#and I know my brothers’ mums would’ve been at me over it if I had

[lucielovekj]

Oh yeah I was like I’m gonna be a good grownup human and not be too weird at my brother’s wedding and not wear my mlp dream castle bag even tho it would match perfectly and then I got there and someone at the wedding literally had the freakin dream castle bag.

What are the odds.

[petitemistletoe]

Grudges

Pairing: Regulus Black x Reader, Potter!Reader

Warnings: angst!

Word Count: 6.2K+

A/N: Alright listen I am a Lily Evans stan through and through but she does not come across the greatest in this fic

“Stop biting your nails,” Regulus nudged you lightly. 

“Sorry,” you said sheepishly, “I just hope the first term went well for Celeste. I’ve missed her so much.” You rested your head on Regulus’s shoulder. 

“Celeste sent us about a thousand owls with updates. She’s fine! Plus she’s had Milo with her.” Regulus made a good point. Your daughter, Celeste, had started her first year at Hogwarts at the same time as her cousin Milo.

“Where are Sirius and Remus anyway?” You asked, glancing at your watch, “The train is going to be in any minute now.”

As if on cue, you saw Sirius and Remus running through King’s Cross. Remus was carrying an empty carseat and Sirius was balancing a baby in his arms. They made their way over to your spot on the platform and were breathing heavily. 

“Someone,” Sirius panted, “take the baby so I can have a moment to collapse.”

“Give me my delicious little nephew,” you grinned, taking the baby from Sirius and giving his chubby cheek a little kiss, “how are you Teddy?”

Teddy gurgled in response and wrapped a chubby hand around a strand of your hair. 

“Why exactly are you two so late?” Regulus quirked an eyebrow at his brother. 

“You know how it is, baby stuff.” Remus explained, setting the carseat on the ground and taking Teddy back from you.

“Sirius take too long looking at himself in the mirror?” Regulus chuckled. 

“You laugh but it’s under the shroud of wicked jealousy,” Sirius deadpanned. 

“Can you believe that our kids are first years! It feels like we graduated just yesterday,” you reminisced, threading your arm through Sirius’ and resting your head on his shoulder. 

“They’ll be here any minute now!” Sirius grinned, looking at the wave of students getting off the train. 

“Sirius! It’s your turn, Teddy needs to be changed.” Remus was now holding Teddy at arms length, his nose wrinkled. 

“Oh no,” Sirius peaked at Teddy’s diaper, “Moony this is a two man job. You guys mind waiting for Milo while we fix this?”

“Go for it,” you waved the boys off. You and Regulus were making idle chit chat until a body slammed into you. You looked down and saw the nicely styled brown and black curls and knew it could only have been your nephew.

“Hi Milo,” you said, pressing a kiss to his head. 

“Hey Auntie! Have you seen my dads?” He asked, pulling away and hugging Regulus. 

“They’re in the bathroom changing Teddy. Have you seen my daughter?” You responded. 

“She’s coming. Her and Harry were saying goodbye to Ron and Hermione at the front of the platform.” Milo shrugged. Your blood ran cold. 

“Harry?” You asked. Before Milo could respond you saw Celeste skipping towards you.

“Mum! Dad!” Celeste gave you and Regulus a giant hug. 

“Celeste! I want to hear all about your term,” you said with a giant grin. 

“Sure Mum! I want you to meet one of the greatest friends I made. He’s actually one of Milo’s childhood friends.” Celeste stepped back and revealed Harry standing behind her. Even if you hadn’t recognized the name you would’ve know that Harry was James’s son. Harry was the spitting image of James, save for his eyes. His eyes were the same color as Lily’s. 

“Hi! I’m Harry Potter, it’s nice to meet you Mrs. Black, Mr. Black.” Harry extended his hand to you and Regulus. Regulus had the same gobsmacked expression that you did and he swallowed harshly before saying, 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Harry. I understand that you and Celeste have become fast friends.” 

“Yes! I’ve known Milo my entire life so he introduced Celeste and I. Milo’s fathers are actually my father’s two closest friends. You might know him, James Potter?” Harry asked. 

“Uh, yes. We were in school at the same time as your father.” Regulus said, diplomatically. 

“Really?” Harry asked. Before you could continue any further Sirius and Remus returned. 

“There’s my godson!” Sirius laughed, wrapping Harry in a tight hug. 

“He hugs Harry before he hugs his own son.” Milo rolled his eyes as he hugged Remus and gave his baby brother a kiss on the forehead. 

“There’s my boy.” Sirius lifted Milo of the ground in a grandiose show of affection. 

“Where are your parents, Harry?” Remus asked. 

“Around here somewhere I’m sure.” Harry scanned through the throng of people. He disappeared off and you felt like you could breathe again. 

“Alright, love, do you have all your things?” You asked Celeste, running a hand over your daughter’s head, “Regulus grab her trunk.”

“Did you make the Christmas fudge mum?” Celeste asked. 

“Three trays of it.” You grinned, pinching Celeste’s cheek. 

“Oh Auntie your fudge is the greatest! Dad can we go over to Celeste’s and have some?” Milo asked Remus. 

“Why not? You know I have a soft spot for chocolate.” Remus laughed as he tried to juggle both the car seat and Milo’s trunk. 

“Give me the baby and give the car seat to Sirius.” You said. Remus went to hand you Teddy but tutted, “Other side, Remus. My shoulder.” You swapped sides and then took Teddy from Remus’ arms and balanced him on your hip. 

You were making your way out of the train station when Harry was running back towards you all, a giant smile on his face.

“Alright Harry?” Celeste asked.

“Yeah, yeah. I wanted to introduce our parents. Mr. And Mrs. Black these are my parents James and Lily Potter.” Harry stepped back to reveal his parents. You felt like the wind had been knocked out of you. 

“James.” You said, cooly. 

“It’s been a while.” James’s tone was as icy as yours. 

“Well we should get going,” Lily said diplomatically. 

“Yes! Yes. Good to see you. Have a happy Christmas!” Regulus pushed Celeste away before the conversation could progress any further. 

Luckily for you all, Celeste forgot all about encounter by the time she got home, had a tin of fudge, and played with her little brother Atlas who had been in private lessons when you all were at the train station. Atlas and Celeste were sleeping peacefully, now, and you were thinking about James as you got in bed next to Regulus. 

“Love?” Regulus shook you from your thoughts. 

“Yes darling?” 

“I was saying that Narcissa called and wants to have tea tomorrow and get all the children together.” Regulus said. 

“Oh, sure Reg.” You nodded.

“Thinking about James?” 

“You know me so well,” you laughed softly, “it just caught me off-guard…seeing him again.” 

“I know. Are you alright?”

“It’s weird, right? Harry and Celeste being friends.” You asked, rubbing your shoulder. 

“Yeah, a good weird though. I think we should consider the possibility of telling them that they are related. They deserve to know and it’ll only be worse if they find it out on their own.” Regulus ran his thumb over your knuckles. 

“I know you’re right.” You went to bed that night with your thoughts spinning impossibly fast in your brain. 

✰

“Oh my God! How can a child so small poop so much?” Remus said in disgust. His entire chest was coated in what had previously been Teddy’s breakfast. Sirius had been walking over to check on Remus, but immediately turned and crept back down the hallway as quietly as he could. “Nice try, Pads! Get back here right now.” 

“How did you know I was in the hall?” Sirius asked with a groan, taking over the diaper change while Remus removed his shirt and scourgified it. 

“Werewolf hearing, obviously.” Remus rolled his eyes. 

“Dads! When are we going to Celeste’s?” Milo asked, peeking his head into the room. 

“We’re going to meet Celeste and Atlas at Aunt Narcissa’s house.” Remus responded. 

“Oh fuck do we have to go to Narcissa’s? It’s so creepy there.” Sirius complained. 

“Really? You aren’t even going to pretend to act like a parent in front of our kid?” Remus rolled his eyes. 

“Aunt Narcissa isn’t so bad,” Milo shrugged, “Draco’s kind of annoying though.”

“Of course he is. He’s the spawn of a Black and a Malfoy.” Sirius rolled his eyes at the thought. 

“Sirius!” Remus was unfortunately not surprised at his husband’s antics. 

“I have a different question.” Milo shook his head, “so you know how Celeste and Atlas are mine and Teddy’s cousins because Dad and Uncle Regulus are brothers?”

“Yeah?” Sirius and Remus weren’t exactly sure where things were going.  

“And you know how you two were best friends with Uncle James and Aunt Lily in school?”

“Yeah…” Now Sirius and Remus had an idea where things were going and they didn’t exactly love it. 

“Why was I never allowed to have Harry and Celeste over at the same time? And why were things so awkward between everyone at the train station when Celeste’s and Harry’s parents met?”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Remus said quickly. 

“Yep, Milo, you’re crazy.” Sirius nodded.

“Wait a minute,” Milo’s brain was moving quickly now, “isn’t Auntie’s maiden name Potter? But she doesn’t have a brother…is Uncle James her cousin? Are they fighting? Have they been fighting since before any of us were born? But Auntie always talks about how important family is…did Uncle James do something to break their bond? They must’ve been close since they would have been just a year apart at Hogwarts. And you two are still very close with her and Uncle Reg…in fact Dad I remember you said that Auntie was the person that reunited you with Uncle Reg. So it had to be something really specific between Auntie and Uncle James. Aunt Lily’s face was almost as red as her hair and Uncle Regulus was glaring at Uncle James when we were at the train station so I bet it was something about Auntie marrying Uncle Regulus and Uncle James marrying Aunt Lily. But Uncle James and Aunt Lily got married first so it was probably a fight between Auntie and Uncle James about Aunt Lily!” Milo looked very pleased with himself.

“You’re way off, Milo, it wasn’t like that at all.” Remus said weakly.

“How did you do that?” Sirius was looking at his son now like he was dripping in radioactive waste. 

“I knew it!” 

“Okay, Milo, listen you can’t tell Celeste or Harry. This is not our information to share.” Remus was very serious. 

“Of course, Dad. The secret is safe with me!” Milo beamed. 

✰

“Oh my God Ron! How has it taken you this long to cast a communication spell? Fred and George showed it to us like four times before we left for holiday!” Celeste whispered. She was underneath her covers as it was past one in the morning but Milo had sent everyone an owl saying he had an urgent message and needed to talk face to face. 

“It was hard, Cel!” Ron tried to defend himself but Harry was laughing too hard to be heard for anyone else on the call to hear him. 

“Okay, okay. Milo what’s your news?” Hermione asked, shaking her head.

“I just discovered something big! Something about Celeste and Harry.” Milo said excitedly.

“Does it have something to do with how weird our parents were at the train station?” Harry asked. 

“Yes, indeed. Celeste’s mum and Harry’s dad are cousins!” Milo paused to allow the revelation to skin in. 

“No way! Why wouldn’t they tell us?” Celeste gasped. 

“Apparently they had a really bad falling out and I think it’s because Celeste’s mum and Harry’s mum hate each other!”

“Why would they hate each other?” Hermione asked. 

“No idea. But you two are going to have to find out.” Milo grinned. 

✰

“So mum,” Celeste asked after you all returned from the Malfoys, “I have a question for you.”

“Sure, love. Did you want any more fudge?” You asked, taking out a tray and cutting off a few pieces. 

“Thanks mum!” Celeste took the plate from you.

“Hey Atlas! Do you want any fudge?”

“Yes yes yes!” Your eight year old came running into the kitchen. Atlas looked just like Regulus, dark curls and bright green eyes. Celeste looked more like a potter…more like James, in fact: tanned skin, warm brown eyes, easy smile. Celeste and Harry had looked like twins at the train station. It filled you with an uncomfortable heartache.

“Giving the kids more sugar?” Regulus quipped, helping push Atlas’s chair closer to the table. 

“It’s Christmas.” You smiled, “there’s a fresh batch of egg nog in the fridge from this morning if you’d like to join me in a glass.”

“Read my mind, Mrs. Black.” Regulus poured you and him two glasses and you sat at the able with your kids. 

“So Celeste, you said you had a question for me?” You asked, leaning back so you were resting against Regulus’s shoulder. 

“Are you and Harry’s dad cousins?” Celeste asked. Your back went rigid as Regulus sputtered and choked on his eggnog.

“Why…where did you hear that?” You asked. 

“Milo.”

“I’m going to kill Sirius.” Regulus shook his head.

“The truth is, yes, James and I are cousins.” 

“Did you have a falling out because you hate Harry’s mum?” 

“Oh my god,” Regulus rubbed his temples.

“Who’s Harry?” Atlas asked.

“I do not hate Harry’s mum.” You sighed, “James and I are just not as close as we used to be.”

“You know what,” Regulus stood, “we’re going to Sirius and Remus’s. We can let them explain everything since they felt so strongly about sharing it in the first place.”

“Good idea.” You hoisted Atlas onto your hip, even though he was far too big for it now and apparated as Regulus grabbed firmly onto Celeste’s wrist to apparate them both. You were standing in Sirius and Remus’s living room and you set Atlas down as Sirius entered the room with a blanket and a bowl of popcorn. 

“Oh fuck,” Sirius tried to turn on his heel but you grabbed him by the back of the shirt. 

“You’ve got a big mouth, Black.” You shoved Sirius down on the couch. 

“Moony! Milo! Can you come in here please?” Sirius called as Regulus and Celeste apparated into the room. 

“What’s up, Pads?” Remus entered the room, Milo right behind him.

“Hey Auntie,” Milo said shyly, sitting between his fathers on the couch. 

“Milo, when we speak to you do you hear words or is it just the Charlie Brown whomp sound?” Remus said with a sigh.

“Sorry,” Milo shrugged. 

“We’ll deal with you later. Take your cousins up to your room while your aunt tears me a new asshole.” Sirius sent Milo, Atlas, and Celeste out and then cast a silencing spell over the living room for good measure. 

“What the hell is wrong with you!” You said, slapping Sirius on the chest and arms after each word for emphasis. 

“Milo guessed it! It was really only a manner of time considering your behavior at Kings Cross.” Remus said with a sigh.

“You’re right.” You flopped on the couch next to Remus and put your head in your hands. Regulus sat down next to you and rubbed your back. 

“Do you think it might be time for you and James to reconcile? It’s been ten years since you two last spoke.” Remus asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve been carrying this resentment so long I might feel lonely without it.” You said with a weak chuckle. There was a loud crack in the air and James, Lily, and Harry were standing in the living room. 

“Sirius!” James roared, “I’m going to kill you!”

“Milo has another parent! Why do target me?” Sirius threw his hands in the air. 

“Kids are upstairs, Harry. Why don’t you join them while we talk?” Remus sent Harry upstairs. 

“I think we should have a conversation about how we’d like to proceed. Celeste and Harry are closer than ever and I don’t think any of us have been very fair.” Regulus said with a deep sigh. 

✰

“James!” You said in a sing-song voice as you set your book down and settled down on the blanket that James had spread in front of the lake. James, Sirius, and Remus had been taking advantage of the nice day and were studying outside by the Black Lake. 

“What is it?” James was pretending to be exasperated but he couldn’t hide his smile. He always had a soft spot for his baby cousin. 

“I need your potions notes. We’re brewing liquid luck and Slughorn assigned me a terrible partner.” You said with a sigh. 

“Who’d he assign you?” Sirius asked. 

“Your little brother,” you said with an eyeroll.

“Come on,” Remus exhaled lazily, handing you a joint that he’d lit a few moments before, “as far as Slytherins go, Regulus is pretty good at potions.”

“Yeah, yeah he’s a potions wiz. I don’t need him mansplaining potions to me so I need to read up on liquid luck and show his ass up.” You said before taking a long drag of the joint, “This is really good, Remus.”

“Thanks, I did get an O in herbology.” Remus laughed. 

“Here,” James was forever organized and was able to locate his notes from last year rather quickly, “use them wisely.” 

“Hey Prongs did you tell the young Miss Potter your news?” Sirius asked, taking the joint from you.

“No! What’s your news, Jamie?” You poked James in the ribs playfully. 

“Now that Lily and I have been dating for a few months now, I’d like for you two to officially meet.” James said with a grin. Your stomach turned unpleasantly. You had only ever seen Lily in passing, considering you were in Slytherin and a year younger than the Marauders. You hadn’t liked how James had pined after Lily considering she did not make it a secret how she despised him. Sure, James was a bit immature sometimes but he had the biggest heart of anyone you knew. You swallowed all that down and grinned, 

“Can’t wait. When are we going to meet?”

“Why don’t you come to the Gryffindor common room tomorrow night?”

“Sounds like a plan.” You grinned. You had to leave the warm sun and your friends an hour later to meet with Regulus to start the potions work. You didn’t care for Regulus. Being a close friend of Sirius meant that Regulus was naturally more haughty towards you and you thought he could be unnecessarily cruel whenever he was around Barty Crouch Jr. To you had been less than pleased when Slughorn had paired you together would be an understatement. 

You found him sitting at a table in the corner of the library, bent over a book. 

“Hello Regulus,” you said, sitting down next to him. 

“Hi. I thought we could start with raiding the greenhouses to find some horseradish. The first step of brewing Felix Felicis is to mix ashwinder eggs and horseradish.” Regulus said. 

“I think it’d be better actually to substitute wasabi for horseradish. Apparently it makes the potion more potent.” You said, setting James’ notes out in front of you.

“These notes are brilliant,” Regulus snatched up the page and studied it. 

“Thanks, they’re my cousin’s.” You shrugged. You worked for a while with Regulus before walking together back to the Slytherin dorms. 

“You know…it’s funny.” Regulus said with a small shake of his curls. 

“What is?”

“You and I both have close family in Gryffindor. The Gryffindor/Slytherin mix isn’t super common.” Regulus said. 

“Yeah I guess you’re right.”

“We’re not so different are we?” 

“I’m nothing like you, Regulus. I’m not cruel.” You crossed your arms. You were at your door now and weren’t entirely sure why Regulus had walked you all the way up to the girls dorms. 

“The Felix Felicis takes six months to brew. I bet you’ll be under me by then.” Regulus said with a confident laugh.

“In your dreams, Black.” You said with an eyeroll. You entered your room and huffed but had to admit it was a bit hard to hide your smile. 

✰

You were nervous as you ascended the steps up to the Gryffindor common room. You didn’t know what it was exactly but you weren’t looking forward to meeting Lily. You shook the thoughts from your brain as Sirius let you into the common room. 

“Remus!” You said with a grin, jumping into Remus’s lap and accepting the joint from him. Lily was perched on James’ lap and she was grinding down on him as they made out like their lives depended on it. 

“Break it up, love birds, you have company.” Sirius said, slapping James upside the head on his way back to the couches. 

“Sorry,” James said, sheepishly, setting Lily down next to him. James introduced you two. 

“Lily, it’s great to finally meet you. The guys talk about you all the time.” You said with a smile.

“Ditto! James always says you’re one of the most important people in his life.” Lily grinned. 

“Yeah. James and I are both only children so we really felt more like siblings than cousins.”

“Are you the first Potter in Slytherin?” Lily asked. It was an innocent enough question, Lily could not have known that it had been a sore subject in your family. You were the first Potter in Slytherin. No Potter had been in a house that was not in Gryffindor for over one thousand years. It had been a shock to your family. 

“Uh, yes I am.” You tried to hide your discomfort over the question. 

“Oh. Good for you.”

“And you’re a muggle born, right?”

“Yes.” Lily’s eyes flashed dangerously. 

“Good for you.” You responded. The rest of the night passed rather quickly and then James walked you back to the Slytherin dorms. 

“So?” He asked excitedly.

“So what?” 

“So what did you think of Lily? She’s great, isn’t she?” James was beaming.

“She’s something.” You pursed your lips. 

“What do you mean?”

“I hate her.” You said with a head shake. James was shocked. He tried to get more out of you, but you told him you were tired and went to bed. James felt like his brain was in shambles as he made his way back to the Gryffindor common room. Only Lily was left, reading a book by the fire. 

“Hey love,” James sat down next to her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. 

“Hi James. Have a good walk?” She asked. 

“Yeah, yeah. You liked my cousin, right?”

“Your cousin?” Lily said nervously, “Yeah! She’s quite spirited.” 

“Oh my god you hate her, don’t you?” James’s heart felt like it had dropped into his ass.

“I do!” Lily groaned, “But honestly I barely know her. We’ll get together more and more and hopefully we’ll become good friends. It’s clear to me that we both care about you a lot and want the best for you.” Lily said. James could only shrug. 

✰

As Lily and James became closer and closer, you started spending less and less time in the Gryffindor common room. You also became closer to Regulus as you continued working on your potions project together. You were finally able to meet Regulus for your final potion check before you submit it as a final to Slughorn. As you made your way down you ran into James. 

“Hey! I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever. I miss you.” James said, slinging an arm over your shoulders. 

“I know! It’s just been so busy with classes and finals but I’m about to submit my potions final so that’ll be a huge weight off my shoulders.” You said with a grin. 

“We’re going to the Three Broomsticks tonight, why don’t you meet us there? Celebrate the end of potions for the year” James said, “We’ll get properly pissed.”

“That sounds great. Who all is going?” You asked. 

“The whole gang! Remus, Sirius, Mary, Marlene, Lily.”

“Lily?” You faltered. 

“I know you aren’t her biggest fan but I promise it’ll be fun.” James begged.

“Alright! I’ll see you later then. Have a butterbeer waiting for me.” You called as James reascended the steps. He sent you thumbs up before disappearing around the corner. You walked into the potions classroom and saw Slughorn was peering over your cauldron as Regulus explained away. 

“Ah Ms. Potter, nice of you to join us. I was just about to review your potion. I believe you and Mr. Black were assigned Felix Felicis.”

“Yes sir, we were.” You nodded. 

“As I was saying,” Regulus said with a quick nod in your direction, “we decided to add wasabi instead of horseradish to the potion in order to increase its potency. 

“Very smart.” Slughorn nodded. He mulled over the potion for a full two minutes before nodding. “Outstanding work you two. I knew great things would come from the two of you. Your reward is that you are able to keep the potion. I’m sure you both understand, however, that use of the potion during a Quidditch match is strictly illegal.” 

“We understand, professor.” Regulus nodded. Professor Slughorn stalked out of the room. You and Regulus hugged tightly. 

“We did it! Do you want the potion? I don’t have any use for it.” You said with a shrug.

“Yeah.” Regulus nodded. He uncorked the vial and swallowed it down.

“What are you doing?” You raised your eyebrow and looked at him.

“I needed it for what I’m about to do.” Regulus said. Before you could ask him what he was talking about, Regulus grabbed you by the waist and kissed you hard. You were surprised at first but then you wrapped your arms around his neck and kissed him back.

“Oh wow.” You said when you broke apart. 

“Will you go out with me?” Regulus asked, brushing his curls out of his face. 

“Yeah. Do you want to go to the Three Broomsticks with me?” You asked. 

“Yeah I do.” Regulus grinned. 

The two of you walked hand in hand to Hogsmeade. It seemed that the Gryffindors had started without you and the group was very, very drunk. Lily was perched in James’s lap again and you tried not to roll your eyes.

