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hanniiesuckle17 · 4 years

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Just For A Week

WARNINGS: Swearing, partial smut (Maybe but like not really but also like just gonna but it in for Tumblr’s algorithm), drinking

Summary: Seungmin and Y/n have been friends for years. Their schedules finally coincide and they decide to take a vacation for a week. However, it is a little too expensive for both of their wallets. Y/n finds a discount that is just perfect for them. The only thing is that they have to pretend to be married.

Genre: Romance, friends to lovers!au, fake marriage!au

“Are you serious??” I screamed into the phone. Hearing his laugh on the other end made me smile even wider. “Yeah! I’m off schedule all of next week.”

Seungmin was always busy as of late. There was always some variety show, practice, or tour that kept him occupied. I hadn’t seen my best friend in what felt like forever. My apartment didn’t feel normal if Seungmin wasn’t in it and rearranging my things constantly.

“We have to do something. This is never going to happen again.” I could hear him pulling out his laptop and his fingers tapping on the keys. “Let’s go on a trip. Just us. Like when we were younger!” My mind flashed back to Seungmin’s trainee days where we would get on a random train with $200 and spend a weekend somewhere fun and new.

“I’m down.” Seungmin tapped some more and listed locations all around Korea. “I’d rather go to the beach, especially while it’s warm out.” He hummed in response and looked some more. “What about Jeju? There is a resort right on the beach. They have one room left…and two beds! Also, they are offering a discount!”

“Seungmin book the damn room before someone else does!” I said with a laugh. “And done!” Both of us cheered over the phone. We made plans and bought plane tickets for two days from now. It had been so long since I had seen Seungmin. We still texted a lot and there was the occasional facetime, but I still missed him. Even with all his quirks and weird slightly annoying antics. Happily, I threw clothes and swimsuits into my suitcase and begin to fantasize about my upcoming vacation with my best friend.

The plane ride was uneventful. Seungmin and I met at the airport and a great reunion was made. We both slept on the plane and when we landed in Jeju, we immediately rented a car to take us to the hotel. Seungmin drove us to the beautiful resort and parked in the circular driveway as hotel staff came and retrieved out bags. As I stepped out of the car the sundress I was wearing blew slightly in the wind. Seungmin thanked the attendants and walked over to me with a smile. “A little swankier than our normal adventures isn’t it?” I joked as we walked inside.

The woman and the desk greeted us with a smile. “Hello, welcome to our wonderful hotel! Are you checking in?” Seungmin nodded and replied, “ Yes, the room should be under Kim Seungmin.” She tapped on her computer and a bright smile lifted her already high cheeks. “Wonderful. Here is your key card and congratulations you two!”

“I’m sorry, what do you mean ‘congratulations’?” I asked. Seungmin looked confused as well. The woman’s smile faltered. “It says here your discount is for newlyweds. We are a very popular honeymoon destination. Was there a mistake-”

“No! Thank you. My wife and I were just wondering that’s all.” Seungmin said latching an arm around my shoulder. I gave her a hopefully not too fake-looking smile. “We also have many tourist attractions near the campus perfect for young couples. Would you like a brochure for LoveIsland?”

“NO!” “NO!”

We both exclaimed a little too loud. The lady looked shocked and very confused but slowly pulled the brochure back from on top of the counter. I cleared my throat and placed a hand on Seungmin’s chest. “What we mean is, we already have the planned itinerary the hotel sent and we really just want some time to relax in our room.” A small smile quirked up at the edge of her lips and I instantly regretted my choice of words. “Well, we hope you enjoy your stay. Dinner is served at eight. Please do not hesitate to ask us for anything at all. Your bags will be brought shortly.”

Once Seungmin and I were a safe distance down the hall from the lobby our facade dropped. “What the hell, Seungmin?” He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know! All I saw were the words discount!” I stared at him in disbelief. “Why did you agree with her? We are not married. That’s lying! This might be fraud!”

“Y/n have you seen how expensive this place is? This gets us a discount on literally everything! Why can’t we just pretend for a week?” Seungmin stood in front of our door fiddling with the card. Just as the words left his mouth a couple maybe a year or two older than us walked out of the room next door. A snarky smirk latched itself onto the beautiful girl’s face as she clung to her husband’s arm.

“Oh, trouble in paradise already?” She said in a silky smooth voice. “Hope the rest of your honeymoon goes better.” The man said. He looked like he came straight out of a Calvin Klein ad. With just a quick glance between each other, we had already agreed that these two were agreeably the worst people on the entire planet with huge sticks up their asses. Instantly I latched myself onto Seungmin’s arm and laid my head on his shoulder.

“Don’t mind us. If we are too loud by the way, just knock on the door. We’ll try to keep it down, but no promises.” Seungmin said with a new air of confidence as he laced his fingers with mine. A shocked look plastered itself onto the couple’s face. “The same goes for you too. We can also get pretty loud, so just knock.” With that, the man and woman strutted down the hall and towards the pool.

“Okay, now we have to sell this,” I said with a frustrated sigh. “I don’t know why but I really want to kick their ass,” Seungmin said through gritted teeth as he still stared down the hallway. “I know right! We are a fake couple and we are totally already less fake than them. And better too!” “And better too!” Seungmin said in agreement as he opened the door to our hotel room. I froze at the sight.

“Why is there one bed?” Seungmin asked as he tossed his stuff onto the couch.

“I thought you said there were two beds?”

“Yeah, it said double beds!” I pinched the bridge of my nose and tried not to scream.

“Min, did it say double beds…or a double bed?”

“A double bed. What’s the difference?”

“Seungmin a double bed means that it is one bed! A bed that is double the size of a normal bed!”

He looked at the bed in defeat. “Shit.” I sat down, the white comforter soft against my bare legs. “It’s fine we can share the bed.” The words came out more like a sigh. There was a silence that fell over the room. After a moment, I couldn’t help but laugh. Then Seungmin started laughing too. “This is a great way to start our vacation, isn’t?” I said through soft laughter. “Definitely will be memorable.”

I sighed and kicked off my shoes. “I’m gonna shower. Do you want to go swimming after?” With a smile, I nodded and grabbed my phone from my purse. Seungmin closed the door of the bathroom and I saw the light turn on from under the door. I walked over to the nightstand to plug in my phone until I realized I forgot my charger. Remembering some hotels put chargers in the drawers I opened it only to let out a scream a the contents.

Seungmin burst through the bathroom door and ran to me on the other side of the bed. “What? What’s wrong?” I laughed and pointed to the drawer. “Sorry, it just shocked me.” Seungmin pulled open the drawer further to reveal an entire string of condoms branded with the hotel’s name as well as a bottle of lube and ironically a bible. “That’s funny in a twisted sort of way,” Seungmin said with a chuckle.

A blush rushed to my cheeks when I realized in his hurry to make sure I was okay, Seungmin didn’t put his shirt back on and only stood bare-chested in his jeans. I had always known Seungmin was attractive, it was kind of a requirement for being an idol. But, it was astonishing and ironic that I was just now noticing the fact as he was standing in front of me- shirtless- and holding a string of condoms.

Maybe it was just the fact that I hadn’t gotten laid since the beginning of university? Yeah. That made sense. Seungmin returned to his shower and I started unpacking. We spent the afternoon playing in the pool and relaxing on the pool deck. It was so nice to catch up with Seungmin and hear what he had been doing. Seungmin had called ahead and confirmed it was a private property and no press would be allowed on campus.

“Okay, so what does our fake honeymoon package get us?” I asked flipping over onto my stomach so the sun could reach my back. Seungmin lounged on the beach chair next to me, his brown hair blowing slightly in the breeze. He pulled out his phone to answer my question.

“We get a dinner experience with all the rest of the couples, several planned activities, spa package, and we have tickets to the Jeju music festival at the end of the week.” Seungmin scrolled more on his phone, reading something else on the hotel website. A young waiter came by carrying a tray of drinks. “Would you like one, beautiful?” He said leaning down and giving me a wink. My cheeks started to heat up as I gratefully took one of the Mai Tais.

“Hey, chill. That’s my wife you’re flirting with!” Seungmin said standing up in front of the waiter. I tried to hide my shock at his reaction. “Sorry, dude! I didn’t see a ring. My bad!” The ring! Oh my god, we were so stupid. “Oh- I left it in the room, babe. I’m sorry, I didn’t want to lose it.” I interjected quickly, hoping to distract from the fact that Seungmin and I had no actual explanation for not wearing wedding bands.

The waiter stared as I wrapped my arm around Seungmin’s waist, drink in my other hand. “I apologize,” He said before walking off. Just when we thought we were out of the woods, “What was that commotion all about?” Walking up-of course looking like she came out of a Victoria’s Secret catalog- was the woman from before, her husband trailing behind. “Oh, it was nothing! I left my ring on the nightstand so I wouldn’t lose it-” “And the cabana boy over there just started hitting on her. I took care of it. Seungmin wrapped his arms around my waist and moved behind me.

The lady scoffed before holding up her hand. “I would never take off my ring! It’s too precious.” She said smiling at her husband next to her. Her ring was huge and sparkled in the light. It had to cost at least $10,000. The woman herself was drowning in designer and expensive products. I mean she was wearing heels at the god damn swimming pool.

“I don’t think we have been properly introduced. My name is Kwon Si Hyun and this is my wife, Jin Ae.” She waved politely but that arrogant smirk was still stuck on bother her and her spouse’s face. The sight of it just made me want to smack her. Instead, I put on my nicest smile and my hand found Seungmin’s cheek resting on my shoulder.

“I’m Y/n and this is my amazing husband, Kim Seungmin.” Seungmin smiled, but I could see he was just as disgusted as I was. “Kim Seungmin? Why is that so familiar?” The man asked shaking his head. Jin Ae’s face lit up. “Yah! You are an idol! From that group Stray something!” Seungmin’s grip tightened and he tried to hide his annoyance. “Yeah, Stray Kids.”

She playfully smacked her husband’s broad chest. “I knew we should come back here! They are always saying celebrities stay here!” She eyed Seungmin up and down and instantly I felt very angry. “Yeah! Minnie is great! He is just so busy all the time so I am left by myself so much.” I turned around to face Seungmin and took his face in my hands. He glanced over at Si Hyun and Jin Ae briefly before smiling back at me.

“I know how that is! Running my company can be time-consuming, that’s why I take Jin Ae out so much like this.” Si Hyun gave her a playful smack on the ass before kissing her cheek making her squeal. Slowly Seungmin and I inched apart. Jin Ae grabbed my hands. “Kim Y/n, we should play while our husbands talk about business!” Before I could object she dragged me off to the other side of the pool towards the hot tub. I gave Seungmin a sorry look over my shoulder as I watched Si Hyun clap him on the back and hand him a beer.

Two hours later I slammed open the door of our hotel room. Seungmin let out a gasp from where he lay on the bed, dropping his phone. “Hey! Don’t scare me like that.” Seungmin had changed into jeans and a shirt and was playing on his phone, while I was standing cold in my bikini from sitting in the pool for hours.

“I hate her.”

“I hate him.”

“I want to smack that fake tan and boob job right off her.”

“Be careful they’re right next door!” Seungmin said with a laugh. He tossed me a towel from the counter. Quickly drying off, I sat on the edge of the chair. “We need rings if we are gonna pull this off.” He nodded from the bed. “All Jin Ae would talk about was how she and I would make such great friends and how we should meet up and drink daiquiris when we get back to Seoul. She’ll take me shopping because my swimsuit is just so last season.” I said mocking her high pitched voice.

I turned and walked to the dresser. I didn’t notice the way Seungmin’s eyes followed me as if just now realizing I was standing before him in a bikini and water still on my skin. “Okay well, I could find a pawn shop near here and get some rings?” I nodded pulling out a dress to wear for dinner. “If you leave now you have just enough time to make it back and change for dinner.” He shrugged. “What’s so important about dinner?”

“Another happy coincidence, “ I said dryly pulling some heels out of my bag- a pair that I had wanted to hopefully go clubbing in. “Jin Ae asked around and managed to get us switched to her table…for the rest of the week. apparently, we are now their partner couple. You know all those awesome activities. Thanks to that bitch we are doing it with them!” I said throwing the towel onto the bed.

Seungmin walked over and took my hand. “Hey. We can still have fun okay? Anywhere I am with you I’ll have fun.” He looked at me sincerely and pulled me into a hug. “You’re the best, Min.” With a sigh, he pulled away and grabbed his keys and wallet. “Okay. I’m off to get us wedding rings! Wow. I never thought I’d say those words.” He laughed and exited the room leaving me an hour to get ready for dinner with the dreaded Kwons.

Dressed in a nice white dress that hugged my curves and my favorite pair of blue pumps I played with my earrings waiting for Seungmin in the lobby. He ran up to me, hair styled and his shirt was switched our for a dress shirt he had half-tucked. I couldn’t deny the fact he looked good. He eyed me up and down before handing me something.

Opening my hand revealed a beautiful silver diamond ring. “Seungmin! This must have cost a fortune!” My eyes went wide as I tried to keep my voice down. I watched as Seungmin slipped a matching silver band onto his left hand. Seungmin smiled. “No, it’s okay! Think of it as a gift.” Seungmin took the ring from you and gently pushed it onto your ring finger on your left hand.

“So, better half, you ready for an excruciatingly long dinner?” Seungmin said with a laugh, offering me his arm. “Only for you.” Together we ventured outside to the huge outdoor restaurant. The ceiling was covered with vines, plants, and dangling lanterns. The hostess greeted us with a bright smile. One that seemingly everyone in the hospitality industry had. Did they have a class for it or something?

“Name?”

“Kim? Kim Seungmin.”

“Ah right here! If you and your wife would follow me this way to your table for the week.”

Grabbing two menus, she led us through the beautiful restaurant and to our table in the middle of the floor. Not surprisingly, Kwon Si Hyun and Kwon Jin Ae were already seated and sipping on wine. “Don’t forget to smile,” Seungmin whispered through clenched teeth. Nodding I put on the absolute nicest smile I could manage and waved to Jin Ae. Seungmin sat beside me and next to Si Hyun. The minute I sat down Jin Ae pulled my hand to look at my ring.

“Yah Kim Seungmin! You have such classy taste. Maybe a little understated compared to mine, but who could compare to me!” She said with a snobby laugh. Seungmin took my other hand and laced his fingers with mine atop the table. Maybe it was the drive to prove we were better than this snobbish egotistical couple, but things like this with Seungmin were starting to become more natural and it made me wonder.

“Y/n is the only pretty one in my eyes,” Seungmin said looking at me. “Seungmin-ssi! Don’t you think I am pretty enough to be an idol?” Jin Ae said in her annoying voice. I struggled to hide my disdain, instead choosing to drain the glass of wine in front of me.

Dinner was exhausting. Seungmin and I barely survived by glancing at each other as pretentious remarks were thrown back and forth between the other couple. After finally escaping their company Seungmin and I headed back to the room. “Oh my god, they are so terrible.”

Seungmin laughed and opened the door. “Why did we agree to go clubbing with them tomorrow night again?” I sighed kicking off my shoes and throwing them somewhere near my bag. “Because I like clubbing and not even she can ruin that.” “You sure?” I glared and he laughed happily. “This isn’t so bad. It honestly isn’t that different from how we usually act.” He said changing into nightclothes.

I shrugged thinking back on tonight. Did Seungmin really see no difference? Was I the only one who noticed? He hopped into bed and played on his phone while I changed. “I’m glad I’m on vacation with you though,” I said climbing onto the other side of the bed. “I missed you. I love the boys, but hanging our with you is different.” Why did that make my heart skip a beat?

“Yeah, you too.”

“Goodnight,”

Turning off the lights the both of us drifted off to sleep. The warm island breeze softly blew through the open window drifting over us like fairy dust. As if it was casting a spell over our eyes so that the next morning we would wake up seeing differently. Or at least one of us would.

Seungmin and I took breakfast in the room the next morning. Not even we could deal with the chaotic mess that was the Kwon’s first thing in the morning. We played in our room and lounged on the patio. To be honest we were hiding from Jin Ae and Si Hyun. Seungmin and I sat in PJs and simply talked the whole day, something we hadn’t done in a while. The boys called to check in and I joined in on the video call.

“Y/n! Jisung called out once my face appeared on the screen. I leaned over Seungmin’s shoulder to see all eight faces on his laptop. “Oh? Sungie? How are you guys?” Catching up with the boys was fun but I could see how Seungmin could easily get exhausted by them.

As night grew closer I actually began to grow excited about going out. “Seungmin, which should I wear?” I said holding up two dresses. A faux hunter green velvet dress and the white dress from last night. “You know you’ll never hear the end of it from Jin Ae if you wear the same dress twice.” I sighed knowing he was right. Slipping on the tight dress, I fiddled with some earrings before finally deciding on a pair. “Why do girls take so long to get ready? I swear you take longer than Hyunjin.”

“Really?”

“I take that back. No one takes longer than Hyunjin.”

Chuckling I finished applying some eyeliner and lip tint. “Whatever I wear Jin Ae will outshine me, so this will do.” I zipped up my shoes securing the three-inch chunky heeled boots to my feet. Seungmin looked me up and down his eyes widening slightly. “Don’t be silly you look great.” Seungmin stood in heavily ripped black jeans and a black button-down with some of the top buttons undone. He had rolled up his sleeves and for some reason, his ring was more noticeable. Maybe because I knew he never wore accessories.

Seungmin handed me my purse and grabbed his phone and wallet and then we headed to meet Jin Ae and Si Hyun at the club. Seungmin and I drove into the city and sang along to the music on the radio. We pulled up and heard the music from the club before even reaching the building. “Seungmin,” I said grabbing his arm, stopping him from exiting the car. “What?” I pulled open my bag and grabbed a piece of black fabric.

“We aren’t at the hotel anymore. Someone could see you.” I pulled him back and gently placed the mask over his face. He stared at me while I tucked the fabric behind his ears. “Thank you,” For some reason, he didn’t pull away. At first, I was confused, but I quickly grew comfortable with how he was looking at me. Just as he was about to speak my phone rang. Sighing he pulled away and let me answer my phone.

“Oh, Jin Ae?”

He looked over at me as we got out of the car and walked across the street to the club. “Yes, we are walking up now.” Aggressively pushing the end call button I turned to Seungmin. “She gave our name to the VIP bouncer, so we can just go in.” He nodded and walked up to the bouncer outside. “Name?” He said without looking up. “Here,” Seungmin said pulling out his driver’s license. The bouncer’s eyes went wide and he did a double-take. “Welcome, Mr. Kim! Please enjoy your night.”

I smiled feeling the vibrations of the music and the bright colored lights flashing throughout the room. “You want a beer?” I yelled over the music. He nodded and I left his side to walk up to the bar. “Two beers!” I yelled to the bartender. He nodded and went to the other side to get them. Suddenly I felt a hand grabbing my ass. “Hey!” I yelled turning around. My eyes widened to see a very attractive man behind me, a handsome smile on his face. “Oh, sorry. I thought you were someone else, but what’s your name?”

He leaned against the bar and his hand brushed against my arm. Normally I would love this kind of attention from someone as hot as he was, but I could smell the alcohol on his breath and oddly my mind went back to Seungmin. “Listen, buddy. You can fuck off. I’m married.” I said holding up my hand and showing him the ring. He scoffed and took my hand. “Oh please! Girls these days are wearing rings like this all the time.” The bartender handed me my two beers, but the man stopped me from leaving.

“Come on, baby stay a while.”

“I told you, I’m married.”

“Really, where’s your husband? I don’t see him anywhere.”

Where was Seungmin? My eyes looked everywhere not seeing him. I tried to shrug off the guy’s grip but he wouldn’t let go. “Dude fuck off!” I yelled. “Come on, you lied about your husband! No one is even here!” He said getting too close for comfort.

“What are you talking about? I’m right here.”

The man turned around to see Seungmin, still wearing his mask. He honestly looked intimidating with his fists clenched and a glare piercing into the other man. “Really? You’re her husband? Man, your taste in men is shit. He can’t be.” Seungmin tugged me by the waist into his side. Before holding up his left hand. The man gulped as he looked at the silver ring glinting in the lights. He scoffed.

“Yeah, whatever. The bitch wasn’t that hot anyway.”

Seungmin took his beer and lifted his mask to take a swig. “Come on, we should meet up with Si Hyun.” Seungmin led me to the VIP lounge upstairs. His hand latched tightly onto mine, making sure I didn’t lose him in the crowd. The bouncer let us in and immediately Jin Ae waved to us from their table.

Obviously, the both of them had started drinking long before we got there. “Y/n-ah! You are my dongsaeng now! You must call me Unnie!” She said draping herself all over me. “Yeah, of course, Unnie.” She poured us a shot of whatever liquor was on the table and handed it to me. Seungmin talked with Si Hyun as Jin Ae pounded shot after shot. I drank but only enough to get a little buzz going.

“Hey, you two should do a love shot! Come on get the night started!” Si Hyun said with a bright grin. Jin Ae happily clapped along in agreement before pouring us two shots. “No, I’m driving tonight-” “Come on, Seungmin! Don’t be a downer!” Jin Ae whined. He looked at me briefly before picking up the shot. After linking arms, we were so much closer. Seungmin looked into my eyes before saying, “Cheers.” We both took the shot and heard loud cheers from the other couple.

“Si Hyun, come dance with me! Y/n, you should come too!” She said pulling Seungmin and me out of our seats and drastically changing the topic in her drunken state. Si Hyun followed happily as Jin Ae dragged us to the VIP dance floor. We dance for hours and had a few more drinks. Soon we ended up back in the booth, Jin Ae and Si Hyun sucking each other’s faces off like some creatures out of the movie Alien. Seungmin, sat next to me his arm lazily draped behind me over the back of the booth.

“Yah! We can’t be the only two kissing!” Si Hyun said suddenly, his words slurring. “Seungmin, kiss your woman. Show her you love her!” He let out a nervous laugh. “Hyung, we don’t normally do that type of stuff.” Jin Ae whined in her annoying voice. “What?! You don’t kiss?”

“No! What he means is, we don’t usually kiss in public. We can get carried away to easily.” I interjected. They seemed content with my answer. “I certainly know what you mean there!” Her lips captured Si Hyun’s in a sloppy kiss, causing both Seungmin and me to cringe and roll our eyes. “Still! We are all friends here! No one cares if you get carried away! Fuck on the couch for all we care!” Jin Ae said over the music.

The two of them looked at us expectantly, waiting for us to do as asked. Fuck, I couldn’t think of a way out. Seungmin desperately glanced at me, hoping I would think of something he hadn’t but I came up empty. “Fine, you want to see us kiss so badly?” Seungmin asked. I’m sure they couldn’t tell over the blaring bass but I heard Min’s voice shake as his arm came down to rest on my shoulder, pulling me closer to him so that our sides were pressed together.

“Yes! Do it! I’m eager to see this uncontrollable passion Y/n says you have!” Jin Ae said wiggling her perfectly plucked eyebrows. God damn it. Why did I have to say that? Seungmin turned to me already a very short distance away. Gently I pulled down his mask revealing his face fully. His left hand came up to my cheek and he looked into my eyes. There was almost a silent question he was asking. It was one of the things I loved about Seungmin- that we could have entire conversations with just a simple look.

My breath caught in my throat as I saw him move closer. Our eyes met briefly before I looked down at his lips. Why wasn’t he making the move? If he didn’t do it soon they might suspect something? Growing impatient, I closed my eyes and smashed my lips onto his closing the tiny distance. Seungmin hesitated to kiss me back but soon he took control. His hand slid down my body to rest on my thigh. The touch sent shivers down my spine. As he kissed me again he pulled part of my leg closer to him, pulling me almost into his lap.

I had never thought kissing Seungmin would be like this. I had never thought about kissing Seungmin. His grip tightened on my thigh as he continued to press rough kisses on my lips. instinctively, my hand went to his jaw and traveled into his hair. He smiled against my lips and his thumb rubbed across the bare skin of my leg. His teeth snagged my bottom lip, pulling at it gently and muffled sound escaped my throat bringing me back to reality. I pulled away out of breath and looked at Seungmin.

We had crossed a line. A sort of invisible line there was in every friendship between a boy and a girl. Kissing to convince them was one thing, but something felt different now about the way Seungmin was looking at me. “Y/n,” I turned to find once again Si Hyun and Jin Ae making out with full force. “Really? Are they that horny and self-obsessed?” I said sighing. I didn’t even worry about them hearing me.

By the time it was three a.m, all four of us were slightly stumbling to our rooms- some more than others. Seungmin had an arm thrown casually over my shoulder and we watched as Si Hyun raced down the hall with a squealing Jin Ae on his back. I rolled my eyes and looked at Seungmin who scoffed. It always seemed like they were putting on a show for someone.

“YAH! DONGSAENG!” Jin Ae screamed. “Unnie, be quiet! There are people sleeping!” I said putting on another fake smile, but she was too drunk to notice. “Shhhh! I expect you to fuck him good tonight! Right? Give your husband what he deserves!” She slurred. “I’m sure it won’t be as good as how well I’m going to fuck my Si Hyun, but do well!” She hung off of her husband like a wet curtain smiling with a crazy look in her eyes as she began to kiss all along the side of his neck.

“Seungmin! You use protection! You and me…we can’t have kids with our careers too early.” With one last clap on the shoulder, Si Hyun opened their door and they disappeared within the room. We walked into our room only to be met with a loud bang against our wall followed by some very lewd sounds. “Holy shit! Are our walls really that thin?” Seungmin quickly put a hand to my lips keeping me quiet. “What?” I mouthed to him. “They’re showing off! They are trying to prove they are better than us at you know….” He whispered.

“Fuck them. We can’t let them think that!”

