#“successful students were crying themselves to sleep at night. and the reason for THAT is because they don't have a C.O.M.P.S” no jared.

[necromycologist]

all motivational speakers should do the motivational thing and kill themselves

[diedbutterflies69]

Will you stay?- Bang Chan imagine.

Contains: friends to lovers au. , Divorce, smut, fluff, blindfolding, oral sex, explicit sexual stuff etc . Minors don't interact.

Never once on your life, you thought you could get your shit together and laugh genuinely at the worst in world. falling out of love is worse but it's even more worse if it's your it's not you who fell out of love. Married at 22 and the honeymoon phase hardly lasted for a year and by the age of 26 got yourself labelled as a woman who sabotaged her own marriage in thirst of money. Your ex husband was bitter about your success even before you got married. He thought as a woman, you just did bare minimum and got yourself a high positioned rank by sleeping with one of the rich rags. You tried hard enough to hold on to that rotten red string , but he had the scissors and just cut you off. You weren't willing to sacrifice your career just because of his Immature mindset, yes you loved him, but can't a women love her own hard achieved success more? That's the question you wished to ask everyone who pointed there fingers at you. After divorce you didn't feel pain just numbness. Your self-hatred coming more stronger than ever, even hating the job, you tried Saving since years, getting life on track seemed impossible and at the end just quitted. Moved out of the city just to move back to your home town, the root of your real pain. It wasn't really a town but rather a more flashy city, expensive shits which you were unable to afford in childhood but now it wasn't any big deal. Earth is round and sometimes precious people find you all by themselves. Your highschool friend, the only friend you had throughout your lifetime because of your anti social tactics.

Bang Chan, the social butterfly who almost knew every single student in whole school, he was the hottest guy you ever saw in your life and also the kindest. You had crush on him even before you both were friends, he was your senior,used to help you with those shitty math sums, crack jokes every now and then and scolded you whenever you procrastinated. He came to congratulate you even on your graduation day, even though there were many more students whom he met you were still glad atleast someone bought you a beautiful bouquet of tulips and bellflower. The last time you saw him was before you moved out in search of cheap collages without informing him, as you thought you were just one of many friends he had and won't ever notice someone like you existed.

But god, how much wrong you were.

You met Chan after almost 9 years in convince store and his reaction was almost priceless , like finding treasure. He was now more handsome, beautiful and god-like even after all this years his style of dressing didn't Changed much, he still looked like Kim Kardashian at 2021 met Gala. nevertheless his smile still had those healing properties with his Cresent moon eyes. He was absolutely stunning.

The first sentence he spoke after confirming your identity was 'I missed you' and then tons of lectures and questions . Knowing how narrow-minded you were he gasped dramatically. Cheesiest ways of saying how could I forget my best friend and so on. That day was probably the best day of your life and maybe even the day after years you really smiled. You both exchanged numbers and addresses and his home was just 10 minutes away from yours. Destiny indeed.

Now it's been over 7 months since you met Chan again and he never made you felt like you were just one of his 109 friends. Chan made you feel special, after knowing what kind of disaster you faced he was even more supporting of you, you both used to spend weekend together watching variety of shows and movies going to stargazing, best friend goals. After many years you knew even if Chan had many people to confide with he never really did. He was alone, just a night owl obsessed with work. You were happy. And he was happy too. Being just friends was enough for you, but not for him . He was slowly trying to find courage to confess his love to you. He liked you fuck from highschool days. He found you once randomly staring at him across the room and when you suddenly disappeared all his fantasies were scattered, he knew your dreams and was willing to help you with your every step. knowing how messed up your household was from your neighbours he felt guilty for not being able to give you happiness. He loved you, but was helded by his own insecurities.

Not anymore though, he wasn't the same coward who just stared at the love of his life from distance. Being the extra human he was, he bought you one of the most expensive restaurant of the whole country, man was loaded. After driving for almost 5 hours you both finally reached there .

Now a nervous Chan sitting infront of you. You being oblivious to the fact that he has a beautiful diamond ring and a confession to make. Chan handed you the menu card and every single dish had an extraordinary name, without much thought you placed the order.

"atleast tell me now, why are we here?" You asked the man infront of you who was behaving extra weird today, he looked sick and was occassionally asking you random questions.

"No reason, I was in mood for long drives and... You know have a nice meal" Chan said fidgeting with his fingers he was acting like a flustered high school guy it was clearly indicating that he was lying but you didn't really care, Chan was weird sometimes.

"Sounds fake, but okay. By the way you aren't sick right?" You asked Chan out of pure concern as he was sweating profusely even in an cold AC room.

"I am fine, just feeling a little hot. Don't worry", Chan said it was more like he was convincing himself that he was fine and shouldn't worry. He wasn't a teenager but a human with responsibilities who once again fell for someone out of his league, he used to think that and he still sees you as a literal goddess. While he was lost deep in his thoughts, the waiter came with food , and this was his opportunity to shoot his arrow. You both started eating and talked like being in paradise.

"did you liked anyone in highschool?", Chan asked you out of blue making you almost choke on food. The only person whom you liked throughout your highschool days was the guy sitting infront of you and you didn't really remembered much guys and the best answer was probably saying a lie with little truth.

"no one lol", you answered trying to sound chilled but since highschool crush topic was out you weren't able to keep your curiosity with yourself.

"What about you, liked someone?", You asked trying to sound nonchalant and not desperate and bitter.

This was the Exactly the conversation that Chan planned in his mind. And here started his way to either heaven or pit of rejection.

"I loved someone", Chan said and you this time you really choked from the depth of your heart, you thought Chan was anti romantic type of guy as he never talked about of his female friends with you or bragged about his non existent dating life. Trying again to not sound jealous or bitter you spoke again.

" Who was that lucky bit-- I mean girl yes girl? Who was she?", You asked, almost letting out the bitch loudly. You weren't sure but you saw Chan smiling cheekily, he was really getting old acting weird more and more everyday.

"Well... Someone from our school",Chan said and you swear you didn't made a disgusting face showing pure jealousy. The best human in your life and your first ever crush had crush on somebody, you didn't knew why you were feeling so fucking bitter but you weren't able to handle the curiosity anymore.

"Tell me her damn name", you asked Chan in a frustrating tone not being able to keep jealousy to yourself.

"Why you being angry", Chan asked followed by his small laugh.

"I am angry, just the food was a little spicy you answer me now, her name?", You answered Chan with your defenses up and still sticking with your previous question.

Chan in response got a little serious now,you thought he was being childish now, he wasn't a kid who was given a dare to name out his crush yet he was acting like one.

"You won't leave me right, I mean after I answer your question?", Chan asked you and you didn't knew what to say in response you were now a little sus about him.

"fine don't answer, keep secrets", you said and continued eating. The next thing Chan said made you now choke and die on food.

"I loved you and I still love you" Chan said looking down at the table head hanging down like his teenage self just confessed he watched porn infront of his parents. You were shocked, frozen and the your heartbeat 10x faster, you didn't knew how to react and tried to find humor in this extraordinary situation.

"Chan, you kidding right?", You asked Chan with a nervous smile on your face. Chan looked up at you , his eyes trying to find yours but you avoided the eye contact.

"I am serious, I liked you from HighSchool times, I saw you for the first time in library when you were looking at me, I swear you were so beautiful and even now after all this years after seeing you I can't, I can't help but fall for you all over again, sorry"

Chan confessed, his voice filled with sincerity and vulnerability his sentences were scattered here and there and incomplete explanation but still you understood everything he really poured his heart to you, you felt like crying even if you both weren't such stupid cowards back then, then today you won't have turned out a divorced women and Chan a guy who grew out lonely even if he had a world for him.

"What should I say Chan?", You asked Chan you were sounding like a girl whose bf told her to breakup even if the situation was exact opposite. Even if you love Chan , you didn't think about him reciprocating same feelings back to you. You were beyond insecure with your love emotions. One thing was sure you won't be able to love Chan without being a bundle on him. Your emotion Baggage was too big and you didn't want Chan to get his heart too with your stupid emotions.

"I love you and I will be really really good to you. Please try staying with me I will try really hard to earn space in your heart, please?" His confession was like literally begging. You weren't able to believe if he was real or not, if it was a dream that will end as soon as cruel morning comes, this felt like fantasy. Chan was a amazing man, he had everything money ,honour ,beauty a nice heart. He was like a character written by women so perfect so delicate yet strong, and he loves you this fact was enough for to lose your mind. but you thought you were a taint to his beauty, you were a character full of inferior complexes and a person too easy to dislike thats what illusion you made about yourself. A random extra in her own story.

"I will pay the bill, let's talk later", you said and walked away immediately to pay the bill leaving a clueless and disheartened human behind. Chan was able to see how you stopped yourself from saying love you too and throwing yourself in his arms. He wasn't same from HighSchool a guy who gets overwhelmed by his own emotions and gets unable to see others. He knew you had atleast a small space for him in your heart and to make a big room for himself he had to throw out all your insecurities and self hatred. He followed you like a lost puppy and he wanted to pay for food but you already did and now you were already out of restaurant searching for his car to get back.

Chan sitted beside you, without doing anything silence and awkward air surrounding you both.

"start the car", you said breaking down the silence, you were extremely worthless and trash as you made the only one person whom you love feel like nothing.

"Just answer me, will you try dating me please", Chan said his voice again passing draggers into your heart. Trying to form any logical explanation you spoke again.

"I am not looking for relationship right now, see Chan you are amazing, but I can't make you happy now and did you forgot that I am divorced, please understand" you said expressing your real insecurities and fear, fear of not being able to keep a man happy.

"you don't want relationship because you divorced that fucking trash of a man?", Chan asked he was getting frustrated you thought but he just wanted to make you happy and not deny what your heart wants.

"my mind isn't stable, I might just irritate you everytime with my mood, you will will get tired of me and leave me -- I don't want to be alone again I will die if you leave me", you confessed tears threatening to fall out of your eyes there wasn't any doubt that you loved Chan he filled the void in you in just months made you happy but you didn't wanted to just take and take and give nothing in return. Chan's hand found yours interlocking your fingers with so much delicateness that you might cry.

"you think so low of me, just stay by my side I will make you so happy that you will hardly get time to think about your past, trust me", Chan said his fingers slightly lifting your chin up to look into your eyes, you looked in his eyes filled with so much care and this was your last straw before breaking down in his arms.

"I love you, I love you so fuckin much, you were my first love my only friend, my everything, please-- please love me", you confessed tightening your arms around Chan, his scent making you feel safe and like home, his one caressing your hair and other wiping away the tears. Even though the scene was more like a dramatic clique scene whatever emotions you both felt was unexplainable.

"So you my girlfriend now hmm?"Chan asked you for first time in night his voice containing pure happiness and excitement.

"I have a sexy boyfriend", you said smiling from ear to ear against Chan's chest. The label boyfriend making your heart flutter, you didn't knew happiness like this can even exist.

"My love", Chan said his voice sweeter than honey, suddenly the night was more starry."now can we go home?" You asked Chan finally breaking the hug, reality hitted you now Home was 3- 4 hours away.

"I made a reservation in hotel, we gonna spend night there", Chan casually said making your heart jump out of your chest.

"pervert, you planned everything seriously", you said dramatically and giving him a playful digusting look.

"I booked two rooms", Chan said now starting the engine making you feel embarrassed. "Who is pervert now~" Chan said in air teasing you more.

The rest of the ride you both talked about anything and everything. Confessing how you used to find ways to always be in each others vision etc. Both of you finding a new thirsty side of each other. Nothing felt uncomfortable, it was happiness those inhumane laughs crazy tricks you both used to pull everything was heaven. After some time you both reached infront of a gaint hotel , it looked expensive af but regardless Chan knew how to waste money and you were tired of lecturing him about savings.

"let's go", Chan said removing your seatbelt and getting out of car to open the door for ya. He was being so cheesy gentleman and you were enjoying every minute.

"room 42 and 43" Chan said to the receptionist and she handed two keys to him. Thanking her then getting on elevator, you were a little disappointed that you weren't sharing room with Chan, yes you were pervert and total simp for Chan, he was too hot and your sexual drive was getting higher each passing second. The elevator doors opened and you got off. Chan handed you the room key and softly kissed your forehead, both you wished it was your lips.

"if you want anything, just knock okay?" Chan said in his lovely tone, I want you you internally screamed, nevertheless you gave him a nod and got inside that expensive room .

Starring at the ceiling while lying on the bed your mind was full of Chan, you knew he wasn't probably sleeping and was wasting time in watching random shit on internet and you were hungry, hungry for Chan, it wasn't your fault that Chan was so hot. Trying to fall asleep and fidgeting here to there you finally decided to knock on Chan's room door. A danger zone. You noticed how the door flunged open in less than few seconds.

"Hi" you said scratching back of your head and trying to think what next to say.

"Hi..?"Chan said being confused.

"there is cockroach in my room, let me stay with you" you said a clear white lie. Taking impulsive action were never good for you.Chan sighed before opening the door fully and signalling you to come. This was your happiest day ever.

"whY you lying", Chan asked you as you plopped yourself on sofa besides bed. He asked the sentence in a sarcastic way.

"Do you you wanna kiss me?", You asked Chan with a straight serious face catching him off-guard, you didn't wanted to waste more time, you wanted to do everything with Chan, yes fucking on first day of dating was a little too early but you fantasized about this gorgeous man since ages, in your eyes he looked total dom but his reaction to your question was making you doubt your thoughts.

"Are you sure", Chan asked you clearing his throat.

"Are you virgin?"you asked Chan, he was being too nervous.

"Obviously not"Chan answered you in duh tone, rolling his eyes. And it was getting awkward.

"The cockroach must have gone by now I should go, bye", you blabbered and got up ready to leave, you were about to open the door but Chan grabbed your hand and before you knew anything his hands were on your cheeks cupping them softly and his lips so close to yours, Chan's eyes were looking straight in your orbs , your heartbeat stronger than ever.

"Can I?", Chan asked your consent his thumb softly brushing against your lower lip. This man had totally made you insane, something stirred inside you. Chan was perfect he was everything you wished. You gave him a small nod and slowly his lips touched against yours, you wanted to cry, his lips felt so good, he didn't rushed his movements everything was happening in slow motion, he holded you with such a vulnerability like he was afraid that you will go, your hand reached his head, fingers moving through his soft locks. You felt his tongue inside your mouth , you felt a electricity run down your body when the kiss deepened.

We kiss again. The next kiss is the kind that breaks open the sky. It steals my breath and gives it back. It shows me that every other kiss I’ve had in my life has been wrong.

Breaking the kiss Reluctantly in need of air, Chan rested his forehead against yours. He was hot almost like burning, sweating.

"Why are you so nervous, Chan?", You asked Chan hugging him tightly clinging like the last leaf to the tree.

"I am scared, I just love you", He said engulfing you in his arms. And you Finally felt, what real love feels like.

"Love you too", you replied softly.

"Do you wanna continue..?"Chan asked you his tone little less scared.

"Off course", you said looking at him with smile, something inside you told it was okay to let out your freaky side infront of Chan. Chan smiled back and suddenly turned you around , the large bed infront of you.

"Lie down there",Chan whispered in your ears , his low register sending shivers down your spine. This was exactly how you pictured Chan to be, your inner submissive almost died. You followed Chan's word and laid on your back on the bed, now you were feeling like a virgin. His eyes roaming through the room in search of something.

"Are you okay with being blindfolded?", Chan asked you as he came back with the tie he wore today and was rolling it slightly in his palms, and you swear you never saw a man so hot in your entire life. Getting blindfolded was one of your unfulfilled kinks.

"ye- yes", you replied your tone filled with thrill and excitement. Chan came back to you standing near you, his hand softly cupped your cheeks , before bringing the tie to use it in sinistrous way tonight. The cloth felt strange to your eyes, his cologne smell hitting you and Chan caught your shy smile, His heart felt so fluffy. Tieing a comfortable knot Chan sat on bed near your waist. His hands slowly crept near your stomach leaving a direct lingering touch on the sensitive skin, eventually going upwards while giving a little squeeze to add stimulation, his hands reached your boobs, you didn't wore bra, and he wasn't surprised maybe your nipples perked up enough to get noticed, his middle and index finger Rolling your sensitive bundle of nerves, the blindfold making his every touch more intense, your breath was heavy you let out a suprised moan when Chan gropped your right boob in an erotic way, this sole action increasing your wetness down there you were getting impatient. You moaned his name a little loudly when his lips came in contact with your sensitive neck, sucking in a painful way, inorder to leave a hickey.

"Should I touch you here", Chan asked you as his hand reached to your area where you needed him to the most, hands going directly inside your panties ,but not touching he was a teaser.

"yes please", you moaned almost breathlessly too tired of intense foreplay. You just wanted Chan to rip off your clothes and fuck you till sunrise. Getting satisfaction with your answer Chan finally removed every clothing of your lower body, leaving you completely bare, all at his mercy. His finger moved up and down on your opening , the wetness making Chan easily slip his one finger deep inside you.

" my baby is so wet, because of who?", Chan asked you as his finger was moving slowly inside of you and thumb rubbing circles on the bundle of nerves.

"because of.. you", you admitted without any hesitation trying to grind yourself on his hand, begging for more.

"Good", Chan said and without saying anything he added another finger inside you moving a little faster inside your cunt, rubbing your walls with a little pressure, scissoring them inside you painfully and making way for a third finger too and by then you were a complete moaning mess, his fingers were pleasure yet torture the blindfold making your senses weak. Mind full of whatever Cham was giving you. Your legs were shaking sign of your orgasm approaching you, by one hand Chan holded your thighs tightly to their place fingers now moving more faster to make you reach the peak of pleasure.

"Chan.. I--I-I-- wanna cum please", you moaned your little squeaks and begs almost making Chan's cock cum right inside boxers. With some final thrust of his fingers, you cummed the hardest you could imagine, squeaky sounds coming as Chan was fingering you through your orgasm, you almost crying from overstimulation. Moaning his name like a chant.

"you did well",Chan praised you finally removing his fingers from you leaving you empty, but it won't have last wrong. Chan removed your blindfold , the bright lights hurting your eyes, you adjusted your vision and the image of Chan sucking his wet fingers coated with your liquid came directly in front of your eyes. Letting out a helpless whine.

Chan plopped himself on knees on either side of your thighs, finally letting his cock out, leaking with precum, and he was big, thick , you didn't thought he could get even hotter.

"Ready baby?", Chan asked you as he fully undressed himself as well as removing your top, your mind hazey . The scene which you pictured since highschool finally happening.

"yes", you replied Chan, he came down to kiss you passionately and slowly entering inside you. You moaned painfully, tears pulling your vision, it was a painful pleasure. Chan kissed away your tears and hand interlocking with yours after finally being fully inside you he started to move at slow pace.

"you feel so good Chan", almost screaming from pleasure, your whines were fuel to Chan's ego and he increased the pace. Body slapping sound filling the room, his groans were most sexy thing you ever heard. Again and again his tip hitting your deepest spots.

"I am close", you moaned out breathlessly, pleasure becaming too much to handle .you released around his cock, reaching the peak second time at night.

After giving a few more thrusts Chan cummed at your stomach, he was still sane enough to not curse you with kids while being lost in pleasure."I love you", he said as he settled beside you hugging you tightly. This was heaven.

"love you too", you said , your voice a little hoarse.

"by the way I forgot that I bought a ring to propose you", Chan said, realisation hitting him, that he forgot to say the long ass paragraph that he was supposed to say while sitting on one knee. You smiled at his guilty face.

"don't worry, propose me after having shower", you said heart filled with pure joy and happiness . Happiness of knowing that You love someone who will always love you back.

[finnicus-gayicus]

My Hellcheer Thingy

She couldn't believe this. She couldn't believe she was actually waiting in the woods behind Hawkins High for Eddie Munson.

Chrissy Cunningham wasn't the type to do this sort of thing. She was 18 as of 6 months ago, a star cheerleader, a good student, future prom queen according to the cheer squad and the basketball team, and, until recently, even dated the best jock since Steve "The Hair" Harrington and Billy Hargrove. Her high school career was set, her social life was phenomenal, and her status unreachable.

But that was part of the problem.

She only achieved this sort of success by sacrificing a lot. So many hours of sleep lost because of constant studying or showing up to parties to keep her social appearance up, so many meals gone down the toilet to keep herself thin enough to be a flier for the cheer squad and to keep herself looking good enough to be dating Jason Carver. Plus she had to keep filling out applications to the same colleges that Jason was planning on going to. She was lucky to get two hours of sleep most nights. The results of her endless stresses made their appearances at night, interrupting her precious and valuable sleep with nightmares. The nightmares varied; bugs crawling through the cracks in the walls and crawling up her body, burying themselves into her skin before crawling around under it. Or a shadowed figure stalking her as she ran through her house, screaming and crying, begging for help. Most of the times when she had that dream the creature would call after her using a distorted version of her mother's voice. She'd wake up screaming sometimes, much to her mother's annoyance. Her punishment was usually having to forfeit breakfast. Although lately, possibly due to her severe lack of sleep, she could swear sometimes that the bugs were crawling on her sometimes. She hadn't told anyone about it, for obvious reasons. If she let out that she was going insane then everything she was working for and sacrificing would be pointless.

Now she was sitting alone in the woods, waiting on Hawkins' local drug dealer.

Check out my fic here! https://archiveofourown.org/works/41564076#main

[sorryimanon]

Character: Katsuki Bakugou

Parings: Bakugou x fem!reader

Warnings: 18+, characters are in their third year.

Word Count: 5.4K

The two honor students of UA so happen to be childhood enemies. During the succession that is exams, Y/N is determined to beat Bakugou.

-

Exam season has commenced on the campus of U.A. Students woke up in a frenzied state, slightly nervous to the late night studying they’ll endure for the weeks to come. Not enough caffeine can energize them to be in complete motivation mode. A couple of students have taken the leisure of paying those to exchange notes, considering most of the questions will be going over every little detail in each subject. The exams don’t begin till next week, but a few of the honor students have already hit the books, not once indulging in a break or two till the sun sets. One of those students just so happen to be you, an inspiring young hero with the hunger for being on top of everything. Ever since middle school, teachers would constantly praise you on your performance during tests. It was no surprise to anyone when you aced the entrance exam to U.A, a remarkable score leading you closer to reaching your dream. Although your scores on every test was superb, someone else would occasionally steal the spotlight with by topping your score. That person in particular has been tailing behind you ever since middle school, another honor student who also attends U.A as well. Did you mention he also is in the same hero course as you?

Katsuki Bakugou is his name. A name that burns the tip of your tongue whenever you gave roll call alongside Iida. The man is a ball of pure fury. He exuded nothing but anger and hostility whenever he’s in a room. Despite his aggressive exterior, Katsuki is an avid academic student who manages to score excellent grades in each of his classes. For the past 3 years of attending U.A, you two are considered the star studded scholars, never once failing a test, midterm, pop quiz , you name it! Now with your hero course almost coming to an end, you were determined to at least score the highest result this exam season, leaving Bakugou in the dust with his inadequate score. Maybe have him crying in the corner would suffice the drawn out rivalry you two established. No one verbally said it was an all out war between you two, but everytime those test results are posted on the board, everyone steered clear for the both of you to silently react. Everyone awaits for the day when one of you finally snaps and start clawing at each other. But alas, only the mere exchange of a side eye and a curt nod. Deep down you do want to slap the smirk that always resides on his face during those moments, showing him you weren’t just going to let him win by smarts.

That’s why now you sit alone on the cushioned couch in the commons area, books sprawled around you like a protective barrier. You had your eyes glued to a textbook about the history of quirks and their physiology, a class in which you needed to spend studying the most for. It’s been a a few hours into your little study session, and you were beginning to feel the drag of how much you needed to actually work on. All this including your current homework and your mandatory internship studies at an agency. It was all too much to handle. So, maybe you do deserve a break.

Pushing the book aside, you stretched out your cramped up arms and sigh in relief. In the corner of your eye you spot a familiar head of ashy blonde walking into the commons room, books and notebooks crammed into his armpit while holding what seems to be an energy drink. Your eye twitched watching him plop down onto the couch across from you, never once paying attention to your presence. Katsuki then rests his bare feet on the wooden coffee table, opening one of his textbooks with the swipe of his thump. For some odd reason, this really riled you up. And it was clear Katsuki noticed too.

