#because she sees herself as better than everyone else except for him. girl you havent even gone on a date yet!!

[lowpawly]

I love this panel of makima though she's so cute. and has mental issues

[blookmallow]

i finally rewatched Us watching for details... I also took a bunch of screenshots, I’ve mentioned before I live in santa cruz and grew up going to this boardwalk so im obsessed with this movie, I’m going to go try to take some better comparison shots sometime (here’s a few I took before) (and here’s a Tethered mannequin that was outside of the frightwalk for a while. i havent been inside for ages so I don’t know if they moved him inside or if he’s just gone now) (i HOPE they did something with the theme considering the frightwalk is literally a horror attraction beneath the boardwalk. i dont really want to go in there by myself though lmao. not a fan of animatronics jumping out and screaming at me) 

this is a lot, i have many things to say 

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

- the opening news segment is 11 at 11 

- you can faintly see adelaide/red’s reflection in the tv screen, with a toy rabbit (her shirt also has twin lines on it in multiple places but that could be looking too far lmao) 

- in the “Hands Across America” segment (aside from the obvious red figures linked together in the logo) : “from the golden gate bridge to the twin towers” another possible 11/twinning, and it starts in california, which is where the tethered revolution begins 

- on “from sea to shining sea” the exact same coastline image is just flipped 

(there’s also another 11 on the side of the TV here) 

- “This summer, 6 million people will tether themselves together” 

- brief mirroring in the boardwalk ad, not just two girls running on the beach but also two girls with upside down reflections in the ground, 

- fairly obvious one, but “find yourself” (as a sidenote there’s nothing in that spot irl, the roller coaster and the swings are real but there was never a ‘vision quest’ or a ‘merlin forest’ as far as I know and there’s no door or anything there either, the interior shots must’ve been done separately somewhere else) (nothing’s left here from the movie now either, I have no idea when they filmed it because I never saw anything or heard anything about it) 

- adelaide/red whistles “the itsy bitsy spider” when the lights go out in the vision quest - “down came the rain and washed the spider out,” it’s raining outside when her tethered comes up (and she is dragged down). she also drops her red apple on the ground before she enters 

- zora’s rabbit shirt 

- everyone else is eating fast food of some kind, except adelaide, who is eating red strawberries 

as well as being a visual cue, its possible she has an aversion to meat if she was forced to eat raw rabbit as a child

- young adelaide arranging animals in the sand (it seems like some of the tethered tend to mirror their counterpart’s movements, so it’s possible she’s mirroring red, though it’s probably not that likely she’d be planning this early/the dance hasnt happened yet so its probably just foreshadowing) 

- young adelaide very pointedly watches “her” mother crying, saying “I just want my little girl back” - she will never have her little girl back again, though she doesn’t know it (I’m not sure if adelaide still remembers what she’s done at this point either) 

its also mentioned that ‘grandma’ has passed away as of the present time, likely adelaide’s mother (i dont remember if its stated outright but since the house belonged to the grandma, and it’s in santa cruz, that would line up) so. the tethered mother, if she’s still alive, would not kill red’s real mother in the uprising. dont know about the father, or if red knows/cares about this, but. thats there. that also means the original mother will never know what happened with her daughter (likely the father won’t either, it’s not clear if he’s still alive but there’s no mention of him being around/he’s not at the house so it seems likely he passed already too) 

- adelaide, her reflection, and a (not so) itsy bitsy spider 

theres even two spiders, one a toy, one real 

- jason crawls out of a cabinet at zora’s feet and scares her while she’s looking in a mirror (which is also a very pluto-like movement) 

- adelaide finds the toy rabbit in a box; assuming the intro was chronological, we saw “her” with it in the tv screen reflection before she went to the boardwalk, so this was red’s rabbit first (she probably does not remember this, though) (red also later finds this and cuts off the head, not sure why though)

- adelaide “sees” her child self in the room with her (in her memory) learning her dance alongside her reflection

 but the reflection is the one she “sees” looking directly at her 

(she’s also interrupted by hearing her son, above her, screaming because he’s trapped, but that might not be intentional) (though when red comes down here later, she is also interrupted by her son getting stuck in the closet too)

- she’s also wearing a choker necklace with a matching gold bracelet, maybe an allusion to. the choking and the handcuffs, again i might be looking into it too much, but. the white clothes which steadily become red with blood seems very intentional so i wouldnt be surprised if the jewelry was planned specifically too 

- its really hard to see and its a split second throwaway comment but kitty goes “oh isnt that beautiful” showing her the magazine and i thhiiiink thats a white girl in a native american headdress :’  ) probably doesnt have. much deeper meaning other than ‘clueless white friends’ but 

- guy buried in sand comes bursting to the surface again and scares his friends (also eyyooooo you can see the wharf in the background im down there all the time) (sorry this is still wild to me. i grew up here ive been to that beach like 9 million times)

- i didnt catch it and was waiting for it to be shown again and it wasnt and i dont want to go back for it but anyway jason has a drawing of a bunch of people holding hands in a line like the hands across america thing in his room, theres a lot of drawings around and we see his drawing of the first untethered, so he probably drew that as well

- jason has a hard time communicating, but he seems to use drawing as a way to express himself. he doesn’t tell his mother about the encounter with the old man (and only shrugs when he’s asked about it) but he does draw it. adelaide found self expression through dance when she was a child before she was able to talk, so he probably got those traits from her. her voice also goes low and hollow on the line “I just didn’t know if you were lost, or... taken” 

- her voice also gets very strange when she’s talking about her memory of the encounter in the vision quest. low, shaky, harsh. its fascinating hearing how much alike the voices are (obviously they’re both the same actress/if the tethered are clones it makes sense that they’d have identical vocal chords but like. red’s got a fucked up voice. hearing echos of that in adelaide is wild and i didnt notice it at all before) 

- its not clear whether adelaide actually remembers what she did, or even realizes she was the copy - is she trying to protect her family from what she believes was the girl who almost took her, or trying to stop her from getting her revenge? she describes the event to gabe as if she was the one who was attacked but escaped, and im not sure if she’s lying or has convinced herself that’s the truth

something’s going on with jason and pluto too but I don’t quite know what it is. when we first see jason he’s wearing a Jaws shirt, kind of a similar vibe to the thriller shirt, and when the tethered arrive he’s wearing a white tuxedo t shirt, white matching his mother’s white outfit. the others all go off to kill their doubles but pluto holds jason’s hand, sits with him quietly, watches his magic trick, he’s told to go “play” which. obviously has a violent undertone to it but he doesn’t actually try to kill him. i dont even remember seeing him with the scissors. why are jason and pluto different. why does pluto get stuck mirroring jason’s movements even to the point of his death but the others dont. why didn’t adelaide mirror red

i guess its possible its because pluto is the youngest in the family so maybe he hasn’t broken out of his connection yet? they didnt really ever explain how they learned to do that 

and as for the connection with adelaide it. could just be that jason takes after his mom more and zora takes after her dad more but that seems too simple. i mean theres the theory going around that jason was actually switched with his clone too at some point and its got some good points (jason forgetting the magic trick, getting stuck in the closet again, etc) but theres a whole line of logic to debunk that too so its just. What’s Going On Here  

cal 11 

i took the first pic to get a comparison shot at the same place later irl but then noticed the ambulance they come across is the same one (#2) they saw earlier 

pretty obvious but the real rabbit comes out through the picture of an identical rabbit (there’s also probably a “rabbit hole” allusion here) 

i noticed this before too but now i have a screenshot of it, im the rabbit in the background just chilling on the floor during the climax here

- im sure i must have seen this before but i forgot about it. the 11:11 guy’s tethered didn’t have a sign so he just.......carved it into his head

- it never healed, either, he did it badly enough to scar

- red says “I couldn’t stop thinking about you, how you could have taken me with you” - she doesn’t mean adelaide ran off and left her there. adelaide made the choice to trap her in the underground. its possible red might have even been thinking how she would have let adelaide come with her if given the chance, which. i mean, i dont know how her parents would have reacted to suddenly having identical twins out of nowhere, but like. knowing there’s a chance red might have accepted her. and all this could have been different 

this is definitely a movie that’s not really intended to be fully explained, there’s a lot of questions that aren’t really supposed to be answered, but nonetheless one of my biggest concerns is where do the clothes come from underground. red tells us they were all abandoned down there generations ago so nobody’s supervising or providing anything. how do they end up with copies of the clothing their counterparts are wearing. and here adelaide has a messed up faded old shirt that either looks similar to red’s shirt or is the same shirt just badly damaged, she switches it with red’s before she goes out for good so that explains how she gets the new shirt, but where did this one come from. why is it different if the other clothes aren’t

and of course there’s the whole question of “where did they all get these red jumpsuits from” but again. questions that aren’t really the point, i guess

[anastasiaskarsgard]

Roman knows best

*Part of the tragic tale of Roman and Hailey”

Hailey watched the clock tick down closer to the end of the day. She only had another 2 minutes and had already packed everything to make a quick escape. As soon as the bell sounds, nothing was going to stop her from getting out of there. It wasn’t that she hated school, she actually liked it, but she needed to avoid her ex.

She could no longer tolerate his jealousy and violent temper. Although his rages mainly consisted of getting screamed at and him breaking things, he’d recently gotten physical and she knew once that line was crossed, it only would get worse.

RRIIIIIINNNNNNGGGG!

Hailey jumped up and raced for the door, ducking out behind a tall portly fella, she hoped he’d be a good enough shield to go by unnoticed. Roman had been trying to speak to her all day but she had only gone to her classes. She had scheduled all her classes back to back since she was trying to get her degree in half the time, so she could hurry up and get into law school, and escape him for good.

Currently it was looking like her plan might work and she felt a rush of excitement when she didn’t see him waiting in the front. Glancing through the windows, over to where Roman always parked, she was elated to find his car missing.

Then she saw him out of the corner of her eye, and tried to act like she hadn’t noticed him, making her way to the exit doors.

“Wtf is your problem? I lose my temper on people all the time! You need to be less sensitive... everyone has bad days.” He justified indignantly. “Would you fucking LOOK AT ME?”

Her blood froze in her veins. Thankfully there were lots of people around so he wouldn’t hurt her... she hoped.

“No.” She stated, not turning to look at him and continuing on to walk to her car.

“No?” He scoffed incredulously. “No? And here I thought you loved me. What happened to that girl, because whatever cunt you turned into, is getting old real quick.” He reached out and pulled her to him.

“You don’t love anyone Roman. Not even yourself.” She seethed, still refusing to turn around, and trying to shake him off without drawing too much attention.

“Oh like you know what the fuck I feel? Now I don’t love you?” He raged, whipping her around like a rag doll and getting right in her face. “FUCK YOU!” He screamed, breathing like he’d just run a marathon.

People around them froze mid step but Roman didn’t seem to care. He was well known by everyone, so anytime he was around, people stared, but this was starting to look like an audience. Well if he wanted to make a scene, she’d do it. She knew he wasn’t very comfortable with the subject of love, so maybe that would shut him up.

Haley’s beautiful blue eyes narrowed into an icy glare. “Love doesn’t lash out in anger. If you don’t love me enough to guard what you say, then you’re not mature or responsible enough to love. “

“Well you know what? Love also doesn’t ignore or shut down. If you really loved me, you’d fight for me and never pull this pouting silent treatment bullshit!”

“Don’t confuse strong emotion for love, love isn’t just a feeling. It’s action and sacrifice!” She spit back.

“You think I don’t know that? You think you’re the first person claiming they love me? I’m upset now but I’ll be over it by tomorrow. Do you know how many women would love to be you?”

She glanced around and to her horror, saw several girls nodding their heads and giggling to each other. “Then by all means go bother them but they won’t ever really love you! They don’t know you! They might all say they love you, but I’m the first one that means it. You can’t mean it because you haven’t got the room. Your heart is too full of hate, pride, and fear to fit any love in it. That’s why it’s so easy for you to move on and walk away. You havent-“

“Stop it! Stop saying these things. I can’t-“ he pleaded. All arrogance melting away to that scared boy she found almost impossible to turn her back on. Almost being the key word here.

“Well I won’t settle for what you have to give.” She hissed, turning away from him, refusing to meet his eyes.

“No?” He growled, caging her in his arms. “Why is your heart rate rising and your breathing different? Why is it that you shudder when I touch you? Why are your eyes closed?” He growled lowly into her ear “I love you so much baby,” he said pressing their bodies together closely, making it obvious how much he wanted her “let me prove it. Actions speak louder than words.”

She hated him. He was so manipulative! She turned her head to look at him and opened her eyes only to have her lose her train of thought. She hated he was so damn beautiful. Roman Godfrey was not the best boyfriend, but god he was attractive. Could that be enough? She tore her eyes away and tried to push him away half heartedly but he only growled in the back of his throat, and aggressively crashed his lips into hers. She hated herself for responding to his kiss. No she refused to give in again. She’d fight! Gathering all her strength she heaved against him.... he didn’t even budge, just pulled his face back and snapped his eyes down to her, but she looked down at the last minute. Something kept telling her not to look at him, and she didn’t want to look anywhere else, since this was still very public. She reminded herself that the audience would guarantee this fight wouldn’t escalate to physical violence, but they still were frustrating.

“Don’t push me away baby.” He whimpered “I cant take it.”

“Roman, you never listen to me!” She wailed hopelessly, “just let me go! This isn’t fun anymore.”

“Shut up.”

“Don’t tell me to shut up.”

**********

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” He screamed in her face, panting out of breath again. He felt a full on panic attack enveloping him and he couldn’t understand what her problem was. He focused on his breathing and tightened his grip on her so she wouldn’t escape.

He’d give her anything she wanted except freedom. Any other girl would be beside herself with joy that he’d even acknowledge them, but not Hailey. She had to be difficult. Was that why he loved her so much? No. He wasn’t that petty.

God knows it would be a lot easier if he could just let her go, but even the thought hurt his heart.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts and back to the present. Looking down at his lovely girlfriend, rekindled the fire from earlier. She still was refusing to meet his eyes, and he found her stubbornness adorable. She would be his little whore, no matter how he had to make it happen. She was his. End of story.

He pressed himself closer to her, and although she tried to hide it, his upir senses could smell, hear and feel her body responding to him. Physically, she was still his, he just needed to work on mentally. Oh fuck it, he had no moral high ground to fucking worry about, and her strong will was one of her worst features. It was becoming more painful each time he compelled her, but love hurts right?

Placing his hand on her face, he gently pushed some hair behind her ear, like they were in some awful romantic novel. “You’re so beautiful baby, I’m sorry. Just look me in the eye, and tell me you want me to leave you alone and I will.” He said as sincerely as he could without laughing.

She looked thoughtful, eyebrows knitting together before looking up at him hopefully.

Got you bitch.

“You got all your things and you can’t wait to come to the mansion with me because you love me so much. You are so happy I forgave you for being so mean, and you’re going to make it up to me by letting me do whatever I want to you. As soon as we walk in my bedroom, you’re going to strip naked and get on your knees like the bitch in heat you are.” He said as he stared in her eyes intensely. He dropped his hand down to hers, and pulled on her hand, before walking towards the exit.

Hailey stared blankly at Roman and followed him quietly. He turned back to look at her and a A big smile flashed across her gorgeous features and she pulled him back into a passionate kiss, but pulled back suddenly when she tasted blood.

“Oh no Roman! Your nose is bleeding! Let’s go straight to the mansion and I’ll make you feel all better.” Now she was pulling him along to his car almost jogging she was walking so fast.

They passed a group of girls and Roman could hear them whispering how lucky Hailey was, and the things they would do to him if they only got a chance. Hailey really should feel grateful he went to all this effort for her. He really was an amazing boyfriend. Anyone else would give up on her and let her go. Luckily he knew what was best for her.

*********

Hailey felt like she had been mad about something, but she couldn’t remember what for. She was just happy to be with Roman. Thank goodness he forgave her for being mean! Mean about.... hmmm. She’d think about that later, right now she was just happy she had such a wonderful boyfriend.

.

[keenge]

I was holding her in my arms when the phone rang ... "It's 3:30 in the fucking morning this had better be important !!!" I said losing the dream. " Mat, it's T and I really do hate to bother you, but I think he is back," said my partner and best friend Theresa McCawley , " Beat patrol found her body about 30 minutes ago, down by the docks." " I'll be there in 15 minutes Teri. " and I hung up, got dressed and locked my door and left the house. My name is Mathias MacGregor and I have been a cop in Riverside, La. most of my adult life, was born and raised there, and the man my partner was referring to is known as the Dock Master ... this is our story.

It all started when a young girl, 16, was found beaten raped, brutally tortured and murdered on the East dock 8 years ago. Since then he has left 12 more bodies and so many unanswered questions it makes me sick. He had a calling card, my initials carved into the victims foreheads, a detail the press miraculously has never found out about.

It's been a year since he struck the last time, a year since he put a bullet into my chest and I put one into his leg and back, a year filled with pain rehab and booze and me tracking the few clues he has left behind.

The second victim was found less than a week after the first and it was the pathologist that mentioned the letters ... my name isn't well known outside the department and certainly not my middle initial, so it was obvious that a message was being sent since a letter arrived for me at the lab while we were waiting for the autopsy report.

She had been beaten and raped like the first girl but the torture was different, not by much, but enough to see the bastard knew what he was doing and was good at it, a beat cop brought me the letter having signed for it from a courier. Inside was my full name a description of both victims including marks left by the torture and one sentence, "These are only the beginning."

That was 8 years and 10 victims ago, but god it feels like a lifetime. I got close a year ago because he made one mistake, just one but it was enough to trap him. We just weren't prepared for the fight he put up, 2 officers dead, 3 more including myself wounded and a shit ton of publicity asking why we havent caught him. " Mat, the call went out on a cell and came straight to me, they know the rules." This is why I adore my partner and best friend, Teri can read me like a book.

There had been calls made over the radios for the first 4 victims but, after the 3rd and 4th had my initials on their foreheads as well as the first 2, we decided anymore would go out over special phones we had made for our department.

Don't get me wrong I don't hate the press, I just don't have much use for them to be honest. They twist words and actions and typically report only what they want.

After the first 4 victims they were already calling him the Dock Master, even though we had begged them not to, we had learned from other cities giving a serial killer a name tends to make them bolder and more ... violent.

"Do we have an I.D. on her yet?" I asked of nobody in particular, "No lieutenant, but she doesn't look like a typical street kid." I walked over knelt down and pulled the sheet back from her face, OH MOTHERFUCKER" I yelled, making everyone jump and turn towards me, " This is Mayor Thompson's daughter!!!" Teri looked at me with wide eyes and for the first time since the shooting last year I saw fear in her face.

Every single cop in Riverside knew Jesse Thompson, she was the city's darling because she was pretty and had a voice like an angel.

"Are you sure Mat" Teri asked in a hoarse whisper, "She is supposed to be in Chicago for the Cheerleading competition." "Yeah, I'm sure T, he didnt damage her face, except to leave his mark" I said, "I'll make the notification myself and meet you at the lab."

When I got to the lab I had a grim sense of satisfaction tempered with a pity I never thought I'd ever feel for the man i was sure was the biggest crook in our small part of the world. After the shooting, our esteemed Mayor, in his infinite wisdom, took to the press (see above opinions) and made us seem like the Keystone Kops.

I was personally accused of mishandling the evidence and the investigation and causing the deaths and injuries of my friends and comrades.

"Doc says it will be tomorrow before her report is ready Mat, go home and get some sleep for what it's worth, I'll go to the office then head home myself" said Teri when I walked through the doors. "Come by the house when your done at the office if you want T, we could both use some stress relief about now" I said with a sad smile. " You still have your key, I'll be in the shower and you can join of you want." She smirked hugged me and whispered " Only if you promise to be a little rough" and walked away towards the exit.

Teri and I have known each other for 25 yrs and it wasn't until 3 yrs ago that either of us ever really thought about being anything but friends, as strange as that sounds, we were both either with someone or only one of us was single or whatever the case may be but it took that long, but damn it was worth the wait.

When she got to my house I was in the shower as promised, as she came into the bathroom I could tell she had been crying, so I stood under the water waiting for her to decide what she was going to do, as she stepped in I grabbed her, pushed her against the wall, and fell to my knees in front of her, grabbed her thighs and pushed them apart.

I slid my tongue into her wet slit, flicking her clit, as I grabbed her breasts with my hands and played with her nipples. "OH MY GOD YES" she yelled, as I gently sucked her clit into my mouth, and rubbed it between my upper and lower teeth, as she came she grabbed my hair pulling me up and said "FUCK ME NOW"

As we were in the tub she shoved me down, grabbed me in her hand and squeezed, as she stroked slowly smiling at me, then swung her leg over and lowered herself onto my face, allowing me to find her clit and lips with my tongue, as she took me in her mouth, and slowly licked and sucked up and down my manhood, while I was licking and sucking her womanhood until she finished on my face and in my mouth,"God that feels amazing" she said letting me out of her mouth, she turned and rolling onto her back, pulled me over with her and taking me in her hand she guided me inside of her slowly, squeezing and caressing me inch by inch until I was all the way in, then she wrapped her legs around me, looked into my eyes, and said "Fuck me as hard as you can". So I did, and we both came, her at least 2 more times as I filled her with mine, then I slid down her body and proceeded to lick and suck her clean, making her cum again, then I picked her up and held her in my arms as she cried again, I held her till she was finished , then we laid down on the bed, and went to sleep snuggled together, in what would be the last decent sleep we would get for almost 6 months.