“Are you really suggesting we-”

“Seungmin!”

“Sorry, that’s what you were implying.”

I scoffed as Jin Ae loudly and dramatically called out Si Hyun’s name. “What should we do? They are probably listening.” Seungmin whispered. Suddenly an idea popped into my head. I walked closer to the wall and as loudly as I could manage I let out a strangled moan. “Ahhh Seungmin!” I looked over to see Seungmin frozen in place. A crimson blush flooded his cheeks and ears. The sight was almost as cute as it was funny.

“Wha- what ar- what are you doing?”

“Shhh! Just follow my lead.”

He jumped as my hands pulled at the hem of his shirt. “Shhh Just trust me!” I said with a laugh. He let me pull the shirt over his head and push him over to the bed. Loud and overdramatic sounds were still coming from the room next to us. “Okay now grunt, really loud.”

The sound he made sounded more like he was constipated and I did my best to hold back my laughter as I sat next to him on the bed. “No, like grunt, moan, sex noises. Come on!” He tried again but only slightly improved. “Come on Seungmin we have to make this convincing!” My hand flew across his cheek and he screamed in shock. I shoved Min’s shirt into his open mouth muffling the sound making it sound more like a moan. “See more like that!”

“Ahhh Seungmin! Again!” I moaned. Seungmin arched a brow and took the shirt out of his mouth. “Shit, Y/n! Just like that!” He groaned loudly, a bright smile on his face as he tried not to laugh at the situation. “Oh fuck!” I whined, making Seungmin fall back onto the bed trying to keep in his laughter. “Quick get up on the bed!” I whispered. Seungmin stood on the bed with me and looked to me for what to do next. “Okay jump!” Both of us started jumping causing the headboard to bang against the wall.

“Oh fuck! Harder, Min!” I screamed. I started jumping closer to the head of the bead so the sound would be louder. The sounds from their room started to dwindle until suddenly there was a loud combination of moans and strung together curse words. “Come on Seungmin we can last longer than that!” I whispered. “God-Y/n!” He moaned again, the sound becoming more natural.

“Seungmin! Fuck I’m so close!” The two of you laughed as you continued to jump on the bed faster. I let out a strangled set of moans before a loud and high pitched whine at the end that could almost be a scream. “Keep jumping!” I whispered. He nodded and continued to groan and string together some dirty talk I didn’t know he had in him.

“Fuck, you take me so well! Ahh!” I couldn’t help but giggle interrupting the moan I was previously imitating. Seungmin pressed a finger to his lips with a smile. “Okay, big finale. Just trust me, okay.” Seungmin nodded with a grin as he continued to jump. I stopped jumping and caught my breath. This was almost as much of a workout as actual sex. To seal the deal I gave Seungmin a hard and swift kick to the balls sending him crumpling over and letting out the perfect groan that to any ear would sound perfectly convincing.

I joined him in letting out another strangled moan. Seungmin lay on the bed, his hands between his legs. “I fucking hate you,” Seungmin whispered his voice considerably higher. “You love me,” Rushing over to the mini-fridge I grabbed a cold bottle of Coke and handed it to Seungmin who immediately placed it against his crotch.

“If it helps, it sounded very convincing,” I said with a laugh. Seungmin glared at me from his spot on the bed. “Oh wait!” I said sitting up and grabbing Seungmin’s hand. “Pinch me!” I said. He pinched me very hard on the wrist. “Ah! Not there, you idiot!” Bringing his had up to my neck he nodded. He pinched the skin on my neck hard. “Again.”

His hand moved lower to just below my collar bone and he pinched hard there as well. I rushed to the bathroom and checked the marks. They were red, but not as convincing as the real deal. You could tell when you had a hickey. This didn’t look like one. With an aggravated sigh, I returned to the bedroom and pushed Seungmin onto his back. “Hold still. Mine don’t look real.” Seungmin froze in shock as I leaned over and pressed my lips to his neck, near his jaw.

“Okay either move your head, or I’m getting on top of you,” I said when Seungmin lay frozen looking up at me, his head unmovable from looking straight forward. Rolling my eyes, I threw my leg over his waist and leaned back over so I could finish making it look real. My teeth must have grazed over a sensitive spot because my movement froze when Seungmin let out a tiny low toned moan. Choosing to ignore it, I moved down to his collar bone and shoulder leaving a couple of marks there too.

I pulled away to see a blush covering Min’s ears. He simply looked at me, his lips parted slightly. It was then I noticed his hands and wandered to rest on my thighs. I don’t know what compelled me to say what I said next. Maybe it was the adrenaline. Maybe it was the leftover alcohol still circling my system.

“Now, you.”

“What?”

“Do you know how?”

His brows furrowed as he sat up. He was so close now that our noses softly bumped together. I couldn’t tell if he nodded, but Seungmin didn’t say anything. His stare flicked from my eyes to my lips before he leaned over and placed his lips just under my jaw. I could feel his teeth softly bite the skin there. A shiver went down my spine when I felt the cooling touch of his tongue soothe over the spot. My hands pressed against his bare chest as he moved to the other side of my neck. On instinct my body let my head roll back, giving his lips full access to my neck.

A shaky breath escaped my open lips as his hands moved from my thighs to wrap around my waist, one of them coming up and around to just below the base of my neck. “Seungmin,” I whispered as the bites became open mouth kisses all along my skin. He stopped and let his lips drag up to my jaw. It was like every fiber of my being was standing at attention, waiting for what he would do next.

I stared at him through hooded eyes, while his gaze never left my lips. After what seemed like an eternity his lips met mine in a soft and slow kiss. A sort of fog overtook my brain and my body went into autopilot. My hands moved to his neck and wrapped around him. Seungmin pushed me closer to his chest as his lips moved against mine.

The blaring of a telephone broke us apart. My head started to spin. In some sort of a daze himself, Seungmin picked up the phone. “Yes?” He listened to the speaker intently and then his face visibly changed. “What’s wrong?” I asked, finally finding the courage to speak. He ignored me and continued to listen to the person on the other line.

Without warning, he got up from under me and walked towards the patio, but didn’t leave the room. I watched Seungmin with tired eyes and a slightly drunk mind as the lean muscles in his back shifted with his movement. Shaking my head I tried to push through the alcohol’s effect.

“Okay, yes. Thank you.”

Seungmin turned back to you a stressed expression filling his face. “Min, what’s up?” He looked back over at me before sitting on the edge of the bed. “I can’t talk about it now.” Nodding I moved to give him more space. “Is there anything I can do?” He shook his head and laid back down on the bed.

“No. I just want to sleep.”

I stayed silent and got up from the bed. Going to each light I turned it off and then quickly changed for bed. When I returned Seungmin was already under the covers and staring up at the ceiling. I wanted so badly to reach out and comfort him, but clearly, he didn’t want that. I climbed into bed and turned away from him to give him space. Maybe he would tell me in the morning.

A morning breeze once again blew through our open patio door. I turned to find Seungmin gone from his side of the bed. My ears picked up on the sound of the shower running. Sitting up, I clutched my head cursing my past self for drinking so much. Tequila shots were not a good idea. Memories from last night slowly crept to the surface of my mind. We went to the club. Seungmin saved me from that douche bag. We drank with the Kwons. We….kissed.

We went back to the hotel. Jin Ae was a bitch. We had what could only be described as a fake sex-off. And Seungmin…kissed me. He kissed me. Like a real kiss. Not a fake one like at the club. That was a full on fucking make out session. I mean I was drunk. He was tipsy. It probably didn’t mean anything. Why did that thought disappoint me?

Looking over I saw a glass of water on the nightstand as well as a bottle of ibuprofen. Smiling a took the pills Seungmin left me and pulled my phone out to look at the time. The door opened and Min walked out in shorts and a hoodie before. “Morning,” I said. He looked over and nodded at me before sitting at the table with his laptop. “Thanks for the medicine.” He shrugged his shoulders and continued typing, but I swore I saw the tiniest smile.

“Looks like breakfast is in a couple minutes.” Seungmin nodded again and continued to look at his laptop with a serious expression. Getting up and grabbing clothes from my suitcase I went into the bathroom to change. Immediately, my eyes landed on my neck and I almost screamed. Scattered across either side were dark hickeys all down my neck.

“Hey, Seungmin!” I called out. “Yeah?” “Will you grab my concealer from my bag?” After some shuffling, Seungmin knocked on the door before entering. His eyes instantly went to my neck and stayed there while he handed me the makeup. “You’re covering them up? I though the whole point was to see them.” I turned back to the mirror just in time to miss Seungmin’s smirk as he looked at the dark marks he made all over your neck.

“I’m just gonna cover up this one.” He nodded and left the bathroom. I went about covering the biggest mark and then changing clothes before applying a little bit of makeup for the day. As I exited the bathroom Seungmin was getting off the phone with someone. “Y/n we need to talk.” Sitting on the bed, I nodded and looked back over to him. “Okay.”

“It’s about last night.”

I tried to hide the blush as the heat flooded every inch of my face. “What about last night?” I asked innocently. Just play dumb. I can always say April Fools if he asks me about it. Wait-fuck it’s not April.

“There was a picture of us taken last night.”

“Last night?”

“Yeah at the club.”

He tossed me his phone, a page already pulled up to a very popular gossip blog.The picture clear as day showed Seungmin and I making out in the booth. It also hand a close up of my hand which was on his jaw. The ring sparkled in the colored lights. The headline read: Stray Kids Main Vocalist, Kim Seungmin Spotted With His Secret Wife At Jeju Club.

Scrolling down I saw more pictures of the two of us. In the club. Walking out with Si Hyun and Jin Ae. Even Seungmin opening the car door for me. More articles popped up in the recommended. Titles like: Seungmin’s Hidden Marriage, Seungmin’s Mystery Girl, STAY’s Response to Seungmin’s Secret Marriage.

“Oh my god,” I looked up to see Seungmin had started to wander outside. Probably giving me time to process the situation. His ringtone sounded in the room making me jump. Looking down I saw the stupidest picture of Jisung.

“Hello,”

“Y/n? Have you heard what’s going on? Are you okay? Wait why do you have Seungmin’s phone?”

“He stepped out for a minute. Yes, I saw the articles.”

“ARE YOU ACTUALLY MARRIED TO SEUNGMIN?”

His voice was so loud I had to pull the phone away from my ear. Rolling my eyes I brought the phone back to my ear. Running a hand through my hair I couldn’t help but chuckle at my friend.

“I don’t know how to explain it. It’s kind of complicated.”

“Man, Y/n. I thought you and I were endgame. Way to betray me.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Jisung and I were close friends. Sure we flirted sometimes but we both knew getting together would be a terrible idea. For much the same reason that Seungmin and I were now in trouble.

“But, really are you and Seungmin married?”

“No.”

“But you’ve kissed him?”

“….yes….”

“And you have a ring?”

“…..yes…”

“What more to marriage is there?”

“Well for one thing legal documents, dumbass.”

His laugh could be heard probably even without the phone. “So, it’s not real?” “No,” I then started to explain everything that had happened to us in the past few days. Even the part about last night. “You kicked Seungmin in the balls!” Now hearing it out loud it was pretty funny.

“But, seriously. The…other stuff…Do you like Seungmin?” Did I like Seungmin? I watched as he stood on the patio. He looked really stressed. My thoughts drifted to last night and the last couple of days. Did I really like Seungmin? Friends definitely didn’t do what we did last night. And they certainly didn’t act like how we were acting. But, it was all because of the fake marriage right? All for a discount? But, then again. I didn’t have to say I was married to that guy in the club. And Seungmin could’ve let that guy hit on me if he wanted to.

“Are you dramatically rethinking the entirety of the last couple of days?”

“Shut up.”

“So, I’m taking that as a yes?”

Maybe Jisung was right. “I think so? Maybe… I don’t know. We’ve been friends for so long. I don’t really know if I can tell.” A sigh escaped my lips filling the empty room. Now my thoughts were running a a mile a minute through my head.

“Can I give you some advice?”

“Sure, why not.”

“If someone seriously wants to be a part of your life, they will seriously make an effort to be in it. No reasons. No excuses. Seungmin does that for you.”

The thought made me smile. Did Seungmin really care about me that much? Quickly I finished up the conversation and walked out onto the patio, joining Seungmin. “Jisung called.” He gave me a half assed smile before taking back his phone. “Come on. We should head to breakfast.”

Perhaps it was the conversation with his hyung, but I couldn’t help but notice Seungmin’s hand on my back as we walked back inside to leave. The staff all smiled at us as we made our way back out to the restaurant. As usual Si Hyun and Jin Ae were seated at the table. Seungmin took my hand without warning as we approached the table.

“Y/n! I had so much fun last night!” She said in her shrill voice. “Me too! I loved clubbing with you!” Seungmin tried not to laugh at how fake my voice sounded as we sat down. Lightly I elbowed his stomach and he regained his composure. He draped his arm behind my chair letting his fingers brush my arm when he saw the waiter from a few days ago walk up to our table.

“I’ll have a mimosa. My hangover is killing me.” Jin Ae said not even sparing the boy a second glance. Si Hyun ordered a black coffee and before I could speak, Seungmin ordered for me. “I’ll take an americano and she wants a chai latte with a glass of orange juice too.” Seungmin turned back to me with a surprised smile.

“You remember what I drink in the morning?”

“Of course.”

“That’s so sweet,”

He smiled and leaned in to place a kiss on my lips. It shocked me at first, since I had been the one to initiate our “fake kisses”. He chuckled when he pulled away, seeing my face. “Yah, dongsaeng. That’s quite the love bite on your neck.” Jin Ae said with a smirk clearly pointing at my neck.

“Yeah, we heard you guys last night. Didn’t know little Minnie was so rough in bed.” Si Hyun sent Seungmin a look and he scoffed before sipping on his water. “Ah, hyung. Let’s talk about something else.” He laughed and thanked the waiter as our drinks arrived. The conversation finally drifted away from last nights events and onto today’s schedule and ordering.

Breakfast was delicious despite the company. Seungmin and I did our best to ignore them and spend time with each other. That was what we came here for in the first place. Right? This time it was Seungmin who threw us under the Kwon bus when he absentmindedly agreed to accompany them to the beach for something called the Couple Comp.

The second we were out of eyesight I slapped his shoulder repeatedly making him laugh. “Hey! Stop!” “Seungmin what the fuck!”’ He laughed as he ran back to our hotel room with me right on his heels. “Why did you agree to go?” He opened the door and jumped back onto the bed. “Because I love the beach and you love kicking their ass. Well I also love kicking their ass, but I’m excited about the beach too.”

Rolling my eyes, I pulled a swimsuit out of my suitcase. “I thought we needed to figure out the whole photo thing.” Seungmin shrugged and pulled out his phone. “I called my manager this morning. We talked and figured something out. He said he will release a statement tonight after talking to the CEO.” Did they really fix things that quickly? I thought a scandal like this would be more….scandal-y?

“So you aren’t getting kicked out because of me?” Seungmin shook his head with a laugh. The biggest sigh of relief left my chest and I jumped on top of him giving him the biggest hug. He laughed and hugged me back. “Yah, come on. We can celebrate this later. We have pretentious asses to kick.”

“You’re completely correct. Let’s go.”

Quickly we changed and raced down to the beach. Seungmin signed us into the contest and returned with two matching purple Hawaiian style shirts. "They said each couple had to wear these." He handed me mine and tossed his white t-shirt off to the side with my stuff. He slipped his arms through the shirt and then helped me put on mine. "At least you back won't get burned now." He said laughing.

Hand in hand we walked over to Jin Ae who was sipping on a margarita. Si Hyun was next to her sporting the same yellow Hawaiian shirt as his wife. Surrounded by other couples in brightly colored shirts we waited near a stage for further instruction. Seungmin and I talked just like old times. We joked and laughed. He told me funny stories about the boys, making time fly by faster in his company.

By the time the MC stepped on stage, the sun was high in the sky and burning down on us. Seungmin stood behind me with his arms wrapped around my waist, acting a sunshade for me with his shadow.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome!” The happy man said. “Are you guys ready to find out who the best couple is?” The crowd erupts into happy screams. Jin Ae blows my ear off next to me and Min cheers from behind me. “The first challenge we are going to do is for the men!” Everyone cheers once again as the MC starts to explain. The first competition was a relay race where the first twelve men moved on with their partners.

We all walked over to the course where the men lined up. Jin Ae gave her husband a huge smack on the lips. With a smirk he tossed her the yellow shirt revealing a very...very...very toned torso. The kind of torso that sent cartoon hearts popping out of my eyes and sirens playing in my head.

“Hey. You gonna wish me luck or not?” Seungmin said turning me to face him. There was a harsh look on his face and I noticed him shoot a glare at Si Hyun. “Oh, yeah. Sorry. Good luck!” His face softened when he saw my bright smile. Without warning he kissed me, his hand dropping to my waist and his free hand tangling his fingers with mine.

My heart skipped a beat. Closing my eyes I kissed him back resting my palm on his chest. My head started spinning when I felt his teeth pull on my bottom lip before Seungmin pulled away and kissed my cheek. “Hold this?” All I could do was stare Seungmin in the eye, frozen, as he removed the purple shirt and put it in my hands.

Seungmin was slim but toned in all the right places. “Cheer for me, gorgeous?” He laughed at my frozen state and raised an eyebrow. “Y/n,” Shaking myself out of hot Seungmin world I nodded and smiled at him. He waved as he went to join the other guys.

The relay was really challenging. The boys were doing a really tough relay race that ended with them swimming out to a platform, grabbing a flag and then swimming back to shore. I screamed at the top of my lungs as Seungmin grabbed our purple flag. Si Hyun was only a few yards ahead of him. Jin Ae cheered as her husband crossed the finish line. Seungmin followed soon after, running up to me out of breath.

I wrapped my arms around him, not caring that he was still soaking wet. He gave a breathy sigh and weakly draped his arms around my waist. My fingers tangled in his hair and I held on tightly to his shoulder. “I’m sorry, I didn’t win.”

“No! I’m proud of you, Min! I’ll kick her ass in the next round.” The boys dried off and the next challenge began. The remaining twelve girls got up onstage with the MC as he announced the next challenge. “For our wonderful ladies we have a beauty contest!” Jin Ae cheered next to me along with the other girls. I saw Seungmin and Si Hyun cheer and move up towards the front of the stage.

The girls shed their shirts and begin parading around in their swimsuits for the judges. Seungmin gave me a thumbs up as I walked on stage in line with the other girls. I put on my biggest smile and tried not to think about the big ass omelette I had for breakfast. Of course Jin Ae was in front of me with her big boobs and freaking thigh gap.

The judges deliberated and announced there was a tie for the first slot. They told two of the girls they were eliminated and went through the lineup until they got to me and Jin Ae. “The judges have determined there is a tie between these to beautiful ladies!” Everyone cheered as the MC walked over to us with the mic. “What’s your name?” The man said eyeing Jin Ae up and down. She grabbed the mic and waved to the audience. “Hello! I am Kwon Jin Ae! This is my dongsaeng but don’t think I’m going to go easy on her!” She cheered happily giving me the side eye. The audience cheered and some of them pulled out their phones.

“What about you?”

“Oh, I’m L/-- uh Kim Y/n. She may be my unnie but I about to kick her ass.” Seungmin cheered and I waved to him before handing the mic back to the man. “Okay these ladies are each going to pick a song and the best performance based on the crowd’s reaction wins!” The crowd cheers and my eyes light up. All those nights dancing in my living room with Seungmin or my roommate would finally pay off.

“What is your song choice, Jin Ae?” She thinks about it and then finally says. “I want to do Devil by CLC!” The crowd cheers and pulls out their phones once more as the MC motions me off the stage so she can perform. Seungmin latches on to me immediately. The music starts and Seungmin turns to me with a big smile and says, “Y/n you’ve got this in the bag.” I grin and turn back to watching her performance. She doesn’t do terribly. She only forgets a couple moves but makes up for it by jumping around and winking at the judges. She finishes and the crowd claps and cheers. Seungmin kisses my cheek and then sends me back up on stage.

“How about that guys? What about you? You think you can do better than that?”

“Oh for sure. My husband would be disappointed in me if this is the challenge I failed at.”

“So, what song are you picking?”

“Um...Let’s do Lip & Hip by HyunA.”

The crowd cheers and the MC goes over to the stereos to queue up the song. The familiar tune comes on and I roll my hips like in the video and I hear the crowd go crazy. I just let my body do what it remembers and I focus on what Seungmin told me was the most important thing in a performance. Charisma.

I just channeled being Queen HyunA and strutted across that stage and danced like I was one of her back up dancers. I rapped along to the song and made sure to hit every beat. As the chorus hit I dropped and danced along. The crowd went crazy and I saw Seungmin cheering like crazy with wide eyes.

For the second chorus I didn’t have a partner so I just free styled and had fun with it. Seungmin cheered me on and filmed me on his phone. God, if only HyunA could see me fucking slaying this song. The last note played and I posed and smiled. The crowd cheered and Jin Ae joined me on stage a sway in her step.

“Wow! What a performance! Who votes for Jin Ae?” The MC takes Jin Ae’s hand and the crowd cheers making her grin and do that fake humility thing everyone hates. “Who thinks Y/n did the best?” He takes my hand and the crowd erupts in noise. Everyone is screaming and cheering for me and I can’t help but laugh and blush. “It’s pretty clear who the winner of this challenge is. Congratulations, Kim Y/n you and your husband have a guaranteed spot in the next challenge!” I cheer and Seungmin runs up on stage and spins me around before pressing his lips to mine.

I was too excited to even think about the fact that I kissed him back without hesitation. Everyone cheered and we moved on with the competition. Several challenges later it is just down to us and the mother fucking fake ass Kwons. The sun is setting and we have spent the entire day trying to prove that we are in fact the ultimate couple. How ironic.

The last challenge was called “How Well Do You Know Your Partner.” We went head to head answering questions about each other for points. They were ruthless. But we wanted it so bad. It was down to the final question. “Y/n. You are tied with the Kwons. If you get this question right, you and Seungmin win.”

I nodded clutching the whiteboard in my hands. Seungmin rested his hand on my knee next to me. A warm wind blew across the stage and the waves good be heard over the music they were playing.

“Y/n...What did Seungmin want to be as a kid?”

“Oh I know this.” Seungmin laughed at me and wrote his answer on his whiteboard. “Y/n, what is your answer?” I flipped my board and said, “Seungmin wanted to be a professional baseball player. A pitcher if you want to be specific.” The MC turns to Seungmin who flips his board to reveal his answer.

“WOW! That is correct! Congratulations, Kim Seungmin and Kim Y/n! You are the best couple at Jeju Island’s Luxury Resort!” They give us weird graphic tees and a huge gift certificate. At the corner of my eye I see Jin Ae glaring over at the two of us as the rest of the crowd cheers. “Congratulations again! Now we have bonfire party for everyone on the beach so go have fun!” Everyone heads over to the beach and starts swimming and partying as the sun goes down.

Seungmin and I wander off as the night goes on, beers in hand as we walk down the shoreline, firelight fading in the distance. “You know what I just realized?” He shook his head and took a swig from his bottle. “I haven’t checked my phone all day. I had so much fun just hanging out with you.” He laughed and slung an arm around my shoulder.

“Well, we are still trending if you were wondering.” I reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone. “Why do guys’ swim trunks have pockets? That is so unfair.” Seungmin scoffed and looked at me as I put in his passcode. “Are you saying you could fit pockets in that tiny thing you’re wearing?”

“That is irrelevant I want pockets.”

He laughed and looked up at the night sky while I scrolled through Twitter. He was right, we were still trending. STAY and other fans were going crazy over the photos. Apparently a couple people from the crowd had posted the video of me winning the contest with Seungmin. I laughed and read a tweet a loud to Seungmin.

“Seungmin’s girl is a boss ass bitch look at her dancing to HyunA! JYP cast her NOW!” Seungmin laughed and turned to me, stopping our little stroll. “I’m tired, you wanna sit?” Nodding, I kept looking at the responses on Twitter. Seungmin sat next to me his hair blowing softly in the wind. I was very aware of him watching me and laughing at me reactions to the posts.

My brows furrow as I see a post from JYP Entertainment’s official page. I clicked on the post and read the statement.

Hello, this is JYP Entertainment.

We would like to address the rumors about one of our idols, Kim Seungmin from Stray Kids. We appreciate your patience and hope you will continue to support Seungmin and his members. Yes, Kim Seungmin is in a relationship. He is not married to the person shown in the photos taken by Dispatch, though.

We have been in contact with him while he is on his break. He has addressed this personally and would like to clarify that it is not a wedding ring, but a promise ring he gave as a gift. At this time we cannot release the name of the woman Kim Seungmin is seeing but we hope you can support Seungmin and his love for her.

“Seungmin, what is this?” He gently takes his phone back from me before reading the post. “It’s the statement addressing the rumors. Why?” Fully turning to Seungmin, I tried to read his expression in the dark. “Why? It says were dating. This could destroy your image! You could lose fans.”

He smirked and looked me up and down. “You haven’t said no.”

“What?”

“You haven’t said we aren’t dating.”

Blinking a few times, I just stared at him in the dark. Did he just say what I think he said? Did Seungmin....my best friend really just say that. That cocky little shit. He laughed at me and grabbed my hands, still holding the phone. “Seungmin, you prick! Is this your way of asking me out?” I said smacking his shoulder.

“You have to do it properly, you jerk!”

Laughing, he took his phone and slipped it back in his pocket. Giving me that signature smile of his that drove thousands of girls wild, including me, he took my hands in his and looked me in the eye.

“Hey, Y/n L/n, will you go out with me?”

“No.”

“What?”

“Sorry I was just in it for the discount.”

