#begrudgingly accepts friendships and maybe gets One close enough that gives him a weird. moment. realization

[acevity]

theyre in my head. forever. take some scraps

[skelebonecentral]

Hothouse Rose chapter 2

more with the skele sweeties (lust boys show up next chapter i promise)

words under the cut

Sans…felt better.

Therapy worked, who knew? Well, Toriel had been telling him to go, Alphys had, too, and he finally listened because he just couldn’t lose Papyrus.

The therapist was nice, he’d done a lot of research before choosing one, and they listened. He wasn’t usually as talkative, but if you don’t talk to a therapist, they can’t help. So he talked.

About losing their dad, about raising Papyrus by himself, about running six jobs just to keep the rent on the house up and let Papyrus continue training for the guard. About feeling de ja vu for months at a time and not being able to fix the machine that would maybe bring their dad back and having the burden of knowing he had the knowledge to help others but was so incompetent he couldn’t. Then there was acting as the Judge of the underground. That was a whole other thing that he hadn’t even told Papyrus about.

But it felt good to finally spill all the secrets that had weighed him down, especially knowing that nobody else would be told. He had more energy now, since he didn’t spend as much time on worrying. Well, that and the medication. A lot of healers from the underground had started working with humans to develop medicines that would be effective for monster patients, and he was using one of them. It was a real relief, not feeling like a weight was sitting on his head all day, or that he was the only one trying to help anybody.

Of course, having more energy made him work harder on things. His various jobs, his jokes, and working on the machine. It was actually nearly done, just needed testing, and it sparked a hope in Sans for the first time in a long time. Maybe he could do this. Maybe, now that his head wasn’t clogged with negative thoughts about the world and himself, he could fix this thing and bring back his dad. Would he be proud? Angry? He didn’t know.

He also didn’t realize the machine was in the ‘on’ state when he first plugged it in, and thus was utterly shocked when it sputtered and whirred to life…before violently exploding.

---

Normally, you’d be so happy about moving into a proper house this semester, and for the first few days, you had been.

But normally was not what was happening right now. Papyrus didn’t come to class for two weeks, and you were very worried.

You knew, from his texts, that he was okay, but it really didn’t make sense what he was saying.

“PLEASE GET MY WORK FROM CLASS FOR A FEW DAYS? SOMETHING VERY LARGE HAS HAPPENED.”

“HELP ME, PLEASE, THEY ARE ALL DRIVING ME UP THE WALL. LITERALLY, I AM USING BLUE MAGIC TO CLING TO THE CEILING AT THIS POINT TO GET AWAY FROM THEM ALL.”

“I HAVE TO MOVE HOUSE. WELL, TO BE ACCURATE, I HAVE TO MOVE MY STUFF TO A NEW HOUSE.”

Those were just some examples of the things he’d sent you, and you had been gathering the information for him on what had gone on during each of his missed lectures (at least the ones you had with him). Still, it was not like Papyrus to miss school, at all.

But at least your classes were not harsh on attendance as long as work got done, and Papyrus had been sending all his assignments in.

Finally, after almost another full week, you get a phone call, “Y/N! FINALLY! I’LL BE IN SCHOOL TOMORROW.”

“Thank goodness. What happened? I couldn’t piece it together from your messages,” you ask, very concerned.

“OH. WELL, IN SHORT, MY COUSINS APPEARED OUT OF THIN AIR AND ARE NOW LIVING WITH US. THAT’S WHY SANS AND I HAD TO MOVE, OUR HOUSE WAS GOING TO EXPLODE. THERE WERE ONLY THE TWO OF US, AND TWO TURNED INTO EIGHT, SO WE MOVED! WE’RE STILL CLOSE ENOUGH THAT IT’S NO TROUBLE FOR ME TO RUN TO SCHOOL, BUT WE’RE OVER IN THE…WELL, MY COUSIN SPICE CALLED IT ‘FANCY TOWN’.”

“You mean that edition on the west side with all the weird mansions?”

“YES! WE’RE IN A WEIRD MANSION THAT LOOKS LIKE A FRAT HOUSE. BIG COLUMNS, BRICK FRONT, COLONIAL LOOKING.”

“Okay. Wow, yeah, family emergency makes a lot of sense now that you say that. I’m just glad you weren’t sick or something, Papy. I’d be so lost without you.” You feel your face heat up saying it out loud, but it was true. These three weeks had been torment without his bubbly commentary and gentle pushing to do better.  Everything had seemed very empty without Papyrus around.

“Y/N, MY DEAREST FRIEND, I DO SECOND THAT, BUT ABOUT YOU!” you could hear him clicking a pen over and over on the other side of the line, and that told you he was anxious, “IT’S BEEN SO HARD TO KEEP MY PATIENCE WITH MY COUSINS WITHOUT THE BREAK GOING TO CLASS AND BEING WITH YOU GIVES ME. YOU JUST GET ME WITHOUT EVEN THINKING ABOUT IT. MAYBE…MAYBE I CAN COME OVER AND WE CAN DO THAT ALIEN WARLORDS OF JUSTICE MARATHON THIS WEEKEND?”

“Consider it done, Papyrus, I have missed you far too much to ever say no to a famous Papyrus sleepover. Do you want me to invite Frisk, too?” You just wanted to be with him again, no matter what form that took.

“YES! BUT ALSO NO. I THINK I WANT SOME ADULT TO ADULT TALKING TIME AWAY FROM THIS MAD HOUSE MORE THAN I WANT SILLY FRIENDSHIP DOODLES OR SOMETHING. I WANT TO RELAX, AND NOT WORRY ABOUT MISS TORIEL BEING ANGRY IF I MESS UP.”

Aw, Papyrus, the sweetheart. “Then just us, the show, and some popcorn and soda and maybe candy? Sound good?”

“I AM ALMOST CRYING I’M SO READY! I’LL SEE YOU TOMORROW?”

“Without a doubt,” you giggle, “Love you, Papy.”

“I LOVE YOU, TOO! BYE BYE!”

It felt good to say it out loud. You loved Papyrus, that was not in argument at all, and hadn’t been since the incident with Sans. It’d been more than six months now since then, and you’d actually gotten on good terms with the other brother. You’d hear his deep voice mumble something over the phone on occasion and Papyrus would begrudgingly tell you what Sans had said, and when you did occasionally run into Sans at one of his odd jobs (or on campus coming out of the science building) you’d engage in small talk and your mutual admiration of Papyrus.

You weren’t afraid of the little guy anymore (he was just as tall as you, but much smaller than Papyrus so he seemed small) and would actually tentatively say you were friends. You had his number now and occasionally would get jokes texted to you specifically about language. He seemed to have remembered you were in linguistics, and was making the effort to connect on that. You’d send him back gifs of skeletons doing weird things, and that seemed to go over well.

So now you weren’t surprised when you got a text.

Punny bones: no matter how kind you are, german kids will always be kinder.

You laugh and text back.

You: so I guess papy told you about the sleepover?

Punny bones: yeah. he yelled so loud everybody in the house heard him. did he tell u about the cousins?

You: just that they���re driving him crazy and he wants some time away. Hence accepting his idea about the sleepover.

Punny bones: heh. He needs it. hard to compress eight different personalities into one house, so this is good for him. remember to lock the door, though? plz?

You: 😊 yes sans~

It had really surprised you when he’d started ending his texts to you asking you to be safe and reminding you of small things, like smoke detectors and door screws. He had stopped being afraid OF you and started being afraid FOR you. It was kind of nice, even if you didn’t quite know what had happened in his mind to flip that switch.

He still would apologize to you on occasion for his initial behavior, and you had told him you’d forgiven him. You had, of course, because you realized you thought about doing a very similar thing when you found out some human child you didn’t know had started making friends with Frisk. To be fair, it’s because you’d seen their parents and they were rich, making them very suspicious to you, but it helped you realize Sans’ actions weren’t THAT outside the realm of normal thought.

Still, that was Sans. Your thoughts were more toward Papyrus at the moment.

You gave Papyrus a bear hug when you saw him the next day, and pretty much every morning thereafter until the weekend. This would be his first sleepover in your new house, and your plant-crazy roomie was out on a research trip.

“YES! WE WILL WATCH OUR WONDERFUL SHOW ON YOUR COOL TV AND RECONNECT PROPERLY!” he cooed as he set up his sleeping bag in the living room. “AH, I CAN’T EVEN TELL YOU HOW MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE I AM ALREADY JUST KNOWING I CAN SLEEP WITHOUT SIX OF MY COUSINS MAKING NOISE AT ALL HOURS!”

“Isn’t that all of your cousins?”

“YES!”

Ah you’d missed his jokes while he was gone. “Anyway, what do you want for dinner? We making it together or you want me to surprise you?”

“PLEASE LET ME MAKE IT WITH YOU! AND I’D LIKE SOME SIMPLE, HOME MADE SOMETHING OR OTHER. I’M SO TIRED OF THE TAKE OUT WE’VE BEEN EATING NONSTOP JUST TO KEEP US ALL FROM FIGHTING OVER WHO IS COOKING.” He did look tired, which was unusual for Papyrus, but you knew he’d perk up after a break.

“Okay, how about French bread pizza? I made the sauce for it yesterday since I knew you’d be over,” you headed to the kitchen and Papyrus followed, pulling his apron out of his inventory. It was pink and said “My kitchen, my rules” on the front in white letters.

“PERFECT! I WILL ASSIST YOU IN CUTTING UP THE TOPPINGS!” He had gotten a lot better at cooking since the two of you had first become friends, and now you more than trusted Papyrus to not turn your ingredients into confetti.

The evening was golden, just the two of you cheering for your favorite show, exchanging theories and popcorn, and diving into the lore on the internet afterward, in your room.

It was getting late, and you yawned, but didn’t move. You just…you wanted to stay up with Papyrus. You’d missed him so badly and it felt like you were being cheated out of time with him if you went to sleep.

But he noticed, as he always did, and asked, “FRIEND, YOU’RE TIRED. GO TO BED AND I WILL BE MORE THAN HAPPY ON MY OWN. I WANT TO EXPLORE YOUR NEW HOUSE.”

Running on fumes as you were, your next thought left your mouth before you could really think about it, “Only if you stay with me till I’m asleep.”

Papyrus looked at you a moment, a slow creep of orange blush creeping over his cheekbones, then said, “UM…Y/N, I’D BE HAPPY TO, BUT I’D FEEL BETTER IF I SAID SOMETHING FIRST. IS THAT ALRIGHT?”

“Y-yeah, of course.” You got up and sat on your bed, watching as Papyrus sat backwards in the computer chair you’d vacated.

“YOU KNOW, IT’S BEEN A FEW YEARS OF US KNOWING EACH OTHER, AND IT’S BEEN AMAZING.” He smiles but can’t quite look at you, “AND, WELL, IF I’M HONEST WITH MYSELF, AND I ALWAYS TRY TO BE! THEN I HAVE TO SAY I’VE GROWN TO COUNT ON YOU AS A STAPLE IN MY LIFE. YOU’VE HELPED ME FIND AN AVENUE FOR MY PASSIONS, BEEN A WONDERFUL FRIEND, AND HELPED SANS SEE HE NEEDED TO SEE SOMEONE FOR TREATMENT.”

You take his hand when he holds it out, and smile.

“YOU’VE DONE SO MUCH, ALL THESE LITTLE THINGS, AND….AND I’D REALLY LIKE TO ASK IF YOU WANTED TO TRY A GROWN-UP DATE. WITH ME.  N-NOT THE CUTE LITTLE TEENAGER DATE I PLAYED AT WITH FRISK, MIND YOU! SO…SO WOULD THAT BE OKAY? US DATING?” He had such a shy, nervous tilt to his smile, and you felt yourself tumble over the edge of affection as you squeezed his hand.

“That sounds fun, Papyrus. I’m very lucky if I get to call you my boyfriend,” you beam as you’re tackled onto the bed by a happy skeleton, hugging him tight as he nuzzles into you.

“NYOOHOOHOO YOU’RE TOO SWEET! MY DATEMATE! MY BEST FRIEND IN THE WORLD! I LOVE YOU!”

His teeth are tickling your neck and you wriggle, “Papyrus! I love you, too, but stooooooop, hahaha! You’re tickling meeeee!”

He gets up a bit and smiles, “SORRY NOT SORRY! BUT YES, NOW WE CAN CUDDLE WHILE YOU FALL ASLEEP AND THEN I WILL EXPLORE YOUR HOUSE WHEN I CAN’T FOLLOW YOU.”

You have to catch your breath, but your cheeks are burning while you scoot under your covers and hold them open for him. He slips in very gingerly and soon you’re bundled up to his chest. He’s warm, as always, and can’t seem to stop his million watt smile. You don’t blame him; it feels like there is a sun in your chest from the pure joy his question had brought to you. Papyrus was everything you’d ever wanted in a friend, and you can’t imagine ever having a life without him in it. It just seemed natural to date him, and clearly he felt the same about you.

Safe and happy, you fall asleep very easily in his arms.

--

Dating Papyrus was exactly the same as being his friend, except now you’d hold hands a lot more and occasionally he’d nuzzle his teeth to your forehead and go “MWAH!” very loudly.

Sans had texted you the morning after your sleepover.

Punny bones: congrats on being the new datemate

You just stared at it, then looked up at Papyrus (who had made you breakfast) who was blushing, “I’M SORRY! I WAS JUST SO EXCITED THAT I TEXTED HIM AFTER YOU FELL ASLEEP.”

Shaking your head, you’d just sent an emoji of sticking your tongue out to Sans.

Punny bones: aww u r shy~ Punny bones: he told me he was gonna ask you weeks ago. Punny bones: only like 2 days without you and he was ready.

“WHAT IS HE SAYING?!” Papyrus looked over your phone and groaned, and you’d had to nurse his bruised ego a little afterward because his big brother was embarrassing him.

Still, you were both happy that Papyrus was excited, and proud that Sans had bettered his thoughts enough to react positively to this news.

Understandably, you had Papyrus over to your house several more times, mostly to have private movie viewings rather like your first sleepover. It was just more your speed, and his, to have dates just be the two of you doing something fun. Of course, you had a few at Bungle Land, cause who doesn’t like cute clumsy cartoon parrots, and going to see premieres at the theaters or eat at a nice place, but the vast majority of your weekly official dates were spent in your pjs on the sofa with Papyrus curled around your body as you watched movies.

Sometime during your dating, your roommate moved out. She transferred to a college with a better botony program and more specializations for masters’ degrees, so you bid her a fond goodbye and kept in touch by text. Sure, you hadn’t been super close friends, but she’d still been a great roomie and had been all for your relationship with a sweetheart like Papyrus. It hit all those rom-com beats that made you both squeal happily.

He was a very physical person, Papyrus, so you got hugs often and he tended to just like holding you. It made you feel very good, even if sometimes you both ended up getting tangled because he was so long-limbed. Your hair was fascinating to him, and he’d stroke it gently when his hands weren’t otherwise busy.

“YOU ARE SO SOFT ALL OVER. IT’S VERY ATTRACTIVE! I’M JUST GLAD MTT PUT OUT SPECIAL CREAMS TO MAKE MY BONES MORE FLEXIBLE AND TENDER!” He said one night as you both were walking home from a musical at the campus theater.

You laughed, and he squeezed your hand gently, “You don’t need to be softer, Papyrus. I already adore your strong bones and the only part of you that is soft is your heart, and that’s the most perfect kind to have.”

“I DON’T HAVE A HEART THOUGH?” he acted clueless, and you smack his arm gently and get him to giggle as you caught him in his jest. “WELL I DON’T! I GAVE IT TO YOU!”

You gently tug on his scarf and he leans down while you get on your tiptoes, giving him a soft kiss on the teeth that makes him hum wistfully. Then you both flinch back as a siren sounds, a firetruck zooming from a corner nearby and down the street.

Looking up you feel your stomach drop as you see the smoke. “Papy, is that coming from my house?”

He picks you up and starts sprinting after the firetruck, you holding tight to his neck and praying you were wrong. But as the two of you ran up to the front of your house, you saw the fire department spraying water on your blazing home and police cordoning off the area.

“Oh no…” you felt your self start to shake, even as your vision tunneled.

Papyrus holds you tighter and you start sobbing, hiding your face in his shoulder as he murmurs, “It will be alright, Y/n. I’m right here. We’ll figure this out. Do you want to stay at a hotel tonight?”

“I don’t want to be alone,” you wheeze, out of breath from crying already.

“You won’t be.” He did not let you go, not even when the police came to question you two. He handled the answering since you were too broken to speak. Realizing there was nothing you can do to help them, the men leave you two alone, telling you to find a place to stay and they’ll call you when it’s safe for you to pick through the debris.

