#I know some things look weird but it was just a small practise to get used to how the app works so I didn't put large effort into perfection

[bless-the-telephone]

This is my first time doing digital art in years so it was mainly just me messing around with different art styles, colouring techniques and how the app functions on mobile. I'm usually not one to post anything especially art but I think there needs to be more Nevermoor content in the world so I'm making an exception!

[wzrd-wheezes]

🍓 - ❛ you’ve broken me. all i can think about is you. ❜ with fred weasley

All I Can Think About - Fred Weasley x Reader

AN - Sorry this has taken me so long to post! I started writing it a while ago but I didn't really know how I wanted it to finish. I hope this is okay and that you enjoy it! Thank you for sending me a request <3

Fred was notorious for not being a relationship person. It was something that his friends would wind him up about all the time. The idea of committing to someone made his stomach feel all weird and his head spin. He liked having his independence, he liked being able to do what he wanted, but he liked not having to devote all of his time to someone.

He liked Y/N. But he would rather gouge his eyes out with his own hands than admit it. Fred didn’t get crushes. Nearly all the girls he had dated had had a crush on him, but they never lasted very long anyway. A few dates maybe, a few sneaky hookups and then it would be over. He wasn’t bothered, it was nice to date people, sure, but there was never really anyone he was ever absolutely infatuated with.

That was until one day in Potions class when Y/N’s hand brushed against his when handing him some dandelion roots and he swore to god that every hair on his body stood up. No one had ever made Fred feel the way that she did. They had been friends since their first year at Hogwarts but it was like something inside of him had suddenly switched and it was driving him mad.

“Just admit that you like her, Freddie.” George said one day, when they were sprawled across the sofas in the common room.

“I wish it was that easy.” Fred sighed.

“How is it not easy?” Lee asked, “Just go up to her, tell her you fancy her and then ask her out for a butterbeer or something.”

“What if she rejects me?” Fred dug his fingers into the pillow that was sat on his lap, kneading the plush material as he spoke. George and Lee both barked out a laugh.

“That’s what you’re worried about?” George scoffed, “the famous Fred Weasley might get rejected by the girl he fancies.”

“I’d pay to see that.” Lee laughed. Fred launched the pillow at him, hitting him square in the face. Lee fell to the floor dramatically, as if he had been shot.

“I’m not scared of being rejected.” Fred said firmly, “I’m scared of fucking it all up and ruining our friendship.”

George rolled his eyes, “you can we so wet sometimes, do you know that?”

Fred bottled it up for weeks, inadvertently pushing Y/N away in the process because he just didn’t know how to act around her. They barely spoke at the minute, the hour long conversations that they used to have had dwindled down to minute long snippets between classes. He wasn’t used to having these feelings, feeling like this about someone and he hated it.

It was one evening when he was walking back to the common room after quidditch practise that he felt someone tug on the back of his shirt. He span around quickly.

“Hey, Stranger.” Y/N was stood in front of him, a small smile on her face, “Long time no see.”

“Oh, hey, yeah.” Fred rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. Y/N didn’t say anyrhing, seemingly waiting for him to carry on the conversation. Fred didn’t know why he did it, but he just turned around and walked away.

Y/N stood frozen for a moment, trying to make sense of what was going on. Fred had been being distant with her for weeks and she had this sinking feeling in her stomach as she racked her brain trying to figure out why.

“What the hell is going on with you?” She asked, catching up with him. She grabbed a hold of his arm, dragging him back towards her.

“Nothing. I’m fine” he shrugged her off of him and carried on walking.

“You’re not fine! Have I done something wrong?” Y/N pleaded “You've barely spoken to me in weeks, Fred!"

He stopped in his tracks, a lump in his throat forming as he struggled to find the right thing to say. He turned around to look at her properly. A crease had formed between her brows and her bottom lip jutted out as she held back her tears.

"You've broken me." His voice came out strained, "All I can think about is you."

"W-what?" Y/N took a step back, shocked at the sudden outburst from her friend.

"For weeks. All I've been able to think about is you and it's driving me insane." his voice rose slightly, "The way your perfume smells, the way that you laugh. I don't know!" He let out an exasperated sigh.

"I don't understand-"

"Neither do I!" Fred exclaimed, "You're my best friend, Y/N. I don't know why I feel this way about you - but I do and it's making me go crazy."

[loreruinedme]

Burning Love - A Callowmoore Fic

A/N - This is my first time I'm actually putting any of my writing anywhere so any feedback would be appreciated. This is slightly different to how the episode played out as well.

Spoilers for Campaign 3 Episode 77.

w/c - 3.8k

art by @/seasalt_farm on twitter

The sounds of their friends footsteps echo as they walk down the steps of the ziggurat, Chetney and Fresh Cut Grass muttering about how they will keep Lady Cassandra safe. Ashton and Fearne look to each other, holding each others gaze. In their periphery they see a glowing arcane shield come over them. The moment spans for an eternity. Panic is etched on Fearne’s face, determination is written on Ashton’s - it’s only them.

“They were going to argue, I don’t want this to-” Ashton says, barely above a whisper. 

“Yeah, no, I know, I understand I understand” Fearne cuts off his rambling with her own, forcing the words past the lump in her throat. 

The harness sits between them. A small part of Fearne feels like there’s still a choice to be made, that Ashton doesn’t have to do this but she knows they have made up their mind. 

“If it starts to get weird, feel free to scream like bloody hell, its okay, I don’t. Thanks” Ashton softly says to Fearne. He softens his gaze, reaching out for her hand - offering her the way to openly deal with pain, like one that they’ve had to hide throughout their whole life. 

“Yeah you got it” Fearne holds onto their hand, for what might be the last time, a single tear running down her cheek. 

Ashton can see the pain on her face, how much this is tormenting her. He just wishes he lives through this - hell, wishes he didn’t have to do this. He won’t fail his family though, not again. The moment seems like it lasts forever but quickly ends after Fearne wipes the tear away, continuing on. 

“Alright, well, lets get you in this thing” Her hand leaves his reaching for the harness, the only thing putting distance between them. 

They both relish in the moment of Fearne’s hands on Ashton, no matter the painful reasoning. The spark of electricity is undeniable as she slowly starts to put the harness on Ashton, never wanting to take her hands off of them again. 

“Lets do this. Quick” Ashton’s voice breaks the tender moment. The slight panic on his face is obvious to Fearne, knowing the group might stop them the urgency kicks in.

Snapping every buckle, tightening every strap until the harness looks like it was made for Ashton. Their hands engaging in some kind of practised dance, sparks of electricity firing whenever their hands brush. 

“I’m getting nervous” Fearne’s voice quivers as their hands touch when frantically putting on the harness. They stop. Ashton raises a hand, pinching her chin between his forefinger and thumb, tilting her chin so their gazes meet. 

“What if, what if you die, what if you like explode” Another small tear falls down Fearne’s cheek, Ashton can’t help but notice due to their proximity. 

“Well, that’ll be a story won’t it” Ashton raises their other hand to cup her cheek, wiping the tear away. 

He can’t even meet her eye when he continues “Fuck it. Do it” a hint of pain in his voice seeing her in so much turmoil. 

“I don’t know. I don’t know. What if something happens” Fearne’s voice shakes with worry as she takes their hand in hers. Silently begging them not to do this. Their expression softens just a moment for Fearne to see the vulnerability that they are also scared about this. 

“Shit happens” Ashton rips her gaze from hers, it takes every inch of him to do so, searching for anyone to stop them. But he needs to do this, he must do this. For them. For her. For Fearne. 

His gaze clashes with hers again, she never took it off him knowing this might be the last time she sees him. 

“I know some of your whatever is bullshit” Ashton fakes a chuckle, trying to get the same from her, to see her enchanting smile one last time. “I know that you worry about your friends” He takes a small step towards her, their bodies almost touching now, hands still entangled. “This. Is. What. I. Need” He punctuates every word, trying to get her to see this is the only way. This is the only thing they can do to save the group. To save her. They simultaneously take a deep shaky breath, they’ve always been on the same wavelength. It’s almost enough for them to share a laugh, maybe Ashton’s final. “I need to save everybody. We all need to save everybody” Their faces are inches from each other, one move and they could both cave in to the feelings they’ve tried to hide for so long. “Alright?”

“No” She answers truthfully but Ashton already knew that, it’s all over her face. Her heart forces the next words out of her mouth before she can think “But what if this is not how we do it?” Every one of her pleads threaten to break Ashton, to change his mind, to fight for them.

“We’re already fucked anyway” His voice reaches just above a whisper, like he doesn’t want to admit it and they both know they aren’t just talking about this power. He’s talking about them, their all-consuming feelings that make a small part of both of them want to fight for another way. 

“What if giving it to you is not how we save everybody?” He questions, another silent beg to get her to realise this is the only way. 

“I was already thinking that” She already knew it in her head but her heart only broke now. “I just put the shard in there what do I do?” If she is going to do this she is going to do it right, this is a massive risk, they don’t need more odds against them. Their grip on each other loosens as they realise they can’t stay like this forever, as much as they want to, as loud as their hearts are screaming at them to. 

“We did it last time. Just put it in and turn it on if I recall” Both of them wrenching their gaze from each other and to the shard. “Lets go. You promised” His eyes wander her body, taking her all in before meeting her gaze, some of that determination he has is now echoed in her own features. 

“Shit. Now you had to go say something like that” She chuckles. That laugh makes him want to rip off the harness taking everything he just did and said back, that laugh thats become one of his favourite things in the world. But he doesn’t. “Alright” 

“Ready?” A small part of him wants her to say no, to fight for him, to fight for another way. 

“Yeah” Uncertain of her own answer but her heart knows he’s right. He can trust her, they can get through this. 

“One more for the road” She barely hears what he says before his arms are around her, holding her, comforting her, she could die in this very moment and die happy. Her arms wrap around him, returning the connection and that’s all the confirmation Ashton needs that she feels what he feels. Love. 

Ashton’s hands wander up her body to reach her face, savouring each millisecond of each other’s touch, silently craving for more. His hand cradles her cheek, eyes searching for permission, his breath catching in anticipation. Once she leans into his touch, moving her head towards his, it takes mere moments before his mouth closes over hers. Months of pent-up fire finally burning between them. Some regret fills the kiss, wishing they had done this before but nothing can take away from the heat between them. Their lips part in the kiss, no need for breath, this is what can keep them alive. Their tongues dance like they were made to do this. Ashton runs their hand through her hair to cradle the back of her head as Fearne grip on him becomes a vice, taking the kiss deeper. Flames dance through this kiss, their hands and bodies finally exploring each other finally relieving the months of craving. They melt into each other, everything feels right. Everything else falls away, no thoughts about what’s about to be done, it’s just them, it’s as if they are the only people in the world. 

As they finally break apart, held in each others arms, foreheads pressed together Fearne whispers “Well now I don’t want to put it in”. Silently praying she could just hold onto them and stay in this blissful long awaited moment. 

Her gaze drops to the shard, unfortunately leaving the comfort and safety of his arms. He watches her every move, trying to take in her captivating beauty one last time. The shard burns her hands but the heat isn’t anything compared to the fire of their kiss - nothing will ever compare. 

Ashton cups her face again, it takes everything in them to not kiss her again. 

“If it gets weird, you just yell” a whispered final request. Ashton doesn’t want her to suffer through this pain alone, he doesn’t want her to feel the pain alone. But they both know this will break her in ways it won’t break the others - it will shatter her heart. 

She reaches the shard round to the back of their neck where the funnel sits waiting. Neither of them miss the flash of desire as her hand brushes against his neck, where it was seconds ago. 

They both hold their breath, gaze locked on each other as everything else out goes into focus. They only notice the runes on the harness glowing as it casts different light on their faces. This is it. 

Fearne lets go of the shard barely noticing the rotating flame. Her hands cup his cheeks this time “You better not die” she demands, what might be her last words to them, as she drops her hands tensing them in fists at her side. 

For the first time, a single tear rolls down Ashton’s cheek. Fear tenses every part of their body as she asks something of him that he probably can’t deliver.

They stand together, as a warmth begins to blossom in Ashton’s chest. Fearne watches his face wince as he chooses feel the pain in front of her. The rainbow sparks begin to flicker in the opal stone on the side of Ashton’s head but Fearne can’t take her eyes off of his. 

The heat in his chest grows and grows until it begins to burn. Unlike the fiery passion they previously shared, this is white hot agony. Fearne feels helpless as she watches his face contort in pain. She watches the gold fracture lines across all of Ashton’s body turn to a bright orange - her guilt placing a heavier weight on her chest. 

All this time their gazes are set on one another, they don’t even hear their friends asking what is going on. All Fearne can do is watch as Ashton is baked in a searing heat. 

The heat within his chest burns as he feels something trying to awaken, a second heartbeat almost, starting to shift and flex. The heat lurches from his chest to his shoulder, Fearne seeing him jolt in pain. 

She begins to run to catch and steady him. But she sees the fear swimming in his eyes and the word “Don’t” escapes in a shaky breath, ghosting across his lips. He shuts his eyes tightly, he can’t bear to look at the guilt, fear and pain in her eyes. 

Fearne can’t suppress her cry as a chunk of Ashton’s shoulder shatters to the ground and break into thousands of pieces. Tears begin to quickly fall down her face, steaming as they reach the slowly heating ground below. 

“Fuck pain” He growls, his throat starting to feel the agonising burn. 

“No” Fearne pleads, taking another step closer to him. 

“Fuck pain” He shouts with a rage like no other due to the pain, opening his eyes to see Fearne’s face inches from his own. 

“No”. Ashton wishes he didn’t see her tear stained cheeks as for a millisecond she averts her gaze in the direction of their friends. They can help, they can stop the pain. 

As if reading her mind, Ashton whispers “Don’t you dare, don’t you fucking dare”. He doesn’t miss her slight flinch at the anger in his tone but he can’t control it, not now. He didn’t mean to scare her, it’s the last thing they wanted to do but he knows their friends will try and force her to take this pain on instead of him. He would go to the ends of the earth to make sure she never feels this pain. 

The heat spreads further through Ashton’s body and they hold each other’s gaze. Fearne‘s eyes quickly dart to the sound of rock cracking as a part of Ashton’s ear falls and shatters on the ground. This will literally tear him apart. The now orange cracks turn brighter and brighter into an almost white colouration, the rock that makes up his skin begins to heat just like the previously golden cracks did. 

As Ashton changes colour, Fearne sees the shard slowly drain colour until it cracks, mimicking what she sees in the man before her. His body lurches, beginning to expand and he slowly starts to crumble. 

His eyes tightly shut as another wave of unfathomable pain crashes over his body. Fearne doesn’t even notice the sound of Imogen’s footsteps coming towards them, how could she when she is watching a man she loves literally falling apart in front of her. 

He opens his eyes but instead of the familiar comfort she has been looking into the whole time she is met with burning coals, emitting a bright orange light towards her. Another shift of his body as his chest expands once more, a sickening crack meets her ears, unlike anything she’s heard yet. His right arm splinters off, completely detaching from his torso falling to the ground.

Fearne can’t take it anymore, she cant stand there and just watch this happen. Rushing to him, not even caring about the burning of her hands, she frantically starts undoing the harness. Reversing what dance they had done before but it is much slower this time, the time that is matters. Ashton can’t even feel her hands on him, it’s only pain. 

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no - help” Fearne wonders for a second if these are her own words before she recognises it’s Imogen’s pleas, not hers. 

She only feels fear in this moment, doing whatever she can to undo this. Ashton only feels pain, almost subsiding into numbness. Almost. 

Worry fills his features for a second, wondering if their friends will stop this and force Fearne to endure this instead. However a part of him, this new part of him, knows it’s too late. All he can offer Fearne is a sad smile knowing only he will have to endure this. Only him, only once, then it’s over.

Through what would be tears but is just steam. Ashton thoughts race: his past, his future, those he wants to protect, the one he wants to protect most. He believes he thinks this but the faintest whisper of his thoughts, his prayer, meets Fearne’s ears. 

“I don’t care where, just - I don’t care what I am going to become but I have to become something that is - I am not gonna loose anybody” That last sentence feels like it plays on loop in Fearne’s mind. Tears falling down her cheeks as she rushes to undo the harness, in her haste her fingers are slipping, loosing her precious seconds. 

Ashton, used to being in pain, is able to block out some of the burning, enough to feel the presence of his friends approaching. A white hot sensation is crawling across his body as he continues to grow brighter and hotter. 

“Anything you’ve got, I’ll take it” He roars in a mixture of pain and forced anger, a desperate plea for help to get through this, to rid him of the pain. 

“Anything - what did you do?” Imogen questions back. Ashton seemingly ignores it and, to his heart’s dismay, breaks from Fearne’s grasp stumbling with whatever strength they can muster towards Fresh Cut Grass. 

Fearne stands, another feeling of helplessness washes over her as she tries to help him stand but the burning is only getting worse. She sees Imogen in an effort to hold their body together. Ashton’s arm reaches for the healing potion at is side, he’s desperate in any attempt to stop the pain. But the slight hope that began to bloom in their chests vanishes as quickly as the potion evaporates. 

An uncomfortable laughter fills the space: ragged, broken and unsettling. Fearne’s body tenses in worry and rage as she knows it is unmistakably Ashton’s laugh. It’s usually a rare beauty but it is anything but that in this moment. 

Seeing their friends come to their aid fills both Ashton and Fearne with hope. The heating of the metal of FCG’s hand isn’t even noticed by Ashton as his is gaze once again shifts to Fearne, his rock. Their gazes meet and a wave of worry passes through them as she mutters a spell. Immediately Ashton feels whole again, he feels life, waves of it roll over him countering the constant pain. He can feel the spell holding him here, tethered to this world, all because of Fearne. The woman who is slowly becoming his whole life. 

She notices the twitch in Ashton’s fingers reaching for the ring, for any form of protection. But another torrent of pain wracks his body, all he can feel is fire, unable to concentrate on anything but the burning sensation that is ripping his body apart. What looks like small volcanoes seem to emerge from the cracks in his expanded chest, threatening to explode at any moment. 

There’s a silent scream of pain as his breath slows to a point where the burning orange of his eyes seems to slightly dim. Shallow ragged breaths fill the chamber as Fearne muffles a cry - ‘it should’ve been me’ is all she can think about seeing him on the brink of death. He uncontrollably crumples to a knee, another cascade of shale falling off of his body. She pushes all the energy she can towards him as FCG does the same and she sees a familiar sense of life return to those eyes. 

He reaches to the stone, his constant comfort, what makes up his body. There’s a battling duality happening as they continue to slip in and out of consciousness, two bombs inside of him threatening to detonate. All this time Fearne has stayed by him, keeping him here, as pain puts him down she brings him back up. All this time she is unbuckling the harness frantically undoing every mistake she made through streams of tears. She watches his life fade over and over only to be brought back by her. Unbothered by the heat that encompasses her whole body, it can be nothing compared to what he’s going through, to what she almost had to go through herself. 

Through her attempts and the helps of Imogen’s mage hand and Orym’s seedling, the harness is ripped from his body. Leaving her hands after what feels like an eternity of fumbling with the buckles. She instinctively reaches out for him, wanting him to know she is there but her fingers are met with white hot fire. 

The gold, now white hot, parts of his body emanate with a viscous glow. His eyes tightly shut and face tenses as he looks up, beams of sheer bright light emanate from his eyes. A blood-curdling scream rips from Ashton’s throat - one Fearne will never forget, it will haunt her, plague her dreams. 