Seungmin stared at me. I saw real disappointment flash across his face and he started to let go of my hands. “I’m just kidding! Of course!” Seungmin let out the biggest sigh his hands covering his face. “Y/n!” He yelled falling on his back. “That was so cruel!” I couldn’t help but laugh and lean over him to see the look on his face. He moved his hands and looked up at me with a smile on his lips.

Reaching up he pulled me down to his lips. Seungmin smiled against my lips before he pulled away looking up at me. “Does this mean I can give you name to the press?” He asked, pushing a piece of hair away from my face. “Only if you take me to the next HyunA concert and I get to cuddle with you in bed tonight.”

“I guess to the first one and the second one is a definite. Duh.” Laughing, I leaned down and pressed another kiss to his lips. “Now we can really kick the Kwons’ ass in couple world.” Seungmin played with my fingers and chuckled. “Didn’t we do that just now?” “Yeah, well that didn’t count.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, you better take us back for Valentine’s Day so we can beat Jin Ae and Si Hyun to the ground.”

“Not cause you want to spend time with me?”

“.....yeah...that too!”

Hope you all enjoyed! I apologize if there were spelling errors!

Requests are open!

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doomedandstoned · 3 years

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Colin MacGregor: A Portrait

The cover artist for Doomed & Stoned in Scotland shares his craft and journey.

Last month, Doomed & Stoned revealed its latest survey of the heavy underground by zeroing in on the Scotland rock and metal underground, with our usual anchor to doom metal and stoner rock, but showcasing several genre blenders to boot.

We assembled an enthusiastic team of musicians, artists, and local media types to help us vet each of the submissions so we had the most authentic picture of the Scottish scene's character, as well as a listening experience of the utmost excellence.

Doomed & Stoned in Scotland by Doomed & Stoned

We're thankful to each of the bands who participated, and especially grateful for the enthusiastic participation of Colin MacGregor, whose striking dark, rich colors on canvas of an ancient druid captured the spirit of the project so succinctly, and inspired many a casual peruser to give the 40-band compilation a good and thorough hearing.

Following is a virtual gallery of his work, with commentary by Mr. MacGregor himself, from Colin MacGregor Maker Art. (Editor)

SELF PORTRAIT IN RED (2009)

9x6” acrylic on board

This is pretty much how it all began.

I was living in a flat in the centre of Edinburgh with next to no furniture, no television, no internet connection (no landline!) or working radio, I had to think of a way to keep myself occupied in the evening when I wasn’t working. This is when I found a box of 20 small acrylic paint tubes I’d bought years before and never really used, along with about 5 paintbrushes of dubious quality.

Using a photo from my rather poor mobile phone at the time, I set about creating this painting on a piece of board that I had.

The colour comes basically through how I see people I meet, depending on circumstances. This is how most of my early paintings were executed.

THOMAS BLACKLOCK “THE BLIND POET” (2013)

20x16” acrylic on canvas

This one was painted for the then bar manager of a long-gone Edinburgh pub called The Blind Poet, and the portrait is of Thomas Blacklock, of the aforementioned moniker, who lived in Pear Tree House for most of his life and was an influence on both Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns, despite losing his sight as a child through smallpox.

The painting itself I don’t have much recollection of as I’d had extensive knee surgery at the time and was on quite a number of strong painkillers, but safe to say this painting led me to my first paid commission, where I produced two more paintings for Pear Tree House, one of which is still on display in their basement bar.

This one and the largest of the three, of Andrew Usher II, are currently in storage, I believe, in the south side of Edinburgh.

MAGGIE (2014)

12x9” acrylic on canvas

This was painted for my friend who was moving from Edinburgh to Bremen. She wanted something to put in her new home and also something to mark our friendship so I painted this in about 3 days.

It’s also quite rare in my canon as it actually has a bit of background in it, usually my backgrounds are just solid black.

This colour was actually quite difficult to get right, and it was applied in very thin layers and built up gradually, which is why I think it has quite a diffused, soft image overall.

ARANCHA (2017)

12x9” acrylic on canvas

This one is of my girlfriend and is based on a photo I took of her whilst walking through a park in Amsterdam. The photo itself was quite blurry as I took it on the fly whilst walking, but her face ended up on the whole in focus so I thought I could get something out of it.

There is a second version of this painting which is done in very pale pink and white paint, which was a bit of an experiment, but I kind of liked the challenge of doing something different

DAVID BOWIE (2016)

12x9” acrylic on canvas

This was painted within two weeks of the announcement of his death. I’d painted a few musicians before this one but they were all plain black and white, whereas this one actually had colour in the eyes, something a bit different to my usual stuff.

It was also the first painting I’d done by painting the canvas black first and drawing the basic shape on in chalk, something I’ve only done again once, and that was the recent Druid painting.

FRANK ZAPPA (2019)

12x9” acrylic on canvas

As mentioned above, this was actually started in 2016 and sat in various states of… started-ness, for around 3 years.

The painting actually spent most of its life as a scribbly mess of marker pen and gun-metal grey paint, and was almost scrapped entirely until I reassessed it in October 2019 and decided to attempt to salvage it, which I’m glad I did really as it’s been used on my business cards and as the “face” of the exhibition it was included in!

LEMMY (2019)

12x9” acrylic on canvas

I actually started this one, along with Frank Zappa, back in 2016 but the pair of them languished in various states of unfinishedness for a long, long time due to a variety of circumstances.

I eventually got them both back out of storage and managed to find the focus to finish them both in time for a week-long exhibition in Bannerman’s Bar, Edinburgh, which also featured Wraith, Cronos, Ozzy Osbourne, Chris Cornell, Nick Cave, David Bowie, Mark E. Smith, the aforementioned Frank Zappa and a rendition of the Xenomorph from the Alien movie franchise. This exhibition coincided with a Bismuth gig which had been organised by Bailey Junior, who was instrumental in dragging me out my block and getting these completed.

CRONOS (2019)

15x11” acrylic on canvas

Bailey Junior approached me with the idea of producing a poster for an upcoming gig he’d organised with a heavy doom band from England called Bismuth, expecting a fairly quick Photoshop effort.

I hadn’t painted in a while maybe a year or two, having suffered a drop in confidence and not being able to find the time or motivation, but I’d long wanted to create a poster which was almost entirely in paint, rather than digital text over the top, so this proved to be the spark needed to push myself into painting again.

Loosely based on the Ancient Greek myth of Cronos and partially based on “Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan'' by Ilya Repin (1885) it took two or three evenings to complete. The text for the poster was hand painted on separate canvases and then put together using Photoshop to give the impression it was a completely painted poster. The only thing not painted was the Scapegoat.tv logo which was added later, just before the gig took place.

OZZY OSBOURNE (2019)

12x9” acrylic on canvas

This one was really, really quick. Probably about 2 ½ hours from start to finish, maybe 3 at a push. Painted roughly about 7 days before I was due to open my first exhibition at Bannerman’s Bar, it was a last-minute decision, but turned out really great.

The acrylics were almost used like watercolors here, being as there were large light areas and deep, deep blacks.

I’m especially proud of the mouth area, it really has an almost 3D effect, something I rarely managed to get right.

WRAITH (2019)

16x12” acrylic on canvas

This was the second collaboration with Bailly and Scapegoat.tv after the Bismuth gig. This was designed for Japanese band Friendship but sadly due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 the gig was eventually cancelled.

The painting itself was based on a number of different sources for reference for cloth, lighting and the hand gesture. I’m not actually that much of a fan of painting hands to be perfectly honest.

The painting itself is currently still in Bannerman’s Bar. We were planning to hold another exhibition for all the paintings in the Bismuth gig exhibition again, but the day after putting them all up Lockdown began and the pub had to close, so I’ve not seen any of the exhibition paintings in person in about a year now.

Hopefully things will change soon.

MIKEY LAWLESS (2020)

12x9” acrylic on canvas

This one was painted in the first week of January 2020 for Mikey’s mother after Mikey himself sadly passed away from cancer just days after the new year began.

I think it took me roughly about 11-12 hours from start to finish and ended up being the only painting I completed that year, despite the coronavirus lockdown and other things happening.

DRUID (2021)

16x16” acrylic on canvas

And so it brings us to this one, again it took a nudge from Bailey to get me kick-started enough to unbox the paints again, and it took a bit of time to get started.

I’m not going to lie, after over a year of being nowhere near a paintbrush and canvas I was nervous and unsure if I could even do it, but once the canvas was primed and the blue paint started drawing out the shapes it started to come together.

It took about 4-5 days, give or take, spaced over a number of evenings, to complete and use references from a number of different sources.

The blue colour was chosen as a representation of Scotland in general, trying to capture the colour of the Saltire, but also evoke moonlight.

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cilliansaccent · 4 years

Text

The Peaky Designer - Cillian Fanfic, Chapter 2

Hello, welcome back. Below is the next instalment of my fanfiction!

Please leave a like or any comments below on ways to improve, please be kind but you are welcome to be critical! I’m open to ideas and fixing up mistakes. Also, sharing would be amazing!!

Note, PLEASE READ:

I will not be including Cillian’s family as it’s kinda weird since he has children lmao. Just a mention of his parents and a previous lover.

I will indicate in a chapter if there is smut in the beginning and before the actual scene!!

I will add trigger warnings if there is any!!

There is a variety of levels of swearing during a chapter, I will not hold back, everyone swears.

The timestamp for the Fic is now 2016 and onwards!!

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Background: Gabrijela Babic is a Croatian girl from Sydney, Australia. She is born in the year 1991 on the 24th of December. She studies a Fashion degree in a University with a major in Game Design as well. Her teacher in the fashion designer class managed to nail an Internship on the set of Peaky Blinders with the shows very own Costume Designer, Allison McCosh. There, she travels to London for under a year to learn how to be one, working alongside the actors as well the man she admires, Cillian Murphy. But, her platonic feelings for the man begins to grow into something more, and she wonders whether she should pursue them or let him go for fear of her strict parents and her three older brothers…

Characters:

Swantje Paulina as Gabrijela Babic (swalina on Instagram)

Cillian Murphy

Word Count: 5,265

!!Warnings!!: Small scene of sexual harassment after Gab leaves to go to the toilet when shes at the pub.

Date: March 2016

Chapter Name: Dinner and a Gig

Brief Chapter Outline: Second day in, Gabrijela spends the afternoon with Cillian, getting to know each other better before he treats her to a lovely dinner and then to a gig of a local band Cillian attends for a buddy of his...

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The theme song of Game of Thrones blared in some faraway land. Gabrijela was sound asleep, wearing nothing but a singlet and lacy panties.

She let out a sound when it finally stopped but it wasn't long when it started up again. She finally rolled on to her back and grabbed her phone on the bedside table. She hadn’t made it under the covers last night, she simply collapsed on top and fell asleep after she had dinner and wrote in her diary and updating her family again.

“What?” She groaned, answering the phone.

“Its Cillian,” the Irish accent made her skin prick and she sat up.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to sound so rude.” She rubbed her eyes.

“No worries. Did I wake you up?” He asked, there was a smile in his tone.

“Noooo, I was getting up anyway. Let me open the door and you can come up.” She got up and pressed the button which unlocks the main door. “My door is unlocked so just come in.” She said.

“See you then,” and he hung up.

She was still groggy and sleepy as she rubbed her eyes again and knelt on the floor. She pulled out the drawers under the bed and looked for an outfit for today. It had rained overnight and it still was, it was cold.

Cillian walked in, “I hope you have this locked when you--” He stopped when he saw Gabrijela on the floor, “Oh! Gab!” He covered his eyes, a slight blush spreading across his cheeks.

“Yeah? Oh right,” She laughed and grabbed a pair of blue jeans and a white knitted halter neck sweater. “Sorry. I forgot.” She scurried into the bathroom. “If you want tea or coffee, just boil the water.” She called out as she changed.

“Sure. Did you want tea?” He asked.

“Yeah! Just black tea with honey.” She said. She brushed her long, blond hair and braid it back. She washed her face and applied makeup, she looked dead and had bags under her eyes. So not a good look, she thought, making a face in the mirror.

“It’s midday, by the way,” Cillian said after a bit.

“Whoops.” She smiled as she came out. She looked fresher and felt fresher.

Cillian was dressed quite casual, black jeans with boots, a white shirt and a denim jacket. The harsh haircut made it seem so at odds, she smiled more at the thought.

“What are you smiling about? Tea is ready.” He handed her the spotty cup.

She took it, “The way you're dressed, and that haircut. So strange. But definitely not in a bad way.” She quickly said.

“You’re not the first one to say that.” He laughed, drinking his tea.

“Oh? I hope it didn't offend you.” Her brows rose.

“No, no. I just don't prefer to talk about work or much about my acting.” He admitted, taking a seat on the couch.

"Oh okay, that's fine." She said as she came over and sat beside him, facing him.

"So, it's really midday huh?" She played with the end of her braid.

"Yeah." He showed her the time on his iPhone, "I knew you'd fallen asleep and wake up later."

"Oh yeah, not because I had said I hadn't slept on the plane." She stuck up her nose, drinking her tea.

"Definitely not because of that." He agreed, that same cheeky smile returned on his handsome face.

It was so easy to play around with him despite meeting him just a little over twenty-four hours. She loved the playfulness, and always would be drawn to people who were able to tag along.

"I think we should head off, nighttime falls quickly here so I want to use as much of the day as possible," Cillian said as he finished his tea.

"Yeah, alright." Gabrijela got up and he cleaned up the cups while she pulled on her suede cream jacket.

Boots on, she grabbed her bag and her phone, and together they headed out. She locked up and down the stairs, they went.

They took the walk down the road together, a cool wind made her pull her jacket closer. It had stopped raining by now.

"In the coming months, it's going to rain like, almost every day," Cillian said, his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Well, lucky for me I brought my winter stuff. I'll have to buy an umbrella that's all." She said.

"Yeah, that's much needed. Always have one on hand to." Cillian nodded.

"Thanks for the tip. I'll keep that in mind." She paused and took some photos of the area, "So pretty." She whispered as she checks her phone.

"Can I see?" He peered over her shoulder.

She showed him the photos, "I love taking photos. I brought my Canon camera with me, kinda an amateur photographer." She said shyly.

"Huh, you might need to show me sometime. I saw a photo there, sorry to pry... Is that your family?"

She flicked back on her phone to show him a group photo on a birthday a month back. It showed her parents, her three older brothers with their wives and their kids.

"I'm an aunty to five kids." Gabrijela grinned, "This is Ante and his wife Louise and their five-year-old son, Caleb, and three-year-old daughter, Sasha. Ante is the eldest, then the middle boy is Dominik with his wife, Leah and their one-year-old son, Luca. And the youngest boy, Leo and his wife Tatiana and their one-year-old daughter, Tijana."

"Wow, you got a big family. Names are fancy, what nationality are you?" He asked as they continued to walk.

"Croatia. Both parents born there and as well as my brothers and myself. We lived there till the year two thousand and one before we all moved to Brisbane until two thousand and ten then moved to Sydney since my Dad had to move for his work." She explained.

"Huh, that's a big move. Did your brothers meet their wives in Croatia or...?" He was curious and fascinated.

"Ante met Louise in Croatia, they dated forever until they married about eight years ago. Dominik and Leo found their girlies in Sydney." She told him, then continued, "Dom married four years ago and Leo three years ago."

"And you are the only girl, yeah?" Cillian asked they paused at a set of lights.

"Yep. The baby of the family, it's tough." She said a little tentatively.

"How'd the parents feel about you coming here?" He noticed she didn't really want to elaborate on that subject.

"Not happy. But I'm hoping it's only fear for me being here by myself rather than their eternal disappointment in me." She said with a trace of bitterness to her tone.

Cillian looked over at her, seeing the cloudy look she had on her freckled face. He nodded, "But you look out for yourself, you do what you enjoy. Life is short, and you shouldn't let the opinions of others bring you down." He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah. I know that" She looked up at him, "But, my whole life felt like I just kept disappointing them no matter what I tried to do. They didn't, especially my mum, want me to pursue a fashion designer career. More with business and that crap. That's not me. I want to create, make things, design. That's why I've also picked up a major in game design." She gulped as they walked across the road, they came to a shopping strip after the walk.

"Come on, this doesn't seem to be a happy subject. Look, there's a lot of boutiques here, a lot of famous people had once wandered the streets here." He said, changing the subject for her.

She was grateful for the change and walked along the strip, looking through the windows.

As they walked, he pointed out things of interest for her. She took photos of the buildings or the interesting architecture and even got him to snap a photo of her next to the red phone box.

She wanted to ask him to join but thought otherwise, feeling a little embarrassed to ask.

She weaved in and out of stores and he happily tagged along inside, not minding the feminine clothing that surrounded him. He even went as so far picking things out for her and they had a good laugh when she politely said it wasn't her style.

After she bought some stuff and even snuck in lingerie or two, they headed towards Buckingham Palace and the park nearby.

It began to rain once they reached there, and using her brand new umbrella they huddled very close under it as it was quite small.

She giggled as they paused under a large tree, "So much for coming this far." She said.

"You never know with London weather." He said, grinning.

He smelled really good, like cinnamon and a hint of wood fire and luxury.

They stood under the tree, and he had moved an arm around her to make more space for them both.

She leaned into his body a little, his warmth transferred to her and she thanked him mentally for it.

The rain let up, sprinkling now. "Should we go get coffee instead of standing here?" She asked in a timid voice.

"That might be a good idea. I know one just around the block."

They hurried across the road together, dodging puddles and mud. They scurried into the little coffee shop where she ordered an almond cappuccino and he had a black coffee.

There wasn't any space in the shop so they stood outside under the awning, shoulder to shoulder, clutching their take away cups.

Gabrijela giggled softly, she was cold but the warmth of the cup made it sort of bearable.

Once they drank that, they came to the edge of the road but a car drove way to fast.

Water splashed everywhere on them both, Gab taking the brunt of it. They turned to each other and looked at each other, then burst out into laughter.

"Oh my god," She whined but had a big grin, "We definitely have to head home." She said.

"Indeed! Before we catch a cold." He hailed a taxi and they got in with the bags that were still dry. "At least I got a new shirt in here, I can put that on." He mused.

"Lucky. I'll have to get this all cleaned up." She pouted. "I love this jumper."

They arrived back to her apartment and they headed inside. She set her bags on the bed and went through the dresser to find some fresh set of clothing for tonight.

"May I pick you up around six instead?" He asked.

"Sure, but that leaves us one hour to get ready now. You might as well stay." She said as she held her clothing in her arms.

"I know. But I'll head home quickly, change and come right back." He said, she noted the slight nerves in his posture, especially in his eyes. Why was he nervous?

"Okay. I'll be ready by then." She said.

He departed and she had a shower, reapplied her makeup and pulled on her new outfit for tonight. It was a black, blue and red checkered mini skirt with a white button-up blouse and a red coat that came just to her knees. She had thigh-high boots and left out her wavy hair.

The bell rang and she let him up again, unlocking the door and he stepped in.

Cillian was dressed very well. Black jeans with a nice pair of loafers, a white button-up shirt that was tucked in with a casual suit jacket on top. His cologne was rich and smelled good.

She beamed, she spotted purple socks he wore, "Flashy." She mused, "You look good. And you smell just as nice."

He looked at her, eyes darting up and down and his expression was bright and cheery, "You look... lovely." He said with almost a stutter as if he couldn't find the right words. That small intimate smile returned.

She bit her lip and looked away, her cheeks heating, "Thank you." Her stomach was doing flips but in a good way. This man was really seeping into her heart, intoxicating her with his lovely smiles and cute accent.

"Should we go? I-I'm ready." Gabrijela said she picked up her crossbody bag.

"Lets." He held the door open for her, and place his hand on the small of her back as he guided her out.

The pair left the building and drove off somewhere else in London. The area was named Covent Garden, he found some restaurant called the Ivy Market Grill.

It had stopped raining thankfully, as Cillian had to park quite far from the place. "The only problem here is the shit parking." He cursed as he found a spot and parked.

"So I've heard." She said as she got out of the car. "So why here?" She asked him as they walked along the footpath.

"Its a bit pricey but the food is good, or so my friends have told me." He said, "Atmosphere is nice, comfy. The whole place is designed almost authentically, too. Wanted to bring you to a place which makes authentic food." He explained.

"Okay. Sounds lovely." Gabrijela was eager to try some good food, she loved her food, and if it was local, even better.

They arrived at the restaurant, and once inside she felt like she was taken back some decades. It was mostly brown, green, rust and cream colours, mixed with odd patterns and round lights. There was a large bar and the place was almost packed.

Cillian spoke to a waiter and they were taken upstairs to the terrace, which was covered and was seated next to the railing that overlooked the piazza below.

"It's really nice." She nodded, it was cosy and light, especially upstairs.

"It is, it is. I hope the food is just as good." He said.

The waiter came by after a bit and Cillian ordered a glass of red wine, she did the same, she liked red.

"You're a red girl, huh?" Cillian sat back in the chair. He ordered a bottle instead.

"Yeah, I don't mind it. I like having it with dinner mostly. White... Hmm, I like Moscato, I'm a sweet person. When I go out though with my friends, its either vodka or tequila, or a mix of both and various other killing kinda spirit." She laughed softly.

"That's alright, at least you like a wide range of drinks. I stick to my red wines or some good local ale." He replied, "You said you go out? Where to?"

"Uh, well in Sydney, mostly night clubs or do a classic pub run with my best friend and her mate. I'm a single gal, so I'm hoping to find a man who is willing to uh, date me or something. I get dates but uh... It ends up in bed and no more after that." She blushed a little.

"Really? You seem like a really smart and talented girl. Who wouldn't want to date you?" He asked, clearly shocked with his raised brows.

The bottle came and the waiter poured them a glass each, she took a sip of hers, "I guess Sydney boys don't like a smart girl. Only for a good fuck for a couple of times." She sighed, "I'm over that, those friends with benefits. I'm twenty-five, and most of my friends are getting married soon, three of them are next year. One already has two kids." She twirled the glass on the table, "Guys I meet are immature, or like I said want to just get laid, they don't want anything serious. I want something serious. But it seems like a turn-off." She whispered.

"Well, if you want my honest opinion, I don't think its a turn-off. It's nice to hear a girl like you who wants something for herself. You want kids eventually?" She nodded, "Marriage?" She nodded again. "I can say the same for myself."

She almost choked on her drink, "Ah, yeah. Yeah." She hastily wiped her mouth.

"I-I mean, not with you- I-I mean unless- Ah- Fuck, sorry. Fuck." He let out a nervous and embarrassing laugh.

"It's okay." She laughed, reaching over suddenly and took his hand, squeezing it. "No offence." She winked at him and it seemed to calm him down.

A waiter came over finally and took their orders. It seemed to calm the air between them. Whatever it was. Her heart had skipped a beat when he spoked about how her needs and wants wasn't a turn-off. Was that a turn-on for him? She kicked herself mentally for thinking such an absurd thing. He was so way out of her league, and her parents would definitely not approve.

Besides, she was here on an internship, not to find a guy.

But she looked up and met those pretty baby blue eyes, and she could see something appear in them. Something.

"So," she finally said after some seconds that passed once the waiter left, "Music. You were in a band. What do you like to listen to?"

"Uhm, just to name a few, Daft Punk occasionally, Blur, or Nils Frahm when I need something to chill out to." He said. "I got some old records that I still listen to, helps me get into a good mindset when I need to act."

"Cool. I'm pretty easy, I listen to whatever sounds good I guess? I love a bit of everything except like heavy metal or country. If you check out my Spotify its a mixture of music, old classic pop and rock, or today's music. Even got a Croatian playlist too." She shrugged.

"Top favourite band?" He asked, "Or two."

She thought for a bit, "Imagine Dragons and... Fuck, I don't know. I love a lot of bands. My top song is Live it Up by Mental As Anything and Born to Be Yours by Imagine Dragons. Even Radioactive, god, I could put that on so loud and I'd be so far away from this world." She sighed, smiling.

"In what way?" Curiosity laced his voice.

"I read a lot of fantasy books, young adult, paranormal romance. I like to envision myself in those worlds as the heroine, fighting monsters and... stuff like that." She blushed. "I daydream a lot, writing is another thing I do. Whenever I get the chance."

"Brilliance of a creative person, so music helps you dream?" He seemed very intrigued, fascinated. And truly interested in what she had to say.

So she continued, surprisingly, "Yeah. Sometimes the lyrics don't need to help me, but mostly the tune. So, like alternative, indie rock. I like that stuff, gets my mind rolling." She said, her eyes glittering with joy. He didn't seem afraid either, he spoke wildly and passionately about how music also affected him in ways that let him experience highs and lows.

When their food came, it didn't stop their conversation. They chatted about music, about the changes in genres and all that.

It connected them very well, and she felt so unafraid for the first time to open up about her likes. She was over the moon that he didn't judge her, he asked questions, genuine questions of herself.

Even went into their dislikes, and they clicked through that.

Their dinner was over and he was quick to pay despite her trying to offer money.

"Keep it," He said as they walked out of the restaurant. He held her coat and helped her put it on. "Buy something for yourself. Tonight is on me." He kept his arm around her shoulders as he guided her down the street.

"Where we going now?" She asked, sliding an arm around his waist. It was more comfortable to walk like that, not because she wanted to. Or maybe she did.

"There's a pub here that has live music. Alternative rock. Haven't heard of the band before but thought it would be fun to go." He said as the pub neared.

There was a shit ton of people, they all piled outside and drinking. Music spilled out in the night. It was a very good beat.

"Ladies first." He said and gestured with a hand for her to go first. She did, and his hand found that spot on her back.

Once inside the pub, it was fairly large and people were seated in booths or tables or gathered around the bar.

