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outofsstyles · 5 years ago

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WILDEST DREAMS

a/n: soo I’ve been working on this for a little while now and I’m very excited to share it with you al!! This piece is inspired by Taylor Swift’s music video for her song Wildest Dreams. If you’ve never seen the video, or don’t remember it really well, I recommend you watch it *after* reading the story so you don’t get it spoiled! If you’re interested then you can watch it by clicking *right here!!*

Word count: 17.2k Rated: M, mature

You agree to help your friend on her film project and Harry is playing your love interest.

“You’ve been frowning a lot and haven’t said a single word in the past five minutes, what’s wrong?” You looked up to your quiet roommate sitting opposite to where you stood near the kitchen counter.

A playlist you both had made months ago, meant only for cooking days, as Nia had instructed, played faintly in the background. You hummed along to the melody of a song you didn’t really know the name of, but had listened to it enough to mumble the lyrics, as you focused on cutting banana slices.

Nia was the one who brought up trying out a new fruit smoothie recipe she had found while scrolling around on Pinterest. She was pretty excited after coming home with the groceries, ready to start the process. Which is why seeing her sitting quietly as she glared at her phone was a big sign that something was wrong.

“I think Jordan is about to pull out on us,” she groaned loudly, locking her phone and throwing it on the counter, running her hands on her face, “I can’t believe this is happening a week before filming starts.”

“Oh, that’s not good news” you said, looking back at your friend’s defeated state in front of you as you threw the banana slices into the blender. “What happened?”

“He said he decided to go with his cousin to Ibiza.” Her arms muffled her voice as she lied on top of them, sighing once again, “this is the third one that leaves, I might as well just cancel the entire thing and fail this class.”

You rolled your eyes lightly at her, shaking your head as you listened to her dramatic reactions. Being her friend for as long as you have, you knew how stressed Nia got with a project, specially something she was passionate about. She was always too hard on herself, trying to push everything to be as perfect as possible, which is a good thing when you focused on the ultimate results. But she often tended to over-stress herself, and that’s what makes you worry.

With this one in particular, you could tell how excited she was from the day her teacher assigned it. She came back home and rambled for hours on end about making her first film. Which is why when she begged you to be part of it, and you couldn’t find it in your heart to say no.

It was a small production after all, it just being Nia and her partner Evan, whom you have known had gotten close to her in the past months. She assured it would a rather simple concept, with only two characters. The trickiest part being the fact that they would film it out of town, in a camp house that belonged to Nia’s aunt. You had agreed to it to make her happy, and with her promise of buying you chocolate muffins. Most uni students, however, didn’t seem as keen to sacrifice a week of their spring break as you were.

“You’re being dramatic Nia,” you reassured, turning on the blender and cringing at the loud noise that took over the place. “Maybe they just read on the script that they would have to kiss me a couple of times and got too nervous about it,” you tried to humor, raising your voice a bit before turning the processor off. Nia looked back at you with a serious expression, making you scoff, “calm down, grumpy pants, I’m sure Evan knows someone who can do the role, stop worrying.”

“All I do is worry, you know that,” she sighed, standing up to walk towards the cabinets behind you. She selected two matching cups that she had gotten for your birthday, one had Elsa printed on it, and the other Anna. You smiled as she placed them on the counter, knowing you always thought matching friendship objects were silly, but Nia loved it, so you loved it too. She looked vaguely at the blender, letting her shoulder weight down. “At least we have a banana smoothie.”

“And something else!” You said, jumping on your feet to get to the fridge and retrieved a tupperware. You held it in her direction and smiled, “leftover spaghetti from Joe’s!” you exclaimed, attempting to brighten her mood. She looked back at you, grabbing the container from your hands, as she tried to fight back a smile.

“Yes, how could I forget the leftover spaghetti?”

As the days passed by, the both of you had gotten more stressed out. Nia was still worried about everything related to her film project. With the days passing by and no one to fill the other role on the script, she found herself on a daily cycle of stress breakdowns.

Just two days after your former cast partner dropped out on the project to spend his week on the busy beaches of Ibiza, she had bought three different boxes of hair dyes. And as you helped her turn her hair into a light shade of pink, she cried about how everything seemed to go wrong in her life.

Meanwhile, you had been struggling to fight your procrastination tendencies and try to finish as much work as possible before spring break. A task that was showing itself to be extremely difficult, considering your mind seemed more focused on binge watching true crime shows on YouTube.

The blank document stared back at you from your computer screen, as you wished that if you looked at it for long enough, the essay would somehow write itself. Writing a couple of words but soon deleting them and going back to an empty page, you signed. Why was it so difficult to introduce a topic? You took a sip of the hot drink on the sparkly Cinderella mug you had chosen for the day, another one of Nia’s Disney-related possessions.

You frowned at the blank document, your failure to write a single paragraph still open in front of you. You heard a light knock on your bedroom door, but before you could even say anything, you spotted the already fading pink hair coming into the room.

Nia walked in jumping excitedly, saying your name in little squeals and almost tripping down as she made her way to sit on your bed in front of you. Breathing out, she looked at you with a big smile and messy hair before blurting out.

“We’ve got you a husband!” you stared back at her, arching your eyebrows. You knew she was referring to the role on the film, but you still laughed off at her choice of phrasing. “Evan got someone, it’s like his old friend or something, said he trusts him not to drop out.”

“Well, fourth time’s a charm, I guess?” you smiled at her.

“We’re planning a pizza night this Friday, so we can, you know, set the details and all that.” She properly lied down next to you, playing with the strings on the hem of your pajama shorts. “Also so you two can meet each other, of course, you’re going to be married for a week after all.”

“The way you say it seems like we’re actually doing it,” You laughed, finally closing your computer, and moving down to face her. “We’re just playing characters, Nia.”

“I know, I know… You’re really no fun, aren’t you?” She moved her arm up to support her head and poked you with her free hand as you rolled your eyes at her. “Also, he seems pretty cute, Evan showed me his picture, maybe you two can hit off.”

“I’m sure he is,” you tried not to fall for her attempt on teasing you over someone you don’t even know. Sure, you’ll be playing love interests, but you’ve done this plenty of times before, back on your theatre days. Kissing someone on stage doesn’t mean you have feelings for them in real life, and you knew that pretty well. You sighed, looking down at her, not wanting to engage into this kind of topic.

“Anyway, should we celebrate your new cast member and my inability to write a single sentence about art history?” you changed the subject, trying to distract yourself from your own thoughts. “We could watch Devil Wears Prada and make caramel popcorn.”

Nia gasped dramatically, “these are the most beautiful words I’ve ever heard coming from those pretty lips of yours,” jumping to her feet as she pulled you to stand with her. She then ran out of the room, screaming back, “I’ll get the blankets and you start with the popcorn!”

It’s been years since you’ve known Nia, but yet the dynamic between the two of you has never really changed. You’ve always considered yourself very lucky for having a friend like her in your life. From the day you met her in your English class, it was like seeing someone you had already known your entire life; it was always that easy to be with her.

You two became inseparable from day one.

Looking back, it’s crazy for you to realize how well your high school plans with each other had turned out. Most people you know had those friends in school they only really talked to because they saw them five times a week. But as soon as graduation came by they parted their ways and became only good nostalgic memories for one another. With the two of you, everything just worked out.

You both got into the university you wanted, ready to get matching art degrees. On your second year of college, you moved in together. And halfway through the course, Nia just dropped out to enroll on an eighteen months film school. And that’s when she met Nate.

You always knew she was destined to be that kind of person who just has one great love in her life. Which was funny considering that anyone who spent over five minutes with her and Nate in the same room could swear they would never work together. They just were those kinds of couples who are the polar opposite of each other.

Nia was a little social butterfly, who could start a conversation with anyone about anything. She could talk for hours with the old ladies at the grocery store about how the new brands of beans are just not as good as the ones not as well known. Or chat with the yoga moms about a new reality show that had premiered on Netflix. She loved experimenting on new things, trying out new recipes or mix distinct colors together on her clothes.

Nate, on the other hand, just wasn’t much of a talker at all. Since the start of their relationship, he often stops by at your apartment -wearing a different shade of grey every time - but it would be a lot to say that you two have had a conversation for longer than five minutes. He just mostly kept it to himself.

They balanced each other, which is why they worked so well.

It would be a lie for you to say you didn’t think about having something like that for you. You thought maybe you just weren’t the kind of person to have one meaningful relationship in your life. And that was okay. You’d like to think you’re better off on your own, anyway. But now and then you wondered how it would be to fall asleep in someone’s arms every day.

But you tried your best to keep those thoughts locked away in the back of your head. You knew that for the most part love is not really meant to last, Nia was just part of the lucky few.

The atmosphere in your shared apartment was cozy, as you waited for Evan and his friend to arrive before you started the pizza hangout, as Nia called it.

You both had spent the day tidying up the place, trying to decorate it a bit with some fairy lights and nice pillows you found in your room. It had been a long time since you had done any kind of social gathering in your home, and Nia wanted everything to be perfect. She even insisted on making the pizzas herself, which took most part of the afternoon, and a lot of bossing around on her part.

By the time the food was in the oven and the only thing left to do was wait, her boyfriend joined the two of you.

She was very talkative and bubbly, as she usually is, getting the wine bottles she selected for the evening and placing them on the counter as she chatted with him. It was nice seeing her back do being her usual self after such a stressful week.

You got the right amount of glasses, placing them next to the bottles, as you hummed along to the Declan Mckenna’s voice playing in the background. You weren’t really paying attention to Nia’s babbles, catching a word or two as she rambled about some dolphin documentary she had to watch for one of her classes. Pouring out a glass for yourself, you looked over to Nate who had a puzzled look on his face, as he tried to make sense of whatever rant his girlfriend had going on. You took a sip of your wine, and laughed lightly at yourself at the contrast between the two of them, something you had always found very amusing to observe. But before you could go further into your thoughts, the sound of the buzzer took over the small apartment.

“They’re here!” Nia gushed, as she quickly made her way out of the kitchen to get the front door, yelling back at you to get the pizzas out of the oven.

“Yes, ma’am,” you teased after she left, earning a light chuckle from Nate.

Making your way around the kitchen, you took out kitchen gloves that had figures of little chicks printed on them, giving one last check inside the oven to make sure everything was ready, before opening it and taking out the food. You could hear Nia greeting Evan excitedly in the background, as she rushed him and his friend to come inside. As their voices got closer, you turned your back to the entrance, concentrating on not burning yourself while you placed both pizzas on top of the counter.

“There’s our star!” You heard Evan’s loud voice taking over the kitchen space, making you look over your shoulder and laugh at him.

You turned around while taking off the gloves, as he pulled you into a tight hug, the strong scent of his cologne invading your nostrils. He wasn’t much taller than you, making him being considered short for a man. But his presence in a room was always so loud and bright that he seem much bigger than he actually is. You pulled back and looked at him, suddenly feeling underdressed in your own home. His entire outfit was bright red, being consisted of a jean jacket and silk pants, his eyes matching with vibrant eyeshadow taking over his whole eyelids.

“It’s very nice to see you again Evan,” you smiled at him, his hands still holding onto your shoulders as he looked warmly at you. “It’s been too long! You look fabulous!”

“Oh honey, you flatter me too much! It’s why I love coming here,” he scoffed playfully, coming to your side and wrapping one arm over your shoulder as he guided you. “But tonight is not about me, unfortunately. It’s about the two of you.”

As you finally moved your attention to the kitchen entrance, you realized another presence standing there. A man, who you assumed was Evan’s friend, already smirking down at you as both of you approached him.

You suddenly felt nervous under his stare while you could hear Evan commenting on something you didn’t really pay attention to. You had been taken completely by surprise by the man standing in front of you. Sure, Nia had mentioned to you once or twice that he was good looking, but you were not expecting this.

It was a weird feeling, being this affected by someone you had just met, but you would have to be blind not to notice. His face was beautiful, a sharp jawline contrasting his soft skin, his fingers poked at his bottom lip as he smirked, you could notice the hint of a dimple forming on his cheek. His hair was short, but still long enough to see the shape of slight curls forming in it, some locks falling charmingly against his forehead. But what hit you the most were his eyes, thanks to the dim lighting you couldn’t really tell if they were a shade of forest green or more of a hazel tone, but you could feel your cheeks warming up from the way he watched you as you got closer.

His shoulders were broad, as he was leaning against the entrance, the hand that wasn’t poking at his lip resting inside the pocket of his brown pair of trousers. He wore a blank white shirt, partly tucked in, underneath a beige cardigan. The sleeves had been rolled up to his elbows, making you notice the tattoos hugging the skin of his arms. You felt a curious wish to know how many more you could find under all the layers of clothing..

As you and Evan got closer, he moved from his leaning position to stand tall in front of you. The smile never leaving his lips, and his eyes still watching you closely.

“So, darling, meet Harry,” Evan spoke up, gesturing you towards his friend. “He’s a pest, but I’m sure you’ll get along just fine”

“Way to give a first impression, E,” Harry rolled his eyes at his friend’s teasing, before turning his attention back to you. He moved closer, embracing you into a side hug “S lovely to meet you-”

You quickly cleared your throat, afraid that your voice would give you away, before saying your name. The attempt didn’t really seem to work, as your words came out higher than you had intended. You could feel Nia’s gaze turning to you on the corner of your eye, but tried your best to ignore it. He repeated it, before shooting a smile in your direction, the sound of his deep voice and the way his lips circled around the words making the hairs behind your neck rise.

“Okay! So how about we move this party to the living room?” Nia’s voice broke into the atmosphere. “Everyone can get their wine glasses and make themselves comfortable while y/n and I finish arranging the pizzas.”

She shot you a knowing look, before moving to get the wine bottles and handing them to Nate. Everyone shifted to get their glasses and settle in the other room, leaving you and Nia alone.

You moved to get the knives and looked at the pizzas standing on the counter in front of you, calculating how you could cut out even slices on each. You could see your friend from the corner of your eye leaning on the counter staring directly at you.

“You know you can’t fool me even for a second, miss,” she teased, you could hear the smirk on her voice.

“I’m not doing anything,” you murmured, still not looking in her direction. She scoffed, elbowing you lightly as she mimicked you, saying your name in a high-pitched voice. You shot her a dirty look before shushing her, afraid the guest in the other room could hear her teasing. “I didn’t sound like that!”

“Oh please! You should have seen how you looked at him!” She rolled her eyes at you, “thought you were gonna drop down on your knees right then and there!”

“Nia!” you screamed in a whisper, your cheeks warming up at her words as you pinched her, making her squeal. You quickly shot a look at the entrance to see if anyone might’ve heard her, but they seemed to be enrolled in their own conversation. “Let’s just get this done quickly before they suspect we’re in here for too long.”

“Okay, cheeky girl,” she bit her lip and moved to get a knife to cut one pizza, but still eyeing you with a slight smile, leaning in one last time, “but I told you he was cute.”

Eventually, the two of you finished sorting out the pizza slices and joined everyone in the living room. Nia then rushed to join her boyfriend on the loveseat, leaving the only spot available for you being between Harry and Evan on the couch. She shot you a teasing smile, but you tried your best to ignore it and focus on finishing the wine glass you had poured for yourself earlier.

“Okay, so I’m going to need everyone to eat the food and tell me how good it is,” Nia pointed out to the center table where the pieces of pizza laid upon, “I’ve spent the entire afternoon on these babies, so eat up!”

“You know that I’ve helped you with them, right?” you added, squinting your eyes at her, “some credit wouldn’t hurt.”

“You only laid the toppings on the dough so they would look even,” she snapped back pointing a finger at you, “I did all the hard work, so shush it.”

But before anyone could move to get a slice, Evan was already stretching out his arms to stop you from moving. “Wait a second,” he spoke, “I feel like I’ve watched enough seasons of MasterChef to be the first one to judge.”

“I mean, you are the best critic I know,” Nia pointed, leaning in to get a slice and offering to Evan, “but again, I don’t really know any other critics.” She humored as he took the food, making a show of analyzing it.

Everyone waited expectantly as Evan bit into the pizza slice, keeping a straight face that didn’t reveal much of his opinions. Nia leaned in his direction, nervously biting her bottom lip as she waited for his final verdict.

“You have to be honest,” she warned, observing him, “but know that I can get my feelings hurt pretty easily.”

“I don’t mind that,” Evan finally said, straightening his posture as he looked back to Nia’s waiting eyes, “I’ll say that it’s not the best pizza I’ve ever had,” he announced, “but it works.”

“You know what, I take it,” everyone laughed lightly as Nia visibly released a breath she had been holding in, “It’s not a bad review for a first time.”

The hours went by quickly as you eased into a conversation with everyone. It was nights like this you missed the most when the stress of all the accumulative work weighted on your shoulders. Having a more of a cool night to hangout with a few friends, drinking some wine and chatting about whatever topic came to mind.

As time passed, you could tell Nia and Evan got more agitated, probably due to the amount of wine they had consumed without even realizing. They chatted excitingly about Midsommar, their voices raising a bit too loud. But every time you tried to shush them, jokingly reminding of the neighbors next door, they would soon forget about it again. You watched them babble, giggling when they would get excited on a certain topic and start to trip over a few words.

You also felt lighter because of the alcohol, not as much as them, but still enough so you could feel your chest warmer and your mind a bit dizzy. You still felt an annoying tingle at the pit of your stomach when you felt Harry’s eyes fixating on you when you spoke, or when your hands brushed as you reached for the bottle at the center table. It was silly, and it made you feel like a teenager being in the presence of an attractive boy for the first time.

When it all quiet down eventually, Nia had dragged Evan to her room so he could give an insight on how she could decorate it. It was something she would do now and then, give her room a big renovation so the change in the space could make her more motivated, or something like that. Sometimes, if she felt inspired enough, she would change around the living area or even your own room - when you allowed her, of course.

Nate was still sitting on the loveseat looking like he was about to fall asleep at any moment as he scrolled through his phone. He hadn’t spoken a lot during the night, which wasn’t unusual for him, but he still managed to chat for a bit.

That left you and Harry alone sitting on the main couch, with one person less it left you enough space to cross your legs, making yourself more comfortable. He was sitting on his side, his back resting on the big pillows by the arm of the couch, his chest turned towards you.

You reached for the wine bottle at the center table, realizing there was just a bit left, enough for a last glass for the two of you. “Wanna help me finish it?” You turned to him with the bottle in your hand. He had a smile resting on his lips, as he raised his glass toward you so you could pour the liquid into it. You could tell his eyes were a bit cloudy, but you knew none of you had had enough to be drunk.

“Thank you, love,” he said, the raspiness on his voice as he spoke the pet name making the hairs in the back of your neck rise. You poured yourself the rest of the wine left, emptying the bottle as you settled it back where you got it. “Should we make a toast?”

“Sure,” you replied easily, smiling at him, “what should we toast for?”

He looked away, puckering his lips slightly as he made a puzzled expression, a hand scratching at his chin as if in deep thought. You giggled at his dramatics before he pointed his finger up, his face turning into a big smile. He raised his glass in your direction, as you did the same. “A toast for being husband and wife?”

You chuckled, clinking your glasses together, “that’s fair,” you said, “ ‘s why we’re here after all, isn’t it?” you joked, taking a sip of your drink before settling it down on your lap.

“Sure is,” he mimicked, rising his glass to his lips, a smirk still adorning them as he managed to not break eye contact. He took a small sip before settling his glass back on the table. He scratched the tip of his nose slightly with the side of his finger, before he relaxed back on the couch. “So” he spoke up, bringing your attention to him, “E told me you’re an actual actress,” he raised his eyebrows at you, “made me a bit nervous, love.”

“That right there is a lie,” you chuckled, biting your lip and shaking your head. “I used to do theatre back in the day, haven’t done any acting for years though.”

“A theatre kid, huh?” He laughed as you rolled your eyes jokingly.

“I’m aware we have a poor reputation, yes,” you said, “I reckon we deserve it, but we weren’t that bad, I promise.”

He giggled, making your heart skip a beat at the sound. His smile was something you could easily get used to, the way it formed crinkles in his eyes and the dimples deep on his cheeks. You had to stop yourself for staring too much, moving your gaze to the glass on your lap.

“People are too harsh on theatre kids,” he reassured, “I think it seems pretty fun — only time I did it was when I played Elvis when I was about five, I think.” He added, resting his arm against the couch, his hand just a few inches away from your shoulders. “Had the time o’my life though.”

“You got main character though, that’s impressive,” you expressed, raising a hand to poke at his side playfully. “Have you done anything since your big debut as the king?”

“Can’t say I have, no,” he chuckled, “guess this is my big comeback, maybe I’ll get a call from broadway soon.”

“I’m sure you will!” You giggled, taking another sip from the glass in your hand.

You found it easy to dive into a conversation with him. You were both giggly from the wine, but it still seemed like you could stay like this for hours on end, just talking to each other.

He told you he wasn’t planning on doing the film, considering he never really thought about acting. But when Evan asked him if he could be part of it, he saw how desperate he was to fill the role, so he agreed. It warmed your heart to hear how fondly he spoke about his friend, telling you how willing he was to help, even if it involved doing something out of his comfort zone.

You two bounded over your mutual wish to become teachers. You found out he was studying Literature, a choice that for him as an easy one, considering throughout his life he had always been an avid reader. He said no matter how harsh thing got, he always found an escape between books, you could tell how passionate he was about it as he spoke about his favorite reads.

Eventually, you could hear voices coming closer from Nia’s room, as they seemed to be gushing about the filming that was starting soon.

As Evan came into the room, he made his way to the couch, placing his hand on Harry’s shoulders. “Honey, as much as I wish we could stay here ‘til dawn, I’m afraid we must get going.”

With his declaration, everyone moved around to gather the dishes splattered across the center table to put it all at the kitchen counter. After some insisting -mostly on Harry’s part- on helping with cleaning, you convinced them you two could handle the task just fine. And they were the guests, after all.

Finally, you said your goodbyes, pulling Evan on a small hug, assuring him you’d do your best to do his script justice.

And as you came to face Harry, he leaned into a hug, giving you a last kiss on the cheek, before telling you how lovely it had been to meet you.

You had woken up with your door opening abruptly, making you jump a bit from the sudden change in the peaceful atmosphere from your deep slumber. Before you could process the situation in hand, Nia was already pulling out the covers and spitting out words at a faster pace than you could comprehend in your mind state.

“Get up already! We are very late,” She urged as you lazily scratched at your eyes before sitting up to look at her. “Evan is going to kill us!” She cried out.

Your head pounded slightly, making you search for your water bottle previously prompted by yourself the night before, knowing you would need it in the morning. You reached for it in your nightstand, taking big gulps as you watched amusingly Nia run around your room picking random clothes and throwing it in a duffel bag you had just noticed.

Resting the bottle down on your lap, you yawned lightly, still in the process of waking up. “Calm down Ni,” you mumbled, “We still have time, we’re only leaving at like, two.”

She looked back at you as if you had just slapped her across the face, your shirt falling partly from her hand. “It’s already one,” she informed, making your eyes bulge as you reached to check on your phone, confirming as it read 1:16pm. “We don’t even have our bags packed AND we got a sink full of dishes to wash.”

The minutes after that were rushed, as you two did your best to get ready as fast as possible. Mentally slapping yourself for leaving everything for the last minute, but still managing to pack your bag in record speed.

But as time passed and the list of things to do was still far from over, Nia phoned Evan and let him know you would need a few more hours to be ready to leave. To say he wasn’t the happiest about the news was an understanding, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.

A couple hours later you were finally packed, and after a quick stop to shop for road trip snacks you were off on the road.

You left much later than planned, and even if it wasn’t that much of a long drive, it was still 3 hours until you got there. The ride itself was mostly quiet, except from Lorde’s Melodrama playing softly in the background. You hummed along to the words, but apart from that there wasn’t a lot of talking between the two of you, all due to the limited amount of sleep you got from the previous night.

As you got closer, the scenery of open grass camps and blooming flowers at the peak of spring was a peaceful change of scene from the busy city streets you were used to. And when you finally got to the house, the sun was almost setting on the horizon. The sky being a satisfying mixture of blue and orange. There was a car already parked in, and as you got closer, you could see two figures sitting on the front stairs.

Getting out of the car, you quickly made your way to where they stood. “Have you been waiting long?” Nia asked as you got closer to them.

“Longer than I was planning to, I’ll say that,” Evan replied, taking off his sunglasses to greet you.

Harry came up from behind him, looking incredibly cozy wearing a knitted cream sweater. It took everything in you not to nuzzle on him as he met you with a quick embrace. You had to focus on keeping your breathing steady as you looked up at him when you parted. The sun coming from behind you doing wonders as it hit his face perfectly. His eyes were the prettiest shade of green as he smiled down at you before moving to greet Nia.

“We’ve been here fo’ ten minutes, don’t listen to him,” he assured with a small laugh.

The house itself was much bigger than you expected, it wasn’t huge, by any means, but you had pictured a small cottage with barely any space for the four of you. The place, however, was big enough for you to have your privacy but still small enough to feel cozy and welcoming.

You quickly found there were three rooms, and despite you arguing you didn’t mind sharing one with Nia, considering you two lived together, she still insisted that you and Harry had your own bedrooms. It was her way of thanking you for agreeing to help them.

After you got established in your respective room, you met everyone down at the kitchen. The place was loud with chatter as they played around while making dinner. Nia seemed to boss the boys around to cut the vegetables properly, as she concentrated on figuring out how to work the old stove. They laughed lightly as she cussed under her breath in frustration after another failed attempt. You watched quietly for a moment, before joining in to help her.

You finally turned the stove on with the help of a few matches you found laying on the counter, being able to cook with no more trouble. It was already getting late when you finished eating and gathered the dishes to lay them on the sink. Still, Nia insisted on watching one of the movies she had carefully selected on her extended collections of DvDs to bring with her.

You decided to make yourself some tea while the rest of them moved around to arrange themselves for the movie night. After offering if anyone else wanted a cup as well, you were met with Harry’s warm smile as he accepted shyly.

Soon enough everyone settled down on the big couch to watch the movie. Evan took his place on one of the armchairs, while Harry opted to sit by the end of the couch, setting his legs on the footrest in front of him. As you walked in with your mugs, he gazed up at you, shooting a soft smile and muttering a quick ‘thank you’ as you handed him his drink.

He patted the spot next to him, indicating for you to sit, to which you happily obliged.

“Wanna share?” he asked, holding up a blanket that lied at the arm of the couch. “There’s jus’ three of ‘em.”

“Sure,” you replied, moving to pull the blanket, so it was covering the two of you. You knew very well you could always get an extra one from one of the bedrooms, but you would never bring yourself to suggest it.

