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onceupon · 3 years

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London Boy - Part 2: Let the Game begin

summary: You had always thought you knew exactly what kind of boys Rafe Cameron and Topper Thornton were - but did you actually?

pairing: Rafe x reader (slowburn)

warnings: swearing

word count: 2.5k

a/n: no one is asking for this but here it is anyways lmao enjoy (not canon Rafe)

You make it back to your room and take a deep breath. Boys. You were living with boys. Not just any boys - Rafe Cameron and Topper Thornton. Whatever, you thought, shaking yourself back to reality. It didn’t matter anyways. You weren’t about to let them get in the way of having the time of your life these next few months and you definitely weren’t going to let them keep your mind tied to OBX. That was a tie you desperately wanted to cut. Besides, if you knew Rafe and Topper like you thought you did, they’d be too caught up with playing both the field and the girls of Westheath before you knew it, effectively keeping them occupied and out of your way.

You decided to go about your day as you usually would. Your Have a Great Day playlist was queued up and playing as you slipped on your favorite jeans and top. You let yourself get absentmindedly lost in your actions as you did your hair and makeup - enough to make you feel put together and regain some control after the way this morning had left you feeling vulnerable. Looking good made you feel good - and if anyone else thought you looked good too, then hey, that was just an added bonus.

You hadn’t noticed how lost in the process of getting ready you had gotten until you looked down at your phone and saw that an hour had flown by. You were half way down the hall to the kitchen when the door of your flat flew open, bringing you face to face with two new people for the second time that day.

“Oh my gosh hiiii!” a girl turned to you, pausing her laughter from the conversation she was having with the girl next to her. “I’m Olivia! It’s so nice to meet you!!” the bubbly girl exclaimed, immediately embracing you in a hug. The other girl laughed at her friend’s excitement and forwardness which had clearly startled you.

“I’m Millie - you must be one of our flatmates,” the other girl smiled, introducing herself to you as well.

“Hi, I’m Y/n,” you smiled softly.

“Oh my gosh Mills! I knew it! I told you we’d get roomed with the Americans! Ugh this is so exciting, there’s so much I need to know I don’t even know where to start!” Olivia squealed with a little hop.

“Alright don’t scare the poor girl, she’s gonna think they’ve stuck her with a couple of psychos,” laughed Millie, pulling her friend’s arm to lead her down the hall. “Come on Liv let’s let y/n breathe for a second while we go put our bags down,” she said, giving you an apologetic smile.

You laughed and continued on to the kitchen to get some water as you had originally set out to do. You were honestly relieved. Thank god your other two roommates were girls who weren’t remotely associated with OBX. You didn’t even mind their intensity, it was endearing really, and you’d take a couple of loud but genuine girls who seemed like they were a bunch of fun to hang out with over the bitchiness and cattiness you were used to with the girls back home at Kildare.

“Alright Y/n, I forgot sheets and Mills didn’t bring a towel so we’re going to Primark and you’re coming with. I want to hear all the American gossip,” Olivia reappeared and then slipped back down the hallway with a wink. You laughed and went to go grab your bag, just then realizing Rafe and Topper were no longer at the flat. You wondered where they had gone, not hearing them slip out over the music you were playing earlier. Not that you cared, it was a relief to have them out of sight and out of mind for now.

—

“Hmm Rafe Cameron and Topper Thornton, does sound rather posh,” mused Millie as you had begun providing some intel to your friends on the two flatmates they had yet to meet.

“Two American ladies men, sign me up!” cackled Olivia.

“Hey watch yourself missy, you’re taken,” Millie scolded.

You had only known these girls for maybe an hour and somehow you had been comfortable enough with them to open up about your entire life’s backstory as you walked with them through the home section of Primark. It felt like they had been your friends for years, the three of you gelling together effortlessly.

“Oo you have a boyfriend?” you asked as your eyes scanned over the shelf of fluffy blankets in front of you. You simply couldn’t leave without the light grey one, daydreaming about how cozy napping with it would be.

“I do. His name is Jake,” Olivia beamed, “he’s kind of an idiot, but I love him.”

“And he’s got a whole squad of idiot friends too, but you’ll see for yourself,” Millie laughed.

“Oh shit that reminds me! I invited them all over to pregame tonight before freshers,” chimed Olivia.

“What’s freshers?” you asked, raising your brows in confusion.

Millie and Olivia shared a quick laugh at how clueless you were to everything in their world.

��So freshers is like this huge club event at the beginning of the school year. It’s really meant for uni freshers but since half of us are 18 and we can easily sneak in the other half it’s kind of tradition for Westheath kids to go their last year. Me and Mills went last year too though, one of the guys we knew the year above us was cousins with the bouncer,” Olivia grinned proudly. “But literally everyone is going and that means you’re coming too and- oh shit I’m such a bloody idiot aren’t I! I’m sorry Y/n I literally didn’t think at all to ask anyone from our flat if it was okay to host a pregame,” she bit her thumb with guilt-ridden eyes.

“Looks like you and your idiot boyfriend are actually a match made in heaven,” joked Millie as Olivia gave her the finger, trying to suppress the smile tugging at her lips.

“Oh no that’s totally fine! I’ve had like barely any human interaction these last few days and it’ll be nice to meet some more people from Westheath. It’ll be fun,” you reassured Olivia with a genuine smile. “I just uh- I’ve never been clubbing. Like what do I even wear, I don’t think I brought anything like that. And I’m not 18 for another month, would I even get in?”

“Well it’s a good thing we’re here isn’t it!” exclaimed Olivia, grabbing you by the wrist and dragging you to the clothes section. “Mills this would be PERFECT don’t you think,” she said as she held up a sheer black top in front of you.

“Oh my gosh yes. With a black bra underneath and mini skirt,” Millie grinned, nodding in excitement with Olivia.

“Guys I don’t know if I can wear this. Like I don’t think I can pull this off,” you said meekly.

“Oh my god shut up this would look so good on you. Your body is killer and you can 1000% pull this off,” Olivia insisted, shoving the garment toward you. “And we’ll get you in the club no problem,” she added firmly, shutting down any possibility of you talking your way out of tonight.

“Wait shit do you think Rafe and Topper will be cool with the pregame? We haven’t even properly met them yet and I’ve already invited a bunch of strangers to our place,” groaned Olivia as the three of you headed toward the register.

“Trust me, if there’s two things those boys definitely don’t mind it’s a party and a reason to drink,” you laughed.

—-

As the three of you unlocked the door to your flat you could hear Rafe and Topper’s voices from the kitchen. Ugh, back already.

“Hellooo boys,” called Olivia with zero hesitation, walking straight into the kitchen. “Name’s Olivia, pleasure to meet you,” she smiled extending her hand.

“Pleasure is all ours,” Rafe smiled back. It took every ounce of your will power not to roll your eyes at his smugness.

“Indeed it is,” grinned Topper giving her a hand shake. “And you are,” Topper immediately drew his attention to Millie entering the kitchen right behind Olivia. You didn’t miss how his eyes ran her up and down.

“Millie, your fifth and final roommate,” she smirked, not having missed his wandering eyes either.

“So listen boys,” Olivia clapped her hands together, drawing everyone’s attention. “I may have invited my boyfriend and some of our friends over to pregame tonight before we all go out to the club. You guys are obviously welcome to join but if you’re not cool with us having people over just say the word and-“

“Done deal. What time should we be ready?” Topper cut her off

“9. See you then,” she grinned from ear to ear sauntering off to her room.

“Alright I need to go unpack, but it was lovely to meet you boys, see you soon,” Millie smiled, eyes locking with Topper’s for a second too long before she too slipped away. You wanted nothing more than to escape to your room as well but you were starving, and since you were now living with Rafe and Topper you’d have to learn to go about your life around your new home despite their presence. You sighed as you made your way to the fridge, trying to decide what you were gonna scrap together for dinner.

“So how long have you been here already?” asked Rafe, grabbing some Pringles and taking a seat at the table, Topper already spreading out comfortably on the couch.

“Uh, few days,” you replied, not bothering to turn around.

“See anything cool yet,” Topper chimed in as he scrolled on his phone. The way they were asking you questions was oddly normal. You were trying hard to detect any hint of cockiness in their voice but you couldn’t find any. You weren’t ready to let your guard down fully, not entirely trusting the pair, but you decided to soften a bit and give them a chance.

“Yeah actually, I walked around Hyde Park the other day and the day before I watched the sunset from Millennium Bridge. It was beautiful,” you replied, finally turning toward the boys, a jar of pasta sauce in hand.

“Crazy being in a city like this huh. Definitely not the Outer Banks,” Rafe chuckled lightly, gaze settling on the window.

“Definitely not the Outer Banks,” you smiled.

—-

“What do you mean you haven’t watched Friends!?” you let out an exasperated cry as you twirled more spaghetti on your fork.

“It’s stupid,” said Topper, making a face.

“It’s a classic,” you retorted.

“No. The Office though. Now that’s a classic.”

“Should’ve know you were an Office guy,” you shook your head, Rafe laughing from his seat across from you.

“Listen, I can’t help you if you don’t know how to appreciate true comedy,” Topper shrugged.

“Yeah okay,” you rolled your eyes, turning now to face the dirty blonde seated across from you, absent mindedly shuffling a deck of cards for no reason, the golden ring on his finer catching your eye as his hands moved in a repetitive motion. “And what about you Mr. Dealer,” you asked Rafe, eyes motioning to the cards in his hand before going back up to meet his gaze. Rafe knew how to keep good eye contact with a person, confident yet not overpowering, and as the evening progressed and you become more comfortable you welcomed the challenge of his piercing blue eyes.

“I’m more of a How I Met Your Mother guy,” he answered nonchalantly.

“Huh, I wouldn’t’ve pegged you as that.”

“And what would you have pegged me as, Y/n,” he asked, still holding your gaze to which you just shrugged playfully, letting him wonder.

“Okay, forget about comedies. Game of Thrones. Hands down best thing I’ve ever watched,” Topper stated, throwing his palms down on the table.

“I mean I do hear good things, but I don’t know, seems kind of intense,” you said before shoving another forkful of spaghetti in your mouth.

“No no no Y/n you literally don’t know what you’re missing out on, it’s pure genius,” Topper continued passionately.

Rafe gave you a knowing glance as you two made eye contact again, trying not to laugh, “He’s been on my ass for years to watch it.”

“And now you have no excuse! It’s senior man, classes will be light work, just give it a chance,” Topper pleaded.

“You know what Topper, just because you’re practically jumping out of your seat right now, I’ll check it out just for you,” you laughed as Toppers face pulled into a wide grin.

“Good enough for me,” he said victoriously.

“Lemme one up that Topps, I’ll also give it a chance, so it better be worth it,” Rafe added, Topper’s eyes growing wide in simultaneous glee and disbelief. Topper quickly got up from his seat, puffing his chest, “woooo! Winter is coming to London baby!” he exclaimed, pumping his fist before heading down the hall to his room.

Two hours had passed by with you hanging out in the kitchen with Rafe and Topper, and to your surprise… you were actually enjoying yourself. You guys had talked about the things you wanted to do in London, the music you all listened to, favorite movies, and tv shows of course. You almost didn’t know how to process it. How could two guys who seemed like such kook douchebags actually be - cool? You had always regarded the two at face value, but perhaps there was more to these boys than what meets the eye.

“Oh god how is it already 8, I’m so behind,” you groaned, getting up to wash your dishes.

“Once Topper is full speed ahead, there’s no stopping that man,” Rafe laughed.

“Hey,” you turned your head around from the sink, soapy dish in hand. “I was actually serious about giving Game of Thrones a try. Damn Topper if he didn’t make me curious now,” you laughed, “but I was thinking, if you’re actually gonna watch too, that we should time it so we both watch on the same days. Because then if we’re on the same schedule, whenever we see each other in the kitchen or something we can discuss and we’ll be on the same episodes so no spoilers.”

“So you mean we’d both watch on our own but at the same time?” Rafe asked.

“Yeah,” you replied, as if it was obvious. That’s what you literally just described.

“Well if we’re gonna watch it at the same time, we might as well just watch it together Y/n,” he calmly stated, walking right up next to you to put his Pringles away.

“Uh yeah I mean that works too,” you replied, looking up at the boy now next to you, getting slightly flustered by his presence once again. His blue eyes were piercing right through you, and this time it was a losing a battle.

“Cool,” he smiled, turning around and walking out of the kitchen to his room. You let out a breath you hadn’t realized you’d been holding in, the water still running in front of you as you stood their holding the sponge like an idiot. What the fuck just happened?

---

Part 3

#rafe cameron #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron x y/n #rafe cameron imagine #obx #rafe obx

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recurring-polynya · 3 years

Note

Tokusatsu Au where Rukia plays the lead actress in a superhero action show. Renji plays one of the villains and they are The most popular ship in the fandom. Bonus points if Orihime plays the main villain and loves every second of it.

This was the very first prompt I got, and I fell in love. Unfortunately, aside from a brief period of being grotesquely fascinated with Power Rangers as teen, I know almost nothing about tokusatsu. I did as much research as I could and I attempted to watch an episode of Kamen Rider, but my eyes glazed over halfway through. Anyway, please forgive my inaccuracies, I wrote this with my heart.

ao3 | ff.net

🏍 ⚡ 🎬

“Uh, looks like we’re almost out of time,” the panel moderator for “High-Spirited Battle Clairvoyant Tomoe!: A Sneak Peak at Season 5” declared, “but would you be willing to take just a few audience questions?”

Head Screenwriter Kurosaki Ichigo glanced at Leading Actress Kuchiki Rukia out of the corner of his eye, and she gave a tiny nod.

“Yeah, sure!” he replied.

There was already a young woman waiting at the microphone, practically vibrating with anxiety. She was wearing a t-shirt that had ZabiTo4Ever!! handwritten in marker on it. Rukia knew, deep down in her bones, what the question was going to be.

“Hi, yes, hello, big fan of your work! My question is: are Tomoe and Zabimaru going to kiss this season?”

“No,” Rukia started to say.

“As you probably know,” Ichigo said loudly on top of her, “the show holds close to the core plot points of Kuna-sensei’s manga, although, because of her minimalist style, we do expand a lot of the dialogue and filler scenes. She has said in several interviews that High-Spirited Battle Clairvoyant Tomoe! is not a romance manga, so the odds of Tomoe and Zabimaru ever kissing on screen are very, very low.”

The young woman stared at Ichigo grumpily. “Does this also count Zabimaru’s secret college student identity, Satonako Takeru?”

Ichigo stared back at her. “Yes. It does.”

The next question came from a person wearing a full suit of HellKnight’s plasma armor made out of overlapping plates of cardboard. Rukia was kind of impressed by it. She wondered if he could sit down.

“Hi, Kurosaki-sensei, I am a huge fan of your work,” a voice emanated from deep within the cardboard. “I was wondering if you are influenced at all by fanworks, and if Episode 73: Pride is on the Line!: The Bake Sale Must Go On! was based in any way on the classic fanfiction, ‘Tell Me All Your Best Lies’? It’s the top story by kudos in the ZabiTo tag, which I might point out is the most popular shipping category on AO3.”

Ichigo cleared his throat gently. “I am contractually not allowed to read fanfiction, although I do enjoy fanart! There are some incredibly talented artists in the fandom, although for some reason, no one ever wants to draw pictures of Lead Screenwriters.”

“I’ll draw you, sleeping on the set like you always do,” Rukia offered, and that got a pretty big laugh. Rukia’s Tumblr of behind-the-scenes doodle comics was beloved among the fandom.

The next question was from a nonbinary person wearing a big poufy skirt and a hairstyle that would make their make-up and hair guru, Yumichika, sit up and take notice. “Hi, this is a question for Kuchiki-san! If the show is going to roughly keep pace with the manga, as it has done up until now, you should be shooting the storyline where Tomoe and Queen Bloodbuzz switch bodies later this year. I was wondering if you could comment on how you feel about filming that storyline?”

Finally! A good one! “Yes!” Rukia nodded eagerly. “I don’t usually like to speak for my fellow cast members, but Orihime and I are beyond excited about playing each other. We’ve been studying each other’s mannerisms and practicing already! Does anyone want to hear my Queen Bloodbuzz cackle?” She wagged her eyebrows as the audience cheered. “Here goes-- bwaHaHaHaHAHAHAHAAHAAAHAAAAAAAA!”

“Bonechilling,” Ichigo commented dryly as the audience erupted.

“Amazing, Kuchiki-san!” the moderator exclaimed. “I think there is time for one more, but this will be the last question!”

A tall girl in a full set of High-Spirited Battle Clairvoyant Tomoe motorcycle leathers stepped to the microphone. She was holding a notebook. “Hello!” she warbled. “In a 2020 interview with the Psychics and Sidekicks podcast, Abarai Renji was asked about his opinion on ZabiTo as a ship, and he replied,” she consulted her notebook, “‘Tomoe is such a cool lady and talented Battle Clairvoyant, and she always follows her heart and stays true to herself. I think that Zabimaru can’t help but be impressed with her, even though they’re enemies, and I always try to roll that into our on-screen interactions.’ I know that in the past you’ve refused to comment on the ship, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts on, y’know, his thoughts?”

“Well, he’s correct, of course, Tomoe is very cool and admirable,” Rukia replied, which drew a few laughs, although it seemed like the audience was leaning forward in anticipation of her answer. “Like I said, I don’t like to speak for other cast members. I’ll be doing a big cast panel with Abarai and Inoue and Matsumoto and Ukitake tomorrow afternoon, and I hope you all can make it! See you then!”

The moderator thanked them enthusiastically, and then Ichigo and Rukia slipped out the back guest entrance.

“Evasive as always, Kuchiki,” Ichigo teased.

“Whatever,” Rukia sniffed. “The higher ups say we’re not supposed to comment on stuff like that, and I was not commenting. By the way, how many secret fanfic accounts are you up to? Four?”

“It’s only three!” Ichigo paused. “I wrote that fanfic the guy brought up.”

“Of course you did,” Rukia sighed. “I do blame you personally for the popularity of the damn ship.”

“Me? Blame Kuna for making up two such sexy, emotionally constipated dumbasses!” Ichigo defended.

“Also, it’s not Ichigo’s fault that you and Abarai have insane chemistry.”

Rukia spun around, grinning. “Orihime!”

Rukia’s two co-stars, Inoue Orihime and Abarai Renji, the portrayers of Tomoe’s demonic archnemeses, stood in the hallway behind them.

“We sat in on your panel!” Orihime beamed. “You two were brilliant!”

“Don’t worry,” Renji added. “We were incognito.”

“Incognito” was relative, Rukia supposed, when you were at Tokyo’s biggest tokusatsu

convention.

Orihime was wearing a Zabimaru outfit so detailed that she probably could have won a prize down at the cosplay hall. She had the gravity-defying ponytail, the eyeliner, the insane widow's peak (complete with forehead tatts), the fangs, the motorcycle boots. The paper mache snake skull helmet was a little lopsided, but it was charming. She had her top zipped a little higher than canon, but that was forgivable, too.