When we woke up that afternoon we didnt say much, just cleaned up and headed back to the lab where the coroner, Gina Dubois, was waiting with her report. " This is a bad one Mat, he has added to his repertoire. She died due to almost total exsanguination ... she lost about 95% of her total blood volume. But before she died he hurt her bad, I counted 146 broken bones, almost every single muscle, tendon and ligament was either stretched or torn, she was beaten worse than the rest ... " , she paused and I could feel the anger and frustration radiating from her, "She was raped repeatedly with a sharp double edged weapon both vaginally and analy, then he forced salt inside of her with a large rounded blunt object about 10 inches in diameter ... he tore her open inside so bad that even if she had been in a hospital she would have died!" " He also raped her and left fluids behind which we are analyzing now, but there is something else ..." and again she paused. "What is it Gina?" Asked Teri. Gina still hesitated, then finally spoke. "He left something else behind inside of her, a letter addressed to Mat" she said, " The letter is in my office since I haven't logged it into evidence yet." "Gina, what are you hiding?" I asked, "Not logging evidence is not like you, and you are kinda worrying me right now." "Fucking A and you should be worried, Mat he knows your full name, not just the goddamned initials, he knows you almost intimately," she said, "You don't even have your middle name listed officially anywhere, I know, I checked, so how the hell does he know so much about you?" Now I am not the kind of person that gives out my personal information to anyone, so for the bastard to know so much... " Gina, Teri, I swear I don't know, only 5 or 6 people know that name, there is a fucking reason I don't use it," I said, "The man that raped my mother and got her pregnant, he ... he kept tabs on her, and when she went into labor he followed her to the fucking hospital, and after I was born, he just walked in proud as you fucking please, and added a name to my birth certificate, my middle name... God I hate the name, but I have used what happened to her to become the cop I am, my middle name is, Dubois..." I heard Gina and Teri both draw in sharp breaths as they digested what I had just told them. I went into Gina's office and found the letter, and walked outside debating on who could know my full name, and hate me enough to do this kind of fucked up bullshit in my city.

Teri caught up to me as I was getting in my truck, "Mat" she began, "I am so sorry, you never told me anything about your childhood or growing up with what happened to you. But it doesn't change who you are, you are still my partner and goddammnit I need you to be at your best because this fucker is killing children in our city and he almost got you, so snap the fuck out of what ever funk your in and let's get to work and catch this maniac!" Leave it to Teri to put it so plainly and yet so perfectly, " Ok, T, your right, we need to go to the hospital so I can talk to Ashley, she needs to know about the letter." The letter! I hadn't even looked at it yet, and suddenly I was afraid to! Before I go too much further let me explain a bit more... Ashley Wise was the doctor that operated on me and the other cops that were wounded in the failed attempt to catch this bastard, but more importantly she is my baby sister.

"She is one of the very few people that know my full name so I need to talk to her ASAP."

I now my grammar and punctuation is atrocious but bear with me it is a work in progress

[fatrainbowmermaidunicorn]

Home (Taehyung x You ONESHOT)

A/N: this song is inspired by an uprising band in my country called Insomniacks - Pulang (which means "come back" or "come back home") They started of as a YouTube band and wrote their own songs too! This story is inspired by their MV. If you have spotify you can listen to it, I believe that to all Kpop fans out there, language wont be a barrier to appreciate good music ❤

Also, this story is not finished yet. Think of it as a part 1 if you may. (Its a oneshot actually) I havent finished it yet but I haven posted for such a long time so I just want to post this first. This is not throughly edited yet. will fully edited once I posted the whole thing but hope you enjoy it since im a bit rusty now.

ITS DONE GUYS. ITS THE COMPLETE STORY

Warnings: Rape Scenes

A/N : And also, I’m trying a new thing here. if anyone here like my stories and want to give some support, why not buy me a coffee? ☕💜

MASTERLIST

"What is this story about?" Taehyung lazily thumb through the script on the table in front of him.

"In the nutshell, about an unrequited love. A lot of cheating, hurting and how the main female character gets over it. You will play the man who broke her heart," his manager explains briefly. "I know, I know. Its sounds like a typical love story. But its good exposure for you to start taking roles in a romantic drama. Armys would love that,"

"Hmm, I guess?" Taehyung, still thumbing through, not really believing his manager's words.

"And its also by an award winning writer and publisher. And she will guide the director all the way. Its going to be a hit Tae," his manager desperately tries to convince him once again.

"Yeah? Who is this award winning writer and publisher?" Taehyung looks at him, curious.

"You will surely know her. Shes too famous not to be known by anyone," the manager grins, sure that Taehyung wont say no once he heard the popular name. "Its L/N Y/N,"

"What?" Taehyung turns his head so fast it gives him a whiplash

"L/N Y/N. Shocking right? But your trusty manager manage to get you the role in her movies!"

"Y-Y/N?"

/////

"Y/N!"

Y/N pushes her glasses up her nose as she turns around to the source of the voice and saw one Kim Taehyung walking, no, sauntering over to her like he owns the school. Well, in some way, he really does owns the school. Everyone knows who Kim Taehyung is. Not just in the school, but in the whole town. Granted, its a small town, but Kim Taehyung just leave a mark on everyone he met. Guys wants to be him, or atleast gets close to him and girls will do anything to date him, parents admires him and teachers adores him. People would do anything just so for him to know their name, or even just hearing him call their name, which in some miracle, he is calling hers.

"M-me?" Y/N points to herself as Taehyung flashes her his incredible grin that could melt hearts, hers not an exception.

"Who else princess? I dont know any other Y/N," he smirks and hugs her waist, walking by her side, which turns all eyes on her. If it wasnt her in this surreal position, she would be staring too. Kim Taehyung with his hands around a girl's waist? Even worse, a nobody, nerdy, smarty pants who has her nose in a book all day. The girl who doesnt even have a single friend throughout her high school years?

"I-uh.."

"Speechless?" Taehyung winks. "Well, thats how I feel when I first saw you too princess,"

"W-what?" Y/N makes a sudden stop in the middle of the hallway the moment those words came out from his mouth and pushes her glasses back up on her nose, taking a good hard look at Taehyung who is still smirking at her. "Is this a dream? I'm dreaming arent I?" She lets out a loud laugh. "Yeah, that must be it. I'm dreaming. I'm in my bed right now, under my blankets, in a deep sleep. There is no way Kim Taehyung knows my name, is walking beside me, hugging my waist and calling me princess. Yeah, a dream. Definitely a dream," Y/N babbled on her own and Taehyung cant help but admire how ridiculously adorable she is. Y/N reached out her hand and touched his face. "Even in my dreams you look so ethreal," she smiles. "And you feel so real too,"

Taehyung burst out laughing. Oh wow, she really thinks shes dreaming.

How-freaking-adorable.

He leaned in and whisper to her ears, "Keep on touching me princess, and something else might go down today," he winks as his smirks gets bigger.

Y/N smiles.

"This is really an amazing dream," she giggles. Shaking his head and laughing, Taehyung slowly leans in, one hand cupping her chin and the other holding the back of her neck as his lips softly touches hers. Wide eyed and surprised, Y/N touched her lips once Taehyung pulled away, smiling.

"Still believe its a dream princess?"

"D-did you really just kissed me?" She stuttered, eyes still wide.

"Yes. And theres a lot more where that come from," Taehyung grins and leans in to whisper in her ears, his warm breath grazing her ears, finally making Y/N realized that she is definitely not dreaming, and Kim Taehyung did really just kissed her. "Oh princess? You better believe that all this is real. You are mine now,"

/////

Everything become official so fast. Taehyung was the perfect boyfriend.YN still couldnt believe it sometime. That she is Kim Taehyung's girlfriend. That Kim Taehyung is really, sincerely, happily in love with her.

Their relationship was happy and perfect. Taehyung never gave her any reason to doubt his feelings for her. They are the perfect couple, even her parents approved. Even when Taehyung was accepted as a trainee, something she never thought would happen.. oh who is she kidding, with that face and talent, of course he would get casted, no miracle there. But what is a miracle is how Taehyung's feelings for her never changed even when he is on the brink of fame, stress and debuting.

Things between them only starts to shake when Taehyung starts to get close to another trainee. Beautiful, talented Min Soo. Y/N trusts him, she really does. But theres also a limit on how much a girlfriend can take to see her boyfriend being close to another girl. Especially a beautiful one that matches him in every way.

What is once a peaceful relationship, starts to be filled with fights and doubts. Especially when Taehyung starts to pay more time and attention to Min Soo, under the false excuse of practicing and rehearsing. Dates cancelled everytime Min Soo called has been a norm to Y/N now, but she thought things were different when Taehyung suddenly asks her out on a super romantic date night. She strongly believe that Taehyung is finally realizing his mistake and is making it up to her.

Dressed to the nines and brimming with excitement, Y/N waited for her beloved boyfriend. She almost thought that Taehyung would cancel last minute like he usually does, but he showed up just in time and impecabbly dressed too. The night went well. Great even. Taehyung was romantic, sweet and everything he is when they first met... until Min Soo calls him, asking for his help for a cheaography.

"Really Tae?" Y/N pouts. "Cant you just tell her that we are on a date? You spend all your time practicing, I barely even see you this week,"

"Princess, you know this debut is important to me and Min Soo is helping me. Its only right that I helped her with hers too," Taehyung sighed, too tired to argue. Its like this every single damn time and he is exhausted.

"But Tae..  you promised that this will be our night. Please Tae? Just tonight. Spend it with me?" Y/N hold his hand and looks at his face softly, trying to find back the man Taehyung once were. The man that made her fall so madly in love before.

"This is work. Dont you understand?! You know how important this is to me!" Taehyung sighed, his voice slightly rising.

"I know it is Tae. But arent I important too?" Y/N tries to control her sadness. "I'm only asking for an hour or two. I'm sure Min Soo can wait,"

"Shes important to me Y/N! I need to do this!"

Y/N's mouth hand open. Did he just said what he just said? Did Taehyung really just said she?

"S-he?" She repeated his words. "She as in Min Soo? Shes more important to you isnt she?"

"N-no. You know what I meant. I meant this is important to me! My career! You said you will be supportive Y/N! You know I am doing this for us. For our future!"

"Supportive in your career, yes! Not supportive when your boyfriend is out with.. with.. another bitch!" Y/N yells out. With her good girl reputation, she never cursed. Not once, but she cant handle it anymore. Her heart is breaking with every second they soend arguing.

"What did you call her?" Taehyung growls.

"A bitch! I called her a bitch! Thats what she is Tae! Shes stealing you away from me!" Tears already rolling down her cheeks. Taehyung will usually do anything to make sure Y/N never cries, but apparenty tonight is nit one of those time. This time he is fuming with anger and he dont even know why.

"Y/N, I'm warning you. Dont call her that!"

"Why? Because shes your girlfriend now?! Then what am I? Why are you even with me right now?!"

"God, what part cant you understand. Its fucking work! And work is important to me!"

"Oh bullshit Tae! Just admit it! Its not work thats important! Its Min Soo! Just be a man and admit it!" Tears are no longer containable and is streaming wildly down Y/N's face. Taehyung kept quiet for a while, most probably thinking and after a while, with a sharp glare he opened his mouth.

"She is so much important than you in every way. Can you just please get the hell out of my car?"

/////

"Oh Hyun Joo? What are you doing here? Did Tae sent you here?" Y/N smiles at him as the car stopped by her side and the windows rolled down to show Hyun Joo's big innocent smile. She knew it. There is no way Taehyung would leave her alone like this. Maube it really just work. An emergency. She should make it up to him tomorrow.

"Yeah he did. Come in," Hyun Joo smiles and unlock the door for her to climb in.

Without hesitation and doubt, she climbed into the car. Hyun Joo is Taehyung's best friend. She kust be important to hin if he sent his best friend to get her. The pain fron Taehyung leaving her alone in a dark, unknown place starts to melt away. She just loves him too much. After Taehyung asks her to get out from his car, Y/N was left alone in the dark scary road, far away from anywhere and her phone batteries had ran out. Scared and terrified, she walks along the darkened road, trying to find safety, still believing that Taehyung will come back. Maybe she can make Taehyung treat her to ice cream and a nice date to make up for tonight. She knows she shouldnt be forgiving him so easily, but what can she say. Shes whipped for him. Taehyung is her everythinf. She will forgive him in a heartbeat the moment he apologizes. Lost in thoughts, it took Y/N a while to realized that it has started to rain heavily and Hyun Joo has stopped the car.

"Why are we stopping? Is something wrong?" She looks over at the man, concerned.

"Yeah. We have a flat tire. Sorry, but i have to change it. Do you mind coming out with me and holding the umbrella for me?"

"Of course I will do that," she smiles and gets out in the heavy rain, holding the huge umbrella over the two of them as Hyun Joo crouched down to the tires. After a few minutes of fussing over, he suddenly stands up and turns to face her, eyes dark and changing.

"H-Hyun Joo? Everything okay?"

"Do you even know how beautiful you are?" He hold the handle of the umbrella, hands gripping over hers. "Why is Tae such an idiot? You are a million times better than Min Soo,"

"H-Hyun Joo? Why are you acting like this? I-is everything okay?" Y/N starts to panic. Her heartbeat starts to beat faster as she realized that shes in the middle of no where and no one to help her. But Hyun Joo wont do anything right? He must be playing around. He's Taehyung best friend. This must be a joke. Nothing else. Just a joke.

"Everything is definitely okay, princess," Hyun Joo smirks. The pet name coming out from his mouth sounded so sinister to her ears. "Now that I finally got you alone, everything is more than okay," he grins and grips her hand, pulling her and pushed her into the backseat, making Y/N fall helplessly on the seat, startled. "Why Taehyung huh?! Why Tar princess? I've been waiting for you for years! And one look from that luing, manipulating playboy and you are suddenly head over heels in love with him?!" He yells as he leans in, forcefully trying to kiss her but Y/N tilt her head dodging his face.

"Hyun Joon no! Please dont!" In panic she managed to kick him hard and pushed him before scrambling to the other side and runs out from the other door. Now more enraged from the kick, Hyun Joo chases after her, lust now combined with anger.

"You bitch! You wont get away with this!" Hyun Joon is not the school's athlete for nothing as he catches up with her so easily and drags her back to the car. Although she tried to wriggle and scream, doing everything she can, Hyun Joon is noticably stronger, overwhelming her in a second. "Stop resisting princess and it will be just as enjoyable to you. I can make you feel so much better than Taehyung can,"

Y/N spits in his face as one last attempt and that just resulted in making him angrier, making Hyun Joo pushed her down on the wet, dirt road.

"I tried to be nice to you princess, but you want the rough way huh? You like it rough?" He towers over her and slaps her multiple times, adding a few punches in order to weakens her resistance.

"D-dont please dont. Help. Somebody help!" Y/N screams as loud as she can but the rain drowned out everything. Using his strength, he captured both of her hands and use the other hand to ripped open the top of her dress.

"T-Taehyung... save me. P-please. I'm sorry," was the last thing she managed to whisper out, as tears that streams down her face mixed up with the heavy rain, closing her eyes tight, already numb from the pain and cold, blocking the smirk on Hyun Joo's face from her eyes.

/////

"Its okay. She wont know. And you know you are meant to be with someone like me," Min Soo smile. Shes beautiful, thats for sure. And just like all the other teenage boys out there beauty is everything. So, erasing Y/N entirely from his mind, Taehyung leans in, his lips touching her, hands roaming at the hem of Min Soo's shirt as hers fiddled with his buttons.

Its okay. Y/N wont know a thing.

/////

Taehyung woke up smiling the next day. He had spent an amazing night with Min Soo and he still has his amazing girlfriend. He loves Y/N, he really does. But temptation is everywhere. And he is just a young hot blooded man. All he has to do today is make up to Y/N with some nice date and all will be okay again. He is sure of it. Y/N was never able to resist him. She will forgive him in a heartbeat and everything will go back to the way it was. He is sure Hyun Joo has taken her home safely last night anyway.

However, he cant find Y/N anywhere the next day. He tried calling but her phone is shut down. Is she sick? Maybe. Taehyung will just go and see her after school then. He tries to find Hyun Joo, wanting to know if everything goes well after he asks him to get Y/N, but his best friend is also not in sight.

Weird.

After the first period, rumors starts to buzz that Hyun Joo is arrested, for what, none of the students are sure. Some says murder, some says vandalism, but nothing is for sure. Puzzled, Taehyung tried to get some information about his best friend, but no one tells him anything. Even Hyun Joo's parents refused to speak to anyone or try to clarify things.

More confused about whats going on in school today, Taehyung decided to immediately went off to Y/N's house, knowing he will feel much better the moment he saw her beautiful smile. He definitely didnt expect to be greeted so coldly by Y/N's parents as they opened the door.

"Hi Mr and Mrs L/N. Y/N didnt come to school today so I came to visit her. Is she okay?" Taehyung flashed his signature boxy smile. Y/N's parents loves him and is always welcoming and incredibly warm but something felt off today.

"Stay the hell away from my daughter and dont you ever come back here!" Taehyung was taken aback by what Y/N's father just said to him.

"S-sir?"

"I said get the hell out of here and get out from my daughter's life! What kind of a bastard leave a young girl alone in the dark after he promised her parents that he would take her home safe and sound!" Y/N's father yelled and her mother starts crying, which confuses Taehyung even more. Is he that angry over last night? But he didnt leave her alone. He asks Hyun Joo to pick her up!

"Sir! I'm sorry that I have to bail out from the date last night. But something came up!  I-"

"Something came up?!" Y/N's father move forward and grip Taehyung's collar. "After everything that happened last night, your reason is something came up?!" Taehyung's eyes widen. Did her father know about him and Min Soo?

"B-but sir. Can I just please see Y/N? I can explain it to her. I called Hyu-"

"Dont you dare mention that name in front of us ever again!" A powerful punch flies over Taehyung's handsome face, making him fall to the ground. "You and your no good best friend better get out from Y/N's life forever if you dont want to share his jail cell!"

With that the door is slammed shut.

Still as confused as ever, Taehyung tried calling Y/N every day and night for a week but her phone is soon out of reach. And after a week, he is met with the news that Y/N and her whole family has moved away.

Y/N moved away. Without a goodbye or a last I love you, she left. His first true love left.

And all Taehyung can think about is the last thing he ever said to her.

She is more important than you in every way. Can you just please get the hell out of my car?

/////

"Y-Y/N, h-hi. Its been so long," Taehyung stuttered. He cant believe Y/N is standing in front of him right now. His first love, his one true love. He tried to look for her for years and failed miserably. She is still as beautiful as he remembered, making his heart skipped a beat. He cant believe shes here now, and... and.. smiling?

"Hi, I'm Y/N. You must be Kim Taehyung? Its nice to meet you," she lets out a smile so warm, it makes Taehyung's heart flutter as much as it hurts that shes pretending that she didnt know him.

"Y-Y/N, its me. Tae. You dont remember me?" He looks at her confused face. "I-I know seeing me again must be terrible for you, but please, dont pretend like you dont know me,"

Y/N starts to furrow her eyebrows at what he is saying, a confused look etched on her face,  giving weird looks to her manager who only looks back at the two of them with sympathy.

"I'm really sorry. I dont know what you are talking about. Did we meet before? Maybe I didnt notice you at an event? I'm sorry, but I really cant recall," Y/N smile politely and smile at him. "I-I mean, I know you are from that famous group. BTS right?" Y/N quickly corrected herself, afraid she might have offended the big superstar. Taehyung looks at her, dumbfounded. How can her sincere smile matched with what she is saying?

"Y/N! Why are you doing this?" Taehyung starts to get frustrated. "How can you not remember me?! We are-"

"I'm sorry Mr. Kim, but I think you should come with me for a moment," her manager interrupt, bowing politely to them and smiling at Y/N. Sighing and defeated, Taehyung followed the manager with no complaint, eager to know whats going on. He leads him to a corner, far away from Y/N's confused looks.

"Mr. Kim? Is it safe for me to assumed that you have known Ms. Y/N from way back? Say.. in her teenage years?" Her manager looks straight at his face.

"Yes!" Taehyung quickly confirmed. "We went to the same school together! In fact, I am her b-" Taehyung stop himself once he realized what hes about to say.

"Yes Mr. Kim?"

