#half our system interactions is just us side eyeing each other or death glaring each other

[summersilencesystem]

I love seeing the “in system relationship” posts that are so sweet and cutesy and then we just sit here and look around like… yeah if any of us tried to date we’d end up fighting like feral cats

- 🕷️

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

HASO, “Telling Tales.”

This story came as a suggestion from someone on the discord server, so I hope you all enjoy a break from some of the heavier stuff I have been doing lately.

The room was large and filled with noise, mostly the clinking of glasses and the clattering of voices, but on occasion the comm systems echoed with a cool female voice broadcasting announcements across the entirety of the station. 

There were at least forty tables inside the room packed in close together, with a long bar at one end where men and women alike stood standing and chatting to each other as they took their drinks. Below that was the low rumble of music, and up on all four walls, large projection screens broadcasted earth sports in delayed time.

At the far end of the room a large viewing window looked out on a wide view of space and the rest of the station. The station itself was huge, stretching out for what could have been miles and miles of tightly packed corridors and branching rooms. The station itself was a mesh of Tesraki and human technology and had been built right here in orbit….. In orbit of the thing staring at them from out in the darkness.

A supermassive black hole ringed by a disk of bright light and a halo that cut across the middle.

Honestly as McCaster stepped into the room, he found the view very disconcerting, and had the sudden worry that…. Inexplicably they would start slowly drifting towards the black hole until they succumbed to a horrendous and terrifying death. Looking around though, it seemed that no one else seemed to think so, and he ushered himself inside and over to the bar hoping that a drink might calm him down.

He sidled up to the bar leading against the metal countertop and motion for the bartender with a hand.

She slid over to where he was. She was dressed casually, though the bearing of her chin told him that she was one of the soldiers working on the station and not just a civilian. He ordered something to drink, and he came back a moment later with a metal tankard. He took it surprised to find that he missed the bright amber liquid inside cool glass covered in a layer of condensation, but he supposed having breakable drinking vessels wasn’t going to do for a ship like this.

Still, the liquid inside his mug looked a sort of muddy brown rather than a pleasant amber.

He took another sip.

Still tasted fine though.

He turned to look around the bar watching as groups of people chatted to each other , drank and ate.

Not all of them worked here, some of them, like the crew of the Omen, had stopped by for supplies and to give their men and women some time to relax and have a little fun before they had to ship out again. McCaster felt this was really his only chance for a while, to meet people off the ship.

He sidled forward eyes scanning over the room and falling on a woman. She was pretty, young about his age with blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail.

Couldn’t hurt right?

Unfortunately, just as he was sidling up, some other gus seemed to have the same Idea, and he sat down at her table just as two others did pausing to stare at each other across the table.

McCaster looked at the young woman, “This seat isn’t taken, is it?”

She tilted her head at him in near amusement, “I can’t control where you sit.”

“Then I suppose you don’t mind if we join you.” The other man added receiving a glower from McCaster across the table.

“You work here.” The other man asked her 

“Yes.”

“Well me and the boys here are just off from The UNSC Pioneer, finest ship this side of the quadrant.”

McCaster snorted into his glass, not trying to be a dick this time, but he knew THAT was a lie.

The other man glared at him, “What, you disagree.”

“Frankly, yes. Our ship is Objectively the best and that’s not even me bragging.”

“Oh really, and what ship is this.”

McCaster smirked, “The UNSC Omen, but I bet you’ve heard of it.”

There was a chorus of disbelief up from the other men.

“Right, and I bet you are personal friends with Admiral Vir too, right.”

McCaster frowned, “Maybe not personal friends, but I did fly with him once.”

More disbelieving booing.

He crossed his arms, “Don’t believe me huh well what about this.” he reached into his pocket to snag his ID card and then pulled it out, holding it up for the entire table to see, “See Lt McCaster of the UNSC Omen. I fly a Thunderhawk, and sometimes the shuttles.” This time the men could hardly argue, his iD said as much, at least as much about which ship he worked on and what he did.

THere was a light murmuring around the table.

“That’s right, so like ninety precent of my friends are aliens.” He was exaggerating just a little bit, he didn’t really interact with the aliens on the ship all that much accept for the Celzex that fixed the weapons on his jet, and the Drev he liked to play"  pool with.

But the blond was looking at him with interest, so its not like he could squander this opportunity

He nodded glancing sidelong at the girl. 

“Yeah, like I said, its not like the Admiral and I take lunch together or anything, ‘but’ the ship is small enough that I do run into him on a daily basis, cool guy, a bit weird though. I actually flew with him during the burg war on the Gromm home planet.”

A chorus of disbelief.

Behind him someone chimed in, “Bullshit.”

He turned to see that another table behind them had overheard his claims. There was a pretty redhead sitting there, and so he wasn’t likely to let go of his momentum. He raised his ID badge for all to see, “Not lying.” He raised his mug to his lips and took a long satisfied sip, “Disbelieve me all you wan’t but it’s true.”

“Well don’t just sit there all smug, tell us about it then.” Someone urged, and he was more than happy to oblige.

“Well, we had just been informed of the eminent Burg attack on the Gromm capital city below. I had been being debriefed by the Commander, at the time, and went with him to the bridge as we were debriefed. The Nexus was down and Burg ships were descending in swarms. They were unprotected on the planet below, and it was clearly up to our crew to stop the attack.”

His little crowd was drawing even more eyes, and he found himself with a small crowd of skeptics sitting around him listening to his every word.

He found himself speaking faster with excitement and nerves.

“I was on the bridge and watched him survey the scene, when out of nowhere he hands the captain chair over to one of his lieutenants and orders me out with him. They had orbital defences, but he knew that they had no chance in atmosphere since they didn’ have any fighter jets to push back the invasion.” he puffed out his chest, “Admiral Vir handpicked me to accompany him as his copilot and gunner.”

Another chorus of disbelief.

He shook his head, “Disbelieve me all you want, but it’s true. He knew my talents, and he knew I could keep up with him. And I tell you I have never seen a man or woman that could fly like he does.”

He had them now leaning forward in their chairs.

The best part is all of this was true…. Mostly.

“Of course, I was ready, solid as a rock, I have been training for just such situations for the entirety of my career, and I had no hesitations about what I was going to do. The Admiral was relying on me to be his copilot and damn straight I wasn’t going to let him down.” He grinned in a self satisfactory way, “He gave me charge of all the important stuff while he was flying combat…. And he made it sure in no unclear terms that if he couldn’t handle the flying, I was going to take over for him.”

Ok that was sort of a lie, but only a little one.

“I knew as soon as we were coming in that Admiral vir had an idea brewing. We didn’t go for an angled entry but instead piloted our jet straight down. I thought that the re entry was going to rattle my teeth out of my head. But as I said before I had no doubts about the Admiral. I knew we were going in, and I had inklings of what the admiral was about to do. I never questioned him.”

Also kind of a lie, but it's not like it mattered.

“We were plunging from the sky, fire spitting off our wings, going so fast it makes your insides feel like they are on your outsides. Picture the sky fading to blue behind you, fire is benign thrown off your wings like water from a waterfall, the G force is so powerful that it compresses your chest and makes it hard to breathe,” he was standing now gesturing wildly, “We plummet from the sky, and fire our guns exploding a burg ship just before it takes out one of our other fighters. We pull up right before the ground, must have been nine ten maybe even fifteen Gs.” Okay he was exaggerating, “But I stayed conscious through the whole thing.” That was also kind of a lie.

“We broke into combat with the burg drones, and I shot down at least three of them as the Admiral piloted.  He said afterwards that he had never seen someone take the shots I did and make it.” Okay yes he had been passed out for half of this, but again its not like any of them were going to know.

What harm was a little exaggeration.

“I caught one burg as we were coming out of a sharp dive, my hand felt nine times heavier than it should have, but I nailed it in the engine compartment and it exploded into a ball of fire. I was still shooting them down when the Admiral orders me to take control of the ship. Of course I wanted to ask what was going on, but there was no time, I grab the stick and manuver us into a tight barrel roll. A ship explodes behind us. I have control of the jet now complete control and I pull us up into tight pursuit of another. I avoid two missiles and in a moment of genius, I drop all of our flares, which collide with at least four burg ships exploding on impact. What I hadn’t known is that the Admiral’s hand had cramped from all that earlier flying, and if I hadn’t been there he would have died. But at that moment I had no idea and proceeded to clear enemy skies over the capital city. I dived so close to the ground that we might have crashed if I hadn’t pulled us into an inverted upwards pull for the last few seconds”

He continued to speak and as he did the fight grew even more excessive and heroic. He detailed in exquisite and colorful imagery as he single handedly flew them to safety pulling off near impossible maneuvers, crack shots and many more outlandish happenings as he and Admiral Vir valiantly switched back and forth on the controls, equals in every way.

He was just describing their great and climactic fight scene where, he had to take command of the ship once again, when he finally noticed no one was really paying attention to him. He saw their eyes, looking past him.

His voice slowed, as he looked around eyebrows furrowed.

He turned where he stood and cut off mid sentence as his eyes fell on a familiar face in the crowd.

Admiral Vir sat behind him in a chair balancing on two legs, head tilted to the side. His eyepatch covered one of his eyes, but the expression on his face was one of great and abiding amusement.

He leaned forward in his seat, “Don’t let me interrupt you lieutenant. I believe you were just getting the the part where you pull an inverted double helix back loop and I pass out drooling in the front, you just manage to pull us out of that dive, and the two burg ships are so confused by the manuver that they crash into each other and explode  catching the attention of all the other stunned burg in the area and allowing the other pilots a final push in clearing the sky?”

McCaster’s mouth opened and then closed and then opened again .

Admiral Vir continued to smile as McCaster stammered and gurgled like an idiot.

“So…. what actually happened.” Someone asked 

McCaster plopped shamefacedly down in his seat. Admiral Vir paused tilting his head in the other direction as if thinking. A good portion of the room had gone quiet as they shuffled closer to hear the stroy. He stood after a moment and walked over to where McCaster was sitting placing his hands on the back of the chair.

“Well The first part of the story wasn’t wrong. I had been debriefing McCaster and the other recruits on a few aspects of my ship when we got the call in that the Gromm homeworld was being attacked. I DID give up command to the ship of one of my lieutenants, and I DID as McCaster to fly with me as copilot.” he smiled and easy smile that seemed to light up the room around him.

Everyone within a twenty foot radius shifted forward in an effort to be closer to the man and the magnetic nature of his personality and charming smile.