Papyrus calls Sans as he walks, easily holding you while using his magic to hold the phone close to his skull, “Sans, I’m staying with Y/n tonight. N-no no I’m alright, it’s just that…their house has burned down. No, we were out at the theater, remember? Right. Yes, I’m taking them ther- Oh. Yes, that’s probably best. Thank you, Sans.”

Sans appears and looks frantic, but seeing you both unharmed and soot-less, he relaxes a little, “heya, pal. stars, I’m sorry this happened. let’s use one of my shortcuts to get you to a hotel. long walk otherwise and you need rest.”

Papyrus keeps hold of you as Sans takes you both through a surprisingly short distance to…

“Oh, Mettaton’s hotel,” you manage to say, and Sans smiles up at you, clearly stressed from the tightness in the edges of his grin.

“felix is workin’ tonight, and he won’t ask rude questions. Specially if I’m here. just sit in the chairs and I’ll take care of this. least I can do for ya,” he was really searching your face, looking for any sign of more he could do.

“Thank you, Sans. Really I…I just want to go to bed.”

“that I can do. stay with them, pap?”

Papyrus has walked you into the lobby and sets you delicately in one of the plush magenta chairs inside, “THAT WAS THE PLAN, YES.”

“okay,” Sans gives your hand a supportive squeeze, sighing through his nose a bit, “hang tight, pal.” Sans takes care of everything, and Papyrus stays by you, getting out his handkerchief and drying your face for you. “THERE, DEAREST. WE WILL RELAX TONIGHT AND FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO IN THE MORNING.”

You just nod, leaning into his touch gratefully.

--

The room is very nice, smelling of make-up and perfume, and the sheets on the single, queen sized bed are soft. You aren’t surprised when there’s two pairs of pajamas lying folded on the bed, after all, this is MTT’s place and he likes his guests to feel “SUPER FABULOUS, darling!”

“OH GOOD,” Papyrus smiles as he takes up one pair, “I WAS WORRIED WHAT WE WOULD SLEEP IN.”

You pick up your set, “I’ll change in the bathroom and you can use this room. I need to shower anyway.”

“TAKE YOUR TIME, LOVE,” he nuzzles you softly, “I WILL ALWAYS BE HERE, JUST TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.”

You kiss his cheekbone and head to the bathroom, running the water and finding your mind focusing on the taps. The temperature gauge has markers for “monster level cold”, “human cold”, “human hot”, and “monster hot”. You smile, turning them to “human hot” and stepping in after shedding your clothes.

The warm water helps ease your body, releasing the tension, but it also lets you sit on the provided ledge and cry. Your home is gone, you don’t know how much of your belongings survived the fire, much less the water, and you don’t know where you’re going to go.

After an unknown amount of time, you hear a knock, “Y/N? IT’S BEEN QUITE A WHILE. ARE YOU ALRIGHT? WELL, AS ALRIGHT AS YOU CAN BE?”

“I’m fine,” you call back. “Just lost track of time. I’ll be out in a moment.”

“OKAY. REMEMBER, I LOVE YOU.”

“I know, thank you,” you really appreciate the reminder. You aren’t alone tonight, and you aren’t unsupported. Papyrus will help you, and make sure things work out for the best. You get your bath quickly, the magic in the soaps helping you feel better before drying off on the warm towels and stepping back into your underwear before putting on the pajamas. It just felt weird to wear clothes without underwear, you don’t know why.

Papyrus is sitting in the bed, smiling at you as you come over in the soft, warm light from the bedside lamp on the near side. Climbing in next to him, you sigh, turning off the light before lying down and snuggling in close.

“You know I will do anything you need me to, correct?” Papyrus asks, whispering.

“I know, Papy. I’m really glad you’re here,” you cling to him, needing the comfort. “I just need you to be with me right now. I’ll tell you if I think of anything else.”

“Of course,” his ribs began to vibrate just a bit, and you smiled softly. That was his ‘purr’, that you had discovered on one of your first outings together. “Your wish is my command, Y/n. Goodnight, and rest well.”

“Night, Papy. I love you.”

--

It was three hours since Y/n had fallen asleep, and Papyrus felt secure enough in their continued rest to get up. Heading into the bathroom, he sat on the closed lid of the toilet and dialed the number of one of his cousins, who he was absolutely certain was up.

“Hello, Papyrus, dear! It’s good to hear from you,” came the cheery, energetic voice on the other end.

“HELLO CHARM,” Papyrus sighed, “DID SANS TELL YOU ALL WHY I WASN’T HOME TONIGHT?”

“No, but we’d hoped you and your lovely were together.”

“WELL, YOU’RE HALF RIGHT. I’M WITH THEM BUT NOT FOR GOOD REASONS. THEIR HOME HAS BURNED DOWN.”

There was a gasp and something rattled off a table, “Papyrus! Are they alright? Are you at the hospital?”

“NO, NO, NOTHING LIKE THAT. WE WERE BOTH OUT AT THE THEATER AND CAME BACK TO FIND IT ENGULFED. THEY’RE ASLEEP NOW BUT I NEEDED TO TALK TO SOMEONE AND YOU’RE THE MOST RELIABLE AND LIKELY TO STILL BE AWAKE.”

Relief, and a small laugh, “Oh, well, that makes me feel good. And good on you, staying by their side when they’re having a very bad experience. You’re a very good partner, if I may say so for them.”

That made Papyrus relax a little, smiling as he leaned his head on his hand, other knee jittering, “THANK YOU, CHARM. BUT WHAT I NEED TO TALK ABOUT IS WHAT DO WE DO FOR THEM? Y/N IS WITHOUT A HOME, AND WHILE I THINK I HAVE AN IDEA, I ALSO AM A LITTLE NERVOUS ABOUT PROPOSING IT.”

“Well, they can stay with us! They’re your partner, Papyrus, we aren’t going to be upset if you have them move in with you.”

His skull exploded in warmth and an orange glow, “CHARM! I-I WOULDN’T BE HAVING THEM IN MY ROOM! Y-YES, WE OCCASIONALLY SHARE, LIKE TONIGHT, BUT THEY NEED THEIR OWN SPACE. WE HAVEN’T….GOTTEN THAT FAR. RELATIONSHIPS MOVE SLOWER HERE, REMEMBER?”

“Oh. Sorry, dear, I forgot. Well, more accurately I was hoping to sort of push you because, GOODNESS, Cousin, they’re a catch and a half! But that’s not what makes you comfortable, and that’s okay.” A deep breath, and a more cheerful tone, “But we can always move Whip’s collection out of the room across from yours and have him put it elsewhere. That way they’re close to you, but you aren’t quite so…intimate.” He giggles and Papyrus can’t help joining as his nerves ease.

“AND YOU’RE SURE YOUR BROTHER AND THE OTHERS WON’T…BE OFFENDED?”

“No! No of course not, Papy, we’d do the same thing!” Charm scoffed then cooed, “No, my brother and I are all for helping the poor dear out, and you know Boa isn’t going to turn down a chance for someone to maybe befriend his brother. No, you tell them they’re more than welcome here, and if they decide to come, we’ll be there with bells on to help them get settled.”

“THANK YOU AGAIN, CHARM, I JUST REALLY…REALLY NEEDED SOME SUPPORT, TOO.”

“Oh cousin, what else is family for? We love you, so you try and relax with your lovely and I’ll talk to Boa so we can gang up on Whip and make him come around.” A laugh, teasing and very pleased, “Goodnight and good luck, Papyrus. Keep us posted.”

“I WILL. GOODNIGHT, CHARM!”

He hung up the phone and sighed, leaning back a bit. Thank goodness some of his cousins were relatively normal most of the time. Well, It was probably another five hours or so before Y/n would wake up, so now he had to occupy himself. Thank stars MTT rooms all came with bookcases full of Mettaton’s various memoirs!

---

It was hard to wake up, mostly because you thought you were at home at first before you opened your eyes.

Papyrus was sitting in a by the window, reading a book from the shelves in the room, and everything was ridiculously sumptuous and glittery. That pulled you out of your sleep and through confusion before landing on devastation.

“Good morning,” you say halfheartedly, and Papyrus looks up.

“GOOD MORNING, DEAR. I’M GLAD YOU SLEPT WELL, AS THE POLICE LEFT A MESSAGE FOR YOU A MOMENT AGO. I’VE ALSO BEEN LOOKING FOR OPTIONS FOR YOU TO STAY AT, BUT BEING THE MIDDLE OF THE SEMESTER, EVERYTHING SEEMS FULL UP. I ALSO EMAILED ALL OUR PROFESSORS, SO YOU HAVE AT LEAST THREE DAYS OFF CLASS TO DEAL WITH THIS. I’M AFRAID YOU’LL HAVE TO ASK IN PERSON IF YOU NEED MORE.” Well, your lovely skeleton had been quite busy, and helpful, as always.

“Thank you. I hadn’t even thought about class till you mentioned it,” you get up and sigh, not quite knowing what to do, “I guess I’ll just…go home? Maybe drop the semester and save up to try again?”

“NOT IF YOU DON’T WANT TO!” Papyrus blushed a little, “YOU DO REALIZE I HAVE A VERY LARGE HOUSE THAT YOU COULD HAVE A ROOM IN, RIGHT? WELL, SANS AND I HAVE A VERY LARGE HOUSE, BUT THAT’S SEMANTICS.” He was holding his own hands, head tilted slightly down so you knew he was looking upward at you, hopeful. “I CLEARED IT WITH MY MORE ENERGETIC COUSINS LAST NIGHT AND GOT A TEXT THIS MORNING THAT THE VOTE IS SEVEN TO ONE FOR YOU BEING WELCOMED IN.”

You really don’t want to cry but you can’t help it, and Papyrus moves to pull you back to sit on the bed with him. He holds you tight, “Papyrus, you’re just so good! I don’t…Are you sure?” You clung to the very soft fabric of his provided pajamas, “I don’t want to, to upset your cousins or overload your house.”

“OH, YOU WON’T. YOU’RE A WONDERFUL PERSON, AND YOU KNOW SANS AND I ARE IN YOUR CORNER NOW. I JUST KNOW YOU’D RATHER NOT WASTE THE TIME AND MONEY YOU SPENT THIS SEMESTER, AND GOODNESS KNOWS IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT YOUR HOUSE DECIDED TO INVITE FIRE OVER.”

That gets you to laugh through the tears, “Oh, I didn’t know my house decided to do that. I should complain to Grillby, then?”

“WELL, YES,” Papyrus gives you a squeeze and nuzzles your hair, “IT WAS VERY RUDE OF HIM TO WALK INTO YOUR HOUSE WITH HIS WHOLE FAMILY AND MAKE SUCH A MESS.” He laughs softly, too close for a full volume one, “OH, DEAREST, YOU REALLY ARE A WITTY ONE. NO, DON’T BOTHER THAT POOR MAN, HE ALREADY HAD TO DEAL WITH SANS AFTER ALL.”

The tears are drying as you continue to giggle, squealing when Papyrus turns your hug into a tickle fight that he obviously wins.

“HAHA! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WINS A VICTORY OVER SADNESS ONCE AGAIN!” he declares as he finally lets you breathe and hops up, “NOW, I HAD YOUR CLOTHES FROM YESTERDAY CLEANED BY THE COMPLIMENTARY LAUNDRY SERVICE, AND THEY’RE IN THE BATHROOM FRESH FOR YOU. W-WELL MOST OF THEM ARE FRESH; I COULDN’T,” he looks away and his smile gets wobbly in nerves, “I COULDN’T TOUCH YOUR UNDERTHINGS WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION SO THEY AREN’T.”

You blink, then hold in a snort of laughter. “I forget monsters consider socks underwear. Oh, Papyrus, I love you so much. I don’t need them cleaned, don’t worry.” Getting up, you pull him down for a kiss on the cheekbone, “And you have my permission to touch any laundry of mine you like and move it if you see fit. I trust you to treat them kindly.”

He exploded in orange all over his skull, and you giggle as you head into the bathroom. You’d never ever get tired of him, your utter gentleman in shining cardboard armor.

--

Papyrus was more than eager on the bus ride back toward your home. He babbled about how you’d love his cousins, and that some of them were almost as cool as he was (you didn’t doubt that, but how?) But he also was fiddling with a notebook to have it ready to make a list of things you needed to replace.

That was going to suck. Going through the rubble was going to be awful. The message the police left said that they were working on determining a cause for the fire, but that they’d left a few things they’d found in a bin for you with the person guarding the site.

That person turned out to be Dogamy, a large, floppy eared dog monster with fur resembling a mustache on his upper lip and a very large axe,  and Papyrus ran over and got a hug. “DEAR COMMRADE! HELLO! IT’S SO NICE TO SEE YOU!”

“it’s good to see you, too, Papyrus.” He was wagging his tail and smiled, “I made sure nobody touched this place till you and your date got back. Now that’s done, though, so I do have to be off. Other places to guard, you know.”

“YES OF COURSE! THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN!”

You shyly echoed his thanks, and Dogamy nodded before running off quickly…on all fours. Oh.

Picking up the bin he’d left behind, you sighed. Scorched frames holding photos, a few plates and cups that happened to be ceramic, and what looked like your whole silverware drawer, sat in the bottom of it.

Looking around, your living room and kitchen were gutted, as was your roommate’s former room, and the wall that led to your bedroom. Papyrus helped you get the door open (it had warped) and you found a lot of water damage on the floor, but it was otherwise mostly intact.

Well, that was what you wanted to say, but you just knew you were in the realm of “nothing but the clothes on their back” (well, and the pajamas, those are included in the room fee) and it felt BAD.

Papyrus has his finger up to his teeth, one arm crossed over his chest and tapping his foot, “YOU KNOW, UNDYNE’S HOUSE BURNED DOWN ALL THE TIME UNDERGROUND. I KNOW JUST ABOUT WHAT CAN BE SAVED AND WHAT CAN’T, BUT I DON’T THINK I CAN DO THIS WITH JUST THE TWO OF US. WOULD YOU BE OKAY IF I CALL MY COUSINS AND GET AT LEAST TWO OF THEM DOWN HERE TO HELP?”

Staring at your bedroom, all the grime everywhere, you just nod.

Papyrus goes into a corner and holds his phone up, “CHARM? GET BOA AND HAVE SANS BRING YOU TO Y/N’S PLACE. HM? OH, YES, THEY AGREED TO MOVE IN.” He jumps a bit and you can hear cheering from the phone. You smile a bit; at least you know you’re wanted where you’re going.

[im-coming-to-you-live]

SpongeBob- Truth, or Reality?

Truth, or Reality? Summary: SpongeBob invites his friends to play a game of ‘’Truth or Dare’’ at his house. Rated: T for Teen; 13+ Characters: Squidward, SpongeBob, Patrick, Sandy Pairing(s): None Genre: Friendship Word Count: 7, 280

‘’My mouth tastes like nuts’’ was based on this picture: https://superhotbeam.tumblr.com/post/162920602400/thank-you-ms-paint#notes

Fic belongs to me.

SpongeBob Musical belongs to Kyle Jarrow (who wrote the book).

SpongeBob © Nickelodeon.

[X-posted from deviantART]

‘’Have you ever noticed that when you’re swimming it seems like you’re standing still, but you’re really moving?’’ SpongeBob began. ‘’And when you’re on a plane, it seems like you’re going by so slow but actually you’re moving really fast?’’ Children made the strangest observations. ‘’What are you talking about?’’ ‘’Fish might not notice water, and we might not notice time. But those are our realities,’’ SpongeBob explained. ‘’If we move fast, then time will move slower. So for a runner, the time is moving slower than someone who is walking.’’ Squidward only rubbed his temples in annoyance. ‘’What does this have to do with anything?’’ ‘’Silly Squiddy, weren’t you listening?’’ He wasn’t. ‘’It’s all got to do with reality versus perception. That’s what Sandy calls it anyway. Cool idea, huh?’’ ‘’I don’t need a kid to tell me all this.’’ 

