#and then kip takes it as a joke and gets slammed for it

[the-kipsabian]

[trudemaethien]

The ship: Fives/Longshot Words: revise, lake, reference

Good luck!

hi here i am to ruin your happiness, im very sorry but guess what! these two met in canon! guess where! 😈😅😰🥺

TW: canon compliant deaths, graphic, DDDNE

“So you’re the troopers Commander Cody assigned to this mission. Five of you, huh?”

“And you’re Captain Rex’s pick for the mission? Only two of you, huh?” one of the gold-painted troopers mimicked.

Fives broke into a friendly grin and offered his hand to the brother who had the balls to challenge an ARC. Echo shook his head; he always bemoaned Fives’ methods of getting others to revise their bad opinions of Torrent’s ARCs. They had a reputation they couldn’t shake now, though.

The trooper stared unmoving at it for almost too long to be anything but insulting, then clacked their vambraces together, their gloved thumbs rasping against blacks in the gap of armor at the bend of the elbow.

“We’re going to show the Seppies there’s no prison strong enough to withstand the combined forces of Ghost and Torrent!” another trooper enthused.

“Or not show them, I think the point is,” Fives’ new friend said wryly. “It is stealth infil we’re going for here, Mayhem.”

“Of course the sniper wants to avoid direct contact, Longshot.”

Fives deftly cut off the impending spat, “You’ve all been selected for your excellence in your specialty, and we’ll have need of each of your expertise on this mission.”

“Our specialty as ARCs is to have your backs,” Echo promised. “We’re trained to be as close to Jedi as Force-Nulls can be, so think of us as roving assets like Kenobi, not that we’re as experienced as your esteemed General.”

“Just twice as devilishly handsome,” Fives joked, and then overtly checked over his shoulder as though to ensure the Jedi hadn’t overheard his boast. It made the group of clones laugh, and tensions ease completely as they introduced themselves: Longshot, Charger, Mayhem, Fletch, and Chance.

Despite the impromptu team bonding, the mission on Lola Sayu was a clusterfuck nearly from the start. Ahsoka had stowed away. Fives almost dropped Charger off the cliff, but Echo caught him—just not before he accidentally set off one of the mines and triggered the alarm.

Inside, the defenses were insane. Holocams watched them, laser turrets activated at the slightest motion, electricity crackled down the walls. There was a moving force field that raced up to catch the rear guards. Charger, winded by the previous blast, stumbled; Echo’s fingertips almost brushed him, but he had to jerk back to avoid the lightning himself. One save, only to lose the man minutes later. Echo would be chastising himself, but Fives could help his partner deal with it after the mission was over.

Fives managed to snag the other man who’d been bringing up the rear, his new sniper friend. He bodily slammed the regular trooper none too gently into an alcove as the field passed them by. He knew Echo would be jealous but also glad of his success. One less casualty.

Longshot breathed raggedly. “Thanks,” he croaked. “Running from death traps is not my specialty. Give me a sight and a site, anytime.”

“Just stay with me, and I’ll paint you some targets to take out,” Fives promised, and got them moving again, herding everyone into a bounding overwatch.

The SNAFU only got worse from there.

Mayhem got caught in a door and cut in two. The prison warden executed Chance without a second thought to try and intimidate Jedi Master Piell. Fletch got shot by a crab droid. Of the five clone POWs they rescued, Kip and Jecko were shot down from their ascension cables, and Nav Officer Tuurn threw himself in front of a blast meant for Tarkin.

And Echo. Echo went down in an explosion trying and failing to save their escape craft. All the remaining troopers could do was watch in increasing horror as their numbers and hope of rescue dwindled.

Rex and Cody were still standing, of course, and Fives. They did have two of their rescues still, Effo and Mill, but the only other man remaining from the original team was Longshot.

As promised, Fives painted targets for him in between his own shots, and Longshot never missed. Fives privately felt responsible for this trooper’s safety in a desperate, last-ditch sort of way. He’d failed all the rest of the team he was supposed to be looking out for, but if he could only make sure this one made it back…

The Warden pinned them down on an island in the midst of the lava sea, and desperately, Fives shot at his speeder; his shot didn’t hit, but the sniper’s did. They made a good team, even diminished.

Fives whipped off a congratulatory salute at his buddy even as Tarkin and the warden grappled nearby.

The cavalry arrived: Commander Wolffe and Plo Koon.

Ahsoka stabbed the warden. They were done. Nothing else was stopping them from leaving

Fives turned back to give Longshot a hand up into the larty, only to see him take a hit on the shoulder from a stray droid—survivable—but then stumble off the lip of the island, into the lava.

His plastoid warped and dripped, and grimly Fives shot him, a clean kill, before he could scream again.

just beyond my grasp 🔒 https://archiveofourown.org/works/51735298

[mayhemproduces]

Sister Abigail vs El Phantasmo

ELP looks hesitant as the bell rings. All jokes and mind games on his way down to the ring, but face to face with his opponent now, Phantasmo isn’t sure what his next step should be. Gaining a mental advantage over someone like Abigail can go a long way, but that’s much easier said than done. The wheels are turning as they begin to circle one another, finally locking up - and Abigail shoves him across the ring! Phantasmo ends up ass over ankles, and Abigail leans against the ropes with a disinterested look on her face. With her World title opportunity coming up very soon, this was the last thing she wanted to deal with, and one has to imagine Phantasmo could be in for a very long, painful night.

Taking some time to himself, Phantasmo eventually locks up with Abigail again, only to be immediately dumped on his face. Phantasmo bounces off the bridge of his nose, and rolls to the outside. Frustrated, and clearly scared of any real contact, Phantasmo shakes his head, taking a short lap outside the ring, before sliding in… and doing push ups. He starts to throw some claps in for good measure - when Abigail drops down and does a one-handed push up. Phantasmo stares in disbelief, brows crossed tightly - when Abigail shoots up! Starfall nearly squashes Phantasmo’s skull, but he’s able to scurry away in the nick of time. Abigail gives him a pointed look, a silent reminder to stay focused, or she can end this in the blink of an eye. Phantasmo rolls back to his feet, shaking his head, ringing out his wrists, before they tie up again, and Abigail sends Phantasmo flying back - but he turns it into a backflip, sticking the landing! Phantasmo smirks wide and confident, dropping down into more exercises, before posing for the crowd. Abigail charges, trying to take his head off with a big boot, but Phantasmo rolls forward - onto the palms of his hands! He holds himself there before nipping onto his feet, and bows to Abigail! Phantasmo flexes his muscles, clearly not learning his lesson from all this showboating.

Abigail holds a hand up, requesting a test of strength. Phantasmo has to hype himself up, flexing his muscles until he’s ready to take Abigail on, the two locking fingers on one hand. Phantasmo reaches up for the other… before pulling it down… then back up… then back down… quickly switching back and forth so Abigail can’t grab it. Tired of the games, Abigail drives her knee into his guts, doubling him over, before pulling him into a side headlock. Shoving off the ropes, Abigail flattens him with a shoulder tackle. Abigail runs the ropes, ELP sliding down before her. He jumps up, hitting a leap frog, before redirecting to the ropes. Abigail stops and watches him, as ELP bypasses her to run the ropes… continuing to run the ropes… picking up steam for something. Abigail stands to the side, hands on her hips, as ELP just, continues to run the ropes. He’s very determined to do… something big, something huge, even. He’s determined, giving it his all - and Abigail SWATS him into the corner! It takes all ELP has just to hold himself up, and Abigail squashes him with several corner-trapped clotheslines, beating his chest. Eventually she pulls him out, going for another clothesline, but ELP ducks under it to, once again, hit the ropes. But he’s put the games in the back pocket for now, and tosses Abigail with a tilt-a-whirl headscissor! ELP with the advantage, but Abigail manages to duck under him and to the ropes, before spiking him with a tornado DDT, ELP planted on his dome!

He rolls back and into the corner, where Abigail charges only to meet the bottom of his boot. ELP with a charge to Abigail, but she catches him, and dumps ELP with a spinning uranage! A nasty landing on his shoulders, but he, somehow, manages to get up on his feet, and Abigail sends him flying with a fallaway slam, Abigail kipping up as ELP rolls to the outside! Abigail watches him go before pointing to the ropes. She bounces off, picking up steam, to clear the middle ropes, bringing ELP down with a suicide tornado DDT! ELP’s once again dumped on his head, and Abigail quickly rolls him back into the ring. Phantasmo crawls to a corner, and Abigail measures him, and lights him up with a knife edge chop. Phantasmo visibly mutters “ow, ow, ow, ow, ow,” to himself as he paces into a new corner. Abigail grabs him by the neck and moves them to the ropes, irish whip, but Phantasmo ducks her attack to springboard off the ropes, going for a crossbody - but he’s caught! Abigail catches Phantasmo, trying to turn it into the Wrath of the Gods, but ELP gets free. Enzuigiri stumbles Abigail, and Phantasmo has an opening. Hitting the ropes, he’s decapitated by a big boot! ELP looks out of it as Abigail sinks her claws into those long, straggly locks, yanking him up to his feet. Wrapping an arm around his neck, Abigail twists, and spikes him with the Black Arrow, floating over into the first cover of the match!

1… 2… Kickout!

ELP could’ve taken the easy way out and stayed down just there, but he gets the shoulder up at two, and Abigail continues torturing him in the corner. Uppercut has his head snap back, and Abigail hits an irish whip. Charging after him, ELP uses the ropes to lift himself, capturing Abigail by the head. He tries to use his long legs to toss her, but Abigail holds on. She crouches, getting ELP all the way up on her shoulders before dropping him, grabbing his waist, and hitting an electric chair German suplex, bridge intact!

1… 2… Kickout!

Getting ELP back on his feet, Abigail cracks his back with a backbreaker, before throwing him up, and into a bicycle kick! ELP’s gonna have whiplash for days after tonight, with the way his head keeps snapping back, but Abigail was never going to show him any mercy. Phantasmo, foolishly, searches in the crowd for support, but he’s distraught when he finds none. After the disgusting comments and actions of last week, they already considered ELP on their shitlist, and that just moved him further down the totem pole. Realizing he’s in this all alone, ELP manages to get in a counter, blocking Abigail with a boot to the face. He signals he’s gonna fly, moving up to the middle rope - but he’s caught again! Abigail reverses the hurricanrana into a powerbomb, hiking him up for the Last Hour - but ELP rolls through! Shoulders down!

1…. 2… Kickout!

ELP sneaks in a quick pin attempt, but can’t catch the Reaper. They scramble to their feet, ELP floating over, and drops Abigail with a DDT! She’s dumped on her skull, and she rolls outside the ring! ELP just got in his best shot of the night so far! With the fans making room, Phantasmo dives out between the ropes, pushing Abigail into the crowd with a suicide dive! He rolls back into the ring and hits the ropes, picking up steam to clear the top this time, wiping Abigail out with a huge splash! He reaches over the barricade and steals a chair, sitting Abigail up in it. He backs off, sizing Abigail up and putting a considerable amount of distance between them. Before he turns back and charges, knocking Abigail out of her seat with a running boot! ELP has the momentum rolling, and he wants to set up for something big. Putting Abigail back in her seat, ELP says he’s going all the way around. He sprints around three sides before swinging over the ring post and onto the apron, where he runs and leaps off, trying to hit a hurricanrana, when Abigail catches him again! She dumps ELP on the apron, spine first, before locking her hands together and spinning, slamming him into the ring post! Two nasty landings for ELP, and he may not have much more left in the tank!

Trying to bring the match back into the ring, ELP snaps Abigail’s throat over the ropes, causing her to fall back. ELP climbs to the top rope. He looks over before walking the ropes, falls, and crushes Abigail with a splash! Shoulders down!

1… 2… Kickout!

Getting Abigail up across the shoulders, ELP’s thinking about finishing this, but Abigail floats out to her feet, knocking ELP sideways with Psychosis! Knee strike right on the jaw! Eyes roll to the back of his head as ELP melts - before he kips up, and lands a superkick! Abigail goes down, and ELP starts to climb to the top rope, back to Abigail - when Abigail stands up! Abigail climbs the ropes behind him, ELP unaware, and wraps an arm around his neck before falling back, hitting an inverted Superplex, before lifting him up, and hitting an inverted Falcon Arrow! Shoulders down!

1… 2…

The count suddenly stops, as Jake Clemons is pulled out of the ring… by Brian Myers?! Abigail looks up at the noise, head whipping to the side, and doesn’t see Cardona slide into the ring behind her, until the steel chair is brought down over her skull! The bell rings, Abigail winning via disqualification, but it’s only background noise to the assault happening in the ring as the Major Players, Myers, Cardona, and Green give Abigail a receipt for her ruthless assault on Chelsea a number of weeks ago. The trio stomps her down before Cardona uses the chair to beat her. The edge is driven into her throat, choking Abigail, before Cardona relents, pointing at the right knee. Myers begins to stomp on it, viciously, before Cardona wraps the chair around it. They all share the same look, the three going to stomp on it -

When the lights go out.

They come back on to Malakai Black standing over Abigail, the Major Players’s eyes wide in fear. They stare each other down before Malakai twists, catching Myers with the Black Mass! Cardona tries to rush Black, but Black ducks under it and twists for a second Black Mass - but Cardona ducks! He literally falls on his ass to do so, but Cardona just avoided having his head taken off! He stares up at Malakai with wide, fearful eyes, distracting Malakai as Chelsea slips up behind him - but Black catches her with Black Mass! Chelsea drops, and Cardona sprints at Malakai, trying to hit Radio Silence, but Malakai throws him up and over onto Abigail’s shoulders, who plants Cardona with the Last Hour!

Abigail sends an appreciate look towards Malakai as Black helps her to her feet, the duo sharing a look, knowing this won’t be the last of the Major Players trying to sneak one over.

[descendantofthesparrow]

Finale - Rewrite - POYW - Harry Hook x reader - part 5 - the ember

Outfits;

C4+(y/n)

*Mals transformation (skull is the symbol on her back)

Hadie and Celia

Uma (for her first appearance, she's wearing her canon dress)

=

The vks finally arrived at the closest shore facing the isle, Mal taking a deep breath and lifting her goggles to look at Celia. They didn’t want to draw too much attention to themselves on the isle so they would get off and on with the spell that Mal had used years back. “you remember what I said?” Mal asked Celia, Celia nodded, slightly unsure this would even work but Mal was sure Celia could use magic, and therefore cast the spell.

Celia took a deep breath and face the isle, picturing all five motor-bikes in her head as she spoke the incantation “Noble steeds/proud and fair, you shall take us/anywhere” the bikes all glowed a reddish-purple, matching Celia’s hair, and Mal nodded, knowing the spell had worked.

Mal put her goggles back down and revved the engine of her bike, leading the others onto the ocean. Hadie looked down at the water in awe as the bikes easily rode on the water as if it was solid ground, he whistled then looked back up to see the isle coming closer and closer. Celia laughed, feeling giddy as it sunk in, she used her magic, she had done it! She couldn’t wait to tell her dad!

After a few minutes the bikes passed through the barrier, both Hadie and Celia winced at the feeling of magical being forced back underneath their skin, and soon they rolled onto land, Mal taking a few turns towards Faciliers arcade that rested right next to curl up and dye. They passed through the wharf marketplace and through the alleyway where their old hideout was (which had been emptied and claimed by someone else)

Mal turned one last corner and parked her bike right in front of the place that used to be Hades Greek restaurant (he used to be there a lot, but at one point he stopped coming completely and left it in the hands of his hires and son, who ‘sold’ it and it was turned into a regular shop with furniture and decor)

The others parked next to Mal and turned off their bikes, taking off their helmets and leaving them on the seats as (y/n), Hadie, and Celia continued to carry theirs. Mal brought a lock of her hair in front of her and sighed, nope, still brown. She had a small hope that the barrier would reverse the spell that Audrey had cast but Mal supposed she was out of luck on that one. “Come on” Mal muttered, Celia leading the way to the arcade as the vks and (y/n) followed her to the arcade door.

Celia placed her helmet onto the fortune reading table for safekeeping (I mean, who would dare steal from the daughter of the shadow man?) (y/n) and Hadie doing the same, and walked up to a multicolored door with the words ‘Do Not Disturb’ in French painted on it.

Celia grinned at the vks and turned back to the door, excited to show off the arcade. She made a few quick beats with her fist, dancing as someone knocked back in a different beat. She did it once more and bounced in excitement as the door unlocked and slid open, the bouncer inside stepping aside as Celia gestured for everyone to follow her. (y/n), Mal, and Evie shared a proud grin and followed after her, Carlos and Jay looking around as they hadn’t been to the arcade in years, and the surrounding area had changed since the last time they were there.

Celia rushed through the entrance, gasping in delight as she saw the back of her father's head, she practically jumped down the steps and grinned widely as her father turned and smiled. “Hey!” he turned and threw his cane to one of his workers who caught it and turned back to a card reading table. Facilier turned back to his daughter and held his arms out “there she is!”

“Daddy~!!” Celia squealed as she ran towards him and slammed into his arms, laughing as he lifted her into the air and set her down on his other side. The two engaged in a little dance that had obviously been done time and time again, created years ago and they had decided to keep it up. Mal didn’t stop the smile from blooming on her face, while they were on a time crunch and the worlds impending doom was on its way, it warmed her heart to see good parents on the isle, it was rare to see one of the adults not seer at their kids, it was a wonder to see them be fully affectionate.

Plus Facilier had always been one of those adults the kids went to if they needed help, he was “nice” like that. Facilier tapped his cheek, expecting a kiss from Celia but the girl cheekily tapped his hat instead and started to run, squealing with laughter as he caught her and pulled her into his side. Mal and Evie grinned at each other, their delight at seeing the father-daughter relationship slightly dimmed by their lack of one.

The vks loosely followed the two Facilier’s as (y/n) explored the arcade, whistling a bit as she looked around at the extravagant displays and games surrounding her. She had heard Harry and Gil talk about this place before but she had never had the opportunity to visit it when it was active.

Celia grinned as her dad leaned down next to her ear “so what kinda hustle do you got goin’ on with them, shiny people?” Celia just grinned and pulled a small purple velvet drawstring bag out of her shoulder bag, plopping it in his hand and kipping over to the wall of signs next to her dad’s card reading table and grabbing the skull-shaped key then looping it around her neck.

Her father looked at her with pride as he held the piles of coins in his hands, all from the Auradon people she had read cards for in the last day. “Cher” her dad whispered, pride clear in his voice as he carefully poured the coins back into the pouch and tossed it back to his daughter “look at my little girl go, already conning half of Auradon~” Celia just grinned, perking up as Carlos called everyone over to a static tv that was connected to the Auradon network.

The reporter on screen stood at Auradon prep, next to the statue of Adam, as the camera followed him as he walked “Alerts of a sleeping spell keep coming in as it spreads across Auradon, sources say the daughter of Aurora, Audrey, is responsible for this spell; were trying to discover who is responsible for these vicious lies, and which villain has perpetrated this evil” the man stopped and held his finger up to his earpiece, his face paling in fear “it’s what? it's heading this way, cut it-cut it! we have to run!” the screen cut to static and the vks looked at each other in terror.

“We have to go get the ember” Mal rushed out, Hadie leading the way as you waited for Facilier to release his daughter's shoulder as he stared at the screen in fear for his daughter.

“I’ll protect her,” you said with a smile, holding out your hand to the girl as Facilier nodded and let Celia go.

“You better” he muttered, crossing his arms as you and Celia raced out after the others.

-

“Rookie mistake” Carlos grumbled as he spotted some of Umas crew members on top of their bikes as they rounded the corner of the alleyway. You sighed, looking over Jay’s shoulder to see Jonas on Jay’s bike, grinning wildly.

“Get off my bike!” Jay yelled out, leaping forward in an attempt to grab Jonas’ jacket as the pirate laughed. Jay just missed as Jonas and his four other pirate cohorts all raced off on your bikes, and you could recognize Bonnie on top of yours. “Over the roofs!” Jay yelled out, Evie and Carlos nodding and running off as Jay turned to you “cut them off” you looked back at Mal and nodded, climbing the buildings and running after the sound of the bike engines.

Celia went to follow but Hadie and Mal grabbed her arms, preventing her from joining the case “Hey, hey hey! They got this, we need to get the ember ASAP” Mal stated, nodding as Celia sighed in slight disappointment.

“Good timing too” Hadie muttered, checking his watch “right about his nap time” Mal raised her brow but followed her fellow vks as they quickly walked towards the other end of the isle where the mines were.

‘he takes naps?’ Mal thought, looking behind her and seeing you dropping down into an alleyway a few buildings away. She turned back to Hadie and Celia then quickly caught up to them as they had walked faster than she thought they would.

-

After a few minutes of (almost running) rushed walking, the three vks arrived at the mines, guarded by an intimidating metal gate with Hades symbol, made out of wooden planks and old tires, on the front, with multiple keep out and warning signs plastered around. “Hey” Mal interrupted Celia, who was unlocking the door. Hadie and Celia stopped to look at her confused, Hadie halfway wondering if she was backing out of the plan “how big is that dog?” Mal nodded that sign behind Celia and she turned, Celia sighed and shook her head as Hadie snorted at a joke that wasn’t there.

“You’ll see” Celia muttered as Hadie snorted again, pulling the gate open and leading the two girls inside. Celia gasped quietly and turned back on Mal, holding her finger up to her lips “Okay, you have to stay quiet it echoes like crazy in here” even as Celia whispered it reverberated against the old rocky walls of the isle mines. Mal nodded and glanced around at the multiple record speakers that hung off the walls, following Celia as Hadie stood by the railway that led towards his father's lair.

Mal jumped at the sudden sound of multiple dogs barking and grabbed onto Hadie, who laughed quietly and pointed at the speakers “not here” Hadie whispered, waving Celia off the bike turned-makeshift minecart hybrid “too loud, if we’re stealing the ember, we need to be quiet as possible, we walk. It’s not too far” Mal nodded and kept her grip on Hadie’s arm, tensing up each time the guardian of the underworld's barks echoed around her. Hadie glanced at her but said nothing, letting her use him as a crutch as the three vks walked down the dark and damp tunnels of the abandoned mineshafts.

Hadie took a few twists and turns, apparently a shortcut to his room (which was also a back way towards Hades main area of his lair), and soon the three stepped out into a pretty large room with a queen-sized bed with a dark grey and blue bedspread. Hadie grabbed a bass from his wall and carried it, nodding out towards the curtain door “an excuse, case he wakes up as we walk out” Hadie whispered, Celia went first as they stepped through the curtain.

Mal stopped as her eyes locked onto the back of the god of the underworld's head, his hair was a dim dark blue, the side effect of his hair unable to light ablaze. Mal sighed in relief as the god snored loudly…very loudly, it reminded Mal of when Ben’s dad had fallen asleep during a late-night hangout back when Mal was still in school at Auradon prep.

As the three crept closer, the sounds of dogs barking started to loop, and Mal looked around confused before Hadie pointed at an old record player, it had hit a scratch on the disc and was now looping on a singular bark. Mal breathed a quiet sigh of relief, that meant no dog to be fed to if Hades caught them.

Mal walked heel to toe as she snuck over to Hades, while Hadie and Celia slowly made their way around the other way. Just as Mal got close, Celia got fed up with the record and lifted the needle, sending a loud screeching noise through the cave. Mal and Hadie glared at Celia, as the rash decision had made Hades wake up. He lifted his head slightly and look directly at his son and Celia “What are you doing here?” he grumbled in a tired tone, yawning a bit as Hadie raised his bass in the air.

“Forgot my bass” Hadie simply said as Celia took out a can of corn and a packaged blue rock candy.

“I noticed, you were out, of canned corn” she tossed the candy and can to the god and he caught them with one hand. Mal by then had lifted the ember out of the dish it was sitting in and was bringing it to her chest, screaming lightly as Hades suddenly grabbed her hand, stopping her from crouching out of sight.

Hades turned to look at her, his yellow eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses. Mal harshly swallowed and released the ember as he took it from her, moving to rest his head on his arm. He and Mal stared at each other for a moment, Hadie and Celia standing awkwardly near the old wooden stairs that lead back up to the tunnels. “um-“ Mal started in a meek voice, watching his eyes as he looked at her newly brown hair and eyes “-can I have that?” her usual confidence was gone, she was powerless and in front of a god who could pick her up with one hand and chuck her across the room even without his powers.

Hades raised his brow and turned his head to look at the ember, which was black as coal, in his hand. Then he looked back at her. “And why should I give it to you?” Hades asked coolly, taking off his glasses and tossing them to the side, leaning back in his minecart turned chair, lofting his boots up next to Mal’s face. “uh-“ Mal clearly hadn't expected him to ask that, she had expected him to get angry and throw her out of his lair. Quick mal, come up with an excuse or something! “I need it?”…nice one Mal, top-notch, he’ll for sure give you the ember now.

