#is the 6th where they look at each other right before the last twist

[plutonianeris]

Asteroid Eros (433)

Eros in the 1st House or Aries: You ooze raw, carnal magnetism, pulling people toward you with that “I dare you” energy. There's something primal about the way you move like you know exactly how to drive others wild with just a look. Your desires are intense and immediate; you want to be wanted right now. You crave the thrill of someone surrendering to your allure, giving in to that undeniable pull. The idea of passion on display, maybe a steamy, public encounter or a knowing glance that says everything it all fuels your fire.

Eros in the 2nd House or Taurus: Pleasure to you is luxury and indulgence, and you want to feel every sensation down to the last detail. Skin against silk sheets, the warmth of a lover’s breath on your neck, the taste of something decadent shared between you. You crave security and something steady but intense, a lover who can keep up with your unhurried, sensual pace. There’s nothing better than savoring the body like a fine wine slowly, deeply, one lingering touch at a time. You’re after earthy, tactile satisfaction, the kind that’s primal but leaves you fully satisfied.

Eros in the 3rd House or Gemini: You want to talk about it, tease it, twist words until the anticipation drives you wild. Mental seduction is your playground, and your foreplay happens through clever banter, whispered promises, and breathless exchanges. You’re drawn to lovers who keep you on edge, who can match your wit and play the game. Words are your aphrodisiac; a well-timed message or a flirty debate can be just as intoxicating as touch. You're the type who needs a lover that can keep up mentally, stirring the mind before the body even gets involved.

Eros in the 4th House or Cancer: Your passions are deep, private, and simmering beneath the surface waiting for the right person to unlock them. You crave a love that’s secure, a partner who lets you fully release behind closed doors. There’s a kink in the contrast: a picture-perfect facade for the world, but an intense, primal heat at home. Soft touches under blankets, hushed whispers in the dark, the kind of intimacy that feels forbidden yet safe. You want to drown in the kind of passion that no one else can see, something precious and hidden.

Eros in the 5th House or Leo: You’re all about passion and drama the kind that makes the walls shake. You want love affairs that feel like wild adventures, with grand gestures and thrilling rendezvous. Your desires are loud, unapologetic, and hungry. You’re drawn to partners who spark that primal side, the ones who make you feel alive and set the room on fire. Every encounter is like a performance, with passion so intense it could set hearts ablaze. You need someone who can match your energy, someone who’s in it for the thrill, the chase, and the fireworks.

Eros in the 6th House or Virgo: There’s something about the everyday that stirs your deepest desires. Secret glances across the office, a lover who surprises you at the gym, a stolen moment in the elevator. You crave partners who show devotion in the little things, making mundane moments electric. You’re drawn to the idea of “serving” each other in every sense whether that’s taking charge, being taken care of, or indulging in a dynamic where attention to detail becomes an act of devotion. It’s the hidden, spicy moments in routine that fuel your fire.

Eros in the 7th House or Libra: Your passion lies in complete, all-consuming partnerships where every boundary melts away. You crave a partner who matches your depth, who’s willing to dive into a soulful, lusty connection where both of you lose yourselves. You’re drawn to the idea of being fully seen and accepted, letting every inhibition fall away. Your desires lean towards one-on-one intimacy, where you can explore each other over and over, like peeling back layers. Possessive? Maybe. But there’s a thrill in knowing you belong to each other completely.

Eros in the 8th House or Scorpio: You are a walking invitation to the forbidden. Dark, intense, transformative connections light you up, and your desires are anything but ordinary. You crave a partner who can keep up with your hunger for depth a lover who isn’t afraid to confront the shadows with you. Power play, surrender, the thrill of holding and being held hostage by passion. There’s something about baring the soul and body, about being stripped to your core. You want a lover who’s as ravenous and relentless as you are, someone who knows that true intimacy is a plunge into the unknown.

Eros in the 9th House or Sagittarius: For you, desire is an adventure, and nothing turns you on more than exploring the unknown with a willing partner. Passion takes you to new heights exotic locations, daring escapades, and spiritual, mind-expanding experiences. You’re drawn to lovers who open your world, who make you feel that lust is a form of discovery. You want the freedom to roam and a partner who’s ready to explore uncharted territories with you, both physically and intellectually. Give you wild places, reckless escapades, and the thrill of something new.

Eros in the 10th House or Capricorn: Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac for you. You’re drawn to success, authority, and lovers who command respect. There’s a thrill in playing with power dynamics, in being with someone who knows exactly what they want and isn’t afraid to take it. Desire for you is in the allure of status, control, and that quiet confidence that only the powerful have. You want a partner who matches your ambition, someone who makes you feel that even your love life is a legacy. You crave a passion that elevates you, leaving a mark for the world to admire.

Eros in the 11th House or Aquarius: Your turn-ons are unconventional, offbeat, and utterly unique. You’re drawn to lovers who defy the rules, who see passion as an experiment and love as a journey into the unexpected. Friends-to-lovers? Maybe a partner who’s also your best friend, or a love that feels rebellious and free. You want someone who gets your quirks, who challenges conventions with you, who pushes you to explore what others might consider strange. There’s a thrill in exploring uncharted boundaries, in finding a love that’s truly one-of-a-kind.

Eros in the 12th House or Pisces: Your desires are hidden, enigmatic, and reach into the deepest layers of your soul. Forbidden connections, secret trysts, and lovers who feel like they’re from another world that’s what pulls you in. There’s a haunting beauty in surrendering to the unknown, and you’re drawn to lovers who ignite that sense of mystery. Desire for you is transcendent, almost spiritual, and you crave the kind of passion that dissolves the boundaries between reality and fantasy. You want to lose yourself completely, to explore realms of intimacy that others can only imagine.

[spillsnchills]

[redrobin-detective]

Half of

Danny Fenton was half ghost. Or something.

No one was quite sure what that meant exactly or if it was even true. A ghost in a pure white suit had announced it during an attack on the town until he was beaten and silenced by Phantom. It’s been three days since then and the nerd hasn’t been at school. Not that Dash was looking for him or anything.

Dash worried, for just a second, that something bad happened to him. The Guys in White creeps had been asking questions around school the last few days. There’d been a noticeable lack in ghost attacks around town, maybe another ghost got to him? What about his ghost obsessed parents? Surely they wouldn’t have done anything to their own kid...

“Think Danny will be in school today?” Kwan whispered nervously, leaning in close to Dash’s side. Talking too loudly about the elephant, or ghost he guesses, in the room got people very forcefully interviewed by the government. 

“Why the hell would I know?” Dash grumbled, shaking his friend off to shove his hands deep into the pockets of his letterman jacket. “No one knows what’s going on, Manson and Foley haven’t shown up either.”

“I hope they’re ok,” Kwan said quietly, looking down at the floor. 

“Why do you care?” Dash grumbled, harsher than he meant to.

“You and everyone ditched me for Danny when Paulina was dating him, remember? Sam and Tucker were real pals and Danny, well he’s weird but not really that bad.” Kwan said bitterly before his eyebrows twisted in confusion. “That was actually pretty out of character for Paulina to date him now that I think about it, maybe he was, like, using ghost magic to control her?”

“That’s stu-” Dash was interrupted by the usually noise of Casper High going dead silent. He and Kwan shrugged at each other. He saw Star down the hallway, staring at something. He caught her eye and mouthed What is it at her. Her eyes slid back over to the hall before mouthing Fenton back. 

“Shit,” Dash couldn’t help but mutter under his breath, “Fenton’s here.” He glanced over at Kwan, trying to hide his nervousness. “Guess we’ll find out if he’s some sort of ghost freak after all.”

Kwan eyed him for a second, “you know if Danny really is half of a ghost then maybe you’ll want to quit it with the names.” The warning bell rang for first period. “You guys have homeroom together with Lancer, right? Just, I don’t know, don’t make him mad or anything.”

“Man, don’t even joke,” Dash said with a strained smile. “It’s Fenton, what’s the nerd gonna do?”

XxX

Fenton always sat in the back right of the class so seeing him there wasn’t that strange. What was strange was that he was there before the bell rang, not looking sweaty or exhausted or beaten up. Seeing him sitting there with an almost bored expression, casually leaning one arm over the back of his chair. It was eerie, seeing Fenton try to act normal. Dash felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on his head as he stiffly walked by the nerd he usually smacked when he walked by. He thought he felt Fenton’s icy eyes following him as he passed. Dash made sure he didn’t scurry like a wimp to his seat but it was a close thing.

“Class, please stop staring at Mr. Fenton and let us begin,” Lancer sighed, unsuccessfully trying to start the class.

“Do you know the ghost boy?” Paulina asked, slamming her palms on her desk and ignoring their teacher. “Because if you’ve been holding out on me-”

“I mean everyone in Amity Park knows him,” Fenton shrugged. He’d been so chill this morning, like the whole thing wasn’t bothering him. It only made Dash more antsy. He bounced his leg under the desk.

“Can you do anything cool? Like fly or shoot lasers from your eyes?” Mikey asked, leaning forward with curiosity.

“I can do lots of cool things,” Fenton sniffed. “I know a lot about the space program and local astronomy. I draw sometimes and I’m think I’m pretty good. I also have super flexible joints so I can do this.” He grinned a little as everyone squealed when he bent his thumb back so far it nearly touched his wrist. “Of course,” his grin turned into an eye roll, “no one really cares about that only my supposed superpowers.”

“What is a half of, exactly? What that ghost called you?” Dash found himself asking. He almost didn’t want to be heard but Fenton turned to look at him anyways. 

“What do you think it means?” Fenton questioned back. Though he had a teasing smirk, his eyes looked dull and dead. Dash couldn’t look at them and ducked his head. 

“Alright, alright, enough with the questions. The Fenton’s gave Danny a clean bill of health and allowed him to rejoin class so that’s all you kids need to know. Now, back to what we were actually talking about.” Class continued as expected but everyone still snuck glances at Fenton. He’s not sure what they were all waiting for, him to suddenly turn green or sprout horn or whatever. But Fenton just sat there, still as anything, trying to act normal and it just didn’t fit him right and it was all just. Wrong.

XxX

Dash was relieved Fenton wasn’t in his second or third period classes but they did have the same lunchtime. For the first time since he was skinny, bucktoothed 6th grader, Dash wanted to hide away and eat his lunch in private. But Fenton wasn’t the only one trying to keep up appearances.

“Alright, what has everyone got,” Paulina was whispering to the table by the time Dash was sitting down. “The day is halfway over, someone had to have seen him doing something ghostly.”

“I mean we don’t know how long he’s been like this,” Star commented, flipping her hair as pretense to sneak a glance at the loser trio near the back entrance of the cafeteria. “He could’ve been hiding his for a while.”

“Fenton’s always been weird,” Dale commented with a sneer, stabbing at his beefaroni. “Since day one, he’s been jumpy and clumsy and goes through weird mood swings.”

“Maybe he’s never been normal,” Kwan said with a little frown. Now Dash knows this wasn’t true. He was the only one at the table who’d gone to the same middle school as Fenton. The nerd had talked too much about space and was always tripping over something but he’d been like all the other annoying brats in middle school. Dale was onto something, Fenton had changed once high school hit which means whatever is up with him as been going on for a while. Years. 

He suddenly felt eyes on him, a cold, crawling feeling that made his breath catch in his throat. Dash squeezed his eyes shut and breathed a silent sigh of relief as the eyes turned from him. They didn’t return but Dash found he couldn’t eat after that.

XxX

“Dude, did you hear about Fenton?” Victor said in an excited but still hushed whisper as Dash was leaving fifth period. 

“No, what did he do?” Dash asked with dread.

“He had gym last period and apparently he’s been faking his loser weakness. He crawled up the rope climb like a goddamned spider monkey and then slid himself back down. Don’t know how he didn’t have intense rope burn from that. He also beat Charlie, Katie and Veronica on the sprinting portion. Must be those ghosty genes.”

“Fenton did all that?” Dash asked, he bit the inside of his cheek. Hard.

“Yeah it was crazy, I thought Tetslaf was gonna pass out,” Victor laughed. “Maybe we should get him to try out for the football team, he’d be a great running back or-”

“Come on, Vic,” Dash laughed but the sound came out wrong. “Why would we want Fenton on our team? He’s, he’s Fenton! Just a skinny, weird little wimp.” Vic side-eyed him a bit before clapping Dash on the back.

“World’s changing, Dash. First ghosts, now half ghosts, it’s all wrong but you just gotta roll with it. All I know is I have 2 years left in this hell hole before I leave this miserable place for Chicago and never look back. I recommend you do the same, after all,” Vic grinned again but it was sharper. “Fenton’s always been your personal punching bag, not every day you learn your victim has superpowers.”

“We don’t know what the hell is up with Fenton,” Dash defended. Vic just shrugged.

“Yeah but he’s always been a freak now we know he ain’t human. Who knows what else he’s hiding?” Vic said with a smug smile before wandering off, giving a halfhearted wave over his shoulder as he left.

Dash stood in the hallway, trying to get himself under control until the warning and late bell rang. Only then, when he was certain he wouldn’t run into Fenton, did he head to class. 

XxX

“Should we follow him, see where he goes?” Paulina said, biting onto one of her nails in nervous excitement. Paulie was gorgeous and overall pretty cool but her thing with ghosts sometimes tired Dash out. Now more than ever. 

“Come on, that’s like stalking,” Kwan scolded. “Even if that wasn’t illegal or whatever it’s just not cool. They had a rough day today, leave ‘em alone.” That icy chill returned and Dash looked out of the corner of his eye to see Fenton and his cronies walking out of the school. 

Truthfully, Dash didn’t think Fenton had that bad of a day. Yeah people were asking questions but he’d side stepped them all, gave non-answers. Other people talked about Fenton’s supposed strength in gym but there’d been conflicting reports, some said he flew up the rope climb, others said he levitated doing his push ups. Dash really didn’t know what to believe. Fenton was just acting, well, like Fenton. He paused for a second, stopped walking before catching up with the group.

Maybe... maybe Dash was getting caught up over nothing. There really was no proof Fenton was this ‘half of’ other than what one dumb ghost said. He thought back to Fenton’s grin during first period; stupid nerd was probably milking his 15 minutes of fame and bully free time. His earlier fear and uncertainty burst into flames until a familiar anger was burning in his gut. Now this he knew what to do with.

“Yeah, well his day is about to get rougher,” Dash heard himself say as he stomped off to where Fenton was smiling tiredly at something Manson was saying. “Hey Fentonio! Think you’re pretty cool with every paying attention to you but I-”

Fenton gasped suddenly, like a hiccup only his breath misted out in front of him cold as a winter’s day. Dash stopped midsentence watching as Fenton’s whole face twisted. His earlier weary but tolerant annoyance that he’d been projecting all day was stripped away. He glared at Dash with an expression that was hard as ice and full of an exhaustion and bitterness he couldn’t begin to understand.

“As payment for being forcibly outed,” Fenton spoke up loudly enough that most of the school yard could hear him. “I was promised a week.” His eyes slowly but methodically scanned the crowd who had frozen in place at his authoritative tone. “Where I didn’t have to deal with ghosts, so I want to know... Who is trespassing on my haunt.”

Fenton’s mouth opened impossibly wide revealing what seemed like rows of sharped teeth. He curled his fingers into claws and, looking closer, his fingernails had indeed become real claws, as sharp and deadly as his teeth. His eyes blazed an impossible, ectoplasmic green and his dark hair developed streaks of white. He was terrifying, monstrous, but he was still Fenton. That feeling that had been eating at dash all day came back full force. Not the realization that Fenton had powers or whatever but that he had been hiding it in plain sight through ghost attacks and bullies and failing grades. This had always been Fenton, they just hadn’t seen. Until now that is.

And now the script had flipped and Dash didn’t know how this Ghost Fenton, who still was the same Fenton Dash had wedgied last Wednesday, fit. A green blob ghost materialized over by stairs, quivering and wailing in some ghost language. It turned and fled, presumably in the direction of the Fenton Portal to escape Fenton’s wrath. Fenton’s glowing eyes tracked it for a moment before he straightened up from his hunched posture and... was human again.

He brushed his hands through his black hair, lazily blinked blue eyes and, when he smiled, his teeth were normal. But Dash had seen, they all had. He’d let them see but to what end, he had no idea. Fenton turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow and another small smirk, just as tired as earlier.

“Sorry about that Dash, I take my vacation time very seriously. You were saying?” Fenton said with a smug lilt but his eyes were still dead and there was a bit of fear in them now. Despite his powers, he still gripped his backpack tightly.

“When your dumb little vacation’s up, Fentionail,” Dash said with a shaky voice. “It’s-it’s back to business, okay? Punches and wedgies and locker shoving. You,” he voice cracked a bit and he fought it down. “It’ll ramp up now that I know you can take it.” Fenton blinked, once then twice before he smiled. This time it wasn’t annoyed or scary or fearful but like the dumb grins he usually gave his dumb friends. 

“Yeah okay, we’ll start back up next week. The usual time?” Dash nodded, not knowing what else to say. “Alright, see you around.” He turned to walk away before pausing and turning back. “Actually you should be careful on who you shove into lockers, it can get hard to breathe in there and not everyone can phase out of them. You never know who’ll turn up dead,” he grinned and his eyes flashed green again, “if only half.”

That said, he and his friends walked away, ignoring the stares of the entire school on them. “Oh and it’s halfa, not half of,” Fenton called out over his shoulder. “I’m not half of anything, I’m just a whole me even if the details get a bit complicated.”

“Bye Danny, see you tomorrow,” Kwan called after with a grimace. No one else said anything for a minute until Dash found the strength to move his legs from where they’d been planted. He clenched his fists to hide his shaking and continued his walk home. Everyone else slowly did the same, talking quietly among themselves.

“What the hell was that?” Dale asked in a nervous high pitched voice. “What the hell did I just see?”

“Fenton being a weirdo but that’s nothing new,” Dash shrugged with a confidence he didn’t have yet. But if Fenton could show up to school after being outed and then willingly show them his inhumanity, then Dash needed to up his game. Couldn’t let the nerd be cool or anything. “So what if he glows or whatever, he’s still Fenton. Look I gotta get home, it’s Pookie’s feeding time and he is NOT going to believe the day I had.

[waywood-1965]

hello followers!

i have tried to be a stronger person so i logged in here again.

of course i have been absolutely thrilled with the recent waywood news so a recap:

early april, cassandra jean posted this.

Been working on the thumbnails for TMI volume 6! I have reached the scene where everyone sees someone they love. It would be a shame if I were to... draw Robert... and an even bigger shame if my hand were to slip oh no Michaeeell oh dear. guess that will stay. oh no i hit save.

as tmi graphic novel vol. 6 is the adaptation of the second half of city of glass, it includes the scene in which clary uses one of ver new runes to make everyone in the room see the person they love the most when they look at her (luke saw jocelyn, alec saw magnus, amatis saw stephen, jocelyn saw clary). i have always wondered if robert saw michael and looks like cassandra jean plans to make this answer canon through the graphic novel.

pointless to try to convey how this makes me feel. moving on,

april 6th cassandra jean reseted my whole existence posting this

Waywood doodle.

Been waiting 21 years.

there's so much going on and definitely more than i can handle. i am so grateful for this because it really enlightened me so much. i am obsessed with robert's face looking at michael in the second panel and their hug... i can't live. this art fits very well as a imediate prequel to the other afterlife waywood art that was the last waywood art we got before this one (in 2018! i have been waiting a long time!) and i am so happy cassandra jean still remember them - i assume she got inspired by drawing robert for the graphic novel (and i absolutely adore his graphic novel design, it's all i could wish for him). waywood love each other so much!

the running joke of robert's height is something that twists my mind because the evil we love made the timeline of robert's height very weird but i can totally let cassandra jean have this because it's her world i'm living in at the moment.

i don't think we got cassandra clare's public instance on this one by the way. the former one got her caption that semi-canonizes it but this one unfortunately not. i can't bring myself to care about this right now though!

april 19th the graphic novel vol. 5 came out, being the adaptation of the events of the first half of city of glass and it included some heartbreaking robert lightwood artwork that i don't know how to process. cassandra jean has really been feeding me while crushing me at the same time and she has all my support in doing so.

after robert's cameo was removed from the lost book of the white and turned into mentions, the graphic novels are the only canon robert content i am supposed to get and i am in peace with it. i know he is not a major character and these things happen. i will be ready to enjoy all crumbs.

[reki-of-the-valley]

More bullet point fanfic by yours truly! - First kiss edition

I woke up at 4 am thinking of this and it's been stuck in my brain ever since. Watch me eventually write it as a whole ass fic

It's the weekend, a slow, hot day. Reki and Langa are in Reki's room, as usual, watching a mix between skating videos and dumb videos that make them laugh (and the occasional cute animal video they will inevitably come across). It's a slow, relaxing day, nothing out of the ordinary for them, except that they can't go out because it's just *too* hot

Langa's got his chin on Reki's shoulder, his eyes falling shut every so often. The heat makes him sluggish, but he refuses to go home where it's cooler or take a nap to sleep the heat away. He's adamant to continue watching what's playing on Reki's phone, even if the light is tiring his eyes

And Reki doesn't mind. He's never minded having Langa close, basically cuddled into his side. Reki likes it, actually. He likes having Langa close. He likes feeling Langa pressed into him, Langa's chin digging into his shoulder, Langa's hair tickling his cheek, Langa's bony elbow pressed into his side. Obviously it's because Reki is used to having people in his personal space. The twins when they cling to his leg, his mother when she hugs him, Koyomi when she's poking him.