‘’That’s just it,’’ the boy said as he sat up, ‘’I was at Sandy’s today and I observed a beetle trapped in a spider’s web. The beetle kept struggling to survive, but it couldn’t get out. Sometimes it would seem like the beetle would give up, but when the small black spider would come down from its hiding spot and try to attack it, the beetle would try even harder to break free, shaking the web. This dance would continue for hours. Sandy told me not to interfere but I ended up setting the beetle free. It was all very interesting when it came to life, one struggling to live. The beetle was maybe three times the size of the spider, and even a big thing like that would end up in a mess, and how we can be controlled by our environment, or manipulated, as in this case the web, and the spider, the controller. But there could be many other metaphors from this as well, life and death, struggle—‘’ Squidward sighed and draped his bony arms over his eyes, in a sore attempt to drown out SpongeBob’s nonsense. He stopped listening after awhile, because he couldn’t make sense of how this all logically connected together. This was not unusual for Spongebob. He had the tendency to jump from one topic to another, thus confusing the helpless listener who tried to follow along. ‘’SpongeBob, please,’’ he begged. ‘’Shut up, I can’t take it anymore.’’ ‘’Sorry,’’ SpongeBob apologized. ‘’You’re having one of your migraines?’’ SpongeBob had witnessed Squidward’s deadly headaches on more than one account, so he recognized the signs almost immediately. Squidward felt tempted to plug his ears. He didn’t know why he found himself lying on his back on this idiot’s bed to begin with. He had a rough day at work, having to deal with those bloody, chatty customers. The last thing he needed was SpongeBob chewing his ear off about philosophical questions he didn’t give a shit about, so he didn’t know what possessed him to let himself be dragged along like this. ‘’Make yourself useful and go find Sandy and Patrick,’’ he ordered. ‘’The sooner we can get this over with, the better.’’ ‘’I think they went downstairs for refreshments.’’ ‘’Well, they’ve been down there an awful long time. What are they doing, painting the Sistine chapel?’’ With that, Squidward slid off the bed, which caused his already throbbing head to pound unforgivably so. ‘’Never mind, I’ll fetch them myself.’’   ‘’You look exhausted,’’ SpongeBob pointed out. No shit, Sherlock. ‘’Maybe you should lie down. I’ll go get them.’’ ‘’I’ve been lying down,’’ Squidward snapped. ‘’I’ve been lying down for years, don’t make much difference now, does it? I’m fucking tired, all the time. I gotta get up now, otherwise I’ll fall asleep.’’ SpongeBob remained very quiet for a moment, then said, ‘’You didn’t have to come if you didn’t feel like it. I would’ve understood. I just hate seeing you lonely all the time, but if you’re tired, that can’t be helped. You can go home and rest, if you want.’’ No, he wasn’t getting rid of him that easy. ‘’Oh, come off it, I’m alright,’’ said Squidward. ‘’Besides, I’m tired of being stuck in the house on a Saturday night, even if it is your bloody house.’’ And with that, Squidward trudged downstairs, feeling the fatigue hitting him like a shower of stray bullets. Damn, he felt more tired walking around than he did lying on SpongeBob’s bed. What was the matter with him? Is that why he so begrudgingly accepted SpongeBob’s invitation? Was he sick to death of going to bed early on a weeknight like some elderly man in a retirement home? He was only 45 for crying out loud. He should have the energy of a bull. Hell, Mr. Krabs seemed to have more energy at his age, and he was 70! To make matters worse, it was only 8:00 PM and he felt like crashing. No, he would will himself to stay awake, stay up late playing with these stupid kids till at least 12:00 AM. He could prove he was still young. He wasn’t old! And he certainly would not be beaten out by some 70-year-old man. If Mr. Krabs could do it, then so could he. He sauntered into the kitchen, expecting to find Patrick and Sandy, but it was empty. In fact, SpongeBob’s entire house seemed to be empty, and quiet. Too quiet. Maybe they had gone into the living room? But when Squidward checked, they weren’t there either. What the Hell? ‘Don’t tell me they went home and left me here all alone with that nuisance,’ Squidward thought, and truthfully he couldn’t blame them if they had, but sure enough, he heard a fit of laughter outside the front door. When he went to go look, Sandy and Patrick were chilling on the porch. Squidward just watched them for a moment, before stepping outside and making his presence known. ‘’Hate to interrupt you lovebirds, but SpongeBob and I been waiting for you upstairs for a hundred years,’’ he said, almost disinterested. He half hoped they had gone home, so he could have an excuse to retire for the evening. ‘’Oh, howdy, Squidward.’’ Sandy greeted him as she turned around. ‘’We’ll be up in a sec, I just needed some air is all.’’ He saw Patrick mouthing something to him over her shoulder but he couldn’t rightfully make out what it was. ‘’What?’’ he demanded. ‘’What?’’ Patrick echoed back. ‘’I didn’t say ‘hot flashes’.’’ Sandy turned to Patrick with a glare. ‘’I ain’t having none of that. Why is that when a girl needs some air, that automatically means she’s having PMS? I just needed some air. I’m a mammal, after all.’’ ‘’Yeah, whatever,’’ Squidward declared. ‘’I’ll just tell SpongeBob the two of you are too busy having a romantic night out.’’ He turned to go back inside, closing the door behind him, which muffled an exchange of bickering, before heading back upstairs. When he did, he found SpongeBob sprawled out on the floor over a Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy comic. Did he ever do that at that age? No, Squidward reasoned, he was done reading comic books by the age of twelve. ‘’Sandy and Patrick are snogging on your porch,’’ Squidward said sarcastically in that same monotone, bored voice, ‘’Thought you ought to know. So I guess I’ll go home now.’’ ‘’Shut up,’’ SpongeBob said as he looked up from his comic. Squidward looked taken aback for a moment, and was about to demand why the heck he told him to ‘shut up’, but then he remembered ‘shut up’ had a completely different meaning for today’s generation. ‘’See for yourself,’’ and Squidward pointed to the window. Of course, SpongeBob fell for it and rushed to see what Squidward was talking about. While he was distracted, Squidward saw the opportunity to escape. But as he exited SpongeBob’s bedroom, he was met with Sandy and Patrick coming up the stairs. ‘’Hey, Squidward,’’ he heard SpongeBob’s voice call from his room, ‘’I don’t see anything! They’re gone.’’ ‘’We’re here!’’ Sandy shouted back. ‘’You weren’t leaving, were you?’’ Patrick asked, but before Squidward could answer, he felt the other grip his shirt collar and drag him back into the room. ‘’Hey look, we found Squidward!’’ Patrick beamed. ‘’Great, so I guess we can get started,’’ SpongeBob said gleefully. Squidward had no idea what a bunch of young adults usually did on a Saturday night, but he didn’t want to stick around and find out. He thought about running for the bathroom, but Patrick still had a hold of him. He felt Patrick drag him down as he was forced to sit on the floor and form a circle with the rest of them, Sandy directly across from him, Patrick to his right, and SpongeBob next to Patrick. He wondered what game they would be playing until he saw Sandy take out an empty wine bottle she had been carrying in a satchel. Squidward just scowled at the bottle. He knew exactly where this was going. By God, why did it have to be this game? He hadn’t played this game since he was sixteen, and it was an awful experience from what he remembered. It was at some summer camp his mother forced him to attend in order to ‘’make friends’’. ‘Gee, mama, you were wrong about that one, too.’ He remembered being crowded into a cabin with young, semi-naked, drunk individuals, five boys and four girls. They had gone night swimming before the game, and no one bothered to dress themselves fully. He was the only one who refused to take off his clothes, instead preferring to hide behind a baggy sweater even though the night air wasn’t cold. He was painfully shy, and didn’t have very many friends. He was always the weird, quiet kid who sat by himself at lunch, drawing pictures, so he was surprised the ‘’cool kids’’ invited him to play their game at all. Of course, he didn’t suspect foul play. And they weren’t particularly mean to him. They just tended to ignore him during most of the summer, so he didn’t know why he suddenly became visible enough to be noticed for ‘’Truth or Dare’’. Surely, there were plenty of other kids at the camp who could have participated. But no, they asked him. He recalled that he had a huge crush on one of the girls playing, and suffice to say, it didn’t end well. ‘’Erm, can’t we play something else?’’ Squidward suggested. ‘’Y’know...maybe cards? Charades or something?’’ ‘’But we play ‘Truth or Dare’ every Saturday night,’’ SpongeBob clarified. ‘’It’s tradition.’’ ‘’Yeah, man, can’t break tradition,’’ Patrick added. ‘’But now that we got four players this time, it’s gonna be extreme fun.’’ ‘’Yay. I’m so excited, I can’t wait, I’m pissing myself with joy,’’ Squidward moaned. ‘’Oh, cheer up, Squiddy,’’ SpongeBob giggled as he reached across Patrick to pat Squidward on the knee. ‘’It’s not like anyone ever died played this game before.’’ ‘I did,’ Squidward thought to himself, but wouldn’t dare admit this out loud.   ‘’So ya’ll know how to play this game, right?’’ Sandy asked. ‘’But for those who don’t, or who haven’t played it in twenty-some years,’’ she gave a knowing look towards Squidward, ‘’Here’re the rules: we take turns spinning the bottle. Whoever it lands on, we ask ‘em a simple ‘Truth or Dare’ question, to which the victim’s gotta choose. Once they choose which one, we challenge ‘em. That’s pretty much it.’’ ‘’Aaaand the limitations,’’ SpongeBob prompted. ‘’We gotta have limitations.’’ ‘’Right. The players have limited amounts of truths per player. Five each. And as far as dares go, nothing too raunchy. I ain’t counting on SpongeBob’s supply of condoms here, if ya catch my drift. Let’s keep it PG, people. Any questions before we start? Speak now, or forever hold your—’’ ‘’Oooh ooh me me!’’ Patrick enthusiastically raised his hand. ‘’I have a question!’’ ‘’What is it, Patrick?’’ ‘’What’s PG stand for? Is that, like, ‘Party Game’, or something?’’ ‘’No, it stands for ‘Pretty Gay’,’’ Squidward remarked. ‘’Now are we gonna waste anymore time, or is someone gonna spin sometime tonight?’’ ‘’Alright, alright, don’t get your thong in a bunch, Mr. Tentacles,’’ Sandy puffed. ‘’So I’ll go first, Squidward second, then Patrick, then SpongeBob. Sound fair?’’ ‘’Whatever,’’ Squidward said as he crossed his arms over his chest. He prayed to Neptune above that he could get through this night without murdering someone. Without further delay, Sandy reached between the circle, and placed the bottle in the middle of the floor. They watched carefully as she spun the bottle. It went around and round until it slowed to a halt at none other than...Squidward. He frowned. Of course. ‘’Watch out, Squidward, she plays mean!’’ SpongeBob laughed. Thanks for the warning. ‘’Truth, or Dare?’’ she asked, not without a devilish smirk of her own. Now, this question presented a lose-lose situation, because anyone knows that to be cool you have to choose ‘’Dare.’’ And if you do choose ‘’Truth’’ then you are punished for not choosing ‘’Dare’’ by being forced to answer the most scandalous question possible. The question, he knew, was likely to be whether he had French-kissed a boy. In his experience, he had been asked this question. If ‘’Yes,’’ he would be peppered with follow-up questions about every detail, which would require serious on-the-fly lying and brutal concentration. But ‘’No’’ would be even worse: he would be branded as ‘’un-cool’’ and ‘’un-frenchable’’. The choice was clear: choose Truth and tell the Truth, choose Truth and lie, or choose Dare. ‘’Dare, I suppose,’’ Squidward sighed. Truth was waaaay too complicated. ‘’So,’’ Sandy said with a mischievous eyebrow raise, ‘’I dare you to choose, out of the three of us, who you would hitch,’’ and here she dramatically paused, ‘’Screw,’’ another pause, ‘’Or murder.’’ ‘’I think you mean ‘Marry, Fuck, or Kill’,’’ Patrick pointed out. Sandy shrugged. ‘’Eh, same difference.’’ Squidward sighed again. This was the worst Dare imaginable. Maybe he should have gone with Truth after all. Twenty-nine years ago, the girl he liked had been dared this very challenge when it came to her turn. She happened to name him as the guy to kill. Back then, he was super sensitive (kind of like SpongeBob, he supposed) so as soon as she said his name, he stormed out of the cabin in a fit of rage. Of course, someone went after him, but it was in a dark forest in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but the sounds of sea bears lurking about, and he almost got lost. It was one of the scariest things that ever happened to him. Eventually, one of the boys convinced him to come back, but when he did, he never looked at that girl again. Sure, it was just a game, and maybe he took it too seriously, but all hopes of any possibility of her liking him back, all prospect of a summer romance, were dashed. After all, he didn’t know what he did to that girl to make her say she would kill him off. She never even spoke to him. Squidward felt like getting up and storming out right now. This game was so mindless. He swore he was losing brain cells every moment, but at least he didn’t have to think too hard on this one, especially since it was all for shits and giggles anyway. Without batting an eye, he said, ‘’Marry Patrick. Fuck Sandy. Kill SpongeBob. Er, no offense.’’ He braced himself, hoping SpongeBob wouldn’t have the same reaction as his sixteen-year-old self. He knew how sensitive SpongeBob was. Bloody hell, maybe he should have thought this over a little more. Maybe he should have switched up the choices. Well, he certainly didn’t want to fuck Patrick, that was out of the question. Maybe he should have killed him instead. But he wanted to kill SpongeBob more, even if it meant having to marry Patrick. He didn’t want to marry SpongeBob either, he was too impossible to live with as it was. And he certainly didn’t want to fuck him. Maybe he should have married Sandy, fucked SpongeBob, and killed Patrick, but honestly, neither option sounded all too appealing. If he had a choice, he’d marry, fuck and kill Sandy straight across, as she was the least annoying of the three of them. Was he even allowed to do that? Much to his relief, Sandy and SpongeBob burst into laughter and fell on top of each other while doing so. Apparently, this happened before at some other party, and they expected this answer. Squidward failed to see the humour in all this. Patrick, on the other hand, remained very thoughtful, or at least he looked that way. With his dopey expression, it was hard to tell. ‘’Why would you marry me?’’ Patricked asked. ‘’If I answered that question, wouldn’t that technically be breaking the rules? I chose Dare, not Truth.’’ ‘’Yeah, but, I’m not asking you to tell me the Truth, I’m just...curious,’’ Patrick shrugged. ‘’I don’t know, Patrick,’’ Squidward threw up his hands, ‘’It’s just a stupid game, alright? I mean honestly, I’d kill both you and SpongeBob, but since I can only kill one, I’d kill him first, marry you, then probably file for divorce the very next day, or murder you on our wedding night. I’m not taking any of this seriously, and neither should you!’’ For some reason, this caused Sandy and SpongeBob to laugh even harder. ‘’I was just askin’, sheesh,’’ and Patrick indicated the bottle. ‘’Uh, who’s turn is it?’’ ‘’Think it’s Squidward’s,’’ SpongeBob said between chuckles, as he wiped away tears. Once Sandy and SpongeBob managed to compose themselves, Squidward spun the bottle. He hoped it wouldn’t land on Sandy. Not that he had any reason to exact revenge on her for her challenge, but he didn’t want to feel like his spin was biased. His prayers were answered, when it landed on SpongeBob instead. Great. Not exactly a blessing, but oh well. He’d bite. ‘’Oooooooh,’’ Sandy and Patrick chimed together. ‘’Oh, grow up, you two,’’ Squidward instructed, before turning to SpongeBob, who just smiled at him, waiting for the question. ‘’Well, SpongeBob, you know what to do.’’ ‘’Okay, um...’’ he chewed his lower lip, deciding on his fate for a moment before he said, ‘’Truth.’’ Squidward just blinked. No one chose ‘’Truth’’. And he was hoping he wouldn’t say that. He was a fool if he was trying to look ‘’brave’’. Choosing ‘’Truth’’ was just stupid. Again, he was brought back to that fateful night, when he, himself, had been challenged with ‘’Truth,’’ when he was too ignorant to know it was ‘’un-cool’’. And the question was, ‘’Where do you see yourself in twenty years?’’ Squidward bit on his tongue. Damn it all, he didn’t mean to think that out loud, but before he could take it back, it was too late. He watched SpongeBob purse his lips, that same look he always got when deep in contemplation. When Squidward answered the very same question twenty-nine years ago, he said he could see himself on Broadway, or at least a successful artist with his own gallery. Squidward had to laugh now. How stupid and naive he was. In reality, he ended up working at the Krusty Krab at 36, the dream slipping further and further away as the years wore on. He couldn’t begin to imagine what SpongeBob would say. ‘’In twenty years,’’ SpongeBob finally replied, ‘’I’ll be your age. I always kinda wanted to be like Squidward, so yeah. When I’m 45, I’m gonna be just that. I’m gonna be Squidward. I’m gonna work my ass off, take pleasure in the more sophisticated things life has to offer, like sitting at home on my day’s off with a good book, and I’ll be graceful and dignified, and wise beyond my years. And maybe there’ll be a nice twenty-something kid-next-door that’ll look up to me, the same way I look up to Squidward.’’ The room was quiet for a moment, before Patrick let out a slow clap. ‘’Nice one, buddy,’’ he complimented. Squidward just stared at SpongeBob, utterly dumbfounded. In truth, he fought the urge to punch that smile off his face. No, no, no,  he didn’t want to be like Squidward. He didn’t want to be so drained of energy that it was a struggle just to get out of bed every day. He didn’t want to face the never-ending disappointment in himself that he couldn’t be more than what he was. He didn’t want to be so lonely and empty that he cried himself to sleep each night with nothing but painful memories to keep him company. Most of all, he didn’t want to be tortured by someone so full of life, that it was a severe reminder of the youth and happiness he lost, a reminder that he was the dead among the living. Squidward couldn’t blame him, he supposed. When he was 16, he was stupidly optimistic of what the future held, too. He had to pity the misguided fool. ‘The poor bloke,’ he thought. ‘He hasn’t a clue.’ ‘’Well,’’ Squidward said, turning to Patrick. ‘’Your turn.’’ Patrick did as he was told and spun. The bottle landed on Sandy. Now it was SpongeBob and Squidward who let out an ‘’Ooooooh.’’ Squidward didn’t know why he joined in, but he had to admit, the whole situation was bleeding hilarious, especially with how he found them laughing together at Neptune-knows-what on the porch earlier. Who knows? Maybe this would be Patrick’s opportunity to ask her if she really was having hot flashes. Okay, that was lame, but seriously, Squidward was starting to sort of feel like a kid all over again. Maybe there was more to this game after all. ‘’Oh, grow up, you two,’’ Sandy echoed Squidward from earlier, then waved a hand at Patrick. ‘’Go on and ask me then.’’ ‘’Truth, or Dare?’’ Sandy just smiled. ‘’You know me. I always like a good dare.’’ Patrick smiled in return. ‘’Then I dare you, Sandra Jennifer Cheeks, to...um...’’ He looked around the room, searching for a naughty idea, when his eyes suddenly rested on SpongeBob. ‘’To kiss....um...’’ But at the last minute, he looked at Squidward and blurted out, ‘’Well, since he wanted to fuck you, I dare you to kiss Squidward Q. Tentacles! Sorry, I don’t know what the ‘Q’ stands for.’’ Squidward’s little bit of fun was suddenly crushed into dust. ‘’Oh, come on,’’ he pleaded. ‘’Why don’t you make her kiss SpongeBob? He’s asking for it!’’ ‘’Now, now, Squidward,’’ Sandy teased, ‘’It’s Patrick’s dare. He makes the rules.’’ As she came crawling towards him on her hands and knees, he instinctively backed away. Again, he was plagued by a bad memory of the time he was dared to kiss a girl who had previously been dared to lick a toilet seat. It was the least pleasant kiss he ever had. ‘’Stay back,’’ he said. ‘’I mean it...I, uh...’’ And he tried to come up with some lame excuse to get out of it. ‘’I didn’t want to bugger you for real, I just said that, you know. I think you’re repulsively ugly!’’ ‘’Uh huh,’’ she rolled her eyes. ‘’I-I had garlic for lunch!’’ ‘’And I had a rotten cantaloupe. I’m sure there’s no germs swimming in your mouth that can even come close,’’ she said as she continued to come nearer. ‘’Play nice, Sandy,’’ SpongeBob cautioned. ‘’I think you’re scaring him.’’ ‘’Oh, he’ll live,’’ she said, and finally grabbed him, pulling him into a kiss. He tried to close his mouth, but it was too late. He felt her slobbering all over his face, as though she were trying to eat him, and then he felt her try to expertly slip him the tongue. He pulled back and cried out, ‘’What the blazing Hell, woman?’’ while wiping her saliva from his face. Purple lipstick smears came off on his arm instead, causing SpongeBob and Patrick to howl like hyenas. Sandy only shrugged, not bothering to wipe away her smeared lipstick. ‘’Didn’t know you were such a stick in the mud. What are you, some kissless virgin?’’ ‘’And what are you?’’ Squidward shot back. ‘’Some rocky mountain savage? You kiss like a grizzly bear! And why does my mouth taste like nuts?’’ ‘’Oops,’’ Sandy snickered. ‘’I guess it wasn’t cantaloupe after all.’’ ‘’Whatever,’’ and he angrily turned to SpongeBob who was rolling on the floor with laughter. ‘’Well, spin, dammit!’’ ‘’Squidward, chill out, dude it’s just a game!’’ Patrick tried to reason. Oh, sure. To them it was just a game, but they had no idea what he had to go through. And the humiliation. Worse of all, he was so young and carefree back then. He wasn’t tired all the time. And he did have fun. He wanted so much to just let loose and have fun. Be a kid all over again with no worries in the world. Why couldn’t they see that? Why couldn’t they understand that someday they would be old and miserable, and this game would be a bad dream? But then suddenly, he remembered what SpongeBob had told him earlier, about reality versus perception. He didn’t think he had been listening, but he was suddenly reminded of those words. What did he say again? That when you’re swimming, it seems as though you’re standing still, even though you’re really moving? That time moves in the very same way, that it moves so slow, that you just don’t notice? And maybe that’s why he was so much happier twenty-nine years ago. He just didn’t notice. And how could he? Maybe that’s all it was. Life was like a plane ride. It didn’t seem to move at all. And before you know it, you reach your destination, and...what was that bit about the spider and the beetle? Something about life, and death, and struggle? Squidward shook his head. ‘Nonsense,’ he thought. ‘It’s all nonsense.’ He let out a sigh, feeling more calm now, and took his place in the circle. SpongeBob waited for everyone to settle down before he took his turn. He eagerly watched the bottle spiral around, until it stopped before Patrick. ‘’Okay, Patrick, Truth or Dare,’’ he chuckled. ‘’Dare,’’ Patrick responded, without a moment’s hesitation. SpongeBob raised an eyebrow. ‘’You sure?’’ ‘’Uhh...I don’t know...’’ Patrick furrowed his brow in confusion. ‘’Then I dare you to—‘’ ‘’Wait!’’ Patrick stopped him. ‘’I changed my mind. Truth!’’ ‘’Is that your final answer?’’ SpongeBob laughed. Patrick began to sweat a little as he struggled to make a decision. ‘’Wait...I dunno, this question’s too hard.’’ Squidward was growing increasingly irritated watching this exchange unfold like some ping-pong match that would never end. ‘’Oh, stop confusing him, and just let him choose what he wants,’’ Squidward cut in. He couldn’t stand the way SpongeBob played with Patrick’s stupidity, although he meant no harm. Still, it wasn’t right to take advantage of a simpleton. He didn’t know any better. ‘’Alright,’’ SpongeBob agreed. ‘’Patrick, it’s your call, buddy.’’ ‘’Uh, Dare...I guess.’’ That’s it, Patrick. Play it cool. SpongeBob grinned from ear to ear. ‘’I dare you to go into your kitchen and rearrange everything in the food pantry... in alphabetical order.’’ They waited for SpongeBob to deliver the catch, but apparently, he had nothing more to add. That was it? What a lame dare. On the contrary, Patrick reacted as though the world was ending. ‘’All of it?’’ he asked. ‘’All of it.’’ Patrick looked like he would melt into a puddle right there and then. It was at that point he probably realized that any kissing question was better than this. ‘’I can’t do it,’’ he said. ‘’Then do you choose Truth?’’ This is how the game always goes. You just can’t win. Patrick swallowed hard, then nodded. ‘’Yeah. Truth.’’ Squidward didn’t know why, but he felt a little sorry for Patrick. There was always going to be one in the group who got the short end of the stick. But maybe SpongeBob would go easy on him. They were best friends, after all, so SpongeBob couldn’t possibly ask him anything he knew would upset him.   SpongeBob considered for a moment, before asking, ‘’Do you think you’ll get married someday?’’ Patrick just blushed and stuttered, ‘’I-I guess...I mean...I don’t think I’d find anyone...special enough...but...sure...I guess...maybe it’d be nice...but...I don’t know...there’s not too many people that I...well...’’ Squidward found himself studying Patrick as his face grew redder by the second. He was visibly embarrassed by the question. Kids these days, even twenty-somethings, were always thinking of getting married and having kids of their own someday. Settling down, if you will. Becoming their parents. It was weird and scary. Squidward knew right off the bat that at Patrick’s age, he wasn’t going to get married. ‘’Oh, you’ll change your mind,’’ they said. Look at him now. Still a swinging bachelor. Sure, Squidward had to admit there were times he considered himself a hopeless romantic. But he was pretty set in his ways. He didn’t want to end up like his parents, not at all. SpongeBob could see that the ‘’Truth’’ was making Patrick feel a tad uncomfortable, and so he reached for his friend, squeezing his hand. ‘’It’s okay, Patrick,’’ SpongeBob reassured. ‘’You don’t have to say more than that.’’ Sandy decided that now was the opportunity to take her turn once more, and she spun the bottle. It landed on Patrick again, by all strange accounts. Patrick hadn’t fully recovered from his prior awkwardness and stood abruptly to excuse himself. ‘’Um, sorry, I gotta get...some air...uh, it’s not like, I’m having hot flashes, by the way,’’ and he left the three of them alone. ‘’Er, I can take his turn for him,’’ SpongeBob said. ‘’Fine by me,’’ Sandy nodded. ‘’Truth or Dare?’’ ‘’Dare.’’ Squidward stopped paying attention after that. He quickly realized that he was far too old and far too pessimistic for this sort of thing. He kept thinking about why Patrick acted so strangely to a simple question, but then he remembered how delicate he had been when he was young. Sure, SpongeBob didn’t mean to embarrass his friend, his intentions were purely innocent. He couldn’t have known how nervous Patrick would get. Hell, if he had been Patrick, he probably would have run out of the room, too. He had, actually, only on someone else’s turn. Maybe now it wasn’t just a game? Sure, the fun of the game was to ask each other silly questions, and no one would tell if you were being completely honest or not if you hid it well enough, so you could answer however you pleased, but some questions might run on a more personal level, triggering something that shouldn’t be triggered. Squidward had no idea that he was actually putting his own future on the line, and when he couldn’t live up to those expectations that he set for himself in a game twenty-nine years later, he began to despise the game, as though it was the game’s fault. Well, he had to blame something. Laughter interrupted his thoughts and he looked up to find SpongeBob standing on his head, and trying, but failing, to touch his nose with the tip of his tongue while singing the alphabet backwards. ‘’C’mon, you’re pathetic!’’ Sandy cried. ‘’Z, Y, X, W, V, uh...S...oh shit,’’ SpongeBob faltered, then started again. ‘’Z, Y, X, W, V...U...’’ he almost got his tongue to his chin, but not quite. ‘’Where was I? U, T, S, R...um...’’ ‘’Keep going,’’ Sandy encouraged. Alas, he got all the way up to ‘M’, before he had to start over again. Squidward just continued to observe them. He didn’t know why they invited him to begin with. He always felt a tad out of place hanging out with a bunch of kids. Was watching them supposed to remind him of his youth and make him feel younger? Because in truth, he felt more tired and old just watching them. He just couldn’t keep up. And though they often protested that he wasn’t old, that wasn’t the point. He felt his age, maybe older.   ‘’What’d I miss?’’ Patrick said as he returned, and took a seat beside Squidward. ‘’Not much,’’ Squidward admitted. After fifteen more seconds, SpongeBob could stand on his head no longer and gave up. But at least he finally managed to touch his nose with his tongue, even though he couldn’t sing the entire alphabet backwards. ‘’Don’t tell me I made that look easy,’’ SpongeBob laughed, and held his head between his hands, which was no doubt spinning. ‘’That was hard!’’ Squidward remembered it was his turn and reluctantly spun the bottle. Last round, then he would go home. He was sick of this game. The bottle, for a third time, favoured Patrick. He hoped Patrick would want to skip his turn again, but he looked eagerly at Squidward, and so Squidward had to ask the same old question, although he didn’t really ask, he groaned, ‘’Truth, or Dare?’’ ‘’Dare, this time.’’ Did Patrick learn nothing? Squidward pouted. ‘’I dare you to skip your turn.’’ Then he stood and announced, ‘’I’m going home. Thanks but no thanks. ‘Night.’’ ‘’Oh, c’mon, Squidward, you can’t quit now!’’ they whined. ‘’It’s only 10:00!’’ ‘’Yeah, exactly, normal people are in bed at this hour. I’m out,’’ and he made his way to the door. ‘’At least dare me before you leave,’’ Patrick pointed out. ‘’That’s not really fair, y’know.’’ Squidward rolled his eyes and turned back towards the group. ‘’Fine.’’ And he made direct eye contact with Patrick, hoping he would cower. ‘’I dare you, Patrick Star, to name your first child after the person to your right. There, happy now?’’ Patrick just blinked. ‘’That...wasn’t even a dare. That was just stupid.’’ ‘’You’re stupid, and I’m going home, now.’’ As he opened the door to step outside, he heard the bottle being spun on the floor, and Patrick’s voice saying, ‘’What do you know? You’re it, again, Squidward. Truth, or Dare?’’ ‘’How can that be?’’ Squidward demanded as he spun around again. ‘’I’m not even in the circle!’’ But sure enough, the neck of the bottle was pointing directly at him. ‘’Truth, or Dare?’’ Patrick asked again. ‘’I’m done!’’ ‘’I’ll let you go home if you answer.’’ ‘’Fine. Truth.’’ He didn't have time for silly dares. ‘’How many children would you have?’’ ‘’Oh for crying out loud,’’ Squidward said, slamming the bedroom door closed. ‘’Honestly, Patrick. Look at me. I’m fucking 45, do you think I’d be having kids at this age? I don’t need kids! I got the three of you dunderheads, and you’re a handful as it is!’’ The three of them just looked at him in stunned silence, not sure whether to laugh or cry. Finally, Sandy said, ‘’It’s just a game. Don’t have to get so pissy. But since you answered, you’re free to go.’’ The three remaining players turned back to each other and waited for SpongeBob to spin the bottle. Squidward was about to turn out for yet a third time when he heard Sandy go, ‘’Oh…well, I guess you can spin again since Squidward’s not playing anymore.’’ Squidward glanced over his shoulder and saw the bottle pointing at him again. Was the thing cursed? SpongeBob began to reach for the bottle again when Squidward stopped him. ‘’No,’’ he said. ‘’Just ask me again, and I’ll be on my way.’’ Why Squidward wanted to continue playing, even after all that, he had no idea. But something about the way the bottle kept stopping at him made him all the more curious. SpongeBob just looked at him for a moment before he said, ‘’Truth, or Dare?’’ ‘’Truth.’’ ‘’Do you hate this game?’’ ‘’Yes,’’ Squidward admitted. ‘’Yes, I loathe it. I despise it. It’s supposed to make me feel young? What a laugh. I just feel old playing it. I feel old, and behind the times, and…and I don’t know why I came. It just brings back bad memories.’’ He watched as SpongeBob spun the bottle again, and unsurprisingly, it pointed at Squidward. ‘’Truth, or Dare?’’ ‘’Truth.’’ ‘’Why did you come then?’’ ‘’I don’t know,’’ Squidward sighed. ‘’I just wanted to feel a part of something. Y’know, join the world of the living! Geez, I live my life dying. The three of you get to have fun. But where’s my fun? It’s just a game to you…but to me…it’s more than that. I answered things about myself…twenty-nine years ago…that didn’t turn out to be true. And I…well, it hurts, SpongeBob. It hurts. And to see you all laughing…and having fun…but I can’t do that anymore. Because I know what’s ahead. And you don’t. You have no idea.’’ Again, SpongeBob took another turn on the bottle, and again, it landed on Squidward. He didn’t even ask this time. Instead he just blurted out, ‘’Even if you didn’t know what was ahead, would you regret it? Would you regret playing this game when you were 16?’’ ‘’SpongeBob,’’ Sandy said, putting a hand on his shoulder. ‘’He only gets five ‘Truths’ and he’s answered three already. Just let him go home.’’ But SpongeBob wouldn’t stop staring Squidward down until he answered. Squidward just swallowed back a lump in his throat. ‘’I guess not. I guess I don’t regret it.’’ ‘’Why?’’ ‘’Because…because now I know things about myself then, I didn’t know before. Sometimes I wish…even then that I could see the future. Maybe I would have answered differently. Maybe I would have done things I wouldn’t have done now. But I guess no one can see the future, can they?’’ SpongeBob was about to spin the bottle yet again, but there was no use for it now. Instead, he just asked, ‘’Reality is truth. Reality, however, is not always known.’’ ‘’Or noticed,’’ Squidward pointed out. ‘’While it’s true that everyone perceives reality differently, reality could care less about our perceptions.’’ ‘’So when you’re asked ‘Truth’, is truth reality, or is reality truth?’’ ‘’I don’t know how to answer that,’’ Squidward whimpered. ‘’Because…it’s just a struggle. Like that…story you told me…about the spider and the beetle. I didn’t know what it meant…but now I guess it makes sense. The problem arises…when people…stubborn people like me…refuse to accept the reality…like that beetle. He wouldn’t accept his fate. He kept fighting. And you saved him…but like Sandy said, maybe you shouldn’t have. Because then how…how does life continue if we’re always interfering? It can’t be created or altered. It is what it is. We can’t always be delivered from it, because we have to discover it.’’ Squidward didn’t even know what he was talking about anymore. But something about the way SpongeBob looked at him with unwavering strength in his eyes caused him to burst into tears. ‘’Actions have consequences,’’ he cried, ‘’And I ignored it for so long. Because the truth is harsh, and I didn’t want to feel the pain anymore. I’d like to have fun like you guys…I’d like to play again like a child… I wish my little self-delusive world wouldn’t be upset by such a trivial matter as truth.  I don’t want to worry about the consequences I may have to deal with tomorrow; I just want to feel good today. Like all of you. It’s not fair...because I perceived my life so differently...and this is the reality...and it’s not what I imagined it to be.  Twenty-nine years ago, I assumed I’d be happy today. I didn’t know I was deceiving myself...I didn’t know...anything...’’ He could speak no more because his tears had choked him up. He didn’t care if they were watching him anymore. He felt like a 16-year-old all over again and buried his face in his hands, and wept and wept. It wasn’t long before he felt warm arms wrap around him. It took him a moment to realize there were six arms around him. Six, of all different shapes and sizes. When he finally opened his eyes, he found himself in the embrace of his friends, or at least the only people who considered themselves to be his friends. And they were all crying with him. They probably didn’t even know why. They probably didn’t even comprehend his nonsensical ramblings, but their hearts went out to him. They empathized. For some reason, they wanted to suffer with him. Why would a bunch of people with their whole lives ahead of them care about the existential crisis of a middle-aged man? But maybe it didn’t matter. Maybe that’s why they asked him to play with them. They just wanted him to be with them, in the same way they were with him now. And he was too preoccupied with wallowing in self pity of better days that he failed to realize that. Again, he just didn’t notice. So maybe his life didn’t turn out the way he planned. But at least now he had friends who cared enough. He couldn’t say that when was he was 16. Back then, he had no friends, so was he really happier after all? Maybe he got this whole reality versus perception mixed up. It wasn’t the principal of reality versus perception. It was reality versus the perception of reality. Twenty-nine years ago, he perceived his life to be happier, despite the reality that he was alone. Twenty-nine years later, he perceived his life to be awful, despite the reality that he had friends. Damn it all, he perceived wrong. He could have been happy this whole time. But much like swimming, he just didn’t notice, because much like time, it seemed to move too slow, when in reality, it was passing by all along. And he refused to accept it. He refused to get caught in that spider’s web. He was accepting it now. Because now he was trapped in the embrace of a six-armed monster, and he didn’t want it to let go. The beetle couldn’t accept death. That was fine. Who does? But the web was his reality. And this was Squidward’s reality. He had been deluding himself this whole time. Trying to make it through life without a solid grasp of reality is like stumbling around in a dark room laden with land mines. He didn’t want to be like that.  Maybe it was time to question everything and be willing to give up cherished notions, even if it meant suffering discomfort. But as long as he could still have friends, wouldn’t his life be a little more fulfilling if he could admit responsibility for his poor life choices? At least he would be satisfied, if not entirely happy. Slowly, he lifted his arms and willed himself to return the embrace of his friends. They all seemed to stop crying, and so did he. No words were needed. A silent understanding seemed to pass between them. They decided to stop playing the game, and they didn’t need to ask questions. Around 11:30 that same night, they all sat down in SpongeBob’s living room to watch a movie instead, and Squidward could safely say he finally felt content. He felt content to just be with them, and maybe that’s all he needed. Maybe they didn’t completely understand all that life threw at him, and maybe they’d find out someday. But as long as they could all keep an open mind of what was to come, they would have the courage to accept it. The one thing that will never be affected by our respective views of reality is reality itself. And the reality was that they were together, right now, at this very moment, and so nothing else mattered.                                                                                  Fin

