#big sister who covers for you when you sneak in after curfew

[tvrningout-archived]

listen!! what if hyouka found her flame breathing teacher bc his daughter is a slayer who steered hyouka his way 👀 and what if this slayer has a clumsy but well-meaning student herself bc she’s inherited her dad’s teaching skills and also couldn’t turn down this cute kid 👀 what if 👀👀👀

[marvelslut16]

Meeting Hop for the first time

Pairing: Jim Hopper x Wheeler!reader (platonic at this stage)

Synopsis: Overwhelmed 14 year old (Y/N) sneaks out of her house and runs into recently returned Officer Hopper, and they unload on each other in the early hours of the morning.

Word count: 1.6k

Warnings: Swearing maybe? But none that I can think of.

Author's note: OMG I'm alive and so is this series? Who would of thunk it? These 10 hour days are kicking my ass, by the time I get home from work I'm too tired to write and I'm creatively drained. But I'm making a conscious effort to post more. So wish me good luck.

Everything is so loud: Holly screaming from the room next to mine, and the wails crackling loudly through the baby monitor attached to my Mom’s hip; Nancy listening to her Kate Bush’s The Dreaming cassette for the millionth time- far too loudly- to drown out the sound of Holly’s cries; Mike is practically screaming as his action figures fight in a life or death battle in his room; and my mom is calling for my dad to make a bottle for Holly and all dad does is turn the TV up a notch higher every time she calls down to him, pretending he doesn’t hear her.

Even in the dead of the night the house is too loud, my mind echoes the day's activities, and my brain hurts from all of the studying I secluded myself in my room to focus on. It’s hard to breathe when I think of all of the things I have to do. I have to wake up early tomorrow to make everyone breakfast since mom is still healing from having Holly, then I have to get Mike and Nancy up and to the table, fix Holly a bottle, feed burp and change her, quickly scarf down what’s left of breakfast, clean the dishes, get dressed for school, make it to the bus stop in time, go to school, come home, take a turn with Holly, help with dinner, clean the dishes, shower and then finally do homework into the early hours of the morning. 

I close my copy of the Catcher in the Rye and set my pencil down as I finish the first draft of my AP English essay on the theme of maintaining happiness and keeping up appearances that are clearly shown in the story. My open window and the cool breeze blowing in isn’t providing me with enough fresh air to breathe properly and to stop my rising panic. After a good five minutes of debating, I sneak out of the house for the first time.

I debate walking all the way to Jonathan’s house, but there’s no way Joyce wouldn’t tell mom if she caught me there in the middle of the night or sneaking out in the early hours of the morning. Well later in the morning, given that it's almost two already. I aimlessly walk for about ten minutes before I end up at the neighborhood park. It's been ages since I have been there in a capacity that isn’t watching my younger siblings. I breathe in the fresh air, plopping down on a swing and soak in the quiet and peaceful early hours of the morning. 

“What do we have here?” a gruff voice from behind startles me a few moments later. I jump from my spot on the swing and turn to look at the owner of the voice, getting my legs ready to run back to the house if I’m in danger. 

But instead I’m greeted by the most handsome man I have ever seen, he looks to be in his mid thirties, close to six and a half feet, he’s sporting a little stubble on his face, his blondish looking hair covered by his hat, and he’s wearing a Hawking police uniform. He must be the big city detective everyones been talking about, the one that just moved back to town. 

“Um, hi,”  I answer timidly, unsure if he and his big city ways will arrest me for breaking curfew. 

“What brings you to the park in the middle of the night?” the man asks, sitting down on the swing next to the one I’ve just abandoned. 

“I uh- I just wanted to get out of the house for a little while. It feels like my baby sister is always screaming, and then everyone else in the house gets louder to compete with her. I just wanted a break from the noise and from endless homework.” I’m not quite sure why I’m sharing everything with him, but it feels good to get it off my chest. I haven’t even told Jonathan, he’s been too consumed with cheering Will up after another broken promise from Lonnie. 

“Oh, so you must be the (Y/N) Wheeler, the one that just led Hawkins high to their first ever Scholastic Decathlon, and won.”

“I see my reputation precedes me,” I huff out, annoyed that that’s all anyone ever knows me as, the freakishly smart freshman.  

“Well you were in the newspaper for it,” I roll my eyes at his sly smile. “Your face was the first thing to greet me when I opened my newspaper on my first day back.”

“So you must be Jim Hopper, the war hero and big city detective,” I raise my eyebrows at him.

“I see my reputation precedes me too,” his whole body shakes when he laughs. 

“Well, when someone actually gets out of this town, people talk when they decide to come back.”

“Where are you planning to escape to after graduation?” he asks, and I don’t blame him. Anybody who has the chance usually runs, and with my intelligence I’m a shoo in at almost any University I could dream of, so it’s only natural to assume that I’ll run too. 

“I’m actually planning on staying here,” I sit back down on the swing and start to push myself back and forth. “Ever since I was four and I could read my picture books on my own, everyone assumed that I was meant for great things. My mom forced me to do more, to do better, and when I was old enough she forced me to join every academic club I could. I never got to be a kid, I never got to be in ballet like Nancy, and I couldn’t play with toys like Mike. I was a genius who’s meant to do great things, just something for my parents to brag about when they go to dinner parties. 

They put me on this pedestal, and I constantly feel like I’ll fall off of it the moment I do something to disappoint them. My mom expects me to be a doctor or a lawyer, or some big wig in a fortune 500 company. And no one has ever bothered to ask me what I want, what I like to do. I don’t even know what I like to do, I don’t have time for hobbies- if I’m not at school or doing homework I’m taking care of my little siblings. I just want them to realize that I’m not some perfect jewel that they can show off, I’m a person who’s bound to mess up and who deserves to have her own life and do what she wants to do.”

“The people here put me on a pedestal too,” he says after a minute, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a cigarette and lighter. “Back when I was your age I played football, I was the youngest starting quarterback in Hawkins High history.”

“You led the Tiger to their first ever football championship, they still have the trophy front and center in a glass case,” he shakes his head before lighting his cigarette. 

“The people in this town, my coach especially, expected me to play college ball, and I thought about it for a while, only disappointed everyone when I saw what was going on in ‘Nam and decided to enlist. But then they all expected me to be some brave hero, and I ain’t. I was just someone who wanted to see justice. So I went to New York and became a police officer there, and the people here thought highly of me ‘cause I was some fancy big city cop.”

“You still went on to do amazing things, you never really disappointed anyone,” I stare off at the monkey bars in front of me. “I know I’ll disappoint everyone, especially my mom, when I don’t go to any of the schools she has picked out for me. If I’m not their little genius, I’m nothing to them.”

“They ain’t worth your time if that’s all they see you as, even if they are your parents,” he tosses his now finished cigarette. “You have a good head on your shoulders, you’re bound to do good things, no matter what you choose to do after graduation.”

“Ya know, you’re a really good listener, and strangely easy to talk to,” I fight the tears that cloud my eyes, this complete stranger has made me feel more seen than my parents ever have. 

“Could you tell my ex wife that?” he cracks a small grin. 

“And you’re funny too?” I giggle. “I wasn’t expecting that with how intimidating you looked when you first caught me, I thought you were going to arrest me for breaking curfew.”

“If I catch you again, I may just have to,” he stands from the swing with a groan. “C’mon I’ll drive you home, ‘ll be sure to keep the lights off and go slow so none of your nosey neighbors notice.”

“Thank you,” I smile at him, forever grateful to him for listening to me tonight. “Have you thought about going on a higher pedestal and becoming the Chief of police? You’re a lot smarter and kinder than the rest of the idiots in that station.”

“I’ll have to start kissing the Mayor's ass,” I giggle again and thank him as he opens the passenger side door for me.

The car ride is spent in silence, with the exception of giving him directions here and there. He waits until I’ve climbed up the trellis and slip back into my room before he drives off, turning his lights back on at the end of the street. I sleep soundly that night for the first time in a long while, it feels like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I feel lighter, freer and happier. 

CFTF tags: @letaliabane @ilovethatforyou @gay-forspace @ffantasylandd @iwamaye2 @sarai-ibn-la-ahad @l0ve-0f-my-life @moonstarsandsongs @euphoniumpets @noshi-chan @astream-ofconsciousness @rentheanonymous @southsideacademythings @peter-beter-barker @tinynshykitten @captainstilinskis @krazykatkay456 @sara-stark-rogers @jayybear @lolitagirly02 @wolfieellsworld @lolacolaempath @idkitsrandxm @agirlinherhead @miss-goldenweek @gaspyghosttt @sharp-cheekbones-locked @stitchattacks @tomshelbystits @piper570 @kaylahat @evyiione @strbyallycow @bigenergy777 @unatempesta-dipensieri @minispice-1

[wordsbymae]

NO BECAUSE THIS MUST BE FATE!!! I SAW THAT VERY TIKTOK AND IT WAS A KINDA INSPIRATION FOR ME^^ Also thank you for the compliment, you too! You’re so overly detailed and you go these long essay rants, and I just get so excited because I know it’s gonna be good 🦋🦋🦋. But he’s very traditional and country. I can imagine him having strict parents. His dad was a big ole gun nut from a long line of deer/bear hunters  who were veterans (became one himself) and his mom a overly religious church woman, with a long line of family that either married men who positions in church or men who held positions themselves. She was Around marriageable age and her family was just waiting for a man to pick her up and marry her, and that’s what his dad just did. Saw her, followed her home, and in front of her demanded parents to hand her over to him. Eventually, they did since nobody step up to claim her and all men who were originally interested was never heard of again (he shot them all). Two Weeks Later she was legally and officially his. Nobody was concerned with the quick arrangement due to the recently spiked in missing young adult men, they never did find the cause 🤔. She was raised to be move in elegance and grace, she’s regard herself as prim and proper young woman. But for Clement (Clem to his wife) a man who grew up on the rougher and more dirtier side of town. A man who use to wrestle his brothers in the mud, in midnight sneak onto the fields of farms and flip over cows, race his father’s beat up truck on dirt roads, come home in the pinch of night covered in dry dirt head from toe, lost his virginity in a barn on some haystacks, never taught proper manners, his Sunday best (if he actually went to church) was a regular white shirt with dirt covered jeans and his failed attempt to slick back his hair, went skinny dipping, went to house parties held in the woods, use to work in a pork processing factory, was never given a curfew, education and learning wasn’t his strong suite, jump off cliffs into big lakes; she was stuck up, up tight and prissy young lady. Usually for a guy like, he wouldn’t even be able to look at a gal like her, hell if he hadn’t seen her when he did, but a couple moments down. He would had to shot her then fiancé in their wedding just to claim her for himself, for a crazy obsess and possessive man like himself that very thinking is his root to all his insomnia and paranoia. She on the other hand grew up in different circumstances than him. She was the middle daughter of two sisters, parent by a housewife and the pastor. The societal standards and norms were forced upon her from a very young age. She was homeschooled, never had a curfew because she wasn’t allowed out, was only allowed friends of her parents choosing (they were only chose by the highest status and closest relationship to the church), if being a housewife wasn’t her parents first choice she would have been attended a community college for medicine or a trade school.Very isolated and restricted home life.She would not have liked him for first time meeting.He was everything her mother told her not to want and look for in a man.He was a dirty, vulgar, gambling, drinking, poor, perverted man. But as he shoved down everything about him down her throat,she eventually come to love him.So obviously they wouldn’t get along at first. He wanted to break her, to be like “haha a prissy girl like you have to be stuck under man a like me 😜”,she even tho obviously wanted to be anywhere else besides near him, she still performed her housewife duties diligently which he liked.When she has a her very big O caused by him,her whole world tips over. She would feel like a common dirty whore. And to crush her, he would degrade her as he’s doing it. whispering raspy degradation as she comes down from her high. It was hard to hate him when he use to her eat her out like his life depended on it. Would embarrass her by refusing her a shower first after a long day of working at home, by his word “would stripe away the flavor”.There’s more, but hoped you liked :DDD

Awwww thank you!!!! Sometimes I rush through cause I don't have a lotta time to be online so I feel bad leaving you hanging or giving you less than what you gave me. Also, you have the best ideas and thoughts that sometimes I sit there and have no idea what to write because what you did was perfect and just so good!! I get so excited when I see you too and I reread them like 5 times.

How can you do this to me autumn!!!! Now I'm horny for another feral country boy. I blame you wholeheartedly. Man, I thought Joseph was the love of my life but now you bring Clement into this??? Have you no mercy?? I legit nearly fainted reading about this man.

Hehe, I have a bit of a thing for men in uniform, can you imagine Leroy in uniform??? I think he would still have his fatigues somewhere stashed away and probably would bring them out to role-play with Bunny (Once again I am projecting).

But Clement and his wife!!!!! AHHHHH

I can see her family waiting for the best suitor to come around if anything they were hoping for the sheriff's boy. But would have prefered it if another preacher come to town.

I think it would be cool if it was the first he's been to town since he got out of the military. Maybe he wasn't from that town originally and just picked it cause they needed a hunter or something like that. And he's driving through town when he sees the prettiest girl he's ever seen. He practically slams on the brakes and puts the car in reverse to follow her from a distance. He then banged on the door and asked to speak to her father. From there he states his claim. Although it didn't help that he didn't know her name and took like 5 minutes for her father to figure out which daughter he was talking about. And yes!!!! Her parents wanted to say no but no one else came forward and they couldn't let her become an old maid so they have to say yes I loved that he was just scarring/picking off all the other men who were trying to get her hand. and yeah the town is so concerned with the missing men that no one cares the preacher's daughter is marrying a veteran who lives in the middle of the woods that no one knew two weeks ago.

She is kinda mad but she was raised to be a good wife so there's not much she can do. She was expecting to be a sheriff's or a preacher's wife so she was taught to act elegantly and with grace. However, she is watching with thinly veiled disgust at her new husband's wild ways. She doesn't swear, take the lord's name in vain, lie or boast, she is a good preacher's daughter and she will make an even better wife.

"A man who use to wrestle his brothers in the mud, in midnight sneak onto the fields of farms and flip over cows, race his father’s beat up truck on dirt roads, come home in the pinch of night covered in dry dirt head to toe, lost his virginity in a barn on some haystacks, never taught proper manners, his Sunday best (if he actually went to church) was a regular white shirt with dirt covered jeans and his failed attempt to slick back his hair, went skinny dipping, went to house parties held in the woods, use to work in a pork processing factory, was never given a curfew, education and learning wasn’t his strong suite, jump off cliffs into big lakes" ------ This is an amazing description! I love that I instantly know who he is and I love it!

He would think she was such a frigid bitch, he loves her don't get me wrong, he's obsessed with her, but almost to the point where he hates that he does. She represents everything he never got, all the meals his mama had to skip, all the clothes his papa couldn't afford to repair, and all the years being squished under the fancy people's boots. She might not be rich but her family never had to starve and a part of him resents that he loves a woman like her. So different to him. People would turn their noses at him if he had ever dreamed of marrying a woman like her, let alone touching her. I love the idea that if he had missed that initial first look, he would have had to forcibly take her, shoot her soon-to-be husband and just run away with her. If you like country/folk music you should listen to charlie boy by benjamin Dakota rogers, as soon as I read that, the song came to me, it is literally that storyline, also john came home, and I was planning on writing a fic around it.

The sad thing about this reader is she is used to being oppressed so what is marriage if it not for the same thing. It would be a bit sad, and since I love happy endings, I think it would be so cute if clem could see she dreamed of being a nurse when she was a kid so he enrols her in an all-women's nursing school. She would be so happy! Every day clem takes her to school on his way to work and picks her up on the way back. He would let her study anatomy on him, and he was more than happy to help with reproduction study ;) But I see this only happening after maybe a year or so when they both have opened up their hearts to each other.

The start though is her being disgusted with him and trying to hide that, but he makes it hard to hide it when he sculls a beer and then another one during the wedding dinner. He pinches her bottom and slaps it in front of his friends. He whispers in her ear that she is going to have open her legs for a poor, filthy labourer like him and that it is her job as a wife to pleasure him no matter how he wants it. You are so right! I think he would be mean, calling her filthy things in bed to get a rise out of her (but I think she would like it, unlike Alwyn's reader, this one never wanted a sheltered life, she wanted to rebel from her parents, rebel from being a perfect woman, so him calling her these things allows her to rebel in a way, to destroy the perfect life her parents had planned).

Please tell me more !!! I loved it!!!!

Lots of love mae xx

[jaeminscoffee]

Grounded.

Pairing- Huang Hendery x reader

Genre- Fluff, Crack.

Word count- 1.80k

Warnings- bunch of stupidity.

Summary- Never trust Hendery when it comes to escape plans.

Was it past 1 am? Yes. Were you allowed to stay out at that time? No. Does your mom know that you're out of the house? She doesn't and she should never. But are you desperate for cuddles? Hell yes. 

You found yourself unable to sleep, twisting and turning in bed trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in,  only resort to silently whining and hitting yourself in the head with your pillow. 

Sleepless nights suck. But it'd suck less if you had someone as equally sleep deprived as you. 

And that's how you ended up at Hendery's house. 

His house wasn't that far, just a lane beside yours and that's where he lives. So when he picked up the call at the second ring, you knew that you could just walk into his studio apartment and spend the night there, wake up extremely early, make your way back to your house and then pretend you were there the whole time without even a soul knowing about it. 

This wasn't the first time one of you sneaked into the others house, well, Hendery sneaking into yours and you just walking into his as he lived alone. Ah the luxury. 

Living with parents isn't a bad thing, not necessarily a good one either if you're a fully grown adult who can stay out for days. But living with parents comes with its own unspoken regulations. Most of them doable, but curfew. Oh curfew. 

You never till date have gotten caught, and god forbid you shouldn't, that's why the two of you always choose extreme late hours to meet up with each other. 

"Alright cuddles with snacks or just cuddles?" Hendery asked the first thing after he opened the front door. You walk in, slamming the door behind you and dragging your feet towards him. You throw yourself right onto him once close enough.

"I don't care just make me sleep". He looked at you, lips drawn into a straight line, contemplating on what to do, wrapping his hands around your body to keep you from sliding back. 

Seeing you blink frequently, barely keeping your eyes open, Hendery placed a peck on your forehead, picking you up and carrying you to his room."Just cuddles it is"

Chic, Black and clean. Way too clean actually. But it was cozy.

"Do you have any reason for being sleepless?" he asked after turning the lights off, only keeping the warm, little bedside lamp on, placing you down on the bed. 

"I missed you.. " you reply in a tiny voice, muffled from you nuzzling into his pillow. You hear him let out a small laugh, climbing onto the side beside you as you reach into your pocket, fishing for your phone, placing it on top of the side table once finding it. 

"That's the reason?" he asked in a teasing tone, shifting closer to you once he got into the comforter. 

"Just shut up and hug me" you reply back, yawning and pulling him closer to you, his cologne making you feel lethargic, eyelids growing heavier and heavier as seconds passed, with Hendery's hand running up and down your back in a soothing manner.

