#TOMORROW IS ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL DAY. I CANNOT WAIT TO BE EMBARRASSED AND SCARED AND IN LOVE!

[bittercarrion]

I know I talk almost only about fetish and kink but...sometimes...a pretty boy kisses you and..and...oh my gd. It destroys every wall in one moment..

[andilovetowrite]

Initial Shyness(P.P x Reader)

Peter Parker x Reader

Summary: Confessions are cute, right? Especially when you have been waiting for years to say it out loud. But what happens when the initial shyness wears off? And we all know Peter isn’t as innocent as he seems ;)

Warnings: Nothing but some unending fluff. Lots of Peter rambling and awkward kisses :)

Based on a request, you can find it here!

Here is my Masterlist in case you want to find more of my work :)

“C’mon, you can do it!” hissed MJ from beside you. She pushed you toward’s Peter’s door, making you stumble. Still, you tried to hold back against MJ, who you realized, was freakishly strong.

“I can’t! Nope. No way.” You shook your head, crossing your arms. MJ sighed, probably too tired for your crap.

“Oh come on Y/N! I cannot hear another word about Peter again.”, she said, looking too serious.

“But-”

“Not one more word”

“I-”

“So what you are going to do is go into his room, go up to him, confess your feeling, and then kiss him.” She looked at you expectantly. “Am I clear?”

“Uh- just one component you are missing out on….I don’t have the balls to tell Peter I like him!”

MJ rolled her eyes, coming to stand next to you. “Yes, you don’t. And that’s why, I am really really sorry for what I am going to do next.” You didn’t even have time to figure out what she meant before you were pushed into Peter’s room harshly by Ned and MJ. As soon as most of you was inside, they shut the door behind you and you heard the door lock behind you.

“Oh COME ON!”, you said, trying to open the door.

“You know what to do!”, MJ said back, her voice muffled. You sighed, turning around to see Peter looking at you, a slight smile on his face. Oh, and what an amazing smile he had. His eyes crinkled, and small dimples showed up on his face. His pearly whites showed through his pink lips that you have dreame-

“Hey Y/N...what’s up?” Peter asked, snapping you out of your Peter-sized daydream.

“Huh-uh, so um- MJ just wanted some-uh alone time with- with uh Ned. Yeah”, you said, trying to think of anything other than the fact that you had a gigantic crush on your best friend.

Peter’s eyebrows scrunched up, confused. “Why would she want to talk to Ned?”

“Uh-um wanting to know something about uh-English…”

“Okay”, Peter said, drawing out the word. You could see he didn’t believe you so you did the most logical thing. A logical course of action that anybody in your situation would do. Lie.

“Well, she actually wanted me to show you something, um-on the roof”, you said, biting your lip, trying to figure out what to do once you got on the roof.

“Alright, let’s go!”, Peter said quickly, holding his hand out to you. You grabbed it, feeling the warmth seep into your body and make it’s way up to your cheeks. You held on, knowing that this would be the last time if Peter didn’t reciprocate your feelings.

Jumping out the window, you let out a small yelp as Peter grabbed your waist, holding onto you tight as he pulled you two to the rooftop. Landing onto the ground, you held on for dear life, looking at Peter.

“Give me a warning next time! I thought you were going to chuck me out the window…”

“Oh please, then who would I have to annoy all the time?”, he asked teasingly. You let out a breath you didn’t know you had been holding in.

“Well, you would lose your best friend…”

You were so lost in your thoughts that you didn’t see the way Peter’s face contorted into a grimace as he looked down.

“Yeah, but not only my best friend but the coolest person in Queens!” You cracked a smile, a red tint making its way up to your neck as you heard him speak. “I mean, you are so damn smart and pretty...Not to mention, so badass. I mean, I saw how you elbowed Flash in the-”

“Okay, let’s not relive it” You interjected. Peter smiled at that, walking both of you over to the other side of the roof. “Where are we going?”, you asked, confused.

“Uh, so I just wanted to-uh. Just come and see this”, Peter said, scratching his head slightly. Not knowing what to do, you just followed him, hoping you would see what he was talking about. And you weren’t expecting this.

A plush rose blanket spread out across half of the roof, with rose petals thrown here and there. In the middle of it was a small picnic box, with food sticking out of it. You could see some books stacked in the corner and a couple pillows as well. The light reflected off the buildings around you, giving the entire space an orangish-pinkish glow. You were so engrossed in the spread, you didn’t even notice Peter shakily taking out a small bouquet of roses from behind him.

“Peter, wha-what is this?”, you asked, shocked.

Bringing out the roses, he held it out to you, a blush the same color as the flowers making it’s way up to both of your cheeks. “I-um, heard what you and uh MJ were talking about a-a couple um days ago. So-I uh decided to ask Mr Stark to help me out with thi-”

“Wait a second. Tony Stark helped you out with this?!”, you asked, shocked at why your dad would help Peter out with this small thing. I mean, it-he shouldn’t care so much about Peter’s best friend, right?

“Yeah-uh, so I um set this out for you, and asked MJ to help me get you in my roo-”

“MJ has been in on this?”, you asked, suddenly remembering how she and Peter had been talking discreetly a few days ago.

Peter just nodded, looking down as a dopey smile made it’s way to his face. You cleared your throat, trying to figure out what was happening. You weren’t dumb, but you didn’t want to jump to conclusions to quickly.

“Why-why would yo-is this-uh”, you tried to speak, with little success. You could feel you face heat up in embarrassment, so you just stared at the flowers in Peter’s hands.

“I-uh really, um like you Y/N. Like more than a-a friend. And much more than a best friend. I know yo-you may not like me back, but I couldn’t keep it in any longe-”

You know it’s rude to interrupt someone when they are speaking. But you couldn’t hear anyother word come out of his mouth, because otherwise you would’ve melted. So you did the next best thing. You kissed him. Hard.

His words got caught in his throat as his lips met yours. And for a second you were worried you went too far, pulling back. But as soon as he felt you doing that, his hands went to your hair, pulling you flush against him, kissing you back with fevour.

You wish you could’ve stopped time. Right there. During a beautiful sunset, on the roof surrounded by rose petals, and with Peter in your arms. And in your mouth. But sadly, you needed air to breathe, so you pulled away, probably looking like a fish straight out of the water. Opening your eyes, you could see Peter’s face. His pupils were dilated and his entire face was a pink hue. His lips were plump and red, but pulled up in a lovesick smile.

You knew you had the exact same expression on your face. Smiling softly, you looked at Peter, and at the same time, you both said.

“I really like you”

“I really like you”

Giggling, you hesitantly took the crushed flowers from Peter, breathing them in.

“They got squashed”, Peter said, running his hands over the petals.

You shrugged, not caring. “Well, it wasn’t only your fault. I think it was a two-person thing..”, you said cheekily, smirking at Peter.

He laughed, throwing his arms over you and pulling you in for a hug. You breathed in his signature scent and melted against him, your heart full. It would’ve been perfect if not for the eruption of clapping and whistles from behind you.

“Wha-”

“GOOD JOB PETE!”, MJ yelled, running to the both of you, Ned and May close behind. Crashing into you, you laughed as she looked at Peter. “Better take care of her, got it?”

Peter nodded, kissing my cheek. And just as he did that, a flash went off fro next to you. “Nice job Underoos. Watch the lips though. Don’t get too close to my daughter.” Tony’s voice went through the air, making you jump.

“Dad?!”, you said, shocked.

“Mr Stark?!”

“Yes yes, I was spying on you. But at least I’m not like Nat and Thor. They have been circling the building for the last 15 minutes.”

Tony said, shrugging as he pointed to the sky, where you could see the two of them waving at you.

“Oh god”, you groaned, throwing your head back. Peter looked at you, white as a ghost, before giving a scared nod at your dad.

“Yes sir, I’ll be very-um-uh good to Y/N. I mea-she is uh so pretty-wait that’s not-uh and smart- but that’s not-,” he stuttered, eyes wide. Helping out the poor boy, you shooed everyone away.

“Bye, dad. Please take Nat and Thor home with you. We’ll be back soon”

“Not later than 11, got it? And remember Peter, hands to yourself.”

“Yes M-Mr Stark”

Giggling, you watched as everyone walked away, leaving you with Peter. “Sorry bout that”

“Oh, it’s fine. I got the girl of my dreams tonight. Nothing could beat that” Blushing you pulled him in for a short kiss, before hugging him tightly.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wish you say that was the end of the story. That you both lived happily ever after. But sadly, with a group of friends and family, privacy was not the best. And you were very sorry to say that you scarred more people than you had hoped to scar in the next few months.

The first victim though was none other than Aunt May. And boy oh boy did she not look at you two for weeks after the incident.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alright! This was really fun to write, and this is such a cute idea, so I kinda want to make this into a series where people walk in on Peter and Y/N, so let’s see where it goes. But the next part will be out in a couple of days once my exams end :) Also, on that note, wish me luck, since I have my math exam tomorrow. Anyway, until next time!

Taglist: @a--1--1--3 @idkatee @eternalscribblesforthesoul @loudbluepancake @poisondevotion @scram1326 @t-hollanderr @305weasley @starknik22 @marvelfansworld @lou-la-lou @lomlparker @marvelfansworld @wowitsel @vanteguccir @fullcheesecakeengineer @ifyouknewhowmiserylovedme @ladykxxx08

[omg-im-such-a-masochist]

💎💍TO CATCH A THIEF💍💎

Prompt: Inspired by the song: To Catch A Thief by Lovage

Word Count: Really Long, girl 😩

Pairings: 1930’s Mob! Roman Reigns x Reader

Warnings: Cursing, smut (implied), murder, manipulation.

Tagging: @ziasaph , @marlananicole , @akiko-tanaka , @nicolewoo , @saccreigns , @mindofasagittaruis , @reigns-5sos , @auawdo , @lustyromantic , @babydee17 , @yungbludjazz360

Notes: As cliche as it sounds, I’m a truly lover of music and love different genres. I love to be able to show different types of bands/ projects/ music that sometimes people might not even know exists. So this little fic is inspired by one of my favorite music projects EVER: LOVAGE (it has Mike Patton on it, so of course I would love it! The man has been my musician crush since I was 9 years old! And he’s amazing, so). Y’all know the drill loves,sorry for misspellings,english isn’t my first language (bla bla bla),check out my other stories if you’d like to(it would make your girl here very happy 😊) You can check them out on my Masterlist. Okay,now let’s get to the fun part, shall we? Hope you’ll enjoy 😉

Of course I’ve heard of them and of course they’ve caught my interest! The Reigns’s and Uso’s were one of the biggest gangsters families among the USA, who were responsible for the biggest robberies across the country.

The current rumors spreading around the neighborhood swore they were here, hiding from the authorities, in our small little town.

And I would give anything to meet one of them. As the daughter of a prostitute, my only fate was to follow my mother’s footsteps but I am more ambitious than that! The only way to prosper in life is to be completely feared. Be feared not respected as Machiavelli himself taught. And I know, for a fact that, that is completely true! Growing up in the red light neighborhood had proved to be quite the life lesson, actually. ‘Don’t trust the police’, ‘Make alliances with criminals’, ‘Trust no one’, ‘Don’t snitch’, ‘You never hear or see anything’, ‘Mind your own business’, ‘Don’t allow people to mind YOUR business’, ‘Show no emotions’, ‘Always be smarter than your enemies’, were a few of those rules. People think that, for a woman to be perfectly successful in the 1930’s she needs to be a trophy wife, nothing more than a beautiful face with zero brains and a pair of open legs to a rich husband. But they are wrong! You see, any woman can use her beauty and charm to manipulate and conquer whatever she wants, but she can only maintain that manipulation power if she’s smart enough. I’ve had the town mayor, Mr. Heyman, gift me a beautiful diamond crown (that originally was meant to be his wife’s birthday present) just with some charm and sweet nothings whispered to him. I didn’t needed to warm his bed for it, I just had to be smart enough to understand his weaknesses and say the right words! I know what I want, so I get it, and believe me when I say: I will have Roman Reigns all to myself.

Things were disappearing in my neighborhood

Once again somebody was up to no good

I saw that you were wanted, but not like I wanted you

And that's when I knew I had to be with you

And that's when I knew if I didn't, I'd be through

To end my grief I'd have to catch a thief

Your love was my relief my love is your release.

Ah! Mayor Heyman’s high society ‘charity gala balls’ (aka meet your husband’s new mistress), were the most futile yet amusing events of this town. I wasn’t a high society woman, economically speaking but again I’m good at saying the right things to the right people. So it’s no surprise to see my name in the mayor’s guest list.

I entry the big doors of the city hall wearing my most recently acquisition: an emerald green velvet dress (gifted by the Senator John), my high heels (Another gift from Mr. Smith, the banker) and my hand purse (from the all so lovely Mayor Heyman)...Speak of the Devil.

“Y/N” He greeted

“Oh, Mayor Heyman. What an honor” I smiled sweetly

“Believe me, it’s my honor, dear” He kisses my hand in an flirtatious way. And it’s a good thing I’m great at keeping my gag reflex in control.

“Oh please, I’m the one who has to thank you for always reminding little old me for your tremendously chic events. I can’t express my gratitude enough for you always having so much compassion in your heart!” I scoot closer to him, slightly fixing his tie “It is such a shame that you’re a married man, mayor Heyman, I would have loved to be your wife” I whispered softly

He gulped “I can change that” He smirked

“Oh please, mayor!” I stepped back with a offended look on my face “As a Christian woman, I cannot support divorce! That is some type of thinking that will lead us directly back to sodom and gomorrah! I can’t believe you just said that to me” I make the sign of the cross

“I am so sorry, Y/N it was not my intention-“

“I am not a prostitute or a home wrecker, mayor Heyman! I am a woman devoted to the Lord and I will not accept or tolerate that type of language or insinuations towards me!”

“I am deeply sorry Y/N, I truly am! Let me make it up to you. Here” He fastly signed a blank check “Please take this”

“I can’t” I whisper, pretending embarrassment

“Please, Y/N! It’s the least I can do. You can use it for whatever you want, no matter the price. I could never offend you! You’re such an amazing woman. Please accept it!” His pleading eyes let me know I had him hooked.

I ‘reluctantly’ accepted “Well, thank you, so much” I murmur with tears upon my eyes

“No, I’m the one who has to thank you, for dismissing my ogre behavior” He smiled “I’ll leave you now, so you can fix your makeup”

“Thank you, mayor Heyman”

Once he’s out of my sight, I can drop the naïve girl routine.

“Impressive” A deep male voice spoke from behind me

When I turn around, my knees almost failed me... it was him.

“I beg your pardon?” I ask

“The little stunt you just did with the mayor, was truly impressive. I swear that if I didn’t saw you get out of your naïve christian woman character I would have one hundred percent believed too” He smirked

“Mr. Reigns. That’s a compliment coming from you”

“You know who I am”

I shrugged “I’ve heard a few things here and there”

He gets closer to me, until our faces almost touched

“Yeah? Tell me, Y/N. That’s your name right?” He asked and I nodded

“What have you heard, Y/N?”

“How your the head of the table on your family’s business” I mumbled

“How does a woman like you, know about my family’s business, Y/N?” He walks forward, making me step back until I my back reached a closed door.

“I was raised on the streets”

Roman’s eyebrows raise in surprise “Really? You don’t seem like the streets type” He said, caressing my cheek.

“I had to learn how to be more polished if I didn’t wanted to become a hooker”

“I see” He buried his nose on my neck, inhaling deeply my perfume as his hands rested on my waist “And I imagine your perfume is also a result from a similar scene with the mayor” Roman whispered in my ear

“The senator not the mayor” I cackled

He amusingly laughs on my ear “You have friends in high places, huh?” His hands moved up, cupping my breasts through the dress

“People use what they have, Mr. Reigns” I look into his eyes “You use you intimidating strength” I squeeze his biceps “And I use my womanly charm” I batted my lashes “They’re both means to an end”

Come into my window

It's open every night

That's where I'll be waiting

I'll keep off all the lights

I'm lying on my bed

Crown jewels on my head

The loud knocks on my front door made me quickly get up. Going down the stairs I can see a tall manly figure waiting for me to come and answer. I grab my Colt 1908 Pocket Hammerless gun from the little drawer on my cupboard.

Placing my finger on the trigger I opened the door.

“Yes?” I ask harmlessly

“Mrs. Y/N?” The tall Samoan man asked

I nodded once

“My name is Jey and I’m here in behalf of Mr. Reigns”

I nodded again

“Why don’t you come and take a ride with me?” Jey coldly smiled

I'd never give you up

So come in from the cold, let your guard down

I'd hide you from the cops

Don't be frightened now my love

I'll take the life of crime, all to make you mine

The hotel room is big, fancy and very expensive by the looks of it. If I had to take a lucky guess, I would say that he’s not paying for anything in here, it is all a curtesy from the mayor.

“I’m glad you came” Roman smiles

“Did I had a choice?” I tilted my head

“No, you didn’t” He chuckled “Can I offer you anything to drink?”

“Are you going to drug me if I say yes?” I joke

“Depends on your answer to my proposal” He smirked

“Proposal?”

“Yes” Roman got up from his chair coming to stand in front of me

“You see, Y/N. You’re a very, very interesting woman. Ambitious, smart, charming, intelligent and gorgeous. You’re not easily scared, in fact, it looks like you enjoy danger” He pulled me closer to him, until our bodies were pressed together “I could use a woman like you in my business. At the gala ball you told me about your goals in life and I could see with my own eyes you successfully work your magic on every men in that room. So, what I propose to you is: come with me, I’m leaving town tomorrow and I would like for you to come with me, be a part of my team, use your looks and your brain to our favor.”

“And what’s in it for me?” I asked

“Money, power, jewels...Anything you want” He sincerely said

“What if I would like to add you to that package?” I whispered

Come in off that roof top

You're so handsome dressed in black

See you in the shadows

I'd like to see you on your back

Take this precious treasure

And I will treasure you

Roman smirked “So be it! If you want me too, then you can have me”

He leaned down, capturing my lips in a famished kiss. Pushing me down on the bed, his broad body hovering over mine, grinding, kissing, biting, panting, pounding and moaning until the first rays of sunshine from the next day peaked through the curtains...

6 MONTHS LATER

“What do you say about we take a drink, Mrs. Reigns?” Tony, my husband’s arch enemy and Capo of the Italian Mob asked

“I would love to” I smile sweetly as I hook my arm in his. Going to the back alley.

“I figured it was already time for you to leave that husband of yours for a real man, you know? And I knew you would come to me, sugar” Tony winked

“You’re right, Tony. I do need a real man” I smirked to the shadows when the gun fired.

Tony’s body fell down by my side on the dirty alley street

“But you didn’t thought you were that man, right?” I cackled

Roman’s arm circle around my waist, pulling me closer to him.

“Hello Tony” He smiled “Did you really thought you could have her?” Roman chuckled “C’mon, we both know she’s too much of a woman for you! You can’t handle it! I bet you’re regretting to have thought with your dick now, don’t you?”

“She will leave you eventually Reigns. Just wait for it!” Tony spat

I pressed my high heel on his chest wound, pressing it down and making Tony scream in agony

“You watch your mouth, you fucking fat pig! You know nothing, you ARE NOTHING! I would never leave Roman for you” I laugh “I will never leave him for anyone” I smile at him, aiming to his head and pressing the trigger right afterwards.

We'll run away my dear

Some place special have no fear

We'll even change our names

We'll be kinky, we'll be strange

I'll take the life of crime, all to make you mine

All to catch a thief

Your love is my relief, my love is your release

Your love is my relief, my love is your release

All to catch a thief

“You are perfect” Roman whispered, kissing me vigorously in front of Tony’s dead body. “C’mon. Let’s get out of here” He opened the passenger door of his Rolls Royce and I enter it.

Once we’re driving through the highway he says

“I can’t wait for us to get to the hotel” Roman kisses my hand, intertwining our fingers “I’m going to fuck you senseless” He growls

And I can’t help the happiness smile that spreads on my lips..

[minyoongees]

FANTASY || JHS

✧ pairing: boyfriend!hoseok x reader

✧ genre: crack, smut 

✧ word count: 1.4k

✧ summary: When Hoseok hears the shower running, he can’t help but let his fantasies run wild.

✧ snip: “Who is the intruder in the bathroom he just had potential sex with

✧ warnings: mentions of oc’s body parts in sexual ways, mention of hobi’s body parts in sexual ways, doggy style, begging, hair pulling, mild edging, mentions of an intruder, oc being waaayyy too close to her sister (yes this counts as a warning, y’all single child won’t get it), embarrassing situations

I’d be glad to know what you think of this! 

The sound of keys jiggling fills up the empty hallways, practiced hands opening the lock within seconds. It opens with a creak and he cringes. For any sound from him could alert you of his presence and it could shatter his plans of scaring you.

He tip toes inside, softly sliding the keys into his dress pants' pocket. He strides forward slowly to your room, hoping to find you sitting on the vanity so he can scare you enough for you to mess up your eyeliner (he's pure evil and he knows that).

But an empty room and the sound of the shower running bums him out.

“Y/n baby we're gonna be late this way!” He calls out in the general direction of the shower door.

He lifts his arm to look at the watch on his wrist, “It's 7 already! We'll miss our reservation, just try to be quick yeah? I'm waiting outside in your room.”

So much for scaring you, he's got the scare now. They'd cancel the reservation he worked so hard on to book. It's not really a special day, but it really is. It's the same day 2 years ago you and him had sex for the first time after 3 months of dating. Now it wouldn't be something that special, you see (at least not special enough to work a month overtime to afford that expensive restaurant). But you had such explosive sex that day, you couldn't let this opportunity go now.

That day he made you cum 4 times, discovered your love for his tongue and discovered how you it makes you go dizzy when he chokes you a little. He loves to see your ass jiggle when he hits it from behind,

“Hobi, please-”

“What is it baby, what do you want”

You didn't even know what you were begging for, your head was empty except for Hoseok's dick and the way he was making you feel.

“What do you want?” he growled again with a particular sharp thrust of his hips and even any slight thought you might have had, flew out the window. The pleasure made your muscles relax to the point it was hard to speak. So he took the hint for himself.

He grabbed your hair, pulled your back to his chest and began grinding in you. The sudden change in positions had his dick grazing your insides from an angle that gave you the leverage to come back to reality. You moaned and whined so loud at the sensation. The knot in your stomach was loosening up, you were losing your orgasm but you were still so on the edge of it. You whined again, tryna back up into him and he, just chuckled. He chuckled. At your misery. That's right.

But before you could do something about it, Hoseok started thrusting again at a fast set pace.

“Good girls don't whine y/n and you know it, they take what's given to them” He growled.

He snakes his arm around your waist, fingers to your clit and other hand lingering on your neck. He bends you forward and hits right at the spot which makes you go limp in his arms. Any smart reply on your tongue is swallowed back down. Your orgasm creeping back up on you, leaving goosebumps in its wake.

“This is hands down the best sex I've had”

That's what you said to him in the heat of the moment and he hasn't forgotten it ever since. Even in the later hours it kept him wondering what exactly was it that he did to make you feel this way. Though he couldn't pin it exactly, but whatever was it he did, it only got better. Maybe it was the day you got to know one another' s body more, or got more comfortable with each other, but it really did change the way you look at each other now.

He can still hear the shower running. But he's got something else on his mind now.

He lifts himself off your bed and walks to your bathroom door and leans on one shoulder there.

“Hey sweetie!” He calls out, and waits for you to answer.

The shower stops running and he's met with complete silence. He knows you're listening.

“Remember the time you said I was the best sex you've ever had?” Yes, he knows he's twisting your words around, but he cannot bring himself to care enough.

“That was when I tried chocking you for the first time, you were so submissive for me, eyes all droopy. You couldn't even talk all your smart comebacks died down in your throat. Oh I remember the way your ass jiggled and the way you moaned so much, like, it's the most motherfucking beautiful sound I've heard in my life,” getting father away into his memories he didn't even realize when he started to palm himself in his pants.

“Oh I can't wait to see you tonight in that red satin dress of yours. You always look like such a sin, always so submissive for me, making me feel proud that they all know who you belong to.” he violently palms himself, his own hammy fantasies taking him too far. He couldn't think straight. Not right now when all his blood from his brain had rushed to his dick.

“I can't wait to come home and taste your lips like champagne, can't wait to pepper kisses all over your chest and thighs, eat you like the three course meal you are and kiss your fingertips—”

He seemed so adamant on fucking you that the time constraint seemed nothing like a problem to him anymore. But before he could execute it-

The keys jiggle again and he hears the familiar creak of your door opening. Wait- Who else had your keys?

He runs outside the bedroom to find you setting the groceries down on the table.

If you're here then who's in the bathroom taking a shower he just had potential sex with??

Automatically, he assumes the worst when all the blood rushes back to his brain.

“Oh hey Hoseok, when did you get here?” You chime.

“y/n!”

You turn to him startled and he grips your shoulders tight.

“y/n listen to me, now don't panic and listen,” he said, a little too exasperated for him not to be panicking himself “there is an intruder in your house and he's in the shower, I have no idea who he is but you lock the door and I'll call 911, it's okay we don't have to panic—”

“Wait what? The intruder is showering?” you question, like it's the stupidest thing ever, because it is!

“What are you talking about?” you laugh and say.

You took in his form, his formal shirt and those dress pants, silver hoops dangling from his ears, his blonde hair styled back. A small smile arose your lips at the sight of him.

“You forgot didn't you?” you take his hands off your hands and hold them in your hands, “Baby remember how I postponed our date to tomorrow 2 weeks ago because Jisoo was coming over?”

He turns his head back to look at her head peeking out of the door, hair dripping wet, tryna hold in a laugh.

You both look at each and start laughing. Hoseok drags himself to the couch, embarrassed, "Yeah yeah laugh all you want”

He hides his face in his palms and calls out "Noona you should've said something!” his voice muffled.

“Oh it was too funny to stop you, with all the ass jiggling and the three course meal” She laughs again.

“Wait, what?” You question “What happened here?”

Great that's what he needed now.

“Oh nothing sweetie, come here” he pulls you to him with your wrists,”I might've said something about how I wanted to fuck you tonight because I thought it was you in the shower.” He says in a small voice into your skin. Even saying it out loud now makes his skin crawl.