So Reki doesn't mind having Langa close, falling asleep on his shoulder. At least, not until Langa is shifting, nose pressing against Reki's neck, the soft skin where no one ever touches him. And his warm breath is heating up Reki's face for a reason he can't tell. Or maybe he can, when Langa is mumble-asking if he can kiss Reki

Langa doesn't mean it. He can't mean it. Langa always mumbles out nonsense when he's half asleep. So Reki laughs it off awkwardly.

Except Langa's nuzzling closer, "please, Reki? Can I, please?"

Reki doesn't trust his voice, knowing it'll come out as a squeak, so he just nods. He has no idea what Langa is going to do, or what kind of kiss he wants, but Reki wants whatever it is, which is weird. Kissing the homies good night was just a saying, not an actual thing, right?

But when Langa's pressing a kiss to his cheek, everything fades away. It doesn't feel weird or wrong or anything. It actually feels nice. Reki likes it. Even if it's just a quick peck, Reki likes it. A lot.

Everything fades, everything goes hazy. Maybe it's from the heat, maybe it's from something else, but Reki's shifting, turning to Langa, Langa with his heavy lidded eyes, Langa with his pretty smile. Maybe it's the heat, maybe that's what's fogging Reki's everything, but something happens. Something happens for Langa to be kissing him, or maybe he's the one kissing Langa; he can't tell who started it. But they're kissing. And Reki feels like he's floating.

Reki is the first to pull away, gasping for air, but langa's chasing his mouth and Reki can't say no to that.

It's not Reki's first kiss - he had kissed a girl on a dare in 6th grade during one of those middle school parties - but it is the first time he was feeling someone's tongue against his lips. It is the first time he was gripping onto someone's shirt to hold them close as the kiss was deepened. It is the first time he was kissing a boy. And he.... Reki likes it. He likes kissing Langa.

When Langa finally pulls back, they're both flushed and panting. Maybe they had gotten a little carried away, but Reki doesn't care. He can't care, not when everything feels blissfully light

At least everything feels nice until Langa's eyes are blown wide open, scrambling to pick his stuff up, shoving them into his bag.

"shit, shit, fuck, I promises my mom I'd be home before dinner. Fuck, she's gonna be pissed. I'm so fucked-!"

And he's dashing off, Reki not even getting a chance to put in a single word. Something twists inside of Reki. Maybe Langa regretted kissing him, maybe that's why he was running away now. Maybe Langa didn't like it as much as Reki did.

They don't talk about the kiss(es). No one brings it up. Reki's too afraid to bring it up and Langa is acting like it never happened. They're both desperately trying to go back to how things were before, but Reki jumps every time Langa's hand brushes against his and Langa isn't leaning in as close as before when they watch videos during lunch at school. It's not horrible, but Reki can feel the tension, which can only mean one thing: Langa hated the kiss.

This goes on for a few days, the awkward no touching but still wanting to. It calms down a bit after a few days. Reki's a little less jumpy, Langa is starting to lean back in (not as much as before, but still always a little closer). They can sit shoulder to shoulder now, not quite touching yet, but getting there. That's how Reki finds himself staring at Langa, watching him eat, looking at his mouth. His mouth that had been pressed to Reki's only a few days ago. His lips so soft despite being chewed at on the daily.

Reki can't blame his actions on the heat this time. He can't blame anything or anyone except himself as he presses a quick kiss to the corner of Langa's mouth. He tries deflecting, finding excuses ("you had something and-!") but it's useless. There's nothing that can excuse his behavior

But Langa simply let's his head fall onto Reki's shoulder. He's not pushing Reki away. He's not telling him that it was wrong of him to do that. None of that.

"M'tired..." "It's the heat, dude" "wanna sleep" "wanna ditch and head back to your place? It's way cooler there" "only if you come"

Reki short circuits as soon as Langa's fingers are twisting with his, tracing the lines in his palm, not letting go.

"can we go? Not like we're actually going to listen to anything, even if we go back"

That's how Reki finds himself pulling Langa up, walking by his side until they're out in the yard and skating off towards Langa's place. That's how he finds himself coming to a halt in front of the apartment he's been in only a handful of times. They always go to his place, crashing in his room. They rarely ever go by the apartment.

Reki watches as Langa unlocks the door, kicking his shoes off as he set his board against the wall. And he follows his lead, though a little more careful, untying his shoes and setting them in a corner with his own board. It's a lot colder in here than it is in his room. The AC must be put to it's lowest.

"you want something? I think my mom bought cookies yesterday"

Reki watches as Langa pulls out more food - they just finished lunch, but Langa is a monster when it comes to snacks, no matter what time it is - before crashing into the couch. Reki follows, like a puppy. He isn't uncomfortable, but still. The environment feels new and he isn't sure how comfortable he should make himself

That is until he's sitting on the couch and Langa is putting his head on Reki's lap, a cookie in his mouth as his bright blue eyes are staring up at Reki. Blue like a clear sky, sun blazing down over the ocean

"I'm sorry," Langa says, holding up his half eaten cookie. "about the other day, I mean. I shouldn't have done that" "I'm sorry too. About- about earlier? It was dumb"

There's a beat of silence. Then Langa is shifting again, sitting up

"Look, Reki, I- I like you and I get it if you dont-!" "Really dude? Like, like like me?" Langa nods, though looking a little confused. "You can do that?" "Reki, you... You do know I'm gay, right?"

Reki did not know that. And when Reki is caught off guard, he acts dumb. That's why he's blurting out "you're gay???"

Langa's still staring at him in disbelief. "yes? I thought it was obvious?"

Apparently not enough for Reki to get the hint. "Oh my god. You like me. You like me. You actually like me."

"Look, you don't have to-" "I like you too! I mean," Reki rubs at his nose, laughing nervously, "i gotta, right? Since I kinda really wanna kiss you again?" "You do?"

And they're both laughing at each other, Langa's face buried in Reki's shoulder. Reki can feel the tears welling up in the corners of his eyes, though he isn't sure if it's from the laughing or from how happy he is

Then Langa's shifting against him once again, look up at Reki with his beautiful blue eyes. "Can I kiss you?"

Reki doesn't answer him, only pressing their mouths together. Because of course Langa can kiss him. He's been thinking about it ever since it first happened

The kisses are slower this time. They're not rushed, not as needy. They take their time exploring each other, feeling what's comfortable, what feels good. It's new, the kissing, and they will have to find how to do it properly. But for the most part, there's more smiling than there is kissing

"Reki?" Reki hums against Langa's lips, not quite ready to pull back completely. "Reki, what does this make us? Does this make us boyfriends?"

The realization hits like a truck. He could be Langa's boyfriend. Never in a million years did Reki think that would happen

"yes? I think? I mean, I want to" "does that mean we aren't best friends anymore?"

Langa's eyes and big and wide and worried. He knows he shouldn't laugh, but Reki can't help it. He can't help but laugh, pressing a kiss Langa's cheek

"no, were still best friends, man. Nothing can change that. And I mean," Reki ducks his head, rubbing at his nose, "it's like what they say in all those Hollywood movies. You know, the cheesy romcoms? In those speeches when the main characters get married? That they're marrying their best friend? Not that were getting married! I didn't mean us-!"

Langa's kisses only got sweeter with time. A quick peck cutting Reki off before he fell into a panicked ramble. "I get what you mean. I just... I don't want to lose you. You're the only best friend I've ever had." "What about boyfriend?" "You'll be the last one."

Reki is satisfied with that. He's more than satisfied as Langa is pressing another kiss to his face, then to his mouth. How long had he wanted this? Reki has no idea, but now that he's got it, now that he's got Langa, he's happy.

[leossmoonn]

Unexpected Love [Kai Parker] || Part One

masterlist 

pairing - kai parker x fem, human!reader

type - fluff, angst

note / request  - this request is by @mrs-parker-1972​ “The reader is on the other side with the others, and gets trapped there with bonnie and damon, or you can just skip to part when all three of them are in the prison world. So i am not really sure on how the reader meets kai, but you can improvise that part, I trust you. And then well, um, the reader and kai will hate each other and despise each other (damon and bonnie are in the real time world I guess?) And then kai does something human for the reader (you know, coz he doesn't have feelings) and it wakes something in him and the reader and kai grow close to each other, and I really don't know what else, but like can you, make their time in the prison world longer?? (Kai and the reader's) . And please it would be hilarious if you could add some comedic lines if damon, coz you know, damon is damon. And it would be AWESOME if you added the deleted scene of kai Parker where he is really emotional, and he says that after the reader touches a really soft spot about his child hood. And please make the reader human.” 

note - so i was planning on just rewatching the 6th season and copying scenes but i discovered it would take so long lol, so i split this into a 4 parts. i also didn’t really copy anything from the show, just the scene at the end. so most of this is just my writing. part two is at the end and word count is 7k+

summary - you and kai fall in love over a period of time after spending time with each other in the prison world

warnings / includes - language, alcohol, crying, fighting, 

————

*gif isn't mine*

“Maybe if you didn’t take so long to look for Alaric, we would still be alive!” I exclaimed. 

“Hey, you’re the one who insisted that you have a whole conversation with Lexi about the last few years,” Damon spat.��

“Yeah, but we were both already with Bonnie. You were miles away!” 

“You two stop it!” Bonnie shouted, putting her hands up in-between Damon and I. 

“No, Damon needs to know that this is his fault,” I glared.

“Oh, hardly. Why were you even there, again?” Damon asked. 

“Because you twisted my neck, jackass. Which thank you, by the way,” you smiled sourly. 

“Man, I wish you weren’t wearing that ring. You being dead right now would really-”

“Damon!” Bonnie yelled again. “I’m serious. You two need to stop. You’re giving me a headache.”

“Not my fault,” I mumbled, looking down at the road. 

“Liar,” Damon said not-so-quietly. 

“Before you two start again, let me remind you that I’m scared and mad, too. We can’t just fight the whole time, though. We need to see if we can get out. You two have been fighting about this for months, so stop,” Bonnie said. 

“We’re dead, Bon-Bon. We can’t get out,” Damon said. 

I rolled my eyes and started to walk away from them. I couldn’t stand Damon. 

“Where are you going?” Damon exclaimed. 

“To look for a way out, and to get away from you!” I yelled without looking back. 

“See? She’s useless,” Damon muttered behind my back. 

I let out a long, distressed sigh. “I’m going back home.”

“Same. I need some food,” Bonnie said, catching up with me. 

We walked for miles until we got to Damon’s house. I was sweating and panting by the time we got there. We had no cars so it was a good 5 mile walk.

“Need any water?” Damon asked as we walked inside his house. 

“Yes, please,” I breathed out. 

I trudged over to the couch, flopping down and taking my sneakers off. Damon came back over with a big class of cold water. I smiled at him gratefully, standing up to take it. Damon had other ideas, though. He lifted the glass up to the top of his head, making it hard for me to grab it. 

“Oh, c’mon. You’re such a dick!” I whined, jumping up. My fingertips skimmed the bottom the glass, but I still was just a little too short to grab it. 

“Say that magic words,” Damon smirked.

I rolled my eyes. “Thank you, oh great wise one.”

Damon smiled happily, setting the glass down on the table. 

“Jerk,” I muttered, taking a long sip of the water. 

“You love me!” Damon sang. “Nope,” I shook my head. 

“Hey, we need to get more food,” Bonnie stated from the kitchen.

“Then go and get it, Bon-Bon,” Damon muttered. 

“I was just about to, Damon,” Bonnie spat.

“Maybe you can go and learn magic again, too,” Damon snickered. 

I turned my head to him. glaring. “Wow, you are just full of shit today. Huh, Damon?”

Damon rolled his eyes at my insult. “Yeah, well, I don’t want to be stuck here. I want to see Elena.”

“And you will! Who knows, maybe I’ll get my magic back. While I’m out I’ll go and practice magic,” Bonnie shrugged off Damon’s insult. 

“Good idea. I’ll go with you,” I smiled, standing up and slipping back on my shoes. 

“With all do respect Bonnie, you haven’t been able to do magic ever since you became the anchor. What makes you think you can do it now?” Damon asked.

“Just have faith, Damon. She can do it. I know it,” I smiled at Bonnie, who smiled gratefully back at me.

“Fine. But are you guys gonna leave me all alone?” Damon whined. 

“Yep,” I nodded, walking over to the door. 

“Who’s the rude one now?” Damon challenged. I put a finger up to my chin and hummed, pretending that I was thinking hard. I then put on a charming smile. 

“Still you. Ready Bonnie?” I turned to the girl next to me who was putting on a jacket. 

“Yep. See you later, Damon,” Bonnie smiled and waved. 

“See you,” I nodded. 

Damon waved goodbye as we shut the door behind us. I walked with Bonnie until we split off. She went to her grandmother’s house, while I went to the little supermarket a few miles out. 

Walking there was a pain in the ass. I had my car keys with me, but I couldn’t seem to find my car. Even though this place had everything else; Damon’s house, my house, Bonnie’s grandmother’s house. Even Elena’s house. Just not my car, which pissed me off, but I knew I couldn’t start to get mad again. Getting angry and upset wouldn’t help us get out of here. 

I walked up to the supermarket and entered the market, expecting someone to be at the register, but no one was there. I laughed at myself for expecting someone. Every time I’ve gone out, I’ve always expected to see people. But I remind myself that I’m dead. Of course no one would be here. We were all alone. Those cars outside were just there because this was just a very real, very confusing after-life. 

I grabbed a shopping cart and started getting the stuff we needed. Eggs, milk, fruit, vegetables, bread. I then got some soda and water bottle cases, some bags of chips and sweets. I went over to the frozen food section and got a few microwavable dinners and some ingredients to make food like chilli and tacos. I went around the store once more, making sure I got everything we needed. I passed one shelf, stopping once I realised that something was missing. 

“I thought there were pork rinds here,” I muttered. 

Merry-go-round music then started to play. I turned a full 360, trying to see if there was anybody in the store with me. No one was here. I went outside of the store, seeing the little merry-go-round spinning. 

“That’s weird,” I mumbled. 

I heard the sound of flapping and my head snapped to the sound. I saw someone pass by in a flash. Goosebumps sprung up on my arms and the hairs on the back of my neck raised. I got this uneasy feeling in my stomach as my mind went to disturbing thoughts.

“Hello?” I called out. 

I walked further into the parking lot, hearing the noise again. I sighed as I realised it was probably just Damon pulling a prank on me. 

“Very funny, Damon! You’ve freaked me out, good job. You can come out now!” I exclaimed, my eyes searching the open area. 

The merry-go-round came to a stop and I let out a deep breath to try and calm myself down. Bonnie, Damon, and I were the only ones here. No one was going to hurt me… Right?

The merry-go-round music started up again suddenly. I jumped in surprise and fear, doing another 360.

“Must be on a timer,” I muttered. 

“False,” an unfamiliar, matter-of-fact voice spoke behind me. 

I froze in my spot, afraid to turn around as I knew that definitely wasn’t Damon. 

“Don’t be scared. I won’t hurt you,” the voice said, getting closer to me. 

The person appeared in front of me. I stiffened up more as the voice belonged to a man. A very attractive man, might I add. He had a big, teasing smile on his face. His blue eyes danced around my face, studying me as I studied him. He had brown hair that was combed up, wearing jeans, a black t-shirt, a green jacket and carrying a bag of pork rinds.

“Oh, you’re the one who stole the pork rinds. Who are you?” I asked. “I’m Kai,” the man held his free hand out.

My eyes flickered down to his arm and back up to his eyes. I put my hand out gingerly, slipping my hand into his slowly. I kept eye contact as we shook hands. My stomach did flips as we touched. 

“Nice to meet you, Kai. I’m Y/n,” I offered him a friendly smile. 

“Oh, I know,” Kai shrugged. I furrowed my brows, instinctively pulling my hand away from his. 

“How?” I asked. 

“I’ve been watching you and your friends for a while,” he admitted. 

“Oh,” I said, my eyes wide in shock. 

“Yep! It’s so nice to have friends now. Man, I have been really lonely,” he chuckled. 

“We aren’t friends. And what do you mean you’ve been lonely. Are you dead, too? Have you been stuck here as long as us, too?” I asked. 

Kai frowned, stepping closer to me. “Why all the questions? Don’t you want to get to know me?”

“Um,” I shifted uncomfortably on my feet, stepping back so there was distance between us. 

“Am I making you uncomfortable? Sorry about that. It’s been a while since I’ve had face-to-face type human interaction,” he chuckled, looking down to the ground. 

“No, it’s fine. Anyways, are you dead, too?” I repeated one of my burning questions. 

“No! I am very much alive. Well, I think so. You can kiss me to find out, though,” he flirted. 

I felt the tip of my ears grow warm as his suggestion. “No, thanks.” 

“Oh! I’m doing it again. God, sorry. You are just so pretty and i get nervous when I’m around girls. Especially ones like you.”

I chuckled, my grip on the shopping cart tightening. “So, you said you have been lonely. For how long, exact?”

“Long time. I’m not sure. It’s 1994, though,” he explained. 

My eyes bulged out of my head. “What?! It’s 1994?”

“Yep. There’s literally newspapers everywhere,” he snorted. 

“Well, I haven’t really been observant, I guess. What are we doing in 1994?”

“We’re stuck!” He explained. “Oh, damn,” I muttered. 

“Yeah, it sucks, but now you guys are here to keep me company!” He grinned. 

I smiled politely at him, getting ready to turn around and go back home. “Right. Well, I gotta go. My friends are expecting me for dinner. Maybe you could uh… You could um, come to dinner?”

His eyes widened in surprise. I kept on my smile, shifting the weight in my feet. 

“Really?” He asked. 

“Yeah, why not! Um, chilli sound good?” I asked. “Perfect. I’ll bring drinks,” he suggested. 

“Sounds great. Well, um, see you later?” I proposed, getting ready to turn around. 

“Yep,” he smiled. “Great,” I chuckled, looking down shyly. I began to turn around, but Kai stopped me. 

“Why don’t I drive you there? It’d be tedious of you to carry the cart all the way home, right?” Kai asked. 

I turned back around, “Um… Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. Are you sure, though?” 

“Positive.”

My smiled widely, giggling a little. “Well, yeah, I’d really appreciate it.”

“Great. My car’s over here,” He said and pointed to a dark blue Chevy. 

“Wow, this is a really cool car,” I said, wheeling the car to it. “Yeah, I know,” he smiled, shoving his hands in his pockets. 

I opened up the trunk and loaded the groceries in the car. I then walked over to the passenger seat and got in, buckling and waiting for Kai to get in the driver’s seat. We got to Damon’s place in 10 minutes. I was very thankful I had met him, even though he was a little bit of a weirdo. Kai parked in the entry way and he helped me take in the groceries. 

“Hey, Damon! Is Bonnie home yet?” I called out. 

“Yeah! I am,” Bonnie came out from the kitchen. Her smile faltered as he saw Kai standing next to me. “Who, uh, who is this?” “Oh!” I giggled. “This is Kai. We met at the supermarket.”

“Oh, really? Hi, Kai,” Damon narrowed his eyes at him. 

“Hi, Damon!” Kai said cheerfully. “How the hell do you know my name?” Damon asked. 

“Oh, he’s just uh… He’s just been observing us and stuff,” I explained. 

“Hm, not creepy at all,” Damon muttered. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Kai. Are you joining us for dinner?” Bonnie asked. 

“Yeah, I hope that’s okay,” Kai said. “Yeah! It’s fine, guys, right?” I asked. 

“Sure,” Bonnie nodded. 

“Great! I brought drinks, too,” he said, holding a bag filled with bourbon and whiskey. 

“Great, but we already have some,” Damon said, gesturing to the liquor cabinets. 

“Oh,” Kai frowned. “But it’s fine! We’ll drink your’s,” I said. 

“Great,” Kai perked up again. “Let’s get dinner started, yeah?” I suggested, walking over to the kitchen. 

Everyone nodded in agreement and helped with dinner. Kai mostly helped. Damon got bored in the middle and went to his room to do God know’s what, while Bonnie went to sit on the couch and watch 90′s classics. 

“Thanks for helping with dinner,” I said. “No problem. You are an amazing cook,” Kai complimented. 

“You haven’t even tasted the food,” I chuckled. 

“Well, you seem to know the recipe and whatnot. And it smells amazing.”

“Well, thank you,” I smiled, turning and looked at him. 

My eyes met his and a wave of butterflies washed over me. I looked into his mysterious blue eyes, getting lost in them quickly. 

“Is dinner done yet?” Damon asked, interrupting the moment. 

I jumped away from Kai in an instant, hanging my head low in embarrassment.

“Yeah,” I muttered, walking away and getting bowls out. I poured the chilli in each bowl, bringing them to the table with a glasses of Kai’s alcohol. 

“Dig in.” I sprinkled cheese over my chilli. 

“Let me take a sip of this bourbon first,” Damon said, holding the glass up skeptically. He brought the glass up to his lips, taking a slow and small sip. As soon as the bourbon touched his lips, he dropped the glass on the floor and his hand flew to his throat. 

“Oh, my God. Damon, are you okay?” I jumped up from my seat, running over to him. 

“V-Vervain,” Damon gasped. “Vervain… What?” I gulped, my eyes immediately meeting with Kai’s. 

“You!” I pointed. “Oops,” Kai chuckled, getting out of his seat. 

“Not so fast,” Bonnie said, grabbing his arm to sit him back down. Kai grabbed her arm, too. Bonnie started screaming and holding his hand in pain. 

“What? What are you doing to her!” I exclaimed, going over to them. 

“Taking her magic,” Kai shrugged. “What! B-But… How?” I asked. 