“Am I bothering you? Hm?” He smugly asked, eyes not wavering from the text before him.

You scoffed.

“No. Just, don’t speak while I’m trying to study okay?”

He clicked his tongue at you.

“Doesn’t seem like you’re studying to me. Looks like you’ve given up already. What gives?”

His comment made you even angrier.

“Given up? Kacchan, you’ve barely started.”

Looking up, you can see a faint vein forming against the temple of his forehead. His fists clenched tightly, crumpling the sides of the textbook. His eyes now were averted to yours. The crimson death glare, you’d call it.

“I was training with Kirishima, dumbass. So of course I couldn’t hop onto my studies earlier,” he started. Katsuki opens his energy drink with one finger, the pop of the air leaving the can satisfying to your ears, and took a swing of it. “Also, don’t ever fucking call me that. If I hear it from your mouth again I won’t hesitate to use my quirk on you.”

An intriguing idea. Usually you’d be the one to threaten your enemy, but Katsuki like always beat you to the punch.

“No thanks, I’d rather be harassed by grape juice than be blasted from the likes of you,” the taunt in your voice triggered something within Katsuki, causing him to tense up in pure anger. “Besides, I’m planning on studying all day till my eyes fall out. So don’t expect me to leave this spot.”

His smirk was soon on full display, uncrossing his legs to lean forward so he can rest his elbow on his knee.

“Oh really? Just so you know we have an early training tomorrow in preparation for our final exam. Wouldn’t want ya to, cha know, fail?” He didn’t even sound slightly concern for yourself and your future study habits, you can tell he wishes for you to fuck up your sleeping schedule to miss the important training in the morning.

“I have an alarm set on my phone so I don’t miss my beauty rest. Wouldn’t want to pass up the opportunity of kicking your ass tomorrow,” you held your mobile device triumphantly, waving it back and forth to mock him.

With the roll of his eyes, Katsuki returned back to his studies, leaving you to sadly resume as well. Before he entered the commons area, you were about to head into your dorm room to take a nap, but now you were obligated to stay put without letting him think you’re already burnt out.

Silently, you both continued on with the unspoken competition.

-

Evening struck quicker than you expected, cascading the soft glow of the painted sky through the windows, illuminating both you Katsuki in a pink hue. Thankfully, Katsuki took your words into consideration and never spoke to you during the session, giving you an easy feeling of relaxation without him making it another competition.

Already you finished your notes for advance foreign language, quirk physiology, and mathematics. So far, you were ahead of everyone else, with the exception of Katsuki. Occasionally, you’d catch yourself glancing over at him working intensively in his small corner, highlighting and jotting down every minuscule detail in his notebook. This was your first time witnessing how Katsuki studies. To your disappointment, his regime was nothing out of the ordinary. Then how the fuck does he manage to score high grades? It simply baffled you.

A stampede of footsteps was to be heard coming from the hallway leading to the commons area. After what seems to be years, you cranked your head away from your notebook to see Kirishima and the rest of the gang marching towards the direction of both you and Katsuki, who was currently shooting daggers at the group of friends. The red head was the first to speak out of the four of them.

“Aye Bakubro! Wanna skip the studying for a little and eat with us at NoodleShop?” His smile gleamed brightly, showcasing his shark incisors.

“Y/N you too! Come join us. I’ll pay!” Mina chimed in.

Noodles sounded pretty appetizing right about now. You skipped out on lunch, too engrossed on the idea of getting a head start for the exams. Now you regret the decision of leaving your stomach on empty.

But you still had so much left to do. And knowing Katsuki’s competitive nature, he wasn’t going to move an inch from his spot.

“It’s okay Mina, I uh- already ate a big meal awhile ago,” you dismissed her, patting your belly to show you were indeed, full.

As if on cue, a loud growl erupted from the depths of your stomach, the noise reverberating across the soundless space. Denki and Sero both snickered.

To your amazement, Katsuki got up from the couch and trailed over to the group, slipping on his red hoodie that was draped on the arm rest. He took a quick glimpse at you and smirked over his shoulder.

“Watch my things for me will ya, extra?” And with that they all left the area as a group.

You huffed in defeat and stared back at your jumbled pile of notes, the writing transcending from neat to sloppy text. At least you don’t have an explosive blonde sharing the same air as you for now. You reached into your bag and grabbed another textbook, this one being more heftier than the others.

“Oh well, more time for studying...” you said to yourself as you skimmed through the pages of Hero First Aid: Volume 6.

-

The beautiful spring sky soon was replaced by the expanse of darkness, the twinkle of the bright stars catching your eyes. The moon alone helped cast a sheen of light, allowing you to work in the dimly lit up space. Bakugou didn’t return to retrieve his stuff, all of which were sat untouched in a hasty mess. You figure him and the rest of the gang would have been back on campus by now, but everyone in class 1-A have locked themselves in their dorms since lights out will commence in a few. Aizawa has yet to prohibit you from staying past the curfew. As long as you don’t go running among the halls like a lunatic and stay strictly to studying, he’s all game. And that’s exactly what you did.

A couple of students murmured as they passed by you, saying things like “Does she ever have a life” or “All she does is study...no wonder no one has asked her out yet”. As much as the comments sting, you knew they weren’t true to your heart. Last year, someone in class 2-B formally asked you to the dance. To their dismay, you rejected them on the spot. Only because you didn’t have time to date or talk romantically with anyone. It’s a distraction to both your education and future career.

Okay, so maybe they were partially correct. At least you had your first kiss before entering U.A? But the person who stole your kiss was obligated to do so, after being dared by their fellow acquaintances. Nothing more beyond that have you explored with another person.

Submerged in your own thoughts, you didn’t notice the presence of the angry blonde, hands stuffed in the pockets of his hoodie as he strolled to the couch that had all his materials. He began to gather his things when suddenly he freezes, remembering what you said about not moving an inch from your spot. He’s astonished to see you cemented on the same couch, in the same position, notes blanketing your thighs along with the pile books pooling at the edge.

You really are determined to beat him, he thought. Bakugou can’t deny he’s impressed with your ambition and drive to be the best among your peers, even if that means sacrificing basic human needs. Like food and sleep.

Although, looking at you right now in this state, with your eyes threatening to close shut, mouth slightly agape, and hair bunched up in a tight knot, it’s clear you were exhausted. He spoke without realizing it.

“Hey dumbass! The fuck you still doing here, huh? It’s almost lights out.”

His brooding voice startled you awake, causing the papers on your lap to spill on the carpeted floor. Bakugou coughed out a low chuckle, amused by how the mere sound of his voice scares you.

“Oh it’s just you,” you said, disregarding how that could easily irritate him.

“Yeah, it’s me. Anyway you should be getting rest. You’re smart enough to know that, idiot.”

Even though it was a subtle backhanded compliment, you couldn’t help but to appreciate him acknowledging your intellect.

“I can’t. I have to go over my flash cards for mathematics and then finish this week’s homework for tomorrow—.”

“Holy fucking shit shut up. Don’t you realize what you’re doing to yourself right now?” When you didn’t answer, Bakugou slapped his forehead. “You’re gonna burn yourself out dumbass! Then you won’t have any motivation left to study for when the exams are actually starting.”

Stunned, you watch as Bakugou stomps over to where you’re sitting at, crimson eyes never leaving yours. He then props his leg on the cushion next to your trembling thighs, out stretching his arm to grab ahold of something. Too focused on the proximity between you two, it didn’t register that he swiped your flash cards from your hands. What is wrong with him? Does he want to sabotage you this badly before exams?

“Bakugou! Give those back! I need them for my exam on Monday!” you ignored how whiny you sounded, not wanting to give Katsuki the satisfaction he thinks he deserves.

“You really think whining like a bitch will make me hand these over? Think again, dumb-.”

You cut him off with a surprise attack, shoving his entire body to the ground with the force of yours. Bakugou’s arms were pinned above him as you tried to pry the flash cards from his death grip on them. Stubbornly, he wiggles his body to keep you from reaching his arms, almost knocking you off his torso like a bull. Looking down, both of you were in a compromising position. Straddling his hips while he laid lifelessly underneath you, panting like a feral dog. You tried to keep the heat from spreading throughout your body as you felt his groin rub against your sex, but failed tremendously when he can obviously see the prominent blush creeping on your cheeks.

“What the fuck was that all about?! Why are you so adamant about beating me so much!” He yelled directly in your face.

A question that neither of you knew the answer to. Why were you so determined to destroy Bakugou? Shouldn’t a fellow honor student be happy that another is also making their education a main priority? Or maybe there is another underlying reason, something deeper under the dermis of your skin that you couldn’t quite reach.

You further the distance away from his face by leaning backwards, eventually hitting the front of his thighs and kneecaps.

“You don’t understand. I have to be good at everything. I need this in order to be the hero I’ve been wanting to be. Even if that means neglecting my own needs...” you paused, unsure if Bakugou was even listening anymore. “That is, until you came along and ruined everything.”

“Hah?!” His reaction was incredulous.

“Don’t “Hah” me! It’s been your plan all along since middle school to top me at everything. So why me?!”

“Well maybe it’s because I’ve always looked up to you dumbass! Have you ever considered that!”

The words tumbled out of his throat as if he’s been holding off on the sentiment. Bakugou Katsuki, the abrasive yet studious boy, just so happens to admire you? Never it occurred to you that maybe, just maybe, you also strived to be the absolute best solely because of him. The way he strides into a battle with confidence, not an ounce of doubt that he’ll lose. His diabolical strategies that somehow works out in the end. Or the way how underneath that rough exterior, he believes he’ll be the one left climbing to the top, along with his peers. It’s his sticky pride that kept the rivalry between you two so alive. But was it really a rivalry after all this time?

Eyes widen at the confession, you stay frozen on his lap, fingers bunching up the top half of his hoodie. The silence broke Katsuki. For once, he wanted you to at least admit it, that you were also in the same boat as he is right now. So, he hesitantly reaches out and rests his palm against your flushed face, basking in at your sudden reaction to him touching you.

“Why does everything have to be a competition between us?” His soft spoken voice was uncharacteristic for him, you were so used to his gravelly tone after years of being the victim to it.

You felt the traces of his warm finger tips tickling lines on your outer cheek, as if he’s done this before.

“Isn’t that our dynamic? Competitive enemies?” The comment made him quirk an eyebrow at you.

“Enemies? You were never one in my eyes in the first place...” He trailed off, getting distracted by how close you’ve gotten to his face. To his lips.

“Then, what am I to you?” you leaned in closer, hoping to catch a glimpse of something in his eyes. You took notice that his pupils were dilated, making his eyes darker than usual. The hand rubbing lines on your cheek snaked around behind your head, taking full comfort on the base of your neck. The feeling was quite foreign to you. How long you yearned till days on end for someone to touch you tenderly like this. Especially from someone like Katsuki Bakugou.

“Does this answer your question.” Was all he said before smashing his lips to mount yours, the sudden contact making you shiver in his arms.

You felt him breathe out in surprise against your mouth when you took the initiative by swiping your tongue on his bottom lip. The kiss was exquisitely slow and intense. So intense that Bakugou forgot where he even was at the moment, too engulfed at the texture of your tongue asking for entrance. The fingers digging into the back of your neck started to hurt, but you didn’t mind the pain, the pleasure overwhelming all your senses. You can hear the harsh undertones of his breathing every time you slightly moved the lower half of your body.

“Stop moving, idiot,” he said breathlessly.

He knew he was fucked by seeing the smirk forming on your lips.

“Oh, you mean like this?” You then grind your hips in a harsh motion, relishing in the bashful look on Katsuki’s face.

He let his hands go freely, attaching themselves on both sides of your hips, grounding you to stop altogether. He sat in an upright position, encasing you between his legs and hard chest, your legs wrapping around his torso. Any other time it’d be comforting, but right now you felt like a bird trapped in a cage.

“Who knew the good girl would be so disobedient? Kind of hot not gonna lie.” He bent his head to where it was directly hovering over the sensitive spot on your collarbone. “Even when we’re just making out, you have to make everything a goddamn competition huh?”

A gasp left your throat once his tongue licked a clean strip on the surface. He chuckled, loving the feeling of you squirming in his muscular arms and continued the attack on your skin. His feather-like kisses switched to full on feverish sucking and biting. He proceeded to suck on the area, letting go with a definite ‘pop’, then returned back by making out on the bruised skin.

The combination of his tongue, the death grip on your hip, and the bulge protruding from his loose sweatpants was too much stimulation already. Before you knew it, Katsuki abruptly stood up from the floor, along with you, and placed you back on the plush couch. Your legs were wide open, giving him a good view of your white panties beneath the school skirt. You clamped your legs together after seeing the blonde lick his lips at the sight.

“D-Don’t be such a pervert,” you squeaked out.

That didn’t stop him from slipping his hand in between the crack of your legs, spreading them wider than before.

“Stop lying to yourself. You’ve imagined me between these thighs haven’t you?” The silence following his question was enough to suffice him. “Such a naughty girl.” Those crimson eyes stared straight ahead as he tugged your panties down a notch.

Here?! Right now? Why couldn’t he reside both of you in his dorm? It was literally at the end of the hallway. Plus, the thought of your teacher, Aizawa, catching you would be mortifying.

Your hand quickly latched itself around Katsuki’s forearm, halting him from proceeding his lustrous actions.

“What are you doing?! We could get caught you idiot!”

Katsuki grins and says, “You’re right. We need to find a way to shut you up.” Without preamble, he practically ripped the thin panties with sheer ferocity, causing you to yelp. You were about to scold him for ruining your favorite pair when said panties got shoved into your open mouth. “Remember, don’t want to get us caught right? Now be the good girl like you are and stay quiet for me.” Obediently you nodded at his order and prayed that whatever he’s going to do to you won’t be too much.

Katsuki hummed, obviously pleased at how well you’re going along with this. He wonders how far you’ll go till you break. With the swipe of his tongue, Katsuki dragged it up and down on the opening of your drenched sex. You mewled at the new sensation, legs already trembling as he his own salvia covered your folds. He bit and nibbled on the sweet spot, the clit, and lapped a few lazy strokes with his pointer finger in circular motions. Before you could stop him, he inserted the lubricant finger into your hole slowly, pumping it a couple of times to get you loosened up. Muffled moans perked up the ears of Katsuki. Looking up, he saw the beautiful sight of your eyes rolled behind your head along with the familiar tint of red on your cheeks. Just like the secretive slut you truly are, you swayed your hips to create more friction. Katsuki acknowledged your needy movements and dipped his head between your legs again, returning back to kissing your sex open mouthed. The lewd noises of him sucking on your wetness elicited a long drawn out moan from you, making Katsuki’s own cock twitch at the glorious sound.

“You’re so fucking cute like this. Almost coming from just my tongue and fingers. Fucking slut,” he said between suctions. “God, what were we thinking...we could’ve just resolved our issues like this every time.”

You grabbed a handful of his spiked up hair and raised his head away from your lower region. While doing so, you spit out the soaked clothed panty from your mouth, letting it drift off to the floor.

“Just s-shut up and do something about m-me,” you manage to croak out. You flicked your eyes on Katsuki and to the hand buried inside your skirt.

“Ah, want more than just my fingers? Could’ve just said so. Why are you being so quiet with your needy demands, babe?”

This newfound nickname plucked a heart sting within you. You shook off his snarky comment and stood up from the couch. If it’s a competition he wants, then it’s a competition he’ll get.

“Take off your pants and sit on the couch.”

Craning his head back, his own roar of a laughter bounced across the quiet room. Laughter dying down, his expression changed seeing how serious you actually were.

“Tch. Whatever you say dumbass. Don’t want you to explode on me now.”

He did as you said and removed the article of clothing, leaving him in nothing but his red boxer briefs. The bulge grew bigger the longer you stared at it. He laid back on the plush cushion and rested his arms behind his head.

“Alright, I’m waiting Y/N,” he taunted you.

One by one, you unbutton your school uniform and let it fall off your shoulders, along with your plaid skirt pooling at your ankles. Arms crossed on your chest you tower over Katsuki, who was surprisingly not staring at your goods, but your eyes. Beckoning you forward with his glare, you straddle him immediately, hands resting on his broad shoulders.

My, all these years of being in the same class and never once did you take advantage of appreciating how chiseled he looked in his hero costume. Sometimes you’d glance his way or pretend to be busy, but really, you wanted to see him in action. The way how his muscles would contract with each swing or punch. It was enough to make a girl swoon. Now you were swooning for sure. On his lap to be precise.

“Oi, you gonna do something nerd? My cock isn’t going to finish off itself.” His voice snapped you back to reality.

It took a few minutes, but you were finally hovering over the tip of his throbbing member, the glistening of his pre-cum coating your fingers. You teased him by rubbing just the tip against your entrance, lubricating the member even more. He tried to muffle his whines, but failed tremendously after feeling his tip graze your sex. Both of you were heavily now, anticipation radiating off of your sweaty bodies. Tenderly, you kissed him open mouth while sheathing yourself on his cock.

“Holy shit, holy fuck fuck fuck,” the vulgar words spilled from his mouth against yours as you bottomed out. You stayed in that position. Still unsure what to do and what you got yourself into. Pretty sure you’re torturing Katsuki by the minute.

“F-Fucking move," He growled in your ear.

Leaning in closer you whisper, “You have to beg for it then.” You nibbled the loose skin on the bottom of his ear and tugged it gently.

“Hell no! God-fucking-damnit don’t make this a competition right now Y/N.” The palm of his abnormally large hand pushed your face away from his. You giggled.

“C’mon Bakugou, there’s no harm in it. Just say please?”

“Fuck you shitty woman...”

“That’s not begging,” you pouted.

He pursed his lips. Bakugou admittedly is getting more turned on by the minute, and not just because you were practically inside him.

“P-Please fucking move. I w-want you to fuck me so bad you have no idea. Please Y/N...”

Smiling, you raised your hips to where the veins on the side of his member scraped the walls within you. It made your cunt twitch in pure ecstasy. Slowly, you lowered yourself back down, only this time you weren’t stagnant. You repeated the same vertical movements, clashing your hips with his. Bakugou titled his head back on the couch, degrading sentiments leaving his mouth as his hands grasped the sweaty flesh of your ass, squeezing it harshly every time you bounced on his dick. The tip of his member taking your breath away as it prodded the spongy walls.

“Yes- oh fuck yes. Ngh, keep doing that. Yeah like that. Hah-fuck, don’t stop,” he said between the constant panting.

Due to your rapid bouncing, your boobs were flailing in the air, occasionally hitting Bakugou in the face. Katsuki took matters into his own hands and latched his mouth around one of your perked nipples. You squealed at the sudden sensation.

“B-Bakugou...don’t do that...it’ll make me come faster,” you moaned as he grazed his teeth on your taut nipple.

For revenge, he tugged back the areola till it reached a few centimeters from your chest. Painful yes, but you couldn’t deny it felt amazing. He quickly let go and returned to sucking on the tit, lathering it up with his own spit. All the while you were riding him till the muscles and tendons in your legs gave out. Steadying your hands on his shoulders, you grounded on your knees to give yourself a better leverage. Feeling touch starved, Bakugou shoved your hands from his shoulders and laced his fingers between them. Like a missing puzzle piece, you fit in perfectly with him. Everything about you was perfection. You defined it. Sitting here watching as you take him well, physically or not, he was completely enamored by the mere sight of you. He craned his head to brush just the tip of your nose. A nose he unmistakably mentally captured because he loved the feature so much.

Although, he couldn’t think straight after that once you bottomed out again and rolled your hips in tune to his panting. You made a mess out of the aggressive blonde. Each time you swayed your body to the side he’d grunt out a low moan, trying to contain his usual loud profanities from waking up your classmates. Bakugou reached down and teasingly rubbed the sensitive bud, getting revenge for all the times you’ve pissed him off. Under your breath, you moaned out his last name.

“Say my name,” he grunted, hands continuing to expertly work on you from below.

Confused, you obeyed and moaned, “Bakugou!”

Suddenly, a painful sting sparked throughout your lower back. Eyes glued shut due to the searing pain, you whimper feeling a calloused hand smooth over the spot on your ass.

Katsuki spanked you. And you liked it.

“My actual name, dumbass. I wanna hear it coming from your mouth.”

With a thrust, you continue moving up and down on his cock, never once missing a beat.

“K-...Katsuki. Katsuki-Katsuki...” his name sounded ethereal, as if he was a higher being.

Katsuki returned the favor and fisted your hair in a tight knot, your scalp screaming at how harsh he was pulling.

“That’s a good girl.”

With a playful slap to your behind, Katsuki roughly shoves you to mount his lips again. Lips parted, both of your tongues twisted against each other, sharing a decent amount of saliva. He slipped out and pecked your lips a few times before biting down on your bottom lip. It didn’t hurt like all the times he inflicted pain on you previously. But this time you swore you felt the trickle of blood trailing down to your chin. The coppery taste infiltrating your taste buds only increased your arousal. What a masochist.

Bakugou noticed the pacing of your movements decreasing, indicating you are already feeling worn out, and steadied his hands onto your hips.

“Just let me do the work here, dumbass,” he said as he thrusted sharply into your womb, causing you to whimper into his neck. “I’ll take good care of you. You deserve a break from studying after all.”

-

You woke up feeling dizzy and fatigued, body aching from your toes to your head. From what you can remember, you were in the middle of studying when...

Katsuki happened.

Then you realized you weren’t in the commons area anymore. Somehow, you were laying in a medium sized bed, covers strewn over your naked body, along with a muscular arm draped across your torso. To your side you can see a passed out Katsuki snoring quietly into his pillow. Even when he’s asleep, he still looks angry.

Jolting upright, you carefully pry his arm from your body. No prevail. He’s got a strong hold on you.

He shuffled in his sleep and tightened his grip around you.

“Mmm...not leaving...stay a little longer,” he mumbled.

You rolled your eyes. “We both can’t walk out of your dorm in the morning. People will get suspicious of us. Not to mention Aizawa,” you retorted back.

“Oh? Don’t like the idea of ‘us’ huh? That’s not what you said last night.”

You didn’t need to look to know he was wearing his infamous shit eating smirk.

“Shut up.”

For the first time you heard Katsuki genuinely laugh without forcing it. You looked over and saw his eyes wide open now, staring at nothing but you.

“Whatever, you love me Y/N.”

“I DO NOT!”

Grabbing your face with his rough hands, he pressed a tender kiss to your lips.

“Go to fucking sleep nerd, we have a pre-exam in a few hours.”

-

(You can obviously tell I got lazy at the end LMFAO. This has been in my drafts for a LONG time. Also, this isn’t edited so please excuse the horrendous text that is this post. Xoxo)

[professorsnape394]

The Potions Master’s Apprentice

Chapter Eight: The Goblet of Fire

A/N: This is the Eighth part to my fanfiction ‘The Potions Master’s Apprentice (Severus Snape x OC)’. Chapters 1-16 can be found already uploaded on Wattpad under the same name. Feel free to leave requests in my inbox for anything Snape related you want me to write. Leave a comment below if you wish to be added to my tag list.

Pairing: Severus Snape x OC (Dumbledore’s Granddaughter)

Summary: A talented young witch is employed as an apprentice professor at Hogwarts, but who will she be working under? Severus Snape is not best pleased with his new responsibility of taking on an apprentice, however she is relentless to create a friendship between them. Will she be successful? Or might the friendship just go a little two far? With the eyes of her grandfather constantly watching over them, an attempt at a relationship might not be in the cards for Aria Dumbledore and Severus Snape.

Word Count: 2428

Warnings: slight mentions of blood, possible accidental self-harm trigger warning. 

Credits to Gif Creator

A small commotion from the Great Hall piqued Aria's interest, her curiosity getting the better of her. The room radiated an icy blue light emitting from the centre of the room which contained the infamous Goblet of Fire. A group of around 20 students or so surrounded the cup, all laughing and taunting the two boys who sat on the edge of the age circle that had been drawn by Albus Dumbledore, a bemused look stuck on their faces. Aria watched as their enchantment took its toll on the Weasley twins. They had been attempting to enter themselves into the Tri-Wizard tournament, but to no avail. Professor Dumbledore's spell was far too powerful for the likes of Fred and George Weasley.