She saw a bunch of people wave from a booth, "There. Come on." He took her arm instead and they pushed through the throng of people.

"Hey, mate! Glad you could come!" A man rose up from the booth, shaking hands with Cillian. "Oh man, my friend is so stoked you could be here tonight. It means so much." The guy was grinning wide.

Cillian smiled, "Yeah, man. No worries. You talked him up so much, so he better be good." He teased.

"Definitely! Ah, and who's this pretty lady?" The man turned to Gabrijela.

She could see him and his buddies were a little tipsy but she gave them a lovely smile either way. "Hi," She shook hands.

"Gabrijela, she's come all the way from Sydney! To work with me and the rest of the cast." Cillian explained.

"Oh! Lucky girl. I'm Joel by the way. Don't worry, Cillian 'ere is a fantastic man. He'll look after you splendid." Joel winked at her, picking up the subtle hint.

She frowned a little but she was ushered to sit. She sat at the end opposite Cillian to some other man whose name was Lawrence.

"I'm gonna get drinks, what do you want?" Cillian asked her as he knelt beside her.

"Surprise me." She leaned in to speak into his ear.

He nodded and stood up and disappeared in the crowd.

"So," Joel leaned on the table, "How long are you stayin' in London?"

"About a year. It's the length of my Internship with a month of free time in December." She explained.

"Oh yeah? Neat. How you feeling? Are you by yourself?" Lawrence jumped into the conversation. He was uncomfortably close to her, especially his hand.

"Uh... I'm feeling okay. Nervous." She said, not answering his last question. The situation made her on edge. She had been in this scene before. Cillian, she thought, where the fuck are you?

"You looking for something here?" Leo hummed, giving her a once over.

"No." She said, standing her ground. "I'm here for my studies. Nothing more." She gave him a pointed look.

"I'm just asking, Miss. Usually, you girls are after more than just a job. I work for a taxi company that--"

"Listen here, mate." She leaned over, slapping the business card out of his hand. She knew what kinda taxi driver this sick prick was, "I'm not here to fuck with men or women. I'm here to work, to get experience in a fashion career. And you fucker give me shit like this? You're sick." She spat.

She'd walk, but Cillian had come over looking cheery as always. He looked at Gabrijela, seeing her posture of her crossed legs and arms.

"Hey, we good here?" He asked as he set the wine glass in front of her and one for himself, and two beer glasses in front of his friends.

"Yeah, mate. It's fine. Hey look they're about to get on stage." Joel nodded to the band setting up now after the first one finished.

As the band fixed their gear, she felt a nudge under the table. She looked and Cillian mouth 'Are you okay?'

She nodded, giving him a smile but it didn't reach her eyes. Cillian frowned sitting back before Joel sucked him into a conversation.

Lawrence on the other hand, wanted to talk to her, "Is this your first time overseas?"

"No," She said blandly, sipping her wine as she faced the rugged man.

"Where did you go? If this isn't your first time." Lawrence continued.

"Europe with family. I'm here-" She stopped herself.

"By yourself? That's brave." He purred.

Fuck.

"Yeah. Very." She looked away, the band began to play.

The night went on and Lawrence seemed to leave her alone and she began to feel a little better. The boys talked about work and whatever, and she listened to the band playing.

They were pretty good and she bopped to it, even taped some of it as a memory.

Then she spotted a photo booth, and a smile broke out, "Cillian." She said, bringing his attention to her. "There's a photo booth. Can we go to it?" She asked.

"With me?" He asked.

"Yeah, I love those things." She stood, holding out her hand for him.

"Alright. We'll be back." He said to Joel and Lawrence.

The pair went to the photo booth, and she paid for it. They took six photos together, silly poses and some serious or smiling ones. They looked at the photos and both laughed, there was one for her and one for him.

"I'm gonna cherish this." She said to him, hugging him suddenly.

He was taken aback but hugged her back, "Same here." He said.

"I'm gonna head to the ladies room, I'll be right back." She said to him and pulled away to go to the toilet.

Cillian returned to the table, tucking the photo into his pocket, "Where'd your girlie go?" Joel asked.

"Ladies room," Cillian replied lightly before they went back to the conversation.

Lawrence took a moment before he got up and went towards the toilet.

Gabrijela was just walking out when she ran right into Lawrence.

"Woah!" He gripped her arms.

"Let go." She growled and pushed his arms away.

"Damn girl. You are a feisty one." He smirked, cornering her.

"You fucker. Let me through." She tried to get past him but he had her pinned.

"Why you acting like this? Shouldn't you be happy? Getting the attention yeah?" He purred. His breath reeked.

"Get off me!" She cried, but the music was so loud, and the area was dark that no one really paid attention.

"Come on girl, I know you like this-"

No. She definitely wasn't. Before his hands could yank up her skirt or jumper, she brought her knee between his legs.

He gasped and fell to his knees, clutching himself.

Gabrijela picked up her bag and tried to fix her jumper, tears began to fall down as she rushed through the crowd.

When she reached the table she grabbed her unfinished wine and threw it on Joel.

"Fuck you." She snapped, "How dare you. How dare you!"

Cillian shot to his feet, "Hey! What's wrong? Gab?" He grabbed her arms.

"Let me go!" She shook herself free from him. "That old pervert sent his cocksucker on me! He had his hands on me!" She was infuriated, humiliated in a way and frightened.

She turned from Cillian and pushed through the crowd, and stumbled out of the pub as tears fell down her cheeks more freely now.

She stormed down the street, she needed to get home, have a shower.

"Gabrijela!" She could hear Cillian's voice call for her. "Gab! Wait!"

He caught up to her and got her to stop by standing in front of her, "Gab, hey. Look at me, hey." His voice was gentle and soft.

She couldn't look up, but his fingers took her chin and he tilted her face up, "What happened? Talk to me," He was seriously concerned and worried.

She sniffled, she explained what happened and had clung to his arms. "I-I'm sorry I-"

"No. You're not at fault. I'm sorry, I should've picked it up sooner. God, I'm so sorry," He pulled her into his body, and she wrapped her arms around him.

He stroked her back slowly and she found it comforting. "Let's go home, yeah?"

"Yeah." She nodded and pulled away slightly. He kept his arm around her shoulder as they walked back to the car.

He put on some gentle music and it eased her all the way back to the apartment.

They silently walked up the stairs and he came in with her. She sat on her bed, sighing heavily. She tried to take off her boots but she couldn't.

"Let me help." He came over and knelt in front of her. His fingers brushed her skin and watched him closely as he peeled off her boots. He set them aside and then helped her out of her jacket and hung it up for her.

She flopped back on the bed, eyes shut.

"Will you be okay? By yourself?" He asked her as he sat beside her.

"I..." She opened her eyes, looking at him. Her heart melted at the sight. She didn't think she ever saw a man so worried like he did right there. She smiled a little, "I... Stay. Please." she sat up slowly, leaning closer to him.

"Okay. I'll sleep on the couch-"

"No. Could..." she sucked in a breath, "Hold me? Please? U-Unless that's too much since we-"

"Of course. Doesn't bother me." He reached up and brushed a knuckle along her cheekbone. "Get changed into something more comfortable though." He added.

She nodded and got off the bed, she grabbed her singlet and the silky booty shorts she had and changed in the bathroom. She cleaned up her face and combed her hair before she stepped out.

Cillian had kicked off his shoes and his jacket and was simply in his shirt and his boxers.

"Someone's comfortable." She said with a smile.

"Ah, I mean- I can put my jeans-" He stuttered and reached for them.

"No," she rushed to him, taking his hands, "No, I was only kidding. It's fine."

"I'm wearing underwear under them." He offered.

She snorted, and then laughed, "It's fine. Really. Do I look any better?" She huffed.

He looked her up and down quickly and his cheeks went a shade of pink. He didn't answer her.

He got into the bed first and she went to the other side.

Once they were in and comfortable, he held open his arm, "Come here." He said softly.

She accepted the offer and rolled into his side, her hand resting on his chest, her head on his shoulder.

His arm came around her, his other arm was bent under his head.

"I'm sorry for tonight how it ended. I had hoped it went better." Cillian said softly.

"It's okay, Cilly. Dinner was wonderful, made perfect because of you." She looked up at him. "I will remember that most."

He looked at her, and sighed softly, "Okay, but I will make it up to you."

"Don't-"

"Shush," He said and she raised a brow, "I want to okay? Please. This was on me, and I should've been more aware."

It was her turn to sigh, but she gave in, "Okay. Okay. Make it up to me." She whispered.

They held each other gaze before he blinked and laid his head back, "Get some sleep. Tomorrow... who knows. We'll see." He said.

She nodded and shifted a little, her leg brushed along his. "Goodnight." She murmured.

"Goodnight." He replied he pressed a kiss to her head. His fingers slowly moved up and down her side, it made her body relax.

She listened to his heartbeat, letting it lull her into a dreamless sleep. Cillian held her the whole time, even after he fell asleep.

#cillian murphy #peaky blinders #thomas shelby #fanfiction

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batgirl-87 · 6 years

Text

Summary: The end of Fifth year approaches including the End of the Year Ball where the school says goodbye to the graduating students. While normally missed to catch up on much needed rest after Cursed-Vaults adventures, the entire gang is attending because it is Bill’s last year at Hogwarts. However, their original plan to go together as a group begins to fall apart as one by one members acquire dates to the ball. With Charlie’s recent realization of his feelings, maybe this is the best time to share them.

Word Count: ~14k

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: A little angst, language? (Swearing but in French and Irish and British slang)

Note: I wrote this for my MC/OC and Charlie since I’ve had this idea for a while and it’s sort of a personal headcanon (I hope that doesn’t deter you from reading!). I know it’s not my best work but it has been quite a while since I’ve written something like this and I am excited to get back into creative writing. This also ended up much longer than anticipated – sorry! I tried to break it up for easier reading (I made scene transition images and a header, I’m proud of myself!). Also I unfortunately am not in Fifth year yet in the game so reference to new friends is limited.

*The reference made to Charlie realizing his feelings and falling asleep together while studying may be another fic I write and if so I will link it here!

Needed information about My MC: Nereida Adelyn-Keira Black, goes by her middle names – most call her Keira but friends have a variety of nicknames for her, Charlie likes to call her Ady; born in Ireland but raised in Canada – duel citizen; demisexual

Soundtrack Suggestions: Perfect – Ed Sheeran, Under the Stars – John Legend, It Was Written in the Stars – Ella Fitzgerald, All of the Stars – Ed Sheeran

Preview: He knew it was cliché but he swore this is what it felt like. The moment he saw her walking towards him time seemed to slow, only a bit, enough for him to admire the way the bottom of her dress floated behind her as she descended the stairs and the hint of silver shimmer that glimmered much like the twinkling stars with her movements. The voices and sounds of everyone else around them faded into the background until her laughter that filled him with such warmth was the only thing he heard. And he knew it sounded cliché but he swore, for a moment, everyone else seemed to vanish and all he saw was her. And when her stormy sea eyes met his, his heart skipped a beat, he forgot how to breathe, and time seemed to stop, just for a brief a moment, as he stood there, frozen, completely captivated and mesmerized. It was cliché. But that’s how he felt.

“What about this one,” Penny asked as she held up a black gown to her bewildered best friend. The popular Hufflepuff was quite giddy as their little curse-breaking group shopped in Hogsmeade for the upcoming end of the year ball, as if she hadn’t been asked to attend every year.

“Are we all wearing black because we’re mourning Bill leaving us,” Keira asked with a small smirk earning a look from the blonde as she pulled the dress away from the young woman’s frame and hung it back up.

“Come on. How often do we get the chance to go shopping, not for school supplies, and get to dress up and attend a ball where we can spend the whole night dancing and having fun? And after everything we have been through since attending Hogwarts we deserve at least one night of fun,” Penny insisted, and Keira had to admit the case she presented was difficult to argue against. When the dark haired girl failed to offer a rebuttal a smug look briefly appeared on the Hufflepuff’s face. The amateur curse-breaker spent most of her time researching and hunting down these cursed-vaults, determined to find her brother, while also managing to stay on top of her school work and somehow balance her new Prefect and Quidditch Captaincy responsibilities. Their group was pretty sure she never slept. They were always concerned for their friend who seemed to carry so much on her shoulders, yet rarely show the strain of it, and who was always the first to offer help to any of them no matter how small the task and never appeared too stressed with everything they were juggling. Hence Penny’s determination to not only have a fun day out shopping in Hogsmeade but a night of fun at the ball where they could relax and enjoy themselves and not be worried about exams or cursed-vaults or lost siblings – which, Penny herself now understood more than every after that year and losing her baby sister if even for a brief time compared to what her best friend was going through with her brother. But Keira helped her save her sister and Penny was more determined than ever to help Keira find her brother. But she was also just as determined to give Keira a break whenever she could and this ball was the perfect chance to have a whole night off!

Plus she knew how close Keira and Bill were, he quickly becoming a surrogate older brother for her, and him leaving was hard on her. Certainly they would write to each other all the time but it wasn’t the same as having him there. So this was also a good excuse to spend more time with him and have one last hoorah before he graduated.

“Therefore, your arms should be filled with dresses to try on in a classic montage style,” Penny informed before shoving aforementioned armful of dresses into the unsuspecting Slytherin’s arms. “And most importantly, we should be having fun!”

As her grey eyes studied the grinning blonde in front of her Keira swore the young potions master literally glowed and radiated light. “Okay, okay,” she easily conceded earning a squeal of excitement from her friend.

“We rarely get the chance to wear formal gowns and you two want to wear suits instead?” As Keira changed in one of the dressing rooms, after being pushed there by Penny, she overhead Penny scolding others in their shopping party and was relieved to no longer have the Hufflepuff’s focus set on her. Curiosity did get the better her of, as it normally did, and caused her to peek her head out from the privacy curtain to see Tonks and Tulip looking quite dapper as they posed in formal suits men normally wore to these types of events.

“Everyone expects women to dress up in big, poufy ball gowns,” Tulip retorted. And she of course, being her rebellious self, refused to abide by any set rules even social ones.

“Besides, we look good,” Tonks added proudly as she struck another pose.

Penny huffed and folded her arms before noticing Keira’s head poking out from her dressing room. “Keira,” she gasped excitedly, “Are you ready? Come out, come out, come out,” she urged practically jumping up and down. Keira took a deep breath before pulling back the curtain to her dressing room and stepping out in an emerald gown probably chosen for the color matching her Hogwarts house.

“You look beautiful, Keira,” Rowan complimented from her seat as she watched her friends try on possible outfits for the ball. Rowan had plans to wear a beautiful embellish saree from her mother so while she waited for her outfit to be sent to her she accompanied her friends in their journey to find the perfect outfit for the occasion and offer her advice and encouragement.

“Thank you, Rowan,” Keira replied with a small smile, thankful her friend and roommate was there. She knew Rowan would provide her honest opinion and genuine praise. “And you look beautiful as well, Penny. That dress brings out your eyes,” she complimented, smoothly turning the attention away from her and onto the blonde in a blue ball gown which did make her blue eyes pop.

“Thanks but I feel too much like Cinderella,” Penny replied earning some quizzical looks from the purebloods in the group who were unknowledgeable about muggle life. After a very brief re-telling of the age old fairy tale so the others could be brought into the loop the dress up montage continued and the friendly bickering easily turned into laughter.

The windy March weather sent a chill through the group of girls as they left the store after making their purchases. Although the end of the year ball would not be held until June, to ensure there would be enough time for alterations they went out to get them early. This recommendation was brought by Andre who also offered his services to make any further alterations to the gowns they chose, after the seamstresses as the store were finished with them, to “take them up a level.” None of them were exactly sure what that meant but Andre obviously had an eye for fashion and designed most of his own clothes which always looked nice so they felt they could trust him. He also offered, well more like demanded, to accompany the girls on their shopping trip to approve of their choices but they somehow managed to convince him it was a girl’s only trip to have some girl bonding time, alone, without any men around.

Tonks and Tulip clearly had decided on formal suits which, once tailored to fit them perfectly, Keira had to admit they would probably be the best dressed at the ball. Penny had found a laced white and golden yellow dress which suited her very well, at least the group thought so. For herself, Keira had decided on an ethereal ice blue dress with a lace bodice adorned with some silver sparkle and sleeve chain detail dangling across her shoulders, the lace and hint of silver shine gradually cascading down to the flowy skirt. Something about the layers of blue, grey, and ivory of the skirt, the sheen of silver, the airy yet graceful movement of the skirt reminded her of the sea which made her feel this connection to the garment. When her other friends agreed it seemed perfect for her she bought it without any hesitation. And she had to admit, now that she found a dress she actually felt beautiful in she was looking forward to the ball and any reluctance or insecurities she had about attending washed away with the wave like movements of the dress.

“I don’t understand how you can stand being out here without a jacket,” Penny remarked as she hugged her jacket to herself to shield her from the wind chill on that cloudy day.

“I was raised in Canada, you get used to the cold,” Keira replied, adjusting the sleeves of her shirt down over her hands. However the cold from the snow and cold from the wind were different. The still cold from a winter’s day was actually peaceful and calm while the chill from the wind seemed to sting right to the bone. And she hated the wind.

“I think it’s impressive,” Tonks said, throwing her newly discovered cousin a smile, earning one back. As the group of girls made their way through Hogsmeade to return to their school they ran into the rest of their gang leaving the Three Broomsticks.

“So, how did the shopping venture go,” Andre asked, studying the group of girls closely. Andre continued to question the ladies on their way back to Hogwarts about their shopping choices while Keira wisely fell a few steps back to avoid the conversation. The windy weather drowned out the conversation of those in front of her causing the young Slytherin to shiver. Okay, next time she would bring a jacket even if it did go against her cool, tough reputation she tried to uphold. Ugh, she hated the wind.

After another gust of wind sent another icy chill through her slender frame, Keira was surprised to suddenly feel a weight on her shoulders and a warmth spreading through her. She glanced briefly at the large jacket now draped over her shoulders before looking up at the smiling, dragon obsessed Weasley.

“You were cold,” Charlie answered her unspoken question.

“But… what about you,” Keira asked, motioning to the sweater clad Gryffindor who assured her he would be fine – he was always warm, which was true. He seemed to radiate heat which the always cold to the touch Slytherin appreciated. Besides, they were almost back to Hogwarts.

His assuredness convinced Keira to drop it instead of arguing with him and just graciously accept his jacket, which she truly was thankful for, more than he might know. She was so used to doing things for herself, struggling to let others help her with anything. Her friends were already putting themselves in danger by helping her find the cursed-vaults and her brother, she didn’t need to bother them with other, trivial things. She could take care of herself. But she had to admit it was nice having someone do something for her, take care of her, even if it was something little like offering her their jacket. Although it was a little weird to think someone had also been paying that much attention to her to notice her shiver a little bit at a gust of wind. Shouldn’t he be participating in the conversation instead of watching her? Weirdo…

“Thank you,” Keira said as she slipped her arms through the sleeves of his jacket. His kindness and thoughtfulness spread a warmth throughout her chest. He really did make her want to be a better person. “Hmm,” she murmured as she snuggled up in his oversized jacket, keeping her thoughts to herself.

“What? Is something wrong,” Charlie asked with some concern.

“No,” Keira quickly replied to reassure him, but as he continued to stare at her she knew that answer wasn’t enough to satisfy him. “It smells like you,” she explained, which should be obvious considering it was his jacket.

“It…. What,” Charlie asked, clearly not expecting that answer.

“It smells like you,” Keira repeated with a smile as a small blush began to spread across the Gryffindor’s face.

“Oh, well…I’m sorry, probably smells bad then,” he replied somewhat awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. With all his adventures roaming the Forbidden Forest plus sweaty Quidditch practices and games, he worried it might not smell the best.

“No, it doesn’t,” Keira replied with a small laugh causing the Gryffindor to blush more. “It smells good,” she assured him, throwing him another smile. “Kind of earthy, but sweet.”

Charlie stared at her a moment silently. Her description of his scent only made him redder in the face. Unaware to the amateur curse-breaker, the future dragonologist had recently, very recently, burst out of his oblivious bubble and realized that he may actually have feelings for her that were more than one felt for a close friend, primarily with the help of his older brother.

It had hit him harder than any bludger had but practically knocked the wind out of him all the same. The weird thing was there was nothing particularly special about that day or how it happened. The gang was studying in the library, well in the Study Area to avoid Pince, or avoid an intense standoff between Tonks and Pince, like they normally did, and also as they normally did, they distracted themselves with idle chit-chat and random discussions to avoid actually doing their homework. And because Charlie was there, of course the conversation somehow got turned onto dragons.

“A Hungarian Horntail can breathe fire to fifty feet. Their breath alone can reach extremely high temperatures,” Charlie argue.

“But a Ukrainian Ironbelly’s scales are hard as steel and they’re huge,” Barnaby retorted. “One could probably just sit on a Hungarian Horntail and squash it.”

“Not to sound like Pince but could you two keep it down? You’re distracting me.” Tulip interrupted their dragon debate while hunched over a piece of parchment she was scribbling on vigorously, however it did not look like any homework they had but more like some sort of blue prints, probably for her next grand prank.

The two boys mumbled their apologies. “Do you think I could turn into a dragon,” Tonks asked from next to Tulip. “Never tried it before.”

“Which dragon would you turn into,” Barnaby asked curiously, and a bit excitedly. How cool would it be if she did?

“I don’t know, whichever,” Tonks responded with a shrug.

“Not everyone has a favorite dragon like you two,” Tulip informed the two magical creature obsessed boys sitting across the table from them. That was a harsh reality Charlie had learned at a young age. He used to assume everyone had a favorite dragon, asking everyone he came across what theirs was. He soon learned the sad truth that not everyone had one or even knew that much about dragons, cared as much about them as he did. Still, he couldn’t stop himself from asking people because some people did have a favorite and he felt that said a lot about them. Of course most seemed to say the Hungarian Horntail, possibly because it was the most infamous of the breeds. He actually got kind of annoyed that being most people’s answer. Maybe that’s why he liked discussing it so much with Barnaby because he didn’t share the same favorite breed of dragon.

“Well that’s dumb, they should,” Barnaby said with frown. Charlie chuckled and had to agree before turning his attention to the Slytherin sitting across from him who had been quiet this entire time, focused on reading their Alchemy book.

“What about you, Ady? What’s your favorite dragon,” Charlie asked, for some reason unable to recall if he’s asked her that before. He must have since that was normally his go-to ice breaker but conversation always seemed to flow so easily with her and typically the conversation revolved around the Cursed-Vaults if not school and Quidditch. Maybe he never got the chance to ask her? Or he did but… how could he forget her answer? He did ask everyone he came across practically. Maybe that’s why he couldn’t remember her answer? They all got jumbled together. But how could he forget her answer?

“A Hebridean Black, right,” Barnaby answered with a proud grin before Keira got the chance. The dark haired girl glanced up at him from her book giving him a smirk and a wink to indicate he was correct causing Barnaby to grin more and sit up straighter, proudly, in his chair. Charlie looked between the two Slytherins, well aware of how close they were but part of him couldn’t help be a little envious. But more prominent than that was the fact that she had in fact told them her favorite dragon – and she actually had one that was not a Hungarian Horntail! – and he had forgotten! How could he have forgotten?!

But yet even more impactful was the fact that after Keira agreed to help him buy an alleged dragon egg, which of course turned out to be scam, putting herself in danger for it, for him – something he was clearly still dealing with – they were gifted a dragon scale. A Hebridean Black dragon scale. Which Keira told him, urged him, to keep.

“Why would you give me the scale if it’s your favorite dragon,” Charlie asked, watching her closely. In case he didn’t feel selfish enough making her go on that wild and dangerous goose chase to get himself a dragon egg now he took the one good thing that came out of it from her.

“Because you love dragons,” Keira replied with a shrug, as if it was obvious, before looking up at him from her book with a small smile. It was a simple statement that everyone knew, even those who didn’t even know him, but for some reason when she said it just then it stirred something inside of him. She was selfless, thoughtful; she put him first.

When her eyes, which he liked to describe as the color of the ocean after a storm – that’s when Bill claimed he knew Charlie was completely smitten – met his they pierced right through him shattering the naïve and oblivious bubble he had subconsciously placed himself in and realization washed over him like an ice-cold tidal wave.

He loved dragons, but he also –

“I got to go.” And with that Charlie quickly gathered up his books, swung his bag over his shoulder, and hurried out of the library. He raced straight back to the Gryffindor Dorm and to his older brother and best friend where he then proceeded to pace back and forth in Bill’s room rambling on and on for about an hour about everything he had realized, had been thinking and feeling, trying to make better sense of it all. He was thankful his brother was so patient and understanding during it all. He went to bed that night unable to sleep and just kept staring at the dragon scale on his nightstand, thinking about her. And then the next day when they fell asleep studying didn’t help him either. Fortunately, she hadn’t behaved differently around him after that. Oh, but he was sure his behavior had changed around her.

Since this jarring realization had occurred he had come to gain more self-awareness – why when she looked at him his heart skipped a beat, why when she laughed, particularly when he was the cause of it, it warmed him inside, why his thoughts always turned to her, why he always sought her out to talk to or spend time with when he had free time, why he disliked it so much when she appeared to be getting too close and friendly with others, or why he had been caught a few times staring at her. He had also gotten much more annoyed by others being close with her, trying to get closer to her (okay guess some might call it jealousy), and particularly annoyed at blatant flirty primarily done by Diego (he sometimes really wanted to punch that guy). Despite this realization the heart skipping a beat, the breath getting caught in his throat, the dragons in his stomach, none of it stopped.