He can hear Jisoo laughing again with you as you place yourself next to him on the couch. You take his hand from between his palms and press a soft kiss on his cheek

You take the moment to put your lips next to his ear and whisper,"Don't worry, it'd be better than your fantasy”

[santigarcia]

Bot 🤖

Human Touch Part One

a nathan bateman x f!reader fic~

word count: 3.3k

rating: T - nudity (non sexual), mentions of masturbation

summary: After a wrong turn on a hike, you find yourself on Nathan’s property and joining him for dinner. 

a/n: ahhh this is part 1 of 10 of this series! i cannot wait to share it all with you!! remember these will be posted at 9 CST. check here for the schedule so you won’t miss one!! thank you to @punkpascal for encouraging this and listening to me yell nonstop! and thank you to @sergeantkane for your support and for making the moodboards for this series!! 

You only agree to this because of the view. Not for any other reasons. No. No. Certainly not.

Your cousin owns a timeshare in Norway for her work. And she invites you to come up for a few weeks. You’re in desperate need to get out. She won’t even be there half the time, which is even better. You love your cousin but you’re ready for some quiet. Some space. The fresh air. And you’ve seen photographs, the mountains outside her door look beautiful.

Those are enough reasons for anyone to go.

But it’s when you find out who her ‘neighbor’ is that has you chomping at the bit to go.

The term neighbor is a loose term, the neighbor in question lives two hours in a different direction. It’s a secluded private area. But it still gives you some strange hope you might see him.

“I’ve only seen him once,” you remember your cousin telling you. She wasn’t that impressed, but you – you’re dying to see him.

Nathan Bateman, the multi-billionaire CEO, and creator of Bluebook. He’s a celebrity crush of yours. Half the reason you have a Bluebook phone in your pocket is because of him.

There’s something about him. You’ve followed his career quietly, but more than anything you think he’s handsome. Gorgeous even.

He’s a hot topic for gossip since he remains in seclusion, working on his mysterious projects. To be that close to him sends a thrill down your spine. And he’s all you can think about on the plane ride over.

Your cousin picks you up at the airport and you spend the next few days hanging out with her and relaxing. She leaves on the third day and you spend most of it reading that book you’ve been meaning to finish.

As you sit near the window, you can’t help but admire the mountains. The lush greens of the field at the foot of it, the rich white snow. The crisp air feels good to you, even if it gives you chills.

You decide that you want to go hiking. Your cousin mentioned there are several easy trails and you think you can figure them out.

You get to packing that night. You shove your backpack with things you think you’ll need. You don’t plan on being gone long, so just some essentials for the hike.

The next morning is a lovely one, that mountain air is crisp, and it fills your lungs. You feel rejuvenated. The trails are easy to follow and you walk for hours. You stop to rest every so often and keep hydrated and eat.

You have every intention of turning back when it begins to rain. Hard. Within minutes you’re soaked to the bone. It’s freezing and if you don’t get warm you worry you’ll get sick. You try not to panic, but the rain is coming down so hard you can’t see the trail.

Somehow you take a turn and find yourself going down a decline. Maybe you’re near the trails edge.

The rain continues to pour, but through it you see lights of what looks like a house. Shivering, you make the long walk to this place. It’s your port in the storm.

It’s not your cousin’s house, and you don’t remember seeing this one on the way in. You bang loudly on the front door, hoping someone will hear you over the rain. The house looks huge.

“Hello?” you bang on the door; you feel tears welling up in your eyes. You’re so cold. “Is anyone home?”

After a few moments, the door is opened. And you’re not sure who is more surprised. You or the one and only Nathan Bateman standing across from you.

“It’s you,” you gasp, shivering violently from the cold. “Nathan!”

He blinks, his eyebrow ticks up in bewilderment.

“How the hell did you even get out here? Are you okay? Yeah, come in. Shit, you’re freezing. Umm… yeah. That’s me.”

He opens the door wider so you can come inside. The warmth hits you like a wave, and it almost hurts. You haven’t stopped shaking. And now you’re trembling for any entirely different reason.

“I was hiking, and it started raining and I got lost and…” your teeth are chattering. And Nathan looks confused but concerned.

“This is a hell of a way to get introduced, but-“ he pauses for a beat. “We need to get you out of those clothes. You’re gonna get sick.”

You follow him in this maze of a house, and he takes you to a large open bathroom. He turns on the shower and you take a step towards it, but he stops you.

“This is for the steam, you need to get warm slower, you’ll go into shock.”

You’ve heard about this, and you know he’s right. One of the best ways to prevent hypothermia is warming the body through skin to skin contact and body heat.

“Look, shit, I know this isn’t ideal,” he snorts, “but you need to get naked. I won’t look.” He smiles softly and you feel sick. Maybe it’s the hypothermia.

You turn your back to him and begin to awkwardly peel off your clothes. You’ve never felt so embarrassed in your life. He’s turned the opposite direction and isn’t saying anything. You almost wish he would.

“Ok,” you tell him. You’ve turned back around with your arms covering your chest. He’s taken off his shirt, and he’s quick to wrap you up tight in his arms before you can think too much.

His bare chest is warm. His arms squeeze you tight and he rubs your back. His beard tickles your ear, and you feel all of him all at once. It’s making your head spin. Is this? Is this how you’re meeting him?

“I’m Nathan,” he chuckles softly, “but it seems you already knew that.”

You tell him your name, and he chuckles again. “Interesting meeting huh? Story to tell the grandkids.”

That gets a soft laugh from you, and you can feel him physically relax. The awkward tension has been cut.

“You’re feeling warmer now, less shivering.” He states this as if you don’t know, but it’s impossible not to shudder while naked in his arms. He seems to pick up on this, because of the look he gives you when your bodies pull apart. “You okay?” he looks at you, his eyebrow up again.

Tears well up in your eyes and you can see a look of slight panic cross his face.

“No,” he whispers, “No, hey sweetheart, it’s ok. No need to be embarrassed ok? Do you need me to call someone for you?”

“There’s no one to call,” you sniffle out. “I’m staying with my cousin at her place, but she’s out of town.”

“Do you- you wanna stay here tonight? Get warm? We can figure out shit tomorrow.”

“I’m not an inconvenience, am I?”

“Not even a little. You’re the first person I’ve seen in… months. And… it’s way too cold out there. You’re safer here. Just as long as you’re not a serial killer or somethin’… you can stay.” He gives you a little smile, and hands you a towel to wrap yourself in.

”Definitely not a serial killer. I killed a spider last week and I screamed.”

He chuckles while he dries off his chest and pulls his Henley back on.

“Is it just you in this house?” you ask trying to keep the subject off your nudity.

“Yeah, just me. It’s… yeah, it’s a little lonely. But it’s the ideal working environment. No distractions. No noise. But sometimes, it’s too quiet. Listen, hey we can talk later. You should get in the shower, get warmed up ok? Don’t turn the water up too hot alright? I’ll have my housekeeper set aside some dry clothes for you.”

He exits quietly closing the door behind you with a soft click. Once he’s gone, you drop the towel and step into the warm spray of the nicest shower you’ve ever seen.

You try to process what just happened, and you decide this must be a sign or a dream.

At one point there’s a soft knock on the door and you briefly see a woman set a stack of clothes on the counter. She exits as quickly as she arrived.

You wonder why he’d said he’d not seen another person in months when there she was.

After you dry off, you reach for the stack of dry clothes which you assume are his. There’s a soft pair of sweatpants and a warm Henley that looks like the one he was wearing. They smell fresh and clean, and you pull them on eager to not be naked in this house anymore.

You step out of the bathroom and no sooner do you step foot into the hall do you see his face.

“You don’t have any kind of electronic device on you, do you? Like your phone? Just until you leave, for security purposes. It’s just a precaution.”

“You scared me!” you laugh and touch your chest. “And I do, in my backpack. Which I don’t remember where-“

“It’s in the dining room, I’ll show you.”

Once again you follow Nathan through this maze. Your backpack is sitting on the table just as he said. The fabric is soaked, and you have little hope anything is dry on the inside. There’s a neatly folded towel next to the backpack and you spread it out to take out the contents of said pack.

Your phone is in there, and it looks dead. Soaked from the water.

“I can fix that,” he tells you and extends his hand for the phone. You hand it to him, and he pockets it.

After your phone is out, you dump the backpack onto the towel and all your stuff spills out. A clean shirt, a small first aid kit, a phone charger (just in case), and to your horror – a forgotten vibrator that had been stuffed in the bottom of your pack.

You look up at him with fear in your eyes, but he’s got that eyebrow up again.

“Carrying the essentials huh?”

“I-“

“I have so many questions about why you’re hiking with a vibrator, but you look way too embarrassed to answer them honestly. You can keep that for yourself.”

You quickly shove it and the rest of your things back into your soaked backpack.

“So, you’re just… in the middle of the wilderness, alone, with a phone and a vibrator. And no one to call. And you’re sure you’re not a serial killer?” he winks playfully.

“I swear I forgot that was in there!”

“Hey, sorry. I am the last person who’s gonna judge you for somethin’ like that. And you’re not the only person here with a vibrator,” he winks again.

“You sure you’re not a serial killer?” you flush.

“Would it make a difference if I said no?” he can’t help the grin on his face. “Kyoko, my housekeeper, is done with dinner. Would you like to eat with me?” He picks up the damp towel from the table.

“That would be nice, thank you. You’re a good host.”

“I’ll admit, I don’t get a lot of visitors. Or… any visitors, really. But against my better judgement, I’m not gonna let you freeze to death outside. And you seem… relatively harmless,” he smiles again fiddling with the towel in his hands.

The woman you saw earlier sets plates of food down on the table, and Nathan hands her the towel.

“This looks amazing, I can’t thank you enough for your hospitality.”

“I’m glad you’re feeling better. You kinda looked like a wet cat when you got here. No offense,” he bites his lip and glances over at you.

“None taken,” you laugh.

“Do you drink?” he glances at you when he sees you reach for an empty glass.

“I’m not much of a drinker, but I like the occasional wine!”

He chuckles fondly, “We can definitely do wine. I have a Chateau Lafite 1787 and a Cheval Blanc 1947 that are begging to be opened. And… from the look on your face, you have no clue what that means. Kyoko, grab the Cheval.”

“I admit I don’t know! But I can tell you do. You seem to know a lot about a lot of things. Including saving someone from hypothermia,” you almost grimace at the memory.

”That’s why they pay me the big bucks,” he chuckles taking a generous sip of his freshly poured wine. “Damn… this is the good shit.”

You watch him drink and it’s beginning to hit you. This is really him; this is the Nathan that you have his social media accounts on notifications. This is the Nathan that you’ve watched random tech videos you have no interest in but wanted to hear his voice. And now you’re sitting across from him, at his table, watching him drink wine.

“You definitely seem to enjoy the finer things in life, don’t you? And yes, this is good, especially with the meal. I’m not used to this much luxury. I feel like I don’t belong here,” you bite your lip. He’s a genius. Famous and sexy as hell and you’re just-

“Well, you get used to a certain way of living when you’re… me,” he chuckles.

“This wine probably costs more than I make in a month,” you laugh taking another sip. “I don’t know what I’d do if I even had a million dollars.”

“Done.”

“Pardon?”

“I can wire your bank tomorrow.”

“Wait, you can’t be serious.”

“As a heart attack,” he shrugs. “Pocket change. Consider it a get well soon present. So, what’s home like for you?” He changes the subject so abruptly, but you go along with it, but it’s hard to keep up.

Suddenly you feel like spilling your whole life out to this man. That you’re stuck. You live at home because you can’t make ends meet and nothing seems to stick. You’re looking for something, but you don’t know what it is.

“I live in a small town. It’s cozy. Simple. But sometimes it feels too small. That’s why I wanted to get away. See something new. I realize how I’ve not experienced much in my life. I want excitement. I want- well I want to move away. That’s what I want.”

He takes another sip of his wine and you can’t help but stare at his delicious beard.

“I specialize in exciting, honey. You stumbled into the right place,” he grins, another soft chuckle escapes his lips.

“I think I did, though it sounds like you know something I don’t know.”

His brow raises as he smirks devilishly, “there’s a lot you don’t know, kitten. There’s a lot I can show you. I didn’t come out here just to be alone.”

Your stomach drops and you feel your face heat. He’s called you two pet names back-to-back. His eyes are fixed on you, watching every move on your face. He’s calculating, tucking everything away into his memory.

“K-kitten?” you find your words, but you sputter on your wine. “Did you just call me kitten?”

His smirk only seems to grow. The confidence is oozing out of him and it’s thick in the air.

“You liked that, didn’t you? Your pupils are dilated.” He causally sips his wine as if he didn’t just ruin your whole life with a short sentence.

He’s rendered you speechless, the very air in your lungs is gone. And there’s a feeling low in your belly. A pang of arousal and need and thrill hits you all at once.

“I-“ your words are lost again, but he speaks up for you.

“Look, kitten,” he punctuates the word, he’s teasing you now. “You obviously did. Can we just skip to the part where we have the conversation?”

“The conversation?”

“Y’know. The one where I tell you I’m not just interested in you because you’re the first person that’s come around here, like… ever, but because you’re beautiful and interesting and genuinely fun to be around. And that you need to make the first move if you want this as much as I do because I’m not some rich asshole who’s trying to take advantage of the fact that you’re completely vulnerable right now. That conversation.” He sips his wine again, and you feel like you might pass out or jump across the table into his lap. You’re too frozen to do either.

“You think I’m beautiful?”

“Honey,” he sighs setting down his wine glass and folding his hands together resting his elbows on the table. “I don’t mince words. And let me put it to you clearly. You’re exactly my fuckin’ type.”

“Is this really happening?”

“Only if you want it to baby. But I’m as real as it gets. And I couldn’t have made a more perfect woman if I tried, and I have.” He mumbles the last part into his wine glass, it’s so quiet you almost don’t hear it.

“Look Nathan, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m in love with you.”

Both his eyebrows raise in question and a smile grin spreads across his face.

“No, I mean,” you bury your face in your hands, “I mean I have a crush on you, you’re kind of… my celebrity crush,” you wince a little and peek out from behind your hands. “My cousin really does own a timeshare and I really did want to get away, but I came because I thought you would be nearby. I didn’t actually think I’d be having dinner with you after you saw me naked.”

“So, that explains the vibrator then,” he scratches his chin, pretending he’s lost in thought. He’s messing with you but when he sees your obvious distress he leans back in his chair. You think he’s about to apologize when you get up and walk down the hall and pick a random room that’s open.

You sit down on a couch and look up to see a Jackson Pollack painting on the wall. Lights are angled at it, it’s the focal point of the room.

A few moments later you hear a soft knock on the doorframe.

Nathan walks in and leans against the desk under the painting, he’s facing you. His arms are crossed, but he doesn’t look angry.

“Look, I wanna talk to you about earlier. I know I come on….strong. And it’s a shitty excuse but you’re the first real woman I’ve seen in months that isn’t my housekeeper and what I said before about you being my type? Shit. I scared you, didn’t I?”

“It’s just overwhelming,” you flush. “My celeb crush saw me naked today and wants to have sex with me. Not to mention you offered me a MILLION dollars without batting an eye!”

“Okay, okay. How can I put you at ease about this? We obviously have a connection. And you might as well stay until I can fix your phone.”

“What about the money?”

“I could put you to work. I’m writing a thesis. And I need to make sure it’s readable to someone who may not understand all this,” he moves his hands around in the air.

“Is that worth a million dollars?”

“It would be to me; I need help on this.”

“Okay,” you nod. “I’ll do it.”

“Really?” he smiles, he seems so excited. “Great. I’ll take you to a room you can stay in. Let me give you a tour of the place.”

Your tour ends with the bedroom. He tells you goodnight and disappears down the hall. You shimmy out of the sweatpants but leave on the Henley and slide into the bed. The sheets are soft, silky. There’s a thick warm blanket on top and you snuggle deep under the covers.

You’re thinking about your day, what a crazy day it’s been. You try not to linger on the naked part, but you think more about his skin. The warmth. The touch of his beard. His obvious desire for you at dinner. You wonder what he’s doing right now. You wonder if he’s thinking about you as much as you are thinking about him. Maybe you have some charge left in the vibrator….

// 

if this looks familiar....it’s because w/ permission from @sergeantkane, i wrote a fic based on my thread w/ her on @thatortheschlong!! 

// 

next part will come on thursday feb 18th!

// 

tagging: @punkpascal​, @pascal-isaac​, @wasicskosgirl​, @velvetmel0n​, @huliabitch​, @shadow-assassin-blix​, @writefightandflightclub​, @aellynera​, @softboywriting​, @veuliee2​, @spider-starry​, @mylifeliterally​, @millllenniawrites​, @ntlmundy​, @foxilayde, @writingletterstothefire​, @mandoplease, @anetteaneta​, @feelmyroarrrr​, @artsymaddie​, @shakespeareanwannabe​, @thevalentinowhitebag​, @deanfanatic​

[leejeongz]

treasure as dads

requested: yes, by anon

🔅i’m only gonna do the legal line for this bc aging up doesn’t really sit right with me anyway nvm when they’re currently minors, i hope you understand!🔅

🪐hyunsuk:

he wants as many kids as possible and he is gonna love them all equally 🥺 but you settle for 2, 2 boys. honestly, they idolise him, but he doesn’t realise it/he doesn’t want to acknowledge it. he plays with them and teaches them lots of things and helps them with their homework when he can. he feels really upset when he has to leave for another country for work but makes sure that he calls every night to talk to you and them. he likes to treat you and the boys to fancy holidays and expensive clothes when he can.

any time he can spend with the boys he cherishes, but he also appreciates just standing back and watching you show off your natural parenting skills too. it really makes him happy to see his little family with all the love in the world being thrown around without even realising. you best believe he’s taking lots of pictures, constantly, of him and the boys or you or anything that he can look back on and remember how amazing that time was.

🌸jihoon:

he’s the parent that your daughter is scared of the most and the one that she will do anything for because of that. he’s super protective over the two of you and hates when fans get a little too invested in your lives. he also hates when your daughter starts dating but you make sure that he doesn’t do anything too drastic. he’s the “leader of the pack” and is definitely in charge at home, whatever he says goes (most of the time lmao he knows his place and he knows you’re always right). it’s all out of love though of course, he just wants the best for her and for you.

he HIGHKEY enjoys parents' evenings and getting to roast your daughter's teacher, even though she always thinks it’s embarrassing and he really is super proud of her development and her learning. he genuinely is interested in everything they say but it always comes to the argument that school and grades aren’t everything and he always tells her that it’s okay if she fails because she tried her best.

⚡️yoshi:

you have one daughter who looks up to her dad a lot. she enjoys spending time with him because yoshi likes to teach her things and likes to share lots of memories with her. yoshi really wants to give her the best childhood, with the most supportive family and set of family friends behind her. he would constantly talk to her and ensure everything was okay, they would be super close and their bond would be inseparable. he genuinely wants the best for her and it shows through everything he does for/with her. he wants to create the perfect family with you, and that’s exactly what he’s done.

he cannot WAIT to introduce your daughter to art and fashion and everything of that nature. he likes to sit painting with them, even if the end result is a brown piece of soggy paper and a headache, it’s still quality time that he and your daughter have spent together. he’s the type of parent to be happy whatever his child does, knowing that their happy is much more important than knowing she’s making money. he hopes that she knows that too, and that she shouldn’t feel pressured to do things just to make him happy, because he’ll always be happy with whatever she’s doing.

🌟junkyu:

it’s twins! 1 boy, 1 girl and junkyu could not be happier. he loves to play around with them and make your life HELL, making a mess everywhere, pulling pranks, even encouraging sassy but sweet behaviour. everything his children do receives a massive “awww” from junkyu, even when they’re doing something really mischievous. he tries his best to be stern with them at times when it’s necessary, but he really struggles with it when they start acting super cute, he’s very forgiving at that moment.

games nights are the nights that he looks forward to the most and asks almost every night do they want to play (of course they’re gonna say yes). even when they grow up a bit, although their love for games may have dwindled, his definitely hasn’t. he thinks they’re so fun to play with and to watch everyone getting along 🥺 he wishes the moment would never end. may also start adding “loser has to…” punishments when they get older and lose purposely just so that they laugh at him.

☀️mashiho:

he’s the type of dad that you also have to treat as your own child. of course there’s boundaries but he’s basically your 5th kid. you have 2 daughters and a son and a pet who you both cherish. he loves watching them grow up with the love of his life and he tells you every day that you’ve made all of his dreams come true. he plays with the children a lot and enjoys being in their company a lot so he really would do anything for them, even if it made him look silly. he cannot hold back his cute outbursts when they hold his hand, it’s his only “flaw”.

as much as he HATES all the spookiness around this time of year, he loves taking the kids trick or treating. he dresses up with them and dresses the dog up too and goes around the neighbourhood with the kids. he also likes to decorate your own house with spooky decorations because he secretly enjoys when they pull their silly pranks on him with the fake spiders and candy eyeballs.

❄️jaehyuk:

from the moment your son is born, jaehyuk becomes the father figure he’s always dreamed of being. he is careful not to let anything come before his family, not work, not friendship, it’s just you, him and your boy 🥺. he can be the stern parent and he can be the nice friendly parent, but he will always be the cool parent who takes him to school in some flashy car. he loves surprising your son with cute little stuffed toys or new clothes and likes to stand and watch over him with you while your son opens them. he’s really proud of who/what you two have created and brought up, it makes him super teary to think about.

he LOVES taking you and your son to the zoo. he really wants him to be animal lover and he wants him to get to see them all. he loves holding his hand while you walk around the grounds and lifting him up to get a better view. he even pays more to let him feed the animals 😭. it’s an educational trip that’s still fun so he thinks it’s the perfect place to take him to.

🌷asahi:

he is an embarrassing dad for sure. you have one daughter and one son together and he makes them both never want to leave the house with him. he will drag them to sing at karaoke, even when they’re young and he will dress up in silly outfits and be like “time to go to the park” while he’s dressed like that. he just wants to make them smile and he knows they secretly find it really funny, he would never actually do anything they felt uncomfortable with. he was pretty worried about becoming a dad but because you were there with him, he could act naturally and without fear.

he really likes whenever he gets the chance to tuck your little ones into bed. since he’s working a lot, it’s a rare opportunity and so he really makes the most of it. he’ll read them a story and when they beg for another, he can never say no. and then he gives them a sweet, gentle kiss on their foreheads before heading out and turning off the light. he thinks about how much fun he’s had with them all day and how cute they look finally getting the rest they need for tomorrow.

🍄yedam:

another embarrassing dad! you are blessed with two children, one boy and one girl, both of which are definitely very embarrassed by their dad. he likes to joke around with them a lot and keeps them both on their toes. but in reality, it’s just a facade to make sure they’re having fun and growing up without sadness. he couldn’t bare to see them down in the dumps, bad days were something that were rare in your household. your kids are both in awe of what their parents have achieved and are both very eager to tell their friends of their successes. you both are their heroes.

his favourite moments with his kids are when he gets to take them (and you) out to look at the stars. he takes you all out in the car in the evening and drives for miles into the middle of nowhere just to let you watch the stars. not only does this give him a chance to appear as the same romantic boyfriend he was before the kids, but also gives him chance to watch your kids appreciating the small but most beautiful, natural things.

[starryeyes-darkestnights]

Shut Up and Drive

Part 3 of We Dance Together Now

An O’Knutzy au where Leo and Logan are still playing for the Lions, but Finn is a musician they met by chance on a roadie to Montreal.

Here are the first few parts!

Part 1 - Jingle Bell Rock

Part 2 - This City

I hope you like it!!! :):)

Also, this is getting kind of crazy long, so I’m going to stick it up on AO3 too :)

These beautiful characters and their world belong to the incredible @lumosinlove

---------------------------------------------------------------

Finn was standing at his bathroom sink, brushing his teeth, when he heard his phone buzz in the other room. He wandered out to look for it, toothbrush hanging from his mouth. When it wasn’t immediately visible, he just shrugged and headed back to the bathroom. It was probably just his mom. She texted to say goodnight sometimes, which was adorable but didn’t require an urgent response.

But then the phone went off a second time while he was rinsing his mouth, and a third while he was pulling on his sleep pants. Definitely not his mom. Curious now, he grabbed his book off the nightstand and headed off in search of the mysterious messages. He padded out to the living room, spotting the phone on the couch and flopping down next to it just as a fourth notification went off. He scooped it up and swiped open his messages. He was surprised to see Logan’s contact come up. He figured they would be busy tonight after their game.

Logan: Finn!

Logan: FINN!

Logan: FINN ANSWER YOUR PHONE

Logan: We won!

Finn smiled at Logan’s excitement. He had actually seen the alert for the team’s win flash across his phone a few hours earlier. He’d set up notifications for Lions game results a few weeks ago, after an embarrassing evening of asking them how the game went, not knowing they had lost. He would only make that mistake once.

             Finn: I saw. Congrats! 😊

Logan’s response was immediate.

             Logan: You’re alive! Come celebrate with us.

Finn’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. That was unexpected. He knew that after winning games they usually went out with the guys from their team. That’s why he had gotten ready for an early night.

             Finn: Aren’t you out with the team?

Logan: Yes! Leo says to tell you they’re cool if you join us. They want to see you again. They remember you from Montreal.  

Finn chewed his lip, looking longingly between his book and the phone in his hand. Usually he would love to see them - the trio had become nearly inseparable over the past month - but he had been looking forward to reading tonight. He hadn’t had much opportunity since school had started back up. Plus, he had to be up early tomorrow.

             Finn: Ordinarily I would be all over that. But I’m almost in bed

             Logan: Your bed will still be there in a few hours!

             Finn: But it looks so comfy right now.  

             Logan: Pleeeeaaase? Dancing isn’t fun without you any more

Finn melted a little at that one, his conviction starting to waver even as he texted back.

Finn: I don’t give in to peer pressure!

He watched the screen, waiting for an answer, when a message from Leo popped up at the top. A picture. He swiped it open, curious, and his jaw dropped.

It was a picture of Logan, taken from close up. His head was tilted, his messy curls falling over one eye, and he was pouting, his lower lip jutting out just slightly. He was looking directly into the camera, and his eyes… Finn took one look at the wide, green, puppy dog gaze, and knew he had just been made a liar. There was absolutely no way he was not going to do whatever Logan asked if this was how he asked it. He stood up and sent one final text.

             Finn: Where are you?

---

Two hours later Finn was in the middle of a dance floor, sweat dripping in his eyes as he leaned over to put his hands on his knees, trying to stop laughing long enough to catch his breath.