Not even attempting to hold back her laughter, Aria approached the boys, helping them to their feet. Almost instantly they practically tackled the woman back down to the ground.

"I missed you boys." She grinned from ear to ear, regaining her balance, giving her skirt a thorough brush down.

Exchanging more than a few pleasantries the trio caught up with each other, before Aria remembered her position as Professor, that is. Giving the boys a light scolding for their stupidity, Aria opened her mouth to take away a number of Gryffindor's house points, however she was quickly interrupted by the hushed gasps of students and the scurrying of feet as they cleared the room, leaving only the twins, Aria Dumbledore and one Severus Snape.

The Potions Master cleared his throat catching the attention of the Students and their friend. Embarrassed she had been caught not properly carrying out her duties as Professor, Aria put some distance between herself and the Weasleys.

"Ten points from Gryffindor." Snape declared, glaring at his fellow professor more than the students. "For each of you." He finished, a rather satisfied grimace appearing on his face. The boys let out a long groan but kept their mouths shut, knowing better than to object.

"I was handling it." Aria objected, taking another step in the direction of the Potions Master.

"Clearly." He droned with a roll of his eyes. "It certainly looked like you were handling it when the three of you were carrying around on the floor, exchanging familiarity's, and hugging." His disdain for the act almost making the word almost unbearable to say.

Aria opened her mouth to explain herself but was once again interrupted by the presence of the Headmaster.

"Mr and Mr Weasley." Dumbledore announced. "I suggest the two of you make your way to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey will meet you there." The boys gave a thankful nod to the Headmaster before rushing from the room, eager to reverse their own enchantment.  "As for you, Miss Dumbledore, I advise you to keep outside relationships professional while here Hogwarts. I will not abide my Professors playing favourites among students for personal reasons, do you understand?"

"Of course, Headmaster." Aria whispered, taken aback by her grandfather's use of their shared last name.

Albus gave the pair of Professors a final sceptical look before leaving them alone. 

The young witch gave her mentor a look of disapproval, eyeing him up an down. It had been almost a month since their small heart to heart, if you could even call it that, and Severus had pulled himself together quite nicely. He had cut back on the binge drinking and was getting at least some amount of sleep, whereas before Aria wasn't sure if he had been getting any at all. Just as much as he had regained his physical appearance, he had almost completely reverted back to his arrogant self. Only this time he was not quite as vocal about his dislike for his apprentice.

Neither of them had attempted much of a conversation regarding anything other than work but they had gotten used to each other's company and often spent the evenings marking together comfortable silence, occasionally sharing the odd pot of coffee on those long nights when neither of them had the energy to stay awake.

The past few days however, saw Severus begin to pick up his bad habits once more. Not so much the drinking, but his insomnia and irritability, particularly towards Miss Dumbledore, had definitely made a comeback. Yet, she couldn't quite figure out what was making him act this way. The Professor had made it clear to her there was an another factor besides herself but she had not one clue what, or rather who, it might be.

Aria kept her distance from the man over the weekend following their last meeting, hoping not to aggravate him any more than necessary. Although one thing Aria did not have the ability to control was her curiosity. She could not help but be drawn to anything she deemed interesting. She had no self control and just always had to get herself involved, whether she was welcome or not.

An occasion where her inability to keep out of other people's business proved a nuisance occurred no longer than a few days later, following the Weasley twin incident.

Sat alone in her chambers, quietly reading to herself, Aria could not help but overhear the hushed argument occurring in the hall. She knew she shouldn't snoop; she told herself it would only end badly. But the whispers were practically calling to her as they made their way along the dungeon halls into her private quarters.

Although she could not make out the dialogue, she immediately recognised the voices; Severus Snape and Igor Karkaroff, Headmaster of Durmstrang. The unlikely pair only intrigued her more, but she fought the urge to intrude.

As quickly as they had begun the hushed tones of the men disappeared out of ear shot. The sound of Snape's office door slamming behind them. Content with not being able to hear the voices any longer, Aria was able to suppress her urge to interfere and get back to happily reading her book.

That is until the sound of shattering glass filled the halls followed by less hushed tones from the men. Igor was practically shouting at Severus meanwhile the Potions Master chose his words extremely carefully, never letting his voice raise above a certain volume. The voices continued to argue, Severus telling Igor over and over again to leave, but the man refused to listen. It was clear to Aria that Igor was testing Snape's patience and any minute now the man would snap, just as he had done with her many times before.

Another smashing sound came. Then a throaty cry from Severus. His tone a mix of anger, pain and impatience.

"Get out, now." The Potions Master finally said, his voice full of venom and dangerously low in volume. The only reason Aria heard any of this was that she was now almost fully out of her chambers and making her way down the dimly lit hall.

She passed a rather flustered looking Karkaroff on her way down to meet Severus. The Durmstrang headmaster locked his eyes onto her own, a look of danger swimming inside his mind. His gaze slowly lowered itself down the whole of her body, taking in every inch of the woman's physique. She couldn't help but notice the unnerving wink he gave her as she walked by.

Eager to get to her colleague and mentor, she uncomfortably shuffled past the man, rushing her way down the rest of the hallway. By the time she got there Severus Snape's door had once again been slammed shut.

Gingerly rapping her knuckles against the cold hard wood, Aria let herself into the room, making sure to close to door behind her once more.

"Severus." She whispered, making herself known to the man who's back was turned to her. "Are you okay? I heard glass smashing, did he break anything?" The professor asked, looking around the room to spot several piles of broken glass scattered across the floor, including one small clump on his desk. As she took a closer look she spotted small beads of blood clinging onto the tiny shards. Snape turned to face the woman, a contorted look of discomfort and anger evident on his features.

"Please leave me alone, Miss Dumbledore. I do not have the energy to deal with you today as well as Professor Karkaroff."

"You're hurt." Aria gasped, paying no attention to whatever the man had just said.

"I'm fine. Please, just go." He sighed, taking a seat behind his desk. Again, Aria paid no attention to the professor's wishes, instead she took the seat across from his, carefully disposing of the cluster of smashed glass.

"Let me see your hand."

"I said I'm fine." Severus grumbled once more.

"Give me your hand, Severus." Aria commanded, extending out her own for him to rest his on. A few moments and one skeptical glare later Severus gave in against his better judgment, presenting his bloody wound to the woman, with a roll of his eyes.

Another gasp escaped her lips as he rested his hand against her own, the deep gash more visible to her now than ever. Her delicate fingertips traced the skin of his palm, careful not to go too near to where his hand had been sliced open. Severus felt a serious of tingles dance up us spine while the women did this, the pace of his heart picking up slightly.

"How did this happen? Did Igor-?" She wondered letting her sentence trail away.

"No, not at all." Snape shook his head. "It was my own stupidity." He admitted. "I was taken away with my anger then I smashed a glass jar under my hand in a fit of rage. I hadn't quite thought of the consequences of my own strength.

"There's glass buried deep in there. We have to get it out." Aria gently lowered her mentors hand to the desk, jumping up from her seat and scurrying around the room, picking up countless jars of ingredients and vials containing potions. "Don't you have anything to clean the wound?" She questioned desperately, working herself up into a panic.

"Third shelf from the top, seventh bottle from the right. You'll find a vial of clear liquid." Severus couldn't help but let his eyes follow the witch as she followed his directions to the store cupboard. The way she panicked over a less than fatal wound was endearing to him. He knew although he had sliced through the skin, it was easily fixable and there was no need for the haste she had quickly adopted. Yet enjoyed the thought that she cared for his wellbeing.

"Got it." She announced, brandishing the bottle proudly. Rushing back to her seat, she pulled a cloth from an old set of drawers and dowsed the material in the liquid. "What even if this anyway? some anti-bleeding potion or something."

"Alcohol." He replied simply, a ghost of a smile threatening to appear on his face as he caught the reaction of his colleague.

Aria let out a burst of nervous laughter she couldn't hold back.

"Well then, I guess you better prepare yourself, because this shit is going to sting like a motherfucker." She warned, extracting the glass from the wound and pressing the damp cloth into the gushing gash. Severus winced in pain, but tried his hardest not to let it show.

"Hold it there for a minute or two then the wound should be thoroughly sanitised and will able to be bandaged up." Aria gave him a nod of understanding, her gentle hands clasping around his rough calloused one. The two shared a moment of intense eye contact, neither of them daring to speak a word.  When it became clear to the both of them that they could no longer keep it up Aria broke contact, reaching for the long roll of bandages, a small blush rising to her cheeks.

"What was he doing here?" Aria dared to enquire.

"That's none of your concern." Snape replied simply, his tone turning sour once again.

The room went silent for a minute or two before Snape chose to break the ice.

"Now that I have you here, care to explain your little display of affection with the Weasley twins the other day." Snape spoke, his gaze flickering between the woman's face and her delicate hands which wound the bandage carefully around his palm and wrist.

"Oh, I thought you knew!" Aria responded, caught off guard by his sudden interest. "Before I came to Hogwarts I lived with the Weasley's at the borrow for a good few months. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were friends with my mother, they really helped me settle in before coming here. The twins and I got to know each other quite well, we had become good friends over the summer."

"Mmmmm." Severus hummed. "I am quite sure I know why they wanted to get know you so well. Hormonal teenage boys can only have one motivation."

Aria scoffed shaking her head at what the man was insinuating.

"Oh come off it Severus, we were friends, nothing more. Besides, their my students now, I plan on keeping a profession relationship between us, just as my grandfather asked." She smiled, tying a small knot in Snape's bandage to finish the job.

"There good as new." She smirked, her thumb mindless stroking the skin of his wrist.

"Perfect." Snape retorted.

Both Aria and Severus stood to attention, almost simultaneously. The space between them slowly closing in on itself as they felt themselves being drawn towards each other. Deep and low breaths were the only sound filling the room as the two stood almost chest to chest, tension building between then by the second.

Shaking themselves back to reality, Aria took a few steps away from Severus and towards the door, feeling she had fulfilled her stay and did not want to risk overstaying her welcome.

"Surely there would have been an easier way to fix this? Don't you have a potion or something to heal it instantly." Aria wondered aloud, hand clasped tightly around the old iron door handle, only just now coming fully back to reality.

"I might do." He shrugged.

"The why did I waste both our times sitting here bandaging you up?" She cried, though she wasn't nearly as mad as she let on.

"You amused me with your panicked nature, I wanted to see how well you worked under pressure. None-the-less this would will heal just as well without the use of magic and I will be once again back to normal."

"God help us all." Aria laughed, pleased to see Severus had not taken her comment to heart. And with that she was gone.

Taglist:  @ayamenimthiriel @lizlil​

[hd-wireless]

🎶 H/D WIRELESS FEST - REVEALS 🎶

At last, the day you’ve been waiting for! It’s the REVEALS! 

Come check out the talented people who created your favourite Wireless fics and artworks!

Massive thanks once again to all the 54 creators of our 64 works (yes some people created multiple works! Special mention to cloudlesslysky who wrote FIVE fics!). And thanks also to all the readers, betas and supporters of H/D Wireless! It’s been a bumper year!

Without further ado...

🎶 H/D Wireless Art 🎶

📻 Stuck on the Bridge Between Us (G)  by pygmy_puffy @pygmy-puffy

🎵 Song prompt: Talk Me Down by Troye Sivan

🎵 Summary: finding the courage within themselves to be vulnerable, so they can stop hurting the other and start loving each other as they so deeply want and need to

📻  So Let's Dance, Take a Chance, Understand Me (T) by Dazed_and_Inked @dazedandinked

🎵 Song prompt: T.Rex, Get It On

🎵 Summary: The War is over and everything has changed.

After a few of years of travelling around the world, Harry decided to move to Muggle London, looking for peace and a place where the scar on his forehead doesn’t have a meaning. His new flat is in a perfectly normal neighbourhood close to the centre, quiet during the day but full of students at night.

He really likes the small bar down the road, a place that serves cheap, awful drinks and plays good old classics. It’s always crammed with people talking, laughing or dancing along with the riff of electric guitars.

From the first time he crossed the threshold, Harry thought it was perfect, the right mix of noise and warmth to be alone without feeling alone. Just what he needed.

He couldn’t imagine that someone else was there for the very same reason, looking for a place where the Dark Mark was only a tattoo.

Blame it on the alcohol, on the music or whatever you want, but when Harry’s eyes landed on Draco’s slim figure, swaying on the dancefloor, something warm and inexplicable possessed him. 

📻  The Pass (T) by julchen_in_red @julcheninred

🎵 Song prompt: The Pass, by Rush

🎵 Summary: Draco, lost in darkness, seeks a guiding light.

📻  If you knew… (T) by gnarf @gnarf

🎵 Song prompt: Young Folks from Peter Bjorn and John

🎵 Summary: The war had left scars on all of them.  Some were obvious. Some only if they looked closely. But the worst ones were those they couldn't see. Those that were hidden inside.

📻  an ode to the boy i love (G) by nettleforest @nettleforest

🎵 Song prompt: Animal - Troye Sivan

🎵 Summary: an evocation of vulnerability, trust and tenderness

📻  Home Sweet Home (G) by gnarf @gnarf

🎵Song prompt: Radioactive - Imagine Dragons

🎵 Summary: In the middle of a Zombie apocalypse Harry made it his main goal to find a safe home for Draco and himself.

📻  Turn back time (T)  bt erlasart @erlasart

🎵 Song prompt: If I Could Turn Back Time - Cher

🎵 Summary: Draco's had a rough few years, if that's what you call falling in with a bad lot, attempted murder and a close brush with death. Now facing the weight of his misdeeds, Draco tries to pinpoint when it all went wrong.

📻  Time to Get Out (T)  by SoldSeperately @secretartlair

🎵 Song prompt: My House - PVRIS

🎵 Summary: A few years post-war, Pansy convinces Draco to go on a night out at a muggle club. They run into some familiar faces.

🎶 H/D Wireless Art and Fic 🎶

📻  A Different Kind of Meaning (E, 17k) by p103 @p103 (art by Zigster)

🎵 Song prompt: Outnumbered - Dermot Kennedy

🎵 Summary: The ceiling doesn't hold any answers, but there are cobwebs scattered across the corners with shadows tangled in their threads. The rug against his back is rough and scratchy, threadbare and devoid of colours other than various shades of brown. Harry takes it all in, absorbs the dingy and depressed state of his home. There's a pointed moment of decision, a note about to be played, a silence about to end, and then he rolls to his feet and sets to cleaning.

It's the first constructive thing he's done in years. 

📻  Keep Holding On (M, 33k) by gnarf @gnarf (fic) and MaesterChill @maesterchill (art)

🎵 Song prompt: Welshly Arms - Sanctuary

🎵 Summary: After the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry and Draco both fall into their own battles with their mental states. Draco is sent to Azkaban, and Harry turns to drinking, hoping to forget.

Months later, Harry visits St Mungo’s new ward on request of a friend, only to find Draco in a deep vegetative state.

Not willing to give him up, Harry stays by his side, while simultaneously dealing with the Ministry's newest grand idea to make everything worse.

Making new alleys, and losing old ones on the way, would hopefully be worth it in the end.

📻 Fic : Modern Love (E, 61k) by tackytiger @tackytigerfic

📻 Art : Our Love Song (G) by chachisoo @creeeee

🎵 Song prompt: Modern Love by David Bowie

🎵 Fic summary: Harry Potter, of all people, knows that life isn’t always fair. And no one gets to be happy all of the time. But surely there’s something more—something better—than a rubbish Ministry job, and a lonely old house, and that feeling that everyone out there is doing a better job of living than Harry is.

And it really doesn’t seem fair that Draco Malfoy is back in Harry’s life, all of a sudden, and even though he’s wandless, and living with Muggles, and making his mother cry with his lifestyle choices, he’s happy. So what's he doing right, that Harry isn’t?

Because things don’t really change, do they? And if Harry can’t be happy, he’ll settle for a good night’s sleep, some posh antiques, and the opportunity to find out what Malfoy has been up to for all these years.

And that’s what starts it all.  

🎵 Art summary: Harry and Draco enjoying a Sunday morning bus ride in London.

📻  For the Thousandth Time (T, 14k) by bluefay @thesleepiesthufflepuff (fic) and mehroomiyat (art)

🎵 Song Prompt: Lucky by Aurora

🎵 Summary: When Draco's wand refuses to work after the war, he turns to Harry for help. 

📻 Fic : Returning Tides (E, 24.5k) by Zigster @zigster-ao3

📻 Art : Love Will Tear Us Apart (G) by Zigster @zigster-ao3

🎵 Song prompt: Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division 

🎵 Fic summary: 

Is my timing that flawed? Our respect run so dry? Yet there's still this appeal That we've kept through our lives

🎵 Art summary: Art piece to accompany the fic ‘Returning Tides’, based on the song claim, 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' by Joy Division ***** Harry's brooding while straddling a motorbike. Need I say more?

📻  That Sweet Sweet Craving (E, 33.2k) by TheUltimateUndesirable @ultimateundesirable

🎵 Song prompt: Bleeding Out by Imagine Dragons 

🎵 Summary: Harry is miserable living a lie because he thinks being a gay role model is wrong. Fake dates raising money for a charity that ends up putting him in a situation he had never expected. Draco Malfoy appears back in his life by some odd chance trying to flip his world upside down and he isn't sure it's a good thing. Malfoy always worked that way to him. Mental health issues, sex, escaping, and that sweet sweet craving of happiness.

🎶 H/D Wireless Fic 🎶

📻  Follow the Water (T, 38.2k) by xanthippe74 @xanthippe74

🎵 Song prompt: “Follow the Water” by Calexico/Iron & Wine

🎵 Summary: Harry Potter’s life is fine. Maybe a little dull and predictable, but he shouldn’t complain about that, right? When he unexpectedly finds himself at Luna’s house one afternoon, Harry gets invited to join the secret wonderland that she’s creating with a surprising group of friends. Maybe a summer outdoors is just what a former hero needs to bring some zest back into his life.

📻  Life goes not backward (T, 8.8k) by shealwaysreads @shealwaysreads 

🎵 Song prompt: Daughter by Loudon Wainwright

🎵 Summary: Harry still isn’t used to gifts, but this one is different.

A story of coming home, finding safe ground, and the wild courage of putting down roots.

Leaving one life behind isn’t always a sacrifice, and sometimes the greatest good comes from embracing the people you love. 

📻  The Way We Used To Love (E, 5.3k) by Zzzara @big-draco-energy

🎵 Song prompt: 'Used to Love' by Martin Garrix & Dean Lewis

🎵 Summary: Is there hope when what is not enough for the one happens to be too much for the other? 

📻  but if you close your eyes (T, 3.3k) by cloudlesslysky @cloudlesslysky 

🎵 Song prompt: Pompeii by Bastille

🎵 Summary: The New Magic Order is trying to take over Wizarding Britain. They're not the Death Eaters, but they're not any better either.

The lines of alliance have shifted, but Harry is still on the front lines working tirelessly to stop them.

📻  Haunt the corner of my eye (T, 23k) by harryromper @harryromper

🎵 Song prompt: Echoes of You - Marianas Trench

🎵 Summary: Harry’s life is very much on track. After a successful career as an Auror, he’s set to become the youngest ever Minister for Magic. But strange things are starting to happen at Grimmauld Place. Items he doesn’t recognise are appearing left and right, and somehow he never feels quite alone. There’s only one thing Harry knows for sure: it has something to do with Draco Malfoy.

📻  Now that the spring is in the air (T, 5.7k) by cloudlesslysky @cloudlesslysky 

🎵 Song prompt: Seasons in the Sun by Westlife

🎵 Summary: A surprise attack in Diagon Alley leaves Draco struggling to make peace with the fact that he won't live long enough to experience his own wedding.

📻  Seven Days to Monday (M, 11.7k) by static_abyss @static_abyss

🎵 Song prompt: Say Something - A Great Big World

🎵 Summary: There are seven days before Harry has to meet Draco for the final signing of their divorce papers. It's been months and the surprise at finding nothing but more cold sheets and an empty pillow next to him still catches Harry unaware. He doesn't know where they go from here. Whether it's possible to go anywhere after everything that's happened between them.

📻  Blond Brew (E, 30.4k) by MicheleBlack @micheleblack

🎵 Song prompt: “Blondes” by Waterparks

🎵 Summary: A blond roast with soy milk makes Draco's morning, but a pair of green eyes makes his week.

📻  A Series of Nonsensical Events (T, 12.8k) by CoffeeCurse @coffee-curse

🎵 Song prompt: My Gospel by Charlie Puth

🎵 Summary: Malfoy is up to something. When Harry and the other Aurors are called into a Gringotts break-in and find him the culprit, Harry’s at a total loss.

But things only get weirder from then on.

📻  Ignore the Truth (E, 2.6k) by static_abyss @static_abyss

🎵 Song prompt: Dangerously - Charlie Puth

🎵 Summary: "Longtime on-again-off-again lovers Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy were caught in a compromising position in one the Ministry's lifts yesterday evening. While fans of the couple are optimistic, there's still doubt as to whether or not this particular reconciliation will last. When asked directly about the nature of his relationship with Draco Malfoy, the Boy Who Lived had simply this to say, 'Fuck right off, we're busy.'"

- The Daily Prophet, "Love Is In The Air," 28th Oct. 2005.   

📻  Your Daddy Knows (You're A Flame) (E, 27.8k) by Ladderofyears @ladderofyears

🎵 Song prompt: Babyfather by Sade (2010)

🎵 Summary: It's just over a week until Draco's twenty-fifth birthday party and Harry Potter is a busy wizard. Amongst all the excitements of fatherhood, work and friends, Harry realises something special about his husband Draco. He is pregnant with their second, much wanted baby.

There's only one problem: Draco is entirely oblivious to the fact and seems determined to remain so. 

📻  Don't search me in here (E, 6.7k) by Sassy3 @sassy-sassy3

🎵 Song prompt: Gone - Charlie XCX & Christine and the Queens

🎵 Summary: Draco spotted him in a corner, crowded by Ministry employees. He looked like an animal, trapped in a cage. He had a strained smile on his , and his eyes were looking everywhere else than on the people in front of him.

Draco can’t quite help himself, watching Potter from afar. Just out of curiosity, of course. He’s happy with his life, nothing is missing, and if he’s lonely it’s entirely by choice. 

📻  I Can Be Your Lighthouse (T, 4k) by orpheus87 

🎵 Song prompt: The Lighthouse by The Used

🎵 Summary: When Harry gets called to investigate reports of Dark magic, the last thing he expects to find is an almost unconscious Draco Malfoy. After multiple instances, he resolves to find out what's going on.

📻  Drop Everything Now (T, 21k) by parkkate @parkkate

🎵 Song prompt: Sparks Fly by Taylor Swift

🎵 Summary: After accidentally bonding himself to Malfoy, Harry finds himself in an utterly precarious situation… 

📻  No one fucks with us (T, 3.3k) by Laura_Sinele @laurasinele

🎵 Song prompt: NFWMB by Hozier

🎵 Summary: Draco Malfoy wonders for how long has Harry Potter been a terrifying force of nature. Harry Potter thinks Draco Malfoy has been a badass MF all along. If the world has to end so they can have some peace and quiet, be it. They'll set it on fire.

📻  Will You Stay with Me? (M, 10.2k) by EvAEleanor @eva-eleanore

🎵 Song prompt: ‘Run’ - Daughter

🎵 Summary: Ten months ago, Draco had found none other than Harry Potter blindly drunk and bleeding outside a Muggle pub. He'd brought him home and hasn't left his side ever since. He looked after him, took care of him when yet another nightmare plagued him. 

Harry is sure that Draco will leave him at some point, and he can’t let it happen. He can’t have another person leaving his life unexpectedly. So, Harry forces him to leave — after they spend one last night together.

📻  until the sun has changed the colour of my hair (T, 4.9k) by cloudlesslysky @cloudlesslysky 

🎵 Song prompt: Jag saknar dig mindre och mindre - Melissa Horn

🎵 Summary:  Draco's life has been one big mess ever since Potter broke up with him. He doesn't want to see his friends, he's too ashamed to see his parents, and his apartment is one giant mess. He's constantly prepared for disaster, and spends his time either alone in Muggle parks or in his apartment. But one day... One beautiful day... He will forget Harry, surely.

