy eyes and- no no no, stop that! You hate the man's guts! Stop, stop, stop!

You shook your head, tried to find your usual sense of self while plastering on a smile in the hopes it would etch itself to your lips for the rest of the day. "Now, who would like to ask a question for the day?" You always asked the students to ask one question regarding the lessons material as you always made sure to tell them at the end of the previous lesson what they would be working on next. A Hufflepuff girl reached her hand up and as she asked her question, that you would answer throughout the lesson, the first class was underway. It gave you something to focus on, to tether yourself to and eventually your mind focused on the subject - to the delight of the students - as your regular disposition returned with a true smile etched on your lips.

First and second class had gone by smoothly after the little hiccup in the morning. You were happily dismissing the fourth years for lunch when your stomach grumbled something fiercely. Food, sustenance, gosh, I'm starving, you thought as you ordered your desk for the upcoming lesson before heading towards the Great Hall for the first food of the day for you. You closed the door gently and locked it.

"No running!" you shouted after some Gryffindor boys as you were about to turn a corner. "And no shouting, (y/l/n)," a growling voice snarled just as you rounded the corner. Oh, great, fucking great. You glared at professor Snape as he stood a few steps away from you. "There should be a rule about growling," you muttered under your breath as you walked towards him. Your face was hard and your back straight. "What was that, (y/l/n)?" You tilted your head back a little further, nose in the air. "Nothing, Snape," you snarled as you passed him, "I just think you should mind your own business," you continued in a cutting voice after having passed him.

You could have sworn you heard him grumble something behind you but you paid it no mind. You didn't want to give him the satisfaction of entertaining him. Even if your chest ached at his harsh tone. Ignore it, just ignore the hell out of that stupid heart. IGNORE IT! You focused on the pinching pain in your stomach, the growling noises it made and hurried along to reach the Great Hall. Unfortunately, Snape had the same idea as he easily reached you with his long legs and that billowing cloak floating like a thundercloud around him. "No running," you hissed with a slight twinkle in your eyes, "I thought you were better than the students." He scoffed and arched a brow at you as he slowed his pace to walk alongside you while he spoke. "And I thought you were human, not a snail," he countered and then sped up yet again. You gasped at him before your fists clenched and you shook with anger. He got you there. You were, truly, a slow walker. Even when you tried to walk fast you were slow as a snail.

He disappeared around another corner and you tried to walk faster. But it was impossible. You could not take long strides and you could only take so many steps in a short moment. So once you arrived at the Great Hall and entered Snape had already taken his place. You seethed as you saw him sneer out a defiant smile at you. You stalked up to the table and took your place on the opposite side of the table. Food appeared and you gulped it down in a flurry of motions as you truly were starved. All other things disappeared and your stomach rejoiced as it slowly filled up; one bite at a time.

"Hungry, aren't we?" You choked on your juice as Snape's voice rumbled right beside you. "Are you trying to kill me?!" you shouted at him and he had the gall to look taken aback at your harsh tone. You smacked down your glass and rose in such haste the chair nearly toppled over. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!" you screamed as you stalked towards him while you paid no mind to the staring students or the shocked expression on Minerva's face as you poked Snape's chest with the tips of your fingers.

He staggered backwards, "Seriously Snape! Don't just pop up like that! You could have killed me!" He arched a brow at you while your cheeks turned pink with anger and embarrassment as he looked down on you. The swirling dark of his eyes sucked you in and your heart tugged yet again. Not now! Your thoughts snarled at the roaring and hissing from your heart to be closer. "I did not pop, up," he drawled, "I merely asked if you were hungry." "You popped up! You scared me!" you shouted before you shoved at him again, with your palms that time. His chest felt tight under them and you wanted to leave them there as your heart pounded harder while he glared at you. "(Y/n), control yourself," Minerva said with a chiding voice, you spun your head towards her so fast it felt as if your neck would snap. "He merely asked if you-" "No, no he scared me half to death is what he did. As he always does. Popping up, growling, lurking in corridors and sticking his nose in other people's business!"

After that you pushed Snape aside as the other professors gawked at you, stunned as you were usually a happy, cheerful person that wouldn't even hurt a fly. You stomped out of the Great Hall with quick, short steps as tears began to roll down your cheeks. You were so sick and tired of his behaviour. You had been nothing but nice towards him when you started working at Hogwarts a little over a year ago. He had merely drawled and growled, lurked in corridors and commented on your teaching and lesson plans. Never a kind word for you, yet he was always there - pestering you to no end.

In the dark man's defence, some of it wasn't even his fault. You loved him and you had to do anything you could to push him out of your heart, to banish the thoughts and dreams of him. Why did you love him? No fucking clue. You just did. He was marvellous, handsome, commanding, strong, harsh yet helpful in his own way. Not to mention the voice that thundered from his vocal cords. It made your knees weak every time you heard it. That's why you always straightened your back, hardened your face around him. You were not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing how hard his harsh words and haunting glares were on you. Simply not happening so I should stop this damn crying now, for heaven's sake I mean absolutely jack shit to him. He never even calls me by my name, I'm just (y/l/n) to him, unlike all other staff members.

You stomped your way up some stairs as you were heading towards your classroom. Even though there were nearly 40 minutes left before the next class would begin. You wiped your cheeks to get rid of the tears. A student stopped you, a Slytherin girl from your morning class. A very curious girl who always sat at the front and asked question after question after question. "Professor (y/l/n), are you alright?" "Oh pipe it, Greene!" you snarled and the girl looked frightened as your harsh face twisted towards hers. Despite the tears that flowed down your cheeks you somehow managed to look utterly enraged at the poor student. "I'm-, I'm sorry professor, I didn't-" "I said pipe it, go bother your head of house instead!" You walked past the hunching student as guilt filled you. It wasn't her fault Snape was so evil towards you. You stopped and walked back down the three steps you had walked from the girl.

"Ms Greene, I'm sorry, I'm fine. Just, go eat some lunch," you sighed out as the girl nodded without saying a word. She walked off, seemingly still taken aback by your harsh way with her. You sighed and snivelled ever so slightly. "(Y/n)." Your head jerked up as Dumbledores voice rang through the air. "Headmaster? Yes?" you stuttered as you wiped your eyes one more time. "You are quite harsh with the students," he said as he peered at you from above his spectacles. Your cheeks blushed as you lowered your head. "It has never happened before, it won't happen again headmaster," you stuttered weakly. Just my luck that you see me the one damn time I lose it for a moment. "See to it that it does not, this is their home and we are family." You clenched your jaw as you did your utmost not to let harsh words about Snape slip past your lips by the mentioning of being family.

The week passed as you felt more and more alienated by the other staff members. Your explosion in the Great Hall was no secret, and apparently there was a rumour spreading about your interaction with Ms Greene. Only, it wasn't at all true. It was twisted and far from what had truly happened. You were depicted as a monster who shouted at the poor girl for minutes and there were no mentions of your apology. To top it off someone had seen Dumbledore reprimand you and that had at some point, around Wednesday you would say, been added to the rumour and it turned even more twisted. You had been loved by your students for your cheerful and happy ways, your gentle teaching and approach to your subject but now, most of that was ruined.

Nobody spoke to you as they had done before. Snape seemed to be around you less, he didn't pop up around corners or comment on your slow walking - he didn't even sneer at your lesson plans as you worked on them in the teachers' lounge in the evenings. Not that you had gone to that room in two days now. It was Sunday morning and everything felt like a disaster. How could one day, one moment in time, destroy a person so completely? Had you not done so many good things? Had you not been gentle, kind, happy and supportive from the beginning? Had you not tried to befriend your colleagues and be of assistance to your students at all times? How could all of it be forgotten and replaced by one single moment in time of disaster?

Another three weeks gave you the answer. No matter how hard you tried, a month after the shouting incident in the Great Hall, people still treated you differently. Treated you harshly and coldly. You had tried to explain, had tried to talk to Minerva and the others but it was no good. You were new and the other professors had been there for a long time including Snape that you went off on - they had known each other for a long time and it was no surprise they stood together. You understood that but it still did not make it acceptable. To shun someone in such a manner, without giving the person even a chance to explain. The students were a bit better but it did nothing to alleviate your pain and sorrow about the whole thing. (Even if some of them actually praised you for going off on the sort of hated professor.)

But what hurt the most, what you had thought you wanted initially, was the fact that Snape seemed to avoid you completely. Not a word, not a glance or glare. Not a scoff or harsh remark. Nothing. Just, nothing. It hurt, damn it hurt and you could not quite accept the feelings that snaked around in your veins and hissed from your heart. It made the pain more intense when your heart roared at you each time you caught a glimpse of his cloak around a corner, heard his distinct long stride from close by or the few times you saw him fully at dinner or bypassing him in the library. But you kept quiet, kept away from him as well and did not let him see the pain in your eyes as you got ever more isolated.

You sighed as you glared at a truly shitty essay by a fifth-year student. "What even is this?" you hissed out as you rubbed your temples. Outside soft light shimmered as it was nearing June and the nights were bright. You looked out the window for a moment and for some reason you banged into a wall of harsh void in your mind. The joy you had felt about teaching was gone, the magic of Hogwarts seemed to disappear and you just wanted to leave. Leave it, them, all behind. Him. Leave him behind. Retreat and lick your wounds, find something else to do with your life rather than hide in shame and isolation in a moist castle with infuriating stairs that seemed to move every time you were in a rush. "That's it, I'm done." You abandoned your desk, left your office and headed towards the Headmasters office to resign. To throw in the towel and surrender, give up, admit defeat. It's what they all want so why not give it to them?

You rushed down the infernal stairs, took a few turns and then moved up staircases again on your way to see Dumbledore and give him your notice of resignation. Your eyes stung with tears but you kept them at bay. Never had you felt as horrible as you did currently. It hurt, hurt to be forced in such a horrible way to leave. Yes, it was your choice but you were forced by the actions of others. You simply could not stand it any longer. You were a gentle and sensitive person. You were focusing on what you were going to say to Dumbledore as you took a sharp corner, stomping hurriedly in quick short steps only to be fully stopped as your body smacked into something hard yet soft.

You stumbled backwards and tried to find your balance as a cold hand gripped your wrist and steadied you. "Careful," Snape growled with that thundering voice as you looked up at him. Your face hardened yet softened. Your lips in a thin line as you clenched your jaw but you could not help the thrill that travelled through you at his touch and the sound of his voice. So, you glared at him as coldly as you could possibly manage with your watering eyes. "Sure, as if it matters to you if I'm careful or not," you hissed as you wrung your arm free from his cold grip. His eyebrows raised ever so slightly as he looked at you intently. You stepped around him and continued towards the headmaster's office.

"It matters very much to me," Snape stated with a deep, powerful voice that vibrated through you. You looked over your shoulder. Did your best to quiet your hearts hissing and roaring about love and lust as you looked at him while your face lost its raging edge. "Oh I'm sure, it matters so much to you. How could I not see that? Silly me, thinking all the glares, remarks and harsh words were not at all related to your care for me. Oh, how stupid," you tutted with a snarl at the end before you rolled your eyes, shook your head and kept walking. "Well, what else should I do?" His voice was satin soft and so low you barely heard what he said. But you did. "Don't think about it, just leave me alone Snape." He drew a harsh breath as you said his last name and that was it. You left and he remained, in silence.

You turned a corner and leaned against the closest wall. Your heart raced, your mind was as calm as a raging storm while your hands and knees shook. Tears leaked out of your eyes and dripped from your chin as you sank to the floor. Exhausted and utterly hopelessly sad as the love you held for him raged in your heart without your consent. You knew, all too well, you had tried with him. Tried and tried, but he had never accepted you as anything but professor (y/l/n) who were young and new and obviously had too many faults to be anything but a nuisance to him. You had tried and tried to be gentle, friendly, sweet and helpful towards him as you were met with growls and sneers that cut deeper than you had admitted from the start. And since it hurt, you turned angry, you had started sneering and glaring back at him. Remarked on things he said, commented on his behaviour. He had turned you into something you were not, just by his own darkness and harshness. I need to leave, you thought as you wiped your tears away and took a few steadying breaths before you pushed yourself up from the floor and kept going.

"Are you sure about this?" Dumbledore asked as he inspected you. You nodded. As you knew he could see you had been crying, knew he could see you were uncomfortable and no longer the person he had hired. "I take it I can't persuade you to stay?" "No, headmaster, at the end of this term I will leave. It gives you about three months to find someone new and I find that to be fair for both of us." Dumbledore looked at you intently as he peered over his spectacles. You twisted your hands where they rested in your lap. "I am grateful for the opportunity but I don't feel I belong here," you said as you did not want to tell him about the treatment you endured from the other staff at Hogwarts. Sure, it may have helped but then the rumours would probably just get worse as they added snitch to it. So you kept quiet about it. Not wanting to step on anyone's toes anymore despite Dumbledores words of family ringing through your head from the day everything went to hell.

"Well, I will not force you but it's a shame, I really thought you would fit perfectly here, and I thought for sure you and Severus would-" your head snapped up and your eyes burned with hurt at the mentioning of that name. "I do not want to talk about that man. There is nothing between us, nor do I wish there to be." Dumbledore smiled softly and you did not like the way he looked at you, not one bit. "That was not my meaning, (y/n). You and Severus, I thought that you two would be great colleagues as you are quite similar in ways one probably doesn't notice straight away. You are very different, but also very alike. He's quite, well, a lonely man but-" "For good reasons," you interrupted as you stood up, "I am resigning as this term ends, headmaster." You turned around and as he said 'very well' you left his office.

The next day you arrived for breakfast with bags under your eyes and you felt out of sorts as you had had a restless night. Twisting and turning, wondering where to go, what to do with your life and if you should tell the others about your resignation. You had decided not to do so and hoped Dumbledore didn't either. With a sigh, you sat down and a plate of toast with a cup of pitch-black coffee appeared before you. You grabbed the cup and started sipping. Nobody glanced your way, nor did they speak to you. Doesn't matter any more, a few more weeks and I'll be gone. They can think whatever the hell they want. You smiled to yourself as relief swept in. Soon you would be free of the shunning and alienation - free to do, well, something else and perhaps not be so miserable.

You placed the cup down and glanced to your right to see who else was there but your eyes got stuck in Snape's. In those deep, dark galaxies of endlessness. He was looking at you. Not glaring, just looking with a weirdly pondering expression. You rolled your eyes a bit, mostly at your ignorant heart who still hissed and roared for him, and stuffed the toast into your mouth before you chugged the coffee down, wiped your mouth and left without a word to anyone. If they knew you were resigning they said nothing, if that was good or bad you didn't even want to think about. So you just headed off to start the first lesson of the day. Another Monday, another week and it all would pass, end.

But you only got halfway before you heard the distinct sound of long strides from Snape, he was catching up to you. "Happy today?" he asked hoarsely with that gruff voice of his. You glanced up at him as your back straightened and your chin lifted up ever so slightly. You did your best to not falter in your pace or let him see how he made you weak at the knees just by being near. So, you did what you had done lately. You snarled back at him. "None of your business." He raised his eyebrows ever so slightly but quickly found himself again. "Well, I'd say it is my business, seeing as it is my fault you have not been happy lately," he drawled out and you could have sworn there was some sort of regret hidden in that thunderous voice despite the way he spoke to you.

You glanced at him but he looked straight ahead as he kept up with you. It wasn't really that difficult as you were, by his own words, slow as a snail. "Pfth," you tutted, "as if you care," you huffed out and kept walking. Soon you'd reach your classroom and he would be forced to leave you alone. "I-" "Don't even say anything," you snarled as you stopped dead in your tracks. He faltered and stopped two steps later. As he turned towards you you folded your arms over your chest as to keep the pounding of your heart hidden - it felt as if it was visible through your clothes as hard as it was frantically beating for him. "You are ridiculous, you know that?" you said with a flat voice. "Oh, do elaborate. I do not think that is a word I have been described with before," Snape said and you rolled your eyes. "Just leave me alone Mr Dark and Dangerous."

He arched a brow at you and you gasped as the words had slipped out before you could register what your brain made your mouth say. Had it been a pure-blood you spoke with they would most likely have been clueless as it was an expression used by muggles. But Snape was a half-blood, just like you were and he understood the reference. All too well it seemed by his expression. Your cheeks blushed ever so slightly as you threw your hands up in the air and barreled your way past him before he had time to utter another word. But as you glanced over your shoulder he still stood in the exact same spot. Idiot... If you were calling him an idiot or yourself, you had no clue about.

As the days passed Snape seemed to be nicer, more friendly and talkative. He rarely sneered, glared our spoke harshly to you and in all honesty, it felt strange. Weird and uncharacteristic for him. So as two weeks had passed and you nearly walked into him rounding a corner down in the dungeons after having lead a few stray first years down you just had to ask a question you had been pondering for a few days.

"Do you know? Have Dumbledore told you?" you asked before he had time to ask what you were doing down in the dungeons. "I'm, sorry, I don't quite follow?" You sighed at his words. "Has he told you?" "Told me what, exactly? I speak quite often with the headmaster," he droned on in a gruff drawl. You sighed and rubbed your forehead with the tips of your fingers. "Forget it." You took a step to the left to pass him but he sidestepped as well. "No, tell me, please."

You stiffened as he used that last word. A word that felt so out of place coming from his thin lips. As if some world law were broken as he vocalized that pleading word. It took you a moment to gather yourself. Well, what's the harm, it's only a few days left before I'm gone. Your face softened as he looked at you differently, more gently and not so darkly harsh. "I'm leaving," "Yes, the dungeons are not your place but tell me-" "No you idiot," you sighed, "I'm leaving Hogwarts, when this term ends." Even though you called him an idiot, it was done with a soft voice of slight annoyance and nothing worse than that.

He seemed to stiffen, seemed surprised. You sighed with a shrug of your shoulders. "Hogwarts is not for me, apparently," you said and his face hardened. "You got fired? For-, because-, because of me? For what happened?" His voice was different, it gently simmered with anger and it was not directed at you. But you shook your head. Not wanting to tell the reason you simply flattened your voice as much as you could as you spoke lightly. "I resigned, Hogwarts is just not for me, I'll try something other than teaching." "But you are a brilliant teacher," he said and you felt like a traveller in a different galaxy that was just all wrong. Did he just compliment me? What the- "I know you are, your students excel and thrive in your classroom." "Thank you, but it doesn't matter, not anymore." You gave him a tiny smile and then sidestepped again to leave the dungeons. You were simply too damn tired to argue, debate or throw any harsh comments about. enough was enough. And he didn't say anything else, didn't follow. Strangely enough, your heart hurt more now as he was being friendly. Now that he was civil with you it hurt so badly that it felt as if your chest would cave in on itself.

