#God fucking forbid maybe you discover you have common ground with someone

[takashi0]

[thepenismightierandallthat]

Masquerade

Sirius Black x OC Marauder Era

So ya gal is sad and wrote this to try and cope with the fact that the guy I had a thing with lied to my face and got a girl to cheat on her boyfriend with him, after swearing he wasn’t using me just because she was taken. (Spoiler alert: he’s a fucking liar and I was just for when she was unavailable)

It doesn’t make much sense and tbh I will probably delete this tomorrow but it helped me get a few things off my chest so that’s good I suppose

Anyway, enjoy or whatever

Drabble Time

Oh that felt good. Adelaide sank down into the bath, really it should be considered a pool, the bubbles covering her body and heat wrapping around her bones. This was her favourite thing about being a prefect. The prefects bathroom.

Rumours had obviously swept through Hogwarts for years, tales of a golden toilet that felt like sitting on a cloud (Untrue. It was just like a regular toilet) A bath with healing powers. (Debatable) The prefects were happy enough to play along, enforcing the rumours and even adding to them. Really it was probably a major factor in why a lot of the students wanted to be prefect.

Addie hadn’t actually started Hogwarts with the dream of being a prefect like some of the students, it just so happened her good grades in her subjects and penchant for rules happened to land her in the position she was in now. And she had never been so thankful.

Her eyes closed as the warmth of the water and relaxing scent of the bath oils surrounded her, a groan escaping her lips.

“Enjoying yourself Pierce?”

She would have jumped at the voice, too recognisable to her now, if she wasn’t so used to him being in places he shouldn’t be.

“I wasn’t aware you were a prefect Black.” She knew he couldn’t see anything,  the bubbles covering every inch of the water made sure of that but she sunk slightly lower in the water just in case.

He leaned against the wall nonchalantly, arms crossed over his chest and a grin on his face, as she glanced at him over her shoulder. “Stranger things could happen.”

“What are you doing here?” She sighed. Just when she was starting to relax, he had to find her and make her all…tense. She wouldn’t be here nearly as often as she was if it wasn’t for his constant presence.

“Well right now I’m really enjoying the view.”

Adelaide rolled her eyes, used to these type of comments from him. “We both know you can’t see anything.”

“You could quite easily change that…”

“Sod off Sirius.” Addie tried to relax and ignore him, closing her eyes and leaning her head back again, but was interrupted once again by the voice of Sirius Black.

“Look, I might have followed Remus here a few times.” He frowned at her when she snickered. She was just as bad as he was. “Not like that. He kept disappearing. So I help myself to its luxuries when I can. No need to let them go to waste.”

“Well as you can see it’s preoccupied. So go on back to the common room.” She really wasn’t in the mood for him today. Couldn’t he see she was just trying to relax!

“Enough room for both of us. Look at the size of this thing.” He told her as he slipped his shirt from his shoulders, letting it crumple on the floor. When he saw Adelaide looking he winked at her and gestured at the bath. “That thing too.”

“You better put your shirt back on Black. We are not bathing together.” She was starting to get angry and sat up slightly in the bath just as he dropped both his trousers and underwear.  “Oh God-“  She turned around as quickly as she could, trying to hide the redness that now coated her cheeks. “You really have no shame do you?!”

“I have nothing to be ashamed of. It’s rather lovely thank you very much, many girls have been more than pleased with it.” He grinned at her as he sunk below the water and waded to the opposite side of the bath. To say she was uncomfortable was an understatement.

“I don’t want to know about that Black. I’ve already had to interrupt you in broom closets far too often for my liking.” She tried to ignore the fact that Sirius Black was opposite her in a bathtub, the both of them completely naked, but it was harder than you’d think.

“Maybe if you knocked first-“

“You’re not supposed to be in there!”

“And where would you recommend? The dorm room is out of the question Prongs and Moony have already forbid me from doing that again.”

“Firstly, the abandoned Charms classrooms near the library are a better option you can charm them and the prefects and teachers never check in there anyway. Secondly, I’m not surprised they forbid you, it’s really hard to sleep with that going on a bed over. We’ve had the same talk with Mary.”

“The abandoned Charms classrooms, genius!” “Why have I never thought of that…”

“Because contrary to what you believe you’re not that clever Black.”

“I wasn’t expecting you of all people to know where to take someone for fooling around.”

“I’m not sure if I should be insulted. I feel like I am.”

