#but it always bothered me in the books when bella would ignore all her friends for vampire stuff

[missbellaswan]

Twice Bitten Half Turned - Chapter 6

AO3

tag list: @jasondeanstwin @wishing-on-angels @yeetbean @loveofmonstersandroses @ripleythedemonfcker @big-idiot-wolf-boys @edwards-sideburns @madame-forget-me-not @525600selfies @robbers-hea1y (let me know if you want to be added!)

Edward and I spent the next morning together at my house. Charlie left for work early like he usually did, so we had the place to ourselves until I had to leave for Angela’s.

I was still working through everything that had happened the day before, so I made myself a cup of tea and sat down at the table. Edward was sitting across from me, watching me swirl the tea bag around in the mug.

“Aren’t you hungry?” He asked. He had watched me sit and eat breakfast at this table a lot over the last few weeks, so he noticed when I arrived at the table mostly empty handed.

“Not really,” I shrugged and sipped my tea. I wrapped my hands around the mug and let the heat seep into my cool skin.

“Are you sure? I could make you something,” he offered.

“Really?” I had never really seen him try to cook anything before.

“Yeah, what would you like?”

“Eggs?” I asked. I didn’t really feel like eating, but I couldn’t picture him actually cooking in my kitchen, and I was curious.

“Whatever you want.” Was all he replied. He stood up and rummaged through the fridge before pulling out the carton of eggs. I watched intently as he pulled out a pan and turned on the stove.

“Since when do you cook?” I asked as he cracked a couple of eggs and whisked them into the pan.

“Esme has always liked to cook, she taught me how.” He seemed very relaxed. I could almost picture him as a human when he had a whisk in his hand. His god-like supernatural beauty contrasting against our fading yellow cabinets gave him away though.

“What do you do with the food?”

“Donate it if we can, or sometimes Carlisle will take it to work with him.” Edward smiled.

When the eggs were done he slid them from the pan onto a plate and set them down in front of me.

“Thank you.” I said, picking up the fork and digging in. Now that there was food in front of me, I found that I actually was quite hungry and I ate it all.

Edward seemed pleased, and he hummed quietly to himself as he did the dishes.

“Why do you think I can still eat?” I asked as I drank the last of my tea. “And why don’t I crave blood the way you do? You said my eyes were red now.”

“I think the part of you that is still human is satiating the vampire part. You still have blood in your system, and that blood keeps you satisfied in a way that the rest of us will never be.” Edward said. He took my empty plate and mug and turned back to the sink.

“Huh.” It was comforting that the vampire half that I ended up with wasn’t the blood thirsty half.

“That’s why your eyes are red. All newborns have red eyes because their bodies still have some human tissue left that feeds them and keeps them strong.”

“Well at least we don’t have to worry about all that. Yet. Still nothing from Rose and Emmett?” I said, changing the subject. I knew the answer to my question already, but I had to ask. Edward finished the dishes and joined me back at the table.

“No,” he said, “be patient, love.”

I just nodded. I didn’t want to be patient anymore, but as with everything, I didn’t seem to have a choice.

I went upstairs to take some human, or hybrid, minutes before I left for Angela’s. Edward waited in my room like he usually did, and I went to the bathroom. As I was brushing my teeth I pressed my face closer and closer to the mirror, trying to see any flecks of red. With my nose pressed up against the glass I could see a few veins of deep red splintering through my irises, but as soon as I blinked they melted back into the brown.

When I was ready I went back to my room to get dressed. Edward was laying on my bed with my CD player laying on his chest. His eyes were closed and I could hear the music playing faintly through the headphones. He opened his eyes when I walked in and smiled at me. I smiled back and went to my closet to find some clothes. He made a point of closing his eyes again as I was changing, only reopening them when I was laying on the bed next to him. He pulled me in and pressed pause on the CD player.

“I love you.” He said. We didn’t say it often, it seemed silly and trivial to have to repeat something so obvious, but my heart stuttered at the words.

“I love you too.” I said. He sat up and set the CD player back on my desk where I had left it.

“What are you and Angela doing today?” He asked.

“I don’t know. Just hanging out I guess.” I said. There must have been something about my tone of voice because Edward cocked an eyebrow at me, prodding me to tell him whatever I wasn’t saying. “I’m just worried that she will notice something is off about me.”

“She won’t notice anything, Bella.” He assured me. “I know it might feel like you’ve gone through a lot the last several weeks, but to the human eye you look just the same as you always have. Trust me.”

I wanted to trust him. I did trust him. But the fear was still there, in the back of my mind. I felt like a completely different person now, so how could all of this just go by totally unnoticed by everyone else? It seemed impossible. I reminded myself of Charlie again, who had seen me every day after Phoenix and hadn’t mentioned it once.

“I should go.” I said.

"See you soon.” He asked as he pressed a kiss to my forehead.

"Soon.” I promised.

He walked me to the car and kissed me again quickly before disappearing into the woods. I hopped in the truck and drove over to Angela’s street. I parked on the curb outside her house and took a deep breath.

Angela’s father answered the door. He greeted me and invited me in, calling Angela down from her room.

“Hi Bella!” Angela said as she hit the bottom of the stairs.

“Hey,” I said. Her dad went back to the living room and Angela towed me upstairs to her room. So far neither of them had looked at me twice.

Angela wasn’t much for small talk, but apparently she hadn’t had many people to talk to lately so she babbled to me about everything that had happened in the last several weeks. The longer we sat and talked, the more relaxed I felt.

“And then Jess gave Ben my number, so we’ve been texting like every day, but he still hasn’t asked me out so I don’t know.” Angela said. She looked up at me, indicating that I was supposed to react to her story.

“Huh,” I didn’t really have any advice for her.

“Yeah, and Jess went to see her family and won’t be back until next week.” Angela said.

"Oh,” I said, “I’m sure Ben is just nervous.”

“Maybe, but I don’t know how to tell him that I want him to ask me out without telling him that I like him.”

"I don’t know how to do that either, Ang, sorry.” I said. She just nodded and continued to vent about her non relationship. It was nice to listen to her talk about her problems. They were not nearly as life and death as mine were.

“How’s Edward?” She asked when she had talked herself in circles enough times to convince herself that she was working through things with Ben.

"Good.” Amazing, perfect, I want him to turn me into a vampire so I can spend eternity with him. “He’s good.”

Angela just nodded. It was so much easier to spend time with her than Jessica because she never asked any questions that I didn’t know how to answer. And she always accepted whatever answer I gave her.

“Did your dad tell you about the bear we saw?” She said.

“What? No,” I said.

“Me and my dad were hiking in the woods last weekend and we saw this huge black bear. It was like twice as big as any other bear I’ve seen, and my dad reported it to your dad in case it gets too close to town.”

“No, I had no idea.” I said. Maybe the Cullens could take care of it, too bad Emmett was out of town.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in her room analyzing texts between her and Ben and comparing our schedules for the next semester. Angela’s dad tried to invite me to stay for dinner, but I told him I was having dinner with my dad and left after promising Angela we could all get together when Jessica got back to town next week.

When I pulled onto my street a few minutes later, I spotted a familiar car parked on the curb outside of my house. A rabbit. Jake was leaning against the side facing away from me, and I saw Edward standing on the lawn talking to him. I parked and ran out to join them, in case their conversation was less that polite.

“Hi Bells,” Jake said when I got out of the truck.

“Bella.” Edward said, relieved to see me again. I knew the feeling.

“Hi Jake,” I gave him a quick hug and went to stand by Edward. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to take you for a drive,” he said standing to the side and motioning to the car behind him.

“Did you drive that here?” I asked.

“Yep. It’s all fixed up,” he beamed, “thanks to you.”

“That’s so cool!” I walked over to inspect the car. Not that I knew what I was looking at, but I knew enough to be impressed.

“Thanks,” Jake smirked. “Wanna go for a ride?

“Yeah,” I said. I turned back to Edward, “are you coming?”

Edward and Jake both laughed.

“I’ll wait for you here, love.” He said.

I scowled at both of them, I could already tell getting the two of them to be friends was going to be a challenge. Jake opened the door and helped me into the car, and then ran around to his side and hopped in.

“What were you and Edward talking about?” I asked as Jake turned onto the highway. The acceleration of the car was about as good as my truck, but Jake seemed thrilled.

“Oh, nothing.” He said. He didn’t seem upset or angry, so I let it go.

I watched the tall trees streak by on either side of the road.

“I haven’t seen you in a couple weeks, what have you been up to?” Jake asked, breaking the silence.

"Not much,” I didn’t have a good explanation for spending my summer wallowing in existential dread.

“Yeah, me neither,” he said. His voice changed, he seemed sad. He had such an expressive face, it was easy to tell what he was feeling.

“Did something happen?” I asked.

“Not really. It’s just that some of the guys on the rez have been looking at me really weird the last few weeks. Quil and Embry think I’m making it up, but I don’t know.”

“Do you know what they want?”

“No idea, they won’t talk to me. In fact, they won’t talk to anyone but each other anymore.” Jake adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. “We should head back, I don’t want to go too far.”

"Okay.” I said. He pulled off the highway and spun the car around, taking us back towards Forks.

Jake seemed to calm down on the ride back, and we both eased back into a more comfortable silence.

“Sorry the radio doesn’t work yet,” he said, “that’s my next project.

“That’s okay, I don’t mind.” I said. And I didn’t, I really liked just being around Jake. I realized this was the first time I had felt warm since my transition. The heater wasn’t on, it was just Jake. He radiated a kind of heat that warmed me up inside.

He drove me back to my place, and parked in the same spot as before. Edward was waiting for me on the lawn, like he had never left. I sighed, both in annoyance and relief.

Edward opened my door and held out his hand. I took it and he pulled me into his arms. I heard Jake clear his throat behind me and I broke away, turning to face him.

"Thanks for the ride.” I said.

“Anytime, Bells.”

“I’ll come to you next,” I promised.

"Don’t wait too long,” he flashed me a smile. He slid back into the car. I smiled back and closed the passenger door. He started the car and drove off again.

Edward turned me back around again so I could see him. He stared into my eyes for a moment before leaning in and kissing me. I responded and wrapped my hands into his hair. Edward indulged me, but all too soon he pulled away.

“I haven’t seen enough of you today,” he said.

“I’ve been very popular.” I said.

“How is Angela?” He asked as we went inside.

"Good. Bored, I think.”

“Summers in this town are usually boring,” Edward sighed, “but of course you’re the exception to every rule.”

“Sorry,” I said. We settled on the couch, and he wrapped his arms around me.

“It’s not always a bad thing. You are simply extraordinary in every way.” He said, smiling his crooked grin.

“You’re one to talk.”

“My kind has certain advantages in that regard,” he joked, “speaking of my kind, Carlisle received a message from the Denalis today.”

“What about?”

“Carlisle sent Laurent to stay with them.” Edward paused to judge my reaction. I nodded to let him know I was okay. “Apparently things have been going well with the adjustment, and he’s with Irina now. Tanya thought it would be a good idea to formally introduce each other to our newest coven members.”

“Does that mean they want to meet me?” I asked. I had only heard a few things about the Denalis, but I knew enough to be intimidated by them.

“Yes, Carlisle hasn’t told them about your condition yet, he thought that would be better to discuss in person. But they know you’re my mate, and they want to welcome you to the family. Carlisle invited them to stay with us next week.”

“What if they don’t like what I am?” I couldn’t help but feel nervous. “What if they don’t like me?”

“They will love you,” he kissed my forehead, “as for the hybrid aspect of things, we just have to hope that they’re willing to listen. Perhaps they can even share some insight. Their coven is older than ours, they might have heard of this kind of thing before.”

“And Laurent?”

“I will not let anything happen to you. We would not have agreed if we didn’t think it was safe.”

"Okay.” I knew Edward would always protect me, but I hated the idea of him protecting me from people he considered his family.

[sirenascales]

-> double black [part three] 18+

-> Chuuya x 1stPOV!F!Reader x Dazai

-> Who knew getting fired from work could lead to this?

-> Content: SMUT, slight angst, violence, murder, swearing

A man is murdered and things get interesting as the investigation starts. [Chuuya x 1stPOV!F!Reader x Dazai]

2,981 words

note: no smut in this one hehe, but things are gonna get fun. enjoy!

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Final || masterlist

"Hey... are you okay?" Kenji asked me a few days later, noticing the scowl on my face and realizing that I had been tapping my nail on my desk repeatedly for the last fifteen minutes. "You seem... pissed?"

I grunted, closing my eyes and slowly taking a deep breath. "I'm okay, Kenji. Just having a bad day." The others shared looks with each other, but chose not to pry. The frown on my face never left, my fists clenched as my blood continued to boil.

Then that all went away, when I felt a gentle hand against the back of my neck. I looked over at Dazai, who had lazily rolled himself in his chair over to me. He grinned. "I could see the steam coming from your ears!"

His hand never left my neck, moving until his fingers loosely wrapped around the column of my throat. Strangely enough, my anger had completely gone away when he touched me, and it felt nice to finally breathe. "With the day I'm having..." I sighed, the whole world seemingly melting away, Dazai's thumb stroking along my jaw.

Kunikida was clearly unimpressed, the man gritting his teeth. Atsushi looked shocked, his face tinged red while Ranpo and Kenji just touched their own necks gently.

"Does she like to get choked?"

"Who knows, man."

"Hey, I know what will make you feel better," Dazai suggested and I tilted my head, waiting for him to continue. He leaned in and would have kissed me if it weren't for a book smacking right into the side of Dazai's head.

"Do that on your own time! We have a schedule!" Kunikida fumed while I quickly turned around to cover my face, simply to muffle down my obnoxious laughter.

"Oh, dude!"

"Kunikida! What was that for!"

"Public indecency!"

Dazai rubbed his head, whining from the pain while I just giggled behind my hands. Dazai almost looked betrayed at me laughing at him and I just shrugged my shoulders. "Hey, that's what you get for trying to play grab ass."

I purposely ignored Dazai's pouty face for the rest of the day, the man clearly upset that he didn't get to kiss me. I shook my head, glaring at him from across the office while threateningly pointing my pen at him.

"Work, dammit."

"I don't wanna! Bella, don't be so mean!"

I fixed him another glare before going back to my work, finishing up the final report for the last case we were on. After going through and making sure it was perfect, I saved and emailed it to the President, just as the door to the office slammed opened.

"He's gone!"

"Keiko?! What the he- Keiko, what's wrong?"

I stood up from my desk, my best friend standing before me in a frazzled state. She looked extremely distressed, tears falling down her face. I rushed to her, the woman collapsing into my arms as we both fell to our knees.

"He's gone!" she exclaimed before she started to sob into my chest. "He's gone! He's gone! He's gone!"

"Keiko..." I looked up at the others with wide eyes, them looking on with alarm. I turned back to Keiko, rubbing on her back as she continued to sob.

Taichi was killed. He was found in an alleyway with multiple stab wounds. Keiko had received a call from the police after his identity was discovered, the detectives revealing the tragic news to her.

"I'm so sorry, Keiko..." I said to her softly, sitting with her in one of the small areas of the office, separated by simple dividers. "... how the hell did this happen? We just saw him last night when he dropped you off at my place..."

Keiko had finished crying, but the terrible sadness in her eyes was a clear indication of how devastated she was. I clenched my fists, feeling my anger from earlier building up again.

"I'm going to have to make my statement," Keiko said softly, chewing on her bottom lip.

"Do you want me to go with you to the station?" I asked and she shook her head.

"No... it's okay..."

"The thing is, you are also one of the last people to see him alive," Kunikida spoke up, standing by with Dazai and Atsushi. "You'll have to give your account too..."

Sighing deeply, I absentmindedly reached under my skirt, pausing when I didn't feel my knife against my thigh where it usually was. I gritted my teeth, shaking my head to myself before I went back to rubbing on Keiko's back in an attempt to comfort her.

Soon, Keiko and I left the Agency and headed on over to the police station. We gave our accounts of the night before when we last saw Taichi, us talking separately with a different agent.

"Now you know, Mr. Kamiya was in the Port Mafia," the agent said and I nodded. "And they have quite a bit of history with your little organization."

I didn't like the condescending tone in his voice, but I kept my cool. "Of course, but none of us have anything to do with this man's murder, and you have no evidence proving otherwise."

He just rolled his eyes at me. "Well, this is all we need. You're free to go."

I nodded before quietly making my way out of the interview room. I met with Keiko, who looked like she had been crying again and I pulled her into a comforting hug. "It's okay. This will be over soon."

Later on, I found myself back at the Agency, Keiko choosing to go home, despite my protests. My head was buried in my arms, not moving as I felt someone put their hand on my head, lightly scratching my scalp.

"Looks like the police will keep on investigating Taichi's murder," Dazai said and I peeked one eye out to find him leaning against my desk. "Thing is, I'm sure the Port Mafia will also be conducting their own investigation. Ohh, this is gonna get interesting~"

"So is it better if we stay out of this, then?" I asked, sitting up in my chair. "I mean, unless we're asked... we don't have to touch this."

Dazai regarded me for a moment, a mysterious smile growing on his face before he just threw his hands up nonchalantly. "I get it, you were friends with the guy."

"Not really," I corrected him immediately. "Keiko is my friend."

"Ohhhhh," Dazai just hummed, tapping his forefinger on his chin. "Well anywho, the police are gonna have their hands full if the Port Mafia really gets involved! It wouldn't hurt to help, right?"

I hesitated, a small smile soon growing on my face as I nodded. "Sure. Let's start tomorrow."

"How about tonight instead?!" Dazai asked with a cheerful smile while I just glared at him angrily, the two of us now standing in the middle of the crime scene.

"Why do I even bother believing a word you say?" I hissed at him, attempting to kick the man but he quickly side stepped me. I gritted my teeth. "Ugh, plus it's already dark, Dazai. It's gonna be harder to find any evidence." Indeed, the only light we were getting was from the full moon up ahead, and the shitty lights above the side door of one of the buildings. "Are we even allowed to be here?"

Dazai simply nodded his head. "Of course, we were assigned to this case, afterall."

"... you told me the police were keeping it," I said, eyebrows twitching in annoyance. Was he serious?!

Dazai just smiled and threw his hands up. "Guess I was mistaken," he hummed and I sighed deeply, rubbing my temples.

"Okay so... what now?" I asked, finally looking around the crime scene. It was obviously taped off and Taichi's body was removed. All there was left was a giant stain of blood, which I now looked at with a worried face.

"Just by the nature of the crime alone, we can easily say it was a crime of passion. If this was a local gang or rival, he would have been shot, or even jumped and beaten to death. Official word is, he was stabbed over sixty times," Dazai explained, standing beside me and staring at the blood. "There is no sign of the murder weapon, no other physical evidence besides Taichi's dead body and blood. We'll have to wait for forensics to give us their final word, but I can tell... this might not be so easy to crack."

I nodded solemnly, my fists clenched tightly.

"Or... will it?"

I took in a deep breath before turning and sending Dazai a sheepish smile. "Well, we got our work cut out for us, huh."

Dazai chuckled softly. "Yeah, but that's what makes it fun."

"So Dazai," I started, crossing my arms over my chest. "I have a question."

"I may have an answer."

"Have you ever killed anyone before?"

Silence followed after my question and I turned to look at the man. His hands were in his pockets, a weird smile on his face. "I have. Quite a few."

For some reason, the answer didn't shock me as much as it probably should. "How do you sleep at night?"

More silence, before Dazai stood before me. I looked up at him, heart thudding when I saw that same dim look in his eyes. His lips curled up and he leaned in, making me hold my breath as he whispered.

"Like a baby."

My breath hitched in my throat, eyes going wide. I licked my lips nervously, nodding my head slowly. "I see..." Just... wow.

"You know, I could have gone without seeing your ugly face, Dazai."

A look of distaste grew on Dazai's face as the newcomer came sauntering up to us. He wore black, a familiar hat resting upon a familiar head of red hair. Blue eyes stared daggers into my coworker, mouth curled into a displeased snarl.

"Ah, Chuuya! It is a small world, after all," Dazai sang, the glare in his eyes not meeting the jovial tone of his voice.

Chuuya scoffed. "I thought you'd be fucking dead by now, but of course, you always love to piss me off."

"'Cause it's so much fun!"

The two men clearly didn't like each other, but that was the least of my concerns. All I could do was stare at Chuuya in shock. Of course, Taichi was one of his subordinates, he would want to find out who his killer was and get retribution. That was just how the Port Mafia worked.

I gulped, carefully trying to back away from the two. They could stand there and bicker with each other all they want. I had to get out of here before-

"Oh wait, meet my new friend!" Dazai wrapped his arm around my neck, wrestling me to his side effortlessly as I tried to break free. He knew I was trying to escape and made sure that didn't happen.

"Hey, let me go!" I hissed, not pleased with being pulled into a damn chokehold.

"Not until you meet my old friend!"

Chuuya growled. "We're not friends, damn traitor!"

Traitor? I grew confused, eyebrows pinched even as I fought against Dazai's hold. Chuuya narrowed his eyes when he finally got a good look at me.

"Hey... do I know you?"

Crap. "Uh..." I laughed sheepishly, Dazai now confused as he looked back and forth between the two of us.

"You know each other?"

"W-well..."

"We met a few months ago," Chuuya spoke up, his eyes widening in realization before his eyes narrowed and he snarled.  "Knew you couldn't be trusted."

"Wait!" I exclaimed, making it out of Dazai's hold and holding my hands up to Chuuya. "I swear... I didn't even know about the ADA when we met. It was just as I said that night, I lost my job and was there to drink my pain away."

"Tch," Chuuya sounded, his eyes still narrowed. "And now you work with this traitorous bastard. Lucky you."

There was that word again.

"What do you mean by traitor?" I asked, at the same time Dazai spoke up.

"How the hell do you two know each other?"

Chuuya scoffed. "I fucked her."

I squeaked, Dazai's eyebrows raising.

"Interesting. I'm fucking her too."

I squeaked again, waving my hands wildly before either man could respond. "D-don't we have a murder to solve, huh?!"

It fell on deaf ears, the two men staring each other down, all before their eyes were on me and my trembling form.

"You know... I feel like we've been here before, Chuuya."

Said man snorted. "When you fucked my girls?"

"Like you haven't fucked mine?"

Okay, now I was confused. "Um... I don't understand..."

"Oh yeah!" Dazai exclaimed a bit too cheerfully, putting a hand on Chuuya's shoulder, earning a withering glare. "Chuuya and I go way back. Were the best of friends."

"No we weren't."

"We were partners! The best there was!"

"... tch."

Partners? What the hell did Dazai mean by partners? I looked between the two men, lips formed in a thin line. Then, the answer struck and my mouth fell open in shock. There was no fucking way... Dazai? I swallowed thickly, shaking my head for this was not the time or place to be thinking about this.

"Okay... I can only imagine just how deep this shit goes," I started, the men looking at me curiously. "But we have a murder to solve. Whatever... this," I gestured my hand between the two of them. "Is... it can wait. Y'all can make out or whatever later."

That was my attempt at breaking whatever tension there was, but I was the only one cackling when Dazai and Chuuya immediately protested.

"I will kill you!"

"That is not funny, bella!"

"Ugggh, I don't have the time for this. I should have known that the ADA would be investigating this, and that just pisses me off. You two should just stay out of my way," Chuuya said, hands in his coat pocket. "Though you... word is that you were one of the lasts who saw Taichi alive."

My heart dropped when Chuuya looked at me and I frowned. "And I told the police that I saw him when he dropped Keiko off at my apartment. There are cameras in the lobby that will show that I never left the apartment. We even ordered food in."

"Fuck. And there is no other evidence right now. No weapon, no hints of DNA. It's like the killer just vanished," Chuuya said to himself and I glanced at Dazai, seeing the amused look on his face.

"What if it was an ability user?" Dazai suggested. Chuuya gritted his teeth.

"Shut up! I don't need your help!"

"Really? Are you sure?" Dazai taunted the red head, quickly ducking when Chuuya swung his foot in a wide kick. Dazai didn't get hit, but the wall behind him took the damage, large cracks forming on the surface. I swallowed thickly. Just how strong was Chuuya?

"H-hey," I started nervously, foolishly getting between the two men before they could start a fight. "We're after the same goal, right? Why don't we just... work together?" The fierce glares I got made me shrink. "O-o-or! Or not! That's fine! Just don't fight!"

"Bella is right... fighting is so beneath me," Dazai said wistfully and I sighed deeply.

"Dazai, I'm being serious. This man was my best friend's boyfriend. I want to find his killer too."

"Just stay out of it," Chuuya growled. "This has nothing to do with either of you. The Port Mafia will handle this."

"Let's make it a race then." Both Chuuya and I were dumbfounded as we looked at Dazai, waiting for him to continue. "A competition to see who figures this out, the ADA or the Port Mafia."

"Dazai... what the hell?" I asked in disbelief, Chuuya stepped closer to him.

"What's the prize?"

Dazai smirked, raising a bandaged hand and pointing right to me. "Our bella."

My jaw dropped. "You're fucking kidding me?"

"No," Dazai answered rather seriously. "I'm not."

Chuuya is strangely quiet, his unreadable eyes now trained on me. I fidgeted under his gaze, looking away to find Dazai staring at me all the same. I shivered. I hated this; hated being part of such a stupid competition as a prize, and I hated that I fucking loved it. I screwed my eyes shut.