As the days passed you found yourself bumping into Snape more often, he talked more with you and there was an apparent effort on his side to be civil, even nice to you. But there were two differences that separated you from the other staff members when it came to Snape. One, he only addressed you as (y/l/n) rather than (y/n) as he did with the others. Two, he was more gentle with you then he was with the others. Before, he had been ruthless, harsh, bordering on cruel at times. But now, he was soft in his ways, gentle in his words and even just saying 'good afternoon' or ask 'having a good day' seemed to be food for your starved heart as it grew heavier and heavier with want and love. With a need you could not fill.

But you found yourself reverting to your old self, your true self as time passed by and strangely enough your joy for teaching returned. But there was nothing to do about that now as you had resigned and that was that. Besides, it would be good for you to escape the dark man who had captivated you since you laid eyes on him. Despite everything and all his efforts to harm you, hurt you, keep you away your heart had only hungered more for him and as the castle was empty and all students had gone home for the summer you felt it was time to do something about it. Perhaps at least get it out of your system before leaving forever. One regrets the things one do not do, not the things one has done as life ends. The words of your grandfather rang through your head and it steadied you. Gave you courage.

You had packed all your things, dressed in your regular clothing that fitted you as perfectly as your own skin did. You felt like you, not the professor or the colleague - just you. Well, in a moment I'll be just me. When I leave I will no longer be a professor or colleague. You took a breath and headed off towards the dungeons to hunt down Snape. You would at least tell him of your feelings, and then quite possibly run away before he damned you to hell for feeling romantic things regarding him. You had no idea how he would react. But it didn't matter, it was for your sake you were going to tell him. Clear the air and perhaps shut your heart up.

He was not in his office, or in the common room or his classroom where you knew he brewed potions in his spare time - not that the man actually had any. So you headed off towards his private quarters. You had never been there so it took a moment for you to find the door. His name shined on a little golden sign that was nailed to the door, 'Professor Snape, Private Quarters'. You steeled yourself, tried to find your courage again as your shaky fist knocked on the door. It took a mere moment for the door to be hastily pulled open, "If another stu-" Snape interrupted himself as you stood before him and not whoever he thought you had been.

He stiffened, his face turned slightly paler as you looked at him. You could see his adam's apple bounce up and then down behind his cravat as he obviously swallowed quite hard. "(Y/l/n), what gives me the pleasure?" "May I come in?" you asked and he arched a brow. "Yes, yes, come in." You nodded at him and stepped in on shaky legs as he moved aside. The door closed behind you and it felt strangely wrong to be in his private space. Perhaps you should have just blurted it out while the door was open and you could escape him instantly afterwards. "Can I help you with something?" he asked and you turned towards him, followed him as he stepped around you. Good, the door is clear.

You shook your head at him, "not really, no." "Well, then do enlighten me about the pleasure of your company?" Your eyes lingered in his for a moment as you for once allowed yourself to truly listen to his deep voice that vibrated through the air and your own body. "Well," you started as you looked down towards the floor, "I would like to tell you something," you continued as you braced yourself and looked up. Allowed your eyes to be dragged into his as you slowly floated about in the depths of his onyx eyes. "Go on," he murmured as he clasped his hands behind his back. He seemed to tense ever so slightly and you allowed your heart to drink him up. For just a moment you would be just you in his presence.

Okay, here goes all or nothing. Most likely nothing, you thought as you sucked in a breath of damp air. "I love you." The words were uttered clearly, no hesitation or any attempt at softening them. They were spoken with truth and honesty embedded in every syllable. Snape blinked at you as you merely stood there, looked at him with a nearly stoic face. "I just thought you ought to know." There, you had said it, you had done it. All the roaring, screaming and hissing from your heart died down. It simply pounded quietly in your chest as the truth was out. As if it held its breath for him to tell you he felt the same, but your head knew that was not what was going to happen. So, to spare yourself and him the embarrassment of stuttered words of some sort of apology, you simply turned and walked towards the door.

The handle felt cold in an unpleasant way against your palm as you twisted the nob, pulled the door towards you and stepped out without a single glance over your shoulder towards the speechless man behind you. If you had taken a second to look at him you would have found a man who was breaking and crumbling at your words. But you did not. And the door closed gently behind you. You sighed as your shoulders rose and sunk in unison with the air that filled and then left your lungs. Well, that was terrible. You shook your head as reality hit you. That you did not matter to him. Every time your heart screamed for him his remained encased by walls of stone. Every time you drowned in his eyes he remained tethered to reality. You had already known it was so, but to have exposed your truth and receive nothing in return was worse than angry words of disdain in all honesty.

The empty corridor felt deadly quiet as you began to walk away from the man you had fallen through the pits of hellish love for. You would leave, mend your shattering heart and find something to keep your mind occupied with. You already knew the future would be hard to cope with now that there were no doubts about his feelings towards you. At best disgust, at worse indifference. At least you told him and got an answer, even if your howling heart wanted nothing to do with that answer. "You'll mend," you whispered softly as you placed a hand over your viciously pounding heart. It tugged at you to go back, its claws dug into your soul and tried to wrench it back towards his door, towards him. But your body refused, your mind took control as your heart was obviously out of sorts at that moment.

You jumped as a loud crashing sound was heard. Shattered glass against stone, a crescendo of clinking noises of damage and destruction. A loud bang was heard afterwards and then the sound of books or the like that fell and landed on stone as well. "What in the-" but you had no time to say anything else as Snape's door flew open with a loud bang as it hit the inner wall of his private quarters. You ever so slowly turned towards him as he stepped out in a flurry of black fabric that swayed from his rapid movements.

His head turned and your eyes landed on his face. It was hard, jaw tensed, eyes darkly brimming with fire. You knitted your brow at him as your heart howled desperately in your chest, your mind did its best to hold the reins though. He saw you and his shoulders sank ever so slightly as if he released a breath, but you were not sure as he was a few steps away. A distance he rapidly closed with long rushed strides. "(Y/n)," he breathed out as he reached you and grabbed your wrists as if to hold you in place. His hand was wet against your skin, out of pure instinct you glanced down and saw blood dripping from it. "You're hurt," you stated as you seemed to be in some form of inner turmoil that kept your voice flat and your movements limited. Shock I believe? No? Isn't this shock? I mean, he said my name, my actual name. That's, new.

He glanced down on his hand but ignored the injury and blood as he instantly looked up to you again instead. "Why did you not tell me sooner?" he asked with a growl as his jaw looked tense. "I'm sorry?" "Why did you. Not. Tell me. Sooner?" he repeated with force between his gritted teeth. "Well, that's obvious. You hate me, I understand that. From how you treated me the moment we met I've understood that." His eyes widened as you looked at him flatly, unable to portray any emotion as you were, probably, in a deep shock at your own truth and his reaction to it.

"Elaborate," he growled. You sighed. "Really, do I really need to?" He nodded and you rolled your eyes as you felt your body go more and more numb. Not only had you told him but now you had to explain the whole thing to the man - how selfish could a person be? Could he not just leave you alone to wallow in your pain and sorrow? "Never saying my name, the glaring, the sneering and the constant remarks and harsh words. You could barely stand to look at me a few weeks ago. The moment we met you huffed at me and turned your back before storming away as if I was not even worth a second of your time." The words left you in a rush as your emotions started to catch up. "All the anger, the cruel words you've spoken. As if you did your utmost to push me away-" "I DID!"

You blinked, confused as to why he shouted such words at you. "Okay, now you elaborate. I don't understand what I did to deserve such treatment," you said and your voice turned lower and lower. Ah, there we go, here come the emotions... You felt tears sting your eyes as his grip around your wrists hardened. But that was not what made you cry, no it was the realisation that there was no going back and that the whole thing had been a horrible idea. "You exist, that is enough." You knitted your brows at his gritted words. "Excuse me for having the audacity to be born," you murmured as your throat was clogged by a knot of sadness and crying you tried to keep at bay.

He chuckled, "you're amazing." "What?" "You're amazing," he repeated as your eyes met and he had an actual smile over his lips. You just gaped at him. "You, (y/n), are utterly amazing and brilliant. All packaged in such a beautiful form. I do not think I have been able to have a single moment without you in my thoughts since I first saw you. And, it's wrong." "What's wrong?" He smiled at your confusion. "That I love you, want you. That I am desperate for you," he stated with that thunderous voice of his, "I have been since that moment you were introduced and I ran away the first chance I got." You gawked at him, his hold on your wrists softened as he lowered his eyes. "I have done, everything, to push you away and keep you away. Everything, yet you, you just rose to the challenge. I think I still have burns from some of your remarks," he chuckled out and you wrung your hands free from him. Anger and rage pulsed through you like stinging wasps.

You shoved your hands against his chest so hard he stumbled backwards as he was unprepared. "You mean to tell me I have been going through hell, been turned into this awful person, all because you love me?! Are you fucking kidding me, Severus?!" He gawked at you now. "That's, the first time you've said my name." "Well of course! You never used mine! You seemed to make a damn point of never calling me by my name but you did with everyone else!" "I never felt I had the right to utter such a beautiful word with this mouth that has said the foulest of things." You shuddered at his words, the deep darkness that thundered from his mouth. Then, you shuddered with anger again.

"You fucking bastard," you growled, "you damn-" and words failed you as your heart sprung free from your mind and it took the reins. In the next moment, you crashed your lips against his. He stiffened for a mere second before his arms embraced you and his lips met yours eagerly. "Bastard," you mumbled against his lips in between breaths, "stupid, stupid, stupid, bastard," you breathed out between crashing of lips against lips as he swallowed your words. "I love you," he whispered against your mouth, "forgive me." You leaned back at that as you felt his tears grace your own skin. It was just tears, no crying or any other tell of the overwhelming emotions he felt for you. You reached up and kissed his lips softly, gently. "No more running," you said and he nodded. "No more hiding," you continued and he nodded yet again. "No more anger, just love." He leaned in and kissed your neck as he hummed his acceptance of your terms. "And, use my given name, you bastard," you smiled out and he chuckled against the skin of your neck. "I will, (y/n)." You leaned into his embrace as your idea of him shattered, only to be replaced by a new one - one you loved deeply and was free of the hatred you had thought he had for you.

"I love you," you whispered with a slightly broken voice. "And I love you, I am, truly sorry," he said on a sigh. "What's done is done, all we can do is mend the things that are broken and love each other from here on out." "Perfectly put," he murmured as he straightened and looked at you. Your heart cheered its victory as your mind sulked over past hurts but you were too elated to take any notice of it. You reached up your hand to stroke his cheek before your hand gently snuggled into his hair and you dragged him towards you. Your lips met and a roaring howl of joy erupted from your heart as he passionately kissed you back.

Masterlist page // Masterlist post

So, as I re-read and edited this I noticed I completely miss interpreted the request - but I am hoping this will do anyway :S <3

Tags: @lizlil @snapefiction @morphineisouthoney @setsuna-meiou31 @snapefiction @monstreviolet @bionic-otp @meteoritewolf69 @flowerdementia @elizabeth-baelish

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[Jan:2021]

#snapedom #pro snape #snape fic #snape x reader #professor snape #snape #severus snape #reader insert #snape love #writing #deepperplexity #deepperplexity fic #love/hate #fic #fanfiction #hp fandom #fic writing

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folkloreguk · 4 years

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Colvers Castle (M)

A/N: This one’s for the bisexual horror-obsessed girls (me)!!! Jk anyone can read this, but I had the best time EVER writing this sdfgh also I was gonna post this around Halloween but I couldn’t wait any longer so here you go!!

genre: mystery / creepy? / smut (optional bias (male) x reader (female))

warnings: a little gore (describing (fake) wounds and costumes), unprotected sex, the reader might be a little risky, mentions of murder / suicide

summary: Two girls go to a Halloween party held at an old castle. What kind of creatures will they encounter, and will they ever be the same afterward?

words: ~5.6 k

“Oh my god!! You look so good!” you whisper-yelled towards your friend who was already sitting on the bench at the bus stop. Her blood red dress sparkled and although her red knee-high boots couldn’t have been too comfortable, they sure made her look incredible. On her head sat a pair of light-up horns and silver chains and chokers adorned her neck. She grinned widely upon laying eyes on you. At first, you had planned on wearing the same outfits, but then you had opted for dressing as polar opposites. Where her horns sat, a fluffy halo seemingly floated above your head. Your dress had a similar cut, but was a simple white, satin material and your necklace had a subtle golden heart pendant just between your collar bones.

“Where’s your trident?” you asked, taking a seat next to her.

“I figured it’s not too safe to dance with an item that could potentially poke out someone’s eye,” she said. “So I left it at home.”

“Fair enough,” you agreed, laughing. “Are you excited?”

“I’ve been freaking out since I got up this morning,” she said, waving her hands in the air dramatically. “A real castle? This has to be fun!”

The two of you were headed to the hottest Halloween party in your city. Usually, you weren’t the biggest fan of parties. But combined with dressing up and going to an old castle outside of the city, this party sounded like it was going to be the best night of the year.

“Finally, the bus is here,” you pointed out. When you stood in line to get on, you noticed how you and your friend weren’t going to be the only party-goers on the vehicle. But then again, there weren’t many bus lines that would bring you to the castle. You spotted a Michael Jackson boarding the bus a few people away from you, followed by a fake-blood-drenched clown. The sight only amped up your enthusiasm. Costumes had always been one of your favorite parts about Halloween. And judging by the scale of the party, you were going to have a lot to observe today. You squeezed past Dracula onto the seat next to your friend and off you went.

The ride to the castle took a while. You had to first ride through almost your whole city and then take a rather abandoned road through the countryside to the site of the party. But you got busy catching up with your friend who you hadn’t seen in a while and time passed quickly. You were in the middle of discussing which was the scariest film you had ever watched, when your eyes locked on a bright light in the otherwise dark scenery outside.

“We’re almost there!” you exclaimed, diverting your friend’s attention to the castle. You had been going through a forest, so when you suddenly exited the tree maze, the bright lit up stone walls of the castle came as an extra-pleasant surprise to you. Only a few minutes later, the voice on the bus announced the stop ‘Colvers Castle’ and soon you pulled up in front of it.

Weakly, you could remember visiting the castle with your school class when you had been a lot younger. You might had grown up since then, but nonetheless the cold, inured stone walls still impressed you. Hadn’t it been for the violet lights shining onto the side of the ancient building, the gaping gate in the battlement would have looked less than uninviting to you. Your friend squeezed your arm in happiness while you approached the entry. From somewhere, music was carried through the air and made you smile.

“Are we allowed to enter all of the castle?” you asked.

“No way! The well-preserved part and the museum will be closed off, I’m pretty sure the party is mainly focused on the inner courtyard,” your friend explained. “They wouldn’t let rowdy teenagers and drunk crazies riot inside such a precious castle.”

Just as she had finished her sentence, your eyes followed the stones in the walls up to where the purple light couldn’t reach. The turrets rose high, and the night was pitch dark. But you could have almost sworn there was a small light coming from the tiny window at the top of one of the turrets. Maybe some party guests had run off after all? There. This time there was no doubt in your mind. There was a man’s expressionless face in a window, looking out at the arriving guests.

“Hey, look up there!” you tugged your friend’s arm. Her eyes followed your finger, but when you looked at where the face had been, it was gone.

“What’s up there?” she asked. Just for a moment, you searched the rows of windows. Maybe you had accidentally lost it. But no matter where your eyes went, all you saw was darkness inside the castle. You mumbled a ‘nevermind’ to your friend and quickly wiped the thought off your brain. This was a Halloween party, and you were ready for it. Along with the familiar faces from the bus ride, the massive gate swallowed you up into the courtyard of the castle.

It was obvious that the major action of the party was going on here. The all-too well known ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson was playing from the speakers and you grinned at the young man dressed as the famous singer, who you had already seen on the bus, for a moment.

Party guests were yelling in excitement and singing along, all whilst dancing in a sea of people right in front of you. The main grass area had been transformed into a dance floor. Immediately, your friend pulled you along and into the crowd. In the blink of an eye, the buzz and energy from everyone around you sprung onto you as well, and before you knew it you were moving along to the music. Whoever had managed to throw this event really had an eye for choosing a great venue. Usually, there was something magical and peaceful about the castle. Tonight, however, dunked in red and purple lights and occupied by hundreds of young souls, it made for the perfect backdrop of a legendary Halloween party.

“Welcome to everyone who just got off the bus to join us!” a voice shouted through the speakers, just before the next song started. Your eyes scanned your surroundings. Quickly you had spotted the DJ stand, where a young woman and a man were providing the guests with music. They were wearing matching zombie makeup and outfits and the crowd cheered at their words, an infectious excitement that caught on to you right away.

Time moved differently on a dance floor. Bodies pushed against you, always keeping you moving along. The beat of the music seeped through your skin and into your muscles, almost as if it was your new energy source. It was hard for you to remember how many songs had played since you had arrived. Had it been fifteen minutes or an hour? You could barely hear over the volume intensity, but then again, you didn’t need to. There was no need to talk to your friend right now, who was moving to the rhythm with her hands in the air, grinning at you.

That’s when a figure in a pirate costume pushed themselves between you and her, apparently having taken a liking in your devil-friend. Lazily, she put her arms on the pirate’s shoulders, inviting him to dance with her. You weren’t upset, though. All you wanted was to have fun, and you wished her the same. A girl in a witch costume replaced your friend, and although you had never met her before, there was something about dancing together that made you feel closer to her than you felt to some people you saw every other day. Her hands were on your waist and you shared a moment with your faces close to each other. It was harmless flirting through gazes without either making another move, drawing a smile on your face.

But as soon as she had appeared, she was moving on to the next person. She granted you another toothy smile, like she didn’t have a care in the world, before turning to a vampire girl. You scanned your immediate proximity to check if your friend was anywhere in sight. When you spun around, you spotted the red fabric her dress was similar to, so you squeezed through a few people to get to her. But as you tapped her shoulder and she turned her head it wasn’t your friend. This girl had fake blood smeared across her cheek and looked nowhere like a devil.