Hades rolled his eyes and looked to Hadie, who just shrugged. “Auradon is in danger and we need the ember” Hadie answered dryly, watching Mal carefully as she stepped in front of Hades and held out her hand, his father's yellow eyes staring down at Mal carelessly.

“Please?” Mal asked in a much firmer tone, her eyes looking directly into Hades. Hades huffed and lifted up the ember, waving the black gem around a bit.

“You’re only half Hades, the ember won't do everything for you that it does for me” Mal clicked her jaw and gestured to Hadie, not really paying attention to what Hades had just said.

“Hadie’s gonna be the one to use it anyway, I just wanted-to…” Mal’s brain caught up to the words that had just come out of Hades mouth and she looked back up at him with wide eyes, Celia’s jaw had dropped as she realized what he had meant “IM HALF WHAT?!” now Hades looked confused, looking at Mal as if she was crazy.

“you-you didn’t know?” Hades has lost his confidence, his brow raising in confusion, then he looked to Hadie “she doesn’t know?”

Hadie just pinched his brow and sat down on the wooden steps, ignoring his father and (newly announced) half-sister as the Mal started to squabble about her mother and Hades. “fuckin-what?!” Mal screeched, running her hands through her hair and starting to pace around the lair, Celia looking concerned as Mal tugged at her brown locks “you?! My dad?! That’s-that’s not right?! My mom said he was human, a full-on human!? It can’t be you it-“ Mal started to hyperventilate and Hades took her hands, bringing her closer to him and looking into her eyes. “Kid, calm down, you’re having a panic attack, breathe with me, okay?” Mal knew she had to listen or she would pass out so she followed Hades lead. When she got control of her breath again, she pushed him away, wiping away the tears that had gathered in her eyes “she never told you?”

“I guess fucking not” Mal assumed he meant her mother never telling her about her true father “and-also HOW?!” Hades just gave her a knowing look “NOT LIKE THAT-“ Mal did NOT want to think about her mother and Hades doing the do “-I mean-how did” Mal gestured to herself then Hades “this! Happen?? I thought you were loyal to Persephone!?” “Mom knows about this by the way” Hadie interrupted, motioning between his father and sister “and she’s pissed the fuck off, so whenever you see her again dad, you have millennia of making up to do” Hades winced at the thought of his wife being very mad at him, but it wasn’t unwarranted, but he had another matter to attend to.

Hades sighed and turned back to Mal, rubbing his stubble “I got drunk, very drunk, I don’t remember much but I woke up next to your mother and eleven months later you were dropped off for me to babysit” Mal’s jaw dropped in shock and slight disgust “I didn’t know about you until you were already two months old, and then I took care of you for about three months before your mother took you back, something about an heir of darkness.” Hades waved off the notion of Maleficent abandoning Mal on his doorstep and continued on as Mal gawked at him. “and before you ask-I do know I am really your dad because your hair was blueish-purple when she dropped you off and it was almost completely blue when she took you away, I think your magic reacted to whomever you were around the most-“ Mal shook her head, she didn’t have time for this!

“Okay, whatever, I don’t care. I don’t have time for all this” Mal waved her hands around in frustration(noticeably in the same way Hades did but no one commented on it) and held out her hand again “but! If you wanna make up for being a lousy dad” Hades frowned at that “gimme the ember” he stared down at her for a moment before gently placing the ember into Mal's palm, Mal closing her hand around it and nodding “thank you, it’ll be returned after we save Auradon”

“It won’t work for you completely, you are still only half Hades” Hades warned as Mal pocketed the ember into her thigh bag, raising his brow as she glared up at him. “So what? I’m not the one using it, dad” Mal hissed the last word, as if it was poison in her mouth. She didn’t fully believe him, after all, if her mother had lied to her for years about her father, who's to say he wasn’t lying to her now?

Mal pushed past him and up the steps, Celia quickly following her as Hadie set down his bass and looked back at his dad.

“Did she really never tell her?” Hades asked  quietly, looking up at the stairs after Mal, an upset look on his face. “all this time, almost 19 years of standing by, she didn’t even know?”

Hadie sighed and crossed his arms “You really think Maleficent would have told Mal about her true parentage? If Mal had known you were her dad, she would have never listened to Maleficent, she manipulated Mal…I have to go, kingdom to save n all” Hades nodded, watching his son walk out after his daughter and sighing. So much for respecting Mal’s wishes.

-

Celia looked up at Mal, pressing her lips together as the awkward silence pierced the air. “I guess that’s why he was always asking about you” Celia murmured, stopping in front of the front gate as Mal paused, looking directly at the ground.

Mal then shook her head, lifting it up to stare straight ahead “let's go, we’re wasting time” Mal continued forward towards the main area of the isle again, Hadie and Celia giving each other a look before following after her. Mal was right, there were more important things to get to than her parentage.

-

Ben was back at his desk, talking on his phone with one of the captains of the royal guard “No. no, I want the royal guard handing out gas masks!” Ben said in a stressed tone, tapping through his tablet as more reports of the sleeping spell came through. Ben growled a bit as the captain on the other side muttered something about the spell “Well not everyone's asleep!” Ben hung up and tossed his phone on his desk, looking up and pointing at the servant standing at his door “Find out if anyone has seen Audrey, and see if she has a list of demands!” the servant nodded and turned out the door.

Ben sighed and unzipped his jacket, flopping back on his chair and running his hand through his hair as he tried to calm down. Why had this happened? What had happened with Audrey that caused Maleficent to possess her?

Mal had texted him earlier that the spell used the victim's emotions against them, so whoever had taken the scepter was feeling very intense emotions, enough for her mother to feed on that. So what had Audrey been feeling when Maleficent took control?

Ben had a sinking feeling it had to do with one very bitter grandmother.

“just one~” Ben yelped and stood from his chair as he spun around, eyes widening as he locked into Audrey’s eyes, which were swimming with green. “I demand my life back”

Ben looked behind him at his door, mentally cursing as all his guards had left to go help the people. “I have a proposition for you~” he turned back to Audrey and watched as he pointed behind her towards the rest of the kingdom “I’ll wake everybody up right now, under one, itty bitty condition” she stepped closer to him, her eyes flashing green. “make me queen”

‘queen?’ Ben thought confused, why would Audrey want to be queen? Why would Maleficent want to be queen? Then Ben remembered when he overheard one of Leah’s bullshit rants about Audrey’s right to the crown. Audrey was just doing exactly what her grandmother wanted, just in a twisted way…that’s why Leah had been turned to stone that morning.

And Maleficent was just going along with Audrey’s ‘desires’ so she wouldn’t be detected by the young princess, she was waiting for the opportune moment to take over completely. “Audrey” Ben started softly, taking her hand and bringing it towards him. Audrey looked confused, her eyes flickering with magenta and green. “someone spelled you, you have to let me help you-“Audrey's eyes turned fully green and she ripped away from Ben, and Ben knew Maleficent was in control now.

“Pathetic” Audrey hissed in a cold tone, her face morphing into a sneer as the scepter glowed bright green in her hand “so kind, so trusting, you won't even strike your precious little friend down just when you had the chance” Ben glared at Maleficent, hand drawing behind him to the hidden dagger that (y/n) had stashed a couple of months ago. “just like your mother…” Audrey’s eyes turned bright green and then she grinned cruelly “but so afraid of being like your father~” Ben froze in fear, realizing what she was talking about. No, she wouldn’t “let's see how you like being a beast~” Ben raced forward in an attempt to snatch the scepter from Audrey but he was blown back as it flashed green and his body was overtaken in a green flash.

Ben screamed out in pain, but It only came out as a monstrous roar, his teeth becoming fangs as his nails pushed out and sharpened, fur erupting from his entire body and everything just became so loud.

He let out another painful roar, Audrey cackling in the background as the scepter flashed magenta and Ben swore he heard someone screaming then everything went silent.

Ben blacked out from the pain and when he woke up a few moments later, Audrey was gone, the only thing left was a few wisps of smoke. Ben crawled over to his balcony and looked down, a whimper slipping through his new snout as he saw many of the servants now turned to stone. Ben turned on his heels and ran through the castle, looking for anybody who could help him, his claws ripped and scratched at the walls as he raced through them, he ended up at the hall of armor and ripped open the doors, claws digging into the frame and Ben ended up with a large splinter in his palm.

He roared in pain again and ran out the other side of the hall, crashing through the doors and running into the forest, he couldn’t let anybody see him like this, he had to find a way to turn back into a human before he hurt someone.

-

Mal, Hadie, and Celia walked back into the arcade, Celia racing towards her dad as Mal walked over to her friends who were playing some odd combo of foosball and pool. “M!” Evie called, relieved her friend was okay as Mal trotted over to her and wrapped her arms around Evie’s arm. Evie grabbed Mal’s shoulder with her free hand and looked at her “do you have it?” Mal nodded and dug into her thigh bag, taking out the black as coal ember. “Good, let's get off this rock”

Mal nodded, turning to jay to ask him where the bikes were but he interrupted her “how’d you get it? I assume he either gave to Hadie or you snatched it?” Mal winced at the reminder of how she had gotten the ember.

Welp, no better time to tell them then now, eh? “uh, yeah about that” Mal muttered, looking down at the ember in her hand “uh, he just-gave it to me?” it sounded more like a question than anything else. Mal was unsure if Hades really was her dad, but she would spill details about the entire thing later, right now the short and sweet answer was best.

“He just” Carlos started, furrowing his brows in confusion and glancing to Hadie “gave it to you? And not Hadie?”

“Yeah well, there's a reason behind it which is-guess whomst the fuckiest my dad is?” Mal laughed, giving her friends a tilted smile as they looked at her strangely, why bring up her dad at a time like this?

“Oh no fucking way” it hit Carlos first, his eyes widening “no fucking way but you said-“ Mal laughed again, sounding strangled.

“I know! I know! I thought so too! But I guess it's just another thing my mother lied to me about” Jay looked a little miffed at not understanding what Carlos and Mal were talking about, Evie looking lost as well “Remember how I said my dad was human? For the last 19 fucking years?” Jay and Evie nodded, (y/n) cleaning up the table behind them before freezing as realization dawned on her.

“Oh, no fucking way” (y/n) groaned, looking to Mal with an exasperated look “your dad is-that means-what the actual fuck” Evie finally had enough and turned to Mal with her brow raised.

“Okay spill before I stab you”

“Apparently, my dad is fucking Hades” Mal hissed quietly, leaning closer to Jay and Evie as their eyes went wide in shock “Yep, my mother lied, again, about my dad. Told me he was human to keep me in check and shit.”

“I-“ Jay stuttered, unable to get anything out as his mouth opened and closed. “are you sure?” At this Mal shook her head, no she wasn’t sure, but this was helping them in their favor, Hades had given Mal the ember willingly under the pretense she was his kid.

“no im not, and I don’t want to know how or why, but we can do all this processing shit later when Auradon or Audrey aren’t in danger, let’s go. You got our bikes back, right?” Mal asked the boys, wincing as (y/n) glared darkly. She would take that as a no then.

“Nope, they got away” Carlos muttered, crossing his arms.

“The only way back to Auradon is the bridge” Mal sighed, smiling as Evie clicked her heels on the dusty arcade floor.

“Glad I wore my comfortable heels then” Jay grabbed Evie's arm before the two could leave.

“Yeah, we need the remote, and I left it at the house” Mal and Evie shared a horrified look, what were they going to do? Auradon was in danger and they were stuck on the isle with no way off.

“I lifted it off of you” the group turned to Celia, who was holding the golden remote to the barrier “I thought it would be useful and it is” Evie smiled, stepping towards Celia and leaning on a support beam.

“Good job” Celia smiled and Jay took the remote, pressing his lips together in an impressed smirk.

“Sweet” Celia turned to hug her father one last time as everyone grabbed their bags and started to make their way out of the arcade, she kissed him on the cheek and ran after (y/n), meeting (y/n)’s stride as she patted Celia’s back.

“Good job kid” Celia beamed again, happy her thieving skills were being appreciated. “also Mal!” Mal turned her head to show she was listening “After this shit is over, we're coming back here and getting those damn bikes back, that thing is too damn expensive to lose to a fucking isle goon” Mal snorted and nodded.

“Noted” honestly Mal wanted her bike back anyway, Carlos had spent several months making and modifying their bikes to fit them perfectly, she wasn’t about to let them be stripped.

-

The group of vks, and one dimension traveling girl, finally arrived at the bridge, Jay taking out the remote and pressing the bottom button opening the barrier. “Come on” Mal mumbled, nodding her head towards the opening. The others followed her lead and stepped over the barrier line.

Just as the ember crossed over the line, it ignited in a strong flash of light and heat, Mal felt fire shoot up her hand holding the ember and cover her entire body. Mal gasped in slight pain as the flash of energy flooded through her and filled her with a brand-new feeling of power and magic she had never felt before.

Mal let out the shuddering breath she had been holding and shook her head, the fire that had been drained by Audrey had been returned at full force…but it felt…different from her normal fire. Mal opened her eyes and looked down at her hands, gasping as she realized her entire outfit had changed. Gone were the purples and greens of her maleficent-themed outfit, replaced by the cool blues and dark greys of Hades, blue flames licking up her jacket-turned-vest and boots.

…guess Hades wasn’t lying then, Mal frowned, looking at herself a bit more as she realized she had transformed into ‘the daughter of Hades’. She had no other explanation for why the ember had done what it did otherwise.

“Holy shit” Carlos muttered, grabbing Mal's arm to stabilize her as she wobbled on her feet slightly “What happened?”

“I don’t know” Mal muttered slightly grumpy as she twisted the ember in her eyes, it had ignited in a strong blue “It might have to do something with the ‘Hades being my dad’ thing? Hadie?” Mal looked to Hadie, frowning as he looked just as confused as she felt. “shit, okay, um-ya know what? We’re gonna ignore this for now and figure out what the fuck happened when all this shit is over with okay? Okay.” Evie picked up a lock of Mal's hair, bringing it in front of Mal's face “Evie-my hairs blue….my hair is fucking blue it was brown two seconds ago and now it's blue”

“To be fair your hair was purple three hours ago, and it's also purple at the top.” Jay supplied, pulling back a bit as Mal whirled around to glare at him. “uh-yellow eyes too” Mal scrunched her nose at Jay and huffed.

“Not helping Jay” Mal hissed, she turned back towards Auradon and closed her eyes “Okay, we-let’s just go, we’re wasting-HEY!” just as Mal was handing the ember to Hadie, Evie lifted her arm to push a lock of hair behind her ear and bumped Mal's hand, sending the ember flying. “no!” Mal screamed in panic, running towards the edge and about to jump for the ember when a very familiar tentacle sprung from the eater and grabbed the ember “wha-“

Uma rose from the water, looking absolutely ethereal in her golden shell crown and teal dress, her turquoise locs pulled back halfway as the rest framed her shoulders. Uma grinned and raised her arms, the tentacle holding the ember following them “drop something~?”

“It can't get wet!” Mal yelled in a pleading tone, gesturing for Uma to get onto the bridge “give it back before it goes out!” Mal could see the ember sparking and flickering in Uma’s hold. Uma just laughed and her tentacle curled around the ember, sealing it airtight between two suckers. her eyes turned to you, who was grinning down at her from the bridge.

“Uma~!” you yelled in excitement, bouncing on your heels as she gave you a little wave.

“That’s my name~” she purred, giving one last smirk to Mal then she sunk into the water, the ember still tight in her grip.

“Wait!” Mal called desperately, she couldn’t lose the ember, it was their only hope! Mal took a step back in fear as from where Uma had sunk a large tunnel of water began to rise until it burst, soaking everyone but you.

“Ah!” Mal yelled, pausing as she noticed the water starting to evaporate almost immediately, off her body, especially her hair. “I wha-“ nope, nope nope nope, not important right now. She noticed the same was happening to Hadie, and the two were the first dry out of everyone else.

Mal looked back down at the water, searching for Uma “Behind you~” Mal gasped and spun around, seeing Uma in a dark teal button-up, dark blue leather pants, and brown boots, her golden shell necklace sitting proudly on her neck.

Before anyone else could say anything, Mal spoke up, lifting her arms into the air in exasperation “Where the hell have you been?!”

Uma looked genuinely surprised that those were the words that had come out of Mal’s mouth instead of just accusing her of villainy and trying to steal the ember back “We’ve been looking for you for three fucking years!! Do you know how much Harry and Gil bugged Ben and I because you wouldn’t show your damn face?!” Mal screeched, rubbing her face in exhaustion at the reminder of when Harry and Gil had straight up annoyed her and Ben back when the search for Uma was fresh. “Do you even know you were pardoned two years ago? You could've surfaced at any point and you would have been fine!!”

“That’s what I said to-….her” you covered your mouth as Mal slowly turned to look at you with wide eyes, Uma face palming as you winced “uh-“

“…(y/n) did you harbor a criminal?” Mal asked dryly, raising her brow as you shrugged.

“Technically no, I just, brought her food n all that…I honestly have no idea where she stayed, but we had a meeting place?” Mal sighed and shook her head, turning to look back at Uma who stiffened up in a defensive stance. “Also, Ex-criminal” you stated, shrugging as Mal just gave you an exasperated look “jus’ sayin”

“Whatever, Uma, I need that” Mal held her hand out towards Uma, looking at the ember in the sea-witches hand. “to break a spell”

“Cast by maleficent, proxied by Audrey, sleeping beauty’s daughter” Carlos explained, eyes locked onto the ember in Uma’s hand.

“So-the good guys the bad guy-“ Uma furrowed her brows as she tried to figure out how Maleficent cast the spell through Audrey. “well, I might not give it back, see what happens” your smile dropped and you stepped closer to Uma, taking her shoulder.

“Uma no, Harry and Gil are still in Auradon and we need the ember to save them if anything has happened to them, neither of them answered my calls and I don’t want to risk anything” Uma just pursed her lips, looking between you and the pleading Mal, who looked more worried as time went on.

“Guarantee me, that any single villain kid that wants to, can get off the isle” Mal pressed her lips together at Uma’s demand, wanting to agree but the deal she had made with Beast prodded the back of her mind.

“I-I can’t do that” Mal stuttered, clenching her hands by her sides, watching the ember carefully as Uma rolled her eyes and walked to the edge of the bridge. “Can't do that” Uma muttered, turning and holding the ember over the water “Well how bout now?!”

“Deal!” Mal screamed desperately, not bothering to hide the panic on her face as she held her hands out towards Uma “Deal, deal! I promise every kid will come off, but please!...Please.” Uma looked at Mal carefully, looking for any deception before she relented.

“Fine” Uma muttered, sliding the ember into her jacket “but I’m keeping it, because if you think I trust you to save Auradon on your own” she laughed a bit, giving Mal a once over “Think again” Mal closed her eyes and sighed, at least the ember would be on their side.

“Okay fine, this is fine, we need to go now though, Jay!” he nodded and pressed the bridge button, the magic extending from the broken bits they were standing on towards Auradon. “let’s go, we have no time to lose!” Mal jogged forward, Evie, Jay, Carlos, Celia, and Hadie following close behind, leaving you with Uma.

“When we find the boys, I’m blaming the entire ‘hiding you for 3 years and never telling them’ thing on you, since it was your idea and I would like to stay in Harry’s good graces” you joked, booping Uma’s nose and grabbing her hand to drag her along to follow the others down the bridge.

Uma rolled her eyes and hurried her pace, realizing that things were a lot more serious than she had thought, Mal hadn't even tried to start an argument, only focused on saving Auradon.

-end of p5-

part 5 yall!!!! the vks got the ember and mal discovered something new~!!! her dad! yeah in this Mal legit had no idea who her dad was, all she knew was that he was human and he was banished by her mother for his human weaknesses. so Mal thought her dad was a completely different person due to her mothers lies and just now found out it was a lie an all that. yeah bunch of shit XD so Ben is now a beast and Uma is here~!!!! hope yall enjoyed~!!

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rewrite taglist

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[lancearcherinrippedjeans]

Eternity - Chapter 2

**********

Starring - The wonderful OC's, Wardlow, WARHORSE, The Elite, Tony Khan and The Best Friends. (small appearances from Penelope Ford, Kip Sabian, Britt Baker, Dani Jordyn and 10 of the Dark Order)

Word Count - 5,612 (this took us a LONG time)

Category - Fluff, comedy, romance, friendship

Pairings - Wardlow/OC, Kenny Omega/OC

Part 2/?

Summary - It's Sawyer, Veronica and Nova's first day at Dynamite. They hope it's everything they dreamed of, is it?

Warnings - Drinking, swearing

other author's notes - make sure you follow @adriii-omega !!! she's the mvp for this chapter!!

**********

“Sawyer, Nova, wake up!” Veronica whispered, trying to shake her friends awake. “Mmm, five more minutes,” Sawyer mumbled, almost inaudibly. “C’mon! We’re here!” Nova cracked her eyes open, looking out the window of the plane, admiring the sunrise. Veronica finally managed to shake Sawyer fully awake, getting a low groan in return.

Sawyer looked out the window, hiding a mesmerized expression with a snarky comment, “I cannot believe you guys just woke me up to look at the sunrise.” Veronica rolled her eyes at her friend’s sarcastic response, turning to look out the window the rest of the flight. “Did you stay up all night?” Nova asked, stretching out the places she could. “No, I was asleep until about 5, then woke up because of the butterflies in my stomach,” Veronica replied, smiling right after it. Sawyer turned to look at her, “The flight attendant gave you coffee didn’t she?”

Veronica reached to hide the coffee cup that was given to her, “No, not at all.”

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we are now landing in Jacksonville, Florida.”

Sawyer, Nova, and Veronica all got up and stretched their legs. They picked up their belongings and made their way out of the plane, meeting up with Warhorse in the lobby. “Are you ready for your big night?” Veronica asked. Sawyer was still half asleep so she walked slower than the rest of the group. “I got it all under control, but you guys have to do good- or you could never get a call from Tony Khan again.” “Well, thanks for the support, Jake,” Nova said with a bit of sarcasm. “Don’t worry you guys got this,” Jake assured them. They all waited for their uber, so they could get dropped off at their hotel near Daily’s Place.

Time Skip

“This bathroom is bigger than my apartment,” Veronica said as she admired the fancy room they were staying in.“These small shampoo bottles are going to only cover an inch of my hair - I’m going to the front desk to see if they got any more,” Sawyer complained, as she closed the hotel door and made her way into the elevator.

She pushed the first-floor button, and as the doors opened she was met with a muscular friend. “Sawyer? Is that you?” Wardlow asked, as he almost dropped the bottle of water he was holding. He just got done working out and was making his way back to his room. “Huh? OH- Hey…Michael.” Sawyer awkwardly shuffled around him, trying to avoid his stare. “I haven’t seen you in a while. Do you maybe want to go get lunch-” but the elevator doors closed cutting him off. Sawyer leaned onto the wall letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She wasn’t ready to fully start talking to Wardlow again like nothing happened.

Sawyer pulled out her phone to Nova, almost dropping it from shaking.

Dude, you will not believe who was just in the elevator

...Who? I’m not a mind reader.

-_-

Tell me!

Michael. Fucking. Wardlow.

What are the chances?

Omg! Did you say anything to him?

Barely! He tried saying something but the doors closed. GOSH, it was sooo awkward :(

HA! See what happens when you avoid your problems?

🖕🖕🖕

“You won’t believe what Sawyer just texted me.” Nova laughed as she handed Veronica her phone. Veronica came over to read the messages, also making her laugh. “I knew it would be sooner or later they saw each other.” Veronica jokes. “When did Tony and Kenny say we needed to head to the arena?” Nova asked. “At least by 5, Kenny had assured me last night before we got on the plane.”

“KENNY gave you his phone number!?” Nova asked, shocked. “Oh, yea. He did, I forgot to tell you guys before we got on the plane.” Veronica smiled, acting like this was nothing. “Oh my gosh! Oh my GOSH!” Nova started freaking out, and it didn’t even happen to her. “It’s not THAT big of a deal. He’s my boss.” She half lied.

“Boss huh...did you tell Sawyer then?” Nova queried, crossing her arms over her chest. Veronica looked back and forth from her phone to Nova, “Yeah, of course, I did...you think I wouldn’t tell her?” Veronica replied, before thinking, “You’re a liar. You’re a lying liar who lies.”

“Oh so you could tell her but not me?” Nova rolled her eyes.

“As I said, it's not a big deal. He is my boss, we’re professional athletes.” Veronica said.

“Watch you get all the opportunities for sleeping with the EVP of the company.” Nova joked. Veronica threw up a middle finger behind her back and lowered it before she could look. Soon an out of breath Sawyer appeared in their room.

“That was so embarrassing. I can never go out in public again.” Nova and Veronica laughed. “DON'T LAUGH- I almost made a complete fool out of myself, he was sweaty and his tight shirt was sticking to his body and…” “Ew, too much information.” Veronica faked gagging at the very detailed description.