Renji had taken the opposite tack of looking as much like a normal person-- or at least a normal Battle Clairvoyant Tomoe superfan-- as possible. Relaxed fit jeans and an oversized hoodie de-emphasized his ultra-fit physique. He was wearing a t-shirt with a very dramatic rendering of Orihime that said “Queen Bloodbuzz can step on me!” and a ball cap with the logo of Seireitei University, the fictional college Tomoe and Takeru attended.

“You think you’re in disguise,” Rukia pointed out, “but there are thousands of teen girls in this place with entire Tumblrs dedicated to your stupid face when you’re out of costume.”

Renji cocked an eyebrow at her. “You underestimate me, Rukia. I have bought… new sunglasses.” With a flourish, he whipped out a pair of the dorkiest wayfarers she’d ever seen, and flipped them onto his face. “I’ve disappeared! Who am I? Where am I?”

“You look really great, Orihime,” Ichigo said, his cheeks coloring a little bit. “Did you get Uryuu or Yumichika to help you with that costume?” In his continuing theme of doing things he wasn’t supposed to, Ichigo had finally started dating Orihime on the downlow around the time they finished up filming last season. It had done absolutely nothing for how shy he still got around her. They were, in Rukia’s opinion, cute as hell.

“Oh, no, that would be cheating!” Orihime replied, wagging a finger at him. “Well…maybe I did cheat, just a tiny bit. Renji helped me make the helmet and he held up references for me while I was painting on the tattoos.”

“Only the forehead ones,” Renji quickly added.

“He wouldn’t even offer feedback on my booby tattoos!” Orihime frowned. She leaned forward. “Rukia, how do they look?”

Ichigo turned even redder.

“Perfect, as in all you do!” Rukia replied loftily.

“What’s everyone got coming up next?” Renji asked. “I was thinking of slipping out and trying to pick up some real coffee.”

“I’m judging a villainess-themed cosplay competition,” Orihime chirped. “But I’m dying for a blueberry caramel iced latte. Renji, my henchman, pleeeeease!”

“Of course, my liege,” Renji replied in his Zabimaru voice.

It’s not like it had been a hard decision to accept the role of the motorcycle-riding, badass heroine of one of the most popular manga of the last decade, but it had turned out to be one of the best decisions of Rukia’s life. not just her career. Aside from a few of the money-obsessed executives, she liked nearly everyone in the cast and crew, but the fact that the fact that the ruthless, homicidal, literally Hell-spawned villains of the show were played by the two sweetest marshmallow people she had ever met just took the cake. Renji and Orihime had already known each other from some voicework they had done previously, and their excitement at working together on a live-action project had infected the entire cast from the start. Rukia wasn’t sure, but she strongly suspected that Renji was the one who had hyped Orihime up to ask Ichigo out.

“I have a writers’ workshop I’m moderating this afternoon, and I wanted to review the writing samples people sent in,” Ichigo said, scratching the back of his head. “I’d love to stop by that cosplay contest, though, at least for a few minutes.”

“You’ll be needing caffeine, too, then, eh?” Renji offered. “Hot, black, and in the largest cup they make, as usual?”

“Ugh, you’re the best,” Ichigo groaned. “You wanna power-up this season? Costume update? You know what? Maybe I’ll just have you defeat Tomoe once and for all, no one likes her anyway.”

“C’mon, you know I’m the world’s number one Tomoe simp, don’t do that!” Renji laughed.

Rukia rolled her eyes. “I’m free and I could use some fresh air. Besides, it’s going to take all your dumb muscles just to carry Kurosaki’s vat of coffee back here.”

“Cool!” Renji proclaimed. “We’ll be back soon!”

“Thanks, Renjiiiii!” Orihime waved.

“You need to stop off and put on a disguise?” Renji asked.

“No point in it, I always get recognized,” Rukia sighed, pulling her sunglasses out of her purse anyway.

“Here,” Renji said, plunking his hat on her head. “Maybe this will help.”

“Thanks,” Rukia replied, and then did a double take. “Whaaaaaat is on your head?”

“Shut up!” Renji laughed. He usually shaved his head when they were filming, because it made it easier to deal with the make-up and wigs, but since they were between seasons, he’d grown his hair out into a short, tousled mop of reddish-brown waves. He looked, for the lack of a better word, dreamy. “I shot a movie over the summer, and they wanted me to look softer.”

Rukia looked at him over the top of her sunglasses. “You didn’t tell me you were doing a movie!”

“Oh, it was just a little indy romcom thing. I wasn’t sure it was gonna pan out, I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.”

“You were in a romcom? You’re kidding me!” They ducked out of a side door of the convention center into the bright sunshine.

“Yeah, it’s about a guy who goes to the gym to try to get ripped to impress a girl, and makes friends with me, this nice, already ripped dude who gives him lifting tips and encourages him a bunch. By the end of the movie, it turns out we have crushes on each other.”

“Oh, no, that sounds really cute, actually!”

“It was written by a woman who graduated from one of Ichigo’s writing workshops. The script was really snappy and Ichigo thought having someone like me as the gym guy would give it just a bit of campy cachet. You know what a good sense he’s got for stuff like that.”

“That was cool of you to go out on a limb a little,” Rukia replied.

Renji rubbed the back of his neck. “I’d been wanting to try something like that for a while, actually.”

Rukia blinked. “You aren’t… you aren’t thinking of leaving the show, are you?”

“Huh? No. No! No, the show means the world to me, I would never. But… it’s not gonna run forever, y’know?”

“I would have guessed you’d want to be a big action star or something!” Rukia said, throwing a few air punches. “That’s my dream!”

Renji stuffed his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. “Yeah, that’s what I thought I wanted when I first got into acting. I’d read the Tomoe manga, and I thought playing Zabimaru would be a good jumping-off point, besides just being a cool character overall.”

“Is that… not true?” Rukia frowned.

“Oh, I mean, I guess so! I didn’t really know about the fandom, though and… to be honest, I’m kinda into the idea that there are all these fans who think I’m complex and redeemable?”

Rukia regarded him out of the corner of her eye. “They just want to fix you.”

“Maybe! Ichigo made me read this one fanfic that was eight thousand words of the reader getting sick and Zabimaru making them soup? And feeding them the soup? I still haven’t decided how I feel about it.”

“How does he have time to find these things? Does he even sleep?”

“Anyway, it doesn’t hurt to be well-rounded and it was fun. I’m still mostly an action guy, but I wouldn’t mind doin’ something with a romantic subplot. A period drama or something like that. I look pretty good in hakama, you know.”

“I bet you do,” Rukia laughed. She squinted at him, but his expression was unreadable behind the shades. Renji didn’t have the classic leading man looks, not like her ridiculously famous older brother, but she could definitely see him as the best friend, the B-plot romance, with his cute, messy hair and that big doofy grin.

“By the way, I’m sorry you had to field that question about me spilling my romantic sensibilities on that podcast.”

Rukia laughed. “You didn’t even answer the question, either! These people are relentless!”

Renji stopped at a street corner and peered down the various possible directions they could go. “Which way feels like it might have a coffee shop?”

“You didn’t have one in mind before we left? I thought you knew where we were going!”

“Nah, I just like to go out and see what there is.”

“I can look up a map,” Rukia said, reaching in her bag for her phone.

“Let’s just go this way,” Renji said, stepping out into the street in the direction that had the WALK light. Rukia sighed and had to scramble to catch up with him.

“So, what do you think about it?”

“Huh?” Rukia asked. “Think about what?”

“Our ship. ZabiTo.”

“I can’t believe you just said that word out loud. And you know we’re not supposed to give our opinion on it!”

“Aw, c’mon, we’re not supposed to give public statements on our opinions. I don’t think there’s any harm in talking between ourselves. We’re in disguise, even.”

“‘Disguise’,” Rukia sniffed.

“You don’t like it, I can tell.”

“He’s a bad guy! Everyone always talks about chemistry, and that may be true, but I just don’t think that Tomoe could ever get over his acts of violence and cruelty.”

“Queen Bloodbuzz is cruel. Zabimaru is not cruel.”

“Okay, that’s fair, but still. He’s kidnapped just about all of Tomoe’s friends and or turned them into monsters at one time or another. He’s always setting Karakura Town on fire or flooding it with magic lizard goo. He ruined the sports festival.”

“Maybe the sports festival deserved to be ruined,” Renji muttered under his breath.

“Okay, you’ve got a point on that one,” Rukia admitted.

“It’s really clear though, that he’s got some agenda beyond just simping for Queen Bloodbuzz--”

“The simping for Queen Bloodbuzz is the most relatable thing about him, to be honest.”

“Granted. But, what if he’s got a good reason for everything he does, actually? What if he’s doing all of this against his own moral code as a means of infiltrating Hell itself and getting himself into a position of trust so that he can bring down the Lords of Hell from the inside?”

Rukia slipped her sunglasses down to the tip of her nose. “Does Kuna give you Zabimaru spoilers?” The reclusive creator High-Spirited Battle Clairvoyant Tomoe! was only barely involved with the television show, but she did privately meet with each of the cast members about once a year. Most of Rukia’s meetings consisted of Kuna giving her constructive criticism on her battle poses.

“No, mostly we practice sneering,” Renji replied. “But I gotta play the guy, so I gotta think about this, you know, what motivates him? I mean, you’re probably right, it would never work out. But unlike Tomoe, whose principles would call for her to ignore any attraction she has to him, Zabimaru has the freedom to pine for her, perhaps because his love is futile and he doesn’t think he deserves it anyway.”

“That’s kinda dark, dude,” Rukia frowned.

“Yes, well, that is the kind of character acting that netted me the 2019 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Best Villain Award, Foreign Language Category.”

“That’s literally what’s going through your head when you’re shouting that if I can’t make some sick motorcycle jump, you’ll turn all my friends into stuffed animal versions of themselves?”

“No, of course not! At those times I’m thinking about how much I love my job. OH! and what is that I see!” Renji struck an extremely Zabimaru pose. “A MISTER DONUT!”

“My hero!” Rukia exclaimed, unable to resist an opportunity to shout dramatically. “I’m sorry I doubted you!”

“I think we should get some donuts, too. Orihime loves donuts,” Renji declared.

“Oh, for sure,” Rukia agreed. She was thoughtful for a moment. It would be easy to move on to a different subject, the subject being donuts, but she wasn’t happy with leaving the last conversation hanging. “Look, Renji, just because I don’t like the dumb ship, you know that’s not a reflection on you, right?”

“Huh?” Renji replied. “You mean you don’t mind if I like it?”

“Well… I mean, I don’t, I guess, but what I really meant was, er… we joke a lot, but Tomoe and Zabimaru are just parts, y’know? Just because I don’t think Zabimaru isn’t good boyfriend material doesn’t mean I…” Rukia trailed off, suddenly realizing what she was saying. “Um. What I mean is. You’re very nice and probably one of my favorite people I’ve ever worked with and if someone I knew wanted to ask you out, I would definitely encourage them to, A+ guy, I’d say, probably would make a great boyfriend.”

Renji pushed his sunglasses up onto his forehead and regarded her for a long moment. “For the record, Kuchiki, I think that both you and Tomoe would make excellent girlfriend material.” While Rukia stood there and gaped like a fish, he turned and pushed open the door to the coffee shop. “Ichigo likes crullers and Orihime always wants the most colorful thing they’ve got. Do you know what you want?”

“I need to think about it,” Rukia squeaked. She wasn’t talking about donuts.

🏍 ⚡ 🎬

Bonus: Here are my notes from when I was making up the show. I hope this wasn’t too confusing!

High-Spirited Battle Clairvoyant Tomoe!

based on a manga by reclusive mangaka Kuna Mashiro

Head Screenwriter: Kurosaki Ichigo

🌟 Starring: 🌟

Kuchiki Rukia as Yukimura Tomoe, a spunky college student who can see ghosts and fights demons from Hell! She rides a motorcycle!

Inoue Orihime as Queen Bloodbuzz, a Lady of Hell, who seeks to gather energy from the Living Realm so that she can become the Supreme Ruler of Hell. Very aesthetic. Much bees.

Abarai Renji as Zabimaru, Queen Bloodbuzz’s ruthless henchman. He leads a double life as fierce-looking, but gentle-hearted college student Satonaka Takeru! What is his long game??

#renji's birthday 2k21 #my writing #this was really hard to write actually #because i had to make up SO MUCH STUFF #i hate making up stuff #astute readers will notice that i just recycled rukia and renji's fake names from between tides #i am so in love with this au tho #especially ichigo and his false pretenses ao3 accounts

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a-written-dream · 3 years

Text

Attack on Titan ch.139 spoilers

Okay, so I know a lot of people are going to be talking about what they didn’t like with the final chapter, and how disappointed they are and yada yada, and I get that, because following a series and having it end usually results in some level of disappointment (it’s fricking hard to write a good ending, isn’t it? And trying to tie everything up in a way that is both satisfactory to the author and everyone else even more so) but

I wanted to write down a few things I liked with this final chapter, because while I’m not entirely sure yet about my own satisfaction with the end, there are still things in there that I really enjoyed and that made me feel happy with the chapter. These aren’t meant to be facts in any shape or form, just things I picked up from the chapter that I enjoyed or which brought me satisfaction or happiness (as painful as it was)

(This was meant to be a short bullet list of a few things and turned into 3k of semi-analysis oops my bad)

The one thing I knew I wanted out of this chapter was to see things from Eren’s perspective, to get an understanding of why in the world he’d gone and decided that not only was destroying the world a good idea, but also pushing away his friends and telling them (pretty obvious) lies. There were so many things still left unanswered that I felt required an explanation from Eren’s side, and I really think this chapter delivered in doing that. There are still a few things I’m a little confused about, but I think I’ll need to do a proper read through of the whole manga to truly get it.

I really liked that we got to see Eren sharing his perspective together with Armin, that Armin was the last character we get to see together with Eren when he is alive. I haven’t read most of the manga, but from what I’ve heard their friendship is given even more depth than in the anime, and I really enjoyed the way the anime portrayed it. As a person who prefers platonic relationships in (canon) media, it means a lot to me that it wasn’t the love interest who got the last meaningful interaction with Eren. It shows just how important Eren and Armin’s relationship is and is a nice nod towards the fact that Armin was the one who sparked the flame in Eren that lead him to feel caged and crave freedom in the first place (I’m sure you could do an entire analysis on this but I haven’t spent near enough time analysing the manga or their relationship to be able to write one); I suppose I just think it fits very neatly in with the story and the importance of Eren’s different relationships.

I loved how dark AoT was – genuinely and thoroughly enjoyed the fact that that terrible and horrifying things happened, and this extends to the fact that Eren turns into the villain. But, despite this, I’m still quite happy that what he does isn’t entirely his own doing. Or, rather, that he does what he does to rid the world of Titans (which, additionally, was his one purpose and promise all along, wasn’t it?). He sees the future, a future without Titans, and he does what he needs to do to get there, even becoming a mass murderer (80% of humanity, though? Jeez Eren, little overboard maybe). We see previously how much it hurts him (e.g. when he’s in Liberio and cries about the young boy he meets), and then again in this chapter – and rather than being a monster, he becomes a martyr (I am a sucker for martyrs and guilt-ridden characters, so the fact that my love for Eren has only grown with this chapter makes total sense). But, I do want to point out also that while we see that he’s doing it for reasons that aren’t entirely selfish (though they are by no means selfless), we are still told that he thinks if he didn’t know the others would stop him, he would have flattened the earth anyway. I really like this small, one-panel detail because it makes the rest of it seem more likely. Isayama doesn’t twist Eren’s personality to fit the narrative and happy (”happy”) ending he wants; Eren has always had an anger in him, a selfishness, a misplaced belief that the world should be his. He is by no means a truly good person, never has been, but he can’t easily be placed into the ‘bad person’ camp, either. I think, in some senses, that this chapter really caught those contrasting parts of his personality, his grey morality. He is selfish and full of hate, but he’s also so many other things. He cares about his friends, so so much, cares about the people of Paradis, and at the end of the day, doesn’t that make him a little less selfish, if he’s willing to throw away his own humanity to save his friends (and isn’t that a theme that runs through the series? Remember Armin saying both that to ‘defeat a monster you must throw away your humanity’ and ‘someone who cannot throw away everything, cannot achieve anything’). While I definitely think it would have been cool to see Eren full of hatred to the point where there is none of the good in him left, I’m happy that we got to see him feel love. In some ways, it feels like we got to see him the way we used to know him, back before the time-skip, back before the weight of his own consciousness and guilt made him turn his back on that hope that still lived in him somewhere.

This isn’t something that I noticed/thought about myself when I read the chapter, but I saw someone point it out on here and it really struck me. Eren keeps his promise, to see the world with Armin. While they are talking, they get to explore together (the volcano and the lava, walking through the snow and seeing the northern lights above a snow-covered mountain range, finally getting to the sea) and it’s such a sweet, sweet thing that I barely know what to do with myself. I think, once again this really nicely fits in with what made Eren.. well, Eren, in the first place. That wonder and want in Armin’s eyes to see the outside world. And for Eren to uphold that promise, to the extent he can, is just so sweet, and really says something about Eren’s personality (he cares, he’s always cared, maybe he even cares too much).

I’ve seen some people complain about Ymir being in love with Karl Fritz, and I think it’s a valid thing, but I have to say I personally didn’t mind it. People fall in love with people who are bad to them, it happens, and as an explanation to why Ymir has obeyed his (and his ancestors’) command for 2,000 years, I think it works out. But, what I liked the most about it, is the fact that Mikasa is the one to show her that you can love someone and still let them go, you can love someone and go against them. I was happy already in the last chapter when it became clear that Mikasa would be the one to kill Eren, because to me it was her way of becoming her own person, in a way. Because while it’s clear after this chapter that Eren did, at least to some extent, want them to stop him, none of the others technically know this. So Mikasa isn’t stopping him for him, she’s stopping him for the world, and she’s stopping him for her. It’s her way of, after years of living and fighting and doing things for him, becoming her own person and doing something that isn’t for him. I thought it was a nice end(-ish, it’s not the last we see of her, but regardless) to her character development and her and Eren’s relationship. I also like how it furthers Mikasa’s importance to the story. I don’t think she’s been one of those female characters that exist only to be the main character’s love interest, and while her ending the age of Titans is directly linked to her love for Eren, it feels like it’s so much more than that.

Now, I know this is by no means healthy, but. I actually really liked the way Eren reacted to Armin talking (teasing him?) about Mikasa finding someone else to love with ease. Sure, that possessiveness is unhealthy and toxic, but it also feels so much like Eren. He wants the whole world for himself, so why wouldn’t he want Mikasa to himself too? And the fact that he tells Armin not to tell Mikasa because he does want her to be happy, at the end of the day, even if it isn’t with him, once again falls in line with his deep care for those that matter the most to him. I really think Eren’s character is incredibly interesting (in case I hadn’t made that clear by the endless amount of words above) and I really like how this chapter portrayed that. Is he a good person doing bad things? A bad person doing good things? Or simply a person doing what he thinks he needs to in order to get where he wants and to protect those he cares about? Another thing that I really like about his outburst is the fact that he does it in front of Armin. He dares to (essentially) throw a tantrum in front of him, saying something – that Armin even goes to say is ‘pathetic’ – for only Armin to hear because there’s a trust there that runs deeper than anything they share with anyone else.