And he explodes. 

Fearne’s world stops as it feels like the pieces of him are held in the air for an eternity. Tears turn into sobs that now wrack her body, an immense feeling of guilt and grief encompassing her. She can still make out pieces of the opal stone in his head that made her drawn to him, pieces of his mouth where he’s flash her that smirk, his hands that were previously on her face, his lips and the way she felt when theirs brushed against hers. It feels like she relives months full of memories in just a split second. 

She notices the ring, the one Deanna gave to Chetney, glowing with a fiery intensity, the visual embodiment of what their kiss felt like. All the pieces of Ashton rush back together in an instant and he is whole together again before her. The moment he is whole they never break each other gaze: focus, determination, desire, want, love. A multitude of shared feelings powers them both through the longest and most excruciating 30 seconds of their lives. 

She, and FCG, continue to pump life through him for what feels like hours. Draining their magical abilities to keep him alive and breathing. Not once does her gaze drop from his, she knows much they need each other. 

Eventually, the heat beings to subside as Ashton falls unconscious onto his side where his arm once was. She stops, reaching out a hand to touch his cheek, hoping what she did is enough to have saved him. For a brief moment her heart stops as she can no longer feel life in his limp body. 

She strokes his cheek for what is the last time, almost pressing her forehead to his. She feels his skin begin to cool as steam hisses from all across his body It encompasses the two of them in a cloud of steam, discreet enough she can press a quick kiss to his lips. He will die knowing how much she wants and needs him, he never stopped fighting for her, not until his last breath.

Air rushes through his lungs, the breath Fearne was holding escapes her as his weight shifts against her embrace. 

He comes to, he can feel her holding him, how close her face is to his. His eyes open and lips curve into a slight smile before doing the one thing his heart tells him not to and retreats. His eyes meet hers and they are both flooded with relief. Not caring who surrounds them now, her lips find his. Her lips are warm and soft against his, a reminder of the life she gave to him. She felt his hands gently cup her face as he deepened the kiss, his lips moving against hers with a gentle urgency. The relief they both feel floods the kiss as they part, holding each other. He sits up and admiring the heavy, glowing molten rock arm that cradles her face - a reminder of the pain he endured, a pain he survived, all because of her. 

[hsgucci94]

The sex talk

Content warnings: none :)

Word count: 900

masterlist

———

When it came to your relationship, Harry was all about talking things out and making sure you were both comfortable with each other. You, however, had a hard time mouthing your opinion and expressing how you felt, and that was the main reason why you had been avoiding him all day.

You joined him and the boys on tour a couple of days back, and after a few months together that were mostly spent separated because of his touring schedule and your college obligations, Harry just wanted a few minutes alone with you to discuss some things regarding your relationship. You knew what that meant, you were clever enough to read between the lines, so you were well aware the conversation was going to revolve around sex.

Sex, sex, sex. A three-letter word that you found equally fun and embarrassing. Even though you were not a virgin, you still found sex talks uncomfortably unpleasant. Maybe it was your parents’ fault for always making it feel like such a big deal, or maybe if was your ex’s for never making you feel confident enough when practising it.

Either way, there was just no way you would voluntarily sit down to talk about it with your boyfriend, so you were now hiding in places you knew he wouldn’t be looking for you. First it was Niall’s hotel bedroom, where you and him casually played some FIFA for about forty minutes. Then it was the catering room, with the not-so-excuse of helping Sara’s Kitchen get lunch ready for the whole team. Now, you were on the small lounge no one ever used, hoping that Harry wouldn’t think about looking for you there.

But he did.

“Baby?,” you heard him calling you from afar. You froze, and instinctively closed your eyes, as if by doing so he wouldn’t be able to spot you as soon as he opened the door, which he did. “Oh, here you are,” he smiled, looking at you on the couch, “Was starting to think you were avoiding me,” he half joked, half not, chuckling a bit. You bit your lower lip, showing him a guilty smile. He then walked over to you and took the empty seat next to yours. “What’s up?”

You gulped at his question. You really didn’t want to do that now, or ever. You passed a hand through your hair, strategically avoiding his gaze.

He frowned when he realised so and only got closer to you, his hand now resting on your knee to try get your attention, “Alright... What’s wrong, baby?”

“I know you want us to talk about sex.”

“Yeah,” he simply nodded, “Now that we’re gonna spend the next three weeks together I think it might be likely to happen, so I want us both to be on the same page.”

“It’s just… Why do we need to talk about it? It happens when the moment feels right, no need to foresee it.”

“Yes… but no?,” he giggled, and waved his hand in his direction, motioning you to get closer to him. He grabbed your leg and passed it over his, your shoulders now brushing together. “Talking about it makes you uncomfortable, doesn’t it?,” he mumbled, and you rested your head on his shoulder so that you could hide from him the crimson red that was starting to cover up your cheeks.

“It isn’t something I’m not familiar with but, um, I don’t know… I kinda feel embarrassing letting someone know what I do and don’t like during sex,” you admitted.

“Hiding any weird kinks?,” he joked, rising his eyebrows.

You giggled, “No, you idiot.”

“You sure?,” he chuckled, tickling you.

“Yeah,” you rolled your eyes, smiling.

“Alright, alright… Then maybe we can discover some together?”

You giggled again, lifting your head to be able to properly look at him, “Would you be up for that?”

“Trying new things with you? Only if you’re up for it, too,” he admitted.

“That’s new…”

“What exactly?”

“Having someone who wants me to find things I enjoy in that sense as well.”

“Really?,” he asked, surprised.

“Yeah, so far it’s just been me adjusting to what they liked…”

“Damn. You weren’t lying when you said you’ve only dated douchebags, baby.”

You giggled a bit, and pressed your forehead against his shoulder trying to both stifle your laugh and somehow hide your embarrassment. Then you looked up at him and fixed your eyes on his lips, suddenly wanting to taste them so bad. “Can I just kiss you and… see where it leads us?,” you softly spoke.

“On one condition,” he replied, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. You waited expectantly for him to continue. “You have to let me know if you aren’t enjoying it.”

You nodded, and then slowly pressed your lips against his, burying your fingers in the back of his hair. Harry’s arms wrapped around your lower back and pulled you to him until you were fully sat astride on his lap. The soft, delicate movements of his lips on yours felt like magic, and made something in you light up. You grabbed his hands from your back and slowly moved them up inside your t-shirt, positioning them over your boobs.

He smirked mid-kiss, “Baby…, I think we should lock the door first…”

[fallingforfictionalcharacterss]

This might be a bit weird but hear me out first. So reader is Gryffindor and friends with Harry and the others. Draco totally fancies her but isn't willing to do something about it so his friends decide to help him and throw a party with all their friends together and try to get them together (getting them to dance, spinning the bottle, her sitting on his lap (we all know Draco would like it way to much if you know what I mean) getting locked up for some time, I ve got soo many ideas but you do what you want) and reader and Draco get super flustered but don't want to admit it. And they fight it until they finally break? Just plopped into my mind, it's fine if you don't write it

Thank you so much for the request. I´m sorry it took so long to write it, but I got carried away a little bit. I really hope you enjoy the results.

Annoying

Warning: alcohol consumption, suggestive language, longest fic I´ve ever written (I think it´s around 12k)

A/N: First of all, I feel like this is a no-Voldemort AU, or at least one where he actually disappeared after he tried to kill Harry for the first time since I feel like the story wouldn´t work out if the rivalry would be about much more than the fact that they are from different houses and things that might have happened a really long time ago.

Secondly, I guess that my writing style in this fic is slightly different than in my other works since I included Draco´s POV much more, so let me know what you think about it.

You held your breath as you stared at the glass of vinegar in front of you as if you could change it into wine just by your thoughts. And actually, that was exactly what you were supposed to do, since you were practising non-verbal spells today. So you kept on hypnotizing the liquid, totally forgetting everything around you. But little did you know that not everyone was as concentrated on mastering the spell as you were.

Only a few seats next to you Draco Malfoy was more busy staring at you than at the glass that was standing on the table in front of him. He watched you closely, as you furrowed your eyebrows. Even if he couldn’t be exactly sure, the way you puffed your cheeks and the fact that your face slowly reddened told him that you were probably holding your breath right now. You narrowed your eyes even more and he noticed how your hands clenched around the table, whitening your knuckles. Then, all of the sudden you let out a heavy breath, your whole body relaxed, and your tensed face gave way to a proud smile. You took up the glass and took a sip from the red liquid that filled it by now. You pulled a face as you did so, but the grin on your face only widened.

Professor Flitwick must have seen the same thing Draco had just witnessed because he came over to you and inspected your cup. Draco couldn’t quite understand what he was saying, but the way your face reddened once more and how you puffed your chest proudly made him suspect that Professor Flitwick was very pleased with the result of your efforts.

Draco couldn’t help the small grin that sneaked on his face as he watched you whispering with your neighbour excitedly, before you -after you had made sure Professor Flitwick was now occupied with someone else- took another sip from your glass, that by now wasn’t filled with vinegar anymore but with wine.

“Now, Mr Malfoy, let me see what you have learned this lesson.”, a squeaking voice interrupted Draco´s thoughts.

You had been right. Professor Flitwick´s focus had by now actually shifted to another student and this student was Draco. The boy looked at the glass in front of him, which was still filled with vinegar. But how in the name of Salazar was he supposed to focus on the task if you were only a few meters away, managing to make -as you somehow always did- the things you were doing so much more interesting than the classes? Draco could see the disappointed look Professor Flitwick gave him as he saw that Draco seemed to not even have tried to transform the liquid. His gaze flickered to you one last time before Draco focused on the glass in front of him. He was Draco Malfoy after all. He would manage this small spell. And he wouldn’t let himself get distracted by some stupid girl.

So he took a deep breath and after a few moments, he actually managed to transform the vinegar, earning some encouraging words from Professor Flitwick, before the teacher left to pay the next student a visit. But if Draco had thought that, now that he had managed the spell, he could get back to admiring you, he was wrong. Because as soon as his gaze shifted back to you, he heard someone clearing their throat right next to him. He looked up and saw Pansy and Blaise looking at him in amusement.

“What?” Draco´s voice sounded sharp.

“Nothing.”, Pansy said, acting innocent. “I was just wondering why it took you so long to manage the spell. Were you… distracted?”

“I don’t think that´s any of your business Pansy.”, he snapped.

“Leave it Pansy.”, Blaise chuckled. “I think he got something better to do than talking to us.”

“You mean like worshipping (Y/n)?”, Pansy grinned.

“I don’t worship anyone.”

“Oh yeah, right. Maybe stalking would be a better word for this. Or creeping around?”

“That´s ridiculous.”, Draco spit out, but his friends noticed the rosy shimmer that appeared on his cheeks, confirming what they already knew.

“Why don’t you just go and talk to her, mate?”, Blaise asked, now in a more serious tone.

“How often do I have to repeat it, Blaise? I don’t fancy her. Just because she may not be as awful as all the other Gryffindors doesn’t mean I´m interested in her or something.”

“Never said you were.”, Blaise responded. “That´s what you said now.”

“I said I weren’t”, Draco corrected his friend.

“Sure you aren’t.”, Pansy chuckled. And as Draco had turned his attention back to the class, or more precisely to you, she added in a low voice to Blaise: “We have to do something about it, it´s just embarrassing to see him like this.”

Blaise just nodded in agreement.

And Pansy did something about it. You were totally clueless about her plans though.

That´s why you and your friends were more than just surprised when one day, you were hanging out in the Gryffindor common room, a first-year suddenly approached you, or more precisely, Harry.

“Someone is waiting for you outside. They told me to tell you, you should go out there.”, the boy said in a slightly shaky voice, not even daring to look Harry in the eyes.

Harry furrowed his eyebrows.

“Who is it?”

“Some Slytherins. They said they want to talk to the captain of the Quidditch team.”

Harry now looked even more irritated.

“Did they tell you what they want?”

The boy shook his head, shyly glancing up at Harry. Your friend sighed.

“Okay, thanks.”

The first year gave Harry a small smile, before he ran away, probably relieved that he was no longer involved in the situation.

“What do you think they want?”, Ron asked, who sat next to Harry and had listened to the conversation as well.

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

“There´s only one way to find out I guess.”, he said and stood up.

You exchanged a quick look with Hermione before you followed Harry and Ron to the exit of your common room.

When you stepped through the door, you saw Urquhart, the captain of the Slytherin team standing there, accompanied by Vaisey and Zabini, the other chasers, as well as Parkinson, who -as long as you knew- wasn’t involved in Quidditch at all. You noticed that Urquhart and Vaisey looked not very delighted to see Harry, while Pansy Parkinson had a huge grin on her face, and impatiently shifted from one leg to the other. Blaise Zabini on the other hand had the same illegible look on his face he always had as his gaze flickered from Harry to you and Hermione, who effaced, and then back to Harry.

An uncomfortable silence spread across you, as Harry and Urquhart eyed each other suspiciously. Only when Pansy Parkinson nudged the tall Slytherin, Urquhart cleared his throat.

“Listen Potter, you know that next week is the game.”

Of course, Harry knew. Everyone knew. The entire school already awaited the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. It wouldn’t decide yet which house would win the Hogwarts Quidditch cup, still, it was an important match, especially since Gryffindor and Slytherin had the undeniably best Quidditch teams in Hogwarts.

Harry just gave the other captain a short nod.

“And we thought we could make the entire thing a little bit more interesting.”, Urquhart continued. “How about a bet?”

Harry raised an eyebrow.

“A bet?”

“Yeah. You know, after the match we will throw a party and you and the others are invited.” Even though the words he said sounded surprisingly friendly, the Slytherin spit them out as if they were meant to be an insult. You noticed that he glared at Pansy while he said this, who gave him an encouraging nod. “Friends too of course.”, he added as he glanced at you and Hermione.

“What´s the catch?”, Harry asked.

“If you lose, you will organize everything. Food, drinks, stuff like that, I mean.”

“And if we win?”

Urquhart let out a small huff.

“As if.”, he mumbled, before he added through gritted teeth: “Then we will take care of everything.”

“Why should you do that?”, Harry asked.

“Like I said, it´s a bet.”

“And this was your idea?”

“Obviously, I´m the captain. I make the rules.”

“Yeah, you do for sure.”, Harry jibed.

You could see Urquhart´s jaw clench.

“So what do you say?”, he squeezed out.

“I´ll have to talk to the others first.”

“You are the captain, aren’t you?”

“Doesn’t mean I will make all the decisions on my own, does it?”, Harry responded. “Or is that how you do it?”

“Whatever.” Urquhart huffed. “Just let me know. And don’t think about it too long.”

He gave the others a short nod before he turned around to leave. The other Slytherins followed him, but you could have sworn you saw Pansy Parkinson winking at you before she followed the others, a smug grin playing around her lips.

“He makes the rules, as if.”, you mumbled, and Hermione, who had noticed Parkinson´s strange behaviour as well, nodded in agreement.

And that´s how only a week later, you found yourself all dressed up on your way to the Slytherin common room together with your friends. The mood was tense, even though you had every reason to have a good party. Gryffindor had beaten Slytherin, having a considerable lead. But that only made you worry more. Because if Gryffindor had lost, you would have understood that the Slytherins would have wanted to crow with their victory, but that way you had the strange feeling that they were up to something to make up for the disgrace they had witnessed on the pitch. The others shared your opinion, but for some reason, the Quidditch players of Gryffindor had decided they still wanted to go. And since Hermione and you, as well as some other Gryffindors, wanted to show your support for the team, you had joined them.

And now, your steps were echoing through the dungeons on the way to the one common room, you highly doubted any Gryffindor had ever been invited to. You couldn’t deny that you were slightly curious, but that didn’t change the fact, that you were still suspicious.

Only due to the fact Harry and Ron had snuck into the Slytherin common room once before, even if it had been a few years ago, you finally found the entrance. Harry stopped in front of the stone wall, that was adorned with the portrait of a snake and cleared his throat.

“Alright everyone, don’t forget; if something feels strange, tell me and we will leave again.”

The others nodded in agreement and as soon as Harry had turned around to the wall again, it gave place to the entrance of the common room. In the door, you could see a grim-looking Urquhart, who was still wearing his Quidditch jersey. He stepped to the side reluctantly, eying every one of you like a bouncer.

You tried to give the intimidating-looking boy a small smile as you passed him, but you already knew it looked rather wry. You stepped through the entrance, trying to stay close to Hermione, and looked around. The Slytherin common room was illuminated by a greenish-dimmed light, making it hard to see much, but from what you saw, everything in here looked very noble and expensive. The only thing that didn’t seem to fit in was the improvised bar at the other side of the room, equipped with many snacks and even more drinks. You could hear some music playing in the background, and now that you had arrived, someone turned it even louder. You couldn’t help but be impressed. It actually looked like the Slytherins knew how to party. Even if you would have never expected them to.

Hermione nudged you.

“What do you think?”, she asked in a low voice.

You shrugged your shoulders.

“I´m not sure yet.”

You looked at the others who were standing inside the room awkwardly as well as if no one of you actually knew what to do.

It was Katie Bell who broke the silence.

“I don’t know what you think, but if I´m offered free food and drinks once, I will also get some.”, she stated, before making her way to the bar.

You exchanged a look with Hermione and you shrugged your shoulders once more.

“She´s right I guess.”, you said, before you followed Katie to the counter.

“That´s ridiculous Pansy. We lost. I don’t want a party. Especially not if all the guests are blood traitors and mudbloods.”

“Don’t make such a fuss, Draco”, the girl stated as she dragged her friend towards the common room. “I´m sure you´ll enjoy it.”

“Give me one reason why I would.”

“Well, just look over there.”

Pansy and Draco had just reached the common room, which was by now filled with Gryffindors and Slytherins. She nodded in the direction where she had helped some others to set up an improvised counter not even an hour ago.

“Do you really think some drinks will make me feel better? We lost, Pansy. And even worse, I lost against Potter. If you ask me, he shouldn’t even be allowed to play after everything that…”

Draco stopped in the middle of his sentence as he realised something. Pansy hadn’t meant that some drinks would lighten up his mood. She rather meant a certain someone who was already enjoying their drink.

As Draco saw the knowing grin on Pansy´s face, he cursed himself for being so foreseeable. Never in a million years, he would have guessed that he would ever be so easy to distract, but yet, there you stood, looking even more beautiful than he remembered, making him forget what he had been mad about only seconds ago. He watched you, the way your dress stressed your curves, the way you threw your head back as you laughed at something your friend had just said, the way you were sipping on your drink and licking your lips afterwards.

“Did you want to say something, Draco?”, Pansy asked in a sweet voice.

Draco snapped back to reality and saw his friend grinning up to him.

“What is this all about?”

“It´s just a party.”

“Why is she here?”

“Why would you care?”

“I don’t care.”, Draco spit out, not daring to let his gaze shift back to you as long as Pansy watched him closely.

“Why did you ask then?”

“You´re really annoying, you know that, Pansy?”

Pansy let out a chuckle.

“I know.”

You were sitting on a couch together with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Katie. As you were sipping on your second drink, you slowly started to relax, wondering if this would actually be just a normal party.

“Someone doesn’t look happy at all.”, Ron suddenly stated.

Your gaze followed his and you saw Draco Malfoy standing at the bar, a drink in his hand, glaring at you with narrowed eyes.

“I hope he won´t ruin this evening.”, Hermione sighed, as she took another sip from her butterbeer.

“Let him do so. I really don’t care. We won, no matter what Malfoy wants to do about it.”, Ron said with a smug grin on his face.