“She’s a witch, so am I. Well, not exactly. I’m more of what you say… a siphon,” he explained as if I was supposed to know. 

“Well, whatever are you, get off of her!” I yelled, taking ahold of his jacket and pulling him away. I stumbled back, still holding onto him. 

“I wasn’t done yet!” Kai whined. 

“I don’t care! You were hurting her,” I glared at him, shoving him out of the way and going to Bonnie. 

“Hey, did he burn you? Let’s get your arm under some water,” I said, grabbing her shoulder gently. 

“No, I’m not burned. It just hurt like hell. Ugh! Why did you do that?!” Bonnie exclaimed angrily at Kai. 

“Because I needed the power to do this,” Kai said, holding up his hand. He made the bottle of bourbon float up and poured it all over Damon. 

“Stop!” I shrieked, running over to shove his arm down, but he sent me flying across the room with his other hand. 

“Sorry, princess, but I can’t let you ruin this,” Kai said. 

I groaned, holding the back of my head. “Screw you.”

“Oh, I wish you could,” Kai winked at you. 

I gagged in disgust and got up slowly, groaning at the paining my back. “Not anymore.” Kai chuckled will finishing pouring the bottle of bourbon on Damon, then lifting him up and throwing him against the wall.

“B-Bonnie. D-Do mag-gic,” Damon whimpered.  “Yeah, please do,” I nodded, balancing myself on the island counter. 

“Yeah, please do, Bonnie. Please humiliate yourself in front of your friends. It’s so sad that you can’t do magic. I’ve been watching you for weeks now. What’s even the point of you trying? What’re you gonna do, fail at me? It’s embarrassing. I’m embarrassed for you,” Kai taunted her. 

Bonnie gave him a death glare and looked around the room, spotting a few candles. She closed her eyes and held up her hand. “Phasmatos Incendia.”

I watched in amazement as the candles lit. Bonnie then turned to Kai, who had a shocked look on his face. She grinned at him, cocking her head to the side. 

“I’m embarrassed for you,” she mocked him. 

“Dammit,” Kai muttered. “Looks like I have to kill you now. I was planning on for that to be later.” “Oh, no you don’t,” Damon remarked, getting up slowly. He then sped over to Kai and before Kai could react, Bonnie held Kai’s arms back while Damon punched Kai. 

“You’re going down, wacko,” Damon muttered, taking Kai’s head in his hands and slamming him down on the floor, knocking Kai out. 

“Are you okay, Damon?” I asked immediately. “Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s get him chained up,” Damon said. 

“Yeah, okay,” I nodded, going over and lifting Kai up form under his arms. 

“Good job, Bon-Bon. About time,” Damon patted Bonnie on the back. 

“Thanks,” Bonnie gave him a small smile. 

Bonnie helped me chain up Kai to a chair, Damon going on the couch to heal and rest. 

“I can’t believe you liked him,” Damon spoke up after a while. 

“I didn’t,” I protested. “You sure? You were drooling all over him when he first came into the house. You're type is crazy,” Damon smirked. 

I rolled my eyes, wanting to change the subject. “I think the whiskey he brought also has vervain in it.”

“He’s right, Y/n. You have horrible taste in guys,” Bonnie teased. 

I scoffed. “Un-called for! Damon’s supposed to be the rude one.”

“It’s not being rude if I’m telling the truth,” Bonnie smirked. “Yeah, well, I guess I liked him. Not anymore, though,” I sighed, sitting down on the couch next to Damon. 

“Good. We would definitely have had to take you to therapy,” Damon smirked. 

I laughed with him, letting out a long sigh. “I just still can’t believe there is someone here with us.” “Yeah, and he’s a psycho,” Damon spat. 

“What're we gonna do with him when he wakes up?” I asked. 

“Interrogate him. See what he knows, what he wants, how to get out of here,” Damon answered. 

“Well, I know a little bit about what he knows,” I said. “We’re in 1994.”

“Yeah, I know,” Damon muttered. “What, how?” I asked. 

“While you were gone we found a newspaper. Apparently, we have been re-living May 10th since we got here,” Bonnie said sourly. 

“Oh. Great,” I shook my head. “Anything else you guys found out?”

“Yes, actually. Kai is a murderer,” Bonnie said. She grabbed a newspaper from the coffee table and held it up to my face. She pointed to the left side where there were four headshots of teenagers. 

“Family Massacred in Portland. The only one missing was the oldest boy. A 22 year-old named Malachai,” I read aloud. I then looked up to Kai who was still knocked out. “I-Is he Malachai?”

“All signs point to yes,” Damon said. “My God. I liked a murderer? Jesus, what is wrong with me?” I muttered, setting the newspaper down. 

“Really? Your type in men is what you’re worried about?” Damon scoffed. 

I smiled a little. “No, no! It’s just… Weird to me. Anyways, if he knows the way out, we have to get out without him, okay?”

“Deal,” Bonnie nodded. 

“Do you guys want to go to bed?” I asked. “Well, someone has to stay and watch,” Damon gestured to Kai. 

“Why don’t you. You’re the immortal,” I nudged his shoulder. 

“Fine. I’ll alert you guys when he wakes up,” Damon said. 

“Great. Thanks, Damon,” Bonnie smiled. “Mhm. No prob!” Damon exclaimed as Bonnie and I climbed up the stairs. 

“He is kinda cute,” Bonnie said once we reached one the guest bedroom.

“Who? Damon?” I asked. “No, Kai,” Bonnie explained. 

I raised my brows, my mouth formed in the shape of an ‘O’. 

“What?” Bonnie asked. “I cannot believe you just said that about our enemy. You’re never this two-faced,” I smirked. 

Bonnie rolled her eyes, “Yeah, well, he’s still a sociopath.”

“True that. Hey, wanna have a sleepover? Maybe have some fun,” I suggested. 

“Yes! Oh, I wish that Care and Elena were here,” Bonnie sighed. 

“Me, too, Bon. We’ll get to see them soon, though.” I put a hand on her shoulder. 

“I hope,” Bonnie smiled.  I smiled back and went to the closet, finding a pair of sweats and a tank top. Bonnie and I got ready for bed, staying up for a good hour talking, finally passing out across the bed. 

I was the first one to wake up. I rose up slowly and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. Once I opened them fully, I looked around the room with complete confusion. Once I looked at the clock, though, I finally realised that I was in a repeating loop of May 10th, 1994. You’d think waking up for months in this place, I would get used to it, but I really never have. Not yet, at least. 

“Disappointing, right?” Bonnie spoke next to me. I turned, chuckling in agreement. “Most definitely.”

“At least we got a full night’s sleep. It’s 10 AM,” Bonnie said. “True,” I nodded, getting up and stretching. 

“Let’s go and see the sociopath living downstairs,” I groaned. 

“I’ll need coffee before I see him,” Bonnie said, getting up and putting on a robe.

“Oh, me, too,” I chuckled. 

We both went downstairs after freshening up, going to the kitchen immediately.

“Um, hello? Did you forget about us?” Damon asked form the living room. 

“Yep,” Bonnie smiled at him. Damon rolled his eyes, going over to us. 

“Hurry up, sleeping beauties. Malachai is awake,” Damon said, his eyes going wide as he said Kai’s full name. 

“Please, it’s Kai,” Kai said. “Hm, nope. I read Malachai in the newspaper,” Damon gave Kai his signature sarcastic smile. 

Bonnie and I laughed at Damon defying Kai. I poured myself some coffee and made myself some eggs and toast before going over to Damon. 

“Alright, I am ready to get this interrogation on,” I smiled, sitting down on the couch. 

“Me, too,” Bonnie said, sitting next to me. 

“Wow, you look beautiful when just waking up,” Kai complimented. 

“Drop the act, weirdo,” I rolled my eyes. 

“I was actually talking to the green-eyed beauty next to you,” Kai grinned. 

I couldn’t help but frown. My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach and I looked down at my food, picking up the toast and nibbling on the crust. 

“You can still drop the act. We want answers,” Bonnie demanded. 

“Ooh, you are so sexy while dominant,” Kai winked. “And you are so gross and desperate,” Bonnie stated. 

“If you don’t give us answers, I’ll snap your neck,” Damon threatened. 

I looked up and saw Kai pursing his lips. 

“It’s so funny,” Kai stated. “What is?” Damon asked. 

“Well, you three seem to hate me, yet you haven’t killed me yet,” Kai explained. 

“Because we need information from you, and you are withholding for no reason,” Bonnie explained further. 

“Fine. But I want Y/n to ask the questions,” Kai said, his blue eyes landing on me. 

I glared at him right away. “Why me? You seem pretty infatuated with Bonnie.”

“Jealousy is not a good look on you, princess,” he spoke playfully.

I had to fight the butterflies that were swarming in my stomach. “And being annoying is not a good way for us to not kill you.”

Kai laughed, “Fair. So, what do you guys want to know?”

“Why are we here? Is this my personal hell?” Damon asked quickly. 

I furrowed my brows and looked up at  him. “Why do you think this is your personal hell?”

“Well, first of all my car is parked in the entry way. Yeah, I noticed that. And second… There was something bad I did during May 10th, 1994,” Damon sighed. 

“Damon… What did you do?” Bonnie’s voice wavered. “Yeah, Damon, what did you do?” Kai pressed on. 

“You,” Damon pointed to Kai. “Shut it. And… You guys would hate me if I told you. Like, hate me for real.”

“Oh, I bet it’s not too bad,” I smiled comfortingly. 

“Nope, it’s bad,” Damon sighed. “Well, then tell us,” Bonnie pushed. 

Damon sighed, walking from the back of the couch to the armchair. He slumped down. “I… I killed a pregnant woman.”

The plate that was once in my hand clattered to the ground. 

“You what!?” Bonnie exclaimed. 

“Not one of my best moments,” Damon sighed. 

“W-Why?” I stuttered, racking my brain for any type of logical explanation. 

“Cause I was mad at Stefan,” Damon shrugged. “And that justifies the fact that you killed a pregnant woman?” Bonnie shouted. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know! I’m a horrible person, okay?” Damon exclaimed, shooting up from his seat. 

“You’re worse than I thought. How can Elena love you!” Bonnie scoffed. 

I stood up in-between them. “Okay, not the time, guys. We need to ask Kai questions.”

“And before you do that, I need you guys to get a few things for me,” Kai said. 

I groaned, “What now?”

“Well, I need to make a list, and I can’t if I’m all tied up.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine.” I went over to him, untying the rope. I then got a paper and pencil and handed them to him. 

“Thank you, honey,” Kai gave me an eye-blinding grin. 

“Yeah, whatever,” I muttered, going to the kitchen to get a dustpan to sweep up the broken pieces of the plate. 

“Alright!” Kai announced after a few moments. “All done.” “Great. I’ll go out,” I said, going over and taking the paper out of his hand. Kai reached out to stop me, though. 

“Nope. I want you to stay,” Kai said. “Why?” I asked. 

“Because you’re so cute,” he complimented. “Shut up. I will kill you,” I sneered, jerking my arm out of his grasp. 

“I’ll go. I don’t want to be around Damon,” Bonnie snarled, snatching the piece of paper. 

“Bon, c’mon,” Damon said helplessly, following her to the door. 

They both went out of the house. I could hear Bonnie shouting from the outside. 

“Finally alone together,” Kai said. 

“Yeah, no. I’m going upstairs,” I said, turning on my heels. 

“If you stay I'll tell you everything,” Kai said. 

I stopped in my track, turning back to him slowly. “Really?” 

He nodded. “I promise.”

“Fine,” I sighed, sitting back down on the couch. Kai got up and walked over. He sat down right next to me. 

I huffed and got up, sitting in the armchair. 

“Fine, I’ll talk to you this way, I guess. So, what do you want to know?” Kai asked. 

“Why did you kill your family?” I asked.  “Well, I was born into a coven of witches. The Gemini coven, to be exact. I was the black sheep of my family. The one whose magical ability was sucking the power out of people. My family hated me. My father hated me. He never showed me love or tried to understand me,” he explained. 

“And that’s why you killed your whole family? Because you never got love?” I asked. 

“Yep. Basically,” he shrugged. “Not a good enough reason,” I shook my head. 

“Well, what were you expecting?”  

I sighed, “I don’t know.”

“Precisely. Anyways, that’s why this is my personal hell. Not Damon’s.”

“How do we get out of here?” I asked. 

“Well, there’s this thing called an ascendent. That will take us home,” he explained. 

“Okay, what is it?” I asked. 

“A mystical relic that was created by my family. It can harnesses the power of a celestial event and creates a portal, to which we can all then go home.”

“And where is the ascendent?” I asked. “I have no idea,” Kai smiled. 

“Ugh! Seriously? How are we going to get out of here now?” “Well, the stuff I asked Bonnie to get will help us. Don’t worry,” he shrugged. 

“Okay, well, I’m going to go and get ready for the day,” I said, standing up. 

“And you’re going to leave me here alone? What if I kill you in the shower?” Kai asked. 

“Well, I need a shower. So, if you do, at least I’ll be released from this world,” I smiled sweetly, walking off. 

I heard him chuckle behind me. I sighed quietly and climbed up the stairs. I could not wait to get out of there. 

I came back downstairs after 30 minutes. I first looked in the living room, seeing Bonnie and Damon with Kai. 

“Took you long enough,” Damon said.

I rolled my eyes, “I assume Kai filled you in?” “Yep. I have to do a spell now to find the ascendent,” Bonnie nodded. 

“And we’re gonna do that with Kai having jam on his fingers?” I asked, pointing to Kai was scooping out jam with his hands. 

“Well, I’m not gonna do the spell. Bonnie will. I’ll just guide her,” Kai explained. 

I hummed in reply and nodded. “Alright, well, let’s get started then.”

Bonnie and Kai went to the dining room table to work. Spreading out a big map and putting some of Kai’s blood on the paper to do a locator spell. 

We watched as she tried a few times before she realised the blood wasn’t moving. 

“It doesn’t feel right,” she sighed. “Maybe I need bigger map.”

“Maybe you’re just out of practice, and you suck at magic now,” Damon said.

“Ignore him, Bonnie. Pretend he’s a white noise machine,” Kai said. “That’s how I used to tune out my siblings.”

“How many siblings?” I asked casually. 

“Seven,” Kai answered. “You know, all of them constantly yammering. But it, uh, taught me how to focus.” He went by Bonnie, looking her in the eye, his gaze traveling down to her lips. 

A pang of jealously hit my heart. I looked down at the ground, not wanting to see them kiss, if they did. 

“Easy there, big brother,” Damon remarked. “She doesn’t know you. At least buy her a drink.”

Bonnie and Kai chuckled, looking at each other. I groaned quietly, going to the kitchen to get myself a drink.

“Hey! Where are you going, princess?” Kai called. 

“Somewhere where you’re not,” I grumbled. 

I got out a bottle of scotch, taking a swig from the bottle. 

“Woah, easy there, princess,” Damon mocked the nickname Kai had given me. 

I glared at him. “Do not call me that.”

“What, I can’t, but Kai can? Sounds like someone still has a crush,” Damon sang. 

“I do not!” 

“You sure you don’t like him? Cause I think you two would make a great fit. He’s crazy and well, you seem to like crazy.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, like you and Elena are a great fit, right? You being the one who keeps breaking up with her and all.”

I then walked past Damon and back into the living room, earning a glare from him. 

“The blood’s moving towards Virginia. Can’t be right,” Kai said. 

“Mm-mm. Spell’s working. It’s showing me Mystic Falls. It feels so… close,” Bonnie said, putting her hand on Kai’s jacket, candles lighting up. 

“It right here,” Bonnie said, pressing her hand into his chest. 

Kai took out the ascendent from his jacket pocket, an expression of shock on his face. “Very good.”

“That’s the ascendent?” I asked. “The one and only,” Kai smiled. 

“Thanks for the mind games, jackass,” Damon said. 

“It was just another little test. To make sure Bonnie’s magic was precise enough for the spell,” Kai explained. “I do believe we’re ready. Pack your bags, we’re going home.”

Kai then walked out of the house and to the front yard, stopping every few moments. 

“You’re wandering around like a crazy man, why?” Damon asked. 

“I’m looking for the exact right spot,” Kai answered, holding the ascendent up to the sky. “We need to find where the power of the eclipse is focused.”

“You know, you could have just showed us the ascendant to begin with,” Bonnie said. 

“Yeah, but I wanted to feel your hand on my chest,” Kai smirked. 

A frown rested upon my lips and I looked down at the ground. 

“He is so annoying,” Bonnie muttered. 

“You’re just not used to guys hitting on you,” Damon said. “You know, I can’t wait to get out of here,” Bonnie glared. 

She then went next to me. I held my head back up, but not looking at her.

“Hey, how you holding up?” She asked. “Oh, fine,” I shrugged. “I’m getting kind of bored, though.”

“Yeah, I feel you… Hey,” Bonnie said, putting her hand on my arm. I turned to her, “Yeah?”

“Kai is a sociopath. He’s just flirting with us to get a rise out of each other. I know you don’t like him anymore, but that attraction you felt to him is probably still there. Let’s not let him tear us apart, okay? We’re stronger than some guy,” she smiled. 

I smiled with her, perking up. “Yeah. You’re right. Sorry, just between him calling me pet names and the fact that Damon is always so pissy, it’s hard to be optimistic.”

“Well, I can do magic again now, so there’s one reason!” “Very true. Good job, by the way,” I complimented. “Why, thank you,” Bonnie chuckled.

We followed Kai and Damon, beginning to talk about our plans for when we got home. I looked down at the ground as she talked about her plans with Jeremy. I kicked around a rock, a pair of shoes appearing in front of me. It was Kai. Before my body could stop, I knocked into him.

His hands supported my waist, holding me up. My eyes met his and for a split second, I could see the human in him. I pushed him away though, scoffing in the process. 

“A little warning next time?” 

Kai just smiled down at me, then looking up to the sky. “The eclipse will happen directly overhead. In perfect alignment with the Gemini constellation. You need to dig under the tunnels below us. We’ll do the spell here,” Kai said 

“Wait, why do we have to dig?” Damon asked.

“Have you never portal-jumped through an eclipse before? Okay, look, the light of the eclipse will shine down and activate the ascendant. You spout a little witchy woo and then, poof! Anyone standing in the circle of light holding the ascendant goes home,” Kai explained. 

“Let me see the spell,” Bonnie said. “When the time comes,” Kai smiled.

He then walked past us three. 

“Where are you going?” I asked. “Into town. I need to gather some important supplies,” Kai explained. 

“Y/n, why don’t you watch over him to make sure he isn’t planning to kill us,” Damon said. 

“What! No!” I protested. “You really want to be stuck with us? Digging a hole?” Bonnie asked. 

“Not really,” I sighed. “Fine, I’ll go. See you guys later.” 

“Have fun,” Bonnie smiled. “Oh, you know I will,” I smiled sourly as I followed Kai’s path. 

I jogged to catch up with him. “Hey, Kai! Wait up.”

Kai stopped in his tracks, turning in surprise. “Stalking me?”

“Nope. More like babysitting.”

“Hm. Well, I’m older than you, so technically I would be doing the babysitting,” Kai said. 

“Yeah, like you have any parental instincts. So, where into town are we going?” 

“I thought you hated talking to me,” Kai said. “Just answer the damn question,” I glared. 

“I’m picking up some personal belongings,” Kai explained. 

“Why?” You asked. “Because 1994 has been my home for most of my life. I don’t want to get homesick when I go into the 21st century,” Kai answered.

“Hm, I see. Well, a lot has changed in the last 18 years,” I said. 

“So I can see. They obviously didn’t make girls as pretty as Bonnie back then,” Kai smirked. 

My lips pulled down into another frown. Him complimenting Bonnie was like a stake to the heart. I didn’t know why, but it bothered me a little too much to hear him talk about other girls. It was even worse considering that the girl he was talking about was my best friend.  

“Hey, don’t be so sad. You’re pretty, too,” Kai nudged my shoulder.

“Wow, thanks,” I rolled your eyes. 

“I’m serious! You’re more pretty than Bonnie!” Kai said. “Just want I wanted. You dragging my friend down so I can be complimented,” I hummed. 

Kai rolled his eyes. “Women are so difficult. Look, I meant that you’re really pretty. Bonnie is, too. Just accept the fact I think you’re pretty!”

My face warmed up quickly and I hung my head low. “T-Thanks.”

“Let me guess, not a lot of guys compliment you?”

“They do, but doesn’t mean I don’t get flustered.”

“You seem pretty outgoing to me,” Kai said. 

“Well, that’s probably because I hate you. I’m shy to guys I like,” I explained, putting my head back up. 

“Hm… Or you just think that. You know, girls can be mean when they like a guy.”

“Yeah, in elementary school. Look, I’m not 8 anymore. I know the difference between love and hate and trust me, my feelings for you stand on the hate side.”

“Keep saying that, princess,” Kai remarked. “And stop calling me princess! God, it’s so annoying,” I groaned. 

“C’mon, I know you like it, princess,” Kai teased, poking at my arm. 

I swatted his hand away. “For someone who is a sociopath, you sure like to flirt a lot.”

“I am not a sociopath,” Kai said. “You sure are,” I chuckled. 

“I’m not. I was just treated like the biggest embarrassment and disappointment of my family, and I’ve been stuck here for 18 years. It’s not fun going through what I did,” Kai argued. 

I softened up a little. “Right, yeah. So, how long do we have to walk for?”

“Not very long,” Kai said. 

We walked in a weirdly comfortable silence for 10 more minutes before arriving at a house. 

“This your place I assume?” I asked. 

“Yep. Not the place I grew up in, though,” he said, walking up. “Because you were born in Oregon?” I guessed. 