"Deal," Chuuya finally said and I gasped when I felt his familiar leather clad fingers cup my face, him moving my head to make me look at him. "Gotta say, I didn't expect to see you again, but I'm glad our paths have crossed a second time." I became extremely flustered and Chuuya smirked. "Tell me, Dazai. What was it like having my sloppy seconds?"

I gasped sharply with Dazai only laughing darkly, suddenly feeling his presence behind me. "Can't say it was too bad..." he answered and I just completely clocked out, breath hitching as I felt a bit embarrassed. And turned on. They knew exactly what to say to get me riled up.

"Okay, I'm leaving! It's late and I still haven't eaten dinner yet! Bye!" I was frantic trying to rush away from them as fast as I could. I didn't even turn back when Dazai called after me.

"See you tomorrow, bella!" Dazai chuckled softly, watching me disappear, hands stuffed in his pockets.

"A race? Really?" Chuuya asked incredulously, eyes piercing as he stared at his old partner.

"It will just make this all the more fun," Dazai hummed.

"You're a bastard," Chuuya scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Just stay out of my way. Taichi getting himself killed just ruined the investigation we had on him."

"Oh?" Dazai raised his eyebrows, amused. "Was he being a naughty boy?"

"Shut the fuck up, Dazai."

-End

I have this headcanon that Dazai and Chuuya definitely stole each other's girls and even shared them and had threesomes when they were partners and ya'll CANNOT tell me otherwise.

[spiltscribbles]

How would you do a wolfstar fic based on the way I loved you by taylor swift? from remus' pov :)

~Notes: OMFG Nonny! I need you to understand that this ask threw me back to my Twilight days when I’d watch endless edits of Bella/Edward and this particular one with this song where for some reason Edward was both guys lksajghdsfjoieagh God what a time😂 So thank you and here’s a HC of how’d I write it becs I sorta hate all my writing rn rip fklsdghasdgh But JFC it got so fucking long!!! I’M SO SORRY!

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So It would be a muggle AU, non linear sort of thing where you’d see Lily and Remus just hanging out in his house on boxing day of their sixth year. And they’re shuffling through photos of themselves and friends at  Hogwarts. And Remus kind of just stops at this one, particular photo from second semester of last year, when he and Sirius were still going out.

James and Lily are in the background smiling straight on the camera, but the focus is mostly where Remus and Sirius are completely oblivious to the photo, and it’s obvious that Sirius is trying to drag him onto his lap, and Remus’s head is thrown back in laughter, and Sirius is looking at him in that grossly besotted way that softens his gorgeously angular features, and it’s just an absolute deluge of emotions for Remus.

So flashback

They first met when the marauders were auspiciously roomed together as young lads in Hogwarts, and Remus grew up in a quiet coastal town in the north of Wales where everyone knew everyone, and English was actually the second language, and to put it simply, being thrown into that space with the chaotic duo that are James and Sirius was a culture shock. Even Peter— who’s plummy and  who comes from a fine, upper middle class family and is at least familiar with them in the way that the patrician always are aware of one another. So Remus automatically felt like the odd boy out.

But that night, when he wakes up because he misses his Mam and Da, he finds the tallest boy— the one with striking pale eyes and an air of superiority that kind of got on Remus’s nerves, sitting on the windowsill and up at the stars— his namesake in particular. And so Remus joins him and tells him the love story of the moon and the sun that was his Mam’s favorite and it’s the first time they feel something neither of them know the name for quite yet.

Throughout the subsequent years the marauders grow as close as family, a brotherhood of sorts.  But they all know there are different manifestations of friendships within them. There’s Sirius and James who are the boisterous, bombastic ones that always seek the spotlight, and who can finish each others sentences and who cheer one each other along when it comes to their rowdiest of pranks. There’s Peter who’s always been intimidated by Sirius, and thankful for James’s friendship and comfortable with Remus because he’s the only one who never teased him. Then there’s James and Remus where they’ve always been impressed by one another, James because he knows Remus comes from humble beginnings and is bright in the way he works for everything he has and it’s never doubted he deserves it. And Remus is impressed over how much and how deeply James loves and cares about his chosen people, how he can inspire a crowd so effortlessly. But then, probably most peculiarly to Remus is his relationship with Sirius.

He doesn’t mean to sound rude or ungrateful, but his string to Sirius is  a relationship that absolutely eclipses all the others. It’s quiet in it’s intensity, but persistent like a heartbeat. It’s nights they spend trading stories by moonlight, and afternoons quizzing each other by the fire even though Sirius has always been naturally brilliant and Remus knows he’s just humoring him, but doesn’t call him on it because he hates the thought of it ending. It’s also evenings when James is at extra footie practice that Sirius teases him for, and Peter’s at chess club, and it’s just the pair of them, existing in each others space, doing whatever they want because it’s enough just to have the other there.

Remus is confused in third year when Sirius got especially pissy because Remus began hanging out more and more with the girl James has always targeted to being a know-it-all. And Remus was cross right back because they don’t even know Lily, and she’s a nice girl, and the only other Northerner like him in their entire year, and Sirius has no reason to be cross at him making a friend outside the marauders.

But then he got even MORE confused when Sirius asked him if he liked her. And Remus literally laughed out loud, which made Sirius scrunch his face sourly which just looked funny because his features are far too gorgeous to be put in such a nasty expression. And it’s nearly five minutes later when he catches his breath and tells Sirius that he and Lily are just friends and only friends. Comparing her to a sister, which became truth in the following years.

And it’s like a snap of the fingers when Sirius immediately smoothes out his face and grins cockily once more, and makes Remus promise that they don’t date any girls unless the others all approve. And Remus isn’t sure why Sirius’s intense focus on his love life makes something peculiar unfurl in his gut but he ignores it and shakes Sirius’s still too large hand— like a puppy needing to grow into his palms. And then they write up a contract and make James and Peter sign along with them in the codenames they came up with last year. Prongs for James because his hair is something gravity defying, Wormtail for Peter because of his pet rat, Padfoot for Sirius because of him asking sodding Minerva McGonagall— their head of house— if she was on her time of the month— as a first year when she gave him and James three weeks detention for a crude prank. And Moony for Remus who constantly got lost in his books and in his daydreams that it takes the others multiple times calling his name for him to be brought back to earth.

Remus kept the contract in his lovage, but never bothered to pull it out fourth year when Sirius suddenly became very, very aware of his good looks, and high social standing, and how any girl attracted to men would chew off her own leg to get a date with him— well save for the possibly only exception that is Lily Evans. And Remus had to just deal with it, and he did. He didn’t know why Sirius and his frequent, but short lasting flings got under his skin so thoroughly. It’s not like he’s annoyed over Peter and his girlfriend Eloise or how James is still going out with a couple different girls even though he’s near constantly flirting with Lily. And it’s not like the ones Sirius decides to go out with are annoying or anything. He really likes most of them. Like Marlene is absolutely hilarious, and Maci has the same world history class with Remus so they studied together a lot. And the rest have perfectly fine attitudes. It’s just— It’s just Sirius begins sleeping more often through the night instead of swapping stories with Remus, and isn’t readily available for whenever Remus needs to take a walk in the woods because he’s becoming full of anxiety over just about everything, and it’s just— He just misses Sirius a lot.

And Remus thinks he’s an idiot because why the fuck does he feel so territorial towards one of his best friends? Why doesn’t he act this way towards James or Peter or even Lily. He doesn’t ever feel this ridiculous, clawing emotion. Something he only calls by name, jealousy, when it’s late and quiet and he’s all alone. And Remus panics because he has no idea what this means, what or why he feels this way. Because he’s not a poof?? Is he? It’s not like he’s ever been especially interested in girls or their knickers, and if the other fifteen year old boys around him is anything to go by, that’s odd. But it’s not as if he’s especially interested in any other blokes either— anyone besides Sirius. Sirius and his artfully tousled black hair that tumbles down the nape of his neck and just a couple inches above his shoulders. and his piercing eyes that always seem as if they can look right into Remus’s soul and sift through all his points of diffidence. Sirius who’s always been there for Remus in ways Remus never even expected, even knew how to ask for. The boy who brings him hot chocolate on days his migraines are especially awful, and who always begs the Matron to stay over on the nights Remus is just forced to stay in the hospital wing when he has a flare up, and who always knows to ask the caretaker for a spare blanket at the start of every term because he knows Remus is always cold but would never dare ask himself. And God, just why does it have to be Sirius!

Strangely enough, it’s Sirius who answers the question in a non direct sort of way at the end of their fourth year when Remus asks him why he broke up with Isidora so publicly and a bit callously while they’re sitting on the balcony of the astronomy tower, trading their flask of gin that Sirius snuck away from his parent’s house over easter, staring down at the grounds and the lake and it’s a beautiful night, and Remus only sorta feels it how his heart twists while Sirius sits so close. And once the question spills out his lips, Sirius peers down at him in a very subdued, very weighty sort of way and he simply says, “she’s not you Moons.”

And it’s like Remus’s heart just freezes, refuses to continue beating with the shock, with the somber words spoken without an ounce of humor. And part of him is just waiting for the joke, for the other shoe to drop. He’s just  waiting for the overdone hand to his chest, and lips pretending to pucker for a smooch. He’s waiting for the ground to return but Sirius doesn’t move, and maybe this means that this is real, that it isn’t just in Remus’s head. so all he says is a simple, “oh” and the next thing he knows is that Sirius kisses him right then and there, and it’s beginning to shower from above,  and the kiss is a bit hard for his liking— more teeth than lips and a tongue that slips in with fervor— but Remus wouldn’t stop it for all the money in the world. Wouldn’t ever let go of his grip on Sirius’s broad shoulders, or move away from where Sirius’s arms are snaking around his narrow waste. Would pay anything just to constantly feel the weight of Sirius over him like this for forever.

He doesn’t know for how long they lied their in the pouring rain, just exchanging slow, lingering snogs, and tender touches that feel like a thousand flames. But Remus probably should’ve expected that the next morning, while they’re all preparing to board the train, Sirius doesn’t catch his eye or ever really speak to him. And that’s fine. Remus has been questioning his sexuality for a while now. Maybe Sirius is just confused or just nervous because they’ve been friends for so long. So he doesn’t mind. Ends up splitting his time on the train with the boys and with Lily and it’s all alright. When he gets home, he types Sirius a letter explaining to him that it’s fine, that they can take things slow, that they don’t have to call it anything yet, and he toys with that patch on his neck that’s still purple from Sirius’s mouth and he’s actually elated with the idea of it.

Sirius doesn’t answer the email

And he doesn’t answer the one after that either, or the ones that follow. And Remus eventually takes the hint when he gets a email from Peter who’s holidaying in France and asks Remus how hard he laughed from Sirius’s story about how he nearly pulled the mum of the latest London bird he’s shagging that he wrote them about. And Remus is equal parts embarrassed and self rebuking. Because he’s such an idiot, Sirius was probably annoyed from his constant emails like he’s some jilted ex lover, like the girls he pulls along. And Remus is really a fucking idiot. So he rings Lily and they meet at a pub that’s equidistant from both of them, and he didn’t have to tell her what happened because she’s really just a genius, so they drink the night away and he swears off love and she swears to kick James in the Bollocks at least once this year, and it’s the first time all summer Remus laughed.

By the time they got to fifth year, Remus had ranted enough to Lily that he was over it— well erm, mostly at least. It still hurt like nothing else when he first spotted Sirius on the train, looking taller and leaner and tanner and just sexier as all get out. ANd it makes something ugly twist in his gut, laughing at himself over thinking  that a practical demigod would be interested in someone who prefers books to most people and who has to wear charity shop clothes when he’s not in his school uniform and just— He’s an idiot. So when Sirius steps into the cart with Remus, James and Peter, and his look of contrition tosses to Remus  a beat passes. And  it’s quickly willed away when Remus just smiles warmly, tries to silently tell him not to worry about it, and asks out loud if he’d like a chocolate frog.

And it’s normal, it’s fine, the first weeks of term are typical as ever for the boys. They commit pranks on the creepy wankers like Snape and Avery. And they laugh at James’s latest failed attempt to woo Lily. And they spend all nighters in the library and celebrate with pickup games of footie. And it’s pretty bloody brilliant, but then Sirius’s birthday hits, and they plan a surprise for him on the astronomy tower in the middle of the night, filled with food and drinks  and friends. ANd Remus gets the key as prefect, and Peter sneaks in the booze with his free afternoon off and James make sure that everyone they like is there to celebrate the greatest git they all know. And Sirius is so, so happy when he sees it. Wich of course he is, Remus knows how difficult his parents are, how lonely he can get over the breaks without the lads. So he’s so, so happy to see that look of mirth twinkling in Sirius’s pale eyes, and he does everything he can to make it so Sirius is laughing all night long.

But towards the end, no matter how much he wants to make it the best night for Sirius, he just has to get away from the sight of Sirius dancing obscenely with Florence Whittemore. Because he doesn’t have to be a damn martyr. 

He goes to a private nook on the rooftop, and pulls out the pre-rolled spliff to light up, only sorta surprised when Sirius makes his way to him— far away from the crowd and away from the music. And he plops down on the step right  under his, obviously loaded and smiling like the sun, crooning “Moony,” over and over again and Remus can only dimple down  indulgently at him, carding his hand through Sirius’s hair gently, spurred on by the drinks and the weed and just by that quiet, unassuming love he has held for him like a torch all these years.

“Did you wear my favorite sweater on purpose?” Sirius asks, a bit slurred, tilting his head so it rests on Remus’s shoulder and he can feel the tendrils of his warm breath brushing against his neck, and Remus suddenly feels like he’s on fire again. 

And he looks down at the green sweater he’s got on, a gift from his Mam for his fifteenth last year and the one that he was wearing the first night Sirius kissed him. So, yeah maybe Remus wore it subconsciously precisely because of that. But he’d never tell him.

And neither of them could say who leaned forward first, but they were kissing again and it still feels like everything splendid and like Remus’s mind is melting right out of his head and it’s so fucking miraculous.

But then they hear a coughing and they spring apart in panic, only to meet Lily’s shrewd, green eyes and she’s glaring at Sirius like she could scorch a whole right through him. And she tells them that there’s a Filch sighting and they need to get to the dorms pronto. 

Sirius scrambles up, looking at them panicky like he doesn’t know what to say, but then Remus tells him to hurry along because he and Lily—as Prefects— are the only ones who won’t get in trouble for being out. And Sirius looks at Remus like there’s a thousand things he’d like to say, but nods soberly and sprints away, and Remus is objected to Lily’s silent, judgmental worrying for their entire track back downstairs.

Remus isn’t surprised when Sirius tells them all that he’s dating Florence now over breakfast, and Peter gazes at him in aw at pulling the fittest girl in their year, and James claps his back hardily and talks about the double dates they can go on now since he’s still dating Jeanette. As if James isn’t glancing back at Lily even as he’s speaking it, and as if Sirius isn’t peering over apologetically to Remus as if there was ever anything between them.

However, what does surprise Remus is when late that night, Sirius pads over to his bed in the middle of the night like they haven’t done since they were both 14, and they’re lying down, not looking at each other before Sirius kisses him again and Remus lets himself enjoy it, let himself melt into him. But then he remembers the pretty blonde girl who he’s actually dating and it hurts like nothing else when he tells him the next night when Sirius makes the same track to his bed that they can’t do anything because they’re going to ruin their friendship and he has a girlfriend and Remus just can’t. So Sirius nods, tells him he’s always been the best of them, and kisses his forehead before returning to his own bed. And Remus silently refutes the comment because he hates not letting himself even get the scraps.

So Sirius dates Florence for the next month or so, and Remus puts up with it because of course he does. Because if it’s Sirius’s friendship or nothing at all, he’d always pick the former. Would always want Sirius to be with him in anyway possible. But then over winter break he officially runaways from his barmy ancestral home and goes off to James’s house in the countryside. And he texts Remus, begging him to come visit for New Year’s Eve. So Remus does, even gets Lily to tag along.

And once they get there, Sirius just smacks a big one on him in front of literally a whole house of people— including James and James’s Parents and all the Potters’ friends— and he tells him that he loves him and that he doesn’t want to pretend they’re only friends anymore, and Remus is blushing and grinning, and he thinks that Sirius is the maddest bloke he knows and he loves him to.

And it’s good between them, it’s remarkable. Sirius is passionate about every aspect in his life so it’s no surprise how remarkable of a boyfriend he is, how his every splendid gesture is large and vivacious and vibrant in ways Remus can’t even describe.

But the thing is that Remus is just simply not like that, has never been loud or commanding a presence. When he’s the leader of something like a prank execution or a school project, he prefers to get input from the others, make them think they did an equal amount of work even if Remus was the one behind it all. He’s always been reserved, quiet. And it’s not that he’s shy, it’s just he doesn’t ever see a reason to make a big show out of everything. And Sirius has known him for over half a decade now, so Remus assumes that he gets it.

But then it’s apparent that sometimes he doesn’t think that Remus loves him as much— which is so bloody bonkers Remus can’t even fathom it. or he thinks that Remus is just going with the motions, dating Sirius just because Sirius asked him too. And that gets Remus mad, absolutely fucking furious. The idea that Sirius can doubt his emotions like that.

“Get your cocky head out your arse and think about how not everyone has to be as ruddy loud as you are.” Remus had yelled one night in the common room in early February when Sirius tried giving him a ridiculous teddy bear holding a heart as if he’s an actual sodding bird and he refused it and Sirius got tetchy. But then Sirius had laughed like the mad man he is and then snogged him within an inch of his life and Remus thinks he got his point across.

Their one, really huge blow out, is on Remus’s birthday when he gets to his birthday dinner with his parents who came up to celebrate. And Sirius was visibly, painfully drunk and he spluttered the whole three hours and Remus was secretly thankful that his parents only thought he was a friend and not his sodding boyfriend and by the time they got to the dorm Remus had shouted, really fucking shouted at him. Had screamed things that he would regret just as soon as they came out. But it was ridiculous and Sirius could be such an arse sometimes. And Sirius had yelled back about how fucking stuffy Remus is about everything and claiming that they didn’t even notice and who the fuck cares. And Remus was shaking so hard, grabbed his pillow and blankets to sleep in the common room instead.

But of course, he knew that Sirius would follow him, that Sirius always prodded whenever Remus wanted to just runaway, that he could never leave well enough alone. And they argue again but it quickly became them rutting up against each other in the middle of the night, atop the sofa where anyone could walk down an catch them an Remus didn’t care, just needed to feel Sirius, feel him all over.

Remus only found out the next day by a red faced and quiet Sirius that he was nervous, that he didn’t mean to get so sloshed but he’s already failed with his parents and he didn’t want Remus’s to know how much of a fucking screw up he is and Remus just kissed him gently and called him an idiot and they never spoke about it again.

A few weeks later, Sirius goes off to holiday with the Potters on the Moroccan coast and Remus was only sorta jealous, but he understood that Sirius has always starved for a family, a real family, and that this is good for him. And the Potters are lovely people, and nearly as wealthy as the Blacks— well erm, as close as can be possible for ordinary folks. And James is Sirius’s brother in all but blood. Of course Sirius wouldn’t want to spend the week in Remus’s sleepy hometown with his bookish father and somewhat smothering Mam. But then he gets a call at two in the morning— so three in the morning by them— and It’s a pissed Sirius screaming into the phone over the music of some club and Remus hears a girl’s voice crowing his name and he hangs up in the middle fo Sirius trying to tell him some story about a boat or llama or what the fuck ever. And then Sirius storms to their shared dormitory when they all got back, yelling at Remus for not answering his calls for the rest of the week, and then Remus screamed back that he didn’t want to keep him from his haram of girls. And Sirius snarled out that he didn’t kiss or even bloody flirt with any of them and that Remus needs to start trusting him or pull that stick out his ass. And Remus was just so taken aback he had no idea what to say, so he just shook his head, discarded words and pounced on him for them to snog instead— James and Peter rolling their eyes as they slowly exited the room.

And there entire relationship is a bit like that, firecrackers that simmer to something tender because their foundation has always been the purest, most important friendship and even though the sex is fucking miraculous and mind-blowing and maddeningly delicious, they’ll always be friends. 

So that’s why Remus gets so angry that Sirius is acting so blasé when Snape finds out about them and threatens to tell the whole school. “It’s not a big deal Moons, practically everyone who isn’t an idiot already knows.”

And Remus swears he saw red, felt his blood pressure pulse. “Well my parents don’t know, and I’d rather be the one to tell them instead of them hearing it from the gossip mill from one of the other students parents!”

And Sirius’s expression got very stoney right then, his shoulders drawn back and brows furrowed. “So what? You’re ashamed that you’re dating a bloke? Or a bloke who’s own parents didn’t want him?”

And Remus is so fucking gobsmacked, so disbelieving that this is still such a point of sensitivity for him. That he still isn’t quite comprehensive just how much and how thoroughly and how desperately Remus loves him, and all that comes out is “You’re a bloody pillock.” And Sirius doesn’t give him enough time to explain himself and before he knows it they’re on the train home and Sirius isn’t even talking to him and he’s home in Wales once more.

He tries messaging Sirius all summer long, tries explaining himself. He even tells his parents that he’s as gay as the day is long, and they were so supportive that it gave him hope. But then Remus goes to Lily’s house one night for a movie, and her phone pins with a snap notification from James, and she tells him to open it for her while she tries pulling out the biscuits from the oven, and Remus Sees a dorky looking James, a London night club’s logo on the bottom of the filter and it’s all innocent until he really looks and he sees Sirius— clear as day, and he’s kissing another bloke. A blonde, good looking bloke that Remus could never be and one that Sirius deserves. And he feels so empty, so exhausted, so tired of it all as he numbly hands it over to a anxious looking Lily.

And Remus decides right then that he and Sirius really need to end this. 

They need to cut all the strings of this ill-fated romance, because they’re both too volatile and too sporadic. They can’t risk their friendship over this. Remus can’t lose Sirius just because Remus never deserved him as a boyfriend.

So when they get back to classes for their sixth year, Remus pretends nothing had ever happened between them.

He acts cordial, and companionable and like the friend he was to Sirius before he let his bloody emotions get in the way. And Sirius is suspicious but cautious and sometimes he looks like he does when he wanted to kiss him, so Remus would have to race off and he’d stay out late as possible in the library so to get back to their room after they’ve all fallen asleep. And he’s thankful he does the one time he finds that Sirius had ended up falling asleep in Remus’s bed while waiting up for him.

On one of those nights out to the library he begins speaking with Ezra.

Ezra is a prefect also, and he’s a year above them in classes so he gladly helps Remus with the questions he has for the course work. He’s extremely handsome, and Remus doesn’t feel so guilty when he recognizes the fact. He’s got brown hair numerous shades darker from Remus’s tawny color, and he’s got very lovely green eyes and he smiles at Remus shyly. So it’s not a surprise when he kisses him softly for the first time in early October, and it’s nice. It’s not fire licking up his insides like Sirius’s kisses are, but it’s sweet. And he’s sweet. 

They go out on casual dates to the city on allotted weekends and they drink coco by the fire. He tells Remus about growing up right outside Edinburgh and Remus tells him about the sea glass his Mam taught him to find by the ocean, and his collection of shells and his favorite peer to watch the sunset and Ezra listens like he is so very interested. And They’re a quiet pair, even the first time he gives Remus a blow job behind the greenhouses. And it’s good, because it’s fucking sex of course its good. But he doesn’t know how to use his tongue like Sirius learned how, or how to squeeze just a bit too tightly around his shaft when he’s lapping the head. But it’s not Ezra’s fault. Sirius and Remus had plenty of practice, the one thing they did more than laugh or argue was fuck. And that’s because it was always fun, always good. They stumbled through it together and learned what they liked and what they didn’t and how amazing it felt whenever they were intwined like that— When Sirius was on top of him, underneath him, deep inside of him and all around him.

But that’s not a fair comparison. Sirius has always excelled in everything, has always been a supernova. And Remus needs to learn how to be his friend again, and stop remembering all those times between the sheets or hidden behind the greenhouses or sometimes even in closets between classes.

And they’re getting there. Sirius has stopped trying to wait up for him, and he laughs at his jokes easily again. He doesn’t touch Remus, not really, not ever. And he looks like a flicker has been blown out behind his disarmingly handsome face, but they’re getting closer.

And Ezra is great, Ezra is so amazing. He’s sweet and he texts Remus a good night and good morning message every day. He walks him to class and they kiss softly goodbye. He buys Remus cherry filled brownies even tho that’s possibly the one type of chocolate he doesn’t like. But he eats them anyways because he knows they’re expensive. And he steadfastly ignores the box of his favorite caramel ones that are left on his bed the morning after Ezra got them for him.

And when Ezra comes over their house for Christmas he’s perfect in front of his parents. He complements the dinner Lyall made and how lovely Hope’s necklace is. And he gets along seamlessly with Lily when they met up nearly every night to go out to the tree in the center of her hometown or ice skating or to take pictures by the lights.

But when he leaves, Remus just feels empty. He stays up all night thinking about it, about why he can’t love Ezra the way he loved— the way he’s always loved and continues to love Sirius. How he will forever love Sirius. And he ends up cursing Sirius’s name a thousand times over throughout  the span of one night.