“What are you two doing here?” Sirius asked, slurring his words a bit, “I mean…what are you two doing here together?”

“We’re friends, Sirius.” You rolled your eyes. You and Regulus were able to catch up to the rest of the crowd quickly. 

“More than that.” Regulus laughed and slung his arm over your shoulders. 

“Really?” James narrowed his eyes. 

“Why not?” You snuggled yourself deeper into Regulus’s arms. 

“He’s a Slytherin. He’s dangerous.” James snapped at you.

“I’m a Slytherin.” You bit the inside of your cheek harshly. 

“So you finally made your way over to dark wizards? Guess you really are a Slytherin.” Lily giggled. 

“And you’ve proven that you can live up to the stereotype of annoying muggleborns.” You shot back. 

“Stop it.” James frowned but it was too late. The storm between you and Lily had been brewing for six months and there was no stopping it now.

“You know what James, I can’t do this anymore. It’s her or me.” Lily crossed her arms over her chest. 

“Oh come on! Like James is going to pick some girl he’s been dating for less than a year over his cousin.” You rolled your eyes.

“Don’t do this. You both are being unfair.” James said. 

“James didn’t tell you? After we graduate, we’re moving in together.” Lily spat at you.

“Make your choice James.” You said coldly. 

“No.” James shook his head.

“Fine,” you said, standing and grabbing Regulus’s hand, “I’ll make it for you. Goodbye.” And you stormed off. 

✰

There was quite a bit of electricity in the air during the Quidditch final. It was already charged, being a competition between Gryffindor and Slytherin. You and Regulus were both playing as chaser and seeker respectively. This was an important match for you, you were being scouted by four different professional Quidditch teams and the representatives were all in the stands. You still had a year of Hogwarts left after this one but the teams were ready to make an offer that would work around your school schedule. 

You couldn’t think about that right now, though. You wanted to stomp Gryffindor into the dirt. Your blood was pulsating in your ears as Madame Hooch blew the whistle to signify the start of the match.

The match was vicious, with you and James diving at each other and playing dirtier than you ever had to before. You were flying next to James and you shoulder checked him rougher than you should’ve. James nearly fell off his broom but he was able to swing all the way around and restabilize. 

“That was a cheap shot!” James spat at you.

“Guess I’m just a lousy Slytherin.” You spat back. “At least I’m not wrapped around the finger of a witch with a stick up her ass.”

That was too far, you knew it, but you were too upset to care. James yanked at the back of your broom just as a bludger rammed itself into your chest. You fell hard and Madame Hooch had been too enraptured in a squabble between the Sirius and the Slytherin beaters to notice what was happening until it was too late. You hit the ground hard and heard a sickening crunch sound as your arm was wrenched awkwardly behind your back. You groaned as Madame Hooch started running towards you and blowing her whistle wildly. Before she reached you, though, your broom did and it embedded itself in your shoulder. You were screaming so loud your throat was raw. You tried to grab at your broom with your other hand but realized that the broom had impaled the fleshy part of your shoulder and was anchoring you to the ground. 

“Oh my God,” Madame Hooch gasped as she made her way towards you. Madame Pomfrey was hot on her heels and she knelt down next to you. Regulus made his way down to you next. He dropped to his knees next to you and grabbed at your hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. Then Sirius landed. He took one look at you and promptly vomited into the grass. James was there next, his face paler than it had ever been. 

“Alright love, I’m going to move you over to the hospital wing where I’ll give you a sedative and assess the damage.” Madame Pomfrey said. You wished that Madame Pomfrey had given you the sedative before she moved you. You had never and would never again experience such pain. Not when you gave birth, not when you had been a victim of cruciatus  curse, not ever. Madame Pomfrey had to move you again to St. Mungos and a team of healers were put together to remove your broom from your shoulder and patch you up. 

When you were finally stable again, the doctor who had been presiding over your case made his way to your bedside. Your parents and Regulus had been by your side for the entire four day period. 

“It will take time for your shoulder to heal. It faced an unbelievable trauma and even after much physical therapy, rigorous potion taking, and rehabilitation your shoulder will never reach its full, working capacity.” 

“So I’ll never play Quidditch again.” You said bitterly.

“Oh darling let’s just be happy that you’re okay.” Your mother tried but you shook your head. 

“I’m so sorry, Ms. Potter, but no. Playing professionally will not be possible.” The doctor bowed his head. 

You refused James’s visits for the next two weeks until you were able to be discharged from the hospital. You were home, laying on your bed and staring at the ceiling. You wanted to rip down your Quidditch posters but you couldn’t extend your arm that far up yet. You were forced to just glare up at them. 

“Hey, can I come in?” James asked, knocking on your open door. You looked at him and turned back to stare at the ceiling. “You have no idea how sorry I am. I have never felt more terrible in my entire life. I thought you were going to die,” James had tears in his eyes, “and it would have been all my fault. All over something so stupid. But I’m glad that you’re alive. But I am so so sorry that I cost you your career. If I could go back and erase it, I would.” 

“I don’t ever want to see you again.” You said softly and stared at the ceiling until James left the room. 

✰

You and James did not speak for four years. He got married and you got married and it was bizarre. All of a sudden you were no longer speaking to your best friend. Good things came out of the situation, though. You and Regulus got married and had a baby. Regulus and Sirius repaired their relationship and Sirius and Remus married and had a baby as well. You and Reg had Sirius and Remus over often, watching the newly one year olds play together. 

“I still can’t believe that you named her Celeste.” Sirius shook his head. 

“Why? You don’t like the name?” You asked with a soft laugh.

“I just can’t believe you stuck with the celestial theme.” Sirius rolled his eyes. Regulus laughed too.

“It wasn’t even my idea,” Regulus laughed, “my darling bride thought of it. She wanted Celeste for a girl and Atlas for a boy.”

“You really are a Slytherin.” Sirius laughed and gave you a kiss on the cheek before scooping Milo up.

“We should get home and give Milo a bath before bed. I don’t know why people think that having babies is hard. Milo’s a dream.” Sirius shrugged. He apparated out. Remus was about to follow when he turned to you.

“What is it Remus?” Regulus asked. 

“I know you don’t want to hear it, but James and Lily are in a rough place. James might try to reach back out to you.” Remus said. 

“I’m not interested in that.” You said, looking down at your lap. 

“I know. Just thought I would give you a heads up.” Remus said with a smile before apparating out.

“Celeste still has so much energy. Should we let her play for a little longer before bed?” Regulus asked, settling into the couch. 

“Yeah, why not.” You shrugged. You and Regulus chatted idly for a bit longer before you heard a knock at the door. 

“Think that’s Sirius forgetting something?” Regulus asked. You stood up and headed for the door, 

“Doubt it. When has Sirius ever knocked?” You laughed. You opened the door and your jaw dropped in shock when you saw James at your doorstep, Harry on his hip.

“Hey.” James said softly.

“James. What are you doing here?” You asked. 

“Who is it?” Regulus called from the couch. 

“Uh, it’s James.” You responded. 

“I’m sorry,” Regulus walked up over to where you were, “I thought you said James but I must have mis-” Regulus went silent. 

“What are you doing here?” You asked. 

“I, uh, I wanted to see you. I wanted to talk about things.” James said, bouncing Harry on his hip a few times. 

“Why don’t you come in,” Regulus stepped back to let James in. He lead James into the sitting room where Celeste was sitting on the ground and playing with her toys. 

“Thanks, Regulus.” James said as he entered. 

“Why don’t you let Harry play with Celeste?” Regulus offered. James set Harry down next to Celeste. “I’ll go make some tea.” Regulus left you and James sitting on the couch in awkward silence. 

“Harry looks like you.” You said softly.

“Yeah, yeah he does. Celeste looks like you.”

“Seems like they were fast friends.” You said. Harry and Celeste were curled up, yawning and grabbing at each other’s feet. 

“That’s good. It’s good for cousins to be close.” James said. 

“I heard things between you and Lily are rough right now.” 

“It’s just a rough patch. But I’m sorry about the way things happened. I want Harry to have his cousin in his life. I want my cousin in my life.” James was nervous, you could tell. 

“I don’t know if it’s fair to set up Celeste for that kind of heartbreak. Wouldn’t want the kids to get close only to have Harry abandon Celeste for some girl and then nearly kill her.”

“That’s not fair,” Regulus said, setting down the tray with the tea.

“I don’t have to be fair. James cost me everything.” You said, your jaw set. 

“I want to start over. Please. I love you, I miss you.” James begged. 

“Then why did you choose Lily?” Emotion was cracking through your cold exterior. 

“I didn’t!” “You did! I’m your family! You never should’ve chosen her over me.” You said, rising from your seat. 

“You never should’ve made me choose!” James screamed back. 

“Maybe we should revisit this later when everyone has had a chance to calm down.” Regulus stood between you and James now.

“No. I think you’ve made it very clear. Sorry I tried.” James scooped up Harry and left, slamming the door shut behind him. 

✰

“No, we haven’t been fair.” You said, “But I’d like an apology.”

“I’m sorry! I’m so so sorry for everything I did to you.” James gushed, grabbing your hand. 

“Not from you,” you shook your head, “from Lily.”

[f1daydreamers]

𝐀 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐨 [𝐋𝐒𝟏𝟖]

photo credits: Pinterest

Pairing: Lance Stroll x Fem!Reader

Summary: Asking the driver of the team you work for to attend a wedding with you as your fake date is possibly one of the dumbest ideas you’ve had ever.. but also one of the best.

Warnings: fluff, friends to lovers romance also fake dating trope so we’re going all in baby

A/N: I love this man, this man is very underrated and this is going to be a mini-series, probably 7/8 parts but we’ll see how it goes

Word Count: 1.7k (7 minutes reading time avg)

…

Lance oddly glances over your face, definitely dumbfounded by your ask.

Trying to persuade one of the two drivers for the team that you work for, that going as your pretend date to your brother’s wedding was quite possibly the weirdest favour you could ask of anyone.

You tilt your head, reasoning with him. “Whatever you need, I will do it and I’ll do it to the best of my ability.”

He hums, “I don’t need anything.”

You inhale through your nose, “I’ll wash your race suit and even bring it to the remaining.. 20 races."

With pursed lips, he appears untempted by your proposal.

“Okay, then I’ll do all your laundry, not just your race suit.” You say.

“There’re people in the team who do that anyway?” You sigh, leaning your elbows on the table.

“I’ll clean your driver’s room, after every practice session, after every qualifying, and after every race.”

He feigns offence, “my room is very neat for your information.”

You scoff, not wanting to but getting all the more closer to giving up.

“Then do this for me as a friend, you just said you had nothing to do between now and Baku anyway.” You countered, pointing an accusing finger at him.

Lance smiles slightly. “It’s a massive favour Y/N, I can’t just drop all my plans.”

You half-frowned, knowing he had a point. “Look, the moment I set my phone down, I know my mum would’ve been rounding up all the bachelors from here to Canada.”

He laughed and you smiled, though you were pretty sure your mum really was doing so.

“Have you asked anyone else?” He questioned, out of sheer curiosity on why you came to him first.

“No I haven’t, should I?”

“I don’t know.” His answer makes you groan, “one weekend Lance.”

There was a shift of emotion in his face and you jumped at the opportunity to try and make it as convincing for him as possible, “one or two photos, my dad loves racing so tell him about Bahrain. I have a nephew who’s into motorcycles so talk away about them.”

“With an 8 year old?” You blinked at him, “I admit the conversations may not be enthralling but toy motorcycles really get his gears turning.”

The F1 driver weighs out the pros and cons of your request, circling the rim of his glass with the tip of his index finger.

His eyes flicker to your pleading expression, your fingernails digging into the underside of your chin, your hands brought together in a praying gesture.

“Is a weekend with me going to be that horrible?” You inquire.

“No,” he admits, casually falling back on to his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. “I was never going to say no, I just wanted to see how far you’d go.”

He grins cockily and you reach over to slap his arm which he manages to pull away from in time.

…

The few days after the Australian race, you'd been hammered by your parents and your siblings, on who the mystery boy was. It was pretty well known that they'd meet him at some point next weekend but that obviously wasn't reason enough for them to stop asking every question under the sun about him.

When the build to that weekend officially began, you prayed that it would pass smoothly, you'd tell a few little white lies along the way and should they ever ask about him following the wedding, you and Lance would've been peacefully broken up by then.

Easy.

"Oh gosh, here we go." You lower your head to your lap while Lance takes a single sip from his champagne glass, setting it down on the coaster.

You knew bumping into a relative who asked a million and one questions during the rehearsal would be a given so you'd prepared your 'date' as best you could.

You instinctively reach for his hand, settling the palm of yours on the back of his. He's slightly disconcerted at the contact but doesn't move an inch, he glances at you sat on the seat besides him as you do the same.

You release a shaky sigh, "my sister's going to interrogate you like she's trying to put the FBI to shame. You remember what I told you right?" You ask quietly.

He nods faintly, "yeah, of course I do." He assures you.

You muster a sincere smile before retracting your hand from his and allowing it to fall on to your lap again. You then rub your palms on your thighs and stand up to embrace her.

Lance straightened on his chair, allowing your sister to approach the table before he followed your movements. You swallow when his hand rests on your lower back, but you reminded yourself it was just a part of the act.

It was amusing in hindsight how you'd pleaded, borderline begged, for him to be your pretend boyfriend for a weekend but you hadn't actually thought about what that might necessitate.

"Hi!" Your sister was ever the bubbly one who could rave about her passions for days while remaining oblivious to the other person's lack of interest.

She flung her arms around your neck and brought you in for a hug, to which you chuckled and winded your arms around her back. Lance's hand fell to his side, his gaze falling to his feet.

Once you'd pulled away, she sighed happily then glanced at him expectantly. You cleared your throat and he swiftly turned his head towards you, then at her.

"Dais, this is Lance," you realise he probably needs no further introduction. "Lance, this is my sister, Daisy."

He gives her a genuine smile, taking her hand that she holds out as a formal introduction. "Is this the boyfriend I messaged you a million times about?"

You scoff with a smile, feeling his eyes fall to your face, as if he was watching for something. "Yep, in the flesh." He swallows, nodding.

She gasps, pointing a finger towards him and you panic for a moment, if there was a single hidden talent your sister had, it was putting two and two together at record speed.

Luckily, Lance remained unphased despite the stark contrast between yours and his tension levels.

"You're the F1 driver Dad was telling us about, the one with the broken wrists." She announced loudly, though it was only a surprise to her.

"That's my reputation I guess." He comments, turning his head to your side, directing it at you. You smile, continuing to fidget with your two intertwined hands.

But he confirms it nonetheless, "that's me."

"Wow, F1. Must be cool having the girl you date at the garage for every race." He gave her a polite smile, not knowing how to continue the conversation.

“It has its perks.” You agree with him, not vocally saying what those supposed perks were.

“What kind of perks?” Your sister asked craftily and you sigh, dismissing her question.

“Behave, now go and find Kev, we want to congratulate him.” As your baby sister, with a huff, she agreed and sauntered off elsewhere.

“She’s nice.” You hummed, turning your body to Lance’s so your back was facing the crowd of people that would occasionally glance in your direction.

“She’s one of many,” He smiled, seeing the deflation on your face form when you realised this was going to be a very long weekend of lying.

“Regretting it?” You meet his eyes, he meets yours. “No. Just wondering if it was the best decision.”

“One question less, 20 more in its place.” You chuckle knowing he was referring to the inevitable question on where your date was had you not brought one, but because you had, it was flipped on its head.. then multiplied.

“Should I apologise for bringing you here now?”

“How bad are they?” He asks.

“Enough.”

…

"I haven't seen anything about you two online, considering you're famous and all." Your words remained stuck in your throat as you scrambled to try and find an answer for it in your head, Lance chuckled a little nervously.

"We keep it on the down low, trying to navigate through a relationship while being in the spotlight has its own challenges." You looked up at him and gave him a sympathetic look, a doubtful smile on your lips.

You turned back to your mum who hummed, almost with a certain distaste in her tone, a sour look on her face which you really weren't in the mood for. She was never fond of the guys you 'picked' for yourself, but instead the male specimen she spoke to once were going to be your Prince Charming, God forbid you ever went against that.

"Look, me and Lance are a little jet-lagged so can we carry this on sometime else?" You gave her a pointed look and she took the hint, though not without shooting you a knowing glance.

"Well, your room's all ready for you at home." She says.

Home. You hadn't heard that word from your mother's lips for some time, having moved away and working everywhere in the world, it was rare you found time to go and see your family.

"Thanks mum." She kissed you on the cheek before walking away, ignoring Lance's existence entirely. Your shoulders slumped once her attention had turned towards your brother and his soon-to-be wife, whom you'd already congratulated.

He exhales through his nose and you lift your eyes up to his face, "Okay, getting slightly worse." You shake your head, your fingers coming up to pinch the bridge of your nose. At this point, you were wishing for the night to be over.

By the time the night is coming to its eventual end, you and Lance had managed to convince most people with your act of being a couple. That entailed a lot of hand-holding and lovesick smiles but you'd pulled it off, a little too well.

With his hand splayed out on your thigh, your hand was wrapped around his bicep. Along with every little gesture and movement, there was a fresh wave of goosebumps forming on your skin. You didn't think Lance knew that he was stroking his thumb along the fabric of your leggings.

"We should get some sleep," You turned your head to him and he looked down at you, his attention turning away from the current conversation your sister had everyone tuned into.

"Ready when you are." He added and minutes later, you and Lance were leaving the table, a few of your folks extending their fair shares of goodbyes and nice to meet you's to him.

...

Part 2

Masterlist

Comment if you want to be tagged in the next part!

[espers-n-espurrs]

OFFSCREEN POST

Olive Branch

TWs // CWs : Hospitals, Discussions of Child Death, Discussions of Kidnapping / Child Abduction, Panic Attacks, Violence, Injury, Gore, Blood

Connected to Connecting Roots and Uprooted.

No one liked being in the hospital. 

It was mind-numbing and draining, having to stay in one little room for days on end all the while doctors and nurses poked and prodded at you. It wasn’t just the medical staff that had been bothering Esper though. Police and other official looking people came and went, asking her questions that made her uncomfortable and forced her to reevaluate so much about what she knew. She didn’t like it. She didn’t like being told she was “safe now”, she didn’t like being told she was “in good hands”, she didn’t like how they talked about her da and mum, she didn’t like any of it. 

Esper stared up at the ceiling with an unfocused gaze, listening to the ticking of the clock. Her face almost seemed ghostly pale if not for her reddened cheeks and nose from hours of crying accompanied by the deep bags beneath her eyes from lack of sleep. Her hair was out of its braid, white threads spooled around her in messy strands like the roots of a tree, branching off into different paths. She looked like a mess.

Everything was out of her hands. She didn’t get a choice in any of this. Her entire life had changed in a matter of days and she wasn’t sure how she was meant to feel. Her da and mum had lied to her. They had been lying to her for so long. And yet she couldn’t even begin to understand how she felt about it all. Was she angry? Sad? Happy?

A small knock on the door cut through her thoughts.

Esper’s head slowly turned toward the door, her brows furrowing slightly in aggravation. It was probably more pushy cops coming to ask her about her da. Fucking wonderful.

With a roll of her eyes she called out to them, “Come in.”

The door creaked open slightly to reveal an exhausted-looking Victoria. Despite her attempts to appear composed, the stress lines and dark circles beneath her eyes betrayed any semblance of imperturbability. Clearly, the recent revelations had been taking as much of an emotional toll on her as they had on Esper.

Esper gasped as she snapped into a sitting position, “Tor–!” She was swiftly cut off as a sharp pain shot through her chest, causing her to double over in the bed, her arms wrapping tightly around her torso as she let out a hiss of pain. “I… I shouldn’t have done that…”

Victoria instinctively lunged forwards and reached a hand out to her, but slowed herself the moment she realized Esper was not immediately dying in front of her. “Are…” She began to ask something, but trailed off with a pause before saying, “I was going to ask if you were alright, but I suppose that would be a bit redundant of me, now would it?”

The white haired girl slowly sat back up, wincing as she let out a small laugh, “Just– Just a bit, I think.” Esper looked at Victoria with a small smile, “Though I’m not the most happy about people seeing me in such a state… with my hair being down and all.”

“Oh. I can leave if you—”

“I’m joking, Tori.”

To Esper’s surprise, Victoria chuckled with a slight smile. “I thought you were—” She instantly shut her mouth right before the punchline, her face falling into a frown. She looked at her friend with an unsure tilt of her head.

“Esper.” The girl stated without hesitation, “I want to be called Esper. Or, as you have been calling me, Esp.”

“Right.” The young heiress drew in a quiet breath and nodded. “Then… Esp it shall be.”

Esper smiled in turn. She wasn’t ready to be Estelle, she didn’t know if she ever could be. It was strange really, finding out that your name isn’t your name, at least not in the way you thought it was. But she could understand why her da did it, at least from his point of view, it would’ve made everything easier for him if she didn’t have her legal name. 

Though that did make her wonder…

“Why the hells didn’t my da change my brother's first name?” Esper suddenly asked aloud, tilting her head to the ceiling in thought, “Why’d he keep his first name?”

Victoria shifted uncomfortably on her feet, uncertain of how to respond. 

Esper continued, “And it’s not like I can fuckin’ ask him since he fuckin’ vanished after the second Darkest Day…”

“Vanished…?”

Esper blinked in response, turning her attention back to Victoria before glancing away with an awkward chuckle as if it was funny, “Ah– Yeah. I was the last one to see him that day, he found me during the chaos and promised to go get help. He… uh… never did. No one’s found him so we don’t know what happened to him.”

The other girl’s brows furrowed. “Forgive me for asking, but how are you so certain that he never sought help?”

“Oh, I didn’t mean like he didn’t try–” Esper vaguely gestured with her hand, “It’s just that my da and authorities were the ones to find me and Juno. And they hadn’t been told by Flynn that we were there, so they tried to interview anyone they could and no one stepped forward about having been spoken to by Flynn during the disaster. So, he may have tried, though he never actually managed to get help.”

She tilted her head. “Juno?”

“I– I should just give the rundown.” Esper responded, shifting in her bed to get more comfortable before continuing on, “So. Juno was my closest friend in Spikemuth and we spent a lot of time together. On the day of the big championship match, he was over at my old flat. It was just him, me, his Nickit named Polaris, and my da’s Obstagoon named Maverick. We were having a good time until, well, the second Darkest Day started in which Maverick… was one of the Pokemon to dynamax.”

Victoria winced slightly. “In… the house?”

“In the flat building… yeah.” The girl nodded as she began to fidget with her gown, “With both me, Juno, and his Nickit in the flat with him. And so many others in their neighboring flats…” 

She thought back to that day. Roars and calls of Pokemon shook the earth around her, echoing throughout Spikemuth and the surrounding area. The weight of concrete and brick crushed her body so tightly that she could barely fill her lungs with the dust-filled air. Metal debris pricked at her skin, jabbing at her sides and mudding her hair with crimson. She couldn’t move, she could barely cry out as all her energy was dedicated to keeping her alive and awake.

If only Juno could’ve been as lucky. 

