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harrys-reverie · 4 years ago

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DOG YEARS // Harry Styles O.U.

PART 1: The Agreement

a/n: welcome! here is part 1 of my baby. I have been working on this for a while and I really hope you enjoy. Story is based off the song ‘dog years’ by maggie rogers, one of my favs. anyways, let’s get on with it! Any feedback, shares or likes are greatly appreciated! I want to get my work out there 🥺 ALSO PART 2 TMRW!

word count: 8k

STORY PAGE // PART 2 CLICK HERE

Take a look at it and really read through thoroughly. Don't hesitate to come to me with any questions, okay?" Eve, my boss smiled warmly at me as she handed me the stack of papers sitting between us. "I'm counting on you."

I nodded back at her wordless, feeling a bit uneasy but eager to give the pages a read. It was just about 9 am in the English countryside and the sun was beaming through the wood paneled floor to ceiling windows — giving the already bright room even more of an angelic haze. Dried lavender bouquets were placed among scattered piles of paperwork Eve had yet to get through. The cozy scent of tobacco-vanilla candles, signature scent of the Soho Farmhouse property were dangerously lit among heaving piles of paperwork. Overall, the room was the true essence of peace, yet I was feeling far from it as I held onto the paperwork Eve had just given me.

I wasn’t quite sure how I found myself in this position, not one bit. But here I was, having to scan over a fifteen or so page NDA for some high end guest who I was suggested to look after during their 4 month stay here at the Soho Farmhouse. It made little sense to me because I didn’t even know that was possible to stay here this long. This was a membership hotel not an extended stay home. I could only imagine the sort of prestige this mystery person had to pull this off.

I had only gotten the job as a waitress at one of the restaurants on our premises last month. Like whoever this mystery person is, I was temporary here too. I had just finished my university studies back in my hometown in California months prior. My nan who happened to live way out in the middle of England was extremely apologetic about not attending my graduation, and instead offered me a stay in England for 6 months. I figured I was in no rush to adult, and my parents finally obliged and I found myself on a multi hour flight here. The first two weeks in her house were enough to send me bat shit crazy, and I knew I needed a job. Unfortunately I wasn’t near the hustle and bustle of a massive city, so finding this job was God sent.

I quickly learned I was shit at waitressing. Eve took a chance on me and I knew she instantly regretted it, she was desperate to find an opening for something more suitable for me. I was desperate to take on any other role at the Farmhouse besides waiting tables — watering and maintaining the plants in the gardens, cleaning the stables, working the phones, or even monogramming our robes we give to the guests.

Fortunately for me, I agreed to this "special job for a special girl" as Eve quoted it, without truly knowing what exactly I had gotten myself into. Now here I was, knees dip in a situation that seemed like the most work of them all.

The wooden door shut creakily behind me as Eve stepped out to continue her role of head of the Farmhouse and prowl around the land to make sure everything was running smoothly. She had left me alone so I could read through the paperwork in a comfortable and quiet room. Really though I was feeling anything but as I looked back down at the legally binding pages in front of me.

"This Confidentiality Agreement is executed effective 3rd, of September 2020 between Colette Adkins (Party A) and Harry Styles (Party B)...

WHEREAS, Party A can not disclose any confidential information regarding Party B..."

My mouth partially dropped when I had seen the name, Harry Styles. Like, THE Harry Styles. What was he even doing here for four months, did he not have somewhere better to be? Like possibly in one of his many houses? He could stay cooped up in those mansions for months on end without having to lift a foot in the real world, I’m sure of it.

Unfortunately the countless numbered paragraphs under his name were more than confusing to understand, and there was almost 12 pages of them. From what I had gathered through a quick skim was that, 'none of this and none of that and none of anything' was allowed when it came to Harry Styles. I had to wonder how much terrible encounters the man had gone through in order to have to have so many stipulations when it came to just being in his presence

The fancy terms were hard to follow, and I found myself googling phrases I had never even heard of. I was now dubbed as a 'party' and Harry Styles being the other, and apparently from the looks of it Party A and Party B were two different levels of hierarchy. I had doubts that even Eve could properly understand all these 'guidelines.' I always heard such positive stories in the media about THE Harry Styles, that he was easygoing and friendly, a gentleman — this NDA said differently though. He seemed like a real nightmare. A nightmare I wasn’t sure I’d want to be working with for four months. Is his reputation just a huge hoax and he’s pulling an Ellen Degeneres on the whole world?

I knew most would find it foolish to pass up on such a opportunity, but if there was one thing I disliked it was being in situations where I couldn’t be fully myself. I was beginning to feel as if this position would be stripping me away of who I was and I’d just be some young girl at a massive millionaires beck and call.

On the flip side, it was a job after all and not every job was enjoyable. If his reputation held any truth, then this experience would be a breeze and I’d be stupid to not take it.

I reached for my phone at the bottom of my purse on my lap and clicked on Eve's contact to send her a quick text.

Colette: Harry Styles? This paperwork makes him sound like an ass. I’m not sure.

Eve: I'm coming back in to discuss this with you..

Just like that and Eve was already scurrying back into her office, a very serious look on her face, one of which I wasn't used to. I had a feeling she was just waiting outside the door the whole time.

"So what do I need to know? I mean, it can't be that hard...but...”I began casually, trying to understand what all her worry was for. Granted, I was just as much so.

She looked down at her phone that was pinging like crazy and then back to me. "It's not that it's hard, but this is a job that is strictly business. You have to live on premise in a 1 bed and 1 bath, always on the clock.” Oh.

"Not just that," Eve continued, "But, if anything and I mean anything gets out, legally there are repercussions. According to his manager, who you will meet — he's writing an album and has a few of his crew mates amongst the grounds in different cottages. It's very low-key, Colette. There's no room for a mistake or slip up."

Suddenly the morning sun seemed brighter than ever and I was squinting my eyes at her in confusion.

"So what, I’m basically Harry Styles little bitch for four months?" I didn’t mean for it to come off so harsh but I could see from Eve’s facial expressions she was a bit taken aback. Maybe that was a bad way to phrase it.

I was curious to know what my duties as Harry Styles' personal Soho Farmhouse assistant would be and if the tasks were just menial or true, hard work. I couldn't image it'd be more than popping up every hour or so with fresh coffee or tea, dropping off towels or bringing the cocktail bar on wheels over every once in a while.

"You know, I don't know," Eve laughed nervously. "It was a request from his management, he needed somebody to assist him with everyday tasks. So yes, maybe food requests and what not. He wants to maintain a low profile and if he's out biking throughout the grounds all the time, he won't have that confidentiality that he is requesting."

Oh, he got off lucky with not having to bike anywhere. If you know anything about the Soho Farmhouse, you know that it's hundreds of acres of land and to get anywhere on the grounds you had to bike there. Not that it was bad or anything, it was rather refreshing but could get quite annoying when you needed to be somewhere quick.

"Have you met him yet? Is he here?" I quipped in shameless excitement. It was Harry Styles after all, I couldn’t put a facade on forever.

Eve gave me a sly smirk, "He's incredibly handsome in person."

"No fucking way."

She put her hands up in defense, trying to reprimand herself and act more professional, "You know, I caught a glimpse. He had arrived only minutes ago but I hadn't properly greeted him yet. I want you to be the first one to introduce yourself..." She trailed off. "Any ways, we want him to be settled and comfortable first and I think a splendid thing for you to do is to bring him a robe and some coffee."

I felt my stomach tie into knots at her request and she looked back at me worried. "Well, just act casual," She suggested after I didn't reply automatically, almost as if she was reassuring herself as well. "There's a reason I picked you, you know."

"And what might that be?"

Eve grinned, "I think you and Harry would get on just fine."

———

I wasn't all to worried about how I would appear in front of Harry Styles. My fringe was a little all over the place because I didn't blow-dry it this morning and my blouse wasn't as ironed as it probably should be, but none of that mattered. I had decided to wait on signing the NDA until after I had met him and introduced myself. I wanted to make sure this job was the right fit for me.

I had his monogrammed fluffy grey robe tied up in a neat bow, sitting in the wicker basket attached to the front of my handy blue bicycle. To my dismay Harry's cottage was the farthest away and at the highest point on the premise, on top of the hill. So, it was a bit of a hike to say the least — I hoped that if I committed to the job that Eve would place me in a small cottage nearby to his so I wouldn't have to make this journey multiple times a day.

As I began the ride up the hill, I let my senses overtake me as I breathed in, listened and looked at the land that passed by me. Soho Farmhouse was one of the most beloved additions to The Soho company, an exclusive member only club made for the young creatives. To get accepted you had to pay a hefty application fee, be recommended by 2 existing members and do many interviews, but I reckon it's all worth it just for the Soho Farmhouse. I know I'd apply if I hadn't started working here. Forget the prestige Soho House's in New York and LA, this was the most beautiful of them all. There was something about the serene English countryside that blew all the others out of the water. The vibe was different, this was more of a retreat addition to the company, rather than the ones in big cities. When you went to those ones you expected overrated models and daddy funded 20 year olds. The Farmhouse was far from any of that.

The thing I liked most about the membership is that it isn't solely based on social or money status, although it may seem that way, but rather a safe haven for young individuals in creative industries. I had only been here for a month but have encountered endless amounts of interesting people, my own age which was a plus. Soho Farmhouse was the epitome of the ultimate British getaway, placed in the Cotswolds, composed of thousands of acred lands occupied by gardens and farm animals. The cottages, only 50, were each 50 yards distance from one another and faced views of slow running rivers giving you complete privacy. It truly is a scene out of a Jane Austen novel when you are here.

As I neared to the Farm Cottage on the very top of the hill, one of the biggest on the premise, I saw that there were 2 cars parked in the driveway. I became more nervous than ever, not so much because I had to meet him, but his management seemed even more intimidating. They were the ones who put that whole 15 page NDA together after all, and it came off pretty harsh. As I parked my bike amongst the two vehicles in the driveway, I kicked the stand up and grabbed the robe from the basket.

So this was it. I approached the front porch, the familiar creaky wooden steps of the cottages that felt so cozy were now being overtaken by fall leaves starting to pile up. Freshly cooled milk jugs were popped beside the giant wooden door — a small touch that we liked to do for all of our guests each morning. Using my foot I knocked on the door, my hands full from the oversized robe after all.

Almost as quickly as I had knocked, the door came rushing open and I was greeted with, well, not Harry Styles.

"Hey, I'm Jeff." He stuck his hand out, only to quickly realize my hands were full. "Uh, let me just take this for you."

"I'm Colette," I smiled back, handing him the robe that was keeping me quite warm being held to my chest.

"Come on in actually. I think you're going to be H's assistant throughout his stay here, if I'm correct?" I nodded back, quickly recognizing his American accent, like mine.

I allowed myself in. I started following Jeff to the front living area of the cottage and took a seat on the plush ivory couch. There was already an abundance of hefty suitcases and guitars scattered amongst the living room. The sound of a shower coming from the upstairs bathroom was where I assumed Harry may be.

"So, you'll be here checking up on Harry and all that?" He questioned, tucking his phone away and facing towards me.

"I believe so, I've never done anything quite like it before. Pretty nervous since it’s Harry Styles and all that. And you are?" I asked assuming he may be a close friend or a part of the band.

"His manager actually. And friend."

Oh. So he's the one who came up with all those rules and regulations? Maybe I should have been more enthusiastic answering his question.

"Oh, wow. That's great, sorry, I just..."I began awkwardly.

Jeff cut me short with a warm laugh, "Don't worry. We're like the same age, H and I. It's a great relationship we have but I make sure to keep him in line too and do what's best for him. Harry's a great guy, I promise he won't be overworking you at all."

"Well, I am very much looking forward to it. This opportunity is going to save me from being a waitress down at the Barwell Barn, now that is what I call being overworked," I joked nervously.

"You know actually, H is in the bathroom now. He's kind of had a tough day. I'll take the robe if you don't mind and then if you give me your cell I will text you with a later time today to stop by and introduce yourself," Jeff suggested kindly.

I nodded back at him, "Of course, I totally understand. It's been great meeting you, will you be staying here throughout the months?" I hated to prolong my stay, but I was curious.

"Only this week and then I'm back to LA, I've got my girlfriend back home and work waiting for me there. I'll probably stop by once a month though and check up on him."

"I miss California weather, I'm from there, actually. Just graduated university and I am visiting my nan here for a couple of months. That's actually what led me to this place," I spoke, becoming more and more comfortable with Jeff by the minute.

Jeff lifted his eyebrows, "I was wondering what may have lead you here. I was taken back by your accent...being not an English one and all that."

"Yep, this is a temporary thing for me, being here."

I didn't want to get too deep into a conversation or overstay my welcome so I stood up from the couch and offered my phone number as we approached the front of the cottage. Just as we reached the door, I heard the bathroom door creak open behind me. I wanted so bad to take a look and peak, but I knew this wasn't the right time.

“You know what," Jeff smiled, removing his hand from the doorknob abruptly, "Let's have a quick introduction now. Take a seat in the kitchen if you'd like, I'm going to make sure Harry's decent for you."

I guess I couldn't refuse to his request, "Sure thing," I grinned back, plopping myself onto one of the wooden barstools in the kitchen. Jeff hurried upstairs, I'm assuming following after Harry who had rushed up the stairs only seconds previous. I heard murmuring and then a door shut, leaving me alone on the first floor. Just me and my thoughts.

I didn't feel nervous at the thought of meeting Harry earlier, but Jeff stating he had a rough day and to come back later and now insisting I meet him, made me a bit weary of the whole ordeal. I didn't want to say the wrong thing or act the wrong way. All this time I was so caught up on what if I didn't get on well with Harry and didn't want the job, when in reality Harry could feel the same about me. I now felt an added amount of pressure I hadn't felt earlier.

Waiting around in the kitchen I couldn't help but notice every single candle was lit in the room. There was a surplus, way more than the standard amount that was placed throughout the cottages. There must have been a request for extra candles because the smell of tobacco vanilla had never been so overpowering then right now.

My thoughts broke for a moment, interrupted by a thunderous laugh coming from upstairs. The walls were thin in the cottages, floors too, so the echo of the laugh was booming. I felt a sense of relief to think that perhaps Jeff put him in a better mood, he did state they were good friends and all, and I knew that laugh didn't belong to Jeff. A quick stomping on the ground above me and a few claps, accompanied by more laughter echoed through the space. Whew, a rush of relief to know that maybe his tough day was over.

I looked down at my blue jeans, which I was now becoming self conscious of. Had I known when I arrived at 7 am this morning what circumstances I would endure, I would have dressed maybe a bit more presentable. And maybe I actually didn't like that I had rushed and not blow dried my hair. This is what I get for always sleeping in till 15 minutes before my shift and having no time to get ready.

I had no time to rethink and self criticize because I was overcome by the sound of heavy footsteps stomping down the stairs. My heart was racing, mouth a little dry, because I only heard one pair of footsteps. Fuck, I really hoped it be Jeff.

"Where are ya hiding, love?" A thick British accent hollered. "Ah, there ya are."

I turned to look at him, putting all my focus on the tall, tattooed man making his way over. I instantly felt something in my gut burn, in the good way, but not the good sexual way. A different type of good. Maybe I'm crazy, maybe everybody feels this way when they see Harry Styles, he is gorgeous after all, and it's so weird to see someone in real life you've only ever seen in pictures. I knew I'd be crazy to insinuate anything but the way he looked at me — almost like he was taken aback or expecting something or someone else. I assumed myself crazy to think he'd even give me a second look, I was just here to supply him with more candles and drop off food. I stood up quick, walking closer and meeting him halfway.

"I'm Colette, very nice to meet you," I brought out my hand to meet his.

"Pleasure. I'm Harry."

He was wearing plain jane grey sweatpants and a cotton white tee shirt, hair sopping wet, looking marvelous. It was casual and a very toned down look, night and day from the outfits you see him in on all the tabloids. No bright colors or funky patterns, no Gucci emblems, just simple, cozy attire. He looked so human. I think sometimes it’s easy to believe celebrities are so much larger than life, but he was just a person after all.

"Now," He began, putting his thumb to his chin and looking off, " 'M gonna need ya to fetch me twenty silk infused towels, the finest coffee grounds ya got and uh..."

He began laughing...at his own joke, not able to even finish his sentence. I too laughed with him, nervously though. It probably was funny in normal circumstances, but I could barely even process anything right now.

"Look, don't be so worried. Jeff's up there doing all kinds of things, he wanted me to come say hello. You seem lovely and I promise to be low maintenance. This wasn't even my idea, if I'm being honest..." Harry began to ramble.

"Buuuuuut," He added with a huge grin, "Looking forward to having ya on the team, Colette. Would you like to sit down for some tea, coffee?"

"Shouldn't I be making some tea or coffee for you?" I insisted with a small smile.

"Please," He scoffed, already heading towards the kettle. "Take a seat. Your cheeks look red, it's bloody cold outside, plus, I hear you're from California, so you're probably freezing."

"You're right on that one."

"What brought you here?" He questioned, genuinely seeming interested. He had his back turned to me as he rummaged around with the kettle.

"If I'm honest," I started embarrassingly, "I just didn't want to fully 'adult' yet. I graduated college and just wanted to get out and explore a little before committing to the adult lifestyle. My grandma lives just 10 minutes from here, so..."

"Smart choice. You're lucky to have that luxury of choosing to not commit to 'adulting' right away," He chuckled, turning to me to put adulting in quotation marks. I couldn't help but stare at him, he was not sore on the eyes at all. He was so kind, welcoming, a true gentleman. He had even welcomed me on 'the team' which was a promising sign, I wanted now more than ever to just sign my name and rights away on that stupid NDA. Whoever made that document up, must've been somebody higher up who didn't understand what having human connection is all about.

"Listen," Harry started, grabbing the two steaming cups and taking a seat across mine at the kitchen table. "I'm glad you're here. Promise to make your time here enjoyable as possible."

"The same for you," I replied quickly. "Obviously, that's what I'm here for."

He let out a small grin, glancing down at his cuppa. "I know ya had to sign one of those fancy documents."

"Haven't yet," I joked back. I already felt a lighthearted and friendly vibe from Harry, as if talking to an old friend I hadn't seen in months.

Harry quirked his eyebrow up with a smirk, "Why's that?"

"Wanted to make sure we'd get on or whatever. Couldn't work for a complete dick — excuse my language."

"I guess that's up to your own interpretation. But I have a feeling you'll be sticking around."

“Are you that sure of yourself?”

“Oh yeah,” He grinned proudly

We both laughed and then silence. An awkward beat passed by, I was looking down at the creases in the wooden table but I could feel his gaze burning. When I looked back up, he was fiddling with the rings on his fingers, shuffling them up and done. Might I add he had a ring for every single finger, minus two. Some were filled with bright gem stones, two of which were compromised of his initials H and S.

"Well, back to business," He awkwardly coughed. "What I was saying is that, I know in that document it said we can't exchange personal numbers. But I really can't be bothered to go thru Jeff to text you what I need 24/7. Soooo...can I trust you with my precious mobile number?"

He was obviously joking because a huge smirk was plastered on his face, his teasing face met mine. It was clear from these few minutes of knowing him, that he couldn't care to take everything too seriously.

"If you could ever so grant me with your sacred number, I'd be honored. Just give me a ring whenever you need me to draw a warm bath for you Mr. Styles."

"Hmph," He tugged at his lip with a smile. "Sounds good, now please, don't blow me up tooooooooo much."

“You afraid I might get all clingy?”

He rolled his eyes playfully, as if he’s dealt with something like that before. The two of us then exchanged contacts, casually sipping on our tea which he made fabulously, might I add. Jeff soon came back down to join us and the three of us talked amongst one another for 10 minutes or so before Harry's phone started buzzing.

"Ah fuck," He mumbled, Jeff peered over Harry’s shoulder to grab a glance at his phone and his face fell as well. The two of them stared for a second at whatever may have been on the screen, I could only imagine what it may have been. I'd never dare to ask.

"Right well, I've got some uh, stuff to take care of," Harry sighed, meeting my gaze. He looked obviously uncomfortable, almost sad. I smiled a bit too hard back at him, trying to lighten the mood since it seemed to go down quite drastically. I realized not even a second later the smile wasn't necessary because he didn't really reciprocate it. Now I just felt like a pansy.

"Let me uh, drive ya back to the front. It's cold and that's a long haul on a bike, I'd feel like a dick to let ya bike down there with these winds," Harry insisted, beginning to stand up. I couldn't let him do that though, I knew his mood was back down in the tank for whatever reason. I didn't want to have him drive me all the way back down to the front and inconvenience him, after all I was supposed to be tending to him, not the other way around.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I actually have to return the bike to a guest," I lied looking down at my phone. "Like right now, actually. Right now."

I was completely lying but I knew he couldn't refuse that and I didn’t want to have him pry anymore. I quickly rushed to the front door, Harry and Jeff following behind my footsteps.

"So very nice to meet you both once again, just give me a ring if anything is needed. I'm on call," I cheered awkwardly, pointing at my cellphone.

"Bye Colette, great meeting you," Jeff spoke up as I opened the door.

"A pleasure!" Harry called after me, as I rushed my way down the front steps of the deck. I scurried out so fast, you'd had thought I seen a ghost. Just like that, I was back on the handy blue bicycle again, wind rushing in my face, ready to sign those papers and officially take the job.

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

It was close to 9PM as I was just finishing up setting up my temporary home on the premises in order to take on my new position. It was small, like the smallest cottage on the whole grounds. I didn't complain though, I was on a meal plan and had infinite variations of body washes to try out, so I was pretty content with my situation. Unlike I had requested, I was quite a distance away from Harry's cottage on the hill, so I'd have to continue those tedious bike rides back and forth very frequently.

I hadn't heard from Jeff or Harry ever since I had departed them this morning. Eve assured me that they were just settling in and that I should do the same. Eve had drove me over to my nan's house where I announced the good news to her, I think she was just thrilled to have her house back to herself for a little. I did happen to have a habit of never putting my dirty dishes in the dishwasher, and I didn't get on quite well with her two cats. So, I packed up an abundance of clothing and some essentials that I figured would be needed, I didn't overdo it though, I was only a couple miles down the road if I needed more.

I had taken a steaming bath, with all the windows open, my view was the running river in the back. Lit up lantern adorned the back garden and it felt like the epitome of autumn, my favorite season. I wasn't a huge fan of the tobacco vanilla candles, so I opted for the fall fragranced ones. I texted a few friends back home, letting them know to call me back whenever they had a chance, I was eager to let them know of my new position. Then I had a reality check where I realized I probably signed all those rights away in that NDA I never fully looked over.

So it was just me drowning in my thoughts, in a super oversized tin bath tub. I was more focusing on if I'd be busy at all tomorrow or if I just had all the time to myself in my new little home, and if so, what would I do? Should I start to Amazon prime myself some books or start a new series on Hulu? It was exciting, I was literally getting paid around the clock to just sort of wait for a request from Harry. I don't think I could have ever dreamt of a more better way to spend my months here in the English countryside.

Unfortunately, things were going too good too soon. I should've known that when Eve insisted she pay me around the clock that there was a reason. The slight vibration coming from my phone broke me out of my thoughts.

Jeff: Hey Colette. I know it's starting to get late, but we have a few friends at Harry's cottage here and it'd be awesome if you can bring the bar cart on over. Within the hour would be best. Thanks!

Fucking hell, not the bar cart. I had just gotten into my cozy PJs and was about to lay down to get an early's night rest —I guess that will not be an option tonight. The bar cart was one of the biggest pains in the ass, right alongside the breakfast cart. These carts where actually bright blue vintage-like vehicles, that are specially requested to the cottages. You drive them up, park them and hang out in the back of the cart and cater to whatever the guest of the cottage wants. They get hammered, you watch — exciting. For a full hour usually, and even more if they have the money to keep it past just one hour. I had never had the pleasure of taking on this role, but from what I heard, it was the worst of them all. I wasn't even trained for this, I could barely make a decent vodka soda, and now I have to go on up there and make a bunch of fancy drinks.

I started dialing Eve's number as I approached the bathroom to make myself somewhat presentable.

"Colette, what's up?" She spoke lazily on the other line.

"Jeff said Harry is requesting the bar cart to be brought up, isn't it too late?" I asked with a hint of annoyance.

"Oh, no. Not for Harry Styles darling.. I'll call up someone to drive it up, can you just be there when it arrives so you can cater and make the drinks?"

I rolled my eyes, there was no way of getting out of this and I suppose I was getting paid for a reason. "All right, I'll be there."

"Don't seem so down, people will kill for this opportunity," Eve quipped. "Now I got to tend to my children, shoot me a text if you need anything."

As soon as the call ended I began to freshen up and look somewhat presentable. Eve had requested someone to bring up the bar cart, and I'm sure she explained it was an ASAP type of request and I'd probably have to bike over as soon as possible.

I threw on a pair of jeans with a slouchy white tee shirt and a parka. I walked out and it was fucking crispy out, like I could totally see my breath when I breathed out. I wasn't so used to this weather in Southern California and I didn't know it would get so cold so soon here, it was September for fucks sake.

Hopping on the bike I began my journey up to the top of the hill. Despite the sky being so dark, the premise was brightly lit with a bunch of light posts. Opened cottage windows shined brightly onto the cobblestone, guiding me through. It almost felt like this place was a safe, utopian village where time stopped. It was everything you imagined when you thought of the English countryside and I was becoming more in love with it each day.

I could hear laughter and cheers become more apparent as I began to reach Harry's cottage. Of course, the lovely blue bar cart was already parked in the road approaching the driveway. Eve really wasted no time at all when it came to catering to Harry Styles, I had never seen her so on top of things before.

"Hiya Colette," Michael, one of the porters who worked here waved at me as I went to approach the cart.