He raised his glass.

“To Harry, who snatched the snitch right in front of Malfoy.”

You let out a small chuckle at his toast but raised your glass as well.

“To Harry.”, you agreed with the others.

As you took another sip from your drink, your eyes shifted back to Malfoy, who was still staring at you and the others. You couldn’t help but notice that he looked unfairly good in his green jersey, especially now, that he leaned so effortlessly to the wall next to him. You knew there were many things to dislike about Draco Malfoy, but in your opinion, the most annoying thing about him was how attractive he was.

“(Y/n)? Did you hear me?”

Your inadvertent admiration ended abruptly, as you looked back at your friends. Katie, who had followed your gaze, looked at you and raised an eyebrow in amusement.

“I know.”, she stated. “But still no reason to start drooling.”

You rolled your eyes.

“I never would.”, you responded, making her chuckle.

Ron looked at you in confusion.

“What are you even talking about?”

Katie and you glanced at each other and giggled.

“You wouldn’t understand.”, you stated.

“And I don’t think you even want to.”, Katie added.

Harry and Ron now both seemed to be completely irritated. Hermione´s gaze shifted from Katie and you to Malfoy and then to the boys.

“Trust me, you really don’t want to know.”, she just confirmed.

And as you looked back at Malfoy, your gaze met his for a split second, before you quickly looked away again. And he did so as well, the pulse of both of you now a little bit faster than before.

Not even an hour later you realized, you should probably slow down the number of drinks you were consuming. By now you felt lightheaded and slightly dizzy. For now, it felt good, but you knew how fast this could change and you had no interest in blacking out and waking up tomorrow with regrets. That´s why you quickly gulped down a glass of water before your friends dragged you to the dancefloor. You could feel the bass vibrating through your entire body as you slowly started to move your body to the music. You had to admit that no matter what you might think of the Slytherins in general, they at least had great taste in music.

Ron and Harry quickly lost their interest in dancing and scrammed to one of the couches again. You thought to yourself that it was probably for the better, because, even if you loved your friends dearly, they were terrible dancers. Now there were only Hermione and you left. For several songs you were just dancing and laughing, even if it was hard to talk over the loud music.

Suddenly, a tall figure stepped closer to you. As you looked up, you saw Blaise Zabini standing next to you, giving you a small smile. Then, he turned around to Hermione.

“Do you wanna dance?”

Hermione looked at the Slytherin boy with widened eyes. You were surprised as well since you overheard Zabini once telling his friends he wouldn’t even touch a muggleborn with a pair of pliers.

You looked at Hermione and raised an eyebrow, silently asking her to get her out of the situation, but then Zabini bent down and whispered something in her ear. You couldn’t understand what it was, but you saw Hermione frowning at first before it gave way to a rather surprised-looking face. Your friend gave Zabini a short nod before she took a step closer to you.

“Would you mind?”, she asked.

You looked at your friend, slightly irritated.

“The question is, would you?”

Hermione looked rather annoyed as she shook her head, looking at her feed.

“Then I don’t mind too. Just be careful.”

“You too, (Y/n). If something happens I´ll be right over there.”

You nodded. Then you watched your friend disappearing with Blaise Zabini in the crowd. You weren’t quite sure what irritated you more. The fact that the Slytherin boy had asked not only a Gryffindor but a muggleborn to dance, or the fact that Hermione had agreed. You couldn’t help but wonder what Zabini had told her. For a second you wondered if he might had threatened her, but Hermione wasn’t one to get scared easily and the way she had looked at him hadn’t been scared, but rather perplexed.

You looked around, scanning the room for your friends. Ron and Harry were still sitting on a couch, talking, while eying Hermione, who was by now actually dancing with Blaise Zabini, even if you couldn’t help but notice that neither of them looked exactly happy with the situation. Katie was by now standing next to the bar together with Demelza Robins, taking a shot of Firewhisky.

Just as you thought about, who you should join, since dancing alone wasn’t fun at all, someone bumped into you.

Draco´s eyes were glued to you. He followed every slight movement of yours. Your body moved just perfectly to the rhythm of the music. And even if he stood on the other side of the room, he could have sworn he heard your laugh ringing in his ears, even over the loud music and the babble of voices of countless people around him. His eyes travelled down your body and just as he was focused on the movements of your hips, he noticed the way your dress was slightly riding up, every time you raised your arms over your head, before you lowered them again, leaving him slightly disappointed, as the dress covered now more of your skin again, even if it were only a few centimetres. When his eyes travelled upwards again, he tried to take in all the details of your face, which was hard over the distance and in the dimmed light. Still, he noticed that small smile that played around your lips as you closed your eyes, to just drift and feel the music.

“You should join her.”, Pansy stated. She had magically appeared on Draco´s side again and knew exactly what was going through the blond boy’s head.

“As if I would be in need of this.”, Draco huffed, not able to tear his gaze apart from you. “Besides she looks perfectly fine on her own.” Oh, if you only knew how perfectly fine you actually looked.

“And both of you would look just adorable dancing together.”, Pansy said. “Don’t you think so, Blaise?”

The boy, who was standing on the other side of Draco, rolled his eyes at Pansy´s enthusiasm, but still nodded, grinning slightly.

“But I highly doubt that your beloved will be delighted if you interrupt her, while she´s having fun with her friends.”

“She isn’t my beloved”, Draco growled. “She isn’t my anything, to make this clear once and for all.”

“Not yet.”, Pansy smiled. “But luckily we are here to change this.”

“Who says I want to change it?”, Draco mumbled.

Pansy and Blaise chuckled.

“We ain´t blind nor stupid.”, Pansy said.

“No need to be ashamed of it.”, Blaise added and patted Draco´s shoulder, making the boy give his friend a deadly glare. “We support you mate.”

“And that´s why you will go over there now.”, Pansy announced.

“Pansy, I already told you…”, Draco started, but Pansy interrupted him.

“Not you. Blaise.”

Blaise looked at her in surprise.

“Me? I thought we were here to support Draco.”

“We are.”, Pansy said unswerving. “That´s why you will go over there and distract Granger, so Draco can get to (Y/n) unbothered.”

Now Blaise looked just as unpleased as Draco.

“I certainly won´t talk to that mudblood.”

“You won´t talk to her.”, Pansy explained patiently. “You will dance with her.”

“I will what?”

“Dance with Granger.”

“I won´t for sure.”

“You wanted to help Draco, didn’t you?”

“It´s your plan, why don’t you go?”

“Because you´re the boy.”, Pansy said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Even if I would go over there, and I´m not saying I will; what makes you think she will agree?”

Pansy smiled at her friend angelically.

“You´re smart Blaise. You´ll think of something. Remember, it´s for Draco.”

Draco had now a mocking smile on his lips.

“What is it, Blaise? Aren´t you willing to help your friend out by making a fool out of yourself and dancing with a filthy mudblood?”

Blaise looked from Draco and Pansy to you and Hermione, dancing happily. He clenched his jaw.

“You will better make a move, Malfoy. I swear to Salazar, if you don’t marry that girl, I will never let you forget this for the rest of your life.”

Then, Blaise took a deep breath, before he made his way through the crowd.

Draco watched in disbelief how his friend approached Hermione, saying something to her, making the girl exchange a few words with you, before she left with Blaise, leaving you alone and looking utterly confused.

Pansy smiled smugly.

“Now it´s on you, Draco.”, she stated.

“What? No, Pansy. I won´t go over there.”

“Think about Blaise. What he has done for you.”, Pansy tried to convince him.

But Draco just shook his head and crossed his arms in front of his chest, pressing his lips together like a stubborn child.

Pansy sighed.

“You really have to be forced into your happiness, don’t you?”

The girl grabbed him by his arm, pulling him towards you.

“Pansy, no! This is stupid. Let go of me. Now!”

Draco was for sure stronger than Pansy and he could have easily refused to follow her, but as he saw the people around him darting curious glances at him, he gave in reluctantly.

Only when they had nearly reached you, Pansy slowed down and let go of Draco.

“Now off you go. Have fun.”, she smiled.

Draco frowned.

“I don’t even want to do this.”, he hissed. “You´re forcing me.”

Pansy rolled her eyes.

“If you feel better believing this.”

“What am I even supposed to tell her?”, he whispered.

“Hey (Y/n), I´m really into you. Do you wanna dance? Because it would be inappropriate not to ask you this before I will rip your clothes off your body.”, Pansy said, imitating Draco´s voice.

“How often should I tell you, I´m not into her. And even if I were that´s not how I would tell her.”, Draco grumbled.

“Then think of something better.”, Pansy answered, by now slightly annoyed.

“I won´t…”

But Pansy had now enough of Draco´s attitude and gave him a small bump.

And since Draco had by now had some drinks, his balance wasn’t as good anymore as it had been a few hours ago when he had hovered on his broom a few meters in the air; so when Pansy pushed him forwards, he was, even with both feed on the ground, not able to be steadfast, but stumbled a few steps forward, directly into your arms.

With big eyes, you stared up at the boy, who was now holding onto your arm to keep his balance. You were hypnotized by his silvery eyes, making you feel as if the entire world around you slowed down for a minute. Draco seemed to be just as fascinated as you were since he couldn’t tear his gaze apart either.

It felt like hours, then again only a few seconds, until Draco cleared his throat and took a step back.

“I´m sorry. i…”

He stared at Pansy, who was watching the two of you.

“Oops, I´m so clumsy. Sorry.”, Pansy grinned, looking like she was anything but sorry.

You straightened your back and looked up to Draco again.

“Never mind. It´s… Nothing happened.”

“Right.”, the boy mumbled. “Nothing happened. I´ll just go then and…”

But Pansy once again had different plans. She stepped into the way, preventing Draco from leaving.

“(Y/n), you know, Draco was just looking for a dance partner. I would do it myself, but I think I´ve twisted my ankle, so if you don’t mind…?”

You looked at Pansy questioningly.

“If I don’t mind what?”

“Dancing.”, the girl grinned.

“Dancing?”

“With Draco.”

“With Draco?”

“Exactly.”

“Dancing with Draco? Me?”, you asked, sure you had misheard the Slytherin.

“Yes, you know, Draco had just told me, he thinks you´re a great dancer. He watched you from back there the entire time and he said…”

“Shut it, Pansy.”, Draco hissed, thankful that in the dimmed light no one would notice how his cheeks were reddening. Then he turned to you. “She´s just making fun. I never said this. I mean, I can´t know if you´re a good dancer because I never watched you. I mean why would I?”

You let out a nervous laugh, not sure what you should think about the situation.

“Yeah, why would you?”

“Well, then it is the perfect moment to find out if she is a good dancer, isn’t it?”, Pansy smiled. “I´ll get myself something to drink.”

And with that she disappeared into the crowd, leaving Draco and you alone.

You turned around to Draco again, who looked anything but happy. As he noticed your gaze, he looked down at his shoes and scratched his neck.

“Well, would you? I mean, it´s not like I want to, but I guess Pansy won´t leave us alone if we don’t…”

“Yeah, sure. I don’t wanna be bothered by her for the rest of the evening.”, you agreed.

Draco was a surprisingly good dancer. His movements were a little bit stiff, but he had a sense of tact after all. Sometimes you glanced up at him, but overall, you tried to avoid his gaze as much as possible. But while you looked anywhere but at Draco, you could have sworn, you felt his gaze burning on you most of the time.

After the song had ended, you took a step back and gave the boy a small smile. Draco returned it half-heartedly. Your eyes shifted, scanning the room for Hermione. But as you found her, you observed, that she was still with Blaise, now talking to him alongside the dancefloor. Neither of them seemed to enjoy the conversation, yet they looked pretty involved in it.

The next song, started, this time a slower one. Draco glared at Pansy, who was still watching the two of you with a contended grin on her face. Everything turned out just the way she had planned. You looked up at Draco, who was returning your gaze. The people around you were now dancing closer than before, adapting their dancing to the mood of the song.

“Never liked this kind of music.”, Draco huffed.

“At least one thing we can agree on.”, you answered.

Draco let out a small chuckle.

“Let´s just get over and done with this one and then nobody can complain anymore.”

You sighed.

“Hopefully.”

You stepped closer to Draco, still keeping him almost an arm length distant. But only almost. Draco raised one of his arms and brought his hand to your hip. You slightly flinched at the touch. Not in a bad way though.

“Is that okay with you?”, Draco asked. If it hadn’t been for the loud music, you probably would have noticed that his voice sounded slightly raspy.

“Do I even have a choice?”, you responded, but as you saw in the boy´s eyes that he was actually asking for your permission, you nodded. “It´s fine I guess.”

Draco carefully placed his hands on your hips, starting to move to the rhythm of the music slightly. Even more carefully, you placed your hands on Draco´s chest. The material of his jersey felt rough under the tips of your fingers. You could feel his heart beating under your hand, maybe a little bit faster than usual.

“Do I make you nervous, Malfoy?”, you teased.

“You whished.”, he huffed.

As you looked up at him, you saw Draco staring down at you. For some reason, you could have gotten lost in his eyes the second time this evening, but a small, nagging voice in your head told you that this probably wasn’t the best idea. Draco looked down at you with a serious face and such intensity in his eyes, that it made shivers run down your spine. You quickly lowered your gaze.

As the song ended, Draco´s hands lingered on your waist for one more second, before he stepped back again, his hands slipping from your hips and yours from his chest.

“I think that´s enough for one night, isn’t it?”, you asked.

Draco nodded in agreement.

“Even if you´re dancing quite acceptable for a Gryffindor, I think we both got better to do.”

“Well, then… See you around I guess.”, you stated.

A mocking grin appeared on Malfoy´s face.

“Don’t you say (Y/l/n)? How could we? We��re only living in the same place.” “You really are an idiot, you know that? And besides, I´d rather have it any other way.”, you snapped back.

“You think I wouldn’t?”

You just huffed in response and turned around to find your friends. Draco watched you leave, before he turned around as well, looking for Pansy and Blaise to give them hell.

The both of you had enjoyed the dance much more than you wanted to admit and were much more hurt by those last words than you wanted to admit, too. But neither of you knew that the other one was feeling that way.

You let yourself fall onto the couch right next to Harry. You could feel his gaze, as well as Ron´s lingering on you.

“What?”, you grumbled, maybe even more annoyed than you should be when you were having a good time at a party.

“We should be asking this, shouldn’t we?”, Harry said. “I mean, you and Malfoy…”

“There is no such thing as me and Malfoy.”, you hissed.

Ron rolled his eyes.

“Looked different five minutes ago though.”, he grinned. “You could barely keep your hands to yourself.”

“That´s not funny Ron!”

“You´re right (Y/n). This isn’t funny. You should better be careful.”, Harry said in a serve voice.

“I can take care of myself, Harry, thanks. But in this case, there is nothing to be careful about because there is nothing at all.”

“Ron is right, it didn’t look like this when you were dancing.”, your friend answered, still concerned.

“We danced because Parkinson forced us to, not because we wanted to.”, you clarified.

“Since when do you listen to Parkinson? And since when does Malfoy listen to anyone at all?”

“She literally pushed him right into my arms. And then she said she twisted her ankle and couldn’t dance herself.”

“Looks like she is perfectly fine again now.”, Harry stated and made a small gesture in the direction where Pansy Parkinson was now dancing with a Slytherin boy.

“That little piece of… But why would she do this?”, you asked.

But just as Harry opened his mouth, Hermione came up to you and sat down on the couch next to Ron.

“Look who we got here. The next traitor.”, Ron said with not as much amusement in his voice as when he had mocked you.

Hermione looked annoyed and irritated.

“What?”, she asked.

“Well, (Y/n) and Malfoy, you and Zabini… Do we need to worry about the Slytherins stealing our girls?”, Harry joked.

Hermione let out a huff.

“Certainly not. These were the worst minutes of my life.”

“What did he want from you anyways?”, you asked curiously.

“You heard what he said. He wanted to dance.”, Hermione said, avoiding your gaze.

“You´re a terrible liar, you know that ´Mione?”, you laughed.

“Fine, he… He wanted to talk me into helping him with his homework. But I think he hoped I would end up doing it for him.”

Even if this sounded more plausible, you noticed that Hermione still couldn’t look you in the eyes. You highly doubted that this was the entire truth, but Ron and Harry seemed to be satisfied by her answer. You could see Ron´s tensed body relaxing immediately.

“I knew he´s a git. You´re better off with us.”, he stated. “And helping us with our homework.”, he then added with a smirk.

You looked at Hermione and rolled your eyes.

“Boys.”, you mouthed, and Hermione nodded in response.

By now, the common room had emptied a bit. There weren’t many people left since it was already late. Also, the music had been turned down a bit, even if someone had put a silencing spell over the common room, so Professor Snape, who had his office nearby, wouldn’t notice.

The only Gryffindors left were Harry, Hermione, Ron, Katie, Demelza and you. You had sat down in one of the sitting areas and were passing a bottle of Firewhisky around. Those were your favourite moments at parties. When it was already late and not many people were left and you would just relax with your friends, talking about things, you probably wouldn’t be that open about if you wouldn’t have already emptied half of the bottle of whisky. You let out a comfortable sigh and rested your head on Hermione´s shoulder, just listening to the others talking.

But your cosy state didn´t last long. Pansy Parkinson walked up to you and let herself fall into one of the armchairs next to the couches.

“Mind if we join?”, she asked with a sweet smile.

“It´s your common room, isn’t it?”, Katie answered, even though she looked quite irritated, as well as the others.

Pansy´s smile only grew wider, as she clapped her hands.

“Great.”, she said, in your opinion a little bit too euphoric. She turned around in her chair, hailing someone. “I told you they´d be fine with it.”

You watched Vaisey, Zabini and Malfoy walking up to you, all of them looking as if they weren´t fully convinced by Pansy´s statement. As the boys sat down as well, silence fell over the group, as everyone eyed the others sceptically.

Somehow unsurprisingly, it was Pansy who raised to speak first.

“So what do you do for fun on such occasions?”, she asked.

As no one answered, she continued unbothered: “How about playing truth or dare?”

“Pansy, we ain´t twelve anymore. That´s boring.”, Draco muttered.

Pansy rolled her eyes.

“It will be fun, trust me. Especially with this.” She raised a bottle of Firewhisky.

“We´re already good, thanks.”, Harry responded, who held the half-emptied bottle you had already drunk in his hand.

“Trust me, Potter, it´s not the same.”, Pansy stated in a haughty voice. “Take a sip.”

She offered Harry the bottle, but he didn’t make any effort to take it.

“I didn’t poison it.”, the Slytherin giggled.

Harry just raised an eyebrow in response. Pansy sighed.

“Fine, if you insist.”

She took a big pull herself, pulling a face before she passed it to Malfoy, who was sitting next to her. The blond boy looked more than just harried by now, but gave in and sipped on the bottle as well, before passing it on.

Only when everyone had taken a pull, Pansy clapped her hands, grinning excitedly.

“Now, we can start.” “I don’t understand what this was about.”, Ron muttered.

“Easy, Weasley.”, Pansy said in a chipper voice. “I added some Veritaserum to it so no one can cheat. Even you should understand that.”

Everyone looked at the girl in disbelieve.

“Pansy, what the hell?”, Draco spitted out.

“That wasn’t the deal.”, Blaise said, his voice sounding louder than you had ever heard it.

But Pansy didn’t seem to care.

“Just relax boys. I saw a chance in Snape´s office and took it. I thought it would make the entire thing more interesting. You don’t have something to hide, do you?”