📻  Love Found (E, 7.5k) by peachpety @peachpety

🎵 Song Prompt: I Found, by Amber Run

🎵 Summary: During Harry’s sixth year, Draco Malfoy joins the Order as a double-agent and continues with his task to get the Death Eaters into the castle as assigned by Voldemort. Draco succeeds with his mission the evening Harry returns from the caves with Dumbledore. The boys reunite on the Astronomy Tower and, with the Death Eater’s arrival, are forced to engage in a fight, driving Harry to come to terms with his feelings about true friendship and romantic love.

📻  On the Third Day He Took Me to the River (M, 14.4k) by pixiedustatsundown @pixiedustatsundown 

🎵 Song prompt: 'Where the Wild Roses Grow - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds ft. Kylie Minogue'

🎵 Summary: This is a story of two lonely young men falling in love.

This is a story about dreams and duty, about witches that give purpose to the one and doom the other.

You think you know how the story goes, but this is a different story, and it doesn't end well. 

📻  (When They Only Hear You Whisper) I'll Be Loud For You (T, 2.8k) by VeelaWings @veelawings

🎵 Song prompt: There for You - Martin Garrix/Troye Sivan

🎵 Summary: Potter must have been having nightmares again. He was restless in his bed across the room. Moonlight shone through his open bed curtains and highlighted the contours of his body, the grimace on his face blatant. His thick blanket was kicked down, one leg still covered by his twisted sheet, the musk of his sweat pungent in their small dorm. Low grunts accounted for the majority of the noise he made, but it was peppered by the occasional groan or unclear shout of words. However, ‘No,’ was always clear.

Draco hated it. 

📻  The Interview (T, 17.3k) by Cibee (Cibeeeee) @cibeewastaken

🎵 Song prompt: Just Say Yes - Snow Patrol

🎵 Summary: One interview had Draco realizing how naïve he was for thinking he deserved Harry. 

📻  Lookalike (M, 1.4k) by Zzzara @big-draco-energy

🎵 Song prompt: 'Lookalike' by Conan Gray 

🎵 Summary: When you look in his eyes, Do you think of mine? And when you look at that smile, Do I cross your mind? I know in your head You see me instead 'Cause he looks a lot like I did back then Baby, don't lie, He's just a lookalike... ©

📻  As Fascinating As a Slap Bracelet (T, 13.2k) by acupforslytherin @acupforslytherin 

🎵 Song prompt: Have It All - Jason Mraz

🎵 Summary: Who would have thought that a wacky little Muggle toy would lead to an unlikely friendship between Harry and Draco? Not Harry, certainly.

Who would have thought that this friendship would bloom into something more? Well, Ron, for one. 

📻  If Sex Is the Drug, Then What Is the Cost (E, 3.8k) by EvAEleanor @eva-eleanore

🎵 Song prompt: I Almost Told You That I Loved You - Papa Roach

🎵 Summary: For quite some time, Harry has been seeing Malfoy. Well... Actually, he's hired Malfoy, to keep him company, in his bedroom. It's only sex — honestly — and since Malfoy is the best, he's the only person Harry wants. That's all it is, right? 

📻  I Grow Fonder Every Day (M, 21.6k) by Drarrelie @drarrelie

🎵 Song prompt: One and Only by Adele

🎵 Summary: Draco still doesn’t know if it’s a blessing or a curse, sharing a flat in Muggle London with Harry Potter.

It’s all Draco’s ever wanted — more than he’d ever wished for. And if it entails suppressing his inconvenient feelings for the man, so what? He’s perfectly happy with his life as it is, perfectly content with just having Potter close and enjoying his company.

That is, until one Friday evening at the beginning of April when the end starts. 

📻  How Can I Live Without you? (G, 2.2k) by ununquadius @ununquadius 

🎵 Song prompt: "So Far Away", by Avenged Sevenfold

🎵 Summary: After Draco's death, Harry wonders how can he live without the one he loves when he's so far away.

📻  Following the Arrow to Your Heart (E, 10.9k) by goddessofthehearth 

🎵 Song prompt: Give Me Love by Ed Sheeran

🎵 Summary: After the war, Draco is recruited into the Department of Love (aka Cupid's Arrow). His job is to bring together witches and wizards whose magical signatures are only compatible with each others' (essentially soulmates). As they all learned during training, Cupids are chosen because they do not have soulmates.

Six years later, Draco's convinced himself that he's perfectly fine with not having a soulmate. But his latest client turns out to be Harry Potter, and he's forced to reconsider in light of his old feelings.

📻  cos I only need your name to call the reasons why I fought (T, 6.6k) by cloudlesslysky @cloudlesslysky

🎵 Song prompt: War, by Poets of the Fall

🎵 Summary: Ron and Hermione leave the Horcrux hunt, leaving a hurt Harry behind.

But at least Draco is still there with him.

📻  Madness (M, 10k) by tigersilver 

🎵 Song prompt: House of Fun by Madness

🎵 Summary: A desperate search for contraception all around Diagon Alley.

📻  Between Myth and Man (E, 16.2k) by slytherco @slytherco 

🎵 Song prompt: Why'd you only call me when you're high? - Arctic Monkeys

🎵 Summary: Draco, lost and a little broken, navigates post-war reality convinced that people like him should not be allowed to make their own choices. To solve the problem of his self-sabotaging tendencies, he starts taking a few drops of Veritaserum every morning.

A story about the complexity of choices, repressed desires that come to the surface when we least expect them, and the utter hopelessness of truths built on a foundation of lies.

📻  stay awhile (stay here with me) (T, 3.1k) by panicparade @panicissharp​

🎵 Song prompt: I like me better - Lauv

🎵 Summary: "Then when?" Harry tries again. He's not sure if he really wants to see the photo or if he just wants to keep talking to Malfoy. This Malfoy, who is so different from what he was expecting. In his Muggle jeans and smartly pressed sweater, with an air of vulnerability around him that Harry isn't used to seeing, Malfoy looks approachable in a way he never has before.

Harry stops his fidgeting as Malfoy looks up to meet his eyes. Through the hum of the crowded pub, he has to strain a little to hear him. "Maybe," Malfoy starts, hesitating a little but never breaking eye contact, "one day?"

📻  All it needs is messing it up and stars (G, 5.9k) by a_reader_and_writer @harrypotterfanfictionwriter

🎵 Song prompt: Tongue Tied by Faber Drive

🎵 Summary: After the war all the Malfoy's came off with light sentences. Now during 8th year Draco is finally free to be himself and date his crush; Harry Potter. Or at least so he thought..

A letter from his father rips that happiness away.

But maybe in the end it will take just a bit of messing up and some stars to get that happiness back.

📻  I'm gonna let it happen (E, 12.3k) by tomoewantsdolls @tomoewantsdolls 

🎵 Song prompt: Florence + The Machine - Shake it out

🎵 Summary: And I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't So here's to drinks in the dark at the end of my road And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope It's a shot in the dark and right at my throat 'Cause looking for heaven, found the devil in me Looking for heaven, for the devil in me Well what the hell I'm gonna let it happen to me

📻  I feel it in my bones (M, 6.3k) by cloudlesslysky @cloudlesslysky

🎵 Song prompt: Radioactive - Imagine Dragons

🎵 Summary: Harry’s heartbeat is loud in his ears as his heart pounds in his chest. His lungs burn as he pants for air. His legs are screaming in protests as he continues to push them to their limit, forcing himself to run ever faster.

📻  Born in the U.S.A. (M, 9k) by KittyCargo @kittycargo

🎵 Song prompt: I'm on Fire by Bruce Springsteen

🎵 Summary: “You need to come home, Draco.”

“What? Why? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, I just have an opportunity for you, and you need to come home to take it.”

When Draco's mother insists he comes home, he drags his feet and convinces his friends to take a road trip.

📻  just tell me when it's alright (E, 23k) by M0stlyVoid @bonesliketambourines

🎵 Song prompt: Teeth, Lady Gaga

🎵 Summary: Harry’s been fighting tooth and nail for any bit of normalcy he can get his hands on. He’s sick of feeling like something’s wrong with him, tired of feeling different. He thinks he’s finally gotten to the root of it, and has settled into a routine that makes him happy. Naturally, that’s when Draco Malfoy walks back into his life and upends it once again. Has Harry bitten off more than he can chew with his former rival?

📻  The Courting by the Pureblood Who Only Has Five Milligrams of Romantic Intelligence and Thinks He’s Real Smooth (T, 19.4k) by Cibee (Cibeeeee) @cibeewastaken

🎵 Song prompt: Cupid - Amy Winehouse 

🎵 Summary: Draco could grab Potter and shove him into a stall before proceeding to suck his soul out of his dick, but secretly, deep down, in the part of Draco that he will never admit to anyone, he is (everyone pauses to shudder) a romantic. Potter is not someone Draco wants a one-off with. Potter is — Draco’s beloved!

So Draco decides to boldly go where no one has gone before: to put himself through scrutiny; their friends’ teasing and pranks; unsound romantic advice from a house-elf; wearing pretty clothes; all to try and win Potter’s heart through courtship.

(An unnamed ginger bastard can be heard yelling from afar: “This is actually a detailed guide on how not to court someone!”)

But who cares about the opinions of redheads? Literally no one.

📻  What Will We Do With a Drunken Harry? (E, 4.9k) by Thunder_of_Dragons @thunder-of-dragons

🎵 Song prompt: "Drunken Sailor" by The Irish Rovers

🎵 Summary: A victorious Quidditch match, a claimed Quidditch Cup, and a wild House party can mean only one thing. Will the aftermath lead to one excruciating hangover in the morning, or will it perhaps lead to something more?

📻  Though Your World Is Changing, I Will Be The Same (E, 15.9k) by hephaestiions 

🎵 Song prompt: Slave To Love by Bryan Ferry 

🎵 Summary: “I shower after work,” Harry had told him once when Draco had asked what cologne had such longevity as to be effective after a full day of gruelling Auror work. 

“For me?” Draco had asked. Teased, just a little. There had been a smile lingering on the edges of his consciousness, threatening to traipse onto his mouth. 

“For Ginny,” Harry had said, voice flat. “She hates it when I come back sweaty and crackling with other people’s hexes. Did you know magic has a smell? I didn’t until she told me.”

–

It's all fun and games, till somebody falls in love. Given his luck, it's obviously Draco who has to go and do it.

📻  I Can't Help Falling in Love with You (NR, 4.8k) by readdreamwrite26 @readdreamwrite26

🎵 Song prompt: I can't help falling in love with you - Elvis Presley

🎵 Summary: Harry stood up and set his hand out to Draco. “Dance?” “I didn’t know you danced, Potter.” “Hm, I’ve danced a lot in my time," Harry replied smugly. “How do I know you won’t step on my feet?” “You don’t, but I think the risk will be worth it.”

📻  Searching For a Place to Hide (T, 12.5k) by Erin_Riwen @erin-riwen

🎵 Song prompt: Love Will Keep Us Alive - The Eagles

🎵 Summary: After the war, there were threats against the Malfoys. Needing them kept safe until the trials are over, the Ministry puts them in protective custody but a murder attempt proves there’s a Ministry leak. Desperate, the Ministry decides a safe house is best, but who to trust to keep it secret and keep them safe? Narcissa calls in a life debt, the Minster calls in a favour and Harry Potter wonders why his life continues to hate him. 

Along the way, the Malfoys learn how to be a family again, Harry learns that some things are not how he thought and maybe never were, and the touch-starved boys discover that they may be each other's forever answer.

📻  Isolated Thunderstorms and Scattered Showers (T, 21.3k) by triggerlil @triggerlil 

🎵 Song prompt: Iris - the GooGoo Dolls

🎵 Summary: Post-war, Harry needs space. Everything is too much all at once, and time and time again, he finds himself pulling the invisibility cloak over his head, just for a bit of peace.

Returning for eighth year is hard, especially when you're considered a war hero, and your name is Harry James Potter. It's just that things go a little wonky when Harry starts following Malfoy, and finds that he can't (or doesn't want to) stop.

📻  Kiss It Better (E, 1.5k) by articcat621 @articcat621

🎵 Song prompt: Kiss It Better by Rihanna

🎵 Summary: When Harry's injured, Draco knows there's no place he'd rather be than by his side.

📻  (shut up and) dance with me (T, 7.9k) by punk_rock_yuppie @punk-rock-yuppie

🎵 Song prompt: Shut Up and Dance - Walk the Moon

🎵 Summary: Four dances Harry and Draco share.

📻  In Love with the Ferret (E, 21.9k) by Pineau_noir @pineau-noir 

🎵 Song prompt: I'm Yours by Jason Mraz

🎵 Summary: Harry has never been the most observant bloke. Sometimes to the point of him not realising his feelings for a particular pointy, pale git. And it's not his fault if literally everyone else knows about said feelings except for Harry and the git in question. So it's really not his fault, when faced with the scope of his feelings, he suddenly has a hard time talking to one Draco Malfoy. Or looking him in the eye. Or not being a total weirdo around him.

There's nothing to do but take the advice of his friends and try to woo Draco over dinners with friends, Ministry cases, and an unfortunately named Italian restaurant.

Harry just can't stop the flutter in his chest when he sees Draco smile.

📻  Dance with me? (M, 8.2k) by Aylaar @accioxanxiety

🎵 Song prompt: I Wanna Dance With Somebody - Whitney Houston

🎵 Summary: Draco had given up on love, until one day sitting outside the usual gaudy cafe he frequented 'people watching' he spotted Harry Potter lurking, a suspicious Draco investigates and a series of events ensue.

📻  The Cupid Incident (E, 12.6k) by meandminniemcg @meandminniemcg 

🎵 Song prompt: Can' Get You out of My Head - Kylie Minogue

🎵 Summary: Draco gets into the way of a potions attack and can't get Potter out of his head.

📻  Carouse (E, 19.9k) by Drarryismymuse (Hatchersn) @drarryismymuse 

🎵 Song prompt: Dead by Madison Beer

🎵 Summary: Carouse (verb): To drink plentiful amounts of alcohol and enjoy oneself with others in a noisy, lively way.

Harry finds himself using alcohol in increasingly dangerous ways to cope with the stresses of life. When he is put on leave from work to sort out his issue, he instead falls head first into a lively club scene where he can drink and fuck his worries away. That is, until a certain blond from his past reappears and throws off his entire routine.

Massive well done to all these talented creators - you’ve made this fest utterly spectacular! Take a bow!!

🎙️ Don’t forget to check out the Playlists:

Youtube

Spotify (Provided by @eva-eleanore​ Thank  ypu so much!)

[kenmastwin]

Focus ✰ SemiShira

Genre: fluff with music

Words: 1,363

Summary: Semi learns a bit of music therapy and makes a track to help Shirabu keep his focus while studying.

Semi Eita and Shirabu Kenjirou were a match made in Heaven.  

Of course, neither the couple themselves or the people around them dared to say it out loud. It was just a fact that everyone silently acknowledged. Well, everyone except Shirabu, that is.  

He would sometimes catch a few words spoken in hushed whispers about how he and Semi were both similar and different in all the right ways. They perfectly complemented each other to fit together like puzzle pieces.

Shirabu thought this was bullshit. Those people knew nothing but to gossip all day about other’s love life! It wasn’t them who had to actually be in a relationship with Semi. Not that Shirabu didn’t want to be in a relationship with Semi per se but still, there were moments when he seriously questioned the sanity of his past self who agreed to it.  

Shirabu let out an exhausted sigh, stretched out his limbs and rubbed his tired eyes. He still needed to review ten pages today to prepare for the exam coming up next week. He was spending the past few days with constant studying so he would at least have the chance to keep his good grades in university. Being a medical student was not easy... Too many all-nighters, too much material to get inside his head. Shirabu could already feel his concentration slipping away.

He stood up, deciding that a break would be good for his efficiency. He stretched his arms and back, and walked to the window, pulling the curtains open and watched as people passed by their apartment building; some alone, some with others, some walking their dog. The autumn sky was dark and cloudy, it would probably rain soon and freshen up the dried soil and the polluted air. Shirabu let his thoughts swim, pulling him further away from the textbook that laid on his desk, waiting for him.

Shirabu sighed when he realized what he was doing. He did have a problem with concentration and found himself zoning out or distracted by irrelevant things way too often. That was another reason why his relationship with Semi somehow didn’t always work out well. Semi was a musician. He enjoyed playing whatever instrument he’d gotten his hands on, tapping with his feet or his fingers, listening to music on a loud volume. These all were extremely distracting for Shirabu. Semi promised to close the door of his “studio” they sat up in the room next to their bedroom, and use headphones instead of the speakers when Shirabu needed to focus on the upcoming exams but reality didn’t work this simply. Even though Semi tried his best, the music was part of his body and Shirabu’s senses were overly sensitive in the silence. Silent humming, an accidental exclamation, the drumming of ten fingers, he’d heard all of them.

Shirabu never outright mentioned this to Semi, he felt that he shouldn’t complain when his partner was already trying his best for him. In addition, it wasn’t like Semi was the only thing distracting him. A car passing by, a dog’s barking, his own thoughts.

Shirabu sighed, willing himself to go back to his desk and continue studying or he would never finish. The sooner he finished, the sooner he would be able to go to bed and snuggle up to his boyfriend as a small reward.

He sat down with a resolve, put on his glasses and-

Flinched when he heard a shout from the next room. He glared at the wall separating him from the makeshift studio but the sound of rapid footsteps tapping against wooden floor made his eyes soften before opening wide in curiosity as he expected Semi’s running form appear in the door.

“Kenjirou, Kenjirou, Kenjirou!” Semi called excitedly. He had his headphones and his phone in his hand as he hurried to Shirabu.

“What is it?”

“Listen to this!” Semi shoved the phone and headphones into Shirabu’s hands, a wide grin on his face.

Shirabu shook his head disapprovingly. “I can’t, I have to study. I’ll listen after I’m done.”

“No, I just made this for you,” Semi insisted.

Shirabu was unmoved. “Thanks but I’ll listen to it later, okay?”

Having a song dedicated to him wasn’t anything new. Semi wrote tons of songs about or for Shirabu, claiming that Shirabu was his muse or similarly cheesy lines. Shirabu received songs for birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, etc. It was not enough to prioritize it over his education. His exam had a deadline, his time with Semi was forever.

However, Semi seemed extra insistent today. Irritated, he took the headphone from Shirabu’s lap and placed it on the younger one’s head. “I’ve been trying to make a song that helps you focus better when you’re studying. It should be a melody that’s steady, tunes out the little noises but doesn’t distract you.”

“Does something like that even exist?” Shirabu stared at him skeptically.  

“Sure, it does. I’ve read a bunch of articles and a few books about it,” Semi said with a proud grin.  

“And you made a song like that for me?”  

“Well, we’ll see if I actually managed to do that after you listened to it.” Semi took his phone and played the melody, gesturing Shirabu to go back to studying while he distanced himself and sat on the bed.  

Shirabu listened to the melody that played on repeat. It was nice and calming and had something of that style Semi seemed to inflect into all of his creations, a certain atmosphere that screamed ‘Semi Eita’. An atmosphere Shirabu loved. It soothed his anxious mind and he made an attempt to read the biology text in front of him.  

Before Shirabu even realized it, he reached the end of the section he assigned for himself for today. He read through all of those ten pages without falling out of focus and stopping. He just read while the pleasant melody played in his ears, cancelling out every other noise and distraction. Shirabu felt touched. Semi really did make something for him to help with focusing in his own way. He almost felt like tearing up. He rubbed his eyes, telling himself that he was only too stressed and exhausted, he definitely wasn’t crying because he felt an overwhelming wave of love for Semi rush over him.  

He slowly took off the headphones and placed it on the table.  

“You done? How was it?” Semi glanced his way and sat up on the bed, looking at Shirabu expectantly.  

Shirabu didn’t say anything, just walked over to Semi, stood between his legs and hugged him tight.  

“Thank you,” he muttered, a faint blush dusting his cheeks.  

Semi smiled, “So, I take it it’s good, huh?”

“Mhm, it’s perfect,” Shirabu nodded.  

The exhilarating feeling of success washed over Semi and he felt like he was flying over the moon. Finally, after so much trial and error, he managed to create something on his own that would help Shirabu. It was the best reward for his hard work.  

“Then I’m glad,” he sighed, unable to stop grinning, and he tightened his arms around his boyfriend before falling backwards on the bed with Shirabu landing on his chest.  

“Hey!” Shirabu yelled but Semi pushed his head back to rest in the crook of his neck.  

“Sleep. You worked hard today,” he said, brushing his fingers through Shirabu’s soft locks and the other man slowly relaxed.  

Shirabu inhaled Semi’s scent that he started to associate with home and closed his eyes. “Make me more songs for studying?” he mumbled against Semi’s skin.  

Semi’s breath got caught in his throat. He created so many tracks about or for Shirabu but this was the first time that he was asked to make more.  

“I’ll make you an entire album,” Semi said, and he was a hundred percent sure that he’d fallen asleep with the widest grin on his face that night because as for his heart, it could’ve burst from all the happiness he’d felt.  

[amrynth]

New Years Waterworks

(For @docholligay‘s January Same Prompt Party.  The prompt is Usagi and New Year’s Fireworks.  Enjoy!  Ao3 here)

It was the day of the New Year’s fireworks show and the snow was not supposed to stop until Monday.  She knew that it was silly, knew that there were bigger problems in the world that she and her friends ought to be solving (such as who had the crystal star goblet on the back of their daydream tablet).  But Usagi was inconsolable because she had been looking forward to seeing the fireworks ever since the location had been announced.  She had even talked her dad into getting them special press passes so they could be closer.  And now it wasn’t going to stop snowing and there was no point.

A freshet of tears welled in Usagi’s eyes and she hiccuped in a half-hearted effort to keep them from overflowing.

“Really, is that any way for a highschool student to behave?” Luna asked, curled on the bed with her back against Usagi’s pillow.

“Luna, lighten up,” Makoto said, dropping to sit on the bed. She’d only just returned from downstairs. “I mean, it’s New Year’s. Usagi’s been looking forward to this.”

The final reminder was what pushed her over the edge; a squeak and then a wail and then all the waterworks from Usagi. “What’s the point of being the cha-champion of justice if I can’t even watch fireworks?”

“Don’t cry Usagi, look. I’ve nearly finished the prototype.” Ami didn’t completely ignore that Usagi was in tears, but she tried not to look directly at Usagi so she didn’t get sucked into the depths of her despair.

As though on cue, Usagi’s tears dried immediately and Ami had her full attention. “Can we see it?”

“Yes. In just a few… now. Minako, would you get the lights?” Ami asked.

“Ban-banbanban!” Minako made a show of it, and the lights in Usagi’s room went out around all of them.

Luna, Makoto, Minako and Usagi all looked up expectantly while Ami fiddled with her phone before setting it in the center of the table she and Usagi were sitting at. For one moment it seemed like nothing would happen and Usagi was, once again, on the verge of tears. But a flash of light stopped the tears from coming and then the hologram kicked in and all five of them were watching small, slightly grainy fireworks silently explode in the middle of her bedroom.

“Ohh look at that one!” Usagi was enchanted, tears forgotten and her attention almost completely on the light show. It wasn’t a real firework show, but it was close enough to the real thing to let her briefly forget about the show they hadn’t been able to see.

Makoto’s phone abruptly started to beep and interrupted the magic. “Sorry. That’s the cookies, are you ready to pause this and do some decorating?”

The table was nearly knocked over in Usagi’s haste to get to her feet. To be fair, anyone would flip a table for Makoto’s cookies fresh from the oven. “Luna, watch my phone okay? And answer if Rei calls, my hands are going to be busy and you don’t even eat cookies.”

Behind her, Ami, Minako and Makoto exchanged looks as Usagi went downstairs and went on, at length, about why she didn’t understand how Rei could be so bossy about everyone else being punctual but not even make it to their fireworks cancellation party on time.

“Punctual is a good word, Usagi,” Ami complimented her, trying to interrupt her rant before she got a full head of steam going.

“It was on your vocabulary quiz last week,” she admitted.