[muselin]

Room For One More

Summary:  MC and Scorpio's relationship is going well, but Leon has been acting a bit strangely. One evening in the baths at the gods' mansion, everything unravels. MC learns what Leon's power is, Scorpio gets a shock, and we learn that Leon and Scorpio don't just simply hate each other. Warning: a bit of dub-con, explicit sex, M/F/M naughties. Read and enjoy!

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“Tch…. Don’t move, I’ll take care of this in a minute and I’ll be back,” Scorpio grumbled and snapped his fingers. He instantly changed out of the towel covering his hips into his usual uniform and left the grand baths to join Zyglavis who was waiting in the hall.

“Damn it… Oh well, may as well make the most of this…,” I sighed, alone in the baths now.

It had been a few months since Scorpio and I had been allowed to be together. Scorpio had been swamped with more work as a result, but we managed to make time for each other. Tonight was meant to be a relaxing evening in the baths. Scorpio definitely had a kink or two, and I secretly hoped that bathing wouldn’t be the only thing occurring tonight. Unfortunately, yet again Scorpio was called in at short notice to fix something or other with his reports.

All the gods commented on how he’d mellowed out so much since he fell in love with me, and how that had made him much easier to get along with, but had had the side effect of making him slip up in his punishment work once in a while. Not enough to warrant concern, rather, the gods found it endearing. Even Leon, who argued with Scorpio on a practically daily basis.

Scorpio no longer minded my friendship with Ichthys, Dui and Teorus. They constantly joked and flirted, but he knew they would never take it any further. Leon, however… Lately he’d been more tense than usual, and if that was even possible, it seemed to me like he argued even more with Scorpio, often for miniscule things.

Aside from Scorpio, none of the other exiled gods were absolved of their sins yet, and their powers remained locked away unless they were touching me. Scorpio and I decided that I would help them each with one job every week, and they all accepted, except for Leon. He just said something about not needing any help from goldfish and didn’t speak about the matter again.

“Maybe he’s just bored”, I said to myself, shrugging and settling myself in to wait for Scorpio.

I had brought my own bath sponge and soap, which I put near the edge of the bath. The room was beautiful, large and nearly covered in gold, with a large circular bath in the middle, with steps which created deeper and shallower areas. The room was filled with a warm light which was a bit dim tonight, giving the whole room a bit of a candle-lit look. I unwrapped the towel from my body and folded it, setting it down next to me on the tiles. I was alone in the baths, but I still covered myself out of habit while I lowered myself down into the water.

It was perfect, warm and relaxing. I sighed contentedly, then reached for my sponge and soap. I scrubbed myself clean, then went to the shallower area of the bath where I could lounge and lean against the sloped edges. I stretched and closed my eyes, feeling my muscles relax in the warm water. Scorpio wasn’t back yet. I wondered if something serious had happened, but then pushed that thought away. If he said he’d be back soon, I trust him.

Scorpio… I smiled thinking of his beautiful face. And his sexy smirks. And his gorgeous body. Kyaa…. I blushed remembering the other night… The look on his face while he had me bent over the desk in his room…

Despite the already warm water, I felt a different warmth start to spread through my body. My hand languidly slid down my breasts, further down… Maybe it wouldn’t be so embarrassing if Scorpio came back to find me like this. In fact, he would probably smirk arrogantly and say something like…

“Foolish woman.”

I blushed intensely, but still smiled and opened my eyes.

“Scor…! Ah….!”

I was frozen, my eyes as wide as dinner plates. The words were very familiar, but the one standing before me wasn’t Scorpio. Narrowed chocolate brown eyes, unruly auburn hair and a fiendish smirk greeted me instead. Leon was sitting near me on the edge of the bath, sporting nothing but a towel slung over his lap. It wasn’t even wrapped around his hips. I hadn’t heard or felt him come in at all! I was mortified…

“L-Leon!….,”I stammered, scrambling to cover myself with my hands. Foolishly, I’d wandered off from where I had left my towel, and running to grab it would let Leon see me in all my naked glory. I curled up into a ball, covering my chest with my knees and squeezing my eyes shut from embarrassment.

“D-don’t look, please…,” I stuttered.

“Don’t worry, I already saw everything,” he chuckled, still smirking. “A naked goldfish is hardly anything to write home about”.

Seeing my mortification, he seemed to be trying to make me feel better.

“I won’t tell if you won’t. There’s nothing to tell anyway. You hardly concern me, so stop pretending like your body is something I’d be interested in.”

Rude as always, but I could sense he was trying to get me to relax. Given his opinion of humans, I realised it probably really wasn’t a big deal to him at all. I slowly uncurled myself and tried to lounge as before, but I couldn’t look at Leon. My cheeks were probably the colour of ripe tomatoes.

“…..”

“Hmph. If you’re quite done fretting, let me enjoy my bath too, yeah? I see no reason to kick you out just yet. Hehe... you did make for an amusing sight touching yourself,” he said, still smiling devilishly at me.

“That’s not…! I wasn’t…!” I yelped. He raised his hand, silencing me with just his gesture. Was his aura always so commanding and powerful?

“Don’t insult me by saying an inferior being like you has mastered your base desires, you’ll just embarrass yourself. Besides, wanton, naked human women are nothing I haven’t seen hundreds of times before.”

As my blush slowly receded, I still said nothing. Hundreds?

When I looked back at Leon, he was leaning back on his elbows, seemingly inhaling the aromatic steam that had started permeating the room. It smelled of something like jasmine, and as mortified as I was, I did find it relaxing.

I couldn’t help a lingering glance over at Leon. Scorpio was the most gorgeous man I had ever seen, but Leon was right up there with him, I had to admit begrudgingly. Leon’s beautiful regal face almost looked ethereal, with his eyes closed like that. His body too was like a work of art, toned and chiselled. I forced myself to look away, feeling guilty for admiring him.

“S-so, um… How’s your work going, Leon?” I managed to get out.

“Like you would care… It’s going as well as it can go, given the circumstances,” he said, looking at me bitterly as he sat back up. I mentally smacked myself for asking that. He was the only one who wasn’t able to use his powers to do any actual work as he had refused my help, and he was the strongest god of all of them, the Minister of the Department of Wishes.

“…I know I said I didn’t need any help from goldfish…,” he muttered, eyes downcast in a weird display of embarrassment for him, “but… I want your help.”

“I’m getting so bored on this inferior world,” he continued, “I’m not getting my sin erased any faster like this, if at all, so… What do you say? And actually, aren’t you curious about what my special power is,” he turns to me, his eyes turned predatory.

“Um… I suppose I could help you do your work. I’m not excited about that, but I know that the heavens must have it really hard with you gone,” I agreed.

“I knew even silly fish like you could see sense once in a while. When you next come to help the others with their work, I’ll call you in as well,” he said with a pleased smirk.

“O-ok. Deal,” I said, giving him a small smile, “But what do I get in exchange?”

“Ha! Awfully bold to demand things of a god,” he said. He looked at me for a moment. “Very well, I’ll give you a choice. I’ll grant you one small wish, or I’ll show you what my special power is,” he finished.

I thought for a moment. There wasn’t anything I could think of right now that I wanted, aside from Scorpio maybe being less busy with work, but I knew Leon couldn’t do anything about that.

“You know that Scorpio can read the feelings of those he touches. Do you want to know what my ability is, as the most powerful of the gods? It would be rather entertaining for me to show you,” Leon baited me. Anything to do with entertaining Leon was a bad idea, but… Damn it, I was too curious for my own good…

“Ok, show me your power,” I said. His smirk widened even more.

“Sit up here,” he ordered, gesturing to the spot next to him. Trying not to let him see any more of my naked body than necessary, I covered my breasts with my hands again and squeezed my legs together as I rose from the water and sat next to him. He looked at me again and I nearly shrank away from the intensity of him, his aura was so godly.

“I need to touch you to use it. Don’t be afraid,” he said quietly. I nodded.

His hand reached out and touched my bare knee gently. Nothing happened. I looked at him in confusion, expecting him to snap his fingers, but he didn’t.

Then I felt it… Heat spread through my body and my muscles turned to jelly. An intense wave of pleasure washed over me, tingling in all my sensitive places. My lips, my nipples…

“Ah….”, I gasped, my body undulating of its own accord. “Leon…!”

Not taking his hand off my knee, he leaned in to whisper in my ear.

“Do you feel my power? My power is to give pleasure. The most exquisite feeling you could ever have…”

His lips grazed the shell of my ear, his breath fanning over a loose strand of hair that had slid from the updo my hair was in. My skin felt hypersensitive, his lips on my ear felt so good they sent sparks of pleasure down my spine and shot right down to my core.

“Leon… stop! I can’t be doing this with you… Ah!”

He chuckled darkly in my ear, his fingers leaving my knee and travelling up my thigh.

“Don’t pretend you don’t love this. Just give in to it.”

“I… Ngghh!!”

I couldn’t form words. I could feel my core becoming so heated already, and I blushed furiously at the realisation that I was probably getting wet from the sensations Leon was giving me. My body and my mind were awash with pleasure, but this was wrong, this was horrible…

“Leon…please… If Scorpio sees me like this..,” I begged, my body slumping to the side onto Leon’s shoulder. I weakly tried to push his hand off me, but he grabbed both my wrists with one hand, pinning them at the small of my back behind me. The sensations intensified, I could feel wetness coming from my pussy and my breathing was coming in choppy huffs. I couldn’t think, this was ecstasy. No, it was torture, but it felt so good…

“I couldn’t care less about that stupid scorpion. He needs to take the stick out of his ass and stop monopolising you,” Leon said. His hand moved further up my thigh and I could feel it almost touch my core… The gentle touch of his fingers was maddening against the pleasure he was filling me with. I could feel my entire body tense. I couldn’t let him touch me like this, I couldn’t! But as much as I tried to resist, my thighs actually opened a bit for him.

Then suddenly, the pleasure stopped and all I could feel were Leon’s fingers so tantalisingly close to my core.

“…!”

All I heard was the sound of my own heavy breathing, then a frustrated moan slipped out of my lips. I couldn’t move, as much as I willed myself to.

“You were close, weren’t you,” Leon said quietly in my ear, the smugness of his voice gone, replaced by something dark and so inviting. His hand moved and cupped my sex, just covering it but not moving at all. My arms strained in his grip. I couldn’t believe he was touching me there…

“Say it. Say you want me, and I’ll continue. I’ll have you come apart harder than you ever have. You can’t resist me.”

“N-no…,” I ground out. “I can’t… Scorpio..”

The pleasure returned in a massive wave at the same time as Leon’s fingers rolled against my clit, then disappeared again.

“K-k…AAAHH,” I screamed, unable to withstand the sensations. I was so close…

“Just say it, tell me you want me to make you cum, and I’ll do it,” Leon said, his voice raspy in my ear. I glanced over at him, and his eyes were clouded over with lust. A formidable-looking tent had formed in the towel covering his lap. I felt his finger tease my opening and I bit my lip hard to keep the scream from echoing in the baths.

“Nnngh… Please… Let me… L-Let me cum…,” the words came out before I could stop them.

“Good girl,” Leon whispered harshly, and in an instant he was kneeling between my legs in the water. I tried to close them, but his hand palmed my sex, the pleasure of his power returning with such intensity that my head swam in vertigo for a moment.

My body fell back onto the tiles with a thud. Leon brought my arms in front of me, holding my wrists together in one hand and teasing my pussy with the other. Incoherent moans tumbled out of my lips as I felt him rub my clit teasingly, slowly, then tease my opening with his finger. I could feel my own slickness, and when I looked up at him, I saw him lick it off his finger, savouring it. Embarrassment flared hot through me but the image of him was so erotic that my hips bucked forward, needing his touch again.

“See how wet you are,” he asked teasingly, his finger returning to my core again. He pulled on my wrists, bringing me to sit up on the edge of the baths. I could almost not stand to look at his face, I felt so overwhelmed. This was so wrong but he was unravelling me so completely that I couldn’t help but look in his eyes. He brought the finger teasing my folds to my lips, making me taste myself. God, this was so dirty…

“That face of yours just now. I like that,” he murmured, and his hand moved to the back of my neck as he leaned over me. His lips found mine, soft but insistent, my taste on both of our tongues. I shouldn’t be doing this, I shouldn’t be kissing him… He dominated me completely. My lips opened helplessly for him, and his tongue slid in to play with mine. His kiss was so hungry, so sensual…

I had unconsciously wrapped my arms around his neck, and I startled when my sensitised nipples brushed against his chest. His lips finally left me and he knelt in front of me again, bringing his face to my pussy. He swiped his tongue slowly over my slit from bottom to top, his lips closing around my clit.

“Mmmm..!”

One of his hands travelled over and grabbed my breast, gently rolling my nipple in his fingers as he kept my thighs spread for him with his other hand.

“Leon… oh god…,” I panted, feeling so close to the edge again as his tongue started a rhythmic dance over my clit. He was so good, it was unbelievable. One of my hands cupped the breast Leon wasn’t palming and my other hand buried itself in his hair, silently begging him for more. He hummed against my pussy and his movement quickened, his tongue dipping down to my entrance and sliding in as far as he could go.