As a person who is very supportive of platonic physical affection (I think there’s a huge lack of it in media and I think it’s a shame that physical affection should be limited to romantic and/or sexual partners), the fact that Armin and Eren hold hands (both in this chapter and in the rest of the series) makes me very, very happy to see. I am entirely on board with people who would have seen them end up together as something other than friends (I definitely see the chemistry there and kind of ship it myself), but I also love the fact that they are two friends (best friends) who are physically affectionate with each other every step of the way, including at the end (this goes for the hug too). It’s refreshing and nice to see and I think it speaks volumes about how much they care for each other (regardless of what way that may be, but I’m happy that it is platonically in canon because in my humble opinion there are too few platonic-but-still-affectionate relationships out there).

We know that Eren sees how it ends, with the others killing him and stopping him from eradicating humanity, so we know he can essentially see the future (memories from the future – I really love that), but what we also know is that he can only see his own future memories. He sees his own future memories through his father, but because there is no Attack Titan to follow him, no next Attack Titan whose memories he can see, it’s safe to assume that he can’t see anything past his own death. This makes him saying that the one who’s going to save humanity is Armin, just that much better. Because Eren isn’t saying it because he’s seen it, but rather because his belief and trust in Armin is so large and runs so deep that he simply knows that Armin is going to save them, believes it with his whole being.

The bird. I don't even know if there's any need to elaborate on this; I'm a sucker for reincarnation (and meeting in death, which is why I've loved the reoccurring visits from the fallen Survey Corps) and both Armin and Mikasa getting something from the bird (Armin getting a feather, maybe something of a nod to the seashell; Mikasa getting the scarf wrapped around her again) was very sweet. Another thing I literally just realised is that Eren becoming a bird is absolutely heartbreakingly beautiful, because birds are a symbol of freedom, are they not? (This realisation literally hit me in the face with pain, don't mind me) I think this can be viewed in two ways: either, it is only in death that Eren finds freedom (which is rather sad), or Eren is granted freedom, like he's always wanted, even if he couldn't have it while he was alive (not sure I'm making the distinction clear, but to me there's a large difference and I'd like to believe it's the second one: Eren deserves the freedom he finally receives).

Levi saluting. I can't be entirely sure, but if I remember correctly, this is the first time we've seen him salute? He did 'salute for' Hange in some ways, but it's not quite the same. I don't know all that much about Levi's backstory and his relation to the Survey Corps (besides obviously having a lot of comrades and friends he cares deeply about), but to me him saluting at the end is a sort of acknowledgement to everyone's sacrifice, a sort of 'We did it. It wasn't in vain. You are all the reason we made it this far and I am proud to have stood beside you'.

When I drafted this I wrote down 'the seashell' but right now I can't remember exactly why I liked that, but looking at the panels it clearly has some significance. I can't explain why I liked the fact that Armin gave it to Eren, but I do. It felt important.

While we get to see why Eren is doing what he's doing, given a bit of an insight into what made him do what he did, his actions – in my opinion – aren't excused. There's no 'oh it's okay you killed 80% of humanity but it's entirely reasonable because you did it for your friends'. Yes, Armin thanks him, but he does explicitly call Eren a mass murderer, not letting us or Eren forget what Eren has actually done, regardless of why he's done it. There's no excusing killing that many innocent people, regardless of why, and Eren and Armin know this too; Eren knows that there is no forgiving what he's done, that there is nothing left for him but to die because there is nothing he or anyone else can say or do that will warrant him another shot at life after what he's done.

I'm a sucker for angst and character death (don't ask me why, I honestly couldn't tell you. It simply tickles my fancy) and the fact that Eren dies at the end is right up my alley. Not only does it make my angst-loving heart go 'woo', but it also wouldn't have made any sense to keep him alive, in many ways. So while watching Eren die broke my heart, it also felt like an fate true to the story and to Eren's character and his decisions.

As viewers/readers I think most of us have known the potential that Armin holds since the first season, and it wasn't too surprising when Levi chose Armin over Erwin, but in this chapter we really get to see that it was a good decision on Levi's part. Because just as Eren says, Armin is the one to save humanity (or at least the one smart and compassionate enough to get close). Armin is the first to know what to say to ensure the Eldians' safety after the Titans are gone, is the one who comes up with a plan to stop Eren (I think? My memory might be failing me here), is one of those who are going to bring peace back from Paradis. I don't necessarily think there was any need to 'prove' that Armin was the one who deserved to live, but this chapter really shows that regardless of who 'deserved to live', Armin is a strong and capable character, fit as the 15th Commander of the Survey Corps, that has fulfilled his potential. It just really drives the point that Armin wasn't a bad choice, that maybe he was even the right choice.

And finally, I like the fact that it is left open ended. There has been a lot of resolutions, a lot of things finally resolved, and I think it's all been tied up pretty nicely. But I also enjoy the fact that peace isn't certain, nor is survival (because, is it ever?). Isayama doesn't give us everything, doesn't tell us exactly how things pan out, how life and the world after Titans might look. Rather, he allows us to build our own interpretation of how the world might rebuild itself and which routes the characters choose to take. In some way, it's so much more satisfying to have an open end like this, because it both allows the readers to explore their own interpretations of how the story might continue, but also because life in itself is open ended and the end of one struggle doesn't mean the end of all struggle. That's not to say that I think the series ended on a pessimistic or dark tone, because I really didn't. It's a good ending, a happy one, but it doesn't stray too far away from the darkness of the rest of the manga (though I must admit I was expecting a little darker ending, but I'm not necessarily disappointed). It's a hopeful ending, but not a naïve one, and I really like that.

Oooh boy this became a lot more than I expected it to oops. This was not meant to become analysis, but here we are. Might do a tl;dr later lmao

But yeah I just wanted to spread some positivity in these trying times, and I know that endings can be disappointing, so I thought sharing my own positive reactions to certain bits of the chapter might help someone else enjoy it a little more!

(Also ngl I just wanted to write stuff down because I wanted to remind myself why I liked it, and once I started writing I couldn't stop, so there's that).

#aot #aot spoilers #attack on titan #attack on titan spoilers #snk spoilers #snk 139 #aot 139 #aot final chapter #snk final chapter #shingeki no kyojin #shingeki no kyojin 139 #attack on titan 139 #nox has thoughts #on aot 139 #shingeki no kyojin spoilers #eren jaeger #eren yeager #armin arlert #mikasa ackerman

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angeltrapz · 3 years

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ok saw asks!!! bcuz i have Amanda on th brain rn i wd like ur take on her interacting w Lawrence? personally idk how much she knew of his involvement bc she implies in 3 tht Lynn was entirely John's choice, but i also think th idea of her Knowing + deliberately not telling Hoffman is extremely funny. Hoffman cant come 2 th weekly disciple meeting bcuz hes got Cop Business so he misses Lawrence's introduction + Amanda is just like "sure John of course ill tell Mark that we got a new friend :)" and just never does. LOVE that thought

dhgsdkj thank u!!

it Is extremely funny 2 think that she just. knows but refuses to tell Hoffman + THAT'S why Hoffman doesn't know who Lawrence is until he jabs him w the needle + takes off the pig mask lmao omg. just like "oh yeah of course I'll tell Mark we have a new teammate don't worry abt it!" and she Never Does dkjkdsg??

okay but 2 Seriously answer yr question. when I think abt it I always think that like. it wld b pretty hard fr John 2 keep them frm each other given how integral Lawrence's participation is in every game from SAW II onward? 'cause like we know Amanda helps w the kidnapping process + placing them in their traps, which one CLD argue would only mean she wld see them after Lawrence would do his thing but. I feel like she'd be vaguely aware? bc she wld also then have 2 know that he survived his game, given that she helped set it up - we know that she'd AT LEAST know his name.

to elaborate on th idea that only HOFFMAN doesn't know (both bc it's fucking hilarious + actually how I view things happening jdkhfksd), I feel like Amanda + Lawrence's interactions wld be rather limited. in canon, Lawrence becomes a disciple after John "rehabilitates" him or whtever he wants 2 call it, but I feel he'd have to be aware of Amanda, too - both that she is also a disciple + SHE'S th one who helped get him in the bathroom in th first place. as grateful as Lawrence seems to feel toward John + as much as he believes in John's "work," I feel like that wld be smth he'd have to work thru: working side by side w someone who had a direct hand in basically destroying yr life as u knew it. n I feel like Amanda wld know that, n as such she'd want to keep her distance bc she can't predict how this man will act/what he will do, even if he is technically on her side. so like. things wld def be tense btwn them until Lawrence has had some time 2 process his new life + what tht means for him, and until the two of them can have some sort of talk/acknowledgement of that.

though I will say that their roles kind of imply they'd at least see a good bit of each other. Amanda scouts, in a way, helps subdue & bring ppl in, which wld then be brought to Lawrence fr any medical procedures they feel r needed (such as sewing th key behind Michael's eye in II) so it'd definitely be like a "hey did u bring some1?" sort of thing. Mark is muscle of course so like I know he def helped on tht end (I believe Amanda is th one who caught Lawrence in the parking garage but like it wld be SO much funnier if Hoffman was the one crawling around) but IDK if he rly Saw Lawrence bc. Cop Business. so he'd just kinda b like "here u go" n bring ppl to Amanda n then peace out 'cause he's gotta keep tht reputation of Respected Detective. we know he also might've messed w traps themselves as well (like The Rack in III), which wld definitely keep him separate from Lawrence bc Lawrence had No Involvement in designing/setting up traps. tht was strictly a John/Hoffman/Amanda endeavour.

as fr how they'd feel abt each other? it's really dependent on how u view thm as characters. Lawrence, after he becomes a disciple, believes that what John is doing is truly helpful and truly has the capability to change lives; he devotes himself 2 it, shows countless times tht he has complete faith in John + his methods, so much so that John left a tape fr him telling him to look after Jill + to act on his behalf if smth were to happen to her. he calls Lawrence his greatest asset. his trust in John + the Jigsaw legacy is unwavering.

Amanda, however, has been shown several times to act directly against John's beliefs, such as constructing inescapable traps (Kerry) or rigging others' games (Adam). th breakdown she has in III I think showcases the disconnect between her love fr John as a mentor/father figure, and the realization that not only is John entirely hypocritical and doesn't stay true to his own beliefs half th time, he truly has shown no regard fr her safety + has only been using her to further the agenda that was built upon a fragile foundation 2 begin with. u've mentioned this b4 too but John always liked 2 say that if u can anticipate the human mind, then nothing is up 2 chance - which wld mean that he KNEW Xavier might throw Amanda into the Needle Pit to get out of it. he KNEW Daniel was just a fucking kid and was perfectly fine w putting him in very real danger to get back at some1 he felt like needling fr the express purpose of provocation and nothing else. he KNEW Laura, a woman she'd formed a bond w and pretty much swore to protect th minute she woke up and saw her crying in the corner, could begin to seize n choke on her own vomit and die in that house. he knew all of those things, ENCOURAGED the belief that smth was wrong w her because she wasn't "fixed" as he had claimed, and it's so unfortunate that she doesn't realize that sooner (I fully agree that she deserved to lose her shit completely on John. it's what he deserved! it's what SHE deserved!!!) but she still Does before she dies (which, again, I Don't think should've happened. she didn't deserve 2 go out like tht + she deserved so much more of her story being told).

so there's the conflict of beliefs between thm. I think Amanda definitely starts out like Lawrence does, completely devoted + believing every word John says, but thru II we can see that certainty begin to falter n her faith in John is completely shaken by the end. I don't think Lawrence wld Know she felt tht way until after she died, if he ever finds out at all, bc I doubt that's smth she'd want to express. it's not even smth she discusses w John himself until III, in which she's already made up her mind to shoot Lynn as a final act of misguided disobedience. I still think tht Lawrence wld feel fr her in some way, though, bc even b4 he became a disciple he was rather horrified when Sing + Tapp had him sit thru her testimony; his feelings would change on this a lil, bc he'd see it as her rebirth (as she once did too), but I still feel like he'd want 2 like. watch over her a little. not super directly, + not because he felt threatened by her presence or anything like that, but because they're in this together n I'm sure John's told him abt some of the circumstances regarding how she came to be a disciple after her game as well. I feel like he wld definitely be saddened by her passing, bc I feel he'd come 2 respect her at least a bit, but fr him it's like. they have 2 keep moving. John is gone now too, smth I'm sure was probably a pretty huge blow fr Lawrence, and now he has to put his energy into making sure Hoffman stays unaware of him. just in case he has to act on that warning John gave him abt Jill. but he wld still miss Amanda n wld mourn her, to be sure.

I don't think they'd be close or anything like tht. kind of just friendly coworkers who only see each other every once in a while, passing thru the doors of each other's lives with a nod and a wave and maybe a greeting if they're feeling up 2 it. they're not too involved. Amanda can't tell u tht Lawrence's favourite flowers are sunflowers. Lawrence can't tell u tht Amanda's favourite smell is lavender or tht her favourite colour is a deep, almost greyish purple. but they're connected thru John, thru their work, n that still means smth to both of them, at least in some manner. when Amanda dies, Lawrence grieves. Jill pays for her headstone n Lawrence makes sure to bring fresh flowers every once in a while, but he has to hold his head up n keep walking. now tht John's gone, there's work to be done.

and someone's gotta keep an eye on Hoffman.

#saw #amanda #lawrence #mandy makes me so fucking sad she deserved so much better #mainly to go ape shit on john #but just. better in general #tysm!!! I don't often get 2 talk abt mandy dkjfkds #yr right it is MUCH funnier 2 consider tht mandy n lawrence knew each other but nobody told hoffman abt lawrence #tht's what u get mr. hoffman!!#long post kinda? not as much as my other ones but #u know #asks

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inkdrinkershadowsinger · 4 years

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Thoughts/ Background The Deathly Hallows Part Two

The introduction music is so haunting. The castle in all its glory is haunted by dementors and fog. Snape is solitary. Everything is singular and empty on the grounds. The only color we see at Hogwarts during this time is during the final battle when McGonagall pushes Harry out of the way, and we see that flash of fire from her wand. That’s when you know stuff is about to kick off.

Griphook sounds so lost as to why Harry would bury Dobby. The divide between creatures and wizards, between goblins and wizards has gotten so great that neither side even thinks to assume that the other possesses even the smallest hint of kindness or humility. This is a fic all in itself.

What are the goblins stake in the sword? What is with the mention of the tiara in the books? I feel like Rowling had more to say about this topic, but for some reason she didn’t.

I hate that Fleur seems to be so meek in this movie. I want her to be this badass fighter chick, the kind of person who the Goblet of Fire would chose once again to play one of the most challenging games ever, the kind of person who would leave her country and family for an amazing opportunity and adventure, but her character wasn’t given much time or space to be free to show itself in that manner.

Wandlore is super fascinating. Is there a book about wandlore? Like a companion book like Quidditch Through the Ages? I feel like there should be.

It looks like that is a quilt patch behind Harry’s head. It would have been a gift from Mrs. Weasley.

It always bothered me that Luna was just like, “Yeah, I’m going back to school.” They just locked her butt up in the dungeons, and then she decides to go back to a school where the people who locked her up are currently in power and could torture her for information about the whereabouts of Harry Potter, the person she literally just escaped with. I think, that’s why this scene was cut from the final cut of the basic DVD versions.

Ron is so quick here to be like, “They suspect us. They suspect us.” But the silence doesn’t go on for that long. It feels like someone with such an iron gut gets antsy really quickly, and not antsy like sweating a bit, but antsy like he’s about to start crying. It just seems weird. One of the basic security measures to the bank might be that they have like a gas that leaks through that makes people feel paranoid or something like that. You want to get 200 galleons out, but what happens if you get robbed on the way out the door? Better to only get 100, thus keeping money in the bank under the goblins eyes. It would help keep out thieves as well, petty and otherwise.

None of the other goblins think that something is off with the behavior of this one goblin who seems to be in a positon of authority?

Goblins are keyed into the various vaults? Which means that they could seal them at any time as well, right? Is this in the books?

Hermione, baby, your Gryffindor is showing, and it is SEXY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lol

Those goblins are like, “Assume the fire breathing position.”

You can see how deep down they are. And I know this isn’t real, but to think that that dragon would have only had that small opening of real light shining down on it all that time is truly depressing.

Litearlly, they all deserve to bite it after what that dragon was put through.

“And he’s homicidal.”

“We plan, we get there, all hell breaks loose.” I feel that.

I always assumed that Voldemort when to Gringotts and killed the goblins. But no, he summoned them to Malfoy Manor, and then killed them. Why would he do it like that?

That mirror is rectangular, but I always envisioned the mirrors as being circular.

Why does Aberforth tell them that the Order is finished? He knows that it isn’t. This whole speech of his is very demoralizing. But Harry dgaf…..

This, “I trusted the man I knew” attitude is why Harry named one of his children Albus Severus.

Hermione is the one who asks questions of Aberforth, and yet, he directly responds to Harry. I always thought that was odd.

And Aberforth has been helping them the whole time? Then why the speech?

Neville badass Longbottom.

Another nod to the books.

I wanted some more information about what was going on in Hogwarts while Harry, Ron, and Hermione were on the run. I wanted to hear more about what Dumbledore’s Army were getting up to while the others were hunting horcruxes. There were tasters of it in the book, but I would have loved to have had more of it tbh.

Fact: Neville’s plant from five is the mascot for the Hogwart’s resistance.

“She gots lost of those, hasn’t she?” This line from Seamus at the very beginning of this movie just made it so perfect. This movie is a gosh dang masterpiece.

Snape had such a hard job. I mean, I know people hate on Snape, and I can understand their reasoning, but I have a soft spot for the man. Maybe I read too much fanfiction because fanfic!Snape and canon!Snape are two very different individuals.

Harry’s name among these students is the stuff of legend. The way they all look around and start talking carries that spark of hope that good rumors sometimes have.

Harry, “Perfect timing group.”

People back up when Harry faces Snape. People move the hell out of dodge when McGonagall draws her wand.

Snape takes out the two Carrows behind him before he apparates out of the school.

Padma gets zero dances at the Yule Ball, and then Voldemort invades her mind. Great.

Pansy, my darling, there is a time to speak and there is a time to stay silent. Read the room.

Filch, ditto.

Why do all of the magical, “evil” Slytherins allow Filch, a squib, to lock them up?

Even the portraits are getting out of there.

All the kids in the background are completely flummoxed.

“Boom!”

Say that five times fast. No, say it once without messing up and you get to be bff’s with Maggie Smith.

