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owletstarlet · 3 years ago

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the grand deeds of great men, the smallest of gestures

"My hero."

An (extremely late) request of sorts from @taizi for some solid nishi content, involving Tanuma putting those childhood karate lessons to good use. Established tanunatsu.

Ao3 link in the notes.

“Your boyfriend,” Satoru announces without preamble, dragging Tanuma by their joined hands through the hotel room door, “is a badass.”

Natsume looks up sharply from where he and Atsushi are huddled over a pile of rumpled travel pamphlets on the bed. But it’s Taki who’s on her feet first, closing the distance to the door with a pinched look and taking the shopping bag out of Tanuma’s hand.

Satoru’s grinning. Tanuma is very much not.

But they’re both shaking.

Satoru doesn’t let go of Tanuma’s hand until Natsume’s there to take it. Atsushi’s there to grab Satoru by the shoulders, and the five of them shuffle back as one towards the beds.

Natsume doesn’t press for the explanation until they’re all seated, he and Taki pressed up against either side of Tanuma, their knees bumping up against Atsushi’s and Satoru’s in the narrow space between the two beds. The muttered question is probably more directed at Satoru than at Tanuma, because Tanuma’s gray-faced in the lamplight, gaze a little too wide, breaths coming a little too fast. Both Natsume’s hands are wrapped around Tanuma’s slack one, and on his other side Taki’s hands are gentle where they rub his back, but her keen eyes keep darting over to Satoru, expression tight with all the same concern. Satoru, for his part, is practically vibrating where he sits tucked against Atsushi’s side, from nerves or exhilaration or both, Atsushi can’t quite tell.

“He flipped a guy!” Satoru declares, with a wide one-handed swoop of a gesture at Tanuma, sounding positively giddy about it.

Well. Whatever Atsushi was expecting to hear, it wasn’t that.

“What,” Natsume says, blankly, at the same time that Taki says, “…wait.”

And then they’re all looking at Tanuma. Who very much looks like he’d rather not be looked at.

“It was the actual best thing I have ever seen,” Satoru says, nudging Tanuma’s knee with his own, and there’s something fierce and warm in his eyes. “And he thinks he’s gonna go to jail or something for it, which he’s not, because the guy deserved it, so that would be dumb.”

“What happened?” Atsushi blurts, now well and truly alarmed.

And he tells them.

They’re in Osaka for a long weekend, because Natori had invited them all along for some premiere of a new period piece that Satoru had been gushing about for months. Natsume’s not exactly ecstatic about attending the event itself, but he’s clearly happy that Satoru’s happy—Atsushi gathers that that’s whole point of this—and even if Natori himself is all booked up with press events for the majority of the weekend, it’s a chance for them all to explore the unfamiliar city together.

Not thirty minutes ago, Satoru and Tanuma had volunteered to make a combini run for snacks, only about two blocks from the hotel. But once they’d finished and were through the door, bags in hand, Tanuma had realized he’d forgotten to get the ice cream Taki had asked for. He’d gone back in to get it, while Satoru stayed out front to sip at the cocoa he’d bought. They hadn’t really paid any mind to the group milling about out front. Salarymen, by the looks of them, three or four younger guys in tidy suits with raucous voices and beers in hand. Satoru had been making his way to the bench near the entrance to wait, not quite looking where he was going, and he’d bumped into one of them, causing some of his beer to slosh over the lip of the can and onto the guy’s blazer sleeve. From his place in line Tanuma had heard it, the sharp “Oy!” and the rumbles of displeasure from man’s friends. Tanuma’s not sure what became of the ice cream he’d been holding—maybe he dropped it, maybe he shoved it into the hands of the customer beside him—but the next thing he knew he was out the door, wedging himself firmly between Satoru and the man who now had him by the arm.

“And then he just…bam!” Satoru mimes the motion, as though he’s grabbing something heavy with both hands from behind, and twisting it downwards in front of him. “Like. Grabbed him. And just. Flipped him! Guy went down beer and all, and he looked super confused about being on the ground all of a sudden. And it was amazing, and I had no idea he took karate before.”

And with that, three sets of startled eyes all land squarely on Tanuma. Natsume taps his knee, like he’s trying to break him away from whatever’s got its grip on him behind his own glassy gaze.

“Karate?” Taki looks, at first, gobsmacked by this piece of information. But it morphs into something like slow-breaking delight across her features.

Tanuma’s nod is a single, tight bob of the head. “Just, um.” It’s the first time he’s spoken since walking through the door, and his voice is a ghost of a thing, like it might get swallowed up by the stale air of the room. “Until I was twelve. On and off. I don’t remember much.”

“You remembered plenty,” Satoru tells him, tone banking no argument, before clasping his hands together dramatically. “My hero.” His grin is so wide and irresistibly cheesy that Tanuma looks up, just for a moment, with the barest twitch of his lips before his gaze drops back down towards the stretch of flowery pink carpet beneath their toes. Natsume shoots Satoru a grateful look, even as Atsushi finds himself doing the same to Tanuma. Somewhere, during the course of the story, he’d found himself squashed up impossibly close against Satoru, arm tucked firmly around his shoulders. He seems genuinely excited, not distressed, but against Atsushi’s side he still feels wound up tight as a coiled spring. It’s definitely not lost on Natsume, either, judging by the glance he gives Atsushi. Atsushi nudges Natsume’s foot—he’s okay, I got him—and Natsume nods, once, though his gaze lingers a moment longer on Satoru’s flushed, still-beaming face.

“So you’re afraid someone saw?” Atsushi asks, while Taki fishes out a tea bottle from the shopping bag, uncaps it and presses it into Tanuma’s hand.

Tanuma doesn’t answer, but that touch of a grin from before has twisted itself into something distinctly nauseated.

“If anyone did see, they’d know the dude was fine.” Satoru shrugs. “Also that he deserved it, remember. We ran, anyways.”

Natsume blinks. “You ran here?”

And Atsushi can’t help but see the comedy in that being what Natsume seizes on, considering the truly impressive amount of times Atsushi’s seen him tearing through town apropos of nothing like he’s got a swarm of invisible hornets on his tail.

“Yup,” Satoru says, brightly, tapping Tanuma’s knee. “Felt like an action movie.” A pause, before he tacks on, not unkindly, “Y’know, if you’re not gonna drink that tea, then I will.”

Tanuma blinks down at the tea bottle, which had tilted enough in his hand to nearly spill onto the scratchy comforter as though forgotten about. He manages a couple measured sips before letting Taki take it back and cap it.

Natsume squeezes Tanuma’s fingers in his own, looking unsettled. Taki looks thoughtful, idly tapping the bottle in her hands.

“Were you thinking they had a security camera out front or something?” she asks.

Tanuma says nothing.

Taki leans into his side. “You know, even if anyone watched the footage, it’s like Nishimura said. All they’d see is that man getting exactly what was coming to him,” she says, fervently.

“And you being cool as hell,” Satoru adds. “Seriously, they teach twelve-year-olds how to do that?”

The way his shoulders loosen, just a fraction, feels like a win. “I don’t…actually know?” he starts, squinting like he’s trying to recall. “I was in this class for high-schoolers at the time, because there were nothing else available in the town I lived in.” A shrug, a sheepish glance up and away. “Usually I was just partnered up with my teacher.”

“That actually sounds kind of brutal, though,” Atsushi says, curious now. “Did the teacher demonstrate take-downs and stuff on you?”

“She did, but. Really slowly,” Tanuma replies, and it’s as though the warmth of Natsume’s and Taki’s shoulders pressed up against his has started, though incrementally, to seep into his voice, his eyes. “And I never really got the hang of doing any of it back to her. I’m surprised that worked, earlier.”

Precisely none of this explanation seems to have made Satoru look any less starstruck. Atsushi has to hold back his snort. “You should totally pick it up again,” Satoru’s saying now, around a mouth full of the lemon ice pop Natsume had fished out of the shopping bag for him. “What color belt did you get up to?”

“Um.”

Just that half-second’s hesitation is long enough to put a loaded look into Natsume’s eyes, for him to slot their fingers together properly and squeeze.

Tanuma lets out a breath, and there’s something years-old and lonely clinging to the edges of his smile. Atsushi doubts he’s aware of it. “None.” He shrugs. “I didn’t pass the one exam I took. I got pneumonia that year and had to quit after that, so.”

He looks faintly embarrassed, now, and Satoru opens his mouth as though ready to nip that right in the bud, but Taki beats him to it.

“Tanuma,” she says, solemnly, turning around to face him. “You have got to teach me how you did that.”

***

By the time the polite-yet-firm call arrives from the front desk, indicating a noise complaint from their neighbors in the next room and forcing them all to call it a night, things are better.

By then, Tanuma had been goaded into demonstrating some unwieldy modified version the maneuver behind his earlier takedown, executed on a poor unsuspecting hotel pillow because the entire room had immediately nixed Satoru’s offer to be the human test dummy.

Now, Satoru and Taki are a boneless, lightly snoring tangle of limbs on the far bed, one of Satoru’s arms thrown over Natsume’s whale shark plushie. (A surprise gift from all of them, Taki’s idea, after they’d caught him eyeing it more than once in the aquarium gift shop yesterday. If he’d walked out of the aquarium clutching it to his chest just like he might’ve done with his fat cat, currently hundreds of kilometers away, none of them said a word about it.)

Natsume himself is dozing in the other bed, but he lies facing Satoru—and Satoru’s fine, he’s unharmed and happy and completely safe, he is. But for some reason the longer the night’s worn on, Atsushi’s had to remind himself of these facts more, not less. He knows the dark cast to Satoru’s slack wrist is the lamplight-shadow of his sweatshirt sleeve, knows because he checked.

Still.

Tanuma’s in the bath, now. And he seems, well. Better than he was, certainly. But Atsushi had seen the taut-lipped glances he’d stolen at Satoru, and he looks about the same way Atsushi feels. At least the unwelcome scenarios and possibilities unspooling in his own mind have got to be more vague than whatever Tanuma’s imagination was serving up. Tanuma had seen it. Had stopped it.

Let Satoru wave it off, insist ‘til he’s blue in the face that it was fine, all fine, that he hadn’t been in any real danger. If it would put his friends at ease, he’d have said the same with a smile on his face even if he’d just been robbed at knifepoint.

Atsushi really needs to stop thinking about this.

He’d heard Natsume earlier, voice whisper-gentle through the bathroom door after he’d led Tanuma in by the hand behind him. Satoru and Taki had drifted off by then. Atsushi couldn’t make out the words, and heard nothing at all from Tanuma, aside from a few isolated, stuttering breaths. Tanuma had re-emerged dazed, red-eyed, but calmer than Atsushi had seen him all evening.

When the door opens now, Tanuma steps out in a halo of steam, wet-haired and barefoot in an old t-shirt. Atsushi’s on his feet and halfway across the room before he’s even really aware of it, the change of clothes for his own bath forgotten at the foot of the bed.

Tanuma goes still, when Atsushi pulls him close. Atsushi almost lets go, but then he feels the tentative hands come up to rest on his back.

“Thank you,” Atsushi mutters into his shoulder.

“I—“

“No. Listen.” Atsushi pulls back, hands shifting to rest on his upper arms. And god but Tanuma looks exhausted. “You kept him safe,” Atsushi says. “And don’t try to tell me you didn’t, because you did. Thank you.”

Tanuma opens his mouth, closes it again, swallows. He says nothing for a long moment, but he doesn’t look away. Finally, “…sorry for freaking out.” He smiles as he says it, but his voice snags on the words. He swallows again.

“Hey.” Atsushi waits until Tanuma’s now-dropped gaze returns to him. “You don’t ever have to be sorry for that, okay? Not with us.”

A sound like an inhale, somehow sharp and shaky all at once, and then it’s Tanuma that’s pulling them together again. A steadying breath, in-out-in that ruffles Atsushi’s hair. Stillness.

“Okay,” he whispers.

***

If he does go to jail, it's Natori who'll have to bail him out :)

Sensei didn't come along because I like to think Hiiragi, Sasago and Urihime have been taking turns watching over Natsume, which is more than sufficient, except for when it's *not* Natsume himself who's getting into trouble--

Fun fact, according to the most current iteration of canon, Tanuma's taken judo in the past as well as karate, but the bulk of this was written before that chapter came out.

All credit to taizi for the nice hug idea--

#natsume yuujinchou #kitamoto atsushi #nishimura satoru #tanuma kaname #tanunatsu #kitanishi #if you squint #natsume takashi #taki tooru #natsume's book of friends #taizi #owlet's fanfiction #natsuyuu

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ibijau · 3 years ago

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Futures past pt19 / on AO3

As music lessons resume, Lan Xichen has a suggestion for Nie Huaisang

Nie Huaisang cheerfully knocked on the door, ready for his first music lesson of the year, only to be met by a decidedly grumpy Lan Xichen. The other boy tried to smile at him, tried to make conversation as usual and to ask how much he’d practiced that week, but Nie Huaisang wasn’t fooled.

“So, what’s wrong?” he asked as he set up his guqin, a little proud to show off again that he had his own instrument now. “You look so dejected that I could mistake you for your brother.”

“Let’s not talk about Wangji right now,” Lan Xichen replied, his expression turning sour.

Now he looked like his uncle, though Nie Huaisang was too polite to say as much. It was really strange to see him so upset, and a little worrying as well, but Lan Xichen did not give him the chance to ask any questions.

“I’ve been thinking a lot while you were gone,” Lan Xichen announced with a fake smile that wasn’t fooling anyone, “and I think your level is good enough to start teaching you something a little more advanced. Shufu has given me permission to give you an introduction to some techniques we use for musical cultivation, if that interests you.”

Nie Huaisang gasped at the news.

“Really? You mean, real musical cultivation?” he asked excitedly. “The real deal? Like… like battle songs? Healing songs? You think I’m good enough?”

His earlier bad mood quickly melting away, Lan Xichen smiled warmly and came to sit next to Nie Huaisang.

“I think you’re very skilled, yes,” he said, making Nie Huaisang flush at the praise, “though it’ll be a while until you can use musical techniques in a Night Hunt. But since we have this entire year before us, I thought you could try to learn Inquiry.”

“Really?”

To confirm it, Lan Xichen merely handed Nie Huaisang a musical score, one he appeared to have copied himself. Nie Huaisang took it with trembling hands, awed to be trusted in that manner.

“The song itself is not particularly complex,” Lan Xichen explained as Nie Huaisang looked over the score, “and it can be learned and used even by someone of ordinary cultivation level. The real difficulty, and what is going to take us a while, is the Qin language needed to understand the answers given by spirits.”

His eyes still on the sheet of music, Nie Huaisang just nodded. Then, realising what he’d just heard, he looked up and stared at Lan Xichen with wide, shocked eyes.

“Isn’t that a secret Lan technique?”

“I'm not sure about 'secret' but it is an exclusive technique,” Lan Xichen confirmed, his expression turning more serious. “That’s why I had to ask for shufu’s permission before I could offer to teach you. I won’t hide that he was reluctant,” he added with a strained smile. “But I told him that I fully trust you to respect our secrets.”

Hands clenched on the music sheet, Nie Huaisang hurriedly nodded again. He couldn’t think of a bigger honour done to him. He’d never have dared to ask to be taught any Lan secret techniques, but since it was offered he would do his best to be worthy of it, and to show proper respect and gratitude.

“I also told him that having a goal of your own seemed to help you in your studies last year,” Lan Xichen added, “and that this might help you do better in your exams by giving you better motivation.”

However pleased he was that Lan Xichen would trust him, and with something that important, the reminder of his failure to do well in class made Nie Huaisang grimace, and instantly reduced his enthusiasm. “Does it mean the music lessons will be dependent on the grades I get in regular classes?”

“It’s possible that shufu came to that conclusion,” Lan Xichen replied with a mischievous smile. “But I never actually said that, and your grades are of no concern to me. I just like teaching you”

“Xichen-gege, you’re so crafty!” Nie Huaisang laughed. “Who knew you were capable of that! You’re the best, you know? I like when you teach me, too. I’ll try to be as good a student as you are a teacher!”

“I’m pleased you’d think so well of me,” Lan Xichen said, his cheeks turning a little pink. “Now, let’s get to work. I think for today, we’re just going to focus on the song itself. Then next week, if you are comfortable enough playing it, I can show you how to infuse it with your spiritual energy to have the right effect, and we can start learning Qin language.”

It sounded like a great plan, and one Nie Huaisang wholeheartedly agreed to.

Just as Lan Xichen promised, the song itself was not particularly challenging, and short enough that Nie Huaisang had good hopes of quickly learning it by heart if he just put his mind to it. He’d try to be careful not to practice it around the other Nie disciples, since it was a Lan technique, but he’d still work hard on it, and… maybe that might turn Night Hunts into something interesting at last. It should certainly make Nie Mingjue happy if his brother finally became interested in those, even if he had to use another sect’s method for it.

It opened a world of possibilities, and Nie Huaisang promised himself to practice hard to make this happen, so both his brother and Lan Xichen would be proud of him. Or at least, as hard as he was capable, especially with all that he had to do that year.

That would come later. The lesson having reached its conclusion for the day, Lan Xichen served tea for both of them, and offered some candies to celebrate the start of a new year of learning. By then, Lan Xichen’s mood appeared to have improved a great deal, and Nie Huaisang decided it would be fine to start the first phase of his great plan.

"So, Xichen-gege, what do you think of this year's students?" Nie Huaisang asked innocently while grabbing some candies.

Lan Xichen's expression turned sour for a brief moment, before he got himself back under control and smiled again.

"They are an interesting lot, certainly," he said without enthusiasm. "Are you making friends this time?"

After taking a quick sip of tea, Nie Huaisang nodded, grinning.

"Gege, you won't believe it, but even last year I made a friend!” he announced. “Apparently, Zixun thinks I'm really cool and told his cousin about me!"

It was still really funny to him, and judging by his surprised expression, Lan Xichen hadn’t expected that either.

"Then Jin Zixun has better tastes than I expected,” Lan Xichen said with some hesitation, “and I must reconsider my opinion of him."

"Well, me too! But I am making friends this year too, and they're nicer about it than Zixun was. Have you met Wei Wuxian yet?"

Stopping short of drinking some tea, Lan Xichen's smile wavered. He froze for a second, and put down his glass again.

"I have,” Lan Xichen said in a tone of voice that made it plain the encounter had brought him little joy. “Jiang Cheng… I mean, Jiang gongzi came to greet me on his second day here, and Wei gongzi was with him. I suppose he was polite enough with me."

Nie Huaisang laughed at seeing him struggle to find something nice to say.

"But he upset your uncle and you don't like that."

That was all the encouragement Lan Xichen needed to allow his expression to turn into anger, which Nie Huaisang found very funny.

"He was extremely rude to shufu,” Lan Xichen complained. “It’s very unfortunate that he should show so little respect to a teacher. He's also determined to pester poor Wangji, who isn't used to being treated like that!” He paused, taking a deep breath to compose himself, but didn’t manage to put on a smile again. “Huaisang, since you're his friend, do you think you might tell him to leave Wangji alone?"

All of Nie Huaisang’s amusement quickly dissipated at that demand and he frowned.

"Well that's a problem! You really dislike him that much?"

Lan Xichen fell silent for a moment. Nie Huaisang found it more worrying than if he’d answered right away. A little anger at a misbehaving student was one thing, but he’d talked enough with Lan Xichen to recognise those moments when he was trying hard to be fair to someone he didn’t particularly like. He used to make the same face when talking about Su She, back before he started warming up to him.

"He doesn't seem like a bad person,” Lan Xichen said at last, “and he hasn't done anything to me, so I cannot dislike him. I am just worried for Wangji, who isn’t very good at dealing with people."

"That's really inconvenient,” Nie Huaisang sighed. “Xichen-gege, I was really hoping you'd help me help them to become friends! It would have been a lot of fun, the two of us scheming together…” he sighed again. “Oh, well. I'll see if I can get Jiang-xiong or Su-xiong instead. I don’t want to involve you in something you’d find upsetting."

"I think the fact you’d want such a thing is already upsetting me a little,” Lan Xichen replied. “Is it even possible for them to be friends? They are… very different."

Nie Huaisang gave that a moment of consideration before shrugging.

"I guess. But we're pretty different too, and we didn't start off so well either, and look at us now! If it worked for us, it can work for them! I’m sure they can become good friends like us!"

A spot or pink appeared on Lan Xichen's cheeks, but his expression remained conflicted.

"I think it's different. Their first meeting was a fight."

Nie Huaisang could only laugh.

"And I ran away from you when you tried to chat!” he pointed out, grabbing another candy which he pushed toward Lan Xichen. “Anyway, wouldn't it be good for Wangji to have friends? He's too serious. It's not healthy for a boy his age to be so serious. As his elders, we need to make sure he doesn't get lonely."

"you're barely a year older than him," Lan Xichen remarked, fighting a smile as he took the candy. "I'm not sure you have much claim as an elder."

One hand on his heart, Nie Huaisang faked an offended expression which made Lan Xichen chuckle.

"I am an elder!” he protested theatrically. “I am wiser in the way of the world, so it is my duty to guide these children. Wei Wuxian too!” he added, a touch more seriously. “I think he was impressed by Wangji, you know. Jiang-xiong says that it's unheard of for him to find someone he can't beat.” He paused, and considered that. “Jiang-xiong also says he kind of hopes that Wei-xiong gets his ass kicked very hard, so it teaches him humility. And Meng-xiong didn't say anything, but he did nod."

Lan Xichen grinned.

"I do get the sensation that people tend to be as irritated by him as they are endeared. And I suppose… Wangji too was impressed by Wei gongzi's skill. Mostly he said it was quite upsetting that such talent should belong to a person with such poor manners."

Nie Huaisang smiled at that most encouraging news.

"There! If Wangji is complimenting him, then they need to be friends!" he exclaimed, making Lan Xichen laugh hard enough that he felt the need to hide it behind his sleeve.

"That's hardly a compliment."

"Coming from Wangji, it is."

That got another laugh out of Lan Xichen, which he quickly got under control and attempted to replace by a more severe expression. It might have worked, if his eyes had not been shining with barely repressed mirth.