"Night, princess" he hummed by your ears, resting his head on top of yours as you mumbled a good night back. 

That sleep was definitely one of the best ones you've had, you didn't even wake up dead in the middle of the eyes like you'd usually do, even if you did, his scent and the slow heaving of his chest was so calming that you'd go back into dreamland in no time. 

The best part of it all is waking up beside him, a real blessing seeing his lips slightly parted, hair disheveled but still looking absolutely ethereal. 

But when you woke up, clueless to what the time is, you were extremely disappointed to not have Hendery beside you. You stretch and rub the sleep away from your eyes, running a finger down your nest of a hair. "Hendery?" you call out, voice a little breathy as you'd just woken up. 

You get no reply so you call out a little louder, "Hendery?". The house wasn't that big, it was medium. But big enough for at least three to four more Hendery's to fit in. "In the kitchen!" you hear a muffled voice screamed back. 

You stretch out once again, groaning at the feeling of your sleeping muscles coming back to life, stepping your foot down and making your way towards where your boyfriend was with slow strides. "Morning, sunshine" 

Hendery chirped, slightly flinching as you wrap your hands around his torso, back hugging him while he was busy with whatever he was doing. You smile at the nickname, cuddling further into his back as you returned the greeting with as much as enthusiasm your morning voice could muster. 

"Why are you up this early?" you assumed it'd be early as that's how it always went, you'd wake up at absolutely absurd times when he was sound asleep and make your way back home, but seeing him awake was just as pleasant as waking up to his calm sleeping face. 

"Early?" he turned to the side to look at you, laughing, "baby, it's almost 1 in the afternoon, how is that early?" he said so casually, turning back towards the sandwich he was making (you sneaked a peak from around his tall frame)

You let go of him, tugging at his shirt pulling him to face you as he spoke, thinking you misheard him. 

"It's what?" you ask with your eyes wide open, "it's 1..?" he replied, tilting his head towards the side, confused. "Hendery! Oh god, my phone.. Where's my phone?" you gasp out, silently praying your parents were still asleep, rushing to the bedroom, towards the side table where you'd left it last night, Hendery following right behind you. 

You turn your phone on, the screen ridiculously bright, making you squint your eyes. Adjusting to the brightness after a second, you look at the screen. '15 missed calls from mom'

Oh that's less. 

'3 missed calls from sister'

'1 missed call from dad'

You're dead. 

You turn towards your boyfriend, who stood behind you, towering your figure peeping into the screen, turning to look at you when you turned, his expression puzzled. "I'm dea-" you start, only to get cut off by the sound of your phone ringing. 

You look at the caller id, then at Hendery, then back at your phone screen as you lift your other hand and pull your hair. "Shit mom's calling" you whine out. You look at Hendery, eyes begging to do something, 

"Well pick it up?" he said, eyebrows furrowed. You look at him with an 'are you crazy' look, rushing towards the front of the house, planning on just sonic bolt it to your house then up to your room hoping they wouldn't notice you, but Hendery stopped you by your arm as soon as you reached the entrance. 

"So wait what are you planning on doing?" he asked, nibbling on his bottom lips. "run home??" you said in an oh so obvious voice. " 'run home' " Hendery mocked your tone, pulling you back into the house after softly giving your forehead a flick. "Are you stupid? We need a plan." 

He dragged all the way back to the living room, shoving you towards the couch and forced you down to sit by your shoulder. 

"kunhang, babe, I'm already dead. Why the fuck are you trying to me kill more than I'm already going to-" "Shush my child" "Henderyy-" "Y/n." "I'M going to die!-" "DUDE" you flinch slightly, then glare at him as he giggled. 

Your phone kept ringing in hand making you clutch it hard. "Okay. Y/n?" he called out, you looked up with your eyebrows raised, gesturing him to continue. "Do you trust me?" he asked, all serious. 

You nod. "oh well then you won't die so listen" you narrow your eyes at how fast he's changing the tone of his voice. 

You breath in deep, shutting your eyes tight and then opening it. You look at him with a lot of expectancy. "what's the plan?" you ask.

"You know the ladder your dad places by the back door? It's tall enough to reach your room's window, I'll climb up first and lock the door, don't wait for any sign from my side, climb up right after me." 

You think for a while, creating the scenario in your mind before thinking it's better if you'd do that rather run straight through the door. 

You look him dead in the eyes, a smile creeping up your expression. 

"Hendery you're a genius!" 

-x-

That's how you ended up at the fence by the back of your house, climbing up the walls after looking around for any human soul. 

"Hendery you're an absolute idiot. What if we get caught??" you yelp as you land on the floor with a thud, immediately moving your hand up to your mouth, covering it while Hendery shushed you.

"Calm down we won't" he replied as he landed with ease, walking towards where the ladder was kept. 

You stand by the fence as you watch your boyfriend lift up the ladder, dragging it towards where your room was once you pointed out where it exactly was located. 

Your father has this habit of opening all the windows of the house to let in some fresh air. You always felt grumpy about that because, who needs fresh air? But you felt extremely grateful that he'd left your bedroom window wide open. 

Halfway up the ladder, Hendery waved his hands to catch your attention, once gaining it, gestures you to follow him. You look around one last time, then jog towards the ladder, gripping the edge as your boyfriend stepped his foot inside your room. 

Sighing in relief that he'd made it safe to your room, you climb up too. 

Without looking around, right after you get inside, you turn around and shut your window, "Hendery, actually yeah you are a geni-" you say with a huge smile on your face. You turn around, your eyes immediately widening as you come face to face with your mother, Hendery beside you mirroring your expression. 

"Mother! Hi!" you clap your hands together, giving it a squeeze. You watch your mom smile, raising her hands up to stop you from talking. 

"Mom-"

"You two. Grounded." your mom said with a stolid face, eyeing the pair of you. 

"But aunty I'm-" Hendery starts trying to explain that he has things to do back at home. 

"Did i stutter?" your mother replied, "Wait so me too?" Hendery asked, pointing himself with disbelief oozing out of his voice. 

Your mother nodded her head, narrowing her eyes and pointing at him. 

"Grounded."

[emmy-writes-sometimes]

2:15

You sneak back in the house after breaking a promise to your brother, Tom, and have a hard conversation.

-

           “Promise me you won’t be too late?” Your brother asked as you got out of his car. He was going off to another pub quiz, while he was dropping you off at a party at a friend’s house. You rolled your eyes, pulling your dress down. He’d already covered for you so your parents wouldn’t see how short it was, and he was letting you stay the night at his house so you didn’t have to sneak back in and wake up the rest of the family. He was doing you a favor, really.

           “I promise, Tommy,” you groaned in response, shutting the door to the car and stepping out onto the curb.

           “Remember I have Life 360!” He called out to you, rolling down the window, before he pulled away from the curb. You looked down to see that your phone was fully charged, even though the battery would probably die within a couple of hours, and the app was going in the background. Your parents didn’t really care to see your every move, so it was just you and your brothers on the app. Despite being only fourteen months older than you, Tom was extremely over-protective. Extremely. He was your best friend, sure, but he was also your worst nightmare sometimes. You’d already decided that if you needed help that night you’d call one of the twins because only one of them would answer you, and you had so many things over them that there was no way they’d rat you out to your parents.

           You walked into the house to find your friends, going right to the drink table. Your friend Alyssa was getting a drink, your friend Alex tending the bar, and for the most part you were able to let go. You didn’t go to parties often – you were usually traveling with Tom if you weren’t at home doing university online, so it had been a while since you’d seen your friends. And you were leaving again tomorrow night to go Los Angeles with Tom and Harrison for three months, so you wanted a chance to see all of your friends again. You watched your drinks to make sure nobody touched them, even pouring it out before you went out to the bathroom, and you thankfully didn’t get spiked. You had to fight off a few boys, and then another one just went ahead and left anyway when your phone lit up to show a picture of you, your brothers, and Harrison along with Tessa. The fact that you had so many male family members often freaked boys out, and this time you were able to use it to your advantage.

           “Ugh, I think I’m heading out,” you said finally, realizing your phone was on ten percent. Tom had texted you already, multiple times, saying you’d better be home soon, and you’d been hanging out by the drink table anyway. You weren’t completely intoxicated, but you knew your limits and you had laundry to start, too.

           “Take my jacket,” Alex said, grabbing onto your arm, handing you his suede jacket. Alex was one of your best friends, and had been for years, and you had a thing going on that you both wouldn’t admit that you liked each other, so you were stuck doing meaningless gestures until someone made a move, which would probably be never. Still, though, you were thankful.

           “Thank you, it’s freezing out there,” you said as you shrugged the jacket on, then grabbed onto your straightened hair to pull it from where it was underneath the heavy jacket.

           “Text me when you get home, too.”

           “Yeah, if Tom ever lets me go. I know he’s going to yell because it’s so late.”

           “Oh, fuck that. He’s your brother, not your dad.” You scoffed, pressing the button on your phone to call an Uber.

           “You’d be surprised. He’s the one that set my curfew in the first place.” Alex laughed, not even realizing that it was true, and you said goodbye before heading out to the front porch to wait on a car. You hopped in after checking the license plate, but asked the driver to drop you off a block away from Tom’s house. You could see that the lights were off, except for the string lights in the room you usually stayed in, and sighed. Tom must already be asleep. Good. You didn’t want to face his wrath for coming home at two in the morning, even though you were above age and could take care of yourself.

           “Thank you,” you said to the driver, giving him a smile, and you looked around before opening and shutting the gate to the backyard as quietly as you could. The front door would be too loud, and the back door was quieter because it slid open instead of pulled open. The only motion sensing light was in the front, too, and you’d managed to avoid it. It wasn’t the first time you’d snuck into the house, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.

           You took off your high heels so they wouldn’t click against the tile floor and slid the door open, slipping inside, and then you shut it and locked it. The downstairs was completely dark, thankfully, and you walked over to the carpeted living room and put your shoes down. Your phone was dead, so you couldn’t see that Tom had texted you frantically, wondering why you weren’t answering. You also couldn’t see where he’d texted you that he was waiting for you.

           “Well, look who’s finally home,” you heard a voice say. Tom’s. You rolled your eyes and tried to pretend like you weren’t a tiny bit drunk, watching as he sat up from where he was on the couch.

           “Didn’t see you there, scrawny,” you responded. “I’m home, you can call off the search party.”

           “You said you’d be home at midnight. It’s two fifteen.” You scoffed and started climbing the stairs, where he climbed after you. “Y/n.”

           “Tom, it’s fine, I’m home,” you said, now just completely annoyed. “I’m going to change clothes.” You went into your room and grabbed a t-shirt that had once belonged to Harry that you’d cropped to look cute and a pair of shorts, changing out of your slinky party dress. You walked into the bathroom that had two doors only to find that the light was already on, and it shocked you a little bit. There were dots in your eyes, but you could easily see that Tom was standing there by the vanity, arms crossed, looking angry at you. You just didn’t pay attention to him and started wiping off your makeup and brushing through your hair. You could tell that he was mad, and eventually you just sighed, eyeing your toothbrush that you’d have to get past him for.

           “Can I have my toothbrush?” You asked.

           “No. Not until you talk to me.”

           “There is nothing to talk about. Stop being an asshole. I’m allowed to go out and have fun, you do all the time. So stop…”

           “No,” he said again, like it was completely obvious that it was his answer. “I’m not being an asshole, I’m trying to protect you.”

           “Tom, it’s fine. I know how to watch my drinks, I know how to check license plates, I know…”

           “You have to come home when you say you’re coming home. It freaks me out, alright? Especially when your phone dies.”

           “Well then buy me a new one.” He scoffed. You started taking your contacts out, hoping that the conversation was over, but you slid your glasses on to see that he wasn’t done. “I appreciate you trying to protect me, but I can take care of myself.”

           “That’s not the point.”

           “Then what is?” Your voice was raised slightly, and you lowered it when you realized that the twins were sleeping in the next room.

           “I’m saying that something could happen to you and I wouldn’t even know. You’re my little sister and you’re my best friend and I’m scared to lose you. As soon as I turned on the news tonight it was about some girl going missing after a party. And her parents only knew because she didn’t come home when she said she was going to.” You tried to understand where Tom was coming from. Not once had you worried for his safety walking the streets, ever. You never feared for him when he and the boys got into cabs drunk, or wandered around foreign cities at the same time you’d just come home. You’d never worried for him, ever. And you understood why he would worry about you, and you sighed. You shifted your feet, looking down at the floor.

           “You need to trust me, Tom.”

           “I try to, and I do. I just don’t trust other people.” You looked up at him to see that he was completely serious. He actually did look a little scared. And the fact that you hadn’t answered your phone would’ve freaked you out, too, because you two had a rule to always answer, no matter how angry you are at each other.

           “I’ll try to be better about answering, okay? I was just having fun and I was drunk and I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

           “It shouldn’t be a big deal, but it is. I’m sorry if you thought I was just being an ass to be an ass.” You let go of the arms that were crossed across your chest and stood on your toes, giving him a hug. He hugged you back, a little tighter than he usually did.

           “I’m home. So you don’t need to worry, okay? At least not tonight.” You let go of him and stood back on your toes. “Can I go to bed now?” Tom smiled at you a little bit.

           “Yeah. Lecture over, I guess.” He followed you back out to your room, and before he shut the door, he turned back to look at you. “Good night, Y/n.”

           “Good night, Tom.”

Taglist (if you’d like to be added, send me a message!): @an-adventureland, @firstangeldragonranch, @ssebstann, @winterreader-nowwriter

[thechangeling]

Be wise enough to wonder. Be brave and let it go.

Mark had no idea what time it was when he was woken up by the sound of his daughter crying. He heard an exhausted groan beside him as Cristina moved to pull herself up. Mark put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"No it's alright," he whispered, his voice hoarse from sleep. "I'll go."

Two months ago Cristina had given birth to their first daughter. Her name was Gianna She was the biological product of Kieran and Cristina with her pointy ears and blue hair that changed with her moods, and Tina's chestnut coloured eyes and copper skin. But the trio fully considered her to be theirs. Blood was unimportant.

Mark was half asleep as he stumbled his way down to the room they had set up Gianna's crib in. He missed Kieran and he knew Cristina did as well. Kier was currently stuck in Faerie with his royal responsibilities. Cristina and Mark were visiting the LA institute to help with a recent uptake in demon activity around the area. It was amazing to see his siblings again (minus Ty, he was in Devon visiting Kit since the two of them were now dating long distance.) However he knew it was strange for Gigi to be sleeping in an unfamiliar environment.

Hence lots of crying.

Mark heard his daughter's crying getting softer as he came to the doorway. He could also hear another voice, cooing to her, calming her down. As he got closer he could see it was Helen. Mark smiled at the sight of his big sister gently rocking his daughter in her arms.

"Thank you" he whispered, trying not to startle her or wake Gianna. Helen was wearing her sleep clothes, with her hair tied back. There were also very prominent dark circles under her eyes.

"You should get some rest" Mark said as forcefully as he could without raising his voice. "Seriously you look exhausted Len, hand her over and he back to bed." Helen just gave him a stern look. The one that she used to use when he was trying to sneak extra cookies as a kid, or the first time she caught him trying to come home past curfew after being out at a downworlder party that he was way too young for.

The funny thing was that even though Helen had started calling Eleanor "mom" around the age of 8, Mark had never been able to do it. It had absolutely nothing to do with an attachment to his birth mother. He barely remembered her. Maybe it was because he had always had someone looking out for him since day one, and that person wasn't Nerissa or Eleanor.

And it certainly wasn't his father.

I think you're punishing yourself, is what Helen had told him one night. You're punishing yourself for being different, so you won't let yourself get attached.

Helen placed Gigi back in her crib and put her hands on Mark's shoulders. "Sweetheart you are more exhausted then I am" she reprimanded him gently. "You and Cristina both need help and I'm more than happy to do it." Mark put his hand over hers, gripping onto Helen to avoid passing out.

"She has Kieran too remember?" He insisted firmly. "Just because he isn't here right now doesn't mean that he's not her dad too." Helen's eyes widened.

"Oh no! No that wasn't what I was saying at all." She said frantically. Her voice was starting to slur a little like she was drunk. She really needed to go to sleep. "I was just trying to be useful you know? Like I always used to when we were younger."

Mark knew what she was referring to. When the twins were born, in order to help out Eleanor and their dad, Mark and Helen starting taking care of them so their parents could get more sleep. Julian was still very young, only two, so it was up to them as the older siblings to step up.

Livvy was a relatively easy baby. She cried when she was hungry or needed changing, and then she was fine. She was pretty good at sleeping through most of the night as well. Ty on the other hand was not. When he was drinking formula from the bottle he would only ever take a little and then refuse to eat any more. This lead to him always being hungry half an hour later and as a result, not sleeping for very long.

The family would take shifts when looking after the twins to avoid being too exhausted. But there were some nights where Ty would just refuse to sleep and nobody knew why. Eleanor wanted to go to the silent brothers, but thankfully Helen had talked her out of it.

He's just different, she had said. It's fine, we will figure it out.

At a certain point Andrew had just refused to try, and Helen and Mark had to step in. Unfortunately these were bad habits of Ty's that seemed to have carried over into adulthood. But at least now he could get up and feed himself at 2 in the morning.

Mark shook himself out of his stupor. "No it's ok. I'm sorry. I just worry about you Len" he murmured. Helen shot him a tired smile. "And I you, brother" she replied, slipping into a very fae way of speaking. Mark turned to look at his little girl, who was still sleeping. Thank the angel.

Thank the gods, his brain supplied.

It was interesting thinking about the way she would grow up. It would be so different from Mark and Helen. Gianna had access to Unseelie culture through Kieran, as well as the privilege of being raised by a full blooded faerie. She was already being read fae stories (accurate ones) and sung fae lullabies. She would be taught fae languages by Kieran and Cristina mostly, because as Kieran loved to point out, he was terrible with languages. She would also be taught Spanish and English when she was older.

She would be raised as a shadowhunter and as a faerie in a better, more understanding world that he was trying to help build. Mark couldn't help but be a little envious of her.

He turned back to Helen who hadn't left, but had sat down on the floor, bracing her back against the wall. He sat down beside her.

"Hey" he whispered roughly. "Do you ever feel like we were robbed?"

Helen looked up at him slightly dazed. Her Blackthorn blue-green eyes were starting to glaze over. "Huh?" She muttered sleepily. Helen rubbed her eyes and cleared her throat, trying again. "What do you mean exactly?"

Mark sighed as he slowly felt all of the thoughts and feelings he usually tried to keep buried. He really didn't want to deal with them. Because if he delt with them then he would have to acknowledge what happened, and acknowledging it made it real.

Something that Magnus always said was that you had to go through the pain and not around it, because going through it was the only way to get over it.

Mark took a deep breath and looked Helen in the eye. "I mean think about it. From the moment we arrived at this institute, our father always talked about how evil and wicked and manipulative our mother was. And yes, I would argue from the sound of things he was probably right, but I was four years old and she was the only faerie I had ever known. So it seemed as if everyone around was establishing a baseline of, Faeries. Wicked. Manipulative. Cannot be trusted.

