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#i refuse to shut up about the wizard being a kid by the way. sorry!

peaches-writes · 3 years

Text

heart attack!

description: han jisung can charm any heart if he wants to but he just wants one, whether he admits it to your face or not.

member: jisung / han

genre: fluff, fantasy, rivals to lovers au, childhood friends to lovers au, witch / wizard au (sugar sugar rune-inspired), royal au, college au, roommates / housemates au, slice of life format, a side of hwang siblings, sunshine twins, cousin chan, and minchan (!!)

word count: 25.1k i’m so sorry

warnings: explicit language, alcohol, some mentions of injuries, a brief episode of someone getting abducted, mentions of a creep being,,,well a creep at public transportation, self-indulgent tooth-rotting cheesiness, idk if i should put a warning for unconscious emotional manipulation but im gonna write that in here anw

note: idk if i want to write little drabbles w this same pairing again since it ended up being so long but i kinda lost the plot halfway lmao lmk if u guys want additional lil drabbles for this hehe + again happy 1k yay!

You don’t always get along with Han Jisung, crown prince of the Eastern Kingdom, for reasons you simply can't limit to the number of fingers and toes that you have. He loves annoying you for the sake of getting a reaction, bratty as far as a wizard prince goes, and prideful among many traits that you were forced to grow up alongside with.

These days, however, you hate the way that he is the only other candidate alongside yourself for the High Crown of the magical world. As if fate didn't just want the two of you to butt heads in school and at royal social functions all the time, suddenly you're pushed to compete with him for something much greater.

For the record, though, it's tradition that all firstborn heirs of the 4 major kingdoms are considered eligible for the highest throne that unites all of your domains. You were going to compete with him either way, just with other people initially involved. However, with prince Hyunjin of the Southern kingdom mysteriously disappearing over a month ago and princess Lia of the Western kingdom subsequently refusing the candidacy, suddenly there was only you and the Eastern prince for the high jury to challenge in their Crown Candidacy exam. Fate and circumstance clearly love you with the way Jisung is always in your line of sight when all you want for yourself is to not be on the receiving end of his teasings and competititve streak all the time.

Though you yourself didn't desire the High Crown at first, the elders continuously pressuring you eventually pushed you into accepting the task. Plus, knowing that it's Jisung—the brat who pulled on your hair during those silly etiquette lessons the high jury made you and the other royals take as kids and embarrassed you when you once confessed your past crush to him in middle school—who would be automatically crowned without a test if Hyunjin isn't found in time and you also refuse made you go forward with it. After all, as much as you personally don't want to answer to Jisung as the next High King, you also think that entrusting the entire magical realm to him is simply not right. You would know, you had to grow up with him.

So, here you are on the night that the Crown Candidacy exam begins, receiving the final blessing from your mother and the high jury with Jisung who has been sneakily trying to poke on your side and get a reaction out of you since the ceremony began. If 15 elders and your mentors aren't surrounding the two of you with their scrutinizing eyes right this very moment, you would've easily snapped on the first poke and blasted the blue-haired boy.

"Stop that," You instead gritted your teeth next to him with the 17th poke to your waist, lowering your voice that only he can hear. "Ji, I swear to the gods—"

Among the circle of witches and wizards chanting ritual protection spells over the two of you, your mentor Younghyun glares at you and Jisung as if in a non-verbal scolding that the two of you should stop "playing around" as he would usually word it. You simply roll your eyes at this in response, earning you more quizzical looks from the other elders.

You also hate the way that Han Jisung keeps stringing you into his antics as his favourite person to mess with. If anything, you're most often in trouble with the elders because of him.

"This part of the ceremony is so unnecessary. I'm bored" He murmurs tiredly under his breath, bringing his hands back inside his black cape and pushing his shoulders back as he stands up straighter once more. "It's not like humans can hurt us. We're the magical ones, hello? Besides, the jury’s already cut the one-year exam by half. What could even happen in that time?”

"Stray monsters can still hunt you there if you don’t stand still." You correct immediately, earning you a look from your own mother this time as she finishes leading the last of the spells. At this point in your unwanted association with him, you don't even care much anymore that you get in trouble because you entertain his antics. You just want him to shut up. "Whatever. It's done."

The prince then giddily springs up in place once all of the spells are casted, suddenly looking more awake than the past 5 minutes of ceremony. "Finally! Okay, thanks for that! We'll be going now!"

"Wait." Your mother calmly interrupts him, perfectly hiding her slight annoyance over you and Jisung as she whips out her blue wand from the pockets of her ceremonial robes. "For the high jury to properly tally the ecure that you'll collect in the human world after this task, we'll be providing you with vessels to keep them."

As she mentions the vessels, a sapphire locket and an emerald ring materialize in front of you and Jisung respectively before settling at the palms of your hands. You're then quick to notice the way that the diamond-cut sapphire encrusted at the center of your locket emits warmth as you place it around your neck, indicating its magical properties.

"These vessels have been modified further to record everything that you collect and any spell or potion that you might use them on while undertaking in this task." Your mother then continues. Simultaneously, Younghyun gestures for you and Jisung to mount your brooms and prepare to fly off into the yellow crescent moon where the portal to the human world lies on its other side. "Though the ecure that you lose is not counted in the final tally, knowing how you used or lost them also contributes to the jury's examination of your magical skills and knowledge."

Jisung chuckles, bumping the bristle end of his broom with yours playfully. "And to see what kind of trouble we'll get ourselves into, right?"

In response, you simply roll your eyes. Your mother, on the other hand, purposely tunes out Jisung's usual antics and continues, "Remember, this exam will determine the next monarch that unites all of the 4 major domains. Collect as much ecure as you can from the humans in the 6 months that you're given with them and you will be rewarded greatly. Until then, have a safe journey to the human world, candidates."

With that, you and Jisung push yourselves off from the castle balcony, heading straight to the crescent moon.

"Last to the other side is a lousy flyer!" Jisung yells playfully into the quiet night, speeding ahead before you could even process his words. “And has to pay for a meal sometime!”

"Ya! Han Jisung!" You increase your speed yourself anyway despite knowing that his words don’t have any ill meaning, catching up to him with ease just as the two of you pass into the portal. “I paid for the meals last time!”

Han Jisung isn't always fond of you, the heir to the Northern Kingdom, for reasons he simply can't limit to the number of fingers and toes that he has. He thinks you're too uptight (especially in the presence of the high jury and the other elders of the bigger royal circle), easily irritable, and surprisingly a bit of a pushover to your kingdom's advisors ever since your cousin, Chan, renounced his royal title and settled in the human world.

These days, however, he hates the way that you've suddenly taken up an interest in competing for the high crown of the magical world alongside him even when you've made it clear countless times before that you only wanted to rule your own kingdom. You only started showing interest after Lia formally refused her candidacy and the elders pushed you more into changing your mind, clearly hinting that you don't want Jisung to automatically be crowned High King.

Do they really think that terribly of me? Jisung has resorted to thinking a lot about these days, even now as the two of you arrive at Chan’s place where you would be staying for the duration of the test. I make a good high king as much as I do the king of my own people! Hmp!

It shouldn't bother him this much, it's just you anyway. But at the same time, it bothers him for this very same reason: because it's you, the know-it-all who always busted his antics to the teachers back in school and embarrassed him to his friends when you confessed your past crush to him back in middle school. Jisung hates the way you challenge and compel him to be petty and competitive all the time, especially in the little things. Like right now, as the two of you argue on who gets the bigger bedroom in Chan's house right after you arrived.

"You know, I was just holding back a while ago because we were in front of the elders but I swear, I won't hesitate to blast you now that we're away." You warn as you try your best to stare him down while he blocks the bedroom door you both want. You have your hands raised to the side, sparks of a spell encircling our fingers and the space between your hands. "Move, Jisung!"

Still, Jisung stubbornly refuses. You two have bickered enough to last you all of your lifetimes and for him to know that you won't really do it. "I was here first! You go to the other room!"

The blue ball of energy in your hands begins to shape itself into a more tangible shape as your brows furrow even deeper in frustration. "But I called dibs on this room to Chan firs—!"

Before you could finish your words, however, Chan peeks his head out from the opposite end of the hallway with a pile of blankets in his hands. "You two still going at it? It's almost 2 AM." He teases in feigned disapproval, approaching the two of you to throw a blanket each of your way. "Come on, give it up, Sung. Y/N gets the big room."

Jisung's initial smug expression contorts into disbelief in an instant while you celebrate with a wide grin and a teasing tongue stuck out at him. "What?!"

"Ha! Thanks, Channie!" You clasp your hands together in satisfaction, the red sparks in your hands disappearing into thin air as you do so, before pushing the paralyzed Jisung out of the way and locking yourself in the bedroom. Once Jisung's pulled himself together at the betrayal, you then briefly peek your head out of the door, sticking your tongue out for the last time before greeting the two boys with a quick, "Goodnight!"

Jisung glares and purses his lips in front of Chan who chuckles at this. "Hyung!" He whines, grabbing the older boy by his biceps and shaking him wildly like how a child would throw a tantrum. "I don't see you for three years and when I do, I get treated like this?!"

"Exactly." Chan nods with an amused smile, tugging Jisung to his side and leading him to his room across from yours. "Y/N was kind enough to visit me here while you didn't even send a letter. I think that's enough to give them the big room."

"Aah, but you already know why I couldn't! I was busy with all the prince stuff!"

"Y/N was too, though? And they’re doing twice the work than you."

"But Y/N's more organized than me!"

"So you agree? My cousin earned the bigger room?"

"No, it’s not th—aish! Bang Chan!" When the older boy in question tries pushing Jisung back to the smaller bedroom, the latter childishly protests by gripping onto the doorframe. "I'm making it up to you now! I'm literally staying here for 6 months!"

"Yeah and I'll definitely treat you to lots of other things for that later. Seriously, Ji, give it a rest. It's just your temporary room for the exam." Chan sighs with a tired laugh, prying the younger wizard's hands off of the doorframe and shoving him inside the room. "Unpack your things and get some sleep. We're having a welcoming party for you two on the weekend."

"You're supposed to side with me here."

"Don't pull that face, you're not kids anymore." Chan chuckles, ruffling the younger boy's hair. "And I'm not siding with anyone. It’s just a room! Night, Sungie."

Jisung opens his mouth to protest, only for Chan to close the door on him and walk back to his own room. With a sigh, the boy defeatedly trudges to his new bed and, after taking out his expandable pouch from his pockets, jumps to the mattress with a muffled groan to the plush pillows.

Jisung also hates how one of his best friends favors you better just because you're cousins first. He's had enough of Chan coddling you before from when you were kids, always taking your side when the two of you bicker and offering you his extra food when the three of you are together, and he would much prefer it if he doesn't see it now that the two of you are undergoing an important exam.

"At least the view's nice." He pouts to himself once he's seated up once more, facing the window that overlooks the city. After just spending ten minutes flying over Seoul and exploring Chan's vast mansion, Jisung gets it a little now. Chan definitely didn't choose this realm over their home for no reason.

If I'm not in line to be king, Jisung thinks to himself, this life also seems nice.

Hovering his hands over the enchanted green pouch, its neatly packed contents of clothes and other personal belongings then emerge from its seemingly tiny space before levitating to their respective places. "Aish, that Y/N!" Jisung yells loudly on purpose, leaning on his side closer to the door to hear your reaction.

Across the hall, while you make a fuss out of unpacking and changing the appearance of some furniture, you yell back, "Shut up, Ji!"

Jisung has many reasons for disliking you at times but, if anything, he lives for your reactions when he purposely annoys you. Even when he knows you’re always a spell away from actually snapping at him, you never actually do and it never fails to amuse him. Scoffing, he lets it slide for now and quietly unpacks.

If attending social functions as a royal has taught you anything over the years, it's to avoid being within reach of Jisung at a party before, during, and after he makes a huge mess of things. You've had your own fair share of spilled drinks to your dress robes, purposely getting embarrassed in front of the elders and other important public officials, and even a huge fight over not wanting to be his dance partner to remind you of this at all times.

Of the places that you and Jisung have to be standing next to each other, it's the parties that you hate having to see him at the most because they bring you nothing but trouble. Chan's welcoming party for the two of you, with witches and wizards living in the human world as well as Chan's own human friends in attendance, is no exception.

"What do you think he's going to do this time?" Yeji snickers next to you on the makeshift dance floor of the house's backyard. Ever since her brother disappeared, she's been staying in the human world combing through every inch of Seoul and trying to retrace what is little known of the steps he took. Naturally, you've stuck to each other like glue since she arrived. "It's been two hours since this party started and all he's doing is—"

"Flirt with every human on the dance floor. I know, that's why I'm not looking over my shoulder. I think that's all he's planning to do in this party, given that we've started with the test." You frown, taking a sip of your beer as the song changes to a more lively one. "This guy's never taken any exam back in school seriously but now he suddenly wants to win this one exam. Weird, right?"

"Hm, maybe he really wants to win this exam and become high king. You can never really tell what goes on in that head of his." Yeji shrugs, blinking twice in quick succession to make her eyes turn red, an indication that she's scanning the venue for the humans' ecures. "Anyway, he's definitely working hard. I see a lot of orange hearts for him as much as there are for you."

Only then do you also turn your head around the place, your own eyes turning blue as you collect the orange hearts of infatuation and green hearts of friendship that people you've met tonight have for you with a non-verbal spell. As you catch these little crystal hearts into your locket, you briefly catch a glimpse of Jisung at one of the foldable tables chatting with three human girls. It somehow irritates you.

"He never lost that cringey fuckboy persona, huh?" Yeji points out once you're done with your collecting, shaking her now empty bottle and frowning once she realizes that it's already empty. "I guess I didn't miss out on much even after being away for a few weeks."

"You talk like you were gone for a year, not 3 weeks." You laugh. When she then asks you if you want to get new beer bottles, you follow her back to the coolers behind Chan's DJ set. "I hate how we'll be seeing more of those again when we start attending uni to collect more hearts."

"Oh, right! You're attending mine, right? You'll be with me, Seungmin, and Ryujin?" When you nod once more, she links her arms with yours and adds, “Gosh, I can just see it now, girls from the different departments flocking the two of you on the first day but especially Sung. A lot of girls I know from uni really dig that e-boy thing he has going on."

You pretend to gag, making her throw her head back in a cackle of laughs. "Humans and their weird tastes in men." You scrunch up your nose, the two of you briefly pausing to politely wave at Chan as you pass by his booth.

Your cousin doesn't hesitate to wave back at you both before going back to his spinning. You and Yeji then head to the back of his area where the coolers of different beverages have been placed.

"Oh shush, didn't you too also have a crush on him way back then?" Yeji teases the moment the two of you are alone again, opening the cooler with a simple flick of her hand. You follow along despite the glare you send her way, your empty beer bottles getting replaced by new ones. "Sometimes, Ryujin and I like to think that you still have a little bit of that."

"No way." You shake your head in denial, picking up a bottle opener from one of the closed coolers and using it over yours and Yeji's. "Middle school was a long time ago. Jisung just irritates the hell out of me now."

"Who irritates who now?" A voice behind you perks up almost immediately, causing you to jump and spill a little of your beer on the grass. When you glance over your shoulder, Jisung's white bucket hat comes into your vision, eventually uncovering his mischievous smile. "Ah, so clumsy. Look, you spilled a little beer on the grass.”

Next to you, Yeji giggles behind her hand while greeting Jisung. You glare at her in response.

"You're annoying." You point out with a pout, thrusting the bottle opener to his chest before linking arms with Yeji. "We're going."

Jisung only shrugs with a smirk, waving goodbye to Yeji as the two of you pass by him to go back to the dance floor. "It makes you look, doesn't it?"

"Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that." You roll your eyes before disappearing back into the crowd with Yeji.

Once Jisung is out of earshot, Yeji then nudges your side with your linked arms. "I'm telling you, there's still a little something. Deep, deep down there." She teases in a singsong. “That’s probably why the banter just won’t die out.”

"Nope, definitely not." You shake your head. "Have you been watching too much of those human dramas while you’re here? It’s playing with your judgement."

It comes even as a surprise to Jisung himself that he hasn't caused a major mishap in this welcoming party so far. Since the majority of the guests started arriving two hours ago, he hasn't done anything troubling besides losing to Ryujin at beer pong and finishing a whole red cup of Chan's jungle juice concoction as punishment almost an hour ago.

It doesn't bother his "instincts for mischief" that much—his mentor's words not his. It means that he's more focused on collecting ecures at the moment with the amount of humans he's mingled with at this party, especially the girls who have taken it upon themselves to flirt with him.

What does bother him slightly, however, is the way you occasionally glance over to him knowingly from across the lawn, as if you're expecting him to do something. You always seem to do that after years of getting roped into his troubles, much like a lot of your childhood friends who'd frequently end up in similar predicaments. Somehow, however, it's always intimidating when it's you looking at him. He personally hates that, the look in your eyes when you're trying to catch him in his mischievous acts.

"Who are you and what have you done to my twin brother?" Felix has been teasing the entire night every time he encounters Jisung. When Jisung pouts this time, while the two share a drink on a couch that was brought out for this party, Felix laughs over his drink and adds, "Oh, so you're really focused on this test, huh? No trouble until this party's over?"

"Why do you guys think I'm not?" Jisung frowns, elbowing his brother by his side. "Geez, Lix, you're supposed to root for me here. If I win, you get to be king too."

In response, Felix waves his solo cup dismissively. "No, no, I think you're doing great! You've caught how much already? Twenty hearts in this party? That's a great start, bro." He comments with a proud smile. "It's just a little new, seeing you all so serious and focused. It's not because you're up against Y/N, right?"

"Ha? Nope, definitely not. It's barely a competition when I'm clearly winning." Jisung shakes his head a little too defensively as he sinks into the soft velvet couch. "I just think it's natural that another kingdom should get the high crown this time and since it's only me and Y/N competing, unless we also find Hyunjin while we're here I should work hard and make it happen."

Just then, Seungmin sits down on his other side with a cup of punch and a small paper plate of sweets from the chocolate fountain. "If Hyunjin was here, he would've whipped your asses in this party by getting all of the human guys and girls with one smile." He points out matter-of-factly. "Plus, if Lia accepted the candidacy, all three of you would've lost even before you left home."

"You never really rooted for me, huh, Minnie?" Jisung feigns sad eyes as he rests his head on Seungmin's shoulder. "And here I thought we're best friends."

"Oh no, I'm totally rooting for you now." Seungmin replies with a dry chuckle, passing his paper plate over to Felix when he holds his hands out in a motion asking for food. "But if the gang was complete, I would've changed to team Hyunjin."

Jisung scoffs at this, swiping a marshmallow covered in chocolate from Seungmin's plate. "Fine, I won’t hold it against you. I miss Hyunjin too."

"Yeji and Chae are doing everything they can to look for him. He'll turn up somewhere, he just has to. Until then, you should just focus more on your exam. Hyunnie would want that." Felix quips in before turning his attention over to you and Yeji at the nearby karaoke mini bar. "Look, that's what Y/N and Yeji are doing right now."

When Jisung looks through the crowd that has gathered around you, his eyes turning a deep green, he sees a lot of orange hearts gravitate over to you, mostly from the uni boys and girls that Yeji, Seungmin, and Ryujin have invited to this party.

"You guys are seeing it too, right?" Felix asks, his own eyes a matching shade of green when he tilts his head over to Seungmin and Jisung. "At least twenty new hearts in a span of 10 minutes, right after they just gave Y/N a bunch of green hearts."

Seungmin nods, his head movements making Jisung's head shake a little on his shoulder. "Yeah. Y/N's really working extra on this." He notes in complete awe. "The competition's really close, don't you think so Lix?"

"Definitely. What do you think, Ji?"

"Nope, definitely not." Jisung crosses his arms and shakes his head in disagreement. "It's impressive but not enough to catch up to me."

But the smallest hint of a frown gracing his features is enough to give his feelings away to his friends. Only now does it fully sink in that it’s definitely a tight competition between the two of you.

one out of six months

At one point, you understood why people would foolishly fall for Jisung. On a really good day, when he's not causing you or anyone too much trouble, you could see his playful side as charming, maybe even too cute for you to admit it out loud. A long time ago, back when you were still so naïve, you had a small playground crush on him too, after all; a crush that ended so badly you're convinced it's where your bickering naturally escalated.

But now, as your days in the human world turn into a month spent fulfilling your Crown Candidacy exam at university with your friends, you just wish that not a lot of humans are so insanely attracted to Jisung. It's nothing personal, of course, you're not jealous at all in that way. Whenever you sit in the library to study, attend classes from late in the morning to early afternoons, or even just sit in the quad with your shared friend group discussing updates on Yeji's search for Hyunjin, however, your competitor is just always being followed by flocks of smitten girls with their orange and pink ecures of crushes on their sleeves, ready to be collected by Jisung's emerald ring.

And you're not going to get started on the rainbow-colored hearts that send him little gifts and love letters at least once a week before classes, sometimes even directly to Chan's house where the third kitchen fridge is now filled with bakery goods stashed along with Chan's fan gifts. Not wanting to admit it to him or any of your friends, you're admittedly quite jealous because he attracts the ecures from the humans so easily while you have to work extra harder in socializing with your human peers to garner even just pink hearts. You hate having to work extra, extra harder just to be on par with him all the time, especially when he seems to be effortless in his ways.

"Before Lix went back to the magical realm, he relayed that Changbin from back home suggested that we start expanding our search for Hyunjin to—" For the sixth time since your group met up at the quad after classes this particular afternoon, another group of girls pass by and greet Jisung, interrupting Yeji in her explanations. Pouting slightly, she then turns to Jisung and pokes him with her pen, snapping the smirk off of his face. "Sung, focus."

Jisung nods quickly, waving Yeji's pen away from his side. "Yeah, let me just collect their hearts real quick."

You roll your eyes in response, nudging Yeji to resume her updates. "Just go on, Yeji." You encourage her, Seungmin and Ryujin nodding along in agreement. For emphasis, you make sure to tap Jisung's hand on the grass with your own pen harshly, making him wince dramatically in pain. "You're extending the search to Incheon, right?"

"Oh, uh yeah. Like I said, Lix said that Changbin suggested Incheon since Hyunjin briefly mentioned it in one of his letters. We'll start looking into it ourselves before this semester is over." Yeji continues on, ignoring the next group of passing girls that Jisung gets distracted over again this time around. "Chaeryoung is going there in the following months, though, to scout the places first. Then, we'll try and follow up with a search of our own. I'll have to ask Chan and the jury back at home if you and Jisung are allowed to go, though, since you're taking your exam."

"Among those places, Hyunjin often went to this stretch of the beach because he was investigating a monster from home who escaped here and took an artifact from our kingdom." Seungmin added, pointing to a location on Yeji's map sprawled over your laptops at the very center of your circle. "It was one of his last assignments here before he suddenly disappeared. We'll probably stay here the longest."

You try your best to listen, adding your own inputs to how your search operations would go while also noticing a couple of people who recognize you and wave your way, but Jisung somehow keeps grabbing your attention by the way he entertains his admirers who greet him shyly as they pass by you group. The playful smirks he sends their way, the polite waves, and the way his hand keeps twitching in between the two of you as he collects the ecures with his own spell keep eating away at your attention span, pressuring you that he's taking the lead in your race.

You also try discreetly collecting your own share of hearts under your breath whenever someone you know passes by but you eventually find it hard finding people while trying to listen to your friends. "Ji, focus." You mumble under your breath after a while, breaking his focus as he collects two more orange hearts.

"Y/N, keep up with me here." He smirks, just as the orange hearts disappear into his ring. "Why are you so distracted by me, anyway? Jealous?"

"I’m not jealous!”

"Guys focus." Ryujin snaps at the two of you this time, chuckling in amusement when you and Jisung both glare at her. "Hey, easy on the stink eyes. I'm just telling you two to listen over here."

"Do as I do, Ryujin, and just tune them out." Seungmin jabs nonchalantly as he and Yeji take down notes of their discussion, not even once looking up at you nor Jisung. "It works out splendidly once you've mastered it."

"Hearing them bicker over random things before was one thing. Hearing them bicker over ecures now is a whole new playing field." Ryujin smirks, particularly to you. "Ah, you guys sound even more like a married couple now that you're competing. Tsk, tsk..."

"No, we're not!" You and Jisung answer in chorus, looking incredulously at each other after. "Ya!"

"Seungmin's right. Just tune them out, Ryujin." Yeji points out without missing a beat, a small smile taking out the initial annoyance from her face. "Anyway, what's important is we settle our plans first. Let the married couple race for the crown."

"Ya! Hwang Yeji!" You scold, flinging your notebook towards her which she dodges swiftly. "I'm listening, I swear."

Yeji gives you a look of mock disbelief in response before chuckling and going back to her work. "Whatever you say."

Jisung won’t admit it to any of you nor his friends’ faces but he may be just a little jealous that you’re catching onto him at a great speed and looking surprisingly nonchalant about it on the outside. You work extremely hard, that’s a given and Jisung respects that as much as the two of you annoy each other. But he doesn’t even have to sneak over to your room at night and check your locket for your ecure count; the boys and girls from uni, the market where Chan forces the two of you to run errands on weekends, and even at Ryujin’s favorite skate park who always take two glances your way wherever you go are enough giveaway to the amount you’re collecting everyday. And it’s a whole lot of hearts. He won’t even be surprised if you’ve managed to collect 300 hearts by now.

And he’s not even going to get started on how fast you manage to take ecures from the same people twice in less than a week, managing to charm same-age neighbors and classmates from good friends to secret admirers in a span of a few days and getting you at least twice the amount for your tally. You have enough hearts on your locket to keep up with Jisung’s count and use your magic leisurely at home. You definitely keep your competitor up on his toes all the time with how you’re giving your all in this competition and it’s gnawing at him to do even better.

What annoys him on top of this, however, are certain kinds of people that look your way, or even Yeji’s and Ryujin’s for that matter. When the three of you aren’t looking and a bunch of passing jocks would eye you weirdly on the quad or at the library, especially since you’re new to the school, his natural instinct is to glare them down until they’re looking away. He sees their purple ecures from where he would sit across from you as you study, a sign of a lusting kind of feeling, and it does nothing but to tick him off into intimidating them until the color fades out.

Seungmin thinks that, in a way, this is cheating and that you’d probably think the same way if you find out since purple ecures are ranked quite high in the tally, just above pink hearts (”Y/N’s gotten mad at you before for going too far or breaking the rules. You, of all people, should know not to get on their bad side.”). When Jisung writes to Felix back home after, however, his twin naturally defends him and says that he’s just looking out for you.

“You guys don’t always see eye to eye, even now that you’re competing against each other,” Felix recorded over the enchanted mail that arrived after your meeting at the quad, Jisung and Seungmin separating from your group to do some more studying at the library. “but you’re just looking out for Y/N and protecting them from any weirdos, like for Ryujin and Yeji. Just tone it down a bit and let them handle it sometimes.”

“See? Lix thinks I’m doing something right.” Jisung sticks his tongue out at Seungmin who simply shakes his head in stubborn disagreement before returning back to his class notes. “I’m telling you, I’m not sabotaging Y/N on purpose.”

“Still, whether they want to collect those purple ecures or not is not your choice to make.” Seungmin points out. Though he agrees with Jisung’s intentions, as he’s been doing the same and looking out for you and your friends in his own ways as well, he also trusts that you can take care of yourself. “Just let them handle it next time, unless they actually do need your help.”

“But—“

“Consider the guys that passed by at the quad the last time you’ll mess with Y/N’s ecures.” “You saw that?!”

Still, it gnaws on Jisung’s conscience when he takes the train home with you later that day, when another purple heart springs up for you as he checks your surroundings and finds it to be from a stranger. What a creep, Jisung cringes internally with disgust before strategically blocking the man out from your sight and standing closer to you, Y/N’s competition but I’m a decent being! Be the bigger person or whatever bullshit.

“Ya, what are you doing?” You push him away with your index finger to his stomach, leaving a bigger gap between the two of you as you stand on the moving train. “Ji, personal space.”

“We’re literally cramped in this train like canned sardines, Y/N. I’m just trying to make space for the people coming in.” Jisung fibs in retort, unknowingly timing his words perfectly with the train making a stop and justifying his next action of taking a step closer to you. This time, he makes sure that he’s towering over you and blocking the creep behind him completely by moving his hand over to the train handle right next to where your hand is. “Don’t make it weird!”

Your expression is surprisingly unwavering now, clearly unamused by his boyish quips. “You’re the one making it weird! You keep hovering over me.”

“Sure, sure, whatever you say.” He rolls his eyes, instinctively steadying you with one hand when the abrupt movements of the train pushes you slightly forwards. “Oops, careful there.”

When Jisung takes one last glance at the creep and finds him still looking over your general direction, the boy finally snaps and sends a little spell over the man’s way, one that makes him itch all over and ties his shoelaces together. This is the last time, Jisung swears to himself with a chuckle under his breath, oh what the hell? Punishing creeps is kinda funny.

two out of six months

The first time Han Jisung spots a red heart that he can collect, it’s 2 months into your candidacy exam and he makes the surprising decision to prolong collecting it by several days. It’s not that Soonyoung from your Math class is aware of this. As far as she knows, Jisung is simply stringing her along much like he does with every other girl he’s flirting with and she doesn’t seem to mind this fact.

But you mind, you and your other friends do a lot. “It’s a powerful heart and costs 5000 points on the point system.” Seungmin even noted himself once on another day that Jisung left your class without Soonyoung’s crystal red heart. You mostly agree on this, coupled with the fact that you can’t steal the heart for yourself to gain more points in the race since it’s not for you. “Just take it, it’s not going to get any higher than that.”

No matter how much you or any of your friends nag, however, Jisung simply lets the days pass doing nothing much about it besides entertain Soonyoung whenever the girl approaches. As his sole competitor in your candidacy exam, you visibly feel the most frustrated out of everyone else by each passing day, especially at the thought that you yourself haven’t managed any red hearts yet.

“It is weird, very not like him but also a bit like him if that makes sense?” Ryujin notes by the 10th day, after you recounted Math class to her as you take a short break together. Today, Jisung agreed to go to lunch with Soonyoung, only to tell you and Seungmin that even then he’s not going to take her heart today. “I mean knowing what happened between you two in middle sch—”

You immediately shake your head before she could even finish her thought, “No, I don’t think that has anything to do with now. Definitely not.”

“It’s not like that! I meant to say that this is even worse than when you had a crush on Jisung. The girl’s ecure is as red as red could go!” Ryujin exclaims, forcing you to cover her mouth with your hand just as Soonyoung and Jisung comically pass by your table at the kiosk to eat lunch together. Slowly prying your hands off once the pair in question are out of earshot, Ryujin then leans over the table and continues, “But even then, he’s not taking it to gain momentum in your exam. Aren’t you a little bit curious why?”

You hesitantly shrug, “I mean, a little...but honestly I think he’s just being stupid. If I were him, I won’t string the girl along, not for this long anyway. It’s a waste of time and effort when he can just pick up the heart and reject her carefully.”

“Then, maybe he has his reasons. If you know about it, you might get an advantage!” Yeji speaks up this time, joining your table late with a huge pile of library books on top of her laptop bag in her hands. As much as this girl has been busy looking for her brother, she also keeps up with her human world cover surprisingly well even when she doesn’t have to with all the studying that she does on the side. “One way to find out, right? I heard Felix’s not that busy these days back home.”