"H-her boyfriend," Taehyung admitted defeatedly. "From a long time ago. In high school,"

"Wait!" The manager gasps. "Are you saying you are her boyfriend? From her hometown?"

"Yes! Did she talk about me?" Taehyung's face turned into a smile. Maybe Y/N did still have feelings for him if she told her manager about hin right?

"Uh.. no. Not particularly,"

"O-oh.." Taehyung's reaction immediately darkened. "Then why did you ask?"

"Well, uh Mr Kim. Seeing your reaction, I can safely say that you most probably didnt know,"

"Know what?"

"She didnt talk about you not because shes angry.. or hates you... its uh.. its because she cant remember,"

"Cant remember? What do you mean? It doesnt happen that long ago!"

"Ms Y/N.. well.. she uh.. she lost her memory.."

"What?!" Taehyung was shocked. What is this man saying?

"Miss Y/N was involved in an accident. A very... tragic accident," her manager looks at him with sympathetic eyes.

"W-what do you mean? Tell me!" Taehyung shakes his shoulders. "Tell me right now!"

"Uh well... it happened when she was 16. She uh was left in the middle of the night, in the middle of no where. Her parents said it was her boyfriend back then, but it cant be right? Why would a boyfriend left his girl in the middle of no where,"

Taehyung gulps. Memories of that night starts flashing back like a vivid slideshow.

"And I think the person who left her promised that someone will come and get her, because he really needs to go. An emergency, I think?"

"Okay! I fet it. That bastard left her alone! Can you just get to the bloody point?!" Taehyung is getting impatient, making the manager looks at him weirdly at his massive interest in the story.

"Uh well.. I dont know how long she waited, but it started raining heavily, and that person did come.. but uh.."

"What?!"

"She uh.. got raped,"

"W-what?!" Taehyung feels like his world is spinning. Y/N got raped? B-by who? I-it cant be Hyun Joo right? It just cant be! Oh mu god, is that why he is arrested? "S-she what?" Legs shaky, Taehyung almost collapsed but the manager hold him, worried.

"Are you okay Mr Kim?"

"W-what happened?" Taehyung doesbt care about himself. He just wants to know what happened to his baby.

"Uh well. She was raped when shes 16. It was a dark time for her family. Shes a good student, an amazing one, and a good daughter," her manager sighed  "but I guess she mingled with the wrong crowd? S-she didnt just got raped. She was beaten half to death by the assaulter. I guess he did that to weakend her before doing the deed? I figured she must have tried to fight back... but a fragile 16 year old girl against a man?" Her manager looks down sadly. The whole night flashed back like vivid memory in Taehyung's mind. The heavy rain, Min Soo's laughter, kisses, the sin he did that night, how he shuts down his phone and slept so soundly that night. All those happening while Y-Y/N got raped? Y/N must have been so scared.

No. She must have been terrified.

She must have called out his name, but he... he wasnt there to save her.

"After everything is done, she was just left there, to die I guess. The injury on her head and body was so severe the police assumed the assaulter was sure she would die and nobody would find her there,"

That fucking asshole! He left her to die? His Y/N? Taehyung clenched his fist so hard, his nails left marks so deep in his palms.

"But her parents sends out a search party when she didnt come home that night. Her boyfriend's phone was shut down too. When they found her, she was barely alive and keep repeating the assaulter's name before passing out. When she wakes up the next day, Ms Y/N has lost all memory. Every single thing up to that night. She can only remember basic things like her parents and her name  The doctor said she was badly traumatized and her mind refused to remember what happened. In order to save their daughter from the pain of remembering, her parents thought that keeping her in the blind is the best thing for her and move away shortly after to create a new memory for her somewhere new," her manager finishes off. "I was assigned to look after her. To make sure nothing triggers the pain again,"

"A-are you saying that.. she doesnt remember anything at all? She doesnt... she doesnt have the slightest memory of.. of me?"

"I'm afraid so yes. Mr Kim.. I'm sorry to say.. but to her, you are nothing but a stranger that she just met today," the manager looks at him. "And.. we would gladly appreciate it if you can keep it that way,"

/////

"Mr Kim? Are you even listening to me?" Taehyung snaps back to reality when Y/N waved her hand in front of him, smiling. "I am sorry. My story must be boring," she laughs. Taehyung shakes his head and smile.

"N-no. Not at all. I- uh.. I was just distracted. Sorry, please continue," he smiles and lets Y/N continue her briefing about her story.

"Okay then. Well.. thats about it. But I havent finish the ending yet. I dont know if the female lead should end up with the main lead. What do you think Mr Kim?" Y/N smiles at him. It breaks his heart every single time she calls him that.

"Uh well.. it depends. Your manager said this is based on a true story? So what is the ending to this story?" Taehyung is curious. The storyline is very familiar to their own love story but Y/N is not supposed to remember anything, right?

"Well... to be honest. Its not entirely based on a true story. Its more like a memory," she smiles.

"A memory?"

Y/N laughs. "This might sound silly to you Mr Kim, but I feel like I have been through it. Maybe its a dream I had? I dont know, but everything feels real," Y/N smiles again. "I'm sorry. Its stupid right Mr Kim?"

"N-no. No. definitely not," Taehyung smiles. "But in this dream if yours.. are you happy with that guy? T-the main lead?"

"Well... again, this might sound so incredibly stupid.. but yeah. I am... very happy," she gave a sad smile. "But sometimes I feel sad when I'm around him in my dream. Its as if he has hurt me but I dont know. How could he when he is just a dream right? I dreamt about him most nights, but he never have a face. In my dreams he calls me princess," Y/N laughs out loud as if to tell Taehyung how stupid her dream is. Taehyung felt his heart beating so rapidly, it almost burst out from his chest. Y/N dreamt about him. That must be him. Taehyung wanted to reached out and touched her hand but the look she gave him, a look of a stranger, of one colleague to another, stops him.

"Why are you laughing?"

"I mean... it must really be a dream. How can I ever be a princess to anyone. I mean, look at me Mr Kim," she giggles again.

"Princess, I love you," Taehyung smiles at her, hands holding hers tight as they sat under the tree in front of the school field. Y/N blushes.

"I-I... uh," she looks down, face red as a tomato. Its the first time Taehyung ever said I love you to her. "I love you too Taehyung. I really do,"

"Awwww, is my princess blushing?" Taehyung smiles and squeezes her cheeks.

"No I am not!" Y/N blushes hard and hits his chest playfully. "And I am definitely not a princess. How can I be anyone's princess. I mean, look at me Taehyung,"

"Well, I am looking and you are beautiful, just like a princess. My princess," Taehyung smiles and leans in softly, kissing her under the tree as the wind blow softly.

"I am looking Y/N," Taehyung whispers softly, his deep gaze boring holes into hers, setting Y/N's heart on fire. "And you are beautiful. Just like a princess," My princess.

/////

"How is shooting going hyung?" Jungkook invites himself to sit besides Taehyung, slurping on his banana milk as Jimin joins in. "I miss you. I dont see you around anymore. Why do you always leave earlier than you need to abd come back later than usual?" The maknae pouts.

"The brat is right Tae," Jimin chimed in, earning a glare from Jungkook. "Stop glaring at me Kook. You dont look that intimidating with banana milk all over your face," Jimin rolls his eyes and turns back to Taehyung. "You are not ditching us for a bunch of "Hwarang Hyungs 2.0" right?!" Jimin starts to panic. As far as he knows, Taehyung co- star is a girl this time. They are not losing him again right?

"No I am not! And stop being jealous of my hyungs. You will always be my best friend Chim," Taehyung winks. "Theres no hyungs this time... but..."

"Oh my god! Are you dating your co- star?!" Jungkook exclaimed with excitement. "Are you finally teaching me how to date? I dont want to learn with the other hyungs, their methods of dating are too x rated," Jungkook scrunched his nose.

"First of all, you are too young to date, so I am not teaching you anything,"

"I am only two years younger than you! And taller than Jimin-hyung!" Jungkook protest.

"Yah! What does height has to do with anything?!" Jimin threw a pillow towards the maknae and Taehyung laughs.

"And two, I am definitely not dating my co- star. I dont even have the slightest interest in her. But... I am trying to date the writer,"

"What?!" Both boys are surprised by Taehyung's bold admittance.

"Oh I didnt tell you? The writer is Y/N,"

"Y.. Y/N?" Jimin tapped his chin, trying to remember the familiar name. "Isnt that the girl from your trainee years? The one you still kept a photo of in your wallet? Shes the writer?!"

"Yeah... and the story I'm staring in is our love story Chim.. but Y/N.. she doesnt remember..."

/////

After spending the next few hours explaining to Jimin and Jungkook about Y/N and what had happened to her, Taehyung was forced to spend the next few hours being scolded and called stupid by his other hyungs after the two loud mouth runs over to Namjoon's studio and tells the leader the whole story, which leads to the whole band knowing which of course means a family meeting where Taehyung was burned at the stake.

"Okay now that we are done telling him what a dumbass he is," Namjoon sighs and turns to him, giving him another smack at the back of his head, "what are you planning to do? Nothing too dumb please?"

"Hyung, I am not dumb!" Taehyung protests.

"Well, all your action so far showed you are," the older man rolls his eyes.

"Fine.. but.. now that I found her again... I want Y/N back. Its fine if she doesnt remember me hyung, I just want to redeem myself. I-," Taehyung sighs. "I still love her. I never stopped loving her. I have been trying to look for her since she moved. Now that I have found her, I need to make her fall in love with me again,"

/////

"Andddd cut! Good job Tae! Thats all for today, see you guys tomorrow!" The director shouted and everyone bows to each other, off to end their long tiring day. Taehyung's eyes immediately spotted Y/N who is packing her bags, ready to leave and rushed over.

"Y/N!"

"Oh Mr Kim, hello," Y/N bows and Taehyung gives out a unsincere smile. He hates it when Y/N treated him so formally, like a stranger. He knows that is exactly what he is to her, but he cant help but remembers all the memories and little things they shared years back. The way she laughs, the way her eyes lighted up when she saw him, the excitement on her face wheb she saw him walking towards her, her giggles and blush when he told her how pretty she is...

"Hello Y/N," he smiles. "Going back already?"

"Yeah I guess," Y/N picks up her bag and starts walking slowly. "But I just need to stop by somewhere first. It has been a looong day for me. And when I had a long day I usually stops for-"

"Ice cream," Taehyung finishes her sentence with a smile.

"Oh my god, how did you know?!" Y/n squeals, amazed and surprised at the same time. "How can you know that ice cream is what I needed Mr Kim?"

"Its a looong day for me today Taetae," Y/N pouts. "I had back to back exams, my english teacher is mean, I lost my science assignment and had to redo it and the history teacher decides to do a pop quiz! I just want to crawl to bed Taetae,"

"Not yet princess. Im not gonna let my princess go back home all stress out okay?" Taehyung flashes his boxy smile and grabs her hand.

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere that can put a smile back on my princess' beautiful face," he covers her eyes and uncovers it when they reached the shop. "Ice cream! My treat princess,"

"Well... I think, from now on, everytime I had a long day, I will always go for ice cream then," Y/N giggles as she gigs into her ice cream. Taehyung smile, looking at his beautiful princess smiling so happily. He would give everything for her to always be happy  "How do you know that ice cream is what I needed Taetae?"

"Because ice cream is the sweetest thing that can even come close to a sweet princess like you," Taehyung winks, making her blush.

"I love you Tae," Y/N giggles. "I dont knkw what I'll do without you in my life. You are my home. No matter how lost I am, I'm okay, as long as you are a part of me. I love you," Y/N leans in across the table and kisses him, and Taehyung has never tasted anything sweeter.

"Mr Kim? Hello?" Y/N waves her hand, taking Taehyung back to the present, his eyes gleaming with unshed tear from the memory. "Boy, you really dazes out a lot. Am I that boring?" Y/N giggles.

"No, definitely not boring. You were saying?"

"I was just asking. How do you know that ice cream is what I needed after a long day?"

"Because ice cream is the sweetest thing that can even come close to a sweet princess like you," Taehyung stares deep into her eyes as he said it, her blushing form is a duplicate of that day, years ago, he almost expecting her to say she loves him again.

Just like that day.

But instead Y/N smiles at him.

"Want to come with me and get ice cream then?"

/////

Y/N dont know why he enjoys every little second he spent with Kim Taehyung. He is handsome, thats for sure, but Y/N is pretty sure that is aesthetics is not what makes her heart beats faster than it should. Theres just something about him.

Something... familiar.

She feels happy. And sad at the same time. She feels likes she knows him. She feels as if shes... home.

They had a good time at the icr cream parlour. Taehyung told her a lot of stories about his adventures with his band mates, but he seems to always avoid talking about his past, and Y/N is not one to pry. Afterall, they are strangers, Taehyung is not obligated to tell her anything.

"So Mr Kim, I am guessing you dont have the chance to go out like this often? You know, with you being a universal star and all?" Y/N giggles.

"Yeah. We dont go out like this often. But when we do, we usually go out with each other," he smiles and watch Y/N digged into her ice cream. Cookies and cream, still the same flavor. "You know... we are practically friends now, and we are the same age. Why dont you call me Tae? Or... Taetae? I mean.. I already call you Y/N,"

"T-tae?"

"Yeah," he smiles. "Or Taetae,"

"T-taetae?" The moment that nick name rolled off Y/N's tounge, a surge of vision enters her mind, causing extreme pain in her head.

"Call me Taetae now princess, I am afterall your boyfriend," the faceless man smiles and kisses her forehead. "And thats a special nickname only you can use,"

"Hey Y/N are you okay?!" Taehyung immediately stands up and went to her side when she starts holding her head.

"Y-yeah. I just got a sudden headache. Maybe its a brain freeze from the ice cream," she tries to smile but Taehyung is having none of it.

"Let me send you home okay?" Y/N nodded weakly and Taehyung made sure that she has safely arrives before saying goodbye.

"Take care okay. And take a day off tomorrow if you need it alright?"

"Alright. But I think I will be okay," she smiles and bows. "Thanks. And goodbye.. Taetae..."

Taehyung's face light up the moment she calls out his name, making Y/N blush and rushed inside.

Taetae... why does it sounds so familiar. Who are you Taehyung-ah?

/////

Taehyung was on cloud nine since that ice cream date. Y/N calls him Tae, or Taetae. No more that Mr Kim bullshit, and they spend a lot of time together now. He even had the chance to bring her to lunch to meet the members and of course, just like he expected, they all love her. Taehyung even thinks the maknae is seriously in love with her, but no way in hell hes going to let that happen.

Y/N is his.

Atleast she will be again.

"Miss Y/N, Mr Kim, we will finally be meeting with the actress who played the woman you will be cheating with Mr Kim. We are sorry her scenes has to be delayed because of her her overseas schedule," the production crew informs them as they were having a break. Break time on set is Taehyung's favorite time, because he can pulls his chair and sits besides Y/N, sharing the lunch Seokjin made for him or his manager bought for him, since he refuses to eat outside anymore if Y/N didnt come with . Every second with Y/N is heaven to him and he hope she will still want to stay in touch even after their filming ends.

He cant lose her again. He just cant.

"Oh its fine. I heard shes a good actress, so she can keep up with the filming right?" Y/N asks.

"Yes. Shes a very good actress. Actually Mr Kim, you know her quite well. She used to train with your company before,"

"Oh really?" Taehyung raised an eyebrow. The only trainee he knew that turns into an actress from his training days is...

"Taetae!" Min Soo shouted from the door the moment she saw him, pushing her sunglasses up her forehead.

"M-Min Soo?" Taehyung was taken by surprised as Y/N lifted her head to see the actress who just entered. Upon seeing her face and her excitement in hugging Taehyung, a rush of memories flooded her mind and in a matter of second, Y/N was passed out on the floor, the last thing she hears was the voice of the faceless man in her dreams calling her name.

"Y/N!"

/////

Taehyung rushed to her hospital room, dropping his coffee once the doctor informed him that Y/N is awake. The moment he swing ooens the door, he was greeted wirh Y/N leaning up straight on the bed, glaring at him, face drenched with tears.

"Y-Y/N... y-you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? The doctor says y-"

"Get. Out,"

Taehyung's blood run cold as he heard the icy tone of her voice. What happened? Why is she suddenly like this? Did she forgets him again?

"Y-Y/N? Its me. Taehyung. Tae. Taetae? Y-you dont remember me?"

"No. I remember everything," Y/N starts to sobbed. "I remembered everything now Taehyung! Get out! I dont want to see you! Out!" Y/N yells, throwing whatever she could reached from her bed side and throw it at the dumbfounded Taehyung.

"Y/N no! Baby please. Let me explain!" Taehyung dodge her throws and try to reached oit for her hand but she immediately pull away.

"Explain? Explain?!" She yelled. "You ruined my life Taebyung! I gave you everything! I loved you with every part of me and you left me?! Do you even know?! Do you even know what he did to me?!" Y/N sobs starts to get uncontrolable, sobbing her eyes out. If Taehyung could hurt himself so Y/N's pain would lessen, he would do it. He would do anything to go back to that night and do it all over again. He would treat her right. He would cherish her. He would already be married to her right now.

"Y/N please-"

"He raped me Taehyung!" She sobs. "I remembered everything now. I remembered the pain when he slaps me, punch me. The cold rain on my face. His disgusting face as he.. as he..." Y/N sobs even louder and Taehyung wants nothing more than to kill Hyun Joo if he wasnt already in prison serving his time. "I called your name Taehyung. I called you over and over again. I keep saying I'm sorry. I thought if I didnt pissed you off about Min Soo, if I just apologizes, you would come back. You would come back and save me from that... that monster," she continues to sobs. "B-but you didnt. A-and he keep... he keeps hurting me. H-he keeps touching me. Where were you Taehyung? Where were you?!" Y/N shouted one last time before throwing the flower vase on the bed side, only inches away from Taehyung's head.

Taehyung knew he dont need to answer. Y/N dont really want to know where he is that night. She already knows. But he feels like he needs to explain it to her. To tell her that leaving her that night was the biggest mistake of his life. That saying all those things to her that night... he regrets it all. He wants to tell her he loves her, that he loves her still, that he will protect her now. That he will spend forever to make it up to her.

But everything got stuck in his throat.

"Y/N... I-"

"Get out," her voice cold, eyes closed.

"Y/N, I need t-"

"I said get out Taehyung. Get out, get out, get out, GET OUT!"

Her hysyeric screams finally attracts the nurses and before he could say anything else, Taehyung is escorted out. He was never allowed to visir her ever again, and although Y/N didnt ask for Taehyung or Min Soo to be pulled out fron the movie, she never again make an appearance on set.

Taehyung was lost.

Without Y/N he was lost.

And thats when he realizes, Y/N is his home. All these years he keeps holding on. Living life day by day, feeling empty and lost, because at the back of his mind he is still looking for her, looking for a way back. A way back home.

But what is he to do now when his home dissapeared?

Y/N is his home. And he needs to go back. No matter what it takes.

/////

"Today is the last day of the filming. You sure you dont want to go and visit the set? Say thankyou to the crew?" Y/N's manager sat besides her, patting her back.

"I'll just send them a fruit basket. We will do another dinner without the actors one day. Satisfied?"

Her manager sigh and give a sad smile to her.

"Y/N... I know its hard... getting your memories back like that. I know you feel as if all the people that are close to you have been lying to you. But you know we did it to protect you right?"

Y/N looks down and fiddled with her fingers. She actually understands. She really understands it. She herself hopes that she wouldnt remember.

"I know oppa... but... I'm not mad at you. Or eomma or appa... but..."

"You are mad at Taehyung?"

Y/N keep silence, knowing that her manager really knows her best.

"Listen... I dont know exactly what went down between the two of you, but I have put some of the puzzle pieces together. Starting from his reaction in the first day you were introduced to him. I dont know much Y/N... but I know that he loves you," Y/N raised her head at that. "And you... you love him too,"

"What?! No way! I dont!"

"Y/N... you can try to lie to yourself, but you cant lie to me," her manager smiles. "Dont you ever wonder why you only dream happy things about the faceless man? Y/N those dreams... they are not dreams. They are your memories. Memories of you and Taehyung. Happy memories. No matter how hard your mind tries to rejects him by refusing to remember, your heart still remembers him Y/N. Now... just remember back all your dreams.. and remember it hard. You will see that the faceless man is Kim Taehyung, and you will understand that the feelings you had is happiness, love and missing him. Find it in your heart to forgive him Y/N and give yourself a chance to be happy. A home is never perfect, nor does it only give you happiness. A home is a place where you can feel comfortable. It can be a mess, it doesnt have to be perfect, it has its flaws, but its yours. Taehyung is your home Y/N. Come back home and be happy. Thats all I want for you," her manager, who is more like a brother to her gives her a tight hug and leaves, letting Y/N be alone with her messy thoughts.

Y/N sat alone, pondering the words of her oppa that has known her ever since the incident. Who has been by her side, guiding her through her career. Just remember back all your dreams.