Makoto pulled the tray of cookies from the oven and, satisfied that they were golden brown, set them aside to start cooling. The cookies themselves looked more like flowers than they did fireworks, but once they were decorated at least some of them ought to look right.

“Rei is going to be so jealous she didn’t get to eat hot cookies,” Usagi said, snagging a cookie as Makoto put it on a rack to cool.

“You’re going to burn yourself,” Minako said, a cookie already halfway to her mouth.

“Hot. Hot! Ah Hot!” Usagi juggled her cookie from hand to hand and barely saved it in time to shove it into her mouth.

It was still hot.

“Why didn’t Minako burn her hands?” Usagi wailed, cradling a cup of cold water Ami had given her.

“Volleyball calluses,” Minako declared, swallowing her perfect temperature cookie and showing off her hands.

Usagi hiccuped. “Can I learn volleyball?”

Minako shrugged. Usagi had proven to be bad at most sports where balls were involved and she didn’t want to get her hopes up.

“Here. Decorate some cookies,” Makoto said, setting a plate of fireworks cookies at places around the table, the icing all ready to go.

For the second time that night, Usagi quickly forgot about all her troubles, laughing with her friends as they each decorated their cookies with varying degrees of success. Usagi’s were fast and messy but she used a lot of colored sugar to make up for it because she liked that it looked like sparkles. Ami’s decorations were precise and small for the proportion of her cookies and she was only halfway done by the time everyone else had finished their plates. Minako picked colors she thought would make Usagi laugh and it worked, but it made for some cookies that were a little odd in the end. Makoto’s came out beautifully, she used a toothpick to blend her frosting colors and emulate shading, with perfectly manipulated sugar to create fireworks.

“Let’s go check with Luna and see if Rei is on her way,” Usagi said, glancing over toward the fifth plate with undecorated cookies.

They all trooped back up to Usagi’s room, where Luna hastily jumped back onto the bed in order to pretend she hadn’t just been watching Ami’s holograph fireworks show while the others were gone.

“Did Rei call?” Usagi asked, picking up her phone from where it lay on the bed. One missed call and a text from Rei letting her know she was on her way and would be there soon. Oh she was going to give Rei such a bad time when she got there. “But what’ll we do until she gets here?”

“Are you ready?” Minako asked.

Usagi’s interest was immediately piqued and she pulled her feet up on the bed with her. “Ready for what?”

It was precisely the question Minako had been waiting for. She lowered the lights and her phone was already set up so the flash was on as a spotlight. “For the Minako Fireworks Special Extravaganzathon!”

“Extravaganzathon isn’t actually a word,” Ami quietly corrected while settling on the bed beside Usagi.

“Well not with that attitude it’s not,” Makoto collapsed to sit on the floor with her back against the bed.

The Minako Fireworks Special Extravaganzathon was, in fact, a re-enactment of the New Year’s fireworks complete with pompoms and spangled handbags for effect. Minako had just finished the first musical number when three out of four phones lit up with a text message.

Usagi wasn’t fast enough to see who had texted Ami, Minako, and Makoto when they stopped to look at it. But Minako turned the lights back up. “Stay tuned for part two another night. There’s a big group dance at the end, it’s an interactive Extravaganzathon!”

“Sorry Usagi, but I’ve just remembered a project we need to work on,” Ami said, face turning red in a way that Usagi immediately knew meant she wasn’t being completely truthful.

“You’re leaving? But Rei isn’t even here yet,” Usagi said, her voice wavering in a way that threatened tears.

“Sorry Usagi,” Makoto said, smiling ruefully. “I’ll leave the cookies and supplies so you can decorate some more if you want.

“I’ll see you off,” Luna said, aware of the impending tears and not wanting to be in the room anymore.

Usagi watched them go and heroically kept her tears to little hiccups and sniffles until she heard the front door close as they all left. As soon as they were gone though it was a no-holds-barred wail that would have sent the fiercest youma fleeing if they had been fighting the enemy. She missed when her phone buzzed and only looked up from her tear-soaked pillow when a snowball hit her window with a soft thump. She sniffed and realized there was a text on her phone from Rei.

/Crybaby Usagi, come outside./

She got up on her knees and peered out the window but couldn’t see anything around the condensation. The solid circle of snowball that had stuck was a reddish blob. Usagi wiped her nose and thought about refusing to go out for about five seconds. But seeing what had kept Rei for so long was at least more interesting than crying herself to sleep. Usagi pulled her coat on and ran downstairs to pull her boots on at the door and stepped out completely prepared to get hit with a snowball.

Instead the sight that met her was Rei with a wide, red umbrella in the middle of a part of the driveway that had been very recently cleared of the still-falling snow. Usagi jogged the short distance over to her and the shelter of the umbrella from the snow.

“Been crying?” Rei asked, taking in Usagi and her puffy eyes.

“Well someone didn’t even bother to show up until everyone else got bored and left,” Usagi said, sort of wishing she’d rinsed her face at least. Rei looked beautiful with a flush of cold on her cheeks and the sparkle of something in her eyes.

“Well I had errands to run,” Rei said, her temper getting the better of her for a moment. She lifted a paper bag Usagi hadn’t seen in her hand until now, offering it to her.

Usagi took the bag before it could hit her in the chest and peeked inside. There was a pretty pathetic collection of children’s fireworks inside; sparklers and poppers and those little expanding snakes that it was far too wet with the snow to even set off. Warmth bloomed in Usagi’s chest; Rei must have been running around the whole city to even find this much in the way of fireworks they could set off in the driveway. No wonder she had been so late to make it to Usagi’s house.

Careful of the bag and its contents, Usagi threw her arms around Rei and hugged her, close to tears again but for a completely different reason than before. They had to huddle together under the umbrella and balance it along with a lighter to get the fireworks lit, but soon enough Usagi was setting off small, noisy firecrackers by throwing them into the cleared space of the driveway. When she ran out of noisy firecrackers, Usagi found sparklers in the bag and focussed all her attention on not letting the colorful light fall from her string.

The spark fell from her string and Usagi bit off a short, soft noise of objection as they both watched it fall into the snow and sputter out. After the frustrations of the night, Usagi felt new tears welling in her eyes. Before she could cry properly, one of Rei’s hands turned her chin up and the sparkler was completely forgotten as they kissed.

“Reeeiii,” Usagi said, turning pink and dragging her name out into at least four syllables. “Anyone can see us.”

Rei laughed, but she was just as flushed in the face. “Dummy Usagi, I just wanted to make sure your New Year’s was memorable. Besides, no one is going to see us.”

“But your hands are so cold!” Without further ado, Usagi took Rei by the hand and dragged her, umbrella and all, into the house.

“That’s how you do it,” Minako murmured with stars in her eyes and snow in her hair. The three of them were crouched in the bushes, not willing to go home until they too got to see the fireworks display they had helped coordinate with Rei.

“I can’t believe we’re still here,” said Ami. She had her hands over her eyes and her back to the driveway, but had been unable to resist peeking when the couple had kissed. “This is completely inappropriate.”

Makoto sighed dramatically, gazing at the lit window of Usagi’s room. “I never realized just how much Rei reminds me of my Senpai.”

[cordonia]

Ethan + MC: “Kill Us”: I Do P2

Summary: Two days confined in his apartment, two days to decide if they should be together. Time is almost up and Dr. Valentine can’t leave until she has an answer. 

Inspired by Kill Us by Jessie Reyez

“I know nobody gets outta love alive We either break up when we're young Or we say goodbye when we die For a moment at least I know You were mine and it was beautiful”

Warnings: Angst, sexual content (I kept it short, nothing worse than a diamond scene and completely skippable, just scroll a little lol!) 

Word Count: 3444

“No more apologies, I don’t want to waste more time together.” 

She’d agreed instantly, so tired of the sadness that came with every apology they uttered to each other. They could focus on brighter, more important things. Other things could wait, at first. 

They’d been alone for two days, hiding away in Ethan’s apartment like students skipping classes and afraid to be caught. She had the time off, however she doubted Ethan had had a two day weekend in a very long time. How he managed to spend this much time with her was unknown, she was afraid asking would change his mind. 

Without being said, there was a promise that existed between them. When Valentine left late that night, they would decide the fate of their relationship and wouldn’t argue or upset themselves again. 

There hadn’t been much discussion so far; mostly sleeping in, arguing over the news and talking until either of them got frustrated enough to steal a kiss. Valentine could have done it on repeat forever, unable to find a reason why she would ever want to leave. 

She’d learned long ago that it was never that easy, but it stopped her from daydreaming. It had been a long time since she had dazed off in someone’s arms and dreamt about anything happy. This was far from wanting to escape, but too close to a fantasy feeling that felt too good. 

The evening came quite quickly, and Valentine felt herself counting down the hours until Ethan would need to sleep and ask her to leave. They both had to work the next day, and neither of them knew what their state of mind would be like. The countdown of time was heavy, she felt weighed down to the couch. 

Her head laid his lap, his fingers twirling through her hair absentmindedly. She was wearing one of his shirts, not point in getting dressed until she had to leave. She curled her bare legs into herself and closed her eyes. 

“How many people have you ever loved?” She didn’t know if she wanted to know the answer, but she had a habit of asking those kinds of questions. 

He had to think about it, but when he finally had an answer it was more complicated than it was in his head. 

“There are so many forms of love, and it feels strange to categorize it. I haven’t been in many long term relationships. Everything in-between them was a fleeting experience. Positive or negative, it didn’t always have to matter.” 

“I don’t want the in-between anymore, I’m so tired. I want the passion and ecstasy and I’m sick of it being temporary.” She sounded a bit flustered, but she suddenly felt sick thinking of being described as a fleeting experience to him. It wasn’t like that, never was, but what if he one day finally forgot how much he loved her?  

“What if I’m not the ecstasy?” He tried not to show any emotion in his voice but she still sat up. She adjusted to face him, her legs folding under her, and she sat back on her feet. It gave her the slight height to be eye level with him. 

It was difficult to find a scenario in which she fell out of love with him. A small part of her knew that she had never been in a real relationship with him, that being the first problem. Then there was the matter of their careers, they would complicate so many decisions in their life together. 

“I think I just want whatever you are then,” she confided. But that didn’t stop her brain from delving into a more detailed look at their options. 

If they were to have a family, one of them would need to put their career on pause for a little while. What if Ethan didn’t picture himself ever staying home long enough to raise a family? What if she didn’t? Before him it seemed unlikely she really wanted a family. When she looked at him then, she hated the concept of him one day passing without leaving someone behind who knew his love and all of the wonderful memories he had to offer. She knew it was biological, all bodies, all genders often felt that pull. She had hoped to be among those who were a little bit different. Lucky, she supposed. 

But that was impulse, and whether or not it would last was not guaranteed. Next week she could change her mind, not everyone was built for parenting. They could do so many amazing together with the rest of their lives. Endless possibilities, even with their careers. That scared her as well though. 

Who was she supposed to be? 

“I spent an exceptional amount time forcing you out of my mind,” he admitted. He was holding her hand in his, studying the small scars and lines that made it entirely hers. “I don’t know how successful I was.”

“Did you want to be?” 

“I’ve learned a lot about pain tolerance and it’s never been strong when it comes to you. I don’t want to be in pain.” His eyes darkened, and she held her breath, trying to avoid a reaction. 

She wanted to cry, to tell him she knew what it felt like, but also that she was sorry. But they had sworn against apologies, and they were running out of time. 

“We need to talk about what could keep us apart, Ethan.” 

He looked away from her, catching their reflection in the TV across the room. She couldn’t tell if he was preparing himself for a difficult conversation or if he was arguing with his thoughts. 

“Just say it aloud, no matter what the other person says. We say what we’re afraid of and we talk to talk it through. Promise?” 

He nodded thoughtfully and she gave him a moment to think about what he was going to say. She already had hers at the front of her mind, waiting to spill out like she were preparing to plead guilty. There was few times when being truly vulnerable with Ethan had a happy ending. They’d really had no happy ending at all, but she tried not to look at it that way. 

“What are you afraid of?” she asked gently, her fingers reaching out to graze his cheek. He exhaled slowly and briefly closed his eyes before speaking. 

“You just got out of a relationship that you were secretly waiting to fall apart. How long until I’m so blinded by how much I love you that I miss you resenting me?”

He tried not to sound impassioned, but it was clear this was a recurring fear, one that held a tight grip on his thoughts. It made it that much harder for her to speak the truth in her head, knowing it wasn’t going to comfort him. 

She just had to say it and deal with the consequences. 

“What if it isn’t supposed to be so difficult? I worry that if we keep forcing ourselves together, we’re going to wake up in ten years and wonder what made us try so hard.” She suppressed a sob as soon as she had begun speaking, she hated the way her words sounded out loud. She hated playing what if with her own life. With his. 

Her lashes were already heavy with tears but she refused to distract from their discussion. “I can’t picture myself ever falling out of love with you. I’m just so scared I don’t know myself like I used to. I might be the kind of person who hurts people.” 

Ethan reached out to her, pulling her towards his chest where he held onto her tightly. She could think of nothing worse than going back to her apartment without the comfort of his arms. The idea felt like a betrayal to her own emotions, but she couldn’t be irrational. She had been independent for so long, even in a relationship, and she knew she would survive anything. 

It just never felt that way. 

“You save people, you help them mend. You’re more than someone else’s pain.” He sounded almost desperate for her to hear what he was saying, but she had seen the repercussions of her decisions in the past few years. 

“Why fight for me now, when so much has changed? What makes you think I’m worth it?” 

She pulled back from his embrace and waited for him to answer her. His face changed from sympathetic and understanding, emotions they practiced habitually in their work. Suddenly he was more determined, faced with the entanglement of his own feelings and rationale. 

“I used to love all of the details I knew about you that nobody else knew. I loved everything from your passion for people to the way you drew patterns across my back when we laid in bed. I have discovered in the past 48 hours that I love everything I have yet to discover about you, and I want to know all of it. When I picture you in the future, I see you doing every single thing you love. You’re never going to need me for that, I know this as a fact.”

She wondered if anyone was ever going to believe in her like that, if she deserved it at all. But Ethan was never the person to shy away from the brutal truth, not when it came to what he loved most; medicine. She couldn’t see anything concrete in her future, it all felt so distant. There was no denying she was already getting older, but their field put them in unusual circumstances sometimes. Nothing was ever linear, there was no track to follow. 

“I don’t have to need you, to want you this badly.” The underlying sensuality in her tone was unintentional, but that did nothing to prevent his heartbeat from quickening against the palm she had pressed against his chest. 

“I don’t believe you.” Was that a dare? She got off the couch, noticing the flash of confusion of Ethan’s face as she had pulled away. 

She faced him, leaning into him for a kiss before climbing into his lap, her knees on either side of his thighs. She kissed him again, slightly deeper, and he responded by shifting lower into the couch, pulling her closer to him. It was like a reflex to grind her hips into his lap and moan at the heat between them. His hands found the small of her back and she knew she would never get enough of his touch on her skin.  

He pressed his lips against her jaw, moving down her neck and sucking gently at her throat. She felt his teeth part against the tender area and just before he could do anymore damage, she pulled back. She couldn’t show up to work with a scarf in May. 

“Ethan?” 

“Yes?”

He looked unfocused, rubbing her thighs and looking from her eyes to her lips. Some of the buttons of the shirt she wore had come undone, his shirt, and when he noticed, his fingers twitched against her thighs. He wanted to touch her, he had touched her many times in the past hours. 

“I’m never going to need you,” she mumbled against his lips, applying more pressure to their kiss and letting her teeth graze his lower lip. His body seemed to hum in response but there was a space between their hips that he wanted to close. She had a different idea. 

“I’m never,” she purred smoothly, pulling a hand away from him and slipping between her skin and the thin material of her underwear, “going to need you.” 

Ethan reached for her hips, gripping them so tightly that her head fell back in response to the pain. She pushed two fingers into herself, hyper aware of how attentively he watched her face change with every curl of her fingers. 

“But do you want me?” 

She nodded, a small smile on her lips as she let him kiss her again. She removed her hand from between legs and Ethan grabbed her wrist, pulling her fingers to his lips. She held her breath, eyes locked with his as his mouth enveloped the two fingers she had used to pleasure herself. His tongue seared her finger tips and she pushed them further into his mouth, amused by how his body remained completely still. 

“I want you, Ethan,” she said aloud. He lifted her up from his lap, turning his body and laying her against the couch. His whole body pressed against hers, the pressure nothing like the fear of time that had weighed her down earlier. 

He unbuttoned his pants, removing the physical barrier between him and then her underwear was tossed far enough that she would struggle to find them later. What Ethan could do with his hips soon left her legs shaking so fiercely that he had to hold them still. The couch was the last place they hadn’t had sex that weekend, and they weren’t going to leave it until they knew its strength was properly tested. She hoped it was as expensive as it looked. 

The feeling of him inside of her was a convincing reason alone to never leave his place. But nothing could last forever, and eventually the time came that she had to leave so he could find some rest before work in the morning. 

They were both dressed, back on the couch, laying on their sides. Her back was pressed against the front of his body, his arm holding her waist to him. She could have fallen asleep like that. 

“I don’t want to leave,” she said quietly, hating the way it sounded out loud let alone in her head. It sounded like she was pleading for him to ask her to stay, but she wasn’t delusional. 

She hated being an adult. If their lives had been different and she could have gone to college with him, she would have convinced him to take off a week just to memorize the lines of her thighs. But that’s not how doctors spent their time, instead they chose to heal, cut and study. And they loved it. 

Valentine wasn’t sure everyone could have multiple great loves, and medicine was first for them both. Could they be lucky enough to have each other as well? Not much in her life gave her the hope to believe that. She wanted the last two days to be proof of something, she just didn’t know what. 

Would the passion last? Would they wind up hating each other one day? There was no formula or calculation that gave them those answers. 

“I never want to hold you back,” he began. “I’m terrified of disappointing you.” He held her tighter, burying his face in her hair and breathing her in. 

“I feel so stupid,” she cried, “I wanted a sign, a spark of something to tell me we wouldn’t hurt each other again. I wanted to know if we deserved this.” 

“Some love isn’t this complicated” he assured her. “You still have time, even if it feels like it’s running out. You don’t need me.”

“I wish I did.” 

His words didn’t mean the same thing as they had before, not when they suddenly meant goodbye. She wanted to need him so that they could not leave each other, an unbreakable promise, a vow. To need him so badly that her body couldn’t walk out the door like there was a force stronger than love keeping her inside. She wished magic existed, to tie him to her and contain the overflow of absolute ecstasy that felt wasted when they were apart. 

Ethan was a realist, and she was of sound mind, maybe even practical. She did not believe in magic and invisible forces in door frames. But she did believe that as Ethan Ramsey broke her heart on an overpriced couch, the power of loss and despair was not mutual with having a grasp on reality. 

She felt like a ghost, gathering everything she had with her in the apartment so solemnly that Ethan could barely look at her. There used to be a time where she would leave his apartment feeling like the sun shone entirely for her, always in her favour. Having Ethan in her life felt like a small miracle that most of her coworkers searched for every single day in medicine. 

The quicker she left, the sooner she could cry in a way that Ethan would only hurt seeing. She needed to get it out of her body, every ounce of sadness that overtook her. She couldn’t bring it to work, it was dangerous and there was no time for it. 

She had to adapt and move on, just like she had before. But maybe better that time around. She chose this, after all. 

He hugged her by the door, squeezing her tightly until her body was almost numb. When he let her go she swore she felt like half a person, ripped from someone meant to be sown to her side. It didn’t feel right, but she let him open the door anyways. 

“Goodnight, Dr. Valentine. I’ll see you around.” He clenched his teeth, his cheeks hollowing out against the tension in his mouth. He stared into her eyes even as the door began to slowly close, and neither one of them could look away. 

Her legs had no more strength to offer, she could feel her knees buckle and she couldn’t linger any longer. She finally turned away and the door shut with a click, leaving her utterly alone in a bland, sanitized hallway. Her feet carried her to the elevator but her cheeks were already wet with tears. 

The tears started as a trickle and then streamed freely down her face until she could taste them on her lips. 

The chime of the elevator rang through her entire body like a physical force, halting her thoughts with a trance-like effect. She felt the weight of her purse in her hand become incredibly heavy, pulling her to the floor. The elevator doors opened, revealing a completely empty lobby, so quiet that the silence sounded off like static. 

She felt paralyzed, swaying slightly as she demanded her body to take a step out into the lobby. She could make it home by midnight and get a few hours of sleep before she was on call. A home where nobody knew what she had gained and lost in two nights. Then back to a hospital where her sorrow was the most minuscule example of suffering and loss. It was meaningless, all of it, because as soon as she left the building, everything that had tied her to Ethan Ramsey was reduced to memories. 

There was no proof they had loved each other so intensely, no one to tell their story. 

This isn’t how it’s supposed to end, she thought to herself. They had searched for serendipity in the past, a sign they were meant to be along. But then the elevator chimed again, and the moment the doors began to close her back inside; her phone rang.

With shaking hands she lifted the phone to her ear and watched the lobby become a sliver between two doors. 

“I can’t watch you leave again,” he said quietly through the phone, desperation clear in his voice. 

“I can’t keep doing this, Ethan.” She wiped her eyes and tried to steady her hand, worried she was about to drop the phone. “It hurts more every single time.” 

“I’d rather wake up to you in ten years knowing I tried too hard than waking up alone knowing I never tried at all. I don’t need a sign, I just need to fight for you, for once. Do you think you could let me fight for you?” 

Her head was spinning, she swayed to the left and quickly put out a hand to the wall to steady herself. She took a deep breath and turned around, facing a mirror in which her appearance stared her down. 

She looked exhausted, her face swollen from crying and her hair a disaster from their intimacy on the couch. Her whole body vibrated with the intensity of her feelings and she was face to face with the misery in her entire demeanour. Was she doing this to herself? 

She took a deep breath and turned back, pushing a button and sighing in defeat. She couldn’t be the one inflicting her own pain anymore, she wouldn’t. What did she really have to lose anymore? 

“I do, Ethan. I’ll let you fight for me this time.”

Note: Some of this sounds so ridiculous but the sad part is this is how dramatic so many encounters with my ex used to be like. Just the level of intensity and the weight of walking away with no certainty. Yesterday I noticed that the last silver chain bracelet my ex gave me to wasn’t on my wrist anymore. I’m extremely sentimental and it hasn’t come off my wrist in three years until now. I can’t believe it’s gone? You can probably tell how tired I am. I also didn’t save this twice, and had to rewrite really long parts so this took forever to finish. This isn’t my best work but... oh well. 

Tagging: @ethandaddyramsey @binny1985 @openheart12 @bellcat2010 @edith-eggs1 @missmiimiie @queenofspades6 @schnitzelbutterfingers @longneckramsey @queencarb @kaavyaethanramsey @ethxnrxmsey @jooous @blazerina @choices-lurker @itsgoingnuts @lilyvalentine @aworldoffandoms @choices-love-affair @nooruleman @mkamra2355 @whimsicalreader 

[mountphoenixrp]

We have a new citizen in Mount Phoenix:

                      Harper Song, who is known by no other name;                                       a 19 year old son of Arawn.                   He is a ballet & lyrical instructor at LOCO Motion.

FC NAME/GROUP: Song Hyeongjun / Cravity CHARACTER NAME: Harper Song AGE/DATE OF BIRTH: 19 / 30th November 2001 PLACE OF BIRTH: Tongyeong, South Korea but mostly lived in Seoul OCCUPATION: Ballet and Lyrical Dance Instructor at LOCO Motion HEIGHT: 174cm DEFINING FEATURES:

Usually speaks in a Seoul dialect but his native Tongyeong dialect comes through when he’s stressed

Tall frame and broad shoulders

Athletic frame with highly defined muscles: especially legs, arms, chest and back

Sweet smile and a baby face

A colourful flower bouquet tattoo on his inner arm (https://tattooblend.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/52.jpg)

Wears glasses when he’s reading for long periods of time

Weak right ankle with surgery scars

PERSONALITY: Harper spent most of his life living under his mother’s direction: what school to attend, what classes to take and what opportunities to accept. He isn’t very used to making decisions for himself and often finds that he reverts to his mother’s strict values; whether it is a strict diet or the countless hours of training every day. He knows that she’s wrong though and is actively trying to live for himself instead - it’s the exact reason he moved to Mount Phoenix.