You feign a frown at the two girls agreeing in unison, especially at Yeji as she takes out her phone from the magical realm. “You know, you’re really good at sticking your head into a lot of things even when you’re busy looking for your brother.” You note dryly, making Yeji laugh while dialling Felix’s phone on the other side. “That was sarcastic, Yeji.”

“I’m a great multitasker.” She winks before placing her phone at the center of your table then scooting her chair closer to you and Ryujin, effectively hiding the odd-looking device that projects Felix’s face almost immediately. “Hey Lix!”

“Hi Lix!” You politely greet along with Ryujin anyway, waving to the small projection of the prince on Yeji’s phone. By the faint greenery that surrounds him, you immediately assume that he’s back at home and tending to his personal garden.

“I’m not in trouble, am I?” The younger Eastern prince jokes, greeting the three of you individually after. “What’s up? Seungmo and Sungie not with you three today?”

“Seungmin got held back in class today for a TA offering and your brother’s on a date! Can you believe it? A lunch date with a human girl!” Yeji explains a little too excitedly, you and Ryujin immediately shushing her up. Giggling, the princess continues anyway, “Which is why we called! We just thought it’s a little weird that Jisung’s not trying to catch this red heart when it’s a clear advantage to his tally and maybe you’d know why.”

All the while Yeji explains your purpose for calling, you slowly observe how Felix’s own expression morphs into that of genuine surprise. “What? He hasn’t taken it?!” He exclaims in response after Yeji finishes speaking. “Are you sure? That’s not very like him.”

“Well, why do you think he hasn’t taken it, then?” You suddenly find yourself asking this time, earning you incredulous looks from your peers. Brushing them off, you simply glance over at Felix as he tries thinking of a reason himself.

“Maybe he still can’t reject admirers for shit.” Ryujin snickers under her breath, making you elbow the girl harshly on her side.

But surprisingly, Felix nods absentmindedly to this. “Maybe…”

“Are you seriously agreeing with that, Lix?” You frown. “I think he’s just up to no good.”

“Hey, Ji can act weird and not be up to trouble too, you know.” Felix pouts back. “But honestly, I don’t know why he’s not thinking of taking it either, especially knowing how he’s so proud of getting to receive it alone. Maybe he likes this person, who knows?”

The thought feels so foreign to you, Jisung genuinely liking someone, especially knowing what he did when you were much younger. But when you glance over to your friends, you also notice the same confused looks on their faces.

“Han Jisung...liking someone? Enough to respect their feelings?” Ryujin muses out loud before eventually shaking her head. “Nope, sounds weird. Dangerous! Alien! Y/N, have you been noticing any other weird things from your housemate lately? Maybe he’s been secretly abducted by aliens!”

“Oh stop it, Ryujin! Whatever it is my brother’s planning, I trust that he at least has an idea what he’s doing.” Felix sighs, running a hand through his blonde locks. In the background of his end, the faint voice of Changbin beckoning him over momentarily catches his attention. “If he’s being stupid again, then just let him be. If he does like this person, though, I just hope that he treads carefully while he’s at it. You know how precious witch ecures are.”

“Oh, I know…” You murmur under your breath as you scrunch up your nose, unconsciously glancing over to Jisung and Soonyoung’s table where the two are laughing over something you can’t hear from across the room. When Changbin’s voice grows louder on Felix’s end, you then smoothly steer the topic to a close, “Anyway, sorry for bothering you at this time. Bin’s calling for you.”

Next to you, Ryujin and Yeji agree with nods and smiles as Felix waves his free hand dismissively at this. “No, it’s okay! Just look out for my brother, yeah? I gotta go, Queen Lia just arrived for tea with me and my mom!”

“Oh, then we’ll see you!” “Have fun at tea!” “Say hi to Lia for us!”

Felix waves one last goodbye before ending the call. As his image disappears from Yeji’s phone, the princess is quick to pocket her phone back and turn to you with a raised brow, “So, what do you think? Even Lix finds it weird.”

Personally, you think it’s odd. The thought that Jisung could easily be developing feelings for someone while taking your exam, to someone human no less. You’ll probably never admit it to him but he’s been working hard in collecting hearts up to this point and you know him enough to know that he won’t let himself get distracted with something like this. “What is he planning exactly?”

You’re giving Jisung that look again, through the boy’s reflection on the bus mirror no less as the two of you head to Chan’s studio where he has promised the two of you dinner. The same look you kept giving him during your welcome party just last month, probably without you knowing, rests on your tired features as you listen to music on your phone and rest your cheek against your propped up hand on the window seat you almost threw him out of the bus for. What did I do now? The boy can’t help but whine pitifully to himself as he steals another glance at your direction while scrolling through his phone.

Jisung helplessly rakes his brain for anything that he’s done today that could’ve possibly pissed you off while pretending to look down on his phone, missing the way you shift uncomfortably in your seat as if you were going to ask a question.

“So—” “I meant to ask—”

Jisung’s immediately closes his mouth shut when the two of you speak at the same time, eyes widening when he looks up and sees you already looking over at him directly. Simultaneously, you’re quick to look away from him and cough awkwardly, quietly mumbling out that Jisung speaks first. “Go ahead.”

“What did I do this time?” Jisung immediately goes for it, pouting and sinking into his seat for extra emphasis. This visibly surprises you by the way your eyes widen slightly and you visibly freeze in front of him. “You’ve been glaring at me from the window since it started getting dark outside and it’s starting to get annoying but I’m too tired from today to think of everything that I did today to pinpoint where I ticked you off again.”

Your lips curl down to a frown and you bring your propped up arm back to your side, sinking down your own seat to his level. “I wasn’t glaring at you!”

“Yes you were—” “—No, I wasn’t!” “Yes you—”

“Okay, then, if I was glaring at you like you said, it’s because I meant to ask you something.” You huff before shyly looking away, gazing out of the window again. “W-Why haven’t you...whyhaventyoutakenthatgirlsheart?”

Now, Jisung is even more confused than ever from not understanding a word you just said. Raising a curious brow, the prince nudges you by your shoulder with his own until you look back at him again, uttering a slow, “What?!”

You inhale slowly, as if holding your embarrassment in, before repeating, “Why haven’t you taken Soonyoung’s heart?”

“I—really? That’s what you wanted to ask?” That’s it? So I didn’t do shit? Whew...

You nod, crossing your arms and looking away. “Well, don’t act so smug now! I’m just curious, it’s powerful and worth a lot of points, after all.”

Caught off-guard, it takes Jisung a worryingly long time to answer your question. He looks down on his phone first, with his emerald ring right next to it, before glancing over to the distant LED screen at the very front of the bus, announcing the next stop. “Just because…” He trails off with a reluctant shrug, avoiding the feeling of your curious gaze. If it were any other situation, maybe involving a lower-ranking heart like a yellow, green, or even an orange one, he would be laughing at you and teasing that you’re obsessed with his count or trying to compare it with your own. “You, of all people should know…”

But it’s a red heart, one that’s made him a bit too flustered for him to admit to anyone, even to his own brother. “I don’t know what I’ll do with it.” He answers vaguely because of this, hearing a little ‘oh’ from your side. “I already told Soonyoung over lunch that I don’t see her like that but it’s still red. Her feelings are too sincere for me and I feel like I can’t take advantage of that, not for a competition.”

Jisung doesn’t hear any verbal response from your side after this, not even when the LED screen ahead announces that you’re nearing your stop. When he glances over to you through the window, however, he catches a glimpse of the smallest hint of a content smile on your features.

Only when the two of you arrive at your stop, while you’re following him down the stairs down from the bus, do you nudge him on his side once more and say, “I guess that’s sweet of you. Plus, you’re actually using your head for once.”

Your soft smile momentarily catches him off-guard, freezing him on the sidewalk, until a passerby brushes him by his shoulder and snaps him back to reality. “Y-Ya! What’s that supposed to mean?!”

You wave your hand dismissively at him with a laugh, running off ahead to Chan’s studio. “Last one to the studio is a lousy runner and won’t get dessert!”

“Hey! Y/N! What’s that supposed to mean? Did you just call me stupid?!”

The next day, a ‘secret admirer’ leaves a red apple, a milk box, and an unsigned heart-shaped note on your usual table as you enter Math class. Though the note has your name and its message typed and printed, a simple nonverbal spell that you cast over the gifts reveal a familiar fingerprint.

“So, who’s it from?” Jisung asks, swiftly swiping the apple from your table and taking a huge bite. “How many points are we looking at here?”

You scoff at his action, taking the apple for yourself and biting on the opposite side. “It’s from Soonyoung.” You answer with a mischievous smile, causing your competitor to choke. When you glance over at the girl’s table, your eyes briefly turn blue to see a pinkish heart for you. “I guess you don’t want her red heart, huh? Mind if I make a pink one from her into a red for me?”

Jisung coughs violently, thumping his fist against his chest as he recovers. “Y-Ya! Don’t you dare!”

three out of six months

One thing you’ve been most looking forward to in this Crown Candidacy exam, besides seeing your cousin and friends currently staying in the human world and helping with Hyunjin’s search, is getting to see your cousin’s boyfriend again. Though the rest of your family doesn’t really approve of Minho, mostly since he’s the reason why Chan renounced his duke title in the first place and why your cousin might be permanently tied to the human world in the future, you’ve taken a liking to the guy since you first met him on a short visit 2 years ago and have been looking forward to hanging out in person once more after a long while.

Minho makes Chan the happiest you’ve ever seen him since you were kids, cooks really well, travels the world as a performing artist, and is totally cool with the idea that his boyfriend is a wizard from another realm. Plus, he catches onto magical items really quick, having adapted quickly to using your realm’s inter-world mailing system hence how you’ve been keeping in touch up until this point. You honestly don’t see any reason to hate him, even before meeting him in person. If anything, knowing that it’s Minho that’s keeping Chan from fulfilling his royal duties makes you support your cousin’s decision even more than before.

However, you’re already halfway done with your exam and Minho is still nowhere to be seen. He initially promised you that he’ll cook you and Jisung a meal as soon as you arrived but last-minute plans in his touring schedule with a ballet company held him back abroad, postponing this plan indefinitely and making you focus more on school and helping look for Hyunjin.

That is until you and Jisung came home from your usual Saturday grocery errands to inhale the smell of meat and mushroom soup coming from the kitchen.

“Is Chan cooking?” Jisung raised a brow at this, closing the door behind you and walking further inside the house. “It smells nice, though. So it’s not him?”

You roll your eyes, biting down a laugh at this surprisingly funny quip. “That’s definitely not Chan.” You affirm anyways, excitedly walking past him to the kitchen where you find the familiar back of a person stirring a big pot of soup next to Chan who’s chopping up side dishes. “Minho!”

Jisung follows you to the kitchen and watches from the doorframe as this said Minho turns around, opening his arms out to hug you as you quickly drop your groceries on the dining table and run towards him. Next to you two, Chan stops his own work and laughs at the sight, prying you away after a moment and reminding you, “Hey, hey, Minho’s tired from his flight!”

“Tired? Then you make him cook dinner? I don’t think so!” You giggle, clutching onto Minho like a koala while the said boy pretends to shrug you off. “I was wondering when you’re coming home! You haven’t even written since I came here, you jerk!”

“My schedule was jam-packed until the other day but I promised some magic freaks that I’ll cook them dinner so I came home as soon as I can.” Minho laughs, hugging you back and only then catching sight of a confused Jisung. “Oh, hi there! You must be Han Jisung?”

“Y-Yeah?” Jisung nods slowly in confusion, raising one hand holding multiple eco-bags up in a wave. He hates it when he’s not in the loop of things but more importantly, he hates it when it’s you keeping him out of the loop in particular. Who’s this guy?! “Sorry, and you are?”

“Lee Minho! I’m keeping Chan hostage here on Earth.” Minho formally introduces himself, earning him a nudge from both you and Chan. “What? Should I curtsy? I know your family and Hyunjin’s doesn’t really require it but I don’t know about the others so—”

Oh. At this, Jisung visibly relaxes with a chuckle and finally approaches your little group, settling his own share of the groceries down on the dining table before sitting down himself. Chan then takes this as his cue to reluctantly drag you over next to Jisung while he and Minho finish cooking. “No, no, it’s cool! We’re not at home, anyway.”

“Okay, then, cool. You guys are okay with waiting for a little bit, right? The lamb’s not fully cooked yet.” Minho explains. “I was going to make you two a meal when your exam started but I got caught up in work so—”

“Yeah it’s fine!” You agree eagerly, taking out your groceries and organizing them on the table. “We’ll just fix up the groceries.”

Jisung side-eyes you with an incredulous look in his eyes, something Chan definitely notices as his lips quirk up into a knowing grin before whispering something to Minho. “Why are you so chirpy all of a sudden?” He asks you, helping you take out the groceries and arrange them into their respective shelves.

“What do you mean? I’ve been chirpy since this morning.” You scoff. “Why do you even keep track? I told you not to stare at me, weirdo.”

“Um no, you weren’t. You were complaining about me breathing next to you on the bus a while ago. ‘You’re not helping me get any hearts’ or whatever it was you were rambling about a while back.” Jisung points out with a huff. “And I don’t stare, that’s you! If anything, you’re the weirdo, always up my business!”

“Well, why wouldn’t I complain? I was at the market with you all day! You don’t know how to pick good vegetables and you kept flirting with the store clerks to try and up their orange hearts to pink ones! Then, you wore that stupid perfume again when I told you already that it smells bad! Now we’re at home and you can stay the fuck away from me.”

“Ya, you little sh—”

Across the kitchen, Minho giggles in amusement at hearing you and Jisung bicker live for the first time. You’ve always complained about this Jisung fellow in your correspondence and he’s never had a clear grasp as to why you’re always at this boy’s neck but now that he’s meet Jisung in the flesh and is starting to hear what you two are exactly fighting about, Minho can’t help but laugh into the mushroom soup. “So this is the troublemaker who’s been bugging our Y/N.” He ends up musing out loud. “I see why you need me home now.”

“Believe me, you should’ve seen them grow up together with the other kids. Always fighting over the smallest of things, competing on who’s better, and all that.” Chan rolls his eyes in disinterest, glancing over to you and Jisung as the latter starts chasing you around the dining area with a bundle of scallions. “What you’re seeing right now is barely the tip of the iceberg, Min.”

“Reminds you a little bit of us back then, don’t you think?”

“Ya, and which one am I supposed to be?”

The couple glances over their shoulders to see that you’ve now successfully snatched the scallions from Jisung with your magic and have started to hit him over the head with it. This then makes Chan squint his eyes suspiciously at Minho who only chuckles. “Babe, you and Y/N are definitely related, don’t you think?”

“Do you also want to get hit with scallions?”

Though Jisung was initially wary of Minho at the start of the evening, having only heard of him vaguely from gossip among the other royal kids prior, your cousin’s boyfriend slowly and naturally transitioned over the prince’s good graces as soon as the lamb chops and mushroom soup were served along with stories of Minho’s own adventures and questions about the magical realm. Now that he’s put a name and a face to the person that people back home simply referred to as the reason why Chan left (and who he’s admittedly been blaming as well for the sudden shift in your attitude at the royal courts), Jisung now genuinely believes that the people back at home jumped to their conclusions quickly about Minho.

Minho’s really nice, Chan is really fond of him and you clearly support the two. In return, Minho looks out for you and Chan, you in particular as the older guy proceeds to drill Jisung shamelessly with questions on whatever it is that you’ve mentioned about him in your letters.

Jisung didn’t even know a lot of the things Minho kept rambling on about while you tried so hard to keep his mouth shut next to him by helplessly trying to cover his mouth.

“Y/N talks about you a whoooooooole lot. Like, a minor inconvenience during their royal duties then they’re quick to talk to me about it.” Minho grins playfully, dodging your attempts at shutting him up while he eats his share of the pastry dessert. “When we first met and this candidate exam thing was first brought up, they talked about the other royals briefly but they talked about you in super great detail! Oh, and Y/N was rambling a lot about how you reacted to when they confessed to you in middle school and everything, it was so funn—”

“Minho shut up!”

“It was really funny!” Minho pins your wrists to the table after a while, gesturing towards Chan, sitting next to Jisung across the table, who then uses his magic to switch your places. This then effectively shuts you up as your flustered expression overcomes your face upon accidentally locking eyes with Jisung right after. “But I want to know what actually happened when you rejected Y/N at your magic school? I want the full scope of what happened just so I get both sides!”

“Y-Ya!” You protest, only to be silenced by Jisung this time who laughs as he swallows a mouthful of food. “Ugh, you’re enjoying this aren’t you?”

“Why do you still talk about that, anyway? It was a long time ago.” Jisung chuckles, propping an elbow up on the table and resting his cheek on his palm as he glances over to you with a smirk. “God, you’re in love with me, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m no—” “So, Minho hyung, what did Y/N tell you about that?”

It was in the 7th grade, on Valentine’s Day of all days even, when you confessed your crush to Han Jisung. You actually didn’t plan any of it to happen because you just thought of it as stupid, especially at the thought that almost everything Jisung used to do back then annoyed you and made you think of him as childish.

But Hyunjin somehow slipped you an enchanted cookie on that day as a prank after you confessed at Ryujin’s party the previous weekend that you thought that Jisung was cute sometimes (”I specifically said sometimes and it was one time. Clearly, it wasn’t me who had a problem, right?” “That still doesn’t change the fact that 12-year-old you had a crush on me, Y/N.”). He told you that it was from a batch Felix made for their baking class, bluffing about its distinct strong vanilla scent as a mistake on the younger Eastern prince’s end.

As it then turned out, however, the cookie was laced with a potion that forcefully exposed the true color that your heart reflected towards Jisung in front of the entire cafeteria while the two of you bickered over some mishap that happened in one of your shared potion classes. Being young as he was as well and feeling embarrassed of all the passersby that looked at you both, Jisung’s fight or flight response made him visibly cringe at seeing the surprisingly pink, bordering red, heart and childishly berated you for it until the potion wore off and your ecure disappeared back into the sleeves of your robes. You ran away crying while Jisung didn’t go to school for the few days that followed in embarrassment.

“You were like 12 back then, it happens.” Minho shrugs after yours and Jisung’s messy storytelling. “And for the record, Y/N, if Chan did that to me as Jisung, I would’ve been annoyed at him too. Your rants are totally valid.”

“I’m eating my croissants in peace.” Chan complains, slapping the younger man’s arm. “Don’t drag me into this.”

Simultaneously, Jisung glances over to you and sees a small pout rest on your features. “Well, I don’t know, it’s not really an ‘it happens’ kind of situation if you come from our world.” You point out, glaring at Jisung when you feel him staring at you. “Especially back then. My heart was looking pink and a little reddish for Jisung at the time—ew—which gave him the power to take it if he wanted to.”

Now, this is apparently new information to Minho as he then asks, “You can do that? I thought witches only have one heart so it can’t be taken away?”

“Yeah, exactly.” You nod. “Since we don’t produce the crystal hearts as infinitely as you humans do, it could only be taken if it’s pink or a higher color. It’s the natural law in our world.”

“And if that happens, the witch could become weak, controlled by the other witch who takes their heart, or killed.” Chan quips in this time. “That’s why marriage is sort of a permanent commitment back at home and witches are more encouraged to use human ecure when performing higher-level magic.”

“That’s a bit of a stretch in our case, though! It’s not like 12-year-old me would think of killing Y/N back then.” Jisung purses his lips into a thin line at you, unamused. “You really are a bit dramatic sometimes, you know? What would I even do with your heart?”

“You were 12, Jisung. Who knows what you were thinking back then...if you were thinking at all.” You retort immediately, turning to Minho again after. “That’s why my family’s a bit wary about you, Min, no offense. With you and Chan in a relationship, he can give up his heart to you but if you don’t reciprocate it by exchanging with one of your own, he might get weak or die.”

This then makes Jisung turn to Minho as well, curious as to what his response would be.

Unfazed, Minho smiles and turns lovingly to his boyfriend. “Then, aren’t you lucky I’m obsessed with you, huh?”

“Really now?” Chan chuckles, slinging his arm over Minho’s shoulder and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Then I guess I can stay here permanently, right?”

You pretend to gag as you sip on your water, reminding the older guys that there are “children” in front of them. Jisung rolls his eyes and leans back in his chair at this scene, looking away at the tender display of affection across the table. The two of you don’t even have to check how the pair’s ecures reflect towards each other with your magic to know that they’re a matching bright red.

When he looks over to you, he catches the briefest and fondest smile gracing your expression as you mumble about how “stupidly cute” Chan and Minho are being. Jisung knows he shouldn’t look, not in this moment when he sees you at a vulnerable state and you would slap him over the head if he teases you about it, but his eyes unconsciously turn green and peeks over at your ecure as it watches over your favourite cousin and his boyfriend.

It’s a bright blue, a sign of deep respect and familial love for Chan and Minho. Jisung looks away immediately when you glance up at him curiously, forcing his eyes back to their natural color before he could accidentally see how your heart reflects to him. “What?”

He gets it now. Why you’ve been so uptight in fulfilling your royal duties, snapping just a little more easily these days whenever he annoys you, and acting like a pushover to the elders who keep ordering you around back at home. You’ve been shouldering a lot of the responsibilities back home, both yours and the ones that Chan has left behind, all because you want your cousin to be happy in this world without worries.

“Why were you looking at me?” You pout. “You didn’t check my—ya, Han Jisung!”

“I wasn’t looking at you like that! I was gonna ask you to pass me the cream puffs!”

You begrudgingly pass him the bowl of cream puffs, rolling your eyes before smiling at Minho and Chan again and changing the conversation to something else. “Anyway, Minho, you’re staying longer now, right?”

“I saw what you did at dinner, by the way. Y/N would beat you to a pulp if they knew you were looking into their heart, especially since we were just talking about it.” Chan speaks up after a moment of walking around Jisung’s room, tidying up the fallen music sheets on the ground and closing the curtains for the night. You’ve long stolen Minho from your cousin right after dinner hours ago to binge his tour videos and so he’s resorted to hanging out with Jisung, playing video games until the clock struck midnight.

Jisung pouts as he tucks himself away in bed, turning to his side to face Chan as the older boy continues arranging his “messy” work table. “I looked at how it reflects for you and Minho, not at how it looks at me. Just that, swear.” He clarifies in between protesting over Chan’s actions (“It’s an organized mess!” “It’s a mess, Jisung.”) “It’s almost like your family’s sapphire when it looks at the two of you, bluer than how it looks when Y/N’s with the King and the High Queen. You’re more family to them than their own parents.”

This effectively freezes Chan in place for a moment, a small smile gracing the former duke’s features. “Of course I know that.” He replies, almost as an inaudible mumble from across the room. “That’s why it was so hard to leave at first.”

“Then why did you—?”

“Because Y/N told me to.” Moving to the door and preparing to leave, Chan sees Jisung’s face and continues, “Believe me, I was even more conflicted than you’re being right now back then. We both know that my own siblings are too young to shoulder the job I’ll leave behind but Y/N told me that they’ll gladly handle it if it meant that I can be happy here. We argued about it a lot, I kept telling them that I can just juggle moving between the two realms, but you know how persuasive and stubborn Y/N can be.”

The last comment makes Jisung chuckle. Of all people, he should know of it the best. “It’s just hard to argue with them.” He nods in agreement. “I heard they’re the one who got you this house and everything.”

Chan nods, slowly putting one foot out of the door. “Y/N cares a lot, sometimes a little too much, that they end up sacrificing a lot and putting their own feelings last because of it. Since I went away, I’ve only ever been worried that they’ll just explode one day, actually, but I know you and the other kids keep them in check.”

“I’d hardly call Y/N relaxed with me.” Jisung pouts, fiddling with his fingers nervously as he confesses this shyly. “I think they just find me annoying…”

“Oh you definitely annoy each other but that’s just how you two are together. It’s all in good fun and that’s good, especially now that you’re going to take much more responsibilities once you go back home.” Chan notes with a shrug, briefly glancing over his shoulder as you and Minho arrive on the second floor. “Just be a little gentler with them. Night, Sung.”

four out of six months

You know better than to expect nothing less from Lee Chaeryoung, one of the best investigators from your realm, as she helped Yeji lead Hyunjin’s search party. When you initially expected that she would finish scouting Incheon before the end of the semester, she came back with the most solid lead that anyone’s picked up since the start of the search party around Seoul with 2 months left on your time in the human world.

Apparently, from the scouring she’s done beyond the initial parameters of the search, a few magic and non-magic folk living around the beach area have seen the Southern kingdom’s prince at a party on the night he disappeared, interacting with a strange group of people they only described by their unusually white hairs, matching snake tattoos, and icy blue eyes. What was even more interesting is that these people were still around the area when Chaeryoung visited but without any sign of Hyunjin. With this, she could only confirm that they’re also from the magical realm.

“They could only be Northwestern ogre witches, I’m sure of it.” Chan commented after hearing Chaeryoung’s report over dinner with everyone present. When Minho then asked about it, your cousin didn’t hesitate to explain, “A group of witches back home who were initially banished to the wastelands because they practiced darker arts and only collected black ecures. Lately, a lot of them have been turning up here and doing gods-know-what.”

“But if they only want the artifact that Hyunjin recovered, why would they still keep him?” You ask, crossing your arms over the dining table as Chaeryoung showed you photos of the location she ascouted on her phone. “Hyunjin’s high-profile too, yes, but unless they want him to collect colored ecures for them, there’s no other reason to keep him captive when there are other magic folk there. Why him?”

“Unless they have something bigger up their sleeves.” Seungmin notes with a frown, closing Chaeryoung’s phone as he grows more and more upset from across the table. When you and Jisung glance over to him curiously, he then meets your eyes and adds, “Maybe we shouldn’t let you two go with us on this.”

“What?! Why?” Jisung is the first to instinctively speak up against this, sitting up taller in his seat. You echo the same question, albeit a little quieter when you see Chan nodding worriedly on your side.

“I have a feeling that they might be after the two of you too from this.” Seungmin explains once Jisung calmed down a bit from his sudden outburst. “Like Y/N said, keeping Hyunjin to collect colored ecures against his will doesn’t seem like a good enough reason, at least not this long.”

“It’s timed perfectly, too, that they caught Hyunjin right before the candidacy exam.” Yeji quips in, belatedly nodding in agreement to Seungmin’s suggestion. “They might be luring you two specifically by using my brother.”

“But that’s just a hunch for now! We don’t know th—”

Chan’s entire disposition in a flash, slamming his hand down on the table a little too loudly and effectively shutting everyone up around the table including Minho. “That’s exactly why we can’t risk it.” He counters firmly and you know, just by the tone of your cousin’s voice, that he already has the final word. “Remember, you and Y/N are here first and foremost because you’re taking your exam. Keeping you on wraps with this search is formalities, at most. Anyway, there’s enough of us here who can look for Hyunjin. You two just stay put until we can sort this out and ensure that this problem stops interfering with the exam any further.”

When you peek over to your right to glance at Jisung’s reaction two seats away, you see him glancing back at you from the corner of his eyes before sighing in defeat. “And if they want our group separated?”

“The house’s enchanted with protective spells. Minho and Ryujin will also stay and watch over you two while we extract Hyunjin over the weekend.” Chan notes, continuing before Jisung could complain further. “That’s final, Ji. We’ll take over from here.”

“Don’t fret too much, Sung.” Seungmin adds comfortingly. “Anyway, if we find Hyunjin, we’ll all stay here for a few days before going back home.”

In response, you hear Jisung slam his back on his seat hard before huffing childishly, glancing over to you as he opens his mouth. Knowing that he’ll throw a fit, you immediately shake your head, forbidding him from doing so. “Fine...” He murmurs under his breath with a sigh, knowing better than to start an argument with one of his best friends at this time. “Just—just bring Hyunjin back quickly.”

Somehow, even when you understand where Chan’s coming from, you also feel somewhat bad for Jisung. You want to see Hyunjin too but your circumstances aren’t exactly favourable to let you be of much help.

As much as Jisung used to hate how Chan coddled you, he hates it even more now that the same behavior is directed towards him, especially in situations like this when he wants to actively help in Hyunjin’s search. The circumstances couldn’t have been more unfavorable to him now: the group finding a lead but at a time when he’s participating in an exam that has him more at risk of being targeted by creatures from the magical realm that have strayed to this world.

On top of this, he hates how he can clearly see that you want to see Hyunjin just as much as he and everyone else does but you’re quicker to comply the moment Chan, and eventually even Yeji, put the two of you on house arrest for the weekend while the rest of the group goes to Incheon. It frustrates him to no end that you keep quietly complying to everyone else when you clearly want to do something else. And, as a result, you end up channeling your energy aggressively elsewhere much like today as you spend most of your Sunday cleaning and redecorating around the expansive house with Minho.

“Can’t you two like, tone it down a bit?” Jisung complains for the third time this afternoon as he plays with the music software on Chan’s laptop, lifting his feet off of the coffee table in the living room when Minho passes by with a vacuum before pushing a levitating plant that hovers too close for comfort to his face. Somewhere, Ryujin has retreated outside to the garden in order to tend to more plants. “The house’s going to get thrashed after a while anyway.”

“And why can’t you help clean?” You ask back in retort, fluffing up the pillows next to him as you occasionally glance over your shoulder to make sure that the levitating objects around the room aren’t falling over. “If you’re just going to complain while we’re cleaning here, you can just go up to your room since we’re done upstairs, anyway.”

Jisung pouts, crawling over to the other side of the sofa anyway when you gesture for him to move. “The sunlight’s better here at this time.” He points to the glass windows. “Just finish up quickly already.”

“If you want to get some sun, you can help Ryujin outside.” You poke back, moving over to the sofa across the coffee table. As you move, the hovering plant pots slowly move to where you want to relocate them to, one moving next to the sofa almost hitting Jisung in the face once more with its leaves. “Make yourself useful, Jisung.”

The witch in question scoffs, closing Chan’s laptop and finally planting his feet back on the floor to a stand. Jisung also hates that tone you use when you order him around because it always makes him do whatever you ask without fail. “Fine, I’m going outside.” He grumbles, trudging to the direction of the back door leading outside and making sure to close the door with a loud thud.

Out in the gardens, Ryujin is busy reviving dried up leaves and flowers while a few watering cans go around to water the trees and bushes. Upon seeing Jisung walking down the mini stairs with a pout and furrowed brows, the younger witch can’t help but laugh, “Y/N banished you outside?”

“I’m supposed to help you but you don’t even look like you need help at all.” The prince continues to grumble, setting himself down on a foldable chair and crossing his bare arms over his chest. “If I do help, I might actually kill the plants. You already know how I’m terrible I am at healing magic.”

Ryujin acknowledges with a hum, turning her attention back to Chan’s mini garden of camellias. “Just sunbathe, look around or whatever, I can handle this.” She assures with a smile. “I won’t tell Y/N too, don’t worry.”

“I think I’ll take you up on that looking around thing later.” Jisung sighs, sinking into his seat and closing his eyes. “I’ll nap for now.”

“He just does whatever you say, huh?” Minho points out to you as soon as you finish cleaning the living room, tiredly taking up the empty space next to you on the couch with two pillows hugged close to his chest. When you open your mouth to protest, “I know I said it’s amusing when you two bicker over stupid things but it’s actually really nice and quiet when you two reach compromise like this. So peaceful.”

“He just knows when to not mess with me. Don’t exaggerate it.” You scoff at this, pushing Minho away from you as you lift your legs up to the coffee table. “He knows that I feel the need to be busy when I’m on edge like this but he was in the way. The least he could do is either be useful around the house too or just stay out of my sight for a while.”