And it’s back to the start of the story with Remus and Lily lounging in his living room and looking at the photo and Remus feels his eyes watering and Lily kissing his cheek while silently handing him his phone.

They exchange a smile.

And Remus decides he’ll talk to Ezra in person, explain how he’s a great guy and how lucky Remus was to be with him. But now— well now he needs to slide open his phone because he can hardly breathe anymore.

And when he hears Sirius’s familiar, golden baritone answering tentatively, “Hiya Moons.”

And Remus swallows down the emotion in his throat, and he just loves him so much.

“Can you drive up here? Preferably not with the bike.”

“James’s Dad left us his car.” Sirius retorts, and Remus can hear the smile in his voice. “But, are you sure?”

And Remus wants to scream it to the clouds and the ocean and the mountain tops that of course he is, that this— the emotions he has for Sirius, the way he loves him— is the one sure thing in his life.

“I love you Pads.”

A silence beats between them before he hears Sirius answer back, buoyant and vivid and so much him that it aches.

“I love you to Moony. I love you so much.”

[fa-headhoncho]

Unlike The Rest: Part 4

George Weasley x Reader (eventually)

Prompt: You’re home for Christmas and you’re terrified of what Draco has told your parents about your life at Hogwarts.

Word Count: 1429

Reader: Female

Warning: Very much a filler chapter

Masterlist Series Masterlist

=====

You pick at your food, it’s only been a few days since you and Draco have returned home from break and it’s been very uncomfortable. You’re not sure of how much he has told your parents about your life at Hogwarts but you just know he has. How you act at home was very different from what you act at school. You hope he hasn’t mentioned any of that though. The lines are blurred now that Draco is attending Hogwarts, he sees both sides of you and you’re not sure how he’s going to react to it.

“Thank you.” You whisper to the house-elf that refilled your glass with water. Dobby gives you a small smile at your kindness. He seems to be the only house-elf that acknowledges it, the others just ignore it, not wanting to get in trouble.

“So,” Mother speaks up, “Draco has told us about your… activities at Hogwart.” You look up at her with a worried expression, then you glare at Draco. “Very interesting, it seems.”

“Ok.” You say, looking back down at your food. You try to compose yourself, everything you’ve done quickly cycling through your head. Grades aren’t bad, no detentions, Quidditch team has been doing alright, you’ve been doing great this year. The only thing that seems to stand out is you telling off Draco in November and you spending some time down at Hagrid’s.

“Yes, very interesting.” Father continues, your heart drops. He told him. “Seems you spend a lot of time with this Diggory boy... He seems like quite a character.” 

Your body immediately relaxes, if he was going to mention anything, you’re glad it’s your best friend.

“Yes, he’s very nice.” You say, a small smile on your face. It’s been known that you’re grateful for this boy. 

Silence fills the table again. Your mother looks at your father, giving him a look and he looks back at you. 

“His father works for the ministry, yes?” He continues, “Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.” 

“Yes, he does.” You nod. “I’ve never met him though.” 

“Purebloods, as well?”

It takes everything in you to hold back an eye roll. It shouldn’t matter. “Yes, I believe so.” 

“Not the most affluent household, though, are they?” He adds, a brow raised slightly. “They live by the Weasley's so you know they’re not that well off.”

“I’m not too sure.” You answer, “I don’t really ask those questions, we mostly talk about school and Quidditch. Cedric has top marks in my grade and he’s a seeker on the team.” You try to divert his attention to something more positive. “An alright one, at that, as well.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re associating yourself with the right people then.” Father praises, you look at him with wide eyes. Is he actually complimenting you? “Not those trouble-making traitors, the twins, what are their names, again?”

“I don’t know…” You lie, your heart pangs a bit. With George being in Divination with you, you’ve gotten a little bit closer to the pair. They greet you in the hallways and George always partners up with you in Potions or DADA when you have to be with another house. You’ve learned they’re not as bad as your parents say. Their whole family seems to be a sweet bunch, honestly.

As silence, once again, consumes the four of you, Dobby continues to refill everyone’s cups. Switching to a bottle of wine for your parents halfway through. He stands on a stool, reaching over to pour your father a glass of wine. The stool then wobbles, sending the small elf off balance and making him knock over the red liquid as he falls off.

You and Draco just stare, wide-eyed at the whole thing. You share a look, knowing what's about to happen. 

“You stupid, house-elf!” Your father abruptly stands up, sending his chair flying to the floor. The wine has gotten onto the white table cloth and his white dress shirt. Usually, he wears all black but Mother had encouraged him to change it up a little bit recently. 

“Worthless little,” He sends a kick to the creature, Draco’s head snaps down while you jump up. 

“Leave him alone!” You demand, all of his attention turns to you now. You almost crumble at his intense sneer but you stand tall, “You shouldn’t treat him like that.” You dare to say, an act of newfound courage taking over you. “Imagine if the minster did that to you every time you made a mistake.”

He’s furious and all of you can tell. You’ve seen your father this mad but it’s never been direct to you. He’s always been passive-aggressive with his comments and you’ve learned to ignore it but something about his glare sends shivers down your spine.

“Lucius…” Your mother tries to step in but he doesn’t give her a second glance.

“Room. Now.” He demands, you turn around and head straight to it. You poked the bull and you don’t want to anger it even more. “I’ll treat you like I treat him if you dare to disrespect me like that again, you little brat.” He calls after you causing you footsteps to pick up.

=====

You lay on your bed, staring at the ceiling. Regret is the farthest thing from what you’re feeling right now. The house-elves have always been treated poorly in your house and it always bothered you but seeing Dobby get kicked like that for something he couldn’t even control just set you off.

Letting out a loud groan, turning on your side. You’re so frustrated. You understand the history of house-elves and how they’re used to being beat and picked on but it still makes you angry. Especially when it’s directed at Dobby, the kindness little elf you’ve met. He’s been your friend since childhood. When your parents would bring over other families to interact with, you always locked yourself in your room and played games with Dobby.

When you were sad, Dobby would appear with a small flower from your mother’s garden to cheer you up. He always would comfort you when your parents were off who knows where. He even has taken blame for things that you’ve done like breaking a vase or a glass. He’s been there for years and it upsets you to see him treated so badly. His kindness deserves so much more than this hellhole.

You decide to direct your attention to the moonlight that cascades through your window. Some of your plants that line the windowsill glisten in the light. Belladonna, your cat, is sitting just below them on the cushioned bench. You can hear her purrs as she slowly dozes off.

A knock on your door echoes throughout the obnoxiously large room, waking the feline up. She lets out a hiss which you chuckle at. She’s always been a lazy cat so when her naps are interrupted, she’s mad.

“(Y/N)...” Draco’s small voice calls. You stare at Bella, silently telling her to attack but she just turns around and tries to go back to sleep.

You sit up against your headboard as he takes a few steps into your room. “What do you want, Draco?” 

He awkwardly stands there, his free hand pulling at the hem of his nightshirt. Shy Draco is something you haven’t seen since he was five. The sight makes your heart melt a bit.

“I just wanted to see…” He carefully picks his words, not wanting to tell you why he’s here. “Could you help me a bit with Potions?” He quickly changes the subject, lifting his other hand which holds his large book. “Snape has us writing an essay over break and I can’t seem to get a grasp on it.”

A small smile appears on your face. Before Hogwarts, you and Draco were homeschooled. Your mother taught you the basics of magic as well as the more essential things in life like reading and maths. It brings you back to the endless nights where you would help Draco with a writing prompt he was too embarrassed to ask his mother help for.

“Of course, Draco.” With that permission, he plops onto your bed. He settles in, crossing his legs while his other things laid out in front of you two. Once he’s satisfied with the placement of everything, he looks at you.

“Oi, wipe that smirk off your face.” He spits, there’s the Draco you know. “I’m only asking because I know my useless partner won’t do rubbish over break.”

“Oh, don’t ruin the moment, ferret face.”

[vampiregirl1797]

When his Blood Singer Moves to Town

Edward Cullen x Reader

GIF Not Mine

Word Count: 3,427

Click Here For Masterlist.

Summary: Y/N has been friends with the Cullen’s since she moved to town, and has had less than platonic feelings for Edward for just as long. When Bella moves to town and Y/N finds out that she’s Edward’s blood singer, she worries she’s at risk of losing her best friend and the person she’s in love with. But after a trip to Alaska, Edward reassures her that will never happen.

As cliche as it sounded, I’d had a terrible feeling in my gut when I’d woken up this morning. I didn’t know why, but my instincts were screaming at me to pull the covers over my head and go back to sleep. But alas, I didn’t listen, figuring it was just Monday blues. So I’d gotten dressed, crammed a cereal bar down my throat and waited for my best friend to pick me up like he did every morning. When he arrived, my mood lifted a little, as it always did whenever I was around him, but the feeling still lingered.

‘What’s the matter, honey?’ Edward asked as I fastened my seatbelt after greeting Emmett and Rose who were sat in the back seats.

‘I don’t know.’ I admitted, knowing it would be pointless to lie to someone who could literally read my mind, ‘I’ve just had a really bad feeling of dread since I woke up this morning.’

‘Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s nothing.’ Edward said, giving me a comforting smile that made my heart skip a beat in my chest. 

‘He’s right. This is Forks, what’s the worst that could happen?’ Rose teased, trying to lift the somber mood that had settled over the car.

‘You’re right.’ I agreed, a small but genuine smile settling over my face. It was probably nothing.

//

I was in French first period with Jasper, Alice and Edward when the news reached us. A new girl had started today, Isabella Swan, though according to Ed, she’d been correcting everyone so far and asking them to call her Bella. I’d shrugged, not really that interested, but I’d felt a little sympathy for the girl starting half way through junior year in a small town— she’d be the talk of the school for the rest of the week at least. I didn’t envy her for that, but seeing as she was apparently Chief Swan’s daughter, I assumed she knew what she was getting into when she agreed to move here. 

After that, Edward had distracted me with questions about the book— A Tale of Two Cities—he’d suggested I read. The rest of the lesson was spent with us discussing the ins and outs, the best parts and the worst parts in French. The rest of the morning flew by, and none of us had a period with the new girl, so when it came to lunch a few of the Cullens were curious about the new girl, while I had maintained my uninterested stance. We all joined the lunch line, I grabbed myself a fruit salad and a bottle of water, still not very hungry and took my usual seat in between Emmett and Edward at our table. 

‘So, what does the new girl think of the school’s freaks?’ Emmett asked, his dimple appearing in his cheek as he grinned, ‘well freaks and Y/N.’ He winked at me and chuckled when I rolled my eyes at him.

Edward looked over to Bella at Emmett’s question, and for the first time today I look over too. I noticed the way she ducked her head and hid behind her long, brown curly hair as soon as Ed had looked over. I saw the girl next to her, Jessica Stanley, do the same thing and I saw the latter’s shoulders shaking, indicating that she was giggling. She was incredibly beautiful, but I could tell from her shy stature and her unwillingness to look back over here in case Ed was still looking at her, she wasn’t aware of it. I looked away when I felt Edward jerk so unexpectedly that the table vibrated a little.

‘I can’t read her thoughts.’ He sighed, frustration clear in his onyx eyes.

‘How bizarre.’ I mused, putting a piece of watermelon in my mouth and chewing.

‘Ooo finally, someone’s mind you can’t snoop on,’ Emmett’s voice was practically dripping with mirth.

‘I’ll bet the curiosity is killing you.’ Jasper teased, his southern drawl wrapping around his words and a rare smile appearing on his face. 

I assumed he could feel Ed’s frustration as well as any other emotions he wasn’t showing on his expression or through body language. And for the first time since that morning, the dread returned to my gut with such ferocity that it took my breath away. My eyes moved between Bella and Edward, the former shy but clearly interested, and the latter gleaming with curiosity and whatever other emotions Jasper had picked up on to implement his teasing. This is what my body had been warning me about— I was going to lose my best friend to the new girl.

//

The day had taken another abrupt turn when Edward had stormed out of Biology with a look of murder on his face. We usually met at his car after sixth period because we had a free after, so we just went home earlier. I’d hastily climbed in when he’d unlocked the Volvo and had remained silent as he’d driven faster than he normally did, muttering under his breath too low for me to hear. I’d finally spoken up when we reached the hospital, needing to know what was bothering him so much.

‘Ed, what’s going on?’ I asked, my voice tentative.

‘Bella, she’s my blood singer.’ He managed to get out between gritted teeth.

I felt my heart both sink and squeeze in sympathy for his plight. It sunk because I remembered the other half of that legend— it was said that if a humans blood sung for a vampire, that human was the true mate of said vampire. If that was the case then my earlier suspicions were right— I was going to lose Edward to Bella and the stab of pain in my chest almost took my breath away, but I pushed it aside. This wasn’t about me, this was about him.

‘Is there anything I can do?’ I reached out, my hand enveloping his right, where it rested on the steering wheel. When my hand came into contact with his, he flipped his palm up and held my hand in a gentle but firm hold.

‘I need to get away, my instincts want me to go after her, to kill her and I don’t know how long I’ll be able to resist while I’m so thirsty.’ He explained, his thumb moving back and forth over the back of the hand he was holding and I felt my lips lift into a smile when I realised he was comforting me when it was supposed to be the other way around.

‘I’ll come with you.’ It wasn’t like I had any parents to dictate my actions— they died a year ago, but I’d emancipated myself at fifteen, they were lovely people and I had loved them, but they just weren’t ready to be parents. 

Both of them worked full time jobs that took them away from home weeks at a time— the longest I’d gone without seeing them had been two months. I’d gotten tired of being raised by a nanny seeing as she practically just left me to my own devices as soon as I was old enough and did her own thing when she was supposed to be looking after me. So I’d looked into emancipation and after talking to my parents about it on one of the rare days they were home before they jetted off again, they’d both agreed without much resistance. I assumed me saying I’d still like to live with them until I could afford my own place had swayed them, as it meant that not much would change—I’d still be at home, I’d just have the ability to make my own decisions without parental permission. When they’d died in a freak car accident a few years ago, I’d inherited everything seeing as I was their only living family and I was the only one listed on the will. After it happened I decided to move to Forks, remembering the few times my parents had bought me here when I was a child. I’d needed a fresh start where no one knew me as the kid who became rich after her parents died, and this had seemed like the perfect place. I’d actually arrived the same time as the Cullens and it had been then that our friendship had been born and it’d only flourished from there.

‘You don’t have to do that.’ He insisted, but his grip didn’t waver, and his dark eyes were almost pleading for me to disagree with him.

‘Ed, I love you and if you need me, I’m going to be there for you so don’t bother arguing with me.’ I gave him a firm look and when he finally smiled I sent him a wink. 

His dark eyes softened with an emotion I couldn’t identify, and he placed a chaste kiss on the back of my hand before asking me to wait in the car while he spoke to his father. I took the time to compose myself and by the time he returned we were off to Alaska to see his extended family. We’d stopped to fill his tank after about an hour, and he’d also grabbed me some food to eat on the rest of the drive. It was the longest I’d ever been in a car, minus bathroom breaks and stopping just so I could stretch out my legs, but after two days and ten hours we made it. 

I felt like I needed my whole body cracked by a chiropractor, but we were here, and honestly it was beautiful! The Denali Coven’s home was similar to the Cullen’s in the sense that it was secluded and practically in the middle of nowhere— you wouldn’t know where to find it unless you knew what you were looking for. It was a mansion surrounded by snow and the early evening light was a mixture of pink and blue, it took my breath away. We never got sunsets like this in Forks, and I’d almost forgotten how beautiful it could be.

‘Wow, it’s beautiful here.’ I whispered, unwilling to disrupt the scenery around me by being too loud.

‘It is.’ Edward mirrored my volume, and I was so enamoured by the effortless beauty around me that I didn’t notice the bronze haired vampire was staring at me. 

After a while, the cold became too much to ignore and Edward led me inside the house, introducing me to the family I’d heard of but never met in person. They were all of course extremely beautiful and the way Tanya’s eyes lingered on the bronze haired vampire next to me made that stabbing feeling return, but I pushed it down. Edward was my friend, I had no right to be jealous of the female attention he received, I knew that but it didn’t stop the stab of pain in my heart. I chatted with Kate and Garrett while the others and Edward went hunting, they were only gone an hour but by the time they returned I was ready to drop. I’d only managed to snag four hours sleep in the past two days as a car wasn’t the comfiest place to lay your head. 

My vampire friend of course knew immediately and politely excused us both to lead me to one of the only rooms in the entire house that actually had a bed. At that point he went to leave me to have my human moments, but at the last second my body acted without his consent and grabbed his wrist. As soon as my hand closed around his wrist he paused without hesitation, his now golden eyes observing me carefully— I knew he was aware of what I was going to say, but he always waited me to voice it in case I changed my mind.

‘Will you stay with me, until I fall asleep?’ I asked, knowing that if he didn’t I probably wouldn't get any sleep, despite my current state of exhaustion. I had an issue falling asleep in new places that lacked the familiarity of my own bed, at the moment Ed was the closest to comfort I had at the moment; he made me feel safe and calm. 

‘Of course I will,’ he answered, his eyes softening to molten, plonking himself onto the twin bed while I got myself ready to sleep. 

I changed in the bathroom, brushed my teeth, washed my face and applied night cream before joining Edward in the bedroom again. He remained on top of the covers, but he’d shifted so that he wasn’t inhibiting any movement for me. I climbed underneath the thick duvet and snuggled into Ed’s side, happy that his natural coolness balanced out the warmth from the covers and the heat Kate had put on throughout the house to keep me from freezing to death. I inhaled his sweet scent and felt myself melt into him when is arm wound around my shoulders and allowed me to snuggle closer to him. I fell into unconsciousness quickly after that, but just before I completely surrendered to the darkness, I thought I felt Edward’s lips kissing my hair, but I was too far gone to fully process it or respond.

//

‘I need to talk to you.’ Edward said as we were a day into our drive back to Forks.

He felt much better now, and was determined not to let a stranger rule his life and the legacy his coven represented. He didn’t want to let Carlisle down and was prepared to simply not breathe in the single period he shared with Bella if that was what it took for his family to continue living in Forks until they were ready to move on again. Honestly, he’d told me that after the first night we’d spent there, I’d barely opened my eyes before he told me the conclusion he’d come to over his blood singer moving to Forks. It took me longer to process his words than it should have, because it was morning but mostly due to the fact that I’d woken up exactly where I’d fallen asleep, which meant he hadn’t left me once throughout the night and that revelation had done funny things to my heart and my ability to focus. Once I had, I’d been relieved, a part of me had been worried he would go as far to relocate to Alaska until Bella left Forks.

‘About what?’ I wondered, putting the bottle of water I’d taken a few gulps of back into the cup holder.

‘I’m not interested in Bella in any romantic way, and I plan to stay as far away from her as possible. While there have been some instances over the centuries of a vampires blood singer also being his true mate, that’s very rare. It wasn’t the case for Emmett, and it’s not the case for me either.’ I could barely hear his soft voice over the sound of my heart thundering in my chest, ‘you’re my true mate, Y/N. I’ve known since I first saw you, which is why we all became so close to you so fast, my family and I usually shy away from making contact with humans but I had to know you. I was certain I’d scare you off when you found out that we were vampires, and when it didn’t I was sure you’d leave when you found out about how much I love you. I tried to cheat and figure out how you’d react to the news by focusing on your thoughts, but you never really lingered on my family and I when you’re around us. So, because I’m a coward I kept my knowledge to myself, content with having you in my life even if it meant I couldn’t truly be with you how I wanted to be. But after hearing your thoughts about losing me when you learned about Bella, and how you felt unworthy of me when you met Tanya, well I just couldn’t bear to keep this to myself when I knew that you were hurting because of it.’

I was silent for a long moment after his speech, because well it was a lot to process, and a part of me couldn’t believe it even though I’d just heard it with my own two ears. But when I saw the look in Ed’s eyes, the soft look that made his orbs look like honey, I was able to recognise the emotion that had always evaded me when I’d tired to put a finger on it— it was love. 

‘I love you too, Edward.’ My voice was so soft that I could barely hear it, but of course he had no problem and a grin took over his face, lighting his expression so brilliantly that my breath caught at the sight of his effortless beauty.

After that somewhat emotional conversation, Edward had taken his hand in mine, and we spent the rest of the drive exchanging occasional anecdotes. But for the most part we remained in a comfortable silence and relaxed in the bubble of love and contentment that settled around us. 

//

Third person POV

When Bella entered the cafeteria that particularly miserable Monday morning, she’d looked over to the Cullen’s table out of habit, only to freeze when she saw that there six people sat around the table, not the usual four she’d grown accustomed to seeing. After she managed to pull herself out of her reverie, she grabbed a bottle of lemonade and hurried to the table she sat at with Mike, Jessica, Angela, Eric and others whose names she hadn’t quite been able to remember. The curly-haired brunette kept her head down for ten minutes, tentatively sipping her lemonade and avoiding conversation as she felt daggers piercing into the side of her head. It was another five minutes before she decided enough was enough; she wasn’t going to let herself feel alienated by a boy who didn’t even know her from Adam. So she turned her head, looking up at the table from underneath her lashes and the sight that greeted her made her fell relaxed and disappointed all at once. None of them were looking in her direction, so she lifted her head a little more so she was able to observe the family with more ease. Emmett and Rosalie were wrapped up in each other, the curly haired blonde vampire grinning at his love as she kissed his cheek and murmured something that made the brawny boy throw his head back and release his signature booming laughter. Jasper and Alice were sat side by side, the blonde’s hand holding Alice’s underneath the table, both content to sit in silence and observe those around them. Edward and a girl whose name she’d learned was Y/N, they were... close in a way Bella couldn’t quite describe. She didn’t know what had changed between now and last week, but there had obviously been a shift in their relationship. The bronze haired boy had his arm wrapped around Y/N’s shoulders, and she was looking up at Edward with a look of pure adoration and love in her eyes, but what was more intense was that he was returning it with equal fervour. Throughout the hour, their eyes never left one another, and they were always touching in some way, whether it was Y/N holding Edward’s free hand and playing with his fingers as they quietly spoke to one another, or whether it was the bronze haired boy brushing Y/N’s hair behind her ear and letting his hand linger to caress the side of her face— they never once shifted so they weren’t touching. It was as if they were in their own little bubble, impenetrable to even the other family members sitting around the table with them, and Bella felt her heart ache at the sight. She longed for someone to look at her the way Edward was looking at Y/N. If she were being completely honest with herself, she had found herself interested in the boy, despite his horrid attitude towards her last week, but obviously that was in vein; he was in love with Y/N, that much was obvious. 

With a sigh, Bella returned her attention to her table mates around her, making an effort to engage in their conversation and forget about the mysterious family sat to the right of her. Jessica had been right— there was no point in wasting any time there.

A/N: So I had this idea pop into my head last night, and to be honest I’m not completely sure how I feel about it?? But I’ve purged it from my mind now and it’s out there. I hope you liked it!!

[mrsfrecklesmarauders]

Take care of him, for me

Regulus couldn´t sleep anymore. Every time the same nightmare and his mother´s words lingered in.

“This summer Regulus” she had said “The Dark Lord required to personally meet you. I think he has a special interest in you”

A special interest in you.

Why for? He didn´t want to interest The Dark Lord. Actually, he preferred to be left alone.

“Ok mother”

Now every night he had nightmares about The Dark Lord, the Death eaters and for some reason Sirius. In his dreams, Sirius always ended up dead or hurt or tortured. It was never good.

Regulus rolled over in bed, thinking of a way to be distracted. He needed a fag. Barty could have one. Regulus wandered quickly through Barty´s drawers. Bingo. He found them.

Regulus paced through the corridors of Hogwarts. He usually smoked on The Astronomy Tower. Luckily nor Filch, nor Mrs. Norris caught him. He was never caught. Not even the portraits woke up.

Regulus was a natural sneaker. It was always Sirius who got caught at Grimmaund Place. His brother was so reckless, he didn’t even think about the consequences. Regulus did. And when Regulus thought his mother finally caught him, Sirius always took the blame. Fucking wanker. What would he do that? Sometimes Regulus thought Sirius was brave, sometimes he thought he was just stupid.

Regulus finally arrived to The Astronomy Tower. He sat by the edge.

“Regulus get out of there” his mother would say “You’re gonna bloody fall”

Actually, Regulus loved watching down. It gave him a sense of adrenaline and energy. It wasn´t like he wanted to fall or anything like that. It was just something he fancied.

Regulus lit himself a cig. Watching down to The Entrance. The statues looked so small from there.

Regulus finally heard some laughter. And then he saw them.

At first, he saw Sirius’ black head, the same as his. But Sirius’ hair seemed to be wilder. Regulus combed it perfectly. But Sirius was with another person. Golden curls, tall and skinny. With a big Gryffindor jersey. Regulus knew perfectly well who it was: Lupin.

Regulus saw his brother whispering something to Lupin. They both giggled like idiots and then they kissed. Regulus rolled his eyes.

He knew about their relationship. Even though Sirius hadn’t told him. In fact, they haven’t spoken properly since Sirius ran away. But Regulus knew. He had observed how they looked at each other countless time at The Great Hall. And Regulus knew his brother pretty well. Sirius was in love.