"Wangji is not nearly as bad as you seem to think,” Lan Xichen said. “He's just very shy, and being distant is the way he deals with it. Not everyone can be as bold and determined to collect friends as you are, Huaisang."

"I'm not sure how to take that."

"Coming from any other Lan, it might be an insult,” Lan Xichen admitted. “Coming from me, and to you, it's probably a compliment."

Nie Huaisang grinned, delighted to be teased like that. How had he ever thought that Lan Xichen was boring? Maybe his future self was right about him not being too bright. But then again, wasn't it easy to make that sort of judgement in hindsight? Lan Xichen was fun now, but it had taken time for his smiles to gain real warmth when they were together. It had been time well invested though, and realising that made him hopeful that this business between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian might turn out fine. Maybe they too would get to have that sort of comfortable relationship someday.

More comfortable, even, since they were to fall in love someday. It was going to be so funny to see how Lan Wangji acted when he was in love.

After this, the two boys fell silent for a moment as they finished their tea. It was getting a little late, and Nie Huaisang knew that he would soon have to leave. It made him almost wish that Lan Qiren had already given them homework, so he’d have an excuse to stay a little longer by whining that he always worked better when he was with Lan Xichen. Or else, he might have offered to help copy some scroll or other for Lan Xichen’s great secret project. Anything at all so he wouldn’t have to go. After almost a whole winter apart, he just wanted to be in his friend’s company a little more, just a tiny bit more, even if he knew they were sure to have time together again the week after.

Then, just as Nie Huaisang was trying to accept that he couldn’t find a good excuse to stay, Lan Xichen spoke again.

"If we do help Wangji and Wei-gongzi become friends,” he said, “and that's still an 'if' on my part, the main issue will be to make them understand they both want to be friends. Wangji seems to think Wei-gongzi only exists to torment him, and despairs to see again his more positive qualities."

Excited both for the excuse to chat a little more and by the fact that Lan Xichen was falling to his side, Nie Huaisang nodded.

"Wei-xiong is convinced Wangji is giving him the cold shoulder in spite of his efforts to become friends,” he replied. “He’s not used to people not fawning over him, I fear. Xichen-gege, we're gonna have to work hard!"

"It would take effort,” Lan Xichen agreed. “I can see you're very excited about this little project, but don't let it get in the way of your studies."

Nie Huaisang dismissed that worry with a hand gesture.

"Don't worry! I'll practice the guqin every day no matter what!"

That answer made Lan Xichen laugh.

"I meant your actual studies, Huaisang,” he corrected, trying to sound scolding but too obviously amused to be scary at all. “The lectures? With my uncle? You do remember that's why you're here in the first place?"

Blushing a little at his blunder, Nie Huaisang shrugged.

"Oh, that. I'll deal with that,” he said with more confidence than he felt. “At worst, I'll just come again a third year. Wouldn't that be fun? We'd get even more time together!"

"I'm not sure shufu would be thrilled,” Lan Xichen pointed out. “But I would certainly be happy to have you around as long as you want. And… of course, you'd get more time with Su She as well. Apparently you've even told your brother about him?"

If he hadn’t been in such good humour upon hearing that Lan Xichen enjoyed his company that much, Nie Huaisang might have noticed that the other boy’s expression became a little more pained when he mentioned Su She. But he was in too good a mood to be observant.

"Of course. It fell through last year because I didn't plan it enough in advance and my grades were bad,” he explained, “but this year, I absolutely want to invite Su-xiong home with me when I go back, even if I don't pass! I think we'll have a lot of fun, and da-ge can't ground me if I have a guest to entertain!"

Lan Xichen's smile turned strained again, nearly as much as when Nie Huaisang first arrived to see him.

"How cunning of you. I'm sure you'll have great fun. I could try to steal your brother for a Night Hunt, so you and Su She can have some peace."

It was a very generous offer, and Nie Huaisang gave it all the consideration it deserved.

"No, I think if you make it all the way to Qinghe, I'll want to keep you around too,” he announced. “Xichen-gege, even though you've come a few times, we weren’t friends back then so I've never really shown you my birds, right? And we could go painting all three of us… wait, Su-xiong isn't that fond of painting!” he remembered, hitting his forehead. “So it won’t do. Then… let's dump him with da-ge for a bit, so they can get all excited together about fighting and cultivation, and I'll steal you away! Oh there's this gorgeous little spot from where you can see the mountains at a wonderful angle… I've always wanted to show it to someone, and I think you're really someone who would know how to appreciate it. Will you go there with me next time you visit us, Xichen-gege?"

Lan Xichen tried to smile, his face a little pinker than usual.

"Wouldn't you rather take Su She, if you like it so much?"

Nie Huaisang considered that, too, before shaking his head.

"There are other places I can show him. That one, I really want to show you."

Looking definitely quite pink now, Lan Xichen smiled.

"Then I will gladly accompany you. If you like it so much, it must be very beautiful indeed, and I can’t wait to see it."

"Xichen-gege is too kind,” Nie Huaisang replied, delighted by that new plan. “Really too kind. And in his great kindness, will he help me give Wangji a friend?"

"You’re just as stubborn as your brother,” Lan Xichen accused, his good mood fully returned. “We'll see. I need to see a little more of this Wei Wuxian before I decide. But if I find him to be a good person, and if I am given reasons to think he’ll be good for Wangji, then yes, I will help."

It wasn't unfair to worry about that, especially when Lan Xichen didn't have a messenger from the future to tell him that Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were pretty much soulmates. Indeed, without that information, Nie Huaisang would never have guessed that Lan Wangji's cold anger might have hidden any other sort of tender feelings. That was why Nie Huaisang really needed Lan Xichen's help, he was the only person in the world who could understand his brother.

Since he needed Lan Xichen's assistance so badly, Nie Huaisang wondered if he should maybe not ask Wei Wuxian to help him cheat in the next test. But he had already done his part of the deal in that regards, so it would be very upsetting to have copied all those boring texts for nothing. Besides, it would probably be fine.

There was no way they'd be caught, right?

#xisang #nie huaisang #lan xichen #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #jau writes #double time travel

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itoldsunset · 3 years ago

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rewatching ipytm episode 2: thoughts

apologies in advance for this very messy, very long bullet scene-by-scene commentary!

summary: this was a very hard episode to watch and rewatch. the frustration with teh is real, the hurt for oh-aew is real. but the fear of change and abandonment, and the fear of admitting your own insecurities, is SO coming of age and i love that we get to see teh grappling with what happens when the idealistic vision you had for your life slowly starts to crumble.

also, this episode (and possibly the entirety of part 2) was 100% the writers' and p'meen's love letter to comm arts students/graduates, and even though i am a total outsider to that world, it really touched my heart to see the diversity of experiences and struggles reflected here.

i love that we see how much closer teh has become with jai and khim!! this doesn't translate in the subs, but i thought it was interesting how teh used respectful pronouns with them when he was a first-year and now for the most part uses rude (familiar) pronouns with them as a second-year, even though they're still technically his seniors. i think it goes to show how close they've become since he first joined the drama club.

goy was so fucking CUTE in that scene when she said "oh, lots of boys are peeking at me, i'm shy" i think i'm in love 😭 also the cinematography of that scene!!

this episode does such a great job at making you feel uncomfortable along with the characters. i hated how uncomfortable teh was at the birthday party, and i could feel how out of place he felt there.

when mangpong talks about how easy it is for celebrities to make money and teh is clearly offended by that and speaks up against it (which results in yet another awkward uncomfortable moment), i feel like he's speaking up on behalf of khim who we later realize is basically his idol and the person he identifies the most with. i feel like p'meen and the writing team are really trying to represent the lives of people who go into communication arts, especially those who go in with an interest in performing arts. and for me that scene with mangpong communicates two things: 1) the defensiveness that comes with having your chosen career path misunderstood or reduced into something that's easy money, and 2) how close-knit and protective the drama club is of each other, because teh speaking up in defense of actors to me feels like he's defending this identity they all share as people who are struggling to make it in the industry.

oh-aew is SO sweet. getting a tattoo that resembles your partner's name gives me so much anxiety, but i guess he's 19 and has always been sure of his feelings so it does make sense for him. at first glance teh's reaction really just makes it sound like he's against tattoos, drinking, all that, like he's super old-fashioned, but it's not REALLY about the tattoo and we learn that later when they have their big fight and he blows up with all the nitpicky little things he's noticed about all the ways oh-aew has changed. i thought it was so cute how au basically showed off his tattoo to open the conversation for oh-aew to show teh his tattoo though. we love a supportive friend group!!!

"this tattoo is pretty. thank you." this is teh being as genuine as he can, as someone who is seriously not in touch with his own feelings and can't understand why he's so upset at oh-aew getting a tattoo. because again it's not the tattoo itself that's the problem, but what it represents for teh, which is oh-aew's world slowly expanding to include people and things that are foreign to teh, and he worries that one day that world won't have a place for him anymore.

drunk oh-aew speaking mandarin, and teh taking care of him!!! the only fluff we got all episode and i will cherish it forever and ever, like the aquarium scene from episode one. the fact that teh brought over the stuffed animal, kissed oh-aew on the forehead, and then decided to sleep over on the floor next to him? making him kimchi jjigae? so soft!! our boy has got a lot of issues to work through but he loves oh-aew for sure.

the scene where oh-aew is receiving feedback on his performance from his professor is so... oof. the fact that his classmate got positive feedback for portraying a gay man in a way that isn't stereotypical (read: masculine? i wonder?) and the fact that oh-aew was critiqued for unsuccessfully portraying the tone and mannerisms of a man who doesn't understand gay people? it's a bit subtler than what we hear from the casting director but i swear it's the same shit. and it really doesn't surprise me at all to see oh-aew not believe in himself and his ability to perform because of it.

teh saying "both of us" and being so excited about their casting opportunity!! 😭 and also, khim being such a sweetheart and helping them get this opportunity in the first place!

the contrast with how happy oh-aew looked when the advertising professor told him he had the right answer, compared to how torn down he looked after being critiqued and told he got a C by his acting professor (in front of the whole class!!). which tbh for me is subtle commentary on how much influence professors have on students' self-confidence and whether they believe in their own ability to succeed in their field.

the commentary on sexism and homophobia in the thai entertainment industry!! khim being told she looked too old, not smart enough, not believable, honestly all coded ways of saying she didn't fit in with the beauty standard they were going for. and while khim is saying this we see oh-aew is already getting nervous, because he's already had his confidence shaken by his experiences in class. and then when we get to the scene where the casting director says he's too girly and asks him to act more manly, we see oh-aew's mood shift completely, and honestly it hurts to watch. pp did such an amazing job here because i felt it, like the way oh-aew's eyes change, and then he swallows right after, and how unsettled he sounds trying to deliver the line again after hearing that critique.

oh-aew listening to khim tell teh about how hard it's been for her to break into the industry is so impactful, because you can already tell what he's thinking. is this really worth it? do i want this enough to endure people telling me over and over again i'm not masculine enough for them? is that going to be me in the future, being rejected from hundreds of castings and still not making it?

when teh hugs khim and says "we will get through this together," it's so clear that he identifies with her struggle. teh is someone who has worked his ass off to get to where he is (remember his fight with his mom where she said he lost sleep and was getting sick from all the studying he did?), and he sees himself in khim and her passion and ambition. meanwhile, we see oh-aew really doubting whether this is the right path for him.

i love how teh immediately asked if oh-aew was okay after oh-aew told him about what the casting director said, and how teh reassured him that he liked oh-aew the way he is. it's like, he so clearly cares for oh-aew and loves him so much and sometimes knows how to show it well, and then other times just fucks it up. it's so real??

oh-aew deciding to change majors three months into it is a very oh-aew thing to do, and what i mean by that is, this is a character who is super in touch with himself and his feelings and trusts in himself to make the right decisions. he's not afraid to change his mind (remember when he was testing out his feelings for bas and teh and then turned down bas once he knew?), he's bold and goes for what he wants. and i envy that about his character so much. but it makes me sad to know that the thing that was making him nervous during this scene was the fact that he was worried about how teh would react. like he went through all that questioning and critique himself, to finally discover his answer, only to now have to worry about whether his partner will accept him.

teh, on the other hand, has had his whole life planned out since forever. he feels the need to know and control everything. he has so much fear and insecurity. and he is stubborn and doesn't believe in giving up, which he believes is what oh-aew is doing. and on top of that, he sees this as another way in which he is losing oh-aew. one more thing oh-aew has in common with his friend group that doesn't include him. one more way that he's becoming a smaller part of oh-aew's world. oh-aew looked so small in the bathtub scene and i just wanted to hold him 😔

the 8 month time skip is a little jarring because of all the things we don't get to see, but i guess it makes sense if teh has been bottling up his insecurities about their relationship that it would all blow up in everyone's face in the way that it did at the dinner scene.

it was interesting to me how teh hesitated when oh-aew texted that he would join them for dinner, like teh didn't want oh-aew to come along with his drama club. and then once oh-aew arrives at the restaurant, we see that teh isn't totally happy either. it's like as much as teh feels like an outsider in oh-aew's world, he seems to also see oh-aew as an outsider in his own world too. and when top says he wanted to get into comm arts at anantasart but he didn't get in, we see teh's expression and it's like, a reminder that he gave up that spot for oh-aew, that teh didn't pass the admissions exam either, and that oh-aew who did pass has now "given up" on it (in teh's eyes) to pursue another major. it's like teh also feels betrayed on behalf of all the performing arts kids who are struggling to make their passion into a career.

i feel like i sort of get why teh said all that shit about oh-aew at the dinner table now. i'm not excusing it at all, that was super shitty of him. but i wonder if it's like, this is a thing they deal with in the performing arts, people giving up because it's so hard to make it in the industry. and you watch your friends leave one by one, and it keeps causing more and more doubt in yourself about whether you can make it. and now that teh sees oh-aew as someone who's given up, he doesn't want that energy at the dinner table with his drama friends, like he wants to protect them from that and keep up with this "we can get through this together" mentality that he keeps saying. so it's easier for him to try to dismiss it as oh-aew's personality flaw, rather than a legitimate change in career path, because he's worried about how it might affect his own friends in the drama club. and we see how protective teh is of khim, when he says "what the fuck did you just say?" like he really shares an identity with his drama club and it's clear he thinks oh-aew doesn't understand it or belong there.

needless to say, i was extremely stressed that entire dinner scene which i think means the writers, p'meen, and the actors did an excellent job.

their fight scene was really amazingly done and i am just stunned by teh's response when oh-aew asks him "what if this is who i really am, would you not like me anymore?" and teh thinks about it for a bit, and says "maybe." that's him being genuine, he's not trying to hurt oh-aew in saying that, and we can see him internally asking himself that question. but he doesn't know the answer, because he can't even be honest with himself about why he's upset at oh-aew. so he says the first thing he thinks which is an honest "maybe," and then he immediately regrets his words, and at some point he's going to have to learn that he can't just say the first thing that comes to mind, when other people's feelings are at stake. also, the fucking piano that plays? the violin? goddamn.

khim's character is really here to teach teh, and all of us, some life lessons. she is so real. her struggles are so real. life is fucking hard, and it's not fair, and no matter how hard you work or try you can't have it all. "the conditions for our lives are not the same" holy shit yes. she wants to take care of her family and her dog, she can't just think of herself. i feel like teh, who comes from a relatively modest background but has always had hoon as a father figure to support his mom, probably doesn't feel that same burden.

teh being frustrated and going to the bridge was beautiful. the crying hug scene at the dorm was so beautiful.

i love that in the end, teh finally owns up to his own insecurities and apologizes and admits he was wrong. of course, this was after oh-aew reached out to him first. i think it's totally realistic that we see his growth happening kind of slowly, but before the series ends he's going to need to be the first one to reach out, because oh-aew can't hold all of that on his own.

the last score when they hug under the moonlight, i love it!!

#ipytm #i promised you the moon #ipytm spoilers #textpost #i hope someone sees this lmao i know it's 3am dfslkjghfgjlk

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favefandomimagines · 4 years ago

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Knight in Shining Armor (g.w.)

Summary: the three times george saved you and the one time you saved him

AN: mentions of death and injury obvs if you know where this is going

It was no secret to anyone that you and George had shared feelings for each other. Except it was a secret to the two of you. The stolen glances, the touches that lasted longer than they should have, the very obvious flirting.

Though the two of you were completely oblivious.

It was your fifth year at Hogwarts, Quidditch season being in full swing. You were a Chaser for the Gryffindor team and a damn good one at that.

You were currently sitting in the Great Hall for breakfast, sitting between Alicia and Angelina. “Are you ready for the game today?” Alicia asked you. “She’s always ready. She’s our prized possession.” George interjected, him and Fred sitting across from the three of you.

“Aside from our Seeker, Georgie.” Fred added. “I guess Harry too.” George said. The younger twin sent you a wink as you tried to cover the redness on your face.

Angelina and Alicia nudged you, knocking you out of your bashful state. “Are you two ready for the game?” You asked. “Of course! We’re going to crush them.” George answered. “Cocky isn’t a good look on you.” You teased. “It’s not cocky, love. It’s confidence.” George replied.

The game against Slytherin wasn’t going according to plan. You knew Slytherin played dirty but during this game, it was worse than usual. Every time you got the Quaffle in your hand, another Chaser came out of nowhere to try to knock it out of your hands.

Usually you could get away from them quick enough but you were currently sandwiched between two Slytherin Chasers and they were trying to force the Quaffle from your hands.

One of them seemed to give up his pursuit until he slammed into the side of you, causing you to lose your balance and fall off your broom. You fell to the grass below and the world around you went dark.

You woke up seemingly a few hours later since it was dark outside and you seemed to be in the infirmary. Trying to sit up, a pounding headache stopping you from doing so.

“Whoa, easy there, Y/N.” A voice stopped you. You looked to your right and saw George, Fred and the rest of your friends standing around you. “What happened?” You asked them.

“Slytherin Chaser knocked you off your broom. Thankfully you only have a concussion. It would have been much worse if George hadn’t stopped him.” Hermione explained.

You looked at George for some sort of a confirmation of his actions. “Definitely worth the five points we lost.” He said. “George sent him into one of the towers. He’s in way worse shape than you.” Fred added.

“Thanks, Georgie. For defending my honor.” You joked lightly. “For you, darling, always.” He replied.

The Quidditch World Cup was something you looked forward to every year. Your parents were wealthy pure bloods and you got to go the World Cup every time.

This year, you got invited to go with the Weasley’s and you couldn’t pass up that opportunity. Your parents were okay with the idea because they trusted Arthur Weasley to no end.

You had arrived at your tent with the Weasley’s, plus Harry and Hermione, and were blown away with the set up. “Girls, pick a bunk and unpack.” Arthur instructed you, Ginny and Hermione.

“This is incredible.” You commented with a large smile on your face. “A change of pace from the fanciness you’re used to, aye Y/N?” Fred said. “It’s so much better.” You replied.

“Why? Because you’re away from the parents?” George asked. “No, because I’m with you.” You corrected. A red tint crept its way up George’s neck and painted his cheeks at your comment. Causing Fred to laugh at how flustered you made his brother.

“Besides, I need someone to cheer on Ireland with me. My parents love Bulgaria.” You added, sending him a wink.

Before game time, you all were walking up the stairs to your designated section, George helping you up the steep stairs because you were so incredibly clumsy.

Even when you got to your section, he wouldn’t let go of your hand. Once the game was finished, you were all back at the tent. The boys were all hyped up about the game and you were just laughing at the craziness of the four.

You were standing by watching when George grabbed your hand and spun you around. He then wrapped an arm around your waist and dipped you back, causing you to laugh. “How does it feel losing to Krum?” He joked.

“It was all luck.” You answered. George laughed at you as the two of stared intently at each other. When Arthur stopped the celebration, he mentally cursed him in his head.

It all happened so quick, it was hard to comprehend what was going on. You were ushered out of the tent by Arthur and your jaw dropped seeing the chaos ensue.

“Oh my,” You started before George grabbed your hand. “Y/N, we gotta go.” He told you. “Wait, where’s Harry?” You questioned. “I don’t know, but we have to get out of here.” He said.

He had a tight grip on your hand but the amount of people pushing past you made it hard for you to keep holding on. You felt his hand slip out of yours as you got pushed to the ground by some bystander.

You tried to get up but the people running and fleeing the scene made it difficult too.

“I lost Y/N.” George told his twin and Ginny. “What?!” Ginny exclaimed. “I have to go find her.” He said. “George wait!” Arthur called as his son ran back in the direction of the tents.

You finally were able to stand as you looked around you, hoping to spot a familiar head of red hair. You were looking around when you felt a hand on your shoulder.

A scream left your mouth as you turned around quickly to see George standing there. “Y/N, are you okay?” He asked, hands cupping your face as he looked at you. “Yeah, yeah, I’m okay.” You answered before wrapping your arms around his neck.

“We have to get out of here, okay?” George said to you. You nodded your head and he took your and and pulled you away from the scene.

If the Death Eaters were truly still there, they knew who your parents were. They were members of the Order and worked at the Ministry, besides Harry, you’d be a prime target.

Once you were far away enough, George wrapped his arms tightly around you, afraid to let go.

“Thank Merlin you’re okay.” He whispered. “I’m okay thanks to you, Georgie.” You whispered back.

—

Your final year at Hogwarts was supposed to be the best year yet. You were made Quidditch captain of the Gryffindor team, you had a good feeling you were going to pass all of your exams and you had the best group of friends.

But what was supposed to be the best year turned into the worst year. Umbridge had basically taken over Hogwarts. Your parents never had a nice word to say about that woman.

You were starting to see why. She banned Quidditch and all other student activities and you were devastated. Which caused you to act out more than normal.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was usually your favorite class when she wasn’t teaching it. She was going on and on about different scenarios where we’d use certain spells. Never once actually letting your class practice said spells.

As she explained yet another spell with no demonstration, you scoffed and rolled your eyes.

“Is there a problem Ms. Y/L/N?” She asked you. George turned around to look at you, shaking his head to tell you it wasn’t worth it. But that never stopped you.