Finally, Nia entered the room with a small pack of m&m’s on one of her hands and the DvD case for ‘Love Actually’ on the other. She was quick to insert it on the player before settling down next to you. Pulling out the leftover blanket for herself, she lied down to rest her head comfortably on top of your legs.

It didn’t take long until she fell in deep slumber, cuddling up on your lap as soft snores left her lips. You pouted slightly down at her. The poor thing was exhausted from driving all the way, and the bad night of sleep the day before.

As the movie progressed, you could feel your eyelids getting heavier as well, the words coming from Keira Knightley’s mouth becoming more of a background noise as you fought to keep yourself awake. But before you could doze off, you felt Harry shifting slightly next to you. Suddenly feeling his arm hugging your shoulders, as he gently pulled you closer.

You moved your head to look at him but before you could say anything he shushed you softly and pulled you back in. “ ‘S fine, love,” he whispered, “can see that you’re tired.”

And with a half-woken mind and heavy eyelids you laid back on his shoulder and allowed yourself to snooze.

You woke up with him shifting again from under you, opening your eyes slowly to find the end credits rolling up the screen in front of you. You yawned lightly before sitting up, being careful not to wake a still-very-much-asleep Nia on your lap.

“Sorry,” you heard Harry say as you scratched at your eyes, “didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s fine,” you assured, your voice a bit raspy from your nap, “would have to happen, eventually.” You looked down at the unconscious girl lying on you, knowing you had to get her to bed so she could sleep properly. “We should wake her.”

“Want me to carry her to her room?” he asked.

“I think she’ll be okay,” you replied, gently calling her name so she could slowly wake up.

Surely, it didn’t take a lot of coaxing to get her eyelid to flutter open, as she lazily rose from her sleep.

You helped her to her room, afraid she’d trip down the stair in her hazy state of mind, still half asleep as she dragged her feet across the floor.

As soon as she laid down in her bed, you made your way back to the kitchen to fix yourself a glass of water so you could go to sleep.

It surprised you to find Harry still awake as you entered the space; he looked up at you from his position leaning on the counter with his phone in his hand. Quickly placing it in his back pocket as he saw you coming in, giving you a slight smile. “Thought you’d gone to bed.”

You reached for the cabinet Nia had pointed you to earlier where the cups were placed, picking one with little thought and closing it. “Just came here for a glass of water,” you spoke, moving the cup under the tap, “always have one next to my bed, y’know, in case I get thirsty and stuff.” You shook your head slightly, not wanting to ramble about the benefits of staying hydrated during the night just to make a conversation.

“Smart girl,” he joked, causing you to chuckle as you felt blush creeping out on your cheeks. You could see him coming closer to stand next to you from the corner of your eye, which didn’t help the tingly feeling forming at the pit of your stomach. “Excited fo’ tomorrow?” he asked, crossing his arms on top of the counter as he leaned next to you.

“Guess I am,” you answered, looking up at him and finding he was closer than you had realized. You smiled nervously as you met his eyes gazing down at you, before clearing your throat lightly. “What about you?”

“To be honest ‘m a bit nervous, love,” he confessed.

“Why’s that?”

“I mean,” he started, his eyes still fixed on you, “ ‘s not every day I get to pretend ‘m married to a pretty girl like you.”

You could feel your heart skip a beat as he reached one of his hands to move a strand of your hair behind your ear. He kept his hand on your cheek just as his eyes seemed to gaze down at your lips, so subtly that it felt like you might’ve imagined it.

The silence in the room was loud as you could almost hear your heartbeat pounding in your ears, as he leaned down just barely, getting closer to you. He looked down one more time at your lips, this time making sure you realized the unspoken question behind that action. You suddenly felt water pouring through your fingers, as the forgotten cup in your hand overflowed. This caused you to jump back a bit, quickly turning the tap off and resting the glass on the counter.

“Oh my god,” you squeak, reaching out for a towel right next to the sink to dry your hand. “I’m sorry, that was-” you chuckled, glancing at Harry who seemed to watch you with an amused expression. “That was awkward, sorry.”

“No need to apologize,” He assured, picking the full glass and moving it in the counter so it was out of your reach. “ ‘t was actually quite cute,” he moved closer to you again, reaching his hand to hold at your jawline.

You held back your breath as you felt his own hitting the top of your upper lip, your noses brushing slightly.

“Been wanting to do this fo’ a bit now, love,” he spoke a bit above a whisper, his deep voice sending chills down your spine and making you grab at his sweater, ”would you let me?” his thumb caressed your cheek lovingly, “would you let me kiss you?”

You could feel your heart beating strongly against your rib cages, swallowing hard as you looked up at him. He was watching you closely, his dark emerald irises gazing down at you as your lips barely brushed. You nodded at him, trying to pull him closer.

“Use your words, darling,” he insisted, not budging from his position. “Wanna hear you say it.”

“Please, Harry I-” you moved your hand to grasp on his waist, “just —kiss me.”

Giving a satisfied hum, he finally leaned down, closing the space between the two of you. His hand remained stroking your cheek softly, as the other sneaked under your neck.

He moved his lips ever so slightly, his cupid bow founding its way above your inner lip, sucking on it gently. The kiss was teasingly slow, making you hyper aware of all of your senses. Your hands feeling the soft fabric of his sweater, grabbing at it as if asking for more.

He moved the hand on your neck, pulling gently at your hair, making you angle your head up a bit. As his tongue poked to lick at your bottom lip, you opened your mouth, deepening the kiss.

You stayed like this for a while, pressed against the kitchen wall as you enjoyed the taste of each other.

When you pulled back, he splattered a few kisses along your cheek, giving one last peck on your mouth before pulling back.

“As much as I don’t want to end this now,” he muttered, moving his hand, so they were both holding your cheeks, “We should get some sleep fo’ tomorrow.”

“We should,” you agreed.

“We’ll get the chance to do this again,” he said, making you bite down a smile at the innuendo behind his words.

He gave you one last kiss before pulling away completely, reaching for the glass of water you had already forgotten about on the counter and handing it to you.

You walked back to your rooms without saying a word, but still sharing glances and smiles along the way. And as you got to your respective rooms, you whispered quiet good nights before parting ways and closing the door behind you.

The days that followed were rushed, considering the filming had officially started. You two barely had the chance to be alone again, which was disappointing. But still you couldn’t find yourself time to miss the feel of having his soft lips against yours, considering the scenes you had with each other. What you did miss was being able to kiss him without it being written in a piece of paper, or having someone from outside tell you to. You missed the intimacy of feeling his tongue meet your own and having his hands pulling you close as you both craved for more. You missed the shared secret between just the two of you, that was knowing how it felt to have him all to yourself.

It was discomforting, earning for someone you barely even know. Jumping into a feeling you know there’s no way can end well. You both were playing characters. Lovers, yes, but it was all pretend. It didn’t help that he was so good at it. In front of the cameras he would be so loving that you often wondered how much of it was just part of the act.

It was subtle things that made you think of it, like a glance across the room between takes. Him leaning close to you every time they called you to watch back something you had just recorded. Or when he sucked in your lip during a scene, so softly you could barely notice but still made your heart skip a beat.

But as much as it was nice to pretend that you two had some shared secret, you knew that the most likely scenario was that he was just doing his work and being friendly. So you tried your best to convince yourself that all of it was just your mind playing tricks, this way you could prevent yourself from inevitably getting hurt. That encounter in the kitchen was most likely his way of making things less awkward to when you inevitably would have to do it in front of a camera. That was it, nothing more.

It seemed to have worked pretty well, you two had the chemistry Evan hoped for when he wrote his script. Nia kept teasing you with every given opportunity. You didn’t tell her about the late night kitchen situation, but you knew she could sense the ‘chemistry’ was not simply because you two were just that good at acting. No one was complaining though, considering everything was going so smoothly they suspected it could be wrapped up even earlier than expected.

Every time they would mention the possibility, you found yourself wishing deep down something would set you back on the schedule. You felt bad for it, and you never voice your inner thoughts, but you knew wrapping up early meant going home early, and you were getting a bit too comfortable getting to act all loved up on camera.

As if some kind of outer force had listened to your wishes, just as you were halfway throughout the week, mother nature seemed to be your biggest ally.

You had just woken up with the annoying tune of your alarm clock, one you had chosen for finding it soothing at first. But you soon found that those sounds are not meant to feel soothing at all, as it woke you from your deep slumber. You were quick to turn it off before rubbing your eyes softly and enjoying the warmth of your bed for a few more minutes. You could hear the gentle sounds of raindrops hitting your window, but barely paid any attention to it as you rose lazily, stretching your arms above your head.

Making your way down the stairs you first noticed Evan standing by the big window in the living room, looking out with a hand resting on his hip and the other one holding a mug. Behind him, in one of the armchairs, sat Harry, also drinking out of a mug as he read a book quietly. But as if he felt your presence as you got to the bottom of the staircase, he looked up, smiling at you as you made your way into the room.

“G’morning,” he spoke, alerting the man by the window of your presence as he turned around to look at you.

“Good morning,” you said back, before realizing the worried expression on Evan’s face, “is everything okay?”

“A disaster just happened, honey, look out the windows!” he snapped, gesturing behind him where you could see the rain hitting the glass. The sky was dark with clouds, suggesting it was just the beginning of the storm that was to come. You looked back with a puzzled expression, knowing the weather was not the best, but as far as you remembered you had already shot all the scenes you needed outside. Evan rolled his eyes, “our natural light is gone, honey, it’s too dark to shoot!” he barked.

“Hey, no need to yell at her like tha’,” Harry looked back at his friend, attempting to calm him down, “ ‘s fine, we were early on schedule anyway, one day is not gonna delay it.”

He shot a look at Harry, his hand finding its way back on his waist as he let out a deep breath. “I’m sorry, this is just incredibly frustrating.”

You smiled at him to assure it was fine, knowing how much stress he was putting on because of this project. “Doesn’t Nia have one of those light things you were using the other day to make the scene brighter?” You suggested.

Evan sighed, “that’s a reflector, it just— well, reflects the light, we would need the sun for it to work, and seems like she’s not showing her face anytime soon,” he weightened his shoulders down, clearly feeling defeated. “I guess today is our off day — we should use it to pray for sunlight tomorrow, otherwise I’m pulling my hair off.”

When Nia woke up, you could tell she was not happy at all with the news that filming had to be cancelled for the time being. She spent the whole breakfast whining and crying about the poor weather. You tried your best to console her, but knowing your friend you knew her dramatics showed off when she worried about something. She tended to overthink every scenario that could go wrong, which did nothing to help the pressure she put on herself.

The day went on as eventless as it possibly could, the rain outside just seeming to get angrier as time passed by. You did your best to distract Nia from her own head, asking her about the recent documentaries she had watched, knowing she could go on tangents for hours. You talked about crime shows you have started before filming and shared different theories you had on them. You even listened to her deep analysis of trashy reality shows she loved to watch and always tried to drag you to get into it.

You talked and talked with no end, considering there wasn’t much else to do. Nia’s aunt hated computers and refused to install any kind of wifi, leaving you with a shitty connection that barely loaded a five-minute video.

As the evening came by, and the raindrops still hit angrily at the windows, you decided to watch another movie — this time it was Evan’s choice of Freaky Friday.

You volunteered to grab the blankets from the cabinets on the second floor, while Nia excitedly announced she would make popcorn for everyone.

Quickly moving along the hallway, you made your way in front of the doors and opened them. You could hear footsteps coming up the stairs as you tiptoed to reach the top shelf where the soft blanket you had used the first night lied on top of.

“Need help?” You heard a voice approach, looking over your shoulder to find Harry walking towards you with an amused expression on his face. You nodded, chuckling as you quickly stepped out of the way to allow him to take your place. He reached up, easily retrieving the blanket and giving it to you.

“Thank you,” you muttered, looking up at him for a moment.

“No problem, darlin’,” he said, fetching two other blankets before closing one door with a swing of his hip. You closed the other one with a small giggle. You started to quietly move along towards the staircase when he cleared his throat, causing you to look up at him. He kept his gaze down before speaking softly, “After the movie, think I’ll go back to my room a bit early,” he looked at you for a moment, “ ‘f you want to join me.”

You stopped walking to look at him arching your eyebrows surprised, not expecting this kind of proposal at this moment. He stopped a step ahead of you, staring back with nervous eyes and shooting you a shy smile. “I’m not saying we have to do anything, I just-” he spluttered, “just wanted to be with you, without the camera and stuff.”

You smiled at him, “of course,” you voiced, “sounds nice.”

Shortly, you found yourself in the same position as the first day. Sharing a blanket with Harry, but this time Nia was wide awake next to you with a bucket of popcorn plopped on her lap. Some people would consider her to be the worst kind of person to watch movies with, considering she would always get too excited and comment on every scene she could. You had gotten so used to it with time, that it felt weird watching a movie without her voice interrupting a scene every five minutes.

It got hard to concentrate on this one in particular, and not because of Nia’s speaking over the lines, but the sudden feeling of Harry’s hand resting on your knee halfway through it. Your legs were crossed on top of the couch, making part of it rest slightly on top of his as he eased his thumb over your skin.

As time passed, he moved his hand up a bit, finding its final place on your inner thigh, causing goosebumps to arise on the back of your neck as he caressed it softly. You caught yourself holding your breath multiple times, something he was also probably aware of, considering the position of his arm on the side of your chest.

The tension between you two was almost palpable as the end credits rolled up. At that point you had prompted yourself to lean your head on his shoulders. He grasped your skin slightly before removing his hand and motioning his position to get up, making you pull back from him.

“‘m going back to my room now,” he announced as he got up, shooting you a knowing look, “g’night.”

You stayed back for a few minutes so as not to look too suspicious, folding up the blanket you had used and scrolling through your phone for a bit. Not long after you excused yourself, climbing the stairs two steps at a time.

You found him in the hallway, leaning in on the wall right next to his door as he looked down on his phone. As he felt your presence he gazed up, grinning softly before bringing his finger above his lips as to warn you to stay quiet.

The two rushed inside his room, trying to be as quiet as possible, considering your friends downstairs could come up at any second. He closed the door behind him, looking right at you as he leaned back. His room was similar to yours, the difference being a few more clothes lying on top of the small couch standing at the corner. The curtains hanging on the big windows were pushed open, allowing the moonlight from the now-clear sky to illuminate the place.

Your breath got caught in your throat as you stared back at him, meeting his dark irises. He started stepping closer to you until he could lean his forehead against yours. His hands found their way caressing your jawline, one of them going as far as to pulling lightly on the hair above your neck. You held your breath, gazing up at him as you waited for his next move.

He smiled lazily, brushing his nose against your softly before placing a peck to the corner of your lips. He was teasing you, his hand leaving your hair to find its way down your body, paying special attention to the side of your breast before placing itself holding your waist.

You swallowed dryly, feeling your heart speed up as you pulled him closer, wanting desperately to close the space between the two of you. Too scared that your voice would give out your desperation, you moved one of your hands to the back of his neck and pulled him in. He didn’t think twice before finally closing the space and allowing you to feel his lips against yours.

The kiss started slow, both of you still trying to figure it out how it was to taste each other like this. His lips were soft, moving teasingly as he sucked on your bottom lip. Your hand pulled his hair gently, causing him to whine into mouth, licking at your tongue as he deepened the kiss. The hand on your waist moved up, caressing the side of your breast softly as he tried to pull you in as close as possible.

He started easing you backwards, considering neither of you were willing to break the kiss to watch where you were going. You felt the mattress of his bed hitting the back of your knees. You allowed him to lay you into the bed, parting for a moment so you could move upwards, laying your head on the pillows. Shortly enough he joined you, placing his elbows on both sides of your head, not wasting any time before closing the space between your mouths again.

The two of you stayed like this for a while. Slowly kissing each other, as your arm found its way back behind his neck and one of his hand caressed your cheek. You could get used to this, with him being the only thing you could sense. His taste. His touch. His scent.

He was all you could think about.

When you finally pulled back, you could see his red, puffy lips even with the limited amount of lighting going into the room.

He looked into your eyes for a moment, “you look so pretty like this, darling,” he murmured, his voice just above a whisper, sending chills down your spine. “Could eat you up.”

A small whimper left your mouth, as he dove back in to spread kissed along your cheek and down your throat. You bit hard into your lip and swallowed back a moan as he sucked in a spot right below your jawline. You could feel him grinding his hips down on your tights, making you aware of the growing bulge inside his sweats.

You placed your hand on his shoulders, pushing him gently and disconnecting him from your neck. He pulled back, looking back at you with a puzzled look. You kept pushing him until his shoulders hit the mattress, reverting the previous position you both were in, as you stranded his waist.

Looking down at him, you wanted so badly to discover his body, to make him feel good. So you took the same position he had on you. Placing your lips against his neck and running your tongue against it, sucking in his skin. You kept doing it as your hand smoothed down his body, finding the hem of his shirt and lifting it enough so you could scratch at his love handles. He gave you a small moan, a sound so delicious to hear you that made you want to swallow him whole.

Both his hands found their place on your waist, pressing you down so you could feel his need between your tights. You quickly pulled your head from his neck, giving him a soft peck on the lips.

“Please, love, just-” he grunted, looking up at you with pleading eyes. “Just do something, please, I-“

His hands gripped tightly on your waist as you rolled your hips against him. Neither of you could contain your moans as you repeated the movement, even fully clothed his bulge rubbed deliciously against the place you needed it the most.

You leaned down again, this time pushing his shirt up as you made your way down his body, splattering open-mouthed kisses along his warm chest. You paid a special mind to the tattoos you met along the way, sucking spots over the wings of a butterfly inked on his stomach. As you licked along the leaves of the ferns that adorned his love handles, you felt one of his hands tangling in your hair, his hips rising slightly as he whimpered.

“A bit impatient, you are,” you spoke, feeling his belly tighten as you placed a playful bite under his belly button, causing another moan to leave his lips.

“Darlin’, please,” he whined, “Just- fuck, just need you right now.”

You decided not to tease him for too long, considering you needed it just as much as he did. Finally, you moved down once more to place a kiss above the hard on over his pants. He lifted his head, watching your every move as his hand that was placed on your hair pushed some strands away from your forehead. You wrapped your hand around the hem of his sweats, rising your eyebrows at him as you felt he wasn’t wearing any underpants. The thought of having such easy access to him making you press your thighs together, feeling your wetness already damping your underwear

Slowly, you bit your bottom lip, keeping your gaze focused on him as you moved his sweats down, he raised his hips as to help you out. Once his cock was fully out, you stared back down at it lying proudly against his stomach. You ran your fingers gently along his length, causing him to hold his breath, his abdomen tightening once more. He was definitely bigger than anyone you had ever been with, causing your mouth to water a bit and your thighs to press together once again at the thought of fully having him.

You could feel him peering down at you as you wrapped your hands around the base and applied the smallest amount of pressure. The precum was already escaping from the tip and sliding down the tiniest bit.

Moving your head forward you looked back at his waiting eyes, spitting on top of the head as you moved your hand up caressing it. This time he gave you an actual moan, throwing his head back at the pillows behind him.

Looking down at him, you didn’t know where to place your lips first, wanting to bite and lick every part of his body. Finally deciding on sucking a spot on his thigh, right next to where rested an ink of a tiger head.

You kept the movement of your hand, twisting it and applying more pressure eventually as you watched him shift around under you. He raised his hips slightly as he pleaded under his breath for more, his hand firmly on top of your head as the other was thrown above his own.

You moved your thumb to run across his slit, caressing the head with a flick of your wrist as you moved your mouth to place kisses at the base. At this point he became a moaning mess, throwing his arm over his mouth as to muffle the sounds while you licked up his shaft.

“God- fuck- such a good girl,” he moaned on his arm, moving it out of the way so he could look down at you. “Doing so good, you feel so good- shit.”

Smiling at him, you jerked him off a couple of times before resting your hand at the base so you could replace it with your mouth.

You licked around his head, giving it a small kiss before you moved down as far as you could go. He cried out, tightening his grip on your hair and moving his hips up to meet your movements as you sucked on him.

He was desperate to reach his climax, and you were desperate to see him cum undone under your touch. So you started speeding up, your mouth licking at his veins, your hand helping you as you moved it along his dick. He was cursing and moaning over you, pleading for you not to stop. You kept moving your hand as you licked at his head once more before detaching so you could look up at him with pleading eyes.

“Almost there?” you asked, having him nod frantically at you, “will you let me have a taste?”

That seemed to do it for him, as he pushed your head back down, making you attach your lips to his head as you felt him shoot his load inside your mouth. You milked him as he came down from his high, feeling his softness on your lips as you swallowed down.

You sat up and looked down at his hazy eyes while he calmed down with heavy breaths. He adjusted his sweats quickly before moving himself up to pull you in for a frantic kiss. “God, darling, you’re a dream,” he spoke between kisses, his hands gripping at your waist as he positioned you to lie on top of him, moving one of them under your shirt, pulling it up slowly.

You quickly placed your hand on top of his stopping him from going further as you detached from him. He furrowed his brows at you. “I should go back to my room,” you said, “got an early day tomorrow.”

He gave you a puzzled look, “but you still haven’t- “

“it’s okay,” you interrupted, moving to get up from his bed, suddenly feeling nervous under his gaze, “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? Good night!”

You left his room before he could protest, wanting to slap yourself from running away like this.

The next morning was thankfully much brighter than the one before, with sunlight shining through the windows at the earliest hours. You didn’t get a lot of sleep, tossing and turning around, replaying the previous night in your head. The thought of what could’ve happened if you had stayed imprinted itself in your mind. You started to overthink it. What did he even think of you? After running away like that?

Your thoughts consumed you as you sat in of the stools in the kitchen by yourself, for the first time being the first to be awake. Your coffee running cold by the minute, as you frowned to yourself, taking a sip every so often.

It didn’t take long until you didn’t find yourself alone anymore, having Evan join you as he happily cheered about the nice weather. You nodded along to him, not really in the mood for talking as you anxiously poked at your nails.

It was when you walked towards the sink to wash your used mug that you saw Harry walking into the kitchen. His hair messy and his eyes sleepy, making you annoyed at how charming he managed to look even after just getting out of bed.

He greeted you with a raspiness to his voice, his eyes lingering on you a moment too long as he smirked before moving to the cabinets. He stood next to you while you washed the dishes, grabbing himself a bowl while he worked on his breakfast.

Yours arms would brush every so often as you moved while doing your tasks, making you gaze at him. He kept a grin sitting on his face as he casually made a conversation with Evan, his dimple poking out the smallest bit, but still not looking back at you.

As soon as you were finished you left for your bedroom so you could get ready for the day, but not before sparing one last glance at Harry. This time his eyes were already trained on you as he chewed slowly his fruit salad. You felt your cheeks getting a bit warm from the eye contact, making you look down and leave the room with a speeding heart.

The work started early, as you ran around to keep up with the schedule after losing one day of productivity.

Harry seemed to be in it for teasing you. His touches lingered longer than needed. His kisses were harsher, the need behind them being almost palpable. His gaze on you told you something you couldn’t really tell exactly what it was. Lust? Desire? You weren’t entirely sure, but every time you caught him watching you felt a warmth take over your face.

In one occasion, between takes, as Nia and Evan discussed the best position for the camera considering her broken tripod. You stood awkwardly waiting for their instructions as you played with the hem of your dress. You could feel him staring closely, looking up to find him with the same smirk he gave you in the morning. He looked quickly over your friends who were still trying to figure out the problem before leaning up close to you “Still haven’t let me have a taste, love,” he said quiet enough to that just you could hear, the words sending a chill down your spine and making your core twitch as you glanced back at him.

That same night, after you announced you’d tuck yourself in, just as you changed into your pajama shorts, you heard a soft knock on your door. You opened up to see his darkened irises staring back at you as he quietly let himself in. And within a few minutes he found his place between your legs, your hand gripping tightly at his curls as you moaned into your pillow.

The following day wasn’t much different, starting with a tight filming schedule that was coming to a close end. An exchanging of glances across the room and yearning touches with underlying motives behind them. Ending with you lurking into his room at the dark hours of the night, craving-filled touched and muffled moans.

The wrap up of the film was welcomed with a bittersweet feeling settling itself in the pit of your stomach. Knowing as much as you were glad everything had gone as smoothly as possible during this week, it was time to leave it all behind.

You were nervous about how it would be with Harry after you got home. Was this the start of something that could potentially become a warm and beautiful feeling? Or was it just a lust-filled affair that would end as quickly as it had started? It made you anxious to think about it, not wanting to let go of it just yet.

Nia walked into the living room with two champagne bottles that had been brought up for this exact moment. The atmosphere was filled with chatter as everyone celebrated the end of the hard work.

You were dressed in the fanciest clothes you had brought on your rushed-packed bag, which consisted itself in a black blouse and a loose pair of pants you stole from Nia’s wardrobe a couple weeks prior. But you once again could not compete with Evan’s sense of style, as he seemed right out of a cover with a hot pink turtleneck under a sparkly black dress that hung all the way to his feet.

But you still couldn’t keep your eyes off of him.

You watched as he laughed along at something that had been said, his eyes meeting yours for a moment before fixing on Nia as she offered to serve him the champagne she had just opened.

He looked so good.

Like you, he didn’t opt for a very glam look, wearing a simple graphic white tee with a rainbow printed on it, and a simple pair of checked trousers. But as plain as someone could argue it was, he still managed to look incredibly inviting, which made it harder for you not to latch yourself onto him.

You were coming into your sixth or seventh glass when it all died down. Your head was fuzzy, and you felt giggly as you cheered along with everyone about the successful week you had. Nia had already gone back to her room. She didn’t drink as much considering she would have to drive early in the morning, wanting to leave most of the celebration for the premiere day.

The glances stolen between you and Harry were getting more frequent, the longing in each other's eyes visible with the effect of the alcohol.

He had you pressed up against your bedroom door as he sucked in your bottom lip harshly. His hands gripped at your waist tightly, putting his weight against you.

You wrapped your hand around his neck as the other pulled at his shirt desperately with the need of having him close. You felt overwhelmed by him in the nicest way. Having his hips pressing against your own, making you open your tights slightly as you felt his arousal straining on his trousers.

You whimpered into his mouth at the feeling, suddenly needing him as close as possible. You could tell his desperation matched your own by the way his hand pressed on the side of your body and his mouth moved against you. His groans getting lost in your throat every time you tangled your fingers on his roots, pulling at it.

“You’re gonna kill me like this, baby,” he breathed out, his lips moving against your wanting ones, “so fuckin’beautiful.”