Helen shook her head "but that's not-" Mark interrupted her. "I'm sorry but I'm not done." Helen sighed and looked to be fighting the urge to roll her eyes, but she didn't protest. "Ok fine. Go."

Mark continued. "And the thing is we were bombarded with that information all our lives. From our instructors, from our father, from our peers. So eventually I think you and I started to believe it Len! I think we started to think of ourselves as evil, and in order to not be evil we had to distance ourselves from being fae as much as possible." Mark's voice was beginning to shake.

Helen shook her head. "No I don't think it was that so much as we were trying to prove that we were real shadowhunters. Me personally, I didnt want to be considered a downworlder because I'm not, I'm a shadowhunter. " Helen explained, but her voice sounded unsure. "I didnt want to be treated differently."

Mark chuckled humorously. "But don't you see? We are different! That is precisely my point, and everyone made us feel ashamed of that. Remember how you used to braid your hair like a faerie until girls started making fun of you and trying to pull it out? And then you started wearing your hair to cover your ears. Did you honestly expect me to believe that you preferred the style, sister?" Mark was trying to keep his voice lowered but it was becoming increasingly difficult.

Helen was silent. There was a pause where neither sibling spoke and then Helen's defeated voice. "I don't want to talk about this Mark." He felt a pang of guilt.

"I know. Forgive me please, it was not my intention to upset you." He spoke elegantly. Helen laughed softly. "You know it's weird how much it comforts me, hearing you talk like that" she said.

Mark smiled sadly at her. "But that's exactly my point Helen. I mean think about it? How much did we give up or refuse to pursue just because we were scared? You know I've been reading far stories to Gianna and some of them are actually really incredible. There are stories about brave female warriors who go on adventures to save beautiful princesses and stories of people who couldn't decide which one if their suitors they liked best, so they just chose them all. They are stories about people like us, written for people like us." Mark could feel himself beginning to cry .

Helen reached over silently and placed her hand on his to comfort him. She looked like she was holding back tears as well.

"Imagine" Mark whispered brokenly, tears running down his cheeks. "Imagine what it would have been like if we read stories like those when we were younger.

Helen closed her eyes, trying to block out tears. "We were trying to keep ourselves safe" she whispered. "It was self preservation."

"It was assimilation" Mark said firmly. "And that really wasn't fair." Helen let out a harsh breath.

"And it didn't even do any good," Mark continued. "They still kicked us out."

Helen laughed in spite of the situation. Then let they weight of the conversation wash over them both, soaking them in despair and self pity.

Helen finally broke the silence.

"You know, she began, Magnus Bane loves to share stories about past shadowhunters in a more accurate way because the Clave's records are usually very white and straight washed, and when Aline and I mentioned potentially adopting a child from abroad, he told us a story about this one shadowhunter Ariadne Bridgestock. Apparently she was a lesbian and in a relationship with Anna Lightwood but she was also originally from India. Her parents adopted her and brought her back to England."

Mark shrugged "So? There's nothing inherently wrong with that." Helen gave him another look.

"Well yeah, but the problem was they didn't let her retain anything from her culture and they didn't give her the opportunity to branch out and learn more. They stripped her of all of that and basically taught her to behave like the typical white British girl." Helen readjusted her position, straightening out her back. "He wanted to make sure that if we ended up with a child who had a different cultural background, we would understand the importance of nurturing that connection" she explained.

Mark nodded "Well yes, but Aline would never do anything like that given how important her culture is to her." Helen was silent for a moment.

"Yeah I know. It's just that I'm not exactly the poster girl for self love and acceptance now am I? She said I'm a self pitying tone.

Mark shook his head. "It's not really the same thing though Len" he reasoned.

"No I know that, but it's similar" she mumbled, tiredness seeping into her tone. "Anyways, that's why I'm so happy Gigi has you and Kieran." Helen finally stood up "Especially you. When she feels like her mom is too much of a shadowhunter to get it, and her dad is too much of a faerie to get it, she has her papa to understand her." Helen said wistfully with a smile.

She extended her hand to Mark and pulled him to his feet. They both stared at Gianna who was moving around slightly in her sleep. "Yeah she will be fine" Helen mused softly. "She's got Cristina to teach her spanish and Kieran to teach her faerie. You can tell her stories about the wild hunt and Cristina can tell her stories about living in Mexico." Helen paused, her expression looking a little sad. "Her life is going to be so different from ours."

Mark felt another pang in his chest as well as the boiling of anger beneath his skin.

"How do we get past this?" He whispered. "How do we deal with this Helen? This anger?"

Helen was silent for a moment. Mark turned to face her and noticed she was shaking slightly. Helen gulped and looked up at him.

"We can't feel sorry for ourselves. That gets us nowhere. We need to confront it and then we need to find away to move past it," she said determinedly. "We need to be brave enough to let it go. We can't change the past but what we can do is try and change the way we approach this now. I know it's hard but we can do it." Helen smiled at him "As long as we have each others backs we can get through this."

Mark nodded. "I know. You're right. I want to keep moving forward. I want to learn more, discover more. I want to figure out who I really am." Mark spoke steadily. "The things that happened when we were younger were horrible," he felt his voice breaking again. "It's painful, but we can't just stay on our knees. We have to move on or it'll consume us."

Mark took Helen into his arms and hugged her tightly. She sniffled lightly, wrapping her arms around him. Mark let out a sigh.

"It's ok," he whispered. "I've got you, you're not alone."

You are not the only.

Be wise enough to wonder, be brave and let it go.

Nothing is everlasting.

Have mercy on my soul.

[gamerwoo]

[Tales from the Pack] Wonwoo: Protector (Part Three)

Characters: Wonwoo x female reader

Genre/warnings: werewolf au, fantasy, fluff, a lil crack in the beginning??

Word count: 2,169

Summary: If there’s one thing Wonwoo hates, it’s feeling helpless; like there’s nothing he can do to stop somebody he loves from getting hurts. It’s happened to him once before, and he swears it’ll never happen again. Especially not after he meets you.

Tag list: @choiminjae0325​​ @heolykpop​​ @fullsun-donghyuck​​ @yoonbabe-d​​​ @exuwu​​ @lets-get-1t​​​ @sooooofrench​​​ @vintageot5​​ @sehunnies-hunnie96​ @luvhannie​ @childfmoonn​ @wobwobkpop​ @henloimawierdobye​ (if you wanna be added please send an ask or a dm!!)

Unable to tag: @uglyratlmao

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Your first night together wasn’t as awkward as you thought it was going to be. Wonwoo didn’t try anything with you, but he did sleep in your bed which was actually really comforting. Not to mention Wonwoo was particularly warm, and actually pretty cuddly for someone who looked so cold on the outside.

You were groggy when you woke up – you were still half asleep – but you quickly rolled over and tried to fall back to sleep. However, you felt strong arms slip around your waist, pulling you to a very warm body.

“You’re moving too much,” Wonwoo’s voice was somehow even deeper from sleep, and it made your heart flutter.

“I hardly moved, I just wanted to roll over,” you mumbled, a lazy smile forming on your face. “Why are you awake?”

“I could ask the same thing,” his voice was just a gravely purr in your ear, his arms tightening around you before he pressed a kiss behind your ear. “Can we just stay here all day?”

“If that’s what you want to do.”

“That’s what I want to do for the rest of my existence.”

“Then let’s.”

He hummed happily in response, burying his face in your back, “You’re so--” 

Wonwoo was cut off by a loud knock on your door that had your mate immediately springing up with a growl in his throat as he bared his fangs at any oncoming danger.

“Wonwoo, it’s okay,” you told him sleepily as you managed to climb out of bed, “it’s probably one of the neighbors.”

Looking out the window, you could see the sun had just risen, so you didn’t really know why any of your neighbors would be banging this loudly on your door at this hour. However, if it kept your mate at bay, you would carry on with whatever your mind made up.

“Wait,” his hand grabbed your wrist just as you reached the middle of the hallway, “I recognize that smell… Seungcheol…?”

You nodded, “Ah, they’re probably here to check on you.”

“This early?” he asked as he reached for your hand and kept his body closely behind yours. “What if something bad happened to Danbi?”

“You know they would never let anything bad happen to your sister, Wonwoo,” you reassured him before you opened the door.

You saw a very apologetic Seungcheol, accompanied by Minghao, waiting at your door. The alpha gave a small wave as he said, “Good morning, _____. Can we uh...come in?”

“What’re you doing here?” Wonwoo asked, although there was slight annoyance laced in with the worry in his voice.

You sighed, already having an idea what this was about. This wasn’t the first time Seungcheol had come banging on your door for this reason, and you had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last.

“Is it about Jooyeon?” you guessed.

Minghao nodded, “Sorry...”

“I thought she was done sleepwalking?” you asked as you gestured for the wolves to come in and try to track Seungcheol’s mate down.

“She does it off and on,” the younger wolf shrugged like it was no big deal. “She actually did it quite a bit when Danbi and Mingyu had run off.”

“It’s been a while since she was here, though,” Seungcheol chuckled, not seeming too worried since he knew she was in here, and it wasn’t the first time she ended up at your house. You still remembered the first time like it was yesterday.

“And do you still think this is...Jia’s doing?” you wondered as you followed Seungcheol into the kitchen.

“We’re still unsure,” he said as he walked toward your sink.

He crouched down and opened one of the cupboard doors. Sure enough, Jooyeon was curled up in the cramped space under the sink, somehow in a deep sleep. Her short black hair was in her face, her eyes fluttering as she dreamed. Seungcheol’s mate was skinny, but she wasn’t necessarily short. She was probably a few inches taller than Jihoon, so her limbs in that cupboard probably wasn’t easy or comfortable.

Seungcheol wasn’t sure if he should try to get her out of the cupboard before or after waking her up, but decided just waking her up might be more helpful. He didn’t want to just tug her out, and he figured maybe she could maneuver her limbs on her own to get out.

Jooyeon’s brown eyes squinted open like the room was somehow too bright. She slowly woke up, taking in her surroundings before she realized her awkward position. She let out a wide yawn that turned into a groan.

“Again?” she grumbled.

“Again,” you chuckled.

“Sorry, _____,” she sighed as she tried to move one leg to get it out of the cupboard. However, that proved to be difficult. “How did I even get in here?!”

“Do you want help?” Minghao offered with a soft laugh.

As the two visitors tried to help the third out of the cupboard, you nudged your mate, “You didn’t even hear Jooyeon break in last night? What kind of werewolf are you?”

Wonwoo pouted, “I didn’t sense danger, okay? I’m not bad at being a werewolf!”

“You should invest in a new guard dog,” Jooyeon laughed before she was pulled out of the cupboard and landed sprawled out on the floor, looking up at your mate’s pout with amusement. “What, it was a joke? Damn, Woo, you’ve gone soft in a day. What did she do to you?”

-

Since you were already awake, you decided to go on with your day once Minghao and Seungcheol had retrieved Jooyeon from your house. You started making breakfast and fed you and your mate before doing the dishes -- which Wonwoo wordlessly began assisting with without you even asking him to. Then you decided to start working on a few orders you had to get done while Wonwoo watched you.

The room in which you made the potions was small and had wall to wall shelves of various ingredients you may need. From things as odd as siren scales and dragon tears, to things as simple as flowers that grew nearby -- well, they were simple for you to get since you had a companionship with the fairies that grew them -- lined the walls of the room. The only parts of the walls that weren’t covered were the parts with windows, but there was only a single window that nobody could see in from the outside. Other than that, there were just candles around the room for light, a handful of large, old books for reference, a few different mortars, and the decently-sized cauldron that definitely sold the idea you were a witch.

While you stood at the black pot to do your work, Wonwoo stood off to the side to observe. He wanted to watch much closer, but he didn’t want to be too in the way. Honestly, even if he were in the way, you probably wouldn’t mind. He said he had some experience with similar things to what you did, so maybe he would be of some assistance if you needed it.

“_____?” Wonwoo spoke up, his voice soft.

You hummed in reply, glancing up from the book you were reading from.

“Have you ever been to The Capitol?” he wondered.

You weren’t sure why he was asking so suddenly, but you explained, “I went only a few times with Beom. Her sister lived and worked there, and we would go to visit and get items from her. After she passed away, we stopped going because there was no need.”

“I’ve heard it’s...stricter there.”

You knew what he was referring to. Werewolves were feared and seen as awful monsters. Stories were told to children about werewolves who would sneak into town and eat bad kids at night to make them behave, or that the wolves wandered the woods at night to make their kids come in for their curfews. There were some people who still didn’t believe in werewolves since there hadn’t been any sightings in a lot of towns in the region for a while. However, there were a lot of people who knew.

The royal family who ruled over your region was very aware that werewolves existed, and they enforced the capture and execution of any werewolves, as well as anybody associated with them. That meant Wonwoo would die if he got caught, you would, Jooyeon and Danbi would -- if Beom were alive, she absolutely would, too. It was a law that had been enforced for generations on generations.

“It was like this even before I was born,” Beom had told you when you asked as a child. “I hope it’ll change one day. Not all werewolves are bad, like my boys. They’re wonderful and they don’t deserve to have to hide away and leave home, do they?”

“No!” you exclaimed, because you loved the pack very, very much.

And while you still felt that way, you’d never risk advocating for them. It was safer to just hide and be happy than try anything.

“There are more hunters there, yes,” you nodded, recalling the different clans of werewolf hunters you had seen. “They don’t do much, though. No werewolves dare to try to live near The Capitol. Why are you wondering, dear?”

Wonwoo smiled faintly at the pet name, letting out a soft sigh, “No reason. I was thinking about the last time I went to the market with Danbi, and there were people talking about when the king and queen will step down.”

“Are they supposed to soon?”

Wonwoo shrugged, “They were saying it’s about time they did. Apparently their daughter is being stubborn about suitors and they refuse to let her rule without a husband.”

“Poor girl...” you sighed, staring into the potion you’d made. “I can’t imagine being forced to marry a stranger because my parents wanted it.”

Wonwoo was quiet for a moment, and you weren’t sure if he had just dropped the conversation or if he was thinking. But you had work to do, so you carried on with adding in more ingredients. Despite the wide variety of things you owned, since you weren’t a real witch, you couldn’t make magic potions. You could make normal potions that anybody willing to learn could concoct, like one to relieve pain, one to sleep, etcetera. You couldn’t make anybody turn into a cat or suddenly start flying, though you wished you could.

“_____, can I ask you something that maybe could be sensitive?” Wonwoo spoke up again cautiously.

You put down the jar you had in your hand and turned to give your mate your full attention, “Sure...”

“What...happened to your parents?” he wondered quietly. “Nobody ever told us.”

It wasn’t really a story that made you sad, mostly because you didn’t know the reasoning behind it. You were also too young to remember anything from that night, and nobody really brought it up or told you about it. Beom only did when you were old enough to understand and remember that she’d told you, and that was it.

“I was left outside her house one night,” you recalled her telling you. “She said she was asleep when it happened, but the forest did everything to try to wake her up and go to the door. She said the sprites told her I was out there for an hour before she finally got to the door. There wasn’t a note with me or anything -- just me wrapped in a blanket and put in a basket.”

“What if an animal got to you?” Wonwoo asked.

You shrugged with a small smile, “Nothing in this forest would let that happen. Everything associated with Beom is safe, and because I was intentionally left for her, they already considered me hers.

“I never knew what she said to the pack when they found out I was around. None of them said anything about it, either. She did tell me that some of them tried to see if they could find the scent of whoever did it and follow it back, but it was like nobody was ever around.

“She thinks my parents knew about her and wanted her to be the one to care for me. Why, she doesn’t know. Most people in town saw her as the crazy old lady, but there were few people who saw through to who she really was. She doesn’t know who it could’ve been.”

“Do you ever wonder who your parents are?” 

You hesitated before finally saying, “Yes and no. I don’t think about it often, but sometimes... Ah, it doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t want anybody else caring for me other than Beom, anyway. She always said it was fate that I were to end up in her care.”

“And you don’t question fate,” Wonwoo nodded with a smile, looking at you like you put all the stars in the sky.

You could feel blush creeping onto your cheeks as you repeated, “You don’t question fate.”

[nataliedanovelist]

GF - How A Star Is Born ch.IV

A Hercules AU, founded by @evaroze, whom this fic is a gift for. I hope y’all like it!

ch.III - ch.V

AO3 link

~~~~~~~~~~

Stan allowed the cool, salt-scented breeze ruffled his clothes as he leaned forward at the window, watching lightning strike the ocean from a far. He and the kid were safe. A gust of wind threatened to kill the fire, so Stan closed the window and turned back to the fireplace, where Dipper sat flexing his hand after wrapping some bandages around his scraped knuckles. He stood up and grinned at his teacher. “I’m ready, what else have you got?”

“Hold it, buddy boy, that’s enough for today.” Stan chuckled and sat in his chair covered in furs, making a comfortable small throne for the king of the house. “Just relax.”

“C’mon, please.” Dipper begged and stood by his side. “This is the best I’ve ever done, let’s see if I can beat my record on the obstacle course or something!”

“Listen, key to being a hero is knowing when to start and when to stop.” Stan said as he leaned back and relaxed. “You might be a demigod, but you still need rest. Just sit back and enjoy the storm happening outside and try to put something in your gut. Soup’s almost ready, anyways.”

Dipper sighed, admitting defeat, and sat on his pillow next to Stan’s big chair. After a year of training with him, though his body still ached from time to time, he was succeeding more than failing recently. It was like he was finally on his way to becoming a true hero. He didn’t want to stop, not when he was so close to being with his family, but he knew better than to push Stan on an argument, and so he watched the fire crackle as he heard the lightning storm outside. “Stanford must be mad.” Dipper said to fill the air.

Stan snorted; Dipper had learned by now that the old guy had a weird hatred for the Ruler of the Gods. Ever since that first introduction Dipper never said another word about Stanford being his potential family, since clearly Stan wasn’t buying it, but every once in a while Dipper would talk to Mabel through the drawings of his journal, and she was always praising him and telling him stories of her and Grunkle Ford. Dipper believed her and decided to just keep his connections to his family to himself.

“Doesn’t take much to make that jerk mad.” Stan muttered and stood up to mix the soup.

Dipper shrugged, thought about his question, and decided to risk it and ask his mentor, “You got something against Stanford?”

“What makes you ask, kiddo?”

Again, Dipper shrugged. “You don’t really bad-mouth the other gods. I mean, I don’t care if you do, but you just seem to have something against one of the most powerful gods despite the possibility he could strike your house and burn it to the ground.”

“Ha! That’d be a new one.” Stan laughed harshly and tasted the soup and shrugged. “Eh, we’ll give it a few minutes. Anyways, I guess the other gods just ain’t worth my bad-mouthing. But if it’ll make you feel better I’ll bad-mouth the others, too, to make it fair.” He joked.

Dipper chuckled and let slip, “I don’t care as long as you leave Mabel out of it.”

“Right, your sister.” Dipper was surprised that Stan had remembered that; he never talked about his sister to him. “You miss her, don’t you, kid?” The old man asked, his back still to his student as he stirred dinner.

Dipper sighed and nodded. “I just wanna be a family again, that’s all.”

Stan finally turned to him and he ruffled the boy’s hair, making his bangs stick up and reveal his birthmark. “You’ll get there. I promise.”

Dipper smiled, flattened his hair again, and said, “Thanks.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Olympus was filled to the brim and busy, the ballroom crowded and loud as the audience waited for the introduction of the Muse in Training. Stanford sat in his throne with Fiddleford by his side, both grinning and excited to see how far their little girl had come. The messenger even had a colorful array of flowers on his lap to give to her when she finished her performance.

“She’s grown up so much.” Stanford said.

“Indeed.” Fiddleford agreed.

The Ruler of the Gods glanced over at his closest friend and asked, “Do you think I’m too hard on her?”

“In what way?”

Stanford shrugged. “She wants to leave Olympus.”

“Not forever, my friend. She just wants t’see the world. Every other god gets t’come n’ go from here, she simply wishes t’as well.” Fiddleford reminded him.

Stanford took in a deep breath, held it, and let it go. “I’m thinking of giving her a curfew.”

Fiddleford blinked in shock and then grinned. “Really?”

“Perhaps… it’ll be good for her to have some time to herself.” Stanford theorized. “If I made it clear that she must be home by sundown, and if I gave her permission to go exploring after her lessons…”

“I think that’s a fair compromise.” Fiddleford said with a nod. “Really, has she done anythang t’prove she couldn’t be trusted?”

Stanford shook her head. “No. She’s the most honest, trustworthy person I know, right next to you and Bill, of course.”

“No offense taken.” Fiddleford chose to ignore Bill’s name drop.

“Then it’s settled.” Stanford sat up straighter. “After her performance, I shall grant her a curfew and allow her to explore the valley below us.”

“I think that’s a good start.” Fiddleford patted his shoulder. “You’re doin’ the right thang.”

Horns rang through the air, glittering smoke filled the air and collected in five groups, and there five beautiful ladies in white dresses stood on the stage, ready to introduce their apprentice. Stanford and Fiddleford applauded for the stunning arrival, along with the other gods, and after a swift show-off of their beautiful voices, the Muses parted ways to make way for the newest among them… but no one came.

A minute of dead, shocked, confused silence was deafening on the mountain, until a booming voice rang through and caused lightning to strike. “MABEL!”