Y/N closes her eyes and collect back all her dreams about the faceless man. The faceless man who makes her heart beats faster in her dreams. The faceless men who kisses tastes so sweet, who words can make her smile for days.

"Princess, I love you,"

"Awwww, is my princess blushing?"

"Well, I am looking and you are beautiful, just like a princess. My princess,"

"Not yet princess. Im not gonna let my princess go back home all stress out okay?"

"Somewhere that can put a smile back on my princess' beautiful face,"

"Ice cream! My treat princess,"

"Because ice cream is the sweetest thing that can even come close to a sweet princess like you,"

"I love you princess,"

"You are mine now princess,"

"You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen princess,"

Y/N remembers back every single dream he ever had about that faceless man. He always calls her princess. His princess. But its different this time. This time she remembers. She remembers herself, looking back up into the faceless man's deep gaze and smile...

"I love you Kim Taehyung,"

Its Taehyung. Its really is Taehyung. All this while she thought ahes having a fantastic dream of her faraway soulmate. Maybe ut is her soulmate, but he is not that faraway. Not at all. All this while, it was her heart telling her to remember him. To remember Taehyung and all their memories together.

Without hesitation, she grabs her jacket ans ran out not noticing anyone arounds her until she bumps into someone.

"Ow! Look where you are going!"

"You look wh- Y/N?"

Standing in front of her is Kim Taehyung. The faceless man. Her soulmate. Her home.

And she doesnt know what to do but to turn back the other way when Taehyung pulls her hand and stops her.

"Dont go. I am not letting you leave ever again. You can hate me, hit me, kill me, I dont care, I just want to be with you and never ever leave you again," Taehyung pulls her into a tight hug. "Y/N... I love you. I never stop and theres not a second went by that I dont regret that night. You dont have to take me back, but I wont ever leave your side. Ever again. I love you. I love you. I love you,"

Y/N stays in his hug for a moment, tears wetting the front of his shirt. How is it that the man who hurt her so much makes her feel so safe and like she belongs? Is it true what her oppa said?

Is Taehyung really her home?

That one place that is fully hers?

"I-its hard," Y/N sniffles, voice muffled in his tight hug. "I-I understand why my mind refuses to remember you Tae. But my heart is stronger. It wanted me to remember," she sniffles louder, making Taehyung released the hug to look at her face. "I love you Taehyung. There was never a second that I stopped loving you. Even when my mind dont remember, my heart does. I love you too much that what you did hurts me to the core. But I cant live like this anymore. I cant live under the shadows of my past, because between the hurt you gave me, you are also my happiness. I choose to remember. I dont want to forget anymore. It hurts yes, its painful, yes. But I know it now Tae. I know why I always feel so empty even when I cant remember anything. Its because I was never home Taehyung. I need to feel alive again. I need to come home..."

Taehyung looks at her, eyes gleaming with tears from the knowledge that he has hurt the only person he has ever love to beyond repair. He didnt quite understand what Y/N is saying, but whatever it is, he swears he will do anything to make it up to her.

"Tell me what you need me to do Y/N. I'll bring you home. Whatever you need, I'll do it baby. I'll do anything,"

"Tae... you dont understand," she giggles through her tears. "I want to come home. Taehyung...you are my home. And its a mess, a messy, unorganized, abandoned home.. but its mine. Its my home and I wouldnt want to be anywhere else, Taehyung,"

"And wherever you are baby, I will follow. I will never ever leave you alone ever again. Because right here," he points to her heart," is where my home is. I love you..."

Taehyung looks at her with eyes filled with love and determination to make her forget every little pain she ever faced. He will give her the best home she could ever dream of. A home filled only with love, laughter and happiness. And as he leans in to capture her lips, Y/N can feel it too.

"My princess, my home, my everything,"

[bazzledazzled]

Have you seen that fanart of beauxbatons!Lance and Durmstrang!Keith? You could write about them meeting during the Triwizard Tournament... Maybe even attending the Yule Ball?

anon u have answered my prayers all i have been reading is harry potter fanfic I AM READY AND I LOVE THIS IDEA AND I CAN’T BELIEVE I HAVENT THOUGHT OF IT YET????? Anyways here we go this is gonna be great. 

Also lance with glasses fite me 

also i feel like i should have a warning about this but there’s langst which means basically boggart lance is telling lance that he’s terrible and ye (like the squip!)

This turned out way longer than expected so here’s a 10k word fic!

I am going to kill this boy, Keith thought to himself as his eyes narrowed at the Beauxbatons boy. The names had just been drawn for the Triwizard Tournament, and Keith was a whirlwind of emotions. 

For one, there was the fact that of all the people from Durmstrang including his adopted brother, Shiro, he was the idiot chosen to compete. He was the one chosen to be put in the spotlight when he barely even wanted to be at the stupid Tournament, even as a spectator. And now everyone was giving him attention, including a painfully cute brown haired boy with glasses and the most dazzling smile that would make anyone swoon. 

Except the brown haired boy wasn’t making Keith swoon at this very moment, because the brown haired boy decided to be annoying and actually talk to Keith, even though they were competing against each other. 

“So….. you nervous?” The boy asks, casually seating himself beside Keith. They were supposed to attend a meeting after the drawing to discuss rules and stuff for this years tournament. The brown haired boy named something stupid that started with an “L” was from Beauxbatons, the Hogwarts girl named something that Keith couldn’t remember who was wearing a Slytherin tie, and Keith, representing his own school, Durmstrang. 

“No,” Keith says, brushing the other boy off, ending his sentence with a definitive end to tell the boy to go away. The boy did not go away. 

“I’m nervous. I mean, I guess I’m not super nervous because I’ve seen this happen before and I’m pretty sure I could handle the different challenges, but it’s exciting, isn’t it?” There’s an excited smile on his face, one that could’ve been contagious if Keith wasn’t so angry at him for interrupting his brooding session. 

“I guess.”

“You guess? Wow you Durmstrangs are lame, am I right Ravenclaw?” The Ravenclaw girl seems caught off-guard as she looks up, eyes wide before nodding in agreement, definitely not knowing what he just said. 

“Are not!” Keith says, not sure why he’s getting defensive. He himself has said that Durmstrang is lame, but it hurt coming from someone else’s mouth. Especially from a Beauxbaton who had horrible taste. 

“Mmkay,” the boy says with a sly smile. Keith wanted to punch him. 

“You Beauxbatons are to pretentious,” Keith says with an eyeroll. The boy raises an eyebrow. “And the Durmstrangs aren’t?” Keith looks at him with an “are you being serious?” expression. 

“What! You were all flashy and stuff when you came in.”

“And you weren’t?!” Keith says, still confused as to where the boy was going with this. 

“Yeah but we did it in a cool way.”

“So did we!”

“Nuh uh!” 

“Yeah huh!” The Sytherin girl bangs her book on the table, causing both of the boys shut up.

“I am trying to read,” she says, exasperated. He wrinkles his nose.

“Since when do people read?”

“Since forever??” The brown haired boy rolls his eyes. 

“That’s lame.”

“Beauxbatons is lame,” the girl shoots back. The boy looks offended. 

“HAH! See?”

“You two are getting taken down.” The girl just rolls her eyes, turning back to her book. Keith tries to come up with a witty reply, but not before the headmasters of the three schools come in. 

“Congradulations! You three are the champions for this years Triwizard Tournament! Lance Mcclain will be competing for the Beauxbatons,” –Lance gives a charming smile– “Katie Holt will be representing Hogwarts–” “It’s Pidge,” the Slytherin girl pitches in, not looking up from her book. “And from our very own Durmstrang, Keith Kogane!” There was the sound of crickets. The headmaster of Durmstrang takes a deep breath. 

“Your first trial will be held next week, which should give you plenty of time to prepare.” The headmasters go on about rules and make sure they know that the games are dangerous and that they accept the conciquences, and basically reading over the terms and conditions everyone usually skips over to get to the good stuff. The Beauxbatons boy– Lance– couldn’t seem to sit still as he went from tapping his foot, to tapping his fingers, to fidgeting with his hair. It started to irritate Keith to the point where he wasn’t paying attention, just glaring at Lance. 

“Any questions?” There were none. 

“Great! We’ll see you next week for the tournament.” They leave the room, leaving the three of them to assume that they were dismissed. Pidge didn’t even skip a beat, definitely seeming to get some time to herself before she was pushed into various interviews with flashing cameras and annoying fans. Keith was about to do the same, but not before Lance grabbed his elbow. Keith turned in both surprise and annoyance. Lance was lucky he had such a pretty face, or else Keith might’ve broken his nose. 

“May the best man win,” he said with a smirk, holding his hand out. Keith hesitated before shaking it. 

“Good luck losing.” Keith walked out of the room, the tiniest of smiles on his lips. 

The first challenge was… moderate. At least for Keith. 

Lance on the other hand… struggled. 

The task was simple. They were to walk into the arena where a boggart was waiting for them. The boggart would morph into their greatest fear and they would yell “ridiculous!” and it would be gone.

Except it didn’t end there. Because as soon as you got rid of one boggart, two more would take it’s place. And you would keep doing that again and again, until you were surrounded by hundreds of boggarts, all portraying your biggest fear, which is something that Lance never wanted to become public. 

Lance stepped into the arena, heading for the closet, his head held high. He opened the door boggart walked out of that closet, taking the form of Lance, except it was some form of a twisted Lance, with glowing yellow eyes and fangs. 

It wasn’t scary or frightening in the way a spider was. It wasn’t stupid like Pidge’s where the boggart turned into one of her teachers saying she was failing every class except lunch. But Lance knew, as soon as the creature opened its mouth, the monster was supposed to represent his insecurities. 

You’re a coward. You don’t even belong here. Filthy mud-blood. 

Lance gulped, the spell on the tip of his tongue. It wouldn’t come out. 

Your parents would disown you if they knew who you really were. All your friends are faking it. They don’t care about you. No one does. You can’t even care about yourself.

Lance squeezes his eyes shut, hearing the words echo and bounce around inside his head. They were always there, at the back of his mind whenever he talked to a friend or he didn’t tell his family that he was actually a wizard instead of just going to some fancy private school he got a scholarship for. Or when he found himself daydreaming about a black haired boy, knowing that he was out of his league and the boy was probably straight anyways. 

You’re selfish. Everyone hates you. The world would be better off without you. 

Lance takes a deep breath. He can feel the tears welling inside him, and he knows everyone is watching. This is supposed to be a test of strength, a chance to prove that he isn’t some shitty wizard who everyone thought cheated the system to get into the Triwizard Tournament even though he didn’t. But standing there, facing the bogart, he started to wonder if the whole thing was a mistake. 

“Ridiculous!” He cries, summoning all his energy, every single pent up emotion inside him as he looked the bogart in the eyes, telling himself one thing over and over. I am enough. 

There was something different about the way his wand cast the spell than when he cast it before. For a moment he thought it was because he did something wrong and the spell was backfireing as a blue light started to glow from the wand. As it got brighter, to the point where it was blinding, Lance started to worry he might blow himself and the rest of the spectators up. Some Triwizard Tournament that would be. He could already see the headlines of the boy who ruined everything. 

And then.. something amazing happened. It was almost as if he cast a patronus charm, which didn’t make sense. The light danced in the air with no distinct shape. It saw the bogart, darting for it and causing it to disappear. Like before when Pidge did it, two more took its place, but before Lance could even raise his wand to get rid of them, the light darted through them, and they were gone just like the first. There were gasps from the crowd and Lance gaped in amazement as the spell took out bogarts faster than his eye could catch. It only faded when the biggest one of all appeared, towering over Lance in all its glory. Lance gulped, facing it, trying to tap into the same energy from earlier. 

As the bogart took form, Lance realized instead of being a large version of himself, similar to the ones before, it was shrinking, taking the form of a large mass of people, all of which he recognized. All of them were shouting insults as they surrounded him.

His family was there, his sisters and brothers and niece and nephew. His mom and dad too, both barely looking at him, telling him he was a disgrace to his family. He turned away, only to bump into his friends, shouting insults at him. Allura told him that he was a thorn in her side for years, and how she wanted to get rid of him, but he kept coming back. Hunk told him he never did everything right and that he would never be taken seriously as long as he had Lance for a friend. Tears pooled in Lance’s eyes as he turned away from them, wrapping his arms around himself. 

There were teachers there too. The told him he was failing, said that he was barely even a wizard considering how bad he was at magic. They said he was probably more of a muggle and never had a spot in Beauxbatons to begin with. Classmates taunted him, calling him crude names, chanting “mud-blood” as they grinned viciously. Lance curled in on himself, not sure what to do. 

“What’s taking him so long?” Pidge says inside the tent, fiddling with some muggle device. Keith leaned against the wall, practicing spells and ignoring her.

“You’re just mad because you failed.” Pidge shoots him a glare, but Keith doesn’t give her the satisfaction of even looking at her. 

“I did better than he is if he’s taking this long.” Suddenly shouts Keith assumed to be the crowd at first, grew louder and more vicious. It startled the two champions and they shared a look. 

“That doesn’t sound good….” They rush out of the tent, looking around, trying to figure out what is going around. 

The arena was filled with people. All of them were shouting angrily, at a specific person who Keith could only guess was Lance. The crowd was completely quiet, some of them turning away from the scene, feeling bad for the boy at the center of the chaos. The judges were talking amongst themselves, not yet sure if they should call it. Keith takes a look at Pidge and Pidge looks at him before he darts into the arena. He hears Pidge call his name, but he doesn’t listen. 

Inside the arena is madness. People were yelling and screaming and throwing things. They were trying to push their way through the crowd to get to the center, all of their words negative. None of the words were directed at him, but Keith could feel his self-esteem lowering, making him feel weak inside. He couldn’t imagine what it was like for Lance. He pulls out his wand, casting spells to get people out of his way. He needs to get to the center. From there, he doesn’t know what he’ll do. He doesn’t even know what Lance is facing since he was supposed to go last. 

He makes it to the center and sees Lance. The poor Beauxbatons boy is on the ground, curled up into a ball as tears stream down his face. A boiling hot anger suddenly fills Keith, one that he’s experienced many times before. He didn’t care if they all signed up for this, nobody should be put through this much emotional trauma. 

“Lance!” Keith calls as people try to shove him back. Lance doesn’t move. 

“LANCE!” Keith calls again. Lance grits his teeth. 

“LANCE!” Keith emerges from the crowd, looking down at Lance, who looks up at him, hatred shinning through his expression. 

“I just met you how can you already hate me?” Keith frowns, bending down to Lance. 

“C’mon. Your trial’s over.” Lance looks up at him, his chin wobbling. Keith immediately feels a sort of protectiveness for this boy. He was battling too many monsters, many of which Keith found himself battling as well. 

“Shove off, Kogane.” Keith huffs, grabbing Lance’s arm roughly and pulling him up. Lance pulls away, his shoulders hunched.

Someone jumps out at them, their expression vicious as they spit out words, calling Lance things like “mud-blood” and other even worse variations. Without thinking, Keith throws himself in front of Lance as if he could protect Lance from the person’s hurtful words.

Then something interesting happens. The crowd merges together in one large form, the image flickering and stretching. Keith furrows his brow in confusion 

It starts to take form, glimmering black hair styled like Keith’s and bright, glowing yellow eyes with purple irises. The creatures fingers elongated into talons coated in blood and even around it’s mouth Keith could see traces of it. There was a wicked grin on its face and its clothes were in tatters. Keith recognized it immediately. He recalled a Defense Against the Dark Arts class from years before when they first learned about Bogarts. He was faced with this same monster, his greatest fear.

He was scared he would turn into this monster. 

He grabs his wand, ignoring the fears rooted deep in his stomach as he shouted “RIDICULOUS!” 

The air was still. The bogart was gone. Behind him, Keith heard Lance sniffle. Everyone was looking at him with disbelief, including the Beauxbatons boy. 

“Why would he do that!?” Lance says exasperatedly as he talks to his friend, Hunk. Hunk was from Hogwarts and an old friend of Lance’s. Their families were close and Hunk was surprised learn that Lance too was a wizard. They usually didn’t talk much over the school year considering they went to different schools, but they hung out almost all the time over the summer, telling school secrets about Hogwarts and Beauxbatons that they thought the other might find funny. 

Hunk shrugs, obviously tired of this conversation. This is the third time Lance has talked about it since the competition. “Why don’t you ask him.” Lance gave him a repulsed look. 

“I can’t ask mullet why he saved me.”

“Awww you have nicknames for each other.”

“No we don’t! We barely even know each other.”

“Just because you don’t know him doesn’t mean you don’t like him.” 

“Wh-what?” Lance says, his cheeks reddening. Hunk laughs. 

“Look Keith probably saved you because he felt bad for you. I would’ve done the same.” Lance crosses his arms and sticks out his lip.

“I didn’t need saving.” Hunk sighs, knowing that Lance was probably embarrassed that he wasn’t able to handle a simple bogart.

“Did you prepare for the next task.” Lance groans. 

“No.”

“Do you know what it’s going to be.”

“I don’t know! They gave us a vague clue.” 

“Clues are supposed to be vague.” Lance huffs, hitting his head on the table.

“What is it? Maybe I can help.”

“They said something about looking through the history of Triwizard Tournaments.” Hunk furrowed his brow.

“Why?” Lance shrugs. 

“If I had to guess, they ran out of ideas and they’re stealing one from a previous one.”

“Did they say anything else?”

“They said it would jump out from history, that there was something about the tournament that was different than the others.” A lightbulb goes off in Hunk’s head. 

“We should head to the library.”

Keith just wanted to have a quiet study session for the tests he had to take, was that too much to ask? It didn’t seem like much and, for the most part, people kept to themselves in the library because that’s what people do at libraries. 

Lance Mcclain seems to have not gotten the hint.

“What are you doing here Kogane?” Lance says, looking at Keith with narrowed eyes. Keith looks up at him, a bored expression on his face. 

“Some of us actually go to school her,” Keith says, turning back to his textbooks. Lance huffs, siting beside Keith. 

“Do you want something or are you just here to make sure I fail potions?” Lance glares at him, getting more annoyed when he sees that Keith just ignores him. Lance puts his hand over Keith’s textbook, forcing him to look into the Beauxbaton boy’s blue eyes. He’s aware of how close they are and how cute Lance is… for a Beauxbaton. Too bad Lance hates him, Keith might have even dated him. 

“What do you want, Mcclain?” Lance’s jaw is set. He looks like a boy on a mission. 

“Why did you help me?” Keith bites his lip, trying to actually figure out why he did it. He shrugs.

“I felt bad for you,” he says, grabbing his textbook and scooting away from Lance. Lance grabs his arm. 

“I didn’t need saving,” Lance says, pratically choking on emotion. Keith puts his books down, turning back to Lance, concern in his eyes. Lance’s face flushed with embarrassment as he let go of Keith’s arm. 

“I just… I’m not stupid, alright?” 

“I didn’t say that you were?” Keith furrows his brow in confusion. 

“The cup picked me for a reason this isn’t some mistake.” Lance clenches his fists, barely even looking at Keith. 

“Are you… okay?” 

“No.” Lance slumps against him, crossing his arms. It catches Keith off-guard, considering he’s not the most affectionate person, but a look into Lance’s eyes tells Keith that he needs something to ground him. 

“Um….” Keith doesn’t know what he should do. In his head he’s going into a gay panic. 

“I’ll show them,” Lance says determinedly to himself. Keith doesn’t even know what he’s talking about. “I’m going to place first in the next challenge. I’m going to win.” 

“Hey Lance!” A voice calls. There’s a chorus of “shhh”s directed at a boy in a yellow Hufflepuff tie, he apologizes, running towards Keith and Lance. Lance jumps away from Keith, perking up slightly. Hunk takes the seat next to Lance, making Keith even more annoyed. Really he just wanted to study, not have a party with his rival and said rival’s friend. 

“What’s up?” The Hufflepuff flips through a book that seems to be full of old records. Keith can’t help but be slightly interested. He leans over Lance’s shoulder. Lance turns to him, a smirk on his face. 

“You trying to cheat, mullet?” Keith turns bright red. He moves away from Lance. 

“I wasn’t– I was just–” Lance looks thoughtful. 

“Tell you what…” Both Keith and the Hufflepuff boy raise an eyebrow. 

“I’ll help you in the next challenge.” Keith’s eyebrows seem to raise even more.

“Okay?”

“I mean, it’s the least I can do after… the incident that shall not be named.” 

“Okay??” Lance nods, satisfied, and turns back to Hunk. 

“Go on.”

“Do you remember Harry Potter’s Triwizard Tournament?”

The weeks leading up to the second trial were… interesting to say the least. Lance was dead set on repaying Keith after the first trial, which meant that he followed him. Everywhere. 

Keith wanted to complain but… he began to enjoy Lance’s company. Because they were visiting, students from Beauxbatons and Hogwarts weren’t required to go to classes like the rest of the Durmstrang students, but they were highly encouraged to go to these classes and experience new “cultures.” 