He is passionate and lives for the sole purpose of dancing - with his favourites being Ballet, Modern and Lyrical. In fact, he possesses an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the history behind those styles, but is still wanting to learn and experience more. Although he was on the road to becoming a principal dancer, Harper had thrown it all away. He is now more interested in just chasing his passions. He is both happy and satisfied working as a dance teacher, but longs to return to the stage in the future.

To most people, Harper comes across as a very polite and warm hearted person. He’s genuine in everything that he does and is seldom known to lie. He is encouraging of the people around him and wanted to uplift all of his students - regardless of experience and skill level. Although he is young and with a pure, good heart, that should not be confused with naivety. His life has been filled with many years of pain and the experience has made him a stronger person. He tries to see the good in everyone but will also stand up for any injustice.

To his closest friends, Harper is an obvious Dance geek. He’s the type to become over excited about rewatching an old dance performance and could probably speak for hours about the technical details of a dance routine. He also had a cheeky sense of humor, embellished with a hint of good natured sarcasm. He has an innocent charm, especially since he is relatively inexperienced in terms of dating - Harper has been in relationships before, but is generally new to meeting people outside of his dance circles. Most of his life has been fairly sheltered and limited, so he has only a few life experiences to draw from.

Harper is known to wear his heart on his sleeve. He speaks his mind and, if the situation calls for it or if he is asked, would be willing to share even the most painful parts of his past. He takes the darkness in his heart as a reason to grow and is willing to relive his bad memories if the story will help someone in the present.

HISTORY: Harper had always known that he was special and, according to his Mother, that meant that he couldn’t do things like the other kids. He was the only son of Song Hayoung, or Hanna Song as she was professionally known. As one of Korea’s few internationally renowned ballerinas, she had a prolific career as the Principal Dancer for a number of foreign dance companies. Although she retired when she fell pregnant with Harper, she was never able to let go of her past fame.

Hanna was always about trying to be the best of the best. As a dancer, she pushed herself to the absolute limits and boldly grasped at every opportunity that came to her. Coming from a small town, she wanted nothing more than to be greater than anyone thought possible. Even her brief relationship with Arawn, a strange and powerful man with abilities beyond human, was an example of how she gravitated towards power. After she had Harper, a child that she initially wanted to erase from existence, she saw him as another opportunity to prove her greatness. Hanna raised him as though she were his talent manager - every ambition that she had for herself, ambitions that she felt were stolen from her, she forced onto her son.

She named him Harper, giving him a foreign name because he was going to be an internationally renowned dancer - a Principal Dancer for certain, and perhaps with the Berlin Dance Company. She would accept nothing less than that, so saw no reason to give him a Korean name. She didn’t intend on him leading any real life there.

She put Harper into dance classes as soon as he learnt to walk and hired him a private tutor to ensure that he could maximize his practice time - elementary school was just an excuse for play time, after all, and there was nothing homeschooling could not accommodate. Hanna was also rather outspoken to him about his parentage - thinking that knowledge of his father as well as the magic that he might have inherited would propel Harper into being a more aggressively ambitious person. But truthfully, Arawn and the dead had always scared him, so Harper avoided pursuing those abilities.

Instead, he put all of his energy and focus onto dance - doing just what his mother wanted. He genuinely loved it but his mother was always quick to criticize. Harper was never good enough. Winning first place was just an expectation, not an achievement. Hanna didn’t allow him to do much aside from dance, so he didn’t have the opportunity to meet other kids his age. He was a sweet boy though, with a warmth that his mother never possessed, and became close to other dancers easily.

It was only when he reached his teenage years that Hanna enrolled him in an actual school. Deciding that he had outgrown the backwards community in Tongyeong, she surprised him with a sudden move to Seoul. In fact, she hadn’t even spoken to Harper about it until the moving trucks arrived. Unable to even say goodbye to his handful of friends, he cried silently in the back seat, trying to make sure that his mother didn’t see his tears. She did though and, for the first time in her life, she hesitated. But only for a moment.

Success did not come to those who held themselves back.

…

Harper has been enrolled into the most prolific performing arts school in Seoul, where he also had his first experience living away from his mother. Being in a dormitory was different and it took him a while to get used to it, especially since most of his life has been spent living to such rigid rules. However, his concerns melted away and Harper made friends easily - his satoori, which he was initially self conscious of, was actually adored by the other students who thought he sounded cute and shy by default.

In his first couple of years at the school, Harper just managed to pass his academic classes but was absolutely excelling as a dancer. He enjoyed trying different styles but, with every phone call from his mother, there was another demand that he focus more of his time on ballet. Consequently, he ended up spending a majority of his time with his Pas de deux partner - Miyoung, a prodigal dancer and daughter of a renowned dance company director. She was an elegant and beautiful girl who shared a similarly strict lifestyle to him and so they were always on the same wavelength - it seemed only logical that they would date. His mother approved of the relationship, considering her a suitable partner for Harper even if she would have preferred him to focus on his training instead.

However, that happiness was short lived as the relationship lasted mere months - their chemistry as friends and dance partners didn’t translate to a healthy relationship. The two spent more time training and analysing dance techniques than actually getting to know each other. As the pressure of trying to feign a happy relationship built up, Harper also became closer with his new roommate - Junkai. He was an older student from the countryside in China, orphaned and without any money, but possessing such incredible musical talent that he was attending school on a full scholarship. He had a cool, stoic nature and seldom spoke, so Harper initially felt uncomfortable around him.

However, tragedy brought the two closer.

Harper had just returned to their room after late night rehearsals, thinking that Jun would have been asleep already, but instead found the older boy sitting desolate on his bed. His eyes were red rimmed and puffy, as though he had spent hours crying. Concerned for his roommate, Harper went to sit silently by the other boy’s side, waiting and giving him time to share what had happened. There was no pushing, no inundation of questions; just silence and the comfort of hands being held.

Jun revealed that he’d received word that afternoon that his younger sister had passed away. They had been each other’s only family for years and, while he was still living in China, he had been her sole guardian - even if he was only a child himself. She was the one who had sent his application to Korea and who encouraged him to go to study abroad, even if she would be left alone. As a childhood Leukemia patient, his sister had been admitted to the hospital in recent months but Jun wasn’t able to fly home to her - they didn’t have the money and she didn’t want him to give up his scholarship. In the end, all he had were daily video calls and then a final call from her doctor, delivering the news that she had passed away in her sleep.

Jun blamed himself for not being there for her, hating that his sister was alone even in her last painful moments. She was gone and there was nothing anyone could do, except Harper knew he could. He had never done it before, only having heard from his mother about the powers Arawn possessed, but he wanted to try it for Junkai.

“I want to try something.”

…

The two roommates grew closer in the following months and Harper could very confidently pinpoint the moment that he fell in love with Junkai - he was on the piano and Harper was barefoot in the dance studio, the music weaving its way into both of their hearts. Where he had to try so hard in his last relationship, being with Jun felt completely natural - the other boy balanced out all of Harper’s weaknesses, whilst Harper encouraged Jun to open up to the world around him. Sharing a room soon turned into sharing a bed and they often found themselves holding each other through the night.

In Harper’s mind, it was his first real relationship - and Junkai was the only person he wanted to be with - but Harper’s mother thought differently. Initially only shocked by her son’s sexuality, she was further appalled to find out about Jun’s impoverished background. She could not accept that her son would go from Miyoung, who she viewed as the perfect girlfriend, to someone who had absolutely nothing to his name. She forbid the relationship, going to great lengths to ensure that the boys were split up.

However, in his first real rebellious moment towards his mother, Harper refused. The two continued to see each other secretly throughout their high school years, often talking about how they might run away together after graduation, but reality soon caught up.

Due to his family background and good looks, Harper had been scouted throughout his high school years. He rejected them as the offers mostly came from modelling and idol agencies, but the one he had been preparing for his whole life came just weeks before graduation. The Berlin Dance Company contacted him to offer him a permanent role in the corps de ballet - with potential to graduate to a soloist and then principal role as well. The only downside would have been having to relocate to Germany.

Junkai, meanwhile, had to go home. He had graduated two years ago and had been trying to find stable work in Korea with no luck. His Chinese background and citizenship worked to his disadvantage in Korea, with no place wanting to hire him permanently. At the same time, a call had come from his hometown’s high school to offer him a position as a music tutor. He was concerned about leaving Harper, knowing that the other boy was still very much under the selfish control of his mother, but had no option left.

Before Harper’s graduation recital, and knowing that their paths would be inevitably split afterwards, the two boys had slipped out on the weekend. Heading to one of the more reputable tattoo studios in Hongdae, they spent a few hours getting matching tattoos on their upper forearm.

“But why the flowers?” Harper asked.

“Because I want to be the first one to congratulate you after every show.”

…

An entire year had passed and Harper was getting accustomed to life in Berlin. Although they had broken off their relationship, Jun was always on his mind - as the nightly phone calls proved. Over time though, Jun became quieter again and harder to contact, but there was nothing that Harper could do on the other side of the world. And so he just tried again and again.

1 missed call.

8 missed calls.

15 missed calls.

There were minutes to go until curtain, and Harper was backstage of the theatre checking on his costume. It had been nearly a week since Jun had called and so Harper nearly pounced when his phone lit up with a new message. For once though, he had wished that he hadn’t read anything. The words seared into his brain as the stage manager came in to rush them onto stage. Harper followed her instructions like clockwork, ascending to the raised platform for the opening number.

The orchestra started with a delicate melody that seems only to toy with the sinking weight in Harper’s chest. The world was spinning but Harper pushed on, because that was what he had been trained to do. Push on. Go on.

He slipped, his ankle snapping in the wrong direction and body falling meters below. The pain seared through his leg and Harper was certain that he’d broken something, but that wasn’t why the tears came, why his heart clenched, nor why he sobbed the entire night into his sheets. It was only one message, a couple of words, but it tore his world apart.

“This is Doctor Li. I’m not certain of your relationship to my patient, but I am sorry to inform you that Ma Jun Kai passed away this morning.”

…

Harper spoke to Junkai after that just once. On his bed with his leg in a plaster and his face sunken, he had called up all of his strength to use his powers once again - but for a more selfish reason. Jun came fairly easily to sit beside him in quiet comfort, much like what Harper had done for him before. The boy in front of him was different though - thinner than he had been just a year ago and with a deathly look to his complexion.

Harper looked up at him, his breath caught in his chest as the tears came to his eyes again. He’d promised himself not to cry.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Junkai looked at him, his expression filled with a mix of sadness and regret, “Because I don’t want you to remember me like this.”

…

Life is short, and Harper realised that he had spent most of his living under the control of his mother. Her words were so much a part of him that he didn’t know who he was without her direction. With Junkai gone as well, his singular attempt at pursuing something for himself, Harper could no longer continue the life that he had been living.

And so he left. He submitted his resignation to the Berlin Dance Company, citing time needed to rehabilitate, and packed all of his possessions up. He didn’t say anything to his mother, not giving her the chance to stop him, but had her to thank for his next move. When he was younger, she had told him about a place just off from Korea - it was an island where people like his father and, in turn, him, could go to become stronger.

And maybe find a fresh beginning.

PANTHEON: Celtic CHILD OF: Arawn POWERS:

The ability to communicate with the dead - this is not a passive ability and Harper has to put quite a lot of energy into actually doing this. At the moment, he is only capable of short communications. This will not work for any spirits that have moved on or reincarnated.

The ability to raise the dead - Harper has only ever attempted this once and is only able to do it for very short time spans (a few minutes at most). It is a very exhausting process and leaves him so weak that he may completely pass out.

Physically strong - Harper has his rigorous exercise routine and dance training to back it up, but his natural inclination towards physical strength surely helped the process.

STRENGTHS:

Physical strength, agility and flexibility

Encyclopaedic knowledge of dance history

Natural talent and professional training in a number of dance genres - specifically Ballet, Modern and Lyrical dance

Takes past experiences and failures as reasons to become stronger

WEAKNESSES:

Is absolutely terrible at making decisions

Does not have good grasp or understanding of his demigod abilities

Is trusting of the people around him and can be easily hurt

Has a very regimented lifestyle that he is trying to ‘unlearn’

[saneatsrice]

mafia! jaehyun: stitched heart

summary: when a stranger hides in y/n’s apartment, she isn’t prepared for what she just got sucked into

pairing: mafia! jaehyun x college student! reader

warning: small amount of violence, mentions of drugs, angst, my friends @huangsren and @hwangdol dragged me down this stupid writing hole and now i’m here, yw :)

jaehyun seems like your REGULAR man who goes about living his life like any other citizen in seoul

yet, what no one knows is that jaehyun runs the most infamous gang, nct

jaehyun has been with nct since the beginning and watched the gang grow to be as successful as they are now

he was there for every single drug exchange that allowed them to be able to financially sustain themselves and every turf war where they had to defend their base and such

however, he can never forgive himself for dragging an innocent college student into his line of work

one night, after being heavily injured, jaehyun was on the run from a rivaling gang

he was running out of ways to run until he saw a window open on the fifth floor of an apartment building 

he began ascent up and climbed into the window of the stranger’s apartment, closing the window as fast as he could, in order to go unnoticed by those chasing him

as he sat on the ground to catch his breath, he saw a girl sitting on her bed with a bowl in her hand, ramen hanging out of her mouth as she just stares at the strange, bloodied man that came into her room

the ramen drops from the girl’s mouth as her mouth is still agaped

as a scream was about to leave the girl’s mouth, jaehyun put his finger to his lip, peeking out the window to see the gang running past the apartment complex

he looks back to see the girl had closed her mouth and had her chopsticks up as if it were some weapon that could protect her 

“please put down the chopsticks, i won’t hurt you,” he tried to calm the girl as the shock had finally hit her that some man had just jumped into her window when it was five floors up

“i just wanted to eat my ramen in peace tonight and now i have to deal with some man hopping into my room and getting blood ALL OVER MY CARPET,” the girl responded, putting her chopsticks back in the bowl

jaehyun looked down to see a puddle of blood sitting below him due to the amount of cuts he had gotten 

the girl finally spoke up, “please just go in the bathroom while i get the first aid kit” 

jaehyun followed the girl into the bathroom and sat down on the toilet seat as the girl walked away to get her first aid kit, not forgetting to put on her bunny slippers on her way out

she came back with a white box and opened it to get bandages and antibiotic ointment to prevent any infections

“before i start treating you, i deserve to know your name after you basically broke into my house and ruined my ramen eating session” the girl said, cutting the awkward silence

“jaehyun” he had responded curtly

“well i’m y/n and the least you can do is actually talk to me while i’m doing this, the silence is suffocating me”

thus, the two began to speak about their themselves as y/n was cleaning his cuts

jaehyun later learned she is in college studying to become a nurse and y/n learned about jaehyun being in nct and the reason why he had randomly popped himself into her apartment

after tending to his injuries, y/n had set up a makeshift bed on her couch in the living room for him to spend the night, even after jaehyun had attempted to politely refuse

she insisted that his injuries were still healing and he needed to rest for the night

it is now 12:42, y/n was snoring peacefully as jaehyun laid on her couch staring at her bowl of unfinished ramen sitting on the counter

although jaehyun had the mindset of making this their first and last time meeting, he couldn’t bring himself to never see her again

thus, began their weekly hangouts in y/n’s apartment

whether it be watching high school musical and singing along to all the songs or eating ramen like every broke college students

y/n really began to see that behind the tough mafia persona was a little soft teddy bear with cute dimples

although, there were the few times that jaehyun did come to her apartment all cut up again causing y/n to tend to his wounds while scolding him about being careful and making her worry 

through this time period, they began to develop feelings for each other 

and like every oblivious character in fanfics, they took every display of affection to be completely platonic

because all friends cuddle each other on the couch and give each other random cheek kisses right??

jaehyun realized how hard he was falling for her as he knew every little thing about her

from wrapping herself in a blanket burrito whenever she sleeps to scrunching her nose when she’s focused

especially when he as super deep cuts from fighting that cause her to stitch them together rather than the normal neosporin and hello kitty bandaid 

jaehyun, like every other idiot in fanfics began to distance himself from y/n thinking it will stop his feelings 

this caused y/n an immense amount of distress because she began to miss his company and his comforting hugs as her finals were approaching

but she took it as jaehyun being caught up in his line of work and tried to be understanding, making up any excuses for his absences 

jaehyun came over one day as y/n had called him over which had him questioning what could she possibly have to tell him at 1am

when he came over, y/n ran up and hugged him leaving him all confused

“i passed my finals and i have enough credits to be able to graduate early” y/n screamed while having the biggest smile

jaehyun smiled at her, showing his dimples (wow i’m soft)

“you’ll be there at my graduation right?” y/n asked while pouting, making it harder to jaehyun to say no

“of course, i wouldn’t miss it for the world” jaehyun responded which made y/n’s smile grow bigger as she planted a kiss on his cheek and skipped to the kitchen to make ramen for the both of them

jaehyun watched her from a distance thinking, “yeah my feelings are still there”

jaehyun continued to distance himself and submerge himself in his work

on a particular day, he was dealing with a drug deal with another rivaling gang which turned very violent very fast

what he had forgotten is the drug deal had taken place on the same day as y/n’s graduation

y/n looked around the crowd in her cap and gown for the dimple boy and couldn’t find him anywhere

soon enough it was here turn to walk across the stage for her diploma

she looked up as she was on the stage and still could not point him out

after graduation, she waited outside the graduation hall for him, until she was the only one left in the whole building

tears began to fall on the floor as she realized jaehyun had broken his promise

she began to walk towards the bus stop in hopes of catching a late bus to take her home

as she got off the bus, the bus driver took pity as he saw her puffy eyes

“hey, congratulations kiddo” the middle aged man said to y/n seeing her in her cap and gown 

y/n looked at the kind man and smiled replying a quiet “thank you” 

mumbling a small “at least someone was there for me” as walked towards her home

y/n threw her cap and gown as soon as she got into her apartment, taking a shower, and changing in her comfortable clothing

she plopped herself on the couch and turned on high school musical, singing all the songs by herself as she continued crying

jaehyun, who was once again bloody and heavily injured made his way to y/n’s apartment hoping she was awake to treat his wounds

once he walked into her apartment using her spare key, he saw the girl sitting on her couch with red eyes 

she looked at the doorway and saw jaehyun 

she glared at him and went back to watching the troy and gabriella singing breaking free, jaehyun’s favorite song

jaehyun walked up to her, standing in front of the tv

“hey, do you mind helping me out?” jaehyun asked pointing out all the cuts he had, while y/n just looked out the window away from him

“y/n” jaehyun waved his hand in front of her which caused her to slap his hand out of reflex

“what’s the matter with you?” jaehyun asked

which caused y/n to be enraged as she replied “what day is it today?”

jaehyun looked at the calendar in her room where the day was marked “y/n’s graduation :))” making his eyes go wide that he forgot

“y/n i’m so sorry” jaehyun sympathetically said as he looked down to the floor

“I waited for you for so long, usually i’m so lenient with you ditching our weekly hangouts thinking it’s for work, but the one time i wanted you there, you can’t even do it” y/n said as tears began to make their way to her water line again

“it’s just a graduation it’s not that big of a deal” jaehyun scoffed

“it meant everything to me and you know that. i actually thought i meant at least something to you for you to actually care about my feelings but obviously all you care about is yourself” y/n spat out

“well maybe you’re right, you really meant nothing to me, you were just some who kept latching onto me and couldn’t even see that I never enjoyed your shitty company” jaehyun exclaimed 

immediately both their eyes went wide 

the tears finally fell from y/n’s eyes as jaehyun stood still not believe he had just spewed out such lies

as he tried to reach for y/n to bring her into an embrace, she ran past him, out the house in her bunny slippers

jaehyun fell to his knees as he finally let his words and its effects soak in

y/n kept running until someone pulled her into an alleyway and afterwards she lost consciousness

when she had awoken, she was tied to a chair where she saw a man cleaning a gun

she tried to scream but realized her mouth was taped

the attempted scream caused the man to turn around

the man ripped the tape off her mouth and covered his ears as he heard her scream’s full volume

“wow jaehyun, really picked a loud one” the man mumbled

“what do you want with me?” y/n asked

the man then explained who he was and his intentions of luring jaehyun to the warehouse to kill him, using y/n as bait as jaehyun loved her too much to let her die

y/n scoffed, “i mean nothing to him”

the man then took a photo of her replying “let’s test it”

jaehyun then received the picture of y/n held captive with a message attached saying “come to warehouse 42 if you want to save her”

immediately, without thinking about the injuries he already had, he ran to the warehouse without thinking about the car he had perfectly parked in the parking lot outside the apartment complex

but as he got to the door of warehouse 42, all he heard was a gunshot and a scream

was he too late?

[lifeinparagraph]

A Trip to a Fulfilling Moment

Most of the time, we all remember the most fulfilling moments of our lives as these have the capacity to change everything for us. This memoire recollects the hardships and struggles that a student underwent on her way to success. Join her as she remembers the great fulfillment she encountered after many bumps on the road.

          Growing up, my parents always praised me for excelling in my academics. Even from a very young age, I could feel the happiness and pride radiating from them the moment my teachers would tell them that I was part of the honors’ list, and seeing the smiles on their faces and receiving kisses on my chubby soft cheeks apparently made my tummy tickle so I would always try my best to make them happy. In my first grade of elementary, I was not able to make it to the honors’ list and seeing my classmates and friends wear their own medals just made me sad. I think that was the first time I ever felt disappointed with myself for not being able to reach my own and my parents’ expectations. My mother, especially, reassured me that it was fine and that I should not worry so much about it, so I did not. Thankfully, I reclaimed myself by making it to the honor roll for the next few years of elementary, until our graduation. Our elementary graduation was most probably one of the most heartbreaking yet learning moments of my life. I was not able to make it to the honor roll despite my best efforts of studying that school year. I even asked my mother to enroll me in a tutoring class to help me with my studies as I wanted to receive an honorary award during our ceremony, but I guess things just did not go my way. The frowns and silence that my parents gave just made me feel even worse.

           In junior high school, things got different because I lost all my motivation to strive to be an honor student. I was constantly exhausted from school and constantly losing patience with everything and everyone since I was going through puberty at the same time. I think the first two years of junior high was the time when I was working so much yet I was growing very slowly.

           When I entered tenth grade, my determination was beyond the roof. I wanted the same dream of that when I was in sixth grade but did not want the same mistakes. That school year consisted of a lot of tears being shed, a lot of times getting sick, a lot of sleepless nights, and a lot of sacrifices that I made just to fulfill the promise that I made to myself: to receive an honorary award during the moving-up ceremony.

           It was a few days after our final exams in junior high and our teachers called everyone to gather in one multi-purpose building in our school. As I arrived in school, my closest friends as well as some of my classmates greeted me by the gate. All of their faces portrayed happiness and joy of finally completing the junior high level while only some of them showed an expression of anxiousness for the announcement of the honor roll. We tried to shake our nervousness away and caught up with one another, sharing jokes and laughter without fully realizing that all of us will go our separate ways in a short span of two months. As time ticked, more and more people arrived making the environment buzzing in noise and the more our anxiety increased as well. When our class decided to go upstairs to the venue that was also the time when I was starting to get real nervous. It was as if every step that I take, my anxiety level increases a percentage. My hands were then starting to get sweaty and my legs were starting to get weak—a telltale sign of how uneasy I was really getting. Our teachers then started the gathering with the usual: a prayer, followed by a short speech by the principal and some of our teachers, and then the real announcement of honor students came in first. Honestly, I was completely fine with just being a third honor student and even set my mind on that as my goal. This is because I knew my capabilities so I knew that it was the only achievement I could attain, and I even talked about this to my mother months before that day and she was also fine with it. By this time, my heart was practically pounding against my ribcage and my eyes were starting to become watery. I waited for my name to be called… Name, after name, after another one yet my name was never called. I felt a hand patting my back softly but I did not bother to look at who it was because my eyes were glued to the teacher who was announcing the names. It cannot be. After months of suffering and sacrificing, it just cannot be. It was as if all the times when I felt physically and mentally exhausted to even function properly because of the overloading academic demands did not mean a thing. The time when I was literally balling my eyes out in my room feeling worthless while being sleep deprived and sick at the same time came flashing in my mind. I felt my heart drop and clench at the image of poor me crying on a chair with the pent up emotions that she endured. Tears in my eyes were threatening to fall, but then a sudden voice suddenly brought me back to the sad reality.