“Don’t be too worried, I’m sure they’re all being careful and getting to Hyunjin soon.” Minho assures you with a small smile, waving his human world phone in front of you as it displays a flurry of messages from Chan. “If it makes you feel better, your cousin’s been asking me about you and Jisung as much as he’s been updating me of what’s happening.”

You frown at this, making Minho chuckle. “He’s been talking to you but not to me? I’m his cousin!”

“He knows you’re redecorating his house in 50 different styles while you wait for him so he just asks about you through me. Don’t get it twisted, Y/N.” The older boy continues laughing, carefully shoving a pillow away from his face when you levitate it closer to him. “Anyway, they said that they’ve confirmed that the ogres are still staying at the beach resort so they’re planning to get to them tonight and confirm if they really took Hyunjin.”

Your expression visibly shifts more positively, eyes widening and mouth hanging agape. “Really?”

“If things go smoothly, everyone, including Hyunjin, would be home really soon. Until then, Chan has asked me to make sure that you and Jisung don’t kill each other or go outside without permission.”

You shove Minho once more at the last statement, mustering up a laugh this time. “Hey, we’re not that childish.” You point out with a pout before another thought crosses your mind. “Oh, right, I can tell Jisung, right? I mean, it’s just an update anyway.”

“Yeah, go ahead.” Minho nods, poking you on your side to get you to stand up. “It’s also getting dark out, call Ryujin in too so we can reheat some leftovers for dinner.”

You scoff at the thought of leftovers for dinner, standing up anyway and heading outside where the sun has indeed set on the horizon. As you walk down the steps leading down to the backyard, you easily spot Ryujin by the back gate as she flirts with one of your neighbors who holds an orange heart up her sleeve but it takes you a moment to see Jisung fast asleep under one of the outdoor umbrellas.

“Ryujin!” You call for your friend, biting down your lip when the girl she’s been flirting with awkwardly looks away and your friend in question consequently glares at you for interrupting her. “Where’s Jisung?”

“There.” Ryujin quickly points towards the outdoor umbrellas on the far corner of the backyard before turning her gaze back on your neighbor whose heart immediately turns a shy pink at this.

You roll your eyes at this with a chuckle before heading over to Jisung, finding him snoring lightly and snuggling into a pillow despite the cold evening breeze. He doesn’t budge an inch when you call his name or poke his side, stirring only when you slap his cheek gently awake by instinctively swatting your hand away and mumbling a string of curses for you to go away. “What?!”

“It’s starting to get cold out here. Come on, we’re eating dinner in a while.” You respond, taking the pillow from him and grabbing him by the arm to help him stand up. When he doesn’t budge, you resort to adjusting his hoodie at least so he doesn’t freeze himself to death. “Minho also said that Chan’s been texting him. Everyone’s okay so far and they’ll interrogate the ogres tonight, maybe even get Hyunjin if they really took him.”

Jisung finally springs awake at this, jumping to a stand in surprise. “What? Really? Is there—well, is there anything else?” He asks quickly, stumbling over his words in shock while you drag him back inside.

Ryujin follows along after a while, running to the kitchen to check what you’re having for dinner. You and Jisung walk a little slower as he rubs his eyes from his surprisingly long nap next to you, somehow not making a fuss this time about your linked arms.

“Sadly, that’s only what I got from Minho a while back so I guess we’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning for anything new.” You answer his previous question as you head to the kitchen where Ryujin and Minho reheat leftovers and make some new side dishes. When you see Jisung’s ears perk up slightly at your words, you quickly add, “Don’t try staying up late just for an update. You should get some more sleep after dinner so you don’t look like a ghost when we see Hyunjin again.”

He scoffs at this, sitting down on the dining table and dragging you along with him on the adjacent seat. “How can I sleep if I know that we’re so close to seeing Hyunjin again after months? I’ll stay up late if I want to!”

“And I’ll kill you two if you stay up all night then get all cranky tomorrow when you have to get to class.” Minho cuts you off before you could even speak, setting the dishes down on the table. “Okay, eat up!”

“That was him, not me.” You shrug at Jisung’s semi-permanent pout with a chuckle, receiving a plate and utensils before thanking Minho for the food. “Eat up, Ji.”

You don’t even have to glance back over to his direction to know that he has his usual determined look plastered over his face again. Because of the new update on Hyunjin’s situation, he’s suddenly more alert now that he might actually take you up on staying awake the entire night.

“Jisung, are you awake?”

Jisung doesn’t really expect you to hold true to your word and check up on him at 3 AM when Ryujin and Minho have both gone to sleep. You suddenly knock on his door while he’s in the middle of a song he’s been trying to write on his guitar lately, startling the poor boy who almost falls off of the window and causes a big fuss about it.

“Are you okay in there?” You ask worriedly from outside after knocking for the 4th time, the doorknob clicking gently after. When only shuffles reach your ear on the other side, you immediately add, “Hey, I’m coming in!”

Jisung doesn’t even have time to protest, catching a glimpse of you going in and closing the door as a tray of mugs trails behind you. Quickly hiding the guitar by the curtains, he clumsily scrambles up to a stand and retrieves the tray from the air, “H-Hi! You made...tea?”

“Those two mugs are for me.” You pretend to swat his hand away jokingly, joining him on the small balcony on the other side of his window. Spotting his guitar hidden haphazardly on the side, you’re quick to pick it up and slide it over your lap while Jisung’s occupied with the tea, strumming a few chords. Only then, do you also notice his music sheets strewn across the balcony, all labelled with the word ‘sunshine.’ “I didn’t know you brought this along. It still plays good, I suppose, but do you still play badly?”

Jisung scowls at you as he sets the tray down next to his notebook, sitting down criss cross once more before swiftly snatching the guitar from your hands. “I play better than you, at least.” Ignoring your protests, he then strums a few chords of his own and continues, “Why are you still awake, anyway? Don’t you have a 9 AM later?”

When he turns to you, he sees you taking a sip of your tea first before answering, “I feel like ditching,” a statement he’s definitely never heard from you before by the way his eyes widen in surprise. “Don’t act so surprised! Uni’s just a cover and a way to get hearts while we’re here in the human world, anyway. Since everyone could be here later and there’s a possibility that we’ll see Hyunjin again with them, I wouldn’t want to miss a second of him back.”

“Don’t tell me, am I rubbing off on you?” Jisung snickers playfully. Deep inside, however, he’s undoubtedly a little impressed. After all, it’s been a while since he’s seen you so carefree outside of royal duties. “This is bad. We’re still competing, you know!”

“Tch, don’t push it. My current count’s quite high so I’m not that worried.” You shake your head in disbelief, leaning back against the windowsill and gazing ahead to the brightly-lit city. “It’s just that it’s been 5 months since Hyunjin’s gone missing and Yeji started combing every inch of Seoul, only to find a lead out in Incheon. I want to see him as much as you do.”

Jisung nods slowly in agreement, picking up the second mug of tea and taking a sip. It’s chocolate matcha, the flavour you always craved on elementary school field trips back in the magical realm whenever you missed home or so Felix once said. “It’s been that long, huh? And we’ve been here taking our exam for 4 months now.” He muses out loud between sips of tea, warming him up in an instant against the unusually cold night. “Time flies a little weirder when you’re on the other side of the moon, don’t you think?”

“I think you’ve just been having too much fun flirting with humans.” You point out, gesturing over to his emerald ring. Over the months, you’ve noticed that the vessels grow warmer every time you reach a thousand points which is roughly every 100 hearts or so. In the rare moments these days that Jisung’s ring has accidentally brushed against your skin, usually at the bus or when passing dishes along, the stone feels intimidatingly hot and almost burning. “How much do you have already?”

“Enough to win against you.” He teases playfully as he hums along to his song, making you scoff. “I mean, it’s been fun. Gaining a lot of ecure here has made my magic feel more powerful but, still, I can’t help but think sometimes that this whole exam would’ve been fun if the 4 of us were complete.”

You take another sip of your tea, listening along to Jisung’s humming. “If Hyunjin didn’t disappear beforehand and scared off Lia and her parents from letting her compete...yeah, I guess it would’ve been much more fun if we’re all competing together and the exam duration was 1 year like normal.” Thinking about it more, you end up chuckling at imagining how this whole exam could’ve gone differently. “But, at the same time, it’s been fun competing with you so far.”

“Going soft on me?” He raises a brow with a smirk. “I know we’ve been stuck to each other like glue for the past months but you should look out for that heart of yours, it might turn pink for me again.”

“I mean you’ve put up a fight so far. It’s a professional compliment, don’t exaggerate it.” You roll your eyes with a slight snicker, making him laugh. You purposely ignore his last comment, though, knowing that he wouldn’t really look into your feelings for him, anything but that. “Maybe you’re the one who’s going soft on me. Seungmin told me about the purple hearts.”

“He what?!” Jisung exclaims, his smug expression instantly morphing into panic as he almost throws his guitar off of the balcony. “Wait, I can explain!”

You shake your head and wave your hand dismissively. “No, you don’t have to! I understand.” You assure with a laugh, placing your hand on his nearest shoulder and making him sit back down when he wobbles over the messy and narrow space. “Though, yeah, I probably would’ve yelled at you if Seungmin told me any earlier but it’s all said and done now, anyway. I appreciate it, actually.”

“A lot of guys were being creeps to you so I thought...I got protective, okay? Ryujin and Yeji were getting stares too so even Seungmin would do the same thing to protect them.” Jisung pouts. “I know we’re in a competition and we’re supposed to rake up a bunch of hearts but your dignity’s much more important than some stupid crown...”

“I know, and I also know that you would’ve done it for Lia if she were here.” You nod understandingly, mustering up a small appreciative smile. Jisung can be sweet if he wants to, you conclude internally. “Ah, seriously, just imagine if there was 4 of us competing. This would’ve been much more fun and less stressful. You would’ve gotten your ass handed to you when you wanted to race to the moon.”

“Tch, Hyunjin would’ve taken all of the red ecures for himself.” Jisung adds, sharing in your quiet laughs now that the conversation’s shifted once more. “Much like how he charms everyone back home. He might even win, like he always does in every challenge the elders give us. He’s just the favourite!”

“I can’t wait for him to come home safely. He’s been gone for too long.” You sigh against your tea, tiredly adjusting to the uncomfortable space of the window. Seeing this from the corner of his eyes, Jisung doesn’t hesitate to pass you a pillow and nearby blankets this time which you’re more than grateful for. “I can’t wait for all of this to be over and go home, just visit again when I feel like it.”

“Me too. I can’t wait to see him.” Jisung sighs, peering down onto the balcony as he adjusts his guitar on his lap. “And I can’t wait to go home, too.”

And just then, the car that Chan used to drive everyone over to Incheon materializes at the front porch, spewing out Chan, your friends, and Hyunjin who’s supported by Seungmin and Yeji.

five out of six months

Hyunjin sports distinctly black cuts and gashes across his arms and legs when you greet the group in front of the house, similar to the ones Chan and Changbin also sported one time when the two also had an encounter with dark magic. Limping on his right leg and supported by his arms, Yeji and Seungmin used their magic to lift him over to the nearest sofa once they’ve reached the other side of Chan’s protective spell from the front door while the rest of the group crash into the vast expanse of the living room.

“I tried healing him as much as I can so it’s easier for you and Ryujin.” Seungmin huffs, tiredly sitting down on the ground by the coffee table. “He’s mostly fine, just exposed to a lot of dark magic.”

“And you guys? Are you okay? Is anyone else hurt?” You ask worriedly, darting your eyes over to Chan, Yeji, and Chaeryoung who all individually affirm to you that they’re not nursing any big injuries. “What happened?”

At that moment, Jisung arrives in the living room with a half-sleepy Minho and a frantically running Ryujin who immediately makes a beeline to Hyunjin and Yeji. Standing next to you, he echoes the exact same question to Seungmin. “What happened? Is Hyunjin going to be okay?”

You kneel down in front of Hyunjin, right next to Ryujin, and examine the cuts and gashes. Meanwhile, Jisung sits next to Seungmin while Minho runs over to Chan. “Turns out, they’ve been keeping Hyunjin to try and get him to activate the artifact.” Seungmin answers Jisung’s question after a moment, taking out the stolen compass that Hyunjin was supposed to retrieve from this world. “Then they heard that you and Jisung were going to proceed with the exam. So they tried using him as bait as well but the protective spells the elders casted on you two made it hard for them to find you even when they planned to separate our group.”

“We got there before they could manipulate my brother into it with dark magic.” Yeji continues tiredly in between casting her own spells, making her smaller wounds and a sprained ankle disappear. “They were quite hostile but we managed. It’s just that Hyunjin still hasn’t woken up since we took him.”

“Then aren’t you glad we stayed at home, Ji?” You mumbled under your breath as you and Ryujin casted spells to identify the magic needed to heal the half-conscious Hyunjin’s injuries. “Hyunjin’s probably not waking up because of exposure. We’ll have to determine just how much dark magic those witches used.”

Behind you, Jisung grumbles stubbornly at your comment. “So, is Hyunjin okay? What’s the diagnosis?”

Hovering your hand over Hyunjin’s chest, his heart suddenly reflects a horrifying black over your magic and making yours and Ryujin’s eyes widen. “Oh no…”

“What?” Suddenly, Jisung’s next to you and peering over Hyunjin’s ecure. “What the hell? Why is his heart black?”

Ryujin then places her hands over Hyunjin’s forehead, going through his fresher memories as her eyes turn a bright blue. “He’s...it’s an ancient spell, a really powerful one.” She eventually concludes, turning to Chan after. “Chan, do you think you can take a look at this?”

Across the room, Chan stands up with Minho’s help, having just treated a healing cut on his leg, and sits on Ryujin’s other side to briefly access the same memories. “The three of us can do it,” He gestures to you and Ryujin with pursed lips. “But it’ll take hours and a whole lot of ecure. We’ll need to purify his heart with an equally powerful spell.”

From the corner of your eye, you see Jisung immediately turn to you in worry, as if he already knows what you’re going to say. “Y/N, don’t—”

But you’re already reaching for your locket, forcing the stone to reveal its contents. “I can give up mine. It’ll save you both your energies and time.” You assure, tuning out Jisung’s protests.

“A-Are you sure?” Ryujin asks worriedly, echoing Jisung’s concerns. Next to her, Chan shakes his head at you in equal concern. “Y/N, these are your ecures for the candidacy exam, you can’t just—not right now when you’re almost do—”

“That’s not important right now. What’s important is that we save Hyunjin.” You nod without any hesitation. “Anyway, I have enough for both purifying Hyunjin’s heart and healing his wounds. It’s fine.”

You then take out more hearts from your locket, the clumped crystals of oranges, greens, pinks, and reds hovering above Hyunjin as he continues lulling in and out of consciousness and his body tries rejecting the prior spells Yeji casted to help him heal. Before you could fully empty out the vessel, however, Jisung’s hand with his emerald ring flies over yours to stop you. “Wait!” He exclaims, startling you, Ryujin, and Chan. “I’ll give up some of mine too. Don’t empty yours out.”

“Ji—”

“—Y/N.” He snaps frustratingly, raising his voice and confusing you further. “Please, let me help! I don’t want you to empty your count, I’m not letting you.”

This seems to effectively catch you off-guard. Jisung then takes this as an opportunity to stop you, not letting your hand go while he summons his own collected hearts out from his ring and firmly making sure that you don’t argue with him further until Chan has reluctantly made sure that you have enough ecures to convert into magic. Even then, he doesn’t let you go by your hand and instead moves his over to your free hand while Chan instructs you and Ryujin on how to purify a black heart.

“J-Jisung.” You call for him once your initial annoyance of him stopping you has died down, eyes widening when he glances back at you with worry. “I need my two hands.”

“Oh, shit. Sorry.” He lets go of your hand immediately, keeping his hands down on his lap before leaving the three of you to check on Seungmin, Yeji, and Chaeryoung. “Sorry…”

You cough out awkwardly as he leaves, glaring at Ryujin when she musters up a teasing smile despite your current predicament.

“He’s right, you know.” Chan comments after a while, instructing you the following spells while the dark color of Hyunjin’s ecure fades to a glowing white.

“Don’t start.” When you send a glare over your own cousin’s way, however, he quickly drops the subject with a shrug.

Purifying a darkened heart, as it turns out, lasts until the very break of dawn as the three of you exhaust the ecures you and Jisung have put out to heal Hyunjin. As time ticks by agonizingly slow for Hyunjin who could only lay back on the sofa and absorb all of your energies to heal himself, Minho eventually gets everyone to clear the living room and sleep in the much more comfortable guest rooms after making sure that no one is greatly injured before hurling himself to the kitchen and make breakfast.

But you see Jisung stay from the corner of your eye, taking up space on your opposite side to steal glances at you or comfort Hyunjin. From the way his eyebrows furrow over his sleepy eyes and how he refuses to leave even when you awkwardly tell him off, you could tell that he too can’t make out your previous exchange.

“—Y/N. Please, let me help! I don’t want you to empty your count, I’m not letting you.” You know that he acted the way he did because it was Hyunjin that you were trying to save, one of his best friends. But the way he sounded so angry, the way he snapped at you in the spur of the moment, a small part of your thoughts wants to make you think that he had other reasons for doing what he did.

“Hyunjin? How are you feeling?” Chan asks after 2 hours of nonstop spellcasting, halting you and Ryujin in your steps after. “Can you sit up?”

Your eyes turn blue at the same time you see Jisung’s turn green, surveying Hyunjin’s heart for any hints of leftover dark magic. Meanwhile, Hyunjin struggles to sit up with Jisung’s help, tiredly groaning under his breath. “Much b-better.” He manages to stumble out after a moment, mustering up a small smile despite the dizzying and overwhelming fel. “Thanks, you guys.”

You sigh in relief, resting your back against the coffee table behind you before nodding. “Finally…”

“Come on, Hyunnie, I’ll move you upstairs.” Chan volunteers, standing up from his position on the floor and briefly stretching his arms out. Turning to you, Ryujin, and Jisung, he then adds, “You guys get some rest too. Just skip for today and tomorrow. I’ll write to everyone back home.”

You don’t even argue against your cousin this time, finding yourself nodding when he gives you the same look he always does whenever you intend on shouldering some work for him. Standing up from the floor, you, Ryujin, and Jisung then head upstairs in silence.

The entire walk, you feel Jisung stealing glances over to you but you decide to not act on it, shaking your head when he suddenly opens his mouth to speak before the two of you could go on your separate ways.

“Y/N, wait—” “Goodnight, Jisung.”

Growing up, Jisung has always relied on two people in helping him through the crisis of accidentally going too far with you: Chan and Felix. Chan, obviously, because he’s your cousin and the only other friend he has who harbors an inkling of a braincell and Felix because he’s everyone’s favourite and he knows the kinds of snacks that get on your good graces. These moments when he’s actually pushed your buttons too far are rare (as much as the two of you like to express your annoyance over each other, you’ve actually come to understand that this is just your dynamic growing up), but Jisung personally keeps a list of steps to do in situations like this anyway. Now more than ever, it seems, because suddenly, it feels weird and awkward being around each other—and not the usual kind.

But as fate would have it, Chan is busy working out how to safely get Hyunjin home and explaining to the elders what happened. If normally Jisung would be asking Chan first about you and what he could say when he confronts you, this time he’s asking all of them to his twin brother who’s more than willing to listen (after listening to Yeji, Ryujin, and Chaeryoung gossip everything to him prior, of course).

“Why did you do that anyway?” Felix points out on the other side of the call, snuggling into a pillow as night falls on both realms. It’s been 3 days since Hyunjin returned and both the house and the officials back at home have been busy arranging his return with Yeji, Seungmin, Ryujin, and Chaeryoung; only allowing for the twins to talk in the late hours of the night. “And you said it angrily too from what Ryujin told me. No offense, bro, I’d feel a little weird if you raised your voice at me, too, then offered up half of your collection on their behalf.”

Jisung groans in frustration, running his hand through his hair as he shuffles uncomfortably around his bed sheets. “I don’t know, it’s just...I was thinking of a lot of things.”

“Like what?”

“This candidacy exam, what Chan told me beforehand, Hyunjin, Y/N…” The older twin purses his lips, taking his eyes away from Felix to gaze down at his hands. The emerald ring is much cooler now after losing ecure but somehow, it feels heavy on Jisung’s ring finger. “I thought that it’d be unfair if they lose all of their ecure at this point in the race, trying to save Hyunjin, then the elders might not be too pleased about it when we return. But most importantly, I thought about what Chan told me when Minho first arrived, about how Y/N’s always jumping at every opportunity to help other people without thinking too much of themself. I was right there with my own vessel of hearts for them to use and if I just let them empty out theirs, then I’d be letting them get the short end of the stick in the long run again.”

Felix nods along understandingly at his brother’s words, all the while trying to hide a smile behind his hand. So Yeji was right! “So why did you call me, then? You seem to have your reasons sorted out, just tell Y/N what you told me.” He shrugs after Jisung’s extensive speech, giggling at the dramatic reaction that he receives from his brother after. “I know you guys aren’t those emotional kinds of people to each other but you said so yourself that Y/N’s been quieter these days and that it’s been eating at your conscience. I say you just go for it and tell them how you feel.”

“I’m not you, Lix. Y/N’s going to laugh at me.” Jisung pouts helplessly. “I can’t just tell them that.”

“You’re so dramatic! It just implies that you care about Y/N like a decent human being. Anyone in your situation who knows what you know about them would’ve been considerate enough to do the same thing.” Felix argues back, rubbing his temples at how the older boy’s acting. “Don’t get it twisted, brother...unless you want it to, of course.”

“Ya, and what’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Figure it out yourself.” Felix sticks his tongue out teasingly before laughing and waving a dismissive hand. “Anyway, Yeji told me that Y/N’s been craving blueberry pancakes lately. You can just make them right now and give it tomorrow so you don’t have to go out.”

“If anything, I want to leave the house right now and never come back.” Jisung grumbles back in frustration before sighing in defeat. “For the first time, I can’t believe you’re no help at all, Lix. I’m hanging up.”

“Tch, you just can’t handle the truth, Sung. Anyway, I have to go too, mom and dad are asking me to come to this thing. I’ll update you on it later! Love you! Bye!” Felix then waves to the call one last time before hanging up, leaving Jisung in the uncomfortable silence of his room.

Jisung sighs against the heavy blankets, throwing his phone to the other side of the mattress before ultimately deciding on standing up and heading to your room across the hall. Fuck it, he thinks to himself, it’s not like I like them or anything like that! Nothing to worry about! Let’s not get it twisted.

When he opens the door, however, the first person he unexpectedly sees outside the hallways is you just as you close the door behind your own room. “Y/N!” He ends up blurting out loud in the moment, catching your attention with wide eyes. Not knowing what else to say, the first thought that comes to mind is, “Are you going to Hyunjin’s room?”

You furrow your brows in confusion, shaking your head slowly. “No, I’m going to the kitchen?”

“O-Oh.” He runs his hand through his hair once more in nervousness, nodding along and hiding the heat rising up his neck in embarrassment. “Well, I’m going there too. Mind if I join you?”

You simply nod in response, walking down the end of the hallway with him in relative silence. He hasn’t seen you much since Hyunjin’s arrived either since you spent most of your time checking your mutual friend for his condition and brewing tea. The dramatic gears in Jisung’s head would like to think that it’s just pure convenience.

“So, what did you and Felix talk about?” “How’s Hyunjin?”

Jisung glances over to you on his right just as you mirror his actions, the gesture somehow making him flustered this time around as he’s quick to look away. “S-Sorry. Um, we just—talked about how things are back home.” He shrugs in his best feigned nonchalance, mentally cringing at how visibly awkward he looks as the two of you go down the stairs anyway. Not that it’s a lie, anyway, he and Felix did talk about other topics besides you. “Everything’s pretty busy back home since the elders are talking about how Hyunjin coming back is going to affect the exam now.”

“Oh.” You nod along almost absentmindedly. “That’s...yeah, I’ve heard about it too. It’s pretty hectic on my mom’s end right now.”

“So...how’s Hyunjin?” Jisung chimes in almost a little too quickly, feeling even more awkward that he accidentally brought up your candidacy exam again. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

You purposely pretend to not notice anyway, answering his questions carefully as you approach a curve into the spiral staircase. “He’s regaining his strength at least. Still on bedrest but he should be okay by the weekend when Changbin fetches him and the others.” The two of you then pass through the living room to get to the kitchen, finding Minho and Chan cuddled up on one of the sofas as they watch a movie on the television.

The kitchen, on the other hand, is deserted when you turn on the lights which Jisung internally thanks every guest in the house for before taking a deep breath. “About what I said back then, by the way…” He starts carefully, catching your attention before you could even detach yourself from him to open the nearby fridge. You freeze a few steps ahead of him, making the poor boy gulp nervously. “Um, I’m sorry that I raised my voice at you. I shouldn’t have done that, even when I was stressing out.”

Much like when he actually did raise his voice, you momentarily freeze in your spot before eventually shaking your head reassuringly and moving over to the fridge. “It’s alright, you don’t need to apologize for that.” You add with a small smile, taking out the fruit bowl from the fridge. “Is that why you’ve been quiet these past days? It’s okay, really.”

“I haven’t been—it’s you who’s—” Jisung stops himself halfway before he could even start another argument, biting down his lip before shaking his head. Walking over to the stove area, he then opens a few cabinets in search of the pancake mix while you shuffle around the area behind him. “A little, yeah. It’s just that it looked like it bothered you so it bothered me too.”

When Jisung then glances over his shoulder, he sees you approaching with the fruit bowl hugged close to your chest. “I thought about it a few times. After that, I just thought that you were bothered so I couldn’t talk to you after.” You explain slowly, voice growing louder as you set the bowl next to him. In the dim lights of the kitchen, he suddenly can’t tell if you’re lying or not. “But it’s all good now. Are you making pancakes?”

Jisung nods sheepishly, finally finding the pancake mix in the deeper crevices of the cabinet and taking it out with a pan and spatula from the adjacent cabinet. “No, but you have to know that—that—”

“Hm? What?” You raise your brows curiously, taking the pan and spatula for him before proceeding to the stove and twisting the knobs to preheat.

“You’re not letting me finish.” Jisung points out with a feigned disapproving situation while quickly preparing the pancake mix, one which you somehow find amusing enough to laugh at. “Come on, don’t laugh, my twin made me say a bunch of things then coerced me into telling you so I’d—”

“Yeah, I know.”

“—So, I appreciate it if you’d lis—wait, you know?!” His feigned expression then turns into one of surprise once more as you nod and break into giggles. “W-What?!”

“You were being really loud, Hyunjin was even complaining to me from the next room by phone that he can’t sleep because of you.” You chuckle in amusement, nudging him by the arm when you notice that he’s slowed down his mixing. “He said something about you complaining to Felix about something or whatever. I don’t know, I was on a call with Lia.”

“Then why did you—? So, you just came out here for pancakes?!”

“No! I wanted to hear what you were going to say! I didn’t hear any word besides the pancakes, I swear...well, not clearly at least.”

By now, all of the awkwardness has immediately dissipated as Jisung stops mixing the pancake mix altogether to turn to you and cross his arms. “You’re unbelievable.” He pretends to roll his eyes and scoff at you, earning him a glare. You then swipe the pancake mix from his hands, pouring them into the pan in big circles. “And you still have the audacity to make me do this pancake mix.”

“Well, you’re already mixing it so might as well.” You shrug with a knowing smile before nudging him again by the handle of the spatula. “Now, go on, what were you going to say?”

Jisung shoots you one last incredulous look but you effectively counter it by encouraging him, promising that you “won’t laugh.” “Ah, well...I just wanted to say that you shouldn’t go all out wasting all of your collected hearts at this point, not when we’re almost done with the exam.” He blurts out, gazing down and fiddling with the fruit bowl while you take spoonfuls of blueberries from it to mix with the pancakes. “I want to win but it won’t be fun if your tally suddenly drops, right?”

When he looks up, you’re raising your brow at his last comment as you make more pancakes. “I mean, I know you want to do what’s best for everyone but you have to look out for yourself too. Geez.” With a sigh, he then corrects which makes you nod in agreement. “A-And I guess lean on us too. We’re your family and friends, don’t shoulder all of the work for us all the time.”

“I doubt I can lean on you.” You tease, flipping through your second batch of pancakes to cook. When Jisung sends a glare your way, you simply stick your tongue out at him. “Kidding.”

“I get all emotional and all you say is that you doubt you can lean on me. Unbelievable…” Jisung scoffs, stuffing his mouth with more blueberries in feigned annoyance.

The blueberry-filled pancakes are all eventually set on a plate you find on your opposite side, stacked up as a tall tower leaning on one side. Carefully passing Jisung the plate, you then twist the stove’s knobs off and reply, “You also made me cook the pancakes you wanted to make for me so I think that makes us even.”

“Y/N!” He whines between mouthfuls of blueberries as you move around him to transfer the pan and spatula to the sink.

You sigh in defeat, chuckling when you meet gazes once more and see him sulking with his cheeks full. “Right, right, I’m sorry!” You then beckon him over to the dining table, taking the fruit bowl on his side. “A-And...you know, thank you for that. We’re all good now, right?”

“If you are.”

“Definitely. Want to eat with me? I still owe you that meal from our first day.”

six out of six months

Your mother as well as the high jury of elders from back home eventually proposed that you and Jisung finish your Crown Candidacy exam while Hyunjin, should he eventually announce that he wants to participate as well in the incoming 6 months, do his under stricter supervision in the following year. This ensures fairness in your situations, that yours and Jisung’s efforts aren’t wasted in the past 5 months while also thinking of Hyunjin who wasn’t around in time for the traditional schedule of the exam. When Hyunjin was escorted home by Changbin and Felix, however, he briefly hinted towards a plan on refusing the candidacy and the exam. He left with the others before you or Jisung could even ask him about it.

Regardless, you and your sole competitor easily fall back into the race as soon as Hyunjin, Yeji, Seungmin, and Chaeryoung have settled their business in the human world and went home, returning to university over a week later to regain the ecures that you lost. Not that it’s suddenly harder, anyway. Timely as it is, an announcement for a school festival at the end of the month has Jisung signing up to perform while you join the organizing committee to spend more time with your human friends.

In the time that you’ve spent in the human world, you’ve made many genuine friends beyond collecting their ecure for your exam, especially in your classmates Yuna and Jeongin. Though they don’t know about your true nature, the two have unknowingly aided you a lot in your mission by accompanying you through the different activities around university.

Yuna, in particular, was even the one who first mentioned the school festival to you, encouraging you to join the events committee with her and invite Jisung to perform. “It’s free backstage passes and we can see all of the artists up close!” She sighed dreamily on the day she showed you the gold and red poster that she picked up from the department bulletin board. “And come on, you’re really good at organizing stuff! We should do it together!”

And more hearts to collect, you thought to yourself when you accepted and attended the orientation.

And more hearts it was, indeed, as you spend the next 3 weeks meeting people from different colleges as you and Yuna are assigned to helping organize the music performance for the end of the festival. With your previous experience fulfilling your duties back at home, it’s unsurprisingly easier for you to juggle the work assigned to you—contacting students to perform, arranging the program flow, and turning the university football field into a makeshift mini concert stadium—with socializing and fulfilling your original mission of collecting hearts.

Across from your room at home, on the other hand, Jisung has been busy spending the same time making his own music to perform at the music festival. You invited him to perform some time after starting your work with the festival committee—well, your friends insisted that you invite him and Chan after finding out that the famous DJ, CB97, is your cousin and that you and the “College of Psychology Cutie” commute home together (“Don’t tell me...are you guys secretly dating?!” Yuna had shamelessly asked during one of your meetings, to which you had to smack your hand over her mouth and improvise a cover story for you and Jisung that you live in the same neighbourhood).