His efforts were futile, as Logan chose that moment to expand on his interpretation of the Toosie Slide dance, one that had been getting more and more extravagant every time they heard the song at a club. As he slid dramatically across the floor, he almost knocked over a poor, unsuspecting woman. He hadn’t actually crashed into her, but it was close enough to scare her into turning toward him with a very angry look and Finn cackled as he watched Logan’s face turn from mischief to horror, nearly knocking her over a second time as he rushed to apologize. His amusement was short-lived, however, as the woman gave Logan a once-over and did a complete 180, from angry to impossibly seductive, in less than the time it took her to introduce herself. Finn looked to Leo, hoping for a distraction, only to find him in a similar position with the first woman’s friend.

Finn stood up, laughter draining quickly from his system as his smile turned wry. This was a familiar scene. Girls were not shy with Leo and Logan. And it’s not like he could blame them- he was painfully aware of how beautiful they both were. He just didn’t usually let himself get caught having to watch it. He had quickly learned to spot the girls coming before they did, to extract himself from the situation before he had to watch it unfold. This was the first time since that first night at the Burrow that he’d been caught off guard. And it was… painful. So much for keeping your feelings in check, I guess, he thought drily.

He waited for a moment, until Leo and Logan were both fully distracted, and took the opportunity to sneak away quietly, back to the table where he had been introduced to the team earlier. He slid into the seat he had previously abandoned, next to Kasey Winter, and shot him a quick smile when he welcomed him back. He pretended to be interested in the conversation he was having with Sirius Black, across from him, but his mind was elsewhere, and he jumped when a voice sounded in his ear.

“Penny for your thoughts?” He recognized Leo’s teasing voice and a small smile crept onto his face. “We lost you out there. Logan thought you might be getting a drink.”

Finn turned to look at him, taking in his dance-flushed cheeks and bright, dimpled smile. One thing he had learned after spending enough time with him, was that a genuine Leo Knut smile could light up a room. Usually that smile caused a warm glow in Finn’s chest, but right now all he could picture was the woman from the dance floor being on the receiving end of it.

Finn shook his head. “Nope, just needed a quick break.”

Leo’s brow furrowed at that, and his head tilted as he looked at Finn, assessing. His eyes flickered between Finn’s, and across his face, radiating kindness. His expression softened and he reached up to place a gentle hand on Finn’s shoulder. “Hey, are you ok?”

“Ya, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” Finn tried to paste on his biggest smile, but he could tell Leo wasn’t fully convinced.

“Are you sure? You know you can talk to me, right? I –“

Whatever Leo was going to say was cut off by Logan returning to the table, loudly. Finn took a second to thank whatever divine intervention had prevented him from having to come up with an excuse for his moping, before turning his attention to what appeared to be a very passionate argument between Logan and Thomas Walker.

“I’m just saying Talkie, that can’t possibly be true.”

“Logan. Explain to me why it cannot be true.”

“No! You explain to me why it can be true!”

Finn caught on to what Logan was doing. He had seen him try it before, on Leo, and on himself a few times as well. But it had never worked.

“It was on the Discovery Channel Tremz! Why would they lie?”

“I’m not saying they’re lying, I’m just saying you haven’t convinced me that they’re telling the truth.”

Thomas’ jaw dropped at that one, disbelief on his face. “Logan, I-, what?? That’s- this is ridiculous! Aardvarks exist! Fucking Google them!”

Logan just shook his head cheerfully, popping a cheese fry into his mouth. “Nah.”

“Aargh!”

Finn couldn’t help but laugh at Thomas’ exasperated face as he stood from the table. “I’m going to the washroom. I can’t handle you right now.” He gave Logan a playful shove in the back of the head as he walked behind him.

Logan just laughed into his drink, looking smug.

“So,” Finn picked up his own drink, “is antagonizing your friends on purpose a personal hobby?”

“No.” “Yes.”

Logan and Leo spoke over one another.

Finn looked between them, amused, as Logan pretended to be offended.

Leo just looked at Logan, eyebrows raised and a corner of his mouth pulled up affectionately. “Getting people worked up is Logan’s favourite game, but he’ll pretend he doesn’t know what you’re talking about.”

Kasey, overhearing, leaned back over to Finn. “We’ve all just learned to ignore it. Talkie’s the only one he can still get to.”

Finn chuckled at that. “You know aggravating people on purpose isn’t very nice, right?” He cocked his head at Logan.

Logan just smiled innocently. “I have no idea what you mean.”

Leo gestured pointedly toward him.  “See?”

Just then, there was a flurry of movement from the other end of the table as people started getting ready to go. As the three of them stood together to join them, Finn was reminded of something.

“Hey, before I forget, you guys have tomorrow off right?”

Leo nodded, shoving his arms through his jacket sleeves. “Ya, we do. What are we doing?”

Finn loved that it had become natural for them to just assume they would be doing something together on a day off. He started walking backward toward the door of the bar and grinned at the other two as they followed.

“We, my friends, are going on an adventure. Dress for being outside, and be ready at 9am sharp.”

---

At exactly 9 o’clock the next morning, Finn watched as Logan yanked open the door to his car and flopped into the front seat. His hair tousled, eyes bleary, he leaned back against the headrest with a groan. “Whyyy are we awake right now Finn?” His voice was still raspy from sleep. “Early bird gets the worm!” Finn chirped back at him with a smile. He gave a noncommittal grunt, but perked up as Finn passed him a coffee.

He took a sip, eyes closed. “Mmmmm. Ok you’re forgiven.”

“You’re welcome. Are you awake now? I need you to tell me how to get to Leo’s place.”

Finn had picked up the two of them from Logan’s place a few times over the past couple of weeks, swinging by on his way home from campus and driving them to his place to play video games or to Sid’s for dinner. He knew Leo didn’t live at Dumo’s too, but he had never actually picked him up from his own house.

“Why didn’t you pick him up first?” Grumbled Logan, his eyes still half closed as he tried to stifle a yawn.

“I picked you up first because I know where you live, and you know where Leo lives. It’s called logic. Now give me directions, Sir Yawns-a-Lot. We have places to be!”

“Mmm.” Logan grunted back in his still sleep-rasped voice. “I actually don’t remember where he’s staying right now, let me give him a call.”

Finn furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “What? Where he’s staying right now? Does he not always stay in the same place?”

But Logan waved him off as Leo picked up the phone, and Finn was left to wonder impatiently for the short duration of the call.

“Ok, he’s downtown. At the Hogwarts Hotel, right across from the arena. It’s like 5 minutes from here. You know it?”

“Yeees…” Finn dragged the word out, still trying to piece this together. “… can I ask why he’s at a hotel?”

It was Logan’s turn to look confused. “He’s always at a hotel? He’s a rookie, that’s usually what happens.”

Finn was caught off guard. “Seriously? Like for the whole year? Did you do that too?”

“Ya, I guess for the whole year. And no, I didn’t do it. I got really lucky the year I came, Dumo had an open room. He invited me to billet and I’ve just never left. They’re like a second family to me now.” He paused, running his finger around the lid of his coffee cup.

“I feel really bad for Leo though. It was hard enough coming here when I had Dumo’s family to rely on, I don’t know how he’s doing it.” He shook his head, looking up at Finn. “He tries to pretend it doesn’t bother him, bouncing around between hotel rooms, but you can tell he’s homesick sometimes, you know? I try and drag him over here to crash on my floor when he looks really down, but it’s still just another strange place for the night.”

Finn nodded. He knew how hard it had been for him moving to Gryffindor- the loneliness he had felt, exhausted from working hard all day and dreading coming home to an empty apartment. He had spent many sleepless nights talking himself out of dropping out and moving back home to his parents, his brother. June. It was during that time he had written This City, the song he had played at the Burrow the first time Leo and Logan came to see him play.

He thought about how Leo had responded to his explanation that the song had been about moving to Gryffindor. It wasn’t a happy song. Finn didn’t like that Leo could relate to it.

He put the car in drive, mulling an idea around in his brain as he headed to Gryffindor Hotel.

---

Leo

Leo sat in the middle of the backseat of Finn’s car, watching the roads they passed and trying to discern where exactly they were headed. So far all he could tell was that whatever they were doing, they weren’t doing it in downtown Gryffindor. He didn’t like not knowing things, it made him feel on edge. He sighed, deciding to try one more time. “Finn. We’ve been driving for fifteen minutes. Are you going to tell us where we’re going yet?”

“Actually, yes!”

Well, that was pleasantly unexpected. Finn had been denying Logan an answer since before Leo had even gotten in the car.

“Just one second…”

Leo watched from the backseat as Finn checked his blind spot, merged off of the entrance ramp, and…

“Ta-da!”

Leo looked outside the window. They were on a freeway. Was Finn… excited about the freeway?

He shared a glance with Logan, who looked equally confused.

“Finn,” Logan started slowly, “what do you mean ‘ta-da’? Is this where we are going? The freeway? You said to bring clothes for outside. We can’t go outside when there are cars driving by at 80 miles per hour.”

Finn was unphased. “The freeway is our gateway to adventure, boys.” He explained cheerfully. “Everyone knows a road trip doesn’t begin until you get onto a highway.”

“We’re going on a road trip?” Leo’s interest was piqued. “A road trip to where?”

“I’m glad you asked!”

“We’ve asked ten times and you ignored us. NOW you’re glad?” asked Logan incredulously.

“Yes,” Finn explained patiently, “because I couldn’t tell you before. Not until the road trip started. Remember the rules of the list?”

“We decided that was bullshit!”

“You decided it was bullshit. I never agreed.”

Logan opened his mouth to retort, and Leo decided it was time to interject. “The road trip started now. Can you please tell us?”

He watched Finn’s smile through the rear-view mirror. Leo rarely had the opportunity to observe Finn like this, without him noticing, and he was trying not to make it obvious that he was taking advantage. But they were headed East, and the morning sun that came through the windshield was drawing out these tiny gold flecks in his wide brown eyes, and Leo couldn’t look away. He was just thinking that he wanted to see those flecks up close when Finn suddenly met his gaze in the mirror. He jerked his eyes away immediately, cursing himself as his heart skipped a beat. Then he realized that just made him look even more guilty, so he looked back up and raised his eyebrows at Finn, pretending that he had just been looking at him to hear his answer.

Finn held out for a dramatic pause before responding smugly. “I have found us the perfect adventure.”

Logan groaned, and Finn glanced over at him, sticking out his tongue. Leo noticed his cheeks had a flush that matched his own. He must have realized Leo was staring. Fuck.

The smug look fell away when he spoke again, and he sounded almost nervous. “So, there’s this town called Ilvermorny, over on the coast. I heard about it a while ago from a customer at the Burrow, apparently people love to go there because it’s super beautiful and you can walk around and explore the whole place in a day.”

Logan looked over at him, interested. “Sounds cool.”

Finn looked relieved for a second, and then an excited grin took back over. “I’m glad you think so. But that’s not the best part.” He wiggled his eyebrows excitedly. “I have received some excellent intel, that not only is this place all picturesque and shit, but, Leo…” he waited for Leo to meet his eyes in the mirror again. “They also have THE best authentic Cajun food this side of Louisiana.”

Leo felt his jaw drop, and he couldn’t stop the huge smile that he felt stretching across his face. He’s been so homesick for the food his mom made for him back in New Orleans. He leaned forward between the front seats. “Are you serious? Finn. Are you for real?”

Finn just laughed, eyes on the road.

“Logan!” Leo turned to Logan, who had one corner of his mouth quirked up into an amused smile as he watched Leo’s excited reaction.  “If this is real- and I swear to god Finn this better be real or I might actually cry- I can finally introduce you to food from home.”

He flopped back into his seat, his mouth already watering at the thought of real, authentic Cajun food. “Not having a kitchen has been absolutely killing me in Gryffindor. I miss the food from home so much.”

Logan turned back to look at him, surprised. “Really? You’ve never mentioned that you like to cook.”

Leo groaned, his eyes closing. “I love to cook. I never mention it because it just makes me sad. But nothing can make me sad right now if you’ve just put shrimp étouffée on the table.”

“I have no idea what you just said, but I’m glad you’re happy.”

He heard the amusement in Finn’s voice and cracked an eye to see him flickering his eyes between the road and the mirror. “Best. Surprise. Ever.”

Finn looked so pleased, it made Leo’s heart swell.

“Now can you please talk about something else to distract me from the fact that I have to wait hours to get to this place?”

“Yes!” Logan jumped in quickly. “We can talk about what the hell this road trip playlist is.”

Finn startled, glancing over at Logan. “What do you mean?”

“What are we listening to??”

Finn looked scandalized. “It’s the Eagles, Logan.”

“The Eagles?! What are you, 60 years old?”  

“They’re iconic!”

“They’re old. Now give me the phone cable.”

Logan didn’t wait for Finn’s response before unceremoniously yanking the cord out of Finn’s phone and plugging in his own, scrolling through his music library.

Finn wasn’t done defending his choices. “Being old doesn’t make you less iconic! Plus, I like the way they write. And so do like, a hundred million other people! We can’t all be wrong!”

Logan finally stopped scrolling and interrupted the incensed redhead. “Hey, Finn?”

Finn glanced over one more time. “What?”

Logan just grinned, and pressed play. The opening notes of Rihanna’s ‘Shut Up and Drive’ filled the car and Leo just smiled and shook his head as Finn’s offended spluttering was drowned out by the sound of electric guitar and Logan’s self-satisfied cackle.

---

When the boys arrived in Ilvermorny, it was only 11am. Finn had packed them a big breakfast for the car and they still weren’t hungry enough for a full lunch, so they decided to grab a quick snack for now and leave the restaurant for dinner. There was a bakery across the street from the Information Center they had parked beside, and as Logan headed in to get their order, Leo stood outside with Finn and looked around. Finn had been right, this was a super quaint little town, all brightly coloured shop fronts and cute wooden sidewalks. He winced as a cool wind blew by, regretting that he had chosen to wear a snapback instead of a beanie. He still wasn’t used to the winter weather here.

“Hey, trade me.”

He turned to see Finn tugging off his beanie and gave him a questioning look. “Sorry, what?”

“You’re cold already, it’s just going to get worse over the day. Give me your hat and you can have this one.”

Leo was caught off guard. “Oh, my god, Finn. No. I was the idiot who didn’t bring a proper hat. I’m not going to make you freeze your ears for my mistake.”

Finn just reached up and plucked Leo’s snapback off his head, dropping it onto his own before using both hands to pull his beanie down low over Leo’s curls. Leo immediately felt the warmth, both of the wool over his ears, and of the blush moving up his cheeks to reach the place where his skin tingled from the brush of Finn’s fingers.  

Finn’s wide eyes were kind as he smiled up at Leo. “I have a hood,” he said, voice soft, “you don’t. I’ll just pull mine up if I get cold.”

“Thank you.” Leo swallowed, trying and failing to pull his gaze from where it was locked onto Finn’s. Those damn gold flecks were still there. The pull he had felt since the day he had met him had never been stronger, and he felt himself start to move closer when the chime of the bakery door startled both of them.

He spun around, cursing himself internally. Stupid, stupid. Get it together. He’s not into you. You can’t be into him.

A gust of warm air blew over him as Logan stepped out with an armful of drinks and baked goods.

“Hey guys, sorry that took a minute, they were out of chocolate croissants, so I had to get something different.” His voice trailed off as he spotted Leo’s snapback over Finn’s red locks, and his gaze shot up to where Finn’s beanie was now snug over Leo’s ears.

A strange look crossed over his face, so quickly that Leo almost thought he imagined it. But it was gone before he could figure it out, replaced by a happy smile as he handed out coffees and they set to walking.

---

Finn

The three of them spent the afternoon checking out every recommendation from a guide-book Leo had snagged from the Information Center.  

They toured what was apparently one of the oldest functioning lighthouses in America, tried (and failed) to spot whales from coin operated binoculars on the winter-emptied fishing pier, and stopped to watch a local artist creating beautiful framed scenes out of ocean glass she collected herself from her front yard. Finn bought one of her pieces. “A memory!” He told Leo and Logan.

They meandered down the entire length of the boardwalk, perusing heated stalls selling local goods and goading one another into walking down to the icy shore to test the temperature of the calm ocean water. When they stuck their hands in, it was so cold that it burned. When they finally needed to warm up, they had gone back into the little town to wander in and out of the local shops, talking and joking with the owners and with one another.

When they walked out of their final store, a chocolate shop that Logan in particular had been itching to check out, the sun was just disappearing behind the cliffs overlooking the town. They must have been in there for a while. Longer than Finn had thought, for sure.

Finn stood next to Leo, who was checking out the guidebook again, and watched Logan walk out of the shop after them, a bag of carefully selected chocolates held in his hand. He took a few steps away from the building and stopped, closing his eyes and tilting his head back to pull in a deep breath of seaside air. Finn watched as he breathed out, relaxed. It was something he did often, just taking a moment to take in the fresh air after a long time inside. Finn had noticed him doing the first time they had met, back in Montreal, and it had become engrained in his mind as something quintessentially Logan.

Finn’s stomach gave a loud grumble then, and he pulled his attention from Logan to nudge Leo. “Hey. It’s getting late, no? Do you guys want to get dinner now?”

“I’ve been waiting all day for you to say that!” Leo joked. Logan came back over to join them, and Leo passed him the guidebook as he stretched his arms above his head.

“And Logan can double check, but I actually think we’ve checked off everything in that book now, so the timing is perfect.” He dropped his arms. “Let’s head over?”

Finn led the way through the cheerful streets, scanning storefront signs until he saw the one they were looking for. Feeling dramatic, he grabbed the door handle and pulled it open, bowing deeply to Leo. “After you, my Louisian Lord.” He frowned at the way the word sounded and looked up to Leo for help. “Louisianian? Louisianan?... Orleanian??”

Leo just looked at him. “You’re ridiculous.”

Finn stood and shrugged. “Maybe. But you still have to go in first. Lo and I don’t know shit about Cajun food. You need to make us look cultured.”

Leo let out a snort at that, but led them into the restaurant anyway, looking around happily as they were led to a table.

The moment they had menus in their hands, Leo immediately took to describing every dish with an over-the-top enthusiasm his composed self rarely showed, and Finn gave up reading his own menu in favour of leaning back and listening to his version of the dishes instead.

A few minutes later, Logan joined suit, closing his menu with a shake of his head.

“Nut, they should hire you to rewrite these descriptions. You make me want to eat everything.”

Leo’s eyes shined. “We should! Let’s just order a bunch of things and share them. There are so many things you need to try.”

Finn shrugged amenably. “Works for me. Will you order? I wanna go wash my hands.” He stood as Leo nodded, eyes still glued to the menu. “Get something with sausage, ok?”

Alone in the washroom, Finn sighed happily as he let the warm water run over his chilled fingers, looking up at his own reflection in the mirror and smiling dopily as he thought about how well his planned day had gone. His eyes moved up to lock on to where he was still wearing Leo’s snapback, and his smile dimmed a bit as he flashed back to the moment he had had with him this morning.

Despite having told himself regularly for the past month that he needed to keep his feelings in check, not let his heart get too attached, this was now the second day in a row that he had let himself get caught with his guard down. Somehow he was getting worse at it, instead of better.

He had a tendency to get lost in the bubble he shared with Leo and Logan whenever they were together, forgetting to remember that for them, it was different. That for them, he was just a friend. And he had still been feeling a little exposed after last night’s crushing reminder of that when he had, without thinking, pulled his own beanie over Leo’s ears that morning. Then Leo’s eyes had locked onto his with that look, that indecipherable look, and he hadn’t been able to dredge up the willpower to turn away. Or, you know. Breathe.

But, he thought to himself, smile returning, Leo hadn’t seemed to notice anything off, or if he had, he had let it go, and the rest of their day had been incredible. Only with Leo and Logan could a winter day in a beach town, of all places, be this much fun. He’d never had this kind of a friendship with anyone before. He dried his hands, wondering vaguely if this was what the characters in Friends felt like with each other. He figured if it was, then Leo and Logan must be his Ross and Chandler.

And he knew he would fight anyone, even his own heart, to ensure they could remain that way.

When Finn came back to the table Leo was just finishing up their order. As the waitress walked away, he relaxed happily back into is seat, the warm light of the restaurant lanterns caught his hair in a way that made it glow like spun gold. His eyes were shining as he looked up at Finn, his smile bright and content.

“Alright, Finn?”

“So alright. And so ready to eat.”

Logan snorted at that. “Nut just ordered half the restaurant, so I hope you’re serious about that.”

“Don’t be dramatic.” Leo rolled his eyes. “I ordered a completely reasonable amount of food.”

Finn smirked as a memory resurfaced. “Mmm. Completely reasonable in the way that Logan is a ‘completely reasonable player’?”

Logan gasped at that, looking offended. “Finn! Why do you remember that!”

Finn laughed openly as he dodged the sugar packet Logan threw at him. “How could I forget you beating up Leo on the streets of Montreal?”

Logan leaned back in his seat, arms crossed over his chest and a grumpy look on his face that only made Finn laugh more. “You still haven’t come to watch a game. You have no idea how totally reasonable I am.”

“Fair enough.” Finn acquiesced, still chuckling. He caught sight of a server walking toward them with a gigantic tray of food, and his eyes widened in alarm. “But if you and Leo have the same definition of reasonable, I’m thinking it’s going to be an interesting game.”

At that, Leo followed Finn’s gaze and let out a moan so obscene that Finn was sure he would be thinking about it for days. “Oh my god, you guys. Best. Day. Ever.”

Finn just grinned and prepared himself to feast.

---

Logan

Leo ordered too much food.

Despite joking about it while he ordered it, Logan had actually been surprised when their order was dropped at the table. Leo was usually so concerned about food waste, but there had hardly been room for their plates with everything the servers delivered. He knew they were definitely not going to be able to eat it all. He had almost teased him about it, but then Leo had taken his first bite of the jambalaya that he claimed to be ‘exactly like home’, and there was no way Logan was going to say anything that might take that look off of Leo’s face.

But now, after trying to eat as much of the excessive, and admittedly, phenomenal, food as he could, Logan was feeling very full, and very much less inclined to indulge Leo’s desires, which at the moment involved ‘sitting back and letting it digest’. Absolutely not. He needed to move.

It only took a few minutes of pleading to get them standing up, and Logan led them out of the restaurant and onto the street before flipping open the guidebook. “Ok, so Finn said there’s a lookout around here somewhere that we can walk up to. They don’t have it listed as a thing to do in here but I think this is a picture of it. It looks like it’s supposed to be more for watching the sunset, but I think it’ll still be cool to look down at the town, even though it’s already dark.”

Leo voiced his agreement from where he was leaning against the wall of the restaurant. “Let’s do it. Finn, do you know how to get to it?”

“Ummm,” Finn pulled out his phone. “I don’t remember exactly, but I know it’s a trail, not a road to get up there, and it starts closer to where we parked the car.”

“Ok cool,” Logan stomped his feet against the chillier evening air, “lets go to the car then, and we can pull up a map once we’re closer. We should start moving before we get cold.”

Leo pushed off the wall as Finn tucked his phone back into his pocket, and the three of them started moving back down the sidewalk- much more sluggish than they had been before dinner. They didn’t really fit three across, and Logan let Leo and Finn pull in front of him as they talked about the history of Cajun cooking. Logan wasn’t particularly interested in the topic—he couldn’t cook, like Leo could, and he wasn’t all that interested in history, like Finn was—so he let his mind wander as he fell into step behind them.

Seeing the two of them side by side reminded him of this morning, that weird moment outside of the bakery when he had felt, for a moment, as though he was interrupting something. Between them.

It was the way they had both looked vaguely flustered, Leo taking that step back, away from Finn, that had triggered his imagination. He had brushed it off almost immediately; he knew he was projecting, letting the old feelings for Leo that he had been pushing down for so long, and the new ones he was trying desperately to avoid for Finn, make him see things that weren’t there. They had clearly just switched hats, which explained it. It was ridiculous, really, and he knew that. But…

As he walked along behind the two other boys, Logan allowed himself to picture it, just for a moment. The idea of the two of them being together. He thought it would make him sad, but he was surprised to realize that it didn’t. That he liked imagining it.

At least, he liked it until he remembered that if the two of them had each other, there wouldn’t be a place for him anymore. The thought made his heart twist. Even though he knew he would never be able to have either one of them the way he really, truly wanted them, he loved having them like this. As friends.

It was funny, he thought to himself as he watched Leo and Finn chatting casually in front of him. He and Leo had gotten along well from the time they met, but they were definitely closer now. Something about Finn and his chaotic open-heartedness had made them more open too. And as a result, they had gotten closer not just with him, but with each other as well.  He would die before he would admit it, but he was glad Leo had dragged him up on that stage.

“Hello, earth to Tremzy?” Logan jolted himself out of his thoughts with a flush, realizing they had reached the car without him noticing.

“Sorry, I got distracted. What’s up?”

Finn was holding up his phone up with his usual cheerfulness, waiting for Logan to look at the map he had pulled up.

“Look, we found the trail head!”

He pointed off the side of the road, where they could just see the very top of a short sign sticking out of the snow. It was very clear that nobody else had gone up to the lookout that winter. The snow was deep and untouched.

“I’m thinking that maybe we could throw on our snow pants and give it a try? And if it turns out to be impossible, we’ll just turn around and roll back down.” Finn tilted his head at Logan and Leo, lips pulled up into an eager, hopeful smile. It was adorable. “What do you think?”

Logan couldn’t help but smile back. “Well, we brought snow pants, might as well get some good use out of them.”

---

Finn

Ten minutes later Finn could hear Logan cursing as he sank in the snow.

“Tabarnak! This is insane! Why am I in the front?? You both have longer legs than me, this snow is over my hips!” He complained.

“You’re Canadian, Tremz. I thought you would know how to handle snow.” Leo was focused on the ground in front of him, picking his way carefully through the trail Logan broke for them. “Plus,” he added thoughtfully, “this is the first time you’ve ever admitted to being short.”

Finn laughed as Logan whirled around with a glare, bending to grab a handful of snow. Leo ducked, laughing, as the snowball flew past his head.

“He’s got goalie reflexes Lo, you’re gonna have to do better than that!” Finn called up over the sounds of Leo’s bright laughter. Logan lifted a hand over his head to flip them off without turning around and they continued their trek up the hill.

By the time they reached the observation deck all three boys were panting.