"I'm assuming you are the one who brought this on up here, are you staying?" I asked, hopping off my bike and planting it along the side of the vehicle.

Michael had a tight lipped smile splashed on his face, "Unfortunately, I am needed elsewhere tonight. Aaaaaandd... I kinda don't have a way back down to the main area so I'm going to need that bike of yours."

"Uh-uh, no way am I going to be held responsible for driving the cart back down after all this," I spoke back, pointing at the brightly lit up cottage in front of us.

"Just ring the front desk later, get somebody to ride up on a golf cart. We'll leave the bar cart here till morning, don't worry."

I gave him a harsh glare but allowed him to take my precious bicycle. "Good luck," He laughed as he started pedaling down the hill.

"Yeah, yeah," I mumbled to myself as I opened the back door of the cart, stepping up into the platformed area where a slew of alcohol bottles and mixers awaited me. Lucky for me there was a handy dandy drink recipe book laying around. I figured it would give me a rough outline for all these fancy drinks these fancy people would be ordering.

I grabbed my phone from my back pocket to shoot a text to Jeff announcing my arrival and that I was ready and waiting.

Colette Adkins: Hey Jeff. I'm here, pretty quickly too. Whenever people are ready they can come on out! :)

I hit 'send' and then took a quick look around to see what I was dealing with. A small opening with a wooden table was attached to the side, so I could hand over the drinks and they could order. Theoretically, this was a cute and great idea. Realistically, it was a total pain — not to mention very breezy. There was no sort of heating going on and I was so thankful I had chosen my giant parka in this moment.

The bottles to the right of me were adorned beautifully amongst one another, only the best of the best I presumed. I wasn't a huge drinker, I preferred a glass of Trader Joe's wine or an occasional white claw — mango flavored, of course. Did they even sell those here? Hmm, had to look that up when I got back to my room.

"Oi, oi!" A deep voice shouted out, happily walking down the driveway to my cart, arm wrapped around a beautiful blonde. Oh, so he has a girlfriend too? Harry strutted out from the house looking majestic, hair blowing in the wind with a big award winning grin. Jeff and another man with long hair tied up in a ponytail were following closely behind laughing and taking sips out of their crystal glasses.

I couldn't help but think that Harry looked extremely overjoyed, a huge difference from how I had left him earlier today. He wore a bright blue sweater with a baby chick on it and creme flowing pants — it definitely made a statement. And by the way he swayed when he walked, he was probably a little drunk, if not more.

As he approached me, his arm unravelled from the girl beside him and instead he plopped his elbows up on the wooden attached table and let his face fall into his tattooed hands. I couldn't help but notice a fresh coat of baby blue paint on his nails, sloppily done — I'm assuming done by him.

"So..." He trailed off with a beaming smile. "What are ya whipping up tonight Miss. Colette?"

I chuckled back at him nervously, 'not shit' I thought to myself. Maybe he'd be too drunk to notice how terrible my bartending skills will be.

"Oh and this, this lady right here is my lovely 'real world' assistant, Jamie. She's great," Harry added eagerly, gesturing towards the stunning blonde and bringing her back close to his side.

"Lovely to meet you both," I chirped. Jamie shot a smile back at me and reached out her perfectly manicured hand to me.

"Pleasure," She drawled with a thick London accent.

"We've been drinking a lot already but I think 'm down for some shots, yeah?" Harry called out to his small entourage surrounding the bar cart. Everybody laughed and I managed to throw a little wave to Jeff. I was relieved that it was only the four of them, I could only hope nobody else would show up. The smaller the crowd, the better.

"Well," I started, "I'm actually not a bartender and I have no idea what I'm really doing. A shot would probably be your best option, I can definitely fix that up for you."

"Pour it up then!" Harry exclaimed. "You got some tequila in there?"

I took a quick look to my side at the selection of alcohol, we had tons of varieties of almost everything. I mean it was quite an impressive collection for a little bar cart.

'Let me uh, actually, do you mind if I hop up in there with you?" Harry asked inquisitively, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. His eyes were glossed over with pleading eyes, lips pouty pink and his hair disheveled. I knew I shouldn't let him, Eve would have a fit if she knew he was coming up to try and make his own drink. Eve would also have a fit if I said 'no' to Harry Styles, though.

I didn't have much time to answer because Harry was already hopping up the steps and trying to make space for himself in the small little enclave inside the wagon. I couldn't help but get a whiff on his divine cologne, it smelled so musky and cozy — manly, but not too much. I looked down and Jeff, the pony-tailed man and Jamie were having their own sorts of conversation amongst themselves paying no attention to Harry and I, they were probably used to his drunken behaviors.

"So, what we do we have here, hmm?" Harry glanced over at the alcohol options. "You reckon you can make me one of those Rusty Nail drinks they make over at the Soho House in New York?" He put on a serious face, looking at me inquisitively before letting out a small laugh.

"I don't have an actual clue on that one," I laughed, knowing he was most likely not being serious. "Didn't even know a drink could be referred to as a Rusty Nail?"

"Indeed there is a drink called the Rusty Nail."

"Sounds terrible."

"I beg to differ, buuut, a tequila shot will have to subside. Casamigos?" Harry questioned, picking up the clear bottle and raising his shoulders at me suggestively. Oh, oh...so he wanted me to take a shot with him? That was a big no.

"You want me to take a shot with you?"

"Why fuckin' not? It's a celebratory night and it wouldn't be fair for you to stay sober whilst we're all getting hammered, eh?"

He was very considerate, friendly, too friendly. Like definitely doesn't know the fine line between business and friendship and I was strictly on the business side.

"I guess I'm a little cold, maybe a shot would warm me up..." I bargained, looking at the bottle and back to Harry's face, it was hard to say no to a grown man with a baby chick sweater.

"Aha!" He exclaimed, "Now everybody, come take a shot with the lovely Colette and I!"

I gave a look to Jeff worriedly, feeling as if he was going to reprimand me for agreeing to do this, but instead he waved his hand shaking the whole thing off with a laugh. Harry grabbed the very, very expensive shot glasses all in one hand impressively, I closed my eyes afraid he might drop one. With a hard ding he somewhat arranged them in an even line, sloppily filling them all up to the brim.

"Tonight," He began happily. "We celebrate a new era...new songwriting, new ideas...a much needed break." Everybody nodded their heads silently in agreement. "Mitch, my best and most talented pal, happy to have ya here with me. Jeff, can't believe you're leaving me for Glenne in LA, I hope she says, 'yes.'" Jeff raised his shot glass up laughing. I too held one in my hand, was there such a thing as a dramatic toast followed by a tequila shot? I suppose, in the lavish world of Harry Styles and company there was.

"Jamie, you're bloody great but get back home to that husband and child of yours in London. Enjoy some well deserved time off. And..." Harry turned to face me, "Colette, I already know you are a great addition to the team. Looking forward to seeing you show up at my door with an abundance of those fresh candles every week...cheers!"

The four of us raised our shot glasses and downed them quickly, the burn of the liquor tingling my tongue and throat. Holy shit, I had not had a tequila shot in so long I forgot just how gross they were. I let a little cough out as the tequila sank in, the warmth itching my throat.

Harry turned to me looking down, "What do ya say we sneak a couple bottles and just head into the cottage? Its cold out here."

"Not sure if that's allowed..." I started.

"Fuck it. Come on, grab your favorite one," He insisted, pointing to the bottles. "Let me guess you probably like them white claws or whatever."

"How'd you know?" I deadpanned pursing my lips.

"You Americans really have a huge thing for those, they're shit by the way," Harry teased.

"No they're not! They're delicious...especially the mango ones or, hey, have you tried the watermelon ones?"

Good one Colette, smooth, nice, funny, never been done before. I wanted to face palm myself in that moment. Harry snorted at my little joke though, so it couldn't have been that bad.

"Very funny you. Okay so, vodka?" He questioned, wrapping a few bottles in his arm. "Don't even answer that because it's what you're getting," He added jokingly. I didn't even have the heart to tell him I hated straight vodka because it was quite endearing the way he was trying so hard to be all inclusive. With the bottles in his arms, he teetered out of the bar cart, me following behind.

"Oh, Colette, come here!" Jeff insisted, waving at me. I walked up to him as he embraced me for a quick hug, I could tell he too was plastered. "This is Mitch. He's Harry's guitarist, super cool, one of us."

I switched my gaze to Mitch, the mysterious ponytail man. "Nice to meet you," He said shyly.

"You as well!" I said back cheerfully. I had barely eaten a thing today and just that one shot had created a small amount of excitement in me that wasn't there when I had first arrived.

"He'll be staying here with Harry, so I'm sure you'll be getting to know him some more. What do you think of Harry so far though?" Jeff asked inquisitively. We were all making our way up the driveway, Harry and Jamie were already inside.

"I mean, wow, he's great. Didn't really expect him to be so welcome and inclusive, if I'm honest. Can't help but think I'm overstepping my boundaries a little," I replied worriedly.

Jeff brushed it off casually, it was just now me and him on the front deck, everyone else was already inside. "That's just how Harry he is, he is just nice like that. I hate to try to be serious and all right now but, Harry's going through a bit of a tough time. This is his getaway for him, you know? He feels uncomfortable with the fact that you're here at his beck and call these upcoming months...so he is trying to make you see that you're now a part of his circle."

"Oh, wow." I didn't really know what to say. I'm assuming Jeff is probably that super emotional drunk, who just talks and talks trying to make a lesson out of everything.

"H is a great judge of character, though. He see's something in you, you left an impression on him earlier. He felt terrible kicking you —"

"Oi!" Harry hollered, abruptly opening the door and almost knocking my head. "Mate, I hate to cut you short but we're doing another round. Get the fuck in you two!"

Jeff sent me a 'told you so' look and we both happily pranced inside behind Harry, ready for whatever was to happen inside those

PART 2: THE BAR CART

#dog years #dogyearsmasterlist #Harry Styles #harry styles fic #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles ff #harry styles fluff #harry styles smut #1dff #harry styles imagines #harry styles imagine #harry styles series #harry styles x reader #harry styles x ofc #one direction fanfiction

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shizzlinghotbrason · 4 years ago

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ok so nearly everyone in the fandom is doing this and as sad as it is that we need to remind these simple things to people, I feel the need to talk about this too.

I won't make this too painfully long because I know y'all most likely already know this and I just wanna put out a basic list of shit you should always follow in the fandom. But for those who don't, a lot of fan content creators, be it artists or writers or just general fans trying to enjoy their time, have been leaving/quitting the fandom.

Why are they leaving, you ask? Toxicity. Toxicity nearly everywhere. People can't hold respectful debates or discourses on interesting topics regarding characters/the books/ships anymore without someone toxicly stating that only their opinion is correct, and going off on anyone who has different opinions carried with a lot of aggressive, rude and shallow behaviour. Fanartists have gotten death threats and are scared of drawing art for the Riordanverse without getting anxious af.

Now the thing is, having done those (eXcepT for the death threats) doesn't automatically make u an entirely shitty person. Maybe you made a mistake and came off as rude without rlly meaning to. That's okay. Here's how to identify if u ever did so, and to change that behaviour. Again, it's okay to make mistakes, but we rn as a fandom srsly need to try to turn things around.

Some basic shit you should remember being a part of the fandom:

• NO NSFW STUFF WITH MINORS!!! That means fanarts, fanfics etc. But here's the shocking thing- when someone does this, you can actually hold them accountable WITHOUT SENDING DEATH THREATS AND CROSSING THE BOUNDARIES! Cuz doing that only makes YOU stoop just as low. Pl e a s e remember that always and be respectful whatever you do.

• That being said, ppl are allowed to write nsfw stuff IF said characters are aged up, aka 18+. Ofc, it's a must that they put a content warning beforehand because many people may not want to read that. BUT, if you don't want to read it and if they've aged up the characters so nothing's morally wrong or gross, then please do NOT hate the author in the comments, do NOT report their post/account. Seriously dude, they gave warnings, if you don't want to read it just scroll past it's not that hard. Unless it's with minors, you shouldn't be reporting innocent ppl's accounts like that.

• one thing that I've seen a lack of in the fandom are trigger warnings. I've seen several fics whose covers are literally of blood. And entire chapters were written with intricate graphic descriptions yet with no trigger warnings or a tw wayyy down in the caption. you never know what may be triggering to someone if a lot of ppl see ur content but the least u can do is put trigger warnings on the most common stuff. I get that it may look aesthetically matching if it's a murder mystery sorta fic but isn't the well being of people more important?

• look I'm not saying you're not allowed to have opinions, but the problem is when you start treating your opinions like facts. I can't count the times I've seen someone state their opinion like it's facts and then trash on other's for having a different opinion. PEOPLE ARE ALLOWED TO HAVE DIFFERENT OPINIONS. Stop attacking people for liking Jason more than Percy or vice versa, there's no rule that you absolutely have to like one or the other, ppl can like who they want. When you're stating UR opinion, it would be nice if you used stuff like "I personally think that..." or "... that's just my opinion" because again, Ur opinion is just that, not a fact.

• if you can't have discourses or discussions about certain topics respectfully and nicely then don't have them. if someone's done nothing wrong but state their opinions and you don't like it, don't go attacking them. if you don't have anything good to say, shut up and just scroll past. it's not that hard. we don't need any more negativity in the fandom. If you feel like you're about to snap, mute or block the account you don't like and move on with life. But for the love of GOD don't go out of your way to be agresive or hateful to ppl. They have feelings too and run fan accounts for fun, not to get upset and hurt.

• when a fan account owner has made a post saying what they think of a certain topic, and you comment saying you think they're wrong and they reply that you didn't get the point of their post, then chances are you most probably actually did not understand what they were saying. when this happens, pls don't go on forcing ur opinion onto them as if you got what they meant when you didn't. Maybe next time when someone says you didn't get what they were saying, ask them nicely to explain it to you instead of going off like that?

• firstly, shame on you if you've ever run a hate account. just why? how much more negativity do you want to add? if you come across a hate account please please report it and block it and tell your friends to do the same. if you're targeted in a hate post, I'm so sorry, please know that they're shallow ppl just trying to make you feel shitty, you're dont have a trashy fan account; what they say is false and done purely to spite. report and block them.

• I know Rick has written a lot of racist bullcrap and hasn't batted an eye when we complained about them, but that still doesn't give you the right to send him death threats. Again, no death threats to anyone, yikes.

• don't use fanart that's racist. don't repost them either. Piper has feathers in it? don't repost it. also if you can't exactly and properly credit artists, don't repost their art saying "credits to the artist". I've done that before too but now I understand that's not right.

• also, while we're at it, can we all please universally agree on non-racist fanon stuff and get rid of racist canon stuff? like Piper and feathers, and piper & hazel with colourful and golden eyes, Piper's stupid not like other girls behaviour, and all the other bullshit Rick has put into the books. We as a fandom don't accept it and pretend they do not exist, no racism in this place 🥰‼️

• ppl are allowed to have their own headcannons, it doesn't matter what's cannon. Don't go "but in the books it's.." because in the books there's a lot of shit, and besides, if someone wants to headcannon Percy as brown? black? totally alright! they're allowed to do so! don't go bUt pErCy iSnT pOc iN tHe bOoKs. same goes with sexualities and etc headcannons. as long as they're not erasing the already representation of a minority, it's okay to have headcannons of your own. Like Hazel is canonically black and we should respect that and bring out the best of that, yk what I mean?

That's all I have to say for now. I'm usually a very light-hearted cursed meme account on here but things are getting out of hand. I was wanting to make my 8 yr old brother get into the Riordanverse fandom but seeing the situation of the fandom rn scares me. We need to think about the kids in the future who'll be in this fandom, whose lives will be changed and shaped by these books. Surely, the older people in the fandom before us would be utterly disappointed at what it's become and it's our job to constantly look out for the fandom.

If you're leaving/have left the fandom, I'm so sorry that it got to that point, but ur wellbeing comes first, do what you feel is necessary to feel better, all of us send lots of positive vibes towards your way! and to the peeps who've still decided to stay in the fandom and use their account to talk about this issue, I cannot express how thankful I am of you for doing such an important thing right now. And to everyone - as Harry Styles once said - treat people with kindness.

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shining-red-diamond · 4 years ago

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Shallow Waters (Part 1)

Words: 2.5k

Pairing: Hendery x Brittany (OC)

Rating: PG-15

Genre: fluff, some angst

Warnings: mentions of abandonment, illness, and

A/N: Banner credits to @dearyongs

Summary: When Brittany met a merman named Hendery, little did she know her life was going to change. Not only do they fall in love, learn about each other’s worlds, and create a life for themselves; but there’s also a mystery surrounding Hendery that could potentially put both of their lives in danger.

Sipping on her strawberry lemonade, Brittany was zoned into her book. The summer sun brightened up the beach in her backyard, a gentle breeze kept the weather cool, and she was relaxed on her lounge chair on her porch. Brittany hummed a tune as she read, a habit she had ever since she was young. In her mind, it was offered as background music whenever she read one of her books.

Little did she know that her voice had caught the attention of a certain inhabitant of the ocean. Hendery had seen her and wanted to talk to Brittany since she moved to an isolated area in the Florida Keys about six months earlier. Multiple humans had come and gone to where he roamed, but something about Brittany reeled him as if she were a magnet for him. He was a little on the shy side, but he had finally worked up the courage to talk to her. Explaining that he was a merman would be difficult, but he hoped she would understand.

As soon as she had walked inside of her house with the empty glass in her hand, Hendery took advantage of her distraction to sneak onto her porch. He was intending on standing there to wait for her until he noticed the book she was reading. The cover had gold lettering centered at the top, and an elaborate picture of a human boy in round glasses trying to catch a small, spherical object while riding some sort of flying object was printed under the lettering. Hendery couldn’t read human writing, but from the cover he could tell it was an adventurous story. He quickly flipped through pages, but there were mostly words. Only a few pictures showed up on certain pages.

As soon as Brittany returned outside, she immediately jumped at the sight of a strange, young man with jet black hair standing on her porch and flipping through her book. The shock caused her to nearly drop her drink.

“Who are you?” she asked him, keeping a distance in her startled state. “What do you want?”

Hendery tried to speak, but he didn’t know how to speak human either. He’d picked up a few words here and there, but all he could do was make little squeals and dolphin sounds and use his body to explain what he was thinking. The only thing he could get out was his name.

“H-Hendery,” he introduced himself as he pointed at himself.

“Is that your name?” Brittany asked, and he nodded. “I’m Brittany.”

“Brittany,” Hendery repeated with a smile.

She noticed the book in his hands. “Oh, do you like Harry Potter? I’m rereading the series.”

“Can’t read.”

“Oh…” she paused before changing the subject. “May I ask where you came from?”

Hendery pointed to the ocean, but Brittany just chuckled. “Very funny.”

He used his body language to insist that he was from the ocean, and by the look of sincerity on his face Brittany could tell that he wasn’t joking.

“Oh, are you a sailor?” she raised an eyebrow. Hendery shook his head.

He then took the book out of her hands, set it on one of the lounge chairs and had her follow him to the beach.

“Dude, where are we going?”

Once her toes were touching the edge of the shoreline, Hendery stripped his shirt and shorts off before instructing her, “Wait.” Before she could say anything, he was dashing to the water before Olympic-style diving into the ocean. An iridescent glow where Hendery dove nearly blinded Brittany for a second before he dolphin-jumped out of the water again. A flash of purple where his legs should be had sparkled in the sunlight.

Brittany couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

A merman? A real merman?

She shut her eyes and pinched herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. When she opened them, Hendery was sitting there on the beach, staring at her with confusion on his face.

Brittany could see his tail much clearer now. It was scaly, and each one was a beautiful purple and gold monochrome that also turned black in some angles. They faded into skin where the bases of his hips were.

“There’s no way this is real right now,” Brittany chuckled. “I must have hit my head. I’m dreaming.”

Hendery shook his head, and whispered, “Real.”

If she had already pinched herself once, she did it again but without this man knowing.

When she accepted that she wasn’t dreaming, she knelt down and asked, “May I touch them?”

Hendery had never been touched by a human much less any female creature. He hesitated a little, but he obliged. Taking her hand, he set to where he figured his shins would be.

“Gentle,” he begged.

“I will,” she promised.

Her fingertips carefully stroked his tail up and down, and the scales were smooth as a marble slab table with the exception of the gaps lining each one.

“Mermaids are real,” she whispered to herself.

“Yes,” Hendery replied.

Brittany faced him and promised, “I’ll keep it a secret if you want me to.”

“Please.”

“Okay. Can you turn human again? I can get you a towel to dry off with and something to eat if you’re hungry.”

Hendery nodded.

“I’ll be right back,” she said before rushing back into her house.

Lying there on his side, he watched as her slender legs carried her when she ran. Every inch of her was sketched into his brain: her flaming red hair, her eyes the color of the sea, and an hourglass figure like a mermaid’s. Hender was an observer, and as much as he watched her from afar some days, Brittany seemed like a kind person just from her actions. If she really was the most beautiful woman in the world to him, then it was definitely coming from her heart.

Brittany soon returned with a towel and his clothes that were abandoned on the beach, and he sat up a bit straighter. She helped him scoot away from the water to dry off properly. Hendery pat himself down, as he had done many times before with any absorbent cloth, and within a few seconds his tail split in a vertical line so delicately as clay being sliced in half with an invisible knife. His tail and scales melted into legs and feet, but Brittany quickly handed him his clothes before she saw too much.

“Thanks,” he smiled as she turned away to give him privacy as he dressed himself.

After Hendery was fully clothed, Brittany turned back around and asked him, “Would you like to come inside?”

“Inside?” he repeated.

“The house. I’m getting hungry, so I want to eat something for lunch.”

“Food?” Hendery’s eyes lit up as he smiled, showing off his sharp teeth.

Brittany nodded. She had heard of some merfolk having such sharp teeth, but her new friend’s teeth were like sharks. They nearly startled her as it was such a shock for her to see.

She breathed deeply to calm down. “What do you like?” she asked him as she guided him to her back porch.

“Fish.”

“Well, you’re in luck,” she smiled as she opened the door. “I’ve got plenty.”

Brittany’s house was the most beautiful thing Hendery had never seen in his life. It was all so clean and tidy with most of the furniture having a soft navy fabric on some of the human furniture. It was his first time inside of a human house, so he took in everything his eyes could see.

In the kitchen, there was a wooden table with six chairs, and a large kitchen island stood right in the center (he had seen human billboard ads kitchen ware of some place called “Home Depot”). Two metallic doors were built into one wall, and a sink was placed beneath a window. The cabinets were also a beautiful wooden, and Hendery was impressed at how clean Brittany kept it.

“Pretty,” he mumbled as he sat at the table.

“All I have is salmon,” Brittany interrupted his thoughts. “How do you like them? I just learned how to debone and prepare them.” She set out a wooden board on the island and placed three raw salmon fish on it.

Hendery looked at the fish for a few seconds before picking one up with his bare hands and chomping down on its head with his sharp teeth. He ripped the head off in the process, a few fish scales sprinkling onto the counter.

“That answers that question,” giggled Brittany. “Raw it is.”

As he ate, Brittany fixed herself a BLT sandwich and a glass of the remaining pink lemonade. She tore off a couple paper towels for her new friend and herself. Hendery raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“To clean off your hands and mouth,” she explained as she gave a small demonstration, and he nodded before continuing his lunch.

Brittany observed the way he was chowing down on the raw fish. It was as if he hadn’t eaten in a long time, and seeing how loosely the unbuttoned shirt hung on his body she could almost make out a couple of ribs poking out from his sides.

“Thanks,” Hendery said as he wiped his hands and mouth with the paper towel.

“You’re welcome,” she smiled. “Don’t worry about the scales. I’ll clean it up.”

Hendery nods. His eyes then casually wander around her house.

“It’s not much, but I like it.”

“Pretty,” the merman repeated himself from earlier, now poking at the faucet. He jumped when water automatically showered out.

Brittany chuckled as she tossed her empty plate into the sink. “You haven’t seen much of what humans do, have you?”

Hendery shook his head. “Little.”

“A little.” Brittany thought for a moment. She knew he couldn’t form full sentences, but she knew he was smart. Hendery was curious, and from the way he observed everything Brittany could tell he wanted to learn. A light bulb went off in her head.

“How about this?” she said. “I work in the mornings, but every afternoon you can come by and I’ll teach you how to read and talk.”

“Talk? Read?” Hendery’s eyes were lighting up. No human had ever offered to teach him to speak a language before. Sure, he understood hundreds of languages, but for whatever reason he lacked the ability to try to form a proper sentence. All he spoke to his friends were by different voice patterns and ocean soundwaves.

“Everything,” Brittany promised. “Just come knock on my back door and we’ll begin.”

Hendery nodded. Taking her hand in his, he pressed a gentle kiss to it. “Tomorrow?” he begged.

“Tomorrow.”

It was a Friday afternoon when Hendery began his reading and writing lessons with Brittany. She was an excellent teacher as her college degree was in elementary education, but she stuck with tutoring young children who needed phonics and spelling help in school. Hendery was no different from them in terms of learning the different phonics, vowels, and consonants. The first lesson was just the basics of the alphabet and what sound each one made. Flashcards with pictures and the letter, such as “M” for milk, were easy for Hendery to follow. The lessons did get harder with each lesson every day for about a month and a half, but Brittany taught him that practice and application are key in having the lessons stick in his brain. Of course, he got frustrated whenever he couldn’t get a syllable or pronounciation correct, but Brittany pushed him to do his best. Before long, Hendery was forming proper sentences to get his thoughts across to her.

“Okay, so as a final test,” Brittany concluded after their final lesson one Tuesday afternoon, “tell me about an adventure you’ve had in the ocean.”

“What story does Brittany want to hear?” Hendery asked. He had grown a habit of speaking in third person. Brittany had taught him first and third person point-of-view, but he liked speaking in third. She didn’t mind it a bit.