“Come on, you’ve never once returned the advances of any of the guys hitting on you the entire time we’ve been at Hogwarts!”

“That’s because no one’s hit on me?”

���Are you being stupid?” “I can name at least 4 just this month alone!”

“Black just because every girl that speaks to you has ulterior motives doesn’t mean it’s the same for everyone.”

“Do you have ulterior motives?”

“Do you want me to slap you?”

“If that’s what you’re into.”

“God you’re disgusting.”

“It’s what makes me your favourite. It’s fine, it’s only us, you can admit here.”

“Please can you just leave? I’m trying to relax and you being here isn’t allowing that.”

“I know better ways of relaxing….”

“I could give you detention for this you know.”

“But then everyone would know we were in a bath together. And knowing you, that’s not something you’d like people to know is it?”

“I’m going to get out now. Turn around.”

“It’s not anything I haven’t seen before Pierce.”

“Be that as it may, turn around. I’m not giving you a free show on top of the perfect bath I’d ran.”

“You can’t be a prude your whole life, Ad.”

“I told you not to call me that.”

“Sorry, Adelaide.”

“Not that either.”

“So what am I supposed to call you?”

“Nothing. In fact, just don’t talk to me.” Addie made to leave, her hair dripping wet and cheeks flushed. Definitely just from the heat of the bath and not the lewd way Sirius had said her name. “Enjoy your bath, Black.” With that she left, the portrait swinging shut softly behind her and droplets of water sliding down her back. God she hated Sirius Black.

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“So when are we doing that again?” Sirius grinned from ear to ear as he slipped into the seat opposite Adelaide’s fortress she’d built out of books and parchment at her table tucked into a corner in the library.

Everyone knew this was Addie’s table. She’d practically adopted it since the beginning of first year. Tucked nicely into the far corner, away from the noisier games of chess, and nestled between two bookshelves. The view was an added bonus, with a look over the lake and grounds, especially beautiful when it was painted with the strokes of bronze and orange that were the tell-tale sign of autumn. She felt safe here, hidden and unseen where she didn’t have to think about anything but the homework she had to complete or sketch she was currently in the middle of it. It was her safe haven. Well it was. Until a certain “Marauder” had discovered this was where she could almost always be found.

Adelaide rolled her eyes, not even lifting her head from the essay she was writing on the importance of Reparifarge and its history. “Please don’t say that like something happened.”

“Are you telling me sharing a bath didn’t mean anything to you? That’s cold Pierce.” Sirius slung one arm over the back of the chair next to him while his other hand gripped his chest in mock pain.

Lifting her head and brushing the curtain of auburn hair away from her face, Adelaide narrowed her eyes at the shit-eating grin that was gracing his face. “Please. We both know nothing a girl has done with you has meant anything. It’s “all fun and games”. Isn’t that what you said about the last fling?”

“Well you can just read me like a book can’t you?”

“Quite the opposite actually. You’re probably the most difficult person to read I’ve ever met. I feel like I’m trying to read a book in a language I can’t even identify let alone understand.”

“I think I’m Latin. Everyone loves the language but no one fully knows it do they?”

“There are many people that know Latin, Black.”

Sirius let out a soft laugh, shaking his head to himself at her dry comment. He leaned back in the wooden chair, precariously balancing it on two legs. He tipped his head to the side, studying Addie carefully before speaking. “Why don’t you let people see this Ad?”

She was so thrown off by the question she didn’t even get angry at him for his use of the nickname she hated. A frown pulled at her eyebrows as the quill in her hand froze and her eyes flew to his. “See what?”

“You.” He dropped the legs of the chair flat to the floor, laying his forearms on the table, his eyes boring into hers. “Like the real you? You’re funny without trying, you’re so smart, you know you don’t know everything and you’re not scared of showing it. Here you’re not hiding, even though technically you are.”

Adelaide didn’t know how to respond to that. Her cheeks heated and she broke the eye contact they were holding. “Is that a compliment Black?”

“Oh come on, we were just getting somewhere there. You’re hiding again.”

“I need firewhiskey for a conversation like this.”

“I can help with that. Astronomy tower tonight? I’ll even bring you a blanket.”

Her eyes flickered between his, looking for a sign of a joke, a reason why for her to not trust him. She couldn’t find it and before she could think better had nodded curtly at him before bowing her head down and pretending to go back to work.