He was alive for a while, whispering promises of life and safety to Esper in the darkness of their prison, though his body laid frighteningly still as crimson slowly pooled around him. His mind and body grew weaker by the second. He had been impaled when the building collapsed on top of them— a large, jagged piece of rusted metal had been lodged straight through his shoulder and into the debris below. Polaris was curled up to his side, beaten and battered as much as the two children, chirping and crying to his trainer. 

She remembered the way Juno’s eyes grew duller by the hour. Until they were cloudy and lifeless.

Victoria looked past the girl before her with a thousand-yard stare. The ticking second hand on the clock came to a stop, filling the room with a discomforting silence.

“We were trapped for nearly the whole day– But Flynn found us early on. He promised to go get help and… well… he never came back.” Esper let out a shaky breath, her face feeling hot, “And by the time help did arrive… Juno had been dead for several hours.”

The other girl shut her eyes and turned her head away, reaching a trembling hand to her chest. “Excuse me for a moment, Esper.” She took several deep breaths until her hands stopped shaking and the stress lifted from her face. The clock resumed its ticking, returning the familiar ambiance to the once silent room. 

After a moment, Victoria cleared her throat with a wince and gestured to her head. “Um— Mind-reading.”

Esper blinked before flushing red, waving her hands frantically, “Ah– I’m sorry– I forgot– I’m sorry I’ll just stop now I’m sorry–” The girl promptly tried to fill her mind with other things such as memories of Fauna and Deerling.

“No, no, it is through no fault of your own,” Victoria tried to reason with her. “It simply caught me off-guard is all.”

“Are you sure…?” Esper looked up at her with big eyes.

“Positive. You needn’t apologize, Esp.”

“Okay…” The girl nodded in return, “I was done anyways though. That’s about everything… Well not… everything… but all the really important things.”

“I see,” she said, finally turning to look back at her friend. “If I may be so bold to ask, do you… think Flynn is…?”

“Alive? Dead?” Esper hesitantly shrugged, “I don’t know. I don’t know which I would rather, which would hurt less… If Flynn is dead then… he’s gone. But if he’s alive… then he left me to die.”

Before Victoria had time to respond, there was a knock at the door.

The girl raised an eyebrow, then looked to Esper. “Are you expecting company?”

Esper huffed in response, grimacing at the door, “No. It’s probably another officer or doctor or something. Let me just–” She raised her chin to the door and called out, “Come in!”

The door slowly opened to reveal a lanky man in a black and green jacket, his hood pulled tightly over his head and casting his face in shadow. His attire was worn and dirty and his demeanor seemed akin to a kicked dog with how he hunched in on himself and how his hands trembled at his sides. He hesitantly stepped into the room, closing the door behind him before turning in the direction of the two girls in an awkward fashion. 

Esper and Victoria exchanged glances for a moment, then eyed the man wearily.

The man stood there silently for a minute, staring at Esper specifically for an agonizingly long before clearing his throat, “So– Um–”

At that moment, a flash of recognition and utter hatred crossed Victoria’s face. An invisible force suddenly yanked the man towards the girl while she winded up her fist and connected it directly into the center of his face. The force of her punch snapped his glasses in half and knocked the hood off of his head.

Flynn Wyrmwood was knocked to the ground, clutching his nose in pain.

With a snarl, Victoria looked down at the man and hissed, “Hablando del rey de Roma, por la puerta asoma.” She raised her leg to stomp—

“VICTORIA–” Esper shouted. “DO NOT… stomp… on….” Her voice trailed off as she looked down at the older boy. A boy with darker skin than hers and yet had the same pure white hair and lavender eyes with white pupils shining brightly. Esper repeated, her heart leaping into her throat as she took in the sight of the boy, “Victoria. Stop.”

The young heiress looked back towards her friend, then to the coward at her feet. She narrowed her eyes at him, but gently lowered her foot to the floor and stepped away. “Get up,” she spat at him. A sudden force lifted him off the ground and flipped him onto his feet— not too kindly, however. The momentum from the flip threw him forwards and he bashed his face into the side of the hospital bed. 

Flynn grunted in pain, barely managing to catch his footing before slowly dragging himself into a standing position, blood dripping from his nose. “Yeah– Yeah no– I deserved that–”

“Indeed you do,” Victoria cut him off.

“Victoria. Stop harming him.” Esper scolded before turning her attention to the bloodied boy infront of her, her eyes scanning his face. It was him. It was actually him. He was alive. He… he was alive. 

That hurt.

“Esper…” Flynn stared back at her, seemingly also studying her. A ragged breath left him as he spoke, “You’re alive.”

“You left me.”

“I know. I’m sorry–”

Esper cut him off, her chest tightening, “You left me to die. You left Juno and I to die.”

“I’m sor–”

“Juno is dead!” Esper spat. Tears had begun to well up in her eyes, “And you’re alive.”

Victoria glared silent daggers at Flynn. If looks could kill, he’d have perished where he stood.

He paused, opening his mouth to speak before closing it again and looking down in shame, “I’m sorry…”

The white-haired girl stared at her brother in silence for a while. The ticking of the clock was the only indication that time hadn’t stopped. 

“Why now?”

Her brother looked up at her, blinking.

“You had plenty of chances to come back. And yet you didn’t.” Esper asked, her body aching as emotions welled up inside her.

Flynn glanced away, “I… I was scared. I am scared. Father scared me, I was scared if I came back or told anyone then…”

“You knew.”

“I…” He winced, “I did. Yes.”

“You knew the entire time.” Esper’s gaze was hundreds of miles away, “That’s why he didn’t change your name.”

Flynn only nodded in response.

The white-haired girl gripped her blanket between her hands. Her thoughts became foggy with all the questions she wanted to ask him, but one stayed at the forefront of her mind.

“Why are you here?” She asked. “Da is gone now, you could no longer be a missing person.”

Flynn took a deep breath and looked his sister in the eye, “I… I wanted to give you the choice on if I did or not…”

“What?”

“I hurt you, Esper,” her older brother swallowed, “I hurt you a lot. I didn’t want to suddenly come stomping all over it again. So I wanted to give you that choice.” He wiped the blood from his nose as he knelt down by her bedside, “Do I come back home or do I go back to whatever hole I crawled out of?”

Victoria furrowed her brows and wrinkled her nose at him.

“I…” Esper trailed off, staring down at her brother with teary eyes. Why was she being asked to choose? Why did she have to make that choice? Why was this the only choice she’s been allowed during this whole fiasco? Why this of all things? She hadn’t seen her brother in nearly two years, she had thought he was dead somewhere, possibly eaten by some Pokemon or the like. But… here he was. Asking her to make a life-altering choice for him.

She felt sick.

“I…” The girl blinked, tears running down her face before she sharply turned away from her brother. As she spoke her voice seemed almost devoid of emotion. Almost. “Stop being missing... Come out of hiding… You…” She glared at him from the corner of her eye, “You don’t get to run from this.”

Her brother gave a small smile. Tears began to run down his face, dripping onto his now bloodstained jacket. “I won’t. I promise.”

Scene End.

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

Victoria belongs to @victoria-vd

[zer0brainc3lls]

my safe haven tmr headcanons 🫶 (also random ones)

All of these are sweet, will make angst ones tho 🤭 Newtmas included ofc

- Thomas blushes super easily

- Brenda loves heavy metal

- newt writes to cope, just about his day and whatnot. (This is sorta canon in crank palace but i think he would continue to write if he lived)

- when Thomas & Minho get drunk together they get up to the most INSANE activities it’s not even funny

- If newt & Brenda are drunk at the same time they bet who is going to get injured first 😭

- minho LOVES Halloween. Absolutely LOVES IT. His costumes are phenomenal every year

- newt is SO GOOD with kids, the kids in the safe haven gravitate towards him and they all love him 100% (uncle newt?!?)

- Thomas on the other hand is like so bad with kids, has absolutely no idea how to talk to them 😔 the kids 100% ask him 2863382 times a day “are you uncle newts boyfriend?! :O” and he has no clue how to respond

- Minho teaches the kids curse words on accident 💀 he would like fall over or something and go “OW FUCK” and they would copy him, newt has scolded him so many times for this

- speaking of Minho and cursing, HE CURSES ALL THE TIME. THE MOUTH ON THAT MAN. It somehow gets worse when he’s drunk

- R.I.P Brenda you would’ve loved thick and crazy eyeliner

- Sonya made matching bracelets for aris and Harriet, aris accepted immediately 😭 Harriet sorta raised a brow but accepted as well but she NEVER takes it off. EVER. Aris on the other hand has lost it so many times, and freaks out every time he does

- Sonya will braid anyone and everyone’s hair. She knows so many hair styles it’s actually ridiculous 💀 she doesn’t remember learning them though. :[ (when she and newt were taken she would brush & braid the other girl’s hair like her mum taught her)

- aris slowly comes out of his shell in the safe haven, and every time he does something “bold” Sonya and Harriet silently cheer for him

- Newt and Sonya got REALLY close in the safe haven, they clicked like instantly and helped each other heal :) “she’s like a sister to me!!” “He’s like a brother to me!!” Is used OFTEN. (Little do they know.. ☹️)

- When Newt is extra pissy his accent is way heavier, and Thomas already being into his accent as is when newts mad at him.. I’ll just give you an example:

Newt *oblivious*: THOMAS WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!?! YOUR SO DULL SOMETIMES I SWEAR-

Thomas *face hotter then the sun, sweat dripping down his face*: Uhm-

Minho & Gally *with popcorn*: *watching the whole thing go down while holding back tears of laughter*

- newt never practically had a favourite flower, he thought they were all equally beautiful until one day Thomas came home with a sunflower, gave it to him and said “oh this reminded me of you” let’s just say after that day sunflowers were his favourite.

- frypan immediately knew when Thomas and newt first started dating, when he realised he went up to Thomas, patted him on the back and said “so you finally got together huh? Good job man” and walked off leaving Thomas SHOCKED

- if Teresa never betrayed everyone Newt and her would’ve been BFFS. “I remember when you liked Thomas I was so mad” “I was mad at you too!!” “REALLY?!” *whilst making flower crowns*

- Newt loves to read and this is common knowledge, Brenda also loves to read & wears reading glasses and one day newt caught her and she was like “if you tell a soul I’ll kill you. Wanna read together?”

- Newt = ambivert + Thomas = ambivert

- Newt LOVES tea and Minho gives him so much shit for it 😭

- Minho would be the type of guy to carry around a speaker and blast white girl music

- karaoke night once a week or two, Brenda and Minho sing barbie girl ATLEAST ONCE every time

- Thomas is still incredibly smart, like really smart but there is never really opportunity’s to show it ☹️ but like Newt will lead him a 600 page book or something thinking he won’t finish it and like 2 days later Thomas is like “I finished it! Yeah it was really good I really liked-“ goes on a full in depth analysis

- Newt is autistic 🙏🙏 (if yall want a whole headcanon list just for this I will do it because I’m autistic myself and would love to do that lol)

I hope yall enjoyed my ramblings 🤭 I’m gonna post more but the next one will mostly be post death cure, how they cope and how everything has effected them etc etc so angst

[rk-ceres]

Pretty Girl- George Weasley

Pairing: George Weasley x Reader (Season of love event) Fred Weasley x Reader(platonic)

Timeline: 6 months after the battle of Hogwarts

Summary: Reader gets injured in the war saving Fred's life, after the war she wakes up six months later and falls in love with George who has been taking care of her loooooooooooonggggggg ass fic. had an idea and ran with it mutual pining (strangers to)/friends to lovers I just thought this idea was cute

Warnings: no use. of y/n or y/h/n its just ____, written in first person, crass language, some dirty jokes here and there, nothing physical, slow burn, !FRED LIVES!, reader is a flirt, mentions of death in the war, reader looses a leg in the war, George takes on care taker role for Fred after he gets injured after he was saved by reader, and any others i missed

A/N: decided to take a stab at the season of love event that one of my favorite writers are hosting right now and half way through i really wished i made this a series but i guess this works better as a long one shot with room for more parts. Theres just so much you can do with this imho but it is what it is sorry for the long ass read it was just too much fun to write this ended to where i could add on parts if i really wanted too so if it seemed unfinished i dunno 🤷‍♀️

My eyes fluttered open and hissed at the light in the room everything hurt groaning out in pain as i sat up “oh good.. youre awake. I was getting pretty lonely being in here the only one conscious” Fred called out to me as i rubbed the eye that wasn't covered in gauze “not to be rude or anything but where am i?” i asked moving my hand to rub the back of my neck feeling the popping groaning in some relief throwing a leg over the bed “whats the last thing you remember?” He asked looking at me i rolled my eyes yawning out “I was fighting back to back with one of Percy’s twin brothers… i found him after…. After Penny died…im not sure which twin i was fighting with… i didnt have the time to pick out the differences. Or ask… we were outnumbered ten to three… the minister of magic came in Percy made a god awful joke…. Which we all shared there was an explosion that flew me and the twin i was with against eachother before the wall could come down on us i put up a shield…. And then everything went black” he shifted on to his side “it was me, you saved me.” He smiled “youre Fred?” i asked finally looking at him taking in his broadening smile obviously thrilled that he had someone to talk too “yeah. Im Fred. And to answer your question, youre in George’s bed. We’re at my flat in the shop” he explained “what am i doing in George’s bed in your flat in your shop?" i made a confused face "i know i didn't fall asleep after an intense love making session after a night in the pub so forgive me i am a little confused" i huffed "no. you didn't sleep with my brother. not yet anyway" he rolled his eyes speaking in an amused voice “youre in his bed because after you saved me. The ground gave way under you. And you fell through three floors of the castle, you scratched your face on the rebar on your way down. It missed your eye by a centimeter. I carried you to Pomfrey, You were in a coma for about five months almost six. I insisted that id be the one to help you recover and with your physical therapy after you saved my life. My Fiancėe Angelina would’ve taken care of your injuries for me since you know… im a guy and youre a chick. Then i went and got myself blown up by Bellatrix trying to save my sister… I failed her and now? we’re in the same boat. George turned his room into our recovery room since its the biggest of the two. Angel even agreed to it. Shes really grateful to you. She and mums been taking care of your chest wound seeing as how youre a woman, George handles your eye and… and your leg.” he smiled filling in the details. “What do you mean my leg? physical therapy?” i asked confused furrowing my eyebrows pulling the blanket off of my waist i looked down at my legs to see my right leg had been amputated above the knee “Madame Pomfrey had to take it before you succumbed. Part of the wall fell on it and it was irreparable. I killed the death eater that did that to you” my eyes started to water breathing heavily because it looked like it was so close to killing me i was relieved that i was still alive "love... hey… calm down its okay” he tries to stand but winces falling back to his bed when a loud sob wracks through my lips “shit… GEORGE! GET IN HERE GEORGE NOW!” He yelled suddenly bursted through the door “she just woke up” he told his twin she started to dry heave he wordlessly pulled me into his chest “shhhhh youre okay love its okay.. youre safe.. youre safe.. Pretty girl youre safe.. Percy sat in here with you for two months straight” he cooed they stayed like that as he comforted me when i finally composed myself enough i pulled back slightly  “thank you” i whispered to him “sorry for ruining your nice shirt… i didnt.. i didnt mean to George” i said louder scooting back to leab my back against his headboard “dont worry about that beautiful, its just tears. im sorry you found out that way” he said softly kneeling by the edge of the bed

“Fred was supposed to WAIT to tell you.” He glared at his twin he smiled sheepishly “I didnt expect her to pull her blanket off!” Fred defended himself “that’s enough out of you Fred” he hissed “im George” he smiled at her gently "______ Barebone, I was a ______…" thinking back to my house in school "in your year. Friends with your brother he dated my best friend” “Penny” we said together and i smiled “youre sitting up on your own. Thats a good thing.” He smiled gently at me “is it alright if i checked your eye?” i bit my lip and nodded at him gently. “Can i borrow your owl to write Percy? I want to make sure he’s alright, we both lost Penny" i said barely audible “of course Pretty Girl let me just finish up here i'll get you parchment and a quill when mum and Ange get here” he chuckled He unwrapped the bandage on her face i hissed at the dull pain in my left eye “good… good love, dilation is good. Can you follow my finger for me?” He asked softly “you're tracking well with your left eye sweetheart.” He mumbled he softly covered my right eye with his palm “can you see anything lovely?” He asked “I see your nose… but its blurry” clearly unaffected by his testing of pet names and terms of endearment  he smiled “it looks like the cuts on your face will scar but Fred and I developed a cream that’ll make it go away in a month if you want to use it. I dont have to put the bandage back on… Is it okay if I check your leg?” He asked being extra aware with me being awake and aware of everything he got consent before making physical contact and i nodded not minding the physical contact he slowly cut away the bandages “any pain?” he looked up at me with his green eyes  “just my side” i whispered “yeah, Fred and Percy said you hit a lot of rebar going down after the wall. I’ll let mom and Ange know to up your healing regimen on your side" he sighed looking back at my leg "so wanna tell me why im in your bed and not in St Mungo's right now?" i asked "y'know men usually take girls out to dinner before having their way them in their bed... with their brother watching... never been one for exhibitionistm you know" i teased he snorted "that'd be the voyeur's fault" George winked pointing back to Fred teasingly "thanks for saving him by the way. don't worry Madame Pomfrey stops by every two weeks and she trained both me and Mum to take care of your daily needs. You're in good hands Angel" He added “incision looks good, you can start using the wheel chair youre a little ways away from getting a prosthetic” he smiled “George dear its time to change her….” “Shes up mum” George smiled “I’ll come back in a few minutes with lunch and your potions. I’ll send a quick Owl to Percy as well” He stood up after wrapping her leg then leaving the room giving the women privacy

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“Afternoon love. You look stunning today” Fred smiled when Angelina gave him a lingering kiss "get a room Voyeur" i stuck my tongue out at Fred he let out a fake offended gasp at me "excuse me ma'am, YOU'RE the one watching ME doesn't that make you the voyeur" he protested "well look at the kettle calling the cauldron black" i retorted "ooh you're just as annoying as..." Molly quickly cut him off before he could mention Ginny pulling the divider so he couldn't see her disrobing “heavens Angelina you're fine shes awake” Molly smiled “Molly Weasley love, ive been taking care of your side. Angies been helping while you were under” she smiles at me "_____, but George has been calling me Love, Pretty girl, Beautiful, Sweetheart, Angel... basically any pet name he can think of. quite endearing" i said with a small smile taking off the hospital gown they put me in “im Angelina, I wanted to thank you for saving my Fiancé” she gently taking off the bandages on my chest “it wasnt an issue I think he returned the favor and then some seeing as how he got blown up just seconds after i saved his behind” i chuckled glaring through the divider "I HEARD THAT BRATT! its not my fault that Bellatrix was a crazy witch out for blood" Fred protested "i fell through three floors for you. i get to have this!" i protested back “he didnt have to do much convincing. George was going to ask you to Yule ball, and any one who keeps that dingleberry alive is a friend in my book” Angie smiled breaking up the sibling squabble we were having “lift your arms for us?” Molly asked when Angelina finally got the bandage off “he was going to ask me to the ball?” I asked wincing when my arms came up armpit height dropping them slightly “ive got you girl” Angelina caught my arms and lifted so Molly could repair the split skin “yeah, he was. George wouldn’t stop talking about it for weeks then McClaggen beat him to it. Sulked for weeks on end” Angie shook her head in amusement "he wouldnt stop moaning about it either" Fred chimed in "he was worse than moaning Myrtle" you could hear the disgust and teasing in his voice “thats sweet. He probably would’ve been a better choice. McClaggen was an arse” i smiled “your cut seems to be healing well, looks like you still have that infection. I’ll add the antibiotics back into your medicine” Molly smiled as she wrapped the bandage back around my chest taking down the divider again Fred promptly flipped me off where i just stuck my tongue out at him again

“Alright George, Fred, we’ll be off” Molly smiled “see you later love, have a good day at work. mum” Fred kissed Angie “call if you need anything George” Angelina smiled he nodded “Take these” George handed her the potions he sat on his bed next to her as he held the empty ones and handed me the full potion phials “how you feeling Pretty girl?” “Like i fell three floors out of a castle” i gagged drinking the potions that tasted exactly like feet "ugh you think that theyd be kind to people who almost die" i choked out  he chuckled “i would’ve said yes by the way” he cocked an eyebrow a me “Ange told her that you were going to ask her to Yule ball” Fred filled in “i wouldve said yes, McClaggen was a dick” i handed him the empty phials as he handed me the full bottles “we can go dancing later if you wanted too, i enjoy dancing i usually go to the muggle clubs on 5th. They have salsa nights, or ball room dancing. You know. to make up for the ball” i smiled his blush grew “i might just take you up on that when youre ready and comfortable enough on your new leg” he fell into a playful flirtation “even with one leg sir, i can out dance you” gaining a laugh from Fred “if youre already joking about having only one leg what was all that crying about?” “FRED!” George tried to scold “Honestly?” i cut him off looking to Fred “i was just glad it was my right leg. I had a bad tattoo that i had to get removed. Someone shouldve told that eater he didnt need to go THAT extreme” i jested “tattoo?” George asked “it was a swallow. It used to match my mom. honestly it really was a bad tattoo” i smiled “you think the healers would let me get a peg leg? OOH! I could even get an eye patch!” They both erupted into laughter “nah im just pulling your right legs since you know i dont have one” “alright alright stop!! It hurts to laugh dick head!” “HEY! Its peg leg to you! I dont have a dick. Or a dick head for that matter. But i will have a fake leg.” i yelled at Fred playfully he just laughed harder at that “ARG MATEY!”  The three share a laugh George catches his breath “who wouldve known you were so funny” he gave her a toothy grin that turned into a closed mouth smile “i make light of bad situations. My brother, ____. He used to call me sunshine and sing this stupid muggle song ‘ive got sunshine… on a cloudy day… when its cold out side, ive got the month of May….’” i laughed “my girl. From the temptations. He used to call me sunshine” “who knew you could sing” Fred Jested “i cant. But he could” i smiled at Fred “you have a brother?” George asked “Had” i smiled “took a curse for me told me to go find mum and dad, Dad died outside the room of requirement, protecting firsties. And my mom… she was tortured near the beginning.” i smiled sadly “Ginny ended up passing too” he smiled sadly she gave him a sympathetic smile squeezing his hand “i was crying because it looked like it came this close to crushing me entirely and for some reason im still alive. Something from the grace of Merlin im alive, i was happy that im Alive” i looked at George who was looking at me with a guilty expression