This spell is sick, this music is sick, McGonagall is a queen. When I saw this in theater, my skin got goose pimples. “Do your duty for our school!” It is just so amazing, and iconic. This whole scene makes me feel so empowered, and pumped like I’m about to head into battle, like I’m about to defend my home and my life.

My thoughts on the diadem and the other founders objects can be found in a post that I made. My thoughts are strong, and though they aren’t canon, they are still unspoken canon.

Voldemort is like, “I was about to monologue. Why you speaking to me?”

“You okay, Freddie?” Don’t come at me like that, writers.

We all died laughing in the theater when Ron said that. “Harry talks in his sleep.” Harry only speaking parseltongue when around snakes theory is still enforced when you think about the snake Pettigrew sneaking around the whole time.

Exactly why the fuck does Remus need Tonks more than her small child? I never understood this line, and I never liked them as a couple. Thought the book version was creepy, and the movie version unrealized.

Some movies really don’t need to be split into two for the ending *Divergent trilogy* but this one really benefitted from having two films. I wouldn’t want this huge battle scene and character plot and humor to be lost.

No one thinks to cast a spell to catch Neville??? This is like the first flying lesson all over again.

Go, Mr. Weasley, you are on fire.

Kingsley, whip their arses with that fancy shit. LET’S GO!!!!!!

Harry reached out to Ginny first. This movie is so lacking in any real chemistry between these two actors and characters that it is almost painful. This is one instance, that I never noticed before, that makes all of their other interactions less cringey to watch.

Neville almost died on that bridge. He might as well tell Luna how he feels. I love this and can fully ship canon book couples with canon movie couples at the same time. Thank you very much.

That kiss between them is so weird. I just can’t.

Hermione in this scene is proof that men rattle your brain with smooches. Lol

So, if you are using the room of requirement for something, and someone who already has been in that same room, and wants it for the same reason that you do, they can get in as well? But not if they want it for the same reason, which is why Umbridge couldn’t be get it in Order of the Phoenix.”

There are so many Easter eggs in this scene in the ROR. You can see a chess piece from 1, pixies from 2. It just enforces my headcanon that the house elves use the ROR as a sort of dumping ground for the random stuff that they find at the school.

Harry is so gosh dang blasé about seeing Draco again. He’s just like, “What’s up, dude?” He is not concerned in the slightest that he has three wands pointed at him right now. They are just causally chatting about whose wand each other has got.

The statue of the pig right behind Harry and Hermione. It would make sense Voldemort would try to totally remake Hogwarts, and I think that would go into removing those odd little things that make the castle a bit quirky. The castle looks bleak and unnaturally bland compared to the other movies. It would make sense that he would want statues of hogs also taken out.

You see the lanterns that Slughorn had at his Christmas party.

Why is the fire morphing into different animals? The phoenix attacks Draco, Blaise, and Goyle, the tiger chases Ron and Hermione, and then the snake goes after Harry. And then they all converge on the trio? Why make it animals? Is there any significance to this? I never noticed that they were actually animals before.

Finding the brooms perfect. Saving them perfect. Killing the horcrux then kicking it into the flames. Perfect.

The music while the trio are fighting to get to boat house is so haunting and lovely and it’s like it calls to every nostalgic atom in your body.

Really, death eater, you’ve got time to stop and cast the cruciatus on someone in the middle of this warzone?

I love that Hermione was the one to blast Fenrir away from Lavender. So touching.

Aberforth, Mr. IT IS ALL GOING TO END HORRIBLY WHY EVEN TRY, has enough hope and good memories to cast away that many dementors. Yeah, he’s fake.

Voldemort just doesn’t like that Snape is taller than him.

I just wanted a touch of the friendship that was expressed between Lily and Snape in the book. Harry understood it, and said it perfectly at the end of book seven. I wanted some of that to translate to screen. It wasn’t just because Snape had some weird crush on her it was because they were friends, best friends. Ron and Harry and Hermione friendship. The next time someone comes at me with that bull I’m just going to refer them back to the facts.

This is probably the first time that Snape had ever been allowed to really look at Harry as a person rather than someone who is supposed to hate him. It is the first time that he could be unguarded around him.

Snape hired more healers. Why else would they be there? He knew that with the group in charge that as in power, that they would be needed.

I can’t stand this barrage of lost souls. It is painful, and I get flashbacks from when I read the book for the first time, and the pages were covered in my tears.

It doesn’t look like Snape even has anything in this office. It looks barren. He knew he had no time to get comfortable in his position.

That tree is beautiful.

I love their friendship. I will always love their friendship.

Look at Snape and all those books. Lily and Snape, the studious, top of their year duo with the Marauders who eschew libraries but still manage to succeed. I don’t need to think hard to imagine the rivalry. In fact, I did imagine it, and wrote some down in the thing, message me if you would like part of the thing.

Hermione knew, or at least, strongly suspected that Harry was going to have to do what he sets off to accomplish, for sure.

I love that when Harry walked into the forest to face down death that he had these people, these guardians, these people who at one point or another swore to protect this boy with everything that they have get to be the ones that are with him at the end just like at the beginning. Things are different for them, and different from how they thought it would be when Harry was born into this world, but they still kept their promise.

“Does it hurt?” This is something that a child asks. We forget that Harry, here, is only supposed to be 17 years old, that’s a kid. Added to that, you have the very real

“We’re here, you see?” Perfect.

“Stay close to me?” “Always.”

My thoughts mean nothing in the perfection of this scene.

Hagrid is still looking out for Harry’s best interest. He is the only adult worth a flip in more than half of these films.

“The boy who lived come to die.”

I know Dumbledore is like, “The man” here, and the mentor or whatever, but I would have really have liked to have the person who met Harry at Kings Cross had been Snape especially after harry had just learned the truth. Way more dynamic.

Narcissa straight up lied to the most dangerous wizard ever. She deserved that pardon for her family. All she wanted was out, and to take care of her son, and I respect that. Don’t give a dang for the rest of the world when they would gladly let you burn. Take care of number one even when number one is a group instead of a single entity.

You hear that noise when Neville picks up the hat, and if you read the books, you know what he just found. He was out there preparing and scouting for another battle, and Hogwarts rewarded him.

Hagrid carrying in Harry’s body was so painful to watch. Visually, there little death parade plus the music just puts you in this anxious state. Pinpricks.

The acting by Bonnie Wright here is superb. The lack of chemistry is not equally weighted on her shoulders.

Luna looks at Draco like she is sick. Then like she is sad. I hate it. She was wishing for something else there for sure.

The way Dean Thomas looks at Voldemort in this scene is the way that I feel about that weird af hug.

Voldemort has to restrain himself from killing Neville on the spot for interrupting him.

Neville has never in the course of these movies failed to speak when needed. He stood up to the trio in 1, and he spoke up against Seamus and nearly everyone else in the common room in Ootp. Neville stands up for what is right.

All of those death eaters are like, “Fuck! This boy came back to life again? What are the Dark Lord’s AK’s broken? Nevermind, fuck this shit, I’m out.”

That music when Neville regains consciousness. YES!

See, if Voldemort didn’t play with his food, he might have won.

NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!!!! When I say people cheered and screamed in the theater when Molly said and did this epic shit I ain’t kidding. IT WAS AND STILL IS ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC HP QUOTES OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ONE OF THE BEST, MOST EMPOWERING QUOTES!!!!!!! We all want Molly Weasley to have our backs like this.

The whole ending of this movie is LEGENDARY!!!! I went to the midnight showing for the release of this movie with a bunch of other diehards, and seeing Neville cut the head off of the snake, and watching Harry finally beat Voldemort with the elder wand. I mean, we were literally just in such a state of excitement and yes and hallelujah, it was insane.

Neville and Luna. I see y’all.

Percy is talking to Arthur, reconciling.

That guy behind Cho is definitely about to shoot his shot with someone.

Filch, bless his heart.

Ron and Hermione. Harry knows. Harry blesses this union. Harry has been the number one ship captain this whole time, and now he is rewarded.

I like that Harry snapped the wand in the movie. See, if book Harry had snapped the wand, the Cursed Child would have never graced our consciousness with its heteronormative agenda. Scorbus is life. Fight me.

This series has had such a serious impact on me. I love it. I spend hours upon hours inside of this universe every day as beloved fanfiction writers play inside of it’s territory. It made me a reader. It helped me when I wasn’t sure what was next for me in life. It gave me entertainment and enjoyment, and still does. I love it, and I hope that I always will. We cling to the thought of magic because we hope that it is really, we hope that like in this world where there is magic that cannot be easily be explained exists. We hope that in our world, too, there is that same kind of magic that can wrap itself around us.

I think that kind of magic is real. I just think that we have to look for it, remember it, talk about, cherish it, and spread it around for others who have forgotten to look for it themselves. And great literature, like this series, helps us to do that.

That is why it will be remembered for generations to come. At least, if I have anything to say about it.

#Harry Potter #Harry Potter and the deathly hallows part two #Harry Potter thoughts #Harry Potter anaysis #Harry Potter background #harry potter meta

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sparklestheunicorn · 4 years

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Verlac

I actually tried to stick to canon for this one. I didn’t enjoy writing it as much as I thought I would, but there was no point where I just sorta gave up like the other two. Also, minimal editing.

It follows, wait for it, Sebastian Verlac the original in the moments before his death. If you don’t like the dialogue, blame cassie, she came up with it in the extra part of cols.

Word count: 2566

Sebastian Verlac was going places!

He was young and he lived in Paris. He may not have been in love, but if he had any say in it that was going to change.

And he wasn’t just metaphorically going places, oh no, his aunt had chosen him to go to Idris to represent the Paris Institute when it came to Valentine Morgenstern. Which was as good as her saying he would be running it when his time came. And Sebastian knew it would be one of the most open Institutes in the world, because that is what he would make it. He would be given the honour of running one, and so he would make it one of the best.

It would be open for Downworlders and Shadowhunters from everywhere, because what else was an Institute for? The fact that some even went so far as to refuse help to those who needed it baffled him. He didn’t think they knew what it felt like to be helpless – to be fair, neither did he, but he knew enough to know he never wanted to feel like that. It was basic human decency, and it still baffled him that not everyone had it.

But the future could wait until the present had been dealt with, because Valentine Morgenstern was back and had made waves in New York City. Literally. Then his daughter (he has a daughter) had brought down the ship he was living on. Sebastian made a mental note to get to know this Clarissa Morgenstern – although, apparently, she did not go by Morgenstern or even Fairchild, but Fray. He had to admit ‘Fray’ was a better last name for hiding among mundanes than the other two options.

He should know, Sebastian thought, he had spent enough time surrounded by mundanes in the past weeks to be able to recognise all the faces on the magazine covers littered throughout his city. It had been weeks, and he had not come across one other Shadowhunter – it made him worry that he was late for the meetings in Idris. But, no, his aunt had told him it was one week away, and he was going to Idris in two days. He was not late – he doubted his aunt would forgive for such a thing.

When he got to Idris, he would be staying with his cousins, the Penhallows, who had not seen him since he was a child. Sebastian could only hope they’d recognise him, not that he’d mind either way, he would die to be in the company of just one Shadowhunter. Mundanes weren’t bad, per se, but he couldn’t hold a conversation with any of them without saying something he shouldn’t. And even the Downworlders were avoiding him thanks to the runes he decorated himself with every morning. Not that he could blame them – he wouldn’t trust a Shadowhunter either when the world was like this.

Despite not being able to hold a conversation with them, Sebastian noticed the stares he garnered from the mundanes as he walked down the streets. And though he appreciated it enough to go unglamoured, all the looks did was make him feel lonely. There was a line between alone and lonely, and Sebastian had crossed it weeks ago. Occasionally, he would walk by a pretty boy or girl and think ‘maybe’, but by then he was likely already hunting a demon.

With nothing to do, Sebastian had decided to do what Shadowhunters were created to do – lurk around the Shadow World, listening for any sign of demons. And there were plenty once he learned where and how to look, particularly in a bar beneath a bar that pulsed with music and bodies. Under any other circumstances, it would have been his type of place. Getting drunk on the beat, kisses from strangers, and the alcohol. It took more self-control than he wanted to admit to keep to himself and stand at the bar, watching for the Eluthied demon that had been lurking.

And it was only when he knew he would kill a demon that night, only when he knew he would not give up until it was dead, that he glamoured himself. Sweat clung to his body, made the gear he was wearing more stuffy than bearable. He pushed his equally soaked hair out of his face, leaning against the bar, the liquid in his glass swirling with every move he made. It was an effort to look casual, because while the mundanes wouldn’t be able to see him, the demon would, and it was best it didn’t know what was on it until it was already dead.

He knew how to fight, every Shadowhunter did, but it was just easier when demons didn’t know he was there. They tended to reveal themselves quicker when they didn’t know. Sebastian took a sip of his drink, eyes scanning the room again. It was filled with bodies, and he would be lucky if he noticed the Eluthied before it killed someone else. He put the drink onto the counter behind him, not planning to pick it up again.

There was a body cutting through the mass, people pausing their writhing as whoever it was passed or pushed through, Sebastian couldn’t tell. But he certainly saw them the moment they were free of the writhing masses. It was a boy, no older than him, with pale hair that gleamed in the light and dark eyes that swallowed everything whole – he had the faint sense the boy was swallowing him whole, but Sebastian done nothing but rest his elbows on the bar behind him. As the boy sauntered closer, Sebastian could see more of his face, and the unearthly beauty it possessed.

He walked like he knew what he wanted, and held himself like he knew how to get it. Sebastian didn’t know how to feel as the boy slid up next to him and looked at him, not through him the way mundanes had been doing the whole night.

“Bonjour,” the boy said, his accent betraying that he didn’t normally speak French.

Sebastian tried to ignore everything else he heard in that one word, knowing he was likely imagining things. He said, as calmly as he could, “Hello.”

He was surprised he had been seen, yes. Despite Downworlders knowing about this place, they usually left it to the mundanes – the only interaction Sebastian had been planning on having was with the demon. And it may have been the unearthly beauty, but Sebastian didn’t exactly trust him, not at that moment anyway. He had found that beautiful people tended to rarely be as beautiful on the inside.

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” The boy smiled.

Sebastian could barely form words thanks to that smile that lit up the boys entire face – he wanted to know what he tasted like. He tightened his grip on the edge of the bar and tried to talk through the rush of blood in his cheeks, his head. “I don’t … ”

The boys smile only grew as he turned over his right hand to show the voyance rune Marked there. Sebastian visibly relaxed, a smile growing on his face, all the worry that he had been holding in his shoulders that it was a Downworlder about to exact revenge dissipating. Of course the boy was a Shadowhunter – no one else held themselves with that much confidence.

“Are you on your way to Idris, too?” the boy asked.

Sebastian may have been too happy to be speaking to another Shadowhunter again, but if this one had found him all the way out here, then it was likely he also hadn’t had company for weeks. “I am. Representing the Paris Institute. I’m Sebastian Verlac, by the way.”

“Ah, a Verlac. A fine old family.” The boy grasped the hand he had proffered with equal fervour. “Mark Blackthorn. The Los Angeles Institute, originally, but I’ve been studying in Rome. I thought I’d come overland to Alicante. See the sights.”

The moment Mark let go of his hand, Sebastian felt it – it was like losing something vital, like a lung. “Rome, huh? I’ve heard it’s magnificent this time of year. I can’t believe you decided to make the trek from there to Alicante, it must be far, but I’m not complaining. Haven’t seen another Shadowhunter in ages. Funny to run into you here. My lucky day.”

Mark’s smile had dulled to a toothless grin, but Sebastian wasn’t worried, especially not after his next sentence. “Must be. Though not entirely by chance, of course. The reports of an Eluthied demon lurking about this place, I’m sure you’ve heard them as well?”

Sebastian picked up his drink again, hiding his grimace with a smile. He hoped no one had slipped anything into it. He drained it before setting the glass back onto the bar, this time without any reason to pick it back up. “After we kill the thing, we should have a celebratory drink.”

And maybe a bit more. He thought it, but didn’t say it, because while the Paris Institute may not be adversed to that sort of thing, the Clave certainly was. And Sebastian had the feeling Mark would eat up whatever the Clave told him. After Mark had nodded, Sebastian started talking again.

He didn’t even know what he was talking about, mentioning random things about the world, he was sure he even mentioned the weather at one point. Sebastian cringed inwardly, still unable to shut up. He always talked too much when he was nervous, damn him and his inexperience. But Mark wasn’t paying attention, thank the Angel, instead, his eyes were roving over the crowd, looking for the demon they were both here for. Because he was here for a demon, not to try to kiss pretty boys who had also not seen another Shadowhunter in too long.

Somehow, unwilling to remember or think about, Sebastian had changed the topic to talking about Mark’s family. The Blackthorns, he knew, were a huge family. Seven children, two of which birthed by a faerie. He couldn’t remember which ones exactly, but he had a feeling they were the two older ones, not that he could remember who they were, either. He had enough problems remembering his own family.

“I forget, you’ll have to excuse me,” he said, cursing himself for turning the direction back to him if only to feel the weight of those eyes again, and to hear his intoxicating voice. “How many are there in your family?”

Mark didn’t so much as turn his head. “Oh, we’re a big one. Seven in total. I have three brothers and three sisters.”

Sebastian hid his sigh. The question hadn’t been a total loss, but he still wanted to feel Mark’s eyes on him, and only him, never mind the people watching or the demon waiting somewhere in the shadows. It was then that he too started watching the crowd for a demon who would tear their throats out if it so desired.

Mercifully, he had stopped himself from talking any more, letting the music pound into their ears instead as they looked for a demon. Sebastian’s eyes had been on the crowd for all of two minutes before he found himself looking at Mark’s face again. There was something there that made him unable to turn away. It may have been the way his eyes pierced through the crowd, as though he could see every motivation, hope, and dream of everyone in here. Or it may have been the way his mouth was curved in a worried frown that seemed more demonic than human.

And it was only because he was watching that Sebastian noticed when Mark’s eyes started flicking around faster than their surroundings warranted, not seeing the room anymore, but lost in his thoughts. His face lost its humanity with each passing second.

Sebastian shouted over the pounding of the music, “You have the oddest look on your face.”

He watched Mark blink, his gaze sliding over the crowd to land on him again, humanity once again flashing in those dark eyes that could have mirrored his own. And then, almost in slow motion, Mark leaned closer to him. It was the closest he had been to another human being in weeks.

Mark whispered into his ear, “Behind you. Demon. Four o’clock.”

Sebastian managed to get over the way Mark’s lips felt as they brushed his ear, or the way his hair had felt behind it to turn to see the demon, currently in the shape of a girl with dark hair, as it quickly stepped away from the boy it had been talking to and started to slip through the crowd. He and Mark didn’t hesitate before following it out of a side door labelled ‘sortie de secours’, which led to an alley the demon was already running down.

In a heartbeat, Mark had jumped, rebounded off the opposite brick wall, sailed over the demon’s head while twisting and pulling out a runed blade. Sebastian was still in shock as Mark split it open, grinning at him over its shoulder. He had never seen anyone move like that.