“Oh my god, it’s hot.” Finn whined as he made his way over to the railing, pulling down his hood. He opened his mouth to say more, but his complaints stuck in his throat as the sight below them came into view.

“Whoa.” He breathed out the word.

He felt Leo and Logan lean against the railing next to him.

“It looks like a postcard.” Leo sounded as awed as Finn, and a quick glance at Logan showed he felt the same.

The town glowed softly below them, the warm light of the streetlamps sparkling prettily off the blanket of snow that covered every peaked roof. The lighthouse they had visited earlier that day was lit up, sending a beautiful reflection rippling through the waves of the never-ending blackness of the ocean in front of it. The moon was full, and the sky was clear, and Finn felt like they had just stepped into the fairy tale. He almost wanted to hold his breath.

The spell was broken when Leo took a step back from the railing to unwind his scarf. He looked apologetic as the other two turned to watch him. “I’m sorry guys, I’m just too hot.”

“You don’t have to apologize for being warm, Leo,” said Finn, smiling at him and taking the opportunity to look around the rest of the platform they stood on.

The observation deck was surrounded by the pristine sparkle of a fresh snowfall, and Finn suddenly had an idea. He trudged through the snow to the other side of the deck, hoisting himself up on to the railing as Logan and Leo looked on in confusion. “What are you doing?” Logan eyed him suspiciously. “I,” he grinned down at them, “am cooling off. And so are you. Come on!” He felt his smile widen as he watched the two boys look between him and the snow on the other side of the railing and connect the dots. To his surprise it was Leo who grinned and climbed up next to him first, looking back at Logan expectantly. “Absolutely not.” Logan shook his head from where he stood resolutely on the deck floor. “It’s gonna be cold.” “Come on Lo,” Finn pouted at him, “it’s not like we’re jumping in the ocean. It’s a snow pile. You have a winter clothes on. Get up here!” Leo joined in, eyes twinkling as he teased his stubborn teammate, “Come on Tremz. All your friends are about to jump off a cliff. Aren’t you gonna do it too?” Logan snorted. “The edge is on the other side of the deck. You’re going to jump ON to a cliff. And no. No, I’m not.”

“I remember saying something similarly ‘no’-like when I was being peer pressured into leaving my nice warm house yesterday.” Finn reminded him pointedly. “I’m sure you will recall how that worked out for me.” “I do.” Logan’s expression suddenly shifted into something more mischievous and his voice turned teasing. “And what made you give in, Finn?”

Finn felt his face go warm as Logan held his gaze. Was he…?

No. He was just trying to get him worked up. Leo had said Logan loved to push people’s buttons. Finn had seen Logan do it. But being on the receiving end of that look was sending a burning feeling straight down to Finn’s core, and he needed to change the subject before it became a much more noticeable problem. “I looked up the menu.” He blurted out. “They had cheese fries” Smooth. Idiot. Finn mentally facepalmed as he put on his best fake haughty expression and looked anywhere but at Logan for a moment as he reined himself in.

Thankfully, Leo came to the rescue, laughing at Finn before looking back at a now grumpy Logan, who was upset that his goading hadn’t worked. “Please Tremz?” He held out a hand, giving him a very exaggerated pout. “You know you want to jump with us.”

Logan looked back and forth between the two of them for a second before rolling his eyes and dropping his arms.

“Fine.” He sighed, resigned. “But if I get sick I’m telling coach both of you threw me in.”

Finn, calm now, beamed at Logan as he batted Leo’s hand away and climbed up on Finn’s other side. “That’s the spirit!”

“Shut up.”

But Finn could see the smile Logan was hiding now as he looked down at the untouched snow below them. “On the count of three?”

They looked between one another as Leo took the lead.

“One. Two. THREE!”

They jumped in sync, screeching as they cannonballed down into fluffy drifts.

Leo immediately scrambled to his feet, eyes sparkling with excitement as he looked down at Finn and Logan. “Again!”

Finn chuckled at that, rolling around to find his own leverage. “Alright then.”

---

The three boys spent the next hour of the evening concocting ever more complex dives into the deep snow. Finn was delighted to find that apparently when it came to snow, it was reasonable, level-headed Leo who was the instigator of the most ridiculous ideas. It was him who came up with the idea of catapulting one another off the railing, making a game of who could knock the snow from the highest branches.

After one final jump, which brought him absolutely nowhere near the record-holding branch, Finn let himself flop backward into the snow, tipping his head back and closing his eyes. “My entire body is exhausted.” He groaned. “How do you guys do this for a living?”

Leo and Logan joined him on the ground as Leo responded to him, amusement in his voice. “You really need to come and watch a game if you think this is what we do for a living.”

Finn just laughed. “I meant the exerting yourself part, not the jumping in the snow part. I’m not completely oblivious.”

“Mmhmm. Whatever you say, O’Hara.” Logan was smiling as he leaned back to join Finn looking up at the sky.

Leo laid down on Finn’s other side and the three of them stayed in comfortable silence for a few moments, catching their breath again.

Finn could see their faces in his periphery, the moonlight glowing on Logan’s tan skin, reflecting off of Leo’s golden curls. He felt peaceful, relaxed in their quiet company.

It was Leo who broke the silence, his quiet voice carrying through the late evening calm.

“I haven’t seen the stars like this since I was home.”

Logan leaned up on an elbow to look at him, on the other side of Finn. “Really?”

“Ya.” His voice was almost a whisper now, and Finn turned to look at him too, catching the wistful look in his eyes as he watched the sky. “You can see so many of them at home. I didn’t know I would miss them so much.”

“Knutty…” Logan made a move as though he wanted to reach out, but stopped himself, simply looking at Leo for a moment before lying back down instead. “I didn’t know.”

“I never told you.” Leo responded gently; his eyes still turned up.

Finn followed his gaze up to the glittering ceiling, so high above them. “I get why you would miss them. You never see anything like this in the cities. It’s beautiful.”

“It is.” He agreed, his smile sad.

But then his voice turned playful again, and he smirked as he sat up to look at Finn and Logan, flat on their backs next to him. “Too bad you have to freeze your ass off to see them here. Time to go!” He dug his hands down beside him, flicked handfuls of snow up at both of them, and was up and running to the car before either of them could register the shock of the cold sliding down their faces.

---

The drive back home that night was peaceful. Logan and Leo relaxed in their seats, listening to Finn singing quietly along to the radio as he drove. Logan had teased Finn for knowing all the lyrics to every song that came on (“it’s literally my job, Lo.”), but he had also been the one to ask him to keep singing as he dozed off against his window in the backseat. All three of them were pleasantly sleepy from the day spent out in the cold air.

When they arrived back in Gryffindor, Finn drove past downtown, where Leo’s hotel was, to drop off Logan first. When Logan questioned him about it, Finn simply replied, “You get picked up first, you get dropped off first. I don’t make the rules Lo, I just follow them.”

Logan seemed to be too tired to argue with that logic, so he just shrugged and carried on singing softly with Finn until they reached Dumo’s driveway.

“See you guys later.” He clapped their shoulders, looking tired but happy as he climbed out of the back seat. “Thanks for today, Finn. I had fun.”

“You’re welcome, Lo. Anytime.” Finn smiled at him.

“See you in the morning, Tremz.” Leo added, and the two of them watched as Logan walked up the front steps.

When Logan was safely inside, Finn started the short drive back to the hotel. Leo was still quiet, looking content with his head against the window, studying what little he could see of the stars now that they were back in the city.

Finn kept sneaking glances at him as he went over a plan in his head. He had a reason for dropping Logan off first- he wanted an opportunity to catch Leo alone. Had been waiting for it all day. But now that he had it, he was nervous, and before he knew it they were pulling up in front of the hotel.

“Thanks for today Finn, I had an incredible time.” Leo smiled sincerely at him and turned to open his door. Finn panicked then, not wanting him to leave, and practically screeched his name.

“Leo, wait!”

Leo jumped, eyes wide in confused surprise as he looked back at Finn.

Goddamn, those eyes. Finn had never seen eyes so blue. He had to look away to find his voice again.

“Uh. Sorry. I didn’t mean to yell that.”

“That’s fine, Harz. What’s up?”

Finn took a breath to steady himself and brought his gaze back up to meet Leo’s.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were living in hotels?”

Leo’s expression grew even more confused.

“I don’t know… I guess it never came up. It’s not a big deal, rookies do it all the time.”

Finn nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay…” Leo nodded too, waiting for Finn to speak again. When he didn’t, Leo turned to the door again. “Well, thanks again for today, I’ll –“

“You should come and live with me.” Finn blurted it out, and then held his breath as he waited to for a response. He hoped he hadn’t crossed a line. But it made him so sad to think of Leo, kind, sweet Leo, all alone in strange hotel rooms every night. Especially after tonight, after seeing how homesick he really was.

Leo’s eyebrows shot up, and he opened and closed his mouth several times before managing to stammer out, “I- what?”

Finn looked back down at the steering wheel, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. He spoke quickly, nervously. “Obviously you don’t have to do that. I don’t want you to feel like I’m pressuring you or anything, that’s definitely not my intention, I just- I mean, I have the space, you know that… and just, the idea of you not having a place that you can call home right now…” He paused for a moment. “I don’t know. I don’t want you to have to experience that. Not when I can help.”

He kept his gaze focused on the steering wheel, the stitching of it suddenly very interesting.

“Finn,” said Leo softly. Finn swallowed once and forced himself to look back up at the younger boy. There was an odd look on his face. Finn hoped it wasn’t a bad sign. “Thank you, for offering.”

Finn nodded, swallowing again even though his mouth felt desert dry.

Leo looked out the window, up at the façade of the Hogwarts Hotel, thoughtful. Finn would have given anything at that moment to know what he was thinking. Leo and his stupid goalie face.

After a moment, he turned back to him. “Are you serious?”

Finn nodded quickly, his confidence starting to return when Leo didn’t laugh at him. “Of course. I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it. But I’m also serious when I say I won’t be offended if you’re not interested. I know sometimes people don’t like sharing a space.”

Leo let out a breath through his nose and chewed his lip as he considered Finn for a few more moments.

“I think I would like that.” He said, his features softening as he started to smile.

“Really?” Finn was pleasantly surprised. “You would?”

Leo laughed. “I would.”

“Sweet! Ok. Tell me which room you want and I’ll make sure it’s all cleared out for you. Whenever you want to come. You could literally come tomorrow. I have nothing scheduled in those rooms”

Leo leaned back against the seat, shaking his head fondly at Finn’s trademark earnestness. “I’m booked in here until the end of the week. I was supposed to move to another hotel on Friday. Is that too early?”

“No! That’s perfect.”

“Well. Alright then. I guess I’ll be there on Friday.”

“Cool.”

“Cool.” They smiled at each other awkwardly for a second, and Leo burst into laughter.

“Okay, now its weird. Goodnight Finn.” He stepped out of the car.

“Goodnight, Leo.”

Finn couldn’t stop grinning the whole way home.

[opes-magnas]

『 as lonely as time can get. 』

It’s finally here!! I’m a terribly slow writer, and am really thankful to all those who waited for this! Hopefully you enjoy. Thank you so much to @hamjjy, @kaavijournals and Lady L for beta reading this, you guys are the best!

Listen to this playlist here for the best experience!

tw: cursing, body sensitivity, very subtle idea of anxiety and toxic relationships are portrayed.

~calypso <3

I. the moon can't shine on her own.

She looks serene tonight - high up in the night sky, not a single star to accompany her. Does the moon feel lonely like that? Does she ever need a warm hug? Perhaps she gets one from the sun, and he accompanies her all time. Does the sun shine for her? So that the world can see her beauty? Perhaps so. When she can't see him, she turns bloody red; she seems disturbed. Hurt. Lost. Her fury always frightened the humans. It made them shiver inside their homes, praying to see the familiar ball of light rise from the east to calm her down. Perhaps it is better if they could only see her beauty. But does that mean the sun shines, not to show her beauty, but to protect the humans from her true self? Perhaps so.

The sun and the moon are a pair. And they will continue to be.

As long as the moon can't shine on her own.

Let's stop thinking, Luna.

The moon seems lonely.

I look up at the clock. A red, metallic light tells me its 3:48 am, 3rd April. Great, now I can have four shots of espresso for breakfast. Thank you, oh great mind, for deciding that we needed to have that conversation earlier. I sit up on the bed and rub my eyes. The curtain flutters from the soft wind blowing in through the window. Cicadas fill up the silence as I look at the full moon illuminating my room another time. Oh, how I hate the moon. What a hypocrite. I look away, and my eyes find the pile of open textbooks and spark notes I abandoned. A small smile creeps up my face. At least I'll ace that History test tomorrow. I could imagine the Boba Tea reward from Leo in my hands already. Leo. The annoying kid next door who's been stuck with me since I was five. Don't worry, though. I don't like him. Not anymore. He made it extremely clear that I was 'a size too big' for him. Then why do I still hang out with him? Short answer - I beat him up, he apologized. I shall offer no elaboration. Still, a lump forms in my throat. And maybe because he wasn't completely wrong.

I get up to go grab a glass of water. Mochi is lying in her bed in the hallway. This is the first time she didn't stir awake when I thumped across the room. The poor fluffball of a cat is probably very tired from the bath I forced her into in the evening.

You need to lose a few pounds anyways, Luna. Get rid of those love handles. Maybe some fat on your back too. That'll make people find you more approachable.

It isn't toxic if it's true, right?

That night, I decide that my glass is half-empty rather than full, and go back to bed. Suddenly, Mochi wakes up and runs into my room. She snuggles in and throws her paws on my hair like it's her property. I choose to oblige the demon for today.

The last thing I see before sleep lures me is the clock gleaming '3:59 am'.

/////-----

It's too warm in my blanket. I almost want to peel my skin off. I need to get sleep, I have a test soo- I jolt awake. Mochi is no longer next to me. I assume she's back in the comfort of her bed, considering the temperature in the room. I let out a groan as my hand outstretches to the switchboard. After a few terrible attempts, I finally turn on the ceiling fan. As sleep threatens to take me again, I see that it's still dark out and the moon looks just as annoying as it did earlier, its ever luminant light breaking down the walls of my privacy. My eyes turn to the direction of the clock- 3:48 am, 3rd April. Huh, weird. I realize I must have had one of those five-minute, extra strength-giving, amazing nap- Wait why does the clock say it's 3:48 am?

I grab my phone. The sudden light blinds me for a second, and through squinted eyes I see 3:49 am on the screen. Huh, really weird. Wasn't I awake just now  - err, earlier? Wait what? I realize I make no sense, maybe I just read the time wrong the first time. My brain is repeating the features of the Hammurabi Code, my drowsy eyes are drooping, and I meet slumber once more.

I barely feel Mochi slipping back into my blanket.

/////-----

I wake up in wonder why my alarm hasn't rung yet. The room is still dark, the moon stares at me curiously. Give me some privacy, moon. My eyes turn towards the clock for the third time this night- 3:46 am, 3rd April. Bullshit. I've been asleep for hours now; I won't need those four espresso shots for breakfast anymore. My tongue clicks involuntarily. Is this some sort of a stupid prank? Leo is definitely behind this, I'm going to hunt that dipshit down.

Come to your senses, Luna. The universe cannot prank you. That's impossible. And stupid.

I grab my phone again. An attempt in vain, I realize, when I see the screen displaying the same time. I text Leo.

| loser |

you (3:46 am, 03.04.2021): you awake?  (read) 

loser (3:48 am, 03.04.2021): no

A chill goes down my spine. Did the just relive 3:38 am? I decide to call Leo. Two rings in, I hear a familiar voice, 'I said I wasn't awake.' He sounds tired, voice raspy and strained. You'd think he'd just woken up from the but he's the sort of person who thinks sleep is for the weak. 'Yeah no shit, Sherlock. I'm speaking to your alter ego, Thomas.', I reply.

He decides to ignore my bad retaliation, and saves me from the embarrassment. 'Why is my star pupil awake at 3 in the morning? Has she forgotten about the test she will help me cheat tomorrow?', he asks. Ah, this freeloader. I'm gonna kick his ass. My hands move frantically in the air out of annoyance, 'I am not helping you with anything!', I scream-shout into the phone, afraid I'll wake Mochi up in the hallway. She's a bigger annoyance than Leo; no one in the universe has energy to deal with a grumpy Mochi.

'Honey, you love me.'

'You're being delusional.', I deadpan.

'Is my chubby baby irritated?', he says in a fake cooing voice. And that got me.

'Leo, I did not call you at 3 in the fucking morning for you to put me down.'

The other side of the line immediately goes silent. Silence that reminded me of the last time this happened. Silence between the two of us on a Boba Tea study session in the park after an argument, the only sound being the pages of my sociology textbook being turned, and of the sound of baby birds in a nest nearby. Though I know that Leo meant it as a term of endearment, I couldn't believe he wouldn't ever, well, consider me more than just a friend because of it. A few seconds (sometimes minutes) pass before -

'I'm sorry, Lunie, you know I don't mean it,'

Another apology.

I sigh. I'm tired of this conversation again. I'm tired of having to deal with the same problem again. I'm tired of people putting me down. I'm tired of blaming myself. I'm tired of trying to look pretty. I'm tired of Leo. I'm tired of me. I'm tired of another heartbreak. I know his apology is genuine. I know he doesn't mean it. I know he's just being the Leo he always is. But somehow his words still continue to haunt me. Maybe it's because it's coming from someone who means to me the most, coming from someone who brightens me up, like the sun does to the moon.  Then why am I the only one taking it seriously? Why am I trying to fit into someone else's standards? Why am I so painfully aware of everything but still choosing to be blind?

Why am I not able to love myself even though I want to?

'Luna? You there?', his voice breaks me from my train of thought. Weirdly, he sounds quite scared. 'I didn't realize how much it bothers you, I swear I won-'

Mochi jumps onto the bed and snuggles into my head again, paws in a similar place in my hair. A weird sense of Deja vu washes over me again. And then-

『 pop! the world has reset.』

My eyes opened in fear as a gasp escapes my mouth. I'm sitting on my bed, trying to comprehend what just happened. The curtains flutter with the wind blowing by. The moon stares in curiosity. My phone's on the bedside table. The clock gleams with a bright '3:01 am' displayed on it. And the problem is that I wasn't dreaming, and I wasn't mistaking the time either.

I'm in a time loop.

II. a tub fills with water only to spill it.

I fucking hate whoever wrote Groundhog Day.

Like who decided that? Who decided to say 'Hey, let's make a movie based on time loops!'? 'Let's make a dude live the same day all over again till he gets it right! Let's make him really happy, then really sad!'

Son, I'm this close to pulling an Ides of March on you.

I seem to be looping every hour, more specifically from three in the morning to four. Five hours have passed by, but my clock tells me it's precisely 3:18 am. Great. My dearly detested friend, the moon, is my only companion in this war with time (sorry Mochi). In the five hours that should have gone by, I have accomplished the following:

Two and a half hours of sleep - though I wake up when the clock resets.

Half an hour of revision for that History test I need to write after I get out of this shit.

Thirty minutes of planning a workout, Fifteen minutes of Yoga.

Five minutes of trash talking the moon, Ten minutes of dealing with grumpy Mochi who woke up as I exercised.

Thirty minutes of wondering if Leo's looping with me, and

Half an hour of figuring out what went wrong, and how to make the night perfect.

I don't know how much longer I'll be able to remember anymore. I've tried everything - making notes, scribbling on the wall, writing on myself, engraving things on desk - but none of them seem to make it through when the loop resets. I'm too tired to talk to Leo, knowing very well that he would definitely not believe me. And partly because I'm afraid I'll lose my temper and get hurt again. I'm afraid I'll end up being the insecure bad guy, and he doesn't deserve that. He deserves someone better. Someone who's prettier, kinder and happier. Not telling him for the time being also meant that I'll never find out if he was looping with me. But that probably isn't the case, the universe is cruel for a reason. This is perhaps its punishment for me. I must go through this alone.  No one's ever been by my side anyways.

I'm as lonely as the moon.

/////-----

Another few hours pass. The pop between every reset scares me lesser and lesser. But my desperation to return back to normal is growing. I've been trying to figure out what went wrong for the past hour in the neighbourhood park. The cold air  perfectly paired up with the mint chocolate chip ice cream in my hands. Was it me staying awake this long? Should I have just gone to sleep?  There must have been something I did wrong that hour. My heart wishes to call Leo and confide in him. And the more time goes by, the more my mind wishes to oblige to that crazy request.

I pull out my phone, which gleams a bright '3:58 am'. It's almost time for the reset. In two minutes, I'll be magically transported back to my bed. I sigh. I can't take living the same hour again. The hour grips my sanity like it is a play toy. I waste another countless moment wondering where I went wrong.

『 pop! the world has reset.』

Well, I guess there's no place like home. I wonder if Mochi was worried the previous hour when she didn't find me in the bed. Do cats feel worry for their owners? Does Mochi care for me? What kind of a disgusting ship is this? Cringe, cringe, cringe. Shut up, Luna. I bury my nonsensical idea of my cat showing me love for once in the deep pits of my mind, and pretend I never thought of such blasphemy. I shift under my blankets, and decide to sleep through this hour, foolishly hoping that the reset would never take place if I was never awake, though I woke up when the clock reset each time earlier. My eyes look at the clock - 3:05 am.

That's when doorbell suddenly rang. I launch up in surprise. This didn't happen before. My heart begins to pound extremely hard, my head hazed in confusion. I run towards the door as quickly as possible stirring Mochi awake in the process, and fling it open.

It's Leo. And he's in tears.

His eyes are filled with fear, breath unsteady. Beads of sweat line his neck as he tries to get words out. Leo grips my hands tightly, as though he wants me to hold him and tell him it was going to be okay. This hasn't happened in a very long time. He's gotten a much better hold on his anxiety in the past few years. I pull him into a hug and mutter words of comfort. His head is leaning on mine, and his breath slows. I tell him we'd be alright, and hum a calming tune. And we stay like that for the next five minutes.  

'Luna,', Leo whispers into the night. 'Would you believe me if I told you something crazy?'

'Like what?'

'Like a war against the clock.'

And that's when I knew. Tears start brimming in my eyes as I give out a sigh of relief. 'Like a time loop?', I say as I hug Leo a little tighter. This time I needed one to remind me I wasn't alone. He seems to catch on as well, a sob escapes from him as he melts in. We stay in each other's arms, in each other's comfort - a place where walls were deaf to all the shared secrets, a sanctuary with no limits.

Oh, what I'd do to protect it.

Leo pulls away, his eyes disappear and his lips form into a sheepish grin. His face is puffy from all the crying, but it glows in the soft moonlight. My eyes widen in surprise as he grabs my hand and drags me out the door. I manage to see the clock on the kitchen counter gleaming with a bright '3:15 am.' before blood rushed to my face upon meeting the cold air.

'Where are we going? Are yo- ah it's fucking cold out here!', I complain.

'Ice Cream.' Classic hungry Leo. This boy is a demon.

iii. the twilight hour.

'What's wrong with you?!', I huff as I bend down to catch my breath and hide myself under a tree. Leo, on the other hand, is breathing quite easy, a stupid grin plastered on his face (oh, how I want to punch him). His hands hold up a bag with three tubs of mint chocolate Ice Cream like they're the greatest creation of God. 'Did you really have to steal Ice Cream?! Are you five?', I say as I recall the incident that just took place, how Leo basically ran out the convenience store with the sweet goodies without paying and left me, his dear, penniless (and only) friend as the bait to a potential flat-earther of a cashier (long story, don't ask).

And now we're here, the park I was in the previous hour. There's not a single soul around. The only companion being the moon once again. His smile shines through like the sun, however.

'I'm rweally sowwy, delulu,', he retorts.

'My name is Luna, and no one can ever be as delusional as you, you dill hole.', I say, my ears red.

'Good now, I shalt promoteth thee to 'Deluna'. Thee has't been felicitat'd.'

I click my lips in annoyance. I know quite well that when the clock resets, all the stolen Ice Cream would be back in the freezer. But I try my best to maintain a straight face to show my discontent. That's right Luna, assert your fucking dominance. I notice that his hazel eyes shining with the mischief I'm used to once again. He's back to the loud, obnoxious and teasing Leo he's always been. Leo who's carefree, Leo who's horribly reckless, Leo who finds happiness in uncertainty. My Leo. My lips slowly curl into a smile, and I give in. He's happy, and that makes me happy too. Leo suddenly pulls out his phone.

'Look here, Partner in time.', he says cheekily.  I hear a click. My brows wring into discomfort and confusion.

'What? You look pretty in the moonlight.', he states without skipping a beat. There's a million tugs in my stomach, and blood rushes to my bronze skin. Butterflies soon turn into more sinister as I remember our conversation on the phone earlier. My face falls, if only this boy knew what he puts me through. First I'm not good enough, and now I'm pretty? Does he really throw around stuff like that without giving it a second thought? Does he not realize all that he's putting me through?

This is pointless. My feelings for him are pointless. The amount of time I waste on this is pointless. 'Our friendship is pointless.', I say. Regret follows immediately. Leo's face turns grim too; an unreadable expression plastered on his face. I suddenly remember something I jotted down my sociology textbook.

words left unspoken, my hearts screams, my head's in pain, we are in conflict.

Tears well up in my eyes again. This is a conflict, the most peaceful one at that. Terrifying. One that makes you curl into a ball and wish you never existed. One fueled by guilt, by insecurity, by ignorance. I remember the rest of the poem.

one of us was meant to get hurt, almost as though the heavens proclaimed it, on the day of creation. the celestial sky cried tears of gold, for it knew fate was cruel, but humans are crueler.

My hands are getting colder. My breath is hitching as my sobs get louder. Leo rushes towards me and tries to pull me into another hug. As much as I try to resist, he pulls me into his embrace. Fear devours my heart as I realize how I didn't feel at home anymore. I knew this sanctuary was going to break sooner or later. My heart is sick. It pains far too much as it beats in his embrace. Will it stop if I pull away? I try.

It does.

'Luna, what's wrong?!', Leo asks, truly afraid of what was happening.

'Us, Leo. Us.', I reply, voice barely a notch away from a whisper.

'What's wrong with us? We're Leo and Luna! You're the other half of thi-'

'Stop. Please.', I say firmly. My head feels too heavy, my heart too light. The moon shines down on me in its disgusting glory. I can't take it anymore. 'You're the reason I hate the moon, Leo. Because you are the sun. You only shine on me to mock me. To make me feel inferior.'  