“Yep. Wow, you pay attention to what I say. So sweet.” I huffed, “Just hurry up.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” I waited for him outside the house, beginning to play with the locket around my neck. I took it off, opening it and smiling nostalgically.

“I miss you guys. I wish you were here,” I said to the pictures, running my fingertips on them. 

“Are you talking to yourself?” Kai’s voice sounded out of nowhere. 

I jumped, immediately shutting the locket. “No. Are you finished?”

“Yep,” he nodded. 

“Good, let’s hurry back.” 

“Who were you talking to?” He asked as we started our journey back to Bonnie and Damon. 

“Nobody,” I answered. “So you were talking to yourself?” Kai pressed. 

“Yeah,” I admitted. “Why?” He asked. 

“It’s none of your business,” I said quickly. I hoped he got the hint that this was something that I would never share. 

“Oh, please? You know, like, everything about me!”

I groaned, “No, Kai! Stop it.”

His eyebrows raised, his lips curling up into a smile. “Alright, Miss Fussy.”

I went in front of him, walking fast. We finally got back to the big hole that was now in the middle of the forrest. 

“Now will you show us the spell?” Bonnie asked, panting. 

“Not yet,” Kai said. “Why? We’ve done everything you want. Just get us out of here,” Damon said. 

“I just… I can’t. Not yet,” Kai shrugged. 

I scoffed, “Now is not the time to be a dick.”

“Wait,” Bonnie said, staring hard at Kai. “He doesn’t know the spell. Which means we don’t need him. Motus.”

Suddenly the pickaxe that Damon had flew up and plunged Kai in the heart, missing my arm by a centimeter. 

“Bonnie!” I shrieked. 

“What? You never liked him anyways,” Bonnie shrugged. “I have my grimoire right here, I’ll find the spell.” Bonnie pulled out the spell book from her backpack. 

“Yeah, and how long is that gonna take?” Damon asked. “Not long if you two let me concentrate,” Bonnie said. 

Damon groaned and walked over to me. “She seems way too calm.”

“She’s not one to freak out like you or Caroline. I’m a little mad at her, too, but I know she’s got this,” I shrugged, taking a seat on the dirt. 

“Find the spell yet, Bon-Bon?” Damon asked, leaning against a tree. 

“It’s been 2 minutes,” I swatted Damon’s leg. “No, but I think the Gemini coven used a Bennett spell to create this place. That's why my grams sent me here,” Bonnie explained. 

I smiled at her, “Great thinking!”

Bonnie thanked me with a nod, holding the ascendent up in her hands and muttering an incantation. My jaw dropped as I saw the ascendent move outwards. 

“And this is why Kai never killed me. He needed a Bennett,” Bonnie smiled triumphantly. 

“See, I told you she knew what she was doing,” I smiled up at Damon. 

“Yeah, well, I did, too. I was just giving her a hard time,” Damon shrugged. 

Bonnie chuckled. “You guys ready to go home?”

“Hell yeah!” I exclaimed and jumped up. 

We all jumped down the hole that Bonnie and Damon dug up, landing in a cave. Bonnie wasted no time dropping her blood onto the ascendant. She muttered the spell, the ascendent winding out further. 

“Ready, guys?” Bonnie asked. 

I nodded, walking up to her and putting my hand under her’s. Damon put his hand under mine. 

“Let’s go home,” I smiled, tears threatening to fall out of my eyes. 

As Bonnie was about to say the spell, an arrow struck just right under my heart and sent me flying. Another arrow also hit Bonnie. I hit a pile of rocks, my head turning to whoever hit me. It was Kai. 

“Forgetting someone?” He asked. “Did you really think I haven’t tried to kill myself before? Because I have.” He loaded up the crossbow again. 

Damon made a move for the ascendent that was now on the floor. 

“Grab that or the next arrow will be in their hearts. Your choice.” Kai threatened. 

Damon sighed and sped over to Bonnie, pulling the arrow out from her body. She screamed in pain, my eyes widening as I watched Kai take the ascendent. 

“Damon!” I exclaimed as Damon as about to feed us his blood. 

Damon fed Bonnie his blood quickly and ran up to Kai, knocking the ascendent out of his hand. My eyes fell to the ascendent as it was close enough for me to try and grab. I tried to reach, but Bonnie was a few steps ahead of me. She then bent down to me, ripping the arrow out of my side. I screamed in pain, tears streaming down my face. 

“We’re gonna get you out of here, okay? Just put pressure on this,” Bonnie said, grabbing her jacket around my wound. 

I shook my head, smiling sadly. “No, I-I won’t make it. You and Damon go. You guys have too much to live for. Me? I have no family there, and we all know Caroline and Elena miss you more.”

“That is so not true,” Bonnie said. “When you were gone at camp for those 3 summers, all Care and Elena could take about was how much they’ve missed you. And I know for a fact that Tyler, Matt, and especially Stefan miss you, too. We are getting you out of here.”

“We are, Y/n. Otherwise Elena would kill me,” Damon groaned from behind me. “I would rather be killed by my hot, vampire girlfriend instead of this psycho. A little help Bonnie?”

Bonnie nodded, muttering a spell that sent Kai flying back. Damon then came over and lifted me up, carrying me over to Bonnie. We stood under the light and I looked up, smiling happily. 

“I’m getting out of here,” I sighed. 

“Not on my watch!” Kai exclaimed. As soon as we started to float up, Kai ran over to Damon and knocked me out of his arms.

“No!” I screamed. 

“Y/n!” Bonnie exclaimed as she shot up in the portal. 

I watched with hot, burning tears as Bonnie and Damon disappeared. I sobbed in pain and sadness, looking at Kai with a watery gaze. 

“Why?!” I screamed. 

“Because like you said, you don’t have any family there. Me neither, so there’s no reason for you to get back to your home,” Kai explained with a shit-eating grin. 

“Screw you,” I muttered distantly. I felt my eyes begin to droop. My breathing was so shallow, I could barely feel my heartbeat. I looked up to the light that was shining down. Where my friends once were. 

“Sleep well, princess. I’ll see you soon.” Was the last thing I heard before I lost all consciousness. 

————

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Part Two right here!

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[nootgi]

Crystal Kisses - Childe

A/N:// I wrote this for a friend last year and decided to spread it out, take gn!reader and Childe on their secret mission!

Word count: 1200

“How does that even stay on your head?” They asked, completely distracted from the task at hand. The duo stood on the edge of a cliff, hidden by a VERY out of the place bush, looking down at the target. 

“Magic. Now focus.” He kept his answer short, needing full concentration to line up the shot. It was crucial that he didn’t miss. The whole plan hinged on it. If he messed up now, neither of them would see the light of day again. Their target stood in the centre of a ruin, lost in thought as his assailant drew back the drawstring.

Just as Childe’s fingers released the bowstring, his partner decided to shout ‘BULLSHIT’ on the top of their lungs, causing their target to notice them. However it was far too late for him, his hat was pierced by a hydro arrow and the stream of water doused the 6th harbinger. Scaramouche’s murderous roar echoed in the gorge as the duo turned to each other. Without a word they took off sprinting down the cliff, away from the 5ft storm that was coming straight for them.

“You just had to shout.” Childe says with a low voice. All he hears in answer was a sheepish giggle and somehow the anger starts to soften around the edges. 

“Oops-? Hey wait!!!” They were lagging behind Childe and his stupidly long legs and the dark electric aura behind was gaining on them. Panicking, they reach out for his hand. He doesn’t hesitate to wrap his hand firmly around their’s and drag them along. By that point, Childe won’t lie but he forgot to be angry. The two ran across the open field with the biggest shit eating grin, holding hands. 

They came to a cave opening to an old mine shaft and decided to hide inside. There wasn’t much light inside the cave, the only source being the dim candles and the glowing crystals. Childe flopped down onto a rock, panting slightly to catch his breath but it proved to be difficult due the laughter constantly bubbling out of him. The other groaned in embarrassment, sliding down the wall to hide their face in their knees. Eventually the cave became silent as the laughter trailed off.

“Tartaglia! I’m so sorry-“ They rushed to say, unmoving from their shame cocoon. 

“Bullshit.” Childe says after a beat of silence and loses himself again in a fit of laughter. The shame proving too much for them, his partner stood up instantly and tried walking out of the cave with a pout. Before they could reach the exit, Childe had them trapped between the wall and his chest. His arms caged them against the wall, on either side of their head. They tried to move but Childe’s dark eyes had them fully paralysed. There was no escape other than maybe crawling between his legs? ‘No! That won’t work, he’ll just close his legs and crush me-‘ Noticing they were lost in thought, Childe moved one of his gloved hands to tilt their chin up. Only when his forehead came to rest on theirs did they snap out of it. 

“H-Hi.” They lamely squeaked out, the slight squirming below him bought satisfaction that no battle could. (Sadistic motherfu-) 

“Going somewhere Darling~?” His voice was barely above a whisper, whilst his voice sounded menacing his eyes told a different story. Childe’s eyes seemed to glow brighter than the crystals in the dim cave. Amusement swam wild in his blue eyes along with a hidden tendrils of tenderness. His eyes promised so much yet said so little, they could never understand the enigma that is Childe. However one thing was for sure, with him they never had anything to fear. Just as they were about to respond they couldn’t help but let their focus shift to his mask again. 

“Seriously how does that stay up there?” They unconsciously reached out to touch it, with a sigh he pressed his face closer to theirs. Even the smallest breath Childe let out was felt against their lips. The hand dropped midair, falling onto his shoulder and gripped onto his jacket tightly. 

“Even with me right in front of you like this, all you think of is my mask…” His other arm left the wall to slide around their waist. Their bodies pressed against each other like a moth to a flame, “What will it take for you to look at me darling?” By then his words are barely heard as their lips finally meet. His lips first touched their upper lip and his thumb moved from stroking circles on their cheeks to slowly pulling down their bottom lip. He moved his lips slowly, sliding over their mouth fully, letting his tongue enter their mouth. The kiss was slow but the passion behind it made their eyes shut and knees feel weak. They fell more into Childe’s embrace which he welcomed happily. Their hands moved up slowly up his chest, one resting on the base of his neck and the other tangled into his orange hair. Before they could get lost in each other’s embrace, they pulled away to catch their breath. They looked shyly away from him, cheeks flushed and softly breathless. They pressed their fingers against their own lips and suddenly alarm bells were ringing in their mind. They were too distracted to notice Childe’s intense stare, he watched intently as if to burn this image to memory. A sight he never wanted to forget. 

“Is that all you can take Dar-“ He was cut off as they jumped up to kiss him, the surprise sent Childe a step back but he caught himself. He found he couldn’t close his eyes with them this close, he watched their eyes that were screwed shut, the telling red blossoming on the tip of their ears and couldn’t help but smile into the kiss. They were too tense and doing it all wrong. He let them take the lead but let his hand on their cheek left to the back of their neck to tickle them slightly. It made them relax into the kiss and softly giggle into the kiss. With a shy grin they pushed him away again to cover their neck.

“Stop, you know I’m ticklish!” He smiled and waved his hands in the air to surrender.

“I’m sorry, I can’t help where my hands wander!” 

“Bullshit.” His lazy grin showed not even a drop of sincerity as he found his way back to holding them in his arms, the mood in the cave took a fun twist. In contrast to the deep passionate kisses from before they moved into small pecks as they joke around with each other. Small teasing remarks from Childe and snarky comebacks from them, shutting the other up with just a simple press of their lips. They moved from standing to being sat on the mine floor with them on his lap. Just as they try to get back into the mood, they run their fingers through his hair and the thump of Childe’s mask falling to the floor broke the mood. Childe started to laugh in the kiss, his laughter contagious as they started laughing with him. They both looked disheveled with messy hair and bright red lips. 

“Who would’ve thought magic would be such a cock blo-” A resonating slap sounded around the cave. 

(By this point if you’re wondering what is taking Scaramouche so long to catch up, well… he doesn’t have enough stamina left to climb the mountain and eventually relented as he realised his hat is still stuck on the pillar.)

[baby-bearie]

take me home

(not my gif)

jj maybank x reader, rafe cameron x reader

taglist: @sunflowermotel @howdyherron @drew-starkey @maraseavey @outerbanqs @tinylatina01 @obx-direction-sos @yelyahryan @loveylangdon @obxwriterfan @avashroom @rewindlr @raekenliar @ceruleanjj @dolanfivsosxox @heyhargrove @lashtonandmalumsbaby @beautyandthebleh @pancahke @outrbank @kiarasflowr @corleigh @poguemacking @kristineee-obx @shawnssongs @thorsangel @daniel9seavey9 @hopefultrashforanythingreally @pixelated-pogues @dpaccione @thatshiscigar @hesscott @damonsalvawhore @fanficscuziranout @trustfundparker @teamnick @becca-harlow @trashmouthpogues @rudys-pankow @ilovejjmaybank @tomzfrog @arthriticcrickets @midnightmagicmusings @outerbankslove @justawilddreamerchild @jjandreidsgirl @apoguecalledjj @lilmoviehoe @bellaguarneri @harrys-creature @nivky0-0 @ijustreallylovethem

a/n: well well well i’m trying a short series for the first time! it’s a fake dating trope, because i just read the to all the boys i’ve loved before series and now i’m a sucker for fake dating. i don’t think there’ll be too many parts, i’ll fit plenty into each chapter. i really hope you like these. 

Rafe Cameron loves to get on your nerves. He’ll watch you squirm as he hits on you everytime you swing by the Cameron residence, and he has admitted to your face that he enjoys it. You don’t see the appeal. You do, however, see the appeal in smacking his creepy sneer off his face. 

But you’re almost 100% sure that would turn him on. 

It doesn’t help that you’ve known Rafe since before you were potty trained, and it sure as hell isn’t helping that the boy who shamelessly attempts to touch you whenever you’re near him is nothing like the boy who used to pick flowers for you and sit with you while you braided them into flower crowns. It doesn’t help that you loved him first. Long before he changed, morphed into a boy you would give anything to be far, far away from. You can’t be near him, it makes your heart break all over again.

All over again, you experience the pain of when he stopped smiling at you in the hallways in the beginning of freshman year. All of the pain of that midnight call from Sarah, telling you she found Rafe unconscious on the bathroom floor with the coke still on his nose, and she didn’t know what to do. All of that pain, every time you have to see a boy you thought you once knew. 

Rafe always had it the worst. Out of all the kooks in your little group: you, Rafe, Kie, Sarah and occasionally Topper, Rafe had always had it the worst. 

Finances were never one of your problems, but when you live on Figure 8, you find there’s a lot more to be worried about than cocktail parties and marble foyers. The dream image that families like the Cameron’s or the Thornton’s have up of the perfect, kook family is just that.

A dream. Part of the Cameron’s intimidation and rule over this side of the island comes from the twisted stories ladies in stilettos will whisper about at parties. 

Girls like you and Sarah, boys like Topper, they do alright. They hold up under scrutinization, under haughty, judging stares. People like Rafe crack. 

People that were like Rafe crack. They break, and the shards of who they used to be reassemble into something new. People that were like Rafe turn into who he is now. 

Rafe Cameron loves watching you squirm. That’s what he’s doing today, whistling at you as you lift a hand to block out the sun, hiking across the lawn to where Sarah is lounging. 

“Looking good, Y/l/n!” He cups his hands around his mouth. You flip him off in response, almost as if it’s second nature. He salutes you back. 

“Sarah!” You call out, trying not to trip over floppy $70 sandals as you stand over her chaise, casting a shadow over her. 

“Bitch, move, you’re blocking the sun.” She swatted a hand at you. 

“I have a proposition.” You settled your hands on your hips, sticking your elbows out. Sarah groaned, lifting her sunglasses up into her hair and propping herself up on her elbows. 

“Nothing good has ever happened any time you started with that line.” “It gets you to listen, doesn’t it?” You sat near her legs. She sighed. 

“Okay, shoot.” “Yes, okay, so there’s this party tonight, and I really, really need someone to go with me.” You began hesitantly. 

“That’s all? Yeah, I’m free tonight- “That’s not all.” You winced. “It’s not exactly, like, a kook party?” 

Sarah frowned. “What does that mean?” “I guess you could say it’s kind of the opposite of a kook party.” 

Her eyes widened. “It’s a pogue party? You want us to go to a pogue party?” “Not all of us! Just me and you! The boys will never find out.” “Why do you want to go so bad, anyways?” 

“I was,” you paused, searching for the right word, “invited.” “Invited?” “I promised someone I’d be there. And I also promised you’d be with me.” You boop her nose. 

Sarah sat up fully, swinging her legs over the chaise so she was sitting next to you. 

“I’ll go with you,” she flicks you when you cheer, “but I have a few conditions.” 

You nod dutifully. “Yes. Anything. I accept.” “Okay, first, Rafe and Topper, and subsequently Kelce, will never hear about this. Topper will die of shame, and I think Rafe will disown me.” “I don’t think you can disown your sibling.” “Well, then, he’ll be super disappointed. In both of us. He likes you more than he likes me.” “I’d be glad to get your brother to like me a little bit less. Maybe I could walk in your house without being catcalled. Sorry. No offense.” 

“None taken. I don’t like him either.” Sarah shoves your shoulder with hers. “Do you promise?” She sticks out a thumb towards you.

It’s a tradition you’ve kept since you were in the 6th grade, when Rafe decided the pinky promises you made were too childish for middle school and rallied the boys into teasing anyone who made them. Thumby promises were your escape. 

You hold up your thumb but hesitate to link it with hers, pulling it back at the last second. “Here’s the thing, I won’t tell anyone anything, but I can’t promise someone at the party won’t tell them. Also, what if they just show up? They go to these all the time.”  

Sarah shrugs. “Well, if they show up, then they can’t really be mad at us for being there. Okay, just promise you won’t tell them.” She shakes her thumb at you again, and this time you hook yours into it. 

“Promise. What are your other conditions?” “Right, the second is I get to borrow your pink bikini next time we go to the beach.” “Done.” “And lastly, you have to tell me who you promised.”

“What?” You blink at her. “You said you promised someone that we would be there. Who? Was it that one boy? The Maybank boy? Oh, what did we call him?” She scrunches her eyes shut to remember before she snaps. “Goldilocks!” 

Your cheeks flush red at her insinuation. Sarah might be the only person who knows about your 9th grade five-month-long obsession with JJ Maybank, sparked by your first kiss in a custodial closet. You wouldn’t go so far as to say you had loved him, but it was an intense crush. Sarah had dubbed him Goldilocks after his phase of weirdly long hair. It ended abruptly, you just forgot all about him. You don’t remember what made you forget. 

“No, no, of course not. Ew, Sarah.” You shook your head. “It was Kiara.” 

Sarah’s eyes furrowed. “Kiara? Why would she want us around?” 

“I guess she wants to make amends?” “Okay, maybe with you, but I can guarantee Kiara wasn’t asking you to bring me.” “Maybe so. But someone there was asking for you.” “No, Y/n, no, I’m still with Topper.” “Oh, come on! It’s so obvious you both have a thing for each other. He was asking if you’d come, what was I supposed to say?” “No!”

“Okay, well, you already promised that you’d come, and I met all of your conditions so you don’t really have a choice.” You tipped your head at Sarah. 

“Fuck you.” She muttered. “Alright, fine. I’ll pick you up at 10.” 

“Yes! Okay, bye, I’ll see you tonight!” You grabbed her before she could swat you away and kissed her cheek goodbye. You patted her cheek and rushed off. 

“What, no bye-bye kiss for me?” Rafe called to you. “Fuck off, Rafe.” 

When Sarah came, 30 minutes later than she was supposed to, you were waiting on the steps of your house. 

“Finally!” You yanked the car door open and crashed in the passenger seat. 

“Sorry!” She pulled out of the driveway. “Rafe was interrogating me while I was trying to leave.” 

“Just floor it, Kiara won’t stop texting me.” “Nothing interesting ever happens at a party before 11, anyways.” 

Sarah was wrong. 

The second you pull up to the kegger, the crowd surrounding Rafe is already very obvious. Sarah grabs your hand, hustling you to the front of the crowd. He’s tossing around in the sand, trying to pin down JJ Maybank. 

“How did he get here before us?” “Because you were half an hour late!” You can’t help but point out the obvious. 

“Just help me, okay?” Sarah times herself against their wrestling, charging forward to grab Rafe’s arm when he draws it back to deliver a blow to JJ. 

“Rafe, stop! Stop!” She shouts, and always right behind her, you put your palms on his chest and push him back. You look back at Kiara who is tugging away JJ, but he stumbles, startled. His jaw is clenched and as she pulls him, he glances at you.

In that one glance is a split second of recognition, shock and confusion, before the moment passes and he’s forgotten you again. Closely followed by a medley of angry shouts and shoving from his friends. “Fucking kooks.” He mutters. 

You turn back to Rafe, who is ready to explode on Sarah. “What the hell are you doing here?” “What the hell are you doing here, Rafe? At least we were invited!” 

You’ve heard this conversation at least a hundred times, and you know how it ends. Bored of it already, you wipe your red cheeks and leave them to argue. 

This night has gone to shit and you haven’t even talked to Kiara yet. You’ve collapsed on a log to watch the waves crash and pull back when he sits next to you.

“Y/n Y/l/n. Well, damn. It’s been a while.” “A while? Try 2 years.” 

JJ scoffs. “Yeah, and who’s fault is that?” 

That shuts you up.

You’ve questioned yourself for two years about JJ. It was a short-lived story, but one full of young love, peeking glances and shy conversations. It was sweet and careless, and you believe something in your brain is blocking out the reasons it ended. 