But the bad thing was Charlie had caught himself doing these weird things like starting to drape an arm around her or wanting to reach up to move a strand of hair out of her face, shifting so their legs or arms touched while sitting next to each other, staring at her hand swaying next to her as they walked. He even caught himself reaching out to hold it on occasion but thankfully stopped himself before that happened. He had no idea how he would explain that.

He looked for any excuse to talk to her, spend time with her, be near her, touch her… he had no idea what to do in this situation, it was all new to him! Bill suggested telling her how he felt but Charlie was worried about possibly losing a close and dear friend. So Bill suggested to flirt with her and see how she responded, maybe she was interested too but afraid to say anything, but Charlie didn’t know how to do that! Like he told his brother, this was an entirely new situation for him and he was trying his best to navigate it!

Keira silently watched the rain fall as she leaned against the cool stone wall of Hogwarts. She was currently perched upon a covered balcony on the fourth floor of the school, one of the few places she liked to go to be alone and enjoy the weather, particularly a rainy day without having to be out in it or a window dividing her from it. Unlike most who found rainy days like this grey, cold, and depressing, Keira always found them serene and relaxing. And right now she needed a peaceful place to think.

It had been a little over a month since their shopping excursions in Hogsmeade for the ball and since then their plans to go together as a group had sort of fallen apart. It had started with Penny who, while sitting in the Great Hall one day for a meal, informed the girls that she had been asked to the ball. That announcement came as no surprise since Penny got asked out pretty much on a daily basis since she arrived at Hogwarts. However, the fact she was announcing it was odd.

“…And you accepted,” Keira asked, or more like stated, suspecting that was the reason for Penny informing them and the weird way she was acting, like she was worried she would get in trouble.

“W-well, yeah, kind of…” Penny admitted sheepishly. “But that doesn’t mean we still can’t all go together! There’ll just be one more of us.” Honestly the group was just surprised to hear she had actually accepted one of the many romantic invitations she received. But she wouldn’t have just accepted anyone’s invitation so clearly they had to be deserving, right? One more person couldn’t hurt.

From there it sort of snowballed.

Tonks and Tulips had derived so many plans for that night at the ball to mess with basically everyone in attendance with a grand finale to end the night, they informed the rest of their friends they would probably be pretty busy during the actual festivities. They invited Keira to join them if she wanted but, to be honest, she wasn’t that into pranks. Not like the ones those two did at least.

Andre of course had his choice of dates to take to the ball which he was in the process of narrowing down.

Bill of course would be busy with his class of graduates.

And Ben…well Keira gave him the benefit of the doubt that he was being controlled to attack her and she still was there for Ben whenever he needed a friend but she had been keeping her distance since the attack.

But Keira thought she would at least have Rowan to go with and spend an evening dancing and having fun with her best friend and roommate.

“You’re what?!” Keira’s exclamation echoed throughout the Slytherin Common Room.

“I’m going to the dance with Diego,” Rowan said again quietly, avoiding eye contact with her best friend.

“What? How? When?” Keira had so many questions! Sure, they chatted in Defense Against the Dark Arts sometimes but she had no idea they had grown this close! And sure, she admitted while in class she encouraged the light flirtation between the two and she did believe Rowan had a small crush on him but she was not prepared for this.

But she wanted her friend to be happy and assured her of that and to go to the ball with him, once the shock wore off that is. She would have a lot of fun and a night full of dancing.

And she still had Barnaby! Next to Rowan, Penny, and Charlie, Barnaby was one of the people Keira felt closest to. She loved Barnaby like a best friend or brother or second cousin. So imagine her surprise when Barnaby said he too had a date to the ball.

“I think I have a date,” Barnaby awkwardly explained when Keira asked him about going to the ball.

“You think?” How did one not know? Well, it was Barnaby.

“Well, I was talking to this girl in Care of Magical Creatures and she brought up the ball and I guess she sort of asked me and I said yes? I didn’t realize she was asking me to go with her, like as a date, until she told me the color of her dress yesterday to make sure we matched… because apparently we are going together…” Keira’s face fell as she listened to Barnaby explain his situation. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t want to disappoint her. I mean, I did sort of agree to go. Would be rude to back out now.”

“No, of course. You’re right. You should go with her. I’m sure you’ll have fun,” Keira assured him although it was hard to hide the disappointment in her voice. But she couldn’t ask any of her friends to ditch their dates for her.

“I’m sorry,” Barnaby apologized again. “But we’ll still see each other there! And I promise to save a dance with you.”

“Thanks, Barnaby,” Keira replied with a small smile.

Her friends deserved a night of fun just like her and if going with a date added to that then they should go with a date of their choice. Even if that meant her night might be less enjoyable… The girls still agreed to all get ready together which would be fun and Penny kept insisting they would just all go together as one large group but Keira knew even if they arrived all together in one large group the couples would pair off to have their night to themselves. As they should! She didn’t want to ruin any of her friends’ night. But she still couldn’t help being disappointed and feeling left out. She even considered not going but she couldn’t do that to Bill.

So now here she sat, watching the exposed half of the balcony ledge she was sitting on get struck by rain drops, trying not to feel sorry for herself. How could she when she had all these wonderful friends? Friends who she never thought she would have given her family’s history. She was very thankful and appreciative for them. But it was hard not to feel like… like she was being left behind.

Rowan and Penny had been their every encouraging selves throughout this little situation. Besides still getting ready and going to the ball together they were certain Keira would get asked. They were surprised honestly that she didn’t get asked out more often. Surely many people at the school fancied her? She was not only a great Quidditch player but Captain, and as Penny liked to point out, Quidditch players were very popular. Plus she was smart, funny, charming, attractive, and brave according to Rowan. Who wouldn’t want to be with a Curse-Breaker? That was one of, if not the, coolest things to be. And Keira was basically the definition of cool – Rowan always laid on a lot of compliments. Which Keira appreciated and it did help her feel better about herself but she kept the truth from them and replied with a simple thanks.

Truth was it didn’t matter how good she was at Quidditch or how smart she was or how good her grades were, how many witty remarks she made, how many adventures she went on, or how physically attractive she may apparently be – something that was supposed to run in the Black family according to rumors she heard – no one would ever be interested in her more than the interesting, and possibly, cautionary tale she was. Sure, her ‘alleged’ curse-breaking adventures around the school fueled rumors and were cause for most of the excitement around the school but she was basically some glorified article in the Daily Prophet – provided some captivating entertainment but the stories were most likely riddled with false and over dramatic information.

Truth was, she was cursed.

Not cursed like ‘I’ll never get a date because something’s wrong with me and I’m cursed’ and not cursed like ‘if I get kissed I’ll turn into a frog.’ It had nothing to do with dating or romance really.

Cursed like if you get close to her you may end up dead. Or at the very least seriously injured and used as a puppet for some dark witch or wizard.

She was cursed from the first moment she walked into Hogwarts and she still would be when she left.

While the students loved to talk about her and her ‘alleged’ adventures none of them wanted to actually talk to her, get to know her for her. They were all afraid of her. And not afraid of her because she was a tough badass who would knock all your teeth out which she would be fine with. But afraid because she put those who were close to her in danger.

How she still had friends she had no idea. She never thought she would have them and once she did she never thought they would stick around. Not after everything she put them through. And she never wanted to put them through such traumatizing and deadly conditions but those seemed impossible to avoid when dealing with these Vaults. But they continued to stick around and offer to partake in these adventures still, why she had no idea, but she appreciated it nonetheless.

“Hey! There you are!”

The cheery greeting snapped Keira out of her thoughts and she turned her head to see the grinning Gryffindor Seeker who appeared to have gotten caught in the rain with his wet hair and clothes dripping to the floor to create a small puddle around his feet.

“Out dancing in the rain,” Keira asked with a small smirk.

“Oh, no,” Charlie laughed as he reached up with his free hand to push back his bangs which kept falling into his eyes by the weight of the water. “Got caught in the rain on the way back from Hogsmeade. I like to reward the team after a good game or practice with a trip to Honeydukes,” he explained. “Uh, here. I got you something.” Charlie tossed the small package he was holding in his hand to her.

Keira caught the package and took a moment to study it. “Pink Coconut Ice. Thanks,” she read before smiling at the now blushing redhead. He always brought her something from Honeydukes after he went there with his team and she always appreciated the sweet gesture, especially knowing the Weasley’s were not the wealthiest family. Normally it was Toffees or Chocolate Cauldrons, or anything chocolate. She was sure he brought the rest of the group something to, although she hadn’t seen him hand any out to them, but he never handed out hers in front of them either. She assumed it was to keep them from fighting over the candy.

“Yeah. You’re like the only person I know who likes coconut so I thought you probably like those,” Charlie explained, his blush just growing more with his explanation.

Keira smiled more as she watched him nervously rub the back of his neck. “Yeah, I do. Thanks. It’s very thoughtful.”

There was a slight lull in the conversation which did not help Charlie’s nerves. So he had to say something to end it. Anything! Just say something!

“You know, I should give you my jacket to wear again.” Keira looked over at him quizzically. “…Be-because it doesn’t smell much like you anymore.”

Oh merlin. What did he just say? Why would he say that? She was going to think he was a complete git! He thought things were awkward before, well they certainly were now!

While this panic ensued inside the second eldest Weasley, Keira was still trying to make sense of it. “…Why would you want it to smell like me?”

Okay, maybe this was his chance for redemption!

“Well, because… you smell better than me,” Charlie answered with a shrug before mentally kicking himself. He should have just given her the candy and left!

Keira watched him a moment before laughing which visibly relaxed the Gryffindor. “You don’t smell bad, Charlie, stop worrying that you do. You smell nice.” While thankful she did not get offended or weirded out by his comments, her compliments meant to reassure him only caused a slight blush to appear on his freckled face. Fortunately, he managed to stop himself this time before saying more inappropriate comments about how nice she smelled.

“So, what are you doing up here,” Charlie asked after a moment, stepping closer to her.

“Just enjoying the rain. And thinking,” Keira replied, looking back out at the grey, cloudy sky. There was a slight pause in the conversation as, unaware to her, Charlie took a moment to admire her in that setting.

“Thinking about what,” he finally asked.

Keira took a deep breath before replying. She informed him how their group’s original plan to go together to the ball to send Bill off in style was no longer the plan. Everyone had dates, whether with another person or a date with chaos as it was for Tulip and Tonks. Which, she was happy for them, don’t get her wrong, they deserved to have a night of fun but…

“…But,” Charlie gently pried when Keira fell silent, stepping closer and leaning against the castle wall next to where her feet were perched to face her.

Keira took another deep breath as she watched the rain drops hit the ledge of the balcony. “But… It kind of feels like they’re moving on,” she answered quietly. “I know it’s dumb,” she added quickly, glancing up at him. “But that’s how it feels. Like they’re moving on and leaving me behind.”

“Just because they have dates to the ball or start dating doesn’t mean your friendship with them has to end.” Charlie was always ever the reassuring one. “Or are you really just upset because you don’t have a date,” he teased, earning a small glare from her. He was probably just trying to lighten the mood. “I’m surprised you haven’t been asked yet since I’m sure you have plenty of admirers around the school…”

Keira continued to glare at him, trying not to smile but it was proving to be very difficult. “Oh, but Charlie, haven’t you heard? I’m cursed.” The words stung him more than they did her. “Don’t think anyone is going to be asking me out any time soon,” she added, looking out again at the view. Before he had a chance to speak, to point out how wrong she was and passionately make his case that she was not cursed, Keira continued.

“It’s not just about them potentially dating, it’s about them connecting with new people who they will prefer spending their time with. People who aren’t going to put their lives in danger every year,” Keira tried to explain. She couldn’t help always having this anxiety and fear that her friends weren’t really her friends or would move on from her and make new friends who, like she said, wouldn’t be putting their lives in danger. She never thought she would have friends and now she was constantly afraid of losing them somehow.

“They’re not going to stop being your friend.” Charlie’s voice once again pulled her out of her negative thoughts. “Sure, searching for these vaults and breaking their curses is dangerous but it’s much more exciting than just sitting around gossiping about who’s dating who and studying for exams. If they didn’t want to help you they wouldn’t be. And they want to help you because they care about you. You have to give your friends more credit.”

Keira smiled back at the kind Gryffindor. “See? I told you it was dumb,” she laughed sheepishly.

“It’s not dumb,” Charlie tried to reassure. “Maybe silly and ridiculous, but not dumb,” he teased earning a small laugh from the Slytherin.

“And you’re not cursed,” Charlie added suddenly, much more sternly than the previous lighthearted tone. “And anyone who says you are is just intimidated by how brave and resilient you are while handling the situation you’re in.” Keira stared in shock at his short, passionate speech and his rarely seen intensely serious demeanor. Even while playing the fiercest game of Quidditch he was still all smiles and jokes. She fell silent as she let his words sink in, glancing away from his intense gaze.

“And, hey, we can always go together,” Charlie reminded her after a moment. He was part of this group too and he didn’t have a date. Well not yet…

“You’re sweet but I don’t want a pity date,” Keira replied. “I mean, you should go with who you want to go with, who you’ll have fun with. Like your Quidditch team,” she suggested, unsure what that strange look on the Seeker’s face was.

Honestly Charlie wasn’t sure how to feel either. Somewhat offended that she thought he would only ask her out of pity, hurt that she rejected him, but also dumbfounded that she really thought he wouldn’t want to go with her when she was the one person he would want to go with the most, the one he knew he would have the best time with. Before he could say anything more she spoke up again.

“Hey, is Percy free,” she joked.

Charlie’s hand flung up to his heart as he feigned heartbreak. “You would rather go with Percy than me?” The betrayal!

Keira laughed and shook her head. “No, of course not,” she assured. “But I can’t ask you to go with me out of some sort of obligation.” She held up a hand to stop him before he started to dispute with her.

“Well guess I better go get into some dry clothes,” Charlie said as he looked down at his still damp sweater. He knew better than to try and argue with her when her mind was already set.

“Yeah, you’re starting to smell like mildew,” Keira teased with a smirk.

“I thought you said I smelled good!” The two laughed before Charlie motioned for them to get going.

“What? You need me to pick out your clothes like your mum does for you?” Charlie tried to narrow his eyes at her but was unable to keep from smiling. He knew her teasing was a weird way of showing her affection.

“No. I just thought we talked, hopefully you’re feeling better because of it, so we can go now.” Keira studied him closely a moment before a devilish smirk slowly spread across her face.

“Charlie… Are you uncomfortable with me sitting on the ledge?”

“What? No,” Charlie scoffed, although it wasn’t very convincing.

“Is the big, brave, courageous Gryffindor scared,” Keira continued to mock.

“No,” Charlie claimed, stubbornly folding his arms.

Keira only smirked more before shifting to lean out the opening. “Oh no, I’m going to fall! Help me Charlie!”

“Very funny. This doesn’t affect me. I don’t care.” Charlie continued to act unfazed as Keira continued to pretend to be falling off the balcony. “I know you think this is getting to me but it’s not. This doesn’t freak me out. At all. I’m fine. I don’t – Okay, will you stop that!” He had finally had enough when she was hanging half out into the air and reached out to grab her arm before yanking her back inside. She was going to give him a heart attack!

Keira just laughed as she regained her footing. “Aw, I knew you cared.”

“I should have let you fall,” Charlie muttered, although as usual he was unable to keep from smiling.

“You would never let me fall.” And with that she turned to leave, opening up her bag of candy he brought her before popping one in her mouth. “And thanks again for the candy,” she called with a wave as she headed down the hallway leaving Charlie staring after her.

‘Addison, will you go to the ball with me?’

The fireworks request lit up the sky in the courtyard. Yep, it was that time of year again with grand proposals to the dance. Normally this was only done by the older students but now most people in Keira’s year were participating as well – guess they were getting older.

Besides the fireworks there had been singing telegrams, poorly written poems read out loud in the Great Hall, end of presentation surprise asks, time-outs used in Quidditch to ask someone in the stands, a scavenger hunt – which Keira had to admit was a good one, probably the best one she’s seen yet – and notes hidden in text books or even just a note passed in class. There were many more elaborate, extravagant gestures asking people to the ball but she couldn’t keep up with all of them.

On one hand they were a bit obnoxious and could put people on the spot, putting the pressure on them to accept. On the other hand, if done correctly such as it being personal and meaningful to the person being asked, like that scavenger hunt, and by the right person, it could make someone feel very special. Fortunately, the Professors were more lenient with the students’ and their ball proposal shenanigans during this time.

“Keira, you forgot your telescope!” She had been so focused on getting the students organized in an orderly fashion to head up to the Astronomy Tower she had completely blanked!

“Merde! Thanks, Rowan. Can you start leading everyone up there? I’ll catch up. Barnaby will help.” Before Rowan even had a chance to respond Keira was already running back to the Slytherin Common Room. She knew Rowan would handle it.

Rowan watched her friend run off before instructing everyone to follow her and starting to lead the way to class. “Yeah, you heard her, get going,” Barnaby commanded, doing his best to help. However, his eagerness to help earned him getting hit in the head by a balled up piece of parchment. “Okay, who threw that? You’re going to get it in Dueling Club, Reyes!”

Keira hurried back to her Dorm and located her telescope in her room before hurrying back to catch up to the rest who were already making their way up the long winding staircase of the Astronomy Tower. “J’en ai ras le cul with stairs,” she swore under her breath as she climbed the seemingly never ending staircase. She tended to prefer swearing in French believing she could get away with it more than if she did so in English.

Professor Sinistra greeted the group of Slytherin students as they reached the top of the Tower. “Where is your Prefect, Miss Black?” Rowan and Barnaby shared a look.

“Was that a shooting star,” Rowan suddenly exclaimed, pointing behind Professor Sinistra causing her to quickly turn around just in time to miss Keira sliding to a halt next to Barnaby.

“What? Where,” the Professor questioned before Rowan sheepishly admitted she was mistaken, probably just saw something, a lightning bug perhaps. Professor Sinistra frowned at her before looking over at Keira curiously. “How nice of you to join us.”

“What? I’ve been here the whole time,” claimed Keira as Barnaby nodded his head to confirm. The Professor gave her a look but fortunately told them to go set up their telescopes instead of punishing her for being late – allegedly being late.

Keira set up her telescope next to Rowan before taking out a quill and some parchment from her bag, thanking her friends for helping her out. Despite the rush to get to class, the class itself seemed to move very slowly. At least they were able to enjoy the fresh air and a beautiful scenery instead of being stuck sitting in a stuffy classroom.

“Why is there a constellation named after a dragon but not a kneazle,” Barnaby questioned as he stared up at the night sky through is telescope as the class drew close to being over.

Keira laughed slightly and glanced over at her fellow Beater from marking the constellation of Draco on her parchment. “You ask such thought provoking questions, Barnaby.”

“Really?” Barnaby moved away from his telescope to grin at her. “Normally I’m told I ask dumb questions and to shut up.”

Keira frowned slightly as she glanced down before looking back up at him with a smile. “Well I think you ask very interesting questions that no one else would think to ask. And that’s important, to have a different way of thinking, a different perspective.”

“You’re always so nice to me,” Barnaby replied causing Keira’s heart to ache slightly instead of relishing in the compliment. She knew he meant well and she was glad to always see him so happy when she did compliment and encourage him but it was also so depressing to hear how he had been treated so poorly by most people in his life.

“I just treat you how you deserve to be treated,” Keira told him. “And you’re my best friend.” She gave him another reassuring smile before looking through her telescope and frowning. “Hey, wait. Were those there before?” She looked back and forth between the mapped out constellation she drew and the starry night sky through her telescope which were no longer matching up. Now there appeared to be more stars appearing in the sky. She wasn’t sure how that was possible exactly but it was ruining everything she just worked on all class!

“Uh, Keira, I think you’re notes are safe,” Rowan told her as Keira scrambled to fix her constellation drawing. She paused in her frantic scribbling and looked at her other best friend quizzically who was smirking smugly at her. Why was she not panicking to fix her notes? Rowan of all people should be hurrying to do that!

“Look,” Rowan gently instructed, motioning up to the sky. “I think the stars have a message for you.”

Keira stared at her friend in confusion. What the hell did that even mean? That was oddly cryptic, especially coming from Rowan.

“What,” Keira asked but after another encouraging motion from Rowan to look up she dropped her questioning and turned her head to look up at the starry night sky.

She didn’t need her telescope to read the twinkling star-like words written in the clear midnight sky.

‘Adelyn-Keira Black, Will You Go To The Ball With Me?’

Keira stared at the message in shock, unaware of the rest of her class’ reaction. She had to read it a few times over to make sure she was reading it correctly and then had to look over at Rowan for confirmation that she wasn’t hallucinating and it really was up there written in the sky.

Once Rowan confirmed that it was, in fact, real Keira returned to staring at her starry message in disbelief. What? Why? Who?

Her eyes drifted to below the message where, as if this entire thing had been orchestrated to perfection meticulously, the dragon constellation they were just studying lay.

“Really,” Keira muttered to herself, incredulously as a small grin crept onto her face.

As if on cue a familiar redhead with a Cheshire grin appeared before her, flying gracefully on his broom.

“Eejit. Have you gone daft?”

“So, is that a yes or…” Charlie questioned with a sly smirk.

“Charlie, why,” was all Keira could muster up with a small, embarrassed laugh.

“Because, you deserve to be asked out to the ball properly,” Charlie answered. “And maybe if I did so properly you’d realize I’m serious and this isn’t a pity ask.”

Keira studied him a moment, trying to keep a neutral poker face but the smile she fought against tugged at the corners of her mouth. “I had no idea you were such a romantic.”

“Is this where I make a comment about moving the stars for you or about it being written in the stars? There’s something there, hold on, I’ll figure it out.” Keira laughed as she watched Charlie struggle to come up with whatever line he was trying to create.

“Didn’t come very prepared, eh? Maybe you should have had Bill write you some notes on what to say,” Keira teased.

“I am much more charming than Bill,” Charlie informed her before noting the look from Professor Sinistra to wrap it up. He was lucky she was allowing him to interrupt her class, even if it was the end of it. She was just glad there were not loud fireworks or anything of the sort or else she might have punished him despite the leniency the faculty showed to the students while they made their dance proposals.

That look from the stern teacher almost knocked Charlie off his broom (and his game). “Uh, so, you still haven’t given me an answer.”

Keira glanced back up at the message asking her to the ball one more moment before it would inevitably fade away – she wished Penny was there to snap a picture so she could have a keepsake to remember this moment more vividly – before turning back to the nervously waiting Weasley.

“I would love to go to the ball with you, Charlie.”

Charlie grinned from ear to ear. Not like he expected her to cruelly reject him, they were close, but part of him was still nervous she would say no with some lame excuse. He was extremely relieved, and overjoyed, that she accepted.

“Is this where I whisk you away,” Charlie asked with another sly smirk as he held his hand out to her.

“No! Absolutely not! There will be no flying off the Astronomy Tower in the middle of the night during my class,” Professor Sinistra finally interjected.

“But class is over,” Rowan gently pointed out. She was clearly happy for her best friend and didn’t want anyone, even the Professor, to ruin it! Unfortunately, Rowan’s attempt to politely disagree with the Professor only earned her a stern look before Professor Sinistra turned that stern look to the Gryffindor.

Charlie’s eyes widened slightly as he quickly withdrew his hand upon being scolded and glared at by the strict Professor. “You can whisk me off some other time,” Keira assured him. “I think right now it’s probably best if you just go.” Charlie had to agree with that statement.

He nodded his head as he timidly watched Professor Sinistra before throwing Keira one last smile. “I’ll talk to you later.” And with that, the Gryffindor Seeker flew quickly away from the Astronomy Tower just as her ask to the ball faded away.

“You better go straight back to your dorm, Mr. Weasley,” Professor Sinistra called after him before telling her class to finish up their star charts and pack up their things to head back to their own dorm as well.

It was the first time Keira didn’t complain about all the stairs as they made their way down the winding staircase. Rowan claimed she was practically skipping down the halls and could not stop smiling the rest of the night.

“Tulip, you better not let off that dungbomb,” Penny scolded sternly.

As planned, the girls were all getting ready for the End of the Year Ball together, gathered in the Ravenclaw Tower. By now, after years of inter-house friendships and Penny’s popularity that taught her how to get into any house’s Common Room, particularly when there were house parties, the gang managed to figure out to hang out together in the different house dorms. They were originally going to get ready together in the Hufflepuff Dorm but Andre insisted they get ready in the Ravenclaw Tower so he could inspect their looks and make sure they were perfect and something about the stairs helping to create a more dramatic entrance. So the girls gathered up their things and headed up to the windy Tower. However, preparing for the ball differed among them.

While most girls were doing their hair and makeup as prep for the ball, Tulip and Tonks were determining how to best sneak all their pranking supplies into the ball without it being noticed. Fortunately, their perfectly tailored tuxes had plenty of pockets! And, as Keira predicted, they looked very dashing and would probably be best dressed at the ball, which would be well deserved.

Penny sat down next to Keira with a huff once she had ensured Tulip would not accidentally let off one of her many dungbombs as they got ready. She did not want to stink all night! Her frustrated attitude soon disappeared as she watched her friend get ready for the ball. “So I heard Charlie actually moved the stars for you to ask you to the ball.”

“No, he didn’t move any stars,” Keira corrected, unable to keep from rolling her eyes at these rumors that spread around. “He said he had been working with Flitwick for weeks after class on perfecting the charm so it would appear like he wrote it in the stars.”

“And he signed it with a dragon,” Penny asked, making a small face. This dragon obsessed boy – she did not get it. Although, people may not understand her passion for potions.

“He didn’t sign it with a dragon, it was written over the constellation Draco, which Charlie claims he did not intend but I don’t know if I believe him,” Keira explained.

“Mhmm… And you’re excited to be going,” Penny asked with a slight mischievous glint in her eye.