“come on handsome… wheres that pretty smile you had on for me i worked hard for that you know. Im not a good flirt. I was hoping youd lead, and hopefully ask me to dinner or coffee if i played my cards right. Its not every day someone as pretty as you are is willing to take care of me to laugh with me or at me” i reached up to his face he leaned into my touch chuckling completely red in the face “im okay, we four knew what was going on and what was at risk im okay. Promise.” i smiled softly at him he smiled “Handsome huh?” “You called me beautiful when im obviously a mess.” i shrugged he started smiling again she noticed his dimples and the way his cheeks creased and my face heated up “theres my pretty smile… you have really really pretty eyes… and dimples…. Did i mention i have a thing for guys with dimples.” i smiled rubbing a thumb on his cheek he looked down and back up to my eyes trying to find the right words “youre pretty even if youre a mess” he smiled softly “yep thats it. Ive decided. Youre the handsome twin.” “HEY!” Fred protested “take that!” George smiled laughing at triumphantly like that was an argument theyve had multiple times Fred who was pouting crossing his arms over his chest “youre the nicest twin” She smiled at Fred “acceptable” he smiled at me “im going to get your lunches” he smiled to them “thank you. Can i use your owl again? I need to owl gringots. Get some money for rent and food and care” i muttered to myself “no need. All taken care of” Fred said “you saved me. You dont pay for shit when in our care” he shrugged ending the conversation “do you really want a peg leg?” Fred asked out of the blue “i’ll take what i get.” i shrugged. “At least let me help with groceries” i huffed annoyed “once a month” George bargains “Zero times and shes happy about it” Fred protests “Three times but i let you pay for my prosthetic” she countered “no times, we pay for the prosthetic and she gets what she wants at the shop” fred demanded “we pay for your prosthetic, twice a month, you transfigure your own room, personal care supplies fully yours” George offered “thats a deal i can live with… did you just ask me to move in with you without you asking me out on a date first? When can i expect a proposal? Or should i ask Percy to bring Kingsley and skip to ‘I do’” i smiled at George and he flushed 50 shades of red as Fred snickered “you say youre not good at flirting but this is the third time youve rendered Georgie here speechless” Fred laughed she looked at Fred as he looked back at her “i cant help it i almost died, and lifes too short for me to keep being shy. Theres a first for everything right? Who wouldve known the first man outside of Percy and you i try to actually talk too would flirt with me. He could be my first love, my first actual relationship maybe. He could be my husband one day. Quit butting in youre ruining my shot i dont know how many of these i have you know. Mangled face and peg leg. I wanna get it right the first time! Who knows. Maybe if i flirt enough i’ll get him to fall completely head over heels in love with half of a girl i used to be Perc always told me to put myself out there. What a better time then now?” i shrugged Fred laughed “im not butting out Maam we share a room! Theres no possible way for me to butt out your business IS my business! And with the way youre going Love" Fred called out the way George would say it "he’ll be in love with you by the end of the week” Fred snickered George just shrugged “i had a crush on you in 5th year.” He looked at me it was my turn to be rendered speechless “you wont have to work too hard to make me fall for you Pretty Girl we're already half way there” he shrugged leaving the room leaving me speechless

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A month had passed Fred was able to start his Physical therapy and Molly wasnt coming by daily anymore “FUCK!” Fred screamed “come on Freddie you can do it!” i cheered him on from my seated position on the bed  “it feels like my insides are going to spill out” He whimpered clinging to Georges shoulder “two more steps Freddie. Just have to make it to the chair” George encouraged “FUCK FUCK” he groaned “almost there Freddie youve got this!” He slowly took another step as i cheered him on "come on Freddie boy make that chair your bitch" i teased  he looked at her and smiled “thanks love.” He smiled taking another step reaching the chair “alright good good sit rest. We’ll go back to bed in 5” he smiles at his twin George looked at me with a smile “time to check my stump handsome?” i looked up to George “yes pretty girl. Time to check your leg, and your eye” he smiled i removed the blanket hissing as she moved further up the bed and turning to throw my leg off the side he sits in the stool next to the bed “any pain?” He asked as he looked at my eye with the flash light “just my side. I think your mom said it was an infection again. Apparently my core isnt strong enough to battle muggle infections.” i shrugged “follow my finger” i watched his finger as he moved it “sometimes it feels like my leg is still there and and its like a sharp pain. But its not there and its weird” i talk as he covers my right eye “i can see your face” i smile at him “she woke up screaming last night” Fred said to the air “she said she was fine her leg just hurt” “why didnt i hear the scream?” He asked as he unwrapped the leg “she casted a muffelito on the room before she fell asleep” Fred ratted her out “tattle tail” i stuck my tongue out at him “brat” he hissed back “Baby!” She teased “toddler!” He yelled back “you have crappy hair!” i crossed my arms over my chest “TAKE THAT BACK!” Fred yelled “MAKE ME YOU CRIPPLE!” George laughed at the banter "PEGLEG!" he stuck his tongue out at me "you two are toddlers" George rolled his eyes  “i… have nightmares. I didnt think it was an issue” i said as he looked at the leg “youre healing fast. Should be able to take the staples out soon, we’ll call madame Pomfrey to come fit you for a prosthetic. Tell me if this hurts” he said as he gently massaged my thigh above the stump i gasped as he gently squeezed “feels great” i said breathily “teach me” i whispered to him he smiled as i placed my hands over his he looked back down putting his hands over mine as he moved my fingers showing me how to ease the pain of the lost leg “it wont hurt forever…” he said softer i smiled at him “thank you George for doing this for me” i looked down “hey. Its handsome to you, Pretty girl, you saved Fred. Its the least I can do.” He kissed the top of my head “youre the kindest person I have ever met… and id get myself crushed over and over again if it meant I got to meet you all over again George. You’re making me fall for you. Is this one sided? Dont make me out to be a fool” i whispered in his ear gently kissing his cheek, his eyes widened in shock at the forwardness and tenderness this girl had for him they’ve only known each-other for about three months at this point he cleared his throat taking his hands off her leg “he's blushing like an idiot again! what did you say to him!” Fred who was watching intently with a bag of crisps “did you accio a bag of crisps?" i furrowed my eyebrows “its not every day i have a front row seat to my brothers love life. There i answered yours now answer mine” Fred rolled his eyes “I told him I thought he has pretty eyes” i fibbed they both know i did he raised an eye brow at me George still staring with red on his cheeks i shrugged

“i didnt lie. He’s…." i blushed looking down “nevermind” i turned over in bed facing the wall he leans over placing a hand on my hip gently and kisses my cheek “youd never be the fool when im with you. Its not one sided. Im the fool love made a whole career out of it. But im also a fool falling in love with the sweetest most beautiful woman I’ve ever met and I’m the lucky one to get to take care of her” he whispered into my ear he pushes off the bed “WAIT WHAT DID HE SAY!!!” Fred groaned eating another crisp “thats for her to know. And you to find out NEVER” George said walking toward him “Come on Fred, lets get back to bed” George hoisted him up after putting the crips off to the side “i was eating those!” He pouted “sod the crisps you need to do this pt!” George yelled gaining a laugh from _____. A month had passed since then, “Afternoon Pretty girl, I need to check your stump” he smiled setting my plate of food on the dresser “we can get Pomfrey in here to measure you for your leg soon. And your physical therapy with Fred and I” i smiled back “can you massage my leg handsome? Its starting to hurt again….” i whispered “alright love, just for a little” he smiled she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror i frowned as Fred met my eyes mood immediately dropping “I gotta get down to the shop before Lee bites my head off.” He smiled at me and i returned it “have a good day at work Handsome” “thank you pretty girl” he smiled when the door closed my smile faded as i stared into the mirror tears formed in my eyes Fred looked at her concerned “you okay Love?" Fred whispered “I miss my brother” i sniffled “he always knew what to say” “well im not your brother but im in need for a sister… if youre in need of a brother… i think we both qualify to fill each others open positions yeah?” He asked i turned to him looking at him with tears in my eyes “teach me what to say, let me be your brother love" He looked at me with gentile eyes

“tell me im deserving pf love even if im broken and ugly” i mumbled he was taken aback he took in a breath and smiled “love, you’re gorgeous, George sees how pretty you are and youve got him whipped. You deserve him and the love he wants to give you trust me” hours passed when George walked in with our dinners light sniffles could be heard from the other side of the room my back was turned to him he looked to Fred who just gave him a tight lipped smile and walked to the other side of the room after handing him his plate he set mine down next to my un-touched lunch plate on the bed side table “hey pretty girl…. What’s wrong… you in pain?” i shook my head no “what’s wrong beautiful, tell me what’s the matter how can I make you smile again?” He cooed softly “Dont lie to me” my voice hoarse like i had been crying for hours he reached to wipe away a tear ”what do you mean I’ve never lied to you Beautiful” hurt hit me square in the chest “you just did. You always do.. mangled face, missing leg. I stare at the girl ive become all day that mirror haunts me my own reflection is a reminder that im alone. And im no longer beautiful and its sickening you dont have to keep flirting with me because you feel obligated to. No one wants someone like me. Not anymore im not pretty and im definitely not beautiful. I have no one. No ones here” i sobbed more closing my eyes sniffling “I miss my brother. He would be in this bed with me. Holding me. Telling me to cheer up sunshine the worlds cloudy and gray without you please sunshine smile for me? combing through my hair like he always did holding me together while I fall apart but hes gone. My mums gone. My dads gone. I havent slept in four months the nightmares keep coming back and I just want to cry I cant be the girl that flirts twenty four seven with a guy thats too polite to tell me that it makes him uncomfortable when this is all over im going to be alone again just let mw grieve the loss of my leg, my family, and my face. I have no where to go. All I have is an empty house my best friend died, my leg hurts twenty four seven and I just need to be sad for a few hours can you leave me alone for a few hours I’ll be normal again in the morning I dont need your pity” he continued to wipe the tears off my face as he processed what i said “im not going to stop calling you pretty, and beautiful because thats what I see when I look at you Angel, I mean look at you love…” he said softer “just look at you….. i cant take my eyes off of you… youre just too good to be true the sight of you leaves me weak there are no words left to describe how pretty you are sweetie”  lifting my face in his cupped hands “youre stunning you leave me breathless, all those things you just mentioned are fixable, love, half of what you said isnt true, you really think that Fred and Angelina is going to leave you alone after youre all healed up and better? Youve got another thing coming. Theyre never going to stop you have friends. Percy’s been here every day since we owled. Fred and Angie made it clear youre their person” he smiled softly “im not letting you go either im afraid youre stuck with me you still owe me a date, and a dance” he whispered standing up and draping a blanket over the mirror i cried more as she felt the bed dip behind me he pulled me into his side one arm under my head one on my torso pulling me on my back fingers immediately going to y hair “if you needed someone to hold you. You could’ve just said so I would’ve done this ages ago if you needed it” he brushed his fingers through my hair humming softly

“and you dont have to say anything to me at all. I flirt with you because I enjoy flirting with you. You make me happy and light, you render me speechless and no one. And I mean no one can do that. But you can, thats why I do what I do you dont make me uncomfortable love. I miss Ginny too. She was a spitfire and its hard not having her around anymore, and if its alright, I want to hold you while we cry about our siblings yeah?” He asked i turned on my side draping an arm over his torso “im sorry about Ginny… her and Luna were really nice to me” i sniffled “I need you to eat for me… I’ll eat with you.” He pulled the roll off of my plate, ripping it in half handing it to me “im sorry about your brother Pretty girl" he whispered as he ate making sure i ate some of the food as well

ଘ(∩^o^)⊃━☆:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧✯:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧✯:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧✯:·ﾟ✧*:

A few hours later i let out a yawn d he started to get up out of bed my arm tightened around him feeling safe for the first time since ive woken up seven months ago “stay…” i said softly his shirt balling in my curled hand “please stay tonight” i whispered he let himself fall back into the bed “Darling wha… what do you mean?” He asked softly “Sleep here… in your bed…. I…. I need sleep…. And im scared to….. theyll come back and haunt me” i whispered “mate she hasnt slept in months i stay up with her as long as i can but i always pass put.” Fred piped up blush spread across my cheeks and i let him go flipping over to my other side embarrassed that i needed someone to make me feel safe enough to sleep “nevermind its stupid forget i said anything” i sniffled he simply reached over and turned out the light “i’ll stay for as long as you need me to stay Pretty girl" he kissed the top of my head again pulling me back into his chest his arm under my head curling back to put his hand in my hair other hand engulfing mine “i’ve got sunshine…. On a cloudy day….” He sung softly twirling my hair in his fingers “when its cold outside, ive got the month of may.. well i guess you say what can make me feel this way” she fell asleep holding onto his hand tightly

“George dear” Molly called out “SHHHH!” Fred said getting out of his bed hissing in pain “let them sleep for a little while longer this is the first shes sleeping since she woke up” he looked back to the girl who hid her face in his twins chest “lets go talk outside” Fred smiled one last time at them sleeping before throwing his arm over his mom and leaning on her for support as they walked out of the room shutting the door lightly

three hours later my eyes fluttered open looking at his sleeping face our lips were so close i bit my lip as his breath fanned over my face a surge of confidence emerged heart hammering against my chest i leaned up and gently pressed my lips to his, his brows furrowed as he stretched slightly pulling me impossibly close to him eyes fluttering open “i….. im sorry,. I didnt know what came over me i shouldve asked fir…” i was cut off by his lips on mine the kiss was soft and slow “goodmorning pretty girl, thank you for the amazing wake up” he murmured against my lips kissing her again “dont be sorry beautiful, ive been waiting for that” he cupped my face with his hand my face contorted in pain “thanks for staying” “i told you already baby… im here for as long as you need me to be” i let out a tear “whats the matter pretty girl? Nervous about your new leg?” He asked softly “im actually really excited for that really. Its just that my leg hurts… and its not even there anymore” i cried softly  “it wont hurt forever…” he said softer “i barely have pain in my ear anymore” he smiled showing me his missing ear she reached up and stroked the hair that fell onto the hole on the side of his head “i still think youre gorgeous Georgeous if you will.. ear, or no ear youre perfect to me… so perfect and kind and caring…” i whispered as i kissed the side of his head where his ear wouldve been his eyes widened in shock at the tenderness of this moment, just for him. He chuckles “only you would make that play on words huh? so cheesy Baby" he rubs my cheek with the pad of his thumb “baby youre so beautiful, and i want you..” he whispered moving his face closer to mine “leg or no leg i think youre amazing, smart, funny, and kind. Unbelievably beautiful and i dont think you should use the cream on your scars, it shows just how strong you are they dont define you or subtract from how i see you. And i would love it, if you’d accompany me to dinner when youre able to, i’ll ask again later when you get your leg and i help you learn how to walk again i want you” he whispered softly massaging my stump as he talked my eyes widened “i guess what im saying is i need you here with me… in the flat.. with me.. everyday youre the first thing i ever want to see and talk too when i get home from the shop youre the first thing i cant wait to see when i wake up… and i need you to stay here with me? Please? I promise you i wont hurt you.. just stay with me and i’ll take care of you.. whatever you need. Angel, please  ive never felt this way about anyone im in love with you Angel please... stay" he breathed out looking at me his arm snaking back up and around my waist tightening around me “im in love with you too George, and... and i want to stay with you.. you and Freddie...” i whispered he kissed me deeply it was a hungry and needy heated kiss the hand around the stump tightened as he pulled me even cliser to him putting the stump over his hip “baby i love you” looking into my eyes kissing me again

@george-weasleys-girl

[jessicaloons]

Chapter 27:

But the story of us might be ending soon…

Masterlist - Previous - Next

I was lying wide awake in bed, Charles next to me. I stared at the ceiling, head throbbing, mind reeling. I never felt more guilty in my entire life. But it was my own fault. I created this mess.

"Lizzie?" Charles whispered and I flinched, the sheets rustling when he was turning to look at me "Why are you awake?"

"I just woke up." I lied, again.

"Hmm. Are you okay?" he rubbed my arm a little and I sighed.

"Yeah. It was just a lot. You know? I wanted it to be the perfect birthday for you. But in the end I screwed it all up."

"That’s not true, mon amour. It was amazing!" he scooted even closer, cupping my cheek "I was the one who ran away instead of talking to you like an adult! I’m 25 now but acted like a 15 year old."

"You were just overwhelmed… shocked… it’s okay." I mumbled.

"Still… I’m sorry." he kissed my cheek and pulled me into him "It was an amazing evening with all the people I love."

"Almost all the people."

"Almost, yeah but I’ll see them all as soon as we’re not in between races, that’s fine." he whispered and I smiled.

"Yep." he had no idea.

"You know that it would’ve been fine if we just ordered something to eat?" Charles said as we walked up to my flat.

"It’s your birthday and we go out for dinner! Just let me change into something a little more nice than what I’m wearing and we can go." I unlocked the door.

"You look amazing, I don’t know why you want to change… are we eating with the royal family or what?" he sighed and closed the door behind him, slipping out of his shoes.

"No, but with our family." I said and he turned around.

"Surprise!" we all yelled and Charles flinched a little.

"What the…?"

"Happy Birthday, Charlie!" Liam screeched, jumping straight into his arms.

"Thanks Bubba." he was overwhelmed, I could tell "What are you guys doing here?" he walked into the living room, hugging first our Mums, then Dad, his brothers and Sissy.

"Isn’t it obvious? We’re surprising you for your birthday." Arthur rolled his eyes and I had to chuckle.

"Yeah but, I mean… I had no idea."

"No shit Sherlock?" I patted his back "That’s why it’s called a surprise, you know."

"I know." Charles laughed and Liam poked his cheek "What’s up Bubba?"

"We have presents for you!" Liam said excitedly and wiggled in Charles hold, who sat him down "Here!" he handed Charles a present and Charles sat down on the sofa "Open it!"

Charles ripped the paper off and then opened the box, looking inside, he took a book out of the box and as soon as he opened it I saw the tears in his eyes. He flipped through some pages and Liam next to him waiting for his reaction. Charles put the book down and pulled Liam in his lap, hugging him tight.

"That’s the best gift I’ve ever received, Liam. Thank you so much!" Charles whispered with teary eyes.

"You like it?" Liam asked and he nodded.

"I love it!" Charles kissed Liams cheek and Pascale leaned over to have a closer look on the book, gasping a little when she realised what it was.

"Lizzie helped me with it. We kept all the receipts or tickets or postcards from whatever we did together. And then I picked my favourite pictures of us." Liam explained and Charles smiled at me.

"It’s amazing, really. I absolutely love it!"

Liam blushed a little, happily giggling. I walked over into the kitchen and helped preparing the food.

"Thank you guys so much for coming!" Charles raised his glass as we all sat down "And thank you, Lizzie, for organising not just yesterday in the club, but this dinner!" he leaned over and kissed my cheek.

We sat together for a while, eating and talking away, when Liam began to yawn and Sissy left the table with him, making him bed ready.

"Say good night to everyone." she said when they returned and Liam made his way around the table, as soon as he stopped at Charles he climbed up in his lap and snuggled into his chest.

"Can you read me a bed time story? You and Lizzie together?" he whispered and Charles nodded slightly, stroking his back.

"Of course, Bubba." he whispered back and got up, I followed them shortly. When we passed Sissy Liam leaned over and she kissed his cheek, saying good night and then Charles carried him into my bedroom, putting him down in my bed. I grabbed the book with the bedtime stories.

"Okay, what page?" I asked Liam and he turned on his side, snuggling into the sheets, clutching his plushie tight to his chest.

"16." he whispered and Charles smiled down on him, gently ruffling his hair. I opened up the book on page 16 and read the story, watching how Liam fought with all his power to keep his eyes open. But as the story ended, he had lost the battle, softly snoring away. We kissed his cheek and carefully got up, but before we left I opened up a drawer and took out a little present.

"Here, one last gift from me." I handed it Charles and he sighed a little.

"Lizzie, this whole weekend was more than enough! And then the secret trip! Now this! Stop spoiling me like this!" he said quietly, while opening the box, looking inside "Oh cara mia." his voice barely above a whisper as he took out the key, holding it up "Thank you. So much." he pulled me into him, kissing me softly "Feels almost like the key to your heart." he chuckled and I swatted at his arm.

"You’re so cheesy!" I rolled my eyes.

"You love it!" he pulled me in again, looking deep into my eyes.

"That I do."

"What do you mean?" I asked as we boarded the plane, Charles holding my bag for me "Wait, I’m boarding the plane." I put my phone down, showing the flight attendant my ticket.

"Welcome on board, Miss Doetterer. Would you and Mr. Leclerc please follow me." she smiled at us and lead us to our seats "If you need anything, let me know."

"Thank you." we both said and Charles ushered me into the window seat.

"Okay, now." I took my phone out and heard Julie rustling through some paper.

"Netflix. They want to film the Bosch Racing event in Austin." she said and I sighed.

"Just that event? Or more?" I asked.

"Just that event. There will be young kart drivers, a lot of girls, that’s why they want to film it."

"Okay. It’s on Wednesday, right?"

"Yes. I’ll tell you all the details as soon as I see you."

"Alright. See you in Austin. Bye." I hung up, groaning.

"What’s with the event on Wednesday?" Charles asked as he sat down next to me, handing me his hoodie.

"Netflix wants to film it, because it’s an event with a lot of karting drivers, a lot of young girls apparently, so they thought it’s a good idea if that’s being filmed." I sighed while pulling over Charles hoodie, snuggling into my seat.

"I agree. You wanted to use the documentary for exactly that!" he sat down and I nodded.

"I know. You’re right! Doesn’t mean I have to like it."

"Nope. But you’ll get used to it. Faster than you think." he kissed my cheek and I looked outside the window, hoping he was right.

Hoping I really would get used to a film crew filming my every move, that’s why I was nervous when I arrived at the sponsoring event. But seeing all the young kids, boys and girls equally, being so passionate about racing, loving the sport so much, my nervousness faded away in an instant. I did some laps around the track, gave some advice here and there. Told my story, how I made it from karting into F1. When the event slowly got to its end I wanted nothing more than to spend another hour or two with the kids.

"You were amazing! The kids loved you! The sponsors loved you!" Julie said.

"The camera loves you!" Elijah, the unit director, added and I blushed a little "If there are more events like this planned, count as in!"

"We will!" Julie smiled and waved the crew goodbye when I got into our car "Okay, be honest. How was it for you with the film crew? You were a little uncomfortable every now and then?"

"I wouldn’t say uncomfortable, more… kinda nervous how I would look on camera when doing whatever I was doing at that moment…"

"Oh Lizzie! You were amazing! Really! Just be you. Be natural. Don’t try to play a role…" she patted my arm and I nodded, thinking about her words when I opened up the door.

"Charles?" I asked when I walked inside our room, bed empty.

"In here."

I slipped off my shoes and plopped down on the sofa, as the bathroom door opened up and Charles walked out.

"Hey pretty girl." he kissed my head then walked over to the minibar, grabbing a sparkling water, handing it to me before he sat down "How was it?"

"Amazing. I swear these kids were all so talented! It was so much fun!" I said excitedly "There was this one girl, Myra, she was amazing. She wanted to know everything, I swear! She asked so many questions, was so inquisitive! She’ll be an amazing driver one day! Oh and Chloe! She was intuitive! She got in the kart and just went with it."

"Seems like you had a lot of fun, then?" Charles asked and I nodded "How was it to be filmed outside of the track?"

"I was a little worried about how I look on camera doing normal stuff like drinking or putting on a helmet? I was a little too much in my head. But I get used to it, like you said and it will get better from now on. I’m just being myself, not caring about the cameras."

"Very good! Exactly what you need to do!" Charles squeezed my thigh "Did you eat something?"