Lance claimed that he didn’t have a choice, but Keith knew that he secretly loved accompanying Keith to his classes, helping him figure out potions and listening to Keith laugh as Lance messed up a charm. But Lance was determined to do his hardest in everything, as if he had to prove something. Sometimes he failed, sometimes he embarrassed himself miserably, but he still kept trying, and Keith found it almost admirable. 

Despite being sort of kind of friends now, they still held onto some rivalish qualities, probably because everyone kept fitting them into those roles. They were going head to head in the Triwizard Tournament still, and Keith and Lance weren’t shy to go into a not so friendly competition during Transfiguration, much to their teacher’s annoyance. 

That’s probably why the media was always buzzing about them. 

There were tons of articles, some of them ridiculously sappy about how it’s beautiful to see their friendship blossom even though they’re from different schools. There were debates about Keith saving Lance, some people even saying that Keith should be disqualified. Some say Lance should be disqualified because he accepted Keith’s help. Some people, deep on the internet, suggested that Keith and Lance’s friendship is something more. Maybe it always has. 

Except Keith and Lance were too busy for the internet, between planning how to get through the second challenge, brewing potions to help them breathe underwater, and Lance pretty much tutoring Keith in potions, there was no room in between classes to casually surf the internet. Maybe if they saw these speculations, it would’ve drawn them apart with repulsion, feeling uncomfortable with this development. Or maybe it would’ve made them realize what they really wanted. 

“Scared mullet?” Lance says with a smirk, looking over at Keith as they stood over by the Lake, getting ready for the competition. Keith scowled. 

“Stop calling me that.” Lance sticks his face in front of Keith’s, a mischivious grin on his face. The slightest blush crosses Keith’s face. 

“Why?”

“Because my name is Keith,” Keith says, crossing his arms. Lance’s playful energy was contagious and that’s probably what Keith liked the most about him. 

“You’re the one who chose to have bad hair!” Lance says defensively. Keith gasps, touching his hair. 

“You take that back!” 

“Seriously who cuts their hair like that!” Lance says. Keith pouts. 

“You’re jealous.” Lance rolls his eyes. 

“It wouldn’t be so bad if you just…” Lance digs through his pockets, looking for something. He frowns. 

“Hold on.” He runs over to someone Keith supposes must be a friend who’s standing a few feet away in Beauxbaton robes holding a flag with Lance’s face on it.

“Yo Allura you got a hairtie?” Lance calls. The girl– Allura– furrows her brow. 

“Yeah why?”

“My buddy Keith needs it,” Lance says, pointing over at Keith. Keith’s face goes red as he buries his head in his hands, wondering why he still let Lance do these things to him. 

Lance runs back over, hairtie in hand. 

“Turn around,” he orders. Keith huffs, doing as told, his face still red. Lance runs Keith’s hair through his hands, untangling any knots. He gathers his hair, pulling it up and tying the elastic around it. He turns Keith around, smiling and brushing his bangs out of his eyes and behind his ears. Lance smiles. 

“You have eyes,” Lance says dorkily. Keith starts to snort, erupting into giggles and leaning on Lance slightly, the purest of expressions on his face. The smallest of blushes passes across Lance’s face and a thought flitters through his head. 

Oh god help me. 

Pidge, Keith, and Lance stood side by side, looking over the lake, their stomachs filled with anxiety. They all knew that they would have to find something at the bottom of the lake, thanks to them all being friends with Hunk, who was having a hard time choosing one person to root for, but they had no idea what they were actually looking for. The books from the library full of records had certain words blacked out, giving the competitors a vague idea of what the actual challenge would be. 

Then, there was a loud whistle, and the second trial began.

Pidge shoved some sort of plant in her mouth, jumping in without hesitation. Lance chugged a bottle of a blue liquid that looked like water, sputtering at the taste before jumping in. Keith, since him and Lance worked on the potion together, not only for Keith’s potions project but also for this competition, did the same. 

Being submerged in water was an… odd feeling. For a long moment, Keith floated, the potion taking a little longer to take effect, unlike Lance who was already halfway to the bottom. 

Then he felt something pull at his feet. He looked down, gasping in shock, fumbling for his wand to cast a stupefy on whatever it was. 

But there was nothing there. It was the potion, starting to take effect. Keith remembered what Lance told him, how it not only allowed you to breath underwater, but it made your body mass heavier, allowing you to sink all the way to the bottom of the ocean at a rather quick pace. It was a complex spell, one that Keith had struggled with greatly, but he got an A on the assignment and it didn’t seem to have any after effects. 

When Keith got to the bottom, he saw what the “treasure” was. There was three people floating in the water, tied there with seaweed. Mermaids flocked around them.

The first person looked a lot like Pidge. In fact, it was eerie how close they resembled each other. Keith knew for a fact that it had to have been Pidge’s brother or something. 

The second person was a girl. She had hair cut to about her shoulders and glasses that sat askew on her face. Her features vaguely resembled Lance, which obviously could only mean that it was Lance’s sister. Keith recalled Lance talking about her and the rest of his siblings. 

The third was someone Keith knew. He didn’t have to guess to know that this was his treasure. 

He would recognize his brother anywhere.

His feet touched the ground and he ran to Shiro, his jaw set. It was an odd, running in water. What was weirder was, even though Keith could see the fish swimming around him, it didn’t feel like he was running anywhere underwater. It almost felt like he was on dry land. 

The mermaids didn’t stop him as he passed them. Lance was already there, tearing at the seaweed for his sister. He turned to Keith, flashing one of his dorky smiles. Keith rolled his eyes, smiling slightly as he used his wand to to cut the rope. He grabs Shiro, turning back to Lance. Above them they saw Pidge, looking angry at the fact that they beat her here. Lance pulled out a second potion from his pocket, this one more sludgy and red. Keith did the same. They looked at each other before, emptying the bottle. 

Pidge got to the bottom, letting her brother free. That’s when the potion started to take effect as Keith and Lance started to rise back to the surface. As they rose, Keith started to notice the effects of the other potion start to wear off. He found it more difficult to breathe and he saw Lance seem to have the same problem. But it didn’t matter. He could see the sun above him, feeling the warmth. Lance was a good deal ahead of him, but he didn’t think anything of it.

Until he realized he wasn’t moving at all. Lance kept going up and up and up, but he stayed right there. He started to gasp for air, trying franticly to swim back up to the surface. But it wasn’t working. He felt himself inhale water and his eyes widened with panic. He tried to call out for Lance, but Lance didn’t seem to hear. Pidge swam by him and he felt the truth sink in on him. 

He messed up the potion. He was going to die down here.

Lance felt like he was on top of the world. After the first challenge, he was sure the goblet made a mistake. The first challenge was supposed to be the easiest, and he couldn’t even face a bogart. 

But this? This was almost too easy. He always loved potions so as soon as he heard about the challenge he knew exactly what potion he needed to make. He didn’t need the weeks to prepare it. He could’ve done it that day and had it done by dinner. But he knew that Keith struggled with potions and decided to take things slow, taking his time to explain to Keith why things worked a certain way and how to be careful with the measurements. Still, Keith struggled. The poor boy always looked so defeated when the potion blew up in his face, saying that Lance should stop trying to help him it wasn’t going to work. 

But Lance didn’t give up. He wasn’t going to give up. 

He can see the surface, he’s almost close enough to touch the surface and feel the cool air. He grins, looking down to share a smile with Keith, who was no doubt behind him. 

Except Keith wasn’t behind him. Lance started to panic, looking around wildly. He saw Pidge come up behind him, her brow drawn. But Keith wasn’t there. 

Lance pulled out his wand, casting the spell to momentarily stop the effects of the potion, just for a little bit. The world stilled and he looked down for the black haired boy in a red coat. Far bellow he spotted him. He thought about how much time he had before the spell wore off and he would be forced to float back to the top. He could cast the spell again and again, but he could feel it already starting to wear him down. He took a deep breath, hoping beyond hope that those stupid swim lessons would be useful. He let go of Veronica, letting her float to the top. God she would be so angry when she woke up. Lance still has forgotten to mention the whole wizard thing to her.

He started to swim towards Keith, kicking his legs as hard as he could. He swam past Pidge, who looked at him with confusion, but didn’t stop. She was here to win, Lance knew this. He was too, but he couldn’t leave Keith down there. What if something bad happened. 

After what felt like hours but only was probably twenty minutes, Lance reached Keith. He was franticly kicking his legs, but Lance could tell he was losing energy. He had a death grip on his “treasure” and tears seemed to be pooling at his eyes. He was blue and looked on the verge of passing Lance cursed, pulling his wand back out and swimming up to Keith, grabbing his hands. Bubbles escaped from Keith’s mouth as he looked at him with surprise. Lance takes a deep breath, trying to stay calm even through Keith’s panic. He had to, or else something terrible might happened.

He remembered the charm, saying it in his head and pointing the wand up between them. A bubble swelled up between them, spreading wider and wider until it encompassed both of their heads, the bubble full of fresh air. Keith gasped, drinking up the air, his skin turning back to its normal color. 

“You good?” Lance says, touching Keith’s shoulder. Keith gulps and nods, not able to form words. Lance smiled warmly, releasing the hold of the previous spell, causing them to rise up. Thankfully, whatever was causing Keith to stay stationary seemed to disappear as Lance’s potion took over him. 

They surface both of them gasping as they swim to shore. Lance sees Pidge wrapped in a towel, standing next to her brother and shivering. He also saw Veronica, standing next to them, looking bewildered, but also relieved to see Lance. 

Lance helps Keith stand. Keith seems to be a little weak from almost drowning. Behind them, the guy that Keith was saving, called out. 

“Keith!” He runs up to him, hugging him tight. Lance smiles, walking over to his sister. She proceeded to look at him, soaking wet in his blue swim trunks. And then, miraculously, she starts to laugh. 

“What?” Lance says, blushing. 

“All this time I knew you were hiding a secret from us and all along its because you were going to some elite school because your a nerd.” Lance stumbles over his words, but Veronica just smiles, enveloping him in a hug. Lance smiles, glad to see his sister. 

He looks back at Keith, who’s staring at him, his expression a mix of awe and confusion. Lance just laughs. 

After the tournament, the three champions are ushered into a room, still dripping wet for interviews. It was obvious that they were excited to get the latest scoop, considering everyone saw Veronica surface without Lance and Lance later surface with Keith and Shiro. Everyone knew that it would add to the tale of Keith Kogane and Lance Mcclain, Friends or Lovers?

Before they started prepping them for interviews, the three discussed the events of the tournament quietly amongst themselves. 

“That task wasn’t that hard…” Pidge says, obviously taking pride in the fact that she came in first place. Lance pursed his lips, nodding in agreement but also looking at Keith out of the corner of his eye, who had his blanket wrapped around him tightly. Keith didn’t say a word, frowning. 

“Congrats on getting first, Pidge?” Lance says with a warm smile. 

“Here’s what I don’t understand,” Pidge finally bursts. Keith and Lance incline their heads towards her. 

“Lance… I saw you ahead of me. You could’ve won this and got in first place instead of making us all tied. So why didn’t you win?” Lance bites his lip. Keith looks at him too, a curious expression on his face. 

“Well I… I saw that Keith was struggling…” Keith looks away blushing. He swore he saw Pidge smirk. 

“So you decided to sacrifice your win to save the damsel in distress?” 

“Well… yeah.” Pidge just smiles, looking like she knows something. 

“I see.” They call for Lance for his interview. He grins and walks into the room, obviously enjoying the attention. Pidge turns to Keith. 

“You like him.” Keith turns bright red, mumbling incoherent nothings. 

“That’s ridiculous,” he says finally. Pidge raises an eyebrow. 

“He’s from Beauxbatons.” Pidge’s eyebrow arches further.

“We’re rivals.” Pidge bursts out laughing.

“WHAT!” Keith says defensively. She snorts. 

“Some rivals you are.” Keith plays with the sleeves of his jacket.

“I mean I guess we’re friends, but we’re competing against each other. Plus, Lance couldn’t like me back.”

“So you admit you like him.” Keith squeaks, his face as red as a tomato. 

“What? No I-I was– I meant– I–” Pidge puts her hand over his mouth. He gives her a panicked expression. 

“Look. I know Lance.”

“You do?”

“Yes he’s Hunk’s friend god have you been paying attention?”

“Oh yes that answered all my questions. Thank you,” Keith says sarcastically. Pidge laughs.

“Oh I like you.”

“What’s your point, Pidge?”

“I know Lance. I also know that he flirts with literally any girl he sees comma but the ones he really likes he gets all flustered and does a weird thing with his hands.”

“ I don’t understand what this has to do with anythi–”

“When he likes someone he tries to spend every waking hour with them and will do anything for them.”

“So?”. Pidge huffs.

“So I’m saying that he’s the same with you!” Keith scoffs.

“No he’s not. He’s just being Lance.” Pidge groans. 

“Wow you’re about as thick as he is.”

“HEY! Lance is really smart, I’ll have you know,” Keith says defensively, maybe a small part of his tone is dreamy. Pidge rubs her brow. 

“I’m too ace for this.” Lance walks back out into the waiting room, a nervous smile on his face. Keith feels his heartbeat quicken and he scratches his neck in an attempt to hide his blush. He didn’t know if it worked as Lance walked up to him.

“How did it go?” Keith asks. Lance purses his lips, fidgeting with his hand a little. Pidge gives Keith a look.

“It went good! They asked some personal stuff about… nevermind.” Maybe it was wishful thinking, but Keith swore he saw Lance blush the slightest bit. But the moment was gone. 

“Kogane!” The lady called. Keith takes a deep breath, walking into the room.

The room is just a normal classroom, set up for an interview. Two chairs sit across from each other, one occupied by a lady with curly hair and glasses. Keith gulped, sitting down across from her. 

“Hello Mr. Kogane,” she says, smiling warmly. 

“H-hi,” Keith says, pulling at the sleeves of his jacket. 

“So. This challenge was a lot harder for you, wasn’t it.” Keith gulped and nodded.

“Yes.”

“Do you care to explain what happened?” Keith dug his nails into his palm. 

“I don’t know. I made my potion wrong and I couldn’t get to the surface so Lance saved me.” She raised an eyebrow. 

“Do you know why he did that? Rumor has it he would’ve won if he hadn’t gone back for you.” Keith curled and uncurled his fists. 

“I don’t know. It was probably payback for the first challenge.” She hummed. 

“That’s not how Lance tells it.”

“How does Lance tell it?” Keith growls. The reporter flips to a new piece of paper. 

“Next question. How did you feel when you saw Lance come back for you.” Keith didn’t know what this had to do anything. 

“I don’t know. I was happy that I could breathe.”

“In the metaphorical sense?” Keith raised an eyebrow. 

“No? He spelled a bubble around us so we could breath.” She raised an eyebrow. 

“Did you say anything to him in this… bubble?”

“I couldn’t breathe?” Keith doesn’t know where she’s going with this. 

“Next question. How do you feel about Lance Mcclain? Do you think your relationship has evolved?”

“Well… yeah.” The lady leans forward slightly. Keith coughs, his cheeks reddening. “Well I mean–” Keith coughs. “We’re closer friends now and stuff. And he’s really smart and helps me with my potions…”

“Is she trying to make a move on him?” Lance says, face pressed up against the glass of the classroom door. Pidge groans, playing Zelda on a DS.

“She’s not, Lance. And if she was then that would be creepy and wrong.” Lance frowns. 

“She’s too close.” Pidge huffs, stepping on the tips of her toes to look in with Lance. She rolls her eyes. 

“They’re literally a meter away from each other.” Lance huffs. 

“He’s blushing.” Pidge groans, slinking against the floor. 

“Keith’s always blushing.”

“Yeah but…” 

“Lance.” 

“I mean….”

“Lance.”

“What if…”

“LANCE!” Lance turns to the Pidge. She pushes up her round glasses. 

“Keith is fine he’s just nervous.” Lance sighs, sinking to the ground. 

“I know I just….”

“What?” Pidge sits next to him. Lance frowns, seeming conflicted. 

“I just know how shaken up I was after the first challenge and how answering their questions made it worse and… you didn’t see him down there, Pidge.” Pidge sighs. 

“Keith will be fine. If he’s not I’m sure he’ll deck her.” Lance laughs a little. 

“Yeah.” Lance looks down into his lap, his features soft. 

“Hunk was right, you got it bad.” 

“What?!” Lance says, jumping. “I swear if Hunk told you–” Pidge rolled her eyes. 

“It’s obvious Lance. He didn’t need to tell me anything.” Lance threads his fingers through his hair, sighing. 

“It is?”

“The only person that doesn’t seem to know is Keith.” Lance huffs, resting his chin on his hand. 

“What should I do, Pidge?” Pidge coughs. 

“Are you seriously asking me for relationship advice?” Lance glares. 

“Just ask him to the Yule Ball or something. That’s coming up soon.” Lance chews his lip. 

“Maybe….” The door behind them opens, causing both of them to yelp, scrambling up. Keith frowned at them. 

“Why were you sitting by the door?”

“It was Lance’s idea,” Pidge says with a shrug, heading into the room, closing the door tightly behind her. Lance starts to fidget with his jacket and Keith scratches his neck. 

“So….” Keith says, coughing. Lance bites the inside of his cheek. 

“Want to go find something to eat?” Keith grins. 

“Sure.” 

“Who’s Keith talking to?” Lance says, leaning into Hunk, a frown on his face. Hunk follows his line of sight. 

“Acxa. Why?” Lance raises an eyebrow.

“Who’s she?”

“A Gryffindor girl. She’s friends with Allura’s ex. But don’t worry, she’s cool.” Lance chews his lip, glimpsing back at them. He knew what flirting looked like. 

“Do you think she’ll ask him to the Yule Ball?” Hunk shrugs, taking a bite of his food. 

“Pidge has heard rumors about it. They might be true.” Lance looks back at them. Keith has a frustratingly cute expression on his face as his brows draw with confusion, tilting his head curiously. Sometimes Lance swore he was like a puppy mixed with a cat and it made Lance’s stomach flip. He sighs, resting his chin on his hand.  

“Wow. Pidge was right.” Lance squeaks, jumping and turning away from Keith.

“Right about what?” Lance says nervously. 

“That that Durmstrang boy is going to be the death of you.”

“N-no he’s not!”

“Lance you’re looking at him again.” Lance sighs dreamily. 

“He’s so pretty.” Hunk rolls his eyes. 

“Tell me again why you haven’t asked him to the Yule Ball yet?” Lance huffs. 

“Because Hunk.” Hunk raises an eyebrow.

“”Because… I don’t know. It would be weird, wouldn’t it?”

“No?”

“But it’s Keith, Hunk.” Hunk just  laughs, shaking his head. Above them they hear a chirping sound. Everyone in the room cranes their heads up at the noise as dozens of birds flood the room, all of them with letters tied around their ankles. They swooped down, landing at tables where students recognized a family owl and took the letter, reading it to themselves with smiles and frowns. Another round of owls came in, dropping in the daily newspapers. Lance picks one up, casually flipping to the article on the Triwizard Tournament. 

There’s a picture of the three of them, all drenched from head to toe. Pidge was grinning wildly, her eyes dancing with excitement. Meanwhile, Keith was shivering, wrapping himself tighter in blankets. Lance was beside him, looking slightly concerned for his friend as he offered Keith his blanket. Lance skipped over the picture to the article.

“Yesterday the three Champions of this year’s Triwizard Tournament completed their second challenge. Katie “Pidge” Holt from the Slytherin house at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry came in first place, saving her brother, Matt from the bottom of the lake. Next to come up was a bewildered muggle by the name of Veronica who is our second champion’s sister. However, Lance could not be seen, causing anxiety to build up within the stands of the arena, wondering what could possibly have happened to the Beauxbatons boy. There was still no sign of the Durmstrang boy or his treasure. 

“Just as the officiators began to organize a team to look for the two boys, they shot out of the water, arm and arm, both of them holding tightly onto Takashi Shirogane, Keith Kogane’s adopted brother. The audience cheered, rising up in the stands as Keith and Lance tied for second place, causing a three way tie between the three champions. They were all–” Hunk kept poking Lance’s shoulder and it was really starting to dampen his reading ability. He huffs, getting slightly annoyed, and turns to Hunk. 

“What?!” Hunk chews his lip. 

“Uh dude…” Hunk points to a picture later on in the article. It was of before the match where Lance was helping Keith with his hair. They were facing each other, both of them blushing, looking soulfully into each other’s eyes. Lance gulps as he reads the headline. 

“Rivals… or Star-Crossed Lovers?” Lance looks over at Hunk, a nervous expression on his face. He quickly turns back to the article, pratically inhaling the words on the page with a frantic energy. 