A wet scream echoed through the alley as the demon folded in on itself, going back to whatever hell dimension it had come from. The only evidence that anything had just happened was the drops of black blood on the stones, Sebastian’s colourless face, Mark’s exhilarated grin, and the blade he hadn’t put away, still dripping ichor.

“By the Angel,” he whispered, still in shock at how Mark had moved through the air like it was nothing, like he had done it many, many times. He had moved with inhuman speed and grace – Sebastian supposed it was how Jace Morgenstern moved, too. He had never met the guy, but had heard that he was the best Shadowhunter of his generation – that was another person Sebastian would have to meet in Idris.

Sebastian wondered if Mark always moved like that, and he was suddenly no longer thinking about killing demons. He shook himself out of it, noticing how Mark was watching him. “You were amazing! I’ve never seen anyone move that fast! Alors, you have got to teach me that move. By the Angel. I’ve never seen anything like what you just did.”

Mark started walking closer to him, blade still out. “I’d love to help you. But unfortunately, I’ve got to get going soon. My father needs me, you see. He has plans. And he simply can’t do without me.”

Sebastian couldn’t hide his disappointment, he had hoped Mark would at least accompany him to Idris, even if anything more would be frowned upon. “Oh come, you can’t go now. Hunting with you was so much fun, mon pote. We have to do this again some time.”

It was the least he could hope for, he realised, as he was once again close enough to Mark to see the darkness living in his eyes, the small, wry smile curling his lips up, the tilt of his head as he observed him. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”

Sebastian had the feeling that the person who was staring into his eyes was not Mark Blackthorn of the Los Angeles Institute, studying in Rome, going to Alicante for sight-seeing, moments before his blood coated the stones.

#tsc fic #tscfic #tsc #wow sorry for the tmi flashbacks but I had to #and would you look at that #no incest nothing of the sort #good for me honestly #the Verlac family #writing Sebastian the first few times made me feel dirty #writing #mine

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toothedsmile · 5 years

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The puppeteer : Chapter four

Masterlist

Chapter four – And….ACTion?

Warning : The beginning might be depressing as the reader puts herself down. Also, I’ll be basing part of readers classes on my own timetable from my fourth year and my fifth. (as I still somehow and for some unknown reason still have them.)

You couldn’t sleep. Your mind had started wandering about everything that had happened so far. While yes the entrance exam may have been quite a while ago you still weren’t over it completely. Just thinking about it made you think about what you could’ve done, what if you did this, what if you didn’t save that person on time, what if you just did everything properly, what if you just did better, what if…

What if you just gave up…

“Maybe I should.”

You probably wouldn’t even be a great hero anyway.

“Why should I even keep trying.”

You could barely just save one person.

“I’m pathetic.”

“Things happen, I know you would be a great hero that would save everyone whether it was from a villain or from themselves. Just keep trying so you can go to UA.”

“Maybe…”

“You know, you could be a vigilante. “ “You’d be a hero before anyone else, you could save people and heck! I can be that person in the chair with a headset to tell you where you have to go with screens all around me!”

“Maybe if I could….”

“You know, whatever you want to do, I’ll support you the best I can possibly can.”

“Maybe if I could give it another chance.”

With the supporting words you friend had given you echoing within your mind, you closed your eyes and fell into a peaceful sleep.

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

The following morning came with the sound of your dear alarm blearing directly in your ears, coming so suddenly that you jumped up almost falling of your bed.

Quickly you shut it off, sliding one hand down your face and afterwards rubbing the sleep from your eyes with a small yawn.

You sauntered to your closet with your feet dragging on the floor, opening it you took out your clothes for the day and went to the bathroom to do your needed business.

After having done all that you had woken up properly, going to the kitchen you could see your breakfast laying on the table ready for you to eat. Your dad came from the other room and walked towards you dressed in his uniform. “Alright, I’m going to work now and your mom is already gone. I made some breakfast for you. Have fun at school!” With a quick kiss on the forehead he went to the door and walked to his car. “Wow. Second day and all I get is a ‘I made you breakfast and have fun at hell’. Great.”

After having finished your delicious breakfast you took all the stuff you needed for the day. With a peek at your phone you noticed that it was only 08:15 AM so you still had some time to kill before you went to school.

After a little while you went to school and as you arrived you saw that you still had some spare time so you went to find your friend. Not too long after beginning to search you had found them, they were sitting at a table by the entrance so they were very easy to find.

“Hey F/N!”

You friend looked up from their phone and smiled as they saw you walking towards them.

“Y/N! Come here! I missed you, it’s been so long!”

Rolling your eyes good-naturedly you gave them a smile back. “Ah yes, it has been since yesterday since we last saw each other. Truly heart breaking. I loathed every moment I spend alone without your wonderful presence. My heart broke as I only saw minutes passing on the clock until our next fateful meeting.” With one hand clutching your chest you sat down next to them, your other hand rising to your forehead in a dramatic way. “When I woke up I rejoiced the fact that we would meet again and that I would see your most beautiful face.”

They snorted at you theatrics. “Alright, Shakespeare. As much as I appreciate the oh so heart-warming compliments I think we should start walking to class.”

You both walked side by side to your class, though you didn’t even remember what class it was going to be.

“Hey uh F/N, what class do we have now?”

They looked at you with dead eyes, their whole being screaming agony.

When you heard what they said you couldn’t help but feel horrified, fear coursing through your veins.

“We have math.”

After two hours of math it was finally 10:20 AM and thus time for a break of 15 minutes.

“Man, math fried my brain. Did you get it?” You looked at your friend who sat right next to you on the bench.

“I mean I did understand it, if you want I could help you sometime?” Gratefully you nodded at them, a comfortable silence fell between the both of you as you looked at the younger kids being dumb.

After a minute of silence a guy walked up to you and tapped you on your shoulders.

“Hey…uh…You’re in my class right? I don’t think we’ve really talked before.” There stood a guy that was indeed in the same class as you. Dirty blond hair, soft brown eyes and a not so sharp face. He had a small beauty spot by his lips that were pulled in a heart melting smile. “I uh ye- uh we mmm yeah we’re in the same class hahaha.” Your hand reached up to twirl a piece of hair out of nervousness. “You’re Mazur right? Mazur Ilya?”

He seemed a bit surprised that you remembered his name before his face turned back to the kind smile he had given you previously. “Yup that’s right, you’re L/N Y/N right? I still remember your name from the introduction.” He looked at your friend that was looking at the interaction with suspiciously mischievous eyes. “Oh! Hey F/L/N! I didn’t see you there. How are you?”

F/N smiled a bit and answered that they felt well before saying that they had to get some stuff from their locker for the next class, something you had already done before coming to the bench.

“Do you want me to come with you?” They shook their head as they waved their hand in a way to say that you could keep sitting on the bench. “Don’t worry, I should’ve done this before so you can keep sitting. I’ll come in a little while.” They winked as they left, a small smile on their lips.

Mazur cleared his throat to get your attention once again. “Do you want to exchange numbers? I-I mean not to be invasive but you seemed like a nice person so I thought I’d ask you know.” He stopped his small ramble and shyly looked to the side. “If you don’t mind that is.”

You smiled softly at him, trying to keep him calm. “Sure, I d-don’t mind. Also, you can just call me Y/N. Where I come from we don’t address each other with last names so it still feels a bit weird.”

He seemed glad that you didn’t mind his question and smiled once again.

“Alright…Y/N. In that case you may call me Ilya. I’m also not from Japan so I get where you’re coming from. Though I’ve lived here quite a few years already.”

The both of you exchanged phone numbers and Ilya went back to his friend group which were a bunch of guys. They clapped him on his back with huge smiles and seemed to congratulate him.

You narrowed your eyes at the group. Why would they react that way? It was too early for him to have a crush on you but they seemed to know each other well. Maybe it was a dare, doesn’t matter anyway.

The delete button exists for a reason.

Your thinking was cut off when F/N sat back next you.

“Sooooooooooooooooooooo, how was it?” Their smile seemed cat like, eyes sparkling.

You tilted your head at the question “How was what?”

Their shoulders dropped in slight disbelief before they got back up. “How was it being spoken to by this years and previous’ years and the year before that most liked guy. Everybody has a crush on him, this dude has like over 50 chocolate boxes every valentines day and they are all homemade or made specially. Though he never really accepted the feelings, he just gave them all store bought chocolate on white day.”

You hummed at the interesting but not really necessary information and glanced back at the group of guys before looking in front of yourself again.

Out of nowhere the bell rang startling you enough to slightly jump and make your eyes widen. F/N laughed at your reaction and slapped you lightly on your back before taking your hand in theirs and pulling to the next lesson you two had.

“Don’t worry, the fun begins now! We have our self-chosen hero course classes now!” They yelled as they continued pulling you between the bodies of other students to get to your class in time.

Once you finally arrived at the class, which was just outside the sporting hall, only a few other students stood there, including Ilya.

Only one teacher stood there, once all the other students arrived he spoke.

“Alright, good day everyone and welcome to the additional hero course. I’m not your teacher for this class, it seems he’s running a bit late so we’ll be waiting here until they arri-“

“I’M SORRY I’M SO LATE BUT MY CAR WOULDN’T START SO I HAD TO RUNBUTTHENIBUMPEDINTOSOMEBODYANDIHADTOHELPTHEMANDTHENTHEREWASTHISOLDLADYANDIHADTOHELPHERCROSSINGTHESTREETBUTDON’TWORRYBECAUSEI’MHERENOW!”

Everybody turned and looked at the newcomer.

A gasp rang out.

“I-is t-t-that…!”

A/N: sIkE! Sorry that you all had to wait for so long even when it was vacation but I was in Greece for two weeks and didn’t think to bring my laptop with me. Also sorry for the not so interesting chapter but It’ll be better in the next one with (I hope) some (hopefully) good action.

I’d ask you all to guess who this is but I can’t think of a canon hero so I think i might have to make one up just for this. Though you guys can give some ideas if you want. (also this is supposed to be edited but there still might be some (a lot) mistakes I missed.)

#bnha x reader #bnha #reader insert #bnha various x reader #bnha midoriya izuku x reader #bnha bakugou katsuki x reader #bnha todoroki shouto x reader #bnha various

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teamhawkeye · 5 years

Text

So I’ve had a while now to reflect after finishing up the Far Cry New Dawn story

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT

It...was a mixed bag overall. There were some things i liked - but there was a whole lot i didn’t like

The Good

The landscape. Hope County has always been gorgeous and it was nice to see it post-Collapse blooming and thriving for the most part

The music. Love it or hate it, it fit the Mad Max-esque theme the Highwaymen had going for them, both score and licensed soundtrack

Improvements in gameplay. Specifically with the GFH. I used Boomer almost exclusively in FC5 and two of my biggest complaints were 1.) he was not able to ride in vehicles with me and i felt bad making him run behind me everywhere and 2.) even with a ton of perks, he was very easily incapacitated by enemies. With Timber, they gave him the ability to ride in vehicles so you no longer have to feel bad about making him walk and they buffed him greatly in comparison to Boomer - he was often like a little walking tank and I greatly appreciated that they took those things into consideration and made tweaks there.

New Photo Mode. oh my god, YES. it still wasn’t perfect by any means, but my god, it was soooooo nice to be able to give your Captain life and emotion!

The Outpost system. Escalating difficulty so you could go back and still have a challenge even as you advanced your perks and weapons was a nice touch, so things never got too easy or stale in that area

Expeditions. It was fun being able to leave Hope County for a bit and see new locations and spend some time doing stuff other than milking the Outposts for ethanol

The Not-So Good

Abandoning characters from FC5. They may be dead and gone, but how are John and Faith and Jacob so glossed over? John maybe had the best fortune in nods to him and the last game, having both his ranch and bunker serve as important locations in New Dawn...but what about Faith and Jacob? Why was there no mention whatsoever to Eli, Whitehorse, Pratt, Hudson, or Dutch? And beyond the dead from FC5′s canon story, what about missing Resistance members? Jess Black, Wheaty, Tammy, Tweak...what happened to them? why were we given no closure on their stories at all? There was so little time spent reflecting on the events of the previous game or its characters - it very much felt like “they’re dead, not questions now, move on”...but the characters of the last game were a big part of what made it so great and it felt like a great disservice to the fans to have them swept under the rug like that.

Main story. I mean...what the fuck even was that last third part of the game??? The first third of the game started off on solid footing but it went off the rails well before the end. And there seemed to be a severe lack of cohesion between what we saw and learned in FC5 to what we see and learn in New Dawn. Joseph’s story about his daughter seems far less important knowing he had some bastard son hanging around one of the bunkers the whole time - why was there never any allusion to him whatsoever? He certainly felt shoehorned in as a result. And how is it one of the Big rules of Eden’s Gate was “no fornication” but Joseph can get away with it? That doesn’t line up with the antagonist we faced off with all of FC5. And what was with the magic??? Like, there was a touch of that in FC5 with the Bliss and the scope of just what it could do...but a ton of the Bliss’s power could be argued to be auditory and visual hallucinations. There was just straight up...magic to explain some of the weird things they included in New Dawn and it made that make some of it feel weak and hollow

Disservice to its villains. Mickey and Lou were done dirty, it’s just that plain and simple. Ubisoft didn’t give them much of anything to do and wasted all their potential. One of the main draws of FC5 was just how good the villains were and one of the largest complaints i saw from FC5 was just how much more interaction we all wanted with them. New Dawn gave their villains a backseat to almost everything else going on in the game. Mickey and Lou almost felt detached from the story at times. With the FC5, one of the best things about the Seeds was how connected they felt to everything you did: they met you face to face a number of times, radioed in constantly to taunt and harass you, upped the ante when you put the heat on them...with Mickey and Lou, it never felt like they actually took you seriously. Or didn’t even care, despite saying otherwise. They address you directly maybe once all game aside from when you have cutscenes with them face-to-face. Their strongest moment was in their defeat and it showed what major potential they had as antagonists - and to be sympathetic as well - and Ubisoft really blew it there and that’s one of the biggest shames

Disservice to its new characters. The new Resistance/Survivor characters got shafted too. You could easily go all game without knowing a single thing about any of the new GFH or Specialists for Prosperity - there’s just not the time to really get to know them or even like them all that much. Rush was certainly built up...to only be kidnapped and potentially left untouched for quite some time and when you go to rescue him, he’s sidelined immediately with very little interaction with him thereafter. His death wasn’t nearly as poignant as Eli or Virgil’s from FC5 - those were two characters who were constantly talking in your ear or available to talk to and help progress the story along. Rush was put there simply to die and give the Captain motivation to keep going and it’s a damn shame since he deserved better - don;t get me wrong, I liked him and was affected by his death, but the emotional impact there is just not as strong when Ubisoft gave him so little time or opportunity to really get close to him like previous installments did with characters.

Expeditions. I know i said this was a good thing - and largely it is - but it was so small and underused, it was such a letdown. They kinda touted Expeditions as being a replacement for Arcade of FC5, which made me think there was going to be a ton of locations to explore and replay...but in reality, you got like 6 maps and that’s all. Maybe they’ll add more, but that seemed like that got hyped up for nothing

Scale. I get that this was a smaller game, reflected in the time it took to crank it out and the lower price, but god does it feel small. You can almost count how many missions there are on two hands. There were so few collectibles or side missions - idk what’s supposed to be the draw after finishing the main story when you have virtually nothing left to do. And beyond the game’s play length, the map was chopped in half and it was bullshit, quite frankly. Why the hell is the Bliss so concentrated now up in Jacob’s region - shouldn’t that have been the Henbane, since that’s where it was focused and created and still polluted the water there even after destroying Faith’s bunker? It felt cheap to carve off chunks of the map under the guise of “oooh, radiation zone! turn back!” We should have been allowed to explore the remains of Faith’s and Jacob’s bunker, of the Wolf’s Den, or finally be allowed inside the Veteran’s Center! Or go back to the chopper crash site on Joseph’s compound, the truck where Hudson, Pratt, and Whitehorse died on Dutch’s Island, or the truck Burke crashed into the river in the Henbane - all were completely gone and that felt super cheap, like they made no lasting impact when they were such huge moments in FC5. I feel like the two things most of us were excited to do when we learned we were returning to Hope County were learning about what happened to the characters of FC5 and seeing references to those who were lost and then to be able to explore and investigate every corner of the map we had in the previous game to see how the landscape how changed in every place we once knew so well.

Replay value. Honestly, aside from a second playthrough to sweep up achievements/trophies i didn’t get the first time around, i’m not all that inclined to keep the game installed on my console’s harddrive and replay it. If anything, playing this game has reminded me of everything i loved so much about FC5 and made me homesick for it - i’m already yearning to return to pre-Collapse Hope County and i haven’t even been done with New Dawn for 24 hours. It’s a shame when i so love the story that spawned this sequel, but it doesn’t possess any of the heart and soul that the original has.

There’s probably more i’m forgetting, but i’ve been typing for a while now and my brain has called it quits. I just know i went in with too high of expectations and was always going to be disappointed when New Dawn didn’t measure up to FC5...but it fell so short and that is the biggest issue i have. It could have been so much more and that’s the real tragedy

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thekingdomheartsprincess · 5 years

Text

when kairi died part of me felt relieved

very long rant filled with run-on sentences, over-use of bold words, and over-use of italics. you’ve been warned

I’ve been holding off on my full review and thoughts on kh3 until after I get through my second playthrough. I will say, it was an overall great game and I was pleasantly surprised by a lot. I have my issues, but I’d like to hold off until I’m finished with my regular paced play through (not speedplay) before I write all my thoughts. However, one thing I really have to get out now is how absolutely disappointed and disgusted I am by kairi’s entire existence in kh3.

And just an fyi, I set the bar low going into this for her. I wasn’t expecting much, yet somehow, I was still let down harder than I thought was actually possible.To me, the highlight of kairi’s appearance in kh3 was probably going to be because she was training with axel. Therefore, with the reasoning that axel usually gets excessive screen time---you know, the guy that should have fake died twice before his actual fake death (which I’m not complaining about, just saying)...kairi would have by default gotten some of that extra relevance right??