"Not really, no, you?" I answered and he shook his head.

"You wanna go out? There’s a street food festival just 2 streets from here." he said and I nodded.

"Yes! God yes! Give me a couple of minutes in the bathroom, just to freshen up a little."

"Take your time."

"Lizzie, can you tell us a little what happened back in Japan?" the reporter from CBS Sports asked.

"Umm, what happened in Suzuka can’t happen again. It was irresponsible. Mistakes like this can cost a life, as we all unfortunately know, and the FIA has to react and find out what went where wrong that a recovery vehicle was on track while we were still racing." I answered, although I was 100% sure that this wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

"There was also some drama off the track, with Charles attacking a reporter?" he continued.

"I think attacking is a little exaggerated? No? I mean to be honest it all happened so fast, I couldn’t fully process what was going on. So yeah. Don’t know what to say." I answered honestly.

"What the reporter asked left room for interpretation, did you understood it as an imply to something inappropriate?"

"I don’t know. It’s already 2 weeks ago, I don’t even know anymore what was said." I lied, I didn’t know at all what was said, Charles said I shouldn’t watch it or read articles about it, so I thought it must’ve been something bad. I did what he asked me to. Although I was curious.

"You were asked if you expect your results to be better again after your move to Monaco, where you would be closer to your fellow drivers to spent time outside of the track with them."

"To play paddle and go out to dinner together? Don’t know if that helps, but sure, why not." Fucking Salva Diaz.

"I think it implied a little more than just that?"

"I don’t know. I don’t care. Like I said, it’s two weeks ago, I focus on this weekend. Thank you." I smiled and when I left the media pen I bumped into Charles.

"A lot of questions about Suzuka, no?" he sighed a little and I nodded.

"Yeah but not just the race…"

"What else?"

"You! Punching Diaz! For nothing!" I looked at him and he stopped abruptly.

"What do you mean ‘for nothing’?"

"Charles, he asked way worse stuff before! And then you didn’t snap! Why now?"

"Why now? Why now?" he grabbed my hands and pulled me aside, into a hallway "Maybe because I saw the way you were tense the whole press conference, maybe because I saw how you were trying your best not to faint any moment, maybe because I saw you having a panic attack the moment he looked at you, ready to just spit out another disgusting question to hurt you! And maybe because in my mind he shouldn’t even be there! So yes! When he said you moved to Monaco to be closer to us other drivers to spent some time together, looking like that? Practically sneering? No. I lost it. And I don’t regret it one bit, he had it coming." Charles was furious and I cupped his cheeks.

"I love you, you know that, right?"

"Wh-what?" he was perplexed and I smiled, kissing his cheek.

"Thank you. Really." I hugged him and he sighed.

"I love you too."

I walked out of the bathroom, drying my hair when I saw Charles smiling at me like the Cheshire Cat.

"What have you done?" I asked

"Why do you think that I’ve done something?" he chuckled and I cocked an eyebrow.

"Because you sit there, smile like that and I’m 100% sure that I heard someone knocking at the door."

"Hmm. Interesting." he got up, walking over and grabbed me by the waist, still a big grin on his face.

"What have you done?" I repeated and he leaned in, brushing his lips against mine.

"Happy release day." he whispered, his hot breath fanning over my lips.

"Release day?" I was confused.

"Check the bed." he pulled away and I walked to our bed. Tears threatening to fall immediately.

"Are you serious? All four?" I turned to look at him and he shrugged his shoulders.

"I heard you talk about them over and over again, saying you couldn’t even decide which one to buy and then they were already sold out… well I ordered all of them in advance." I almost jumped into him "Do you like them?"

"I love them. Not as much as I love you, but yeah close second right now." I kissed him, putting all my love and happiness into it "Every girl out there wants a boyfriend like you! But only I get to have you!" I kissed his cheek and he laughed, walking us over to the bed again, where all four editions of Taylor Swifts new album were waiting for me "You are perfect." I whispered and looked at him.

"Perfect boy for a perfect girl then." he hugged me close "So, which one do you like the most?"

"All of them? I honestly can’t decide. They all look amazing… but if I had to decide? I think the Jade Green Edition… it reminds me of your eyes…"

"Funny… I would’ve chosen the Moonstone Blue Edition, for the same reason, it reminds me of your eyes…"

"I don’t know, the rear was still a little stiff, don’t you think? I mean it was way better than in practice one." I said to Pete as we looked over the data and he nodded.

"Maybe we need to change the set up a little more, but I’m not sure we can do much more, to be honest." he scratched his chin.

"Yeah, we’ll see." I grabbed my water bottle and walked out of the garage when someone tapped my shoulder.

"Oh, hi Paul." I said as and smiled.

"Lizzie. How do you like Austin so far?" he asked and walked with me outside.

"Not my first rodeo here. I tested once for Ferrari here." I said and he shook his head.

"I’m not talking about the track! I mean the city! I could show you around! Show you some really good restaurants!" he smiled at me and I tilted my head "I’m from here, you know."

"What? You’re from Austin? I had no idea!"

"Yep, born and raised, then I left for Europe to travel and stayed in Germany and started working there." he explained "But I’m still up to date with what’s going on here."

"Cool! Yeah maybe if I need some recommendations, I’ll ask you first!" I said and he nodded.

"I could take you on a little sightseeing tour?" he asked and as I wanted to say something Charles walked up to us.

"Hey, I was waiting for you." he said, ignoring Paul completely.

"Yeah, sorry, I was talking to Paul." I said and he turned a little, nodding at Paul, then turning back to me.

"Ready to leave?" he asked me then and I nodded.

"Yup. I see you tomorrow." I smiled at Paul and left.

"What?" I asked as Charles walked next to me, not saying anything, just looking grumpy.

"‘I could take you on a little sightseeing tour‘?" he imitated Paul and I rolled my eyes "Oh come on! If you tell me now that he’s just nice then you’re lying to yourself!"

"Charles…" I sighed.

"Cara mia, he asked you on a date! He is flirting!"

"He didn’t ask me for a date! He just wanted to show me around his hometown!"

"Yeah and just you… no one else from your team would get that special tour."

"Whatever."

"Okay, this is your last chance." Pete radioed.

"Copy."

One last lap. One last time fully focus. I crossed the finish line with a good feeling.

"Currently P3. Good job. We’re waiting for Charles, Max, Hamilton and Sainz."

"Valtteri?"

"P7 for now."

"Max P4. Hamilton P5. Your P3 is safe. Well done!"

"Awesome! Woohooo!"

I steered onto the pit lane, parked in the P3 spot and got out of the car, taking my helmet off after I hugged my team. After my weighing I put it down on the table when Charles drove up to me and when Carlos parked into the P1 spot my face fell for a second, but I recovered quickly, hoping no one and especially no camera captured it. I nodded to him when he passed me and he did the same. That was enough. Charles walked behind him to his team, shoulders tense. There was some trouble going on.

"Lizzie?" one of the F1 officials looked at me and gave me a microphone, pushing me towards my interview with Danica Patrick.

As soon as I was done I watched Charles interview and waited for him before we walked back to our garages.

"Did something happen with your teammate?" I asked him quietly in French and he shook his head.

"No, my last lap wasn’t good enough. And with the penalty I’ll start from P12. That sucks."

"Oh fuck! I forgot about the penalty! I’m so sorry! But hey, now I have the chance to overtake him at the start."

"Do that, but please, be careful… you and him. I don’t want a Ferrari or an Audi out of the race in lap 1." he cocked an eyebrow and I chuckled a little, when I noticed that Charles rolled his eyes, looking behind me. Paul. Waiting half way down the pit lane. Looking at me. Maybe Charles was right and he was flirting after all. I tried to pretend like I didn’t notice him and looked at Charles.

"I’ll try my best to avoid that. I promise!" I laughed and he squeezed my arm gently before he walked inside his garage and I made my way down the pit lane to my garage.

"P2 tomorrow! Good job!" Paul said when I passed him and I nodded.

"Yup. Sad for Charles tho." I said tight lipped.

"Well he’s a good enough driver to make up his positions during the race, right?" his tone a little mocking.

"He will, don’t worry." I walked a little faster and was glad when Felix approached me.

"That was a good last lap! Well done!" he hugged me and I smiled.

"Tried my best."

"P2, is a good position." he threw his arm around my shoulder and we walked inside, leaving Paul behind. I had to talk to him. But that had to wait. For now I would behave like always around him. Focus on the race ahead.

Charles POV:

I talked to Pierre, feeling the champagne seep through my fireproofs and race suit when I saw how Paul approached Lizzie. She didn’t seem to be as relaxed as she usually was around him and I wondered what had changed. Lizzie laughed about something he said, it wasn’t her usual laugh. It was more reserved, but that didn’t stop him from putting his hand on her back, like he wanted to stabilise her, as if she needed it. The way he looked at her, practically undressing her with his eyes made my blood boil. Over the last weeks he was getting way too close to her and I knew the look on his face all too well. Despite what Lizzie said, that he only was friendly and definitely not flirting, she was too naive to see it. And she definitely was too nice to tell him to fuck off. But I was getting more and more agitated by him.

"Mate, what are you staring at?" Pierre boxed my arm and I blinked, rubbing my arm glaring at him "What?"

"I hate that guy! Look at him! Look! He’s almost jumping her right there in front of everyone! He’s always all over her!" I gritted out between clenched teeth.

Pierre looked at where my eyes were still being glued to and chuckled.

"Are you jealous?" he said and I groaned.

"Are you for real? Look at him!" I said.

"I mean yeah, Lizzie is a stunning girl, of course he tries to shoot his shot… and you’re not official a couple so…" Pierre said as Lizzie and Paul disappeared into the hallway.

"About time that he finds out and learns to keep his hands away from my girl!" I spat out and stormed after them. I opened the door and entered the building, I could see Lizzie and Paul in front of me and walked faster.

"…and yeah about that, I mean, my offer still stands, I can give you a little sights-…" Paul began but I interrupted him.

"Here you are, baby. I was looking everywhere for you!" I said loudly, Lizzie and Paul flinching slightly, turning around. Three long strides and I stood next to them, grabbing Lizzie by the waist and pulling her in. Crashing my lips onto hers, kissing her fiercely, one hand still on her waist, pulling her body flush against mine, while the other hand grabbed the back of her neck, pushing her face even closer. As I let go of her she let out a ragged breath and I nipped at her bottom lip, pulling her tight to my side as I turned to Paul.

"Oh, hi! Sorry, I hope I didn’t interrupt anything?" I asked innocently, then I extended my hand, pretending to shake his "Hi, I’m Charles, I think we haven’t met yet?" I said as if I was really thinking about if I knew him or not.

"Yeah, I know who you are, we met before…" Paul stated, staring at my extended hand.

"Oh! Right! Patrick, right? Good to see you!" I said while Lizzie next to me still looked up, confused, but also slightly amused.

"Paul." he almost gritted it out and I slapped my forehead.

"Of course, Paul! Sorry mate! There are just so many of you mechanic guys! It gets quite confusing! I just wanted to say hi to my girl, and tell her that we’ll go out tonight, I reserved us a table at that barbecue restaurant. You know the one you sent me a link to! That’s perfect to celebrate my podium, no?" I kissed Lizzie again and when I pulled away I slapped her butt cheek, which made her squeak, her cheeks were turning pink "Alright, I leave you guys now to it. Baby girl, I’ll pick you up later on. Pat- no, Paul! See you around!" I clapped his shoulder and turned around, walking away, before I stopped again, turning around "Oh yeah, and before I forget it, would be cool if you could keep this to yourself, only a handful of people know about us. Thanks mate!" I grinned and walked out. Pierre waiting for me.

"Oh, I know that look… what did you do?" he asked and I shrugged my shoulders.

"Showed him who she belongs to…" I said and then I grimaced a little "Yeah okay, that sounds wrong af… cringe."

"Sounds like someone is a possessive, little shit." Pierre laughed, clapping my back.

"When it comes to her? Always!" I said and he shook his head.

"Figured that out a long time ago." he wiggled his eyebrows and walked away.

"What do you mean?" I asked him but he just waved me off "Come on, Gasly! What do you mean?"

Lizzie waited at my car, scrolling through her phone when she looked up.

"Oh baby, it’s you." she said mockingly and I grinned, opening the door for her, but she didn’t move "What? No kiss for me? Baby? Or a little slap on the butt? Are you into spanking, baby? I mean we can try if you wan-…"

"Okay, okay, okay! I got it! I was a little possessive and a little jerk… I know, okay? But I just couldn’t stand anymore how he was always looking at you! Touching you! Trying to make you laugh! I had to show him that he can take his flirt attempts and stick them far up his ass." I said and she laughed, biting her lip.

"I have to say…" she began, pushing herself off the car, leaning in, our lips almost touching, her eyes settling on my lips "It was kinda hot, how possessive you were… and that little spank?" she almost whispered, her hot breath fanning over my lips as she chuckled "Can’t say I didn’t like it…" she pulled back and got into the car, my face red and hot.. I closed her door and took a deep breath before I got in the car myself.

"You okay? You seem a little flustered?" she asked me, biting her lip and I groaned.

"You’re the worst, you know that?" I started the engine and she laughed, resting her hand on my thigh.

"Maybe… maybe not." she rubbed her palm over my jeans and the friction she created made it hard to concentrate "Seems like you’re having a little issue."

"No idea what you’re talking about…" I let out, catching my breath when her hand wandered upwards "Lizzie…"

"Charlie…" she said innocently.

"You better stop now. I would like for us to arrive at the hotel in one piece." I said through gritted teeth and she laughed again.

"Hmm… I’m perfectly fine, looks like an you problem to me."

"It turns into a you problem as soon as the door of our room is closed." I grabbed her hand before it made the deadly contact and kissed her knuckles.

"Oh? Is that a threat?" she challenged and I squeezed her hand.

"It’s a promise… baby."

Mexico was a whirlwind. I was constantly feeling like someone was following me. And it was true. The Netflix crew was following me. They filmed my arrival. Dinner with Joris, Dad, JK, Andrea and Charles. Media day. Friday and Saturday. How I FaceTimed with Mum and Liam before the race. My warm up session with JK. Everything. It felt like the only time I had for myself was when I put on my race suit or when I had to pee. Or when I specially asked them to give me some space.

"You look exhausted?" Charles asked, worry evident in his voice, when he stood next to me.

"I’m okay. I just didn’t thought it would be so much, with them following me literally everywhere. It’s a little weird." I sighed.

"It was kinda weird when I opened them the door this morning, that’s for sure." he said and I nodded.

"But I have some Netflix free moments now, so let’s enjoy it." I laughed a little and Charles smiled.

"Yeah. A whole minute of the anthem." he chuckled.

"I take every second I can get, thank you!" I whispered as the anthem began to play. I closed my eyes. Shutting everything out, only focusing on my breathing. A couple of moments just for myself.

"Alright, ready?" Dad asked when I came back from the anthem procedure.

"Yep." I nodded, taking a sip out of my bottle.

"Good luck out there, Lizzie." he side hugged me and gave me a kiss on the head.

"Thanks Pops." I smiled at him and together with JK and the Netflix crew I went to the grid, getting ready for the race. When I was strapped in and checked everything I signalled the all clear to Matt and he nodded. Formation lap and then I took one last deep breath.

Lights out and I pushed the throttle as fast and hard as I could. I steered around George in front of me, making one position up. As we turned into the first corner I braked later then Lando and overtook him as well. I saw the battle between Max and Charles in front, Carlos almost next to me. He fought me off as good as he could and our battle gave George the opportunity to overtake us both. I felt a slight bump and my car was swerving to the left.

"We touched." I radioed.

"No damage."

"Good."

The first 9 laps were a constant battle between George, Carlos and I. Always in each others DRS range, switching positions over and over. The battle ahead of us between Charles and Max looked the same. I managed to stay ahead of Carlos and George for the next lap, getting over a second between us.

"1.1 to George. Keep pushing."

"How far ahead is Max?"

"2.3. Charles 2.4."

"Alright."

I pushed as hard as possible, breaking later than ever before to close the gap to Max, right as I drove out of turn 6 I saw Charles and Max going wheel to wheel with Charles having the upper hand, I inwardly cheered a little, when out of the blue Charles car was spinning out of control, from that moment on everything seemed to go in slow motion, his car going hard over a kerb and the rear got lifted high up in the air, flipping the whole car in the process, as fast as the car was up in the air, it already was down, flipping over and over, thrashing over the grovel until it came, upside down, to an abrupt halt in the wall. That was when my heart skipped a beat. Everything going at a normal pace again. Charles car a red mess in the wall, debris flying around, a dust cloud around the accident site, where I breezed past. Looking over at Charles. I couldn’t see him, too much dust, the car being upside down, hanging partly in the wall. I saw the yellow flags being waved. And wondered why just yellow.

I drove straight to our garage, unbuckled my seatbelt, took out the steering wheel and leapt out of the car, on the screens all over the garage I saw replays of the crash, how Charles car flipped over and came to a halt in the wall.

"Did he say something now?" I asked Matt who only shook his head.

"I’m sorry Lizzie, but no. His engineer and Fred tried to reach him, but no response." he answered and I felt my heart clench. I took my helmet off and threw it on a table, then I grabbed the headset Matt handed me and watched the drama unfold in front of my eyes.

The crane turning the red car over carefully, setting it down, the marshals and medic team jumping in and working on Charles, who didn’t seem to move. I felt a hand on my shoulder and flinched.

"Lizzie, hey. It’s just me." Dad said and pulled me in his arms.

"Why isn’t he moving? And why didn’t he respond?" I whispered and he gently stroked my back.

"Let’s wait until he’s out of the car, okay?" he said and I nodded looking back on the screen, watching as an ambulance drove next to the the crash site. The marshals putting up a barrier out of sheets and I gulped. It was never a good sign when they won’t show what’s going on. I felt tears stinging my eyes. My breathing got shallow. I couldn’t lose him. Not after we finally found our way together. Not after the last months. No, I couldn’t lose him. Dad talked to me but I only heard it ringing in my ears.

"Can’t breathe." I choked out and Dad immediately jumped into action, pushing me down on a chair, JK next to me rubbing circles on my back, trying to soothe me. Julie standing on my other side with a bottle of water, waiting for Dad to come back with my inhalator. As he kneeled down in front of me, shaking it and shoving it into my mouth I tried to inhale but nothing happened. It was empty. I forgot to exchange it this morning.

"Fuck! Lizzie were is the spare one? Lizzie?! Come on! Where is it?" Dad asked and I tried to talk but couldn’t.

My lungs deflating, panic took over. The ringing in my ears got louder, my sight grew dim. Out of nowhere Andrea jumped next to Dad, handing him the inhalator Charles always kept in his backpack, and he shoved it right into my mouth and pushed the button down. I took a deep breath and felt how my lungs unfolded again. I closed my eyes for a second, but before Dad could push the button a second time I jumped up and walked over to the next screen, Charles on a stretcher, lifeless, one medic saying something to the other who checked Charles’ pulse. Then he shook his head. And my whole world began to crumble. Darkness surrounded me. Charles was gone. Dead. And right as I collapsed, the camera panned onto me, broadcasting my break down for the whole world to see.

Little Note:

Chapter 27 - as a little New Years gift the new chapter a little earlier! Well… that just happened 🙈 but, what happens next?

Please leave a comment/ like/ reblog/ message and tell me how you liked it! I'm dying to hear your thoughts!

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Last but not least, English is not my first language and although I tried my best: please excuse any mistakes I made!

Taglist:

@silkenthusiasts @eugene-emt-roe @sunny44 @itsjustkhaos @glitterquadricorn @aundercover @kakorrhaphiphobia @alittlebitofbooksandmagic @ru-kru @glitterf1 @janeholt3 @maeve-wileyy @18754389 @chiliwhore @hellowgoodbye @queensassybitchsworld @harrysdimple05 @skynel09

All the images I’m using are from Google, Pinterest and Instagram (or self made).

[fernandopiastri28]

quand c’est - part 6 ~ ln4 x op81

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8

Yet now at 24, he feels a shell of that aspiring kid. The one who truly believed he would be a world champion. That dream, the realness of it seems to have fizzled. Not just because of the diagnosis, but because he knows Oscar, he sees Oscar’s raw talent in his second year of racing. He saw it in Oscar’s rookie year too- and he knows he’ll never have that.

Warnings: sickness, illness, cancer

Lando wakes up, and he’s still sick. It’s expected- no one recovers from brain cancer in a matter of hours, but a part of him continues to believe this is some awful nightmare or a really sick joke.

It must’ve been a fair few hours since he’d gotten the news, because it’s already getting dark outside again.

Lando’s blurry vision slowly clears up the more he blinks. He tries his best to sit up, his arms not complying with him- heavy with the weight of being pierced with IVs and drips.

He leans over as best as he could, a slow calculated move. He checks his phone, calls and messages as far as he could see from his family and the other drivers.

Carlos: Landito

Carlos: Landito are you okay?

Carlos: Is Oscar taking care of you?

Carlos: Mierda

Carlos: You are in my thoughts and prayers. It was a bad crash.

Thanks for the reminder Carlos, Lando fucking knew it was an awful crash. An awful crash during an awful race from an awful driver. Just awful.

Daniel: Lando mate r u aluroght?

Daniel: *alright

Daniel: thinkin of u rn mate

Daniel: i hope you’re feeling better

Lando wonders how many people knew he was in the hospital. He wonders if Oscar had been calling anyone else beyond Logan to talk about how Lando was an insane man who had no care for his own health.

Max V: Hello Lando. I hope you are feeling well and are doing okay. Cannot wait to see you in cota you absolute weapon. You’ll be bonzer.

Max V: Daniel taught me that word. I think it is bonzer or bonza. Not sure

Lando smiles at Max’s messages, his body hurting too much to be able to laugh. Clearly the dutch man has been spending far too much with Daniel as his dialect was becoming more like the Australian’s each day.

Max V: Daniel is very worried for you, I am too.

He presses onto his chat with his mum, clicking to call her. He has 12 missed calls from her, no doubt about whether she knew about not only the hospital, but also the diagnosis. Oscar would’ve been on top of that.

It feels nice to hear his mum’s voice on the other end of the call, even if her voice was scratchy and hard to understand from crying. He asks about his sisters and brother, trying to skirt around the elephant in the room.

When the phone call eventually ends, he swipes his hand over Oscar’s mess of hair. It’s no longer that perfect swoop, more like how he remembered it being in Singapore a year ago, stuck to his forehead and falling down with the humidity.

It’s strange to think of anything about Singapore last year now. Strange to think about his first time being on the podium with his best friend. Strange to think about the ice baths with Oscar, playing padel with George, the feeling of being so disgustingly sweaty at the end of the race- but pure adrenaline and joy overpowering that discomfort.

Now he was left rotting away in a hospital bed, unable to do those same simple and ‘mundane’ tasks.

He misses George, for some reason, a lot.

And Alex, he misses the 2019 rookies group. He misses the beginning of his F1 career- where he didn’t have a care in the world and truly believed he was ‘exceptional’ for being at the top category of motor sports at 18.