The reasons you ignored him in the hallway the same way Rafe ignored you. 

The one thing you can’t block out is the lingering feeling. The warm, fuzzy butterflies of those small smiles and stuttered sentences. You feel them again when anyone brings him up. You felt them when Sarah guessed that he invited you here. 

Maybe you wished he did. 

You feel them now as you look at him up close for the first time in forever. And they’re stronger. 

The butterflies are stronger than they used to be. 

And that is how you stop questioning yourself, that is how you know that some part of your heart will always belong to JJ Maybank. 

You press your lips together and stare at him for a second longer. 

“Stop looking at me like that.” He ends your moment of bliss earlier than you had hoped. 

“Like what?” “Like you don’t recognize me. Like you don’t know me.” 

You sniff. “JJ, I don’t think I do.” 

JJ kicks the sand under his feet.

“That’s bullshit. You know me.” “I knew you. I knew 14 year old you.” You correct him. 

“Have I really changed that much?” He laughs.

 “You have, you know?” He keeps going when you say nothing. “I had such a big fucking thing for you, god.”

“Yeah, it was mutual.” “I know!” He exclaims, excited, then tries again, softer. “I know.” 

“And then, you just ditched me.” He says abruptly. 

“That’s not what- “That’s exactly what happened!” He interrupts, turning to look at you with wide eyes. 

“You just cut me out of your life. What, did you outgrow a pogue? Only rich boys are good enough for the kook princess?” His tone gets more and more aggressive. 

“I’m telling you, that is not how it happened.” You insist. 

“Okay, you know what, okay,” JJ turns towards you, scratching his head. “So, if that’s not what happened, then what was it? Because it hurt, Y/n. It hurt so fucking bad.” 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” “I don’t need an apology, I want to know what I did. Why did you stop wanting to be around me?”

The questions brings your racing mind to a full stop. You had been praying he wouldn’t ask. 

You don’t have an answer for him. 

“I don’t- I genuinely don’t know, JJ. It just stopped, okay?” “That’s more BS. Things just don’t end. I get it now. I get what happened. I get your reasons.” He begins nodding. 

JJ looks up then, and his face tightens, jaw clenching the same way it did after the fight. 

“And one of those reasons is walking this way.” 

You turn to see what he’s looking at, and Rafe Cameron is stumbling towards you two. You turn to ask JJ what that means, when Rafe grabs your shoulder and nearly flings you back around to look at him. You can smell the beer on his breath. 

“Y/n, what are you doing with this guy? I’ve been looking for you all night!” He grabs your wrist. “C’mon, we’re going.” He slurs, trying to drag you away. 

“Rafe, stop!” You pull back your wrist, stunning him for a second. “I’m not going with you. Tell Sarah I’ll get a ride with Kiara.” 

He tightens his grasp on you. “To what, spend more time with this asshole? Let’s go.” He growls. 

“Let go of me, I’m not coming with you!” You use your other hand to try and force Rafe’s grip off your wrist. “I’m sick of this, Rafe!” You finally push him off of you and he stumbles back, sobering up a little. 

“I’m so sick of this!” You stumble over your words. “You’re scaring me! Who the hell are you, Rafe? Who are you?” You pull the loose hair that the wind has blown over your face out of the way. “Don’t- don’t touch me. I’m not coming with you. Don’t touch me.” 

You can’t tell if Rafe is sober right now or not, but you pray he’s not. If he’s high, then maybe he’ll forget what you just said to him. If he’s high, maybe  the next time you have to see him, you won’t have to see the wounded look he gives you now. “Y/n,” he starts towards you, but he doesn’t reach for you. His eyes are sad when he speaks again. “I’m sorry.” 

He reaches for you now. “I’m sor-”She said don’t touch her.” 

JJ has steps in front of you as you scramble back, effectively blocking you from Rafe. 

“Get out of the way, Maybank.” “She said don’t touch her. She won’t be going with you, so you can leave now. Head on out, cowboy.” JJ gives him a fake smile, one you can hear in his voice. 

“This doesn’t concern you, pogue.” Rafe spits. 

“Go home, Rafe.” Your voice comes out strong. You try to move around JJ, but he uses his arm to keep you tucked behind him. 

“What, you’re protecting pogues now, Y/n? What is this, is he your boyfriend or something?” Rafe snickers. 

JJ glances back at you before he turns to Rafe and confidently says, “Yeah. I am.” 

Your eyes grow to the size of saucers, mimicking Rafe’s expression. 

“What the fuck?” Rafe mumbles. 

“Yeah, so why don’t you leave now. I’ll be taking Y/n home.” JJ’s voice is stone cold. 

“Y/n, is this true? Are you dating this fucker?” Rafe jabs a finger in JJ’s chest, staring him down but speaking to you. The hand JJ is using to keep you back moves up to pinch your side when you glance at him. 

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s true.” 

Rafe laughs slowly, one of disbelief. “Jesus Christ, Y/l/n. You know what, you deserve each other.” He backs away slowly, then turns and storms out of sight. 

JJ turns around and his mouth opens and closes, but he says nothing. 

“Y/n, I’m sorry, I just wanted him to leave you alone without starting something, I’m- “It’s fine, Maybank.” You run a hand through your hair. 

“It’s fine, just. Just take me home.” 

[thesoundofanicefall]

Hello, I'm Sebastian.

It's been a while since the last time I asked you a question, hope you have a good first week of November.

I just finished reading chapter 108, even though I'm not a YuuMika shipper or a fan of the two of them, this is an interesting chapter for me, especially with the appearance of the Seraphs.

I feel stupid asking this question, because there is only 1 chapter per month and there are 108 chapters, sometimes I can't remember the contents of the chapters clearly.

First: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THREE SERAPH APPEARS IN THIS CHAPTER? When I read the spoiler I was wondering who those Seraphs are, what is their purpose, I was explained by a OnS fan that "they are the ones from Yuu (the King of Salt), Yoichi and Kimizuki. The other four seraphs were already defeated, that's why they had those keys they used to seal Shikama in the first place", but I don't think so. As far as I remember, only 2 Seraphs were defeated (Kimizuki's sister Mirai and Seraph holds the 6th trumpet, there's still one more key but I forgot where it came from), so there are 4 more Seraphs, and the purpose of the three Seraphs appearing in this chapter 108 is to punish the fallen angel Shikama, of course, (in a word secretly, from the bottom of my heart I hope Kagami sensei will give a plot twist about Shinya being related to Seraph, he's been a side character for too long, and Shinya's revival is too questionable, I hope Kagami-sensei doesn't forget this)

Second: DO YOU THINK SHIKAMA HAS BEEN BEEN SO EASY? After all, he's been around for thousands of years, from the beginning Shikama has been described as a mighty demon, a monster but he was easily wounded by teenage children, easily affected by a dose of poison, and now he was trapped in a cage created by Urd. I don't believe Shikama let himself be locked up so easily, I think he will have some plans in the next chapters.

Regarding my feelings towards Shikama, at first when he appeared in chapter 57 I became his fan, but more and more I find him annoying like Mahiru (sorry Mahiru fans). His words and his actions contradict each other, Shikama keeps saying how much he loves his children but he makes them miserable, he is irresponsible by abandoning his vampires created just because they weren't what he wanted (and the funny thing is that Rigr aka Saito did the same thing as his father and now he says he wants revenge 😂, I feel hurt for Ferid).

That's it, it's a bit long but thanks for reading this far. I look forward to receiving your reply. I wish you have a good day.

P/s: The first time you answered my question, one user said that my name reminds them of Sebastian Michelis in Black Butler, I also like Sebby (that right 😚 the fandom in my country calls him it's Sebby), but actually my name is from the male character in the movie The spy who dumped me, what a handsome man 😚

Hello again Sebas chan! Thanks I hope the same for you too!

Ok! Let's start answering your questions ;))

1- I think I had kinda talked about this before but I think those three ones are the REAL archangels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.

If I want to explain easily, Shikama doji who was a seraph himself before too (we saw how those angels called his the fallen angel and so it was proved that he is that fallen angel one, Lucifer, finally) but then he fell from heaven as he broke a taboo which I think his very first taboo was creating his son, Mikaela, who was a taboo for reasons we still don't know and need to wait for its answer soon, then after Shikama fell from heaven he started to creat his own,FAKE, angels with using humans as his guinea pigs (about the fake seraphs who are HUMANS has the sinful keys inside of themselves please read this post of mine:

) so yeah those 3 angels are REAL angels and the other seraphs we saw till now were all the FAKE ones Shikama was using them and whenever he didn't have anything more to do with them he was going to easily get rid of them just like how he wanted to kill Mirai on chapter 81.

2- No I really don't think so dear.

He ruined many lives, destroyed the world (the catastrophe was his plan), brought many sadness and all you can find them in this post of mine here again:

So no humanity literally fucked till they could finally stop him so I really don't think it was easy! Like more than 90% of the population were killed because of him so that was easy?! lol

And yeah Shikama was and is nothing more than devil he just recieved what he deserved so I really don't feel bad for him even a bit! I am more exciting about the information he will finally tell us soon😆😆

And he has plan? No I really don't think so actually dear that was the end of him this chapter and now we need to wait and see what are his answers so the characters will try to help him (!) or try to find a way to get rid both of him and the heaven's punishment (the second one is more possible)

So yeah these are my answers hope they were helpful!

Oh and if you don't like me to call you as Sebas chan please just tell me ;))

Thanks for your trust to ask your questions of me ^^💖

[hopeymchope]

How would you rank the 18 Class Trials from THH, DR2, and V3 from worst to best?

This is... virtually impossible for me, lol. Comparing the trials from each game to each other?

How about I just rank them within each game? That'll make it a little easier for me to deal with...

DR1

6) 5th. It's driven by lies and ultimately rushed to its end before the characters can draw any solid (pointless/meaningless) conclusions. So of course it's last for this game, and it’s probably last for the entire series as well. If there are any saving graces to this trial, it’s the surprise when your closest ally is willing to let our protagonist die... and that this trial contains the fake/bad ending route.

5) 3rd. Although the main culprit is pretty obvious from the jump, it requires some surprising twists to explain how everything got to be the way it turned out. But did I always find those twists plausible? Errrrm... not really. 

4) 2nd. Pretty good trial that's hurt for me by the fact that there'd barely be any need for a trial at all if a certain third party didn't dick around with the evidence for no reason. Also, the dual nature of Toko is an incredibly predictable reveal. Without those two aspects dragging it down, though, this could easily go higher.

3) 1st. Sure, the major hint given and, subsequently, the eventual culprit are pretty obvious, but this one establishes so much about how the trials work and how much the details you observe will matter that it’s still pretty fun that first time around. The initial surprise of the first victim makes for a great way to keep you invested in the trial experience. This trial is damn near iconic now, so it feels almost mandatory to respect it.

2) 6th. DR1 still has the best "final trial,” easily. SO MANY great reveals, and they all totally work for me. Nothing rings false or disappointing, and it also features Makoto finally coming into his own and taking the lead. I nearly labeled this my top pick for DR1, but...

1) 4th. It's easily the most emotionally dramatic/satisfying for me, and there’s something weirdly inspirational for me about Hina’s incredibly harsh stance during it. This one GOT ME IN THE FEELS, and in part that was because I saw so little of it coming. After the more predictable elements of the first and third trials, this felt like the writing was firing on all cylinders. 

DR2

6) 2nd. You have to accept a couple leaps of logic to make this trial keep flowing, and the fact that trial is ultimately reliant on someone noticing a candy that’s very small and hard to see while the person is also in a stressful situation and they are groggy from being drugged/asleep and it necessitates the person retaining this seemingly useless detail inside their brain .... that’s always bugged me.  The “escape route” conversation even retroactively raises questions about the first trial. Oof. On the upside, the reveals it brought us about Fuyuhiko and Peko were incredibly important, satisfying, and legit surprising turns. And it’s pretty cool how it’s basically a two-for-one combo trial because you have to solve the Twilight Syndrome case before you solve the current case. 

5) 3rd. Other people have pointed out the leaps of logic and missing pieces of this trial, but at the same time, the candlelight hanging is so intense and the ultimate reveal of the culprit is such a brutal turn that I have to give it some props. The culprit’s primary plan is ultimately one of the most ingenious in the series, IMO, and definitely one of the most twisted/fucked-up, which earns it some points. 

4) 4th. This is probably the single murder case in the franchise that I understood the absolute least about when entering the trial, for better or worse. On the one hand, that made it really fun to see the mystery gradually unfurl, but on the other hand, it made it tough for me to provide the right answers at certain points in the trial, leaving me fumbling. A big part of those issues was how it was initially hard for me to wrap my head around the nature of the funhouse via the provided 2D graphics... but once I eventually got there, I had to respect the creativity that went into devising such a “weapon.” Also, it can be hard to tolerate Komaeda in this trial. He’s even more of a know-it-all-but-reveal-none-of-it jackass than ever before, and his turn towards overt cruelty towards the others (and Hajime in particular) left me raging. The culprit reveal is good, but the motive does beg the question of why he didn’t just come forward from the jump.

3) 6th. There are a lot of great reveals in the final trial that totally reframe how you see the characters, and some of them are deliciously twisted. There’s also a ton of great dialogue provided, and in retrospect, it’s actually sort of neat to have one endgame mastermind reveal in this franchise that doesn’t involve the “They were hiding among us this whole time” trope. All that plus the surprise return of our surviving heroes from the first game! However, this is also where they officially reveal a core element of DR2 and its setting that I've never liked. This knocks the trial down a few pegs for me. Of course, by the time you reach the trial, I'm sure 99% of players have already figured that particular "twist" out. There’s adequate evidence to predict it in the first freaking chapter, and I know this because I DID predict it in the first chapter of my initial playthrough... which further hurts the supposed “reveal” of the island’s true nature when it comes around. 

2) 1st. Probably my favorite of the “first trials,” there are lot of components that go into this one. There’s a combination of two premeditated killers plus one spur-of-the-moment accidental victim, there’s a satisfying (though admittedly maybe too easy) reveal of the killer being one of the most unpleasant people to be around during the first chapter, and I really dig how audio became a very important component of the mystery due to the total blackout. This is also the part of the game where we learn just how twisted Komaeda really is, which is HUGE both in terms of its immediate shock factor for a total newcomer and in terms of its impact on the game as a whole. Of course, since it’s a “first trial,” it can’t be too complicated... but they still manage to confuse so many of us with “MEAT ON THE BONE” :P

1) 5th. Again, I will almost always give the most emotionally intense one the top slot. The “traitor reveal” is obviously THAT MOMENT in DR2. I also love how this one used the strange internal logic established early in the game RE: Komaeda’s luck to develop the eventual solution. And forcing us to make use of evidence gathered in multiple locations outside of the immediate site of the body/murder? That more complexity of that type that I see relevant to a trial, the more I appreciate it, and this one has loads of that stuff. Although I guess the investigation isn’t technically part of the trial itself... but it’s still very relevant to it. 

DRV3

6) 4th. I found this whole trial to be just... extremely predictable. Maybe it’s because I was so far into the series that I’d gotten used to its tricks by this point, but this was the most predictable trial for me since the first one in the first game. The whole looping/rollover map setup of the VR? Obvious. The murder weapon? Obvious. Our culprit’s ongoing confusion at everything discussed? Obvious. There were only a couple of points I didn’t have already figured out when I walked into the trial room, and those turned out to be basically irrelevant (such as the bottle of poison). The eventual motive is at least a surprise, but I also found it hard to accept that this culprit would really kill people over it. Overall: Super lame. 

5) 3rd. Another double murder trial, and once again one murder overshadows the other. The séance murder is definitely clever. Sure, you know the culprit pretty early on, but the methodology is the good part. However, the real fascinating one for me is the art lab “locked room” murder. Going into the trial, I couldn’t fathom how they were going to explain that one, and I found the answer both smart and satisfying. It’s funny to imagine how many times the culprit had to try that stunt with the lock before it actually worked, heh. This is probably the best of the three “double murder” mysteries in the series, but the trial isn’t as emotionally affecting as the 3rd trial in DR2 to me. Moreover, the trial loses points for the most infuriating Hangman’s Gambit of the series and especially for the motive reveal. When the killer’s motive can be boiled down to “they’re basically just a psycho serial killer,” it’s not very interesting.

4) 6th. The first part of the trial, which deals with re-assessing the first case? It’s pretty damn on-point. That leads to the mastermind reveal, which... isn’t great, really. It’s not a terribly interesting character to make the mastermind, they have no interesting motives or characterization to unevil, and they’re ultimately just a pawn behind another, off-screen group of masterminds. But then things get uproariously funny to me. The metatextual stuff is just so goddamn ridiculous. It’s frustrating and annoying how much of our not-mastermind’s explanation is clearly full of lies and half-truths that we’ll never have complete answers on, but that’s also part of what makes it all fascinating. We get to swap protagonists like four times! There’s a fake-out Game Over! These are really cool things. But it all leads down the road of our protagonist arguing that fiction does affect reality (yes, good), that fictional people can still matter (definitely) and that... fictional lives are equal in value to real ones? Uhhhhh slow down there, champ. That only works for YOUR universe, where fictional people can be made out of living, breathing individuals. But in light of the metatextual stuff you’re surrounded by, you kinda sound silly AF right now?

3)  2nd. Look, this is still incredibly irritating to me. Also, if you go down the alternate “lying” route at one point, you are forced to accept that these piranhas were somehow trained to only eat dead things, which is just... so deeply dumb.  But what is good is the entire ropeway conceit (which is a very significant part of the trial!) and the idea of the partition inside the tank. This was a murder with an elaborate, intelligent plan that is very well-executed. And the motive reveal? It’s one of the best in the series! I respect that stuff. (If I had the right to toss the execution in as part of the soup, I’d say that it’s also one of the series’ best. Let’s call it the icing on the cake.)

2) 1st. The writing that made this trial work is undeniably clever. The way the narration told us exactly what was happening without really telling us what was happening? It was a masterstroke of both great writing and perfect localization coming together. When it becomes clear during the trial what is about to happen, it’s a huge shock. The transition to another protagonist with the lights flickering out and back on is beautiful. Even the core concept of a protagonist who was willing to step up and try to kill the mastermind immediately is just deeply interesting. And obviously this one made my emotions run high. HOWEVER! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Kaede Akamatsu was a more interesting, unique, and compelling protagonist than Shuichi Saihara ever was. Ultimately, the protagonist-swap, no matter how well-written, was a mistake because they shifted us from a unique character with an interesting new perspective to a character who is, in many ways, “Makoto Naegi with even less self-esteem.” Yes, I know he has aspects that make him distinct as his own person, but there’s still just too much there that feels like we’ve done it before, and he never fully escapes from that. It feels like a massive waste and a huge missed opportunity to ditch Kaede like this. Now, if they had just done the protagonist swap in reverse — making us start out with Shuichi before flipping things over to Kaede — we could’ve had ourselves something amazing here.

1) 5th. I know I decided that I couldn’t rank all among each other, but if I did do that, I feel confident that the 5th trial in DRV3 would rank very high indeed. You go into the trial unable to even determine who the victim was due to the fact that two people are missing and there was nothing left of the body that spoke to an identity. Going into it, you naturally figure that one of the two missing parties has to be the victim and the other one is probably the culprit. But even with just two friggin’ suspects, the amount of turnabouts in the case that made me rethink all my assumptions was insane. Sure, the explanation for how the person inside the Exisal can maintain “character” is pretty damn thin, but once you get past that, I don’t think there’s a single false note in the trial. It even breaks unprecedented ground by continuing into another Non-Stop Debate after everyone has already voted. And of course, it culminates with a lot of intense emotion. Even the execution is emotionally satisfying! ..... although I’m not sure if I should count the execution as part of the trial, but hey, still. As far as Dangan trials go, the fifth one in DRV3 is basically a masterpiece.

[sanji-v]

Make it up to you

whew, this was fun to write. wanted to write something with my 2 favorite boys!! content warnings and info below :) pairing: sanji/reader/zoro rating: explicit word count: 2625 warnings: heavy nsfw, established poly relationship, porn with plot, double penetration

read on ao3:https://archiveofourown.org/works/32353600

nsfw under the cut

You laid down in bed with your boyfriends, listening to them bicker from either side of you. You weren’t completely sure what they were arguing about to be honest.

They do this every night, it seems. A little spat about something small, which turned into usually playful fighting.

“It was our last bottle Zoro, you didn’t even have the decency to share!”

“Yeah, well it’s not like I was gonna if there was more. Everyone knows the sake is mine anyways.”

Zoro was much less dedicated to this argument than Sanji.  This was a repeating issue between the two, that damn sake.

Both Sanji and Zoro knew that neither of them were gonna give up until they had the last word, both too stubborn to give in first.

“It’s called being courteous, moss head. Ever heard of it?”

Sanji had said the last words with a particular bite in his voice, one that made Zoro pissed.

“Oi, what’d you say curly-brow?”

Zoro had lifted his head up off the pillow, baring his teeth slightly to Sanji with a sneer.

“I said , moss head, that you could be more courteous. Are ya deaf now too?”

Sanji had too rose up from his more relaxed position to meet face to face with the man across from him, slightly leaning across you to do so.

Now that they were both head to head, right above, and both very pissed off, you knew this wasn’t gonna go well. For the next couple minutes you tuned out. The last thing you wanted at the end of a long day was hearing your boyfriends yell at each other over some sake.

You didn’t quite tune in again until they had gotten off the bed, positioning themselves in front of it. Zoro had walked to the other corner of the shared room, picking up one of his swords.

“I only need one to put you in yer place, you blond bastard.”