You tried to keep your shaky hands steady as they travelled down his chest, scratching as his tummy lightly under his shirt before you began pulling it up. He detached from you to quickly reach over his shoulders and pull it off completely. He didn’t waste any time bringing his hand to unbutton your blouse, peppering kisses along your lips as he moved it down your shoulders, only to be met with your bare breasts underneath.

“Fuck me,” he groaned staring down at you, attaching your lips once again as he pulled you from the door as he fiddled with the zipper of your pants. You stumbled on each other's arms across the floor until you were met with the plush feeling of the bedcovers on the back of your thighs.

You stepped out of your pants as they got loose around your waist and fell damply to the floor, allowing Harry to push you gently into the mattress. He quickly got rid of his own trousers, wasting no time before towering above you, connecting your mouths once again.

It was like no matter how close you were, it still wasn’t good enough to satisfy the craving you had. You still wanted more. Needed more.

He was fully licking into you, his hands gripping your tights as he rolled his hips to meet yours. You moaned in unison at the feeling of your arousals meeting deliciously as he repeated the movement once more before parting your mouths so he could spread kisses along your neck.

“Harry,” you breathed out his name, dragging your nails along his back as you moved your hips up eagerly.

He moved his head from your neck o hover above yours, licking his lips teasingly as he looked down at you with dark eyes. He moved one of his hands to caress your cheek lovingly, as the other found your breast, his thumb grazing over your nipple. “Can I have a taste, baby?” he leaned his forehead against your, not breaking eye contact, “just a fo’a bit, then you can have me.”

You nodded frantically, brushing your nose against his. He gave you one last peck on the lips before moving down again to lick down at your skin. He pressed open-mouthed kisses at your chest, sucking harshly between your breasts. His tongue moved along your belly, craving his finger into it playfully like you had done to him, making you squeal above him.

He finally settled down between your thighs, his hand gripping at them to keep it apart before moving teasingly slow to the hem of your underwear. Your breath got caught in your throat as you moved up to lean on your elbows, gazing at him, hyper-aware of his every move.

He looked up, grinning like a devil, before moving his face down to nose gently at your mound. Pulling away, he pressed his hands on your sides, sliding your underwear off your legs as you helped him, raising your hips slightly.

You whimpered as you felt him kiss along your inner thigh, meeting your middle as licked you once. Your hips raised impatiently, making him smirk at you again before completely diving in.

You got lost in the pleasure as he licked his tongue into you, letting yourself fall back in the cushions behind your head. Your hand moved to grip at his hair tightly as he sucked in your clit, making you yelp and call out his name. His mouth was warm as his saliva mixed with your own wetness every time he licked into you.

Feeling your arousal pooling on your folds, you desperately needed to feel him as close as possible. Wanting every inch of him against you.

You pushed him from you, grabbing at his shoulder so he could move up to face you again. He didn’t protest, spattering quick kisses along the way before pressing his mouth against yours. The taste of champagne still lingering on your tongue mixed with your own taste on his as he licked into your mouth.

“y’taste so good, baby,” he groaned, parting from you as he moved to remove his briefs. The limited amount of light illuminated his face beautifully, making you able to notice the glistening of your juices down his chin. You felt your core twitch at the scene above you, desperate to have him fill you up.

“Please,” you urged him, grabbing at his hips to pull him down.

“Can I have you, darlin’?” His voice was raspy, as he looks down at you with hooded eyes, “‘d you let me?”

Your arousal blurred your mind, your grip on his waist tightened as you raised your hips impatiently, nodding along to his question.

“Have to hear you say it, love,” he spoke, leaning down to place kisses along your neck, “just say it, and you’ll have me.”

“You can have me, please, I-” you moaned desperately, babbling words without thinking, “I need you, please.”

He raised his head from your shoulders, giving you a quick peck before reaching down to guide his length between your folds. Your belly tensed as he rubbed his head against your clit, holding back your breath as he finally slid in you.

“Fuck, you’re wet,” he choked, pushing his hips all the way, allowing you to feel every inch of him fill you up. You breathed out a moan, reaching your hand on his back. “‘s this all fo’ me?”

You whined out a ‘yes’, rolling your hips as a way of urging him to move.

His movements began slow, his cock rubbing heavenly against your walls, making you clench around him. You both moaned and whimpered as your lips brushed.

“Can feel me deep?” He asked, resting his forehead against yours as he pushed his dick all the way in. You nodded, yearning for him to start moving again. “Can feel me in y’belly?”

“H, please,” you begged, gripping your nails on his shoulder blades.”Want you.”

“y’have me,” he kissed you hard before moving again, rolling his hips as he picked up the pace.

The air around you was hot as you threw your head back with the delicious feeling of him hitting the spot inside of you. He was addicting. The salty taste of his skin. The touch of his hands gripping on your sides. The smell of his cologne faintly mixed with sweat. The sound of his skin meeting yours. It made you earn for him in every possible way.

You felt your wetness dripping out of you as he pulled your leg up to your chest, allowing him to effectively hit deeper spots. The new position made a cramp start to creep up on your thight, but you ignored it to focus on the way his hips met yours.

Time seemed to pass like a blur as you pleasured each other, but soon enough you felt your orgasm building up. His thrusts became more frequent and smooth as he felt you clench more around him.

“that’s it, baby - fuck,” he grunted, moving his hand down to flicker your clit, causing to arch your back, moaning loudly. “Wanna feel you come for me.”

His cross necklace dangled over you as he watched you closely. You kept your gaze locked on his as you felt the feeling deep in your tummy take over your entire body. A moan got stuck in your throat as you opened your mouth to an ‘O’ shape, digging your nails further on his shoulders as you reached your high.

Getting home, you soon realized that throughout the week you had been so lost in your feelings with Harry that you didn’t even think of asking him for his phone number.

The month that followed passed by surprisingly quickly. During the first week you were swiftly thrown back again into your old reality of course essays and textbooks. You hadn’t heard a word from Harry, and the most frustrating part is that he seemed to have settled his place inside your thoughts. You tried asking about him to Nia once or twice again, but every time she seemed to come up with vague answers and change the subject, so you figured she had other things to worry about.

It was a disappointing end, to say the least. Even knowing from the start that being let down was the most possible outcome, it didn’t hurt any less. You often wondered if it had been something you’d done that made him pull away, or if he just wasn’t in it from the start.

By the second week you had gotten a job at a tiny local cafe you used to go after class to study and eat cinnamon rolls. That’s when time starting to rush by, as you found yourself busy through most of your day. Nia was working more than you’ve ever seen her. You two barely talked as she spent most of her time with Evan or inside her room editing. And as the week at the camp house got further away, it started to almost seem like you had imagined all of it.

Having a lot of distractions helped, but you never seemed to push the thought of a certain curly-haired boy completely away. Sometimes during a tedious lesson you would daydream about the feeling of his lips against yours. Or right before you fell asleep you would think about the taste of his skin, how strong his hand were gripping on your thighs. Maybe even at work. When there wasn’t a lot of movement, you could almost hear the sound of his voice.

It was aggravating, the effect he left on you. It got to a point where you got angry; sometimes at him but sometimes at yourself. He was the one who had gone after you, and yet he was the one who disappeared. But again, he didn’t really owe you anything, and that’s what’s frustrating. You were the one who allowed him; you knew from the start that you would get hurt but you still went for it, anyway.

As you got closer to the premiere night that was planned, you started to get anxious. You would catch yourself daydreaming more often, not being as focused as you were. You even started picking your nails again, which is a habit you thought you’d kick it a long time ago. But truth to be told, you were nervous.

The thought about seeing him again made your heart race. You wished that you could somehow find a way not to go. Maybe ask Nia if the two of you could have a private viewing. You had even thought about bribing her with making your mom’s brownie recipe. But you already knew the answer before you even suggested it. This was an important night for her, and you would be there to support it.

You were overthinking this. Was it going to be awkward when you met him? How would you even greet him? Would he kiss you? Would he ignore you? Should you ignore him? All the scenarios in your head made you want to throw up and run away.

When the two of you finally arrived, you were greeted by a cheerful Evan, who jokingly teased you for being late. As you got into his house, you found a bigger group than you expected. It seemed like you and Nia were the last ones to arrive, as there was around ten other people in there. Some of them you recognized from being Nia’s friends, others you had never seen, but none was the one you earned to see the most.

Evan guided you across the living room area, “I’ll show you the kitchen so you two can get some drinks,” He held up his glass as he spoke. Gesturing to the entrance of the room, “We’ll start everything in around ten minutes, so get ready.”

As you entered the kitchen behind Nia, you could feel her stiffen her posture a bit, before looking back at you. You frowned lightly at her, confused by her behaviour, gazing inside the room and finding immediately a pair of green eyes already watching you. It made you think back to the first time you were in this exact position, except in your own kitchen. This time, however, he was the one to approach you.

He looked really good, which did nothing to help the butterflies flying relentlessly in your stomach. He was in all black, a buttoned up shirt with a few buttons open, exposing a bit of the skin on his chest where a silver necklace laid upon. You swallowed dryly at the sight of his hand running swiftly through his hair, with a ring hugging each one of his fingers.

As he got close, he greeted Nia first, giving her a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek, before turning his attention back to you. He shot you a shy smile, before embracing you into a hug. You didn’t really know if it was your mind playing tricks but you felt him a bit hesitant as he greeted you and placed a kiss on your cheek. Pulling away, he cleared his throat, running his hand again through his hair, he almost seemed… nervous?

“‘S nice seeing you again,” he mumbled, “this uhm… ‘s my girlfriend, Jess.”

You could felt your heart drop with his words as you finally noticed a smiley girl coming to his side.

She wasn’t much taller than you, her red hair pulled back in a perfect ponytail. She matched him with a small black dress that annoyingly hugged her body in all the right ways. You could barely register her greeting you, as you tried your best to keep a straight face to hide the shock that took over your body. You felt a heaviness at the pit of your stomach, a feeling so distressful that made you want to scream as an attempt to make it go away.

You didn’t pay a lot of attention as Nia made a conversation with the girl, knowing that’s what she did best. You kept your gaze directed to Harry, your eyes asking a million questions - you didn’t even think you wanted to know the answers to. But he kept his eyes locked on the floor, eventually looking up at the girl in his arms as she seemed to mention him. But never meeting your own. Her hand was caressing his chest lovingly while his found their way on her waist, keeping her close.

“I think I’ll get something to drink,” you announced, realizing you might’ve interrupted the conversation as they stopped talking. You turned to Nia, “do you want something?”

She looked back at you with sorry eyes, “I should go with you,” she quickly turned back to the girl, “It was lovely meeting you, Jess.”

“Oh! Sure,” she smiled brightly at you two, her hand moving to rest on Harry’s chest, “we should go get our seats as well, right, babe?”

You left the scene as quickly as you could, not wanting to hear any more of it. Looking at all the drink options on top of the counter, you tried to think which one could get you drunk enough to stop feeling hurt over someone you spent just a week with, but still sober enough so that you could pretend everything was fine. Before you realized, Nia was standing next to you, getting two plastic pink cups before she stared at you with guilty-filled eyes.

“I should’ve just told you about it,” she sighed, “I didn’t want to make you sad, but looking back it was probably best if you already knew.”

You turned your head to look at her, “so you knew it all along?” You swallowed the lump in your throat as you felt it close once again.

“Evan told me like a few days after we got back!” She rushed, “I don’t know if they were together while we were filming.”

You took a deep breath, knowing Nia was probably blaming herself for putting you into this situation. But you knew it wasn’t her fault, she would never purposely put you in this position if she knew about it before.

“You know what, it’s fine,” you tried your best to cover up the hurt and gave her a weak smile, “it’s not your fault Ni. It’s okay. I’m fine.”

She pulled you into a tight hug, “I’m sorry, bubba,” she said, “let’s get you something to drink so you can enjoy this party like the star you are!”

The two of you decided on the vodka mixed with watermelon juice, something you had never even thought of trying before but seemed to be ideal to handle the situation you found yourself in. You walked back to the living area, where people were already beginning to settle on the chairs.

Following Nia, you prompted yourself on a seat at the edge closest to the door, opposite to where Harry sat with the girl. His girl. You thought bitterly, taking a big sip from your cup and cringing at the strong taste.

There was a speech you didn’t pay much attention to before they started the film, only giving a slight smile when you realized the mention of your name.

Before you knew it, the lights were out and your face took over the screen.

It was harder than you thought it would be. Looking up at the scenes you had with Harry, knowing everything that happened behind the cameras. Knowing every touch and every kiss felt more than just playing a character. You knew the actual feeling of having him to yourself. But now staring at it right in front of you, it just left a sour taste in your mouth.

You finished your drink barely ten minutes into the film, the feeling of your chest aching starting to become overwhelming as you watched your shared kiss on the big screen. You could feel your throat close once more, your eyes watering a bit.

“I’m gonna get some air,” you whispered to Nia sitting next to you, who gave you a sympathetic smile as you got up. You glimpsed quickly to Harry who had his eyes trained on you, the girl next to him leaning to whisper something in his ear.

You could feel the tears falling down stubbornly as you left the room. Standing in the hallway, you made the decision to turn to the front door instead of the back, not wanting to face anyone with reddish eyes.

You left the house, picking your phone with shaky hands as you managed to call a ride home, sighing in relief as your screen told you it was just about three minutes away.

You heard the door open behind you as stood on the sidewalk hugging yourself to get some warmth on the chilly night. You tried your best to swallow back your tears as you turned around, expecting to find Nia looking at you with pitiful eyes.

To your surprise, the person standing there was Harry, looking like a deer caught in the headlights as he took in your tearful eyes. He spoke your name in a soft voice, causing you to look away.

“Don’t-” you interrupted, raising your hand at him, “I don’t wanna hear it.”

He frowned at you, not wanting to upset you more. “I’m sorry,” he hesitated, taking a step forward.

Your phone buzzed in your hand, as you watched your ride pulling in front of you. You looked back at him, “I’m sorry too,” you said before moving to enter the car.

You spared him one last glance through the window as the driver pulled away.

#harry styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles one shot #harry styles imagine #harry styles smut #harry styles writing #harry styles fanfic #wildest dreams #writing #fanfic #Reader x Harry #my writing

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aprilsrant · 4 years ago

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Honey Honey! | Oliver Wood x Slytherin!Fem!Reader.

PAIRING: oliver wood x slytherin!fem!reader.

SUMMARY: (Y/N)’s friend takes his plan one step further, determined to get the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain and the overthinker slytherin together.

WORD COUNT: 2,032.

PREVIOUS PART: Lay all your love on me.

NEXT PART: When I kissed the teacher.

REQUEST: literally one person asked for a part two and I had to do it. I have in mind another part, and possibly last one, so if anyone is interested let me know!

WARNINGS: I don’t think so.

A/N: Please remember English is not my first language, so there might be some mistakes, you can always correct me and I’ll fix it. And yes, the title is another ABBA song because why not?

I still can’t believe the first part got like 150 notes. Thank you so much!

Masterlist.

Gif below it’s not mind, credits to the person who made it.

Three days after the party in the Ravenclaw Common Room, that same one in which she almost killed one of her best friends, the unexpected happened.

His mouth lifted in a grin, white teeth showing, eyes sparkling with excitement and, at the same time, craziness; Dorian, the one who barely escaped his early death, sat beside them, leaning his body on the big root of a tree near the Black Lake, orange and brown leafs beneath him. The other tree exchanged glances.

The afternoon was about to take an interesting turn. It’s not like he was never happy, but this particular kind of happiness came with blaring red lights, screaming and alerting everyone close enough.

Silently agreeing to ignore the boy’s strange, but not new, behaviour, (Y/N), Isla and Ethan kept working on their assignments. Before any of them could write something on the pieces of parchment, Dorian fakely cleared his throat. None of them looked at him, suppressed smiles on their faces.

(Y/N) had finished writing a sentence for her Charms essay when he tried to catch his friend’s attention again. But now using a different strategy. After the third long sigh that left his mouth, Isla, with lips pressed in a thin line, finally turned her head in his direction.

“Yes, Dorian?,” she said. Her harsh tone rivaling Professor McGonagall’s.

In an impossible way, his grin grew larger, resembling the Cheshire Cat from the classic Alice in Wonderland. Dorian fixed his position, making himself more comfortable against the root, legs stretching (a few inches away from Ethan’s ink bottle), eyes closed and fingers gently hitting each other, taking that typical stance of someone who’s planning something.

“What is it?,” asked Ethan impatiently.

“I come here bearing good news, no, excellent news and you treat me like this?” Always the exaggerated, Dorian feigned a hurt expression, right hand going to his chest and grabbing the part where his heart was placed.

Having enough of his games, (Y/N), who wanted nothing more to finish her paper and take a nap before dinner, decided to step into the conversation. “What excellent news?”

Dorian dropped the wounded act and smiled at her, glaring at the others as if he was saying ‘this is what good friends are supposed to be like’. He changed his posture once more —he really couldn’t stay still—, now sitting closer to them with his legs crossed, hands playing with one of the chocolate sweets Ethan had been trying to transform. The corner of his mouth never lowered.

“Nice to hear you’re interested, my dearest (Y/N), because this concerns you directly.” She regretted ever asking him the minute that answer rolled from his mouth and his dark brown, almost black, eyes shined with mischief. Ethan’s and Isla’s confusion showed through their faces. “I just, like just, saw you know who and he,” Dorian stopped talking when he saw his friend’s disturbed expression. Rolling his eyes —how could they be that dumb?—, he explained. “Not that You-Know-Who, the other one… Ugh, I’m talking about Oliver Wood.”

Their mouths took the shape of an O, realisation finally coming to them.

“He asked me what day you would be free to tutor him, so now, thanks to me, you have a date with Oliver this Saturday morning.”

(Y/N) and the other two stared at him. While Isla and Ethan broke into a fit of thrilled laughs and big smiles, high-fiving Dorian for his “work”, she was trying to control her anger and the words —the majority of them being insults— ready to leave her throat.

Why was he so keen on her and Oliver being together? Why couldn’t they understand that she was not the kind of person who would act on her feelings?

Yes, she had made it obvious that she liked the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, but that didn’t mean she wanted to do something about it. She had always been awkward and, of course, situations with strangers (did she consider him one?) tended to go that way. The girl knew that if something, anything, went wrong with him she would overthink nonstop.

Saying nothing, (Y/N) quickly grabbed her things —a dark blue bag with white dots forming the constellations, the parchment on top of it and the quill on her hand—, stood up and left with a quick step carrying her body, ignoring her friends screaming her name to come back from near the Black Lake’s shore.

Entering the castle, bustling with cheerful students making their way outside to enjoy the warm and sunny afternoon, she decided this was the perfect moment to take that much needed nap, even if she hadn’t finished her assignment yet.

The Slytherin was walking down one of the corridors, this one less transitaded, when she saw the particular crimson fabric of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team’s robes. She lowered her head, hoping it was one of the Chasers or any other member that wasn’t him.

Noticing the person wearing the uniform passed right beside her and didn’t say anything, she sighed in relief.

“(Y/N)?” said a disembodied and sweet voice from behind her. Even if she couldn’t actually see the person calling her name, she knew perfectly who it belonged to.

Bloody hell.

Before turning around to face him, she closed her eyes, preparing herself. She’d never mind his presence, or him calling for her —hell, (Y/N) dreamed of that happening every now and then—, but now was definitely the wrong time for this. She was angry with Dorian for trying to set her up, exhausted from not being able to get used to the routine again and annoyed because of the amount of homework.

Finding his black shoes extremely interesting and intriguing, she murmured a small response.

“Fancy to see you here, I’ve been trying to talk to you since the party but I didn’t want to bother you in class, you always look so focused on the lessons, and with Quidditch practices I couldn’t find you in your free time,” Oliver continued. He had been trying to reach her? Her? “I found Dorian instead and he said you were free to tutor me on Saturday morning. If you can’t or don’t want to or whatever, you don’t have to. I know I should have talked to you first, but I didn’t see you anywhere and I was getting desperate because I can’t lose this opportunity and… and I’m rambling a lot, sorry.” He stopped tapping his thumb against his broomstick’s handle.

All at once, the feeling, more like an intuition, that he could be nervous around her engulfed (Y/N), spreading a warm sensation through her body.

She wanted to say no, even when this was the chance she’d wanted for too long but (Y/N) knew herself. The endless overthinking that she’ll have to endure before, during and after their “study date” —what if she was a horrible tutor?; what if he didn’t understand anything she’d said?; what if she wasn’t good enough?; what if he never wanted to speak to her again after it?; what if he failed and blamed it on her?; what if all this was a big and cruel joke?, would he do that to her, to anyone?—.

She really did want to say no, but how could she when he looked like that? Upper lip biting nervously on the bottom one, his cheeks of a rosy colour, constantly shifting his body’s weight, fingers fidgeting.

“I, um, of course, no problem,” she assured.

Why did she have to be such a people pleaser?

And why did she have to like him so much that when he smiled, relieved because of the answer, her heart stopped for a second and her stomach turned upside down?

|||

(Y/N) was sure Oliver had never wanted to revise Transformation so early on a Saturday, especially when his team was just a few hours away from playing their first Quidditch match of the season. She wasn’t so thrilled either, weekends were the only days she had to sleep till lunch, her roommates knowing that waking her up before one in the afternoon would lead to a pissed (Y/N) and no one liked that version of herself.

“Look, we can reschedule if you want,” she said after watching him fail once more at conjuring birds from the tip of his wand, “you are worried about the match and that’s making it impossible for you to focus on this.”

The Gryffindor glanced at her through his eyelashes, a frustrated look in his eyes —(Y/N) couldn’t figure out if it was because he was losing his time here with her while he could be training with his team one last time or because the only thing coming out of his wand were yellow feathers—.

Running both hands across his face, he replied, “I-I don’t want you to waste your time, but I suck at Transfiguration and we haven’t even started with Potions, which is worse, and you make it seem so easy because you’re amazing at this. But I’m not and Professor MgGonagall said that if…”.

For someone who had a brave and confident exterior, Oliver Wood did ramble quite a lot.

“I know what MgGonagall said,” (Y/N) interrupted, choosing to ignore the part where he complimented her, “and you are not wasting my time, Oliver. I agreed to help you, remember?” He nodded his head slowly, watching his hands. (Y/N) thought he looked like a kid getting reprimanded. “Now, try one more time.”

And one more time he failed, yellow canary feathers falling down to the floor, joining Oliver’s past attempts at mastering the Bird-Conjuring Charm.

She saw him scratch his forehead with his eyes closed and lips barely visible because of the way he was biting on them.

“You’re not doing the correct hand movement, I think that’s why it isn’t working,” (Y/N) noticed, “look, give me your hand.” She grabbed his right hand, the one holding his wand, delicately, fingers barely touching the skin. Taking his wrist and positioning herself on Oliver’s side, she showed him how to do accurate motion. “And you just say Avis.”

The next time he did the incantation, a loud blast, pretty much like the sound of a gun being fired, resonated throughout the place. Once the smoke dissipated, several yellow birds flew from the tip of his wand to the empty classroom they were practising in. Twittering and chirping filled the room, but as quickly as they did, they became background noise when Oliver let out a loud laugh at his achievement.

He turned around, a big grin on his face and brightness in his eyes, now a completely different person. She smiled at him, his excitement starting to feel contagious.

“See, you don’t have to be so hard on yourself,” (Y/N) murmured. If only she’d take her own advice. “I think you’re good to go and-and do whatever you do before a Quidditch match.”

“Thank you, for agreeing to this.”

She shook her head, the corners of her mouth slightly going up. “No problem.”

Oliver walked towards the door and before he opened it, the boy asked, “will I see you at the match?”

“Maybe.”

“Nice, it’ll be good to see you there,” he’d smiled at her one last time and left the unused classroom.

Biting down the nail on her thumb, (Y/N) let out a silly giggle, one of those that only escape people’s mouth when they are drunk or can’t get that one person out of their minds. Perhaps she was reading into this situation the wrong way, but for just a tiny moment she didn’t care. She enjoyed the warm feeling on her stomach, as if a ton of thestrals had suddenly decided to fly across it, and the erratic pace of her heart every time Oliver would glance at her or say anything remotely kind.

Then the realisation came and with it, tangled like some kind of broken and dark creature, her severely damaged pride. She had to admit to Dorian’s face that he was, in fact, correct and that his ridiculous plan may actually work.

TAGS: @peeves-a-legend (amazing person and writer, read all of her work!).

#Harry Potter #harry potter imagine #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter oneshot #harry potter x reader #slytherin #gryffindor #slytherin!reader #oliver wood #oliver wood fanfiction #oliver wood imagine #oliver wood oneshot #oliver wood x reader #oliver wood x slytherin!reader #hp imagine #hp fanfic

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lovecanbesostrange · 3 years ago

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Okay, for the poor people on the Ruby Lucas Harem Discord suffering because of this ask (x) on konako’s tumblr that lead to things (including this fanart x), I have this wild scene out of context.

Mary Margaret was sitting at her desk, updating her chemistry flashcards. Ruby was sitting on her bed cross-legged staring at her laptop screen, waiting for this English essay to write itself.

“Ugh,” Ruby groaned and let herself fall backwards. Out of habit she put her hands to her face, but winced when her fingers touched the band aid over her eyebrow. It’s been five days.

A knock on the door made them both turn. They usually could tell who it was by the exact sound of the knock. Like Charming had one hard knock followed by two quick ones or Mulan knocked four times in a specific rhythm. So whoever this was, was more than unexpected. Ruby drew in a sharp breath. She had heard back from the police yesterday that there would be no criminal charges, but they both knew something else would arise from this.

Mary Margaret looked at her, then turned her chair to fully face the door and Ruby got back up again. “Come in.”

“Hallo. Good, you’re here.”

“Mom!” Mary Margaret was up in a second and gave her mother a hug. “I didn’t know you’d be coming.”

Eva hugged her back, but despite the smile on her face, her voice already made them realize this was not a fun surprise visit. “I didn’t know I would be here today either.” The hug ended and she stepped into the room, her gaze landing on Ruby. “I got some news last night and suddenly I was in my car this morning.”

Mary Margaret glanced at the clock. It was a twelve hours drive with good traffic, so Eva must’ve gotten behind the wheel around 4am.

“Hi…” Ruby busied herself closing her laptop and didn’t look up.

“Honey,” Eva stroked Mary Margaret’s hair, “would you mind giving us the room? I want to talk to Ruby.”

“Sure.” Mary Margaret glanced between the two and then grabbed her things from the desk. “I’m down the hall in the common area.” When she passed Eva she whispered: “Don’t be too harsh on her, please.”