“Ah..! Mmm..!”

CRASH!!

The sound of glass shattering forced Leon’s head and mine to shoot up in its direction.

Oh fuck!!!

Scorpio.

There he stood, a few feet away from us amidst shards of glass from what must have been a tumbler he brought. He was covered only by a towel round his hips, his body frozen in place, his face bearing an expression of surprise unlike anything I’d ever seen. His eyes were wide as saucers and were darting from place to place on the naked bodies in front of him.

There was no way this scene looked like anything other than what it was. My hand in Leon’s hair, urging him on, Leon’s face buried between my thighs, both our hands on my breasts… Before I could even think, or utter a sound, Leon’s smug voice broke the horrified silence.

“Well, well, nice of you to join us. You know, there’s room for one more here.”

Leon!!! How could he say something like that at a time like this?!

Scorpio didn’t move an inch, didn’t make a sound for a few long moments.

“Y-you…,” he stammered, his face flushing intensely, from either anger or embarrassment, or both, I couldn’t tell. “What the fuck… are you doing?!” His voice was scarily quiet, his words ground out through gritted teeth.

Leon then had the audacity to use his power to send a shock of pleasure into my body. I had been so close that it pushed me right over the edge.

“Aaaah! Nngh!!”

I came apart in his hands, my eyes shutting tightly. I couldn’t believe this was happening… I was cumming in Leon’s arms, as my love, Scorpio, watched on… My core pulsed, my body was so wracked with pleasure but through it I somehow found strength to vocalise.

“Scor..Scorpio! Please, I…!”

I couldn’t bear to look at either of them.

“I found her here, pleasuring herself while thinking of you, no doubt. She was curious about my power then, so I showed her. Of course she couldn’t resist me. No woman can,” Leon’s voice drawled nonchalantly. “But look at her, Scorpio… She’s so turned on. She’s turned on by you watching her. Do you really think she would have been able to cum otherwise, even with my power?”

I couldn’t believe Leon’s words. I felt helpless, there was nothing I could say to help the situation. Scorpio’s face was the most intense shade of red I had ever seen, he seemed rooted in one spot.

“Leon, wait!!” I gasped when Leon jumped out of the water, stark naked as he was, and picked me up in his arms, carrying me over to Scorpio.

Before I could do anything, Leo thrust my wet, naked body onto Scorpio, smirking. I felt Scorpio’s entire body shake then. Shit… Scorpio’s power. He could feel everything I was feeling. I was feeling so dazed with lust, my body was so wracked with tension and pleasure, and now all of this was washing over Scorpio as well. As mortified as I was, I did the only thing I wanted to do in that moment – I kissed him. His body trembled as no doubt the sensations of my orgasm were overwhelming him.

“Ah..!”

I heard Scorpio gasp against my lips as I felt movement behind him. Leon had walked over and sandwiched Scorpio between our naked bodies. I felt Scorpio’s erection bump me through his towel and I realised that Leon must be using his power on him too.

“M-my body… Leon…. You fucking bastard…” Scorpio’s voice trembled, his eyes squeezed shut. Leon’s face changed into something fiendish and he ripped the towel off of Scorpio’s hips. Scorpio’s cock, hard and heavy, bobbed from the sudden movement.

Somewhere in my mind I could sense what Leon was trying to do. Unless he completely occupied Scorpio with something, there would be an explosion of anger, and Scorpio would surely try to kill him. But his actions just seemed far too bold… Both of their powers worked through touch. So while Leon was overwhelming Scorpio with pleasure, Scorpio could feel that, my own pleasure, and whatever Leon was feeling. I vaguely wondered what he felt from Leon.

I felt Leon push me down on my knees in front of Scorpio, nudging my head towards his cock. Scorpio’s hand shot out to grab my hair and he forced himself into my mouth. I had never seen him so out of control, he never handled me so roughly.

“Mmmnf..!”

My eyes shot up to him in surprise as his thick cock slipped past my lips. His face looked angry… but there was an undeniable flush there as well, the kind he only got when he was really aroused. I hollowed my cheeks and sucked him in.

“Woman, you’re dead after this!” he spit the words out as his hands buried in my hair. Scorpio was going along with this? He would never… Unless whatever he felt from Leon somehow told him this was okay.

Leon chuckled mischievously from his place at Scorpio’s back, his hand firmly placed the other god’s hip, his power likely still forcing Scorpio to nearly buckle with pleasure.

“Such a good girl you’ve got there, Scorpio. Perhaps you’ll let her do that to me too, hmm?” Leon said teasingly to him.

“You… bastard… get your hand off me, it’s too much..” Scorpio panted, weakly trying to push Leon’s hand away, but the Minister held on.

“Your knees are giving out, scorpion,” Leon smirked, and pushed Scorpio down on his knees, forcing his cock to slip out from my lips. I didn’t dare say a word, it seemed the wild lion of the heavens had a plan for us.

“That looked rather fun, goldfish. Come, do it to me,” Leon commanded. I shut my eyes and obeyed, moving between the two gods so I could kneel in front of Leon. I opened my eyes and I was faced with his very interested manhood. He was big, looked almost the same as Scorpio, perhaps just a bit longer and slightly less thick.

Leon finally let go of Scorpio.

“You must be bursting by now, hmm, Vice Minister? How about relieving that pressure while your girl entertains me?”

Scorpio somehow looked like he wanted to kill him and fuck him at the same time. He rose from his knees shakily, his cock straining upwards. His hands moved in a flash, and he took Leon’s body down into the baths, water splashing everywhere.

“No!”

I yelled, rushing over to the edge of the baths. My eyes widened when I saw that Scorpio seemed to have quickly lost the upper hand. He was pinned down by Leon in a sitting position, the strongest god leaning over him. Leon grabbed me roughly and pulled me into the water with them, keeping his grip on Scorpio’s arm with one hand. From the look on Scorpio’s face, Leon was using his power on him again as soon as he could touch me.

“You know you can’t win, scorpion. I’m more powerful than you,” Leon growled, still smirking.

“You piece of shit…Ahh!” Scorpio’s hair had fallen in his eyes but the arousal in his voice was unmistakable.

“You love this and you hate this, don’t you? You can’t stand that I’m stronger than you,” Leon baited, bringing his face close to Scorpio’s. “But you want more of this, don’t you? Show me… Show me what you want to do to me. You challenge my power, but I know what hides in your mind, I don’t even need an ability like yours to know that. Show me…”

Leon breathed the last words onto Scorpio’s lips before slanting his own over his mouth. He was kissing him!! I couldn’t believe my eyes. This was something I never thought I would see in a million years, they hated each other… But it didn’t seem that simple now. Scorpio was responding! He opened his mouth and let Leon slip his tongue inside… What the Minister of Wishes said before… Could it be that Scorpio, for all his apparent dislike of him and his arguing, secretly had a thing for him..?

The scene was doing strange things to me. I remembered something Teorus had told me once. That Leon never kissed. Yet tonight he kissed both Scorpio and me… I didn’t know what to feel, but my core throbbed, reminding me of how flustered I was. I couldn’t tell which was hotter – Leon’s eyes, shut gently in concentration as he dominated the kiss, or Scorpio’s face which had such a flushed look as he allowed Leon to lightly suck on his tongue…

“Look, Scorpio! I think your goldfish is enjoying this! Aren’t you,” Leon fixated his intense gaze on me as he broke the kiss. He manoeuvred me between their bodies again, so that I faced him and had my back turned to Scorpio. I turned my face to glance at my boyfriend. He didn’t quite look so angry anymore, he looked like he was on another plane. I cupped his face in my hand and kissed him, feeling his hands drift down my body sensually. I felt Leon tug on my hands gently so that I was on all fours, with my torso above the water. He was displaying my ass to Scorpio so brazenly…

“I know you want her. Come on, take her. Entertain me.”

I felt Scorpio’s hands splayed on my cheeks, spreading them apart. He was probably looking, the pervert… I didn’t have time to be embarrassed, however, as Leon’s member was in front of my face again. Leon was up on his knees in front of me, and took one of my hands and brought it to his cock. I hesitantly wrapped my fingers around him and pumped a few times.

“Good girl…,” Leon whispered.

“Ah! Scorpio,” I cried out, feeling Scorpio’s fingers slip inside me. He pumped slowly, teasingly. I was soaked still from my orgasm earlier. He took turns rubbing my clit and plunging his fingers in and out of my slick entrance.

“Mmmm…,” small sounds came from me, I didn’t care to stop them anymore. I felt a large, warm hand caress my cheek gently, bringing my face uprward. I opened my eyes to look up at Leon’s face. He had a soft look in his eyes as he gave me a small, gentle kiss. Then his fingers slipped over my lips, caressing them, and he pushed his middle finger into my mouth.

“You know what I want, right? Be a good girl for me,” he whispered hotly, making a shiver run down my body. Of course he’d be this bossy with things like that too…

I released his finger, and bent down to run my tongue along his cock. He was very hard but the skin felt so smooth. I swirled my tongue, wetting him before taking him into my mouth. Leon’s head tipped back and he let out a low moan. It was one of the hottest sounds I had ever heard. It was so hard to focus with Scorpio’s fingers bringing me closer and closer, but I wanted to hear more of that sound. I sucked harder on Leon’s cock, feeling the head hit the back of my throat. I brought a hand up to cup his balls, massaging them gently. Leon hummed sensually, which only served to arouse me even more. Supporting myself up on one hand, I pleasured the Minister with the other as I sucked him, pumping him with my hand and my mouth in tandem.

“I need to be inside you… Now,” I heard Scorpio’s strained voice behind me. I couldn’t answer him right now, so I arched my back, bringing my ass a bit closer to him. I felt something large and hard brush against my pussy. He rubbed the tip of his cock up and down my folds, covering it in my leaking juices. His teasing was so maddening… I bucked my hips back, trying to impale myself on his length but he wouldn’t let me. I moaned in frustration, my lips vibrating around Leon’s cock.

“Mmm… I don’t know what you’re doing back there, Vice Minister, but keep doing it..,” Leon rasped, his hand shooting down to grab my hair. He tugged on it, forcing his length deeper into my mouth. I nearly choked, but I could take him.

“Mmmmph!!” my moan was muffled around the throbbing dick stuffed in my mouth as I felt Scorpio finally slide in. Two very aroused masculine moans sounded just then. As turned on as I was, Scorpio’s thick member still felt almost too large inside.

“Shit.. Oh fuck!”

Scorpio swore as he was trying to control his pace. It was torture, he was filling me all the way slowly, then pulling almost all the way out before plunging in again. I felt Leon’s grip on my hair tighten.

“S-slow down a bit, goldfish…”

He pulled me off his cock and knelt down to kiss me. This time he let me in first, and I tentatively explored his mouth. I felt Leon’s hand slide down, punching my nipples before going down to my folds to tease my clit. Scorpio’s thrusts quickened, he became rough and unrestrained, forcing all of his length into my pussy. Perhaps he liked watching Leon do filthy things to me after all.

I moaned into Leon’s mouth and my back arched further. I was getting close again. Scorpio fucking me roughly and Leon’s fingers on my clit was almost too much. The lion smirked at me and sat down in front of me, with my body between his legs. I knew what he wanted, so I lowered my body down, my ass sticking up in the air for Scorpio to grab onto. I gripped Leon’s cock again, my lips closing around his tip as I started sucking him again.

“Fuck… Mmm… You two…,” Scorpio ground out, barely able to catch his breath as he kept fucking me from behind. His cock was completely soaked in my juices, they were dripping down over his balls. I moaned around Leon’s length when I felt Scorpio’s fingers start rubbing my clit in small, tight circles.

Leon hissed in pleasure as I sucked him harder, moaning around his cock. I felt him swell up even more in my mouth and I took him in as deep as I could. He grabbed hold of my hair again, moving me over his length roughly, his grunts turning me on even more. Just then, I heard Scorpio’s moans change in pitch, sounding desperate almost, urgent. I knew he was close. I could feel myself getting closer too, my walls clenching around him.

“Heh.. I haven’t been... ahhh… using my power for a while now... All of this… mmmn… is just us,” Leon rasped, his voice thick with lust.

Scorpio was slamming into me now, his fingers never leaving my clit and his moans echoing the loudest. He wasn’t usually so vocal and he was turning me on so much… I was so close, I could feel my entire body tense, my pussy gripping Scorpio’s cock so tightly, when I heard him curse.

“Oh fuck..! Oh shit…! Fuck, I’m gonna...”

That was it. Hearing the desperation in Scorpio’s voice pushed me right over the edge and my walls clenched around him, pulsating on his length. I felt him grip my hips hard and slam into me, the head of his cock hitting the back of my pussy as I felt him start to pulsate, releasing his seed into me.

I nearly screamed on Leon’s cock still in my mouth. I felt Leon’s hips buck under me, shoving himself into my mouth. Scorpio was still cumming inside me, filling me up in hot spurts. I sucked hard, and I felt Leon spasm as his grip on my hair became almost painful.

“Mmm… Ah.. Aaah!”

Leon let out a long moan and his head fell back as he started to cum in my mouth. I tasted him, almost greedily as his cum flooded my mouth, and I swallowed it all. When he was done, he lounged back, resting on his elbows as his cock slipped from my lips.

Scorpio was spent, and he slumped over me in exhaustion. My head was swimming in a haze, my body weakened from the force of my two orgasms, and I slumped forward onto Leon’s lap. He petted my head affectionately for a moment. The three of us rested in a heap like that in the water, catching our breaths.

Leon sat up first. His expression was smug as usual but there was a softness to it.

“That was very, very entertaining. Thank you,” he said quietly, not making it clear whether he was thanking me or Scorpio. Somehow I felt he meant both of us.

“Scorpio, that feels better now, doesn’t it? Goldfish, I’ll see you next week,” he said casually, then got up out of the water, leaving me and Scorpio laying on top of each other. I watched the Minister collect his towel and wrap it around himself, then head for the doors of the baths. In a moment he was gone, leaving me alone with Scorpio.

As my orgasmic haze started to clear, I started to feel terrified. What had I done? What did Scorpio think?? Was this just a one-time thing before he leaves me and says he never wants to see me again?

“Tch… Stupid woman,” I heard him mumble against my back.

“You’re ruining my rest with your unnecessary fear,” he grumbled. I turned to look at him. His eyes were closed. He looked really sleepy.

“Scorpio… I don’t know what to say, I’m so sorry! I-I’d do anything to make it up to you!”

I was babbling, panic taking over me as I feared the worst.

“Shut up. You can make it up by warning me next time, instead of giving me a heart attack,” Scorpio’s deep, sleepy voice rumbled.

“I… What?”

Did that mean he wasn’t mad? What did he mean by “next time”? Clearly, he felt my confusion with his ability.

“What happened, happened. Quit stressing,” he said simply. “But you’re dead if you tell anyone. Got it?”

I nodded frantically. It was amusing to think of the other gods finding out the things Scorpio did with Leon. I would never tell, of course. So, he really wasn’t mad… I couldn’t believe it. Deciding not to push him for more explanations, I slipped from under Scorpio gently and went to grab my soap and sponge. I lathered up and started scrubbing Scorpio gently.

“You know I only love you, right,” I said and I meant it. As hot as this evening had been, it didn’t change my feelings for Scorpio.

“I know, I can feel it. You know you can never fool me. I know you don’t have any bad intentions or anything to hide. That’s why you get away with this,” he said, then hummed leisurely as he seemed to be enjoying me bathing him.

I couldn’t help but smile. We were okay and we’d just been on a hot hell of a ride. It seemed Scorpio could play nicely with others after all.

[makbaes-archives]

playing house | 7

member: hoseok x reader word count: 1,775 warnings: hoseok is only in this for like, a millisecond

summary: it’s not like you’re hard pressed for cash, but there is that spring break trip you need to save up for, so why not grab your best friend and pretend to be a couple for some research study? what could possibly go wrong?

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 (m) Part 5 Part 6

“Rise and shine, baby doll!”

You jump at the sudden intrusion and reluctantly let go of the nearest blunt object you could find once you register the voice as Lisa’s. Mumbling into your pillow, you hike the covers over your head.

“Come on. Get up! It’s yoga time, remember? You promised me and Rosie.” Lisa pulls back the covers all the way to the end of your bed, and you shiver, lifting your head to glare at her.

“Why did I ever give you the code to my apartment?” Slowly, you sit up, rubbing at your eyes and yawning. “It’s too early. Why can’t we go later today?”

“To answer your first question: Because you were holding yourself up in here and missing classes, and I came to the rescue.” She goes to your closet and pulls out some workout clothes and throws them at you. “Also, this is the only yoga class they have, plus the teacher is super hot, and you need to get over Ho-”

She stops short when she sees you staring daggers at her.