Wrong... in a stunning turn of events they actually left axel to the side as well. He got a few good lines in, but at the end of the day he barely fights, does anything important, and somehow has his keyblade destroyed by xemnas in his first real battle with it. I’ll get back more to the truly ridiculous lack of keyblade skills later. While I’m still on the topic of axel though, let’s talk about kairi’s use as a tool to figure out axel’s feelings and xion. Like, no problems with the whole kidnapping thing, no deep connection making. Did a lot of us expect and fear that kairi would be used as a plot device for axel’s xion memories? Yes. Does it make it any better that we were prepared for it going into kh3? For me, yeah, but the real problem is it doesn’t stop there. And axel’s feelings and memories of xion were poorly included and barely mattered anyhow

Also the whole letter writing thing axel comments on, a sad excuse for not wanting to actually provide sokai interaction. “They’re more for herself”-bullshit tbh. Someone tell square enix that if they make me play another game where my girlfriend writes me letters and I can’t respond I’m gonna lose it. *cough ffxv cough* It was a sad excuse for trying to build up sokai before end game. Plus, bad writing aside, if my girl kairi is gonna be a romantic plot device forever; you could at least let her send sora those stupid letters. The poor girl is talking to him in her head. WHY

So much opportunity here to build up sokai before the end of the game. And you know what? I don’t really care about sokai anymore, or whether its canon, or if they have any moments at all in the game. But it you are going to use it as a plot device, you could at least put some effort into it. Sokai needs to be better if it is going to have such a huge direct impact on the ending of the game. Maybe this was difficult, because this really wasn’t the game for it. Everyone has a lot going on in this game, and for sora, his focus is really on getting the people connected to his heart back. He barely even talks about riku in the game! Which is completely justified, because the boy has a lot of stress on his shoulders and a lot going on. The sokai getting thrown in basically at the last minute of the game, is like white noise in the background...that shouldn’t have been there.

The paopu fruit scene felt uncomfortable and thrown in at the wrong moment. There was opportunity for this scene at the end of kh2, or before sora left the island again for 3d. Or if some effort was put into developing sokai throughout the game (which again, I don’t think this was the game for this) it could have worked. Instead, we got a scene which really wasn’t romantic in the slightest, and pretty much had “somebody or both of them is dying/being separated tomorrow” written all over it. The scene starts out of nowhere basically, riku is quite literally shoved to the side to talk to himself, kairi sort of dismisses romantic intentions when asking sora to share it with her, and sora sort of just nods his head and rolls with it. The best part, is the imagery relating to the drawings in the cave (which is admittedly beautiful). However, this is not the sokai paopu fruit scene 7 yr old me envisioned. While I certainly don’t expect to get what I wanted to see, this is almost an insult to all of the build up to this moment in previous games.

What would have been the only wonderful and meaningful sokai scene in the game, is the one where kairi is able to help sora basically escape death and light his way through the darkness or whatever. The whole “I’m going to keep you safe now” and “you make me feel stronger” thing is really sweet as an out of context scene if I knew nothing else about kh3. The problem is, this isn’t really true. Kairi doesn’t keep sora safe, and the limits of her strength seem to be in that one cutscene. Not to mention, this already happened. We literally saw this same thing happen in kh1-and it was a better scene.

Maybe I could believe kairi’s determination behind her words if she was able to even lift her keyblade when she’s being attacked, or put up a fight against her kidnapper (i mean come on, even belle got to elbow xaldin), or finish a battle against someone who was not an alternate version of herself (or remotely believably on xehanort’s side for more than a second). Seriously, she did more with her keyblade knocking out a few heartless in kh2. That scene was actually cooler. I am truly disgusted that I have to even think that. It’s not that I thought she would go up from kh2, but I surely didn’t think she would go soooooo far down.

They totally shot themselves in the foot with the whole merlin’s magic excuse. Axel and kairi show up as if they just got the keyblade 20 seconds before the keyblade war, yet supposedly they had unlimited time to train. Maybe we’ll get some bs excuse on how it “wasn’t exactly unlimited time” later, but seriously? If you were going to have both of them fail so miserably, you could have used the short training time as an excuse!! Why would you write yourself out of that excuse, just to give me these pathetic jokes of keyblade wielders. By all logical reasoning, if they had unlimited time to train, they should have both shown up stronger that xehanort and eraqus combined. Like did they just settle after they could shoot magic at x number of moving objects in merlin’s training facility???

She may not have done much, but by the time we saw her get mercilessly stabbed for no real logical reason I was relieved. Relieved that I might finally not have to watch this anymore, and can just go into all future kh games without having to worry about what they will do with her character. I want to say I was pissed, upset even, that they killed her off like that. Confused as to how this helps xehanort’s plan? Absolutely. I mean, wouldn’t that ruin his 7 princesses part 2 backup plan if he needed it? Wouldn’t the last key form as soon as he killed kairi? Were the 7 lights going to stop fighting him there? Was he just being a cruel dick? I don’t have the answers. But I will say that I didn’t actually get angry, until xehanort stole her fucking lines. “One sky, one destiny” She doesn’t even have that anymore. The significance of those lines, now can’t just be kairi’s but has to be shared with the man who killed her. Could it get any worse? Yes! Because sora has to go and do some strongly hinted form of self sacrifice for her again. Turning the shit show writing of kairi into probably the most detrimental part of the story.

Now, its playing such a huge role in kh3 and future kh games. It makes the major plot point of the ending of the game suffer. There’s no kairi for me to appreciate that would make me care about her dying, the one really good moment sora shares with kairi is hardly based in reality, and what’s supposed to be used as a way for sora to prove himself doesn’t really do that. He already sacrificed himself for kairi. What more is this proving? And with no excuse for kairi’s lack of training or presence in the game, I’m confused as to how this happened or why I’m supposed to care. However Nomura needed this to end up to set up future kh games, was this really the only way to do it?

I wish I could say I just personally cared this much about feminism in kingdom hearts, and that’s why I’m so disappointed by this complete and utter failure of writing a character, but that’s not even it. When I was little I loved kairi because she was like a new disney princess in a video game, and I was heartbroken when sora told her she couldn’t come with him for the rest of his adventure. That she would just “get in his way.” 23 year old me is still pissed and not letting go. Even more frustrating, is that square enix has (deliberately or not) ignored a large part of the fandom who just asked for a little bit better. The kairi bar was low, and square enix did the limbo rock under it. (bad joke i know, it’s 2:30 am and i should be sleeping)

I’ll shut up now, but be aware i’m screaming “and another thing about kairi in kh3!” every hour on the hour in my mind

#spoilers #kingdom hearts 3 spoilers #kh3 spoilers #kingdom hearts #kairi #kingdom hearts 3 #KH3 #square enix #i am going to be salty about this forever

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inawickedlittletown · 5 years

Text

Walking The Wire (100/?)

Summary: Tony Stark always knew about Peter Parker. He didn’t know that Peter was going to get superpowers and become Spider-Man, but he always knew about Peter because Peter was his son.

This will span from pre-Iron Man up through the rest of the MCU (eventually including Infinity War) and will be for the most part canon compliant except where I’ve taken some liberties and interpreted canon a certain way.

Pairings: Pepper/Tony, Tony/Steve (endgame), Tony/Mary (past)

A/N: If you want me to tag you when I post new chapters let me know. This fic is also on AO3

I used Collider’s MCU timeline to stay canon and the title of this fic is an Imagine Dragons song that is just so fitting for Peter and Tony

@findmeinthestarss

Masterpost

Chapter Ninety Nine

It felt weird to not have Steve around all the time even if he knew that Steve wasn’t going to be gone more than a few days. So, in all truth, Tony barely had a chance to miss him -- mostly because he was busy working -- before Steve was back and he was dragging Tony out of the workshop and to their bedroom and tucking him into their bed. Tony didn’t protest as Steve moved around the room for a few minutes before he got into the bed behind him and pulled him into his arms.

“Missed you and this bed,” Steve muttered.

Tony yawned through his laugh and Steve ran his fingers through his hair and everything just seemed so right and warm and perfect and he dozed for a while just enjoying being held and being in a proper bed for the first time in a few nights.

“Did you tell Peter to force me to go to sleep?” Tony asked after a while.

“Yeah. Guess that didn’t work.”

Tony turned and kissed Steve’s clothed shoulder. “It didn’t. Have you met Peter?”

Steve laughed and pulled Tony closer. “I sort of knew it wasn’t going to work which is why it was the first order of business once I got back. Not to mention that I’m actually kind of tired myself. Now go to sleep.”

“Hmm, only because I have such a nice bed-buddy,” Tony muttered as he closed his eyes.

With Steve there, sleep came easily as it nearly never did when he was on his own. Still, even with Steve next to him, it didn’t stop Tony from having nightmares. He didn’t have nightmares every night these days or even every week, but sometimes they still came and they plagued his sleep. It was what told Tony that he still had cause to worry. Most of the time, it helped when Steve was with him. Other times it didn’t matter.

He dreamt of something odd at first -- a huge cake that needed to be eaten but just kept getting bigger and bigger until suddenly it just disappeared and Maria was there, singing and smiling until hands wrapped around her neck and Tony couldn’t get to her -- couldn’t move or do anything but scream and scream…until he was falling into darkness and she faded from view and Tony screamed as he came up out of water and darkness surrounded him big and encompassing and horrible...

“Tony. Tony, wake up. Come on, it’s a bad dream.”

He heard Steve calling his name and he shot up in the bed, almost headbutting Steve as he did and he gasped for breath.

“Tony are you--”

Steve reached for him and Tony fell into his chest. His breathing came quick and he felt sweaty but none of that mattered.

“You’re okay,” Steve said. “Just a bad dream.”

“Yeah,” Tony whispered and he closed his eyes. Maybe he’d been affected by all the media coverage of Barnes and his parents more than he’d realized especially since he’d been looking at some of it earlier. “I don’t think I’m going to be getting any more sleep.”

“Are you alright?” Steve asked.

“Yes. Yes. I’ll be okay.”

“Do you want to talk about it? Will that help?” Steve asked as Tony slowly moved out of his arms.

Tony shook his head and slowly got out of the bed. “I -- it was my mom and just everything jumbled up together. I want to be over this but I’m just not. He killed her and I know -- I know it wasn’t him. I know that logically but he still did it.”

“Tony, I--”

“But it’s not just that,” Tony said and he searched for words as he peeled off his t-shirt. “It’s that it never seems to end. I thought after Siberia and finding out the truth that it’d be about getting past it and all of that but now everyone knows and...and I know that whenever Ross really tries to land some charges on Barnes that I’m the one that will need to speak up and say how much I truly believe he didn’t do it and I don’t know if I can do that at least right now.”

Steve didn’t respond for a moment, but then he got up and wrapped his arms around Tony and it was enough.

To take his mind off of everything, Tony built Peter a new suit. It was going to be a Christmas present. One of two. The other being a robot dog. The only reason that Tony wasn’t getting Peter a real dog was that there was a question about who would actually take the dog outside. After all, most of the inhabitants of the tower were on house arrest and with Peter in school most of the day it just didn’t seem responsible. It seemed even less responsible to have Happy do it especially since Tony had finally let Happy in on who Peter was.

It had happened the week when Peter moved in. Tony had had Happy take Peter to school and while Happy grumbled about it, Tony had figured it was the perfect time to tell him especially since he’d been meaning to let him in on the information since the whole Vulture thing had happened. Despite how amusing keeping him in the dark had been, it had become a security problem.

Tony had had Happy drive Peter to school on the third day since he’d moved in and Happy had barely shown how put out he was about it.

“He’s going to be living here for a while, Hap, so it’s a route you should get used to. You might even have to pick him up from time to time.”

Happy had been ready to ask questions about why Peter was living at the tower but Tony hadn’t let him. Continuing on with, “And don’t be so grouchy about it, that’s my kid you’re dealing with.”

“You’re really taken with him, then, Boss,” Happy said. “And I guess I get it with the whole Spidery thing.”

It was really Steve that gave it away when he stepped out of the kitchen and handed them both mugs of coffee. “Your son is insisting on doing the dishes so he’ll be a few minutes.”

Happy hadn’t reacted at first and then he’d stared at Tony’s growing grin. “He’s not just some kid?”

“Of course not,” Tony said.

Happy didn’t actually change how he interacted with Peter, because he was still Happy, but Tony could tell that he was actually making a bigger deal out of Peter’s security and that he didn’t see him as just some kid that could possibly hurt Tony in some way. Happy had also made it a part of his job to drive Peter to school every morning unless Peter specifically asked him not to which Peter rarely did mostly because Midtown was further away from the tower than May’s house and it was just easier to let Happy drive him.

So, because he didn’t want Happy to learn to dislike dogs, Tony had opted for an easier option when it came to Peter’s Christmas present.

Steve thought that he was trying too hard, but this was the first Christmas that Tony was going to have with his son -- and Peter was even living with him -- and he just wanted everything to be perfect. Anyway, the suit was more for his peace of mind since it was almost like one of his own suits with some added features that Peter definitely wasn’t going to see coming. But really, Tony had also created it to test out his work with the nanonites.

In the meanwhile, things were happening on the Barnes front. More and more lists full of his victims were coming out. People were being interviewed about it left and right and Tony couldn’t stand it. He couldn’t stand the people that wanted Barnes to be convicted and he also couldn’t stand those that were quick to forgive. Steve for his part didn’t push Tony and Tony was glad that Pepper was the one dealing with Ross because he didn’t know if he would have been able to handle that. He was glad to have Christmas to focus on.

With everyone on house arrest, it was surprisingly easy to rope everyone into decorating for Christmas. Tony had a huge tree delivered as well as tons of ornaments, lights, garland, and even stockings and they had spent an entire weekend getting both the communal floor and the penthouse looking festive. The last time that Tony remembered actually doing so much decorating was back when he was a kid and he and Jarvis spent a whole weekend getting the house ready. Maria had loved it. Howard hadn’t even noticed.

“Is it always like this?” Peter asked over hot chocolate a week before Christmas. Natasha was on her stomach on the floor reading a magazine and she looked up.

“Not to this extent,” Steve said from his spot next to Tony. “We were always kind of busy for all of this but we made time to exchange presents.”

“Oh,” Peter said.

“Back when I lived in Malibu Pepper always hired someone to get a tree set up and a few things but it was just me and I never appreciated it much.”

Peter nodded and then. “Is it -- can I invite May over? On Christmas day, I mean.”

“Of course,” Tony said and he was glad that Peter had brought it up because he would have suggested it otherwise.

Peter didn’t often talk about May, but Tony could tell that things had settled between them. He didn’t expect that May would ever be truly okay with Spider-Man, but she hadn’t pushed Peter away again and Peter spent enough time with her that Tony knew they were going to be okay.

“Good. I -- this is the first Christmas without Ben. I didn’t want her to be alone.”

It was coming up -- the anniversary of Ben’s death. Tony hadn’t really thought about it. Hadn’t even considered how Peter still had to be grieving. It was just that Peter didn’t really talk about Ben much or even really show that he still grieved his uncle and Tony had never asked mostly because it hadn’t felt like Peter wanted to talk about it.

On the last day of school before they went on break for Christmas, Peter actually invited Ned over to the tower. Ned hadn’t pushed Peter too much on having him introduce him to The Avengers but he’d hinted at it enough times.

“You know, I consider this part of your Christmas present,” Peter said as they left Midtown. It was a half-day so they were out earlier than usual and the balmy winter air hit them as they walked to the nearest subway station.

“Um, best present ever,” Ned said.

Peter laughed.

The whole trip there, Ned couldn’t hide his excitement. “But, what am I supposed to say to him, Peter?”

“To Steve? He’s really chilled out, dude, you’ll be fine.”

“And they know you’re bringing me, right?”

“Yes. Well, Steve does for sure.”

Ned couldn’t really get over how casually Peter spoke about Captain America and the other Avengers. It was weird and he just didn’t know what to do with the information.

Avengers tower was kind of really impressive. Ned knew that it was self-sustaining due to Tony’s Stark work on clean energy but Ned couldn’t be fully amazed by it due to how distracted he was about meeting Captain America and the other Avengers too.

Peter took him through an entrance that didn’t look like a real entrance at the side of the building. No one even seemed to notice them going in, but then Ned supposed that that was the whole point to begin with.

They took an elevator up and Ned was in awe of everything that he didn’t even have words.

“You alright?” Peter asked.

“I -- yeah. I’m meeting The Avengers.”

Peter just laughed.

When they finally made it up, Ned felt like he couldn’t even move. It was just -- it was happening and he couldn’t believe it. He was going to actually meet The Avengers.

“This is insane,” he whispered to Peter when the elevator doors opened.

There was no one there and Ned didn’t know if he had expected someone to be there or not but no one was there.

“Hey, Fri, where is everyone?” Peter asked.

The disembodied voice of Tony’s Stark’s AI answered, “Mr. Stark is working and Captain Rogers is with him. I believe the others are in the training room.”

“Thanks,” Peter said and then to Ned, “come on.”

Chapter One Hundred One

#peter and tony #peter and tony fic #mcuwriting #mcu fic #iron dad #iron dad and spider son #stony #stony fic #marvel

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romionesecretsanta · 6 years

Text

in the dawning light i found you breathless

Happy happy holidays and happy new year Asmaa ( @rupelover )! You asked for angst with a happy ending, and I ended up writing a very long Canon Divergence AU: nonetheless, I hope you enjoy! XOXO, your secret santa :)

Warning: some language

Ron Weasley was expecting to stumble into few people in the National Wizarding Library, and Hermione “Nightmare” Granger was sadly most certainly one of them. He found her in the shelves dedicated to Time Study, sitting cross-legged on the black-and-white marble floor.

“Chairs too passé for you, Granger?” he asked, hovering over her, staring at the titles.

So consumed in her reading was she that she looked up to the young man practically towering right above her with a start.

“Ron? What are you—” and she shot away swiftly, dropping her book on the floor, as if afraid he might have something contagious.

He scoffed and resumed searching for something to read.

“You read on your own subject even on your days off?” he rolled his eyes. “You Unspeakables are proper weird.”

She crossed her arms and frowned at him.

“I’m surprised you read at all, Ron. What are you doing here?”

Ron shot her a side glance, then returned to the books.

“I’m doing my research. If I’m to be stuck with you weirdos for the rest of the year, might as well know what the hell you’re up to.”

“Oh, you won’t find that written in a book,” she snorted, in a manner greatly resembling their old Transfiguration Professor.

“Obviously because what we do is secret,” she added immediately, as if unsure whether he had understood her initial implication.

“That might be news to you, Granger, but the secret nature of your profession tends to be apparent to most people who know you as…”

“For your information, none of us have ever been too fond of the term… And none of us have ever called you Aurors by any of your nicknames!”

Ron rolled his eyes. Sure, being called Grims wasn’t much fun, but it’s not like the Unspeakables were doing him and his fellow Aurors any favours by not calling them that.

“Besides,” Hermione was still going, “there’s little to no point in you doing any research on us. It’s none of your business what’s going on in our Department, you’re just supposed to stand guard!”

She did have a point. Being transferred to guard the Department of Mysteries was supposed to be an easy job, usually coming as a reward from Kingsley to Aurors who had previously delivered on particularly straining or dangerous cases, giving them a few months to slack off in the safety of the Ministry. And he was bound by oath to keep every last bit of the Unspeakables’ doing a secret, (which wasn’t much), and not to attempt to find out further. Sensing a possible cornering coming, Ron changed tactics with a shrug.

“I just got interested on the whole thing, y’know? Besides,” (he mimicked her own voice), “there’s nothing you can do from keeping people from reading, Granger.”