But it didn’t bother him. Sirius was gay? Regulus couldn’t care less. But Regulus was angry. It was that feeling Regulus got, every time Sirius did something stupid, something their parents would hate. How could Sirius be so irresponsible? Regulus thought he could’ve avoided many things if Sirius would just stay still and obey. And now that anger was boiling inside again. If their parents found out about Lupin…

Regulus was so absorbed on this feeling that he didn’t realize his cig had fallen of his hand, landing his between Sirius and Lupin´s feet. Shit.

As the two boys down looked up, Regulus did his best to hide.

Shit, shit, shit. He didn’t fancy talking with his brother and his new boyfriend.

“Reggie?”

Shit.

“How do you know its him?” Lupin asked in a soft voice.

“I would recognize him everywhere” Regulus could feel the smirk on his brother’s voice. Bloody wanker.

“Why don’t you come down?” Sirius asked him.

“Fuck you” Regulus managed to say.

Sirius laughed softly.

“Will go up then”

“Don’t you dare”

But Regulus knew his brother to well. He might be on his way now. Regulus decided to return to his dorm avoiding Sirius.

But Regulus had never had luck avoiding Sirius. He just bumped into the two Gryffindors on his way down.

“Fuck”

“Language Reggie” Sirius smiled

“Hi Regulus” Lupin smiled. Regulus didn’t answer. He didn’t dare to look at him.

“You shouldn’t be out of bed at this time of night” Regulus said “I´m a prefect”

Sirius snorted “Moony two” he said pointing at the little badge on Lupin´s chest.

“And you shouldn´t be out of bed as well” Lupin smirked

“I won´t tell if you don´t” Regulus had never got detention. He wasn’t going to start now. It was his sixth year at Hogwarts.

“He knows how to negotiate” Sirius smiled. Then his smile disappeared “Did you see…” he began looking down.

“You two snogging? Don’t worry I won´t tell” Regulus knew Sirius meant their parents. Him as well.

He started walking when Sirius stopped him.

“Wait Reggie, I wanted to talk to you”

“Then I should probably leave you…” Lupin began

“No Moony” Sirius stopped him holding his hand “This concerns you too” he finished smiling.

Then he looked at Regulus.

“Moony is very important to me, okay?”

Lupin blushed smiling down. Regulus was very uncomfortable.

“We are dating… Like in boyfriends, like a couple” Sirius looked at him expectantly.

“Okay” he simply said.

“Okay?” Sirius asked surprised “That´s all you´re going to say?”

Regulus was losing patience “What do you want me to say Sirius? That I´m happy for you?”

Regulus´ mind went back to the night Sirius left. The words he said before leaving.

“You´re such a coward Regulus” he didn’t call him Reggie this time “You´re such a coward. You never helped me. You´re just like them”

Of course, Sirius apologized and said he was angry, he didn’t mean that. But honestly, Regulus was tired of dealing with Sirius´ change of moods, Sirius´ anger, Sirius´ problems.

Sirius closed his eyes in pain. “Reggie, what happened? Are you okay?”

Sirius always assumed that if Regulus screamed or said mean things, it was because something happened. Well, he was not wrong, many things had happened. But Regulus was too angry to talk right now.

“What do you care? We are not your family anymore”

I am not your family anymore. And it hurts.

“That´s not true Reggie, you know that”

“Do you think we miss you? No. We are perfectly fine without you. In fact, mother seems happier. More calmed”

Regulus didn’t know why he said that. He knew he was hurting Sirius but he couldn’t stop.

“YOU´RE SUCH A MOMMY´S BOY REGGIE. THE PREFECT LITTLE PRICK” Sirius was having a rage. And when he got angry, there was nothing that could stop him. “FUCK OFF….YOU KNOW WHAT? YOU´RE RIGHT. YOU´RE NOT MY BROTHER ANYMORE. SO I DON´T KNOW WHY I´M TELLING YOU THINGS”

And he stormed off.

“Sirius…” Lupin tried to stop him. But Sirius backed away.

“Don’t touch me”

Lupin looked hurt. Regulus felt hurt.

 Regulus had a knot on his throat. He just wanted to leave and cry on his bed. Without anyone hearing him.

“You didn’t have to say that, you know?” Lupin sounded between angry and sympathetic, which confused Regulus.

But he was still angry

“You think you know him better than I do?”

“No… I didn’t” Lupin sighed “He cares about you. A lot”

I care about him. He is my brother, Lupin

Regulus wanted to run after Sirius and apologized, like he used to do when they were kids. Sirius always was right. Sirius was always the center of attention. Regulus admired him a lot, and he believed everything he used to say. Not anymore. Regulus was becoming a death eater this summer. He was supposed to hate his brother. He had to hate him.

“You think he is that innocent” Regulus snorted “You have no idea how he provokes mum and dad every time. He just wants to be the center of attention; he just wants to be the special one…”

“That’s not true”

Regulus continued.

“He just tries to piss off mother more and more. It´s like it is the only way to get her attention. And obviously she reacts”

“Your mother hates him”

Regulus ignored him.

“Had he ever done anything stupid? Something so bad because he thought it would be funny?”

That got Lupin thinking.

“He is unstable Lupin. He just makes you feel loved, powerful and invincible and soon enough he will forget about you”

Just like he did with me.

“That’s a lie” Lupin´s voice was barely audible.

“Why would I lie to you, Lupin?” Regulus continued “Honestly, I don’t know how you and Potter hadn´t realized it yet”

Lupin was trying hard not to cry in front of Regulus. But he could tell. Regulus was feeling the same way.

“I’m sorry, Lupin”

And with that, Regulus left. That’s what his mother would want, his Slytherin friends, Bella. This was the Regulus all of them wanted to see. They should be proud. But Regulus hated himself now. He covered himself into the blankets and cried like he hadn´t done in a while.

 Weeks later, Regulus found Lupin on The Library.

It was torturing the way Sirius just now ignored him. Him and Lupin were okay. Regulus had seen them smiling at each other across the table. Perhaps they talked about it. Perhaps Lupin didn’t believe a word Regulus had said.

Better Regulus thought Sirius would die without you, Lupin

Regulus looked around. Luckily none of the older Slytherins was around. Just a few first years. Regulus sat in front of Lupin. He looked up front his book not surprised at all about Regulus being there. Lupin didn’t say anything.

“How’s he?” Regulus practically whispered.

Lupin blinked “Sorry what was that?”

Fucking wanker. He cleared his throat.

“How is Sirius?”

Lupin looked at him for a while. Like analyzing him.

“You care now?”

“I…”

“Regulus, I know you do. But sometimes you have to let him know”

Regulus swallowed.

“I’m sorry about what I said the other day” Regulus said carefully “I was… I was jealous”

“Jealous?”

Regulus nodded “The way, the way he is so close with Potter and you, and Pettigrew… Specially you” Regulus sounded nervous “The way he looks at you, it just says it all”

And the fact that I know him too well.

Lupin smiled blushing

“It just hurts, you know? Not being special to him anymore. Like I knew I lost him with Potter and now with you… He will never be my brother anymore”

“Regulus, you know that’s not true”

“It is. Not because of him. But because we chose our own paths and it is impossible to go back now”

“You know you can change your path”

“I can’t. It’s too late”

Regulus knew he was practically a death eater and there was no way out. They would never allow it. Bella, his parents, all of them. Sirius was lucky they let him go so easily.

Lupin opened his mouth trying to find the right thing to say, but Regulus knew there wasn’t.

“I know about you, you know?”

Lupin got very pale.

“Snape knows too. But don’t worry he didn’t tell me. I figured it out. And I just know he knows as well”

“It’s true…. And Snape is a wanker” he smiled

“I’m not gonna say anything. Don’t worry” Regulus continued “And I don’t think is a bad thing. Nobody asks to be who they are…”

Lupin just nodded.

They were silent for a while.

“Lupin?”

“Yeah?”

“Will you take care of him, for me?”

Lupin smiled “Of course”

Regulus stood up. He had to get away from Lupin before someone saw them. Snape was always on the library. Regulus had to be very careful.

“Reggie?”

Regulus stopped. It was odd hearing that nickname from Lupin´s mouth. Only Sirius called him that. Regulus turned around.

“Take care” Lupin said and he returned to his book.

Regulus walked away with a little smirk on his face. So little they would have to get to close for someone to see it.

[all-of-the-imagines-for-eve]

Stressed and In Love ~ Paul Lahote

A/n: REQUESTS!!! MAKE ME SO HAPPY!!!

Request: "My god, I had this idea and now I’m hoping I can live it though your amazing writing! So Bella’s sister tries to talk Bella out of going to Italy to save Edward, when she failed she stayed with Jake so she wouldn’t have to be alone till Charlie came home from work. Jake took her to hang out at Sam’s and Emily’s with the pack, trying to comfort her about losing her sister. When they get there Paul imprints on her and it’s like supper cute and stuff ? This was super long but feel free to ignore!🥰" by @sweetkiitty

A/n: As promised! Sorry again that I took a while. I really do appreciate your guys' requests so much I'm just hyper fixiated on something else right now. Thanks also for your patience, and the love that last Embry request got! Love you guys :)

Word Count: 2500+

MASTERLIST

"BELLA DON'T!" The panicked, desperate words came not from the best friend that had fallen in love with her, but the sister who had cared about Bella far longer on a far deeper level. When Jacob had failed to convince her even after he pulled each and every string he knew, Y/n stepped in to give it a shot.

Bella's expression remained constant. Grim and guilty, but also a little panicked. "I have to." She struggled to find some way to explain it but came up with nothing.

"You have a life here," Y/n insisted. "Someone who loves you and will treat you better than a guy who's bred to kill you. You're food to him!"

Bella stepped away from me. "You don't know what you're talking about."

Y/n grunted in frustration. "He left you! Without hesitation. You told me he didn't care for you, and now you're going to prime vampire central because he's put himself in danger? Come on Bella!"

She shook her head. "He's doing it because he thinks I'm dead."

"He's doing it because he's a drama queen who's overly obsessed with you in the most creepy way possible!" Y/n argued.

Bella ripped away from her. "One day you'll understand."

Y/n felt her loss and stepped away, her eyes watering. "I hope I never end up like you, Bells. The way you guys cannot survive without each other... it's toxic."

Lost on what to say, Bella got in the car, leaving Y/n and Jacob to simply watch it vanish in the distance around a corner. When she was really gone, Jacob broke. Soft sobs came from him as he turned away, trying to hide his face. Y/n, completely understanding, moved to him. It was easy to forget when he was there taking up her attention. She rubbed his back until she got him to open up to her. He finally scooped her up in a hug, burying his face in her neck.

Y/n and Jacob were the same age. They didn't go to school together, but with their dads being so close, had been friends for ages. When Y/n had chosen to stay with Charlie and Bella with Renee, Y/n had quickly taken Bella's place as Jacob's best friend. They had both depended on each other for a long time, finding solace in each other away from everyone else. When Embry left, Jake came to Y/n. When he had a crush on Bella and she got with Edward, he came to Y/n. When Bella had decided to stay with their mom and Y/n had stayed with their dad and that meant that the two girls wouldn't see each other anymore, Y/n went to Jake. When her first boyfriend didn't show up to her first dance and stood her up, Jake had gotten dressed up and gone with her instead.

It only made sense that as Bella rode to her probable death for an asshole that was throwing a fit after HE left HER - rightly so might I add - Jake and Y/n spent the night together, cuddling and comforting.

Charlie wasn't going to be home for hours and they hated empty, silent houses, so they headed to Jake's instead. They stayed silent as Jake drove, moving inside with the same quiet. "Do you mind if we make a stop by Emily's? She's really good at comforting?"

Y/n was plenty aware of what Jake was. Y/n had actually found out even before Jake knew when she'd confronted Embry about hurting him and things had gone super south when she'd set him off. Thank god Sam was there to intervene. It had been a relief to be able to comfort Jacob when he'd turned too, even though she'd been secretly hoping he wouldn't.

"Of course." It was less that he thought she wouldn't want to go to Emily's and more that he was asking if it was okay to be around other people. Y/n had never met any of the other pack members. She did adore Emily though, so she didn't mind. It was nice to know Jake had more people who were much closer to go to for comfort, other than her and Bella.

There was a rule at Emily's: if you heard talking, come in. Jake knew how awkward I was about just walking into new people's houses though, so he knocked.

Emily answered, smiling with greeting and confusion when she saw it was Jake. "Why did you knock?" Jake motioned to me and her eyes moved. She nodded, her smile growing. "I see! And who is this?"

"I'm Y/n Swan," Y/n greeted, holding out her hand.

Emily rolled her eyes, amused instead of annoyed. She pulled Y/n into a hug and it was strong and warm and Y/n felt like nothing could ever bother her again. No wonder Sam had fallen for her. No wonder this had been Jake's default place to go for comfort. Emily radiated a motherly, safe energy like no one else Y/n knew did. "Now come in. I can make you some food. You hungry?"

Y/n giggled as she was pulled from Jake and into the house, her previous companion closing the door behind the two women. "Y/n!" Embry cheered, standing and jogging to her to envelope her in a hug. Embry had become as much of a brother to Y/n as Jake was. She melted into him and he seemed to sense her need of a pick-me-up. So he did just that. He picked her up, right off of her feet, and spun around. She squealed, cinching tightly to his body to stable herself.

They were both laughing when he set her down. She shot a wide eyed look at Jake, who busted up as well. Emily made a comment about being careful and not breaking anything, but it was lost as Y/n looked around to take in everyone else. See if she knew anybody else.

She did not.

However, her eyes seemed to graze over everyone else just to race to the moment when her gaze net his.

He was a little shorter than Embry. A little more muscled. He had a smile that made her a little nervous, a mix of curiosity and a little danger in his expression. His hair was just as dark as everyone else's, but favored a short hair style like Jake's rather than a little long and wavy like Quil's or Embry's. He was looking directly at Y/n, as if waiting for her to look back. And when she did, both of their breaths caught.

His face went blank and his skin seemed to go an odd color, like he was motion sick or something. His body relaxed. His grip on the fork in his hand loosened and fell onto the glass plate underneath, making a very loud clatter that made Y/n jump.

Everyone looked over at him. "You okay over there, man?" one of the other people Y/n didn't know asked.

Jake nudged her as Embry finally let her go. She managed to tear my eyes away from the boy - who was really pretty and overall nice to look at and also shirtless dear god why were they always shirtless - and look over at Jake as he began speaking. "So, let me introduce you to the gang. Embry, Sam, and Quil you know. Then we have Leah and Seth, the Clearwaters. You remember me mentioning them?" Y/n nodded wordlessly. "Jared is the one next to Seth." They all waved as their names were said, Leah settling on just looking over and then away. "And then there's Paul."

Looking back at him loosened Y/n's chest. She hadn't realized that it was squeezing when she'd looked away, but the relief now was indistinguishable. "Hi." She meant the word to be smooth and clear, but came out as a kind of choked off squeak.

Paul... blushed. Someone laughed and then everyone's eyes went wide and I felt like I was suddenly on the outside of a conversation I'd missed the beginning of. Someone else made a noise that was obviously a laugh being masked as a laugh. Everyone was smirking. Except Leah. She rolled her eyes and looked away.

"Hey," he finally managed. The room grew quiet, which was very unnatural for this group of people especially. Awkwardness and tension settled in as Paul and Y/n held eye contact for a whole minute.

"Okay," Embry sighed rather heavily. "Seth, move over and let Y/n sit down." Seth giggled before doing just that. Jake didn't help as I shot him a pleading look- Embry had begun moving me to the mow empty chair. He sat me down and I was burning with how close I was to the very pretty man who was still staring at me.

Everyone turned away, forcing sudden conversation that didn't include me or Paul. What was going on, and why did it suddenly feel like I was being set up for something? There was something in the back of my brain, just out of my reach. Something I wasn't really remembering. Something that would make this make sense. Jake had told me all about the wolves and what had happened. What was I missing?

I'm kind of disappointed, you know? But I guess it was more lucky that I didn't imprint on Bella than anything.

Imprint.

Oh god.

Y/n looked at him, feeling her heart beginning to race. "I-" He had finally looked at her as she spoke, food forgotten but obviously searching for something to say to her. Was this shyness usual for him? How were they ever supposed to get along if both of them were quiet and awkward? Y/n stood, her mind racing, and booked it around the other boys and out the door. Her arms crossed over her chest as she began walking home like the total idiot she was.

Behind her, the door closed. Then slammed open again. "Y/n! Y/n wait!" She turned as Paul caught up to her, almost slamming into her. The two were far too close but neither of them could gather the self control to move away. "I- You- I have to-" He grunted as he struggled to say anything.

She swallowed. "You imprinted on me." Paul looked up, surprised. "Jake told me all about you guys, when he turned and then Sam told him I knew. He tells me everything."

Paul nodded then took a second to think. "I know it's kind of sudden and stuff-"

Y/n barked a short laugh that made Paul frown nervously. "Ten minutes ago I was losing my mind as my sister drove off to go after a fucking leech. A monster from nightmares born to kill her, and a toxic boy who watches her when she sleeps and is emotionally demanding and exhausting. Ten minutes ago, my world was destroyed as I watched helplessly as the person who used to be my mom became more like my child after that same asshole ditched her and left her comatose for MONTHS and completely broken after she finally became responsive... That's been my life for- for forever. Bella. Taking care of her and making sure she's alive. And suddenly you're here and I'm supposed to forget how she's probably terrified and in danger and going to die tonight, all because a really pretty boy looked at me and his wolf shit kicked in and now I'm his or whatever."

It was silent for a very long time. "You're not mine, Y/n." He moved even closer, his hand raising to brush her cheek softly. "I'm yours." She swallowed. That was so much responsibility... "And yeah, it's a lot to handle in a short amount of time. I can't imagine- god I don't know how you and Jake don't lock her to her bed and kill that leech yourselves. How you can watch it and deal with it. I wouldn't blame you if you did, even though it's against the treaty or whatever." He rolled his eyes. "But the great thing about being my imprint is now you have me 24/7. If you're upset or in danger or just need someone to try a new dish you've cooked or someone to rant to or someone to sit down and binge watch a show with you so you can have someone to rant about it with, I'm your man. And as long as I'm not out there fighting someone or Sam doesn't need me for something just as important, I'm instantly available. No more coordinating with Jake and balancing with distance. I'm there and I move fast, so it doesn't matter where you are, I'm now with you." His hands moved awkwardly through the air, his words earnest.

Someone to be by my side... No matter what day or time or distance... Well, within reason.

"Wow," Y/n whispered. "That's a lot of work for you." Suddenly her heart was racing again. "I'm really hyper once you get to know me. I never stop talking. I'll bug you constantly, I really will-"

"Good," Paul interrupted. Both of them were getting excited. They were even closer now, as close two people can be without having to cross their eyes to see each other. "Any reason to be around you as often as possible. I'll take it."

Y/n licked her lips. "I know I said that I have a lot going on... but you're really pretty and very close and I kind of really want to kiss you."

Paul laughed. "Thank god." The hand that was on her face earlier moved to cup her cheek, the other hand gripping her waist. It started hesitant and soft but the second their lips touched, the kiss grew hard and his grip became rough and desperate. He pulled her to him and she was knocked breathless. Her fingers wrapped around the back of his neck, slipping up to lightly grip the short strand of his hair. The kiss broke to allow him to gasp, sucking air in sharply with rhythm to the light tugs.

"Holy shit." They finally parted, giddy smiles on their faces and a shared sort of lightness in their bodies. "Do that again."

Paul grinned. "How about for now-" Y/n popped up on her tiptoes, quickly pressing her lips to his again. He jerked forward, deepening the kiss instantly. He grunted, pushing her back for a second, blinking to clear his mind. "I want to do that. A lot. But uh-" he inhaled deeply and then exhaled again, trying to stabilize himself. "You make me very nervous and I'm super not used to that. How about some food?"

Y/n's smile was soft and sweet and warm and beautiful. She'd loved hearing about imprints and kind of had wanted Embry to imprint on her. When he hadn't, she'd moved on from the idea and been perfectly fine with just chilling instead. But now... she was kind of overexcited at the prospect of being handed someone she knew would be good for her.

They were both excited about it.

The most fun would be learning WHY they were good together, though.

And they were excited for that too.

-

Forever Tag List: @bitchyseawitch @alexa-playafricabytoto @chipster-21 @captainxmikaelson @justanotherdaydreamersoul

[evabellasworld]

Written in the Stars

For @thecl0wnwars, this is my gift for you as past of the @starwarssecretsanta event. Thank you to @lilhawkeye3 for organising this event. I really enjoyed it so far.

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Summary: Bly and Aayla were stargazing after a brutal battle while longing for the war to end

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Laying on top of the soft, emerald grass, Bly rested his head on top of his arms and focused on the night sky, which was encrusted with sparkling stars and an illuminating sapphire moon.

Two, four, six, eight, he muttered to himself, pointing his finger slightly towards the horizon. The clone commander of the 327th Battalion wondered the exact number of stars that he's gazing at this moment.

With only the crickets chirping in his surroundings and the rest of his men asleep in their tents, Bly thanked the Maker that he gets to spend his alone time counting all the stars in the sky, since he hardly had the privilege to do so.

Though he wished that his Jedi General was laying beside him, instead of resting after a long day at the battlefield, with bodies of his dead brothers and sisters laying cold on the ground and an orchestra of blasters and explosions deafening Bly, who was an unwilling actor in this play, along with his troops.

It was his duty to fight for freedom and justice so that one day, the people of the Galactic Republic will live in peace and prosperity. And yet, Bly finds himself doubting whether the war was worth the lives that were lost during the brutal battle.

Moments ago, Aayla was leading him and his troops to fight against the Separatist invasion on Reza, which was a planet known for exporting corn. The prairie land, with a barren grassland and a small town nearby, was engulfed in flames along with the sea of cornfields.

With the screams of the civilians that were caught in between, Bly could never forgive himself for watching as a child got shot by the battle droids and not being able to save him from the Grim Reaper.

But Aayla, on the other hand, had it worse. As a Jedi, she not only sensed their emotion but absorbed the pain that the villagers had to suffer. It got to the point that a fellow Jedi Knight, Eva Bella Young, suffered a seizure from the intense emotion.

He pines as he glanced at the mesmerizing painting that the Maker has blessed him in the sky. He has travelled from planet to planet and yet, he took the beauty of the universe for granted. 

Growing up in Kamino, the only thing that Bly was taught was to fight until you die. Nothing more, nothing less. It wasn't until he was assigned to Aayla that he learned to appreciate everything before it was gone forever in his life. His brothers, his sisters, his best friends, and Aayla.

Like the blue moon, he finds her attractive. With blue skin and luscious lips, Bly was struck by her looks, and his feeling for her was more intense when he saw how she treated his brothers and sisters, especially Ahri.

Whenever Bly wanted to speak to Aayla alone, his vod’ika, Ahri, would always be asking her stupid questions, like how to find a book in the library or how to strike a conversation with a woman she met at the bar.

He envies them for trying to steal her attention from time to time, but he knows that jealousy would do no good except poisoning his own heart. He knows that having a sense of entitlement is not the way to have around a woman like Aayla. But yet, he watches most romance movies that his batchmate, Ares recommended to him and he noticed that the characters were constantly pining for each other’s love, ignoring the people around them.

He thought those couples in the movies were selfish and had little chemistry with each other. From what Odd Eye told him, relationships take years to build and seconds to crumble. The thought of losing Aayla in the war scares him as if he has enough of seeing his own troops dying and suffering in pain.

“Bly?” he heard a familiar voice calling him. “Are you alright?” 

The commander turned around and saw Aayla standing behind him, her Jedi robes wrapped with her cloak. Bly glanced at her with awe as her beauty shone underneath the blue moon. Her eyes sparkled as her gentle smile warms his heart, making him unsure of his words towards her. “Can’t sleep?”

“Not really,” she answered honestly as she sat beside him, turning his cheeks deep red. “I’ve been thinking about the battle today. It was horrifying to see the villagers suffer in the middle of the battle.”

“Yeah, it was awful,” Bly let out a sorrowful sigh. “They don’t deserve to be caught in the middle of the battle.”

“Unfortunately, that is the cost of the war. It’s always the good ones that had to die first, and all because we want peace in the galaxy.”

Bly hates to agree with that statement that Aayla but she has a point, even if it hurts him personally. "People don't seem to understand what we have to go through, and yet, here we are."

"That is true, though people have a point about the war. All it does is take lives after lives until there are no more to take. Even the ones that survived aren't the same anymore."

That also rings true to him. Bly himself had gone through so many battles. Day by day, he wished that the Reaper would visit him instead of his brothers and sisters. He felt sick to the stomach whenever he had to list down every clone trooper who perished in his report. They may be engineered to kill droids but deep down, those men and women have feelings as well. All those wishes that they made within themselves, were never accomplished.

“Aayla,” he stuttered. “Do you ever wish that you could turn back time and save everyone you loved from dying?”

“Sometimes I do,” Aayla admitted. “I sometimes wished that I could save my friends from death, but in the end, there was nothing we could do except to mourn for them and move on with our lives. It’s not good if you often dwell with your own grief.”

“I see, but do you always blame yourself for watching them die without being able to do anything at all?”

Through the Force, the Twi’lek Jedi sensed turmoil within Bly. His questions about wanting to save his brothers and sisters alarmed her, though, not in a severe manner. She understood the weight he had to carry as the commander of the 327th Battalion. As a Jedi General and peacekeeper, she felt the same burden as well, even without training in leading an army. 