“Would it be possible to actually practice the spell?” You asked. “There’s no need for that, dear.” She said in a sickeningly sweet tone. “I respectfully disagree with you, professor. You are aware my parents work at the Ministry. I believe they are of higher rank than yourself and they have reason to believe that Voldemort is back and I think we should be able to defend ourselves. So yes, professor, there is a need for that.” You said, your voice surprisingly confident and calm.

The class fell into various hushed whispers as students talked quietly amongst themselves. George looked at you with a mixture of utterly proud and terrified for your well being.

“Detention after class, Ms. Y/L/N. And your parents will be hearing about this.” Umbridge told you.

You rolled your eyes and leaned back in your chair as she continued on with her lesson.

After class, you arrived at the woman’s office and stepped inside. The amount of pink on the walls was enough to make anyone cringe. That and the various cat plates.

“Please sit, Ms. Y/L/N.” She instructed you. You sat in the desk across from hers and noticed the piece of parchment and the quill next to it.

“You will be doing lines for me today. You will right ‘I will not be disrespectful.” She said. “How many times?” You asked. “Until you feel the message sinks in.” She answered. “I’m going to need some ink for this.” You said. “That’s a very special quill, dear. You won’t need ink.” Umbridge told you.

You picked the quill up and began writing the sentence and soon a dull stinging presented itself on your other hand.

As you kept writing it only got worse. You looked at the top of your hand and noticed the words you were writing were being written into your skin.

You dropped the quill and clutched your hand, seeing the words already starting to scar.

“I think the message was well received. You may go.” Umbridge told you. You quickly picked up your bag and exited the office.

You didn’t think you could run so fast as you sprinted towards the common room. Your trek was cut short when you ran into someone.

“Whoa there, Y/N, are you in a hurry?” Fred joked. “Uh, yeah, you can say that.” You said quietly, not making eye contact with the twins. “What’s wrong?” George asked. “Nothing. I was just on my way to the common room.” You lied.

“Then why are you holding your hand?” Fred questioned. The twins have known you since first year. They could easily see through your lies no matter how convincing they seemed to others.

You pulled up the sleeve of your robe and showed them the top of your hand. “Umbridge did this, didn’t she?” George asked. You nodded your head though you knew they didn’t need any confirmation.

The matching scars on their hands was proof enough.

“I’m going to kill her.” George sneered marching towards Umbridge’s office. “George, don’t. She’s not worth it.” You rebutted. “She hurt you, Y/N. That’s more than worth it.” He said.

“I think what she’s trying to say, mate, is that you’ll get more than just a detention.” Fred interjected. “Please don’t do anything. We will handle her later.” You said to him.

George looked down at you for a moment before groaning. “I hate it when you’re right. Especially when Fred’s right.” He said.

You smiled at him before looping your arm through his.

“Is there anything I can do?” He asked as the three of you walked back to the common room. “Just you being here is enough.” You answered.

Fred inwardly groaned at the obliviousness the two of you had. He then made it his life’s mission to get the two of you together.

—

Nothing really made sense anymore. Not after the war. Of course you came out victorious but not without paying a price. A price you’d rather pay with your life than anyone else’s.

Everything happened so quickly. You had lost sight of Fred and George halfway through and the next thing you knew, Ginny was pulling you through the Great Hall.

You made eye contact with George and you knew the second you looked at him something was wrong.

“No,” You muttered as he walked towards you. “No, no, no. Tell me that’s not him.” You cried. “He’s fine, Fred’s fine.” You added. George shook his head as he pulled you into him. He tried to shield you from seeing your best friend’s body but it was no use.

Fred was gone. He was gone and you never got to say goodbye to him.

It had been eight months since the war and everyone was slowly starting to get back to normal. Or whatever the new normal was.

You and Ron got the twins’ joke shop back up and running. George still wasn’t able to step foot in the building, staying at your flat since that day.

“Mum keeps asking how George is. I have to tell her he’s fine and just getting back on his feet.” Ron told you. “You can’t lie to your mother like that, Ron.” You replied.

“Maybe you can convince him to come visit the Burrow. He listens to you more than anyone.” He said. “I don’t think he’ll listen to me this time.” You said. “He loves you, Y/N. He might’ve been too daft to say it in school but he really loves you.” Ron admitted.

You were quiet for a moment before nodding your head and apparating back to your apartment.

The living room was dark but there was a blanket on the couch, signaling that George left his room.

“Georgie?” You called. “In here.” You heard, which was a good sign. Usually he never replied when you called his name.

You opened the bedroom door and saw him sitting on the edge of the bed with a picture frame in his hands. It was a picture of the three of you the day the shop opened.

George had his arms wrapped tightly around you as Fred hugged the both of you.

“How are you feeling?” You asked, sitting next to him. “My brother died, how do you think I’m feeling?” He snapped at you. He saw you noticeably tense at his harsh tone and he instantly felt guilty.

“I’m sorry, Y/N. I didn’t mean to snap like that.” He added. “It’s okay.” You said quietly. “It’s not okay because you’ve been nothing short of incredible taking care of me, making sure I’m eating, reopening the shop for me. I really don’t deserve you.” George said.

You took his hand in yours and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I do it because,” You started, thinking about Ron’s words. “I do it because I love you, George. And I hate seeing the person I love so broken and I know I can never fill the void that’s left, there’s a pretty big one for me too but I’m hoping I can help.” You finished.

Your gaze remained fixated on your hand in his, afraid of what his response would be.

“You love me?” He questioned quietly. “Yeah, yeah I do.” You replied. “I’ve loved you since third year. Fred kept trying to get me to tell you but I was too scared you’d reject me.” George explained.

“I would never reject you, George.” You said. “You saved me too many times to count. Now it’s time for me to save you.” You added. George nodded his head as he looked at you and you could see the tears pooling in his eyes.

You pulled him into you, his head near your chest, as you just let him cry. The only sound that calmed him was the sound of your heartbeat and the knowing that you were his.

#imagine #imagines #harry potter imagine #george weasley imagine #george weasley #fred weasley #draco malfoy #george weasley x reader #hermione granger #ron weasley #ginny weasley

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wisteria-lodge · 3 years ago

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lion primary (bird model) + slightly burnt lion secondary

Hi there! I’m a fan of your sorting posts, and of your kind and insightful way of supporting people in finding out more about themselves. So naturally I’d be very interested in your take about my own sorting, if you’re game! :)

I won’t talk much about my Secondary, because now that I’m starting to unburn my Lion seems very clear to me, even when my explosion-prone Badger model still tries to get in the way of that clarity sometimes. The more interesting riddle is my Primary. So far I’m operating under the working theory that I am a Lion with a very strong Bird model - or is it the other way ‘round?

The supposed dichotomy between “thinking” and “feeling” in many of the more binary personality models has always bugged me, so it’s no wonder this is the area where whenever I feel like I’ve decided on who I am (for now) a new question mark pops up (so much fun!).

If ‘thinking’ and ‘feeling’ doesn’t work for you as terminology, it might help to think of Lion as leading with subconscious reasoning, and Bird as leading with conscious reasoning.

Instead of trying to formulate a cohesive text, which would have gotten even longer, I’m putting together an associative list of thoughts and stories that kept turning up while I was trying to figure out my Primary.

A very Lion primary way to solve a problem, not gonna lie ;)

- I think I got my Bird model from my father, who made quite an effort to teach me to look at things from all angles. As a child, whenever I got in a fight with this friend I had, he would sit me down and ask me to put myself in my friend’s shoes. It was hard, because a lot of the time my friend was being unfair to me and I actually could have used some support, someone to tell me that it was not okay to treat me this way. But I’m still immeasurably grateful for my father’s lessons, through which I’ve learned to understand peoples’ motivations and gained an understanding for the complexities of every conflict. He also taught me to doubt, to look closer, to not just believe the first thing I see, or want to see. To this day I still consider my ability to pin down the relevant factors of a situation before I make judgments one of my strengths.

That definitely sounds like a very strong, beloved Bird model.

- Whenever I had to write an essay at school or uni, I first had to come up with some aspect about the subject that I really cared about, even could be passionate about. (I am passionate about many things, so it was usually possible to find some connection to that.) Then I would use the essay to discuss this aspect in great detail, ending with a polemic flourish. I had the time of my life doing that; meanwhile the text would structure itself magically in relation to the issue I had chosen to focus on. Whenever I tried to write without such a focus, I’d get bored, stressed and the text would be of a much lower quality.

- Something similar happened in oral exams at uni: Only when I got the opportunity to bring a discussion paper (a few pointed statements regarding the exam topic) which I could then debate, I was able to recollect all the important details I needed for that. If I just had to report on the topic or answer questions, I often got confused, to the point of drawing a complete blank.

Linking things to emotion and passion - thinking with emotion and passion, basically - is a Lion primary thing. Especially if doing that makes you feel safe & comfortable & effective & happy.

- Even as a teenager I was very interested in philosophy, ethics and moral decision making.

I love teaching philosophy to teenagers. It’s the perfect time for it, they are so into it, and if it were up to me I would absolutely make it a required class.

I picked up certain philosophical ideas and concepts that I liked and integrated them in my belief system (yes, I know how very Bird that sounds).

I had my mind blown by Genealogy of Morals in high school, and I still won’t shut about Eichmann in Jerusalem. But what was so staggering to me in high school was… here are these ways of thinking that are possible and allowed. The fact that here they are in words in front of me made me a great deal more expansive.

Now that I think about it — I don’t remember adjusting my beliefs as in any way traumatic back then. The shift from a belief in the Christian God to Mother Goddess to my very own brand of agnostic paganism was smooth, natural.

Now that I think about it… I would describe myself as a mythic relativist (which is a term I just made up.) Systems of belief are metaphors, and they’re metaphors trying to describe and say something large and beautiful about what it means to be human, and what it means to live a good life. And since we are all human, they are all attempting to describe the same central, indescribable thing in different ways.

I feel this very deeply, but it took me a long while to be able to articulate it.

I constantly reevaluate, and I adapt.

You stop reevaluating and adapting, might as well be dead.

Still, there are some basics I’ve kept with me that just make too much sense to me to give up, and some that perhaps I keep because I just really like them and I’m kind of attached to them.

… somebody’s thinking with Pathos :)

- I’m a constructivist at heart, so that makes it much easier to tweak the content of my beliefs while staying true to the principle that we (socially) construct our reality, and (my take on this): that I choose what kind of world I want to live in, and according to that I make choices which are the most likely to create that world.

- At uni I attended a seminar about the development of moral judgment and action. What I remember most clearly about it is how much it bugged me that the other students didn’t seem to understand that morality always depends on the perspective. Even though I had definite moral convictions that I was ready to fight for, at the same time it seemed obvious to me that theoretically there could be a justification for every kind of moral guideline; it depended on your principles and the world you wanted to live in.

A human after my own heart.

I wanted to understand these different perspectives, not talk about empty categories like “right and wrong” or “good and evil” that meant nothing to me. I still feel that way.

Absolutely. I don’t use alignments when I DM Dungeons & Dragons. I mean, I can list evil *things* but that’s not the same thing as defining *being evil.* I want to know WHY these people did these evil things.

It just seems so impractical and complicated to base a conversation on those broad categories that don’t have any definition people can agree on instead of referring either to defined principles (in order to explain what good/ bad is *for you*) or consequences of certain actions, and whether you want them/ accept them/ don’t want them.

Oh that’s a fun discussion. Asking a highschooler to define “evil.”

(and then they have to figure out what moral systems Jigsaw, Pinhead, the Joker, and Bane all subscribe to.)

- Between “the Revolutionary” and “the Grail Knight”, I would love to be the former, but I’m clearly the latter. I’m someone who questions, not someone who knows.

Take my archetypes with a grain of salt, they are supposed to describe characters. (Who are different from people - but still useful, because they are attempts to describe us.) I actually want to write more about the differences I see between the way fictional secondaries are written and the way real-life secondaries work.

And just “knowing”... is dangerous. That’s how Exploded Lions happen.

There are a lot of causes I find worthy to fight for, but I haven’t committed to any one, which so far I’ve attributed to my Burned Secondary (How do I do things?).

Sounds about right.

If I’m honest, though, it feels a bit strange to really, really fight for anything. I’d rather contribute to the cause by keeping an eye on whether we stay aligned to our values on every level of the fight, not by storming sightlessly in front of some army. (I got polemic again, didn’t I? ;))

So after all this Bird talk, why do I think that I’m a Lion?

… that was the Bird segment?

- I trust my intuition. It has never steered me wrong, with one exception: My Primary burned for a time when I first understood the concept of privilege and internalized bias, which was coincidentally at a time when I also went through a lot of changes in my personal life. Like many people unaware of their own privilege, I had thought of myself as “one of the good ones”. I learned that even with the best intentions I could cause great harm without even noticing it. This then also happened to me in a relationship, when I was already confused, hurt and more than a bit burned. It seemed like I couldn’t trust my intuition anymore, but I also couldn’t figure out intellectually what to believe, because I felt mentally overwhelmed by all those new concepts, all of which put my previous convictions into question. Which Primary burned then?

Been there, done that, it’s brutal. It sounds to me like a Lion dramatically changing direction - that’s what I mean when I say that it *hurts* when a Lion changes their mind. Birds see their past selves that thought wrong as almost different people. “I wasn’t aware of my privilege then, now I am, and can take steps doing forward.” But if you’re a lion it’s like… I *should* have been aware, and the fact that I wasn’t says something terrible about my moral/emotional calibration, and THAT has to be put right.

- I felt like everything I had learned about the world and myself didn’t count anymore. My concepts and my strategies didn’t serve me anymore. So I started to rebuild everything from scratch, this time with less pride and more practicality.

Yeah. That’s some Lion recalibration. With a Bird Model, to help.

- Anyway, I trust my intuition. It contains my experiences, instinct and all my accumulated unconscious observations of the situation, and it’s very reliable. Usually I use it as an important source of information which I try to back up with data/ understanding, but when push came to shove and the apparent facts would contradict what my intuition told me, I would be unable to set my gut feeling aside. I wouldn’t follow it blindly, of course. But I would never just go against it either. If the voices of my unconscious and conscious mind don’t align, I keep poking at the issue until they do. If I absolutely cannot come to a satisfying conclusion, I go with my gut. Since I know it usually knows what it’s doing, I’ll find out the reasons for my feelings later. (Weird, says my inner bird who is busy compiling these examples.)

I’LL FIND THE REASON FOR MY FEELINGS LATER. What a perfect way of articulating what is perhaps the central experience of being a Lion primary.

- Probably I’m just both, you know. Some interesting lion/bird-chimaera. I like it.

I read you as a pretty clear Lion Primary, Bird primary model. But as always, the decision is very personal.

- I have a weird way of processing information: I read/ hear it, work to understand it, work to connect it to existing knowledge in my mind, then my beliefs, my existing knowledge and my feelings about it all wind around each other, grow into each other, some dissolve together, becoming a swamp which then nourishes the plants of new ideas and connections that grow from it.

You grok it. And that’s not weird.

I often can’t remember where certain knowledge came from. I can’t take it out of a memory shelf and tell you about it. I usually remember that I’ve read a certain book and whether I liked it / it influenced me, but I won’t exactly remember what was in it, even if it was important to me. Because all that information is already processed/ digested/ transformed into something new. It’s much easier to access my memory swamp intuitively than consciously.

and you seriously had like… any doubt that you were a Lion.

In intellectual discussions I tend to get stuck because I just can’t remember enough of the details (for my satisfaction), just my conclusions about the topic and how I feel about it.

I’m inclined to think that not accessing the details is either a secondary thing, or an entirely unrelated processing thing.

What do you make of all this? I’m very curious!

[On an unrelated note, I’d like to specify the compliment I made at the beginning of this post. I’m really impressed with your ability to pick up on what people need, not just what they say they want. As a counselor this is a skill I try to hone, so I know how difficult it is to not get too distracted by the story people tell and miss the more subtle cues. You have a powerful combination of perceptiveness, insight and so much kindness, which you use to effectively support people who have questions, are in distress or confused. You don’t generalize. You don’t judge. You see the people who talk to you. I love that you’re a teacher, because I can see you’re using the influence that gives you in a way that contributes to making the world a better place. Fellow Idealist, I’d like to give you a High Five for that, if I may. :)))]

I’m not sure I’ve ever been given a better compliment. Thank you.

#submission #sortinghatchats #lion primary #lionpri #bird primary vs lion primary #philosophy stuff

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nicknellie · 4 years ago

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@millie-andrews-rose requested: Alex gets put with a bully on a paired project, so Willie goes with him when they work on it to help him stay calm. Willie and the boy bond over skateboarding and Alex gets jealous, causing an argument between them. The boy then apologises to Alex for being so awful. Alex and Willie make up and it ends with their first “I love you”s. (This was edited/simplified just to make it shorter.)

This is the longest oneshot I’ve ever written and I absolutely love it. I really hope I’ve done you proud, especially since this was such a great prompt! Thanks!

And It’s Not My Fault

Alex adored projects. He loved having something big to focus on, a goal to work towards, something to keep him preoccupied. Any big time-consuming task was a lot of fun for him whether it was a five-thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle or work for school worth a large part of his grade. There was, however, a single word that could be placed before the ‘project’ that would instantly transform it from Alex’s dream to his worst nightmare.

The word wasn’t ‘group’ as it would be for a lot of people. Alex liked group projects almost as much as he liked solo projects. Group projects were what he did with Julie, Luke, and Reggie almost every day, jamming in the studio and working towards having a complete set list in time for an upcoming gig. Group projects were what he occasionally did with Carrie and the girls of Dirty Candi when he would assist them with some choreography. Group projects were even tolerable with people Alex didn’t know well because he knew how they were supposed to work and usually he could convince everyone to do their fair share. So group projects were fine.

The word the ruined any chance of Alex having fun was ‘paired’.

Paired projects were the worst type of project. They always spelled trouble and Alex had never got a decent grade on one in his whole school career. It never felt like his fault, but when he thought about it he was the common denominator in every nightmare paired project scenario, so he had long ago decided that there must be something about paired projects that he was simply doing wrong.

Maybe it was that he wasn’t good one-on-one. Alex had always functioned better in groups (albeit small ones that couldn’t be overwhelming) and being face to face with just one person could be stressful. It was fine if it was a friend, and more than fine if it was his boyfriend, but when alone with a stranger Alex found himself running out of things to say and having nowhere to turn when the awkward silences set in. Or if he didn’t run out of things to say he would eventually say the wrong thing and that would start an entirely new alarm bell ringing in his mind as he panicked about accidentally being offensive. Overall, conversations without his emotional support band could be frustrating at best and somewhat dangerous at worst.

Perhaps it was true that Alex was the link in all these situations, but what he had always failed to consider was the fact that he had never been paired in a project with somebody who was actually willing to try and do well, which perhaps was a more prominent reason he’d never received a decent grade.

Alex had been having a good day. He was feeling bright for no reason in particular – needlessly optimistic days like this were his favourite, even though they usually were followed by needlessly pessimistic days as all those bad feelings caught up with him at once. Still, by now Alex had learnt to clutch that senseless joy while it was there and relish it before it was gone.

The joy was gone by noon.

“Alright, class,” Ms Osbourne said, clapping her hands to gain the class’s attention.

Alex hated his English classes. While he was good at English and rather enjoyed the subject itself, his class was rowdy and unruly and made it difficult to concentrate, while Ms Osbourne was a teacher so strict that if someone so much as thought about breaking a rule she would be able to sniff it out like a dog – but her bark was worse than her bite, and while she would shout an unnatural amount she rarely doled out punishments. The combination made for a lesson that was purely people shouting and no work being done.

The class quieted to a steady hum of chatter which was usually as silent as Ms Osbourne could get it. She smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes, and continued. “Seeing as the end of the semester is coming up, I’m going to be setting you a project that will be worth forty percent of your grade. Essentially, it’s your final exam on our study of Macbeth.”

Alex perked up a little. He had been assigned projects for a lot of classes, but English projects were always the most enjoyable – they involved a lot of writing, which most people hated, but Alex found therapeutic; the only downside was that the source material was usually dreadfully dull. Still, Alex suddenly found himself looking forward to it.

And then she had to go and ruin it.

“I will tell you your assigned partners at the end of the lesson.”

Alex felt himself deflate and heaved a sigh. It had been too good to be true. Now he was going to be stuck on some boring project with a random student from his awful English class because he had no friends in this lesson and it was going to be horrible. It was all he could do to not let his head fall onto the table and scream in furious defeat.

It was on his mind all lesson. Who he was going to be with, what specific things the project would be on, how he could get out of it. His mind was buzzing with questions, building up energy that released itself by making his leg bounce up and down. Several times he found himself tapping out a rhythm on the table like it was his drumkit, his bouncing leg acting as if it was pounding the bass drum, and he had to force himself to stop and actually pay attention to the lesson.

The end came painfully slowly. The school bell rang and most of the students were up out of their seats immediately, ready to leave.

“Hang on,” Ms Osbourne yelled. “Everyone sit back down! I need to tell you your partners for the upcoming project.”

Alex listened attentively as she reeled off a list of names. Most people let out an annoyed groan when they found out they weren’t with a friend, and there was the occasional excited, “Yay!”

Alex knew he wouldn’t be one of the ones celebrating.

“Alex Mercer,” Ms Osbourne said eventually, pushing her glasses further up her tiny nose. “Your partner is Harry Reynolds.”

“Oh god,” Alex murmured. He felt his stomach squirm just as somebody kicked the back of his chair so hard that he jolted forward and nearly whacked his face on the table. The person laughed a moment later, obnoxiously loud, begging for retaliation – Alex didn’t dare turn around to look at them.

He knew already that it was Harry Reynolds sat behind him who had kicked his chair. His project partner, and possibly the worst person in the class that it could have been. For reasons unknown to Alex, Harry had always had it out for him. In middle school he had pushed Alex down a flight of stairs and he had landed unceremoniously in a trash can – Harry had started calling him Bin Boy and the nickname had stuck for a year afterwards; Harry was the only one who used it anymore though. Since then, Harry had just been a general jerk towards him, and upon hearing that they were going to be partners, Alex’s whole body told him to run.

Run where? Alex thought. This wasn’t a problem he could run from. Besides, Harry could probably run faster.

“Looks like it’s you and me, Bin Boy,” came Harry’s voice from behind. “I’m sure we’ll have loads of fun.”