Jisung accepted at the thought that he could garner a huge crowd of hearts from this opportunity, cooping himself up in his room right after the following days that followed to complete his 15-minute set. Ever since, all you’ve heard coming from his room in the middle of the night would be guitar strums, drum loops, and the faintest hints of Jisung’s voice singing along to freestyle raps and lines.

He mostly sang about love, of all things; something you, Minho, and Chan immediately noticed in the next 3 Friday nights that the three of you would be huddled in the living room to watch a movie, only to hear Jisung repeating lines as if he was talking to someone in Chan’s home studio. You wanted to ask about it out of pure curiosity, and just the general worry that he might not be looking after his heart while finishing your exam after all, but decided against it in favor of waiting for the final product at the music festival.

Fortunately, the month somehow went by in almost a flash as you and Jisung both got busy preparing and collecting more hearts on the side. Before you know it, it was the afternoon of the music festival and Felix is suddenly back in the human realm to accompany you and Minho to the school festival.

“So, did he tell you what he prepared for tonight?” Felix asks you as the three of you walk around the festival grounds. Over the course of 3 weeks, you and a large team of student volunteers have managed to haul in food stalls, arcade booths, and rides from the quad all the way to the football field for this festival, amenities which you yourself haven’t tried yet because of your busy schedule but Felix and Minho have both been so overwhelmingly excited to check out even on the bus trip to your university.

In response to the prince’s answer, you shake your head with a small pout. “I just hear him all over the house and I didn’t really want to pry if he didn't want to tell me anything.” You point out, the two of you suddenly changing the course of your mindless walk as Minho points to a crossbow shoot booth. “Why? Doesn’t he tell you what he’s been working on?”

“No! He stops whatever he’s doing whenever we call, even when I ask him to play just a little bit of his work.” Felix is quick to mirror your pout, only for it to disappear when Minho jokes that the two of you help him cheat in the booth as he picks up a crossbow. “I thought since you guys are living together, you’d know better than me.”

“Ah, you kids just wait until Jisung and Chan perform later.” Minho dismisses your concerns, holding the fake crossbow up properly while the staff manning the booth prepares the targets on the other side. “Now, help me win Chan a giant wolf.”

You roll your eyes at Minho, shrugging at Felix. “I guess he’s right. Let’s just help Minho get a giant wolf first.”

Chan and Jisung arrive at university 10 minutes before the music festival from Chan’s studio halfway across the city, initially unable to find you in the crowd of organizers as they set up backstage with Yuna and Jeongin’s help until you call Chan late that you’re “babysitting” Minho and Felix.

“They’ve somehow teamed up and have been competing with the rigged booths since we arrived.” You explained over the voice call, the distant sounds of Minho and Felix yelling while tossing metal rings around almost muffling your own. “I’ll be on my way in a while as soon as Minho leaves the ring toss alone but Yuna and Jeongin are there. Just ask them if you guys need anyth—oh my gods, Felix, you won another plushie? That’s so cool! Wait, I’m on a call with Chan!—uh, yeah. I’ll be there in a second!”

The commotion on your end makes the two boys laugh, even as you bid your goodbyes and end the call, but especially Jisung who’s been looking nervous since he arrived. Throwing his head back in a laugh as he tunes his guitar, he comments, “That’s a bit unexpected. I didn’t know my brother and your boyfriend would get along like that, and this quickly!”

“Beating out rigged games sounds about right.” Chan chuckles along, seated on a plastic chair and running a quick check on his equipment. Turning to the younger boy, he then asks, “Are you still nervous?”

“Me? Nah, I wasn’t even nervous to begin with!” At this, Jisung’s laughs naturally die down to an uncertain shake of his head. He dismisses with a scrunch up nose which Chan immediately raises a brow at.

“Come on, Sung, I practically raised you with the other kids.” Chan proceeds to roll his eyes as Jisung’s brief confident facade crumbles down slowly. “What’s up?”

The boy in question eventually sighs in defeat, shoulders slumping against the plastic chair he occupies. “Fine, maybe I’m a bit nervous! Just a little bit, though, I can still get on stage later! I mean, it’s not like performing here is gonna be different from back home like you said on the way here but…”

“But what?” Chan asks patiently, glancing up to see Jisung’s gaze fixed down on his yellow acoustic guitar. When the younger boy doesn’t respond immediately, he then continues, “I’ve heard bits and pieces of what you’ve been working on this month and all of the songs sound great. You’ll catch a lot of hearts tonight with them, I’m sure. What are you worried about?”

Jisung looks up from his guitar and opens his mouth to speak, only to get cut off when you come in the performer’s tent running and balancing different kinds of microphones in your hands. “Sorry I’m late!” You announce in between tired pants, catching both his and Chan’s attention as you pass the microphones around the artists with Jeongin who instinctively comes to your aid. “I was with my friends and they wouldn’t budge from the ring toss!”

“I think I’m going to faint.” Jisung mumbles under his breath with furrowed brows, loud enough for only Chan to hear, until you approach them last with their microphones.

“Mics?” You offer obliviously, holding up the last 2 hand mics in your possession. Passing one to Chan quickly, you then sit down next to Jisung and pass him his hand mic. “Hey, you’re up fourth, right?”

Jisung glances over to Chan with a panicked look but the older boy simply shakes his head with a chuckle and focuses on his keyboard. Turning to you, Jisung then nods quickly with a hum before gazing down at his guitar and the laptop he’s set up on the table in front of you two.

Immediately sensing his odd behavior, you then hover your hands in the space between the two of you in a quick spell, eventually verifying his nervous feelings. “Yeah, totally not nervous.” You chuckle in amusement, laughing even more when he turns to you and whines in complaint.

“Ya! Don’t do that!”

“Well, it’s not like you’re that good at hiding your nervousness!” You point out in defense, holding your hands up in front of you in between uncontrollable fits of giggles. When the glare he sends your way doesn’t relax one bit, you then fish out a small quokka plush from your backpack. “Anyway, Felix was kinda expecting that you’d be a little nervous so wanted me to give you this plushie he won at the milk bottle game with Minho for good luck. He would’ve given it himself but LUCY was already performing when we came here so he dragged Minho to the audience area before I could even bring him here.”

You then place the plush toy on the table right next to his laptop, looking around once to make sure that no one is looking your way before mouthing a quick spell to shrink the quokka into something smaller that he can hang on his guitar strap. As you do so, Chan notices how Jisung’s ears are quick to turn red as he follows your every movement. “You can stick it to your guitar strap and bring it with you to the stage.” You point out once you’re done, only then noticing his stares. “What?”

“Huh?” Jisung shakes his head absentmindedly, mentally slapping himself back to reality before scrambling to pick up the plush toy by the chain you added on top of its head and tying it to the small hole along the edge of his guitar strap. “O-Oh, yeah, thanks!”

You chuckle, just as Yuna suddenly calls for you to help in getting the next act’s microphone stands on stage. Standing up, you then pat Jisung’s shoulder reassuringly, saying one last, “Don’t be nervous!” before running off again to where most of your committee members are.

Once you’re out of earshot, only then does Chan look up from his equipment once more but this time with a knowing grin and squinted eyes. “Yeah, Sung, don’t be nervous!”

Jisung rolls his eyes in front of the older boy at this, securing the quokka plushie on his guitar strap one last time. “Shut up.”

Your committee heads lay you off of work just as Jisung heads to the stage for his set, the small quokka plush you gave him dangling behind his fretboard with a toothy grin while he sets up his laptop and greets the energetic crowd. When you discreetly scan the people’s ecures while standing behind the curtains, you quickly spot a growing number of pinks and oranges. “Such a charmer.” Chan notes, eyes also blue when you look up at him.

You nod in agreement, reverting back to your original color as more of your peers gather around the curtains to listen to Jisung’s introduction. “Um, hi, I’m Han Jisung from the Psych department.” You hear him greet with a shy chuckle over the microphone, earning him another wave of cheers. Behind you, even Yuna and Jeongin cheer despite Jisung having his back partially facing you. “This is my first time performing here at uni and the songs that I’ve prepared so please go easy on me.”

You then turn to Chan again, taking a sideways step closer to him as a thought crosses your mind. “Hey, Chan,” You call for him in a lower voice, craning your head up when he leans towards you. “Have you heard of the songs he’s going to perform tonight? You were together before coming here, right?”

“Only a little bit. We mostly talked while we were at the studio.” Chan shrugs in response. “I think he wanted it to be a surprise to everyone.”

On stage, Jisung then checks his guitar one last time before announcing the name of the first song. “So, this first song is something that I’ve been thinking about since I moved here. It’s called ‘Close.’” He says, pressing play on his loops and singing the first lines of the song. “Can you tell me about you? You, seen from afar. I just don't want to watch. Yeah Just tell me about you.”

Jisung is a great performer, there’s no doubt about it. Though you’ve grown up hearing him sing and rap at your more casual events back at home, he always manages to surprise you every time he performs just with the way he enjoys himself on stage. You can see him smile widely from the side of the stage, his nervousness long gone as he interacts with the crowd and collects the pink crystal hearts that float above your heads.

“He’s really good…” You murmur, more to yourself than to Chan, as you find yourself gently swaying to the song. “What was he even worried about? It’s a great song…”

Chan glances knowingly at you, a small smile playing on his lips as you sing along to the next round of the chorus. “I don’t think he has nothing to worry about too, not right now at least.”

“Hm?” “Nothing.”

In truth, even with the positive response from the crowd and the amount of ecures he’s collected from this set alone, Jisung is still nervous for his last song. “Sunshine” was supposed to be just another warm-up song with barely a cohesive topic, a compilation of sketches about his experiences in the human world that he spent his free time on when he wasn’t collecting hearts these past 6 months. As more time passed by, however, and the time of your exam was suddenly coming to a close, they eventually took a different direction without him even realizing it until you were inviting him to perform at this music festival.

The times that the two of you would bicker just to laugh at each other in the end, the competition that brought the bests and worsts in you, and your chocolate matcha tea and musings on the one time you sat down with him on his balcony. Eventually, you were all he was writing about. On top of the nervousness that comes with finishing the competition you’ve found yourselves in for half a year and finding out who will be declared the winner, Jisung was more nervous about the thought that you’re just behind the stage curtains with Chan, anticipating his next song.

“For my last song, I picked this one for someone I know whom I’ve spent a lot of time with these past few months.” He confesses shyly in front of the crowds. Among the hundreds of people that came tonight, he easily spots his twin brother in front of the barriers with Minho, sporting the most exaggerated surprised face ever. “I was hoping that when all of this is said and over, we’d get well-deserved breaks...maybe music and tea at night again or something.”

Jisung doesn’t have to turn around to gauge your initial reaction as he begins the song, Felix’s expression turning into that of giddiness as he looks over at the stage curtains is enough to set every gear in his head to pump out more nervousness. Instead, he pushes through until halfway to the song before he could steal his first glance over to you since beginning his set.

With his eyes still an emerald green from scanning the crowd’s ecures, your eyes meet under the harsh stage lights as he sings the bridge. “This place is quiet without a sound ye ye ye. Quiet except for the sound of our breaths ye ye ye.” He doesn’t intend to look again, not in that split second before he’s turning his gaze back to the crowd of cellphone lights and LED signs, but he sees your heart’s reflection once more.

Reminiscent of when you first confessed in middle school, a pinkish heart floats by the sleeves of your sweater, almost looking red if he just looked longer. You didn’t even turn away this time and simply just stood there, heat visibly rising up your neck.

Reminiscent of when you first confessed in middle school, a pinkish heart floats by the sleeves of your sweater, almost looking red if he just looked longer. This time around, however, you don’t turn away to try and hide it.

And this time around, Jisung doesn’t childishly call you out for it or ignores it. This time, it makes his own heart swell at the thought.

The car ride home, with Chan on the wheel and three extra boxes of equipment most of the backseats in his SUV, is a comfortable and awkward mix of quiet between you and Jisung as the two of you are forced to sit next to each other in the cramped space. You sit by the window, using it as an excuse to peer outside and avoid any kind of small talk from the boys, while Jisung has hisi eyes glued to his phone while a sleeping Felix snuggles into his shoulder. The only human noise in the car, as it seems, is coming from Minho and Chan as the two recall the songs the latter and Jisung performed at the program.

It’s even quieter at the thought that you, Jisung, and Felix will fly back to the magical realm tomorrow, something that Minho reminds you when he suddenly asks, “Right, what do you kids want me to cook for lunch later, by the way?”

The question comes right as the car suddenly comes to an abrupt stop at Chan’s garage, masking the way you and Jisung simultaneously jump in surprise. You instinctively glance over to him after with wide eyes, before gazing over at Minho who has a poorly-hidden snicker on his expression from the front passenger seat. “Um,” You stutter out awkwardly, glaring at Minho when he smirks teasingly over your way. “Anything’s fine for me.”

Jisung nods over to your direction in agreement. “Yeah, anything’s fine.”

Minho nods with pursed lips, as if he was biting down a laugh. “Does crispy pork belly sound good?” He asks, earning him nods from you. “Okay. You guys have been quiet back here this entire time, you guys good?”

“Yeah?” “Totally.”

Clearly unconvinced, Minho shakes his head and scoffs before twisting his upper body to face front once more, unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the car door next to him. “Oh, kids…”

You roll your eyes at the comment before stealing a glance over at Jisung again, only to find the boy already staring at you. “W-What?” You manage to ask this time despite your initial surprise. In front of you, Chan has already turned the engine off and left the driver’s seat to open the back of the car. “You okay, Ji?”

He hums almost absentmindedly, phone now set down on his lap as he fiddles with his hands nervously. “Yeah, um—” He stutters out, biting his lips down once. Briefly glancing at his side, he then gestures towards his twin and adds, “Wait, sorry, um, let me wake Lix first.”

“Okay.” You nod awkwardly, deciding to unbuckle your own seatbelt and open the car door next to you. Jisung then gently shakes Felix awake, leading his brother out through the same car door since the opposite one’s blocked by more of his and Chan’s equipment.

“You go on ahead, Lix, I’ll just talk to Y/N.” You hear Jisung say as the three of you now stand outside in the cold, levitating boxes of instruments and computers flying over your head and heading inside the house.

Felix nods at this immediately, sleepily bidding you and Jisung with loose hugs before trudging back inside the house with Chan and Minho.

Once the doors leading back to the house fully close on the two of you, only then are you engulfed in the same awkward silence again and the two of you, for the third time in the past 6 months, speak up at the same time.

“So um—” “—Yeah, a while ago—”

This time, the two of you chuckle awkwardly over speaking at the same time again. You then gesture for him to go ahead and speak first as you adjust your sweater’s placement on your shoulder.

Instinctively, Jisung fixes your sweater for you before speaking, causing him to stutter a little. “S-Sorry, um…” He licks his lip awkwardly, retracting his hand as fast as he can and moving a step back. “Yeah, I meant to say that I didn’t...I didn’t mean to look at your heart.”

Suddenly, at such an important moment, you’re speechless and frozen in front of Jisung. Your hands find their way down the hem of your sweater, absentmindedly playing with the loose threads as you shift your weight on the balls of your feet and stutter out your response. “I-I um…”

Simultaneously, Jisung takes in a huge intake of breath and continues, “I looked at you because I actually made the song for you—well, about you but not in a weird way! It can be for you too, that is if you want it!—”

“Jisung?”

“Ah, anyway, I’m losing track! Just, I looked at you because I wanted to know what you thought of it the most in the moment, you know—”

“Jisung…”

“And I didn’t realize that my eyes were still green and I saw so I looked away as fast as I could, I swear—!”

“Ji.”

“I know you don’t want me looking into your heart and stuff because of before. I promise I won’t do it again—”

Realizing that he’s not going to stop in his ramblings, you then impulsively take a step towards him and grab him by his arms. “Ji, it’s fine.” You shake him gently, effectively stopping the endless flow of thought. “I mean, you already saw it and everything.”

“But I—”

“Just don’t lash out or stop talking to me again while I sort it out.” You shrug reassuringly with a sigh, reluctantly sliding your hands off of him and taking a step back again as you see him listen intently to your words. “It’s just pink, anyway, it can still go away like before. Just don’t avoid me again this time.”

Though he’s clearly been listening intently, you see his brows furrow and his expression suddenly becomes confused towards the end of your words. “What?” He echoes helplessly after you. “No, I...why would I stop talking to you? That was a long time ago. I won’t do that now, I...”

“Then just don’t take my heart or something.” You point out, almost like a question as his reaction confuses you similarly. “Anyway, that’s not the point, like I said, I’ll sort it ou—”

“Don’t.” He cuts you off immediately this time with more conviction, shaking his head and suddenly taking your hand. “Don’t sort it out. Don’t make it go away or anything.”

“What? Why?”

You’re pulled closer again, Jisung mumbling an incantation to show his ecure under his breath. “Look at mine.” He points out, a pink crystal heart floating over to your upturned palm as he holds onto you by your wrist. “If anything, I should be the one telling you to not take mine on the spot or something.”

“It’s pink.” You muse out loud in surprise, the warmth of his ecure feeling overwhelming as it floats above your hand. “And it’s for me…?”

Jisung rolls his eyes at this in disbelief, nodding patiently anyway. “Who else would it be for?” He scoffs gently, making the heart disappear before it could burn your palm. “I don’t know since when it’s been like that, maybe it’s been like that for a long time even I don’t know I’ve only looked at it while Chan and I were at the studio. All I’m sure is that suddenly I was writing a song for you and sacrificing half of my ecure count so you don’t lose easily in the exam and looking out for you and—just, this time it’s me who’s afraid that you’ll run away or disappear for a while if you knew.”

“So don’t...sort it out.” He concludes after unknowingly speaking at such a fast rate, heaving belatedly from this. “I like you now, I like you a lot, and I’m not going to lash out like when we were kids. Take my heart if you want just don’t change your feelings for me, please.”

There’s a brief pause that follows, the only noise ringing in your ears being the unusually loud beating of your own heart as the two of you freeze in place. Jisung tries waiting as patiently as he visibly can in this silence, puffing air in and out of his lips as he fails at trying to conceal his recurring nervous feelings, while you gaze at anywhere but him because of the heat rising up your neck.

“Listen…” He speaks up after a while. “I’m sorry, I—”

Fuck it, you think to yourself before stepping forward, shakily cupping his cheeks, and pressing a kiss to his lips. “Don’t say sorry.” You muster up a shy smile in between brief kisses. “You already know that I like you too.”

bonus epilogue

When you return to the magical realm to the news that Hyunjin won’t be taking his own candidacy exam next year in favor of his own kingdom’s crown, the elders are quick to take your locket and Jisung’s ring to proceed with the final results. Since the decision takes at least 3 days, coupled with the fact that a major complication arose in the 6 months that you were given, Jisung was asked to stay at your castle until the jury could come to a conclusion and crown either one of you.

The others would also occasionally come and visit (especially Lia who’s mostly kept up with your trip through Yeji and Ryujin) but since confessing to Jisung, the boy has been doing the most trying to sneak you away from everyone and your regular royal duties just to spend more time with you.

“So this is what you meant with Sunshine?” You ask in the afternoon before the elders would summon you back to the throne room, the two of you hidden away in your favourite greenhouse garden. Today, Jisung has somehow convinced you to ditch a visit to Chan’s family in favor of just sitting on your greenhouse’s cushioned sofas and listening to him hum his songs until your mentors would eventually come looking for you. “Chocolate matcha and your guitar?”

“Yeah, just a relaxing rest date with your crush.” Jisung points out next to you, his head snuggled into the crook of your neck as much as the guitar in between the two of you could allow him. On your opposite side, his cuddle rival, the quokka plush toy you’ve somehow managed to turn into a life-size pillow today, sits on your lap and occasionally pokes on the end of his guitar. “Why? Do you want to refill your tea? I’ve been getting Felix to teach me this spell to refill tea, you know. I’m getting it but chocolate matcha’s kinda hard to replicate.”

You shake your head in disbelief with a chuckle, a stark contrast to how you’re internally flustered over the small comment on your favourite tea flavor. “Who said you’re my crush? Bold of you to even assume, Ji…” You pretend to roll your eyes, sinking deeper into the soft cushions behind you.

“Baby, you’ll be taking those words back when I get crowned tonight.” He pouts, elbowing you gently before shifting to place his guitar on the side. With his hands now free, the prince then resorts to linking his arms with your free one and intertwining your hands together on top of the plush quokka. “If I win, I’ll make sure to banish this quokka first so you’ll be forced to cuddle with only me.”

“Tch, Felix won you this quokka. You’ll have to duel with him first if you want this gone.” You argue, sliding the quokka closer to him so its face is adjacent to Jisung. “Plus, it kinda looks like you. If I get crowned and you’ll be away doing your own duties back East, I have something of yours.”

“I think you meant that if I win and you’ll be staying here doing your own duties, you’ll have something of mine.” Jisung huffs pettily. “Maybe we should keep the quokka, after all. You might get lonely if I get busy.”

You shake your head immediately with a chuckle, leaning more of your weight on his side. “Oh, no, no, no.” You correct teasingly, making him giggle along against your shoulder. “Who said you’re going to win later?”

“Wanna bet?” He raises a brow and smirks, lifting his head briefly to glance over to you.

You roll your eyes at this, leaning forward to meet his lips. “You’re so competitive, babe. Give it a rest, you know I’ll win anyway.”

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strawberri-blonde · 3 years

Text

Grinchmis- George Weasley

Summary: George have never seen a single muggle Christmas movie but Y/n changes that.

Warning: Curse words and kissing.

It was really by chance that you attended the Weasleys Christmas. Mr Weasley had been fascinated with your work as a preschool teacher for the little muggles as he called them and one day when he was discussing with you about your work you had slipped on a sheet of ice causing you to fall and damage your skull causing a horrific concision. Instantly Arthur transported you both back to the burrow where Molly had given him the lecture of a lifetime before she fixed you right up. When you woke, you immediately thought that you had lost your mind because you saw a broom sweeping it’s self and a pot of hot water being poured in a cup, all on it’s on. Of course, you began to scream and ran out the door and it didn’t help that Fred, George, and Ron were flying around on their brooms sticks either. One could say you passed out but you would oppose saying that you “simply needed another nap.”

When you came to, Molly kept apologizing and apologizing while Arthur and the boys crowded around not knowing how to handle your reaction to the wizard world. At first you hand a minor panic attack then pinched yourself more than once to make sure you weren’t dreaming. Then as it all settled in, you glued to Molly’s side seeing at she was so kind and gentle. The older woman thought it was adorable and slowly explained some of the magical things and talked about normal stuff like family. That’s when you explained that when you bumped into Arthur you were on your way to your flat since school was out for the little ones for the holidays.

“So I guess we have to heal you quickly so you can get home for Christmas?” You blushed at her sweet words, then smiled while hiding your fingers in the long sleeves of the sweater that Molly had grabbed for you that had a letter ‘G’ knitted on the front.

“Actually,” you dragged out pushing a strand of hair behind your ear. “My parents are in Fiji.” Molly’s eyebrows furrowed at your words. “Something about not wanting to spend another Christmas in London, so it’s just me.”

“You were going to spend Christmas alone.” You shamefully nodded your head as Molly continued. “What about friends.?”

“With their families and I didn’t want to bother them?”

“A boyfriend or girlfriend?” You instantly blushed at her words. “I don’t judge.” You picked up the tea pot and poured the hot water into the chipped teacup, watching as the teabag got soaked.

“No partner here.” Molly smirked at your nervousness and handed the milk over to you. To which you happily grasped in your hold.

“How about you stay for Christmas.”

“Ms. Weasley, I couldn’t.”

“Yes, you can.” The older woman gripped your biceps in a loving comfort. “No pressure but I would love for you to stay.”

You let a smile take over and tilted your head. “Are you sure?” Molly nodded eagerly. “Because you already have a full house.” The older woman raised her hands in protest.

“You’ll stay in my oldest sons room Bill. He’s not going to be home until Christmas Eve. Then we’ll figure out where you will stay.” Before you could protest Molly placed her finger and thumb in her mouth letting out a whistle. She grabbed her wand and placed it against her throat. “Fred. George.” The loud noise of her voice startled you so. A gasp escaped your lips as you heard loud footsteps from the stairs along with arguing.

“What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything?”

“Did you forget to hide it?”

“No it was you!”

“Boys!” Molly yelled at the two older men that looked to be near your age so approximately 22. Another thing that caught your eye was that they were twins; really attractive twins. “We have a guest.” The two gentlemen stopped shoving one another to get a glance in your direction.

Having their eyes on you made the nerves quite worse. You gripped the tea mug tightly in your hand and tried to advoid eye contact but the slightly taller twin caught your attention. And your cheeks began to burn bright red. “Boys this is Y/n and I need the two of you to be on your best behavior. George can you show her to Bill’s old room and Fred, I need your help in the kitchen.” The oldest twin with the green sweater let out a groan making George laugh.

“Why can’t George do it.” Molly looked at your gaze at her son and smirked before making a frown appear at Fred protest.

“Because I said so, now...” the older woman handed a pot of what looked like stuffing in Fred’s hands. “Get to work or no apple pie and George be on your best behavior.” The taller twin patted his brothers back then nodded his head.

Once his hazel eyes meet yours, you blushed again and walked over. “Hi.”

“Hey.” He smiled back and gestured up the stairs. “This way.” As George stepped on the first step he turned to you with a massive grin. “I was looking for that sweater but it looks better on you.” And that folks caused you to blush even harder making the crimson reach your ears. Noticing your flushed cheeks George started to develop a hint of red upon his pale cheeks as well.

—

Throughout the week you’ve gotten comfortable being around all of the Weasleys and even gotten to meet Rons friends Harry and Hermione. Being around them was a lot easier especially since they spent most of their time in the ‘muggle world’ as they called it.

The dining table was full as the Weasley and guests finished off the last of their desserts. You in fact had to cover your mouth as George wouldn’t stop whispering stupid jokes in your ear making it so difficulty to eat your meal. Molly and the other girls saw the little exchanges and couldn’t help but smirk at the cuteness. “Okay, well I guess it’s time for presents.” Aruthur stood up from the end of the long table gathering everyone’s attention and Molly stood as well to grab the gifts. You smiled at the family passing out gifts and cooed at the knitted scarfs Molly had made for her kids. Picking up your dirty dishes you excused yourself and brought what you could into the kitchen and started on the dishes. After a while Molly came rushing into the ‘heart of the home’ in distress. “What are you doing young lady?”

You quickly turned around and offered a smile. “I’m just washing the dishes Ms. Molly.” She rolled her eyes and grabbed your hands in hers. “Come on dear and open your present.”

“No.” You protested as she dragged you over to the table and you sat down letting her hand you the nicely wrapped gift. “I didn’t get you anything.” Molly shooker her head.

“Don’t worry about it dear. Your presence was enough.” You sighed in defeat but continued to look at her in plea.

“You might as well open it.” Ron laughed as Percy spoke.

“She’s not going to lighten up.” With that you stared down at the red wrapping and carefully opened it to reveal a green sweater with a golden initial of your first name. Tears swelled in your eyes but you refused to let them fall.

“Thank you, Molly and Arthur for this wonderful gift. This has probably been the best Christmas I’ve had in a while.” You stood up to hug the Weasley mother and in that sweet moment Fred had to speak.

“At least now she can stop wearing George’s sweaters.” You pulled away from his mom to glare at him jokily of course while a blush did make its way to both you and George’s cheeks.

“Shut up!” The tallest twin nudged his shoulder against Fred’s. “I don’t mind.”

“Oh I bet you don’t.” Charlie joked before taking a sip of his egg nog making the rest of the Weasley boys to laugh including Harry but the girls rolled their eyes at the none sense.

The night fall came quicker than you expected and you weren’t to excited. That just means Christmas is over and it gets closer to when you have to leave the burrow and join the real world again. Letting out a sigh you finished making your tea and started to make your way back to the living room where you would sleep that night since Bill was sleeping in his room with his wife.

As your eyes tried to adjust to the darkness you saw a large figure only a few inches away and you didn’t have time to react. You and the other person collided making the hot tea sink into your clothes burning your skin. “Shit.” Hearing that familiar voice you became nervous and instantly set the mug down and patted the Weasley twin’s chest.

“I��m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, Y/n.” He whispered out some foreign word and light sprung from his wand showing more of his handsome face. You were so caught up on his facial features that George must’ve thought that you couldn’t tell if you knew it was him.

“It’s George.” You shook your head and stepped back to reply.

“I know.” He furrowed his eyes then spelled to clean up the mess making you fall back into his arms. “You have a little hump on your nose while Fred’s is straight and he has smoother hair while yours is a little bit more textured.” George looked away with a blush. “You’re also a tad bit taller and have a nicer voice.” This shocked the both of you as you didn’t think that actually came from your lips while George couldn’t believe someone could tell the difference between him and his brother and that someone thought he had a nice voice. George pushed back a strand of hair and pulled you into the living room on the couch. Without thinking he lifted his sweater to to get rid of the wet clothing and you did the same. George tried to be a gentleman and looked away while you grabbed a blanket to cover yourself.

Smiling at each other you noticed the goosebumps on his arms and offered him some of the blanket. “I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.” You rolled your eyes and scooted closer placing your legs over his lab and nuzzled your head in the nook of his neck shivering slightly at how cold his skin was. George let a smile take over as he rested his head against yours making you let out a sigh in comfort. “On the night of Christmas my family and I would watch one last Christmas movie and despite the presents and such that had to be one of my favorite things to do on Christmas.”

“I’ve never seen a muggle movie.” You popped your head up in shock while George couldn’t help but chuckle at your reaction.

“That’s crazy.” You exclaimed. “Isn’t your dad fascinated with my kind.” George didn’t stop the laughter as he rested his hands on your lower thigh and upper calf.

“Yeah but he doesn’t just steal stuff.” You laughed at him then nuzzled back into his side.

“I wish I’ve would’ve known. I would have brought a movie and my small little tv.” George circled his thumb against your skin letting his brain run a mile a minute.

“Give me the location.” You narrowed you eyes and looked up at him.

“What?”

“I think I know a spell where I can transport those things. I just need those exact locations.” After several attempts and many of them being George grabbing random objects from your room like your clock, a sock, even a bra that you’ve had on the floor. Finally the wizard teleported your tv and your favorite Christmas movie of all time, ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas.’

To be honest George wasn’t really paying much attention to the movie. All of his attention was on you. Your eyes were filled with joy; and happiness radiant off you in waves. Your arm was wrapped around his waist while his wiped around yours and his hand settle upon your thigh. The warmth you both radiant for each other was so peaceful and kept you both content. You let out a laugh from the Grinch’s dog Max having his one antler.

George’s heart raced as he thought of not seeing you again as the movie continued to play the red head worked up the courage to ask you a question. “What are you doing New Years Eve?” That question alone had you in a fury because to be honest you didn’t know.

“Um, probably be at home.” George gulped loudly letting it echoed throughout the small household.

“That’s cool.” His voice broke up in cracks as his throat tightened in fear. “W-ell,” he coughed. “Well, if you don’t want to be by yourself Fred and I are running a New Years Eve party at the shop and I would like it if you could come.” You lifted your head off his chest and shifted your weight so you could stared directly into those hazel eyes.

“I’d probably be the only muggle there wouldn’t I.” George awkward stretched the back of his head before replying.