~~~~~~~~~~

“A little more bandages, some grapes for being a good boy, and a kiss to make it feel better.” Mabel kissed the tiny ankle by the black hoof and grinned at the animal by her side, sitting on the soft grass on her knees. “All done! You’re back in action, Waddles.”

The pig stood on all four to do a little trot in place. He oinked happily to find no pain in his leg and he licked Mabel’s cheek in thanks as she scooped him up to hug him. “Aw, you’re welcome.”

A clash of lightning over her head rang out. Mabel’s heart dropped as she looked up the mountain behind her, dark clouds hiding the top. She cringed and sighed. “I missed the concert, didn’t I?”

She knew it was risky to sneak away right before her debut, but she had to! The little piggy was hurt, caught in a branch, and Mabel had freed him yesterday and swiftly returned home, but Waddles still needed to be cleaned up or he could get an infection, so the first chance she got the young goddess slipped away and helped the animal.

Mabel stood up and sighed. No point in trying to hide. As if on cue, Fiddleford could be seen running down the mountain at super speed and relaxed at seeing Mabel in the valley. He ran up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “Mabel! Ya know you’re not allowed off Olympus! Stanford’s worried sick.”

“I know, I know!” Mabel whined. “But Waddles needed me.”

“Who?” Fiddleford looked down at the pig oinking at Mabel’s feet and rubbing against her legs.

“Waddles.” Mabel introduced. “I call him that because he waddles.”

“Sweetie, ya ain’t suppose to name it.” Fiddleford said with his eyes shut. “Once you name it, ya start gettin’ attached t’it. Now c’mon, I’m supposed t’take ya home.”

Mabel took the time to scratch Waddles goodbye and then allowed Fiddleford to walk her up the mountain gloomily.

At the gate Stanford was pacing, a nervous wreck, but when he saw his niece, rather than relax, he was hysterical. He pulled her into a tight hug and checked all over her body for injuries, and then proceeded to grab her by the shoulder tightly and walk her into their temple with Fiddleford behind them, prepared to play referee and to stop his friend if he became too harsh.

“Mable, how dare you leave without my permission!”

“I’m sorry, but Waddles the pig needed my help…”

“I don’t care, let the other gods take care of it if they see fit to do so!” Stanford snapped. “You are to stay on Olympus where I can keep you safe!”

“Grunkle Ford, please, nothing has ever happened to me and…” She bit her lip. Oops.

Stanford’s whole face turned red with anger. “You’ve been down on Earth before, haven’t you? Haven’t you?!”

“O-Only twice.” Mabel mumbled to her feet with her hands behind her back.

“MABEL!”

“Stanford, control yourself.” Fiddleford said warningly next to his partner.

“Sweetheart, do you have any idea how dangerous Earth is?!” Stanford scolded. “Have I taught you nothing?! You could have been kidnapped, or hurt, or worse!”

“I can take care of myself, I’ve been doing it for thirteen years.” Mabel said weakly.

“You are not ready!” Stanford bellowed. “You’re just a little girl! You’re too��” He bit his tongue and backtracked, stopping himself from saying something hurtful. “You’re only thirteen! You’re not ready for the mortal world!”

But Mabel was staring up at him, finally, with eyes filled with tears. “You were gonna say ‘weak’, weren’t you?”

“N-No.” The god looked cornered. “No, sweetheart, I wasn’t.” He had never been the best at lying.

Mabel bit her lip. “You think I’m weak. You think I’m just some stupid girl.”

Stanford got on his knees and put his polydactyl hands on her shoulders. “Mabel, darling, no…”

Mabel shrugged his hands off of her and walked past the males for her bedroom. “It’s fine, I don’t care. Bet you wished I was taken instead of Mason, huh?” And she closed the door behind her harshly.

Stanford stared at the wood that separated him from his family. For a few moments no one moved or said a word, until Stanford said weakly, “Do you think she truly believes that, or only said it out of mixed emotions?”

Fiddleford stood behind him and patted his shoulder. “Well, in retrospect, ya don’t talk ‘bout him. At all. N’ when ya do, you’re extremely mournful of it.”

“Yes, but not because…”

“I know,” Fiddleford stopped him. “N’ I think she knows it, too, deep down, but I think she needs a gentle reminder that that’s not how ya feel. Give her some alone time to breathe, n’ then talk to her, not yell at her.”

Stanford nodded and rose with shaking knees. He was surprised to find a smile on Fiddleford’s face. “What?”

“She reminds me a lot of her great… excuse me, her grunkle.” Fiddleford shared.

Stanford snorted. “We are a lot alike…”

“I wasn’t talkin’ ‘bout you.” Fiddleford said as he walked away. “I’m just sayin’ that sneakin’ off t’care for an animal n’ namin’ it n’ basically adoptin’ it as a pet is somethang a young god once did.” And he left Stanford alone with his thoughts.