“Bly, if something is bothering you, you can always talk to me,” she assured him, brushing her hand with his, much to his surprise.

“I’m alright, general,” he cleared his throat and sat up straight, letting go of her soft palms. “It’s just….”

“You don’t have to say it if you don’t feel comfortable about it.”

“No, general,” he shook his head. “You’ve made a good point about moving on.”

Aayla shifted her gaze towards the sky, which were painted with the stars and galaxy by the Makers. She was thankful that she was wide awake in the gloomy night to see the wonders of the universe. With the war raging in the galaxy, Aayla felt like a youngling who was counting stars until she decided to go to bed.

She remembered a time when there was only peace in the galaxy. A time when the only thing she was sad was when an elderly Jedi Master became one with the Force. A time when children were running around in the hallways of the Jedi Temple instead of leading an army of soldiers. 

Aayla wonders if suffering and pain was worth it to achieve peace in the galaxy. She heard a million times that the war would end someday, but that someday doesn’t seem to come any faster as it goes on and on, claiming lives after lives. But for now, she just wants to enjoy the everlasting sight that is laying beside her, counting every star in the sky. “So, how many of them did you manage to count?”

“I’m sorry, what?” Bly asked, clueless. 

“The stars, silly,” she chuckled. “How many stars did you manage to count?”

The clone commander blushed, feeling like an idiot for not paying enough attention to her. “Well, I counted around a thousand stars in the sky.”

“Really?” her eyes widened. “That’s amazing. I’m impressed with your mathematics skills.”

“To be honest with you, Aayla, I was only guessing. I didn’t get to count past 20 stars, actually.”

“Well, it’s still impressive, though,” she shrugged. “At least it’s better than not counting at all.”

Bly beamed, tightening his lips. “H-hey Aayla, can I ask you something?”

“Of course, Bly. What is it that you want to ask me about?”

“What kind of advice would you give yourself if you could go back to the past?” he wondered, glancing deeply at her eyes. 

“Well, that is a good question,” she said, moving her eyelids upwards, thinking what kind of answer would she give to him. “My only advice to my younger self is to not be overly attached with everyone you loved, as it is unhealthy and it leads to obsession.”

He nodded at her statement. “Did you have an unhealthy attachment with someone before?”

“I used to have intense emotion with my friend Kit, but he doesn't feel the same way for me. So I had to let him go and respect his feelings towards me.”

Bly couldn't help seeing green whenever he saw Aayla and Kit Fisto interacting with each other. Then again, he also felt the same way when Ahri stole her attention away from him. He knows that he doesn't own Aayla, but he felt that he should stop being jealous towards everyone who talks to her, especially his vod'ika, Ahri.

“Are you and Kit still friends?”

“We are,” she nodded. “He is my best friend and I won’t have it any other way.”

“That’s good to hear,” he gleamed. “It’s no good getting your lustrous feelings in the way of friendship anyways. Imagine what it does to your friendship with Kit.”

“Yes, there would be horrible consequences,” she answered, taking a deep breath of the fresh air in her surroundings. “Has that ever happened to you before, Bly?”

He has to be completely honest with Aayla, especially when it comes to his feelings towards and resentment towards Ahri. “My sister and I have been close with each other since the Battle of Geonosis. And then one day, when we were assigned to one of the most beautiful Jedi General, who is also smart and cautious during wartime.”

Aayla could only blush as she knew what Bly was telling her, and who is the particular person that he was referring to.

“And guess what, my feelings towards the general grew as we fought with each other, side-by-side, and we even began to understand each other as well. So imagine my surprise when I found out that my sister also has feelings for the general as well. I didn’t take it well and I ended up lashing out at her.”

He paused for a moment, before he decided to continue his story towards her. “She ended up crying and retreated to her quarters. I felt terrible. She was my closest sister in the 327th Battalion and I made her cry. I guess envy and possessiveness has grown inside my heart without realizing it, but that doesn’t excuse my behaviour towards her.”

“Later, I knocked on her barrack and I apologize for making her feel this way. She forgave me, but I still felt bad for making her miserable, so we talked and talked for hours, and we strengthened our friendship, without letting our pride and ego get in the way.”

Aayla looked at him in a proud manner, placing her hand on his shoulder. “I’m glad that you and Ahri worked on the issue between the both of you. Bly, I understand that you love me very much but sometimes, we can’t be too attached to each other. Otherwise, our relationship would lead to obsession, which is unhealthy for the both of us.”

“I know, Aayla, and I’m ashamed for thinking this way,” he frowned, avoiding her glance. “I just wished that we’re both allowed to be open about our love towards each other. I’m just sick and tired of keeping this a secret.”

“I know,” she caressed his face as she leaned her forehead onto his. “But as long as we have each other, then you have nothing to worry about.”

Bly wrapped his arms around her waist as he felt his heart pounding gently, his eyes closed. Their love may be forbidden and scandalous towards everyone, but he and Aayla surrendered their fate to the Maker of the galaxy. After all, their love story is written in the stars for their children and their grandchildren to read someday.

[thatbloodymuggle]

the one with the cheeto puffs

Tongue Tied (jj maybank) 2/?

masterlist

word count: 2.6k

warnings: cursing, drug use, mentions of death

read it on wattpad

playlist

-

If there's one thing you should know about Rosie, it's that she hates crying.

It made her feel weak. And she hated feeling weak. She especially refused to cry in front of others. Because once you've seen someone break down, it changes your view of them—intentional or not.

The last time she'd cried in front of her friends was in the 8th grade. JJ had shoved her off a boat and she cut her arm open on the blade of the motor. Granted, Rosie did cry February 14th as the life slowly left her mother's eyes. But she was alone then. And ever since, Rosie had come up with a routine to avoid crying at the thought of her loss.

When she felt her eyes beginning to water and her throat tightening, Rosie would pick up her least favorite book (one she'd stolen from a library a long time ago), Twilight. She'd divert her mind to Bella Swan's stupid life until she couldn't remember what she was upset about in the first place.

So it was no surprise when Rosie scrambled for the cursed book upon entering the house she hadn't been inside since the day her mother passed. She wasn't sure what had triggered it specifically: the dying vegetable garden her mom had worked so hard on, her mother's forgotten glasses on the kitchen counter, or just the overall feeling that something was missing. But sure enough, Rosie snatched the stolen book and flipped to a random page.

"Your scent is like a drug to me, like my own personal brand of heroin."

Rosie turned her nose up at the line.

"At least he's hot," she grumbled to herself.

The 17-year-old flipped mindlessly through a few more pages until she couldn't take it anymore. She thoughtfully placed the book in the front room of the small house, in case she'd need it again soon.

The four-room house felt odd. Rosie felt as if she didn't belong, despite having lived in it for nine years. She knew she would have to box up and clear out her mother's things at some point, but the thought weighed her down and made her long for her book again.

Rosie pushed the uneasiness to the back of her mind and set to finish her unpacking.

Before she knew it, it was already 8:00 PM and her stomach was rumbling. She'd have to go out and get groceries tomorrow, but until then she'd snack on something at John B's. The teenager quickly put a swimsuit on underneath her outfit and set out for the Chateau again.

The 3-minute drive was quick, and Rosie was glad to be out of the suffocating house. She pulled the Mini-Cooper into the familiar gravel driveway for the second time that day and killed the engine. Rosie skipped up to the front door and swung it open, not bothering to knock. She frowned at the empty room before her.

"Hello? Anybody home?" she called out.

Silence.

Rosie huffed and walked back out to the porch. She squinted her eyes into the distance, trying to catch sight of her missing friends.

"JB? Kie? Pope?" she paused, before adding, "JJ?"

Her yells echoed and she was met with a few moments of silence before a voice replied.

"Do you have to be so fucking loud?"

Rosie's head shot towards the source of the noise. Lo and behold, there sat JJ in the back of John B's van with the side door wide open. His arms draped along the back of the seats, and his legs were in a complete man-spread. He held up a silver lighter to the joint between his lips.

"Where'd everyone else go?" Rosie rolled her eyes and strode towards the van.

JJ shrugged, "Dunno. One minute I'm napping, the next they all leave me. Shitheads," he grumbled, discarding the lighter and taking a deep drag.

"Well, I'm starving. Gonna go make myself something to eat," she began to walk back towards the house but was stopped again.

"Unless you want a ketchup-on-moldy-bread sandwich, you're not finding anything in there," JJ watched in amusement as she huffed and kicked a rock in frustration. "The best thing you're gonna find is in here," he held his joint in his right hand a pulled a bag of Cheetos Puffs out from underneath his seat with his left. Rosie nearly ran forwards, but was stopped in her tracks.

"Ah ah ah," JJ pulled the bag out of her reach with an infuriating grin, "I can share but you have to be nice."

The girl cocked an eyebrow at him, "Can't make any promises, but I'll try."

Rosie didn't wait for his reply. She hopped into the van, slumped in the seat beside him, and ripped open the bag of chips. She didn't hesitate to shove a handful of the cheesy goodness into her mouth, moaning at the taste.

"Ay, keep your Cheeto dust off me," JJ made a show of wiping the crumbs that had fallen onto his lap.

Rosie ignored his protests and sucked the orange dust off her fingertips.

"Puff for a drag?"

JJ held up his joint to Rosie's lips while simultaneously snagging a couple of Cheeto puffs from the bag in her lap. She took a deep drag and nodded to signal she'd gotten enough, cueing him to pull his hand back.

Rosie began to cough violently at the tickling sensation in the back of her throat. Her eyes watered and she struggled to catch her breath.

"Gone for four months and it's like you've never smoked before," JJ smirked at the struggling girl, "thought you could handle yourself, Connolly."

"Shut up, I'm out of practice," Rosie croaked, forcing herself to settle down. "Here. Hit me," she sat crisscrossed and turned to face him.

JJ gave her a 'whatever you say' shrug and took another drag from the joint. He deeply inhaled, making a show of taking as much as he could. He turned to face Rosie with mischievous eyes. He leaned towards her and blew out the smoke. She leaned in, just inches away from his face, and inhaled the smoke emitting from his mouth. Rosie forced herself to take it all. The pair of teenagers were nose to nose.

A now foggy-minded JJ leaned back into his seat. Rosie held in his second-hand smoke for a moment. She formed her lips into a tight 'O' and blew it out in rings.

"Ay, she still has it," JJ laughed in a very dazed manner. Rosie couldn't help but giggle, the familiar foggy feeling taking over her as well. She slumped back into her seat beside him and rolled her head back.

"Told you 'M just out of practice," Rosie mumbled with a dopey grin.

JJ grated on her nerves 85% of the time, but she genuinely enjoyed moments like these. She liked not having to think every once in a while. It was refreshing. Sometimes (maybe more often than she should), she just wanted an escape. JJ was the only one of her friends who never questioned her motives. Rosie and JJ had an unspoken rule. If one was rolling a joint, the other always joined; no questions asked. I mean, two potheads are better than one. Right?

The pair of teenagers watched with hooded eyes as the smoke drifted from inside the van to the starry sky above. Rosie subconsciously let her head fall onto JJ's shoulder, who barely noticed. He was too busy focusing on how he could literally feel his toes tingling. They sat in relative silence for who knows how long, munching on Cheeto Puffs and running the joint out.

But too soon, they were pulled out of their comfortable silence.

"JJ, you better not be crossed. We could smell your weed from, like, a mile back," John B's voice penetrated the night air.

Rosie and JJ lazily turned their eyes to John B, Pope, and Kiara who were now standing outside the van. John B and Pope laughed at the sight of the two stoned teenagers.

"We've made the discovery of the century," JJ laughed with a lopsided grin, "Cheeto Puffs and kush are just a.. an...," his voice wandered, "they're an immaculate combination."

Rosie burst out in a fit of laughter, nearly rolling off of JJ who was quick the join in. Their three friends stared at them incredulously, but couldn't resist joining in their laughter.

"Why do you two idiots only get along when you're high?" Pope laughed, climbing into the backseat with them. Kie took the passenger seat while John B situated himself behind the wheel. He revved the engine and Rosie bounced in excitement.

"Oooh, Johnny where are you taking us?" she giggled. Suddenly, her face switched from dazed to serious. She grabbed JJ's bicep and turned him towards her so they locked eyes, "Oh my god, JJ! He's kidnapping us! He's gonna take us to the cops!"

The blond mimicked her concern and threw his arms in the air, "Stop the damn car, JB. We're not going anywhere with you!"

"Would you two shut up? We're going cliff diving, remember? And if you two don't sober up in the next ten minutes, you're gonna be watching us have fun from the top," Kiara laughed.

"Oh sorry, Kie! We'll be quiet now. Quiet as mouses—mices—mice—which one is it? Shit, JJ, I forgot which one," Rosie whispered to the boy next to her who merely covered her mouth with his hand and leaned back in his seat.

Pope dug out two water bottles from a cooler and handed them to the stoned teenagers. "Drink these."

Rosie fumbled around with the cap but did as he said. The next ten or so minutes were filled with mindless chatter between Kie, John B, and Pope while JJ and Rosie downed their waters.

"All right," John B pulled the van into an empty clearing about a hundred feet away from the edge of the cliff, "we're here."

The Pogues all piled out of the car, but JJ and Rosie were stopped by Kie.

"Not just yet, you two. You're not about to drop down 30 feet if you're not in your right minds."

The two began to protest, but she shut them up again.

"Follow my finger," she moved a finger from side to side, watching their bloodshot eyes struggle to keep up.

"You need more water. And ibuprofen. Here," she dug through her bag and pulled out a bottle of the painkillers. "Take two each," she shoved the pills in their hands and pulled out two more bottles of water. "And drink these. If you're better by the time we get back, we'll let you come with us second round."

She pushed her friends back inside the van and shut the door behind them. Rosie whined in protest, but her cries were ignored. She slumped back into her seat next to JJ and set to work downing her second water bottle instead.

JJ and Rosie sat in silence for a few minutes, sipping on their waters and listening to the muffled screams of their friends. The silence was broken, however, once Rosie had drinken about ¾ of the bottle.

"JJ, I need to pee so bad," she slapped his arm.

"No one's stopping you," he grumbled, nudging the girl off. He seemed to have almost completely come down from his high. Rosie, on the other hand, was only about halfway there.

"I need help," she cried.

JJ scoffed, "Fuck that, I'm not helping you pee. Do I look your bitch?"

"Please," Rosie drew out, tugging on his shirt. "Just help me get behind a tree. If I go alone I'm gonna get lost and then it'll be your fault for not helping me."

The boy groaned but reluctantly slid the door open. He grabbed her wrist and yanked her towards the wooded area a few yards away. Rosie struggled to keep up with his quick steps and ran into him when he came to an abrupt stop in front of a crowd of bushes.

"Make it quick," he let go of her and leaned against a nearby tree.

Rosie carefully made her way behind the covering, careful not to trip over any roots. She struggled to do her business and took much longer than necessary, much to JJ's displeasure.

"Finally," he sighed as she approached him. "Come on, I'm not missing the second round."

He led them back to the clearing. Just as they were about to exit the woody area, a devious smile creeped onto JJ's lips.

It all happened in slow motion. First, he stuck out his leg in front of Rosie. Then, Rosie shrieked as she tripped over it. Next thing she knew, she was lying face first in a pool of mud. JJ's booming laughter filled the area. Rosie pulled herself up in shock and wiped the mud from her face. Then, rage took over.

"What the fuck, you asshole!?" Rosie let out an ear-splitting scream.

At least she'd finally come down from her high.

JJ's laughter heightened, but was abruptly stopped once Rosie yanked his leg, causing him to slip and join her in the mud pile.

Now it was Rosie's turn to laugh, "You're a colossal idiot," she began to pull herself out of the mud, only to be pulled back down again.

Cue JJ's laughter, "Worth it."

And so they continued. Pulling each other down, back and forth in an endless cycle of wet mud and screams. They would've continued for hours if their friends hadn't shown up.

"What the hell?"

Kie, John B, and Pope started incredulously at the two idiots for the second time that night.

"She started it," JJ shoved Rosie's face down and jumped out of the mud.

"Liar!"

"Bitch"

"Well looks like you two are back to bickering again which can only mean you're sober. Good enough for me," Kie laughed and helped Rosie out of the mud. "Come on, let's go jump. The first round was amazing. The water was so warm."

The group of Pogues ran to the edge of the cliff. Rosie peered down at the soft waves below and grinned. She didn't hesitate to strip herself of her muddy clothing until she was only in a swimsuit. The five friends stood in a horizontal line and linked hands. Pope next to Kiara next to JJ next to John B next to Rosie. They braced themselves from the drop. John B began a countdown to jump.

"3... 2..."

"Here's to the best summer ever!" Kie cried.

"...1!"

The teenagers took off in sync. A chorus of cheerful screams filled the night air. The exhilaration was like no other as they crashed through the water and were submerged. The group of friends floated back up to the surface and swam to shore with adrenaline coursing through their veins.

Rosie couldn't wipe the smile off her face. This was her home. Doing stupid shit with her friends was her home. The Outer Banks was her home.

And she just knew Kie was right—this would be the best summer ever.

-

taglist:

@tangledinsparkles​

-

and there's part 2! 

feel free to message/pm me if you’d like to be added to the taglist

enjoy :)

[avaria-revallier]

Chapter 3: Of silver bells and painfull memories

They left quietly at first sunlight.

None of the dwarves dared to wake the hobbit. They all heard the scrubbing sounds coming from the kitchen till past midnight. Not one muttered curse nor angry looks were casted in the dwarves direction. Even thought Kìli and Fìli as well as Ori offered their help. The cleaning lass just shook her head. She gently pushed them outside and into the living room, ordering them to rest as they would need it.

Bombur remembered quite clearly the nervous flutter in his stomach when Fìli told him to go and see Bella. He found her sorting through some herbs.

"Would you be so kind and take these with you?" she pointed on a small sample of spices.

It sounded like a request, well it was one. On the other hand Bombur had witnessed the whole company flinching just earlier that evening -for the second time- as she was turning around after the fire, her cheeks darkened with coal. Bella also allowed him to take what was left from her pantry. As well as everything he would see of help to the company. He had put away most of the herbs and sat with the other dwarves in the living room when she entered again, carrying a large tablet full of cold snacks.

"I guess some of you might still like a small snack before going to bed." she smiled shy on her way out, avoiding the eyes of the company.

Nobody except Bombur saw her taking the contract and tucking it safely under her blouse.

Bombur wouldn't judge the lass for not coming along. He, as well as the other dwarves had a chance to observe the hobbits living in the Shire. They were all but friendly and kind. No weapons to be seen, blunt knives only used to chop food. No gold, silver or other fine jewellery on the market. Mainly food and simple clothes. Bombur could understand the hobbit. He as well wouldn't want to leave such a great home for a dangerous journey with an uncertain outcome. If he could he would have stayed in this peaceful corner of the world a little longer. He looked back. The Shire was lying still in the soft light of the morning. The hobbit would wake alone. They didn't even leave a note. Maybe it was better this way. The wild was no place for gentle folk like her.

"Bombur, keep up!" They all stopped for a moment as if they were waiting. The dwarven king was the first one to turn around and make for Bree.

Bella woke alone. It is quiet in her smial, even when she calls out for her dwarves no answer is provided. She looks around her living room. Everything seems to be at its designated place. The kitchen is clean. No sign that there where thirteen dwarves in her home. Only the empty pantry and the contract in her pocket are proof for the events of the last evening. She looks down on the contract in her hands.

'What if Gandalf wouldn't make it in time to save them from the trolls? What if Thorin won't give in in the woodland realm -as if!- What if...' While she thinks of all the horrible possibilities her feat had already taken her into her own room. Excitement grows in her heart as she pulls out her mothers old backpack, sleeping bag and bed roll. Hastily she takes some trousers, undergarments and her fathers old pocket knife out of the closet and places them next to the contract. Soap and other small necessities where thrown on the pile. She rushes to the pantry on the far end of the left wing where she usually stores her winter rations and takes a good arm full. She would need it on the first few weeks. She remembers clearly her always rumbling stomach in her last life. Her mind knows that she would have to do with three meals a day instead of the seven or eight she is used to. She would have to start her swordtraining all over, she realises. Her mind might remember clearly, but her body wouldn't. A small sight escapes her mouth as she thinks of all the pain it would bring her and her muscles.

All packed and ready to leave she looks around one last time. She would miss Bag End, no doubt, but she was truly happy to go on an adventure once more. With a bright smile she steps out of her door. The sun was already up for quite a while. She hurries down the steps and over to her good friend Primula and her husband Drogo. They agreed to watch over her when her parents passed away. As Bella wasn't of age she would likely have to ask for permission. She was not the kind of girl to just run off without a word, well at least not in this life. She slips the thick envelope with the key to Bag End and a letter of farewell into their post box. Within was a smaller envelop for her grandfather and one for her trusted gardener Mr. Gamgee. Her grandfather would be furious to hear that she left.

With watery eyes she makes her way down the hill, through the familiar neighbourhood. At some point she starts running, away from the road and over the farmland, through gardens and over fences. Her heart happily beating to the drumming of her footstepps. It was freeing and finally a happy laughter escapes her chest. She runs all the way till she can see the company between the trees.

"Wait! ... Wait for me!" she huffs.

She stops near Balins pony to take a deep breath.

"Here, I signed it." she takes the contract out of her pocket and hands it shakily over to him.

Nervous she glances at the other dwarves. Fìli was nodding and nudges his brother to hide his wide grin. The Ri brothers where looking at her slightly relieved, as she would be the one to enter the mountain and face the dragon instead of Nori. Dwalin looked annoyed down at her. Her heart dropped for a second there. It has always been hard for her to read the big warrior, but she could imagine him to be happy even if he wouldn't show. Bofur grinned at her openly and she couldn't hide her own grin seeing him. Bombur was delighted to see her and smiles hearty at her. Bifur made a few signs in her direction when she met his gaze. The only one she could decipher was something like 'welcome'. It had been some time for her to actually communicate in their ancient language. She only tilted her head with a small grin on her lips. She wouldn't want to scare them by replying to him with a thanks. Thorin was the last one she looked at. He reacted just as she remembered, frowning. She gifted him a sweet smile as she would to Lobelia and turns back to Balin. The white dwarf studied the contract a moment longer before declaring it as right.

"Get the halfling a pony." Thorin grunted.

He wasn't sure why he's so annoyed by the smile she gave him. It felt not right. Somehow it bothered him to see her so openly smile at Bofur and his sister-sons while she gave him a political smile. He clenches his jaw, stubborn looking ahead.

"I am half of nothing!" the angry voice of the hobbit lets him turn around. He had to control his body not to flinch at her angry tone. He himself wasn't sure why, but seeing her angry made him feel guilty. When he sees the slight hint of being hurt in her eyes a cold hand seems to grab his heart. His mouth is suddenly too dry to speak. Thorin would like nothing better than for her to smile all day, to be happy and safe.

'You could let her ride with you. She would be safest with you, near you' a small voice whispers in the back of his brain. He is tempted to give in to this voice. Before he could do something he would regret later 'As if!', she continues angrily.

"Don't give me that look, Thorin Oakenshield! You got lost! In Hobbiton! All ways are marked and everything has signs!" she hisses at him. Her hands on her hips she stares up to him, challenging.

For a moment he is stunned. Only few people would talk to him in this manner.

She stares at him, angrily, one foot tapping. Before she or Thorin could say any more Kili and Fili gently grab her by the elbows and lift her onto a pony. She glares at them halfheartedly. She could never be angry at them for a very long time. They meant well and she knew.

A coin purse flew past her head and lands safely in Kilis hands. She lifts one brow, asking: “You took wages on me?”

“I knew that you would come with us!” The dark haired dwarf swiftly escapes her question by smiling brightly.

Bella fills the time chatting with the company. Gloin was more than delighted to tell her everything about his son Gimli. She heard a lot about him in her last life. He was a good friend to Frodo and even friends with an elf.

Somewhere in the middle of Gloins extended story of how Gimli threw his first axe, Bofur groans displeased.

“Mistress Baggins… Tell him to stop! I can’t take any more!” With his hands he covers his ears.

Gloin, disbelief written all over his face, opens his mouth to respond to his friend but is interrupted by an apple flying in his direction. Bombur was the one to throw it and continues to give out their lunch, ignoring Gloins muttered curse and Bofurs thanks. Watching them a warm tingly feeling begins to grow in Bellas stomach.

Gently she nudges her pony to go a bit faster and sets herself next to Gloin.

“I would be more than delighted to take first watch with you, master Gloin. I am happy to hear a bit more about your son.” She inquired.

The proud dwarf immediately straightens his back and seems to grow a few inches.

“It would be my pleasure, Mistress Baggins.” He responds enthusiastic.

Bella slows her pony again to fall back to the back of their group.

Ori was writing in a leather bound book, all by himself. To Bella he looked quite focused, so he took her by surprise when he glanced up to meet her curious look.

“I didn’t mean to stare, I am just a bit curious. What are you writing there, Master Ori?” Bella tilts her head.

The young dwarf blushes lightly and lowers his head, looking at the written pages in his hands. Careful he closes the book and tucks it safely into his coat. Ori fiddles with the buttons on his shirt as he glances to the hobbit only to take on a deeper red.