“You know very well I do.”, Draco responded.

Then he froze. Pansy chuckled.

“Well, looks like the potion already works.”

Your gaze flickered from Pansy to Draco. The boy didn’t only look annoyed anymore but also… scared? You weren’t surprised that the Slytherin boy had things he didn’t want to tell all of you, so had you, but what reason would he have to almost panic?

“That´s stupid. I won´t do this.”, Draco huffed and stood up.

“I could also ask you some things right away Draco. We don’t have to play for this.”, Pansy chirped.

Draco seemed to think about it for a second before he slowly sank back into his armchair again. He glared at Pansy as if he would love to practice all the unforgivable curses on her right away.

“I feel like this is going to be very interesting.”, Ron grinned.

At first, you wanted to agree with the boy, curious about what secrets Draco might hide from you, that seemed to amuse Pansy that much, but then you realized that it wasn’t only Draco´s secrets that might unearth today. There weren’t many things you would hide from your friends, at least none you could think about right now, but as you looked at Draco, sitting there opposite you, looking way too good, with his heated cheeks and his hair slightly scrubby, you realized that there were, in fact, many things, you weren’t exactly excited to spill in front of others. And especially not in front of Malfoy.

“And I feel like this is going to be very embarrassing.”, you muttered under your breath.

The game started slow before things got more interesting. At some point, somewhere in the middle of the game, Demelza Robins burst into hysterical laughter when she was supposed to kiss Harry and as Ron admitted -under the influence of Veritaserum as you pointed out- that Hermione was the most attractive person in the room, it left both of your friends with incredible red faces and made Harry and you looking at each other knowingly.

“(Y/n), truth or dare?”, Pansy spoke up as it was her turn.

“Dare.”, you answered without thinking about it. You were a Gryffindor after all.

“Kiss the most beautiful person in the room.”, Pansy stated, grinning superiorly.

“Easy.”, you said.

You turned your head and pecked Hermione´s cheek, making Harry whistle.

“Hold on, that´s it?”, Pansy asked, sounding slightly disappointed.

“What did you expect?”, you responded. “She´s my best friend. Of course, she is the most beautiful person.”

“But that´s not what I meant.”

“But that´s what you said.”, you contradicted. “Anyway, Katie, truth or dare?”

“Draco, truth or dare?”, Blaise asked his friend only a few minutes later.

Draco hesitated. He suspected Blaise would be up to no good, judging from the slight grin on his face. What would be worse? Answering a question, he knew would embarrass him, or doing something that would either make him look like a fool in front of everyone or doing something that would make everyone know the answer to the question Blaise had originally intended to ask him anyways.

“Truth.”, he slowly said

Vaisey hooted.

“Who´s your crush?”, Blaise simply asked.

Draco´s brain rattled. He wouldn’t be surprised if some steam would escape his ears from how hard he was thinking. He knew which answer Blaise expected to hear. But was there any way to not give it to him? The Veritaserum made his tongue feel heavy. He knew he wouldn’t be able to keep his answer to himself for long.

His gaze drifted from one person to the next, all eyeing him curiously. It got stuck on you. Draco noticed how you had slightly leant forwards, your hands resting on your lap, your lips slightly apart. You looked just as curious as the others, maybe even more. What undoubtedly distinguished you from the others was the way his answer might affect you. And how you would react if you would hear your name coming out of his mouth. But there was something else that differentiated you from the others. How effortlessly beautiful you looked tonight. And at that moment he suddenly knew, how he could prevent embarrassing himself in front of you.

“Draco?”, Blaise asked, when Draco didn’t answer.

Draco cleared his throat.

“I don’t have a crush on anyone.”, he stated.

Because after all, he said the truth. He knew that this probably wasn’t the right moment to realize, or maybe it was the perfect moment; he wasn’t sure. All he knew was that what Draco felt for you wasn’t a stupid little crush. He was completely and utterly in love with you. And, what he also knew, was that -no matter how hard his friends would try- there was no way he would ever admit it to you.

“Are… are you sure?”, Blaise asked, sounding slightly irritated.

Draco nodded.

“Absolutely sure.”

“I don’t have a crush on anyone.”

The words echoed in your head over and over again. You weren’t quite sure if you felt disappointed or relieved. And you also didn’t know why you even cared at all. For now, all you knew was that you had caught yourself hoping for the split second, that your name would leave the boy´s beautiful lips. But it didn’t. Neither had the name of anyone else though. Either Draco was really good fighting the potion -which would mean he was much more powerful than you had ever expected him to be- or he actually wasn’t interested in anyone.

“Are… are you sure?”, Blaise asked. His tone made you suspect he had expected a different answer to come out of his friend´s mouth.

Draco nodded.

“Absolutely sure.”, he confirmed.

“But…”, Pansy spoke up, but Draco quickly interrupted her.

“You were the one giving us Veritaserum, so how should I be able to lie right now?”

Pansy didn’t seem to know the answer either.

Now that her mission, as well as Blaise´s, had failed, Pansy decided to start all over again.

“(Y/n), truth or dare?”, she asked.

You cursed yourself for choosing truth the last two times because now you had no other choice.

“Dare.”, you sighed.

“I dare you to sit on Draco´s lap for the rest of the game.”, the girl stated as if she hadn’t just asked you to do the impossible.

You let out a small gasp.

“I beg you pardon?”

“Sit on Draco´s lap.”, Pansy repeated.

“But…”, you protested.

“Pansy don’t get carried away, I´m warning you.”, Draco growled, leaving Pansy completely unimpressed.

“Dare is dare.”, she shrugged.

“But it´s my dare. Not his.”, you argued.

“You didn’t mind when you kissed Granger.”

“That´s different, she´s my friend.”

“That was mean (Y/l/n).”, Vaisey chuckled.

“I mean… I´m not… That´s not just about me, Draco wouldn’t be comfortable with it too.”

“As if he would have ever minded a pretty girl on him.”, Blaise grinned.

Draco threw him a deadly glare.

“It´s a game (Y/n). It´s just fun. Or is there any other reason you don’t want to do this?”, Pansy asked innocently.

“What? No, of course not.”

“Well, then there is no problem, is there?”

You glanced at Draco, who shrugged his shoulders, looking defeated. As you looked at your friends, Harry and Ron were shaking from silent laughter and Hermione didn’t look as disgusted as you had thought she would. You cleared your throat and slowly stood up.

“I think so.”, you mumbled.

You made your way to the other side of the sitting area, hoping your shaky legs would keep you up until you reached your destination.

When you stood in front of Draco, you uncomfortably shifted from one leg to the other.

The boy let out a sigh and patted on his lap.

“The faster we do this, the faster we go on and end this stupid game.”, Draco said.

So you took a deep breath, carefully sitting down, having as little contact with Draco´s body as possible. The way you were only sitting on his knees, most of your weight, still resting on your feet, wasn’t the most comfortable way to sit, but for sure the least embarrassing.

“C´mon (Y/n), you can relax. I´m sure Draco won´t mind.”, Blaise mocked.

You hesitated.

“We have all night, you know?”, Pansy added.

Slowly, you shuffled a bit backwards, trying to get a little bit more comfortable without getting too close to Draco. When the boy noticed you moving on top of him, his breath slightly hitched.

“Better?”, you asked, trying to conceal the shakiness in your voice with annoyance.

Pansy grinned.

“Well, Draco, you tell us.”

The boy hummed in response. The noise vibrated through his entire body, making you feel it as well.

“I think we can go on then.”

“You tell me if I get too heavy, won´t you?”, you asked Draco in a low voice.

He only hummed in response again, the feeling going right through you once more.

“(Y/n), I guess it´s your turn now.”

Nearly half an hour later, you were still playing, and you were still sitting on Draco´s lap. You were still nervous, but slowly, you allowed your body to relax. But as you sank slightly backwards, your back suddenly touched Draco´s chest, making you jolt back.

“Damn it (Y/n), don’t make such a fuss.”, Draco said. “Lean back if you have to. This can´t get any worse.”

You hesitated, before you finally obeyed, slowly leaning back again, until your back was pressed against Draco´s chest. It felt strange, his body was hard and tensed, yet soft. His chest was rising and falling regularly. You could smell his scent intensely now, a mix of his cologne, the care products for his broomstick and the alcohol he had drunk tonight. All of this lulled you in, more than you wanted to admit, and you realized you could have easily fallen asleep like this if it wasn’t for your pride that prevented you from making anyone only suspect you actually enjoyed your new place.

You brought your attention back to the game. A genuine laugh escaped you, as you listened to Vaisey singing the Gryffindor version of “Weasley is our King”. While the boy looked like he would rather be anywhere else, you and your housemates were shaking from laughter, whipping away some tears.

Only when you felt a strong arm wrapping around your waist, you realized Draco had tensed behind you.

“Could you stop that?”, he hissed into your ear.

“Stopping what?”, you giggled, eyes still fixed on the performance in front of you.

“Moving.”

“Sorry, I didn’t realize I wasn’t allowed to laugh anymore.”, you said, rolling your eyes.

Another laughter escaped your lips as Vaisey finished the song and tried to bow in front of his audience but nearly fell over, due to the Firewhisky still pulsing through his veins.

Only when you heard Malfoy pressing out a high-pitched whimper, you stopped.

“Shit, did I hurt you?”, you asked, immediately stopping your movements.

“Something like this.”, Draco grumbled. “So if you could please stop this now…”

“Yeah. You could´ve just told me earlier.”

“Well, I tried, didn’t I?”

“You didn’t tell me it hurt.” “You have no idea (Y/l/n). Also, I didn’t know I needed to establish some rules for someone sitting on my lap.”

“Don’t act like I´m the first girl to do so, Malfoy.”

“You´re the first who didn’t beg for it.”, he responded.

“And I highly doubt I ever will.”, you chuckled.

“We´ll see about it.”, Draco winked. “And now finally stop laughing.”

“I might keep on doing so, but not here.”

“What?”, Draco asked in a raspy voice.

“If you don’t mind letting go of me, I will use the bathroom now.”

The grip around your waist loosened, Draco´s finger slightly brushing over your thighs, making goosebumps creep over your skin.

“Don’t wanna hold you back.”

“I guess you also don’t want me to get back ever again.”

“At least not like this.”, Draco responded, feeling relieved he seemed to finally get the hang on how to tell the truth without giving away too much. And in a low voice, he added: “If we´re lucky the others will forget about this stupid dare when you returned.”

“At least once a thing we would both benefit from.”, you said and stood up.

But both of you knew, you wouldn’t be as glad about it as you stated.

As you entered the common room again, the heads of the others turned.

“No need to sit down again (Y/n).”, Ron grinned.

You frowned.

“Why?”

“The next dare.”, Blaise said.

“No, this can´t be right. I wasn’t even in here. You can´t choose dare for me.”, you said in an irritated voice.

“Not your dare (Y/n). Draco´s.”

“What? Again?”, you asked.

You saw the others grinning and nodding.

“What is it this time?”

“Seven minutes in heaven.”

“Are you kidding me? That´s the most stupid game.”, you stated.

“So said Malfoy.”, Hermione said.

As you saw your best friend was grinning and didn’t seem to be bothered by the situation, you narrowed your eyes. You knew Hermione didn’t like Draco. Actually quite the opposite. There was no way she would be okay with you being locked up with him for several minutes.

“What do you know that I don’t?”, you asked your friend.

“It´s just a game, (Y/n).”

“Oh yeah, Harry? I wanna see how you would react if you would get locked up with Malfoy.” As you looked at said boy, he looked slightly offended by your words. “This wasn’t even against you.”, you added. “Well, not primarily.”

“You think I want this?", the blond boy hissed.

“That´s not about what you want but about what we want, so let´s go.”, Pansy interrupted him. “Let´s get you in there. I´ll take the time.”

Hidden behind a banner, there was a door, leading to a small closet. You eyed it distrustfully, highly doubting that there was even enough space for both of you.

“After you.”, Draco sighed.

You glanced at your friends one last time before you stepped into the closet. Draco followed you. As soon as both of you had entered the room, the door slammed behind you.

“Time is running.”, you heard Pansy´s muffled voice from the other side of the door.

You squinted. Except for the bit of light that was shining through the gap under the door, the room was completely dark. And quiet. The only thing you could hear was Draco´s breathing. And you couldn’t only hear it. While your back was pressed against the wall, your chest was nearly touching Draco´s. Whenever you inhaled and your chests rose, they slightly touched. Also, you felt Draco´s hot breath hitting your face.

“So what are we going to do now?”, Draco finally broke the silence.

You shrugged your shoulders.

“Waiting I guess.”

“Probably.”

“Or do you have any other things on your mind?”, you teased.

You blamed the fact that you had dared to say this on the alcohol.

“Several.”, Draco answered. “But I highly doubt we want to do any of these.”

Silence.

“Or are there any things you want to do right now (Y/n)?”

Luckily, the effect of the Veritaserum had by now decreased, yet you doubted, you would be able to actually lie to him.

"Don´t ask questions when you don´t wanna know the answer, Malfoy."

Silence.

“How much time do you think has passed?”, you asked.

“Probably about the half. If they actually leave us out after seven minutes.”

“Won´t stay any second longer in here than necessary.”

“Neither will I, but how will we know?”

Draco had a point with that.

“Why do you think they are doing this?”, you changed the topic.

“What?”

“Trying to… Well, pairing us up all the time. It feels like they arranged it.”

“Don’t ask questions when you don’t want to know the answer (Y/l/n).”

“So you know something?”

“I suspect.”

“And what?”

“Don’t make me answer this (Y/n). Please.”

Draco´s voice sounded different this time. You knew due to the truth potion still running in his veins you could get your answer, but as he said this, it seemed to be unfair to you to sound him out. You may not liked the boy -at least you still tried hard to believe so- but that didn’t mean you wanted to harm him. Also, you weren’t quite sure if you wanted to know the answer yourself. There were many different reasons why you were in this situation right now, but one was even less likely than the other.

“Never mind then.”, you mumbled.

Draco let out a sigh of relief.

“Thanks.”, he muttered.

“Don’t tell me you actually just thanked me.”, you teased.

“Don’t pride yourself on that (Y/l/n).”

“This wouldn’t have come to my mind at all.”

Draco chuckled.

“You can be really annoying you know that? Sometimes I wonder how I manage to not do something to you we would both regret afterwards.”

You could feel a stinging in your heart. You knew Draco thought like this about you, You thought the same about him. But by now you felt as if your annoyance with him had different reasons than his.

“At least I know you´re honest with me this time.”, you tried to make your voice sound jokingly, but you highly doubted you had managed to do so.

“What? No that´s not… I didn’t mean it in a bad way… I mean…”

“Just save it Draco. It´s fine, I get it. I mean this wasn’t a secret after all, was it?”

“You can be really annoying you know that? Sometimes I wonder how I manage to not do something to you we would both regret afterwards.”

Silence.

Draco bit his lip. He had said the truth, but he highly doubted you understood what he meant by that. Of course, he was annoyed by you. He was annoyed by how beautiful you were. By how good you smelled and how soft your body felt pressed against his. By how much he had enjoyed your company this evening. But mostly he was annoyed by how weak you made him feel. And how he didn’t know how he was ever supposed to continue after tonight, when you wouldn’t be drinking from the same bottle as him ever again, laughing at the same jokes he laughed about, dancing with him, sitting on his lap, and being as close to him as you were now. And he didn’t even want to get started to think about the things that came to his mind whenever he saw you. All the ideas of what could happen between you if things were different. The things he wanted to do to you…

“At least I know you´re honest with me this time.” Your voice sounded hollow.

Draco had never expected to be capable of doing so, but the sound of your voice made him suspect he had hurt you. While he had thought he would be happy about the fact that he was able to hurt you, since that would mean, he meant something to you, now that he had done so, he realized, that he had you rather feeling nothing for him at all and being happy, than having whatever feelings for him and being sad, even though you tried to hide it.

“What? No that´s not… I didn’t mean it in a bad way… I mean…”, Draco stuttered.

How was he supposed to tell you? He for sure couldn’t tell you why you annoyed him that much, but he also didn’t want you to think that this was all that he felt for you. How was he supposed to tell you how he felt, without telling you?

“Just save it Draco. It´s fine, I get it. I mean this wasn’t a secret after all, was it?”

While Draco was desperately trying to find the right words, the door was torn open.

And as you stepped out of the closet Draco knew, he had screwed up.

You squinted, as you stepped out of the small room. As your eyes had gotten used to the light, you saw the others had gathered around the closet, staring at you curiously.

“And?”, Pansy asked.

“And what?”, you responded.

“You had… fun?”

“Who wouldn’t have fun there, Pansy? Stuck in a damn closet.”

You weren’t quite sure why Draco´s words had upset you that much. But by now, you weren’t only annoying, as the boy had stated, but also annoyed.

“You care to give us any more details?”, the girl grinned, ignoring your sarcastic undercurrent.

“Save it Pansy.”, Draco snapped, looking as harried as you.

“Why don´t we just get back and continue playing?”, Katie suggested.

“Honestly, I´m really tired. I´ll get back to our dorm.”, you stated, earning a surprised look from your friends.

“Already?”

“It´s far after midnight.”, you responded.

“So?”, Pansy asked.

“No, really, I´m just tired. But thanks for the invitation. It was a great evening.”

Except for the last seven minutes.

“Well, okay, maybe we can do it sometime again.”, the girl said, sounding slightly disappointed.

You threw her a weak smile.

“Of course.” You needed to gather all your strength to get this lie over your lips, but after all, you did.

“I´ll join you.”, Hermione offered, after you had wished everyone goodnight.

But you shook your head.

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to. I´m tired too.”, you could see she was lying once more since she avoided your gaze again.

“You are not.”, you clarified. And in a lower voice, you added: “I feel like Ron would be very disappointed if you would already leave.”

You could see Hermione flush.

“Are you sure?”, she asked.

“I´m fine. I promise.”, you assured her.

And it was true. You were fine. Or at least you would be. But now, you just needed some time to unravel your thoughts. And you would be able to do this better on your own.

You gave your friend a last calming smile before you made your way back to your own dorm.

As soon as the door shut, Pansy spun around to Draco.

“What happened?"

Draco shrugged his shoulders, letting himself fall onto one of the couches defeated.

“I ruined it.”

And after Draco was done with his report -interrupted by some explanations for the people who weren’t aware of what exactly was going on right now- everyone was silent for a moment.

“I should just forget all of this. Forget her.”, Draco sighed.

He had sunken so deeply into his self-pity, and in that state, mixed with some alcohol still affecting him, he didn’t even care about the Gryffindors - who he had always refused to be that vulnerable in front of- sitting right in front of him.

“Don’t you dare.”, Pansy growled. “You better get out there and get after her.”

“It doesn’t make any sense Pansy. And it´s better that way. She deserves more.”

Pansy reared in front of the guy, her hands on her hips.

“Don’t you dare to think so Draco Malfoy. You´re whining about this girl for months. One time you say you don’t care and the next moment you look at her as if you want to propose right away. I´m done with this. I set up all of this just so you could shoot your shot. Hell, do you know how much it took me to get Urquhart into agreeing to this? And all evening you did nothing else than awkwardly stare at her and then, as a culmination, you insult her. You know, I don’t care, what you do next, but if you rather pity yourself than get after her, I´m done with you. Then I never want to hear you complaining ever again, you hear me?”

When Pansy had finished her speech, she glared down at Draco, panting.