“Did you meet any other mermaids or mermen?”

Hendery shook his head as his smile dropped. “Hendery was abandoned when he was small.”

“What happened?” Brittany wasn’t expecting his answer to be so grim.

“He was too small and weak. His stomach couldn’t hold down anything his father gave him. Only fish.”

“Oh…” Her fingernails tapped on the table in a rhythm. “So, they just left you behind?”

He nodded again, but a grin came back to his face. “Hendery became friends with the sirens. They took him in, fed him, taught him to swim, hunt, and to communicate through sound.”

“Sirens?” Brittany repeated. “How many mythical creatures are out there that are real?”

“The Kraken is not real. The only octopus and squids that exist are only slightly taller than a human man.”

Brittany was now curious. She had only grown up hearing fairy tales about the mythological beings of the deep blue, but she always brushed them off as nothing more than stories. Now, that Hendery had entered into her life, she wanted to know which ones existed and which were hoaxes.

“Tell me more,” she begged as she pushed the notes for the lesson aside. “I want to know everything.”

“Is Brittany sure?” he teased. “There’s a lot of dangerous ones that could be harmful.”

“That’s what makes it exciting, and I know the perfect spot for us to talk.”

“Where?”

“Come with me,” she motioned with her finger, and Hendery followed her out the back door.

“But Hendery and Brittany have relaxed here already,” he whined.

Brittany giggled and took his hand. “Not here, silly. We have to walk and swim a little ways.”

Hendery got excited and held on to her hand tighter as she pulled him along. It was about a three minute walk before they came close to a pier stretching out in the ocean. The pier was nothing fancy, just a place where fishermen could come relax and catch a meal. Most of the time, it was empty mainly because it was a more isolated area. However, the two jumped into the water (Brittany had stripped her clothes off in the house, revealing a royal blue halter top bikini) and quietly swam underneath the bridge to avoid being noticed by two fishermen throwing their lines at the end of the pier.

Once they were far enough, the two of them crawled out of the water and onto the beach area. They decided to just naturally dry off in the sunshine, but it was a little chilly as the breeze kissed their skin.

“Hendery and the sun will keep you warm,” the merman offered, seemingly unbothered by the cool winds. Brittany just nodded in compliance and allowed him to wrap his arms around her waist as they sat down.

Leaning back against his chest, she immediately felt the warmth he gave off. Not only was the warmth nice and comfortable, but being held by her new friend likes this made her feel good inside. She could feel her cheeks turn as red as a firetruck, but she couldn’t help it. She wanted him to hold her forever, if he could. Hendery was discovering some new feelings for himself in that moment, and he knew deep down that he wanted to stay with his friend for as long as he lived.

“What does Brittany want to know?” Hendery asked, his voice cracking in shyness.

Tagging: @fantasywayv @ezralia-writes @queen-of-himbos @daybreakx @the32ndbeat @mafia-nct @philosopher-of-fandoms @neocitybyday @dreamystuffers @jaekissd Let me know it you wanna be tagged or removed

#kwritersworldnet #kdiarynet #nct-writers #kdiner #kpopscape #kpopficsnetwork #wayvwritersnet #nctcreations #neothestarsnet #nct #wayv #wayv hendery #wong kunhang #nct x oc #wayv fluff #wayv angst

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austarus · 5 years ago

Text

Harry Wells x Reader Crisis of Infinite Wells (Part 3 of 5)

**A/N: The picture/edit/gif does not belong to me. It belongs to @countlesswells

Part 1 Part 2 Part 4 Part 5

*Yes, I know this is super late, but I had so many exams and deadlines shifted due to the transition online. Didn’t help that finals were around the corner either. But I’m back, and hopefully I can make things right with my fics, especially with the fact that we’re not going to get the Alls Wells That Ends Wells episode this season thanks to Ms. Rona (Please don’t come after me T.T). Anywho, this ended up being super, SUPER, long and I have no regrets. I feel that we need this series more than ever. If you already haven’t make sure to check out Part 1 and 2. Don’t forget to reblog and leave a comment, I read them all!

Word Count: 6601

You took in a deep breath, simultaneously opening your eyes to find yourself being hovered over by Caitlin and Cisco

“There’s our sleeping beauty,” Cisco jokes, grinning at you before running back over to the monitors to get a screwdriver.

“Mm, it’s too bright here.” You winced and blinked a few times as your brain had finally registered the bright lights of the Speed Lab. Rubbing your face a few times, you moved slowly to sit up. Stretching your aching body, you cracked a few bones and let out a little noise in contentment. Eyes looking around for a bit, you saw that the Mindscape Machine was still out, and that Cisco had hooked you and Nash onto it. Nash was still knocked out on another bed though because of the sedation. He looked peacefully asleep, as if the weight of his expeditions and the murmurings at the back of his head were gone. He should be coming back soon, I hope.

Cisco noticed where your gaze had gone before grabbing your attention, “Cecile had to go back home to feed a fussy little baby Jenna and Joe, so we ended up resorting to the Mindscape Machine. Went smooth sailing, thanks to our very own resident genius engineer, no thanks needed. All in a good day’s work.”

“I figured when you chimed in saying that we needed to go to the Nexus of Nash’s mind to get out.” You pointed out.

“Nash should be waking up in an hour or so, he’ll be fine I promise. How are you feeling?” Caitlin asked softly as she checked you over for any sign of abnormalities before removing the wires from your head.

“Cold,” goosebumps were already breaking out through your body as a shiver goes down your spine. “Really cold, Caity. Can’t you STAR Labs techies afford heat or something?” You joked, watching a look of fake hurt cross Ciscito’s face, a hand automatically over his heart.

“Dude, it’s like beautiful outside and what am I doing? I was stuck in here babysitting Princess Aurora and Pebble Brain over there until you guys came back to reality. You’re welcome for that, by the way,” Cisco made a face, pointing towards the direction of Nash’s unconscious body with a screw driver before walking back to where you sat, “while fixing these bad boys up,” the mechanical genius gestures dramatically to the tech in the room. “Meanwhile, Barry and Not-Mirror-Iris are on a picnic date in Central City Park enjoying the sunny weather. One which I wanted to do with Not-Mirror-Kamilla first.”

You and Caitlin just giggled at Cisco’s dramatics. Caitlin gave you the ‘all clear’ that your neural functions were still working and that you should be coordinated within your own body.

“So, Persephone,” You rolled your eyes at the nickname and shook your head at the two. Cisco had basically dubbed you and Harry that even before you had gotten together. In secret of course, or else Harry would start throwing things at him for dropping obvious hints of his feelings towards you. It’s at least so much better than Romeo and Juliet because in all honesty, they had a tragic love story and that is something that my love life does not need. More tragedy, internal pain, and suffering. “Did you see your Hades again?”

“I did, yeah.” A soft smile crossed your lips as your mind replays the interaction, your cheeks dusting the lightest color of pink. Your gaze dropped down a bit as Cisco and Caitlin started going “Ooooooo” as if high school gossip girls wanting you to spill the beans while giving you that one look you know all too well. You didn’t have the heart to tell them to stop.

“How is he?” Caitlin asked while Cisco nodded, wanting to know if his friend’s okay.

“He’s good,” you responded with a smitten grin, and then made a little sheepish face. “They’re all good.”

“They?-” Caitlin frowned as she slowly asked with a raised eyebrow.

“-Excuse me? They?” Cisco had a look mixed with dumbfoundedness and disbelief. His mouth slightly open as you saw his mind comprehending that simple sentence. You just nodded with a slightly sheepish grimaced expression. “You-”

“-had to meet the entire Council of Wells and propose to them the Multi-Dimensional idea that could possibly save them all because my boyfriend and a select few of his pals convinced me to since apparently the Wells men tend to have lots of arguments and so they also tend to never get things done sometimes. Yeah. That happened.” You quickly rambling how you met the infinite Council of Wells and then slowed down at the latter sentence with a nod. Cisco and Caitlin were stunned in place as they had tried to keep up with every single word that you said. Before they could even say anything, you spoke up once again as you got off the bed to stand on wobbly legs. “Did I mention that Harry, Sherloque, and Wolfgang are the triumvirate lead of the Council and that Sonny’s their hype man, apparently? I did not ever see that happening.” You ran a hand through your hair, “I have seen things. Standing in a huge lecture-ish mental room in Nash’s mind filled with doppelgangers of Harrison Wells is something I just cannot unsee.”

“No, you can’t.” Cisco added in agreement, his arms crossed. “You met all of them?”

“I mean, sorta. I mainly just stood at the front where the Wells triumvirate take their spots to start their meetings. Ok, so like you know the Galactic Senate from Star Wars where Palpatine and Padme were in?”

“Hell yeah, I do. What do you take me for an uncultured swine?”

“So, like, the layout of the room was sorta styled like that.” Cisco looked slightly mind blown because Star Wars obviously. You located your leather jacket and put it on to have some layer against the cool wind of the AC. “How’s everything coming with the modifications?”

Cisco and Caitlin look at each other before Frost took over for a bit, “I think this is the part where we tell you that they’ve sorta hit a roadblock.”

“Perfect,” you deadpanned, with a slight pain reverberating at the back of your head. I need some coffee, you thought before collecting your things and giving Nash one last glance.

***

I jinxed myself when I told Cisco that I could handle this. Handle them and their stupidity. A frown plastered itself onto Nash’s face, his head throbbing at the legit argument going on at the back of his head. What about? Who the hell knows or cares? Rubbing his face then his temples when the headache started to radiate to the front, the dark-haired explorer let out another annoyed groan as a doppelganger started yelling to contribute to the argument. I have never been more annoyed at the sound of my voice. Nash’s been trying to mentally block them so he himself can think things out, but collectively it hasn’t been succeeding. His heavy footsteps carried him to the Med Bay, thankful that no one was here at this ungodly hour to see him like this. I need an icepack and multiple pills of aspirin. Nash snorted when a mental image of you scolding him for the number of pills he might take to ease the pain was conjured in his mind. You entertained him, is what he told himself, just like the rest of them.

As he entered the Med Bay, the door creaked and the dim lights from the labs allowed him to see a faint silhouette on the bed. Nash raised an eyebrow as he crept slowly towards the bed, gauntlet at the ready.

“Well, speak of the devil,” he whispered to no one in a low voice, forgetting about the throbbing and disgruntled voices in his head. Nash disengaged his gauntlet. On the bed, you were curled up with a thin blanket, clearly still cold, but sound asleep at this hour. Curled up like a kitten and cuddled up to a pillow. Nash’s blue eyes wandered to what’s beside you, seeing multiple papers messily put together and various binders littering the bed. Due to the dimness, he couldn’t really make out any of the writings on the paper at this angle, but the Wells doppelganger can only assume that they’re medical files for Barry and the others.

Nash’s blue gaze snapped back to you when you emitted a small noise as you shuddered. He didn’t know why, but he made a beeline for the cabinets and closets, finding another thin blanket hidden in them. At least two are better than one. He pulled the thin cloth over you, ensuring that you would be a little warmer than before. Nash’s gaze softened slightly at your tired expression that you carried even while asleep. Shutting his eyes for a bit only to reopen them, Nash curled his hand into a fist then uncurled it. He let out an inaudible sigh, his right hand reaching out to gingerly tuck a strand of hair behind your ear-

“-Don’t you dare touch her.”

Nash felt as if he was shocked on the spot, retracting his hand rapidly as he turned around, coming face to face with the source of the voice. Harry stood with his hands in his pants pockets, a glare present on his face as he watched his doppelganger with angry eyes. Clearly unamused that Nash was getting close to you. Harry’s words, precise and cold, had cut through the air like a sharpened knife, but you couldn’t hear him.

Nash swallowed, sending Harry a smile of mockery. “Don’t worry, I’m not trying to steal her away from you. Unless-” Nash spoke with a raspy voice.

“-You can’t even if you tried,” Harry retorted without hesitation. Nash rolled his eyes taking a few steps closer to his doppelganger. Both men exuded confidence and intimidation towards one another. “Watch yourself, Nash. I have her heart, just as she has mine.”

“You can keep the little lady, for all I care. She’s just good company, you would know that all too well, wouldn’t you Harry? And what do you know, she still owes me a favor. A favor in exchange for my help. I could have easily said no and kept the both of you separated because why would I care if her little heart remains broken and she loses sleep every night over it?” Nash bit down on the inside of his cheek, ignoring that mental image.

Harry glowered at Nash’s cocky words. “When I get back, I’m going to make you regret those words.”

“Look, I’m not interested in her, Harry. Get over yourself and keep her, she’s not that special anyway.” The tension and malice were intoxicating, hanging heavy in the room.

“Are you kidding me? I’m literally in your mi-”

“-Zhe petit fluer ‘as been overworking ‘erself again.” Nash jumped slightly at the new voice, letting out a frustrated breath before turning his gaze towards the French-accented voice. “And you two are ‘ere arguing over ‘er like ‘igh school boys.” Sherloque stood on the other side of the bed as he examined the papers from his height. He was clearly annoyed at both Nash and Harry, narrowing his eyes with an icy look on his face. “Merde, if you want to ‘ash it out, at least ‘ave zhe decency to do it outside,” Sherloque pointedly spoke, crossing his arms.

Harry and Nash briefly looked at each other before moving their gazes back to Sherloque only to find an empty space beside you. Sherloque had retreated back into Nash’s mind in order to sort things out with Wolfgang and the others. J'ai parlé de mes deux cents à ces deux-là. Sherloque took off his fedora and weaved a hand through his dark locks, glancing at the Nexus of Nash’s mind. “Et ce n'est pas bon de se mentir à toi-même, Nash,” the Frenchmen whispered with a knowing glint in his eyes, a stoic smile on his face.

You scrunched your nose and shuffled into a different position on the bed, almost knocking off a binder stack. Harry ignored Nash’s existence, taking a seat on the chair beside your sleeping form and noticing something that anyone else would have missed if they had not been together with you. Nash watched his Earth-2 doppelganger, seeing a certain look cross through Harry’s eyes. Harry slowly reached a hand out only to drop it knowing that he wouldn’t be able to touch you in this state. His hand formed into a tight fist as he dropped it by his side. Harry heavily sighed, shutting his eyes and running a hand through his hair. Nash raked his teeth over his bottom lip, feeling a tiny shred of guilt at Harry’s inability to be here with you. Reopening his azure irises, Harry’s heart stung, and it reverberated throughout his entire being. Oh, how he yearned to hold you again. To be able to wrap his arms around you and pull you close for warmth.

“She’s still cold,” Harry commented his observation, a slightly sullen expression creeping on his face. He readjusted his glasses. Nash raised an eyebrow at Harry’s words. “Just remember what I said. She’s not a prize. After everything you’ve done, she’d never willingly choose you in any lifetime.”

Nash blinked and Harry was gone, the explorer immediately regained composure of himself and his surroundings. Nash felt the tension leave his body, stretching a bit to relieve his muscles. I swear if I roll my eyes hard enough, they’ll fall out of their sockets. With a sigh, Nash gave you one last look before reluctantly shedding off his jacket and pulling it over you. The dark-haired man left the room without sparing you another glance.

What is even considered a prize anymore?

***

It’s been a couple weeks since you had entered Nash’s mind and spoken to the Wells men. Since then they had collectively collaborated with Barry, Cisco, and Chester via Nash to make necessary modifications and electro-/neuro-magnetic adjustments. “I present to you attempt #29,” Cisco announces, sliding out from behind the machinery, with a tool in hand, “which coincidently is the same number of one of my favorite Pokémon from the original 151 of the benevolent Kanto region.”

“Female Nidoran?” You and Barry both questioned the looked at each other. Nidoran is a pretty decent Pokémon, not gonna lie. Poison capabilities that are deadly with a combination of ground-type moves can really have opponents running for the hills without the proper Pokémon to counter its abilities and possible move-sets.

“What? She’s literally a freaking queen in battle and her move-set has been improving tremendously with every generation.”

“To be honest, Cisco, you always struck me for a Poliwag kind of guy when I first met you,” you quipped up. “But I got to say (Insert Favorite Pokémon Type)-types are more my style.

“Nerds,” Nash snickered to himself lowly. You whipped your head back to him, not clearly hearing his exact murmured words, but hearing his voice. The others didn’t hear anything. Nash dropped his gaze away avoiding your look, but not before narrowing his eyes at you. You just continued on with a questioning look, this time your thoughts circulating on if you’d done anything to offend this Wells doppelganger.

He’s been avoiding you since you had entered his mind, which at first you respected because having someone else enter your mind and intrude is weird enough, so you gave him his space. But then it started to turn into him throwing annoyed looks at you when you spoke, gradually and fully ignoring your existence in the Labs as the days went by. Even to the point of not seeking you for medical attention like he normally did when he injured himself in some way. Instead, Nash went to see Caitlin.

At first you thought nothing of it, Nash probably had his reasons for not wanting to speak to you and you had done nothing wrong in reality that you could recall. But then your anxiety continued to climb as one day passed after another. I’m not a bad physician, am I? I mean, I hope I not. I’ve been doing my best to suture and isolate every variable in order to make correct diagnostics. Nash even ignored you when you asked him if he wanted any coffee when you went on coffee runs. Was it the coffee pun I made? Everyone laughed at it.

“How are the modifications to the dimensional extrapolator coming along?” You asked turning your gaze back to the boys. You sort of regretted asking because you know that they’re going to start talking all quantum physics and math at you.

“Well, after analyzing the multiverse extrapolator and running diagnostics it’s… actually not fit to be modified,” Chester explained, holding up the piece of tech.

“Is that the bad news?” You raised an eyebrow at them, glancing back at Nash for any input, but were greeted with silence.

“I mean, this little baby over here may not be as functional as before, but it does still hold a variety of multiversal coordinates. In which we could cross reference those numbers with any pocket dimension coordinates that we happen to stumble across. Which I’ve got to say is so friggen cool! My world just keeps exploding, first there were multiple universes and doppelgangers, then black holes- but I created that on accident- my bad, by the way-” Chester continued in a quick ramble with a huge and excited grin on his face. If you didn’t know better, he seemed as eccentric as the energizer bunny, you just nodded along politely. “-And now we’ve got pocket dimensions! We really are breaking all the rules of physics-”

“-Chester, grab me the-”

Barry leaned in close, cutting off your focus from Chester’s hyper rant and Cisco’s shout, “We basically need to develop a new extrapolator.”

“That makes much more sense, but I was following Chester’s rant, thank-you-very-much. Sort of. ” you nodded sheepishly at your friend before sending him a teasing smile. Barry held his hands up in defeat. Barry let out a laugh. “How’s Iris?”

The speedster nodded, directing his gaze to the side so you two can side bar. “She’s doing ok, keeping an eye on Eva while running the Citizen. The headaches have receded, but she’s a bit disoriented at times. I’ve had Cisco and Chester install different meta security measures in case Black Hole decides to make a guest appearance.”

“But is she ok? Mentally?”

“She’s… jumpy at times. Iris told me she trusted Eva when she entered Joseph’s hidden lab. That Eva was the reason that she doubted herself in seeing the truth and her instinct that Iris’s always trusted. She told Kamilla the same thing. We’re trying to work through it.”

You patted Barry’s back, “Just let me know if I can do anything to help. If it means anything, Harry taught me how to use his pulse rifle for a worst-case scenario.” You grinned up at him, secretly always wanted to have a reason to put your sessions with Harry to the test.

Barry chuckled and shook his head, knowing that Harry would kill him if he had allowed you to be put in harm’s way. “I think we’ll be good, but thanks for the tip.” You pouted at your best friend before a small laugh leaves your lips.

Nash took a glimpse of you over his shoulder as you giggled at your best friend. He thanked the stars that he was able to reuse the tech from an older MAD produced by Harry and synthesized it to become a mental block between him and the other Wells so that they wouldn’t interfere with his thoughts or pop up randomly. Nash called it Psyche Block. All he had to was to make sure it was on whenever he was in the labs. She hasn’t been sleeping well. He could oddly tell with one look. That small moment of weakness allowed the sharpened tool in his hand to slip his grip and pierce the skin through his entire palm. The dark-haired Wells let out a sudden gasp, blood oozed out profusely. A few droplets had fallen onto the hard drive of the Neural Splicer, short-circuiting it. Your ears caught the noise somehow, frowning your eyes caught Nash leaving with quick steps.

“I-I gotta go…” you whipped your head back to Barry, who had watched the glances that you had thrown at the Wells doppelganger since you entered the room. You pointed to the Speed Lab’s exit, “Do this… this thing.” Barry nodded with a teasing grin at your awkward attempt to excuse yourself, gesturing towards to door.

You were already leaving as you spoke to the speedster. Entering the corridor with swift feet you slightly managed to catch up to Nash. Damn him and his long legs.

“Nash!”

Nash’s blood ran cold at the sound of your voice. He willed himself to not look back, instead to carry on his way to the Med Bay. You saw that he clearly ignored you, which caused an ache to echo throughout your body. With every fiber of your being, you sprinted forward as fast as you could to come to a stop right in front of him causing the geological myth-buster to stop as well, midway to the medical room with an irritated façade on his features. Nash remained silent as you caught your breath, he held a cautious hand out to put up distance between you both, to not have you come any closer.

You opened your mouth to question him instantly at his gesture, but your eyes quickly caught sight of his bloodied hand. Sharp instincts assessing that the wound had been the cause of his escape from the Speed Lab. “You’re hurt.” You ignored his eye roll, taking a step forward and snatching his hand gingerly to examine it. He hadn’t realized that he stopped you with his bloodied hand. The droplets of red had splattered onto the concrete floor, creating a puddled mess of crimson. “Nash this needs stitches. Immediately.” Looking up at him, Nash exhaled roughly side-glancing away in frustration before meeting you with cold eyes. But you did not yield under the coldness. “I can suture this. All we nee-”

“-I don’t need your help,” was his rapid and frosty response. He blinked at you, holding his ground.

“Then who’s help are you going to need, huh!? Caitlin? Last time I checked she was at her mother’s facility because of the bullet-light-energy shot that Black Hole gave her,” You frowned deeply at him with fiery eyes, you had never combusted like this in a really long time. “Can you suture this by yourself?” You asked rhetorically. “This cut is too deep to just put a band aid on it and call it a day.” Nash opened his mouth to retaliate, but you cut him off in a softer voice. “I know that you hate me,” Nash narrowed his eyes at those words, “but let me help you.”

Nash pursed his lips, looking into your pleading eyes and inwardly cursed himself. With a sigh, the older man followed you to the Med Bay, where you proceeded to stitch him up and fully sterilize the wound from the blood and bacteria/bacteriophages that could enter the cut.

“You’re only looking after me because of Harry.” You heart stopped at the sudden words, slicing the air of the room. “What? Nash, that’s not true.”

Nash let out a mirthless laugh. “Isn’t it?”

“It’s not, I can’t believe you would even think that.” You berated him with a serious look, but he just waved you off. You pursed your lips at the silence. “Why do you hate me?” You looked up as you finished your work, eyes meeting his light blue colored ones that you had stared into before. Nash licked his lips, eyes darting to anything else, avoiding the kicked puppy look on your face.

“I don’t hate you.”

“Was it the coffee pun?”

“No”

“The Pokémon nerd talk?”

“Unfortunately, no”

“Then, what is it?”

“It’s- I…” He started, taking a breath in. “Quae dicunt, facite vobis cor eius. Quod pertinet ad eum. Nusquam potuerunt alium, qui non pertinent ad quis enim concupíscit.” The dark-haired man raked an uninjured hand through his hair as he fisted his wounded one, feeling its stitching.

“What?” You raised an eyebrow in confusion. Nash stubbornly shook his head, not wanting to repeat his words.

“Nash, I don’t understand what foreign, dead language you just spoke, but you’re my friend. I’m always going to care for my friends, even and especially when I’m involved with Harry. They’ll always be in my heart, no matter what. And that includes you too, you stubborn idiot.” You grinned at him with sincere intention, placing a hand gently on his clenched fist. A reluctant smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Now, you need to let that heal. So, no tech tinkering or spontaneous adventures in the middle of the day until the stitches come off, doctor’s orders.” You winked, smiling widely at him. You moved to leave the room, throwing one last look back at him.

Don’t- Don’t fucking do that, Nash bittersweetly thought to himself as he rubbed his face when you left the room. Don’t give me that… that smile, saying things like that. He sighed for the nth time that day, unfurling his hand to observe your handiwork.

***

You entered Nash’s mindscape once more, searching for Harry to spend some time with him. Nash had opted to stay behind until you were ready to leave his mind, particularly moody about not wanting to see his doppelgangers because he sees enough of them. He had upgraded the MAD 2.0 so that Cecile’s presence and powers wouldn’t be required for today. Nash, the Wells, and the Team Flash boys have been working closely the past couple of days to ensure that the Psyche Segregator (that’s the current name for all the machines interwoven together) would be fully functional. The extrapolator was essentially finished, it just needed the proper orientation for dimensional coordinates that the Wells doppelgangers would need to report.

You walked down the rocky caves of Nash’s mind before hitting a modern looking corridor that similarly belonged to a level in STAR Labs. With a questioning look, your feet continued on as you decided the top floor would be the place that Harry should reside in with Sherloque and Wolfgang. Entering the vacant elevator and ascended each level, you soon found yourself in front of what looks to be Harry’s office from Earth-2.I guess you can change the layout of things if you’re the Mindscape’s master. You pushed the door open, the lights automatically illuminating the room before scanning the area to find it vacant. Your shoulders sagged a bit. Where is he? I thought Nash told Harry that I was coming. Glancing around a bit, you took a seat at the main desk, finding Harry’s glasses. You made the mistake of putting them on as Harry entered the room with a coffee mug in hand. Harry froze at the door as your gaze instantly locked onto his, glasses still on his face. You blinked at one another. It didn’t take long from a wicked grin to cross his handsomely rugged features at the sight of you.