He sighed and muttered to himself, “I know she is a lot like him. That’s what worries me.”

~~~~~~~~~~

If Stanford was honest, he admired Mabel’s room. It was a beautiful place with fluffy clouds, a big window showcasing the world below, a soft bed with a nightstand that hosted her music box and a vase of her family, and every inch of her walls was coated in paintings. Birds, people, trees, animals, the moon and sun, everything, even the ceiling, was covered in beautiful paintings. Stanford always loved to sit with her and talk, and occasionally be given permission to paint with her, though he felt unworthy of that privilege today.

Through the door he could hear the music box playing. That was a relatively good sign. Grunkle Ford gently knocked on the door and waited for permission to enter. “Mabel, sweetie, may I come in?”

“Mm, hm.”

Grunkle Ford slowly opened the door and found her in her usual spot. Criss-cross on the bed, by her nightstand, and hugging her pillow with her arms and legs and she had her face down on the fluffy cloud of a pillow to hide. “Mabel, I owe you an apology.” Grunkle Ford said as he stepped into the room and closed the door. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. I’m sorry.”

Mabel sniffed into her pillow and rested her chin on it, showing her beautiful brown eyes that were still forming tears. “I’m sorry I ruined the performance.”

“It’s okay,” Grunkle Ford sat by her side, giving her a few inches of space. “I don’t care about that, not nearly as much as I care about your safety. I was so scared of losing you, but that’s no excuse. I shouldn’t have lost my temper like that.”

Mabel sniffed and tried to blink her eyes dry. “I like you better as a dad than as a god.” She mumbled, mouth covered by the pillows and her eyes peering up at him.

Grunkle Ford smiled at that, feeling his heart in his throat. “Yeah?”

“And you like me better as your d-... kid than a muse, right?” She cried, her face now fully in her pillow.

“Oh, Mabel.” Grunkle Ford whispered and gently scooped her up into his arms and held her tenderly. “Oh, my darling Mabel. Yes, of course I do.”

Mabel let her cloud pillow go and she hugged him around the neck. Grunkle Ford rubbed circles into her back as he whispered gently to her. “Sweetheart, I love you very much. You’re my entire world. The idea of being without you… it terrifies me. But I’m afraid I’ve allowed that fear to cloud my better judgement, and I’m sorry. And, for what it’s worth… I’m beyond grateful The Faiths gave me you.”

Mabel sniffed, letting her grunkle’s toga catch her tears. “You don’t wish M-Mason was here instead of me?”

“No,” Grunkle Ford said. “I do miss your brother, more than words can say, but I love you very much and wouldn’t trade you away for anything in the world.”

Mabel looked up at him with hope glistening in her eyes. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Cross your heart?” Grunkle Ford chuckled and crossed his heart. Mabel rested her head there and smiled with a tiny giggle. “I love your heartbeat.”

And no, Grunkle Ford was not crying. He stubbornly cleared his throat and blinked his eyes dry as he combed his niece’s beautiful brown hair. “So, I have a proposition for you.”

“Okay?”

“I know you want to come and go like everybody else, but I’m afraid I can’t allow that. I still stand by what I said. You are still young. Something I envy actually.” He added and they both chuckled. “But I think I have a nice compromise.”

“Isn’t that bending the law?”

“Uh… no. It’s an agreement met in the middle of what both parties want.” Grunkle Ford loosened her hold on her so they could look at each other. “Here’s what I am offering: I am willing to give you a curfew if you promise me you can stand by it. After your lessons, you may go down to the valley at the base of the mountain, and perhaps a bit into the woods that surround the valley, but you must tell me when you are leaving and you must be home by sundown. Does that sound fair?”

“YES!” Mabel cheered and bounced in his lap. “Yes, that’s all I want! I just wanna go exploring! Thank you thank you THANK YOU, Grunkle Ford!”

He chuckled and smiled at her. “Promise me you will follow the rules?”

“I promise.”

“Cross your heart?” And Mabel did so before leaping back into his arms for a tight hug. And no, Grunkle Ford still wasn’t crying. “Thank you, my dear.” He said as he hugged her again. “I’m glad I can trust you.”

Yup. That hurt. That made the tears come back in Mabel’s eyes. She hated secrets, more than anything, and she loved her grunkle but hated it when he kept things from her, but that didn’t make it right to keep things from him. She blinked her eyes dry and muttered into his shoulder, “You can’t trust me.”

Grunkle Ford let her sit on his lap to look at her softly, though his heart did pick up speed at that statement. “What do you mean?”

Mabel sighed and bit her lip, not looking back at her great-uncle. “I’ve been talking to D-... to Mason.”

Grunkle Ford stared at her. “You have?”

“I didn’t leave Olympus!” Mabel quickly explained. “Not really! I just projected myself on the art in the Temple of the Gods when he went there to pray and know who he was! I couldn’t help myself, I’m sorry! He deserved to know! He’s my twin! Twins shouldn’t keep secrets from each other! And I had always wanted to talk to him! And, and…”

“Mabel, Mabel,” Grunkle Ford hushed and combed her hair with his six fingers. “It’s alright, it’s alright. I’m not mad. I… I knew you two would meet someday. I hated the fact that you had to be apart, it wasn’t fair. I just… I… Well, how did he take the news that he was a god?” He asked with a low chuckle.

Mabel gave a watery giggle. “He didn’t believe me at first. But he came around. He���s trying to become a true hero so his godhood will come back.”

“What?!” Grunkle Ford gasped and asked sternly, “Did you tell him that was possible?”

“Well, yeah, cuz it is…”

“Mabel! You shouldn’t have done that.” He scolded as lightly as his anxiety would let him. “He could get hurt or killed.”

“But how else is he supposed to come home?” Mabel asked.

“At least he has a chance to live a happy life on Earth.”

“But Grunkle Ford! If becoming a hero will bring him home…”

“He can’t come home if he’s dead, Mabel!”

The girl growled in her throat, losing patience with Grunkle Ford’s hopelessness, and yelled, “Well, what was I supposed to do?! I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing! Do you have any idea how much it hurts to lose a twin?!”

Mabel had shouted that more in a rhetorical sense, expecting Grunkle Ford to not answer, or to admit defeat and say no; what she definitely didn’t expect was for Grunkle Ford to sigh, nod his head, and say, “I do, actually.”

The young muse blinked at him, letting his words sink in. Grunkle Ford looked so sad, so full of shame. It was the same way he looked when he thought about Dipper and believed he was alone. “Y-You do? Did you have...?”

Grunkle Ford nodded solemnly. “I did. Once. A long time ago.”

Mabel had a million questions for him. She wanted to know everything, but she decided to open with an easy question to ease her uncle into telling her what happened. “Well, what’s their name?”

Grunkle Ford met her eyes with a small, sad smile on his face. “Stanley. The Trainer of Heroes.”

[fears--all-the-way-down]

“What’s your excuse this time?” the snow was coming down harder than it had been when she’d left the house. A light blanket was sticking to the sidewalk. Had it been any other moment this might have seemed like a scene out of a snowglobe. The scenery was right, the house in back of him lit up like a Christmas tree, the fireplace sending the perfect puffs of smoke into the air, his sister probably already tucked into her bed. His sister who couldn’t have cared less for her. She may have been younger, but Max felt her disdain as great as their mothers every time she walked into the Sinclair home. Their reactions to her were the same as the look that was written across Lucas’s face at the moment. Fidgeting, she pulled the beanie down over her ears a little bit tighter. Anything to bring some movement to the moment. To avoid his gaze was what she was looking for. The disappointment that was written in the set of his deep brown eyes, “You know what, I don’t even want to hear your shitty excuse this time.” fuck. She’d promised him she’d go to evening mass with them, told him that this time she wouldn’t let him down. Yet here she was, hours afterward, with the nerve to walk up to his house and try to play it off like everything was alright. By the look on Lucas’s face, this time she wasn’t going to be able to talk her way out of it all. Guilt hit her straight in the chest as he defensively crossed his arms against his chest, “One night Max. I asked you to come along for one night.” right. To church. To a place that she couldn’t fathom walking into when everyone inside the building was a bunch of fakes worshiping a false god that didn’t even sound like a good idea. How could so many people believe in such utter shit? How could he? Did he? After all, they’d watched. After the way they knew El had been tortured, Will had been stalked. How paranormal phenomena wasn’t just some made-up bullshit. It was all details she’d agonized over as she’d paced the block in the 33-degree weather unable to make her feet carry her to the Sinclair’s door in time to go to the bullshit Christmas eve mass that they’d invited her to. “Lucas… I…” she opened her mouth to speak again and shut it immediately, Her thoughts weren’t put together enough to speak, she wasn’t sure exactly what she was even supposed to say.

“save it.” instead, he cut her off and spoke for her. “I asked you for one thing Max. One fucking thing… and you couldn’t even do that. After you TOLD me you’d be here.” his voice was rising now. His anger more apparent than ever. She’d screwed up. There was hesitation, his eyes dropped to the sidewalk, “I don’t think I can do this anymore Max.” she’d been waiting for that, silently hoping for that. “I ask you to show up for me and you never do. It’s like it’s all some big joke to you.” teeth bared down on the inside of her lip. She knew she needed to keep herself in check, knew that even if this was the end of things she needed to not fight. Their closest friends were shared, “He was a piece of shit to you Max. Wake up and stop making him a martyr.” she hadn’t even realized it but she’d grabbed onto the St. Christopher pendant somewhere between the moment and her subconscious. A martyr. 

She wasn’t making a martyr out of her dead brother. She wasn’t coloring the shit he’d done in shades of grey. She was mourning for the brother who’d protected her. The one who’d stood up against his own father so that the bruises that now decorated her skin hadn’t done so before. For the one who’d promised her that he’d always be there to watch out for her first and foremost. Who’d dried her tears when her dad had bailed, promised her that he’d toughen her up so that no boy ever dared to smash her heart into a million pieces. The Billy he’d been before they’d come to the stupid shithole that was Hawkins. “You’re a selfish prick Lucas.” 

“you don’t let anyone in Max.” like he would have bothered to try and understand if she’d tried. With his perfect family, the doctor mom and lawyer dad. Perfect fucking family with their two kids and cat. The irrational part of her hated him for it. Hated him for everything he had and how blind it made him to the outside world. How easily he could go home and forget that not everyone lived in such a storybook life. “I tried to be here for you. I tried to show you that moving on from all of the shit you’ve been through would do you some good…” it was easy for him to say when he didn’t have purple handprints gripping tattoos around the top of his arm. “But you refuse it. No matter how hard I fucking tried.” He kept going on, his ranting turning into static in her ears. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t been fighting for months. Their unwillingness to bend had brought both of them to their knees. Max had gotten to the point where even holding his hand had been something she’d had to force herself to do. Acting like they were fine rather than admitting that they were both too different to be repaired. It wasn’t like last year. Last year when they still had the option to be careless children who spent hours outdoors biking around the neighborhood, breaking curfews, and sneaking into the movie theater. So much of their innocence had been taken away in a single summer when the world decided to implode and show them things that most people would never get the chance to understand. “You don’t even have anything to say, do you?” his final question brought her back into herself. She glanced up at him then, saw the emotion behind his look that she couldn’t find it in her to requite. She couldn’t fake tears when she’d been waiting for this, waiting for them to get the chance to call it quits so that she could breathe again. Her expression was completely blank as she shook her head, “no” the word was perhaps too simple. It ignited an anger in him. The fact that he was hurting and she couldn’t even muster it in herself to fake it. She stood still as he started to retreat back towards his perfect house, “fuck you Max.” he bit out trying to cover his own sadness as she stood where the snowflakes fell angry against the sidewalk, and finally, for the first time in months, she felt like she could breathe again.

[swanqueeneverafter]

The Once & Future Queen Pt.6

The Enchanted Forest. Past. The Refuge of the Fairies. (Tinker Bell arrives back home and carefully approaches a green blossom. The blossom opens and reveals the Blue Fairy inside.) Blue Fairy: “Good evening, Green.” Tinker Bell: “Hey Blue. You look amazing. Did you do something to your—” Blue Fairy: (Interrupting:) “You're late. You’ve already broken every rule in the book. Curfew. Dust discipline. You got big for no reason.” Tinker Bell: “Listen. I have news. Amazing news. I was helping someone. A queen in the Enchanted Forest. Regina.” Blue Fairy: “You’re the one responsible for the parade?” Tinker Bell: (Smiles:) “Yeah, that was me.” Blue Fairy: “Do you know what you’ve done? You’ve risked everything for a... a chance to show off!” Tinker Bell: “I wasn’t showing off. I was practicing my skills. Something you’re always telling us to do.” Blue Fairy: (Ignoring this:) “Do you know who she is? Her mother was Cora. The one who ripped out hearts. Her teacher is the Dark One.” Tinker Bell: “So?” Blue Fairy: “So consider yourself lucky you’re still alive. (Sighs:) Green, this is not a woman you can help. She is surrounded by darkness.” Tinker Bell: “Sounds to me like she’s exactly someone who could use help. Maybe if you let me have some Pixie dust.” Blue Fairy: “Not a chance. You fly away from this one, Green.” Tinker Bell: “My name isn’t Green. It's Tinker Bell. And I can’t believe you want me to ignore someone who needs help. It’s not very Fairy-like.” Blue Fairy: (Angry:) “I will be the judge of what is Fairy-like.” Tinker Bell: “But I-” Blue Fairy: “No discussion. Until further notice you are to remain here and continue your training under my direct supervision. Understood?” Tinker Bell: “Yes, Blue.” (The Blue Fairy exits. After a moment, Tinker Bell sneaks a look around, making sure no one can see her, and flies off again.)

Enchanted Forest. Regina & Emma's Hideaway. (Bathed in moonlight, two bodies move together as one.) Regina: (Rolling onto her side, sighs contentedly, stares up at the stars:) "I can see." Emma: (Leaning on her elbow, looking down at her:) "That was-" Regina: "Magical." Emma: "Yeah... and a little unexpected." Regina: "Mm I know. (Looks up at her:) I never thought I would feel this way again. I know what love is, now. It’s life. Everything is united by love alone." Emma: (Chuckles:) "Someone is really enjoying their afterglow." Regina: (Laughs:) "Is that what you call it?" Emma: "Yeah. You're glowing all right." Regina: (Smiling brightly:) "I feel as though I can breathe again." Emma: "You certainly took my breath away a few times there." Regina: "I'm serious. (Sighs:) I never thought my first time would be like this." Emma: "Mmm. Wait, what? Your first time?" Regina: (Nods:) "I told you, the King and I don't have that sort of relationship." Emma: "Well, yeah, but what about Dan-" (Catches herself.) Regina: "What?" Emma: (Thinking fast:) "I mean... Damn y'all, that's a huge responsibility." Regina: (Chuckles:) "Well, I'd say you were more than equal to the task." Emma: "Why didn't you tell me?" Regina: (Shrugs:) "I didn't know what was going to happen when I came here tonight. All I knew is that I needed you to know just how much you mean to me." Emma: "I...don't know what to say." Regina: "Then kiss me, please? (Emma complies and they kiss passionately beneath the stars, each woman unable to satiate their hunger for each other. Breathlessly:) This is how I saw my life. Laying under the stars with the person I love, living only for each other. (Cupping Emma's face in her hands:) Why can't it always be like this?" Emma: "It will, I promise." Regina: "How? (Slowly removes her hands:) Soon the King will return and I will be forced back to my life of loneliness, married to a man who barely acknowledges my existence." Emma: "Well, since you're intent on feeling sorry for yourself, you should know that I'm also married." Regina: "You are?" (Sits up, pulling the blankets over herself a little tighter.) Emma: "Yeah, is that a problem, Your Majesty?" Regina: (Considers:) "Well... no I suppose not." Emma: "I love them with all of my heart and I know I'm putting the life I have with them in jeopardy." Regina: "But?" Emma: "But... I wouldn't have missed this night for the world. I will remember you, like this, forever." Regina: (Purses her lips and relents:) "I shouldn't be jealous, but I can't help it. Knowing that you can't be mine." Emma: "Well, maybe we can... maybe we can be sorta... (Emma searches for the right wording, then smiles and realises what she's about to say before she says it:) Marrifriends?" Regina: (Scoffs:) "Marrifriends? What is that?" Emma: "That's you and me. Friends... who are married... who enjoy each other's company." Regina: "Intimately." Emma: (Smiles:) "Exactly." Regina: (Considers this:) "I like the sound of that." Emma: "Mm. (Kisses her:) Me too." (Wrapping her arms around Emma, Regina pulls the blonde woman towards her as she lays back, ready to enjoy the benefits of their 'friendship' once more.) Elsewhere. (Robin Hood and his Merry Men sit around the fire when Mulan enters their campsite with Aladdin. Robin Hood stands up to approach them.) Robin Hood: (Shaking her hand:) “Mulan.” Mulan: “Robin Hood, this is Aladdin, a friend.” Robin Hood: (Shakes his hand:) “Pleased to meet you, Aladdin.” Aladdin: “Likewise.” Robin Hood: “We weren’t expecting you tonight.” Mulan: “Well, it’s a little distracting back at my camp, so I thought I might as well do something useful. Plus, Aladdin is quite the thief himself. Thought I’d bring him along to help teach your men a thing or two, in between sparring sessions.”

Robin Hood: “Very well. (To his men:) Are you ready to get your arses kicked?” (The Merry Men grumble.) Aladdin: “Perhaps after dinner? I’m starving.” Robin Hood: (Smiles:) “Of course.” Crumbling Fortress. Present. Continued. (Will lies limply against the fire pit. Robin Hood tends to him.) Guinevere: “We have to get him back to a healer.” Sir Leon: “And abandon the quest?” Guinevere: “He saved my life, I won’t let him die.” Sir Leon: “Your Majesty, if we don’t get to the Isle of the Blessed, hundreds more will perish.” (Guinevere looks back at Will.) Robin Hood: “Let me take him.” Guinevere: “Carrying a wounded man alone, it will take you two or three days to reach Camelot.” Lancelot: (To Robin:) “Not if you go through the Valley of the Fallen Kings.” Robin Hood: (Nods. To Guinevere:) “You cannot give up on the quest.” Sir Leon: “Your Majesty, he’s right.” (Guinevere nods. Sir Bedivere carries the paralysed Will to his horse. Robin ties Will to the horse.) Robin Hood: (To Will:) “This is my fault and I’m sorry.” Will: “At least this makes us even.” Robin Hood: (To the group:) “We need to leave.” (Guinevere squeezes Will’s shoulder and sends him off with Robin Hood.) Valley of the Fallen Kings. Night. (Robin carries Will to a stream in the woods; he lays him next to it and covers Will with his cloak. Robin takes off his gloves to gather water from the stream and notices something about the water.) Villia: “Robin. Robin Hood. (Drops of water rise up from the stream:) Robin. (A woman’s face appears in the drop of water:) We bear you no harm. We wish only to help.” Robin Hood: “What are you?” Villia: “We are Villia, spirits of the brooks and streams. The tear in the veil has upset the balance of the world. Good spirits as well as bad roam freely. But this perilous state cannot continue for long.” Robin Hood: “Guinevere and Lancelot are riding to the Isle of the Blessed. They intend to heal the veil.” Villia: “They will need help.” Robin Hood: “My friend is sick. I need to get him to a healer.” Villia: “Do not worry. Even now, my sisters begin to heal him. (Robin looks at Will, he is glowing all over. Robin smiles:) You are tired. You must rest.” Robin Hood: “I need to find shelter.” Villia: “You are safe here.” Robin Hood: “The Dorocha.” Villia: “We will stay with you and protect you through the night.” (Robin smiles in awe as the water drops around him become tiny lights.) Camelot. Council Chamber. Night. (Ruby opens the chamber doors while Agravaine sits with the councilmen.) Agravaine: “Ruby. Have you come to join us?” Ruby: “Why have you closed the city gates?” Agravaine: “We have limited resources, Ruby. As much as I would like to, we simply cannot feed and water the entire kingdom.” Ruby: “Surely your people have a right to be protected.” Agravaine: “I would be putting Camelot in danger. Starvation, disease. The gates will remain shut until we are free of the evil that plagues us. (Seeing no alternative, Ruby turns to leave:) Now, gentlemen, where were we?”

Regina: (Grabbing Ruby’s hand and striding into the chamber:) “Hold it. (The councilmen stare at her:) May I be granted permission to address the court?” Agravaine: “Regina. of course.” (Agravaine makes an inviting gesture and Regina steps up to the table.) Regina: “Any Queen will tell you that every citizen is important. A true leader would never stand by and let them suffer.” Agravaine: “I feel the pain as much as you, but we don’t have a choice. If we keep letting people in, our food will run out within days.” Ruby: “You are wrong.” (The councilmen stare at Ruby.) Agravaine: “Perhaps you would enlighten me.” Ruby: “Those outside the gates are landowners, farmers. For days the refugees have been bartering their wares with the townsfolk in return for the safety of their hearths. They bring with them far more than they take.” Agravaine: “But how long before these wares run out?” Regina: “Three days ago, Queen Guinevere embarked on a quest to rid us of these creatures. At worst, we have another three before she reaches her goal. Or do you think she will fail?” Agravaine: “Of course not.” Geoffrey of Monmouth: “Sire, she’s right.” Agravaine: “Very well. Reopen the gates.” (Regina nods and leaves the room with Ruby following her. Agravaine smiles, then broods.) Enchanted Forest. Past. Palace. (Returning to her chambers, Regina closes the door to her room and sighs in relief. Lost in the memories of her night spent with Emma, Regina doesn't notice the presence in her room.) Rumplestiltskin: "Have you had a good night, Dearie?" Regina: (Jumps:) "Oh! You son of a bitch." Rumplestiltskin: "You may be right, I never knew my mother personally." Regina: "What do you want?" Rumplestiltskin: "Want? My desires as always are immaterial. I'm here for your next lesson. You remember those don't you? The lessons in which I teach you all you need to know so that ultimately you can achieve everything that you want." Regina: (Scoffs:) "Those days are over. What I desire you can't give me." Rumplestiltskin: "Is that so?" Regina: "Since you've been away, my outlook on life has changed." Rumplestiltskin: "Indeed. So are we all about raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens now? I told you, dearie, once the Darkness has had a taste of you-" Regina: "The Darkness can bite me for all I care. Tinker Bell showed me that love was still out there for me. It may not have been the way she intended, but she was right." Rumplestiltskin: "Love? You're throwing away your chance at revenge... for love? (Giggles:) Don't be so daft, girl." Regina: "Laugh all you want. I know what I feel in my heart and it's stronger than anything you could ever hope to teach me." Rumplestiltskin: "I see... so you snuck out of the castle and found yourself a toyboy at the local tavern, is that it? It's an infatuation, dearie. It'll pass. Your chance at love died with Daniel, the moment Snow White let your secret escape her lips." (Pain washes over Regina's features momentarily, making Rumplestiltskin believe his words have had the desired effect.) Regina: (Raising her chin:) "You're trying to provoke me. You need me to cling to my grief, to channel it into anger and darkness so that I can be your little plaything. Well I've found something else to live for and I'm not listening to you anymore. See yourself out, dearie." (Rumplestiltskin glowers at her before leaving in a cloud of smoke.)