Everyone else stared up at her in awe. No one, neither her friends nor the Gryffindors had ever thought Pansy would ever stand up to anyone like this. She always reached her goals. But she did it quietly, without drawing too much attention to it. The only time she got more visible was when she was bullying other students. And not in their wildest dreams anyone had ever thought, Pansy Parkinson would stand up like this. Especially not to Draco Malfoy.

“She´s right, you know that? I can´t promise you this will have a happy ending, I don’t even know if I want it to, but (Y/n) is my friend. And I want her to be happy. And if that´s with you, then I´m alright with that too, I guess.”

“See, even the mudblood agrees with me.”, Pansy said, puffing her chest.

“Don’t call her…”, Ron spoke up, but Hermione interrupted him.

“Let her. Just this one time.”

Draco´s gaze drifted from one to the other. Then Harry cleared his throat.

“Now go and get the girl, Malfoy.”

And Draco did. He sprinted out of the common room and down the corridors, running faster than he had ever done.

Your steps were echoing through the empty corridors. You just prayed none of the teachers would notice you, since it was far after bedtime. Especially now you needed to be careful since you were still in the dungeons, the territory of Professor Snape.

Draco´s words were still echoing in your head. You weren’t quite sure why you were so affected by them. People had said far worse things to you, many of them Draco had said. But the mix of alcohol, fatigue, the closeness to Draco at this moment and the entire evening, as well as the knowledge that this time he had for sure meant what he had said, made it much more hurtful than any other thing.

Tomorrow you would probably feel differently about it. And hopefully also different about Draco. You had always been aware of the fact that you were much more attracted to him than you should be, but tonight you had realized, that it might be even more. The way his hands had felt on your hips, while you were dancing, the way you felt safe in his arms while you were sitting on his lap, the way you had been locked in this room, where anything had been possible, all these things had made you craving for more. Made you crave for more with him. But as you now realized -even if you had always known- these feelings were biased. You would have to live with what you had gotten until now, accepting that there would never be more.

Suddenly, you heard a second pair of footsteps. The sound was getting louder quickly. You cursed under your breath. If Professor Snape would catch you here at this time, you wouldn’t see the sun for the rest of the school year.

“(Y/n)!”

You froze. This wasn’t Professor Snape´s voice. Neither the voice of any other teacher.

“(Y/n)!”

You knew that voice.

The footsteps were now really close.

Slowly, you turned around.

When Malfoy had reached you, he was panting heavily. You felt your heartbeat quicken at this view. At the same moment, you cursed your heart for betraying you.

“I´m a douchebag.”, Draco pressed out.

You raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t you say.”

“No for real. I´m a complete idiot.”

“How did you come to this realisation?”, your voice sounded cold. You were proud of how much control lay within it.

“I told you, you annoy me.”

“You did.”

“And that´s true.”

“Thanks for reminding me.”

“Could you stop being so snappish for a second?”

“For what reason.”

“Because I´m trying to tell you that I´m absolutely crazy about you.”

You blinked in confusion.

“What?”

“That´s why you´re annoying me so much (Y/n). Because I just can´t think straight when you´re around. I mean do you have any idea how it feels when I´m trying so hard to hate you and I just can´t? I mean, you´re a stupid Gryffindor, and I swear to Salazar, everything I ever wanted to do with any of you was hexing you so badly you would never come back to this school again, and then you walk by with this stupid perfect smile and all I want to do is… I mean when I said that I want to do things to you we might regret… things with you… I mean, whenever I see you all I want to do is…. not hexing you.”

You stared at the boy in front of you in disbelief.

“I know, you don’t feel the same (Y/n). I´m not stupid. You live in your perfectly normal world, with all your amazing friends and good grades and whatever.”, Draco spitted out, making it sound like the life he had just described was the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone. “But I know you were hurt but what I told you back in this closet when you… when we… There were so many better ways that I could have ruined it and I chose one that hurt you. And I… I want to apologise for it.”

“You´re kidding me, right?”, you asked, completely dumbfounded. Your brain just couldn’t grasp what was happening right now.

Draco shook his head. He reached into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a small vial.

“I´ll prove it.”, he said, opening the phial. You recognized it from your potions class. And slowly, you started to put two and two together.

As Draco raised his hand, you quickly took a step forward, grabbing it.

“Don’t.”

Draco looked at you with widened eyes.

“I want to do it. If that´s what it takes for you to believe me.”

You couldn’t help the grin that spread across your face.

“I already do.”

Now it was on Draco to be confused.

“Why?”

“Because no one could be so stupid to think that up.”, you chuckled. “Besides, I knew something was off tonight. I just didn’t know what it was. Until now.”

Draco mirrored your smile shyly.

 “So what do you think?”, he asked. “I mean you don’t owe me an answer and I know that we will never…”

He was interrupted as you pressed your lips on his. You could have stayed like this forever, but you gathered all your willpower and after a second, you pulled back again. Draco stared at you, completely mesmerized.

“You really don’t know when to shut up, do you?”, you smiled.

“If that´s what it takes.”, he grinned.

You rolled your eyes.

“And you´re telling me that I´m annoying.”, you sighed.

Draco laughed.

“Well. You have no idea how long I waited for this, you can´t expect me to keep my cool.”

You raised an eyebrow.

“Since when does Draco Malfoy lose his cool?”, you mocked.

“Ever since he loves you.”, the boy responded promptly.

You looked at him with widened eyes.

“Sorry, that was…”

“No need to be.”, you whispered against his lips. You could feel your heart beating even faster at his confession. “You don´t have to apologise. Not for this.”

“If you insist love.”, Draco responded.

His lips were brushing over yours tenderly, making shivers run down your spine. You slowly brought your hands up to his neck, slightly caressing his cheeks before you tangled them in his hair.

“I insist.”

Draco brushed a strand of your hair out of your field of vision, before he cupped your cheeks, his thumps brushing over your soft skin.

“So, do you only kiss me to make me shut up or are there also other things I can do?”, Draco mocked you, his lips leaving yours, hovering over your skin, making their way to your neck. He spread some featherweight kisses on your delicate skin, making you tilt your head slightly and bite your lip to suppress a whimper.

“If you keep on teasing me, I won´t kiss you again, no matter what you do Malfoy.”, you mumbled.

“Says the girl who was grinding on my lap for more than an hour. If you consider this as teasing, this has been torture.”

You could feel your cheeks heating.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.”, Draco grinned.

“Well, I can make it up to you now. But you have to let me.”, you responded.

That was all Draco needed. He let his lips crash on yours. You immediately returned his kiss, pulling him only closer.

When you finally pulled back, your hair was a mess and your lips were swollen, but your smile could have brightened up an entire room.

“You´re gonna be the death of me, you know that?”, Draco mumbled, as his thumb brushed over your lips.

“That´s a good way to die after all, don’t you think?”, you smiled.

Draco pecked your lips.

“The best.”

But just as he pulled you in once more, you heard a door banging somewhere in the distance. You froze,

“Did that come from the common room or was it Snape?”, you whispered.

“I don’t know. And I don’t want to find out.”, Draco grabbed your hand. “Let´s get out of here.”

“Where?”

“I´ll bring you to your dorm.”, Draco responded. “Or do you have different plans?”

“Don’t ask questions when you don’t wanna know the answer Malfoy.”, you laughed, as you were hurrying down the corridor.

“But I feel like I really want to know the answer this time.”

“And I feel like we got plenty of time to figure it out.”

Draco looked at you and smiled.

“I´ll exploit every second you´re willing to spend on me, love.”

Taglist: @xodracomalfoyxo @marigold-morelli @army24—7 @lbhmoon @cappgyuccino @victoriapedroza

[fismoll7secinv]

15 questions, 15 people:

I was tagged by dear @a-very-fond-farewell 💚I hope you get your lobster sanctuary! 💚

-

1. are you named after anyone?

nope

2. when was the last time you cried?

I don't know, I don't really cry

3. do you have kids?

never

4. do you use sarcasm a lot?

yeah, quite casually in everyday life, but I try to tone it down

5. what’s the first thing you notice about people?

I'm bad with faces, I might not recognise someone who's new to me after interacting with them every day for 2 weeks (based on a true story) xdd so what I notice at first is the overall vibe they present, which is a combination of their posture and body language, clothes and accessories, facial expressions etc. This doesn't tell absolutely accurately who they are, but it shows how they want to be perceived mixed with some unconscious elements they might not notice themselves, which is interesting to me

6. what’s your eye color?

eh idk, people say they're blue when I'm in a blue pool, green when I'm among greenery, grey when it's a bit dark. I guess they're a subtle mixture that looks like nothing until there's something external that brings out one of the colors. it's a bit annoying tbh, so I usually just say grey

7. scary movies or happy endings?

i love horror, very high on my list of fav genres, but I also love happy endings, just not necessarily in horrors. In media other than horror I need HE or I feel down. So i'd say: both

8. any special talents?

I've had a music talent since I was little, couldn't understand how other kids didn't know how to play the flute or keep the rhythm. I've also heard various ppl say that I somehow know how to arrange things to be aesthetically pleasing, but I could never explain how to do it, it just looks better a certain way. A bit for drawing, considering how fast I improved compared to some other people, but I haven't pursued it farther than sketching. Sport comes pretty smoothly to me and my body, I've always been "the athletic girl"

I may sound like i'm bragging but i try to be objective for my own self. After all "talent" means nothing and is just bitterly wasted if you're not practising, so for me it can be more of a shameful thing that I let rot rather than something to be proud of. It's also so useless when teaching others, because you don't know how to explain shit when you do it intuitively, which tripped me a lot of times while trying to teach someone. Very annoying and sometimes isolating in a sense that you just vibe with yourself instead of sharing the experience with others

9. where are you born?

in a hospital

10. what are your hobbies?

reading, writing, taking care of plants, pen & paper rpgs, collecting weird trinkets and paintings, drawing, horror movies, detective stories, listening to podcasts

11. do you have any pets?

we have a dog but I moved out of my family home recently and the doggo stayed there, I still visit often and walk him, but it doesn't feel like he's really mine anymore :(

12. what sports do you/have you played?

I did gymnastics and horse-riding for a few years as a kid, used to jog in middle/high school, I also go on a trip to the mountains at least once a year to hike bc I'm obsessed with it. Recently I like to do yoga and fitness to bring my body to its limit and stretch all the pains that keep accumulating. I almost didn't move from my desk for over a year some time ago because i was too busy with uni, work and a few other big things, and it ended up in a neck injury that escalated to a few months of rehab. Now I move a lot so those nightmarish pain and several contusions don't repeat

13. how tall are you?

taller than most women and many guys

14. favourite subject in school?

all languages, math, biology

15. dream job?

neuroscientist, astronaut or pilot of small planes

-

I have no idea who did this already, feel free to ignore as always. Tagging @prommethium @miyakuli @still-gathering-roses @carmine-sunlight @wikipedie

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

Day 3: Patience/Focus

Prompt List

 Pt. 3 of The Empire of Samadhi AU

Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 (you are here) | Pt. 4

Wordcount: 3k

Summary: Red Son is the son of an old empire, Mei is the daughter of a new one. Red Son, consumed by fire, was put into an induced stasis sleep to stop the world from burning until his family can find a way to safely remove the fire. They find a way but he never wakes up. Hundreds of years later he awakes to discover his power resides within another as she stares at him with wide eyes on fire.

To wield the fire of Samadhi requires focus. To survive around such idiocy, Red Son requires more patience than he practised whilst creating said fire of Samadhi. But before that, Mk wakes up with a spider on his nose.  

Mk woke up warm. 

He hadn’t been warm in a long time. 

Well, honestly he hadn’t really woken up in a long time. It was all muffled sounds, freezing cold and blurry bits of scenes unfolding in front of him here and there while he was unable to move or think clearly. It was… weird to be warm and be able to twitch his fingers without first being told to. But… nice. He really thought it was a dream at first. 

He could hear muffled voices, two of them. One familiar and one not. His body ached despite the warmth as he slowly gained consciousness. His vision started out a little blurry when he opened his eyes, then adjusted after a few moments and he was greeted with a small black spider sitting on his nose. 

Mk screamed. 

He was already halfway up the cave wall, cramming himself into a space he could fit by the time Someone came running in, fire flickering around them. They looked around wildly, alarmed, fists clenched and guard up. 

“Mk!” 

The voice was loud and panicked and Mk would recognize it anywhere. 

“Mei!” 

He didn’t really think before he was practically launching himself off the cavern wall and at his best friend. He realized maybe it wasn’t the best course of action when he noticed how high up he’d been--and when he processed the fact she was on fire--but by then it was too late. 

Mei yelped as he slammed into her from above and they both went crashing to the ground in a tangle of limbs, rings and fire. 

Fire filled the cavern in a small, startled explosion. Mk’s skin burned with a distant memory of pain he couldn’t place the origin of, but before long it was clear the flames weren’t actually touching him. Despite the realization his breathing still came more shallowly than usual for some reason. 

Mei grabbed his hand and pulled him through the smoke and flames to the mouth of the cavern. Mk shielded his eyes and gripped back tightly, the warmth of her hand seeping into his fingers and even up his arm. She was really there. 

They stumbled out coughing. 

“What is wrong with you people?” came an incredulous voice, one Mk didn’t recognize. 

He glanced up, coughing and waving away smoke to try and see who it was coming from. 

“Oh!” Mk said when he saw him. “Hello! You’re really scary looking!” 

And he was pretty scary looking. With hair about as red as it could get, like, ripe tomato red, or maybe hot pepper red. It was reminiscent of many of the vegetables and different fruits he had seen in Pigsy’s kitchen over the years. He was dressed like Mk remembered his Shifu’s distant ancestor dressing in paintings and books. The clothes of a king, or maybe a prince or emperor, unmarred and pristine aside from it being a little dusty with streaks of ash and soot. His scowl was probably the scariest thing. That and his eyes, dark enough to be compared to coal, with just as little life in them. Honestly he looked like he was missing something very important, though Mk couldn’t begin to tell what it was. A smile maybe? 

The man before him puffed out his chest a bit, looking almost proud. “Well at least someone knows I-” 

“Don’t mind him,” Mei said to him dismissively, “he’s a big ol softie. He’d faint if we held hands in front of him.” 

He spluttered. “I would not-” 

“Oh,” said Mk, beaming. “Well, that’s a relief! It’s nice to meet you then, mister.” 

The man spluttered. 

Mei held up their intertwined hands for the man to see, grinning widely. “Look, grandpa. Holding hands.”

The man's entire face went nearly as red as his hair. He spat curses at them as he turned around and stomped away, kicking up ash as he went. 

“Um…” said Mk. “He seems nice.” 

“You get used to him,” Mei shrugged. She squeezed his hand lightly and glanced at him. “You okay?” 

Mk blinked. “Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m good. Uh… how are you?” 

Mei laughed. 

At first, Mk was going to start laughing along with her, despite his confusion. But then he realized it was different from her normal laugh. It wasn’t light or giggly. It lacked that unrestrained joy that always erupted from her when she laughed. It was drenched in heavy, heavy relief. The shaky kind of relief that Mk had felt after a close brush with death during training. 

Then it stuttered. 

His best friend in the whole world sucked in a shuddering breath, and suddenly she was crying. Her voice was shaking between a laugh and a sob as she pulled him into a hug and held on so tightly and crushing that it made it hard to breathe. 

“Mei?” He choked out. “Are you okay?” His voice was muffled by her shoulder and a piece of her hair got in his mouth. He half-spat half-blew it out of his mouth. He made a mildly grossed out noise. “Ew, ew, hair in my mouth-” 

Her next laugh was torn from her like a sob and he could feel it through his entire body. 

She gripped him tighter. 

Something wasn’t right here. 

“Mei?” 

She only buried her face in his shoulder, her entire frame trembling. Mk could feel the heat from her and from the rings hovering above them. They were heavy. It almost felt like massive weights hovering over them, threatening to crash down and crush them. 

With her hair out of the way Mk glanced up to look at the angry red-haired man questioningly, but whatever he was going to ask died in his throat before he could even lay eyes on him. For the first time, he saw beyond the cavern and the people in front of him. 

And there was nothing but black. 

Nothing but a desolate wasteland of ashes as far as he could see. 

Mk gripped Mei back tightly, knees suddenly feeling like jello. 

“What… What happened?” 

Mei held him tighter still and all Mk could do was glance at the angry man with a lost look. 

The man rolled his eyes at him. “Don’t look at me, peasant. I’m not the one with the fire.” 

Mk glanced at his best friend in his arms and startled as he saw his hands for the first time. 

Burns stretched over his fingers, his hands, small ones, and bad ones that looked like they would never ever go away. 

Mk let out a small choked sound. 

“What-?”

“I’m sorry, Mk,” Mei choked out between sobs. “I’m sorry-” 

Mk wasn't sure what was happening, what had happened. He didn’t know where they were or who they were with or why his hands and everything around them was burned, or why he was afraid to look at the rest of himself, or why the clothes he was wearing felt scratchy and uncomfortable and unfamiliar. He didn’t know what the rings were floating over their head or why the fire in the cave hadn’t burned him. He didn’t know why he could only remember being cold for so long, or why now he felt warmer than ever. He didn’t know why a tiny part of him buried away in his chest felt nervous near his best friend. 

Mk didn’t know what was happening, but the one thing he did know is that his best friend was crying. His best friend was crying and needed him right now. That was something he could understand just fine. 

He hugged her back just as tight, squeezing until she could feel like her shaking sobs were steadied by his arms. “It's okay,” he said. “It's okay, Mei, I’m here.” 

He held her tightly and Mei fell apart in his arms. 

Mei and her friend talked just outside the mouth of the cave for a long time. Far too long in Red Son’s opinion. They had places to be. But when he’d attempted to tell the Dragon girl that, she’d actually snarled at him. Her friend’s hand on hers seemed to be the only thing that stopped her from actually trying to barbeque him. 

The amount of patience he required just being around the two of them was already exhausting. He missed the days he could simply incinerate annoying people like them. 

Eventually they stopped talking. After Mei had stopped crying. After Mk had stopped crying. After they had both stopped clinging to each other like children and crying, they finally approached him, still holding hands in a disgusting display of affection. 

“Teach me,” Mei said. 

“No,” Red Son said, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Please?” Mk said, shuffling in place. He didn’t seem to know what to do with his free hand so he tapped it on the side of his leg awkwardly, arm swinging out away from him a bit after every tap. He was such a strange one. There was something about him, Red Son couldn’t put his finger on it, but it made him suspicious. 

“No,” Red Son snarled again, this time with more venom. It was highly entertaining to watch Mk flinch, up until he glanced at Mei and saw absolute murder in her eyes. Red Son cleared his throat and looked away. “I’m not teaching you anything.” 

“You taught me how to use the fire to save Mk,” Mei pointed out, infuriatingly correct. 

“That’s different,” Red Son hissed out. “You weren’t fighting, so I did what I had to.”

“Well,” said Mk, chiming in in the most annoying way possible. “Wouldn't it be easier to get places if Mei knew how to use the…” he faltered a bit, glancing up at the rings hovering above Mei’s head. One of them was nearly directly over his head. Red Son narrowed his eyes and watched how Mk’s grip on Mei’s hand tightened. She squeezed back which seemed to give Mk enough steadiness to continue. “I just mean if we run into any other problems it would be better if one of us with big ol’ world-destroying power knew how to use it.” 

He made a good point. A horrible good one. Good enough that it made Red Son grind his teeth and dig his nails into his arms until it hurt. 