“Don’t you know you shouldn’t take what’s not yours?” Harry shut the door and came around the desk. So he decided not to show up this time. Harry quickly dismissed the thought from his mind, shifting his focus more to you. He noted your exhaustion and would berate you regarding it later.

“Who said they couldn’t be mine?” You teased back as you stood up, slipping the black frames off you and folding them to clip the glasses onto the collar of your top. Harry let out a deep chuckle, a giggle leaving your own. Your boyfriend set down his cup of java on the upper corner of the desk and dipped down to kiss you. He nipped at your lips when you responded to his sweet kiss before pulling away. Harry enjoyed the slight flush on your cheeks, a reaction only he could elicit with his existence. “What was that for?”

“What? I can’t give my lady a kiss?”

This smooth fucker. The heat in your heart intensified at his words and adoring gaze. You were going to unclip his glasses and hand them to him, but his hand stopped you. To anyone observing the scene, they can literally see heart eyes happening between the two of you. “Your lady may want more than just a simple kiss,” You giggled, your voice lowly enticing before pulling him back in, cupping his face with steady hands as your lips collided. Harry let out a laugh against your mouth, bracing his arms around your waist only to maneuver you to sit atop the cool desk.

Gasping at the sudden movement, Harry pushed his tongue into your mouth. You allowed him to slot himself between your legs, pulling him closer and running feather-light touches through his untamed hair. He groaned against you at your touch. God, you missed this closeness! Every time his lips met yours in fervor his grip on your hips would tighten slightly, sending a small shiver to run down your spine. How is it that this all feels so real?

His name escaped your swollen lips when Harry decided to head south, nipping at the nape of your neck before sucking on your sweet spots. How could he forget where you’re most vulnerable to his touch? Your hands gripped onto his shirt. A small noise left your lips, tilting your head more to the side to give the Harry more access to continue his conquest. The room felt hot, your body on fire at every one of Harry’s kisses as he marked your skin. You breathed his name again and Harry could not think straight. One of his strong hands left your side and cradled your face as his lips re-connected with yours once more in a searing kiss. His thumb gently stroked your cheek. How can the way you simply utter his name allow Harrison Wells to abandon all self-control?

Sherloque strode into the room with his cup of tea only to almost drop it at the scandalous scene in front of him. “Mon Dieu! Ayez de la décence!” You and Harry had ripping apart from each other at the sudden outburst, both of your heads snapping towards him. Harry sent a glare at Sherloque, who responded with an annoyed eyeroll at the couple. “At least lock zhe door if you’re going to get all ‘andsy wizh each ozher,” the detective grumbled before leaving the room and shutting the door. Your cheeks were on fire at this point, opting to look at your folded hands that rest on your lap. But Harry did not look ashamed in the slightest, instead a smirk on his face at your sudden bashfulness. You soon snapped out of your embarrassment when a thought had crossed your mind.

“Harry?”

“Hm?”

“Did you say anything to Nash?”

“No,” he lied, glancing up towards the ceiling.

“Uh huh,” you looked at him dubiously with narrowed eyes, “you know that I can tell when you’re lying, right?” You spoke with crossed arms.

“…” Harry’s eyes met yours and you raised a questioning eyebrow at him for an answer. He briefly shut his eyes before reopening them, “I may have… warned him not to come near you and such.”

“Warned or seriously threatened to utterly destroy?”

“… maybe a bit of both…”

“Harry!”

“What?! Do you not see the way he looks at you?”

“The way he what!? Harry, he’s my friend. Just like Sherloque and HR.” You sighed as he pouted sheepishly at you. “Honestly, you know I only have eyes for you.”

“I know, it’s just…” Harry trailed off.

“It’s just?”

“I’m not here. Physically here, to be by your side. To go home with you at the end of the day. Especially at the labs when other versions of myself show up out of nowhere and seem to try to get all chummy with you.”

You blinked at Harry a few times. “Are you… jealous?” Harry didn’t respond, grumpily frowning at your words as he attempted to avoid your gaze. He didn’t like that word. “You are, aren’t you?” The butterflies in your stomach fluttered as you teased him, knowing that his silence was proof enough. Harry sighed, pulling you in a close hug and you felt his head nod in dejection. Harry didn’t want to admit it out loud, that’s just how he is. You rubbed his back, “You know it’s ok to be jealous, right?” Harry let out a sarcastic exhale, resting his chin on your shoulder. You kissed the side of his head, “How do you think I felt every time a young bachelorette sauntered her way towards you at all those galas that we attended? All those thirst cubes you kept receiving? I swear Jesse had to hold me back before I was about to throw some hands, verbally and politely, but effectively scathing.”

Harry snickered at how you’ve dubbed the cubes he’s received from various women ‘thirst cubes’. “Every night, you were the only thing that I would see.” You gave him a tight squeeze before pulling away to give him a soft kiss.

“And you’re the only Wells that my heart wants to be with.” You smiled up at him before it suddenly dropped.

“What?” Fear grappled Harry’s heart. “What is it?”

You swallowed your own fear that had climbed into your throat. “It’s just… this is the last time that I’ll see you before… we have the systems go online to-” You trailed off as you directed your gaze to the ground, gesturing to your theory going into action as you did so. Harry pursed his lips, tilting your head up to look at him. Your eyes glistened in the calm lighting of the office, your voice cracking, “I’m not going to be there when you wake up, Harry.” The realization struck him as well, his eyes glancing down for a split second before meeting yours again.

“I’ll still find you. I’ll still come for you on Earth-Prime.”

There was a sudden knock at the door that snapped yours and Harry’s attention towards it, followed by a clearing of the throat and a thick German accent. “If you bozh are done in zhere, I’d like for eine kleine assembly to ‘appen.”

***

Diese beiden schwöre ich. “I don’t… even vant to know vhat you two vere doing.” Wolfgang deadpanned, holding blueprints in one hand and adjusting his glasses. Sherloque stood beside him with a new cup of tea in hand, this time without a fedora.

“We would never-”

“-We were having fun.”

You stumbled over your own words while Harry had owned up to his. You failed to realize the light hickies still on your neck until Wolfgang narrowed his eyes at you and Sherloque rolled his eyes as he watched the exchange. Harry knew they were there; he just didn’t point out that they were visible arm’s length away. Damn it, Harry! Your cheeks heated up and now you’re wondering if your real body now has hickies on them because there’s about to be some words thrown your way by two or three particular members of Team Flash.

“Ah ah ah ah, nein. None of zhat,” the German waved you two off with his hand, “just keep your ‘ormones at a decent level until ve get our bodies back. Zhen you two idiotenliebhaber can do whatever it is you two do when not in a crisis.” You dipped your head down shyly, but that didn’t stop your boyfriend from nudging your side and giving you a smug-ass grin. You glowered at him as he wiggled his eyebrows at you before Wolfgang caught your attention again. “Anyvay, ve need to discuss somezhing else vizh you. Sherloque und I vill also be coming to Earzh-Eins.”

“Why?”

“In case,” Harry started, “I don’t make it in time to recalibrate the Multiversal Communications Projector before all the others. Earth-Prime will essentially give the green light to the others in the multiverse to send in their coordinates.”

“We’ve already figured out Earzh-Prime’s dimensionale coordinates,” Sherloque added in. “Une sécurité intégrée vaut mieux que rien.”

You nodded at their words. I mean it makes sense, but… Wolfgang took out a couple sheets of paper that had been rolled up and hidden in the rolled-up blueprint file, handing it to you. “What’s this?”

“Ein liste of names of all the present Vells who’s neurological vavelengths are entangled vith Nash’s,” Wolfgang stated nonchalantly. “It seems zhat some Earzh are either permanently vacant or do not ‘ave ein Vells.”

“Like Kara’s Earth, old Earth I guess,” You responded, holding the sheets. “She’s Supergirl, used to live on Earth-38. Barry had accidentally multiverse jumped to Earth-38, thanks to Harry. He said that no one from Team Flash’s doppelgangers were on Earth-38, unlike Earth-2 and Earth-19.” Earth-19 Your eyes scanned the list; Wolfgang had done you a great favor in numbering it in Earth order. Could he..? The thought was soon shut out as you looked through the list.

Harry watched as your shoulders sagged, knowing who you were looking for. He pocketed his hands as a fake smile plastered itself onto your face.

***

The day had finally come. It’s time for the boys to come back home. Everyone had gathered in the Speed Lab. The machinery interconnected to one another as if interwoven into one mechanical creature. Your heart pounded in your chest and those dubious thoughts returned, but you willed them back. You needed to believe that this can work. Chester and Cisco were calibrating the tablets and satellites, running newer and improved diagnostics for this moment.

“That favor, that you owe me,” Nash’s voice caught your attention, snapping you out of your trance. You looked up at him with a quizzical look.

“Yeah?”

“I’m cashing it in,” Nash’s voice rasped as he took your hand. You humored the geological explorer. “Protect Allegra,” he whispered, his eyes glancing in her direction as her was turned because she was added the finishing touches with Cisco. The simple wish had surprised you, yet at the same time it didn’t in the slightest. “Please.” He sounded like a dying man marching to his death. And in a way he was if this doesn’t work.

“Always,” you nodded at him. Leaning up, you kissed his forehead softly before placing the Psyche Segregator on his head. “Thank you.” Nash remained silent and only closed his eyes as he sat back down. Releasing a breath, he reopening those piercing blue eyes filled with determination, but you can see that behind it there was a form of fear. He nodded. You nodded back at him, taking a step backwards before looking at the others. It’s time. Cisco handed you the tablet that held the ignition keys. You took in a breath, the weight of the tablet seemingly heavier than ever before. A multiverse of lives held within the tips of your fingers, only fate will decide if they live or die.

Your eyes met Nash’s one last time. Doubt choked your heart, but there was no going back. “Here we go,” you spoke each word slowly before pressing the button to ignite the Psyche Segregator.

Translations (Via Google Translate):

French

J'ai parlé de mes deux cents à ces deux-là - I've spoken my two cents to those two

Et ce n'est pas bon de se mentir à toi-même, Nash - And it's not good to lie to yourself, Nash.

Mon Dieu! Ayez de la décence! - My god! Have some decency!

Une sécurité intégrée vaut mieux que rien - A failsafe is better than nothing

Latin

Quae dicunt, facite vobis cor eius - Your heart is its own treasure

Quod pertinet ad eum - It belongs to him

Nusquam potuerunt alium, qui non pertinent ad quis enim concupíscit. - It could never belong to anyone else who yearns for you.

German

Idiotenliebhaber - idiot lovers

Diese beiden schwöre ich - These two, I swear

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minsugapie · 5 years ago

Text

Mary’s Song: part 12a (2063 words) - I liked you

• • • • • •

Jeon Jungkook wasn’t just your anime-loving, manga-drawing, hair-pulling, ex-neighbour. You hadn’t even spoken to him since he had moved away. But the world worked in funny ways because...

He was probably the reason you were still alive.

• • • • • •

“And our daddies used to joke about the two of us

Growing up and fallin' in love

And our mamas smiled, and rolled their eyes

And said, "Oh, my, my, my””

• • • • • •

previous // current \\ next

masterlist

• • • • • •

Tags : @minhyuksfatgf @igotarmyofarohas @dixonsbugaboo @thealexalcala @salty-for-suga @worshiphoseok @okaysoplshelpme @jeonlovers @acupfullofsuga @beach-bitch-bitch-beach @hannahdinse8 @jaiuneamesolitaiire @dammit-jjk @dreamcatcherjiah @xxxanimangxxx @wrmnssoul

• • • • • •

i was feeling fluffy i guess...

• • • • • •

“I think it’s great that you finally told your mom about what’s happening,” Jungkook said as he walked into the bathroom. You were currently inside, brushing your teeth.

You make eye contact with him through the mirror, trying to smile through the toothpaste covering your lips and the toothbrush sticking out of your mouth.

He grabbed his toothbrush from out of the cup and started brushing his own teeth. You hadn’t stopped looking at him as he did this, completely forgetting what you were in the bathroom for. You didn’t realize you had been staring at him until he bumps you with his shoulder, meeting your eyes through the mirror once again. You quickly finished, finally breaking eye contact.

“I’m going to take the couch tonight…you can have the bed,” you meekly said, ducking your head as you walked through the door. You were glad he didn’t say anything or argue with you.

Being around Jungkook still made you nervous, and you always felt embarrassed around him and even more so now that your mom revealed that he’s essentially broken your heart. It wasn’t something you’d ever wanted him to know. You actually didn’t even let him finis brushing his teeth before you walked down the hall and back to his room to grab your pillow and the blanket that Jungkook had been using on the couch.

Jimin and Taehyung were still both at the studio, finishing up the album, since Yoongi had to leave quickly the other day without giving a reason why. But they were all friends and the album was ahead of schedule, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

Settling onto the couch, it was quiet. You wondered if Jungkook was going to walk to the kitchen to get his nightly glass of water, but you must have been tired because you fell asleep. Whether he got that water or not, you’d never know.

You thought something felt off when you went to bed that night…and it wasn’t just because you took the couch. It wasn’t like you were exactly the most sound sleeper to begin with, but this was just something that made it even harder.

In the time you’d been there, you’d woken yourself up with a scream twice, but there was something new about the nightmare that you had that night. The scream this time was worse than it had ever been before. It was louder, and it took longer for you to wake up from it. You were stuck in your imagination.

It was awful and actually just a stupid, stupid dream. You were laying on the ground, helpless, while Nic was a dementor from Harry Potter that was sucking out your soul—which is essentially what had been happening in your relationship with him.

In fact, the only reason you awoke was because Jungkook shook you awake, for a while. “Y/N! Y/N! Wake up!”

There were tears streaming down your face when you opened your eyes to a very concerned looking Jungkook. He was quick to wipe the tears from your cheeks and comfort you in any way that he could. “So you want to talk about it?” He whispered, helping you sit up.

You shook your head with a sniffle, letting the comfort from Jungkook wash over you.

“Do you want to take the bed? I can sleep on the couch again. You seem to sleep better in the room…” What Jungkook didn’t realize was the fact that the room was so much like him and was full of his smell, so it automatically comforted you. Jungkook, regardless of what he did to you in high school, used to be your knight in shining armour. Yeah, he used to tease you and pull your hair, but at the end of the day, he had your back. And you still had his back even after how he treated you.

“I’ll take the bed…but will you stay with me, Bun?” You asked, getting up and grabbing his wrists to bring him with you. “…at least until I fall back asleep?”

Jungkook didn’t exactly answer, but he let you drag him towards the bedroom anyways. Quickly, he asked himself, “I wonder when Tae and Chim are coming home? That would have been some scream for them to hear…”

When you settled under the covers, you waited for him to lay beside you. You took the side that you had slept on before. Jungkook stared at you for a few seconds before he hesitated to get under the covers as well. He was rigid as a board laying beside you until you told him to relax. “Bun, we used to take baths together for Christ’s sake…I think you can loosen up a little.” You could have taken your own advice while brushing your teeth earlier.

He turned his head to looked at you, before he looked at the ceiling again. “It’s different this time because I should tell you some things, but I’m not sure if it’s exactly the right time for it…” He admitted. You looked at him with a curious expression. You should have been trying to fall back asleep, but you were wide awake now, nightmare of Nic leaving your mind completely.

Jungkook finally turned towards you, letting his body relax. You were both laying on your sides, facing each other.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I need to tell you why I was an asshole to you back in high school. Otherwise, I’m going to go crazy.”

You scrunched up your eyebrows at what he said. You didn’t need him to explain himself after all these years. You were both adults, and you were sure that he was just annoyed that you’d been following him around for years.

“No. Don’t look at me like that, Honey. This is something that I need to get off my chest. You should be me at me because you did nothing wrong. Listen, I can’t believe I’m admitting this to you, but I consider you my first love…the one that got away.”

You were surprised at what he admitted. You never once expected him to say that…especially because that was exactly who he was to you.

Continuing, he closed his eyes but grabbed your hand under the covers, “I was a jerk because when you got into high school, you stopped paying attention to me. I thought that it was something that I wanted. Hell, I even prayed for you to leave me alone! But when you finally did, I wasn’t happy. You were always mature for your age, and when all the girls around you were giving all of us older boys attention, you kept your distance. You didn’t even notice that boys were paying attention to you either. It started to become obvious to everyone that I wanted your attention, and the only way that I could get you to react to me in any way was to be mean and make you pay attention to me that way. Obviously, I liked you.”

Your mouth fell open about halfway through his speech. How were you supposed to respond to something like that? What you’d wanted to hear from him for your whole life, a confession, just happened, but it was past tense. And anyways, why were you even worried about it? Clearly relationships just weren’t for you. Nic and Jungkook proved that.

Jungkook bit his lip as he waited for some sort of reaction from you. When you failed to say anything and only continued to stare at him, he spoke again, “And since I’ve already shared so much, I might as well admit that I modelled the main character of my webtoon after you. I’d never payed attention to anyone as much as I did to you, so it was easy to draw her, my character I mean.”

You cracked a smile at that. Everything that he said to you was really flattering, especially the webtoon bit. “If I’m not mistaken, you used to draw me when we were little, too, but I was more of a typical manga-style character back then. I always believed in your dream to be an animator, you know. I was your biggest fan, Bun.”

“You’re not mad?” He subconsciously scooted closer to you as he asked this. You noticed, however.

“I’m not mad. If there’s any man in the world I should be mad at, I think we know who it is.” There was not one inch of your body that still liked Nic. His face, although conventionally attractive, was ugly. You couldn’t even believe that you’d loved him. You’d fallen out of love a while back. It was even before you first started your escape plan. So, the slight increase in your heartbeat from Jungkook was not exactly unexpected, although it definitely was currently unwanted.

“Well, I’m glad you found me again, Honey. Although, it fucking sucks that it had to be in this type of situation.”

His eyes were closed again, but they shot open you grabbed his hand and placed it on your head.You looked at him with the cutest face you could muster.

“Are you going to try to sleep again?” He asked, starting to play with your hair. It was exactly what you’d wanted when placing his hand there.

You took a deep breath, yawning in the process. “Yeah.”

“You don’t want me to sing?”

With a small smile, you replied, “Can’t you play with my hair and sing?”

He scoffed. “You’re lucky I still feel kind of guilty. Now close your eyes and listen.”

• • • • • •

Jimin was waiting behind Taehyung as he unlocked the door to the apartment at 3:30 in the morning. They’d been at the studio all night, but the album was finally complete. It felt amazing, but they were all in need of sleep. Yoongi was groaning for the last couple hours about getting back to Cherry and Jimin just couldn’t take it. He could handle lovey-dovey couples, but they were a lot to handle sometimes. He wasn’t an idiot—he knew that Yoongi had left the other day to go to her. Jimin loved Cherry, he really did, but all this stress about the album was making him bitter. He hadn’t had a girlfriend in years, and he hadn’t gotten laid in months.

It was nice having at least one friend that was single, but even Jungkook was starting to get closer to you, who was his childhood “unrequited” love.

“Yah…It’s good to be home,” Taehyung said a little too loudly, cringing at himself before walking into his bedroom. He’s gotten the master bedroom when Yoongi moved out, and it had its own bathroom. Lucky fuck.

Jimin closed the front door and immediately went to the living room to see who was on the cough tonight. He was surprised to find it empty. Maybe one of you was in the bathroom?

But when he walked to the bathroom, the lights were off.

Did Jungkook send you off to Cherry’s again? It was almost a waste because he just ended up singing to you over the phone to get her to fall asleep anyways. Speaking of that, literally none of them knew that he knew how to sing. Jimin was still shook.

Walking past Jungkook’s room to get to his own, he had to backtrack when he passed the door because he could have sworn that he’d seen two people in the bed. He wasn’t wrong. There were, in fact, two people in the bed, but they were only taking up about as much space as one person needed.

Jimin had to take a picture of them. Jungkook had you wrapped in his arms, fingers softly resting between strands of her hair. Judging by the nearness, Jimin assumed that your legs were tangled together. Your head was cradled into his chest, hands tightly tucked between your bodies.

It was cute, he had to admit—especially for two people who hadn’t seen each other in years. What really set him off was the fact that Jungkook’s lips were almost pressed against your forehead, brushing your skin with every breath he took.

Jungkook didn’t want to admit it, but he had it bad for you...even now. Jimin wondered if maybe the reason he’d never dated anyone before was because he’d still been hung-up on the girl currently in his arms…

On a completely separate note, he’d sure be using this photo for personal gain in the future.

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sweeethinny · 4 years ago

Text

You’re The Right One - Chapter 1

There are people we would walk through the fire for, people we never imagined we could meet, and for James S. Potter, that person is Mira Hazel. The temperamental madwoman who was in the compartment next to him in Hogwarts' first year, and who has been by his side ever since. In the fifth year, however, Mira begins to gain another angle through James' eyes, however much he doesn't want it. You shouldn't look at your best friend that way, let alone want to kiss her every time they're close. He definitely shouldn't be jealous of her. She is just your friend, best friend, and James should put his head in place and forget about all this crazy stuff to avoid problems ... But he never went after problems, anyway, they always find a way to find him.

AO3

first of all, I would like to thank @theroomofreq who is beta of this fic, thank you very much for helping me to put this story in the world <3 this is a story that is almost finished in the original version, so my days of creative block will not hinder her progress

that’s it, thank u if you’re read till here, i hope you like my characters and my vision of the next gen <3

Walking excitedly among all the people, carrying his owl and bags in the cart, and rushing his parents every moment they were less than two steps behind him. James grinned from ear to ear on a lively September morning, the one where he would mark his first school year at Hogwarts.

''Let's go!’’ He pulled his father by the hand, who had stopped to show Lily, the youngest of the family, the huge dog that was walking illustriously beside the owner.

Both Harry and Ginny walked slowly to enjoy what would be the last time they would see their eldest son until Christmas, when they would force him to return to spend the festivities at home. For the father, it was a joy to see that little kid who barely reached his chest, saying what a great Quidditch player he would be and that Gryffindor would be, certainly, his house.

'' What if it happens to be Hufflepuff? Albus asked, a little frightened by his brother's enthusiasm that morning

'' It won't happen '' He rolled his eyes when none of the parents looked at him '' I'm too brave '' And the two laughed among themselves, thinking that the son was a copy, much more genius should be said, of the mother and the uncles Fred and George. And Harry was not ashamed to admit, that he saw himself much more in Albus, frightened by that determination, than by the flames of excitement that prowled James eyes. At least not at that age.

'' Come on, you and me first '' James barely waited for his father to hold the stroller bar, safely crossed the 9 3/4 barrier, reaching the spot where his eyes twinkled, and his whole body shook from nervousness and anxiety. Soon the mother with Albus and Teddy appeared, as always, the calm face of the woman making the boy brake and answer the silent request of '' wait! ''

'' How do you feel? '' Wizards were everywhere now, there were owls hooting, cats purring on their owners' legs, and frogs in the clothes of some, showing only their big eyes.

'' Anxious '' He spoke the truth for the first time, still smiling, but now a little more slowly. '' Do you think I'll be able to fly? '' This time he addressed his mother, speaking quietly so that only she could hear, watching Albus and Lily listening to his father's story about his first day there, while Teddy made some joke about how old he was. Ginny smiled kindly, warming the boy's heart, arranged the hair that fell in his eyes and rubbed his young face

'' Of course James, but if you have difficulties, which I doubt, we can train at Christmas '' He nodded, more hopeful this time. If her mother, a famous Quidditch player, had told him he could do it, then it would become true. Right?

'' Let's go just before the train leaves '' This time it was Harry who stirred, pushing the way while James saw the faces that would soon become known to him. Whether they are friends, colleagues, or enemies. (Even though his father made him swear that he would not start unnecessary fights)

Smoke spread in the air, a lot of students - young and old - boarded the train and packed their bags in the cabins, then returned to hug their parents, be scolded, or just talk. Heads floated in the window, students laughing excitedly with the anxiety of finally leaving, and James couldn't help feeling different.

'' I'm going to miss you, brat '' Teddy ruffled his brother's at heart hair '' First year is an important year .. write me if you need anything '' James nodded, slightly nervous as he watched the man change his hair for go dark like his, smiling a little too watery for his opinion

'' Me too. And ok, I will '' James hugged him, and then turned to his parents, almost feeling like he was about to scream in excitement and fear.

'' Be careful '' The father looked at his son, a little laughing and a little serious, raising his eyebrows '' I'm watching you ''

'' Ok '' He nodded excitedly '' And I know you will ''

"Take care, okay?" It was Albus' embrace, two years younger, tight and full of anticipation that made James smile without grace, his cheeks warm with that affection. As annoying as he could be, he would miss having someone smaller than himself to win the blame.

'' Yes, I’ll miss you too '' And then everyone got together for the squeeze, almost breaking his ribs, and making him blush with embarrassment '' No ... I can’t ... breathe ''

The little sister gave his cheek a wet kiss - which James automatically wanted to wipe but did not do when he saw his father's gaze - his mother had passed on some instructions about the houses and how he should be calm regardless of the choice.

'' The house that Hat draws will be the right one for you, and we will be happy regardless of the result. Write to us as soon as you can, preferably today '' He nodded laughing, thinking of the red and gold lion.

'' Now, listen '' The father had crouched down, keeping close eye contact, his green eyes almost bursting into orbit '' I don't want you to be around getting in trouble, understood? '' For the fiftieth time he nodded '' Don't worry if you are alone, people always arrive in the compartment , you can meet great friends inside '' Once again he moved his head

'' Stop being so melodramatic, man. '' Teddy laughed, winking at James, who seemed to have read the mind of the boy who was thinking about the whole castle to explore.