“Seems like Mr. Mayhem still makes your knees weak.” Nova laughed. Veronica stifled her laughter and Sawyer groaned. “Get me when it’s time to leave. I’m taking a nap and hope I don’t wake up.” she marched to her room and slammed the door. Nova and Veronica jumped before busting out laughing.

Time Skip

“Sawyer, drag your feet one more time,” Nova complained, Sawyer was still walking slower than her friends. “I won't if you let me ride shotgun.” Veronica turned around to face the two, “Um, Sawyer, it’s your turn to drive.” “What why?” “Veronica and I have been the drivers for the past five shows. You set up the system.” Nova chimed in, happily walking to the back.

Sawyer groaned, walking to the driver’s side of the rental. They all closed the doors, Veronica reaching for the radio. Sawyer started to pull out the parking lot, following the GPS to Daily’s place. “When was the last time you talked to Micheal anyways?” Veronica asked, rolling down her window. Sawyer inhaled sharply, “Last time we talked was when I congratulated him on his debut.” “November?” Nova questioned, surprised. “Yeah...I mean we just kind of stopped communicating.” Sawyer said with a bit of sadness in her voice.

Veronica and Nova shifted uncomfortably in their seats, awkwardness filling the car. “Anyways, we need to focus on tonight. No distractions.” Sawyer prompted. Veronica laughed, “You’re telling me, that you will keep your sanity when you see Mr. Mayhem in that ring?” Sawyer opened her mouth to argue- but quickly shut it. “Worry about your problems.” Nova laughed in the backseat. “Nova, why are you laughing? You need to stick with one man.” Veronica shot back. Nova took offense to that, “Well then why don’t you tell us about your late-night talks with Kenny Omega?” Sawyer almost crashed the vehicle, “You’re talking to Kenny Omega, and you didn’t tell me?!”

Veronica slouched down in her chair trying to hide. “I thought you already told Sawyer?” Nova asked. “She didn’t tell me, but SHE TOLD YOU?” Sawyer squawked.

Nova and Sawyer started to quarrel, back and forth. “Guys! Guys! Stop, we can’t do this now! It’s our first night at AEW and we’re already arguing.” Veronica pleaded, making the friends stop. Sawyer turned back to the road, breathing heavily in and out. “Veronica you could’ve just been honest,” Nova said, pouting. Veronica sighed, looking out the window, “I know.”

“Yeah. Dinner’s therefore on you tonight.” Sawyer chimed in, trying to lighten up the situation. They pulled into the Daily’s Place parking lot with a brighter mood. “I can’t wait until we all get signed, so we don’t have to split the bill a thousand times,” Nova said. They found the closest parking spot and began to get out of the car. The argument in the car was long forgotten as they stared at Daily’s Place. Nova smiled the hardest she had in a long time, as she pulled her luggage behind her. Sawyer and Veronica tried hard not to get too emotional, but knowing them they would laugh and cry about it later on. They followed behind Nova and finally made their way in.

“This place is a lot bigger than a high school gym.” Veronica jokes. Nova was taking photos for her Instagram stories, and Sawyer tried not to bump into the thousands of people helping to set up the ring. “I never want to leave,” Nova said as she took another selfie. Sawyer noticed that a lot of the wrestlers were giving them looks. “Have you noticed everyone looking at us? I’m so close to saying something.” Sawyer mumbled in Nova’s ear. She lowered her phone and looked around. Veronica gave them a confused look.

“Hey? Are you the girls from that triple threat match?” They turned their heads and saw an interested Dustin Rhodes asking them that question. “Depends.'' Nova began. “That match was awesome. We’ve all seen clips on the internet. You three got something. Welcome to AEW.” Dustin let his hand fall for a handshake. Veronica was unsure at first, but then lowering hers as well.

Sawyer and Nova did the same as everyone else around them gave a light round of applause. Dustin had given them the heads up that they might want to stop into the EVP office before they got situated. They passed a lot of wrestlers on their way there. Running into almost the whole locker room.

Sawyer couldn’t help but feel a little down as she didn’t cross paths with Wardlow. Veronica on the other hand was starting to sweat at the thought of seeing Kenny Omega. It seemed like they had gotten comfortable with each other enough to call each other “friends.” After what seemed like forever, they finally found the words “The Elite'' on one of the doors. Sawyer raised her hand to knock before it opened revealing a lively Tony Khan.

“Sawyer! So glad you’re finally here. Come on in.” He moved over to let them in. Matt and Nick Jackson sat on a couch while Kenny sat across from them busy typing away on his phone. Veronica's stomach dropped as she saw Kenny not even look in her direction. “Young Bucks. This is Sawyer, Nova, and Veronica.” Kenny’s head popped up finally noticing they had entered the room. “Veronica? Hey…I’m so glad you’re here.” He lightly smiled, making her turn her head to her friends who were looking at her with blank expressions. “Hey Kenny, remember us?” Sawyer said which knocked Kenny out of his trance. “Of course, I was very surprised by your performances; from each one of you.”

“He’s not lying,” Matt spoke. “He wouldn’t stop talking about you.” Kenny blushed a shade of pink. “I know talent when I see it.” He shrugged. Tony agreed. “Really blew every other match that night out the water. I can’t wait to see what you guys bring to the table for AEW.” Tony had told them everything they needed to know including inviting them to go to a local bar after the show later tonight. He made sure to give them the minor and major details before having to go check on everything else for the show tonight. Nick was the first to speak up, “Well if you three are any good as Kenny claims you are, I’m excited to see you guys in action.” Matt nodded in agreement. “Your dressing rooms are just in the hall over,” Kenny added.

Nova and Sawyer tried to contain the grins coming from their face, “Three ACTUAL ROOMS right?” Sawyer asked. “We promise.” Matt crossed his heart. They rushed out of the EVP room while Veronica stayed back. Nick and Matt noticed as they cleared their throats. “We’re going to go check on the other talents. It was nice to meet you.” They smiled and sent a wink to Kenny. He ushered them out the door, before shutting it. “You never told me you talked so fondly of our match.” Veronica put her hand on her hip, as Kenny chuckled.

“I didn’t talk about the match that much.” He walked over to sit on the couch, with Veronica following him. “What do you mean? They said you loved our match.” He ran his hand down his face before fully looking over at her. “Oh, I did; you were incredible by the way, but,” Kenny hesitantly grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers. “I mostly talked about you.” Veronica tried to fight her grin, but couldn’t contain it. “They’re going to kill us.” she laughed.

“They’ll get used to it.” Kenny kissed her forehead before getting up. “You should go get settled in your locker room now. I’ll see you later tonight.” She nodded before making her way over. He opened the door for her making sure she didn’t look too skeptical as she left. Veronica didn’t look back, but she could feel his stare until she turned the corner.

Sawyer was just enjoying the space of her locker room before the rumbling of her stomach disturbed her peace. She rolled her eyes, “I’m fucking starving” she said to no one. She grabbed her phone before she made her way to find catering. She was laughing at something Nova had said in the group chat when she heard her name being called. Sawyer saw Warhorse flailing his arms around and she groaned.

She made her way over to him. “Could you make it any more obvious that I’m here?” He laughed, “Well you must have lost your hearing. I called you at least ten times.” “Just got a lot of things on my mind-” “Is it a thing or is it SOMEONE?” He cut her off with suspicion. Sawyer squinted at him. “That is none of your concern, Jake.” She huffed, crossing her arms. “Oh? Then I guess you don’t want to know what I heard from your special someone then.” He put his hands in his pockets, waiting for her to lose her cool any moment.

She huffed, “Don’t do that to me. Tell me RIGHT. NOW.” He acted like he was thinking it over before finally spilling the beans, “Alright, so you know-how at the end of each show the roster goes out for drinks, well he’s planning to finally man up and talk to you there.”

Sawyer’s eyes widened, keeping her jaw from falling to the floor. Jake laughed at her expression, Sawyer reached up and smacked his shoulder. He was about to mockingly cry out in pain before she spoke up, “That settles it! I’m not going.” Sawyer began to walk away, “Dude comes on. You can’t just avoid him forever.”

“Yes, I can. I’ve done it for almost a year, I can still do it.”

“Well then don’t look behind you,” Jake said, stifling laughter. Sawyer, not even bothering to look, leaped to the nearest hiding spot...under the serving table. She brought her knees to her chest, trying to look out from behind the cloth. She looked around but didn’t see anyone. Only the intense fit of laughter coming from Jake. “You should’ve,” he stopped to catch his breath, “You should’ve seen your face.”

Sawyer exhaled, “You better be glad I don’t powerbomb you onto the damn chips.” Sawyer stomped away, grabbing an orange on the way out. “For what it’s worth Nova wasn’t here to record it!” Jake called out, still laughing.

Veronica had decided to wait by the entrance tunnels and talk to everyone who passed by. Most recognize her from her match with Sawyer and Nova. She found herself in deep conversation with one of her opponents tonight - Penelope Ford and her fiancé, Kip Sabian until Nova and Sawyer came up from behind them. They began to make their way to ringside.

The opener match was over, and in just a matter of time - Warhorse will be facing Cody for his TNT Championship. Nova made sure to have her camera out and they all cheered loudly for their friend. There were many times where he was so close to winning that title, everyone could feel it. Unfortunately, with a figure four from Cody - he tapped out causing the match to end. Warhorse went over to Nova, Sawyer, and Veronica in the crowd and hugged them before making his way back through the tunnel.

Matches passed the whole night, the same topic came up. “I can’t believe he lost” “Why did Silver and Reynolds come out?” “Matt Cardona?”

“Sawyer cheer up. Please.” Veronica pleaded, shaking Sawyer’s arm. “No! That was so dumb. His moment was stolen.” Veronica sighed, knowing how Sawyer was feeling, “I know. But I’m sure they're gonna bring him back one of these days.” Sawyer huffed, turning towards the ring. “I wonder what they’re setting up,” Nova said, taking a break from recording. Veronica inspected the whole set, “Something tells me Sawyer isn’t gonna be too happy.”

Sawyer looked around, confused. She didn’t understand what the two thought was so funny until she heard the iconic and very familiar, “I’m Better Than You. And You Know It.” Nova and Veronica soon started to giggle at Sawyer’s terrified expression. Soon MJF walked out with the one person Sawyer did NOT wanna see, Wardlow. Sawyer then tried to switch her seats to one of the ones in the back, but Nova pulled her back. “Just sit. He probably won’t even look this way.” Sawyer gave her friend a threatening look, before sinking into her seat, trying not to be noticed.

They watched as MJF gave his very intense speech, Sawyer stood up just to whisper in her friend’s ears, “He’s gotten so much better at this since we last saw him.” Veronica leaned over, “Not when he was making heart eyes at Nova.” Nova rolled her eyes as Sawyer and Veronica made kissing faces at her.

When Sawyer turned back to the very comedic moment happening in the ring, to see Michael looking directly at her. Veronica looked over at her friend and laughed, “You look like a deer in headlights!” Sawyer finally broke away from his gaze to give a death stare to her current nuisance.

The speech was finally over, Sawyer’s heart rate finally going back to normal. “Are you done being a pussy?” Nova asked. “Shut. Up.” Sawyer shot back.

Veronica laughed at her friends before speaking up, “C’mon, we gotta go get ready.”

Nova and Veronica were set for a tag team match against Penelope Ford and Britt Baker. It was after Dynamite, and only a couple of people made their way to the bar early. Sawyer had decided she would watch their match next to the EVP’s. She had exited the locker room before hearing a laugh down the hallway. It was Wardlow having a conversation with 10 from the Dark Order. Sawyer froze and slowly backed up into her room, trying not to make any noise. She was almost there until she ran into the frame of the door making her head bounce with a thud. “Ow!” Sawyer shouted, quickly covering her mouth right after.

Wardlow looked back, and a sly grin crept on his face. “You alright Sawyer?” he asked, trying to contain his laughter. She rubbed the spot on her forehead and gave a thumbs up. 10 looked in confusion, “Who is she?” he whispered. “I'll tell you later,” Wardlow mumbled. He just nodded as she made her way back into her room. Wardlow let out a low breath before continuing his conversation, but in the back of his mind he still wanted to talk to Sawyer - he just had to find out how.

Nova was talking back and forth with Sawyer on the phone. “What do you mean you’re staying in your locker room?” Nova whispered-shouted. She rolled her eyes before hanging up. “Is she coming?” Veronica had only overheard so much. “No. Turns out she made a complete fool out of herself in front of Michael again.” They knew they would have to hear her complain later, but their main focus was on their match for now. They walked over to the face tunnel and made their entrance. Britt Baker and Penelope Ford came out shortly after not wasting any time to get started.

The match was an intense 10 minutes. It seemed to go by so fast because before they knew it Nova was in the lockjaw and had to tap out. Veronica helped Nova roll out, and back through the tunnel meeting a pleased Elite. “That wasn’t half bad; great job!” Nick complimented. Veronica smiled and Nova thanked them, before making their way to Sawyer’s locker room. She was pacing around the room in her gear. Veronica knocked before letting Nova and herself in. “Is it clear? Is he out there?” Sawyer asked. “We didn’t see him. Maybe he left to go to the bar.” Nova added. Veronica nodded which made Sawyer sigh with relief. “Alright. I’m going out. Wish me luck.”

Sawyer tied her boot and stood at the face tunnel. She seemed to push Wardlow to the back of her mind, and not let him affect the way she would wrestle tonight. Her entrance music played and she made her way out. A familiar voice started booing her, and she looked over and saw MJF. She almost rolled her eyes until she saw a smirking Wardlow behind him. She nearly broke her neck trying to make sure that was him in the front row. Dani Jordyn’s entrance music broke her back to reality. The bell finally rang and they began to lock up. After a lot of back and forth, action Sawyer hooked up Jordyn for the Canadian Destroyer. 1… 2… 3. Sawyer’s arm was raised, and she couldn’t help but look in Wardlow’s direction. A pleased smile appeared on his face as he bit his lip trying to stay in character. MJF just rolled his eyes as he left his seat to go backstage, with Wardlow following him.

Sawyer walked back up the stage, commentary acknowledging the match she had also won the previous night. As soon as she was in the tunnel, she was met with Veronica and Nova, squealing and congratulating her. “Great job out there Sawyer!” Tony Khan said from his headset. “We have got to have Kenny search for talent more often. You’re incredible.” Matt chimed. “Thank you, that means so much,” Sawyer said, trying to contain a giant grin.

Veronica and Nova led her away, walking towards the dressing rooms so they could get ready. Nova rushed inside, knowing she would need more time. Veronica turned to Sawyer before they went to their separate rooms, “Whatcha gonna wear?” Sawyer shrugged, “Jeans and a t-shirt.”

“No, you are not!” “But it’s my-” “Nope! No Jeff Hardy shirts for ONE. NIGHT. Please?” Sawyer groaned at those words, “Fine! But that means no red carpet dress for you either!”

Veronica giggled, the two going into their respective dressing rooms to get ready.

Time Skip

Sawyer sat outside in the parking lot, waiting for Nova and Veronica to finish getting ready, like usual. She took out her phone, snapping pics of her outfit. A merlot satin tank top tucked into her dark brown ribbed pants and finished with a black belt and matching heels. Veronica finally walked out, and the two started hyping each other up. Veronica looked glamorous in her one strapped black dress, a cutout at the stomach with nude pumps.

“I didn’t know you had THIS in your closet,” Veronica said, jokingly checking out Sawyer. “Okay but you,” Sawyer said, twirling Veronica, “When did you get the money to buy this?” Veronica ignored the question “Kenny definitely didn’t leave it as a gift in my dressing room.” She thought to herself.

“Where’s the party at bitches?” Nova called out, her friends cheering. “The life of the party has arrived!” Sawyer whooped. “And in a stunning outfit.” Veronica chimed it.

Of course, Nova being the most extravagant of the trio, had the most extravagant outfit. A lilac two-piece skirt set, with sparkles and straps all over, matched with the most gorgeous pair of five-inch heels. “Sawyer, are you still driving?” Veronica asked, dragging her bag towards the trunk. “Yes, and I won’t drink too much so I can still drive back.” “Then can we go now, I’ve been waiting for this.” Nova chimed in, dancing and trying to get the others to join. “Fine fine! Just get in the car so we aren’t the last ones.” Veronica said, walking up to the passengers' seat.

They all climbed in the car, Sawyer starting it and pulling out of the parking lot, their first night at Daily’s place complete.

The bar was only a couple of minutes away from the arena. They pulled into a parking spot and then got out. They showed the guy at the front their ID and made their way to where the rest of the roster was. They found a spot in the back and sat down for a minute. “I need a drink. ASAP,” Sawyer said as she looked around the room. “Three drinks coming right up.” Veronica chirped. She made her way through the crowd and to one of the bartenders. “Two Martinis and one Margarit please, no lime.” he began to pour her drinks when a familiar person sat next to her. “I didn’t think you were one to drink,” Kenny said, making her turn her head. “Sometimes. It just depends on the occasion.” she laughed. Kenny asked for a beer and then took a sip. He started to speak up before Veronica was handed her drinks and began to get off the stool almost tripping. He caught her before she could. “Where are you going?” Kenny asked, a bit disappointed. She wiped her hands and grabbed the two drinks from off the table, and left one sitting. “I have to give these to Sawyer and Nova, but I’ll be back,” she promised.

Nova and Sawyer were talking about their matches from the night when Veronica came with the drinks. “You do know we see everything,” Nova said with her arms crossed. Sawyer took her drink and took a huge sip. “It won’t belong. I just want to talk to him, and then I’ll come back and spend the rest of the night with you guys.” Veronica lied. “You better. Or we will drag you back to the hotel.” Nova said. Veronica rolled her eyes before going back with Kenny. “She is already ditching us for a man on the first day.” Sawyer complained. “He better be worth it.” Nova said as she sipped her drink for the first time. “Hey do you two want to play a game with us?” Trent from Best Friends had come up to them and asked. They looked over and saw Chuck Taylor leaning against the wall waiting for an answer. “Sure?” “Why not.” They said in unison. Trent led them over to the pool table and began to set it up.

On the other side of the bar was a smiling Veronica and half wasted Kenny Omega. “Why don’t we get out of here? It isn’t as fun as this place I know down the street.” Kenny whispered in her ear. They were sitting at two of the stools in the bar, his arm resting over her shoulders. She looked around and saw Nova and Sawyer playing a game of pool with Trent and Chuck Taylor. “They’ll be fine. If they get mad at you just tell them it was my idea.” he stood off his barstool and held his hand out for her to jump off hers. “Where exactly is this place Kenny…” she questioned him as he guided her to the doors of the bar. He smirked and let out a low chuckle, “You’ll see.”

“There is no way you have never played pool before,” Chuck said to Sawyer as she hit another ball in. The four were having fun hanging out for the first time. It was perfect… too perfect. As Sawyer took a swig at her drink she looked around for Veronica seeing Wardlow took her spot. She squinted a bit and also saw Lexy Nair rubbing her hand up and down his arm.

A sting of jealousy overcame her. Trent seemed to notice as he made his way over. “Are you two a thing?” he asked. Sawyer tried to think of the right words to say, “Not really; we used to be.” he nodded understanding. “Forget about him. Tonight just let loose, get wasted.” Trent took what was left of his drink and poured it into her glass. She looked over at Wardlow and Lexy one more time to see her twirling a strand of hair around her finger. “Fuck it,” she said and leaned her head back to gulp the drink down. Trent smiled. “I’ll buy you another drink if you beat me.” he challenged. Sawyer tilted her head while she thought it over, “Challenge accepted.”

Fast Forward to Later in the Night

It was currently midnight. Most of the roster had gone home earlier, but a few still stuck around. Lots just chatted with their co-workers, staying close not wanting to cause a scene; Sawyer on the other hand was full-on drunk dancing on top of the pool table. Nova along with her. Technically, she wasn’t as drunk as Sawyer, but she wasn’t about to let her best friend make a fool out of herself alone. They swayed to a song they didn’t even know until they got dizzy and almost fell over. Wardlow sat in the same spot of the bar all night long. Ever since, Lexy had finally stopped bugging him a while ago. She was pretty, but he didn’t want her. The girl he wanted was poorly break dancing on top of a table and he couldn’t help but watch, hell everyone's attention was on her.

“He’s looking at you again.” Nova whispered in Sawyer’s ear. She turned around and was met with Michael’s stare. Sawyer flipped her hair over her shoulder and took one more sip before jumping from the table. Nova looked at her like she had grown a second head, “What the hell are you doing?!” “I’m going to see what he wants.” Nova was surprised. She was actually about to face her problem instead of running from them, she smiled in satisfaction before returning to Trent and Chuck at a booth.

Wardlow saw Sawyer approaching him making him sit up a little bit straighter. “W-why have you been watching me all night like a creep?” Her words slurred. He looked over and rolled his eyes, “She was full mode drunk right now and that was the only reason she came up to him.“

“Why have you been avoiding me all day?”

“I asked you first.”

Michael tensed. He thought over his words, “I don’t know. I was waiting for you to come over and say something...say anything-” She huffed, “You looked like you had enough company.” His brows twisted in confusion before suddenly realizing she was talking about Lexy earlier. He began to laugh as she looked at him with disgust. “You could just say you were jealous, love.” She opened her mouth to say something but decided against it, he was right. Wardlow cleared his throat, “You need to get home. Here take my uber to your hotel.” he offered. Shortly, Trent and Chuck came over carrying a sleeping Nova. “She passed out mid-conversation,” Chuck explained as she began to snore. Wardlow and Sawyer chuckled. “Their ride is outside already. Can you carry her out safely?” He asked as he made eye contact with Sawyer. Trent and Chuck nodded as they began to exit the bar. Sawyer began to follow before she was pulled back by Wardlow. “I just wanted to say… congratulations on finally getting the recognition you deserve.” He shifted around uncomfortably. “Thank you for putting a good word for us to the EVP’s and Tony.” “Without Wardlow would we really be in AEW?” Sawyer asked herself. “That was nothing, thank me when you win that AEW Women’s Championship.” He winked at her then gave her a soft smile. “Goodnight Sawyer.” He began to lean in as he was going in for a kiss, before pulling away and walking out the bar leaving her there dumbfounded. She drunkenly exited, and into the car Trent and Chuck were standing by. “Aren’t there supposed to be three of you?” Chuck asked confused. Sawyer thought about it before realizing “Oh shit- where's Veronica?” She pulled her phone out to text her. “She probably is waiting for you guys back at the hotel.” Trent shrugged. “I had a lot of fun tonight, we hope to see you guys back here next week.” Chuck added before shutting the door. Sawyer smiled to herself, before leaning her head on Nova’s shoulder and imagining having this type of life everyday.

“Shit.” Veronica cursed as she dropped her key card. Her night with Kenny went a whole different route than she was expecting. It was currently 3 in the morning, and she was sure Nova and Sawyer were fast asleep. She opened the door and slowly put down her purse to take off her shoes. A shuffle made Veronica freeze as a lamp turnt on, and Nova and Sawyer sat on the edge of her bed. “AHH!” Veronica screamed, causing her to jump. “You better explain RIGHT NOW.” Nova said annoyed while Sawyer got comfortable. Veronica groaned before sitting next to them.

“Well, it all started when….”

Thanks for reading Eternity - Chapter 2!! Like and reblogs are appreciated!

[thedistantdusk]

Can you write anything with the Harry/Ron bromance? Thank you, you are helping me survive quarantine!

Thanks to @floreatcastellumposts for all her help! For once, this is only mildly inappropriate! ;)

On AO3.

Rain patters on the window of the attic, sounding angrier by the minute. For once, the exterior of the house is louder. This is quite a feat for the Burrow ever, but on an afternoon in June, it’s almost unheard of.

Harry lets out a deep breath, running his hand across his eyes. Over the past month, he’s adapted to the silence. He’s started to crave it, to consider it reassurance that everything’s on the mend. There aren’t explosions or calls for help or sobs emerging through the rubble and darkness. There’s simply quiet. Solitude. Even—

“HEY!” The door bursts open, slamming against the wall, as Ron pierces through the aforementioned solitude.

Harry just sighs and gets his glasses from the bedside table. No hope of an afternoon nap, it seems.

“Sorry, were you sleeping?” Ron deadpans, not sounding the least bit apologetic.

Harry rolls his eyes; since he and Ginny got back together, Ron and George have greatly enjoyed taking the mickey anywhere they can find it. Just yesterday, George had interrupted a perfectly good garden snog with a series of nonsensical, thinly-veiled questions (“Have you dipped your nib in ink, Harry? How was it? Please, I’m desperately curious for feedback on all nib-dipping experiences; this could be vital information for restocking a line of magical quills at the shop!”)