“I am- I am the scribe for this journey. I will write down the events and the p-progress on the road. We will need to keep track for later…” he mumbled.

“That is a really important role, right? May I ask you something, Master Ori?” again she tilts her head slightly, watching his reaction.

Ori, as Gloin before, straightens himself in the saddle and grins happily at her. He was always more than delighted to share his knowledge with others.

In her past life he had been the first one to tell her about dwarven manners and morals. He had also been the only one to tell her -flushed deep red- that asking Thorin to undo her hair was equal to invite him to sleep with her. She had somehow managed to tangle her hair into the buttons on the back of her blouse. Thorin was the nearest dwarf at that time and so she had asked him to lend a hand. He did, very gently for someone gruff as him without any kind of discomfort on her side. He said not a single word and the bigger part of the company watched them silently, only Fili and Kili snickering in the far back.

“Mistress Baggins?” the soft voice of Ori brought her back to the present. “You had a question for me?”

Bella blinked at him for a moment. The butterflies in her stomach settled and the memory faded. Unconsciously her fingers had wandered up again to brush over her lips. Slowly she puts her hand back down to rest on the warm neck of her pony. Interest sparked in Oris eyes, with a spymaster as a brother everyone would learn to pay attention to smaller details. Even though he didn’t dare to ask about her unusual behavior, he would just have to watch her a bit closer from now on.

“Ah, well you see, I – I never encountered dwarves before, so I am a bit lost. I don’t want to offend any of you by accident.” She hesitates a moment, looking around as if she was expecting someone to listen in on them. “Well, I would love to know more about your customs. Only if you are free to tell me… Obviously I would be answering any question of yours about hobbits if you are interested.”

Unsure how the young dwarf would react Bella plays with a loose strand of her auburn curls.

“Dwarrows.”

Her head jerks around. “What?”

“We prefer ‘dwarrows’ over ‘dwarves’.” He smiles at her.

Bellas face heats immediately. Eyes wide she clutches her hands, covering her mouth.

“Oh, oh my. Good gracious! I am terribly sorry! I- I am so ashamed, please do take my sincere apology, master Ori.” She had called them dwarves in her past life too, the entire time! This was more than shameful.

“No harm done.” The young one chuckles. “We didn’t know either, that ‘halfling’ is so insulting to your people. I say we are even.”

“That is a relief. Please do ask away, master Ori. I would be more than happy to answer your questions.”

They talked for a good while, taking turns in asking questions. Bella learned a few more things about her fellow dwarves – pardon, dwarrows – and confirmed some of her assumptions.

Ori was just about to teach her the difference between dwarven craftsmanship and the ‘poor quality of any other race who might try’.

“Belladonna Baggins! Get down from that great beast this instant!” the voice was piercing her ears, she would have recognised her anywhere.

“Lobelia, my dear. A wonderful day to you too. Isn’t the weather just lovely. Perfectly right for a small trip, don’t you think so too?” she smiled down at Lobelia as she did smile up to Thorin this morning.

Her knuckles turned white so hard was her grip on the reins of Myrtle. She wouldn’t let Lobelia have the satisfaction of her obeying like a little faunt.

“I always knew you would take after that hideous mother of yours! Up to no good. I can see you follow in her footstepps, going on with a whole harem of men, Belladonna.” Lobelia nearly spat her name as if it was some kind of insult.

“At least the Shire will once more be entirely peaceful. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, when you come back, pregnant with a bastard, crawling into the Shire and weigh down some respectable hobbit, just like your mother did.”

A growl climbed up in Thorins throat. Only Dwalins hand on his shoulder held him on his pony. Insulting the gentle hobbit lass was one thing, but also insulting her mother and the whole company in one breath on top, an entirely different.

Thorin had no doubt that she would climb down her pony to give that detestable woman on the sideway a pice of her mind.

She didn’t.

“You made your choices and I made mine. Just because you can’t live with yours doesn’t mean you should shame me for living with mine.” She turns around, nudging her pony and rides, head held high, past the stuttering, gasping woman and the stunned dwarrows.

There was a moment of silence. None of the dwarrows dared to move. They all were watching their burglar moving on. Bofur is the first one to break the silence.

“Loud that one.”

They moved one, behind them a distant cry: “In trousers!”

They stopped in Bree that evening. Bella had been silent for the most part of their travels. The others had been respectfully keeping their distance, giving her some space for herself.

Kili and Fili were the first to approach her after she left her room in the tavern.

“How about you come with us? We were planning on going shopping for a bit.”

She hadn’t imagined to meet Lobelia of all people on her departure. Well, no harm done as she isn’t going to come back any time soon.

She beamed up at the brothers.

“It would be my pleasure, I do actually have some shopping to do. You two would be a great help to me.”

And so they went on, visiting a smith to buy a stone to sharpen her pocket knife and a grocer for her to replenish her rations for the next days on the road, as well as a rather large bag of dried leafs neither of the brothers could identify.

“Do you happen to know a junk-shop? Fili here has a pretty good eye for things that can bring a fine price once repaired or polished.” Kili boasted about his older brother, proudly looking up to Fili.

Fili on the other hand blushed at the tip of his ears, scratching his neck and avoiding eye-contact.

“Oh my, I hadn’t noticed we had such a skilled handsome dwarf in our very middle.” She teased him.

Kili tries to hide his laughter by coughing, while his brother turned as red as Bellas winning tomatoes.

Each of them were rummaging through the shelves of the small junk-shop. Fili focused to find some hidden treasures und gems beneath all the junk that occupied most of the space. Kili was more interested in watching their newest member of the group carefully. The hobbit was searching the shelves, picking up this and that, nothing really seemed to catch her eye. Then she went stiff and Kili watched her more closely. A pair of silver bells had caught her attention. Gently, almost awestruck she touched them. Yanking her hand back almost immediately as if she had burned herself. A pained expression ruled her face and a shadow lowered itself over her eyes. Fast, almost running she made her way into the opposite direction.

Kili picks the bells up as soon as she left. They were nothing special, a small pair of silver bells, a bit beaten and bruised but still repairable. Shrugging he added the bells to his other findings. He would tell Fili later about what he had witnessed.

The ‘prancing pony’ was rather crowded on this particular evening. The company managed to get a table in one of the more secluded corners of the room. Dwalin’s the first one to spot the young princes and the hobbit lass. The dwarrows had the arms full with food and other bags, as well as the small lass, who looked like she would fall over every moment. He nudges Thorin to shift his attention to his nephews. The king frowns slightly at the sight of the packed trio.

“Do you think we can’t care for your wellbeing, burglar?” his voice is no more than a low rumble, even though they could hear him perfectly in the noisy room.

The lass opens her mouth, no doubt to give him a portion of her mind, but Fili lowers his head to whisper something in her ear, resembling in her staying silent.

Everybody is surprised, as Ori clears his throat.

“W-well, as I have learned today, hobbits eat s-seven meals a day. She told me, she would just need a f-few weeks to adjust her eating habits and I wouldn’t have to worry.” He mumbles, shyly looking down on the table.

“Seven?! By my beard, weren’t you starving laddie?” Balin questions the hobbit.

Bella was more than uncomfortable. Of course her stomach would choose this particular moment to rumble on like a great bear. She flushes crimson red to the very tips of her ears, attempting to hide her face behind the bags in her arms. Dwalin hops down from the bench, taking the bags without a comment and shoving them in Kilis arms.

“Come here lass, have some food while the lads bring your purchases to your room. We don’t want to alert anyone with that sound of your stomach.” With a swift motion he sweeps her off the ground and places her next to Thorin on the bench.

A large bowl of soup is placed before her, bread and some kind of drink. She starts eating under the watching eyes of the company.

“Care for another drink, small lady?” the faint smell of alcohol accompanies the lulling words.

Slowly she turns around.

The man behind her was the perfect example of a drunken idiot. Oily hair and bloody eyes. His friend had to stabilise him as he swayed forward.

“Oh, well thank you for your kind offer, sir. As you can see I am already in a very fine company. I have to politely decline your offer.” She didn’t even bother to smile at him.

“Don’t be shy. Come on little lady give us a smile. We promise you to be gentle.” He laughs at his own words.

Bella frowns, slightly cross. With her strong hand she adjusts her grip around her fathers pocket knife.

“You heard the lady. Scram.” Thorins words were more like a growl than anything else.

Without looking up he had his sword drawn and held it protective behind Bella and the drunkard.

She relaxes a bit as the two of them raise their hands and leave the tavern shortly after.

“Thank you, Master Oakenshield.” Ever so lightly she touches his -very damn muscular- arm, smiling at him.

Shortly after she returns to eating her meal, tucking away the knife. She didn’t notice the curious look of Nori, the spymaster of the group, neither the slightly red ears beneath the dark hair of the dwarven king.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Masterpost

[longsightmyth]

I agree, also Bella does a lot of dangerous actions after Edward break up with her. Like try to meet random adult men in a dark place when Jessica was with her (Jessica was scared about what could happen to them and stopped talking to Bella). And going to ER every week because of her hallucinations of Edward show up everytime she put herself in danger. Her parents ignored all these red flags.

This is going under a cut because It Got Long, Folks (surprise)

Bella’s parents are neglectful in the extreme. In Charlie’s case there appear to be reasons: he only spent time with her in the summers previously because Renee took Bella when she was an infant and hightailed it out for Forks because she hated Forks so much, Bella returned to all appearances a fully functional person who had apparently been in charge of the family finances, Charlie is probably afraid of going over boundaries that will make his daughter leave again, etc etc, but let me be clear: the fact that there are reasons does not mean it isn’t neglect. Bella is seventeen. She needs support. She needs care. Charlie may not understand what was going on down with Renee in Phoenix, but that doesn’t absolve him of of the responsibility of trying to spend time with his daughter.

“But Myth,” you may say, “Bella has made clear that she doesn’t want him to change his life to be with her more.”

So? He is not her boyfriend. He is her father. Whether or not he spends active time with Bella (which WOULD require her willingness), he could show more willingness to do so by, I don’t know, going grocery shopping with her or helping make dinner or staying at the house on the weekends whether or not Bella has homework or laundry or whatever. He could show more interest in the friends she’s spending time with. Was I annoyed by my parents asking about my friends and what we were up to? Sometimes, but it also showed me that they cared. I asked The Kidlet every day when I picked him up from school or afterschool activities ‘Anything fun happen today? Anything bad? Tell me about the boring stuff.’ This is how I convey to him that I care. 9/10 he’s like ‘nothing fun, nothing bad, literally just class’ but that 1/10 of the time he tells me about something that bothered him at school or a really cool musical he wants to try out for and then asks me questions about how people treat him or how people treat other people. (did I read parenting books when I became a nanny maybe) When I’m with The Kidlet over the weekend a lot of time we don’t do stuff together but I’m there in the house and we discuss dinner plans and whether or not he’s hanging out with friends.

And here’s the thing: He can do basically whatever he wants. I’m not going to stop him from hanging out with his friends. He’s a responsible kid who gets good grades, stands up for his friends, and is polite and hella driven. He can do whatever the fuck he wants. He knows, however, that he needs to tell me what time he’s leaving and what time he’s coming back, because otherwise I worry. Can the time change? Yes, but he needs to tell me about it. We’ve only had to have a discussion about that once, because all I needed to say was ‘If I don’t know where you are or when to look for you, I am worried because I want to know you are safe.’

Because he is a child under my care, and because I have worked very hard to let him know that I care, he talks to me about his life. The Kidlet is in no danger of ending up dating a vampire who wants to eat him because frankly I’d know about it the second he had a date or was just hanging out. “So and so made me feel weird because they said this” is a conversation we have had multiple times okay. 

Basically I’m saying: Charlie should have done better. He’s starting from a low point, admittedly, but let me reiterate that showing a kid you want to spend time with them and care about them is a pretty low bar to clear.

But of course, Renee put Bella in the position of feeling as if she, Bella, were the parent. At least Bella doesn’t have to be in charge of the money with Charlie, or make sure he runs basic errands. That should not be a position you put your child in. And Renee, upon getting remarried, didn’t seem to change any of the responsibilities given to Bella. Sure, Bella thinks Phil could take care of her mother, but it doesn’t appear that he has been. 

BUT.

In the case of Bella going to the ER every other weekend, Renee actually has some excuse: she isn’t in Forks. Charlie? ‘Oh she’s always been clumsy’ is not a reason to not worry if your child continues to end up in the ER or in dangerous situations. Moreover, this feeds into Bella’s dependence on Edward - only he admonishes her to be careful and not get hurt. Yes, he treats everything that happens to her as if it is her fault (which Bella implicitly accepts and feeds into herself, since many of these ‘accidents’ happen with the express purpose of being near death) but he still cares that it happens. Everyone else is like ‘oh Bella tripped again’. Even her dad, though anxious when she is nearly crushed by a car, is pretty easily put off. Her mother’s (admittedly understandable) hysterics are shut down easily, and Renee goes back to her new husband with no worries after one phone call. 

So yeah. The red flags. Bella has no adults in her life who are present (or care) enough to notice.

[jilyyall]

Animal Magnetism - Ch.1

Edward Cullen was not a normal teenager; of that I was certain. But knowing that did nothing to stop the pull I felt towards him. And if what he was saying was any indication, he felt some strange pull towards me, too. It was like we were magnets struggling against hope to stay apart. I only wondered what would happen when we inevitably collided.

Chapter 1. Shiny New Girl. Fanfiction.net / AO3 Intro/1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/

I sat up in bed and looked around my new-old room, the white comforter bunched up around my waist. Once upon a time, this had been my nursery. Of course the walls, painted a light lilac color, were dark in the dingy grey light streaming through the window. No surprise, it was raining outside.

I had been in this city for all of two days and already more rain had fallen than I had seen in my entire time down in Phoenix. Rain wasn't a bad thing in small, reasonable doses. But nonstop it was suffocating. I just had to remind myself to take deep breaths and everything would be fine. I closed my eyes and let the cool air fill my lungs before I forcefully blew it back out.

"Bella, honey, you have to come down soon or you'll be late for school!" Renee's voice drifted in through my locked bedroom door and I flopped back down against my pillow, and threw my arm over my eyes in an attempt to ignore her. "Bella, get up."

I forced a cough just loud enough for her to hear me through the door. "I'm not feeling too well. I think the climate here doesn't really agree with me. Maybe I should just move back to Phoenix. You and Dad are more than welcome to stay here, though."

Renee was silent for a moment and I could just imagine her guilty expression. She knew how I felt about this move and for the past few days, I had been playing heavily on her guilty conscience. It wasn't my normal go-to, but I figured if there was a chance it might work, then it was worth trying.

Suddenly, my door swung open – I guessed Charlie had a key to every door in this house laying around somewhere – and Renee was standing there, her expression no longer guilty; now she was annoyed.

"Get out of bed right now," Renee exclaimed, standing there in the doorway. I could feel my eyes widen in surprise as she yelled at me. "I have spent the past sixteen years of my life alone and I am just trying to fix some of my biggest mistakes. I am sorry that you had to leave your friends behind, but I am tired of doing everything by myself. The least you can do – really, honestly, the bare minimum – is get up and get dressed for school!"

I didn't think it was particularly fair of her to imply that she had been working alone all this time. She had my help, and we were always such a good team.

"I am happy that you and Dad are back together," I said in a very small voice. "But Forks? Why couldn't Dad move in with us? Mom, don't you miss the sun?"

God, I missed the sun.

"Bella, I am sorry that we had to uproot you from Phoenix, but your father has an established career here. He's the Police Chief, for God's sake! He couldn't just walk away from that and start over somewhere else. He needs to be here." Renee's voice softened as she spoke and tenderness filled her eyes as she sat on the edge of my bed. "And we need to be here with him. I'm sorry, honey, but you're going to school here."

"Maybe you need to be here with him, but I don't," I grumbled. Renee's face tightened and some of the tenderness left her as she guessed what my next statement would be. "Why can't I just stay with one of my friends? Madison already offered, and I'll come back for vacations…"

Renee stood from the bed, bringing my grumbling to an abrupt halt. The annoyance re-entered her expression. "If you aren't out of that bed and getting ready for school in five minutes, Isabella Swan, I swear you will regret it."

Less than an hour later, I found myself in the front seat of Renee's car, my arms crossed over my chest as I glared out at the school in front of me. I didn't understand why there were so many buildings when there were only a couple hundred students in attendance, all of whom seemed to be crowded under the awning right outside my window gawking at me.

"Oh, Bella, stop pouting," Renee pleaded, but I rolled my eyes and stepped out of the car without responding and slammed the door behind me as I hitched my bag more firmly over my shoulder and trudged through the rain towards the office, praying I wouldn't slip and fall.

I managed to reach the building without humiliating myself and, trying my hardest to ignore the curious looks I was getting from my new peers, pulled open the door to the office and walked up to the front desk. The receptionist, a portly woman with a stiff red bob was on the phone and signaled for me to wait a minute, so I stood there patiently, drumming my fingers on the desk in front of me. I looked around, trying to gain my bearings and immediately regretted it as I locked eyes with more than one curious student milling around under the cover of the large awning that extended from the office towards the small courtyard; I supposed if not for my arrival, it would have been your typical morning here.

I started to turn away in avoidance of all this unwanted attention, but something caught my eye and held my attention outside of the office. There were five… people – students, I guessed, though I would have thought that impossible were it not for the book bags each of them was carrying – standing in the far corner, closest to edge of the awning. They all stood out from the rest of students around them.

Their skin was pale, paler than anyone else's in this sunless hell-hole. They were all devastatingly beautiful and I let my eyes wander over each of them. The first one my gaze was drawn to was huge, a giant of a man. He looked more like a professional football player than a student. His curly hair was a dark brown. I'd never thought the word beautiful could possibly apply to a man so large and brawny, but he certainly was.

Standing next to him in a clearly possessive fashion was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Her thick blond hair cascaded down her shoulders, curling inward at the ends. She stood only an inch or so shorter than her football player counterpart. One word came to mind as I studied her: confidence. She was the type of woman who knew how gorgeous she was, and owned it.

Next was a tall blond-haired man. He was muscular, but nowhere near as built as the first guy, and taller. He looked like the most reserved of the group, eyes angled downward, sort of like he was nervous, but it seemed every muscle in his boy was tense, anticipating. Something about him just screamed danger, like at any given minute he may spring into action and lay waste to us all. He, of all his companions, seemed to want least to be here.

Next to him was a cute miniature person. Her hair was black as midnight, cropped short; it just reached her collarbone and spiked out in every direction. Out of all of them, she looked most comfortable standing there as she turned her head to speak to the blond boy, her lips moving so quickly I was sure I wouldn't have caught a word she'd said if I were standing right next to her. The boy she spoke to didn't even glance at her, but shook his head in response to whatever she said and I got the impression that he was rather bothered by her words. She watched him for a moment before turning to walk away from the group, her gait smooth and graceful and every bit the way a ballerina might move across a stage, until she suddenly froze, her gaze going blank as she stared ahead of her.

The blond boy moved quickly to her and placed a hand beneath her elbow to steer her back toward the group as the other couple continued to stare away from her, looking totally uninterested in whatever was going on with their friend. None of the other students milling around seemed to notice anything that these five were doing and they seemed to like it that way.

It seemed that whatever had happened was over already. Her lips were moving quickly again. None of her companions were looking at her, but I had the distinct impression they were all listening carefully. Confused, I turned to the fifth member of the strange group, surprised when my eyes met his dark ones. His bronze hair was disheveled, almost falling into his eyes, but it was too short to obscure them. He was tall and lanky, just barely taller than the blond boy, and much thinner, but it seemed to me that he was still very strong, just less obviously so than the other two boys. His tan sweater hugged his chest and biceps, straining just enough to hint at the musculature beneath. I forced my eyes back up to study his face more closely and was struck by the realization that he was absolutely stunning. All of the five were startlingly beautiful, but this boy's good looks far surpassed the rest. Even the perfect blond girl was less stunning than he.

Suddenly, I realized that the eyes of each and every one of them were on me and I blushed, and dropped my gaze to the floor as I turned quickly to look at the receptionist, who had just hung up the phone.

"Can I help you, dear?" she asked, looking at me expectantly. I cleared my throat, still embarrassed to be caught staring, and nodded.

"Yes. I'm new here. I just need to get my schedule," I said softly.

"Ah. You must be Isabella Swan," the receptionist said. She picked up a piece of paper on her desk and studied it briefly.

"Bella. Yes," I said, trying to reign in the flash of annoyance at the sound of my full name.

"Bella Swan," she corrected herself, holding the paper out to me. "Here you go. This is your class scheduled and a map of the school. You should be able to find your way around, but if you need help, I'm sure any of your peers would be thrilled to show you around. I hope you have a good first day here at Forks High."

I took the paper from her with a murmured thanks and a forced smile before I turned around. I immediately noticed that the mysterious group was still there, but only two of them were looking at me still: the beautiful boy with the bronze hair and the small, waif-like girl.

She looked apprehensive as she watched me push the door open and the boy looked frustrated, confused… and a bit pained. Though they looked casual, and all were staring off in different directions, I did notice that each of his companions had moved, surrounding him almost protectively. The two muscular boys were on either side of him, their backs to me, and the blond girl was standing directly in front of him, angled sideways with her shoulder almost touching his chest. Only the small pixie-like creature who was also watching me hadn't moved from where she stood behind him. It almost looked like they were blocking him in, not protecting him, I realized. Protecting everyone else? From him? But that didn't make any sense. He was just a boy. What could he possibly do?

I furrowed my eyebrows and forced myself to look away and almost ran right into an eager-looking boy with blond, spiky hair who was grinning down at me.

"Oh… hi," I said, wondering why this boy was standing so near me.

"I'm Mike Newton. Are you new here?" he asked, sticking his hand in the limited space between our bodies as if for a handshake.

"Yes," I said tersely, and just barely managed to avoid rolling my eyes. Of course I was new here. There were maybe four hundred students here across all four grades. Everyone probably already knew each other and, if they weren't personal acquaintances they had to at least know of each other. "I'm Bella."

As reluctant as I was to make a place for myself here, I couldn't bring myself to be outright mean to anyone. I sighed and looked down at my schedule. English with Mr. Mason in building three. At least I wasn't starting out with a terrible class.

"Can I help you find your first class?" Mike offered.

I stared at him for half a second, tempted to refuse – something in his eagerness made me uneasy and even if I wasn't after making friends here, I had a feeling I wouldn't want to encourage him. I did not, however, feel much like wandering, lost, in search of building three. It wasn't a large school – nothing here was large except for the expansive forest and water on either edge of town – and I could read a map as well as the average person, but it seemed overall easier to accept this one small offer of assistance.

"Sure," I said, making myself smile at him, a quick upward turn of my lips before I handed him my schedule. "Thanks."

"No problem!" My new companion said cheerfully, taking the paper from me. "Okay, so building three is over this way!"

Frowning, I tried to listen to him as he rambled endlessly, but I couldn't concentrate, frustrated as I was with myself. How was it that I had managed to get myself stuck with a guy who was basically an over-eager puppy dog leading me through the gloom of drizzle and soaking grass. Something told me I wasn't going to find it very easy to avoid him as he turned his head to beam at me, still speaking, telling me about his own schedule. We had Government, Biology II, and Gym together, apparently.

"I could swing by after American History," Mike offered as he opened the door to a building with a large numeric three painted in the corner. "Walk you to Government so you don't get lost."

"Oh, that's okay. I think I can find it. You don't need to go to the trouble," I said, but his smile never faltered as he stopped in front of a classroom. Looking past him, I saw that the room number matched what was on my schedule, and the walls were plastered with literary quotes. It eased my worries, the familiarity of it all. Even here in small town, middle of rainy nowhere, an English class was still an English class.

"No worries!" Mike said, already backing away. I realized he was probably going to be late to his own class if he didn't hurry, else he likely would have stuck around. "I'll meet you outside."

Before I could speak again, tell him I really didn't think it was necessary, he turned and moved through the light trickle of students who hadn't yet made it to class. I huffed out a breath and walked into class just as the second bell rang. Every single eye turned to me, then, all twelve – could classes here really be that small? – students, and the teacher.

"You must be Isabella," said the teacher, a tall, thin man with a rapidly receding hairline. The nameplate on his desk identified him as Mr. Mason.

"Bella," I said softly, but nodded. He handed me a class syllabus, and smiled at me, trying to make me feel comfortable, probably, but I could see the curiosity in his gaze. Here I was Chief Swan's mysterious daughter, not just any new student. Although, I couldn't imagine Forks High regularly saw many new students.

When he ushered me to an empty desk in the back of the class without making me introduce myself, I felt the knot of anxiety, heavy in the pit of my stomach, loosen exponentially. Safe for an hour.

I studied the syllabus as Mr. Mason called the class's attention to him and started to recap the last lesson: Bronte, Shakespeare, Faulkner, Chaucer… I had already read some of the titles listed and didn't see anything I wasn't already familiar with, at least on a basic level. The knot loosened a bit more. Maybe… just maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

When the bell rang and everyone began gathering their books, I took my time, flattening my slightly rumpled class schedule and comparing it to the small, blurry school map I hadn't had much time to study. Mike said he would meet me outside, but I didn't want to rely on anyone overmuch. I walked slowly to the door, trailing behind the last couple of students.

"You're Isabella, right? Chief Swan's daughter?"