Thinking you might have better luck with observing the crowd from an outward perspective, you wriggled yourself through bodies until you reached the edge of the dance area. To your left was a sign saying ‘game zone’. Intrigued, you entertained yourself for a minute by watching a boy dunk his head under water whilst bobbing for apples in a barrel. As soon as you would find your friend, you were planning on convincing her to take a shot at some games. But for now, you needed something to drink. Although you were outside, your cheeks still felt warm and your throat was a little dry from the cheering.

So you opted to walk the other way, pursuing the direction of the ‘bar’ sign. As soon as you had located a free seat, you strutted towards the chair. The bartenders were all wearing superheroes’ costumes and you admired the decorations, ranging from pumpkin heads and little ghosts to spider webs, they had put up.

“Can I get you anything?” cat woman asked you. She gave you a grin as she remembered your face. She had once gone to the same school as you. You quickly ordered before spinning around to get a good look at the dancing crowd. The bar was up on a slight hill, so you were seated at a higher level than the dancers. But the darkness made it challenging for you to accurately spot faces and combined with the way everyone was moving, you quickly gave up on your plan of finding your friend this way. Maybe if you waited a while, she would show up by the bar herself.

“Here’s your drink,” you heard a voice from behind you. When you turned your head, the bartender was placing a glass in front of the young woman next to you. She was dressed like a princess, but her face looked nothing like a fancy noble woman. Her eyes were blood shot and two single lines of blood ran down her white-powdered cheeks.

“I believe this is yours,” she said, sliding the drink over to you. “I didn’t order anything.”

“Thank you,” you said, checking the liquid. She was right. The bartender must have gotten you mixed up. “I like your hair, it’s beautifully done.”

She smiled at your compliment. Then she pushed your glass a little closer towards you and bent over to your ear. “Be careful of your drink. Men like to take advantage of women.”

“I won’t let it out of my sight, don’t worry,” you thanked her whilst smiling. Her expression had been dead serious, almost making you feel uneasy. But when she saw the way you smiled, her features softened. Her mouth that had tiny red lips drawn onto them curled into a beautiful, but kind of sad smile.

As you both turned to yourselves again, you decided to appreciate your favorite part about Halloween – the costumes – for a while. The classics were present: Vampires, killer clowns, zombies and the latest horror movie villains. A wildly dancing group of teenagers all disguised in robes from the Hogwarts -houses made you chuckle. And as always, there was a fair share of people who were wearing undefinable costumes that mainly consisted of random fake wounds or fake blood on their faces and clothing but didn’t impress you all that much. And lastly, there were the lazy ones, who settled for hiding their face behind a cheap mask, so they at least appeared to have made an effort.

For a moment, you dug for your phone and checked if your friend might have texted you. But there were no notifications. You quickly typed a text “where are u?” and let your phone disappear in your small bag. Whilst waiting if she would reply, you decided to take a trip to the toilets. As you walked there, you made more costume observations. To your left, next to the bar, a stone wall ran all the way around the courtyard. Party guests were using it as a seating accommodation, as it was a nice way to overlook the whole atmosphere. A realistic looking version of the nun from the Conjuring-movies sitting on the wall impressed you quite a bit. Next to her, a couple was seated. You couldn’t quite figure out what their outfits were supposed to portray, but they surely weren’t modern day clothes. You admired the makeup they had put on their necks. It looked as if they had slashed throats.

After you had arrived at the bathrooms and finished your business, you checked your texts one more time – but still nothing came from it. You were sure she was simply having too much fun to check her phone. As you walked down the hallway to the exit back into the courtyard, you spotted a young man standing at the end of it. Behind him was a ‘no entry’ sign, that had been temporarily installed to keep party-goers out of the castle. The young man was wearing a white button up shirt and pants that made him look a little like a Disney prince – had it not been for the fake blood that soaked the fabric on his chest, which made him appear more like Dracula. He smiled at you shyly, before turning and walking further down the closed off hallway.

“I don’t think people are supposed to go there,” you spoke, glad that you didn’t need to raise your voice as much because the music was drowned out by the thick castle walls.

“No one’s here to stop me,” he said, before climbing over the fence. “Will you join me for some fun?”

You didn’t think you’d find your friend any time soon, and if she was going to run off with some random pirate stranger, maybe you should too? The vampire prince sure was handsome. Carefully, you walked closer to the fence.

“I’m sure those doors are locked,” you said, watching as he approached the door at the end of the hallway.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” he smirked, and next thing you knew he was opening the door that said ‘staff only’ on it. “Care for a free castle tour?”

“How do I know you’re not a creep?” you asked.

“How do I know you’re not a creep?” he replied, laughing. “I’m just bored of having so many people around, alright? If you don’t come with me, I’ll go by myself.”

Your curiosity took over. And maybe he had a charm about him – a sly smirk, a few buttons on his shirt undone or maybe it was his voice that sounded like honey.

“Fine,” you hurried over the fence and squeezed yourself through the opening in the door after him. “Don’t make me regret this.”

“I plan on not letting you forget me,” he said. “But there’ll be no regrets.”

His words were vague, and there was a strange feeling about him, but you simply couldn’t put your finger on it. You looked around. The only light falling into the hallway came from the party outside. This part of the castle seemed to belong to the museum, but the further you followed him through the corridors, the rougher the stone walls seemed.

“You want to see a nice view?” he asked, and of course you did. So, you took the stairs up to a higher level. The rooms here had neither doors nor glass windows and generally didn’t seem to have been restored like the part of the castle that was open to the public.

“Are you real?” he asked.

Your brows furrowed. “Real?”

“A real angel?” he asked. He was walking ahead of you, so you couldn’t check his face for whether he was joking or waiting to attempt a silly pick up line.

“I’m a human being, just like you,” you said.

“You sure do look like an angel,” he said. The sincerity in his voice surprised you. This guy had a strange way of flirting, but you preferred it over the gross sexual remarks other men considered to be flirting.

“Thank you. And what are you tonight?” you asked. You took a look outside into the courtyard. The scene looked breathtaking from above, and this way you could appreciate the immortal beauty of the castle even better.

“I’m the ruler of this house,” he said, smiling. He was coming closer to you now, and you smirked.

“Oh, a prince?” you asked, returning his smile. “If an angel let someone touch her, I think it would have to be a prince.”

“You’re bold,” he said, but he was grinning. “Suddenly I’m glad they are hosting a damn party here on Halloween. So, would you let me touch you?”

“Please,” you said. His eyes were dark and suddenly filled with lust. When his lips first smashed against yours, they felt a little cold, but the moment your tongue swept over his bottom lip and he parted his mouth, his hot tongue met yours. You felt like he had set you on fire in the best way possible. It had been a while since someone had made you so horny in such a short time. Within seconds your hands were in his hair, tugging softly, and his hands wandered from your neck to the front of your dress. Your back arched against his touch eagerly as he squeezed your boobs through your bra.

You didn’t feel in the mood for long foreplay, and luckily it seemed he thought the same. He grabbed your ass, pushing you against him so you would feel his growing bulge. A moan slipped past your lips and you felt like covering your mouth.

“No one hears us here, don’t worry,” he said.

“Sorry, I’ve just never done it in such a…public setting,” you said. Although you doubted anyone else even knew they could enter the castle this easily. Hungrily, you kissed him again and pulled him towards you with such urge that you stumbled backwards a few steps. Your back touched the wall, sending shivers down your spine from the cold of the stone. Teasingly, he lifted the hem of your dress to the top of your thighs, his fingers playing with the suspenders of your garter.

“You like my lingerie?” you asked.

“Hmm…but I think I’ll like what’s underneath more,” he said, fingers ghosting over your center. Impulsively, your eyes closed at even such a tiny touch.

“Then please hurry up,” you urged him, and he chuckled. Swiftly, he pulled aside your underwear and slid one of his fingers between your soaking folds. You sucked in a breath and leaned your head against the wall behind you. On instinct, your hips moved against his hand for more friction. He added another finger, toying with your clit in rapid movements. How did your legs already feel like jelly? You held onto him for support while his free hand pulled you flush against him. When he pushed his digits past your entrance, you hummed in agreement. Expertly, he curled them inside of you, using his thumb on your clit.

“Am I supposed to find angels sexy?” he asked, gaining your attention.

“Yes,” you replied. “And I hope they give you a boner because I want you to fuck me.”

At the same time, you ran your hands down his sides and to his hips to the visible tent in his pants. He grunted when you palmed him through the material and probably also at your words from a few seconds ago. Finally, he removed his hands from between your legs, but you weren’t upset because you knew there was more to come.

“If you turn around, you can have what you want,” he said. More than willingly, you did as he said. When you turned your head, you watched him unzip his pants just enough so he could pull down his underwear and expose his hard length. You placed your palms flat against the wall and arched your back a little. When he slowly pulled up your dress to rest the silky material around your waist, you whimpered in impatience. He knew what he was doing, and he loved hearing you as you quietly asked him to speed things up. You felt the sudden urge to press your legs together as he pulled down your underwear, just slightly so it stayed around your thighs and wouldn’t fall on the dirty ground.

He hissed a little when he let the tip of his cock run over your center, your wetness covering him. For a few seconds he teased you, drawing out more of your whines. But the teasing only made it feel more rewarding when he eventually entered you. He filled you up all the way, then slowly pulled out almost fully, only to pull your hips against him and quickly thrust into you again. With time, he picked up a steady pace, hips slapping against your ass with every movement. You rested your head against the wall, feeling the rough material against your cheek, but you couldn’t have minded less.

There was something so intimate about hearing someone moan. And it felt especially intimate when it was a person you had just encountered. You realized you hadn’t even bothered asking for his name, but you were confident you would never forget him and the way he felt inside of you. When you’d think back to this, you’d remember his fingers digging into your hips, pulling you against him with ever thrust, and the way your moans mixed with the noise of the party in the background. People were cheering and singing while a famous song was blasting through the speakers, but really all you heard were your own whimpers of pleasure.

The air was cool on your bare skin, giving you goosebumps. Simultaneously, you felt hot all over, every of his touches seemingly leaving a trace of fire wherever he laid his hands on you. Your eyes rolled to the back of your head for a moment when you felt his fingers between your legs.

“I’m so close already,” you said, his new actions only adding to the sensation. He drew random shapes onto your center, clouding your mind with the need to just let go and let your orgasm wash over you. He groaned when you clenched around him, and from the way his thrusts quickened and seemed a lot less controlled, you could tell he was almost there too. His curse words and your moans went well together, and before you knew it you felt him twitch inside of you. His liquid spilled out of your core as he pulled out. He breathed heavily but didn’t stop his touching on your clit.

Your thighs trembled when he rubbed faster, pulling your body close to him. You could feel his breath on the side of your neck, only making you feel dizzier. It could have been the drink from earlier, but you were almost convinced it was him who was making you feel as if you were drunk. Your whimpers sounded longer and more dragged out now, and right before you came, they silenced completely. He didn’t stop while your body arched and shook because of his perfect fingers on you. Tightly, your eyes shut and you clenched your hands to fists. When you felt your knees become especially weak from sensitivity you softly tugged on his wrist, signaling him to stop.

Letting out a sigh of both happiness and exhaustion, you spun around. You blinked at him tiredly and smiled. Your head rested against the wall as you watched him pull his pants back up, so you did the same.

“You were amazing,” you said.

“So were you,” he replied, tilting his head a little when he grinned at you. Meanwhile, you picked your bag off the ground. Just as you did so, you felt a vibration coming from inside. Quickly, you checked your phone. “I’m waiting by the bar”, your friend had finally texted you.

“Do you want to come join me and my friend at the party? I lost her earlier so I should really go and see her now,” you asked the handsome stranger in front of you.

“Oh, no thanks. I’d rather stay here for a while longer,” he declined.

“Alright, whatever you like. Maybe I’ll see you again later?” you said.

“That would be nice,” he smirked. “Do you remember the way out?”

You hummed a yes and said your goodbyes to each other. The empty castle hallways were a lot creepier when you walked them by yourself. You imagined how it must have been back then, walking down this corridor. The light of a candle would have made your shadow dance menacingly on the unwelcoming, cold walls and the sound of your footsteps would have been heard even from far away. But the uneasy atmosphere only lasted until you had reached the familiar door. When you opened it, reality engulfed you again.

Your walk to the bar was hasty, since you hadn’t replied to your friend and you didn’t want her to think you wouldn’t show up. The party was just as energetic as before. You even had the feeling that more people had showed up since you left it a while ago. When you neared the seats, you spotted your friend instantly, this time being sure you weren’t mistaken.

“Where were you?” you asked, slinging your arm around her shoulder and grinning from cheek to cheek.

“I could ask you the same,” she replied, giving you a sly look. “Look at you. Your hair and lipstick’s all messed up.”

You chuckled as she ruffled your hair and put your halo back in place.

“Okay, I’ll go first. I met this guy,” you said. She raised her eyebrows as if she was surprised, but you knew she wasn’t. “We might have sneaked off into the castle.”

“Shut up, no you didn’t!” she almost yelled over the music. “I want every detail tomorrow.”

“Alright, granted. What about you?” you asked. “Was the pirate a good kisser?”

She only laughed and nodded her head yes.

“I saw they had a game area over there,” she pointed out.

“Let’s go, and then you can tell me more about that guy,” you said, pulling her along with you. Happily, you sang along to the song that was playing. You couldn’t wait for the rest of the night. Although neither of you tried your luck in apple bobbing, your precious makeup having been too much work to destroy it this way, you found a bunch of other games to participate in. You made temporary friends with a bunch of drunk girls who were all trying to win the main prize in a game but were simply too intoxicated to knock down some cans with balls. So you and your friend helped them out, to which they seemed to have crowned you their new group members. You danced some more, and time passed way too fast for your liking.

By the time you stepped back onto the bus that would bring you home, it was hard for you to say goodbye to the castle. So, this was Halloween for another year. The party mood hadn’t died down, even on the bus ride home, because it was filled with guests. When you watched the castle become smaller, you noticed the heavy fog that seemed to have appeared from nowhere all of a sudden. It engulfed the ancient building into a cloud of white smoke, the further the bus distanced itself from it. As you entered the woods, the only thing left to be visible were the eerie purple lights shining through the fog.

Tiredness came over you when you finally stepped off the bus at your stop. It was a short walk home and you promised to call your friend first thing in the morning before you said your goodbyes. You could already spot your home when you thought back to the stranger from the castle. He had called himself the ruler of the house. His handsome features and smile were livid in your head, even when you silently entered your room and took off your shoes. As you changed into your sleepwear and got ready for bed, you noticed the forming bruises on your hips, but they only made you grin to yourself.

Yawning, you fell into bed, but not before checking if your friend had texted you. Got home safely, goodnight x, she had sent. You quickly replied to let her know you were at home as well and went to switch off your phone. But then curiosity suddenly came over you. With rapid clicks, you searched for the castle’s museum’s website on the internet. Maybe you could find out who had really lived there, hundreds of years ago.

You clicked the ‘history’ button and began to scan the texts, even though your eyelids felt heavier with each second.

King Walter III and Queen Alice ruled the castle. Their two sons Hugh and Henry and their daughter Beatrice grew up happily in the castle. But starting from year 1568, the lives of the noble family took a drastic downfall. Henry, the younger of the two brothers, had always felt jealousy over his older brother Hugh, who would one day inherit the throne from their father. His greed and envy drove him to great lengths, until one day, Henry took out his anger on his brother directly. He stabbed Hugh in his sleep, in rage so blind that even his father could barely stop him when he fell witness to the dire scene. Distraught and outraged by this event, the older brother was locked away in a tower, threatened to never see another face ever again in punishment for his crime. But the unfortunate events didn’t end there. Princess Beatrice had fallen for a Lord from another kingdom, who took it upon himself to take what she had from her. In their wedding night, he was said to have poisoned her drink. She went to bed and never awoke to see the next day. There is only so much parents can take in one year. So, in utter devastation, the king and the queen made a decision together. After having their favorite red wine and watching their last sunset together, they committed suicide by cutting open their throats and died sad, but together. Prince Henry was said to have been forgotten, locked up in his tower all alone, facing a lonely and slow death on his own. Some say they can still hear the voices of the royal family in the castle halls at night, and if you look close enough, you might find their ghosts haunting the castle to this day. Why don’t you come visit us and find out for yourself?

You shivered and felt a little uneasy at the way the museum was advertising something so horrible. But when you scrolled down the page just a little further, what you saw knocked out the breath from your lungs. It was a picture, an old painting to be exact, of the family. And there he was. The prince was staring at you blankly, and you felt tears well up in your eyes in disbelief. It was the stranger who had taken you into the castle. You thought back to his blood drenched shirt. As if he had been stabbed. You shook your head no when your eyes fell on the rest of the family. You recounted Princess Beatrice from where she had been sitting by the bar next to you, telling you to watch over your drink. You saw the queen and the king, who you had noticed sitting on the stone wall, holding hands, the wounds on their throats having looked almost too realistic to have been fake. And then you remembered your arrival at the castle. You thought back to the face you had definitely seen in the window at the top of one of the towers. This was all just coincidence, right? Your stomach turned in terror. Had someone tried to play a joke? But if so, why had their faces looked so perfectly similar to the family in the painting?

Quickly, you pulled up the social media of the girl, your school friend, who had served you at the bar. ‘Do you remember the girl dressed as a princess with bloody tears who you accidentally gave my drink to? She was sitting next to me at the bar’, you quickly typed and sent.

For at least an hour, you twisted and turned in your bed, going from almost sleeping to nervously checking your phone for a reply. You thought you were going crazy. But sooner or later, you realized she might have had too much to do, cleaning up the party or simply going to sleep herself, and you drifted off to slumber.

When you awoke the next day, the previous night almost felt like it had been a scary dream. But when you checked, your hips were still bruised and you had a new message from the girl who had worked at the bar: As far as I remember, the seat next to you was empty. I gave the drink to you. You were dressed as an angel, right? Why are you asking?