Yet now at 24, he feels a shell of that aspiring kid. The one who truly believed he would be a world champion. That dream, the realness of it seems to have fizzled. Not just because of the diagnosis, but because he knows Oscar, he sees Oscar’s raw talent in his second year of racing. He saw it in Oscar’s rookie year too- and he knows he’ll never have that.

If there’s going to be a world champion of either of them, It’ll be Oscar, and it kills Lando that he has to be happy for Oscar knowing that.

~~

A nurse comes in every hour on the dot to either give him another round of either medicine or to note down how his body is reacting to the painkillers. To be fair, he does feel relatively good. His head doesn’t hurt, and he doesn’t really feel anything at all.

Oscar wakes up after a while and just sits with him, making some dry jokes in an attempt to make Lando laugh. He doesn’t laugh as much as he usually would, but that’s because he sometimes only catches every second word. He’s sure Oscar’s being pretty funny though, so sometimes he laughs for the sake of ensuring Oscar keeps talking.

Lando has energy for one thing, and one thing only- kissing. Oscar’s wary about that, cautious like a few little pecks are going to absolutely destroy Lando.

To Lando, he has already braced himself for the fact that he’s going to change with the effects of surgery and chemo- mentally and physically. Maybe future Lando won’t want to kiss Oscar as much.

And maybe he’ll get so ugly that Oscar won’t want to kiss Lando either.

But Oscar caves, as he usually does, and it’s so sweet, so perfect. They kiss, and Oscar laughs into Lando’s mouth when he makes a stupid one liner, not funny to anyone other than Oscar, who is the easiest person in the world to make laugh.

Well, when it comes to Lando. Otherwise, Lando takes the cake for that title.

It feels like being a teenager again, or what Lando imagines teenage romance would’ve felt like. He was too busy with F4, F3, F2 and then obviously all the prep for F1 to ever have enough time to consider having a relationship. But being with Oscar, kissing in a hospital room and quickly separating when a doctor or a nurse walks in is just like how it’s described in movies.

Before Oscar, he only dated Luisinha, which besides the off season and some weekends that weren’t race weekends, he’s never really had time with his partner to be like this.

He has as much of Oscar as he wants right now, has all the time in the world to kiss and cuddle and laugh and talk without having a hundred cameras in their faces.

Lando wants to stay like this forever. Forever adoring, forever adored.

~~

After a few days, the doctors rule him ‘well enough’ to be discharged, which isn’t even something Lando thought would happen. Clearly he’s got a lot about brain cancer to research, because he truly believed he’d be permanently hospital bound.

In reality, he’s only leaving to go back to Monaco and have the surgery there. If he had the surgery in Singapore, he’d be stuck there for months. As much as he likes Singapore- it’s not home, and it’s so humid.

The doctors that have been treating him in Singapore have been in contact with a set of surgeons at a private hospital in Monaco- discussing each precise detail to the tumour and the ideal route of how to remove it. Lando doesn’t listen when the doctors describe it to him, he goes to his happy place instead.

Miami, Florida- the 5th of May 2024

Oscar does listen on the other hand. He’s attentive, noting down each piece of information onto a little pocket book Logan had given the aussie for his birthday back in April. Where Lando zones out and goes spacey, Oscar remembers everything so he can explain it to Lando if he wants to know.

However, Lando does sometimes listen when they speak about the time after the surgery. It isn’t clear when he’s going to be able to race again as it all depends on how much of the tumour they’re able to remove and how his body will react to the chemotherapy.

COTA is completely out of the picture in terms of what he might be able to race in, and to be fair, the rest of the season is a wary grey area. Anything beyond Australia at the beginning of next year just seems too soon, as recovery from brain tumour surgery is 6-12 weeks, and that’s for normal activities- much less racing F1 cars.

For once, he decides to take that advice. Not listening to someone who was genuinely looking out for his health got him into this situation, badly bruised up from a crash on top of the existing tumour and cancer.

Oscar helps draft out an email from Lando to the McLaren team, explaining a situation they are already completely caught up on. Lando watches Oscar’s fingers tap across his laptop keyboard, using all the fancy jargon that Lando wouldn’t even know exists.

If he’s lucky and the tumour can be successfully removed, the doctors tell him he’ll return to his old self. He won’t have the headaches, the brain fog, the poor vision, the nausea. He’ll just be Lando Norris again- maybe slightly different, but better than now.

They don’t like to discuss what will happen if he’s unlucky though.

The bad thing about the tumour is that even though they are able to shrink it through chemotherapy if the surgery is unsuccessful, they’re not sure of the exact spread of it through his brain just yet. The MRI scan didn’t show the complete extent of the tumour, so they won’t know just how bad the situation is until they actually get in there for the surgery.

That’s the exact reason they’re pushing for it to happen as soon as possible- within the week ideally. Because the longer they wait, the more it spreads.

Lando’s had so many doctors and nurses tell him he was lucky that he crashed and ended up in hospital, as it was likely that the tumour would have remained undetected for a solid few more weeks, which could’ve killed him if he left it any longer than he did.

But Lando can’t help but think if he really was lucky, he wouldn’t be in this situation. He wouldn’t have a growing brain tumour, he wouldn't be in hospital, he wouldn’t be going in for surgery.

He’d be racing, he’d be on podiums- he’d be fine.

[collecting-stories]

The Lakes - Finn Shelby

Summary: reader contemplates all the ways they’ve fallen in love with Finn.

A/N: this is just some fluff nonsense that I found half finished in my drafts.

← Folklore Masterlist | TS Anthology Series →

✰ and I want you right here ✰

“You know what that’ll do to you?” Finn was already lighting up your cigarette as he asked the question, watching you draw in a breath of smog before blowing it back out, hazy and white in the dusk of Small Heath. His own cigarette lingered between his fingers as he waited for your answer, as if he was dependent upon a reply.  

“I’ve a mind to find out,” you replied, looking away momentarily, back down the street where he’d come from, the looming church in the distance. “My mum says it’s not proper.”  

You could hear her voice in the back of your head, lithe but shrill, warning you that bad habits would chase away good suitors. There was only one you had in mind, the same one you’d been saying since you were small. You could remember still, even looking at him now all tall and lean like his brothers (save for Tommy who’d inherited his mother’s height), toking on a cigarette as if he were contemplating the whole of the world, the way your heart had pounded up into your chest the first time you laid eyes on Finn Shelby in a different light.  

Ten years old, troublemakers in your own rights, Polly used to remark that the pair of you were thick as thieves whenever she saw you playing together. When you were little, dirty knees and scraped palms seemed like the perfect forever. You couldn’t imagine a different kind of life, the world was only as big as Small Heath and you had everything you needed right on Watery Lane. It wasn’t all true anymore, you’d seen London and Edinburgh and heard stories from Grace about America. The world was vast and you had an itch that begged for exploration. But everything you needed was still right there, in the middle of Watery Lane behind a black door. Tall and lean and ginger, with a smile that melted your insides and made your heart feel warm. He had freckles like constellations across his face and shoulders and other places that would make your mother blush if she knew you’d seen them. 

“If your mum wanted you to be proper she’d have kept a closer eye on you,” he teased, eyes lighting up as he smiled.  

“You think that would’ve stopped me?” You asked, as if Finn wasn’t as magnetic as the sun, pulling you into his orbit with little effort. A smile directed at you was enough for him to have your whole heart.  

“Not at all,” he replied, curls bouncing as he shook his head. His hair was unusually unkempt, soft ginger curls enticing and free of gel. His typically shaved sides and back grown out just enough that you could run your fingers through it but not grasp it yet. He’d trim it by the weekend for the party but for now, he’d let it go. Finn liked the uniform look of the blinders, mostly because it meant that people recognised him immediately. If not instantly as the youngest Shelby brother than at least as a blinder. But he knew you liked when he didn’t bother with fixing his hair. The beeswax tended to make you break out in hives when you came in contact with it and more than looking like a blinder, Finn liked the feeling of your hands in his hair.  

He was rewarded for going without the product when you reached out and brushed some fringe out of his eyes, fingers dancing along the freckles on his face as you cupped his cheek. Your other hand held your cigarette, somewhat over the idea of smoking with Finn. You’d suggested it, if only because he said he had to get back home and you were trying to stall him.  

“Are you still going to London this weekend?” You asked, a faint smile gracing your features as he turned his head into your hand and pressed a kiss to your fingers.  

He hummed, green eyes meeting yours, “are you going to come with me?” He’d been asking you to go back to London with him whenever the opportunity arose. You’d been once with your family and once with him (something that your mother had not been thrilled to discover) and Finn had been clear about wanting to take you back to the city.  

There was a charm about London that didn’t exist in Small Heath. This town was your whole world but sometimes it felt suffocating, everyone knew Finn and by association, you. There wasn’t a place you could go that you could just disappear into the crowd, where it could just be you and Finn without the pressure his brothers provided.  

London meant work but it was also a city too big for everyone to know who Finn was. When he got away from whatever his brothers needed him for and it was just the two of you, there was something distinctly peaceful about it.  

“My mum’s not keen on me going down to London,” you replied, even though it was silly to mention. Finn was well aware of your mum’s opinions though it always surprised him that she didn’t try to keep the two of you apart.  

“Is that a no?” He asked, taking another drag of his cigarette when you pulled your hand away.  

You placed your own between your lips but then removed it just as quickly, as if it was only a place holder while you were debating what to say. “No.” You shook your head, “I’ll go.”  

Finn’s face lit up, eyes sparkling and smile ear to ear. You swore a little piece of your heart ached at the look of absolute happiness he gave you, so much like the ten year old boy you once knew, and folded away the image for another time. You could’ve spent the rest of your life carefully annotating every look that crossed Finn Shelby’s face, every emotion that he felt charted for you to recall someday when he wasn’t with you anymore and it was all memories.  

“Someday you won’t have to worry about your mum’s permission,” Finn mentioned it as if it was something he’d considered before.  

“Doubt it’ll matter if I’m married, she’ll be there giving me her two cents about whatever I’m doing,” you replied, “though I’ll hopefully not be under the same roof.”  

“Pol‘ll just drive you mad instead,” he mused, “though she’s always had a soft spot for you.”  

“I’m moving in with Polly when I get married?” You asked, mirroring back the happy expression he’d had moments ago. 

“Maybe just at first, then we’ll get a place. Like Tommy, out in the country and away from the smog.”  

“Wouldn’t matter to me,” you mused, “I’d brave the smog for you.”  

[avenirdelight]

Stories From The Past

Trent Alexander-Arnold

They have only known about each other from stories from the past when they were so little. Now they're reunited, learning about each other, and developing something more. [Requested]

She had left her coat in the taxi that she had taken to Anfield. So if she looked like she wasn’t too excited during the match, it was solely because she was freezing. It was a cold night in Liverpool and what made it worse was how this match felt like it was taking forever.

If Trent hadn’t personally invited her to the match, she’d probably would’ve left, or at least stayed inside at the lounge to warm herself up. But during the warm-up session earlier, Trent had found her in the stands and gave her a little wave and smile. He’d even taken the time to send her a text.

Thank you for coming. See you at the lounge after the match?

And honestly she really wanted to see Trent play again. So she tried to stay and bear the cold.

He was a family friend, Trent. They had moved back to Liverpool and their parents had recently gotten in touch again after losing contact for too many years, which had led to the both families having dinner over at the Alexander-Arnold’s by their invitation. That was the first time she’d met Trent again, the boy her parents had always talked about every time they caught a Liverpool or England match on TV. They said that Trent and her were inseparable when they were little but unfortunately, she didn’t remember much of that.

The Reds managed to get the win. To be fair, it had been a good game and she’d found herself enjoying it despite the cold. Though she immediately ran inside the lounge as soon as the referee blew the final whistle.

She patiently waited for Trent at the lounge. She’d picked a spot in the corner of the room, hoping that no one would notice her, because everyone seemed to know each other and she looked like she didn’t belong there. She’d finished a slice of cake and a cup of tea and Trent still hadn’t come; she was afraid he’d forgotten about her.

She felt the biggest relief when Trent appeared exactly five minutes after her last sip of her tea. He rushed to her with an apologetic smile and she welcomed him, standing up from her seat.

“Sorry for making you wait, the coaches needed to have a word with me.” It was the first thing that Trent said before they shared a slightly awkward hug.

“Oh. I hope you’re not in trouble?”

“Nah, nah.” He chuckled. “Just some advice and little instructions for recovery day tomorrow. Uh– Where’s your friend? I thought you came with a friend.”

“Yeah, she– Something urgent came up so she needed to leave mid-game.”

“I see. Glad you stay, though.”

“Glad I did, I got to see the winning goal. Though I have to admit that it was a real challenge to bear the cold. It’s absolutely freezing out there, how did you manage to play football in that weather?”

“You just get used to it…” Trent answered. He then scanned his eyes on her, from head to toe and back again. “You dress pretty lightly for this weather.”

Her heart skipped a bit from the brief eye-scan from Trent. She could feel her cheeks warming up from embarrassment. “I, uh– I’ve clumsily left my coat on the taxi I took here…”

Trent chuckled and shook his head. “I have a spare in my car. And uh— I can give you a lift if you don’t mind.”

—

“This is much better...”

Trent looked at her, who was comfortably seated on the passenger seat. She was now all warmed up wrapped in his coat. His scent, the scent of his aftershave was all over it, and for some reason it made her feel a little bit funny inside.

“I’m flattered, to be honest with you,” Trent said as he started driving. She glanced at him in question. “You stood out there in that weather, freezing, just to watch me play.”

“Well, this wasn’t the first time.”

“What do you mean?” Trent was the one who glanced at her in question this time.

“My mum was digging the old album photos yesterday and she found a picture of us. It was you and your brother having a kickabout in your backyard,” she said with a smile on her face. She’d had the exact same smile when she saw the picture yesterday. “There was a bit of snow on the ground. And I was sitting on the porch, hugging myself, probably because of the cold.”

“Really?” The surprise look on Trent’s face was impossible to be missed, and it just made her smile wider.

“Yeah, we were so little. She said you’d always had a ball at your feet and I liked to just watch you play. I actually remembered one moment— I think you were playing footie, in the park, with kids from the neighbourhood. I sat on the bench with my mum and cheered for you.”

“Does this mean you’ve been my fan all along?”

She couldn’t actually say no. She’d been casually watching football all this time and she couldn’t deny that the boy with the number sixty six from Liverpool had always caught her attention. It was always funny to think that she’d actually been there on his football journey, right when he’d just started kicking a ball.

“You can say that,” she said as she gave him a light shrug. 

“So you are a fan now?” Trent playfully asked, then let out a chuckle when he caught the shy look on her face.

“Wouldn’t stand in the cold for ninety minutes if I wasn’t.”

Trent glanced at her again, giving her a certain look that she couldn’t quite decipher, like he was entertained with what she’d just said—a slightly raised eyebrows and suppressed, amused smile.

“What?”

“Nothing. Just flattered. Really flattered.” Trent got his eye back on the road, as he bit the bottom of his lips and let out a chuckle. Whatever that was, it was enough to make her stomach flip.

—

“Thank you. For the tickets, for the lift, and… The jacket,” she said, tightening the jacket around her body. They’d just stopped in front of her house, and she actually wished that he’d taken the longer route to home. Or maybe she should’ve asked him to stop somewhere to get some coffee, because she still wanted to spend more time with him. “I’ll wash the jacket and maybe, uhh, drop it at your house?”

“Okay.”

“Okay…”

Trent nodded. Their eyes were locked onto each other’s and it seemed like none of them were willing to break the staring contest. It sounded stupid but it felt like she was getting lost in his eyes. She felt her heart skipping a beat, gripping the hem of Trent’s jacket without her even realising.

“Well, do you know what? I’ll just pick up the jacket,” Trent said suddenly, still not breaking his gaze. “Friday at seven. And if you’re free… Maybe we can go have dinner?”

The silence took over the car completely as Trent’s words floated in the air. Friday at seven…? Dinner…? The words slowly sunk in her mind. Friday at seven. Dinner. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears.

“What?” It came out as barely a whisper. “Sorry, are you…”

“Asking you on a date? Yes,” Trent finished her sentence.

“Why?”

Trent finally broke the gaze as he let out a little sigh. His eyes wandered and he nervously scratched his neck. He looked like he wasn’t prepared for the question ‘why?’. She dropped her gaze too, thinking that she probably should’ve asked a better question but, really, she was dying to know the reason.

Well, she wasn’t at all daft or blind, she knew that Trent had been approaching her in more than just a friendly manner. There were differences on how he was acting towards her and her sister, which her sister had noticed too. He had been dropping hints and flirting even in the most subtle ways. So it was obvious that Trent was into her, but she wanted to know why out of all girls, it was her that he was interested in.

“I like you. At this point it’s obvious, innit?” Trent gave her a small, nervous grin. “My mum kept telling me how sweet you were as a kid and I think you’re just the same now. And with you it feels easy, just natural. It’s like I’ve known you for a long time.”

“Like there weren't any twenty lost years?”

“Exactly.”

She let out a little giggle and it drew a smile from him. They both fell silent again and she took the moment to find the right words to say. Obviously, she was going to say yes for the date, but she also needed to confess that his feelings were reciprocated.

“I feel the same, really,” she started as she fiddled with her fingers. “I always rolled my eyes at my mum every time she said how I adored you when we were little, like how are you so sure of that? But it turns out that I adore you now, Alexander-Arnold.”

“I’m adorable? Admirable? That’s a huge compliment, that.” Trent chuckled. “So… What do you say?”

“I say we have dinner on Friday at seven.”

Trent’s smile that grew upon hearing her words was the widest and brightest she’d seen from him tonight, and it was infectious. He looked so relieved, randomly running a hand on his shoulder and arm, probably trying to convince himself that this was all really happening. He looked up to her and met her eyes, but she caught his gaze shift to her lips for a split second.

“You wouldn’t let me kiss you right now, would you?” Trent asked. Her heart jumped because she wasn’t ready at all for that question. Trent really needed to stop with these surprises or she wouldn’t be able to keep herself composed.

“I think we should save our first kiss for our first date,” she said.

But Trent furrowed his eyebrows and slowly tilted his head. “Nah, that wouldn’t be our first kiss.”

“What do you mean?”

“You haven’t got that photo, have you?”

She mimicked his gesture, furrowing her eyebrows and tilting her head. “What photo?”

“The one where you wore a princess dress? I dressed up like a prince— I don’t know what we were doing but it seemed like one of us stole a kiss.”

Her jaw dropped and she shook her head. “No, you’re lying.”

“Nah, I’m not! I’ll show you right away when I get home.”

She fell silent with a shy smile on her face. She tucked her lips between the teeth, trying to hold in the little butterflies in her stomach. Trent was the one who’d stolen her first kiss? They were only four but she’d still count that.

“Okay. Text me when you get home,” she said. 

“I will. See you, then.”

They shared one last smile before she got out of his car. She waved a little goodbye and then hugged herself with Trent’s jacket as she walked into her house, protecting herself from the cold wind. She shook her head, realising how crazy this day had been. She’d left the house to see a football match and came home learning that she was Trent’s first fan and first kiss? It felt like there were so many stories from the past that they needed to unpack together. She would need a moment to process all of this, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to wait patiently until Friday for their first date.

—

the prompt that was requested was “it’s absolutely freezing outside”. i didn’t know what to do but then i came up with this. i guess this is what happens when you don’t give me specific plot for your request, it goes out of hand sometimes🥲 but i hope it’s good enough! likes, comments, reblogs are highly appreciated💖 thank you for reading!

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[ichigo-dream]

Sick at the Heart

Fic contains: Extremely Dubious consent, strange dynamics (he's your step-"brother" but not really - it'll make sense), and NSFW content.

Don't like, don't read!

This is my first ever multi-chap fic so let me know what you think! I hope you enjoy xoxo

-Ichigo

"You don’t even know what you’re going to do, where you’re going to go, all you can think is run, run, get away, get away-"

When your mum had remarried, you hadn't minded - God knows she deserves to be happy - and honestly it hadn't impacted your life at all.

You didn't even mind how brash and vicious your step-"brother" is - he could actually be quite funny.

But then, you decide to give your mum some space.

You decide a place of your own might be what you want. Somewhere you can enjoy some time alone and grow.

Shame that that's not what Levi wants.

Suddenly, your already fragile dynamic with him shifts and neither of you are likely to recover.

You hadn’t minded when your mum had remarried. You honestly hadn’t. She deserved happiness. And if the man made her happy then by god you would suffer whatever this scenario threw at you. It wasn’t like you were a little kid anymore. You’d had a full-time job for nearly three years now, you were coming into your own, and your mum had clearly felt like she could do something for herself without it disrupting your life.

The changes hadn’t been totally impossible to deal with. Suddenly having a man around the house was easier to adjust to than you had expected. Kenny had been shockingly easy to manoeuvre around when you weren���t in the mood to entertain anyone. 

His son on the other hand… Technically his nephew, but there wasn’t much point getting bogged down in semantics was there? His son, Levi, hadn’t been a huge part of the backdrop of your home due to the fact that he had his own house. His own job. His own life. His uncle getting married bore little consequence on his life in general, but he still made an effort to come over to visit on Saturdays if he could, and always, without fail, appeared for Sunday dinner. 

He was quiet but vulgar when he spoke, scathing in a way that reminded you of your aunt, with a biting tongue and wit that had you oscillating between smirking and holding back tears when you weren’t in the mood for his humour. 

Still, you didn’t hate him. He was actually good company at times. Quite funny once you got to know him. 

Yet, he could be a real cunt when he wanted to be.

Case in point, you had felt that with your mum now being a married woman once more that she would want some space of her own. You’d thought that the conversation with your mum about moving out would be difficult but efficient. And it had been. She had of course told you that you could stay forever if you wanted, she wasn’t looking rid of you, but had understood when you had said you wanted some space of your own. 

All had been going well. Hunky dory if you dared to be optimistic. Of course, at that moment Levi had to make his unwanted opinion known. 

“Are you really sure you want to move out?” He asks, taking a sip from the cup of tea that you’d placed in front of him before you had started this conversation in that odd way that you hadn’t had the nerve to comment on before. You’d hoped he would’ve gotten the message that this was a mother-daughter talk and to leave. But he had sat on. 

“Yeah, I’m just thinking a small flat, nothing too crazy, just a wee place of my own.” You say, happy to at least be able to describe what you were thinking without sounding like an idiot, like you hadn’t researched, like you didn’t know what you were talking about. 

Levi’s brows furrow minutely, and he hums non-committedly 

“Don’t you think it’s a bit of a risk? Young woman living on her own?” Anyone else in the family and you would’ve thought they were just being concerned and overprotective, but Levi always managed to make his concern into an inconvenience just for the fun of it all. 

“Not at all,” you say, smiling at him, ignoring the hard look in his steely eyes, “it’s in a safe enough area, not too far either. Besides, it’s not the 19th Century. A woman can live on her own if she wants to.” The last words hold a bite to them that shocks even you, that shocks even your mum, because she took a sip from her own cup of tea, watching quietly. 

Levi stares you out. You stare back. 