Ms Osbourne finally finished listing pairs and then announced, “These partners are non-negotiable. I will not indulge any requests to switch for any reason. Life isn’t fair, sometimes we have to work with people we don’t like. Get used to it. Now go on, you’re already late for your next class.”

Alex wasn’t usually one to ignore instructions, but as the rest of the class filed out into the hallway he remained behind. He didn’t know what he was planning to say to Ms Osbourne, but he desperately needed to find a way out of the project, or at least switch partners.

“Go on, Alex,” Ms Osbourne said, “you’re going to be late.”

He swallowed thickly and said, “Miss, I was just wondering about the proj–”

“You’re not swapping partners,” she returned sternly. “I’ve already said this. I won’t make any allowances.”

“But, Miss, I can’t work with him,” Alex protested. She raised her eyebrows and started walking around the room, putting sheets on each table for her next class. Alex followed her as she went. “He hates me! It’s going to be awful.”

“Well, maybe the two of you can use this as a way to bond and get to know each other better, hm?”

“Miss, please,” Alex said, his desperation finally rearing its ugly head in his voice. He could feel his legs shaking and his hands wringing themselves together and his head tingling in a way he couldn’t describe, and finally he broke. “He has it out for me and I don’t even know why! He’s been awful to me ever since we were kids, he tries to pick fights with me, he calls me names. Last year he chased me around the field with a baseball bat for a whole PE lesson! If I have to work with him I’ll just end up panicking – or dead, that’s also a possibility – and the project will go terribly and I’ll fail the class. Please can I just work by myself?”

Ms Osbourne’s expression softened as she look at Alex over her glasses. For a moment, Alex’s hopes were raised just that tiny bit – maybe he had got through to her, maybe she would see sense.

But then her face turned to stone again.

“No,” she spat. “What you can do is figure out with Harry when the two of you are going to work on this project and how you’re going to go about it. And you can get to your next class.” She turned away with a cold air of finality. Alex could have sworn he actually felt chills.

Without a word, Alex heaved his bag onto his shoulder and made his way out of the classroom, crushed and dejected. He stared down at his feet as he walked and tried not to think about what the next few weeks could have in store for him.

Lunch couldn’t have come sooner. After what felt like an eternity, Alex finally made his way down to the cafeteria to meet up with his friends. If there was any one thing that was guaranteed to cheer Alex up when he was in a bad mood, it was the good company of his band and his boyfriend.

The rest of the group was already sat at their usual table when Alex arrived in the cafeteria; just seeing them laughing and joking together put the tiniest hint of a smile of his face. He headed over to them, but was stopped in his tracks by somebody stood in front of him – it was Harry Reynolds.

The boy had his arms crossed over his massive chest and was leering down at Alex with an expression of disgust. Alex tried to look past him at his friends, to get their attention, to ask for help, but they hadn’t seen him. Instead, he forced himself to look up into Harry’s brutish face and try not to squirm.

“Partners, huh?” Harry grunted. “I’m failing English so you’ll need to get us a good grade.”

“That’s the plan,” Alex said, willing his voice not to shake. It wasn’t that he was too frightened or intimidated by Harry, it was just the fact that he really didn’t feel like getting chucked in a bin today. One wrong move and he could consider that a real possibility.

“Be at my place on Saturday at one. Bring all your notes – I don’t have any.”

“I can’t do Saturday,” Alex told him, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I have band practise.”

Harry took a step closer. Alex couldn’t move back – his feet were rooted to the spot. “You think I care about your dopey little band practise? You’ll be there. That’s that.”

Alex swallowed, nodded hurriedly, and finally forced himself to take a step back so that he wasn’t chest to chest with Harry. “I’ll be there,” he echoed, still nodding.

Harry snarled, condescendingly patted Alex on the head, and walked off. Alex took a moment to collect himself, to breathe, to remind himself that he was okay and he wasn’t hurt, that Harry hadn’t done anything. He steadied himself and kept walking towards his friends, trying to mask the worry on his face.

Of course, he failed miserably.

The moment Alex sat down in his usual space between Willie and Luke, Willie took his hand, watching him with concern. “Hey,” Willie said gently, “what’s up?”

Julie, Luke, and Reggie immediately stopped their conversation, turning to face Alex and Willie. Alex hated the way they were looking at him, like he’d break if they dropped him, but it wasn’t like he could ask them to stop caring – instead, he looked at each of them, trying and failing to give them a reassuring smile before he spoke.

“Nothing,” Alex said, “nothing, it’s just… just this project for English.”

Luke sighed dramatically. “Has your class got that stupid Shakespeare assignment too? I get it, bro, it’s totally pointless–”

“No,” Alex interrupted quietly. “No, that’s not it. Well, kind of. Yeah, we’ve got the Shakespeare assignment but that’s not… not the problem.”

“What is it?” Willie prompted gently when Alex didn’t continue.

Alex shrugged. “It’s stupid.”

Julie leaned over the table and grasped Alex’s other hand. “Alex, your feelings are not stupid.”

She smiled warmly. Funny things happened when Julie smiled – when she did it to Luke, it wasn’t uncommon for him to literally trip over himself; when she did it to Reggie, it made him smile in return for hours on end; and when she did it to Alex, it gave him such overwhelming confidence that for a moment or two he could truly do anything.

“It’s just that we were assigned partners and I got stuck with Harry Reynolds,” he admitted, clutching Willie and Julie’s hands tighter. “It’s nothing and I shouldn’t be worried but–”

“It’s not nothing,” Willie said. Alex couldn’t quite read his expression – it looked to be something between sympathy and outrage. “That guy is the worst. Did you talk to your teacher about it?”

Alex nodded gravely. “She wouldn’t let me switch.”

“How much did you tell her?” Willie asked.

“What I thought would have been enough,” he replied, shrugging like it was nothing. “But it wasn’t.”

“She should be fired for that,” Reggie interjected. Everyone turned to look at him. “I’m just saying – if by ‘enough’ you mean that you told her what a jerk he’s been to you then she should follow that up and treat it like an issue instead of making you work with him.”

What would have been wise words were ruined slightly by the fact that Reggie spoke them around a mouthful of pizza.

“Reggie’s right,” Julie said, “she’s definitely in the wrong here.”

“I know that,” Alex told them, because he did, that much was obvious. “But it’s a little late for that now. I’m stuck with him.”

Willie clutched his hand tighter, threaded their fingers together. Alex leaned to the side, rested his head on Willie’s shoulder. Julie let go of his hand and Willie immediately picked it up – he smiled a little at both of them.

“I know saying it’s all going to be okay won’t help,” Willie whispered to him, “but you’ve got to try and believe that it will. And if it isn’t, I am just one call away. If you need anything – I mean anything – you call me and I will be there. Okay?”

Alex’s tense muscles relaxed the tiniest bit. “Okay,” he muttered back. “That’s okay.”

Willie kissed the top of his head and a fraction of Alex’s anxiety lifted. Willie would be there when he needed him no matter what. That was something he could always count on.

Luke hadn’t been happy when Alex had called him early on Saturday morning to tell him he wouldn’t be coming to band practise that day. He had given Alex a half-hour-long earful about how they had a gig coming up in a few days’ time and they needed to be rehearsing like crazy. It hadn’t been pleasant for Alex in the slightest, but at least it had been a welcome distraction from the other thing on his mind, the reason he had had to cancel band practise in the first place.

It was the day he was supposed to go to Harry’s house to work on their project. Alex had hardly slept the night before – he had lay awake in bed for hours, tossing and turning, trying to empty his mind and relax, but sleep just wouldn’t come. At half past two he had crept downstairs and made a batch of brownies using a recipe of his grandmother’s. At the time he’d thought that maybe he could use them to placate Harry once he got to his house, but he’d accidentally ended up stress-eating the entire batch instead.

He felt sick, but couldn’t tell if it was the brownies or the anxiety. Probably an unhealthy mix of both, he decided.

But he had passed the first hurdle and he told himself to be proud of that – he had arrived outside Harry’s house. It was a small bungalow on a road that led nowhere and Alex was struck by how normal it looked. It didn’t look like the sort of place somebody like Harry Reynolds should have lived; Harry was larger than life, tall and brooding, moody and mean – this house looked as if its occupants sold flowers and rescued kittens in their spare time.

Despite the outward appearances of the house, Alex was almost certain that he was in the right place. The front window seemed to show Harry’s bedroom because through it Alex could see innumerable trophies, all for different sporting events; a large stack of magazines (Alex was sure he could already guess what each contained); and a small enclosure that looked to Alex unbearably similar to a tank that might house a snake or a spider or any other creature that Alex would have preferred stayed thousands of miles away from him where it belonged.

He could not make himself walk into the house.

He had been trying for almost fifteen minutes and had walked past the house almost thirty times. He had counted his steps and was somewhere near eight thousand. His mind was racing, shooting through a hundred anxieties before Alex had the chance to dwell on any of them – maybe that was for the best. But it didn’t help the fact that he could not force his legs to walk in the direction of the door.

The worries stopping him weren’t even big ones like ‘What if he tries to hurt me?’ which Alex stressed over every time he interacted with Harry. It was the little things and the impossible things pricking the back of his mind like needles: What if he doesn’t answer the door? What if nobody’s home? What if I’m at the wrong house? What if he’s changed his mind? What if I got the wrong day? What if I got the wrong time? What if he’s not actually my project partner? What if… What if… What if…

What if I call Willie?

Alex blessed his brain for having its first sensible thought that day. He fished his phone out his pocket and called Willie, who picked up after one ring.

“Hey,” Willie said, “what’s up, hotdog?”

“I, um… I’m at Harry’s house. I can’t go inside.”

“Why not?” Willie asked. “Is the door locked? Are they out?”

Alex shook his head although Willie couldn’t see him. “No. I don’t think so. It’s just… I… I can’t do it.”

“What do you mean you can’t do it?” Willie asked patiently.

“I can’t go inside,” Alex repeated. With his free hand, he tugged at the strap of his fanny pack, fiddling with the buckle where it lay over his chest. “I can’t go up to the door. I’ve been trying for, like, twenty minutes and every time I try my head starts buzzing and my legs go numb and I’m starting to feel really sick now because I ate an entire batch of brownies meant for at least ten people and I can’t do this–”

“Okay,” Willie interrupted. “It’s okay. You’re okay. Breathe, Alex. Remember the breathing exercises we went over? Breathe in for four and out for six. Come on, hotdog, you’ve got this.”

Alex did as he said, taking great shuddering breaths of bitter air and releasing them slowly. Willie kept talking him through it, slowly, softly, kindly, and after about ten minutes Alex felt refreshed. Not necessarily worry-free, but his mind had cleared a little bit.

“Okay,” Willie said. “That was great, well done. Can you give me this guy’s address?”

Alex gave it to him.

“Luckily for you, that’s just down the road from where I am right now,” Willie said, chipper. Alex could hear the smile in his voice and it almost made him smile himself. Almost. “I’ll be there in a minute. I’ll go inside with you, if that’s what you want?”

Alex breathed a haggard, relieved sigh. “Yes. Please. If you don’t mind. Thank you, Willie.”

Willie gave a small chuckle. “Any time, hotdog. You know I’d do anything for you. I’ll see you in a minute.”

And he hung up.

Alex waited, still doing his breathing exercises, but didn’t need to wait long. Hardly five minutes later, Willie rolled up (literally – he was on his skateboard) and gave him a bright smile. Alex didn’t hesitate before lurching forward and pulling him into a hug.

“Thank you, Willie,” he whispered. “I really appreciate it.”

Willie’s response was simply to hug him tighter.

Together, hands clasped tightly between them, Willie with his board tucked under his arm, they made their way up to the bungalow’s front door. Alex swallowed, steeled himself, and then firmly knocked on the door. When nobody answered it in the first five seconds, Alex told Willie, “This is a bad idea,” and tried to turn away to leave.

However, Willie just pulled him back and a moment later the door opened. On the threshold of the house was Harry, staring down at Alex and Willie. Something about him wasn’t quite as nightmarish as it was at school, yet at the same time Alex was much more afraid. He held Willie’s hand tighter.

Harry nodded in Willie’s direction. “Who’s this, Bin Boy? You brought your boyfriend?”

“Actually, yeah,” Willie said, speaking for Alex. He was glad – his throat felt thick and he didn’t think he could have summoned up any words if he tried. “I’m Willie. I’ve heard about you.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “Yeah? What?”

“Just a few things,” Willie said nonchalantly. “Nothing important. Anyway, I was in the neighbourhood and Alex and I are set to hang out when he’s done here anyway so I thought I’d come along. Is that alright with you?”

“It’s fine,” Harry returned with a shrug. Then his eyes landed on something and his entire expression changed. Alex didn’t think he’d ever seen Harry look like this before. Could it have been what he thought it was: excitement? “Bro! You skate?”

Willie lifted his board half-heartedly. “This isn’t just for decoration.”

Harry grinned, clapping Willie on the shoulder so hard that his hand dropped from Alex’s. “Dude, that’s sick, I do too. Come on, get inside, man.”

Harry headed back into the house and Willie followed him. Alex took a moment to wonder what the hell that had been, then took a deep breath and hurried after them. When he caught up with Willie he grabbed his hand again. Willie just smiled bemusedly up at him.

Harry led them to his bedroom and beckoned them towards his desk.

“Come look at this,” Harry said. “I had a photo taken with Tony Hawk last year!”

Alex perched himself right on the edge of the bed awkwardly as Willie went over to inspect the framed photo.

“Are you sure that’s Tony Hawk?” Willie asked. “Doesn’t look like him.”

Harry shook his head. “You’ve got to imagine he’s holding a skateboard, then you’ll see it.”

Alex watched Willie squint at the photo for a moment or two longer, then he gasped and, to Alex’s horror, began to smile. “Oh, wait… yeah, kinda. That’s awesome, dude!”

“Yeah! Anyway, how long have you been skating for?”

As Willie answered, Alex zoned out of the conversation. Ordinarily, he loved listening to Willie talk about skating – he lit up whenever he explained a new trick he’d learnt, and seeing him flush with pride after he demonstrated it perfectly to Alex always made him feel giddy – but it just wasn’t the same listening to him chat with Harry Reynolds of all people. Alex didn’t even know who that Tony Hawk guy was and it didn’t seem like anyone was about to bother explaining it to him. He would never have admitted it, but listening to Willie talk to Harry was almost annoying.

He busied himself by looking around the room, getting a glimpse at what the real Harry Reynolds was like. At school, Harry was the classic, early-2000s movie jock, on every sports team the school had to offer, constantly bragging about his luck with girls, and picking on people smaller than him (which, because Harry was built like a tree trunk, was pretty much everyone). His room reflected it too; there were even more trophies than Alex had seen through the window, most for football or, unexpectedly, karate, and the walls were plastered in posters displaying buff men and weirdly specific motivational quotes. Only now did Alex notice the skateboards stuck on the wall and the stack of helmets by his bed, as well as several skating posters directly above them.

He turned back to Willie and Harry just in time to hear Willie laugh. Properly laugh, loud and genuine. Willie only laughed like that with his friends and it hearing it in Harry’s room stirred an uneasy feeling in the pit of Alex’s stomach.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, trying to smile.

Willie waved him off. “Don’t worry, hotdog, just a skating joke.”

Harry snickered, shaking his head. “Pretty freaking funny though.”

“Oh,” Alex said. He tried for a laugh but it was the least genuine noise he had ever made – judging by the look Harry sent him, it had been obvious how fake it was to him too. Alex cleared his throat awkwardly. “Shouldn’t we get on with our work? We’re already running behind schedule.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Shut it, Bin Boy, we’re having a conversation here. You start if you want, I’ll join you whenever.”

Alex sent a look to Willie, eyes wide and pleading. Willie frowned, looking conflicted, but then shrugged.

Willie and Alex didn’t fight often, but Alex wouldn’t have minded giving Willie a piece of his mind right then and there.

He didn’t though. He sighed, shuffled back on the bed so that he could have more room and lean on the mattress, and he started working on the project. It wasn’t too difficult, just an analysis on the themes of Macbeth, something they had gone over in class a hundred times; still, Alex would have appreciated some help, seeing as this was a paired project and he didn’t exactly want to do the whole thing alone.

But it was fine. He kept telling himself that it was completely and utterly fine. But every so often Willie or Harry would laugh or suddenly shout, and the abrupt noise would startle Alex. The third time that happened he accidentally jogged his highlighter so it zigzagged all over his painstakingly neat paragraph on King James I. He gripped his pen so hard that the plastic almost cracked, and set about writing the whole thing again on a new piece of paper.

Alex didn’t know how long he had been working for, but he did know that it had been a hell of a long time and Harry still hadn’t made any effort to help him. He had copied up all his notes on the supernatural, women, ambition, and the Great Chain of Being, all the while Harry had sat there with Willie, not doing anything.

The strange thing was, Alex found himself more angry at Willie than he was at Harry.

Eventually, he checked the time, his hand aching. It was almost five o’clock, which meant he had been working alone for about four hours solidly. He had done pretty much half of the project in that time and was nearing his breaking point – he thought that if he left now he could catch the tail end of band practise and take his frustration out on his drumkit.

Gathering his notes and all his work, Alex said, “I’m going to head out.”

Willie checked the clock on Harry’s desk and then set about clipping his helmet on. “Yeah, we should get going. This was fun, though, man. It was nice to talk to a fellow skater for once.”

“I hear you, dude,” Harry returned. They fist-bumped and Alex physically cringed. “Catch you later.”

Alex didn’t say goodbye, just saw himself out. He didn’t wait for Willie. He simply walked, trying to get out of the house and as far away as possible in as little time as he could. Alex could hear Willie shouting for him to wait up but he didn’t stop.

He felt Willie grab his hand and pull him to a halt, but pulled his hand from Willie’s grasp.

“What’s up with you?” Willie asked, seeming truly bewildered. “I thought that was alright back there, it was relaxed, not stressful. Are you still feeling anxious?”

Alex didn’t answer his question and instead he said with much more venom than he had intended, “What the hell was that?”

Willie looked taken aback. Alex almost felt bad. Almost.

“What was what?”

“In there!” Alex yelled, pointing in the direction of Harry’s house. “You talking to him like you’re best friends! That guy is a jerk, you know that, Willie, so why were you laughing and joking with him as if he’s the nicest guy in the world?”

Willie didn’t look impressed. “Sorry, I was under the impression you wanted me there. I was talking to him to distract from you. That’s what you wanted, right? You were nervous about going so you wanted my help to take the pressure off you. I was helping you, Alex, because that was what you asked me to do!”

“Not like that,” Alex protested. “You weren’t supposed to bond with him, leave me out completely so that I had to do all the work by myself and listen to you two talk about skateboards and… Toby Eagle, or whoever that guy was!”

“It was Tony Hawk. And it’s not my fault that Harry likes skateboarding,” Willie shot back. “It’s also not my fault that I enjoyed talking to someone who shares that interest for once. You listen and you pretend to know what I’m talking about, but it isn’t the same.”

“It didn’t have to be him!”

“Actually, given the circumstances, it did. And like I said – it got the attention off you, so I don’t see why you’re complaining.”

Alex felt his temper rising with each sentence. He never got this upset at Willie, this was a complete first. Sure, they had argued like any couple would, but he had never felt any real anger towards his boyfriend. It frightened him, and that fright stopped him from seeing any sense, taking a step back, calming himself down.

“I didn’t want you to do it like that,” he said, as if it was obvious. It was obvious to Alex – why wasn’t it obvious to Willie?

“I can’t read your mind, Alex,” Willie shouted, pointing at himself. “I don’t know what’s going on in your head!”

“You should know!”

“I don’t! It could be anything! I don’t think you realise that when it comes to you and your anxiety, I’m pretty much flying as blind as you are. Sure, I’ve done my research and I can handle it, but I never know what’s going to trigger you and set you off like earlier today. I may seem prepared, but I don’t know what you’re thinking and I don’t know what you’re going to worry about most. It is not my fault that sometimes I might not handle it in the best way. I’m trying my hardest, Alex.”

“You aren’t the one who has to go through the panic attacks and the constant worry, are you?” Alex seethed.

Willie shrugged. “No, I’m not. But I still worry about you all the time because I don’t know what’s going to set you off.”

“It’s not my fault I have anxiety,” Alex yelled.

“I never said it was! But it’s not my fault either – I dropped everything just to come and help you today and all you’re doing is throwing it right back in my face and arguing with me for helping you out! It’s not my fault that you can’t do these easy things and that you need me to hold your hand all the time!”

Alex froze. Willie did too. The words were out there, they’d been spoken without hesitation. They hung between the two of them like a toxic cloud, as both of them slowly realised the weight those words had held.

Willie broke the silence, reaching out his hand to Alex, trying to bridge that gap between them that had widened impossibly in the last ten seconds. “Alex, I am so sorry, I didn’t mean t–”

Alex stepped back, out of reach from Willie. Willie flinched and he withdrew his hand, instead crossing his arms and rubbing circles by his elbow with his thumb. It was a nervous tick Alex only ever saw when Willie was really stressed out. Normally he would have tried to soothe him, calm him down, but all he could hear were Willie’s words echoing back and forth through his mind.

It’s not my fault that you can’t do these easy things and that you need me to hold your hand all the time!

Alex schooled his features to careful neutrality, not betraying any emotion. It wasn’t hard, seeing as he wasn’t feeling much at that moment anyway, just a cold detachment.

“I heard you,” Alex said quietly. He couldn’t look Willie in the eye. “I heard exactly what you said. I know what you meant.”

“Then you’ve got to know that I wasn’t trying to–”

“I know what you meant,” he repeated. “I’m going back to band practise. I don’t think you should come and watch today.”

He shook his head and, turning on his heel, walked away. He didn’t hear Willie’s footsteps following him this time.

Band practise had helped calm Alex down with a mixture of wrestling his drumkit and talking things out with Julie, Luke, and Reggie. They had all seemed utterly shocked that Willie would say anything like that, but Alex wasn’t so surprised. After all, things like this were what he worried about – being left alone, being disliked by the people he cared for most, being a nuisance, being abandoned. Deep down in the pit of his worst anxieties, he had been worried that something like this could have happened.