That made Eva smile. Her daughter knew exactly why she was here, but she looked out for her friend. These girls always had each other’s back and knowing they were loyal like that, dragging each other out of trouble, was certainly a good thing.

Eva took the vacant chair and rolled herself over a bit towards Ruby’s bed. “So.”

Ruby slowly looked up. Eva took in the bandaid and she could see a faint red line indicating that her lip must have been busted. Trying to hide one hand with the other was a giveaway that her knuckles were bruised as well. Eva had to breathe slowly. A part of her wanted to grab Ruby by the shoulders and shake the whole story out of her. She wanted to yell about irresponsibilties, the futility of violence and all the consequences physical assault could come with. The bigger part of her wanted to cradle her like the 9 year old she sometimes still saw, who confessed to lying about her home address, as if not having loving parents was her personal failing.

“I was at dinner with friends last night and suddenly got asked if I heard about the ruckus on campus. I was really surprised when I was shown this tiny article about a football player beating up another student. And it took me two phone calls to find out it was you.”

“I’m sorry,” Ruby murmured towards the blanket she was sitting on, playing with the seam of her sweatpants.

“For what?” Eva tried to keep her voice as neutral as possible. She had felt every emotion during the long drive and had played out many versions of this conversation. But sitting in this room she realized none of those would work.

Ruby furrowed her brows and finally looked up. “Beating up that guy, of course?” It was a bit more of a question than a statement. The question had rattled her. There was so much to be sorry for though. The beating, losing her temper at all, making Regina worry that night already, not doing so great in classes lately, clinging to Snow, making her team suffer… oh, wait. “Also for not calling… I guess…”

The board said that her mother, Anita, would be notified of this by mail. That was her home address, her contact, but maybe this was why Eva was here. The Blanchards had always cared, but now she was in college, she wasn’t a kid anymore, she had to do these things by herself. But maybe, just maybe they should have called. “I shouldn’t have put this on Snow alone… she should’ve talked to you…”

“Ruby, no.” Eva got up and sat down on the bed, gesturing Ruby to scoot over next to her. “Sure, I’m disappointed-”

The word stung and Ruby interjected immediately. “I’m sorry. I messed up, but I promise Snow wasn’t even there and I won’t-”

“Stop!” Eva took Ruby’s hands, now seeing the bruises already turning yellow, showing the passage of time already. “I am disappointed you didn’t call. And I’m glad to hear Mary wasn’t involved, but I wanted to know anyway. Because of you. I care about you. And this is serious. I know…” She paused and slowed down, knowing the next thing would hurt, but after all these years, Eva needed to say it out loud. “I know your mom doesn’t take good care of you, I know you feel like she doesn’t care at all and I honestly don’t know if she does. But I do. I am not your mother, but I care.”

The dam broke and Ruby started to cry. Eva took her into her arms and immediately Ruby clung to her. It was weird that Eva had seen the aftermath of Ruby crying quite a few times over the years, but rarely had she shed tears in front of her. Maybe Eva should have made her before, pushed her a little bit towards that to hammer it home that she cared and that she would be there for her. Just the same she had hugged Mary Margaret after break-ups, over bruised knees, bad grades, and other bad news.

“I’m sorry for everything”, Ruby got out between sobs. Her tears stained Eva’s blouse already. “I didn’t mean to… I don’t want to hurt people… I swear I want to be good.”

There was more, but it was hard to decipher it all and Eva let her cry, rubbing circles on her back. Getting the full story would take time, that was for sure. All she could do now was to reassure Ruby. “I know you’re good, you just made a mistake. People make mistakes.”

Eva looked over Ruby’s shoulder and saw her pinboard. A few pictures were on it and she immediately recognized one taken the time she and Leopold had taken the girls to Six Flags. They had ridden all the rollercoasters until they were practically green in the face. It had also been the day she had seen Ruby at her most carefree. There was one photo of Ruby with her Grandmother, a woman Eva had met only once. Anita was nowhere to be found on the wall.

A group shot looked nice. Eva recognized David from the pictures Mary Margaret had sent her, but couldn’t even guess who the others were. It was a bit sad living too far away to meet all these people, because she had made it a point to know Mary Margaret’s friends in school by face and name. Mulan, Belle, August, Robin, Jasmin, Anna, Aurora… so many names. She smiled at the picture in the corner that showed Ruby in her team uniform, helmet in hand. A candid shot, her elbow resting on the shoulder of another girl. Or maybe it was young woman now.

Eva turned a bit to catch a glimpse of Mary Margaret’s pinboard. Cluttered with far more pictures, flyers and notes. They shared a room, they had shared the most parts of their lives for the past 11 years and yet there still was such a noticeable difference.

Ruby started to calm down and when she let go, Eva leaned forward to get tissues out of her bag. “Can you tell me your version of the story now? All I know is that you were provoked and sent a boy to the hospital. The article said something about questionable self-defense.”

“There are no criminal charges,” Ruby said after blowing her nose. “He said something to my friend. Insulted her. And he wouldn’t stop, calling her… the c-word… and when he touched me, I lost it.”

“He was in the hospital,” she prompted.

“For a broken arm.” A pause. “A broken nose.” Ruby looked at Eva again. “He lost a tooth. And has some more bruises than I do. He was on the ground fast…”

Eva put a hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “I have no problem believing you would defend any of your friends like that. But you must have hit him pretty hard.” Ruby nodded, the shame was visible. “Tell me the truth. Has this happened before? Because what I can’t believe is that you would pound someone when he’s already down. Something else is going on and I want to know if that will happen again.”

Ruby pressed her palms against the mattress and slid away a bit. Eva could hear - and even see - her breathing pick up. This was almost all the confirmation she needed.

“I’m sorry.”

“Has it happened before, yes or no?”

“Yes.”

Silence fell.

Eva closed her eyes. This was the thing she had feared. Because either Ruby had lost it very big time and the paper didn’t cover the big scoop behind it. Or something had been going on and she had been blind to it. And she needed to hear this from Ruby herself either way.

“When?”

“Back in high school… it was… at junior prom…”

Eva scrambled her brain. She remembered Mary Margaret having a date and giving her one more motherly talk about safe sex that had left her daughter bright red in the face. She also remembered that date bringing her home even before curfew and that Mary Margaret had been not very talkative that night. She had sworn nothing bad had happened with him and Eva only suspected that they’d had a stupid teen argument. There was nothing too remarkable about that. Had she seen Ruby the next day? She couldn’t recall.

While she was thinking, Ruby went on hesitantly. “This boy Peter had asked me out… from the hockey team… but it… it was all a prank… some of those guys wanted to like… set me up for a joke… and... “ She quickly glanced up and right back down again. “It wasn’t as bad, he had bruises and a swollen eye. Snow was there to stop me and we all agreed to not tell anyone. I apologized to him though. And it all… it was… like now… just more… it wasn’t just Whale being a dick to my friend, it’s… everything is so much sometimes and I explode.”

This was less surprising to hear than Eva cared to admit. “Have you ever hurt somebody with intention?”

Ruby shook her head. Her voice was broken. “One time… but only one time… I shoved Snow… I swear it was only once… I yelled at her and shoved her and the second I had done that… I apologized immediately and I never ever intended to hurt anybody.” She looked at Eva again. “Least of all her. I swear.” For this she held eye contact as long as she could.

Eva reached out touching her hand that was clenched around the edge of the mattress. “Thank you for being honest.”

There were a lot of details Eva wanted to know about, but this had been hard enough on Ruby. And now they had time to figure things out. But she had revealed a bright spot. “No criminal charges, you said?”

Ruby nodded. “The police seem very uninterested. And any civil things… well, I need to worry about what the board decides. My… friend said her family will keep things on the down-low.” She squirmed a bit.

“Who is this friend?”

“Regina Mills.”

“Mills? Oh.” Of all the people to get in a fight for, this was probably the luckiest choice. Although it didn’t sit right with Eva that there might be things going to circumvent what law dictated. But she also knew that worse people got away with far worse behavior and Ruby deserved to have one strike with minimal consequences. Even if this was technically her second. “I have looked up a few therapists in town already. I nee-”

“I’m seeing the campus therapist already. But I blew off a few appointments and I get that I shouldn’t.” Eva looked over at Mary Margaret’s bed at that. “Yes, Snow made me. She went with me the first time even.”

“What else are you girls keeping from me?” That came out more judgmental than she meant to. “I know you’re growing up, but you’re still kids to me. I always thought you knew you can come to me with problems.”

“Sorry.”

Eva scooted closer again and put her arm around Ruby’s shoulder. “Enough with the apologies. I know you’re a good kid. I remember you kept Mary from starting to smoke, so that’s something.”

“You know about that?” Ruby looked at her bewildered.

“I am a mom after all and some things I do pick up. You didn’t like it, because you’re an athlete, right?”

“Yeah, it’s super shitty for your lungs and I told her it was uncool.”

Eva laughed. “Wish that would work on Leo and his cigars. But thanks for that. I know you two look out for each other. But I will have to chew out my daughter for keeping a few too many secrets.” Ruby tensed up a bit. “What? Something else I need to know?”

“No…” She dragged the syllable out, dragging her toes over the floor.

“Ruby, I just said you can tell me. That is all I want from you, the truth. And we can work anything out from there.”

“But… what if…” She crossed her arms in front of chest, bracing herself. “What if… I’m not who you think I am?”

“You’re Ruby Lucas. You’re the best friend of my daughter, almost more like a sister. You worked your butt off to get here and you work hard to be the best version of you. I know you even send some of that money home you make at the gas station. Because you care so much about people you love, like your grandmother. I know you are a good person, even though you keep way too much inside. But we can work on that now.” She gave Ruby a kiss on the head, like she would with Mary Margaret. “What could be so bad about you?”

“I’m… I think… I’m gay.” Ruby breathed out that last word and was one tense muscle in Eva’s half embrace.

Eva looked at the pinboard again. The picture with Ruby smiling while leaning on the other girl. It clicked. On top of everything else, this secret had weighed Ruby down. She sure had enough reasons to be angry at the world already. This wasn’t something Eva had prepared for, so she just brought around her other arm to pull Ruby closer. “I want you to be happy and in love.” Finally she felt Ruby breathe in again.

((I just have to stop myself here. This could go on and on and on and on otherwise. Because I already know Eva is gonna take them out to dinner, insisting on meeting David. She gets a hotel room nearby. Of course Snow offers to let her sleep in the dorm but “Honey, that’s kind, but no. So much no to sleeping in a dorm bed.” And she freshens up a bit and passes a book store, where her eye is caught by a pride display and she gets a bracelet with a tiny rainbow flag, two actually, she wears one and gives the other to Ruby, because well, she doesn’t know exactly what to say, but this will definitely not make her think less of her!! Eva is the silent MVP of the story.))

#gender mix football AU #(where nobody gives a fuck about football)#Ruby Lucas #(sorry for spamming the tag - come to the server to yell at me about it)#this fic would be 100k words at this point already - sorry I don't have actual writing stamina for that #konako #somehow it's her fault - and the demons circling her inbox #lazylaziel #if only you knew what you started... even though it's so far removed by now... sorry #$!#RRCAU

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beiasluv · 4 years ago

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‘See you again’ / Newt Scamander x (fem!)Reader / pt.2

Hey guys i’m back! this following imagines is the sequence to the first part, check it out HERE.

words count: 1,161 words

warning(s): mentioned of pain

soulmate AUs: name appear on wirst when 17.

(y/n) = your name / (y/bf/n) your best-friend name

*english is not my mother-language please forgive any mistake i might have made*

ENJOY!

---

‘happy birthday dear (y/n) happy birthday to you,’ with that (y/n) closed her eyes, her eyebrows twitched by making a wish. the fire was extinguished; vanished left a burning smoke behind. the room erupted with cheers and congratulations from your family and friends.

it is 7:36 the exact time you were born at st. mungo’s; what a time to be alive, you are finally 17 years old. which means your soulmate's name would appear at midnight soon tonight. you wouldn’t say you are not excited but you just can’t imagine who is going to be your soulmate, for the sake that you don’t even have a boyfriend/girlfriend. it could be anyone now, a friend at school, some stranger, or maybe a muggle. otherwise, you are rather excited for who it is.

‘honey? would you mind feeding the hippogriffs for today? i’m sorry it was supposed to be a special day for you but my boss is calling me an-,’ your mum was cut off and words stop falling from her mouth.

‘it’s okay mum i can do it,’ you smiled lovingly to your mother. ‘thank you dear, i would grab sweets on the way back, i have to go now stay safe honey!’ mother grabbed her coat and ran through the door.

‘Oh! (y/n) dear! make sure to watch for your wrist!’ she apparated away.

‘hey guys,’ you entered the shed of the hippogriffs. (y/n) maneuvered around the shed and grabbed five buckets of fresh fish. ‘ugh! i don’t know how you guys eat this,’ (y/n) gave a disgusted look to the fishes. ‘i can do it, there’s no need to fear anything, just be calm with them,’ you took a deep breath and a long one out.

each step you walk to the gate your heart beats faster and faster, and you feel like it was about to explode itself. the memory of the day your brother fall off the hippogriff, played back each step. it happened right here at this place. but (sadly for dad) luckily that hippogriff was brought by your very own school, hogwarts, so you were learning with that very hippogriff that dropped your brother in the care for magical creatures. with your little strength, you have arrived at the gate of the famous hippogriff bredder farm.

one final push the gate is opened, several hippogriffs head snatched to your way. you gasped for breath like your life is going to end. step by step your legs brought you to the middle of the farm you dumped the five buckets in. luckily your dad taught the hippogriffs to have manners, they’ll always wait until the buckets are fully empty. then they’ll dig in.

‘oh! merlin’s beard!’ the hippogriffs came right into your face. (y/n) dashed away a few of them and ran to the gate. her legs don’t seem to be scared anymore, she felt like she is running very fast that she can do the olympics. a second later she had arrived, outside the gate. ‘phew, that was a close call,’ she walked back to the house and decided to call it a day.

---

‘night orion,’ (y/n) strolled past her brother’s bedroom. ‘night (y/n)! oh! be careful about your wrist my friends said it hurts like hell,’ orion poked his head out of the door his eyes were full of worry. ‘thanks ori, i’ll see you tomorrow then,’ you gave a weary smile and he was gone.

speaking of care for magical, you are assigned to write an essay about one creature that inspired you, and describe everything about it. wheater is about caring, habitats, behaviors, appearance, you named it.

‘i’ll guess i’ll just write the essay until my soulmate's name comes up then,’ that you grab your hogwarts trunk, unlock the password. for the first time, you opened your trunk this summer, you were in awe when she saw a gift from her friends with a note attached.

(y/n) put the stuff on the side, and she seized the ink bottle and some parchments, but she can’t start your work without the Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them book. ‘accio Fantastic Beast!’ for sure (y/n) would take the chance to use magic since she is finally not underaged. you scribbled your thought down the first sketch. each sketch you connected the paragraphs, making sure about your words and cut un-necessary pieces of information out.

after several hours (y/n) looked up at the clock to read the time, and the clock's little finger was pointing between number 11 and the number 12. same with the long finger. ‘it could be any minute soon,’ (y/n) let out a long sighed. many minutes had passed (y/n) is now sleeping on her table waiting for her soulmate’s name.

not long after her wrist felt like being dipped into a fire. her wrist is burning as the letter formed, (y/n) didn’t notice the name since her eyes were filled with tears. the pain was eating her bit by bit. (y/n) decided to run to her brother. ‘orion!’ she called out as she was crying in the hallway. ‘(y/n)!’ orion ran and hugged you, he was worried for this day the most the day his sister knows her soulmate.

---

(y/n) never failed to do the big sister job in his eyes, and he realized he was gifted with the best sister in the whole world. he would do anything to protect his big sister, when he saw her tears it hurts him so bad.

‘(y/n) please show me your wrist,’ orion slowly reached for your hand and examined the burn. ‘N E W T O N, hm newton doesn’t sound so bad isn’t it?’ orion tried to cheer you up. ‘huh? did you say newton?-,’ (y/n) tried to open her dried up eyes. ‘tell me the last name,’ (y/n) requested her brother for assistance in seeing. ‘it’s S C A M A N D E R, salamander? scamander?’

‘Newton- newton scamader?’

‘BLOODY HELL, you won’t believe it orion-’ (y/n) sprung herself up and ran to her room. ‘wha- what?’ leaving her confused brother behind. he saw (y/n) holding a piece of paper, looking as new as it was manufactured yesterday, and a thick book. ‘what’s that (y/n)?’ orion squinted his eyes to see the text. ‘i’ve met him at hogsmeade when i was getting the Fantastic Beast book, and guess what- he wrote the bloody book himself!’ (y/n) rant about her stupidity forced the book into her brother's face. ‘i should’ve known it was him!’ (y/n) sighed and collapsed on the floor.

‘ms. (l/n) did you forget something?’ orion scoffed at you. ‘what’s funny? i didn’t forget anything? oH! the laundry?’ you rushed to answer yourself. ‘no you idiot don’t you see his address? on the bloody paper?’ orion shoved the paper right in front of your eyes.

‘go find him.’

part three? :)

#newt scamander #Newton Artemis Fido Scamander #newt scamander imagines #newt scamander x reader #newt scamander x you #newt scamander fanfiction #fantastic beast #gryffindor #ravenclaw #hufflepuff #slytherin

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statticscribbles · 4 years ago

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Keyed In

Summary: Sweet Pea/Reader Request: Soulmate AU! Whatever your soulmate draws/ writes on their skin ends up on yours, reader constantly forgetting things and being distracted; Sweet Pea being used to it and writing reminders for her on his hands etc. Extra fluff please

“What’s on your arm?” Veronica questions and you shrug. “Groceries.” She nods reading down the list; before she laughs. “Key’s in L pocket. What does that mean?” You blink pulling over your jacket. “Oh; it’s where I put my keys. He reminds me about it when I forget.” “Did your soulmate remind you where your keys are again?” Betty asks smiling as she sits down into the conversation. “Yeah, he does that sometimes; it’s nice knowing he’s looking out for me.” “You do realize that means he knows who you are! We have to find him!!” “Or her.” “No girl has handwriting that illegible.” “Don’t be mean to him! He’s my soulmate!”

“Who’s your soulmate?” Jughead asks as he sits down. “Well I don’t know; but he’s a sweetheart. He’s always writing down where I put stuff and making sure that I remember to finish homework for class; I swear he’s the reason I’m passing english, I’d never remember when the essays are due without him.” “You know that sounds kind of creepy right? Like your soulmate is watching you all the time.” Cheryl asks and you shake your head.

“He doesn’t just do that, he’ll write his own stuff down too! Besides what do you and your soulmate write then?” You laugh when Cheryl rolls up her sleeve revealing hearts and doodles of flowers. You roll up your other arm showing her something similar. “Left arm is notes and right arm is for fun.” “Okay that tops me by a mile.” Archie laughs strings of doodled jewel’s and random notes in flowing cursive. “Wow that’s some really-“ You watch Veronica pull out a marker scribbling something on her arm, Archie frowns watching a line of circles wrap around his wrist; an arrow forms point to his left and he turns as Veronica bumps her matching arm against his.

“Oh, holy shit.” “I can’t believe it took you this long to figure it out.” “I don’t pay attention when people draw on themselves! My dad said it was rude to stare!” Archie defends himself, Veronica scooting closer and linking there arms. “It’s okay Archie my parents taught me the same. It faded on his arm.” “Yeah it does that once you meet, if I draw something it’ll show up, but it wont be as vibrant, as noticeable because we’ve met, we’re not searching for each other anymore.” Cheryl and you nod at Veronica’s explanation. “Same happened for me and Betts.” “Does that mean were going on a soulmate hunt for you then?” You roll your eyes when Cheryl shakes you excitedly.

“We can look for yours while were at it!” You grin and Cheryl shakes her head. “No one soulmate at a time!.” “Fine. I guess I’m up first then.” “So all we do is keep an eye out for anyone with matching lists and reminders. Could you write something to him so we know what to look for.” Archie nods. “Uhh, okay; what do I write?” Everyone shrugs. “Just whatever you want.” You chew your lip, instead of writing you doddle a snake wrapping around your wrist. “Why a snake?” “I think he’s a Serpent, or at least in a gang he writes weird lists sometimes.” “Has he written one we can see?” “Not recently.” You shrug.

Cheryl is interviewing the Bulldogs and half of the student body grabbing at there wrists while Betty and veronica apologetically explain what she’s doing. Jughead’s on Serpent duty, asking about anyone who has a snake on them goes about as well as he expected. “Not your tattoo you idiots!” He groans as everyone laughs. “You gotta be specific Jones!” “I was; I asked if any of you had a drawn on snake!” “The fuck you think a tattoo is?” You laugh in the background sitting next to Toni. “Sorry about dragging you all to Pop’s like this.” She shrugs doodling a daisy chain on her wrist, you can’t help but stare up her arm, doodles of flowers looping up them.

“Oh; your soulmate likes flowers then?” Toni laughs. “She likes pretty things.” You nudge her arm slightly. Narrowing your eyes at the cherry that’s been drawn in the crook of her elbow. “Hidden message; sort of a way for us to recognise each other if we ever meet.” “Not exactly hidden is it.” You laugh and Toni rolls her eyes. “It is if you don’t go snooping on my arm Y/N.” You shake your head. “I didn’t mean you.” You nod gesturing to where Cheryl and Veronica have entered, Cheryl wearing her cherry print cardigan. “See?” You wave her over and she beams. “Holy fuck.” Toni mumbles. You laugh and Cheryl arches an eyebrow at you. ‘What?” “Nothing, just still trying to find my soulmate, Ronnie, can we talk to Jughead. Enjoy.” You wave slightly and leave Cheryl and Toni to talk.

“What’s wrong now Y/N?” “I’m really happy for Ronnie and Cheryl but like I was supposed to find my soulmate; I don’t want to say anything cause I feel like I’ll be whining.” You slump in your seat Kevin patting your back. “Fangs’ add another shake, vanilla right?” You nod pressing your forehead into the table. “Come on Y/N its okay to be bothered by not getting what you expect.” “I know but I feel like I’m being bitter.”

“And what if you are? Be a bitter bitch then.” You turn when Fangs slides next to Kevin and another Serpent nods to the spot next to you. “Sweet Pea, pleasure.” He smiles and you nod. ‘Y/N.” “Hey you have a snake on your wrist, did you guys tell Jones this is whoever’s soulmate he’s looking for?” “No they’re looking for me; I’m trying to find my soulmate.” Sweet Pea nods in understanding. “So what’s the sudden rush to find him?” “I just; he’s helped me through so much I just want to be able to meet him and thank him; at the least.”

“I’m sure you’ve helped him just as much.” You laugh shaking your head as you pull the shake they got you over. “I doubt it; he’s reminded me where to find my keys at least fifty times; helped me pass english by helping me study; and; just, he’s been there for me so much, even though I‘ve never met him.” “Well yeah that’s why he’s your soulmate right?” Fangs nods and you frown. “I know like everyone says that but just; ugh you remember what I was like before you met Fangs right?”’ Kevin’s nods and you finish your shake. “I should get home; call today a wrap.” “Y/N We were thinking about at the game; we could do like a cheer or something so- Oh are you going home?” You nod, yawning. “Yeah; just a little bummed over everything that, dammit.” “Whats wrong now scatter brain? You forget your wallet? You gonna dine and dash Kevin?” You shake your head chewing your lip. “I can’t find my keys; I swear i-“ “Left pocket.” Everyone turns to stare at Sweet Pea.

“You were just going to let her leave!!?” You cringe back as Cheryl shouts at him. Toni looks shocked but you can see the smile under her surprise. “Cheryl it’s fine; I get him not wanting to-“ You’re jerked back Sweet Pea pulling you back into your seat in the booth. “If you think for one second it’s cause I don’t want you; I’ll fight you in the parking lot.” “Sweet’s I don’t even remember where I put my keys; you have to write it down for me; do you really think I could take you in a fight?” “Okay bad choice but just; don’t think that okay?” You shrug. “Why wouldn’t I I mean-.”

“Hold on.” Sweet Pea pauses your pity party turning and glaring at everyone else who’ve excitedly gathered round. ‘Will you all fuck off please. I’m sure you’ll be able to pull ever detail out of us tomorrow okay. Can we have an alone moment.” Cheryl smirks arm looping wth Toni’s and dragging her, Fangs and Kevin off. Jughead nods to Sweet Pea before he, Betty, Veronica and Archie leave as well. “I would ask for you to continue but I don’t care about whatever reasons you have for thinking you’re not worth it to me. My opinion of you is not for you to decide.” He smiles warmly and you sigh. “I’m pretty useless on my own; I don’t have any good skills like you; I’m not in a gang, I can barely remember to get to school on time let alone-“ “Good thing you’re not alone then; you have me.” “But-“ He nudges your chin up as he leans over kissing your cheek.

“Isn’t it a little better in person at least.” You swallow nodding. “Much better in person.” You add in smiling up at him. “Since we’re soulmate’s I should get to know more about you right?” “Of course; I think it only makes sense since you’ve helped me with my keys so many times you learn where I live.” You watch Sweet Pea jerk surprised. “Besides it’ll give them something to talk about.” You wink flickering your eyes to the side where Sweet Pea tracks them to see everyone piled in Cheryl’s car watching.

“How do you feel about motorcycles?” You grin as he offers you a helmet and you swing your leg over winking at the car as they all quickly look away. “So what lie are we going with? We made out for hours? We’re running away to get married? We’ve decided to start a band?” “Well one of those wont be lying.” “Which one?” You grin at him leaning forward to kiss him on the lips. “Guess.”

Support My Writing?

#sweet pea #sweet pea x reader #sweet pea reader insert #sweet pea x you #sweet pea imagine #sweet pea x y/n #jordan connor #jordan connor imagine #jordan connor x you #jordan connor reader insert #riverdale #riverdale imagine #riverdale reader insert #stattic

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mayfriend-archive · 3 years ago

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Totally understand if you're not up for it and fully recognize the ronald mcdonald dom/sub anon vibes which is an AMAZING post btw but like...now i'm curious, what the hell did Lord of the Flies anon DO that got him blocked for the discourse? like...i just can't wrap my head around high school lit being...uh...that inflammatory i guess?

Okay so, I'll start by saying I've had a new anon from apparently the same anon saying they are NOT the person I blocked, just a rando making the same points, but I'll answer your question anyway just to set out why this person in particular got blocked, out of the several thousand who reblogged/commented on that very successful addition to the LoTF post I made.