At the same time as Zoro grabbed his sword, Sanji kicked his shoes on.

“Oh yeah? I’m sure it’ll be real useful once I kick it out of your hand.”

Sanji expertly flicked his cigarette into the trash can, looking back to Zoro. Both of them had a glare in their eye.

They leaped toward each other, Zoro raising his sword to about shoulder length while Sanji moved his leg into 6th gear.

Well, they were , until you twisted your fists in either direction giving them both a firm punch in the face. Immediately they were knocked to their asses with a thump on the wooden floor. Both of them, like the idiots they are, started rubbing where their heads hit the floor.

In unison they said, “What the hell was that for?”

You sighed, barely able to comprehend how these 2 men you love can be this dumb sometimes.

“You two are being so god damn annoying right now, you know that? You don’t have to be up in arms at every minor inconvenience.”

Zoro and Sanji looked at each other guilty as you ranted at them. In the relationship you were always the mediator between your two big oafs. You all really loved each other, but those two got on each other's nerves more than they would like to admit.

In the middle of this rant Zoro and Sanji both seemed to hatch a scheme of their own. It was almost like they hadn’t needed to communicate; a quick nod sufficed. You’d lost your attention on the two men before they had hugged you from either side.

“You know we love you right?” Zoro had said into your ear.

Both men had their hands roaming your body-and to be honest, you didn’t know what to think. You three having sex all together wasn’t a particularly normal occurrence. What was even more unusual was the two of them initiating it together. They were both known for their stubbornness- really only liking to keep you to themselves and having sex with one another at later times.

But, it seems both were in the mood to take you at once. It wasn’t a surprise, you all were about due for this anyways. They seemed to be taking their time, letting their hands slip both in your pants and shirt which made it impossible not to let a groan out at. Zoro was more interested in nipping one side of your neck, which Sanji mirrored on the other side.

It was hard to tell who had their hands where, though if you had to guess, it was Sanji who was rubbing around your nipples. His affliction for breasts, no matter what gender, was incurable. Even when he wasn’t in the mood (which was not often) he often let himself use your chest as a pillow..with his face directly in them, of course.

Zoro on the other hand, was taking his time groping your ass. His hands had slowly slipped down from your hips, to slip down your pants. Just enough for him to gain access to your underwear, which were invaded by his rough hands. He had his one palming your ass, just enough to feel the curve in his hands. Both men (Sanji, moreso) were turned on easily and proof of that was rubbing against your legs.

They were both hard, prodding near your crotch, almost begging for access. Sanji was more excited to get into the meat of it, grinding up into you.

“Oi, swirly, why don’t give ‘em some room to breathe before you start actin’ like a horny teen?”

Sanji had lifted his lips from one side of your neck- his side of your neck- to growl at Zoro. He decided to take things into his own hands. Sanji grabbed you up from Zoro’s grip, tossing you onto bed. He was in that mood. The mood where he wanted to take complete control, making Zoro watch him take you mercilessly. It seemed though, that Zoro wasn’t gonna allow this to happen. He joined you both on the bed, allowing Sanji to start undressing you first.

All Sanji wanted access to was your nipples once again. He didn’t bother venturing to take your shorts off, leaving that job to Zoro. Sanji delved into your chest, immediately sucking and nipping where he could. Zoro was a blushing mess, perched on your other side. He wasn’t sure how to begin, not as shameless as the chef who was groaning as he sucked on your chest.

He was palming himself, watching you arch your back as Sanji worked on both parts of your chest. You both knew that Sanji was skilled with his mouth. Though, he let up on you for a second to speak to Zoro.

“I seem to be doing all the work, marimo. Come help me darling.”

Zoro was blushing like an idiot even more. Sanji’s romantic tendencies were showing. Without fail, Zoro positioned himself in between your legs. He threw off your shorts and underwear, not bothering with the teasing that Sanji loves to do.

With sex, Zoro was surprisingly more flustered then Sanji. He swallowed his pride, and went in, licking directly around your hole. It didn’t take long for him to go into you with his tongue. He expertly swished around, seeming to hit every nerve possible.

With the intrusion of his tongue, the feeling of Sanji teasing and sucking around your chest, the urge to twist and moan was unbearable. Zoro laid his one hand on your thigh, giving himself something to hold onto and to keep you down. He slid his other closer to his face, rubbing the area on your thigh nearest to your crotch.

His tongue popped out of you, an unwelcome feeling of emptiness made you groan. He  pushed himself up, stretching over Sanji to kiss you. The taste of yourself on Zoro’s tongue was strangely erotic. It was until he pushed 2 fingers into at once that you moaned into the kiss.

It wasn’t usual for them to prep you, as one took your mouth. Though the train of thought was interrupted by Sanji finally letting off your chest, leaning back a bit to take a look at his handiwork. Hickies had been left across your chest, some trailing down onto your stomach, where you hadn’t realized he had been.

Sanji looked over to Zoro’s fingers, working in and out of you at a fast rate.

“Are they ready yet, Zoro.” Sanji couldn’t seem to stay out of the action for more than a minute. He was slipping his shirt and pants off, ready to go before Zoro even answered.

Zoro sighed, looking over to Sanji who was twitching in his boxers. He would be lying if the sight of his two lovers ready to go wasn’t arousing. You laid underneath him taking his fingers, almost grinding against them. You were desperate for release, not caring to control your moans.

Sanji sat you up, making you positioned between him and Zoro. They both put their arms around you, lifting you slightly off the bed. You instinctively wrapped your legs around Sanji, who was on the front side of you.

“Eager to start, are we?” Sanji chuckled to himself after he said the sentence, Zoro grunting in agreement.

“Let’s not keep ‘em waiting then.” Zoro stated, pushing aside his boxers.

Sanji soon followed suit, their erections prodding on either side of you. He brought you into a kiss while Zoro started working on you with his fingers again, making you jump and moan into Sanji.

It wasn’t until now that you had realized what they were planning. Between Zoro now having 3 of his huge fucking fingers stretching out out farther then you’ve ever been.

It was an understatement to say you were nervous for both men to be inside you. They had taken care in making sure you were comfortable so far. Sanji was making out with you softly to ease the intrusion of Zoro’s fingers.

In the months the three of you have been dating, you’ve never attempted to take both of them at once in the same hole. Nor have you experimented sexually much.

Zoro seemed to be finally satisfied with the amount you stretched, signaling Sanji he was ready to go in.

Zoro went first. Zoro was the bigger of the two, and he was proportionate, To say the least. Even with how much he stretched you, the tip of his cock burned going in. Zoro grunted as he started pushing his length into you, making Sanji swoon even more.

You could feel your body shake with pleasure when Zoro was inside. He sat his face on your shoulder, struggling not to move. You felt so damn tight around him and the urge to start pounding into you was overwhelming.

Sanji stroked your hair, shushing you to ease the pain from Zoro being sheathed inside you. You could almost feel your body trying to wrap around Zoro, struggling to let him.

Along with your hair, Sanji was stroking himself. The sight before him of his lovers in such an intimate state, with himself about to join, was so erotic. He almost came from the sight of you shaking as Zoro pushed in.

Sanji decided it was time, spitting on his hand to rub into his cock a bit more. He had to shuffle a bit to get into position, sneaking his tip right to where Zoro’s balls were pushed up against your hole.

And fuck, it was good. The painful sting of both men stretching you farther and farther made you even more turned on then before. Sanji was louder than the other man when he pushed in, moaning loudly and gripping onto your shoulders for balance. Zoro had a steady grip on your hips.

Zoro was panting already, the feeling of Sanji rubbing against him and your tight heat was too much.  On the other hand, you felt you were short wiring. The sensations were hitting you all through your body, an attack on your senses.

The men on either side of you grunted at any movement, you were tight. You couldn’t help but let your head hang back onto Zoro’s shoulder, exposing your neck to Sanji.

He didn’t waste any time attacking your neck, starting to move slightly inside you. Zoro took this as a sign to go, moving out a bit, and slamming back in roughly.

That simple movement sent you spirling, leaning back further and letting out a loud moan. Zoro grinned and took the chance to start at a slow but hard pace, which Sanji adopted as well.

Zoro had now fully bit into your shoulder, panting and fucking growling when he slammed into you, leaving you trembling. Sanji was shaking, struggling to match Zoro’s pace. His masturbating beforehand had left him sensitive, and every sensation was overwhelming.

Sanji whimpered, pushing into you farther with each thrust, which felt impossible. Your brain was complete mush, you couldn’t process if your boyfriends were asking you questions. All you felt was pure unadulterated pleasure.

It was hard to tell when you came for the first time. It might’ve been when Sanji dipped back down to your chest, continuing his ministrations from earlier.

Or, it might have been when Zoro clawed your stomach with him struggling to hold onto you.

Either way, you came. And hard. They both couldn’t believe how much you spasmed, legs just shaking as you fucking drooled . And they kept fucking you through it, watching your eyes roll back into your eyes mindlessly.

Sanji was the first to come, burying his face into your chest where he loves it the most. Zoro wasn’t too far from him. The sensation of Sanji’s cum covering the tip of his cock, the cock that was still inside you, threw him over the edge. At some point during this mess, you had come again, completely shutting yourself into your mind. No coherent sentence could be made from you, just shuttering cries and moans.

Zoro and Sanji had slowed their thrusts to a stop. Still sheathed inside you, they panted, smiling to each other. You, though, were a complete mess. They had lowered off their cocks, an indecent pop signaling that.

After laying you down on your bed, they looked at the sight before them. You had both their cum, slightly different looking fluids, just leaking from you. The sight was arousing to say the least, though both men had the kindness to keep their little soldiers down after that. You were also..completely passed out. Zoro and Sanji did the work of cleaning you up, dressing you in fresh clothes. They had always been mindful of each other and you after sex. It was honestly something you hadn’t expected from the men at first, both being rash and stubborn.

Once again, they both let themselves lay down on the bed next to you, much like what they were doing before.

“Sanji, get the lights, will ya?”

Sanji looked over to his boyfriend, of course not bothering to get a new shirt or pants on, sleeping in only his boxers. He had already made himself comfortable, cuddling you. Zoro’s arms were wrapped around you, nuzzling his head into the crook of your neck.

“...Yeah.”

Sanji walked over to the lamp which was the only light source in the room. Pulling the string and turning it off, the only way to see his 2 lovers was by the moonlight that shone through the windows.

He too nestled himself into bed, wrapping his arms similarly around you. Though his face fell on your chest, of course.

“G’night, marimo. Love ya.”

It was almost as if you could hear Zoro blush at Sanji’s goodnight.

“Night..love you, shitty chef.”

[dot-adsty]

For the HPRomione Discord Popcorn, @acnelli gave me the prompt "flying higher than ever before." I tag @jamezbot with the prompt "do you remember, the 21st night of September?"

This drabble takes place during the summer of 6th year, right before the Order goes to rescue Harry. It is rated G.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flying Higher Than Ever Before

For the first time, Ron was glad not to be included in the Order’s meeting. It was rare, now, that he was excluded from an Order meeting, since he was of age and about to join them on a mission to rescue his best mate from his insufferable relatives. Typically, during the rare times he was excluded, he would complain and moan and try to force his way in. But today, he didn’t care that only the “more senior” members were meeting. It meant that he could get his mum off of his back and take a much needed break from cleaning the burrow. It also meant that he could finally, finally, talk to Hermione.

His mum was doing everything in her power to keep them apart. Which was tough–they needed to talk about their plans (which he was sure Hermione had many of). But more importantly, they just needed to talk. The last time they were alone was the night she arrived at the burrow. She had been in a right state, sobbing to Ron about what she had done to her parents. He did his best to comfort her, though he had to admit he wasn’t yet comfortable around crying people.

He definitely could have done better. He was doing alright with comforting her, but when she needed a tissue, all he could offer her was his sleeve. He had made a mental note to buy a handkerchief for her—for the next time. But there hadn’t been a next time. Instead, they were forced to do an ungodly amount of cleaning tasks alone. But now was his chance, and he was determined to let her know that he was there for her—that he could do better.

He quietly searched the burrow, looking for Hermione as quickly as he could so that they could spend the most amount of time together. But he couldn’t find her. Fear hit him deep in his gut, but he shook it off, deciding to search the grounds before letting panic overtake him.

He had checked the garden, the shed, and the perimeter of his house, panicking more with each step that he didn’t find her. He had one last idea of where she could be—one last hope—and thankfully he was correct.

He couldn’t remember which summer Hermione had found him in his secret spot in the grove of trees behind the burrow. He couldn’t even remember why he was there that evening, though it probably had something to do with the twins picking on him. But he could remember her face when she saw him. It was one of relief and of excitement, likely mirrored in his expression upon finally finding her right now.

Initially, at the time, he had been a bit peeved that she had discovered his secret place. It was secret after all. But he quickly changed his mind, and the spot became one they would sneak away to together. Not to do anything inappropriate, mind. But just to be together, to decompress from a tough day or worry about what Harry had gotten himself into, once again.

“Trying to skive out of housework?”, Ron asked Hermione jokingly. She jumped at his voice, not aware that he was there, but offered him a small smile as soon as she noticed him. Ron knew that smile, and he knew that it was not genuine. Concerned, he sat next to her.

She had made a spot for herself where she had a view of the land, the trees parting and the small hill they were on dipping into the abyss. If he hadn’t known better, he would say she looked peaceful, her curls blowing slightly in the wind as she looked on to the sunset.

He placed a hand cautiously onto her shoulder, not sure if it was the right action to take. She immediately burst into tears, making him even less sure of his move. At least he had a handkerchief this time. He silently offered it to her and she loudly blew her nose before placing herself closer into his arms to the point that she was nearly in his lap. Maybe he had done the right thing.

Out of nowhere, she began listing off all of the things that frightened her. She started with her parents and the fear that she would never see them again. In between hiccups, she moved onto Harry and the fear that they wouldn’t be able to protect him; that they wouldn’t be able to destroy all of the Horcruxes and it would all be for nought. Eventually, she landed on their upcoming mission. They still didn’t have the exact details of their mission but they knew they would be polyjuicing into Harry as a decoy and flying to a safe house. She was terrified that something would go wrong. Even more so, she was terrified of having to fly especially with the possibility of needing to fight whilst doing so.

At her last comment, Ron nearly laughed. Not that there was anything humorous about what she said. But after hearing her fears about loads of things he could do nothing about, she finally mentioned one he could. He immediately stood and took her hand.

“What?”, Hermione asked, looking perplexed.

“We can practice,” Ron stated confidently.

“Practice what?”, she asked, looking even more confused, but standing up nevertheless.

“You said you’re worried about flying and using your wand; we can practice that.” Hermione's eyes went wide. “It’s really not that bad,” he reassured, “and like you always say; practice makes perfect.”

She still looked unsure, but nodded hesitantly, not able to find a way to say no. He had finally found a way to convince her to do something; by using her logic against her.

Ron nearly skipped to their shed, finally feeling like he was useful. They tip-toed to the brooms, in case the Order meeting had finished, though there was no sign of them when Ron grabbed his broom. He mounted it and motioned for Hermione to sit in front of him.

She sighed heavily but did as he suggested. He wrapped one arm around her while placing the other on the broom handle in front of her.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered in her ear. Even with the sun setting and the light low, he could make out the goose pimples that ran down her neck when he whispered. Because of their position, he was pushed up against her back. The closeness made his stomach twist, but again he tried to quiet his body’s reactions, telling himself that he was only this close to her to help her feel safe, not for any other more nefarious reasons.

As he kicked off, she squealed, quickly putting her hand to her mouth to quiet herself, then just as quickly putting that hand back on the broom, terrified that she had let go in the first place. He brought her past the trees and out of sight. He kept going higher but evened out as he noticed her hands squeezing the broom tighter with every foot he lifted them.

“This alright?”, he asked and she carefully nodded her head as if any sudden movements would bring them crashing down.

“It’s okay,” he reassured. “I won’t let you fall.”

She nodded her head again, only a fraction of a bit more enthusiastically. He could feel her start to shake and he tightened his grip around her waist.

“You said you wanted to practice using your wand while flying,” Ron said. “You’ll have to let go with one hand to do that.”

Even though Ron could not see her face he could feel the death glare she made at his suggestion.

“I know,” she said tightly. Shaking, she gingerly peeled her right hand off of the broom and reached for her wand in her sleeve. She slowly began to wave it, pretending to cast spells.

“Good,” Ron said. “See it’s not so bad.” He swore he could hear her almost growl at his comment.

With a cheeky smile he added: “If you really want to be prepared, we should be moving, not just hovering.”

He felt her sigh and took that as permission to go. He slowly began moving them around, making soft turns at first and then beginning to make sharper ones.

At a particularly sharp turn, Hermione began to lose her balance and instinctively grasped his arm around her. As he slowed, she continued to hold on to him, ignoring the pretence of pretending to use magic.

“I hate this,” she said softly.

“I know,” Ron replied as sympathetically as he could. “Do you want to land?”

“No,” she said, much to Ron's surprise. “I need to keep practising.”

“Okay,” Ron said and he began to move again. Hermione began to do small spells, including one which evaporated a cloud, a spell Ron had never seen and told her how impressive it was. His comment seemed to give her some confidence and she began to cast spells with more ease. They kept at it, with Ron manoeuvring them while Hermione did magic and the two of them randomly bursting into laughter at the absurdity of it all. But, all too quickly, the sun had set and they were surrounded by darkness. Ron slowly descended them, not thinking about dealing with his mother’s wrath towards them for disappearing but instead basking in Hermione's expression, one which had been fearful but now was pleased; she was smiling. Smiling because of something he had done.

[another-aspiring-writer]

WIJ Day 6: Mistake

@whumpmasinjuly

I didn’t think I would get this finished before the 6th was over, but somehow I did! Yay! I’ve been wanting to start a new story, and this was the perfect intro.