'' I'm going to send you news '' he assured, entering in the train

'' Every day. '' James frowned, eliciting laughter from his parents '' Answer us always, and if you need to ... ''

'' I know, Dad, I know ... Professor Longbottom can help me. '' The train started to leave, they exchanged a few more words, he waved at them as they got smaller, and then that was it.

James was finally on his way to the Witch School.

Anxious, he ran to the single empty compartment he found and began to contemplate the path they were taking. It seemed that magic was already taking place there, it was like the sensation of climbing up a gigantic peak, analyzing the view from the top , the fall that he would soon make. It was scary, but impressively, it also seemed to cause a huge euphoria that would make him jump.

"Can I come in or is it full already?" The female voice woke him from his daydream. He had heard many love stories that began in train compartments , his godfather for example, swore he was one of those who unknowingly knew the love of his life. Grandpa, whose name he honored, met Grandma in one of those too. But if James knew anything, it was the girl, a few inches shorter than him, with long blond hair braided, wearing a funny black cap and school robes, would not be his love.

She wasn't ugly, but she looked ... clumsy. Her eyes were large pits of the darkest pitch, the pupil barely visible, her cheeks pink and large, eyebrows as clear as lashes (little more colored than the fair skin), and her teeth a little apart, in addition to a pink lip fatty. Her legs looked long compared to her body, even under her robes, and her arms were thin, as if she had started to stretch-but only on some limbs.

'' Uh ... no. '' But you couldn't deny friends, of course. "You can sit down."

'' So ... '' She packed her bags '' It was full up front '' Justified herself by picking up a 'Quidditch History' book and sitting in front of him '' And I thought .... Hey, I think I know you from somewhere '' James blushed, even though he straightened up and tried to look more secure than he really was. Being recognized was never fun. '' You are Ginny Potter's son, I saw you on the Prophet's cover! My God, your mother is awesome '' She spoke in a way that her eyes almost popped, such excitement, gesturing and bulging her eyes.

'' I know '' James bragged, even if uncomfortable '' She's the best '' He spoke as if it were the most normal thing in the world. His mother had retired as a chaser after Lily was born, however, he had gone to a few games and could remember it being amazing. In addition, every time they played in the vegetable garden, the father had to sweat so that they would not lose by more than 100 points - even if someone on his team caught the snitch.

'' I want to be like her , you know .. '' The girl straightened up on the bench, pulling her legs up, leaning her back against the cold window, the book resting on her knees '' I want to play like that. '' James thought she was funny, but he didn't comment, a little scared by how intimidating she looked. '' My parents hate flying, but I like it. I mean, I’ve only flown a few times, but it's soooo fun. '' He wanted to laugh, staring at her curiously. Her hair resembled Aunt Fleur's hair, long and light, but it was much less styled than the hair of the older woman '' I really like to imagine myself playing. ''

''To imagine? Have you never played? '' The nameless girl denied, making a face

'' My parents are not the biggest Quidditch fans, so to go to a game, it was like Mass '' "Mass?" He frowned.

The blonde looked at him, this time curious, '' Yes, it's a muggle thing, you know, about religion, some are too long ... so the saying... '' James nodded

"Are you Muggle-born?" She shook her head, fiddling with the worn book unpretentiously, and then shrugged.

'' My parents are wizards, but my grandparents are muggles and I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandmother, so '' she shrugged '' That's why I never played, I had no one, but I know how to play volleyball and maybe it will help me. And Tennis '' the girl shrugged again '' Anyway, your mom is a big inspiration to me, I wish I could have seen her play. ''

'' So ... you didn't say your name '' And again she moved, sitting forward and holding out her hand to him, which was full of different rings. James wondered if that girl could be weirder than Dominique. Or Aunt Luna.

'' Sorry, I was so excited ... I'm Mira Hazel. '' He smiled kindly

'' James '' Even though he didn't need to, he was happy to say '' What house do you think will be in? '' She straightened up again on the bench, without opening the book this time, looking at him with full attention.

'' I hope Ravenclaw. What about you? '' Mira Hazel said, as James grimaced.

'' Gryffindor, obviously. Why do you want that one? It's so full of ... idiots '' The girl raised her clear eyebrows, her body moving into an attack position as if she might pounce on him, much like a cat. James was concerned that she was carrying a cat beside her, but there was no sign.

'' My parents are from there .. You know. Gryffindor is not the only good house at school, if it were, it wouldn't make sense to have others, would it? '' James swallowed the words, arranging his back on the bench and thinking what he would say Next. Of course, his father had warned about this, but how could he not want to go to the house that housed his whole family?

Before he could give a bullshit answer that would make coal eyes explode, the cabin door was opened again, this time a boy with black hair and frightened eyes appeared, his cheeks flushed and what appeared to be a frog in his front pocket. "Sorry, wrong cabin."

When the door closed again, silence radiated over them, James too affected to admit that maybe, for a few seconds, she was right. Only the pages broke the silence,, as she leafed through the book almost aggressively,.Mira seemed to have read it many times judging by the yellowish color that marked the edges, in addition to the lower spine looking punished with use. He thought of asking what Quidditch position she wanted - for he had imagined that if they both wanted to be keppers, they would fall off their brooms before the snitch was even released - but he kept the words to himself.

The food cart was not long in arriving, much to his delight, and the two bought what looked like food for five more, still without speaking a word, which was driving him crazy.

"Aha! I finally found you. '' The female voice broke through the air. Mira smiled at the chocolate frog, taking the card in her hands

'' Who did you find? '' James smiled when he saw Merlin smiling on his own card.

'' Hermione Weasley '' And as if it were pure gold, she carefully tucked it inside the Quidditch book. '' My mother met her ... they made Runes together '' Mira nodded, seeming to talk to herself more than to him '' A very smart witch ... I should want to be like her too, don't you think? ''

'' Are you always this weird? '' He joked, happy that she had talked to him again. Her silence was claustrophobic, which was very strange, since Albus used to give him a cold shoulder whenever they fought, and it was never this bad.

'' Ah ... no, I’m just nervous. '' It seemed like a lie, but he didn't say anything

'' But tell me, what is it like? Having these people in your family '' Mira asked.

James grimaced when he swallowed a Bertie Botts every flavor bean, '' Ear wax, ew, I don't know how I was wrong. I thought it might be popcorn ''

''Normal '' He moved his shoulders, precisely choosing a bean, loving the taste of strawberry when he threw one in his mouth '' They are normal people most of the time ''

'' It can't be normal '' She rolled her eyes '' There must be something extraordinary about being the son of Harry and Ginny Potter ''

James tried to shake the thought from his mind, remembering all the years living in his family and all the stories that he had heard (even if in half).

Sometimes it was quite difficult, people used to be so intrusive at partie, s it was almost impossible for them not to be stopped by some journalist wanting to know the latest gossip that involved their name.

James thought it all sucked. It was very tiring.

He had thought that now as he was going to Hogwarts he could finally be James. Simply, James, and no longer,live in the shadow of his parents great deeds. Even if no one asked him to follow in their footsteps, stressing the irrecoverable losses they had made along the arduous path, he felt as if nothing he did was really interesting.

Going to Gryffindor, being a good keeper and a good student, was not just to ensure that his track record was brilliant, but to guarantee a place in the genius tree. He hadn't fought like his mother and father, but he had done something good while he was at school, proving his worth. Proving to be brave and fearless.

'' Except I can get a lot of cards from chocolate frogs more easily '' He smiled at the girl who laughed in denial, her cheeks turning pink again, and her eyes no longer seemed to carry the fury she had earlier presented.

She wasn't all bad, after all.

[...]

‘’James Potter .. what an honor!’’ Hagrid, a half-giant who always showed up at his house telling stories about strange and dangerous animals, smiled at him, hitting him on the back with a force that made him walk two steps forward.

‘’Hi Hagrid.’’ He returned the smile, looking excitedly behind him and seeing the boats positioned.

After the rookies were summoned and put on boats, crossed the river below the night sky with few stars, Mira was beside him, her eyes looking like a part of the sky, shining with the magnificent view of Hogwarts. The castle looked bigger and more splendid than any photograph, description, or drawing he had ever seen and heard. It was real, grand, and now it was his new home.

As they left the boats and were led into the castle, the children's voices seemed to triple- the excitement of standing in that hall, waiting to be called up for the sorting. A tall, strong, well-groomed professor, showing a scar that cut his eyebrow and a little bit of his left eyelid, appeared. ,He explained the houses, the hat and introduced himself, Frank Johaan, Defense Against the Dark Art teacher . When they entered the Great Hall, which his father had spoken so much of, James thought he might fall over right there, looking at the tables, the teachers, the decoration above him, the walls laden with flags of the houses, the ghosts walking around. .. It was almost like daydreaming. No photograph lived up to what James was seeing

And just as his father had informed him, when the time came, the Sorting Hat on a stool, looking old and worn, began to sing.

When Headmaster McGonagall gave a slight smile after welcoming the students - and James thought he saw her smile bigger when she saw him - Professor Johaan stood erect beside the stool, a scroll in his left hand and the right on top of the hat

‘’When I call your name, come here and sit down.’’

The names began, applause whenever the house was shouted at by the patched hat.With each person, the boy felt more apprehensive, looking around anxiously and seeing Mira from a short distance, looking confident, hardly even blinking during the wait.

‘’Potter, James Sirius’’ He could have sworn he saw the Headmistress getting ready in the chair to watch, making him feel even more nervous; And with weak legs, but without showing it, he started the long walk to the stool, everyone's eyes following him, and the teachers looking at him with curiosity. He took a deep breath before sitting on the stool and left his mind free, listening even to his heartbeat.

‘’Ah a Potter ... I know them so well. A brave heart ... ‘’ Said the hat, and he thought it was magnificent ‘’I can't help but notice, too big even for a giant's body’’. Without thinking, he looked sideways at Hagrid, who was smiling anxiously while sitting in one of the chairs set for the teachers. ‘’But would that only help you? .. A vast intelligence, certainly, but I cannot deny the truth ... Gryffindor!’’

The Gryffindor table rose to a fuss, eagerly applauding and welcoming him, with huge smiles and nods when he sat down, everyone congratulating him and talking about how amazing it was that they had a Potter there.

‘’Hazel, Mira’’ She walked confidently, not even blushing. Her braided hair trailing behind her and her black eyes looking like two black holes in her pale face. She sat on the stool, waiting for the call, the sorting hat was put on, and stayed there for some time.

James’ godmother had told him about this, about students sometimes sitting up to five minutes waiting, they were students who confused the hat, they had many attributes that stood out and could easily fit in more than one house, as had happened with her.

The blonde was waiting in the same way as when she sat down, calm and seeming to assess with the hat, after what seemed like three or more minutes - he hadn't been there so long, and if he had, he would have died of anxiety - the hat screamed;

-Gryffindor!

His house table began to clap again, the blonde descending cheerfully and full of smiles, greeting those at the end and sitting next to James, her eyebrows half-arched and in an almost balmy way, showing in her eyes

‘’It looks like we'll be colleagues, Potter.’’ Mira said as she raised her chin and exuding confidence , drawing a laugh from James.

‘’So it seems.’’ And for some reason, he was happy with that.

#hp next gen #hp fanfic #next gen harry potter #James Sirius Potter #Harry Potter #ginnyPOTTER #Albus Severus Potter #harry potter next generation #my fic

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exquisitley-obsessed · 4 years ago

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Scars - Part One (Fred Weasley x OC)

Author: @exquisitley-obsessed

Summary: Scarlett Black, daughter of Sirius Black, has been invited along with Harry and Hermione to the Weasley's Bungalow for the summer before their 5th year. Whilst nice in theory, Scarlett would normally be spending her summer in her father's empty, old flat and finds herself missing the familiarity of that dingy apartment, and feels estranged with the unrelenting love of the Weasley Household. Fred Weasley is the unlikely friend who she finds distracting her from her unique homesickness, and the two find themselves falling into something a little bit bigger and a little more complicated then they could've ever expected.

Word Count: 3412

Pairings: Fred Weasley x OC

Warnings: None

A/N: I’m writing this story on my wattpad account, so if you like it and want early updates then I suggest you go read it over there!

MY MAIN MASTERLIST

It wasn't supposed to be like this. It was nice, arguably more than she deserved, but it wasn't supposed to be like this.

The girl watched as morning light strengthened along the walls, semi in denial that she was even awake. What light that did tumble in from the window was tainted somewhat green form the overwhelming amount of shrubbery outside - it wasn't supposed to be like that. She was used to a navy hum that would sporadically ache through her bruised and battered window, the one that didn't even open. But the one she had now did, and last night someone had thrown it open, unable to cope in the relentless summer heat, and now she could hear the birds as she awoke and even the chatter of her friends in the garden.

It was meant to be comforting, a sentiment that she was now somewhere safe and surrounded by people she loved - but all she seemed to feel was a dull lonely ache sitting in her chest.

"Fine. I'll get up." She whispered, it seemed she could ignore her consciousness no longer and so she sat up and turned to face the dreaded window and the promise that came with it. It was a perfect day, of course. It was day one of the summer holidays, the longest break you get from Hogwarts Wizardry School of Magic and it was late June. Of course, it would be perfect. The sun was sitting proudly in the sky and showed no sign of going anywhere nor weakening in its relentless heat. The green of the hills rolled up and down until they merged with the hazy blue horizon line. It was perfect and warm and welcome - and she hated it.

Looking down she was wearing a sweater that Molly Weasley had made for her last winter - another thing she didn't deserve. Not to mention the bed, though creaky and missing a few planks of wood, it was coated in more homemade blankets and ties of aged cloths, a thousand little scars of love. It seemed as though she were surrounded by so much warmth and kindness, and she didn't know what to do with it. The room was already empty, Hermione and Ginny had already made it downstairs for breakfast. Ginny, the name came with a twinge in her gut. This was her room that she was taking up space in, and she would be for nearly seven weeks.

Pulling on someone's blue sweatpants, the girl took several long breaths before she finally decided to brace the world. The 'world' being the hallway of the Weasley's Bungalow just outside Ginny's room, to which there was no one even there.

Day One, Scarlett thought as she began winding her way down a series of crooked steps, lowering herself closer and closer to the heart of the house, the bubbling kitchen and sitting room which the rest of the house appeared to be occupying. Day One.

The worst part about hating her stay here was the guilt that came with the hatred. She loved the Weasleys, not to mention the fact that both Harry and Hermione were here, it should be heaven for her. Scarlett didn't want to hate being at the Weasley's and in many ways, she didn't hate it here. But the alternative to spending her summer here was spending her summer in the dingy flat her father had somehow managed to buy for her before he was sent away.

In many ways, it was all she had of him, and even though her summer normally consisted of shunning herself away, sleeping her father's bed and quietly getting ahead in all her schoolwork - it was the only time she ever got to appreciate him. When your father is Sirius Black, that's not something you get to speak of casually with others, not even friends she'd realised. Even Harry Potter whom Sirius had taken a great liking to when they were in their third year couldn't seem to relate to how Scarlett felt.

"Scar!" Hermione smiled from where she was squashed between Ron and Harry at the kitchen table, all of them hunkered over a book. "You're awake! Come have a read of this!"

"Finally!" Ginny muttered, rolling her eyes as she shoved a spoonful of cereal in her mouth and leaning against the cabinets. "Are those my sweatpants?"

"Scar!" An overexcited voice tore through the blubber of the kitchen where the entire household, parents and siblings alike, appeared to be gathering - well, not everyone. The latest voice to call her attention luckily prevented Scarlett from having to respond to either party. It was Geroge who was her saviour, half-dressed in quidditch gear and holding a bat in his right hand. "We've got a game of quidditch but the numbers are odd!"

"Oh no," Scarlett muttered dryly.

"Please Scar. It's me versus Bill and Fred."

"George you can't play quidditch with four people."

"'Course y'can, don't be daft."

"George I'm not-"

"Did she say no?" Fred's voice echoed over the returned chatter of the kitchen only seconds before he appeared next to his twin. Fred too was dressed in moth-eaten quidditch year and was sporting an unfazed, dopey grin. "You automatically lose if she won't play Georgie." He proceeded to gloat to his twin as he leaned back against the doorframe, bending his head to the side as he didn't quite fit.

"Oh, no one told me those were the stakes." The sight of Fred appeared to awaken a competitive edge in Scarlett, she had always been closer with him than his brother, but purely in a friendly way. "Oh, George you should've said." Goerge positively gleamed at her change in heart and Scarlett quietly excused herself from the kitchen before slipping away into the early morning sunshine.

"I still don't understand how this works." Scarlett followed the twins looming statures out into the luminous field, squinting through the sun at their lean forms.

"Well, I 'suppose it's not really Quidditch, more of a race really." Fred hung back a bit to fall into step with Scarlett, standing to her right as to block out the sun for her.

"How d'you play?"

"Well, two people from opposing teams take a quaffle and have to go from one end of the pitch to the other, try and score and then loop back around. The other two will be trying to knock 'em down with bludgers. We played it once in practice."

"Must've been off." Scarlett shuddered off her jumper and wrapped it around her waist. She was one of the lesser-known players of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, having only joined after poor Alicia Spinnet got that nasty bludger straight to the face, her nose was never sat quite right after that and she decided to give up quidditch for the time being. Scarlett had only gone along to trials as a joke, turns out she's rather good at running away.

"We'll only do a few rounds."

"You mean, we'll only go until one of us is severely injured." Fred merely grinned down at Scarlett as they entered Bill and Geroge's little step up under the oak tree. At that moment the sun had lit up Fred's blue eyes so that they turned a watery orange and his freckles appeared to glow across his pale skin.

"Oh, Lettie, I love having you around. It's like every day's a gift." Scarlett rolled her eyes, brushing off his personal nickname for her by leaning down and plucking her broom from the stack.

"Right you got the rules?" Bill asked - he was only here for another day or so before he was off to see Fleur in London.

"Think so." Scarlett passed the broom from palm to palm.

"Good. First, it's me and Scar flying whilst the twin's shoot. Then swap, then alternate."

"Yeah, yeah," George muttered, already swinging his beater back and forth. "Let's play."

Scarlett won against Bill, then Fred against George, George also lost to Bill, and then finally, Fred versus Scar. It was nice to be in the air for a change, it was so rare that you ever got such a clean sweep of the field with a quaffle in quidditch. Especially since in recent years the game had upped in competitiveness given the newfound rivalry between Malfoy and Potter. It had been ages since Scarlett could genuinely say she had had a nice game of quidditch.

"Don't go easy on me pretty boy," Scarlett muttered as she set herself up, still rubbing her shoulder from where rather a nasty bludger from Fred hit her on her first round.

"Oh, you think I'm pretty." Fred batted his eyelashes at her, whilst he straddled the branch between his legs, his cotton trousers revealing his thighs as they clenched and re-clenched as he gained his balance.

"Oh for God's-just play." Scarlett kicked off before circling around to the starting point just above the willow trees. Fred was quick to join her, he was incredibly apt on a broom. Scarlett liked quidditch in theory more than in practice, she had taken a fancy to it in her second year when she had had more free time, and she would study different flying styles when she could. Fred was nearly a text-book perfect lean flyer. He was clean and precise and very clearly knew how to manipulate and dominate the broom to fit his needs.

"Play nice with me Lettie, okay?" Scarlett merely scoffed at Fred's faux-innocence.

"In your dreams, Freddie."

And they were off. Had the weather maybe been a bit damper and the pitch a bit more sustainable, Scarlett may as well have been back at Hogwarts on the quidditch pitch, practising with the twins, Harry and Ginny, and on the odd occasion, Ron too. But it was nicer here at the Weasley's Bungalow. The rolling fields were idyllic and the sun-light splashed everything in a clear bright light, not to mention how clean the air was when you were flying, almost like water as it gushed around you.

Scarlett had the upper hand most of the mini-game since she was a trained chaser whilst Fred was for more apt as a beater. Still, Fred liked to play a little dirty since he knew he probably couldn't win naturally. This resulted in Fred sporadically swerving in closer to Scarlett and trying to even circle her as to throw her off course.

Scarlett merely spluttered colourful insults whilst she allowed her body to naturally swerve her this way and that as to avoid him. She couldn't help but be a bit more distracted with Fred flying next to her, he was no longer just an annoying boy but a young man. His newfound height wasn't all that had changed with Fred, he was leaner with quidditch practise, so much so that his old shirts were now just a little to tight the shoulders. His hair was in this soft middle-ground between short and long that usually meant that he was due for a haircut. Not to mention the fact that as he flew he only kept one arm on the broom whilst the other stayed relaxed by his side, the ribbons of muscle-flexing sporadically as he shifted course.

Whether it was Fred's distractions or the distraction of Fred, the bludger that Bill had just launched from her left nearly went entirely unnoticed by Scarlett. It was only when it was metres away that she seemed to notice the oncoming black shadow, pelting towards her, and this resulted in a rather messy dodge that as it turns out, wasn't a dodge at all. The bludger, though missing her, managed to catch the front of her broom which sent her balance entirely off. Suddenly the broom was wild underneath her as it tried to jump itself back into equilibrium. Up, down, left, right - soon Scarlett didn't know which way was up and which way was down.

"Shit, shit, shit-" Scarlett barely heard Fred's voice as he veered closer towards her, she was too concerned over the world spinning around her to take notice of him. Next thing she knew the broom had clearly given up and was now plummeting downwards towards the grassy, yet solid, earth. When that approaching green shadow was only metres away, Scarlett felt a weight colliding with her right side, knocking her off her broom so she fell the last metre before rolling several times with the object in tow.

When the world finally came to a sudden and rather brutal stop, the first and only thing Scarlett seemed to notice was a pair of hands gripping the exposed skin of her waist. It seemed as though in the fall her shirt had somehow ridden up, and the person who had pulled her to safety was now holding the exposed skin. Looking down she saw two freckle-speckled hands holding her against her saviour's chest, three of the fingers had slipped under the fabric of her shirt and were gripping dangerously high on her ribs.

"Sorry!" A voice jolted her, some part of her mind loosely recognised the voice as belonging to Bill who no doubt had been the one to throw the bludger.

"My fault," Scarlett replied, shuffling a little so that she could hide her flushed cheeks by brushing down the grass stains on Ginny's sweatpants. As she moved the hands seemed to realise they were gripping her and slowly disentangled themselves with her shirt.

As Bill and George made their way over Scarlett snuck a look over her shoulder at Fred. He was leaning back on his hands as he sat, his legs outstretched in front of him. He wasn't really looking at anything, just squinting in the sunlight. Scarlett noticed the messy tufting of his hair and the way his shirt had somewhat rolled up near the waistband of his trousers so she could just see the toned, freckled flesh that was hidden there.

"Whoops!" George laughed as he ran up to Fred and Scarlett, reaching down and helping his twin up.

"Good thinking Fred, we almost broke our new house guest." Bill was the one who reached out to help Scarlett up and as he did so he sent her a playful wink and a shake of the hand before he turned and slapped his brother on the back. Fred, in turn, appeared to now be sporting a rather bitter expression towards his brother, as though his kind words were nothing but slander.

"Yeah well, someone's gotta look out for her, she's not used to how you two play quidditch," Fred muttered, and Scarlett was surprised to hear an angry lilt in his voice. He never got annoyed, or angry - and if he did he would normally always play it off with a joke.

"Sorry Scar that's my fault," Bill said again, pulling her in for a half-hug.

"Ugh, would you guys stop worrying. It was nothing! I'm not even hurt." Scarlett rolled her eyes and turned to retrieve her broom, praying with everything she had that it wasn't damaged - God knows she couldn't afford a new one. "It was basically like a wake-me-up."

"Still, we'll be more careful in the future." Fred finally smiled at her, and that dark cloud above him seemed to pass.

"Don't you dare. God knows the other houses won't go easy on us, why the hell should we go easy on each other."

"Fair point, fair point," George muttered, and with that, the party appeared to decide that that was enough Quidditch for one day - well, at least for one morning.

Bill and George decided that to make up for their meanness and to be 'gentlemen' they'd be the ones to take the kit back to the shed whilst Fred and Scarlett could wind their way back to the Bungalow. For a small while the two didn't speak as they fell into step with one another, and Scarlett couldn't help but wonder if Fred was thinking the same as her - thinking about how it felt to have Fred clutching her bare skin, whilst he was flushed against her back, pinning her to the floor.

"You want to tell me what's been getting you down." Fred eventually spoke and Scarlett couldn't help but blush, some part of her was worried Fred could hear her gushing thoughts.

"What?"

"Oh please, ever since you found out you were spending summer here you've been positively miserable."

"Shut up."

"I'm being serious, hey-" Fred jumped forward and twisted so that he was now standing in front of her, looking down at her with a suddenly serious glare. "I don't mean to take the piss, I know sometimes me and George can take things too far but if you're really upset then-"

"Fred I'm fine." Scarlett squinted up at him, Fred's sudden mood change had taken her by surprise. "Just homesick y'know." Even though Scarlett by no means wanted to continue the conversation, at least not yet, she didn't want to move on and disrupt the moment. It was quite nice to have a few personal seconds with Fred, she had never really had a chance to before, not if you count passing comments in the Gryffindor changing room. It was just, nice.

"Shit, that doesn't look fine." Fred's eyes at some point must have trailed southwards as he was now wincing at the sight of Scarlett's shoulder, only semi-covered by a tank top. There on her shoulder was a flowering pink bruise that no doubt was going to blacken over the next few days.

"Eh, you know I've had worse." The Gryffindor rule was that if you didn't come out with an in injury then you clearly weren't playing hard enough.

"Still..." Fred muttered. "I did that?" Without thinking Fred reached out and pulled the strap of her tank top an inch off her shoulder to get a better look at the flushed skin. The movement appeared perfectly natural to him and he merely continued to study the injury he'd caused, his finger fluttering lightly over the colourful pattern the bludger had painted. But Scarlett seemed frozen in place, all of sudden, it was like a million things hit her.