“He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named,” she finishes with a roll of her eyes. “Anyway, his name is Jackson, and I hear he has an 8-pack.”

You snort, “Who’d you hear that from?”

“Bambam. They’re friends.”

“So, you’re trying to hook me up with your boyfriend’s friend?”

“I’m trying to get you out of bed like you entrusted me to do. Now enough stalling! Get dressed. And try to look cute.”

Groaning exaggeratedly, you stand up and get changed. Lisa insists you put some makeup on, begrudgingly accepting when you go for a light, natural look.

There are more people in the studio than you thought would be for a class this early. Rosie is up at the front with three yoga mats already laid out for you all. She waves you both over, and you and Lisa sit down and start to stretch.

As soon as Jackson walks in, it’s suddenly not surprising as to why there are so many people in such an early class. He’s toned and handsome and has an incredible jaw line. He basically looks like a God, and you have to wipe the drool when he starts moving.

It’s an intermediate class, but he starts out with the basic poses first to get everyone warmed up, and then he eases into the more difficult ones. By the end of the class, you’ve worked up a sweat and can only hope you don’t look a total mess because Lisa is waving him over. He approaches the three of you with a smile, and you can hear the disappointed sighs of several other girls in the room.

“Hey, Lisa. Rosie. What’s up?” His eyes meet yours, and he holds out a hand. “Who’s your friend?”

“This is Y/N. Y/N, this is Jackson,” Lisa introduces.

You shake Jackson’s hand, not surprised by his grip at all. “Hi, nice to meet you. That was a great class.”

Jackson beams with pride, and you admire how handsome he is this close up. “Thank you. It’s a lot of fun. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“You know what else she enjoyed? Your-”

“Confidence!” Rosie interrupts, and you want to kiss her for it.

“Oh,” he laughs, cheeks tinging pink. “Thank you.”

Anything Jackson says after that falls on deaf ears the moment you spot him walking into the studio. Suddenly, you feel sick to your stomach. His dance practice isn’t usually this early, you think, and you wonder briefly if he’s just trying to keep himself busy, too.

Interrupting whatever is being said, you turn to Jackson. “Is there a class after yours?”

He blinks at you before shaking his head. “No, but-”

“Great! Would you like to join us for coffee?”

Jackson looks both confused and amused by your behavior. Lisa throws you a questioning glance before she spots what’s gotten you in a panic.

“Yes! Come join us! You can tell me all of Bam’s secrets.”

At this, Jackson laughs and agrees, following you all out. You loop around to his other side in an attempt to not be spotted. You think you make it out safely, unaware of Hoseok’s eyes following you out as you leave with some random guy.

It turns out that Jackson is one of the sweetest guys you have ever met. He’s loud and funny and a little much sometimes, but he’s also kind and caring and respectful.

A week later, after much insistence from Lisa, you find yourself on a date with him. Dinner and a movie, to be exact. Dinner is fun, thanks to his jokes and stories, and the movie is enjoyable, too, even with his arm around you for the second half of the movie.

But it’s when he’s walking you to your door that everything starts coming together for you.

“I had a great time,” you smile up at him. “Thank you.”

“It was my pleasure. I had fun.” And after a beat of silence, he leans in for a kiss.

This is the final piece clicking into place. There are no butterflies in your stomach as his lips touch yours - no fireworks exploding behind your eyes. Your heart doesn’t skip a beat. Not the way it did with Hoseok.

Hoseok.

That’s it. Jackson is just too similar to Hoseok. Not exact, no, but similar enough to feel the ache in your heart when you realize you’re not here with him.

Pulling away, you look up at Jackson nervously, biting your lip as you gather the courage to turn him down.

“I’m sorry,” you start slowly. “I thought I was ready to do this, but…”

Jackson gives you a small smile and nods in understanding. “Don’t be sorry. It’s… your ex, right?”

Glancing away, you nod. “Let me guess. Bambam?”

Jackson nods, rubbing the back of his neck. “I know it’s not my place to say anything, but… maybe there’s a reason you’re not ready to move on.”

You can’t help but let out a bitter laugh. “There’s a lot more to it than that.”

“Right.” He steps away and smiles as he gives you a little wave goodbye. “Goodnight, Y/N.”

“Goodnight, Jackson.”

As the door closes, you press your back against it, letting out a deep sigh, eyes falling closed and head falling back onto the door. Well, you think, so much for a distraction.

The next day, as you’re heading out of the library, you nearly smack right into someone. Pushing your hair out of your face, you see that it’s Yoongi staring down at you.

“Oh. Hi,” you mumble, adjusting your bag on your shoulder.

“Can we talk?” He asks, making no effort to dance around the awkward tension.

Nodding, you follow him to the small courtyard on the side of the building. It’s quiet with just the two of you there. He sits on a bench, and you follow suit, keeping your bag in your lap in case you need to make a quick escape. Yoongi notices and rolls his eyes.

“Relax, will you?”

You sigh, letting the bag slip onto the ground. “Sorry. It’s just… weird.”

“Well, yeah, I’d say so after ignoring your friends for weeks.”

Blinking, momentarily stunned at his bluntness, you turn your gaze to your shoes. You should apologize, but before you get a chance to even open your mouth, Yoongi is talking again.

“He told me everything if that’s what you’re wondering.”

You were afraid of that. “And everyone else?”

“They just know you had a big fight and aren’t talking. And apparently aren’t talking to us either.” Seeing the look on your face, he continues. “They aren’t taking it personally. They know it’s hard to reach out with him so close.”

Sighing again, you run a hand through your hair. You feel so vulnerable with someone else knowing exactly what happened. You haven’t even told Lisa yet, fearing that she will tell Naya and all of her research material on you and Hoseok will be for nothing.

“So, I take it you’ve been a wreck?” He asks, and you scoff.

“Yeah, sure. We’ll call it that.” You lift your eyes to his. “How’s he doing?”

“Not any better. Especially after he saw you flirting with that yoga instructor last week.”

You groan. “Shit. He saw that?”

It’s quiet for a moment as you wallow in your stupidity. You consider telling Yoongi your side of things, unsure if it’s the reason is for some advice or to make yourself look better in his eyes.

Taking a deep breath, you decide to tell him.

“I didn’t mean to hurt him. I thought maybe I could deal with it, but… God, I’m so stupid. I let myself get caught up in everything, that by the time I realized it, it was too late. Someone was already going to get hurt.”

“Stop being cryptic. Realized what?”

“That I… I love him.” You’ve never said it out loud before - haven’t been able to - but once you do, it’s like a weight is lifted off your chest. “I love waking up next to him. I love cooking with him. I love when he falls asleep on my shoulder during movie nights.”

Tears sting at your eyes, but you don’t let them fall.

Yoongi shakes his head, but a smirk tugs at his lips. “I’m pretty sure we all knew before you did.”

You glare at him. “Yeah, well, I fucked everything up, so…” You laugh bitterly at yourself. “Everything was fine until we slept together. I just… panicked. I thought if I pretended nothing happened, that my feelings would disappear. But they didn’t, and it cost us our friendship.”

Yoongi groans and you cock your brow at him.

“God, you’re both fucking idiots. Why didn’t you just talk about it with him?”

“We did. And we agreed to pretend it didn’t happen in an attempt to not ruin anything.”

“And how did that work out for you?” He sighs, standing. “That wasn’t talking. That was hiding. You need to talk to him. I guarantee he’ll understand once he knows the full story. I know I sure do.”

“No. I can’t. I can barely look at him without falling apart. I don’t want to hurt him anymore. Let me give him space. Let me get some space to just… get over him, okay?”

“Y/N-”

“No, Yoongi. I’m sorry.”

Gathering your bag, you stand and leave him alone in the courtyard. He watches your back as you round the corner and disappears, and he shakes his head, wondering why he’s friends with two of the biggest idiots in the world.

Thank you for reading! The next chapter is the last :( As always, feel free to leave feedback <3

xoxo Tyler

NEXT CHAPTER

[myndopeus]

you give me something to think about (chapter 5)

Read on ao3

Summary: Trini's never been good at making friends, which only makes being stuck in the same school for seven years even more miserable. But when she finally does meet someone nice, she ends up with a whole lot more than she bargained for.

It's gonna be one hell of a year.

The Slowburn Hogwarts AU that no one asked for.

“Ok. Go.”

“You sure you’re ready Billy? I mean, I can go first—”

“Jason, for the third time, I’m good. Just do it. But, uh, please be gentle.”

“Ha. Gentle. I’ll uh… I’ll try.” Billy did not look reassured by that.

Kim sighs, fiddling with her wand impatiently. She glares as Jason raises his wand uncertainly once more and hesitates. She rolls her eyes.

“I’m just—”

“Oh for God’s sake.” Kim finally snaps, pointing her wand at Billy, whose eyes widen. “Stupefy.”

Jason yelps as a tiny jet of red light shoots out to hit Billy, and his body immediately goes limp. He falls backwards onto the mattress with a thud, his eyes closed. Jason looks to her in shock, and she shrugs.

“You were taking too long. We weren’t getting anywhere with you dithering around like that,” Kim scoffs. They walk to stand over their unconscious friend.

“Ok.” She looks at Jason, who seems uncertain as to what to do now.

“What?”

“You’re the one who’s supposed to be practicing the spell, dumbass,” she teases, elbowing him slightly. “You first.”

He nods, swallowing. He points his wand at Billy. “Rennervate.”

There’s silence for a moment before Billy lets out a loud groan. Jason immediately leans down to help him sit up.

“How long did it take?” he asks, rubbing his head.

“Not long,” Kim answers. “I didn’t expect him to get it on the first try. Must have been a fluke.”

“Wow, thanks.” Kim just winks at Jason, before conjuring a goblet and filling it with water. She hands it to Billy, who looks impressed. He takes a long drink before standing up and shaking himself out.

“Alright. Let’s go again.”

Jason frowns. “Billy, you just went, it’s Kim’s turn.”

“Oh no, I’m good,” she says, leaning back against the desk. Jason shoots her a dirty look, and she grins back. Jason backs away from Billy, before raising his wand and taking a deep breath. He casts the Stunning Spell, and once again, Billy is lying unconscious on the mattress.

“Rennervate,” Jason casts, only this time, Billy doesn’t wake up. Jason tries again, to no avail. He looks up to the ceiling and groans in frustration.

Kim smirks. “Oh, this might take a while,” she says, sipping from the goblet.

“Fuck off, Kim.”

After almost a dozen more tries, Jason finally manages to wake Billy up again. This time, he insists that Billy and Kim trade places. She briefly wonders if Jason will stun her properly as revenge for making fun of him, but luckily, Billy does it instead.

When she comes to, her head is aching, and her mouth is incredibly dry. It feels like waking up from a too-long nap, only much worse. She shades her eyes with her hand, rolling over to get up.

“I don’t get it,” Jason says, pacing back and forth. “Why is this so hard?”

“Maybe you’re not focusing enough? Or maybe you’re focusing too much. I actually don’t know why it isn’t working.” Billy looks over Jason’s shoulder and sees her. He immediately grabs the goblet, refilling it as he walks over to her.

“Hey.” She smiles gratefully at him as she takes a drink. “Sorry, I would have woken you up sooner, but I really wanted to make sure Jason got it, but it was taking longer than I thought.”

Kim shakes her head. “It’s fine Billy, it’s definitely not your fault.” She turns to Jason. “Are you seriously that bad at the spell that I actually woke up without your help?”

“You don’t need to rub it in,” he grumbles. She laughs, and immediately clutches her head at the pain. Billy notices, and pulls a little corked bottle out of this robe.

“Here, this’ll help with your headache. One sip only.” She waves it off.

“Nah, I’m gonna be out again soon. One more time. It’s only fair,” she adds at Billy’s concerned expression. “You went twice.”

“Yeah, but you’ve been out for twenty minutes.”

“I could use a nap. Besides, I don’t think I have the patience to help Jason with this.”

“I have no problem with that,” Jason chuckles, before pointing his wand at her again. Billy steps out of the way as she nods that she’s ready, and everything goes black. This time, when she wakes up, the boys are standing over her. Billy does a few little claps with his hands.

“You got it!” he says, and Jason looks quite proud of himself. He reaches out a hand, and Kim takes it, pulling herself up.

Billy pulls out his wand. “Alright Jason, your turn.”

Jason barely has time to give Billy a confused look before he’s suddenly knocked onto the mattress. Kim stifles her laugh with her hand. Billy walks over and offers her the bottle of potion again, which she accepts.

“So, are you gonna wake him up?” She takes a sip of the thin liquid. After a few seconds, a strange watery sensation flows through her head before the pain fades.

The corner of Billy’s mouth tilts up. “I’m considering making him wait a little. See how it feels.” He hops up onto the desk next to Kim, his legs swinging a little as they dangle.

“How’s term been going for you, so far? I know we haven’t had much time to talk.”

“It’s been pretty good. I’ve been talking with Slughorn and Longbottom about getting full-time access to the dungeons and greenhouses, since they don’t always have time to supervise me, and some of the projects I’m working on are gonna require a little bit more time than I have right now. I still haven’t figured out to accurately predict the phenotypes of venomous tentaculae, there are so many, did you know? But other than that, things are going pretty good.”

“That’s good, I’m glad, Billy.”

He looks at her, and she knows that he’s about to ask a serious question because he makes eye contact with her, even if it’s brief.

“How are you doing, Kim?” he asks softly. She falls silent, biting her lip. Billy doesn’t say anything else, just watches her, waiting for a response.

How am I doing? She sighs. “I’m… I’m getting by. Things are tough, but it could be worse.”

“Just because it could be worse doesn’t mean it’s not already bad. Is it bad?” He seems concerned, and she quickly speaks up.

“No, no, it’s not bad,” she reassures him, and if it’s a bit of a lie, he doesn’t catch it. “It’s just… weird, you know? I don’t know what people are thinking when they look at me, if they’re judging me, if they hate me. It’s hard to ignore, you know?”

Billy snorts. “Oh yeah, believe me, I know exactly how that feels.”

She feels a twinge of guilt and sympathy; in the past, she might have been one of the kids that looked at Billy like that. Now that she’s experiencing it, even on a small scale, she can’t begin to understand how Billy dealt with it for so long.

“Billy?” she says after a moment.

“Yes?”

“How…” She hesitates. “How do you deal with it? With the stares, and the whispers and… just, all of it?” She’s grateful for the pause that follows, because it means that Billy is carefully considering his answer.

“It sucks.”

She looks at him, surprised at his bluntness. He raises his eyebrows. “What? It does. The truth is, when people judge you, it hurts. But that’s not really advice, I guess. For me? It’s better because I have you guys.” He looks off, his feet still swinging in the air. “It helps to remember that I have people who won’t judge me for being who I am. And that’s what we are for you, Kim. We won’t judge you for your mistakes.”

She swallows past the thick knot in her throat, simply nodding. They sit in comfortable silence for a while before Kim lets out a little laugh.

“We should probably wake Jason up.”

“Oh! Oh yeah, right.”

It takes Kim a few tries to get the spell right, but not nearly as many as it took Jason. They tease him for his headache, and he begrudgingly admits that it’s “more unpleasant than it seems.” After a few more rounds, they’re all tired enough to call it a day.

They’re all relaxing in the grounds when Billy springs the question on them.

“What do you guys think of Trini?”

Kim raises an eyebrow. The reclusive girl had just sort of appeared at some point, and her friendship with Billy and Zack meant that they’d inevitably had more than a few encounters. She’d figured that the girl’s presence at their study table was due to Billy’s kindness, but other than that, she didn’t actually know much about her.

She gives a noncommittal “hm” in response. In contrast, Jason actually answers the question.

“She seems nice,” he says. Seeing Kim’s skeptical look, he clarifies. “I mean, granted, she isn’t the most extroverted person, but she, uh… I mean, she hasn’t done anything, right?” He seems to be floundering for words.

“That’s the thing,” she says. “I mean, we don’t really know anything about her.”

Billy frowns. “But we do know stuff about her. She’s on the Hufflepuff quidditch team, she’s nice, she gets angry when Zack tries to pick her up, she thinks pumpkin juice is gross—”

Jason cuts him off. “I think Kim means that we don’t really know anything personal about her. She doesn’t talk to us that much, so we don’t really know what kind of person she is.”

“She evidently has some sort of chip on her shoulder,” Kim mutters, and Jason looks at her curiously.

“Well, I think Trini’s cool.” Billy’s foot taps out a steady rhythm on the grass as he speaks. “I want her to be friends with us. Like, part of the group, you know?”

They stare, a little confused.

“I want her to be part of our friend group,” Billy tries to explain. “You know? Is that a thing we can do?”

“Uh, maybe? I think?” Jason says hesitantly. “I mean, I don’t really know, like how that’s supposed to happen, it just kind of does.”