CW: temporary character death (it’ll get explained later), various injuries

Enjoy!

~~~

The door to the room slammed open, “Astra, get up. We’ve gotta get out of here. They’ve found us.”

Astra looked up in confusion, a shirt half-folded in her hands, “What? How?”

“I don’t know, but we have to go right now. Leave the laundry,” Tara was a mess, her shirt inside out and long, white hair half braided. She rushed across the room, ripping the shirt out of Astra’s hands before dragging her out the door at the other side of the room.

There was an explosion in the distance, shaking the rusted pipes in the hallways of the abandoned mining facility they’d been hiding in. Astra raised her hands to protect her head from the dust and debris raining down from the ceiling and sprinted after Tara. They rounded a corner, nearly colliding with another person. Tara raised her fist to strike, but at the last moment Astra recognized the person and grabbed Tara’s hand.

“Ro? What’s going on?” She asked, “I thought you said this place was safe.”

Ro shook her head, “We said this should be safe, but we must’ve made a mistake.” There was dark blue blood dripping down her face, nearly imperceptible against her already dark purple skin in the dimly lit hallway. “I don’t think I’ve been followed, but I had to kill a couple of them back there. Hayden’s getting Ciaran and Pierce out and I came looking for you two. We’re supposed to meet up a few klicks away from here. Come on,”She started off in the direction they had come from, not waiting to see if they would follow.

“What about Jasper?” Tara asked as they turned a corner.

“Who do you think set off that explosion? Don’t worry, he’s coming. We can’t let the comedic relief—”

Ro collapsed to the metal floor with a loud thud. Astra tumbled to the ground with a scream a moment later as pain flared through her leg.

“Damn, I didn’t expect them to get to the others so quickly,” Tara reached down to help Astra to her feet, glancing at Ro. “Hayden must’ve taken a headshot for Rowan to be down just like that. They got Ciaran too, didn’t they? My brother’s never been good at sneaking out of places. Can you walk on your own?”

Astra tested putting weight on her leg, earning another sharp flare of pain in response. She shook her head, leaning against Tara as they moved down the hall, their progress much slower now. “I’m still not getting used to the whole ‘you share each other’s pain’ part of this. At least Pierce is alright because you seem okay.”

“I must be a great actor then,” Tara laughed before hissing in pain. “Nope, they got him too — in the stomach,” she groaned, clutching her abdomen as they pushed forward, “Dumbass must be talking back to them because it feels like he keeps being kicked. Listen, I’m going to get you as far as I can and then I’m going back for Rowan. She can’t just stay there in the hallway until she comes back or they’ll find her. Shit, Pierce is probably bleeding out really fast because I’m getting dizzy. I’m probably going to collapse here in a few minutes.”

“What?” Astra turned to Tara. She was looking less blue than normal, but Astra thought it was just the crappy lighting in this place.

“I’ll be okay, it’s not the first time I’ve died, and it certainly won’t be my last. But I need you to get somewhere where you can hide until this all clears up. Then you need to get off this moon and find a way to Erazy. Ask to see my parents and then tell them it was Doctor Cleary behind the attack in the eastern kingdom. Tell them to find him and they’ll find the rest of us.”

Astra blinked. Find her parents? How was she supposed to find two people on an entire planet? “Do these parents of yours have names? I can’t really go around asking every couple I see if their children are named Tara and Ciaran.”

“Well, my family name is Solvada,” Tara leaned against the wall before sliding to the ground with a small smile, “so you could probably skip walking around Erazy and just go straight to the palace.”

“Sol-Solvada? As in the royal family? You’re a freaking princess? Why didn’t you tell me before?” Astra collapsed to the floor across from Tara as her leg gave out.

“Yeah, see, we were trying to avoid freaking you out too much. We figured that telling you soulmates were real was a big enough shock to your system—”

“Oh stars, that means I’m soulmates with a prince. An actual, living, breathing prince—”

“Astra, listen to me—”

“—and we’re you ever going to tell me any of this?” Astra felt like she was swimming upstream, her thoughts rushing past her in a tidal wave. “What else are you hiding—”

“Astra! Listen to me right this moment!” Tara shouted, “I promise you we were going to tell you everything. We just wanted to wait until we got back to Erazy. It’s only been a week since you even met all of us. How were we supposed to spring all of this on you without causing you to go into an existential crisis? Now please, get out of here before they catch you too. Find my parents,” Her breathing was growing more labored with each breath, “They’ll explain some things to you, and after you get us back, you can ask us anything and everything you need to. But go now, please.” She slumped against the wall, her eyes closing.

Astra reached for her, “Tara?” There was no response.

Tara had stopped breathing.

Astra forced herself to her feet, her leg still burned, but the pain was fading to a dull throb. She hated leaving Tara lying in the middle of the hallway, but with an injured leg, even if it wasn’t actually hurt, Astra couldn’t go far pulling a temporary corpse behind her. Limping down the hallway, she forced herself to ignore all the thoughts swirling around her head. She would have plenty of time to acknowledge them after she got out.

Pain flared through her other leg, and she fell to the ground again as another scream was ripped from her lungs. The pain was lower and sharper this time. The first injury had probably been a bullet, but this felt deeper. It was definitely a break of some kind.

Footsteps pounded down the hallway and men in tactical gear appeared in her vision. She let out a sob as they approached her, “Please, please don’t, please.”

“Shit! There’s a human girl here!” One of them shouted before kneeling down next to her. He took off his helmet, concern in his dark blue eyes. He looked young, barely twenty five, if she had to guess. “What are you doing here? Are you alright?”

An older man knelt next to the first, “Did they take you hostage when they broke the one out of the lab?”

Astra blinked tears out of her eyes. She hadn’t expected them to act like this. But they thought she was completely human. Maybe she could escape after all. She nodded, “Yes, I was, was working at the lab when they showed up. It was my first day, and they were trying to evacuate us, but then the Erazyans attacked us, and I went the wrong way, and then they said, they said they could use me as leverage, and I-I, um I—” she was rambling, the words spewing out of her mouth barely coherent through her sobs. Really, she was doing a horrible job at this, but apparently it was enough to convince them.

“I’m going to radio this in,” the older man said. He stood, moving down the hallway until he was out of earshot.

The younger man placed his hand on her arm, “Hey, it’s okay, you’re safe now. We’ll get you home. Are you injured, or can you stand.”

She bit her lip, “No, I think I sprained my ankle. I was trying to run, but then the girl over there attacked me and then she just fell over. I don’t know what happened. And then you, um, found me.”

He nodded, “It’s going to be okay. My name’s Adam. I’m going to help you get home, okay? Could you tell me your name, and which leg is hurt so I can help you up?”

Astra almost laughed, he actually believed her. “It’s my left ankle, I tried putting weight on it, but it hurts too much.”

“That’s alright, I’m going to get you to your feet now, ready?” He pulled her up, wrapping an arm around her, “There we go. We’ll get you back to the others, and there’s a doctor there who can take a look at your leg.”

She nodded. A doctor? That couldn’t be good. What would she do when it turned out there was no physical damage? She couldn’t worry about that at the moment. She was almost in the clear.

“Hold on,” the other man stepped in front of her. “I just talked with command, and they said there weren’t any hostages taken. But they did find the blood of a half-human, half-erazyan there. It’s likely female, and if I’m not mistaken, those eyes of yours are very distinctly Erazyan.”

Astra’s eyes widened. She shoved Adam towards the other man, and turned, stumbling down the hall. A hand grabbed her hair, slamming her headfirst into the wall. she twisted, shouting at them to let her go as cuffs were secured around her wrists behind her back.

The man pressed against her, his breath warm on her neck, “Gotchya.”

[jinmukangwrites]

Whumptober2021 - October 6th - Hunger

Fandom: Mandalorian

AO3

Warnings: Canon-typical violence

Note: this is set post-canon

---

The payment is Baskar, which is why Din takes the job tied with it. Normally, Din doesn’t take bounties that aren’t worth his time or sanity, especially when he’s currently already so busy distracting himself from certain black laser-swords and a certain kid that's no longer sitting under the cloak on his back.

He just wants to repair his new (used, broken, got on a discount at some shady market instead of asking anyone for hand-outs) ship. He got in a scuffle in an asteroid belt surrounding some random solar system in the Outer Rim as he was initially just passing by. There were bandits and laser cannons and the next thing he knew he was—for the millionth time in the past his entire life—making an emergency bordering-crash-landing on the closest planet that had any sign of civilization on it.

It’s a planet that’s mostly desert, though not as sandy as Tatooine. It’s a rocky climate with dirt that stains everything red, dotted here and there by bush-like weeds and a determined wiry tree.

He found a mechanic, they told him he didn’t have enough money, and he decided to go to the local tavern to find any kind of work.

The Bartender didn’t have anything, but a group that had been watching him from the second he had stepped in the place did.

They knew of a Mandalorian’s reputation, which is why they knew to bargain with Beskar to get his attention. After that, Din had to take the job. It didn’t matter how much he had lost recently—his ship, his kid, his clan, his identity, everything—he couldn’t just ignore the Beskar sitting on the table next to a small pile of actual money to make it prettier. Soon enough, Din found himself trekking through the hot, barren deserts with these people to help them find a deserter from their local gang. Din didn’t bother to learn their names, or why deserting their gang was such an offense. He just needed the payment to get off this planet and back on his aimless travels.

Besides, this shouldn’t even take long. They know where the deserter is, and while they refuse to let him go alone and handle it himself they at least know of the dangers of this planet.

Just a few days' journey; by foot as to not be spotted by the deserter.

It should be fine.

He didn’t count on the poisonous creatures that lurk the desert grounds, only deterred by a specific device the leader of this group keeps on herself at all times. It’s an expensive little device, he’s told, to get your hands on. For the villages on this planet to survive, they have to have bigger versions of this device all around the borders or else they’ll meet a nasty and gruesome fate by the wildlife. The one she has is small enough to fit on a ring, which is what makes it expensive… and it doesn’t have a very big radius. He’s forced to keep close, practically touching shoulders with someone else the entire way they travel despite there being only five of them in the entire group.

Din first meets just how tedious this mission will be when lunch break comes, and he cannot leave the group to eat in privacy.

He took off his helmet in front of people before… just a little bit ago… but that was for his- that was for Grogu. To save him from the Empire's remnants. He has no regrets about it now; not when the only people to see his face were people he trusted. But here? With four other random people on some planet ridden with gang wars?

He… can’t. This is the way. His way. Taking his helmet off once or twice before won't suddenly change his mind, no matter what Bo-Katan and her group says.

One of the gang members offers him a slice of dried meat, and he shakes his head, saying he’s not hungry.

They shrug, probably assuming he’s some sort of species under all his armor that doesn’t have a fast metabolism, and returns to sit with their group and talk about how happy their boss is going to be when they catch the deserter.

He’ll just wait till nightfall, then he’ll eat when they’re all not watching.

-o-o-o-o-

Nightfall comes right when his stomach is beginning to feel the discomforts of being empty for too long. However, he’s quickly distraught to find that the gang members do not trust him to keep watch during the night while they sleep… and he cannot trust whoever is on watch to not peek at him while he fills his stomach.

They offer him fruits and more dried meat for dinner, but he turns them down.

“You Mandalorians are powerhouses,” laughs the leader of the group, twisting the device that’s keeping them from being killed by all kinds of nasty creatures at this very moment on her middle finger. “Do you ever eat?”

Din doesn’t answer and lays on his cape on the red dirt, ignoring her snort at his attitude and doing his best to ignore his stomach. He’s uncomfortable in his armor, and he feels like there’s no room to breathe despite them being under the open sky. There’s someone to his left, their arm touching his, and if he turns to the right too much he’ll be out of the small radius that device keeps.

He doesn’t get any sleep that night… nor any food.

-o-o-o-o-

“Let me guess, you’re not hungry?” asks one of the gang members in the morning. Din wishes he could say that yes, he is very hungry. He hasn’t eaten since before his ship crash-landed here, and he’s had all night to think about how hungry he is.

But he doesn’t say that. What he does say is: “No. And you should stop asking.”

The gang member shrugs and takes a bite out of their dried meat that’s looking more and more appetizing every time it’s offered to him.

Din resists sighing and silently begs his stomach to keep from grumbling. He can do this, they don’t even have that much further to go before they get to the cave the deserter is camping out in. He’s gone long periods of time without food, sleep, and water before. It’s a challenge he’s had to prepare for from the moment he swore to never show his face to another living creature. Once this is all over, he can eat all he wants from the privacy of his ship or a rented room at an inn.

For now, the others in the group are beginning to walk and Din’s forced to follow along less he wants the venom of a Blood Scrii to turn his insides into liquid… whatever a Blood Scrii is.

-o-o-o-o-

They reach the cave entrance as the red sun is about four fingers from sinking below the horizon. He’s quickly learned that days on this planet lasts longer than what his human body is used to, which does nothing but make him more tired, more hungry, and more thirsty. His stomach has traitorously growled a few times in the last few standard-hours, and his lips feel extremely chapped. Thankfully, he’s managed to keep his body begging for food and water hidden from the others.

The leader slides a pack from her shoulders and pulls out an egg-shaped device the size of his helmet and begins to explain to him that it will temporarily scare away this planet’s predators and give them a big enough radius for any pending fights with the deserter. Because of its large radius, it won’t last longer than a few hours. They set up the device just outside the mouth of the cave, then tell him he’s free to head in there and catch their deserter after pressing a button and turning it on. The device whirs up and begins to hum like it’s already beginning to struggle. Din can only wonder how big and powerful the ones that protect the towns are as he grabs his hand-blaster and goes into the cave alone.

He quickly finds why these people were so insistent at hiring him when he meets the deserter. They’re big and armed with jagged looking swords in each of their four arms.

Luckily, Din’s beskar armor is stronger than the swords, and after taking a few blows that he can feel vibrating into his bones, he manages to take his spear and get a good bludgeon across their head. The deserter shouts and stumbles, but doesn’t go down. Instead, they only get angrier. They shout with raspy anger, charging at Din once again. Din lifts his spear to block, but his stomach suddenly spikes in angry hunger. The pain is so sudden that it distracts him from the charging deserter just enough to finally take a blow to an unprotected spot on his body. The sword tears through the thick fabric around his upper right-arm and into his skin. Din cuts back a shout as he feels the jagged edges of the sword absolutely shred into his bicep and does his best to keep his focus on his opponent before another one of the four swords can bury into his neck.

He punches out his spear and the head buries into the side of the deserter. They howl, stumbling back from Din. The sword in Din’s arm follows, cutting through more skin and muscle as it leaves, but still Din pushes through the pain. The gang members said that it’s preferable to have the deserter alive, but they won’t cut his pay if he’s forced to get lethal. Din’s too injured, exhausted, starving, and dehydrated to give a crap about preferences anymore. He uses his spear that’s still buried in the deserter's stomach to shove them against one of the cave’s walls. Then, he grabs his blaster and shoots them right between the eyes.

The deserter gurgles on their yellow blood, then falls to the ground: dead.

Din tugs his spear out of their stomach, then stumbles. His vision is suddenly very blurry, and his energy is so low he can barely stand. Without thinking, he shoots his injured arm out to the cave’s wall, but shouts as his injury spikes with agony.

“Mando?” a voice calls from the outside of the cave, but Din doesn’t try to answer. His body seems to finally decide to show how angry it is with him by making his sense of balance completely disappear. He falls to the ground, panting and dropping his spear with his good hand to clutch at the gruesome wound in his arm. He hears someone call for him again, but it's so far away.

Everything crashes down on him there. How long has it been since he’s last drank water? Eaten? Slept? He can't tell if his swirling vision and draining energy is from his own self malnourishment or if it's from the very bloody wound in his arm.

He squeezes his eyes shut, trying to catch his breath, but then he finds he’s so exhausted that he can’t open them back up.

Consciousness deserts him then, and he falls into blackness soon after.

-o-o-o-o-

He wakes to a tugging on his arm. Immediately hyper aware, Din pulls out his vibroknife and holds it at the throat of the person who was just trying to take off the Beskar pauldron on his shoulder.

“Woah!” they shout, scrambling back and holding their three-fingered hands up in surrender.

“Mandalorian, we’re not going to hurt you,” another voice says. Din blinks, his vision swirling, but eventually manages to make out a familiar figure a few steps away. “You’re injured,” the leader of the group of gang members says softly. “We need to take off the armor around your wound to treat it.”

Pain shoots through his arm and he hisses, dropping his vibroknife as his hand spasms. Once again, he’s used his injured arm accidentally. The gang member approaches again, and Din allows them to. He uses his good arm to take off the pauldron himself then sits still as they cut some of the fabric away to reveal his gruesome wound. The leader leans closer and winces, then looks at Din.

“I knew you were human,” she says. “A wound like this wouldn’t take a Mandalorian down so easily. There’s more to it, isn’t there?”

Din stays quiet, but his stomach rumbles traitorously; this time it’s heard.

Thank the stars for his helmet, because a blush rushes to his cheeks as the leader grins at his discomfort.

“You’re lucky you landed on a planet of people who could care less about what the rest of the galaxy categorizes as luxury. We’re out here just trying to survive a planet full of things that want to kill us. Beskar… money… it’s all useless in the grand scheme of things. If you didn’t want to show your face to eat, we would have turned away,” she says.

“You would turn your back from me to eat,” Din replies, deadpanned, “but won't trust me to not stab you in the back while keeping a night watch?”

“A few hours at night when the creatures are most dangerous is a little different than a handful of minutes when the rest of us are awake,” she replies smiling.

The gangster treating his arm suddenly splashes something painful on his wound to clean it. Din clenches his teeth, then curls the hand of his good arm as his wound begins to seal itself shut.

“There’s just enough to stop the worst of the bleeding, but we’ll have to wrap it for the trip back,” explains the gangster, dropping Din’s arm.

Suddenly, a pack is dropped in Din’s lap as the gangster backs away from Din after wrapping his arm. Din glares through his visor at the leader who threw the pack on him, then uses his good arm to open it and look at the contents. Inside, he finds dried meat, some fruits, and a flask of water.

“There’s still some time left,” the leader explains, clearly indicating to the device outside the cave. “Get your energy back in privacy, we have a long trip back to town.”

Din can only nod as the group leaves the cave. The second they’re gone, Din takes his helmet off and watches the entrance out of the corners of his eyes wearily.

He goes for the flask first, and never before has water tasted so good. He downs the whole thing, gasping when it’s empty. There’s a good amount of food in the pack, which he assumes is all for him. He doesn’t eat it all, however, less he wants to make his stomach upset after being empty for so long. The meat tasted as good as it looks, and the fruits gave him even more liquid to cure his dehydration. Once he's done, he closed his eyes and takes several deep breaths.

This… could have gone so much more badly than it had.

He lets his eyes rest and allows himself to enjoy the feeling of a satisfied stomach before he’s called for outside the cave. He opens his eyes and glances at the corpse of the deserter, allowing just a little bit of curiosity to sneak into his mind on what they’ve done that warranted death to these people. What do the gangs mean to these people, when things like money and luxury don’t matter.

He sighs, kills the curiosity on the spot, then bites back a groan as he rises to his feet.

The others are waiting for him, and when he exits the cave he notices a second ring on the leader’s finger. Perhaps it wasn’t about deserting at all, but about the device that they stole when they left.

Regardless, the trip back is easier than the trip there. He’s reluctant to trust them to turn their heads while he eats, so the leader gives him the second ring with a stern warning that they’ll make sure his ship never leaves this planet if he doesn’t return it in fifteen standard-minutes. He takes the ring, some food and water, and leaves to sit along on the other side of some thick bushes. He watches in morbid amusement as a red and green scaled creature scurries away through the sand and out of the ring’s diameter as he takes off his helmet to refresh himself. He also uses this opportunity to empty his bladder.

He returns the ring, and the leader promises to give it to him again when the next meal time arrives.

That night, he isn’t allowed to sit watch, but he does get some rest.

Eventually, they make it back to the city, and Din takes note of the giant poles that stick from the earth with large spheres placed on top and spread around like lamp-posts. They thank him and give him his Beskar and money, then he gives his money to the mechanic to fix his ship.

He spends the night in a local inn, eats his fill and even indulges in a little bit of wine, before he lays in the bed and gets a very rejuvenating rest.

He dreams of a child, one he’s never seen anything like. One that’s snuck through his armor and into his heart. They coo when he calls their name. Their little hands feel soft on his bare face.

He wakes, and sighs, then goes to his newly repaired ship to try once again to go nowhere important besides away. He ignores the laser-sword he keeps untouched on his belt, marks the planet down in his logs as a potential safe place if he ever needs to crash-land again in this area, then takes back to the stars knowing that while things suck and hurt like a bitch, at least there’s still some kindness left in the galaxy.

[judediangelo75]

Claws To Wings

Welcome one and all~

I did say I was going to be working on the Talith lore, so here’s another installment of that. So I did some tweaking to the storyline that Jam City had. So the first Valentine’s Day happened in 4th year instead of 5th (because you can unlock I think both Valentine’s Day TLSQs in the same year and it didn’t make too much sense to me). 

Plus there are future true events that happen in 6th year, if you’re already familiar with the Without You/The Man Behind the Necklace series than you already know. During that time, Judith and Talbott are together and have been for quite some time. But before that, they have been pining after each other for years. 

In my first story, “The Scent of Love to the Heart of a Loner Poet”, Talbott is coming to realizing how deep his feelings were for Judith (whose been crushing on him since 3rd year). Between then and now, those feelings have grown and they’ve been dancing around each other. 

There’s gonna be some details here that are definitely gonna be new (because it’s part of a super old character reference I created for her when I first started posting about HPHM content here).

Anyway, enough rambling. On with the story! Enjoy! 💛

MC friend: David Willows ( @that-scouse-wizard )

---------------------

Talbott stood before his mirror, readjusting his tie for probably the fifth time.

He was trying to soothe his nerves. Why you may ask?

Because of the Ball.

The Valentine’s Day Ball.

In his right mind, he would avoid such social gatherings like the plague. But it’s fair to say he hasn’t been much of his right mind ever since he met her.

Judith Harris.

A Hufflepuff witch with pale gold eyes and a heart of gold to match.

He met her alongside her best friend, David Willows, early third year. When they came to him seeking help on becoming Animagi. He was quick to shut both of them down. While David glared and protested, Judith eased the bullheaded Hufflepuff and gave him a shy sad expression along with an apology for disturbing him.

At the time, he wasn’t sure why he suddenly changed his mind to help the two. But as he got older, he did realize it was because of her.

Something about Judith was familiar. And…

He didn’t like the sad look into those bright eyes…

After the two achieved their forms and helped him find his feather necklace, Judith and Talbott became closer. Even to the point where he followed her out to the cemetery and learned about her dead father, Kendrick, on the anniversary of his death.

That’s when he learned that she was a part of his past. 

That single day of his childhood where he made a friend. And developed a bond on a girl who he thought was unique with her long pretty locs and Caribbean accent.

With it being their 5th year, Talbott has gone on two dates with her. Their very first date out by the Black Lake and last year on Valentine’s Day when he learned that he has deeper feelings for her outside of a friendship.

He can still remember the sweet blush on her face after he shyly gave her a kiss on the cheek after gifting her with a heart statue.

Giving her a physical representation of his heart.