“Sure, but I was always going regardless if I got asked to go with someone or not. I’m going to Bill,” Keira replied.

“I mean, you’re excited to be going with Charlie,” Penny specified.

“Oh. Well, sure. We’re close friends and we always have a good time together,” Keira replied with a shrug. Penny watched her friend closely with a knowing smirk. Keira glanced over at the blonde, squirming slightly under her intense gaze. “What?”

“I’m just very happy you’re going with Charlie. That this is finally happening,” Penny answered as she turned her attention back to her hair possibly as an excuse to avoid the Slytherin’s stare.

Keira frowned slightly as she watched the Hufflepuff curiously. “What does that mean?”

Penny paused a moment as she thought of how to explain this. Their group was aware there was something there between the two and admittedly, often, their conversations would turn to the topic and how oblivious the two were. However, now it seemed one of them had at least realized it while the other was still reluctant to.

“You two just seem to have this close connection. A connection you two don’t have with anyone else. Never even seemed interested in trying to create with someone else. I don’t really know how to explain it exactly but… I’m just happy for you. I think this is good for you,” Penny told her with a small smile.

“Because I won’t be sitting all alone at the ball, moping in a corner somewhere,” Keira teased earning a small laugh from the Hufflepuff.

“No, well… sort of. I think it is good you’re going with Charlie to the ball so you’ll have a fun time, which you deserve,” she pointed out as the Slytherin appeared to almost argue with her. “But I also think it’s good for you to be…exploring this connection you have with Charlie and taking it to another level. I know you put on a brave, cool and collected front but I know everything you’ve been going through all these years is really hard on you. When I lost Beatrice, for a short time compared to what you’ve been through with Jacob, I was an emotional wreck. Crying all the time, always in a panic, frantic, literally pulling my hair out. I don’t know how you cope with it with death threats on top of it.”

“I have you guys,” Keira answered, giving Penny a small smile. “I don’t know what I would do without all of you,” she admitted quietly.

Penny smiled back at the Slytherin and reached over to place a hand on hers. “We’re always going to be here for you, Keira.” The two shared a quiet moment together before Penny continued with her original point.

“Even with the support of our great group of friends, you still keep a lot inside. And you need someone you can talk to, like really talk to. Be open and vulnerable with who you trust and can rely on. And someone who makes you happy. Because you deserve to be happy too. And I think Charlie is that person.” Keira sat there silently as she let Penny’s words sink in. She didn’t realize Penny or any of her friends thought about her this much, or her and Charlie. What did they talk about exactly when she wasn’t around?

“Here,” Penny said as she pulled something out of her bag she brought with her to help her get ready for the ball. She slid the item over to Keira who stared at it in disbelief.

“What? How?” Laying before her on the table was a picture of that night where Charlie asked her to the ball, the starry message in the sky, Charlie appearing in front of her on his broom with that cheeky grin.

“I have eyes and ears everywhere. Everywhere,” Penny informed. “I know everything going on in this place. Everything.” Keira stared at her friend a bit fearfully. Everywhere? Everything? Why did that sound more like a warning? Penny was more powerful than most people knew or wanted to admit. But that was one of the many reasons Keira loved her.

“My hair is being positively unruly. Can you guys help me, please,” Rowan pleaded as she sat down with a huff between the two girls. She was never one to do her hair or wear makeup and all of this was confusing to her. Which was hard on her because she was so smart and excelled in all her classes but she couldn’t figure out how to do her hair?

“Of course we can help,” Penny assured her with a beaming smile, moving behind Rowan to fix the tangled, frizzy mess she somehow made.

“Here, I’ll help you with your makeup,” Keira offered, moving to do just that.

“Thanks. I know it’s kind of stupid to be fretting so much over all this stuff but, Penny is right. We never get to dress up in fancy gowns and get all done up for a glamorous evening and I think we should take advantage of it. Go all out,” Rowan said, clearly relieved to be getting help.

“I don’t think it’s stupid, I completely agree,” Keira assured her with a small smile. “It’s not every day we get to do this – do up our hair, play with makeup, dress up – it should be fun, not stressful, because we deserve to have some fun.” Penny beamed from behind Rowan, glad these girls were finally coming around.

Penny and Keira helped Rowan with her hair and makeup and honestly that little makeover was probably the most fun they had all night, talking, joking, laughing, especially when Tonks and Tulip got involved, dancing and singing loudly, and obnoxiously, to the music Penny played, and overall bonding.

“Let’s go, ladies. The guys are waiting and the feast is about to start.” At Andre’s call the girls wrapped up their final preparations before heading down to meet the rest of their party. Penny made sure to grab her camera and informed them all to be prepared for many, many pictures. In case any of them thought she was kidding Penny hurried down the stairs, much to Andre’s exasperation, to take pictures of the girls coming down the stairs and the boy’s reactions because she felt this entire night had to be documented. Doubtful they would go to next year’s ball and at their own graduation they may be too wrapped up in everything, although she would still probably make sure every was documented then as well. And Merlin forbid something happened to their group before graduation. People did grow up and grow apart, friendships could end, these vaults were dangerous… She just felt it was important to document as many happy moments together as possible so they could all look back on these days fondly and remember each other, no matter where they were in the world, no matter where life took them, no matter what happens in the next couple years left at Hogwarts, that part of them would always be friends.

He knew it was cliché. This wasn’t one of those romantic comedy talking and extended moving picture things that Penny brought from the muggle world and made them watch, what were those things called again? Movies, that’s right. It wasn’t a movie, a rom-com as they were apparently called if he remembered correctly. This wasn’t a scene in one of those movies where one of the main characters has a sudden epiphany upon seeing the other in a different light and realizes they have feelings for them. Of course it wasn’t one of those moments because Charlie already had that epiphany months ago.

He knew it was cliché but he swore this is what it felt like. The moment he saw her walking towards him time seemed to slow, only a bit, enough for him to admire the way the bottom of her dress floated behind her as she descended the stairs and the hint of silver shimmer that glimmered much like the twinkling stars with her movements. The voices and sounds of everyone else around them faded into the background until her laughter that filled him with such warmth was the only thing he heard. And he knew it sounded cliché but he swore, for a moment, everyone else seemed to vanish and all he saw was her. And when her stormy sea eyes met his, his heart skipped a beat, he forgot how to breathe, and time seemed to stop, just for a brief a moment, as he stood there, frozen, completely captivated and mesmerized. It was cliché. But that’s how he felt.

Gradually all the voices and sounds that had faded into the distance returned and he was jarred back into reality with a firm hand on his back.

“Well I must say I did wonders on your atrocious dress robes,” Andre praised himself as he studied his fine work on Charlie’s once embarrassing and fashion disaster of dress robes that were sent to him from his family. His and Bill’s looks for the ball were the ones Andre had to do the most work on. But he did an amazing job on fixing them up, tailoring them to perfection, and even adding personalized details for the two gentlemen such as some dragon embroidery for Charlie, if he did say so himself.

“Yeah, thanks,” Charlie chuckled, trying to hide his embarrassment of possibly being caught gawking at Keira.

“Hey. You clean up nice.” Charlie whipped his head around and stared at the beautiful girl in front of him. Keira smiled charmingly at the Gryffindor as she admired his fixed robes. She did have to commend Andre on his great job. When Bill and Charlie received their packages of dress robes they group had their fun of teasing the two. But now Charlie, and she was also sure Bill, looked quite dashing in them.

“Th-thank you,” Charlie replied, clearing his throat, before mentally kicking himself. Oh, Merlin, did he just stutter like a nervous tosser?

“Compliment her,” Andre whispered in his ear. Did he have to do everything for them?

“Oh uh…” Charlie stared at the ethereal dark haired girl in front of him as he tried to come up with a good compliment to give her. All he had to tell her, without stammering or sounding like a complete tosser, that she looked beautiful. Radiant even. Breathtaking? No, maybe that was too much even if it was true.

“You look beautiful.”

Keira smiled at him before glancing down and, he may have been mistaken but he thought he saw a slight blush spread across her face. “Thank y-“

“Like an Antipodean Opaleye.” He should have stopped at she looked beautiful. Andre groaned and smacked his forehead with his palm, muttering about how Charlie was hopeless before walking away from the couple.

Keira whipped her head up at his interruption and stared at him a moment as she processed what he just said before she started laughing. Charlie visibly relaxed when he heard her laugh and was relieved she didn’t think he was weird or a freak like most did in regards to his obsession with dragons. But that was never really a concern of his from her. She was always willing to listen to him ramble on and on about dragons, even asked him about his interest – the uses of dragon’s blood, interesting facts about the creatures, etc. – found and brought him dragon related books from the library or bookstore. And never once did her eyes gloss over as she spaced out during his ramblings nor did she ever roll her eyes or seemed annoyed or bored. She always listened intently, asked questions, and sure joked around with him sometimes about it but she never discouraged his passion.

“You’re such a dork,” Keira teased him, playfully hitting his arm and snapping him out of his thoughts. “But thank you. That’s quite the compliment coming from you.”

Perhaps just in time to save him from making a fool of himself again, Penny called everyone over to take some pictures before they headed off to the feast and ball. And when Penny said pictures, she meant photo shoot.

There were group shots of everyone, all the girls, all the guys, those who played Quidditch, Prefects, the members of each Hogwarts house; there were couple shots of dates and basically everyone in their group paired off together and other random combinations they could come up with. Some were serious, some were ridiculously posed, but the best pictures of the whole night were the candid ones Penny took of them.

Finally, after their extensive impromptu photoshoot which could have gone on longer if they hadn’t convinced Penny they were going to miss the ball entirely at this rate, the group was free to go to the Great Hall together which had been transformed. Round tables had been set up along a perimeter surrounding a dance floor. The gang was fortunate to find a table for all of them, possibly having to convince others to move to a different table so they all could sit together, and enjoyed the feast which was accompanied by speeches by the faculty wishing the graduates well. It was hard not to get emotional thinking of Bill no longer being there with them. Of course Keira and certainly Charlie would write to him almost every day but not having him there to help them would be hard. He had become the group’s surrogate older brother. It would be hard without him there.

Once the feast and speeches had concluded and the music started they were free to mingle and dance. But before any dancing was done Keira wanted to see Bill – get the emotional stuff done and over with so they could enjoy the rest of their evening.

She hugged the eldest Weasley tightly, refusing to let go but Bill didn’t seem to have any problems with that. “I’m going to miss you.”

“I know, I’ll miss you too. But I’ll write to you all the time,” Bill promised. “And you’re going to write to me too, right? I need to be kept up to date on all your Cursed Vaults adventures.”

“As long as you keep me informed about all your Curse-Breaking adventures too,” Keira negotiated before demanding him to stay safe.

“After all these years of hunting down and break these Cursed Vaults, I am prepared to handle anything, thanks to you,” Bill assured her before smiling warmly down at her. “I’ll be safe, I promise. And you two be safe too,” he added quickly in that classic older brother tone. Cursed-Vaults, death threats, and trying to find a dragon in the Forbidden Forest amongst all the dangerous creatures lurking in there – they were in more danger than he was!

Keira reluctantly let him go as Bill began to address Charlie and lecturing him on being the eldest brother at the school now. With Bill gone, Charlie had to watch out for his little brothers. Percy shouldn’t be any trouble but next year the twins would be arriving and Charlie had to look out for them.

“Funny how you’re leaving just in time before Fred and George arrive,” Charlie noted.

“Yeah, almost like mum and dad planned it that way,” Bill retorted with a smirk.

The two brothers continued their bickering for a bit before Bill suggested they should be enjoying the evening instead of standing around him all night. Keira groaned slightly before flinging her arms around the towering Weasley once again.

“I’m not dying,” Bill reminded them. “You’re going to see me again.

“If you don’t get mauled to death by a Sphinx,” Charlie muttered. He tried not to show it but he was really going to miss his brother too. Bill was his best friend, well besides Keira now, but they grew up together, shared the same bedroom. He couldn’t even go to sleep without talking to Bill before going to bed, what was he supposed to do now? He talked to Bill about everything, always turning to his older brother for advice! Sure, he would write his brother letters but some things were time sensitive and needed to be said in person in the moment. And now being the eldest Weasley at the school, leaving him to watch over his younger siblings and be the role model was nerve-racking. He loved them dearly, and while Percy shouldn’t prove to be too difficult, his siblings had been known to cause some trouble and be a handful, particularly the twins.

“I’m not going to get mauled to death by a Sphinx,” Bill spoke sternly as Keira gasped and tightened her grip around him at Charlie’s comment. “I am not going to die. I’m going to be fine. And I have you guys to thank for that. Preparing me for curses and dangerous creatures. I’m going to be alright and so are you guys.” Keira’s grip loosened around the eldest Weasley as she slowly let him go, trying to hold back her emotions. She was not going to start crying at the ball. What a mood killer.

Bill gave them another brief pep talk, reassuring them they would be fine without him, he would be safe, they would write to each other all the time and if they ever really needed him he would find a way to be there. And he’d see them for holidays!

“And hey, in a couple years you’ll probably be joining me. Right, Keira?” Keira paused and mulled over Bill’s question. Honestly, she hadn’t thought much about a future outside of Hogwarts. Her whole focus while going to school was finding these Vaults in hopes of finding her brother. And of course to learn magic and all that. Especially when that was necessary to break the curses on these Vaults!

“I don’t know, maybe,” was all Keira could muster up at the moment. If she was completely honest, which she wouldn’t be at the moment because that would be a serious mood killer, but she wasn’t even sure if she would live to see graduation some times. She had made that dark, it’s-funny-because-it’s-true joke to Bill before when she suggested him to be Madam Rakepick’s apprentice instead of herself. Bill didn’t find it funny.

“They’d be lucky to have you,” Bill told her in an attempt to put any doubts or insecurities she may have to rest. “Heck, you could probably stroll right in there and be Head Curse-Breaker on your first day once they learn you broke your first curse at the age of like twelve.” Keira couldn’t help but smile at his compliment. She was really going to miss him and was going to drown him in letters, needing his wisdom and reassurance. He had easily become one of her dearest and closest best friend. And after all this was over, if she survived it, working alongside her brotherly best friend would be nice. Could be fun. Almost ideal even! Could be worse…

“Okay, you two are depressing me now. Go have fun,” Bill instructed, shooing them away.

“But-”

“No buts! You can’t spend all night crying over me, literally. Go have fun,” Bill demanded. “And I’ll see you on the dance floor or by the punch bowl. This isn’t goodbye just yet. This is about celebrating all the great times and adventures we had here together. Tomorrow we can have our tear-filled goodbyes.” Well, he did have a point. Tonight was supposed to be fun, a party. Tomorrow, on their official last day they could all cry and hug Bill and never let him go.

Despite this being Bill’s last hoorah with them, at least for now, the gang had a really fun night. They ate, drank, talked, laughed, and danced together. Rowan, albeit a somewhat awkward dancer and therefore a bit shy at first, was swung around the dance floor by Diego who seemed to really help her let loose and not be so self-conscious about her dancing. Tonks and Tulips darted all around the ball, setting off their pranks and then hurrying back over to their friends to dance with them, like they’ve been there the entire time, hide behind them, or sometimes even under the table to escape from Filch and his wrath. Tonks tried to get herself, Ben, and Talbott when he was suddenly located, “just checking things out” after claiming to not want to attend this “stupid event,” to be crowd surfed, only to have her efforts thwarted each time, unfortunately. Barnaby kept his promise and saved a dance for Keira which also provided him with the opportunity to surprise the group with his waltz and general ballroom dance skills. Didn’t all pureblood families, at least those wealthy pureblood families, learn classic, perhaps even archaic, proper etiquette such as ballroom dance or playing a classical musical instrument? (No guitars here!) Anything to show off to their other rich friends like all that somehow made their children better than others.

Overall it was a night of fun and laughter and happy memories. Memories they could look back on fondly especially with Penny capturing them all on her camera. While laughing and dancing with her friends was a lot of fun, after a while, being surrounded by so many people with so many conflicting, competing noises reverberating throughout the space, it all became a little overwhelming so Keira excused herself and headed out onto the balcony that surrounded the Great Hall.

The fresh air and cool breeze that blew her loosely curled hair was refreshing and welcoming as she stepped out onto the mostly empty balcony. She had to wander a bit to find a space for herself, away from couples who had escaped out there for their own private snogging session. She reached up to adjust the antique looking silver decorative hair pin Penny convinced her to buy for the ball that held back part of her hair before resting against the balustrade of the balcony. The quiet and stillness of the night air was peaceful and invigorating. Keira sighed contently as she enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere the calming night and faint music from inside created.

“There you are.”

Keira turned around when she heard a familiar voice behind her and smiled at her date.

“You’ve been gone for a while, just wanted to make sure everything was okay,” Charlie explained as he walked closer to her.

“Oh yeah, I’m fine. Just needed to get away from all the crowds and noise for a moment,” Keira informed him as Charlie leaned on the balustrade next to her, gazing up at the clear night sky.

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Charlie replied. Keira watched him a moment, admiring how the moon light highlighted his handsome face before turning to rest against the balustrade again and sunk into the comfortable silence that fell between them.

After some time Keira felt someone staring at her and turned to head to meet Charlie’s adoring gaze. There had been other times where she felt someone’s eyes on her such as during class, and she had assumed it possibly was Charlie since it seemed to always come from his direction and her friends always claimed Charlie stared at her and gave him a hard time about it, but any time she looked over he looked away and she never caught him actually doing it. But this time his gaze held strong. He didn’t appear to be embarrassed at being caught or even fazed at all.

Keira shifted nervously under his intense gaze, feeling her face heat up causing her to avert her eyes from his. “What? Why are you looking at me like that,” she asked self-consciously.

“You’re just really beautiful,” Charlie answered softly, genuinely, not trying to be funny and charming, which just caused her face to grow redder.

“I think you’ve had too much punch,” Keira replied jokingly, obviously unsure of how to handle a compliment like that delivered so honestly. And she fully admitted she may have some intimacy fears and issues.

Fortunately her comment didn’t seem to offend Charlie or ruin the mood, earning a small chuckle from him which filled her with warmth, although she didn’t really need it when her face already felt like it was on fire. She glanced over at him to catch his usual caring smile which always caused whatever winged creatures that were in her stomach to flutter.

Charlie only broke his fixed gaze on her to glance behind them, back towards where to roaring party was still raging on, as a slow melody began to flow out from the Great Hall and fill the air.

“Come on,” he said, holding his hand out towards her.

Keira looked down at his hand curiously. “What?”

“Let’s dance. They’re playing our song,” he added with a charming smile.

“We have a song,” Keira asked with a small laugh as she shyly placed her hand in his.

“We do now,” Charlie answered before taking her hand firmly in his. He spun her around once, causing Keira to laugh more, before pulling her close to him. He slid his free arm around her waist to hold her securely to him. They swayed along to the dreamy melody, gliding along the terrace as one, the romantic lyrics seeming to narrate the moment between them perfectly.

It was funny. Before he had asked her to the dance, Charlie had always been the nervous, self-conscious one around her. They still spent a lot of time together, talked, laughed, even at his lighthearted attempts at flirting and cheeky charming comments, but sometimes the nervousness would hit him. Then he would be the one with the red face, nervous laughter, and stammering; pretty sure he made quite the fool of himself. But now, ever since she accepted his proposal to the ball he had this new found confidence. Sure, she still caused fluttering in his stomach and his heart to skip a beat, still made him nervous (he did call her an Antipodean Opaleye dragon), but seeing her reaction when he asked her to the ball, getting this chance to act on his newly understood feelings and make this something real somehow ignited this determination and confidence within him.

And on the other hand, normally cool, calm, and comfortable being herself, Keira now found herself being the nervous, self-conscious one. Perhaps it was because before this she was in blissful ignorance of any deeper feelings Charlie may have for her. Sure, she had heard her friends joke about it but she never thought it was real. Charlie wasn’t one to be lusting after others, show any interest in dating or romance, something she and him had talked about before and bonded over since she felt similar, so why would he feel those feelings towards her? And yeah, maybe she did have certain feelings for him but she was too afraid to admit that to herself, let alone anyone else. Although she was pretty sure most of her friends, especially Penny and Rowan had already figured it out based on their comments and questions to her about it.

But as long as she believed there was no way he felt the same way, there was no chance of something more, she was free to be herself, no matter how ridiculous or embarrassing, and still got a very close and reliable friend who she cherished. Now suspecting he may actually have deeper feelings than friendship for her, which was just speculation still since he hadn’t ever actually said anything on the subject, Keira found herself suddenly hyperaware of her behavior, things she said, how she looked, his behavior, things he said, how he responded to things she said, how he looked at her – everything. And it was making her more self-conscious than she had ever been before, especially around him since he was the most accepting, understanding, and least judgmental person she knew. She just didn’t want to do or say anything to mess this up and lose someone so important to her.

They floated across the terrace floor slowly, gracefully, Keira quite impressed and surprised by Charlie’s dancing abilities. The entire time Charlie looked down at her warmly, unable to stop himself from smiling, and while Keira may have needed to occasionally coyly avert her gaze from his, she could not stop smiling either.

The waning moon cast its spotlight upon the dancing couple who moved together harmoniously under the velvet night sky with only the twinkling stars as their audience. The more they danced the more comfortable this felt, the more right it felt.

As the song neared its end, Keira peered up to meet Charlie’s steadfast gaze. Their eyes remained locked as they gradually slowed to a stop but neither made a move to part from the other. Instead, Charlie leaned down to close the small distance between them, his eyes falling half shut as he hesitantly brushed his lips against hers causing a spark to jolt through them both leaving a tingling sensation, a rush of anticipation as their hearts pounded in their chests.

When his lips met hers the first thought in Keira’s mind was how surprised she was by how soft they were. That thought was quickly followed by her utter disbelief and shock that Charlie Weasley had leaned down to kiss her – that he wanted to kiss anyone but especially her! Maybe she should have checked to make sure no one had drank a polyjuice potion and was parading around as him.

His hesitancy, though, spoke volumes.

This was new territory for both of them and until now he had appeared so confident in what he was doing. But now this – there was no turning back from this. Was he sure about his feelings? Was he sure about her feelings? Is this what they both wanted? Did she want this? What if him doing this ruined everything? He was unsure and nervous about making a mistake, which was valid. Neither of them wanted to lose their close friend. But his uncertainty only made her more certain that this was right, confirmed for her how much this meant to both of them. Suddenly she wasn’t afraid any longer of all the what-ifs. This is what they both wanted. This was right. And they would be fine.

Keira smirked slightly against his lips before leaning up to meet him in a silent effort to put his insecurities to rest, her eyes falling shut as she allowed herself to give into the moment. Her gesture provided Charlie with the reassurance he needed. Once he felt the enticing sensation of her lips on his, his eyes fell shut as he felt free to give into his emotions. He kissed her gently at first, both taking their time to slowly enjoy this moment and the awakening and intensity of new feelings and sensations with each other before his arm around her waist tightened and his hand grasping hers moved to hold the side of her face as their kiss grew deeper and more passionate.

Under the night sky they remained wrapped in each other’s embrace, taking a chance on expressing their long hidden feelings for one another. Once again time seemed to still and everything around them faded away until all that existed to the couple were each other and the moon and stars that shone down upon them, preserving this intimate and pivotal moment they designed.

The night sky was suddenly illuminated by countless fireworks set off from the opposite end of the balcony surrounding the Great Hall. Tonks and Tulip promised a grand finale. But neither Charlie nor Keira seemed to even notice them, lost in each other.

Keira lay on the couch in the Slytherin Common Room, staring up at the ceiling with a dreamy look and blissful grin on her face. She knew it was there and probably made her look insane or worse, love-struck, but she couldn’t stop smiling.

“Come on, Keira!” She suddenly felt herself being pulled up off the couch by Rowan who apparently had her inner dancing spirit awakened. The two girls laughed and danced around the Common Room, twirling in their dresses they refused to take off even though the ball had ended hours ago.

“Woo, dance party,” Barnaby cried before literally jumping in to join them. The Slytherin trio laughed as they danced around before Barnaby seemed to suddenly remember something. “Oh yeah, I’m supposed to give you this.”

Barnaby handed Keira an envelope and while she stepped aside to open it, Barnaby and Rowan continued their lively dancing. She studied the plain envelope curiously before opening it and pulling out its contents.

She stared at what she held in her hand in shock.

The picture the envelope bestowed showed her and Charlie on the balcony in the midst of their first kiss under the waning gibbous moon, twinkling stars, and fireworks that shot up in a spectacular explosion in the sky around them. She turned the picture over to see the date written on the back along with a message which caused an eerie chill to creep throughout her body as she nervously looked around the room.

‘I know everything that happens at Hogwarts’ ♥ Penny

Merde – Shit

J’en ai ras le cul – I have fucking had it (with stairs)

Eejit – Idiot

I think it’s safe to say we all know, or can at least figure out, the British slang words (I hope I used them correctly or else how embarrassing!)

A/N: Could I have ended it with them kissing under the night sky on the balcony? Sure. But then this idea popped into my head and I thought it was funny. You can pretend it ends with the romantic scene.(I’m still not perfectly happening with the ending scene of them kissing but I can’t keep obsessing over it and tweaking little things here and there throughout the story, I need to just post it and be done! Also still kind of wish it had a better title but whatever - ugh the perfectionist in me!)