'What're you talking abou-'

My tongue clicks loudly. 'You're so hypocritical!  You're an asshole who makes me feel like I'm the only one in the world, before throwing me out yourself. You make me feel insecure, Leo. I don't feel like I'm myself with you anymore.', I say, vitriol burning my throat. 'You disregard what I feel for you, because I'm the moon. You outcast me, because I'm the moon. You tie me down.

'You remind me of why I'll never shine on my own.'

I look at Leo. His hazel eyes turned dark, head down in shock. There's not a single drop of water in his eyes. He stands under the moonlight in silence. I can hear my heart palpitating.

'Why do you think the Sun shines, Luna?', he whispers. 'Is it to light the day, or to light the night?', he asks, a little louder this time. I open my mouth to answer.

'It's to light the night, Luna.', he interrupts. He knew I'd say neither. The sun shines for himself. He is selfish.

'The sun sheds it's light, because if it didn't, the moon would never-'

'That's exactly the prob-'

'get to see the world.' I stop midway in confusion. What is he saying?

'The sun shines because he wants the moon to see the world, Luna. He shines because if he didn't, the moon would be lonely. He makes sure to shed the perfect amount of light on her, so that she guides the traveler without scalding them, without making them blind.

'If he never shone, he'd have never have found his other half. The sun would have been just as lonely as the moon would have, Luna. The sun and moon are a pair, not because the moon can't shine on her own, but because they are lonely without each other.', Leo says.

And epiphany struck down like lightning. Leo needs me as much as I need him. He'd be just as lonely as I'd been without him. The moon's identity without the sun hadn't ever been her own. It was due to the sun's light she was herself. The sun made her the moon, and the moon made him the sun. They were inseparable, as destiny willed them to be, for they needed each other. For the sun to shine the brightest, and the moon to give comfort. But all that didn't answer why-

'Why did you say I wasn't enough for you?', I say, reminiscing that day in the park.   I remember picking out a bouquet of purple lilacs after studying a book about plant symbolism in the library. I spent hours trying to make myself look pretty. I spent a lot of time trying to make up my mind. And everything came crashing down.

'Because you deserve more!', Leo says in defeat, fingers brushing into his hair. 'Do you know how much of a loser I am? You deserve a hunk-a-ilicous person, are you really going to settle for a noodle?!', Leo says, gesturing to his lean figure. As sarcastic as his response seemed, he meant every word of what he said. That's just how Leo is.

'Leo, that's exactly how I've been feeling this whole time.' I pull Leo into a hug.  

Leo is no different than I've been my whole life. He's just as insecure and broken as I am, as I've always been. All my life, I'd seen him as a completely different person. We have different hobbies, we have different personalities. But we're still similar in ways that make us, well, us. It's just that our sanctuary needed to break to have it's walls built back stronger. I feel at home again.

'You're more of a sausage though. Alri-ALRIGHT lemme clear up, you're MY sausage okay? The best one in fact, I will use you in all my dishes.', Leo says as I pull out of his embrace and find a stone on the road to attack the disrespectful brat. Leo runs away and makes his way behind the usual Banyan tree at the edge of the park. 'That's literally the worst nickname ever!', I yell as I chase him.

'Mine own dearest sausage I begeth thee to reconsid'r!'

'TRY ME BITCH.'

'Hey, hey wait.', Leo holds down my hands and blocks my attack, and I'm left with no weapon except for the daggers in my eyes I choose to use against him. 'So, what are we now?', he asks.

'We're still Leo and Luna, dumb head.', I say after giving it a thought. Leo opens his mouth to refute, but soon decides against it. I assume he's content with the answer. We were friends, nothing could ever break that. Would we ever be something more? Who knows, maybe we would in the future when we love ourselves a little more, when we're comfortable with who we are, rather than who we're with.

Until then, we are Leo and Luna.

///////------

My eyes flutter open. I am leaning on the trunk of the Banyan tree next to Leo. I find myself in sleepy laughter as I look at his head lodged in between the roots of the tree. And suddenly, I see light in the distance. I immediately wake up from my position near the tree and walk to the edge of its canopy, heart beating in my stomach and look at the sky outside. The dark navy night melts into a light lilac, small streaks of tangerine bordering the the horizon. The birds are beginning to chirp in the trees, though the street lights are still on.

The time loop has stopped.

Meanwhile, Leo had stirred awake. He runs with his eyebrows up in surprise and squeezes the life out of me before his eyes turned dark in fear.

'WE HAVE SCHOOL.', he exclaims. I ignore him, and choose to stare into the sky. I look at the twilight hour. The sun and the moon were side by side, in harmony, like Leo told me. Tears escape my eyes in a sense of accomplishment. I could rest now. I give myself a small hug, and tell myself I'd worked hard. ('LUNA DO YOU REMEMBER THE HAMMURABI CODE.' 'That is not important right now!') The sun rises up, and salvages the few moments he has with the moon. I turn my head to the side and see that the moon looks serene, her light glow slowly fading as she decides to rest too.

But above all, I see that the moon is no longer lonely.

a/n: ahhhh yes if you’ve made it this far, i truly truly appreciate you for reading this, it means a lot to me. the past few days have been a little weird for me, and it took more than just motivation for me to get through writing this. again, thank you to all my beta readers, i really treasure all of you! i’d really love to get an ask about the short story, so if you enjoyed, make sure to send me one! i hope everyone’s staying safe! stay tuned with us because we have another surprise coming soon!

alatcg taglist:  @blue-hairbrush, @kaavijournals, @artbyeloquent, @47crayons, @writing-is-a-martial-art

general writing taglist: @shinesundark, @the-writing-avocado, @raenawrites​

@original-writing​

[harcourtholmesii]

In This Here, Beautiful World (Part 2)

Fandoms: Team Fortress 2

Pairings: Medic X Heavy / Scout X Miss Pauling / Scout’s Ma X Spy / Soldier X Zhanna / Engineer X Original Character / Saxton Hale X Maggie

Warnings: - Threats of Violence - Violence - Gore

Words: 1849

Summary: When the world goes to shit, in order to survive, you need to be ruthless, and you need to be prepared to do whatever it takes. When nine strangers and their families come together to fight back the zombie plague, tensions will rise between them all, threatening to pull them apart and kill them from the inside-out. It’s a shitty summary, I know. ^^

Enjoy!

The afternoon lecture had always been a slow trek to the day’s end. By this time, most students were far too exhausted and unmotivated to continue their work. Majority of them just wanted to return to their dorms or go out with friends; have some time to relax and recuperate from a long day of studying.

 Mikhail didn’t often sympathise with his class, but the sluggish pace of the day had weighed him down over the hours. He felt just as tired as his class appeared to be, and beneath his eyes, he could feel the stress sinking his expression and morphing his voice to a deep mutter. He was thankful none of the class seemed to care, as it would have been an embarrassing moment of weakness.

 He cleared his throat; only a few heads turning to pay attention.

 ‘Well, it seems the day has left us behind.’ A few of the students seemed sheepish, hiding their red faces behind their books or hands. ‘Perhaps, we will end this session early, and we can pick this up tomorrow.’ He offered the way out to his students with a tired smile.

 Those that were awake, eagerly accepted.

 Students hurried to gather their notes and books, tucking them away in their bags and beginning to dart with newfound energy to the exit. They offered Mikhail a hurried ‘thank you’ as they took off, or a wave if they were too lazy to speak.

 The Russian stood up and rounded his own desk, heading up the line of pitched desks, beginning to awaken those that had crashed. A few leapt up, fuelled by the fear or worry of being scolded, but were relieved when he allowed them leave. Others took their time to awaken, dragging their whole weight out the door with his prompting.

 It wasn’t long before the lecture hall was quiet and empty, save for Mikhail himself.

 He had some paperwork he needed to complete, but he could just as easily take it home with him. He glanced up at the clock on the wall, the one that had ticked by at a snail’s pace for the last hour at least. The hour alone had felt like 12; glaringly cruel whenever one had sought comfort that the day’s end was approaching.

 The time read 3:37pm.

 He still had plenty of time before his engagement with a friend.

 He pulled his phone out of his breast pocket; the electronic seemed frighteningly fragile in his hands. It reminded him of how his students had stared at him when they first attended his classes. His size, stature and gruff, accented voice seemed to intimidate most of them when they first met him. Many had stared at his hands in particular; scarred and calloused from Mikhail’s years of work and abuse.

 Despite being a professor of literature, Mikhail seemed more the part of a hardened war veteran. It had been commented on many a time, mostly behind his back when they thought he couldn’t hear. Apparently, he scared people. Mikhail didn’t necessarily mind the thought, as being feared meant he had a modicum of respect from his students and fellow staff members.

 He tapped carefully at the little buttons on his phone, watching as the screen was lit up with numbers. Finally, he pressed the call button and brought it to his ear. He waited.

 One ring…

 Two rings…

 ‘Misha!’ He felt the air in his lungs release with his relief. He was always scared of the potential that his mother or sisters would not answer the phone. Too much had happened in their family history that he was relieved when another day went by without hassle.

 ‘мама.’

 ‘It is so good to hear from you, and so soon!’ She seemed happy. That was good. ‘You don’t normally call until you are on your way home.’

 ‘да, well, I ended class early. Students too tired to continue.’

 ‘That is a shame.’ He could almost hear the pout from the other end of the line. ‘You are very smart, Misha, and I know how you love to discuss your passion.’

 ‘I am not upset, мама. Just frustrated. Day has been going on for far too long.’ He said, running two, thick fingers across his eyes. He could feel the dry tears in the corners of his eyes, and felt an itch as he attempted to rub the sleep away.

 ‘Hm… I can agree with that. Yana and Bronislava have been out all day and…’ She trailed off, his mother seemed hesitant to speak. He felt concern rise and clench deeply at his heart.

 ‘What happened?’

 ‘It’s Zhanna…’

 ‘Is she hurt?!’ He felt panic rising, not bothering to grab his classwork but making a move to the door so he might hurry home. Or to the hospital. Or to wherever his sister might be.

 ‘нет, she claims she is not hurt, my son. Not physically.’ He slowed a little, felt the panic lessening, but he kept moving. He didn’t bother to lock the lecture hall behind him, as he expected the janitors would notice in their nightly routine.

 ‘I’ll come home.’

 ‘нет. Misha… I don’t think she wants to see anyone right now.’ He stopped, and instead of worry, he felt fury beginning to boil his blood. He kept his voice low so he couldn’t be heard.

 ‘I will crush him.’

 ‘Ah, Misha, you know we cannot be doing that.’

 ‘He broke Zhanna’s heart.’ His eyes glanced about for any other sign of life. Apart from his own class, that he had released early, all other classrooms were still shut tight and not a soul was in the halls. ‘Little man will pay.’

 ‘да, he will. However, we cannot be the ones to make him pay. Zhanna loved him, and this is more than just him breaking it off with her. Mikhail…’

 When she used his full name, it never meant anything good was going to be said next. He prepared himself, expecting to hear what he had heard before. The man Zhanna had taken an interest in thought her too loud, perhaps too overbearing. Maybe he was intimidated by a woman just as strong as he was and potentially taller too. Maybe an insult had been hurled her way; not uncommon but still unforgivable.

 Zhanna had always been a hopeless romantic, and had sought out someone that suited her well. Instead, she tended to scare even the kindest men away, and Mikhail just didn’t understand it. She was beautiful, strong-willed and loyal to a fault.

 ‘She told me Peter had been feeling unwell. She had gone to see him, taking some borscht with her to liven him up.’ Always a good choice. ‘Oh Misha…’

 ‘What happened?’ He repeated again.

 ‘He hurt her… He attacked her, Misha.’

 ‘что?!’ He felt himself seething, clenching his free hand in rapid succession, as if squeezing an invisible stress toy. ‘He dare hurt sister?!’

 ‘He didn’t do much, but she came home with bruises on her arms. He even bit her hard on the hand when he grabbed her.’

 CRUNCH!

 He didn’t mean to break the phone in his grip, but how dare someone do something so cruel to Zhanna! She who wore her heart open, on her sleeve for all to see. She was a sensitive soul who didn’t deserve the cruelty that wicked men had lashed out with.

 He didn’t have the time, or the ability, to call Dell and let him know their afternoon coffee was off. Dell knew not to worry if Mikhail was unable to come, the Texan always patient with the ups and downs the Garin family had faced over the years. He was a constant kindness in Mikhail’s life, always polite enough to just sit and listen when he could afford it.

 Dell would have to wait.

 He stormed quickly and with purpose through the halls towards the exit; those rare students and staff that he passed parted ways for him quickly when they noticed the oxen man move towards them. By the time he was in the parking lot, he nearly tore the door off the car itself, taking a seat within the tiny vehicle.

 It creased his body and forced his spine into a hunched position. He filled up the front window almost comically, but the deathly glare in his eyes shut up any laughs from onlookers. He reversed, peeling out and into the middle of the lot, and then begun his drive home.

 Through it all, the radio was tuned to the classical station; the fine sound of an orchestra helped to soothe his anger, but not deplete it entirely. The violins, by far his favourite of the instruments, almost massaged the pulsing, burning ache in his head with their lulling choir. It helped, if only a little, and if only for a short time.

 As Mikhail continued his drive deeper and deeper into city streets, he started to notice an unusual hustle amongst the pedestrians. There was an unending ring of sirens as police cars and ambulances cut through the traffic, and officers attempted to redirect it down different streets.

 Through it all, there was a sudden cacophony of gunshots, and screams ripped through the pedestrians as they took to the road. They hurried between the crawling automobiles, banging on windows and attempting to open doors in their haste to escape whatever was happening. One woman had latched onto Mikhail’s own car, a large, red gash across her cheek. Her lip was bleeding and her hands were scratching at his passenger door desperately, creating a fine line of white scratches across the metal.

 He went to unlock the door, to allow her safety, when another person (man or woman, Mikhail couldn’t tell) half tackled her to the floor. He opened his own door, about to pull the figure off of her. That was, until they turned their head, revealing their chin and mouth stained with blood, teeth tight around a piece of flesh. The woman was still gasping, reaching out to him, eyes half-lidded as sleep threatened to take her.

 ‘Help…’ He could hardly hear her, especially after that creature suddenly turned on him. He leapt back, in time for the creature to miss planting its own teeth in his arm. He gripped the back of its head, large fingers tangled through its mess of hair, and planted its face to the concrete with as much force as he could muster. It was like a watermelon was crushed under his weight, as the head came apart with ease.

 Blood ran down his hand and wrist. He looked down at the woman, who now laid there, unmoving. Beyond the traffic, a crowd had formed of people racing to escape the chaos. More gunshots. More screaming.

 Mikhail didn’t return to his car. At the rate the traffic was moving, he wouldn’t be able to get out in time before more of those creatures came. He abandoned his vehicle, and turned to follow the road out of the city.

 He had to get home.

 And he had to get there soon!

[velvetthunder1999]

All the time on Earth

Part 25 - Drunk Holidays

Summary: George has to take care of your giddy, drunk little ass during Christmas break in the Burrow

Warning: None

Word count: 3K

George Weasley x Reader

Masterlist

“Come on, Ron!” you shouted excitedly as you stepped out of the taxi into the deep snow, following Harry and Ginny onto the icy road.

“This bloody thing!” said Ron angrily, struggling to pull his heavy trunk in the snow. You stopped and waited for him out of pity, but you just couldn’t wait to finally get into the house.

The last three and a half months were — let’s say, not the best times of your life. Fear, anxiety and suspense greeted you when you woke up and haunted you way past of falling asleep. Even though you and George, and even you and Fred exchanged letters every second day, assuring that everything was okay, news of more and more disappearings and deaths made you utterly scared and uneasy. Hannah Abbott’s mum was killed, Katie Bell had been attacked and the Dark Mark had been seen numerous times across the whole country.

Nevertheless, it was finally Christmas break. Something you had been looking forward to for a long time. It was here, and you were about to spend a few wonderful days at one of your favorite places, the Burrow.

Ginny had barely opened the front door to the house when a loud scream and an excited Mrs Weasley welcomed you into the kitchen.

“Oh, kids, finally… It’s so good to see you, come here, come here, all of you!”

She peppered you with hugs and kisses, not being able to restrain herself. While she was hugging Ron, you noticed a beautiful blonde figure at the kitchen table. You waved.

“Hey, Fleur.”

She smiled right back just when loud thumping was coming from the stairs. It sounded as though someone was running down on the staircase and indeed, a second later George and Fred emerged in the other side of the kitchen.

A huge grin appeared on your face as they made their way towards you, wearing the same wide joyous beam. Mrs Weasley was still nagging about how skinny Harry was, and they were completely claiming the small room between the kitchen table and the wall to themselves. Fred came to a halt and looked at her mother irritatedly, while George — barely able to contain himself — said in a tense voice:

“Mum, move! Er — please.”

“Oh, sorry dear, I…”

But you didn’t hear what she said for George was already holding you in his arms, lifting you up from the ground and rocking you from left to right, laughing. You were laughing just the same, squeezing him with your eyes closed until he put you down; then, you grabbed his cheeks and pulled him into a kiss, a kiss which ended in laughter, a laughter of pure joy after not seeing each other for so long. Then, when you pulled apart, another familiar face made your heart burst with happiness.

“I reckon it’s my turn now, isn’t it?” said Fred and hugged you just as tightly as his brother, while you held him as close as you could, and only letting go of him when your arms felt sore and tired. Even then, you beamed at the both of them, not even knowing which one to look at.

“Thanks, I am here as well,” said Ginny to her brothers in mock anger. You laughed again, grabbing both George’s and Fred’s hands.

“Let’s go up, I want to hear everything about you two!”

——

George was still smiling to himself hours later when he thought about the afternoon; it was hard to hide his smile from Fred as he replayed in his mind how you were laughing at his jokes and how you took his hand into your lap so naturally, so lovingly… He had missed you so much, so bad for three excrutiatingly long months. But you were finally here, safe in his arms.

Whatever he had written in his letters, he had been nervous, too. Oh, yes, of course. After what had happened to Katie, it had taken him twice the usual time just to fall asleep, not being able to think about anything else but what if… Had it been you who touched the necklace, he’d known he would have gone mad. Having you so far away from him in times like these made him having anxious fits all day long.

But not today. Today he wasn’t anxious. Today he could relax a bit. You were there, waiting for him back at the Burrow, and he couldn’t wait to kiss you again, to smell the scent of your hair again, to hear all your stories again, to listen to the sound of your voice when you laugh at —

“What’s so funny?” asked Fred as they were walking back in the snow. They had been to the village, letting Fred have a go at a girl they had met a few days ago.

George turned his head away slightly, trying to organize his expression.

“Nothing.”

“Mphf!” chuckled Fred. “No, I get it. Lover boy.”

George felt his ears turning red under the knitted hat.

“Shut up. You don’t have to have a go at me every time. Might pay you back one day.”

“Well, as things were going with sweet cheeks back there —”

George snorted.

“Don’t even dream about it. She was into me the whole time.”

“Only because she thought I was you, you see.”

“She went for the intelligent one,” smirked George.

“Come off it, had she gone for the handsome one —”

“Then it still would’ve been me.”

Fred snorted and George laughed as they got a glance at the Burrow. Being rather dark at this point, a few windows were lit by the light inside, and George couldn’t wait to sat down into a squashy chair and warm his cold hands by the fire.

“Bighead, are you?” said Fred as he opened the gate to the garden. “You wouldn’t be so cheeky if I told mum about the ring.”

George stopped in his tracks.

“You wouldn’t.”

Fred laughed, apparently enjoying himself.

“Just think about the fuss she’d make! All the weeping —”

“No, stop it, will you? Mum doesn’t need to know. So don’t go on talking about it.”

His voice was angrier than he had intented it to be. He headed for the door but Fred grabbed his arm, making him stop.

“I know, Georgie, I was just joking.”

“Well — don’t. And don’t call me Georgie, you git.”

“What a snappy retort.”

“If you don’t take me seriously —”

“I do!” said Fred hastily, still not letting George go. “So, tell me. But quickly, my toes are already numb.”

George looked at his brother then turned his head towards the house. He could hear laughter form inside.

“I have the ring, but I don’t want to ask her just yet.”

“You think she’d say no? Don’t be a prat, she’s —”

“I know, but it’s… not the right time,” he looked back at Fred. “I want her to finish school. I want us to have our own life before I ask her. But I have the ring cause it’s a nice reminder of what’s about to come. And if you tell mum I’ll end you.”

Fred grinned and started walking again towards the house.

“Don’t worry, Georgie, I keep your secret.”

“I sure hope so,” answered George and opened the door to the kitchen. Fred shrugged.

“Anyway, it still — What the bloody hell’s going on here?”

Hearing Fred’s shocked voice George jerked his head at once, excpecting trouble, but all he saw was Ginny, his mum and you around the kitchen table, having a fit of laughter.

“…and then he said,” giggled Mrs Weasley, clearly not aware that her sons were back. “That he never saw a witch anything like me before and that he’d like to —”

“MUM!” shouted Ginny, half embarrassed, half laughing. “I don’t want to hear that!”

You cried out in laughter, burying your face into your hands, your eyes watering. Mrs Weasley reached for her glass in front of her and emptied it within seconds. George’s gaze fell onto your glass which was also empty.

“What is going on?” he asked, looking around at the three of you. You were still wiping your eyes. “Are you drunk?”

“Bloody hell, look at this,” said Fred, snatching the empty bottle from the table. “They’ve drunk all of it! Mum! Where did you get this?”

“Freddie!” said Mrs Weasley, shushing you and Ginny while fighting a giggle. “Come, come  here, we were just…”

“Mum,” said George louder. “Where did you find this bottle?”

“In the — in the — cupboard,” she started giggling again and you did, too.

“Above the sink?” asked Fred. “This was supposed to be for the eggnog tomorrow! One cup only! Ginny?”

“Oh, they — hush now! They found the bottle and wanted to taste it.”

“And they drank the whole bottle?” asked George, trying to talk over your continuos giggling. “Why didn’t you stop them?”

“I’m not their guardian! And I wanted to drink it, too, but it had a dreadful smell! They didn’t mind, tough.”

“Oooh, we’re in trouble!” you said, trying to whisper but unable to do so. Fred laughed.

“Yeah, Mum’s been talking about her and dad at Hogwarts, she’s sort of all right,” said Ginny, watching the pair of you. “But I think Y/N has just lost it.”

Every head turned towards you, as you were still having a fit of laughter. Mrs Weasley reached for the bottle but she just realized it had gone from the table.

“Oh — Thank you!” she reached for the bottle in Fred’s hand but he jerked it away.

“I can’t believe this!” a satisfied smile appeared on his lips. “Oh, mum, I cannot wait to tell you about this tomorrow.”

You whispered something into Mrs Weasley’s ear and you both started to giggle like mad. Then you looked at Fred and said:
 “Fred — Fred you won’tbelievethis,” your words started to become incomprehensible. “You — you — hehe…”


You didn’t finish but reached for your empty glass and raised it to your mouth. Then, when you saw that it was already empty, the saddest, most miserable expression appeared on your face. George burst out laughing.

“All right. Even though I am quite entertained, they need to go to bed.”

“No!” said Ginny. “I want to watch them, they’re funny.”

“They won’t be funny tomorrow,” said Fred. “They need to sleep it off.”

“Why?” asked Ginny. “They seem fine.”

George looked at the empty bottle.

“Well, let’s say this stuff is stronger than your usual butterbeer.”

“Why? What’s in it?”

George caught Fred’s eye and they decided without words that it’s better to keep the ingredients to themselves.

“Er — a lot of things.”

“Brilliant,” said Ginny, standing up from the table. “Maybe it’s better if I don’t even know.”

“Ginny!” you suddenly reached for her hand and squeezed it, pulling her close to you. With your eyes wide open you whispered, though everyone heard you clearly. “Ginny, you like Harry Potter. Ginny… The Harry Potter! He’s upstairs! Go up, Ginny, go and —”

Ginny laughed and carefully loosened your grip. Then she looked at George.

“Yes, maybe they need to sleep it off. See you tomorrow.”

Then she headed for the staircase but you didn’t watch her. Your eyes were fixed on George in great surprise, as though you just realized he was there, too. Mrs Weasley leaned closer to you and whispered something into your ear. You started giggling again.

“All right,” said Fred. “I reckon mum’s up to me.”

George nodded.

“She might fall asleep before dad comes home.”

He walked over to you. You jumped as he touched your elbow.

“No!” you said, fear in your eyes. “No, you’re makin’ us sleep, no! I don’t want to sleep, I —”

“Come here, love,” said George with a grunt, lifting you up from the table. He helped you standing up but had to grab you immediately as you were about to crash into the table. “Careful. Are you okay?”

“I don’t wanna sleep!” you mumbled, reaching for your glass, but George made it disappear with a flick of his wand. “Hey!”

“Sorry, love, but you need to sleep. Come — no, this way — that’s it.”

He put an arm around your waist, keeping your balance and you even managed to put one foot up the stairs, but then you stopped. In the kitchen George could see Fred guiding his mum to the bedroom.

“You’re a funny man, George,” you said suddenly with great certainty.

“Yeah? Why’s that?”

“Funny, funny man,” you mumbled. George laughed and took another step on the stairs.

“All right, let’s go.”

“Noo!” you mumbled, frowning.

“Come on, we’re almost there,” he lied, holding back his laugh at the sight of your disapproving face.

“No, I don’t wannasleep!” you said, struggling to form the words.

“Oh, no, why not?” asked George, taking another step with you. He figured if he keeps you talking, you won’t realize that he’s taking you upstairs.

“I need to tellyousomething.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Ahhh!” you said, chortling. “Did you know you’re so cute?”

George chuckled.

“Thanks, love. What do you want to tell me?”

“I just did! You don’t listentome!”

“Oh, okay, that was it, then?

“Mm…” you reached for his face, clearly to caress it, but you were not in charge of your actions at all and you poked him in the eye. George started blinking heavily, looking through his tears.

“All right, love,” he gently pulled your hand away from his face and you two finally made a turn on the staircase.

“Oh, Georgie,” you gave a really deep sigh. George couldn’t hide his smile anymore.

“What is it, love?”

“You are so nice! So, so nice! And you have a nice soul and everything!”

“Well, you have a really nice soul, too.”

“Oh, God, I’m so drunk.”

George laughed. You stopped walking and looked at him, frowning.

“Are you laughing at me?”

“Yes,” chuckled George. “Yes, I do.”