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athina-blaine · 3 years

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writing update! so for the last few weeks ive been slowly working through the companion piece for fell in your opinion and its almost complete, with about 3-ish pages of editing left. it’s a pretty dense scene, though, so im giving myself permission to shelve it for now and take a short break to reboot. between that and momm (the next chapter still around 50% complete), it’ll be a good while before anything’s ready to be posted :’(

in the meantime, here’s the opening scene from the companion piece, as a treat~

fallen out of favor and fallen on my face

companion piece to fell in your opinion, Jon POV

Preview word count: ~1k

It proved difficult to watch Martin walk back to the cab stand, alone. Should Jon have insisted on accompanying him, in case it started to rain again? Is that what a good boss would have done?

Not that Jon would know anything about that. Good boss, feh. His only template was Elias and, well, that was fraught with its own tension.

It just didn’t sit right with him, watching that lone figure shuffle down the corner on the rain soaked pavement.

And maybe … maybe he also wanted to spend a little bit more time with Martin. Soak in the colour of his eyes, equal measures vulnerable and … concerned.

With that thought came a flushing face and a stomach churning with embarrassment and shame. Jon buried his face in his hand, massaging his temples. The streetlights were doing nothing for his headache.

Jon knew the sort of person he was: Irritable, unfriendly, impatient, argumentative. He’d accepted it, leaned into it, even. It made things easier, after all, knowing how people will feel about you in advance, so why bother going off script?

And yet, despite all that, Martin said he still should have a cup of tea in the morning. Deserved it, he’d said. Jon didn’t feel like he deserved much of anything these days, much less …

Just get to the dishes already, Sims.

Scooping up the plate, he flipped on the sink and watched as it filled with hot, soapy water. His finger tapped the edge of the counter, teeth gnawing at his abused bottom lip. There was nothing else for it.

In the very beginning, he’d assumed the tea Martin would bring was an effort to butter him up. Get close to him so as to better keep an eye on his work. Those were early days, when Jon had thought Martin to be working for Elias as some kind of spy, to go blabbing the moment Jon inevitably made a horrible mistake.

Those assumptions, however, were dashed when it had been made abundantly clear Martin had been even less qualified for his current position than Jon.

Even when he’d realized Martin wasn’t some spy, he still assumed the tea was for something. Maybe to make Jon more forgiving to all of Martin’s obvious mistakes, which only served to increase his own workload, barely treading water as it was. Absurd, in hindsight. Why would Martin continue to bring him tea for all those months when it obviously did nothing to ease Jon’s ... temperament?

Of course, it had just been standard courtesy. A friendly gesture, from an amiable man.

Jon … didn’t react well to people being friendly with him. A learned habit from the struggles of childhood, maybe. He thought he’d gotten better after the extensive efforts of Tim and Sasha back in research, but apparently that hadn’t been the case. And, in the cold, impersonal halls of the Institute, no one went out of their way to be kind to him, not without reason. Even with Tim and Sasha, the close proximity of their work required that they get along, although he’s certain they’d argue otherwise out of politeness.

Jon preferred things that way. It meant nothing was expected from him. Nobody was disappointed.

Jon was Martin’s boss; they didn’t have to get along with each other. So then why …?

Because he’s kind, you knobhead.

Dumping the dishes into the hot water, he flipped off the sink and yanked out a sponge. Fat load of good that realisation does him now; not after all the things Jon’s said and done, the things he can never take back. He could prattle off excuse after excuse, but that wouldn’t change the fact that, at the end of the day, he’s just an arse.

Jon’s shoulders sagged. Why hadn’t he realized sooner? Why hadn’t he figured out Martin was trying to be nice to him?

It’s probably the only thing you eat all day, anyway, right? Martin had said. Couldn’t stop even if I wanted to.

His eyes had been so resolute, so determined to care about him, despite everything.

All these months working so closely together and, somehow, Jon never realized the colour of his eyes were an almost opalescent shade of brown. His smile–

The dishes clattered into the sink, his face burning.

Christ, he was so predictable. One small gesture or hint of affection had him falling headfirst.

With Georgie, it had been the return of his collectible nekojima pen after a maths class. Had set a personal best record for himself for that.

The problem was when he fell so fast and so hard he cracked his head at the bottom of the swimming pool, and there was no one around to fish him out of the water.

Not that any of that mattered; Jon would be lucky to salvage any kind of amicable relationship at all.

Leaving the dishes to dry, Jon pulled out his phone. It was nearing 1 AM; Martin had said he lived in Croydon, hadn’t he? Surely, he must be back by now? Searching through his contacts, he squinted. Had he never saved Martin’s number? He could have sworn …

Oh. He hadn’t saved him under Martin. Just Blackwood.

Taking a shuddering breath, Jon struggled to compose his message (Are you–? Have you made it–? Do you think we can–?) before sending a succinct,

>Did you get home safely?

He probably wouldn’t get a response for some time. Martin likely wasn��t chomping at the bit to hear from him.

And yet, a few moments later, his phone chimed.

>yeah

Oh.

>Good.

Maybe, though … Maybe things could be different this time. Maybe Jon can put his trust in someone else’s kindness for its own sake.

Maybe Jon could be better.

Even though the work loomed high, bearing its weight down on his thin shoulders, Jon decided it would be better for everyone if he actually got some sleep that night.

#tma #man this has been a crunch #gonna feel real good once all this gets out there

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leela-small · 3 years

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I desperately needed a break from my college assignments and this idea had been swimming around in brain ever since I read @ashs-studio’s post with that headcanon about Yakko having been the reason Wakko speaks with a Liverpudlian accent. So I wrote this little (?) fic to unwind. And because I just couldn’t resist 😅

I’d also like to tag @incorrectanimaniacsquotes, because your wholesome sibling moments posts make my day whenever I see them on my dash, and I really think this could qualify for that kind of content 👉👈

Yakko cocked his head as he watched his baby brother sitting in his crib. The tot was busy chewing away at the sleeve of his onesie, the bright blue fabric already soaked in drool. If Yakko hadn’t known any better, he would’ve guessed that his brother was actually determined to ingest the material.

He had been intrigued by the infant from the day his parents had brought him home. They had told him a while back that he would be getting a baby brother soon, someone who would play with him and who would look up to him as a role model from then on out. Quite frankly, Yakko had been very satisfied to be an only child, as it meant he was the center of his parents’ love and attention, but the prospect of a new playmate had excited him. At least now he wouldn’t feel as lonely, and maybe he could even teach his new sibling a thing or two.

When he finally arrived from the hospital, Yakko had hoped to be able to play with his little bro right away. However, he was disappointed to find that the baby’s notion of ‘fun’ merely involved sleeping and eating, and the occasional moments when he would sit and stare at his surroundings as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. His parents had informed him that his baby brother – whom apparently they had named Wakko – was still too small to play with him, so he would just have to wait until he was a little more grown up. Needless to say that Yakko had felt frustrated upon hearing that. If he couldn’t play with him, then what was the point of even having a little brother?

As baby Wakko continued to suckle on his sleeve, Yakko could only sigh and roll his eyes as he leaned against the crib’s upper rail. Wakko had to be the most boring baby he had ever met. Then again, he was the only baby he had ever met.

At that moment, Yakko caught something from the corner of his eye that made his ears perk up. It had been very subtle, he wasn’t even one-hundred percent sure that it had actually happened… but he could have sworn that he had just seen his baby brother roll his eyes like he had previously done.

When he looked back down at the infant, he saw that Wakko was staring up at him. He had finally released his sleeve, which had become a moist mess, and seemed to be waiting for his big brother’s next move.

Yakko needed to make sure he was not imagining things, so he decided to put the baby to the test. He furrowed his brow and scowled in an attempt to make an angry face, his gaze glued to his brother. He was determined to see if the infant would copy him.

And sure enough, he did! It wasn’t exactly like Yakko’s, but Wakko did his best to mimic his brother’s facial expression.

Yakko was delighted to find out about Wakko’s new ability. He had no idea the baby could imitate him, and this gave him an idea: if Wakko couldn’t play with him properly until he was old enough, than he figured this could be one of the ways he could play with him until that time came.

He decided to kick it up a notch, just to see how far his little sibling’s imitation skills would go: he focused is gaze on the tip of his nose, crossing his eyes inward. Wakko attempted to mimic his brother, but found it harder than expected. He tried a few more times, each of them failing. He must have strained himself somehow during his final attempt, for soon after he began to whimper and tears began to well up at the corners of his eyes.

“Oh, no no no!” Yakko panicked, worried he might have caused his baby brother to hurt himself. “Please don’t cry!”

His pleads fell on deaf ears as Wakko drew closer and closer to a full-on fit. Yakko racked his brain for a solution. He couldn’t tell his parents; they would ground him for sure. The only solution he found was to counter his sadness by making him laugh. But how?

He did the only thing he could think of: fight fire with fire. Or, in this case, fight gookie with gookie.

He stuck out his tongue, hoping that that would make baby Wakko laugh, or in the very least make him stop crying. It was a desperate attempt, one he wasn’t even certain that would work. But before he knew it, Wakko’s whimpers had begun to die down.

Yakko was relieved, but that relief only lasted a moment until it was replaced with joy, for when he looked back down at his baby brother, he too was sticking out his tongue.

He couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of the infant with his tongue poking out, which in turn made baby Wakko release a few giggles himself. Yakko stuck his tongue out once more, Wakko mimicking him perfectly, and they both laughed again. They did that for the rest of the afternoon, relishing in each other’s company and never growing tired.

It would seem there was a point to having a baby brother, after all.

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A year passed, and little Wakko had yet to utter his first word. No matter how much they tried, his parents didn’t seem to get anything out of him. This was a great contrast from their first-born son, who had begun talking at a very early age. They worried about their second-born, but told themselves that he would speak up in due time. They just needed to be patient.

While Wakko’s speaking abilities were yet to develop, the same could not be said about his relationship with his older brother. He had grown quite attached to Yakko over time. The two did everything together and spent every waking moment in each other’s company. Wakko seemed to worship his big brother, and Yakko loved playing with his baby sib and teaching him all sorts of things. Wakko had basically become Yakko’s shadow, and the oldest Warner child could not be more delighted.

That day was one like any other in the Warner residence. It was Saturday, the one day when Yakko would get up early to watch cartoons. He had been woken up especially early that day because his parents had errands to run and they needed him to watch over Wakko while they were out.

After preparing himself a bowl of cereal, Yakko turned on the TV and took a seat on the living room couch, still feeling half-asleep. Wakko was sitting on the floor between the couch and the coffee table, busy playing with his building blocks. Yakko couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face as he watched his brother play, deeply focused on building the highest tower he could with his limited number of blocks.

Yakko’s smile quickly disappeared when, instead of his usual Saturday morning cartoons, a morning news show appeared on the TV screen. He frantically looked around for the remote – on the couch, under the couch, between the couch cushions – but could not find the device anywhere. Groaning in frustration, he sunk back down in his seat as the reporter continued to speak.

About a minute later, the story changed to an interview with a famous musician. Yakko immediately recognized the man; he was a member of a British band he had heard a lot about on TV – The Beatles, he believed their name was. He spoke in an accent which Yakko found quite entertaining, and being the perceptive tyke he was, it was not long until he wanted to try it himself.

“Well, the album kind of chose itself.” The musician told the reporter. “I made the album first and I wasn’t sure what to do with it.”

“Ay wusn’t shoore wot ta do wi’ et.” Yakko repeated, trying to replicate the man’s accent as best as he could.

He started laughing at how dumb his fake accent sounded, but he didn’t want to stop just yet.

“’Ello, gov’na! Fancy some fish ‘n’ chips? Crikey!”

“Cwikey!”

Yakko’s eyes nearly shot out of his face upon hearing that high-pitched voice. When his gaze drifted downwards, he saw that Wakko was now looking up at him, smiling from ear to ear.

“Wakko… was that you?” Asked Yakko, still partially in shock.

“Cwikey!” Wakko repeated gleefully, mimicking his brother’s wishy-washy British accent almost perfectly.

“It was! You talked!” Yakko hopped off of the couch to join his baby brother on the floor, picking him up and lifting him up the air. “You finally talked!”

“Cwikey!” Wakko said once more, happily waving his arms.

“Oh, you like that, do you?” Yakko grinned, his baby brother’s smile widening. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to keep talking like this. What’s all this, then? Bob’s your uncle, mate!”

“Mite!” Exclaimed Wakko, giggling madly.

“’Ere, how’s ‘bout we take a gander at what’s on the telly, then?” Yakko suggested in his forced accent as he carried Wakko up onto the couch.

“Tewwy!” The toddler responded cheerfully.

Yakko sat down and gently placed his baby brother next to him. The news was still on, the weather forecast for that day appearing onscreen. Yakko sighed through his nose, bummed about not being able to change the channel, but his mood quickly shifted when he felt a pair of small arms wrap around his waist. Glancing down, he saw Wakko had clung onto him, a big smile across his face as he looked up at him. His tongue was sticking out from the corner of his mouth, as was now customary for him. Yakko could only chuckle as he remembered that he had been the one to teach him that.

He wrapped an arm around his baby brother’s shoulders and sunk down against the back of the couch, allowing the toddler to lean his head against his shoulder. Yakko’s heart swelled with the feeling of his brother’s warmth against him. He couldn’t believe he had ever questioned the point of having a baby brother. He was glad to have him in his life.

#Fanfiction #Animaniacs #Yakko Warner #Wakko Warner #Wholesome sibling moments

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lostinfantasyworlds · 3 years

Text

WIP Wednesday: Under the Northern Lights (coming soon!)

Summary (Modern AU): Kagome Higurashi has her dream job, working as a nature/wildlife photographer for the internationally well-known Yugen magazine. Her job whisks her all around the world, leaving her lonely sometimes but mostly just incredibly grateful to get paid to do what she loves. When she gets sent to northern Alaska for a month to photograph a series of celestial events, she runs into Inuyasha, a half-demon who lives on his own in the middle of nowhere. A mutual attraction draws them to each other, but Kagome's time there is limited. Will he ease her loneliness or only make it worse?

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I'm so excited about this story!! I've always loved night sky photography since I got my first DSLR, although I'm nowhere near good enough to photograph for a magazine - I can only dream 😂. Plus Yugen magazine is a concept I thought of in college for my Editorial Design class. So yes, this story is a little bit of a self insert on my part😆. But besides that, you can expect plenty of fluff and romance, as well as a nice dose of angst (don't worry - I believe in happy endings)!

I have no idea when I'll actually be ready to start posting this, but hopefully sometime in the next couple weeks.

Somehow there already existed the most perfect song to go along with this story. I still can't get over it. If you want to get the vibe, listen to Aurora Borealis by Bohnes (I'm so in love with it!). I'll be posting a full playlist (possibly one for each chapter because I'm extra AF) with the story 🥰

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Just a little disclaimer - I had not read any of Chasing the Vortex at the time when I wrote the outline for this story. I finally read it yesterday and realized how many accidental similarities there are in this story, so I apologize in advance @neutronstarchild and @fawn-eyed-girl ! I honestly didn't even know that Kagome was a photographer for a magazine in your story when I wrote this😆. I never want anyone to think I'm copying their ideas, so I just wanted to throw that out there that I’m sorry! I swear the stories are still very different despite certain similarities 🥰

Btw, if you're reading this and haven't read Chasing the Vortex yet, you definitely should! I'm loving it so far, it's SO good!! ❤️

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Tagging (let me know if you want on or off!): @alyyyyyssssaaa @bluehawaiicat @born-for-eachother @deactivated2431545484 @goshinote @gruviyasharuto @julyzaa @ladyaerilla @littleredwritinghat @liz8080 @malditamigs  @neutronstarchild @redflamesofpassion @rocioanime4 @sailorlolo @sangoslays @sunsetskys @superpixie42 @zukkosbaby

Preview under the cut! (Fluff with just a hint of angst)

The view was absolutely stunning, the sky covered in puffy clouds glowing with saturated reds, pinks, and yellows. The snowy landscape contrasted against the colorful sky, the jagged mountains providing a bold silhouette against the glowing crimson sun.

Even Inuyasha could admit that it was a particularly beautiful sunset. Unfortunately, he was having trouble paying any attention to it at all.

He found Kagome to be much more captivating.

He watched her silently as she worked, jogging around the area with her camera in hand, switching lenses and angles to capture different views. He was mesmerized by her, the way her passion for her craft oozed out of her as she clicked away, her eyes bright and a small smile on her face.

When the sun finally disappeared just below the horizon, she released her camera to hang from her neck and took a seat on the ground with her feet dangling over the edge of the rock face. Inuyasha sat down next to her.

“So, this was a good pick?” he asked.

“Mmhm! I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one quite as beautiful, and I’ve photographed a lot of sunsets. I’m so happy I got to capture that,” she responded, still a bit breathless. She turned to look at him with a beaming smile on her face, her blue eyes still sparkling with passion and excitement. The remaining light from the sunset cast a warm luster across her face, her cheeks and nose especially rosy from the biting chill in the air.

Inuyasha could have sworn his heart stopped for a moment. He had never seen someone glow like that before.

Damn it, why did she have to be so beautiful?

He tried to fight against the warm tingling bubbling up under his skin. He didn’t want to feel this way about her, knowing it was going to be pointless in the end.

But he also knew he was fighting a losing battle, the fuzzy feeling overpowering his better judgement.

Before he could stop himself, he blurted out, “Can I kiss you?”

He immediately felt embarrassment wash over him, his cheeks darkening with a deep blush.

Why did I have to go and ask that? Idiot!

Kagome’s smile fell only slightly, her brow furrowing in confusion.

“We’ve done a lot more than just kiss, Inuyasha.”

She smirked at him, as if reminding him of the obvious. He huffed slightly in annoyance.

How does she not get it?

Now he was not only embarrassed, he was also apparently going to have to spell it out for her.

“I know that, dummy.”

He rolled his eyes for emphasis, then hesitated a moment before continuing.

“I just meant — cause we’re out in public like this and all. We’re not in bed so I thought it might mean something different...”

He trailed off as he saw the realization finally dawn on her face. Her smile disappeared completely, her mouth falling open in a silent oh. Her eyes unfocused, staring past him as she processed what he meant.

Inuyasha turned away from her, unable to look at her anymore. He felt his ears flatten against his head as he began backtracking.

“Forget it. It was a stupid thing to say, I don’t know what I was thinking,” he mumbled.

Kagome tried to work through her thoughts as quickly as possible, not wanting to leave him hanging. She hadn’t even thought anything of his question at first, being more surprised than anything else that he had asked it seemingly out of the blue.