Sirius had known her long enough to know this was an acceptance of his offer and there was no doubt she’d be there that evening. With nothing left to say and a giddy feeling in his stomach that he couldn’t quite pinpoint, Sirius stood from the table, leaving Addie alone in her corner once again. He had some preparing to do.

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Adeladie hadn’t really know what to expect as she’d tiptoed up the astronomy tower stairs to meet Sirius in his most infamous spot, but this definitely wasn’t it. Candles flickered, casting the open aired room in a soft warming glow. It was clear he’d also charmed it as the biting cold of a British autumn didn’t pick at her skin, instead a calming warmth enveloped her. Blankets and cushions were strewn on the floor, creating something similar to her set-up usually found in the common room during OWLS.

Sirius stood against a railing, sipping a glass of fire whiskey and staring out at the darkened grounds of the castle they’d come to call home. Where Addie had her corner, Sirius had the astronomy tower. Up here he didn’t have to worry about anything, his family, his future, they all seemed so small in comparison to the world laid out before him. This view really brought it into perspective.

Stopping next to him, Adelaide held out an empty glass to she’d picked up on the way in. He lifted the bottle resting next to him, pouring a generous amount of the amber liquid into her glass. She tipped her head back, swallowing it in one, her eyes closing at the slight burn in her throat. Sirius couldn’t help but notice how similar the colour of the whiskey and her hair were, how they both caused a warmth to settle in his bones.

“I hide, because it’s easier than being left.” Addie had copied his stance, looking out over the grounds of Hogwarts, their shoulders almost touching, but her gaze of the refection of the moon in the water below.

“When I was a kid, my dad left my mum. They weren’t good together, they were much better apart. She got lighter when he left, like the first sign of sun after winter. They were always arguing before, it made our doors rattle.”

“After he left things were good, they were both happier, able to breathe. It was good. But then he stopped trying with me too. He didn’t even attempt to fight, he just left and I never heard from him again. Or the rest of his family. They just happily left me behind like I was just a small mistake. That was 10 years ago.” She looked at the empty glass in her hands, it was cold against her burning skin. She took a deep breath before continuing. “I figured after that, that if someone who is supposed to love me unconditionally could just leave without a second thought, what would stop anyone else? It would be easier to never let anyone get close, that way it wouldn’t hurt me when they left.” Addie could see Sirus move to say something. She stopped him before he could, a horrible broken laugh falling from her lips. “Don’t try any of that but what if they don’t leave bullshit.” Addie took the bottle from Sirius’ hand, taking a swig directly from the bottle. “They always left. Or chose someone else. Or got bored. Either way they never stuck around long. So then I stopped letting them find me. I got very good at hiding in plain sight.”

“No one should leave you. I don’t know how they could.”

“Sirius you don’t need to. I’ve heard this same speech from countless people. “He wasn’t a good father. You deserve more than that.” Etcetera, etcetera.” Her hand was being waved around like it wasn’t a big thing, like getting a low grade on homework for divination.

“They’re right.I just thought about never seeing you again. Like after Hogwarts, and I just-“ Sirius took the bottle back, coping Addie’s movements from earlier. “The idea of not having you in my life seems so wrong. I can’t even imagine it, it makes me feel sick.”

“That’s sweet.” The smile she gave him was sad and sour and felt bitter in Sirius’ mouth. “But Sirius, you’ll leave. They always do. It’s not an if, it’s a when. It’s the only thing I know is guaranteed. And it’s not your fault, it’s no one’s really. But I’m not equipped to handle leaving.”

“I think you’re equipped for leaving. You’ve handled it more than anyone should have to. I don’t think you can handle people staying.”

Adelaide stood up, taking one last swig of the fire whiskey Sirius had no doubt stolen for her. “Black. I really appreciate this talk, listening to me, it means a lot. But you’re getting that look in your eyes. You can’t fix me, I’m not something to fix. I am the way I am, and no amount of whispered promises and vows to stay are going to change it.”

He watched her carefully, could see her waring with words behind her eyes. She deserved so much more than she’d been handed in life. She deserved to have people keep their promises. She deserved to be able to show the world her fire, how brightly she could burn, the inferno she could engulf everyone with. Adelaide Pierce deserved to be happy and show it.

And he knew he wasn’t the one that could give that to her. He’d just be another person that left her. He knew that, and he knew it would break him too.