Valley of the Fallen Kings. Present. Morning. (Robin wakes to find Will gone.) Robin Hood: (Sits up:) “Will. Will?!” Will: “Shh! (Will’s standing in the stream with a stick and a couple of fish on a string. Robin watches Will spearing the water with the stick. Will stops and holds up the fish:) Breakfast.” Robin Hood: “Will, what…? Why are you…?” Will: “What?” Robin Hood: “You’re meant to be…dying.” Will: “Sorry. Here.” (Will hands him the spearing stick.) Robin Hood: “What’s that for?” Will: “You look like you’re going to fall over.” (Robin swings the stick at Will. Will ducks.) Robin Hood: “Come on. We need to catch up with the others.” (Robin starts walking toward the horses.) Will: “Er, no. We’re going back home.” Robin Hood: “You might be.” Will: “Robin.” Robin Hood: “Say hello to Alice for me!” Will: “Robin! (Robin stops and turns around:) I didn’t save your life just so you could go and risk it again. They can finish this without us.” Robin Hood: (Places his hand on Will’s shoulder:) “You and I are square now, Will. I have to do this.” Anastasia: (Appearing behind him:) "Will! Thank goodness I found you." Will: (Turns to face her:) "Ana, what the bloody hell are you doing here?" Anastasia: "I don't have time to explain, but you need to come with me, right now!" Will: "What do you mean you don't have time? Is it Tiana? Alice? What’s happened?" Anastasia: "Please, we need to go!" Will: "All right. (Turns back to Robin to see that he's already riding off on his horse. Sighs, softly:) Goodbye, mate. (Looks back to Anastasia:) Come on, let's go." Morgana’s Hovel. (Agravaine rides through the woods. Morgana sits in a chair by the fire.) Agravaine: “My lady?” (Agravaine enters.) Morgana: “What news of the mighty Camelot?” Agravaine: “As we planned. (Removing his gloves:) The city’s falling to rack and ruin.” Morgana: “And Lancelot?” Agravaine: (Warms his hands by the fire:) “Last we heard, he’d made it past Aelbeth.” Morgana: “Will we never be rid of him?” Agravaine: “Patience, my lady. Even if he makes it to the Isle, the outcome will still be the same.” Morgana: “Then what brings you here so early? (Morgana watches Agravaine:) Something’s wrong.” Agravaine: “A minor irritant. (Moves to stand behind Morgana’s chair:) Regina. She takes it upon herself to speak out against me.” Morgana: “She’s dangerous.” Agravaine: “Well, she’s not a threat to Camelot’s throne.”

Morgana: “No, just a threat on a much grander scale. (Morgana stands up, provoked:) It was she who forestalled me from aiding my sister in our plans to change the past. She and that wife of hers are beloved across all the realms. Their combined powers produce the most powerful magic the world has ever known.” Agravaine: “But they are currently separated. Surely the time is right to deal with Regina while we have the chance?” Morgana: (Smiles:) “I couldn’t agree more. We must make sure she never sees another dawn.” Enchanted Forest. Past. (Rumplestiltskin is in a clearing in the forest.) Rumplestiltskin: "Reul Ghorm! Show yourself! (The Blue Fairy flutters into view:) It appears you've been interfering in my business." Blue Fairy: "I've done no such thing." Rumplestiltskin: "That's a lie! Maybe not personally, but one of your minions has been sticking their nose where it doesn't belong." Blue Fairy: "Tinker Bell." Rumplestiltskin: "Yes. She's managed to derail my plans considerably." Blue Fairy: "Well if that's true then perhaps she deserves a promotion." Rumplestiltskin: "Oh you'd like that wouldn't you? First you steal my son, then you wreck my best chance at reuniting with him." Blue Fairy: "Your son is lost to you, Dark One, let him go." Rumplestiltskin: "Never! You forget since we last met, I now have the power of future sight. I can see what lies ahead for all of us." Blue Fairy: (Scoffs:) "If your Dark Curse is enacted it means pain and misery, no future sight is needed for that." Rumplestiltskin: "Wrong again! Yes, to begin with, there may be suffering. But in the end, everyone will get exactly what they desire." Blue Fairy: "You and your student Regina you mean." Rumplestiltskin: "No! Everyone! The clouds will part, the Darkness will dissipate and all the Realms of Story will be united. Peace within our lifetime. Isn't that what you Fairies are all about?" Blue Fairy: "I can't trust you. Dark One lies, Dark One tricks. I won't take that chance." Rumplestiltskin: "Oh you're wrong, dearie. You can and you must. I'm not asking for much. Just disown your troublesome little Tinker, and I'll do the rest." The Dragon’s Lair. Present. (Agravaine stands at the bar with a drink when Regina enters from the back room.) Regina: "Agravaine. This is most unexpected. Is there something you need?" Agravaine: “Yes, there is something I would like to discuss. I wish to apologize. Yesterday I feel I let the Queen down. I am grateful that you spoke out.” Regina: “Your apology is accepted.” (Agravaine smiles.) Agravaine: “Regina, if you would permit, I would be grateful to seek your advice. You understand the people and I know that you will be honest with me. (Regina smiles at the truth of this statement:) It’s not appropriate to talk now. Perhaps… this evening. You could come to my chambers. (Regina starts to protest:) Please, Regina, these are dark times. I’m going to need help if I’m to guide Camelot through them.” Regina: “Very well.” (Agravaine smiles.) Agravaine: “Thank you.” (Regina smiles back and Agravaine makes his exit.)

Tavern. Past. Emma's Room. (Tiger Lily joins Emma in her room.) Tiger Lily: "What were you thinking? Now that Regina knows you... intimately... here in the past, how can we possibly expect the future, whenever we get back to it, to be the same?" Emma: "I don't know! It's not like it was planned." Tiger Lily: "Emma, as much as it pains me to say it, we need Regina to cast the Dark Curse. Otherwise everything we know and cherish about our world back home will be lost." Emma: "Don't you think I get that? Why do you think I wanted to stay as far away from Regina as possible?" Tiger Lily: "Because you have no self control? Because sleeping with the teenage version of your wife was too much to resist?" Emma: "That's... unfair." Tiger Lily: "But accurate." (Emma looks at Tiger Lily and notices the beginnings of a smile on her lips.) Emma: "A little too accurate, yeah. (They share a laugh that breaks the tension:) Oh God, there has to be some way to make things right though?" Tiger Lily: (Nods:) "I think so. Unfortunately it will still need to involve Snow White." Emma: "Yeah well, if anyone could inspire Regina to cast the Dark Curse, it was always going to be my Mom." The Enchanted Forest. (Tinker Bell flies alone through the sky when she is caught by the Blue Fairy.) Blue Fairy: “Stop! I told you to stay home.” Tinker Bell: “I know. I thought I’d stretch my wings a little after our talk. Conflict gets me a little wound up. I just wanted to prove to you that I was a good fairy.” Blue Fairy: “You could have proven that by being a good fairy, by listening to me.” Tinker Bell: “I was following my instincts.” Blue Fairy: “Which are so far from being correct. (Sighs:) This can’t be forgiven.” Tinker Bell: “Wait. Wait. Everyone deserves a second chance. We always tell people that.” Blue Fairy: “But, Tinker Bell, this was your second chance.” Tinker Bell: “Please. I promise. I’m so sorry.” Blue Fairy: “You betrayed my trust.” Tinker Bell: “I can regain it. Give me a chance.” Blue Fairy: “You can’t. For one simple, tragic reason: I no longer believe in you.” (Tinker Bell’s wings disappear and she falls helplessly to the ground. The Blue Fairy flies away.)

Camelot. Present. Evening. (Morgana magically opens a gate outside Camelot and carries a torch while she climbs the stairs into the city.) Guard 1: (Distant:) “Get to the other side.” Guard 2: (Distant:) “Yes, sir.” (Morgana continues down a dark corridor.) Guard 3: (Stepping out from a side chamber:) “Halt.” (Morgana uses her magic to throw the guard against the wall without speaking or turning around.) Agravaine’s Chambers. (Regina sits at the table while Agravaine pours her a glass of wine.) Agravaine: “But do the people feel safe? (Regina remains silent:) You can speak honestly.” Regina: “No, of course they don’t.” Agravaine: “Go on.” Regina: “They’re frightened. Night after night, they’ve seen their friends, their parents, their children all snatched cruelly from them and they don’t know who will be next.” Agravaine: “What can I do to reassure them?” Regina: “Show courage. Shutting the gates last night told them you were as terrified as they were. It’s like a horse and its rider. If the people sense your fear, they will not trust you.” Agravaine: “I am grateful for your advice. (Agravaine stands behind her and places his hands on her chair back:) You have a wise head on your shoulders, Regina. (Agravaine leans forward and rests his arms on the back of her chair and Regina starts getting creeped out. Agravaine reaches his fingers slightly forward as if to touch her, then thinks better of it and takes his arms off the chair back:) I’ve kept you long enough.” Regina: (Stands:) “And I must get back to my family.” Agravaine: “Of course. (Agravaine precedes her to the door and opens it for her:) I’ll have my guards walk you safely home.” (The guards appear outside the door.) Regina: “Thank you.” Streets of Camelot. (The guards carry torches as they escort Regina. Morgana watches them from the battlements above.) Morgana: “Hleap on baec.” (Morgana raises her arm and throws Regina and the guards backwards. Morgana smirks at her unconscious victims.)

[macybeckham7]

Army Medic - Eric Dier

Part Five

It had been a long stressful day trying to help out at the hospital with the kids who were at the school and to try and calm down the families. Then going round attending everyone who needed it and would accept help from the British flag.

It was getting dark and Imogen and YN reformed and made their way back to camp, knowing it wasn’t safe to be out alone when the sun goes down. The two medics talked amongst themselves, learning that they were completely opposite from eachother.

‘Let me guess you prefer The Wanted over One Direction’ Imogen joked making them both laugh.

‘An Arsenal fan, how do the troops trust you with their lives’ you joke playfully nudging her.

Suddenly a young girl appeared, looking concerned and out of breath from running.

‘My sister, she’s giving birth’ she states.

The two medics look at eachother and nod before following the young girl.

As they get to the hut the man is stood blocking the door and shaking his head speaking to his daughter. YN heard the women’s groans getting louder as she was close to give burst. Imogen tried to negotiate while YN just barged in, she froze as she found the young women with her mother putting a wet cloth on her forehead.

‘Oh god, you’re here’ the women said in a strong accent. ‘I wanted you and not the other one, you have a kind face’ she says softly.

YN gets pulled closer to the women who was close to become a mother. She placed her bag down as the middle aged women spoke again.

‘Being a mother is a joy, it’s a precious thing because only a select few can take the role’ she beams. ‘How far along are you?’ She asked as her hand goes to her stomach.

She pulled away from her as if she just stroked her with an iron.

‘I’m not..’ she says but stops as the women lets out another cry.

Imogen runs in saying they have got a green light with the man, but they had to get out as soon as the baby has been delivered. YN felt semi conscious under the women’s watchful eye.

‘What do we do?’ Imogen whispers.

YN clears her throat. ‘She’s in the driving seat, we just ease the pain’ she says smiling at the women, who couldn’t speak a word of English.

The two girls both give the women their full attention, them both having a weird connection they not really not having to talk but they knew what the other wanted needed.

Imogen gave YN a look before looking over at the soon to be grandfather. He watch looking pretty on edge as he looked up and down of the lane as if he was expecting someone. YN looked at the women who noticed the two of you as she had her daughter close to her.

Imogen gave her a nod, which meant they were both on point. YN knelt down to get a better view.

The two managed to safely delivery the baby, when som guys on a motorbike and quad bikes appeared and started to shout. The two medics grabbed their bags and congratulated the family, knowing that it would bad for everyone if they found two British army medics in their home. The took YN’s hand before she could leave.

‘She wants to know your name...’ the mother smiled. ‘She wants to name her daughter after you’ she smiles.

‘Imogen’ she smiled, before saying goodbye and pulling away.

.....

Eric walked off the bus and into Wembley stadium where the friendlies were being held. Dele and John were either side of him as they walked into the dressing room.

‘Have you spoke to YN?’ John asked as they took their seats.

Eric nods. ‘Briefly yesterday, she said she’d going to be watching tonight and then we are calling again tomorrow’ he explains.

‘Better look your best then mate’ Dele winks.

‘Do you guys have FaceTime sex?’ John questioned, looking concerned, making both the North London footballers just roll their eyes and get ready for the task at hand.

Eric finds himself standing looking down at his black trainers, which had YN’s name on it with a shamrock. Everyone knew about you two dating, and knew how much Eric was a big supporter and often worked alongside charities.

As it was soon Remembrance Sunday they did a minute silence/applaud before the game started. Eric stood in with his teammates as they all thought about the people who fought and continue to fight for their country. Eric mainly praying like every night that the love of his life is safe and will be back with him soon. The cameras stayed alittle longer on him as he had pure emotion on his face, as his head was lowered.

.....

Animal watched Eric who was definitely missing his girl, he looked over at the door hoping that smudge would be here soon to watch her man. He knew that she would never miss the games, she was always the main one who got everyone involved in games. Always the one jumping around when her team scored and swearing when the opponent scored.

Sergeant and Captain Henry stood looking at Imogen and YN.

‘Imogen you can go’ C.Henry said but not taking his eyes off the more experienced medic.

‘But-‘ she started but the look Sergeant gave her cut her off. She saluted them and stomped before giving YN a soft look before walking off.

‘I didn’t mean to-‘ YN stayed but instantly got stopped when Captain shouted in her face.

‘Are you just going against everything I tell you guys?’ He asked. ‘I gave you all the curfew for YOUR safety!’ He snapped. ‘I don’t give a flying fuck if you don’t like me YLN. YOU need to respect me because I’m the captain, and if I tell you to jump you say how fucking high’ he mocked.

YN stayed quiet but she didn’t stand down from her intense glare.

‘You are a good medic, you have good potential but you will get yourself or someone else killed’

Sergeant saw her eyes soften.

‘Go to bed, you have tomorrow off’ Henry says. He shakes his head when she was about to speak. ‘That was an order medic’ he snaps.

She looks at Sergeant who doesn’t say anything, even though it means a lot to her to watch the game.

She straightens up and salutes them with tears threatening to run down her face. And walks out slamming the door behind her.

Imogen and Jason walk into the bunker to find YN sat on her bed doodling, they both ask where she was tonight, she tells them before bursting into tears. Jason instantly pulling her into him and hugging her.

Animal walks in and instantly goes to his friend.

‘Henry has it out for her, we did a good thing this evening’ Imogen explains.

Animal instantly grabs her hand and pulls her towards his bed. He grabs his tablet and tells her to ring Eric and they’ll cover for her. Knowing she’ll only have ten minutes, she pecks a kiss on his cheek before instantly dialling Eric’s contact.

‘Eric, Hi’ her face softens as he appears on her screen.

A big goofy smirk appeared on his face as he sees her face and hears her voice. He could see her was messy which was different from her normal well put braids. He could tell that she has been crying, but he knew that these calls shouldn’t make you bring up everything.

‘Did you see my goal’ he smiles.

Her face winces alittle, before she shakes her head. ‘No, I um missed the game..’ she grimaces. ‘I’m so sorry’ she whispers.

‘It’s alright, I’m sure you’ve got more important things to do than watching a stupid game’ he shrugs.

From outside she could hear the guys laugh.

‘I love you’ she gushes. ‘I miss you’ she whispers.

‘I love you too darling’

The two talk alittle longer, Eric telling her how the England camp is, mentioning both of their parents and them babying him to make sure he was alright. Dele and Harry popping their head into shot, and wishing her well. A small giggle escaped her mouth as he told her funny story, she saw Imogen popped her head round the door. She said goodbye to Eric, with them both expressing their love for each other.

....

‘Smudge!’ Sergeant waved towards the two medics and Animal.

She said a quick goodbye to them and good luck for their training, before she made a getaway the one of two people she is trying to avoid.

‘Smudge, Captain wants you in the gym’ he says.

She glares at him. ‘The gym? That’s bullshit! I’m being punished for not following his rules? If I did and something happened to that family he’d be wanting my head’ she snapped, her eyes finding the captain. ‘He doesn’t like I’ve got my own mind, and I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him’ she mutters before storming off.

YN went to the gym for around five minutes showed her face and then ran out. She walked out of the base, wearing a headscarf and making a beeline towards the hospital.

She found the doctor she met when they came in with the casualties from the score.

‘Asal!’ She calls, she instantly recognising her.

‘YN?’ She asks as she takes her hand, looking at her outfit.

‘I need help, I need a pregnancy test’ she mutters.

Asal raises her brows at her. ‘It’s for a young girl in the village, she won’t come her but she’ll let me take her blood, so will you help me, so I can help her’

She nods and tells her to follow her, YN looks around before follow her hot on her tail.

....

YN managed to get the blood test from Doctor Asal, she went back and got an American medic to do it for her, before she sneaked off back to the hospital. Telling Asal to ring her with the results, and telling her to try and push it forward if she could.

Henry found these medic in the canteen to tell her that she had a doctor on the phone.

‘The test is positive’ Asal mutters.

YN’s breathed hitched. ‘Are you 100% sure?’ She whispered.

‘Yes, these tests are very accurate’ Asal replies. ‘This girl, does she know how far along she is?’

She clears her throat. ‘No’

‘Will she keep it?’

YN nods as her hand goes to her stomach. ‘Yeah’

[loki-is-my-god-of-mischief]

Took You Long Enough (Remus x Female!Reader)

A/N:  So in this fic, Reader is Lucius Malfoy's sister but you are not a death eater, you are part of the order. Reader was a marauder so you will be referred to as your nickname. Also Sirius is alive. Don't have the heart to keep him dead. Also Leodora mean Lioness in Latin since that is your animagus.

________________________________________________________________

Lets begin.... 12 Grimmauld place was shrouded in a tense atmosphere as Harry found out the person who has been helping the order from the shadows is in fact (Y/N) Malfoy. Sirius and Remus were tense in posture, waiting to leap to (Y/N)'s defence if she needed it. Harry, however, did something unexpected of him...he sat down, stared at her and said "explain." Remus started off the explanation, "She was one of our closest friends in school Harry. She is a Marauder just like us." Sirius jumps in next, "She is fiercely protective of us and fiercely loyal. She is just like me, disowned from our horrible families." (Y/N) finished the speech off by saying, "I know you have problems with the Malfoy family and you probably won't accept me but I will still protect you, even then. As we promised James that we would if anything happened to him and Lily." Harry stared long and hard at (Y/N) to the point that Sirius and Remus were rigid. Then he saw the truth in her (E/C) eyes, walked up to her and gripped her tight in a welcoming hug. "I believe you....Leodora." "How do you know that name?" (Y/N) breathed, relieved yet shocked at hearing the endearing name. "It was on the map...Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs & Mme. Leodora." "Haha, so that's how you sneak around Hogwarts after curfew. I should of known, just like your father." (Y/N) praises. ________________________________________________________________ After many stories being told to Harry of the many adventures of the Marauders time in school, (Y/N) excused herself and moved outside in the back garden to get some fresh air. The remaining people watching her go. "How close was (Y/N) to my parents?" Harry asked, turning to face Sirius and Remus. "She was made your Godmother if that's what your asking?" Sirius replied. "My Godmother?" "Of course, did you really think Lily would trust Sirius to be Godfather without having some back up." Remus replied heartily, covering a snicker when Sirius threw him a dirty look. "So (Y/N) and Sirius weren't together?" "Are you kidding, (Y/N) and the notorious man-whore? Together? Nope, never happened." Remus admitted to which Sirius looked affronted. "Man-whore?! How dare you! I just had a lot of love to go around is all. Besides, you were the one with the massive crush on her. Still do actually." "Wha-What? I do not have a crush!" "Yes you do." "No I don't." "Yes you do!" "No I-" "Maybe you should just tell her Moony. After all, It's obvious you do like her." Harry interrupted the playful argument. "Pup's got a point Moony. Go. Go tell her, what's the worst that could happen?" "Laugh in my face." Remus replied moodily. "You know she would never do that because she is not like that. Just go and tell her." "Fine." Remus finally relents and raises from his seat in the living room to head to the back garden. "Do you think he will notice that she loves him too?" Harry asks. "Yes, If he doesn't bottle it and cowers out like a chicken." Laughs Sirius. ________________________________________________________________ Five Minutes. Five minutes Remus has been stood in the back doorway just watching (Y/N) in the light of the half-moon. She was the only person he admitted to being a werewolf to. The others just figured it out. But she. (Y/N) he wanted to save from himself. How stupid he was to think that she would ever run away from or fear him. She was beautiful inside and out. Her pale blonde hair streaked with (H/C) (If you are blonde then favourite colour). Her big (E/C) eyes that sparkle in the moonlight. She was stunning, how could she ever love a monster like him. "Stop it!" Surprised Remus looked up, He hadn't even realised he looked away, to find the object of his affection right in front of him with an angry expression on her face. "What?" He replied dumbfounded. "Do you really think after all these years that I don't know when you are thinking self-loathing thoughts! That your thinking you are a monster when your not!" (Y/N) shouted at Remus, tears in her eyes. "Hey, why are you crying?" Remus asked soothingly, bringing her into an embrace. "I just want you to realise that your not a monster. You are a smart, kind and a gentleman. Why can't you see the good in you that I do." "Maybe...you can show me the good in me that you so obviously see..." "What do you mean?" "I mean...I love you (Y/N)" Remus hesitantly admits, to which you smirk. "Took you long enough." "What?" "Remus, I fell in love with you when we were in third year and you pranked Sirius after he got me detention." "Then I should prank Sirius more often..." "Haha, no. Maybe we should" "I Love you" you say together.