He just had never thought it would have come from Willie.

While band helped him calm down, it didn’t help cheer him up. He regretted even bringing the argument up in the first place – if he had ignored his feelings (which Julie had bluntly explained to him were jealousy) then he could have avoided the whole argument. Instead of lying in his cold bed, unable to sleep that night, he could have been curled up with Willie on the couch in the studio, warm and cosy because Willie was like a human radiator.

He knew that neither of them had been fair on each other. He could see Willie’s side of the argument once he had calmed down. But he knew that what he had said was equally valid and he couldn’t get past the scorn in Willie’s voice when he’d said those damning words.

He didn’t hear from Willie all throughout Sunday and didn’t make any moves to contact him himself either. If he did, he had no clue where he would have even begun. Perhaps an apology – but where was he supposed to take the conversation from there?

So Sunday was silent.

Alex was slightly dreading school on Monday, but he wasn’t about to ruin his high grades by not showing up, especially this close to the end of the semester. Grudgingly, he headed to school and went straight to his first lesson, which just so happened to be the lesson from Hell: English.

He arrived there before the rest of the class, including Ms Osbourne, which meant he had time to dwell on his thoughts alone. He probably wasn’t going to fail this class – despite Saturday having been a nightmare, he had managed to get a lot of good work done on the project and it would be of a very high quality when he finally got it finished. But he still had more work to do and he knew that he really ought to do it with Harry. Absently, he pondered whether or not to bring Willie next time he needed to go to Harry’s house.

Talk of the devil, Alex thought as the classroom door swung open and none other than Harry himself sauntered in. He looked at Alex sat there alone, the only other person in the room, and grunted, coming to sit beside him.

Alex didn’t have the energy to be scared of Harry Reynolds today.

“I’ve been looking for you, Mercer,” Harry said conversationally.

“Oh, joy,” Alex deadpanned. Harry looked surprised, probably because Alex wasn’t cowering in fear, but he shrugged it off.

“I wanted to talk to you,” he continued. “I just wanted to say that your boyfriend, that Willie guy, he’s really cool. I mean, the way he was talking about skating the other day – I don’t know if you realise it, man, but he has a real shot at going pro.”

“I know,” Alex spat. “He’s my boyfriend, of course I know. Maybe I don’t skate but I still listen to him. And I know him better than you do.”

Harry held up a hand. “Woah, calm down, Bin B– uh. Alex. I’m just trying to say the guy is really cool and you’re really lucky to have him. And also… talking to him the other day, he said– well, you weren’t listening, were you?”

Alex shook his head.

“We did stop talking about skating at some point, you know,” Harry told him. “Willie was telling me how awesome you are and, you know, explaining why he likes you so much. And I guess it made me realise that I’ve kind of been a jerk to you for a long time – I mean, he literally told me so. He told me to stop being such a douchebag to you.”

Alex grunted. “He’s right. You should stop. It sucks.”

Harry nodded. “I wanted to apologise for it, I guess. I’m sorry for being so nasty to you. I think it’s just because I was young and dumb and I didn’t realise it was hurting you at first, then it just stuck. I kind of always thought it was friendly too – I didn’t think you minded. I thought it was banter.”

“It wasn’t,” Alex said, meeting his eyes. “It never was. I’m terrified of you, you’ve made my life a misery. Thanks for the apology, but it’s no excuse.”

“I know that,” he admitted. “But I just wanted to explain why. I’m going to try my best to be a better guy from now on. It won’t make up for everything I’ve done in the past, but can you give me a chance to get this right?”

Alex considered. Somehow, Harry seemed completely serious. His expression was slightly pleading and he looked a little awkward and uncomfortable to be asking this of Alex, but it seemed real.

So he nodded.

“Fine. Thank you.”

Harry clapped him on the back. “No worries, dude. And, uh… this might not be my place to ask, but are you okay? You look down.”

Alex shrugged. “I had an argument with Willie after we left your place the other day. I’ve not spoken to him since.”

“Was it my fault?” Harry asked.

“Kinda,” Alex told him, shrugging again. “I just… I didn’t like how friendly you two seemed. After everything you’ve done to me in the past, watching him get along with you like it was nothing made me a little mad.”

“Sorry, bro,” Harry said, scratching the back of his neck. “I’m not into him or anything, so you’ve got nothing to worry about there – plus, he’s crazy about you, so even if someone else did like him they’d be out of luck. I just wanted to talk with someone about skating for once, none of my friends are into it.”

“Willie said the same thing,” Alex admitted.

Harry nodded awkwardly. “I don’t have any say in your relationship, but honestly I’m kind of invested in it now and I think you guys should talk it out. I’d hate to think I played some part if you ended up breaking up over this.”

“I don’t want to break up with him,” Alex objected, horrified. The thought of breaking up with Willie, losing him forever, made him feel sick to the stomach.

The rest of the class began filing into the classroom. Harry stood up, shrugged, and then clapped Alex on the shoulder.

“Go talk to him, then.”

Alex, for the first time in his life, took the advice Harry had given him and decided to take that first, absolutely terrifying step towards fixing the break between himself and Willie. If he knew his boyfriend (and he did) then Willie would have gone to the skatepark straight after school, so that was where Alex headed too.

Sure enough, Alex found Willie at the skatepark, sat at the top of the highest ramp. Every now and then, someone on a board would do a trick nail-bitingly close to Willie’s face, but he didn’t flinch even once. He was staring off into the peachy sunset, seemingly lost in his thoughts. Alex climbed up there and sat himself down next to him.

“Is this seat taken?” he asked uneasily.

Willie startled and turned to Alex, caught unawares. “Alex! I thought you–”

Willie didn’t get to finish his sentence because Alex pulled him into a tight, bone-crushing, fierce hug, pouring every last ounce of love and regret into it. He felt Willie hug back with equal force and buried his face into Willie’s long hair. This, he knew, was how it was supposed to be – Alex and Willie, boyfriends who care far too much about each other, not Alex and Willie, boyfriends on the edge of a break-up.

Eventually, Alex withdrew himself and let Willie go mostly, still keeping a tight clutch on his upper arms.

“I am so sorry,” he said, breathless. “I’m sorry for everything I said and for starting the argument and for everything that happened that day.”

Willie shook his head. “Don’t. I’m sorry, I should have realised how talking to Harry like that would have made you feel. It was dumb of me, and I shouldn’t have said such hurtful things to you, and–”

“I get it,” Alex said breezily, “I’m a lot to deal with.”

Desperately, Willie said, “But that’s not what I meant! I can’t explain what I was trying to say, but I wouldn’t change anything about you or our relationship for the world. You mean the everything to me, Alex, and I never want to do something to jeopardise what we have ever again. I’d do anything to take back what I said to you that day.”

Alex pulled him back into the hug, needing to be close to him. “It wasn’t just you. It was both of us. And Harry. But we’ve all apologised now, even him, so we can put this whole thing behind us.”

Willie pulled back, surprised. “He apologised?”

“Yeah,” Alex said, nodding. “Because of you. He said you were going on about how amazing I am and he realised he’d been a jerk.”

Willie blushed the tiniest bit, and playfully punched Alex’s arm. “Well, you are amazing. You’re more than amazing. You’re a miracle and I’m lucky to have you.”

Smiling, Alex cupped Willie’s cheek and gently pulled him in for a kiss. It was soft, slow, and Alex felt like they were glowing, bright and warm and happy. They kissed until every unspoken word had been said, until the last of the orange sunset had ebbed away into night-time blue, until streetlights cast an amber glow across the skatepark, in which they were the only ones left. Alex felt like he was finally at peace, with himself and with Willie.

He pulled back and rested his forehead against Willie’s. “I’m lucky to have you too. I can’t even begin to understand what good luck brought you to me.”

Willie moved back slightly, shuffled further away until he was only holding Alex’s hands, until that was the only point where they touched. Alex missed his warmth.

“Sorry,” Willie giggled, smile bright. “I wanted to be able to look you in the eyes for this.”

“For what?” Alex asked.

Willie’s smile softened. “I love you, Alex. And I’m pretty sure I always will.”

Alex’s heart stopped. It was the first time he’d ever heard those words out loud. Sure, he had felt them in every little action from Willie in all the time they’d been together – he had felt his love in the way he cared for him when he was sick, in the way he bundled himself up in Alex’s hoodies, in the way he played with Alex’s hair, in the way he brought him back from the edge when he was anxious, in the way he devoted every part of himself to Alex.

He had loved Willie in return too, in the little ways – how he listened to Willie talk about skating and watched him practise, how he brushed and braided Willie’s hair to relax them both, how he danced with Willie whenever he wanted because he simply couldn’t say no, how he wrote songs that only Willie would ever hear, how he listened to Willie talk nonsense in his sleep on those nights they slept at the studio together.

But he too had never said the words out loud.

He pulled Willie in for another kiss, brief but burning, and then held his hands again. Willie was right – this was something Alex wanted to look in his eyes for.

“I love you, too, Willie. I’ll never stop.”

131 notes · View notes

princessjungeun · 3 years ago

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Braids and Burdens: Chaeryeong x Reader

Request: Hi, would it be okay to request Chaeryeong x Black reader? Where the reader has been busy and stressed for a while now and Chaeryeong braids the reader's hair back while they rant and Chaeryeong comforts them and talks about certain things that makes the reader happy? For example, going on a date to the park or something along those lines. If you're okay with it

Years ago when you dropped the idea of being an idol, quitting the trainee program you were in, you made the best decision for yourself. You got a glimpse of the lifestyle idols had to upkeep and right away you realized it wasn’t for you, giving up nearly all of your freedom just to be an idol wasn’t a sacrifice you were willing to make. As a result you decided to become a professional dancer instead. You attended university on top of being a member of a well known dance studio. As a final exam you were to make your own choreography and perform it, as well as write a paper on the choreography itself. Whilst practicing it one day after hours, one of the chief choreographers noticed and offered you an opportunity to co-choreograph a routine for a girl group. Ever since then you worked with many other talented choreographers and groups, which is how you met your girlfriend, Chaeryeong.

From the first time you and Chaeryeong met it was obvious that she had a crush on you, she wasn’t good at hiding it. You thought she was cute too but you were determined to keep things professional, as her entire group was with you as well. It was when she came to your head choreographer requesting you to help make her Studio Choom Artist of the Month choreography that she acted on her feelings. After the first day you had her number, texting every day turned into calling and video chatting when she wasn’t busy. Every minute that you two could spend together, you did. For months you were fairly free from excessive working, so balancing school and work was honestly a breeze. However, as months passed, more opportunities presented themselves. You were choreographing for awards shows and online concerts as well as co-teaching master classes at the studio.

It was when you were recruited to work with Twice for their world tour that you were starting to feel the effects of working so much on top of being a student. As the year came to a close, both work and school only got more intense. Finals were coming quickly and tour dates were only weeks away. Fortunately for you, the head choreographer took a liking to you and she was extremely understanding of your schedule. You proved to her long ago that you were serious about your work, so she knew that even if you missed a few rehearsals, you wouldn’t fall behind. After four weeks of studying for finals and keeping on top of multiple dance routines, you were finally finished with your semester. You’d passed all of your courses with flying colors and aced all of your exams, further pushing up your grade point average. It was your first day back in a week and you knew that the rehearsal would be brutal.

Dragging your feet as you walked off the bus, you texted your girlfriend:

Y/N: just got off the bus. i’ll be there in ten minutes.

Chaery: look up

You looked up from your phone screen and saw Chaeryeong standing at the bus stop, she was smiling even though her mask covered her mouth. Chaeryeong pulled you into a hug and beamed, “Y/N!” You replied, “Hi my love.” She pulled away from you and asked, “What’s wrong?” You shook your head, “Nothing. I’m okay.” Holding your arm she started to walk with you in the direction of the company building.

Chaeryeong knew you too well to believe you, she refused, “Don’t lie to me, what’s on your mind?” You sighed, “I’m just tired, I had a long day ‘n stuff. I haven’t been in a week and I’m nervous I’ll mess up.” Your girlfriend reassured you, “You’re going to do great, I know it. Just in case you need me I’m gonna be around the building okay?” You nodded and held onto her tighter as her thumb grazed your hand gently. She walked you all the way to the practice room where you all were going to be running the last in studio rehearsals before going to the venue later that week.

When you walked into the studio and dropped your bag the other dancers greeted you happily. The head choreographer stood in the back with a more serious look on her face. She told you all, “I have to make an announcement.” The group of dancers circled around and listened, she stated, “The date for the first show has been cancelled. We don’t have word on any other shows. Rehearsals will continue for the other show dates as planned.” You wanted to cry because you were so relieved. With the first date cancelled it gave you time to mentally prepare yourself for the rest of the show dates, even if it was only a 2 day difference between the first and second date.

Throughout the entire rehearsal you did your best to keep with the other dancers. With every move you felt your muscles grow more and more sore, your feet were definitely getting blisters, and your head was pounding from dehydration. When you finally caught a break you sat down and chugged some of your water. Your chest heaved as you tried to catch your breath from under the scarf that you all were practicing with. After five minutes that felt like only one, you all were back on your feet and dancing again. The entire practice blurred together after a certain point, being so exhausted you were just going through the motions until you all were finished for the day.

It was nearing 12:00 AM when you and Chaeryeong got back to your apartment. The second you kicked off your shoes you winced in pain at the soreness, feeling blisters that had probably drawn blood on the walk home. Chaeryeong asked you, “How about you go take a shower and I get the bed ready hmm?” You nodded and shuffled to the bathroom, starting the shower and quickly jumping in. The warm water was exactly what you needed along with the epsom salt body wash Chaeryeong had bought for the two of you a few months back. Once you were out of the shower and getting dressed, you looked into the mirror and let out a loud sigh of frustration.

In your reflection you could see your hair, a tangled mess from leaving it in a puff during practice instead of braiding or twisting it like you normally did. Once you were dressed, brushed your teeth, and washed your face, you opened the door to your room. Grabbing your comb you retreated to the bathroom and put the comb to your hair after spraying it with water. You pulled and tugged at certain sections of your hair, frustration and exhaustion bubbling up inside of you, drawing tears from your eyes.

Chaeryeong watched you, knowing that you preferred to do things by yourself and not ask for help even when you need it. She frowned and walked over to you, with a gentle hand on your lower back she lowered your hands from your head. Softly she told you, “Here let me do it, go sit on the floor in front of your desk.” You would usually put up a fight and insist that she didn’t have to because after all it was your head, but you were too tired to care anymore.

Your girlfriend took your comb and grabbed your favorite products and water bottle before sitting in the desk chair you had. She tilted your head to the side and parted your hair, knowing that you preferred straight backs over anything else. The side of your head rested on her thigh as you let out a content sigh, she smiled softly and asked, “Do you want to tell me what’s on your mind? I know something is burdening you.”

To most people, including your parents, you didn’t show when something was bothering you. However, Chaeryeong could sense when something was wrong even if she wasn’t around. Quite honestly you didn’t know how she did it, but you knew that there was no point in lying and saying everything was fine because she’d see right through that.

You let everything that you’d been keeping in for the past few weeks out, “I’m so tired Chaery. I feel like I’m not even here anymore, like my mind is watching my body doing everything. I am so happy that I have been given all of these opportunities with the studio and then that fellowship my professor recommended me for. On top of working with Twice and going on their world tour...it’s great and all but I just feel so burnt out. I missed rehearsals and I’m scared I’ll get kicked off of the team of dancers...I have so much on my plate and I know it’s only going to get more intense from here but I don’t know if I want that. But then if I end up taking a break or something I’m gonna feel like I’m quitting or like I should have tried harder. This is all just so much and there’s nobody that gets what it completely feels like and that’s only making it harder for me.”

Your girlfriend hummed in agreement as you spoke, not interrupting you and just listening, nodding to let you know that she was paying attention. When you finished talking she replied, “Do you want me to reply or just listen?” You shrugged, she continued braiding your hair as she responded, “I think that the first thing you need to do is remind yourself that you’re not a machine. You’re working incredibly hard, and I know that I couldn’t do what you’re doing right now. Maintaining all As in classes, working as a professional dancer and choreographer, and preparing to go on a world tour, it’s a lot Y/N. I think the one perk is that you’re not returning to university until the next academic year starts, so you will get a break from that. However, you’ll be travelling and working during that time so it’s important for you to remember to put yourself first.”

Chaeryeong saw you roll your eyes and cringe at her last sentence, she popped you with the comb in her hand lightly as she told you, “I’m serious babe. You’re already burned out and it won’t get better if you overwork yourself even more...and what you said about being scared of being kicked off the team- They can’t because it would breech the contract they had to sign to get you to work for them.” When you gave her a knowing look she laughed, “I’m kidding- well not really, they literally can’t do that unless they choose to pay out which I can promise you they won’t do- but seriously my love, you are an incredible dancer and I can assure you that you’re going to do great.” You smiled and murmured “Thanks...”

She continued braiding you hair, her eyes completely transfixed on the three pieces of hair between her fingers as she neatly braided it. Before you could say anything else she added, “And if you ever need to take a break from something after you worked your ass off and tried your best, that doesn’t mean you’re a quitter. You’re prioritizing yourself which is something that many people struggle to do well into their adulthood. As long as you try your best until the end then you’re never a quitter okay?” When you didn’t reply she turned your head gently and looked into your eyes, “I said okay?” You nodded and she hummed, “Good.”

You rested your head on her knee as she braided the side of your hair, she asked you, “When do you have a day off?” Lifting your head back up and rubbing your eyes you answered, “I think sometime next week? I can’t remember why though.” She responded with a smile, “Let’s do something, we can have a date in that park you love.” You sleepily agreed, “That sounds nice...you haven’t been there with me for a while too.” She laughed to herself before saying, “Remember the last time? When you tried to feed the baby ducks but the mom got angry at you and chased you?” You hit her leg playfully, “That wasn’t funny! I was scared for my life.” Seeing as you could barely get through the sentence without a small laugh slipping out, Chaeryeong knew that you also found it hilarious now.

For the next half hour or so your girlfriend did her best to quickly, but still neatly braid your hair back. She could tell that you were tired as your head started to fall every few minutes, just for you to jolt back awake and sit up again. A fond smile toyed across her lips before she finished, she looked down at you and kissed your forehead before saying, “Okay, I’m done.” You stood up and looked in the mirror then back at her, “Thank you, I love it.” Chaeryeong’s cheeks flushed as she smiled and covered her mouth with her hand, “You look so pretty.” You smoothly replied, “No you...you always look pretty.” With a roll of her eyes she threw your scarf and bonnet at you, “You think you’re so smooth huh? Put these on so you can go to sleep.” Tying on your scarf and bonnet over it you told her, “I might be cheesy but it never fails to make you blush.” Shooting you a playful glare your girlfriend turned off your bedside lamp, “You’re tired and speaking nonsense again.” Poking her sides as you climbed in bed, you teasingly responded, “Tell that to your pink cheeks and ears!”

You felt a pillow hit you in the face before your girlfriend turned her back to you as she laid down. Chaeryeong replied, “Goodnight Y/N.” You laughed and pulled the covers over the two of you before wrapping your arm around her waist, resting your head on her shoulder as your legs tangled together underneath the sheets. Placing a gentle kiss on her temple you murmured, “Goodnight Chaeryeong...” Your girlfriend brought your hand to her lips as she placed a gentle kiss on your knuckles, “I love you baby.” She realized then that you had already fallen asleep from the lack of response and the soft exhales that you let out against the shell of her ear. She let her eyes droop slowly as she settled further into your embrace with a content sigh before she too let herself succumb to sleep.