You furrowed your brows and pouted, then, a weird, surprised expression fell over your face. You smiled, letting out a giddy laugh.

“You’re so handsome.”

George felt his ears turning red just like every time you complimented him, but he was still beaming nevertheless. You took his face into your hands again - this time successfully missing his eye - and tilted your head.

“You know what I love the most?”

“What?” asked George, completely forgetting about his mission to take you upstairs. Your drunk smile somehow made him feel intoxicated, too.

“Your freckles,” you mumbled, still holding his face. “I love your freckles.”

It was one of those rare occasions when George had no idea what to say. Something told him that your statements were coming from a very genuine place.

“So pretty,” you sighed and continued your way upstairs. George followed. “I even liked them when you were younger. And you. You were so cute…”

“Mm, you liked me, didn’t you? Wait…” said George suddenly. “You liked me? I didn’t know about this!”

“Because I didn’t tell you, silly,” you mumbled and chuckled at the same time.

“Tell me more, please,” said George, totally in shock. You giggled.

“You know you have a nice smile, Georgie?”

“No, tell me about how you liked me…”

“I am! When I was sorted, you were smiling with Gryffindoor. And I thought you were really cute. And I know you by your smile and now when you smile at me I’m really happy. I wanna brush my teeth.”

You stopped as you reached the bathroom. George opened the door for you. You stood next to the sink, struggling to put toothpaste on your toothbrush. George helped. He watched you while you were hastily brushing your teeth, and when you finished he lead you to his room.

“I’m tired.”

You fell into his bed face first and George had to grab your legs and put them onto the matress for you to be able to lie down properly. You reached for his hand and pulled him to you so suddenly that he had to squat down next to the bed.

“Georgie, I wanna tell you something else as well.”

“Well, don’t hold back now,” he said, leaning over in a very uncomfortable position. His neck was already hurting but he couldn’t pull away; you were holding him in a firm grip.

“Georgie, do you know you were the first person who actually cared for what I had to say?”

George looked at you, startled. You were clearly reminiscing but your face was gloomy. George had no idea what to say to you.

“I see.”

“Yeah,” you nodded, your head on his pillow, your eyes closed. It was almost like you were talking in your sleep. “McLaggen always fancied me but I don’t think he had the slightest interest in me. And that guy… he ditched me.”

“What guy?” asked George with a sudden feel of discomfort. You had never told him this.

“My date at the Yule Ball,” you mumbled. “He didn’t even care… Why did he ask me, then? He left me there after ten minutes.”

“Oh… I remember that. But you had a great time after that, didn’t you?” he added hopefully.

“Yes,” you said with a deep sigh.

Then suddenly, you opened your eyes but you weren’t looking at George. You were staring at the wall, but it looked as though you didn’t even see it. You were clearly thinking about something else, and when you spoke your voice cracked.

“I was so lonely.”

George knew that this was the moment when his heart broke into a million pieces. He stared at you, unable to speak. He felt as though the words got stuck somewhere around his stomach, unable to burst out. And he suddenly felt scared; scared that your sadness was rooted deeper than he could imagine and this time he won’t be able to comfort you. But then your beautiful, tired eyes met his and you spoke again.

“I’m not lonely anymore.”

Had George had the ring with him in that moment, he knew he would have asked you right on the spot. But the ring was in his flat on Diagony Alley, buried deep in a drawer among a bunch of socks. Also, you were quite drunk. He was sure you wouldn’t remember anything by tomorrow.

“Will you stay?” you asked, whispering.

“Of course, witty,” he said as he lay down next to you in his bed. “Always.”

[minalous]

nothing like us (m)

pairing: jungkook x reader

warnings: siren!jungkook, soulmate au, mentions of death, a little bit of smut, a lot of angst, jungkook is smitten

genre: angst | fluff | smut

words: 3k

This is one of the seven fics for the project “Greek mythological creatures” that I have been working on for my mutuals 💖 This is for my baby @joonsrack​ !!

♡

“I lied to you. You shall never live”

The bridge was empty, not a soul to be seen for miles but there he was. Power dripped from the tip of his tongue, words waiting to be spilled and control the woman walking on the bridge’s rails. 

“You are safe, beautiful.” he said “Dance for me, dance once more”

The woman would obey his every command with no hesitation, his power was growing stronger by the years and now was his chance to test it. When he saw her walking down the street, he immediately sensed her vulnerability, a weakness that came to become his strength, to be able to control her as his puppet. The wind kept howling as if it knew there was a life getting taken, piece by piece he was consuming her, devouring her soul. The trees were dancing along with her, following her every step, their leaves crying for her as the wind was taking them away from the tree’s embrace. 

Fingertips light as the morning breeze playfully wandered on her feverish skin, his voice was becoming the devil's whisper, the voice that will dethrone her from her crown of beauty. 

“Do you trust me, beautiful?”

“Yes” she foolishly said

“So naive, trusting so easily” 

His chuckle was dark as the night, dark as his heart and soul. Nobody would be able to resist his power, the way he could make his way inside one's mind, the way he could twist someone's thoughts and make them his own. 

Once he saw how the girl was so willing to do as he said, he wondered how far she would go, how much he could break her will. 

"Ready to jump?" he asked

He asked her to jump to her death the same way he would ask someone to sing. It was so easy for him to toy with people. And he had someone to thank for, someone who made him who he is.

"Before you jump, I want you to wake up, to wake up and see how it feels to get your life taken" his voice was cold as ice "but you cannot scream or run for your life" 

The woman came to realise how her life was about to end, the first thing she did was to beg for her life. Pointless, all of her screams for help, all of her begging to spare her life were nothing more than mere noise to his ears.

"Please, Jungkook. I don't want to die" 

A tear dripping down her face, acknowledging her fate is sealed.

"Jump" 

Jungkook did not watch her die, he did not stay to see her take her own life. He had already started walking away. Jungkook was only interested to see the agony inside the eyes of his victims. Oh how he loved to know he had the power to end lives, the thrill he would feel rushing through his veins as he feasted upon the horror of his actions. 

Because once again he had someone else to blame for everything. If he had no reason to live, nobody else should be given a reason to live.

"One by one, those who wronged her shall all die. One by one, you shall all meet her fate" 

Another century has passed, another lifetime without you. Jungkook could never forget you, could never resist the urge to hunt people down like him, people that took you away from him. Because you were too kind for this world, too innocent.

In a moment of desperation, he decided he needed to take his mind off of you and put some of his anger into good use. Some of the people that are responsible for your death are hunting around his territory, a grave mistake but to them was a game of power. Jungkook did not wish to waste any more time, he had his servants arrange a ball where the most powerful and important people would love to attend. 

"Sir, here is the list of the people who accepted the invitation for tomorrow night's ball."

He sat down in his office to read the list, to see if everything was going according to the plan. The list in Jungkook's hands proved how foolish some people are. Of course those idiot rivals of his fell right on his trap, rivals he was trying desperately to get rid of, men he despised. 

The people he came to despise were followers of his father's circle; his own kind was hunting him down only because he made the mistake of being weak to his father's eyes, because he fell in love with you. 

You were nothing more than a servant in everyone's eyes but not to him. In his eyes you were strong, smart, independent. The times he had caught you rebelling against his father's incompetent men were more than enough to make you one of his favourite people. 

Sooner or later, Jungkook trusted you enough to approach you and you felt you could trust him as much as he did. Small chats led to conversations, faint smiles led to stolen kisses and love led to lust. 

"Sir, we need to discuss about tomorrow night's wine menu"

But Jungkook could not focus in the present, his mind was focused on how your lips felt so soft, how good your warm body felt against his, glimpses of the nights you were moaning his name. He loved the way you moaned his name, you were so eager to please him that you were not afraid to let him be your first. 

"Jungkook.. please"

He almost lost his mind the moment he pushed his length inside you but nothing could compare to the next thing that happened.

"I love you"

Jungkook loved you so much, for so long. His heart could burst from happiness in that moment. That night he said he loved you too, that night you became his. 

"I will always find my way back to you. I promise" you whispered as he fell asleep in your arms 

Only if your secret was to stay hidden, only if you were lucky to run away together.

"Sir, dinner is ready."

Daydreaming about you was one of the few things keeping him sane. The ball tomorrow night could be a success and the burden in his heart could become a little easier to carry. Only if it were that easy to handle the pain inside his mind and soul.

The night of his revenge was here, the darkness covered the town with its thick veil and the monsters were out to play. Nobody was more prepared than Jungkook in this game of hunt. The men attending his ball were under the belief they were the hunters. Little did they know that their fate would be worse than his lover's. 

Jungkook is orchestrating his plan inside his mind. He is standing at the top of the stairs, his eyes stuck on his prey. The men have come here to remind him of his place and where he belongs; his place is right next to his father but it is not as easy as it seems. His father was the one who took his lover away, a crime he cannot forgive nor forget. Never. 

Thoughts travel once more in the past, his mind clouded with anger. They were planning on leaving that day, they wanted to have a new beginning together, to start a family. But his father had far too many eyes surrounding his son. He knew his every movement, his every thought, his every wish. 

"Father, please. I will not leave. Please do not hurt her."

His father was not pleased to see his only son falling under that woman's spell. He was convinced that the woman was a witch and she came to kill his son. 

"She cannot stay here, she cannot be around you"

Jungkook did not plan to lose her. He tried to run towards her but his father was too strong to fight him, he tossed Jungkook across the room like he was made out of feathers. The men holding her handed her a dagger, she willingly took it in her hands. Her eyes were dark, she was now lost under his father's spell. 

"Pierce your heart with that dagger. Do me this favour, will you?"

Jungkook's heart was beating so fast inside his chest, he could not believe his father could be so cruel towards the only person that made him happy for the first time in his life. He screamed your name louder than a thunder, so loud that he could feel he had you back for a second. 

"I love you" you whispered before piercing the dagger through your heart 

Jungkook could only remember crying for a few seconds before his whole world went black. He woke up with you in his arms, covered in blood and his father nowhere to be found. Losing you felt the same as losing his last piece of sanity. He never meant to become who he is today but not caring at all was the only way he could make it until today. 

He was missing you every day of his immortal life. He was missing your touch, your affection, your kindness, your eyes, your scent. You smelled of lilies and vanilla. Your scent felt like home. Your scent.. 

Jungkook could smell your scent. For a second he thought it was his mind playing tricks on him, the daydream being too real.

Jungkook runs down the stairs, his senses directing him towards that familiar scent, the scent of you. His steps lead him into his kitchen where he sees a young woman.

"My love" he whispers 

He can see a woman standing right in front of the sink, filling a glass of water before turning around. Jungkook's sudden presence scares her, the glass meeting the cold floor.

"I am so sorry, sir" 

It was you. When your eyes met his, he could tell. It was you.. After all this time he has found you again.

"Those eyes.. I could never forget those eyes." 

"Pardon me, sir, I cannot hear you" you say confused 

"You have her eyes" Jungkook says once more 

"I am sorry, sir, I cannot understand what you are saying" you add 

You cannot hear what Jungkook is talking about, you are embarrassed enough you have entered inside his kitchen like you own it. You are trying to carefully pick up the broken pieces when Jungkook touches your hand. 

Nothing can explain, nothing can put in words how you felt when his hand touched yours. A wave of euphoria and unbearable love filled up your heart. For a moment you forgot how to breathe, the time stopped and it was only Jungkook and you. Your eyes met and locked, the room was spinning but at the same time it stood still, it was you and him against the world. No sound could be heard except for his heartbeat. His eyes could see through your core but it did not scare you, his image was new to you and yet so familiar. How could one person make you feel so safe and happy when you do not even know them? 

You turn your eyes into another direction and try to make your way out of the kitchen. Something doesn't feel right, your heart aches to leave him behind. 

Jungkook is standing still at the same spot he was a second ago. 

"Do not tell me you do not feel what I feel right now" he tells you, his voice trembling with pain

"It is not my place to feel, I am promised to another man"

Jungkook looks at you, his eyes filled with grey skies, a wounded man walking towards you. And before he can protest against whatever it is to happen, you touch his face with both of your hands, eyes gazing into the depths of his soul.

"It is so strange.. It feels like I know you." 

You truthfully feel it, deep down you sense an emotion so strange, a newborn feeling.

 "I was waiting for you, for so long"

The new feelings are starting to become so unbearable, so hard for you to hold them inside your heart and in a desperate move you let them explode. More than anything you desire to kiss him and Jungkook senses it, he closes the space between your lips. He takes his time to taste you, a chaste, deep kiss is the beginning of your downfall inside his arms. He tastes so sweet that you ask for more, his tongue slowly swirling around yours. Jungkook is now under your skin, he has you where he wants you. 

"Do you love me?" he asks you but with no words 

Mind and soul scream yes.. Yes, you love him

"Do you need me?" 

Yes, you need him. 

That night Jungkook felt blessed to have found you, that night he spared his enemies' lives so you won't see him as a monster. He would rather wait, wait until he knows you could understand his reasoning behind being a killer. He needed you to understand how your beautiful siren ended up luring his victims into their death instead of luring them into paradise.

Days go by so slowly since you came to know the feeling of true love. Being around your fiance is nothing more than a routine to you. He is a lovely man who wants nothing more than to make you happy and it hurts you so much to betray him. Jimin has been a gentleman from the first day he was introduced to you, a truly beautiful man.

Every day you spend with Jimin, you feel falling out of love with him. The more you stay with him, the less happy you feel. You need Jungkook. The days you accidentally see him are the days you feel the happiest. The air around you seems lighter, your heart gets filled with strange emotions.  

You saw Jungkook yesterday at the library where he was reading a book. He was so far away from you, yet you had never felt closer to someone. With only one look, a sweet memory played like a song inside your mind. A melancholic song that only you and Jungkook could hear, one last chance to have you hear what his words may never be able to explain. 

The same dreams, the same memories, the same soul. Inside his thoughts, he let you walk among broken pieces of his mind, memories from when he was with someone he truly loved. It was like looking into a mirror once you saw her. The woman was crying and begging, nobody able to hear her. But she was not crying because of her fate; she was crying and begging for her lover's fate. Her heart was broken to see the man she fell in love with hurt. 

Jungkook was bleeding on the floor, so far away from her. Her mind was fighting her body but in vain. She wished she could go there, hold him inside her arms, tell him everything would be alright. She knew he was strong enough to overcome his physical pain, she was aware that her life was already over. What she wanted was to have a last chance to tell him how much she loved him, to touch him so he could feel everything was real and she never meant to harm him. 

It was true. She was a witch and she was there to kill Jungkook. Her mother demanded she ended his life with the dagger Jungkook's father made her end hers. She could not bear to tell the truth, she could not bear to see what would happen if his father's anger was to get directed towards Jungkook. 

She let go. She took her own life, willingly, no spells, no mind control. She smiled at Jungkook with her sweetest smile and told him she loved him. You could feel both of their hearts getting broken, a sharp pain into your heart breaking it in half. 

A deathless death. The immense pain Jungkook felt at that moment was enough to break the veil between the underworld and the earth. The woman was blessed with the chance to write her love into the stars, she was blessed to avenge her death and her lover's pain. Within seconds all of his father's men were lying on the floor, gasping for air but his father was lucky enough to slip from within her grasp. 

When the memories started fading away, you could feel your body giving up on you. It took all of your strength not to faint, Jungkook already by your side to hold you as if he knew you were exhausted from this experience. 

"I am sorry" is all you say before drifting off 

Sea of people, inside your dream there are so many people. No familiar faces to be seen, strangers among strangers, people passing you by and it starts being so difficult to breathe. The people around you start becoming shadows, fear consumes you bit by bit, no hope of getting out of here alive.

You close your eyes in hope of waking up from this nightmare when you feel a hand on your shoulder.

"You need to wake up" 

It's a familiar voice. You slowly open your eyes to see a woman standing right in front of you, her whole body radiating light, so bright that the shadows can barely be seen.

"He needs us. He needs you"  

The more you look at her, the more you can tell it is her. It must be her. 

She softly puts her hand in yours and you just knew, you knew what you had to do, you knew who you were, you knew what Jungkook meant to you. Her feelings are yours, you share the same soul. You had a second chance in love. All you needed to do was to open your eyes.

And once you do, you see him; Jungkook looking at you with the same look in his eyes when he first saw you. His voice calling your name, awakening your heart's desire to fall in love with him all over again. You have found your way back to him as you promised you always will.. 

Jungkook gives you his hand, offering you everything your heart has always wanted.

"Take my hand now" 

[imherongraystairstrash]

Sophideon & baby Thomas (pt.2)

A/N: I’m so sorry, but I had to split this up yet again, so you guys will have to wait for part three 😢. If you haven’t already, here’s part 1. (Also, I’m almost done with The Broken Hearts pt.3, I’m so sorry for the delay)

-Ana

The wait was excruciating. As soon as Sophie could walk, they went to the Silent City so that they could perhaps catch a glance at their son. Sophie paced from one side of the room to the other while Gideon sat on the bench with his head in his heads. They didn’t realize it was dark outside until Gideon checked the time.

“The girls—” Sophie said, feeling guilty for forgetting about them.

Gideon stood. “I’ll go to them, Soph. You have yet to see him… Unless you want to go instead.”

Sophie shook her head. She felt selfish for not wanting to go to her daughters, when they might have been scared.

“Don’t feel bad,” Gideon said, reading her thoughts. “They will understand.”

Gideon held her hands and put his forehead on her’s. “I will come back soon. He is in good hands.”

“How bad is he?”

“Don’t worry about how bad he looks. Be happy about how much better he is getting.”

That answered her question. What she would see would be heart wrenching.

…

About twenty minutes after Gideon left to check on the girls, Sophie was called in to see her son.

The crowd of Brothers split when they saw her. There was a table. And on that table, there was a glass case. There was something inside it. It took Sophie a moment to realize it was a blanket.

It took her another moment to see her baby.

Sophie thought she might just fall to her knees right there. However she held composure, even as her eyes stung and her knees trembled. She walked up to the glass case and looked in. Her son. He was so small. Too small. She put her hand on the glass and stroked it with her thumb, as if it was her son she was touching. Her tears hit the glass, rolled off and splattered to the ground, yet she kept looking at him. Despite the Silent Brothers all around her, Sophie felt as if it was just her and him in that room. She leaned down and whispered to him.

“Keep fighting, my beautiful son. I cannot wait to meet you.”

She stayed beside him until something must have happened for some Brothers lurched forward while one pulled her away. Sophie caught a glimpse behind her back, where a brother was removing the glass case.

She’d wanted to stay. She wanted to stay with him. She’d thrashed in the Brother’s arms, until the door closed behind them.

Sophie

It took her a moment to realize it was Brother Zachariah who had led her out of the room. Sophie put her arms around him and cried into his robes.

…

The streets of Idris were peaceful and orderly. Gideon couldn’t believe that it was just this morning he walked down this exact avenue with Gabriel. It had felt like ages ago.

He knocked on his brother’s door, and watched as the door knob wobbled a bit. Gideon was confused until he saw who had come to answer the door; his niece Anna Lightwood. She was wearing one of her father’s hats, as she usually did. Her eyes widened when she saw him, and she seemed to freeze in place.

“Hullo, Anna.” he said, as he got down, so that they were eye level. He always did this with young children, because of the fear he had always felt as a boy, when his father would look down at him with that scornful expression. “Are your parents here?”

Anna did not move.

“Anna?” He heard Cecily call. “There you a—”

Cecy stopped when she saw him.

“Oh, Gideon.” She hugged him. “Are you alright?”

“I don’t know.”

Cecily led him inside.

“How’s Sophie?”

“She’s alright. Physically, that is.”

Cecily looked remorseful.

“I cannot thank you enough for all of your help, Cecy.”

“You’re my brother, Gideon.”

Cecily always said brother, even though they were technically in-laws. Gideon still remembered how it felt when she first called him that. How it felt to have a sister that loved him.

“You came to see the girls.”

Gideon nodded. “Are they upstairs?”

“Yes.”

…

The steps of the old house Cecily and Gabriel lived in creaked as he went up them. He walked down the hall and stopped at the door he was sure his daughters were in. Barbara and Eugenia could usually be heard talking about whatever it was toddlers talked about. However, silence replaced their usual chatter. Gideon opened the door. Eugenia was sitting on the floor with a tiny blanket in her hand and Barbara was looking out of the window that faced the forest. Both girls instantly looked at him and blinked once before running over to him. He dropped down on his knees and held them close, kissing the tops of their heads. Eugenia was to first to pull away, looking over his shoulder.

“Your mama’s still at the Silent City.” He said.

“Will she come back to bring us home?”

“Not tonight. You will be staying here with Uncle Gabriel and Aunt Cecily.”

“What about the baby?” Barbara said.

Gideon sighed. He lifted Eugenia in his arms, and held his hand out for Barbara. He walked them over to the side of the bed and sat down; Barbara beside him and Eugenia on one of his legs.

“Do you know what happened?”

“Aunt Cecily told us mama went into early labour.”

“You know what labour means?”

Barbara shook her head. “We were too embarrassed to ask.”

“Well, first off, you should never be afraid to ask. Cecily would never laugh at you.”

Barbara nodded.

“Second, labour is when a mama is about to bring her baby into the world.”

“Is that why Mama was breathing like that?”

“Yes. Labour is very painful.”

Both girls looked solemn.

“Early labour,” he continued, “means that the baby was born before it was supposed to.”

“Is that bad?” asked Eugenia.

Gideon nodded. “When both of you were born, you were this big,” he held his hands out. “The baby is this big.” He let the space in between his hands become much smaller. “It’s very dangerous to be that small.” He told them.

The girls didn’t ask him why. Perhaps they didn’t wish to know more about the topic. Perhaps they understood that if they asked him, Gideon might break down into tears. Instead Barbara asked something completely different.

“Is it a girl?”

Gideon, stupefied, shook his head slowly.

“No, it’s a—it’s—it’s a boy.” He managed to say.

The girls just looked at him.

“So, he could be the prince?” Eugenia said.

“Erm, I guess so.” Gideon responded.

Both girls smiled a little bit at that. Gideon hadn’t wanted to give them illusions and empty promises that their brother would live.

He knew that this would be their last child. He and Sophie had an unspoken agreement that they could never bring one into this world after all of the suffering they were enduring now. And if they lost this one… Gideon shut his eyes tight. If they lost this one, the thought of having another seemed too painful.

…

Gideon asked them about their day, though they did not offer up much for discussion. He lay with them until they fell asleep, then sighed and stood up. He was about to leave when he heard Eugenia.

“Papa?”

“Yes, darling?”

“Could you give it to the baby?” She held up the small blanket she had been holding.

Gideon sat down on the bed and examined it.

“Mama said it was too small, but because he came out early—”

“It’s beautiful, Genie.”

“Do you think he’ll like it?”

“Of course he will.”

Eugenia bit her lip.

“Papa?”

“Yes?”

“I wished for the baby to come now. Before Mama had him. Was it my fault?”

Gideon felt his heart sink. “No, no, of course not, Genie. Sometimes, babies are too eager to get out. But it was nobody’s fault he was born early. It was just happened.” He kissed her forehead.

The tension Eugenia had vanished. She nodded and laid back down to fall asleep. He stayed until her breathing became heavy and even, before walking out and shutting the door behind him. He walked back down the stairs and sat with Cecily and Gabriel.

They let him talk first, clearly not wanting to force him into reliving what had happened.

“Could they stay with you? At least for a while longer?”

“Of course.” said Gabriel.

Gideon nodded. He took a deep breath in. “They Silent Brothers say he might have to stay there for a couple of months. Once things get settled down, hopefully in a week, we’ll bring the girls back home and trade off staying with him.”

“Oh, Gideon, it’s not an issue at all. The girls can stay here much longer; they’re so well behaved.” Cecily said.

Gideon shook his head. “It’s better that their lives go on as they would normally. In case…”

Gabriel and Cecily both nodded.

There was silence for a moment, as they each got lost in their thoughts.

“It’s a boy.” Gideon finally said.

Cecily smiled. “The first Lightwood son, in this generation.”

“Have you given him a name?” Gabriel asked.

“Not yet. We’re afraid he won’t make it.”

“Gideon, I had no idea he was in such a bad condition.” Gabriel said.

Gideon slumped forward and looked at the ground.

“We cannot hold him. We have to look at him through a glass.”

“Is he that small?”

Gideon nodded. “His head is smaller than the palm of my hand.”

He looked up and saw that Cecily was looking away. It took him a moment to realize tears were falling down her cheeks.

Gabriel was looking at him. “Gideon, I am so sorry.”

Gideon just looked back down at the blanket in his hands.

Why couldn’t Sophie and Gideon be happy? Haven’t they endured enough? Gideon shook his head. Whatever life threw at them, whatever they may have to endure in the future, there was no point in being bitter. His father had been bitter and look at how he ended up. And yet, to tell himself to be happy was impossible, because his son could be dying in the Silent City as they spoke.

His son. He wanted to be with him.

Gideon stood. Gabriel and Cecily followed suit.

“Thank you, again.” He told them.

“You would have done the same for us.” Gabriel said, as they embraced tightly.

“I will be back tomorrow.” He told them.

They waved goodbye as he practically ran down the four stone steps that led up to their small home.

…

Sophie was sitting by a glass case when Gideon came back. She was humming the Shadowhunter rhyme to her infant child, just as so many Nephilim mothers have done before her. Her hand was pressed against the glass and she peered down at their son with such longing, it hurt to watch. Gideon stood down beside her and put his coat around her shoulders, along with an arm. She nestled her head on his chest, not taking her hand, nor her eyes, off of the baby for a moment.

He had a mask on and tubes all over his body. There was a long line of stitching over his chest where he had a heart surgery. Stitches that would later leave a small scar, when he grew older.

But for the moment, it was large and the thought of this baby living to be eighteen hadn’t crossed their minds. The only moment that mattered was this one.

“How is he?”

“Surviving.”

“Has he opened his eyes yet?”

“Not yet.”

Gideon held her closer.

“The Brothers—they said some things.”

“What sort of things?”

“If he lives, he may have some development issues. He could be blind or lose his hearing or cerebral palsy or—”

“Soph, it’s alright,” Gideon said, when he felt her shaking. “Let us worry about one problem at a time.”

Sophie nodded.

“How were the girls?”

“They were fine. They felt sad that you and the baby couldn’t come home.”

Sophie just closed her eyes.

“Oh, and Genie gave me this. For the baby. I didn’t have the heart to tell her we couldn’t cover him with it.”