“One cannot deny that since the first trial in the tournament there has been a spark between the two boys of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. As some may recall, Keith Kogane came to Lance Mcclain’s aid when he couldn’t muster the courage to face his greatest fear. Since then, the two boys have been almost inseparable. Sources say that it was because Mcclain felt indebted to Kogane after he saved him and was bent on helping the Durmstrang in any way he could. 

“But one cannot deny the energy these boys give off. Hidden deep within there is a passion that most anyone can see, and it has only been strengthened since the second trial. The two boys have become a popular… so to say… ship amongst fanatics of the Triwizard Tournament. And they no doubt are gobbling up this exclusive interview with Lance Mcclain:” 

“Whatcha reading?” Keith says from over Lance’s shoulder, scaring Lance senseless. Without hesitation, Lance takes the article and shoves it in his glass of milk, looking up at Keith. 

“Just enjoying my breakfast!” He says, laughing nervously. Keith squints at him, sitting down beside him. He reaches for the pitches of orange juice, his hand brushing Lance’s in the process. Lance goes bright red. 

“Okay but seriously, what were you reading?” Keith says, staring at him from over his orange juice. 

“Nothing.” Keith frowns. Lance can feel everyone looking at him now. They no doubt read the article, read about all the embarising ways Lance gushed about Keith during his interview in ways he didn’t mean to. If he could do anything to change that moment, he would in a heartbeat. 

“What did Acxa talk to you about?” Hunk asks, bless him. Keith shrugs, stabbing his egg and frowning. 

“She asked me to go to the Yule Ball with her.” Oh no oh no my life is over I failed bury me now–

“What did you say?” Hunk says, looking at Lance nervously. He could tell that Lance seemed on the verge of a breakdown. He made a mental note of the best escape route for his friend. 

Keith continues to frown, stabbing his eggs, looking at Lance through his lashes. 

“I said no,” Keith mumbles. Lance gasps, standing up. 

“You what?” Keith seems to shrink in on himself a little, thrown off by Lance’s outbreak. Lance immediately feels horrible as he sits back down. 

“Sorry, sorry I… what do you mean you said no?” He says in a much gentler voice, leaning slightly towards Keith. Keith shrugs, holding his gaze. 

“I just… said no?”

“But she’s so your type!” Keith almost snorts. In fact he does… a little. 

“I just…” Keith pushes his bangs out of his eyes, not meeting Lance’s gaze. 

“I was just hoping someone else would ask me,” He says, a bright blush spreading across his cheeks. Lance gapes at him. 

“Who is it?” he says, a little too quickly. Keith chews his lip. 

“C’mon you can tell me.” Lance says, smiling and bumping his shoulder with Lance’s. Keith blushes, smiling a little. 

“You’re going to have to wait, loverboy.” Lance’s heart pounds in his chest and in that moment, he wants to do nothing more than kiss Keith and tell him how he feels. But, the mullet boy’s heart is taken by another. 

“You coming with me to Charms?” Keith says, gathering his stuff to get going. Lance smirks. 

“How else can I beat you into a pulp with my fancy spellwork.” Keith laughs a snorty kind of laughter that makes Lance’s heart flutter. 

It was a day before the Yule Ball and Lance still hasn’t asked Keith to go with him. 

At this point Lance wasn’t sure why he was worried. Everyone Keith hung out with seemed to have a date, so it wasn’t like one of them could be Keith’s-mysterious-crush-that-he-was-hoping-would-ask-him. But Lance still couldn’t help but feel a lump in his throat every time he tried to ask Keith to go with him. 

In the end, he said it the night before the actual dance and made a complete and entire fool of himself. 

They were up in Keith’s dorm, lying next to each other on his bed with books propped open, their eyelids drooping.

“Why did your professor assign you a test on the day of the dance anyway?” Lance says with a yawn. Keith sighs, face planting into a textbook. 

“Because my potions teacher enjoys watching me suffer.” Lance sighs, pulling the textbook away from Keith, who pulled his head up in surprise, turning to Lance. Only when Lance put away the textbooks did Lance realize their noses were almost touching. 

“What are you doing?” Keith says, looking confused. Lance huffs. 

“You’re way too tired for this and we have the Yule Ball tomorrow you need to get some sleep.” Keith groans, rubbing his eyes and sitting up. Lance does the same. 

“Do you have a date to the ball yet?” he asks curiously. Lance feels his heart pound in his chest, wondering if this was the moment. He takes a deep breath, telling himself to chill out. He leans back, relaxed. 

“No. All the girls are too shy to ask this guy,” he says cheesily, pointing finger guns at Keith. It was a lie, a bunch of girls asked him, but he said he had his heart set on someone else. And he did, if he would just work up the courage to ask the boy in front of him. He just needed to say those eight words. Will you go to the dance with me? 

“What about you? That lucky lady ask you yet?” Keith frowns, playing with a loose string on the bed. 

“No.” Lance tapped his fingers against his leg. 

“Great. So neither of us have dates.”

“I guess…” Lance laughs. 

“God that’s going to be so embarrassing.” Keith furrows his brow, confused.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean we’re the champions and we don’t have dates.” Keith doesn’t look at him as he continues to mess with the blanket. 

“So?” Lance chews his bottom lip, his face heating. God, how is he supposed to say this? Its a good think Keith is distracted. 

“So I mean… It will be kind of embarrassing… won’t it? Being the center of attention without a date?” Keith shrugs. Lance knows that Keith probably doesn’t care, but he needs an excuse, something to hide under if Keith lashes out at him. 

“What are you saying, Lance?” Keith says, looking tired. Man, he should really go to sleep. Lance threads and unthreads his fingers together. 

“Well you know… maybe we can both go together? Since we don’t have dates…” Keith was suddenly wide awake now. His eyes fly open as he turns to Lance, who’s trying to hide his blush. Did he just…. was he playing a trick on him? Keith drew his brows together. Lance started to panic. 

“Is this some sort of joke?” Keith murmured, not looking into Lance’s eyes. Lance scrambled up, his heart pounding. 

“Sorry I’m sorry Keith I….” he starts to grab his bags, running his fingers through his hair, getting that look in his eye. It was the same look he had in the arena when facing the bogart. Keith wanted to reach out but he was too frozen. His heart was pounding, Lance’s words ringing in his ears. 

“I shouldn’t have…” Lance was rambling like he did when he was upset. It was funny how much they’ve gotten to know each other within the span of this competition and Keith wanted nothing more than to go to that dance with Lance Mcclain. 

But by the time he finally opened his mouth to tell him yes, yes I want to go to the dance with you, Lance was rushing out the door, rubbing tears from his eyes. Keith stood up to chase after him, opening the door and running down the stairs into his common room. He emerged into the hall, but by that point, Lance was gone and all of Keith’s opportunities went down the drain. 

“HaveyouseenLance?” Keith said the next morning to Hunk and Pidge, completely ignoring the other three girls sitting at the table. They seemed startled by his appearance, but Keith didn’t care. He didn’t sleep at all the night before and every time he laid down he tossed and turned. Eventually he snuck out to try and find Lance, but he ended up getting caught and sent back to his dorm. 

“Wow Keith so polite of you to say hi to our friends Allura, Shay, and Romelle,” Pidge says sarcastically. Keith glares.

“Where’s Lance?” Hunk raises an eyebrow. 

“He’s not with you?”

“Why would he be with me!” Keith runs his hands through his hair, sitting down. 

“You guys were studying together last night where did he go after that?” Keith whimpers. 

“I don’t know. He stormed off and–”

“Wait. He stormed off?” one of the girls, Allura, pitches in. Keith nods worriedly. 

“Dude what did you do?” Pidge says. Keith buries his head in his arms. 

“He asked me to the Yule Ball.” Everyone at the table gasps. 

“Keith I swear if you said no–”

“I didn’t say anything but he started freaking out and I just…” Everyone is leaning close to him. 

“Did you tell him?” Pidge asks. Keith shakes his head. 

“I thought it was a joke! I didn’t think he would actually ask me!” Pidge shakes her head sadly. 

“Do you ever read the Daily Prophet?” Romelle says. Keith looks up at her, an angry look on his face. Pidge shoves a paper in his face. He looks down at the article. 

There’s a big picture of him and Lance, standing close together just before the second challenge. The headline read, “Rivals… or Star-Crossed Lovers?” Keith raised an eyebrow. 

“What’s this?” 

“Lance’s interview. You haven’t seen it?” Keith shakes his head, starting to read intently. 

“R: So Mcclain, would you care to explain to us what happened in this round of competition?

L: Well, this part of the competition was always meant to help repay Kogane for helping me in… the first challenge. I felt bad and I wanted to help him as much as I could so we worked together to create our potions to help us. We started swimming up together, but I noticed that Keith was no longer next to me. 

R: So you gave up a win to help him?

L: Yes.

R: Why? 

L: I… well I don’t know. It only seemed fair considering he lost a significant amount of points for helping me. 

R: You still could’ve swam for the surface and got him help. You didn’t have to be his knight in shinning armor. So why did you save him yourself?

L: I didn’t think of that….

R: No, you didn’t. 

R: Would you have done it differently?

L: No. I would’ve risked everything to save him– I mean, I don’t want to see a fellow competitor get hurt. He would’ve drowned. 

R: I see… and what are your opinions of Keith? You two have gotten extremely close during this competition.

L: We have. Keith has been amazing, the kind of friend I never knew I needed. He’s a bit temperamental, but once you get through his shell he has so many admirable traits and he’s so handsome….

R: Would you ever see Kogane as more than a friend?

L: Ye–NO! NO not at all that’s not what this is. We’re just friends, sometimes rivals. We would never– he would never– we don’t like each other in that way

R: Maybe he doesn’t, but how about you, Mcclain?

L: *no comment*”

“This isn’t real this had to have been forged. Lance would never say this.” 

“He saw the article and tried to burn every copy of the Daily Prophet so you wouldn’t see it.” Keith frowns. 

“Because it makes him look bad.” Pidge rolls her eyes. 

“You need to go talk to Lance.”

“I don’t know where he is.” Pidge huffs. 

“C’mon.”

Keith knocked tentatively on the door Pidge said was Lance’s. They had a little house set up with rooms for each of the students and Keith was sure he was going to get lost, but Pidge managed to find their way. 

“Yes?” A voice called, cracking towards the end of the word. Keith felt his heart splinter. He was aware of some people around him whispering about his appearance saying things like “the Durmstrang boy” and “Lance” and “Klance.” He ignored them. 

“It’s Keith,” Keith says. Keith hears sniffles from inside. 

“Can I come in?” There’s no answer. Keith takes a deep breath, opening the door. 

The room was actually really neat. So neat that it made Keith felt bad about the times he brought Lance into his dorm which was utter chaos. But everything seemed to have a place, down to the pencils on the desk. 

“Wow your room is so neat…” Lance rubs his eyes. They’re red and puffy. 

“I organize when I’m upset…” Keith walks over to Lance’s bed, sitting next to him. Lance pulls his knees to his chest. Keith bites his lip, trying to figure out what to say. 

“You look tired,” Lance says, frowning. Keith yawns. 

“Maybe I didn’t sleep.” Lance looks appalled. 

“Keith! You need to take care of yourself! You have a test today that’s it your skipping first and second block.” Keith smiled a little. 

“What about you, Lance?” he says softly. Lance seems a bit surprised. 

“What about me?” Keith frowns. 

“Look Lance about last night–” Lance presses a finger to Keith’s lips. Keith looks at him with surprise. 

“Keith look. I shouldn’t have asked it just made things awkward I’m sorry.”

“Lance listen to me–” 

“Keith you don’t need to apologize. I understand you don’t feel the same way.” Keith grabs Lance’s hands, twining his fingers through Lance’s, his face red. 

“Look I… I’m glad you asked.” Lance searches Keith’s face, looking confused. Keith shies away from him, seeming super flustered, 

“Keith what–” Keith looks up at him.

“I said no to Acxa because I was waiting for you to ask me.” Lance gapes at him. 

“No.. Keith just… Please don’t do this to make me feel better that’s so much worse–”

“Lance I’m not–”

“Keith really its okay if you don’t like me–” Keith has never been good with words. He knew that there was no way to tell Lance the way he felt. So he fists his hands in Lance’s shirt, pulling him close. He hesitates for a moment, their lips centimeters apart. Then, Keith kisses him. 

Lance pulls away, a surprised look on his face. Keith looks at him with those eyes, those purple eyes with unreadable emotions that Lance finally understands. He kisses Keith again, his heart pounding, not sure if this was real and not caring. 

When they break they look at each other for a long moment… then burst out into giggles, laying down on the bed, Keith’s legs hanging off the end and Lance’s propped against the wall. Lance looks back at Keith and Keith looks back at Lance, both of them smiling. 

“So…” Keith says, grinning dorkily. Lance loved that grin. “Wanna go to the Yule Ball with me?”

Allura helped Lance get ready for the dance because, well, he was a bi disaster. 

“Do you think he’ll like it?” Lance says, frowning down at his suit. Allura rolls her eyes. 

“You know blue looks good on you Lance. It matches your eyes.” Lance huffs. 

“I know I just… I want to make a good impression. This is our first… I guess date?” Allura just smiles.

“That boy is over the moon for you. I’m sure you could wear a trash bag and he would think your the hottest guy in the room.”

“Do I look good, Lura?” Lance says for the last time with a sigh. She smiles.

“Yes Lance, you look great.”

“Shiro where’s my tieeeeee.” Keith groans, running his hands through his hair. His outfit was almost complete, he just needed find his freaking tie. 

Shiro decided that it would be a good idea to help Keith get ready for the Yule Ball for unknown reasons. He kept going on and on about how him and his boyfriend, Adam, met at a school event similar to this one. He was such a romantic it made Keith gag, although he wasn’t any better. He kept stressing, trying to make everything perfect. 

“Keith. You’re wearing your tie,” Shiro says with a bored expression. Keith looks down. 

“Oh.” 

“You okay?”  Keith bites his lip.

“What if he decides he doesn’t like me?” 

“He’s not going to do that Keith.”

“What if he backs out? What if I get stood up?”

“Keith calm down.”

“What if–” Shiro grabs his shoulders. 

“Lance fell in love with you, he wants to go to this dance with you.” Keith huffs. 

“Alright…” Shrio smiles. 

“Just be yourself. He loves that.” Keith sighs and nods. 

“Do I look okay?” 

“You look perfect. 

As instructed, Lance, Keith, and Pidge arrived early to go over the procedures for how they were to handle the Yule Ball. They arrived at their given time, much to to the headmasters surprise. He frowned when he saw them. 

“No one got dates?” Lance coughs. 

“Uh we’re together….” He takes Keith’s hand. The headmaster smiles a bit. 

“My brother said he’ll dance with me.” 

“Okay then. I trust you all know how this works?” Pidge nods, Keith and Lance shake their heads. He takes a deep breath. 

“It is tradition that the Champions walk out once everyone has settled and do the first dance.” Keith stiffens. 

“Something wrong?” Lance whispers, his brows drawn in concern. 

“I can’t dance,” Keith says nervously. Lance laughs. 

“No one can.” Keith pouts. They go over a few more things. People start to trickle in, mingling amongst themselves. 

“You know… you look amazing tonight,” Lance says, playing with Keith’s ponytail as they wait for their cue. Keith blushes brightly. 

“S-so do you!” he says defensively. Lance laughs. 

“Thank you.” Keith wraps his arm around Lance, snuggling close to him. Lance felt his heart thud in his chest. 

“I bet I can dance better than you,” Keith mumbles. Lance snorts. 

“You’re on Kogane.” 

Lance felt like he was flying. Everything about the night was perfect, and it didn’t matter that he was about to face the third trial soon. All that matters was he was sitting here, in the warm and inviting dorm of Keith Kogane, explaining what a cell phone was and how Keith needed to get one immediately. Keith seemed confused. 

“Where do the messages go?” Lance laughs. 

“They come to me, silly.” Keith gets that adorable, quizzical expression on his face. 

“But how do they get there?”

“You’re questioning actual muggle technology proven with science but not the entirety of magic.” Keith shrugs. 

“I’ve always lived around magic. I guess I never thought about it.” Lance sighs, leaning against Keith. 

“Thank you.” 

“For what?” 

“For just… being the most amazing person I ever met.” Keith turns to Lance, a flustered smile on his face. 

“It’s only fair. You’re the most extraordinary person I ever met.” Lance blushes, burying his face in Keith’s shoulder. 

“Keiiithhhhh who taught you how to flirt?” Keith laughs. 

“If I recall, you did. When trying to help me get the guy I was holding out on to take me to the dance. Which was you.”

“I do recall that…”

“Remember that time I made you blush so hard you had to physically walk out of the room?”

“IN MY DEFENSE– I was not prepared for you to be that good.” Keith laughs softly. 

“I just can’t believe you didn’t figure out that I liked you.” Lance huffs.

“To be fair, you didn’t figure it out either even when it was all in a nice interview tied with a bow.”

“You got me there.” 

THE END

[its-harrypooter]

modern marauders: theatre AU part 1

hey guys I felt inspired after listening to the entire Dear Evan Hansen soundtrack so here is a “brief” headcanon on the marauders and theatre:

Requested: No Part: 1/?

james has been talking about auditioning for the next production for a while. it may or may not be because lily evans is stage director. the other marauders laugh but still encourage him to go for it, sure he’ll fail and/or embarrass himself.

james picks up a script from the director and practices in their dorm at all times of the day. after hearing the script three times, sirius starts quoting it, and has learnt more than james.

sirius starts teasing james that he’ll go against him for the lead. after standing on the gryffindor table in the great hall and belting the lyrics to the audition song to everyone at breakfast (and surprisingly getting a lot of compliments for it), he decides to audition 

tensions run high as both sirius and james start practicing. to spite james, sirius asks lily to run lines with him. james retalliates by telling the director sirius wants to be the love interest of the lead. Peter asks lily if he can join the stage crew.

on audition day, both james and sirius audition for the lead role. they havent spoken in a week. lily sits with the director and judges them. she smiles when sirius walks on stage, knowing how hard he’s worked. james is furious, scowling as he watches sirius butcher the audition song

they both stomp out of the theatre, refusing to speak. the cast list is posted two days later, and they both race to find out who got the role. both of them physically deflate when they see the name.

REMUS?! they both scream. remus walks down the hall calmly, just checking if he actually got the role

he’s very startled when he sees he’s got the lead

James and sirius demand answers, and finally speak to one another again (that is before james points out sirius got the lead as remus’ love interest) sirius sputters and gasps; he didn’t even audition for that role! 

he's very confused, before he sees that james’ name isn’t even on the list, his audition did not go well; he forgot his lines and is not a good singer at the best of times

instead, james’ name is flagged as “lighting and tech, to report to Lily Evans”

james is more rapt with that than he would have been if he’d been given the lead

during practices, james mucks around with the lights, mostly on purpose, partly because he has no idea what he’s doing, just so evans can go over the lights AGAIN

Pete is mostly unseen during rehearsals, but he is heard, as he keeps dropping props and bumping into sets

they all hear remus’ voice for the first time, and realise he was probably a better lead than either james or sirius, but sirius would never admit it

lily hangs out in the lighting box most of the time, because that’s the only place severus can’t find her and ask her a million more questions about his sets and costumes

james loves it, he jokes and makes her laugh, until he misses his queue and she doesnt talk to him for half an hour so he can focus

sirius, at first, refuses to play the love interest the way its written, swaggering around the stage and saying things like “this is ridiculous” after all of his lines

after a few practices, he gets really into it, and doesnt even need his script, he’s spent most of his afternoons memorising all of his lines and stage directions

one practice, james is not needed with the lights, because they’re just doing a props and set run-through with the full cast, so lily asks if she can practice some of the makeup on him. james, of course, says yes.

she blabbers on about running the production, and how the director does NOTHING except auditions, and just sits there while lily does everything else, and how the hair and makeup girls were absent and barely ever showed up, and how she had to practically beg Marlene to help out on the night (the agreement was; she wouldn't have to attend any rehearsals other than the dress rehearsal, and of course, the nights of the performance)

all james can think about is how close she is to him, after a pause, lily, as if for the first time, notices how sharp potter’s jawline actually is and for a while, thats all she can think about

“thinking about me evans?” james does one of those little half-smiles that bothered lily, but she still thought it was kind of cute

“always” lily rolled her eyes, her tone dripping sarcasm. she stepped back, biting the inside of her cheek to stop a smile creeping up on her face, “I think I’m done.”

“finally” james lets his head roll back against the edge of the chair, messing up his hair, and then stands up to grab the mirror. at this point, lily lets out a laugh, and james furiously turns around “YOU TURNED ME INTO A FISH?!” 

lily grins, “a very CUTE fish, you’re Flounder!” she's very proud of herself, the fact that james could even tell he was a fish was a good sign.