“I mean there will be some half bloods but yeah.” He say your expression and rushed his words. “But I wouldn’t leave your side and everyone would love to meet you I mean you’re so nice and smart and you’re funny when you think you’re not and you have got to be the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.” You blushed at his words making George cover his mouth. “I’m sorry! If you don’t want-”

You cupped his cheeks into your hands and pressed your lips onto his. George didn’t respond at first from shock but quickly kiss you back with much need. You giggled into the kiss as he pulled you closer causing you to teasingly nibble his bottom lip. Without much thought George opened his mouth letting you slip your tongue into his mouth and you grazed it against his and pulled away making George extend his and you lick it slightly before pulling away all together and nuzzle into his chest. George tried to compress his not so little situation. “I’ll be there.” The Wealthy twin let a smile cover his features then pressed a kiss to your hairline and squeezed you more into him and finally started to watch the movie with the smile still onto his lips. It really was a good Grinchmis.

#hogwarts imagine #hogwarts #george weasley x y/n #george weasley x reader #george wealsey imagine #george weasley #george and fred weasley #fred weasley imagine

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sergeantsporks · 3 years

Text

Zoe Appreciation Week Day 1: Pink

(Tw for mentioned/implied/attempted sexual assault)

“Ewwww, Zoe, you can’t wear pink! Not with me!”

Five-year-old Zoe glanced at the pink ribbon tied to the end of her braid. She’d gotten it at the last market day—it had been a special present from her parents, and she’d picked it out herself. “What’s wrong with pink?”

Her friend, Marissa, wrinkled her nose. “Only girly girls wear pink. I don’t wanna hang out with a girly girl.”

“But… I like the color pink. And I’m not a girly girl! I’ve caught more bugs than you!”

“Gross. Not the bugs, liking pink. You can’t wear pink if you want to play with me.”

Zoe glanced at the end of her braid again, then slowly untied the ribbon, tucking it in her pocket. Fine. If Marissa said she wouldn’t play, Zoe would take off the pink.

But she still liked the color pink.

Xxx

When her magic first bloomed (when she was around ten), it came out pink.

Pink lightning.

Because pink was a good color. And lightning was cool.

Her parents were less-than-thrilled.

Not because of the pink. Because of the lightning part.

The local witch was less-than-thrilled, too.

That was because of the pink.

“PINK?” she screeched, “YOU HAVE MAGICAL POWERS! YOU CAN HARNESS THE ARCANE ENERGIES OF THE UNIVERSE, AND YOU MADE THEM PINK?!” She glared at Zoe’s parents, as if it was their fault that Zoe was making pink lightning. “Come back when she’s serious about magic. Pink lightning.” And she slammed the door.

Her parents begged her to try making the lightning not-pink. But it kept coming out pink. And her parents despaired of her ever finding a teacher.

Maybe pink wasn’t a good color. Not for lightning, anyway.

Xxx

Then, when Zoe was thirteen, Arthur started his witch hunts. Zoe’s parents insisted to the knights that came to their door that the rumors of Zoe’s magic were just that. Rumors.

“She had a horrible curse put on her by a troll,” her father lied while she hid in the pantry, “Magic poured out of her. Luckily, the local witch broke the curse. She’s fine now. No magic whatsoever.”

The knights bought it. They left her alone.

The local witch wasn’t so lucky.

Xxx

The knights weren’t leaving. They just stuck around, “looking for witches.” Yeah, right. Even at thirteen, Zoe knew that was a lie. They sat around in the local inn, drinking all of the ale, scaring all of the inn’s maids. Marching around like they owned the place.

Some brand of chivalry.

Zoe ducked into an alley as one came stumbling out of the inn. Even if they’d bought the lie that she wasn’t a wizard, she still didn’t want to tangle with one. They were bad news.

More bad news was walking down the street. Marissa. She’d… what had the adults said… “matured early” and in the dim light of the evening, she could easily be mistaken for an adult by a drunk knight.

Or maybe he just didn’t care how old she was.

Marissa screamed when he grabbed her, and before she could even think, Zoe ran out of her hiding spot and socked the knight in the jaw. She and Marissa didn’t play together anymore—but that didn’t mean she would let her old friend get attacked by a knight.

“Go away! Get out of our town!”

The knight swatted at her, knocking her down. “This town belongs to Arthur,” he slurred, “So it’s ours.”

Zoe struggled to her knees, gasping for breath. The knight kicked her. The world turned pink, and when she could see again, the knight was a smoking crater on the ground. Zoe’s hands were still sparking with pink electricity.

There was shouting from the inn. Zoe grabbed Marissa’s hand, ignoring her yelp of pain, and ran, dragging her into someone’s toolshed.

“Zoe!” Marissa gasped, “You’re shocking me!”

Zoe let her go, willing the pink lightning to go away.

It refused.

Marissa whimpered. “Zoe… they’ll know! They’ll know someone used magic!”

Zoe grabbed her shoulders, despite her yelp. “You can’t tell anyone, Marissa, swear you won’t tell them!”

“Of course not!” Marissa said indignantly, “You saved me from him—I don’t care if you’re a witch.”

“I’m a wizard.”

“Right. I won’t tell. Promise. But if they figure out it was magic—”

“They don’t have any proof that it was me.”

“But if someone else saw—”

Zoe chewed on her nails. “It was dark. I… I’ll be okay. No one would rat me out—no one likes the knights anyway. It’ll be fine.”

The next day, the knights proclaimed that they’d seen bolts of pink lightning arc down from the sky. Their “poor, innocent friend” had been “viciously attacked” by an “unhinged witch” (wizard, Zoe thought grumpily).

“The witch” (wizard!) “is a threat! She will be recognizable by the color pink!”

Zoe sucked in a deep breath. Pink was not a good color.

Pink was a dangerous color.

Pink would get her killed.

She ran home, and gathered everything she owned that was pink—a piece of pink paper from a piece of candy she’d been saving, a pink quartz rock she’d found, and… her pink hair ribbon. She went out to the river. And she dumped it all in. She swiped a tear away from her face as her pink hair ribbon swirled away, dragged on by the current.

She couldn’t like pink—she couldn’t help the color of her magic, but she could help what she wore, and what she had lying around. And no one could know she liked pink.

She didn’t like pink.

Time moved on. Eventually, the soldiers moved out of town. Which was good, because when Zoe hit around twenty, she stopped getting older. She buried her mother and her father. And eventually Marissa. And people talked. Kids didn’t care, but the adults… they wouldn’t stop talking. And once Marissa stopped being around to defend her (she hadn’t ever forgotten what Zoe had done for her—and no one dared disagree with the force of nature that Zoe’s old friend grew up to be) they started muttering. The words “witch” and “sucking out life force” started flying around.

Zoe finally left. Enough was enough. She headed downriver.

Where all of her pink things had gone.

“You!”

Zoe jumped as the water swirled into the shape of a girl, who glared at her. “Huh?”

“You’re the one who started throwing garbage into my river!” A pink ribbon and a pink rock flew out of the river at her. “I don’t want this! It doesn’t even match me!”

“What am I supposed to do with it?! I don’t even like pink!”

The nymph glared at her. “Well, neither do I! It’s a revolting color. Get it out of here!”

Zoe stuck her tongue out at the nymph, but picked up her old ribbon (now tattered and torn) and her rock, and kept going. She followed the river to its end, a massive lake with a solitary island in the center. There was a single, weathered boathouse, that looked like it hadn’t been used for years. Zoe sighed, dropped the pink rock, and tied the pink ribbon to the doorhandle. There. Her house now. And hopefully no one would bother her.

No such luck.

The very next day, she spotted a boy her own age splashing in the lake. Then, to her surprise, he lifted his hand, and droplets of water lifted into the air, forming a myriad of shapes. He crowed with delight, and then the water splashed down on him, making him yelp. Zoe snorted, and he whirled around, bounding out of the water.

“Hey! I didn’t think anyone lived here!”

Zoe crossed her arms. “Well, I do now.”

He glanced behind her. “Oh, hey, yeah, you put that ribbon on! Nice. I like the color.”

“It’s a stupid color. I hate it.”

He gave her a quizzical look. “Huh. Oh, uhhhh, about what you saw—”

“I’m living out here. Who am I going to tell?”

He grinned. “Thanks. I’m Douxie, by the way.”

“Good for you.” Zoe went inside and closed the door.

The next day, when she went out, he was there again, holding a basket with a pink cloth covering. “Hi! I figured since you’re sort of my new next door neighbor, I should bring you cookies or something?”

“Why?”

“Uhhhh, I guess sort of as a peace offering? The lake is a good place to practice. But I figure I should probably bring you something if I’m going to be splashing around in your front yard.”

Zoe delicately took the basket from him. “Um. Thanks.”

Douxie slapped a hand to his forehead. “The cloth! Sorry, it was white, but I washed it with something red, and it turned pink. I know you said you don’t like pink, but—”

“It’s fine. Thanks. Again.” She went back inside, putting the basket on the old table. When she looked out the window, Douxie was splashing in the lake again. She shook her head, fingering the pink cloth.

It wasn’t such a bad color.

No one came down to the lake. No one but Douxie, who continued to splash around and make a spectacle of himself. One day while she was cleaning out the pantry (seriously when was the last time someone had lived here?), Zoe heard a yelp of fear, and she went out to see a horse dragging Douxie into the lake.

“IDIOT!” Zoe shouted, “THAT’S A KELPIE!”

“I CAN’T GET OFF!”

“YEAH! BECAUSE IT’S A—” Zoe sighed, summoned the magic she hadn’t used in years, and splashed into the lake, covered in pink electricity. It crackled across the water, zapping the kelpie, which neighed in distress and dove underwater, thankfully leaving Douxie behind.

Or not so thankfully, Zoe thought as he splashed down into the water, immediately yelping as he got zapped. Zoe managed to shut off her power and grab his collar, dragging him out of the lake. She shook him.

“Hey! Don’t be dead!”

“I’m not,” he murmured weakly, “Thanks to you.” He gave her that big, idiotic grin. “You’re a wizard!”

“Wizar—” she started to correct automatically, then stopped. “Wait, that’s right.”

“Yeah! Why didn’t you tell me? And it’s pink, I thought you hated pink!”

Zoe looked away. “I didn’t chose it,” she said gruffly, “I hate pink.”

Douxie reached up and tugged on the cloth she’d tucked her hair in to clean, the cloth that had been on the basket he’d given her. “Shame. You look good in pink.”

Xxx

Zoe moved. She had to. Even if Douxie was another wizard, she couldn’t risk exposure. She got out of England.

You look good in pink.

She moved to America. Centuries later, she found a group of hedge wizards. A girl named Connie latched onto her.

“Your pink lightning is so cool!”

Zoe tilted her head at Connie. “You don’t think it’s girly?”

Connie snorted. “Oh, c’mon, you’re the least girly person I know. Even if pink is girly, who cares?”

Xxx

Zoe stared in the mirror at her hair, newly short. Time for a change. Maybe a new color. She wandered to the nearest beauty store, browsing their selection of hair dyes. Her hand hovered over a hot pink hair dye. She’d used to like pink.

She still did, deep down.

You look good in pink.

Cool.

Why not?

Xxx

Zoe stared at the new waiter at Benoit’s. “Douxie?!” she yelped. What were the odds that he’d come here? To Arcadia Oaks?!

Douxie stared at her for a second, and then his eyes lit up. “Hey!” He tousled her hair, and she swatted at his hand.

“Hey, quit that!”

“Nice hair!” Douxie gave her a grin. “I told you you looked good in pink!”

Despite herself, Zoe grinned back. “Yeah. I do.”

#toa #tales of arcadia #yikes i've only written two of these prompts i need to get on it #Zoe appreciation week #zoe

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springday-aus · 3 years

Text

Enemies to Lovers!AU with Xiaojun

—

Group: NCT [+ WayV]

Member: Xiaojun / Xiao Dejun

Genre: fluff, comedy, romance

Type: Bulletpoint AU

Word Count: approx. 2.4k

so, you’re Xiaojun’s enemy (he thinks of it more of his number one attacker tho)

it wasn’t hard considering he’s always on fight or flight mode and considering his friend group….

fight mode is always activated

(ง’̀-‘́)ง

so it started when you became friends with Ten

the guy is so sociable, so you were bound to meet him and his other friends someday

but jesus christ, there were soooo many of them

it was a party; he threw a literal party of just him and his friends

and then there were others who turned it into a rave (i.e. Hendery, Yangyang, Chenle and Donghyuk)

anyways, you got to mingle and make so many new friends

it was going really well

until Xiaojun entered the picture

things went well with him too, until you made a joke that didn’t exactly land with him

but it landed well with the others

Lucas: “who in their right mind would like mint chocolate”

Xiaojun: “but I like mint chocolate”

You: “then you’re not in your right mind lmao”

YangYang: “I mean, is Xiaojun ever in his right mind tho”

everyone laughs

except for one person

Xiaojun stood up, staring you down for a hot second, before trying to argue back

in which YangYang was the main responder

you didn’t really think much of it, laughing away with the others

but, to him, you just declared war that day

it shouldn’t have bothered him as much as it did

but it did

so, from then on, things just got rockier

bc he started picking fights with you over the littlest things or he would argue with your points no matter what

you didn’t really think much of it bc he was also being picked on everyone else and you were like

every man for themselves huh

it wasn’t until he personally attacked you

it happened on Halloween

and he made an underhanded comment about how he’d look better in anything compared to you

so you made a “friendly” bet

but then you lost

bc Xiaojun looked better in the Jasmine costume than you and he def knew it too

and when he smirked at you

the grudge had been built

that’s probably when the mutual enemy status circulated around your friends

although, if they’re being honest, it’s so entertaining

especially since most of them like to gang up on Xiaojun too

and because of that unity, it’s only made things worse

from what the others can tell

you two don’t hate each other, but you def don’t get along

it ranges to food (e.g. mint chocolate chip incident that NO ONE lets go)

Lucas: “mint choco ain’t shit”

You: “retweet”

Xiaojun: “the attacks”

YangYang: “we cannot trust a man who eats bread with fucking lao gan ma”

You: “you eat what with bread?”

Xiaojun: “shut up. all of you.”

to activities

cue you two fighting about what movie to watch

Xiaojun: “Titanic is a classic!!!”

You: “it’s a joke, there was rOOM ON THE FUCKING DOOR”

Xiaojun: “IT’S ROMANTIC. HE SACRIFICED HIMSELF SO SHE CAN LIVE.”

You: “THAT’S NOT ROMANTIC. THAT’S SUICIDAL, DUMBASS.”

this feud is def bc you’re both petty as fuck

the bickering is nonstop

but, if the nct boys are being honest

they’re lowkey confused bc Xiaojun is supposed to have a really high emotional tolerance

he doesn’t even yell this much at YangYang or Ten

(excluding that one time he hit YangYang with that pillow very hard)

but he does blow off his top when it comes to you

which is sus to a lot of the boys

whenever someone does ask him tho

he just kind of……………

mumbles underneath his breath and then moves onto something else

meanwhile, Yuta: “isn’t he always like that?”

Kun: “who wants to tell him”

lmao, I’m kidding

kind of

anyways, you two are really just going at it

what changes?

you have to go to the dentist and get your molars removed

which means someone has to take you and go pick you up

obviously, Ten was going to do that, considering you two were the closest

so he dropped you off and you had your surgery

so what happened?

welp, your buddy Ten forgot he had a prior engagement and, hence, was unable to pick you up

cue him spamming the groupchat

and Lucas exposing Xiaojun

Lucas: Xiaojun isn’t doing anything Xiaojun: you don’t know that Lucas: I do tho, go pick up (Y/N) Ten: I’ll buy you anything from that green tea cafe you like for a week Xiaojun: deal.

so he came to pick you up, both willingly and unwillingly

and you……. you were more than a hot mess

you were just a mess

you basically were just blacked out that entire time after they gave you the laughing gas and completed the surgery

so you remembered absolutely nothing.

your roommate: “this is what you get for doing drugs”

You: “IT WAS PURELY FOR MEDICINAL USE”

You: “IT’S NOT LIKE I DID CRACK”

either way, your roommate let you know of the situation, taking note of how your enemy had to take you home

which

again

no recollection

your roommate: “he’s fucking hot tho”

You: “ugh, I know”

but that’s also when you decided

Ten is a dead man :)

Ten: “I’M SORRY”

You: “YOU BETTER FUCKING BE”

Ten: “I KNOW”

Ten: “............................................but………………………………….”

Ten: “maybeyoushouldalsothankhimfortakingcareofyou”

You: “sorry not sorry, I’m contemplating murder rn”

Hendery: “what do you call a murder against a friend?”

Kun: “don’t”

Ten:

You:

Hendery: “it’s a homie-cide”

You and Ten: “NOT NOW”

anyways

you knew he was right

so after you calmed down, you went to Xiaojun’s place (thanks to Ten), with some sweets to thank him

Lucas opened the door, let you in, and left to go to the gym with Sicheng

Xiaojun came out of his room, a couple of minutes after, disheveled from his nap

and when he saw you in his living room couch, his eyes widened, darting around to avoid looking at you

You: “hi”

Xiaojun: “hello”

You: “why do you look so scared? I’m not gonna jump you”

he stays quiet, the blush becoming more apparent on his cheeks

You: “Ten told me you took me home after my surgery, so…………………… thanks”

Xiaojun: “he bribed me with pastries”

You: yeah, sounds about right

You: “still”

You: “um, I didn’t know what you would like, so I brought some sweets you can just go through”

Xiaojun: “thanks”

it’s silent for another moment and you consider bolting out from the apartment, Wizards of Waverly Place, Harper-style: “see ya in p.e.!” kind of a thing

but he speaks up once more

Xiaojun: “are you feeling okay now?”

You: “uh, yeah, my jaw still kind of hurts”

You: “but I have meds they prescribed to me for the next month or so”

he decides to stop beating the bush:

Xiaojun: “so do you remember what happened yesterday?”

You: “to be completely honest, no”

Xiaojun: “you… did a lot of things”

You: “what do you mean I did a lot of things”

Xiaojun: “you also said a lot of things too”

You: “..... are these things recorded?”

Xiaojun: “maybe”

Xiaojun: “some”

You: “dELETET HEM”

you actually considered tackling him, but deemed as too Yang-Yang-like

You: “what did I say”

Xiaojun: “I didn’t realize you thought I was handsome”

You: “wait what?”

Xiaojun: “you said, you had a crush on my ‘fine ass’”

You: “you know what? I think I’m gonna pull a Jack and commit suicide, goodbye”

Xiaojun: “ah, ah, ah, you said like, which is… present tense”

You: “semantics”

Xiaojun: “but did you like me at some point?”

You: “does it matter?”

Xiaojun: “yeah, it kind of does”

Xiaojun: “bc even tho we bicker, it’s, like, our thing”

Xiaojun: “plus, you’re kind of cute when you’re threatening to rip off my eyebrows”

You: “I did what?”

Xiaojun: “it’s no different from how you treat me now”

You: “I thought it’s because you don’t like me”

he just kind of shrugs, rubbing his neck rather sheepishly

Xiaojun: “you’ve seen my friends; arguing is our way of showing our affections”

You: “so, you’re saying this is your way of telling me you like me?”

Xiaojun: “I mean………“

Xiaojun: “are you saying you like me?”

You: “are you saying you like me?”

*cue another argument about who likes who*

eventually, he found a way to shut you up

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

cut to Lucas and Sicheng coming back from the gym to you and Xiaojun making out on the couch

Lucas: “NASTY”

Sicheng: “what did we…. miss?”

Ten somewhere: I fucking called it.

anyways

you both decided to date that day

and you two still bicker an insane amount, which includes you nitpicking Xiaojun’s tastes to Xiaojun refusing to delete those videos of you under the laughing gas despite your threats

but, the only difference is, your arguments can end with a kiss

and it always freaks out the guys whenever you do

Donghyuk: “I’m too young to be seeing this monstrosity”

Mark: “ngl, this is nice for them—they’ve stopped arguing”

YangYang: “I weirdly prefer them arguing over them with those sappy eyes tho”

You: “we can hear you”

Chenle: “but when have we ever cared?”

You: “I’m gonna beat your ‘01 liner ass istg—”

Xiaojun: “calm”

oh, you know what’s fun about your relationship?

you two can’t agree on some stuff right?

so whenever you have to decide something, say a movie or dinner, you two just heads-or-tails it

(there’s also this cute app where you put your options on a wheel and let that decide—the amount of times you’ve used that on your dates…… anyways)

most of the time, on these dates, you seem more like an old married couple and it’s super cute

it’s bc you’re already used to your worse sides coming out—the really petty ones, the screaming ones, the ugly ones

ofc these aren’t from serious arguments that occur

(remember folks, it isn’t healthy for you and your partner to always be fighting)

but when serious arguments do occur, you both take time to sit down and talk face-to-face

it’s hard to get into actual arguments with him, especially since he really is understanding and tries to pay attention to the smaller details

Xiaojun: “I like learning more about you”

You: “you can’t just say that kind of shit to me”

like, yeah, he’ll debate with you all night about why he needs to read the words of his book out loud but, by the end of the day, you’ll lay your head in his lap and listen to his voice as you fall asleep

speaking of which, you love listening to him sing to you

he gets a bit embarrassed sometimes about it, but seeing you smile so brightly at him makes him forget about it

because even tho you two bicker about little things, in the end, it just makes you two laugh at one another and how ridiculous you’re being

I almost forgot, so Ten thinks of him pairing you two off right?

so, whenever he does something annoying to either of you, he’ll constantly bring it up

Ten: “I guess this is how you two treat me, your personal cupid—”

Xiaojun: “yes, yes, we are grateful for you”

You: “but it would be nice if you would stop making those annoying sounds”

Ten: “what annoying sounds?”

YangYang: “that’s just you talking”

okay, no, but yeah—the nct boys are glad this rivalry is over because it was really just…. stupid to the core

but also bc you two look super sweet together and seeing you two making each other happy rather than annoyed is adorable

but just bc you two got together doesn’t mean the pettiness isn’t still there

You: “what type of freak sleeps with their eyes opened?”

Xiaojun: “I’m sleeping next to you, of course I need to keep both eyes open”

You: “RUDE”

Xiaojun: “and yet here we are”

You: “son of a bitch”

Xiaojun: “YOUR son of a bitch”

You: “eh, I’ll take it”

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easily-infatuated23 · 3 years

Text

Undercover- Part Five

Prologue, Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five

a/n: hello! parts of this are loosely based on a Doctor Who episode but i felt like it added to this. this series will probably be coming to a close soon but i hope you enjoy! Y/H/H= your hogwarts house Y/E/C= your eye color

pairing: Healer! Draco x Reader

summary: Draco calls upon Harry Potter for help to find Y/N before she is killed by the Dark Saints

warnings: ok so we’ve got a little bit of blood and mentions of torture and violence, and reader is choked for like .5 seconds

word count: 1.4k

Being an Auror is not an easy job. It takes a lot of willpower and strength to be surrounded by darkness everyday and still be able to go home and smile. The job didn’t leave much time for seeing friends but Harry Potter did his best. The oddest friend he had made after the war was Draco Malfoy. He felt sorry for the bully. As much as he hated Draco while at Hogwarts, the war showed him that under his evil exterior, was a scared kid trying to please his parents in any way he could. Harry had even testified at Draco’s hearing. He defended Draco saying that had he not had Lucius Malfoy for a father, he probably wouldn’t have become a Death Eater. After this, he and Draco began meeting for lunch and slowly making amends. It took a few years but the two had managed to build a working friendship, but, the day that Draco called Harry and asked that he come to Malfoy Manor immediately seemed out of the ordinary.

Once Harry arrived, he found Draco looking worse for wear. His face looked hollow and his blonde hair was messy. “Thank you so much for coming. I hate to pull you away from work but this is very serious and I don’t know who else to trust” Draco said, as he rubbed the side of his face anxiously. “Whats going on?” Harry inquired. “Do you remember Y/F/N Y/L/N? She was two years behind us at school in Y/H/H?”. Harry thought for a moment and then nodded. “Nice kid, she kinda disappeared after school if I remember correctly”. Draco sighed and nodded. He then proceeded to tell Harry the whole story. He showed him Y/N’s list and even the book that contained signatures of the most evil witches and wizards as of late. They returned back to the kitchen as Draco finished his story. “And then she disapparated. I have no idea where she is now but, I’m worried about her”. Harry adjusted his glasses. “You did the right thing telling me this. I knew about the deaths and every time I tried to investigate my inquiries were shut down by an anonymous higher up. Now I know why”. In his voice was a tone of frustration and sadness. There had been a war going on right beneath his nose and he hadn’t seen it. Harry looked at the list of names again and frowned. Some had been friends, or in the least faces he grew to recognize from years of passing through the halls of the ministry. “She must be terrified” Draco said remorsefully. “Yes. But she is also brave. This assignment is incredibly dangerous and the fact that she has survived this far tells me that she uses that fear well. As a strange man once told me, fear keeps you fast”.

Draco began pacing back and forth. “What are we going to do?” he asked. Harry thought for a while. The next steps would be difficult ones for sure. “Well, the first thing we have to do is find Y/N and keep her safe and hidden. Even if we manage to get Hiram Baxter to trial, it’s unlikely the ministry will accept a second hand testimony from either you or I. We need her”. Draco nodded in agreement. Then, he remembered. Draco slapped his palm to the middle of his forehead and scoffed at himself. “I’m so thick! I completely forgot that I still have her DNA trace from the hospital. It’ll be risky to use if the Dark Saints have figured out how to use it, but it’s worth a shot”. Harry pulled his wand out of his jacket. “Right, let’s get started”.

Once Draco activated the trace, the two men followed the trail and found themselves on a familiar street. “12 Grimmauld Place” Harry said wistfully. “She really is smart”. The two checked the area for any muggles or unwelcome wizards before entering the former home base of the Order of the Phoenix. After they entered, Draco deactivated the trace. “Even though this was once a place that housed friends, we should still be cautious” Harry said. Draco nodded and drew his wand. Harry motioned for the two to advance down the hall. They were each checking rooms when they heard a loud bang. “That came from one of the rooms upstairs” Harry remarked. As they climbed the stairs the sounds of voices became more apparent.

“Now now little missy we don’t want to make a fuss” a gruff voice growled in a thick northern accent. There were muffled sounds of someone struggling, and the slight scrapping of a chair on the floor. Harry and Draco inched closer to the door and were met with a horrible sight. Y/N was tied to a chair. She was gagged and had fresh wounds on her face and arms. She had clearly been involved in a struggle. There were three large men in the room. One lounging on the bed and smiling devilishly, the other leaning against the opposite wall, and the third was circling Y/N. He was the man whose voice the two had heard. As he circled Y/N, he would lean in and whisper something foul in her ear or toss her hair. “He’s trying to intimidate her” Harry whispered. The gruff northerner spoke again. “So, let’s try this again. Tell me what you know and you’ll be spared, refuse to speak and you die” he growled. He leaned forward and removed the gag from her mouth before settling into a chair positioned directly in front of her. She gasped for air and took some deep desperate breaths before finally speaking. “Fine, I’ll tell you what I know” she said, a single tear rolling down her cheek. “But first, answer me one question..” The northerner’s face twisted impatiently. “Are you new at this or something because you are really bad at threatening people” she said. Her attitude and posture had changed suddenly. The tears had gone along with any trace of fear or desperation in her voice. “What?” the northerner said, genuinely shocked. “I mean come on, you can’t tell the one person who has the information you need that if they don’t tell you, you’ll kill them. Thats interrogation rule number one”. The other two men shifted curiously as their attention focused in on Y/N. “I mean honestly, you’ve just told me that not telling you will keep me alive. Besides, let’s face it, you and I both know that once I tell you what I know you are going to kill me any way”. The northerner stood up and pushed away his chair angrily. He grabbed Y/N by the throat and lifted her slightly out of her chair and closer to his face. “Then I guess we’ll have to torture it out of you” he spat. “Then do your worst because I will gladly go through any amount of pain before I give up my life” she choked. He let go of her neck and she slammed back into the chair.

Draco and Harry were shocked. Draco had seen how terrified she was in the manor, but here it seemed all that fear had been hidden away. Harry’s mind was spinning. He was desperately trying to formulate a plan that would end with Y/N making it out of the situation alive but every situation he tried ended in death. A jab in the ribs from Draco brought Harry out of his head. He looked at the blonde who was pointing into the room. Y/N’s hands were tightly balled into fists but if you looked closely, there was a dim grey light emitting from between her fingers. Draco looked up at Y/N’s face and found her Y/E/C eyes starring back into him. She had seen them. Her attitude remained completely the same except for a slight wink and a small facial gesture indicating that the two should be ready to hold their breath. She turned her head to the right to look back at the northerner who was huddled up with his associates whispering. “Hey boys, pleasant dreams” she mocked. Then, the most peculiar bit of magic either Draco or Harry had ever seen occurred. Y/N un-balled her fists and the grey light turned into fog and flooded the room within seconds. Harry and Draco held their breath as they watched the three men try to make their way to Y/N before their bodies seemingly shut down. They then heard a sharp inhale come from Y/N and the fog disappeared. The two tentatively entered the room and were met with the sight of three large men passed out on the floor and Y/N smiling weakly. “Welcome to the party” she said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

taglist!: @pointlesscoconut @bi-andready-tocry @lunars @spencerreidisbootiful @uyenlee @theotherscottishgirl

#healer!draco x reader #draco malfoy fanfiction #draco malfoy x reader #Harry Potter #harry potter au #harry potter fanfiction #draco x reader #draco malfoy x y/n #Death Eaters #draco malfoy series #draco malfoy au #y/n is badass #harry potter series #harry potter self insert #draco malfoy self insert

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anasticklefics · 4 years

Text

Teenage Defiance

Fandom: Harry Potter

Characters: Sirius Black, Harry Potter

Summary: After Harry gets mad and refuses to speak to him, Sirius starts telling him about his parents to make him relent a bit.

A/N: Prompted by @teenagecupcakeperfection. I hope you like it!

Words: 2 411

Sirius could sometimes not stand to look at Harry. Lily’s eyes, James’ everything else, his own defiance, Remus’ determination. They’d only spent a mere year with him, and yet Harry had managed to turn into a mix of them all anyway. He couldn’t comprehend it and therefore didn’t try to.

He looked at him now, his jaw set in the way James’ used to when he was pissed off, his eyes storming like Lily’s. Sirius wondered if he would snap the way he himself used to, or visibly make himself calm down like Remus.

“Harry?” he tried, knowing he was walking on thin ice. Knowing Harry’s anger was directed toward him and having no idea how to deal with it.

On one hand, teenage defiance, which he had once praised to the skies. Grateful that he was even around to get this type of scalding anger from his godson. How they had joked about what type of kid Harry would turn into. How hypocritical they would be as they raised him, unsure of where to draw the line when they themselves had never worried about crossing it.

On the other hand, he found Harry’s anger to be unfair. He hadn’t wanted to keep him in the dark about The Order, but who was he to defy Dumbledore? Who was he to think he could come back and set his own rules now of all times?

On the third, if people suddenly had three hands, the anger made him want to curl up and cry. Harry probably didn’t like that the little time they had together was being occupied with him ignoring him either, but Sirius was the helpless one in this scenario.

“Please talk to me,” he continued when Harry merely glanced up at him and then away. He hadn’t missed the way his face had softened, but that kid was more stubborn than you’d think and still didn’t reply.

“I will beg,” he warned, and maybe he imagined the way Harry’s lips twitched, but he certainly didn’t imagine him turning away from him. To hide a smile or to get some space. Sirius wasn’t sure.