The golden light that was bouncing of his skin, the way he had some pale grass stuck in the orange tufts of his hair, the less prominent freckles that clustered across his nose and temples. Not only that but right then and there, she could smell him, and it was Fred's smell. It was warm and welcoming, a familiar musk that had been around her every time she'd been near him, she had just never noticed it.

"I'm fine," Scarlett whispered once more, not trusting her voice to speak much louder. How long had this feeling been there, how many times had she confused it for something else? All these years she'd watch him fall in and out with girls and just thought he saw her as a little sister to him. She herself had been with other boys but, Fred had always been a shoulder to cry on. Was this even possible?

Fred's eyes came back to hers for just a moment and another thousand questions lurched in Scarlett's mind.

"Okay." Fred eyed her warily, as though he were not convinced, but he slipped the strap of her tank top delicately back over her shoulder.

"I'm fine!" She laughed throwing her hands in the air.

"Whatever you say, Lettie." He turned back around and started pacing again, and Scarlett couldn't help but feel her heart drop a little. Didn't he want to stay out here a bit longer where there was no one to eavesdrop on their conversation? Clearly not.

"Can't believe it's my first day here and I'm already battered and bruised."

"Did you really expect anything different?"

"No...can't say that I did." She smiled up at him and he smiled down at her. And then all of a sudden they were back in the brimming kitchen and someone was pushing a plate of food in Scarlett's hands and Molly was scolding her for playing on an empty stomach and everything was normal.

And then Fred sent Scarlett a wink over his shoulder before he disappeared upstairs to get changed and Scarlett felt a warmness flush throughout her chest. Maybe everything wasn't normal - maybe Scarlett had just found something to make this summer, bearable.

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s3r-en-d1p-ity · 5 years ago

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just friends (pt. 2) - t. chalamet x reader

really no one asked for a part 2 but I had it in my drafts then one person asked so here, one person that I love dearly :) @eternaleviee

pairing: reader x timotheé chalamet

warnings: swearing, mentions of the hanky panky

part 1 , part 3

lil recap: just a background, how they met, the beginning of their friendship, when y/n had a lil crush on timo

It was tearing you apart. Eating at your insides, making you feel all guilty inside. You’ve been telling yourself all these years that your crush on Timotheé had vanished, but in reality, it had grown stronger and you didn’t even realize it.

How didn’t you realize it? You aren’t sure. You told yourself the butterflies in your stomach was the happiness of seeing your best friend.

You were in love with Timotheé, and you couldn't ignore or deny it anymore. And it was all because of a little comment. A stupid comment on an Instagram post of you two.

the way they look at each other... y/n looks at him like he puts the stars in her sky.

“Like he puts the stars in her sky.” That made it all the more complex, but much more sense. Timotheé did put the stars in her sky. He put the happiness in her life. The hope.

You were brought out of your thoughts when Timotheé tugged on your wrist, pulling you down Hollywood Boulevard. The simple touch sent jolts up her arm and shivers down her spine.

“I don’t understand why I had to get so dressed up.” You grumbled, looking down at your black dress and heels. “Aren’t we just meeting our friends?”

“Yeah, but we’re going to Chateau Marmont and there’s someone I’d like you to meet.” He grinned over his shoulder. Your heart dropped in your stomach, and you felt sick.

The last time he said that, you met Reilyn. His controlling, invasive ex-girlfriend that stole all of his time. There was someone else, now.

You sighed and put on a fake smile, nodding. You wished you never read that comment. Maybe you wouldn’t feel so sick to your stomach right now.

You arrived at the restaurant and Timotheé spoke to a waiter before following him to a booth in the very back, in a different room then everyone else. You saw your whole friend group, and an unfamiliar girl sitting next to (y/b/f). Everyone looked up when you two arrived, and the unfamiliar girl got up and smiled at Timotheé, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

I should’ve stayed in bed. You thought, scanning her. She had shoulder length blonde hair, beautiful facial structure, and perfect height.

She turned to you, and held out a hand. “Hi, I’ve heard about you a lot. Timo talks about you all the time.” She smiled politely.

Funny, I haven’t heard a word about you. You looked over at Timotheé, seeing him stare at the both of you nervously. You were the only person who ever called him Timo.

“It’s nice to meet you...” You went on, gesturing for her name.

Something flashed in her eyes, and her gaze flickered to Timotheé for a short second. He hung his head and she looked back over at you. “Lily.”

“Nice to meet you, Lily.” You smiled, shaking her hand. She smiled back and returned back to her seat. You sat at the open seat next to one of your friends and got lost in conversation, but couldn’t shake the thought of Lily and Timotheé out of your mind.

“I think you should tell him.” Harry shrugged, taking a sip of his tea.

You and Harry Styles had been friends for a while. You collaborated on a song and continued to be very good friends after that, and you often went to each other for advice.

“He’s dating Lily.” You reminded him, furrowing your eyebrows.

“I know. But if he never told you about her and he always talks about you, there’s something going on. Tell him, y/n/n. YOLO.” Harry smiled, nudging your hand that was resting on the table at the small cafe you were at.

You looked up from your cup, narrowing your eyes. “Never say that again.” You tried not to laugh. He laughed, which only made you laugh.

“Just promise me you’ll try.” He realized you weren't going to tell him. You sighed, and nodded.

“I’ll try.”

Nope. Nope. You weren't going to tell him. You went over to his place in hopes that he was alone, but as soon as you got to the door you heard the moans and headboard slapping.

That was almost a week ago, and you couldn't get the noises out of your mind. You missed being on tour and being occupied every second so you had no time to overthink anything. Now, you were doubting everything.

A few days after the... incident, you went out for coffee with Lily and Timotheé, determined to force yourself to like her. There was nothing not to like, except for the fact she was dating him.

You proved yourself wrong. The whole time, she was glaring at you while Timotheé tried to engage in conversation. When he got up to go get another coffee, she was off on a rant about how you were obsessed with Timotheé and that you needed to stay away. As soon as Timmy came back, you said your goodbyes quickly and rushed out of the cafe, your blood boiling.

It took a week for Timotheé to realize you were acting strange. He walked in unannounced to your apartment just in time to see your regular fuck buddy, Jack come out.

He was pulling his t-shirt over his head, and once it was over his torso, Timotheé could see that he was panting. His eyes snapped up him, and he nodded. “Sup, dude.” Jack breathed out, smiling at him before leaving the apartment.

Timotheé felt his heart clench and he rolled his eyes. He wanted to like Jack, he really did, but he couldn’t bring himself too. He sighed and walked to your bedroom, where you were getting back into bed.

“What did you forget, Jack?” You sighed, your back facing him. You climbed under the covers and then you noticed Timotheé standing by the door, wearing a jean jacket, a graphic tee, and grey sweatpants. “Oh. It’s you.”

Timotheé scoffed. “Yeah, it’s me. Sorry to disappoint.” He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Not happy to see me?”

You shrugged, but your insides were going crazy. Push back all the feelings. Don’t let him know. “Nice girlfriend.” Was all you said, pulling the covers up to your chin.

“This is about Lily.” He acknowledged. “I don't understand. Every time I get a girlfriend, you hate her. What’s wrong with you? Why won't you let me be happy?” You scoffed, turning over to look at him. “Let you be happy? That’s exactly what I’m trying to do! Every time you bring a girl near me, she automatically sees me as a threat. That’s why I stay away, so I don’t fuck up whatever is happening. I know you like Lily, and that’s why I haven’t been talking to you! She hates me, so I hate her. Just don’t bring her near me and we’ll be good.” You went off, throwing your hands up in the air at the end.

Timmy didn’t say anything, just raised his eyebrows. You stared at him, waiting for a response.

“...Sounds like you have a crush on me.” He shrugged, smirking at you.

Your heart sped up, afraid that he had caught you. Now everything was ruined. But you were going to do your best to deny it. “Grow the fuck up, Timotheé. This isn’t 2nd grade. I’m trying to be a good person.” You growl, laying back down and turning your back to him.

It was quiet, again. Then, you felt Timmy’s hands on your back, pushing you over. Then he was climbing in next to you, and he wrapped an arm around you. “Don’t be mad at me, please.” He mumbled, his forehead resting on your back.

God, curse you for falling for this scrawny, adorable, stubborn boy that is Timotheé Chalamet.

“I told you, I’m not mad at you.” You grumbled, trying to ignore the goosebumps on your skin from the arm that rested just below your breasts.

“You are. You’re just not admitting it,” He mumbled, his lips brushing against your skin with every word. The small action sent chills down your entire body. You couldn’t take this anymore. You thought you were going to explode if you didn't tell him.

“God damnit, Timotheé.” You whined, sitting up. You looked behind you to see Timotheé still laying down, staring at you. “How fucking oblivious can you be? How could you not see? Or maybe you did, and you’re doing this on purpose.” You shook your head, getting up.

“Slow down, y/n/n. What the fuck is going on?” Timmy furrowed his eyebrows. You rolled your eyes, crossing your arms.

“I’m fucking in love with you, Timotheé. I have been for years. You were too blind to see and I was too scared to tell. Are you happy now? You can get rid of me and go see your precious girlfriend. I’m staying away because I’m jealous, god.” You spilt out, not caring anymore. You kept your eyes anywhere but Timothee’s face.

“Y/n.” Timotheé said.

You sighed. “How hard is it for you to understand? I’m waiting. Just break my heart and leave.”

Your eyes finally landed on Timotheé only to see him centimeters away from your face. Then, he was leaning in and kissing you.

The feeling felt nothing like you thought it would. You thought it would bring butterflies to your stomach and make you feel all giddy, but it just ignited the flame inside you even more and your whole body felt like an oven. You didn’t realize you were kissing back until your fingers were tugging at his hair.

Your lips moved sloppily, but with so much passion. The way Timotheé’s hands fisted your shirt said it all. You were sure after this, there was no way you were going to be able to let him leave.

He was pulling you closer and closer to him, until there was no room in between you two. But then, his phone started ringing.

He told you to ignore it, but you shook your head and pulled away from him, using all your self restraint to do so. You were breathing heavily and so was he as he grabbed his phone, to see the contact name on the screen.

Lily.

so... part 3? idk. only if y'all wanna see it. this really did suck and I wanted to make it longer but I am a very shittayyyy writer.

check out my other stories here !! this is my first timo imagine, so there are no others for him unfortunately! I have written one piece for sweet pea from Riverdale and 2 for Kian Lawley :)

hope u all enjoy ur day!!! luv u <3

#Timothee Chalamet #timothee imagine #timothée chalamet icons #timothee fanfic #timothee x reader #timothee chalamet x reader #timothee chalamet imagine #timothee chalamet fanfic #Timothee #timothee smut #timothee chalamet fluff #timothee chalamet angst

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love-and-monsters · 4 years ago

Text

Okara the Mermaid

F mermaid X GN reader, 3075 words.

This takes place in the same wold as Arunio’s story, so there’s a little more elaboration on human and merfolk relations. Mostly it’s just fluff, though.

The room looked like a combination between an aquarium and a board room, which made for a very strange space.

In the middle of the room was a table surrounded by comfortable chairs. A projector sat on the table, pointing toward a blank wall. There was a small house plant sitting in the corner. Given that there were no windows in the room, the plant looked rather droopy and sad.

Well, there were no windows that lead to the outside, at least. One wall of the room was covered in thick sheets of glass. Behind the wall was a hallway of water. An intercom was attached to the wall, allowing communication between parties on either side of the glass.

Technically, you weren’t authorized to communicate with the ambassadors. You were an intern, which meant assistant duties rather than anything interesting. But you were allowed to be in the room when the ambassadors came, which was more than you’d originally expected.

You sat down a little way back from the table, fiddling with the stack of papers you were holding. Typically, you were responsible for handling the copious amounts of notes from previous meetings and taking new ones. If someone wanted information, you needed to go back through the notes, pick out everything that was useful, and present it in a formal report.

It wasn’t a fun job, but you were working with the merfolk and if you did this job well, you could someday get a higher position. You were willing to put up with some shit if it meant getting your dream job.

Two merfolk swam down the tunnel. That caught your attention. One of them was familiar, the mermaid that usually showed up for meetings. She had a long, rust-colored tail with short, sharp fins. Her hair was cut into the traditionally short style of ambassadors and she wore a woven band around her upper arm.

The mermaid that was next to her was unfamiliar. She was smaller and had a darker red tail, though the fins were a similar scalpel shape. Her hair was cut differently as well. Instead of the short, ambassador cut, one half of her head was nearly bald and the other half had nearly shoulder-length hair. She, too, wore an armband, but this one was a simple braid rather than the complicated weaving of the one on the ambassador.

Your boss, a woman in her mid-fifties, moved to click on the intercom. “Marcessa. You have a companion.”

How the ambassador managed to understand the sound through the water, you didn’t know, but she nodded. “My apprentice, Okara,” she said with a small gesture to the other mermaid. “She is preparing to take on the position of ambassador, so she will be attending meetings from with me for now on.”

Your boss nodded. “I see. Well, I look forward to working with her. So, as we discussed in the last meeting, we have proposed new fishing laws in large stretches of the ocean.”

The meetings started in earnest and you struggled to keep up with the conversation, taking down notes and looking up any relevant information. You felt somewhat more harried than usual because of the apprentice, Okara. She kept looking at you. Not with interest or disdain. Just… looking. Her gaze followed you around the room.

When the meeting ended, you were left alone in the board room to finish organizing some of the notes and to straighten everything up for the next meeting. Usually, the ambassador would linger for a few minutes longer, often watching you for a few minutes and appearing to think before she swam back off. This time, she spoke to her apprentice for a few seconds, or at least you assumed they were talking- you couldn’t hear them through the glass. Then she swam off down the tunnel, leaving Okara alone.

You paused in your cleaning and looked at the mermaid. She stared back at you, swimming close to the glass. Her gaze was steady and unrelenting. She didn’t even blink.

Slowly, you approached the glass. Okara stared at you, following your movements on the other side. When you reached the intercom, you pressed the button. “Can I do something for you?”

Okara tilted her head at you, eyes wide. “Perhaps,” she said. “You are my age, are you not?”

You peered through the glass, assessing her. Merfolk aged at roughly the same rate as humans, and she did look like she was in her early twenties, as you were. “I think so?” you said. “But what does that have to do with-”

Okara pressed her face close to the glass, hands flush against it. “What is the human world like?”

Her voice was filled with a sudden intense ferocity. You blinked at her, startled. “It’s- what?”

She pushed herself closer to the glass, eyes widening. Her voice became hushed, somehow, despite it being entirely in your head. “I have been fascinated by the human world for a long time,” she said. “It’s so different from the merfolk world. I have always wanted to see what it’s like. But…” She hesitated. “It’s not always safe for merfolk to go onto land. I became an ambassador because I thought I would have a greater chance of going on land. But Marcessa says that I won’t be able to go on the land for years.”

“Okay,” you said tentatively. “What do you need me for, then?”

=Okara smiled. Her teeth were very sharp, you realized. “You’re young, like me. You’re not going to be all stuck in your ways like them.” She tilted her head in the direction Marcessa had gone in. “You can help me.”

“Help you do what?” you said, though you already had an inclination about what she was going to ask.

Her smile got even wider. “Take me onto land. Show me around. Let me see the world.”

You glanced over your shoulder, making sure that no one was in the room before you responded. “I could lose my job,” you whispered. “If I got found out…”

“I would lose my job too,” Okara said. “But you wouldn’t be found out. And! You could ask me whatever you want about my world. I can give you a lot of information that might be useful. It could help you.” She clasped her hands in front of her. “Please! I can set everything up! I just want to see what the land is really like!”

You hesitated, but her pleading eyes and voice were pulling on your heartstrings. You sighed. “Okay. Okay. I’ll see when the best time is to go on land.”

As much as you were uncomfortable with the idea, it was hard to regret your decision when she grinned and spun around in the water.

It was another week before you were able to stay behind after another meeting and get in contact with Okara. She swam close to the glass, pressing up against it like she thought if she was close enough, she could phase through it. “Did you find a way to get me on land?” she asked.

“Kind of,” you said. You put your phone screen up close to the glass and tapped at the map you’d pulled up. “We’re here. If you follow the shoreline down a ways, there’s a little alcove with a big rocky outcropping. People don’t go there very often, so if we meet early in the morning, we should be safe. I can bring you some clothes and you can transform there.”

Okara peered at the screen, examining the map. “Yes, I know the location. I should be able to convince Marcessa to let me out of her sight for a day.”

“Great. We’ll meet in two days, then.” You slid your phone back into your pocket, glancing over your shoulder. “Is there anything in particular you want to do while we’re on land?”

Okara looked momentarily embarrassed. “I don’t know that much about the land. Marcessa won’t tell me what the land is like even though I know she’d been.” She tapped her chin with a long nail. “Mostly, I want to know what humans are like.”

“Sure,” you said. “I think I can do that.”

]Two days later, you packed a bag with clothes and headed down to the shore. The alcove wasn’t obviously visible from most angles; it looked more like a cliff that collapsed into a pile of rocks as it reached the edge of the sea. But once you got closer, you could see that the rocks obscured a small cavern filled with seawater. As you approached, Okara emerged from the water.

It was the first time you’d ever seen her without the glass in the way and you were struck with a sudden urge to touch her. Automatically, you reached your hand out. Her hand broke the surface of the water, reaching for you in the same moment.

Her skin wasn’t exactly human. It was cooler and smoother, and you could feel her long nails tapping at your wrist as she squeezed your hand.

The spell over the both of you broke at the same moment and you pulled your hands back. “I brought you some clothes,” you said, undoing the zipper of your bag and showing her. “Are you going to transform?”

She nodded and ducked under the surface of the water. You turned your back, leaving the clothes lying on the rocks next to her. For some reason, it felt more uncomfortable to look at her naked as a human than to look at her naked as a mermaid.

When the rustling and shifting of clothes behind you stopped, you looked around. You’d made a good guess at her clothing size, though you hadn’t gotten it exactly right. You’d erred on the side of too large over too small and, given her exceedingly slim frame, it did sort of hang like sackcloth. She had to roll up her pant legs so they didn’t drag on the ground.

You offered her a pair of flip flops. She crouched down to put them on and paused, staring at her toes. She wriggled them a few times, poking at them with obvious interest. “I thought they’d be different,” she said. “Marcessa told me that toes are like little fingers, but they don’t really feel like that.”

“They’re not that dexterous,” you agreed. “Do you need help putting them on?”

“I’ve seen humans wear shoes before,” she sniffed and slid them onto her feet. She took a few steps. They were awkward and a little fumbling, but she adapted to legs surprisingly quickly.

You tilted your head, indicating for her to follow, and you walked up the beach together. Okara paused every few seconds to look at something, examining the little bugs that scuttled out of the sand and glancing over a small bird that landed on a dune nearby. She wasn’t excitable, as you’d expected. Whenever she looked at something, you could almost see the gears turning in her head.

“Where are we going?” Okara asked as you left the sand and walked onto the tarmac parking lot.

“You said you wanted to see what humans were like,” you said, stopping next to your car. “So, we’re going to the mall.”

Okara looked blankly at you as you got into the car. You opened the passenger door and gestured to her. “Get in.”

It took her a moment to get inside, carefully sorting her new legs underneath her. Once she was in, you had to direct her to put on her seatbelt. “Do you know what this is?” you asked, noticing her curious glances at every part of the car.

“I’m not sure,” she said. “I’ve heard of these. But I’ve never seen one.”

“It’s a car,” you said. “Humans use them to get places faster.” You started the engine and Okara jumped at the sudden rumble. “Okay. Let’s go.”

Your car was not impressive. It wasn’t a junker, but it wasn’t a very good car either. It couldn’t go particularly fast. But from Okara’s expression, you might have just thrown her onto a roller coaster going straight down a hill. She clutched at the seat, eyes wide, lips pressed tightly together.

The destination was only a few miles away, thankfully, because Okara looked as though her heart would burst if she spent any more time at forty miles per hour. She stumbled when she got out of the car, pressing a hand to the exteriors to hold herself up. You hurried over to her. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” she said, panting. She looked up at you and grinned. Her teeth still seemed rather sharp. “I think I would like to try that again.” She let out a breath. “Once my heart stops racing. That was exciting.”

You laughed. “We weren’t even going that fast.”

Her eyes fixed on you and she seemed torn between leaving the car and staying and going as fast as you could go. Eventually, she made up her mind and stepped from the car to peer up at the building.

You’d brought her to the mall. It was one of the most human places you could think of in the city. Throngs of people pushed in and out, their chatter blending into a low murmur of sound.

Okara turned in a slow circle. “I thought it would be quieter up here,” she said. “They always say the song is gone when you go up on land. I thought that would make it quiet.”

You laughed a little. “I thought it would be quiet in the ocean.”

“Sure, there’s a lot of sound in the ocean,” Okara said, though she no longer looked interested in speaking about it. She took hold of your hand, making your heart give a startling leap. “Show me around.”

Okara’s eyes only got wider and wider as you walked around the mall. She was absolutely fascinated by the racks of clothing, examining them with a keen interest. Shoes and socks also absorbed her attention and you took a break so that she could try on a few pairs of sneakers.

It was a bookstore, however, that really grabbed her. “What are they?” she asked, flipping through the pages of a thick book.

“Books. They’ve got writing in them, like stories,” you said.

“You write your stories down?” she said. “But how do they flow?”

“How do they what?”

“Grow and change. If you write them down, they don’t change when you tell them,” she said.

“Yeah? That’s the point, isn’t it? What’s the point of telling a story if it changes every time you tell it? Everyone would have different versions of it.”

Okara looked like she wanted to say something, then she shook her head and went back to skimming the books. “What’s this one about?”

“Um. It’s a story about wizards,” you said. “You can’t read?”

She shook her head. “A bit. I can read some words. But not this many.”

“Maybe you’d prefer something like this, then,” you said, walking over to another shelf and offering her a graphic novel. “It’s still got words, but you might be able to figure out the storyline from the pictures.”

It didn’t take long for Okara to be absorbed in the book. You curled up together in the café section of the shop, leaning close so you could read the book together. After she asked you a few times to read out some of the wordier sections, you just started reading it out loud for her. She seemed fascinated, especially when you tried to put on different voices for the different characters.

Eventually, you ordered some food for the both of you and Okara was absolutely fascinated by the raspberry crowns. She ate about three of them before you cut her off. “You’re going to get sick,” you said.

She stared at you with enormous, glittering eyes. There was raspberry jam on her cheek. “But they’re so good,” she complained.

“I’ll get you some more,” you promised, “but later. When you’ve actually digested what you just ate.”

She pouted, but slouched back into her seat. You leaned over and swiped at her cheek with your thumb, removing the jam.

Okara stared at you. The gesture had been unexpectedly intimate and you found your face growing red. “Thanks,” she said after a second. Her voice was soft and it made something in your chest tighten. You smiled.

“You’re welcome. Uh. So. Anyway. Let’s get back to the book.” You pulled it closer to you and found Okara leaning in. Her hair brushed against your shoulder. Your heart pounded against your ribs.

Time slipped away as you sat together. Eventually, you noticed how much the light from the windows had dimmed. “It’s getting late,” you said, nudging Okara. She started and glanced at the window. “We should probably get you back to the ocean.”

She nodded, sitting up. “Marcessa is probably looking for me,” she said.

You gathered up the books and started to head back to the shelves, then hesitated. “You liked these books, right?”

“Yeah?”

“It’ll probably be good for you to learn how to read,” you said. “And these books might help. I’ll buy them for you.”

Okara’s eyes went wide. “Really? You don’t have to-”

“Sure. It’s no problem.” You took the books up to the counter and paid, Okara thanking you the entire time.

“You’ll have to keep them out of the water, but I can find a good place for you to leave them,” you said as you headed out to the car. Okara nodded eagerly.

The drive back to the beach was quiet. Okara stared out the window, as if trying to drink in the scenery with her eyes.

The beach was still quiet when you got back to the alcove. “Thanks for today,” Okara said as she stepped into the water. “It was really fun.”

“We should do it again some time,” you said. “Uh. If you’re still interested, that is.

Okara stepped back out of the water and cupped your cheek with her hand. Before you realized what was happening, she had leaned in and pressed a kiss to the corner of your mouth.

“Sure,” she said. “But next time I want you to visit me.”

She vanished under the surf. You sat on the beach for a while, staring out over the waves with a smile on your face.

#exophilia #mermaid #mermay #mermaid girlfriend #merfolk #mermaid lover #monster romance

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hpdabbles · 5 years ago

Text

Brother Dearest

“Are you sure about this Harry? Once you go through with it, you’ll be stuck for a month or longer.” Dean warns one last time. His friend had gone over the runes nine times, given the same warning ten times and was still worried. “I’m not even one hundred percent sure I can pull you back.”

Harry smiled at him “You have a good theory that you can”

“Yes but it’s still just a theory. We haven’t tested it yet” Dean counters

“You’ve been able to bring back the portraits spirts you sent”

“Those weren’t conclusive” Dean huffs “We have no idea what the effect it can have on a person and not magical paint.”

Shrugging his shoulders The-Man-Who-Conquered leans back into his pillows making sure medical robes don’t accidentally flash his school friend. He glances down at the glowing runes, carefully crafted around his bed and humming with magic.

Maybe this was a crazy idea. Maybe it wouldn’t work. But maybe Harry didn’t care.

“Look, Dean, you’re an amazing magical researcher. You’ve been studying and developing this for three years, have been able to rebuild a time tuner and done a full year of testing. It’s ready for a live one. Besides, I trust you.” Harry says, grinning when it makes the ex-Gryffindor blush. “Now, we aren’t getting any younger, let’s get to it yeah? Pull the lever, Kronk.”

Dean throws his hands into the air. “Not you too. I took Seamus to watch that movie a month ago and he still runs around quoting it. He’s my husband so I have to put up with it but I am not going to listen to you quote that ridiculous rubbish.”