I didn’t write this all in one sitting so hopefully it flows, and again it has been so long since I’ve written something like this but I enjoyed doing it. I know I can tend to ramble and be over detailed and I do love my commas but that’s just me being excited to write this kind of stuff again. Sorry it ended up so much longer than anticipated! I also know I could have just focused on the relationship with Charlie but I love the relationship with the whole gang and wanted to highlight that as well. Oh, and the Rowan and Diego thing – I see one screenshot of them talking/close to each other in DADA and now I kind of ship it? I don’t know…Barnaby could have possibly gone with Liz, I don’t really know her but they both love magical creatures and she is rather socially awkward so I could see her asking him to the dance without him realizing =p Or it was some other girl. Shout out to all the Addison’s out there! I kept seeing this name in reference to the game and thought ‘well this is a popular name I should use it.’

As mentioned before the reference to Charlie realizing his feelings and falling asleep together while studying may be another fic I write as well as a sort of aftermath of the ball where they make it official. I also have some other one shot ideas or headcanons I’ve mentioned in others posts I may actually write out as well (e.g. Keira getting a concussion during a Quidditch match and being caught by Charlie, Keira and Barnaby accidentally knocking a ball into the Potions classroom). I don’t know if anyone would be interested but might be something I do. I am really happy to be getting back into creative writing.

Let me know if you are interested; I noticed some people tag others to keep them updated on their fics and if you’d like that let me know! And if you have any prompt ideas or collab ideas or anything let me know too! I would just really like to connect to others, maybe even make friendships - how crazy would that be =p

~ Hope you enjoyed =)

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ruthandliamgoplaces · 5 years

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Last two weeks in Nepal!

Our last two weeks have flown by, and I am writing this in the air on flight number one to Oman. The next blog entry shall tell tales of our time in Pokhara, a yoga retreat, and then, similar to my fate in Portugal last year - the Great Malaise- I got ill for the last 5 days of our trip!

Back in Civilisation- Pokhara.

After the Annapurna Circuit we spent two nights in Pokhara, a large city located on a picturesque lake with a beautiful bustling and colourful tourist area. Pokhara, busier with tourists than Kathmandu, is the hub for most of the trekking industry and the majority of people stay here before and after their treks. It therefore has lots of amenities to please the tourists, and is awash with hostels, swanky (by Nepal standards) hotels and spa resorts. There are loads of eateries and coffee shops, some restaurants even do pretty spot on Western food and there is a KFC and a Baskin and Robbins! There are also quite a few bars. In this Westernised bubble, many tourists don’t bother to respect the local Nepali cultural customs of modest clothes, and lots of bum cheeks are falling out of short shorts, or biceps peeping out of vests.

After 40 days of the same menus (fried bread, fried rice, fried potato or fried omelette, with fried cabbage, fried onion or fried carrot), we got stuck in immediately to eating different food! Well, not immediately. As usual in Nepal, nothing quite goes to plan. The hotel we had booked had been overbooked... so we had to be moved to a different hotel... as usual in Nepal, no apology is really made for these mishaps, the proprietor just smiles your questioning face into oblivion with his magical spell of “no problem!”. It was a problem, as the hotel we were moved to was not as good as the one we booked, but we still had to pay the price of the original hotel.... ah well. We were so tired, it mattered little. On the plus, we were reunited with our bag (yay!) and spoiled ourselves by wearing some different clothes! Also, we were moved to the hotel we had actually booked the following day, and got to enjoy the luxury! The manager had at least given us the best room to compensate for the night before, and we had a beautiful balcony and amazing views.

We passed two happy days in Pokhara, drinking wine and cocktails, and browsing the many shops selling souvenirs and clothes, and replaced some of our tatty clothes. We also bought some clothes for yoga, as we had decided to go to a retreat for a week!

On the third day we moved to Begnas Tal Yoga retreat, and I took with me about 40 mosquito bites on my feet, acquired from the carefree cocktail devouring session wearing flip flops by the lake. Thank god I didn’t have to wear my walking boots again, as I am slightly allergic and the bites were hot, red, itchy and angry, and kept me unwanted company, right up until we left Begnas!

Begnas Yoga Retreat

We arrived in Begnas after a 25 minute taxi journey from Pokhara, and were greeted by a glorious lake and jungle. Begnas is a very small town, also very popular with tourists but far less developed than Pokhara. It is rural and peaceful, well... peace from traffic. On our first night I had one of the worst nights sleep I’ve had in Nepal due to a very very loud bird, whose song will forever be burned into my mind. The bird was defending its nest in a tree outside our window for the whole week we were there, by singing the same alarming song on repeat with no gaps. It was particularly loud at night, and we were glad we had ear plugs! The song always begins innocently enough, but quickly builds, increasing in volume, pitch and frequency until it sounds like a high pitched squealing menace. I honestly think the bird could be used as an instrument of torture. Everyone at the retreat joked about the bird, as we all suffered it’s pitched perils. We even prayed to it to try and ask it to move trees! Our prayers were mostly unanswered.

The retreat schedule was roughly 6.30 walking meditation, 7.00 Nasal Irrigation (!) 7.30-9.00 Yoga, 9.30 Breakfast, 11.00 Treatment, 13.00 Lunch, 15.00 Yoga Theory, 17.00 Yoga, 19.30 Dinner and 21.00 Mantra and bed. Liam and I avoided the Mantra session and opted for bed and a western media meditation such as going on our phones!

The Nasal Irrigation requires some further explanation... apparently this is commonplace in Nepal... I remain unconvinced.

First, you pour about a decent sized mug full of warm salt water through one nostril, then the other. You tilt your head so the water pours out your other nostril... or if you have a blocked nose, your mouth. Then, you use a variety of techniques to evacuate the contents of your nose, blowing snot and water noisily all over the flowers and hillsides. So much snot comes out that it’s unbelievable that you could have so much. On my first day, water kept pouring from my nose for a good hour or so afterwards! Newcomers feel embarrassed by evacuating the contents of their nose in public... but quickly this process is normalised and you begin to become excited by the contents of your nose, and share tips for removing it, admiring each other’s snot loads. Yep.

The technique is said to clear your nose.. but my nose is never blocked anyway. I embraced it whilst I was there, but secretly mourned my delicate nose mucus which I’m sure does an excellent job and I suspect that my body harbours it for a reason. I also pushed to the back of my mind thoughts of the transmission of hepatitis, as we all merrily shared nasal baths together.

The yoga was really good, and we practiced twice a day in a glorious room with 360 degree panoramic views of mountains jungle and lake. We often stopped to watch birdlife and sunsets, or views of mountains, or laugh about The Bird. The only plague was mosquitos! Oh, and the Gurus mobile phone, his 3 year old daughter, and the ladies who came to take our food orders, who often also interrupted us!

The guru at the retreat was quite the character. As with everything in Nepal, the retreat was not quite like a retreat in the UK. The guru was quite often distracted during yoga or yoga philosophy, by his daughter, or tending some business, or by wanting to tell us some tale, or speak on the phone, or manage his staff. It was a new business, and sometimes it could be slightly chaotic! Things did not really run to schedules, and you never knew what you were going to get. It really didn’t matter though, we thought it was all part of the experience. Liam and I actually quite liked the lack of structure and discipline, we were tired and happy to lay around.

Not everyone agreed though, whilst we were there, one woman left three days early, and another left on the first night, creeping away under the cover of darkness, without telling anyone! We could understand why I suppose. If you were expecting a quiet nights sleep at a retreat, then you actually got a very loud bird, and a 3 year old who screamed periodically in the night! There was also the problem of the monsoon rains which flooded all the rooms several times (we learnt to stem the tides with towels), the lack of hot water (which we didn’t mind), and one guest’s bathroom smelt very badly (ours luckily was fine!). Or maybe it could have been eating your dinner sat on the kitchen floor with the ants and gigantic spiders (again, we didn’t mind).

All that being said, we had a wonderful time. The staff were all lovely and cooked us amazing fresh food every day. Much of the food was grown in the garden or collected from local markets. We saw gangs of wild monkeys cheekily stealing the food during the day! We were treated like gods, and fed constantly!

We also had some pretty amazing treatments. I had a mud bath, which included having my boobs massaged, which was, erm, an experience. In fact, by the end of the retreat, every female member of staff had managed some close encounter with my bare boobs. And I thought Nepal was a country shy about nudity. Not when it comes to doing beauty therapies it seems! The treatments were great though, we had massages, reiki healing, a steam bath, pedicure, oil bath... and were taken out on a boat and had a lovely picnic.

After the week was up, we were given a Buddhist blessing, and I felt close to tears feeling grateful for the experience of the retreat. It wasn’t quite the retreat I expected, but I got so much more. I got to share a week with a Nepali family and some lovely staff, and live in the jungle doing yoga twice a day. We learnt so much about local culture, from arranged marriages, road financing, education, the caste system, the Nepali wars and... unfortunately I also got to learn about illness...

The Great Plague

Having managed to avoid any illness for two months, Liam and I both contracted a sickness in the last week. We were both too grateful it hadn’t happened at any point before, such as at 5000m, to be too upset. Well, emotionally upset- our tummies were very upset! Liam got ill first, and his bug lasted 24 hours. I had to go and beat him.

The day before the end of the yoga retreat, I woke up and evacuated the contents of my stomach... and did so about 60 times that day, out of both ends. It was just litres of water coming out. Of course I googled cholera and thought it sounded the same, but Liam told me I was being a bit dramatic. Which it turns out, I probably was. Probably!

The illness was with me for four days, getting slowly better. But, it caused a great deal of concern as we had a plane to catch, and I wasn’t going anywhere considering I couldn’t even make the en-suite bathroom sometimes never mind go roaming in the wilds away from a room.

Never have I been more humiliated than to poo myself whilst we had an en-suite bathroom. And not just once. Four times.

Luckily, we had travel insurance and they had a telephone GP service. I sought some advice and the GP was hopeful my symptoms suggested a virus which would clear up in time for the plane (not cholera, after all, then). And she was right. Didn’t stop me spending the last 4 days of my holiday in bed though. I moved from the bed at the yoga retreat to a very nice hotel in Pokhara, and that was all I moved.

We didn’t mind too much. We had air conditioning, room service, a very comfy bed, and a TV! Liam even got to watch the football.

The end of Nepal

So, I recovered enough and now I’m in Oman airport. Our last day was spent on a bus to Kathmandu, a bus which we paid double for to have a bus with a toilet (just in case). A bus which broke down, and then we were promptly transferred to cheap bus, with no toilet (thankfully I didn’t need it) and no refund. Futhermore, the bus dropped us off on a different part of Kathmandu, so we had to pay extra on top for a taxi. But it’s ok though, the driver said “no problem”, so there was no problem. Paying double and some more to go on a bad bus. But hey, we made it!

Next stop... driving to France in a week!

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thesydneyfeminists · 5 years

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Fitness Programs For Women aka That Time Vee Joined A Cult

Disclaimer: I am in no way getting paid to spruik these programs (but if they want to throw some money my way, I wouldn’t object) and I am definitely not a qualified health professional. This is all based off my own experiences with these programs and my very poor level of fitness.

Over the last few years, one thing that I’ve learned about myself and had to come to terms with, is that I am shockingly susceptible to a fitness cult. There’s no use denying it, the evidence speaks for itself. Like most people, when I started my “fitness journey” (God, I really am a pod person), I had absolutely no idea about what I should be doing for exercise or eating to fuel my body. My knowledge of nutrition and overall health was basically “go for a run and eat salads”, so it shouldn’t be surprising to hear that when I first lost a large(ish) amount of weight (in 2006), it was just by running on the treadmill and restricting calories in an extreme way – I was also going through a lot of personal issues at the time, so stress played a part as well. So I may have lost weight, but I was in no way healthy, and once I’d stopped running, my weight fluctuated once more.

Cut to September 2015, and I’d decided it may be time to change my life a little. I still ate the way I did when I was a teenager, and unsurprisingly, I constantly felt bloated and sick, and I was drastically unhappy with how I looked and felt. Mind you, this was all personal, I’m not saying I looked bad, but my clothes weren’t fitting properly anymore, and I was tired of it (and too cheap to replace anything). I’d been seeing ads on social media, and hearing from people I knew, about an online program called The Bikini Body Guide (hereafter known as BBG) by Kayla Itsines, that people (mostly women) were getting great results from. So, after obtaining a copy through dubious means (as in, I never paid for it, but received it from someone who did), I decided to give it a go – despite my doubts and reservations that the results from the #bbgtransformation / #bbgprogress tags could be real and/or achieved at home, like the guides claimed. I was very wrong.

For some background, BBG was founded by Kayla Itsines and her partner, Tobi Pearce, in 2013, based off the training regimes Itsines (a personal trainer) had been using with her clients. The first two guides (BBG1 & BBG2) were made available for purchase online as ebooks in January 2014, and the program is relatively simple in theory. It’s a 12 week program that consists of three 28 minute high intensity circuit work outs a week, and for the first month, on your “off” days (the days you don’t complete the circuit training), you have three days of LISS training (Low Intensity Steady State – as in a 35-45 minute walk), and one day of stretching. It then ramps up, and for weeks 5-8, you do the 2-3 days of circuit training, 4-5 days of LISS, and one stretch session. Come weeks 9-12 (the home stretch), you then up your game with 3-4 days of circuit training, 2-3 sessions of LISS, 1-2 days of HIIT training (my least favourite cardio activity – sprints!) and 1-2 stretch sessions. The idea of the resistance circuit work outs, are also pretty simple. It’s broken down two 7 minute circuits with 4 exercises in each, and you repeat both circuits twice – but you do the four exercise sets in each circuit as many times as you can in the seven minute timer. That sounds a little confusing when written down, but basically it means if you get through all your repetitions of the four exercises, you start again at the beginning of that set, and keep going until that blessed 7 minute timer goes off. Then you rest for (a year) 30-90 seconds, and restart the timer for the next set. So it’s easy, you can mostly do it at home with some improvisations (I bought a few hand weights, but when I started, I was literally using bottles of water as my weights, and I used a chair from my kitchen to step up onto).

Example of the way the guides are set up

There are some pros and cons to doing exercise this way, for example, on one hand, you can do everything in the comfort of your own home. I used to put a TV show on and watch that while I did it. Plus, it’s only 28 minutes out of your day, and I found that made it hard to make excuses as to why I couldn’t do it. It also means you don’t have to join a gym if you don’t want to, as long as you can either buy some weights yourself, or substitute with various heavy objects in your house. The biggest thing I took away from doing BBG was that it taught me about habits and routines. Working out stopped being “a chore” for me, and it just became part of my daily routine, something that’s held up to this day. There are some definite cons, however, and I think the biggest one is because it’s an online program, you actually can’t tell if you’re doing the exercises correctly (or in exercise speak, “if your form is correct”). It also gets a little boring after a while, because there’s no variation (this has changed now, since Itsines launched the Sweat With Kayla app where there are at least 3-4 different programs) – I did BBG1 and BBG2 twice over, so I completed 48 weeks all up, and by the end of it, I was bored and ready for a challenge.

Photo of me at 4 weeks, then 24 weeks, and finally, 48 weeks (apologies for the terrible quality).

So for the first time in my life, I set foot in and joined a gym. I started slow, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be strict about going, so I joined one of the cheaper 24 hour gyms, just to get a feel for it. After all, my workouts at this point had only been at home, DIY sort of jobs, and now I was venturing into the scary world of weights and men taking up way too much space. Knowing what I know now, this wouldn’t be an issue, but looking back, I probably should’ve joined a gym just for women. I used to feel intimidated walking into the weights section, where too many buff dude-bros were busy “do you even lift?”-ing, and (it felt like) staring at me. So, I did what I do best in these situations, and in busy hours, I stuck to the cardio section (a treadmill, stair master and cross trainer, I can work with), only daring to venture into the weights section when I worked out at odd hours (the benefit of a 24 hour gym is that I could do a 10pm weight workout – though, unstaffed and only with a panic switch around my neck, luckily I never got into any trouble). But it was the best way for me to learn and gain confidence. After a few weeks of working out late at night to avoid people (mostly men), I finally felt confident enough to start working with weights at normal hours. And I soon learned that no one was looking at me, everyone is too busy doing their own thing to worry about the five foot Korean girl squatting a measly 10kg (total).

Now it’s 2018 and here I am, flirting with F45, the latest cult. F45 (functional training for 45 minutes) started in 2011, and it’s whole schtick is that it’s a fast paced HIIT circuit that goes for 45 minutes, for classes of up to 30 people. Men do attend, but it was initially targeted at women, as the classes are set up like group personal training sessions (and all the people I know who have signed up, are women – not to mention at all the classes I’ve been to are 99% women). I’d seen F45 around for a while, and I’d heard various things about it; how it “changed your whole life” on the positive, and “how I threw up during a session” as a negative. I’d always been tempted to give it a go, but the price tag always stopped me (and the thought of throwing up mid workout, to be honest). But then, just two weeks ago, a brand new studio opened up in my suburb, a 5 minute walk from my house. They were offering a free class on their open day, so I bit the bullet and signed up for it, anxious about whether or not I’d be able to keep up. I was sceptical going in, after all, it’s literally a HIIT class, and I’d done those before, so I didn’t think it would, in the words of Shania Twain, impress me much. Well, as I’ve probably proved by now… you introduce me to a fitness cult, and I’ll want to join. The class I did was Hollywood, a torturous hour mix of cardio and weights training, and though I kept my eye on that timer the whole time, I had an absolute blast (by the way, the me from 2015 cannot believe I’m saying this). The atmosphere is great, you’re in there with a team of 20+ people (all drowning in sweat together), and the trainers are encouraging and really do push you as hard as you can go (one trainer asked if I could do push ups on my toes, and I said that could was a strong word, but sure enough, with her encouragement, I managed to complete my 40 second round on my toes with proper form). There are the standard cringey high fives and supportive cheering (I feel high fiving strangers while covered in sweat is not a pleasant experience for either party involved), but after the class, I felt elated (I also nearly threw up while walking home, but managed to swallow my pride… and vomit, I guess), high on those exercise endorphins, and I really started to understand why people swore by it. So now I’m signed up for the free ten day trial, and I’ve even dragged myself to a few 6am classes (it’s a different class each day, so you can pick and choose which you want to do, and they alternate cardio and resistance days) – I’m at the point where I have to choose what I’m going to do, and I think I’m going to stick with it, at least for the summer, to see if I can push myself a little harder and add some variety to my workouts.

Kayla Itsines, the cult leader of BBG

For me though, it all comes back down to that original program, if I hadn’t started BBG, I never would’ve gained any confidence to join a gym, or even to know what to do in a gym. I’ve heard people look down on the BBG program, or say that the results aren’t real, that the people doing it were already fit when they started (definitely not true, especially in my case), but I think a lot of flack seems to come from the fact that it’s specifically targeted at women and as a result, it’s seen as a waste or time, or something to not take seriously – that’s the real heart of the problem, like most things in society. Things for women are deemed frivolous, not as good, or something to look down on. But the reason Itsines has built this multimillion-dollar empire is because it’s for women. It’s a program designed by a woman, for women, and that goes a long way to proving its worth, in my opinion. Women all over the world swear by this program (I’m one of them), because if you follow it properly, it works. Itsines understands what her target market are looking for in terms of fitness goals, and she gives a very easy guide to achieve them (note: I don’t mean easy as in it’s way too simple to do, honestly I pushed myself so hard in these I threw up in my mouth several times while completing her workouts).

There are many programs out there like BBG, ones targeted for women, off the top of my head, there’s FitazFk and Toned by Ashy Bines, all designed to help women achieve some relatively easy fitness goals. It’s definitely a good way to start, if you’re new to working out and intimidated (like I was) at the idea of joining a gym and jumping right into it. The worst thing that happens with at home programs is you just feel like an idiot squatting while holding a 1L water bottle to simulate weights.

I honestly think fitness programs for women (and especially by women) are essential; they give you routine and structure, they know their target market and teach you to build muscle and strength in a way that’s easy to understand; and most importantly, they create a supportive community online –during my time using BBG, I had my own little #fitfam, with whom I would share progress and exchange tips and tricks. I think that’s probably the best thing about programs like BBG, the community that grows behind it and the support you get from random strangers on the internet, there’s no room for negativity, it’s a safe space that’s all about supporting one another and cheering on successes, but encouraging each other when things are tough. So yes, I may have joined a cult back in 2015, but it changed my life for the better.

By: Vee H

Image sources:

BBG1, Kayla Itsines

Personal photos

https://twitter.com/kayla_itsines/status/758793723270627328

#fitness #women's fitness #women's exercise #fitness journey #fitness programs for women #fitfam #BBG #The Bikini Body Guide #Kayla Itsines #bbgtransformation #personal story #for women by women #feminist revolution

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cherubthefish · 5 years

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Something Fishy

It was early last October when I brought Cherub home with me. I’d been searching the ins and outs of Norwich pet shops for weeks but, by what felt like cursed luck, I could not find the fish I wanted. Each day, as I dragged myself to yet another fish shop, something would get in the way: the shop was closed or their fishes were diseased or they only sold tropical varieties. And then finally - a goldfish, in a bag, in my hand. But then my card would be declined and I'd be back to square one, again. I survived on frozen peas and instant coffee for that week - frozen peas, instant coffee, and no fish.

A lack of research and a straight up ignorance to the ownership of these little swim-fins meant my tank stood empty for too long. Joy, our building’s cleaner (who surpassed her job role in being a second mum to us all), wasn't sure what to do about it. There's a no pet rule in our halls but given the lack of fish in this contained body of water, there was nothing she could really say. So I bought a fluorescent toy pelican to mock us both. Poking out of the sandy pebbles, he did well in the place of a real, live pet.

At worst, these foolish days were time spent bonding with Freya, it sums up the weird and wonderful nature of our friendship; one that blossomed in an aquarium, sparking conversation with the freaks and geeks of our world about the most beautiful, intricate, saltwater creatures; not having the heart to tell them that we were actually after the Boring Barry’s of the underwater kingdom - the goldfish - and not the cool black ones either, the most basic, golden goldfish.

It was getting a bit ridiculous. The longer I had to wait, the more fixated I became. Watering my potted plants was no longer a novelty and the ever-growing pile of clothes on my floor correlated with my regression to teenhood. As I began cooking for the first time in my life, I realised the Cress I’d so proudly grown, was of little use to any meal, ever. Sure, there was the Egg & Cress Roll but it didn’t enthuse me the way food normally would. Most of my flatmates were vegan, too, which meant avoiding an animal-disarming diet was as much to my benefit, as to theirs. I saved my sheepskin coat for weekends away, snacked on sausages in secret and generally became a master in fraud.

Hannah, the only other meat eater in the flat, felt somewhat differently. She’d leave kilos of chicken to defrost on the kitchen counter and stored boxes of old eggs on her desk for drunken misadventures. Once she’d necked a vodka soda or two, she’d throw them at the bedroom doors of our Samaritan friends. It was a well-kept secret that I would sometimes partake in her mockery of good will.

At the end of the first term, when deadlines were pressing, I made a habit of sticking slices of Honey Roasted Ham to the walls of our flat. The only one ever up before noon, I could easily blame Hannah for my methods of procrastination. She’d hardly stand her ground, never able to distinguish this from that in her alcohol-induced hibernations. We clearly weren’t the grown-ups we thought we were. And If I wanted to carry on bumming about in this flat, not attending my lectures, I needed to take on some responsibility.

In my first week of being Cherub’s proud owner, I invited many friends over to witness the legend, brought all the way from London by Megabus. Outlived his pet-shop prediction by a four-hour diversion and a one hour lecture, hidden from sight from nonexistent course friends in a lousy manner. A few odd looks from the left and right but overall dismissed to be the usual, unusual fanatics of campus life. The whole process was slightly unnecessary given the lecture was on a reading I hadn’t done so in the logic of first-year living, had consequently not needed to attend.

Using the time productively, I posted a picture on Instagram, captioned: Meet Cherub. A photo I’d taken earlier that day. No wit necessary, an unfortunate birthmark resembling a Hitler mustache on his upper fish-lip was enough to win the likes of followers, all around. Bets were placed by friends in the comment section, on how long he’ll live. Two days. My brother wrote. One. Hannah bartered. All too aware that he might be dead in the bag as I typed, I warned them that jealousy was not an attractive trait and that if they didn’t watch out he might, in fact, outlive them.

Over the Christmas holidays, we found a spot for Cherub on the kitchen counter of my parent’s house. Nestled into the corner, he was a modest exhibit to the many guests that came and went over those winter months, a reason for our dog to jump up in jealousy, each time they raised their voices in exaggerated exclamation over that fun-sized thing and its fun-sized fins. On boxing day, when our entire extended family had gathered in our North London terrace. I stumbled into a back and forth exchange with my three autistic cousins. They questioned, with childlike reasoning, why, of all things, I would get myself a fish. Seeing me struggle to rationalize the decision, Dad jumped in to help. It’s nice to care for someone, he said. I’ve got her mum but Ally, she doesn’t have that yet!

Dad began to repeat this time and again to anyone who would listen; to his friends, to my friends, to everyone. He’d gage the audience, tweaking his wording accordingly. Just before the New Year, over pizza with some family friends, the subject of romantics came up. They had been teasing their youngest member, Ben, about a girl he’d been seeing. What about you, Ally? They asked, and Dad did not miss his queue. Tell them about Cherub! He cackled. She doesn’t have a fella, so she got a fish. Mouth full of dough balls, my ramekin of garlic butter, licked clean - I denied nothing. Perhaps he was right.

Two years later, after accompanying me through the various car, bus and train journeys to and from Norwich, in my complete indecision whether to continue my studies or drop out, Cherub and I finally settled into our new London life. In months of being overworked and slightly undernourished (sixteen-hour shifts with nothing but a croissant in my stomach), he too lost weight. When I quit the job and spent days munching and crunching on all things sweet, he would get bigger, fatter, thicker. His tank water would fog up in correlation with the dirt that gathered on the floor of my new flat. In a way I’d never intended, he became a mirror up to my life. If I wasn’t caring for myself, I certainly wasn’t caring for him. So each time algae would build up too much, clogging up his oxygen supply, each time I’d slept too little, drank too much and felt clogged inside - I’d clean his tank and by doing so clear my mind.