Now, though, the girls are off shopping; the Burrow is empty, save for the two of them. To Harry, this seems like much of the same.

“Interrupting a kip is the least of your worries, mate,” he mutters darkly, sitting up in bed. He hopes the meaning isn’t lost there. If Ron’s going to be a cock-block, he’s going to hear about it.

Ron doesn’t respond, though. Which is odd. So Harry slides on his glasses and takes in his appearance. Ron’s looming frame stands near the door, his freckles and red hair more distinctive than usual. It could be the lighting, Harry thinks; after all, it is quite gray and dim up here. Ah but no... that wouldn’t explain why he’s now awkwardly shifting in place, rubbing his palms against his jeans.

Then, Ron clears his throat — and suddenly, his face turns red instead of white. “Erm. Listen,” he starts uneasily, avoiding Harry’s eyes. “I’ve erm... I’ve got something to discuss!”

He ends with a sort of jubilant bounce on the balls of his feet, wearing a grin that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

Harry peers back warily. If Ginny were here, she’d suss this weirdness out straight away. She’d know, just from his posturing, what Ron’s getting at. A moment later, he opens his mouth to speak again — but just as quickly, he seems to decide something or other is a bad idea, because he waves his hand and strides toward his bed with an anxious huff. As if that explains anything.

“Right,” Ron says, settling down across from Harry. “Right.”

“Right,” Harry echoes, arching an eyebrow. “You… feeling all right?”

“Mm.” Ron hunches over, his elbows on his knees, and stares at the floor.

As the seconds pass, Harry peers at Ron with a growing sense of dread. It’s rare he’s this quiet around him — and Harry doesn’t like it. It’s too reminiscent of darkness, of the times they’ve been at each other’s throats. Has Harry done anything to make him angry this time? He doesn’t think so. Ron’s been supportive, even, of his renewed relationship with Ginny. Apart from giving him shit for it.

This silence isn’t doing his head any favors, though. So Harry decides to break it.

“Listen,” Harry says uneasily. “I don’t want to pry, but—”

“—So you know Hermione and I are properly together, yeah?” Ron blurts, his words stringing together so fast they sound like a single syllable.

Harry clears his throat and tries to respond as delicately as he can. “Mate, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I think most of the castle knows you’re properly together.”

But Ron’s not on the same page. “No,” he says over a humorless chuckle, his eyes still locked on the floor. “That’s erm. That’s not what I’m getting at.”

Then what…?

Oh.

Oh no.

Harry’s stomach clenches with fear, head filling with memories that seem far more distant than a year old. He remembers Lupin’s drawn, tired eyes when he approached them in Grimmauld Place. He remembers the unflinching expression of horror and shock, the way he distanced himself from Tonks’ baby. He remembers the resigned tone in his voice, like a man marching to his own execution.

Then, of course, Harry remembers tiny little Teddy. The baby who’d charged in and changed everything. Tiny little Teddy, who is undeniably adorable… but also fuck-loads of work.

Shit. Harry desperately blinks up at Ron, pleading with the universe that he’s wrong, that he’s made a mistake in this leap of logic. But there’s nothing reassuring about what he finds. Ron’s still staring at the floor, his eyes wide and unseeing, his back hunched.

This couldn’t be... no.

Hermione’s smarter than that, isn’t she? Hell, Ron — with his six siblings — must also be smarter than that! They’d never let... something… happen.

Right?

But even as Harry tries to deny it, he knows there’s a chance — mostly because Hermione’s a right moron when her feelings get involved. Fuck. Harry’s stomach churns as the memories shift. He sees birds pecking at Ron’s hands in that abandoned classroom. He sees Hermione’s face when Ron returned to the tent last year, her eyes flaring with something unbridled and terrifying.

Best to get it over with, though. Like ripping off a plaster. If he’s going to be an uncle (the word lands like a sour rock in his stomach), he reckons he’d rather know as soon as possible.

With that, Harry clears his throat. “Erm. Ron, I’m not going to push you, but—”

“—Hermione wants to know if you want to arrange something where Ginny comes here at night and I go down there and we sleep there ok.”

Somehow, this string of words comes out even more quickly than the first, leaving Ron in a red-faced, mortified silence; Harry only understands any of it at all because he knows Ron so well, but he gives both of them time to process the exacting wording of the declaration.

After a few seconds, though, Harry’s still not sure what to make of it — and not because he didn’t understand the literal words. No… the real fear is that he’s ignored what Ron actually said and supplanted what he wanted to hear.

So Harry draws a deep breath, guarding his heart as he does. “Ok ok ok,” he says, raising his hand. “I… I need to make sure I’ve understood you correctly. You’ve only come in here to tell me that Hermione’s cooked up a shagging arrangement. Is… is that right?”

There’s another pause.

For his part, Ron only looks impressed. “Yeah mate,” he says fairly. “Sums it up.”

Oh for the love of —

Harry releases a half-laugh, half-sigh as he collapses back on the bed. Shagging! That’s all Ron was after! For fuck’s sake! Harry’s chest feels lighter, his head happier, his future brighter.

“You… seem surprised, though ” Ron notes, peering over. “What did you think—?”

Harry laughs again, cutting him off. “I thought you’d got her pregnant! I was terrified for you! Can you even imagine—”

“Nooo!” Ron says sharply. He shudders, the color draining from his face. “No,” he repeats, raising his eyebrows. “No, I cannot, so please don’t even joke about—”

“Oi, who’s joking?” Harry counters. “You’re the two who ran off to Australia and spent nights in hotels! Your mum was scandalized, by the way. It was brilliant.”

He ends with a grin, but it seems that the word Australia was a bit of a trigger; Ron’s face is now blank and happy, his mouth spread into a gormless smile as he stares at the wall above Harry’s head.

Ugh. Harry looks away. He’s glad he hasn’t volunteered his (rather unfortunate) knowledge that those two shagged before they even left the castle. Harry still can’t decide if Ginny’s ability to wheedle information out of people is a blessing or a curse, but he reckons it’s best to push the subject of Ron and Hermione’s sex life from his mind.

As if on cue, Ron sighs from his bed. Harry’s pleased to find he’s not making that weird Hermione face anymore, but he doesn’t look entirely… settled either. His expression is pensive, his arms crossed over his chest, and it takes a few more seconds for Harry to understand why — but when he does, it’s like a lightbulb goes off in his brain.

Oh.

Harry releases a deep breath of his own. Ron hasn’t said a word, but he’s certain they’re both filled with this sort of… shuddering awareness of the situation at hand. Because this is the first time they’ve broached this, isn’t it? The fact that they’re intimate now, with each other’s sisters. Harry can’t decide if that’s more comforting or repulsive — but more than anything else, he reckons it’s just... different. Nothing more, nothing less.

After all, it wasn’t long ago Harry was terrified they’d get together and leave him. But when they got together — right in front of him — Harry hadn’t been jealous or scornful; he’d been happy for them. He reckons he would’ve been chuffed, even, had they not been in the middle of a battle, but that hadn’t stopped them for long.

Then again, it also wasn’t long ago that Ron yelled at Ginny for snogging Dean. A year ago, Ron had yelled at him for snogging Ginny — mostly because he’d been concerned about his sister’s feelings. Harry hadn’t blamed him for that, not really, but he nonetheless reckons it should’ve foreshadowed Ron’s cock-block tendencies.

Another vacant smile crosses Harry’s lips. They’ve all changed, haven’t they? War changed them, to the core. Age changed them, to the core….

“Erm. But please, don’t give me details,” Ron blurts, apropos of nothing. He shivers again despite the warm afternoon. “I think I’d rather remove my fingernails with a blunt needle than hear about how much you love shagging my sister, thanks.”

Harry raises a brow. Technically speaking, Ron’s wrong in his conclusion. They haven’t… done that. Not properly, even if they’d hedged around it more times than he can count. They’ve done basically everything but shag, actually, but Harry reckons that would be more mortifying to admit than just letting it go.

Not that they aren’t ready; Harry knows they’re both ready. But through either sheer practicality (his reasoning) or misguided chivalry (Ginny’s), Harry couldn’t bear to live with himself if he took her virginity in their usual haunts of the garden or Mr Weasley’s shed.

Now, though, they’ve got… options. That Ron — of all people — has delivered on a silver platter.

Harry feels his pulse quicken at the thought as his jeans start to tighten. Aaand lovely, this is now thoroughly embarrassing. He needs a distraction, now.

So Harry loudly clears his throat and picks up the threads of their conversation. “Yeah, and I’ll trust you to do the same when it comes to Hermione. I’ve no desire to hear about—”

Ron interrupts with a wave of his hand, but when he speaks again, he’s not taking the mickey like before. “Noted,” he says firmly. “Just erm... I guess I also wanted to make sure...” He trails off, biting his lip, but seems to think better of whatever he’d started. “Nevermind, it’s stupid. Do you want to play chess?”

Harry’s not letting him off the hook that easily. “Whatever it is, mate, I’m sure it’s not the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

Ron laughs. “Yeah, and that was kind of my point, actually.” He rubs his hand on the back of his neck. When he looks at Harry again, there’s a telltale spark of reassurance shining behind his eyes. “You… erm. You know we’re still us, yeah?”

Oh.

Harry hadn’t realized he’d been that… transparent. He gnaws at the inside of his cheek. They’re together now — all four of them, which is the best possible situation. But he can’t deny there’s a lingering fear that romantic relationships, real ones, will change them forever. That he’ll lose the first friend he ever had. That they’ll finally have found the one thing they can’t talk about, even as the topic voraciously consumes both of their thoughts.

Has any of that happened, though? asks a voice in the back of his head. It sounds suspiciously like Ginny.

Harry’s lips curl into another smile as the answer comes to him.

No. No, it hasn’t.

Because at the end of the day, they’re still Harry and Ron. They’re the two prats from Gryffindor who became best friends on the Hogwarts Express and got detentions together and shared a mutual loathing of Malfoy, all as their voices cracked. They’re still Harry and Ron, who fought bitterly and pretended to hate each other and nearly vomited on each other and discussed wanking techniques.

No matter what, they’ll always be Harry and Ron. Their relationship survived Voldemort. How could Harry have thought it wouldn’t survive sex?

“Yeah, we are,” he agrees. “Just, you know...” He makes a vague hand gesture. “Taller. Wiser.”

Ron smirks, rising to stand. “Actually, I was gonna go with shagging each other’s sisters — but if you’d like to pretend you’re wiser...”

Harry chokes out a laugh. “I reckon Hermione’s still the wisest of us all, seeing how she arranged this. What time were you thinking, by the way?”

“Eleven minutes past ten,” Ron says promptly. “We reckon it’s less suspicious if it’s a bit off the hour.”

“Eleven minutes is highly specific, mate.” Harry raises his eyebrows. “Please tell me that number wasn’t in your head because of some… personal record. Or something.” He makes a face and moves to stand, too.

Ron just jerks his chin towards the door. “Do you want to play wizard’s chess? And I’m not going to dignify that with a response, by the way — but just know, you’re definitely, definitely incorrect.” His lips twitch. “As well as a total wanker.”

Ha! He’s left himself wide open!

Harry laughs and strides into the hallway, too. “Only when I think about—”

“UGH!” Ron groans dramatically as they walk downstairs, but Harry can hear the grin in his voice. “I thought we agreed never to discuss that!”

Harry spreads his palms in surrender, but doesn’t push it; Ron’s been more than understanding today, so he reckons he’ll let it slide — at least until the next time he tries to give him shit.

Then they march into the living room wearing stupid, contended grins, just as they’ve done a thousand times, for one reason or another. Then they play wizard’s chess, just as they’ve done a thousand times. Then Ron kicks Harry’s arse, just as he’s done a thousand times.

Ron pumps his fist in triumph and lets out a jubilant yelp as he resets the board — and although Harry would never admit it aloud, he’s nonetheless reached a comfortable, contented conclusion.

He’s fine with losing at wizard’s chess for the rest of his life… as long as he loses to him.

[juniperwindsong]

Dragonology 101 (4/10)

Summary: 

"Blimey...this is you just liking something? I hate to imagine what you'd be like with something you actually love."

If Felix Rosier, age sixteen, strict Slytherin prefect and manically dedicated 6th year student, had been told that one year in the future he would be spending nearly a third of each week sneaking out of school to visit a dragon in the dead of night, he would have docked points from whatever student was making up such a slanderous lie. And yet now he can be found, by those who bother to look, kipping in the back of classes, shirking prefect duties as often as he can get away with it, and nicking dead animals from the Care of Magical Creatures paddock whenever Kettleburn is not around.

Felix has no idea where this rebellious streak originated. True, he has never been afraid to bend or even break the rules on occasion in order to keep Slytherin the top house. He's jinxed other students, dueled outside classes, and lied to professors, but he has always justified his actions as necessary for the greater good of his house. Reckless rule breaking that does not further Slytherin's reputation or chances of winning the house cup, Felix considers selfish, a betrayal of their fraternity. He has never even broken curfew before, or sneaked down to the kitchens to steal food, let alone thrown nearly half the school rules out the window just to feed a dragon with Jacob Windsong's little sister.

Maybe she's been a bad influence, Felix thinks to himself one Transfiguration lesson after failing to answer Professor McGonagall's question for the second time. A year ago, he would have been livid with himself, but vanishing cauldrons seems so trivial now next to the very real presence that is the growing dragon. Felix is changing, he knows, his iron-clad discipline creaking under the strain of his newly discovered passion, and nights when he's not escaping to the forest it takes all his efforts to keep his mind on his studies.

Yes, it would be easy to blame the 13 year old curse-breaker, who has never met a rule she doesn't think herself above, but Felix knows that's not entirely true. Her influence and the dragon may have set it free, but this desire to do something - dangerous, physical, and just for himself - has always been there. He's just kept it hidden for so long he's forgotten.

-

They are halfway through October, and whether Felix or Juniper is better with the dragon is hard to say. Most of their evenings in the forest find Juniper at the dragon's head, feeding it treats and keeping it calm, while Felix circles its body, inspecting it from every angle. It is Felix who determines the dragon's sex.

"Male," he announces on his first perambulation.

"Well then, good boy, Sparky!" crows Juniper, stroking the back of the dragon's scaly head.

"It's still Sparky, then?" he asks bemusedly making his way steadily back around to her.

"Sure. Sparky can be a girl's or a boy's name."

"It isn't a name at all," insists Felix doggedly, but her only response is a merry laugh.

Felix also has better luck examining the dragon's (he refuses to think of it, him, as Sparky) injured wing. With Juniper holding its head and speaking softly, all while plying it with rabbits which it consumes in ever-increasing amounts, Felix manages to crouch down beside the dragon and inspect its injury.

A long gash has torn through the bottom panel of its left wing. Each side of the now parted wing has begun to heal up on its own; ugly, uneven scars forming on the torn edges. Felix is no expert, but as far as he can tell, through the absence of any pus or smell of rot, the wound is not infected. Still, the dragon seems to find the area tender, jerking involuntarily whenever Felix strokes his fingers feather-light across the developing scars, and it has still made no effort to fly away.

Felix begins to use the time not spent with the dragon to bury himself in the library researching wound care, healing spells, anything he thinks will help him discover a way to fix his dragon's wing. So single-minded has Felix become, that Juniper finds herself confronting him about the state of his schoolwork one afternoon in the library. She announces her presence by slamming a large book down on the table beside him in the corner where he has sequestered himself, earning a scandalized shush from Madam Pince shelving books a few rows over.

Felix looks up, startled, forcing his mind out of the book he's skimming on the potential use of Reparo on organic matter (the outlook not promising) and trying to focus his vision on the girl in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" he hisses, though his voice is too hoarse from disuse for it to contain any real venom. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"It's dinner," Juniper says, holding up her pocket watch as evidence.

"Oh," is all Felix can manage. He's a little disconcerted by the time, not realizing he has been in the library for hours. He looks back down at his book, put out, as he always is, at being interrupted while intent on reading. "Why aren't you in the Great Hall then?"

"Chester Davies is looking for you. He cornered a couple of first-years outside the common room demanding to see you."

"What?" Felix jerks his head back up abruptly. "Why?"

"Apparently," explains Juniper perching herself on top of the table, her back to the bookshelf so she can look directly at him, "you've missed your last two transfiguration revision sessions with the other prefects? Davies was worried we had you tied up or something."

She delivers this last as a joke, but Felix misses the humour entirely.

"I've been researching alternative methods of repairing the wing."

Juniper glances down at the books Felix has spread across the table, then cranes her neck around to read from the pages open in front of him.

"Reparo? You can't use that on animals, can you? And even if you could, I doubt the two of us casting it together would be enough for it to work on a dragon. You said yourself, dragon hide-"

"Yes, and you said yourself it's juvenile and more susceptible to magic," Felix argues, his bad temper rising. "Besides, I'm mainly researching the theory. To see if the spell can be modified."

"Wow," Juniper says, eyes widening, "that's... an impressive undertaking." But she looks more concerned than impressed. "And is this in addition to your regular school work or in place of?"

"What?" Felix snaps, itching to return to his book.

"It's just that..." Juniper swings her legs back and forth underneath the table nervously, "Davies mentioned you hadn't turned in your last transfiguration assignment which is really unusual for you so I just wondered -"

"Are you really going to try to lecture me about focusing on my schoolwork?" Felix's voice is waspish.

"I'm not lecturing, I'm inquiring," she answers carefully.

"Well, thank you for your inquiry, but I'm managing my workload just fine," Felix counters, staring pointedly back at his book to indicate the end of the conversation.

"Really?" questions Juniper, undaunted. "Would you consider that I, or anyone else in Slytherin, was 'managing just fine' if we were skipping our actual assignments to pursue personal projects?"

In spite of himself, Felix lifts his head again to glower at her, "Isn't that all you ever do?"

"Of course not! " Juniper retorts, looking slightly hurt.

"In fact, doesn't this all sound a little familiar to you? Have I not had this exact conversation with you at least once every term since you got here?"

Juniper's face is turning pink and she can't meet his eyes, "Not exactly, you yell a lot more than I-"

"And has it ever had even the slightest effect on your behavior? Because as far as I can tell it's all been wasted breath." Felix delivers his tirade in a furious hiss, quiet enough to escape the notice of Madam Pince, but Juniper leans further away with each word as though he were screaming at her. "So, one might conclude it's just a bit hypocritical of you to berate me for missing a single assignment when I know for a fact Professor Snape has banned you from Hogsmeade until you've brought up your marks!"

Juniper's face has turned a bright Gryffindor red, and she drops her head quickly hiding behind her long hair.

Felix stops, breathing heavily. He feels angry and agitated, and has half a mind to go on raging at her a bit more just to alleviate some of his tension. Before he can decide what to say, however, Juniper jerks her head up to look directly at him. Her cheeks are still burning, but her eyes are very clear and her mouth is set in that determined line Felix knows too well.

"You're wrong, you know. What you say does affect me." Juniper's voice comes out rough with suppressed emotion. She stops and takes a deep breath before continuing.

"I know you dog me about schoolwork because...well...you care. About everyone in Slytherin. In your way," Juniper adds hastily at the scandalized look on Felix's face. "You do, you know you do. You wouldn't waste your breath on us like that if you didn't. And I know it might not always come across because, well, I can't just give up on searching for my brother. But you've always inspired me to do better, for myself and for Slytherin."

Juniper looks down at the table where her fingernails trace random patterns in the wood.

"You know," she continues, haltingly, "when I first came to school, I honestly didn't expect to make it through the year. I figured I'd be expelled or killed or something. But none of that mattered... because finding my brother was the only thing that mattered. And you...you played a big part in making me realize that, well... there are other things that are important too. And I need to try and balance them, and not focus on my search for Jacob to the detriment of everything else."

Juniper says this last bit very quickly and somehow too easily, as though it's a line she's memorised, repeated to herself over and over.

Felix's anger flags as he takes in this rather alarming confession. He doesn't know whether he feels more touched that she appreciates his nagging, or outraged at the insinuation that their situations are in anyway comparable. He isn't obsessing about the dragon the way she obsesses about her brother. He's merely focused; the same way he is on any assignment.

Felix's ability to dedicate all of his attention to the task at hand has always benefited him, allowed him to master spells twice as quickly as his peers. True, it is taking him longer than he expected in this instance. And, in order to put in the time necessary to succeed with the dragon, he has had to back-burner other things sometimes...the occasional study session, or homework assignment, or... History of Magic class...

Felix surveys the table in front of him as if seeing it for the first time. Precarious piles of books and scattered parchment notes litter his usually well organized work space. He notices his stomach rumbling and casts his mind back for the last time he's eaten a meal but can't remember. He's sure he must have had breakfast this morning...or dinner last night, at least? His head aches as well, just over his left eye.

Felix thinks back over his actions of the past few weeks and winces. Windsong is right. He's been as wrapped up in the dragon as she has been in finding her brother, and the thought makes him blanch. Caught up in his unexpected adventure, Felix has put out of his mind entirely the future waiting for him at the end of this year. The thought of all his responsibilities, duties, and expectations floods over him all at once, leaving him feeling slightly sick. How could he have risked his entire reputation for this?

"You might have a point," says Felix abruptly. He stands up and begins to gather his things.

Juniper slides off the table in alarm at Felix's sudden movement. His unexpected concession renders her momentarily speechless, a surprising state of affairs for her.

"Oh...um...really?" she manages.

"Yes." Felix glances at her, and it's the sly, superior expression his face is most accustomed to. "It's obvious we're not going to be able to fix this injury. All this," he nods at the books he's currently stacking up " it's just been a waste of time, really. And I do have other things that require my attention."

"That's not- I didn't mean- you don't have to-" Juniper stutters, apparently caught off guard by his rapid change in demeanor. Her voice trails away as she watches Felix's brisk movements.

Felix is determined not to look at her as he carefully places his notes, quill, and ink back into his bag. He wishes bitterly that she'd hidden all this better from him, that he had never seen a dragon, never discovered what it was like to do something dangerous and wild and free...it had been so much easier to live before he knew what he was living without.

Felix squeezes his eyes shut and runs a hand over his hair, smoothing it flat unconsciously. How can he go back to that - long nights spent reading and revising - when he knows there's a dragon out there, waiting for him? This was always temporary, he knows that; adventures don't last forever. But he isn't ready for it to be over...not yet...

Juniper's hand comes to rest on his forearm and Felix's eyes open automatically. Somehow, he sees her hand before he can feel it: long, delicate fingers, with short, slightly dirty nails. What look like slender pink burns peek around the sides of her fingers, and Felix wonders why they couldn't have been healed by magic. Neither of them move. Felix hears Juniper swallow hard before she speaks.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that I thought you were doing the wrong thing. It's...really cool the way you care so much about helping Sparky."

She squeezes his arm, very lightly; the pressure encouraging rather than threatening.

"Maybe we can take some of these with us," Juniper inclines her head at the books, "you know, do some research while we're with him? I used to sit and study when I was helping Hagrid with the Thestral. Helped get him accustomed to company while I got a bit of work done as well. What do you think?"

Felix raises his eyes to find Juniper peering at him anxiously, and he feels a sudden shame at berating her so harshly.

She's just trying to help, he realises, it's what she does. Hagrid, himself, the dragon, her brother...she helps people, even when they don't want it, even when it's dangerous. And she's too young or too stubborn to think about the consequences to herself if she doesn't succeed. It's going to get her killed, thinks Felix. So really... really it's his duty to keep going with her, to keep her safe. Isn't it?

It's a weak excuse. But any excuse is all Felix needs right now. The thought that his adventure isn't over, that he will see the dragon again, settles the queasiness in his stomach.

Felix gives Juniper a small smile in an attempt to appease her. "That's not a bad idea, Windsong. Good time management. Here." He grabs the topmost book from a pile without looking at it and hands it to her.

Juniper takes the book cautiously, still looking uncertain, "So... we're okay?"

The smile reaches his eyes now. "Yes, Windsong, we're okay."

"Okay,” says Juniper, matching his smile with one slightly less enthusiastic than is her norm. "I'll see you tomorrow evening then."

She takes a step back.

"Tomorrow evening," Felix agrees with a nod.

Juniper turns, walking halfway down the aisle before doubling back and saying, "Oh, and do make sure and tell Davies you're alive before he and the other prefects mount a siege on the common room."

She flashes her signature lop-sided grin before hurrying away again.

-

"Can I ask you a question?" Juniper asks Felix the following evening. Their backs propped against the earthen wall of the ravine, they sit on a green and silver checked cloth Felix has conjured (to inexplicable giggles from Juniper) while she flips through the book from the library.

Felix watches Sparky trot away from them toward a sad little pool, hardly more than a deep puddle, at the other end of the valley. Seeing the dragon walk is something that has not yet ceased to give Felix a small thrill; the powerful muscles in its legs rippling as it moves so carefully and precisely, its wings stretched just enough to provide it a graceful balance. He can't imagine what it must be like to watch it fly.