But he was right. If he kissed her right now, it would mean something different than the kisses they had shared so far. They had both agreed to “have some fun” with each other while she was in Alaska, with the mutual understanding that she was going to leave in a couple weeks and never see him again. It was a subtle difference, but kissing outside of sex felt like another dynamic entirely.

She knew she should say no. That they would be crossing an unspoken line, one that would surely hurt them more in the end.

But he had asked to kiss her, showing that he respected her choices and boundaries instead of just assuming he had an unlimited pass to her body now that they had slept together.

And the way he blushed when he asked made her feel warm all over.

And she really wanted to kiss him too.

Making up her mind, she rested a hand on his face to turn him back towards her, noticing his lips part in surprise. She kissed him softly, letting it linger a moment before pulling back and removing her hand. They smiled at each other, and she decided to take it one step further by holding out her hand, palm up, in between them. Inuyasha took the invitation, lacing his fingers through hers. Kagome sighed happily before resting her head on his shoulder and watching the last of the sun’s light slowly disappear.

They both felt the shift, like the joining of their hands went beyond the simple physical touch. It felt like they had leapt off a cliff together, her inevitable departure waiting for them at the bottom like jagged rocks with the power to break them. She knew it was probably one of the stupidest decisions she had ever made, and yet the butterflies in her stomach and her racing pulse told another story. She felt happy, and light. Better than she had felt in a long time, possibly even in her life.

Once the sky had darkened and stars began to twinkle above, Inuyasha turned to look at her again, his expression serious. His golden eyes searched her sapphire depths, not sure exactly what he was looking for. They looked at each other for another stretch of time, maybe a second, maybe an hour, before he leaned in and brought his lips to hers again.

#inukag #inukag fanfic #inuyasha #kagome #wip wednesday #wip #mine #utnl #this ended up being a super long preview lol #also this is about halfway through the story for reference

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mmilkbreadd · 3 years

Text

Chapter twenty one: “Love Is Strange”

Masterpost - Prev - Next.

Warning(s): none

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You had already arrived in Miyagi about three days ago when you received a new message from Bokuto explaining that he would be coming to visit you two weeks from today. You were too happy to express it to your friends; but you couldn't do it even if you wanted to, as one of them wouldn't be happy.

Ushijima during the bus ride did not speak to you, even if he had said the opposite before. He appeared to be angry but was actually rather confused. Not understanding much about love, he was afraid that something bad would happen to you. Wakatoshi said he didn't believe you about the 'nothing happened with Bokuto' thing. He was convinced that the minute you got to school, you would take all your things and go to Tokyo with him.

Anyone would know that before living with someone you have to trust him… You did trust Bokuto, but you had only dated him once; plus you knew him less than a week ago!

Basically, Ushijima was thinking the same as Tendou a few days ago (and that he now had in mind from time to time, to be honest, but did not admit it).

Wakatoshi watched you for the three days following your arrival, waiting for some sign that you would depart again. But of course, you never did.

Tired of your friend ignoring you, you decided to stalk him through the hallways until you reached a corner and could approach him.

“Okay Wakatoshi, enough already,” you said once you could make him stop walking. “I will not go to Tokyo, I promise. I know you don't know much about… love, but you must understand that I don't love Bokuto and I would never let him hurt me. And of course, I wouldn't go live with him today, I'm still extremely young!”

Ushijima looked you in the eye with his serious face. That same face he had every day. It did not express too much, he could be sad, happy, and even confused, but his face would always have the same serious expression.

“You do not love him?” he asked.

You blushed and shook your head. It was too, too, too early to decide if you were in love with Bokuto. Jeez, again, you've only dated him once!

From that moment on, Ushijima decided to stop trying to understand love. It was too much for him, to the point that he returned a love letter to the person who wrote it thinking that she had forgotten it above his bench. The girl cried for weeks at the thought that she was not enough for the great Shiratorizawa volleyball captain.

If only she knew the truth...

“Love is strange,” he said walking next to you going towards the school cafeteria.

[...]

The days passed very quickly, thus arriving the day that Bokuto would come to Miyagi. Emiko was going crazy all over your room, which was apparently hers now as well. She took your clothes out of the closet looking for the ideal outfit for your reunion with Koutarou.

“I think your boyfriend will love this dress. Well actually you must like it before him, but it doesn't matter!” she said, to finish the sentence with a giggle.

You had already told her millions of times that Bokuto was not your boyfriend, but she was stubborn that he was. She firmly believed that you and he were soulmates.

“Emiko, we are in the middle of winter, I'm going to freeze,” you said sitting on her bed.

“Well my dear, to be beautiful you have to suffer, don't you think?” she said throwing the dress, which fell on your head. “Besides, he can lend you his jacket, like a real gentleman.” You prayed that Bokuto told you that he had already arrived at the station, so you could escape from the dangerous clutches of your friend.

Maybe the gods heard you because, at that precise moment, Koutarou sent you a message saying that the bus would arrive in fifteen minutes. Desperate you decided to put the dress on, even if you would freeze. Without saying much more, you grabbed a big, warm coat, and ran towards the station. Upon arrival, a tall boy with spiky hair was waiting for you, making signs in the air with his hands.

“Y/n, over here!” said. When you got to where he was, he hesitated a bit and then hugged you. “Good to see you, how are you? Aren't you cold dressed like this?”

Yes, yes you were. But it was better to keep it. You were already too embarrassed since you came rushing to the station, to admit that you were running late to come to pick him up and wearing whatever you could find (or whatever Emiko made you wear).

“I'm fine, how was the trip?”

While Bokuto told you everything he had done the two weeks that you had not seen each other, you guided him to his inn. Even though you insisted that he stay at your house, he didn't want to bother you and booked two nights in a small hotel that was just minutes from Shiratorizawa. He would leave on Sunday afternoon, in order to arrive in Tokyo not too late at night.

All the way, Bokuto and you were holding hands. Something that made Koutarou very nervous. He had sworn to Akaashi that he was going to do it, or else Keiji had to hit him on the head.

“How about I put down my bags and go have a coffee or something like that?” he asked once he got to the place where he was going to stay.

“Of course, do you want me to accompany you inside?” Bokuto shook his head with a smile on his face.

After a few minutes, Koutarou walked out the door of the small building with a coat in his hands.

“Here,” he said, offering you the jacket. “I know you're cold, and since I brought one more I figured I should give it to you.”

A little flushed and with a small smile, you agreed, saying a thank you loud enough for him to hear, but low enough so that no one else would.

You walked a few blocks until you reached the most popular cafe in all of Miyagi. Until the moment you crossed the street to enter the place, small white particles began to fall from the sky.

“Oh my God, it's snowing!” Bokuto said like a little boy. He then started jumping trying to catch some of them.

'Great, the last thing I wanted to happen is happening right now. I fricking hate snow' you thought watching Koutarou laughing. ‘At least he’s happy.’

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Taglist: @nataliahaslosthershit @softesyoongi @allofycurlove @iwaizumi27athletictrainer @quiche-inoya @lukeyaccount @melodiamore @bokutowo @Aideen00 @amgoldena @the-moon-and-the-book @that-chick212 @onlyroad

General taglist: @moonlightaangel @indecisivehusky @kageyamasgirl @anejuuuuoy

Thanks for the support!

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If you want to be tagged in these posts please comment here or send an ask.

You can also complete the form that is linked in the Masterpost.

Thanks for reading🥰

#Bokuto x reader #bokuto #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu!!#haikyuu #bokuto smau #akaashi #tendou #ushijima

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pokeexehasstoppedworking · 3 years

Text

Love Doesn’t Do Encores Ch17 Return To Hammerlocke

To say you hated flying anywhere now would be an understatement. YOU ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY DETESTED IT!! The only reason you agreed was because it was already paid for and because it was the fastest way back to Hammerlocke. Woo hoo. You weren't really in the mood for more video game-..Uh. Strangers flirting with you, but at least Ms. Opal was nice company on the way there and it was very nice of her to pay for the entire ride over to Hammerlocke. You and Gloria buckled in on one side, with your Drizzilie and her on the other. When you all left Bellonlea you were a bit more cautious of your slow pace with her as you walked along the beautiful woods to leave, and kept snapping your head about keeping an eye out for any Team Yell members or that looney guy again. It was nerve wracking to say the least. Luckily you didn't run into neither when you finally got back to the lamp posts and the entrance into the forest. The corviknight and it's owner were fast asleep in one of the shadows of the trees before being woken up by Opal tapping him with her umbrella and requesting he take all of you to Hammerlocke. And after steeling your nerves and guts, you all piled in and did just that....for the next four and a half DAYS!! Opal had just relaxed back with her eyes closed most of the trip leaving you and Gloria to quietly talk between you two(when you weren't gripping your seat and forcing yourself to not look out the windows-) or more commonly watch more videos on her phone. Opal remaining silent and you would've sworn she was asleep if she hadn't opened her eyes whenever Gloria talked to her and talked back to you both in a polite but right to the point kinda way. Never heard anyone talk quite like her. You also made a few pitstops every few towns, mostly at night to let the driver rest and you have time to eat something at the local inn without having to worry about getting air sick for a while, before it was back to the fear inducing ride. You swore when you got back you were NEVER EVER going hang gliding, or even travel by plane after this. You also learnt within that time Opal was apparently looking for a successor to take over her gym soon and the person had to have something 'pink'...Whatever she meant by that. Eventually Gloria also found a good way to distract you away from your fear for short periods of time by the third day when she asked if there was anything you really liked listening too.

You blinked kinda surprised by her but shrugged and said, "Well, I've always loved music. In fact I wanted to go into the industry when I was your age."

She seemed surprised at your answer and even Opal cracked open a eye towards you silently. "Really? Why didn't ya ever say anythin' before?"

You shrugged with a slight frown. "Eeeeehhh. It's kinda...Complicated. I wouldn't say I'm bad but I'm not good enough of a singer for me to make a career out of it, and I can't really play any instruments too well. Unless you count the kazoo."

"What about a song writer? Bet you'd be good at that."

You shrugged. "I tried, but I'm not that creative enough to figure that out. But I am pretty good at working speakers, and I know a lot about how instruments are made and how they work. So I was going to get a business liscense and try to open by own Music Store."

"Well why didn't you?"

You paused at her question for a moment. You couldn't just say "Because I got sucked into an alternate dimension where pokemon happens to be real based off a game I used to play" unless you wanted them to think you were crazy!! Thinking quickly you shrugged and told the truth. "I left home around the time I was supposed to and started traveling." Which was the truth even tho you weren't sure exactly how you left or how to get back.

"Huh. Well I guess everyone wants ta see the world and do somethin' excitin'," Gloria said with a smile and you sighed in relief. Before she held up her phone to you. "If ya like music how 'bout I show ya more of Piers's songs? It'd be a good way ta pass the time. He's written n' sung LOTS of 'em."

You blinked....Piers?? OH! That Piers. "Oh. You mean the gym leader you told me about? I think I remember you showed me one of his songs back at Postwick."

She nodded. "He's a good musician. Ya wanna see some?"

"Sure why not?"

And thus the two of you relaxed back a little more now that you could watch this Piers person singing and mostly rock music filled the taxi cab for most of the remainder ride there. Of course you two made sure Ms. Opal was fine with it and after cracking an eye open said she didn't care at all. While you two watched him you had to admit his unique voice added to whatever vibe the music was with the accent he had melting among it....But when you looked at his blue eyes and pale-ish skin..you couldn't shake the feeling of deja vu that you've seen him before. Which you brushed off because of course you had seen him before when Gloria showed you a video of him performing with a band back at Postwick. Besides, you had more important things to worry about. Like getting home and right now getting to Hammerlocke in one piece. Which also happened the very next day. Gloria had pointed it out early in the morning when she looked out the window and pointed but you couldn't get yourself to look down in fear of losing your breakfast, clutching the seat tightly and praying the landing wouldn't be the same as the last time you landed. Luckily whoever was listening to your prayers answered them because other than one rough shove from the corviknight putting the cab on the ground, the decent and landing proceedure was pretty smooth. THANK GOODNESS!! When you finally peered out the window you were greeted with one of the entrances/exits to Hammerlocke. In fact it was the same one you two had traveled Route Six out of to head to Stow-on-Side. A Gym League staff worker awaited by the entrance, most likely for their badge rule too no doubt.

The taxi driver was quick to hop down and open the door for you three as well. "We're here ladies. Hope the trip was alright for you."

"Thank you, Young man," Opal commented slowly getting up and leaving the cab with you and Gloria right behind her. Once out she breathed a sigh of fresh air before looking up at the castle like town, "Hammerlocke. Always such a dusty town. Though I suppose some pokemon prefer it that way. "

Without even looking back to you she began slowly walking off towards the entrance, and you two slowly followed with Opal in front of you two. She was easily able to walk past the man who stood at the entrance but like the last time you were here, stopped Gloria, asked if she was a Gym Challenger, and then asked to see her badges. Opal continued walking as the two of you stopped and Gloria had to dig through her backpack to show the man her badge circle of five badges attached to it. With a nod you both were let in and she stuffed it back into her bag as you two continued off after Opal. And you looking around nervously keeping an eye out for Raihan just in case. ....But it seemed as Ms. Opal disappeared as you two walked along and looked around.

"Where did she go?," you asked peeking into the window of a cafe as you walked by but she wasn't in there. "She wasn't that far ahead of us."

Gloria shrugged as she looked at the people walking by. "She said she had some errands ta run so maybe she ducked into one o' these shops."

Hm. Maybe. You both continued walking and looking around as you neared the corner where the pink pokemon center you remembered seeing. As you two got closer and closer to the corner, someone with white fluffy hair and a giant pink coat rounding the other side of the corner onto the street on which you both walked. Both of you froze upon realizing the identity of the person who was walking towards the both of you. And he too froze lavender eyes blinking widely at the both of you as well as his jaw dropped somewhat. ...Before he pointed at you two with a large scowl.

"YOU!?"

"Uh...Hey, Bede," Gloria greeted with an awkward wave.

His scowl deepened as he shouted at her. "Come to gawk at me now that I've had my challenge band taken away and my gym challenger status revoked?!" ...WHAT!? Both your eyes widened as you looked at one another. Bede growling in frustration before gripping his fluffy white locks. "I've had to spend the past days working under that despicable Raihan person as 'punishment' for what happened in Stow-on-Side!! Do you know how much that idiot makes you work doing the most ridiculous things!? And now I run into you here too! Can you really afford to waste time like this?!"

"HEY!" Gloria scowled as well pointing a hand at him. "I was the one who saved your bloody sorry self from bein' crushed by a rock after you decided to play contruction worker with the mural! If it wasn't for me you'd be flatter than a waffle under yer own mess!!"

He scoff and turned his nose away. "Well....I suppose so. You no longer have to worry about catching up with me after all." His eyes narrowed at her. "I'll have you know though that I haven't given up! I must become the champion in order to help out the chairman! I will go and ask him to let me rejoin the gym challenge!"

"Again with the Chairman, mate?," Gloria sighed letting her arms flop to her sides as she turned from a scowl to a pitied look. "Look Bede. I dunno what to tell ya. It's kinda useless to keep wantin' ta help someone who kicked ya out of the challenge. Tho considerin' what ya did I'm not surprised that's what happened. Maybe ya should just forget 'bout the guy altogether."

He gasped offended a hand to his chest. "How dare you insult my reasonings with your twisted nonsense! Any girl who'd even consider fighting for my affection wouldn't be so brazen!"

"What are ye goin' on 'bout now?!"

"Hm? That boy." You jumped as the two kids still argued with one another, whirling around to face none other than Ms. Opal herself and she was staring right at Bede with curiousity in her eyes. ..Wait. Where the heck did she come from!? "Now that's what I could call pink! So sincere and straightforward yet so twisted and misguided. I like it! That's the kind of thing that gives people some depth!" Eventually Bede looked up from Gloria and had to do a double take blinking in confusion at the new arrival. "Time for my gym mission, Child!"

"HUH!?" Bede asked leaning back in confusion and surprise at what the older woman just barked at him. "W-Wha-!?"

You yelped as suddenly with speed you didn't think she had Opal RAN past you and up to Bede who froze in place wide eyed as she looked him over. "Pink! Pink! Pink!" She shouted as she examined him. ...What did 'Pink' even mean!? She chuckled a bit examining the frozen boy's dynamax band before looking up to him with a smile. "Congratulations, Child."

"M-Ms. Opal!?," Bede sputtered out pulling his hand away from her as he looked uneasy leaning away. Wait. Bede knew who she was? "What in the world has gotten in you?!"

"You were used by Oleana. Am I right?" Bede froze once again and behind her both of you exchanged bewildered looks behind them. Opal took his silence as a yes because she hummed and nodded. "You worked hard to gather wishing stars for her only to have her throw you away like rubbish once she was done with you." Wait...How did she know that? "Come with me, Child. I might be able to help you out." She offered.

And Bede ...blinked. "I...W-What?" He shook his head before frowning. "A-Are you saying you'd be able to get me reestablished back into the challenge?"

She chuckled and nodded. "Of course, it all depends on how much hard work you're willing to put in too."

"Are you...Are you testing me?," Bede challenged before clearing his throat and shaking his head, hands tucked into his pockets as he attempted to look calm. "Very well. I accept! In fact I plan on making sure you see my full talents and tell me everything you know about the wishing stars!"

She chuckled again before smiling wider. "I think my errands to Hammerlocke have been met." Taking a moment she turned to Gloria who blinked at her. "Farewell for now, Child. You should head to Circhester. I take it you know how to get to Route Seven." And she turned away back towards Route Six and simply began walking away. Like nothing that happened just happened.

Bede made to follow but paused before turning back to Gloria who still watched silently- Before clearing his throat and turning away again. "I-I still haven't decided what to say to you officially. I'll need more time to think and at the moment I-I'm way too busy! So d-don't follow me around!"

Gloria's brow rose more clearly confused. "Uh....Alright." You both watched as he jogged on after the older woman before she blinked and turned to you with a shrug. "What was that all about?"

......You smiled. "Oh nothing. I think they'll both be fine. I have a good feeling about this." You turned and nodded towards the train station. "C'mon. It's still morning so we'll have to wait for the afternoon train. If I remember right there's a food section in the train station. We can grab a bite there."