Sophie opened her eyes and gasped.

“I told her it would be too small; that she should use it for one of her dolls instead.”

“She wanted him to have it.”

Sophie’s eyes brimmed with tears. She looked back at their son.

“We should give him a name.”

Gideon looked at her.

“A name would mean we have faith he will live. And if he doesn’t, a name to carve into his grave, a name we can send prayers too.”

Tears were falling down Gideon’s eye as well.

“What should we name him?”

Sophie looked back at the baby.

“Thomas,” she said. “After the man who risked his life to save mine.”

Gideon smiled through the tears. “I could think of no better person to name him after.”

“Thomas Lightwood.”

They looked at him again. He hadn’t changed since they had named him and yet, there was something else in the air: Hope.

[hetacon]

The Depths I Would Go To

Word Count: 3,500

Pairings: Prinxiety, Background Logicality

Warning: Swearing, joking threats of murder, social commentary on homophobia (as well as light transphobia), alcohol consumption and drunk shenanigans, crying, faking one’s death, light sexual jokes, kissing and all that gushy stuff

______________________________

Summary: He knew he was stuck. He definitely was deeply in love, as if his very being had always been destined to belong under Virgil’s complete control.

______________________________

A silvery song shifted Roman’s attention to one of the caves bordering the ocean as he walked along the cliffsides.

He couldn’t help himself from walking towards it and climbing down the side of the cliffs to drop down into the cave that held the source.

He heard a gasp, two frantic splashes, and a sigh.

“Great, you scared them, Roman, you idiot,” he muttered to himself.

“They’re always jumpy,” the owner of the song called out.

“And you aren’t?”

“I could easily kill you if I so wished and even if I can’t, I would be useless to you, no matter how much you think I would be worth the trouble.”

“And what makes you so sure?” Roman asked, walking further into the cave, starting to see a soft glow coming from deep in the pool. He kneeled down by the pool of water, staring at the figure.

“So sure that I’m of no value? Well, look at me, tell me if I pose any benefit,” the voice laughed and a bioluminescent mermaid rose back up from the water, blinking up at Roman.

The two stared at each other for a moment.

“You’re beautiful,” Roman muttered out, noticing as the mermaid’s cheeks lit up. Roman cracked a smile at that. “I’m Roman.”

“Virgil,” the mermaid muttered.

Roman held out his hand and Virgil hissed, his pupils dilating, spikes thrusting out from his spine in a quick second.

“Woah Jesus, it’s a handshake!!” Roman yelled out and Virgil’s expressions softened.

“That is a declaration of war. Clearly you have no knowledge of mermaids,” Virgil huffed, taking a deep breath as the spikes were hidden away once again. “You’re more stupid than I thought,” he mused, smirking even more as Roman pouted.

“Well then how can I not be stupid if you’re clearly more intelligent than I?” Roman asked, leaning against the wall lining the pool of water.

“Meet me here tomorrow night. Come alone or I can’t ensure I’ll let you make it out alive.”

Roman nodded and smiled, watching as the glowing creature splashed into the water.

As promised, Roman came alone the following night, holding out a lantern as he squinted in the fog. He heard the faint sounds of the song again and ducked into the cave, blowing out the lantern as soon as he saw Virgil’s glow.

“You know, that’s a pretty song you’re singing,” he spoke up and prominently heard a huff soon after. He chuckled as he sat next to the pool.

“What is it with you and flattering me? Aren’t there societal rules against that in the human world?”

“Mm? What do you mean?” Roman asked, resting his chin on his hand.

Virgil started to swim lazy circles around the pool. “You know, about how those of the same gender cannot compliment one another? I mean, you aren’t even allowed to have courtships with anyone but your opposites, or at least, those perceived to be. It’s all a bit stupid if you think about it.”

“Well, people court to produce offspring.”

“Can’t anyone do that?”

Roman raised an eyebrow. “Not humans, no. Why? Can you do that?”

“Yes, it works regardless of gender,” Virgil nodded, looking up at Roman who was nodding along.

“What else can you tell me?”

“What would you like to know?”

That sparked hours of conversation and the two were content to stay there. Roman was listening intently to a lesson on greeting etiquette currently and was nodding along.

“So handshakes are a declaration of war because of the webbing?” Roman asked, in the middle of an explanation.

Virgil nodded. “Yeah, it’s basically like saying you’re going to rip the webbing off their hand, which is part of our bodies. So it would hurt,” he mused with a roll of his eyes, a slight smile tugging at his lips.

“No, really? Never would’ve guessed!” Roman joked, flinging his arms out dramatically, smiling proudly as Virgil let out a snort.

“Do you ever do anything that’s not royally embarrassing or dramatic?” Virgil asked.

“Well I am royalty after all, why wouldn’t I do everything royally?” Roman replied back, strolling away from the pool of water casually.

“Woah woah woah, your snootiness, get your butt back here!”

“Hm? Yes?” Roman hummed out, turning back around.

“The hell do you mean you’re royalty and then turn away like this conversation is over!?” Virgil yelled, slapping his hands down into the water around him.

“It’s not a big deal, I’m definitely more interested in your life than you should be of mine.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow at Roman who sat back down in front of him.

They both kind of stared at each other for a moment.

“Well?” Virgil asked.

“What?” Roman questioned back with a teasing smile.

“Spill!”

Roman couldn’t help but laugh at his impatience and started telling Virgil the most interesting parts. Eventually though, the cave started to brighten up slowly but surely and Virgil saw the sun start to peek out from over the horizon. Roman glanced back too and sighed, getting up.

“I suppose it’s time for me to take my leave then, wouldn’t you say?” Roman asked, looking down to Virgil whom only nodded, casting his gaze down.

The prince waited for his aquatic companion to say anything but when he wasn’t given something to reply to, he nodded to himself and started to exit the cave.

“Will you come back soon?”

He turned back to see Virgil giving him the most hopeful little puppy face he’d ever seen and a grin spread across his own face.

“As you wish, my scaly one,” he hummed, bowing. He noticed that Virgil visibly lit up at his answer and decided not to comment on his cheeks shining brighter than the rest of him in that moment.

Months passed by and Roman would spend a large majority of his nights out in the caves. He learned lots of things about the world Virgil came from, about Virgil himself too. He got to meet Virgil’s friends at one point, Logan and Patton. They were nice but Roman definitely loved Virgil the most of the group.

Virgil was absolutely gorgeous, Roman knew that, but something just drew him to the mermaid beyond that. His voice was something completely enchanting all on its own. He learned fairly early on that Virgil was a siren and yet Virgil never demonstrated that ability, even when they met. He just liked to sing but to Roman, that voice was purely magic all on its own. He knew he was stuck. He definitely was deeply in love, as if his very being had always been destined to belong under Virgil’s complete control.

It was only a matter of time before Virgil found out about Roman’s affections and it so happened to be because of a huge celebration that the kingdom held in the early part of May.

Normally the climb down to the cave was an easy feat as Roman has mastered it months ago. However, he had scraped up his hands as he stumbled down the rocky surface, before he finally reached the entrance. Humming echoed around the cave walls and Roman giggled, hurrying over.

“Virgil!” he called out loudly, laughing as the mermaid in question was startled, spikes coming out from his spine in a split second before they settled down at the realization.

“Roman, Jesus Christ, you can’t just scare me like that,” he grumbled, turning around. He jumped a little as Roman was nose to nose with him, the prince grinning from ear to ear. “What’s up?”

“I just missed you so much and you’re..” Roman trailed off, staring into Virgil’s eyes. He giggled to himself before continuing on a completely different subject. “Your eyes are two different colors, they’re magnificent. Everything about you is magnificent~”

Virgil looked at him weirdly for a moment.

“Oh my god, are you drunk?”

“Maybe a teeny bit but it’s ok because I’m allowed to! Everyone is allowed to! Do you want me to get you some? I can go get you some, I might be a while though! Man, climbing down the cliff is hard, how do I do it every day?” he babbled to himself.

“Roman, calm down, you’re not even speaking coherently,” Virgil muttered, turning around to start swimming around the pool.

Roman panicked and tried to follow after Virgil. The next thing Virgil knew, there was a loud splash behind him and Roman had fallen in.

“Shit!”

Virgil was quick in yanking Roman up for him to breath, sighing in relief that Roman was still awake, blinking in utter bewilderment at him before smiling. Virgil stared back with wide eyes as Roman leaned in close, Roman’s lips inches away from his and Roman’s face illuminated with purple light as Virgil’s cheeks grew hot.

“Absolutely gorgeous, it’s so beautiful when you blush just for me,” Roman muttered out softly, his eyes looking down to Virgil’s lips. “So wonderful and stunning. I’ve been wanting to kiss you since I first laid my eyes on you. I want to kiss you Virgil, I want to kiss those pretty little lips of yours~”

Virgil barely managed to resist, knowing Roman was too drunk right now to know what he was really doing. Even if Virgil did want to give in and close the distance, he wanted Roman to be present and alert.

“You know, sometimes I wonder if I could date you. I would bring you flowers and food and lots of pretty things I find that remind me of you because you deserve a good boyfriend. Or girlfriend. You can call me a girl if you want, I can be a girlfriend too!”

Virgil laughed, shushing him. “Shh sh, calm down. I love you as a man, you’re fine.”

“You love me? Oooooo, you love me, that’s so embarrassing!” Roman cooed out.

“Yeah, I love you Roman. You won’t even remember this but I do love you,” Virgil said with a soft smile.

“Can I kiss you?”

“If you remember when you wake up, you may kiss me Roman,” Virgil sighed out, rolling his eyes.

“Mmmmmmm... Ok, fineeeeee,” Roman whined out. And with that, Roman was out like a light.

Very early the next morning, just as the sun was starting to rise, Roman jolted up to see the cave surrounding him as he laid next to the pool. He looked around to see his cloak draped over his body, the rest of his clothing and his hair still damp though. He heard water moving around in the pool and he was face to face with Virgil.

“Hey,” he whispered quietly to the mermaid into front of him.

“Hey,” said mermaid whispered back.

Roman scooted over, looking down at Virgil. Virgil looked back before Roman put two fingers under Virgil’s chin, lifting him up to lock their lips firmly together. Virgil was quick to melt into the brief kiss, only to jump as Roman had fallen in once again.

Virgil laughed loudly as Roman breached the surface, only calming down as Roman pulled Virgil close once more, kissing him again. Virgil didn’t think there’d ever be a time where he wouldn’t melt, tangling his hands into Roman’s hair as pinks and oranges lit up the cave, Roman deepening the kiss.

It was only a few weeks after they kissed for the first time that Roman was sitting by the cave, just watching Virgil swim around and talking to his hearts content. He was currently recounting a story of how Patton got stung by a jellyfish that Roman was only half following.

“I mean, he was in pain but I did warn him about it. Logan was glaring at me the entire time, it was kinda funny you know?” Virgil chuckled. When he didn’t hear anything, he stopped swimming and looked over to see Roman staring blankly at his hands. He swam over to the edge of the pool and hoisted himself up, his head resting on his shoulder. “Ro?” he asked gently.

Roman snapped back to attention. “Ah, sorry, jellyfish, Patton, funny, continue!” he laughed awkwardly, quirking a faked grin.

“Roman, I may not be that gushy but you know you can tell me if something’s going on, right?” Virgil sighed, frowning.

With a light, tired huff, Roman scooted over to be in front of his significant other. He reached out, cupping Virgil’s cheek with his hand, watching as the mermaid melted into it with a warm smile.

“I’ve been set up for an arranged marriage, Vee,” he admitted, noticing the shock in the mermaid’s eyes as Virgil looked up to him.

“How come?”

“An alliance with another kingdom. They have a princess of eligible standing that’s around my age and so they... my parents want to marry me off within a month. They told me this morning. I just..” Roman paused, closing his eyes. “I don’t know what to do,” he whispered out, tears slipping down his cheeks as he looked Virgil in the eye.

“Hey hey, it’s gonna be fine ok?” Virgil told him, pulling the prince down for a kiss. Roman sighed into it, kissing back softly. “We’ll figure something out, I promise.”

“I want to be with you and yet I cannot bring myself to put you in harm’s way by revealing my affections for you. I certainly can’t seeing as they’d accuse me of being sinful, just for loving a man such as myself. And if they knew of you, gosh, you’d probably be captured and sold on the spot and I just-! I couldn’t-! Oh gosh, Virgil, they can’t take you away from me!” Roman sobbed out, hugging on to Virgil tightly.

For a while, Virgil just held on to Roman, carding his hand through the prince’s hair as Roman continued to cry. Once he had stopped though, Virgil requested that Roman lift him up and soon he was seated in Roman’s lap. He did his best to wipe away the tears.

“You’re the most precious of things to me, I cannot part from you, Virgil...” Roman muttered, kissing the mermaid’s hair.

“What if... What if you part with the rest of the precious things you have?”

Roman sniffled and looked over. “What do you mean?”

“Would you be willing to leave the castle to stay with me?” Virgil asked him.

“Yes, of course but how could I..?”

“Fake your death.”

“What?”

Virgil smiled. “Fake your own death. We’ll figure out a day, make plans for when to meet, and once that day comes, you come here and jump into the ocean. I’ll meet you and once anyone who’d follow you has left, presuming you’re dead, I turn you into a mermaid like me. You can live with me, I’ll get Patton and Logan to help, and you get to stay with me,” he explained, kissing Roman’s cheek.

Roman thought for a moment. “You can really do that?”

“Mhm, you just have to be sure that’s what you’d want to do.”

“Why? Does the transformation only work if it’s what my heart truly desires?”

“What? No! I’m not gonna turn you into a mermaid if I don’t have your total confidence that that’s what you want you chucklehead!” Virgil scolded and dipped his tail into the pool, flicking it up to soak Roman in water.

Roman coughed and spit water into Virgil’s face. “Rude,” he huffed, glaring at his boyfriend.

Virgil merely laughed.

A date had been set, everything was all figured out, Roman knew that. But he was worried about this meeting. A few days before this was going to happen, Patton requested that Roman meet with him and Logan. He walked through the caves, seeing the two mermaids waiting patiently for him, the only glow coming from a sea lantern Logan was holding in his hands.

“Patton, Logan,” Roman said with a nod, sitting at the edge of the pool in front of them.

Patton went over and held out his hands, nodding back when Roman put his hands in Patton’s own. “Roman, I assume you know what I wanted to talk to you about?” he asked gently, looking up at the prince.

“I assume it’s about me faking my death to be with Virgil,” he said calmly, looking back down to Patton.

“Yes. I trust you but I need to make sure you know just what you’re doing. You can’t return home after this and you can’t break Virgil’s heart if you’re not completely sure about this decision. He’s precious and oh so special to me and Lo, I don’t want a human to be his undoing. We already have a hard enough time trusting them and this could hurt him badly,” Patton told him sternly.

“I know Pat, I promise you that I’m sure about this. I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t love Virgil with all my heart. He has mine for all eternity and I want to be with him more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life.”

Patton nodded. “Good, I’m glad to hear that. And if you ever break that promise, you will be receiving a handshake from me within seconds,” he growled, yanking Roman down to look him in the eye.

“Yes Patton, I will willingly take your hand should I destroy Virgil’s trust in me. You have my word,” Roman responded in a level tone and Patton squealed happily, hugging Roman tight.

“Alright alright, now that that’s taken care of,” Patton hummed, pulling back. “You said you had something important to tell Roman, right Lo?” he asked, looking back to his partner.

Logan nodded. “Use protection, Virgil would freak out about having guppies,” he said flatly.

“Logan!!!” Patton hissed.

Logan only smiled slightly to himself, amused as Roman laughed heartily.

The day finally came.

This was happening.

Roman wasn’t exactly having doubts, he never would. This was just a lot to process at the moment. His entire life was going to change as soon as Virgil turned him. Logan and Patton were on standby should anything happen and he saw Virgil off in the distance.

This was happening.

He walked over to the cliffside to look out over the ocean.

“Your highness, be careful of the edge,” one of his guards warned and Roman turned to the two guards with a smile, nodding.

Roman was hesitating. The idea was terrifying. He knelt down to look down at the waters, dangerously close to the ledge.

Do it.

Just do it, Roman, it’ll be ok.

He looked over to see Virgil who had moved over to just about where he’d be falling in and saw the worried expression of his boyfriend. Roman nodded to reaffirm him that he was still going to do it and as soon as Virgil smiled brightly, Roman knew this was it. His love was waiting for him and all fear left his mind at that one gut-twisting smile.

He fell over, letting out a loud shriek just as planned. He smiled as soon as he plunged into the waters.

Everything happened at once really. One of the guards tried to come after him which took a bit due to needing to take off the armor, at which point, Roman had already started to sink down into the water. Just as soon as his guard hit the surface of the water, Virgil was grabbing onto him, hissing loudly at the guard. Roman started to kick and struggle against Virgil’s hold as he was dragged down faster. He heard Virgil start to sing and he felt his lungs burning. His guard resurfaced for air but Virgil had taken him well away by the time the guard got back underwater.

Virgil swam up above Roman and smiled that warm perfect little smile again. Roman felt alright as Virgil’s lips were on his and he tangled a hand in Virgil’s hair, deepening the kiss.

The pain went away from his lungs as gills grew on the sides of his neck and at his hips. Webbing grew between his fingers. Before he knew it, a solid tail replaced his legs and he ripped off his torn clothes, now fully transformed just as Virgil, Patton, and Logan.

Virgil pulled away with a grin but kept his nose nuzzled to Roman’s.

“Welcome home Roman,” he breathed out gently.

“It’s good to finally be home,” Roman said with a smile, dipping Virgil down for another kiss.

______________________________

A/N: I spent way too long on this. Please let me know what you think. This took entirely too long-

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Taglist: @virgils-paranoia, @marshmallow-the-panda, @anotheregofanficblog, @ambersky0319

[worryinglyinnocent]

Fic: Orchestrations

AU-gust Day Twenty-One: Professional Rivals AU Fandom: Once Upon A Time Pairing: Rumbelle

Rated: T

Summary: The members of Storybrooke Chamber Orchestra are taking bets on how long it will be before sworn rivals Belle French (flute and piccolo) and Cam Gold (cello first chair) finally admit their feelings towards each other…

Orchestrations

The general membership of Storybrooke Chamber Orchestra were not entirely sure how it was possible to have a rivalry across entirely different sections of the orchestra, and they were impressed that Gold and Belle had managed it. 

Rivalries within instruments weren’t uncommon. There was always someone in the first chair leading the section and there was always someone else who wanted to be in that position instead. 

Rivalries within sections weren’t unheard of, although it was usually a friendly rivalry stemming from the fact that the violins got all the good melodies whilst the cellos were stuck with the harmonies. (Pachelbel’s Canon in D was often brought up as an example whenever these arguments occurred.)

Rivalries between sections themselves… These were not as likely unless rehearsals had gone spectacularly wrong and all the sections were blaming each other for the mistakes. Of course, there was always the casual one-upmanship of strings being better than brass or woodwind being better than strings, but deep, personal rivalries? Definitely not as common. 

Which was why the open professional rivalry between flute player Belle and cello player Gold was so much of a mystery to all of their colleagues. 

Several people wondered if it was not so much a rivalry as personal hostility that had been translated into something more professional for the workplace. 

Trombone first chair Cara Mallory, who had been with the orchestra for longer than most of the other members and who knew Gold very well as a result of their longevity in their current positions, had hit upon another idea. 

“I think they’re flirting.”

Rory looked up from cleaning her flute and raised an eyebrow. The two of them were sitting in the auditorium after rehearsals, watching the interplay on the stage between the two rivals. Well, Mal was watching. Rory had decided, ever since she had joined the orchestra two months ago and been initiated into the strange spectacle that was Belle and Gold, that she wasn’t going to get involved. 

Unfortunately, since it appeared to be the most frequent topic of conversation among the other orchestra members, it was getting increasingly hard to remain detached. She did have to admit that there was something intriguing about the whole affair. 

She looked over at Mal, who was still watching Gold and Belle arguing on the stage. From this distance they couldn’t be heard, but if pushed, Rory would admit that it was entertaining. 

“Are they at it again?” Ursula and Carrie came into the auditorium, taking seats next to Mal. “You know, the next time this happens we really ought to bring popcorn. It’s turning into a wonderful comedy of errors.” Carrie sighed. “Do you think we ought to lock them in a cupboard together to get them to admit their feelings for each other? Then it really would be something out of a film.”

Ursula rolled her eyes. “For at least the fifteenth time, Carrie, no. I’m sure that they’ll come to the realisation that they’re madly in love with each other in their own time. Well, madly in lust at least. The UST is almost palpable.”

“But waiting is so boring!” Carrie groaned as she flopped back in her seat, staring at the ceiling for a while. “I want to start planning their wedding now!”

Mal laughed. “Carrie, don’t you have your own wedding to plan?” Ursula cleared her throat pointedly, and Carrie waved the concerns away.

“Yes, yes, that’s all in hand. That planning is done. Now I need something more! Besides, I don’t think that Belle and Gold would want the kind of nuptials that I’ve been working on for me and Ursula. It would be a challenge to come up with something that suits them both.”

“Anyone would think that you were a professional party planner rather than playing the violin for a living.”

“It always pays to have an extra string to your bow, if you’ll pardon the pun.”

“Are they at it again?” This time Mulan had come into the auditorium, sitting down next to Rory. “Can we draw straws as to who yells ‘just kiss you morons’ at them?”

“No one will be yelling anything at them!” Ursula was getting increasingly frantic. “We need to leave them alone or we’ll scare them off! Whatever happened to watching things in their natural habitat and not interfering? You lot would make the worst naturalists ever. I said naturalists, Carrie, not naturists.” 

Ursula buried her head in her hands as Carrie continued to snigger. 

On stage, whatever the latest feud between Gold and Belle was had finished and Belle had walked off whilst Gold was fastening his cello case. Presently he looked up and saw the gathered crowd in the auditorium, giving a visible sigh. 

“Mal, you’ve got to stop this,” he called. “And you’ve got to stop encouraging everyone else as well.”

“I’ll stop watching you when you stop being such a wonderful spectator sport.” Mal smiled beatifically and Gold stomped angrily off the stage. Carrie sighed. 

“Well, it looks like the show’s over for today.”

With the entertainment over, people started leaving the auditorium, although Rory stayed where she was, mainly because Mal was giving her a lift home and Mal was showing no inclination to move. A couple of minutes later, the two of them were alone again when Gold came out, leaving his cello on the bottom step and trudging up to meet them.

“One of these days I’m going to get back at you for all this,” he said. “I don’t know how yet, but mark my words, it will happen.”

Mal just patted his shoulder. “I know, Gold. You say that every time we catch you playing slap-slap kiss-kiss with Belle. Although you haven’t quite made it to the kissing part yet. I’m sure you’ll get there soon enough though.”

Gold stared at Mal with a very affronted look on his face. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Mal rolled her eyes. “Come off it, Gold. It’s blindingly obvious that you both have a crush on each other and you’re trying to hide it by bickering all the time instead. Rory will back me up here.”

Rory threw her arms up in defence. “I’m staying out of it.” All the same, she was very intrigued to hear what Gold and Belle’s thoughts on the situation were. She just didn’t want to be the one to initiate that conversation. Mal, apparently, knew no fear and was very content to keep poking her friend.

“Gold, of all the people to pick fights with, why would you choose a flautist? You cannot have a rivalry with an instrument you can’t play that lives on the opposite side of the orchestra to you.”

“It’s not the instrument that’s the problem, it’s the player,” Gold muttered.

“Hmm. And what exactly is the problem with Belle French?” Mal was evidently very amused by the turn that the conversation was taking; Rory could see how hard she was trying not to laugh.

“She’s just so… so…”

“Beautiful? Witty? Not putting up with any of your nonsense? One of the only people able to go toe to toe with you when you get into one of your moods? Although, you know, I think you’d both get on a lot better if you started talking and stopped just needling each other. Face it, you’re perfect for each other.”

“We are not!” Gold spluttered. “Besides, she probably thinks I’m just some curmudgeonly old man with outdated ideas about orchestra composition, I don’t stand a chance.”

“So, you admit that firstly, you’re a curmudgeonly old man, secondly, you care about what Belle thinks of you, and thirdly, you would like to be in with a chance?”

Gold opened his mouth to say something in his defence, but under the force of Mal’s knowing smile, he visibly crumpled. “Ugh. Yes. Fine. I like Belle French, but we got off on the wrong foot on her first day, so I’ve been forced to keep the charade up ever since. There, are you happy now?”

“Perfectly.” Mal reached out and patted his arm. “Just tell her how you feel, Cam. I’m sure that you can get it all worked out.”

“I can’t if she hates me,” Gold pointed out. “The rivalry does go both ways, you know.”

“Oh, I know. I know. Believe me, we all know. We’ve been watching it for months now, and you’re not the only one we’ve been watching. I think you might be pleasantly surprised by how easy it’ll be to get yourselves straight if you actually have a normal conversation for once.”

Gold sighed. “Are you sure? I very much like playing for this orchestra and I don’t want to have to leave in embarrassment because I can’t face the flute section having laid my heart on my sleeve and had it trampled on.”

Mal rolled her yes. “You are the most dramatic person I know; did you know that? And I know Carrie de Ville, so that’s saying something. You’ll be fine. Trust me. Besides, Rory here happens to sit next to Belle in rehearsals so I’m sure that she can sound out her feelings in the same way that we have sounded out yours.”

“Stop bringing me into this!” Rory protested. Although, that said, having heard one half of the story, she was very intrigued to hear Belle’s point of view. Maybe she could get Mulan to help her tomorrow. The idea of locking the two of them in a cupboard together seemed to be looking ever more likely if they were ever going to get to the bottom of this.

X

“Belle.”

“Yes?”

“You and Gold.”

“Yes, what about us?”

“What’s going on there?”

It was the next day and Mulan had readily agreed to help Rory to work out what was going on between Belle and Gold from Belle’s perspective. As aloof as Gold could be at times, he really was a brilliant cellist, and no one actually wanted him to leave the orchestra as a result of romantic humiliation.

“What do you mean? There’s nothing going on there, why would there be, you know we don’t get alone, it’s a professional rivalry, there’s nothing more, it’s just what you see.”

Belle had gone distinctly pink and was avoiding everyone’s eyes as they set up on the woodwind section. Rory saw the moment that her eyes glanced over to Gold in strings and then quickly back to her own instrument on her lap.