Thus distracted, Felix answers "Yes," without thinking.

"What is it with you and dragons?"

Felix glances over to find Juniper staring at him, her head cocked to the side and propped up on one hand.

"What do you mean?" he replies, self-consciously. The way she stares at him reminds him of the way his mother looks at paintings in museums. Felix finds it discomfiting.

"You know what I mean." Juniper lifts her head off her hand. "You wouldn't be out here if Sparky were, say, an Abraxan, would you?"

It's a rhetorical question, and she doesn't wait for an answer. "When you agreed to let me sneak out of the common room that first night, I assumed you must have some secret motive, like wanting powdered dragon claw or something. But it was really just because you wanted to see a dragon, wasn't it?"

Felix doesn't respond to this, turning instead to watch Sparky drink from the little pool. It's strewn with leaves from the trees that overhang the sides of the ravine, and he notices the dragon makes a point of fastidiously avoiding them as it laps up water with its strangely narrow tongue.

"So..." Juniper persists, "What is it about dragons that makes you hang the rule book and skive off school work?"

Felix shrugs, studiously not looking at her. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" she repeats skeptically.

He sighs. "They're... interesting."

"Interesting?" Juniper repeats him again, and Felix makes an exasperated noise.

"What do you want me to say? There isn't any particular reason! I just-"

Sounds of splashing cause them both to glance over at Sparky. The dragon is now using a foreleg to smack the leaves floating in the pool. One soggy leaf catches on the dragon's claw, and it lifts it out of the water and shakes it vigorously.

Felix cannot stop himself. He smiles fondly at it and murmurs, "I've always liked dragons."

"Blimey," says Juniper, watching Felix again instead of Sparky. "This is you just liking something? I hate to imagine what you'd be like with something you actually love." She turns back to the book, shaking her head, a smile playing at her lips.

Felix tears his gaze from Sparky as the dragon trots back over to settle in the grass. Juniper returns to absently thumbing through pages , and Felix watches her debating whether or not to broach the subject he's burning to discuss. It's dangerous, he knows. It's a clear violation of their unspoken agreement to keep conversation about the dragon and not each other. But, Felix supposes, she's the one who made it personal first. He takes a deep breath.

"May I ask you a question?"

Juniper looks up from the book. " 'Course."

Felix takes the time to meet her eyes before saying, "Why is it so important to find out what happened to your brother?"

It's as though a light has turned off behind her eyes. Her face becomes entirely blank. She says nothing.

Felix is expecting this however, and presses on. He knows it's impertinent and not really any of his business. But after their confrontation in the library, he feels compelled to say what he's thinking.

"Look, by all accounts, Jacob was into everything he shouldn't have been: the cursed vaults, the dark arts. He was expelled for heaven's sake and you... you say you're looking for him, but you're really just following in his footsteps. And it's just made everything harder for you, hasn't it? Do you think that's what he would have wanted for you? To make his same mistakes? Rather than putting the past behind you and making a name for yourself? One that's about you and your talent and not about him?"

Juniper continues to stare at Felix, but now it's with something like pity.

"You don't have siblings, do you."

It's a statement, not a question.

"No," Felix confirms.

Juniper is quiet for a few more seconds.

"How about a best friend?"

Felix considers this. He thinks briefly of Evan, his closest cousin, who spent summer holidays with him teaching him rare curses and occasionally trying them out on him. He thinks of the other prefects that he spends time with during revision sessions and patrol duties. And of the Slytherin boys from his year, most of whom he talks to fairly regularly and some of whom can be counted on for a favor provided the cost to them isn't too high. But a best friend? Felix isn't even sure what that would entail.

"I don't...know," he finally says, hesitantly.

Juniper's smile is forced and somehow sad. "Then I don't know that I can explain."

She drops her gaze to where her fingers are absently drawing circles in the dirt beside the book.

Juniper's words rankle Felix. While he's used to accepting such pronouncements from his parents and professors, he has never taken well to being told he can't do something or know something by other students, especially ones younger than himself .

As if having "best friends" gives you access to some secret knowledge other people aren't qualified to understand, Felix thinks hotly.

"Try me," he challenges.

Juniper starts, clearly shocked at his combativeness. Her mouth opens and her eyes flash and Felix is sure she's about to snap something at him. But at the last second Juniper stops and sighs deeply, the fight gone out of her all in an instant. To Felix's surprise, she begins to speak.

"Jacob was my brother and my best friend." Juniper begins in a fast, flat sort of voice, as if she's reading from a book she's not particularly interested in. "Which is silly, he's ten years older than I am but..."

She pauses, eyes closed, collecting her thoughts. "My parents, they're older and they were always working, and they just didn't have time for a little kid. I had a house elf that took care of me and gave me lessons but I didn't really have any friends. We don't live near any other wizarding families and none of my parents' friends have children my age. So Jacob was really my only friend growing up."

Juniper can't help but smile as she speaks of her brother. "And he always treated me like I was his friend, not a kid sister. Over the holidays he spent nearly all his time with me, making up adventures for us to go on or just talking. Letting me ramble on about my life at home like I had anything worth saying." She rolls her eyes self-deprecatingly at this. "And he never made me feel stupid or like I was too young to have thoughts or feelings. And when he was at school he wrote to me, all the time, no matter how busy he was. He would tell me everything that happened to him, make me feel like...like he valued my opinion."

Juniper sighs again. "Of course, I know now it was mostly all lies, what he wrote. He never told me anything about cursed vaults or the dark arts or anything that would have got him expelled. I guess I didn't really know him at all."

She admits this last in a small voice and trails off, gazing at Sparky.

"But I do know," Juniper adds, looking back to Felix, her voice gathering strength again, "that if it were me that were lost, Jacob would never stop looking. Ever. No matter what it cost him."

Her eyes boring into his are as fierce as the dragon's and Felix is at a loss for what to say.

-

That night in bed, Felix mentally compiles a list of the people he's closest to, anyone that might be conceivably classified as a friend, and tries to decide if there's anyone he'd go to so much trouble to find if they went missing. No one name sticks out readily.

Felix considers his parents: his mother? Surely if his mother went missing he would look for her. No, he concludes, most likely his father would forbid him from taking any action, certainly any action that would harm the family's reputation. His father would look for her though, wouldn't he? Or hire someone to look for her? For some reason, the thought makes Felix uncomfortable.

Then he wonders if his parents would come looking for him if he disappeared.

Felix considers potential scenarios. Maybe if he were kidnapped or vanished without a trace one morning with no warning. They would certainly make an attempt to find him then; it would be a shame on the family not to. But... if he went poking around something he wasn't supposed to, was in trouble with the law, then finally disappeared in disgrace?

They would disavow me, Felix thinks brutally, strike me from the family tree, refuse to speak my name, pretend I never existed.

The knowledge leaves him cold, and Felix suddenly feels all alone in a castle of hundreds of students and teachers. None of them would miss him if he were to disappear, he realizes miserably, not really miss him. Not enough to find him. They would wonder about him for a little while, then forget him entirely.

Felix feels a sudden surge of jealousy toward Jacob Windsong. To have someone be so devoted to you they would stop at nothing, risk their whole life, future, reputation just for the slightest chance to have you back...

I want that, Felix admits to himself. But it's not a particularly comforting revelation, and he drifts off to sleep feeling lonely and morose.

-

Chapter 5 | Masterpost

[verybisexualwriter]

A Hogwarts Love Story

Everett Jobs was wise beyond his years. Anyone who took the time to get to know him would've realised it. But he was a quiet kid who kept to himself, and he was a muggle born. Early on in his fourth year he was reading quietly in the courtyard when four Slytherin boys walked up to him, one of them snatching his book. “Whatcha readin’ mudblood?” One teased.

“Is it any of your business, you bigoted arsehole?” Everett replied, blue eyes narrowed. He stood, revealing his full six feet of height.

The first Slytherin smirked at his companions. “You boys hear what this mudblood called me?”

The Slytherins laughed, slowly reaching for their wands. But Everett drew faster, cursing all five in one smooth motion. They all ran off, trousers and robes flaming. “Yippee ki yay, mother fucker,” he chuckled to himself as he picked his book up off the cobblestone. His eyes suddenly met a pair of brilliant amber ones.

Jasper Kip, a Hufflepuff in Everett's year. “I can't believe you just did that.”

A soft blush rose in Everett's cheeks. “You saw all that? It was nothing. I'm used to it, do it back on the farm once a week.”

"That statement raises an absurd amount of questions" Jasper said.

"Well, ask them then" Everett said, having received the exact reaction he hoped for.

"Ok... the farm?" Jasper asked.

"My folks own a farm up north, that's what I was supposed to do if I were a muggle."

"No, reason you can't do both" Jasper said a little awkwardly, "so why do you set fire to Slytherins on your farm?”

Everett laughed, “No, I mean the sass. The muggles back home aren't exactly kind to me.”

Jasper bit his bottom lip for just a moment "I think we'll get along.”

Everett's cheeks went pink once again. "What makes you say that?"

“I'm going into Hogsmeade tomorrow,” Jasper said, ignoring the question, “do you want to join me?”

The next day was the first of many afternoons in Hogsmeade, which they spent drinking butterbeer and buying Pepper Imps, which was their shared favorite candy. They talked over books in the library when they had free time in school, and Everett went to every one of Jasper's quidditch games. Jasper moved expertly on that broom, but Everett got anxious if he went near one.

That is until one evening, after a stroll through Hogsmeade during a sensible meal in the great hall Everett was startled by the sudden sensation of hands on his shoulders. Everett whipped around while drawing his wand, ready to make some Slytherins wish they were never born, only to see those brilliant amber eyes staring back at him.

"Fuck, Jas,” you scared the shit out of me!"

Jasper looked sorry for a second but shook off his concerned expression quickly.

"I have a surprise for you,” he said excitedly.

Jasper lead Everett to the locker rooms, behind the quidditch pitch. They walked into the unlit mens lockers as the sun set.

"You're not gonna murder me are you?” Everett said.

"Fuck off, and be excited,”

"That didn't sound like a no, I'm not going to keep following you if you don't say no.”

"No.”

Jasper tapped his wand to the door of his locker and it swung open revealing a long package wrapped in brown paper and Jasper's Cleansweep 8. "My dad just sent this after our big win against gryffindor on Saturday, but I've known about it for a while now,”  he said, grabbing the package, it was obvious what it was. Everett was excited for Jasper, knowing that his cleansweep was past its prime.

The two pulled back the paper revealing a Nimbus 2001, Everett watched Jasper's eyes widen as he excitedly stroked the broom, feeling its bristles and its polished handle in his hands. Everett didn't understand the world of quidditch, but he understood the look on Jasper's face as he held this broom in his hands.

Jasper blinked ind shook his head "But anyway," he said "This isn't your surprise."

Everett looked up at Jasper, suddenly aware of how close they were standing, and started to ask him to explain himself but Jasper cut him off. He whipped back around to the locker and grabbed the cleansweep which now looked raggedy and worn in comparison. "This is,”he said.

"Jas, thanks, that's so nice of you, I'll, erm, hang it on my wall" Everett thought about how it would feel to fall asleep with Jas’ broom above his head.

“Everett? Mate, you're not going to hang it on your wall, at least not now, we're going to ride them," Jasper held up his Nimbus and strode out the door towards the quidditch pitch.

When Everett's legs decided to move again he jogged up beside him "Jas, I know you mean well-”

Jasper slammed the doors open confidently and Everett forgot what he was going to say. Jasper turned around and smiled widely at Everett "You ready?" He asked.

"No,”  said Everett.

"Great, let's go.”

They stepped out onto the soggy grass, water soaking through their socks. Everett performed a simple charm to waterproof his and Jasper's shoes.

Jasper mounted his broom, "Well get on then!"

Everett awkwardly stepped over the tail of his broom and held the end tightly with both hands.

Jasper stepped toward him and began to adjust his grip murmuring advice about foot position and broom angle. When he was satisfied with the results he called, "Ok, kick off!" and kicked off into the air on his own broom. Everett, though thoroughly terrified did not fail to take a moment to enjoy the look of bliss on Jaspers face as he rode his new broom for the first time. Though, he was also painfully aware that he was supposed to have kicked off at this point but his body simply refused to leave the ground.

Jasper came down to the ground after rising about ten feet in the air. It was difficult not to notice the obvious terror on Everett's pale face.

"Ok," he said "We'll get through this.”

"Don't talk to me like I'm a child!" Said Everett, he meant it as a joke but it came out sounding defensive and mean.

"Oh..." said Jasper, unsure of how to respond to that.

"Sorry...just nervous I think."

Jasper's shoulders relaxed slightly and he positioned himself close beside Everett. Everett's shoulders tensed but he felt safer about flying with Jasper right nearby. Nothing could happen to him if Jasper was flying within inches. "Ok, we'll take off on the count of three" Jasper said.

"One.”

"Two,” Everett whimpered.

"Three,” Jasper hollered and they both kicked off the ground. Jasper's broom rose smoothly about.

Everett's bucked up unevenly. Everett gasped and let one hand off the broom to seize Jaspers shoulder. Jasper took both hands off of his broom and gently placed one on top of Everett's hand on his shoulder and wrapped the other across his back. Once the broom was still and Everett was balanced Jasper coached him on steering and balance. The two of them floated around the perimeter of the quidditch pitch extremely slowly, Jasper sensing when Everett would lose his balance and firmly adjusting him by moving shoving his shoulder in the right direction.

After ten minutes of this Everett could tell how much Jasper wanted to fly on his new broom. "Jas, go ride that thing, I want to watch you fly."

Jasper looked happy to perform but Everett thought, for just a moment, that he saw a spark of longing in those amber eyes. He quickly shook the idea from his mind.

Everett watched the wind streak through Jasper's brunet hair and his silhouette as he rose out of the stands against the twilight sky.

Just a few moments later though, Jasper came down and said "You have to come with me."

When Everett began to shake his head Jasper said "Would I let you fall?" To which Everett had no answer.

They walked to the middle of the pitch and, once Everett had mustered up the courage, kicked off into the air. Everett had a much smoother launch this time around and Jasper half guided, half carried him higher and higher above the goal posts with his arm around his shoulders. When they came to a standstill, Everett began to look down at the second but Jasper caught his chin with his broom hand. They both froze. "You. Um. You don't want to do that. You don't want to look down I mean." Jasper breathed. But Everett didn't want to look down, not because he was scared, but because Jasper wasn't down there.

That was just before summer break. When school started back up the boys found that they had quite a few classes together. One of those was potions with professor Snape. Every year Snape chose one or two students to target as his most hated. Everett was that student, and Jasper was one of his favorites until he started standing up for Everett.

They were working on a potion created to preserve the heat in someone's body in cold environments. Everett's blue eyes were fixed on his cauldron, watching the blue tinted smoke rise in rich swirls, just a shade darker than the book called for. Snape called him a bumbling idiot under his breath, but he made sure to say it loud enough for Everett to hear. Jasper, who was sitting next to him, narrowed his eyes at the professor. Everett couldn't help sniggering when Jasper called Snape an overgrown bat. But he had to prove that he was good enough to make Snape's stupid potion. He was stirring furiously and humming the tune of a song his sister played often on the farm. “Rett, calm down. It's not a big deal. Why do you care what Snape thinks of you?”

“I don't. I just want him to know that a muggle born can do just as well as a pureblood,” Everett hissed, adding a drop of salamander blood to the mixture. His hand was shaking so much that a drop of blood wound up on his shoe. Jasper stepped closer to Everett and gently tilted Rett's chin up with his fingers.

“Relax, it's a really complex potion. You're going to overwork yourself trying to impress him.”

Everett seemed not to hear him, as he continued to stir vigorously. He was muttering something about the consistency looking like cow shit. Jasper had finally had enough of Everett beating himself up over this. He tried to gingerly pry the spoon from Everett's hands, but Everett kept a death grip on it. Jasper tugged on it again, but his hand slipped, spilling the tiny vial of salamander blood he'd forgotten he was holding. It spilled into the potion, and the boys were suddenly engulfed in flames as a thunderous explosion shook the classroom. The heat seared into Jasper and he heard a yell as the flames burnt his vision into blackness.

Everett opened his heavy eyelids and immediately felt the heat and pain on his skin. He strained to turn his head and saw Jasper lying unconscious, bandaged, bloody, and pale. As Everett tried to sit up he felt something thick and stiff around his middle. He peered under the sheets to find himself wrapped in clean white bandages.

Jasper began to shift in his bed, and the springs creaked and triggered an explosion of a migraine between Everett's ears, his lungs aching like he'd inhaled shards of glass. Everett had the sudden, intense desire to go back to sleep and lose all connection to the physical world and his broken body, but just as his eyelids closed again he heard Jasper's voice. "Rett?" He groaned, “Rett, are you awake?”

“Unfortunately,” Rett rasped, keeping his eyes shut. He heard a loud creak of the mattress and then the distinct sound of a limping gait coming his way, then felt the edge of his bed dip under Jasper's weight. Jasper's  hand rested atop Everett's bandaged one, and the corners of Everett's mouth turned up a bit. His blue eyes slowly cracked open again. Jasper was smiling down at him, but all Everett could notice were the singed tips of Jasper's deep brown curls and the large burn on his cheek. “I'm sorry,” He whispered.

Jasper's amber eyes went huge. “You have nothing to be sorry for Rett, I was the one who spilled the blood.”

“Because you were trying to get me to relax,” Everett said, working himself up, “if I wasn't so worried about proving myself to Snape you wouldn't have had to do that and you wouldn't be lying here right now. God, maybe mum's right, I'm not cut out for this.”

“Don't you dare say that, Rett. I’ve seen you curse bullies like it's nothing, you can turn house cats into tigers. So what if Snape doesn't like you. Passing potions isn't going to make or break your life. You're an incredible wizard, one of the best I've ever met.”

Rett sniffled, and suddenly Jasper's lips were against his, soft and sweet and warm. Once Rett got over his surprise he kissed back, his hand resting on the nape of Jasper's neck. Jasper gently brushed a stray lock of blond hair off Everett’s forehead as he pulled away. “And quite honestly, if you leave Hogwarts, then I'll have  to too.”

[sherrybaby14]

Dream On

This is my submission for @caplanbuckybarnes     ‘s challenge.  My song was “Dream On” by Aerosmith.  I combined it with an anon prompt.

Request:     Are you accepting requests right now? If so could I have some rough, hate, fight, dub con/non con smut with maybe Bucky or Steve or both? Ps your writing is so good, keep doing it please

Warnings:  NSFW, Violent, dub-con/non-con (more dub-con), smut, dom/sub

Length: 3900K

Tags: @divadinag @ariwolff14 @mrssgtjamesbuckybarnes @marauderice @el-bucky @kellyn1604 @negan--is--god @theariel85 

                 The music continues to blare over your headphones as you enter your apartment.  You walk through your tiny kitchen to the equally small bathroom in the back.  As you flip on the light you finally pull out the buds.  Maybe you ran ten miles? Maybe twenty?  You stopped keeping track.  You notice how red your face is from the workout and turn on the water, splashing some on your face.  

                 It’s getting easier to look yourself in the mirror. You might not look like a new person, but you feel like one.  You still hold out hope that the past can stay in the past. You actually let yourself smile a little as you blot the water and sweat from your face.  

                 You rip off your tank top, standing just in your running shorts and sports bra.  This was the way you prefer to run, but don’t want to draw any attention to yourself. It was easier to blend in with more skin covered.  You go to flip on the shower when you hear it.  The floorboard creeks.  

                 The adrenaline you burned running comes back full force and you pull your hand away from the spout.  You don’t turn or glance in the mirror, certain if the person in your space was going to kill you they would have done it by now.  Without turning around, you speak.

                 “How did you find me?”  There is no doubt it’s one of the so called good guys.  You wondered which one it was this time.

                 “Does it matter?” The voice is soft.  

                 You recognize the voice from television, not that you’d had one in years. The tone annoys you more than calms you.  It would be easy to get away this time, but that meant a new city, new name, new apartment.  Every place was the same, but getting set up was a pain in the ass.

                 “I don’t want to join your stupid little club.” You wonder if they waited until after your workout, as if that would slow you down somehow.

                 “Director Fury believes you’re too dangerous on your own.” If he is nervous, he doesn’t let it on.  

                 “He must be worried if he sent THE Captain America after me.”  

                 There’s a bit of silence and your comment had the desired effect. He didn’t expect to be recognized.

                 “Don’t make this hard on yourself.”  Steve Rodgers walks closer to you. “I have permission to use force.”

                 You drop your shoulders and your head, then let out a sob.  You sense him moving nearer, but not enough yet.

                 “I’ve paid my dues.”  You sniffle. “Leave me alone.”

                 “Miss, please don’t cry.” His hand is about to rest on your shoulder. “We want to help you.”

                 The hand makes contact and the sniffling stops as a wicked grin spreads across your face.  You reach up and grab his wrist, twisting it and pulling him forward at the same time.  You access his weight and use it against him as you fling him over your shoulder and slam him upside down into the shower wall. The concrete and tile crumble around him. He’s in civilian clothes.  That works out in your favor.  If you can get in public, he won’t want to cause a scene.

                 “I don’t want your help, you fucking boy scout.” You turn and run into the kitchen.

                 There’s a groan coming from the bathroom but you ignore it and go towards the kitchen sink.  Speed is key, it’s unlikely Steve came alone and the more people who show up the harder it will be to escape your apartment.  You rip the cabinet door off its hinges and grab your getaway bag.  A variety of fake identifications, and some money.  You will have to leave everything else, but it’s not the first time this has happened.

                 “That wasn’t very nice.” This time Steve grabs your shoulder and squeezes.  

                 You turn and pivot upward, bringing the base of your palm into his nose with a crack before stomping on one of his feet and kicking him in the stomach, sending him flying into the stove.  You make it a few steps when your legs are kicked out from underneath you and you land flat on your back, the kitchen floor slightly crumbling underneath your weight.  

                 “You got up faster that time.”  You do a kip and are up on your feet again, fists raised in front of you, bag still over your shoulder.  

                 “I don’t want to hurt you.”  Steve looks angrier now, but his blue eyes are too honest.  

                 “I don’t give a fuck about hurting you.”  You dart towards him, acting like you’re going in for a punch, but instead bring your foot up and slamming the heel into his thigh.

                 It doesn’t make him fall as you had hoped, but you spin and bring your other leg up, knocking him off balance.  Instead of falling back he springs forward and slams you against the wall next to the bathroom door.  

                 “This is for your own protection.” Steve yells, his face inches from yours. “Stop fighting me.”

                 Instead you slam your forehead forward, again making contact with his nose.  Your duck down out of his grasp and punch him in the side.  You hear your knuckles crack against his flesh, realizing he probably doesn’t have a soft spot on his entire body.  The realization causes you to lose a fraction of a second and Steve’s hand is around your neck again, throwing you back against the wall.  

                 “You’re making me angry.”  Steve’s breaths are getting heavier. “It doesn’t need to be this way.”

                 “Does it matter if you get angry?”  You kick upward off the wall and bring both hands down at either side of his neck chopping him.  “I thought that was the other guy.”

                 Steve has dropped to his knees and you turn, running up the wall to get enough force to flip over him.  You turn and run for the front door, knowing he is inches behind you already.  You pull it open, only to have his hand appear, slamming it shut.  His other hand slams into the small of your back and you crash against the wood before falling to the floor.  

                 “Now you’re really pissing me off.”  You twist up on your knees and punch him hard in the stomach, before grabbing a calf and yanking it forward.

                 If he was any other man his leg likely would have bent the forward, shattering his knee cap, but the move barely had an effect on him.  

                 “You’re just wasting time.”  Steve grabs you by the back of your neck and starts to lift you. “You don’t even know what our offer is yet.”

                 “A lesson from a fool?” You realize that while he is not a normal man, he still has one soft spot.  

                 You form a fist and jam it between his legs in an uppercut.  His hand immediately lets go of your neck as he stumbles backwards, hands trying to comfort his aching junk.  

                 “I hate you…all of you…”  You don’t turn around as you open the door. “Forget I exist.”

                 Once the door opens you take a leap, knowing your assailant will recover quickly.  Instead of breaking into the hallway you slam into something hard and fall backwards on the floor.  Your eyes go wide in shock.  At first your heart flutters, never thinking you would see your occasional teammate again. He’s in civilian clothes, his hair a little shorter, but those blue eyes are unmistakable.  He looks away from you and towards Steve. You follow his eyes and see that the Winter Soldier is concerned for Captain America.  

                 “I thought you were dead.”  You can’t hide the awe from your voice as you stand up. It had to have been ten years? Maybe twenty?  Of course neither of you had aged much.  Then you noticed he wasn’t surprised to see you.  “Wait, you’re with them?”  

                 “You couldn’t have walked in a minute ago Bucky?” Steve seems recovered again.  