Gloria was quick to agree with the promise of food and you two headed off towards the station. To be honest you were looking forward to food too that wasn't bland or dried tasting camping food. You had eaten enough food like that to last you a hundred lifetimes. Without having to wait for Ms. Opal anymore the two of you could walk a little faster now and were easily near the station as you continued to look around for any signs of Raihan but thankfully still found none. When you were stopped by Gloria grabbing onto your sleeve and pointing. You blinked confused at her for a moment before looking to where she was pointing and you couldn't help but stare as well. NO WAY!! Who'd think you'd run into her again while you were here? It was Sonia! Again! She must've just walked from the station because she was coming right towards the both of you, but stopped once she took notice of the familiar sight. The three of you pausing and looking at one another before the redhead smiled and waved.

"Heya!," She greeted once she was close enough, "Fancy running into you here. The badge collecting going well?"

"Sonia!," Gloria happily exclaimed in surprise before nodding proudly. "I don't mean ta brag." She crossed her arms proud of herself. "But I won me two more badges since the last time I saw ya!"

Sonia chuckled at her antics and you asked, "What are you doing back in Hammerlocke?"

She turned her attention to you one hand on her hip. "I've been doing some research on the ruins in Stow-on-Side. The sword and shield. Once Mr. Rose had his team investigate it of course. ..But I still haven't figured out some things. What kind of Pokemon were they? And where are they now?" With a sigh she shook her head. "I still have so many questions. I was thinking about taking another look at the tapestries in-"

BOOM!! Sonia was cut off as what you could only describe as a gunshot from a gun the size of an elephant going off somewhere overhead. The very action made you react immediately by ducking and grabbing the back of your head as your Drizzilie dove behind you in terror at the loud noise and shaking of the ground. Gloria gasped and fell backwards onto her behind and Sonia had jumped back nearly falling over on those heels of hers. Blinking up and totally but understandably SHOCKED at the sensation you had just witnessed. Another boom!? AGAIN!? ....Oh NO!! Was that Bede again!? Was he doing something crazy again!? Other people around you yelling or having a similar reaction to one of you three.

"AGAIN!?," you asked to no one in particular.

"Are you kidding me!?," Sonia shouted herself glaring up towards a particular tower, "What was that!?"

"Do I look like I know?," you mumbled slowly leaning yourself up as Gloria made an attempt to get off the ground.

"Hammerlocke stadium shook...That's where Chairman Rose's power plant is isn't it?" You...nodded. You think so? It's been a while since you've been back here. But there wasn't any time for talking as a buzzing sound eminated from Sonia's pocket. She was quick to scramble, almost dropping the phone in the process, as she pressed the screen in a hurry and the buzzing noise ceased. .....Her blue eyes blinked widely at the screen. "Huh?....A..power spot?"

"Power spot?" You asked confused. "You mean like where you can Dynamax?"

She nodded not looking at you. "That's right. The power spot detector reacts when it's possible to dynamax."

You rose a brow. "Well that makes sense since there's a gym stadium here. You mean Raihan can't use the stadium's spot to dynamax?"

She went to answer but didn't get a chance too. "Usually you don't."

"GAH!!" You jumped in surprise and snapped your head around to the person who scared you...And came face to face with none other than the Champion. Leon chuckled seeing your expression...before you scowled. "HEY! I thought I asked you NOT to do that the last time!"

He chuckled some more before waving a hand. "Sorry, Y/n. Hey Sonia- Oof!" He laughed more and patted the top of Gloria's head as she hugged him beaming. "And you too, Gloria! Wow. You've gotten taller! By the way you felt the shaking right?" She nodded and he hummed before looking at the same tower Sonia had been. "Seems Chairman Rose is testing something again."

"This is bad!," Sonia insisted to him, "Pokemon might start dynamaxing right in the middle of Hammerlocke!"

"Is that so?," he asked looking back to her and she nodded immediately, "I can make sure the Chairman knows."

"You'll just get lost, Leon. I'm coming too."

"Hey. I'm not THAT bad with directions, Sonia. I only ended up on top of a barn once!"

"I'm comin' too!," Gloria piped up determined hands returning to her sides. But that melted away quickly when Leon shook his head no.

"Sorry, Glory," he apologised genuinely and rested a hand on her shoulder," But it'd be too dangerous for someone your age to be wondering about a power plant of all things. Especially since there's lots of research and development happening in there that could end up going south at a moment's notice. Don't worry about a thing and just let me take care of it. Ok?"

She opened her mouth to protest. "He's right." But blinked at you as you frowned worried. "I think with everything that's already happened in the past month, it'd be better to just let the literal pokemon champion and a scientist handle whatever's going on."

She blinked between the two of you for a moment before sighing. "Oh alright."

"So you should leave the investigation on the quaking to the adults," Sonia agreed, "In the mean time why don't you head to Circhester and get that badge? I'm really looking forward to seeing you compete in the finals."

Again Gloria nodded before turning to Leon with a slightly worried expression. "Hey. You're gonna be careful right?"

He smiled brightly in a reassuring way to her. "Of course! I'm always careful!"

"Except with directions." Sonia sighed before beginning to walk away.

"HEY! I'm always careful with directions," he insisted walking after her, "Since when am I not?"

"Says the one who got stranded on top of a barn and fell into the ocean multiple times when going to Hulbury."

"Oh my Arceus. It was just one time!"

You chuckled before shaking your head..but paused noticing Gloria wasn't doing anything but staring after them. She flinched when you put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey. Are you alright there?"

After a moment of silence she sighed and nodded before turning back towards the train station. "Yeah. Jus' a lil bit worried is all. Lee can get inta trouble if he ends up lost sometimes." And she began walking. "C'mon. Let's go get somethin' to eat. Ok?''

You blinked at her sad-ish tone but didn't push any further when you started walking behind her towards the train station by the flight of stairs leading to the Hammerlocke school where you two had encountered Paula. Sending a small shiver down your spine as you passed. Eventually you both reached the inside of the train station where you two found exactly what you were looking for. Within the train station was two men and a woman behind stands who looked like they either sold tickets or pamplets, a lot of seats, the exit for entering/exiting the train, some ATM things, vending machines, and to the very left near the entrance when you two came in was the small cafe area with it's own designated seating. A man was already seated at one table looking at what you supposed was a menu, and two very recognizable teenage boys were sat at another talking....HOP AND VICTOR!? Seriously what was the odds of running into so many people today? You tapped Gloria's shoulder to get her attention but Hop beat you too it because as soon as he looked up he smiled and waved his full arm at her.

"Oh! Gloria!," He shouted at her. Like a dog to food her head snapped to him faster than lightning before the brightest smile ever lit up onto her face as Victor turned around in his seat to look at the both of you.

"HOP! Victor!," She cried out before rushing towards them with you trailing behind with your pokemon in tow. "I haven't seen ya in days!"

"Well we- Ah!" Poor Hop was nearly knocked to the floor when Gloria practically tackled him in a hug (again-) and had to wave his arms to regain balance before leaning forward luckily not falling over. "W-We just got here on the afternoon train! Glory! You're crushin' me again!"

"After noon?", you asked before looking up towards the clock on the wall surprised when you saw it read 12: 24 in the afternoon. "Huh. I didn't think we'd get here that late in the day." You then turned back to Victor. "You guys just got back here? We didn't see you at the gyms we stopped by."

Victor shrugged back at you. "We went straight to Bellonlea after Hop won against Bea," He explained, "Then we traveled a bit so Hop could practice his battling skills before we decided to head to Circhester. Hammerlocke was just a stop before we reached there so we stopped here to restock for the weather they have up there. ...And I wanted to stop by to see the Hammerlocke castle ruins on Route Eight. Legends say that they might even be the remains of the very first castle built in Galar."

"Oh. So how was Bellonlea for you two?"

Hop sighed, having freed himself from his best friend's crushing hug, slumping his shoulders. "First that forest then that mad quiz. I've been lost in every sense of the word...But it looks like I finally caught up to you again."

"Does that mean you didn't get the badge?"

He chuckled. "Took me one heck of a try but I managed somehow to get it from her." He turned back to Gloria. "Speaking of which. Come with me to Route Seven real quick.I could use a bit of competition to motivate me for the next leg of our adventure!"

Gloria blinked. "....Our adventure as in yours and Victor's next stop?"

Hop blinked at her a moment before reaching to scratch the back of his neck and looked away. "W-Well...I uh....I've been having a lot of time to think, and i-it would be nice for you to join us again this time....AH! A-And Y/n too of course!" He was quick to add holding up his hands and a slight pink hue coming over his face. "Of course I enjoy her company too! I-It's not the same without y-you both!" Smooth, Hop. Very smooth.

But it seemed like just like with Bede, Hop's flustered state flew right over her head as her eyes lit up as she quickly agreed. "Are ya kiddin' me!? OF COURSE YES!! I missed travelin' with you guys!" She pointed to the door making Victor duck to avoid getting hit in the head. "C'mon let's go see 'bout that battle!"

"Hang on a second!," Victor interjected with a frown, "What about lunch? Hop, y'know we need to stop by the clothes store and get warmer clothes!"

"..I-...Y-Yeah. But we're staying an extra one or two days so you can see those ruins anyways, so we still have time for a battle and food and shopping..and all that stuff."

......With a sigh Victor sat back down in the seat and picked up his menu again. "Fine. But make it quick. I would like us to get supplies before the end of today. The sooner we're all stocked up the sooner we can see the ruins and head off to Circhester."

Gloria was already tugging him out the door as Hop waved him off. "We'll be right back! Don't worry!"

"That's when I worry the most," he mumbled.

You chuckled before going to sit in one of the chairs across from him, Drizzilie hoping onto your lap of course before settling down and letting you wrap an arm around it's upper torso to hold it. "Well, you two certainly looked like you had an exciting time while we were gone."

"Yeah I guess you could say that. ..Hey. Let's just order something for the two of us while we wait." Your Drizzilie gave a thrum. "Uh...Three of us. The three of us order."

"Are you sure? I don't mind waiting for the other two."

"Nah. I'm hungry, and we'll still be here when they come back."

"Well...Alright then.''

You two went ahead and ordered, not really surprising it was more curries, and it wasn't too long before the three plates were set down in front of you three all different. Your drizzilie immediately went to grab at it's saled curry you had ordered for it, but Victor stopped it before pulling out his own camera.

"Wait a minute. Lemme get a shot of these first," he said holding the camera up to his face.

"You're doing that curry dex thing too?," you asked holding your Drizzilie's protesting hands as it pouted being denied it's food even for a moment.

"Nah. I've just been collecting more pictures of curries and pokemon for Glory since she needs them. Plus I like taking pictures anyways, so it's not a big deal."

"Aw. That's really nice of you."

He was quick to take a few pictures of the curries and you released your pokemon's hands. Drizzilie was quick to grab it's own food and begin scarfing it down much to your amusement as you two yourselves dug in. You were happy that it wasn't another bland tasting granola bar thing or dried fruit snack made for traveling. And it wasn't too long when you were into your food that the two had returned and taken seats next to the two of you as well.

"Hey you two," you greeted, "Welcome back. How was the battle?"

Hop was absolutely beaming and Gloria sighed but not in a sad way before saying, "I lost. Hop really has gotten stronger!"

"Hey, congrats!," you smiled at Hop, "I told you you could do it!"

"Hehe. Thanks," he smiled bashfully before pointing towards the food, "Looks like we're just in time to order ourselves huh? Great! We can catch up with everything that happened then!"

Gloria chuckled. "Well then better get a big curry n' some popcorn! Cuz I gotta lot to tell the both 'o ye!"

"Oh boy. Here we go."

You should've expected the shocked faces that they all gave when Gloria between eating her curry(after taking pictures of them of course-) told them everything. And I do mean EVERYTHING. From helping the lad find an applin for his crush, to the strange MAYBE ghost girl that had you all deliver a letter to Mr. Frank, to the weird guy in Bellonlea who thought he was a pokemon, to how you both met Allister, to her gym battles, and of course everything the two of you went through in Stow-on-Side after they left. The two boys looked more shocked than they would've been if you had suddenly disappeared before their very eyes back the way you came and magically ended up back home. You just simply ate letting Gloria ramble on and on and tried to keep your drizzilie was getting food everywhere. You swore it was like trying to feed a toddler in your lap. Eventually sometime between all of this Hop finally spoke with a scowl pointing at everyone.

"I KNEW it! I knew that bloke was up to no good! And look at what happened!"

"Hop, calm down," you insisted holding up a hand, "To be honest I think he only did it because he was pressured by someone and did what he thought was going to help. I don't know why he thought there would be wishing stars under the mural, but he was right about there being something under there. ...And I really don't want to just talk badly of him since he already paid for what he did." You did feel bad for him but in the back of your mind you knew he'd be fine and get back on the right path now. "...But I think Victor said something about stopping by a clothes store. What for?"

"You'll need some too, Y/n," Victor said, "If you don't wanna freeze your leg off that is. Circhester and it's gyms are located in the mountains where it's always cold and snowy. If we're heading there we'll all need to stock up on food for the long trip too since they're the farthest gyms from here."

"Oh. Well I say we finish up here so we can get started then. I don't know how when the stores around here close."

The rest of the stay in Hammerlocke wasn't very eventful thankfully. After the lot of you had finished eating and paid, you left and you followed them all to the clothing store that Hammerlocke had. You weren't expecting them to actually be selling winter clothes but low and behold they were selling them amongst the regular summer shirts and shorts. All of your pants and shirts was pretty long and warm anyways so you only felt the need to find a plain coat and gloves as the others took their time browsing around and tried on various other winter type clothing. But you did find one thing you liked. A small child's sweater that doubled as a hoodie with the hood attached to it. You looked between it and the Drizzilie before taking it and after wrangling your pokemon lightly, slipped it over his head and popped his arms gently through the sleeves. Drizzilie gave a couple chirps in protest and confusion as he was slipped into the sweater-hoodie...before blinking and pulling out the hem of it to look over it. ..And looked at you with a strange look.

"Hey. If you're not going to stay in your pokeball then you're going to need something to keep you warm too."

You were pretty sure a water pokemon without any feathers or fur to cover him wouldn't fair too well in the cold weather. By the time you all paid for the small pile of winter clothes for the five of you and left the store, the sun was close to setting and with your low food supplies without there being any supply stores in Hammerlocke Victor was clever enough to come up with a better idea. Leading the confused group back to the train station, he walked on over to the vending machines in the corner of the room and considering everything in them was already made to last a long time they'd do until you all found another store with better surprises. Sounded good to you...Or it would've been if Gloria hadn't had the bright idea to use her Rotom pokemon. You couldn't believe it but the rotom pokemon actually transferred itself from the phone into one of the machines and one after another cans of soda, chips, instant noodle things, candy bars, and other snack like foods tumbled down one after the other with the lot of you eagerly grabbing at it. When you pointed out wasn't this technically stealing, Gloria assured you the rotom would be using money coming from her Gym Challenger account to pay for this all. Oh...Well you kinda guessed she'd have one of those to be paid after battles and all. By the end of one vending machine being cleaned out Victor mentioned once it was divided between the four of you it SHOULD be enough to at least last you all the trip up to Circhester. That was good to hear. By the time the four of you were finished with your shopping spree, sun set had finally taken a hold of the town and Hop suggested now would probably be a good time to set up came outside Hammerlocke and rest up to take a visit to the ruins Victor wanted to visit the next day. As much as you'd like to go to Circhester right away it was unanimous that the next day you'd be spending your entire day at the ruins.

That night you slept pretty well and by the time you woke up the next day Victor had already cooked everyone breakfast early. By the smile on his face, you'd say he was pretty excited to spend the day at the ruins. After eating breakfast and packing everything up, the four of you made your way down Route Eight. The castle ruins weren't too far down the road from Hammerlocke, just maybe an hour or two's walk. There was some blocked off areas by rope blocking access to some of the more brittle or dangerous areas of the place. And you did enjoy yourself while you looked around too. There was a couple pokemon you hadn't seen while you were traveling before and both twins seemed to get a kick out of taking pictures of either the ruins or the pokemon hiding within them, as you all walked around along with a few other people who seemed to be looking at them as well. The only ones who really seemed bored just standing around and looking at the ruins was your Drizzilie still wearing the sweater hoodie thing you had gotten him yesterday as he grumbled and walked along after you. The ruins were pretty big and decently had a lot to look at so it was no wonder the four of you spent nearly all morning and half the afternoon there looking at it all before Hop suggested heading back towards Hammerlocke in hopes of catching the night train out of town. Sounded good to everyone..Huh. You wondered if Sonia had studied the ruins here for more clues too? It wasn't too late when the group got back to Hammerlocke, maybe three or four o' clock in the afternoon at the lastest, but definately late enough to have missed the evening train out. Of course Hop and Gloria having to show their badges to the man standing guard at the entrance in order to be let in but it wasn't too much of a hassle for you five to head on in and back to the train station. In the entire time you were back here in Hammerlocke you hadn't seen Raihan again even once. You guessed he must've been traveling again or just not here at the moment. Fine by you. You all had a few hours to kill until the night train showed up sometime around eight o' clock. In the next few hours you all busied yourselves by having dinner courtesy of the guys and Victor giving a very happy glory all the pictures he had taken over the days they were seperated. A LOT of curry (when did they eat so much of that stuff-) and pokemon she was delighted to have and then secure into her books along with the newest pictures she took with help from Hop sorting them out and helping to place them within the labeled pages. Which took up most of the rest of the time it took you four to wait for the night train because it took you all by surprise when the sounds of rumbling tracks and a train horn made you all look up as a shiny subway like train pulled up into the station.

"Ah magikarp!," Gloria shouted before dropping her fork and then scrambling to pick up her thing played on the table. "Hop! Help me stuff these things back inta me bag!!"

Hop blinked but immediately did as his friend asked as he too scrambled to grab any leftover pictures and the two books to throw them back in her bag as Victor quickly dug into his pockets for something. Luckily you didn't have the need to pick anything up or collect anything other than the drizzilie sitting in your lap that you scooped up into your arms when the others scrambled to get up, and Victor tossed what looked like a two dollar tip on the table for whoever had to come collect the dishes. The horn blasting again for any passengers who wished to leave Hammerlocke, which you four sure did heading towards it. Looks like you all would be heading to Circhester and hopefully Gloria's next badge on the way.