“We could just straight up ask her if she wants to be friends with us.”

“Ehh, I don’t know, B. I feel like if we did that, it would be awkward. Kind of like we’re putting her on the spot or something.”

“Plus, it depends on if she actually wants to hang around with us, and vice versa,” Kim points out.

“Well, she’s been hanging out in the library with us for a while now, and Zack and I play quidditch with her in the mornings, so I’m pretty sure that means she likes us. Do you not like Trini, Kim?” Billy looks a little hurt, and Kim sighs.

“I mean, I don’t dislike her.”

“That’s what people say when they don’t like someone, Kim.”

Kim rolls her eyes. “If she’s friendly with me, then I’ll be friendly with her. That’s all I’ll say for now.”

Billy shrugs. “I’ll take it.”

“Why, did she say something to you?” Jason looks concerned, and while she appreciates how protective he is, it can be annoying sometimes.

She shakes her head. “No, she’s just… not the friendliest, I guess.” Kim stands up, brushing bits off grass off her robes. “I’ve got to go finish an essay, I’ll see you guys tomorrow? Breakfast?”

Jason nods, and Billy gives her a thumbs up. She grabs her bags and heads back inside. She notices some of the students giving her curious looks, and it makes her a little nervous. It’s been a few weeks, which is plenty of time for everyone to adjust to the admittedly radical change in her hairstyle. She briefly wonders if word had gotten out, but she shakes the thought off. Steeling herself, she heads back to the Slytherin common room.

* * *

Taking a deep breath, she flicks her wand twice at the silver candlestick in front of her as she says “Triplico”. The candlestick seems to waver, blurring slightly, before two exact replicas appear on either side. Kim sits back, satisfied with herself.

“I’m impressed, Miss Hart.” She turns to see Professor McGonagall peering down at her over her spectacles.

“Many students find difficulty with casting Gemino to create a copy, let alone create two. Well done.” She walks off, and Kim feels a rush of pride in her chest at the rare compliment from the strict woman. She lets a small smile onto her face as she waves her wand, casting “Evanesco” and dispelling the replicas.

She hears a disgusted scoff from behind her, and her smile fades. She resists the urge to turn around, even as she hears the voice whispering.

“Of course she’d be sucking up to teachers now that she has no friends. They’re probably the only ones that can tolerate her.” Kim tries to ignore the giggles that follow.

When McGonagall dismisses the class, she sighs in relief and tries to leave quickly, eager to get out of the stifling classroom. As she’s leaving, someone collides with her, causing her to stumble. Her stomach drops when she sees that it’s Amanda, with Harper close behind.

“You know, Slytherin is really fitting for you, Hart,” Amanda sneers, and Kim stiffens. “Perfect place for a stuck up, snake bitch.” She’s off before Kim can retort, leaving her shocked in the middle of the hallway.

Her grip on the strap of her bag tightens, and she clenches her jaw a little, trying to sort through the wave of emotions going through her. Instead of heading to the library or the common, she decides to head outside instead.

The fresh air doesn’t do much to calm the turmoil in her head. She isn’t quite sure which feelings are which, whether she is angry, hurt, or ashamed. She walks faster, determined to outrun her thoughts.

As much as she wants to go for a swim, the grounds are a bit crowded, and she doesn’t feel like being around people at the moment. Her desire for peace and quiet ultimately leads her towards the quidditch pitch. As she approaches, she sees the Hufflepuff team filing out of the exit. Jen gives her a once over as she draws near.

“You got business with us, Hart?”

“No,” Kim replies, light, simple, and concise. Jen simply gives her a respectful nod before continuing on her way. The two had a mutual respect between them, as women and as quidditch players.

She sees Trini near the back of the group, and they make eye contact. Kim wonders if it would be awkward to say hello, but Trini quickly looks away, almost as if pretending not to have noticed her. Alright, then. Feeling a little snubbed, Kim brushes past, refusing to acknowledge her either.

She climbs high into the stands, high enough that she can overlook the whole castle. The wind is blowing slightly and the sky is cloudy, but she doesn’t feel the chill as much. She sits down heavily, gazing out over Hogwarts.

How could a place like this cause me such misery, she wonders to herself. The silence exerts a pressing weight, and she’s not sure if she finds it comforting or suffocating. She lies down and throws an arm over her eyes to block out the light.

She hopes that maybe, if she lies there long enough, all of her problems will vanish.

After a while, she’s not sure how long, she starts to feel drops of water falling on her hand. She forces her leaden limbs to move as she heads to the safety of the castle. She manages to avoid the most of the rain, drying herself off with a quick spell once indoors. Kim heads to the library, hoping it will motivate her to get some work done.

The table is surprisingly empty, but she sees a couple of third years eyeing it, so she sits down and they quickly back off. She finds a small bit of comfort in knowing that she’s still intimidating to some people, even if it’s only a bunch of 13-year-olds.

She lays out her books, but with no one else there, she ends up staring out the window instead. She’s not sure why she’s so morbidly fascinated with the dark sky outside.

She hears a slight noise, and she turns her gaze away from the growing storm to see Trini standing at the end of the table, apparently looking in every direction except at Kim. She remembers the earlier conversation with Billy and she sighs internally. She decides to at least make an attempt, for his sake.

“They’re not here yet,” she says, and Trini’s head practically snaps towards her. She’s not sure why the other girl is so tightly wound, but Trini just nods and sits in her usual seat. Which, of course, is nowhere near Kim.

Kim tries again. “Looks like you guys got out of practice just in time.” She gestures out the window. Trini looks out, makes a somewhat agreeing noise, and turns back to her book.

“How did that go, by the way?”

“How did what go?” Trini still doesn’t look at her, and Kim feels herself starting to get frustrated at the lack of response.

“Quidditch practice.”

“Fine.”

“Ok, what is your problem?” Kim says, exasperated, and finally, Trini looks at her. “Do you plan on just ignoring me forever?”

“Did you expect me to do something else?” she deadpans, and Kim’s temper flares.

“I don’t know, you could make conversation like a normal human being.”

“Oh that’s rich, coming from you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean,” Kim says darkly, the aggression seeping out in an attempt to hide her nervousness.

Trini raises an eyebrow. “Come on, don’t act like you actually want to talk to me. I know you’re just doing this for Billy.”

Oh. “Fine then, so what if I am? I’m trying to be nice, what’s wrong with that?”

“What’s wrong? It’s disingenuous, that’s what.” Trini actually looks somewhat affronted at the concept, and Kim rolls her eyes.

“Wow, you couldn’t explain that without using words less than three syllables long? That’s just unnecessary.”

“Didn’t realize I’d have to dumb it down for you. And here I thought you were one of the top students in our class.”

“Seriously? What, are you insecure or something?”

“As if,” Trini scoffs. “It may come as a surprise, but not everyone is obsessed with you. Get off your high horse, you’re not that great.”

That stings more than Kim expected it to. Trini must see it too, because her expression becomes a little more uncertain.

Kim shakes her head, looking away. “Whatever, I tried.” She thinks her attempt at sounding uncaring is successful, since Trini goes back to what she was doing too. They work in silence, the tension hanging over them. After a while, Trini takes a breath like she’s about to say something, and Kim looks up at her. As their eyes meet, Trini seems to freeze.

“’Sup, T!” They both jolt as Zack flops heavily into the seat next to Trini, the wood creaking underneath him. Jason and Billy enter the scene in a much quieter manner.

“What took you so long?” Trini asks, smacking away Zack’s hand when he tries to poke her.

“That’s my fault,” Jason admits. “I, uh, accidentally destroyed some of Professor Flitwick’s room, and he made me stay behind to clean it up. You guys didn’t have to wait for me,” he says to the other boys.

Billy shakes his head vigorously. “No, it’s fine, I didn’t want to leave without you.” His reference to only himself is not lost on the others, and Jason blushes slightly. Even Trini has a bit of a smile on her face.

Kim is thoughtful as the others devolve into quiet chatter. They’re a strange bunch, to be sure, but somehow that’s comforting to her.

* * *

Kim blows out a frustrated breath, flipping through her textbook. She and Jason had been struggling with this charms assignment for what felt like hours, but was probably only twenty minutes.

“I still can’t find it,” she grumbles.

“I know,” Jason replies. “I keep finding all sorts of different counter-spells, but nothing on non-spell charm breaking.”

“This is killing me.” She rubs her eyes tiredly.

“Ooooh, having some trouble, Hart? Thought you were the top of our class.” She gives Zack a deadpan stare as he chuckles to himself. She takes out her wand and gives it a wave, flicking Zack’s paper into his face and almost toppling him off his seat.

“Hilarious,” she says sarcastically. “And I might be first in Transfiguration, but I’m definitely not in Charms. I don’t know who is.”

She hears a little laugh from the other end of the table. Trini is shaking her head, an amused look on her face. Kim’s eyes narrow slightly.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing.” Trini’s innocent expression only makes Kim more suspicious. After a few seconds, it clicks, and Kim’s jaw drops.

“Wait, you’re at the top of our class in Charms?!” Kim’s volume gets a little out of control, and Billy quickly hushes her. She mouths a “sorry” to him, before turning back to Trini.

She gives Kim a smug look. “Not all of us flaunt our talents on an everyday basis. And besides, I like to surprise people.”  She smirks, and Kim blinks at the odd show of confidence. She has to admit, she’s… impressed.

Trini nods towards Kim’s paper. “You need any help with that?” It’s obviously a baited question, and Kim glares at her in annoyance.

“We’re good, thanks,” she says drily. Jason turns to stare at her incredulously as she goes back to her work. He glances between her and Trini, clearly torn about which person to turn to for help.

“Um…” Luckily, he’s saved when Billy looks over at his paper and starts quietly walking him through his mistakes.

Kim notices Trini watching her with a curious expression on her face. She raises an eyebrow, and Trini raises hers in response. The moment is broken when Zack leans over and swipes a paper from Trini. Kim rolls her eyes, trying to focus as they scuffle on the other side of the table.

* * *

Kim and Jason are the last ones left at the table, the others having gone their separate ways a while ago. They’re packing up quietly, the light fading outside.

“So,” he starts, and she groans internally, hefting her bag on her shoulder.

“You don’t need to ask how I am every time you see me, Jace,” she says, walking to the exit. He scrambles to catch up with her.

“Wow, I’m sorry for caring,” he jokes, and she rolls her eyes, bumping him playfully with her shoulder. “But you are cool, right?” he asks, and her mouth twists in a grim smile.

“I’m as good as I can be right now. Things aren’t great, but they’re not bad, I guess. And I have you and Billy, so I’m good.”

Jason nods. “And, uh, how do you feel about Trini?”

She stops walking abruptly. “Seriously? Why does everyone keep asking me that?” she demands. “First Billy, now you. What’s the deal with her, anyways?”

“Woah,” Jason says, stepping back. “I didn’t realize it was such a sensitive topic.”

“I’m not sensitive, I’m annoyed.”

“I mean, that’s fair, but I’m genuinely curious. You guys never really talk to each other, and when you do, it ends up being stuff like earlier. I know I asked earlier, but did something happen between you guys?”

Kim sighs. “No, not really. It sort of just seems to happen. I mean, I’m trying to be nice to her, but every time I say something she gets all… snarky.”

“I don’t think that’s her being mean, I think that’s just her being… Trini.”

“Oh, so you two are buddies now?”

Jason laughs, shaking his head. “Barely,” he chuckles as they continue their walk. “I’ve talked to her a few times, but that’s pretty much it. Billy’s the one who knows her, and he seems to think she’s pretty great, so…”

A grin spreads across Kim’s face. “Ooooh, you’ve got it bad, don’t you?” she teases, and Jason groans in embarrassment.

“Shut up.”

“Nah. Besides, it’s cute, the big bad quidditch captain being all smitten about the quiet little nerd.”

“Billy’s not just a nerd, a pretty good quidditch player too, you know. He could probably make it on the team—” Jason cuts himself off at Kim’s smirk.

“You’re so smitten. You’re head over heels, admit it.”

“Or maybe,” Jason says, his eyebrows wiggling, “you’re jealous because you want me aaaall to yourself.” He drapes his arm over her shoulders, pulling her in and planting a wet, sloppy kiss on her cheek.

“Ah! Jason Lee Scott!”

“Kimberly Ann Hart!”

“You’re gross.” She wrinkles her nose, shoving him away and wiping at her cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she says as she heads down the stairs. Jason clutches his heart as she leaves.

“Farewell, my love.”

“Up yours, Scott.”

It’s not yet curfew, and Kim really doesn’t feel like going back to the common room, so she decides to walk the halls for a bit. Maybe she can find an empty classroom or music room to hang out in until she has to go back. She rounds a corner and abruptly collides with someone.

“Jesus—” she falls silent when she realizes it’s none other than Trini, who is glaring at her. The angry look does nothing to hide Trini’s red eyes, nor the tear tracks on her face.

Kim hesitates. “Hey, are you—” she never gets to finish, as Trini abruptly shoves past her and swiftly walks away. Kim almost turns to watch her go, but decides against it.

“That’s not what I expected,” she says to herself. Of course, she isn’t going to pursue Trini; they don’t know each other… well, at all. Nevertheless, she does feel slightly bothered at just letting her go like that. Trying to push it out of her mind, she continues her search.

She eventually finds an unlocked classroom and makes her way in. She sits at the professor’s desk and practices conjuring birds while silently waiting for the time to pass.

* * *

“By now, you should all be somewhat acquainted with non-verbal spell casting. Today, we will be applying those principles to defensive spells.” Professor Potter waves his wand, summoning a large number of cushions out from a closet.

“In an encounter, you might not have the time to fully say the incantation for a spell,” he says, pushing his glasses up with his free hand. “You need to be able to defend yourselves quickly and instinctively. If your opponent manages to take you by surprise, that can determine the rest of the battle. Encounter. Sorry, that sounded quite militant.” There’s a soft chuckle from the students.

“We’ll be practicing the most basic and foundational spell, the shielding charm, first. Pair up.”

Kim glances around, looking for one of the boys, when her eyes land on Trini. Against her better judgment, she walks over, grabbing her arm.

Trini flinches, whipping around, and Kim lets go. “Sorry. You want to be partners?”

Trini obviously looks towards Zack, but he’s already play-wrestling with another Gryffindor, so she sighs. “Fine.”

 “So…” Kim begins awkwardly, and Trini gives her a grumpy stare. “Are, uh, are you ok?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Trini fires back, and Kim reminds herself to be patient.

She rolls her eyes. “Fine, whatever. You don’t have to be so aggressive.”

“And you don’t have to be so nosy.”

“I’m not being nosy,” Kim says, aghast. “I literally asked you a simple question.”

“Maybe I don’t like answering questions.”

“Is that it, or do you just not like me?”

“Maybe.”

Kim just sighs. They’re assigned to practice casting the shielding spell non-verbally first, before they move on to the partner exercise. They’re working quietly before Trini breaks the silence.

“Why are you so obsessed with me?”

Kim stares at her incredulously. “I beg your pardon?”

Trini shrugs nonchalantly. “I’m just saying, you keep trying to talk to me, you’re always in the same places I am…”

“That’s because we have the same friends! And we’re all stuck in the same small place.”

“Small? It’s literally a fucking castle.”

They notice that the other groups have moved on to the partner exercise, and soon the room is full of flashes of spells and the frustrated noises of dozens of seventh years unsuccessfully trying to stop themselves from getting hexed.

“Preferably non-harmful spells, please,” Professor Potter calls out. “Madam Pomfrey has seen too many of my students already.”

“Besides,” Kim says. “What’s to say you’re not the one who’s obsessed with me? It could just as easily go the other way around.”

“I don’t have time to stalk people. I have better things to do.”

“Oh yeah, like what?”

“Like nunya.”

“God, do you ever give a straight answer—” Kimberly is abruptly cut off when a force hits her in the stomach, knocking the breath out of her slightly and sending her falling into a cushion.

“Focus, Miss Hart!” Her face flushes when Professor Potter calls her out.

Trini smirks. “Yeah, focus, Kimberly.” The way Trini says her name is somehow infuriating.

Kim groans internally. Maybe I should just give up on this girl. She heaves herself off of the cushion, just in time for another student to go soaring into it. She sees Zack wincing at the other end of the room. “My bad.”

Professor Potter cradles his head in his hand. She hears a quiet giggle come from Trini, and Kim watches her. She finds that despite her frustration, she’s adamantly curious about this girl. Trini notices Kim watching her, and she quickly pulls her face into a neutral expression. Kim smiles a little at the almost childish concealment, and Trini raises an eyebrow before sending another hex at her. This time, Kim is prepared, and she manages to deflect it, just barely. To her surprise, this time Trini mirrors her smile.

Kim blinks. Well, now I’m confused.