                 “Bucky?”  You press yourself against the wall, giving yourself a clear view of each of them.  “What the fuck?”  

                 “My name is James Buchanan Barnes.”  The man you only knew by code words takes a step towards you.  “You’re Y/F/N, Y/L/N.”

                 “Is this some sort of a fucking joke?”  Your name didn’t matter, that person died a long time ago.  Hyrdra made sure of it. Survival and freedom.  That’s what matters.  

                 “I told them to let me talk to you first.” Bucky takes another step closer. “Steve, Fury, they want to help us.”  

                 You relax your shoulders and try to show interest. His blue eyes are studying you, taking you in.  A little huh escapes your mouth.  He doesn’t remember.  It strikes a cold chord in you, but at least makes your focus.  

                 “That’s what I was trying to tell you.” Steve steps behind Bucky. “Come with us and we will help you.”

                 “I think you mean control.”  The men were stupid enough to get closer to you and your fake submission vanishes.  You lift your leg and nail Bucky in the gut, sending him tumbling backwards into Steve.

                 The front door is off limits now, but there is a large enough window in your bedroom.  If you reach it you can jump down to safety and freedom.  You bolt into the bedroom and start to lift the ledge. Hand’s wrap around your waist and fling you into the far wall.  

                 Pain explodes in your shoulder for a few seconds before your body absorbs it back up.  There is an angry looking Bucky blocking the window.  His eyes are struggling to take you in, as if he is trying to place you.  That is not something you want and turn away.

  Steve is blocking the door way.  Without hesitating, you go for Steve first.  He raises his fists to block you and you drop to the floor.  The sound of a punch cracks across the room and a smile rests on your face as you slide between his legs and back into the kitchen.

                 You’re unsure who hit whom, but money was on Steve punching Bucky.  Part of you wished you could see that.  Of course before you can open the door a hand blocks it again. Both men are stronger than you, but you’re much faster.  If you can wear them out, you stand a chance.  You let your body go on instincts.  Ducking blows, and landing them occasionally.  Really you have the upper hand, even though you’re out numbered, since neither of them wants to inflict any major damage on you.  

                 A metal arm punches into your wall, centimeters from your face.  You grip on to it and swing yourself around and onto his back, using your elbow to land blows around his neck.

                 “Leave.” You jab at him. “Me.” Another. “Alone!”  

                 Your former colleague twists and slams you into a wall, knocking you from his shoulders.  The fighting momentarily pauses.  Bucky’s eyes go wide and you look away, hoping that was not a glimmer of recognition.

  Your kitchen is destroyed and plaster dust fills the air.  Both of them men have blood on their faces and you imagine you look better than either of them.  All three of you are breathing heavily, and your eyes spot your getaway bag.  You could scoop it up and slide out the front door. They were tired.  

                 You make your move, but when you stand up to go for the door a hand is on the bag, ripping it down your arm.  Instead of being pulled off the thick strap is looped around your wrist.  You pivot and use your free hand to punch Bucky, but he yanks the bag up and you unintentionally slide your fist into a loop.  He pulls it tight and gives your bags a few more twists and before you know it your hands are tied together behind your back.

                 Bucky releases you and moves back towards Steve. Now your back is to the door and both of them are watching you.  You are already working your hands free, guessing it will take about a minute to slide out of the burlap loops.  

                 “You boys are wasting your time.”  You spit at them. “The only way I’m going with you is in a body bag.”  

                 “Y/N.”  Bucky approaches you.  

                 “Don’t call me that Asset.”  You mean it as an insult, but Bucky doesn’t seem to take it that way.  

                 “Would you rather I called you Doll?”  His hands grab your waist.  If you kick him you’ll land on the floor, and hearing the pet name makes it feel like your heart will stop beating. He figured it out. “I’ve been remembering things, everything.  Have you?”  

                 His hands slide under your ass and he lifts you in the air.  You start to struggle harder against your roped handcuffs.  You feel Bucky’s fingers squeeze the burlap and give the bag another spin, making the binding tighter again.  

                 “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  You go rigid as he sets you down on the counter top, his legs between yours.

                 “I think you do.”  His lips are right next to your ears. “That’s why Hydra didn’t use you as often, they couldn’t figure out how to get rid of that weakness.”

                 “Stop talking.”  You try to wiggle to the side.  

                 “Bucky what are you talking about?”  Steve’s voice distracts you.

                 You look at Captain America with pleading eyes.

                 “Don’t bother.  I fell for that earlier.”  The blond approaches you.  

                 “I knew there was something special about her.  I needed to see her in the flesh to remember.” Bucky runs his metal arm across your bare midriff.  You hold your head high and look away. “There’s an easier way to get her to submit.”

                 Your cheeks flush red with embarrassment. More so when his hand grips your chin and his mouth smashes against yours.  Neurons in your brain start firing as your tongue automatically works against his.  Memories of him tying you down, spanking you, making you cum so hard you swore you had an out-of-body experience.  

                 This was so wrong.  What Hydra did to you was wrong.  What this man did to you was so wrong!  All those sessions, trying to get you to break the habit only made it worse. They were some of the best nights of your life.  You realize that you’re not reliving a memory.  It’s actually happening.  You try and pull away, but Bucky bites down hard on your lip and you let out another moan as the taste of copper fills your mouth.  

                 “Do I need to leave?”  Steve interrupts. “Or can you two finish it back at HQ?”

                 The kiss breaks and shame floods your body. Even more so that one of your nemesis is in the room.  

                 “I’m not that girl anymore.”  You pull your head back and slam it into Bucky’s.  

                 He takes a stumble and you stand up from the counter, pulling at your bindings you try helplessly to dart for the door, any door. Just an escape from this situation. It was fruitless, and soon Bucky is behind you, pressing his body against yours pinning you to the wall.

                 “So you’re a bad girl now?”  He growls into your ear.  “I find that hard to believe.”

                 His hand is on your waistband and you press your cheek to the wall as he yanks it down.   Then he moves away with only one hand on the small of your back pining you against the wall. SMACK! Pain explodes across your ass.  SLAP! BANG! SMACK!  You hang your mouth open and let out a guttural scream as he relentlessly spanks you.  Your eyes start to roll back into your head as the fire only he can produce starts to burn.

                 “What the heck are you doing?”  Steve’s voice is starting to really grate on your nerves.

                 “Do you want to tell him Doll or should I?” Bucky’s voice is like music to your ears.  

                 You blink the tears that were forming away and realize you have it backwards.  Both of these men are the devil.  You’re stronger than this.  

                 “They tried to prepare us for every situation possible.”  A rip fills the air and you knew your shorts were no more.

                 “Please stop.”  You want to bury yourself in the wall.  

                 “James STOP.”  Steve sounded scared.  

                 “But my little Doll here, kept failing part of her training.”  Another rip sounds and your sports bra joins your shorts on the floor.  “She’s got a submissive streak.  If things got sexual, she caved.”

                 “STOP.”  It sounded like you were yelling, but you were certain it was more of a whimper.  

                 “As soon as I saw her face, I remember the nights of training.”  Bucky spins you around so your nude form was facing him and Steve. “I would try and beat it out of her, but it only made her worse.  Then if I didn’t punish her she would beg me to.  Even though right now she’s capable of defending herself, probably could’ve gotten out of that strap minutes ago.  Be a little sexually dominate and she will cave.”

                 Your face was probably more red now than it was from running.  You drop your chin.  It had been so long since anyone touched you sexually at all, but the memories of your nights with this man felt like they were only yesterday.  

                 “But she’s saying stop.”  Steve came forward. “You need to stop.”

                 A hand traced up the inside of your thigh and you immediately parted your legs.  Bucky’s finger ran up your slit and you let out a mewl as he pulled away.  

                 “Tell him Doll.”  Bucky brought his finger to his lips.  “Why were you saying stop?”

                 He started to slide his finger into his mouth and you desperately wanted it to move back down between your legs.  

                 “Because I didn’t want you to tell him.” You squeeze your legs together, hoping to relieve some of the pressure. “I don’t want to be this way.”

                 “There’s nothing wrong with being who you are Doll.” Bucky pushes a knee between your legs and you spread them.  He presses his thigh against your core and you fight the urge to rock your body against him.  “Come with me and I’ll take care of you.  Give you what you need.  Do you want me to stop?”

                 You frantically shake your head. In fact, right now you want him to do more.  

                 “Do you want me to fuck you until you’re screaming?” He bites your ear lobe.  

                 Now you nod your head.  You open your eyes and see the shocked look on Steve’s face.  To your own horror it turns your on even more, having someone else watch Bucky take you.  Bucky turns his head to follow your line of sight.  

                 “Do you want Steve to watch as I slam myself inside of you?”  

                 “Please.”  You’re so turned on and too far gone to care about what you’re saying.  

                 “Do you want Steve to join us?”  

                 The yes hitches in your throat.  Ten minutes ago you were prepared to kill these guys. Now you wanted to have a threesome with them.  This wasn’t right.  

                 “They were wrong to think that being submissive was a weakness.”  Bucky’s hands moved between you.  “Come with me, come with us and we will show you how strong you really are.”

                 You let out a whimper, all resistance leaving your body.   Then you felt his cock at your entrance and you gasped as he grabbed each of your thighs and pulled them up as he slid into you.  Your back and hands pressed against the wall, leaving him solely responsible for your weight.  

                 “Always such a good girl Doll.”  He continued to slide into you.  “I loved those sessions.  They gave them to me as a reward sometimes.”  

                 Your eyes about bulged out of your head at that comment.  You always thought they were just to break you, the way he was so rough and forceful. How hard it was to resist him, how you obviously didn’t want to.  The way his orders and punishments always soaked you.  It had been so long too long.  Your legs shook when he finally made it all the way into you.  

                 “Do you want to come with me?” Bucky’s voice went husky.

                 “Yes.”  You didn’t hesitate to answer.  

                 “In all senses you the word?” His teeth grazed your neck.

                 “Yes.”  You dipped your shoulder and let out a moan.  “Please.”

                 “You know I’ll have to punish you.”  He stars to rock in and out of you. “For hiding from us, for fighting us, for being rude to Steve.”

                 “I’ve been bad.”  You lock eyes with Steve again.  There is no disgust on his face or concern.  Instead you recognize the lustful look that you hadn’t seen in so long. The same one that was plastered on your and Bucky’s faces at the moment.

                 “Tell Steve how sorry you are.”  Bucky starts to speed up his movements.  

                 “I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have fought you.”  You feel the coil start to form.  “What can I do to make it up to you?”

                 A corner of Steve’s lip starts to rise, but stops.  

                 “I’ve got an idea.”  Bucky leaves himself buried inside of you, but grips your ass and pulls you off the wall.

                 He spins you around, so your back is to Steve as he approaches you.  Whatever the men are signaling to each other about you don’t pay attention.  If they wanted you to know they would tell you. To your surprise Bucky drops to his knees and pulls out of you.   You let out a whimper, but he grabs your shoulders and twists you around.  

                 “Show Steve how sorry you are.”  Bucky places a hand on the back of your head and starts to bend you forward.  

                 Captain America is sitting on the floor, his pants pulled halfway down his thighs and you open your mouth, eager to prove you’re apologetic.  Bucky re-enters you from behind and you let out a moan around Steve’s giant cock.  

                 “We’re going to give you just what you need Doll.” Two hands grip your waist and one lightly rests on the back of your head. “Exactly what you need.”  

                 A fourth hand reaches underneath you and starts rubbing your clit.  You let out a groan as it starts rubbing in circles.  You’re so close.  You start gulping and take Steve further into your mouth.  You’re so sorry and need to prove it.  

                 This feels like a dream, a fantasy you’ve had repeatedly come to life.  You explode as the orgasm rocks through you. Both men let out groans and you don’t dare stop your movements until you’re certain both are finished.  At least that’s what you try and tell yourself, but the motions on your clit don’t stop and the orgasm is being dragged on, causing you to see stars.  

                 Part of you knows this situation is wrong, that going with them will only lead to being controlled, but if this was the sort of control they wanted to exert over you, you might be okay with that.

[whatthisfemsheplikes]

tori 32

Woo Hoo! The first prompt story is finally done! I really had fun writing this one as just a little mini-story of a nonchalant day between Tori and Wes, but it shows Tori getting a well-deserved day to enjoy herself, thanks to Wesley! Thanks for the prompt, anon, and I hope you enjoy the story!

Tori 32- Laughter

“Ok, Kip,” Wesley said with a smile as he held a piece of dog food in his both hands. From his spot on the arm of the couch in the living room, he could see Kipper gazing at him with anticipation as his tail wagged wildly. With a chuckle, Wesley heaved the piece of food above his head and looked the dog right in the eye.

“Roll over!” he commanded playfully. At the prospect of food and pleasing his tiny friend, Kipper immediately obeyed and rolled his body across the floor with ease. As soon as he’d made a full rotation, zoomed back to his spot right in front of Wesley, eyeing the food the whole time. “Good boy,” Wesley beamed as he threw the dog his prize. Kipper gobbled it up in a matter of seconds, then started to lick Wes as a way to show his thanks.

“Hey, stop that,” the borrower giggled as he tried to push him away. However, his protests weren’t what caused Kipper to stop. Credit for that was given to the sound of the front door opening and then quickly slamming closed. The suddenness of the noise made both Wesley and Kipper freeze and turn their gazes towards it. Obviously, Tori was the one who had caused the disturbance, but from the sound of things, she was angry.

Sure enough, Tori rounded the corner to walk into the living room with a frustrated look on her face. She was wearing her usual work clothes, a dark blue, button-down shirt with black pants and shoes, but she had already torn her shirt open in an obvious rage to reveal the white t-shirt that she wore underneath.

As if it could offer an explanation, Wesley glanced at the clock on the wall above her and let out a gasp. 9:30pm? Tori was an hour late! How had he not noticed? He must’ve gotten too caught up with teaching Kipper tricks to realize how much time had passed. Still, if Tori was coming home this late, then something definitely must’ve gone wrong to make her angry.

“Hey, Tori…” he greeted cautiously. “How, uh… how was work?” “Oh, work?” she replied in a bit of a snappy tone. “Work was great! You know what wasn’t great? Leaving work to find out that my car got towed!” Before Wesley could reply, Tori wandered over to the couch that he was on and plopped down onto it in defeat with her head right up against the arm that he was standing on.

“Well, that’s… not good,” Wesley said awkwardly. He had no idea what “getting your car towed” meant, but judging by how upset Tori was, it certainly wasn’t a good thing. “You’ve got that right,” Tori huffed, settling her arms behind her head like a pillow. “I had to call my brother to come pick me up so that I could go get it back, and it took the office forever-and-a-half for them to get the situation worked out! It was so stupid, and my brother was giving me shit about how I was ‘irresponsible’ or whatever! What does he know?”

When Wesley didn’t reply, Tori looked up at him and let out a sigh. She knew that he probably had no idea what she was talking about, and her attitude would only scare him if he didn’t know any other way to react. In an effort to calm herself down and to ease his tension, she softened her face into an apologetic expression.“I’m sorry that I was late,” she told him. “I didn’t mean to make you worry.”“N-no, it’s okay,” Wesley assured. “Kipper kept me company while you were gone. I was teaching him tricks to pass the time.”

“Oh yeah?” Tori inquired, though Wesley could tell that she was only pretending to be interested. “That’s pretty cool. I’m sure that Kipper had fun with that.”“Tori,” “Hm?” “Are you okay?” The abruptness of the question made Tori’s eyes widen in surprise, and clearly, Wesley had gained her full attention.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she told him. “Don’t worry about it. It’s over now, so I just need to cool off. That’s all.” After apparently coming to the conclusion that Wesley only wanted to talk about her problem, Tori turned to stare up at the ceiling with a sigh. Clearly, she didn’t want to continue the conversation if the topic stayed the same, and Wesley didn’t mind changing the subject either. Still, he didn’t want Tori to be upset either. He had to do something to make her feel better, and if talking it out wasn’t a good option, then he’d just have to think of something that was less direct.

After a few moments of thinking, a stroke of brilliance suddenly hit Wesley like a smack in the face. While Tori continued to stare out into space, lost in thought, Wes turned to Kipper and beckoned for him to come closer. The dog immediately obeyed until he was close enough to rest his snout on the arm of the couch right in front of Wesley. Without hesitation, the borrower climbed onto his nose and up to his head, then pointed to the bookshelf next to Tori’s TV that held all of her DVDs.

“To the movie shelf,” he whispered, knowing that Kipper would hear him since they were so close together, but that he hadn’t spoken loud enough for Tori to know what he’d said. As soon as he gave the command, Kipper pranced over to the shelves, and Wesley gave a sigh of relief that the item that he was looking for was on the same level as the dog’s head. He stepped off for only a moment to stand on the wood surface and pull a DVD case out. When he turned back around, Kipper was looking at him curiously, clearly wondering what he was doing, while Tori hadn’t moved an inch.

“Kipper,” Wesley continued to whisper as he held the case out to him. “Take this.” Once again, the dog did as he was told, gently picking up the case with his mouth and holding it until Wesley could tell him what to do. Without a word, the borrower motioned for him to move closer again before climbing back onto his nose. He kept maneuvering Kipper around the room until he was able to get him to understand that he wanted to go to the top of the TV stand next to Tori’s DVD player.

Once Kipper dropped him off at his desired location, Wesley moved with a purpose. He hopped off the nose, pushed the ‘open’ button on the DVD player with all of his might until it worked, and then took the DVD case from Kip and set it down on the surface next to him. He held the bottom of the case down with one foot and pulled the top half with both hands until the case eventually snapped open and revealed the disc inside. As quickly as he could so that he didn’t get caught, he pulled the disc out and placed it in the player, then closed it back up and waited for it to be read.

While he heard the shifting of the disc inside the player, Wesley ran over to the other side of it where the TV remote sat idly by. He jumped on the power button to turn it on, and lucky for him, the TV was already set to show what the DVD player was showing. Opening music was starting to play, making Tori jump slightly in surprise as her eyes locked onto the borrower on the TV stand.

“Wes?” she gasped while he climbed back onto Kipper again and made his way over to her. “What are you doing?”“Well, I figured that you need some cheering up,” he smiled, waiting until the dog set his nose down on the couch next to Tori’s stomach so that he could climb off. “So, I figured that watching a movie would help. The Heat is still your favorite movie, right?”“Y-yeah,” Tori stammered in shock at his thoughtful act. “How did you… how did you know that?”

“Tori, you watch it all the time,” Wesley smirked. “I’ve heard you laughing at it on some days when I go to bed before you. Since you tend to leave the case out, I was able to tell what movie you’ve been watching all those times.” “Well, it’s good to know that my laziness is good for something then,” Tori chuckled as she placed her hand down, palm up so that Wesley could climb on. He did so without a moment of hesitation, and when he had a good sense of balance on her skin, she lifted him up to the top of the couch to sit with her at shoulder height.

“Are you sure that you want to watch this with me?” Tori asked him. “I mean, I enjoy your company, but they kind of… kill people in this movie.”“They really kill people?” Wesley gasped, suddenly regretting his choice in movies. “No, no, no. Nobody actually gets killed. It’s all fake,” she assured him. “It just looks like they get shot and things like that.”“Well…” Wesley said, letting out a huff to try and build up his confidence. “This is about making you feel better, and this is your favorite movie, so I want to watch it with you. If it gets too scary or something, then I’ll just… hide behind you.”

Tori gave him a sympathetic smile, clearly seeing through his fearless guise. “Alright then,” she nodded. “Just let me know if you want to stop, okay?”“Okay,” Wes nodded back. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

With that, they both turned their attention back to the movie. For the most part, Wesley was confused. He couldn’t really tell who was the god guy or the bad guy in the movie, and there were a lot of jokes and references that he didn’t understand. Plus, whenever someone got shot or hurt, and it happened to be too realistic-looking for his liking, he would lean closer to Tori and cover his eyes. Still, whenever he decided to give up on trying to follow the plot, he simply sat there, looking up at his giant friend, and smiling at how happy she was. Her mood had improved significantly since she’d entered the house, and her joy was infectious. Even though she’d seen this movie so many times, she still seemed to love it as if it was her first time watching it.

The part that always made Wesley grin was her laugh. It was so genuine, hearty, and melodious to his ears. When she laughed, he could tell that she was actually happy rather than putting on an act to make it seem like she wasn’t troubled. When she laughed, it seemed like she didn’t have care in the world. When she laughed, he felt like he could listen to her for hours. There were times when she even laughed so hard that she could hardly breathe, and tears ran down her cheeks. Though Wesley was slightly disappointed that he couldn’t understand what she was giggling so much, he couldn’t help but beam at her and even chuckle at how much of a good time she was having.

Even though he was entranced by her giggling, after about an hour, Wesley couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore. He hadn’t really been paying attention to the movie, so he didn’t miss much, but once it was over and Tori turned to face him, she saw him passed out and curled up on the top of the couch cushion. She smiled, knowing that he’d probably made an effort to stay up with her, but Wesley was usually one to go to bed before 10:00 pm, so he wasn’t used to staying awake for so long.

With a chuckle at how cute he looked while he slept, Tori gently scooped him up into her hand and started to carry him to their bedroom after turning off the TV. When she reached their bed, she set him down on the pillow on the left side of the bed, then left to get ready to go to sleep. She was only gone for a few minutes, but all the while, Wesley was dreaming with the echo of Tori’s giggles dancing through his head. Not much time passed before Tori returned wearing a blue t-shirt and gray sweatpants. She settled down under the covers of the right side of the bed, making sure to not jostle anything too much to avoid waking the tiny borrower up. The sight of him sleeping peacefully made Tori smirk, but she didn’t look for too long before she had to turn off the bedside lamp next to her. She heard Kipper enter the room and lay down in his own dog bed a few feet away while her eyes adjusted to the dark, and she felt a feeling of calm wash over her at the thought of Kipper watching over them.

Finally, she laid her head down on her own pillow and gently placed her hand over Wesley on the other one. He instantly snuggled into the heat of her skin, a smile spreading across his face as he curled up more. Tori chuckled at the sight, then started to slowly brush her thumb through his hair, lulling both of them into a deep sleep.“Goodnight, Wes,” she yawned, letting her eyes close with ease. “And thank you for the laughs.”

Got a prompt? Send it to me and maybe I’ll write something about it :)

[oneworldproductions]

Kenny Omega vs Finn Balor

As The Demon finished up his entrance, Kenny Omega watched him with careful eyes, knowing he was in for what was perhaps the fight of his life. He’d been in the ring with Tetsuya Naito, Kazuchika Okada, and Hiroshi Tanahashi, and even in his 1WPW tenure, with the likes of Shinsuke Nakamura and Syn, but The Demon Balor perhaps posed his greatest challenge ever. Kenny bounced in place as Balor slithered into the ring, his eyes never leaving Kenny. This one was about more than pride. Balor believed that Kenny had perverted The Bullet Club, changed it into a joke, the laughing stock of the professional wrestling world. Kenny, along with many of the fans, disagreed. Kenny brought the group worldwide, and to it’s most prosperous period. Kenny, like Styles, and White, also held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, something Balor had failed to do during his time in New Japan. All of that jealousy, and all of that insecurity, had been building inside of Devitt for months, and has now unleashed itself as the physical manifestation known as Balor, The Demon of Envy.

The bell rang, and Balor exploded right out of his corner, instantly taking down Omega with a Shotgun Dropkick, knocking Kenny back into the turnbuckles with the force of a runaway train! Kenny bounced off the turnbuckles and rolled to the middle of the mat, as Balor quickly began to climb to the top rope, looking to end this one in just seconds with a Coup De Grace! It wasn’t to be, however, as Balor jumped, and Kenny rolled out of the way. Balor hit his feet and rolled as he made contact with the mat, quickly changing direction and charging back at Kenny, only to be caught with a brutal V-Trigger as he did! Balor’s head snapped back, but he didn’t leave his feet, causing Kenny to scoop Balor up, and attempt to hit with him “You Can’t Escape!” but it turns out that Balor could, quickly slipping off of Omega’s shoulders, and ducking behind him, waiting for Kenny to turn around before Balor dropped him with a brutal slingblade! Kenny rolled out of the ring, and Balor followed quickly behind, grabbing Kenny by the hair and dragging him towards the steel barricade, where he slammed Kenny, face first. Balor then lifted Kenny up and hooked his legs over the steel barricade, as if in some sort of Tree of Woe position, on the outside. Balor then took several steps backwards, in order to gain a running start, before charing Kenny, and landing a brutal dropkick to his exposed face! Kenny slid off the barricade, and Balor rolled him back into the ring, before sliding back in himself, and covering Kenny.

  1…2… Kickout!