First off, I added the 'real life Lord of the Flies' story because I thought it was a good story. I had read about it only a couple days beforehand in Humankind and, after reading out the entire chapter to my parents who weren't very interested, I was excited that there was not only a post where it would be relevant to post, but that I wouldn't be hijacking it, as it was already rejecting the widespread interpretation taught in many schools, that humanity is inherently savage.

When making the addition, I a) did not think it would get more than a couple reblogs, because the post was already at 50k notes and I figured anyone that might be interested would already have seen it, and b) I did not know the very specific context that prompted William Golding to write the book; all I knew was that he had been a teacher at a public school (basically, the poshest schools in the country - think Eton, Harrow, very 'old money' places that pump out Conservative politicians by the bucket-load 🤢) who hated his job and the boys he taught (which, valid), and new information I'd been given in Humankind - that Golding had said to his wife one day, "Wouldn't it be a good idea to write a story about some boys on an island, showing how they would really behave?" - which had no mention of The Coral Island by R. M. Ballantyne, which I have since learned was the text that Golding loathed enough to write an entire novel in refutation of - and included what I considered a very telling letter from Golding to his publisher, in which Golding wrote of his belief that 'even if we start with a clean slate, our nature compels us to make a muck of it.' Another Golding quote that I believe portrays his belief in humanity's 'innate savagery' is that "man produces evil as a bee produces honey."

Obviously, the author of a book putting forward the case for humanity's inherent goodness was going to oppose Golding's hypothesis; Bregman not only noted Golding's literary accomplishments and beliefs, but his personal life.

When I began delving into the author's life, I learned what an unhappy individual he'd been. An alcoholic. Prone to depression. A man who, as a teacher, once divided his pupils into gangs and encouraged them to attack each other. "I have always understood the Nazis," Golding confessed, "because I am of that sort by nature." (Humankind by Rutger Bregman, p. 24-25)

I have bolded the part about him as a teacher, because it is incredibly relevant to the original post that I commented on, which begins with a comic of a teacher locking her class in to see them 'recreate' Lord of the Flies, something which the follow up comments before mine staunchly reject as both misunderstanding the point of the book, and the fact that it took the kids in Lord of the Flies a significant amount of time without adult supervision to go 'savage'. This misreading of the text is widespread enough that when Golding won the Nobel Prize for Lord of the Flies, the Swedish Nobel committee wrote that his book 'illuminate[s] the human condition in the world of today'. Whether or not they misread it is beyond my expertise - they do at least mention the factors of the outside world neglected by many when analysing the book, but still seem to believe it says something about human nature as a whole rather than just, to quote thedarkbutbeige 'British kids being rat bastards' - but Golding quite happily took his Nobel prize on this basis. Which, in fairness, I would too. It's a fucking Nobel prize.

It was with this knowledge, and this knowledge alone, that I stated in my now very, very widely read comment that Golding 'wrote the book to be a dick', in response to the tags of the person I reblogged from. As I said, I now know that Golding did not write the book (solely) because he hated the kids he taught, but as a response to The Coral Island and the general idea that clearly the British were inherently civilsed, whilst the people they colonised and enslaved were inherently savage. So. That's the background.

The anon - or rather, the person I thought was anon - was the sole exception out of dozens of replies, who instead of telling me about The Coral Island politely decided it was time to go ALL CAPS and regurgitate points already made by thespaceshipoftheseus, and implied that the only reason that the real life Tongan castaways didn't go all Lord of the Flies was because they weren't British. Not because they weren't surrounded by violence like the boys in Lord of the Flies, or there wasn't a World War ongoing, or that they weren't the upper, upper, upper crust of a class-obsessed society like Britain - but because they weren't British. A complete inversion of the concept that Golding was trying to get across - now, instead of all of humanity being equally prone to savagery in the right conditions, it was solely nationality that determined it. As in, the British were inherently savage, but nobody else was.

I, trying for humour, made the terrible mistake of replying to them.

I won't lie, I was absolutely blown away that this was real life. What I think they were trying to do was be that Cool Tumblr Person who, after somebody's been shitty on a post, goes to their blog and sees something Damning in their about/description. In an ideal world, I imagine I'd have gone nuts or done something Unforgiveable. In what I can only call the rant that followed, they stated several times that I needed to go back to high school to get some 'proper literary analysis' skills and that the story of the Tongan castaways was completely unrelated to the point at hand which. I mean, I disagree, considering that I made the addition, but I couldn't get my head around how commenting on a post that was already rejecting the thesis that the 'point' of Lord of the Flies was that humanity was inherently savage and was, in fact, about how kids - British or otherwise - learn how to function from the adults around them, and that traumatised, terrified children aren't going to create a mini-Utopia, and put forward a real life example of how without the key additions of an ongoing world war, a colonial Empire and the subsequent mindset of thinking you are 'inherently civilised' and therefore can't do anything wrong, actually, people just want to take care of each other.

A friend has since asked me why I even have 'england' in my description. To be honest, it's a timezone thing - I talk to a lot of people online who don't share my timezone, and it generally makes me feel like if I don't reply immediately because it's 3am, they have the tools to see that I'm not in their timezone and not just ignoring them. I did consider changing it to 'british' or 'uk' after it was... 'used against me', I guess, simply because I didn't want to deal with it, but you know what. No. Not gonna do that. I am from England, and I have never hid that fact. I have a tag called 'uk politics', during Eurovision I refer to the UK's act as 'us' (even if I really, really don't want to. Because James Newman slaughtered that song and it was downright embarrassing), I regularly post stuff in my personal tag about where I live (and mostly complain about this piece of shit government). If people really think my nationality makes every point I make null and void, then they don't have to follow me or interact with my posts; tumblr is big, and I am one medium-small blog very easily passed over.

I did reply to them, trying to explain the above, but their next response really just doubled down. Because I used the word British instead of English - foolishly because the posts above mine focused on Britishness, and also because although Golding was English and taught English kids, the pro-Imperialism author of The Coral Island, R. M. Bannatyne was actually Scottish so, ding ding ding, falls into the 'British' category - they then decided that I was somehow trying to pretend I wasn't English and made all the same points, before ending with this doozy:

At this point, I knew there was nothing to be gained from replying, because if we're whipping out conditions like they're pokemon cards then there's no actual conversation anymore, and I'm not going to start mudslinging like an identity politician. They made up their mind, and I figured there could be no harm in letting them think that they 'won' by blocking them instead of replying.

Until the ask. INNATE ENGLISH SAVAGERY did, I'll admit, make me think it was them, back again. I even thought up a really good response approximately 12 hours after I replied, I was that sure. Until the second message came in, and said they were just someone who came from the post and made the same point by chance. So the saga draws to a close... for now.

It may have been them, it may not have been - the anon feature makes it impossible to be sure, but as the second message I got said, we're in a heatwave. It's too hot to argue. And I've just written a goddamn essay about a book I dislike anyway.

My pasty English ass is going to go melt. If there's Disk Horse, do not tell me. I am Done™

#emily speaks #asks #anon #lord of the flies #this is long. this is so long. why is this so long #i literally got out humankind so i could quote directly. how is this my life

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aswallowssong · 4 years ago

Text

Play Date

Dave thinks Spencer needs some friends his own age. The Big Kid Squad agrees. Spencer does not. or The one where Hotch and Alex take Spencer to the playground and nothing bad happens for once.

Big thanks to the wonderful, amazing, talented, @themetaphorgirl for letting me play in her sandbox! Again! This drabble is based in her Patron Saints AU (Patron Saint of Lost Causes), which is AMAZING and YOU SHOULD READ.

Read on AO3

-----

The idea was Dave’s, actually.

“Do you ever feel like our kid should hang out with kids his own age?” Was what he said, quietly, with a smirk on his lips. He had turned his eyes to Spencer, who was helping Emily with her math homework a table over. No one batted an eye over the fact that he referred to Spencer as “our kid.” They all felt exactly the same way.

There was a pensive moment in which they all turned to look at the sight. Emily had her face in her hands, but Spencer was excitedly rambling about angles and functions.

“You’re right,” Alex said, suddenly opening her laptop, “you’re completely right.”

Dave raised an eyebrow over his own laptop, pen dropping onto his notebook. “I was sort of joking.”

“No you weren’t,” James said. He glanced over at Alex’s screen. “I agree, though. What are you looking for?”

Alex’s fingers clicked away, eyes scanning and searching.

Hotch leaned over to look as well, abandoning the English essay he was writing one sentence at a time in his own fraying notebook.

“Where are the other kids?” Alex mumbled, eyes never coming off the screen.

“JJ and Derek went on a run. Pen said she had a project to work on, and you said she couldn’t bring glitter into the library.”

“She cannot and will not,” she affirmed, clicking her tongue and sitting back from the screen. “What do you think about that?”

Both James and Hotch squinted at the screen. Hotch shrugged, but James nodded.

“Yeah, I know what that is,” He said, “We used to go there as kids, but it was sort of new and weird. I’ve heard they’re more mainstream in the bigger towns now.”

“What are you looking at?” Dave said, finally giving in. He tilted the screen of his own laptop down, leaning forward towards them and gesturing for Alex to hand her laptop over.

She passed it wordlessly, watching for Dave’s reaction. She worried at her lip, glancing again at Spencer and finding herself smiling as he flailed his arms around, trying to show Emily how her triangle should look with his bony wrists and elbows.

He needed to eat more.

“An indoor playground?” Dave said, raising an eyebrow at Alex with a look she couldn’t place. “He’s already sheltered.”

“They’re popular! I take the kids I babysit over the summer to one all the time, and they love it,” she assured. “He has bad memories of kids his age, do we need to pair that with his aversion to the outdoors?”

The boys glanced between each other.

“He’s not going to want to go,” Hotch said slowly, turning over his shoulder to watch their youngest for a moment. “There'll probably be a ton of kids there. Maybe it would be bad.”

“Maybe it would be good,” James said with a shrug. He took the laptop back from Dave and looked at the screen again. His mouth twisted into a frown, and he looked over at Alex. “This one is like at least half an hour from here.”

Alex nodded, giving him a small, guilty smile. “Forty minutes, give or take.” She waited a moment before she asked, “I was thinking maybe this Saturday.”

James nodded for a second, but then stopped as his mouth turned into a frown. “I’ve got that first aid training, I can’t drive you then.”

“Oh, I know,” she said, face breaking into a wicked grin. “I was going to see if Dave would take you to the training, and maybe, if Hotch and I could take your piece of shit car?”

“Hey!” Dave and James exclaimed at the same time.

“I’ve got a life!” Dave said as James insisted, “It’s not a piece of shit!”

James’s call gained more attention, Hotch’s chuckle breaking the single moment of tense energy.

“Um, yeah it is.”

James frowned defiantly. “Listen, the shitbucket is a shitbucket, sure, but it's not a shitty car . There’s a difference!”

“Is there?” Hotch continued, clearly enjoying getting a rise out of James so easily.

“I don’t think so,” Alex added, grinning mischievously at the exasperated boy next to her.

“Neither of you even have a car at all!” He insisted. “Maybe I’ll take my shitty car to my first aid training.”

Dave rolled his eyes, shutting his laptop and picking up his notebook. “No you won’t. You’re going to let Alex and Hotch take your car so they can win some sort of parenting award, and I’m going to take you to that first aid training.”

Alex grinned at Dave as she shut her own laptop, standing to grab her bag. “You’re the best, Dave.”

“There’s a hot brunette in James’s trainings,” Hotch said offhandedly, shoving his notebook unceremoniously into his backpack.

“That’s not the reason! I’m a good friend!”

“Also, I can’t say I’ll go with you before I see what the RA schedule looks like,” Hotch continued, ignoring Dave in favor of speaking to Alex. “I'll have to make sure it’s okay with Gideon, I’m sort of supposed to be around.”

The three seniors gave Hotch a look that could have said, ‘are you fucking kidding me?’

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Dave did say, “Gideon let’s you do anything. Gideon has gotten you out of class a million times this year.”

“That’s not even a close guess.”

“Spencer,” Alex interrupted, calling over to the other table, “Em, come on. I’m starving.”

Spencer pouted up at her but grabbed his bag, throwing it over his shoulder so he could follow behind like a baby bird. Emily sighed as she all but threw her things together, scurrying after them.

Hotch hung back a bit, moving himself between James and Dave before asking, “Do you guys think this is a bad idea?”

His eyes didn’t move from the back of Spencer’s head. He was nervous, but hopeful at Alex’s plan. Spencer really did need some younger kids to play with. It couldn’t be healthy for him to only hang out with kids at least three years older than him all the time.

“No,” James said quickly, watching as Spencer bounded after Alex, three steps to her one. “He needs some other kids to play with.”

“You know, if they play with him,” Dave said. James and Hotch both punched him in the arm, one on either side, and Dave called quickly, “Ow! I was kidding! Damn!”

-----

They started discussing their weekend on Thursday, like always, and Penelope had her notepad and fuzzy pen at the ready.

“Okay, so we already know James is leaving us behind for greater things-”

“I’m going to first aid training?”

“-Which,” she continued, not letting James stop her, “means he’s out of the family plans!” She scribbled quickly in her loopy handwriting. “So what are the rest of us doing? Game day? Arts and crafts? I bet if we really tried, we could use my glitter and-”

Hotch spoke cautiously. This was the part of the plan he and Alex had discussed the least, and it was going to be the hardest. Getting Spencer to go with him and Alex would be fine, but leaving the other kids behind was not going to be an easy feat. They weren’t going to tell Spencer where they were going, not until he was in the car, so getting the other kids to back off would be a challenge.

“Actually Penelope,” he started gently, “Alex and I want to take Spencer somewhere on Saturday.”

Spencer looked up from his place in Alex’s lap, the book in his fingers falling closed in surprise. “Me?”

Alex nodded, moving her hand to brush his bangs out of his eyes. “Yes, baby. Just you.”

“But why?”

“Yeah, why does Spencer get a field trip!” Penelope accused, Derek and Emily nodding emphatically in her defense.

“I want to get out of here, too,” Derek said, “This place sucks on the weekend.” He looked over at JJ and nodded. “Right, Jayje?”

JJ simply shrugged, looking between Hotch and Alex as she spoke. “I guess. Why just Spencer?”

“Yeah!” Emily said. She tossed her phone onto the ground, missing the top of the table, but not moving to fix it. “Why just Spencer?”

“Yeah,” Spencer said, twisting in Alex’s lap to peer at Hotch through his bangs. “Why just Spencer?”

James chuckled, eliciting a grin out of their youngest. He was the easiest to crack, so the responsibility of laughing at Spencer’s jokes usually fell to him. “Nice.”

“It’s a surprise,” Alex said steadily. Her grip on the child in her lap tightened just-so, and the fact that she didn’t give any more was an indication that she wouldn’t be if pressed again.

Penelope sighed at her lack of answer, flopping dramatically onto the table. “Well then what are we going to do?”

JJ patted her shoulder. “You could come with me to the dance studio?” Penelope groaned.

“Then what am I going to do?” Derek said, and JJ smirked at him. “You can come too. You’d look great doing a développé .”

“I’m going to développé an allergy to the two of you,” he mumbled, kicking his feet up onto the table.

“Hey!” Penelope cried, popping up from her pout.

That was all it took.

“Stop it! Jesus you guys, okay,” Dave had hit his ‘arguing children’ for the night. “I’m taking James to his nerd training, and then I’ll take you guys to Target. Just stop arguing. Stop whining.”

Derek, Penelope,Emily, and JJ cheered happily, placated by the knowledge that if Dave was going to take them shopping, Dave was probably going to pay for their shopping.

Hotch chuckled quietly, watching how they bickered and teased. His eyes shifted to watch Spencer, buried back in his book as his head tucked under Alex’s chin. Spencer was so content to sit there, quiet and out of the action, that Hotch wondered for a moment if they were really making the right decision.

What if they took Spencer to the playground and some kids made fun of him? Or beat him up?

He shook his head quickly, shaking the thought from his head. It would be good. He had to believe that it would be good.

-----

Spencer tried to wiggle away from Hotch’s looming figure in the small confines of his booster seat. “Stop, Hotch, I can buckle it!”

Hotch dropped the buckle and took a step back. They did this every time they took Spencer in the shitbucket, or Dave’s car, on a rare occasion. Regardless of the fact that the now ten year old could most certainly not buckle it, it was better to let him try and fail.

If Spencer wanted to spend a full minute fighting a seatbelt, Hotch wasn’t going to stop him.

“I almost, ah, I- damn -” Spencer mumbled as his uncoordinated fingers fumbled with the buckle. His arms were not quite long enough, and his fingers not quite trained enough to get the buckle from his seated angle. Hotch knew this. James knew this. Everyone knew this.

Spencer simply refused to accept it.

“Language,” Hotch reprimanded quietly, though he didn’t mean it. Emily and Dave had ruined him.

Spencer tried one last time before the buckle slipped out of his hand, a frustrated sigh escaping him as he tipped his chin to his chest in defeat. “Hotch, I need help.”

Alex gave a quiet chuckle from her spot in the driver’s seat, watching as Hotch took the buckle and snapped it into place in seconds. He gave the booster seat a little wiggle, almost as if he didn’t trust its ability to keep their pseudo-son safe before closing Spencer’s door and taking his seat next to Alex.

“Thank you!” Spencer chirped from his spot, and Hotch threw a grin over his shoulder.

“You're welcome."

"Where are we going?"

Alex turned to give Spencer a smile, saying playfully, "Oh, it's a surprise."

Spencer’s mouth changed from his previous grin to a low-level pout. “But I don’t like surprises.”

“This is a good surprise,” Hotch assured quickly. “Do you need me to navigate, or do you know where you’re going?”

“I’m pretty sure I- well. Maybe pull it up,” Alex answered, adjusting James’s mirror again. It seemed to want to slide just out of place. "Just in case."

Spencer seemed unsatisfied with their answer, but he didn’t pry again.

Hotch and Alex were grown ups. They said it was a good surprise. Maybe what Dave had told him was right.

Hotch fiddled with his phone as Alex turned the ignition, listening to the ungodly start of James’s engine. She checked the windows once more before pulling out of the parking lot, knowing how to get to the highway without needing Hotch's navigation.

They drove for a while, Alex and Hotch talking quietly about classes and homework as Spencer focused his efforts on reading and not looking out the window.

He'd played that game and lost too many times.

When they got off the highway and started into the bigger town Alex slowed, the breaks on James's car working just fine but giving a squeal of protest.

“Oh god, the shitbucket is going to be the end of me," Alex muttered.

"Why is Alex allowed to call it the shitbucket, but I'm not allowed to say damn?" Spencer complained, finally looking up from the book in his lap.

Hotch sighed, pinching at the bridge of his nose. "Because, Alex is seventeen and you're ten."

"Emily let's me say damn." He countered, to which Alex sighed, "She's not supposed to."

"She lets me say bitch too."

"Okay, no,” Hotch said, effectively cutting him off. “No we're not saying any of those words. Especially at the playground."

"Hotch-"

"Playground?!" Spencer squeaked, going a shade of paper white in Alex's rear view mirror.

They were entering dangerous territory. Hotch had wanted to tell Spencer where they were going before they left, but Alex had disagreed, and now they were in too deep.

"Uh," Hotch said, "well-"

"I don't want to go to a playground! Dave said you were taking me to get ice cream!" The younger boy cried, betrayal heavy in his voice.

“Oh, baby, it’s going to be fun,” Alex said gently, clicking on her blinker and changing lanes.

“You said this was a good surprise!" He countered, “How could this possibly be good?”

Hotch turned in his seat, wincing a little as the world shifted around him, body now the opposite direction to how they were moving. “It’ll be good for you to play with some kids your own age. You could probably tell us better than we know. Brain development, all that stuff.” He shifted again to face Spencer better, swallowing at the discomfort he was suddenly experiencing.

“My brain is developed and it will not be good!” Spencer shifted too, in his booster seat. “Please believe me when I say I’ve tried. This is going to be terrible.”

“It’ll be better than you think, Spence. It will. It’ll be fun,” Alex said again. “I promise.”

Hotch took a breath, waiting for Spencer to battle against them again, but the younger boy fell silent. Alex rarely made promises, and never ones she couldn’t keep.

Hotch sighed, turning back around to face the front of the car. His vision swung again and he groaned quietly, rubbing harshly at his eyes and taking exactly one deep breath as he felt the woozy car-sick headache creep across his skull.

“Are we there yet?” He mumbled quietly.

“Three minutes,” Alex said, her eyes locked back on the road.

“Three minutes until I’m forced into social interaction I don’t want or need,” Spencer mumbled quietly, tone no longer accusing or betrayed, but full of ten year old sass.

How Hotch had ever thought this might be a good plan, he had no idea, but now he was forty minutes from school with a grumpy child and a sickly feeling that would probably take an hour to subside.

“Jesus.”

-----

Alex couldn’t stop the nervous feeling that spread in her chest as she guided a very anxious Spencer through the door Hotch had pulled open ahead of them. The playground was different from the one back home, where she took her tiny charges to avoid the summer heat, but also, it was also exactly the same. Slides. Climbing structures. Mats. That weird smell that sort of reminded her of the Chuck E Cheese climbing tubes.

There were kids everywhere, all of them between the ages of eight and twelve. She, Hotch, James, and Dave had chosen a time that would put Spencer right in the middle of the age group; the perfect age to blend in and be accessible to play with anyone.

Twelve was just one year younger than Penelope, anyway, and they got along just fine.

Hotch busied himself with signing, or forging, whatever form needed to be filled out while Alex sat Spencer down on a bench that was out of the way. She dropped her voice low enough that she wouldn’t be heard by anyone nearby.

“Okay, darling, here’s the plan-” she started, but Spencer was quick to interrupt.

“I don’t want a plan. I want to go home,” he said simply.

Alex sighed and smoothed his bangs out of his eyes. “I know,” she started, “but hear me out, okay?” She waited for him to give her a hum of affirmation, showing he would listen before she continued. “You are so smart, and so mature, but your brain has to grow in other ways, too. I want you to be able to play, and imagine, and pretend. So your brain is well-rounded, my darling.”

Spencer was quiet for a moment before he mumbled, “I do imagine.”

“I know, and you play with Penelope and JJ and Derek, but that’s different. You need to play with other kids your age. Just this one time. If you hate it, we never, ever have to come back.”

She waited for him to tell her no again, that he wanted to go home. That he didn’t care what she wanted, even though she knew that wasn’t true.

Instead he said, “Promise?”

Her heart sped in anticipation. Their plan was actually going to work. “Promise. Now there are some rules. Can I give you some rules?”

He nodded quickly. Spencer hated most rules, but when they came from Alex, they were usually designed to keep him safe.

After the incident, he’d do anything to stay safe.

“Okay, first, you can’t tell anyone we’re from St. Thaddeus. Especially you. You’d be in what, fourth grade?” He nodded in affirmation. “Good, if anyone asks, say that. If anyone asks what school you go to, you make them tell you first.”

She stopped for a moment, pulling a small piece of paper out of her bag and handing it over to him. “These are the elementary schools in the area. Whatever they say, pick something else.”

He read them quickly, effortlessly committing them to memory. These were easy rules. “What else?”

“That’s it, baby,” she said, though when she saw Hotch walking up with his backpack slung over his shoulder, tired eyes and messy hair, she retracted. “Actually, if anyone asks who you’re here with, say we’re your brother and sister.”

Spencer’s eyebrows pulled together as he squinted at her. “Why?”

“Because,” Hotch said, now standing directly next to him. He reached down to ruffle at Spencer’s hair. “Most ten year olds don’t have friends that are seventeen. They have siblings that are, though.”

Hotch turned his eyes to Alex, rubbing at the back of his neck. “We’re good to go. The lady said we can go sit in the parents area while he plays. There’s wifi, for your paper.”

“Thank god,” she said, pulling her bag up over her shoulder and holding her hand out for Spencer to take. “Ready?”

He hesitated a moment before grabbing her hand and letting her help pull him to his feet. If he didn’t like it he never, ever had to come back. Alex promised.

-----

Hotch slung his backpack to the ground at the foot of one of the chairs in the ‘parent’s area.’ He and Alex had brought their homework with the hope that Spencer would actually enjoy himself, but there was no way to know if that would happen, and if it did, how long it would last. The sickly feeling that had compounded in the car was starting to ebb, but he still found himself with his head in his hands as soon as he sat down, a deep breath escaping him.

Alex’s body dropped into the chair next to him. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” He said, pulling himself back up to sit normally before digging in his backpack, “I’m fine.”

“Oh?”

When he glanced over at her, she was smirking, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. Hotch let out a quiet laugh, shoving her shoulder with no force at all. “Don’t even try, Miller. I was turned around in the car. I’m good.”

She nodded, glancing toward the fall she’s seen Spencer retreat to once they’d set him loose inside the play area. “He doesn’t want to be here,” she said simply.

“I don’t want to be here either, but somehow, Dave is right. This… it’ll be good for him.”

“Yeah.”

Hotch sighed again, pulling out his math textbook and spiral before looking around. Alex had busied herself with pulling out her laptop, and he casually pulled a bright yellow RedBull out of his hoodie pocket. He popped the top and took a sip, not sure if it would help the woozy headache, but definitely knowing it would help get him through his math homework.

“Excuse me.” A harsh and pointed voice came over Alex and Hotch’s right side. The woman was exactly what Hotch would imagine the perfect PTA President would look like.

Both teenagers looked up at her, and Alex nodded, “Yes?”

Hotch took a second drink from his can, assuming Alex had it.

“There’s a different watching area for… young parents with toddlers,” is what the woman said. Judgmentally.

As if Alex and Hotch were the bad teen parents of a toddler.

Hotch choked immediately, coughing into the elbow of his hoodie while his lungs tried to breath something that wasn’t lukewarm RedBull. He felt Alex tense beside him, but instead of saying something helpful, she said, “Oh! Oh, no, we don’t have a toddler.”

“Alex!” He choked out between desperate coughs, “No!”

“Oh!” She said again, shaking her head slightly as if to clear the woman’s assumption away. “No, we don’t have any children. Child. No, um.”

She floundered for a second, and if Hotch could have made a comment, he would have made a joke about the Queen of Languages at a loss for words.

“Brother,” is what he ended up managing, slapping at Alex’s arm as she nodded uselessly.

“Brother?” The woman said, an eyebrow raised at the pair of them.

“Yes, brother,” Alex said, lightbulb finally flickering on, “Our brother. Spencer.”

Hotch finally took a deep breath, letting out one last cough before muttering, “Jesus,” and rubbing at his chest.

The woman glowered at them. “Language.” Hotch raised an eyebrow, but she didn’t let up, and he finally muttered, “Sorry.”