#Piers #piers x reader #pokemon piers x reader #pokemon piers #pokemon sword #pokemon shield #pokemon swsh #pokemon sword and shield #Reader #Pokemon reader x piers #pokemon reader #Reader x piers

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delta-roseblr · 3 years

Text

Ficlet for your reading pleasure

Look at me posting a prompt (that really wasn’t a direct prompt but lets not focus on that) in the first time in a while! I’m proud of me!

Hope you enjoy!

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"Where is this place again?" Felix asked as he made what felt like his one-hundredth right turn. They were going in circles, not that Felix was going to admit that. All the streets just looked too similar, and Felix wasn't familiar enough with Nashville to have any idea where he was going.

"It's off Church," Kyle answered as he sat forward in the backseat of Felix's jeep so Felix could see him in his rearview mirror. He and pretty much nothing else. He kept fucking talking about Church Street like Felix knew where the fuck that was. If it was Burlington, Felix could have drawn a map of Church Street from god-damned memory, but he really knew next to fucking nothing about Nashville. He had told Kyle multiple times, but he still just kept talking about fucking Church Street. Kyle held his arm out in the space between the driver and front passenger seat and gestured at the darkened street in front of them as he added, "I think you go two more blocks and then take a left."

"It's three blocks, and you need to take a right if we want to find parking," Dean declared from the passenger's seat as he looked up from his phone. The fact that it had taken this long for Dean to chime in was surprising. Dean had actually pitched a fit when Felix had said he would be the one driving that night. Since Leonard thought Felix was studying at Kyle's and had no idea Dean was home from college yet, and he definitely didn't know they were going to a gay bar, it made the most sense. Also, Felix would never say it to Dean because he loved his car so much, but the old Honda was just filled with the weirdest mix of unpleasant smells, and even after the engine was rebuilt, it still made strange fucking noises like it was ready to fucking die. Felix appreciated Dean's car, especially when it was the only car they had access to, but now Felix had his jeep. His jeep was an old piece of shit, too, but it just wasn't quite as old or quite as shitty as Dean's POS.

From the corner of his eye, Felix saw Dean slip his phone into the pocket of his jeans before bringing his full attention to the road. "And I won't point out how much easier this would have been if you had just let me drive," he commented.

It was dark, but the streetlights lit up the inside of the cab, and Felix could see the little satisfied smirk playing on Dean's lips. He thought he had won something which should have been annoying, but it was just kind of cute. Dean had really been away for too long.

They came to a stop at a streetlight, and Felix took advantage of the moment. He turned to look at his boyfriend. He was all blond hair and warm skin as always. "Dean," he said his name sweetly but also with a warning, "Unless you've figured out how to suck your own dick, you should probably stop fucking talking."

"I retract my previous statement," Dean stated seriously. Of course, it was Dean, and he was just as bold as he always was, so he reached out and brought a hand to rest on Felix's thigh. It wasn't so high, but it was high enough to up Felix's heartbeat a little. "Your driving and understanding of the city of Nashville is amazing, and I really can't complain," he stated with a bright smile.

"You two are so cute," Kyle faked cooed from the backseat before adding (mockingly), "I think I'm going to puke."

Eventually, they found the bar, found a place to park, and then made their way to the bar. It might have just been because Felix was comparing it to Burlington but getting into the place was beyond easy.

Once inside, they found a pretty thin crowd, but Felix didn't expect much more for the time of year. They had managed to hit that sweet spot where most of the younger people that came to the club were probably already tangled up in family holiday stuff, but most of the college kids hadn't returned home yet.

They were just a few feet into the place when they all collectively decided to stop and look around. To be honest, it was pretty much what Felix expected for a gay bar on the outskirts of Nashville, so it was pretty much par for the course, but other people clearly felt differently.

"This isn't….what I had been expecting," Kyle admitted sounding more disappointed with each word.

"What were you expecting?" Felix questioned. He sounded annoyed, which was because absolutely was, and yeah, he knew that made him an asshole, but this had been Kyle's idea. Not only had it been Kyle's idea, but Kyle had asked Dean after Felix had said no. He didn't go as far as to ask Dean behind Felix's back at least and asked Dean about it right in front of Felix. Much to Felix's surprise, his boyfriend that had also expressed a dislike of bars, immediately said yes. Felix was fucking shit at telling Dean no, so he was fucking stuck going, and both he and Kyle knew it. So Felix didn't care if the place was a little on the dingy side. He didn't care that the lighting managed to be both too bright and too dark at the same time. Felix didn't even care that the music playing overhead sounded more like static than anything else. He expected Kyle to be his typically overly excited self. "Pride flags and a rainbow-colored bar?"

"I was expecting to get ID'd at the door," Dean admitted. His voice was carefully neutral, and one look Felix found his expression matched his tone, but his eyes were scanning the room critically. Felix knew Dean well enough to know that this place was dive bar enough to bring up some daddy issues, not that Dean would say anything or suggest they leave. No, Dean would suffer silently.

"This is supposed to be an under 21 bar," Kyle informed quickly and matter-of-factly. Felix was half surprised Kyle didn't start reading the place's description from the website from memory. Felix was sure he could have because Kyle had been internet stalked the place for a while. Apparently, the website painted a different picture than what reality had to provide, and the shock was clear on Kyle's face. "And I don't know what I was expecting really," Kyle offered, and to his credit, he was obviously trying to hide his disappointment, and he mostly succeeded with his neutral tone. It was his face that gave him away. "I at least expected half the people here to be around our age."

"Yeah," Felix agreed with an unnecessary look around the place. "For a bar that is supposed to include people under 21, a lot of the people here look to be over forty," he pointed out. Really, it would have been impossible not to notice even if the place was hopping, but since it was moderately busy at the moment, so it stood out. Felix saw more guys that looked like they might hang out with his dad instead of kids around his age. He guessed divorced middle-aged men embracing the gayness they had been suppressing for years needed to get out too, but it was weird that they were choosing an under-21 bar when Nashville has several more traditional gay bars.

For the briefest of moments, Felix had a little bit of hope that the difference between Kyle's expectations and reality would be enough to make Kyle want to leave. They could get pizza or something. That hope died almost the moment it was born. It was almost like someone snapped their fingers, and Kyle got over his disappointment and shifted back to being excited, even if it was a bit more tempered now.

Kyle turned to him with a fucking smile on his face and asked, "Do we find a table?"

"I guess," Felix conceded with a sigh. He wasn't surprised, but he was disappointed that he wasn't going to get to escape. "Dean?" he questioned and got no reply. "Dean!?"

He looked to Dean just in time to see him looking up from his phone with a confused and bewildered expression. "Sorry, what?"

"We are going to find a table if you can look away from your phone," Felix informed with mostly fake annoyance.

"Yeah, sorry I was trying to translate this text message from Nico," Dean explained, which made sense even before he added, "For a guy that speaks several languages he can't spell in any of them" He shifted his phone so he was holding it in one hand and moved to put it in his back pocket before commenting, "But we should definitely find a table."

Felix would have fucking sworn he felt every ounce of positive drain from Kyle, so it wasn't a fucking surprise that when Felix looked at the guy, he looked tense, and his expression was carefully stony. "So Will is bringing the boyfriend?" he asked in a painfully neutral tone.

"Oh no," Felix exclaimed. He wasn't buying Kyle's attempts at neutrally, mainly because they were shitty attempts. If anyone could understand having an inconvenient, inappropriate crush, Felix liked Kyle too much to watch him continue to do this to himself. Felix had grown to think of Will in a somewhat positive way which was a journey, but he still didn't think of him as much in the way of dating material. Still, that wasn't why he was so bothered by the fact that Kyle couldn't let that crush go. It was never going to fucking happen, which was why it bothered Felix. Will was the most unavailable person on the fucking planet. He and Nico were practically fucking married, for fuck sake. Even if that wasn't the case, Will came with a load of baggage in the way of demigod shit. Kyle, of course, didn't know about that, but Felix fucking did, and he didn't think Kyle needed or would want any of that fucking drama. Fuck had Felix been trying to get Kyle to see the fucking light and shift his interest to someone more appropriate, even if at times it felt like he was banging his head against a wall. Felix didn't have any fucking desire to once again go through all that shit with Kyle, so he just shook his head insistently as he stated, "We're not doing that tonight."

"What!?!" Kyle questioned, but he sounded too outraged for Felix to believe for one second that he didn't know exactly what Felix was talking about, "I asked a question."

"No, you're starting to pine over a self-absorbed ass," Felix summarized indigently. In truth, Felix knew now that Will was pretty far from self-absorbed. Still, he did come with abandonment issues from like a dozen siblings dying in battles and a need for attention that came from having a fuck ton of siblings because Apollo is a fucking whore of a god. Calling Will self-absorbed was just easier, and maybe it was a little be of a reflex still. "Have some self-respect and standards."

Kyle huffed and rolled his eyes dramatically. "A smart, funny, attractive, blond, soccer play," Kyle declared with a heavily sarcastic tone. "No way you could get that attraction," he made a show of looking pointed toward Felix before turning and smiling toward Dean, "Oh, hi Dean! I forgot you were right there."

"That is totally different, and I resent the comparison," Felix growled as he pointed his finger aggressively toward Kyle, "There are plenty of age-appropriate guys around here. We will find you a better one that is available." So plenty might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but the point remained valid. "Now, let's go find a fucking table, so I can see if this bartender won't look too hard at my fake ID."

Surprisingly, the argument or discussion or whatever ended there, at least for the moment. They made their way through the bar's crowd with ease and found a large table that wasn't so far away from the bar that getting drinks would be annoying but not so close that they had to be worried about being overheard by the bartender. They still had the leering older men wondering the place to deal with, but Felix got a general impression that there was no escaping that.

There was some discussion about not wanting to lose their table even though Felix thought the likelihood of that was slim. Kyle suggested waiting until Will arrived (and made no mention of Nico) so there would be someone to watch their table. Felix wasn't exactly sure what Kyle was thinking with that one, but in the end, it didn't matter because Dean reminded him that he didn't have a fake ID so he could stay at the table while Felix bought his drink. Dean suggesting Felix buy anything was a surprise but not a bad one.

"How don't you have a fake ID?" Kyle ended up asking Dean with bewilderment, "You're in college."

Felix had asked the same question the first time Dean mentioned he didn't have a fake ID, although Felix's shock had been he had been in high school without one. The general feel of the question was the same, though. Of course, when Felix had first brought it up, he and Dean weren't dating yet, so he didn't know the details of Dean's home life. Now that he had that knowledge, it all made sense, but at the time, it seemed absurd.

Dean's response to Kyle was almost identical to the reaction Felix had gotten almost two years earlier. He shrugged casually as he replied, "I've never needed one."

Kyle sputtered for a second before reiterating, "But you're in college."

Dean's only reply was to shrug again. Dean wasn't going to explain that he always had unfettered access to alcohol if he wanted it, so something like a fake ID didn't make sense to him. He certainly wasn't going to waste his money on one.

"All the people he hangs out with are older," Felix interjected so they could move on. He patted Dean on the shoulder, ignoring the fact that he had to get up on his toes a little to do it so and gave him a sarcastic smile, "Don't worry, I've got you covered, College Boy."

Dean smirked back at him as he replied dryly, "My hero."

One playful eye roll, and then Felix was off to the bar with Kyle in tow. Considering the place wasn't that crowded, the bar itself was pretty busy. Felix blamed all the old dudes for that. Whatever the reason, he and Kyle ended up standing at the bar waiting for the bartender to notice their existence for a while.

As they waited, Felix pulled on his wallet and dug through the variety of cards and other random shit he had shoved in there to find his fake ID slide behind a stack of used gift cards. It wasn't the most obvious spot to keep it, but it wasn't exactly well hidden either. He was surprised his dad hadn't found it by now. After Leonard had found out about Dean, he had search everything Felix own on more than one occasion.

"Won't the out-of-state ID draw more attention?" Kyle asked as he leaned over Felix's shoulder.

"Don't know," Felix admitted with a shrug as he looked down at the fake Vermont license, "But I guess we'll see." Honestly, if anything was going to be a problem, according to the ID, Felix was almost twenty-six years old. Hopefully, the bartender wasn't too good at mental math because there was no way Felix looked that old.

Felix actually got a little worried when the bartender finally made his way toward them because the guy looked annoyed, but then it became clear that some middle-aged dude was trying to hit on the guy from the other end of the bar. As soon as he was away from that, he cheered right up, took their drink orders, barely looked at their ID's and started on their drinks.

Felix had ordered two beers for himself and Dean while Kyle had ordered some mixed drink, so Felix was handed his beers first and headed back to the table while Kyle remained behind. When he got back to the table, he found that Will and Nico had arrived, and they had apparently brought a third.

"Hey, Cecil," Felix greeted as he deposited one beer in front of Dean before taking a seat. "Wasn't expecting to see you."

Felix liked Cecil, at least for the little he actually interacted with the guy when he was at camp. He was glad he was there if for no other reason then it made it so it wouldn't be two couples and Kyle the whole night. Still, the guy hanging out at a gay bar seemed at least slightly risky if he was still trying to keep quiet about actually being gay thing, not that Felix was going to mention that.

Cecil shrugged, and he might have even had something to say, but Dean interrupted him by tapping Felix's shoulder and catching his attention before Cecil got a chance. "Where's Kyle?" he asked as he looked over Felix's head as if he was still looking.

"Waiting for his drink."

"And you left him!?!" Will questioned with absolute shock.

That was the type of reaction that had made Felix not like Will at first. Okay, it was one of the many things that had made Felix not like Will at first. The guy could just be so dramatic and over the fucking top about small shit. And yeah, Felix now sort of got why but that didn't make it any less annoying at the moment.

"He's a big fucking boy," Felix assured dismissively, "He can take care of himself."

Felix picked up his beer and took a long sip before turning back to Cecil, "What brings you to boring as fuck Tennessee."

"Hey!" Dean protested.

Felix didn't bother to turn to look at Dean, but he did reach out and patted his cheek dismissively. "I love you, but I hate this boring as fuck state, accept it."

Cecil chuckled at their interaction. Felix guessed, even though that was pretty much par for the course for them. "Will and Nico invited me to Thanksgiving," he explained.

"Cool," Felix replied with a nod even though he wasn't sure about that. Camp Half-Blood had pretty good food, and Felix would imagine that they put out an impressive spread for the holidays. Maybe it was depressing to hang out when many campers were away for the school year to spend with their families. Everyone needed a change of scenery every once and a while. At least he wouldn't be missing out on some damn good food because Dean's aunt was a fucking incredible cook.

A surprisingly loud buzzing sound began coming from his pocket, and Felix pulled out his phone, half-convinced it would be a message from his dad saying he had to go home because that would be a very fucking Leonard thing to do. Luckily, it was just a text message from Kyle, even though Felix couldn't think of why Kyle would have to text him when they were literally in the same fucking place.

OMG, come to the bar, NOW!

Felix had no fucking clue what that was about, but he didn't see how he got out of it, so he guessed he was going to have to go back to the bar. "Um, alright," he declared with a heavy sigh as he shoved his phone back into his pocket. "I'll be right back," he informed before hopping off his seat.

He only had to walk about halfway back to the bar to find Kyle standing with his drink in hand, half-hidden behind a wall craning his neck as he stared in the direction of their table. Felix had to admit that wasn't what he had been expecting, and he had no fucking idea what it meant.

"Alright, you got a drink, so now I'm confused," He admitted as he pointed to the drink in Kyle's hand, "Why did I have to come over here?"

Kyle looked at Felix for maybe a second before glancing first at his drink, and then he was back to trying to see their table through the crowd. "Who's the mysterious handsome with Will?" he asked instead of acknowledging Felix's question at all.

Felix looked back toward their table with confusion. He seriously didn't know who the fuck Kyle was talking about. "You've met Nico before," he reminded because that was the only thing that made sense even though it only barely did.

Kyle turned and glared at Felix like he was an absolute idiot. "You are such a fucking ass," he responded with more contempt than Felix had ever heard from Kyle before. "I have zero interest in Will's punk rock underwear model boyfriend, thank you very much."

Every once in and while, Kyle would insist that he wasn't bothered by the fact that Will was dating someone and that he was totally over his crush, and then there were moments like this where it was painfully apparent that neither of those things was true. Felix felt bad for Kyle and was impressed that he managed to make "underwear model" sound like an insult.

Kyle didn't want Felix's sympathy, and he wouldn't appreciate him pointing out that Will and Nico were a great couple either. So Felix just rolled his eyes as he commented sarcastically, "And you're not bitter at all."

Kyle just ignored him and huffed, "The cute guy with the curls."

"Who?" Felix questioned before looking back toward the table again. There was only one person there with curls, but Kyle couldn't have been talking about him, right? "Cecil?"

"That's even a cute name!" Kyle cooed.

What the fuck was happening? Felix thought to himself.

"No, it fucking isn't," Felix replied with absolute bewilderment. Felix liked Cecil but considering the guy wasn't a ninety-year-old man. His name didn't fit him at all. And since when did anyone comment on another person's name being cute?

Kyle glared at him again, which was really starting to feel like a weird turnaround in their friendship. "Who is he?" Kyle questioned. He didn't wait for Felix to answer. Instead, Kyle turned, so he looked back at the table again as he continued to ask questions. "Is he single? Is he gay?" Kyle's eyes lit up, and he turned to look at Felix again, "Please tell me he's gay!"

Of all the things Felix had expected to happen that night, he could honestly say Kyle finding a new crush, at first sight, wasn't one of them. He didn't know how he felt about it either. He was all for Kyle moving on from the idea of Will because that was never going to happen, and Kyle was a cool enough guy and deserved to be happy, but another fucking demigod, really? That was not something Kyle wanted to get dragged into. The guy was fucking attracted to trouble, and he didn't even fucking know it. The worse thing about it, Felix knew exactly why Kyle shouldn't get his hopes up, but he couldn't say shit about it.

"Oh my god," Felix groaned and rolled his eyes, "You are fucking hopeless." Hopefully, Kyle would take that statement to mean that Cecil was straight and would just let it go. "Come on, I'll introduce you," he stated and waved for him to follow.

They walked back to the table. At some point, Kyle ended up a few steps behind him like he was fucking hiding or something, which was especially dumb because Kyle was the same height as Dean, so he was at least a head taller than Felix.