“Belle, you can admit that you fancy him,” Mulan said, completely matter of fact. “I think it’s been obvious to everyone for a while now that you keep fighting with each other in an attempt to hide your feelings for each other. Wouldn’t it make life a whole lot easier if everything was out in the open and you didn’t have to keep bickering all the time? You could get onto much nicer things. Like kissing and hand-holding and all the other more licentious aspects of dating. We’d have a true orchestral romance on our hands, like Carrie and Ursula.”

Belle sighed. “Do you really think that would work? I mean, he’s him, and I’m me, and we’ve been on each other’s nerves for so long now that it would look strange for me to now turn around and say that actually, my feelings towards him are very different to the impression he’s been working with for the last few months.”

Rory shook her head. “No, I really think you’ll be fine. Honestly.”

“Honestly?” Belle raised an eyebrow. “Do you have some kind of insider information that I don’t?”

“Well, remember that Gold is good friends with Mal, and Mal is currently my taxi service whilst my bike gets fixed.”

Belle looked from Rory to Mal to Gold in such quick succession that Rory was concerned she’d get whiplash. For a long while, nothing was said, and even when she spoke again, the only word out of her mouth was ‘right’.

At that point, the conductor arrived, and all notions of professional rivalries becoming professional romances were put to the side as rehearsals began.

X

Despite the fact that, for once, there was nothing happening on the stage, there was still an air of anticipation among those who were hanging around in the auditorium, Rory, Mulan and Mal among them.

“I think I ought to start taking bets,” Mal announced presently. “Who thinks that they’ll make a move tonight, and who thinks that they’ll get cold feet and wait a bit longer?”

“Well, whatever happens, we’re hardly going to see it if we’re in here, are we?” Carrie sighed. “Why are we all in here instead of wherever they are?”

Ursula batted her arm. “We’re giving them some peace and quiet in which to make their anguished declarations of love. I think that’s best done without an audience.”

“We had an audience,” Carrie said.

“Yes, but that’s because you never do anything by halves. Although I do have to admit that proposing on the conductor’s rostrum was a nice touch, as embarrassing as it was at the time.”

“Hey, you said yes. It can’t have been that embarrassing.”

“IT’S HAPPENING!”

Jefferson raced into the auditorium, no mean feat whilst dragging a double bass along with him, and he waved the gathered group frantically towards the theatre foyer. “All systems are go, we have lift off, it’s happening!”

Everyone looked at each other for a moment before there was a mass exodus from the auditorium, everyone grabbing their instruments and rushing out into the foyer, where Gold and Belle were locked in a kiss that could under no circumstances be classed as chaste.

Rory was not quite sure who started the cheering, but it was probably Carrie and if not her then Mal. Soon everyone was swept up in it, but despite the racket, Belle and Gold didn’t appear to have noticed.

“Well, it took them long enough,” Mal said. “All in all, I think we orchestrated that quite nicely.”

Rory could only agree

[houseofhurricane]

ACOTAR Fic: Bloom & Bone (3/32) | Elain x Tamlin, Lucien x Vassa

Summary: Elain lies about a vision and winds up as the Night Court’s emissary to the Spring Court, trying to prevent the Dread Trove from falling into the wrong hands and wrestling with the gifts the Cauldron imparted when she was Made. Lucien, asked to join her, must contend with secrets about his mating bond. Meanwhile, Tamlin struggles to lead the Spring Court in the aftermath of the war with Hybern. And Vassa, the human queen in their midst, wrestles with the enchantment that turns her into a firebird by day, robbing her of the power of speech and human thought. Looming over all of them is uniquet peace in Prythian and the threat of Koschei, the death-god with unimaginable power. With powers both magical and monstrous, the quartet at the Spring Court will have to wrestle with their own natures and the evil that surrounds them. Will the struggle save their world, or doom it?

A/N: Honestly, this chapter might just be a celebration of my love for Lucien and Vassa, and I'm okay with that. Also, Lucien briefly quotes Manon from Throne of Glass early in this chapter, because I couldn't resist. You can find all chapters here.

Lucien is inside Vassa when he hears the growl outside the window. He succeeds in not cursing, not wanting the queen sprawled on the bed below him to think he’s at all distracted. Her bronze skin picking up the luster of the candles and her hair its own firelight, spread across the pillow, her lips open as she moans, scrabbles her fingers on his back, pulls him closer. As much as he adores Vassa in the middle of a clever conversation, outsmarting everyone around, he prefers her in this wordless state.

Lucien decides that Tamlin can wait, and runs his thumb against Vassa’s lower lip, thrusts inside her until she stifles her moans into his hand.

She rises from the bed within minutes, not wanting to waste her hours in human form, and he follows her, adjusting his jacket as he winnows to the grounds of the Greysen manor, his mechanical eye whirling in search of Tamlin.

“You’re sure the human queen hasn’t enchanted you?” his old friend asks, prowling out of the shadows. Lucien decides that pointing out the irony of the statement would be unwise.

“I’m surprised you were allowed past the gate,” he says instead.

“You’d be surprised at how easy it is to scare a human.” Tamlin glances at the backs of his hands, as if he’s not sure whether the claws are still visible. After all the conversations Lucien has had with him in his beast form, he supposes it’s a reasonable concern. “And I’m surprised to see you’ve given up on your mate so easily. I’d thought you’d be a model of courtly love.”

Lucien does his best to look mollified. He has told many lies in his life, dancing between truth and half-truth and truth’s opposite so nimbly that he considered his lies blessed by the Mother herself. After centuries, what’s most embarrassing is that he assumed these lies would always come easily to him and slip away with no resistance.

Then came Hybern, the Cauldron, and the dozens of golden threads Lucien watched form between Tamlin and the newly-Fae Elain Archeron, the mating bond so clear he wondered why he was the only one who could see it, though such uncanny sightings were not unusual for him, especially with his new eye.

Within seconds, Lucien had known what would happen if the bond was revealed. Feyre would never let her sister go to the Spring Court. Rhysand -- Feyre’s true mate, Lucien knew, could not reveal to Tamlin for fear of the resulting furious explosion, a regret that had already lit a fire in his gut -- would go to war over the weeping girl, more and more luminous with each tear that spilled from her sweet brown eyes. Prythian would be shattered, invaded from both coasts. And Tamlin would be destroyed. He’d gone to battle with the Night Court over the woman he loved and doomed his actual mate to kidnapping and the Cauldron, trauma and a life she’d never wanted, a cosmic joke that would have been funny if Lucien had read it in an epic poem written millenia before.

The lie, then, was easy.

You’re my mate, he’d told Elain, the shock and wonder and horror true as anything else in his long and miserable life.

Lucien had been sure that Tamlin would confront him, raging about the fact that Lucien had claimed the female who the Mother had given to Tamlin himself. But Tamlin had only doted over Feyre, stalked his lands, conspired with Ianthe and Hybern, and Lucien had been forced to keep up the lie to everybody. It had not been difficult to leave the Spring Court with Feyre, despite everything, and though the constant rejection from Elain had been grating, the smug disinterest of the Night Court an annoyance that gnawed at his very core, Lucien found that these discomforts were bearable, at least in the beginning. Even the times Feyre pried into her mind and he had to cloak his thoughts did not bother him as much as he would have thought. He’d dealt with worse. It was the span of the deception that rankled, the fact that Tamlin never seemed to realize he’d met his mate, that Elain had fallen into love or else infatuation with Azriel when there were both real and imagined bonds pulling her elsewhere. The stream of invitations from the Night Court, trying to pair Lucien and Elain together. Gradually Lucien realized that he was the only one who knew the substance of his lie, the only one who’d even glimpsed the truth.

And of course Vassa had only complicated the situation further. He’d tried for months to stay away, if not for an imaginary love story with a woman who did not want him, for the sake of Prythian, for the sake of all involved. He’d even thought that Vassa and Jurian would anger each other enough to wind up lovers, and once he lived with them in their Band of Exiles, breaking up their constant arguments had left him feeling dried and worn. If he hadn’t been used to being overlooked, it would have been a blow: considering the way Vassa burned bright in either form, her mind always analyzing a situation on a dozen levels but her mouth often blurting out the truth as she saw it, refined just enough by her confidence for diplomacy. Her lips twin rose petals, her words the thorns bent on ensnaring lesser minds and beings in her net. She was beautiful, of course, but her mind was gorgeous. His fear and regard for Koschei and the other human queens were predicated on the fact that the death-god could have imprisoned such a woman.

Last month they’d talked late into the night, the embers of the fire giving her face a fragile golden outline, and it occurred to Lucien that he and Azriel and Rhysand were no closer to determining the breaking of Vassa’s enchantment, that she might live out the rest of her life under this imprisonment. And still her whole face brightened with their conversation, about the latest innovations in the Dawn Court and their potential implications for Prythian and the human realms, Scythia in particular. How lovely her amber eyes were, lit with her hope and intelligence, the curve of clavicle shaded by the night. Lucien had been certain that he’d never met someone less deserving of her curse, and still she dreamed of the ways in which she might aid her kingdom on her return.

He’d taken a step toward her, another, pressed his lips to her cheekbone, gentle and slow, giving her a chance to pull away. Instead she smiled and said I was hoping you’d get the idea, and so he kissed the curve of her jaw, the curves of her ear, until she’d reached out for him and pulled his mouth to her, her tongue on the seam of his lips within seconds, their bodies flush against each other.

Despite the month they’ve spent in and out of each other's beds, Lucien hasn’t told her about the lie. As far as he can tell, Vassa thinks she is a second choice, or a rebellion against the Mother’s wisdom. He cannot risk a daemati peering inside Vassa’s open human mind and learning this secret, and in spite of this, the lie burns most heavily on him when he’s with her, so that, despite decades of training himself in deceit, he has almost revealed the truth to Vassa a dozen times.

“My mate has centuries to come around to the idea of me,” he says now, trying to sound sly instead of weary, “but I find the prospect of this wait no longer holds much appeal. What brings you to the human lands tonight, Tam?”

“Rhysand wants you in my court, along with Vassa. He’s sending your Elain as his emissary and thinks she requires protection.”

Matchmaking aunt Rhysand, Lucien thinks, scrubbing a hand over his face. The scent of Vassa’s skin still on his fingers.

“And you allowed this?” he asks instead, playing for time.

“You know that Rhysand only begins his strategies with polite requests. I’d wake up one morning to an invasion.”

“I can be at your estate tomorrow.”

“In a week.”

“Why the delay?” Lucien has never known Rhysand to bide his time. Once a plan is put in motion, there are no delays. Even if he’s grateful for the reprieve. He does not know what he will say to Vassa, or Elain.

“Apparently my estate requires renovations.” For the first time in years, Tamlin’s face is rueful, a surprising expression after so much rage and sorrow and self-pity. “The most crucial will be completed in that time. Your mate has claimed my gardens and will begin installing flowers. The Morrigan is winnowing her.”

Lucien weighs the possibility of telling the truth right then, telling Tamlin that the female in his gardens is his own mate, that there is a reason his voice goes soft, approaches tender, when he speaks of her. But this is the best he’s seen Tamlin look since before Amarantha appeared on their lands, the first time it’s been easy for Lucien to remember why he’d always liked the High Lord of Spring in spite of more recent evidence to the contrary. Perhaps Tamlin will realize the truth on his own.

“I’ll be at your estate as you request.”

“Make sure you wash the smell of the human queen off before you arrive.”

“Her name is Vassa,” Lucien snarls, a brief unleashing of his temper.

“While I have no interest in who is in your bed, you know that Rhysand would not accept the slight to his court so easily.” Tamlin is trying to help, Lucien knows, but he’s been stalking the forests for so long that he does not realize Lucien has had three meetings with Rhysand since the first night with Vassa, preceded by scrubbing and spells that leave him raw and nearly without scent.

“Perhaps it would be a relief to Elain.” He’s reaching, the lie too heavy for his shoulders when he imagines where he’ll be in seven days. Already he’s forming a plan for every night until he must appear at the Spring Court with Vassa.

“Females generally like to do the leaving, I find.”

“You sound ridiculous when you speak that way,” Lucien says, giving the words a breath of laughter to soften them. He is pushing as he never did before, but instead of bristling, Tamlin sighs.

“I used to think I understood this world,” he says, and Lucien thinks that now, with so many befores to consider, for once he does not know the story Tamlin’s telling himself.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vassa knows that something’s wrong as soon as she finds Lucien back in bed. Generally he spends his nights awake with her, sleeping in the pockets of time when he’s not needed elsewhere in Prythian. Now he’s sprawled on the mattress, jacket discarded on the headboard, his breathing too light for sleep.

“Who summoned you?” she asks, knowing that he’s more likely to tell her than if she asks what’s wrong?

“We’re both expected in the Spring Court in a week. Elain Archeron will be there as well.” He mutters the words into the quilt so that Vassa has to lean closer to him. He forgets, sometimes, that she has only human ears.

“Why would Tamlin need me at his estate?” She does not point out that much of his estate lacks intact walls or windows, that its High Lord was the building’s principal destroyer. These facts only poke a would inside of Lucien, and so she holds her tongue.

“Rhys wants us there.”

“More questions about Koschei, then.” She’s told the Night Court all she knows, unless the sorcerer took her memories, in which case Vassa wishes he’d remove the more painful of her recollections, the horrors of the life she lived imprisoned on his lake.

“Azriel has been investigating. Maybe there’s a way to break the enchantment on you.” He reaches out for her hand and traces the lines of her fingers. Vassa holds back a shiver of anticipation, knows that he will hardly touch her as soon as they’re in the Spring Court. Six nights together, perhaps the last that they will ever spend, if the enchantment is somehow lifted and she’s able to go back to her own country. These years in Prythian were always meant to end.

“Tamlin knows I’ll need a place that cannot burn?”

“I’ll show you all the lakes the Spring Court has to offer. You can choose your favorite.”

“I’d prefer a new location every day, I think.” She reaches out for him until she’s lying next to him, letting the warmth of his body still her whirling mind. So many hours pass every day where she cannot think like a human, where she’s trapped inside the body and mind of an animal, and although she’s managed to gain some control over the firebird, the most gutting loss is her own right mind, its familiar quicksilver darting, so that it seems to work in triple time whenever she’s human again. The mind of the firebird is slower and angrier than Vassa has ever allowed herself to be. The anger of a queen is deadly, and she has always been mindful of her citizens, how best to rule them.

“You know it’s you I want to be with, don’t you?” He props his cheek on his hand, gazing at her, and Vassa raises her eyebrows. The mating bond between the High Fae is the stuff of legends, stronger than love or fear or desire.

“I could never marry you,” she says, meeting his russet eyes only because she’s been so immaculately trained since childhood. “I need to return to my country as soon as I can.”

“It’s not as if I’m bound to Prythian.”

She rolls her eyes at him. “You are employed by half the High Lords and held in high esteem by nearly all. I don’t think you’d know what to do if your days weren’t filled with counsels and entreaties and schemes.”

“Plenty of schemes to hatch in the human lands.” He reaches for a lock of her hair, wraps the tendril around his finger until she’s so close there’s nothing to do but kiss.

“What about your mate?” she asks, after a kiss long enough to make most females, Fae or human, forget the thread of the conversation.

“I do believe she will survive.” He pulls her toward him again, this time working at the fastenings of her dress, the corset beneath, and all the while Vassa thinks, even while she runs her fingers against his copper skin, that this cruelty towards his mate seems so incongruous with everything else she knows about Lucien. She does not flatter herself that he has fallen in love with her. They have known each other for three years now, hardly a moment in his long life, shared beds for only a month. Soon he will forget all about her, Vassa is certain. And perhaps a certain amount of longing is dignified for a queen, helps her to understand the plight of her citizens, the secret sufferings in their own hearts.

If she had more time these days for contemplation, Vassa would have a chance to realize that she’s deluding herself. Still, she presses herself to Lucien until they’re barely more than heated skin and ragged breaths.

[bxthharmon]

White Butterflies, pt iv || Hvitserk Lothbrok x Reader

Words: 2174

Warnings: Mentions of violence and storms? 

Summary: The ships prepare to leave

A/N: Took a while, but i hope it’s not toooooo bad lmao

i | ii | iii | iv | v

This story doesn’t follow the plot, so you don’t have to know the story to understand it.

You lay under the furs, warmed by your husband, who had wrapped himself around your waist during the night, his hand slipped under your nightgown, and soft snores escaping him. You stroked his hair, content with the view of the viking’s face, and with your new life. A month had passed, and the frost had broken, the spring arrived, and the boats had been built. The ships would be leaving tomorrow, and it almost broke your heart to know that you would be alone for the next months. First light was yet to arrive, and the only sound in the camp was the shuffling and whispering of the thralls, beginning to make the day’s meals and ready the supplies for the next day's ships. You closed your eyes, hearing the first birds begin to call, and the sleeping man on your chest slowly opened his eyes, a soft smile adorning his lips.

“Mornin’ beautiful,” he murmured, propping himself up on his elbows, staring down at you, “I don’t wanna get up.” he complained.

You wrapped an arm around his neck, “Then don’t,” you kissed his nose, “they don’t need you yet.”

“Mmm,” he smiled, “consider me convinced,” he leaned down and kissed you softly, rolling you on top of him. You went for a kiss, but were distracted by the sound of a knock on your door. Sighing, you sat up, still straddling him, and he rolled his eyes, “Yes?” he called.

One of the thralls, Solveig, came in, timidly, and you rolled off of Hvitserk’s lap. “King Ivar asks that you come to the Great Hall immediately, my Prince.”

“Ah,” he sighed, sitting up and swinging his legs off of the bed, “I’ll be there soon,” you watched the thrall leave, and then you both began to dress. “Come with me to the hall?” he pleaded.

“So I can watch you talk of battle with your brothers?” you asked, not convinced, “They are… violent company.”

“But after tomorrow I won’t get to see you for so long,” he put his hands on your hips, pulling you closer, “I want to spend as much time with you as possible.”

You blushed, “Fine,” you agreed, “but I’m leaving if I get bored.”

“Y/N?” Geoffrey asked, “Are you paying attention?”

You drew your gaze away from the window, “Of course, Brother.”

He looked at you skeptically, and turned back to your father, who was showing him a map. In truth, this meeting had no connection to you, but Father insisted you come, given that you needed to know how to rule countries if you were to marry well. Arthur looked across the table at you, full of scorn.

“Father,” He spoke, still staring at you, “Given that our sister is a woman, she shall never be concerned with how to strategize an attack.” Arthur’s eyes showed a familiar, hateful glint, and you knew he’d do anything to stop you from being here.

“Your sister is almost as good at strategy as you are, and better than Geoffrey or Theodore.” he glanced at you, “I admit, it’s… unorthodox, but given her skill, we might as well make use of it, before we no longer can.”

Before you were married off like cattle, you thought. “Father,” you said, suddenly feeling uneasy, almost like you were going to throw up right then and there, “Arthur is right, it’s improper for me to be here. May I take my leave?”

“Of course,” your father looked at you stonily, his eyes suddenly full of contempt. “Go to your mother.”

You slipped out of the room, nausea filling you, making you double over. The idea of marrying a stranger made you feel disgusted. All of your ladies in waiting had stories of women forced to marry men as old as their fathers, with furious tempers and large bellies from too much wine and a taste for things they had long outgrown. You had just passed your thirteenth summer, and you knew you only had a year or two more before such men began to make offers. Perhaps less, people were already offering betrothals and alliances for when you came of age, and the thought of marrying a stranger made you want to vomit.

You leaned against the large, stone arch you stood by, and thought of your parents. Your father, almost at his sixtieth birthday, and your mother, coming up to her fortieth. You couldn’t marry a man two whole decades older, the thought bringing on another wave of nausea. Sighing, you walked down the hall, passing through the archways and past the tapestries. You reached the doors of the castle, and went down to the gardens. The summer flowers were wilting, and the first leaves were beginning to fall. 

If you were spring, surely your husband would be in the autumn of his life. Older, beginning to fall away.

*

You looked at Solveig, and offered her some bread, but she shook her head.

“Come on,” you tried to persuade her, “just have some bread. You’ll be stuck with me for months, you might as well be my friend.”

“My Princess,” She sighed, “I couldn't possibly.”

“I command you.” you said, and she sighed, taking the bread. “So,” you turned to her, “the men leave tomorrow,” you pointed out, “anyone you’ll miss?”

“Princess, I couldn’t discuss this with you.” she blushed.

“Two things, don’t call me ‘Princess’, it’s just Y/N.” you smiled, “And secondly, I had these Ladies back at my old court, and we always used to discuss these things, I won’t tell!”

“There is someone…” she started, and at your excited look, she blushed.

“Oh, do tell,” you said, “Please, I’ve had no one to talk of these things with, tell me.”

“I couldn’t…”

“Is it someone I know?” you frowned, thinking of who it could be, and by the look of her face, it was. “Solveig, I’ll find out.”

“Please,” she begged, “this is embarrassing.”

“I don’t want to embarrass you,” you said, “If you wish to stop talking of it, we can.”

You looked out to the sea, and to the many ships in the harbour, filling the fjord with majestic beauty. You looked at the ground beneath you, damp and muddy, sprouts of grass shooting up, a reminder of the coming summer. You watched as ants crawled over the patchy grass, towards their nest. You looked around and felt dread filling you.

“My Princess,” Solveig called, concerned, “Is everything okay?” you looked back at her.

“Are there usually ants by the docks?” you asked, and she shook her head.

“Ants.” whispered your mother.

“Mother?” you asked, “It’s just an ants nest, one of the travellers from the south said there are these ones in-”

“Shush,” she said, worry written all over her face, “Your father’s hunt must not take place.”

“Why?” you asked, “Because of the ants?”

“Bad weather is coming,” she said, pulling her cloak tighter around herself, “Ants only work like this when a storm approaches.”

You frowned. Your mother was a superstitious person, and had taught you to always pay attention to the signs God sent you, and while your brothers took no heed of her warnings, you had never seen her predictions to be incorrect. It scared you.

“We must go to find the King.” you said, and Solveig nodded.

“He’s with Prince Ubbe, I believe,” she said, “In the Hall.”

You walked with her there, and entered to see all of the Ragnarssons, Hvitserk standing to greet you with a kiss. You looked at his brothers, spread around a map, discussing plans of attack. “You cannot sail tomorrow.” You addressed them, and Ivar stood abruptly.

“Why?” Bjorn asked, and you saw the skeptical stares of the brothers.

“There were ants, by the docks.” You said, and by the look on their faces, you realised they must not have been taught the same superstitions as you, “Every time I ever saw ants’ nests, a storm has come. Bad ones.” you explained.

“We’re not basing our raid off of Christian superstitions.” Ivar said, glaring at you.

“There was this one time,” you said, “When I was fourteen. The night before my brother and father went on an outing to Francia, a friendly one, for a marriage, I found this huge ant’s nest. They left that morning, and the next thing we heard was that there was a huge storm as they sailed. They barely escaped alive. I’m not saying this to stop the raid, I’m saying it to try and help you.”

Ivar leaned forwards, trying to stare you down, but you were stubborn, and you held his stare. “We sail tomorrow, and that will not change because of a Christian superstition or because you will miss your husband.”

“Brother,” Hvitserk objected, “there have been many hints to a storm, and it would be unwise. Perhaps you should not dismiss-”

“Do not fight me on this.” Ivar said.

You must have met a hundred men like Ivar, who had taken a throne by force, and felt invincible because of it. You had heard the stories, he rarely lost a fight, and any anger he already had was acted upon, he felt superior, apparently he had even declared himself a god. You remembered men like this who had offered you a hand in marriage, and you wondered how he would fall, in the end. 

*

“I tried.” Hvitserk said, later that evening. He was worried, you could see it plainly on his face and in his body language. He sat, staring into the hearth, while you busied yourself arranging his things for the ships in the morning. “Ivar’s stubborn, and I fear he may be wrong.”

You sat down next to him, and he turned his head to you, “Tomorrow will not be the last time I see your face.” you assured him, “Nor will it be the last time I see Ivar’s or Ubbe’s. You’ll come back, I can feel it. But this raid will not be the end to this. Ivar’s breaking an agreement, it will be taken seriously by my family.”

“I hope that is true.” he whispered, your faces only inches apart, eyes searching each other.

“Can you promise me something?” you muttered.

“Of course,” you saw further concern paint his face.

“If you get into the castle, and you are given the opportunity to kill my family, do what you will with them, but please, leave Theo.” you pleaded, and he nodded.

“Theo,” he repeated, “the youngest one?”

“Mm,” you agreed, “he’s the only good one.”

He chuckled softly, kissing you gently, “My love,” he murmured, “I will leave for months now,” he kissed you again, “let us not think of anyone outside of this room.”

“Of course, my Dear.” you kissed him again.

*

The harbour was teaming with people from the moment the first hints of light crept over the horizon. People bringing dried foods, shields and weapons. Final checks on the boats and the plans took place all morning, and then people started to hung, some to cry, as the final hour before departure dawned. Bjorn was first to wish you a farewell.

“Y/N,” he said as he pulled you in, “I’ll bring him back to you, I promise.”

You thanked him, and told him to stay safe. Ubbe came next, hugging you and telling you that you would rule well while everyone was away. In turn, you told him to fight well. Torvi followed, offering to teach you to fight upon her return.

“I’d love to, but I’m not sure it’s my forte.” you’d replied, promising to keep her children safe.

Ivar surprised you with his arrival, and had told you that if any harm became of Kattegat your life would pay. You’d laughed, it was more of a home than anywhere else, but you struck a deal with him, ensuring your brother’s safety and Kattegat’s. 

He looked you over, and said “Stay safe.” before leaving quickly.

You thought that might be the kindest he ever got, and chuckled to yourself. You wondered where Hvitserk was, he’d left before the first light, and few had seen him since. You watched as people began to board the boats. You stood there, on the docks, waiting. 

Your furs were tickling your neck, pushed by the harsh winds, but still protecting you. A hand touched your waist, and you saw him for the first time that day. Hvitserk smiled when he saw you, gently pushing a fallen tendril of hair away from your eye, and tucking it behind your ear. He kissed your temple, and then your forehead, and then your lips as you lifted your head to face him properly. You closed your eyes, dread washing over you. “I don’t want you to go.”

“I’ll be back in a few moons,” he whispered, “And every battle, I fight for you.”

“Well then fight well, I need you back here.” you murmured, kissing him again. 

He leaned his forehead to yours, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

tags: @soleil-dor​ @siliethkaijuy​