“McCaster was top of his class in flight school, and I wanted an extra pair of eyes, that is true. We did take a vertical dive into the atmosphere instead of an angled entry. Yes there was fire spitting off the wings, and yes we did pull out of a vertical dive after saving one of the other fighter jets. All of that is pretty accurate.”

HE smiled and McCaster wilted.

“He did embellish a few things.” he rested a hand on McCaster’s shoulders, “But what is a good story without a little bit of embellishment? I’ve certainly never told a story that didn’t sound about ten times better than it actually was.” There was a small laugh from the crowd, “Point being that I would certainly fly with McCaster again, he is a brave, talented, and honorable member of my crew even if he is a colorful storyteller.”

McCaster looked up at the Admiral, still leaning on the back of his chair, and watched as the man made subtle eye contact with the blond girl just a few feet away.

McCaster blushed As Admiral Vir pushed his chair forward across the ground to sit next to her.

She was smiling in some measure of amusement, and Admiral Vir winked at him as he backed away. Either that or he just blinked, it was hard to tell with the eyepatch.

He turned back to look at the woman who was looking at him in some measure of amusement.

He rubbed the back of his head.

“He seems to be one hell of a wing man, in and out of a jet.” She commented 

He stammered stupidly glancing over his shoulder to where Admiral Vir had retreated to the bar, ignoring the eyes on him, hungry expressions from both men and women as he ordered a drink and sat down.

Bless the Admiral, number one for being a good wingman for sure, and two…. For not totally calling him out on all his bullshit.

Granted everyone probably guessed, but at least he could keep some of his dignity with plausible deniability.

He was able to work himself back into a state of cool suave composure, enough to learn that the woman’s name was Emily, and that she worked as a data analyst for the big black hole thing. It had a lot to do with math and physics which he totally didn’t understand, but certainly tried to because he knew she liked it.

Across the room, Admiral vir attracted ebbing and flowing waves of people coming to listen to his own stories which were mostly modest and self deprecating depictions of what really happened. Being the first person to fall flat on his face on an alien planet, how he had scared the shit out of the bran the first time he met them, how he ended up in a Rundi prison because he was being a dumbass.

There were a few times where he too tended to embellish the stories, only to preface later by saying, but what actually happened was this.

As soon as the man stepped into the room he seemed to change the whole gravity of it like  a wandering star collecting satellites.

He supposed that’s what happened when you were famous.

Thanks to him though, it turned out he got along really well with Emily, and despite knowing he was a complete moron, she seemed to like him too, and he scored her number and a surreptitious invitation to accompany her on a walk to somewhere quieter.

As he was leaving, he turned back to look at the Admiral, making surprise eye contact with him as he did.

He raised his glass minutely to McCaster before turning around and continuing his story.

He grinned as Emily took his hand,.

“So….. tell me really, how many times did you pass out when flying with him.”

He snorted, “Please, I spent  more than half of it passed out, like I can’t remember shit. I don’t even remember where the sky or ground was relative to each other for most of the time. The man can fly…. Like all that stuff I was telling you, just replace my name with his and you might have yourself a believable story.”

She laughed at his expense and he laughed too 

Thank you Admiral Vir. 

[too-attached-to-fiction]

Choose To Be Better | d.m.

Masterlist here

Part 2 here

REQUESTS ARE OPEN!!!

Word count: 1888

Request: Would you write a Draco Malfoy imagine where the reader is an American pureblood transfer to Slytherin and so she butts heads with the racist Slytherins, Draco included but at a Christmas ministry event she and Draco end up spending time together and she realizes he isn't bad when he's alone so it starts a 'friendship' where they still bicker but it's not spiteful and during the 6th year she is there for him?

A/N: YES! I love writing draco and i love the arcs where the reader/OC saves him from becoming a part of the death eaters! This kind of ran away from me but I’m actually really glad it did. I think it’s because I tried to shove like a bunch of the books in but I’m very proud of it and I hope you enjoy it too! I didn’t really put the bickering part in because I wasn’t sure how to fit it all together but otherwise I think this is pretty good :) Thank you anon!

~~~

“Before we begin with the sorting, we have accepted a transfer student from Ilvermorny who is starting her third year here. Miss (L/N), if you would be so kind to step up to the sorting hat?”

You nodded, moving wordlessly to the stool and climbing up. You weren’t sure how Hogwarts houses related to Ilvermorny houses, but you assumed the systems were similar. Back in America, you had been in Pukwudgie, the house representing a wizard’s heart. 

Around you, you heard whispers arise from the tables of students. 

“A transfer student?” 

“Ilvermorny? I’ve never heard of it…” 

“What country?”

“America, I think…” 

The whispers were tuned out as a professor placed an old wizard’s hat on your head. 

“(Y/N) (L/N)... What an interesting student. You were in Pukwudgie, I hear.” 

“Yes.” 

“Fascinating… You’re bright, very bright. Now where shall I place you?” 

You’d listened to the sorting hat’s song at the beginning of the ceremony, but you weren’t sure where you’d fit. You wanted to help people, but you were determined to forge your own path, away from your family history.

“Your father was a Ravenclaw, yes? And yet, you want more than knowledge. You’re quite a mystery, my girl. Where do you want to go? There are pieces of you in every house.” 

“I thought you would be the one to sort me in the right place.” You retorted, and the hat chuckled. 

“Ooh, you’re feisty. Now listen, my dear, whatever you’ve been told about each house is reputation, not fact. I trust you’ll make better choices than most… you’d be better off in SLYTHERIN!” The hat shouted. Apart from a few stray cheers from the table, the rest of the hall merely clapped politely. 

Although you believed the sorting hat had put you in the right place, you certainly didn’t feel welcome in the dungeons of the castle. Most of your dorm mates were quiet around you, and in turn, you were quiet around them. You were a good student in all of your classes, and kept your head down to avoid any confrontation. 

And yet, you seemed to butt heads with one Draco Malfoy. 

It seemed that he never went anywhere without his two goons, and it wasn’t so bad until one day, he decided to go after you. 

“Look, it’s the little transfer. What, America didn’t like you, so you came here?” 

“My parents divorced.” You shot back. “I didn’t have a choice.” 

“What, your mum didn’t want you?” 

“Go away, Malfoy.” You rolled your eyes, turning back to your book. “I have no interest in people who bully others for their amusement.” 

When you returned home for the winter holidays, you had nothing to report. You managed to make a few friends outside of your house, but most of the Slytherin students remained cold to you, probably due to Malfoy’s influence. 

“There's a Ministry Christmas gala being hosted by the Minister at Malfoy Manor. You and your brother will be accompanying me tonight.” Your father told you. “Please remember your manners. While I may not agree with the Malfoy’s values, it’s better to be polite than be rude to the enemy.” 

~~~

This gala had to be one of the most boring events you attended. Still, you feigned interest as you spoke to the other adults around you. Most of them had a habit of talking down to you, but you merely smiled and continued on your way. 

You were on your way to get a glass of punch when Malfoy intercepted you. 

“(L/N), what is a mudblood like yourself doing here?” 

“I’m a half-blood, for your information.” You said coolly, trying to find ways around you to get out of the conversation. You kept your shoulders back, jutting up your chin. “Half American pureblood and half English pureblood. But I suppose only the English side matters to you.” You brushed past him, continuing to walk towards where you had been planning on going. 

Draco followed, suddenly intrigued. “Why would you be at an event like this? I thought only adults were allowed.” 

“You’re not the only one with a father in power.” You said, continuing forward. “Is there something you need, Malfoy, or are you planning on trying to instigate a fight for the rest of the evening?” 

“Would you like to get away from this boring party?” 

“Please, be my guest.” He held out his hand for you to take and you glanced at it. 

“I’m not kidnapping you, for Merlin’s sake.” 

“Just checking.” You smiled, taking his hand. 

A few minutes later, you wound up in one of the gardens, away from the bright lights of the party. The two of you sat down on a stone bench in the center, your hand not quite ready to leave his just yet. 

“Why did you take me out here?” You asked after a few moments of silence. “I thought you didn’t like me.” 

“Perhaps I’ve had a change of heart.” He replied quietly. “I’ve got a reputation to uphold, after all.” 

“Why? Is it so hard to be yourself?” 

“I don’t know who I am. All I know is that I am a Malfoy, and I can only interact with the highest of blood purity.” 

“A halfblood isn’t the highest.” 

“You were invited. Not many get that honour.” Draco backpedaled, removing his hand from yours. 

“Do you want to be a Malfoy?” 

“Of course. How could you ask such a thing?” In an instant, his walls rose. You sighed in defeat.

“You don’t want to be a Malfoy, Draco.” You said clearly. “You’re only a son trying to please his bigoted father.”

“That’s not true.” He stood up, cheeks reddening. “My father will hear about-” 

“Hear about what? I’m sure you’re breaking his rules by talking to an American, and a halfblood, aren’t you?” You raised an eyebrow, and his shoulders sagged in defeat. “We can’t be here long, then.” 

“If you don’t believe in the importance of blood purity, why are you here? Why did you choose to come with me?” 

You stood up, your (E/C) eyes searching for something in his grey ones. “Because I believe there’s good in you. You are not Lucius Malfoy. You are Draco Malfoy, and Draco Malfoy needs to learn how to make his own choices. If you let me, I can help you be your own person.” 

“I am my own person.” He said, but his words sounded unsure. 

“You just told me you don’t know who you are.” You matched his cold stare with ease. 

“I don’t need your help.” 

“If not me, who else will help you?” 

“Someone will.” 

“You don’t sound sure about that.” You raised your eyebrow again. “It’s our actions and choices that define us, not our family.”

~~~

A few days after Buckbeak had vanished from Hagrid’s hut, Draco came to talk to you in the common room. 

“I want to be better.” 

Instead of dropping your mouth open with shock, as Draco expected, you only smiled up at him. 

“I’m glad you’ve come to your senses.” 

For the duration of the summer holiday, you and Draco exchanged letters back and forth, In them, he wrote of his hesitation to participate in activities his father forced him in. The only solution you could possibly give him was to act the way he always acted. You needed more time to figure out how to help, given that his family was known as one of Voldemort’s higher accomplices. 

One day, towards the end of summer, you approached your father. Miraculously, your family had been growing closer and closer to the Weasleys and Harry Potter. 

“Dad?” You asked, knocking on the door to his study. “I need to talk to you. It’s important.” 

Your father swung open the door. “Now what could be so important that it needed to interrupt my work?” “It’s important.” 

Earlier in the summer, your father had told you about the Order of the Phoenix. Despite the fact that it was currently dormant, he and the other Order members believed that Voldemort’s return was inching closer and closer by the day. 

“Important how?” 

“I need you to help me help someone.” 

You quickly skimmed over the details, not mentioning Draco’s identity at all. “What should I do?” 

“You shouldn’t be concerning yourself over these matters, (Y/N), they’re very dangerous-” 

“Please.” 

“I’ll write Dumbledore, but don’t expect anything to come from it.” 

~~~

During your fifth year, you brought Draco to your house for the winter holiday. He’d mentioned he’d stay at school, but you insisted he be around people at Christmas. When you pulled Draco into your father’s study, your father’s eyes set quickly, darkening. 

“(Y/N), please explain what a Malfoy is doing in our house.” 

“He needs help, Dad.” 

Reluctantly, your father brought your family and Draco to Grimmauld Place for an appeal to the Order of the Phoenix. Tensions were raised on both sides, with only Dumbledore willing to hear Draco out. 

“Why him?” Sirius demanded. “Out of all people, why are we helping him?”

“We’re no better than the Death Eaters if we don’t hear him out.” Your glare quieted the other members. “Draco is not his father or his father’s choices. He doesn’t want to be a part of the Death Eaters, and we are not leaving this room until we find a way to help him.” 

“They’re children, what do they know about war?” Arthur Weasley objected. 

“They are children. But I trust my daughter, and her choices, even if it means trusting a Malfoy. And I trust Dumbledore, who has graciously agreed to come at once regarding my message.” Your father spoke up, and Dumbledore nodded in acknowledgement. 

“They’re too young-” Molly started, but Snape cut her off. 

“But not incapable. The boy’s doing it for his family, no matter how much he tries to distance himself. We cannot remove him completely from the situation, but we can use this to our advantage. If the Malfoys are anything, they are misguided by their beliefs.” 

“Thank you, Severus.” Dumbledore finally turned to the two of you. “Draco, if you are alright working as a spy…” 

“If it means not working for him, then by all means.” Draco bowed his head. “When the time is right, I’m going to fight by your sides. Even if I’m killed in the process.”

None of the current Gryffindors were made aware of this decision, but the two Slytherins headed home, satisfied. 

The next two and a half years took a toll on you and Draco. You saw him less and less, and when you did, he seemed worse for wear. You were aware of his mark, and of his mission, but that didn’t make you any less determined to help him and get out of this war for good. 

You watched across the courtyard as Voldemort awkwardly hugged Draco. This was all part of the plan, and you’d come this far. You had to survive this. 

When the duel finished, he rushed over to your side. Both of his parents shot sad but knowing looks at his back. 

A year later, Narcissa would thank you for keeping her son safe. But now, in his arms, amidst the rubble… 

All you could think about was a long-deserved future with him. 

[karmathecat]

Firewhiskey is Not the Best Mixer | Part 5

The next installment of my next gen/marauder time travel fic! 

FF | AO3

After the quickest lunch of their lives, the group made their way up to the seventh floor. Lily was doing all she could to not break out into a full run up the moving staircases, which were thankfully in position for where they needed to go as if the castle knew the importance of their journey. 

“If the room is on the seventh floor, we’ll have to be careful it’s out of bounds because of construction after the fifth years blew a hole in the wall fighting and burst a pipe. Apparently magical sewer systems can’t be fixed with a repairing charm. If we get caught up there we’ll be in deep shit, so be quick about getting into the room.” Lily thought it was amusing that her grandmother wasn’t necessarily against breaking the rules, but against getting caught. A trait that she definitely saw in herself.

“I just can’t believe that we never knew about this, we’ve explored this castle, how many times? And we never came across a room that could give us anything we wanted?” Sirius seemed almost insulted that the castle had never revealed such a secret to the Marauders. Lily couldn’t help but think that it was a good thing that these boys didn’t have access to a room that could supply them with countless inconveniences for the rest of the school. She knew that her brother would have used his knowledge of this room on countless occasions to make her life miserable whilst they were both at school if it had been available to him.

“Maybe you just never needed something enough.” Al shrugged his shoulders as they stopped at the stretch of wall that Lily knew the room was. She had heard the stories about the DA so many times, demanding her dad tell her about all the times that he had taught the rebellious group. 

I need a room with a time turner that allows me to travel years forward in time. 

I need a room with a time turner that allows me to travel years forward in time. 

I need a room with a time turner that allows me to travel years forward in time. 

Whilst Lily was pacing, James took out the Marauder’s Map. He knew that not adding this room’s discovery to the map would bother his completionist side, he knew it was here now so it needed to be added. He found the seventh floor on the map, saw the group standing around and was about to mark the section that Lily was pacing in front of to add the room later, when he froze. He felt the heat start in his toes and rise limb to limb until he knew for a fact that his face and ears were so red heat could be felt without touching his skin. 

“James?” 

He ignored the other, staring intently at the map, watching the name pace back and forth as he knew the girl, Lily’s granddaughter, was doing to access the room. Then the name stopped, and James looked up to see the younger girl looking at him in confusion, behind her a door had appeared in the space where a blank wall once was moments before. He could also feel the eyes of his three best mates, the girl he loved, and his grandsons on him, probably questioning his weird reaction. 

“Lily Potter.” 

Lily’s eyes widened as she drew in a sharp breath. The map. How could she forget the map? 

“It says here your name is Lily Luna Potter.” It wasn't a question, they both knew that the map never lied and that was her name, she couldn’t deny it. 

Before James could question her, or Lily could open her mouth, a noise was heard at the end of the corridor. 

“Filch! Quick everyone in.” Remus rushed forward, opened the door that Lily’s pacing had conjured. The momentary surprise evaporated and as one the group charged into the room just as Filch rounded the corner. The door slammed shut behind them and the caretaker was none-the-wiser. 

Once the shock of running into the room wore off, all of the Marauders turned to look at Lily. 

“You’re a Potter then?” It was surprisingly Peter who addressed Lily, as he was someone who had skirted around the three time travellers as if he didn’t quite know what to make of them. 

Lily blew out a breath, and knowing what she needed, two sofas that looked identical to those in the Gryffindor common room appeared in front of them. Lily took her grandmother and the Marauders to the sofas to sit. Lily noticed her two brothers did not join them, but knew that this conversation was more pressing than looking for them. 

“It said it on the map Pete, you know the map doesn’t lie it’s linked to your magical signature.” 

“Let me see then.” James went into his robe pocket to pull out the map, but felt nothing. He started patting his other pockets and looking around him, but to no avail. 

“I must have dropped it! If Filch saw it outside in the corridor he’ll definitely have confiscated it!” James swore and looked at his friends apologetically, distraught at having lost such a precious item through carelessness. 

“If it makes you feel better,” Lily spoke up, “you losing the map to Filch is how my dad ended up with the map in the first place. So, if you think about it, you losing it now was actually the best thing that you could have done.” The four boys seemed to consider this, exchanged a heavy look between them and nodded in silent communication. Lily was certain that this was what people meant when they said that the three Potter children could communicate without words and it was very disconcerting to watch. However, when growing up the children of the most famous man in their society with every eye on them at all times, they had to be able to say the things they were truly feeling without it getting printed in that evening’s paper. Each of the Potter children had learnt the hard way who they could trust and what they could say when. The constant secret keeping and trouble making that these boys got into was another example of high stakes communication, so she understood better than most the importance of the exchange that had occurred in front of her eyes. Without having spoken out loud, it was clear that James was chastised but Lily’s words were considered and he was forgiven, the entire exchange had taken no longer than 30 seconds. 

Lily watched as her grandmother eyed the boys, she could tell that the Head GIrl understood that a communication was occurring, but not what was being said. It must be exhausting to be around such a tight knit group but not being privy to the information and exchanges that passed between them. Lily Evans was staring at James without any embarrassment, she knew the conversation that was about to occur and she was determined to get her opinion across if it was the death of her. 

James nodded and then directed the conversation back to Lily, “So you are a Potter? Lily Potter.” 

Lily looked towards the Head Girl before nodding. “Yes, James and Al are my older brothers.” 

“So what does that mean?” Sirius looked Lily up and down and for the first time since yesterday eyed her with slight distrust. 

“Well, it means that my parents' surnames are Potter.” 

“Don’t be cute, we’ve come this far now you might as well tell us.” Sirius shook his head and a ghost of a smile appeared as Lily blew out another breath and knew she’d been caught. What was the harm anyway, one half of her grandparents already knew it wasn’t like she was changing the course of history, she was just being honest. 

“Okay, well, James and I are named after my dad’s parents: James Potter and Lily Potter nee Evans.” 

Lily let her words settle over the group. The redhead sat beside her was running her hands up and down her thighs in anxiety staring intently at James whose eyes were fixed solely on his granddaughter. 

“We all owe you five galleons.” Remus’ words were unexpected, but seemed to break the tension that Lily’s words had left. Sirius let out a loud laugh and clapped James hard on the shoulder who seemed to still be in a state of shock. Lily hid her giggle behind her hand and glanced over at Lily who was still intensely staring at James who was still let to look at her. If Lily was honest with herself it looked like James was in a state of shock. 

Lily cocked her head to the side at the other Marauders, and as four they stood to allow the two Heads to talk about Lily’s revelation. 

“Let’s go and find my brothers yeah?” The boys nodded and Lily looked around at the room for the first time. It was one long room with shelves on each side. On both shelves there were various devices which Lily presumed were variations of the time turner based on her request to the room. Beneath each device there was a plaque describing the device's name and a brief summary of how to use it. Lily walked over with the three Marauders to her brothers who were both standing at a section of shelf and were in deep discussion. 

“Hey Lil, finally revealed our familial bond?” James laughed as Lily hit him on the arm. 

“Noticed that you two were conveniently absent for that conversation!” 

“We thought that you had it handled, and why put myself in an awkward conversation when I don’t have to!” Al laughed as Lily’s glare was directed towards him next. 

Remus laughed at the siblings’ antics, and now that he knew he couldn’t believe that he hadn’t realised their relationship purely based on their interactions, the playful banter and closeness that he had only seen in the Marauders who were described as brothers and not friends. But, Remus mused, it was easy to realise these things when you knew the information vital to understanding. 

“Anyway, what have you found?” Al explained that whilst they were chatting they’d started looking at each of the time devices and were able to quickly dismiss the first few devices based on the fact they were theoretical prototypes and had never been used before. James explained that they weren’t to be trusted as something that worked in theory very rarely worked in practice without a bit of trial and error and they shouldn’t risk more errors with time travel. Lily couldn’t help but agree with their assessments, it was a rare treat to see both of her brothers in work mode as James never brought work home and Al was in another house.

“We’ve narrowed it down to this one here. The name on the plaque, she’s an Unspeakable that I studied for my exam. She created a lot of time manipulation devices and her success rate was very high. So if I was going to place my bets on any device that has been presented by the room it would be this one.” Al picked up the device that he was referring to. It looked like a standard time turner that she had seen in her textbooks but with my dials. It was a beautiful rose gold colour which she knew differed from the traditional gold. 

James explained that there were three dials on the turner, days, months and years. Lily had to admit that it seemed simple in comparison to all of the intimidating devices that surrounded the simple one that her brothers had selected. 

“There’s one more thing,” all of their attention was directed towards Al again, “we can’t take the devices out of the room. We’ll have to use the device here.” This made sense to Lily, the room created all of the devices so they only existed in the room so logically could only be used in the room. 

“Okay then, shall we report back what’s going on and talk about how to go forward?”

X-X-X

Lily watched her granddaughter walk away with the Marauders and looked towards James. He was staring down into his lap, and didn’t look up when Lily slid into the seat next to him. 

“James?” 

He still didn’t look up and Lily felt a clenching in her chest, she thought that the knowledge that she and James were meant to be together was set in stone but now looking at him not acknowledging her she wasn’t so certain anymore. 

“I’m sorry.” 

James had spoken to softly that Lily wasn’t certain that she’d heard him. Why was he apologising to her?

“I’m sorry you were blindsided like that, I didn’t mean to put you in that position, I was just taken aback by seeing her name. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I’m so sorry Lily. If you need space and stuff I understand, I obviously love talking and being with you but finding out about Lily, well that must have been a shock for you right now, and I know you don’t feel that way about me, so yeah, I’d understand if you need some space.” 

James hadn’t looked at Lily the whole time he spoke, but delivered his speech to his lap where his hands twisting around themselves.

“James, I knew about Lily,” James’ head shot up to look at her for the first time, “she told me last night.” 

James frowned at her and stared intently, “you knew?” 

“I knew.” 

“And you’ve still been around me all morning and acting normal?” 

Lily sighed, she knew that this was the time to put all her cards on the table, but now the time was here she felt the anxiety settle deep in her stomach. 

“James, I wanted to know if our lives were intertwined through our grandchildren because our children happened to get together, or whether it was you and me. I wanted to know from my granddaughter whether I was wasting my time falling in love with you and if I’d missed my chance with you. Because I am, falling in love with you I mean.” 

“What?” James had never been so shocked in his life, he had no idea. He thought that the time that they had spent together this year had been amazing, they had been getting closer but he hadn’t let himself hope for something more, he went to bed every night telling himself that friendship was enough. 

“I’ve been falling in love with you since last year, I thought you might have gotten over me and I’d missed my chance, but hearing that from Lily well I let myself believe that maybe I still had a chance, but if that isn’t the case and you don’t want to be anything more than friends then-” Lily was abruptly cut off my James’ mouth on hers. The kiss was urgent but soft and exactly what Lily imagines kissing James would be like. 

James pulled back and looked Lily in the eye for the first time, “I never want you to say something as ridiculous as me not wanting you, ever again. Do you know how long I’ve wanted this, how long I've hoped this could happen.” 

This kiss was slow and steady, and melted Lily from the inside out and she felt at home. 

“Go out with me Evans?” 

“Always.” 

Lily looked over her shoulder when they heard the others approaching. Lily was smiling at the new couple with joy. 

“Come on you two, we have a lot to discuss. Let’s go back to the common room.”

[the-walking-memelords]

A2 - Chapter 2: Not So Out of The Woods

Chapter 1

Series is rated M

Word Count: 2427

Clementine brings a few of the school members to meet with Layla and her caravan, but suspicious activity in the woods drowns Clementine in a fear she hasn't felt in years.

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It had been hours since the sun abandoned them.

Clementine paced back and forth under the silver light of the moon mingling with the fire of the torches. What remained of her half-amputated leg strained against her prosthetic, the pain making her limp more noticeable.

Where the fuck are they?

“They’ll be back anytime now, hun.” Ruby said from a nearby picnic table, cardigan pulled tight around her to fight off the night chill. Her voice was optimistic, but her foot tapped rapidly in worry.

The young woman carefully ran her fingers over the thin braids along the right side of her head, the rest of her hair hanging loose on her left. She closed her eyes and focused on the feeling of Louis’ gentle touch after he finally convinced her to let him do her hair.

But pretending he was there only drew attention to the fact that he wasn’t, and neither was AJ. After losing him not once, but twice, Clementine begged that third time’s the charm wouldn't mean losing him forever.

Calm down you’re overthinking this.

Louis wouldn’t let anything happen to AJ, and Aasim was probably the smartest one of them all. He knew how to keep them out of danger.

Clementine had run out of things to keep herself busy as the time ticked on, far beyond the point they were supposed to return. The bowls were washed, patrols were done, the watchtower was deemed structurally sound. Nothing left to do but wait as the night grew colder.

“See anything?” She called up to the two standing on the watchtower.

“Not much.” Violet joked, trying to be lighthearted in the absence of their class-clown. Her vision was mostly gone, completely blind in her right eye, but she still knew a walker when she saw one.

She wore her short icy blonde hair in a half ponytail, keeping the strands out of her peripheral vision. A black patch covered her dead eye, tied in a messy knot behind her head. Tennessee convinced her to let him decorate it, painting the flower she was named after with impressive detail.

“It’s too dark to see very far.” Tennesee pointed out.

“They’ll signal when they’re close.”

Tenn was now about the age Clementine was when she first came to the school. Even though he had essentially grown up, he was still that sweet and artistic boy she had met. The only thing that majorly changed about his personality was he had taken to covering the scars on the side of his head. The navy blue beanie was pulled down over the tops of his ears, obscuring most of the burn marks. Ever since they started interacting with other groups, the people would stare and whisper. The boy found it annoying enough to hide his scars. Violet was pissed enough that she wanted to fight a few of them, and she would have if he hadn’t convinced her to drop it. Though it was not so much as she dropped it as she grumbled along with the boy’s wishes and gave death-glares to anyone whose eyes lingered too long.

A long whistle came from beyond the gate, a sound that started low then quickly swooped high. Both Ruby and Clem bolted from their places towards the gate to see three innocently-smiling faces.

“I can explain-” Louis didn’t get a chance to lead with that explanation before Clementine wrapped her arms tightly around both him and AJ. Aasim smiled and playfully rolled his eyes before wrapping an arm around Ruby and giving them some space, mentally preparing for the lecture he was about to get.

“What the hell took you so long?” She bit back tears of both relief and frustration.

“Uh, yeah, sorry about that.” Louis searched for a way to dig himself out of this hole.

“We were tracking a deer and went a little too far.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t find it?”

“I did.” The boy piped up.

“I shot it but it ran away into a bunch of walkers”

“Shit.” Clementine swore.

“We need to be more careful if walkers are starting to group up like that again. That’s how herds form.”

“We should see if there’s anything we can salvage before we head to the meetup point.” Louis decided.

“Bones, antlers, parts of the hide if it isn’t too chewed up. Anything we could trade with. Plus if we run into the smelly patrol that ruined our hunt, we could take ‘em out before their gang gets too big.”

“Sounds like a decent plan.” Clem agreed.

“We should leave a little earlier if we’re gonna find that deer.”

As the excitement died down a wave of exhaustion and drowsiness fell over the group and they began heading back to the dormitories. Clementine nodded to Louis and AJ as she turned to follow the Vi and Tenn, only taking a few steps before her legs were lifted out from under her. The young woman let out a gasped yelp as she looked up to see Louis smiling down at her as he carried her bridal style.

“What the hell are you doing?” Clem asked as her cheeks became warm.

“You only limp like that when your leg hurts.” He said plainly as he continued to carry her towards their room with no intention of putting her down until they arrived.

“Why are you like this.” She groaned but was unable to stop the curl of her smile

“‘Cause I love you.” Louis replied with a quick yet exaggerated kiss to her forehead.

---

The next morning the three of them set out along with Aasim, Mitch, and Brody. Waving goodbye to those who stayed to watch the school and memorizing their requests once they met up with the caravan.

“You think Layla picked up some new weapons this round?” Mitch asked with a devious smile.

“Oh, hush.” Brody scolded him, pulling her braid over her shoulder.

“Don’t you have enough knives?”

“You can never have enough knives.” The brunet smiled as he draped his arm around the short girl’s shoulder.

“Meds and ammo are top priority.” Clementine reminded, machete clutched tight in her hand as she kept an eye out for any movement among the trees.

“We need to start saving for winter. Hope you all brushed up on your haggling skills.”

They followed AJ’s lead deep into the woods until they finally came upon the clearing from the night before. The area was surprisingly devoid of walkers. The grasshoppers that fled each of their steps and the buzzing flies were the only things moving in this field.

“There it is.” AJ said with a tinge of disgust at what the animal looked like now. It wasn’t much more than a skeleton. The white of bone was more prominent than even the red of the blood, most of the meat and entrails stripped away making it nearly unrecognizable from the animal he had killed.

“Not quite the feeding frenzy I expected.” Louis joked. 

“They made quick work of this fella.”

Aasim moved in closer to take a look with his by now expert hunter’s eyes. He ran his hand over a few of the ribs, feeling the texture of the bone for any imperfections.

“A few scratches but no breaks or teeth marks.” He confirmed with a mildly impressed expression.

“These will be good material for crafting.”

Clementine knelt carefully in the blood-soaked grass, prodding the carcass with her knife to examine its insides. She scrunched her nose at the vile smell, batting away the swarm of flies to investigate what she suspected from afar.

“Look at this one.” Clem beckoned him to where her blade pointed, using it to push back a piece of meat to fully show the laceration embedded into one of its ribs. It was smooth and deep against the otherwise nearly immaculate bone.

“Does that look like a knife mark to you?”

“Could be.” Aasim speculated.

“Not sure what anyone would want from a mostly-eaten deer carcass if they weren’t after the same things we are.”

“What if it wasn’t mostly-eaten when they found it.” Clementine bit her lip at the possibility.

“I mean look at it, does it look like any walker food you’ve ever seen?”

“What are you saying?” Mitch’s eyes narrowed quizzically as he defensively scanned the area around them.

“This animal wasn’t mauled, it was dressed.”

Her words hung heavy in the open clearing. They were used to interacting with others at this point. Layla’s caravan seemed to have new members every time she passed through telling tales of the other communities triumphs and woes alike. Despite all of this, no good soul could erase that happened five years ago, and the wooden replacement for her limb was a constant reminder.

“You think there’s someone sneakin’ around out here?” Brody said with a tone of worry. It was uncommon for her to come to trade meets and Clementine didn’t want something like this to put her off the idea.

“Someone who knows how to move walkers?” Louis added, not helping the red head’s anxiety.

“Let’s take what we came here for and head to the meetup spot” The young woman decided, accepting Louis’ hand to help her off the ground.

“We’re pretty far from the school. Whoever did this may never find us and if they do we’ll handle it.”

Something isn’t right here...

A body crashed loudly through the bushes at the edge of the clearing. The walker snarled through the cloth around its face as it reached for Mitch first. The freckled man smirked as he unsheathed one of his favourites knives from his belt. It had a wide steel blade that was serrated and slightly curved. He took his weapon and effortlessly fell the walker in one quick stab. 

“It’s just like the others.” AJ said in almost a whisper.

“What?” Clementine turned to see the boy with a puzzled expression across his face.

“I killed two walkers yesterday and they both had that.” 

Clementine could now see what he was talking about. The fabric tied over the walker’s face had a symbol of fangs painted over it. Clementine stared frozen at the symbol, a faint memory tugging at her brain. It sent a chill up her spine as adrenalin began to charge her system. It felt like something her mind wanted desperately to forget, but those fangs sunk in deep until she couldn’t bear to look at it anymore.

Get out of my head!

“What’s wrong?” Louis’ fingers intertwined with her own.

“We need to leave.” She said in a hoarse whisper, barely audible to herself over the sound of her rapidly beating heart.

Louis squeezed her hand and nodded. He knew Clem would explain later, no longer being the type to keep many secrets from him. Some fragments of her memory were best left unspoken, but she could no longer bring herself to straight-up lie. The young woman nodded in agreement and leaned into him slightly as she continued to plead internally to not have a panic attack right there. “They’re gone.” AJ said as he searched the field. “I killed two just like that one but now they’re gone.” The only walkers among them were the one that mitch had just killed and another one with a bullet hole between its eyes. Dead walkers didn’t just get back up and walk away.

“There’s more of them.” Clementine said as she and the others joined him with weapons drawn. 

Footsteps moved through the trees but in the wrong direction, moving farther away and gaining speed.

That isn’t a walker.

“Hey!” Clementine shouted as she chased down the unknown onlooker, ignoring the shouts from those behind her.

Leaves rained down all around them as Clementine followed the flash of blonde hair that weaved between the trees threatening to outpace her as her prosthetic slowed her down considerably. Clementine called to the girl the whole way, but she was unrelenting in her escape attempt.

What had she seen?

What did she know?

This wasn’t something she could let go. Not with everything she’d built. If her past was sneaking up behind her to slit her throat she wanted to be ready to right back. 

Lady Luck must have had mercy on her at that moment as her target was sent sprawling to the ground with a cry, her ankle catching on a thick root. The girl crawled towards a boulder, whipping around and brandishing a small blade just as Clementine caught up.

“W-Why were you watching us? Who… Who are you?” Clementine choked out her questions as she tried to catch her breath.

The girl glared back through her wild straw-coloured hair with a snarl on her lips. The sight of her closer resembled a wild animal than what appeared to be a teenage girl. 

“Get away from me.” She hissed, one hand clutching her knife and the other around her ankle.

“Who are you with?” Clementine hesitantly took a few steps forward.

The girl uses the bolder to help her stand and her bared teeth shape into a wicked smile. Clementine continues her failing interrogation but now her hand is slowly drifting to the sheath on the back of her belt. 

She looks about ready to slit my throat.

Clementine pulled her machete out of her sheath as she asked one final question.

“What do you know about the fangs?”

“Clementine!” Louis yelled from somewhere not too far back.

The distraction was just enough for Clem to lose focus when the girl charged with a crazed scream. She slashed at Clem with her knife, only managing a shallow but long gash from her collar bone across her shoulder as she jumped back. The girl didn’t go for a second attack, booking it past her into the forest just as Clementine’s group found her.

“Don't!” She yelled not to the fleeing girl but to her friends as they tried to go after her.

“She’s fucking feral.”

Clementine pressed the collar of her now torn shirt against the stinging cut, the already red fabric staining darker with the droplets of blood that trickled out.

“You got hurt!” AJ exclaimed when he saw her hand tightly pressed to her skin

“I’m okay.” She tried to smile reassuringly, but it quickly fell flat.

“You sure?” Louis moved her hand to take a closer look, huffing at the injury.

Clementine wanted nothing more than to go back to the school. Back to her home. But unfortunately, they still had work to do.

“Let’s just find the caravan.”

[sunsetinmyvein]

Just Off the Key of Reason - Chapter Thirteen - A Reception Less Than Warm

A/N - It’s Chicagoan, for the record.

Saturday, 16th of June, 2007 - Portland, Oregon

‘Tense’ would’ve been the appropriate word to explain how the atmosphere had changed between their first and second leg. Patrick didn’t want to abandon his girlfriend when she didn’t know anyone else, but nobody wanted to hang out with him when he was busy fawning over her. The awkward love triangle that now existed also wasn’t fun for anyone and they all felt like they had to walk on eggshells to make sure they didn’t say something out of line. As a result, Patrick and his girlfriend just spent all of their time together. He found himself feeling isolated and like a socialite all at the same time. At the Washington show he spent more of his time showing her around than actually doing sound check and making sure he was ready to play, leaving most of the band rolling their eyes every time he stopped in the middle of his checks to explain something to her (though, Pete could hardly complain when he dropped his bass in an attempt to reply to a text from his own girlfriend). Everyone had the nagging feeling that six was a crowd, particularly considering that there were only six beds on the bus that were all already taken between the five of them and the driver. Even Patrick had to admit that sharing his bunk wasn’t enjoyable and it was not something he had entirely thought through. He didn’t like cramming himself into one at the best of times and having to share that space was fairly uncomfortable, even despite the company. They made the three hour drive to Oregon through the night after their first second leg show and then had the day to either explore what they could before the show in Portland or sit around on the tour bus. After a restless night’s sleep, nobody felt much like walking around before they had to play a set.

 The summer air was finally starting to have that dense, humid heat to it and they were fast realising that six was also a crowd when you’re all crammed into a tiny lounge room with sticky leather seats. Patrick had been sent on a coffee run with his girlfriend so that everyone else could get some space from ‘Oh, no way, that’s my favourite too!’ before they did something they’d regret. Despite removing a third of their numbers, the bus did not cool down any and in fact only seemed to grow warmer as the minutes passed. “Is it just me, or is the tour bus stuffy?” Pete thought aloud as his eyes scanned the wall for an air conditioning panel or at least a fan. Andy nodded in agreement from behind his book. Joe jutted his foot in the direction of the kitchen, where he could vaguely see the controls for a central cooling system. “Wow, they really went all out.” He muttered as he forcibly removed himself from the couch that was stuck to the underside of his thighs and walked over to it.

“Yeah, they fucking better have after making us sort our own shit out for the first leg.” Joe grumbled as he sprawled across the couch into Pete’s now empty space.

“I’ve heard around the office that if Pete didn’t cost you guys so much money on those paintings he so desperately needed, the tour would’ve been like this the whole way through.”

“Look, I know you work for our boss and all, but can we not talk work when we’re dying of heatstroke?” Pete glared down at the girl lying on the linoleum floor of the kitchen. “Why are you even down there?”

“It’s cooler.” She shrugged lazily.

“Nothing is as cool as me, babe.” He winked. She rolled her eyes as a chorus of groans sounded from the lounge room.

  He fiddled with the dials on the wall, trying to work out how to turn the bus into an ice arena as soon as physically possible. He would much rather be freezing to death than slowly melting. As he pulled the dial as hard as it would go to the cold side, he felt it snap off in his fingers.

“Oh… I… Uh…” He stammered quietly to himself, trying to fit the dial back onto the switch before anyone noticed. At the sounds of Pete’s panic she sat up off the floor, trying to see what he was hiding.

“What did you do?” She asked in suspicion.

“Nothing.” He lied as she got to her feet and grabbed his hand. Upon seeing the now totally out of shape and half broken dial that would definitely not fit back on the wall panel, she glared at him.

“Oh… my God…” She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.

“Actually, just Pete is fine.” He shot back with a shit eating grin.

“How do you always do this shit?” She muttered in exasperation as she tried to fit the deformed piece of plastic back to the wall. “I don’t even know why I asked to come back.” She added under her breath.

“You… You asked to come back..?” Patrick interrupted.

  She turned around in surprise to see that Patrick was now standing in the doorway behind them, take-away coffees in hand. He looked like he’d just been slapped in the face.

“Uh… yeah, I did.” Her face burning up from the admission. There was a moment of silence as he stared at her in confusion, the tension building between them.

“But you… why?” He frowned down at the coffees in his hand.

“She couldn’t get enough of the Wentz magic.” Pete declared loudly as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I know she was hired to babysit me, but-” he moved his hand to next to his mouth in an attempt to seem secretive, “-I’m pretty sure she’s in love with me and bribed the label.” He whispered loudly. She elbowed him harshly in the ribs.

“I did not, Pete.” She growled through gritted teeth as she shrugged his arm off.

“No, you’re right. It’s because I stole some shit while we were on break. She found out and told them her role was still necessary.” He lied. She opened her mouth to correct him before realising that he was trying to cover for her. Her mouth slowly closed as she tried to work out why Pete was doing this for her. It wasn’t exactly like him to put himself on the line for others. In her deliberation, it seemed that Patrick was happy enough to accept that as an answer, or just happy enough to leave the conversation, pushing his way past them still half hidden behind his hat. His girlfriend followed closely behind, seemingly oblivious to how awkward that interaction had just been, as they made their way into the lounge. Pete went to walk off as well but she caught his hoodie sleeve and pulled him back towards the front of the bus.

“Why did you lie for me?” She asked lowly.

“Don’t friends do shit like that for each other?” He said with a shrug, slipping his sleeve out of her grasp and going to get his cup of caffeinated sugary goodness.

  They still had a few hours before they needed to go into the venue for sound check, and drinking their coffees could only fill that void so much. Eventually people either decided to watch a b-grade action movie playing on a local TV station in the lounge, or opted to sit in the tiny dining area and play cards. As time passed, the damage that Pete had done became apparent. Slowly but surely their tour bus began freezing from the inside out. The warm, humid air from outside the bus was almost causing condensation on the inside of the windows because they were so cold. Their breaths were ever so slightly foggy and bones starting to feel an unusual level of chill. Blankets were pulled from bunks to go across couches and shoulders, layers were piled on. Pete was overjoyed that his plan had worked; he wouldn’t have to face the summer heat. However the full time worrier and part time loss prevention representative wasn’t willing to survive a month in a cooler. She had tried at least a million times to fit that dial back on the wall, but it was no use.

  “We need to call someone to fix this as soon as they can.” She huffed, a slight shiver finding its way into her voice as she fished her phone out of her pocket. Maybe she could find a nearby mechanic that might be able to help.

“It’s really not that bad.” Joe shrugged from underneath his three jumpers.

“Just rug up.” Andy added, throwing a beanie towards her from where he was laying in his bunk, under a blanket.

“Why do you guys have all this? It’s June. I didn’t pack for cold weather.”

“We Chicagonians are always prepared for winter at any given time.” Joe stated matter-of-factly, throwing an ace onto the table.

“I don’t think that’s a word. Or true.” She said as she rifled through her bag in the hopes of finding more than the one jacket she knew she packed.

“Chicag-ish..?” He muttered to himself, stroking the stubble that was forming on his chin.

“Chicagonese.” Pete corrected. He took the cards back and began shuffling the deck.

“You’re both idiots.” She grumbled as she pulled on an extra pair of socks.

  “Just borrow my hoodie.” Patrick called from the back lounge. Looking up at the source of his voice, she saw him sitting across the couch at the back of the bus with his girlfriend’s legs resting across his lap. She tried not to wince at the sight but the uncomfortable feeling of jealousy still settled itself at the bottom of her chest. As she glanced down at the bus floor in an attempt to not have to look at the scene in the lounge, she saw the offending blue and white hoodie that he was referring to.  She didn’t overly want to be borrowing Patrick’s clothes at this particular point in time, but she also didn’t want to freeze to death.

“Are you sure?” She asked hesitantly, almost certain she could feel Pete’s eyes boring into the back of her head.

“Yeah, I mean it hasn’t been washed since we left for tour, but it should still be pretty clean.” He shrugged. After one last moment of deliberation, she picked it up off the floor and pulled it over her head.

  It was definitely a few sizes too big, but that just made it a perfect defence from the onslaught of cold from the central cooling vents. The sleeves went down past the tips of her fingers and the hood would most certainly cover her nose if she had it up. He had been right that it was still mostly clean; the smell of washing powder still lingered on it and she couldn’t see the tell-tale stains that normally adorned their tour clothes. However, the undeniable smell of Patrick also lingered the threads, much to her annoyance. She walked over to where Joe and Pete were playing cards and sat next to Joe, while Pete just stared at her expectantly from across the table.

“What?” She asked with a frown.

“Nothing,” He shrugged. “I’m just surprised you don’t want a moment alone with the hoodie, is all.” He added quietly. She kicked him under the table as hard as she could muster, earning a loud yelp from him.

“Shut the fuck up.” She growled at him, picking a card up from the table and flicking it into his forehead. Joe quietly sniggered next to her.

  They finally got called into the venue for sound check and were freed from their wintery prison of mild boredom. As much as she hated to admit it, the hoodie was oddly comforting. The sudden change in temperature to summer heat wasn’t enough of a motivator for her to part with it, instead rolling up the sleeves and continuing to work with it on. She hated how quickly she had already grown attached to it and how quickly it had dredged up things she was trying to ignore for the greater good. Patrick hated how good she looked in it.

[sanderssidesfanfiction]

A System of Sides Chapter Twelve

A/N: Hello everyone, we’re back again, this time with 19 years under our belt and a spring in our step! (AKA it’s our birthday and we figured we’d update our fics as a present to ourselves.) Hope you enjoy!

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Words: 3,359

Warnings: Touch starvation, car accident mention, death mention

Roman felt more than a little like the bad kid called into the principal's office as he walked up the stairs. "Roman, why did you try to hit Logan?" Thomas asked as he closed the door to his room once Roman was inside.

"That's it?" Roman asked with a small huff. "I don't even get a hello or a nice to see you again or even a question of my own answered?"

"Hello," Thomas said drily. "You. Punching Logan. Why?"

Roman glared in frustration at Thomas for about ten seconds before sighing in defeat. "He made me angry," he said simply.

"Okay. Why did you think hitting him would solve anything?" Thomas asked. "Logan would have probably just hit you back."

"Because it would shut him up!" Roman said, making wild gestures with his hands. "He doesn't know what's good for you, Thomas, half the time he just wants to sit around the house and read something, and the other half he holes up in his room and doesn't leave for days!"

"Uh-huh," Thomas said. "And I assume that means you know what's best for me, then?"

Roman nodded. "Logan and I agreed to split front time, but he still doesn't know what's best for you."

Thomas shook his head. "Roman, I'm going to tell you something. Both you and Logan think you know what's best for me. And you know what? Neither of you are one-hundred percent right."

Roman stood stock still, blinking, hands frozen in mid-air. When he managed to register those words in his brain, he sputtered. "B-but, Thomas, you don't understand--"

"No, Roman, I understand perfectly. You want me to follow my biggest ambitions and stop at nothing until I get there. Logan wants me to be completely practical and pragmatic and further my knowledge of whatever I'm interested in at that point. And I can't completely follow either of those paths. You can't be a one-man show, Roman. You want to reach for the stars, but the way you keep on turning and reaching for different ones only means that we're grounded for longer," Thomas explained.

Roman looked at Thomas, and he knew he couldn't hide the hurt on his face. He was helping Thomas all these years, couldn't he see? He had just apologized to everyone for thinking he was more important, what more did they want from him? To be completely boring like Logan was? To have no ambitions whatsoever? "But...but I'm...I'm trying to...I'm trying to help you, Thomas!"

"I know," Thomas said, holding his hands up. "Believe me, Roman, I know. But there are some things that I just can't follow my dreams for. There are things where I do have to take a step back, and logically analyze whether or not doing this is beneficial. There are times when I get fear over what I'm doing, and for good reason! Some of my dreams are terrifying, and the leaps of faith I have to make are too great. There are even times where, as much as I want to reach for a dream, Patton can point out how many people I'd hurt in the process of getting there. Following my dreams is great, Roman. And I understand that because you're in a large part creativity, there's nothing more you'd rather do than reach every dream we've ever created together. But there are some that can't be reached, and there are some that shouldn't, and there are some that really just can't be a priority at all times."

Roman still felt hurt everywhere in his heart. Thomas...didn't like what he was literally made to do? At least, he didn't want to have Roman plan for things all the time? How could he? He tried so hard to help Thomas, and it turned out Thomas didn't want his help!

"It's not that I don't want your help, Roman," Thomas said, walking over and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Believe me, I love your help and I'd never want you anywhere but here. You just have to understand the others help me too. You're not the only one who can and does work for what's 'best' for me. And the others deserve a chance too, don't you think?"

Roman worried his lip. He knew Thomas was making a point, and a very good point at that. It just still stung that he wasn't doing enough...by doing too much.

"Roman?" Thomas prompted. "Are you okay?"

Shaking his head, Roman sighed. "Fine, I suppose."

"Roman. Understand that this isn't an attack against you, okay? Believe me, I wouldn't have gotten as far as I have without you at my side. But the others are at my side too. You know this."

"Yeah," Roman said. "It's just...I suppose I'm not feeling well today. Something still doesn't feel right."

Thomas hugged him and Roman blinked in surprise, hugging back for lack of anything else to do. He was surprised at how good this felt, how much he needed human contact that he didn't realize was necessary. The warm arms around him, gently pressing into his arms and back. It was reassuring in ways he hadn't felt in years, someone saying I'm here for you when you need me. He rested his head on Thomas' shoulder and thought on what Thomas was saying. It was something he had heard often at a young age. But he wasn't sure he understood what it meant...until now.

As much as it hurt to be told he was wrong, this was a wake up call for Roman, almost as big as game night. He wasn't more important than the others, because they all had a role to play. So it stood to reason that all those roles put together created the ideal ending, rather than leaning towards only one person.

Roman eased up his hugging and Thomas released him and took a step back. "Feeling better?"

Yeah, he really did. How in the world could Thomas do that? "You must be some sort of magic," Roman laughed.

Thomas shook his head. "No, I just have a lot of experience in this area. You know, the whole human interaction thing was left up to me when it came to day-to-day occurrences for years."

Roman turned red as he realized he was slightly responsible for that. "Uh...sorry. Didn't think that was really...my area, I guess."

Thomas' eyes betrayed his amusement. "No more hitting, okay? If you and Logan have a problem, you can come to me. I'll do what I can to sort it out."

Roman gave a slightly sheepish smile. "Right. Thanks."

"No hard feelings?" Thomas asked.

Roman shook his head. "I was a little hurt by you telling me I wasn't being helpful when I was fighting for front, but I see where you're coming from, so I'll live."

Thomas smiled. "Good. Do you still have any of those questions you had before or no? Because if not, I'd like to speak to Logan about why he shouldn't be yelling at you just because he's angry. Actually, I should just make a public service announcement about it, maybe you guys would listen if I publicly called you out."

Roman snorted. "No, I have received your message loud and clear, no need to call me out for anything but singing too many Disney songs occasionally."

"Oh, so you're the one who insists on singing them at half past midnight, I've been wondering," Thomas said with a wink and a grin to show that he was only teasing.

"Well, can you really blame me?" Roman asked with a chuckle.

"Yes," Thomas said, nodding. "But only if you don't agree to stop it when I'm trying to sleep."

Roman made a cross-motion over his heart. "You won't have to worry about me doing that again...for a little while, anyway."

"I'll take it," Thomas said, shaking his head. "Now, you seem pretty certain in what you do from day-to-day, and it's not unhealthy, so I don't need to talk to you about that...anything else you think we should talk about now that can't wait until we're out of this mess and safe at home?"

Roman thought about it. He was practically bursting with questions about how Thomas was, how he felt at seeing them again, and whether or not he counted it as a good thing. Though considering their current situation he thought all those things could probably be put on the back-burner for a little while. "I think there's nothing too pressing," he said with a shrug. "I would like to know how you feel about seeing all of us again, but that can wait."

Thomas laughed and Roman felt brief offense. What was so funny about his response that it would cause Thomas to laugh?

"Of course I'm happy to see you guys again, I'm ecstatic to see how you've grown up from the kids I remember! It's just a little difficult for me to share that right now, with all the infighting and the car crash and everything. When we get back home, provided I don't pass out on the couch, we can talk more as a group. I just need to make sure no one is going to throttle each other before then. It's nothing against you at all, or anyone else. I just really, really need us to work together until we're home. That wasn't happening with the way everything was going." Thomas rubbed the back of his neck. "And, much as I don't like our current position, there is one upside to it."

"What's that?" Roman asked. What could be so positive about a car accident?

"I'm not frontstuck anymore," Thomas said with a grin. "You guys could front on your own, or I could come into your rooms and hang out, or we could explore options we never had the chance to before! The possibilities are practically endless!"

Roman smiled. Leave it to Thomas to find the bright side of things. "So we're good?"

"We're good," Thomas confirmed. "Tell Logan to come up here, will you?"

Roman nodded as he opened the door. "I will."

Once back in the common room, Roman was immediately the center of attention. Patton looked up with hope in his eyes from where he was sitting, Logan looked over worried, and Virgil had slight desperation slipping through the cracks of his mask. "Logan, you're next," Roman said.

Logan nodded and left the room quickly, while Virgil slumped in his seat, drumming his fingers against an old, beat-up binder. "Chin up, Virgil, you'll get to talk to Thomas after he's done with Logan!" Patton exclaimed.

Virgil just sighed. Roman frowned. Virgil was very despondent, more so than usual. What was the problem here? "Virgil, Thomas only talked to the rest of us first because we were either emotionally compromised or about to start a fight. You were the most stable out of all of us, which I would take as complete success! Wear that badge with pride!"

"Whatever," Virgil sighed. "It's not important, anyway. Just wanted to give Thomas something before we all started figuring out what to do about our car accident."

"Ah, yes, that is indeed a problem that needs to be addressed," Roman agreed. "How do you suppose that we figure it out?"

Virgil blinked and frowned. "You're the creative one. You tell us!"

Roman thought about his talk with Thomas. Would including the others in this plan help? It was possible. And if they proved that they could work with Roman well, and get them to a conclusion that Roman predicted or better...well, he wasn't about to stop them fronting then, if they gave each other a little boost. "I cannot do everything by myself at all times, Virgil; I would appreciate some help."

"What should we figure out first, though?" Patton asked. "What do we need to know in order to get rescued? Logan was talking about figuring out a way to communicate with others where we are, but we don't have cell service."

"We could walk somewhere until we have service again, obviously," Roman said, frowning. "But something tells me that would lead us nowhere fast, and in this rain it's not advisable to walk alongside the road, we may not be seen until it's too late."

Virgil shuddered. "Yeah, no, not about to risk be getting hit with a car, thanks."

Roman thought to himself. A wrecked car, no cell service, only a little cash and ID in his wallet. That wasn't helpful. His mind was moving too fast to even make much sense out of this whole situation. This was too much, he needed order, he needed some form of organization...he needed Logan.

Oh, he felt like an idiot.

"We'll have to wait until Logan is back down here to come up with a cohesive plan," Roman said. "I can come up with ideas but Logan is more likely to figure out what's going to work."

"Great," Virgil muttered. "We have to wait until everyone is here to get everything done, meanwhile we might be dying outside, because we have no way to tell if we're bleeding, or concussed, or even submerged in water and about to drown. Just great."

Patton started to shake and Roman turned to him in alarm. "Patton are you all right?"

"Y-yeah," Patton said. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just...I'm just...feeling Virgil's fear. There's a lot of it and it's...wow, Virge, how do you live with all this running in your head all the time?"

"That's not the worst of it," Virgil said with a grimace. "You're just feeling the excess. I'm dealing with most of it."

Roman blinked. "You mean...Patton can feel what you feel?" he asked.

"Yeah, and right now he's feeling unbridled panic," Virgil snipped.

"Could he feel what I'm feeling, too?" Roman asked.

"Probably, but that would more likely just overwhelm him," Virgil said.

Roman crossed his arms and considered that information. He should try anyway, shouldn't he? "It's still worth a shot," he muttered. "Patton? Can you try and focus on what I'm feeling?"

Patton looked at him and shakily nodded. Roman thought about his most ridiculous, out-of-left-field never-going-to-happen fantasy and the pride he felt at coming up with it, the satisfaction of writing it down, the happiness of reliving it in his head when he got stressed.

Slowly, Patton's breathing started to even out and the shaking lessened. Roman eased up on all his memories, lest he get so excited Patton would become borderline manic, but Patton didn't pick up the shaking again. "Did you just...did you just get rid of his fear?" Virgil asked incredulously.

"No," Patton said, shaking his head. "I was still terrified out of my mind. Roman just gave me happy feelings to focus on, bringing up good memories, too, so that even while I was scared, I didn't have to focus on what was causing the fear. Sort of like distracting yourself during a panic attack. The fear's there, but it's not your focus, and you can process the fear in the back of your mind until it's gone."

Virgil's forehead wrinkled as he thought through what exactly that meant. Roman shifted from foot to foot. What was Virgil thinking? Hopefully it wasn't anything untoward about what happened?

"...I remember you doing that years ago when Thomas got stressed," Virgil said. "I always assumed you were just pushing me aside and trying to get Thomas to bottle up my feelings. You were just trying to let him focus on something less stressful until he naturally calmed down?"

"Well, yes," Roman said. "It's dangerous to bottle emotions up, I simply wanted him to not be completely engulfed in panic all the time. It was meant to be a brief respite."

"Wow. I, uh, I guess I owe you an apology about that, then," Virgil said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Because I assumed you were just so full of yourself that I was only a nuisance in your eyes."

"No, you don't need to apologize. I need to apologize, because for the longest time I did think that. But I was wrong to do so," Roman said. "I hope that in the future, we can have fewer misunderstandings and perhaps even work together at times, rather than keeping each other back."

Virgil nodded, before opening his binder and starting to read whatever was in it, effectively ending their conversation. Roman moved over to Patton and said, "So, anything new go on while I was talking with Thomas that I should know about?"

"Logan suggested we play cards," Patton said with a shrug. "Nothing really big happened, we just talked about being stuck here, basically. Oh! Also, Logan asked me a lot of questions when I first came back from Thomas' room, and I think he's actually been worried about how Thomas is feeling right now."

"Really?" Roman asked skeptically.

Patton nodded. "Mm-hm! He didn't use the word 'feeling' but I got the sense that he was worried about Thomas' mental state. Which is sweet, but also kinda weird, because I didn't think Logan dealt with emotions?"

Roman shrugged. "There are many things we all are learning about each other today that we didn't know before. It is quite amusing on one hand, on the other I crave some form of a break so that all this can sink in. It's simply so much to absorb."

Patton nodded sagely. "Thomas told me that I was allowed to feel negative emotions, and I'm still trying to figure that out, to be honest. Because I make other people feel what I'm feeling, a lot of the time, and I don't want to make people sad!"

"But it's better to feel sad sometimes than simply bottling that up and waiting for it to explode," Roman pointed out. "Especially because you influence how others feel. If you break down, it's an emotional roller coaster for everyone. But if you just get sad every once in a while, well, you're less likely to break down and we can just watch Parks and Rec for a little while until we feel better. It's not such a big deal to be sad."

Patton made a huh noise. "Does that mean that I'd be allowed to cry if I was upset, too?"

"I don't see why not!" Roman exclaimed. "Crying is one of the best ways to get rid of sadness there is! Logan probably knows why, but after crying you feel exhausted but much better."

Patton nodded again, humming in thought. "Why does everyone get so serious when I tell them that I'm influenced by their emotions?"

"Probably because they're remembering their worst moments and realizing that you were feeling like that too. Our worst moments are something we would never wish on anyone, and I the thought that someone else had to experience that, just because they were going through it...it's unpleasant."

"But I help you guys with it!" Patton protested. "I take the stuff you can't handle so you're upset for shorter amounts of time and hopefully less upset overall. I help you guys when I feel that! The main problem is if I don't get rid of it."

Roman sat down next to Patton and hummed. "Now that you mention it, when I get excessively angry it does feel sometimes like I'm channeling my anger into something else, and when I calm down to just the right point, I can use that anger to become productive in other endeavors. That is a big help."

"And it's because of me!" Patton said proudly. "It's not a bad thing, it's really helpful and I'm more than happy to share the love!"

Roman smiled. "If only everyone in the world were like you, Patton, I don't think there would be any more problems to work through."

Maybe he could learn a thing or two from Patton as well.

Tag List: @lilbeanblr @kittyboof8 @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @sanders-trash-4ever @hamilspntrash @loganpatton @lizzysperil @tree4life25 @nyxwordsmith @docetuga @wingedkuriboh27 @virgilient @cookieartcannon @jordandobbertin @pr0bablypr0crstinating @hissesssss @areyousirius-noheisdead

[tylerhoechlns]

Sterek Bookmarks (2/?)

WARNING: I have been bookmarking almost every sterek fic I have ever read since the summer of 2015. Some of these fics may include side pairings or briefly include Derek and/or Stiles with someone else. I tried to add some tags and warnings here but PLEASE read the tags and or warnings on the fic itself if this is something you do not like. All of these fics are completed.

There are (more than) a few author repeats. Sorry? Enjoy! 

Leather & Us by PolarisTheYoungWolf (Explicit - 1.5k)

Prompt: Stiles wearing only Derek's leather jacket ...

— Tags and Warnings: Underage, Established Relationship, Smut

Who's Wearing the Panties? by Emela (Explicit - 2.2k)

Stiles discovers Derek's secret kink: silk, teal panties, which of course Stiles is only too willing to indulge his boyfriend in playing with.

— Tags and Warnings: Dressing Room Sex, Derek in Panties, Mirror Sex, Praise Kink, Established Relationship

Gunplay is Not Really Our Kink by theroguesgambit (Mature - 2.5k)

Derek and Stiles are captured by a group of hunters and forced to play a twisted game that only one of them might walk away from.

— Tags and Warnings: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, Possible Character Death, Recovering from Trauma

So come on now (Strike the match) by Marishna (Mature - 2.9k)

"All week I've been noticing the young ones, those twins? They've been smelling me," Stiles explained. Scott growled low, but Stiles shook his head. "Not overtly or as a threat, I think. But tonight when I was grabbing some sustenance." Stiles hefted the grocery bag up for reference. "One of the other ones was there. The woman with the gnarly toenails? And she did it, too. And gave me this look."

"What kind of look?" Peter asked, stepping out of the shadows by the staircase and at least three of the pack jumped, weres included.

Stiles glared at him but went on. "Like I was fresh meat? Which isn't a look I'm unfamiliar with after being in high school but this was the first time someone who could actually kill me has looked at me like that. I mean, except you," Stiles gestured to Peter. And then turned to Derek and shrugged. "And you, but those are more out of anger, I think."

— Tags and Warnings: Underage, AU: Canon Divergence Scent Marking

🔒 Still Stuck On You by bleep0bleep (Explict - 2.9k)

One of Stiles' goals for Thanksgiving weekend is to take advantage of the privacy away from his crowded dorm rooms to get to know his new vibrator.

He gets, uh, stuck.

Deputy Derek Hale assists.

— Tags and Warnings: AU: College, AU: Human, Childhood Friends, Porn Without Plot

Stay Awhile by imaythrowuponya (Teen - 3.5k)

Once Derek’s brain finally kicks back online, his first thought is how amazing that movement would look on paper. His second is where the hell is his sketchpad?

— Tags and Warnings: Coffee Shop!AU, Artist!Derek, Fluff

testing the waters by grimm (Explict - 4k)

Prompt fill: "I would LOVE a future!fic where Stiles randomly bumps into Derek, maybe in nyc. He's in college now or maybe even post college, and this is their first time interacting since Derek left Beacon Hills. Stiles is obviously SMOKING HOT now and Derek finally got his shit together and is a successful 30 something."

— Tags and Warnings: Porn Without Plot

Easy Alpha by interropunct (Teen - 4.6k)

Easy A/Teen Wolf AU. Wherein, Derek Hale is the high school hussy, Jackson and Scott really need to learn to use their inside voices. And, contrary to popular belief, everyone is still a virgin.

— Tags and Warnings: AU: High School, Fake/Pretend Relationship

You Had Me Since by Emela (Explicit - 5.1k)

“Would it help if I blew you?” “What?” Derek sputters. There is no way he heard that right. No way would Stiles Stilinski be asking him if he wanted a- “Blow job.” That.

— Tags and Warnings: AU: Hight School, AU: Humans, Virgin!Derek, Light D/s, Love Confessions, Porn Without Plot

Worth the Wait to Give You My Heart by secondstar (Teen  6.3k)

All of Derek's memories surrounding his birthday were of his family, of their deaths. After leaving Beacon Hills, he thought the past was behind him; until he and Stiles began exchanging SnapChats.

— Tags and Warnings: Fluff and Angst

An (im)Perfect System by theroguesgambit (Teen - 7.9k)

Stiles has always felt pretty lucky about his soul mark. After all, how many conversations tend to start with “This is private property”?

(Apparently more than you'd think.)

— Tags and Warnings: AU: Soulmates, Misunderstandings, Fluff and Angst

Lovebitten by LunaCanisLupus_22 (Mature - 10k)

The one where Derek gets bitten by a lovebug and Stiles is the first person he lays eyes on. Hilarity ensues.

— Tags and Warnings: Dubious Consent, Crack

Sex Shoes by theroguesgambit (Explict - 10k)

Ground rules: Just once, just to get it out of their systems, and they can never, ever tell anyone. Simple, right?

...Once definitely isn't gonna be enough.

Tags and Warnings: Underage (17), Porn with a Little Plot

Unwind by coffeeinallcaps for bleep0bleep (Explicit - 15k)

Hope you enjoy your present, the text from Erica says. Payment’s taken care of. You can thank me tomorrow.

“So you’re a werewolf, huh,” the guy says when Derek looks up at him again. His gaze drifts down from Derek’s face to the rest of his body, slowly, shamelessly. When it’s traveled back up and their eyes meet again, the corner of the guy’s mouth twitches up into a cocky little half-smile. “I fucking love working with werewolves.” AU in which businessman Derek falls in love with escort Stiles.

— Tags and Warnings: AU: Werewolves Are Known, Escort!Stiles, Businessman!Derek, Explicit Sexual Content, Panic Attacks, Emotional Hurt

Regression to the Mean by theroguesgambit (Mature - 16k)

In the aftermath of 3B, Stiles and Derek learn to trust, learn to fuck, and learn to love themselves, each other, and their pack.

— Tags and Warnings: AU: Canon Divergence, Derek and Stiles have PTSD, Pack Feels, Healing

The Love You Save (May Be Your Own) by Nokomis (Teen - 17k) 

Everyone falls magically in love with Stiles. Well, except for Derek, who is suspiciously immune.

— Tags and Warnings: Love Potion/Spell, Misunderstandings

Don't Worry Baby by kalpurna (Explicit - 20k)

"You know you're allowed to ask for vanilla sex, right?" he says, afterwards. "We can do whatever you want. That's kind of the point."

Derek doesn't respond.

— Tags and Warnings: Prostitute!Stiles, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Knotting, Impregnation Kink, Pining, Possessive Behavior

Inevitable You by Red_City (Mature - 22k)

"I'm Derek's mate," Stiles gets out, breathing hard. There is silence in the room.

As he looks around, he realizes that everyone else knew.

— Tags and Warnings: AU: Canon Divergence, Canon Typical Violence, Werewolf!Stiles, Beta Derek, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Fluff and Angst and Smut, Kidnapping

Werewolf-Friendly by badwolfbadwolf (Explicit - 27k)

Derek is a junior in college, never could get the hang of social interaction, and is, you know, a werewolf. A werewolf and a virgin. And it isn’t like anyone is banging down his door to hop on his werewolf dick, save for the few pervs who acted like he was some kind of exotic toy to be played with and experienced. So, when he sees Stiles' ad on Hot Men 4 Rent, Derek is... interested.

— Tags and Warnings: AU: College, AU: Werewolves Are Known, Virgin!Derek, Escort!Stiles, Light D/s, Possessive Behavior, Angst with a Happy Ending

One Door Closes by KouriArashi (Explicit - 27k)

Derek knows that Stiles is too young for him, but Stiles doesn't agree. Eight years after Derek rejects him due to the age gap, they meet again where Derek has settled in Wyoming as a ranch hand, and Stiles is the new deputy, and still pissed as hell about the way Derek turned him down. Things don't go as either of them planned.

— Tags and Warnings: Angst, Misunderstandings, Age Gap

But, Doctor! by stilinskisparkles (Mature - 30k)

“We had to splint a girl’s leg in a ditch,” Scott says excitedly.

“Bro, you sound way too happy about that,” Stiles complains, opening up his bag and pulling out a Twinkie.

Derek removes it from his hand silently and replaces it with an apple. Stiles scowls at him for a second then bites into it, regardless. Derek sits back and lets the group discuss the merits of dramatic lifesaving feats for winning over the ladies. Scott is convinced it’ll help impress Allison; Isaac thinks Scott’s a loser. Stiles—

Stiles is falling asleep on Derek’s shoulder.

— Tags and Warnings: Fluff and Angst, Oblivious Derek, Oblivious Stiles

Pretty Melody by thepsychicclam (Explicit - 30k)

Stiles hasn't seen Derek in six years, so when he shows up at the bar where Stiles works, claiming to be some indie rock star, Stiles can't believe it. Stiles has even more trouble believing that he and Derek are about to have a one night stand.

Soon one night turns into two and three, and seeing Derek causes old wounds to open for Stiles. As Stiles reconnects with Derek, he finds himself painting things he's been avoiding, and he thinks maybe he'll finally start to heal.

— Tags and Warnings: AU: Canon Divergence, Musician Derek, Artist & Bartender Stiles, Fluff and Angst, Past Character Death, Future Fic, Grief/Mourning

🔒DILF by twentysomething  (Explicit - 30k)

"Today is Scott's first day of kindergarten and Derek is terrified."

— Tags and Warnings: AU: Human, Single Parent Derek, Teacher Sties

(not so) Pure Imagination by theroguesgambit (Explicit - 33k)

"There is a world where whenever someone fantasizes about you, you can physically feel it, but you have no idea who is thinking it about you."

Stiles knows it's wrong, but he's been Fantasizing about Derek and he can't bring himself to stop. Derek doesn't know who's taken an interest in him, but he's enjoying it way more than he probably should.

— Tags and Warnings: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Pining, Anonymous Sex, Slight Dubcon Themes

🔒 Practice Makes Perfect by blacktofade  (Explicit - 33k)

In his sophomore year, Stiles gets dragged to lacrosse tryouts by Scott and ends up practicing alongside the senior captain, Derek Hale. Stiles just wants to live long enough to become a junior.

— Tags and Warnings: Underage, AU: High School & College, AU: Humans, Loss of Virginity

Come with Me and Walk the Longest Mile by DevilDoll (Explicit - 39k)

"Stiles shouldn't accept rides from werewolves he meets behind abandoned convenience stores." In which the zombie apocalypse is just one of their worries.

— Tags and Warnings: Underage, AU: Zombies Post-Apocalypse, Canon-Typical Violence, Mating/Heat Cycles

I’d lie by dereksstilinski (greyslittlediaries) (Explicit - 44k)

Derek has already typed the entire report out and even got all of the stuff prepared for the poster that Stiles and him will have to present. Derek found that he actually didn’t mind doing all the work when it was Stiles he was doing it for, but he wasn’t going to let Stiles get away completely. He was going to get Stiles to come over and help with the poster, so help him god.

— Tags and Warnings: AU: High School, AU: Human, AU: No Hale Fire Jock! Stiles, Nerd! Derek, POV Alternating, Pining, Underage Drinking, First Time, Slow Build, Kate Argent

Versus by secondstar (Explict - 94k)

At age nineteen, Stiles Stilinski was the next big thing, according to The Guardian. It was surreal, not being able to turn on Sky Sports without hearing his name mentioned along with the names of players he grew up idolizing. Stiles couldn’t believe that this was his life.

— Tags and Warnings: Derogatory and Homophobic Language, Internalized Homophobia, Homophobia, Coming Out