The woman took a moment before going back to her spot, face immediately buried in a magazine.

There was silence between Hotch and Alex for a moment before Alex said abruptly, “Do I look like a teen mom?”

Hotch shook his head, cleared his throat, and rolled his eyes. “No, Miller, you don’t. Do I look like a teen dad?”

“Chugging that RedBull? Definitely.”

“Oh shut up.”

-----

It was loud. Spencer watched from his spot along the wall as children ran around everywhere, yelling to one another and laughing. Alex and Hotch had abandoned him for the “parent’s area,” though he would argue that they weren’t his parents.

At least they only sort of were. Only a little bit.

He knew what they were trying to do, and he guessed that he should appreciate the sentiment. They wanted him to have a ‘normal’ experience for once. But he wasn’t normal. He’d never been normal. That’s why all those kids used to smack him around and leave him behind back in Vegas. Why would this place - which was full of germs - be any different?

For one second, he considered pretending he didn’t feel well. That was one hundred percent guaranteed to get him out of there and back to St. Thaddeus. Unfortunately, that would also guarantee him being coddled and fussed over for probably the whole weekend, which he didn’t want either.

He spent a while watching, seeing that most of the other boys were dressed in long sleeves and jeans or joggers. He was in jeans, which was normal, but his button down and cardigan were probably not going to help him fit in with the other little kids around him. They looked like they belonged there. They were probably with friends they’d known a while. Who wants to play with the kid in a cardigan who clearly doesn’t have any friends to speak of?

All he had to do was get through this playground session and he’d never, ever have to come back. Alex promised.

What compelled him to start walking along the perimeter of the wall, he wasn’t sure. He was so focused on not tripping over discarded shoes and jackets that he jumped when there was a tap on his shoulder.

“Ah!”

“Ah!” was called right back at him, a small grin on the little girl’s face, “Hi!”

She beamed at him with a smile full of missing baby teeth, pale blonde hair pulled back with a ribbon like Alex would wear. Her cheeks were flushed with excitement, slightly out of breath as she bounced on her toes. There were two children standing behind her; one a boy that looked just like she did with short hair like his, and one a shorter girl with hair that was nearly crimson, tied in two braids, and stark green eyes.

They both regarded him with a certain level of hesitance, but the excited girl in the front showed no hesitation at all.

“Are you playing with anyone? I don’t see anyone, so I don’t think you are.”

Spencer felt his cheeks heat in embarrassment, though there wasn’t any sense of teasing behind her words.

“Um, I- no. No, I don’t, well- I-”

“I’m Nell!” She chirped happily, not at all phased by his stumbling and stuttering. “My brother Finn, we’re twins. Twin and Finn even rhyme, so you can’t forget!” She continued happily, and the boy behind her nodded, not offering to speak, and looking a bit shy himself.

Spencer didn’t know any other boys that were shy or quiet. All the boys that teased him back home were loud and rambunctious. Derek, James, and Dave weren’t shy. Dave was sort of quiet, but that was due more to lack of interest than personality. If he was enjoying himself, he was as loud as the rest of them. Hotch was quiet, Spencer supposed, but that was different . Hotch was grown-up quiet. He probably wasn’t quiet when he was a child. Just Spencer.

“And this is my best friend, Lina,” Nell said, never breaking stride and gesturing to the redhead behind her. Spencer had never had a best friend. “Her name is Carolina but she goes by Lina. Finn and I are nine, and Lina is ten. What’s your name?”

Spencer stared at her for a moment before licking at his chapped lips, something Alex was trying to get him to stop. Nell didn’t seem to be teasing him. She seemed to actually want to know his name. She was smiling at him.

Was it a trick? What if it was a trick?

“I’m, um, Spencer,” he said quietly. His hands wrung in front of him, but not one of the three children in front of him seemed to notice. “I’m ten, too,” he added after a moment.

Lina smiled at that. “Really?” She asked. Her voice wasn’t as shrill as Nell’s.

“Mhm,” he hummed, nodding quickly, “Since October.”

Nell gasped loudly, a hand clutching at her chest. She reminded him of Penelope, in a way, though she was dressed a bit like JJ would. “Lina turned ten in October, too! Finn and I aren’t ten until February though. February tenth. Ten on the tenth!”

Finn grinned, nodding along with his sister before saying in a small voice, “Golden birthday.”

Spencer had no idea what a “golden birthday” was, but Nell was practically vibrating with excitement. He would have asked, but Nell was speaking again, words tumbling over themselves to leave her mouth.

“Do you want to play with us?”

The three children looked at him expectantly, and after a second felt his eyebrows pulling together. He could feel anxiety bubbling in his chest.

“Why?” He found himself asking. Why would they want to play with him? Didn’t they see how nervous he was? Or that he wasn’t dressed like them? Or that he was weird?

What if they decided he was weird and made fun of him?

“Because,” Finn said simply, stepping from behind his sister. He and Nell were taller than Spencer was, but Lina was shorter than them all. “We’re playing pirates and we need another boy.”

“And you were alone and you looked nice, so Nell said we should ask you to play,” Lina supplied, tugging gently at one of her braids with both hands. Her hands we’re looking for something to do. Just like his.

He needed to say something.

“Um, the earliest documented instances of piracy are the exploits of the Sea Peoples who threatened the ships sailing in the Aegean and Mediterranean waters in the 14th century BC,” he offered quickly before realizing that spouting facts was exactly the opposite of normal. They were going to laugh at him. They were going to call him a nerd, or a loser, or-

“You know about pirates ?!” Nell nearly yelled, astonishment on her face. She gestured desperately to Finn and Lina. “Finn and Lina don’t know anything about pirates! Just me! You have to play with us!”

The speed at which Spencer’s jaw dropped could have set a record. “You… you want me to play?”

The three exchanged a look before Finn nodded quickly, and Lina grinned. “Yeah, course! It’ll be better to play pirates with someone that knows about pirates anyway.”

“Come on, come on !” Nell cried, grabbing Spencer’s hand and pulling him behind her as she started to run towards the playground.

His eyes widened, but his feet matched her pace. He didn’t really like her touching his hand, but they wanted to play with him.

Other kids wanted to play with him.

He found himself giggling along with her as she pulled him towards the climbing structure, Finn and Lina laughing and running at their heels.

-----

Alex couldn’t focus on her paper. She’d tried, she really had, but her eyes kept coming up to scan the play area. She couldn’t see the whole thing from where she was sitting, but on her most recent scan she’d lost Spencer. He’d been pacing by the edge of the playground for a while, and she’d allowed herself to look down for just a minute.

When she looked up she was gone, and she’d been on edge ever since.

“Hey, Hotch,” she said quietly, turning to look at him.

He looked exhausted, as always, and was staring at his math book like it had personally offended Haley Brooks.

Alex smacked gently at his arm and tried again, “Hey, Hotchner.”

He looked up at her, foot shifting so it knocked over his empty RedBull can. He swiped a hand down his face before nodding. “Yeah?”

“I don’t see Spencer anymore. Do you think he’s okay?” She shifted in her chair a bit, looking around again to see if she could spot him in his purple sneakers.

“I’m sure he’s fine. Maybe he went to go sit somewhere until the session was over. He wasn’t playing last time you looked?”

Alex took a breath and shook her head, resigning herself to the fact that Dave’s idea was not a good one, and she’d now subjected her baby to an afternoon of anxiety and discomfort. “No, he was pacing. Pacing, Hotch. Oh god, why did we do this?”

“We were trying to help,” Hotch offered, “It was a good idea, but Spencer isn’t a normal kid.”

“He’s going to be mad at us.”

“I know. I’d be mad too, if I were him. We did sort of kidnap and lie to him.”

“No,” Alex said, “Dave lied to him. I never said we were going to get ice cream.”

Hotch shook his head, shutting his notebook. “I meant that we told him he was going to spend the day with us. Just us. You know, we don’t really do that unless he’s sick. It’s usually all of us all together.”

Alex sighed and rubbed at her eyes. Hotch was right. Spencer had gotten a lot of their attention right after the incident, but as time had gone on they were trying to wean him away from needing either Alex or Hotch all of the time. Not entirely, Alex’s heart couldn’t take that, but enough for her to work uninterrupted shifts, or for Hotch to spend time with Haley without feeling guilty.

Now? They’d promised their attention and thrown him to the dogs. And he was probably all alone, sitting under some slide. Maybe he was upset or crying and they were sitting and letting it happen.

Alex stood up. “Let’s go get him. This was unfair, maybe we could try it again some other time.”

Hotch nodded, bending down to grab his backpack.

When Alex turned towards the playground once again her jaw dropped. Streaking past and clumsily climbing up one of the ladders was… Spencer.

There were three other kids in tow, and she could just make out his little voice rambling and spouting off facts. Was he talking about pirates? He’d read a book about them recently. All four of them were smiling, and it almost looked like they were having some sort of make-believe sword fight.

With a loud gasp she clutched her hand to Hotch’s bicep. His head snapped up, a small squeak coming from him before he said loudly, “Fucking ouch, Alex!”

“Language!” PTA Magazine Woman all but shrieked from behind them, “Honestly!”

“Sorry!” He called over his shoulder. “Alex, what? What’s wrong?”

“Look! Look Hotch, look!”

“Look at what? I don’t-”

He stopped short as his eyes caught Spencer’s spindly frame, a wide grin on the ten year old’s face. He jumped off of the ladder and called something that sounded suspiciously like “Yar!”

“Is that… Spencer?” He said, disbelief heavy in his voice.

Alex nodded emphatically, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes as she was overwhelmed with relief.

“Is he… is he playing? With those kids?”

“Yeah,” she said, her voice catching as several tears started trailing down her cheeks. She swiped at them quickly. “Yeah, he is.”

They were both quiet then, watching as Spencer and the others, two girls and a boy, ran around and laughed. Spencer looked happier than they had seen him in a long time, and when Alex looked over at Hotch, there were tears in his eyes to match the ones quickly rolling down her face.

“Maybe,” Hotch said quietly, sniffling suspiciously and letting out a single chuckle. “Maybe this was a good idea.”

“Yeah,” she said, nodding and clearing the tears off her face. There was a soft smile where her worried frown used to be. “I think it was.”

-----

A chime sounded loudly through the playground space, causing Nell, Finn, and Lina to all stop suddenly and groan.

Spencer looked around in confusion. There was a flush on his cheeks, but not from nervousness or embarrassment. It was from excitement and exertion. “What’s that?”

“The bell,” Finn said.

“It means it’s time for us to be done so the little kids can come in and play. So the big kids don’t run them over,” Lina added.

Nell was grinning wildly, unlike the other two. “But the bell means we get to go to the ice cream shop down the street!” She gasped, loudly. She did that a lot, Spencer noticed. “Wait! Wait! Spencer you should come too!”

“Yeah!” Lina said. She had become less shy as time had gone on, but she was still far less loud and rowdy than Nell. They all were by leaps and bounds. “You should ask your folks if you can come with us.”

“My… folks?” Spencer asked, eyebrows drawing as he squinted. “What do you mean?”

“Well,” Finn said, pointing to the parents’ area, “Miss Graff says that you shouldn’t say parents, because not everyone has parents that take care of them. But everyone has folks.”

Spencer felt a warmth spread through him at that, starting at the pit of his stomach and spreading through his whole body. A small smile worked its way onto his face and he nodded.

Maybe he didn’t have parents, at least not at school. Not that could take care of him. But, by Finn’s definition, he definitely had folks. Alex and Hotch fit into that category. And James. And even Dave and Emily.

“Okay,” he said, “I can ask Alex and Hotch. They’re my… brother and sister.”

Nell squealed and took off again, this time towards the parents’ area.

Spencer was right at her heels.

-----

He flew into Alex’s arms, sweaty and sticky and beaming. “Alex!”

Alex wrapped her arms around him from her seated position. “Hi, darling. You look like you had a good time.”

“I did!” He said happily, “I really, actually did. I- I made friends, I think.” His eyes were shining, and Alex had to take a breath to stop herself from crying all over again. “That’s wonderful, Spencer. Are you glad we came?”

“Yeah,” he said. He turned let go of Alex, throwing his arms around Hotch’s neck. “Hotch! We played make believe that we were pirates! No one stopped me rambling, not once!”

Hotch grinned, hugging Spencer tightly. “That’s awesome, Spence. You’ll have to tell us all about it on the drive back.”

“Oh!” Spencer said, letting go quickly. He’d almost forgotten. “Nell and Finn and Lina were going to get ice cream. They told me to ask my folks if I could go too.”

Alex and Hotch shared a confused look. “Folks?” Alex asked.

Spencer smiled widely. “Yeah. That’s what Lina and Finn said. Folks are the people that take care of you, because, well,” His hands clasped together, wringing in his grip, “not everyone has parents that take care of them. But everyone has folks.”

Alex’s eyes flooded with tears again, but she blinked them back, even if her heart felt like it was going to explode from her chest.

“Sure, Spencer,” Hotch said quietly, giving Spencer’s slight shoulder a squeeze. “Sure, we can do that. We don’t have to be back until dinner time. Right, Alex?”

She nodded quickly. “Yeah. Yeah of course we can do that.”

Spencer bounced excitedly on the balls of his feet, his fingers pressing against his mouth for a moment before he turned and looked around.

“Nell!” He called at a little girl behind them. Alex found her hand coming up to her own hair ribbon as she spotted the one in Nell’s hair, a small smile tugging at her lips.

Nell turned, a smile on her lips, and she pointed to Spencer before saying something to her mother.

Her mother who just so happened to be PTA Magazine Woman.

Oh shit.

“Come on, Alex, come on!”

Spencer dragged Alex over to where Nell and two other children were standing. Right up to PTA Magazine Woman.

“This is Alex,” he said happily to Nell and the others.

Nell waved happily, the other boy and girl waving with less enthusiasm, but smiles all the same.

“Hi,” Alex said simply, looking up at the woman with anxiety coursing through her entire body. She decided to pretend there had been no awkward interaction at all. That would work. “I’m Alex.”

The woman looked at her with suspicion, then down at Spencer, who was beaming and bouncing with a happiness Alex hadn’t seen in a long time.

“It’s nice to meet you,” the woman said, going along with Alex’s ruse. “I’m Hannah Clark. These are my twins, Nell and Finn, and Nell’s friend Lina.”

“Best friend, Mama,” Nell insisted, and Alex watched as the woman smiled .

“Right, Nell’s best friend Lina.”

Hotch had come up behind them now, his backpack slung over one shoulder and Alex’s now-packed bag over his other. “Nice to meet you,” he said evenly. “I’m Aaron. And this is Spencer.”

Nell tugged at her mother’s hand impatiently. “Mama! Ice cream! Can Spencer and Alex and Aaron come to ice cream with us? Spencer knows everything about pirates.”

Hannah looked Aaron and Alex over for a moment, and Alex felt her heart skip a beat. She’d scolded them on two occasions and originally thought they were teen parents. Which, Alex thought, wasn’t the worst thing in the world anyway. She’d judged them.

“Sure, Nellie, if Spencer, Alex, and Aaron would like to come with us to FrostBite, then they can.”

A cheer erupted from the four children, and a flurry of movement left Alex, Hotch, and Hannah staring after them as they dashed for the door together.

-----

“So, can I ask where your parents are?” Hannah asked them, eyes glancing at Spencer, who was sitting with Nell, Finn, and Lina at their own little table. They were chatting excitedly about pirates still, Spencer spouting everything he could remember and the three others asking question after question.

Hotch shifted in his seat, sipping at the coffee milkshake in front of him. “Working,” he said simply. He and Alex had a hushed agreement at the counter while they fought over who was paying that they would be vague enough to not draw suspicion.

“Ah,” she said. “Do they normally work on the weekends? We’re here every Saturday, and I’ve never seen you before.” Her tone was searching, and Hotch felt his eyebrows draw together as he went on defense.

“We didn’t know about the playground until Tuesday,” Alex said easily, sipping at her own milkshake. “A friend of ours told us about it, he used to come here as a kid.”

“It’s been a great outlet for Nell’s… energy. And Finn has enjoyed it.”

“Does Lina always come with you?” Hotch asked, glancing at the out-of-place redhead as she listened to Spencer ramble about the size of different ships.

Hannah nodded, smiling over at the children. “She does. She has a large family. One of her siblings comes to get her from here on their way home from clubs or work. It’s been a good routine.” She glanced at Alex and Hotch now, raising an eyebrow. “Children need routine.”

Hotch watched Alex nod, feeling something in his chest constrict.

“Of course,” she said evenly. There was a moment of hesitation before she added, “Spencer’s incredibly bright, and he has a hard time making friends with kids his own age. We thought that this might be a good way to get him out of his shell.”

Hotch took a breath, trying to release the defensive, annoyed feeling that was coursing up and down his body. This woman didn’t know them. She had no idea what kind of stress they were under. She didn’t know Spencer.

He felt some of it release when she nodded, giving a very small smile to them.

“Well, if I know anything about my Nell, it’s that she can make anyone feel comfortable. Lina used to be horribly shy.” She nodded towards the table. “Spencer looks like he’s fitting right in.”

“He’s a good kid,” Hotch said. “A great kid.”

“I can see that,” She said. There was a moment before she spoke again. “I would like to apologize. I judged you earlier, and it wasn’t fair of me. It’s obvious you both love your brother very much, and any teenager that would spend their Saturday trying to help their brother any way they could is more than okay in my book.”

Alex smiled slowly, nodding at the woman in front of them. “Thank you,” she said, and Hotch found himself nodding along.

The bell on the door tinkled as it opened, an older girl with hair as red as Lina’s stepping through and grinning at the table of children.

“Oh, Carolina!”

“Ginny!” Lina called, dashing from the table and slamming into her sister’s side.

The older girl laughed and waved at Hannah. “Thanks, Mrs. Clark! I’ll be dropping her off next week. Come on now, a stóirín, say bye to your friends.”

Hannah waved as Lina chirped out, “Bye Nell! Bye Finn! Bye Spencer!”

As they walked through the door, bell tinkling behind her, Hotch could hear Lina say to her sister, “Spencer’s our new friend, he’s really nice,” and all of the tension racing along his body ebbed slowly away.

-----

The first half of the car ride back was a whirlwind of Spencer rambling excitedly, telling them every detail about his time playing with Nell, Finn, and Lina. He was hopped up on sugar and adrenaline, riding the high of Hotch and Alex’s assurance that yes, they could go back to the playground to meet with them next week, and yes, they could get ice cream at FrostBite after the session was over.

By the time they had been on the freeway for ten minutes, he was sacked. His blanket was clutched to his chest as tiny snores escaped his chapped, sugar coated lips. Alex let out a happy sigh as she glanced at him through the slightly crooked rearview mirror. The blanket had been a backup plan in case the outing ended in a meltdown, but now both teens were riding a successful high of their own.

They didn’t need to talk about it. Hotch and Alex both knew exactly how the other felt without needing a single word.

When they pulled into the St. Thaddeus parking lot the sun was already down. Alex pulled her jacket tighter around herself and snagged both bags, taking Hotch’s so he could carry Spencer from the car.

“We’re going to have to wake him up in like an hour for dinner,” he said quietly, shifting so that Spencer’s head was resting against his collarbone.

Alex smiled and nodded, watching Spencer’s chest rise and fall peacefully. The stress that was so often reflected in his face and shoulders was gone, his hands still.

“Yeah,” she said quietly, “I know.”

They walked in silence for a while before she spoke again.

“Dave was right.”

“A miracle,” Hotch said, and they both laughed quietly. “Did you think you’d be spending the Saturdays of your senior year going on playdates?”

She shook her head, letting out another quiet laugh. “No way. I figured I’d work in the library. Hang out with James and Dave. Apply to colleges.”

Hotch hummed in agreement. “I’m going to have to talk to Gideon about not being around on Saturdays. At least some of them. You know, when we’re taking him out there.”

“Right.”

As they got to the door of Lincoln House, Alex looked at Hotch and smiled. “They’re going to grill us. Penelope is going to freak out, she’ll be so excited.”

“No kidding. They love him. We all do,” Hotch said, stepping over the threshold and shifting Spencer so he could start up the stairs.

Alex watched his back for a moment before she said quietly, “Yeah. We sure do.”

#great snakes this is long #themetaphorgirl #patron saint of lost causes #fanfic of a fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic #Criminal Minds #we love playing in someone else's sandbox #Brenna writes things #or at least she tries #Hotch and Alex are mom and dad

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sweet-symphony0 · 4 years ago

Text

Despair

Hey hey, guess who’s back and finally had time to write! Happy Twin Tuesday! This one is...current, I’ll say. That’s all I’m going to say.

Summary: 01/06/2021. Rami and Sami can’t believe their eyes. They cope the only way they know how.

Tags: @the-real-ramimalekpeen @xmxisxforxmaybe @killerqueengigi @txmel @laminy @ramimedley @rathernotmyname @ramilicious @sherlollydramoine @edteche2 @hah0106

---

Sami’s phone was ringing, he could hear it vibrating in his bag from he stood next to his desk, surveying his thirty students, their attention quickly diminishing. He ignored it, even as it rang a second time.

“Alright guys-hey, don’t pack up yet, this is important-reading for tonight is chapter 12, your essays on Slaughterhouse Five are due Friday, so don’t forget.” There were groans heard from around the room, and Sami continued, “and no, I won’t be accepting any late papers; I gave you a month and a half for this. That’s more than generous, get it done.”

There were more groans and Sami smirked inwardly to himself as the bell rang and students began shuffling out the door, with a few calls of “see ya, Mr. Malek!” and Sami smiled. “Yeah, have a good day guys. Nice work today.”

When the last student was out the door, Sami took a moment to himself, glad he now had a free period before his next class. He cleared his throat, and began erasing the notes from the smartboard in preparation for the next round, when his phone vibrated and he remembered someone was trying to reach him, idly wondering what was so important that someone would call him at work.

Skimming his notifications, he frowned. Three texts from Rami, a missed call from him, and two texts from friends which he ignored for the time being, instead reading Rami’s messages:

“I know you’re at work, but you need to see this.” and underneath, in a separate message, a link to a CNN article that read “Rioters break windows and breach US Capitol.”

Sami stared, bewildered, and then read the third message Rami had sent.

“Turn on the news.”

Sami reread the headline, clicking the link Rami had sent, and he skimmed the article, his mind reeling.

“What the fuck...?”

Rami’s response was instant:

“You need to turn on the fucking news. Now.”

Sami wasted no time in rushing to the staff room, thanking his stars he had a break for the next forty minutes. It didn’t surprise him that nearly a quarter of the staff were already there, and he slipped inside, spotting a few of his colleagues from the English department. Even though the second bell had rung, no one in the room bothered to move, their eyes transfixed on the news coverage blaring from the TV. And as Sami turned his gaze to watch too, he felt his stomach sink in dread.

There were a cacophony of murmurs around the room, Sami catching tidbits here and there.

“What are we going to do?”

“There’s nothing we can do right now-”

“No, we can’t just-someone has to explain to the kids-”

“No, they’ll find out soon enough, we keep teaching like normal-”

“This is a high school,” one of Sami’s friends in the history department finally sighed tiredly. “You really think those kids don’t know by now? They have social media and cell phones. They know. And we can go about like usual, but this is something we’re all going to be talking about tomorrow.”

Sami’s eyes drifted back to the television, watching intently as he drowned everyone else out. They were inside the building now, hoards of them, a never ending sight. Sami watched with wide, disbelieving eyes, horrified as people scaled the building walls, smashed through windows, and he couldn’t help but think frantically: why wasn’t anyone doing anything?

He snorted to himself. Right. You know why.

He didn’t think he’d be able to go back to work after this. Slowly, one by one, his colleagues filtered out as most of them had classes to attend to that period and couldn’t push being late anymore. Once he was alone, Sami sank into one of the chairs, eyes glued to the newscast, feeling frozen from what he seeing.

He felt sick.

He texted Rami back and forth, a steady stream of furious conversation, not even realizing when the bell rang. Scrambling out of his seat, he rushed back to his room, just in time for when kids started filing in.

“Hi guys,” he pasted a smile on his face. “Settle down, and we’ll get started.”

He taught on autopilot, the forty minutes going by without him realizing, and before he knew it, kids were standing up and he was calling out the same thing from before: “read chapter twelve tonight, your essays are due Friday...”

Whatever previous intentions Sami had about sticking around the rest of the school day to get his work done, he threw right out the window. Racing home, he dug through his fridge for a beer, and then after better judgement, grabbed another, before he turned his TV on and called Rami.

Sami didn’t even let him say hi. “Are you safe?”

“Yeah,” Rami nodded. He was moving through his apartment, Sami could see, presumably to get to a quieter spot, and his gaze was off to the side, watching something. “I’m fine. Nothing here has happened yet, thankfully.”

“Listen,” Sami said urgently. “Stay inside okay? Don’t go out today if you don’t have to. You don’t-no one knows what will happen. Please.”

“I’m not moving,” Rami said. “I can’t-fucking after this, I can’t concentrate. I’m supposed to be rehearsing lines for tomorrow but fuck that. This is insane.”

Sami watched as the mob of people made their way inside the Rotunda, and he sank onto the couch. Then a few minutes later, they were inside the Senate chamber, pushing things around, and when he changed the channel to find another possible view, there was a photo up of a man carrying a confederate flag.

“Oh my fucking god.”

Rami’s voice was low. “I know. It gets worse.”

“Oh no, don’t say that.”

“They-they took down the American flag,” Rami said with barely restrained rage. “And replaced it. With a fucking Trump flag.”

Sami choked. “You’re not serious.”

“I wish I weren’t. And our president,” Rami scoffed. “is encouraging it. Fucking-” he stopped short, thinking for a moment on whether or not to complete what he wanted to say, before he shook his head in exasperation. “It’s all so exhausting.”

“That’s unconstitutional,” Sami murmured, flipping channels again, and he dropped his beer when he saw the constructed noose on the other side of the Capitol, staining the carpet, but he didn’t care. “Who is that for?! What the fuck!”

“What? What am I missing?”

Sami didn’t answer, still rooted on the spot, watching as officers finally brought out tear gas. “Fuck...is there any update on the Senators?”

“Not that I can tell. Though they are saying a few Republican ones are agreeing with this bullshit.”

Suddenly everything clicked, and Sami realized why today, of all days, this was happening. As he watched the coverage of Trump’s tweet, the rally earlier that morning, he idly wondered how much damage had already been caused, and whatever else he’d missed.

“I’m not drunk enough for this,” he sighed, and Rami chuckled flatly.

“I’ve had a bottle of wine open for the last hour. Wish you were here to join me.”