“It’s my fire,” Red Son said through gritted teeth. He missed the way his hair would flame up when he felt this way. He missed how his eyes would spark and people would stumble away, terrified of his power. As it was, the two in front of him simply stood, unphased. Mk was the only one looking even the slightest bit uncomfortable. 

“Duh,” Mei said, rolling her eyes at him. “But if any of us die you won’t be getting your fire back-” 

“The only one here capable of dying,” said Red Son, “is your friend here.” Mk flinched. Red Son pretended not to feel satisfied by it. 

“Alright, your highness,” Mei said suddenly, releasing Mk’s hand and stepping forward. Although he’d suggested she call him your highness on several different occasions, the way she said it was devoid of any real respect. The rings above her got hotter and brighter, the fire lashing and reflecting in her eyes from within. “You shut up and listen. If you die, you won’t get your fire cause you’ll be dead. If I die, you won’t get your fire because everything will probably burn to nothing. And if Mk dies you can kiss your sweet fire goodbye because I will burn you and everything else myself if anything happens to my best friend, got it?”

Truly, her tone was something reminiscent of Red Son’s mothers. Threatening, scolding and terrifying all at once. 

Red Son very nearly took a step back. 

He cleared his throat. “Well… I suppose things would go… faster if you were not quite so useless.” 

“Right,” Mei said, crossing her arms, unamused. 

Red Son straightened up, keeping his chin tilted up. “I am not doing this because you tried to threaten me.” 

“Of course not,” Mei said dryly. 

Red Son bristled. “Whatever, dragon girl. Pull yourself away from your friend and I’ll show you how not to be a useless sack.” 

“Thanks, grandpa!” Mei chirped, quite suddenly smiling brightly. She skipped back to Mk and took his hand in hers once again, giving it a reassuring squeeze. 

Red Son scoffed.

“Um, yes, thank you Mister uh… Mister…” Mk trailed off, looking a little lost. 

Red Son groaned. He tilted his head back for just a moment to pray for the long-suffering patience required to hold a conversation with these uncultured peasants. “The Demon of Samdhi. Or at least I’m told by your friend that it is now my title.” 

Mk jolted. His head snapped up and he gaped at Red Son. 

“Wait- you’re… you’re-” 

Mei patted his shoulder. “Oooo… Yeah… I forgot to mention. Um. Mk…this is… well, the Demon of Samadhi!” She paused then waved her free hand back and forth. “Surprise…aha….” 

Mk made a small choking sound. He looked quite pale. “M…Mei are you sure um… are you sure traveling with the… him is a good idea…?” He nervously glanced back at him. 

Red Son bared his teeth at him in a wide grin. Mk took a step back. 

It was horribly satisfying. 

At least until Mei shoved her hand into his face to cover it and shoved him down out of Mk’s sight, completely ignoring his indignant cursing and outrage. “Ah, don’t worry about him. He’s a big softie.” 

“I will kill you,” Red Son hissed. 

“See?” Mei said. “Softie.” 

“Oh,” said Mk, like he had complete faith in Mei’s judgment of character. “Phew, that’s a relief. Glad to have you on our side Mr. Demon of Samadhi!” 

“I am not on your side-” Red Son attempted to choke out to no avail. They completely ignored him. 

“Well, Sifu,” Mei said. “When do we start?”  “When you get your hand off my face.”

“Samadhi is a meditation and a form of concentrated focus. Its meaning is a form of… bringing things together. I harnessed it to create the most concentrated form of fire that exists in this world.” 

Mei sat cross legged on the ground in front of Red Son as he paced before her, his arms held behind his back loosely. She had a bored look on her face, one elbow resting on her knee and her chin in her hand. He ignored her blatant disrespect and continued. 

“A true wielder of my fire, should be able to become one with it, to make it their own and wield it through the practice of meditation and focus.” His lip curled as he watched Mei glance at where a gust of wind was blowing up some loose ash. “Though I doubt you will be able to do such a thing.” 

“Ehhhh… what was that?” Mei glanced back at him. 

Red Son sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “If you want to learn you are going to have to listen.” 

“I’m listening!” Mei said, rocking back and forth. “I’m listening real good.” 

“If I could kill you right now, I would,” Red Son said. 

“But you can’t,” Mei sing-songed. She giggled and winked at him. 

“I hate you so much. You are a disrespect to my fire.” He turned to Mk and barked. “You there!” 

Mk nearly fell backwards where he was balancing on a blackened boulder. His arms windmilled and flailed until he got himself steady and he stood up ramrod straight, with his arms at his sides.”Yes! What? I’m listening!” 

Red Son groaned into his hands. “Of course, of course I’m stuck with two of the biggest idiots-” He exhaled sharply and looked up at them. “If either of you want to understand my fire you are going to have to start paying attention-” 

“But I’m hungyyy,” Mei complained, continuing her rocking back and forth. “There’s nothing to eat around here.” 

“And thirsty,” Mk added. 

Red Son squinted at them both. “Idiots.” 

He bothered to glance around. He had to admit, there was some concern to be had for the lack of resources. Red Son, of course, could go a very long time without those types of substances. Mei as well if his fire sustained her the way it had always sustained him. 

But Mk was another matter. 

He was more mortal than either of them. Lack of sleep got to him quickly. Even more quickly in the form of eating away at his attention. Food and water were another thing he clearly could not do long without and there was no telling how long he’d been without it already under the white lady’s influence. 

And as long as Mk was distracted Mei would likely also remain distracted due to her worry for him and they’d blame him for it because of course they would. 

“Fine,” he said. He planted his feet firmly on the ground to get their attention before he started his declaration. “We will continue this lesson after you two get yourself some sort of substance to consume.” 

Mei blinked. “Uh… Samadhi Sifu… I don’t know how to tell you this, but… there’s not really… anything here…” 

She gestured to the wasteland stretching around them. Red Son could still feel the fire going on under his feet. The only thing for miles around were half-melted boulders and rocks in a pattern that made Red Son assume it had once been a stream or river of sorts. The fire had long since eaten up any water that had run through it previously. 

Mk blinked slowly, one eye closing and opening sooner than the other, a little off-beat.  

“I know that,” Red Son snapped. “That’s why we’re going somewhere else.” 

“Uhhhh…” said Mei. “Where… exactly?” 

“I don’t have time to explain,” Red Son threw up his hands. “Ugh. Just- stand up, fool.” 

Mei rolled her eyes but she did as she was told. 

“Give me some fire.” 

Mei blinked. “Huh?” 

“Fire. Just-” Red Son sighed. “Just light the rings.” 

“Oooookay…” Mei said slowly. She closed her eyes and after a moment the rings above her flickered to life. 

Without missing a beat, Red Son snatched a bit of flame from the rings. Mei made a little surprised sound, leaning forward curiously. He tried not to bask under her clear admiration. He may not have been able to create his own fire now that it had been stripped from him, but he could still wield it just fine. 

…In small amounts at least. 

“Cool…” Mei said as she watched him draw the circle of flame on the ground. 

“This,” Red Son said, “is a gateway. It will take us outside of the range of the fire, but only for a temporary time. Then we will be transported back here.” 

“So… it's like… yo-yo teleportation?” Mk asked, glancing over Mei’s shoulder to see the circle. 

Red Son spluttered. “What? That-that is an offensively simple way to put it-” 

“But he’s not wrong,” Mei interrupted with a grin. 

Red Son contemplated throwing them both into the circle and then running away, but that would simply be foolish and separate him from his fire. Instead he cursed their ashes under his breath and finished drawing the spell out. 

“Do you want food or not?” He gritted out. 

That at least got them moving into the circle and shutting their mouths. At least temporarily. 

“Let’s go, Sifu Samadhi,” Mei said. 

“I hope the saying of mortals melting in these portals is true for you two,” he said before activating it. 

“Wait,” Mk said. What-?” 

The portal burst into flames.

| beginning | next |

[madaboutmunson]

The Drive-In Part 21

Part 1 | Part 20 | Part 22 | Links to all Parts | AO3 Link

Taglist: @2btheanswertothequestion @cr0w-culture @panicatthediaz @rhyswritesreadsandcries @weirdspaceowl @duraffinity @thegeekcompanion @stereoteleversion @hagbaby420 @val-from-lawrence @mightbeasleep @spectrum-spectre

It's Tuesday night, and Eddie hasn't heard a peep from Steve since he yelled at him down the phone. He hasn't seen Steve since he threw those guitar picks at him, which Eddie had initially thought were special editions due to the big S and E on them, one of which he'd been playing with tonight and was currently twiddling around his fingers. In fact, Eddie's had no indication of Steve since the rose and module mid-last week.

Maybe he'd finally given up? The prospect of which made Eddie a little sad, but ultimately perhaps it was for the best.

Eddie knows he could call, but he isn't ready. He was scared. Scared because he wasn't good at hiding his big feelings. Which meant either he didn't pursue this and forget it happened, which he was loathed to admit was eating him alive, or call Steve, apologise, and hide it from and lie to his friends, which Eddie knew was nearly impossible.

Something was going to give soon because it was too much for Eddie to shoulder. He had enough on his mind.

"You alright, dude? Still thinking about last week?" Gareth asks

Eddie doesn't waste any energy denying it, "I'll be ok, just you know, it gets in my head every now and then. It will pass."

Gareth looks Eddie up and down, looks around and asks kindly, "You sure you don't wanna talk about it, dude? That chick turning out to be a stalker must have been a headache, "

Eddie tries to get back to be usual self and out of his thoughts again. "Well, who could blame her, right? Look at me, carved by the gods, charisma at max modifier, master guitarist. She didn't stand a chance, right?" Eddie laughs and gives Gareth a huge grin.

"Wait, is this the same girl that caused the ice cream therapy?" Jeff asks, confused, and gets a sharp elbow in the ribs from Gareth

"What I mean is, I feel like it's weighing on you, even in your playing tonight and last week. You still killed it out there, but it wasn't...Eddie...Like someone turned down your volume, you know?" Gareth says with genuine concern.

"Nah, man, I'm good. Maybe I need to practice a bit more?"

All three of the band turn and raise their eyebrows at Eddie in disbelief. He knew it was a stupid excuse. He practised harder than anyone. Eddie sighs in defeat.

"Just I really liked her, but it turned out all wrong...Look, It's all too weird. I wish I could explain, but I can't. " Eddie replies

"What do you mean, dude? You feel like you can't tell us something?" Paul asks

Eddie just looks awkwardly at him.

"Aw, man. That's on us. There ain't anything you couldn't tell us, Ed. We're not just friends or a band. We're brothers. That you, Eddie, collected and protected. We got you. For life." Jeff says, throwing an arm around Eddie.

Eddie swallows the lump in his throat, "Nah, man, you guys are the best friends anyone could ask for. I will tell you, I promise, but I just need a little time. I'm still working through things myself. It's a real mind fuck."

"Hey man, no pressure. Just know we're here for you when you're ready." Jeff says, patting Eddie on the back.

Eddie nods, "Yeah, totally...Drinks?" He suggests, mainly to change the subject, and they head through to the bar, Eddie buys a round of cokes, and they sit in a booth together.

"I can't believe our set was cut short for a new open mic night!" Gareth complains

"You just know it's gonna be some folk, bullshit", Paul adds.

Eddie looks around, and there certainly are a few more people. A few small groups of girls, a few extra pairs that he assumed were duos and a few ancient bearded guys with guitars.

"You know, maybe this could work for us, the open mic night drawing in a bigger crowd?" Eddie remarks with a shrug.

The bartender walks up to the mic, looking thoroughly disinterested as usual "Ok, welcome to the first open mic night at the hideout. If you can make it to the stage, the mic is yours. Just don't piss off anyone else, ok? Have at it."

The next hour is, as accurately pointed out by Paul, mostly folk music, so the guys just chat amongst themselves, trying to get campaign clues out of Eddie or generally putting the world to rights.

Then something happens that makes Eddie forget to breathe.

"Good Evening, everyone. My name is Steve Harrington," there are a few cheers and some girls yelling his name, "I won't keep you too long. I only know one song, but...er...I really wanted someone to hear it, so you're gonna have to sit through this mess too." He laughs that charming laugh, and the bar, of course, laughs along with him.

The only person not laughing is Eddie.

Eddie keeps his eyes trained on his bottle. Do not look up. He even moves a little to hide behind Paul and sit opposite Jeff.

Eddie unblinkingly stares at the tiny scratches on the table and picks at them. His mouth is tight, and his whole body has tensed up.

This was Eddie's place, one of his safe spaces, and Steve had invaded it.

"Fuuuuuck Harrington's gonna play?" Paul says in amazement.

"I didn't even know he could play guitar," Jeff says to Eddie, and in reply, Eddie just shrugs with a forced smile.

Steve clears his throat, "Ok, here we go" Eddie can hear the faint waiver of nervousness in Steve's voice.

There is a wolf whistle and a yell from some older lady at the bar, "You got this hot stuff", she slurs, raising her whiskey at him before knocking it back.

"Well, thank you very much," Steve says in a poor Elvis interpretation and laughs again.

Eddie sees a hand reach out to him from the other side of the table.

He looks up to meet Jeff's eyes and looks away, trying to get up from the table, but Jeff's hand on his arm stays him.

"Eddie?" Jeff tilts his head at Eddie, a look of concern in his eyes. Eddie wishes the ground would swallow him up, and then his eyes flit towards the stage for a second before going back to Jeff's and back to focusing on the bottle and table marks.

Eddie had made a silent confession to Jeff, he hadn't meant to, but it was done now. Jeff's head was moving between Eddie and Steve, his mouth partially open.

Eddie isn't looking at the stage right now. He can't bring himself to. His emotions were in turmoil. But, he knew that he didn't stand a chance after that glimpse, where he saw Steve's hair with a rolled-up bandana around his forehead, wearing a W.A.S.P t-shirt with L.O.V.E. Machine written on it. Steve was being so loud.

Steve walks up to the amp, scrapes the guitar strings generating some ear-splitting feedback, and strums out a familiar set of chords on an electric guitar before singing.

"Wild Thing! You make my Heart sing!

You make-a everything groovy"

"What is this guy doing?" Gareth laughs, "that's not even how it goes."

"Wild Thing, I think you move me

But I wanna know for sure.

Come and sock it to me one time.

You move me"

"Those aren't even the words", Paul laughs.

Jeff isn't watching Steve anymore. He's still staring at Eddie and says slowly, "Because it's not The Troggs version. It's the Jimi Hendrix Live at Monterey version."

Eddie can feel his chest heaving. He feels uncomfortable. On the spot. His heart is thundering in his chest like a stampede of wild mustangs. Even though logically, he knows it's only Jeff looking at him, he feels like it's the entire room.

Steve is singing for him. The minuscule non-terrified part of Eddie is snuggling this moment close to his chest and is smiling happily, but the part of Eddie that the world could see is just staring at a coke bottle like he's trying to explode it with his mind.

It's evident to Eddie's ears that Steve isn't a proficient player, but you only had to know a few chords to play this song, and the lyrics fit what Steve wanted to say.

Eddie knew there were hundreds of songs Steve could have picked, but he chose this one, and he chose this specific version because he knew Eddie would know the difference.

He wanted Eddie to know that Steve had done his homework. And for a second, a smile twitched at the corner of Eddie's mouth because though the guitar playing was clumsy, the singing was rough in all the right places and soft enough in others to lure Eddie in, just like it had in the car.

Eddie looks hesitantly between Jeff and his bottle of coke a few times, swallowing nervously, and Jeff bursts out in a huge grin and mouths, "Oh".

Eddie feels his eyes begin to tear up. He had no idea what would happen next. Would they kick him out of the band, never speak to him again, tell everyone about his secret, or worse, hurt Steve?

Jeff taps his hand on Eddie's arm to get his attention. He puts up four fingers and then makes an L-shape, mouthing, "for life".

Eddie feels a tear tumble out as he looks back at Jeff and gasps a breath of relief, and Jeff hands him a bandana quickly. Eddie pretends he is blowing his nose to mop up the rest. At least one of them might be ok with it.

"You know what, I think he's doin' a damn good job...Sounds a bit lonely up there, though, don't ya think?" Jeff asks the table.

"It would probably sound better with some backing, sure," Paul says with a laugh. "Wait, are you suggesting...but what about Eddie?"

They all turn to look at him, but Jeff answers for him, "Eddie needs a little time out, I think."

Eddie watches as his three bandmates approach the stage, and a very animated Robin appears from out of nowhere and tries to stop them from getting at Steve onto the stage. Jeff whispers something to her, and she lets them pass.

For the first time, properly, Eddie dares look at the stage. Steve does not stop playing, but Eddie can tell he's scared. The way his body tenses and the strums on the guitar are harder, even though he could probably take all three of them out in one go.

Robin runs over to the table, "Eddie! Eddie! Please listen" She looks around hurriedly and grabs Eddie's face in her hands, "Look at me. I have never dated him or anything else. Platonic with a capital P! He was hiding, he was, but it was because he's not the brightest and does crazy stuff like run into rooms with weapons because he's worried someone he cares about might be hurt or-or drives a car into another one to save his friend, or charges into a Russian dude and knocks him out with a telephone, or learns a song in a week and plays it in front of everyone, just so one person could hear him, say something quiet, loudly."

Robin turns Eddie's face to the stage, "All I'm saying is if you like this song, Eddie. He'll play it for you anytime you want. Do you understand what I mean?"

Eddie looks up at the stage and with Robin right next to him. Steve can safely point over to them.

"Wild thing, I think I love you,

But I wanna know for sure"

Eddie looks back to Robin, searching her eyes. "I have to get some fresh air," he says, gently removing her hands and brushing past her and the newly formed crowd to get outside.

[masivechaos]

orion! - send me a character + a prompt/situation -> i’ll write a little blurb!

steve harrington and him learning to play acoustic guitar for reader <3

lover!

steve harrington x gn! reader | 0.7k

warnings: pure fluff!! (i don't how to play the guitar soooo :)) also i realised i started to write it as a steddie fic lmao, it works if you ignore the reader parts

masterlist/ stranger things masterlist / navigation / taglist 

Eddie had to stop himself from laughing. Steve Harrington, the Steve Harrington was in front of his trailer asking for advice.

“What?” Eddie questioned with a chuckle and the boy in front of him groaned as he rolled his eyes. He hated that he had to come to Eddie’s house for this but he didn’t know anyone else who knew how to play. He really loved you.

Steve looked up at the long-haired man “Don’t make me ask again” but Eddie didn’t care and grinned and Steve gave in reluctantly “Can... Can you tell me how to play the guitar for Y/n?”

From the look painted on Steve’s face, with his eyebrows frowned and the mouth in a thin line, he knew he really mustn’t laugh, but it was very hard. “Well, c’mon” 

Eddie opened the door further, inviting Steve to enter the small trailer. That’s when the long-haired man turned around that he realised the mess the house was in.

His eyes widened as the realisation hit his brain. He took a big step, nervously trying to clean the coffee table, taking all the papers to make a pile that ended up falling to the ground.

Steve watched the scene with amusement “I don’t mind the mess” he informed the stressed man who let out a sigh of relief.

“Take a seat I take the guitar,” Eddie said, passing by Steve to reach his bedroom. The latter sat down on the couch, observing the room with interest. He took special note of the collection of mugs hanging on the wall. It was messy but living. He liked it.

Eddie came back into the living room, and Wayne’s bedroom at night, with his red electric guitar “If you hurt her” he said, pointing at the instrument, “You’re dead” he warned.