Hermione opened her mouth to retort, but Ron had already grabbed a book (the one she had left on the floor, the one she had been reading so intently) and was walking away, back turned on her. He had no energy for bickering, and she was a proper nightmare when she got started (well, she was a nightmare always. But when she got started…). He would much rather leave having the last word, although he knew her retort wasn’t going to be long, she would just shout at him as he was walking down between the shelves, now, or maybe now, in a second…

Ron turned back confused. Hermione Granger, outspoken? Hermione Granger, backing down from even the tiniest fight? Had he just won a verbal battle of theirs?

Apparently, but not because Hermione was at a loss of words, or if she was, he was deprived of seeing the look of defeat on her face (though he could already think of ten possible retorts to his last statement). Hermione was simply not there anymore, the spot where she just stood vacant. Instead there were just shelves going on for miles on sight, without a single break on them. She couldn’t have just turned a corner without first walking on and on to either direction. But there was Ron, the only person standing there, and Hermione Granger had vanished.

Muttering something about Unspeakables being weird, and ignoring the raised hair on the back of his neck, Ron walked off to a table, where he threw down his book and sat to read, but had no heart for it. Hermione, how did she…

Looking up, there she was. Sitting on a table on the side, all alone, as always, a pile of books next to her, absolutely lost in a book.

Ron went to the librarian to check the book to his name and got the fuck out of that place.

***

“Ron! Wait up!”

He did, but not without taking a minute to himself to roll his eyes before turning to face a particularly wild-haired Hermione rushing up to him. The plain black door on the end of the corridor behind her still send shivers down his spine, despite seeing it every day.

“What’s wrong, Granger?”

“I-uh-nothing! Nothing, really!” she said, and gave a very awkward smile.

Ron nodded back, but didn’t have it in himself to smile if he wanted (though he really didn’t). He had been falling back on sleep, eating poorly, struggling to keep up with his paperwork and his current position in Department Ten was eating him up alive from the inside, not to mention how lonely he was. Chatting up with Hermione Granger was not high up on the things he felt like doing, now more than ever before.

Not that she looked any better. The thin light in that goddamned Department wasn’t particularly flattening, but she sure looked… bad. Worse than usual, anyway. There were violet eye bags under her eyes and her cheekbones seemed sucked in.

“So, uh, you know, just… uh, shall we?” she nodded towards the elevators, shivering.

“Oh, sure,” said Ron and started to lead the way. The fact that even Unspeakables were beyond willing to leave their own workplace was strangely comforting and at the same disturbing. It meant his job there wasn’t going to get any easier by time, but he wasn’t the only feeling like that. Odd. He missed the environment in the Auror Office, and Kingsley and his workmates, and working his brains out trying to figure out a case. And, of course, Harry.

The elevator started going up, and Hermione stood with her back against the wall, looking alternatively down at her shoes and then at the doors. She really did look all worn out.

“So…” she started. Ron, overwhelmingly busy with staring anywhere but her, only gave a hum to let her know she was listening.

“About the other day in the library…”

“Yeah?” Ron looked at her full in the face now, eager to find out an explanation for her disappearance. Or was she about to apologize for that day? Not that it would be her at all to do so, but damnit, he was so desperate for a positive interaction he’d take what he could get, even if it was Hermione Fucking Granger.

“I mean, that book I was reading, you really did borrow it after all, did you?”

“Er… yeah… yeah, I did.” And then, to make up for the disappointment in his voice:

“Like I said, Granger, there’s little you can do to stop people from reading. I’m not interested in your bloody research or anything, so leave me alone.”

“Your return is overdue by two days as of today.”

“What?”

“I checked in with the librarian. Of course I would never stop someone else from reading, as long as they respect the rules. But now you’re two days overdue, and I want this book.”

Ron opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again. The way she had spoken wasn’t aggressive, or bossy, or sarcastic, or anything he was used to Hermione Granger sounding like. She just sounded… tired and strangely gentle, like the calm before a storm. And she very much looked it, too, and unkempt also: she’d never been one to tame that wild bushy mane of hers, but she never turned up with bad skin and oily hair and smelling a bit, either. She kept blinking rapidly and shivering violently, hands wrapped tightly around herself. The Auror work had gotten Ron to work with people on the verge of a breakdown many times and if anything, Hermione Granger was exhibiting a few of the signs.

He was the one outspoken now. He wanted to apologize, and say he’ll return the book tomorrow morning, and wish her a good night, but instead he just cleared his throat and said:

“Merlin, you look like shit.”

Had he been less tired, hadn’t just come out of working in the Departure of Mysteries for the past ten hours, and maybe if the world had been a bit gentler with him in general, he’d have laughed at how her jaw dropped in shock. And then, right when she had assumed the most “Excuse me?” Hermione Granger expression, she just laughed bitterly a little and said,

“Yeah, I guess I do,” and began to caress her hair self-consciously. Then she pushed her lips together (they were badly chapped) and smiled sadly. “It’s been a rough week.”

Ron laughed and leaned against the wall opposite from hers.

“Tell me about it,” he said and Hermione laughed a little. A rough week. Rough month. Rough few months. Rough year. Rough few years.

And right then, he wanted to say something. Something nice. Tell her to go make herself a huge cup of tea, and to take care, and maybe firmly shake hands goodbye before each going to different fireplaces, because he would kill for a little physical contact right now, and he knew it would be comforting to her, too, and then the doors opened to the empty Atrium and he took a deep breath as he stared at the golden statue in the fountain, illuminated only by the light coming from the few fireplaces that were still burning.

“Right,” he said, and turned to make an attempt at brining a civil end to the only civil conversation he’s had with Hermione Granger since… well, ever.

And she wasn’t there.

Of course.

He should’ve realized it was her thing by now. She’d just Apparated home like that.

It should come to no surprise that she’d mastered soundless Apparition, because of course she has, she’s Hermione-Freaking-Granger.

And of course she wouldn’t stop to wish him good night, because why should she? Because they’d had half a decent conversation for once? She had only just admitted how tired she was, of course she wanted to go home. And people were so accustomed to treating the Weasleys like shit, even fellow Ministry workers.

He should’ve been much more used to it by now.

So he just went home, kicked his wand and his boots away, and collapsed on the sofa.

His eye caught The Book, an old dusty thing, left open on the sitting room table (also the only table in his crappy studio). It was Regarding Clocks and Time Magic: On Time-Turning Machines, Wizarding Law and How Wizards Love to Break It, by Professor Constantinus Dashwood. Despite not looking much (though Ron was no judge on the matter), it was supposed to be a particularly controversial work for its time that had truly revolutionized how wizards studied and worked with Time. And, although it was not particularly long, Ron had made very little progress with it. Never being particularly fond of books, they always tended to tire him, and the one in particular was overly complicated and used too many expert terms and words that required expertise on the subject for someone to form the big picture.

And yet, during his sleepless, lonely nights, the book had been strangely comforting. Reading wasn’t going to leave him: all the words meant something to him separately, and he kept reading for the promise of making some sense, of finding something simple and familiar in them. And in some sense he did. There were quite a few examples of wizards and witches meddling with time magic, more often than not with disastrous results. In-between those, Professor Dashwood provided his conclusions, which were too mind-boggling for Ron, but he wanted to make some sense of them, because if he had to admit it, he wanted to see what made Hermione so keen on the book, the book he had gotten just to spite her.

Expect now he didn’t feel like spiting her at all.

He opened the book again, knowing there was no way he was finishing it tonight, and let his eyes run over the words while his mind travelled all the way back, to Hogwarts, and to a particular bushy-haired girl always reading in some corner or another, always alone.

He flicked the lights off with his wand and threw the book back on the table in frustration.

There was an endless itching sensation within him, like he should be doing something, something more, and although he didn’t know what, he knew why. It wasn’t just the Department of Mysteries eating him alive. It wasn’t just the loneliness and the emptiness and missing Harry and his job. It was the gut feeling that he and Hermione Granger could’ve, should’ve been good friends, coming back to hit him full in the face seven years later.

***

The Unspeakables had an impromptu lunch break for the first time since he started working in their Department, and Ron rushed up to the Auror Office to hang with Harry, only to find him gone out working on a case.

Figuring he might as well go say hi to Dad, or even Percy (yes, he was that desperate), he turned to leave and stopped dead on his tracks at the sight of Hermione, sitting on the waiting chairs outside Kingsley’s office, reading, of course.

She looked so… strangely belonging to that place, bathed in sunlight, surrounded by paperwork and people working on helping other people. And yet, he’d only ever seen her up here once before, and it was a memory he’d worked hard on burying.

Upon closer inspection, he realized it was fucking Dashwood’s book, and regretted ever getting closer.

“How the fuck are you so far in already?”

She looked up in polite surprise.

“Hello, Ron,” she said, pleasant enough. She seemed to have had quite enough rest, and looked better groomed than she had been in weeks— since Ron had started working for the Unspeakables, actually.

“The book,” he said, too impressed to exchange pleasantries. “You can’t’ve progressed that far in with it, you just can’t. I only returned it to the library the other day!”

“Oh, that? I’m on my second reading, actually.”

“You- what?”

“Did you find it interesting?” she beamed, eyes shining, hands gripping on the tables in excitement.

“What? No, I, uh, sure, but I didn’t finish it—”

“You didn’t?”

“Uh, no, I didn’t have enough time…”

“You didn’t have enough time?”

“Oh, yeah, I guess, I see what you did here…” Ron laughed, but Hermione looked confused, before realizing the joke and laughing herself.

It was a stupid pun, made without meaning to, but they both laughed a lot more than they should have. It was a first in days for Ron, and it felt cleansing, reliving, like having a huge weight lifted off of him.

“No, I mean, I thought you would have enough time, I mean, evidently it’s enough for me…” Hermione said, attempting to return to seriousness.

“Oh, yeah, sure you’d figure I’d have enough time, why wouldn’t you…”

And they were off again, killing themselves laughing. Hermione bent over her knees, holding her belly in laughter, and it was only the fear of his boss barging out of his office any moment that held Ron back from crouching by her and punching the floor repeatedly as he roared in laughter.

And yet, he was glad for that one restriction. Now he could study Hermione so much better, how eye wrinkles formed all around her eyes, how her teeth showed, so white and straight (she had gotten the two front shrunk at some point during Hogwarts), how she kept shaking her head to keep her hair from falling into her face.

And then both froze because the door was open, the door had been open for Merlin knows how long, and at the opening was standing not only Kingsley Shacklebolt, Head of Auror Office, but also Professor Minerva McGonagall.

Hermione immediately shot to her feet with a “Professor McGonagall! So good to see you again!” and reached out her hand. Behind them, Kingsley gave a pleasant nod at Ron.

“Granger, Weasley,” Professor McGonagall took Hermione’s hand and nodded at Ron, a controlled smile playing on her lips, “it’s good to see you two getting along.”

What should’ve been simply a pleasant comment immediately shot an arrow straight through Ron’s stomach that was equally guilt and butterflies.

And then, looking back at Hermione with a fondness Ron had never before witnessed being so openly expressed to any of her students, McGonagall said “How are you, my dearest child?”

Ron gaped at it all, the tenderness in his Professor’s voice and expression, the way Hermione nodded instead of replying, the way McGonagall was holding her hand, as if she didn’t want to let go of her, and how Hermione seemed to be getting comfort from it, and then Ron realized Hermione had teared up, and he averted his gaze from the two of them immediately, his gut feeling telling him that had it not been for his and Kingsley’s presence, Hermione might as well have dissolved in sobs in McGongall’s arms.

“It’s good to see you too, Weasley. Doing good?”

“I- uh, yes, Professor,” he said, then looking at Kingsley, “exceptionally good.”

McGonagall smiled. “Good. Always said you had it in you.” And then, to Kingsley, “He was always a favorite, him and Potter. You should be very proud.”

Ron gaped openly. Not only was it the first time McGonagall was complimenting him, and confessing having a never acted upon soft spot for him, the whole situation was absurd enough. And to top it off, Kingsley nodded firmly and smiled at him.

Ron found himself exchanging looks with Hermione, much like he would’ve done if Harry was there instead of her, expect that her expression was affirming instead of equally bewildered.

“Miss Granger and I would be going out for tea now, Weasley. Care to join us? And for heaven’s sake boy, close your mouth, you look like a Stunned baboon!”

Ron found himself stuttering instead, looking from the one witch to the other in a patter, until he caught Kingsley’s stare from behind McGongall.

So they ended up at the “quite lovely” wizarding café that had just opened next to the Ministry. It was not the place he and Harry would’ve hanged out during their own lunch breaks (they had historically been perfectly content with Muggle canteen food), but it looked like the kind of place his mother would have enjoyed. His gaping for the day was long from over, because the moment he thought things might turn from awkward to boring real soon, both witches took out their knitting work and had a pleasant enough chat about Hermione’s aspirations with SPEW (yes, she was still going strong with that thing she had almost terrorized Harry and Ron into joining, seven years and a completely irrelevant day job later).

“What have you been up to, Weasley?”

“I, uh, me?”

“Yes, boy, you! About time you do less gaping and a bit of talking, would you not think so?”

“Sorry for that, Professor, I…” again, he looked from the one to the other. Hermione nodded encouragingly.

“I was… I am doing good, really.”

McGonagall nodded in approval.

“Bravo! I hear very good things from Shacklebolt about you and Mr Potter. Always good to see a Weasley kid doing good!” she smiled. And then she grew grim.

“Tell me, Ronald, how is your family?”

“We’re…” good died in his throat before he could utter it. Even if it were true, which he knew it wasn’t, he couldn’t attest to it: Merlin knows when was the last time that he had seen a Weasley outside of the Ministry, and still the glimpses he got of Dad or Percy were not encouraging. They both seemed to have aged violently, grown thin and solemn. And Ginny kept making headlines in the Quidditch magazines and the gossip magazines kept giggling about her relationship with Katie, but he knew she was miserable, taking it all out on the sport, and yet he couldn’t owl her. And he had to admit to himself, just like in the case of Bill, the reason for his silence was partly out of spite, because at least they had someone to talk to, someone waiting home for them, someone to hold. And Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes was doing better than ever before and he felt like drowning in the irony of it, and his mother wouldn’t stop sending him letters and sweets and they kept piling up, not one of them answered.

“We’re holding up, ma’am, really.”

She shook her head and sniffed her nose. Ron had only seen her cry once before, at Fred’s funeral: with a rush, he realized it was the last time he’d seen her before today.

“Such a horrible thing, your brother, so young, so…” McGonagall looked away, burying her face in her handerchief.

Ron looked down at his knees, only to see Hermione’s hand quickly withdrawing, having reached out inches away from his own.

“I am sorry, Ron,” she whispered. He closed his eyes.

“Thank you, Hermione,” he muttered. “I’m sorry, too…”

She sniffed her nose, and he realized she must’ve thought he was talking about his brother’s loss.

“I mean, I’m sorry about how… I reacted. That day. I was a proper arse.”

“I understand,” she said, so softly. “You had just lost your brother. A bit of an arse might be in due.”

And they both laughed, bitterly this time.

“No, it’s… it’s not an excuse. You were immediately there to give me your condolences, and I just…”

Her hand covered his with no hesitation this time, and he held it with both of his own.

Later, McGonagall insisted on treating them both and left them on the Atrium. Hours later, Ron and Hermione found themselves alone in the same place again. He was aching to ask how in the name of Merlin’s pants did she end up best friends with McGonagall, but instead he just told her to take care, make herself a cup of tea and have a good night, and firmly shook hands right before using the Floo Powder home.

And so began an awkward friendship with Hermione Granger, a kind girl who sometimes filled her plate with too much and tended to disappear at random, without warning and, when confronted about, apparently without meaning to.

***

“Is there a problem with the Department of Mysteries, Ronald?” Kingsley asked in his deep voice from behind a stack of paperwork.

“No, sir,” Ron promptly answered.

“Then may I ask what are you doing up here during your shift?”

“There is not one problem, sir, there are a lot of problems.”

Kingsley looked up, arched up an eyebrow.

“Is that so? And what problems, exactly, give you the liberty of sheer cheek?”

Both men laughed. Kingsley had shown pretty early on that he didn’t mind humour, at least when coming from Aurors as hard-working as Ron or Harry. But Ron was not in the mood to continue joking.

“It’s the job sir, it’s… wearing me down. I know you feel like you’re giving us an easy one, like it’s some sort of rest for us or something, but… I can’t do it anymore sir, I just can’t. All the time I keep wishing I were here, helping people out instead.”

Kingsley considered him for a second.

“You seem to be listening to your co-workers too much lately, Weasley. Believe me, I am not one to give my best Aurors easy ones. If anything, it’s quite the contrary. The reason I sent you to work down there, and the reason I must insist you follow orders to work there until the end of the year, is less evident than what your fellow Aurors might have you believe.”

“Which is, sir…?”

“Miss Granger, Ronald. I want you keeping an eye out for her.”

“Hermione? But… you think she’s done something?”

Kingsley shook his head.

“No. I want you looking out for her, Weasley. She’s up against greater odds than you know, or she estimates. Just… stay vigilant and have her back, should anything happen.”

“I…”

“I can’t say more, Weasley, it seems everything is confidential,” Kingsley cut him off with an eyeroll intended for the Deputies of Department Ten.

“Sir. Yes sir. But sir, if Hermione is the reason I’m down there, why didn’t you tell me before?”

Kingsley raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Oh, I thought it was apparent? She’s your friend, is she not? Well, maybe you two didn’t use to be particularly close, but I couldn’t help but notice, Weasley, you both always seemed to be rather fond of each other. Should anything happen that requires her protection, I trust you will deliver.”

“Sir!”

“Dismissed, Weasley.”

***

And then the day came when Ron hugged her.

They were both alone in the elevator at night again, talking about their parents, and after Ron mentioned how he hadn’t seen his folks in a long time, how there was something always keeping him from writing home or dropping by despite how much he ached to, Hermione teared up and hugged herself, looked away and said ‘I know how that feels like.’

And so Ron reached out, wrapped her arms around her, held her tight in his arms, and the world around began to spin and the floor beneath their feet vanished.

When it stopped, when it all stopped, Ron was still holding Hermione tighter than ever, and they were outdoors on a hot summer night, on a beach by the sea.

***

When the sun began to dawn that day, twelve years ago, painting the beach in hues of purples and blues it found Ron Weasley sitting on the sand, fingers digging into it, his thick travelling cloak lying forgotten next to him. Hermione had taken off her shoes and rolled up the end of her robes and was pacing up and down by the water, still overtaken by the adrenaline of the night, all the times she’d cried and cried and held onto him as she told him everything, everything, all the things that had happened to her, let it all out.

As for Ron, he was trying to take it all in. Emphasis on trying.

“So you’re a time-traveller.”

“I’m a patient, Ron. It happens without my will, without the need of a time-turner or another wizarding device, and it’s out of my control.”

“Because you had an accident with your time-turner because you just had to sign up for every elective on the list.”

“On our third year, yes.”

“Why?” he shouted out, pulling back his hair, practically pulling his hair.

“Why do you think? I was thirteen, Ron, and I was lonely, in a completely new word I knew nothing of and wanted to know everything about!”