“Well,” Sami stood up, grimacing at the mess he’d made from the spilled beer. “I can join you from afar. What are you drinking?” Rami gave him the name of a Cabernet they were both fond of, and Sami grinned triumphantly when he found a spare bottle in the back of his wine cooler. Propping his phone up on the counter against the block of chopping knives, he made quick work in opening and pouring himself a generous glass. “Cheers, man.”

“Cheers. What are we cheers-ing to?”

Sami hummed, licking the bit of wine that had dripped down his finger. “To the compete and utter fuckery that has been...the six days of this new year.”

“That works,” Rami was silent for a moment, both of them lost in their thoughts, watching the news again. “You know, I...obviously after the last four years there’s been a lot of unrest and contempt. But to this extent, for thousands of people to..to believe-”

“Say an election is rigged and then stop the process in almost every way they can?” Sami took a generous sip of his wine. “To destroy the Capitol? Yeah. I know.”

“Unbelievable,” Rami said succinctly, and after a moment: “I should’ve stayed in London.”

“They’re not much better,” Sami snickered, glancing at his twin. “Besides, London doesn’t have me.”

Rami laughed. “You think I plan my life around you?”

“What, you mean you don’t? I’m shocked. That hurts.”

“Definitely not,” Rami smirked and Sami laughed.

“Alright hot shot, don’t let that hair gel go to your brain too. There’s enough on your head already.”

“Oh, fuck you,” Rami was grinning, and Sami grinned back.

“Just trying to keep you humble, you know. I don’t give a shit if you have a shiny gold toy now.”

“Wow,” Rami muttered. “You wish your hair looked as good.”

“A greasy mess? Yeah, no thanks.”

Rami laughed again, and Sami grinned, pleased at the fact, sipping his wine again as they turned back to the news. “Fuck, it really is a shit show isn’t it?”

“I’ve always said he would leave the White House, but he’ll burn it down with him as he goes.”

“Yeah,” Sami sighed, his anger boiling all over again. “Looks like it. I wish you were wrong.”

“Me too.”

Glancing at the clock, he saw it had been a hour since he’d gotten home, which meant it was around 4pm on the east coast. Tuning back to the coverage, the mob outside the Capitol had grown, more people were scaling the wall to get inside, and Sami couldn’t help but think how all too easy it was for them.

“So uh...where’s the tear gas? The rubber bullets? The arrests?”

Rami snorted. “You’re fucking kidding, right? C’mon. Like that applies to them.”

Sami snorted too, and then laughed weakly, which turned into a laughing fit, and he could hear Rami calling his name. “Sorry...it’s just...fuck all of them.”

Rami raised his glass in a toast before he downed it in one go, pouring another serving. “Amen.”

“God, how am I supposed to explain this to my kids? You’re telling me I have to go to work tomorrow after this?”

“Same here,” Rami said. He was moving again, and Sami could see he was back in the kitchen too, digging through his refrigerator. He produced a bunch of grapes, a platter of salami, and a block of cheddar cheese, and Sami watched as he began to assemble an antipasti platter for one. “I don’t want to head to work. Seems pointless, after this.”

Sami bit his lip thoughtfully. “It’s not...useless. Use it. You’re angry-”

“Angry? No, I’m well passed pissed off at this point.”

“There you go. Use it, use that rage towards your scenes and whatever your character is. It’s...” Sami shrugged meekly at Rami, who was watching him intently. “It’s the only thing we can do at times like this, right?”

“I suppose,” Rami muttered, a tired expression on his face, and popped a grape into his mouth. He turned around, opening the fridge again and came back holding some hummus and olives in his hand. “I imagine it’ll be the only thing anyone will talking about for the next week. Rightfully so.” He opened the olives, laying a few of them out next to the salami, and stuck the jar back into the fridge.

Sami was bemused. “How much are you eating?”

“As much as it takes to get through this shit show. I’m supposed to be on a diet right now, but I don’t give a shit. If I’m going to wine and dine watching this, I might as well do it properly.”

“Now I really wish I were there.”

“Yeah, me too. It would make it more bearable. But...this will do for now.”

Sami went silent, watching the TV again, which was now reporting about gunshots and a woman wounded. “Jesus Christ.”

Rami was muttering under his breath. “Shit, shit, shit, shit-”

They didn’t speak after that, both of them too lost in watching the news coverage, and Sami gripped his glass tightly as took a breath in to ease his anxiety.

Swallowing, he poured another glass, knowing he wouldn’t be finishing the bottle, and instead capped it and placed it in the fridge for tomorrow. It was an odd feeling, one that “scared” wouldn’t be able to cover. It was a looming, threatening feeling; something like this was so deeply entrenched in the fabric of the country. It wasn’t something that would go away on January 20th, as much as he wished for that. He wasn’t surprised that people had so much hatred for anyone other than themselves were coming out of the woodwork, blindly following what their commander in chief told them. The repercussions of this day would be something that would take a long time to repair.

“I’m tired,” he said suddenly. Rami’s voice was quiet, and though Sami didn’t elaborate, Rami seemed to understand what he meant perfectly.

“I know. So am I.”

---

When the crowds eventually thinned out, and Sami went back to work the next morning, he read the highlights of things he’d missed, flipping through the photos of the wreckage before the first period bell rang. When students trickled in, he was met with a sea of somber faces, and he knew he wouldn’t be teaching his regular lesson plans for the day. He felt enraged all over again.

Instead, he hopped up onto his desk, sitting cross legged and observing his students. “Alright. I would be...a very poor educator if I didn’t bring up what happened yesterday to all of you. And I know you’ll hear about it later in the day, I’m sure, but what we do here as teachers affects you guys for the rest of your lives. Now I don’t really care if you can’t tell me the imagery themes in The Great Gatsby, but I do care if you can’t think for yourselves. You’ll be reading and hearing a lot different things in the next coming weeks from people who think they’re right. And you’re all old enough, in my opinion, to have your own opinions on this. That being said, we all know what the banned book list is, correct?”

There were students nodding, and Sami nodded too, and he hopped off the desk to pull said list up. “Good. Pick a book from here, read it. There’s a reason all these books are banned from certain school curriculum, and I want you guys to pick one, and tell me why. It’s January. For every book you manage to get through from now till June, if you give me a one page analysis on your thoughts, I’ll give you extra credit that counts towards your final.” His students perked up at that, and he smiled inwardly. “Five points for every book, sound good?” There were murmurs of approval, and Sami continued, “it’s not mandatory, so don’t feel pressured to this. But I would...appreciate it if you did.”

“What if we read them all?” Someone asked.

There was always one.

Sami’s lips quirked up in amusement. “Good luck. You’ll notice there’s plenty of books on there we’ve read already.”

His students started chattering excitedly, and Sami cleared his throat, glancing at his copy of The Color of Water, which is what they were studying now. They would be finishing that tomorrow, the test for it was Monday, something which Sami had to make over the weekend. He hadn’t decided what to teach next, his gaze drifting to the copies of To Kill A Mockingbird in the back of the classroom, which was what he was planning to start Monday, after the kids took their test.

He debated on it, and then Rami’s words came back to him from the night before.

“He’ll leave the White House, but he’ll burn it down with him as he goes.”

He cleared his throat. “Guys, we’re just going to finish reading for the rest of the period, and we’ll go over the whole book for tomorrow before your test. So if you’ve got your books, take ‘em out.”

Later, once his classes were over for the day, he headed to the library, intent on finding Maria and asking for his next lesson plans.

“Hey Sami,” she greeted. “Back again? How’d they fare with Color of Water?”

“Not bad,” Sami said. “We’re finishing it up, test is Monday.”

“So, you’re here for Mockingbird?”

“No I’ve got Mockingbird,” he murmured, scanning the bookshelves. “That was what I was going to go with originally, but I’ve had a change of heart. Do you know if any of the faculty is teaching Orwell at the moment?”

“The freshmen, some of them are doing Animal Farm. But none of the AP classes right now. Which one?”

Sami spotted what he was looking for, and based on the piles of books they had, no one else had taught it yet, or he was late to the game.

“1984.”

#twin tuesday #twin tuesday fic #sami malek #rami malek #malek twin appreciation #this might not be people's cup of tea #but i've been so angry #come chat with me about the fuckery that is known as the united states government #I tried not to make this too on the nose or preachy #hopefully I succeeded #A note: this doesn't take place in a quarantined zoom classroom obviously #even though LA is awful right now #teachers in this fandom #please tell me if I did the school setting correctly or not

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blissfulparker · 5 years ago

Note

Tom finds a bunch of poems reader wrote before they were dating and some recent, reader gets embarrassed but Tom’s just melting at how she writes about him in them

I-I accidentally went off🤧💐💌

“Baby!” Tom calls out as he looks around for his shoes, his running shoes to be more precise. The old ones he hadn’t used in months ever since his new ones but recently he left his new ones with Harry so now he was stuck with the old. “Have you seen my trainers? The old blue and grey ones!” He calls out as you were in the study room of the house trying to get some work done.

“Have you checked under the bed? Where all your junk seems to go!” You say the last part jokingly. He huffs as has to dig his hand under the bed to be met with dust, some old clothes, Tessa’s old toys, and a box. A box he’s never felt before.

He doesn’t hesitate to pull out the box. He’s shoved his hands under the bed multiple times and had never found this pink shoe box.

Inside was multiple letters, folded up papers, some torn from notebooks, others in their own journals. It was basically filled. He knew apart of this was an invasion of privacy, that these were your thoughts and feelings shared within yourself. But he flipped one paper over and saw his name in cursive written carefully between the lines.

12 October, 2019

For the first time we touch each other it feels like the sun hitting the horizon. The moon kissing the stars. We melt into each other’s hands like ice cream on a hot summer day. His lips taste like cherry wine and dance across my neck as if it’s a routine being built—

It stops and tom find himself picking up another one. One that’s is finished and goes from front and back. Then one that is halfway written, one that is finshed, dirty ones, sweet ones, ones stained with coffee, ones crumble up and messy. They’re all so beautiful.

1 April, 2013

I remember when I first met him. he made the whole room light up when he walked in. Everyone turned to him and loved him. He made everyone smile and knew how to hold a girls heart in his hand. He certainly held mine. You get lost in him, you can’t help it. Lost counting innocent freckles on his face like they’re the stars. Lost in his smile that’s so bright and you can’t help to smile back. Lost in his eyes that melted like honey. I still remember the first time he spoke, it was a trance you couldn’t get out of. The first time we touched was something meant to be so innocent turned into much more—

“Hey so I lied, I think I threw those shoes out—“ you start but find him on the floor with all your work. All your old poems that went back to when you knew him in grade school. “What are you doing?”

He looks up, his hands shaking and his eyes watering slightly. If he knew how much he meant to you he would’ve came sooner. Would’ve swept you away sooner.

“I-I’m w-when did y—“ he starts but moves to wipe his tears. He hadn’t open any of the endless love letters you worte and he didn’t need to.

“Oh my god.” You fell to the floor to join him and you burry your face in your hands. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my FUCK!” You scream and he laughs a little.

“This is all so beautiful, I can’t believe you wrote about me. A-Are these all for me?” He asked trying not to sound conceited.

“Yes those are all for you! I sat in my room and wrote about you almost every single night! From when we first met back in 2013 to pretty much now. I mean I don’t write that much poetry anymore for myself but this was a result.” You say embarrassingly. “I’m not a creep I promise.” You convince and he shakes his head.

“I don’t think you’re a creep.” He laughs and sets down the paper. “I think you’re talented,” he kissed your cheek. “Smart,” he kissed your other cheek, “and so, very beautiful.” He leaned in for your lips and took them against his.

You let him hold you for awhile. Kissing around all your old work and feeling the magic that simply never goes away.

“You can have them but please, please don’t read in front of me.” You’re still hot from the embarrassment and he laughs and nods.

“I won’t, I won’t share them either.” He looks down and picks one up. “You make me sound like Prince Charming honestly.” He smirks a little and you only kiss the corner of his mouth.

“Maybe because you are.” You push through his hair and get up from the floor. “You can u-uh have your fun. I’m going to work back on my English essay.” You tell him and he smiles up and nods already ready to read another.

Almost an hour and a half later tom comes in holding a letter and wraps his arms around you covering you in kisses. You feel the sudden heat of embarrassment again but he only picks you up and reassured you he loves everything.

A couple love letters and poetry never hurt anyone, infact it prompted tom to start writing for you. They were cheesy but you loved them more than anything and held onto anything he gave you.

As he would carry a poem or two while traveling to remember who he was in love with. for he fell in love with a writer, you simply wrote him into a fairytale.

#kats blurbs #tom holland imagine #tom holland x reader #tom holland fluff #tom holland fan fic #tom holland x you #tom holland fic #tom holland angst #tom holland blurb #tom holland au

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loudsuitlover · 4 years ago

Note

could you write a Christmas piece for Harry and indie and their family please? I’m not sure if you are taking requests, I know you said you’ve been busy but if you get time and this inspires you I would love to read!

A/N: Thank you for the request! It did inspire me quite a lot! I hope you like it x

“Merry Christmas, doctor Styles.” The new Anaesthesiology inter smiled at him.

“Merry Christmas, Steve.”

But oh, the holidays. He had never been a fan of them. Granted, that- like every other thing in his life- had changed since he spent them with Blue and just by thinking about it he smiled. Blue loved Christmas. She loved most holidays, but if she had to choose one then that would be Christmas.

He remembered their first Christmas together. He remembered too that the year prior he had already been in love with her but they had been angry at each other during the holidays and even if he thought he wished things had been different, deep down he knew he wouldn’t change a thing. And he remembered that first Christmas they had actually spent together, he was having a hard day, a really hard day but Blue didn’t yet know he didn’t really like Christmas- he didn’t want to sound like the Grinch- so she was standing right outside the hospital with a Santa Claus hat on and she was grinning at him and he remembered she almost scolded him because they were going to be late to her mother’s dinner and he just chuckled and made fun of her for her hat.

“Everybody’s looking at you.” He had laughed.

“I don’t care. So are you.” She shrugged.

“Ain’t I always?” And he gave her that smile of his that would always have her weak at the knees.

She didn’t drive yet then so he knew she had walked from her friends’ apartment to the hospital and then he drove towards her mother’s house, that was still her own house at the time, and in the ride he prayed for the dinner and the evening not to be as hard as he anticipated.

Blue’s family was big on Christmas so Alicia was having this huge dinner and she was having everybody over- Blue’s dad and siblings and his own family. Alicia had even invited his dad but they hadn’t spent Christmas together since Harry was 7 so it was no surprise when he said he couldn’t make it.

Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra and even Elvis Presley played that night on the Anderson’s house, and every other Christmas eve after that; and the truth was as years passed, new memories came with them- first it was Blue with the Santa hat outside the hospital, then her first Christmas gift to him.

“Now” she said the minute he laid on her old bed at her mother’s house that night “there’s a present to you from me under the tree so you can open something tomorrow in front of my family but” she smiled and she had his full attention then “you’re real present is here.”

“Are you gonna give me a lap dance?” He smirked, propping himself up on his elbows over her mattress but she rolled her eyes.

“No.” She giggled. “It’s a proper present.”

“So is a lap dance.” He smiled.

“There will be no lap dance on Christmas for you, mister. Did you know today we celebrate the day Jesus Christ was born? Does it look like the night to be giving my boyfriend a lap dance?”

“You don’t even believe in God.” He laughed.

“But you do.” She smirked. “You should show some respect on his birthday.”

“Alright, alright.” He smirked. “Then what is it that I can’t open in front of your family?”

Pictures of a sexy Santa Claus lingerie set played on his mind, or maybe some new sex position she had done some research on, or maybe a new edition of the Kamasutra. She sat down before him on her bed and she was hiding something on her back and she tucked her hair behind her ears and she looked so gorgeous to him.

“Is this the present?” He smirked.

“What? I haven’t given you anything.”

“I thought it was this sight.” He shrugged.

“You’re such a dork.” She giggled and then she showed the present from behind her back.

It was carefully wrapped on reindeers’ paper and he smiled at her cheesiness. He took it from her. It was a book- it definitely was the Kamasutra- o a cheeky smirk crept onto his face. Except it wasn’t and when he read the title, even if his Spanish wasn’t that good at the time, he knew what that meant.

“Canciones para Harry.” (Songs for Harry.) He read out loud.

He opened the book and flipped through the pages. She had gotten it printed and among the lyrics, all in black ink, there were some fragments in pink and from them it came some notes written on her handwriting on shinny black ink, and he ran his fingers across them before he looked up at her. She wasn’t looking at him, instead her eyes were set on the book, and he knew she was just embarrassed.

“I made a playlist for you. Well, not technically for you. It was more a playlist about you. I started it after one day at your house when you told me you had chosen to tutor my essay because you thought I was smart. Well, I was falling for you then.” She giggled. “So I made this playlist with songs that made me think of you and I… I mean I can share the playlist with you too but I- I did this book.” She set her hands on the pages so she could point at the things she was mentioning. “I just wrote the lyrics of the songs, well I got them from the internet, and then I wrote in pink the bits that reminded me of you and on the sides I wrote why, sort of like in genius. You know that website, right? And” she flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for “since some songs were in Spanish, I translated them myself, see? There on both sides, like one of those Spanish-English books for kids” she giggled “so you can understand better.”

He was at a loss for words so he just stayed quiet, only for a moment, and he read some of it. Her handwriting: this was when we met, when I thought I didn’t need anything from your heart haha what a fool and he smiled and read the translation she had made from one of her Spanish songs about him I don’t need no clothes, I’m wrapped by yesterday’s warmth; I don’t need no clothes, I’m wrapped by the taste of honey; I don’t need anything to be between us, just our skin; I don’t need anything from your heart. And he kept reading…

Reality doesn’t let go of me. I search for a better world and dig on one of my drawers just in case you’re there. Searching for my destiny, living pre-recorded, without being or hearing or giving. I would like to talk to you so we could tune in.

My house is falling since he left and now I’m just waiting for the wrecking…. His memory’s pinned between my eyebrows. But I dream that there’s a new song beginning, I live on the echo of yout voice, entertained; and I follow the trail of your scent that says to me come with me.

I find a song that talks about me and you. Be quiet and hear it- the sound of my dreamy belly that dreams about devouring you every hour. The held back desire roars.

I want to relish on the essence of things.

I decided to leave my door open just in case your warm air comes in and brings news about you.

“It’s not much” she giggled “but I thought it might embarrass you to open something so cheesy in front of my whole family.”

He looked up at her and he just gave her a smile for he still didn’t know what to say and he hoped he was a poet then. He had written some things about her, that he had, but he didn’t even have them there; even though he had decided then he would let her read them.

“This is the best gift anyone has ever given to me, Blue.” He confessed. “But yeah, I’m glad you didn’t give me this in front of everyone because I’m all mushy now.” He smiled. “Just come here, you. Te quiero.”

So yeah, Blue had made sure he didn’t hate Christmas as much as he used to. It wasn’t that he hated them. It was just that it reminded him of everything his sister could have had but hadn’t and he couldn’t help but to think it was his own fault and so Christmas was always hard on him but since Blue, Christmas was an opportunity to pamper her and to be pampered, to decorate the entire house with her and have chocolate together and she even got him a Christmas PJs for Dylan’s first Christmas- Daddy was dressed like an Elf too- and he wore it every other Christmas after that. And that year wouldn’t be different, he thought.

“Mummy” Dylan walked down the aisle at the grocery store with his white woollen beanie on, the one Aunty Gemma had knitted for him “do you think Santa leaves presents for animals in the jungle too?”

He was four years old then but he was the smartest kid she had ever seen. They had probably overstimulated him, but oh well. When he was just one year old, Harry would tell him all these things and he would never scold him- he would just explain what was wrong and in all fairness- Blue had thought that was silly at the time- but maybe he had been right all alone.

“Yo me imagino que sí. Si han sido buenos, claro…. Pero no lo sé porque nunca he ido a la jungla.” (I would say he does. If they have been kind, of course… But I’m not sure because I’ve never been to the jungle.)

Hughie was a giant 2 and a half years old and he was sitting on the small chair on the trolley, minding his own business with the toy he had brought with him and Dylan was helping you with the groceries, grabbing the things you asked him from the shelf and placing them on the trolley.

“¿Tú quieres algo, Dylan? Es Navidad. Puedes elegir lo que tú quieras.” (Is there anything you want, Dylan? It’s Christmas. You can choose whatever you want.)

“¿Lo que yo quiera de toda la tienda?” (Whatever I want from the entire store?)

Blue smiled. The store wasn’t bigger than four corridors but she nodded her head for she figured for someone 107 cm tall, the store was actually big.

“I think I want a box of chocolates so I can share. I can leave one for Santa too.”

Blue smiled.

“A box of chocolates it is. And Hughie, is there anything you want?”

“Agua.” (Water.)

Blue laughed but handed him his bottle of water and sweet Dylan explained.

“She means a present, Hugh.”

“Biscuits.” He smiled mischievously as he looked at her.

She laughed again because the day before, he had misbehaved a little with the biscuits- he was such a gluttonous kid- but she knew Hughie was a little naughty but had such a kind heart and she secretly loved it.

Dylan was so good. He had always been so good, even when he was a baby. He would grant her 8 hours of straight sleep and he would always smile when you look at him, even before you said anything, and when he was a little older, he was so good too. So kind and such a loving big brother. She remembered when Hughie needed a nappy change, Dylan would run off to the nursery and get a clean nappy and wipes and run back to the living room and he was just one and a half years old.

After the store, they had gotten home and she had turned on the heater and she had gotten everyone on their Christmas PJs after the baths and then she had played her mother’s Christmas CD and the three of them had walked inside the kitchen where they were baking.

“Mummy, why are we making a cake for Daddy?” Dylan asked as he stirred the dough.

Hughie was sat on his knees on the stool next to his brother’s but all he had been doing was nipping on leftovers of chocolate or butter.

Well, they were making a cake for Daddy because Daddy tended to be a little sad when Christmas was coming. The accident had been on the 18th December, so many years prior, but he still felt his heart breaking every year around that time. So then, then it was December 23rd and the following day they had Christmas dinner at Abuela’s house but that day, they would have a Christmas day of their own and Harry would have a cake because a cake could cheer anyone up.

“So he knows we love him.”

At that reply Dylan looked up from the bowl at his mum and his hazel eyes set on hers and she knew another question was coming.

“Otherwise he won’t know we love him?”

She smiled.

“Es verdad, yo creo que ya lo sabe. Pero es que Daddy es médico como mamá y la Navidad en el hospital da un poco de pena, ¿sabes? Porque nosotros vemos a mucha gente que no tiene tanta suerte como nosotros y no tiene unos hijos tan guapos y tan buenos, ¿sabes?” (You’re right, I think he already knows. But, you know, Daddy is a doctor just like Mummy and Christmas at the hospital can be a little sad, you know? Because we see some people that aren’t as lucky as we are, some people who don’t have kids as beautiful and kind as you, you know?)

Hughie was listening too then and he had smiled at his mummy’s compliment and he looked so much like Harry she wanted to laugh.

“¿Y eso pone a Daddy un poco triste?” (And that makes Daddy a little sad?)

“Sí, eso pone a Daddy un poco triste.” ((Yes, that makes daddy a little sad.) Hughie frowned as she said that. Daddy was his favourite person in the world, she was sure, but so was Dylan and her herself and he didn’t like it when any of them wasn’t happy. She knew even if he was little, he would take their pain from them if he could. “Pero vosotros le ponéis feliz.” (But you guys make him happy.)

“You too, mummy.”

“Yes, me too.” She smiled.

“Mummy” Hughie smiled again with that naughty smile of his, and Blue hoped he would never grow old for it “¿cuándo es tu cumpleaños?” (when is your birthday?)

“¿Cuándo es mi cumpleaños, Dy? ¿Tú lo sabes?” (When’s my birthday, Dy? Do you know it?)

He frowned and his mummy smiled as she stared at him. He was so small to everybody but he had grown up so much to her and time was going too fast and was taking away her little baby Dy. But he was so gorgeous and so kind and she was so proud of him as it was, she couldn’t imagine how proud she’d be when he was older.

“Es en verano.” (It’s on the summer.)

“Sí, es en verano, Hughie.”

“¿Y el de Daddy?” (And Daddy’s?)

“Dylan?” She smirked.

“Después de Navidad.” (After Christmas.)

“Sí, muy bien, Dy, ¡qué observador eres!” (Yes, well done, Dy! You’re so thoughtful!)

“¿Y el mío?” (And mine?) Hughie asked.

“El tuyo es en marzo, después del de Daddy.”

“¿Cuándo es el cumpleaños de Santa, mummy?” (When is Santa’s birthday, mummy?)

“No lo sé, pet.”

They didn’t hear the door but it had been a while since Harry was standing on the other side of the kitchen door, eavesdropping to their conversation. The scent of vanilla and chocolate filled his nostrils as he stood there quiet and peaceful and he hadn’t realised the smirk that was on his lips; but holidays weren’t so bad anymore.

“Well, who are all these elves on my kitchen?” Harry smirked.

Hughie almost jumped from his stool and he clapped his hands together and turned his body around and Dylan grinned widely at his dad’s presence.

“Daddy!” Hughie celebrated. “It’s us! We’re not Elves. We’re Hughie, Mummy and Dy.”

“Oh, okay, thank you, Hughie.”

He leaned in on his sons and he pressed a kiss to Dylan’s hairline as he hugged him to his chest from behind before Hughie climbed over his chest and hugged him as if he hadn’t seen him just this morning.

“What are you guys doing?”

“We’re- uh” Dylan’s eyes opened wide as he stared into his mum’s eyes in panic.

So Harry looked up at her too and she gave him a naughty smile.

“Díselo, Dy.” (Tell him, Dy.)

“Te estamos haciendo una tarta para que sepas que te queremos y para que no estés triste.”

“Oh, muchas gracias.” He smiled at his wife and shook his head slightly, but she just shrugged and giggled.

“And that’s not the only thing we have for him, is it?” Blue smiled. “We also have a little show after dinner, right guys?”

“Yes, yes!” Hughie pressed his hand on his cheek and turned his head until he was looking into his eyes. “We learnt a song, a Christmas song with Mummy.”

“You did?” He smirked amused.

And then he set Hughie back on his stool but she asked her children to help set the table so they both started grabbing their colourful plastic cutlery and making their way to the table. Harry approached her and he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back to his chest while she put the cake on the oven.

“Do you not get tired?” He whispered on her neck before he gently nibbled on her skin.

“Of what?”

“Of being so lovely.”

“What a dork.”