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olivia-anderson-fanfic · 4 years ago

Text

Soulmarks, Part 15

First part

Gotta take a break for exams. I’ll probably still update every once in a while, but I probably won’t be fully back until the 10th. <3

~~~

She fell to her knees, clutching her head.

“Inamovibi-Lady, I am Hawkmoth.”

She needed to shut down. Why couldn’t she? She’d definitely hit her max. Her breath came out in shallow gasps, her eyes stung with tears. Why was she still feeling? Why couldn’t she stop? God, she wanted to stop --!

“The world is a cruel place, but only to people who don’t deserve it. Tragedy only befalls the best of people, and the wicked live without consequences.”

She couldn’t give in. Paris needed her. Any damage she did while she was akumatized would remain. She needed to summon a lucky charm. Her eyes found their way to her yoyo. Should she try and make a lucky charm at risk of being akumatized with it?

No. They would need the yoyo to purify the akuma.

Hopefully she wouldn’t cause too much damage.

“I am giving you the power to finally make them pay for what they’ve done.”

She needed to say no. No one had ever managed it before, but she had to do it. It was her responsibility. She couldn’t get akumatized. She couldn’t. She couldn’t let Paris down.

“They will finally see justice, all you need to do is give me the ladybug and cat miraculi.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. She could hear Adrien running away and had to hope that Tim was with him.

She couldn’t let them down.

“All you have to do is say yes.”

Her fingers dug into her scalp.

Just.

Say.

No.

“Yes, Hawkmoth.”

He cursed as he skid across the grass, tugging at the yoyo string as he attempted to free himself. The last time he’d been tied up like this hadn’t gone well, and he wasn’t eager for a repeat.

Adrien stood next to Marinette for a second, a shocked expression on his face as she fell to the floor.

“HEY! HELP!” Yelled Tim.

He snapped out of it and ran over. He tried to untie him for a second, then seemed to decide that it was a problem for later as Marinette was engulfed in purple and black smoke. He threw Tim over his shoulder and started running.

They had only gotten a block away before she walked out. Was that even her? Sure, she was still in her Ladybug outfit, but…

Her skin was bleached so pale that it shone in the moonlight, and a wide smile made up half of her face. She swung a giant judge’s gavel. He tensed at just how much the akuma reminded him of a mix of Joker and Harley.

Adrien glanced over his shoulder and picked up speed.

And then Tim watched her swing the gavel in a large arc. It morphed into a yoyo. Her smile stretched ever wider.

Her yoyo hooked around a lamppost nearby and she practically flew to them. Her yoyo detached itself midair and she did a flip that would have made Dick proud as she landed in front of them, a microphone now in hand.

Adrien skid to a stop.

“Hello!” She said without moving her mouth. Her voice boomed through Paris’s streets and people began to poke their heads out of windows. She looked around, her black eyes glittering like beetles, and started talking again when she apparently decided there was enough of an audience: “Don’t you know missing a court date is enough to get arrested?”

“I’m not French, so no,” said Tim awkwardly as Adrien set him on his feet to start detangling himself.

“True! I’ll give you a pardon for that, then. The crimes you were originally going to be tried for, though, I’m afraid can’t be ignored.”

Adrien sighed lightly as he pulled out his baton. “I don’t want to fight you, Nette --.”

“My name is Inamovibi-Lady, thank you.” She twirled the microphone in her hand and it stretched back into her original gavel. “Anyways, your crimes were that you never brought yourself to believe me, even when the truth was right in front of you.”

“I know your defenses, so I’ll tell them to everyone for you. Cheval didn’t listen because he thought I was too good to be true and Chat didn’t want to believe ill of his family.” She gave a fake sniffle and rubbed under her eyes like she was wiping away tears. “Enough to bring a tear to my eyes. If I could cry, of course.”

“But your personal issues don’t give you a warrant to push all your problems on me. Trust me, I’m a judge. I know all about warrants.”

Tim finally managed to get himself out and the yoyo hit the floor at his feet. He could breathe properly again, thank god.

But then she stepped closer, her gavel poised for a hit, and he seemed to forget how to breathe.

“So, your sentence is to live your lives through without anyone ever believing anything you say ever again! Good luck, darlings!”

Adrien brought his baton up to keep her from hitting them, but it seemed they weren’t quite her target. She slammed her gavel on the ground at their feet. A red circle stretched around them and they were engulfed in bright red light. He brought his hands to his eyes as the light threatened to blind him, and when he’d finally managed to open them again she was gone.

Fuck.

They tore through the streets, looking around for Inamovibi-Lady, but she’d completely disappeared.

“Right, her targets are definitely Hawkmoth and Lila.”

“Says who?” Said Adrien, raising his eyebrows. “She can’t fight Hawkmoth without getting deakumatized and Lila has nothing to do with what we did.”

Tim snorted. Really? Like getting deakumatized would stop Marinette from beating up a terrorist and Lila definitely had something to do with his half of the sentence. “Even if you were right, which you’re not, we’d be stupid not to check up on them.”

Adrien rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “We’d be wasting our time.”

“This conversation is wasting our time,” hissed Tim, before pressing a hand to his comm. “Hey, we have a problem in France. Ladybug got akumatized.”

“Yeah, now they’re an evil judge,” said Adrien.

Dick had the audacity to laugh. “Marinette? Akumatized? An evil judge? Funny joke, guys.”

“Yeah, she’d never let that happen,” agreed Barbara.

He groaned and let his hand fall back to his side. This was definitely going to be more of a problem than he’d originally thought. No wonder Inamovibi-Lady felt comfortable leaving them to go and enact her revenge. What could they really do? There was no way they could ask for help and even talking to each other was a pain...

They detransformed and they went to Marinette’s parents’ bakery. He needed to get some bread for Kaalki so he could open up a portal. Marinette would probably agree to go through the portal, if only because Joker and Harley were practically inaccessible. The bats might not believe him now, but he had to hope that seeing Inamovibi-Lady would be enough to convince them.

They sat down in a nearby alley to wait for their kwamis to recharge. Adrien didn’t need to do that, but he’d apparently decided that they should stick together.

Their phones buzzed and they frowned at each other as they pulled them out.

Inamovibi-Lady’s face beamed at them from their screens (not that her face seemed to be able to do anything else).

“Hello, Paris! Well, it’s really just my classmates and the police. No matter! Welcome to our second hearing of the night! Our special guest is…” She did a drumroll on her legs before stepping to the side with a wide flourish.

Lila was pressed back against her wall, looking like she’d rather be absolutely anywhere else.

“I was right,” muttered Tim, sending Adrien a glare.

He only got a shrug.

Both of them considered going to save Lila. There was a pretty high chance Adrien knew where she lived, but…

Nah.

“YOU CANT DO THIS! MY MOTHER WORKS FOR THE EMBASSY!” Screamed Lila, pulling their attention back to their screens.

“Your mother isn’t here, now, is she?” She spun her yoyo at her side lazily. “Right, how about you plead your case? Would you like to defend yourself on the whole ‘lying to everyone in your class’ thing or the ‘working for Hawkmoth’ thing first?”

Lila sputtered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t want to talk, huh? Don’t you know that you get a lighter sentence when you plead guilty?”

Her yoyo wrapped around Lila’s neck. The liar gasped and clawed at her throat. Tears began rolling down her face.

“How about you talk?” Said Inamovibi-Lady. “I won’t be giving you another chance to tell your side if you don’t.”

Lila sobbed and continued trying to pull the string off of her neck.

The akuma gave her a few seconds before giving the camera an overexaggerated shrug. “Right, I tried. Every word that comes out of Lila’s mouth is a lie, anyways. You shouldn’t trust her to tell you the sky is blue without pictures... and, who knows, they’re probably photoshopped.”

“On top of that, she works for Hawkmoth. Isn’t that right?”

Lila hung her head.

“Cool! I actually wasn’t sure on the Hawkmoth thing, but it’s great that she didn’t deny it. Come get her, coppers!”

“Unless, of course, she wants to say something. Don’t really think there’s anything she can say to make this better for herself, can’t claim self-defense when your victims can’t fight back, after all.”

Inamovibi-Lady unhooked her yoyo and it morphed into a microphone. She pressed it to Lila’s mouth.

“I’m innocent! You have to believe me!” Her voice boomed around Paris.

The akuma tapped her hand to her chin as if considering it, then shook her head as she brought the microphone to her own lips. “Anyone who believes a word that comes out of your mouth is stupid, but I’ll make it so they can finally trust you! Your sentencing is that you can never lie again!”

“Wait, what?”

She turned it back into a gavel with a wave of her hand and hit the wall right beside Lila’s head and the girl screamed as she was engulfed in light.

The akuma picked up her camera and started out into the streets. “Right! Now that that’s done…” Her eyes narrowed. “I know you’re watching this, Chat and Cheval. I added you to this for a reason. How about we play a game? Hero to hero… and vigilante.”

Adrien and Tim gave each other wary glances.

“I can’t see you, but I’m assuming you said yes! I have three targets that I’m going after tonight. Well, five, but two of those are a bit harder to get to. I’m going to need a little bit of help, could you give me a hand, darlings?”

“Either way, you probably can guess who the third is. Feel free to go over to his place now if you don’t want to use your brains… but, if you want to help the other two, my first target is actually on this call, too! She and I have the same noble rank, and we used to be friends, but unfortunately we just stopped connecting like we used to.”

She winked and the screen went black.

Tim frowned, resting his head on his hand. “Marinette is nobility?”

Adrien shrugged and shook his head.

Tim nodded slightly and rested his head back against the stone. It was definitely a riddle, then, but what did she --?

Wait a minute. Tim had believed him.

That didn’t make sense. He wasn’t supposed to believe a thing Adrien said.

But he hadn’t technically ‘said’ anything.

Tim snapped his fingers and pulled out his phone, typing a few words and then pressing send.

Timberly: Hey, I kissed Nette earlier

Adrien looked down at his phone and raised his eyebrows slightly. He rolled his eyes and typed his answer.

Adrikins: Cool? Not able to say that out loud?

Tim grinned.

Timberly: I could but I found a loophole

Timberly: As long as we’re not speaking out loud people can believe us

Adrien’s eyes widened.

Timberly: Is there a way to have our phones on us when we’re in our suits

Adrikins: Yeah. We just can’t be holding them when we transform.

And then Adrien facepalmed. Tim raised his eyebrows at him and waited for his text.

Adrikins: LADY WIFI.

Timberly: Who

~~~

Next part

Me, frantically scrolling through a wikipedia article on the French Judiciary system: there has to be a pun here SOMEWHERE

This was the best I could do ;-;

I, too, am disappointed by my inability to make a good pun for Akumanette

Taglist

@pawsitivelymiraculous @golden-promises @salty-fang @kitsunebell @sassakitty @octobitch @glastwime859 @miyla-lokidottir @onlyabatfan @ira-sairain @2confused-2doanything @ultimatetornshipper @ladybug-182 @laurcad123 @we-want-mini-mini @roguishredaxion @just-reblogs-by-h @futursworld @magic-miraculous @nathleigh @smolplantmum @vroomtaka @emimar7 @toodaloo-kangaroo @charme-de-malchan @spicybelladonna @fusser90 @indecisive-mess-named-me @rosesgonerogue @celestialsiren @bluesimani @loysydark @trippingovermyfeet

#timinette #timari #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #red robin #tim drake #adribat #maribat

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fredweesleyismyslut · 4 years ago

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Love me not - Fred Weasley x reader

A/N: Hey guys! I finished taking a midterm exam yesterday which I half studied for but hopefully I didn’t fail or I might just cry and dehydrate myself. Anywho, a lovely person requested a jealous Fred Weasley smut and I really hope I delivered accordingly because my mind kept blanking as I was writing this haha. Anyways, enjoy!!

You sat waiting for your boyfriend, Fred Weasley, to get out of class. Waiting patiently you flipped through a book you were currently reading, half paying attention to the book and half paying attention to the awaiting sound of doors opening, you heard footsteps coming from your right. The footsteps belonged to Cedric Diggory, one of your good friends from Hufflepuff. He sat next to you and started talking, “What’s that book about?” he took it from your hands and started reading the summary. “Rude! I was about to explain it myself.” He chuckled as he pushed your flailing arms away, “I decided to take it upon myself, you’d explain it in a weird way anyways and I’d end up having to read the summary.” Huffing you slapped his shoulder, “What are you doing out here anyway?” He smiled as he handed your book back, “Walking around, class was let out early. You?” Nodding your head towards the door you replied, “Fred, he has class. We’re supposed to meet up and study together.” “As if you’re actually going to study...not with him at least.” he chuckled softly. “I always end up having to study later at night...not today though I’ll force his arse study if I have to.” You nodded with determination in your eyes as Cedric burst out laughing, “As if that’ll happen!” He pushed your hair away from your face and proceeded to flick your nose, “If you need help I’ll come study with you later, y/n.” You nodded as you crinkled your nose, “Thanks that’d be great and you can bring Cho.” He nodded wrapping his arm around your shoulders. You were fine with Cedric’s skinship because you knew he only had platonic feelings for you and vice versa, however, there had been many times such as now where people would assume you two were together. You heard hushed whispering from the corner, “Are those two dating? Oh my, I can kinda see it though….they’re cute.” giggling from a group of first-year girls came around the corner as they eyed you, walking by, there had been multiple occasions where you had to shut down rumors that people had made between the two of you. Hufflepuff’s golden boy and you, the outsider, but somehow fit well with the golden boy. Rolling your eyes at the girl you stood up as the classroom door opened and Fred came rushing out, “Did you wait long y/n?” “Nope, Cedric gave me company while I waited, although he was a rightful pain.” Cedric laughed as he slapped your shoulder before giving Fred an acknowledging nod and walking off. Fred knew the two of you were just friends and didn’t care, and for all, it counts the two of them were quite an unlikely pair of friends whenever you three hung out.

The next couple of days went by in a flash as you were busy preparing for a test in potions, Snape already had it out for you since you were dating Fred so you didn’t want to make it any easier for him to take points from you. You hadn’t heard the buzz of rumors going around until Fred came up to you, peacefully studying in an empty classroom, humming a song to yourself that you couldn’t seem to get out of your head. “Can we talk?” he asked, voice harsher than you were used to, so you agreed immediately. “Is something wrong?” you looked at him, worry creasing between your brows. Fred instinctively brushed his fingers between your brows, “You’re gonna get worry lines if you keep doing that.” He pulled his fingers away, “I-I trust you but I just wanted to make sure of something.” You nodded, heart starting to accelerate with worry, you could feel the blood rushing in your ears as you waited. A sigh escaped his lips before he questioned, “I’ve been hearing rumors, that I know aren’t true, but I just wanted to confirm it with you. D-did Cedric kiss you a couple of days ago?” At the question, you couldn’t help yourself as giggles escaped your lips, “And here I thought you were gonna tell me something serious like that you were dying or some shit.” Fred’s cheeks brightened, almost as red as his hair, as he stuttered out, “I know it’s a stupid question but I-I just…” You cut him off kissing his lips, “To answer your question, no he didn’t kiss me I’m quite sure he’s got it going well with Cho, and either way we’d both be grossed out by the idea of kissing each other.” More giggles escaped your lips as a mischievous glint hit your eyes as you pushed Fred to the closed door, kissing him softly as you locked the door behind him, “I promise you have nothing to worry about, Fred. My heart is all yours...so let me show you.” Fred bit his lips as his eyes lit with the playful fire he always had in them. His hands danced across your neck as he pulled you in for another kiss, lips barely touching yours, his other hand ran down your arm before coming back up to play with the collar of your shirt. You slowly unbuttoned your shirt, pulling away from his lips as you stared into his eyes, letting the shirt fall down your shoulders. “Oh Merlin, you’re so beautiful.” His eyes burned holes in your body as they moved across your body, hands pulling you closer before pulling your skirt down roughly. “I swear Fred if you rip this one I’m gonna kill you. It’s embarrassing whenever I have to get a new one and they wonder how I’m managing to rip so many skirts in one school year.” Fred laughed as he pulled the rest of down gently, careful not to rip it, then proceeded to unbutton his own shirt as you got down to your knees. Your hands idled up his legs as you pulled the buttons apart agonizingly slowly as you met Fred’s green eyes. Pulling the pants down to his ankles you palmed him through his briefs before pulling those down too. Tongue sliding up his length before you placed the tip in his mouth. Relaxing your mouth you bobbed your head down the rest of his length, trying to not gag as it hit the back of your throat. Deep, throaty moans escaped Fred’s mouth as his hips thrust forward instinctively, you gagged slightly as you moved your free hand down your body to your aching core. Fred watched as his hand placed itself on the top of your head, gripping it ever so slightly that it pulled at your scalp, moaning around his length you ran your fingers through your wetness, fingers slicking as you pushed a couple in. Fred seemed to lose control as his hips thrust more involuntarily, watching you finger yourself. He pulled your mouth away from his length as he pulled you up, “I want to be inside you.” His fingers ran over the cotton covering your slick, “God, you’re already so wet for me, aren’t you baby?” Moaning at the contact you nodded as his hand gripped your hair. His fingers pushed aside the cotton as he pushed his cock in, slowly filling you up as you adjusted to the length. He gave a second before thrusting in, hitting you at exactly the right spot. His hand placed over your mouth as he shushed you, “Quiet, or we’ll get spotted, don’t want that do we?” You shook your head as you heard footsteps of other students walking outside. His hips moved at a faster pace than before as his other hand circled and pinched at your clit. Moans escaped your mouth, as the sound of his skin slapping on your resounded throughout the room. The unholy noises were so loud in your ears, you wondered if anyone else was hearing this, the thought pushing you further. “You like the idea of someone catching us don’t you?” Fred groaned out his breaths getting heavier and more uneven, along with his thrusts. You replied with a long groan as your breath hitched when his he thrust especially rough, hands gripping your hips so hard you knew it would leave bruises. He grabbed his tie from the floor and stuffed it in your mouth, “Any louder and we’ll have to stop.” he said in your ear, groaning softly at the feeling of you squeezing around his length as you reached your high, eyes rolling back and spit pooling in your mouth from the tie. He grunted out breathily as he thrust his last few before reaching his high as well as you pulsated around his length, squeezing his cum out. He rode out his high before pulling out, the liquid leaking out and dripping down your thighs. The underwear snapped back into place as the liquid continued to pool inside the cotton. “Maybe I should make more rumors with Cedric then we can do this more. You’re cute when you’re jealous.” Fred’s face brightened as he was catching his breath pulling his clothes on, “I wasn’t jealous…” Chuckling you pulled your clothes up as well, “I love you, Fred Weasley and yes you were, it’s cute.” Fred looked away cheeks flushed from the activity but also embarrassment, “I love you too, y/n.” he smiled cheekily at you as he replied, “If this is what I get for being jealous then maybe I will do it more often.” Laughing you questioned seriously, “Do I have sex hair? I told Cedric and Cho I’d study with them later.” “Well, if I did my job correctly then yes.” he replied, as you punched his chest. “I’m being serious, you dork.” He patted your hair down and fixed it as best he could, before placing a kiss on your forehead. You two walked out, playing innocent as you walked down the hall hand in hand meet your best friend, who unknowingly allowed you to have unbelievably hot sex with your boyfriend in a classroom.

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kaitycole · 4 years ago

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Lie to Me

Summary: Terushima didn’t have a reason not to trust you, until you gave him one.

Pairing: Terushima x gn!Reader

Word Count: 1966

Warnings: Angst. Mentions of cheating.

A/N: This is part of the @babythotshq Angstvember collab! Hope you enjoy!

Song: Lie to Me by Tate McRae ft. Ali Gatie

You don't understand/ I'm not ever like this I can hold my breath/ Say I'll be alright But kinda hard to think/ When I can't feel a thing

Terushima didn’t have a reason to not trust you, until you gave him one. Until he went to your favorite café in hopes to surprise you while you studied for an upcoming exam, only to find you on what looked more like a date than a study session. Textbooks and notebooks closed, no pens or highlighters on the table; instead he just saw some other guy had brushed a piece of hair from your face before you tried to hide your face in the coffee mug you brought up to your lips.

Tell me to my face/ Already heard it last week Driving me insane/ It's hitting real badly Tell me what's her name, yeah

He didn’t know how to bring it up, how to casually ask why his partner had been on a date with someone else? Did he just say it, between sips of drink at dinner: “My day was great, saw you on a date a few days ago what’s that about, how were classes?” It wasn’t like he didn’t already know who it was, his face was burnt into Teru’s memory and after scrolling through your social media he found him. He was just some guy in one of your classes, he thought maybe you had mentioned him before, but he couldn’t recall. He tried to convince himself that you had told him this guy would be there with you, he didn’t want to think the love of his life could do this to him, but he knew he wasn’t fooling himself.

Said you'd never, why'd you ever Lie to me baby, lie, lie to me Lie to me baby, lie, lie to me

When he finally did bring it up, you didn’t take the accusation well at all and he couldn’t help but think that you were trying a little too hard to convince him you hadn’t, that maybe you were just trying to convince yourself. The two of you spent days arguing, arguments just bleeding into the next day, like a chess game that had been adjourned. He hated it, the feeling of everything shattering, just waiting for the other shoe to drop at any moment, he didn’t want to fight, he just wanted to know how to fix it.

After everything we've been through you come crying to me/ You said you'd never lie, so why you lying to me? I gave you my trust my heart and everything inside of me/ Tell me how'd you pay me back? You made a fool out of me

Your arguments had started out telling him that you had been alone, that he simply must have been looking at the wrong table; that you’d have texted him if the plans changed. Half way through the argument you changed your tune, saying that he was a friend that joined you to study, that you were struggling with the subject and simply accepted his offer to help when he just happened to show up at the café. Teru just stood there wondering when exactly you thought he became stupid, that he couldn’t see the holes you left in each variation of the story you tried to feed to him. It seemed the longer you both fought, the more your story changed, the more aggressive you got and you began making low blows. You began to attack his appearance, claiming dating a ‘fuckboy’ was a lot for you to try to handle and claiming you’d dealt with hearing tons of rumors that he was off flirting with someone else.

He felt hurt that you’d even bring that up, you’d known each other since you were children, grew up together, had been dating for three years now since you started dating your third year of high school. The way he looked was never an issue before, you said you liked it. As for the rumors, he couldn’t help what people made up and you knew as well as he did they were baseless. He would never do anything to jeopardize your relationship and for the last three years he believed that you knew that.

Can't you see what you're doing? Left me, broken in pieces Got me feeling so stupid, guess I needed a reason To let go/ I don't wanna hear lies anymore

“You’re just gonna leave then?” You crossed your arms, irritation written on your face as Teru grabbed the bag by his feet.

It had been a week of one continuous argument, of talking in circles, of getting no where, no closer to a solution than they were when he first brought it up. He told you that if his looks were really such a hassle, if dating him was so awful then maybe you should just break up, hoping you’d say he was being dramatic. You didn’t, you simply said ‘maybe we should.’ That was last night and this morning he made a few calls, packed his bags and was getting ready to leave.

“If dating me is so stressful that you need to go on dates with other guys, there’s nothing left for us here.”

“I told you it wasn’t a date, Yuuji!” You repeated for the millionth time that week, even though the more you said it, the less you were convinced you had been telling the truth. You knew you weren’t telling the truth, but you weren’t sure how things would work out with the other guy and didn’t wanna risk things with Terushima ending for nothing. What good that did.

“Y/N, please, aren’t you tired of lying?” He didn’t wait for you to answer, for you to once again tell him something he clearly knew was false, he slung the backpack on his shoulder and turned to walk out the door.

You tried to come up with a rebuttal, a string of broken words leaving you as you fumbled over what to say before he stopped, halfway out the door and turned to you. When his eyes met yours, you knew the broken façade you had been trying to keep up had finally given in and shattered and you knew that he knew. He gave you a straight lipped smile along with a short nod before he left, shutting the door on you and your relationship.

6 months later

I've been tryna collect all my thoughts It's all said and done Just don't feel the same

You were sitting in the new coffee shop that had opened on campus, textbook opened but your thoughts were everywhere but on your assignment. It was a bit louder than your favorite café in town, but you knew Terushima was avoiding that one and changes were he’d eventually come in to this one. Three months into your new relationship, the flames fizzled out, realizing that there wasn’t really anything deeper than a physical connection with him.

You had used the last three months to really think things out, finally seeing that Terushima was the best thing to ever enter your life since you were eight. When you went home for a weekend visit, you managed to find your childhood photo album, it was mostly filled with pictures of you and Teru, the last picture being of high school graduation. Seeing all those memories made you realize that you wanted him back, needed him back, that your life wasn’t as bright with the blonde-haired boy in your life.

You felt luck was on your side when the sight of spiky blonde hair captured your attention and your head jerked around just in time to see Terushima himself walk into the café. You looked up at the ceiling, mouthing a ‘thank you’ to fate itself before standing up, quickly packing your backpack just before he walked out the door.