[nakoujou]

Detention: One-Shot

In which Class A gets detention, and the only priority is to find out who got caught making out in the boys’ locker room (Crackfic, slight Todomomo, warning for lots of cursing).

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

They had only wanted to escape the gruesome, summer heat. An innocent group text inviting everybody to sneak into U.A.’s swimming pool. It was supposed to be a chill kickback, just to lounge in the cooling sensation of the waters. 

But here they were on Sunday afternoon, stuck in their homeroom to write a 5 paragraph apology essay after Aizawa and Midnight caught them. Nobody wanted to be here, already struggling to deal with one of the hottest days of July. Midoriya wondered how many would actually complete the assignment. Half of them were already dozing off, defeated from the cruel heat waves seeping through the window.

Aizawa-sensei - already annoyed from the normal school week - entrusted supervision duties to the only other student worthy of disciplining his troublesome classmates and not ignoring curfew.

"This is an embarrassment to our class!” Iida yelled, unraveling the list of strikes. “Underage drinking, unsupervised Quirk battles, inappriopriate ki-”

And suddenly, everybody’s energy zapped right back at Iida’s loud gasp. It wasn’t like their Class President to halt in the middle of a lecture, clenching the paper.

Iida took a big gulp, lowering his head as his hands shivered. “’I-I-Inappropriate kissing in the boys’ locker room.”

Across all desks, Class A shared the same expression: wide eyes, jaws dropping, blood-curling screams blasting from their mouths. 

“KISSING??!!!”

“Are you shitting us?!” Ashido gasped. 

“Wait, everybody at the pool party is in detention right now,” Tsu pondered. “Which means...”

"WHICH FUCKER HERE GOT A HICKEY?!!” Kirishima screamed.

“H-Hickey?” Yaoyorozu gasped, covering her mouth. “W-W-Why-”

“So innocent, Yaoyorozu!” Sero teased her. “No guy takes you to the locker room without gunning for second base.” 

"W-Wait! We should be more respectful of the person. What if they’re not ready to talk about this?” Midoriya said. Whoever it was here, he couldn’t imagine the embarrassment they were feeling right now.

“We’re Class A! We’re family, and family tell each other everything!” Ochaco declared. “We need to know!”

“URARAKA HOW COULD YOU??!!” Midoriya wailed. He thought she would at least be on his side.

“We’re not that close,” Ojiro muttered. Except no one cared to admit that.

“Mou, which two lovebirds here got some good action?” Hagakure giggled.

“Everybody needs to calm down and resume the essay!”

“Come on, Iida, I bet you wanna know too.”

“This shit is fuckin’ stupid,” Bakugo groaned, head falling onto his desk.

“Let’s go to the boys’ locker, find a bra, and match it to the girls here!”

“Mineta, don’t be disrespectful! It’s rude to target only the girls!”

“Iida is right. And who’s to say it’s a hetero boy-girl relationship? We should be considerate of those feelings when we talk about this,” Yayaorozu trailed off, twiddling with her jacket sleeves.

“Yaomomo has a point,” Jiro replied. “Still...”

“It’s definitely a guy and girl in this room, mark my words!” Kamimari declared.  

“So that rules out Bakugo.”

“WHAT’S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN, EAR FREAK?! NOT LIKE I WANNA KISS YOU BITCHES ANYWAY!”

“Language, Bakugo! Especially when it comes to our fellow sisters!” Iida lectured.

“That’s right, we must cherish our sisters!”

“They ain’t sisters if we’re shoving our tongue down their throats,” Bakugo scoffed. Iida and the rest of the class glared at him.

“Well, it ain’t Uraraka cause Midoriya would faint,” Kamimari laughed.

“W-W-W-WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING???!!!!”

“M-m-m-m-m-me k-k-k-kiss--” Midoriya stuttered under his breath, avoiding any eye contact with Uraraka.

“I have a theory-”

“We don’t care, Bakugo.”

“FINE! GO WASTE THE HOUR WITHOUT ME, WORTHLESS EXTRAS!”

“It ain’t Ashido; she would have told everybody.”

“Ne, why are we so focused on the girls when it was in the boys’ locker room?”

“Tsu’s right,” Yaoyorozu complained. “Why don’t we start with the guys first?”

“They make a valid point,” Shoji replied. “Since it was our locker room, we need to interrogate the guys first.” 

“Let’s be real; which guy in this room actually has a chance to kiss, let alone makeout with a girl?” Tokoyami spoke for the first time. 

The room fell into a swift depression, with Kirishima, Bakugo, and Kamimaro glaring at him.

“That’s so cruel...” Yayaorozu tried to hold back a snicker. 

“Aren’t you speaking about yourself too?” Uraraka pointed out. Tokoyami shrugged. 

“Recognizing one’s weakness is the key to greatness.”

“YOU’RE SAYING NO GUY IN CLASS A HAS GAME?!!!”

“HOW COULD YOU BETRAY US, TOKOYAMI?!”

“I’LL GET ALL THE GIRLS TO PROVE YOU WRONG, BIRD SHIT!”

“Regardless of who it was, this is a highly inappropriate discussion. We should respect our friend’s privacy and get back to your essays.” 

“Iida, don’t be a buzzkill.”

“But seriously, which guy here did it?!”

“Not Aoyama; he only loves himself.”

“This is hard; Tokoyami is pretty right about the guys in our class,” Tsu sighed.

“Look, everybody,” Midoriya walked to the front of the class. “This is fun, but someone here may be dealing with feelings they’re not sure of. What if it’s a new relationship they don’t want to reveal yet? Plus, we’re now making fun of each other for being single.”

The shouting subsided, followed by slumber faces. Murmurs spread across the room, and Midoriya could hear their regretful tones among each other. Midoriya dared to glance over the Uraraka, who gave him an approving smile. He stood up straighter, spiked with a new confidence to face this ordeal. 

Yes, it is always right to protect someone...

 “If this class is family, the we have to act like one: Give them their space, and be there to support when they need us.”

“As expected from Midoriya...”

“Such a powerful speech!”

“It’s so much better than me, the person entrusted to lead Class A through good and bad! I have failed as your President!” Iida cried.

“So everybody’s given up, huh?”

Everybody turned back to Bakugo, sitting with his arms crossed and a grin that looked ready to unleash the next natural disaster.

“What do you gotta say, Bakugo?” Jiro snorted

“I dunno, will everybody finally trust my god-given talents?”

“Get on with it,” Shoji sighed.

Bakugo raised his hand to the ceiling, everybody rolling their eyes at his dramatics. Then, his pointer finger landed straight directly at...

“Yaoyorozu?!” Midoriya gasped. 

“Our Class VP?”

Yaoyorozu, however, did not flinch, She shook her head, unfazed. “Now you’re just being ridiculous.”

“I can see through your shit, rich girl.”

“It’s not funny, Bakugo! Yaoyorozu would never!” Uraraka defended her friend.

“Isn’t it obvious?! She’s been too diplomatic, playing peacekeeper but getting all riled up. Telling us to interrogate boys first so we wouldn’t suspect her. Also...” Bakugo grabbed his own shirt collar, lifting it slightly as he motioning towards Yaoyorozu. “Her jacket has been zipped up the whole time, and it’s a fuckin’ sauna in here. When does Ponytail ever cover up that much?”

Midoriya caught the first hint of red flush appearing across Yaoyorozu’s cheeks. Sweat beads begin to form on her forehead.

“W-W-Why does that m-matter?” Yaoyorozu scoffed, fiddling with her jacket collar. Strange how Midoriya didn’t notice that until now. As if she was hiding...

“Take off your jacket,” Bakugo demanded.

“THAT’S SO PERVY, BAKUGO!” 

"YES BAKUGO, BREAK HER BOOBS FREE-”

“YOU’RE THE LOWEST OF THEM ALL, MINETA!”

“SHUT UP! I DON’T CARE WHO BOUGIE PRINCESS MAKES OUT WITH, WHAT MATTER IS THAT I AM RIGHT!”

“OH MY GOD, BAKUGO HAS TO BE THE CULPRIT!”

“ONLY YOU WOULD SINK SO LOW TO ACCUSE YAOYOROZU!’

“DID NOBODY HEAR ME?! I HAVE REAL EVIDENCE!” 

“I bet he dragged Kirishima and Kamimari for a good three-”

“Stop!” Yaoyorozu cried. “it was me, OK?! Is everybody happy now? Can we not taunt Bakugo like that and just finish up detention in peace?” 

Yaoyorozu unziped her jacket and lo and behold, the evidence was there. A small, purple bruise...right on her neck. Midoriya couldn’t believe it; Yaoyorozu Momo had lured herself. Not only as a rule breaker, but something even more critical to this situation. If not, worsen the mood.

“WHO GAVE YOU THAT HICKY??!!!”

“WHICH FUCKER HERE GOT YAOYOROZU??!!”

“WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL THE GIRLS FIRST?”

“THIS JUST GOT WORSE!” 

“I WAS RIIIGGGGHHHHHTTTTT!!”

“AHHHH YAOMOMO HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!”

“YOU NEVER HAD A CHANCE, MINETA!”

“DON’T EVER UNDERESTIMATE ME AGAIN!”

“It wasn’t anybody here,” Yaoyorozu grumbled, avoiding everybody’s death glares. However, Midoriya could still see her face reddening with each second passing.

“THEN WHO??!! CLASS B DOUCHES?!”

“PLEASE, YAOYOROZU, ANYBODY BUT CLASS B!”

Midoriya got startled when Tokoyami tapped his shoulder. He nudged at Midoriya to speak privately, away from the chaos of their classmates and the unfortunate victim that was Yaoyorozu.

“I don’t want to make this a big deal with them but...” he whispered under his breath. “...The only students who knew about the pool party was our class, but someone’s missing.”

“Ah, you’re right! But why does that...” Midoriya drifted off, coming to a silent conclusion alongside Tokoyami. “Wait, you don’t think it could be...”

------

“Normally, I throw everybody in the same room, but given the circumstances of your delinquency...” Midnight began, lips gradually transforming into a mischievous grin. “...It made sense to keep you two separate.” 

“Works for me,” muttered the young sixteen year old, as he mopped the teachers’ lounge.

“Think of this as a generous favor, Todoroki-kun. No one will know about you and Yaoyorozu yet.”

The emphasis on “yet,” which Todoroki tried hard not to cling to. Unfortunately, it backfired in mere seconds when he heard the voice of his explosive classmate hollering throughout the entire building.

"IT’S HALF-N-HALF BASTARD!!!! I KNEEEEWWWWW ITTTTT!!!!”

————————

That’s a wrap! I hope you guys enjoyed this fic! Please feel free to leave any feedback as I’m always striving to improve as a writer.

[futurewriter2000]

Love Me Like A Sister - pt.2

XX

The fifth year was worse than the last. Now when you weren’t talking to your sister it was harder being in the same house. She was the only one who you loved to talk to, who kept being your rock when everybody was against you but not anymore. Now you were alone.

Besides all the hate you were given in your own house, there was Dolores Jane Umbridge- the toad. If she was anything, she was worse than Professor Snape. That peculiar little smile on her thin lips was irritating you, making you so furious all the time. She kept finding other reasons to punish you but the truth was, she hated you being a Muggleborn.

But there was Halsey, your too cute of a boyfriend.

“It’s not that bad.” he kept tracing his finger on the words carved in your hand. “Plus, I find it very sexy.” he winked and you rolled your eyes, smiling at him.

“Oh really?” you looked at him from the corner of your eyes.

“Oh, yeah. My girl has a sexy scar on her hand. She fought a dragon, you know.” he kept looking at you with so much admiration.

“More like a toad.” you added and he snorted.

“A ferocious toad.” he chuckled and kept his eyes on you, grinning. He could have sworn he saw you in his future. He saw you in this gorgeous house by the lake in a summer yellow dress and a big hat. He saw you holding your sandals and looking at the lake with him by your side. He saw himself wrapping his arms around you and watching the quiet surface wave calmly. “I love you.” he whispered quietly.

Your eyes shot to his and you felt your heart suddenly pound faster and faster. He said it. For the first time, he said those words to you. And you kept looking at his calm eyes, the mix of brown, green and blue, and they watched you kindly and soft. They watched you with admiration and love, which made you feel warmth and safety. He loved you. “I love you too.”

---

It was late when you decided to leave the Ravenclaw tower. You knew if it was any later, your hand would suffer the consequences, so you sneaked out just before curfew.

And they were all there. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, fast asleep.

You smiled at your sister as she was having her hands under her cheek, drooling a little on the pillow. There were a few books under her feet, one on her hip and the other on the floor. “You and your books.” you smiled to yourself and walked towards her. Firstly you took the book from her hip and put it on the desk. Secondly, you took the three books under her feet and put them in her bag and lastly, you took the blanket from the armrest and covered her.

Despite everything, she was still your sister. And sisters look out for each other.

But there were another two boys sleeping and drooling all over the house sofas. You went to Harry first, taking the open book from his face and closing it, yet before you managed to close it, a Quidditch magazine fell right on the floor but none of them budged. “Studying my arse.” you whispered at him and picked the magazine. You summoned two more blankets with a simple summoning charm and covered Harry before you went to Ron. Ron was book free. There was only parchment and a few scribbled words on it but it made you smile just how peaceful he can be when asleep.

“Thought you didn’t like Ron.” a quiet voice came from behind you.

You smiled at the sound of it and continued to tuck Ron in. “I like him. He’s the one that doesn’t like me.” you turned around and sat on the ground in front of Harry. “Plus, you can call it a motherly gene I had to inherit.” you smiled, leaning your head on your hand.

It was when he noticed the words, similar to his. ‘I am a witch, not a Muggle.’

“What does it mean?” he flickered his eyes to it and you quickly hid it under your sleeve.

“Oh...uhm. Well, I had a notebook instead of parchment and a pen instead of ink- I mean it was alright with other professors but she told me that I shouldn’t be carrying Muggle school supplies to a Wizarding school.”

“She told me not to lie.” he simpered and showed his scar on the hand. ‘I must not tell lies.’

“No shit.” you blurted out without thinking twice. “Because you said Voldemort was still alive.”

He nodded but then quickly changed his expression. “You said his name?”

“Oh...sorry.”

“No. It’s alright. I say his name as well- I just didn’t expect you would as well.”

“Hermione always said: Fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself.” you smiled and looked over at your sleeping sister. “I miss her, you know.”

“She misses you as well.”

“Yeah...but I can’t forgive her yet. I don’t know why but-but I just can’t get past it, you know? It’s like I’m angry all the time.” you looked up at him and he smiled.

“Trust me. I know.”

“Oh...sorry. I forgot you have one of the worst tempers.” you teased and he let out a fake gasp.

“I do not.” he laughed quietly and you laughed with him.

“Yes, of course.” you got on your feet and nodded up to dormitories. “Well, I’m going to bed.” you started walking backwards, waving at him. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

---

There was something about that night that didn’t give you peace. You could feel it in your bones, in your gut. It was like- like-

“Hermione!” you got on your feet, changing into normal clothes and putting on your sneakers. And you ran.

You ran and you didn’t care if anybody sees you. You ran outside the castle because you knew- you just knew she was in danger. You could see it, you could feel where she was and what was it when you read the chapter of disapparating. Your feet were off the castle grounds, you closed your eyes and you held your breath until there was an uncomfortable feeling of density and anxiety. You were in front of the Ministry and it was her voice in your head, guiding you to where she was.

‘That door.’ You just knew it. You felt it and you were sure when you heard shouts and screams in there.

You opened the door and all of a sudden there were flashes of darkness and light, green flashes, red flashes- what was happening?

“HERMIONE!” you shouted on top of your lungs, your chest pounding. “HERMIONE!”

“(Y/N)!” another shout came from a hiding spot a few feet away from you.

“Hermione! Thank God!” you threw yourself in her arms, gripping her tightly. “I was so worried.” you put her hair away from her face and held it in your palms.

“How did you get here?” she smiled.

“Remember that stupid spell we did in our second year.”

“You mean it worked??” she beamed. “I thought it failed.”

“No it didn’t- wait. Neville?” you looked at the boy behind her and later at the Ravenclaw you saw around the Ravenclaw common room. “Luna? What are you all doing here?”

“I can’t see well.” Ginny suddenly came around the corner and widened her eyes at you. “(y/n)?”

“Hi, Ginny.” you nodded at her before looking around and seeing familiar faces. “Why aren’t you fighting with them?”

“They told us not to. It’s not safe.” said Hermione but that only made you smirk at her.

“They didn’t tell me that.” you pulled out your wand and jumped out of hiding, your eyes flicking to Tonks who was being cornered by three. “Stupefy!” you shouted and one of the Death Eaters was blown away.

Another grabbed you from behind, placing the tip of your wand at the bottom of your chin. “Little girl likes to fight.” he sneered but you only elbowed him in the stomach, grabbed the wand from his grip, broke it in half and kicked him one more time.

“Muggle self-defense you bastard!” you pulled out your wand and stupefied him as well.

“I like you, Granger.” Sirius passed by with a smile.

“Sorry about the-”

“NO WORRIES!” he beamed back at you as he ran up to-

“Harry?” you furrowed your eyebrows at him but he didn’t notice you. He was concentrated on Sirius. “Of course, Harry would be here.” you mumbled after a few moments of processing.

“(y/n)!” you heard Hermione shout, waving you to come back to her.

But it was quiet all of a sudden. No sound, no Death Eaters, only muffled voices. You turned to Harry, seeing the not-long-ago beaming Sirius disappearing behind the Veil. Your eyes immediately darted to Harry, who only watched. He watched his Godfather being taken away from him, like every loving thing he had. And his eyes were lost. His eyes were unreadable and you felt tears fall before his ever did. He screamed, loud, excruciating- and was about to go after him if Remus wouldn’t stop him. But Harry didn’t care. He just lost the only man who was close to a parent to him; Sirius, who meant everything.

His eyes changed colour- changed in general. His screams, wails were loud and agonizing. You ran up to him without even thinking and taking a hold of his head between your hands. “Harry! It’s okay! It’s okay...”

Though it wasn’t okay and everybody knew it. But you didn’t know what to say. You didn’t know how to say it. You just knew he needed somebody.

“SIRIUS!” he shouted and buried his head in your neck, holding you tightly in his arms, almost crushing you.

“He’s gone, Harry. You can’t go after him.” you whispered and both of you collapsed on the ground. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” you kept holding him while he sobbed in your arm. “I’m sorry.”

[sadiecwrites]

The House on Lake Hill Drive

An original short story by Sadie C.

Summary: A woman’s life is shaken up shortly after she and her husband move into their new home.

Word count: 4,298

I was the last person to see my sister before she went missing.

She snuck out of the house on a Friday night during her senior year of high school to go to a college party with some boy she was seeing. She tried to ask our parents, but they didn’t like that she was seeing a college boy, even though he was barely a year older than her. And they especially didn’t like that he wanted to take her to a frat party. 

She begged and pleaded with them to let her go, that she would be back by curfew. She promised she wouldn’t drink or do drugs or do any other stereotypical delinquent activities that happen at college parties. No matter what argument she tried to make, the answer was a hard and firm no. 

You would’ve thought she was a three year old rather than a seventeen year old by the way she reacted. She threw a full on temper tantrum, tears and all, before she got grounded for the weekend for having a bad attitude. She stomped up the stairs to her room and slammed the door shut. That earned her another day of punishment.

I saw her later that night. She hadn’t come out of her room all evening. I was up late watching Beetlejuice in the living room because I couldn’t sleep. She came tiptoeing down the stairs and I almost didn’t even notice that she was there, but she bumped into the little table by the front door on her way out.

When we saw each other she froze, hand on the doorknob, getting ready to open the door. I asked her what she was doing and she hissed at me to mind my own business. I just shrugged and turned my attention back to the TV. She stared at me for a minute before she spoke again.

She asked me not to tell mom and dad. I told her I wouldn’t. She said I was the best little sister ever and she told me she loved me. I said she was annoying but I loved her too. Those were the last words we said to each other.

She didn’t come home that night.

Our mom went to wake her up the next morning but she wasn’t there. When I realized that she wasn’t home, I told my mom what happened the night before. She was angry with me, but she was angrier at my sister for sneaking out of the house. She tried calling her but she didn’t answer. So she tried again. And again. And again. By the seventh time my mom had called her and there was no answer, she knew something was wrong.

My mom called her best friend’s house and asked if she was there. She wasn’t and they hadn’t seen her since the last time she’d been to their house two days before.

She had me text my sister’s boyfriend and ask if she was with him. He replied almost immediately, saying that she was supposed to meet him at the party but she never showed up and he couldn’t get a hold of her. 

My mom called the police after that.

One day turned into a week, then a month, and then a year had passed and my sister had yet to return. There were no signs of where she went, no clues about what happened, if she had been taken or if she’d run away. She had just… vanished.

Harper was gone and I blamed myself for not stopping her.

*

I was twenty-five when I got the first letter, almost ten years to the day since Harper went missing. It was addressed to me, my name and address haphazardly scribbled on the envelope. There was no return address. 

I’m sorry

Please don’t be mad at me

Please don’t be mad

I’m sorry

I love you

I’m sorry

The words were scribbled on a crumpled piece of notebook paper that was covered in coffee stains. It was written in pencil and it looked like a five year old wrote it. I had no idea who this letter had come from or why it came to me. I stared at it for what felt like hours, just reading it over and over again. I was still reading it when my husband came home from work.

When I heard him come in the house, I quickly shoved the letter back into the envelope and put it in my purse. I don’t know why, but I didn’t want him to see it. When he came into the kitchen, I plastered a happy smile on my face despite the unease I was feeling. I wasn’t going to tell him. I didn’t know if I ever would. I just knew that he didn’t need to know about it then.

The second letter came two months after the first. I stayed home from work that day, a nasty stomach bug rendering me useless. I was able to greet the mailman when he came to drop off my mail into the box.

I flipped through the various pieces of mail, tossing the junk and ads into the recycling bin and setting aside the things addressed to my husband. When I got to the last piece of mail, I felt my stomach drop. It was another letter addressed to me, with no return address, written in the same scratchy handwriting as the first one.

With shaking hands, I slowly opened up the envelope to reveal another hand written letter, on the same kind of notebook paper as before.

Jane i miss you

do you miss me too

I love you

I felt bile rise in my throat as I finished reading the letter. I dropped it to the kitchen floor and quickly ran to the bathroom to throw up the meager contents of my stomach. After a few moments of heaving into the toilet, I wiped my mouth with a piece of toilet paper, throwing it into the bowl before flushing.