The kitchen was empty, Harry having entered as Sirius was getting his daily dose of just staring at a wall, their eyes meeting when Harry stopped in his tracks in the doorway. Sirius had fully expected him to turn on his heels and leave again, but as angry as Harry was, he seemed to draw the line at pettiness, even though Sirius would argue that the silent treatment was just as bad (he wasn’t about to say it).

They were sitting on opposite ends of the table, waiting for Merlin knows what. Sirius had no idea where the others were, but Harry hadn’t answered when he’d asked.

“You probably don’t even know yourself,” Sirius had teased, and Harry’s scowl had deepened.

“You know,” he said now, tilting his head at his godson. “Your father could hold a grudge for only a minute. All I needed to do was crack a joke and he was either shoving at me to shut up or full on laughing. He was laughing when he was shoving me too, mind you. Totally unable to be mad at his old friend. I mean, who could with this face?”

Harry’s curious glance at the mention of his father was quickly averted when Sirius beamed at him.

“Your mother, on the other hand.” Sirius whistled. “She could hold a grudge, all right, but you had to really have hurt her in order to get to that point. I thankfully never did. I wasn’t stupid, you know? I really thought she would eat James alive, but after turning her away when he first tried to hit on her when they were younger he realized he needed to pull himself together if he wanted to deserve her attention. And he did. Biggest transformation I’ve ever seen.”

Harry didn’t look away when Sirius caught his eye this time, his scowl having finally loosened.

“You, on the other hand,” Sirius continued. “seem to have fallen somewhere in the middle. I don’t think you will stay mad at me for the rest of your life, per se, but it seems I can’t get you to laugh immediately either. I reckon what I’m trying to say is that I’m sorry. You know I didn’t want to do it.”

“I know.”

Sirius lit up. “He talks!”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Being angry is tiring and- well, I’m angry enough at everyone else.”

“Oh?”

Harry ran a hand through his hair, not picking up on Sirius’ prompt. Later, then. Sirius wasn’t about to pry when he’d just made the kid talk to him again.

“Am I really like a mix of my parents?”

Sirius’ heart nearly broke at how small his voice sounded. How vulnerable.

“Yes. Oh, yes. I see so much of both of them in you.” He didn’t mention himself or Remus. Not the time.

“People always tell me I look like them.” Harry looked away again, though this time Sirius didn’t take it personally. “They rarely tell me how they were. As people, I mean.”

“Well.” Sirius stood and crossed the room, plopping down on the chair next to his godson. “Good thing you have their closest friends with you now.”

“Lupin told me a few things, back in third year. I just… I got so used to them being a topic that my aunt and uncle refused to talk about. And then, at Hogwarts- people were too busy talking about me and how my parents were killed that I felt I knew just as little about them as before. Well, almost. I hadn’t known they were wizards, obviously.”

He fell silent, lips curling upward properly when Sirius knocked their knees together. “You can always ask me about them.”

“I know.”

“Like, seriously, I’ll spill all their dirty secrets. Well, mostly James’. Lily I respect too much.”

Harry let out a laugh, the mischief flickering across his face too familiar. “All right, then. Tell me about my dad.”

Sirius leaned back in his chair, arms crossed as he pondered. “He started snoring really early on. Remus and I had planned on evicting him many times, but then he let me stay at his family home one summer after I got kicked out and I felt I couldn’t do that to him. Turns out his snoring is rather comforting when you’re in a predicament. Who knew?”

Harry’s grin made Sirius want to never stop talking. “I have no idea if I snore.”

“I’m sure you don’t.”

“Keep going.”

“Your father was very competitive, but was never a sore loser. He saw it all as a lesson and an urge to keep improving. He could be bloody annoying with his positivity, especially when you were already agitated yourself.”

Harry’s laugh was loud and heartfelt, which reminded him-

“He was also super ticklish. Like, you could just look at his ribs and he’d be laughing. He had a surprisingly silent laugh when you really got him. A huge squirmer. I feel like my nose will never be the same.”

Harry’s grin had turned bashful.

“It’s no surprise that a group of boys always started play wrestling, which would naturally lead to tickling. Your father was too competitive to stay on the sidelines, even though he knew it would result in him being tickled to death. He always tried to fight back, though.”

“Did it work?”

“Sometimes. If everyone decided to gang up on one person. He had to be quick, though, because one giggle from him and we’d all attack him first.”

“Sounds terrible.”

“It was. But also fun. We never went overboard or anything.”

Harry rubbed at his neck. “I guess I’m just used to Fred and George. They can be ruthless. Mostly to Ron.”

“You manage to flee the tickles, huh?”

Harry seemed to do it out of habit, but he slapped Sirius’ hand away when he went to poke his side. They stared at each other, Harry with a sudden realization, and Sirius with glee.

“I wonder if you’re as bad as your father.”

“I’m sure I’m not?”

“You don’t sound sure.”

Harry crossed his arms. “I had never really experienced it until I befriended the Weasleys.”

Sirius had never really experienced it either until he’d befriended the Marauders. They sadly had more in common than he’d thought.

“Well, that just won’t do.”

Harry didn’t rise or move away or straight up leave the room. Only sat as Sirius scooted closer, allowing his fingertips to reach for his ribs before he started squirming. Curious, yet unable to handle it when it was happening. His laughter was uncertain, his smile shy. He sounded just like James, Sirius realized with a pang.

His squirming was more subdued. While James was all limbs, Harry seemed to be curling in on himself instead, always moving, hands gripping Sirius’ wrists, but much more calmer than James had ever been. Sirius didn’t know if his inexperience had any part in it, but he’d known the Weasleys for four years, after all. He was sure the twins had made him squirm properly before.

“Your ribs seem bad, but they really can’t beat your dad’s,” Sirius was saying. “Unless you’re just not the begging type. James could scream himself hoarse within seconds.”

Harry wasn’t even the talking type, apparently. He was all laughter, which only got louder the longer Sirius kept tickling him. The opposite of James in that aspect.

He stopped before he could try any other spot, mostly because he heard the sound of footsteps and knew Harry would get embarrassed if someone walked in on Sirius tickling him to pieces. Just like James.

Sirius didn’t forget about his sensitivity, however. Now that Harry was speaking to him again, he found several moments to sneak a poke to various spots that were traditionally ticklish, and Harry seemed to be following tradition, all right.

He was good at pretending as if nothing was happening when Sirius walked past and poked at his belly or squeezed his side, but his reactions were bigger when they were alone. The fact that he never asked him to stop, whether during or after the tickling, kept Sirius going. Maybe it was because he never was at it for too long, unlike what Harry had told him about the twins. Maybe because they’d both missed this familial playfulness. Sirius hadn’t expected to spend the weeks stuck in his old family home tickling his teenage godson, but then again it was only a small part of what they did. Harry was of a more quiet nature, but they’d talked enough to last a lifetime.

It wasn’t just them, either. Conversations with Ron and Hermione, with Remus, with Ginny and Fred and George. Sirius saw Harry in all his stages of familiarity with the people coming and going in that house. What he’d missed for the past 14 years, he felt he was gaining back in barely half a summer.

“Have you had your first kiss yet?” he asked him one night, the two of them alone in Harry and Ron’s temporary room.

Harry colored, but his refusal seemed genuine. “No.”

“That’s hard to believe.”

His godson laughed, all bashfulness. “I haven’t really thought about it.”

“Uh huh. There’s no one you like?”

The blush deepened. “No.”

“Still don’t believe you, but I’ll digress. But hey. If you ever need advice, all you have to do is reach out, okay?” He gave Harry’s knee a squeeze. “I- oh, come on, I didn’t even mean to tickle you just now.”

Harry had snatched his knee away, already laughing. The vulnerability of the moment having made him even more sensitive, or so Sirius assumed. “Sorry.”

“You’re ridiculous. How bad are your knees? I haven’t tried them properly yet.”

Rather than protesting, Harry just didn’t say a thing, and Sirius reached out again to squeeze without being stopped. It was strange, being so familiar after not having really known each other for too long. Even stranger was how normal this felt; as if they’d spent their entire lives being close. Sirius had no idea how Remus hadn’t hugged Harry to death when he became his teacher. Sirius could never be that strong.

“Okay, so upper body seems to be bad. Knees not as much, but still. Very ticklish. Is there a spot that isn’t ticklish?”

He was just rambling, not expecting Harry to reply and being utterly surprised when he said, “I don’t think so.”

“Oh, is that a challenge?”

Sirius had an image of a toddler Harry, three or four maybe, letting his godfather make him squeal with laughter as they made a game out of testing all his tickle spots. That image was entirely made up, of course, but in another life this could’ve been an old tradition. Harry timidly allowing Sirius to turn him into a giggly mess as a teen, making him promise to not tell anyone but not being ready to fully let go of this thing of theirs.

This was as close as they would get to a tradition, and Sirius wasn’t about to waste it. “Can I try your thighs?”

Harry shrugged, not moving away as Sirius went to give them a squeeze, but reaching out to grab his hand with a gasp.

“Affirmative. Neck?”

They went from spot to spot, even ones Sirius knew were sensitive purely to make a thorough investigation, as he called it. Harry, never protesting, became a twitchy, giggly mess after a while, even though the whole experiment barely lasted a minute. Sirius reckoned even Harry had his limits, but there was one more spot Sirius was dying to try out - the one spot that had always killed James and had earned him many bloody noses.

“Feet?”

Harry didn’t hesitate as he stretched out his legs to give him access to his socked soles, toes twitching as Sirius moved his hands closer. Knowing it was risky to not hold the feet down, but not wanting to overstep. This whole game they had going was unbelievable as it was. He didn’t want to make Harry uncomfortable or make him not trust him. The moment Harry wanted him to stop, he would.

He wiggled his fingers against the arch of Harry’s right foot and earned himself yet another bloody nose, laughing despite the pain as Harry apologized over and over.

Their game had been completed.

#tickling #ticklish!harry #hp fic #tickle fic #sirius and harry #harry potter fic #mine #teenage defiance #ana's fics

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romioneficfest · 4 years

Text

A different kind of apology

Title: A Different Kind of Apology

Prompt/Day: Day 7 - Anything goes!

Tumblr name:

Rating: K+

Brief summary: Ron has just returned, fresh after destroying the locket, and Hermione has never been more furious: though he, undoubtedly, expects her temper to subside after a few hours —as it usually does—, night falls again and she still refuses to talk to him. What she doesn’t expect, though, is that he’ll try anything for her to forgive him.

She lays in bed, lost in thought, facing nowhere as she feels her thoughts stew. They haven’t stopped boiling since he’s come back: a Molotov cocktail of relief, euphoria, incapacitating hurt, and steely fury is brewing in her mind, and it’s all she can do to keep it from exploding.

So she’s kept her mouth shut.

Not an easy feat for her, especially not when she feels herself overflowing with things to tell him (it’s so good you’re back, I’ve been dying to talk to you), with things she wishes she’d said before (don’t leave me, Ron, I can’t do it without you), with things she yearns to spit in his face (how dare you, walking out like that, I thought you were dead)… But some things take precedence over others, and for Hermione Granger, the utmost priority is always to think— and right now, she needs some silence to do it properly.

She hears a rustle as someone clambers in through the tent flap. Harry’s on guard tonight: he’d been volunteering a lot more today (undoubtedly an effort to get her to talk to Ron), but she hadn’t let him; finally, when he’d noticed she was starting to succumb to exhaustion, he’d forced her to step inside and get some rest, Hermione, for Merlin’s sake.

So she had, and Harry had taken her wand to sit out front and keep watch.

But that means there’s only one person who could be climbing in right now— and it’s the person she least wants to talk to in the world right now. So she rolls over in bed, her blankets shifting as she switches her gaze to the opposite wall, keeping her brow furrowed and her back turned to the rest of the tent.

“‘Mione,” she hears a soft plea, and her heart threatens to melt: he never calls you that, he must mean it, oh Merlin, it’s so sweet. However, her anger regains command and steers her harshly away from that path: he left you, he screamed at you, and he came back laughing, like nothing had happened… With steely determination, she remains where she is. “'Mione, please…”

And still nothing.

A second later, she hears the cot springs squeak as another weight settles down on it— and she really has to steel herself to keep her arms crossed, her face unyielding, to not reach out and smack him, how dare you, Ronald…

“You don’t have to talk. I know you don’t want to. But just listen to me, please.” Silence. “Please, can you do that?” She keeps her silence, impassive. Ron seems to take it as a yes, sighs, and plunges in: “I know I should’ve never left…”

She hears a cold laugh rattling around her insides, and hates how it sounds: Oh, figured that out, didn’t you, you bright boy, took you long enough to realize you should’ve stayed. She shakes it off; its cruelty scares her, and she refuses to think that’s how she really feels.

“…and I’m sorry I did,” he continues. “And if I have to keep apologizing to you every day of my life until you believe me, Hermione Granger, I will. There wasn’t a second after I’d stepped outside your spells —they’re brilliant, by the way, I really couldn’t see anything, but of course you don’t need me to tell you that— that I didn’t wish I hadn’t. And it’s not like I went back and lived comfortably in the Burrow, you know, I had to hide too—” She scoffs, and he hurries to correct the offense: “—well, of course it’s wasn’t as bad as you lot had it, but still… It would’ve been better if I’d been with you. Everything is, Hermione, please trust me on that.”

She still says nothing. That awful part of her, the one that keeps cackling in the pit of her stomach, wants to see him grovel, wants to see him beg, wants to see him get on his knees and bawl for forgiveness. But Hermione’s nothing if not level-headed, even when she’s the angriest she’s ever been, and so she holds her icy silence.

He tries a different approach now, in a softer tone, at a slower pace: “I meant it, Hermione, it was your voice I heard coming from the Deluminator. There’s no way I could’ve made that up. Your voice— well, it’s the only thing that could’ve brought me back. And it did. I don’t think— I mean, if it’d been Harry’s, I would’ve thought the thing was cursed and chucked it,” he stops to chuckle, but quickly zips it when he notices she stiffens rather than laughs. “You don’t understand, do you? It’s you. I came back for you. Yeah, of course, it’s a noble quest and we’re going to save the Wizarding World and all that rubbish that some kids are gonna be bored listening to Binns droll about in a few decades, but I came back for you. I couldn’t bear the thought of you alone. I couldn’t bear not seeing your face among the first things I saw when I opened my eyes every morning. I couldn’t bear the fact that I wasn’t getting regularly lectured in the same voice that brought me back. I couldn’t stand it, alright? Guilt was a factor, I can’t deny that, but being away from you is the hardest thing I’ve had to do.”

The beast in her chest is quiet now. It’s not purring —though it wants to, a part of it does, he missed you, Hermione, you, he came back for you—, but it’s laying low, still on the lookout for a threat without being on attack. Ron seems to sense her softening, because he places a hand on her shoulder. She doesn’t swat it away— whether it’s because her anger is still petrifying her or because she genuinely wants it there, not even she can tell. “Say something, Hermione,” he pleads, even softer this time. “Anything. You don’t have to say you forgive me. You don’t have to say it’s okay. Just say… say… say anything.”

She’s still not looking at him, but it’s as if he’s deflated. He doesn’t try anything more— is he still hoping? Is he thinking she’s going to roll over and look at him and tell him it’s okay, you lovely boy, I forgive you? She can’t lie to herself— a part of her wants to, it’s pulling at her heartstrings to just look at him already, but she won’t give in. She can’t. She’s too angry, and he needs to know that, he needs to know just how broken he left her.

She doesn’t move.

Everything stands still for a moment, a tension thickening the air so much you could slash through it. Then he speaks again, almost mumbling: “Alright, you don’t wanna talk to me, I understand that. Just let me try to apologize to you— let me show you how much you mean to me— in a different way.”

The bedsprings lift again, and she thinks he’s gone to sleep, he’s gonna try again tomorrow, but he’s given up today— and then the bedsprings creak down again with even more force. The blankets lift, and he crawls in bed behind her. She feels him settle in a curve around her, cupping her body with his, and he drapes a careful arm around her midriff. He hesitates; but she hasn’t stiffened, she hasn’t tried to get away, and he takes that as a sign that he can pull her to him tighter.

She’s surprised to feel tears prickling at the corners of her eyes, surprised at how much she likes this, surprised at how a long-hidden craving she’d had for so long (while he was gone, while he wasn’t near her) at last feels sated now that he’s holding her. And finally, in the warmth of his arms, even as she still feels her chest bound with the last strains of anger, she allows herself to fall asleep peacefully for the first time in months.

#Romione FicFest 2020 #Fic Post #Romione #Ron Weasley #Hermione Granger #Submission #Queue Up for the Dragon #Rated T

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myriadimagines · 4 years

Note

Can you do marriage headcanons of George Weasley of his s/o? (Let’s pretend Fred doesn’t die)

BEING MARRIED TO GEORGE WEASLEY:

If you thought the married life would calm George down in anyway, you’re sorely mistaken

Him always teasing you that you signed up for all his cheesy jokes when you married him

“Honestly, y/n, you should’ve known better.” “God, you’re lucky I love you so much.”

The two of you always reminiscing about your time in Hogwarts, and laughing over all the silly things him and Fred did to cause a ruckus

George always having the goofiest grin on his face whenever you introduce him to people as your husband

It just reminds him how lucky he is to have you

Being good friends with Fred of course, and often having silly arguments over who gets to spend more time with George

“Honestly, y/n, you’re stealing my own twin brother away from me.” “Shut up, Fred, he’s my husband!”

And of course, George always interrupts by insisting there’s enough of him to go around

The rest of the Weasley family absolutely adoring you

“There’s no one else I can imagine George marrying. The two of you are the perfect match!” “Oh, thank you, Mrs. Weasley!”

Helping George around Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, and often helping him and Fred come up with new ideas for new products

“Oh, y/n, this is brilliant! How did we not come up with this earlier?”

George loves to leave you little gifts every now and then, because he loves to surprise you in a way that’ll always make you smile

Getting into mini arguments, that aren’t really fights but just more exasperation on your part and George trying very hard not to laugh, about how George tends to leave everything on the higher shelves

“George, why would you put my favorite mug up on the top shelf? You- ugh, you know I can’t reach! Hey, don’t laugh!” “I’m sorry, love, I put everything up there!”

The both of you often being late to work because you always spend mornings together lazily cuddling together and refusing to leave one another

“Okay, George, we really have to go—” “Aw, c’mon, y/n, it’s so warm and cozy here!”

George absolutely loves being cuddly with you, always nestling his face up to yours and wrapping his arms around you from behind

Talking about having a family of your own, since George would love to have kids

But he understands if you’re not ready to just yet, and is more than willing to be patient until you are, because with kids or not, he loves every second he spends with you

tag list: @jb3islife / @myfriendmagislit / @real-fbi / @thefirst-galaxy / @musicallisto / @chinike / @gofandomsandotherstuff / @thisismysecrethappyplace / @natalia-helena-alianova-romanov / @hauntedpocdreamer / @unlikelysamwinchesteronahunt / @lgbtonystarks / @fangirlsarah16 / @cnco-babes / @doot-doot-danvers / @batfam16 / @marvelismylifffe

#hp imagine #george weasley imagine #hp #hp headcanon #george weasley #george weasley headcanon #imagine #imagines #reader insert #headcanon #headcanons #anonymous

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avengerscompound · 5 years

Text

Just Friends

Just Friends: A Bucky Barnes Fanfic

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing: Bucky Barnes x F!Reader

Word Count: 2235

Rating: E

Warnings: Smut (F|M, vaginal sex)

Synopsis: After moving into the Avengers Compound Bucky has a lot of trouble fitting in. Until he forms a friendship with you.

Just Friends

When Bucky first moved into the compound, things were tense. So much had happened, so many people had been badly hurt. He kept to himself mostly, not wanting to impose himself on others. It was only with Steve and Sam that you’d catch him with any of his walls down. Where you’d see him smile or laugh or occasionally even be a wise ass. As soon as he realized you were there he’d shut down again, often withdrawing from the room completely.

Slowly. Very, very slowly, he started opening up to other people. Smiling to Wanda when she entered the room. Returning Natasha’s surly morning greetings. It was you that he opened up to the fastest though. You were new. You weren’t at the airport. You hadn’t been tainted by everything that happened.

You first noticed him relaxing around you when he was arguing with Sam about stacking the dishwasher. You came into the room as Sam was telling him that he was a slob and it wasn’t the rest of the towers job to clean up after him. Normally your mere presence would have made him just nod his head, pack the dishwasher and flee as quickly and quietly as he could. This time he looked up at you and smiled.

“Cut me some slack. They didn’t even have dishwashers when I grew up.” Bucky complained.

Sam rolled his eyes dramatically. “Don’t give me that, tin man. I saw you playing Mario Kart for over an hour this morning. If you can figure that out, you can figure out how to open a door and put a plate on a rack.”

“But there are all these rules about what is allowed in there…” Bucky argued.

“Sorry, James. I’m with Sam. You can stack the dishwasher.” You said, coming into the kitchen to grab a drink from the fridge. Sam raised his fist as you walked past and you bumped it.

“Oh, now you’re ganging up on me too?” Bucky groaned.

You pulled a bottle of juice from the fridge and unscrewed the cap, taking a drink. “It’s nothing personal. It’s just, I’m always the one that has to clean up after you animals.”

Sam burst out laughing and Bucky blushed. “Sorry, doll. I’ll do better.”

The next time you noticed you were alone in the common area marathoning 'Orange is the New Black' on Netflix. It was well past midnight and he came out bleary-eyed and startled when he saw you.

“What are you doin’ up, doll.” He said, sitting down beside you.

“I got caught up in this show. What about you? Couldn’t sleep?” You asked.

Bucky shook his head. “Don’t sleep well. Nightmares.”

You nodded your head. “Right. Of course, you do. It’s a theme.”

“Yeah? Who else?” Bucky asked.

“Tony. Tony gets them really bad. Bruce. He takes something now though because there were a couple of Hulk incidents. Wanda too. One time she projected and we all had her nightmare. Natasha does but she won’t leave her room when it happens. Clint has nightmares about clowns. Quite regularly. That’s why he’s always just drinking coffee.” You stopped talking for a second and paused the show, cocking your head to the side. “In fact… Clint?”

There was a rustle in the vents behind you and then Clint dropped to the ground. “Don’t out me.” He grumbled, coming and sitting on the other side of you.

“Sorry, man. Just wanted James to see he wasn’t alone.” You said.

“Bucky,” Bucky said quietly.

You looked at him puzzled. “Sorry, what?”

“My friends call me Bucky.” He explained, not looking you in the eye.

“Okay, Bucky.” You replied, touching his arm. He flinched a little but didn’t move away. You dropped your hand. “Who else?” You asked Clint.

“Uh… Rhodey does sometimes. Only when the stress of Tony fucking up is getting to him though.” Clint answered.

“Which is always.” You joked.

“Which is always.” Clint agreed. “Sam sometimes. Not a whole lot, but sometimes. Steve too. Steve a lot. Doesn’t usually wake him up though, but you can hear him talking if …” He stopped talking abruptly.

You started laughing and shoved Clint. “If you spy on him in the vents.”

“Steve really has nightmares?” Bucky asked.

“Oh yeah. Pretty much every night. They were way worse before you got back.” Clint answered. “I’d say the only two who don’t are Vision, who doesn’t actually sleep and this pretty little flower,” Clint said, pinching your cheeks.

“You don’t?” Bucky asked.

You shrugged. “I mean, sure from time to time. I get that one where your teeth all fall out, and there are way more teeth than is even humanly possible. Generally not though I haven’t been through as much as these guys. I was just… good at what I do. So I was recruited. You know what dream I do get a lot?”

“What?” Bucky asked, sounding genuinely interested.

“The one where you realize you’re naked. Only dream me never really cares. Must have nudist fantasies I don’t know about.” You laughed.

Clint put his arm around your shoulder. “Well, I can say on behalf of Bucky and me, if you wanted to get naked now, that would be quite alright.”

So it went; the more time passed, the more Bucky relaxed. The more Bucky relaxed, the closer you became. It wasn’t long until the two of you were almost inseparable. He no longer flinched when you touched him. In fact, he sought out that physical contact with you almost constantly. He often held your hand or hugged you from behind if you were standing around. If you were sitting he would rub your feet, or have his arm around you, or just simply snuggle up as close as he could.

You had fallen for him pretty hard, and you knew it was reciprocated. Everyone knew it was reciprocated. Only he wouldn’t let it go forward. Anytime you tried to bring it up he would just say ‘I can't’ and close up.

It was driving everyone else around you both crazy. Steve kept apologizing on Bucky’s behalf. You would reassure him you understood but he’d do it anyway. Natasha would roll her eyes every time you were in the same room together. Even Tony who still hadn’t really warmed up to Bucky being there yet would ask you if the two of you had finally fucked yet.

Three months it took until one day you were hanging out in your room watching ‘The Wizard of OZ’. You spent a lot of time in either yours or his room. When you were out in the common area people always felt the need to at best give you knowing looks and at worst flat out ask if you guys were a couple yet. So you’d hide from them. You lay with your head resting on his shoulder and he has his arm curled around you.

“I still like it. Even after all this time.” He said as the film ended.

“It still holds up. I mean, I watched it when I was a kid and that was what? 50 or so years since it was made.” You agreed looking up at him.

He laughed. “Don’t remind me about how much older than you I am, it’s depressing.” He teased and poked you in the side.

You laughed and rolled over so you were now facing each other. “I wouldn’t sweat it, old man. You’re still looking really good. What kind of moisturizer do you use?”

He started tickling you. “Stop. Making. Fun. Of. Me.” He said, as his fingers worked over your sides and you writhed around trying to escape his assault.

“Stop it! Stop!” You wheezed. “I’m sorry!”

He stopped tickling you and you lay pressed against his chest looking into each other’s eyes. He hesitantly leaned into you and you bridged the distance. His lips touched on yours hesitantly and you kissed slowly and gently. Very gradually it deepened. Your tongue flicked over his top lip and his mouth opened. His tongue met yours, circling it before dipping into your mouth.

It wasn’t long until his hands were under your shirt, cupping your breasts, and your fingers had slipped under the waistband of his pants. Bucky pulled back suddenly and jumped out of the bed. “Sorry. I shouldn’t. This… this is a mistake…” He said, refusing to make eye contact with you as he paced the room. His hands ran through his hair.

You climbed slowly out of bed and stepped in front of him, putting your hands on his shoulders. “Bucky, stop. Talk to me. What’s going on?”

Bucky raised his eyes and looked into yours. “I’m broken. Can’t you see that? I don’t even know how to relate to other people anymore. You should be with someone like you. Someone that doesn’t wake up every night in a cold sweat because he keeps revisiting all the people he murdered over and over again.”

You put your hands on his cheeks and look right into his blue/gray eyes. “Bucky, you’ve been relating with me just fine for months now.”

“Yes but…”

“And don’t tell me who I deserve. I want you. Do you get that?” You snapped, cutting him off.

“Yes, ma’am.” He said softly.

“I am in love with your James Buchanan Barnes.” You said firmly.

His lips crashed into yours and lifted you off the ground and climbed back onto the bed with you. You scrambled to remove each other's clothes, yet were unwilling to actually break the kiss. Which meant your pants were off before the shirt and there were several moments where you both struggled to figure out how to get them off until Bucky just tore them away. The move made you moan into his mouth and you wrapped your legs around him, pulling his body flush against yours.

He rolled his hips into you as his hands ran over any part of you they could reach. The contrast between warm rough skin and cold smooth steel made your body tingle and a shiver run up your spine. When his fingers touched on your bare breasts your nipples hardened to sharp peaks almost instantly.

You rolled your hips against each other, his cock sliding up and down your folds. The head of his cock pressed and released on your clit making that tingle grow, sending tendrils out through you and making you feel fuzzy.

Your cunt began to ache for him. All you could think about was that thick cock of his penetrating you. You reached over and fumbled in your bedside table and just as your fingers closed on the box of condoms you’d been keeping there just in case the cold steel of his fingers touched on your clit and sent such an intense rush through you your body seized up and you cried out.

“Oh fuck, Bucky. I need you.” You pleaded.

“It’s okay, doll.” He whispered, his lips ghosting at your throat. He took the box of condoms and removed one. He fumbled with the packed so you took it back of him, tearing it open and slowly rolling it down onto his cock. He slid it up and down one more time and he was inside of you. You groaned as he suddenly filled you. His cock was thick and long and it stretched you out and filled you in a way no one had ever done before.

“Oh fuck, darlin’. You feel so fuckin’ good.” He groaned, looking down into your eyes. “I don’t think I’ll last. It’s been so long.”

“Rollover.” You growled.

He licked his lips and took hold of your hips, rolling so you were straddling him. You leaned in over him, running the tip of your tongue up his chest before kissing him again. You took his hand and guided it over your body until it rested on your pubic mound. He took the hint and started drawing tight circles over your clit with his thumb and you started to move.

You started by slowly rolling your hips. With each forward roll, you clenched your pelvic floor. You kept kissing him. You sucked and bit at his lips until yours started to prickle and go numb from his stubble. Heat swirled through you and you picked up your pace. You started to ride him. Moving up and down his cock. Bracing your hands on his shoulders. With the combined feeling of his cock moving inside you, and his thumb moving against your clit your own orgasm approached quickly. You began to bounce, sweat beading on your body. You were both moaning, your eyes were locked together.

“Oh god, doll. I’m close.” Bucky said, an edge of pleading to his voice. You could feel the throb of his cock inside you. The way he sounded, the sheer desperation made your cunt clench and your orgasm crashed down over you making every muscle in your body spasm. Bucky was dragged along with you, he emptied inside of you, his cock pulsing.

You collapsed down onto him panting. Bucky took a moment to slip from within you and toss the condom away. “Hey, doll?” He said, his voice still a little shaky.

“Yeah, Buck?” You replied, pressing your lips into his shoulder.

“You wanna go steady?” He asked.

You broke down into a fit of giggles. “Yeah, Bucky. I do.”

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #the winter soldier #the winter soldier fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #reader insert #smut #just friends

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one-leaf-grimoire · 4 years

Text

“triad”

Chapter 4: the three votes

AKA the main character manipulates men into doing what she wants.

Link to the full Ao3 work

Three votes.

Three votes, that's all I need.

Yes, the threshold I need to win is actually five votes. But once two of those votes swing my way, the others will follow. Well, maybe I just need two votes now. The one that was withheld last round and one from the pair of rivals.

Fuegoleon and Nozel... to gain both of their votes, I just need to convince one.

My grandparents once told me that the foundation of every Dyad is a strong relationship. It can be that between a husband and wife; lovers; maybe two best friends. But the most interesting yet volatile Dyads came from those formed from two rivals. Admittedly, it's been a long time since I had a true rival. Back when I was a kid, I mentally competed with Horatio. He was strong and powerful, at least for a commoner, and I wanted nothing more than to beat him. But that seems like a lifetime ago. Several lifetimes. I hardly recognize the girl I was back then, as if she's a stranger or just someone I made up in my own head.

The point is... the rivalry between Fuegoleon and Nozel is something I've never fully understood. They push each other to get better in the hopes of one day beating the other to the throne, but the understanding between them was that, at the very least, one of them was worthy of it. And no one else.

Not even me.

So...

In order to defeat them, I have to destroy it. Their rivalry. I'll crush it with everything I can muster. I'm sorry... but I can't let you stand in my way.

I walk for a long time, formulating my plan, until I make my decision. First, I'll go to Fuegoleon. Then, to Nozel. And finally... to William.