Don't try to tell me that I was wrong You was the one lying all along I think you just want somebody else to take the blame

Terushima wasn’t a huge coffee person, but the late-night cram session the night before left him more tired than usual. He rocked on the ball of his feet, trying to stay awake as he stood in line, hoping this coffee would do the trick and wake him up.

He was already a few steps down the sidewalk when he heard his name, but not just his name, his given name and there was only one person on campus that called him that. Teru knew when he turned around that it would be you, he was just really hoping one of sisters was in for a surprise visit. He bit the inside of his cheek when he saw you standing there, looking a little lost.

“Y/N.”

“How have you been?”

He cleared his throat, he didn’t want to do this, while you might’ve moved on he was still hurting. “Fine, just been really busy. Speaking of, I really should go.”

You reached out, grabbing his arm when he started to walk off. “Wait, Yuuji. Can we--?”

You’re interrupted when some girl runs up and threw her arms around him, smiling at him with the same doe-eyed look you looked at him with.

Terushima draped his arm over the girl’s shoulder, it was Takara the volleyball manager and someone who Terushima was close to in a very platonic way. But judging by the look on your face, he didn’t think you saw it that way. A knot developed in his stomach, almost the same way it did when he saw you with that other guy, but this was different. You two weren’t dating, he wasn’t cheating, he wasn’t hiding it, but it still felt wrong because the look on your face was breaking his heart.

He wanted to tell you that it wasn’t what you thought, that she was just a friend, that she had a girlfriend on the girls’ volleyball team which was what got her into being the boys’ team manager, but he couldn’t. Takara spoke up before he could.

“We really need to get going, Teru!”

He nodded, looking back to you, asking you what you were going to say but you just shook your head, waving him off, telling him it was nothing important. He watched you as you quickly turned around, tripping over the sidewalk as you rushed away from him and Takara. He let out a deep sigh, shaking his own head as he started walking towards the gym.

“You know, she probably thinks we’re dating.” Takara said, looping her arm with his.

When the two of you had broken up, Takara was the one who let him crash with her while he worked out housing, she’d make an extra bento for him even when he moved out, but most importantly she had been a shoulder to cry on when he couldn’t sleep. Takara had often joked that he was the brother she never had which he quickly told her two sisters were enough for him.

He shrugged, telling her that yeah you probably did which she simply asked if that was something he was okay with since he didn’t try to say anything to contradict it. He wasn’t completely sure how he felt about it, he was the one who walked out that night, and that pain was still fresh for him, he didn’t have replacement lined up like you did.

“I thought you were the team manager, not the team psychologist.” He joked, the both of them walking into the gym for practice.

She rolled her eyes, “But honestly, are you okay with that?”

“What’s one more lie?”

Lie to me baby, lie, lie to me, yeah Why you gotta lie to me

Tag List: @momoinot @ariasnight @celamoon @vicassa @ashhhh26 @luckypartyranchmug @koushisun @chaelysian @ynjimenez @2o-done @hohochaan @thatnikkixx @solarskiesdream @mattsuns-prettybaby @moonlightaangel @madusas-girlfriend @d-angerboys @lulu-102 @anejuuuuoy @tsume @killmeplz-uwu @serihandfn @atsumubabe @chibioomi @onlyshinji @rowley-with-ackerman @seijohigh

#terushima x reader #terushima yuuji #bbhq #bbthots #bb:brokehearts club playlist

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moon-mirage · 4 years ago

Note

uhhh I don't know how many prompts I get for your cresswell drabble thing, but it's exam season so how about an "I know we've literally never spoken but my roommate has their partner over and I have an exam tomorrow and i CAN'T focus when they're around so please can I hang out with you until then?" AU 👀

You can enter as many prompts as you like. :) It would be good to have just one word because then I can maybe manage to write a drabble only. But only maybe.

But since you gave me more than a word, you’ll also get more words back ... 2,7k actually. :P I hope you have some time to spare. ;)

---

It was one thing to see her crush from far away, maybe even in a group of shared friends.

It was a whole different matter if he actually walked around her little apartment as if he owned the place even though he had never been here before.

"You like Vietnamese food, right?" He asked over his shoulder as he looked though the little kitchenette for some cutlery. Scarlet had organised the place well, so he easily found it. "You know Wolf, so there shouldn't be any cilantro in any of the dishes. Not sure what his deal with cilantro is since he usually eats everything that can be chewed. Weird if you ask me," he told her with a shrug.

"I do," Cress piped up. "Like Vietnamese food, I mean," she added lamely. After he said it was weird, she didn't want to reveal that she didn't like cilantro either.

Why oh why, couldn't have Scarlet warned her?

Although what could have prepared her for the sight of Carswell Thorne in her open door with two big bags of takeout, asking her if he could come in?

A devilish smile, a wink and Cress lost her ability to speak. Or behave like a normal human being.

She wanted to hide in her bedroom, change into something pretty and practice a conversation. She would like to be smart and witty and maybe a little bit sexy so he wouldn't know what hit him. He should be impressed by her, fall in love with her but instead she hardly could say a word.

He gave her his best smile. "Great." He hummed a few notes as he arranged the dishes on her counter, and she saw him glance at the pictures at the wall.

Oh stars!

It's not that she was particularly embarrassed by the fun pictures with her friends, when they had dressed up for a Disney-themed party (although with quite some booze which was hardly Disney-approved). But she certainly was now that her crush saw her in a full-blown Rapunzel costume, including the braided wig!

She cleared her throat, relieved when he turned his attention on her instead.

Well, that relief was short-lived now that he looked at her.

With those dreamy eyes that haunted her since her first college party.

Since then, Carswell Thorne had crossed her path more than once though she had to to speak with him more than ten words.

"What are you doing here?" She blurted out.

"Um." For the first time since he entered her apartment, Thorne looked sheepish. "Right. So, Scarlet is at our place."

Cress nodded. That wasn't anything new. Since Scarlet and Wolf got together, they had been almost inseparable. Wolf had come by their apartment a few times but tall as he was, he always looked caged in their small apartment, almost afraid to move and accidentally break something. Even sitting on their couch had been a sight. Cress and Scarlet fit snuggly into it but when Wolf sat on it, he used the whole space for himself. He had tried to make himself look smaller - an unsuccessful endeavour.

So, Scarlet was usually at his place that he shared with Thorne.

Which still didn't answer why Thorne was here.

In her apartment! With takeout!

Rubbing his neck, he seemed surprised that his reply hadn't answered her question. "So, Scarlet and Wolf are at our place ... together." When she didn't say anything, he gave an exasperated sigh. "I mean, together-together." He gave her a pointed look before folding a few napkins. "And I could hear everything. I mean, my bedroom is next to Wolf's so they know that I can hear them. They just didn't care."

Cress blushed furiously. Scarlet had been considerate enough not to bring Wolf to her place to be, as Thorne had put it, together-together but it had never occurred to Cress that they would go to Wolf's place instead since he also didn't live alone.

"But um, don't you also bring... girlfriends over?" The words were difficult to say with ease and she hoped he didn't notice. Thorne was many things - a charmer, very smart, good-looking and fun - but also, to her detriment, quite popular among the female students for all the reasons she just listed. She knew he went out with Shan from one of her classes for a while, Scarlet's friend Émilie had also talked about dating Thorne during their first semester and she had seen him with Elia from Cress's dancing class as well. And those were just the ones she knew about.

Maybe if he flirted with her, if she at least got the chance for a date ... She never wanted to be another girl for Thorne, she wanted to be the girl for Thorne but he never extended his excessive flirting to her. More often than not, she had wondered if he even knew who she was despite sometimes hanging out together with Scarlet, Wolf, Cinder and Kai and Iko.

He gave a short laugh. "We usually have a kind of understanding ... or a schedule." A wink. "And I'm more discreet. I tell you, Scarlet brings out the wolf in Wolf," he said with a snicker. "Dinner is served!"

With flourish, he revealed the counter where he had strategically placed all the dishes, the rice, the sauces and even some candles she recognised as the ones they usually placed on the little shelf next to the door.

When she didn't say anything, he faltered for a second, his proud smile turning into a frown. "Oh wait." He looked through one of his pockets until he found a lighter and proceeded to lit the candles. "What do you say?"

Cress's heart was beating hard in her chest. "It's beautiful," the told him truthfully.

He preened at her compliment. "Well, the stuff you have is quite nice. The table pretty much set itself." Reaching for her, Cress felt his warm hands on her shoulder as he led her to the counter and helped her sit on one of the barstools.

This wasn't happening. Was she really eating dinner with Thorne?

When he looked expectantly at her, she reached for a summer roll, dipped in one of the sauces and hoped she wouldn't spill the whole content on her shirt as she bit into it. It was delicious and she hummed in pleasure.

"I take it tastes good?"

She opened her eyes, trying her best not to blush. "Amazing. Where is it from?"

"It's a few blocks from our place. Next time you come over, we can order from there again. Although there is also this great Indian restaurant you've got to try."

Cress munched on her roll, trying to figure out if he had indeed invited her to his apartment. Probably along with their other friends but still. She had only seen his place once not too long ago when he and Wolf had a little housewarming party.

A thought occurred to her. "Wait. If you, Scarlet and Wolf ordered it ... and you brought it here ... did you steal their food?"

He gave her an innocent look that could fool nobody. "I wouldn't say steal. I told you, they were otherwise occupied. Food is the last thing on their minds right now. And why let it go to waste?" He dug into one of the rice dishes, chewing thoughtfully.

They ate in silence but somehow, it wasn't awkward. At least, Cress didn't feel it was. But she was usually silent, so maybe it was awkward for Thorne?

Gathering all her courage, she asked him about his classes. An easy and safe topic for her and though he answered, he was more monosyllabic than she was used from him. He must have noticed himself because he gave her an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, Cress, it's just ... I'm doing okay but I'm no match for the golden child from campus. I doubt I could tell you anything you don't know already."

"That's not true." They shared a literature class together and he had eloquently interpreted a piece of fiction with ease. His view on the book had impressed her, despite having read on it and knowing the many ways to interpret the book. But he had made it his own and expressed his opinion, while Cress was usually too shy to raise her hand and join the discussion.

When she told him, he laughed warmly. "Ah, that pulp fiction story, I remember. Honestly, Cress, I was just bullshitting. I haven't even read the book."

"But then it's even more impressive."

There was a short silence during which she carefully evaded his gaze and focused on some fried vegetable. "That's sweet of you to say. But still, you're the genius who is acing pretty much every test without trying from what I've heard. I'm jealous," he said with a conspiratorial wink.

She blushed but didn't deny it. She wanted to let him know that it wasn't anything special, that learning was easy for her and that studying had been the only thing she had ever been good at - but no, it would come off as haughty or patronising. "I would like to be more like you," she confessed before she could stop herself.

"Sure you do. Who wouldn't?" He meant it as a joke but Cress didn't miss that there was a sombre tone to it.

She shrugged, trying to find the right words. "I'm good at tests, so I do well at college that's true but I'm not ... one day, we'll have our degree and then those grades won't matter much. I suck at personal interviews and my soft skills are really bad. I freeze up when I'm asked questions even though I know the answer. I'm not someone you remember among all those other college students aside from my grades."

"I remember you," he said without missing a beat. Cress blushed furiously at that and had no answer. Before the silence stretched on for too long, Thorne spoke again. "I'm actually relieved. I always saw you and heard the way people talked about you and thought, wow, there's someone who doesn't have to worry about life after college."

"I wish."

He nodded. "I actually excel at interviews. I can bullshit my way through them. Hey, I could teach you!" His eyes glinted with honest pride. "It's all about confidence."

"I don't have much of that," she murmured.

He waved her concerns away. "Just pretend you do then. Believe me, if you go into an interview, thinking you deserve the job and they have to convince you to take it, you'll automatically act all confident. It's easy, I'll show you how." He tipped at his temple, as if an idea had just occurred to him. "And in return you help me studying for my tests, deal?"

Thorne was all smiles and Cress couldn't help but grin back at him. He was so genuine and kind, in ways she was never able to discern from away. It just made her heart ache more. "Deal."

From that moment on, their conversation flowed more easily and Cress learned more about Thorne, his dreams and ambitions she had ever thought possible. Shy at first, she was nevertheless gaining some confidence as she talked to him and wasn't embarrassed when he pointed to the picture of her, Scarlet and Cinder in their Disney dresses.

"Please, let me borrow it. I need to make fun of Cinder, please, Cress? You can't deny me that one chance to one-up Cinder."

"She would so kill me."

"But Cress, she's wearing a dress. A poufy one, with glitter! And a tiara! An ugly one but still. Maybe I should take her shopping for a new one. See, I need that picture to help Cinder. That's me being a great friend."

"How selfless of you."

He nodded earnestly. "Selfless is my middle name. Right after suave and daring."

Cress giggled as she finished the last bit of her rice pudding dessert. With some sadness, she realised their nice evening together would be soon over. She didn't want it to be but takeout was what he came here for and now nothing was left.

Even Thorne was quiet, as he looked at all the empty boxes, cleaning a few specks on the counter with a napkin.

Cress wondered where he would go now. It was unlikely that Scarlet would return tonight or that she and Wolf would not take advantage of the empty apartment.

As if he read her mind, Thorne asked. "Would you mind if I crashed here for tonight?"

Cress stuttered. He wanted to stay the night? Here? At her place? Where she was?

"Or not!" He laughed. "Sorry, I didn't want to make you uncomfortable. I just assumed Scarlet's room is empty and since it's already late... I'm sorry, Cress." Reaching for her hand, he squeezed it lightly. His usually mischievous grin was replaced by something more soft and sweet and she knew he would leave if she asked him to.

Cress had never invited a guy into her apartment. She wasn't prepared. The bathroom was a cluttered mess and she desperately tried to remember if she left her underwear somewhere he could see. Or the braces she wore during the night. Aces, he would see her in her spaceship pyjamas! Her cute flowery ones were in the laundry. She was just not prepared for Carswell Thorne staying the night.

And still... "I-it's fine. I'm sure Scarlet won't mind." From the stories she heard, they had already shared a tent when they went hiking with Cinder and Iko. Cinder had absolutely refused to share the tent with Thorne but Scarlet and Iko didn't have the same issues (though for different reasons, she remembered).

His smile was soft but there was a touch of nervousness that was so unlike the Thorne she knew that she felt flustered and busied herself with cleaning up the dishes. "Thank you, Cress. I promise to-"

She didn't let him finish. "Is that why you came here?" She had actually wondered about that. Thorne could have went anywhere after leaving his apartment. Iko and Cinder's apartment was much closer to his place than hers, and Kai's place was really fancy. It was the apartment they would hang out the most since it was the most spacious one and had lots of anemities. For a group of ever-poor students, it was a dream come true.

The silence went on a heartbeat too long. "Yes. Right. Scarlet's empty room. I mean it makes sense right?" His laugh was a touch too loud before he helped her cleaning up the counter. "I promise you won't even notice I'm here."

Somehow she doubted that.

---

"I can't believe you actually thought I randomly came by with dinner."

"How could I think you were not? You were at my door with takeout, I didn't think ..."

Thorne tugged playfully at one of her locks. "- I wouldn't come by under pretense just to spend a bit of time with the girl I had a crush on?" He finished for her. "Come on, Cress. You are supposed to be the smart one in this relationship."

"But you were so convincing!"

His finger tips ghosted over her cheek and she leaned into her touch. "Just as I told you then ... I pretended to be confident. And apparently, it worked."

The kiss that followed still made her heart race. She laced her hands behind his neck, drawing him closer, his taste now so familiar to her.

It stopped way too soon. She looked up him questioningly, her eyebrows furrowed when she saw his mischivious grin. "What?"

Leaning closer, he whispered into her ear. "You want to know another secret?" She knew he would feel her nod. "Scarlet and Wolf had left for the weekend to visit Scarlet's grandma. I didn't see - or hear - them for two whole days."

She gasped and he bit his lips playfully. "You planned this?"

"Yes." He drew her in for another kiss. "And I'm glad I did."

Her heart warmed at his confession. "Me too."

---

Don’t ask me why but I feel this oneshot pretty much wrote itself (during working hours but no one needs to know that). It’s actually my first AU oneshot and it was a fun challenge. I hope you enjoyed reading it. Thank you again for the prompt. :)

#the lunar chronicles #tlc #cress #carswell thorne #cresswell #cresswell drabble prompts #I'm a big fan of writing prompts now #now I get the deal with muses #all of you sending me prompts? You're my muses now #that's how it is ;)

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official-weasley · 4 years ago

Text

The Irreplaceable Charlie Weasley: Pt. 5, Ch. 9

PART 5: THE YEAR WHEN EVERYONE FIGHTS Chapter 9 - The O.W.L.s and a Letter

Nova

The morning before my first O.W.L. which was from Care of Magical Creatures, so I couldn't help to be a little nervous as I still held Kettleburn by his word that I could take care of a Salamander if I get an O on my O.W.L., I made my way down with Tulip for breakfast. Bill, Charlie, Penny, and Tonks were already there and they greeted us as we sat down.

“Nervous, you three?” Penny asked, looking at Tonks, Charlie, and me.

“Nope.” Charlie and I both said at once.

“I think that I have third wheeled with these two enough to pass the class.” Tonks pointed at us.

“What do you mean third wheeled?” I asked puzzled. I looked at Charlie who just chuckled. I still haven't managed to figure out what was different about him. He has always been a tranquil person but ever since we made up he seemed so okay with everything and if something happened that made me confused he just chuckled like now or winked at me. And I knew that was new, as Charlie was too shy to wink at an animal let alone to me, or any girl for that matter.

Before any of them could reply it was time for Owl Post and I saw Pip searching for me.

“Hi, Pippy!” I greeted him and took the letter from his beak. He made his way to Charlie at once.

I stared at the envelope, without knowing what to do. I haven't gotten a blue envelope with a golden stamp since my dad passed away.

“What's wrong?” Charlie knew something wasn't right immediately, placing his hand on my shoulder.

“It...it's from Egypt.” I was still holding on to the letter and now we all stared at it as if it was going to open itself.

“What do you reckon is about?” Penny asked as gently as she could.

“I have no idea.” I replied. I looked at Charlie and he nodded for me to open it. I turned it around and broke the seal. I took out the parchment and started reading. I appreciated that Charlie pulled away from me so I could read the letter in private, even though I would've shown him the letter anyway.

Dear Nova,

I hope this letter finds you well.

I don't know if your mum told you but we are still unable to fill your father's position. The interns we got this Summer were nothing compared to the boys he trained last year.

We decided to go through his files and found a recommendation letter in the folder of William Weasley.

If I recall correctly, he is your friend and he got the internship because you told your father that his ambition is to become a Curse Breaker. Upon looking through his file, we were quite impressed and your dad wrote and I quote “he is a rising star in the Curse Breaking community”. Upon seeing his birth year, I would assume he is in his books studying for N.E.W.T.s right now but just in case I have miscalculated something, I was wondering if you would be so kind and give him this letter.

We would be delighted to hear from him and offer him your father's position if he is still interested in working with us. Of course, he would have to go through several training exercises and the whole procedure like everyone else, but I don't want to bore you with the details.

I greatly appreciate your help and know that despite what happened, you still have family here that you can visit.

A warm greeting from us all here in Egypt,

Robert

A tear ran down my cheek, as I finished the letter. I looked up, everybody was still looking at me.

“It's for you.” I looked at Bill and gave him the letter across the table gently smiling. Tulip and Penny, sitting next to him, peaked and read it with him.

“They're offering me your dad's job?” Bill couldn't believe it. Charlie took the letter from him at once and read it along with Tonks who sat next to him.

“What are you going to do?” Charlie asked, pulling me in a half hug after he was done reading.

“What do you mean what will I do?” I looked at Bill. “Bill has to reply to them not me.” I smiled.

“Are you sure, Nova? It's your dad's position.” He asked.

“If it's up to me if you get the job or not, I wouldn't want anyone else to take his place but you, Bill.” I stood up and walked to the other side and hugged him.

“Nova, I don't know what to say. How will I ever repay you?” Bill was in shock. He squeezed me so tightly, that I let out a small sigh.

“You don't need to repay me, Bill. You're my friend and the amount of help I have received from you over the past 5 years makes us even, don't you think?” I smiled at him.

“Nova, thank you.” He still couldn't grasp the fact that he just got his dream job.

“Just stay my friend and promise to write to us and send me pictures from Egypt.” He hugged me again.

“Oh,” I pulled away and cupped his face, “and please, stay safe.” He nodded and for a second I could swear I saw him tear up.

He went to the Gryffindor Tower immediately to gather everything he might need to send with his answer.

“That was so nice of you, Nova.” Penny wiped a tear off her cheek.

“I didn't do anything. He deserves it, he has been working so hard for this and I remember when my dad told me how impressed he was with him. I wouldn't have it any other way.” I didn't feel like I needed credit for his hard work. Yes, I got him the internship but he wouldn't have received this letter if he didn't show hard work, talent, and determination.

“Thank you.” Charlie suddenly pulled me into a tight hug. “It means a lot to me that you did this for my brother.” Suddenly, I couldn't help but take a bit of credit for the whole situation, as it meant the world to me that I made Charlie happy.

—

To say that Charlie and I aced our Care of Magical Creatures examination was an understatement. We walked out of there like we were the best wizards in the world and we didn't expect anything less.

I have to say that so far I was very proud of how I did on my O.W.L.s. I do have some doubts about Potions and I am not sure about a few questions on the Herbology theoretical exam, but other than that I think I have nothing to worry about. Charlie had some mixed feelings about his Potions practical exam because he forgot to add an ingredient to his potion but he is pretty content with everything else.

Tulip said that based on the fact how little she studied, she was doing pretty good. Jae was doing just fine as well and apparently, those two had a really good chat in the Kitchens about their careers as Tulip didn't worry about it at all after that day.

Penny was beaming when she left the Great Hall after the Potions' practical. Of course, we weren't surprised at all that she would ace that. She worried about Defense Against the Dark Arts as she forgot the proper wand movement for the Blasting Curse but we reassured her that that is not a big mistake.