He watched as she adjusted her mask back into place, nothing said by either of them, as he had the distinct feeling of losing someone in a masquerade and knowing you’d never find them again.  

[q--uee--n]

So, here’s Part 1 of my shamelessly pandering, fluffy Post-Zero Requiem headcanons/notes because I just want everyone to be happy and content and I don’t care how unrealistic some of these are. fuck

(Note: the following 999.9% disregards Re;surrection and falls in line with the events of the original series.) 

Suzaku (Zero)

• at first throws himself into being Zero and protecting Nunnally, not at all thinking he deserves anything but the misery that’s been placed upon him. 

• mistakingly believes Nunnally hates him for murdering her brother. She ultimately sets him straight, and though they’re fairly close, there are still moments where Suzaku’s guilt becomes an obstacle to their relationship.

• for the first few months, he is cold and stoic as Zero, but as time passes and he grows into the role, he begins to soften. Still, his Zero is relatively distant and mute compared to Lelouch’s grand, theatrical version. 

• misses the hell out of Euphemia and Lelouch (even if his relationship with the latter was more complex than a Rubik's Cube) but, over time, slowly reconciles with their deaths. Slowly especially applies to Euphy’s case. It took a while, but he eventually limits his visits to Euphy’s memorial from once every two weeks to once a month to once every other month to once a year (in the distant future). 

• formally reconnects with Kaguya after she brusquely informs him that she’s aware of his identity. She manages to swindle him into having tea with her. Every week. It’s at one of these meetings where he breaks down and apologizes for all the pain he’s caused her, but she reassures him that she’s just happy they’re together again. They often simultaneously laugh and gag at the fact that they used to be engaged, and Suzaku becomes so attached to her, Kaguya’s guard detail starts to become suspicious of his intentions.

• on the subject of his relationships, he, against all odds, becomes close to C.C. and even closer to Kallen. He and C.C. have a weird understanding based on their love for Lelouch, and he bonds with Kallen (once she maneuvers around her own issues) over their mutual painful experiences, which is where they find common ground. 

• Gino discovers his identity by accident. Milly does so on purpose. Both are rather bizarre, cautionary tales, but as a result of them, Zero’s personal associates are up by two. 

• ironically has a large following among small children, who are at the receiving end of his softest interactions with the public. Mothers everywhere adore him just for that. As do stores that make the most profit selling Zero birthday cakes. 

• unironically has a large following among horny young adults. Is the topic of a popular tabloid, Zero Weekly, which mostly speculates about his sex life and what he looks like underneath the mask. He’s scandalized by the magazine, as are Kallen and Nunnally, but C.C. and Kaguya love it.

• utilizes multiple disguises, in part because Kallen refuses to be seen in a public setting with him while he’s Zero for a second time and the rest is because Nunnally just likes putting together outfits for him. 

• in the little free time he has, his hobbies consist of feeding the stray cats he’s accumulated over the years, reading poetry (it reminds him of Lelouch and a kinder time when they were friends), and watching the ridiculously bad American soap operas he swears he doesn’t watch. Their content should make bad memories surface, but they’re just so horribly acted, the effect falls flat.

• only after years of it being drilled into his head, he eventually accepts that he doesn’t have to be alone if he doesn’t want to and that the whole Zero thing doesn’t have to be completely miserable. 

• still healing from, well, everything but has acquired a loyal support base in the few friends he has, and though he still doesn’t quite think he deserves any happiness he’s found, he’s in too deep to reject it (and there’s no way in hell that anyone will let him). 

• cries the first time someone says they love him, halfway out of disbelief because he doesn’t think he’s worthy of anyone’s love and halfway out of relief because he’d never imagined there’d come a day where the phrase was directed at him again.

C.C.

• hangs around after Lelouch’s death because she can, not because she, god forbid, cares about the people in her life. Nope. Not at all, thank you very much. 

• lives in Suzaku’s quarters in the palace until he gets so frustrated by the pizza boxes piling up in his room that he asks Nunnally to give her her own space. C.C. is more than happy to move when she learns the room is Cheese-kun-themed. 

• formally befriends Kallen after the realization that they’re both assholes with trust issues. They have bi-monthly girls’ nights of epic proportions, ones that usually culminate in a single whopping bad decision. 

• is both intrigued and gobsmacked by the fact that Suzaku is still so cordial to her despite the circumstances and the things she puts him through daily. He’s the opposite of Lelouch in every way, but that’s what draws her to him the most. 