“Aw, Dean comes on. It’s a great movie!” Harry laughs, as the other rolls his eyes “It has potions and referenced amimagus what’s not to like?”

“It’s a kid’s movie”

“It’s art.”

Dean sighs like Harry’s appreciation for Disney was a sign of a huge failure. Harry didn’t care. Some may call him odd for being excited about the latest releases but he spent his whole childhood wishing he could enjoy the cinema like his classmates could and then spent his teenage years fighting off a mad man.

He may be twenty, but he had the right to enjoy what he couldn’t then. He’s earned it.

“Pull the lever, Kronk!” Harry repeats pleased as a peach when Dean’s face sours.

“Fine, I will!” The other man snaps then somber up as his wand touches the outline of the runes. Harry feels his skin rise with goosebumps as the wave of power washes over him. “Remember, I’m going to aim for a timeline similar to ours but I can’t guarantee it will be the same year or that I will actually land you in one that is alike. You’ll take over the body of whoever you are in that timeline and they won’t feel a thing. Once I pull you back, they will be fine. Hopefully. Maybe. You can still say no.”

Harry shakes his head. “I want to help. Take care of my body while I’m gone.”

Dean sighs then nod his head to a notebook he had a place in a runes circle a little further away from Harry’s bed. The two runes circles were connected with smaller inscriptions laid out like a spider web between them. “That is design to bring back the ink from the other timelines. You need to write in it every day as part of the research and so I know you’re doing okay. In the worst-case, I can pull you out if needed once you write for help.”

“Not to worry beautiful, I remember my safe word.” Harry jokes

Dean's face goes amusingly red. “I hate the fact your sense of humor has turned to this. I still remember a boy who chocked anytime someone even mentioned kissing.”

“I bet your husband would have a laugh”

“It’s a one-way form of communication” Dean hurries on blush still lingering on his cheeks. Harry can’t help but grin, unable to explain why flustering others was so much fun. It’s fine anyway, he only does it with his friends and they all know his flirting is in jest. “I won’t be able to speak to you. But you can’t forget to write at a set time. If you miss any day at that time I will drag you back. Understand?”

“Yes Daddy”

“Harry!”

“Okay! Okay!” Harry laughs hands held in front of him as if though to plead innocence. “I’m sorry. Yes, I understand. And yes I still want to go through with it.”

Dean levels a hard stare on him before nodding. He goes down on one knee and casts the starting spell, incantations falling from his lips with practiced ease. Harry quickly settles into the pile of pillows and tries to relax, wondering what the sensation of having his soul thrown across dimensions would feel like.

Probably like death. Good thing he’s done that already.

The runes grow brighter and brighter, forcing him to close his eyes as Dean is suddenly impossible to look at. Magic reaches under his skin, clamps down on his soul and starts to tug. Just as Harry feels himself descend he makes out Dean’s words “Of course I will. Good luck Harry.”

With one last flash of light, he’s gone.

Next thing Harry knows he’s laying in a softer bigger bed, with multiple pillows piled around him. He blinks his eyes open trying to figure out where and when he is but everything is fuzzy seeing as the body he’s just taken over also seems to need glasses.

Next to his bed he thinks is a stand and, assuming The-he-of-this-timeline would put his glass wear there, he fumbles a hand over the surface wincing when dull pain runs up and down his spine. A thumping in the back of his skull is killing him, making him wonder if had woken up after a wild drunken night. A flash of red enters his eyesight blurry like the rest of the world but it worries him that he’s seeing it out of the corner of his eye.

Did the body owner do something worse than getting blackout drunk?

It’s when his finger finally touches metal and glass, that he realizes something is wrong. For one his hand is smaller and the flash of red is actually hair. He tugs on it with his other hand wincing as it makes the pain on his head worse and confirms that the red hair is his.

Harry has red shoulder-length hair. It’s soft as silk and straight as lines, falling gracefully into place when he lets go.

Just as manages to get his glass onto his face- not the circle kind he’s used to. These are a fashionable rectangular style- a healer burst through the door. He pauses when he sees Harry staring back at him before grinning.

“Mr. Potter! How wonderful to you” The healer greets, and Harry can make out the St. Mungo’s crest in the healer’s uniform now that he can see. “Your parents are here to sign you out.”

“My parents?” Harry breathes confused and shock to his core. He regrets it because this experiment is meant to be a secret to the people of this timeline. Dean didn’t want to risk his research falling into the hands of someone dangerous- say the Death Eaters- and they use that to either follow him back to his world or wreak havoc in others.

Everything right now is in just testing zones.

He’s supposed to sink into the skin of another version of him and record what is different about this place. He’s not doing a good job of blending in if mentioning his parents makes Harry react like this, however, and he wonders if he can pull out the notebook and bail right now.

Thankfully the healer offers the perfect cover. “Yes, your parents. Lily and James Potter. I know you’re still missing a lot of your memories but don’t worry, they understand that you need time to adjust. I’ll let them in now”

Watching him cast a spell, which shoots out the open door, Harry gives a weary smile unsure if he’s ready for this or not. He’s going to meet his parents. He’s breathing, living parents! “Thank you sir.”

“They brought your brother as well-”

“Brother?” Harry has siblings here? He was a big brother? His heart starts to beat faster in his chest, he’s not sure if he’s nervous or excited.

“ Your twin, Harry Potter.” The healer fills him in not missing a beat, his words not fulling registering in the overwhelm young man. It takes a beat for him to process the words, but when they do he throws a wide eye look at the man.

Harry Potter, his twin? He’s not Harry here then? Oh, Dean will be ever upset he missed his mark.

Suddenly Harry can’t breathe because in that second a mop of dark uncontrolled hair pops into the doorway, and he’s staring at the face of his fourteen-year-old self.

This could explain why his hand was so small. He was younger, also missing the year. Dean is going to be really upset.

Wait if he wasn’t in Harry Potter’s body, then who the hell was he?

“Basil!” Other-Harry shouts looking like’s about to burst into tears. The boy rushes in, bypassing the healer that tries to get his attention, while a dark-haired man and a red-haired woman follow.

Harry doesn’t get a good look at them because he is suddenly in a tight hug from Other-Harry, who wraps himself around him like a koala. “Basil I’m so glad you’re coming home today. I missed you!”

Harry finds his arms automatically returning the hug and he wonders if it’s the muscle memory of this body or just the fact he always returns hugs to children. “Um?”

“Harry sweetie, we talked about this” Lily says moving forward with pain in her eyes. “Basil doesn’t remember. Please let him go.”

“oh sorry!” Other-Harry says pulling back, much to Harry’s relief. He finds himself staring into familiar green eyes, ones he’s used to seeing in a mirror and it’s jarring.

“Is my name Basil?” He asks because really? Basil? They named him after a herb?

“Yes, son” James answers stepping forward with worry in his hazel eyes. “Basil Potter.”

“Oh well that’s just fucking fantastic isn’t it?” Honestly! Basil! His parents may as well have tattooed “Come bully me” onto his forehead when this body was born.

Harry is only aware the words had been said out loud by the way his new family gains wide eye looks. Other-Harry seems to have gotten hit by a truck. “Did you just swear? Basil, you never swear.”

Shit.

It seemed like Dean’s experiment may be inconclusive again.

#hpdabbles #Harry Potter #Brother Dearest #Dimension travel #Time travel #Twin Au #Swearing and cursing #Crack #NSFW-hinted #It's mostly joking but like suggestively #Idk I had this in drafts for too long #Basil Potter

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getalittleclosey · 5 years ago

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under 10k larry fic rec

hi! i’m becca and i read...so much fic. these rec lists are an accumulation of fic that i’ve read or reread and extra loved from 2016-now. there’s a wide range of stuff here and i think there’s definitely something for everyone!! i divided them up by length so you can check out all those categories below!

please make sure to read tags and warnings on all these fics!! the only things i think i can guarantee is that these are all larry, there’s no non-con, no age play, no eating disorders, no mentions of bg, they end happy, and they’re mostly aus. oh and they’re all on ao3 and some are locked so you’ll need an account! anyway i hope y’all enjoy!!!

under 5k

under 25k

under 50k

under 100k

100k+

☆ colors of the rainbow (shine so bright) by whisperdlullaby 9k

Louis' a popular skateboarder who's out to ruin Harry's life, and sometimes Harry just likes to wear nail polish and panties. Or alternatively, the one where Harry absolutely does not have a diary.

note: there’s a part 2 that’s 6k

☆ day 3: tossed salad by missandrogyny 5k

Harry sighed. “Lou,” he said, as Louis pressed kisses onto the skin of his neck. He gripped at the edge of the washing machine as Louis nibbled lightly at a spot below his jaw. “I’m doing the laundry."

note: this is part of a series by multiple authors but imo can be read on its own as a pwp

☆ jealous of the moon by objectlesson 10k

This is how he dies, Harry Styles saying I want you in me when Louis can’t possibly fulfill that request in a reasonable or safe way.

☆ string theory by graceana 10k

au. louis buzzes with something and glows with another.

The last few players are trickling off the bus when Louis looks down at his hands to see that he is pretty simply put, glowing gold,” Aww what the fuck is this shit. Is it that noticeable?” He whines, doesn’t even make a big deal out of it like it’s a normal thing that should be happening right now.

aka. a cliche soulmatey-fate thing.

☆ you’re like a sponge (abrasive and colorful) by ladylondonderry 7k

Harry LOML Styles: Hey, can you recommend your fav shoe stores? Heels Abroad is closing and I know you know some good places

Butterflies have erupted in Louis’s stomach. This is the first time Harry has ever texted him. He glances down at the beat up old Adidas he wore for his run this morning. Harry thinks Louis knows some good places? He trusts Louis’s opinion on something?

Louis gulps, and then coughs up toothpaste, hastily spitting into the sink. Everything depends on this. Harry - Harry Styles - has texted him! Louis can’t mess this up. He has to be perfect. He has to have great shoe store recommendations. He feels giddy. This is it! A turn in their friendship! The toothpaste-y grin firmly on his face, he picks up his phone again just as another message comes through.

Harry LOML Styles: Sorry, wrong person

Oh.

Or, Louis's flirts look an awful lot like insults.

☆ rated r by cherrystreet 8k

Louis gifts Harry with a surprise sex tape, and it accidentally makes its way into Harry's family Christmas party. Ridiculousness ensues.

☆ stars and boulevards by cherrystreet 6k

They’d been friends for years, had known each other throughout middle school and into high school, meeting in a music class on a sticky September morning. They hit it off instantly, falling into one another immediately, never looking back. Their friendship was comfortable, genuine, safe, always there, achingly present and solid. Harry never felt uneasy confiding in Louis, their one year age gap making Louis somehow seem more worldly, more experienced, and even when Harry had to look down at Louis, he still looked up to him. They spent the quickly passing school years making each other’s homes their own, Harry’s mom calling Louis her honorary second son, Louis’ mom giving Harry a similar title, and everyone knew that if you wanted to find Harry, you had to find Louis first.

☆ in retrospect by ologist 9k

In retrospect, messing with time travel probably wasn’t the best idea George has ever had, and if that’s not the most ironic thing he doesn’t know what is.

note: this is from george shelley’s perspective so there’s quite a bit of union j!

☆ just you wait and see by orphan_account 7k

In which Harry mistakes Louis' flirting as an attempt to steal his job.

☆ i wanna be yours now by justalittlelouislove 8k

“Look, I’m not saying that it’s for sure a serial killer.” Pressing the end of his cigarette to his lips, Zayn takes a short pull and speaks through the exhale, blowing smoke out of the side of his mouth and up towards the sky. “All I’m saying is there’s a good possibility it’s a serial killer.”

Someone is sending Louis flowers. Everyone suffers until Louis gets answers.

☆ come on over tonight by dinosaursmate 6k

As Louis reached Harry’s front path, he spotted something curious on the grass, near to Harry’s wheelie bins. Louis frowned in consternation. Was that…? He crouched down to look at the item a bit closer. It was a snowglobe. Not only was it a snowglobe, it was a Winnie The Pooh snowglobe. A rather large one. A Christmas themed one. - A friends with benefits au where Louis finds out there's a bit more to Harry than an insatiable sexual appetite.

☆ like vines (we intertwine) by turnyourankle 8k

The "Roswell" AU where Harry is an alien, Louis is not, and they've both been pining after each other for far too long.

☆ i was getting kinda used to being someone you loved by werebothstubborn 8k

His hand clamps down over Louis’ mouth as firmly as he can manage. “What do you want? C'mon, you have my full attention now. What. Do. You. Want.”

Louis manages to look apologetic as he licks slobbery circles around Harry's palm until he lets go. “Pretend to be my boyfriend,” he says, dramatically gulping in as much air as he can breathe.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“This bloke just came up to me, said he’d give us fifty quid to be in his music video.”

“And you said what? ‘Sure, just let me coerce my friend into it with uncomfortable amounts of PDA and blackmail’?”

Louis has a brilliant idea. Harry begs to differ. Until he doesn't.

☆ can’t you see the glow by supernope 8k

Four times Harry tries and fails to tell Louis he's pregnant, and the one time he (accidentally) succeeds.

☆ i’ll know my name when it’s called again by pukeandcry 9k

Louis wakes up in Harry's body. This is a problem for several reasons.

☆ make you never wanna leave by fairytalelights 9k

“But that's fine?” Now Louis just looks confused. “There are so many ways you can have fun sex. Wetness is helpful but not a requirement.” Harry can feel his face heating up. The way Louis said fun sex, like it's that easy, like he has all the experience. He might be a year older than Harry, but Harry's not quite sure if age is the only factor at play here. He doesn't know why the thought of Louis having sex makes his heart start to race again and he especially doesn't know why the next thing he blurts out is, “You could show me.”

or, Harry is an omega teen who has trouble getting wet even when he's turned on, Louis is his omega best friend who helps him experiment. In a completely platonic way, of course.

☆ i’ll show you magic by kingsofeverything (fullonlarrie) 5k

Louis didn’t mean to go home with a Muggle, and he didn’t mean to sneak out of his flat in the morning. He definitely didn’t mean to wind up in that same flat a month later, attempting to steal a magical object before the Muggle gets home.

☆ streetwise hercules by bottomlinsons 7k

“I said,” Louis’ voice is venomous, “who the fuck is this?”

Right.

This is Harry’s part.

(Uni AU, where Louis pretends to be Harry's boyfriend to scare away his one night stands.)

☆ a fully armed battalion (to remind me of my love) by mediawhore 6k

“He was flirting with you by the way,” Niall says casually once he’s finished saying goodbye to Louis and he’s joined Harry outside.

“No he wasn’t,” Harry replies automatically, feeling his heart clench at the thought. Was he?

Niall simply raises a mocking eyebrow in response before wrapping his scarf twice around his neck.

“Not that it matters!” Harry says quickly, eyes widening. “I wouldn’t care even if he did because he’s awful and the worst.”

Everyone at Hogwarts knows that Professor Styles and Professor Tomlinson absolutely despise each other. It's too bad that they're in love.

☆ we found love (right where we are) by dea_liberty 7k

Harry Styles hadn’t meant to come back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a celebrity. Except, somehow – by accident - he sort of had. Now he can't go anywhere without someone (or a lot of someones) screaming hysterically and or trying to charm him into falling in love with them. To make matters worse, he couldn't even eat anything he found just anywhere because it might be laced with a love potion. The absolute kicker though was the fact that the one person he'd been trying to impress when he'd apparently impressed the whole bloody world was probably the only person whose attention he hadn't managed to catch.

☆ dreaming of you by orphan_account 10k

It’s as he’s smoking on their shitty little balcony that it really dawns on Louis. These thoughts he’s having are about Alex’s boyfriend. His brother’s boyfriend. Louis is an awful person. He’s always been the kind of person to want what he can’t have and while he’s never wanted anything like this, he can’t stop thinking about it now. How small he’d look next to Harry. How he could easily pin Louis to a wall. How good his long, thick fingers would feel on him, in him . He feels his dick twitch and leans against the cold glass door leading back into the house.

[or; Louis falls in love with his brother's boyfriend.]

☆ won’t you love me? by halos_boat 6k

Where Louis is Spider-Man, Harry is oblivious, Liam has a problem with communicating his feelings, Zayn is frustratingly handsome and Niall has a pet turtle.

☆ feels good on my lips by phdmama 8k

When Niall harasses Harry into returning to Vermont for their fifteenth high school reunion, Harry is really not sure he wants to go. High School wasn't the most fun for him, but when it turns out that Louis Tomlinson, his former best friend and current star of the silver screen is going to be there, Harry agrees. The road to reunion is never easy.

☆ like you hate me by krisstylinson 7k

“You have poor taste for someone with the last name Styles,” he says, turning to show the back of his pants to Harry—the pants Harry had just stitched his name across last night to keep this type of thing from happening again.

Of course, he’s accomplished nothing but indirectly making himself pop a stiffy over Louis fucking Tomlinson.

☆ call me a thief by moodlighting 9k

AU. Of all the people on campus, the one person Louis can’t seem to stop running into is Harry fucking Styles. And he keeps stealing all of Louis’ shit.

#bruh there's a george shelley fic in here that's how old this is im SORRY #on the flip side there are also 2019 fics #so i mean #variety #fic rec #one direction #larry stylinson #there are quite a few hp aus in this wow good for me #mine #25 fics in this one #fic masterpost

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harryimaginestuff · 5 years ago

Text

Never Love Again

Anon: Can you do one with harry being a dick/asshole and is really mean to y/n hurts her feelings(they arent dating) and harry tries to win? her back major angst please :)))

The song lyric used in this is from ‘Never Love Again’ from ‘A Star is Born’.

The one where Harry’s never been meaner (acquaintances!harry&y/n)

Genre: Angst

Word count: 2.9k

Warnings: Mentions of death

You’re thankful for the radiators on blast, their artificial heat hugging you allowing you to release the strong grip you had on your coat as the clear door slams shut behind you thanks to one of many strong gusts of wind.

Wiping your feet on the carpet you wave animatedly at Jess, the receptionist, hurriedly taking off your scarf and coat hanging it on the pegs provided. Coming here had become a regular for you over the Summer, the prime time of music writing for musicians, so now in the freezing month of December getting ready for a writing session in one of London’s most famous recording studios had become second-nature to you.

Jeff Azoff had contacted you years ago after hearing about your impeccable talent for song writing and admirable professionalism, something that he himself revered because he knew first-hand how frenzied operating within in this industry could get. So, when one of his father’s clients – John Mayor if we really feel like name dropping – had rambled on profusely about your undeniable talent he had no choice but to check you out. And that was almost 4 years ago. From then on the two of you had formed a close bond, tagging along on family holidays, being invited to the fanciest of parties and being the resident ghost writer for Full Stop Management.

And today just like most days you were called into the studio to aid with the writing of yet another global superstar and according to the vague text that Jeff had sent you that morning, said artist was Harry Styles.

Now, you weren’t completely unfamiliar with the man, after all having a friendship with Jeff automatically meant that you would constantly be in Harry’s presence, however you wouldn’t go as far as to call yourself friends. Your relationship with him had always been low-key and mediocre, chatting occasionally, and for lack of a better word, the two of you were merely friendly. Nothing more, nothing less. You had absolutely no issue with this of course, it wasn’t as if you both would never talk, you would exchange formalities, have light-hearted conversations, and his gentlemanly behaviour was evident from when the two of you had first met. You had always admired him, even in his boyband days, loving how he was never afraid to just be, respecting how he had the kindest and most gentle soul. You had no issue with admiring him from a distance.

As you entered the recording booth you were greeted with warm smiles weirdly from everyone sans Harry it seemed. You shrugged off his odd behaviour, excusing his cold greeting with the fact that he has been stuck in here for hours, the stress from making a song stealing all of his attention as the deadline for his next album fast approached.

“M’so sorry I’m late guys, got caught up at home.” You sheepishly mumbled an apology plopping yourself on the coach beside Mitch as you pulled your notebook out of your bag. You almostmissed the look Harry gave you, his face screwing up in distaste as he rolled his eyes. Almost.

“No worries Y/N.” Jeff’s American accent ran thick, “You’re the one doing us a favour.” You ignored the sound of Harry huffing across the room, instead choosing to focus on finding the piece you thought would be best for Harry. “We’ve been stuck here for hours,” Mitch groaned beside you, his head leaning back as he closed his eyes, “please tell me you have something for us.”

You chuckled lightly, “As a matter of fact I do, it’s not much but it should be enough to kickstart a few gears,” reaching over you gently patted Mitch’s head to which he smiled brightly up at you.

“Think I’ll be the judge of that thanks.” Harry finally spoke up; however, he was still huffing and puffing, “S’my album.”

You ignored Harry’s harsh tone, instead choosing to smile brightly at him handing over your open notebook to which he took without even a whisper of a thank you.

You watched on with nerves, your fingers fiddling on your lap as you Harry’s eyes skimmed over the pages covered with your hard work.

However, rather than receiving the praise you thought you would get you were met with another scoff as his judgemental eyes turned to you.

“S’supposed be prepared aren’t you? That’s why Jeff pays you.”

“Harry!” Jeff shouts, yet the volume of his voice falls flat once it reaches Harry’s ears.

“First your fucking late, s’not very professional is it? And then you hand me your supposed ‘chosen’ piece and it cannot be any further from what I am.” “Don’t doubt my ability to write when I’ve been successfully for other artists for years.” You huffed, crossing your arms and leaning back into the leather sofa. “M’ not doubting your abilities to write s’just even a basic amount of research would’ve been evidence that what you’ve just shown me is not like me.”

Your heart beats erratically and your hands clench in an attempt to keep the rapidly growing irritation at bay. Reminding yourself repeatedly that it would not be okay if you were to kick him in the shins.

“Like you said Harry, it’s your album you do have the final say,” you said through gritted teeth. “A ‘no thanks’ would’ve sufficed too though.” Reaching out your arm you grab your abandoned notebook carefully turning to the page that had the other page with a post-it note hanging out. “I’ve got another one that I thought we could use.”

Before coming you were sceptical of whether you would want anyone to look at these specific lyrics you had written, along with a couple others, you held these lyrics closest to your heart. However, it was this particular one that stood out to you as you had browsed through your book as soon as you received Jeff’s message. Maybe these lyrics could mean something to someone as much as it did to you.

Please be gentle. You thought, once again handing the notebook back to Harry praying that he wouldn’t be as harsh with this one.

Once again you were watching on, your body full of nerves more so than the previous time. But rather than receiving a death glare you were met with a breathy laugh as Harry read over the lyrics you had given.

“Fucks sake,” you heard him mumble causing your heart to drop. “Have you ever even been in love?”

“Wha-” you asked surprise ringing clear in your voice.

“S’literally the most two-dimensional thing ever. S’not captured anything at all. And apparently you’re of the best writers today.” He complained. “Fucking lie s’what that is.”

“Harry what’s wrong with you!” Mitch jumped to your defence, completely in shock at his mate’s behaviour.

“M’just telling the truth, nothing wrong with that.” Harry pauses taking the time to read your work only to dissect it right in front of you. “Like seriously ‘Don’t wanna feel another touch’, pretty basic Y/N at least write something you have experience with.”

Harry’s words were snarky and had no issue with cutting deep right to your bones.

You sat there staring at the man across from you, completely dumbfounded with how your day had turned out. You never expected to be sitting across from Harry Styles, someone who had been nothing but nice to you since you first met and yet here you were, being ripped to shreds by the exact same man. Your throat was tight as if being strangled with thorns, the words coming of your mouth strained as you fought the tears that were already threatening to spill. “You don’t even know me Harry.”

“Yeah and I don’t need to to know what you’re like.”

“I don’t know what’s warranted you to act the way you’ve been. M’just trying to help you get out of the funk that you’ve been in all day. No need to drag me through the mud.” You stood up, clutching your bag in your hands, shooting Harry one last look. “I’m going home I don’t feel too good, but feel free to browse through my book to find at least one thing that’s worth your time.” You ignored the calls of your name from both Mitch and Jeff only sending them a small wave and a tight smile as you exited the room. You didn’t care if your actions seemed ‘unprofessional’ or ‘childish’ there was just no way you would allow yourself to break down in front of anyone.

You weren’t ready to go back into the cold, not when you felt as if there was no more warmth left inside you. Who did he think was to say any of that to you? He had no clue what you’ve been through, what you’ve felt.

You may have only been 18 at the time but heartbreak was still heartbreak and death was still death.

You always struggled to think back to a time where he was there, when the dull ache in your chest hadn’t been torturing you for months on end. When you had felt free and loved.

But one night he had been ripped from you, pried from your loving grip and taken away without so much as a last goodbye from either of you.

It was a drunk driver. A tragic accident. One that you would never allow yourself to forget. He had been on his way to you that night, after you begged him to come over to keep you company.

He was there until he wasn’t. And you hated yourself for a while because of it.

Over the time your self-hatred had evolved to sadness, anger until finally peace. The first time you had ever felt such content was when you were sat at your desk, an untouched notebook resting in front of you, your hands moving before your mind could even process. Until hours later you finally stopped and what was once untouched was now full of words, lyrics and songs about what you felt, ups and downs and all.

And now the same notebook rested on the small coffee table, ready to be dissected even further by a man who knew nothing.

There was only one thing that could get you out of the hole you had sunk into. That night you found yourself sitting at the same desk, paper in-hand, where you wrote yourself to sleep, dreaming of a green-eyed man and a fatal collision.

It was a loud and startling knock that jerked you out of your slumber. Glancing at the clock you huffed in both confusion and annoyance, who would be here at 7am in the morning? The incessant knocking forced you to hurriedly walk to the door, calling out only to receive no answer, the sound of their knuckles overpowering your voice.