Kenny managed to stay alive, but that didn’t stop Balor. Balor stood up and grabbed both of Kenny’s arms, hooking them, leaving Kenny exposed, before starting to brutally stomp away at Kenny’s face! The ref had to pull Balor off of Kenny, and threatened him with a disqualification if he did that one again. Referee Rick Knox wasn’t one to take any shit, and is even known to throw hands on occasion, but sqauring up to the Demon King might suggest a death wish. Balor shoved Knox to the side, and lifted Kenny back up, but Kenny managed to catch Balor with a right hand, staggering the Demon! Kenny managed to hit a few more hard right hands, before Balor swung wildly at Kenny with a clothesline, which Kenny ducked, and caught Balor, planting him with a snap dragon suplex, before spinning around, and catching a kneeling Balor with another V-Trigger! Cover!

1…2… Kickout!

  Balor kicked out again, and this time, Kenny pulled him up into a chinlock, looking to work over the Demon, and perhaps wear him down some before attempting to put a few more chinks in the armor. As Kenny wrenched down on the hold, he looked out at the crowd, with a mischievous grin on his face.

“I saw Endgame last night…” He looked down at Balor… “Guess what happened!” Kenny formed his hand into a cup, and began to whisper Endgame spoilers into Balor’s ear, causing the Demon King to scream, getting the movie ruined for him. Balor responded by catching Kenny with a headbutt, causing Kenny to stumble backwards.Balor got back to his feet and began to hammer away at Kenny with several hard right hands. Kenny staggered back into the corner, and Balor hopped up onto the second rope, looking for corner punches, but Kenny quickly slipped out,. And got Balor up into an electric chair, looking for the One Winged Angel, but Balor quickly escaped and dropped Kenny with a Pele Kick. Kenny rolled out of the ring again, and Balor followed. Balor grabbed Kenny and tossed him right into the steel steps! Kenny held his shoulder, but Balor wasn’t done. Balor tossed Kenny into the barricade, before walking Kenny over and bouncing his head off the ring apron as well. Balor lifted Kenny up onto the ring apron, and nailed him with a flew clubbing blows to the back, before climbing up onto the ring apron himself, and lifting Kenny up. Balor was going for a Bloody Sunday on the apron, which Kenny blocked, before Kenny turned the move into a Cross Legged Fisherman’s Buster, dropping Balor into a freefall and driving Balor’s spine right into the apron! The hardest part of the ring! Kenny rolled Balor back into the ring and climbed to the top rope, going for his own Coup De Grace! Kenny connects with Balor’s own finisher! Kenny makes the cover!

1… Kickout!

Balor kicked out of his own finish at one! Kenny couldn’t believe it! Kenny’s eyes went wide, and he shook his head, lifting Balor back up to his feet. Kenny positioned Balor for a ripcord, and looked to hit the Raintrigger, but Balor blocked it, caught Kenny with a knee of his own, stunning him, before grabbing Kenny and driving him into the mat with the Bloody Sunday! Kenny was done for! Balor covered!

1…2… Kickout!

  Kenny kicked out of the Bloody Sunday! Finn seethed with anger, he did a kip up to his feet and stared down at Kenny with loathing. Bloody Sunday was a move very few people ever kicked out of.

If it was not clear when he did his entrance, it was now: This was an entirely different being than Prince Devitt. He dragged Kenny to his knees but the man stood up and went for a clothesline. But, Balor caught him and reversed it into a straight jacket German suplex! He kept the position for the pin.

  One…

Two…

Kenny kicked out again! But instead of seething like he did in the last kick out, Finn actually began laughing maniacally. He glanced down at Kenny laying sprawled out on the mat and yelled something nobody could quite decipher or translate. Kenny looked at him like he had grown a second head, before catching Finn with a kick to the side of the head. Both men stumbled up to their feet, but Kenny made the first move and sent a hard elbow to Balor’s head. But to his surprise, Balor laughed again. Kenny blew this off and sent another elbow, but achieved the same result. At this point in the match, both men were exhausted. However, Balor looked more like an exhausted madman, determined but paint half on his face and the other half had been rubbed off.

  By the next elbow, Kenny finally got Balor to stumble down to his knees and sent another V-Trigger knee to the side of his face. Kenny lifted Balor back to his feet, looking for a One Winged Angel again, but Balor managed to turn the move into a hurricanrana, tossing Kenny across the ring. Kenny stumbled to his feet, only to be absolutely blasted with a Shotgun Dropkick! Kenny rolled to the middle of the ring, and Balor climbed to the top rope! Balor jumped off and delivered the Coup De Grace! Omega was done! Cover by the Demon!

1…2…3!

“Here is your winner, Finn Balor!”

  The Demon was victorious!

[blooblooded]

Marty calls Lee a creep.

8 pages that I dumped out today. Bad quality, ghhhh this is basically all dialogue but whatever.

I hate this because Kassidy is being affected by Lee’s bullshit “you have to like me’ psychic powers and it makes her think stuff she normally wouldn’t. Also Kassidy cracks me up because she’s such a passive observer while everyone else is screaming at each other. She’s just...a dumb person and I love her.

Lee is so hostile, even towards Casey, and nobody realizes it :(

##

“Ayda,” the little blue Marty hologram which shone above Ayda’s state-of-the-art comm looked around shiftily. His squeaky pubescent voice was suddenly more serious. It made Kassidy look at him, when she usually paid him no attention. “Who is that guy over there?” He had noticed Lee for the first time, apparently.

“Kip’s friend,” said Ayda. She scrolled idly on her tablet. It looked like she was shopping for a pair of new shoes on a website where everything was more expensive than all of Kassidy’s shoes put together. “He’s cute, isn’t he?”

“Ew,” said Kassidy, who had no intention of engaging in ‘girl talk’ with Ayda. Talking with Ayda already made her feel like she was on the verge of having a nasty joke played on her. Talking with Ayda about boys she thought were cute-- a subject that Kassidy had no authority on-- made her even more awkward and nervous.

“Uhhhh,” said Marty. “Ayda...”

“I mean, I don’t like guys who are skinny like that,” Ayda continued, still scrolling mindlessly through pages of shoes. “Or like, intellectuals, you know? Too intense.”

Kassidy began to brainstorm ways to escape. This was not a conversation she knew how to participate in. Even if she got up off the couch and away from Ayda’s presence, she had nobody else to hang out with. Esther and Rosaline were being gross and couple-y. She did not want to go talk to a group of Freshmen. Kip, Lee, and Casey were all smarter than she was and arguing about things she did not understand. That left Ayda and Marty and being stuck gossipping with them on the couch.

Marty’s expression grew more suspicious as he watched Lee. Kip’s cool friend was leaning back against the kitchen counter, propped on his elbows. He was smiling at Casey as she tried to defend her family’s wealth to him. Kip suddenly chimed in, saying something that made Lee laugh and briefly touch his chest. Marty frowned.

“How old is that guy?” he demanded. “He has a beard.”

“Way to be beard-phobic, Marty,” said Ayda. She selected a pair of green high heels which cost 250 credits, buying them with a few clicks. That was nauseating.

Before the conversation could disintegrate into Ayda and Marty trying to out-insult each other as it always did, Kip bounded over to the couch. It had been a long time since Kassidy had seen him look so happy. His smile was huge. He had so much excess energy that he could not stop moving. “Do you guys want pizza?” he asked. He squeezed his body down onto the couch, between Ayda and his sister, and put his arms around both of them. “Ma messaged me, she’s not coming home until past midnight. I’m starving. Hi, Marty.”

Ayda giggled like she always did when Kip touched her. Kassidy rolled her eyes. “Who’s paying? There’s 11 of us.” she asked her brother.

“Casey offered to.”

“Ok. Only if we get stuffed crust though.” She was very hungry. Their mother had forgotten to do the shopping again since she was working 16 hour days now, so there was nothing in the fridge except for beer and an old jar of salsa. Kassidy had been surviving out of the vending machines located outside of the apartment building. “And I want breadsticks too, if Casey is buying.”

“What do you want, A?” For all his faults, Kip was always so thoughtful when it came to the needs of others. He always asked. He always checked in.

“I just want a salad,” she said, looking at him with those big brown eyes that seemed capable of hypnotizing almost anyone into believing she was not annoying and vapid. “I’m on a diet.”

“Ha!” snorted Marty. “Nice try. Nobody is ever going to believe that.”

Ayda turned off her communicator and banished Marty from the social gathering. It was that easy, with long-distance friends. By blocking someone or ignoring their messages, a relationship could be ended swiftly. People stopped responding to each other, or they stopped going online. Those connections are by their nature ephemeral.

Of course, if Ayda tried to block Marty from her life, he would inevitably find a way to hack her devices and get back into her good graces. He was like a lonely, hungry dog; like the rest of them it was clear he had never nurtured any other friendships.

“Yikes,” said Kip, grimacing, and Ayda did not even have the decency to look embarrassed. “You two are brutal to one another.”

“Maybe,” said Ayda.

Kip flicked his sister on the arm. “Go ask Esther and Rosaline what they want.”

The possibility that she would open the door and walk in to see Esther with her hands up Rosaline’s shirt was very high. Kassidy did not need that image in her brain. She liked Rosaline a lot but it weirded her out that she was dating her best friend. She’d always figured that Esther and her would be single forever.

“You do it,” she said.

“OK!” Kip, who did not have room in his brain for thoughts about accidentally walking in on anyone getting frisky, bounced back up to his feet. He glanced back at the kitchen, where Lee and Casey were still talking passionately, as if making sure they were still there. He smiled goofily, then went to Kassidy’s room to find Esther. Even as he walked, he was tapping his fingers against each other, trying to get his excess energy out.

“Freak.” Ayda went back to scrolling on her tablet.

Suddenly Kassidy did not want to be around her anymore. Ayda was the meanest person she had ever met-- didn’t she realize that was the reason everyone at school hated her guts? At least Kassidy had the excuse of being ugly and awkward. She slid from the couch and walked to the kitchen.

She sat down at the table. Lee was sitting as well, but Casey still stood. Lee smiled at Kassidy. He had a friendly face that could border on smug. He showed his teeth when he smiled, and some of them were crooked; it was nice to be around a person who was not created perfect. “Good to see you joined us,” said Lee. “We’re getting pizza.”

Casey got close enough to Kassidy that she could smell her perfume: light and honey like. Even though she was dressed down in jeans and a simple t-shirt, she looked stylish enough to make Kassidy feel scruffy. “Yeah,” Casey said, her tone mocking. “I’m re-distributing my father’s wealth amongst the plebs.”

“First step’s always the hardest,” Lee joked.

“Oooh, yeah, you people just want us all to share the same toothbrushes and stand in line for bread instead of being able to order pizza.” Without asking permission, Casey started to braid Kassidy’s hair. Kassidy gulped and did not dare move, even though the other girl was very gentle. Whenever Casey touched her, Kassidy felt like she was going to throw up and her heart started to beat very fast. It wasn’t fear; she did not know what it was. “You need to stop straightening your hair, the ends are all damaged.”

There had been nobody to teach Kassidy about how to take care of her hair. Her mother’s was silky straight and black, so was Kip’s. She was stuck being frizzy and blonde and burning herself with the straightening iron. She only nodded, staring at a crumb on the table because she did not want to look at Casey.

Casey took a hairband off her wrist and tied the end of the braid. She moved her face close to Kassidy’s so she could survey her work from the front. “Pretty,” she said.

Kassidy wondered if she was going to pass out. Was she being mocked? She knew for a fact that she was not and would never be ‘pretty’. It was mean to call her that. It was doubly mean for a stunningly beautiful girl like Casey to call her that.

Seconds later, Kip slammed the door to Kassidy’s room and came back over to the kitchen. His face was pink. “Esther is such a psycho.”

“Awww, was she mean to you because you interrupted girlfriend time?” Casey leaned over to rest her elbows on the table and cupped her chin in her hands. Like Kip, she had boundless energy, but it did not manifest itself in the same frenetic way it did in him. It existed in her as a promise: at any moment she could spring. She was always so loose and relaxed but her muscles coiled beneath her dark skin. Every few minutes her gaze would shift over to her sister, always making sure that she was OK.

She was not like the other Artificials. Not that Kassidy was prejudiced, but you could always tell that there was something off about them, that there was something not quite right. All of the ones she had interacted with were deeply awkward and uncomfortable people. Sure they were engineered to be ‘perfect’, but on the inside there was always something that knew this person was not really supposed to exist. But Casey was different. She was so natural and confident in herself.

Instead of sitting on a chair, Kip boosted himself up onto the table and sat there cross-legged. His bulging eyes were a bit shiny, which indicated that his feelings were hurt from Esther saying something hurtful. Like Kassidy, he was not entirely happy with how Esther was paying more attention to her new girlfriend than to him, her lifelong friend. He itched his nose.

Casey used her comm to order the pizzas. She put it back in her pocket. “There,” she said. “Are you people happy now? I’m feeding you. I’m practically your mother now.”

“How would you know what a mother is?” Lee asked her, which was kind of a weird joke. He was cool and it was easy to forget that he was so much older than the rest of them. He had to be 22 or 23, since he was a Junior and Kip said that he started college late because he’d been stuck in the Youth Detention Center for a few years. Being incarcerated as a teen didn’t make someone bad-- after all, Kip had been held back a year because of violence as well-- but it was a little weird how he skirted around the reason he’d been put there.

The most important part of having a friend who was older, of course, was getting them to buy alcohol. Lee had promised to buy Kip and his friends some liquor one weekend in the near future, when Dana Nguyen was at work all night. He was really paranoid about getting caught, which was understandable.

Kip had a little crush on him. It was OK though, since he was 18 now and didn’t have a chance with a college guy. It was strange, Kassidy would have never approved of something like that until she met Lee. But just being around him made her understand things differently.

It was impossible not to like him.

They started arguing about politics again and Kassidy could not keep up. Something about how the Mayor was incompetent. She kind of liked Mayor Malena, but only because he was the only government person who was polite to her mother. He had a handsome face and his kid had died that year, but that was the extent of her knowledge. Politics were so boring. What was the point about arguing about something that was never going to change?

No, she had more important things to worry about, like surviving high school and not throwing up when she talked to Casey.

“The people have to have total control over the political system,” Kip was saying, wildly. Everything he did these days was wild.

“Yeah, the people,” said Casey. “The people who know what they’re doing, not the dirty, unwashed masses. There’s a good reason people like my Dad, Ms. Voorst, and Mr. Prospas have the power that they have. There’s an even better reason that people like you have no power at all.”

“Oh you are so close to making the connection…” said Lee, again with that weird little edge. The way that he watched Casey was strange but Kassidy could not put her finger on it.

“That reason is called ‘exploitation’, Cassiopeia!”

“My Dad isn’t exploiting anyone, Christopher.”

“Can you guys, like, stop yelling?” said Ayda from her nest on the couch. When she looked over at them, Kassidy felt the dark shadow return. “I’m trying to watch a video…”

Lee shrugged, laughed, and rubbed his forefinger and thumb on the areas that his mustache met his beard. When he laughed, Kassidy wanted to join in, even though she didn’t get what was funny.

Sometimes she wished she was a little smarter, just so that she could understand what people were talking about. Or if she was stupid and mean, like Ayda, then she wouldn’t care when she didn’t understand something.

The door to Kip’s bedroom opened and the twins came out, followed by Romeo Prospas. Speaking of awkward Artificials... Eddie and Evangeline were even more annoying now that they had entered high school. They kept trying to be individuals but ended up copying each other harder. Rome Prospas slunk behind them, perpetually nervous looking. He didn’t move normally; most 14 year old boys’ gaits are out of control but he slid along like he was wearing heelies. On his wrist was an even fancier comm than Ayda’s, and rising out of it was a little blue Marty-hologram.

Marty, clearly pleased with himself, looked at Ayda smugly as Rome passed her. Ayda gave him a dirty look that would have incapacitated him if he had been there in person. She hadn’t counted on someone as socially clueless as him having made another friend he could go to when she banished him.

“Why were you shouting?” demanded Evangeline, whose qualities of being high-strung and aggressive made her a natural spokesperson. She’d recently gotten bangs, which she believed made her look more grown up. They did not. “We’re doing homework.”

“I was shouting to specifically stop you from doing your homework,” said Kip. He got off the table so that he could pace around. He looked at the hologram, which was so lifelike that even Marty’s eyelashes were visible. “Hi Marty, again.”

Marty interested him. They’d only known each other for a couple of months, and already Kip would message Marty about stuff that didn’t have any connection to Ayda. He treated him like his own person instead of like a tag-along friend who wasn’t truly real. The idea that there was a whole wide world outside of Eden made Kip excited.

It was scary to think about. There could be people all over the world, not just in the Colonies. What were those people like? If they weren’t dangerous then why was Eden so sequestered?

“We ordered pizza, by the way.” Kip put his hand through Marty’s holographic head a couple of times. Marty glared at him.

“Thank you,” said Rome Prospas, which stopped everyone cold. Nobody said ‘thank you’ in this apartment without being sarcastic about it. Rome was a very polite boy, almost excessively so. He was unlike his violent older brother Ben in every way. Normally Kassidy wouldn’t want him in her home-- but a little while ago, she would not have wanted Casey and Ayda there either.

It all came back to connecting. It all came back to how only a little while ago, none of them had any friends.

“What kind of homework are you working on?” asked Lee. He got up from the table and poured himself a glass of water. He had only been to the apartment a couple times and he was already very comfortable there.

Well, comfortable as long as he knew that their mother wasn’t returning home any time soon.

“Grammar,” said Eddie, who was tired as usual and struggling to keep his eyes open. He rested his chin on his sister’s shoulder and she shoved him. “Ow…”

“I could help you. I’m majoring in journalism, I write for the student association paper.”

“Yeah, Lee’s a great writer,” Kip chimed in. Casey pointed at him from behind Lee’s back and mimed giving a blowjob. He turned red and gave her the finger.

Lee finished his glass of water. He took his glasses out of his shirt pocket and put them on. They were not fashionable glasses, they made him look intellectual and slightly dorky. “Now I can read. I guess you three don’t know anything about having bad vision, huh? What about you, buddy? Are those yellow eyes just for show?”

Rome did not say anything. As well as being polite, he was quiet. He was the kind of kid who buttoned his shirts all the way up to the top. When Lee talked to him, again with that weird edge to his voice, he seemed to shrink. He kept his right wrist up at chest height so that Marty’s hologram was slightly in front of him.

“I’m just joking!” Lee adjusted his goofy glasses and then reached out to mess up Rome’s very neat hair.

The hologram-Marty frowned when he saw this. Kip was still messing with him and putting his hand through his pixels. It was like Kip could not help but be annoying. “Hey,” said Marty, loudly, directly towards Lee. “Quit being a creep.”

Everybody froze. Even Ayda looked up from her tablet, zeroing in on drama like she always did.

Behind the lenses of his glasses, Lee’s eyes got very wide. He kept smiling but it was not a friendly smile, it was shocked and awkward. He put up his hands, palms facing the hologram, in a universally placating signal. All of his smugness drained from his posture and Kassidy’s perception of him shifted. The way he held his shoulders was less cool and relaxed and more defensive. “What?” he asked.  “Hi there. I didn’t notice you.”

“Great,” said Marty, with acerbic hostility. His shoulders were visible on the hologram too, and they were pulled up toward his ears. “Stop touching people, you creep. How old are you?”

“I’m 23,” said Lee.

Marty looked like he smelled something bad. His upper lip curled up. Suddenly, Kassidy grew irritated with him and did not know why. She had no investment in arguments that were not about her. But Marty’s soft childish face, looking as disgusted as it did, made her want to say something mean to him.

“What’s wrong, Marty?” Kip asked. For someone who liked to engage in conflicts so much, he was quick to intervene and try to mollify things when his friends were involved.

“That guy shouldn’t be hanging out with you. It’s weird.”

“Be nice, Marty!” said Ayda from the couch, shaking her head and rolling her beautiful cow-eyes.

Lee got a little closer to Marty. He bent down slightly. His eyebrows were raised in concern but his mouth kept smiling his crooked smile. He was not a threatening man and could not be threatening even if he wanted to. “How am I weird?” He said very softly and calmly, the way someone talks to a kid who is having a tantrum.

“Back away from me,” Marty demanded. “And stop touching people. You made Rome uncomfortable.”

“Did I make you uncomfortable?” Lee asked Rome.

Rome looked nervously back and forth. “No,” he said. Lee smiled at Marty.

For his part, Marty gritted his teeth and dug in, even though everyone’s attention was on him. “You keep touching Kip in weird ways too, which is creepy. Why are you hanging out alone with a bunch of teenagers on a Wednesday afternoon when you’re an adult man who’s like 10 years older than some of them? That isn’t allowed to happen where I’m from. What do you want? Because I can’t come up with a single normal reason for you to be here.”

For a moment, there was silence.

Then, Kip, with embarrassment and anger flashing across him, seized Rome’s wrist and turned off the communicator. Marty disappeared for the second time. It was unlikely that he would return for a day or so. That was that. It was so easy to get rid of him. Nobody said anything.

There was a lot to unpack in all of that, but Kassidy did not have the capacity to do so. She rarely even had the capacity to join conversations. It was all probably very disturbing, judging from the look on her brother’s face, but she did not think about that. So she sat at the table and thought about the pizza that she was going to eat while she idly played with the end of her braid.

She did not have to worry about that kind of stuff. Not yet.