           “Second honors…” I heard it say. To be honest, there was a small part inside of me that hoped to be included in the second honors, but my mind said otherwise. I knew myself and what I was capable of doing and achieving, I could not possibly—“Llacuna, Erika Melle Ed P.”

           I was not able to even process the whole thing in my mind before my friends and classmates started cheering and pushing me to stand up. I was in a daze and it felt like everything was spinning. I was confused too, but seeing my teachers looking at me with proud smiles just confirmed it—I was an honor student, better yet: I am a second honor student! I never would have thought of achieving such a thing in my whole junior high ride.

           As I was walking towards the front, my mind was still processing what happened. Then happiness and extreme joy spread throughout my whole body like wildfire and before I knew it, my smile was already reaching my eyes. While shaking my teachers’ hands and hearing their greetings for me, I could not help but let the tears fall down my cheeks. No matter how hard I tried to suppress them, I gave up and just let them fall. So what if others think I was being overreacting? So what if they think I was being too emotional? They could not relate to what I was feeling at that very moment because they did not experience what I did and they did not have the same aspirations as I had.

           I went home that day with the biggest smile on my face that made my mother wonder. I did not tell any of my family about it at first, wanting to surprise them during the ceremony itself, but I could contain it any longer. My mother was beyond proud of me, as well as my father.

          May I tell you that my mother, being a teacher, had high expectations of me most especially when she used to teach in the school that I was (and am) attending. However, I know very well that she treasures my mental and physical wellbeing more than those expectations so she never really pressures me when it comes to my academics. She would always tell me, “Just do what you can. Don’t push yourself too much. If your teacher finds your work mediocre, then tell her that that’s the best that you can do.” Then there was me who wanted to make my parents proud and somehow repay the efforts and hardwork that they exerted to send me to a high-quality institution. Actually, to be honest, me working hard to become an honor student was not mainly for the sole reason of redeeming myself but rather replacing the gray expressions that my parents wore during my sixth grade graduation to a more brighter one. I want them to be proud of me as well as to be proud of themselves and their hardwork.

[sawyer-saucee]

Fight or Flight

Title: Fight or Flight

Word Count: 1817

Summary: Virgil, Logan, Patton, and Roman are all relatively average college students that share an apartment. One late night, Virgil heats someone breaking in, and it’s on his shoulders to decide what to do - does he run, save himself and hope for the best, or fight to protect his friends?

Pairings: Platonic LAMP, a bit of a spotlight on platonic analogical

Warnings: Blood, fighting, break-in, crying, knives

AN: God, I’m so nervous about posting this. I was told it was good by someone whose opinion I really value, and that’s probably the only reason you’re reading this! Enjoy fam

Virgil sat wide awake in his room, his phone in one hand and a mug of tea in the other. It was just past 2:00am, and the house, for once, was quiet. Virgil loved this time of the morning, when it was dark and serene, and he could hear his three roomates’ breathing if he listened hard enough. Roman Prince, the bombastic thespian who Virgil’s room was right next to, snored delicately, often sighing longingly at nothing in particular. Virgil hoped it was because he was having good dreams. Patton, the far calmer and often kinder child development major tended to talk in his sleep. It was usually incoherent strings of words, but occasionally Virgil could catch a few. Hearing Patton sleepily mumble the word ‘pancakes’ always made him smile. Logan was the hardest to hear, as the studious astronomer was the farthest down the hall. However, he made up for it by having the loudest snore Virgil had ever encountered. The three sleeping men all made a sort of unconventional harmony together, with Roman’s frequent sighs punctuated by Logan’s heavy breath and Patton’s dreamy giggles. Virgil found it strangely calming. Everything was in place, everything had a rhythm that he could count. Perhaps this is why the vigilant college student noticed immediately when an unfamiliar sound interrupted his special symphony.

Clink, clink, clink.

It was the sound of metal on metal- faint and intermittent, but it was definitely there. Virgil’s stomach began to churn with anxiety. They didn’t really keep anything metal in the house, did they? All of the dishes were plastic, and it made no sense for one of them to randomly be clinking together their silverware at 2 in the morning. In fact, the only thing that really made sense would be the brass door lock-

‘Oh. Oh, no.’

Hastily, Virgil listened for all of his roomates’ breathing. Maybe one of them had gone out to pick up a late-night snack and wasn’t in their bed anymore. But… no, he could hear all three of them. Patton’s mumbling and Roman’s sighing and Logan’s snoring. Which could only mean that the person at the door wasn’t one of them.

Virgil was frozen with terror, his head flashing with every possible scenario. It could be a robber, a rapist, a drunk, a murderer! They could all be dead tomorrow morning and no one would know what happened! His whole body was shaking as he desperately reminded himself to breathe, and with unsteady hands he dialled 911 on his phone.

“Hello, this is 911, what’s your emergency?”

Virgil’s social anxiety tried to step in as he was placed on the spot to answer, but his fear of the unidentified clicking at the door quickly overwrote it.

“M-my name is Virgil Shea, I think there’s someone in my house, I don’t know what to do-” He spoke into the phone in as much of a hushed whimper as he possibly could.

“Okay, honey, please stay calm. Can you give me your address?” The voice was calm and even, grounding Virgil enough to let him speak more clearly.

“24 East Ash Street, my apartment number is 236 on the second floor.” He whispered. “Please, I-” He paused as the clinking sound stopped, and was replaced by a soft creak. Virgil felt ready to cry, recognizing the sound of their squeaky old door swinging open. “I heard the door open, they’re inside, please help me-” He breathed, slowly sliding off his bed and over the carpeted floor to hide in his closet.

“Please stay calm,” the dispatcher repeated. “I’ll stay with you on the line. Are there other people that live in the house with you?”

“Mm-hmm. My roomates”

“Okay. If you can, you need to make sure that they are awake and have some kind of weapon so that if it comes to an altercation, they can defend themselves. Can you do that?”

“I can text them,” Virgil mumbled, hyper-aware of every sound that he made. He sent a message to the group chat the four of them shared.

[someone broke in, stay silent, i called 911, find something to dfend yrself and hide in yr closet but dont make any noise]

He sent the text and a moment later heard some gentle shuffling in his friend’s bedrooms, followed by the nearly indiscernible sound of pattering footsteps on carpet. Good, they were all hiding. He updated the dispatcher and they told him that they were sending the police. So, all he could do now was wait and listen. Luckily, listening was what he was best at.

It seemed that at the moment the intruder was just shuffling around in the living room and kitchen. Virgil could hear the rolling of the drawers and the sharp slams as cabinets opened and closed. He flinched when he heard a giant object thud onto the floor of the living room, hoping a bit selfishly that it wasn’t the TV or the Playstation. He’d saved for months to get them. Shaking his head, he silently scolded himself for thinking about something like a video game console when he and his friends could literally all end up dead.

He redirected his attention to sounds of the intruder once again, trying his best to dismiss the frightened nausea that was tickling his throat. To Virgil’s dismay, his panic only grew as he heard the footsteps getting louder.

Dear fucking gods, they were coming down the hall.

Virgil nearly screamed when he heard a loud BANG at the opposite end of the hallway, but a familiar voice beat him to it.

“Logan!” His best friend’s name ripped its way out of his throat, and before he could even register what he was doing, he seized a discarded X-Acto blade from the top of his pile of art supplies and ran to Logan’s room.

When he arrived, he was distraught to see Logan cowering in the corner opposite his door, as if he’d made a run for it from the closet but hadn’t been able to make it out. Even more terrifying was the figure looming over him. The guy was tall, dressed in all black, and the only discernible features on his person was the bag slung over one shoulder and the silver kitchen knife in his other hand. The man spun on his heel, his brow creasing beneath his cheap plastic mask. His eyes, dark and malicious, surveyed Virgil’s form. He hesitated for a split second, fingers tensing around the knife as he glanced briefly back at Logan. Whatever sick decision he had been debating made, he swiped the knife at Virgil. He ducked out of the way fast enough to avoid getting stabbed, but a cut was opened on his shoulder. He cried out in pain as blood gushed down his arm.

“Logan! Get out, run!” He ordered, gripping his X-acto blade in his other hand.

“No, Virgil, I won’t-”

“Shut up, Lo! Just get out!”

Finally, Logan did as Virgil said, climbing to the window and sliding out onto the ledge underneath. Thank god they were only on the second floor.

Virgil shoved his blade into the intruder’s shoulder, sending him stumbling back a step with a yell. All too quickly, though, he recovered, yanking to blade from his skin and pinning Virgil against the wall. He opened his mouth to shout for Roman and Patton, but before he could, he felt the knife pressing up against his throat.

“P-please…” He whimpered, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to disappear into the wall. Hot tears began rolling down his cheeks as he felt the knife pressing into his skin, opening the tiniest of cuts on his neck. One wrong move and he was dead.

“Shhh…” The intruder’s voice was deep and menacing, and it sent goosebumps crawling across Virgil’s skin. He had to get out of here before his throat was slit. But… if he got away, then Roman and Patton would be in danger. So, he had a choice to make. Fight, or flight.

He had no time to hesitate.

He brought his knee up into the man’s stomach, knocking the breath out of him. The knife dropped from Virgil’s neck and he didn’t waste a second jamming his elbow into the man’s nose, the sickening crack an indication that he’d been successful in breaking it. He seized the man’s wrist and twisted it as far back as he could. He almost let go after hearing the shout that the intruder released, but didn’t let go until the knife clattered onto the carpet. His injured arm screamed in protest as he brought it up to slam the man’s head into the wall, but it was worth it when Virgil saw him collapse into the floor, unconscious. His entire body was trembling from the adrenaline, and he was so caught up in his own head that he didn’t notice the sirens outside. When police stormed into the room he was still staring blankly at the man, heart beating a million miles a minute.

He heard a woman’s voice in his ear. He couldn’t make out what she was saying. It could have been hours or seconds before Virgil was snapped out of his haze by a pair of hands on his shoulders.

“Virge? Hey, can you look at me?” Virgil eyes flicked up to find the source of the sound. He was sitting on the floor now, he didn’t know how he’d gotten there. Patton’s face stared back at him. “P-pat…” He stammered, reaching out with shaking hands to pull him close. Patton gathered Virgil in his arms immediately.

“You were so brave, kiddo.” Patton whispered, running his fingers through Virgil’s hair. Another set of hands joined Patton’s, rubbing comforting circles on his back.

“You saved us,” The person attached to the hands spoke. It was Roman. “There are no words that are strong enough to thank you, my dark and stormy knight.”

Virgil finally managed to look up, surveying the room with tear-filled eyes. The intruder was nowhere in sight and police were everywhere. His arm was still bleeding, every tiny movement agonizing to make. Though his throat felt like it had been rubbed with sandpaper, he managed to croak,

“Where’s Logan?”

“I’m here,” Logan’s voice replied immediately, his shape settling in front of Virgil. “Y-you… Virgil, I would be dead if it weren’t for you.” He mumbled, his eyes filling with tears. “Thank you.”

Virgil chuckled, reaching out to wipe Logan’s tears away. “Don’t mention it, Lo. I’d throw myself into a volcano for any of you.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, but please…” He returned Virgi’s laugh, though his was slightly more uneasy. “Why don’t we just do our best to stay alive?”

Carefully, Virgil shifted out of Patton’s arms and buried his face in Logan’s shoulder, squeezing him as tightly as he could with his good arm.

“Okay.”

[winnipegpatty]

we’re fatally flawed | four | s.m. series

“When the things that you can’t hold on to Are the ones that you wish you could keep Are you really ready to pay for love? If it costs you everything.”

“Well, that’s not ideal,” Mandy remembers saying when she came home the fateful night of Shawn’s news. “But you have to go. Shawn it’s everything you’ve dreamed of.”

Shawn had nodded his head, “Yeah. I know I need to go.” There was a sadness that lay under his eyes though. “But what about us?”

Was it wrong for Shawn to feel like everything was falling apart at his fingertips? Like everything was coming to a screeching halt. After all it seems that since things had started to take off, Mandy and Shawn had been on polar opposites of the world. Like Mandy was vacationing in the Arctic, growing further and further from Shawn each day. How could they possibly make things work with distance and 13 months between them, if they couldn’t make living under the same roof work.

Mandy’s eyes softened on Shawn, her hand running through her curls as they wrapped themselves tighter in each others arms. “We’re going to be fine, Shawnie.” She spent the next half hour or so, singing sweet nothings into Shawn’s curls as he slowly unraveled beneath her touch.

“I’m so scared, Em.” He’d admitted somewhere around midnight.

The world around them had long fallen asleep, but not Mandy and Shawn. Not on a night like this.

“You’re going to be okay,” Mandy had whispered. “You’re going to rock out every single night, and live your dream. You’ll completely forget all about little ‘ole me. You don’t need to worry.”

Shawn cried into her chest, “No, no, that’s not what I want at all, Mandy. I can’t forget you. I can’t live without you. Can’t even write music without you.”

It was an ugly cry, and Mandy hated it. Not because his snot was soaking her shirt, or because she could feel his wet breathing, but because he heart was breaking.

Mandy felt herself breaking piece by piece that night, almost as if she were preparing herself. For what, she didn’t exactly know. But something in the air was shifting, and she wasn’t quite sure if it would ever be the same.

___

They say that hurt people end up hurting people, but sometimes loved people hurt people too. Sometimes being in love hurt so much that Mandy couldn’t even breathe. Some days, she’d wake up at night and wonder what the pain in her chest was and why her anxiety was killing her. She’d go to the bathroom, lay on the cool tiles, and just wonder when she’d be able to breathe again. But sometimes that’s what love does to you.

Because being in love with Shawn Mendes wasn’t always easy. Some days being in love with Shawn Mendes meant putting up with late night band practice and no sleep. Or it meant coming home to the smell of weed lingering and hoping it doesn’t carry with you to work in the morning. But other times, being in love with Shawn Mendes meant wondering if he was going to be okay. If fame would treat him well, because she knew without a shadow of a doubt that fame would one day find him. She wondered if he’d be swallowed up by it or if he’d hold his ground. Stay true to himself.

Nights like these, when Shawn’s tears still stained her shirt, she’d wonder if he’d even survive. Would his anxiety kill him too? What would he do if Mandy weren’t there to hold him on nights like these? Would he feel alone? What would he turn to?

Sometimes being in love means that you hurt more than you did when you weren’t in love. Being in love means you no longer just have yourself to worry about, but now you have another someone.

Some days Mandy thinks it’s all too much to take. She wonders if there is a way to just turn off her emotions, maybe even for just a few hours. She lives in a state of constant worry, if not for herself, than for her students. And if not for her students, than for Shawn. And if not for Shawn, than for the band’s success. There was never any rest.

But despite it all, Mandy knew her emotions are what would make her great. There were children who relied on her everyday for their education, for stability, for happiness. Mandy wouldn’t be able to be the teacher she was if it weren’t for her emotions.

___

“Ms. Stein?”

“Yes, Jack?” Mandy asked.

It was a beautiful autumn day in November. It was one of those days that despite the ever cooling temperatures, was oddly warm. When the sun chose to shine for even just a few extra moments. The children were each at different centers, working on skills they’d been learning for the past few months. Mandy had found that smaller groups of children, focusing on small tasks, accomplished much more than a group of twenty five, trying to accomplish the same task. Some were working on their numbers, others on critical thinking skills through puzzle usage, some work working on writing their names, and Jack’s group was working on reading in the book nook.

“Could you help me with this word?” Jack asked, showing her the book he was working on reading.

Mandy hummed, “Well, let’s see.”

Mandy looked at the book in Jack’s hands, recognizing it immediately as On The Night You Were Born. Mandy particularly loved this book because it was all about telling each child how special they were.

Jack was still on the first page, and he pointed to the word ‘whispered’ wondering what it meant.

“Let’s sound it out together, what sound does our ‘w’ make?”

Jack made the sound like they had worked on in class together.

“Good, now do you see do you recognize the next three letters as a word we know?” Mandy asked him, pointing to the h, i, and s.

Jack nodded saying, “His.”

Mandy nodded. “And what sound does our ‘p’ make?”

This went on for a moment before Jack finally had all of the sounds put together coming up with the word, “Whispered!” Jack said excitedly, then deflating some, “What does whispered mean, Ms. Stein?”

Mandy explained to him what the word meant, before asking her, “Ms. Stein could you read this book too me?”

Mandy looked at Jack for a moment, then around to her class full of kids who were working so well.

Mandy smiled down at Jack, “Sure, but then you have to read the other books on your own. You need to practice your reading.”

Jack nodded in agreement, as Mandy took a seat next to Jack.

“On the night you were born,” Mandy began, “the moon smiled with such wonder that the stars peaked out to see you,” her voice was soft as she emphasized each word. “And the night wind whispered, ‘Life will never be the same,’ because there had never been anyone like you, ever in the world.”

Mandy never got tired of reading this book, and she never got tired of seeing sweet five year old faces light up when they realize just how special they are.

“So enchanted with you, were the wind and the rain, that they whispered the sound of your wonderful name.” Mandy looked at Jack, who was staring at the book with such intent. “The sound of your name is a magical one. Let’s say it out loud before we go on.”

“Jack!” Jack responded to the book, and Mandy grinned with such wonder at the precious boy.

“It sailed through the farmland high on the breeze...over the ocean...and through the trees. Until everyone heard it, and everyone knew, of the one and only ever you. Not once had there been such eyes,” Mandy pointed out Jacks eyes, “such a nose,” she pointed again to his nose this time, “such silly, wiggly, wonderful toes.” Mandy reached out for Jack’s feet, who squirmed away giggling quietly.

“In fact,” Mandy continued, “I think I’ll count to three so you can wiggle your toes with me.” Mandy looked at Jack, “Let’s count to three.”

Together they said, “One, two, three.”

“Wiggle your toes,” Mandy said excitedly, dramatically wiggling her own toes as example.

“When the polar bears heard, they danced until dawn,” Mandy returned to the book, “From faraway places, the geese flew home. The moon stayed up until morning next day. And none of the ladybugs flew away.”

Jack looked at Mandy, eyes earnest, and she returned his gaze.

“So,” her voice dropped to a whisper, “whenever you doubt, just how special you are and wonder who loves you, how much and how far, listen for the geese honking in the sky, they’re singing a song to remember you by. Or notice the bears asleep in the zoo, it’s because they’ve been dancing all night for you! Or drift off to sleep to the sound of the wind, listen closely...it’s whispering your name again.”

Mandy loved this book because even for just a few minutes a child could feel loved. Even if no other time they felt like someone loved them, this book made sure to tell them that even the wind and the waves and the birds in the sky and bears on the ground were completely and totally enchanted by them. If maybe for a whatever reason this child had no one in their life to love them on a personal level, that they could even for a moment find love within the world itself, if not in the people it’s provided.

“If the moon stays up until morning one day, or a ladybug lands and decides to stay, or a little bird sits on your window a while, it’s all because they’re waiting to see you smile.” Mandy smiled at Jack, who exaggeratedly smiled back at her. Her heart clenched around something, she wasn’t sure what.

“For never before, in story or rhyme, not even once upon a time, has a world ever know a you, my friend,” Mandy bopped Jack on the nose, who released another soft giggle. “And it never will, not ever again. Heaven blew every trumpet, and played every horn on the wonderful, marvelous night you were born.” Mandy closed the book, gently placing it back on the bookshelf.

“Ms. Stein?” Jack asked, looking at her with his doe eyes.

“Yes, Jack?”

“Do you think it’s true?”

“Is what true?” She asked gently.

“Do all of those things happen because of me?” He pointed at the book.

“All of those things, and so much more,” Mandy smiled at him.

Jack smiled quietly, before reaching around Mandy for a new book. “Sometimes,” Jack said softly, only looking at the book in his lap, “I think people would be happier if I hadn’t been born.”

Mandy’s heart broke, every single piece inside of her falling and crashing on the floor.

“Jack, that simply isn’t the truth,” She searched for his eyes, finally finding them as he reluctantly looked up from the book. “No matter what anyone tells you, here or at home, you are loved by so many people. And if you have days when you can’t remember that, you come find me. I’ll remind you.”

Jack nodded, “Thank you Ms. Stein.”

___

Going home everyday was getting harder and harder for Mandy, as she neared the day Shawn would be leaving for thirteen months. It was now, less than a week away. Shawn had started packing three days ago, and seeing him take pieces of him away from her hurt.

She’d realized yesterday that their Crosley Cruiser was sitting among his items that he planned to take with him and she wondered if she’d have  to buy herself one so she could still listen to her records.

Today, she came home to the house feeling emptier than usual. She wasn’t sure what exactly had been added to Shawn’s pile, but something was missing. Something just felt incredibly off. This was going to take a lot of getting used to, and Shawn hadn’t even left yet. How was she supposed to enjoy her last few days with him, if every moment in their home together was a reminder that he was leaving?

“Babe?” Mandy called out for Shawn from the entryway.

“In the kitchen,” his voice carried through the house.

Mandy hung up her jacket and purse, and then continued into the kitchen, beginning to smell a delicious aroma.

“What are you making?” Mandy asked.

Shawn smiled up at her, from the pot he was stirring. “Your favorite.”

Mandy smiled, coming around the counter to kiss him lightly.

“Is it a special occasion?” Mandy asked looking up at her boyfriend.

Shawn wrapped a gentle hand around Mandy’s waist, pulling her close to him. “Just think we should probably talk,” he said quietly. Shawn licked his lips, nervously toying with his lip ring for a moment.

Mandy nodded, “Okay.”

It’s not that they hadn’t talked about anything recently. They’d decided Shawn was absolutely, no questions, going on the tour. There was no way he couldn’t. But past that, they’d been avoiding the topic.

When dinner was ready, they sat down together. Mandy had lit a candle and poured glasses of wine for each of them. They ate in silence for a bit, listening to the soft playlist that was running through the speakers. Mandy had also picked that.

“So,” Shawn finally spoke up, taking a sip of his wine. “I think it’s important to state the obvious, considering the miscommunication we’ve had recently.” Shawn placed his glass on the table. “I don’t want this tour to be the end of us. I don’t want us to seperate just because we are physically separated.”

Mandy nodded, “I agree.”

“But I’m also not willing to be ignorant,” Shawn said, placing his fork on the table, giving Mandy and this conversation his full attention. Mandy followed suit. “I think it will be incredibly difficult for us to make it to the other side of this without some,” Shawn paused, “adjustments…”

“Okay,” Mandy said.

“First things first, we have to be honest with each other. And that means even if we are going to be mad about something, we have to tell the truth. Because lies is going to be the first thing to kill us. So, I going to tell you here and now. I’m going to meet a lot of fans, and most of them will be girls. I’m going to take pictures with them. And I don’t plan on talking about having a girlfriend, unless I am specifically asked. It’s not because I don’t love you or I don’t want people to know about you. But it’s because that is less messy and it creates less of a risk for a PR nightmare to happen.”

Mandy swallowed, “Noted.”

“Second,” Shawn breathed. “We have to stay in touch, as hard as that is going to be. I know I’ll be busy, and I know you’re busy too.”

Mandy nodded, “Maybe we can like...set up a weekly facetime date? So that if nothing else, we at least have that.”

Shawn nodded, “Yeah, I like that. We can work on that once I am actually gone and have a better idea of what schedule is like.”

“I’ll come home, if it’s ever possible,” Shawn continued. “But I also think you should agree to come see me, if it’s possible.”

Mandy nodded in agreement.

“And…” Shawn tugged on his helix earring for a moment. “I think, when you have summer break, you should come on tour. At least for a bit. Just so that we can get some extended time together before you go back to school.”

“We can work the details out when it gets closer,” Mandy smiled, reaching across the table for Shawn’s hand. “Hey,” she whispered. “We’re going to be okay.”