And of course, the culprit behind the door would be none other than Harry Styles. After all who else would be up before 7am dressed in running gear, hair sweaty, a tell-tale sign that your place was a stop off after his morning jog. “Harry?” you asked, confusion lacing your voice. “What are you doing here?” Harry gestured to the door smiling shyly to which you nodded with a roll of the eye, swinging the door open he stepped in. “Nice.” He hummed, his eyes scanning the room.

“Hello? It’s 7 in the morning Harry. Never mind how you even knew where I live but what are you doing here?”

“Jeff.” He remarked still preoccupied with taking in your clustered flat. “I mean Jeff told me where you lived and I came back to give you your notebook.” “Pretty sure Jeff’s not allowed to give out a client’s personal information.” “He’s not.” Harry agreed, finally turning to look at you. “But I begged and s’more so to mend a friendship.”

You shrugged your shoulders perplexed at the supposed friendship Harry claimed the two of you had. “Never aware we were friends to begin with.” You were quick to cut off Harry’s reply, his mouth opening and his eyes shining with guilt. “I can see this conversation is going somewhere. Just give me a few to freshen up yeah? Just woke up.”

Once you were in the safety of your bathroom, you let out a breath you weren’t aware you were holding and took your time to freshen up.

“The fuck.” You mumbled looking at your scruffy complexion. “This man gives me a headache.”

Hyping yourself up in the mirror, you finally deemed yourself ready to come face-to-face with the man who had hurt you the night before.

“I didn’t know.” He said as soon as you walked in, almost as if he had sensed your presence. At first you were left confused by his words, but that was until you saw the frame he was gripping in his hands.

“Of course you didn’t, why would you?” You spoke after a moments silence, gently prying his fingers off of the photo and placing it back where it belonged. “Mitch knew.” you raise your eyebrows in question and what this had to do with anything. “You met Mitch years after me, but Mitch knew.”

“Can you blame me? We were never that close Harry, but I got to a point in my friendship with Mitch to feel comfortable enough to open up and for him to recognise when there was something wrong with me.”

Harry huffed; his eyes downcast so to not meet yours. “S’my point! I’ve known you for almost four years now and I could never see beyond the front you put on. I couldn’t see that you were in pain.”

You were shocked at his broken confession, but it only did so little to cure the damage he had done yesterday when he had verbally ripped into you and your hard work. “You really hurt me yesterday.”

At your words Harry looked up at you, taking your hand in his he gently pulled you to your sofa, his hand still on yours even when you sat down. “I can’t even express to you how sorry I am.”

“You can start with why maybe. I may not know you well, but I know you enough to know that outbursts like that always have a meaning behind.”

“I was just so frustrated.” Harry paused with a slight shake of his head as if to get rid of the memories he had made the day before. “Not at you, at myself. The deadline is so close, and I’ve not even got half of the songs ready. And then Jeff called you in to do my work.”

He let out a breathy laugh, his hand only leaving yours to be raised over his head in exasperation. “I mean I’m supposed to be one of the top artists of my generation and I don’t even have the brain capacity to write enough decent songs to make an album. I was so embarrassed that my manager thought I needed a ghost writer, someone who’s work I would take credit for, to write my songs for me. And then to make matters worse you had this book full of these amazing songs and it just made me question where I stood in the music world. God I was so jealous. And I know none of this excuses my hateful words, but I just needed you to know where they came from.”

“Not any concealed hate I have for you and not because I genuinely thought your writing was shit. It was just ‘cause in that moment I was an insecure little boy who couldn’t handle someone being better than him.”

“You absolute idiot!” you all but shouted causing his eyes to widen in shock, “First of all, you’re a jealous prick. I can’t believe you ripped into me so bad and embarrassed me in front of everyone because you couldn’t admit to yourself the fact that you needed help. Second of all you I don’t know if you’re aware, but you have an album full of amazingly written songs, something that you took a huge risk and then succeeded regardless. Third you know I don’t want to be known for anything until I’m ready, so enough with that taking credit bullshit and fourth thanks a lot for ruining my first writing experience with you I can’t even begin to tell you how long I was waiting for someone to ask me.”

“Oh and fifth! I forgive you. But you better not pull that shit with me again. I can take criticism but only if its constructive and not used to attack me.”

You mumbled in surprise as Harry’s arms wrapped around you pulling you in for a tight hug shivers running over your body from his whispers of what an amazing person you are against your neck.

“Well are you ready now?” Harry smiled slyly pulling away from the hug, the almost-creepy look on his face starting to freak you out.

“Ready for what?” You asked with caution, unsure of where Harry was taking the conversation.

“Want you to help me write tha’ lovely song you showed me ‘nd I want you to be put down as the co-writer.” Harry beamed at you. “If you’re ready of course, just thought if you wanted maybe it’s time for the world to see how talented you are.”

Your mind was reeling as you contemplated your answer, you knew that somewhere down the line you wanted to be recognised for the work that you did. You just had never decided when, but as you looked at the man sitting beside you, you finally reached your answer.

“I’d love to.”

#Harry Styles #harry #styles #harry styles imagines #harry styles angst

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heyyyharry · 5 years ago

Text

Chapter 10: Darlings

(from the Flatmate Trilogy: Two Hearts, One Home)

…in which Harry is excited but Y/N is worried.

Word count: 4.4k

Chapter 9: Three’s A Crowd - Harry learns a big lesson, and Y/N cannot tolerate his assistant.

Wattpad link

A/N: Please enjoy and spam my inbox. - Allie.

Y/N was pregnant.

The doctor had confirmed it. A pregnancy test stick had confirmed it. The morning sickness had confirmed it. So it was official. She was now positively pregnant.

Before all of this, she had been devastated and almost depressed thinking she and Harry might not have children of their own. Now that the universe had given them one, she fell into a state where she was constantly afraid and anxious. She'd blame it on the hormones and the way her body was changing. The baby was probably not even...a baby yet, and she had already come up with a bunch of different scenarios where she turned out to be an awful parent. It was not until now that she realized how strong her sister had been for bringing up baby Eleanor on her own. Y/N was lucky to have a loving husband, her family, and supportive friends by her side.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!"

Harry burst right through the door. He had just got back from work, still in his suit, and his face was white. But what he found was just Y/N and Layla sitting on the bed, blinking at him.

"Who just screamed?!"

"Layla did," said Y/N with a beam. "I just told her the news."

"I cannot believe I'm about to be a godmother!" Layla punched the air and then drop her smile to give Harry a questioning look. "Wait...why are you holding a frying pan?"

Y/N was in hysterics when her husband lowered his frying pan and rolled his eyes. "I didn't have time to choose my weapon when I heard you scream. I thought my babies were hurt."

"Ew?!"

"Not you, Layla. I meant Y/N and our actual baby."

Layla ignored him and turned back to Y/N. "He's gonna be using plural nouns from now on, isn't he?"

"He's been doing that since the doctor visit." Y/N gave her best friend a shrug and automatically lifted her face for Harry to kiss. Layla sighed in contentment as she watched them.

"I'm so excited for you guys and also for me! When I was little, I always wanted to be Cinderella and now, I, Layla Scott, is about to be the fairy godmother."

"Who says anything about—" All it took was one fierce glare from Layla for Harry to change his opinion in a heartbreak. "Yes! You're gonna be the best godmother! No doubt!"

"I'm sorry baby Styles," Layla leaned down and whispered to Y/N's nonexistent baby bump. "Your daddy's a fake."

"Well, your aunt Layla's a bully."

"Godmother! Ugh!"

Smirking as Layla jokingly flipped him off, Harry dropped his head to give Y/N a few more pecks, one hand under her chin, the other on her belly. "I'm gonna take a shower now. You ladies have fun without me."

"Don't worry," Layla gave him a lopsided grin. "We always have fun without you."

"Dick."

"Pussy."

"Real mature guys. I can totally see myself trusting you two with this child." Y/N snorted as Harry walked out with his 'weapon' after giving Layla a mocking face.

"Love you, darlings," he said. "And that plural noun doesn't include Layla!"

"Thank you, asshole!" Layla shouted at the closed door, making Y/N laugh even harder.

"He's very excited," Y/N said now that her husband was gone. Though smiling, the girl was subconsciously fidgeting with the hem of her skirt. And even such a little action couldn't get past Layla's eyes.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you upset?"

"What? I'm not!" Y/N scrunched up her face. "I'm perfectly fine."

"You don't look fine though. You blink a lot when you lie."

"I do not!"

"Here she goes again." Layla scoffed. "I don't get it though. You're finally pregnant. Harry's falling more in love with you, I didn't think it was possible, but I was just proven wrong." She stuck out her bottom lip and lifted her shoulders. "So maybe instead of looking constipated the second he turns away, you should be happy."

"I'm not unhappy, I'm just..." Y/N paused to search for the right word and then went with, "worried." Taking a deep breath, she continued, "what if I'm a terrible mother? What if Harry's the favorite parent and I'm the one my kid lies to and keeps secrets from? What if we're both terrible and our kid hates us?!"

"The kid's not even in there yet and you're already freaking out about him or her going through puberty?" Layla breathed as her eyes rolled upward. "Look, I don't hit pregnant women. But I'll slap the shit out of you if you say that again, ya hear me? This isn't you talking. This is the pregnancy hormones. Your anxiety isn't real, okay?" Quickly, she grabbed Y/N's shoulders and signaled the girl to copy her as she inhaled deeply and let go of that breath.

"Feel better?" she grinned. Y/N nodded once, looking less uneasy now. "Good. Just know that we're all here for you. You're gonna be fine."

As it turned out, Layla was right.

Soon the weekend arrived, and the young couple had grown used to the new rhythm of their life. Y/N had been paying more attention to her diet and taking vitamins regularly, so she didn't feel as terrible as she had for the first few days. This morning, Harry had a meeting with a client, so he wasn't there when she woke up. He'd left her breakfast on the kitchen table with a note saying he loved her and would miss her terribly until he came home. After everything that'd happened to them, he was making more effort to make sure she knew how much she meant to him. It began to feel like those college days again, and she wanted to enjoy it while it lasted.

"Nope, I won't do it!"

"I'll pay you."

"You haven't even paid me for catsitting Tiger!"

Y/N brought Treasure toward Nam's desk and couldn't help but overhear his little argument with Stephanie. While the blonde was rambling on, Nam seemed pretty annoyed. That wasn't at all surprising, because Stephanie's only talent besides being a bitch, was being an annoying bitch. Y/N supposed it was mean to think about her neighbor like that. But that woman deserved to be called a bitch after all the things she'd said and done.

"Y/N!" Stephanie grabbed Y/N by the arm the second she saw her. "Tell him to babysit my niece for me!"

"Oh, now you're gonna drag Y/N into this?" Nam laughed wryly as he took the white cat from Y/N's arms. "Even if you promised me a fortune, the answer would still be no. I already know I wouldn't get a single penny from you. At least Treasure's parents pay me well."

Treasure meowed softly as he stroked her head. "Do you agree, my little furry baby? Tiger's parents are stingy white people, aren't they?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Well, cats, children, they're all the same."

"Well, thank God, you're not a mother." That was meant to be an insult, but Nam had unintentionally given Stephanie a new idea.

Her eyes lit up as she turned to Y/N. "Since you're about to be a parent, would you like some practice?"

"Oh, no! Leave Y/N alone!"

Stephanie completely ignored Nam as she went on before Y/N could say anything. "Don't worry, my niece's a good kid. Her parents go away on business trips all the time so she's very independent. All you need to do is to keep an eye on her until her mum picks her up."

"How old is she?"

"Y/N, you're not actually considering this!" Nam cried out.

Y/N gave him a shrug as she pursed her lips. "Tomorrow's Sunday, so why not? And I'm also good with kids."

"That's the spirit!" Stephanie smacked her on the arm, causing the poor girl to flinch. "She's five. The sweetest five-year-old you'll ever meet! Her name is Darling."

Y/N saw Nam hug Treasure and turn away as he muttered something, probably cursing Stephanie. But this time, it wasn't Stephanie's fault. Y/N simply thought this was a great opportunity for her and Harry to practice being parents. It was never too soon to get prepared for such a big change in their life.

Besides, with a name like Darling, the girl must be an angel. Now Y/N couldn't wait to talk to her husband about their new plan for Sunday.

"Babe, I still think you're really overthinking this."

"I'm not," Y/N shouted from the living room as she checked her watch. "Would you just hurry up?! We're gonna be late."

"Relax! They literally live just across the hall!" he said and finally stumbled out of their bedroom.

She stared at him, lifting an eyebrow in amusement. "Why are you carrying your laptop?"

"I gotta check my emails." He chuckled and pressed his lips to her temple. "Come on, babe. Let's go fake-parenting."

Laughing, she reached out to hold his hand.

They had never been in Mason and Stephanie's flat and had never intended to set foot in there, unless it was the only safe place in a zombie apocalypse. So when they entered 'the devil's home' for the very first time, their jaws nearly dropped to the floor.

The place was much cleaner and tidier than they'd imagined. Harry had often joked about his cousin's flat looking like a porn movie set, with sex toys hanging on the walls and adult magazines lying all over the place. At least that was how he imagined porn movie sets would look like. However, the flat was actually decent. Y/N amused herself with the thought that, those who had never met Mason and Stephanie would think they were a basic white couple named Kevin and Barbara, who baked cookies and went to church every Sunday. Lesson learned: never judge a book by its cover.

As Y/N went into the kitchen to check what Stephanie had left for them in the fridge, Harry made himself comfortable on the couch (after having made sure there wasn't a cum stain on it) and opened his laptop. They waited for about fifteen minutes when the doorbell rang, and Y/N rushed to it with a big smile on her face. She opened the door and was greeted by a tall woman slightly older than her.

"Hi! You must be Mary!"

"And you must be Y/N, the babysitter!" The lady returned a smile as she fixed her bucket hat that covered most of her bobbed blonde hair. Then, she turned back to call her daughter who was still idling in front of the lift. "Darling, come here, baby!"

The five-year-old pouted as she crossed her arms and waddled toward her mother and Y/N. She was as adorable as the image Y/N had created in her mind, with big bright eyes and brown straight hair that fell right past her tiny shoulders. The ladybug backpack she was wearing was too big for her body that it made her look even smaller. She could be the baby girl Y/N had always wanted. But then again, she shouldn't be. The girl might look like an angel, her attitude, however, said the opposite. Her little round face contorted as she shot Y/N a spiteful glare. Why?! They had only just met!

"Hello, Darling." Y/N crouched down with both hands on her knees despite the unwelcoming reaction. "My name's Y/N. And that—" she pointed at Harry who raised his hand and gave the child a wave "—is my husband, Harry. We're your babysitters for today!"

Darling looked at Y/N, and then Harry, and then back to Mary. She repeated that one more time before telling her mother, "please pick me up on time, mummy. Don't leave me too long with these strangers."

The mother gave a startled Y/N an apologetic grin before turning back to the child. "Of course," she said. "But you gotta promise to be nice and listen to Y/N and Harry, okay?"

Darling looked annoyed as she crossed her arms, still, she replied with a nod, said goodbye to her mum and followed Y/N into the living room.

"Okay." Y/N breathed as she shut the door. "Why don't we just start by getting to know each other?"

Darling shrugged off her backpack and spoke with a straight face, "I want to color."

"Oh, okay." As Y/N plastered a smile on her face, Harry was biting his knuckles so he wouldn't crack up. "I'll get us some paper and we'll color together—"

"I said I, not we."

"Wow..." Y/N heard her husband say, but she was too stunned to react. The kid hadn't broken that intense eye contact with her that made her feel extremely uncomfortable.

She swallowed hard, nodding her head. "S-sure. Why don't you wait on that couch with Harry?"

Darling didn't reply and dragged her backpack toward the couch to sit on the other end, as far away from Harry as she could. Now that his wife had left, Harry thought he should start a conversation to get to know this child. But before he could come up with anything to say, Darling was the one who broke the silence.

"Why do you wear so many rings? Are you married to many women?"

"No!" The man laughed, his eyebrows pulled together. He didn't know why he was nervous talking to this five-year-old when he'd never found it hard to speak to a girl before (Y/N had been a special case). He stuttered for a moment before adding to his answer, "this is my wedding band, see?" He showed her his ring finger, smiling proudly. "This is the only ring that matters."

He thought she would react in a different way, a more childlike and positive one. However, what he got was a hardened expression that seemed like she was silently judging him.

"Are you lying because you think I'm a child so I don't know what cheating is?"

He arched an eyebrow in doubt. "Do you know what cheating is?"

"Yeah, aunt Steph taught me that word," she said casually. "Cheating is when a husband or a wife sleeps with another person that's not their wife or husband."

"Jesus Christ!" His eyes widened as he straightened his back. "She taught you that?!"

"Yeah." Darling nodded once. "But I think she's wrong, because what if you want to have a sleepover with your friends? You have no choice but to sleep with them, right?"

"Right." He chuckled nervously.

Y/N soon returned with some paper, and Harry didn't think he'd ever felt so relieved. Talking to that girl was like being interrogated by the police. He'd never been interrogated by the police before, but in his imagination, this could probably be worse. He took advantage of Darling being distracted by her paper and crayons to drag Y/N to the kitchen, telling her to keep her voice down.

"Harry, we are not having sex while there's a kid in the other room!"

Her reaction made him chuckle as he held her arms. "Who says anything about sex?"

"I'm not sucking your dick either."

"I may be horny for you all the time, but I know my limits. I'm only here to tell you that the child scares me."

"Don't you think it's a little too late for that?" she asked, pointing to her belly.

"No, I mean Darling!"

"You mean what?"

He exhaled and rolled his eyes, but still found the little misunderstanding hilarious. "I was talking about Darling, the little girl."

"Just call her 'the little girl' from now on to avoid confusion."

"Got it." He snorted and proceeded to tell her about their previous conversation in the living room, adding, "I haven't seen her smile, isn't that strange?"

Y/N gave him a shrug. "Maybe she's a mini Wednesday Addams."

"Maybe she's a mini Layla."

"Okay, that's funny."

Harry tried to look as serious as he sounded but his own joke amused him. Smirking, he went on, "I bet she's out there drawing a picture of the two of us with our heads cut off."

"Harry, you're overreacting. She's only a baby," Y/N said and kissed him on the cheek.

Other than being an emo five-year-old, Darling was actually a good kid. She had been quiet the entire time while working on her drawings. She was using a lot of red, which reminded Y/N of what Harry had said earlier, and now she was afraid to see what those 'works of art' were about.

Soon it was lunch and Darling stopped coloring as she told Y/N she was hungry. Y/N wanted to be a good soon-to-be-mother, so she asked her husband to play with Darling while she made some sandwiches for the three of them.

"No, wait, I'll do it!"

Before Y/N could protest, Harry had already dashed into the kitchen. She knew he couldn't cook to save his life but didn't want to fight him on this, so she sat back on the couch and let him be their chef. It would take forever until they had something to eat if at all. So while waiting, Y/N used Harry's laptop to go on YouTube. Just when she thought she could finally relax and watch some funny cat compilations, Darling's loud squeal made her head turn shot up.

"What happened, dear?" Y/N put down the laptop and came to see what was wrong.

The little girl stuck out her bottom lip, her eyes welled up as she held the red crayon now broken in half in her little palm. Y/N squatted on the floor with her elbows on her knees as she gave Darling a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, you can still color with that."

"It's broken."

"Yeah but..." Y/N took the two halves, each in one hand. "Now you have two red crayons."

"Half a crayon doesn't make a new crayon."

"Who told you that?" Y/N asked, her eyebrows rose.

Darling pursed her tiny heart-shaped lips as she thought for a moment. She was probably trying to decide if she should tell Y/N what she'd never told anyone. Eventually, she confessed, "aunt Steph told mummy that mummy and daddy's marriage was a broken crayon. You can still color with it, but it'll make the picture ugly and messy."

Y/N was frozen by those words. A little girl should not have heard something like that about her parents, ever. Feeling a big lump in her throat, she tried to search for the right thing to say to Darling. It was only then that she looked around at the paintings scattered on the carpet. They weren't what she and Harry had assumed. They were just awful, messy, childish drawings of what any child would view as a happy family. Darling had used a lot of red to draw the hearts. There were so many hearts surrounding her, her mother and her dad. She'd even used that red color to cross out the face of another woman standing in the background, who, Y/N believed, was her father's mistress. That explained why she'd thought Harry was cheating. Her dad had done it, maybe all the men would too.

"Here." Y/N picked up one half of the red crayon as she sat down, crossing her legs. To Darling's confusion, she took a new sheet of paper and began to draw.

She'd been told by her niece Eleanor and Jamie, the boy she used to babysit during college, that she was good at drawing. That was what she loved about children. You didn't have to give it your best shot and they would still think you were extraordinary, simply because you were an adult. And she was right. Darling's mouth had formed an 'o' shape as her eyes followed every single movement of the crayon sliding across the paper. She was in awe to see Y/N quickly sketch a house with a nice garden, the fences, some trees, even a swimming pool. Y/N finished her 'masterpiece' with a family of two, a little cat, and an arrow pointing to the woman's belly as she wrote down the word 'BABY'.

"So this..." She sighed happily now that her work was done. "This is my family," she said, pointing to the picture. "This is Harry, this is me, and you can't see the baby because the baby's in my belly."

"Does your house look like this?" Darling asked, her eyes went round. It was the first time Y/N had seen her act like an actual five-year-old. And there was something so endearing about that. This was when Y/N's maternal instinct kicked in, she felt her heart flutter in a way that she'd only experienced when she was with Harry.

"Nah, we live right across the hall," she told Darling. "But this is our dream house."

"Why don't you buy it? It has a pool and everything!"

"We'll buy it someday. Right now, we want to stay here to be close to work and to our friends."

Darling clasped both hands in front of her chest. "Can I come visit when you finally buy this house?"

"Sure, love." Y/N nodded and handed her one half of the crayon. "Wanna draw yourself in?"

"Can I?!" she exclaimed with excitement, smiling from ear to ear. That was the first smile to be seen on her, and Y/N felt so proud knowing she was the reason for it.

"Sure, babe. You can put yourself next to me and the baby."

Harry finally returned with three (slightly burnt, but still edible) grilled cheese sandwiches. After having struggled in the kitchen for half an hour, he was now considering signing himself up for a cooking class so he wouldn't depend too much on his pregnant wife. But maybe he'd save this talk for later, because his mind went blank the moment he saw his wife...laughing with mini Layla.

"H-hey guys," he spoke, catching the girls' attention. "What...what are you guys doing?"

"Darling drew a picture of us. Wanna see?"

"Is my head still attached to my body?"

"Harry!"

"Alright, alright. Coming."

He put the plate down on the table and sat down with the girls on the floor. His reaction was the same one as Y/N had before when he saw what Darling had been drawing the entire time. It was far different from the horrendous scenario he'd painted in his head.

Excited, the girl stood up and raised her artwork to show it to her two audiences. "So this is you, this is Y/N, this is the baby. I made it a girl because I want a little sister."

Harry chuckled but Y/N shushed him so Darling could finish her presentation, "and this is me, the babysitter."

"She volunteered to be our babysitter," Y/N told her husband before he could ask.

"Told ya she's a mini Layla," said Harry as he waggled his eyebrows, making Y/N giggle and pushed him away.

For the rest of the afternoon, things had gotten much better for Harry and Y/N. They played a few games (that was how Harry discovered he gave great piggyback rides) and did some more coloring. Since Harry had accidentally ruined one picture by coloring outside the lines, the girls threatened to take away his crayons, but eventually agreed to let him color the insignificant details like the trees and the flowers in the background. Honestly, that was the most therapeutic activity he'd done in a long time. He didn't even bother to check his emails and chat with his clients and employees. All he cared about was this happy moment with his wife and their play-pretend family of three.

In nine months, this all would be real.

"I told you it'd be worth it," Y/N said contently as she followed Harry into their flat.

Darling had just left with her mum, who had been so surprised when her daughter appeared with a massive grin and showed her the picture she'd drawn with half a crayon. Y/N hoped Mary had understood and would try to do better for her little daughter. That was what that child deserved.

"I love to see you so happy," said Harry as he hugged her from behind, kissing the spot right below her ear as she held his face. "Told you you'd be a great mum. You've been acting like my mum since the first day we met."

She rolled her eyes, a corner of her mouth turned up. "I just realized that the personality of the child depended a lot on her parents' relationship."

"That's right." He nodded, holding her stomach with both hands. "Our baby's gonna be an angel, because we're in love. I love you, you love me, we're a happy family."

"I can't have a deep and serious talk with you if you keep quoting lyrics from Barney & Friends, H."

"You're so lame. Our baby would've loved that." He scrunched up his nose and tilted his head to kiss the corner of her mouth. Then, he brightened. "Hey, I think the name Darling is very cute and unique. Let's name our baby something similar, like Honey. Baby Honey sounds so cute!"

She raised an eyebrow at him, lips pressed together as she tried to contain her laughter.

"No? Okay, I'll come up with something else. But I will not give our baby some basic names like Kevin or Barbara."

She froze. "Wait, how d'you..."

"Did I say something wrong?" He gave her a confused smile as he didn't get why she seemed so shocked.

Y/N slowly shook her head and kissed the dimple on his cheek. "I almost forgot that we were like the same person sometimes. Is it weird that I want to marry you again?"

"Not at all. I would do it all over again with you." He beamed, holding her tighter. "Don't worry, love. I promise that I will be the most responsible father and role model—

"Harold!" Mason's voice on the other side of the door interrupted Harry at once. "Harold, I have your laptop!"

"Shit, my laptop!"

"Let's see what kind of porn you have in here!"

"Fuck you, Mason! Give it back right now!"

Y/N hadn't said a word but Harry had already chased his cousin down the hallway. With a gentle smile, she stared at the open door and said to their baby, as if it'd already been there, "we'll give your daddy another try tomorrow."

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