“It’s not a matter of want, it’s a matter of practicality. You’re a young woman with a predictable work schedule, living on your own isn’t the smartest idea in the world. It would be idiotic to put your safety at risk for the sake of your pride.”

“My pride?” You say incredulously. 

“Levi’s right pet, maybe you’d be best looking for flat mates. What about your wee mates from uni? Or ones from work that travel?” Your mum interjects, always placating and defusing like the goddess she is, “Or Levi, you’ve a spare room? You could live with Levi for a while if you wanted some time away.” Your mum looks at Levi expectantly and his face remains unchanged, but he does nod. 

“Of course.”

“Ha!” You laugh, and both of them turn to look at you, Levi boring holes through you, “You were so concerned about a young woman living alone and now look at you! What will the neighbours think when they see a young man and young woman living together when they aren’t married? Or maybe,” You stop, and smirk at him, “I should leave it at a young woman and some man. The young might be pushing it.” 

Your mum chokes on a laugh, and Levi at least smirks at her when she lays a hand on his arm and tells him you’re only joking. Only when she turns away, to speak to your stepfather when he walks in, do you see the look that has fallen over Levi’s face.

Something dark and sharp and you don’t want to look too long, for fear of what you might see. 

You rise from your seat, retreating to your room, but not before telling him, 

“It was nice of you to offer, Levi, but really, I’ll be grand, you worry too much!” 

You feel his eyes burn into your back the whole way up the stairs. 

~

After the ordeal as you’re now referring to it as, you hadn’t given any more thought to Levi at all. Even at dinner, you had ignored his barbs and stony face at every moment, keeping to yourself. 

That night, you slid into bed, comfortable and secure, surrounded by the watchful eyes of cuddly toys, and storybooks that have been well loved and thumbed through over the years, and you drift into sleep peacefully.

The sensation of warm flesh over your mouth has you surging out of sleep. Bucking wildly at the heavy weight on top of you, you scream helplessly into skin, tears springing to your eyes in fear. 

A cool edge at your throat had you stilling and your breath catching in your chest. 

The weight over you settles and you feel hot breath puff over your neck and ear. A whimper leaves your throat at the feeling.

Whoever was on top of you – a man, it is a man, smells like one, sounds like one, feels like one when he grazes against your stomach.  

Your breathing is rapid, sharp little inhales that leave your nerves alight and your body shaking, 

“Shh.” He breathes into your ear, warmth making your skin raise into goosebumps and the rest of you tremble. 

In the darkness, you can see his rough outline, but nothing beyond that. God, is he going to kill you? Or worse? How did he even get in? 

You hear him inhale to speak again and you couldn’t let him get any further. 

Tossing a hand out to your bedside table, your fingers met the chilled glass of water that you had brought to bed. 

With a muffled shout you grasp it and smash it into the side of his face, showering your own in water and glass. 

The man rears back and in the sudden absence you seize the opportunity, raising a knee and sinking it into what you hope are his balls. With the way he gasps and tumbles to the side onto the bed has you thinking you have succeeded. 

Tossing yourself from the bed, you pull your legs free where they’d caught in the duvet, listening to the man grunt and do the same. 

The door is too risky, he’d catch you, and with that singular thought you run to the window, flinging it open and falling out of it. 

The fall isn’t that far. You’d done this before out of curiosity one summer years ago. But on landing, the grass beneath you is soft and slick, wet with dew and the lingering rain from earlier, and you slide forward, chest taking the brunt of your landing. 

Air forced out of you, you lie there gasping desperately, wheezing at being winded, and the chill seeping into you along with the wetness of the grass below. 

Raising yourself onto your side, you try to force yourself up, wheezing still as you turn and look back at the open window. 

Suddenly, the chill beneath you, which had leached through your thin pyjamas, wasn’t even registering against the coldness that fills you, freezing you in your place and catching your breath in your throat. 

In the open window, illuminated by the moonlight, Levi stands watching you. 

You could have believed that he had heard the commotion and come to rescue you, were it not for the blood. It drips from his nose and the side of his mouth, the streaks noticeable even in the night as he stands with his arms planted to the windowsill.

Neither of you move. 

Levi does nothing. Says nothing. He simply watches, looking down at you with those eyes of his again. 

Those tormenting eyes. 

You feel turmoil bubbling inside you. What is he playing at? Why did he do that? Why was he looking at you like that ? 

Levi feints, jerking suddenly, eyes glinting wildly in the moonlight, and the movement has you flinching back, whimpering just once. 

Once was enough, it seems, because Levi is gone. 

Shaking, you feel adrenaline course through you and you twist to haul yourself up to run, panicking when you hear the door opening behind you. 

You don’t even know what you’re going to do, where you’re going to go, all you can think is run, run, get away, get away-

Arms wrap around you and pull you back, holding you like iron as you kick and flail. 

“Get of-“ You start to shout, only for Levi’s hand to once more cover it. He hushes you again, holding fast. No matter how you fought he would not be moved. 

As you feel yourself tiring, Levi begins rocking you, hushing you as you shiver in his arms. 

“You’re freezing.” 

And whose fault is that? You want to snap at him, but you hold your tongue. This is completely unknown territory. This Levi is completely unknown to you, his attitude - or perhaps, his nonchalance - sets your nerves on edge and keeps you quiet. 

Levi sweeps you into his arms, arms securely around you and under your knees. 

You squawk in surprise, looping your arms around his neck to stop yourself from falling. You want to shout at him, swear and curse till you turn blue, but again you keep quiet. You were cold, and running on adrenaline, and Levi was being weird - better to err on the side of caution. 

He carries you back into the house, somehow managing to close the door without it slamming and taking you up the stairs to your room. As he pushes open the door, you survey the damage, the pool of water and shattered glass and the drops of blood doting the pillows. 

At the sight, you cast your gaze up to his face, and this close you can see the rivulets dripping from his nose and his lip, sliding down his neck. Part of you wants to apologise. The other part wants to laugh in his face and tell him he deserves it. Again, you say nothing. 

Levi sits down onto the edge of your bed, still cradling you close to him, and he sweeps an arm across it. A moment after he reaches up and tugs the corner of the bed sheet, pulling it free and tossing it over onto the other side of the bed. 

In the bare space he places you down gently, whilst he takes the moment to lift the pillow and duvet, removing the sheet entirely. Task completed, his hands rest around your hips as he lifts you into the middle of the bed. 

You tremble in his hold, especially when he runs his thumbs up and down, making contact with an exposed slip of skin over your hipbone. 

“Your clothes are wet.” He says softly, ringing in the quiet and you exhale shakily as you nod. The moonlight provides low light so you hope that he can see it. “You need to change. You’ll catch a cold.” His words are straight to the point, clinical, the way he always is when he speaks to you but something about them makes you shake with more than the cold. It had to be the cold, just the chill, and the dew that had soaked your clothes that was making you hyper-focus on how hot his hands were.

Those hands that had been rubbing soothingly and now were wandering to grip delicate fabric. 

“Hol-hold on! Levi!” You chastise him harshly, hissing whispers, as he grips and lifts, pulling your pyjama top up. 

“Lift your arms.” It’s an order if ever you’ve heard one, and it’s only the lingering fear and adrenaline that has you doing so, slapping your hands across your bare chest as he pulls it off of your head. 

“Okay,” you say, shifting when his hands came back down to rest on your hips once more, “you’ve changed me, thanks, now can you get out? I’m too- I can’t process this shit right now.” 

In response, Levi says nothing, steely eyes staring in the moonlight. That same tormenting, wild look that you had seen in the window all more noticeable this close. 

Those hands manoeuvre you once more, and you make a noise of surprise as he pulls you down and when he presses you backwards your head sinks into your pillow. This position has you shifting and once again you say, 

“Levi, please, get ou-“ Levi reaches back and lifts the duvet, pulling it up and over him as he sinks down to his forearms over you, caging you in, claustrophobic in a way. 

When he shifts to fix it around himself, you can’t help but linger on the way his t-shirt brushes against your bare stomach. Your stomach flips when you feel a hot, hard wetness near your inner thighs, and suddenly you were uncertain of what protection your pyjama shorts and his boxers would provide you with. 

You’re tense and flighty under him, all too aware of how much he’s filling the space with his presence, face inches from yours and his body an immovable wall of heat. 

Levi hovers over you in the dark, and against your lips you can feel the hot puffs of his breath. Something hot drips from his face and lands against your cheek, chilling quickly on your skin, and for a second you wonder if he’s drooling before the image of him - feinting, bloody, and feral in your window - fills your head. That fact fills you with realisation and you open your mouth - to swear at him, to chastise him, to beg him to leave - but the second you do he descends on you. 

You should be grateful in a way, when his mouth meets yours, as it stifles the squeal that you let out. 

Levi’s mouth is scalding against you, chilled as you still are, and his tongue presses into you - possessive and devouring, and the sounds of his lips on yours fill the room. 

In your shock, you raise your arms to rest on his shoulders, pushing at his clad skin. The act does nothing to deter him, in fact, as you regrettably realise seconds after, it exposes your bare chest to him, once your arms leave their protective covering. 

It’s a fact that he realises quickly, as he presses down, his chest resting against yours and the sensation of the material against your bare skin has you squirming and thrashing. 

His hand leaves its place by your head and slides between the both of you, cupping your breast and squeezing gently. 

You squeak in surprise and indignation, turning your head away and finally separating yourself from him. You breathe heavily, shuddering and trying to catch your breath. But Levi doesn’t stop; he turns his attention to your neck, laving his tongue across your skin and kissing at your skin. 

“Levi!” You gasp as his teeth dig into the skin between your collarbone and your neck. 

“Don’t be so loud.” He rumbles into your ear, licking at the shell and shaking with laughter when you tremble, “Do you want your mum to hear you? Want her to come in and catch you like this?”

“Fuck you!” You say, gritting your teeth. “You’re the one who should be worried. If she catches you-” 

“Maybe then she’ll realise that you shouldn’t be on your own.” He says, and his words have you putting your panic on pause. 

“What?” He nuzzles into your neck, inhaling deeply before replying.

“I was able to just walk in. You didn’t lock your door, you had no escape plan, hell you didn’t even think to scream for help.”

“I di-” His fingers twist and pinch at your nipple and it makes you choke on your words.

“But that’s okay,” He says, pressing a kiss to your cheek just under your eye, “because it’s just me. Not some creep. Just me. You don’t have to be afraid.”

He moves away from your neck, sliding down and you feel his mouth leaving hot open mouthed kisses on your skin. 

It's so much. To feel him everywhere. It makes your breaths come short and tears spring to your eyes. 

You choke on a scream, fingers digging into his shoulders and body, when you feel his fingers slip beneath your pyjamas and press between your legs.  

The noise has him raising his head from your chest, pressing a kiss to your lips once more. 

“Easy.” he whispers into your mouth, but it only makes you whimper. His words are empty to you, especially when he continues to pet and slide his fingers along your pussy, pressing into you gently only slightly before he pulls them back again. 

Your breath hitches and you become rigid when he presses one of his fingers into you fully, sliding it in and pressing into you deeply. The sound as he pulls back, the wet, slick sound of betrayal makes you sob. 

Levi lets out a shaky breath as he continues to move his finger inside you, pressing and curling until he pushes in a second one. The stretch makes you hiss and clench your fingers into the fabric over his shoulders. 

You wish he wasn’t positioned the way he was; he had pressed his leg between your thighs whilst you’d been distracted by his fingers, and now it was preventing you from clamping your thighs shut. Preventing you from stemming the sensation, preventing you from stopping him, preventing you from silencing the sounds he was drawing from you. The wet sound of his fingers pumping into you makes your cheeks burn, and you can’t stop the whines that it pulls from your throat. 

It’s obscene, and Levi knows it. He’s mouthing at your skin and inhaling your scent like he needs it to breathe, and when his thumb runs over your clit and you let out a high keen, legs clamping around his thigh, you can feel him trembling as he moans lightly into your flesh. 

“Ah-ow-Levi!” You whine when a third finger tries to press in, the burn a lot more noticeable this time. In response, he circles your clit, flicking over it and making you clench around him. You feel like you’re burning, body hot as he pumps his fingers faster, the slick sounds making you moan, and embarrassingly they make you wetter. 

Gasping, you feel the tightness building and you claw at his shoulders and one hand grips his hair as you jerk in his hold. 

“Levi, Levi, Levi-”

“I’ve got you.” He whispers shakily, his pace increasing, and you can’t help but sob and bury your face into his neck as you feel the tightness snap, arching into him as you gush around his fingers. 

Your body goes boneless and you bask in the afterglow as it washes over you. You whimper lightly as Levi pulls his fingers free, sensitive and trembling with the aftershocks. The adrenaline is wearing off, leaving you barely awake and tired. Although your eyes have closed, you can still hear Levi as he pants into your ear, swearing quietly, and the slick sound of his hand on his cock. 

Levi lets out a choked whimper and you feel a wetness splatter onto your stomach. If you weren’t so tired, you would have demanded that he clean it up and get out. But in this moment, all you want to do is sleep. 

Levi must feel the same, as he swallows audibly before he lies by your side, turning you and pulling you back into his chest. He fixes the duvet around you both before he wraps his arms around you, kissing your temple before burying his face into your hair. 

And you let him. You let him breathe you in, and tangle his legs with yours. You’ll address his bullshit in the morning, but for now, you let yourself fall asleep surrounded by his scent, by his warmth, lulled over by the sound of his breaths. 

[lifeofkaze]

Moving On

A/N: This story was written for the January prompt of @hp-12monthsofmagic challenge

Bringing friends to the Burrow during the summer break was somewhat of a habit for the Weasley children, and yet, Charlie Weasley had never really been one to invite people over. That wasn’t because he didn’t have any people to bring, he simply preferred sticking to a small but eclectic circle of friends. 

Lizzie Jameson was one of the exceptions. She was one of Charlie’s few regular guests at his home near Ottery St Catchpole, and Charlie would’ve been hard-pressed trying to think of a time when he wasn’t excited about his best friend’s stay. 

This year, however, things were different. He had been looking forward to Lizzie’s arrival, he really had, but when the lively Hufflepuff girl Apparated into the Burrow’s front yard, Charlie wasn’t the one to greet her first. Before he had even risen from his chair in the kitchen, his mother had rushed past him, pulling a bashfully smiling Lizzie into a smothering hug. 

“I haven’t seen you in forever, dear,” Molly Weasley cried out, cupping Lizzie’s face with both her hands and squeezing it ever so slightly. “Won’t you look at that, what a beautiful young witch you have become! And what a nice tan you got yourself! You must tell me all about your trip, Charlie was so frugal with the details. Did you get my birthday gift? I really hope you liked the chocolate Quaffle.”

Over his mother’s incessant stream of chatter, Lizzie raised an eyebrow at Charlie.

“I thought you made that one?” she mouthed, to which Charlie responded with a shrug.

“I came up with the idea.”

He was happy that he and Lizzie would finally get to spend some time together. At school, catching her alone was tricky; they were in different houses, and Lizzie had a plethora of friends and other extra-curricular activities to occupy her time. They saw each other during classes and their work for Professor Kettleburn, but even those Lizzie had come to leave in a rush more often than not.

Charlie knew the reason for it, of course. Lizzie now had a boyfriend, after all. 

He felt his excitement fade as he listened to his mother and his younger brothers, who had stormed into the kitchen upon hearing Lizzie’s voice, interrogating her on her boyfriend Orion’s shiny new career as rookie Chaser for the Montrose Magpies. Lizzie answered all of their questions patiently and with a proud smile on her face; for some reason, she seemed unable to even stop gushing about his new jersey.  

“The old ones were so boring, but this season, they’re stunning. Trust me, you’ll love them.”

Charlie raised his eyebrows fractionally. “I thought you were a Catapults gal, Snidget.”

Lizzie responded with a laugh. “They’ll have to share my love with the Magpies now, I guess.”

“So much for loyalty,” Charlie muttered to himself. He was surprised at how snappy he sounded, but a strange sort of irritation had taken hold of him ever since the topic had turned to Quidditch. Lizzie seemed to share the notion; her brows knit together in a frown, but before she could reply, Charlie’s younger brother Fred drew her attention.

“Don’t listen to him,” he smirked, his brown eyes flashing. “He’s just jealous he only gets to handle dragons instead of Snitches.”

“Others chase undying fame, Charlie only scary lizards,” Fred’s identical twin George sniggered. 

“Chasing scary lizards is a perfectly acceptable career choice if you ask me,” Lizzie jumped to Charlie’s defence with a stern look at them both. “And it’s not like Charlie isn’t his own kind of famous either. I have a lot of friends who are quite partial to him, actually.”

Knowing where this was headed, Charlie motioned for Lizzie to stop, but it was too late. His mother leaned closer with sparkling eyes.

“What kind of friends? Girls?”

“Mum…”

Not minding him, Lizzie giggled in reply. “Yes, actually. There’s Janet, and Alexa, Elle, Madison, Rose, Millie… oh, and Ava.” 

At that, Charlie frowned. “Who’s Ava?” 

“I’m not sure you know her. I only met her properly last year.”

“What house is she in?”

“Ravenclaw. You might know her from Potions, actually. She’s rather petite, blonde, wickedly clever. She’s top of… well, almost all classes, really.”

“Does she like dragons and Quidditch?” the twins asked innocently, elbowing each other in the sides.

“Sadly, no and no.”

Charlie thought all of this rather odd. “And she told you she wanted to meet me?”

A faint dusting of colour rose to Lizzie’s cheeks. “She didn’t exactly say it, but I think the two of you would get along well. I can introduce you if you like?”

“Thanks, no need,” Charlie said abruptly and rose to his feet. He left behind a stunned silence as he walked through the kitchen door into the garden. 

As he crossed the garden towards the hedge separating the Burrow from the fields beyond, his thoughts circled around Lizzie and how strangely angry her behaviour made him. Was it too much to ask to not talk about her relationship for more than five minutes? Or his lack thereof, for that matter? There was more to life than dating and all the other things that seemed to consume all of Lizzie’s waking thoughts lately. When had she changed so much? 

When he reached the broom shed on the edge of the Burrow’s grounds, he unlocked the door and stepped inside. The dark, dry heat hit him like a Bludger to the face. He looked around. There were gardening tools, discarded furniture, and old plant pots littering the shelves and floors, and in a rack by the wall, the ragged broomsticks of the Weasley family were stored. Charlie took one of them out and put it back again, sitting down on a dusty sunchair instead. 

He was annoyed with Lizzie, and his mother, and Fred and George, but mostly, he was annoyed with himself. It wasn’t Lizzie’s fault that he was irritable, and she had only meant well. 

But what was so wrong about wanting to pursue his passion? Why did everyone always question him? His internship with the dragonologists in Wales during the first half of the summer was the first step to the career of his dreams, but instead of support, all Charlie received from his family and friends were patronising remarks.

The door creaked open, and a shadow blocked the light streaming into the shed. Convinced it was Lizzie, Charlie sullenly said, “If you want to play Quidditch, I’m sorry. I can’t provide you with balancing and broom surfing.”

“Oh, neither can I,” said the voice of his older brother Bill. “I’d break something even trying.”

Charlie’s shoulders relaxed as Bill sat on an upturned cauldron across from him. “What do you want?”

“I heard you stormed out on Mum. Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“Nothing,” Charlie shook his head. When Bill didn’t reply, the words suddenly came tumbling from his mouth. He told him about Lizzie, her repeated attempts at pitching him to various of her friends, and how strangely disappointed Charlie had been from the moment she had set foot into the Burrow’s kitchen.

“I don’t know,” he finished with a helpless shrug. “I just don’t understand why she’s changed so much.” 

“You have gotten older since you first met. People change when they grow up, and so do their friendships.”

“That’s not it,” Charlie insisted. “It only started after she got with Orion.” 

Bill made a contemplative humming sound. “Is that why you’re so upset? Because Lizzie has a boyfriend now?”

“Why would I?”

“You’re not jealous then?”

“Absolutely not,” Charlie said vehemently. He paused. “Should I be?”

“Well, is there anything on your part?” 

“Why does everybody keep asking me that?”

“You’ve always been close. More than close, even.” Bill shrugged. “You wouldn’t be the first person to fall in love with their best friend. It happens. I mean, you even kissed.”

“We… wait, how do you know that?”

Bill’s lips curved into a knowing smile. “There’s no secrets at the Burrow.”

“Okay, but even if we kissed, it doesn’t change anything. I don’t have feelings for Lizzie,” Charlie insisted stubbornly. More quietly, he added, “Or at least, that’s what I thought.”

“You don’t think that anymore?”

“I don’t know,” Charlie said, frowning to himself. “Everybody thinks there’s more to us, so what if they’re right? What if there is?” 

Bill was silent for a long time. “Do you remember the plush Erumpent I got for Christmas when we were small?”

“No.”

“Mum and Dad got me an Erumpent and you a dragon. You loved that dragon. You took it with you anywhere.”

“Sounds about right.”

“People liked the Erumpent better, though. They kept asking you if you weren’t sad that it was way cuter than your dragon, and eventually, you believed them.” He paused. “Do you see where I’m going with this?”

“No, because dragons clearly are superior to Erumpents.”

“You changed your mind after people told you how to feel often enough.” Bill’s voice softened. “I know you want to please everyone, but you shouldn’t let that decide how you feel about something. That’s for you to decide, and only you. And if someone’s not happy about it, that’s their problem, not yours.”

“If anyone thinks Erumpents are better than dragons, they have enough of a problem as it is.”

With a laugh, Bill rose to his feet. “Think about it. Mum says dinner’s at six.”

Charlie stayed in the broom shed long after Bill had left. Their conversation ran through his mind over and over again. Bill suggesting that he was jealous was ridiculous. Why would he be jealous? 

Jealous. He let the thought sit with him, gave it a little room to breathe. It felt strange.

He remembered when he and Lizzie had come into this same broom shed during their Christmas break a couple of years ago. They had hidden from the twins and had found themselves under a mistletoe in the doorway. It was the only time they had ever kissed, but it had been Charlie’s first; both their firsts, in fact. Looking back, he wasn’t sure if the memory felt good or awkward. 

Bill’s words kept Charlie occupied over the next couple of days. He spent his time with Lizzie and his family, trying to put his issues aside, but they never quite left him alone.

By the end of the week, Charlie still didn’t know how to feel. Was he jealous of Lizzie’s relationship with Orion? Wasn’t he? The idea felt foreign to him, as if his mind refused to wrap around the concept of Lizzie being anything but his friend. 

The summer in Devon was kind, and the Weasley children made the best of it, spending their days in the garden from early in the morning. A pleasant breeze stirred the leaves of the trees in the orchard, and the scent of grass and honeysuckle hung heavy in the air. Charlie sat on the steps in front of the kitchen door, watching Lizzie playing tag with Ron and Ginny, an affectionate smile playing around his lips. 

Maybe he and Lizzie could have been more, he thought to himself. Maybe, if things had been different. If she hadn’t fallen in love with Orion, or if Charlie had known what he wanted from her when there had still been a chance. 

Ultimately, it was what it was. And that, Charlie decided, was perfectly fine. 