Looking up, I saw yet another helpful face, and almost grimaced. Two boys trying to help the poor distressed damsel in one hour? Maybe everyone here was just that friendly, I thought doubtfully.

"Bella," I corrected.

"Bella," he repeated, almost obediently. "I'm Eric. Eric Yorkie. Can I help you find your next class?"

"Um…" He looked nice enough – glasses, skin problems, hair nearly as dark as the girl with the spiky hair and graceful gait I had seen earlier. His limbs were long, too long for his body, as if he were still growing in quick, sporadic bursts, and he had a cheerful, helpful smile. He looked nothing like Mike Newton who was almost Nordic with his blond hair, blue eyes, and boyish features, but something in his smile reminded me of my first tour guide. "I don't want to put you out, but you could point me in the right direction, I guess."

He took my schedule from my hands, the paper slipping through my fingers quickly as he drank in the words. Maybe it was just my imagination, but he looked almost disappointed when he said that he was headed toward building four, but would be happy to show me the way to building six.

"Hey, Bella!"

Turning, I saw Mike rushing toward us. I tried to keep my face neutral when I saw the annoyed, almost dismayed look on Eric's face when he saw Mike, but dread coursed through me.

"Hi," I said when he caught up.

"What's up, Mike?" Eric sounded almost dejected and I wondered if he thought Mike might have some sort of moronic claim on me now.

"Hey, man," Mike said in a way that made me think that, while they may not be particularly close, these two boys were friends. He turned to me quickly, flashing that smile that only made me want to run away. "What's up, Bella? I thought we were walking to Government together."

"Oh, yeah, well… Eric was just pointing the way," I said, internally cringing at the awkward moment.

"We have English together," Eric said, almost boasting, immediately cheered by my less than enthusiastic reception of Mike.

"Building four is the other way," Mike reminded Eric, who glared at him.

Oh yeah, these two were definitely some type of friends… perhaps friendly rivals… if Mike knew Eric's schedule well enough to be able to helpfully point out that he, Mike, could help me out much more conveniently.

I was at a loss for what to say as they continued to stare at each other. So, instead of saying anything, I just turned in the direction Eric had started to lead me, and walked away.

"Bye, Bella!" Eric called. "I'll see you at lunch!"

Frowning, my back to him, I nodded. I heard Mike rushing to catch up to me, and found myself tuning him out as he started talking the moment he fell into step with me.

"Anyway, Eric's nice and all, but he's kind of weird, if you know what I mean," Mike was saying as he led me into our Government class.

I had never been so eager to meet my teacher. I all but ran from Mike's side and up to the sturdy desk in the front of the room to collect my syllabus from Mr. Jefferson. Once again, I wasn't forced to introduce myself to the class, though Mr. Jefferson did loudly suggest I get someone's notes so that I would be caught up for the test on Thursday. Immediately, Mike waved at me.

Once again, the only open desk was in the back of the classroom, several seats away from Mike Newton. With a sigh of relief, I angled my body away from him and began to doodle on my syllabus. When the bell rang at the end of the period, I was shocked – I had hardly noticed the passage of time, but my mindless art had shifted from mere doodles to a shockingly detailed, breathtakingly handsome face. I was no artist, really, not like Renee who made a living teaching, critiquing and occasionally creating art, but there was no mistaking the strong jaw, the messy hair, the intense gaze staring up at me.

Flustered, I hid the page away and shoved it to the bottom of my bookbag as I hurried to the door. How had I managed to draw him in such detail? I hadn't spoken to him, hadn't even seen him up close, but I knew, somehow, that down to the slight cleft of the chin, I had gotten every detail of the beautiful, bronze-haired boy I had seen for the briefest moment this morning.

This time, when Mike led me the short distance from building four to building five for my Trigonometry class, I was grateful for his incessant talking. It allowed me to ponder how, exactly, I had drawn him so clearly, and why. Mike left me at the door to the classroom, looking slightly put out. Apparently, he had noticed that I wasn't paying attention to him. Feeling guilty, I smiled and thanked him for showing me the way. He perked up immediately and brushed off my thanks with a promise to see me at lunch.

"I'm headed back to building one, so I won't be able to walk you to Spanish," he said apologetically. "But it's in building seven, right on the other side of the Government building."

"Thanks, Mike," I said again, waving as I headed into my class. "See you."

Mr. Varner, the Trigonometry teacher, was not as kind as the rest of my teachers. He made me wait next to his desk until everyone arrived, then had me introduce myself to the class. Only once I had stammered my name did he show me to an empty desk, again in the back of the room.

I slid shakily into the chair and rested my overheated face in my shaky palms.

"Hey… Bella?" I lifted my face to see the girl next to me smiling at me not unkindly. She had wildly curly brown hair and the most obviously fake spray tan I had ever seen. Her teeth were straight, and bright white. "Don't worry. Varner's sadistic. He made us all go around the room and introduce ourselves on the first day. As if we don't already know each other."

I smiled tentatively. She looked like she wanted to say something else, but Mr. Varner called on her to solve a problem on the board. She frowned, and then gave me a look that clearly said, See? Sadist, and walked confidently to the front of the class.

The knot in the pit of my stomach had tightened and about doubled in size, it felt, and had me trembling all over, but when my friendly neighbor smiled at me as she headed back to her seat, I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down. It was just high school. No big deal.

She turned to me as soon as the bell rang. "I'm Jessica Stanley," she said as we both shoved our books in our bags. "What's your next class?"

"Spanish," I said without consulting my schedule. I had it memorized by now. "Building seven with Mrs. Goff."

"Hey, me too. We can walk together," Jessica offered.

This, at least, wasn't as uncomfortable as walking next to Mike or Eric. At least it was less likely that Jessica might try to make a pass at me. She talked incessantly as we walked, and so quickly that I almost didn't catch everything she said.

"Mike was talking about you nonstop in American History earlier," Jessica said so nonchalantly that it was clearly anything but an off-the-cuff remark. "I swear Lee wanted to strangle him."

Jessica liked Mike. It was obvious in the way she forced a nervous chuckle and rolled her eyes, then watched carefully for my reaction. Hopeful, like she wanted me to reassure her that I didn't have any interest in Mike. Wary, like she was worried I would start raving about the boy she wanted.

I just frowned and shook my head. "Boys."

"Boys," she agreed, rolling her eyes.

Spanish was uneventful. Mrs. Goff didn't make me introduce myself, just handed me a class syllabus like all my other teachers, and assured me that she would answer any questions I had. I sat, once again in the back of the room, and wiled away the hour doodling. This time, when the hour was up, my doodles were nothing but messy lines outlining the page.

"You should sit with me at lunch," Jessica offered. "I can introduce you to all my friends."

It could have been just my imagination, but when she said 'introduce you' it almost sounded like 'show you off.' Still, I accepted her offer and followed her to the cafeteria, where we stood in line to get our food.

As we walked through the crowded cafeteria with our trays, I noticed them again: the five strikingly attractive people I had seen through the window while I'd been getting my schedule. We were going to walk right past their table. Though I couldn't help but feel somewhat giddy at the idea of being so near him, I tried not to look at any of them; I'd been caught watching them once already, I didn't need it to happen again. Even trying my hardest to stare straight ahead I saw, unmistakably, how he stiffened when we walked past. The boy with the bronze hair sat ramrod straight in his seat, his hands clenched into fists on the table in front of him. When he turned his head, ever so slowly, to glare at me with intense unadulterated hatred, all four of his companions looked at me as well. His eyes were pitch black and surrounded by dark circles, his lips set in a hard scowl.

I froze in my tracks, terror coursing through every inch of my body, before a sudden wave of determination washed over me. I had to get the hell away from them, from him. I was still terrified, but I rushed to catch up with Jessica, who hadn't noticed me pause, and was still talking about the Girls' Choice dance later in the year, and how she thought she might ask Mike to go with her.

When we stopped at a nearly full table near the middle of the room, Jessica smiled brightly and gestured for me to sit next to her.

"Hey, guys! This is Bella!" she announced, excitement dripping in her voice. It was clear she thought it was some sort of accomplishment that she was the one to bring me to the table. She ran through introductions so quickly that I wouldn't have been able to keep up even if I hadn't just had the life scared out of me.

Several minutes later, when the table was full of female chatter, I worked up the courage to look over my shoulder. He was still glaring at me. None of his friends were looking at me, but the big one had an arm slung over the younger one's shoulder in a way that would have looked casually affectionate if not for the way he was watching me. I had the distinct impression that the big one was putting in great effort to hold his friend in place.

I looked away and concentrated on playing with my food rather than eating it. Suddenly, I wasn't hungry. A while later, when I guessed the bell was about to ring to signal the end of lunch, I turned to Jessica in what I hoped was a casual manner.

"Who are they?" I asked, pointing over my shoulder without looking.

"Who?" Jessica asked, looking over my shoulder, but it was clear from the tone of her voice that she had already guessed whom I was talking about. She smiled wryly and leaned in close to me, lowering her voice to a hushed whisper. "Oh, those are the Cullens."

"The Cullens?" I asked.

"Yeah, they're Dr. Cullen's adopted kids," she said. "They're all related. I mean, sort of. The two blonds? They're twins, Jasper and Rosalie Hale. I think the doctor and his wife only adopted them a few years ago, not long before they moved here. The brunettes are Emmett and Alice Cullen. They're brother and sister. Technically, they're Dr. Cullen's niece and nephew, but his brother and sister and their spouses died like five or six years ago, I think? And he legally adopted them, so they're his kids, too."

"Oh." I frowned. That was only four. There were definitely five of them. I didn't want to ask, though, and show too much interest.

"Yeah," she shrugged. "They're kind of weird, honestly. Like, perfectly polite and all, I guess, but weird."

"Weird how?" I asked. I wanted to ask if coal-black eyes and unprovoked murderous glares were the norm for that group, but she had said they were always polite and the way he had looked at me was anything but.

"They keep to themselves a lot," she explained. "I don't think any of them have any friends except for each other. And they're all together."

She gave me a significant look, like I was supposed to think something of that. When I didn't react, she went on. "Rosalie's with Emmett, the big burly guy. And Alice – the little one? – is with Jasper, who always looks at least a little bit in pain. It's weird, right? That they all live together, and they're all dating?"

"I mean, if they're not actually related, I don't see why it's anyone's business," I said with a shrug, but I couldn't help but wonder why she hadn't said anything about the fifth one – the boy with so much hate in his eyes.

"Huh, I wonder where Edward went," she whispered then, and I watched her face as she scanned her gaze across the cafeteria. "He's Emmett and Alice's cousin, another one of Dr. Cullen's nephew-sons. He's totally gorgeous, but for some reason, he won't date anyone. Not even Lauren, and she tried really hard to get him to notice her when they first transferred here."

She lowered her voice and leaned in even closer so that she was all but breathing the words in my ear, obviously not wanting her friend, Lauren to overhear. I glanced around the table, trying to remember which one was Lauren. My gaze fell on the blond girl across the table talking to one of the boys a table over, a flirtatious smile on her pretty face.

"Hey, Bella!" someone said happily and I heard a quick scrape as someone pulled a chair out to sit in the empty seat on Jessica's other side.

"Hey, Mike!" Jessica exclaimed, leaning away from me and towards him. I looked up and nodded at him, happy to let Jessica attempt to distract him.

When I was sure neither Jessica nor Mike was looking at me, I risked one last glance over my shoulder. Sure enough, there were only four now, sitting at the table. The one who had looked like he hated me – Edward – was no longer there. The little one, Alice, turned her head suddenly to stare at me, and her sharp gaze went blank and unfocused again. Her boyfriend leaned close to her and wrapped an arm around her as he continued to look around the room as if nothing was out of the norm. Suddenly, her eyes came into focus again, and she beamed at me before turning to speak to her table quickly. Then, she got up and all but danced out of the room. After a brief pause in which all three of them looked slightly stunned, Jasper followed her.

When the lunch bell rang a few seconds later, I followed Mike to Biology, where Mr. Banner pointed me to the only empty table in the room. Mike came to sit next to me. A little annoyed, I turned to him with one raised eyebrow.

"Do you sit here?" I asked. Mike wasn't so bad, really, if you had someone to share his attention. It just seemed like being one-on-one with him might begin to wear on me.

"Nah, I sit over there by Tyler," Mike said, gesturing toward an empty seat a few tables away, next to a tall, lean, good-looking boy with short brown hair. "But maybe Cullen will switch with me."

My heart stopped. "Who?"

"Edward Cullen. This is his spot. He's the only one smart enough to do all the labs on his own, so Mr. Banner has always let him sit alone." Mike looked around the room as if expecting Edward Cullen to suddenly appear. "I wonder where he is. He was in American History this morning."

"Maybe he's just running late," I said weakly.

Maybe he's avoiding me, said a small, scared, sad voice in my head.

"Maybe," Mike allowed. But when the second bell rang and Mr. Banner told Mike to go back to his own seat, Edward Cullen still hadn't arrived. I was relieved – I didn't particularly want to spend an entire hour mere inches from a boy who seemed to hate me on sight.

Gym last period was horrible. It was Mike's last class of the day as well, so he walked me there, talking excitedly about getting to play basketball today. Apparently, Monday was basketball day at Forks High.

"You can be on my team," Mike reassured me, sensing my trepidation.

"Trust me, you don't want that," I told him, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. Fifteen minutes later, I had been delegated to the sidelines after accidentally hitting three people – one of them Mike – in the head with the basketball.

"Wow, Bella," Mike said, still rubbing the back of his head as we walked towards the parking lot after Gym. "No offense, but you really can't play basketball."

"I really can't do anything involving coordination or physicality," I said weakly, hitching my bag higher on my shoulder and twirling the adjustable strap between my fingers absently as I scanned the parking lot for Renee's car. "And I did warn you that you didn't want me on your team."

"Hey, it's no big deal. And don't worry, I'll still be on your team," Mike said as he stood next to me under the awning. "Do you need a ride home? I usually ride with Lee, but I'm sure he'd be happy to make an extra stop."

I shook my head immediately. Aside from finding it odd and a bit rude to offer to have his friend drive me home without consulting him, I also didn't want to give Mike any reason to think I might like him. Honestly, I didn't really dislike him; he seemed like he might not be the worst friend to have. He was certainly kind enough to take the literal hit of having me for a teammate. I just didn't see myself liking him the way that I thought he might want me to like him.

"My mom will be here soon," I said.

"Okay!" Mike said brightly. "But, hey. If you get tired of having your mom drive you around, you know where to find me."

"Thanks, Mike," I said, stepping up to the curb when I saw Renee pull into the lot. "I'll see you tomorrow."

I thought I heard him respond, but I had already pulled the hood of my jacket up against the slight drizzle and all I could really make out was the taptaptap of water against the slick material.

FFN / AO3

[iheardarumorxxx]

Midnight Sun, Chapter 7 - Melody

Surprise bonus chapter tonight. Normally I do two a day, but I had extra coffee today so I’m ready to go, let’s recap this trash.

Aaaaand we start with Weirdo brooding in the car and sniffing up all the Bella smell in it. Thanks, I hate it. 

And do you wanna know what our favorite little Pire is brooding about in the car while he waits for his siblings to finish up their last class of the day? He’s sitting in the car, wondering if Bella thinks he’s pretty. I wish I was kidding, but no, this man is literally sitting there, wondering if Bella is attracted to him because when she is around him her heart rate and breathing picks up and she blushes. Oh, but rest assured, Bella would never have the same impure thoughts that Gross Jessica Stanley had about Edward. 

Leave Jessica alone.

Also, Eddie? Bullshit. As someone who lived in your girlfriend’s head for 4 books, I can absolutely tell you that she has all kinds of impure thoughts about your marble adonis self, and she should probably be confessing to a priest because of them. 

Anyway, Eddie thinks some impure thoughts of his own (yay double standards) and gets a boner in the car. He gets very flowery and harlequinn with his little fantasy about Bella, to the point where, had this not been SM’s writing, I would have not been surprised to read the phrase ‘heaving bosom’. It’s G rated sex at its finest, guys. Be grateful that you didn’t have to read it (unless you did, in which case, I applaud you.)

I had no memories of another kind of yearning.

Just say ‘I never got a boner before Bella’ and be done with it, Eddie. Also now is the time to make your 109 year old virgin jokes, if you’re so inclined. I personally believe that it is perfectly fine if Eddie never felt sexual attraction before Bella, nor would it be a problem if he never felt sexual attraction at all. Ace people do exist. What bothers me is that this is framed in a way that is basically saying ‘You’ll feel the wiggles down there when the right person comes along’ and absolutely ignores the fact that sometimes, people never feel those kinds of attractions. Also, if you do feel those kinds of attractions but its not toward your pure and true love, you’re gross and awful like Gross Jessica Stanley.

The rest of the Cullen brood show up, and of course because Bella is so Special and Wonderful, even Jas and Emmett think she smells delicious, though, not nearly as delicious as Ed does because he’s the Most Special Cullen. Rose is mad and Alice just does as she was instructed to do by her magic future sight. Eddie is put out that he can’t spy on his lady love through her thoughts when they get to her place because he can’t stand not knowing where she is and what she’s doing at all times.

The Cullens go home and start doing various boring things. Chess, computer, TV. Rose is still pissed about the Bella thing and honestly? She has ever right to be. This puts her in danger, her and her family. It puts her husband in danger. She has every right to be mad and SM trying to frame her as bitchy and over-reacting does nothing to make me think that she is.

And Eddie. Oh Eddie. He’s playing the piano. We all know that he’s writing that stupid lullaby for Bella, and Esme is just so happy that her sweet precious baby is playing music again that she has to immediately appear and start fawning over him. Listen, I think that playing piano is a very impressive skill. It takes talent to learn and master. But treating Eddie’s little song like the next mozart piece is just stupid and I hate how everything they do is just consider the BEST THING EVER.

Alice singing along just. Boo. Go away. This was already bad enough as it was, don’t make it worse.

You are the best and the brightest of us all.

Just come out and fucking say it Esme. Or rather, just come out and fucking say it SM. It’s obvious that SM thinks her little avatars are the best and most special things to ever exist. She genuinely thinks that she’s created something to parallel the greatest lit of all time, and that her Eddie is akin to Mr. Darcy. Edward Cullen is not a good character. And he is not an interesting character. And that’s that.

God, there is an entire little section here just shitting on Rosalie. Rosalie is vain and petty. She only cares about her looks. Her whole life she was only looked at because she was pretty and it made her shallow and care only about appearance. Etc etc. Ignore the fact that Rosalie is clearly smart enough to maintain a 4.0 with the rest of her siblings, that she is skill with cars, that she does, in fact, have interests and hobbies outside of traditionally fem ones. She’s just a dumb, vain, shallow girl.

Fuck you, Eddie.

I am of the firm belief that one should never force their own beliefs on others. Never be afraid to express what you believe in, but never tell someone else they’re wrong because their beliefs are different. There are a few exceptions. One is Trump. That man is a danger and needs to be stopped. Period full stop. The other one? Alice mentions that their normal vamp friends are coming and they hunt the normal way. The Cullens have no problem with this and, in fact, just let them hunt nearby. In BD they actually loan out cars to the vamps to help them get away to hunt. The Cullens don’t eat humans, great, but they sure do aide and abet their friends that do. Murder is fucking wrong, even if to these stupid Pires, it is just a lifestyle choice.

Eddie and Emmett are hunting, some real bro bonding time. I wish that was what it was, honestly. I am aware that the Cullens are not actually related, but the have been together for a long time, and clearly have a family dynamic in place. It sure would be nice to see them attempting to act like siblings. To talk to one another, to bond, anything. But that would take time away from Eddie obsessing over his one twu wuv, Bella, so. Can’t have that.

You know what, Emmett is genuinely trying to be nice and understanding to Eddie’s pain and worry. Its actually really sweet to see it. Of course, Eddie is a grade A dick, and does not care about the effort his brother is putting in for him.

 God, and Eddie is crawling into Bella’s window again. I really, really hate that, you know. Like, it’s one thing for the fucker to be obsessive and stalk her when she’s awake, but like... let her sleep dude. Just because you never have to sleep ever doesn’t mean you get to do whatever you want when other people are sleeping. Also, what was your plan gonna be if Bella had insomnia, or if she woke up for some reason in the night and you were just there? Of course, she would never catch you, for you are so wise and brilliant and shit. But like. Dude. Seriously.

So after he spends a few hours staring at Bella while she sleeps, he’s off, and goes out into the woods to follow her scent trail. Bella always compared Mike to a dog, but... idk Mike never pulled that shit. He just really feels the need to tell us that he wants to know literally everything that Bella does ever. It’s weird and creepy, dude. Just chill out. 

And this chapter just kinda... fizzles out. Like, it doesn’t conclude so much as it just... ends. Kind of abruptly. And this chapter was just... boring. Like, the ones before this were bad, but they were at least bad with some flavor. This chapter was like a stale triscut. 

Hope you enjoyed! As always, drop me a message or a DM if you wanna chat about this book or recommend one for my next recap series. You can buy me a snack using the CashApp tag in my bio! Love you all, thanks for reading!

[allicekitty13]

Chapter 2 of Platform Ballerina’s

AO3 FFN

"Allice!" Bella looked up from her book in exasperation. "For the last time, settle down, or you can wait for Em and Rose outside!" Allice had spent the past hour dancing in the kitchen of Edward and Bella's apartment. Bella, who was lounging on the couch trying to grade papers, found this distracting.

"I swear to god, I work all day dealing with teenagers only to come home to find you acting like you live here. Honestly, sometimes you make me wonder if you're actually twenty-six considering you could give my students a run for their money in the immaturity department.

Allice rolled her eyes, hit pause on her playlist, and skipped over to the armchair adjacent to her best friend. Sitting on her knees, she leaned forward to face the other girl. "Hey, Bells, why do you hate fun."

This comment warranted a full-on belly laugh from Edward, who'd been watching the girls bicker for the past hour, earning him a glare from his fiance. Edward raised his hands in defense and turned back to his laptop. Bella rolled her eyes and closed the binder she'd had open on her lap. Placing it carefully on the end table to her right, she turned to face Alice, "Why are you here, anyway? Don't you have an entire house you can burn off your seemingly endless supply of energy in?"

"It's lonely without Em and Rose there."

"Ok, but why our tiny apartment. You could go spend time with your sister."

"Cynthia thinks I'm annoying." Alice shrugged, adjusting herself in the chair to hang upside down.

"I think you're annoying." Bella scowled.

Edward once again chucked at the girls' back and forth. "Come on, Bella, give her a break, you love having her here. The two of you would be lost without each other, and you know it."

Bella groaned and was about to make another comment when the front door opened, and in stepped Emmett and Rosalie. The latter of whom made her way to the refrigerator to grab a can of soda. "Sure, Rose, just make yourself at home in my apartment and help yourself to whatever you want." Bella glared from her position on the couch.

Rosalie rolled her eyes as she plopped down on the couch next to the angry woman. She popped the tab on the can and took a long swig of Diet Coke before speaking. "So, I invited some dude to come to the haunted house with us tomorrow."

Edward, who had given up on getting any work done and had long since shut down his computer at this point, gapped as the blonde in astonishment. "That's very kind, and unlike you, Rose."

"Look at my girl playing nice and making friends." Emmett joked, wrapping an arm around the blonde and placing a kiss on the crown of her head.

"I will uninvite him if one more person in this room calls me nice," Rosalie warned.

"Rosalie, you're so mean and scary." Alice placated her, sitting down cross-legged on the floor in front of her. "Now, will you please tell me more about the new friend?"

"He's new in town, and told me he was looking for a job and new friends." She shrugged before turning her attention directly to Alice. "He's tall, blonde, southern." She paused for suspense, noting the small girl's widening eyes. "And. His name is Jasper."

Alice felt her stomach drop in disbelief and stared wide-eyed at the blonde. She bit her lip and pulled her legs tightly into her chest, burying her face in her knees to hide the enormous grin threatening to burst across her face. She stayed in that position for what felt like an eternity. It was possibly finally happening after a decade. She wanted to laugh, to cry, to scream, to jump and dance. She wanted to run a mile; she was flying high. Instead, she sat unmoving, thinking back on her most frequent dream.

She's walking into the bar and sees a man sitting in the middle of the counter. He's tall blonde, and devastatingly handsome. She struts over to him, smoother than she's ever moved in her life, ignoring every other customer wanting her attention. She leans forward against the counter and looks him dead in the eyes and hold our her hand. "Hi, I'm Alice."

"Jasper," He replies in a smooth southern drawl taking her hand.

Jasper shows up in other dreams and understands her and appreciates her for who she is. For the broken soul, she hides behind an overly bubbly facade. He's her friend because he genuinely likes her. It's not because he's friends with her bother and feels compelled to like Ed and Rose or because he takes pity on her like Bella. Her dreams don't always come true, though they do more often than not. But she had faith in this man's appearance and the changes he would make to her life. She can have someone to genuinely lean on and turn to.

"Alice?" She's pulled from her thoughts by Bella's concerned voice. She doesn't know when she had knelt down next to her on the floor, but she's there looking at her with eyes filled with worry, hand on her shoulder in an attempt to be comforting. "Are you Ok."

She looked up at her friend with watering eyes and a genuine smile. "I've never been better."