“And sexy.” He grabbed her butt and almost made her moan but she just pushed him away with her hips and he chuckled.

So they had dinner, the four of them, and Dylan told Harry about the box of chocolates he had gotten and Hughie told him about a meteor that apparently had crushed against his toys in the afternoon and it was simple, but it was perfect.

And then after dinner came the show and both his kids performed a very cute, very well choreographed performance of Rudolph the RedNosed Reindeer while his wife guided them from behind him. And then there came the cuddles before bed and the best moments, when they would tell each other right before turning the light off, what had been the best moment of their day. For both of them it had been the piece of cake after dinner, obviously, and Blue could only roll her eyes internally when she thought it had been none of the games they had played, or the rehearsals for their performance, of the chocolate box but the cake- it was always the cake.

And it was after the kids had fallen asleep, when Blue and Harry were having some wine in front of the fireplace that she had gotten up from the couch as Nat King Cole lull them with The Christmas Song and she had offered him a hand as she swayed her body to the slow rhythm and he had stared at her hand with a smirk playing on her lips before she had smiled invitingly and then he had finally taken it and gotten up. He placed his hands on her waist and her arms wrapped around his neck and he couldn’t help the chuckles as she sang to him.

“Merry Christmas to you.” She pressed her lips to his and there was no more singing as they kissed for the rest of the song.

The kiss started slow and neither of them had realized they were that hungry for one another until he deepened the kiss. He hadn’t done it on purpose, he had intended to go for a gentle, tender Christmas kiss, but she smelled so good… And she was so warm and he had skimmed her skin underneath her sweater and damn… She was so soft… She was always so soft and so his eager tongue had pushed her and she had moaned against his lips and that was everything he had needed.

His hand fell from her neck to the valley between her breasts and she gasped on his mouth.

“Baby” She gasped.

He hummed and kept sucking on the skin on her neck.

“The boys” She whispered “what if they wake up?”

“I need you, baby.”

He was painfully hard and he didn’t quite know how it had started. It must have been the way she smelled. But he had thought about being inside her and then he couldn’t take the thought out of his mind.

“Bedroom.” She had said.

He pulled away from her and with his hands firmly on her hips, he took her to their bedroom and he closed the door after him. His hands were on her hips as he nibbled on the side of her neck.

“I love you, Blue.” He whispered against her skin.

And his hands slipped under the hem of her pyjama pants and he took them and her knickers off swiftly before he walked towards the bed. She could feel it- his hard length, big and warm- against the low of her back and she didn’t know how she could get wet so fast but she was so lightheaded she wouldn’t have known her age anyway.

She heard him took off his own clothes and so she took off her pyjama top and waited for him with both hands on the bed, giving him her back. Warm, strong arms wrapped around her bare waist and one hand moved up and squeezed her breast while the other travelled down her belly between her legs. Her head collides against his shoulder when his fingers collected the wetness from her warm lips and spread it against her hungry clit and she moaned. She tilted her neck so she could capture his lips and his tongue searched for hers. The familiar humidity and the eagerness drove her crazy even all those years later and she let him do with her what he wanted.

With one hand on her belly, he laid her down on the bed, chest and belly pressed against the mattress and he laid his weight over her making her moan. His hands pinned hers against the mattress on both sides of her head and their lips connect on an impossibly wet kiss. She gasped against his mouth.

“I love you.” He repeated.

“I love you too” she moaned “but fuck, fuck me already.”

He chuckled before he pressed a kiss on her temple.

“My girl… Always so impatient.”

His girl… His girl was a mum already but he was still his girl, first and foremost, and he would fuck her like he did when they first met and she would scream his name and mark his back with her nails still.

She desperately wanted him inside her, but he deprived her from it purposefully, just so she was as hopeless as he was. So she could feel, even if it was on a physical level, how desperately in love he felt, how vulnerable, how much in need he felt times like that night.

The tip of his tongue went down the side of her neck and she shivered. She was deprived from movements too since Harry’s weight was over her so she could only bit on her bottom lip as he sunk her teeth on her skin, not enough to hurt but enough to sting, before he licked and kissed the pink marks. He moved above her, making her think that was the time he was going to thrust inside her, but he didn’t driving her crazy. She had hoped he would times enough so that she had given up and as if he knew, that was the time he actually slipped inside her. He groaned on her ear at the contact, that wet canal that had wrapped around him for years, his happy place, his calm. And even if he was thrusting her from behind, he still found her lips and they kissed passionately, and he would bit on her bottom lip and pull from it and dived his tongue inside her mouth.

She was a moaning mess and only then she understood why he had chosen to take her from behind because in this position at least her moans were muffled against the pillow. He held her hips and fucked hard and fast inside her and she knew they were only the orgasms she would have solo, before he’d cum himself and then he’d slipped his hand between her legs and he would rub her pussy fast enough so that she came with him again.

He was lying next to her with his back resting against the mattress and his chest was furiously going up and down and he turned her head and smiled at him sleepily.

“I think that’d do for two long sexless days.”

She rolled her eyes and chuckled and, smiling, he leaned in and captured her lips with his.

“Merry Christmas to you too, love.”

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lannisterdaddyissues · 5 years ago

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The Last Kingdom High School AU - Chapter One

Hey y’all,,, so I finally decided to make this a thing after like 100 years! Anyone remember this post? It’s a thing now!! All my friends in the discord finally convinced me to share my writings with the world so here it is! This is going to be a multi-chapter fic, I will update it during the summer but I have a job so idk if updates will be regular. Anyway here is chapter one aaah!!

Chapter One

TLK High School AU

Word Count: 4.1k

“Oi! Arseling! Get your sorry arse to the principal’s office, now!” Leofric shouted as he slammed the gymnasium’s phone back onto its receiver. Uhtred’s classmates all turned to stare at him with round eyes, like a bunch of identical creepy owls. Uhtred hated those looks. He’d been getting them a lot in the past two years.

“Thank you for coming to see me, Uhtred,” the principal Odda greeted him, smoothing some papers out on his desk as Uhtred shuffled into his office. A steaming hot coffee mug sat to the side, untouched, and a bagel with a single bite mark in it lay on a napkin near the corner of his desk. “I wanted to talk to you about your behavior lately.” Uhtred blinked slowly but said nothing, leaving the ball in Odda’s court. Odda sighed. “You’ve been starting fights a lot lately in the past few months...the most recent one, three days ago, I believe, you sent my son home with a bloody nose and a black eye.”

“He called me names,” Uhtred said tonelessly, “And he’s an arsehole.” Odda grimaced and sucked air through his teeth. “See, Uhtred, that’s just more of what I’m talking about. You cannot just go around speaking like that to adults. You need to respect your elders. Otherwise, you’ll just keep getting in trouble and getting sent to detention. You know these are put on your permanent record.”

“...Fine.” Odda nodded, as though satisfied, and shuffled his papers. The reading glasses perched on the edge of his nose drooped a little and he pushed them back up towards his face.

“I also wanted to talk about your grades this semester.”

“What about them?” Uhtred stated more than inquired, hair falling over his shoulder as he tilted his head to the side. The old man never said anything of interest to him, just that he needed to stay on track if he wanted to be successful in life and that he had to watch his words in his essays. So what. He scanned the rest of the principal’s office nonchalantly, searching for an item to fixate on so he didn’t have to meet Odda’s eyes.

“They were just fine in your freshman year, perfectly average and acceptable for you to graduate, but halfway through your sophomore year they took a turn for the worse. Last year you failed both your English class and your maths class, barely passing your science class with a C-minus.”

“And what about it?” Uhtred repeated, twiddling his thumbs. His eyes alighted upon the globe in the back of the room on top of Odda’s filing cabinet and he exhaled deeply, wondering if he could get it to spin with his breath alone all the way from across the room. It didn’t move and he felt his mood blacken a bit more for no reason whatsoever.

“See here, Uhtred,” Odda said, leaning forward and turning the paper so he could see it, “you’ve got this red letter here. What letter is this?” Uhtred rolled his eyes.

“An F, sir,” he said, turning the honorific into more of a mocking title.

“Yes, I see, and do you know what happens when you fail your core classes, Uhtred?” There was a pointed gleam in Odda’s eye.

“What, sir?”

“It means you fail. You fail the entire year. And when you fail the entire year, do you know what that means, hmm? Let me tell you. You have to retake all of these classes.” Uhtred shot out of his chair, outraged. “I most certainly do not!” he shouted. “I’m not taking these bullshit courses again! I could pass these in my sleep, this is fucked up!”

“Life isn’t always fair, Uhtred,” Odda gave Uhtred another pointed look for his language and Uhtred sat down again, chastised. He sighed. “I know you‘ve had a tough time these past couple years.” Uhtred scoffed and whipped his head to the side.

That was a bit of an understatement, he thought. Uhtred had never known his birth parents. All he had ever known was his adoptive brother Ragnar’s father, who was also named Ragnar. He had grown up alongside Ragnar, Ragnar’s sister Thyra, and Brida, his best friend, and together the four of them were inseparable. Two years ago, Ragnar’s father had died in an accident, leaving Uhtred and his adoptive family to Kjartan, Ragnar’s uncle. Kjartan was neglectful and ignorant; he mostly left them to their own devices since he couldn’t be brought to care enough about them to hurt them. His son Sven was an abusive arseole whenever he visited, though.

“I don’t want your pity. It’s fine.”

“Since I know there are extenuating circumstances involved, I’ll give you an ultimatum,” Odda said. “I’ve asked a boy in your class to tutor you in all four of your core classes. He’s agreed to do it - don’t give me that look - in exchange for community service hours. You don’t have to pay him a dime.” The chair Uhtred was sitting in squeaked as he uncrossed his legs and recrossed them.

“And who am I tutoring with, sir?” Uhtred mocked, thinking his day couldn’t possibly get any worse.

“His name is Alfred Rex, I believe he’s in your class-”

Ohhhhhhhh, fuck that.

“No!” Uhtred yelled, “I am not working with that pain in my arse!” Odda gave him a pointed look over his reading glasses.

“I believe he’s in your class, and you should be grateful that he’s agreed to do this for so little. He’s the brightest student in the school. Surely you won’t be able to fail any of your classes with his help.” Taking a sip of his coffee, Odda leaned back in his chair, looking satisfied. Uhtred was glad one of them was.

“You must have missed the part where I said he was a pain in my arse,” Uhtred seethed, fingers itching to strangle the principal - and maybe a particular student - to death, “We absolutely hate each other! This will be a fucking disaster! He doesn’t want to teach me shit, he just wants to lord over me like he always has!”

“Now I am just disappointed in you. Alfred wants to help, truly he does! And he’s all you’ve got right now, so you’ll just have to suck it up and deal with it, won’t you?”

“How much time do I have to spend with him anyways?” he spat. Odda met his eyes over his reading glasses and pursed his lips.

“You’ll be tutoring with him four days a week. One day for language arts, one day for maths, one day for science, and one day for history. At the end of the week he’ll give you a report of your progress. Really, you should count yourself lucky that he’s taking so much time out of his busy schedule to tutor you.”

I have to spend four days out of every week with him?!

“That’s not going to work, no way, I can’t spend four days out of every week with him. Give me anybody else and I swear to whatever god you worship that I’ll do it. Not him.”

“Uhtred, I already told you,” Odda’s voice grew firm, “You can take it or leave it. You’re not getting tutoring from anyone but Alfred. This is the last straw.”

“Whatever,” Uhtred hissed, “I’m leaving, and I’m not getting any tutoring if it’s from him! Alfred can screw his perfect self as many times as he likes, see where that gets him.”

“Uhtred! Wait!” Odda called after him. Shutting the door to Odda’s office, Uhtred pulled a cigarette out of his backpack and lit it, ignoring the multiple shouts of his name that followed the trail of smoke he left down the hall.

Uhtred slammed the door to his car shut, seething as he aggressively turned the ignition key and cranked the volume on the radio up high. He plugged his phone into the charger cord and hit call on the pre-existing groupchat he had with his best friends, Finan Agil, Sihtric Elflaedsson - his name was actually Kjartanson, but he legally changed it a few years ago when he moved in with his mom - and Osferth Heahengel. “Hey,” Uhtred said as the line clicked and they all greeted him. Gym class with Coach Leofric had just ended, so they were still in the locker room changing their clothes.

“The hell was that all about earlier?” Finan asked on the other side of the line. “You get sent to the office again? What’d he tell you?” The others voiced similar questions.

“You want to know what he told me? I’m fucking failing my classes. I have to get a tutor. I have to see him four times a week. That’s bullshit!” Uhtred ranted. “I’m going to have to repeat a year if I can’t bring my grades up. This is by far the worst fucking shit that has happened to me, ever.” Feeling his temper worsen, Uhtred made a right turn far more violently than he normally did and grunted as the tires squealed.

“What the hell?!” Sihtric yelled on the other end of the line. “You have to get tutoring?! That sucks!” Uhtred nodded his agreement even though they couldn’t see him.

“Do you know who your tutor is?” asked Osferth. “Maybe you won’t actually mind them. I mean if they said yes, they can’t be that bad, can they?” Uhtred gave a mocking laugh.

“Oh, dear Osferth, why don’t you just go on and ask me who it is?” The line went silent for a moment as all the friends considered how bad the news was going to be, and then Osferth spoke again.

“Uh...who is it?”

“Oh, only Alfred fucking Rex, the hugest prick in our grade.”

“You’re fucking kidding me!” “You have to tutor with Alfred?!” “But you two hate each other’s guts!” They all exclaimed simultaneously.

That fucking bastard, Uhtred thought, I know he’s just doing this to get one over me. He’s always bossing me around and acting like he owns the entire school. I fucking hate pricks like him.

“That’s just the worst,” Sihtric said sympathetically. The sound of a door opening on the other side of the line roused Uhtred from his bitter thoughts. They must have finished changing and were now heading to their next classes.

“I know, but Odda doesn’t even care,” Uhtred spat, “He says this is all I get! I can’t believe his audacity! You and I both know that Alfred wants to boss me around and that’s that!”

“I don’t know, Uhtred, maybe give him a chance,” Finan said doubtfully, “At least you’ve got a tutor, and Alfred’s the smartest kid in the school. You’ve got an advantage here.”

“Well, whatever, I’m home now so I’ll talk to you guys later,” Uhtred said, pulling the phone away from his ear.

“Wait, you went home?!” Osferth exclaimed.

“Uhtred, you’re going to get caught. That’ll just be another detention for you. Maybe you should come back.” Uhtred turned the key in his car’s ignition and slid it into his pocket, ignoring Finan’s words.

“Right now, I couldn’t care less about detentions,” Uhtred said. “See you guys later.” Finan protested with a “wait, you bastard—!!”, but Sihtric and Osferth bid him goodbye and he hit the end call button with little remorse before shutting his car door and making his way to the front door.

“I’m home,” Uhtred called out as he shut the door behind him. A chorus of ‘hey’s greeted him and Uhtred left his bag on a chair before walking into the living room. Ragnar - Uhtred’s adoptive older brother - and his childhood-friend-turned-girlfriend Brida were cuddling together on the couch. Some movie Uhtred didn’t recognize was paused on the screen. “Uhtred, what are you doing home so early?” Ragnar frowned at him as he sat up and pushed the blanket off his legs. Uhtred exhaled deeply and plopped on the couch like a deadweight, causing Brida to shove him with her foot.

“Didn’t feel like staying at school,” he muttered. “Left after gym class.” Brida sat up at that and she exchanged a glance with Ragnar, looking concerned.

“Hey, well,” Ragnar began, “Speaking of school, I have something I need to talk to you about.” Uhtred frowned.

Gee, how could this day possibly get any worse? I can’t wait.

“The principal called us a couple days ago and told us that...you’re failing this year, Uhtred,” Ragnar said seriously. Brida nodded alongside him.

“He said you’re going to have to repeat a year if you can’t hack it,” she added. “So Ragnar talked to him and the principal arranged for you to get tutoring with—“

“—With Alfred,” Uhtred interrupted, balling his fists, “Yeah, I already fucking heard.” Ragnar’s eyes widened.

“Oh, fuck,” he said.

“Yeah, oh fuck! I can’t believe you! Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I could have said no sooner!” Ragnar shrugged and laid back against the couch, crossing his arms behind his head. “I forgot,” he said honestly, smirking.

“Are you kidding me?! You know how much I hate Alfred! Why are you laughing at this?!”

“I’m not,” he said, “Don’t know what you mean.”

“Ragnar, please, tell me there is another option besides getting tutoring from Alfred of all people,” Uhtred begged.

“Sorry, Uhtred, but there’s no negotiation on this one. You need to get out of this house and away from Kjartan. You can’t do that if you fail your last year of high school. You need to go to college and, well, your principal gave you a stellar opportunity. Besides, you guys have never really spent any time together outside of class. Maybe you could find some common ground and we can finally be free of your constant complaining.” Uhtred dug his nails into his palms.

“How,” he growled, “Could this possibly be a good thing? Stop acting like my dad, Ragnar, you’re only a year older than me. I thought you were on my side about him.”

“Is that what this is about, Uhtred? That you don’t need help?” Ragnar rounded his eyes pleadingly. “Come on, Uhtred, do it for your future. Not because I think you’re going to be some great brilliant fucking Einstein, but you need to get out of here. Don’t be like this. You’re doing it whether you like it or not. I will call Alfred and have him come to our house for tutoring. You can do this on your terms or on ours.” Uhtred growled and reached for his phone, standing up from the couch to head upstairs.

“Give him a chance,” Ragnar said again. “One chance.”

“Fine,” he hissed, “But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I’m going to hate every fucking minute of this and you’re going to feel extremely guilty whenever you think about it!”

“Where do you think you’re going?! Your first session is at three,” Ragnar called after him. Uhtred just yelled in response and slammed his door shut, the little bells on his door handle jingling.

As he lay on his bed in his room, the door locked, Uhtred took the time to reflect about the day’s events so far.

Alfred Rex...he’s a total fucking prick.

Uhtred had met Alfred in his freshman year of high school. Alfred had gone to a different elementary and middle school than he had, but Winchester High was the only high school in the area. They’d immediately gotten off on the wrong foot and had been bitter enemies ever since. Uhtred thought Alfred was an officious, sickly, annoying pain in his arse and Alfred thought he was a stupid child that needed to be told what to do. Hate at first sight, truly.

Uhtred sighed. His sister Aethelflaed was so much nicer. She was a freshman, so he’d only met her this year, but he had no idea how the two of them were related. Aethelflaed was a social butterfly and tried to include everyone in everything she did, while Alfred was just a complete arseole. Dammit, why was he stuck with him?!

Growling, Uhtred threw his phone at the wall.

3:02 pm. He was past the point of no return. Pushing open the library doors reluctantly, Uhtred poked his head in, scanning the area. A couple of students he recognized were perusing the library’s faculties. Aldhelm Sawyer - an extremely tall brunet who had a bag of wet dicks for a personality - lounged on one of the couches with a science textbook propped on his lap, one leg crossed over the other. A pretty ginger girl whose name he thought was Eadith sat at a table by one of the windows across from a guy with dark hair; Eardwulf was his name, if Uhtred remembered correctly. Aethelflaed, Alfred’s younger sister, was using one of the computers. When he walked in, she turned around and smiled at him and he felt his heart flutter a bit. Something about her had that effect on people. On the other side of the room in the tutoring section, Odda - the principal’s little shit of a son - was giving a freshman tutoring session at one of the whiteboards. Alfred was nowhere in sight so Uhtred headed towards one of the open tables and plopped into a chair, checking his phone.

“You shouldn’t be on your phone if you’re here to learn,” a voice behind him said. Uhtred whipped around, hissing.

“What do you want,” he bit out, before thinking better of it when he recognized the owner of the voice as his tutor, Alfred. Alfred was...how did Uhtred describe him? He was tiny and slender, shorter than Uhtred by about half a foot. The first time they met, Uhtred mistook him for a twelve-year-old, even though they’d both been fourteen. His wispy brown hair fell just below his ears and he had a pair of bright blue eyes that were so intense they always made Uhtred feel uncomfortable, framed by a pair of silver wire lens glasses. In essence, he looked like a nerd, which was another reason why Uhtred hated him. Nerds were annoying.

Uhtred scoffed and pocketed his phone, leering up at Alfred balefully. “Whatever you say, Lord. I’m here for your blessings and guidance, so let’s get this started, shall we?” Alfred sat down and the two of them unpacked their belongings in silence.

“We’re going over English today, as per Odda’s suggestion, so why don’t you show me where you’re at?” Alfred asked, putting his chin in his palm.

“Yeah, go on, teach me stuff...English. I bet you’re fucking great at it.” Uhtred crossed one leg over the other and leaned back in his chair until the front legs were off the ground, hoping to provoke a reaction. He was disappointed; Alfred merely ignored his blatantly disrespectful behavior, instead ducking his head to flip through his English textbook.

“Feel free to disrespect me,” he murmured, “But rest assured that Principal Odda will hear about it, and my reports are extremely thorough. I don’t care what you say to me, but just know that it will reflect badly on you.”

Oh my gods, I fucking hate this guy so much!

“Yes, my Lord, I live only to serve you,” Uhtred snarked, clenching and unclenching his fists under the table. Leaning over, Uhtred pulled his folder out of his backpack and slid a paper out. “We’re reading Of Mice And Men. You might think that’s a bit below your skill set, but here you are.” Alfred snatched the paper from his hand, rolling his eyes.

“Don’t be facetious, Uhtred. Just shut up and let me read this. That’s what I’m here for, as you said.” Never having been one to follow orders, Uhtred opened his mouth to snark again, but Alfred snapped his fingers to grab his attention and glared at him.

“I said shut up. I’m reading,” he repeated, his eyes moving back and forth like the spool of a typewriter. After a couple of minutes, he set the paper flat on the table and bit his lip, looking a bit uncertain of what to do.

“Well, Lord? Does it meet your lofty expectations?”

“Can you not?” Alfred asked sharply, “And no, I’m sorry to say, it does not. What were you even trying to write? The subject of your analysis seems to jump to and fro. And while you are summarizing the story in your analysis, that’s all you’re doing. Summarizing. You’re not explaining why it’s important or what it means. Here, let me show you mine…”

“‘Bye, nerd,” Uhtred sneered, standing up and slinging his backpack over his shoulder. Alfred stood a bit more slowly, organizing all of his supplies into a neat pile before picking them all up and sliding them into his bookbag.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then?” Alfred inquired, not appearing bothered by the epithet apart from his clenched jaw. Good. “Make sure you incorporate what I told you today into your essay. I don’t want you to get a poor grade. And do keep in mind that I am reporting all of this to Principal Odda.”

Sure, whatever, Assfred! Feel free to slit your throat when you get home today! “...Yeah,” Uhtred said, before standing up and leaving without a word of thanks. Aethelflaed waved at him on his way out and he grinned back at her as he opened the doors.

“Welcome home, Uhtred,” Thyra greeted Uhtred as he stomped inside. The smell of spaghetti assaulted his senses and all of a sudden he felt much calmer than he had been a moment ago. “How was your first tutoring session?”

“Yeah, how was it?” Ragnar called from the living room, where he and Brida were cuddling yet again. The same movie as yesterday was paused on the TV and Uhtred had a feeling they hadn’t actually watched any of it and were just using it as an excuse to cuddle. A bowl of popcorn soaked in butter lay on Brida’s lap and the table was littered with empty beer cans, another in Ragnar’s hand.

“It fucking sucked. Alfred is even more of a bastard than I remember. Feel free to regret your decision completely,” Uhtred sniffed. Ragnar grimaced sympathetically.

“Is he seriously that bad?” he asked, snorting. “All I know about him is from your complaining.”

“He’s a fucking midget, but he tries to talk to me like he’s better than me! I fucking hate that, you know I do!” Uhtred threw his hands up. “He treats me like a stupid child and what’s more, he’s telling Odda everything that happens! Like some kind of probation officer! ‘Don’t disrespect me, Uhtred,’ ‘don’t use your phone when you’re supposed to be learning, Uhtred,’ ‘don’t breathe oxygen, Uhtred!’ He’s so annoying!”

“Sounds like a cunt,” Brida said.

“He is!!”

“Well, I’m sorry Uhtred, but if you want to pass your classes, your best bet is tutoring with him. You’re going to have to suck it up. Maybe you two just got off on the wrong foot,” he suggested, playing peacemaker.

“Not true,” Uhtred declared, “He just sucks at being a person.” He kicked Brida’s feet off the table so he could prop his own up and stole a popcorn kernel from her bowl. She flipped him off. “I’m just going to try to pass my classes this year and as soon as I do I’ll be totally done with him forever. Damn, that’ll be a good time.” Ragnar lifted his beer can in a toast.

“To the cunt who’s helping you pass your classes,” he said, and they echoed his toast as he downed his beer can and tossed it on the table.

“Ragnar, throw that empty beer can in the trash right now, you pig!” Thyra shouted from the kitchen. Ragnar shrugged and lazily kicked it onto the floor. “Ragnar!!” Giving Uhtred a ‘what-can-you-do’ expression, he stood up from the couch with a loud, obnoxious groan, plucking the beer can from the floor before lumbering to the kitchen.

“Hey, is dinner ready yet—”

“No! And stop asking, you animal, it’ll be ready when I say it is.”

“Geez, old woman, I was only asking, don’t hit me!”

Uhtred sat back against the couch and lifted the remote, clicking it until the TV changed to an acceptable channel. As the TV faded into background noise, he lifted his head to the ceiling and thought about what had happened that day.

Well, overall today sucked. I’m failing my classes and I’m getting tutored by Alfred, who’s a privileged arseole and also a complete tool. This whole year is going to be absolute bullshit with him around.

One chance, my arse. This year can’t end soon enough.

Art posts: @lauwrite1225‘s sketches of the high school!Coccham squad, @seaberrycloudberry‘s sketches of high school!Uhtred and Alfred, and @seaberrycloudberry‘s sketches of the characters in high school + sketches of Alfred, Aethelflaed, and Edward!!! THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH. THEY’RE PERFECT. Tagging @bellamehblake, @lonelyislanddaydreamer, @caleb-16charisma-widogast, @ucancallmechlo, @cocchamscrew, @myenglandmylove, @nightskyfangirl, @morganology, @tsukkinami @pokeasleepingsmaug here it is you guys!! I finally posted something!!!

#tlk #tlk uhtred #tlk alfred #tlk hs au #tlk high school au #my fics #fanfic #I HAVE NEVER PUBLISHED A FIC BEFORE IN MY LIFE AAAAAA #pls be gentle #my writing #:(#edited bc copy paste does NOT know what italics are???? apparently???

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