The other man bit his bottom lip. He knew you, sure you loved some songs with electric guitar in them but he wanted to play your favourite song and make it calm and acoustic. It would represent your love story, especially with some little errors he will probably make while playing, even if in the relationship the small mistakes and arguments came from the both of you.

 “Y-you…” he started, not quite wanting to ruin Eddie’s excitation. In fact, the curly-haired man was smiling widely but Steve didn't know if it was from amusement or excitement. 

Eddie looked at the man next to him with a smile “...Are going to kill you if you damage my guitar? Depends, does playing D&D make me a worshiper of Satan?”

Steve’s eyebrow lifted, not expecting this answer. He didn’t know Eddie very well except for what Dustin told him and he seemed to be a normal person, maybe just childish sometimes. Dustin was also playing D&D and a worshiper of Satan was the last thing he was. Steve always found it weird the way people will think this about fantasy game players.

“No- It’s just… do you maybe have… an acoustic guitar?”

Eddie offered the man a grin “Of course you would want an acoustic guitar. You’re Steve Harrington. You’re a lover” he teased before getting up again and coming back into the living room with another guitar.

He sat next to Steve and set down the guitar on him. “Okay first-” Eddie struggled to find words and just positioned Steve’s hands on the guitar.

During the next hours, Eddie helped Steve to play the chords he wanted to play. Your boyfriend chose your favourite song and wanted it to be perfect, so he listened carefully and tried his best. He continued to practice, ignoring the pain in his fingertips. 

In the end, he was so tired but it was worth it. Eddie even offered him to take the guitar home so he could practice and play to you. 

For the next week, he practised as much as he could, even sometimes passing by Eddie’s house if he needed help, earning Dustin’s teasing because of how much he was ready to do for you.

And all these efforts paid. One day, you were laying down on his bed with a smile on your lips. Steve had just said he had a surprise for you but you needed to close your eyes.

You opened them and you found him sitting next to you, guitar in his hands and he started to play. You saw the focused look on his face as he looked down, making sure he was doing the right thing.

When he was done you quickly wrapped your arms around his shoulders and kissed his lips. That was the best gift ever.

⋆ ★ steve harrington taglist: @sw34terw34ther @cauliflowertree @moonlitmeeks @rhydianissuperior  @loveeharrington @vintagepearlss @gilmore-angel @heartfucks @moondemon123 @mystic-writings @natashxromanovf @kidcuisinesvcks @percy-the-hufflepuff

[gothamslostboy]

Matchmaking for The Lost Boys for me???

Physical appearance: I have dark brown/black hair that nearly goes down to my neck, brown eyes and i have little small earrings. Idk how else to describe my appearance sorry

Style: I usually wear more comfortable clothes like hoodies and baggy pants. I also wear some band shirts. But if I really have to dress up, leather jacket

Favourite food: I'm not picky when it comes to food but if I had to pick a favourite, fried chicken sushi, especially with soy sauce

Gender preference: I like all genders so I don't really mind but I do lean mostly more to men

1-2 hobbies: I like to draw and practise playing my drums. I find it all fun!

Music tastes: Rock and metal all the way. It's just the best music out there in my opinion

Favourite animal: Now this is a weird one but it's a tie between tigers and axolotls. I don't know why but I like them

Favourite movie/genre: For my favourite movie, it's a rough tie between This is Spinal Tap and Bill and Ted. For my favourite genre, comedy, you just gotta have a laugh sometimes

1-2 personality traits: I'm usually pretty quiet but much more talkative when you get to know me. I'm also basically the peacemaker type

Gender: I'm male (ftm)

Zodiac sign: Sagittarius

1-2 traits you look for in partner: I want someone who's like affectionate and likes similar things. It's just my type

A/N:Hey dude! This too way to long for me to post and I’m sorry, hope you can still find it

I SHIP YOU WITH…

Dwayne:] you two have plenty of things in common and your differences complement eachother very well

He’ll ask to borrow one of your earrings, and give you one of his as a subtle way to let others around Santa Carla know you’re both spoken for. He adds a painting of a tiger to the other sleeve of his jacket as well, but that’s more to help with him missing you while you guys are separated. He asks for your permission to paint his favorite animal on your jacket, but if you prefer to have it plain he steals you a hoodie and paints it on there

He himself wears mostly hoodies and baggy pants (his preference is sweats) when lounging around the cave, unless it’s a night he feels like being shirtless, and leaves them around hoping you’ll decide to wear one. (He doesn’t want to ask you straight up, he wants it to be something you do yourself) if you guys share the same taste in bands, which given your music taste I’d say you do, he takes two matching shirts in your guy’s sizes after every concert he sees

He listens to you playing drums everytime you play, which eventually leads to you guys forming a band with Paul(he plays guitar while Paul sings)

One of his favorite date ideas is recreating each other’s previous drawings, though other than this the only art experience he has is painting clothes. He keeps every piece of art you’ve given him in a binder and guards it like it’s a million dollars

He’s a supportive person to lgbtq+ in general, so he knows how to help you. Whatever you want to do he’s there to help. Want to start hormones? He’s making you a list of every specialist in California and helping narrow it down, same with top surgeons. If you’re feeling dysphoric he does whatever he can to relieve you of some of it. Even though hes not normally a big words of affirmation guy, he tells you how handsome you are whenever he realizes you’re struggling. Also points out your masculine features and compliments them.

When you first meet it is a little awkward, both of you are quiet around people you don’t know, but once you warm up to each other there’s never a moment where you two struggle in a conversation with each other. There are still many times you guys sit in a comfortable silence though.

It’s not his favorite genre, but he does enjoy comedies, especially if it means he gets to see you laughing and enjoying yourself. He spends more time watching you than he does the movie tbh

[hjellacott]

Grey's Anatomy Decay (Acting edition)

AKA trained actress rates some of the best and worst current acting in Grey's Anatomy.

First and foremost: The Trident of Super Women.

Chandra Wilson (Dr Miranda Bailey): She has GOT to be the best actress in Grey's Anatomy at the moment, which is not weird, considering her amazing training and experience. Over all these seasons, Chandra has given Bailey such depth, complexity, character... She has managed to show the evolution and changes of Bailey without erasing the very essence of her, and every time she shows up un screen, her whole face and body are full of natural emotion. She's the kind of actress that makes the job look easy. That makes you forget she's just an actress and that Bailey is, in fact, not real.

Kate Walsh (Dr Addison Montgomery): What skill, ladies and gents. She comes second probably just because she comes and goes from Grey's and we don't get enough of her. This is an actress who also fills her character with pure life, but you see her in something else, and she's a chameleon. She can play anything. She gives so much information just by expertly raising an eyebrow, looking in a "certain" way... And like in the previous case, she's brilliant at keeping the essence of the character while showing incredible character evolution, showing us her heart, her soul, her mind... She's at times full of expression and at times completely lacking, perfectly fitting the circumstances. She's, I'd say, the Sandra Oh of the later seasons, and if anybody could effortlessly become the new lead of the series, that's her.

Caterina Scorsone (Dr Amelia Shepherd): She's an absolute monster. I've seen her in both Grey's and Private Practise, and essentially, she's, like Walsh and Wilson, an expert on showing the depth of human emotion, personality, character evolution, expression... She's an expert at nuances too. Wilson and Walsh are simply a tiny bit better.

And on our way down:

4. Jake Borelli (Dr Levi Schmitt): He popped to mind because I used to really dislike his character. But the thing about Borelli is, he really understands Levi, not just that, but he's truly made him his own. Levi wouldn't have the nuances he has if anybody else had played him, and it's hard to imagine Levi being any different. Borelli has also done remarkable work with him, particularly in regards to character understanding and character evolution, but shows a limited range of expression. This means that if you pay attention, it seems like his emotional range with Levi is like, six expressions, three tones of voice and little more. Might just be poor script. Note I still quite dislike the character (and wouldn't mind if it just disappeared), but Borelli makes Levi worth watching.

5. Jaicy Elliott (Taryn Elm): Let this be the ONE time a barely-there-actress makes it to my top five. Listen up folks, Elliott has a lot of potential. Every time she shows up, something about her makes me want to sit down and really listen to her and really get to her essence. Once they discargded the useless and stupid storyline of her love for Meredith, Elm grew. She became a whole person. The fact that she quit medicine was explored by Elliott so well, showing a depth of emotional sensitivity to her that was entirely new, which is why she had to stay in the show somehow. She's the new wise, all-seeing, all-knowing bartender substituting our favourite gay couple in the earlier seasons. And she plays it so well. That being said, her acting potential is being wasted and she absolutely needs to make a gigantic comeback to main role. And she has one thing that another brilliant actress, Sara Ramirez (Dr Torres) also had, which is the great ability to know when to do a lot of acting while seemingly doing nothing. The nuances, man!

6. Niko Teho (Dr Lucas Adams): Behold, one hell of an incredible actor. When you have a relatively small but with a lot of potential role like Teho has, you have to do something to get people interested. And when I look into his eyes, there's just a something hidden there that makes me want to know more, and see more. That's top shelf acting. That's the human nature of showing up but not giving your bare essence in one second, whlist making it obvious that there's more. You look into his eyes and you can see the thoughts moving. And that, with actors, is actually very uncommon and difficult to achieve (and is considered great acting). Normally actors just kind of "show up" like deers in headlights, and do what they think is imitating real life. Actors like Teho, turn it into real life. They make themselves real.

7. Anthony Hill (Dr Winston Ndugu): He's only here because the other day I caught him in another series when he was much younger, and it actually took me a second to realise who he was. Not like he's changed (indeed, the only physical difference was the beard, in spite of the years), but his soul was different. How often do you see actors show their characters' souls? In the US, very infrequently. I see it far more in British actors, which I'd argue is because in Britain, you don't even HEAR about casting notices unless you've got a lot of acting training and are a graduate from some important acting schools. So, this is a quality that really isn't there often, and Hill has it. However, he doesn't quite become his character, I can still see too much of Hill when I'm trying to see Ndugu, so we'll see. But I'm glad he remains in Grey's.

8. Kevin McKidd (Dr Owen Hunt): This hurts me because McKidd has been done so fucking dirty by the script writers for years and he's really tried to do the best he could with the nothing he was given. Whenever his character really had a proper storyline (so for approximately the first 10 minutes of him appearing in Grey's), he was amazing. McKidd gave Hunt such depth, such emotion, such rawness, and also made him so intriguing. But Hunt has just been losing since and to me, McKidd lately looks old, tired and demotivated. He doesn't give me the energy of the trauma superstar any more, more like... An old lion who doesn't want to retire.

9. James Pickens Jr (Dr Richard Webber): Speaking of old lions who just won't retire, with all due respect. So, I have a lot of affection for Webber and ergo, for Pickens. He's not even actually old. But man, he's gone down a lot. He was such a vibrant presence in the earlier seasons, but after all these years... I was Googling whether he'd had hip surgery or knee surgery. I mean, I don't imagine him running to a surgery or to the loo. And truth is, to an actor, our bodies are our tools, and when the body decays, you better be excellent at finding new tools (or when you can't use your body, as it was the case of the amazing acting from Eddie Redmayne playing Stephen Hawkin) and Pickens hasn't. He lacks expression, he lacks energy, he lacks life... I suggest a very long holiday and returning to acting later, or a change for a less active role. Webber is supposed to be an old surgery beast who still has it in him. Pickens doesn't seem to have it in him any more.

10. Harry Shum Jr (Dr Benson Kwan): OK so I've seen Shum for many years, and one thing I've always had clear; he's a top class dancer, but he's not an actor. The US (where I see this most often) tends to make the mistake of pretending anybody can act and hiring anybody as an actor. Dancers aren't actors. Singers aren't actors. You can have incredible actors who happen to be great dancers or singers, but not the other way around. And that is because singing and dancing are great skills and difficult ones, but people devoted to them typically don't have the time and energy to also do advanced acting training. But for actors, learning proper singing and dancing tends to be a must. My opinion with Harry Shum hasn't changed even though I've seen him in a bunch of things by now over many series; He's expressionless, plain, boring, lacking juice, lacking a je-ne-sais-quoi that makes it impossible for me to really believe his characters. I just keep seeing Harry over and over. And he needs to take a page from Sandra Oh, who was the first to show me how fucking full of expression and nuisances Asian actors can be, with or without big eyes.

11. E. R. Fightmaster (Dr Kai Bartley): This is another example of a non-actor. Fightmaster is a fantastic musician. And I can sense that they're also a very sensitive person. Indeed, they've given Bartley that inner depth of a well-written song. However, they're just not actors, and it's always felt to me like I'm just watching E. R. Fightmaster, that Dr Kai Bartley is simply they're doctor alter ego.

[mephinomaly]

[TL] Memories of a Doll/Chapter 2

Time: The same day, after school

Location: Yumenosaki Academy Grounds

Mitsuru: Dashu daashu dadadaaashuuu~...♪

…………

Hmm… Something feels off~

Adonis: Is there something wrong, Tenma? You look a little out of it, are you okay?

Mitsuru: Ah. Adochan-senpai came too?

Nn~. It’s nothing really.

Check me out. I got new shoes! They’re all sparkly and cool ♪

My old shoes got too small and cramped so I hadta buy a replacement. But I still haven’t worn them in yet so it feels all weird.

Adonis: I see. So that’s why you’re not as lively as you usually are.

But, the more you use your shoes, the more you’ll get used to them. You’ll have to be patient for now.

Mitsuru: Yep. Since they’re my new buddy, I’ll have to spend some time getting to know ‘em ♪

Speakin’ a’which, what do you do with your old shoes, Adochan-senpai? My old shoes are still in good shape, so I want to do something with them.

I used to throw ‘em away but Hajime-chan kept tellin’ me that “it’s a waste to throw them away when somebody can still use them!” So, you interested in buying?

Adonis: Fumu. That sounds like something Shino would say.

I also spoke to Shino, in the library during lunch. You seem to care quite a lot about objects.

It seems it's more likely for him to give them away, instead of throwing them away.

Why don’t you try selling your old shoes at a flea market too, Tenma?

Mitsuru: A bug market? What’s that?

Adonis: Fufu. I didn’t understand either until I heard the word recently. It’s a “flea market”. [1]

I’m not particularly knowledgeable on flea markets in Japan, but from my understanding, it’s where people sell things they no longer use.

Shino and I had plans to go this weekend. If you’d like, you can come along too, Tenma.

You’re in the same unit as him, so conversation will be lively.

Mitsuru: Uwaaa, sounds interesting! I’ll tag along too!

Maybe someone will buy my shoes… or maybe I’ll find a super good bargain… Ooo, I can’t wait!

Adonis: Ah. Let’s have Shino teach us a lot about how to care for things.

Then, I will be in contact with Shino. I apologise for interrupting your training, Tenma.

Mitsuru: Nah, I was happy to talk with you Adochan-senpai.

Alrightie. When I go home, I’ll look for more things I can bring to the market!

Until then, I’ll keep practising! Nyoom~!

Adonis: He’s as lively as ever. I will do the same as Tenma, and do lots of running.

However, a flea market…

Maybe I should look for other things to sell too. I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear that since I abandoned him when I came to Japan.

Time: A few days later, the day of the flea market

Location: Park

Adonis: …This is Shino’s stall. There’s lots of pretty things.

Hajime: Mhm. When I moved into the dorms, I bought a lot of tableware and household items.

But it seemed like Hasumi-senpai and Hidaka-senpai were thinking the exact same thing as me…

Since we had a lot of the same things, I thought I could sell them here.

On top of that, I get a lot of novelty goods and stationery from clients, so it feels like I’m putting a little part of myself here.

Adonis: Ah. It’s true that since RhyLin is a well-established agency, many companies give us things with their names on it. Thank you for explaining that.

Hajime: Fufu. It most certainly would be a shame to not use what is gifted to us. I do use them on occasion, since I feel grateful.

Oops. The market is about to open. Everything’s nearly ready, we just need to put the finishing touches to our stall.

Adonis: Yes. All I need to do is organise Tenma and I’s things.

However, Tenma is late. It’s already past when we said we would meet.

Hajime: How odd. Mitsuru-kun isn’t usually late to things. Perhaps he got the meeting place wrong?

I’ll send him a message on HoldHands. Tappity tap…. oh?

Mitsuru: Hajime-chan, morning! I couldn’t wait so I went and checked out the entire park!

The market hasn’t started yet, so it was fine for me to do so…♪

Hajime: Ah, okay. I’m glad you’re here, Mitsuru-kun.

Otogari-senpai was putting his stuff out. Mitsuru-kun, can you put yours out too?

Mitsuru: Can do! I want to sell these unused shoes!

Anddd I’ve also got some clothes that don’t fit me anymore ♪ This is so exciting!

They can all still be worn, so I want someone to have them~

Hajime: Fumufumu. It looks like you have a lot of lovely things, Mitsuru-kun. It’ll be good if someone wants to buy your favourite pieces ♪

How about you, Otogari-senpai? Do you have anything you’d like to sell?

Adonis: I have this doll. I’ve had it for a while, but if a new owner comes along, I thought I could give it away.

Hajime: Oh really? What a cool dolly. As you’ve had it a long time, is it from your hometown?

Adonis: Yes. It resembles a young man from my country, dressed in clothes that were popular at the time.

Perhaps because he was born overseas, his features may not be familiar to you and Tenma.

Hajime: Oh wow… it’s super cool! It’s a little old, and it’s clothes are worn, but it’s so intricate that it doesn’t bother me.

But, do you really want to sell it? If you took the effort to bring it all the way to Japan, surely you care for it a lot…

Adonis: No, your concern isn’t necessary. I’ve thought about it, and I think it’s time for us to say farewell to each other.

Hajime: Alright then. Well, I’ll look after you two’s precious stuff.

I hope someone will come buy all our stuff. Let’s enjoy the flea market as much as we possibly can…♪

prev

directory

next

they’ve been saying 蚤の市 (nomi no ichi), with nomi literally meaning flea, which is why i had tenma say bug market. In this line, Adonis says it in katakana (フリーマーケット or furiimaaketto

[ectoamerican]

WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN INTERACTING WITH MY BLOG - Customizable Edition

BASICS !

Name / Alias: Spooky Pronouns: he/they Blog type: single muse | Multi-muse | non selective | semi selective | selective| mutuals only | private | other (specify) Type of muses: canon | OCs | both | other (specify)

GENERALITIES ! Triggers people MUST tag: animal death Interest tracker / checker: I have it and it's mandatory | I have it, it's not mandatory but I'm more likely to follow bad / interact with the people who fill it | I have one and I prefer it if people fill it in | I have it but it's to people whether to fill it or not | I don't have one | other (specify) Reblog karma: I practise it | I practise it sometimes | I don't practise it | I always reblog memes from the source | indifferent | other (specify) Rule passwords: I have one and it's mandatory | I have one and it's optional | I don't have one | I send passwords | don't sent passwords | I have to hype myself up to send one

3-5 ESSENTIAL RULES PEOPLE HAVE TO RESPECT

please read my rules

please be patient with me. irl stuff can get in my way or leave me too drained to do stuff, even if i WANT to write

the basic stuff, no metagaming, godmodding, infomodding, etc

3-5 IMPORTANT PET PEEVES TO KEEP IN MIND

I am 100% okay with my rp partner not matching my reply length. Be it shorter or longer. (heck, if they make it longer then I'll feel better abt my next reply being longer.) HOWEVER, if I give a paragraph or two, I will expect more than one line. which is what I actually got one time.

if my rp partner goes into a thread with me assuming something about my muse even though I make it clear that my muse is canon divergent. I'm absolutely free to IM if you have questions! I'm friendly and don't bite, i promise. QwQ

when i can't figure out your blog. please, readability is the most important thing to me. which is why the most I do is small text. I will change my theme if I think even one thing is making it unreadable or even slightly harder to read. bright harsh colors as well, makes the blog a mess to read anything on.

not trimming your posts. it makes it hard to follow whats going on sometimes. even if tumblr now makes long posts auto readmore. (at least it does for me)

i do prefer that ppl tag their posts most of the time, but that's not really a requirement if it's not like for a trigger or something. it just helps me search for stuff on their blogs if i can't find it through our notes.