Tonks was doing rather well. We made a plan to take extra precautionary measures so that she wouldn't run away again: we gave her Pip. He was the perfect agent! She felt obliged to look after him and he kept her company when she studied and she revised with him and he hooted cheerfully at her and so far she has been doing great. She is confident about her performance so far and we are all very proud of her. Especially Penny! Every time she sees Tonks studying she bursts into tears of joy.

We were heading down to the Great Hall for our last O.W.L.: History of Magic. On one hand, I was glad we had the subject saved for last as I didn't worry about how I'll do on the examination at all but on the other hand, I couldn't wait to be over with it as it lingered in my mind.

We were sad to find out that we would receive our results in the middle of the Summer. Tulip and I promised each other that we are not going to open any of Penny's letters until we get the results as we knew that would be all she would write about and that she is going to panic until the very last moment when she realizes just how perfect her results are.

—

I got a letter from my mum in the last week of my Fifth Year. I wasn't even that surprised when she told me that she was bombarded with work and probably won't be able to spend as much as two days with me because she took so much time off last Summer. She suggested I talk to my friends if I can stay with any of them because she couldn't bear the thought of me being alone in our house.

To be perfectly honest, I was okay with her letter. She had the entire Summer off last year and I was so happy that we were able to spend it together that I didn't mind if I couldn't spend this one with her as well. And besides, I knew I was going to make one redhead Dragon lover very happy by not going away with my mum.

Penny was very pleased to announce that this year, there will be the Official Haywood Muggle Vacation so I knew I couldn't spend the Summer with her even if I wanted to. Tulip was going to Asia with her parents to visit some relatives. Tonks was going away as well and for the first time, she looked happy to go somewhere with her parents. I think she finally realized that they love her and want the best for her. She even announced that her first name might not be so bad.

Tulip and I were both grateful that she didn't say that in front of Penny as we both knew she would jump to Tonks for a hug and start sobbing about how proud she is of her for finally growing up.

—

I decided to surprise Charlie with the news that I am spending the Summer at the Burrow. I know how upset he was that I wasn't there last year. I decided to write a letter to Molly to politely invite myself to their beautiful home. I knew she would say yes as Bill already asked me weeks before if I will be able to visit them because Ginny and Ron miss me so much.

A few days before the end of term, Pip greeted me with Molly's reply, when we were having breakfast. I opened it, hiding it from Charlie, which he found very suspicious and it made him want to read it even more.

Nova dear,

you know we would love to have you for the Summer. Ginny and Ron are going to be thrilled when I tell them! The twins miss you too and I know Charlie would want you nowhere else.

See you soon! Arthur and I will pick you up at the Station along with the boys.

Love,

Molly

“Hey, Char.” I looked at him, grinning.

“Yes?” He was still eyeing the letter, curious to know who wrote to me.

“Guess who's spending their Summer at the Burrow!” I exclaimed and showed him the letter. He read it, his eyes moving quickly then he looked at me, the most serious expression on his face.

“I don't understand, who's coming?” I blinked at him as I couldn't see how the letter didn't make it obvious.

“I'm kidding, Nova! Of course, you're coming! You have to make up for last year.” He started laughing, seeing the expression on my face.

“For a second I really thought you didn't want me there.” I felt relieved. Every year he was complaining about how I don't spend enough time with him during Summer and now all of a sudden I thought he didn't want me to come.

“Nova, I always want you there.” He winked at me and smiled in a way that I have never seen him do before and I felt something turning in my stomach. I knew at once that he was over the roof about me coming to the Burrow but in a way that wouldn't completely give it away to those who didn't know him as I did.

What was he doing to me? It was a completely new side of Charlie that I have never seen before and I am not going to lie, I was attracted to it. It was as he was two people in one body. One was my loving best friend for who I would give the world for and the other was this cool, calm young man with strong arms and soft hair.

“Earth to Nova, you alright?” He chuckled.

“Yeah, right here.” I smiled at him, feeling the heat on my cheeks. “I was just counting the times I will beat you in Quidditch.” Nice comeback Nova, nice comeback.

“Oh, we'll see about that.” He pulled me into a half hug and I couldn't stop my lips from curving when I smelled honeysuckle on him. It was my favorite scent.

—

When I came to the Weasleys, the house looked like they had a party that lasted for 3 days. I guess the older the twins the bigger the mess. Ginny held me in a hug for solid 5 minutes before Ron told her to bugger off so he could have his turn. He started telling me about his new chess strategy immediately and even though I already knew I was going to lose, I couldn't help but be excited for him to show it to me.

The twins asked me at once if I would like to see something in their room and when I looked at Bill and Charlie, both shaking their head, warning me that I rather shouldn't, I politely declined, even though I knew they were going to show me whatever it was sooner or later.

Percy went upstairs at once but came back down with a book and sat on the sofa to read for a change. Which to me was quite an improvement since I don't think I ever saw him for more than 10 minutes, even when it came to breakfast or dinner.

The day to receive our O.W.L.s results finally came. Bill got his N.E.W.T.s the day before and he was so calm about it since he accepted the job Robert offered him that I was curious how nervous would he be if he didn't know he had a job secured. Nevertheless, he had nothing to worry about as he received a total of 6 N.E.W.T.s which was 2 above average and even though the results didn't matter anymore, giving the fact that he could now officially call himself a Curse Breaker, he was proud of himself.

Charlie seemed completely unphased by the results as he was confident that he did well in most of his subjects and I wasn't that nervous either. I just wanted to see an O next to my Care of Magical Creatures so I could adopt a Salamander next year!

We got our results delivered first thing in the morning. We each grabbed our envelope and much to everyone's displeasure, we decided we wanted to take a private moment and share our results only with each other first. We sat on the bench in the garden and opened our letters.

ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS

Pass Grades:

Outstanding (O)

Exceeds Expectations (E)

Acceptable (A)

Fail Grades:

Poor (P)

Dreadful (D)

Troll (T)

NOVA IO BLACKWOOD HAS ACHIEVED:

Ancient Runes E

Astronomy A

Care of Magical Creatures O

Charms O

Defense Against the Dark Arts O

Herbology E

History of Magic A

Potions E

Transfiguration O

“How did you do?” Charlie asked me and I knew he did well just by his tone.

“9 O.W.L.s! 4 Outstandings!” I exclaimed.

“3 Outstandings and 8 O.W.L.s!” We exchanged results.

CHARLES WEASLEY HAS ACHIEVED:

Ancient Runes E

Astronomy E

Care of Magical Creatures O

Charms O

Defense Against the Dark Arts O

Herbology E

History of Magic P

Potions A

Transfiguration E

“History of Magic is nobody's strong suit.” I tapped his shoulder. He looked at me, trying to be serious but I could see he was going to burst out laughing any moment now.

“Oh, no. Whatever will I do!” We started laughing as we really couldn't care less for the subject and ran inside to tell the Weasleys.

I sent my mum the results at once and that afternoon I received an owl from Penny which I was expecting and would worry if I didn't. She wrote that she got all her 9 O.W.L.s from which she got 6 Outstandings and 3 Exceeds Expectations and I had to remind myself that the next time I see her I have to say 'I told you so' as none of us expected anything less from her. She also added that Andre did really well on his exams and that he got an E in Potions and she wrote that he is thanking me because he passed Transfiguration and that they were going to meet up next week to celebrate as Andre was very grateful for Penny's help.

“I bet he was.” Said Bill who was reading the letter over my left shoulder. I didn't see his face but I knew that he had a smirk on his face before he took a sip of his coffee.

“Do you reckon they're doing it?” Charlie, who was leaning over my right shoulder, asked as casually as Tonks did only a few months ago. I knew he only posed the question so he would make Bill spit out his coffee and I knew what the look on his face was when he succeeded.

Tulip sent me an owl the next morning and she got 7 O.W.L.s which was 2 more than she expected and said that even her parents were okay with her results.

We didn't hear anything from Tonks that day or the next day for that matter. Charlie and I got worried so we decided to send her a letter with Pip.

He returned with a letter in his beak the very next day and in it were Tonks' results.

NYMPHADORA TONKS HAS ACHIEVED:

Astronomy A

Care of Magical Creatures E

Charms E

Defense Against the Dark Arts O

Divination P

Herbology O

History of Magic P

Potions O

Transfiguration E

“SHE GOT AN O IN POTIONS?” For a second both Charlie and I thought that we were seeing wrong or that the results belonged to Penny as we stared at the O next to Tonks' Potions result. We couldn't believe it and we now understood why she didn't send us an owl the very day the results arrived. She was probably just as shocked as we were.

We knew Penny will probably cry for a week out of happiness and will never forget it. And I could already see her throwing it in Tonks' face if she freaks out about exams next year “Tonks, you have nothing to complain about. You got an O on your Potions O.W.L. last year!”

We all got very good results and we were pleased with them but I think Tonks outdid us all and I couldn't wait to sit with my friends on the train back to school when she tells us how in the bloody hell, did she managed to do that.

END OF PART 5

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acciocriativity · 4 years ago

Text

Yule Ball|| Harry Potter

Pairing: Fred Weasley x Reader // Harry Potter x Reader

Summary: It's been a year since you had a huge crush on Fred Weasley, but you never had the courage to confess it to the redhead. What will change when the Winter Ball takes place at Hogwarts?

Word Count: 3.2k

The fifth year of Hogwarts couldn't be more confusing and crazy, the students from Beauxbatons and the Durmstrang students had just settled in the Great Hall, when the principal made the announcement that it was going to be the joy / despair of all the girls. That's right, with no middle ground.

- Along with the Triwizard Tournament, the Yule Ball will also take place, just as it is in tradition - he said calmly as always, with a smile on his face.

Professor McGonagall explained the details but my mind was already far away, obviously my case is one of despair, not for lack of confidence but for opportunities. There was only one boy I would like to invite, but how would I do that if not more than one word we have already exchanged? I would not like to go with a stranger, a friend at the very least.

I was already 5 years old at Hogwarts, why haven't I done anything yet? This is easy, two very simple reasons. We are from different houses, as a Ravenclaw I don't have many Gryffindor friends, unfortunately. It is very comfortable to form a social circle restricted to the home itself and I was a shy child, can anyone judge me ??

I clearly remember the day I saw him the first time, it was the same day that I got my first Gryffindor friend.

I was hurrying up the stairs to the first floor, where the library is. It wouldn't be a surprise to anyone, but this time it was more urgent, it was two weeks before the 4th grade exam season and I didn't feel ready for the Arithmancy exam.

I had barely stepped into the hall when I heard two excited voices talking, I didn't have to look more than once to find out who they were. The Weasley twins had quickly formed their own fame at Hogwarts, the only ones who didn't like them were the targets of their pranks, I still haven't had that bad luck, and probably their Slytherin opponents.

It was the first time that I had a chance to see them without a circle of people around wanting to buy their limited products or their own friends around, and I didn't imagine what that little moment would do to me.

Although they were identical, one in particular had caught my attention. I didn't know what his name was and I didn't even have time to ask, as they walked to another corridor, opposite where I was.

It was his warm smile and bright eyes, that enchanted me at that moment and even though neither was for me, I couldn't forget it and I tried.

Later that day, I was trying to find a specific Arithmancy book when I noticed Angelina, a gryffindor and a year older than me. Difficult not to recognize since she is also popular, being on the Quidditch team but we never really spoke to each other, until that moment.

- Are you in 5th year ?? I never saw you in any of the classes - I remember her saying looking at my hand, in which I was carrying an advanced potions book.

- Oh no, I like to advance some subjects when I finish studying - I replied calmly with a small smile as I took my book, right next to her head.

- So are you good at potions? - she asked looking at me and I just nodded before she continued - and could you help me? It's a little difficult to pay attention to the class, when Fred and Jorge are there - she finished with a giggle, as if remembering something.

From then on, we met at the library when they had no training and during those two weeks we got close enough, but not to the point of mixing our social circles and going out together.

I turned to face Angelina, even though she was away she met my gaze and smiled, she knew I felt something for Fred Weasley but I never said how deep those feelings were or she would have managed to help me a long time ago.

I noticed that she made one of the signs that we invented to communicate when we were far from each other, that one meant that we were going to talk later in my dorm and I just nodded before I started eating. Too bad I didn't notice the attention of a certain redhead, because of my silent conversation with the girl.

In the months that followed, because Harry's name came out in the Goblet of Fire and the first task was around, the atmosphere became extremely tense within the school and the animosity with the ball cooled. People commented on all sorts of nonsense and I did what I could when something like that happened in my presence, because it bothered me a lot. The whole school was against Harry, basically and I had made it clear that it was ridiculous, even though I didn't know the boy well.

Because of that, I ended up getting away from some friends who disagreed with me and thought that Potter wanted to get attention again, but the good part is that I ended up spending a lot more time with Angelina in the Gryffindor Common Room, she always told me the password although the Fat Woman didn't like it that much.

Today is Saturday and one of those days, I left my dormitory early because I had nothing to study and walked unhurriedly through the almost empty corridors. It seems like a rule, teenagers don't leave bed before 9 am. I saw the girl alone in the middle of the Gryffindor table so I walked right over there, sitting next to her.

- Good morning Angie - I greeted with an excited smile while taking a look at the already full of food table

- You dreamed of the 10 N.O.M.S. today, didn’t you? - she smiled at me before completing - or was it with a certain someone?

I felt my face heat up as she laughed at me, the mornings when we are in a good mood usually start with these morning teasing and then we move on to the same topic…

- When are you going to invite Fred to the Ball? You know that when it comes to perceiving feelings, he is slow - she insisted just like every day that I should do something.

- He must have been invited already, It’s almost a month away- I gave her my most common answer, there are some days that I say I would invite him, but that never happened.

- He is still available but at some point he will be not! Do you really want to see him dancing with another girl? - She looked at me defiantly even knowing the answer.

- If I promise that this time I will ask him to come with me, will you let me eat in peace ?? - I asked, holding her gaze and received a satisfied smile in return.

Sometimes I didn't even understand the reason for all this nonsense, at times I just wanted to be able to confess my feelings and if I was rejected, I would just move on. But then I got close to him and couldn't, at least that way I had hope. The gryffindor in me will have the courage today, thanks to Angelina and my stupid promise.

Gradually the students arrived and among them were our friends. Alicia Spinnet, Dino Thomas, Olivio Wood and Lino Jordan. Soon the trio, Harry, Hermione and Ron came down and then Fred and Jorge with the usual good humor.

- Good morning girls - they both winked at us at the same time with a smile from someone who’s up to no good.

- Good morning - we answered together but with different reactions, Alícia simply ignored it, I controlled myself not to blush and Angelina just smiled more.

Fred sat two chairs to the left in front of me and Jorge beside him, there was no way I could talk to him during breakfast and I thanked him for it, but I regretted it soon after.

- And haven't you became a man yet to ask someone to the Ball, Ron ?? - I heard Fred's super discreet voice, interrupting my conversation with Lino.

Obviously everyone there turned to pay attention, the teasing between them was always fun, especially in the morning.

- You didn’t ask anyone too, where's YOUR courage Fred? What are you afraid of ?? - I never had seen Ronald Weasley with such a satisfied smile on his face or an expression so outraged on the elder.

- I'll show you the courage, look and learn Ronald - he had made a point of getting up and I held my breath when I saw him looking in my direction, it couldn't be ...

- Hey Johnson, do you want to go to the Yule Ball with me? - He asked without realizing my expectations and a piece of my heart breaking after that.

She replied an yes after looking at me quickly, I didn't mind her accepting it. They are friends and I already knew that she wanted to go with Jorge, the reason why she had not accepted any invitation until now. I had already thought about what it would be like if this situation happened, in my head it was much worse.

The next few days followed with little change about Fred, at all times if I could avoid him, I would. Not out of anger or anything, I wanted to take my focus off him. I had declined 2 invitations because I hadn't imagined myself with another guy, and that was going to end.

Alicia and I had just returned from London, we went to look at some new dress options, as many girls would go to the witch shops nearby. We barely stepped into the Great Hall when Hermione walked out furious and a little upset, she didn't even greet us as she always did.

- What did you do to make her so upset ?? - I asked facing Harry and then Ron, before sitting down next to Harry.

- I just said that she could come with one of us to the Ball - explained the redhead while devouring the food on his plate.

- Now? It’s a month away, I would have been angry too - they both looked at me without understanding and I had to take a deep breath - you don't understand anything about girls, do you?

- She felt like the last option, nobody would like to feel that way, obviously, you should have invited her long before - Ali replied without patience, while the realization seemed to hit their faces.

Ron seemed to reflect for 3 seconds before eating again as if nothing had happened, so there were only the three of us left to talk.

- And your partner Harry? Mcgonagall is going to freak out if you have to open the Ball alone - I commented while getting me some soup.

- I haven't found the right girl yet ... - he replied a little uncomfortable and looked to the side as if he had remembered something.

- Not wanting to intrude, but already intruding, you two could go together. Just as friends - she completed as soon as she saw the boy look at us petrified but relaxed shortly thereafter.

- No problem for me, I was thinking about not going, but at least it could be fun - I spoke with a small smile and he nodded.

For the rest of the month, I ended up getting closer to him and consequently to the most unbearable couple that ever existed. I love Hermione and Ron, but how can two people be so stubborn? I don't know, it's a mystery but at the same time, it was good entertainment and I managed to disconnect from my feelings for Fred.

It was getting close to the time to start the Ball and I had barely stopped to think that I would be forced to deal with Angelina and Fred dancing together, even though I had never been jealous of the two before, the scene didn't seem pleasant.

I took one last look in the mirror analysing my dress, a long red velvet dress with sleeves and a slit up to my thigh that defined my body in the right measure. I was feeling incredibly beautiful the way I was and nothing could ruin my good mood, not even my unrequited crush.

I agreed to meet my friends near the stairs and there they were, Hermione in a pink pretty dress talking to Vítor Krum further away, Ron was about to explode at any moment and Harry, as usual, seemed to be trying to find an excuse to get out of there and I preferred to help with that. .

- Hi boys - I said quietly standing on the first step of the stairs and as they had their backs to me, they jumped and I couldn't help laughing.

- You can't come like this and scare others, I almost had a fit… - the redhead put his hand on his heart dramatically, it seems that the hatred has vanished too.

- Everyone will go down the stairs, you should be gossiping in a more discreet place. It's about Hermione again, right? - I asked shamelessly without caring about the complaints about my comment.

- And why would I waste my time talking about a traitor? - his face went from white to red in a few seconds, it seems that the anger had returned.

- I only know one thing, we can't be late, right Harry ?? In fact, I need to talk to you quickly - I didn't even let him agree and I pulled his arm and walked to a spot nearby without anyone

- Did something happen? - he said while adjusting his glasses and I just denied it with a smile, making him even more confused.

- I just wanted to give you a break from Hurricane Ronald Weasley but if you want to go back there, I don't mind - I said looking behind his shoulder and there it was, a clear image of the redhead fighting with an innocent student.

- In fact, a few minutes without having to listen to his rudeness is great, not that he's a bad friend, but sometimes it's a little ... too much - he replied with a small smile of thanks.

We talked for a few more minutes before Mcgonagall officially announced the start of the party, where we would have to dance first. We had rehearsed a few times, so we weren't ashamed, although I wanted to laugh at the memories that came to mind and I could see the same in Harry's eyes.

After that moment, the other champions also danced with their partners and then the party really started. I preferred to avoid dancing more than necessary, because that would be shameful but it doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it.

I was sitting at a table with Harry and Ron because apparently his partner was not very happy, but I decided not to go into that. Until I see Angie approach and place her hand on my bare shoulder.

- Can we talk for a moment?? - She said and by her expression, it seemed to be important.

I nodded and as the two continued talking to each other, I preferred not to interrupt and just went with the older girl to a corner with fewer people.

- Did something happen? - I asked calmly and noticed that she looked towards the direction where Fred and Jorge were with another girl.

- Yes, I already knew it would be a complete mess, since you wanted to come with one person and I with another, but I think you can fix it in time - she said looking back at me.

- I don't know Angie, just with a Time-Turner and a little bit of luck, then I would be able to ask him to come with me.

- It was wrong but I just overheard him saying something to Jorge, he said he wanted to invite you. I was noticing for a while, I was pretty sure he liked you and I just had the proof - she said with a small smile and then immediately took my hand and continued - I don't want to see you two suffering.

I barely knew what to say so I preferred to demonstrate it in the best way I could, that is, with a hug even though it wasn't much of a hug most of the time.

- Thank you for telling me but I think I'll be forced to steal your date now - I replied with a small smile and stepped back from her.

- Someday I'll forgive you for that, but this conversation is for later - she winked at me and walked away to the other side of the party.

I took a deep breath and as soon as I looked back in the direction where the twins were talking, I realized that there was no one there anymore and I couldn't help being disappointed.

- Looking for me, love?? - a voice well known to me spoke at a minimum distance from my back and I immediately turned around.

- Actually, yes, but you came here, so it must be important - I replied with a smile without being affected by his proximity, since it was not uncommon for him to try to frustrate me with this type of provocation.

- Since when is something I have to say unimportant ?? - he spoke in an indignant voice but his smile denounced him - let's go for a walk, what do you think? It’s too full here - he said and then held my hand, how could I refuse such a request?

I just nodded and then we left the Hall, walked, still holding hands, to the garden. I am sure that did not fail to pass through the attentive eyes of my friends, but it was not the time to think about that.

- I know we've only really known each other this year - he started talking and then stopped walking - but I really started to like you a lot - his voice were softer and even a little uncertain.

- Of course, we all became fast friends - I replied with a satisfied smile, maybe it was mean but I was loving this moment and I didn't want it to end so quickly.

He looked away and took a deep breath before looking back into my eyes with a lighter expression.

- You're having fun, aren't you? It's pretty funny, isn't it? - He asked and I could see his eyes shine, the kind of glow that appears when he has just made a prank.

- Yes I am. How could I not be when I left Fred Flirt Weasley frustrated? - I replied holding the desire to laugh, for the situation and the new nickname I invented.

- I had a much more fun idea, love, you'll like it - he said confidently.

Before I could ask what it was, one of his hands found my face and the other on my waist, pulling me closer. A second later we were giving our first kiss, the first of many to come.

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