• may or may not be attracted to Suzaku. It’s hard to tell. 

• is online friends with Milly. Neither is aware of the identity of the other, but they’re nonetheless a powerful force that troll the internet with spam and shitposting.

• no one knows her real name. Except for Kaguya, of all people, and no one knows how or when or why they became close enough to be on first names basis, and it just doesn’t make sense at all, to the point where Kallen loses sleep at night thinking about it.

• once recounted the time Benjamin Franklin told her off to Suzaku after he returned from a particularly despondent assignment. Afterward, they stayed up eating pizza and reminiscing over fond memories they had of Lelouch, which allowed Suzaku to see a kinder, more vulnerable side of C.C. for the first time. It also marked the beginning of their weekly sleepovers, though they don’t refer to them as such.

• sometimes goes riding with Nunnally on weekends. The younger girl reminds her of her brother, and like his, Nunnally’s heart is pure and kind. She gives C.C. a warm feeling similar to the one she got from Lelouch.

• is constantly traveling and moving about but always returns to Nunnally and Suzaku’s side at their residence in Japan. 

• is well aware of the fact that everyone she’s come to accept as friends will die while she’ll remain living. This is her biggest point of contention, and she contemplates leaving more often than not, but she stays because she can’t leave.

•  "I said that Geass was the power of the king which would condemn you to a life of solitude. I think, maybe, that's not quite correct. Right, Lelouch?"

• has stopped accumulating experience and started living.

Kallen

• finishes her last year of high school and, soon thereafter, becomes a full-time college student. Focusing on her education, she takes time off the Black Knights but still works as a reserve officer and is never without the key to her beloved Knightmare Frame. Because just in case, and Rakshata is always updating the Guren. 

• resented Zerozaku for months following the Requiem, even though she knew everything that happened was all according to Lelouch’s plan. She overcomes her negative feelings after coming across Suzaku at Euphemia’s grave and realizing he knows the pain she’s suffering. She finds that maybe they aren’t as different as she thought.

•  proves vital in helping Suzaku heal and vice versa. They’re both disasters, and they’re opposite in every sense of the word, but all that means is that they never manage to stunt each other, even when they just can’t understand each other.

• after they become friends, C.C. is her second most contacted person. Milly is her first because that woman cannot be trusted. 

• begins a charity in her brother Naoto’s name with the help of her mother. The charity is dedicated to reuniting families displaced by the war. 

• discovers she has an extremely high alcohol tolerance once she’s of age and could outdrink anyone at any time (”yes, Tamaki that also applies to you. ...Please, Ohgi’s son has higher tolerance than you”) but generally doesn’t fuck with alcohol because she doesn’t like the idea of becoming dependent on it. She makes enough bad decisions on her own, thanks. 

• is, like various other members of the original Order of the Black Nights, a hero of the rebellion and a bona fide celebrity, though she still has to work to support herself and her mother and is a tad bitter about that. Especially considering she has all the other “privileges” of celebrity such as sporadic street interviews while she’s on her commute to work.

• because of that one time she danced with Zero at that one party, everyone assumes they’re together, and the media plays it up. She can’t count the number of times she’s had to call in to news stations falsely referring to her as “Zero’s paramour”.

• “True or false? Are you involved with Zero?” “...Involved with–I’m not–who said–” “Ah. You hesitated. Does that confirm our suspicions?” “I didn’t hesitate because that shouldn’t have been a question” “Well, a source close to you informed us of the fact that–” “Source? What source–?” *cue the moment she realizes that the source is C.C. Or Milly. Or both.

• Gino is the source.

• sleeps over at the palace at Nunnally’s invitation when her mother isn’t home and she’s feeling particularly lonely, sometimes sandwiched between C.C. and Suzaku in his room but the bed is more than large enough. It’s weird but it’s comfortable and it makes her feel that much more secure.

• grows out her hair. By the time she’s twenty-two, it’s almost as long as C.C.’s.

• still loves Lelouch with all her heart, but does eventually become open to pursuing a relationship. (”Gino wants to go out with you, doesn’t he? Why don’t you just say yes?” “Just because I said I was open to dating doesn’t mean I want to date Gino, C.C.” “I suppose you’re right. Although that could be because you want to fu–” “One more word out of you and I’ll put Cheese-kun in the shredder.”)

• changes her legal surname to “Kozuki”.