[readbookywooks]

The House-elf Liberation Front

Harry, Ron, and Hermione went up to the Owlery that evening to find Pigwidgeon, so that Harry could send Sirius a letter telling him that he had managed to get past his dragon unscathed. On the way, Harry filled Ron in on everything Sirius had told him about Karkaroff. Though shocked at first to hear that Karkaroff had been a Death Eater, by the time they entered the Owlery Ron was saying that they ought to have suspected it all along. "Fits, doesn't it?" he said. "Remember what Malfoy said on the train, about his dad being friends with Karkaroff? Now we know where they knew each other. They were probably running around in masks together at the World Cup....I'll tell you one thing, though, Harry, if it was Karkaroff who put your name in the goblet, he's going to be feeling really stupid now, isn't he? Didn't work, did it? You only got a scratch! Come here - I'll do it -" Pigwidgeon was so overexcited at the idea of a delivery he was flying around and around Harry's head, hooting incessantly. Ron snatched Pigwidgeon out of the air and held him still while Harry attached the letter to his leg. There's no way any of the other tasks are going to be that dangerous, how could they be?" Ron went on as he carried Pigwidgeon to the window. "You know what? I reckon you could win this tournament, Harry, I'm serious." Harry knew that Ron was only saying this to make up for his behavior of the last few weeks, but he appreciated it all the same. Hermione, however, leaned against the Owlery wall, folded her arms, and frowned at Ron. "Harry's got a long way to go before he finishes this tournament," she said seriously. "If that was the first task, I hate to think what's coming next." "Right little ray of sunshine, aren't you?" said Ron. "You and Professor Trelawney should get together sometime." He threw Pigwidgeon out of the window. Pigwidgeon plummeted twelve feet before managing to pull himself back up again; the letter attached to his leg was much longer and heavier than usual - Harry hadn't been able to resist giving Sirius a blow-by-blow account of exactly how he had swerved, circled, and dodged the Horntail. They watched Pigwidgeon disappear into the darkness, and then Ron said, "Well, we'd better get downstairs for your surprise party, Harry - Fred and George should have nicked enough food from the kitchens by now." Sure enough, when they entered the Gryffindor common room it exploded with cheers and yells again. There were mountains of cakes and flagons of pumpkin juice and butterbeer on every surface; Lee Jordan had let off some Filibuster's Fireworks, so that the air was thick with stars and sparks; and Dean Thomas, who was very good at drawing, had put up some impressive new banners, most of which depicted Harry zooming around the Horntail's head on his Firebolt, though a couple showed Cedric with his head on fire. Harry helped himself to food; he had almost forgotten what it was like to feel properly hungry, and sat down with Ron and Hermione. He couldn't believe how happy he felt; he had Ron back on his side, he'd gotten through the first task, and he wouldn't have to face the second one for three months. "Blimey, this is heavy," said Lee Jordan, picking up the golden egg, which Harry had left on a table, and weighing it in his hands. "Open it, Harry, go on! Let's just see what's inside it!" "He's supposed to work out the clue on his own," Hermione said swiftly. "It's in the tournament rules...." "I was supposed to work out how to get past the dragon on my own too," Harry muttered, so only Hermione could hear him, and she grinned rather guiltily. "Yeah, go on, Harry, open it!" several people echoed. Lee passed Harry the egg, and Harry dug his fingernails into the groove that ran all the way around it and prised it open. It was hollow and completely empty - but the moment Harry opened it, the most horrible noise, a loud and screechy wailing, filled the room. The nearest thing to it Harry had ever heard was the ghost orchestra at Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party, who had all been playing the musical saw. "Shut it!" Fred bellowed, his hands over his ears. "What was that?" said Seamus Finnigan, staring at the egg as Harry slammed it shut again. "Sounded like a banshee...Maybe you've got to get past one of those next, Harry!" "It was someone being tortured!" said Neville, who had gone very white and spilled sausage rolls all over the floor. "You're going to have to fight the Cruciatus Curse!" "Don't be a prat, Neville, that's illegal," said George. "They wouldn't use the Cruciatus Curse on the champions. I thought it sounded a bit like Percy singing...maybe you've got to attack him while he's in the shower. Harry." "Want a jam tart, Hermione?" said Fred. Hermione looked doubtfully at the plate he was offering her. Fred grinned. "It's all right," he said. "I haven't done anything to them. It's the custard creams you've got to watch -" Neville, who had just bitten into a custard cream, choked and spat it out. Fred laughed. "Just my little joke, Neville...." Hermione took a jam tart. Then she said, "Did you get all this from the kitchens, Fred?" "Yep," said Fred, grinning at her. He put on a high-pitched squeak and imitated a house-elf. "'anything we can get you, sir, anything at all!' They're dead helpful...get me a roast ox if I said I was peckish." "How do you get in there?" Hermione said in an innocently casual sort of voice. "Easy," said Fred, "concealed door behind a painting of a bowl of fruit. Just tickle the pear, and it giggles and -" He stopped and looked suspiciously at her. "Why?" "Nothing," said Hermione quickly. "Going to try and lead the house-elves out on strike now, are you?" said George. "Going to give up all the leaflet stuff and try and stir them up into rebellion?" Several people chortled. Hermione didn't answer. "Don't you go upsetting them and telling them they've got to take clothes and salaries!" said Fred warningly. "You'll put them off their cooking!" Just then, Neville caused a slight diversion by turning into a large canary. "Oh - sorry, Neville!" Fred shouted over all the laughter. "I forgot - it was the custard creams we hexed -" Within a minute, however, Neville had molted, and once his feathers had fallen off, he reappeared looking entirely normal. He even joined in laughing. "Canary Creams!" Fred shouted to the excitable crowd. "George and I invented them - seven Sickles each, a bargain!" It was nearly one in the morning when Harry finally went up to the dormitory with Ron, Neville, Seamus, and Dean. Before he pulled the curtains of his four-poster shut. Harry set his tiny model of the Hungarian Horntail on the table next to his bed, where it yawned, curled up, and closed its eyes. Really, Harry thought, as he pulled the hangings on his four-poster closed, Hagrid had a point...they were all right, really, dragons.... The start of December brought wind and sleet to Hogwarts. Drafty though the castle always was in winter. Harry was glad of its fires and thick walls every time he passed the Durmstrang ship on the lake, which was pitching in the high winds, its black sails billowing against the dark skies. He thought the Beauxbatons caravan was likely to be pretty chilly too. Hagrid, he noticed, was keeping Madame Maxime's horses well provided with their preferred drink of single-malt whiskey; the fumes wafting from the trough in the comer of their paddock was enough to make the entire Care of Magical Creatures class light-headed. This was unhelpful, as they were still tending the horrible skrewts and needed their wits about them. "I'm not sure whether they hibernate or not," Hagrid told the shivering class in the windy pumpkin patch next lesson. "Thought we'd jus' try an see if they fancied a kip...we'll jus' settle 'em down in these boxes...." There were now only ten skrewts left; apparently their desire to kill one another had not been exercised out of them. Each of them was now approaching six feet in length. Their thick gray armor; their powerful, scuttling legs; their fire-blasting ends; their stings and their suckers, combined to make the skrewts the most repulsive things Harry had ever seen. The class looked dispiritedly at the enormous boxes Hagrid had brought out, all lined with pillows and fluffy blankets. "We'll jus' lead 'em in here," Hagrid said, "an' put the lids on, and we'll see what happens." But the skrewts, it transpired, did not hibernate, and did not appreciate being forced into pillow-lined boxes and nailed in. Hagrid was soon yelling, "Don panic, now, don' panic!" while the skrewts rampaged around the pumpkin patch, now strewn with the smoldering wreckage of the boxes. Most of the class - Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle in the lead - had fled into Hagrid's cabin through the back door and barricaded themselves in; Harry, Ron, and Hermione, however, were among those who remained outside trying to help Hagrid. Together they managed to restrain and tie up nine of the skrewts, though at the cost of numerous burns and cuts; finally, only one skrewt was left. "Don' frighten him, now!" Hagrid shouted as Ron and Harry used their wands to shoot jets of fiery sparks at the skrewt, which was advancing menacingly on them, its sting arched, quivering, over its back. "Jus' try an slip the rope 'round his sting, so he won hurt any o' the others!" "Yeah, we wouldn't want that!" Ron shouted angrily as he and Harry backed into the wall of Hagrid's cabin, still holding the skrewt off with their sparks. "Well, well, well...this does look like fun." Rita Skeeter was leaning on Hagrid's garden fence, looking in at the mayhem. She was wearing a thick magenta cloak with a furry purple collar today, and her crocodile-skin handbag was over her arm. Hagrid launched himself forward on top of the skrewt that was cornering Harry and Ron and flattened it; a blast of fire shot out of its end, withering the pumpkin plants nearby. "Who're you?" Hagrid asked Rita Skeeter as he slipped a loop of rope around the skrewt's sting and tightened it. "Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet reporter," Rita replied, beaming at him. Her gold teeth glinted. "Thought Dumbledore said you weren' allowed inside the school anymore," said Hagrid, frowning slightly as he got off the slightly squashed skrewt and started tugging it over to its fellows. Rita acted as though she hadn't heard what Hagrid had said. "What are these fascinating creatures called?" she asked, beaming still more widely. "Blast-Ended Skrewts," grunted Hagrid. "Really?" said Rita, apparently full of lively interest. "I've never heard of them before...where do they come from?" Harry noticed a dull red flush rising up out of Hagrid's wild black beard, and his heart sank. Where had Hagrid got the skrewts from? Hermione, who seemed to be thinking along these lines, said quickly, "They're very interesting, aren't they? Aren't they. Harry?" "What? Oh yeah...ouch...interesting," said Harry as she stepped on his foot. "Ah, you're here. Harry!" said Rita Skeeter as she looked around. "So you like Care of Magical Creatures, do you? One of your favorite lessons?" "Yes," said Harry stoutly. Hagrid beamed at him. "Lovely," said Rita. "Really lovely. Been teaching long?" she added to Hagrid. Harry noticed her eyes travel over Dean (who had a nasty cut across one cheek). Lavender (whose robes were badly singed), Seamus (who was nursing several burnt fingers), and then to the cabin windows, where most of the class stood, their noses pressed against the glass waiting to see if the coast was clear. "This is o'ny me second year," said Hagrid. "Lovely...I don't suppose you'd like to give an interview, would you? Share some of your experience of magical creatures? The Prophet does a zoological column every Wednesday, as I'm sure you know. We could feature these - er - Bang-Ended Scoots." "Blast-Ended Skrewts," Hagrid said eagerly. "Er - yeah, why not?" Harry had a very bad feeling about this, but there was no way of communicating it to Hagrid without Rita Skeeter seeing, so he had to stand and watch in silence as Hagrid and Rita Skeeter made arrangements to meet in the Three Broomsticks for a good long interview later that week. Then the bell rang up at the castle, signaling the end of the lesson. "Well, good-bye, Harry!" Rita Skeeter called merrily to him as he set off with Ron and Hermione. "Until Friday night, then, Hagrid!" "She'll twist everything he says," Harry said under his breath. "Just as long as he didn't import those skrewts illegally or anything," said Hermione desperately. They looked at one another - it was exactly the sort of thing Hagrid might do. "Hagrid's been in loads of trouble before, and Dumbledores never sacked him," said Ron consolingly. "Worst that can happen is Hagrid'll have to get rid of the skrewts. Sorry...did I say worst? I meant best." Harry and Hermione laughed, and, feeling slightly more cheerful, went off to lunch. Harry thoroughly enjoyed double Divination that afternoon; they were still doing star charts and predictions, but now that he and Ron were friends once more, the whole thing seemed very funny again. Professor Trelawney, who had been so pleased with the pair of them when they had been predicting their own horrific deaths, quickly became irritated as they sniggered through her explanation of the various ways in which Pluto could disrupt everyday life. "I would think," she said, in a mystical whisper that did not conceal her obvious annoyance, "that some of us" - she stared very meaningfully at Harry- "might be a little less frivolous had they seen what I have seen during my crystal gazing last night. As I sat here, absorbed in my needlework, the urge to consult the orb overpowered me. I arose, I settled myself before it, and I gazed into its crystalline depths...and what do you think I saw gazing back at me?" "An ugly old bat in outsize specs?" Ron muttered under his breath. Harry fought hard to keep his face straight. "Death, my dears." Parvati and Lavender both put their hands over their mouths, looking horrified. "Yes," said Professor Trelawney, nodding impressively, "it comes, ever closer, it circles overhead like a vulture, ever lower...ever lower over the castle...." She stared pointedly at Harry, who yawned very widely and obviously. "It'd be a bit more impressive if she hadn't done it about eighty times before," Harry said as they finally regained the fresh air of the staircase beneath Professor Trelawney's room. "But if I'd dropped dead every time she's told me I'm going to, I'd be a medical miracle." "You'd be a sort of extra-concentrated ghost," said Ron, chortling, as they passed the Bloody Baron going in the opposite direction, his wide eyes staring sinisterly. "At least we didn't get homework. I hope Hermione got loads off Professor Vector, I love not working when she is...." But Hermione wasn't at dinner, nor was she in the library when they went to look for her afterward. The only person in there was Viktor Krum. Ron hovered behind the bookshelves for a while, watching Krum, debating in whispers with Harry whether he should ask for an autograph - but then Ron realized that six or seven girls were lurking in the next row of books, debating exactly the same thing, and he lost his enthusiasm for the idea. "Wonder where she's got to?" Ron said as he and Harry went back to Gryffindor Tower. "Dunno...balderdash." But the Fat Lady had barely begun to swing forward when the sound of racing feet behind them announced Hermione's arrival. "Harry!" she panted, skidding to a halt beside him (the Fat Lady stared down at her, eyebrows raised). "Harry, you've got to come - you've got to come, the most amazing thing's happened - please -" She seized Harry's arm and started to try to drag him back along the corridor. "What's the matter?" Harry said. "I'll show you when we get there - oh come on, quick -" Harry looked around at Ron; he looked back at Harry, intrigued. "Okay," Harry said, starting off back down the corridor with Hermione, Ron hurrying to keep up. "Oh don't mind me!" the Fat Lady called irritably after them. "Don't apologize for bothering me! I'll just hang here, wide open, until you get back, shall I?" "Yeah, thanks!" Ron shouted over his shoulder. "Hermione, where are we going?" Harry asked, after she had led them down through six floors, and started down the marble staircase into the entrance hall. "You'll see, you'll see in a minute!" said Hermione excitedly. She turned left at the bottom of the staircase and hurried toward the door through which Cedric Diggory had gone the night after the Goblet of Fire had regurgitated his and Harry's names. Harry had never been through here before. He and Ron followed Hermione down a flight of stone steps, but instead of ending up in a gloomy underground passage like the one that led to Snape's dungeon, they found themselves in a broad stone corridor, brightly lit with torches, and decorated with cheerful paintings that were mainly of food. "Oh hang on..." said Harry slowly, halfway down the corridor. "Wait a minute, Hermione...." "What?" She turned around to look at him, anticipation all over her face. "I know what this is about," said Harry. He nudged Ron and pointed to the painting just behind Hermione. It showed a gigantic silver fruit bowl. "Hermione!" said Ron, cottoning on. "You're trying to rope us into that spew stuff again!" "No, no, I'm not!" she said hastily. "And it's not spew, Ron -" "Changed the name, have you?" said Ron, frowning at her. "What are we now, then, the House-Elf Liberation Front? I'm not barging into that kitchen and trying to make them stop work, I'm not doing it -" "I'm not asking you to!" Hermione said impatiently. "I came down here just now, to talk to them all, and I found - oh come on, Harry, I want to show you!" She seized his arm again, pulled him in front of the picture of the giant fruit bowl, stretched out her forefinger, and tickled the huge green pear. It began to squirm, chuckling, and suddenly turned into a large green door handle. Hermione seized it, pulled the door open, and pushed Harry hard in the back, forcing him inside. He had one brief glimpse of an enormous, high-ceilinged room, large as the Great Hall above it, with mounds of glittering brass pots and pans heaped around the stone walls, and a great brick fireplace at the other end, when something small hurtled toward him from the middle of the room, squealing, "Harry Potter, sir! Harry Potter!" Next second all the wind had been knocked out of him as the squealing elf hit him hard in the midriff, hugging him so tightly he thought his ribs would break. "D-Dobby?" Harry gasped. "It is Dobby, sir, it is!" squealed the voice from somewhere around his navel. "Dobby has been hoping and hoping to see Harry Potter, sir, and Harry Potter has come to see him, sir!" Dobby let go and stepped back a few paces, beaming up at Harry, his enormous, green, tennis-ball-shaped eyes brimming with tears of happiness. He looked almost exactly as Harry remembered him; the pencil-shaped nose, the batlike ears, the long fingers and feet - all except the clothes, which were very different. When Dobby had worked for the Malfoys, he had always worn the same filthy old pillowcase. Now, however, he was wearing the strangest assortment of garments Harry had ever seen; he had done an even worse job of dressing himself than the wizards at the World Cup. He was wearing a tea cozy for a hat, on which he had pinned a number of bright badges; a tie patterned with horseshoes over a bare chest, a pair of what looked like children's soccer shorts, and odd socks. One of these, Harry saw, was the black one Harry had removed from his own foot and tricked Mr. Malfoy into giving Dobby, thereby setting Dobby free. The other was covered in pink and orange stripes. "Dobby, what're you doing here?" Harry said in amazement. "Dobby has come to work at Hogwarts, sir!" Dobby squealed excitedly. "Professor Dumbledore gave Dobby and Winky jobs, sir! "Winky?" said Harry. "She's here too?" "Yes, sir, yes!" said Dobby, and he seized Harry's hand and pulled him off into the kitchen between the four long wooden tables that stood there. Each of these tables, Harry noticed as he passed them, was positioned exactly beneath the four House tables above, in the Great Hall. At the moment, they were clear of food, dinner having finished, but he supposed that an hour ago they had been laden with dishes that were then sent up through the ceiling to their counterparts above. At least a hundred little elves were standing around the kitchen, beaming, bowing, and curtsying as Dobby led Harry past them. They were all wearing the same uniform: a tea towel stamped with the Hogwarts crest, and tied, as Winky's had been, like a toga. Dobby stopped in front of the brick fireplace and pointed. "Winky, sir!" he said. Winky was sitting on a stool by the fire. Unlike Dobby, she had obviously not foraged for clothes. She was wearing a neat little skirt and blouse with a matching blue hat, which had holes in it for her large ears. However, while every one of Dobby's strange collection of garments was so clean and well cared for that it looked brand-new, Winky was plainly not taking care other clothes at all. There were soup stains all down her blouse and a burn in her skirt. "Hello, Winky," said Harry. Winky's lip quivered. Then she burst into tears, which spilled out of her great brown eyes and splashed down her front, just as they had done at the Quidditch World Cup. "Oh dear," said Hermione. She and Ron had followed Harry and Dobby to the end of the kitchen. "Winky, don't cry, please don't..." But Winky cried harder than ever. Dobby, on the other hand, beamed up at Harry. "Would Harry Potter like a cup of tea?" he squeaked loudly, over Winky's sobs. "Er - yeah, okay," said Harry. Instantly, about six house-elves came trotting up behind him, bearing a large silver tray laden with a teapot, cups for Harry, Ron, and Hermione, a milk jug, and a large plate of biscuits. "Good service!" Ron said, in an impressed voice. Hermione frowned at him, but the elves all looked delighted; they bowed very low and retreated. "How long have you been here, Dobby?" Harry asked as Dobby handed around the tea. "Only a week. Harry Potter, sir!" said Dobby happily. "Dobby came to see Professor Dumbledore, sir. You see, sir, it is very difficult for a house-elf who has been dismissed to get a new position, sir, very difficult indeed -" At this, Winky howled even harder, her squashed-tomato of a nose dribbling all down her front, though she made no effort to stem the flow. "Dobby has traveled the country for two whole years, sir, trying to find work!" Dobby squeaked. "But Dobby hasn't found work, sir, because Dobby wants paying now!" The house-elves all around the kitchen, who had been listening and watching with interest, all looked away at these words, as though Dobby had said something rude and embarrassing. Hermione, however, said, "Good for you, Dobby!" "Thank you, miss!" said Dobby, grinning toothily at her. "But most wizards doesn't want a house-elf who wants paying, miss. 'That's not the point of a house-elf,' they says, and they slammed the door in Dobby's face! Dobby likes work, but he wants to wear clothes and he wants to be paid. Harry Potter....Dobby likes being free!" The Hogwarts house-elves had now started edging away from Dobby, as though he were carrying something contagious. Winky, however, remained where she was, though there was a definite increase in the volume other crying. "And then, Harry Potter, Dobby goes to visit Winky, and finds out Winky has been freed too, sir!" said Dobby delightedly. At this, Winky flung herself forward off her stool and lay face-down on the flagged stone floor, beating her tiny fists upon it and positively screaming with misery. Hermione hastily dropped down to her knees beside her and tried to comfort her, but nothing she said made the slightest difference. Dobby continued with his story, shouting shrilly over Winky's screeches. "And then Dobby had the idea. Harry Potter, sir! 'Why doesn't Dobby and Winky find work together?' Dobby says. 'Where is there enough work for two house-elves?' says Winky. And Dobby thinks, and it comes to him, sir! Hogwarts! So Dobby and Winky came to see Professor Dumbledore, sir, and Professor Dumbledore took us on!" Dobby beamed very brightly, and happy tears welled in his eyes again. "And Professor Dumbledore says he will pay Dobby, sir, if Dobby wants paying! And so Dobby is a free elf, sir, and Dobby gets a Galleon a week and one day off a month!" "That's not very much!" Hermione shouted indignantly from the floor, over Winky's continued screaming and fist-beating. "Professor Dumbledore offered Dobby ten Galleons a week, and weekends off," said Dobby, suddenly giving a little shiver, as though the prospect of so much leisure and riches were frightening, "but Dobby beat him down, miss....Dobby likes freedom, miss, but he isn't wanting too much, miss, he likes work better." "And how much is Professor Dumbledore paying you, Winky?" Hermione asked kindly. If she had thought this would cheer up Winky, she was wildly mistaken. Winky did stop crying, but when she sat up she was glaring at Hermione through her massive brown eyes, her whole face sopping wet and suddenly furious. "Winky is a disgraced elf, but Winky is not yet getting paid!" she squeaked. "Winky is not sunk so low as that! Winky is properly ashamed of being freed!" "Ashamed?" said Hermione blankly. "But - Winky, come on! It's Mr. Crouch who should be ashamed, not you! You didn't do anything wrong, he was really horrible to you -" But at these words, Winky clapped her hands over the holes in her hat, flattening her ears so that she couldn't hear a word, and screeched, "You is not insulting my master, miss! You is not insulting Mr. Crouch! Mr. Crouch is a good wizard, miss! Mr. Crouch is right to sack bad Winky!" "Winky is having trouble adjusting, Harry Potter," squeaked Dobby confidentially. "Winky forgets she is not bound to Mr. Crouch anymore; she is allowed to speak her mind now, but she won't do it." "Can't house-elves speak their minds about their masters, then?" Harry asked. "Oh no, sir, no," said Dobby, looking suddenly serious. "'Tis part of the house-elf's enslavement, sir. We keeps their secrets and our silence, sir. We upholds the family's honor, and we never speaks ill of them - though Professor Dumbledore told Dobby he does not insist upon this. Professor Dumbledore said we is free to - to -" Dobby looked suddenly nervous and beckoned Harry closer. Harry bent forward. Dobby whispered, "He said we is free to call him a - a barmy old codger if we likes, sir!" Dobby gave a frightened sort of giggle. "But Dobby is not wanting to, Harry Potter," he said, talking normally again, and shaking his head so that his ears flapped. "Dobby likes Professor Dumbledore very much, sir, and is proud to keep his secrets and our silence for him." "But you can say what you like about the Malfoys now?" Harry asked him, grinning. A slightly fearful look came into Dobby's immense eyes. "Dobby - Dobby could," he said doubtfully. He squared his small shoulders. "Dobby could tell Harry Potter that his old masters were - were - bad Dark wizards!" Dobby stood for a moment, quivering all over, horror-struck by his own daring - then he rushed over to the nearest table and began banging his head on it very hard, squealing, "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!" Harry seized Dobby by the back of his tie and pulled him away from the table. "Thank you. Harry Potter, thank you," said Dobby breathlessly, rubbing his head. "You just need a bit of practice," Harry said. "Practice!" squealed Winky furiously. "You is ought to be ashamed of yourself, Dobby, talking that way about your masters!" "They isn't my masters anymore, Winky!" said Dobby defiantly. "Dobby doesn't care what they think anymore!" "Oh you is a bad elf, Dobby!" moaned Winky, tears leaking down her face once more. "My poor Mr. Crouch, what is he doing without Winky? He is needing me, he is needing my help! I is looking after the Crouches all my life, and my mother is doing it before me, and my grandmother is doing it before her...oh what is they saying if they knew Winky was freed? Oh the shame, the shame!" She buried her face in her skirt again and bawled. "Winky," said Hermione firmly, "I'm quite sure Mr. Crouch is getting along perfectly well without you. We've seen him, you know -" "You is seeing my master?" said Winky breathlessly, raising her tearstained face out of her skirt once more and goggling at Hermione. "You is seeing him here at Hogwarts?" "Yes," said Hermione, "he and Mr. Bagman are judges in the Triwizard Tournament." "Mr. Bagman comes too?" squeaked Winky, and to Harry 's great surprise (and Ron's and Hermione's too, by the looks on their faces), she looked angry again. "Mr. Bagman is a bad wizard! A very bad wizard! My master isn't liking him, oh no, not at all!" "Bagman - bad?" said Harry. "Oh yes," Winky said, nodding her head furiously, "My master is telling Winky some things! But Winky is not saying...Winky - Winky keeps her master's secrets...." She dissolved yet again in tears; they could hear her sobbing into her skirt, "Poor master, poor master, no Winky to help him no more!" They couldn't get another sensible word out of Winky. They left her to her crying and finished their tea, while Dobby chatted happily about his life as a free elf and his plans for his wages. "Dobby is going to buy a sweater next, Harry Potter!" he said happily, pointing at his bare chest. "Tell you what, Dobby," said Ron, who seemed to have taken a great liking to the elf, "I'll give you the one my mum knits me this Christmas, I always get one from her. You don't mind maroon, do you?" Dobby was delighted. "We might have to shrink it a bit to fit you," Ron told him, "but it'll go well with your tea cozy." As they prepared to take their leave, many of the surrounding elves pressed in upon them, offering snacks to take back upstairs. Hermione refused, with a pained look at the way the elves kept bowing and curtsying, but Harry and Ron loaded their pockets with cream cakes and pies. "Thanks a lot!" Harry said to the elves, who had all clustered around the door to say good night. "See you, Dobby!" "Harry Potter...can Dobby come and see you sometimes, sir?" Dobby asked tentatively. " 'Course you can," said Harry, and Dobby beamed. "You know what?" said Ron, once he, Hermione, and Harry had left the kitchens behind and were climbing the steps into the entrance hall again. "All these years I've been really impressed with Fred and George, nicking food from the kitchens - well, it's not exactly difficult, is it? They can't wait to give it away!" "I think this is the best thing that could have happened to those elves, you know," said Hermione, leading the way back up the marble staircase. "Dobby coming to work here, I mean. The other elves will see how happy he is, being free, and slowly it'll dawn on them that they want that too!" "Let's hope they don't look too closely at Winky," said Harry. "Oh she'll cheer up," said Hermione, though she sounded a bit doubtful. "Once the shock's worn off, and she's got used to Hogwarts, she'll see how much better off she is without that Crouch man." "She seems to love him," said Ron thickly (he had just started on a cream cake). "Doesn't think much of Bagman, though, does she?" said Harry. "Wonder what Crouch says at home about him?" "Probably says he's not a very good Head of Department," said Hermione, "and let's face it...he's got a point, hasn't he?" "I'd still rather work for him than old Crouch," said Ron. "At least Bagman's got a sense of humor." "Don't let Percy hear you saying that," Hermione said, smiling slightly. "Yeah, well, Percy wouldn't want to work for anyone with a sense of humor, would he?" said Ron, now starting on a chocolate eclair. "Percy wouldn't recognize a joke if it danced naked in front of him wearing Dobby's tea cozy."