“WE’RE NOT EVEN DOING THE LITTLE MERMAID!” he starts to rub furiously at his face, trying to get the makeup off, but ends up looking like he's just been beaten in a fist fight. lily can barely contain her laughter, “aw potter come on, that took ages!!”

later that week, after a six hour rehearsal, the director asks james to change the lighting filters on the stage, even though he could have done it during the rehearsal

sirius and remus are laughing about the kissing scene next week, it hasn’t quite dawned on them that THEYRE actually the ones kissing

Pete is frantically trying to find the lighting filters, even though he already gave them to james, and then leaves after being told by lily that he was stressing her out

in the lighting and sound booth, lily is going through the script again, marking areas they need to go over and adding stage directions. she hums the duet that remus and sirius had been singing earlier as she does it

james, who is balancing on a ladder on the stage, nearly jumps out of his skin as he hears the humming come through the speakers around the theatre, the microphone in the booth catching every note of lily’s singing

he smiles but continues changing the light filters, not being able to stop himself from singing the other part of the duet

soon, he’s screaming the lyrics as loud as he can to try and drown out some of lily’s off key humming and she’s laughing in the booth as he screws up his face, his glasses balancing on the tip of his nose as he tries to block his ears with one hand and adjust the stage lights with the other

“now I can see why you’re on stage crew” lily smirks, talking through the mic, “you’re a terrible singer”

“a terrible singer, maybe, but even I can detect how off key your humming was, evans” potter yells back, sticking his tongue out and momentarily losing his balance

[teamevilwinter-blog]

Luna ( A Winter Soldier Story) Part 12

Pairing: Bucky x OC(Luna) 

Summary:  Character is a super soldier who escaped Hydra after S.H.E.I.L.D fell. As she recounts her past she finds herself in New York City seeking out a certain soldier who is the only one who can help her find peace within herself. This chapter is the conclusion to the series.

Word Count: 2,130 

A/N: I am so relieved to finally have this out. I havent updated in literally forever!! Enjoy! 

Catch up here:  Luna Masterlist  

~ Part 11 ~

Bucky’s POV

“How could this have happened!?! I thought she was under security!!” I shouted at Stark as Steve attempted to pull me back by the arm. I knew it was wrong to be directing all my anger at Stark, especially after all he had done to save Luna in the first place. 

Stark was quick to retort, “I am not the one who should be at blame here! You were the last person to see her before she left. So let me ask you this Barnes. What the hell happened?” 

Steve stepped in between us putting an end to the argument, “This is not the time to be throwing around accusations! We have to focus on the matter at hand. Which is that Luna is gone.” 

“Ran away, seems more fitting.” All heads turned to the figure leaning against the doorway. It was Romanoff, just come back from security central. “I obtained the security footage from the past few hours. While Luna may have disabled the alarms, she left the cameras alone.” 

The red head made her way over to a monitor and synced up her tablet to show us the footage. The first clip was of the hallway just outside this room. The guard was there, this time standing tall and alert. Moments passed and the door creeped open a crack. Something was thrown into the hallway, catching the guards attention. By the time he turned back, it was too late. Luna had used the distraction to her advantage and swung a solid hit to his jaw. The guard stumbled and then Luna swiped at his face, leaving a nasty cut above his eye. 

“What did she use to cut him?” Stark asked, clearly as stunned as the rest of us. 

“Most crucial tip of any assassin: anything can be used as weapon. By the looks of it this room has no shortage of possible ideas.” Natasha replied, her arm gesturing to the multiple items in the room. 

The next several clips showed Luna taking out guard after guard expertly until she finally made it to security central. According to Stark, the whole reason the alarms didnt go off when she left the tower was because Luna hacked into the system and shut it down. 

“We underestimated her.” Steve said what we were all thinking. 

Natasha nodded her head in agreement. “Not to mention she just had surgery. If she can take out this entire tower’s security while still in recovery, imagine her potential when she’s in full health.” 

“Like you said she’s an assassin-” Stark added. 

“- Ex-assassin…. Don’t forget she’s no longer Hydra.” My voice was clipped and no doubt my expression matched. 

Stark threw me a look of pure venom before continuing. “Like I was saying, Luna is an ex-assassin who just perfectly demonstrated she had the ability to leave this tower any time she wanted. But she didn’t because she had no reason to. Now that she’s gone I wonder what her reason was.” 

Even though Stark didnt directly look at me while saying it, it was evident he knew something was up. 

Steve cleared his throat interrupting the thickening silence. “Buck, you mentioned a note when we first got here. That’s how you knew she was gone?” 

“Yeah, I um, found it in a book in her room. I was only there because I couldn’t sleep and found it…comforting.” I tried my hardest to make it sound as normal as possible. Like any guy would just enter a girls room and rifle through their reading selections. Gosh that was real smooth. 

I took the slip out my pocket, unfolded it and read the words that had initially made my heart stop: 

To whom it may concern, 

I’m sorry that I’ve left so abruptly. I couldn’t stand another second in that room or in this tower. I don’t wish for my departure to seem like I’m ungrateful for all that everyone has done for me. You’ve given me my life back and I will forever be thankful. 

 However in the process, some things have arisen that I must deal with on my own. There is no telling how long I will be gone but I assure you I will return to repay the debt that I so heavily owe. 

Thank you all again. And farewell....

Luna 

“’Some things have arisen’? What does she mean by that?” Natasha looked at the others in confusion. 

“Barnes?” I could feel Stark’s eyes boring into the side of my head. 

I sighed. Might as well just say it. “The Winter Soldier…killed Luna’s parents. A fact she became aware of when she experienced repressed memories during her surgery” I faced Stark and looked him dead on. “So technically your right. It is my fault. And so are a million other things. None of which I could control. This included. When I came to talk to her this evening she was….inconsolable. Nothing I said or did made anything better. So maybe I’m insane for saying this but…I think she did the right thing.” 

Stark failed to mask his astoundment,”Are you insane?” 

“He’s right” Natasha stepped in before Stark could continue. “ Those tapes proved she can hold her own just fine. Not to mention she was already living alone for four years prior to coming here. With that aside, we have to consider her emotional state right now. A sudden onset of traumatic memories right after you’ve woken up from brain surgery is a lot. More than even she could handle. We all have our ways of coping. My guess is she didnt leave the city. Just went somewhere where she feels most at peace. To help her get through this.” 

“Oh my gosh.” I whispered. 

“What?” Steve stepped towards me. 

I help up the slip. “Theres a part of the note I didnt read to you. I thought it was just a rhyme that she wrote but I think its a clue. ‘The only place I feel free, amongst the stars I will be.’ Does New York City have an observatory of some sort?” 

“The closest is Staten Island. Which is way too far.” 

“Ok then….whats the tallest building in NYC?” I was starting to figure out where she might have gone. 

“One World Trade Center. Access to the roof is restricted but it has an observatory deck.” Natasha replied. 

“Thats it. I know she’s there.” I was out the door before anyone could question it. I heard Steve called out after me but my mind was already made. 

By the time I made it to the center it was just shy of 9 in the morning. I had opted to walk the whole way through the night using the time to think about what I would say once I found her. After buying a ticket I made my way to the observatory deck, as always keeping a low profile. 

I was surprised at the amount of people, considering how early it was. I searched the crowd looking out for that raven-haired bun I always saw on her. I walked over to the edge of the room passing a  few couples and families with some rowdy kids. 

I peered out of the floor to ceiling windows, tilting my head to the sky. Even though the stars had disappeared hours ago I still felt a strange closeness to it all. A sudden movement caught my right eye and I pivoted to look. Thats when I saw it. A streak of dark tresses piled high ontop of a head and flash of tan skin as the body moved swiftly back into the crowd. 

I took after her, delving between tourists and guides. I caught her just as she was about to enter the elevator to go down. “Luna!” 

The figure turned and thats when my hopes shattered. The girl, a complete and utter stranger, gave a look of bewilderment as she shook my arm away. “Hey! Can I help you sir?” 

“Uh, no. No I’m so sorry I thought you were someone else.” I stuttered out the apology. The girl gave me one last baffled look before stepping away into the elevator. 

I returned to the windows, more frustrated than ever. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe she was never here at all. There was a couple not too far away from where I stood, silently admiring the horizon. What caught my attention wasn’t the unusual distance between them, but the girl herself. Or rather her hair. 

Usually I don’t take notice to stuff like that. But this was an exception. It cascaded down her back in loose curls stopping just above her waist. I felt weird staring but something about it just didn't seem right. The guy beside her  walked away revealing her face to me. 

I dared to sneak a glance and when I did I just about fell over. Luna didn't look surprised to see me, she just looked...exhausted. I saw her breathe in deeply but she made no move to walk over. So I did instead.

Just as I came within earshot she started to talk, "James, I have to apol–"

Before I could think about what I was doing I pulled her close to me and met my lips with hers. She tensed and that's when I realized I made a mistake kissing her. I was ready to pull away but then her hand found the back of my neck and she relaxed into the kiss.

My own hands migrated from her waist up to the base of her hair. My god this hair. Why on earth would she keep it up? It transformed her. So much so that I didn’t recognize her when I was initially passed her. 

The kiss grew deep as we disregarded our surroundings and focused soley on the two of us. 

“Hey you two! Get a room will ya?” A brutish voice yell from behind us. That seemed to snap us out of it as we broke apart. Luna was just as breathless as I. Her hand fell from my neck giving me the chance to grab it and guide her away to somewhere with less people. 

Luckily I found a small alcove away from the mass. I checked behind my shoulder out of habit. Then turned back to be met with those bright eyes of her. 

“James-” I raised my hand to stop her. 

“Luna, I knew what you were gonna say and it is not necessary to apologize.” My hands came to rest lightly on her shoulders. 

She gazed at me in confusion. “How can you say that? I practically threw a tantrum right in your face! I yelled and cried and didnt even give you a single chance to explain yourself!” 

“I know. And initially I was incredibly upset that you did that. But then I considered the circumstances. I sorta know what it feels like to wake up from a surgery with your whole life changed.” 

Luna glanced down at my left arm as I saw her visibly gulp. “James....as much as you don't want me to say it, I have to take responsibility for my actions. I probably caused quite the scene back at the tower.” 

I couldn't help but scoff slightly. “Yeah, you could say that.” 

Luna’s expression hinted at guilt. “Is anyone seriously hurt?” 

“Not seriously. Some of those guards may be walking around for awhile with some nasty bruises but they’ll be fine. I have to say though, what you pulled off was pretty impressive despite the circumstances.” 

She sighed, looking off in the direction of the masses. “I completely regret it. I wasn't thinking straight y’know? Just needed to get out of there. Now I doubt Tony will ever let me in the Tower again.” 

That caught me off guard. “Your saying you would return??” 

Luna leaned against the alcove, crossing her arms. “Well of course but I’ve kinda ruined my chances now.” 

I chuckled softly at that. “Your crazy if you think Stark would kick you out of the tower. I mean yeah the guy has got issues, but he isn't cold-hearted. Besides everyone is sorta getting used to having you around. And with talents like yours maybe some day you could be an agent.” 

She looked up at me with hope in her eyes “You really believe that?” 

I stepped towards her, closing the gap between us. “Of course I do.” 

Luna looked down for a moment and when she came back up I noticed a glimmering in her eyes. I wrapped her in a hug as she began to cry. 

Through the quiet sobs, I heard her tearful words. 

“Thank you Bucky. Without you I wouldn't have gotten my life back. Without you I would have ceased to be Luna. Thank you.” 

MMMMMMM The end? Not so fast. there is a very cute epilogue heading your way! 

Tags: @nodramaaloud @peony13 @chipilerendi

[dreaming-jun-chu]

Rock and Riot review

 Warning: This post is very long! I will have a typed up summary/shorter version come very soon.

Ah, the 1950s in the United States. 

Milkshakes!

Carhops!

Poodle skirts!

Racism.

Segregation.

Civil Rights Movement.

Homophobia and Transphobia.

These are the reality to that time period. As much as people want to erase the “sucky” parts, that’s the reality of it and it shaped how we view ourselves as queer people of color.

That’s where Rock and Riot comes in. And let me say: It’s not good.

Rock and Riot is an LGBT comic about queer kids and kids of color in the 1950s finding love. The comic prides itself on it’s diversity to not only race but to sexuality and gender. To queer white kids, it’s extremely diverse and “progressive”. To queer people of color like me, it’s really offensive and just plain jarring.

Going chapter by chapter, I will tell everything wrong with not only the chapter but for the overall story.

Chapter 1

It starts off with the main protagonist, Connie, riding up with her school gang The Jacquettes. While traveling down the hallway, she notices this blonde hair and blue eyed girl named Carla and instantly falls for her. Connie then goes through the “i’m gonna impress her” motions of flexing her muscles, smoking to seem cool and driving her car in donuts before finally speaking to her.

Let’s pause that for a second.

Connie is African-American/Black while Connie is White. During the 1950s, you’d be hard pressed to find a Black person really speaking to a White person if it wasn’t during a musical scene or at the Black person’s job. 

If this town is based in the Northern to Midwestern United States; while there wasn’t Jim Crow like in the South, Whites and Blacks (and by extension, anyone who was of Color) were segregated by tradition.

And the interracial relationships during that time; they got ALOT of shit for it. 

Chapter 2

So, the second chapter deals with Connie and Frankie, the leader of the rival school gang, the Rollers, get into an argument over...something, it wasn’t memorable. Frankie’s a sexist pig, Connie’s upset and they roll into the water and mess up their hair.

Pausing again.

If we wanna be realistic: Frankie would probably be aggressively misogynoirist against Connie. Sexism for White women is not the same as sexism for Black women. If you want to keep sexism, don’t treat it as if the sexism white women face is universally the same for all women. 

He implied that Connie isn’t tough enough to wear a jacket. 

If this was toward a White woman, this line would make sense. White women are always seen as too weak, too small and not tough enough.

On the flip coin, Black women are treated as the opposite. Black women are seen as too manly, too tough, and too emasculating to even be around. That a Black woman’s “masculinity” is too much for a White man.

Yeah, it’s a small comment but even a small comment like that really puts in perspective that the author didn’t do any research. Especially in the 1950s.

There’s other comments Frankie prolly would say but I’ll leave that to your imagination. 

Chapter 3

So the next chapter deals with Connie and Carla’s first date. They’re at a drive-in movie. So Carla asks if it’s normal for couples to go there and hook up. Connie falls over herself trying to say that they dont have to hook up and carla kisses Connie on the cheek.

In the next few pages, we see Clyde and Eugene (members of the Rollers) getting nervous about being alone together. Of course, they show signs of liking each other before Frankie comes up and honks their horn. The other two members of the Rollers went to Clyde’s house and his sister told them he was on a date. Edd asks if a girl bailed on Clyde and that’s why he’s hanging with Eugene.

Pausing once again.

On a story point of view, this scene is awkward. Why would Frankie and Edd disrupt Clyde’s date? The scene is supposed to be funny but it comes off as awkward. Unless it was actual important business regarding their school gang, there’s no reason for them to barge in. I don’t care if that’s the type of people they are: they aren’t about to be my friends if they pull a stunt like that on me. This chapter was poorly written.

Chapter 4

Hope everyone’s ready for the next chapter cause here’s where “trans-friendly” writing rears its ugly head.

So the next day at school, there’s a new kid named Ace. Connie and Frankie want Ace as part of their gang. if you don’t mind, i’d like to insert what Ace looks like here

So Connie and Frankie try and recruit Ace into their gang with no success until the two leaders begin to argue with one another in front of Ace. Ace asks why the leaders want Ace so bad. While Connie and Frankie yell their crap, Ace dismisses both of them and leaves.

Rolly, a “sweet’ member of the Jacquettes, comes and talks to Ace. They have a talk and Rolly explains how she was once part of the Rollers and Connie's gang accepted her in. So Ace says that neither of the gang is right for Ace and that Ace has a gang already.

Pausing again.

There’s a reason why I avoided pronouns for Ace intentionally for the summary of this chapter. Ace is supposed to be non-binary and uses They/Them pronouns. This wouldn’t be a problem...If Ace told them. A friend of mine actually asked “why are they using They/them pronouns for this trans man?”

When i told him that Ace is supposed to be non-binary, he was a bit...miffed to say the least. Because it doesn’t make sense for these characters to know Ace’s pronouns without knowing or even asking. I’d actually like it better had Connie said “She” and Frankie say “He”; because the scene where Ace gets angry and doesn’t want to be part of either gang would make more sense. And Ace revealing to Rolly that they don’t see themselves in either gang feel more natural.

But because Frankie and Connie immediately used they/them pronouns, it’s feels forced. As if the author is afraid of showing transphobia. In the 1950s.

Concerning Rolly; she is out, wearing dresses and uses She/Her pronouns. Pre-HRT. And passes.

I can’t speak for trans women so I won’t say much about Rolly other than, the fact she passes, out and no one gives a second glance is concerning.

But, i can talk about Ace. To give you a bit of a perspective, i am Bigender. I use He/Him and She/Her pronouns. I don’t pass nor am I androgynous. Nor do i want to. 

Ace being androgynous is a major trope of NB trans folks and if you havent heard: WE ARE TIRED OF THAT BULL. Some of us are still NB and don’t pass. While the other members of Ace’s gang don’t pass: Ace is front and center. Ace is the face of the gang and the face we see first before the other three.

Every trans person that appears in this comic either passes or everyone instantly knows the pronouns said trans person uses.

Chapter 5

So the next chapter is fairly unmemorable. Connie’s gang notices that connie’s been acting strange and believe she’s dating a boy.

PAUSE.

The author doesn’t seem to to know whether her world has transphobia/homophobia/racism or not and it’s overall confusing. Why wouldn’t Connie’s gang accept her being a lesbian? 

I barely remember what happened with Clyde and Eugene in this chapter so...I can’t really comment on this one. It’s unmemorable.

Chapter 6

Do you remember the paragraph above mentioning whether the author not know whether she wanted racism in her world or not? Here’s where everything starts going down the drain.

So Connie goes to the diner where Carla works. Because they don’t get to be together often, Carla suggests they go to a little dance hall to be together and hang out when she gets off. 

So when they go to the Dance hall, the bouncer says Carla can go in but Connie can’t. That because they’re under new management, they can’t let Connie in because of complaints.

Connie, surprisingly, acts a bit realistic here and suggests they just go. Carla gets angry and yells at the bouncer and says she’ll reveal that he’s been having little dates with the librarian and possibly would tell his wife before saying “let’s take our business else where.”

They go to a little lake and comment how no one will judge them there and they have their little date.

PAUSE.

Let’s go back to the author for a second. On her Rock and Riot tumblr, she said that this comic is supposed to be the 1950s without the “suck’ as she says it. Which means, there’s supposed to be no homophobia. There’s supposed to be no Transphobia. And certainly, there’s supposed to be no Racism. But Sexism for Whites TM is okey-dokey.

Please decide whether you want Racism or not in this comic. Personally, i don’t like that you nixed it just because you wanted a “happy” comic when the 1950s was a turning point and led into alot of revolutions and movements.

This incident pops up and then disappears. It’s barely mentioned again or at all. 

Chapter 7

Another unmemorable chapter, sadly. It’s supposed to be how Rolly came to join the jacquettes. I can’t say much on it because it’s unmemorable and just a rip from “Look at me, i’m Sandra Dee” from Grease.

Chapter 8

I’m gonna admit, i had to read back over this cause I remembered only bits and pieces. This chapter deals with Connie catching Clyde and Eugene making out in the classroom when everyone’s gone. 

The chapter ends with Clyde and Eugene trying to cover up their making out as Clyde does push ups.

It was quite a bland chapter at an attempt at creating drama. Which, I could realistically see Connie catching Eugene and Clyde making out behind the school.

Chapter 9

So Carla, Connie, Clyde and Eugene are at Suzy’s diner. Sadly, this chapter was pretty damn unmemorable except for the next part.

Clyde asks how Connie and Carla knew they were different (how they found out they were gay).

Connie said she never liked men. Carla said she doesn’t have a preference.

PAAAAUUUUUSSSSSEEEEE

Connie never liking men is such a horrible stereotypes of Lesbians. She could have said “I felt more comfortable around girls” or even “I tried dating men for a bit but I never really felt a connection”. ANYTHING.

I feel it’s even worse given that she’s a Black Lesbian at that.

So the four of them continue talking UNTIL~

Their respective school gangs show up and catch them “in the act”.

So to cover their asses, Connie and Clyde pretend to date and so does Eugene and Carla.

This doesn’t make sense in a world where homophobia shouldn’t exist. 

So Debby freaks the hell out, Frankie is angry. Debbie tells Connie that she’s not part of the Jacquettes anymore and Frankie is angry.

Pause~

Now, from what i assumed: Connie created the Jacquettes or atleast came up with the idea. Wouldn’t it make more sense for Debby to say that they quit the Jacquettes than severing a tie with connie? When Connie’s the leader?

Chapter 10

This chapter was...not written well, but none of these chapters really were.

So this chapter deals with Ace’s gang, The Bandits. They’re selling answers to quizzes and tests to students. A few students say that their answers are bogus and won’t shop with them again.