As I rinsed my mouth out with water, I thought about the letters. Who was sending them to me? What did they mean? For a moment, I had a fleeting, hopeful thought. 

Could it be her?

I went back into the kitchen and picked the letter up from the floor and examined it once again.

No, it can’t be her. It can’t be.

*

I didn’t get another letter in the mail for almost six months. 

In the time since the second letter arrived at my house, I found out that my apparent stomach bug wasn’t actually a stomach bug—it was a baby. My husband and I were ecstatic, of course, as surprising as it was. His parents and brothers were thrilled. Our baby would have been the first for his family. My parents were excited, too, but I could tell the news also made them sad. They wished Harper were here to celebrate, too. Big moments like this would always be tainted by sadness for them. And, I suppose, they would be for me, too.

We decided not to find out the sex of the baby—we wanted it to be a surprise.

The third letter came in a week after my baby shower. My husband had checked the mail that day. He came to me where I sat on the couch, a bowl of fruit resting on my belly while I half-heartedly paid attention to some trashy reality show on the TV. He handed the letter to me with a frown.

“This came in the mail for you,” he’d said, confusion laced in his voice. “There’s no return address so I don’t know who it’s from.”

My face paled as I took the letter from him. I didn’t say anything as I opened it.

Jane you’re having a baby

i can’t believe it

You’re so grown up

I love you Jane

My husband read the letter aloud. Hearing the words spoken brought tears to my eyes. I quickly blinked them away before he could notice them. That sinking suspicion I had gotten when I read the second letter come back to me in full force.

“Do you know who this is from?” he’d asked.

It can’t be her it can’t be her it can’t be her.

I lied. “An old cousin, I think. On my mom’s side of the family. I recognize her handwriting.”

He nodded, seeming to believe me, and turned his attention back to the TV. It was as if he had already forgotten about the letter.

But maybe it is.

*

The fourth letter came three weeks after I had my baby boy. We named him Benjamin—Benjamin, Jr. to be exact, after his father. He was the sweetest baby boy I had ever seen.

I was home on maternity leave when the mailman came to drop off the mail. With my sleeping baby strapped to my chest, I sorted through the different letters, and when I came across the envelope with my name scribbled on it and no return address, I felt something I hadn’t felt with the previous letters: anger. It could have been hormones from just having my baby or true, genuine anger, but in that moment all I could see was red.

I didn’t know who kept sending me these letters, but they obviously knew me. I felt violated, almost, that this person could invade my life with their letters but I had no way to get into theirs. 

I tore open the envelope and pulled the letter out.

you have a baby boy Jane

he’s beautiful

I love you

i am so proud of you

As frustrated as I felt with getting that letter, I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away. I don’t know what prevented me from just tossing it into trash, but I found myself tethered to it. 

I do know why I can’t throw it out. Deep down I know why I can’t. But saying it out loud or admitting it could make it not be true. Or it could make it true. And I don’t know which one would be worse.

  I never got a fifth letter. 

*

It’d been almost a year since I got the last letter. I didn’t have much time to think about them, given that I was a mother now, but I still thought of them from time to time.

I was grocery shopping with Benny one evening after I got off work and picked him up from daycare. He sat strapped into the cart, playing contentedly with a plush toy as I mindlessly strolled through the aisles. I came prepared with a list, as I always did, but in that moment, I had completely forgotten about all of the things I had needed to get. Instead, I thought about my letters.

They had just… stopped coming. A part of me was relieved—no more personal, mystery letters was definitely something I appreciated. But another, almost bigger, part of me was disappointed I stopped getting them. As much as I tried to stop myself from believing that the letters were from her, I think that as time went on, I couldn’t help but let a small part of me cling to the hope that it might be her.

Lost in my thoughts and oblivious to my surroundings, I hadn’t noticed the other cart coming in the opposite direction until we collided. There was a loud crash and Benny jostled, dropping his toy to the ground and letting out a pitiful wail. I felt mortified; I’d never done something like that before. I quickly picked Benny’s toy up and handed it back to him, and he resumed playing as if nothing had happened.

“I’m so sorry,” I apologized to the other shopper. “I was not paying attention at all.”

“It’s quite alright Jane,” he said. “Even though the little guy’s here with you, I understand that this might be your chance at some peace for the day.”

I smiled gratefully at him. Mr. Hendricks was my history teacher in high school and now, as an adult, my neighbor right across the street. He lived there with his wife Amy. They were a lovely couple and Mr. Hendricks was one of the kindest men I’d ever met.

We said our goodbyes and he gave Benny a little pinch on the cheek, which sent him into a fit of giggles. I spent the rest of my shopping trip with a clear head, the letters completely forgotten about.

*

Benny is almost one and a half now. He’s walking and talking and smiling and laughing. He makes me so happy. My parents are absolutely in love with him. He’s brought a spark back to them that I haven’t seen in years. Seeing them with Benny reminds me of the time before Harper went missing. We all still miss her, of course, how could we not? But having Benny around helps to ease the lingering pain.

It’s an early Saturday morning when we hear the commotion outside. I’m sitting in the living room with Benny, drinking my coffee as he plays with his toys and Benjamin is in the kitchen cooking breakfast. The yelling is faint at first. So faint that I hardly pay it any mind. Gradually, the yelling gets louder and louder, until it sounds like it’s almost right in our front yard. Benjamin comes out of the kitchen with a frown on his face.

I move from the couch to the window, pulling the curtains open to peer outside. There’s a woman on the sidewalk outside of my house, yelling into the early morning air. I can’t make out what she’s saying, but she’s definitely causing a scene. A few of my neighbors have come outside to watch, and one of them is starting to approach the screaming woman. I don’t know what compelled me to do it, but I find myself moving to my front door and opening it. I begin to walk down my front walkway and as I get closer, her voice becomes clearer.

“Stamps!” she’s crying. “I need stamps!”

I freeze when I hear her voice. It is hoarse and weak, even though she is screaming and crying with all her might. I’d recognize that voice anywhere. How could I ever forget it?

“Harper?” I call out, my voice unsure. She doesn’t hear me—she just continues to yell about needing stamps. I steel myself to call for her again.

“Harper!”

The shout of my voice seems to pull the woman out of her reverie. She stops yelling and slowly turns to look at me. Her face is dirty and her hair is matted. There are dark bags under her eyes and her skin is sickly pale. She looks like a ghost, a shell of who she used to be, but it’s her. It’s Harper.

She smiles when she sees me. I don’t know what else to do except smile back. Seeing her, in the flesh, after all these years… I feel overwhelmed and like I might faint. I don’t even register my husband coming up behind me. All I can see and hear and think is Harper.

“Hi, Jane.”

I can’t move. It’s her. It’s really her. As I stare at her, I start to notice black spots surrounding the edges of my vision. It feels overwhelmingly like a python is coiling itself around my body, squeezing me so tight I have no more air in my lungs. The last twelve years of my life flash before my eyes before there’s nothing.

I awake to the feeling of Benjamin lightly tapping my face, frantically murmuring my name. I blink my eyes open and the harsh morning sun momentarily blinds me. I groan, moving to sit up, but Benjamin stops me from moving too fast.

“Just take it easy for a second, honey. Give yourself a minute to wake up,” he says softly.

I feel completely drained of any energy I may have had. It’s as if I was run over by a semi-truck. All I can bring myself to do is nod weakly.

“Jane, are you okay?”

Hearing that voice snaps me out of it fast. I sit up quickly, almost headbutting Benjamin in the process, and I look at Harper. Up close, she doesn’t look as bad, but she still doesn’t look great. She still has the mole above her left eyebrow and the scar on her temple from when she fell off her bike the first time dad took the training wheels off. 

If I had any doubts of this being Harper, seeing her this close to me erases them. I launch myself into her arms, squeezing her tighter than humanly possible, and I sob as I hold her. Her small arms hug me back, her grip on my shirt pathetic and her grimy smell permeating the air around us, but I don’t care.

“I’m here,” she whispers into my hair. I feel so many emotions wash over me in this moment—relief, joy, despair, anger. The anger is what pulls me back down to earth as I lean back to look at her.

“Where have you been?” I ask Harper, my voice little more than a shaky whisper. She moves her hands from the back of my shirt to cup the sides of my face and wipe away my tears.

“I didn’t mean for it to happen,” she answers, her voice broken. I just shake my head and pull her back in for another hug. I just want to hold her and never let go.

I hear sirens in the distance, but they don’t register in my mind that they’re for us. When they get closer, however, is when I realize someone must have called them. I pull away from Harper and look to Benjamin where he’s sitting on the front porch swing with Benny in his lap, a small smile on his face.

The next minute, there’s two police cars and an ambulance crowded in front of my house and blocking my street. The EMTs rush to where Harper and I are sitting on the ground, desperately clinging to each other. The first one to reach us offers us a sad smile.

Everything after that is a blur.

*

I find myself sitting in the waiting room of the hospital with Benny in my lap and Benjamin at my side as we wait for my parents to arrive. Harper was taken for testing and I couldn’t go with her. Sitting here, waiting, is making me anxious. I just got her back after all these years and being away from her, even for a short period of time, is killing me.

I hear my mother before I see her. Her cries are unmistakable; I had listened to those same cries every day for years after Harper went missing. Her sounds are seared into my brain.

She turns the corner of the waiting room, my father in tow, and sobs in relief at the sight of me. I pass Benny off to Benjamin and shoot out of my chair, rushing to my parents and hugging them.

“Where is she? Where is Harper?” my mother asks, her sobs barely dying down enough to get the words out. I didn’t realize that I had started crying again too until I tried talking.

“The doctors need to run some tests on her and they wouldn’t let me go with her. They said they’d come let me know as soon as they were done so we could go see her.”

Waiting takes an eternity. After over an hour, the doctor finally comes out and gives us the okay to see Harper. When we enter the room, we see her hooked up an IV and all sorts of different machines. She looks sickly, but I suppose she is.

My mother bursts into a fresh set of tears when she sees Harper. Harper starts crying when she sees them, too. Even my father begins to cry, but I don’t blame him. He and my mother make their way over to Harper’s bed, where they hug and hold her until she has to shoo them off of her with a laugh so she can breathe.

There is a knock at the door and a man pops his head in. We all turn to look at him and he gives us a sympathetic smile.

“Hello everyone,” he says as he steps into the room. There’s a golden badge attached to his belt. He’s a police officer. “I’m Detective Wyatt and I’m here to speak with Harper. I understand that this is emotional for all of you, so you’re all more than welcome to stay if Harper wants you to.”

Of course, we stay—we need to know what happened to Harper just as much as she needs to tell her story.

*

The night I was supposed to meet my boyfriend at the party, I ran into Mr. Hendricks. He was out with his wife and they saw me and offered me a ride. I didn’t think anything of it at the time—I had no reason to. Mr. Hendricks was incredibly well-liked and known for doing things like that just because. So, I got into the car with them. They didn’t take me to the party.

For the past twelve years, I was held captive in Don and Amy Hendricks’s house on Lake Hill Drive. At first I was chained to the wall of their basement, beaten and drugged to stay compliant. They never laid a hand on me other than to discipline me when I was out of line—they had no interest in anything beyond just keeping me.

They called me Regina. As time went on, I figured out why they called me that: they had a daughter named Regina before they moved to our town. She was seventeen when she was found dead in a ditch, murdered by a stranger. Her killer was never found, and Don and Amy never recovered.

Slowly, I gained their trust, and eventually, I was given free roam of the house. I had my own bedroom, decorated the way Regina’s room had been in their old house. They treated me just like the daughter they lost, and I knew she had to play along in order to survive.

I began sending Jane the letters when I realized that she had moved in across the street. I was too afraid to try and write for help, but I thought that small, anonymous letters would be enough for the time. So, while Don went to teach at the high school and Amy went to work at the bank, I wrote Jane letters.

I knew I couldn’t send too many all at once, even though I wanted to. I had to space them out so the missing paper, envelopes, and stamps would go unnoticed. I watched Jane’s life happen through tinted windows and white blinds. The only way I could have any part of it was through sending her small letters.

I never sent Jane a fifth letter because the Hendricks’ caught me writing one. When they discovered what I was doing, they went absolutely ballistic on me. I was beaten and starved within an inch of my life. They chained me back up in the basement, said I was ungrateful of everything they’d done for me. For a year and a half, I lived in a dark and dirty basement, treated like a prisoner. Despite how torturous the solitude was, it gave me time to think and formulate a plan.

That morning, when Amy had ventured down into the basement to feed me, and just as I planned, she found me on the ground, appearing to be unconscious. She tried waking me up to no avail. In a panic, Amy had uncuffed me and was about to attempt dragging me out of the basement when I made my move. A surge of adrenaline gave me the strength I needed to knock Amy down. I picked up the discarded wooden tray Amy used to carry my breakfast down to me, flung the food off of it, and whacked Amy in the head. One blow was enough to knock her out cold.

Once I was sure Amy was unconscious, I scrambled out of the basement and into the living room. Just as I had hoped, Don wasn’t awake yet—he was never up before eight on Saturday mornings. All I needed to do was get through the front door and I’d be free.

I unlocked the door and stepped outside for the first time in twelve years. I almost sobbed with relief then and there but I still had work to do. I needed to cause a big enough commotion to lure Jane and the other neighbors outside so that if Don or Amy came to find me, there’d be too many witnesses for them to bring me back in. So that’s what I did.

*

Once Harper finishes telling her story, I feel like I might vomit. I’m still reeling from hearing the tale of my sister’s abuse when Detective Wyatt says something about going to Don and Amy’s house and keeping us updated, but I only half pay attention. I don’t know what’s going to happen next or what Detective Wyatt is going to find. At this moment, though, I don’t care about any of that stuff. I don’t care about Don and Amy. I don’t care about an investigation or a trial. None of it matters. The only thing that matters to me is that Harper is back. She is alive. She is going to be okay.

Harper is home and I feel whole again.

[emilyjunk]

Pt 25???

(part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4) (part 5) (part 6) (part 7) (part 8)(part 9) (part 10) (part 11) (part 11.5) (part 12) (part 13) (part 14)(part 15) (part 16) (part 17) (part 18) (part 19) (part 20) (part 21) (part 22) (part 23) (part 24) (moodboards) (playlists)

emily always feels out of place when she steps into victor’s village, 12 large mansions circled around a sprawling green. beca’s is the farthest in the back, so emily has to decide if she should walk around the park, awkwardly passing all the other houses, or cut through it, feeling guilty for enjoying the lush greenery and ornate fountains, so lavish compared to the poverty of some of district 7. 

she knows she could avoid victor’s village altogether, that beca would come to see her in the shabby hut she calls home. her sisters and mom adore beca, not only because she volunteered for emily in the games but because she’s always bringing them clothes and sweets they wouldn’t get otherwise. beca claims it’s because she has more money than she knows what to do with, and she’s probably right, but emily has a sneaking suspicion that it’s beca’s way of showing affection. beca’s not exactly one for hugs and emily guesses she probably wasn’t even before the games

despite all that, emily tries to visit victor’s village once a day, after school or in the evening for dinner. she can’t really help it. all day at school, she tries to imagine what beca’s doing in that big house, all alone with her thoughts

beca doesn’t share them with her much, but sometimes when they’re together, beca’s eyes go far away, and emily wonders if she’s back in the games or in some deeper, darker place where emily can’t reach her

they go to that place more often as the days drag on, as beca settles into her new life, without school or work or any kinds of distractions, just that big empty house and nothing to do

being in beca’s house makes her feel insignificant, with its fancy appliances, capitol tech, sparkly chandeliers. there’s a couch as big as emily’s kitchen and a large television where she can watch all the capitol programming, both news and entertainment. there’s even a piano, one that emily itches to play, but she’s afraid to ask, doesn’t really know her boundaries with beca yet

still, it captivates emily day in and day out. she yearns to break the heavy silence that falls over the house almost constantly. she wants to breathe music into that space, to feel the thrum of life within the walls. she’s not that great at piano, but she knows how to play from church, and she thinks if they have to suffer all this, if beca has to live here, then why not milk it for what it’s worth?

but then she looks at beca, at her far-away eyes, and thinks better of it

beca’s pain sometimes fills emily like a song anyway. she can feel it deep inside her when she thinks about jesse and knows it must be magnified within beca in ways emily can’t possibly imagine. 

it’s in beca’s smile, rarely given and so so small, but always genuine and endlessly beautiful

it’s in the way beca will hold her hand, at first tentative but then certain

they spend nights like that, holding hands on the couch, quietly talking about the smallest of things, like emily’s day at school or their families, until it gets late and emily has to walk back home because of curfew

they always leave her confused, her evenings with beca

she’s constantly conflicted about her feelings. part of her wishes they would talk about the games, but part of her is afraid to. she doesn’t want to get mad at beca, doesn’t feel like it’s her place to be upset about jesse. she knows it’s not fair to beca, that beca did what she could, but sometimes emily misses him so much that it rises up inside her as anger

she always pushes it down

and there’s the part of her that’s scared, the part that knows what beca did in that arena, that saw the feral, unhinged girl that looked like beca – but also didn’t – emerge from the smoke and bloodshed, somehow alive when everyone else had died

and there’s the part of her that feels love for beca

that part might be the most confusing because she doesn’t know if she’s falling for what beca did for her, or if she’s falling for beca herself, and if it’s the second, then she doesn’t know which beca she’s falling for. she doesn’t know if it’s the beca that saved her life, that volunteered for her and kept emily praying she’d come home. and she doesn’t know if it’s this new beca either, this sadder, seemingly older beca, with her careful eyes and giant heart. the girl who brings emily’s family presents and who reaches for emily’s hand when emily thinks she’ll pull away instead.

the girl who surprises emily one night, her voice a breathless whisper breaking the silence they’ve been sitting in for some time, emily reading while beca pretends to watch tv

“i know it doesn’t make sense, but sometimes i really miss him”

emily looks up from her school book, cautious and curious

“who?”

beca frowns, fingers playing with emily’s fingers and avoiding emily’s eyes. finally she takes a deep breath and looks up.

“jesse”

emily blinks slowly, her book falling shut. she feels the immediate sting of tears in her eyes, but she forces them back because even though she misses him, beca was there, felt it first hand, and what right does emily have to be upset when beca finally wants to talk about it

“me too” she murmurs. 

“it’s crazy because… honestly, he bugged the crap out of me. he wouldn’t leave me alone leading up to the games. he was always there, talking strategy with me, teasing me about… you. and i didn’t get it, how he could be so… i dunno, optimistic and hopeful. there was nothing hopeful about that place.”

emily’s lips twitch, the barest amount. she almost wants to laugh. “he was just like that.”

“it’s like… as much as i found him annoying and wanted to be left alone, i still wanted him around” beca says

“i know the feeling,” emily agrees. “he had a way of wiggling into your life and making himself at home.”

beca nods, her teeth biting over her lower lip as she meets emily’s eyes. “i’m really sorry, em,” she whispers.

a wave of emotion swells inside her and she squeezes beca’s hand. “it’s not…” she clears her throat, biting back all the unsaid things she’s been holding close to her heart. “it’s not your fault.”

“he died so he could save me.”

“i know. I just mean… no matter what happened. you couldn’t have done anything different. only one person can win. no matter how unfair it is or how we feel about it… it’s just. it’s not your fault. it’s just how the games have to be.”

beca’s mouth thins. “do they, though?”

emily hesitates, mulling over her words carefully. “maybe not always, but right now, yes.”

beca’s eyes flash dangerously and for the briefest second emily wants to yank her hand away. then beca softens, her body going slack. “im sorry anyway.”

emily can’t respond, doesn’t know the right words. so she just lifts beca’s hand to her lips and kisses it. puts it against her cheek. she likes the soft warmth of beca’s skin against hers.

“i should get going,” emily says at last. “curfew.”

“you should stay.” beca’s eyes widen and she backtracks. “I mean… if you want to, then you can stay. here. with me.”

a surge of fondness pulses in her chest and she knows, suddenly and without a doubt, that she would be incapable of leaving now if she tried. “okay,” she says easily, loving the happy flush that’s spread over beca’s cheeks.

as they go to sleep, crawling under the covers in beca’s giant, comfy bed (bigger and comfier than emily could have ever dreamed of existing) emily feels that pull of conflict again, that strange part of her that feels herself falling at war with the part of her that doesn’t know which beca she’s falling for.

but, emily thinks, as she pulls beca into her arms and feels beca’s tense muscles start to relax, feels the easy rightness of holding beca close to her chest, she’s not sure it really matters