[imyourliquor-youremypoison]

A Girl’s Best Friend (Peter Parker x OC) - Part 9

Synopsis: Diamonds are man’s best friend- or dogs are girls’ best friends, wait… how does the saying go again?

Warnings: Family issues; Peter has a crush and it’s complicated; mention of assault; good dogs; College AU; aged up! characters; TONY STARK IS ALIVE AND WE ALL LIVE IN A HAPPY PLACE CALLED DENIAL

A/N: In this story, Peter has Tom’s dog, Tessa.The dogs in the story play a minor but key role.

Word count: 2.5k

Part 8 <<< >>> Part 10

MASTERLIST

Come Thursday, Emmeline walked into the library, reveling in the silent early hours when it was nearly empty except for Peter and her. This was even more true now because the Christmas holidays would start in two days, and most people had already gone back home to avoid the rush at the airports the weekend before Christmas.

                She looked forward to these study sessions, they became part of her life in that sneaky way that things you start doing on a regular basis do. Sometimes they didn’t even talk much, but it was nice and comforting to be with Peter. He had a good aura, one that drew her to him. Emmeline wondered if the feeling was reciprocated – she thought he liked her, but it was always hard to tell, he was a bit on the shy side. At least, he never gave her reason to think otherwise. He never cancelled their plans, never said no when she suggested something, he was always on time when they agreed to meet somewhere.

  Peter was always at the library before her, waiting at their usual table. Waiting or… sleeping.

                With a wicked smile, Emmeline approached, finding Peter fast asleep on his open notebook, snorting lightly. She couldn’t help it, she slammed her books on the table next to him, startling him awake.

“I’m awake! I’m awake!” he exclaimed, shooting up and looking around him, panicked eyes. Emmeline laughed. “Oh, hi, Em. I was just… resting my eyes.”

“Oh, is that what they call it these days?” she asked, sitting down and placing a coffee in front of Peter.

She had stopped at Starbucks on her way here, and she was right to do so. Instead of commenting Peter’s state of dishevelment and obvious exhaustion, she let him take a sip and took a mental note to keep an eye on him.

“’m sorry,” he mumbled, pushing back his hair with a sigh after setting down the cup. “Long days, short nights.”

“I brought the notes you asked for,” she told him, pulling a pile of papers out of her bag. She had printed them for him and changed the layout to make it easier to read. “We can go through them together if you're up to the task,” she said, eyeing him carefully. He looked a total mess.

He rubbed his face without looking at her, eyes focused on the papers already.

“Of course, I'm up to the task, that's why we're here.”

                Emmeline furrowed her brows but nodded nonetheless, thinking it was better not to argue. Peter made an admirable effort to stay awake and concentrated on their work, she gave him that, but there was no ignoring the way his head dipped and his eyelids fell a little as though they weighted a ton. But what pushed Emmeline to speak up was the bruise she saw on his arm, peeking out of his sleeve when he reached to grab the book to her right.

“Peter, what's this?” she worried, yanking back the sleeve to uncover the big purple bruise. It covered his entire forearm; it must hurt like a motherfucker. “How did you get this?”

He shook her hand off and pulled the sleeve down before she could take a good look at it, immediately denying that it hurt and stuttering out some lie about falling in the tub. She knew he didn't have a tub. The knot of worry forming at the back of her throat wasn’t new; she had spotted bruises before. She never said anything because Peter didn’t look in pain, and she knew some people just bruised easily – but this one was bad.

“We should take a break. You should go back to your room and get some more sleep; we can always meet up this afternoon.”

“No, I made you come here early, I can't ask you to come back tonight. And Tessa will be wide awake and think it's time for her walk.”

                That last part sounded like an excuse; they both knew Tessa was a huge couch potato.

“It's not your fault if you're tired, Peter. Anyway, I offered, you didn't have to ask. I can dogsit Tessa this morning. I don't have class until noon.”

It was obvious she was going to win because Peter clearly did not have the energy to argue. He relented after another minute of protesting. The dark circles under his eyes causing lines of worry to appear on Emmeline's forehead. Something was wrong. Something has been wrong for a while but she thought he would sort it out eventually.

“You seriously look like you’re going to pass out. I’m walking with you,” she told him, not accepting no for an answer.

She put his belongings into his backpack and wrapped a hand around his elbow, the way she usually did. She knew he liked it: he always sported this look of pride whenever she walked at his arm. She liked it too.

                They walked out of the building arm in arm.

“I feel so dumb for making you come here for nothing,” Peter grumbled, rubbing his eyes to stay awake.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind. With Bella still at the vet, there’s not much to do at my place. I’d rather hang out with you and do nothing than stay there all alone,” she confessed, offering him a heartfelt smile.

                Peter’s knees almost buckled.

“Why are you so tired though? Is something the matter?”

                A flicker of hesitation crossed his eyes and he looked at his feet, but Emmeline’s grip on him didn’t waver and the steadfast support she provided prompted him to open up to her. It was only fair after all, he had been trying to get her to be more honest about her feelings for months, it would be hypocrite of him to not do the same.

“I have nightmares. I wake up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat and can’t fall back asleep.”

                Not even Ned knew that. He wanted to be honest about why he had those nightmares, but she didn’t ask, probably having sensed that it was personal. Private people tended to not pry into other people’s lives, and that was a huge relief at the moment.

                Truth was, he didn’t really want to talk about the fact that this time of the year reminded him of his uncle Ben. He died shortly before Christmas when Peter was 16. It was always difficult for him, this time of year. It would always be. Coming back late from his missions didn’t help either.

                However, Emmeline was smart enough to figure it out on her own. He had told her about his dead parental figures and if she gave it a bit of thought, she would guess why he couldn’t sleep these days.

                They finished their walk in amicable silence, and Emmeline took Peter’s keys to open the door. Tessa was still asleep, not even waking up when they walked inside.

“Looks like you won't need my services after all,” Emmeline chuckled, watching Tessa sleep quietly. Bella tended to snore, which was why she didn’t sleep in Emmeline’s bedroom.

                When she turned around, Peter was already lying on his bed, arms spread open, sighing in content.

“I’m never getting up again,” he vowed, making her laugh.

                Feeling playful, Emmeline dropped her bag and kicked off her shoes before lying down next to him, her head resting on his arm.

“I admit it’s pretty comfy,” she hummed. “Is that how you lure girls into your room, Parker? I’m amazed it works!”

“Shut up!” Peter scoffed and wrapped his arm around her head, trying to cover her eyes. He only succeeded in making her giggle as she wriggled away. He dropped his head on the pillow again, thinking that he liked hearing her laugh. He wanted to make her laugh more. “It only works on the really gullible ones.”

                She snorted this time, and he felt her body rumble with laughter.

“Aren’t you going back?” he eventually asked, having stopped bothering her and let his arm rest on the bed again, allowing her to lie on it if she wanted.

“What for? I quite like it here,” she hummed, closing her eyes and making herself at home.

“I don’t know. Study? That’s why we meet up every week,” Peter mumbled, feeling himself slip into unconsciousness.

“Maybe I’m just using it as an excuse to spend time with you.”

Peter’s tired brain barely processed what she said before he dozed off. There were no more words exchanged between them, only peaceful silence, and the delicate touch of her fingertips on his open palm. Peter fought to stay awake just a while longer to enjoy this fleeting moment with her, but his eyelids were too heavy. He drifted off to sleep with Emmeline still lying beside him, wishing she were closer.

  *

                  Emmeline was happy to have Bella back, the reunion was an emotional one. It was now the last weekend before Christmas. Columbia was empty, the shopping streets were buzzing with people. This year she bought a tree. She didn’t really know why, she wasn’t much into celebrating Christmas, but this year she wanted to try something different.

                And maybe it did have something to do with Peter, maybe not.

                There were only two things tainting her mood. The first one was silly, really. She hadn’t seen Spider-Man in a little while although he hadn’t said anything about not visiting anymore. Then again, perhaps he was busy this time of year, like everyone else. Everyone else except for her, it seemed.

“Do you miss him?” She turned to Bella who lifted her head when she was being talked to. Sometimes Emmeline wondered if she understood what she said. “Yeah, me too.”

                The second stain on her lighthearted mood was the customary Christmas speech given by mister mayor himself, live on TV, and which required the presence of the entire family apparently. Emmeline loathed these occasions, where she had to play pretend, act like the perfect little daughter. Her parents even hired a stylist to make her look the part.

                Her skin crawled just thinking about it. One of these days she would have to rebel and not come. But not this year – her father was trying to her re-elected, and if she did anything, anything at all, to jeopardize his chances, there would be hell to pay. She still hated this masquerade, and she hated herself for playing along too. There was no solution that satisfied everyone in this scenario.

                She was saved from her own thoughts by her phone.

From Peter: I just finished my part of the assignment. Can I send it to you for proof reading?

                She smiled, already typing out an answer when she received a follow-up message.

From Peter: and to make sure I didn’t completely bullshit it. The chapter about boundary value problems is still a bit obscure to me.

To Peter: Gotcha. I’ll send you my part too so we can both give each other feedback.

                He sent her a gif of Jake Peralta saying ‘noice’ as an answer, and she shook her head, putting down her phone. Emmeline went to her room and opened her laptop to send him her work – it should be ready to send at this point, she had a fairly decent grasp of the subject and had proofread it a couple times already.

                She did not want Peter Parker to think her stupid and refused to leave a single silly mistake in her work, and that was the truth. Emmeline liked Peter, more than she anticipated and perhaps more than she would like to. Her life was complicated, and she was complicated, it didn’t feel right to drag him into it.

                Bella barked to get her attention then. When her eyes landed on her alarm clock, Emmeline realized it was already half past lunch time for Bella. She stood up to fill Bella’s bowl while her phone buzzed away on her bed.

From Peter: hey, what do you say we go out later? For coffee or whatever you’d like?

From Peter: Do I sound desperate? Be honest. I feel like I do. Please say yes though

                Another moment later, it buzzed once more.

From Peter: It’s a date btw

  *

  “What do you want me to say?” Ned asked Peter, sighing through the phone for what felt like the hundredth time since the beginning of their conversation. It wasn’t without reason either, Peter was quite the rambler when he was anxious. “I know you’ve been friends for a while now and she’s cool, but if she hasn’t answered by now, well… you’ve got your answer dude.”

                No, he refused to accept that explanation. As long as she hasn’t answered, there was still a chance, right?

“Maybe her phone died, and she didn’t see the messages,” Peter argued, full of hope and denial. He had been telling himself just that for three hours now, nearly convincing himself too.

“Get yourself together, man!” Ned shouted. “Have some pride! Chicks don’t want no sissy!”

                Peter held the phone away from his ear and looked at it with a perplexed frown before putting it back to his ear.

“Did I hear correctly? Is this the way you talk now?” Peter asked, frowning to himself, amused though confused.

“Trying something new.” Peter could practically hear his friend shrug.

“Stop then. It doesn’t work for you,” Peter told him. Better to be honest, Ned would thank him later.

“Noted. But I stand by my word, girls like confidence, be confident! You’re freakin’ Spider-Man, the chicks dig it! Girls have posters of you!”

“Still not working,” Peter groaned, rubbing his face with his free hand. “But I hear you and I’ll try.”

“I’ll get it right, you’ll see,” Ned laughed. “Alright, gotta go, Noobmaster69 is back online. Got ass to kick.”

                They both hung up and Peter slid his phone back into his pocket, shaking his head after this weird conversation.

“Noobmaster69?” he repeated, still a bit confused about… well, everything to be frank.

                He just spent the whole afternoon trying insanely hard not to look at his phone and focus on the work she had sent him for review. It was good. Like, it was solid, they won’t have to worry about passing this class, and no thanks to him. It was too late to take back what he had sent her though, and even if it were possible, he wouldn’t know how to make it better.

                If he had paid attention in class instead of alternating between sleeping and staring at her in awe, maybe he wouldn’t be in this position? He only had himself to blame. Then again, time spent looking at her wasn’t wasted in his opinion.

                The second his phone buzzed in his back pocket, Peter whipped it out so quickly he almost dropped it – and wouldn’t that just be his luck?

From M: Alright, it’s a date. Nothing comes to mind but I’m not difficult. Meet me at the fountain in Central Park at 6pm?

                In a bout of joy, Peter jumped to his ceiling, scaring Tessa in the process. He stayed upside down while typing his answer and wondered if it was the blood rush that made him dizzy or something else.

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Reblog to save a writer

Tag list:  @justanothercynicalgenzkid @of-virtuoso

[lizartgurl]

I wish you would write a fic where Emma’s celebrates her first birthday at the manor

ANDI I LOVE THE NEW ICON IT’S MAGICAL

And this…this got way too long.

Mary and John Grayson were murdered on April 1, 2006. A little over a month later, on May fifteenth, Emma Mary Grasyon, her mother’s namesake, was supposed to celebrate her twelfth birthday in a place that was still strange, where the only family to celebrate with her was her little brother. Neither of them were in a mood for celebrating.

Emma woke up that morning with eight-year-old Richard snuggled against her, squeezing the life from his plush elephant, Zitka, named for their elephant friend from the Circus. She had been a “Welcome Home” gift from Mister Bruce, an attempt to make the vast and empty Wayne Manor feel more alive. 

Emma had lion of her own, named Simba. The circus had tigers, but not lions, so her little friend was named after the Lion King who also had to witness his father falling to his death. 

Emma tossed Simba across the room, he softly hit the door and fell to the floor as Alfred the Butler opened it.

“I assume Master Richard had another nightmare?” He asked quietly.

Emma nodded, slowly sitting up. Being called “master” or “miss” was still something she was getting used to.

“Then I will bring his uniform in here and make sure to keep the pancakes warm. I believe it would be best to let him sleep for now.”

“Yeah,” Emma agreed, and made her way over to the wide expanse of a vanity, brushing her back into a ponytail, just as she always did.

Alfred didn’t leave, dusting off Emma’s school uniform that had been pressed and set out on her desk chair the night before.

“Did you sleep quite well last night, Miss Emma?” He asked.

Emma snapped the elastic into place, “Just fine,” She assured him.

“If I may,” Alfred pulled a burgundy red ribbon from his pocket, carefully tying a bow around her ponytail.

“Happy Birthday, Miss Emma,” He gave the young girl a soft smile beneath his perfectly groomed mustache.

Emma made the effort to smile up at the old butler. “Thanks, Alfred.”

Thirty minutes later, Richard was running down the stairs, struggling to straighten out his school uniform as he sprinted to join Emma, Bruce, and little ‘Bella at the breakfast table.

“Morning, Champ,” Bruce said, not looking up from his paper. Emma noted that he was reading an article by Clark Kent, one of his friends, about the ridiculousness of the argument of “Batman versus Superman.”

“What’s he say?” Emma asked. Richard punctuated her question by piling tons of whipped cream onto his stack of pancakes, already drenched with syrup. Five-year-old Annabella watched Rick’s experiment of how high he could pile the cream before it fell over with wide brown eyes.

Mister Bruce grunted, “That Batman and Superman would work better together than fighting.”

Emma gave a “huh,” slowly chewing her strawberries and pancakes.

“I bet Superman would win.” She said, taking another bite. Bruce raised an eyebrow in her direction.

“No way!” Rick declared, already standing on his chair. “Batman has all those gadgets and stuff! And he’s smart! He’d find a way to stop Superman!”

“But why would they be fighting?” Annabella asked, forgoing the fork and eating her pancake with her bare hands. Alfred rushed forward with a damp cloth to stave off the syrup.

“That’s a good question, sweetheart,” Bruce leaned forward to kiss his daughter’s forehead, “But you are right, Richard, I bet Batman could take Superman down if he really had to.”

“Well,” Alfred interjected, “I happen to think that Superman could whip Batman’s tush if he so desired.”

Emma, Richard, and Annabella burst into laughter. As if Alfred’s accent weren’t already perfect, the way he said “tush” was still hilarious to a couple of kids.

“Okay, okay, I guess they probably wouldn’t be fighting in the first place,” Bruce stood up to help Alfred clear the dishes, “In fact, there’s been talk that they’re going to start a team with some of the other heroes.”

“Like Wonder Woman?” Emma gasped.

“And Flash?” Richard asked through a mouth of whipped cream.

“And the other heroes who helped them with that alien invasion a couple months ago. Now chew with your mouth closed, champ, and hurry up, we gotta get you two to school.

-

Middle School would have been absolute Tartarus for “charity project” Emma Grayson if it weren’t for Bette Kane, Bruce’s cousin and heir to her own fortune. Emma giggled as Bette stood up in the middle of social studies to give a five-minute rant about how the myth of Medusa was just a bunch of Greek men with their togas on too tight projecting all their fears onto a woman and how that was still evident in today’s society. The teacher was stone-faced for ten minutes while the class applauded her.

“Alfred told me it was your birthday, today, so I brought cupcakes!” Bette said at lunchtime. They were huddled in their own corner of the courtyard, no one was going to bother them here. There weren’t any candles allowed on school grounds, but Bette sang her the “happy birthday” rendition from Emperor’s New Groove, and Emma had another reason to laugh, though she regretted that the chocolate cupcakes Bette brought tasted nothing like Aunt Kayla’s birthday cakes.

Not even Rick had wished her a happy birthday, she sighed as the three Wayne children arrived home from school to an empty manor. Bella, still in kindergarten, ignored her homework in favor of the gardens, and since Rick was still in elementary school and summer break was fast approaching, he followed. Alfred went with them to supervise after making sure that Emma was content in the Manor’s library with a plate of milk and cookies. 

Emma soon abandoned her boring few assignments, scouring the shelves for anything interesting to read. Her eyes fell on a copy of “The Mask of Zorro,” novelization. It sounded only slightly more interesting than “Pride and Prejudice”, but it seemed that it didn’t want to come off the shelf. 

With a yank, she managed to pull the book forward, but not completely off the shelf. The floor beneath her feet shook, and that section of the shelf crawled forward, just enough that it could slide in front of another section.

Right behind the shelf was a cool, dark staircase, illuminated with tiny blue lights, curving down and out of sight.

She jumped back, unable to process this discovery, and a few minutes, the shelf returned to its proper position with a loud cranking noise.

She turned and ran from the library. 

Alfred was in the kitchen, patching Annabella’s knee, so Emma ran straight for Rick, lining up sticks and pebbles to create his own version of Gotham city.

“Richard! You gotta come see this, now!” It only took minimal dragging to get Rick all the way to the library, but a lot of cajoling to get him to stand right there and be patient while she found the right book. Then, he was the one dragging her down the stairs to see what was hidden at the bottom. Emma was the only one of them who noticed when the door shut behind them. With no apparent way out, she followed Rick to the bottom.

“Woah,” Rick gasped as the stairway opened up into a cavern. Stalactites still hung from the top, interspersed with small groups of annoyed, fluffy bats, but the stalagmites on the floor had been cleared for catwalks, computers, suits in display cases, a giant playing card, and a giant mechanical dinosaur, of all things.

“This is awesome!” Rick shouted to make his voice echo with the dripping water.

Emma had a sneaking suspicion that they shouldn’t be there, and tried to back up, only to run into a wall. But it wasn’t a wall. She turned, and it was Bruce, glaring down at the both of them, arms crossed over a giant, black, Batman symbol on his chest.

“You’re him,” she squeaked. 

“Batman!” Rick gasped. 

Bruce just sighed, “I didn’t think you would be home from school yet. Get back upstairs, both of you.”

“What? Why?” Rick whined.

“Because I’m Batman, and I said so.” Bruce growled.

Richard glared at Batman’s cape as he sashayed away, confident that was enough to make them obey.

“You can’t make me, you’re not my dad!” He ducked under Bruce’s arm and swung from one catwalk to the next, deftly balancing on the rails as he rain, taking shortcuts a grown man like Bruce couldn’t hope to achieve, even if he was Batman.

As out-of-place as she felt, Emma was curious, about the cave, and about her foster father being Batman. He had been there the night that her family died. Why didn’t he save them? Batman was supposed to be a detective, wasn’t he? So why didn’t he stop Mister Zucco? 

Inflamed by a sudden bout of anger, Emma leaped up onto the railing, copying Richard as she ran after Bruce. She landed on his cape for a moment, enough to distract him from grabbing Rick, and then leave him confused over which child to catch first. That gave her enough of a lead to make it to his giant computer.

Bruce caught Richard fairly quickly, a firm hand on the boy’s shoulder as he steered him to where his sister was waiting, but not quite hiding. He was a little ticked to find Emma sitting in his favorite chair- the only chair in his hideout, as a matter of fact- in front of the computer, eyes narrowed and arms folded tightly.

“You know where Zucco is,” She accused coldly, the GPS on display for all to see on the screen behind her.

Bruce couldn’t find an answer as Richard looked up to him, shocked and hurt.

“You were there that night,” Emma stood up, rigid and shaking, “You could have stopped him, and you didn’t. And now Mami, Tati, Aunt Kayla, and Jonny are dead, and Uncle Joseph is paralyzed for life.”

“You’re right,” Bruce admitted, which surprised both Graysons, “I could have stopped Zucco and his men, and I didn’t. I doubted that Zucco would do something so bold in plain sight, and it cost your family their lives.”

Emma’s eyes stung and Bruce released his grip on Richard and took her by the shoulders, kneeling in front of her. “That’s why I took you two in, because I know what it’s like to lose your family, and because I promised myself that I was going to stop Zucco from ever doing something like this again.

Richard sniffed loudly, and Emma wiped her own tears with the hem of her school jacket. “Let us help you,” She begged.

“No,” Bruce said with finality. He stood up, pulling Batman’s familiar cowl over his face. “You two stay here. I’ll take down Zucco and be back in time to tuck the two of you and Annabella into bed.”

Still, Emma and Richard persisted, following him down to the “Bat-Mobile, waiting on a rotating platform to shoot off in any direction at a moment’s notice. 

“You two can’t get involved with this,” Bruce insisted, “It’s too dangerous.”

“So was the acrobatics we did at Haly’s.” Emma huffed.

“No. Now get upstairs before I call Alfred,” the top of the Bat-mobile slammed shut, and shot off through the waterfall that concealed the cave’s entrance from the rest of Gotham.

Emma’s hands shook. She didn’t care if Bruce was really batman or Wonder Woman or whatever. Tony Zucco had killed her parents, and she wasn’t going to stand by and let him hurt anyone else, either.

“Emma,” Richard said quietly, “Do you know where Alfred put our old costumes?”

Emma knew her little brother was thinking what she was, and as she grinned at him, her eyes landed on a couple spare masks and sheets of kevlar, just big enough to be called a cape.

-

Batman caught Zucco and his men breaking into the Graysons belonging left in storage under Joseph Grayson’s name. When he woke up, he was strapped to a spinning target on the grounds previously occupied by Haly’s circus. You could still see some of the darkened dirt where the Graysons had fallen. Zucco was throwing knives at him with reckless abandon, while his men watched and laughed. 

“Look out, Batman!” Zucco cackled. Another knife flew through the air, aimed for his heart, but something knocked it to the ground. A dull batarang, one he’d left behind at the cave for Alfred to sharpen.

“Excellent shot, Miss Grayson,” Alfred’s voice manifested over his comms a moment later, as one of Zucco’s thugs had his feet yanked out from beneath him, and another was struck with a batarang to the shoulder.

“Alfred,” Bruce growled so that Zucco couldn’t heard over the sudden commotion.

“I’m afraid that they insisted, as you typically do,” Alfred quipped. “And I can’t very well quarantine all three children in the house at once.”

Bruce rolled his eyes as Emma Grayson, golden wings splayed across her red tunic top, eyes hidden behind a mask, and protected by a yellow skein of kevlar, sliced away the rope holding back his hands.

“Thank you,” He grunted, crouching to the ground. His belt had been stolen, but he grabbed a knife from the target board. With a flick of his wrist, it knocked the fedora clean off Zucco’s head.

Out of Batarangs, Richard and Emma each grabbed a couple knives that had nearly killed Batman to fend off the thugs that were now running at them.

Then Emma saw the gold dangling from Zucco’s pocket. Her mother’s necklace, a robin on a branch, made from solid gold. A Wedding present from John to Mary. She screamed with fury, using her knife to slice the hand Zucco was using to reach inside his coat for another knife. She went for his face next, but it was Batman who grabbed her wrist, blocking her from Zucco, who lay whimpering on the ground.

“He deserves it!” She spat, “He killed them!” 

Bruce kicked Zucco in the face with his heavy boots, down for the count as he gripped Emma’s arms tightly.

“It isn’t up to us to decide who lives and who dies. That’s how they think,” He nodded to Zucco, then to his men, who had been casually taken out by a few easy flips from junior acrobat Rick.

“Emma,” Bruce tried again when she refused to look him in the eyes. “Would your parents want you yo give in to your anger, to go down a path that’s very hard to return from, just for them?”

Lip trembling, Emma shook her head, and threw her arms around Bruce, sobbing. Rick joined them a moment later, also crying. 

They watched from a distance a few minutes later, as Commissioner Gordon arrived to arrest Zucco’s gang for murder, and thievery. Emma absently traced a heart in the dirt with her toe, holding Richard’s hand.

“I’m proud of you,” Bruce said as the police caravan drove away, “Both of you.”

He drew something from the pouch of his retrieved utility belt. “I believe that this belongs to you,” He held out Mary Grayson’s robin necklace to Emma, securing it around her neck.

“Happy Birthday, Emma.”