So the members go to Ace and they come up with a plan.

Now, this next part is annoying to me because it’s fairly obvious that the author isn’t a Spanish speaker...Nor was this necessary.

So while Ace and the Bandits devise a plan, Ace’s mother comes in and tells them to stay hydrated for stealing tests and Ace responds that they’re writing essays

NOT ONLY THAT, why the fuck would Ace’s mother be okay with them stealing tests? I hope it was a joke. a horribly written joke.

Ace gets the brilliant idea to rewrite the tests.

So Ace and the bandits break into the school (again, apparently) and rewrite the tests and answers. 

James Bond/Mission Impossible reference noted.

So the next day, the school kids all get their tests...And apparently, the teachers nor the entire school does an investigation on why one of the choices on the tests is “What is your gender?”

If Ace and the Bandits are supposed to be inclusive; they fall extremely short. I didn’t like this chapter. At all.

Chapter 11

If there was a chapter that the author did that I completely and utterly loathed? It’s this one. And with complete good reason.

So Connie goes to Carla’s house and climbs up Carla’s tree, calling out to her girlfriend and throwing rocks at her window.

PAUSE.

First off: Connie is Black. Second, Connie is Black in the 1950s. ANYONE could tell you that Connie going into (what i will assume) an All White Neighborhood is a death sentence first.

Thirdly: Connie is Black in the 1950s climbing a White person’s house. Neighbors during this time were nosy as fuck. Connie’s Black ass would have been shot out that tree faster than Taylor Swift switches boyfriends.

If Connie wasn’t shot by Carla’s father or Carla’s neighbors, the police would have shot her out that tree,

So Connie goes to Carla (after finding out Carla is on the bottom floor and that she needs to keep the noise down cause Carla’s daddy is home) and they talk. Debby and Triss won’t talk to her but Rolly will. 

Carla asks if she thinks Connie should tell Rolly the truth.

I’ll pause for this one

I would think Rolly of all people would be the only one to know Connie’s a lesbian. Then again, I guess drama to make drama?

So carla suggests that Connie tells them all and Connie is worried they’d see her differently.

I’d like to make a mention that this comic is supposed to be a world where the 1950s had no suck. So it still doesn’t make sense that Connie keeps this to herself...if Homophobia isn’t suppose to exist.

So Connie kisses Carla and tries to make out with her...But Carla says she left her iron on. Connie asks if she ever gets frustrated and Carla says she wants to wait til she’s married.

Connie retorts that them getting married is as likely as a Black President.

P. A. U. S. E.

Aside from Connie climbing up that tree, this line boiled my blood the most. Racism isn’t supposed to be in this world and yet, Connie drops this line?

Yes, in the 1950s and 1960s, White people told Black folks that a Black President was completely unlikely. That Black folks could NEVER be president. 

I’d give this line a pass...If it weren't for the nonsensical hypocrisy of this entire comic. If the 1950s were played straight and correct, this line makes sense. For the world the author established, it makes no sense whatsoever.

So Carla says she never saw the point in physical activities and wants to wait. Connie respects that. Carla’s dad comes in and Connie jumps out the window.

-siiiiigh-

Oh and apparently there’s a scene with Clyde and Eugene. I almost forgot about that part. Wasn’t particularly interesting.

Chapter 12

This was a chapter that really wasnt necessary to begin with so I won’t say much other than, it’s a flashback chapter. It gives insight to how the Rollers and Jacquettes were made but other than that, not necessary.

Chapter 13

This chapter is completely cringe worthy. This chapter doesn’t boil my blood as much as Chapter 11; but it’s cringe-worthy and completely forced.

So Debbie and Frankie get into a fight and they get detention. So instead of just Frankie and Debbie getting detention; both gangs get detention.

This doesn’t make sense as, unless the other members joined in, there’s no reason for the entire gangs to be there in detention. I don’t give two blueberry muffins and a puppy; Guilty by association doesn’t work in public schools...Or private schools. Or any school. 

If only you and another person was caught fighting, only you two get detention.

Anyway, Connie freaks out and Debbie wants to go off on Connie for “dating” Clyde.

Rolly comments that she’d smack both of Frankie and Debbie had she been there. Debbie calls out that Rolly was with that “Ace girl”.

I’m only pausing because I actually appreciate this. That realistically; Debbie doesn’t know Ace’s pronouns and wasn’t told so she’d immediately say “she” or “girl”. I dunno about you all; but I’m for it. 

So Rolly outs Ace as “Non-Binary” without permission...And without Ace being there to ok it. Thanks Rolly.

And so Debbie riles up so much that Connie comes out and says she’s dating Carla.

This is where this entire scene is just forced to high heaven.

This starts a chain of people coming out of the closet about their sexualities. Debbie’s dating Triss and Frankie is dating or atleast pining after Sasha, a jock.

Edd is the oddman out and says he doesn’t like anyone when Rolly asks if anyone else is going to come out.

This chapter was incredibly forced and just bad on all accounts. Outing someone without permission is horrible. It doesn’t matter if that character is trans as well. If Rolly is out, awesome. I don’t know if Ace is out because no one has asked nor have they said they were.

Honestly, this comic was a roller coaster that continued to spiral downward. Personally, i like the art. The art, in my opinion, is the best part of this comic.

The colors are nice and I love the panels. It’s a simplistic style. It’s nothing truly special but I like simplistic cartoony styles. So it’s part of the reason i stuck around was because of the art.

But the story, the premise, all of it...Downright bad if not very offensive. 

So if i could rate ONLY the art: 7 out of 10. There’s a few off model issues here and there but the colors and composition are nice.

The rating of the story: 0 out of 10. It’s incredibly boring, it cant decide whether it wants the phobias and -isms or not, only showing up when it wants to.

[former-psychiatrist-blog]

@kniivesandlint threatened the lives of everyone i know if I didn’t post this. So heres a weird and bad drabble I did for Joker/Jack and Harley/Harleen.

Harleen was an only child growing up. She was the bastard of a man who manipulated her mother, and Harleen grew up watching the lover her mother had for him destroy every ounce of who she was. All those fairy tales of true love never spoke to this little girl. She'd seen the real face of love.

 The ugly truth of what it could be. And so this little girl grew up refusing to acknowledge its existence. Terrified of what it would do to her if she fell prey to its misleading clutches. She lead her life by her own rules, keeping relations with men strictly physical. Using them for the fleeting pleasure she could not be caught by, instead of cheating doom in matters of the heart.

In the spring of her Jr. year in med school Harleen Quinzel's life changed forever when she met a man named Jack.He was a chemistry major. A funny and charming man. Blond hair, curly as could be. He had a smile that was so contagious she deemed it a hazardous material right away. He had bumped into her, knocking her files and books to the ground. How cliche' right? 

She thought so too.

He was instantly hooked on her. He loved her smile too. This pretty blonde looked like she needed it more to be honest. He made the choice right then and there to dedicate any free time he had to making her smile.

Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, and the two found themselves inseparable friends. Studying, lunches, even hiding out in the library just to talk about anything and everything.The weird part about this, was that they hadn't even slept together. It didn't come up. Not for months. Until he took her out on July 20th. Harleen's birthday. He got her into lots of shinanagins that day. 

Contraband on campus, including liquor and fire works. Swimming in the fountain. Yea, Harleen smiled a lot around him. She was having such a good time that she couldnt stop herself from leaning in and pressing her lips to his. One thing lead to another, and they fucked right there in the fountain. Once more  behind the statue on campus, and then again in his dorm room. 

All this energy they had for each other. It was like lighting when they touched. Come that morning Harleen had awoken with the knowledge of her fatal mistake, when he rolled over and pulled her close. A stupid chemistry joke broke the foggy morning silence and he whispered in her ear that he loved her.

Harleen's heart stopped.

 Not because of what he said. No. Because she was falling in love with him too.

A quiet panic set in and Harleen excused herself with a fake smile. She was apparently going to be late for class. Jack didn't see her again after that. But she saw him. She saw him waiting for her. She watched him searching campus high and low for her. With each passing day his smile faded, until it was rarer than hers. That was what she was running from. Not him, but what that sickening thing called love was doing to him.It was killing who he was. Everything about him. She would not suffer the same fate. So she cut ties before they could form knots. two years later Harleen Quinzel became the first student at Gotham University to intern right out the gates at Arkham. 

She was ambitious and good at her job. So good, they gave her their hardest patient. A man of unknown origins. Driven mad by a chemical accident. Bleached skin, green hair. The most sickly smile anyone has ever seen. Called himself the Joker. 

Harleen was not expecting what happened that day when they brought the man in. It wasn't his hair, or his smile that gave him away. It was his eyes. The eyes she spent months staring into telling herself they were the eyes of her bestfriend and nothing more. The eyes of a man so full of love and laughter that he seemed to brighten the whole world around them. Now? 

They were the eyes of a man who'd tasted the illness called love, and it'd torn him apart.

"You look familiar doc." He grins, "Havent I seen you on one of the stripper poles of Gotham?"He giggles to himself. 

It's the same laugh. Just... Just darker.

 "Maybe." She retorts, absent jest or even a smirk.

"Why so serious? Lets put a smile on that face of yours Doctooooor Quinz-"

He has no memories of his former life. Not before the accident drove him mad. But some times he can catch a brief glimpse of something from his past with the right trigger.

Quinzel.

A blond girl giggling and telling him he made awful jokes. He can't quite see her face behind her hand, but he can see her eyes. Those cold blue eyes.

"Do you want to know how i got these scars doctor?""I'm in an accident you see. Chemicals, nasty things in the right combination. Bleaches my skin. Dyes my hair. I woke up in a hospital. They tell me I'm lucky to be alive." He smirks, pausing to lick his lips a few times."Lucky to be alive they say." Another giggle.

 " As what? I ask the nurse, a ghost? I have no idea who I am, my skin is splotchy and my hair! Well its a new fabulous colour! Don't you think Quinzel?"

She doesn't respond, just nods and listens. "She tells me," He licked his lips and leaned in like he was still upset about the audacity of the woman.

 "She tells me, I should smile. Smiling and laughter are the best medicines."

"So you know what I do doc? I took the kniiiiife, from my lunch traaay. This is good, listen to this. And I caaaaaaaaaaarveee my lips into a smile. Why? Because, if I smile BIGGER and CONSTANTLY! I should heal faster!"

Harleen's brows knitted together, but she kept her silence just listening.

"Naturally- I sued the hospital for malpractice. After all, a doctor giving out fake advice like that could lead to some- accidentallllll misUNderstANDings." He giggled again.

"It says here you stabbed her to death with her own pen.""I lied. Sue me." Another sickening laugh.

The worst part about all of this was the crippling guilt she felt for this poor man. He'd lost everything, everyone he ever knew was gone to him, and no one cared to step up and tell him who he was. Strange, the longer she spent with him the more she felt like she knew him. The more she wanted to know him better. He had this gravitational pull towards her, and no matter what she did she couldn't escape the fact that she wanted to be where ever this man was. She'd only felt it once in her life, back in college. She run from it for so long it seemed to be catching up with her. Her will to fight it, her ability to run from it, was all fading. It was like she was caught in a bear trap and he was pulling her in slowly and painfully. She could see it happening but was powerless to stop it.

"Do you know any jokes doc?"

"Just one." She replied. 

Harleen was hesitant to say it, after all, it was the worst joke she'd ever heard...

"Babe Ruth is on the field, practicing his batting when a horse walks up to him. He says I'm here to try out for the team. Babe Ruth looks at him confused, youre a horse, what can you do? The horse replies, I can do what you can do, but better. So Ruth hands him a bat and pitches to him. BAM BAM. Hit after hit out of the park. Ruth is so impressed, he says what else can you do? Well I can play short stop! The horse boasts. Oh wow! Can you pitch? The horse deadpans and looks him dead in the eye. Who ever heard of a horse that can pitch?"

She cant help the nostalgic smirk on her face. 

Its the same joke Jack had told to her in the library.  The worst joke she'd ever heard.

Somewhere deep in the Joker's mind something triggers. Another memory. Holding a girls hand. A water fountain. Lunch. A kiss, brisk movements and shared breath under a blanket. The images drive him mad, and he cant handle it, a psychotic break pushing him to rage and orderlies rush in to save Harleen.

Its only when she finds herself yelling "Don't hurt him!" That she knows.

 Harleen Quinzel was in love.

She doesn't know who he really is anymore than he does. But she knows what she feels when shes with him. And he knows he has met her before.

 Neither of them will ever truly know just how deep they are connected, but as time passes they will make choices, decisions they never thought they'd make for each other. Actions that seem almost out of character for them all because of the connection they are unaware they share.He'll keep her instead of killing her, shape her mind into something reminiscent of his own. He'll pamper her. Call her baby, kiss her. Fuck her. and when hes done with her he'll let her stay.

She will let him drive her crazy. Hit her. Beat her. Abuse her, throw her into harms way and each time she'll crawl back because they are connected. They are sick and dark soulmates in the slimy underbelly of a thing called love. See, not everyone knows that love is not all flowers, romance and weddings.

Its an addiction you just can't shake. A gnawing need for someone that drives you mad. A weakness for someone you'd rather not have. But you keep them. Because they bring a smile to your face. You keep them, because its empty and to quiet when they are not around. 

You keep them because when your entire world feels like its spinning, you need them to hold on to. Harleen never truly escaped the clutches of love, and in running from it she forged her own fate at the hands of a man who'd gone mad over the same love she'd run from. Fate has a funny way of working around all the curve balls you throw at it. Its finicky, and if you piss it off? Well.

No one wants a mad love. Except maybe these two.

[tumblunni]

Huh! An Idea!

Hey I just heard about a very cool-seeming anime called (I think?) Rehibilitaion Of An MMO Junkie! It seems really nice cos its one of those stories about hikkomori (I think thats the japanese word for it?)- depressed people who stay at home all day and are socially anxious about going out in public. LOL RELATEABLE, AMIRITE? no but seriously beyond just Jokes, this is a very sad modern manifestation of a timeless mental illness, and i know these feelings well and i wish people could have less stigma about this and instead just give these people the help they need. And that’s why i love this anime concept, cos its a sympathetic take on one of these people as a protagonist, and how videogames as escapism can be A Good Thing and how long distance relationships Are Also Good. Like wtf, subverting all the cliches at once?? Its a really cute looking romance story of her meeting a guy online via vidjagaems, and their love being absolutely real and pure, and it rekindling her will to live and helping her find the courage to take more risks in real life and start the road to recovery. And then they work thru all their various issues as a couple and meet up in real life and have a happily ever after! :D

Now okay, that sounds really cool and I ABSOLUTELY want to watch this show and I will make more posts about it when I do! But also it gave me a bit of a story idea so i’m gonna ramble!!!!!

Okay so kind of a wasted potential thing here is how it has a plot about the two halves of the couple playing as the opposite gender online and like.. nothing is done with it? Nothing really creative or relevant to like.. gender. It just seems like a weird way they could invoke LGBT imagery but technically not be LGBT I guess? Like neither character is trans or has any deep reason for playing that character except ‘my fave colour is pink and people would make fun of me if they knew i was a dude’ and ‘i wanna play a hot guy cos i was kinda lonely and drunk when i saw this MMO’. But then a lot of stuff about it kinda feels like the writers were.. not predjudiced against LGBT or anything?? like the lady protag has NO angst about getting a crush on a seemingly female player, it seems perfectly acceptable in-universe and nobody even mentions homophobia. And there’s a pair of characters that for all extents and purposes looks like a gay couple for half of the game its just like a footnote that one of them is female in real life. So like I don’t know if this was someone being overly careful to censor stuff while still hinting at it, or like if it was never intended to look LGBT and it was all a weird accident?? But anyway thats why it made me go WTF THERE WOULD BE SO MUCH POTENTIAL IN AN LGBT MMO ROMANCE and hey here we go!

THE IDEA TIME what if there was an anime about someone who plays a (presumed) cis dude in an mmo who is actually a trans dude irl? so you could have the same plots about keeping a secret and having a big difference between real and internet personas, but also it could be a wish fullfillment persona and the plot could be less about ‘i’m lying about myself’ and more about ‘the only place i can be the real me is online’. And how sad that is and then how triumphant it could be at the end to be able to be himself in the real world too! and also like... its already coincidental enough that two people would fall in love in an mmo and then end up to be living in the same neighbourhood in real life. so if this anime has me have to believe that silliness, its not too silly to say that two trans people could bump into each other in an mmo! have a trans man and a trans woman who meet as their online personas without knowing either of them is trans, and then their adventures online forming their relationship, learning about each othr, and like meeting a bunch of other LGBT players and forming a guild to fight discrimination in the mmo community?

Also it could be interesting to maybe combine this with the ‘trapped in an mmo world’ genre? Like it’d be extra cool to be a trans dude who’s like.. one of the only people who doesnt want to escape the MMO world. And people could think he’s just a childish jerk who’s addicted to the fantasy life, not knowing about his secret reason he loves this new life. So maybe his personality could be a very ordinary and cute looking dude whose personality is like.. absolutely fearless monster battle man! Like everyone else’s mmo avatars are all super idealized cliche buff and hot people and his is just as close as he could get to his real self but post transition. So he’s five foot tall and chubby and has big ol soulful dragon ball Z krillin eyes and then his job class is something unfitting like gladiator or barbarian with an axe twice his body size! And then in retrospect that’s the most cliche masculine class so maybe the female lead could be a not cliche feminine class, so it doesnt seem like I’m making any statement? cos ‘youre not trans if you dont act stereotypically your gender’ is a real issue within the community, sadly. Oh! Maybe! Maybe theyre both buff classes! But like he could be a tank type that protects his allies and she’s just a regular warrior with no extra functionality. Or another DPS class like thief or black mage? But I like the idea of two very shy and adorable people who both prefer buffness, and then having kind of a badass hero role amoungst their guild and the plot itself. Like, winning the actual battles against bosses is less of a challenge than conquering their various real life worries and being emotionally ready to return home at the end of the journey. Its like a slice of life hiding as an action show! Except you still do see action, its just all comparatively effortless like one punch man. Oh and maybe while male lead made his avatar look just like himself but post transition, female lead’s avatar is kind of an exaggerated ideal stereotypical female thing? Because she’s self concious about being very tall and not very curvy and stuff, even post transition. And like she’s angsting about being forced into further cosmetic plastic surgery that she doesn’t really want, to get a body that she doesn’t really want, but feels like she HAS to have. Like maybe she has some sort of friend in real life who’s like a Fedora Wearing Fake Nice Guy who keeps trying to get her to give in and date him like ‘you’ll never get anyone else’, and trying to make her change herself. Negging champion of utter hateability!

And then female lead could be kind of a mentor role to male lead because she’s post transition, and motivates him to believe that someday he’ll be able to transition too and he doesn’t need to stay trapped forever in a fake world in order to be himself. And he could also be the same mentor role to her because he’s like... happy? Well, obviously he isn’t 100% happy because that’s his whole problem, but he doesn’t have the same social anxiety issues and he’s more confident in his anxiety without worrying that he’s wrong and he really is a girl, etc etc. Like he’s at peace with being trans and his obstacle is just feeling like he’ll never pass successfully without surgery, and never be able to get that surgery. It took him ages to even get on HRT, possibly because of something like being trapped in an abusive family that didnt aknowledge his gender? or possibly just because of being in a country where he’d need a lot of money to get the treatment he needs, or because of struggling to find a good doctor? So anyway now he’s just started HRT and he expected everything to be okay now, but he’s getting frustrated how long it’s taking to have the amount of visual change he needs to be respected by his coworkers and stuff, and now he’s had some sort of other money emergency and he may not be able to get top surgery in the end. So at the time of starting this MMO he was really un-optimistic about his future and looking for an escape. And she was looking for a similar escape because she didnt have any support group while transitioning, and had got trapped into an abusive relationship with this other dude that was making her feel like a fake woman who’d never be loved by anyone except him. So she was considering giving in and falling into his trap, and that’s her reason to be terrified of going back to the real world... And so they both are all OH MY GOD YOURE SO AMAZING I’M SO TRASH about each other, and they help teach each other two different aspects of self love that they were missing, and they make a bunch of other friends in the LGBT community, and generally find the love and support they always needed! And then in the end they could go back to the real world and move in together and slap negging man in the face, and keep in touch with all the other guildmates and create a better community for all queer folks playing this game! Woo! And also maybe the final scene could be like ‘wow we havent seen you guys for ages’ ‘yeah we were so busy with the wedding, we couldnt play!’ and then the guild’s wedding gift to them was saving up for a rare ingame item that lets you re-customize your character, and female lead makes one that looks closer to her real life appearance cos now she’s happy with herself! and then we pan out and see that male lead now also looks totally identical to his ingame self, and he did manage to transition in the end! ...and then i dunno, cliche anime everyone looks at the camera and jumps and the theme tune plays, lol