Shawn did his best to believe her. It’s really all he could do.

tagging: @fourtristattoos @peacedolantwins2 @rosecth @shavvnmendcs @unhealthyobsessionwithmarvel @justanotherfangurl272 @my-sweet-escape-from-the-world @yourwonderbelle

a/n: feedback is greatly appreciated (and needed pls) 

[retrosounds]

He’s Perfect For You, Darling (ch.4)

                                                                                        (GIF by @radioblahblahh)

Yes, there are two gifs because this chapter is about to get SPICY so buckle up, my darlings. 

Ready Freddie? Let’s go.

summary: you run into freddie mercury after a queen concert and you two become extremely close friends. he introduces you to the band and you find yourself falling for roger but are too scared to admit it because you don’t think he feels the same.

characters: Ben Hardy!Roger Taylor, Rami Malek!Freddie Mercury, Gwilym Lee!Brian May, Joe Mazzello!John Deacon

Fuck reality.

For a moment in time, everything seemed so incredibly fanciful. 

The two of you standing alone amongst the busy city as Roger profusely declared his feelings for you. It was more than you could have dreamed of.

Your faces were inches apart as you two shared a breath, moving as one greater living being. Your pupils dilated as your eyes were glazed over with lust. Your heart was beating so incredibly fast it made everything else feel like slow motion. The pounding in your head was so loud you thought he could hear it. The high of Roger being so incredibly close to you was making you dizzy. It was perfect.

And that’s when reality loves to strike. It’s the uninvited guest at every party.

Fuck reality.

“What are you thinking about?” Roger questioned, his voice almost a whisper yet still having a low and musty tone that dripped with seduction.

Your heart was convincing you to close the small divide between you two and fulfill your desire to feel his lips on yours. Oh, how intoxicating that must be.

However, your mind held you back. Reality held you back. You knew that if you kissed him now, you would only be hurting yourself. Your mind held back to protect your heart. 

“Rog,” you said reluctantly, “I can’t.”

You could see something in him shatter. God how it hurt to see those quizzical eyes mourn. 

He stepped back, cocking his head slightly in shock. He’d never fallen for a someone so hard before, he’d never declared his feelings like that for someone, and he’d definitely never been rejected when he was moments away from kissing someone. It was the new, bitter reality that stung him so hard. 

“This will never work,” you breathed, shaking your head, “I can’t get attached.”

“What?” he spoke, his voice riddled in disbelief.

“Let’s say I kiss you now, and we’re happy. We spend the holidays together and everything seems perfect. We fall for each other more and more each day, and then suddenly, after less than two weeks, you leave for tour. And shortly after that, I go back to the university. And then what?”

“We could do long distance,” Roger spoke, scrambling for a solution.

“Be honest with yourself Rog. I’ll be busy with school so I will have little time to call you, not to mention working out different time zones. Meanwhile, you will have girls throwing themselves at you left and right, and you are saying you would reject them, no matter how beautiful or tempting they may be, all for a college student who you don’t even get to see in person and maybe get 30 minutes on the phone with each night. Is it worth it?”

Roger was staring at the floor, his head hung low. You could feel yourself slipping into the deep void of heartbreak. 

He looked back up at you, his crystal eyes flooded with tears. Oh god, what had you done?  

“Yes,” he choaked, tears streaming down his face, hanging off the edge of his cheekbones before falling onto his coat, “Yes, yes, yes it’s worth it. You are worth it, y/n. I have never felt this way about anybody before, and I’m willing to fight whatever odds are stacked against us to keep this feeling alive.” he was practically yelling now, “Nothing else matters when I know that the thirty minutes I get on the phone with you will be the best part of each day. None of the girls at the concerts matter when I know I have the most beautiful girl in the world waiting for me back at home. Nothing will ever matter anymore if you leave this balcony without giving me a chance to fight for us. Nothing will-”

Your lips crashed into his, catching him off guard. Your head was spinning so rapidly you didn’t have time to think about reality anymore. Reality could go fuck itself. Chills laced their way up your spine as Roger began to take control, placing his hand on the small of your back, pulling you impossibly closer to him. You could feel his touch everywhere on your body, yet nowhere at the same time. You wanted him all over you. He was a drug with a high that had no limits. and you were an addict. Your hand flew to his long blonde hair as his stayed on your back, the other one moving to cup your face. The movies and books could never do justice to absolute ecstasy you were in right now. 

The two of your finally pulled away, both panting as you looked each other in the eye.

“Does this mean you’ll give me a chance?” Roger breathed.

“Yes,” you nodded, a smile tugging at the corners of your lips as you saw Roger’s eyes light up. 

Right now, reality seemed pretty damn good. 

The golden rays of morning sun beamed into your room. You were incredibly glad you hadn’t gotten shitfaced like Freddie had requested. You didn’t want to forget anything from last night. 

You and Rog had been out on the balcony for over an hour before you worried people would realize you two were missing. By the time you had gone back into the party, the other guys had already left. It had only been a few minutes before Freddie pulled you away from Roger, obviously oblivious to the past hour you had been on the balcony, and drinking serenade you (to Roger’s amusement). 

It was late when you decided you would retire from the party and disappear into your room for the rest of the evening. Roger had already gone home and everyone left was calling their cab rides home. 

Freddie had come up into your room later that night as he rambled himself to sleep on the success of the party and how much the guests had loved you.

You rolled out of bed, Freddie still asleep in the spot beside you. You attempted to change quickly and slip out of the room without waking him up. Your attempt failed.

“Where are you off too so early, darling?” Freddie said sleepily.

“Fred its 11am, that’s not early” you laughed.

“Really?” Freddie yawned, “I must get to the studio.”

You tried to keep in your excitement.

“Mind if I come too?” You asked, biting your lip to hold back a smile.

“Oh, I insist,” Freddie replied. 

You were practically bursting at the seems to see Roger again.

“Sorry I’m late,” Freddie announced as he walked into the studio, “long night.” 

You immediately made eye contact with Roger as he flashed you a cheeky grin.

“No bitchy reply from Roger, pleasant surprise,” Freddie said under his breath, looking back at you.

“What was that Fred?” Roger said, his eyes shifting to focus on the singer.

“Nothing my dear, I was just addressing your unusually uplifted mood.” 

Roger looked back at you, winking.

The moment failed to be missed by Freddie, who quickly turned around you face you. You could feel yourself go pale. Of course, you were eventually going to tell him about what happened between you and Roger, but you hadn’t expected it to come so quickly. 

The singer eyed you suspiciously before glaring at the blonde.

“What is going on between you two?” he said, so lowly he practically growled.

“Yeah, if I may, I was wondering the same thing after the two of you disappeared onto the balcony last night,” Brain quipped from the back.

“You what?” Freddie asked, his voice almost sounding hurt. His eyes were locked on yours now. There was no escaping this one. 

“Well... um Freddie...” you could barely think with his harsh eyes glaring at you. You had never seen this side of him before. It was dangerous. 

“What!” He yelled, his eyes never leaving yours. You could scream right now. Or cry. Or both. You felt so small under his intense gaze.

“It’s just that, Roger and I have developed some feelings for each other...” you stuttered, “a-and I-”

“And you what?” Freddie huffed.

“Fred you're scaring her, knock it off,” Roger said furiously, standing up to charge towards Freddie. John and Brian shared a look across the room, both fully realizing that things could get very out of hand very quickly.

“And what, may I ask, Roger, is it that you truly know about her?” Freddie questioned hysterically. “Does she even know you, Rog? How you convince every woman you meet to fall in love with you? Does she know that?” 

“Watch it,” Roger snarled.

Freddie craned his neck back to look at you.“Oh, darling, I’m surprised you, of all people, are letting him lead you on” he chuckled.

And that's when Roger took a swing, his knuckles barley missing Freddie’s nose. His eyes were dark as Freddie caught his fist, throwing it down to his side. “It’s not like that Freddie. It’s different. She is different, Fred.”

“It’s never different with you Rog. You’re just convincing her it is. You will take all that is divine until you have taken it all, and you will leave her with nothing. I know you, Roger. Don’t ever attempt bore me with your pretty tears.” Freddie hissed.

The energy between them was deadly. Roger looking ready to throw another swing at a moment’s notice.

“You know shit, Mercury,” Roger growled, Freddie then forcefully shoving the blonde across the stage.

“Hey hey hey,” Brain yelled, squeezing himself between the guys and pushing Freddie across the room and John attempted in holding back Roger. 

Freddie’s head whipped into your direction, the vicious blaze in his eyes turning your stomach into a pit. 

“How could you?” He stammered, his voice riddled with the romance of fury and heartbreak. You never meant to hurt him. You never thought you would be sacrificing the friendship. Your eyes stung with tears as they glossed over your vision.

“What do you mean, Freddie?” You cried. 

Freddie pulled himself out of Brian’s arms, walking up to you until you were only a breath apart, yet he didn’t dear touch you. 

“Tell me, y/n, and don’t you dare lie to me, is he the only reason you remained friends with me? Have you just been using me to get to him?” Freddie said, his breathing rapid as he attempted to control himself. “Tell me!” he demanded.

“No!” you choked, tears streaming down your face as you looked up at him, “Of course not Freddie. I became friends because with you because... well because you always believe in me. No matter what. And I believe in you. We are there for each other Fred. Often times you are there for me more than I am there for myself.” you breathed heavily, turning now to face Roger, “Falling for Roger was unplanned, but I couldn’t control it. The way I feel about him is something nobody else has made me feel before. I tried, so hard Freddie, to fight it. But I couldn’t. When I am with you, Freddie, I am so happy. When I am with Roger, I am home.”

A thick silence hung in the air as Freddie continued to look at you before his eyes drifted to the drummer behind you. He then turned, walking to the piano in the corner of the room. It felt as though the entire studio was holding their breath, watching him, awaiting his next move. And that’s when he began to play.

“Love of my life you've hurt me You've broken my heart and now you leave me                                                                                          Love of my life can't you see? Bring it back bring it back don't take it away from me because you don't know                                                                                   what it means to me”

The last note of the piano echoed through the room before the silence crept in once more. 

“Do you know who that song is about, darling?” Freddie asked, his back facing the room. 

“Mary,” you breathed.

“She took off the ring. And once that ring was off, she never put it back on again.” He paused, “She replaced it, darling. She replaced me with another man. It is a fire that has burnt me before and still burns inside me today.”

He spun around on the piano bench, facing you from across the room. “Now tell me, darling, before I waste any more of my time, are you here to burn me too?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Freddie.” your voice was hushed but honest. You couldn't afford to lose your friendship with him. You needed him more than you knew. 

“It pains me, dear, to know the ways which he will hurt you,” Freddie said before leaving. 

“What about rehearsal?” John called after him.

“Tomorrow, Deaky.” 

You turned to face Roger. “He will cool down, I promise you,” the drummer began, but you shook your head.

“Is he right, Rog? About what he said about you?”

“I am a different man because of you,” Roger said, grabbing your hand and lacing his fingers between yours.

“How come he doesn't see that then?” You pleaded softly.

“He just refuses to open his eyes.” 

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[aethersea]

Must Have Caught a Good Look at You

hey folks, please enjoy this Supernatural au of the Kencyrath! 

They were just dreams. He was fine. Tori had midterms, papers, projects, finals – he couldn’t waste time paying attention to dreams. He poured Red Bull into his coffee and pulled enough all-nighters to make his pre-med roommate cry and ignored them, and he was fine, even if his bones did start to feel like they were made of packed straw and his hands were always shaking. He was fine.

If he woke up in lecture halls and study rooms covered in cold sweat, shaking, with a dead girl’s voice echoing in his ears…well, clearly he just needed more coffee.

There were dreams of killing monsters, monsters that burned when he touched them with slender, unscarred hands, and he told himself they were jumbled memories. There were dreams where alien voices whispered in strange tongues, sussurous words that brushed against his skin like feathers of flame, and longing poured into his soul until he felt he would burst from the grief of it. And there were dreams where he was hiding, hunted, fleeing from a ghost who chased him down endless highways, through the grey remnants of a thousand motel rooms, or through the halls of this university that she had never lived to see. The dreams felt more real than waking sometimes, especially as the coffee-induced haze became a permanent fixture in his life. So when he saw the slight figure standing outside the door to his next class, he didn’t stop to think. He just bolted.

Tori made it down three flights of stairs, across the quad, and into the Earth and Marine Sciences building before he blacked out. He woke up to a circle of concerned faces, his lungs burning and his legs as weak as porridge, and realized that it hadn’t been a dream. In his dreams, he ran endlessly.

In life, however, a month of sleep deprivation had done a number on his ability to get the hell out of Dodge. He struggled to push himself to his feet, waving off the worried bystanders, willing his shaking legs to support him. Someone offered him his water bottle, which had gone skittering across the floor with his fall and fetched up against a nearby wall. Someone else was on the phone – “No he’s awake now, yes he’s standing up but he’s swaying a bit—”

“I’m fine,” Tori insisted hoarsely, shaking the starbursts out of his vision and trying to stagger off, through the circle of anxious faces, away from the wide glass doors that faced into the quad. It was no good, though. As he stumbled backward, his eyes landed on a thin, pale face framed in dark hair, and he froze.

They stood there, silver eyes locked on each other, for what seemed like a very long time. The students around and between them seemed to fade away, their cautious questions reduced to white noise. Tori’s heart was pounding rabbit-fast in his chest, and he felt painfully like a rabbit himself, cornered by a snake.

Finally she smiled at him, small and melancholy, and turned away, pushing through the glass doors into the quad and vanishing into the crowd of students outside.

Tori watched her go with whispers rustling at the edge of his hearing, whispers that he still couldn't understand but which crackled with urgency and fear.

=-=-=-=-=-=

It wasn’t a friendly city at night. The asphalt glistened with oil-slick moisture from a brief, unsatisfying burst of rain; the streets echoed with staccato bursts of hoarse swearing and sharp, drunken laughter. Jame ambled down the dirty sidewalks with her hands in her pockets, watching her shadow as it was handed off from one streetlamp to the next. She didn’t bother being afraid for her safety. Anything in this city that had a shot at hurting her would know better than to try.

She’d known that Tori was hiding from her. All this time she’d been pointing herself at him like a bird points itself north, following the undefinable tug in her belly that she knew without knowing how would lead her to Tori, and it had tugged back, uncomfortable and unwilling, as if trying to pull out of her grip. Her dreams, when they weren’t nightmares, were endless aching rounds of hide and seek, calling fruitlessly for her brother down highways and hallways and a thousand half-remembered motels. She’d known. It shouldn’t have felt so much like being gutted when she saw the abject terror in his eyes.

Jame hugged her arms around the misery that bloomed sharp and keening in her chest. She’d thought – hoped – he’d at least be glad she wasn’t dead.

A pack of drunk college students spilled out of a bar in front of her. Jame stopped rather than try to push her way through them, and watched idly as they sorted themselves out. One of them, a woman with a bright red undercut yelling loudly for her phone as she supported what looked like a dozing lumberjack, caught sight of Jame and gave out a little scream.

Jame raised her eyebrows. The woman giggled nervously. “Didn’t see you,” she stammered. “You’re all spooky and quiet in the shadows and stuff.”

Jame was standing directly under a lamppost.

“Hey guys are we going or what?” the woman demanded, turning away from Jame and shifting the lumberjack’s weight on her shoulder. The woman’s friends all started disagreeing about Uber. Jame watched with growing bemusement as the woman complained at her friends to hurry, trying to keep herself between them and Jame the whole time while pretending not to realize Jame was there. It was a poor performance, filled with increasingly high-pitched exclamations and increasingly anxious glances over at Jame and then quickly away, but then, she was very drunk. Jame leaned against the lamppost, mystified, and waited to see what would happen next.

Finally a car pulled up and the college students flagged it down excitedly. The red-haired woman didn’t get into it, instead doing frequent, slightly slurred head counts under her breath as her friends tried to sort themselves into two groups. The second Uber pulled up while they were still arguing about it, and the red-haired woman started pushing her friends bodily toward one car or another, with a sharp tone in her voice as she did it that brooked no argument. If she was some sort of monster who had recognized Jame as a hunter, surely she’d have just run away by now, rather than stay and play chaperone. Jame had never once met a monster who didn’t regard a pack of drunk humans as nothing more than easy pickings.

The woman watched the first car drive off with longing and relief painted across her face. Then with another frightened glance at Jame, she leveraged the faintly snoring lumberjack into the backseat of the second car, fussed over seatbelts a moment, and then paused, one hand braced on the door frame, the other clenched into a shaking fist. Her breathing had gone fast and a little shallow. After a few seconds, she offered her friends inside a rictus grin of a smile and said, “There’s no room for me unless I sit on Dylan’s lap, I’ll just crash at Sam’s place. You guys go on home.”

Her friends protested, but she slammed the car door and rapped on the roof. The driver, presumably eager to get rid of their drunk cargo as soon as possible, pulled away from the curb without hesitation. Only after the last echo of the motor had faded did the red-haired woman turn, unwillingly, to face Jame.

She looked to be somewhere in her mid-twenties, though Jame thought she might look younger without the heavy eyeshadow and smudged crimson lipstick. She wore what Jame, in her ignorance, had to assume were normal clubbing clothes – a sparkly green halter top and an asymmetrical miniskirt over leopard-print leggings, with black combat boots that could probably kick a man’s teeth in with one blow. She had a tiny black purse slung over one shoulder and absolutely no fangs, claws, or aura of general menace that Jame could discern.

But then, neither did Jame, with her hands safely gloved.

The woman fidgeted with her purse’s clasp, worried at her lip, and studiously avoided making eye contact while Jame looked her over. After a few minutes she blurted out, “If you’re going to kill me, could you please make it quick?”

Jame snorted. “Why, do you have an appointment after this?”

The woman flinched. “No, sorry, I don’t, I mean I didn’t mean, I mean—” She gulped, and took a deep breath. “What do you want from me, my lady?”

Jame raised her eyebrows. She hadn’t been pegged as a hunter then, but as…something else. “What’s your name?” she asked, stepping away from the lamppost.

“Rue. My lady,” the woman added on hurriedly, shrinking back like she would very much like to back away but didn’t dare.

“What are you?”

If Rue was surprised by the bluntness of the question, she didn’t show it. “A selkie. From the ocean. Obviously. Sorry. My lady.”

Selkies: aquatic by nature, rarely spent more than a week on land at a time. Traveled in family-packs of ten to fifty people, territorial but usually on good terms with their neighbors, generally preferred to negotiate than to fight. Never found this far inland unless they’d lost their pelt and been bound to servitude. Powerful shape shifters, could perform assorted minor spells to do with water, luck, and fertility; witches sometimes tried to enslave them as familiars, with limited success.

Jame had never encountered a selkie, not in the month and a half since she had stumbled onto the ashes of Winter’s bar and not in the years she’d spent following her father on hunts as a child. The knowledge appeared in her mind anyway, precise as an encyclopedia, with no associated memory to tell her where she’d learned it. Yet another clue to the delightful little mystery of the gaping hole in her past.

“So tell me, Rue from the ocean. Why should I kill you, quickly or otherwise?”

Rue looked over at her suspiciously, finally making eye contact. “Is that a trick question? Like, do I give you a reason and then you say ‘correct!’ and then you murder me?”

Jame pressed her lips together to hold back a smile. “I suppose that would hardly be very fair of me,” she said gravely. Rue made a face like she agreed but wasn’t about to go saying so, then another face like she’d just realized she’d made that face out loud. Jame wished all the monsters she ran into could be this drunk. This was easily the funniest conversation she’d had all…

month-and-a-half.

“You’re awfully far from home,” Jame said rather than think of that. Rue’s breathing hitched. Did she think that was a threat? “Did someone steal your skin?”

Rue shook her head. “I left it with my dad back when I left home. My lady. My parents sent me to college to learn about plastic and oil. I’m majoring in Oceanography with a focus on conservation and a minor in Material Sciences, because we keep finding poison in the fish and last year my baby cousin almost died when no one caught him eating candy wrappers. Technically selkies can survive away from the ocean for years and years, we just don’t like to, but I go home on breaks and sometimes on three-day weekends if I don’t have too much homework, it’s not so bad.”

Jame wondered if it was the fear or the alcohol that made Rue babble. She still had no idea what Rue was so afraid of. “Look,” she interrupted, “I have no intention of killing you tonight. If you really are just here to go to college, I don’t see why I should kill you at all. But I do need to know why you screamed when you saw me. How did you know what I am?”

Not that Jame herself knew what she was, but every time she’d mentioned that lately it had led to someone laughing at her, then trying to stab her in the face. She’d grown rather reticent as a result.

“Oh, well, I can see auras,” Rue explained in a rush. “It’s why I’m the one who came to college – I can see if someone’s, like, a witch or a vampire or something, and then I can deal with them, or at least avoid them. Usually,” she added with a nervous little shrug. Clearly, that hadn’t worked so well with Jame.

This, too, Jame had heard of, though she remembered where. One of the hunters who stopped sometimes at Winter’s bar had had the gift of it, if a gift it was; he could spot monsters by the afterimages they left in the air when they moved, he’d told her once, different for each kind of creature. He saw things in humans sometimes, too, if they’d brushed up against the wrong sort of darkness. He’d seen something in her and Tori, by the way he’d startled whenever either of them walked into the room, but he’d refused to tell either of them what.

“What do you see in my aura?” Jame asked, genuinely curious.

“Fire,” Rue said somberly, meeting Jame’s eyes for only the second time. “Enough to burn down the world.”

Jame recoiled. Suddenly she was standing in front of Winter’s bar, watching the flames consume the mangled bodies of everyone she’d ever tried to love. She hadn’t had time to dig them graves. Instead she’d splashed alcohol in every room, covered each body she found in gasoline and rock salt from the basement, then set the whole thing ablaze. Child of darkness, her father’s voice rasped in her ear, are you so determined to see us all burn?

In the end, she had.

Jame swallowed bile and breathed deeply through her nose. The city stank of engine exhaust, wet asphalt, stale beer, cigarette butts, but not charred flesh, not dried blood. Jame breathed deep and opened her eyes to find Rue watching her with naked curiosity. “You just…flickered,” the selkie said by way of explanation, waving one hand vaguely. “All the fire kind of went fwoom, all over the place” – she mimed an explosion – “and then just went back to normal.”

Jame drew a shaky breath and shoved her hands in her pockets. “Normal world-consuming fire, you mean.”

Rue made another complicated face, but nodded.

“How many auras like mine have you seen?”

Rue shuddered. “None. My lady,” she added again. “I’ve seen fire, I know what it means, but never more than like, some flames around a person’s head and hands. Never…this.”

Jame stepped forward without meaning to and Rue jerked away, stumbling a little and clutching her purse, eyes gone wide. Jame stopped short, and tried to keep the eager desperation out of her voice as she asked, “So what does fire mean, Rue from the ocean?”

“I–I don’t know, my lady, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said–”

“Tell me,” Jame ordered.

“Demons,” Rue blurted out, clearly regretting the word even as she said it. “Every time, it’s been a demon.”

Jame felt an icy chill wash through her. Child of darkness, monster, hell-spawn. Well, it wasn’t like it was news, exactly. She thought again of Tori’s face, terrified at the mere sight of her, and had to fight the temptation to curl into a little ball and hide.

Rue was babbling again. Jame struggled to tune back in. “—I’ve only seen three demons anyway, it’s not like I’m any sort of expert, I’m sure you’re not really—”

“Rue.”

Rue cut off sharply, watching Jame with trepidation.

“Thank you for telling me. You can…go,” Jame said awkwardly. “I’m sorry to have kept you.”

Rue blinked. “Um. Thank you, my lady.” She stumbled back a few steps, apparently unwilling to turn her back on Jame.

Jame could hardly blame her. With a sigh, she reached for the thread in her belly that would lead her to Tori and pulled. He didn’t want her – why would he? She was a monster through and through, he was better off without her – but their father had died, and he deserved to hear it from her. She would tell him, and then…

And then, Jame supposed, she’d get back on the road and find monsters to kill, or else wander around until they found her. That had worked admirably so far, anyway – something had tried to kill her in nearly every town she’d spent the night, and at several rest stops. Like calling to like, maybe.

If nothing else, the missing years of her life had apparently left her very good at killing monsters.

With a quick little smile for Rue, Jame turned on her heel and, for the last time, went looking for her brother.

.

part two