William...

My plan to get his vote is not solid. It relies completely on my ability to pull at the well of shame and guilt I know is building inside him.

... I'm sorry.

"Hey, Fuego~"

I find Fuegoleon leaning on the edge of a window, staring down at the city below. He turns quickly at the sound of my voice, and his eyes widen slightly as I approach. However, he can't help the small smile that etches itself on his lips. "Oh... hello." He straightens up, letting go of the edge. "If nothing else, you're surprising us all today."

"What? That sounds like an insult," I tease, walking up next to him and looking out as well. The city is busy with repairs, people moving around the streets like little ants. It's a view I'm used to, one I've known for almost 7 years now. "And surprises are good, right?"

Fuegoleon shrugs, his gaze following mine down to the city. "I suppose..."

We sit there for a long time in silence, just staring out at the Kingdom that one of us will rule by the end of today.

"...Fuegoleon?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember... that time you got turned into a frog?"

Fuegoleon's jaw drops and he makes a surprised noise. It comes out in a choked CROAK, and I can't help but burst out laughing at it. "Wow, I guess old habits die hard!"

"What?! Ah- AHEM!" Fuegoleon blushes as he clears his throat, but the sound of my laugh ensures that his smile stays on his face. "Yes, yes, I remember... although I'd like to forget." He lets out a soft chuckle. "That was so long ago..."

"Yeah, it really was." I shake my head a bit at the memory. "Back before you were captain and I was an advisor. Back when..."

I don't really know what I want to say. Back when things were simple? Before I was disgraced? Back when Julius was alive?

Back when Julius was alive... that wasn't even a week ago.

"I know today has been a big surprise. I know you never expected me to throw my hat into the ring. I guess I'm sorry about that..." I sigh, closing my eyes, the fleeting joy of the last few moments already ebbing away.

Fuegoleon draws in a heavy breath. He's tired, I can feel it, every bone in his body aching and his mind reeling to just stay awake. He woke up from a coma just a few days ago, after all, and has been on his feet ever since. It must have been scary and confusing to wake up in the midst of such a ferocious battle, but he got everything under control at his base and went on to fight inside the shadow palace. At his core, Fuegoleon is a leader, someone strong who can be looked up to and followed without question. I was proud to call him my comrade and captain.

I know in my heart that he would be a great Wizard King. Maybe it's selfish to take it away from him. But I have to.

I promised.

"Don't apologize. I can't pretend I'm not surprised... and a little confused." Fuegoleon glances over at me out of the corner of his eye. "You really haven't been planning this for a while?"

"No, not at all! Do I seem prepared?" I shoot him a little grin to keep things light. "But what is it you're confused about? I thought I made a pretty good case for myself-"

"You did, you did!" Fuegoleon, to my surprise, cuts me off. I look up to see him facing me, smiling despite the challenge I've created for him. "It was a very good case, too."

I raise an eyebrow. "Oh? You don't sound like someone that determined to become Wizard King."

Fuegoleon snorts. "No, no, I am... But just because I'm determined, doesn't mean I can't recognize those with worth of your own." I blink, a little confused, as he closes his eyes and smiles. "I think... you would make a fine Wizard King."

He lets the statement hang in the air for a moment before opening his eyes again, his expression turning grim again.

"But, the case you made today... those were just reasons why we should want you to be Wizard King. What I really want to know..."

He narrows his eyes.

"Why do you want to be Wizard King?"

...

I made a promise. I want to continue Julius's legacy. I deserve it. I've worked harder than anyone else. Spite. I want to be the first commoner to do it.

I want to be Wizard King... because I WANT to be Wizard King.

About thirty different reasons flash through my mind at once, blurring and blending into each other all at once. It takes me by surprise, the sudden animosity that wells up in response to the question, like a flame being fed by air... before suddenly sputtering out into nothing.

"...I..."

I feel Fuegoleon's hand on my shoulder, squeezing for a moment. "I meant what I said. I think you would be amazing. You're strong, confident, and people follow you. You're probably more powerful than any of us. And you carry Julius's soul in your own. But..." He lets go. "I don't want you to do this because you think you're expected to. That's too much pressure to bear."

Fuegoleon turns away, starting to walk off down the hallway to leave me alone again.

... I can't give up...

I ball up my fist, and my prior conversation with Marx and Yami.

"I don't think you should keep acting like nothing happened. It has to hurt... right?"

"... too much to bear?"

He pauses at the sound of my voice, which is wavering dangerously on the edge of a void. Slowly, he turns around to still see me staring out the window. My eyes feel hot and wet, but I don't let even a single drop of emotion escape. Sucking in a shaky breath, I finally look up at him, and I see his facade drop.

Look at me... see me. See what I want you to see.

"Do you have any idea... how much pain I'm in right now?"

Fuegoleon's eyes widen, his mouth opening as he realizes what he's done.

He made me cry. Me, the girl who never cries, is letting my eyes tear up in front of him. It's a vulnerability I don't dare show to people, except for those closest to me. Marx, my father, and Julius... I can count the number of people who've seen me cry on one hand. And now, Fuegoleon thinks that he's added himself to that list.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"

He steps forward, his non-fire hand reaching out to comfort me, put I pull away before he can touch me. I cover my face, drawing in one long, shallow breath.

"It hurts, Fuegoleon... It's the worst I've ever felt in my life. Everything I ever wanted is gone. Julius..." I gulp thickly, squeezing my eyes shut. "He's gone!"

With each word I speak, I fly closer and closer to the sun. If I fly too far, I'll burn up and fall back down into that dark, deep emptiness.

That emptiness... it engulfs this whole world. It is the world without him.

Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Just speak.

"I'm sorry..." Fuegoleon has no idea what to do, and he's panicking just like I predicted. He steps to my side, then to the other once I turn away again and again, avoiding his gaze. "I-I didn't mean to upset you-"

"It's not you! Don't you get it!" Finally, I let my voice raise, just a little, which silences him again. I let my hands drop to my sides as I look back up at his horrified face. The tears streak down my cheeks now. "I can't make you understand. You and your rivalry... you wouldn't, would you? You don't know what it's like to lose."

Fuegoleon opens his mouth, but he can't possibly have a good response to that. I sniff deliberately, reaching up and starting to wipe off my face.

"I loved him with everything I had... and now I have to replace him, or this void..."

One of my hands clutches my chest, right over my heart.

Yes, it does hurt... but I can't think about it.

I close my eyes for a long moment, and when I open them, they're empty.

"The only think I can replace him with is the Kingdom. I want to be Wizard King, because I want to love something like that again."

The hand outreached to me finally falls, and forms a fist by Fuegoleon's side.

He's making his decision.

The first tightens.

Fuegoleon...

And finally, he lets it relax. His shoulders slump.

He's been defeated. A few tears, a crying friend... and a sincere statement. That's all it took.

You revealed your own weakness. You let yourself consider another option, other than yourself and Nozel. You considered me. And once I came up with my reason...

You can't refuse this last request from a friend, can you?

I'm sorry.

"...I see."

Fuegoleon's voice is soft.

"I... I'll see you back in the conference room. Let me know if you need anything."

"...thank you."

I keep staring at the ground until his footsteps fade out of earshot, and then finally look up at the empty hallway. I reach up and wipe away the lingering moisture, wondering how much of it was real.

Wow... I really am the worst, aren't I?

For a brief moment, I started to fall. The emptiness threatened to consume me. I know it's inevitable at this point, and before long I'll have to get it out of my system, but I don't have that luxury right now. I just have to tough it out until this day is over.

On that subject, there's just one more person to see, now that I basically have Fuegoleon wrapped around my finger. With that one conversation, I'm certain that I've secured two votes. Fuegoleon votes first, and once Nozel sees that his rival has given up...

It's mine. But not yet.

William.

I find him standing by himself outside the conference room. He looks up once he hears my footsteps, giving me a little smile. "...hello."

"Hey." I give him a smile before leaning on the wall next to him. "Are you waiting for everyone to come back?"

"Yeah." He nods slowly, his gaze meeting mine for just a moment before dropping to the ground. Ah. This is going to be hard. It's no secret that, despite what I told him on the night of the attack, William is drowning in guilt. He almost single-handedly destroyed the kingdom, but against me, personally... he committed a crime he'll never forgive himself for.

It's that guilt that I'm betting on now.

"I guess I have the easiest decision... I'm abstaining again." William's eyes close, their lavender shades hidden from my view.

His eyes...

Julius had eyes just like that, too.

"I don't want you to feel like this is a vote against you, though," William turns to me, suddenly very concerned about this point, almost frantic. "I mean- I just feel like-" He starts to stumble. "I think you would be great-" Gee, like I haven't heard that before! "-I just..."

For a brief moment, William looks like he's about to cry.

"I think I gave up my right to vote... when I let Patri kill Julius."

He winces at the sound of his own words, but they bounce right off my skin.

Oh... oh William...

Just like Fuegoleon, William has revealed his weakness.

"That's not true."

With every ounce of strength I have, I extinguish anything warm I feel towards this man.

He just made a mistake. Don't do it, please... It wasn't his fault.

It's just for a moment... but the light extinguishes.

"William..."

His eyes meet mine. There's a flash of fear as he beholds the cold emptiness within them.

"You gave up your right to be silent when you let Patri kill Julius."

Confusion mixes with the fear. "...huh-"

"William. I told you before-" I hold up my hand and point at him accusingly.

"If you want me to forgive you, you'll need to help me. And right now..."

Despite the bitter regret that taints each word I say to my old friend, I smile.

"I need your vote. So... vote for me."

Vote for me.

I say it like I normally would, as if I was just asking a favor of a good friend. Which, in the end, that's all I'm doing. But there's a weight stringed against my words, a weight that drags behind both William and I. If he knows what's going on here, he can't do anything to resist. Because, I have the one thing he wants most: my forgiveness. He doesn't know that I've already given it to him. I'm not stupid- I know that there were otherworldly forces at work, beyond even Patri's command. Patri's hands held the sword, but the Devil was the one who struck down Julius in the end. However...

It doesn't matter if I've already forgiven William; He has no idea if I have. So I'll withhold it until he does what I want.

"I'm going inside... see you soon, William."

His lavender eyes follow me silently as I walk away, the door slamming closed behind me.

And now... it's time to see if my bet pays off.

The final vote occurs and MC/Lisa finds herself at the center of a trial once again... but this time, she has something to say. Next time, chapter 5: the payoff.

#triad #fic #oc: lisa #this was kind of hard to write #when your goal outweighs your friendships aha

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keeperofhounds · 4 years

Text

Lost & Found (Chapter Five)

Special thanks to my beta reader @rachelbethhines and special thanks to Varian 66 on Discord for their part in developing this story.

We all know how the original story started. We all know how it ended too. Let’s see an alternate take if Eugene were to have been adopted rather than being alone for most of his life.

“So, how did you first meet Flynn Rider? This I have to know.” Varian said, as he examined chunks of hair. His goggles gave him a bug-eyed appearance with them on, but he seemed very impressed at how long the hair was.

After getting over the shock that this child was the “dangerous” wizard. Varian was more than happy to help her with the hair. He was an excitable young boy, who wouldn’t stop talking about Flynn. One comment that had her confused though was that he was happy to meet Flynn’s “girlfriend,” despite the thief’s protests to the counterair. Varian really was a character.

“Yeah, so can you do it kid?” Flynn asked, trying to keep Varian focused, “We’re sort of on a schedule.”

“Pft, this’ll be easy. I have something that could help.”

Varian ran towards another room, his feet stopping on the stone floor. As his steps faded away Rapunzel was struck with the fact that she and Flynn were alone. Well not really Pascal was there too. The long-haired girl wasn’t angry at what happened, why would she be? She was the one who freaked out again.

Rapunzel took a deep breath, “Look Flynn…”

“I’m sorry, Rapunzel.”

That stopped her short. Why would he be the one apologizing? She was the one who messed up, maybe Mother was right, maybe she really couldn’t handle the outside world. Flynn wasn’t done speaking, though.

“I exaggerated the entire thing, I thought that if I could just scare you off I could get out of the deal. I didn’t think that you’d pass out the way you did. It wasn’t my intention to hurt you and I’m sorry for that.”

This took Rapunzel for a loop, she hadn’t thought once it was Flynn’s fault. She was the one who wanted to leave the tower. Although hearing him apologize to her really did lift her spirits. It was like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. This was just a misstep, and there was no reason to just give up now.

Rapunzel still didn’t know how to handle the apology, Mother had never done anything of the needing an apology. All she could do was look at Pascal who gave her a go on motion. Taking a deep breath Rapunzel rose from the stool and walked towards the thief. Once she was face to face or as much as she could given that Flynn was a good head taller than her. Rapunzel placed both hands over her hips and gave Flynn a hard-look, “You better mister because just so you know we’re still going to see those lanterns.”

Flynn could only stare as the girl who was passed out tried to intimidate him. He could admit that there was a charm in the way she tried to act like nothing had changed. On one hand that makes it easier for him to get the crown back. On the other hand he was expecting more of a reaction than the one he got. Most people would be angry that they got tricked the way she did. He didn’t get the chance to reply when Varian came back running into the room. It also seemed that he had been listening in on the conversation.

“Oh, Flynn’s taking you to see the floating lights? That’s so romantic.” Varian winked at Flynn. Trust the kid to always do this to him.

“I told you Varian it’s not like that.” There was no way he could be the only one with a kid like this, right? Maybe he should stuck around more often, then maybe Varian wouldn’t be giving him that teasing look.

“I know this really nice sweet shop Flynn can take you, the store owner is really nice, Flynn can take you, and make sure he takes you out for dinner and walks you home. He may act like a rouge but he was raised to be a gentleman.”

Flynn couldn’t keep the frustration out of his voice, “Varian shut up… it…. Is.... not… like…. That.”

Both boys held each others gazes with neither willing to look away. Flynn was finally starting to think that Varian finally got what Flynn was trying to say. Instead Varian turned to Rapunzel and asked, “So, you’re taking him out? I knew there was a girl out there who could sweep him off his feet.”

More like sneak up on him and knock him beside the head with a frying pan, but Flynn doubted that Varian would have anything to say other comment on how he probably deserved it. Flynn placed his hands on the younger boys shoulders and turned Varian to face him, “You know what it doesn’t matter anyway, did you get what you needed?”

The visitor could only watch as Varian showed off what he had brought back with him from the other room. It looked like rope made of nothing that either of them had ever seen. They were all sort of disappointed, they were expecting something more impressive.

“This is just rope,” Flynn said voicing Rapunzel's thoughts.

Varian scoffed, “It’s not just a rope Flynn it’s a bungee cord. Rapunzel’s hair is too thick and long for normal hair ties so I thought with this we could use the cord to hold her hair and wrap it.”

Rapunzel was honestly impressed with the young alchemists' thoughts. She had been worried about what the younger boy would think up. Obviously cutting her hair was not an option, but Varian seemed to be rising to the challenge.

Varian held a section of hair for Flynn to hold. “Now come on if we hurry you guys can make a good distance to the castle.”

This is how they spent the next few minutes. Honestly Rapunzel was surprised at how little time it took for Varian to do the entire thing. The alchemist wrapped the cord high on her head in a high ponytail then wrapped a section around the cord. He then puffed the hair in a bubble shape and wrapped another cord under it. He repeated the process several times until finally he was done.

“We’re finished Rapunzel, come on check out your new look.” Varian gently grabbed her hand and led her to a full-sized mirror in the room. Once they reached it Varian moved to the side, “Alright so what do you think? Nice huh?”

What Rapunzel saw took her breath away. The hairstyle itself was impressive considering that Varian had stated that he had never worked with hair before. It wasn’t perfect but it wasn’t bad either but her hair wasn’t falling to the ground. For the first time her hair wasn’t on the ground.

A giant smile sprang onto Rapunzel’s face, she twirled around her hair following her movements. She laughed turning to Pascal who was perched on the nearby table, “So, Pascal how do I look?”

Pascal chirped, and gave her a chameleon smile. He loved it.

Rapunzel screamed, throwing her arms around Varian in a bear hug and twirled him around with her, “I love it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“Don’t… mention… it,” Varian wheezed, he hadn’t imagined the girl being so strong.

Rapunzel quickly let the boy go, “Oops, sorry.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Flynn stood to the side watching. It seemed very silly to be so happy about a new hair do but it seemed to mean the world to Rapunzel. It brought a smile to his face seeing both of them so happy. Maybe this entire situation wasn’t so bad.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Varian patted a cart stuffed full of personal items and food, “Mr. Travis is going to visit family for the festival tomorrow, the route is on the way if you hitch a ride you can make it to the castle by nightfall.”

Flynn and Rapunzel were squeezed into the limited space available in the cart. The tarp used to cover the cart was perfect for someone who was hiding from the authorities. Even better for the person who owned the cart to not notice the hitchhikers.

“Thank you so much for this.” Rapunzel said, peeking from under the tarp.

“Take care of yourself kid.”

Varian handed Rapunzel a bag, “This has somethings that I made, take it as an apology for scaring you earlier.”

Rapunzel tried to refuse, but Varian insisted by shoving the bag into her arms. He told them to take care of each other and ran back towards the castle. Flynn and Rapunzel prepared to be comfortable because this was going to be a long ride.

#Tangled the movie #tangled the series #varian #tts varian #Rapunzel #flynn rider #Lost & Found #Chapter 5 #my fanfiction #fanfiction #adopted au #siblings au

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desiree-harding-fic · 5 years

Text

Cold Hands, Warm Heart

Based on that one post by @thepensword about how Taako is always cold. Can be found here. Plus an idea I’ve had for a long time but never written about.

Cw for swears, kids. Be safe out there. But other than that it’s light angst with a fluffy chaser and a dash of Lore.

Enjoy!!!

*~*~*~*~*

Positively stomping through the streets of Neverwinter, Taako, for the thousandth time, curses the city for its positively idiotic name.

“Neverwinter”, his ass. Maybe they should have gone with “UsuallyWinter,” or “JustAsMuchWinterAsAnywhereElse,” or “CanWeReallySayThatAnythingOnThisOneSunnedPlanetIsn’tWinter.”

Because, you see, Taako is cold.

Taako is always cold.

It’s a holdover from a plane long behind them. Two-sunned elves have different traits than those of Faerun. Ears that move. Different colored eyes.

Different body temperatures.

Taako is a sun elf. A sun elf from a planet with two suns. He was made for warmth. More warmth than here. And even on two-sun he ran a little colder than the other elves he knew. But there, the extra warmth was enough to compensate. He’d tan in the summer, he’d soak up the rays and wear sleeveless shirts and live for the suns.

Faerun has one sun. On Faerun the long sleeves and pants, the heavy coat with the dozens of pockets he wore adventuring were more than just good sense - they helped him stay fucking warm.

It’s not even fair because Lup isn’t even cold all the time. Lup feels fine. Mostly. She gets a little chilly but it’s nothing a jacket can’t fix, and now she’s a Reaper and something about that helps too (Taako doesn’t know what). Taako’s body doesn’t work that way. And to top it all off, ever since Wonderland, when those fucking liches stole some of his vitality, it’s gotten even worse.

The snowy winter days in Fucking Neverwinter are hell to the multiverse’s favorite wizard, because no matter how many layers of coats and scarves and gloves and enchanted wizard hats he throws on, he can’t get warm.

He turns off the road, starts making the hike up the hill to his house which looks out on the Stillwater sea. He liked the walk when he bought the place. Lined it with trees and flowers that Merle and Pan blessed to grow big and beautiful.

He bought the place in the summer.

Magic should help. It doesn’t. First lesson he ever learned on the road with Lup: no matter how good a wizard you think you are, you never directly influence body temperature using magic. It’s too powerful, too volatile. Transmutation on the body was a risk they were willing to take. Watching your sibling’s blood boil just because you got a little chilly was not.

He finally makes it up to his front door, pushes inside, and sighs in relief.

Ever since the first chills of autumn in the city, every fireplace in Taako’s home, of which there are many, has been running almost nonstop. Is it a fire hazard? Probably. Does Taako give a shit? Maybe ten percent of one. He’s got more money than anyone else in the damn planar system. He can buy a new house.

(But he likes his villa-styled sprawling house by the sea. Likes the herbs in the window boxes and the flowers in the front and back. Likes the view of the water. It would be a shame if it burned down.)

The fireplaces help. But not enough. Never enough.

He takes off his outermost layer for the sake of the snow caked on it, but keeps on everything underneath it. Stupid, he thinks, to wear a full coat and scarf inside of his own house. But he doesn’t know any other way.

He walks through the foyer, and there.

The man of the hour.

Kravitz.

He’s reclining on the couch, close by the fire, book in one hand and glass of red wine in the other, wearing his usual suit without the jacket and shoes. He looks...

Well.

Taako knows how he looks (miraculous).

The worst thing about the winter is the space it’s put between him and his boyfriend.

Six months after Story and Song, and Taako, against all odds, is living with Kravitz. As in, Kravitz lives in his house. Kravitz drinks his wine and moved in his books and plays piano here and sleeps in Taako’s bed.

Well, most of the time.

Kravitz, who’s hands were ice cold on his and Taako’s first date, who tried to warm himself up for their first kiss, is fucking freezing to the touch in the winter.

It’s been a solid couple of months since Taako and Kravitz have cuddled without at least three or four layers between them, and by then Taako could pretty much have just bought a weighted blanket for all the good it does him. It’s hard to satisfy that craving for skin contact from the person you... care about when said skin contact feels like hugging an ice sculpture.

Kravitz looks up, puts down his glass of wine.

“Evening,” he says, mildly, as though testing the waters. And that’s what does it for Taako.

“Hey,” Taako says, immediately turning into the kitchen, not looking at Kravitz, because he just can’t.

Ever since the winter started, and Taako, out of necessity, started shying away from Kravitz’s touch, things have been... weird.

Taako knows that Kravitz isn’t the kind to speak up about this kind of thing. They’re working on it, but it’s been so long since he’s been in a relationship, so many mortal things are new to him. Taako knows this. And yet... breaching this issue, to which Taako has no solution, trying to communicate to Kravitz that he wants him while constantly having to push him away is... frustrating. What Kravitz wants is for Taako to be happy, for Taako to be comfortable. He says it constantly. He insists. And it’s the insisting that’s the problem.

Because Taako knows that even if he’s not saying it, Kravitz isn’t happy either.

And now when Taako comes home, and tries to spend time with his boyfriend, there’s all this horrible... space between them. When Taako’s cold, it seeps into his words and his actions, until all of him is cold, not just his body, not just his skin. Until he’s cold to people he cares about, and apologies come slow and with difficulty, and then the damage has been done.

Taako starts on a simple soup, no energy to make anything flashier, and still refusing to use magic in the kitchen. He hates the way all the extra clothing gets in the way of cooking. Hates the way the warmth of the stove only does so much.

Kravitz eats with him that night, and they talk, but it’s a weird, shy conversation, both of them anticipating what comes after.

What comes after is Kravitz sitting on the other side of the couch pretending to read while Taako shivers and pretends too.

What comes after is Taako going about his evening routine before slipping into bed in a full onesie and under about five blankets. It’s Kravitz dressing in flannels to try to shield Taako from the coldness of his skin, and then the two of them, side by side. Lying on their back and staring up at the ceiling, as they wait for sleep to come.

It’s a long wait, when one of them is an elf and the other doesn’t sleep naturally.

And there’s the thing about Kravitz: he’s not just without warmth. He’s actively cold. His body radiates cold like a living person’s radiates warmth. It’s only been a few minutes and Taako’s already shivering.

“I’m sorry,” Kravitz says from his side of the bed. And he sounds so fucking defeated and sad and Taako feels bad but he also feels annoyed. Because he’s cold. Because why can’t Kravitz just be a normal fucking person. Because Kravitz won’t talk to him and he won’t talk to Kravitz and this whole situation is just a goddamn nightmare.

“Not your fault,” Taako says, but the words have been said so many times they hardly mean anything anymore. He can feel how flippant they sound. He can feel the way they don’t sink in, how they bounce off Kravitz’s skin like Taako doesn’t care.

I do, he tries to broadcast. I promise I do.

“I think maybe it would be better if I stayed up tonight.” Kravitz says, like it’s an idea he’s only just had, not something he’s been saying nearly every night these days, like it’s not the new normal, like he truly believes that they still sleep in the same bed and touch each other and they aren’t on the verge of -

Kravitz slips out of the bed, pads gently out of the room and shuts the door behind him. And Taako turns over in bed, ignoring the tightness in his throat and trying, desperately, to get warm.

*~*~*~*~*

Candlenights comes, as it always does, despite the coldness in Taako’s house and his heart.

And Taako’s happy for it, really. He didn’t harbor any delusions about everything being beautiful and shiny and sparkly so close to the apocalypse, and in the aftermath of it. The world is still healing from a colossal wound. But he’s hosting, at least. He’s always been a good party planner. Lup is there and so is Barry. Merle comes up from the coast with his kids. Magnus and his dogs. Angus, visiting on his break from school. Davenport is still abroad, and Lucretia is conspicuously absent (no amount of begging from Lup could convince Taako to let her into his house), but it’s... good. Cozy, almost.

Taako even cooks for everyone, Lup assisting, and ignores the careful distance Kravitz keeps from him and from most of his family. The meal goes off without a hitch, save Taako’s shivering. He can see the sympathetic eyes Magnus keeps making at him, wants to glare and snap and tell him to fuck off, but he doesn’t. Just because the cold makes him crabby doesn’t mean he has to be an asshole.

He has a thick will blanket wrapped around him elegantly, like a shawl, while they’re unwrapping presents. Lup smiles brightly at the diamond earrings Kravitz got her, and Taako’s heart swells a little. Angus loves his books. Kravitz gets Taako a set of jewelry done up in gently curling silver and sapphire and pink tourmaline, because he’s a romantic, and Taako tries to ignore how... wiggly it makes him feel.

He wants to kiss him. He doesn’t.

Taako saves Lup’s gift for last, as is tradition.

It’s a tiny little box, which Taako had first been terrified was from Kravitz and then relieved wasn’t, and it’s as light as a feather.

Because, Taako discovers, there’s nothing inside.

Nothing, that is, except a tiny ivory card with scrolling golden text on it. It reads:

Command word: flambé.

Love, Barry and Lup! :)

“What the fuck, Lulu?” Taako asks, turning the card over and over in his hands.

“Oh fuck off, Taako,” Lup says good-naturedly from Barry’s lap. Gross. “You’ll thank me later. Well, thank us.”

And isn’t that fucking cryptic, he thinks. But Lup is Lup. His sister is fucking weird, and he brushes it off in favor of drinking more wine.

It’s a good day, mulled wine and carols and gift-giving, but as all good days do, it winds down sooner than expected. The guests go off to their many rooms, Taako’s house big enough to host them all (by design), and before he knows it, he and Kravitz are headed to bed.

It’s the same old charade. Kravitz goes through the motions, and Taako does too, and it’s awful and stilted and he just wants it to end.

It’s not fair, he thinks, staring at the the bed while Kravitz is still futzing around in the bathroom, a charade of mortality. Kravitz is good. Taako likes him. He’s nice to talk to and doesn’t make Taako feel like he has to perform. He’s a big old nerd and actually really compassionate and sometimes an entity of absolute chaos and he’s perfect for Taako, he really is. So why can’t he just have this? Why does there have to be fucking... roadblocks in the way?

Taako expected things to be hard. He expected having to make things work. Sometimes Kravitz is gone for days going after bounties and Taako can deal with that. There are elements of mortal life Kravitz has to re-learn, and he doesn’t know how to interact in just.. normal society sometimes, and Taako can deal with that. Sometimes he’s a real asshole and gets prickly and offended and impatient after a bad day and Taako can deal with that.

He doesn’t know how to deal with not being able to touch him for months at a time.

He’s shivering just standing there. He needs cover.

But when he pulls back the comforter the sheets are a deep fuchsia. And while it’s a nice color, it looks nothing like his usual ones.

There’s a piece of paper like a letter, there, on his side of the bed under the comforter. It’s the same as the card he found in lup’s gift, and all that’s on it, in that same gold ink, is a winky face.

Taako sighs, long and deep. Because with Lup these things are always a gamble. Is it a gag gift? If Taako says the command word, will his bed explode? He has a horrible flashback to the memory of his first conversation with Kravitz, which was about tentacle porn, and Lup heard it from the umbrastaff, and now she’s given him enchanted bedsheets. Taako pales at the thought.

But here’s the thing: it’s late, and he’s tired, and he can always shut it off because he’s the best wizard in all planar systems, and he’s curious.

He stands, contemplating, cold as balls, for another minute.

And then he says, very deliberately,

“Flambé.”

And for a second it looks like nothing happened. And then it really looks like nothing happened. And then...

Taako can feel the warmth just from standing next to the bed.

It takes him about 0.04 seconds to hop in after that, to pull the sheets up around his shoulders and bury himself under the covers up to his chin.

It’s heavenly. Warmth from all sides, and Taako sighs, long and deep, as he feels tension in his muscles all over his body, held from weeks and months of being cold all the time. Already he can feel the chill in his veins slipping away. He can feel the warmth reaching the core of him, strong and comforting.

He can feel his face flushing, and the warmth rushing up into his long ears.

And then it gets warmer.

And warmer.

Uncomfortably warm.

Taako’s sweating, he realizes. He’s flushed, not in the comfortable way of sitting by the fire. He’s hot like a beach day, hot like a desert plane. He throws the covers off above the waist. It’s not enough. He’s too hot. Much, much too hot.

The door to the bathroom opens up and Kravitz steps out.

“Oh thank god,” Taako says, without thinking, “get the hell over here.” He holds up the blankets on Kravitz’s side of the bed, gestures for him to get in. Kravitz is staring at him like he’s grown an extra head. He slides into bed, slowly, tentative, and Taako practically throws himself on top of him.

The relief of his cold skin isn’t enough through the flannel pajamas Taako’s wearing. He goes for his shirt buttons.

“Taako,” Kravitz says, “what’s happening here?”

“Damn enchanted sheets from Lup are too fucking hot,” Taako grumbles, pulling his shirt off and squirming around with his pajamas pants until those are off too. He tosses them across the room.

Laying across Kravitz’s chest is such a relief. It’s like cold water on a hot day, and Taako spends a luxurious moment running his hands over his chest and shoulders, nuzzles into his neck and revels in the coolness on his face. He sighs, goes boneless against his boyfriend. He feels wonderful.

Kravitz’s arms come up around his back, tentatively holding him, and it hits him.

“Oh shit,” he says, half sitting up. Kravitz looks him in the eyes, questioning.

“That was Lup’s Candlenights gift. It was...” he licks his lips. Why is it so much harder to say things than it is to feel them? “It was this,” he says, running his hands over Kravitz’s chest again.

Understanding dawns in Kravitz’s eyes, and he smiles at Taako, and his smile is like the sun on a warm day.

“Glad I can be your ice pack,” he says, smiling.

“Shut up,” Taako says, resting his head back down, feeling more than hearing the happy little hum Kravitz makes. He snuggles a little closer. Kravitz’s arms tighten around him.

“I missed you,” Kravitz whispers.

And what can Taako do in response to that but kiss him?

“I missed you too, handsome,” he whispers into Kravitz’s lips.

#taz balance #taakitz #taz taako #taz kravitz #taako taaco #kravitz #my fic #desiree: the tumblr sessions #thepensword

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carewyncromwell · 4 years

Text

[As Carewyn headed out to the Courtyard, she couldn’t help but feel her resolve slipping away.