"Hey, what did we miss?" Felix questioned as he went right back to his seat next to Dean. That, of course, was the moment he realized that the only empty chair left was between himself and Cecil. That was inconvenient but not nearly as annoying as Kyle sharply poking him in the back the moment Felix had sat down. The point was taken, so Felix gestured to Kyle to do the whole introduction thing. "Oh yeah, this is Kyle," Felix then gestured around the table without much enthusiasm as he continued, "You've met Nico and know Will, and that's Will's friend Cecil."

"Hey," Kyle greeted with a bit of wave and a smile. Of course, he seemed to look at Will and Cecil and completely ignored Nico's very existence. Baby steps, Felix guessed.

There were waves and a few greetings. Nico might have seemed a little less enthused, which was kind of funny. Felix remembered hearing some vague story about Nico putting a skeleton in some guy's bed because he showed an interest in Will. Maybe that was what Kyle needed.

"Again, sorry we took so long," Will offered, apparently unaware of Nico's subtle disapproval of Kyle's presence. "We had kind of a hard time finding a place to park."

"They were arguing about Will's driving and kept driving past parking spots," Cecil informed with a smirk.

It was an amusing thought. Felix had never really seen the two bicker before. Usually, they were too busy being all over each other to do things like that. Felix didn't get to enjoy his amusement long because Kyle had to chime in. "These two did that too!" he exclaimed with far too much excitement as he pointed at Dean and Felix. The pointing especially seemed unnecessary, considering it was obvious who he was talking about.

Nico smirked slightly in a way Felix guessed was sort of mysterious. He didn't see it personally, but that didn't really matter. "That doesn't surprise me," he commented knowingly.

"We don't bicker…like….at all," Felix defended, and it was the truth. He and Dean could easily break into lively debates over absolutely meaningless shit, and Felix was pretty sure most of the time they both dug down on their side to drag it out, but that wasn't bickering. Hell, at times, that was practically fucking foreplay. Felix couldn't see how it could be mistaken for actual fighting.

"Oh, I know," Nico admitted, "It's just in my limited experience Dean's driving is…interesting."

"Bad," Will interjected, "Dean's driving is bad."

"You didn't complain when I drove you to school every day," Dean commented even though he didn't have the heat behind his words for them to have any real impact.

Nico seemed to ignore Dean and Will's little exchange and focused his attention on Felix as he continued, "And you have a tendency to be….vocal."

Felix really didn't know how to take that. If it were anyone else, he would have probably taken offense, but with Nico, he just couldn't. Nico wasn't the type to sling insults, or at least that Felix was aware. So he was at a complete loss, and if it had been a year earlier, Felix would have covered his bewilderment with some comment that would have come out way more hostile than he meant it to be, but Felix was really fucking trying to be better than that. Instead, he tried to make a joke out of it by turning to Dean with a fake look of outrage and questioning, "Did your cousin just call me a screamer?"

"I don't think so," Dean replied, although he didn't sound as certain as he probably should have, "But I could see how it could sound that way."

"Well, are you?" Kyle questioned with a laugh in his voice and a smirk on his face before Felix could even think of something else to say.

Felix wasn't overly loud in bed. Of that, Felix was sure. Actually, Dean was louder, at least when he bottomed, and even then, Felix wouldn't call Dean a screamer. There was no way Felix was explaining any of that to Kyle, and Kyle knew it. That was probably why he asked, to get a bit of a rise out of him.

Felix responded with a glare that, in reality, didn't have as much heat behind it as it would have it was anyone else that asked.

Dean missed the memo about not answering questions about their sex life because he gave it a moment's thought before answering, "Not normally."

Felix actually wouldn't have cared if he could have been classified as a screamer. All that would mean was he was vocal while enjoying sex. Sex was amazing, so why shouldn't he be vocal about it? Also, he knew he loved it when Dean got loud during sex because it usually meant he was losing his damn mind from the fucking pleasure, and that was sexy as fuck. That didn't stop him from giving Dean a 'What the hell man?' look. If nothing else, it gave Felix something to tease Dean about later, which was always fun.

Nico chuckled, and it was hard to tell if it was from amusement or nerves. It could have been both. "I just meant you don't seem to be shy about giving your opinion," he offered.

It was really fucking hard to take anything Nico said as offensive, but Felix was pretty sure if anyone else said that to him, he would have been bothered. "I guess," he muttered in reluctant agreement.

"Yeah, that's very true," Dean agreed, maybe a little more enthusiastically than was really warranted, at least in Felix's opinion, "Also, irrelevant because I wasn't the one driving."

"Oh," Nico exclaimed with obvious surprise, "I retract my previous statement then. What were you arguing about then?"

"Parking," Felix answered.

Kyle hissed like he had something to say about that, but Felix shot him a look because he really didn't need Kyle offering his opinion on the matter. That was enough for Kyle to think better of it. "Well, parking was definitely part of it."

Dean was smart enough to remain silent on the topic, and Kyle already seemed to be distracted by making eyes at Cecil (and Cecil seemed more into that than Felix would have liked). Felix guessed it was better than Kyle just spending the night openly ogling Will, so he let it go for the moment being.

Nico was quick to offer a change of topic. "Is someone going to come to take our order?" he asked as he looked around expectant.

Considering what Nico looked like and what he did for a living, Felix imagined he usually didn't even have to order a drink at a bar. People probably just brought him drinks in hopes that he would acknowledge their existence. Nico did seem like a down-to-earth guy, so Felix figured he wouldn't expect something like that, but he was probably just used to that sort of thing.

"This isn't Gladiators," Will reminded, "I think we have to go to the bar."

Not entirely surprising, Nico looked confused by the idea, which confirmed what Felix had suspected. He was a smart guy, so Felix was pretty sure he would figure it out. Besides, there was still a chance someone would present him with a drink in the hopes of getting a chance to bang an underwear model before he ever made it to the bar.

"The bartender barely looks at your ID, so it isn't a big deal," Kyle assured.

Good for him, Felix thought. He could tell Kyle was trying to be nice even though he disliked Nico at least a little for the simple fact that Will and Nico were dating.

"Perfect," Cecil declared as he pulled a wallet out of his pocket and dropped it on the table before moving to another pocket and producing another wallet. Cecil made at least half a dozen wallets from various places on his person appear in a matter of thirty seconds. "Let's see what I have to work with."

Cecil started flipping through the wallets in front of them in a way that made it very clear that he had some experience with that sort of thing. That reminded Felix that Cecil was the child of Hermes, and Hermes is the god of thieves. He wasn't sure if he should be horrified or amused by what he was seeing.

The look on Kyle's face was definitely tipping it more into the amusing category. He was clearly fluctuating between absolute shock and confusion, and his expressions were so extremely exaggerated it reminded Felix of a cartoon.

To Kyle's credit, he didn't stay silent, but that wasn't surprising. Kyle usually didn't have a problem speaking his mind. "Um…." Kyle hummed and then pointed toward the pile of wallets on the table, "Are all of those your wallets?"

Kyle continued to flip through the wallets, pulling out IDs and credit cards as he did. "Well, I mean, they are in my possession now," he offered. Pausing briefly after tossing one of the IDs aside, and looked up just a little in Kyle's direction. Felix thought he saw the smallest of flirtatious smiles spread across Cecil's face directed toward Kyle, but that couldn't have the case. "And you know what they say about that," he offered.

So stolen. That was pretty much what Felix had figured. Even if he didn't know Cecil was the demigod child of the god of thieves, it was more than evident. Will apparently wasn't so quick on the uptake because he sounded genuinely outraged when he shouted disapprovingly, "Cecil!"

"You know I can pay for everything, right?" Nico offered without clearly as much shock and outrage in his voice.

"That isn't the point," Cecil returned as he tossed the last of the wallets aside. He looked up and seemed to talk more to Will than anyone else even though he had a captive audience in Kyle from its looks. "It's about the challenge, and the guys around here are not much of a challenge."

"It's a gay bar," Felix reminded as he tried to contain a laugh, "Most guys are expecting a little fucking groping." That wasn't true for Felix, at least not in the sense of a stranger. Now Dean was another fucking story, and hopefully, that was how the night would end. But there were plenty of guys in the bar, and Felix had his money on the vast majority looking to hook up.

Next to him, Felix heard Dean laugh. "He isn't wrong," he admitted.

Cecil just shrugged unapologetically, "That doesn't mean they shouldn't mind their wallets."

Felix was fucking flashing forward to when Will and Nico had kids because the look of disappointment and disapproval on Will's face reminded Felix of disapproving parent. "That isn't a valid excuse for pickpocketing strangers," Will reprimanded.

"Don't worry, no one noticed," Cecil assured like that was the problem, the getting caught part and not the actual pickpocketing part. Felix almost laughed at Cecil's bravado. The thing was, Felix's dad thought he was studying at Kyle's, and if he found out Felix was really at a gay bar with Dean, Felix would be grounded for a fucking eternity. So if Cecil got caught pickpocketing people, that could present some problems. Cecil clearly didn't see the issue as he smiled brightly. "I'm very good," he stated with confidence.

Will's brain had apparently broke at some point because his only response was to stare at Cecil slack-jawed. Felix would think since Will and Cecil had been friends for a while, Will wouldn't have been so surprised. He got the feeling this was pretty standard for Cecil. Nico at least didn't seem overly surprised or worried about it. If anything, he seemed sort of amused by the whole thing, but it could be hard to tell with Nico.

"I'm going to get a drink," Nico declared as he hopped down from his chair. He looked between Will and Cecil briefly before asking, "Do you both just want a beer?"

"Sure," Cecil replied as he started to tuck away the various wallets he had collected into his pockets, "Thanks, Nico."

"Um, I guess," Will muttered uncertainly. Felix was pretty sure Will was just still too distracted by Cecil's kleptomania because it was seriously out of his character for him not to jump up to follow Nico around immediately.

You would think that Will simply refraining from following Nico around like a lovesick puppy would have been enough for Kyle but not. At least some part of his horny teenage brain viewed Nico as competition or at the very least as something close to an advisory which was just incredibly stupid, to say the least. Kyle decided that was the moment to get what seemed like it was meant as a dig. "Do you even have a fake ID?" Kyle asked Nico with almost a disgusting amount of doubt.

"No," Nico replied, "But I don't foresee that being a problem."

No one in their right fucking mind would look at Nico and believe he was twenty-one; of that, Felix was fucking sure. That didn't mean he didn't think Nico was probably right about his lack of an ID not being a problem. Not only was Nico good-looking, which seemed to go a pretty far way, but he also had a 'Don't fuck with me or else' vibe that was pretty fucking hard to argue with. Felix would bet the bartender wouldn't even bother to ask Nico for an ID.

Kyle at least had the common sense not to push the topic further, which satisfied Nico greatly if the glint in his eye and the slight grin that spread across his face was any indication. It wasn't an over-the-top expression by any means because it was fucking Nico. Felix was pretty sure the guy didn't know how to do over the top, or at least that kind of over the top. Even subtle, it was noticeable enough

It probably didn't help that after giving Kyle a few seconds of his victory face, Will decided to jump into the conversation in full lovesick puppy mode. Felix got that Will was oblivious to Kyle's lingering crush on him even though he had been told on multiple occasions, but how he missed the little exchange between Kyle and Nico, Felix didn't fucking understand. He had most definitely missed it never the less.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Will asked Nico.

"I'm sure I can handle it on my own," Nico replied with a shrug, "But if you want to, I could use the extra pair of hands."

That was all Will needed to hear. He hopped out of his chair like a tiger from Winnie the Pooh or some shit. "Be right back," he declared quickly before trotting after Nico as he headed toward the bar.

They watched the two walk-offs for a few seconds before they were lost to the crowd. "Oh, codependence," Felix commented dryly in hopes of cutting off any of Kyle's potential pouting. "I'm so glad that isn't a family trait because I'm pretty sure I would murder you," he added with a humorless smile directed at Dean.

Felix wasn't actually all that worried about that sort of thing. He and Dean were pretty independent, so neither would take on the relationship's lost puppy role. Sure, between texting and phone calls, they probably talked for hours most days, and Dean had been trying to talk Felix into applying to Berkeley so they could be at the same school, but that was just….different.

Next to him, Felix heard Kyle snicker at that comment. He was fucking loud about it, so Felix wouldn't have been surprised if half the fucking bar heard. Felix couldn't help but turn to look at him, and the amused fucking grin on his face was just even more fucking confusion.

What the fuck did I miss?

Felix probably should have just let it go but hated feeling like everyone knew something he didn't. "What?" he asked as he stared at Kyle critically.

"Nothing," Kyle assured, but he sounded far too amused to be even remotely believed. Before Felix could push any further, Kyle had already turned his attention to Cecil and changed the subject. "Um, so Cecil, what brings you to Tennessee?" Kyle asked with a smile. He was clearly trying to be friendly, but it was over the top, so Felix found it awkward. It was also pretty out of character for Kyle. It was an interesting development, to say the least.

"Oh, Will invited me to Thanksgiving," Cecil answered with a bit of a shrug, "And Nico insisted. Saying no to Nico seems kind of …."

"Dangerous?" Felix offered without even thinking about it. Nico was actually really nice, but he was also scary as fuck. Felix wouldn't want to tell him no either.

Dean was less than a second behind with an equally valid suggestion, "Terrifying?"

"Yeah," Cecil agreed with a laugh, "Pretty much."

"So, you had no choice," Felix summed up. He paused to sip at his beer before adding, "Only legitimate reason to come to Tennessee."

"Hey!" Dean immediately protested, "I honestly don't know how to take that."

Felix looked at Dean to find him staring back, looking genuinely outraged. Maybe that should have made Felix feel at least a little guilty because of that, but honestly, he found it a little funny. He didn't actually laugh, but it was a close call. "You should be fine with it," he retorted. "I can hate the state I met you in and still love you," Felix explained matter-of-factly before taking another sip of his beer.

Dean's reaction was precisely what Felix had hoped for. He grinned from ear to ear. "You love me? Really?" Dean leaned over and made a real fucking show of kissing Felix on the cheek, "Because I definitely love you."

It wasn't like Felix wasn't used to Dean being affectionate. He wasn't used to Dean being so openly affectionate in such a large crowd, but around friends was normal enough. He still blushed at it, which officially killed any chance he had to even try to play it cool. That didn't mean he wasn't going to try, but it did mean he knew going in it wouldn't work.

"God, you've had like two sips of beer," Felix grumbled under his breath even as his cheeks continued to burn, "You can't be like this already."

"So," Cecil point at them while looking at Kyle, "They are just as bad as Will and Nico?"

"Um," Kyle hummed, still being a bit awkward about the whole thing, "I'm more used to these two, but yeah, they're pretty cutesy."

Felix swallowed down the urge to argue that by taking a large sip of his drink. Dean got kind of cutesy when he had a few drinks in him, but otherwise, they weren't like that at all. Besides the few affectionate gestures, they acted just like they did when they were just friends. He even got Kyle to admit that he claimed that didn't mean they weren't cutesy a few times. It wasn't worth arguing about, Felix was sure, so once he swallowed his drink, he went to change the topic. "Alright, Cee," Felix declared, "Why did Will drag to this great state for the great food holiday?" The state of Tennessee might have sucked by Will's mom was a fucking fantastic cook. In Felix's opinion, her cooking rivaled the food at Camp Half-Blood, so at least Cecil was in for a treat.

"Sympathy, I guess," Cecil replied with a shrug, "He's making a bigger deal over the breakup than either me or Lou are."

Felix opened his mouth to say without even thinking about the fact that he would be outing Cecil. Luckily Dean saved him from accidentally spilling the beans before Felix got a chance. "You guys broke up?" Dean questioned with great disappointment in his voice, "Sorry to hear that."

"It's cool," Cecil assured a little awkwardly before adding, "We are better friends."

Felix guessed that was one way to put it, considering that Cecil was gay. He guessed Cecil had finally worked up the nerve to end his fake relationship but not enough to tell people he was gay. Felix wasn't judging, but he figured pretending to be upset about a breakup would get old fucking fast.

"That's a positive attitude to have," Kyle chimed in, and suddenly the awkward energy he had just a few moments before was gone, and Kyle seemed way too excited to hear about Cecil's break.

Felix liked Kyle, but the boy was beyond fucking obvious. How anyone thought he was straight, Felix would never fucking understand. He also had horrible taste in guys. First, he spends years drooling over Will, and now he was getting hot and bothered over Cecil. Sure, Cecil was an improvement but still.

Cecil sort of smiled at Kyle, and it struck Felix that this might be a problem. Luckily Nico and Will decided that was the moment to reappear, drinks in hand, and they interrupted the whole thing before either Kyle or Cecil could attempt any awkward flirting that Felix would have to stop.

"We are back," Nico declared as he placed his drink on the table before pushing himself up into his chair.

"And we have drinks," Will declared from half a step behind Nico, holding up the two beers he was carrying as proof. He placed one beer in front of his seat before placing the other squarely in front of Cecil. "There was actually a guy about to send you a drink," Will told Cecil as he took his seat. He waved his hand in what Felix was sure was met to be a reassuring gesture as he added, "Don't worry, I told him you were straight."

Felix had to physically bite his tongue to stop himself from calling Will a cock block which made him wonder if this was going to be a problem. They were in a fucking gay bar, and Cecil wasn't a horrible-looking guy. If Will was going to keep help his friend out by explaining Cecil was straight, Felix didn't know if he would be able to take it. He was going to slip up and say something he shouldn't and outing Cecil like a fucking asshole.

Maybe he just had a lot of practice because he had to lie about all the demigod stuff, but Cecil did an impressive job of hiding any disappointment or frustration he might have been feeling. "Thanks," he replied. He wasn't exactly enthusiastic, but he didn't sound annoyed either.

"Um…..," Kyle hummed, which matched the confused look he was wearing quite well. His one finger in the air to signal he had a question was a bit much but to each their own.

"Lou is short for Lou Ellen," Dean offered quickly.

Kyle, unlike Cecil, did not school his emotions at all. The guy visibly deflated as he tried to cover (poorly) by saying, "Oh, that's an interesting name."

Felix had to admit that he did feel a little bad. Kyle was a cool enough guy, and he really shouldn't have to wait until college to date. But, at the same time, it really was for the best. Kyle did not need all that crazy demigod shit in his life. It was better for him just to think Cecil was straight than for Felix to have to play interference all night.

#Delix #Solangelo #other OCs

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