2-5 THINGS THAT WILL LEAD TO INSTANT (SOFT/HARD)BLOCKING

if the blog looks like a bot in some way

if it's a personal who has repeatedly reblogged something after being asked not to

if it's someone i've known in the past to make me uncomfortable

2-5 THINGS THAT LEAD ME TO UNFOLLOW / SOFTBLOCK A MUTUAL / SOMEONE I INTERACT WITH

ooc drama between people, vague posts, bullying

minor/adult ships

very rarely, if they're spamming TOO MUCH ooc stuff, untagged or other wise, in a short amount of time. I mean like, many posts that are actually ooc not having anything to do with their character. not like aesthetic posts, headcanons, or art. I'm also not talking abt like, PSAs or updates on the mun's health/lack of energy. i get that it's your blog. but i didn't want to follow a blog that's being treated more like a personal blog.

also very rarely, if my dash is going too fast and it's clear someone isn't going to interact with me i might unfollow just to make things easier for myself to keep up with. but again, that doesn't happen very often.

if it's clear a blog has been abandoned. if they show signs of activity later tho, i may refollow. bc i know irl stuff happens, u kno.

2-5 REASON YOU DON'T FOLLOW (BACK) SOMEONE

if their muse is from a series i am uncomfortable with. (used to love HP, but i can't look at anything from it now. for example.)

if they ASK why i haven't followed them back. just feels weird, man. I will then not follow out of spite for how uncalled for that question is. nobody is owed a follow. not even me.

[chaand-sitara]

έξι

"Sometimes, we forget to see the things right in front of us, and later on in life, we regret it heavily"

"Damon what the hell do you even think you're doing?!" Primadonna said as she stepped away from the older Salvatore but he was slowly walking towards her too.

"Doe, listen-" but before he could say something another force came between them and grabbed Primadonna and hugged her tightly while giving her small and quick kisses all over her face but then suddenly that force was ripped out of her and when she looked she saw it was..

"Stefan!?"

Primadonna was now seriously about to faint, she tried to backaway from both of the boys, ignoring how the hell did they know about her house, and run back to her car.

But before she could reach the handle Stefan and Damon were now in front of her blocking her from her car. "How the hell did you two come from there.. To here?!"

Stefan then said "Listen Doe-" Primadonna interrupted him and said "First of all, it's Primadonna for you, and what kind of person calls someone Doe!?"

Damon then said "The kind of person who loves you, seriously Doe?! What is wrong with you? Why can't you remember anything?"

Then Primadonna said "what? Remember? What do I need to remember?! And please Damon, if I look like an easy target, that doesn't mean that you can play all this shitty game with me got it? I don't want to break Caroline's heart!" then as soon as the boys were about to say anything else, Primadonna heard a voice in her ear saying "You don't have to remember anything"

And then suddenly everything went black for her..

.·:*¨ ✘♚✘ ¨*:·.

Primadonna then woke up with a loud gasp and then saw that she was in the back seat of her car, and now it was evening which meant that she had skipped today's class too, plus she had also forgotten her few textbooks there. She got out from her car and stretched her sore muscles.

"wait.. Was it a dream? Oh god. Primadonna seriously? Why would you dream such ghastly thing? Alright the dream's over and now I have school." Primadonna again stretched a bit while trying to be not weirded out by the dream she had last night and drove off to her house to change for the day.

She went inside her house and quickly freshened up and picked out a white cropped tank top with light blue faded Bell bottom and on top of it she picked a purple cropped cardigan and wore her matching sneakers and made a half ponytail of her long dark chocolate brown hair.

She went outside and got in her car and drove off to school without eating her breakfast.

●・○・●・○・●

Primadonna now was inside the school and had parked her car in the lot and when she was going to class, Tyler came up to her and said "Oi! Prima! We have the pre-game rally today! And weren't you in the cheerleading team?"

Realization hit Primadonna like truck, she thanked Tyler and then they both went to the bonfire which was happening for the game.When she got out she rushed towards the football field where everyone else was.

She came right next to Bonnie and then she heard Bonnie say "Hey, what's up? Oh my god, why do you look all sweaty?" then Primadonna shrugged and said "Uh, just doing some practising, nothing much"

Bonnie nodded and Then all of them saw Tanner getting up on the bench and then he said "Wait, wait, wait. Let's be honest here, in the past we used to let other teams come into our town and roll right over us!" Mr. Tanner exclaims, and everyone in the crowd begins 'boo'ing, so he continues. "But that is about to change! We've got some great new talent tonight, starting on offense, and I can tell you right now, it has been a long time since I have seen a kid like this with hands like these! Let's give it up for Stefan Salvatore!"

Everyone was now roaring and Primadonna could see that her history teacher was feeling really happy because of the reaction everyone gave for his speech. Primadonna was also cheering a bit but then suddenly she saw a bit moment in the corner of her eye and saw That Jeremy was stumbling a bit and there was also a cup in his which Primadonna guessed was alcohol.

Then Primadonna saw Vicki trying to stop Tyler going towards Jeremy, one thing everyone in the whole school knew, including the new kids, is that Jeremy Gilbert and Tyler Lockwood were not a fan of each other.

She turned to her right to tell Bonnie to stop the incoming fight but saw that she was now not there so she decided to stop it herself and as she was going near, she heard Tyler say "Don't look down, You can have her when I am done"

Primadonna gritted her teeth thinking 'Seriously? He can't be more of a jerk?' this line then triggered Jeremy so he went towards Tyler too and punched him in the face. Primadonna then started running than walking towards them when Tyler had shoved Jeremy on a car which made alcohol bottle shatter on the ground.

Primadonna then went towards Vicki and said "Why aren't you stopping them?" then Vicki shook her head in worry and said "They both are fighting like made people, anyone who butts in, will surely get hurt."

Then Primadonna left Vicki and grabbed Tyler from behind to stop him, but Tyler pushed her away and she fell on the floor, which made her hand fall on a piece of glass.

Bonnie and Caroline came up to her and then Caroline said" Yikes.. You need to get it healed.. " then Bonnie said" Here, take my car keys, there is an emergency medical kit there, do you want me to come?"

Primadonna then said" No it's fine, I will go."Primadonna then got up, and dusted herself off with her uninjured hand and left to go to the parking lot.

As soon as she reached Bonnie's truck, she sat on the backside of it and took out the kit, then she carefully removed the glass piece and then calmed herself down.

Then she turned down to get a cotton and then wiped the blood off which showed "Wait what? I am sure there was a cut! I even removed the glass!" Primadonna then touched her hand again but there was no cut.

Now confused, she decided to go back to the field when she heard "Or, I could just eat her." wait what? She then bent down behind the vehicle she was near and looked out and saw Stefan and Damon were talking about something.

She was about to go back when she realised Damon had talked about eating someone, not something.. 'wait.. Is Damon a cannibal!? And who is he eating.?!

"You are not going to hurt her Damon" then Primadonna heard "No.?" Damon said in an amused tone, then she heard Stefan said "No, because I know that deep down you care about her, feel for her. I was scared that you had become the monster that you pretended to be."

Then Damon replied "whose pretending?" Primadonna was now scared 'I knew it! Something was wrong with these brothers. God I wish Elena could see this now, thank god my little crush on Stefan is dead now.. But that weird dream? Let's just ignore it.'

Then she heard Stefan say" Then Kill me" Primadonna's eyes went wide and then she thought 'wait what? Are they killing each other?'

Then Damon scoffed and said "Well, I am tempted" then Stefan shook his head and said "No, you're not. You've had lifetimes to do it and yet, here I am. I'm still alive. And there you are, you're still haunting me. After 145 years. Katherine is dead. And you hate me because you loved her, and you torture me because you still do. And that, my brother, is your humanity."

Then Primadonna was now in a shock 'wait.. Are they 145 years old?! What the hell!? Are they even human?!' then Primadonna saw her teacher, Mr. Tanner moving towards the boys 'Oh no.'

" Salvatore what hell?!we've got a game to play! And have you seen Neris?! The whole cheer squad is searching for her with her uniform in Bonnie's hand goddammit."

Then Before Stefan could do anything Damon sped off behind Tanner and killed him. Primadonna was now stunned.

She let out a pretty loud gasp as Tanner fell on the floor with a pool of blood,then she suddenly closed her mouth wishing they didn't heard her.

"You hear that brother? I believe we had an audience for our wonderful performance" Damon said as his eyes were now dark and veins were popping out near his eyes.

Then Stefan replied with a shaky voice "Please, Damon leave that person alone.. Let them go.." then Damon said "Oh no, we can't, let's play hide and seek stranger, even though I know where you are."

Primadonna then turned around and tried to run but then suddenly Damon's monstrous face was now in front of her and before she could scream he grabbed her and turned her around and blocked her mouth with his hand and rushed them back to Stefan, when Stefan saw her, his eyes went wide.

"Oh look brother, we had a VIP audience, little miss Tsimehcla Heiress with us, now what would daddy Tsimehcla think if he looses his only owner to his multi billion chain? Shall we take it? We can compel him to do so."

Stefan then said "Please leave her Damon, she is Elena's friend! You can't kill her! You can't kill anybody like that." Then Damon said "Boo, wrong answer"

He now his fangs out and was about to bite her when suddenly an amythest coloured force threw him away from her. Both the brothers were now shocked but knew that it wasn't Primadonna as they couldn't feel anything supernatural out of her.

Damon then turned back to normal and then got up, dusted his leather jacket off and said "Anyone, Anytime, any place" He then Grabbed Primadonna and shoved her at Stefan which made him catch her and place her behind him "Don't ever-even for a second-think I have my humanity. Oh wait. Almost forgot.Compel her brother, I don't want her screaming around vampires! Eek save me! After we go."

Stefan then reluctantly nodded and Then grabbed Primadonna face and then his pupils went large and he said" You saw nothing which happened here, you were coming back after finding something in your car and then saw Tanner dead and will scream as soon as we leave and you hear a snap."

Primadonna then pushed Stefan away and said" What the hell are you saying Stefan, what do you guys want? My dad can give it to you, trust me at this! But please leave me alone."

Damon was about to leave but then when he heard her both the brothers were shocked and Damon came back and scoffed saying" Drinking bambi really weakened you brother that your Compulsion doesn't even work anymore.. She was supposed to do everything you said now.. But I don't see her mindlessly repeating what you said. "

Then Damon pushed Stefan away and grabbed Primadonna face roughly and repeated the lines Stefan had said before but with little more frustration, Primadonna still didn't feel anything happening to her but she knew the brothers might kill her if it doesn't happen again so she decided to act and follow what Damon had said earlier.

"I was walking back after finding something in my car and then I saw Tanner dead on the floor and I will scream when you guys will leave and snap." Damon then smirked and then he said "That's how it's done"

Both the brothers left and then Primadonna placed her hand on her mouth, hyperventilating, then she suddenly heard a snap and gave the whole school her scream queen type scream.

1:35 ───ㅇ───── 3:47

Primadonna was now between many students while Bonnie, Elena and surprisingly even Caroline were comforting her.

"God Prim.. This is the second time you saw someone like that except this time the person's dead." Caroline said, which made Elena and Bonnie glare at her, which made the blonde girl shrug.

Primadonna then closed her eyes when suddenly she saw Damon's face with dark eyes again and then when she quickly opened them she saw that she had bit of blood of Mr. Tanner on her sleeve when she had fell when the amythest force had made her fall down and Damon away from her.

She got up and said "Uh, I need to go, see you at the lock wood Manor tomorrow, bye" she waved them off and ran away to her car, when she reached her home she was got in her bathroom, turned on the shower and got in without removing her clothes and started to cry her eyes out because of everything that happened with her since the brothers have entered her normal extra character life.

[dreamystella]

The Purple Shirt Theory & Not-So Effortless Confidence

Hello my loves,

I as a former anorexic suffered (and sometimes still feel) insecurity. Everyone feels a bit insecure in life, believe me, it might not seem that way but it is true. During my recovery, I often looked at all confident people around me, or at least people who didn't suffer from major insecurity and wonder how they could be so confident. As someone who was insecure about their weight due to bullying, I thought to be as confident as others, I would have to lose weight. Not only did I end up becoming anorexic, but I still hadn't gained any confidence. I know everyone needs to be healthy, and I do promote healthy lifestyles but eating disorders are just destructive! Anyway...

You might think "what is the trick to better confidence?"

Well, they use something called the purple shirt theory, however they probably do not realise this. But the next time someone makes a mean comment about you, or an insecure thought comes to mind, use this:

The purple shirt theory is essentially a small story.

You go to a small get together with some friends and family wearing this new purple shirt which you love, you got it on sale, it looks gorgeous and you walk in feeling really confident. Someone who you know, not a friend but not someone you particularly hate walks up to you and says "Oh my goodness, that is such an ugly white shirt, it doesn't suit you at all, it makes you look twice as ugly!" You ignore them and shrug it off because you know you aren't wearing a white shirt, you are wearing a purple shirt and therefore, their whole comment is rubbish.

Similarly, when people comment rude things about you, saying you look, act, sound dumb or weird, just remember, that is their opinion that is only being said to annoy you. If you practise using this theory multiple times, you will eventually build the confidence!

Hope that was helpful,

Your dreamy demigirl,

Hunter

[teachingmycattoread]

Things We've Yelled About This Episode #3.13

Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (all page references from the 2019 paperback)

"The emperor needs necromancers. The Ninth necromancer needs a swordswoman. Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead nonsense." Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir - blurb

“In the myriad year of our Lord - the ten thousandth year of the King Undying, the kindly Prince of Death! - Gideon Nav packed her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and she escaped from the House of the Ninth.” p.15, Gideon the Ninth

While you were x i studied the blade (meme)

Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir, Moira Quirk (audible)

Moira Quirk (imdb)

No thoughts head empty (meme)

Stormlight Archive, Brandon Sanderson

Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir

“Captain Deuteros cleared her throat over the fresh internecine squabbling. “Does anyone else want to take this opportunity to admit that they’re already dead, or a flesh construct, or other relevant object? Anyone?”

[...]

Gideon looked away, blushing with a shame she didn’t interrogate, and found Teacher in the doorway with his hands folded before his gaudy rainbow sash. Nobody had heard him enter.

“Maybe later, Lady Judith,” he said.” pp.342-3, Gideon the Ninth

Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson

Good Omens (2019-?)

Crowley sauntering compilation (youtube)

David Tennant (imdb)

Masterpost of Gideon and Harrow’s names for each other

Harry Potter series, Joke Rowling (donate to your local trans charity today)

And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie

Locked room murder mystery trope (tvtropes)

“These were sophisticated skeletons. Hers returned with a cup of hot tea on a tray and waited until she took it to retreat.Gideon had noticed that their fine motor control would have been the envy of any necromancer, that they moved with perfect concert and awareness. She was in a position of some expertise here. You couldn’t spend any time in the Ninth House without coming away with an unwholesome knowledge of skeletons. She could’ve easily filled in for Doctor Skelebone without practising a single theorem.” pp.92-3, Gideon the Ninth

Sabriel, Garth Nix (our episode here)

Getting a good grade in necromancy (meme)

Can have little a murder, as a treat (meme)

Skyrim

“It would have been neater, perhaps, if all Gideon’s disappointments and woes from birth downward had used that moment as a catalyst: if, filled with a new and fiery determination, she had equipped herself down there in the dark with fresh ambition to become free. She didn’t. She got the depression.” p.46, Gideon the Ninth

Tumblr post discussing Tolkien’s use of different registers of formality - I have scrolled my tags until my eyeballs fell out, but I cannot find this post - if anybody else knows where it is, give us a shout!

Small Gods, Terry Pratchett (our episode here)

“Five people had died that day; it was weird how the small things ballooned out in importance, comparatively. The tragedy saturated the stiffening bones and static hearts lying in state at Canaan House , but there was also deep tragedy in the flawed beams holding up their lives. An eight-year-old writing love letters to a terminally ill teenager. A girl falling in love with the beautiful stiff she’d been conceived solely to look after. A foundling chasing the approval of a House disappointed with her immunity to foundling-killing gas.

Gideon lay on the floor, facedown, and became hysterical.” p.396, Gideon the Ninth

“Harrow’s dark eyes were on Gideon’s, past the blade pointed at her skull. “Oh, I have hurt your heart,” she said.” p.51, Gideon the Ninth

“I have rustled your jimmies” - reference to this interview with Tamsyn Muir

Frankenstein, Mary Shelly (our episode here)

Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett

“LORD, WE KNOW THERE IS NO GOOD ORDER EXCEPT THAT WHICH WE CREATE…

Azrael’s expression did not change.

THERE IS NO HOPE BUT US. THERE IS NO MERCY BUT US. THERE IS NO JUSTICE. THERE IS JUST US.

The dark, sad face filled the sky.

ALL THINGS THAT ARE, ARE OURS. BUT WE MUST CARE. FOR IF WE DO NOT CARE, WE DO NOT EXIST. IF WE DO NOT EXIST, THEN THERE IS NOTHING BUT BLIND OBLIVION. 

AND EVEN OBLIVION MUST END SOME DAY. LORD, WILL YOU GRANT ME JUST A LITTLE TIME? FOR THE PROPER BALANCE OF THINGS. TO RETURN WHAT WAS GIVEN. FOR THE SAKE OF PRISONERS AND THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS.

Death took a step backwards.

It was impossible to read expression in Azrael’s features.

Death glanced sideways at the servants.

LORD, WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?”, p.264, Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett (1992 British paperback edition)

The Ones That Walk Away From Omelas, Ursula K. LeGuin

“[...]we (forgive us)

 lived happily during the war” - We Lived Happily During the War; Deaf Republic, Ilya Kaminsky 

Kate McKinnon interview - once again, my google-fu has failed me, if anyone knows which interview this is or can remember anything about it other than ‘Kate McKinnon explains the lesbian gaze to sceptical man”, let us know!

Poor little meow meow (meme)

Everyone is beautiful and nobody is horny - this article 

Aren’t you tired of being nice, don't you want to just go apeshit (meme)

“Her adept said: “I’ll keep it off you. Nav, show them what the Ninth House does.”

Gideon lifted her sword. The construct worked itself free of its last confines of masonry and rotten wood and heaved before them, flexing itself like a butterfly.

“We do bones, motherfucker,” she said.” p.409, Gideon the Ninth

Gaslight gatekeep girlboss (meme)

She’s everything, he’s just Ken (buzzfeed)

This post about Gideon and Cam

Temeraire series, Naomi Novik (our episodes here, here and here)

Tamora Pierce

Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer (our episode here)

Alanna: The First Adventure (our episode here)

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Unknown (our episode here)

Taylor Swift

Cat rating: 10

What else are we reading?

Protector of the Small, Tamora Pierce

Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction, Richard S. Sutton and Andrew G. Barto

Good Omens (2019-?)

Next Time on Teaching My Cat To Read

The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle