#i sit down at a random seat in the corner of the classroom with this girl i recently befriended and a few other people

[syl-stormblessed]

that one post that’s like “i think i could survive truly horrific circumstances if i had a crush on someone there” but it’s me in my physics class

[evergone]

Hey!! Idk know if you are taking requests right now but can you write a Theo x Hufflepuff reader imagine where the reader is always telling him to make friends from other houses. He finally does make friends but with a beautiful Ravenclaw and starts spending more time with her. The reader starts feeling insecure and ignores Theo. He soon realises that she is ignoring him and talks to her.

Btw I love your writing and can you please tag me if you do write it?

Too Friendly

Theodore Nott x reader

Warnings: Swearing, allusions to sex but no sex.

Description: The reader wants Theo to make more friends but when he does, she becomes insecure about their bond.

Sorry this took so long to get out, I'm in the middle of my final exams of high school so I don't have much time. I enjoyed writing this one. Thanks for the request @orphicmortala

“It’s sad, Theo, you’ve got, like, no friends!” You said as you tried your best to remember how to tie your yellow tie.

“What do you call Malfoy, then?” Theo asked from the bed.

“An accomplice,” you replied with that unique snark that Theo loved about you, “You need friends from other houses— Friends that aren’t just me.” You added those final words hastily before he could open his mouth in protest.

Theo rolled his eyes and beckoned you over. His hands glided over the folds of your tie with expertise, undoing the mess of a knot you’d created in order to do it up properly and perfectly. When he was done, he looked up at you with his gorgeous, oceanic eyes and the corners of his mouth where both his beautiful lips connected turned upwards. You uttered your thanks quietly as you resisted the primal urge to just not go to class at all and instead spend the whole day with him. Your mind wandered off to imagine being stuck between Theo’s checkered emerald sheets, but you brought it back to reality.

Fending off your lustful desires as well as a nun would, you bid adieu to Theo and hurried out of his room and the Slytherin common room. On your way out, you dodged the teasingly crude jokes and names that Theo’s friends tossed towards you and told Pansy that she was no better than yourself (you’d seen the way she snuck out of that empty classroom after Draco a couple days earlier, her hair and clothes all dishevelled and her thighs rubbing together uncomfortably).

The whole day, Theo dwelled on your words. While you weren’t exactly dating or in a relationship, he always found himself bound to your every word and every whim. You seemed to dictate his life in a way that you certainly shouldn’t, but he couldn’t help but listen to you. So, in Arithmancy, he didn’t sit next to Blaise as he usually did, instead electing to sit with Lisa Turpin, a Ravenclaw girl he’d seen you talk to a few times.

She looked at him in confusion, “Did you need something?”

He withheld the instinct to say some snide remark and instead replied, “I thought I’d make a new friend today.”

“On some random Tuesday… in our Sixth year?” Her face contorted to expose her obvious disgust.

“Merlin’s cock and balls, I’m trying to be nice, Turpin!” Theo frowned and picked up his bag to go sit elsewhere.

Turpin grabbed his wrist as he stood up and her lips made a thin line as she pulled him back down to the seat. Her brows knitted together like a homemade sweater and she breathed out a sigh of defeat.

“No, it’s okay, sorry,” she said, “Sit here if you’d like.”

Over the next week, Theo made some serious efforts to get to know Turpin despite his friends’ obvious, loud verbal opposition. After that first Arithmancy class, Blaise had practically torn him to shreds with his massive speech on house loyalty and the horrible impact that you were clearly having on him. Daphne had recited the same speech her mother had given to her on her first day of her first year at school about how interrelations with students from the lesser houses was a gateway drug to blood sympathy (she’d given him the same speech when he started his little thing with you). And Pansy, Merlin’s beard, Pansy was furious.

Pansy had constructed this whole idea in her mind that you hated that Theo was talking to Turpin. She called it “cheating” which Theo had adamantly disagreed with. He wasn’t having sex with Turpin, in fact, he had absolutely zero romantic interest in her. He barely even liked her. The only thing the two had in common was Arithmancy and every time they hung out they talked about it until there was no more Arithmancy to talk about. It was, quite frankly, boring. Turpin was boring.

“It’s emotional cheating,” said Pansy in a huff as she and the others started towards the Great Hall for Monday breakfast.

“Emotional cheating?” Theo asked skeptically.

“Yes, Nott, emotional cheating,” she nodded, “And it’s hurting Y/n’s feelings. That’s why she hasn’t spoken to you all week.”

His gaze snapped to focus on Pansy whose black eyes were ablaze with the feminine rage of a girl’s best friend, “How do you know she hasn’t spoken to me all week?”

Pansy smirked, her honey red lipstick bright against her pale skin, and shrugged. She knew you hadn’t spoken to him all week because you wouldn’t shut up about it. In Divination on Wednesday afternoon, you’d all but assaulted Pansy with questions about Theo’s newfound interest in Turpin. All of which Pansy had no helpful responses to.

“Is he flirting with her?” You asked.

“Maybe, I don’t know, it’s not like they sit with us,” said Pansy, struggling to focus on the crystal ball with all your chatter.

“Why not? Why don’t they sit with you? Are they trying to be private?” You pushed almost frantically.

“Uh, possibly? Honestly, I just think he knows we don’t like her,” she explained.

“Why don’t you like her? Is she a bitch?” You frowned and then quickly added in a judgmental tone, “Or are you just being blood supremacists?”

“Is she a mudblood?” Pansy stopped working to stare at you.

You smacked her hand and she hissed, “I don’t know her that well. Don’t say that.”

When Theo and his friends finally arrived at the Great Hall, he searched the tables for your face. While most people usually stuck to their house’s table, you were a social butterfly and loved to flutter from table-to-table to talk to all of your many friends. Sometimes he wondered how you weren’t a prefect despite your popularity and the respect the younger years gave you. His eyes found Turpin first and she beamed and waved him over, but he blatantly ignored her. Pansy and Daphne watched on with delight as the girl cringed with embarrassment and turned back to her meal with bright red ears.

A spot of h/c hair floated above a robe lined with yellow and he abandoned his friends to go to you. You were standing at the end of the Hufflepuff table (not an unusual place to find you, but your favourite table was always the Slytherin one), and you were utterly consumed by a tale you were sewing for your housemates Hannah Abbott and Justin Finch-Fletchley.

“Y/n,” Theo spoke and his deep, smokey voice tore you straight out of your conversation, “Can we talk?”

Your eyebrows quivered and your blinking sped up as you took his appearance in for the first time all week. You hadn’t gone so long without speaking to him in at least three years (you got into an argument in your third year about the petrifications) and hearing his voice and seeing him so close was like throwing a former alcoholic into a sea of wine. There was nothing you wanted more than to indulge in him. But Hannah and Justin were glaring at him like hawks, or guard dogs, whichever was more intimidating.

“Um,” you glanced back at your friends and Hannah shook her head slightly, she’d never much liked Theo, “Sure.”

Hannah rolled her eyes and whispered something barely audible to Justin. Something about a “love-fucked pushover.” You ignored her. Theo took you to a pair of seats far from any prying ears and held your hands in his.

“You know I don’t like Turpin, right?” He said quietly.

You scoffed, “Yeah, right. And that’s why you spent all week with her.”

“I spent all week with her because you told me to!” He laughed with salt that spread itself over your wounded heart.

“Did I just? Because I really don’t remember saying ‘Hey, Theo, you know how I like you so much? I actually want you to go talk to another girl,’” you said sarcastically.

He held back a grin as best he could but the amusement glistened in his eyes and on his rosy, mole-spotted cheeks. His hand came up to your brow and massaged the frown out from between your eyebrows as you fluttered your eyelashes at him in the way you knew made him melt inside.

“I wanted to make friends for you,” he told you with that soft, romantic tone he used in bed.

“Don’t,” you ordered, “You’re Theodore Nott, you aren’t supposed to be friendly.”

For the first time in a week, he got a good look at you. He hadn’t realised how much he missed the sight of your h/l h/c hair and the way it framed your stunning face so perfectly that you appeared to have stepped right out of a portrait. He hadn’t realised how much he missed how your eyes, an elegant e/c and perpetually glossy as if always on the verge of tears, examined every centimetre of his face. He hadn’t realised how much he missed doing your tie up for you until he saw it tied like a bow around your neck.

“I’m friendly to you,” he said as his hands pulled at the end of the tie and it fell apart over your chest.

“And that’s all you need, I think,” you whispered pleasantly and pressed a loving kiss to his lips as he looped the tie around itself twice and pushed the end through the gap, tying it perfectly.

[luvjunie]

— when the dam breaks

contains: third person pov (42!miles’), no reader, feelings of anxiety, some harsh language, use of the n-word once, a one-sided fight, angst, mentions of grief, brief comfort at the end

summary: miles was holding himself together just fine, until he wasn’t. wc: 2,748

a/n: this fic is based on one of my headcanons from this post,(the 12th one). handling the grief of losing a parent is one of the hardest, most painful things to navigate, especially when you’re a teen and in school. i can directly relate to miles!42 because of this, which is probably why i’m able to go so in depth with his character. i’m really proud of how this turned out so i hope you guys enjoy reading <3

The back of Ms. Bellam’s history class was Miles’ favorite spot to sit in. The seat by the window, specifically. Where he could gaze out with the fantasy of being anywhere else but stuck listening to the lecture in his fifth block; forced to hear his teacher rave on about some old expedition he couldn’t bring himself to give a shit about.

But today, Miles was not in the back of the class.

He had a bad feeling the moment the bell rung and the projector powered on to display the newest assignment the tall, stocky woman had on the agenda; a partnered project. Which, unfortunately, meant a new seating chart was on the horizon.

Miles must’ve spaced out during the introduction of the assignment, but his teacher’s assertive voice brought him back to the very moment he was dreading.

“Cody, you’re paired with—“ Ms. Bellam pulled a small slip of paper out from a little bucket of randomized names on her desk. “—Lauren.”

She ignored the quiet groan she got after unknowingly pairing two exes together and drew two more names. “Bailey, you’re with Lucas.”

“Sarah, you’re with… Faith. And Miles,” The brunette-haired teacher stuck her hand into the bucket once more to pull out the very last slip of paper, and read it with finality. “You’re with Gabby.”

Miles lifted his head and did a quick scan of the faces around, until he met the eyes of his new partner, Gabby, who gave him a small wave from the front of the class. His jaw clenched at the realization that he’d have to give up his safe corner, since the seats around him were filled, while the one next to her was open.

“Alright everyone, if you’re not already next to your partner, go find them.”

With an inaudible grumble and something along the lines of ‘i hate this fucking class’ and a mix of ‘kill me now’— Miles rose from his chair, snatched his backpack up with a little too much force, and crossed the classroom to plop down defeatedly next to the girl he was paired with.

Chin tucked in his hand and eyes glued to the ticking clock above the white board, he didn’t know how long he sat like that, or how much valuable information he’d missed while he ignored the overly peppy, thirty-year old’s directions to the class. But he did know that the minute hand on that damn analog device wasn’t moving fast enough for his liking. The droning of voices overlapping and the bouncing of ideas filled the once silent air after instructions had been given, but Miles was far from focused on the task at hand.

The incessant tapping of his pencil against the hard plastic of his desk, matched with the clearly agitated bounce of his leg had his partner stealing experimental glances in his direction— her lips having been licked ample times from the stress of debating on whether to make the difficult decision of speaking to the boy who was clearly not interested in conversation— or even being here at all.

She spoke up anyway. “Um… So most of the other groups have pretty much chosen already. That means we’re left with James Cook, Vasco de Gama, Ferdinand Magellan, or—“

“You can pick for us. I don’t really care which one.” Miles interrupted.

“Oh—“ Gabby blinked. His response was curt, but at least she got one. “Okay then, Ferdinand Magellan.” Flipping through the rubric that had been passed out at some point, she referred to the second page with her index finger. “It says our presentation has to be between six to eight slides, which includes the works cited for our research. So we could do one introduction slide, and maybe about,” she paused to think. “Four?— information slides? And then we could add some fun facts and trivia questions at the end so we can get our class participation points in without too much effort. That cool with you?”

Gabby was a nice girl. She never bothered him, never looked at him weird when he’d come into class late sometimes, and had actually ran through the hallway to return the notebook that fell out of his open backpack just last week. He wasn’t aggravated at her, but more so at the fact that everybody could stare at the back of his head now instead of the other way around, like it was before. It made him self conscious about everything, even down to the way he was sitting in his chair. He could feel a few beams on his back right about now, and adjusted his position slightly.

Miles sighed and reminded himself to respond to her politely. “Uh-huh. Sounds good.”

A voice to his left behind him caught his attention, the voice in question belonging to one of the most obnoxious boys he’d ever had the displeasure of knowing— Ethan Thompson. Someone who always had too much to say and nothing productive or appropriate to add— it usually being something creepy or gross about a girl he wanted to ‘get to know’.

Miles would’ve tuned him out, like he always did, but this time it was impossible. Probably because out of all the conversations regarding the explorers meant to be researched, this one had absolutely nothing to do with history, or even school for that matter.

“Bro, did you hear about what happened to…”

Miles strained to hear as best as he could without moving from his seat, though it was a struggle since Gabby was still talking his ear off to the right of him about who would do what when it came to their workload.

“Miles?”

He ignored her as another voice chimed in, and his back stiffened.

“I know dude, my sister told me about it. Said he was killed in action or somethin’ like that… I just know his mom is crushed. I feel really bad.”

Miles knew people talked about this, he wasn’t dumb. But damn, did they have to do it when he was right there?

Then, there was a laugh.

Miles was confused. He didn’t find anything regarding the topic of their conversation even remotely comical.

“Fuck that,” Ethan quieted his voice, though not quiet enough. “That just means Mrs. Morales is single and up for grabs now.”

It took less than a second for Miles’ blood to simmer to a scalding boil. He held a subtle finger up and quieted Gabby, who was currently asking him about what they should research first.

“Can you give me just… one second?” he asked gently.

Gabby’s words died on her tongue and she gave a muddled nod.

Miles threw his elbow over the back of his chair when his torso whipped around, his eyes glazed with enmity and immediately catching Ethan’s.

“The fuck you just say?”

Ethan froze.

Miles’ tone was lethal, rage lifting the volume above the blurred chattering around, venom spitting from his tongue like he intended to kill the boy with words alone. The speed in which the class fell silent would’ve been humorous had there not been such hostility within the air.

“Miles, language!” Ms. Bellam’s eyes snapped up from her computer screen, her face a picture of disbelief at his unusual vitriol. He was always quiet as a mouse in her class, well behaved above all.

Jaws hung slack, the gazes of the students around darted back and forth between the two boys continuously, the tension in the room palpable.

Miles sat up straighter in his seat, jaw clenched and his patience dwindling. To say he was seething would be a dangerous understatement.

“Nah, nah Ms. B,” His head cocked, and his eyes narrowed at Ethan, ruinously. “I wanna know what this nigga just said ‘bout my fuckin’ mom.”

“Oh shit…” Gabby gulped. Today was the most she’d heard Miles speak in class almost the entire semester.

“It was a joke, bro.” Ethan huffed a chuckle, a nervous thing that his friend easily picked up on. Miles was not one to bluff, and Ethan was notorious for taking things too far.

“Don’t bro me, repeat that dumb shit you just said and watch how fast I knock your ass out.” Miles gritted through his teeth, hot air puffing through his nostrils like a bull who’d just seen red.

“Boys, enough!” Ms. Bellman was standing now, hands planted to her desk as she watched with bated breath, just like the rest of the class-now-turned-audience.

Ethan shrugged, and Miles swore he felt his eye twitch.

Strike one.

Then, the boy playfully nudged his friend’s arm with a cocky smirk, as if he thought the threat he’d just received wasn’t one that would be carried out.

Strike two.

“He’s baiting you, Miles…” Gabby whispered dejectedly, in warning, only so Miles could hear. But his tunnel vision had already set in.

“Go ‘head. Repeat yourself.” Miles demanded.

Nails digging into the skin of his palms hard enough to leave crescents in their wake, there was a voice in the back of his mind, reminding him that he could get into serious trouble if he didn’t get his emotions in check, fast. He’d progressed so quickly in his after school M.M.A classes, that now, even getting into a simple fist fight could land him a serious assault charge. A judge would take one look at the history of his intense training, and the option to deem his hands as deadly weapons in the case would immediately be presented, and most likely acted upon.

Knocking the teeth out of a rich white boy would never be the smart decision here, especially not for someone who looked the way he did.

He’d be sent straight to juvie.

“I mean, all I was sayin’ is, technically—“ Ethan threw his hands up in a careless manner. “If I play my cards right, I could be your future step-daddy.”

Strike three.

Ms. Bellam was yelling now. “Ethan, principal’s office, now!”

And that probably would’ve been the better option, had he actually had a choice.

Miles’ movements were swift when he shot out of his seat, and the students in his way followed suit with yelps and gasps as they quickly removed themselves from the area. The desks blocking his pathway to pummeling the shit out of this kid loudly screeched against the school’s tile when they were shoved out of the way, and the one he’d mindlessly flipped over in his stampede proceeded to erupt the room into pure pandemonium.

One punch would’ve been good enough, Miles knew that. But in this moment, thinking rationally was so far out of his reach he would’ve missed it even if he’d jumped for it. He’d swung a closed fist to Ethan’s jaw and knocked him to the floor with ease, then followed him down, sat on his chest and had the boy’s arms pinned under his knees so he couldn’t protect his snobby-ass face. One punch would’ve been good enough, but just two vehement blows later, the satisfying crack of a bone that wasn’t his under Miles’ knuckles had him sending a few more into the reddened face of the boy beneath him, just to really get his point across.

“Jesus Christ— Miles!” Ms. Bellman scrambled from her seat in a panic and rushed to fling the classroom’s door open, her desperate yells directed to anyone who might’ve been strolling the hallways. “We need security in here! You-!” She pointed to a student with a bathroom pass. “Go get security, and tell them to come to room 205, now! Go!”

Everyone was yelling at once, but Miles couldn’t hear anything other than the ringing of rage in his ears. Anger is only grief turned sour— a terribly perilous thing to leave untreated.

Some of his classmates were frozen with shock, or fear, maybe— hands clasped over their gaped mouths while others had their phones out with the camera app open—vampires for some good drama while they hooted and hollered at the most exciting thing they’d seen this entire year.

“That’s enough!”

Strong arms suddenly hooked under Miles’ armpits and prevented his fist from worsening the damage already done. Two male teachers from neighboring classrooms had rushed in and yanked him up and off Ethan, his hips bucking as he kicked his way up onto his feet. Miles’ chest expanded and collapsed with the weight of his heaving breaths, face flushed with the remnants of his lost temper as he directed his attention to Ethan’s friend, who looked like a deer in headlights.

“When your boy wake up, tell him watch his mouth next time!”

Miles didn’t know why he was yelling. It was common knowledge that it’s pretty rare for someone who’s unconscious to understand what you’re saying to them.

He didn’t struggle when the two teachers dragged him away, but when they shoved him out the door and into the hall with more force than he thought necessary, he snatched his arms away from their grasp with a rolled shrug, and huffed a frustrated grunt about how he knew how to walk on his own.

—

The drive home was eerily silent. The radio hadn’t been touched, and neither had Miles by his mother’s gaze the moment they’d left the principal’s office after he received his verdict.

Out of school suspension. One week.

It was the best the administrative staff could do after Rio swallowed her pride and went as low as begging them not to expel her boy.

Slumped in the passenger seat with his hands in his lap, Miles didn’t bother to look at the bruises he knew were forming on his knuckles. It was a familiar feeling, and at the moment he was more concerned with why it felt like his throat had been stuffed with cotton when he tried to talk.

“Mamá, I—“

“Do not. Speak.” Rio’s breath wavered, her hands clutching the wheel so hard she thought she’d crush it. She tried not to let her voice break. “Not one word.”

Silence.

—

It all settled in as they climbed the stairwell, the images of what just happened flashing back in his mind every time he blinked; what he’d done playing over and over again in a continuous loop. The wooden railings creaked under the weight of his mother’s hand, and as she knowingly skipped the one that had weakened over the years, he knew the home that held every single emotion he tried to leave behind when he went to school was now just a few steps up.

Rio’s key twisted in the lock before she opened the door, and Miles followed behind her, shoulders slouched dispiritedly. He resembled something of a stray puppy; desperate for attention, but acceptant and grateful that it, as much of a nuisance as it may be, was being tolerated enough to stay on it’s finder’s heels.

He thought being scolded by his mother was bad, but the lack thereof was even worse. Her brows were clenched, and her conflicted yet somehow blank expression told him that she truly did not have any words for him as she leaned on the kitchen counter, hands clasped firmly around the edge so tightly her knuckles paled. She didn’t even know where to start, and Miles didn’t blame her. He refused to explain why he’d snapped when it was asked of him. When his mother’s widened eyes had pleaded with him to tell the principal what happened in that classroom that set him off in such a way, he didn’t. He had no reason not to, at least one he could think of right now, but his voice just wouldn’t allow it. Both in that office, and now in their kitchen, dimly lit by the warm light above the stove, the weight of his mother’s disappointment clung to the suffocating silence, like a fish to a hook and he just couldn’t take it anymore.

“Mamá, I’m sorry.” He whispered in a quick breath, the lump in his throat painful when he swallowed it.

“Good money, Miles.” Rio shook her head, a hand coming up to rest over the rise and fall of her chest. “Good money! We paid good money to get you into that school, your dad and I. I work hard to keep you there and you just—“

Dad.

And the dam broke. Though its foundation wasn’t very strong to begin with— Miles’ shoulders crumbled under the weight of his actions and his tears flooded past his waterline with choked sobs that left no room for air.

Whatever Rio was going to say had been forgotten. The sight of her son sobbing in a way she hadn’t seen since the night they’d received the news immediately put a stop to her reprimanding. Now, she was truly worried.

“Oh Miles, come come come,” She hastily tugged him into a hug and wrapped him firmly in her arms, her hands repeatedly rubbing up and down the expanse of his back. “¿Qué es Mijo? (what is it, son?) Talk to me. No te lo guardes, ¿recuerda?” (no holding it in, remember?)

Miles could barely catch his breath, and somehow talking about it was just as painful as the ache that resided deep in his chest.

“I—It was Dad, it was about—“ a quick breath in split his sentence in half. “About Dad. He was—talking about what ha—happened and I—“ Miles tried for another, but it caught in his throat, ragged and choppy and had his ribcage stuttering from the lousy attempt to cease his hyperventilating. The fact that he couldn’t get his words out uninterrupted only frustrated him more; only made him cry harder. He scrubbed at his tears with the back of his hand, but it was no use. He couldn’t stop crying. Why couldn’t he stop crying?

“He said—“ Another wilted inhale, and a hiccup. “It was abo—about you, and it was terrible and I— I just, I got so angry, and I tried Mamá, I did. But I couldn’t and—and then I was on him and I’m sorry—“

“Shh, shh. It’s okay, it’s okay.” Rio used a hand to bring his head into her shoulder, his cries muffled and his tears wetting the sleeve of her blouse as his rambling came to a halt. Miles clutched onto her tightly, arms round her waist as he fell apart in front of the woman who’d tried her best to piece him back together.

“Respira, Mijo, respira… (breathe).” Rio whispered. “Please.” Seeing her son so distraught had brought on tears of her own, but she shut her eyes, and tucked away her own feelings so she could focus on his. “It’s okay. It’s alright.”

“But you’re mad at me, I don’t want you to be mad at me—“

Rio shook her head and tutted at him. “I’m not mad at you, papa. I understand. Okay? I’m not angry. No.” She couldn’t be upset with him for something like this, not when he could barely shelter himself from his own guilt.

“It’s okay. You’re okay, baby. I’ve got you.” Miles was inconsolable as Rio continued rubbing his back, and her voice shook when she spoke, but she kept the uncertainty she held within her heart concealed from her promise to him.

“We’re going to be okay.”

[jsbluu]

left on seen | chapter 21: a long overdue apology

➨ chapter 20: plan a | left on seen masterlist | next

➨ chapter 21.. i cooked on this one idk about you guys but i think this might be the best chapter (so far) anyway i can’t believe it’s already december!! hope you guys are ready for that christmas chapter..

TAGLIST: @yizhrt @bococostree @sunghoonsgfreal @dinonuguaegi @ddolbyong @4chensungs @vixensss @jirsungs @luffysprincess @nosungluv @akunoeyebrows @sinsgaybutthatsokay @joyzluvr @n0hyuck @mrsbyun-baek @queenrachelpink @botchedbrat @livingdoll-hara @minkyuncutie @gomdoleemyson @17ericas @cookydream

the next morning, you woke up bright and early (aka 2 hours before you usually did) and immediately went to the kitchen armed with eggs, bread, and a whole lot of guilt. you had never been much of a baker, but how hard could making french toast be?

the first batch of bread burnt almost instantly, the pan smoking like a chimney and ended with you frantically waving a towel in front of the smoke detector in hopes it didn’t go off. 

the second batch falls apart in the egg mixture, leaving you with a nasty looking mix that looked more like oatmeal then whatever the hell you were trying to make. you throw it in the trash and put your head down on the table, mumbling random things to yourself in frustration. “why did i think this would be a good idea?” but as you wipe your hands on your apron, you think about leehan. you think about the way he avoided you, the way you made him feel, and that gave you one last push to try to make it right between you guys. 

by the third and final attempt, you finally started to find a rhythm. low heat, don’t let the bread soak for too long, flip correctly. slowly but surely, the toast piled up beside you. they weren’t perfect, but it was gonna have to do. by the time you’re finished, the kitchen looked like a battle zone. flour was on your cheeks, cinnamon was on the floor, and there was a small splatter of batter on the ceiling which you had absolutely no idea how it even got there, but you done it. you move the toast to a different container, adding a little bit of syrup and powdered sugar in hopes to make it look a little bit more appetizing, along with a fork on the side.

class felt like a punishment. you sat on the far side of the classroom, way too far from your friends to be comfortable. you’d spotted leehan when you’d walked in, seating with his head down scrolling on his phone. he hadn’t looked up, not once. 

it’s your fault, and you know it. the guilt that you’ve carried the past few days sits heavily on your chest, weighing you down and making it physically impossible for you to be able to focus on anything else. you wished you had said something when you had the chance, told leehan you weren’t interested in seeing him again and this all could’ve been avoided.

this time, though, you’re prepared. you glance at the container in your backpack and feel your heart start to pound, you’ve rehearsed what you’re gonna say to him so many times in your head, but it never made it easier. when class ends, the students start filing out the door, including jisung and kazuha, but you stay still in your seat. leehan stands to leave, grabbing his bag before making his way down the rows of seats. before he can get too far, you rush to stop him.

“leehan” you call out.

he freezes mid step, slowly turning around to face you. his expression is unreadable, you can’t tell if he was happy you were talking to him or if he wanted to continue leaving. “..yes?”

you swallow hard and step a bit closer towards him. “can we talk for a second?”

he nods and you lead him towards a corner of the room, where it’s quieter, and you feel your nerves becoming worse and worse each step. when you finally come to a stop, you tightly grab your bag and look at him, all the guilt you had adorned the past few days coming up to the surface.

“i’m really sorry.” you start, your voice quiet and shaking. “for everything.” he crosses his arms in front of you, his expression slightly softening. “you didn’t have to—“ “no, i do.” you cut him off. “you’re allowed to be upset. i bailed on you and didn’t even tell you why. i just.. got overwhelmed, and i didn’t know how to handle it. but that’s no excuse and im just as upset with myself as you are. you didn’t deserve that.”

his brows knit together as he watches you, the tension in his shoulders loosening.

you fumble with your bag before pulling out the somehow still warm container of french toast and holding it in front of him for him to take. “i made this for you. it’s french toast. well.. an attempt i should say. i know how disappointed you were last time you had it cause you got sick, so i hope this one doesn’t give you food poisoning again..”

your words trail off as you gesture towards the container, “i thought it could be my apology towards you. and a promise to do better.” leehan slowly blinks at the container, before a small smile starts to form on his face. “you made me french toast?”

“it took forever” you admit, awkwardly shifting in your shoes. “i burned it the first time, then the 2nd one looked like.. well it doesn’t matter. but i kept going because..” you hesitate before making direct eye contact with him. “because you’re important to me and i really don’t want to lose you as a friend.”

for a second, he just stares at you. then he sighs, setting the container on a nearby desk.

“did you ditch me because you like jisung?” he asks suddenly, his voice quieter than you expected. 

“i..” you swallow hard, your face burning and you don’t know how to reply.

“that wasn’t a no” he points out, though there’s no anger in his tone; just curiosity.

you let out a shaky breath, your fingers tightly gripping the strap of your bag again. “i’ve had a crush on him for almost 2 years now.” you admit quietly. “but it’s not.. i didn’t mean to make you feel like you were second place or anything. you’re my friend and i care about you. i just..” you trail off, your voice becoming thick with frustration. “i’ve been a mess lately. even my best friend ningning is upset with me.”

leehan watches you for a long moment before grabbing the container of french toast again. he opens it, grabbing the fork you provided and takes a bite.

“you’re not good at this, are you?” he says letting out a soft laugh.

“what?” you ask, startled.

“at handling people.” he says, his tone teasing. “you overthink to the point where you make it worse for yourself. you should’ve told me from the start, i would’ve understood.”

“i know.” you mutter, full of embarrassment. this is not the first time you’ve been told that, and you know that it won’t be your last.

“but this,” he continues, pointing at the food. “this is a start. it’s actually really good.”

you blink at him in confusion, completely caught off guard, “wait.. you’re not mad?”

“i was mad.” he admits, leaning back against the desk. “but you’ve always been honest with me every other time, even when you’re not at your best. and you gave me the truth today, and that’s all i needed.”

“leehan..”

he waves you off with a small smile, the one that you loved so much. “we’re fine, y/n. just don’t burn yourself out trying to make everybody happy, okay? including jisung.”

your face flushed at the mention of jisung’s name, but there’s no hidden meaning or condescending tone in his voice, just genuine worry.

“thank you.” you murmur, relief almost instantly washing over you. he hesitates, then speaks again. “just next time, talk to me?  you don't have to figure everything out alone.”

“i will.” you promise.

he smiles at you one last time before closing the container and putting it in his bag. “you’re forgiven. but you owe me more french toast if this happens again.”

you manage to give him a weak laugh, “deal.”

his smile lingers as he looks down at the container. “thanks for this by the way, means a lot.”

you nod, too worried that whatever you’ll say after will just make it worse and it’ll be awkward again. you watch as he waves to you goodbye before leaving the classroom. you stay back, giving yourself a few seconds to recuperate your emotions before leaving. 

as you leave the classroom, your mind is already racing ahead. you may have made things better with leehan, but you’re not done yet. one person remains at the top of the list. now to talk to ningning.

© jsbluu | please do not copy, reupload, or translate my work.

[http-mianhae]

AMORTENTIA ; jeonghan

view the whole series here!

DESCRIPTION ᝰ He was the worst of worse, how could anyone love him? Such a cold-hearted kid yet you were forced to sit next to him and as a Ravenclaw, it didn’t do you justice that all Jeonghan did was throw insults and act like a total jerk

WARNINGS ᝰ kinda enemies to lovers / dislike to like, deskmates ravenclaw!reader x slytherin!jeonghan

PAIRING ᝰ yoon jeonghan x fem!reader

WORD COUNT ᝰ 25.3k

“Yo, Y/NNNN~! Dap me up!” a too-familiar Gryffindor shrieked, hand outstretched. You narrowed your eyes down at the boy upon recognition, questioning what went down for him to be so enthusiastic in the rise of aurora.

You dapped him up anyways. Because if anything, Soonyoung was your beloved friend.

“What happened to you?”

“Huh? Nothing. Where’s your little boyfriend? Isn’t he always scurrying around you?” the boy asked, leaning oh-so-casually against the doorframe of the classroom.

“He’s literally twice your size, Soonyoung. Don’t go around calling Mingyu ‘little’,” you stated defensively, pushing through Soonyoung’s shoulder roughly to enter the DADA classroom. The over-energetic Gryffindor followed you in, a grin smacked right on his face.

“Sure. You still won’t admit that you have a thing for younger men.” he smiled.

“Come on, Soonyoung, He’s in fifth year.” It was usual for you that people would discuss the age difference between you and your honey badger boyfriend. Not that it was a bad thing, you didn’t take it as a bad thing, seeing that the age gap wasn’t illegal as such.

He was sixteen and you were sixteen, turning seventeen. So technically, you were the same age still until you were to turn seventeen in a few months time.

“He could be a younger brother,” Soonyoung said to you, not letting it go.

“You could mind your own business.”

“He could quit his Quidditch team and let us have the Quidditch Cup this year.”

You rolled your eyes, striving to find a good seat in the classroom. It didn’t support you that Soonyoung was all over you, bent over backwards to talk you into breaking up with Mingyu for Mingyu to be dismayed the days leading up to the finals of Quidditch. As much as you loved Soonyoung as a friend, you were not willing to put your relationship on the line for some Quidditch Cup. With the time he spent talking you into breaking up, he could spend on academics or even, Quidditch, for that matter.

“Hold on―why are there labels on the desks?” you noticed.

“I dunno, princess. Use those brainwit-thingies you Ravenclaws have,” he said, smiling at you like a little kid.

Frustration grew inside you as you collapsed your books on a random table. Your finger traced over the little white label plastered across the corner of the desk. “What’s going on? Is this some kind of prank, Soonyoung?”

“We’re having seating arrangements. I came here especially early to see your reaction,” he admitted, putting a hand on your shoulder lightly. Once again, you rejected him by shrugging him off. You grabbed your books up in an armful and sauntered the barren classroom, now on a hunt for your seat. If you were sitting at the back, you were obviously going to pick a dispute with Professor Lupin.

Though, you were sort of confused on the part in which Soonyoung said he was early to see your reaction. Why would he come especially early to see―

BANG!

Your books dropped in a brown heap on the shiny floors of the classroom. In an instant, your eyes became wide and you could sense that there wasn’t an inch of your muscle that moved for a whole second. You wanted to believe that this was a dream (oh, please let it be a dream) so badly but your intelligence proved you wrong. Squeezing your eyes shut and taking a deep breath in and out, you opened them again.

It was still there.

Soonyoung’s laughing was heard but it seemed to be in a distance as you doubled over to pick up your books. The thought of it just made your body crash with adrenalin. You placed the heavy books back on the table one by one, an unlikable feeling settling in you. And what was even more unlikable was the fact that you were so near tears that you wanted to just disappear right then.

“I’m sorry, but it’d best be a Ravenclaw than a Gryffindor.” you heard Soonyoung said, embedding a hand on your shoulder. You wanted to shrug it off, yet was partly too shocked to even conjure that thought. “And also, you’re not far from the front of the class.”

Was he seriously trying optimism with you?

“He’s going to murder me,” you whispered coldly, hands fixed on the table as you figured out what to do. Was there anything you could do about this? You were a Ravenclaw for goodness sake, you should use that knack of a brain for something at least.

“He is not! And even if he tries to, I’m here!” Soonyoung declared just as the huge doors of the classroom open flauntingly. Your knees shook, the voices registering in your mind. You had no choice. You were to sit on this table for the rest of the god damn year and live with the fact that Yoon Jeonghan was going to be next to you.

It wasn’t that you were scared―it was more that you were a mix of annoyed and shocked for the reason being you were paired up with the most obnoxious, ungrateful brat in the world. Like there was a choice in it.

You swooped into your seat, cupping your face as your elbows held themselves on the table, sighing. The dismay was plastered on your face, signed by the eyebrow furrow.

“I’m gonna go take a seat, good luck.” He looked back nervously at the door and then left to the other side of the room. You would admit that the racing of your heart was much faster than envisioned. It was not your fault.

Those Slytherins put themselves on such a high pedestal that no other house in the year level could stand up to them. So if you were irritated at them being some sort of comical in class, you couldn’t just bark at them to shut up.

And Yoon Jeonghan. He was a sick little daddy’s boy. Stacks higher than him was basically what backed him up and you’ve seen the black card in the flesh. He wasn’t to be messed with, with all those assets and a filthy rich background. So it willed you to wonder, as soon as he saw an average-classed Ravenclaw, what would be the resolution?

You would be waiting.

It took a second for the Slytherins to realise that there were labels on the table and when they did, his group of friends began looking for where their name tags would be.

You played cool on the outside, taking away the anxiety from your face and staring straight ahead as they roamed the classroom. A piece of you was idling for Jeonghan to show up next to you. Waiting with every tiny sound of the clock’s hand passing the seconds ahead of you. Until it finally happened.

“Don’t tell me you’re sitting next to me.” His voice dragged out smoothly, yet managed to release your heart to your stomach. So maybe you were a little scared, but that didn’t mean that you were going to back down…sort of?

You turned your head to the left, seeing Jeonghan standing there with his books in hand, staring you down. Acting as if you didn’t know, you cleared your throat to attain your voice. “Yeah, you’re Jeonghan?”

“Who else would ask you that question? Aren’t you a Ravenclaw? You should know this.”

You pursed your lips together and faced the front again, praying for Lupin to arrive quicker. You didn’t want to be stuck conversing with an arrogant kid.

“Answer me.”

“I don’t think there’s a reason for me to answer that as you can see clearly that I am one.”

He scoffed, setting his books down on the table before sliding into the seat next to you. You continued to sit while facing forward. You didn’t know if it explicated that you were scared but you didn’t want it to show at all.

“I can’t believe this teacher,” he muttered to himself.

“If you have a problem with the seating arrangements, you should go speak with Professor Lupin with it because―” you began while turning to him.

“I don’t have a problem with this seating arrangement dumbass, I have a problem with you,” he answered sharply, also turning around to you with disgust painted with a sneer.

��That’s literally the same thing. Maybe you should consider thinking before speaking.” you began, but were cleanly cut off along with many other classmates and Professor Lupin’s voice came booming into the classroom. The man walked to the front with his loving greetings to the gloomy class, leaving Jeonghan powerless to act towards your rude reply.

You took pride in that as the lesson began.

“Good morning, class. Good morning, Soonyoung. As you can see, I have put you in seating arrangements. Now, I’m sure you have a lot of questions and opposes. But I have a reason for this.”

No one argued, seemingly interested as to why the ex-Gryffindor wanted to put you in seating arrangements. Though he was your favourite teacher thus far, you threatened him in your head to have a good reason.

“I noticed the social hierarchy in this year level specifically, so I would like you guys to sit around different houses just to build up that friendship a little…if you have any problems with it, though. Please do come to see me after class and we can discuss it.”

After that, Lupin started his class.

Reluctantly, you focused your eyes on the teacher, following his every word and taking notes here and there. You noticed, however, Jeonghan wasn’t paying attention a tad bit. Rather he was involved in a series of comics with his friend who was placed next to your table.

They were noisy, but you tried your best to focus on Lupin’s explanations briefly overviewing the topic of Dementors stationed on the outskirts of Hogwarts, trailing like blighted ghosts. Truthfully, you hated every inch of the boy’s presence beside you, it made you want to hit him with your massive Charms textbook more than anything.

How could he just turn completely away from the teacher and talk to his friends? He was going to be behind on work, you couldn’t imagine being behind on work with your hectic schedule. It would be a nightmare.

“Okay, so for today’s homework, I want you to answer the questions for Boggarts on page 209. Unfortunately, you must complete the questions for next week’s practical, so please do, do them…”

The bell rang, dismissing the class for the next period. You stood up and packed up your books like every student in the room, pumped for Advanced Arthimacy with your best friend.

Until the Slytherin spoke up. “Where are you going?”

“My next class?” you said.

“I need to go talk to Lupin―”

“Okay, go do that?”

You knew what he was trying to get at, but stayed fooled just for the pleasure of it and the honesty that you had another class anticipating you in literal minutes.

“You’re coming with me,” he declared grandly.

“Are you twelve? No, I have a class to get to and I―”

Jeonghan’s glare hardened, cutting you off as students rushed out of the room as if on cue by him.

You didn’t agree nor did you disagree which determined being a faulty choice made by you as Jeonghan slipped out from his desk and marched to the teacher, all high n’ mighty. You gawked with resentment screwing the back of his damned blonde head. The temptation of hexing him right then was indeed a hard one to let go of.

Despite that, you did heed that it would be embarrassing if you just left like that, so you settled your books down in the forced decision and moved to the front of the classroom to stand next to Jeonghan.

Lupin was sat at the desk when he looked at the two of you with a smile. But when he regarded that neither of you had similar expressions, he outlasted seriously.

“Is there something I can do for the two of you?”

You didn’t say anything, stubbornly gazing into the window. This was in fact a Jeonghan problem, he dragged you into it when you paid no mind―news flash, you paid tons of mind, you just didn’t act it.

He talked anyways, not requiring your cooperation a slight bit. Then, what was the point of bringing you here, if he could do everything himself? “Could you change our seating arrangements? I don’t want to sit with her.”

“What do you mean by that, Mr Yoon? I can’t just change the seats without a proper reason.” Lupin replied tensely.

It was like he doomed Jeonghan.

Jeonghan was quiet, suddenly and you predicted the anger showing on his face through a glare. Lupin continued, reeling his words in a teasing manner as he explained the reason. “An affair mayhaps that happened a long time ago between the two of you? Is that why you don’t want to sit―”

Sharply turning your head back, you gawked at your professor, offended. “What are you saying, sir?!”

“Well, was it?” he smirked at you.

“No!” Jeonghan answered this time.

“It’s not, so why are you so bothered about sitting by each other a few days a week? It’s just an hour class.”

“Fine, then. I’ll sit with her,” he grumbled.

Jeonghan whipped around and stalked off, frustration evident in the way he stopped to scoop his books into his arms and left. It happened all so quick, you only had time to part your lips in astonishment. Neither did Lupin say anything to comfort the boy. It was best to leave the aggression alone anyways.

When the door slammed hard behind the bitter Slytherin, your head returned to the teacher. Your hands urgently slammed onto the wooden table, striving for some sort of explanation on your side.

“Sir, it wasn’t my idea to come to talk to you, in case you were wondering.” you defended yourself excessively.

“I know that, L/N,” He stood up from his seat. You watched as he put a hand on your shoulder like he was going to have a deep discussion with you like he was your father. Not that you had time for that. Your next class had already begun. “Slytherins have the tendency to be full of themselves sometimes. I hope you can tolerate it, it’s a Ravenclaw’s duty to assist a Slytherin to see a different perspective.”

You laughed when the thought of showing Jeonghan the stars in the sky. You didn’t know why that was the first thought that registered in your mental process out of all likely thoughts. It would never happen even if the world was ending. Him being seen around another house was a scare for him.

“Sure, Professor Lupin.” you sarcastically answered, stepping down the narrow hallway of tables to get to grab your set of books. Smilingly, you looked back at the teacher, who smiled back, as if challenging your notion of his words.

You were off to your next class, forgetting your morning encounter.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“So you’re sitting next to him now?” Adora asked.

You nodded with a sigh, digits sweeping past the tethers of books in the library’s inner shelves. Your best friend got to know the tea when you met her in Advanced Arthimacy and now she was expanding the conversation, seeking to find a solution to the problem. She sank against the table behind her, considerably shocked about the chances of you being with Jeonghan out of all people.

“Ah, that’s going to be tiring,” she said, forcing herself off. The active Ravenclaw patted your head, clearly feeling sorry for you. Who wouldn’t feel sorry for you? You were going to live sadder after this.

“You know what’s worse? Lupin was so funny about it. He was teasing us when he asked for a change in the seating plan.” you continued, looking over at Adora with pain screwed in your eyes. “And after Jeonghan practically stormed out, he was like ’it’s a Ravenclaw’s duty to assist a Slytherin to see a broader perspective’.”

“Dude, what?!” she queried, tucking her silky auburn hair behind her ear. It sprung back to the sharpness of her cheek, honouring her facial features.

“I know!” you exclaimed to your best friend, furrowing your eyebrows. “It was so weird! I really don’t know what to do with this kid sitting next to me. You can literally feel it, like the Slytherin energy when he’s sitting next to you.”

“God.” she sighed. “That’s scary. I would not like that at all…but he’s kinda cute.”

There she goes with the teasing. It was what any best friend would’ve done in the situation anyways.

“True.” you agreed, seeing honesty in her words. Jeonghan’s face emitted prettiness, but the kind of prettiness that was unjust. It was structured but also soft, masculine but feminine in and you found it difficult not to ask for his skincare routine. Had he been in any other house, you most definitely would. “But still, I don’t want to be sitting next to him for the whole year. He’s going to make a fool out of me.”

She sighed, planting her hand on your shoulder. You reminisced that it was to soothe you from the fluttering thousand thoughts running around your mind. She was simply taking her duty as best friend to make things right.

“I know. Though, you are a Ravenclaw, just focus on your studies.”

She made it seem so easy.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Thinking it was easy but to be there in the present and acting as if everything was tight rein seemed to be a high achieving goal you set for yourself. It was achievable, but it was the direness that made you not want to even try.

By the next DADA lesson, you sat at your arranged seat, waiting for class to start as you flicked through your notes.

“Good morning, L/N.” Lupin greeted, walking past your table.

“Morning, sir.” you greeted back, not swerving your eye contact to the man.

You were a little early for class but that solely meant more revising time for you. The night before you were stuck in a rather competitive game of chess with Jeon Wonwoo that got his whole year level staying to watch. The game was played until three am, with you winning, of course, to keep the pride of your year level.

Other than that, you made a new friend and made friends with his friend Vernon. So now, not only were you and Adora not alone together all the time, you had adorable little fifth years as friends.

“We shall begin the class, how are you lot?” Lupin asked the class. They responded as you took the sign of the fact Jeonghan wasn’t next to you. You didn’t say anything about it either. He was probably late. “L/N, where’s your deskmate?”

You glanced up at the teacher. It was painful not to get mad at him, especially when knowing that Lupin was doing it on purpose.

“I don’t know, sir. Sorry.” you apologised calmly, letting the ball of fists under the table unwind to let some air into your palm.

“Strange,” Lupin commented and then, grabbed white chalk from the chalkboard to commence the lesson. A lesson he thought would begin from there. Unfortunately not.

He was shortly interrupted by a bang which could only come from behind, indicating the double oak doors to glide open, as if on command. You gripped the fresh sight of an elephantine sea of green accented figures walking in. And the way they walked, it certainly caught you in a trance for a second. So in synch and with purpose and authority. You hadn’t seen anything like it. Lupin hadn’t said anything about it either. And when you turned back to face the teacher, there wasn’t an inkling of surprise dotted on his face.

“There you are…we were all wondering where you were.” Lupin chuckled. The Slytherin didn’t participate in his laughing. Your shivers were taken note of as the room moved severely cold. It was like there were no souls, yet thousands of eyes watching at the same time.

Instead, they scattered before entering the maze of tables and walked to their assigned seat, obviously filled with hatred for the teacher. You detected instantly it was because they couldn’t be with their friends but you also saw that some Slytherins didn’t regard anger in their face.

“We had to stay back.” the boy you recalled as Junhui, the Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, said.

A spark must have lit for Lupin because he straightened up. “Ah, yes. Is it because of the…incident?”

Jun nodded.

“What incident?” Soonyoung’s voice was as clear as a harmonised whistle and you crinkled your eyes, caught in cringe. He should have wished that moment he could have taken it back. Yet, he didn’t. He stared at the teacher, anticipating an answer.

He did get one, just not the one the poor kid was foreseeing.

“Stay in your lane, Gryffindor,” Jeonghan told him as he took the seat next to you, dropping his books in an untidy load on his table.

A heavy pit landed in your abdomen, somewhat feeling bad for the tiger but also feeling bad for yourself that Yoon Jeonghan had arrived and so dramatically, too. You didn’t commit to the acknowledgement of his arrival but minded your own business, the thought of getting called out was not a good one.

“Um, let’s speak to each other nicely in this classroom, shall we?” Lupin smiled.

You were funded with relaxation when the man once again swished and flicked, closing the double oak doors of the classroom. Then, he turned to the blackboard, beginning the class for the second time in five minutes. It was only moments before something started again. Honestly, you wanted an easy breezy class that would end with a nice finish.

Jeonghan started it.

“Tell your little boyfriend to stay away from us,” Jeonghan whispered.

You widened your eyes, shooting a side-eye at the boy. You thought he had no idea who you were. But then again, you were dating the Kim Mingyu, it came with a position of popularity dropped on your head like a crown.

You were deemed to be focussing on class, but the news flash caught you off guard. Suddenly, you found yourself needing to know what was happening with Mingyu and why he had gotten right into a web of troubles with the Slytherins. Because that was the last thing a Hufflepuff should be doing in this world. Messing with a Slytherin was bound to ruin a Hufflepuff’s reputation.

“What happened?” you whispered right back, your voice sadly biting the fact that you weren’t supposed to share curiosity around like that. You focussed on Lupin and leaned in a little so you could hear Jeonghan better.

“Your boyfriend picked a fight with Junhui after accusing the team of cheating in the last Quidditch match. Now tell me, do you think that just because we may come off intimidating, Slytherins will go as low as cheating?” It sounded like he was talking to Mingyu than his Ravenclaw deskmate and you were getting the feeling that the grudge dawdling his words were starting to follow you up. As if you were responsible.

“I’m sure he didn’t mean it.” you defended Mingyu anyways.

He was the sweetest boy you ever knew of. If Mingyu ever picked a fight, there would be a valid reason for it and when there is one, he would tell you. He hasn’t told you anything yet, so you were left to assume that there was something terribly wrong going on.

“He gave Jun a blood nose, what are you talking about?”

You glanced back at the said boy. Junhui, the brunette, was sitting a few rows back, his eyes plastered on the teacher as he scribbled down notes. Abruptly, his eyes peeled off the teacher to look at you. You turned back just as quick, not wanting to catch the Slytherin’s gaze. You heard rumours about him that were far too brutal for the average ear to even hear. For Mingyu to go pick a fight with him was unbelievable. But you had perceived the bloodstains at the edge of his nostrils. They had to mean something. Your grip tightened on your quill, feathers scrunching under your grasp.

“Why are you telling me?” you asked Jeonghan, covering the shakiness in your voice. You didn’t want to falter around him, wanting to prove that you weren’t scared of a small fight. But when you recalled the way the Slytherins walked in just before, you were beginning to trail with your own doubts and worries.

“Because you’re his girlfriend, duh. You don’t ever use your brain for a Ravenclaw.”

You flashed him a glare that made him a little startled as he backed the tiniest away. “I will converse with Mingyu after.” you stated and returned your focus back to the class.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“Y/N, I swear! They cheated, I saw it with my own eyes!” your boyfriend exclaimed and you were sure if it weren’t for you questioning him, Mingyu would most likely be pulling on his hair.

The enthusiasm enraged the younger boy’s eyes. You cornered him near your common room entry on the fifth floor. In all your years of knowing Mingyu, you hadn’t seen him act like this before. It was fresh to your sights. “Okay, okay. Explain to me exactly what happened in the game.”

Mingyu sighed, looking to the ground. It was like he was trying to gather his words to talk to you. You recalled the previous Saturday game where Hufflepuffs were playing the Slytherins. You recalled that it wasn’t the nicest game in the world―insults were thrown at each other, physical abuse was involved in abundance that the game was about to be stopped halfway. If it wasn’t for the honey boy agreeing to play properly, the game would’ve been called off.

“Fine. I was flying around as one does and I had the Quaffle in my hand. Friggin’ Junhui smacked that Bludger right into me and I dropped it and―”

“That’s allowed, right?” you interrupted.

“It is, but here’s the thing. I was going to my goalpost because I got hit with the Bludger. That’s the rules, right? So I was in the middle of touching my goalpost when I saw, Tzuyu, their Chaser and Ace, push the ball into the hoops. That’s not allowed!”

You found the mistake. A deep disappointment ran through you. You were hoping that Jeonghan was wrong, hoping very hard but in the end, that is what the truth ended up being. “I know how Tzuyu is and are you sure she did that? I was near your goalpost and I―”

“Are you saying you don’t believe me?” Mingyu asked. “Or is it because she’s a girl and you’re taking sides with her because she’s a girl?”

He tilted his head to the left and it took everything in you not to smile at it. Mingyu was trying to stay serious about some Quidditch game and here you were, pursing your lips together in a straight line, seemingly thinking.

“No,” you answered, touching his arm comfortingly. Your eyes shined. “I was spectating by your goalpost and I even had binoculars with me. I saw Tzuyu hit that one goal only because the other boys were hogging the ball and that was the only time you went to touch the goalpost. What I don’t understand is the fact that she was so far away from the goalpost when she scored, you even saw that.”

It was Mingyu’s turn to purse his lips. His hair radiated under the light with elegance, almost. The Hufflepuff normally resonated with such bouncy behaviour, but today was the first time in a while you were seeing him act oh-so gloomy. As if you struck something you weren’t meant to. You understood immediately, your breath slightly hitching in your throat.

“I don’t know what to say…” he told you, looking at the ground.

“Don’t tell me you lied and went to pick a fight with them anyways,” you said, sounding more aggressive than you needed to. It was solely because you were praying in your heart that wasn’t the case. You didn’t want Mingyu to get on their bad sides, you cared for him that much.

“I did.” Mingyu answered you, laying his head in your shoulder with a plop. “I can’t even answer you, no wonder they didn’t believe me.”

“It was such a stupid lie.” you sighed, settling your hand in the tufts of his fluffy hair. You loved him and all, though at times, he would be so stupid, you wondered if it was humanly possible. “Why would you go and do that when there’s so much proof that she didn’t cheat?”

You were a little annoyed at the fact he lied. You were able to decipher why it angered the Slytherins too, it wasn’t fair on them.

“I don’t know, I was frustrated. You’re not going to tell me off?”

“Of course not, just don’t do it again, okay?”

“Okay…I have a Quidditch practice now, so I have to go,” he told you, looking up at you. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Sure, be safe.”

You pecked Mingyu on the lips before turning around to go to your dorms, ending the day with the calmness that you sorted the situation out.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Only when your head hit the fluffy pillows a week later had you remembered something. You struck up immediately again, your tired eyes now as wide as an owl. Beginning to hate the way your mind worked, you stood up to your feet.

How could you forget? You were relaxing the whole day and you had the audacity to forget something as vital as that?

“You okay, Y/N?” your best friend inquired from beyond the room. She was leafing through the pages of a book, obviously tired from the way a yawn slipped through her mouth after asking.

“I said I would go get that book for Potions at the library and see? I completely forgot it.” you sighed, slipping on random slippers aggressively. You didn’t even see if you had them on right.

Adora giggled and her glance moved to the clock in the dorm. “What an idiot. Go get it quickly though, the library closes in like twenty-five minutes.”

That was sufficient to get you moving. As if there was an added force in the room, you were thrust to the door of your dorm, basically jabbing to grab the doorknob and pull aside the door. Adora’s laugh wasn’t lost in the air at your actions as you sprinted down the slim hallway where there were girls coming out and going into their dorms.

You nearly wanted to screech at all of them to get out of the way, but after discerning that it was hardly likely for you to do so, you sharpened your focus more on your way to the library. This was not easy for a Ravenclaw to do so whatsoever. Mainly when you were on the fifth floor, you had to escalade down a radical number of stairs in your pyjamas, which provoked the joints in your knees to barely stick together. Talk about disadvantage.

You were put through a rough time until you finally made it.

Accessing the library, you assuredly put your hands on your knees, breathing in and out piercingly, a punch right in your stomach. The sweat residue on your head became evidence of your hard work as you clammed for a grasp of yourself. Pushing back up, you decided to go straight into locating the book than wasting any time with your barely-jointed legs strolling.

You walked through the adventure section towards the left, before finding a table in the middle of three shelves and a comprehensive view of the lake. You were about to be distracted by the view when you skimmed your eyes back to the table, your heart almost stopping.

It had to be pure coincidence.

You stared, as did he.

The effort of running all the way to the library had doubled its results somewhat. His eyes tracked down to your feet, the book in his hand in a tight grip.

“Nice slippers.”

You looked down too and pinched your eyes shut. Please tell me I’m dreaming. No matter how hard you squeezed your eyes shut and opened them, the same vision of your dormmate’s llama slipper and your sheep one would still be below you. Shaking your head, you glanced back at the boy. He was the last person you foresaw here.

“What are you doing here?” you asked, changing. the subject. He was dressed exceptionally well, you noticed. Head to toe, clad in a nice outfit for something as plain as going to the library.

“Detention,” Jeonghan answered as you began sauntering around the area again.

“That’s stupid of me to ask,” you muttered, fingers running through the thick binds of books in a row as you turned your awareness away from him. You couldn’t forget why you came here.

Each bind came with its own texture―bamboo, silk, wood, paper and it was ascertained that each of those binds came with its own story. Soon, your fingers were brushing the wooden shelf, slowly delving into the side of the shelf and the other side.

Jeonghan’s presence simply slipped your mind like drops of quicksilver as you wandered through the quiet shelves, scanning for the title of the book. But it was nowhere to be seen. It was like you were looking for the same thing for hours and hours on end, yet came with nothing but a dead end. Surely, it was tiring you out too because you were sure that the book was here.

You had seen it before you went to have dinner and no one else in the school needs the book until your level in the latter part of the year. It didn’t fully set into you where it could be until your eyes met the authoritative figure at the counter.

You sighed and walked up to Pince, seeming very confused about the book’s whereabouts. You were hugely entwined with the fact that it had to be somewhere within the library’s walls and with your Ravenclaw knack, you weren’t far off.

Discussing the problem with the librarian, she took the big book stating all the books that have ever been borrowed in the library.

“Is it called Quick Potions, you say?” she asked, flicking through the pages. Something was telling you she was looking for the 'Q’ section to find the book’s name. And when she got nearer to the end of the book, you were told the same thing. “It has to be somewhere in here, dear. It hasn’t been checked out since last year.”

“Oh…maybe I didn’t look properly? Thanks, Madam Pince,” you said, bowing slightly to the woman.

She gave a firm smile prior to getting straight into her paperwork again. You were left with the suspicion rolling in your mind as you took another round the library, where you ascertained that you didn’t miss anything.

Nonetheless, the fact that nothing had been checked out stood out like a splinter in a knee. You looked again, skimming past Jeonghan’s table.

You shot him a brief glance, his doe eyes following the lines of the book he was reading. What was he reading anyways?

The way your body had stopped as soon as you saw the title of the book.

“Hey.”

He looked at you.

“Why do you have that book for?”

He scrunched his nose somewhat in revulsion. You gave no heed to the action as you penetrated your sights through the front cover that was strangely familiar from the start. You just never paid much attention to it, when Jeonghan was all dressed up fancy, drawing recognition away from the tattered case the book was in.

“To read, duh.” he remarked.

For all intents and purposes, you didn’t believe that. You didn’t show it, your target shifting to the book in interest.

“I need that book,” you addressed, leaning your hands on the wooden table slowly. Just as though Jeonghan was some prey of an animal you were trying to get near.

He must’ve seen the way you were looking at that book because he shrunk it back to himself a little as you looked at him. “No way. I’m having it.”

The book proved to be of such importance to you.

“Come on, Jeonghan! At least let me write some notes on it.”

“Um, no,” he stated with sass detected in his tone. “You should’ve got it before. And why do you even need it for? We don’t do this topic until later in the year.”

He was stating the obvious.

“I’m a Ravenclaw.” was the only excuse that drew from your lips.

“Right. You lot want to impress the teacher all the time.” he insulted, sounding like he was spitting his words out almost. He needed to look for the way he said things sometimes, it would come out wrong.

“Right we do.” you agreed with a firm nod. “So give me the book.”

Hope depleted your body. The boy in front of you didn’t seem to be wanting to give you the book, neither did he want to provide an explanation as to why he needed the book. Was he trying to be ahead of class, too? You didn’t know, but what you did know was there was no point trying anymore when he was so determined in his case.

“No.”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“And then I told Wonwoo to piss off.”

“Adora, shut up. You did not!”

“You bet I did. Like, do I look the type to mess around with shit like that? Absolutely not! He had me mad mad!”

“So did you get your stuff back again or what?” you pestered her, genuinely involved in what she did with the younger students of your house.

Adora, Mingyu and you were currently walking through the busy halls of Hogwarts, striving to get to your classes. Had it been that Mingyu’s class wasn’t on the way, he wouldn’t be entwined by your link of an arm as you dragged him, chattering with your best friend. You acknowledged that he was very bored and looked over at him to see what he was doing instead of listening.

Your eyes had caught a glance of something else in the short distance.

Jeonghan was standing there, with his group of friends surrounding him in a semi-circle so they were all able to face the bustling hallway. His eyes had fleeted the conversation for a mere second, darting to make contact with you.

Your body stammered, identifying crisis at its peak. If you wanted to leave without a fight starting, you had to get yourself and Mingyu out of there immediately.

“Um,” Adora perked up.

You faced her again, realising that her line of sight was stuck at the troublemaking Slytherins. You could assume that she was worried about why you were looking at one spot only. Hating that you were so obvious with it, you looked at the girl with the intention to get away quickly. Your best friend got the message and before you knew it, you were starting to walk a little faster.

“Why are we going so fast? It’s just Monday morning.” came Mingyu’s groan.

You weren’t in a desire to hear any of it. It was your responsibility to get him into that class safely. If you weren’t doing that, what kind of girlfriend, or even, senior were you?

“Ssh, child. We’re going to your class now.”

“You did not just 'child’ me,” Mingyu complained, practically jogging at the end of his hold. Was he always such a brat? No. It must’ve been the prank that his roommates did on him that had him this grumpy in the morning. He was whining about it all morning and as much as you felt bad for him that it was the result of a bad’s night sleep, you rather Mingyu’s day not get worse.

Which meant physically flinging him into the classroom.

Adora laughed at seeing that, as well as a few other members of the younger year level.

Mingyu poked his head right out of his classroom again, furrowing his eyebrows in the slightest. “What’d you do that for?”

You put on a feverish smile on your face, acting as if you do this every day for Mingyu’s sake.

“For fun. Now, get back into your class and learn a lot. I love you, okay?” you told him.

Mingyu rolled his eyes and waved you off as if you were an embarrassing mother bidding her child to school.

“Love you too.” he muttered.

Your resisted the urge to say ‘say it louder’ and walked off with Adora, acknowledging that you had settled your boyfriend. It left some time before class actually started so you and Adora were able to almost crusade to class, now speaking more freely because there was no guy there listening in on your conversation.

The two of you entered the classroom and took seats at the far left back of the classroom where you were confirmed of being able to have your own conversation as well as easy access to notes since the board was on the left. You chatted your way through minutes as other members of the class came in as well as the teacher herself.

You almost had to bite your tongue to stop talking, just because you and Adora were having that good of a conversation. The whole class beame quiet, even the Slytherins who, fortunately, don’t stand a chance in front of McGonagall. Who does, honestly?

“I can’t believe I’m only now noticing how many classes Jeonghan and I have together,” you commented briefly as your eyes stuck to the teacher instructing.

“You don’t have that many classes with him.”

“I don’t. But it’s annoying to just see his face this early in the morning if you get what I mean.” you said.

The fear of getting caught talking in one of McGonagall classes was on your back.

“I get what you mean. It’s going to be hard now, huh?”

“It is―”

“L/N, would you come hand out these worksheets for me?” The teacher manages to instruct you.

You would admit that when she had said your last name, you felt a claw in your stomach scratching you and telling you that you had done something wrong. It wasn’t until she said her full sentence, had you calmed down a little. The shock stained your face, however, quickly erupted when you got up with a nod.

Chair skidding back, you removed yourself from the prickly gap between the table and chair and got out to the front of the classroom that had broken into a set of broken whispers here and there―the class was for once, able to talk in class.

You did your dutiful task of handing out worksheets, replying to ‘thank you’s and such for one side of the classroom. As you went along the last column, dreadfully as well, because Jeonghan and his group of friends were coming up, you felt this pit drop. Just looking at his face gave this ungrateful whirr of mush in you that you wanted to splutter out, but there was no possible way of doing so. It was so hard to describe, yet so easy to express the pain he gave.

You placed down Jeonghan’s paper on his table, sensing the silence when you did so.

What? Were you not even allowed to do your own task?

You moved away quickly because you realised that the group of Slytherins were just staring.

The class continued with the agonising pain of McGonagall’s voice deliberately getting screwed in your head. As much as you loved staying on top of your work and the satisfaction of doing so, you hated when teachers would give homework.

You left the class more burdened than you were when you came in, with your best friend complaining about the workload once again.

“It’s suffocating,” she whined.

“I hate it here.”

“Let’s run away with the Dementors. Lowkey, they’re kinda fine.”

“Girl―no, you’re kinda right.” You nodded along before the two of you bid each other a goodbye as you had different classes.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“No, no. I stole your stuff because you stole my glasses.” Wonwoo argued affirmatively.

Vernon and you were shocked as you stared between the two quarrelling. How he had changed the story so drastically, you had no idea, but your were confirmative in your enthusiasm for it. As was Vernon who sat right opposite you.

Although Vernon and Wonwoo were juniors of yours, it didn’t seem that for a second that Wonwoo wanted it to be that way since he was starting to get out of line with his argument.

“Whatever it is, I am your senior,” Adora argued.

“Oh, so just because you’re my senior, you get special privileges of stealing my things?” Wonwoo asked.

“I did not steal them, I―”

You stuffed a spoonful of mashed potato into Adora’s mouth, causing Vernon to laugh. You smiled at him, glancing over at your best friend. “Eat. Or you’re going to be complaining about hungry you are all day and I don’t have time for that.”

Adora swallowed hard, her fists curled in her lap. You were her next target. If you didn’t notice right there, right then the absence of one of your textbooks on your concerning book pile, you would’ve been dead meat.

“Oh my God.” you gasped.

“What is it?” Wonwoo asked you.

You looked back at the three. “I totally forgot my Transfiguration textbook back at the classroom.”

Untangling yourself from the bench, you pursued into a run, not forgetting to turn a little to see your friends. “Take my stuff with you!”

And you were on a run; fleeting down the linear course of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables where a sea of yellow and blue punctured your eyes. Students moved out of your way once they saw you running for what appeared like your life and frankly it was. You had homework that involved the presence of that textbook.

Lucky for you, McGonagall’s classroom was on the ground floor of Hogwarts, allowing students like you easy access. You scooted through some more starving students, a few fellow Ravenclaws in your sprint prior to making it to the entrance of your destination.

Oh, you felt like you had seen the light of the day when the double doors met your eyes. A soft smile of relief sculpted your face as you pushed the door just enough for you to slide through.

“Do you think it’s funny that your grades are going down, Mr Yoon?”

Your eyes caught quite the killing scene―McGonagall stationed at the front of the classroom with Jeonghan right in front of her. She seemed as if she was ridding her heart and soul out to the boy about the importance of school and you couldn’t agree less.

Yes, scold him more.

You nearly forgot that you could be seen so you quickly slid to the back of the classroom where your textbook was waiting for you like a child waiting for their parent to pick them up from kindergarten. It was like all your sweat droplets slinked back into the pores of your skin…only for them to bleed out again.

“L/N? What are you doing here?”

You looked up at the authoritative women at the front of the classroom who shot daggers at you. You stood still for a second, before trying to explain why you were in the classroom.

“Sorry, Professor. I just left my textbook in here.” You waved up the textbook.

She nodded, letting you walk freely. “Alright. You can go, then. Now, you―”

“No, Professor. She’s here to find out why I’m in here, so later she can go talk behind my back about me.”

You stopped in your tracks and rolled back around. “What? What are you talking about?”

“Yes, what is this about, Yoon?” McGonagall asked, her eyebrow raising. If she didn’t believe it, it would only cause you luck because she was such an opinionated woman.

Jeonghan sniffled. If you believed that McGonagall was not going to fall for his lies, why were you literally shaking in your shoes? Maybe because of the known fact that Slytherins tended to have their way with things.

“She’s been doing it the last few weeks and I’ve been hearing the worst rumours about myself spread around. She keeps calling me a manwh―”

“L/N, what is this?” McGonagall interrupted.

Her eyes proved that she was in a state of anger as you stood there, a textbook in hand, deadpanned. You were staring right at Jeonghan, instead of looking at your teacher because there was a part of you that was still concocting the message. He really lied to get you in trouble and for what?

“Professor, I swear to you, he’s lying! Why would I call him such a word? I don’t even know him!”

“Of course the professor will believe you.” Jeonghan looked away, enticing an effect of devastation. “Just because I’m a male and a Slytherin for that matter, I’m expected to take these words and be okay with it. But there’s always a line, Y/N. You should understand that―”

“That’s right, L/N.” McGonagall interrupted with a firm nod.

Resentment gradually rose in you as the doe eyes of Jeonghan floated to the teacher. “I feel like it’s only fair for her to serve detention too. That way she can learn from her mistakes.”

McGonagall nodded at the liar. “I think that is fair too. Furthermore, what is even more fair is that the two of you should serve detention together and sort out this issue.”

“What?” Jeonghan and you spoke out.

Your muscles felt stiff and rigid, your throat had gone dry. There was no way that you were hauled into a lie and detention with him. This was all beginning to be a little too much for you to take in.

“I said what I said, Yoon. Apologies, but I feel like this is a situation that the two of you need to make up together or come on okay terms. I hear that you are seated together for Defence Against the Dark Arts, it will be less awkward if you talk things out.” she explained carefully, looking between the two of you.

And it was like she knew everything that was going on. You were placed in a web of lies like prey for the spider. The spider being Jeonghan. You were daunting it with all your soul already, how would you be when you actually work with him?

“No, no, I don’t think―”

“That’s the final decision. Trophy Room, Wednesday night, at nine o’clock.” McGonagall stood up and swept her books into her arms magically. She was full of authorisation as she stepped down the steps from her desk before sweeping past Jeonghan. When she walked past you, she gave you a stern glare, her square glasses glimmering under the lights.

“I don’t want to hear such things coming again. You are a well-behaved student but you also need to be well-behaved when it comes to other students. Do you understand?”

As much as you wanted to tell her it was a lie, you nodded. She had too much power and was aware of it. McGonagall left the room, closing the door behind her.

Now that it was the two of you alone, you looked up at the blonde boy. He was looking at you already.

“Why the hell did you think that was okay, Jeonghan? I do not want to waste time doing detention with you and you―”

“How was I supposed to know that hag was going to give the two of us detention?” Jeonghan asked.

“She is the head of Gryffindor house. You should know that and above all, you lied about me. You don’t even know how much I wanna hex you right now.” you said, speaking in small breaths. You knew the rage hadn’t fully settled in yet.

Jeonghan didn’t seem bothered, he acted with the thought that the whole thing wasn’t his fault.

Why was he so arrogant for? Couldn’t he just be accepting of his faults? Slytherins like Jeonghan make you think that there will never be a good Slytherin again. They were all deducted of the need to tell the truth.

“Oh, shut up,” he muttered. Jeonghan walked past you, eyes seething from the looks of it. You couldn’t bring yourself to be afraid of him anymore. His cold presence meant nothing. In that moment, you just wanted to grab him by his luscious blonde hair and tug at it until it all ripped out.

Jeonghan left the classroom, leaving you in the emptiness of it. Placing the textbook on the table, a revelation opened up―you remembered something.

“Oh my God,” you muttered out of frustration.

You had a test on Thursday.

How the hell were you going to spend the night before revising when you had detention?

You hit your head with the textbook.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“What if I just don’t show up?” you asked Adora, looking at her pitifully.

It was already Wednesday, twenty to eight and here you were, walking with your group of friends and boyfriend, dreading to see him. The last two nights ended up being full of revision because you couldn’t fully set it out over three days. Thanks to Jeonghan and his lying. You hadn’t wanted to beat someone up so badly.

He made it a point that he didn’t like you and he used that to make your life miserable. For what? Because you sat next to him in a class. You had no control over that, what were you supposed to do?

“It’s just one detention and you already know everything, babe.” Mingyu said, slinging his arm around your shoulder so casually. Even his pretty face hadn’t managed to make you comforted. “I tested you, remember?”

“Exactly.” Adora nodded, putting her hand on your head to reassure you. None of it was working.

You were scared that this one night gone would make a sacrifice.

“You’re a Ravenclaw, Y/N.” Mingyu told you. The other two juniors of yours entailed behind the two of you, quiet for their own good. You looked back at them, pitiful of yourself.

“You guys aren’t going to say anything to make me feel better?”

Wonwoo and Vernon exchanged a glance worriedly because they were put on the spot.

“Well, you’re our senior. So we don’t know what exactly to say.” Wonwoo said for the two of them as Vernon nodded along with his friend’s words. It must’ve been the fact that Mingyu was here.

Because behind closed doors, these two were the most fun you’ve known of in your life. Since Mingyu was in their year level and popular at that, it must’ve caused a margin of how much they talked. You understood that and smiled at them, despite the distasteful situation you had brought yourself into.

“Ah, babe.” Mingyu perked his head up at you, his eyes widened a little as if he remembered something.

“Yeah?”

“I-I have to be somewhere right now,” he told you urgently.

You furrowed your eyebrows wondering what it was and why he would remember it now? Like he could’ve said something about it earlier?

“Well, what is it?” you asked him.

“Um, you wouldn’t really get it now. But I’ll explain it tomorrow, okay? Good luck on your detention and test.” Mingyu quickly pecked your check, much to your distaste as you had previously mentioned your dislike towards public affection. Then, he turned around and dashed through your juniors without an apology.

You watched as the boy ran as if his life was on the line and for a second you pondered the idea if it was, then, you turned right back around, finding yourself dipped in worry and frustration once again.

“We’ve arrived,” Adora told you with a fatal sigh leaving your lips. How much you wished McGonagall would appear in front of you like a fairy and tell you that you were in luck, but there was no fairy McGonagall as you drove the doors of the Trophy Room wide open.

The dramatics of the door opening prolonged a silence that was without warning. You walked in first, the footsteps behind you reassuringly following.

He was already there.

A similar feeling of dread once again swamped inside you.

“Oh, look. You brought your stupid Ravenclaw friends with you.” Jeonghan commented, a glare that felt like it was stained on his face like turmeric to a countertop.

“You should be the last person calling them stupid.” You remarked back.

The room was silent for a second and you felt Adora’s hand on your shoulder, signalling you that your remark was a bit unexpected. You didn’t care. Watching Jeonghan’s face fall was somewhat pleasing to the eyes.

“Are you talking back to me?” Jeonghan asked.

“Yeah, I am. Because frankly, I’m starting to get sick of your rich boy attitude.”

Jeonghan didn’t say anything about it and it convinced you that you got him good. The rest of the room was quiet so you looked back at your group of friends.

“You guys can leave. I don’t want you to view this torture any longer.” You told them.

The two boys stood there for a second before Adora pushed them out. Door slamming behind them, it left only you and Jeonghan in the room and it was not the ideal environment to let two people that were on the verge of killing one another together.

Grabbing your wand out, you start to wave things out. You didn’t want to be here, neither did you want to put in the effort of cleaning up the room. The last time you checked you didn’t lie so you’re not doing the detention.

Jeonghan didn’t give you another look as he whipped out his own wand to get stuff done. The two of you were quiet with each other and there was this fine border, you saw it from the way things were going, that screamed that if someone were to talk right that second, it would break out something. Like a zit popping, an explosion that destroyed the world.

The two of you knew this deep inside and were basically playing tug-of-war in your minds, waiting for someone to say something. It was just that adrenalin rushing that made you all frustrated all over again.

“Detention with you out of all people…” Jeonghan muttered under his breath.

Your eyes darted up instantly, feeling the knot keeping the rope of sanity together break.

“You shouldn’t be complaining. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be here together. I hope you regret this for the rest of your life, Jeonghan. I have a test tomorrow and now thanks to you, I can’t revise for it.” you complained, lashing out a trophy from the cabinet. It flew in the air and into your hands for the cleaning spray and a wipe down to retrieve another layer of glossiness.

Jeonghan furrowed his eyebrows at you. It seemed that no one really stood up to him, so he didn’t know what to say. Though he did know that his standards and expectations were being abolished by your comebacks.

As they should be.

“You shouldn’t be talking back to me.”

He had another one coming because your mouth opened and spat facts.

“Aw, that’s literally how communication works.” you pouted, before deadpanning at it. You flew the silver trophy right back into the cabinet and got the one adjacent to it. “I think you’re the stupid one, Jeonghan.”

Jeonghan’s grip on his trophy tightened and although it was fairly dark in the room, you were capable of seeing his veins tense. Sort of like Mingyu before a game.

“Oh, you should really shut that mouth. It’s not going to do you justice.”

You didn’t care. It showed too.

“Aw, really? How? Because I really love seeing you look so mad and do absolutely nothing about it.” You teased.

Jeonghan almost shoved the golden trophy into the cabinet. It urged no new reaction from you as you were determined to defend yourself well.

“I’ll do something for real, you dumb Ravenclaw. Don’t test me.”

“Come do it, then. Don’t tell me.” you smirked proudly.

It seemed like you snapped Jeonghan’s rope of sanity because the next thing you knew, he was walking towards you.

It was then you felt like a bucket of ice water was dumped over your head―you were enlightened as to why no one messes with him.

It’s not that he’s not use to it, it’s that he doesn’t want to make the effort to go fix the situation. This is shown through his unbothered behaviour and his lazy actions. Yoon Jeonghan was feral on the inside.

But now, you weren’t sure 'feral’ was the only way to describe it. He had his wand out and everything, you were sure he was going to murder you then.

You looked around for a possible defence for yourself. There was absolutely nothing in the stone-cold room that could pitch as a defence tool rather than your own wand.

It wasn’t until Jeonghan had reached a foot to you did you let out a loud gasp. A little away from you was a metal bucket that held all the cleaning supplies that you and Jeonghan were to use the night. It was empty when Jeonghan tripped over the bucket.

Gratitude to the fact that you were only what seemed a feet away, the only falling position had was on top of you. Though you were a Ravenclaw, it was a given you were too late in moving out of the way. Jeonghan’s body clashed against yours, causing the two of you to topple over to the stone-cold floor in a disordered pile.

The menacing Slytherin had his chest right at yours, the tension circulating one that could come off contradictory from your dispute. Your heart was shaking, beating profound in your ears as you took a glance at those ravishing doe eyes, hardly inches from you.

Light from behind had shadowed his face but you knew all too well that the look on his face could only mean that…he didn’t mean for this to happen.

However, before you could even get a word out of the, well, knotted situation, the door of the trophy room opened. You were not only weighed down by Jeonghan but also, fear.

“What in the world is going on in here?!” came the stern voice of McGonagall.

It looked wrong, you admitted it, but you required to explain yourself first. Sweet Minerva didn’t delight you with a chance.

“When I said to sort things out, I did not mean this. You children are a menace to society! Up to your feet―now!”

The two of you paused. Partly because Jeonghan was still on top of you, half his body on top while his hands held his weight up and entrapped you in between him. You felt heat rush to your face.

“Up!” the Gryffindor called.

With a glare that spoke ‘it’s all your fault’, Jeonghan got to his feet, and you clambered to yours too, a pain stretching across your shoulder blade from the knockdown.

“Another detention, both of you,” she said. “You have five more minutes in here and then you can leave.”

The way the teacher had expressed herself proved that she didn’t want to hear excuses drawing from either of you.

You pressed your lips in a firm hold and nodded at the teacher. Your head was down so you couldn’t see what your fellow classmate did, so you could only imagine that he did something that was sufficient for the teacher to leave you guys in the room.

Jeonghan shifted to the back of the room where he continued with the trophies, being somewhat louder, showing his have for the detention.

You could say the same with a bit more embarrassment.

The next five minutes were the most awkward five minutes of your life.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Fire was darting through your lips by the next afternoon, insulting everything and everyone who was in the way under your breath. You were lucky to not have DADA yet. You didn’t have it until after lunch and during lunch, you were complaining to your friends, every word dropping with no hesitation or respect for the place you were in.

“Like how do I deserve detention in the first place?” you argued.

“Wow, this is my first time seeing you bitch about a teacher,” Adora commented.

And she was quite right about that. You didn’t complain about any teacher until McGonagall’s string of stupid accusations yesterday. She didn’t give you a chance to explain, instead, she put you in another detention with him. How could you not be frustrated?

“Yeah, because it doesn’t make sense. If it was a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff teacher, they would’ve asked what happened,” you answered, the fragility gone in your voice. You proposed the subject of Minerva McGonagall with such aggression.

The bell rang, signalling your mood to get more unsatisfactory. DADA―your favourite.

You stood up, the burden coming again. You smiled sarcastically at your friends, your boyfriend not present. It was like he disappeared overnight, you haven’t seen him all day. Neither did you care very much, you had a lot on your plate at the moment and to check his whereabouts was not the top of your priority list.

“My favourite class.” you sighed.

“Just show him you’re not going to back down like everyone else in his way and he’ll treat you like an equal.” quiet Vernon spoke.

Your glance shifted to him―everyone’s glance shifted to him. He moved uncomfortably in his seat.

“Whoa, since when did you speak like that?” Wonwoo asked in utter shock.

If you were in shock, how would Wonwoo, his friend for a long time, be? You shook your head, clearing the air so that none of you would be late to your classes.

“Thanks, Vernon. I’ll do that.”

You grabbed your books from the small coffee table that was in the middle of the seance of armchairs and then shuffled out of the library with the rest of the students that were on their way to their fifth-period classes. It was an ill-fated, but a known fact that the three of them coincidentally had a vacant period and yours was after this DADA class.

He was already there when you had walked into class, on time, rather than early because of your grudge towards the Gryffindor head. You took your seat, not endorsing him.

It went on and you were sure that the air clouded between you and Jeonghan proclaimed to the whole class. Something about them whispering about the no recognition of the other showed. It was like you wanted it to show that you weren’t going to back down from his words because you were still mad at the test.

Oh, the test.

It didn’t go well at all. But at least you answered all the questions.

“Yo, my favourite Ravenclaw. Got a quill I could borrow? Kinda lost mine on the way here.”

The point that you knew Soonyoung was too dumb to read the mood made you glare at him more.

His eyes widened a little, accentuating his adorable features. “I-I mean―”

You cut him off with a sigh, clutching the spare peacock quill and delivering it to him. He muttered gratitude before leaving, pacing quick to his seat as you had anticipated. Since Soonyoung came, you sensed a simmer down In the atmosphere.

Jeonghan broke the tense silence.

“Have you said anything to your boyfriend yet?”

“What do you mean?” You didn’t face him, you were writing on the worksheet Lupin had given out earlier in the class. You noticed that Jeonghan’s was blank. He must’ve been going through some thinking time.

“Oh, you must’ve told him about how we Slytherins are…”

“No.” you replied. “What are you talking about?”

It had to be the way you said it because Jeonghan had straightened up. You finally looked at him, blonde hair shining under the light of the classroom to find out what he was trying to tell you.

Jeonghan appeared pissed.

You continued, Vernon’s voice stuck in your head like glue.

“You have too much Slytherin pride. Do you think I would actually go run my mouth about you to everyone? Sure, I’m concerned for him and that the irrelevancy of him going to pick a fight is prominent but at the same time, I wouldn’t go talk about you to him.”

He was quiet.

You’d never seen anything like it.

From what you viewed afar, Jeonghan was the type to fight back straight away but for once, he was silent, his lips loosely closed. He was examining your face.

It still made you doubt the lingering impression of whether someone hadn’t stood up to him or was he just observing?

“And as much as I hate sitting with you, I complain more about the situation than you.” you continued.

It was a lie.

Everything that left your lips was Jeonghan this, Jeonghan that.

“Sure you do, dumbass. Now give me the answers to this.” He motioned towards his blank worksheet. What was he doing?

You sighed, furrowing your eyebrows. “You’ve been copying every single one of my worksheets, Yoon Jeonghan. Why are you asking suddenly?”

It seemed that the air was clearing. It was much to your disappointment, but you couldn’t bring yourself to make it heavy again.

A giggle left him, one that felt a little too innocent to be Jeonghan. “You noticed?”

“Yeah, I did and not only that, Lupin let me know too that our worksheets are too vaguely similar.”

He smirked. “What’s the point of doing work when I already have a sweet Ravenclaw sitting next to me doing it for me?”

The word ’sweet’ coming from him stuck longer in your head than Vernon’s encouragement.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

The last detention with your enemy consisted of cleaning the Charms classroom, the following week. It was evident that both you and Jeonghan just wanted to get it over and done with. And you did. Without blaming each other, without talking much.

It was like for once, things were on par with either of you and you treated each other as equals rather than wanting to rip the other’s hair out. Supposedly, you would assume that it was the class where he asked for your answers that kinda released some pressure between the two of you from the night in the Trophy Room.

McGonagall came in after everything was done and dusted to give the two of you a speech.

“I don’t want to hear any name-calling or anything else like that, you hear me?”

You didn’t suppress your eye roll. Instant regret flourished through you.

“Young lady, you did not just roll your eyes at me,” she said, fairly disturbed.

You didn’t say anything as you were meddled by Jeonghan’s laughing.

“Is this funny to you, Mr Yoon?”

“A little.”

She made an offended sound, placing her hands on her hips. Then, she shook her head. “Thank God, I don’t have the two of you anymore for detention. Off you go now.”

The two of you spun around and left the classroom, leaving the teacher in her own thoughts.

It made you wonder, what does the woman even think of besides the fact that she’s a Transfiguration teacher? Does anything that doesn’t match the solidness of a rock go through her head? It was something you were far too afraid to ask but eagerly wanted to know the answer to.

Among the silence outside the Charms classroom, you let out a heavy sigh.

Jeonghan snapped.

“Thank God, I don’t have to be doing two horrendous tasks at the same time. Cleaning is enough, but looking at your face and cleaning―”

“Why would you look at my face while cleaning?” you cleanly interrupted.

It went horribly cold.

Your eyes widened a little, realising what you said. You were tired, both of you were tired―in short, you didn’t need to say that.

“I’m going back to my dorms,” you muttered, heading down the hallway. You didn’t want to anticipate in the reaction. But before you did leave, words slipped out of your mouth that couldn’t help themselves. “Hope your bedbugs eat you alive.”

He didn’t hesitate.

“Hope both sides of your pillow are warm, love!”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

The next class with Jeonghan proved to be rather interesting. Besides the fact that Soonyoung came over a couple of times to ask you questions about the work, which Lupin didn’t see as he had his own errands to run during class time. You didn’t fully understand what was going on in him, he was quite tired-looking.

Almost as if a Dementor had absorbed the life out of him.

Anyways, Soonyoung came to ask another question.

“What’s the answer?”

You leaned forward to the parchment, reading to where he was pointing.

What happens when a prisoner escapes from Azkaban and what is it?

You rolled your eyes. “We just went over it, but it’s the Dementor’s Kiss. So essentially, it’s when the Dementor sucks out a person’s soul and it’s used as a sentence for those who attempt to escape Azkaban…you got that?”

You turned to Jeonghan to see him scribbling it down.

"Yup,” he muttered.

The past two times that Soonyoung came over, the Slytherin found it easy to just copy what you said aloud to the simplest questions. He wasn’t surprised you caught him in the act of doing so either.

“Thanks, Y/N!” the Gryffindor exclaimed, closing his eyes and smiling. Then, he went back to his arranged seat across the room. You looked back at your work, all finished.

Jeonghan opened a conversation, appealing to your boredom. But it wasn’t quite the expected.

“You and your boyfriend don’t seem as close anymore.”

You looked at him, his blonde locks falling perfectly near his eyes. He was really, such a beauty. “What are you talking about?”

A part of you understands what he’s getting at but the other part tells you, why is it his business?

“I just don’t see you two hanging out often anymore.”

“This bothers you because…?”

“It doesn’t.” he replied, the quill in his hand falling flat to the parchment, prior to him continuing, “Just an observation. Like I’d give a care for your life.”

You smirked. “Mhm, you sound like you are, Jeonghan.”

“You think I would just hover around a middle-class Ravenclaw girl?”

You stopped.

The words bled an unexpected pain and you could see that his face twitched a little when you paused.

“You did not just call me a middle-class girl,” you said, standing up. Your hands pushed into the wooden table as your desk chair scraped back. It alerted some members of the classroom to look at you.

“I did.” he said calmly, face not wavering from it’s blankness

Alas, his predatory pride couldn’t help but come back again.

“Jeonghan, you do realise no one likes you because of how you speak to others?! Your friends only want to be with you because of your wealth, okay? It spoiled you into thinking you have real friends and that you can make fun of other people’s financial issues. It’s seriously not cool…you should really think about how fortunate you are instead of coming at people who are less fortunate!”

You didn’t know how the words spilled out, but you were glad they did. Who had given him this much confidence? Why didn’t anyone put him into place? Jeonghan needed to understand that not everyone may have gone through the same treatment as him.

He was advantageous and as much as he did call you a middle-class girl, he didn’t have any authority of making himself look like the bigger person because of his financial issue.

Murmurs broke out subsequent to your outburst.

“Y/N, detention,” Lupin said.

“W-What?!” You yelled, your frustration yet to back down. How many teachers were just giving detention without knowing anything about the situation? It was seriously getting out of hand. “I didn’t do anything, sir. He was the one that―”

“How can you raise your voice in a quiet working environment? Do you see anyone else making noise?”

Unbelievable. There was no way people were ganging up on you, now were they?

You sat back down to your seat, Jeonghan letting out a chuckle at your misfortune. It wasn’t funny, neither was it anything close to fair.

Devising a plan in your head, it was all set to go once the bell rang. You waited. Waited until all the students left the classroom before you made your way to the front where the teacher sat. You needed to give this one a lecture, the teachers at this school were starting to get on your nerves one by one.

“Yes, Y/N?” he asked as if everything was okay and he did not just give you a detention for standing up for yourself.

“Why would you give me detention? I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Lupin laughed.

You felt humiliated at that point. It wasn’t suggested to be funny. Were you that much of a laughing stock for the world? Jeonghan, Lupin, who else?

“I know, I know. I was just playing with the two of you―it was a joke.”

You crossed your arms together, the racing heart unable to move to its original speed. “Sir, It’s not funny. I’ve already ended up with two detentions because of that boy. You’ve already put me next to him and that itself is torture, let’s just leave it at that.”

Lupin opened his mouth to speak, maybe to comfort you but you weren’t into it. Your mood was just ruined for the day. There was literally no one that could make you feel better.

You dismissed yourself from the empty classroom, a cloud parading over your head when you bumped into someone.

Seriously? Who else was going to try messing with you today?

“Dude…Mingyu!”

There he was. Your boyfriend.

Actually in person to see you.

“Hey!“

"You came at the right time. I’ve just had the worst day ever.”

“Really? Oh, I’m so sorry, babe. You’re lucky though! I came here wondering, do you wanna go on a date today?”

That in itself had made the clouds go away and a smile came onto your face. Finally, someone could make your day better than ruin it all.

“Yeah, I would really like that.”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

The Three Broomsticks was a common place for couples of Hogwarts to go. You discerned it whenever you would be talking to your friends that had a significant other. You would guess it was because of the mature feelings that would surround the restaurant from the decorations to the people that attended it.

You couldn’t catch first to third years there much. So when you and Mingyu went in there thanks to your more senior rights of visiting Hogsmeade late at night, you guys were feeling comfortable in the atmosphere.

“Well, look who it is, my favourite couple,” Rosemerta said, with a smile that was so big and beautiful you wouldn’t miss it for the world. She was always so optimistic, it was wondered by many how it was humanly possible. The owner pulled out her notepad and pen, “What can I get for you today?”

You glanced at Mingyu and then ordered what you wanted. He ordered his food too and the woman went away, complimenting the two of you once again.

A conversation was then taken away by Mingyu. It’s been a while since you were able to talk to the other. But that didn’t stop chaos from happening.

Mingyu’s eyes shifted to the left when he had stopped abruptly in his words.

“Uh-oh,” Mingyu whispered.

“What?” you asked, deeply hoping it wasn’t another excuse for him to leave again.

Instantly you felt the hope turn into an unquestionable rage that could rake this whole restaurant into chaos. Yoon Jeonghan and his delinquent friends were sat a table away from the two of you.

If it wasn’t for the people sitting at the table in between yours and Jeonghan’s party, you would’ve said something about it and caused chaos anyways.

What he said last time had wound buried inside you and articulated some sort of extreme hatred for him. To the point where you couldn’t bring yourself to care anymore neither could you bring yourself to want to see him ever.

It was damaging that you were stuck sitting next to him.

Time went on on your date and you did your best to ignore Jeonghan and his friends that were laughing often. It was a restaurant, had they no respect?

Soon, the people that were seated in between the two of you left and that was enough for you and Jeonghan to turn around and lock eyes immediately.

You wish you could tell him that your boyfriend did actually care for you and was close to you but due to what he said earlier, you didn’t think that would be likely of happening.

“I really don’t want them to be here,” you told the honey-badger as you looked back at him.

He nodded, understandingly as the Slytherins roared with laughter again.

“I get it. Jun keeps looking at me. It’s a little uncomfortable.” Mingyu admitted.

A little silence flew by and you opened your mouth to suggest to leave when suddenly, a splat knocked you on your shoulder. You gasped and turned to your right to see a strawberry shortcake splat right on you. Your eyes directed upwards to meet with the Slytherin boys who were laughing again.

Jeonghan was too.

“Yoon Jeonghan!” you bellowed, knowing it had to be him. It seemed as if a rope broke because of him―the only thing keeping you sane in the restaurant and he had to go ahead and destroy that. “You better come here and clean this up!”

Mingyu seized a napkin from the stack on the table, leaning over your empty plates to reach your top but you put a hand up at him, still looking at Jeonghan. He sought to avoid eye contact, but even that didn’t allow his friends from letting it go. They were thorough in teasing him, something that you pronounced of his deserving.

“Yah!” he told them, striving not to break into another stream of laughter. “You can bet on my father’s black card that I’m not going there to clean up a prissy little middle-class girl.”

The way those words rolled off his tongue felt a little too natural for your liking. The Slytherins laughed again and Jun smacked his friend on the back. “Go! You’re the one who did it! Look at how mad she is!”

“Y/N, don’t do anything you’re going to regret.” Mingyu warned you patiently. He had fear screwed in both his eyes and you found that rather annoying, seeing that he was the one that willingly went to pick a fight with them.

You had about enough of everyone right that second, that you whipped around to look at Mingyu. “Oh, shut the hell up, Mingyu. You can’t say shit when you lost the fight anyways!”

Jeonghan’s table heard.

You knew when they all went silent.

You squeezed your eyes shut when you heard them all laugh again at what you said. It was an impressed and shocked roar of laughter and agreement that went past all of them and you couldn’t even bring yourself to look at Mingyu. You did not just embarrass him in front of all those Slytherins, did you?

“No, that’s not what I meant!” you tried, but failed, shaking your head. “Yoon Jeonghan, come clean this up.”

“No―”

“Yeah, Jeonghan.”

“Go clean it up, Jeonghan.”

“You’re the one who made the mess.”

His friends chirped him, aggravating him. But what was surprising was the random push Junhui gave him, urging him to go towards your table. Now that he was already up, he was left with no choice. Jeonghan walked towards you, surrendering.

Turning back to your seat, you waited for him to clean up his mess.

“Oohhhh~” his friends continued. They were contributing too much to this and in front of your boyfriend. You felt bad enough just looking at his face. The tips of his ears turned red and you were divulged into knowing the pain he must be experiencing because of these green-robed students.

Jeonghan’s napkins became an endless pile of cream as he wiped them off your bare shoulder. You kinda froze, letting him do his work in shame. His friends were too loud for your liking.

His fingers scraped past your bare shoulder, cool and relaxed as they touched by the off-shoulder material you were wearing. Jeonghan laughed again at something his friend from the other table.

“Shut up, Junhui!”

“Done…you act like too much of a princess for someone who wears something this cheap.” he commented. His finger casually glided into the sleeve of the material that started at your forearm and he playfully pulled it back.

A knot appeared In your stomach.

Mingyu was watching too. You looked up at Jeonghan, wanting to telepathically choke him to death.

“Go away, Jeonghan.”

He let it go, the elastic strap coolly hitting your skin again.

“Whatever you say, princess.” And he walked away to his seat.

You wanted to get up and get back at him but Mingyu reached for you over the table, in attempts of calming you down. You regretted dissing him earlier, so you took it as a way to repay him―by calming down.

“Let’s just go,” Mingyu instructed.

You nodded.

Thanks to Jeonghan, what was expected to be a perfect date became completely imperfect. In all honesty, you desired to spend as much time with Mingyu as possible, fill the long night with pleasant memories because you don’t get to see each other a lot during the week. The one time you wanted to live in a little bubble with just the two of you for a few hours was the time Jeonghan came to deflate it.

Mingyu and you weren’t quick to give up though―the two of you paid Rosemerta and walked, seeing snow fall in blankets over the ground. It was probably past eight-thirty and the coldness of the winter hugged the two of you together.

You reached for Mingyu’s arm, coincidentally, he put on his jacket. Pursing your lips together, you acted as if it never happened and decided to venture down the lone lanes of Hogsmeade.

“Where do you want to go?” he asked.

“I wanna walk around…there’s nothing much to do this late anyways,” you answered with a sigh that breathed out white smoke. Though you weren’t able to see that due to the darkness.

Mingyu and you walked along the snowy path, talking about random things as time flew. Because of the dark, you couldn’t see where you were going and soon you ended up down a small hill with a wired fence that felt a little too familiar to your liking.

“Holy, are we―”

“The Shrieking Shack.” you interrupted, seeing the other side of the fence.

It was far into the distance, yet noticeable. You didn’t mind it much, turning around to incline against the tall fence. The path back to Hogsmeade was next to you but for now, you needed to enjoy the time you had with Mingyu. Your eyes found his and you smiled, feeling the comfort that normally drew from him. Although, this time, it felt less.

You blamed it on the distance and how you couldn’t see him in the dark, but there was something about looking at his face that didn’t bring you the same satisfaction as it used to. Why? You asked yourself.

Was it a once in a while thing?

You furrowed your eyebrows as he looked over at you, hands stuffed in his pockets instead of holding you like the night was meant for. Why were you so far apart?

“Is it hard with Jeonghan?” Mingyu questioned you.

“Not just hard, I just feel so much worse when I’m with him. He’s always doing something to make the mood worse.” you said with an annoyed sigh. You did not want to be talking about him now.

All you wanted was for Mingyu to hold you, kiss you but he was just standing there and asking questions. You didn’t know how to tell him how awkward this was making it between the two of you.

“Can’t you ask the teacher to move seats?”

“I did, but he refused. Mingyu, I―”

“BOO!”

Mingyu and you both jumped, profanities leaving your lips in an instant. The hairs on your skin raised far quicker than it did when you stepped outside to come to Hogsmeade. Right on the other side of you appeared Vernon and someone else you failed to recognise. A drop of a cloak gave the answer away as to what they were doing.

“Who are you?!”

“Mingyu, calm down. It’s just Vernon,” you said, laughing. “What are you doing here? Who’s this?”

“Ah, I was bored so me and Chan decided to sneak out. But you know how fifth years aren’t supposed to go into Hogsmeade unless they’re with a senior, so we sneaked out.”

“Chan?” Your eyesight moved to the boy standing next to him and your mouth simply dropped to the ground. “The Chosen One, Lee Chan?”

“That would be me.”

“I never expected for this day to come.” you sighed, feeling your heartbeat quicken. Admittedly, it’s the quickest your heart had beaten this whole date because of Mingyu’s distance. Mingyu was also shocked as he took in the sight of the shorter boy as if succumbed in the shock.

You had another question coming for Vernon. “How about Adora? She could’ve taken you, Chan and Wonwoo.”

Vernon sighed and he rolled his eyes. “You’re not going to believe this but they were too busy studying together.”

You tilted your head in confusion.

“Wonwoo and Adora…”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Every single second accumulated by the next DADA lesson made you want to hit your head on the nearest wall. The tension, Lupin talking, his fingers tapping on the table made you a ball of frustration, to say the least. You wished for it to go away.

But alas, you were stuck there, sweat sticking to your forehead in a thick layer and your legs jiggling under the table. Why was the class taking forever? Why was one simple hour taking so long to complete itself?

"―and I hope that all of you are writing this down as I speak to you?” Lupin asked, suggestively hinting that notes should be taken in the lesson. You were stress-scribbling everything he was saying, if not, repeating some of the words.

You hadn’t seen such rubbish on parchment in your life, it hurt your eyes from just looking.

“Except, Mr Yoon, of course. What makes you exceptionally different that you don’t have to be taking notes?” Lupin asked, his tone laced with sarcasm.

“I didn’t bring a quill,” Jeonghan answered.

Your eyes burned at the spare quill on top of your pile of books―the same one that Soonyoung had asked to borrow a week ago, it seems.

“Unprepared?…there’s not much we can do about it, can we?” Lupin said, strolling back and forth in a little circle. The whole class had tuned their attention towards Jeonghan, except you. You were attented to the teacher.

“Except we could ask our deskmate if we could borrow their pen.”

Your heart plunged into your stomach. It felt like the world had crumpled into you and you were the last person standing right that moment. A fake, but a tense smile passed across the features as you met a couple of glances from your classmates. They were amazed at how rough yet smartly Lupin played his cards.

The influential desire you and you would assume, Jeonghan had to play those cards right back were a slim chance, nearly none. You picked at the skin on your palm under the table, telling yourself not to fidget at the moment but it didn’t do you any justice that you were put in the spotlight.

“Fine.” Jeonghan replied to the annoying teacher, “Y/N, can I borrow your quill?”

Jeonghan took o polite voice, one that was fake as your smile previously.

“Sure, Jeonghan.” you awkwardly answered, looking at the boy daringly.

But it was that moment where you should’ve known that what hit you were a feeling quite different from what you would feel when you looked at someone you hated.

It was amazement that flooded your body for a second, taking every space inside you as you found yourself staring at his eyes. They looked the same, but you never really noticed how pretty they looked.

What the hell is going on?

Like the whole of your body went into dysfunction, you couldn’t find yourself breaking eye contact. He kept it going too. Suddenly, it didn’t matter that your class was still looking into the drama, anticipating for Jeonghan to pick up the quill from his mortal enemy’s book pile. But they would be rather startled to find that they were staring at each other, or at least you were.

You couldn’t help it. The doe-sleepy look, plus, the eye bags that stood out made you stare. It had to be the newly added eye bags that still burned with the same ember of fiery hate that made you pause that second extra.

Jeonghan’s hand roughly scrolled to the top of your book pile and picked up the peacock quill. Just as quick as it happened, it felt painfully slow. It was like time stopped for a second even. How dare he touch your quill? You saved up for it to look pretty on the pile of books you take to lessons and he just roughly grabbed you.

Wait until you roughly grab his throat.

The regret still stuck to you like super glue. You banged your head on your textbook when people left the classroom, appearing dazed at the thought of his eyes.

“What is wrong with me?” you groaned, grabbing at your scalp for some sort of moral support but none arrived. You collapsed back onto the book pile once again, left in a confusing dark.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

When you came to the library, you expected some quiet and peace but that was far from what you got instead. You got loudness that even Pince wasn’t able to pipe down and that proved to be deteriorating to your study time. You kept at it though, moving down the worksheet from Charms at a God-level speed. Your quill moved with fluidity, a smile on your face at every satisfying answer that came, until, of course, you were interrupted.

You looked up, taken aback slightly. Then, you search around and to your luck, the library was quite full and there was no other space except at your little table that had space for four.

“Are you Ravenclaws always hogging this space?” Junhui asked as he drew back the chair opposite you.

Still slightly in shock, you managed to pull in a few words, smartly. “You are stating the obvious. This is our natural habitat.”

Jun rolled his eyes, taking out the same worksheet as you from his Charms textbook. You didn’t find him to be the type to do his homework, he and Jeonghan skip classes at times.

You don’t mind him either, understanding the importance. You did your homework, proud that you were getting your stuff done today. You might go pay a visit to Mingyu if you had time to spare. So for the time being, you would just complete your homework and then―

“Do you have a crush on Jeonghan?”

The quill on your worksheet stopped writing ink bleeding through the parchment as you glanced up at the Slytherin in pure disgust. “I have a boyfriend.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

I don’t?

Why were you thinking this over?

“No, I don’t like Jeonghan. Why would I like Jeonghan out of everyone that exists?” The way Jun was asking you this―there had to be a reason. Had it been the time you were constrained to spend with his best friend or how you communicated with no chill? You were confused, yet sort of understood where he was coming from.

“You suit him, that’s all.” Jun shrugged.

You laughed. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, I’m serious.”

You shook your head and placed your quill down, demanding to know where he was coming from. “Why are you saying this all of a sudden?”

Jun sighed. “I don’t really seem the type to care about people―”

“You don’t.” you agreed.

He squinted his eyes sarcastically at you and continued with what he was saying, his finger swiping across one of your many books set on the table. “We grew up together, I know what’s best for him and I think rather than having a girl that wants his money, he should have someone smart and to keep him grounded.”

To say you were shocked that Junhui would be saying this was the least―you were mortified. The brunette didn’t give any type of sentiment as long as you’ve been in his residence. It was rather aggression that Jun designated towards others and now you felt sort of enlightened and shocked you were perceiving this side of him. Although, you felt the uncomfortable aspect of it too. You didn’t expect him to pour out his feelings like that.

“What are you telling me to do? Break up with my boyfriend?” you said, trying to make a joke out of it.

He was serious though. The boy didn’t falter from his point of view. He shrugged.

“Look, I―” you began, but was intervened by him.

Junhui locked eyes with you and you felt the seriousness coming from those half-closed eyes. “It might be because we’re in completely different houses. But if a Slytherin were to choose which house they would want to be acquainted with, it’s most definitely Ravenclaw…it’s just my opinion.”

You nodded, looking back at your work, trailing over the many answers. You were reminded about how Jeonghan would copy your homework last minute nearly every lesson and you wouldn’t have a choice but to let him because you didn’t want a fight to start in class.

“I respect your opinion and I really wish I could help you right now but I think you understand the situation yourself.” you smiled. And instead of making a joke out of it, you tried to comfort Junhui out of it.

They were really close to each other. Talk about bro-code.

“Jun? What are you doing here with her?” All your tension was back. This is why the two of you shouldn’t be together.

“Shut up, Jeonghan.” you told him, looking over at him. He was standing behind Jun’s chair as Jun stayed quiet, not responding to your fights. He’s never been that way between you and Jeonghan and you realised at that moment, this was the reason. He wanted the two of you to be together.

If he was going as far as desiring another girl for his best friend who was from another house, it genuinely showed how much he cared for Jeonghan. It reminded you of you and Adora―how you would do anything for each other.

It kind of comforted you knowing they were close like that.

“Say, you’ve gotten a little too much these days for a Ravenclaw,” he commented harshly. You noticed no use of the 'middle-class girl’.

You rolled your eyes. “You’ve gotten too prideful of yourself if you think I’m just going to let you be rude to me.”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

DADA was starting to become boring.

Lupin didn’t give any extensions for the inquisitive Ravenclaws, explaining that you didn’t need it. You tried to look for more extensions but truth be told, you’ve done everything possible for the topic. So by the next lesson, you were just sitting there with nothing to do.

Reading random things in your textbook didn’t dare give the same fulfilment as doing actual work on the things you reviewed.

“Hey, give me the answer to this question.”

Looking over a little above your book, you whispered harshly: “The answer is B. Stop asking me.”

“It doesn’t matter how many times I ask, your smartass always answers.” he chuckled quietly. You rolled your eyes and paid attention to your book, wanting to doubt the false accusations but they weren’t false accusations if you thought about it yourself. You gave him the answer regardless.

“You’re late, Junhui!” Lupin called, the boy entering the classroom.

Nothing new, you noted.

“I was held back by Professor Snape.” Jun excused, his footsteps echoing the quiet classroom.

He’s always held back by Snape. You were starting to think it was a little lie he would implore whenever he came to class late. But who would know? Snape always defended the Slytherins.

You felt a small shift from your side, you looked over. Junhui had sneaked over when Lupin returned his shift to his papers on his desk. Jun bent down beside Jeonghan’s table, locking eyes with you for a second, before going by his best friend’s ear and muttering something. You didn’t trouble yourself trying to listen, flicking through the pages of your book for something you haven’t read yet.

However, the definite: “What?” coming from Jeonghan reached you.

You minded your own business, grasping the boy would make a fuss if you didn’t. But the whispering became more jarring.

“I’m sorry.” you heard Junhui. Did they mess something up? Your mind wandered anyways.

“Just…go back to your seat,” Jeonghan instructed his best friend.

The next few moments were sat in silence. You couldn’t help but think something had gone wrong because the silence between the two of you was so awkward, unlike how it would be most of the time. It made you realise your talking terms with the Slytherin. If it wasn’t something serious Jun had said to him, he would be back to bother you for answers but Jeonghan hadn’t touched his quill.

“I’m redoing the roll since some of you came late to class. Soonyoung?”

“Junhui? Just arrived…Shawn? No…? Jeonghan?”

He didn’t answer.

“Jeonghan? I swear I saw him today―”

With no substitute, you nudged Jeonghan with your elbow without looking at him.

“Oh, here,” he said, passively. Something was wrong for sure.

The roll finished soon and Lupin was back at his table, seemingly marking tests as the students did their work. But Jeonghan hadn’t touched his quill. You were concerned and it worried you too much to concentrate on your reading.

Finally, you put a hand on his arm. “Hey…you good?”

Jeonghan shoved your hand away firmly. Your eyes widened at the reaction and you hesitantly looked over. You had to arrest the gasp coming halfway up your throat to prevent a murder from happening within the walls of the DADA classroom.

There was no way you were witnessing this yourself.

Jeonghan had his head hanging low, but even then, you could see it yourself. The tears.

They were rolling down in heavy beads, almost not seen.

What were you supposed to do?

You already made it awkward by freezing upon their existence. It was literally like a slap in the face as your eyes enlarged. Another side of you softened.

Jun must’ve told him something that happened at home. How? You didn’t know yet, but you felt as if it was critical that Jeonghan was okay.

“I got you, okay?” you said softly, routing out your wand and bringing over the tissue box at the front desk of the class. Then, with the brilliant wits of your Ravenclaw self, you pulled out a bunch of tissues and stuffed them with no hesitance on Jeonghan’s face. He shot you a glare from half his face and red eyes but you only nodded at him in reassurance. He took the tissues from your wand’s grip and tousled them onto his face like you instructed through the nod.

You put a hand on his shoulder and got up, shouting. “Professor! Jeonghan’s got a bloody nose!”

Lupin stood up quick to see the ‘pitiful’ boy beside you that supposedly had a bloody nose. “Go to the infirmary quickly! I don’t want any bloody kids in my class!”

You nodded and patted Jeonghan with the same hand and the other hand to motion him off his seat. Whispers broke out in the classroom, Lupin dismissing them. “Don’t fret. It’s just a bloody nose.”

“You were the one that was worrying, sir.” Soonyoung teased, tending at the teacher.

You pronounced yourself grateful as you crossed over Jeonghan’s chair and followed him to the exit of the classroom. You got to see Lupin’s face that was dying of hesitance as the class broke out into merriment. He hadn’t known how to respond to Soonyoung’s facts.

You rolled around just in time to see Jeonghan disappear through the doors and hurried to accompany him. Your smile disappeared as quick as it came. Outside the classroom, you found him walking ahead, soft sniffles emitting from the poor boy. Still having no inkling what happened, you dashed forwards to be by his side.

You knew you weren’t meant to be the person comforting him. In fact, you would be the last on his list. So, why this? You couldn’t help seeing him cry like that for some reason.

The sensitiveness that emptied the Slytherin was difficult to see.

You stayed withdrawn by his side, letting him morph himself into the bundle of tissues provided in his favour. Your hands crossed in front of you, fidgeting slightly to foresee how things will turn out.

“Why’d you take me out?” Jeonghan asked as you turned around the corners in the hallway.

“I was just worried. Didn’t want to ruin your rep or anything.”

Jeonghan lifted his face slightly from the tissues and looked over at you, seemingly scanning your face. And then, he was back at the tissues. “Like you would care about that.”

He stopped walking, taking a rest at a wall. His shoulder dug into the solidness as he peered down, refusing to look at you. You sighed, being patient with him. The solitary excuse he had was that he was crying, you were going to respect that this time. “Hey Jeonghan, news flash. Not everyone is like you, okay?

He didn’t say anything. Alternatively, he let the quietness coiled itself into the conversation. Jeonghan sniffled a little, his nose growing a rosy pink. Whatever it was that was going on, there was an intimation of curiosity running in your body to know what it was that made the great rich boy, cry.

It only took time for him to reveal it himself.

“…my dog just passed away…”

Once more, you were submerged into astonishment. Your lips parted to say your apologies and pay immediate respects but he cut you off, looking at you fiercely. Tears were at the brim of pouring again.

“And if you’re looking at me like I’m weak or something, don’t even because―”

“I’m not,” you answered. “How does Junhui know though?”

He let out a sigh, the force in his face releasing. Neither of you suspected to be here at such a depressing time but here you were.

“I didn’t open any letters from my family the last few days. So Junhui’s mum told him to tell me.”

You nodded inaudibly and then slinked down the walls. Jeonghan gazed at you weirdly. You just patted the spot next to you. He wasn’t going to have it if you were all generously comforting him, he wanted to be treated like an equal because to him, you were merely a scum. You recognised that Jeonghan didn’t want to be treated nicely by ‘scum’.

Jeonghan sat down beside you. You looked ahead at the other wall, fading in its colour of beige. The embers of torchlight shone amongst the cloudy hallway with its breaks of windows and walls. You felt like you could feel the heat from those torches, but it wasn’t exactly the case. It was rather the distance between you and Jeonghan that you were met with.

“Cry it out,” you told Jeonghan. “I’m not going to judge you.”

He stared at you, asking with his eyes if you were teasing him. You didn’t say anything, rather, you looked back at him with the same neutral look in your eyes. You were still unsure whether it was good to say something comforting or not.

Jeonghan turned around and buried his face in the tissues and the light sobs soon resonated. You tilted back upon the wall, waiting for him to finish. A hand soon found itself on his back, this time he did not restrict it.

You couldn’t believe he wasn’t restricting it.

“What was your dog’s name?”

“Charlie…my little sister named her,” he said and you found the smile on his face that shone like the sun after a huge storm.

You were warm. “How old was she?”

“She was going to be fourteen next week.”

You moved your hand from Jeonghan, scrunching your face at the sad news. “Ah, that must hurt then. I’m sorry…for your loss.”

“Is this your way of making fun of me?” Jeonghan questioned abruptly. It took a second to register in your mind―what he said.

You snapped at him. “No! Why would I use such a thing against you?!”

Jeonghan also turned to face you, calm even though you were going to scream at his accusations. “Just joking, chill.”

“I can’t believe you’re joking at a time like this.” you huffed. “Your dog literally died.”

You rolled your eyes away from his face that caught a delicate smile. A smile that represented that he was already getting over it. He chuckled again. “You know, you’re kinda cute when you’re all riled up.”

Bewilderment severed a cord inside you. You fastened your head at him the second time to see something else instead. A tall kid walking down the hallway.

“Y/N?” Mingyu asked before you could barely register his presence.

“Oh, this isn’t going to look good.” you whispered to Jeonghan, waving at Mingyu. He didn’t respond, it only meant that you were alone for this.

You got to your feet, Jeonghan followed you up. Realising then was a renowned mistake―what could you do? It was already too late to cover it up.

“Y/N, what are you doing here? Don’t you have―what’s he doing here?” Mingyu’s words were sharp, sudden from the Hufflepuff.

Since when did he act like this? He never addressed you like that? You had many questions during that moment, but it was challenging for you to get an answer when you didn’t want anything to start neither did you want allegations flying around. It was better for things to be left as they were, particularly when you and Jeonghan weren’t at each other’s throat for once.

“Are you skipping with him?“ Mingyu interrogated you.

You gasped. “What? No! Mingyu, stop. It’s not that big of a deal. We’re just in the same class.”

Mingyu wasn’t having it for some reason. The male treated you with such caution like you were a prized possession. But all of that was gone as soon as it came to Jeonghan. Mingyu was mad.

“Sure, just tell me to calm down. It makes everything better, doesn’t it? You would doubt it too if you were in my position. One minute you hate him and the next you guys are skipping class together.”

You were aghast by his behaviour. Out of everyone you knew, you didn’t expect Mingyu to interrogate you like that. It was out of line.

“Stop looking at her like that,” Jeonghan told him when he was borderline glaring at you.

“You. Don’t tell me what to do―”

“Mingyu, seriously. You’re getting out of hand. I literally can’t speak to him? He’s in my year level, we sit together, we have the same classes. How am I not supposed to communicate with him?”

“Whatever you say. Because for me it looks like a completely different story,” Mingyu said, shoving past the both of you. He didn’t want to talk to you and it hurt that he was the one that wasn’t willing to listen to you. “Have fun.”

Jeonghan and you stood there, watching the tall boy walk down the hallway in absolute shock. You never saw this day come. The most mellow boy that ever existed was the one telling you off.

“Aren’t you going to follow him?” Jeonghan asked.

“It’s not my job to. He should be trusting me.”

You guys baked in the quietness, your eyes scrutinizing Mingyu’s back. Jeonghan used the time to get rid of the stray tears on his face.

“All of this…don’t think I’m suddenly going to be nice to you or something.”

You weren’t in the very mindset to think about what and what not Jeonghan wasn’t going to do. So you replied simply to him. “I’m not.”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Rushing was something you hated to do. It was proved so when a week later, you were rushing around the dorm with your best friend, the two of you, off timing for once in your school years. Your alarm rang late and because Adora was a deep sleeper, what you would do normally was get ready first and then wake her up so that she can get ready.

You were close like that. Though, this one time, your alarm hadn’t sounded and the others in your dorm began to get troubled and woke the two of you up.

“I’m so sorry!” you apologised, almost wanting to cry. What was worse was that the two of you had a test for Muggle Studies first period. It was unfortunate that your day had to start with sprints and worries.

The two of you were already worried about the test, it seemed that this poured more salt into the growing wound.

“If we get to the Hall now and grab something small, we’ll be five minutes early to class.” Adora dismissed, before waving at a non-existent fly. “Don’t be sorry, you goose! You didn’t do anything wrong!”

The guilt continued to sink into you as you ran through the nearly empty common room. Students must be finishing with their breakfasts and getting to their classes but you and Adora were only getting to the Hall. You second-guessed Adora’s estimate of getting to the Hall, but you did stay persistent in trying as you followed her out the door and down the hallway jammed with students getting to classes.

Lucky for them they were all extremely early for class.

It sucked that the Ravenclaw dorm was on the fifth floor too, it was unimaginable how many steps you had to take at this hour. Your hand flung to Adora’s shoulder when you felt that you were going to lose her in the crowd and she was assuring in the way she grabbed onto your arm and lurched your forward, winning profanities from the students that were bumped into.

“Stop running!” you heard a teacher yell.

It was far from getting you to stop on the staircase almost tripping and toppling you into the branches of auburn hair in front of you.

Until you were stuck.

A guy had bumped into you from behind as you were running, nearly knocking you off your balance, thanks to the jumpy feeling settling into you since the morning. You parted your lips to say something.

“Hey!”

Adora, you and the guy snapped your head behind you, in time to see something startling. Jeonghan…and his group of friends walking through the crowd with luxury (they were practically giving them way) as he looked at the guy. You couldn’t believe this.

“Why’d you bump into her?” he questioned the guy.

It was hard to ignore the nudge from Adora. It was screaming with questions, you couldn’t face her.

The guy looked down to his feet and then bowed at you promptly. “I’m sorry, ma’am.” And he pushed past you to get down the remaining stairs. You were about to go as well when the Slytherins didn’t let you without another ounce of surprise that morning.

“Why are you rushing so much?”

You furrowed your eyebrows tensely. “We haven’t eaten anything and we have a test first period.”

“Ah, that’s all?”

What was up with him? You nodded. “Why are you asking so many—“

Jeonghan whipped out his wand and swished and flicked. You assumed you were getting a live demo from Flitwick from the elegance that departed Jeonghan’s wrist. His other Slytherin friends were questioning his behaviour.

“Why are you talking to Ravenclaws?”

You heard draw from one of their lips but Jeonghan ignored it. Subsequent to his elegance, his best friend’s bag lifted in the slightest and rattled, gaining attention. Out came two packets of pumpkin pasties.

"Hey! Jeonghan!” Jeonghan didn’t mind him as his other friends got a hold of the grabby Junhui. Jeonghan turned to you more seriously, his eyes not wavering with any source of pity of such.

“It’s not much but you best get early to your classroom.”

The pumpkin pasties floated over to you, Jun trying to grab at them but failing miserably. You believed your inside warmed up yet not having a single bite of the sweet pumpkin pasties. The shock had taken some time to indulge you. Instead, you were thankful for the gesture by Jeonghan. Until you held your pumpkin pasty in your hand.

Adora was dead silent, letting you talk. She wasn’t involved, you didn’t blame her.

However, you had a choice and it was limited. Accept it and be early to class, don’t accept it and eat at the Great Hall and be late to class or don’t accept it and starve during the test, ultimately, failing from zero concentration. You were choosing the best option.

You were still in surprise. Maybe this was just repayment for last week’s assistance of comfort.

“Jeonghan, I—“

“Just go do your test.” he sighed, placing his hands on his waist.

You nodded and sent him a small smile. He didn’t smile back, you weren’t expecting him to. He already saved you enough.

“Come on, Adora.” You gestured the evidently nervous Adora and hiked back up all the stairs. This time, the two of you weren’t rushing, rather walking upstairs, waiting for the perfect time to talk about it. It wasn’t until the two of you entered your empty classroom that were you allowed to speak freely without the sound of other students near.

“Mingyu doesn’t seem like a dick, but up close he is. Jeonghan seems like a dick, but up close he isn’t,” Adora concluded.

“How do you draw to that conclusion?”

“Unless you have another opinion, Ms L/N,” Adora smirked, finding a spot on top of the back row table. Her approach was insightful, you admitted and you didn’t affirm offence in how she described Mingyu the d-word. Jeonghan helping you out was really a blessing, you believed. You were able to make it to class twenty minutes earlier.

You grabbed your pumpkin pasty wrapper as well as your best friend’s and made your way to the front of the classroom.

“I don’t have anything to say,” you told her truthfully.

“Hey, it’s just like Junhui said. Maybe the two of you are meant for each other. If he can see it, I can too.”

“You guys are so not playing matchmaker right now.” you gasped, watching as the orange wrappers swirl before taking a dip into the empty garbage liner.

“We should be. Have you sorted your stuff out with Mingyu?” Adora asked you.

You walked back through the tangle of tables and sat on top of the table in front of Adora’s. She twirled around so she could see you and the disappointing look your face gave away. “No. It’s been like this for the past week. If I see him in the hallway, I don’t even wave.”

“Sounds like a red flag to me. Even the overall jealousy.”

You didn’t doubt her. She wasn’t wrong that it was a bad indication of how Mingyu got angry easily.

“What do you think I should do?”

The auburn-haired girl pursed her lips. “I don’t know. I strongly believe that you and Jeonghan are a much better match. After you told me what Jun said at the library, it’s been on my mind.”

“Why, though?” you asked softly.

It didn’t make sense—before this, you and Jeonghan wanted to blow each other up. There were people that think that you would actually look good together. You could understand Junhui’s belief in keeping his best friend grounded but how did Adora think you would benefit from a relationship with Jeonghan?

“Not only will you guys look cuter but Jeonghan is also a lot more emotionally available for you than Mingyu. He fits with your time schedule so you’ll get to see him more often.”

How were you taking all of this in? It was like you were actually reflecting the differences between your boyfriend and Jeonghan for a second as if they were two different pairs of shoes you really wanted to wear for one outfit. You shook your head. “Enough. Now test me on technology evolution with Muggles.”

Even if Adora stopped talking, the topic of Jeonghan lingered in your mind.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“How do you think school is going for you guys?” It was more of a question you wanted to ask yourself because of the deepness of homework you were sinking in. Almost brutal to the touch, you hoped that your juniors were going through something easy.

“It’s starting to get harder,” Vernon admitted, filling in another blank on his worksheet.

You nodded and turned to Wonwoo for an answer but before you could, you caught something beside his head that sauntered in through the library doors.

“Mingyu,” Vernon stated for you.

You pursed your lips, seeing another girl, seemingly his year level next to him. They were laughing and chatting. Wonwoo had turned around to catch the honey boy walk in and the world had slowed. A pain slashed into your heart, ridiculing you at the sight.

“Who’s she?” You asked the boys more than yourself.

But all Vernon could do was shrug. Wonwoo, however, answered for you. “She’s one of Mingyu’s friends. They’ve been hanging out for a while together.”

“For a while, as in?”

“Since you guys stopped talking to one another,” Wonwoo told you. He must’ve known that was enough to cut the ties between the two of you, because the next minute, you were yelling for Mingyu from across the room. He caught your eye in a second as if knowing that you were where you were. You wouldn’t be caught surprised if he did, he was sly like that.

Mingyu walked over with the girl, who confusedly looked between you and Mingyu.

“You wanna talk?”

Mingyu looked at you blankly, “Sure.”

With that, he followed you out the door of the library, completely quiet and trying so hard to diminish the awkwardness between the two of you but there was proven to be no way. You and him were going to be like this until the problems themselves diminish.

The outside of the library had no trace of people or soul so you started talking immediately. You knew he was trying to get you back for what happened.

“Look.” You began. “I wasn’t trying to make you mad or anything, the other day. You know that’s definitely not my intention.”

Mingyu sighed. “No, it’s just that I was hurt that you would hang out with the guy that I fought with. It felt like you were on his side or something.”

You shook your head. He got the wrong idea. Completely. “Jeonghan was just going through a hard time and I brought him out of the class, that was it. And besides, there were no sides at all, neither was Jeonghan the one you were fighting. You’re just in the wrong with them.”

“It’s the same thing. He was still threatening me for his best friend and you know how that made me feel?” He was starting to show aggression, far from how a normal Hufflepuff would’ve handled the situation. You didn’t want to anyone thinking that you were in the wrong for something that wasn’t even your fault.

“Okay, thinking rationally, this whole thing was your fault, to begin with as you admitted to cheating―”

“So you go hang around with him?”

You took in a deep breath and let it out, estimating the stress would just air itself out. But another glance at Mingyu proved the exact opposite. “I told you we weren’t hanging and even if we were, it’s bound to happen. Not only are we in the same year level, but we also have some classes together and seating arrangements. Of course, I’m going to have to talk to him and he’s actually kinda okay. Maybe if you didn’t mess things up, he wouldn’t have gone hard on you.”

Your past self wouldn’t have guessed you would come to this stage in your life. Your past would rather die than see the day you defend the Slytherin.

“You complained yourself that he wasn’t nice and he annoyed―”

Mingyu stumbled forwards, his eyes widening. The Hufflepuff riled back to his straight posture, turning to the side to see who it was. It happened to be the very person you were discussing. It gave you a sickening vibe that things were about to turn ugly. You wished for an escape.

“What?” Mingyu asked.

“Stop messing around with her. I can see how much she doesn’t wanna be here from all the way down there.” Jeonghan pointed down the hallway.

He was right, but you couldn’t not defend Mingyu. “Hey, Jeonghan! It’s not like―”

“Don’t ‘hey’ me, dumbass. You’re still in a relationship with this cheater. If he’s cheating in Quidditch, imagine how he’d cheat on―”

Mingyu snapped. He grabbed Jeonghan’s collar in a fistful, causing adrenalin to shoot down your veins, worrying resting at your temple. It seemed that your endless worries were starting to prove the bottomlessness it really was. Why was this happening to you?

Jeonghan’s smirk wasn’t missed as he was hoisted in the air by your boyfriend and you could only assume that this was a bad sign. You didn’t want anything bad happening so you quickly grabbed onto Mingyu, pulling him away.

“Stop, Mingyu!”

He looked over at you, fingers opening to let down Jeonghan who fell gracefully to his feet. His intention was to trigger Mingyu and obtain some sort of victory from it―that was one way to assume Jeonghan’s doings.

“Y/N.” Mingyu pressed on, looking over at you sharply. “You choose me or him.”

“Hey, stop it.” you began, the anger starting to drive into you too. He wasn’t the only one that can show frustration. “This is not like some movie, okay? This is real life and we need to sort our situations sensibly.”

He didn’t talk, simply gawked at what you said. You stared back, just because you didn’t expect this quiet of a reaction from the determined boyfriend. Jeonghan, on the other hand, didn’t miss with a small giggle leaving his lips.

“Fine.” he stated. “I see how it is.”

Mingyu turned around and walked down the hallway. You watched for a few seconds, turning around too, deciding whether it would be the right decision to follow along. The boy was immensely immature, but simultaneously, you were filled with a need to stick to your spot on the ground, determining your dominance in the fight. You weren’t going to let him get away with something this silly.

But when a laugh left Jeonghan and his group of his friends, a sad sigh drew from your lips.

“Mingyu!” you yelled.

He didn’t stop walking.

“I’ll be back,” you said to the Slytherins before running down the hallway, in the attempt of seeking attention from your boyfriend again.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Your lips melded together perfectly into a rushing heated kiss. Back pressed against the wall, you found your hands pressed on Mingyu’s nape as he placed your hands on your waist.

“Oh my God, we haven’t done this in ages,” he said, pulling out at last.

You leaned your head back, catching your breath from the kiss. It wasn’t every day that you would be kissed like that from Mingyu, especially these days where all it seemed to be was bickering with one another or excuses of not meeting up with each other. Mainly Mingyu since he didn’t want to break the rules by sneaking out in the middle of the night.

“I missed it,” you replied with a sigh, feeling relief that the two of you were able to sort out your issues a few hours ago.

“Me too…we gotta go now,” Mingyu said, patting your shoulder. You wished it wasn’t time though. Something about having the satisfaction of his lips back on your mouth was somewhat urging you to ask him to stay back, but you couldn’t.

There was an invisible barrier blocking you from asking the Hufflepuff such an easy question. You were his girlfriend after all, not some random stranger. But the barrier was there and it was telling you not to cross it.

“Sure.” A brief glance into his eyes displayed tension that you couldn’t get past, however, you ignored it and walked down the hallway. Mingyu and you were somehow quiet on the way back to your dormitory as if the make out didn’t just happen. You were in your own headspace, thinking that you were starting to lose touch with Mingyu.

Ever since the incident a few days back, he’s been acting weird. Like he doesn’t want to talk to you much even though you have reconciled your issues.

“Emma!” Mingyu suddenly exclaimed, causing your head to lift up. Your eyes went comically wide, seeing the same girl that was with him when he came into the library on the day of the near-fight with Jeonghan. You squinted, double-checking but there was no doubt. It was the same junior girl that you saw last time.

She had a big grin on her face as she made her way towards the two of you, with you standing there awkwardly.

“Oh, hey, Mingyu. I was looking for you all around the common room! We need to work on the project today and try and finish it off.”

Were you not there?

You cleared your throat, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Project? Do you guys need any help? Because I can be of assistance.”

Mingyu smiled at you tensely. “Ah, no…we’re okay, we’re nearly done. anyways”

You nodded and smiled back, biting the tension away. You didn’t want to be there anymore, a distaste in seeing the two. Like you didn’t like Mingyu anymore.“Okay, why don’t you go, then? I’m sure you guys need to finish it off before the due date so I’m going to go now―”

“Are you sure?”

“Sure! Good night, Mingyu…and Emma.”

You turned around and walked away, a confused feeling stuck in your chest as you did. You’ve never done that before, why were you doing it? You recollected those days when you used to be jealous of girls that talk to him so brazenly and you would no doubt tell it to Mingyu.

You headed back to your dorm, putting your mind off things. It was pretty easy as the first thing you saw was Adora about to throw hands at Wonwoo.

Again.

You stepped in fast, grabbing her off of the poor kid.

"Girl, you better get off me or you’re going to get it too!” she exclaimed. The threat was evident in her voice but didn’t scare you, to say the least. The two of you were used to threatening each other in a way it became the norm.

“Shut the hell up and sort issues out without violence, dumbass.”

Adora paused, coming back to her senses and thank God for that too. You wouldn’t want to live for the day that she struck a punch at Wonwoo, that would be too painful.

“What were you guys were doing anyway?”

“We were discussing―”

“Arguing.” Vernon interrupted cleanly.

“Discussing,” Wonwoo argued. “We were discussing what we were going to do while you were gone.”

“And…?”

“We’re going to go to the library.” Adora answered with a shrug. You walked around the girl and claimed the seat next to her. “Just to hang out and stuff.”

“Wow, I should’ve just stayed with Mingyu,” you said sarcastically.

The three dropped their jaws to the ground, cooking in your comment. You laughed, realising how what you said cut a wound intensely to your friendship.

“No, no! I meant that he was at the library doing a project so I should’ve stayed there if you all were going to go there anyway.” you explained, a hand going to Vernon’s shoulder. They all sang with an understanding tone.

“Really thought you were betraying us like that.” Wonwoo put his hand to his chest, breathing out a relieved sigh.

“Of course not! Now, how long are we going to stay here? Let’s go.” The three of them got up along with you, exiting the Ravenclaw dorm hastily to enjoy the Friday night. Walking in the hallway, their voices echoed throughout.

To be frank, Adora and you were basked in more entertainment when you started talking with Vernon and Wonwoo. Whether it’d be Wonwoo and Adora fighting just for the fun of it or you and Vernon having to get those two back to the dorms because they’ve fallen asleep by each other’s side again after endless arguments―you counted it all as your entertainment.

There was something special of a sort between you and your friends and you were forever cherishing in that. Especially as you walked to the library, you and Vernon exchanged smiles at seeing your friends bicker again.

If you and Jeonghan weren’t enemies, these two definitely were. Arriving at the library, Vernon cut them off.

“I need to show you guys this comic I saw the other day.” He grabbed both Adora and Wonwoo’s wrist and then paused, regarding that he wasn’t holding you too. He pouted a little.

You shook your head and smiled. “It’s fine. I’ll go look at the 'romance’ section anyways.”

“Need to find more erotica? I can hel―”

Adora used her free hand to ball into a fist and hit Wonwoo on the head. His head fell a little. “You idiot. How dare you ask that question to her? She has a boyfriend!”

“Okay, so? It’s only human nature to read what is erotic. Therefore, I’m not asking her anything wrong.”

“Therefore, I’m not asking anything wrong―shut up before I smack you silly. Y/N, listen to me. Go look at all the erotica you like, but don’t take advice from him. Even I know better erotica.” Adora said, pointing sharply at Wonwoo like he was something disgusting under her shoe.

You raised your eyebrows with Vernon. Wonwoo defended himself nicely. “I know better erotica than you―”

“No, you don’t. Don’t argue with me, Four Eyes!”

“I can show you better erotica,” he said to her.

All four of you paused in your respective positions at Wonwoo’s words. Did he just say what you thought he said? Even Vernon let go of Wonwoo to place his hand on his mouth.

“Yo, Wonwoo~ Are you trying to tell her something?” you teased. It was your turn to get hit by Adora. “Ow!”

“Don’t joke like that. I would never do anything like―”

“Wonwoo, don’t you think a great erotica story would be one where you’re doing Adora and you take off your glasses and put it on her. Then, you compliment―”

“Enough. Go read your damn erotica!” Adora said, shoving you out of the way.

Vernon and you erupted with laughter. “I said I was going to look at romance, not erotica. There’s no erotica section in a school. You two started this!”

They tried to argue with you but you were already on your way to the other side of the library.

The rest of them were off to the other side of the library, apparently looking at the comics. You didn’t bother them, on your way to the romance section like you said you were, finding fascination in the particular enemies-to-lovers trope.

“Are you sure she won’t come here?”

“I’m sure. She’s too stupid to even realise that I’m cheating on her.”

“Mhm,” she giggled, looping her arm around his neck. Her lips were nearing closer to him. “Thank God.”

You were frozen, captivated wrongly in the scene your eyes fled to. Particularly noting that it was happening right at the end of the last romance aisle. You felt as if someone had ripped out your heart and stomped on it and that person being Mingyu had caused tears to run freely down your face as you stood there. Just watching.

Funny how merely seconds ago you were joking with your friends and now this.

Body against body, you were met with betrayal. The girl you suspected was actually with him, kissing him so passionately. Mingyu had never done that with you. You were almost discreet of showing public display of affection, it hurt to see that he was open with someone else.

You couldn’t see it any longer. Turning around, you exited the library, allowing the tears to run loose. If Vernon and Wonwoo weren’t there, you would’ve gone to confide Adora straightaway and she would’ve given him all she had but they were there and you were alone. It would be embarrassing to go tell her that now, so you escaped the claws of the self-delusional way of a cheap thrill Mingyu had.

He didn’t see you either.

You looked down even though there weren’t any students that passed the hall at this hour.

Some assignment, he said.

Not only had he lied but he was making out with another girl in the library and in the romance section. You wished to bleach your eyes as the scene refreshed and replayed in your mind like some kind of heated drama.

All you could keep asking yourself was why?

Why were you so easily fooled? You bumped hard into someone.

“Dude, what the hell―dumbass? It’s you?”

You looked up at him as if you were strong and proud of your tears and least to say, he was quite still to see you in tears.

“Yeah, it’s me, everyone’s favourite dumbass. The one that’s so easy to fool because she’s such a dumbass.” you laughed half-heartedly, before sinking your face into your palms again. The sadness came out behind all the anger stored in you. It was like you had so much anger that the way that Jeonghan was in front of you in such a moment, didn’t seem to phase you.

“What happened to you?” he asked, more aggression in his voice than was relevant.

“No, don’t speak to me. I’m a dumbass. Dumbasses don’t know how to speak for themselves.”

Jeonghan held onto your wrist, pulling back an arm to reveal your crying face. You looked to the ground, feeling his stare penetrate through your skull, prompting your heart to go wild at how he was the one that found you out of all people. But with the way that he was staring at you, you found the care that came through it. Like he was waiting for you to explain.

“Right now, as of nine-thirty-one pm, Mingyu is making out with another girl and what did I do? Walked right out and acted as if I didn’t see anything? Yeah, I did. That was me.”

“He did not.”

Jeonghan overlooked your ignorantly sarcastic behaviour, focussing more on the fact that Mingyu cheated on you.

“He did.” you nodded, smiling.

Jeonghan’s grip on your arm got tighter as if bringing you back to your ground. The tears stopped for a whole second.

“Ah, ah!”

“Oh, sorry.” He let your arm fling to your side, then he proceeded to question you. “How could you just walk out like that?”

The way in which he asked the question seethed with toxin.

“Because I’m a dumbass.”

Jeonghan furrowed his eyebrows, his hands placing themselves on his waist. Never in a million years, you would expect Jeonghan to be here when your heart was at stake.

“You dumbass! You know I didn’t mean that! Ugh, just, come on!”

“No. I’m not going back in there!” you yelled arrogantly as he got a grip of your forearm again. He needed to get his anger issues consulted because if he was going on like this, everyone was going to be insulted profoundly.

“Um, yes. You are. Because you’re a dumbass that speaks up for herself. Don’t let anyone step all over you.” Jeonghan turned around, leading the way towards the library.

Instead of objectifying, you proceeded with caution, watching as his face contorted into frustration of some sort. You were seeing a new side of Jeonghan―a preventive side. Why was he helping you out? What happened to his Slytherin class? He held himself up so greatly to the point that you assumed you would never see the day he would be helpful to you in some way.

And yet here he was, dragging you back into the library to stand up for yourself.

He kicked open the library, making you jump in your skin. You didn’t bother trying to tell him where Mingyu was because he was dragging you through the aisles (left, right, up, down) until he finally met the romance section and your doom.

And to your great horror, he was still there.

“Yah, Kim Mingyu!”

Mingyu snapped his attention away to you, his eyes widening at seeing you and Jeonghan there. A dreadful pit dropped into your stomach. Jeonghan pushed you forwards.

You really didn’t want to do this.

But after seeing that girl, Emma, rolling her eyes, it made you more mad.

“What is this, Mingyu? What are you doing?”

Mingyu pushed Emma out of the way, walking down the aisle towards you.

“No. Don’t even come here.” You stood there, wiping away the last tears with your sleeve, glaring at Mingyu. “Breaking my trust was one thing, but being a coward and telling me about it, pushed the line. The least you could’ve done was be honest about it. But you didn’t.”

“Babe. Let me explain.”

You looked away. “Jeonghan, I can’t even look at his face anymore. If you let me stay here any longer, I might actually damage his face for life.”

Jeonghan sniggered beside you and then nodded. “So no slap or…?”

“Not feeling it.” you sighed, placing your hands on your hips. Looking at Mingyu’s face for a longer time made you realise that you weren’t so mad anymore. It must’ve been the distance that separated the two of you the past few days but somehow wounding into your night, looking at him only concluded disappointment in your heart.

It was kind of an annoyance that it would happen on such a good day, so as you and Jeonghan left the library together, with no signs of your friends (they were probably riddled into a good comic), you were alone.

“Come on.” Jeonghan stated, grabbing the sleeve of your top.

“No.” You shook your arm, hoping that he would let go but Jeonghan stuck to you like super glue. “I’m going back to my dorm.”

“And do what? Cry for the rest of the night and then act like nothing was ever wrong…? Exactly. Come with me,”

A final tear slipped down your face loosely, not emitting any particular emotion. It just came down itself without being asked to.

“Where are we going?”

“Shut up.” was all Jeonghan said as he pulled you down the hallway. You might as well be an inanimate object from the way things were going. The pull was strong and you could’ve said anything to it, but you didn’t. Partly, you knew that Jeonghan was trying to help and him helping was better than spending a night alone with tears running down your face crazily. When Jeonghan brought you outside the castle, you were beginning to dispute his actions, wondering if he was purposely doing this so you guys get in trouble.

“How about the Dementors?” you asked, feeling a bold shiver run down your spine as you hiked the fresh grass patches. The sound of waves crashing slowly onto the shore of the lake resonated the night, along with branches swaying. The night was bright, notably because of the white moonlight that decided to stripe against you and Jeonghan.

“What about them?”

You rolled your eyes at him, acknowledging there wouldn’t be a way out of this. He had let go by now and the two of you were finding a spot amongst the field.

“Here.” you motioned, slinking down into a sitting position. By now, all tears were dispersed from your space. You were indulged in relaxing your body against the night’s sways. Jeonghan sat next to you.

The silence bathed in itself, the calm yet rough wind delivering cool air to your body. That’s what you liked about nights. Not only was it a perfect time to study, but the cool breeze from opening your window in the slightest also delivered satisfactory cool air. Jeonghan bringing you here could only mean he enjoyed it similarly.

“You’re not crying anymore,” he noted.

You nodded, folding your knees to your chest habitually. “We weren’t doing as well anyways. I don’t wanna cry for him too. He didn’t trust me and ended up breaking my trust…God, I didn’t even expect this.”

Jeonghan converted his shift towards the Black Lake.

“I’m not the best to comfort, however, he is such a big asshole for doing that to you.” Jeonghan said.

And that in itself was able to soothe your racing heart, calming down the nerves that came from the cheating incident.

“Geez, I didn’t expect you out here out of all people when things turn bad.” became the only way you could reply. You really didn’t know what else to say.

“Me neither.” Jeonghan agreed.

You shook your head, another important thought slipping into your head, one that was staying in your mind like an undefeated fire, soon taking over every single part of your brain. Every time you had spare time, your mind would aimlessly wander to this question.

Of course, as a Ravenclaw, you had not one, but variants of answers in which Jeonghan could answer―carefully analysed and thought of too but it was the best to hear from him.

“How come you’re talking to me now? Don’t you Slytherins hate everyone except your kind?” You made sure to sound doubtful about him so that he would answer properly.

“You’re okay.”

“I’m okay?” you scoffed, turning your head towards the pretty boy. He was still busy examining nothing in the lake. The night was light, but when it came to the Black Lake’s side, nothing shone over there. It was concealed. “What’s not okay?”

“That you’re not a Slytherin.” he answered, his own smile on his face. You laughed along, finding truth in his voice. You liked that he was truthful, unlike some people.

You sat for a while, admiring the lake’s beauty even though it was quite dark for the eyes to adjust to. Being with Jeonghan made it better. You were smiling too instead of having a glare around him. It was like a miracle.

“You know something, Jeonghan?”

“What?”

“You’re more tolerable than I expected these days.”

“Hm, why do you say that?” His voice had gone one octave lower, making you look over at him. Jeonghan seemed tired, though you couldn’t exactly tell.

“Because…because you’re being nice for once.”

“Or maybe…you’re into me,” Jeonghan smirked.

Your eyes widened, heart racing as you captured a glance of his eyes. They seemed only half-open and doe-shaped. God had given him sexy and cute in one person, you couldn’t take it anymore. Just looking at him made you want to hit your head on the wall, making you question your own morals.

You just got out of a relationship, why were you already looking at him like a next target? But your mouth had answered before you could.

“Maybe I am.”

Jeonghan chuckled. “You know that would make you equally as bad as Mingyu?”

“No.” you told him, shaking your head. “I’m not in a relationship, I can say what I want.”

“But technically, you must’ve been thinking about this for a while before telling me,” he said. You had an answer for everything.

“Or I could’ve just found you attractive?”

“Or you just never wanted to admit it before because it would’ve made things awkward between us?”

Scratch that. Jeonghan always had an answer for everything. You looked away with a smile, prompting a giggle from the boy. There was no arguing with him.

“There’s no beating you.” you sighed.

“Glad you admit it.”

“I hate that you’re being nice, though. Since when were you nice?”

“I don’t like seeing you be nice too, love.” he admitted, the ‘love’ getting you to zip your mouth so quickly. The first time he called you that, you didn’t feel anything. But now there was this rumbling feeling inside you that caused your body to heat up in the cold night. There was no other explanation for this.

“I’d take you on a date…”

You whipped your head back at him.

“But―” Jeonghan’s perspective darted to your lips. “I’d rather we wait it out a little.”

“I was going to say that anyways.” you said. “I don’t want a relationship right now. Besides, we never got to know each other properly. Let’s do that.”

Jeonghan nodded. “So you actually have feelings for me?”

“Do you?”

“You caught me there.” he smiled. You waited a brief second for him to answer. He didn’t. Your heart was pounding in your ears.

“So you do?”

He nodded.

“For how long?”

The night’s breeze quickened, your eyes following the stars up. You could see a Dementor in the distance. It didn’t scare you much, to say the least, it was more like you were used to seeing it there, flying around lonely. If Jeonghan hadn’t found you in tears, you would’ve felt like a Dementor. All lonely.

“Last week.”

“All the tension finally got to you.” you commented.

“It did.”

When you were first seated with Jeonghan, you imagined stargazing to get along, you didn’t expect it to actually happen. Lupin’s plan to make your year level mingle with each other with something as simple as a seating plan was coming into reality.

[lesbianslvt666]

ellie has a huge crush on a flirty classmate who always wears very short skirts and one day they get together for a physics assignment and ellie asks the reader into her room and things get heated between them, something like ellie fucking the nonstop reader for hours straight omg 😮‍💨

Thinking thots rn

Not proofread

This was hard for Ellie, eight am classes were proven to be quiet the difficult task lately.

As soon as you entered the classroom your pretty scent illuminated and clouded all her senses.

Today your skirt was even shorter than the last one. You gave her a pretty smile and sat down to your now official seat.

To right next to her.

For the past two years Ellie had been hiding this little crush she had on you, at first it was easy, having only one class with you a week and with you seating to the opposite corner of the classroom, always paying attention and sometimes talking to your friends.

Ellie was in trance as soon as she saw you, pretty face, beautiful hair that seemed to change almost every month. And those skirts, good Lorde give her straight.

Ellie wasn’t the only one who notice how every semester your skirts got shorter and shorter, however she was always trying not to be a creep, keeping her eyes from wondering too long and trying to pay attention in class.

Just like today. Physics was one of Ellies favourite subjects, and DR. Lasky was her favourite professor, still, she hadn't heard a thing until now, the whole classroom booing at him.

"boohoo! Is your fault, none of you are paying attention to my class, therefore, I'll be the one to pick each other's partners!" his mischievous smile while saying that made Ellie and you chuckle at the same time, both looking at each other in surprise and when you caught her eyes, both turn back to look at the Lasky.

Warm cheeks and fast beating hearts connected.

This always happens at class, somehow both of you speak at the same time or laugh at the same small details. It made Ellies mind go wild and as Dina once told her "bitch you delulu" while rolling her eyes when Ellie told her you had said the same answer as her at the same time.

"okay, I'll do this with closed eyes" he picked two random people from the list of students and wrote them in the whiteboard.

One pair, two pairs.

Your name.

Followed by hers.

"fuck" she said under her breath, not looking at you.

"so I need this finished by Friday, today is… Tuesday second, so…" he said writing in big bold red letters "Friday 5th" I won't receive any, and I mean it! Homework after this date…" his voice steady while picking up his things, the assignment written beneath the date.

"hey, umm… Ellie right?" you pretty voice fogged every outside noise. She looked to where you were sitting, and to her surprise you were closer to her, leaning on her chair thinking she could hear you better this way.

Her blood flush from her neck to her ears, you were so close to her…

"yeah, that’s… um, that’s me!" she said with an awkward smile that melted our heart… and your panties…

"look, I was thinking if maybe we could start today? I have to finish another assignment for the week, so, it would be a relive if we could finish this first" your rant was followed by a sigh that ended your sentence and Ellie could picture you in other ways only with that

"yeah, um sure, like right now its fine? This was my last class of the day so…" her eyes fell to your legs again, she couldn’t stop herself, she wanted to squeeze them hard…

"umm, sure, I just… I do have another class, 'tsa short one, but if you send me your location I get to your place as soon as I am out, you have my number right?" you told her hurriedly, trying to get to your next class as soon as possible.

"yeah, yeah I have it, I texted you some study material the other week so…" she was a bit disappointed you even asked…

"perfect, fuck.. Umm, see ya' Ells. And um… text me your location!" your words hurry and your demeanour apologetic. You were sorry you had to leave her like that, but you'll make it up to her…

When Ellie arrived to her place she sent you her location and left her phone on her bed, she was kind of disappointed at how awkward she was around you.

She put some music and cleaned a bit, she wanted to give you a good impression, but her cleaning session was cut short when she heard the doorbell.

She opened the door to a smiling dripping you, clothes so wet they were sticking to your skin, your white shirt letting her know you weren't wearing a bra.

"hey… can I come in? is cold out here…" you said apologetically, soft smile clouding your features.

And she let you in, taking your bag and dragging you to her bathroom.

"let me get you a towel, and some clothes" she tossed you a towel a bit harder than she intended, the cloth falling in your head which only made you laugh hard, her cheeks went bright red, you looked spectacular…

"what, why? What happened to you?" her voice muffled by rooming around her closed trying to get you something comfortable to wear.

"one of your shirts is fine, I mean, it's only you and I right" you told her when you saw her compare her clothes, trying to find something that would fit you, due to her being taller than you.

She looked back at you, you were taking your clothes off without a second thought, fuck…

"so basically I went to my class and as soon as entered the classroom the teacher called on sick, I thought of getting something nice for us to eat but it's raining in the city right now so before I could get to the restaurant I like to order take out, the rain washed me over, so yeah…" you took Ellies shirt from her hand, she was looking at you and you didn’t mind.

As on queue the heavy droplets of water started to poor down, the sound relaxing to you.

You seamed clueless to Ellies crush on you but you truly did noticed, how she always looked at your legs, or at your breast, that’s why you always sat beside her, how you waved your hair a bit when you sit down, how you cross your legs in a way she could easily see you, how you always gave her something to think about… and now, how she was eating you all…

So you didn’t mind giving her a show…

Sitting on her bed while looking at her, she travelled to your eyes and shied, oh not right now…

"look at me Ellie…" you didn’t expecting your voice to come out so needy, and Ellie followed your command. You opened your legs for her, her shirt covering your nipples riding up until your panties were at her focal point, she almost fell to her knees.

"can I taste?" her voice somehow seemed more demanding than yours, as if both papers were inverse.

She was making it hard for you, hard for you to resist. Your hand travelled to your covered tit, toying with your nipple. "yes Ellie, fuck…" her hand now touching your lips on top of your underwear, she was going to go insane, the fabric so soaked with your sticky essence, tight on your cunt.

The hand that was on your boob made its way to her face, grabbing her by her chin and pushing her down to her knees, her face in direct contact with your heating pussy.

"don’t be shy now angel…" she took the words out of your mouth because she latched on to your clothed cunt, sucking on it through the cottony material.

You were squirming, moaning her name shamelessly, you knew she lived alone so you didn’t hid from her, how good she was making you feel.

She took your panties off and without wasting another second she went back to her place, the place where she belongs.

In between your thighs.

And she sucked and pull and massage your pussy for what it felt like hours to no end, the pleasure was getting too unbearable, a glowing feeling at the pit of your stomach signalling you that you were about to cum. To Ellie, the signal came from your twitching cunt, how you were closing on nothing, clenching empty.

So she gave you what you needed, one finger in, your pussy sucked it all the way, your moans filling the room and the squelching sounds mixing with it. Ellie felt high, the way you said her name while harshly pulling on your tits, face relaxed, eyes shut and mouth wide open.

While fingering with her tatted hand she took your face with her free one, veiny fingers guiding you to where she wanted you.

right beneath her.

"open your eyes angel" and so you did, you mouth still wide from the pleasure, and she took it as an opportunity, a glob of spit falling form her pretty lips to your hot tongue.

Your eyes rolled back on your head, how fucking dare she be this hot…

One orgasm, two orgasm, one water brake.

"so, I was thinking, maybe we could continue this until the rain is over…" you said sitting on her lap, both completely naked, glistening thighs from both of your wetness…

She smiled at you, her arm hugging you at your waist making you giggle. She unlocked her phone and opened the weather app. "here says that the rain will be over till tomorrow eight am" she said, smirk spreading all over her face.

this was shorter than expected... sorryyyyyyy

[jojomiwbvb6]

Hedonist - Part 1

Author's Note: Part 1 in maybe a 3 part series? Original writing, some fluffiness.

Warnings: references to smut, marijuana usage

“Hello everybody,” our monotone college professor groans, setting his coffee thermos down on the desk and his bag falling from his shoulder, haphazardly to the floor. He turns to the class with a bored face. “I trust you all have read your fundamentals on the subject we will be going over today?”

Lots of droned voices echoed in the room, spacious but only full of 20 or less students in our 10 am class, full of ‘yes’s’ and ‘uh-huh’s’. 

“Alright, good. Because today you’ll be needing to know your P’s and Q’s for this subject,” he drawled. “We will be discussing how to compress and noise gate in your mixes using Logic Pro.”

Whoops and tones of unsureness echoed through the room.

“As an announcement before we begin, I would like to announce that we–” the Professor was cut off by a loud thud and a bang as the door swung open and smacked the concrete wall next to it. In the doorway you stood, as if in some scene of a soap family comedy, awkwardly perched and cringing at yourself as everyone stared at you.

Other students cringed, feeling second-hand embarrassment for you; while others just snickered and whispered to their friends that you were a dumbass. 

“I’m sorry I’m late,” you managed to say under your breath as you walked to a random seat in the third isle. You felt eyes on you from all directions as the class went silent, waiting for you to finally sit down so the class can begin. 

“And which one are you?” The professor asks, glaring at you, but trying to hide it. 

“Um, Y/N,” you croak. You hear a snicker or two from nearby, but you didn’t care enough to bother with them. 

“Okay…” He stares at a sheet of paper, dragging his pen back and forth as he read. “Ah. There you are. Y/N. Okay, people, attendance is all straight now. As I was saying, there are a few new faces among us this period.”

You looked around, noticing your previous classmates from classes before and new ones that you haven’t seen. It all depended on student’s schedules and the degree they were taking. As you looked, you noticed a couple new girls. One with tattoos and one who looked like she could be someone’s middle aged mother. There was a boy fresh out of high school, built like a twig. In the back corner of the room, two rows from you, your eyes landed on a man with long, brown, luscious hair, and tattoos of beautiful work that could go on for miles. He was looking down at his journal. When he looked up, he tucked a strand of his hair behind his ear and your breath caught hard in your throat when he looked forward, not noticing you. He was so…

“Y/N?” The teacher spoke to you, snapping you out of your gaze. 

“I’m sorry, what?” You squeaked, embarrassed that you had been gawking at the new kid, and you hoped that you weren’t staring that hard and that nobody noticed.

A tone of disapproval twinged in the professor’s voice.

“Y/N. I expect full attention spans this month,” He eyeballed you in your desk with a raised eyebrow. “And that goes for everyone. Now, Y/N, the question was…”

You answered the question correctly, and as time went on, you and the class took notes. Once finished with the lecture and notes, you were all dismissed for a break.

You wandered out to the hallway and decided to get a Coke from the vending machine. You thought about that mysterious, beautiful man sitting so close to you in class. Who was he? Why was he so fine? 

Grabbing your drink from the bottom of the machine, your mind is blank as you walk back to the classroom. Your professor is working on his laptop at his desk, not minding you at all when you walk past back towards your seat. You look up, butterflies awakening in your stomach as you try to sneak a peek at that new guy to see if he’s in his seat. He isn’t, and you slightly slunk to your desk in disappointment and sat down, opening your coke and sipping it. 

Break is almost up and students start to come back in. They come in groups in intervals, but after a second of silence, just one comes back in. It’s him, the new guy. He looks at his feet as he comes in, holding a tea in his hand. As he walks down his aisle, he looks up, glancing around habitually. His eyes land on you and you hold your breath without realizing it. Other students are coming back into the room and the professor sits up, getting ready to start up class again.

The new guy just blinks, but locks eyes with you for a second or two before sitting down and you look away so you don’t look too long. 

The professor clears his throat, standing from his desk. 

“Alright,” he announces, letting everyone get situated into their desks and their journals ready. “You all know what materials you need. Don’t be afraid to ask for assistance, and you may begin your projects whenever you’re ready.”

You looked over at the new kid again, and to your surprise, he was already looking at you. His eyes fluttered to the front of the room quickly. Your breath shuddered. Wow, he is… nice looking.

The professor finished his instructions, letting us sit in our respective seats and work. 

You felt your face burn as if you were being watched. You fought back a little blush, knowing that you were being looked at just as you had been looking. You smirked to yourself in your desk at the thought.

You heard rustling, and out of the corner of your eye, you saw him stand and walk to the professor. You couldn’t understand what was being said, but you could tell he had a tenor voice. It was like hearing the devil speak, tempting you to eat his fruit from the tree. You saw him nod as if his question was answered to his satisfaction.

He walked back towards the desk, and you reverted your eyes back to your MacBook to avoid any evidence that you were watching. You then guilitly stole a glance up at him as he sat back down, but he already caught you. He glanced deeply at you for a second as he was sitting back down. He looked away as you did.

An hour more into the class, stealing glances to find one of you already looking happened more than it should have. You smiled at him politely a few times so it didn’t look like you were a weirdo, playing some of them off as ‘accidents’. When you began catching him, he began to have a small smirk playing on his face. This livened your body like nothing else, your mind going berzerk and your stomach fluttering wildly.

You didn’t even know this man! What if he was some weirdo or a crackhead? A serial killer?! Hey, Y/N, what about rational thinking? Naw! Let’s drool!

Half an hour goes by, you taking a break from sneaking glances as you concentrated and tried not to look weird. With your headphones in concentrating on the sounds you were correcting for the assignment, you didn’t hear the little “hey” and the awkward throat-clearing sound next to you.

You felt a finger tap your arm in an unsure way. Slightly startled, you turned to look at who was poking and why they were poking. Your breath hitched, embarrassingly and audibly so, when you looked into the new kid’s warm brown eyes and small smug smile playing on his face. You popped a headphone off an ear and paused your audio clip, hanging on a cliffhanger of just waiting to hear what this dude’s voice sounded like, hoping it would be anything like the face to match. 

Oh, it was. Silky smooth words rolled off his tongue, even if they were normal. You had to mentally slap yourself to really understand what he said, so you didn’t process blah blah blah while you eargasmed instead. 

“Hey, um, sorry, angel. I forgot to pack my MIDI cable before I left the house,” he referred to the board sitting next to his Mac, lifeless without its hookup. “I see you’re not currently using yours, would you be okay with me using it for the rest of class?” 

You nodded slowly. You felt like you looked like a fat cow with a gaping mouth, even if you looked totally normal. You dug in your bag and found what he requested and you handed it to him. 

He shot you a wide smile and you felt like your brains would fall all over the floor. “Thank you. You’re an angel.”

Oh my god. You turned away, closing your eyes and squeezing your thighs together. You regained your focus and resumed your assignment. 

Another 10 minute break was announced, but you wanted to get your assignment done and over with so you didn’t have to worry about anything when class was dismissed. You didn’t look at the new kid.

A note slid onto the corner of your desk, and when you looked up, you noticed the new kid had walked past down your aisle instead of his. You noticed that as he walked out the door, he caught your glance with a little smile playing on his mouth. 

Your heart now pounded in your chest. Do I open this? Should I?

You snatched it and breathed shallowly, swallowing hard. You slowly unfolded it, worried about what it was going to say. 

In neat handwriting, it said “Noah Sebastian / 223-6636 / text me if you need anything”.

On god, you about passed out. Your mind began to race. You told yourself to calm down–maybe this was just if you needed homework help; nothing too crazy! Right? Right. 

The daring part of you tore open your notebook before he got back. You tore off a section, and scribbled “(Y/N) / (Y/P/N) / I might :)” Folding it, your heart pounded out of your ribcage when you stood, walked to his desk, and tucked it under his laptop just enough for him to see and returned to your desk casually.

At this rate, you thought you might need to get off when you got home.

The new kid–Noah–returned to his seat to work, not looking at you but you at him for a moment. He had a blank look on his face, revealing no sign that he left a note. You watched carefully to see if he had noticed the note, and he did. You looked away quickly, afraid and a little embarrassed by your immediate play. 

He unfolded the paper slowly, smirk building into his cheek lines. You bit your lip, looking again. You watched as he saved his number into his phone quickly. He didn’t text you, but looked up to sneak a glance at you– but you were looking too long.

He narrowed his eyes, but you could tell he wasn’t mad. Noah’s eyes sparkled when he looked you up and down, letting you drink in the fact that he was eyeballing you and you were letting him. The smirk he already had became very apparent now and he let you see it. There was no douchebag in that smirk like every other frat boy who ever tried to speak to you.

“Okay, people. Class is over. Go home, enjoy your life. I’ll see you this Friday. Now go away so I can teach more brats before I go home.” Your teacher chided through tired eyes.

You and Noah stole one more short glance before packing up your things and leaving the room. You walked out, not looking again or even speaking to him out of shyness.

When you exited the building, you didn’t see Noah perched against the brick wall as he smoked a joint secretively. Or tried to, if you didn’t smell it first. “Hey, Y/N,” he said casually.

You looked around, not recognizing who or where the voice was. You notice Noah, sunglasses perched on his nose and he smiled at you. Ugh, wow.

He offered you a hit off the joint and you accepted. He watched you take a hit and smiled proudly. “And she likes to smoke,” he chided to himself. You offered him a smile at his words, liking his acknowledgement. You inhaled deep, exhaling to the side. “Taking it like a champ, too,” he nodded as he watched, another smirk playing on his face.

His words made her stomach hot. “You should see when I really smoke,” she said, making light conversation, not trying to show how he just teased her during their first time talking.

“Oh yeah?” he dared. “How much do you smoke? Really, like don’t pussy out on me. Give me all your details. I bet you can’t dab.”

“Bitch,” you chided at him playfully. “I can dab. I dabbed so hard I didn’t breathe for almost a minute.”

“Fuckin’ riot,” he said. “We gotta smoke.”

“Aren’t we?”

They giggled together.

“Naw, angel. This is just a quickie.”

Fucking hell, he did it again.

“So…” you began, trying to pretend that you were completely fine and not squirming in your pants. “When did you start here? Why haven’t I seen you?”

“Oh, I do online courses sometimes. Decided taking this class in person would be better. I’m on the road a lot.”

“‘On the road’? What do you mean?” You asked curiously.

“I’m in a band called Bad Omens,” he says to me. “I tour. I sing. Pretty cool shit, if I say so myself.”

“That’s amazing, I’m hoping to do some work with bands myself.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

There was a moment of silence between you both as he took a hit. Breathing out the smoke, he nodded and said quietly, “Awesome…” as if he were ticking off a checklist.

When the joint burned down to the filter and you both made a little less small talk, you said your goodbyes for the day and you hoped you would see him on Friday’s class.

[no-phrogs-in-hats]

Baby Steps Part 4

Larissa x pregnant!reader

Summary: The third trimester leaves many twists and turns

Warning: Small breakdown

Read Part 3 here

“Wow, throwing a baby shower really makes you realize how few friends you have,” you quipped as you sat on the couch creating a guest list. “Most of these people are our coworkers.”

Larissa, who sits beside you putting together the gift registry, chuckled. “I feel like we said the same thing for our wedding.”

“Probably,” you giggle. “We’re both very antisocial people.”

“So, is it a gender reveal?”

That was the third time you had gotten that question since you sent out the invites.

“No,” you explained politely, pausing the grading on the final exams. “It’s just a baby shower. Gender reveals are so tacky to me, so Larissa and I agreed to find out the sex when it’s born. I mean, it’s already the beginning of June, so there’s only a couple months left.”

“You know, I saw this really cool gadget on TikTok! You should add it to your registry! Or maybe I’ll just buy it for you anyway.”

“Oh, I appreciate it, but, really, it’s okay. We’ve only put necessities on our registry.” 

“No, seriously, this is a need. I’ll send you the link.”

And, once again, someone was insisting on getting you something you didn’t need. On the gift registry you sent out, you had put in asterisks a message, specifically saying to not get anything that isn’t on the registry unless otherwise stated. Necessities were for now, fancy gadgets could be saved for later.

When your coworker left your classroom, you reclined in your chair, letting out a deep breath and placing your hand on your bump. “Boy or girl, this is going to be a long eighteen years.”

“Talking to them again?”

The sudden voice made you jump in your seat before you saw Larissa in the doorway. 

“I saw Grace coming out of your classroom,” she said, leaning down to give you a kiss. “Was she insisting on getting us that crazy baby gadget?”

“How’d you know?”

“She cornered me in the teachers’ lounge earlier. All I wanted was a cup of coffee, but instead I received parenting advice from someone who has no children and gets all their information from parenting accounts on social media.” Larissa pulled a seat up to your desk and sat beside you. “How’re you feeling?”

You bent over to rest your head on her lap, groaning when you felt her fingers dig into your back and begin to massage the knots out. “My back is killing me, I’m exhausted, I have to pee all the time, my tits hurt when I touch them the slightest bit, and I’ve had to refrain from snapping at multiple students because of how easily I’ve been getting irritated.” 

Larissa’s hand came to your face, fingers smoothing out a strand of hair and pushing it behind your ear. She smiled softly, “You’ve always been one to minimize things, darling, so that doesn’t really answer my question.”

“I’m fine, Larissa,” you huffed.

Larissa pursed her lips. “Mhm…sure…”

Her response was like a tsunami came crashing down on you and you stood up. Your lip began quivering, yet you had all the rage of a thousand angry men. “Well, how would you feel if you were creating a human being out of nothing, Larissa!?” Tears started pouring down your cheeks as Larissa sat there awkwardly, watching your outburst, saying nothing as you slammed the door to your classroom. 

“I’m in a terrible mood all the time! The slightest thing irritates me, but I don’t wanna make a big deal out of it because then I’ll be known as the overdramatic pregnant woman! Teachers have been pestering me about my birth plan! Like, why does it fucking matter how I’m giving birth!? That is between me, you, and the midwife! Not some random fucking math teacher on a Tuesday morning! Wednesday Addams keeps telling me all these weird and creepy facts about pregnancy and newborns! I’m sorry, but I don’t want to know that some babies lactate! And all I wanna do at the end of a long day is have sex with my wife, but my stomach is the size of a fucking cantelope and every position is uncomfortable!” 

You took a steadying breath, wiping away your tears–and smudging your eyeliner and mascara. Reaching over your desk, you grabbed a tissue. “I’m sorry,” you sniffled. “I’m just…I needed to get that out…I’m sorry…”

When you sat down, Larissa pulled you into her arms, her hands rubbing up and down your back. “Shhh…You don’t need to apologize, love. You’re doing so much–too much. You’re getting overwhelmed. This is why I told you to go on leave. You’re letting your blood pressure get too high and you’ve been very insistent on not having a c-section.”

You pulled away from her and wiped the underneath of your eyes again. “I know, but there’s only a few days left of school. I really didn’t need to take any leave.”

“You’ve always been one to work yourself to the bone.” Larissa leaned down and retrieved your purse from under your desk. Unzipping it, she pulled out your makeup bag and handed it to you. “Lunch is almost over, let’s get you cleaned up a bit.”

The Nevermore graduation ceremony felt like hours. Being the head of the English department, you stood in a line with the other heads on the stage of the auditorium, shaking each student’s hand before they retrieved their diploma from Larissa. You were particularly proud to be shaking Wednesday Addams’ hand after seeing her rocky start a few years prior. But by the time the final student walked across the stage in their black and purple cap and gown (even Wednesday complied and wore a purple gown), you were dead weight on your feet.

The ceremony was moved to the Quad where refreshments were served and students could gather once more before moving out of their dorms. Maybe it was the fact that you were seven months pregnant, but the heat was almost unbearable. You had no idea how Larissa wore those dresses all the time because the simple breezy maxi dress you were wearing made you feel like you were doused in your own sweat. 

Your attention was turned behind you after speaking with a parent and you laid eyes on Wednesday and Enid. “Oh, thank you, Miss Addams…” A gift was handed to you, wrapped in blue and pink baby shower wrapping paper.

Enid, who stood beside her, bounced up and down on the balls of her feet with a bright smile. “The wrapping paper was my idea! It’s for the baby!”

“I would’ve gone with a different color palette,” Wednesday commented. “I can feel the skin on my hands burning off after touching that.”

“Black and white or blue and pink, it doesn’t matter to me,” you smiled. “Thank you, girls.”

“I saw it on TikTok and knew it was perf for you!” Enid squealed. “It’s this really cool–”

“Enid!” Wednesday hissed. “Don’t give it away.”

You giggled to yourself as you watched the two of them walking away, hand-in-hand as they muttered to each other.

“What’s this?”

Larissa’s voice startled you and you turned around. “Just a gift from Enid and Wednesday. I have a feeling we’re going to have two of those gadgets that Grace mentioned.”

And you were right. Weeks later, the baby shower went off without a hitch. Despite it being now late July and you being the size of a watermelon, you had never felt happier. You were practically on the verge of tears thinking about the entire situation.

Here you were, sitting beside your wife surrounded by your closest family and friends, opening gifts for the baby that would be in your arms in just over a month. You truly couldn’t ask for more.

In August your parents decided to visit, assisting you and Larissa with anything you needed help with. Your father took your car to the shop to get its oil changed along with everything else you had forgotten about–you really weren’t liking this pregnancy brain. Now you sat in the designated nursery, once Larissa's home office, huffing and puffing in a cushioned rocking chair.

“Okay,” Larissa mumbled, “it looks like we put parts A and B together using wrench three–Mia have you seen that wrench?”

“Nope.”

“You know, we could hire someone to do it,” you sighed, watching Larissa, your father, and your sister attempt to put together the crib for the nursery. “I mean, the girl at Ikea said they have people f–”

You were cut off by Larissa kissing you on your lips, looming tall over you. “Darling, it’ll be fine. We can do this. All you have to do is sit here and look pretty. Can you do that?”

“I can do that better than anyone,” you scoffed.

Larissa smiled and leaned in for another kiss. “That’s my girl.”

You were now a week over your due-date and you were miserable. You back ached, your breasts were painful to the touch, and the only thing you wanted now was to get this baby out of you.

“Are you alright, love?” 

Larissa’s hand came to your back as your breath stopped. You clutched the edge of the table in your hand tightly as a wave of dull pain started slowly. 

You didn’t want it to start here. You were in public, at a sports bar in Burlington with your family and Larissa’s when the pains started. 

“Yeah,” you breathed. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

The waitress, who was standing by your mother taking her drink order, paused and looked at you with the rest of the family. “Are you sure, sweetheart? The hospital is just down the road.”

“I’m fine, really,” you insisted. 

Larissa side-eyed you carefully. “I’m starting a stopwatch.”

“You don’t nee–”

“I’m starting a stopwatch,” she repeated, giving you the same look she gave troubled and disobedient students. “You're not having our baby in the car.”

You scoffed. “I’m not having the baby in our car, Larissa. Don’t be ridiculous.”

The rest of the evening continued, Larissa tracking your contractions against your will while everyone took their time looking over the menu and savoring their drinks. When the waitress came back half an hour later with the appetizers, a second, more painful contraction ripped through you.

“That was thirty seconds,” Larissa said. “Once they get to a minute long, I think we should go.”

“Larissa, I’m fine!” you groaned. “I’m sure they’re just Braxton Hicks.”

Putting a serving of nachos on your plate and hers, she shook her head. “You’re a week overdue, darling. I don’t think these are Braxton Hicks.”

You tried to ignore it, but Christ, you had to admit these were painful. You didn’t want to tell Larissa she was right, but a half hour intermission turned into a fifteen minute one, and a fifteen minute one turned into a ten minute one.

“They’re ten minutes apart,” Larissa muttered to you. “The last one lasted forty-five seconds.”

You smiled and thanked the waitress when she handed you your dinner, taking a small bite and answering Larissa. “Just drop it. We’ll go when my water breaks.”

“You watched the YouTube video,” Larissa said. “Sometimes the water doesn’t break.”

“We–” Your fork clattered onto your plate and the entire table looked at you as Larissa started the stopwatch. Through deep breaths you asked, “How long ago was–?”

“Seven minutes,” Larissa answered, placing her hand on your lower back once again and looking up at the waitress. “Darling, can we get two boxes, please? Thank you.”

“Take me to UVM,” you said. “Don’t take me to Jericho General. I have not heard good things about their maternity ward.”

“Sweet pea–”

“I said, take me to UVM!” you snapped.

Larissa, after retrieving her purse from under the table, took her keys out and took one of them off the ring. She handed it to your mother saying, “Here’s the house key. After dinner would  you be able to get the hospital bag and bring it to us?”

With a peck on Larissa’s cheek and yours, your mother took the key. “Of course. Now go. We’ll let you know when we’re on our way.”

Tag list: @gwenistheloml @barbarasstar @gwendolinechristierulez @furrysharkfart @yourgaeyisshowing

[sinfulslytherin]

Eat pt.1

Summary: Your Boyfriend doesn't let you eat properly in order to punish you. Draco tries to get your attention...

WARNING: Mature content, Eating disorder trigger

___________________________________________

I feel my head spinning on my way to my class but decide to ignore it. Grahams punishment can't last forever. At least I hope so.

I enter my classroom happily as I see that nobody is there yet and I can sit wherever I want.

I choose a spot in the very back of the classroom in order to dodge the akward questions from people I barely know. Questions such as:

"Did you get enough sleep?"

"Are you sick?"

"Do you eat enough?"

People who never talk to me suddenly can do so as soon as they see me struggle.

I don't know if I like the thought of some random people caring about me or hate the fact that they pity me.

Pity.

Just like Graham said.

People don't care about me.

They pity me.

I tired sigh escapes my lips as I grab my books and put it on the table.

The class filled up by now. That probably happened when I was sunken deep into my thoughts.

Madame Umbridge starts the class as we all suddenly hear the door opening.

"I apologize for being late."

Draco Dickhead Malfoy.

"A second time means detention Mr. Malfoy. Well,well...sit down next to Ms. Caddel." Chirps Umbridge in an irritating, high voice.

Well thank you, Umbridge.

Bitch.

I try to ignore Draco and keep my eyes on the blackboard that Umbridge uses to write down some things we need to learn for the upcoming test.

I suddenly feel Draco shifting closer to me and his hand seems to wander to my thigh.

My eyes are still fixed on the blackboard.

I suddenly feel something on my lap and Draco shifts back into his seat.

The only thing I can spot on my lap is a folded napkin.

I open it curiously only to find a small Crumpet.

The words "Be a good girl and eat up." are written in the upper right corner of the small piece of paper.

I glance over to Draco only to find him staring at the blackboard.

He never gives up, does he?

I don't know if he actually cares or just wants a warm body because he is tired of the cold.

But I can't be that. Whatever he wants.

Graham is going to kill me.

________________________________________

A/N

I have a spicy idea for the next few chapters <3

I am grateful for feedback of any form♡

Have a lovely day! <3

[unknown-lab]

Unrequited Echoes of the Heart

Pairing: Gojo Satoru x fem reader

Characters: Gojo Satoru, Geto Suguru, Shoko Ieiri, a random perfect girl

Genre: Angst

Warnings: Delulu, unnoticed reader, angst?

It is an undeniable fact that walking down the hallway during break time was the best moment of the day. Why? Some people say it's because they can finally get their ass out of the classroom, walk to the toilet and finally take the shit they held in for hours. While some say they get to gossip among their cool friends. Well, in your case, you get to watch your crush from afar.

"Haaaah~ Class is finally over." Shoko, who is sitting right next to you spoke and yawned at the same time, making it inaudible.

"..." You were staring at her, but it is obvious your mind is wandering elsewhere.

"What's wrong? Anything on my face?" She grabbed the travel mirror from your bag to inspect her own face, making sure there was nothing weird on it.

"Do you still remember Gojo?"

"Huh? That tall ass guy from our class last year?" She closed the travel mirror, handing it back to you.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, what's with him?" She had her elbow on the table, propping up her chin, looking at you.

"I think I like him." You said with a straight face while arranging your messy desk.

"What???" Her eyes widen, looking at you unbelievably.

"What do you like about him? His looks? His height? His personality? This is so sudden what the hell?"

"Maybe all." Your lips curled up looking at her disgusted face.

"But, didn't you have a crush on him last year already? Why him again this year?"

"Shoko, you know how much I want a boyfriend. Everyone already has their own. Including you." You gave her an eye roll sarcastically.

"And you know what happened. You got rejected." She sarcastically returned the sarcasm.

"..."

"Get your ass up, I wanna see him. He's probably playing badminton with Geto." You stood up while pulling Shoko's right arm together.

"Ugh, I hate you so much."

"I love you too."

We walked to the badminton court, sitting in the resting area. There are a total of 6 badminton courts available, and we chose the seat closest to the court Gojo and Geto are playing.

He has a smile radiant with happiness, sometimes he will show his white and shiny teeth when he grins after hitting a smash. He looked pretty from every angle. His height, his facial features, his body shape, everything about him is ideal. Maybe that's why you were attracted to him once again, after a cruel one-sided heartbreak.

"Oi, stop staring. You're making it super obvious." Shoko is trying to look for the positive points on Gojo that attracted my attention. She can't understand why people like him. He's an asshole, causing trouble in class, loud, and inelegant. She can't find anything better than his looks and height.

"Shoko, do you think I have a chance with him?" I turned to her, hope glimmering in my eyes.

"Umm... Probably no- I mean, 50/50." She looked guilty when she said that. She knows very well what happened last year will repeat, but she doesn't want to hurt your feelings by being too straightforward.

-And this is when your delulu started-

"Shoko! Shoko! I saw him 3 times today in the hallway!!"

"Shoko! I had 0.000000001 millisecond eye contact with him today ahhhhhhhh!!!"

"Shoko he turned to look at me!!"

"..."

Shoko gave up. It's already the second week, she had to bear all your tiny tiny interactions(??) with Gojo, every single day. The way you blushed when he walked past you, the way your eyes followed his back until his silhouette disappeared around the corner. She had enough, she needs to stop this torture. Without you knowing, she went to Geto after school. They are actually childhood friends so they're pretty close together.

"Geto." Gojo was absent on that day, so she turned his chair around to face Geto.

"Hmm? Need anything?" He shifted his sight from the book in his hand to Shoko, who is sitting right in front of him.

"Yeah, very important." She got a deep breath before continuing.

"Do you still remember Y/N?"

"Yeah, I see her almost every day, in the resting area with you."

"I need your help." She looked into his eyes firmly, as if it's a situation between life and death.

"Y/N has a huge crush on Gojo. Again."

"... I think she took 'never give up' too seriously." He chuckles, covering up the book in his hand and put it on his desk.

"Agreed. So are you helping or not? And What is the percentage of succeeding?"

"I'm afraid it's impossible. But I'll try my best."

"Ugh, I also have the same thought, but I don't want to make her sad again. She looks so happy having delusional thoughts."

"I'll see what I can do."

Shoko thanked him and walked back home that day. Although she's prepared you won't be getting your happy ending after what Geto said, but she still has faith in Geto helping you out.

Another normal day, same routine. The bell rang, you and Shoko walked to the resting area. You were expecting Geto and Gojo to play together. Instead, you saw another girl right beside Gojo, playing with him. Both of them were teaming up against Geto. She was pretty. Her straight and black shoulder-length hair. Her facial features. Her body shape. She caught your eyes easily, not because she was standing right beside Gojo, but because of herself. Looking from afar, you can feel Gojo smile more than usual. You thought she was just there for fun, so you dismissed the thought of Gojo having an interest in her. The next day, she's still there. The day after, she's also there. She was there for the whole week. You started to see her walking around with Gojo every time you walk past them. She'd sometimes look for Gojo in his classroom even though she is 1 year older than us. You weren't bothered, she may have feelings for Gojo too, but Gojo wouldn't return his feelings. He rejected so many girls, including you. There's no way he'll out of nowhere have interest in this senior.

Good times always come to an end. The moment you realised Gojo always waited for her to keep her badminton equipment before going back to his classroom, even though he had already packed everything up and was ready to go back before her. It made your heartache. You knew damn well you shouldn't be feeling this. He isn't yours. Your delusional thoughts are corrupting your mind, making you think he wouldn't be in love with someone else. You thought one day you'll be the one staying by his side, admiring his smile not from afar any more, but right beside him. In reality, there he is, waiting for her, walking with her every single day. And that girl isn't you.

[onelocket]

eyes on the board, milaya Fyodor D. x reader

prompting guide -- Suddenly, your vision comes to reality when you could only see him smiling at you across the classroom. “Focus.” He words out.

involves -- high school au, not 100% proofread

Afternoon classes were already done and dusted. Your sleepy eyes nagged you the whole last three periods of subjects as you forced yourself to keep it rolling, determined to finish today to just jump right to bed and shove your tired body in a warm blanket.

The mere thought of hugging a soft mattress as it releases said exhaustion away sounded and even felt comforting right now.

Ah, how your mind would love to doze off in a state of dopiness — away from responsibilities, away from life…

So why were you here instead?

“... Jeez..” You sigh, noise hardly distant from an escaping breath. As you tap your fingernails onto your wooden desk, your eyes deny to blink — afraid they'd fall defeat into a slumber in front of class.

Turns out, your little daydream just now was just a daydream.

In reality you still had this last class to sort out — which was mordantly the one you had the least interest in.

But at the same time, how could you skip class? This was the last above all your previous ones today; plus, you weren't going to be sure when your teacher would suddenly say this random lesson will be part of the upcoming exams, so you needed to attend. Even if you were painfully lacking the needed sleep.

“(Name),” The classmate next to your seat suddenly murmured, head turned to you with an on edge smile as if your solemnness affected her greater than it would to you. “If you’re planning to sleep, go ditch class by faking to use the bathroom or something…” she said, clearly irritated.

You let out an inaudible grunt at the displeasing behavior, placing both of your arms on your empty desk. Normally would you have your notebook out, but you were too tired to even write a word in such sheets.

“How does it bother you?” You whisper back, almost equally to even more pissed.

“Because we’re next to each other.” She clicks her tongue to, tapping her pen rather aggressively; yet effortlessly also being able to keep its quiet to avoid the teachers head turning.

And you swore even a simple yawn could get the teacher pointing at the said student. Not even a pen could counter it?

“And?” You nearly snarled, arms crossing each other even pressed against the desk. “It’ll rag attention!” She exclaimed loudly with her leaning to you — which ultimately grabs the class.

“Excuse me?” The teacher was quick to press on, head already turned to the class. “What will ‘rag’ attention, exactly?” They add with a rather rough tone before turning their whole body to the front, making the atmosphere drop.

Not that this teacher is rude, they were just… uncomfortable to see when mad.

“Ah- teacher..” Your classmate gasped out, her grip on the pen tightening as it deemed noticeable in your view.

But before you just sit there dumbfoundedly and admit what you knew she'd blurt to the whole class, you pick up a plan.

Leaning down a little to your desks shelf, you made sure to be slow with your moments as you grab a small purple notebook. Such notebook wasn't for this class — rather one where you draw mindless, silly doodles and write pent up rants to in school. But that won't be a problem.

If she was going to blame you, might as well pack up a lie to reduce twice a scolding in your ears.

With the corner of your eye did you notice your classmate progressively get provoked, practically growling at this point as you blench at the thought. She exclaims as she slaps her hand on the desk, “Teacher, this person beside me was about to fall asleep! In your own class.”

And while it did get you stares, you force your head to stay up and confident as you extend your fingers to let the other page of your notebook fall down, making sure it was on the ‘right’ page. “I have no idea what she’s talking about.”

It was filled with words you were so sure belonged to another topic and another subject, but nobody would know that.

“You— you were literally about to rest your head on your arms.” She says, in disbelief.

And you fight back with a tilt of your head, “I was grabbing this notebook, didn’t you see?”

“…You two, stop fighting.” Your teacher dismissed, a tired sigh trying to ease the stress; although failing as they raise their voice for all to hear, “Did any of you two see (Name) and are able to confirm their claim?” finishing before nodding their head at your classmate. “Or maybe hers.”

Silence suddenly dulled to reek the tension in your classroom. Your other hidden fist on your lap clenches itself as you hold back an annoyed noise, praying your gaze isn’t caught a glare. Even though it deliberately is one.

You didn’t exactly think anyone would vouch for you, nor would you think anyone would back up her claim. So you just sat there irritated, as so did she, her grip on her own pen in at threaten to snap it in half.

Besides, who would even want to stare at you in such hour? This was the last class of today, and everyone must be dying to call it quits and do their own thing just as you want to, right? Neither did you see yourself as one worthy to be the center of attention.

As your mind runs it’s words around with your expression painfully trying to be blank, a student who was sat on the first few rows of the class was looking intently at you.

More than the rest ever cared to.

Strands of his black hair would fall on his face as he makes a subtle tilt, eyes obscure.

They looked as tired as yours, but with how he was such a smart prodigy it’d be unlikely that his look of debility was out of need to sleep as well.

The more he stared at you in such way, the more did students pick up on it. A few swiftly nudged their friends to realize the situation, and without you even knowing, the tension grew heavier.

“Is nobody going to speak?” The teacher slits through the silence like a knife, “Then, with the lack of evidence in you twos contrasting stories- I’ll take the both of you to the office to properly sort this out.” already demanding a situation you loathed to deal with right now — that visible in your eyes the second you hear those words.

But before you nor your classmate could talk to bicker,

“I saw, teacher. (Name) was simply unhurried with their actions.” a heavy Russian accent counters through.

You find your hand slipping away from its contact on your notebook as you mouth out a gasp, eyes blinking their way to look back up at the male you hear speaking.

Though, your shock would fall into one out of relief once seeing who it was.

“Oh. Is that so…” Your teacher formed, seemingly not taken in yet by the affirm. “Mhm.” Your boyfriend — Fyodor, nods to, head turning to your teacher. “I felt something on my back, so I turned my head around to also brush my hair out of the way in case such so was the source of the itchy feeling.”

…What,

“I saw (Name) as I turned, and they were simply grabbing their notebook as she seemed to be talking to them. (Name) wasn't replying to them at all.”

What is he even saying…?

And how did it look so easy? For him to say all those things so suddenly? It's like he planned them out.

The words he explained was clearly, to you, a blatant lie. Yet you found your heart instead captivated at his effort. His voice was so soft and soothing, that accent pretty much grasping your wariness to a trash bin.

Not only did it loop you around — so did it do the same to your other classmates. Though… perhaps in a different way.

You could practically feel the weight of such uncomfortable tension swim back to a lower ground, yet rather than sparkling eyes you could only see looks out of one; or rather many, intimidated.

His voice perhaps did sound a little rougher, however you were unable to pick up on it right away since how long have you wanted to hear his voice since this period started.

But it shouldn’t really be that contrasting to hear him like that. Or perhaps it the unique accent that still threw them off-guard... it's been so long since Dostoevsky got his scholarship to your school, yet its as if their fright wouldn't agree to it.

You almost found yourself special for being the only one so accepting of him without any lie of emotion hidden within.

“Very well..” The teacher says, struggling to hide its reluctance before they cleared their throat; “I’ll still need to talk to you about this manner,” staring at your classmate before turning back to you — “but (Name), there’s no need to join the conversation unless there is something you’d like to be shared. In such case however, it’d be nice to say it now.”

“What the.. why just me?” Your classmate pressed, frustration clear in her face yet stayed sat on her desk. “Dostoevsky here hinted that you initiated the conversation.” The teacher replied, voice stern at her.

“… Please, teacher. There’s little to no reason to be so formal at your student. You call your other students by their first name, aren’t I right?” Fyodor spoke again, tilting his head a little to the teacher.

You see it visibly take the older person off-guard, as if Fyodor was some villain to be locked up to. Was it the voice.. no, you shouldn’t always think about his voice- well, as much as you personally liked hearing it. Was your teacher also still so intimidated?

But still… why react so violently? You couldn’t help but think, the palm of a hand resting on your chin as you watched the conversation, ignoring your angry classmate.

“Why.. well, sorry Fyodor. I'm just extremely stressed.” They make up with, which was honestly horrible. To who falls for that reeks with naivety — Even you knew your boyfriend would laugh at that reply.

But you also knew he wouldn’t show it, remaining polite to the teacher as he simply nodded it out, leaving the classroom quiet again.

As if you thought things were forming into a better shape, that decision made todays period even worse.

You softly grunt, and albeit you were safe from the scolding, you still technically got one right now. Without Fyodor in class, worser things would’ve happened. And your mind didn’t want to comprehend it.

Your eyes narrow as your head came back to the blackboard, your teachers continuation of blabber slowly turning muffled in your ears as you stared at your boyfriend. Though your teacher took quite the awkward approach with continuing the lesson, you had to admit.

Setting aside the thought, your head started to drown in your back and forth questions as you pondered on how to thank Fyodor later. Speaking like that and spewing out a lie so quickly must’ve been so difficult to find reason to actually act on.

It being ‘hard’ wouldn’t really match the description — you’ve seen your lover do and speak many things you knew yourself would never lift a finger to, so now only made you wonder why he did it.

Of course, it could just be out of love for you, but to have Fyodor keen onto a simple motivation as that sounded off. To lie in front of the class without even being sure that it’d work? What if another student was watching you and counterattacked his lie with a fact..

Suddenly, your vision comes to reality when you could only see him looking at you across the classroom.

“Focus.” He words out, his purple eyes boring into yours.

But for some reason, you didn’t find it intimidating. They felt… concerned for you.

No- concerned would be an overstatement. It would be.

Yet you can’t push back the thought of him worried for you either.

You smile at him, head tilting a little to your palm. You reply back with your own mouth forming a silent word, “Sorry.” earning a small smile from him before he turns his head to the board, your head jolting to follow it.

You still failed to actually understand a word of what your teacher meant, but to see your loving boyfriend, Fyodor, all so focused and noting down with such effortless charm kept you glued to the front of the class.

To see Fyodor was all there mostly was to it, who you didn’t share a lot of subject periods with. Even if you had the most valid reason to skip this class, you'd stay just to see his back even if what came with it was… oh, right — thousands of words and whatnot in front of the board you had yet to note down.

“…How annoying.” You grumble quietly, placing your arm down as your other hand held onto your pen, tip aimed at the paper. You lied earlier to get away from punishment, so you now had to act like it. You had to have your eyes on the board,

“Milaya.”

Your body jolts at the sudden call, head immediately tilting up to see the man you love to be in front of you. He was smiling softly with his hands on your desk, an expression you'd melt for over and over again.

“…Um, y-yeah Fyodor?” You reply, a sheepish smile on your face. “I’m sorry. I zoned out a little.”

Before you even knew it, classes were over. Perhaps it was the sudden attack of motivation that made time feel quick, but in the end you were glad all's done.

And luckily did you not have to deal with a trip to the office unlike some unlucky girl.. really, what was her problem?

“Are you that tired?” He sighed out, tapping a finger on your desk. “Class is over. You’re not in charge of cleaning today, correct?”

“Yeah.” You reply, your shamefaced smile turning into a calmer one now.

Actually, since you did think about it, perhaps now would be a good time to thank him. Not like it’d be appropriate to say thank you tomorrow when he clearly helped you out today.

“Actually, Fedya..” So you whisper, hoping nobody heard your nickname for him in wishes not to embarrass him. “May we walk home together today?” You engage to, hoping that time to properly thank him.

“Of course, (Name).” He replied, a finger brushing your hair off your face with that same smile. “Grab your stuff now, we can’t stay in this classroom forever while they clean.”

“Oh- right!” You heaved out, head immediately down to look at your notebook. Quickly did you do as told, practically sliding your bag to your shoulder as you stood up, Fyodor beside you silently.

You didn’t have time to put your notebook inside, so you just held onto it as you two exited the room. He didn’t seem to mind either — although you two end up sharing a hand in hand as you walked the corridors, not that secretive of the relationship, however not so loud about it either.

Simple public display of affections like these in school warmed your heart, and you hoped his did too.

As you two walk with a comforting silence shared, a loud, masculine voice rings through the hallway as sounds of shoes clicked closer and closer to you two. And of course, it’d be nobody else than..

“Ah, Nikolai.” Fyodor greeted with a tiny tilt of his head before tilting it back with a smile. “What brings?”

“Mmhm, hi- I need to borrow you for a second.” Nikolai replied rather excitedly as if holding back his impatience, his larger hands immediately flying up to hold one of your boyfriends.

You take the hint and let go of Fyodor’s hand, to which, you see the same hand twitch in reply, but nonetheless find nothing else to take notice of.

“Oh! Right, (Name)!” Nikolai suddenly says with the surprise evident in his voice, as if he didn’t see you. Well, you knew that’s not exactly what he’d think of, but still.. he’s rather, jumpy about something, isn’t he?

“Y-yes Nikolai?” You reply hurriedly, a smile covering your confusion as you press your notebook closer to your chest.

“May I borrow your lovely boyfriend for a sec? Pretty please?” He scoots closer to you as he spoke, beseech and solicit tones apparent in his voice. You let out a fake, helpless sigh, shrugging a little. “Not my choice to make. It’s his.”

“Aw. You know he barely says no to you.” He sighed with a small pout as if defeated. “My chances are less now..” He sulked out whilst you and Fyodor find each other chuckling, Fyodor talking back however. “Please. If it’s so important that it made you run to us, where’s the room to decline?”

“Aha- I knew that'd get you!” Nikolai applauds to with a galvanizing turn of his head to your lover, a smirk crystal-clear of mischief, but you did not dare to question. Besides, you knew this man for his tease and joke, and you presumed Fyodor did too. Well, they are close after all.

“Come, come; it won't take you long~” The taller boy releases his grip on Fyodor's hand, a calm expression on said guy as if he was used to that cheeky look on Nikolai's face with that gesturing motion to follow him. Fyodor gave a nod to Nikolai as he hummed, however turning his head to you.

“Milaya. If it's about what I did earlier, then don't wait for me. There is no need,” Fyodor tells you, leaning in to press a soft kiss on the edge of your lip.

The second his lips met your skin felt like you reading his cute little love letters to you — short, sweet and anticipatingly taunting. Taunting to your poor little heart as it easily flusters from it.

You give your lover a quiet laugh as he leans back, Nikolai staring at you two without a word, just a smile you couldn't read.

You wanted to say something, but would it really be fine to flirt in front of his best friend? Said dude would name you two as cheesy love doves, you knew.

So you simply nod before giving a small wave, Nikolai taking that sign as to grab Fyodor's hand and walk the opposite direction of the hallway. Fyodor turns around as he walked, replying to you with a small smile before he completely allows the well-known school clown to take him away, leaving you stood there.

“...He knows what he's doing.” You finally sigh out with your stiff shoulders relaxing, to which you actually never realized of them being that way. That kiss, albeit sweet, told you a lot, you knew your lover knew this mark.

So rather than leaving as he 'claims' he wanted you to do, you find your heel turning around and almost scurrying somewhere else — where, might that be?

Why, another classroom.

It was still in the same floor, only difference is that this was an old club room which was now empty; given how no new club proposition took this space.

Of course, it was advised by the teachers not to use this room so often. While it was open, it's not a free space for 'you folks'. You still couldn't help but giggle at the remembrance of that one teacher calling you and the students such a term, especially with his accent. Ridiculous, you thought.

But this was also the only room you can go to. Those who were in charge of cleaning must still be doing their task.

You almost lazily sit on the chair which was already set up, desk to accompany it. Somebody must've also broken the rule of not hanging out here, yet that doesn't bother you right now. Putting your bag to the side of the chair, you put down your purple notebook on the wooden desk as you pout, staring at the empty cover.

“Telling me not to wait for you... am I not your partner to have the right?” You ask, pretending as if the notebook was him. Well, the purple hue did match his eyes. And he didn't deserve the light scolding, so you just threw it on some inanimate object.

Sliding your arm down on the desk did your hand swing around on the opposite side, your cheek leans down to press on the crook of your elbow as you yawn quietly, eyes still on the cover.

But the sight of something green catches your eye.

A little brighter because of the afternoon light shining through those open windows, but definitely green nonetheless. And it was none other than the blackboard in front of the classroom — a few walks away from you.

“Mm, what would've happened if I still had the energy to focus earlier?” You mutter to yourself, eyes focused on the dry paint. “I mean.. would I have heard him back up for me? That was still really kind of him.”

Yet the lack of people in the room left you to simply stare. The longer you stared, the more your eyes wanted to tease you too — as if replaying a sight of your teacher nudging nonsense and writing so loudly on the board. But of course, since you weren't focusing half of the lesson, you couldn't remember what was actually written on it.

You probably should head home by now... but you also couldn't shake off the thought of walking home with Fyodor. Of course were there some days you two have to leave alone, but that kiss really got you clingy.

“I knew you'd be here.” Suddenly, a soft, almost gentle voice whispers behind you, as if behind your ear.

You immediately turn your head at this — eyes a little wide before you took realization to who it was. Thankfully, it was just Fyodor.

Your head makes a quick turn, seeing his bag already beside yours and classroom doors suddenly shut. You didn't even hear noise shuffle around... how did he get here so quietly? Alas, he ends up grabbing a seat to sit in front of you as you just watch, lifting your head up.

“And how would you know? You probably checked every classroom in this floor.” You joke out, smiling at your lover as he returns it. “If that's how you'd like to put it.” He replied, leaning in. “Really, did you want to walk home with me that eagerly?”

“Well, you know I always do.” You say as you push your seat away, earning you enough space to stand up. Before he makes the move you knew he'd do, you slide your notebook swiftly on the shelf under the desk, not wanting him to see the little doodles of his back that you drew to find some solace in these sleepy classes.

“I apologize then, milaya.” Fyodor whispers, his eyes following your move as you find yourself sitting on the desk, in front of him. A chuckle leaves his lips as he tilts his head, however not muttering a word as you shift around, making sure your legs didn't hit him.

“Yeah, do apologize.” You sigh out, although intent lighthearted and playful as you lean in, pressing your fingers on his silky black hair. You take his loving gaze as consent as you play with his hair, both of you exchanging a warm smile.

“But do enlighten me, (Name). Just what was on your notebook?”

“Oh. I didn't think you'd ask...” A peachy paint on your cheeks as your eyebrows furrow.

You weren't mad of course, and to be fair — if the positions would switch, you'd ask the same thing. Fyodor hums, “That notebook must be important, right? If you do not wish to tell, that is fine as well.”

“Ah, not exactly.” You pucker your lips to for a fleeting moment, keeping your affectionate stare. You twirl a strand of his hair, tilting your head. “It's just a little embarrassing. I wouldn't call it some sort of sketching notebook, but it's just mostly filled with drawings of your back.”

“Why my back, milaya?”

“Because that's all I see in class.” You pout out.

“...Adorable.” He replied with a sweeter smile, as if holding back a giggle. “Come here,” Fyodor coos, his hands meeting your hips to slowly, almost a little too slowly guide you to fall down on the desk to sit on his lap.

You comply, however a little startled at first. You never took him to be the kind to want public displays of affection.. neither did you ask about it though, so maybe you were wrong?

“If you be good next time and focus in class, I'll let you borrow me from my studying to be your reference as much as you'd like.” Fyodor whispers with his one hand meeting your cheek, caressing it lightly.

“Really?” You ask a bit excitedly, hands pressed on his shoulders. He had to admit to himself, the sight was really adorable. Some of your hair fell on your face, and you held onto him like you two weren't inside a classroom. “I said only if you're good.” He tuts.

“You tease.” You huff out, cheeks puffing a little to decorate. Fyodor hummed, “You accept every last one of it though, don't you?” resulting in you rolling your eyes and lean in to press a kiss on his lips.

The seconds feel like minutes as your lips met, Fyodor moving his hands to carefully wrap on your waist as the afternoon sky radiates on each of yours skin, eyes shut and simply indulging in the moment.

Yet to surprise, it is you who pulls away first.

You take this moment to stay where you're positioned at and look down at his face, which had a very soft, subtle light of red. You found it endearing. Perhaps your actions also moved his heart more than you'd assume.

You wanted to say something, but before you could even voice out a word from your open lips — he surprises you with a lean in, peppering kisses all over your cheeks. It made you dumbfounded for a good moment, the blush on your face never failing to escape now as you press your own hand on his cheek, softly giggling like his lips tickle.

“Hey... what are you doing, Fedya?” You coo, soft exhales leaving you at the feeling of amenity from his kisses. Barely does he initiate it, which led you to easily melt whenever he does. You could feel his lips meet a smile as he kept kissing your soft skin, “I wasn't done kissing you yet.” to which only caught you to melt even more.

“You really don't have to try being this cute, don't you...” You mutter out before silently sitting there on his lap, closing your eyes while you drink in his love.

Eventually did you wrap your hands around his neck, allowing him more room for you to kiss as a sight suddenly clicks to you.

The corner of your eye would catch the girl who tried to wreck chaos to you earlier, seemingly walking after a trip to the office. You couldn't catch her expression, but you just knew she was pissed.

Minutes had already passed since the allotted school dismissal anyway. Not many students were around anymore. She could've left school early if she just didn't bother with your own issue.

You didn't want to stop his kisses, but seeing her made you had to with a gentle pat. He takes the note and stops, however still holding you.

“What's wrong?” Fyodor asks, earning a turn of your head. “Oh... just saw 'her'. She still really annoys me.” You grunt out quietly like an angry kid, looking down as he finds it cute with a laugh.

At least, you would've thought so.

“Did she irritate you that much? My, sweet milaya — I say you should give her less weight she might feel on her shoulders.” Fyodor suddenly remarks, making you feel a little puzzled. Why was your own boyfriend on her side?

Your eyebrows furrow, “Hey, if you thought your guessing lie was wrong, you were right you know? She talked to me first.” backing up your situation with a frown. Your head moves to look at him as he smiled, one hand petting your soft hair. “It wasn't a guess, milaya. I knew she likely talked to you first.”

“Huh.. how come?” You question, “Do you know her?” a bit of jealousy seeping in your head.

The look you briefly had on was cute. It made him even more satisfied.

“No. The only thing I know about her is that I set up a few things throughout her day today, just to make her all irritated and get her angry at the smallest of things. An example answered my bet in luck by you feeling sleepy this afternoon.”

...Huh??

“..Wait- Fedya, what?” You mutter through a confused expression, “You... why did you do all of that?”

“Mm, don't worry. They were all harmless, and she's physically untouched by such schemes.” Fyodor explains further as if you asked him to, tilting his own head a little. “And I did that... because I wanted your embrace, milaya.”

Your embrace? But he's already getting it right now.

“Am I not giving you such so?” You end up asking, fingers tapping on his shoulder. “And besides, isn't us holding hands already an embrace? As you take me home?”

“My. I foresaw a lot of things, but not your endless questions.” He sighed out, one hand grabbing onto one of your own to press a gentle, almost teasing kiss that led your shoulders to shiver. “I'll be honest with you, do you think we truly get enough time for ourselves when we walk home?”

“When we...” You trail out, your own head following to find an answer to his question.

While it is true you two hold hands throughout the walk, and how you'd give him puppy-like kisses as he leaves you to your doorstep like the gentleman he is — Fyodor is kind of right. He doesn't always get to hang out at your home due to his studying, and you both barely show this much affection in school; now being an only exception.

Wait... now being an only exception. So did that mean he planned all of he said just to get you cradling yourself on him?

“...Are you kidding me?” You end up sighing with an amused smile, Fyodor seemingly glad as he also had one smile of a similar nature. You shake your head, squeezing his hand before letting go of it. “All of that, just for us to end up like this?”

“You'll embarrass me if I say so.” He cooed like a sad boy, you laughing as pink switched your peach. “You're smart, Fyodor, but this is proof that too much smarts can be a little too much.”

The two of you were met in a brief silence as you simply stare at him, your intertwined hands staying as so.

You could stay in this moment forever.

“Y'know.. you don't have to plan around if you just want my embrace.” You start whispering, scooting closer to his lap so both of your chests touched. “I know we can't always show this much affection in school, but you involved a random classmate.” Rather than an explanation did your words sound like a scolding, as if Fyodor didn't know that.

He hummed, “Wasn't my only idea, milaya. Nikolai had a part in planning this too,” smirking a little but kept his expression hidden by guiding your head down to his shoulder, allowing him to press his lips on the side of your head.

You comply to his touch, securing your arms better so you were now leaning on your.. new pillow. You couldn't see his face this way, but it was fine.

“And I bet him calling you earlier was a plan to make me feel touch-starved.” You mumble.

“But doesn't this repay it, (Name)? Or is it lacking for you?” Fyodor teased, his voice making sure that you knew. “Oh, whatever. Just ask next time when you want my embrace.”

Silence met your words at first, the soft wind adding more comfort to the secret little situation you two got going on right now.

Fyodor knew you two should really get going by now, but with a simple glance by the school gate with the help of the window beside you two, as long as the guard was still on his phone, perhaps Fyodor can keep indulging himself in your warm touch that he'd been needy for too long.

A soft chuckle amuses itself as he simply replied, “Okay.” leaving the afternoon colors do all the talk for now as he softly squeezes your body, placing another kiss on your hair.

And just like that, you really couldn't get your focus to have your eyes on the board now.

⚘

[olivianott]

SEATING ARRANGEMENTS

ꕤ Pansy x Neville

ꕤ warnings: dark times at Hogwarts implied, drug use

ꕤ 1.4k words drabble

ꕤ Loosely inspired by a little snippet of Panville in the Mattheo fic "You are my perfect piece" by beautiful Syl, my love 🖤

moodboard | story

Ugh. Another class sitting with this loser. Fucking Mattheo. She could kill him for this. Ever since Matheo started “secretly” dating his girl, he always does everything to be near her, rearranging the seating and making everyone move, just so they can sit together and make everybody nauseous with their touching and kissing and looking longingly into each other’s eyes… ew. That’s hell on Earth for Pansy, being near them. Emotions? Weak. Love and affection? Disgusting. And being made to sit with Neville is a cherry on top. How it always happens to be her, is beyond her understanding. She glares at the boy next to her, but he is too focused on his notebook. Taking notes in class like a good little boy. Pansy rolls her eyes and stares in front of the class, willing for the ground to open and take her into its depths, just to escape this boredom.

A letter from “home” lied on the desk when she returned to her dorm. Pansy read it once and wanted to burn the letter along with all of Hogwarts into ashes. Pansy used to dream about another universe where her mom would write her letters to school asking about how she was doing, asking about her friends and if she was having fun, telling her she misses her. She left that stupid fantasy back in the second year. In this particular letter, her mother was reminding her of whom she should and should not be aligning herself with, if she is eating healthy, making herself presentable every time she leaves her room, and oh! “We’ve been talking to a family friend in Italy, they have a son around your age. It’s a very wealthy and noble pureblood family with great values and it would be beneficial for both parties if we join our families by marriage.”

It was the first time Pansy’s mom told her in no uncertain terms that yes, she is marrying whoever her mother chooses. It’s been looming over Pansy’s head for a while now but actually seeing it, black ink on a piece of parchment sent shivers through her body and bile up her throat.

She runs out of the dorms, through the halls of the dark castle, and finds a random classroom to shut herself in and release tears and screams of anger and frustration from her being.

Little does she know that the universe never wanted her to do it alone.

In the classroom, Neville was already in the process of dealing with his own emotions. In one of the corners, there was a mess of branches, leaves, and flowers growing from the ground up, spanning the walls, and the ceiling and falling in long vines all the way back down towards the ground, making a little alcove between the leaves. Under the plant, Neville is sitting down on the ground, head leaning back against the wall with his eyes closed.

“What the fuck is this jungle?”

Neville looks up startled, he didn’t see or hear Pansy come in. His eyes are red. That’s when Pansy realizes there’s smoke filling the space underneath the leaves, all around Neville, who is holding a joint.

„Are you smoking in here?“ Pansy asks surprised.

Neville rolls his eyes at her and scoffs. He is not gonna tell her this is the only place now where he feels comfortable. Under his plants. „Didn’t peg you for Hogwarts police.“ He retorts instead.

„Didn’t peg you for a bad boy rule breaker either.“ Pansy glares at him through her tear-filled eyes, mascara probably running down her cheeks. “Although should have known, with you always hanging out in the greenhouses, you would take a liking to the special kind of plants, too.” Pansy rolls her eyes.

Neville only smiles and shrugs his shoulder, putting up his hand, and offering Pansy the joint. Eying her running mascara he says „I can share with someone in need.“

Pansy stays frozen for a bit but just as Neville is about to put his hand down she takes the joint from him and takes a puff while sitting down next to Neville under the branches.

They sit in silence, passing the joint back and forth until it’s all gone.

It helped Pansy a little bit. The fog is now also in her mind, not only in the classroom around them.

“So… the head-in-a-notebook-quietly-taking-notes-in-every-class Neville has a bad side too huh?”

“I’m not taking notes. What’s the point anymore? Everything in the world is fucked up.” He says that as if she is stupid.

“You are always writing in that notebook of yours, ignoring everyone around, what is that about then?” Just as she says that, her foggy mind focuses on said notebook, lying down on the ground on the other side of his legs.

Pansy immediately lunges across his outstretched legs trying to grab the notebook and satiating her curiosity. Neville tries to grab it and get it out of her reach, but he is not quicker than her. They both tug at the notebook with one hand, Neville’s other hand around Pansy’s waist, trying to pick her up and get her off his legs, Pansy’s other hand on Neville’s stomach balancing her body stretched across his, joint still between her fingers. Finally with a huff and a tug Pansy wins the battle and takes the notebook. Tired from the “fight” and her mind still unfocused, she rolls around to her back, still laying across Neville, her head resting on his chest to get more comfortable. Involuntary impulses, obviously.

She opens the notebook and gasps.

It’s not full of class notes. He is an artist. And a pretty good one it seems. Pansy quietly turns a few pages, amazed by all the detailed pencil drawings of plants, trees, and flowers. “These are beautiful.”

While Pansy is browsing through the pages and gently touching the drawings, Neville takes the joint back and finishes the last few drags, putting it out on the floor beside him. The last random page Pansy turns to makes her stop in her tracks. Neville has his head turned up to the leaf-covered ceiling with his eyes closed, but he feels the atmosphere change. He feels Pansy freeze up, holding her breath after the initial gasp.

Neville never really wanted her to see. It’s just a crush, a temporary obsession, he used to tell himself. It just didn’t go away yet.

Pansy’s mind is overwhelmed. When her mind finally emerges from the drug-induced fog, everything feels like too much… his body underneath her, the position in which she finds herself lying on him, the very detailed image of her face on the page of his notebook. She stands up suddenly and without looking at Neville runs from the classroom, doesn’t even look back until she slams the door to her dorm behind her and slides her back down it to sit on the floor.

“What the fuck?” Pansy whispers to the dark room in disbelief, and just then realizes she is still clutching Neville’s notebook to her chest.

The next day Pansy is again sitting next to Neville in class. She feels very anxious and on edge but is pretending he doesn’t affect her at all. Mattheo’s girlfriend is the only one who notices that Pansy doesn’t look like she wants to Avada Neville right there behind the desk anymore.

They sit in awkward silence the whole class, Neville struggling with what to do with himself and his hands without his notebook.

When finally the torture of the class ends, Neville stops Pansy with his hand on her forearm and with a slight bit of anger demands: “Can you give me my fucking notebook back? It’s important to me.”

Neville’s eyes pierce Pansy deep into her soul and she can see a bit of desperation in his gaze. She finally understands, in these dark times it’s his coping mechanism, along with the weed.

Students bang with the chairs and books around them while leaving the classroom but Pansy and Neville stare at each other, some kind of deeper connection and understanding forming between their souls, minds, and bodies.

Finally, Pansy reaches into her bag and takes out his notebook, sliding it across the desk to Neville without a word but with a slight smirk. She doesn’t need to say anything, she already took what she wanted from the notebook and said what she needed to on its pages.

As Pansy carefully unfolds the torn pages from under her pillow to look at her own face late that night, in a Gryffindor dorm room across the castle Neville reads the message in his notebook with a rare smile:

“Next time you want to draw me, ask me to pose for you.”

Thank you for reading, hope you liked it.

Your principessa Nott 🎀

If you want more: 🖤here🖤

[wordsvomit101]

I'm a random cringe teenager in school, we are not in Euphoria dude.

Author note: It is from Leviathan's pov because I do not want to come back to that dark time that closely, both of my arms shag to the ground when I thought back to it. Plus I need to write something else besides the quiz or else I might flip. Warnings: OOC, you might not relate to this MC, Leviathan being weird.

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

(Lunch Break)

"Stop moping. I can't stand that idiotic sulking face of yours. Either get out of my sight or speak quickly," he snapped, hitting the right button as your mouth, busy chewing rice, halted to gulp it down before you began yammering nonstop.

"I don't know what I was doing back then, dude. I should just cooperate with them but I tried to act cool and know it all. Fuck! It was so bad and I sound like a total asshole! I might need to change the table," you lamented, as if not bothering to breathe.

You sit across him in the cafeteria, the space humming with the cacophony of annoying mortals and the frigid metallic scent of their food trays. The students' chatter is a relentless torrent, bouncing off the walls and reaching into every corner of the room. It's relentless, grating, and suffocating. It's the sound of a thousand conversations overlapping, each one clamoring for attention, each one more meaningless than the last. He tries to focus on the disgustingly low-quality food and your voice, to block out the noise, but it's impossible. The clatter of trays, the scrape of chairs, the mindless babble—it's all too much. He feels his fingers twitching, his palms itching to cover his ears and shut out the world, or maybe just slaughter all of them.

"The rest of the class was ok, I think, but I can see how they uncomfortably sit and not look back at me. Oh my god, I didn't just set off a series of bullying in my second year in high school, did I? Shit, I definitely did," you rambled on.

"Then how is it my problem?"

You look up at him with all the innocence those eyes could muster, yet hiding the aggravating angel-like rat behaviors. You give him another vein on the neck.

"You silly goose, you stuck with me for too long, and after all we've gone through, you have to share this with me. I stuck through your cringe emo phase when we were in middle school so this is the least you could do, you ungrateful brat," you chided him in a tone an older sibling would, and it only made him want to choke you from across the table.

It was maddening. Despite your apparent introversion, you never remained isolated for long. Even when you occupied a seat by yourself, you were always within the watchful gazes of at least three others. He had once witnessed you sitting alone in a classroom, but within five minutes, you had hastily gathered your belongings and hurried off to an extracurricular activity, your punctuality bordering on par with those from Niflheim, which is not appreciated in this situation.

Now he has to sit here and listen to your endless yapping again while surrounded by these stank mortals. Their pungent socks and unwashed body odors assaulted his delicate nostrils. Sharing your sensory experience became a curse as he lamented the existence of his sensitive nose. The stench from a table away was an unbearable torment, something that only that vixen Beelzebub and his cronies would enjoy.

"Ughh, I'm so fucked, you will be fine for sure but I don't know when my resting bitch face effect run out. Oh, can you eat this for me? Thanks, I don't have the will to try to eat them today."

"When did I say I-"

"Just eat them, will you? Plus my parents and I once bet on how tall you will be in the future. They both said you will be in the 6-foot range but I said 6'3 so grow faster for me," nonchalantly you quickly interrupted him with another story that your mind made up to patch up the holes his presence left.

You already put all the vegetables on his tray before he could say anything and get back to stuffing those cold things you called pork into your mouth again. Despite his genuine attempts to offer alternative snacks and better choices from nearby vendors, you remained steadfast in your refusal, compelling him to endure these demeaning moments alongside you. Annoyingly preaching something about saving money despite how you impulsively bought them both two bags of crab chips and bottles of banana milk the next day... If he threw it away you would be both sad and angry at him, possibly even not talking to him again for weeks unless he explains why so he, humiliatingly, chews those junks down his throat... It wasn't bad, at least.

But your smug looks ruin that moment and even dare to tease him about it despite your cheeks being stretched out by him like useless dough.

All the times he tried to initiate something with you, small or big, you outright gave him a funny disgusted look that was different from how those vile angels did but got on his nerves all the same. One time you even poked his eyes and screamed bloody murder, grinning childishly all the while, before he chased you around the school grounds, making a scene for the whole student body like some kind of circus. It's still a mystery how you manage to outrun him despite your less-than-stellar PE scores.

"What's with that grumpy look? You look like a monkey that just ate a hot chili—A good-looking one, of course, so chill your ass down, bro, that look could give a grandmother a heart attack."

... He had often contemplated the violent retribution he could inflict upon you—hanging you high by the neck or sending you tumbling down the unforgiving steps for each careless barb you hurled his way, only to watch you brush it off with a nonchalance that made it seem like nothing. In the reality of your usual demeanor, you would shy away from his gaze and hide your thoughts in your polite smile, an unspoken pact of avoidance. But now, you were a stranger to your former reserve, an uncharted territory in which your words flowed freely, unlike the distance you put around yourself toward everyone... It's grating as much as it is refreshing.

"I should cut your tongue off one of these days so you wouldn't spew nonsense all the time."

"Ah shush buddy, I would already be buried by now if you took your threat seriously. Also, what is our next class? Math? Shit, did we have homework in math? I can't remember, I only cramp on our literature work."

He learns something else about you that only makes him want to hurl you through the wall. Despite having all the time in the world, you whine and moan when it comes to your duties but you read through those meaningless comics and binge-watch countless romance dramas online, swooning over fictional humans whose appearances barely reach half his height almost every night. Instead of making good use of your time, you ignore the genuine thing right next to you. He should have twisted your nose off your face when you laughed at his face back then.

He ignored the flutter in his ribcage when he thought back to your smiling face, carefree and looking up at him with playfulness as you took joy in his frustration.

"Your stupidity never ceases to astound me. We have a test tomorrow, you bull-headed rat." Standing up, he took both of their trays to the table to be cleaned later. He didn't eat much besides the gross vegetables you put on his tray and waited for you to finish eating. As you two walked, you continued to talk incessantly, and he had to suffer through the noise.

"Aiya, stop with that snobby ass speech and help me study. At least I remember the formula, you know? An achievement for people like me who suck at it! You should be proud of your homie."

"I would be disappointed in myself if I ever am proud of the likes of you, you ange- rat."

Glancing down at you, your gazes ahead and not a bit bothered, it made him want to wipe it off your face and make you red with anger and embarrassment like that time… but you would never accept it, nor would your eyes give him the same reaction he was starting to get used to. Getting used to this mundane routine, the normalcy of this setting was so much different compared to schools in Hades. It was peaceful. It made him want to hold your hand…

"Hey."

Your serious tone of voice broke him out of his thoughts. When he glanced back, you were frowning, contemplating… You were realizing the differences again, this was the 35th time you did this. He admits he underestimated you when he first got into your memory zone. You almost blasted him with thunder magic the first time you uttered that human's name after he refused to join you to go to the anime convention for the 6th time. He envied how just by a mere utterance of that wretched name, you easily broke out of your trance.

Like last time, your eyes didn’t have that foggy glaze over them but were becoming brighter again.

"Have you ever talked like an old man like that?… And have you always had those horns before? Your voice sounds deeper too…"

But no matter, it was an easy fix, some rearranging, and good leading words would do. Before your gaze looked away from his and your smile went cold again, he quickly took out your favorite flavor lollipop from his pocket and unwrapped it easily between his hands, acknowledging how you were becoming more tense each second and your eyes almost fully cleared even without looking at you.

"Are you-"

"Hmph, you must have a lot of time to even question things like this."

Gently shoving the lollipop into your mouth and taking in your shocked face, his heart was unconsciously at ease when you calmed down after tasting the familiar treat between you and that human. You gazed up at him with a goofy smile, humming a tune as you continued walking to class together, the tension between you dissipating like mist in the morning sun.

"Did you buy it from the vendor? I thought they were out of this flavor today- Ah wait, I need to finish this quick. How much time do we have left until class starts?"

As you two entered, he swiftly slipped into his seat, cutting you off. The class was strewn with a sparse gathering of students, as per the norm… Tch.

"Not a single ‘thank you’, it seems you’re the ungrateful one. I should let you rot once that test comes around."

"Hah?! H-hey I get it alright?… I’m sorry ok? Sorry for taking you for granted."

As you settled into the seat before him, a sense of remorse washed over you, reflected in the apologetic gaze you cast upon him. It was as if your eyes carried the weight of a thousand regrets, and he could almost visualize your invisible ears drooping in a display of pitiful sorrow. With a hesitant glance upwards, you met his gaze, mirroring the submissive demeanor of some of his summoned creatures, evoking a sense of empathy tinged with a hint of melancholy.

… Funny, that was how you looked at him when you brought that whip on his back. Not like this, it was not one where he could sense the disgust you had for yourself as you held back from apologizing. That might be one of the last times you were ever expressive toward him.

"I’m sorry… and thank you for buying this for me, and for the many other times you did."

Your voice was softer now, almost like a whisper, yet honest all the same as your eyes never strayed from his. However, he preferred that impish grin you usually directed at him than this.

"Heh, like I need your worthless apology. Finish it quickly, the teacher is coming."

In a swift and unspoken gesture, you couldn't help but emit a soft snort and playfully nudge his arm, a silent indication of your camaraderie. With a subtle yet meaningful exchange, you effortlessly returned to your designated spot, sinking into your seat as you savored the sweet crunch of your lollipop. In that fleeting moment, the weight of somberness that loomed above both of you dissipated into the ether, replaced by an unspoken understanding and a false sense of lightness.

"Geez, way to ruin a nice apology, you jerk."

"…"

The veneer of normalcy would inevitably crack, the charade becoming an unsustainable burden. As the school bell pierced the air, summoning students into the classroom and the teacher embarked on the lesson, his gaze fell upon your slouched posture, a telltale sign of your mind already drifting off to daydreaming. When the final bell tolled, signaling the end of class, he alone would carry the weight of these fleeting moments and a poignant reminder of the unspoken connection that had flickered between you.

'… For now, let me savor this a little bit longer.'

[ashecampos]

ANYONE BUT HER 2

JANIS IMI-IKE X FEM READER

part one

Warnings - smoking, alcohol, drugs, swearing, cheating, mentions of anxiety.

The POV switches between reader and Janis (I use — when I change the POV)

there will be more parts to this, make sure to reblog and comment and I will get the next few parts up as soon as I can, happy reading lovelies 🫶🏼

6 days before the start of junior year

I wake up with a pounding in my head. Still in the same clothes from the previous night. Wait last night. Where is she? I get up to see Damien and Cady are gone too, she must be with them, I get myself together, feeling something on my wrist, it takes my eyes a second to focus on what it says ‘anyone but you’ the small beaded bracelet reads, Anyone but you is a song she made as a way to say fuck you to all the homophobic boys at school who hit on her. Chuckling, my eyes land on a small piece of paper on the sofa I just laid on.

I pick it up and read the small handwriting. It’s a number. Her number. God she’s confusing.

…

She wasn’t upstairs with Damien or Cady, they told me that she wasn’t there when they woke up either.

And I didn’t see her for the rest of the week. That was until the first day of junior year. There she was stood with some random burnouts. The same people she’s hung out with since middle school when they were all ‘gifted students’ however she is still that gifted little girl she was all those years ago. I only saw glimpses of her that morning, most of the time she had her back to me.

—

I felt so shitty for leaving that morning. Ever since I hid myself away from everyone, from Bea, from Jason but especially from Janis.

Since that night I met up with Bea, told her I saw what she done and broke things off, she didn’t take that well. The day after her, Jason and some random dude named Shane came up to me while I was on my daily run, they pulled up in Jason’s car, jumped out, beat the shit out of me and dumped all of the clothes and things I had gave to Bea.

…

Walking into junior year I had to sport a black eye and grazed chin. Fucking fantastic if you ask me.

I quickly find new friends, well they found me. A few nights before the start of the new school year, they found me off my head at the skate park my board a few feet away from me. They quickly joined me in lighting up another joint and passing out, we awoke the next morning and introduced ourselves, ever since I’ve been apart of their group. On the plus side I don’t have to sit around and listen to Jason bitch and moan about Gretchen.

I soon found out avoiding Janis would be a difficult task when I got my schedule for the year. First period. Art. Amazing.

Walking to class I pass Bea and Jason against the lockers, tongues down each others throats. I bump into Aaron whom I have been avoiding in and outside of the house. “Hey sis, you good? You’ve been really distant since that night” he comes up to me, wrapping his arm over my shoulders. I shrug him off and start walking away “I’m fine” I state while continuing to walk to class.

Entering the classroom, I see that I am one of the first people there the teacher and Gretchen being the other two in the room, I roll my eyes and head to the back of the room, back right corner, closest to the windows and furthest away from the teachers desk. Just how I like it. The classroom starts to fill up with other people, everyone takes a seat until there is only one seat left. The one next to me. As if on que in walks Janis, she nods towards the teacher and looks around the room for a seat, her eyes landing on the seat next to me then onto me. Her eyes soften as she walks over to the desk beside me. It’s like we are in a shitty romcom, she’s in slow motion. Wearing a green and black cropped knitted sweater and black cargo pants, to top it off she rocks a black denim jacket and combat boots. Her dark brown eyes stare me down. Her bracelets rattle as she sits down, she’s still wearing the one I put in her wrist that night. Did she even notice? Does she even care?

—

“Damien I’m going to be late cmon dude” I say as my best friend bombards me with questions on how I am going to confront the girl of my dreams. “Girl pardon my french but screw your art class. Have you seen what she’s wearing? black cropped vest, black Levi’s, a goddam leather jacket and converse” he says dramatically as if I should know what Y/N’s fashion sense means “she even cut her own bangs for Christ sake that screams heartbreak Janis” he grabs my shoulders and shakes me “yeah she just witnessed her girlfriend cheating on her not even a week ago, of course she’s heartbroken” I say shrugging, making Damien continue to walk as the bell rings. “Yes but it could also have something to do with the fact that you two have a Romeo and Juliet forbidden romance type of shit going on” he continues his rant as we end up at my classroom door. “I’ll think about it daim” I say before entering the class. The teacher smiles at me, to that I nod back toward her. And glance around the room searching for a seat, my eyes land on an empty chair in the back corner, curious I look up, lock eyes with her. This should be interesting. I walk up to my desk and sit down. I turn my head to look at her. She’s looking down but I can see that she has a black eye, a grazed chin and a deep cut on her cheek bone. What the fuck happened to her? I grab my sketchbook and rip a page out ‘u ok?’ I write down and place it on her desk, she stays zoned out for a few more minutes before looking at the paper. And writing something else on it before passing it back ‘sorry’ is all she wrote. I tried a few more times to grab her attention by passing notes but after that she seems to be more interested in drawing.

…

Lunch rolls around and the plastics spot Cady pretty quickly, what I didn’t expect was for them to befriend her.

Me and Damien spent the rest of the lunch hour walking around campus. I spot y/n sat on the grass alone. Damien grabs my arm and guides us in her direction. “Y/n hey girl” he says as he sits down next to her, she looks up from her book and smiles a little. Her eyes are red and her body is swaying. She’s high and it’s so obvious “oh you sweet girl cmon we are going to go sober you up” he states while helping her to her feet, we venture to the schools bathrooms. Once we enter the bathrooms she stumbles to one of the stalls and pukes her guts out. I rush in to hold back her hair and rub her back, I kneel down next to her as Damien tells me he’s going to grab his car, he will text us when we can leave. “Oh y/n” I say as she starts crying. “Hey hey look at me” I turn her to face me, her tears streaming down her face her eyes now red and puffy. “I’m s-so sorry janis” she sobs out. I sit down and hold her in my arms “what for?” I question while moving some of her hair out of her eyes.

“im sorry I left, sorry I avoided you, sorry I relapsed. I’m just sorry” she cries more. Before I can ask more questions my phone starts ringing, it’s Damien “cmon, can you stand up for me?” I ask softly, she nods and stands up before stumbling. My hands fly to grab her waist to steady her, she tenses up a bit, I mentally thank any god that the bathroom we are at is closest to the car park. I wrap my arm around her shoulder and we walk out of the school, people around us start taking photos and whispering.

We eventually get to Damien’s car and I pick her up, placing her in the back seat. She is incredibly light. Which is odd but I let it slide. She buckles herself in while i run to the other side of the car and get in next to her “where to?” Damien says looking through the mirror at me. That’s a really good question, I don’t know where she lives and with the state she’s in I don’t think she does either, Damien’s parents won’t be happy with us ditching, however my parents are both on a business trip. “My place” I say as he starts to drive away from campus.

…

She ended up staying at mine for a few hours. Well it was more like she ended up staying in my bathroom. Head over the toilet seat. After three hours she walks out like nothing happened, she’s avoiding eye contact with me, her head down. “im sorry for causing so much shit Janis” she mumbles sadly. “are you okay?” Is all I can come up with. Why would I ask her that, it’s obvious she’s not fine “uh yeah totally, I uh cleaned up after myself, but imma head out now. Sorry again” she says in a panicked state before walking out of the door, the next thing I hear is the click of the door, and she’s gone.

PART THREE

Heyyy lovers, I know this part was short but keep in mind this is just a filler chapter, next part we will be getting into the juicy stuff :) thankyou for reading. The next part should be up in a few days give or take

[likeysoob]

I’m so blind by likeysoob

Episode 1

“You ever thought high school would be easy?” My mom looked up from her phone to answer me. “Oh no sweetheart. I always thought it was going to be hard.” At least I’m tying to look for some hope before high school starts. I look down at the table just being lost in my thoughts until my mom puts a plate of food in front of my face. “Thanks mom.” I said then begun to eat.

When I finished with my food, I went upstairs to lay in my bed. My eyes started to burn but I didn’t really feel sleepy. As the time rolls around 9pm, i decided to go on my laptop and watch some videos. I really dont have friends. They all left me for some reason. I guess i was boring? They were bad friends anyways. I have online friends but I dont want to talk to them right now.

My cat just lays on the floor by my feet. 2 hours pass by and i start to feel tired. I get up and change into my pjs then lay in my bed. My eyes slowly began to fall as i feel my cat snuggle by my feet. I hope that tomorrow will be a good first day of high school.

Well, i woke up not good. My body hurts and i really dont know why. My mom was yelling at me saying i was late and now…“ I CANT BELIEVE YOU SLEPT THROUGH 3 OF YOUR ALARMS Y/N!” Yeah…she still is. I didn’t say nothing back and just let her continue. Soon, we were close the school and she was talking about basic high school stuff. Once we’re here, i unbuckle my seat belt and open the door to leave. “Oh and! No talking to boys! No boys!” I turn around towards her and smirk, “wasn’t planning on to mom!” I watch her drive off and smile to myself. “That’s because i like girls…”

When i reached the main doors, i took a look around. “Why is this school so big?” “I know right!?” I jump back in fear. I turn my full view onto the person next to me. Holy shit. Who sneaks up on someone like that? “Oh sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!” The random girl apologized. I dont give 2 shits though. “Um yeah…it’s whatever.” I say, the girl smiles at me, man she’s pretty. “I’m Ning Yi Zhuo but just call me Ning!” She takes out her hand for me to shake and i do. “This is my 2nd year here and I’m still not use to how big it is…are you new here?” Ning asks me. “Um yeah actually, i just got here and yes, i do know where my classes are.” She smiles at me. “Great! I’ll see you around! The bell is about to ring!” Ning runs off. I actually don’t know where my classes are, i just don’t want to talk to people right now. I walk inside the school doors and turn the corner to see some boys already fighting. “Man it’s too early for this shit..”

After running around this whole school, i bump into someone who was clearly right in front of me…why am i so blind? I should really get glasses. I look up and see this girl with short hair. Damn, shes cute, why are there so many cute girls here?! “Oh im so sorry!” She said and i shake my head, “no it’s my fault, I wasn’t watching where i was going!” God this is embarrassing. “It’s fine!” She says, we stand there in silence. “Uh, sorry i got to go!” I ran out of that situation the fastest i can. Where the fuck can I find this class?

I soon found the class. Should i go in? Class ends in 10 minutes. As I’m deciding, the door swings open and a student walks by me. I look inside and the teacher is staring at me. “Sorry I’m…late?” You know, it really looks like i was skipping from the teachers point of view. “I’m sorry, im new here? I was having trouble finding my class…” the teacher only looks at me. The fuck? Bitch speak. I give him a side eye and go sit on an empty desk, hopefully it wasn’t that persons desk that just left right now. The teacher continues on with his lesson, im not sure what class this even is. I turn to the right of me a see this girl with light pinkish hair. All she does is smile at me and looks up to the teacher.

The bell rings, i get up from my chair and grab my bag. Before i could take a step out the classroom, someone calls for me. “Hey! You!” I turn around to see that pinkish haired girl from before. “Yeah?” I respond to her, “I’m Rei, what’s your name?” Her voice is pretty, “oh um im y/n!” I say awkwardly. Omg my voice cracked, im going to die now. “Pretty name, you’re like really pretty! You like to sing or dance?” It feels so overwhelming what she just said, my name pretty? me being pretty? “Yeah i really love singing!” I itched my neck. Great i look like a fool who doesn’t know how to talk. “That’s great! Me and my friends are trying to gain members for this music competition and id like for you to join!” She says while pulling something out of her backpack to give it to me, it’s a flyer. “See you around!” She walks off. I look down at the flyer she gave me.

Wow…the girl on the flyer is really beautiful….like really. Wait, they don’t even have what day!? I guess I’m going to have to message them. I put the flyer into my backpack and go to my next class.

The rest of the day was boring. No one interesting in my classes, rude ass teachers, and nasty lunch. Didn’t expect to the lunch to be this shit when this school is so big. So now I’m in my bed just laying down waiting for my mom to come home. I think high school will be easy, like what’s even going to happen this year? My life is boring.

see all episodes | next episode ->

[maccreadysbaby]

A Hundred Ways to Become a Wayne

batfamily + oc insert

tw: none

wanna read more? here’s the table of contents!

want to read the first fic in the hundred days series so you understand what’s going on here? here it is!

this is so random but i just realized dick is only four years younger than bentley’s actual father

also LOOK AT THIS ART OF BENTLEY I WEEP

part six

❝ JUVENILE DELINQUENT ❞

MONDAY — AUGUST 3 — 1:30PM

BENTLEY LEARNED THAT FOR FREE PERIOD, ALL HE HAD TO DO WAS SIT QUIETLY IN THE LIBRARY. The librarian, who’s name Duke said was Ms. Whitmore, didn’t really care what you did for free period as long as you were being quiet.

Bentley decided playing games on his phone was a good pastime for the hour and a half class block, a lot of the other kids were doing the same. He was sitting at a high-top table, shoved between a couple bookshelves, so he didn’t have to worry about other students staring at him unless they came to look for a book. Some were older, some younger. He guessed the free period didn’t have an age limit since all they did was sit there.

Other than trying to find a seat (which took a few minutes, sifting through the other students.) nothing really stressed him out that block. 

It ended, and Duke met him in the hallway to take him to lunch. Which he hated, because he had to get a food tray and go through a line and make decisions about food on the spot with kids waiting behind him. He already didn’t like making decisions, but making decisions with someone waiting on him made it so much worse.

Duke suggested that Alfred wouldn’t mind to pack him lunch from now on. Bentley was going to take him up on it.

After lunch, Duke walked him to US Geography. Which was fine, he guessed. The teacher was a eclectic old woman named Mrs. Penny, with big, bug-eye glasses, and she talked about as much as Dick. Her room was an explosion of colors and strange objects she’d gotten from all around the world. Every single one had a story, and she tried to tell them all in a single block. It didn’t work; and she ended up forgetting to hand out the worksheet about traveling and said they’d just do it another time.

That was fine with Bentley. He hadn’t been anywhere besides Gotham and Drew anyways. 

So, he’d successfully survived three blocks without a) embarrassing himself, b) having an anxiety attack, or c) being forced to talk to people. 

Maybe school wasn’t as bad as he thought after all.

Once third block was over, Duke took Bentley to his final class: Spanish. Which, by itself, made him a little more buzzy than he had been all day. Learning Spanish didn’t seem easy — not at all — and he was already out of his element simply being at school. Being at school and being expected to understand a foreign language might just push him into malfunctioning brain territory, a place he was glad he hadn’t been yet.

The Spanish classroom was similar to the Geography classroom, but all of the decor was cultural to Spanish speaking countries. From sombreros to giant skirts draped on the wall, the room was a messy mixture of… well… Spanish things. The teacher, Ms. Venetstantos, was younger than all the other teachers, and wearing a traditional looking Spanish dress with lots of colors and designs.

Bentley was not pleased to see that the desks were situated in pairs. (His Geography class had been individuals, which he highly preferred.) Students were already sitting down in some of them, and Ms. Venetstantos didn’t seem to mind, (she was braiding her hair in the corner) so he made his way to an empty pair of desks and sat down in it, trying not to look so out of place and awkward. Although he really hoped no one sat in the chair that was a mere three feet in front of his face, aimed directly at him.

He watched kids file through the door, some already knowing exactly who they’d sit with, and some sitting alone to take a gamble. A few students ended up sitting with kids they didn’t seem to know. None of them had tried to sit across from Bentley, and he didn’t mind. Maybe there’d be an odd number and he’d be left alone.

He was scanning the purple conjugate me! poster on the wall (conjugating seemed so hard) when someone thudded down in the seat across from him, the knock of both desks clacking together emanating through the classroom.

He looked up just in time to meet a pair of rich green eyes.

“I’m so glad you’re in here. I was going to throw a tantrum if I got paired with one more kid I’ve never seen in my life.”

The blue tinged hair, telltale accent and smell of cigarette smoke made it obvious who it was, even if Bentley looked away just as fast as he looked up. God, he wasn’t prepared to talk to someone. Let alone someone he’d already talked to (a tiny bit) that now expected him to keep talking to them.

He heard Asten snicker, dipping his head down in an attempt to catch Bentley’s eyes. “You okay, dude? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Don’t worry, I’m not dead. I hope.”

Bentley shrugged, picking at the sleeve of his blazer. He’d never been called a dude before. Well, Duke had called him little dude, but he didn’t think that counted. Dude was a nickname Bentley had only heard between friends (Asten and Nico, precisely three periods ago.) and brothers. (Dick and Jason. Mostly Dick.) He was neither of those things to Asten and it just made him confused.

Don’t make it weirder by staying silent. “I’m… just not great at talking to people, I guess… sorry.”

Asten leaned back in his chair with a long sigh, crossing his arms across his chest nonchalantly. “No sweat, kid. I’m not easy to offend.”

Bentley wondered why a thirteen-year-old found it fit to call him kid. He didn’t really mind, though.

“Alright, familia!” Ms. Venetstantos started, closing the classroom door with a click. “How are we today?”

There was a variety of responses from around the room, from goods to extended groans. Bentley opted for staying silent, as did Asten.

“Okay. First, we’re starting with a little quiz. It isn’t going into the gradebook, so don’t worry. It’s just so I can see where your knowledge of Spanish starts,”

She sauntered over to her desk and grabbed a stack of papers from it, handing them to each child. “When you’re finished, put your pencil down.”

Bentley glanced at the paper when she handed it out. It was just a massive list of Spanish words, with big, empty blanks beside them. He assumed she wanted them to write the English translation next to it.

He only knew one. Uno. Because of the card game.

He stared at the other words for a while, and then glanced around the room. Thankfully, other students already had their pencils down, so he laid his on the desk, too. Asten was still writing with the same red pen he had in science class, and he was filling in almost all of the blanks. Did he speak Spanish?

It only took a few minutes for everyone’s pencils (and pen) to go down. Ms. Venetstantos came back around and collected all the papers. When she picked up Bentley and Asten’s, she made a sound of approval. “Wow! ¿hablas español?” 

Asten shook his head, as though he actually understood what she was saying. “Portuguese.”

“Ah! Portuguese! Isso é incrível! Você é de Portugal?”

Bentley blinked.

“Nasci em São Paulo, Brasil,” Asten replied simply.

“Quanto tempo você esteve lá?”

“Me mudei para cá há alguns anos,”

“Nunca tive um falante nativo de língua românica em minhas aulas! Estou tão animado!” She explained excitedly, turning and continuing to pick up other student’s papers.

Well, he guessed Asten being able to speak Portuguese explained his accent. That and Brazil were the only two words he caught in the whole conversation.

He tapped his fingertips on the desk. If he was going to be seeing this kid twice a day, he probably needed to get used to talking to him. So Bentley took a deep breath. “… You’re from Brazil?”

Asten glanced back over at him. “Yep. Born and raised,” He explained, crossing his arms again. “My dad moved there from Gotham so he could be with my mom. Then bam! I arrived. And everything went downhill from there.”

Bentley wasn’t sure if he was joking or not, so he didn’t say anything.

“Moved here with my dad’s brother a couple years ago,” He shrugged. “All's well that ends well, I guess.”

Bentley quietly wondered why he went from living with his parents to his uncle, but it definitely wasn’t his place to ask, and he wasn’t about to ruin one of his first good conversations. So he just said:

“That’s cool,”

Asten shrugged. “It would be, if it didn’t load Todryk’s gun.”

Bentley scrunched up his face. He wasn’t sure who Todryk was, nor why he had a gun. Asten raised an eyebrow when he didn’t seem to catch the name.

“Todryk? Jesse Todryk? I guess you’re lucky you don’t know who he is yet,” He humphed, spinning his pencil between his fingers. “Your typical eighth-grade douchebag. He’s the one who chooses if you’re cool enough to hang out with him, or if you’re gonna get shoved in a locker.”

Bentley said nothing.

“Bet you can guess which one I am,” Asten snorted.

His tone implied that he was one of the ones that got shoved in lockers. Bentley wasn’t sure why, because Asten was from Brazil and had blue hair and spoke another language, which he thought was cool, but apparently it wasn’t? Not to this Todryk character, anyway. He wasn’t aware kids at school shoved you in lockers if they didn’t like you. The Wayne’s had neglected to tell him that.

“He… doesn’t like that you’re from Brazil?” Bentley tried.

Asten shrugged. “He’ll make up a reason not to like you if he finds it fit. No one argues with him anyways.”

Bentley stayed quiet again.

“Word to the wise: if you see a dude a little taller than me, stupidest blonde hair you’ve ever seen, wearing some girly-looking little earrings, turn the other way,” He explained. Bentley nodded in response. 

“Okay,”

A tall blonde with girly-looking earrings. He could probably spot that.

Spanish class was similar to all the others — worksheets about themselves and a slideshow about the teacher’s life. Ms. Venetstantos was born in Puerto Rico, and ended up being an avid traveler. She was fluent in Spanish, as well as Portuguese, French, Italian, and Romanian, which she demonstrated to the class. (She made Asten come to the front of the room and talk to her when she demonstrated Portuguese. He didn’t seem particularly thrilled about it.)

At the end of the class period, Duke met him at the door with a wide smile.

“Hey! How was class?”

Bentley shrugged. “Fine, I guess. The teacher seems cool.”

“That’s awesome,” He replied. He put his hand on Bentley’s shoulder again as they joined in the mass of students heading toward the front door. “So, all in all, how was your first day of school?”

Well, his anxiety had been buzzing all day, but it was minimal compared to last night or that morning. First block was fine, his tablemates were nice. Second block was his favorite because he didn’t have to do anything. Third block was fine, his teacher talked more than anyone he’d ever met, and fourth block was good, Asten was cool. Lunch freaked him out a little but they already had a solution for that.

“I think it was good,” He replied, pulling on his backpack straps. He and Duke thudded down the stairs at the front of the building and stopped at the bottom.

“Bruce is going to be so excited to hear you say that,” He stated, tugging Bentley over until they were out of the way. “Let’s wait here for Damian.”

Bentley watched the crowds of students pass. He saw Asten go by (because how can you miss half-dyed bright blue hair?) and the girl with pink hair from that morning. There were actually more kids with colored hair than Bentley would’ve thought. He’d never even considered that one could change the color of their hair until he met Steph, who got something called highlights. That… made her blonde blonder? Or something?

After a few minutes of scanning students, Damian appeared, coming down the stairs on the opposite side of the room.

Duke tugged on Bentley’s shoulder and they integrated into the group again, working their way up until they were next to Damian.

“Hey, Damian. How was your day?” Duke questioned as they neared the front door. 

“Fine,” Damian replied shortly, then he pushed ahead of them, squeezing through a few students so he wasn’t beside them anymore.

Bentley was starting to wonder if Damian knew what the word fine meant.

When they made it outside, the stormclouds were darker than they had been earlier. It wasn’t raining yet, though, and Bentley was glad.

As soon as the kids spilled out the front door, they went in all different directions. Toward the parking lot, to the pick-up line, disappearing into the city without warning. Bentley was relieved when he found Bruce’s car parked in the parking lot. Even in the same spot he’d parked in that morning. Damian was already halfway there.

Bentley and Duke padded down the concrete stairs, and they passed a pair of boys, a certain blue haired boy and a certain blonde boy, near the bottom of the staircase. There was a strange rattling sound, and Bentley glanced over just in time to see Nico shove a weird little thing into his mouth and take a deep breath. Then he did it again.

“C’mon, dude, you’re gonna be fine,” He heard Asten mutter.

Bentley looked away and kept walking, wondering what in the world that thing was that Nico breathed in. Surely it wasn’t, like, drugs or something. 

He and Duke paused on one side of the pickup line, and waited until the cars were still to go across to the parking lot. (It ended up being, like, five whole minutes.) 

Damian was already getting in the car when they entered the parking lot. They were just working their way to the vehicle when Bentley felt someone grab his sleeve from behind.

He flinched and whipped around, only relaxing when he met a pair of big, ocean blue eyes that reminded him so much of Dick’s. 

Nico was staring at him. Bentley stared back.

“Uh, hey… Bentley,” He started, eyes darting between him and Duke, who’d turned around when Bentley did. Nico released Bentley’s sleeve and put his hands in his pants pockets instead. They weren’t far from the car, maybe ten feet, so after a quiet moment, Duke made his way  over to it so Bentley and Nico could talk.

Nico sucked in a breath, blue eyes flicking to the car, to Bentley, to the ground. “Do you, uh… your… house is in Bristol, isn’t it?”

Bentley glanced around warily. “I think so.” He stated, but it sounded more like a question than an answer. He couldn’t see Asten anywhere, and he had no one to help him with the spontaneous conversation, so he’d just have to try his hardest not to be awkward. 

Nico tugged at his backpack straps anxiously, unable to look Bentley in the eye. “Do you think your dad would… I don’t know, I mean… I don’t really…” He sighed heavily, hanging his head so Bentley couldn’t see his face. “I’m sorry.”

Bentley said nothing, but realized Nico might not be so different from him at all. And that he’d probably have to take over the conversation if he actually wanted Nico to finish. Was this how the Waynes felt every time they talked to him?

So he breathed, in and out. What did Dick say when he acted like that? 

“What’s wrong?” He tried. He could feel Bruce, Duke, and Damian’s eyes all on them from behind. There was no doubt Nico could, too. He kept glancing back there.

“I’m… too scared. To ride the bus. Which… sounds really stupid now that I’m saying it out loud,” Nico cringed. “Last year, sometimes Asten would take it with me, but he can’t today, and my parents aren’t off work yet, and I… was just, uh…” He shoved his hands in his armpits, probably to fight the cool breeze, and Bentley felt sprinkles pricking his exposed skin with momentary coldness. “I’m sorry, this is so stupid.”

Bentley blinked. Once. Twice. Trying so hard to come up with a good response. 

“…Nevermind,” Nico muttered, starting to turn on his heel, although he had that look on his face. The same one he had in first block that said I’m probably going to cry about this when you’re not looking at me. Bentley was familiar with that look, because he got it too, sometimes.

Bentley wondered if Nico cried a lot.

“What were you gonna ask?”

Nico paused, looking back at him warily, then at the ground. “Well, uh… Do you think your dad could maybe… drive me home? Just today. I won’t bother you any more about it, I swear. But if you don’t think he wants to, that's fine, I can still catch the bus. Or if you’re like, wow this kid is weird I just met him today and he’s asking for a ride and I don’t want to, that’s fine, too. I didn’t mean to, like… y’know. Be all weird. About it. I’m… sorry.”

Bentley blinked. That was a lot of words just to ask for a ride. And he tried not to have a reaction when he called Bruce his dad, twice. (Although he didn’t really know how he should react to that, but he didn’t move, nonetheless.) But he was pretty sure… well, like, sixty percent sure Bruce probably wouldn’t mind driving him home, especially since they lived pretty close together, and it was raining. He was nice like that. But he wasn’t exactly sure what the rules were regarding strangers and cars. He knew he wasn’t supposed to get in a stranger's car, but what about a stranger getting in their car?

The sky above them rumbled lowly, pulling Bentley out of his mind and back into the present.

He sucked in a breath. “You can ask him,” He replied. “I… don’t think he’ll mind, but I’m not sure.”

Nico glanced up at him skeptically. “Really?”

“Yeah. He’s really nice,” Bentley tried, glancing down. 

Nico furrowed his brows. “…For real? I expected you to tell me to shut up and go away.”

Bentley scrunched up his nose. “I wouldn’t tell you that.”

A silence passed where Nico just sort of looked at him. Maybe searching his face to see if he was genuine?

“I can take you to him…” He trailed off again. Nico nodded slightly.

“Okay,”

Bentley turned back towards the car. Damian and Duke had already gotten in, and the former was glaring at Nico so angrily Bentley could practically feel it through the glass.

Bruce popped open his door and stepped out when they got close, with a reassuring smile on his face. He was really good at those.

“Hey there, bud. Have a good day?”

“Yeah,” Bentley replied, and Bruce ruffled his hair a bit when he got close. Bruce glanced between Bentley and Nico, who was staring at the ground awkwardly. “This is Nico, and… he wants to ask you something.”

Bruce shifted his attention to the little blonde, with the same smile on his face.

“Yeah, I, uh…” Nico started, taking a deep breath and messing with his backpack straps again, careful not to actually look at Bruce. “Hi. I’m… Nico Rockefeller. I… just wanted to ask if maybe you… can… give me a ride home, maybe? I think I live pretty close to you. But you don’t have to, that’s fine. I’m just kinda afraid to take the bus, and… I thought the Wayne Manor was near Bristol, and, uh, Bentley was in my homeroom and he was pretty nice, so…”

Bruce chuckled lightly in amusement. “Sure I can, if you think your parents would be okay with it. Edward and Jane Rockefeller, right?”

Bentley blinked. Bruce knew Nico’s parents?

Nico snickered a little, kind of awkwardly. “Yeah, they come to some of the charity galas and stuff you host. But, I mean, ride three public buses and walk through downtown in the mornings and afternoons to get here and back, and that’s full of strangers and creeps, so I don’t think they’d care.”

Bruce nodded, a thoughtful expression flashing across his face. “Then hop on in.”

Nico cracked the slightest of smiles. “Thank you so much. I won’t bother you about it again, promise.”

Bruce popped open the back door, on the opposite side from Damian. “It’s no problem, Nico.”

Bentley climbed in and settled into the seat next to Damian, the middle seat, and Nico climbed in after him. Bruce closed their door and got back in the driver's seat. 

“I want to hear all about your day, Bentley,” Bruce insisted when he climbed in and buckled up.

Bentley shrugged. “It wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be,” He stated. “Duke walked me everywhere and had lunch with me, and we didn’t do any real work today. My teachers were all nice.”

“I’m so glad to hear it,” He stated, backing out of the parking spot. “And you, Damian?”

Bentley glanced over at Damian, but he just looked out the window. “It was acceptable, like any other school day.”

Bruce hummed in acknowledgement. “What about you, Nico?”

Apparently, Nico was not expecting Bruce to talk to him again. Bentley watched him open his mouth and close it a few times, and he cleared his throat before he settled on a simple: “… It was good.”

“Great. Duke?”

They pulled out of the school parking lot and drove. Duke talked about his classes and old friends and complained about already having homework. Nico told Bruce his address, and in the GPS, it was only eight minutes away from Wayne Manor. It started to rain pretty hard when they got to the outer edge of Gotham. 

They pulled up at Nico’s house about fifteen minutes after they left the school. It was big, and it had similar architecture to Wayne Manor. It actually looked more like the massive house Tim grew up in. (Bentley only knew what it looked like because it was neighbors with the Manor. Well… far. But still neighbors.) It didn’t have a huge fence or gate like Drake Manor or Wayne Manor, but it did have a long, brick driveway lined with trees and a fountain in the front courtyard.

Nico sighed, putting his bag back on in the seat. “Thank you, Mister Wayne. I’m sorry for imposing on your evening.”

Bruce made a pfft sound. “You’re not imposing, Nico. Not at all. Your house is on the way to the Manor. In fact, if you ever need a ride to or from school again, please reach out.”

Nico smiled lightly, pulling his phone from his pocket. “Thank you. Again. Can I get your number?”

The question was aimed at Bentley, who pulled his phone out when he realized Nico was talking to him. He navigated to his contacts, like Tim showed him, and let Nico copy the number into his phone.

“Thank you all. See you tomorrow, Bentley,”

“Yeah… bye,”

Nico popped open the door and hopped out into the pouring rain, jogging up to the front of the house. Bentley scooted into his seat and shut the door, and watched him fumble in his pocket for a key, before he opened the massive double doors and went inside.

Bruce drove off only after the front doors closed behind Nico.

Suddenly, Bentley’s phone dinged, and he glanced down at it.

Hey. It’s Nico. This the right number?

He unlocked his phone and sent back a yes.

He wasn’t sure if giving a scared eleven-year-old a ride home in the pouring rain was considered making a friend, but he counted it as something.

Damian scoffed as soon as they pulled out of Nico’s driveway.

“He and that narcissistic blue-haired juvenile delinquent are more trouble than they're worth. I would not befriend them if I was dying and it was the only thing that could save me.”

“Damian,” Bruce warned, sending him a patented dad look in the rear-view mirror. He huffed and looked back out the window.

Great. So he shouldn’t actually be friends with them? Of course Damian would hate the ones he was kinda sorta starting to maybe like.

“I think Nico was very kind and polite,” Bruce weighed in.

It helped. A little. But he kept glancing over at Damian, who looked less than amused.

He wished he knew how to make Damian happier.

—

dedicated to @sassenashsworld 💚

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