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eminperu · 6 years

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Dreams Money Can Buy: The economics of a pay-as-you-go vagabond lifestyle

Since my last Facebook post about another jaunt across the world, several people have reached out to me asking the same question: how do I “fund my lifestyle” (copyright Emma). It dawned on me that A) lots of folks are looking to travel the world but B) are not sure how to do that realistically and responsibly. As an additional obstacle, people—even the vagabonds—often get weird and cagey when asked about their finances. Luckily, I’m 100% comfortable letting you know that I’m pretty poor and I’m still living what Cardi B and Chance might classify as close to—if not my best—life. I’m happy to share my strategies for the nomad life as someone who has never considered planning a strong suit and whose butt gets all itchy at the sound of the word “budget.” This is definitely not a how-to, but a how-I-do guide that hopefully can offer one perspective to those who, like me, dream of being homeless and financially insecure—I mean, wanderlusters. Naturally, each point is organized by subcategory titles borrowed from legendary and timeless songwriter Aubrey Graham. Started from the Bottom (now we’re still near the bottom)

Okay, not exactly the bottom, but not far off. I did have some savings before I started traveling, and I think that cushion was pretty important for my peace of mind/not dying famished in the streets. I set a (admittedly pretty arbitrary) bottom line that I would be comfortable—not thrilled, but not fully catatonic—to have when I returned to a more “traditional lifestyle.” I put that amount in a do-not-touch savings account. Luckily, I haven’t really had to dip into this kitty very many times. Though, again, I’m admittedly no financial wizard, I would estimate over the course of the last year I’ve netted about -$2,000. To me, this year, the amount of time I spent not working, and the amazing experiences I have had were worth significantly more than that figure.

God’s Plan/Controlla

You can plan your travels in advance to varying degrees, but it’s crucial to be honest with yourself about how much uncertainty you can stomach without anxiety sucking all the joy out of the cool stuff you’re doing. I’ve had people tell me, “Oh, it’s so crazy how you can just hop on a plane and not know where you’re going next. You’re flying by the seat of your pants!” Two things: 1) I hate pants. 2) More often than not, I do plan at least my immediate next move in advance. This isn’t so much a due my discomfort with uncertainty, but rather how frustrated I get when I’m forced to spend substantially more money on a ticket/room because I couldn’t commit in time. As a general rule, I plan international travel at least a month in advance and try to get things settled for big within-country trips a week before I leave. I make sure to search airline sites directly, especially for within country travel, and I don’t hesitate to call booking sites instead of reserving online to see if if they can cut me a deal—they’re out here looking for that commission. That being said, the best practice is to seek advice from people who have visited or, better yet, live in your destination. Not only can they steer you towards the right locations/companies/etc., they can also advise you when it might be more economical to book real time in-person as opposed to beforehand online (this happens quite a bit, especially in less-developed countries. Trip Advisor is not always your friend, yo.). Plan as much in advance as you need to in order to feel comfortable and excited, not overwhelmed and anxious, for your trip.

Hold On, We’re Going Home

Building off my last point, for me, having a space to unpack my borderline-hoarder amount of clothes and plug in my electric toothbrush is crucial to my mental health. Who doesn’t love a nest? Though a lot of people move intermittently between destinations, I was pretty settled in Lima. Before flying in, we booked a month in an Airbnb. I easily found a three month room to rent on Facebook/Craigslist, and used the same method to find two of my jobs (oh, sidebar—look for and join ALL online Expat groups as soon as you get to a country. Go to a language exchange and ignore the creepy older dudes who try to get you to “teach them English” and look for other expats who are probably new to the area, too). I also knew I was setting up base camp somewhere with an incredibly low cost of living, and that was intentional (Meygan’s intention, not mine, but still).

Mob Ties

This will be a small section, as it deviates from the financial focus of this piece, but I think it’s important: be proactive ASAP in making friends. It’s so, so easy in any city with a large expat population (again, join the Facebook groups). Expats are prone to be quite outgoing, likely share your interests, and probably have lower friend standards than you’re used to! Living abroad is like college, and all the other expats are your new floormates. There will definitely be some weridos, but you’ll sift through them and find the gems. Plus, traveling with friends makes things cheaper, so this section is totally relevant. (Nailed it.)

Hotline Bling

This one is straightforward: Make sure your phone is internationally unlocked and get a prepaid SIM card immediately in each country you go to. I’ve never needed to pay more than $20 a month for talk/text/data (you’ll only really need data) and it is PLENTY (how many of you are looking at your Verizon bill and fuming right now?). International plans don’t make sense in the long run and scrambling from Starbucks to random hostels for WiFi is not a good look.

Nice for What

One of the benefits of living abroad is that as soon as I moved, people started hitting me up to visit and/or meet them places. I’ve had the opportunity to visit magnificent destinations with magnificent friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen in years. If, like me, you’re overwhelming popular and well-liked, you have to be realistic and honest about where you can and cannot travel. Whilst on a budget and trying to function in day-to-day life, sometimes merging plans with friends looking to vacation is just not feasible. Compromising is great; it’s also valuable to let the homies know that this isn’t just a trip for you, it’s your lifestyle (did you just throw up a little bit as you read that? Me too. Sorry). I got super lucky and my friends who came and visited me in my more permanent location—Peru—didn’t force me to go to Machu Picchu 96 times! Every country has a bunch of cool stuff to do, and they were more than happy to meet in Colombia, hop on a jungle excursion, or otherwise with plan something that was in my budget/I hadn’t already done.

In addition to being realistic with my budget and with other people, I had to be realistic with myself, which involved some reprioritizing. I haven’t really bought clothes in the last year. I didn’t make my usual music festival rounds. I wasn’t planning to see my family for Christmas. My shoes, which have amassed an innumerable amount of miles, are essentially all falling apart. Time and time again, I chose experiences over things and I couldn’t be happier with that decision.

Nonstop

Having a job, regardless of the wage, always makes me feel better about spending money. You can make money in a variety of ways, but here’s a hot tip: TEACH ENGLISH ONLINE. I AM NOT KIDDING YOU I WOULD NOT HAVE DONE WHAT I DID THIS LAST YEAR WITHOUT IT. There are a myriad of companies (I’m with VIPKID—lemme talk to you about it and get some $$ for helping you apply) that allow you to set your own schedule and teach online from anywhere with a strong WiFi connection. I taught every weekday in Peru from 6:30 am to 9:00am (and an occasional weekend evening) and was done with my workday by 9:15 in the morning. I was also able to teach when I came back to Kansas, when I was home in California, and when I was traveling, Plus, I get money for referring you desperate plebs.

Let me tell you why VIPKID is infinitely better than getting an in-person job (even teaching English) abroad:

The hours and location are 100% flexible. I can open my schedule weeks in advance or the night before, and I can teach fifteen classes in a row or one single class.

There is no lesson planning. Prepping for teaching is an evil succubus that lures you in and steals your time and also several parts of your soul. The VIPKID platform offers ready-to-use lessons that have a universal structure. I don’t even glance at them before I start teaching. It’s the most low-maintenance, easiest form of instruction I’ve ever been involved with.

You don’t need to worry about getting a work visa. For all the work I did in Peru, I was paid cash under the table, as getting a carnet de extranjera (similar to a green card) is time-consuming, expensive, and difficult. I'm not 100% sure, but I feel like this is the case in most countries.

Yes, I make $20-$25 an hour, which can make you feel no ways (real Drake fans will catch that Easter egg), especially if you’ve been making a steady salary in a a place like New York or SF (let’s not get into it here, but all the more reason to advocate for not paying/treating our teachers like trash). However, it’s consistent money, I can do it anywhere, and $20 goes real far in most places outside the U.S.

The Catch Up

That being said, the side-hustle is EVERYTHING. Proofreading, translating, tutoring, working remotely, waitressing, bartending—anything that doesn’t require a lengthy application process and set hours is ideal. While I was back in the States, I very quickly and easily got a temp job working in my mom’s radiologic imaging office; I got to experience an entirely different line of work and gossip and eat donuts with the girls in the front. I absolutely loved it.

Apps like Grabr or housesitting apps are also excellent ways to make money doing stuff you’re already planning to do. Grabr allows travelers to sign up to bring things to people in their destination country that take too long or are too expensive to ship from their country of origin. This utilized two of my strongest skills—ordering items from Amazon and packing a checked bag weighing exactly fifty pounds. On my trip from the U.S. to Peru, I made over $300. Did I bring a kitchen scale and finely ground white electrolyte powders through South American customs? Yes! Did I assume I’d be going to Peruvian jail? Maybe! Honestly, I was more concerned about the giant car part leaking oil that I brought through TSA in Kansas City (thought about leaving a “This is not a bomb note”—decided against it). The point is: it might have taken a little time, some research, and a bit of aplomb to find opportunities like this, but luckily I had all those things in spades. Disclaimer: Use your judgment. Don’t do weird stuff.

Also, in all honesty, got a pretty cute tax refund this year, seeing as I made a significantly larger sum of money in the half of the year when I was full-time employee in California than when I was a part-time degenerate in Peru.

All Me

As resourceful and savvy as I’m feeling after writing this, I have to come clean. This might be a bit of a bummer for those fiercely independent amongst you: I did not even come close to doing this without a ton of help from my ridiculous circle of incredibly generous family and friends (HAHA GOTCHA, IT WAS NOT ALL ME. SEE? SEE WHAT I DID?) My list of people to thank would surely earn me the wrap-it-up music at the Oscars, but I’ll try anyway: My parents helped my broke ass get home so I wouldn’t be alone for Christmas. My friends from all across the world and all phases of life let me crash with them for weeks at a time (and gave me cute clothes that “looked a little weird on them,” made me banana flaxseed pancakes, and did my laundry). My brother and his smokeshow wife bought me flights and let me move into their giant British mansion to be their nanny (they don’t have kids). My saint of a mother literally gave up her bed and shared her tiny apartment with me, advocated for me to get a job that meant her doubling her workload, and let me eat all her food while standing at the refrigerator like a teenage boy. People have given me advice, contacts, hotel points, and miles. Gratitude will forever be the brush with which the memory of this year was painted.

All in all, I’ve had an overwhelmingly positive, life-changing experience with the joys far outweighing the stresses. It’s not hard to do, and I hope this very Emily-specific example can be of some help to you. Remember, you too can shirk all your responsibilities and run away to a foreign country! Even if you’re 25 sitting on 25… cents.

P.S. If you liked this post, please send me shoes.

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 6 years

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The Fishbone and The Firelily (Part 20)

Azula blinked the remaining visages of sleep from her eyes. Sokka was still deep in slumber, the man had a habit of sleeping in. Not that she blamed him, the frigid air was plenty of reason on its own to stay beneath layers of sheets, furs, and blankets. It had taken much effort for her to get used to the frost of the Southern Water Tribe. All of that time, and she still wasn’t quite acquainted with it. She forced herself to stand, put her hands on her back, and stretched. She supposed that she was as ready as she would be to start the morning. Azula pulled a coat on, no doubt she’d be hearing it from Sokka again, how she wore more layers of clothing than anyone who had ever visited the Water Tribe. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. This woman had a sort of gentleness in her golden eyes, a glow that wasn’t there before. In general her features seemed somehow softer in the company of such a tender expression. Perhaps this was due in part to a lesser use of makeup—things were simpler in the Water Tribe, in that regard. The makeup she did use was limited to a soft sweep of eyeliner and a lighter shade of lipstick. Complimenting the lack of makeup, a thin scar running, uncovered, along her cheek. A scar she hadn’t thought too much of in years. Her thoughts of that endeavor had mostly faded into the background coming up only once in a while, in the shape of a dream, during times of stress. She trailed her pointer along the length of the scar. To some degree, Azula didn’t quite recognize herself, especially now that she found herself adorned in Water Tribe garb. Her hair was longer still with strands pulled through beads of many colors and shapes.

She wandered outside where she was met with another flurry. The snowflakes never seemed to stop falling around these parts. They clung to her lashes for seconds before melting away once more. Adjusting to life so far from home, and so outstandingly different had been a task. Learning to walk on the snow and ice was unexpectedly tedious, there had been a few times when she had placed her foot in the wrong spot and landed face first in the snow. On those nights she’d go home shivering and accompanied by a bought of childish laughter from Sokka, who had apparently been getting a kick out of watching her make friends with the ground. The food, to her dismay, was all of the sea variety. Naturally had to overcome her aversion to its taste. Before long though, she as adapt as anyone else in the villager—if not, very close to it. Even still it had taken the village some time to get used to the presence of a firebender within their walls. Azula was a rather curious thing for them, coupled with being a woman of high birth, she found herself being the subject of many stares. Gradually the number of eyes on her dropped until she was just another woman going about her life; fishing with Sokka, gazing at the curtain of light in the sky when it was present, and on certain nights joining a traditional dance or two. All in all she had grown fond of the place. She had to admit that it was rather laughable, that just as she was getting used to being there, she, Sokka, and Katara would be going back to the Fire Nation. Though she was eager to hear how well Zuko had been taking care of Muzuko in her absence. The child in her hoped that the toad-squirrel was giving him a hard time.

Deciding that it would be best to start packing, Azula ended her reminisce and re-entered the house. Upon doing so, she was greeted with an odor of seafood and a type of spice that had to have been imported from the Fire Nation. The smell of seafood, as it turned out still made her nauseous—oddly enough more than before.

Sokka didn’t miss the appalled look scrunching her face, “Don’t you just love the smell of seaweed and squid?” He held his bowl of seaweed stew right under her nose.

Her lip curled back in disgust, “get that away from me before I throw up.” She pushed the bowl back towards him.

“Good morning, to you too.” He laughed.

“Yes, that was quite a greeting.” She muttered.

“How’s the weather?”

“Roasting, absolutely scorching, Sokka.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s the same as it is every day. Cold and snowing.”

“Yes, but is it a flurry or a sleet, or a blizzard?”

“Does it matter?” Azula asked, already knowing the answer.

“To a good tribesman, yes it does!” Sokka declared offering her a bowl of stew with a scent masked more heavily by Fire Nation spice.

“I don’t know about you all, but I’m stoked!” Katara dropped her already organized suitcase at her feet. “Aang said he would meet us on the boat. And someone still owes me a trip to the royal spa and I’m ready for it.” Azula had to give the waterbender props, the woman’s memory was just as keen as her own.

“Yes, I’m quite read for that myself.” Azula agreed as she forced herself to eat the last of her breakfast, it wasn’t quite sitting well with her that morning. “It will be nice to be in the heat again.” Truth be told she had mixed feelings on the matter—going back would surly reawaken just how much she longed to have lightning dancing on her fingertips. In the Water Tribe it was so much easier to forget…to just put it behind her. No other firebenders were around to remind her of what she no longer had. “You should start getting your things together, I wouldn’t like to miss our boat.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t pack much anyways.” Though that’s what he had told her, the man turned out to be very particular with his belongings. He would question exactly which pair of pants to bring and whether or not he really needed that many pairs of socks.

“I can’t get all of this to fit.” Sokka huffed as he tried to ram another fold of clothing into the pack.

“Here, let me.” Azula offered, only to be ignored by the man who was so invested in getting the job done on his own.

“Just…just give me the suitcase, Sokka.” Azula grumbled, eventually resorting to snatching it from him with an impatient glare.

Sokka lifted his hands. “Alright, alright. No need to get angry.” And then to Katara he mumbled, “she always gets so moody when she’s nervous.”

Azula, who was bent over the luggage, came to an abrupt pause and dropped the shirt she was holding. “I’m not nervous!” She snapped. “And I’m not being ‘moody’.” She finished folding the shirt and put it away neatly.

“You weren’t supposed to hear that.” Sokka gave her a lopsided grin.

“I’ve heard a lot of things that I wasn’t supposed to.” She shrugged. “Anyways, if you want it all to fit you can’t just toss it in, you have to actually fold it up.”

“Noted.” Sokka replied.

“I can’t believe we have to teach you this.” Katara rolled her eyes. “You’re what, thirty now?”

“Twenty-Nine!” He corrected as if it made things any better. He hunched over to give his suitcase one final run through.

“Sokka!” Azula huffed. “You already checked your suitcase thrice over. What’s in there that’s important enough to check it so much.”

“Oh you know, my favorite pair of socks, my best underpants, all of the finer things in life.”

Azula groaned, “say something like that again and I’m leaving you.”

He slung an arm around her neck, “and let you miss out on the true joys of our relationship, not a chance.”

.oOo.

Sokka dug around in his suit case again. He wrapped his fingers around a velvet blue pouch. He couldn’t imagine that it would go anywhere after zipping his suitcase tight, but it still brought him relief to know for sure that it was still there. Between his fingers he fiddled with the pearl on the end of the band that held the pouch closed.

“What’s that?” Katara asked.

“Very important.” Sokka replied. He looked up to see Azula making conversation with Aang. With cautious hands he pulled the pouch open and dumped a necklace into his palm. He turned it over for Katara to see. It was a thing of elegant craft; smooth polished turquoise etched with intricate swirls and bas relief waves. Fixed in the center was a large sapphire and around it looped a series of deep blue onyx.

“Is that…”

Sokka nodded. “I just don’t know when or how I’m going to ask her.”

.oOo.

The air ran hot across Azula’s face, welcoming the princess back into her country. More than anything about the Fire Nation, she missed the way the sun scorched and kissed her skin. The bliss of it, displayed itself quite plainly on her face.

“Oh thank Agni you’re back, this thing is driving me nuts.” Zuko greeted, thrusting the toad-squirrel cage into her arms.

“He’s doing very well then.” Azula stroked the head of her old companion.

“Welcome home.”

“Thank you, Zu-Zu. Be a dear and tell one of the servants to carry my things.”

“First, tell me what you thought of the Water Tribe.” Zuko requested.

“Once you get past the cold, it’s a very charming place. Have you ever seen lights dancing in the sky?” She rather enjoyed the phenomenon—it had become one of her favorite things about the south. “The penguins are pretty lovely too, sometimes they sneak into the house.”

“Well that’s something I haven’t gotten a chance to experience.” Zuko laughed.

“You should try it some time. They kind of just tower of you until you wake up and notice that they’re there.” She put her hands on her hips. “How have things been in the Fire Nation?”

“The usual. Mother has me watching Kiyi in between council meetings. I got a…strongly worded letter from the prison.”

Azula chuckled, “did father have anything worthwhile to say?”

“Just that I’m letting the Fire Nation go to shit and that aardvark-sloth could do a better job than me. He said that uncle is a uh…never mind. He called our mother worthless as well and he didn’t mention you, which is probably a good thing.”

“Wonderful to hear.” Azula replied. “At least we have one constant to rely on when everything else is changing.” She fell back to talk to Katara and give Sokka some time to chat with her brother. Sokka had a few things that he was bursting to tell Zuko, including things about his increased hunting abilities, this new sword he had crafted for himself, and some other news that apparently wasn’t for her to know. “So what kind of petals would you like in your bath?”

“I’m fine with any as long as it comes with a facial mask.” Katara grinned.

“I enjoy rose and pandalily myself.”

“I don’t know, I’m more of a lavender kind of guy.” Aang put in. For all of her people skills, she couldn’t tell if he was joking or if he really wanted to join them.

So she replied, “I’ll make sure you get them.”

.oOo.

From what Sokka gathered, the spa was not quite enough luxury for Azula for one day. He found her that night sitting on the stony ledge of the hot spring, absently kicking her feet at the water below when he approached her. The steam furled and licked her bare skin, rising up aplenty to meet the full moon above. The warm night was made humid by the churning water below. He watched her slip into the spring water. Once chest deep in the water, she closed her eyes and let a relaxed sigh escape her lips. He could tell that she had missed the Fire Nation’s abundant selection of springs. In general, she seemed happy to be home, her fiery mood, efficiently smothered. She tossed a look over her shoulder and patted the water next to her, “join me.”

Sokka striped down and eased himself into the water. He on the other hand, missed the cold air and had to take getting into smoldering water in strides; first getting his ankles used to the temperature, and then his calves, and then his thighs, and so on. She extended her slender arm out to him. He took hold of her hand and she tugged him towards her, letting the water do most of the work.

“It’s a nice night.” She commented. “Lots of stars.”

“I just wish it wasn’t so hot.”

“Is that right? It wouldn’t be a Fire Nation summer if it wasn’t suffocating hot.” She replied. He had a feeling that she’d have it no other way. She trailed her pointer in circles over his chiseled chest. Her demeanor was lax, emitting an aura of leisure. He allowed his hands to glide from her shoulder blades down to her lower back and then some lower. She dipped her head and kissed his neck. “One day we should go to Ember Island together. You’ll find out what it really means to endure Fire Nation heat. If I had my firebending, I’d be able to show you right now.”

“You’re still on about that?” He dared to ask.

“You’re a nonbender, you couldn’t possibly know what it is to have something all your life and then feel it ripped from you.” For a moment he thought he’d effectively pissed her off. But the tempered expression passed in fleeting, giving way to something more somber. “It’s not something you get used to, it’s something you forget about until it comes up again.”

“You’re right, I don’t.” He agreed softly. With that he was holding her listening to the bubbling and hissing of the spring water. She looked up and followed her stare until he was staring at a sea of space dust and a kaleidoscope of stars. The reflection of them in Azula’s eyes magnified their birth-blessed radiance. She swam out to the center of the spring where the moonrays fell directly over her. The glow the moon put on her skin and the shine it put in her hair seemed so natural—she’d been in the Water Tribe for so long it looked right on her. If it weren’t for the vivid color and slanted shape of her eyes, Sokka realized that the princess could easily pass as a tribeswoman.

Gradually, she submerged herself completely. When she came back up she remarked. “I lost something very important in the Forgetful Valley.”

Sokka stepped out of the pool, rummaging through his heap of temporarily discarded clothing. “I like to think that you found something more important to you.” He responded, upon reentering the spring water.

Azula hummed lightly, “maybe so.”

He drifted behind her and fastened the betrothal piece around her neck and slipped his arms under hers in a loose embrace. “I’ll let you decide if you want to keep what you’ve found.”

Azula rubbed the back of his hand with her thumb. “I always keep what I catch.” She smirked.

It was the answer he was hoping for, delivered in such a fashion that only Azula could have successfully managed. Azula slipped out of his hold and let herself float lazily on her back. For a good while he simply watched her glide. He couldn’t place for how long they remained like so. But in due time he was at her side with on hand touching the scar on her cheek and the other held at her back. The stars reflected enchantingly in the delicately thrashing water.

.oOo.

The scar opened up.

At first it was a pinching pain.

And then it was piercing.

And then she was on the floor with a steady stream of blood welling down her cheek and along her neck. The gash grew longer and wider still as she lie on the floor trying to hold it closed. If Azula held on long enough the skin would fuse back together. But the wound just kept splitting open. She wanted nothing more than a moment of peace. As she lay, there came a sudden awareness that there was no purple glow to be seen. On weak arms, she dragged herself to the pool’s edge and peered in. The heart was missing. Yet she could still see perfectly in the dark. She could see her blood drop into water, breaking the solid surface. A few droplets unfurling in smoky clouds turned into many droplets. And then a rain of them until her blood outweighed the water itself.

She felt it, then. The heart—first in her throat and then in her stomach. Pounding out of sync with the heart in her chest. Had she swallowed the heart? Her own lurched. She put a hand on her belly. It was there, she had definitely consumed the heart, though she had no knowledge of ever doing so.

In a flicker of images too fast to actually catch, she was in the other cave, on her back, the stingray beneath her and Sokka to the side of her. He gazed reassuringly into her eyes and she into his. The stingray drifted away and she could see an infinite tunnel lined with crystal clusters.

She still couldn’t find hers.

And in the same merciful that brought her there, she was back on the cave floor in perfect darkness feeling colder than ever. This time she had no clothing, in its place was a horrible sense that she was being watched. Acting without permission of her own, her mouth twisted into a smile. A jagged purple smile. She was paralyzed. Paralyzed and alone with his grin on her face and a distinct beating in her tummy to go with the rapid pounding of her chest. The cave was in her and she could get it out.

She woke with her hand on placed exactly as it were in the dream. In waking, she could still feel the phantom sensation of the heart pounding beneath her fingers. For a moment she couldn’t breathe. For that moment, she feared that the cave was still in her. She rolled over and pressed herself up against Sokka, a new desire seeping into her soul. A certain and sudden sense of purpose.

.oOo.

Azula seemed to be deep in thought when he sat up for himself. She was as close to him as she could possibly get, but her eyes were so far away. His concern was short lived, for the minute she noticed that he was awake, she came back to the present and sat up.

Without getting up himself, he asked, “what’s wrong?”

Azula sat with her hands clasped together on her lap, seeming to stare off for some time. “I have to go back there.” She said at last. “To the Forgetful Valley. To the cave.”

“Why would you want to do that?” He asked.

“Resolve, I suppose.” She replied, sounding very much like she had something to add. He sat quietly and waited for her to elaborate. “You asked me where I’d like to get married. I’ve considered many places; mother thinks I should take the traditional route and marry in the ceremonial temple. This family hasn’t been very traditional at all lately, so why should I?” She languidly inspected her nails. “I’d like to hold the ceremony near or under the mangrove tree.”

“Do you really think that, that’s a good idea?” He questioned.

She drummed perfectly filed and manicured nails upon her chin, processing the inquiry. There was a sense of finality when she simply repeated, “Good idea or not, I need to go back there.”

#Azula #Sokka #Sokkla #Aang #Katara #Zuko #Avatar #Fanfiction

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