When Penny had first explained her problem with Beatrice, Carewyn had been rather sympathetic -- after all, she adored Jacob, and being separated from him was still an open wound for her. And to a degree, the Haywood sisters’ situation was almost worse -- even when Jacob had started keeping more secrets when Carewyn was younger or, hell, when Jacob and she didn’t see eye-to-eye in the Portrait Vault, Carewyn never once thought that Jacob didn’t want to be around her or disliked her for some reason.

But on the other hand...Carewyn couldn’t help but feel a little bitter, too.]

At least your sister’s here, Penny. Even if she’s not talking to you, at least she’s here and at least you know she’s alive and safe. I know you miss her, but...at least she’s not throwing herself into danger and you’re helpless to stop it...

[Pushing those meaner, more selfish thoughts down as best she could, Carewyn took a deep breath and strolled across the Courtyard. As she glanced around, she heard a familiar voice call her name.]

Andre: “Carewyn!”

[It was her ex-boyfriend (and still rather good friend), Andre Egwu. He beckoned her over, his body language visibly urgent.

Carewyn strode over to him.]

“What’s going on? I’m supposed to be looking for Beatrice...”

[With a nod of his head, he indicated a corner of the Courtyard, where Ismelda and another girl were chatting.

It took Carewyn a minute to realize -- ]

Beatrice?

[Carewyn blinked, visibly taken aback.]

“...Wow...Penny wasn’t kidding. She is unrecognizable.”

Andre: “I know, right? She’s been...’Ismelda-fied!’”

[Andre glanced over at the two, frowning in thought.]

Andre: “Gotta say, though -- I’ve never understood the ‘hair-over-one-eye’ look. It has to make it hard to see much of anything...”

[Carewyn crossed her arms.]

“I guess it’s supposed to evoke ‘mystique.’ Though I would think you could evoke that better with a fashionable cloak.”

Andre: “(with a grin) Or a nice smoky eye -- diggin’ the new make-up, by the way.”

[Carewyn smiled off-handedly.]

“Just thought I’d try something different.”

It helps hide the bags under my eyes a little better...

[Carewyn turned her focus back over to Beatrice and Ismelda.

Honestly, the situation didn’t look as bad as she’d envisioned, from Penny’s description. Beatrice and Ismelda were both smiling as they talked, clearly engaged in conversation. It didn’t look like Beatrice was acting angry like Merula or reckless like Ben. Carewyn had never really gotten on with Ismelda, of course, and she didn’t really love the thought of Penny’s little sister finding enjoyment in other people’s pain the way Ismelda did...but on the face of things, the two looked to be in a rather pleasant mood.]

I hope they are...after what happened last year...after taking so long to get Beatrice out of that Portrait...I want her to be happy.

[Andre watched Carewyn out the side of his eye as she watched Ismelda and Beatrice.]

Andre: “You all right?”

“...Yeah...”

I told Penny I would talk to Beatrice, so I suppose I jolly well have to. I just wish I knew what to say...

[She glanced at Andre.]

“I’ll be right back.”

[Putting her courage to the sticking place, Carewyn uneasily walked over to Ismelda and Beatrice.

As she approached, Beatrice looked up at her, her expression visibly confrontational. It made Carewyn falter, suddenly unsure of what to say. All of her thoughts just kept cycling back to regret and apologies -- but she knew full well that was no start to a conversation.

Carewyn was yanked out of her trance by Ismelda’s cold voice.]

[Carewyn’s expression instantly hardened, gaining its usual perfect, level attitude.]

[The irritation and disdain in Beatrice’s voice startled Carewyn.]

“What?”

Beatrice: “I know you’re close friends with my sister, Carewyn. I’m sure she’s told you all about how disappointed she is that I’m not walking around like a ‘Mini-Penny’ again...”

[Carewyn’s eyebrows knit together in confusion.]

“No. She never said anything like that.”

[Carewyn didn’t love that Ismelda was standing right there listening to this conversation. She could feel her dormmate’s black eyes boring into her face even if Carewyn wasn’t looking at her.]

“...She just said that...you went through a dramatic change over the summer...”

[Ismelda cut Carewyn off very abruptly, and it made Carewyn shoot her a very cold look despite herself.]

“(Mama-Bear-mode activate!) Beatrice was trapped for an entire year thanks to the Portrait Curse -- I think I’m well within my rights to worry, Ismelda. Anyone would have trouble coping with something like that...”

[The image of Jacob trapped in a portrait in the Cursed Vault rippled over her mind.]

Ismelda: “(scoffs) Well, I’m not here to help anyone ‘cope.’“

Then maybe you should back off.

[Carewyn bit that nastier, growling thought back.]

Beatrice: “Penny is the most popular witch at school. Doesn’t she have enough people trailing after her, without me?”

[Beatrice’s sentiment made Carewyn’s heart ache.

Really, she had to admit -- there was nothing that wrong with how Beatrice was acting, as far as she could see. The Hufflepuff second-year had gone through a really traumatic event, and Carewyn knew first hand how much something that abrupt and scary could change a person. Jacob’s disappearance had shattered who she had been completely, and it’d taken her a while to rebuild from that. She knew it had to be frustrating for Penny, not to be able to interact with Beatrice the way she used to...but from the sound of things, there seemed to be some baggage between the two sisters that wasn’t being properly addressed.]

There’ve been times I resented Jacob, for getting so in over his head and making me put things on hold to try to help him -- but even then, I never avoided him. I never took out my feelings on him. How can Penny and Beatrice ever make up if Beatrice won’t talk to Penny?

[The image of Jacob Disapparating before she could stop him from leaving played again in her mind.

The Haywood sisters didn’t know what they had...]

“(primly) ...I...don’t have any problem with how you look, Beatrice. It’s not my style, but...well, I’m not wearing it, am I? And honestly...I don’t even care if you’re spending time with Ismelda. We may have our differences -- but you’re more than entitled to make your own friends.”

[Carewyn purposefully refused to look at Ismelda at all as she said this.]

“But...I know for a fact that Penny wouldn’t have a problem with either of those things either, if you’d just talk to her. You’re her sister, Beatrice -- of course she’s going to miss you. I daresay Penny could care less how many admirers she’s got, as long as she knows you’re there.”

I know I would. If Jacob was here with me and safe again...it wouldn’t matter if the whole world hated me...

[Beatrice gave a low scoff.]

Beatrice: “Sorry, Carewyn -- but the only way Penny wants me there is if I go back to the way I was, and that’s not going to happen.”

[Carewyn once again felt a sympathetic pang in her chest as Ben’s words echoed back in her ears.

“What Rakepick did to us in the Cursed Vault...that kind of cruelty and betrayal from an adult we trusted...it changed me. It’s changed you too, whether you’ll admit it or not.”

Despite herself, some emotion showed through on her face, and Carewyn bowed her head in an attempt to obscure it.]

“(softly) ...I know.”

I know you can’t go back. None of us can. Nothing...nothing can go back to the way it was...nothing can ever be the same...

[Both Ismelda and Beatrice seemed a little surprised by Carewyn’s reaction. Even though her gaze had shifted, the Slytherin Prefect, when she spoke again, sounded more like her usual self -- self-assured, stoic, and paragon.]

“I know you’re not going to change -- but that doesn’t mean that your relationship with Penny has to be over. Whatever problem you’re having, I know Penny -- “

Beatrice: “(interrupting more harshly) I don’t have a problem! I’m just...trying something new -- and I wish everyone would just let me be.”

Ismelda: “(dryly) You’d think students at a wizarding school would be more open-minded.”

[Carewyn felt the urge to hex Ismelda’s mouth shut, but she refused to fancy acting on it.]

Beatrice: “(cynically) I totally agree with Ismelda.”

“Beatrice...”

Beatrice: “(tiredly) Carewyn...just stop. I’m done, okay? I don’t want to talk to Penny. And you can tell her I said that.”

[Carewyn looked at Beatrice with concern. She struggled to think of something to say, but before she could, Ismelda cut in again.]

Ismelda: “She said she’s done, Cromwell. So run along.”

[Carewyn shot Ismelda another sharp glare.]

"Don’t prod me.”

[She glanced at Beatrice with a much sadder expression, before exhaling through her nose heavily, turning on her heel, and walking away, leaving the two alone.

Andre met up with Carewyn again as she passed the fountain.]

“Like a trainwreck.”

[Carewyn sighed heavily.]

“This whole thing is more twisted than I thought. I thought the issue was just about Beatrice struggling with what happened to her last year, but...there’s a lot more baggage there...and I don’t think all of it’s unjustified. And I hate to say that, given that it’s targeted at Penny...”

[Carewyn’s eyes drifted away, landing on a cobblestone to the left of Andre.]

“...It’s wrong for Beatrice to just shut Penny out like this -- I mean, you can’t expect anyone to make amends after a fight if you don’t give them the chance to try. But at the same time, I don’t really know if Penny’s accepted how much things have changed.”

[Andre considered Carewyn, his black eyes rippling with sympathy despite his grim expression.]

Andre: “Something you know from experience, I suppose?”

[Carewyn looked up at Andre, surprised. He gave her a weak smile.]

Andre: “Well, I mean...I reckon when your brother disappeared, it had to have changed a lot, right?”

[Carewyn’s lips came together tightly.]

“A lot”...no...it changed everything. Both times...it changed everything...

[Her eyes once again drifted down to the ground, but she determinedly kept her voice offhand and strong.]

“Mm, yeah, but...this is different. Regardless...I can’t go back to Penny having made no progress.”

Andre: “So what do you plan to do?”

[Her red lips spread into a wry smile.]

“...and I know just the person to talk to about how to do that.”

[Andre raised his eyebrows.]

Andre: “Does his name rhyme with ‘Farnaby Dee?’”

[Carewyn giggled lowly as she strolled past Andre out of the Courtyard, waving backhandedly to him and humming a little ditty to herself.]

“Time to see Barnaby Lee~...”

((OOC: XDDD Goddamn it, Andre, now I want to write a whole version of “Sandra Dee” all about Barnaby. Your fault, Andre -- your fault!!))

#carewyn cromwell #andre egwu #beatrice haywood #ismelda murk #roleplaying #gameplay #hphm #hogwarts mystery #barnaby lee #penny haywood

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ai-katsuu · 4 years

Text

Wonderland Ball (3/4)

Chapters: 1 2 3 4

previous chapter next chapter

---

At the opposite end of the room, Queen Alice, finally done with greeting her audience members, sighed back on her throne in content. “This is the best outcome of any party Fairy Tale Island has had. I mean you’re amazing, Hatter!” she grinned at her dearest friend.

“But of course, Alice dear.” he tipped his hat, “Throwing parties are my specialty after all.”

“I was the one who brought the guests over,” the Cheshire Cat intervened. “Wasn’t easy, you know?” he smiled at the Hatter who only frowned back.

“Oh, yes. Tell me, how did you manage to get the Fearless Seven to come?” Alice excitedly asked him.

“He transported them here without warning,” a short witch with a grey bun walked into the scene. “I saw the whole thing myself from my room.” she calmly mentioned.

Alice gasped at the Cheshire Cat, who now had his tail in between his legs, “Is Zeniba telling the truth?”

“Well, in a sense yes.” he mumbled.

“He was also rude to Prince Jack’s wife.”

“Yea, called her a servant.”

“You know I don’t fancy you two being here.” the Cheshire Cat frowned at the twins who had just entered.

“Cheshire, how could you?!” Alice scolded then turned to her friend in the white suit. “Rabbit, could you call her for me please? I want to apologize on his behalf.”

“Wife isn’t here, miss. He failed to include her in his transportation spell, just like how the F7 fails to be on time.” he grumbled.

“You left her behind?” she stared at him.

“I wouldn’t say left, more like, dis-included?” he looked sideways. “Alice, with all due respect she wasn’t even a princess. He married a commoner.”

“Your point?” Alice challenged, “Royalty or not that is his family, now both of them will be apart from each other on Christmas Eve. I want you to write an apology letter to this woman and apologize to Prince Jack yourself. That’s an order.”

“Oooh, someones in trouble.” the Mad Hatter grinned. The Cheshire Cat glared at him before bowing at Alice,

“As you wish, Your Majesty.”

“Your Majesty, Prince Howl is here,” Zeniba smiled, a young blonde man charmingly smiled at her.

“I’ll take care of this. Hatter, make sure he follows through.” Alice told him before standing up and greeting the wizard.

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

Once midnight had struck, the ball had come to an end, and the others went back to their suite. Exhausted from all the mingling and formalities, the group immediately fell apart when they got to their beds.

“I think I might have bruised my arm when I threw Peter over the table.” Arthur examined his bicep.

“Shut it, at least you weren’t chased around by two she-demons who want to put a dress on you.” Hans grumbled.

“You think Papa sent Jiminy on purpose?” Noki asked.

“Please, I don’t want to think about it.” Kio responded.

They all awoke the next morning and spent the day in the Wonderland Palace. They had high tea in their suite, played several games, and even got a chance to meet with Queen Alice herself. They were wrapping up the conversation when Alice stood up,

“Prince Jack, may I speak to you?”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

She pulled him off to the corner of the room and it took Jack by a great surprise when she bowed; not as a greeting but as an apology. “Your Majesty? Please raise your head!” he told her.

“Prince Jack, you have my deepest apologies for how my right hand man treated your wife. I’m sincerely sorry she could not be here. His actions do not reflect Wonderland’s beliefs and morals.”

“Your Majesty, I am not upset with you. You weren’t the one who said those things after all. Though I would be lying if I said I was not disappointed with how he treated her.” he sadly told her.

“Apologies are in order from him. Please, allow me to let you and your friends leave early.” she said. And that’s what happened. The Cheshire Cat appeared right beside her and waved his hand, the purple mist covering them as they were transported back to the gates to the White Palace.

“I will never get used to that.” Briar said, holding her head.

“Well at least we’re back. That was exhausting, not gonna lie.” Pino said, twisting his back.

“Do you hear music?” Gwen asked them. The others nodded and followed the sound that echoed through the halls. It led to the doors of the ballroom they saw bright lights that's shone through its cracks. Briar opened them to see a sight that none of them would have expected.

Townspeople, man and woman, kids of different ages, running around, singing, dancing to their heart's content. Elders gave gifts to their grandchildren, grandchildren played around with ribbons that were attached to a large pole, adults ate and drank while watching the band perform.

Somehow, snow was falling from the ceiling and people of all ages were making Snowmen, sledding, having snowball fights, or creating snow angels. It was full of laughter and fun, a different energy radiating from the Wonderland Ball.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

With the kids jingle belling and everyone telling you, be of good cheer!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

“What is this…?” Snow felt a small smile coming to her lips from the excitement and liveness everyone was exerting.

“Are these all the people from Golden Goose?” Merlin questioned.

“Why are they all here?” Hans looked around.

“Oh, Your Highness'!” Isabella, in a lovely green dress, curtsied to the thirteen princes and princess’ “Welcome back!” she beamed.

“Isabella, what is all this?” Jack asked her.

“Golden Goose's annual Christmas Eve Party, Miss Audrey had the suggestion of moving it to the palace ballroom so that it would be much bigger! She planned all the songs, the presents, and hosted the whole event.”

“She did all this?” he looked around at the green and red festive lights.

“You bet your high privileged ass she did.” Frost floated down to the group. “With my help and Isabella’s, this was all possible through her hard work.” he threw a snowball directly at him. A few sparkles appeared on his eyes before Jack started laughing, but quickly regained his composure. “Oof, tough one.” Frost laughed.

“Where is Audrey?” Arthur asked.

Frost smiled, leaning on his staff and gestured to the crowd behind him.

There'll be parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting

And caroling out in the snow

They'll be scary ghost stories

And tales of the glories of Christmas's long, long ago!

Amongst the crowd Audrey was singing along with the band, playing with the children and dancing with adults. Her hair was up in a bun, loose hair stands out, and wore a red dress that extended just below her knees. Her see-through heels made it a bit difficult for her to walk, but Isabella made them just for her. Not a trace of sadness or jealousy was on her face as she sang an unfamiliar song to them.

“It’s a traditional song from the outside world.” Frost told the group, “She’s been playing a lot of Christmas carols from out there. Honestly much better than the ones they have here.”

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

There'll be much mistletoeing and hearts will be glowing

When loved ones are near!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

The crowd applauded as the song ended, as did the group. Frost threw his staff up lightly after clapping, “Well your highness’ I have to help a big red man deliver his presents for Christmas and I’m already on the Naughty list. Probably,” he went to the nearest window and opened it, “later nerds.” the wind started blowing in his direction.

“Snow Queen said hi by the way.” Jack called out.

“Wait, what?” Frost turned back, “No wait! Just when the conversation was getting interesting!” but was then blown away by the winds.

The group had decided not to interrupt the party and went back to their rooms, hoping to greet Audrey after. After the party had ended, Audrey made her way to the parlor exhausted and removed her gloves.

“I didn’t know you could sing. You always refused to.”

Audrey turned around to see Jack smiling with his arms crossed. “Jack! You’re back!”

Jack beamed as he welcomed her with open arms as she ran towards him. “I missed you so much, I’m so sorry you got left behind..” he buried his head on her shoulder, trying to make sure he didn’t ruin her hair.

Audrey shook her hair, “It’s fine. I got to plan this party and meet everyone from Golden Goose. Oh Jack, they’re all so lovely and their traditions every Christmas are amazing!”

Jack nodded, “I’m glad you enjoyed it, but it’s not okay. You should not have been left behind, that was rude of him to leave you out.”

Audrey shrugged, “I guess, but at least something good came out of it.”

“Yes, you won’t have to spend Christmas with them next year, don’t worry.”

“What do you mean?” Audrey laughed.

“Spending the evening with commoners is hardly the right way to celebrate Christmas, there should be balls, and elegance.” he told her.

“Well, sure but there’s nothing wrong with their traditions.” Audrey’s smile thinned down.

“It’s hardly fitting for someone married to nobility. You should be spending it with all of us at these balls.” he raised a brow.

“I’d love to spend it with all of you, but the traditions you just saw are not ‘hardly fitting’, they’re wonderful.” she frowned.

Jack rolled his eyes, “Audrey please, why spend your holidays in the cold filthy streets when you can spend it warm and cozy in a palace.”

“There is nothing wrong with where they live.” she said now angry, “Their happiest memories are on those streets. And mine are too, wandering around several towns, I’ve seen the joy they all have.”

“That’s impossible, no one can be truly happy there.” he firmly told her, “I don’t want you to live or be treated like a commoner, you deserve much more than that. For goodness sake, you’re married to a prince!”

“What’s wrong with being a commoner? They’re the same as you, they just have a different lifestyle!”

“Commoners don’t have all these riches you see around you. They’re not as well off as we are. We can easily afford anything we want. If we have the money then we can spend it, what’s wrong with that?!”

“Nothing! Nothing is wrong with the lifestyle of a noble but neither is the lifestyle of a commoner! They’re two different things but that doesn’t mean that either status is worth greater or less of value, they all deserve equal treatment!” Audrey stared him down, “Maybe if you actually experienced the life of one you see that we aren’t as pitiful or filthy as you think we are.”

That crossed the line for Jack as he looked at her one more time and stormed out of the parlor. The twelve people who had their ears pressed to the door heard footsteps coming and they quickly hid behind the large curtains. Jack pushed the door open with violence as he marched through the halls. Audrey on the other hand, not realizing the error both of them had made, made her way outside of the parlor and walked the opposite way.

Once the two were out of sight from each other, the twelve princes and princesses came out of the curtains.

“That can’t be good…” Gwen frowned.

#red shoes and the 7 dwarfs #red shoes and the seven dwarfs #red shoes #red shoes movie #rsat7d #rsatsd

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drawlfoy · 5 years

Text

Faux Diplomacy p.2

pairing: draco x mugglebornslytherinilvernmornyfem!reader (a mouthful i’m so sorry)

request: nah i’ve always always wanted to write this

warnings: draco malfoy being a class A dickwad, swearing

summary: reader is an ilvermorny student who was given an opportunity to travel abroad and spend a year at Hogwarts. At first she’s thrilled, but things start to get weird--why is everyone on the trip muggleborn? why were they all put into slytherin, no questions asked? and what is that draco malfoy kid doing? takes place during 6th year so peak angst

a/n: i apologize for the fact that i’m clearly favoring this story over Sound of....Magic? but it’s mostly because i’m writing what i know and i don’t know how to adult lol. also i hope you’re enjoying the slowburn! we might hate draco a little bit but i swear i’ll mend it soon!

music recs: i have a writing playlist specifically for this fic that i might share one day

word count: 2,240

The door was hard under Y/N’s fist, something that she should’ve guessed but the fact of which still managed to surprise her. Maybe she was more intoxicated than she originally assumed.

She knocked four times, slowly but loudly enough for anyone awake to hear her. The last thing she wanted to deal with was an angry racist.

Three seconds passed by, each little mississippi begging her to run the other way before the door opened. She prayed that he was gone or at least deep in sleep. There was no telling what he’d do if he saw her. He couldn’t kill her, at least, but there were hundreds of other things that could happen to her if he was evil enough.

Her worst fear came true as the door flung open, revealing a very disgruntled and very pissed Draco. His pale hair was tousled with some pieces hanging in front of his forehead, breaking Y/N’s conception of his perfectly kept hair.

“What on earth do you want?” He hissed, his eyes burning with an intense emotion that Y/N couldn’t quite put a finger on.

Y/N suddenly felt very silly standing outside his room with an outfit to rival Cher from Clueless as she took in his slightly rumpled silk suit. He was doing whatever important job he seemed so focused on while she was trying to get him to come out and join a party he was so clearly avoiding.

“Um,” she began rather lamely.

“Um,” Draco repeated back in a nasal voice clearly meant to mock her accent.

“Pansy uh..she wanted you to come out. It was a stupid game of truth or dare and she slipped Veritaserum into my drink so I can’t lie and say I did it when I didn’t-”

“You do realize that’s complete bullshit, right?” Draco interrupted. “The Veritaserum? Do you seriously believe that Snape would let us get out hands on that? First years fall for that every year. First time I’ve seen anyone over 12 believe it, though.”

Y/N’s cheeks grew hot as she realized he was probably completely right. Now that she actually thought about it, she couldn’t guess how Pansy could get her hands on something that dangerous much less spike drinks with it.

“Oh. I guess that makes sense.”

Draco nodded with an “uh, yeah” look in his eyes and made his way to slam the door in his face when a glimmer caught her eye.

In her inebriated state, she told him point-blank, “Cool necklace. Who’s it for?”

Draco froze as he turned to look at his bed, the same one that had a very ornate necklace laying on it. He slowly turned back to Y/N with a terrifying expression on his face.

Uh oh.

He grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and dragged her inside his room, slamming the door shut behind her and shoving her against the wall.

“What the fuck dude-”

“What’s your allegiance?” he hissed, stepping in her eyeline so she couldn’t see the necklace anymore. Their proximity was uncomfortably close. Y/N could smell peppermint on his breath, no doubt remnants of a cup of tea he’d had earlier.

“My allegiance.....sheesh, I don’t know, I don’t know where I fall on the political spectrum, but I am really frustrated with the Senate for impeding any type of impeachment proceed-”

“No, you bloody idiot!” He cut in again. “I mean in the wizarding world. Not.. whatever the fuck you’re going on about.”

“Oh, you mean like... the issue with Death Eaters and everything? I dunno, I haven’t read enough about British politics to know but it’s so ridiculous, y’know? Like, someday all of them are gonna wake up and realize they’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid and that they’re never gonna get rewarded the way the think. It’s really sad, they’re basically in a cult.”

Draco stared at her with wide eyes and a defensive expression on his face. He was still gripping both of her wrists in one hand, pinning them above Y/N’s head and making it impossible for her to weasel out of his grasp.

“I mean, pretty general stuff. American wizarding media is always like, ‘look at these idiots thinking that they’re gonna restore blood purity, aren’t they crazy? BLESS the fact that we left in 1776’ and whatnot. I don’t know, we all kind of chuckle at it and make memes about the fact that there’s even people out there that still buy into that shi...”

Y/N’s eyes managed to catch a quidditch uniform hung up on the bedpost with the name MALFOY printed across the back in silver letters. Suddenly it all made sense--she had just read about his father being incarcerated for being a Death Eater. She trailed off when the realization set in.

Oh no.

“You know, with that thought, I think I’m just gonna go back to the party...I normally don’t get this political. Forget I said anything. Please!”

Draco’s face was the definition of fury. Now that Y/N knew he was Lucius Malfoy’s son, she had no clue what he could be capable of. She briefly wondered if he would kill her before immediately casting the thought aside.

That’d be absurd she reminded herself. He’s still just a teenager, just like you. He’s not gonna kill you.

He took a few moments to glare down at her before opening the door and pushing her out.

“You’re never speaking of this to anyone,” he snapped. “Go back to your party and fall for more of the pranks we like to pull on 11 year olds. Just don’t ever come back here. I mean it. Don’t ever.”

With that, Draco slammed the door in her face. Y/N stood in front of it for a few seconds as she regained her bearings. What had just happened? She was very tired, she realized suddenly.

She was just turning around and walking away when his door cracked open just an inch.

“Are you deaf? I said, go!”

Y/N turned to send Draco a dirty look before walking away for real.

♥♥♥♥

Professor McGonagall was a complete sweetheart and the embodiment of what an empowered witch ought to be, but she had messed up one crucial point when it came to just how dining space would be available for the Slytherin table.

With all the new students, there was rarely a portion of the table empty enough to sit alone or even with a respectable amount of space between oneself and another person.

Y/N suffered the consequences of this the most out of her classmates considering the fact that she was always late. By the time that she got to the Dining Hall for any meal, there was only one part of the table that was consistently open--spots next to Draco and his goons.

The rest of the house was wise enough to know to avoid them and did so well, but Y/N was not so lucky. Nearly every day she was forced to squeeze in next to either Draco, Pansy, or Blaise and was subject to listening to whatever drabble they wanted to discuss each day.

However annoyed she was, she couldn’t help but notice some interesting changes. As the fall days grew shorter, Draco’s appetite seemed to grow smaller. At one point, Y/N was taking portions nearly twice the size of his, and she was a rather light eater to begin with. She heard his irritatingly posh accent less and less, and slowly meals turned into conversations between Blaise and Pansy while Draco stared off into space.

One of these days, Blaise turned to look Y/N straight in the eye, startling her enough to near drop her fork. They never looked at her.

“So,” he began awkwardly. “I hear that you played Quidditch as a seeker while you were at Ilvermorny.”

“Yeah, and what about it?”

Y/N was not about to take any shit.

“Well, you see,” Blaise told her, a sincere look in his eyes, “Draco here is our seeker, and he’s a little busy, so he won’t be joining us this season.”

“Tragic.”

“And you were good, right? Like, really good? I saw your record. It was impressive.”

“Thanks. I didn’t suck.”

A tiny smile cracked on Pansy’s face. Had Y/N actually amused her?

“Okay, enough of the niceties,” she cut in. “Blaise wants you to play for us. Please?”

She batted her eyelashes in a way that Y/N prayed was ironic.

“Well, I suppose,” Y/N answered. “What’s in it for me?”

“For starters,” Blaise told her, “Instant status. People like you if you play Quidditch.”

“So I’ve heard. Is that why Draco dropped out? People didn’t like him enough anymore?”

“You shut up,” Draco grumbled, refusing to look her in the eye.

“So you’re in?”

“Yeah, whatever. I’m dropping out the second either of you mess with me, though.”

Blaise grinned and Pansy kicked his foot under the table. Y/N immediately felt like she was witnessing something that she was not supposed to see.

“Get a room, you two,” Draco reprimanded them, rolling his eyes as he pushed his food around on his plate.

♥♥♥♥

Y/N’s first Quidditch match came and went. The Slytherin team creamed the Hufflepuffs so badly that Y/N probably didn’t need to do any work at all, but regardless, she still caught the snitch.

In Slytherin fashion, her team decided to throw a giant party in the common room. Everyone was permitted a plus one, which was ridiculous since Y/N wasn’t friends with anyone from any other houses. She jokingly extended the invite to Bella in a very dramatic gesture with roses and everything, and her best friend just as dramatically accepted, leaping into Y/N’s arms and requesting that she be carried away.

It was the biggest scene the dining hall had witnessed all year, enough so that when the news of Katie Bell being cursed and nearly killed broke, it took the dining hall a few moments to calm down.

Everyone stared as Dumbledore addressed the student body.

“Students.” He cleared his throat wearily. “If you are not already aware, one of your fellow scholars has been cursed, presumably by a necklace that was gifted to her. Please do practice caution as you accept gifts going into the holiday season. These are dark times indeed.”

Nervous chatter filled the room back up with noise but did not distract Y/N from her pondering.

A cursed...necklace? Where had she heard that before?

♥♥♥♥

Y/N was never a perfect student, but she did enjoy potions and especially appreciated Slughorn’s teachings, so much so in fact that she was invited to join the Slug Club after a few weeks of classes.

Blaise was also there, and the two often sat together and joked about the overenthusiastic Gryffindors and the unresolved sexual tension between Harry and Ginny. It was hardly a secret that the two were into each other, but it seemed that the only people who weren’t aware of it were Ginny and Harry themselves.

“Pray for Dean, Y/N,” Blaise would often whisper to her as they observed the two flirt awkwardly with each other.

The budding friendship between them was odd, but very platonic. Y/N knew he had no trouble excusing prejudice considering the fact that he put up with Draco’s nonsense, but he seemed to see some flaws in the practice.

The most shocking part of their newfound connection happened to be what Blaise confided in her about Draco.

“He’s hardly sleeping anymore,” he told her one cold winter day. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him. He’s lost weight and he’s not talking to me. Have you heard anything?”

“No,” Y/N had told him. “Draco doesn’t particularly like me.”

♥♥♥♥

After a particularly energetic Quidditch party in December, Y/N exited the common room and decided she wanted to take a walk about the castle to clear her head.

The snow fell softly outside the window, flurrying about and blanketing the ground in a gentle pristine white. She climbed the stairs of a random tower slowly, savoring the brisk air and relishing the silence that came along with it.

Y/N wasn’t the least bit afraid of getting reprimanded for curfew--she deserved a break, and she was nearly an adult, for Christ’s sake. There was less underage drinking outside than there was inside her current common room, so she could always pull that argument.

She prayed that the top of the tower would be one with an open side so she could be closer to the snowstorm, and as she climbed higher, her desires seemed to be more likely. The breeze was becoming chillier by the second.

Reaching the top of the staircase, she was overjoyed to see a railing overlooking the campus. Y/N jogged up to the barrier, leaning over the edge and taking solace in the freezing air and the cold snowflakes coating her hair.

“What’s it with you and your insistence on interrupting my alone time?”

Y/N turned to see Draco Malfoy curled up in the corner of the tower. His hair was slightly mussed from the wind and his suit crinkled from sitting down, and as Y/N drew closer to him, she came to the most shocking revelation.

His silver eyes were pools of salty liquid, rimmed red at the edges and puffier than she had ever seen them before. His cheeks were shining with dampness, doing nothing to hide the dark bags under his eyes.

Draco was crying.

final a/n: i swear a new update will come soon! i’m sorry that it seems like i might be rushing it. i promise im gonna slow it down a little and focus on the *subtle* fluff

#draco #draco malfoy #harry potter #dramione #draco x reader #draco malfoy x reader #draco imagine #draco malfoy imagine #hermione granger #slughorn #hogwarts #ilvermorny #slytherin #hufflepuff #lucius malfoy #ron weasley #harry x reader

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