Further out in the garden, Ron and Ginny had left Lizzie to her own devices. She sat in the shadow of an old honeysuckle tree and was reading the letter she had received from Orion the other day. A soft smile formed on her features, the happiness radiating off her so strong that Charlie thought he could feel its warmth even from where he was sitting. It was then that something within him settled. If Lizzie smiled like that, he was satisfied, no matter who or what was the cause of it.

“Would you look at that, George?” Fred grinned as he slumped on the stairs next to Charlie. 

“Someone’s in love,” George sang, suddenly appearing on Charlie’s other side. In unison, the twins added, “Go on, make your move!”

Charlie stifled a sigh. “I’m not in love.”

“Then why are you staring?”

“I’m not staring.”

“You are staring,” Fred and George sniggered, fluttering their eyelashes and making kissing noises.

Ignoring the twins’ wolf whistling, Charlie rose to his feet and made his way over to Lizzie, who looked up from her letter with an apologetic expression.

“Sorry about them,” she glared in the direction of Charlie’s cackling brothers. “I told them to knock it off, but you know how they are.”

“It’s fine,” Charlie waved her off. He nodded at the parchment in Lizzie’s hands. “How’s Orion?”

“Are you polite, or do you really want to know?”

“Why wouldn’t I want to know?”

Lizzie suddenly looked sheepish. “I never thought you cared much.”

“Don’t take it personally, Puffskein. I had a lot on my mind.” 

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

“It’s fine.”

Lizzie tilted her head. “You know you can talk to me, right?”

A smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, Charlie nodded. “I do.”

Slowly, the smile returned to Lizzie’s face as she tucked her letter away and told him about Orion’s first days in Montrose. Her eyes were flashing with excitement, and the dappled light falling through the canopy above them made her hair look like dark honey. She did look pretty, smiling like that, and Charlie wondered whether there really wasn’t more to the thought.

The simple answer was no, there wasn’t. Lizzie was happy, and that was all he needed to know.

“Say, that friend of yours,” he said when she was done with her recount, “the one you mentioned the other day. Tell me about her.”

A knowing smile formed on Lizzie’s features. “Which one?”

Charlie searched his brain for any of the names she had mentioned and said the first that came to his mind.

“Uhm, Ada.”

“You mean Ava?”

“Yeah, Ava. Tell me about Ava.” 

[saintsenara]

subluxation - a snippet

rodolphus lestrange/percy weasley mature | major character death

and a little snippet from chapter three of subluxation...

featuring a character i've become obsessed with thinking about over the course of planning and writing this story - barty crouch sr. - and a question which has preoccupied me since i first read goblet of fire - did ludo bagman get away with being a death eater?

He lays another piece of parchment in Mr Crouch’s in-tray - a pro-forma reply to Mr Karkaroff about how many delegates they can bring to Hogwarts; a nice change from the fake compensation claims and Howlers about the security at the World Cup, no matter how vociferously Karkaroff will complain that the number is too low - and presses the heels of his hands to his eyes.

He’s exhausted. It’s been all hands on deck.

Or, at least, that’s what he’ll tell mum when he staggers through the Floo at some ungodly hour tonight. The truth is that he probably could have gone home ages ago, that there’s no real reason for him to still be in the office as midnight approaches, save for the fact that he’s worried about Mr Crouch.

There’s been a grey tinge to his skin ever since he laid eyes on the Dark Mark - a hollowness to him - and Percy feels an increasing responsibility to bring him cups of tea, to hide the morning’s Prophet so that Mr Crouch doesn’t see Rita Skeeter’s latest and fall into brooding.

He looks up and sees - through the open door to his office - that Mr Crouch is sitting at his desk with a newspaper spread before him. Percy swears internally at having let one slip through his defences, but he realises, as he steps - clearing his throat nervously - over the threshold that Mr Crouch has called it up from the archive. The paper is yellowing, the newspring fading. It must be at least a decade old.

Mr Bagman - or, Mr Bagman as he was in his prime, muscles rippling beneath his Quidditch jersey, white-toothed grin beaming at the camera - poses in a photograph. The article is a puff piece about an audacious whack he’d given Tunisia’s star chaser. Percy has no idea why it would be of interest to Mr Crouch at a time like this…

‘He was a Death Eater.’

‘I’m sorry, sir?’

‘He was a Death Eater,’ says Mr Crouch, as though he’d read Percy’s mind.

If Percy wasn’t completely sure that Mr Crouch had never told a joke in his life, he would’ve laughed.

‘Mr Bagman? A Death Eater?’

His voice is light. Mr Crouch is clearly just feeling the strain of so much overwork; he’ll get some decent sleep and be appalled that he ever suggested something so absurd. The Death Eaters were monsters - everyone knows that - but they were at least efficient ones. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s tendency to lose his rag if paperwork wasn’t perfect is so widely known that the junior clerks in the office vent their frustration at being asked to edit and re-edit their reports by referring to Mr Crouch as “my lord” behind his back.

Mr Bagman - all cheerful laziness and hearty incompetence; who’d given them prime seats at the World Cup because dad had fixed it so his brother would get off a charge of trading illegally-altered Muggle lawnmowers - would have given the Dark Lord an aneurysm.

But Mr Crouch still doesn’t seem to realise that he’s being ridiculous.

‘Not an important one. Not one that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named took any real interest in. Not like my -’ His hands convulsively rearrange the quills on his desk. The bones of his knuckles protrude sharply; he’s lost a lot of weight since the world cup. ‘But still… a Death Eater is a Death Eater, Weatherby.’

‘Sir -?’

‘Nobody else saw it like that,’ he mutters. ‘Bagnold… Dumbledore… Cut off the head - that’s what they said. Cut off the head. Deprive him of his top men… his generals… Cut off the head and the body cannot function. They didn’t care about the little fish… They didn’t care about the footsoldiers… about the counterfeiters keeping him in forged gold… about the men sitting in pubs up and down the country trading illegal poisons and keeping their eyes peeled for new recruits… “Why not show them some mercy, Barty?” That’s what Dumbledore said… Dumbledore thought he didn’t care a jot for the ordinary man… Dumbledore was a fool…’

There’s a tension building in the square lines of his shoulders, hardening so rapidly that Percy’s sure it must soon snap.

‘I knew better, Weatherby… It could never be enough to just cut off the head. The body needed to be dismembered, the rot cut out piece-by-piece. We had to find the poison where it started… And it started among ordinary people, people who were just wondering if the Death Eaters could really be as bad as they were being painted… I told them… I told them that if we didn’t stamp it out at the source then we’d never eradicate it… I told them… I told Dumbledore that every single person who even thought about offering assistance to the Death Eaters should have been in Azkaban. It doesn’t matter if their only crime was to make the Dark Lord his morning coffee… They are abominations. They can have no place in the Ministry.’

Percy’s familiar - of course - with Mr Crouch’s wartime reputation. It’s one of the reasons he admires him so much, one of the reasons why he feels a twist of resentment in his stomach whenever his father - with his Dumbledore-ish fondness for redemption - calls his conduct harsh or cruel. It’s one of the reasons he feels compelled to protect Mr Crouch from the whispers which still follow him… I know it was his duty, but still… to send his own son to Azkaban…

Mr Crouch is still glaring at the photograph of Mr Bagman. ‘I caught him red-handed rummaging through the filing cabinets in his father’s offices. He’d been at it for years, swiping folders from the Wizengamot records and then toddling along to apprise Augustus Rookwood of their contents. Augustus Rookwood… he was one of the top men, one of the Dark Lord’s greatest favourites… And no wonder, when he could offer his master state secrets like they were the day’s weather report…

‘We tried for years to find the leak… He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named seemed to be a step ahead of us at every turn, it didn’t seem as though we’d ever catch the man who was helping him… And then I did. I caught Rookwood… and Dumbledore persuaded the court to refuse permission for the Kiss… I caught Bagman… and all he had to do was gurn like a simpleton at the Wizengamot and they let him off without so much as a caution…’

His voice is hot with tightly-controlled fury. Percy has never seen him like this.

It’s terrifying.

‘Mr Bagman?’ he says again. Except the suggestion no longer seems quite so amusing. ‘A Death Eater?’

‘The Ministry is crawling with them. They are everywhere, like termites in the woodwork, and I was the only person who ever tried to do anything to stop them bringing this place to its knees… And what did I get for my trouble? The Prophet digging through the dustbins and terrifying my poor wife into an early grave…’

He stares at the wall, eyes dark. Percy wonders whether he knows that he’s not alone.

‘I have to get into lifts with them every day and fight the urge to raise my wand. I have to listen to them as they sit opposite me at conference tables and pretend not to notice that they think it’s funny that I have been reduced to this… That I couldn’t stop them, when I know full well what they did… Every single one of them was right in the inner circle, hand-picked by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named… And yet all they had to do was jingle their moneybags at the Wizengamot and claim they were under the Imperius Curse and they walked free, no further questions…

‘Corban Yaxley. Gaius Kneebone. Benedict Selwyn. All of them were Death Eaters… They were never under the Imperius Curse… Eadmer Avery, who practically runs Gringotts… Iago Carrow, who got a cushy little ambassadorship because Bagnold believed his lies that I’d falsely accused him… Abraxas Malfoy, who spends his days making the board of St Mungo’s beg him for his largesse… He’s a murderer a hundred times over… His son’s even worse…’

His hand is shaking.

‘Remember this, Weatherby, if you remember nothing else I tell you… If there’s one thing I hate, it’s a Death Eater who walked free.’

[august-diehl]

isn't there a 15+age gap b/t Rhaenyra & Aegon? I don't understand how Rhaenyra not bonding with her half brother is a criticism of her when taking that into account. they are diff generations (i have a dad & had friends that said they were not close to a significantly older sibling. it was no bad blood it was just that the older sibling lived their own adult life). maybe b/c i don't come from a blended family/have much older siblings so i'm missing something? please explain to me like i'm five?

Hey there,

Well, I don’t know much about blended families either (parents are together and only had me) but I understand that Rhaenyra wouldn’t have much in common with her half siblings.

But the thing is, her situation is entirely different. In episode 3 you can see that’s she’s clearly jealous of Aegon because he’s a boy, the heir Viserys killed her mum for.

Rhaenyra knew that her claim to the throne was weakened just by Aegon existing, so she should’ve been politically smart and get her little brother to like her. If she had shown to Aegon the tiniest amount of affection, I honestly believe that he would fight his mother and grandfather to not crown him.

Aegon wants approval more than anything, he wants to know that his mother and father love him, Aegon craves for it. Rhaenyra wouldn’t even need to do much to gain Aegon’s love.

They don’t exchange one word in the last episodes, I totally understand her not having anything in common with Aegon but a smile? A hug? A small “I’m proud of you”? Aegon would melt.

Also, she could’ve been nice to Haleana? Knowing how hard it is to marry someone you don’t want to? She could’ve said some words of encouragement to Haleana.

Don’t get me started on the night that Aemond lost his eye, I understand that she was trying to protect her sons (and herself) from being killed but what I honestly would’ve done was fuss over my half brother. Pretend that he didn’t call my sons bastards and make my sons apologize, that way she could show everyone and her own father how she could mediate a situation and make sure that everyone was at least okay with everything, and take away the focus from the kids being bastards.

All I’m saying is that if Rhaenyra did some steps to have a relationship with her half siblings, the war might’ve not happened. I’m not talking about becoming best friends and braiding each other’s hairs.

The children were so starved for affection from their father that they would eat up any crumbs from Rhaenyra, their dad’s favourite.

[evita-shelby]

Tie your heart to mine

Chapter 3

Gif by @animusrox

While she is not surprised to see her daughter show an interest in politics, Eva was surprised to know it was in this specific place with this specific brother and sister.

She knew there was somebody ---Diane is not subtle when it comes to relationships--- she just wasn’t sure if it was the brother, or the sister arrested with her.

“There is a little extra for you to keep this off their records.” She said signing the forms that will hold no charges for anyone arrested tonight.

“For all three of them, ma’am? Bennett’s got a record as long as my arm and the girl’s headed that way too. Those two don’t deserve your kindness.” The man argued before Eva added a zero to the check.

“You were saying?” she smirked when the man changed his tune.

“I’ve taken care of everything, Mr. Bennett. The charges will be dropped, they will be out as soon as the kind sergeant finishes the paperwork.” Eva turned to the tired father of two who was on a first name basis with the sergeant thanks to his wayward children.

“Thank you, Mrs.---” he said genuinely grateful, but wary of her power and relationship with Diane.

“Shelby, Eva Shelby. I am Diane’s mother.” She shook the man’s hand and waited for it to click.

While the children were left a mystery to the papers, Eva made sure the world knew Thomas Shelby had a very devoted and stunning wife who does not look a day over forty despite nearing fifty.

And if that doesn’t ring a bell, both Douglas and the Shelbys had been in La Somme together.

“Arthur, Thomas or John?” he asks as they wait.

“Thomas. I take it you met them in France.” She pretends it is just an assumption and not something she knew the moment she heard his name earlier.

“I did.” He nods and avoids the elephant in the room. “Met in the field hospital, after the Somme. Me for shellshock them for getting trapped in a crater. Last I heard, Tommy won his reelection, you must be proud.”

“Yes, although if you ask me, Diane would’ve preferred he’d lost. Hates being known as the MP’s daughter.” Eva goes on assuming they know her daughter’s a Shelby. “Went on the road with John’s family by marriage to get a break from it all.”

If she was serious, she should have told them who she was by now.

“Don’t cry, you’ll get me next time, ladies.” The young man taunts the police officers in a way so reminiscent of Thomas’s brothers.

Reminds her of John, actually.

“Stop it Tom or they’ll throw you back.” His sister chides him half-heartedly.

They were both good looking, made it more difficult to guess which one Diane was with.

She takes it back when she sees the boy is the one angrier with Diane over something.

He has bloody knuckles and a look of betrayal; Diane had kept herself a mystery, hadn’t she?

Never works out, Eva should know.

“Who do you think got us out, Di?” she asked Eva’s daughter who freezes at the sight of her.

“No kind word for your mother, sweetheart?”

She had been waiting for the right moment to tell them she was a Shelby.

While they knew how many siblings she had, their names and ages and that her dad was overbearing while her mother was a tough act to follow, they didn’t know her last name.

They knew she was well off, but not I could buy all of Longsight and still have money to spare well off.

They knew she rubbed elbows with the upper class, but not my mum has monthly meetings with the queen and Mary Churchill is my brother’s secret girlfriend kind.

“I have not been completely honest with the two of you.” Diane said as they were put in adjoining cells on account of Lois and Tom being siblings.

“Now is not the time, Di.” Lois said reapplying her lipstick with the help of her compact.

“No, no, I want to hear it. Go on, Diane ---if that is your real name--- tell us who you are.” Tom dismissed his sister’s words.

Tom who punched a man who tried to hit her, Tom who has been honest with her and shared her bed in the vardo and now at the boarding house any chance he gets.

Tom who she might lose forever.

“My last name is Shelby. I didn’t lie about anything else, just never told you my full name.” She admits, knowing she may as well rot here because there is no way in hell they will speak to her ever again.

“Why couldn’t you tell us, tell me?” Tom asks, pained by this betrayal just as it pains her.

“The letters after my dad’s name are MP OBE. When people know I am a Shelby I stop being Diane. All they care about is getting dirt on my dad or getting their foot on the door.” She said hoping it wasn’t her dad who came to bail them out of here.

“And you thought we were like that? Think we are friends because we want handouts?” This time it’s Lois who speaks.

“I never cared for your money, Diane. I wanted you for you, I thought you knew that.” He said angry at the betrayal.

Before Diane could apologize and beg him to forgive her, the sergeant came to release them.

“All charges are being dropped, even yours, Bennett. You know the drill.”

They walk out almost as strangers. The sudden coldness between them is noted by the copper who makes a joke about it to their collective annoyance.

“Don’t cry, you’ll get me next time, ladies.” Tom mocks them when he sees his dad looking worried.

Pretending all is fine with him because it hurts him to see him worry.

Tom was born nine months after Douglas had been discharged because of his shellshock. His mum had been told maybe a child would snap him out of it, only for the anxiety of fucking him up to make it worse.

Hence why Tom was never told to stop, at least by him.

“Stop it Tom or they’ll throw you back.” His sister chides him pretending it couldn’t happen at a snap of her mother’s fingers.

Mother wouldn’t, Diane knows, father wouldn’t hesitate.

“No kind word for your mother, sweetheart?” the woman said with dark red lips and a black ensemble more suited for the funeral of a husband your murdered.

“I called Charlie.” Diane said.

She doesn’t hate mother, she loves her even with all her oddities, but what her mum knows her dad does too and the last thing she wants is for him to know about Tom.

Not that there is much to know now, Diane had fucked it up.

“Your brother knows better than to go behind my back, mi niña.” Her mother supplied and brushed off her fears while Douglas left with Tom and Lois, and they waited for mother’s chauffeur. “Don’t worry, your father will be none the wiser about your foray into the world of politics until one of Mosley’s cronies tells him about it at work tomorrow.

Unless you want to do the honors and get it over with tonight.”

[riverstardis]

crazy little thing called love:

the previous episode’s post isn’t showing up in the tag for some reason? not for me at least

alicia’s parents are back together… but not for long!

cal’s leaving alicia a surprise in her locker because he feels bad about not trusting her but he discovers that she has a second phone💀

ah alicia’s dad’s “business partner”

oh look they’re kissing!

aand he ends up pinned against a skip by his car🙃

LMAOO alicia goes “ethan you remember my mam yeah?” and he goes “yes, you had the gonorrhoea! … sorry…” SKDKFKKFG WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT😭😭😭 ohhh i miss him

oh yeah this is cal meeting alicia’s parents for the first time lol

i love dylan’s outfit

oop cal’s noticed martin holding howard’s hand

lmaoo ethan telling cal how it was awkward having to treat alicia’s mum after the whole sti thing and cal just didn’t know about that at all so ethan explains how she got it off the dad because “apparently he was sleeping around with other women” and cal’s like “well i’m not sure about that last part” 😭😭😭

cal says do you think being a player runs in the family and shows ethan alicia’s secret phone and guesses her pin because she’d leant him her bank card to get drinks one night (her pin is 4421 if anyone was wondering - for her bank and her secret phone💀)

she has flirty messages with “loverboy” that mention scrubs so they know it must be someone in the hospital

it always makes me laugh how ethan is very clearly just as upset, if not more upset, than cal is at this development, and not in a supportive brother way! but cal just doesn’t notice at all😭

cal tries to say martin can’t come into resus but alicia’s like “come on cal, martin and my dad are close” and cal’s like “you’re telling me”😬😬 so of course they then have to come clean

alicia telling them the origin of her nickname ‘scoobie’🥺🥺

“i always loved you jackie, i never lied about that. but you knew my parents, you think my father would’ve accepted a gay son 40 years ago? my friends? so i did what everyone was telling me to do, i conformed. and then i met you and we had alicia, my beautiful little girl, and suddenly i’ve got everything in the world to lose”😥😥

aww he’d been with martin for over 9 years

gem’s had 2 weeks added on to her sentence

cal’s now having second thoughts about meeting up with alicia’s “mystery man” because “maybe sometimes things are better left alone” and ethan goes “we need to know, cal” WE???? then he corrects himself “i mean, you need to know”😭😭😭 ohh ethan you’re soo lucky cal’s distracted

LMAOO louise getting noel and max to model wedding dresses for duffy

“loverboy” turns out to be max and he’s SO confused. ethan’s like “you’re sleeping with alicia? behind his back?” well one of you certainly did! max is still so confused bc he didn’t know he’d been talking to alicia and ethan PUNCHES HIM AND CAL HAS TO HOLD HIM BACK😭😭

that’s soo out of left field for ethan and i remember people at the time theorising that this was a sign of his huntington’s starting as aggression irritability and mood swings are often some of the first symptoms and even now i still think that makes the most sense. with hindsight idk if that’s what the writers were actually going for because they never made it explicit or anything but it could be! the psychiatric symptoms often start years before motor symptoms (the prodromal stage) and ofc from cal’s death onwards it’s impossible to pick out what’s caused by hd from what’s caused by, well, literally everything else, but at this point this really stands out. he’s obviously hurt and angry, as is cal, but his reaction is so extreme and sudden, like his emotional response has been exaggerated

tbh the writers probably just thought it was funny to have ethan reacting in a way that’s obviously not just anger on cal’s behalf but cal still not notice anything suspicious. and it is funny!

alicia tells them she was just pranking max😭😭

“we’ve had fun together, cal, haven’t we? why’ve we stopped?” “i do trust you” “you hardly know me, not really. which is why it worked so well before, it was just” “fun” “everything eventually falls apart when it’s held together by a lie” :( she seems like she’s about to tell him about sleeping with ethan but then she changes her mind

poor alicia :(

aw louise bursts into noel’s interview to tell them how he saved a kids life and the machines can’t do that

aww jackie realises that howard loves and needs martin and goes and tells martin to go and be with him. funny how she didn’t need to try and rape him isn’t it🤔🤔

LMAO charlie and duffy are practising their first dance in the staff room and some others are watching them but then dylan comes in and puts his tea in the microwave without even acknowledging them and they’re all staring at him and he genuinely doesn’t even realise why😭😭😭😭 i love him sjskdkfkk

robyn goes to cal “hey that’s gonna be you and alicia next” yeahhh i don’t think so

they’re all getting ready for the stag do and duffy says to bring charlie back in one piece lmao well they will eventually

max tries to get dylan to come but he’s like “i don’t think there’s a thing in the world worse than stag nights” but then he says they can give him a lift to the kennels because he has to pick dervla up and max is like “you can do whatever you want, you’re driving” “you what?” “everyone else has had a drink” “oh my god this day just gets better and better doesn’t it” skskfkgkgk

alicia tells cal that her parents split up but it’s probably for the best and cal’s like “yeah it’s never easy though, no matter how old you are” hmm interesting… definitely sounds like he’s implying his parents split up which again doesn’t fit with the original backstory richard winsor talked about where ethan stayed at home and had a more family oriented upbringing than cal did does it?

lmao cal makes alicia think he’s proposing and the absolute FEAR in her eyes SJSKDKFK but it’s just lingerie and he’s like “see we can still have fun together”

cal’s like “we good?” and alicia says yeah… but not for long!

alicia goes “bet you give these to all your girlfriends” and cal goes “only the ones i’m in love with” oh poor cal

lmaoo ethan gives cal his stag do t-shirt and shows him his which says ‘barry 2017 world tour “ethan-ator”’ and cal’s like “oh you are not my brother” and ethan just laughs and goes “THE ETHAN-ATOR” DNDKSKJFF just how much has he had to drink already??? he’s also wearing it OVER his shirt???

the cuff link falls out of cal’s jacket as he goes to get changed and he says to charlie “can you believe i nearly blew it all for that?” and charlie’s like “but you didn’t!” but then ethan comes back over, notices it, and goes “hey where’d you get that? i’ve been looking for that everywhere!” and cal is SHOOK but ethan has no idea what he just revealed😭😭

yay the stag the dog and the sheep time!!!!!