“Muggle studies was a bit too much, though.”

She laughed.

“Yeah, I guess it was.”

“So, this is your life now.”

“Yes, I guess this is my life now.”

“And I thought I had it bad.”

“Oh, don’t say that! It doesn’t mean anything, my condition— of course you have your own problems- you just lost your brother, Merlin’s pants, it’s not like it pales in comparison to—”

“Just randomly travelling back in time and space?”

“Yeah, I guess. But that shouldn’t downplay your own struggles! Anyone’s, really…”

“I mean, it is peculiar, I give you that.”

She laughed again.

“And there’s no cure?”

“No Ron, I told you, there isn’t! It’s never happened before, how can there be? Dashwood had some pretty interesting things to say, as you know, but… at the end of the day, it’s all about something I need to learn to control. I’ve made great progress already, it’s just that, when I get emotional…”

“So that means…”

A soft silence fell between them. A summer breeze was blowing, and although the air was cool, it all looked like it would be a hot day.

“When you hugged me, earlier tonight… tonight, that is, in a manner of speaking… I was emotional, because I was thinking about my parents, and your parents, and well, I thought I could stop it from happening that time, but then you hugged me and I was so… surprised. In a good sense, of course.”

“So you just time-travelled us twelve years into the past?”

“For the thousandth time, yes, that’s the gist of what happened.”

“And that other time, in the elevator? That first time?”

“Yeah. I was a wreck that night. We keep experimenting in the Ministry, but it didn’t work. That day it was particularly bad. And that day on the library, too, I—”

“Wait. They’re experimenting on you?”

“They… not exactly. Not always, anyway. We use inanimate objects, animals, fantastic beasts. Try to notice any patterns, grasp on details and try to figure something out. It’s straining, and very, very complicated, and we, I mean, the wizarding community as a whole, we know so little on it. Inventing time-travel was hard enough, but reversing it seems impossible.”

“Can’t you just… do what you did but on the reverse?”

“You think we haven’t thought about it? It’s just… there’s so many factors at work. And meanwhile whenever this shit happens to me I have to abide by the law and not intervene and stay hidden, and try to keep anyone from noticing and—ugh!”

“Don’t worry. I won’t say a thing,” he whispered. Another silence fell between them, gentle like the wind that made her hair float.

“So where are you now? I mean, the past you?” Ron asked at last.

She pointed at the white holiday house on the sore, about half a mile from where they were.

“It’s where my parents and I spent summer that year.”

“In the south of France…”

“In the south of France.”

“Cool. I’ve never been abroad.”

Hermione shook her head in exasperation.

“I mean, it might sound a bit cruel, but it’s also… fucking bloody brilliant, innit?” Ron grinned. “Especially if you can control it, just, bam! Travelling into the past like that!” and he snapped his fingers.

“No, it’s not! I mean, I see where you come from, I guess, but if I ever reach a state where I have full control over it, there’s no way I’m ever willingly doing this shit.”

Ron smiled, at how many times she’d cursed that night, at the absurdity of this all, at how beautiful she looked in the dawning light that painted the scenery pink and yellow.

She had taken them twelve years in the past, and spent the last eight hours talking about the craziest paradox in human form Ron had ever heard of, and yet, in the dawning light, all he could be was mesmerized by her. With her dark skin, her bushy hair, her white teeth and thick lashes, there was a sort of quiet elegance about her, and her eyes, Merlin, her eyes were the dark brown that warmed you right up. They were the most expressive eyes Ron had ever seen. The way she looked, it made her look like she was somewhere far off, yet overwhelmingly real. Distant, yet earthy. She was the most beautiful person he’d ever seen.

“When.”

“Pardon me?”

“When you reach a state when you can control it. Bloody hell, Hermione, you’re the most brilliant person I know. Fuck, you’re the most brilliant person any of us know. Ask Harry. Or anyone from our year, really. Ask McGonagall. And none of us knew that you were going through all this while you kicked ass at schoo—”

“McGonagall knows. Sometimes, when I travel back in time at Hogwarts, I just stop by her office and we have tea until I’m ready to travel back. But it’s a huge violation and you should just forget I ever mentioned it.

Ron gaped again.

“I— you… Wow. Merlin’s pants, wow. Well, the point is, you can do it. You most certainly can do it. It’ll take time, and patience, and a lot of work, but you can’t fail. You’re Hermione,” he said simply. Then, filling his cheeks and ears burn red at his own words, he rushed to add, “Besides, you’re already halfway there, aren’t you? The way you said it, you’re…”

“I’ve made progress, sure, but I still have so much to g—” she stopped sort in a sob.

Ron got up and hugged her again, held tight onto her, and she hugged him back.

“Shh. Quiet now. I know, I know,” he whispered.

“No, it’s just…” Hermione mumbled against his chest. “Thank you. For what you just said. Thank you, Ron.”

He saw little else left to do than leave a kiss on the top of her head and then bury his head on her, hoping against hope she wouldn’t let go or mention it, ever, and instead exploded internally as she held onto him even tighter.

“And Hermione, there’s something else,” he said into her hair ten minutes later.

“Hmm?”

“I’m by you. I mean, I’m with you on that. If you ever need anything, huge or small. I’m your person. That is, as long as you can get us back home, I’m your person.”

Her grip on him lessened and then she let go completely, took a step back, smiled up to him with tears still in her eyes.

“Oh.”

He looked around, taking in the tidy apartment, bathed in morning light, the shelves of books on the walls, the London scenery out the windows and the curled orange cat sleeping on the sofa, the way her hair captured the light.

“Well. Good morning, I guess.”

“Good morning. Care for a cup of coffee? We just need to make it fast, or we’ll be late. We still have to go to work, unfortunately.”

And she was off to the kitchen, making them coffee with magic, and she was laughing and joking with him, tired and still shaking from all of last night, but not alone anymore.

***

And so began a very strange friendship with Hermione Granger, time-travelling human disaster and Unspeakable by condition, not by choice. There were times where she would disappear twice a day and then there were times where she wouldn’t have an episode for weeks.

“Generally I’ve noticed that there is a connection to what is triggering the time lapse with the time of the past that I travel to. For example, on the night we travelled to the south of France, I’d been thinking of my parents. So I travelled to a place and time where we made good memories. It happened unconsciously, but I believe that’s the secret to controlling it,” she said, cuddled up in Ron’s only armchair, cupping a warm drink in her hands. Harry nodded at the offhand mention of that night, but said nothing.

In what was perhaps the greatest violation of confidentiality in Hermione’s life, she had opened up not only to Ron, but to Harry also. She had initially no such intentions concerning either, but some situations, such as staying up all night on a beach in the south of France talking about a bizarre wizarding condition, twelve years ago, are the kind of situations that bond people together for a lifetime.

So after that night Hermione and Ron wouldn’t stop spending time together, spending their work breaks hanging out and evenings at the house of the one or the other. And it was impossible to talk about anything but That Night. At first, at least. So Hermione spilled out everything she had come to discover about herself.

And although that topic of conversation was never abandoned (how could it, after all?) Hermione and Ron started to talk about other things, too. Reminiscing of Hogwarts, for once, although that was a subject prone to many an awkward silence. And then there were their families, their love lives, their pets and their remaining friendships.

And so came Harry.

Ron had never thought Harry and Hermione would click so well. Or more like it, that Hermione would instantly take Harry under her wing as if he were a little brother, and that he would let her. Ron loved Harry very much, and silently prided himself for knowing him better than anyone, but sometimes he felt closed off of him, as if Harry was pushing him out. Hermione saw no need to respect such unspoken boundaries and barged right in, preparing weekly schedules for the three of them, pestering them to do their paperwork and rolling her eyes every time they talked about Quidditch, but nonetheless stayed. Even when she could not participate in the conversation, she would read a book or ponder over her next move at wizard’s chess (which she was rubbish at, a fact that secretly amused Ron to end).

And so it began. Harry, Ron and Hermione, unlikely best friends. Two Aurors and Hermione, the way she was, was a sure recipe for disaster.

Ron would come home and find her curled up sleeping in his bed, catching up on sleep by turning time back a few hours (it did have its perks). Hermione’s once-tidy sitting room was now a battlefield of papers and rolled-out parchments, Harry and Ron’s Auror paperwork due tomorrow morning. There was a bag of cat food for Crookshanks in Harry’s apartment now. And so on.

The three of them ended up hanging in Diagon Alley more and more often, buying ice cream from Fortescue’s and hanging out with George at the shop.

Harry had always gotten along with the twins spectacularly, but Ron was surprised to see Hermione approving of his wild prankster of a brother, too. Sure, George would get scolded more than Harry or Ron, but the environment of the trick shop revealed Hermione’s more relaxed, funny side, and the four of them would spend entire evenings laughing their heads off at the back. Sometimes some of Ron’s siblings would drop by too, Ginny more often than the rest: exhausted from practice but never too tired to joke about, she and Hermione quickly became friends.

And Hermione’s time episodes lessened significantly. And she kept saying they were making progress with a gleam in her eyes, oh that gleam in her eyes, and they were all starting to eat better, sleep better, live better. And yet.

And yet there was Harry and Hermione, and Harry and Ron, and then there was Ron and Hermione. And Ron and Hermione kept locking eyes because they kept looking at each other and their glances lingered for just a moment too long. And Hermione would turn up at Ron’s house and tell him to scoot over in the middle of the night and then fall asleep immediately, leaving him cornered up against the cold wall with no blankets. And Hermione kept asking Ron to stay over once it got late, hanging out at her place, and she and him would lie in bed talking until they fell asleep. But most of the times when they spent the night together, Hermione would fall asleep on Ron in the sitting room, and he would let her, and cover them up in blankets and make them more comfortable, and Hermione would wake up for just a second, cuddle him tighter, and fall back asleep. And the next day they would both be sore and never talk about it, but they would rinse and repeat still.

Until Ron said what he’d been aching to say.

***

They were almost asleep, cramped up in his bed, almost cuddling but not quite, and talking about Hogwarts. How brilliant of a Seeker Harry had been, and how brilliant Ron was as Keeper (“I was OK sometimes, I suppose,”) and how Hermione always brought a book to the Qudditch matches she did attend. Cause she missed out a lot. And then, at long last, Ron said it.

“I reckon we should’ve been friends. At Hogwarts. All this time.”

He felt her tense and stay still beside him. He’d swear she was holding her breath.

“Hermione?”

“It’s just…”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be. I think so too.”

“I know. I just… I’m sorry. For what happened back then. In our first year. What I said about you. I know you heard it. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright, Ron. You were just a kid. Besides, I was a bit of a nightmare, wasn’t I?”

“Yes, but I should’ve done something about it. Apologized or whatever.”

“You did. Later on, you did. I’m sorry, Ron. I was the one who snubbed you and turned you down the next time,” she sniffed her nose and with a start, Ron realized she was crying.

“It’s alright, love—”

“It really isn’t! We were older, too! I should’ve known better than to turn down the only person reaching out to me!”

“No, Hermione, please don’t go so hard on yourself. You had enough on your plate already. We both made mistakes. And yet—”

“And yet you kept looking out for me! And I was so, so ungrateful and blind…”

“Shh. I was going to say, and yet we’ve found each other. Again. Now.”

She reached out her hand to grab his by the wrist and pull it over her. With a smile, Ron hugged her by the waist and held onto her as she calmed down.

“We really did find each other. Took our sweet time, but we found each other,” she hummed, almost to herself, as she fell asleep.

***

Later that night, Ron woke up covered in sweat and terribly nauseous and shot out of bed, only to stumble into a just awoken Hermione beside him.

On the Gryffindor common room floor.

“Oh Merlin! Oh no, not again! Ron, quick, come here, we must hide, we must—”

“Hermione? It—what happened?”

She grabbed his wrist, nails digging into his skin, and dragged them on a corner by the barely burning fireplace, where they threw a Gryffindor banner over them and curled into each other.

“What—is this…? Where are we? Hermione? Did it happen again?” Ron asked in hushed tones, Hermione’s hair getting in his mouth.

“Shh! I think it’s because… I dreamt it,” she hissed, elbowing him to keep quiet.

“What? It happens in your sleep too? Oh, can’t you just take us back?”

“No Ron I’ve told you I can’t do it immediately!”

“Let’s Apparate then!”

She was quiet for one second, the kind of pregnant pause that made Ron realize he had just said something incredibly stupid.

“You can’t… Apparate… in Hogwarts… Ron, sometimes, I swear…! Hush! Someone’s coming!”

Sure enough, the door that lead to the boys’ dormitories opened and out came a teenage Ron, lanky and bed-headed, no facial hair yet and an abundance of freckles and acne instead, looking all the more skinny and awkward in his too-short maroon pyjamas.

The adult Ron held his breath and Hermione squeezed his hand as they watched.

Teenage Ron looked around the common room as if searching for something. Then he walked toward a table, picked up screwed rolls of parchment, revealing tiny little knit hats hidden beneath, and proceeded to throw the parchment into the fire. The room lit up as the paper burned, and adult Ron and Hermione stood more still than ever, praying against all odds that the teenager wouldn’t notice them.

Luckily enough, teenage Ron was sleepy and seemed to be heading back to the dormitories, when…

“Password?” the all-too familiar voice of the Portrait Lady came from outside the common room.

“Tapeworm,” answered a tired little voice from outside.

The teenager froze on the spot. He gave a quick look toward the dormitory stairs, as if considering running for it, but the portrait moved just then and in climbed teenage Hermione, Prefect badge shining on her chest. She still had some baby fat on her face, and her hair and eyebrows were even bushier than her adult self, but she demonstrated all the signs that the adult Hermione had on the first time she and Ron shared the elevator: exhausted, with bags under her eyes and so, so cold. Her entire posture was hunched over and miserable, burdened by all the books she was carrying.

The two teenagers froze and considered each other. From where they were hidden, their adult selves could observe both, and both sensed the room filling with some sort of electricity.

“Weasley,” teenage Hermione said, voice now loud and bossy, nothing like the tired murmur that had spoken the password. “What are you doing up?”

The ginger boy shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pyjama pockets.

“I just… it’s gotten so late and y… I was up studying.”

Hermione snorted in a very McGonagall way.

“Oh, please. You— are those my knit hats?”

She rushed over to the table with the knitting Ron had just revealed, threw her books down and stared at the hats, tears already forming in her eyes. When she looked up at Ron again, red-eyed and wild-haired, she was sobbing with rage.

“What are you—will you ever leave me alone? What’s so wrong with this?” she pointed to the hats, her movements sharp. “Why do you care? Just leave!” she threw a hat at him. It missed by a lot and would have done no damage had it found its target, but the fury with which she threw it was enough to make the boy take several rushed steps back. “Leave me alone! Leave me!”

And the girl collapsed on a sofa by the table, collapsed over her books and dissolved in sobs.

Young Ron made to go for the stairs, hesitated, looked back at the crying girl.

“You’re all messed up, Hermione,” he said, harsh voice echoed off the walls. “I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but it’s—” his expression softened at the sight of her, defeated and responseless, and he never finished his sentence. Instead, he climbed up the stairs to his bed. A moment later, the adult Ron and Hermione heard the dormitory door shut behind him.

Letting go of a breath he’d been holding, Ron finally swallowed. He could feel Hermione shaking against his chest, still holding onto his hand for dear life.

“Hermione…”

“Shh!”

They stayed there, watching young Hermione cry onto her books, until she grew quiet and her breathing even.

The dormitory door opened again, just a hinge, and Ron’s ginger hair peeped through the opening.

Slowly, the lanky boy got through the opening and stood and watched Hermione sleeping. There was remorse and guilt in his face, and adult Ron knew exactly how he was feeling: like he wanted to apologize and make things right, and yet his pride was in the way. Cowardly as it might be, he had been relieved to find her passed out, not having to face her tonight.

The teenager made a motion as if to climb up again, but hesitated, and turned back toward the sleeping girl. Taking a deep breath, he walked slowly to her, grabbed a quilt someone had forgotten on the back of an armchair, and quietly wrapped sleeping Hermione up in it. Then, with slow motions, he directed her sleeping form to lie on the sofa she was sitting on and, placing a throw pillow under her head, he tiptoed away back to the dormitory room.

Adult Hermione curled her fingers around adult Ron’s and he closed his eyes, buried his head on her hair, took in her scent.

When he opened them again, his back was against the cold wall of his own bedroom instead of the Hogwarts stone. Hermione was sobbing in his arms.

“I’m sorry,” said one of them, and the other said it again, and again and again and again, over and over.

“Hermione,” Ron said at last. “I remember now.”

She let out a shaky breath and laughed.

“I knew you had forgotten. But I was awake then, I just said nothing. I didn’t want it to be true. For years I kept telling myself it was a dream. It was easier than thinking you were there, looking out for me.”

Ron laughed into her hair.

“Well, are you thinking about it now? Because I’m not going to stop caring for you anytime soon. Might as well get used to it.”

Hermione laughed and then turned to face him, to hold his face in her hands and look into his eyes. The streetlight outside provided just enough light for him to see her eyes gleaming behind all the tears, gleaming with determination and love.

“I want to get used to it. To you. Thank you, Ron.”

Ron laughed despite his own tears.

“I’d like that. Getting used to, that, that would be… I love you, Hermione.”

“I know. I’ve known awhile now. I love you too, Ron, I love you.”

That was another night they spent awake together, holding each other and talking. But this time, it was not about the past anymore. They talked of the future.

***

“Resigning. Well, I had not seen that one coming. Right when your time in the Department of Mysteries is over, Weasley?”

“Sir, I realized it was not just the Department. It’s just… the Auror job is not for me. Lately, I’ve been hoping to bring some joy to the world.”

“Well then, Ronald, it’s been an honor,” said Kingsley, getting up from behind his desk to shake Ron’s hand warmly. “I can’t hold you back, though it’s costing me a great Auror. But I’m sure the Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes is a good place for you, son.”

Ron grinned.

“It’s home,” he shrugged.

Harry helped him pack his things. He couldn’t help smiling, despite claims that work would become boring without Ron. As the two were heading toward the elevators, Hermione rushed out of one, beaming and holding something behind her back.

“Oh hi, love—that is, Miss Granger. How’s things in Department Four?” Ron greeted. Hermione beamed.

“All good, but I’m here for you, actually! I’m sorry I can’t see you off, Ron, but, here: a little going-away present.”

“What is… oh, Merlin!”

The tiniest owl cage was placed on top of the paper box Ron was carrying. Inside, a miniscule brown owl was flapping its wings in excitement, eager to be let out. Ron and Harry roared with laughter.

“Thank you, Hermione,”

“Tell George I said hi.”

“You tell him hi! You two will be over for lunch break, won’t ya?”

Harry nodded.

“Tell him hi anyway,” he shrugged.

Ron rolled his eyes in mock exasperation and closed his eyes, trying to fix it in his memory, the three of them laughing, well on their ways to better lives, together.

#romione #romionesecretsanta #gifts17 #fic #rupelover

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