He fiddled with the ring she gifted him that day. He always remembers seeing it on a black chain around her neck on occasion. Judith was a person who cares about sentimental value so it’s very likely she gifted him something that has a level importance to her. But he was so stunned when she slipped it onto his finger, and that it fitted perfectly, while announcing that it was her Valentine’s Day gift to him that he forgot to ask…

Maybe today he will. After all, after the Ball, he had a special surprise for her.

Of course, there had to be some last minute changes when he realized a certain Slytherin witch ALSO planned on using the Library and two fairies also got into a squabble. He had at least a day to make the arrangement work and the “Most Powerful Witch at Hogwarts” actually might of done him a favor.

It would be nice to revisit where their tale began.

Talbott sighed, looking over his appearance once more before turning on his heel and leaving his room.

‘I hope she likes what I planned. She’s the only who deserves to see this side of me,’ he thought as he made his way to the Great Hall.

——————

“C’mon Little Tigress! We’re gonna be late,” David huffed, knocking insistently on his best mate’s door.

“I look ridiculous! I’m not going anymore!” Came the stubborn reply from the other side. David rolled his eyes at Judith’s behavior.

They’ve been busting their asses to save the Valentine’s Day Ball from a lonely Madam Pince by using a pining Mr. Filch. However, due to all the planning and finally asking out Merula and Talbott (after Judith finally got over her initial shyness), they didn’t have time to style an outfit for themselves. So they went to the resident Style Wizard for help. 

David’s pick was easy.

Judith however… not so much.

It was fair to say that Judith was more than disgruntled as she looked in the reflection for the suit Andre put together.

“You lost your damn mind Egwu if you think I’m going to the Ball like this. I look like a mom in her mid-30s looking to speak to your manager to file a complaint.”

David was on the floor in tears when he saw the offended look on the Ravenclaw wizard’s face. To be fair, the suit plus the pixie cut that Andre magically put together wasn’t doing his best mate any favors.

However, she didn’t step out to show the dress to them. She tried it on, switch back into her normal clothes, and left without much of another word.

Now David was curious to what could be wrong with Andre’s design for her to believe she looked “ridiculous”.

“C’mon Judith. What’s wrong with it? Surely it can’t be as bad as that suit Andre design,” David coaxed.

“…It’s… a lot…” David wasn’t sure what to make of that and they’re gonna be late if Judith kept this up.

“Judith, it’s either you open the door willingly to show me what you’re talking about or I break into your room to see for myself. We don’t have time for this right now,” David huffed. He didn’t want to late with for his dance with Merula.

Silence ensued and David was half considering going through with his threat when the tell tale sound of the door unlocking hit his eyes. David turned the knob and walked in.

He paused when he took in the sight of his little friend.

Judith was wearing a short black dress decorated with pink and red roses. A small slit can be found on her right leg. White 3-inch open toe heels were on her feet. Her usual ear accessories and earrings were present. A familiar dark red lipstick, dark eyeshadow, and black eyeliner made an appearance on her face. Her hair was out from its normal twists, curls and coils tumbling down her back and a bang swept over her right eye.

“David,” Judith mumbled awkwardly as her friend stared at her. That seemed to have broke the spell on the wizard as he shook his head to recollect himself.

“Well I’ll be damned… you look far from ridiculous, Judith. You look beautiful,” David said with a smile. Judith blushed and rubbed the back of her neck.

“You sure? It’s kind of revealing, don’t you think,” she asked. David cocked his head to the side, rescanning the girl from head to toe.

He could see her point, but it wasn’t as bad she probably thought it was.

The dress fitted her like glove, revealing the curves she was developing as a young woman. While the dress did show quite a bit of skin, it was still respectable.

“No, not really. To Bill and Orion, possibly but they’re big brothers who naturally want to keep every perverted wizard away from you. Hell, I may end up breaking someone’s teeth in if they think they can disrespect you like that. But you look beautiful Little Tigress, don’t think otherwise. Talbott would definitely agree with me,” David stated, watching his fellow Hufflepuff blushed at the name of the boy she’s been crushing on since third year.

David has been watching the two dance around each other since Judith admitted that she fancied the Ravenclaw wizard in the Charms classroom when practicing the Memory Charm. He was waiting for the two to finally get together already.

“If you’re done worrying, we still have a Ball to get to,” David said with a raised brow.

“But-EEP!” David already saw the protest in her eyes was quick to walk across the room and throw Judith over his shoulder. He only resorted to such measures when she was be difficult, and she was definitely being difficult.

“C’mon Little Tigress, your bird boy is waiting for you,” he said as he made his way out of her room. Judith spluttered over her words, mainly out of embarrassment at both what he said and the unnecessary position David has put her in.

“DAVID! Put me down, you brute! I’m in a dress for Merlin’s sake,” she protested loudly, wriggling in David’s unforgiving grip.

‘Damn demon lineage...’ she thought with a grimace.

“I'm well aware, we can clean you up when we're there with a spell, I not missing my chance to dance with Merula,” David said breezily. Judith gave up, allowing herself to be carried off like a sack of potatoes.

“Bloody sap... stupid dance,” she grumbled under her breath. David chuckled at her disgruntled mood.

“You’ll thank me for it by the end of the night, trust me,” he said. Judith pouted.

‘Assuming I don’t hide in a dark corner somewhere first...’

“Do that and I'm casting Lumos Maxima so there's nowhere for you to hide,” David said suddenly, nearly scaring the girl half to death. Judith mentally slapped her forehead out of exasperation. 

She should know better not to think aloud around David, seeing how they’re both Legilmens.

Damn it...

“Fine,” she huffed. Luckily for her, they finally arrived near the entrance of the Great Hall. David finally set her down, and casting a spell that made her look presentable again.

David offered his arm to her.

“Shall we, Little Tigress?” Judith felt her cheeks heating up at the thought of the person waiting on her inside the Great Hall before letting out a sigh. She took her best mate’s arm.

“I guess we shall...”

-----------------------

Talbott was chatting alongside with Merula, twirling a red rose between his hands when he heard a whistle. Both turned to make out the figures of their dates not too far from them.

David separated himself from his fellow Hufflepuff to walk up to the two. David gave Talbott a smirk and nodded over in Judith’s direction before stealing Merula away.

Talbott only raised a brow at the Hufflepuff wizard’s behavior before walking up to his date for the night. As he stood in front of her, any words that he was going to say to her, died at the tip of his tongue.

Talbott stared at his date, heart racing with a blush on the high points of his cheekbones as he looked at her from her curls to her high heeled shoes. The silence was starting to unnerve the Hufflepuff witch as her long time love interest stared at her without saying anything.

“Y-you clean up quite nicely, Talbott,” she blurted. She mentally smack herself immediately afterwards.

‘When did I become this awkward, goodness…’

However, seem to have done the trick and snapped Talbott back to reality.

“S-sorry, little bird. I-I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I-It’s just that…” Talbott shook his head, trying to focus.

“It’s just that,” Judith echoed slowly, biting her bottom lip. She was worried that David might’ve been wrong and she looked like a fool in front of the boy she had feelings for.

Talbott stepped closer to her, tilting her head up by her chin so she could look at him. He offered a shy smile.

“You look beautiful, Judith. More lovely and temperate than a summer’s day,” He said softly, placing the rose he had behind her left ear. Judith blushed as she felt her heart race at his barely there touch.

“I-I… thank you, Talbott…” The Ravenclaw wizard smiled at the shy response. Behind them the instruments started seemed to be warming up to play the first song.

“May I have this dance,” Talbott asked, mock bowing to the girl. Judith giggled behind a red manicured hand.

“You may…” Taking her hand Talbott led Judith close to the center of the dance floor, with David and Merula standing not too far from them. The fairies that were lighting up the room swirled around the students, leaving them in awe at the magical moment. In the midst of this, David gave his friend a wink, who in turned returned it with an unimpressed glare. Judith returned her attention back to her date once she felt him take one of her hands

“I’m not usually one who likes public displays, but… I quite like this one… almost as much as I like you,” Talbott quietly admitted as he looked into pale gold eyes.

‘Is it possibly to pass out from blushing so much? Because I think I’m close…’ Judith thought as she ducked her head with a smile. Talbott was being so sweet and kind to her, she wanted to be wrapped up in his arms and dance the night away.

Judith looked back up at him with a teasing grin.

“I hope you like dancing too, because it’s our time to shine…”

————————

Talbott was smiling at the laughing girl in his arms as he spun her around. The two have been in their own little bubble ever since the dance started.

Their shy exteriors melted away leaving behind something much warmer and intimate. Anyone with eyes can see that they were clearly smitten with each other. Which were plenty watching them on occasion.

Red eyes darted around the Great Hall, finding the person he was looking for. He gave the Headmaster a subtle nod which he returned with a knowing smile. Talbott stepped back from Judith to clear his throat with a smile.

“All this dancing is making me thirsty, I think I’m gonna get a refreshment,” he said. Judith smiled at him, making his heart stutter in a lovestruck sigh.

“A refreshment sounds great, actually! I’ll go with you-” 

“N-no need! I-I’ll get one for you! Just...  stay right there,” Talbott stuttered before taking off. Judith’s brows furrowed in confused as she watch Talbott disappear in the darkness.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning, she saw the cheery smile of David.

“Cheers, Little Tigress! I see that I was right about you enjoying yourself,” he said with a grin. Judith glared and punched his arm.

“Cheeky bastard,” she growled. David laughed good naturedly while rubbing his arm.

“I’m surprised you’re not with Synde. Seeing how eager you were to get here and be with her,” she retorted. David shrugged.

“Mer said she going to get refreshments for the both of us. She actually suggest I go find you to see how your night was so far,” David replied. Gold eyes narrow out of suspicion.

“That’s a little odd. Talbott just let to do the same thing...”

“Was it? I found it very typical  of Miss Synde and Mr. Winger,” a third voice said. David and Judith turned to see the amused face of their Headmaster.

The pair chatted with Professor Dumbledore for a while when Judith noticed something was amiss.

“It’s bit awhile since Merula and Talbott went to get refreshments. Surely it can’t take that long,” Judith pondered out loud. Dumbledore smiled.

“Clever eye, Miss Harris. That’s because they’re no longer here and they personally asked me to distract you,” he chuckled. David and Judith glanced at each other before looking back up at Dumbledore.

“Professor,” David asked warily. Dumbledore chuckled.

“Mr. Willows, you can head to the library. Miss Harris... while Mr. Winger wasn’t explicit with the location for you to go to, he did say ‘Remember our first date’ as a clue. Enjoy the rest of your storybook fairytale night, you two. You deserve it,” Professor Dumbledore informed the pair with a knowing smile. 

Judith blushed walking out of the Great Hall with David. The two said their goodbyes as Judith made her way outside. Transforming into her Black Sparrowhawk, she couldn’t help but wonder what Talbott had planned at the Black Lake...

-----------------

Judith landed on the shore and transformed back, only to be surprised to find who was waiting for her.

“Lily,” she asked as the little fairy flew around her, buzzing out of excitement. 

What was her little friend doing all the way out here?

The magical creature took ahold of her hand, tugging her to the Boat house. 

“Okay, okay, I’m coming. Just slow down, I am wearing heels after all,” she laughed gently. Judith followed the excited fairy inside only to freeze at the door way.

Standing inside was Talbott. The place looked to have been cleaned out. Numerous fairies including her own lit up the Boathouse in a soft glow. Rose petals scattered the floor, along with some candles. A large heart made up of different colored roses was hung up behind the Ravenclaw wizard. A small table with some chairs of some of the food and drinks form the Ball sat in a corner. Somewhere in the background, there was soft music playing as well.

Talbott walked up to the stunned Hufflepuff witch and took her hand.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, little bird,” he spoke softly. Judith shook her head out of disbelief. 

“W-what is all this, Talbott,” she asked. The young man bit his lip.

“I-I... I may have been planning this while I was at the Owlery... I wanted to surprise you. While I did originally plan to do this in the Library, someone else had the same idea... So I’d figured the Black Lake was the next best thing. I did have some help putting this together,” Talbott admitted.

Lily buzzed, as if she was giggling at the two. Judith rose a brow at her Fairy’s cheeky behavior before chuckling.

“I just thought that... after everything you’ve done for Hogwarts, for me, you deserved a storybook romance,” Talbott said. Judith rescanned the room before offering a smile.

“I had no idea that you could be such a romantic, Talbott. But clearly you are.” Talbott blushed, scratching the back of his neck.

“I guess all that poetry paid off...”

--------

The pair sat and ate, chatting in between. Talbott giving going as far to feed Judith a bit of a cupcake. He ended blushing when he felt her lips touch his fingers tips as she let out a pleased moan. 

Currently they were slow dancing in the middle of the room, listening to the music softly playing in the background.

“This is really amazing, Talbott,” Judith spoke up, daring to look up at red eyes that reminded her of rubies.

“You’re the amazing one, Judith. I was simply following my heart,” Talbott replied, squeezing her closer. That foreign yet familiar scent that clung onto the Hufflepuff filled his nose.

“O-Oh stop it. I am not,” Judith insisted with a nervous laugh. Having Talbott so close to her was causing her heart to beat faster than normal. Talbott stopped dancing in favor of holding her hands. His gaze was unwavering.

“I mean it, little bird. You made this Valentine’s Day  perfect for everyone, even Flich and Pince... And especially for me,” Talbott confessed. Pearly whites flashed at him.

“All I wanted was a magical Valentine’s Day with my date,” Judith started, glancing down for a quick moment to gather herself before looking back up at Talbott through her lashes.

“...And... And I’m so happy that date is you...” And she was. Truly. 

Talbott was the picture perfect gentleman. And the fact he went through great lengths to make Valentine’s Day memorable for her reminded her of happier times from her childhood. Except now it was with someone who likes her for her. 

She hasn’t felt this special in years...

Talbott urged his heart to calm down as he reached for his wand.

“I feel the same way, Judith. And I... made something for you...” Stepping back, Talbott casted a spell, causing a book to appear. Judith blinked out of surprise at the book that hovered between them. Carefully reaching for it, she opened it to a random page somewhere in the beginning.

“...The loner poet listened to the Howler professed the words he wasn’t aware that lived in his heart. Speaking of a deep longing for a girl with otherworldly pale gold eyes. To never leave him because when he looks into her unique irises, he can see future. A future where he would wake up to them every morning. A future where he would look at child with the same eyes as her. A future that would lead to forever together.

He felt his heart stall in his chest, itching to cast a spell to light the Howler ablaze to prevent its words being heard by unwanted ears. It was then he smelled her before he heard her.

A hint of sea breeze that made him feel like he was standing so close the never-ending ocean. Chocolate that reminded him of her skin tone. A variety of fainter sweet scents, most he couldn’t name but the one he could pick out was honey.

Her melodious low voice sung to his eardrums:

“Hey, what did your Valentine Howler say?” He swiftly turned to find pale gold eyes curiously looking up at him. He could feel his heart speed up when he connected the dots.

It was her.

She was the one his heart longed for.

Everything that has transpired that day and this revelation became too much for the loner poet to take. He was quick to deny that his Howler hasn’t said anything, using the opportunity their teacher has created to leave the classroom. 

He needed time. Time to think of what to do next...”

Judith was so engrossed in words written on the page that she didn’t realize that Talbott was now standing behind her.

“It’s not finished, more so of a... work in progress for an ongoing story...” Judith jumped a little when she felt his breath ghost over her visible ear.

“This is about you,” she whispered, releasing the book to float again. She turned to find Talbott staring down at her with half lid eyes.

“It’s about you and me, little bird,” he whispered, cupping one of her cheeks. Judith closed her eyes, leaning into his warm touch. 

There was a shift in the air and she nervous but secretly excited to where this could lead...

Talbott withdrew for a moment forcing Judith to open her eyes again. She notice a heart shaped key necklace in his hand.

“What’s that,” she asked quietly.

“This is the key that unlocks the book. I made it be this way so you can wear it like a necklace. So our story would always be with you,” Talbott answered, carefully placing the it around her neck. A full body shiver raked Judith’s body when she felt the tips of his finger ghost over the sensitive skin.

“I... I never had someone put this much effort for me. To bare your feelings like this, Talbott... I... I don’t know what to say,” Judith confessed quietly. She could barely hear her own voice over the roar of blood rushing to her face combined with the sound of her heartbeat pounding against her eardrums.

Talbott caressed her cheek again.

“I don’t expect an answer from you right away little bird. I’m more than happy to do this for you. You’re the only one who deserves to see this side of me...” Talbott leaned closer aiming to place a kiss on her cheek. Much like he did last year.

What Judith did next surprised both of them. 

Turning her head ever so slightly, she caught Talbott’s lips with her own. This stunned the pair, both remaining motionlessly for a few moments. Just as the Ravenclaw wizard was about to pull back, Judith held him there by his tie, pressing against him. Her painted lips moved against his unresponsive ones slowly, testing the waters and his resolve.

After a moment of deliberation, Talbott gave in and returned the unexpected kiss. With one hand cupping her face, its twin finding refuge on her lower back, pushing her closer still. Judith released his tie in favor of wrapping her arms around his neck, melting in his embrace. Both of them were placed under a cloudy haze as their lips continued to move against one another.

The pair broke apart for air, foreheads resting against one another. Talbott silently licked his lips, picking up the taste of vanilla.

‘She tastes just as sweet as she looks. Good Gods help me...’ came the helpless thought as he found himself at the end of Judith’s sultry stare. 

‘What are you doing to me, Talbott? Why do I feel this way towards you...’

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Talbott,” Judith whispered, placing a soft kiss against the corner of his lips. Talbott shivered at the sound of her voice, which has dipped down an octave. Her accent came out, loud and clear. His hands, which has migrated to her waist, squeezed down on the curve for a few seconds.

He could listen to her speak to him like this for hours...

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Judith... Thank you for being my valentine...” Judith let out soft chuckle, pulling him in for another kiss.

In the midst of this an involuntary thought passed through her mind. One which would shatter the Hufflepuff witch later on.

‘I love you, Talbott...’

-------------------

Some time has passed since the Valentine’s Day Ball. Judith more or less went back to her life as per usual. 

With occasional outing with Talbott when classes and working for Rakepick became too much for her.

It was late at night and she was at the shore of the Black Lake, practicing her spellwork. She always wanted to remain sharp on her skills and it was a way for her to prepare for the upcoming O.W.L.S., which was approaching fast.

She decided to practice the Patronus Charm, seeing how she hasn’t casted it in awhile.

“Expecto Patronum!”

What came out of the tip of her wand shocked her.

Instead of her usual Siberian Tiger was a-

“G-Golden E-Eagle?!” Her eyes watched as the avian predator flew above her before disappearing. 

She shocked her head, not believing what she just saw.

Over and over again, she casted the spell, waiting to see her beloved tiger. Only to watch the animal that came out soar its wings above her.

Her legs gave out from beneath her. 

“No, no, no! How can this be happening?! Patronuses don’t change,” she panicked. A vague memory came resurfaced in her mind.

“Though I have heard of Patronuses changing forms after falling in love...” Judith’s eyes widen.

That voice belonged to Tonks when they were dealing with the Dementor threat from last year.

Another memory surfaced, however, much older...

“Gift this ring to the one your heart desires above all others. It will only fit and accept that one person, anyone else, it’ll reject and return to you...” Tears ran down her cheeks. When she realized what memory it was.

“Gran-Gran...” came the broken whisper. Her grandmother gifted her a magical blue and silver ring before she died. The same ring she gave to Talbott just a year prior. She didn’t remember her dear grandmother’s words when she gave it to him. 

Now that she thought about it, the ring never returned to her. And it was on Talbott’s left ring finger the night of the Ball.

Even as she kissed him, those three words that haunted her since childhood has crossed her flowery dazed mind.

She couldn’t do anything but face the truth. To speak the words that haunted her in form of a Boggart from third year.

“I love Talbott Winger...”

And she was secretly terrified.

Because she knew if he were to confess the same, she was done for.

Her heart would be his. 

And risk breaking if he were to ever leave...

[the-young-and-forgotten]

Chapter 1 - The Arrival

| masterlist |

A/N: this is set at the start of the marauders 6th year

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With a clap of thunder and a single flash of lightning, four boys fell directly from the sun, slamming onto the concrete ground beneath them. 

As their backs hit the pavement, their mind whirled through memories that weren’t their own. A castle up on a rocky cliff, rooms full of magical equipment, a forest with danger at every turn and a fiery redheaded girl that made James blush.

Groaning, they all picked themselves up, dusting their clothes off.  Peter shielded his eyes and looked up at the sun, grumbling “Why did they have to go and drop us from the fucking sky?” Remus opened his mouth to respond but something hot and soft started falling from the clouds. 

James held out his palm to the sky and watched as a burning piece of ash floated down onto his open palm. He studied it, visibly confused. “The sky is.. raining fire?”  “Nah mate” Sirius said with his arms outstretched, head tilted towards the sky “The worlds shuddering at the weight of our power” At that, the other boys started to spin in the fiery rain, laughing as they caught the embers on the tip of their tongues. 

Unbeknownst to them, an old man had heard their laughter and was walking up to them, smiling softly. “So you must be the fallen gods” he stated bluntly, capturing their attention. A flash of panic flitted across the boys’ faces as they searched for an excuse. “Oh no,” James said quickly, leaning against Remus’ shoulder. The boy in question had just started picking the flowers out of his hair, which was not helping to sell their lie. “We are just four normal boys casually dancing in the burning rain.” The man laughed, looking at them with a twinkle in his eye. “I do not think I am mistaken, Hecate told me you would be coming soon.” Peter scoffed, “Psh Hecate. You should never trust the goddess of…..” He paused at this, looking at James in wonder who was waving his arms around haphazardly. Realising his mistake, he tried his best to backtrack.  “Wait I mean, who's Hecate? She sounds dumb.” 

Right at that moment, one too many ashes had landed on Sirius’ skin, activating his flames.  With a big flash, he turned into a humanoid fire. The flames gradually subdued, leaving a sooty boy who looked at his hands in shock before turning his gaze to blood brothers, eyes wide. “That wasn’t supposed to happen..”  James’ shoulders slumped, running a hand down his face as Peter ducked down to hide his grin. Remus finally looked up from picking out the flowers from his hair that now lay in a pile around his feet. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows at him. “That uh.. That doesn’t happen often...” he explained, shaking his head at what a mess they all were. 

“Would you like to take a walk?” Dumbledore inquired. They slouch after him, visibly relieved that he didn’t question their insanity further.

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Dumbledore spoke up. “Are you boys familiar with… the tale of the Children of Hecate? It’s an old one.” Sirius laughed harshly at this “dude, we are a thousand years old we know all sorts of tales you couldn’t even dream up.” “You never answered my question young god.” “No… we aren’t” Dumbledore smiled, pulling out his wand. “I thought not.” He waved about his wand and silver mist broke out of the end, morphing into people, animating the story being told.

“A long time ago, there was a woman.  Cast out by the gods from helping out a paranoid mother, she, like you today, fell from the sky in a blaze of burning rain. Filled with hate and grief, she vowed to anger the gods in any way possible. For a hundred years she wandered this earth aimlessly, occasionally accompanied by Thanatos who came to reap the mortal souls. One day, she stumbled across seven mortals, cowering at the feet of Death, begging for life. Now, this woman had traveled among us, watching all our struggles and misery. Listening to our heartbreak and treachery. She took pity on these mortals and stepping from the shadows for the first time in a century, she addressed the seven. Pushing past Thanatos, she knelt to their level and placed a hand on the cheek of the child in front of her. Smiling kindly, she knew what to do to help them and fulfill her vow.  Reaching inside of her core, she drew out seven silver wisps. Weaving it around the mortals in front of her. “Upon you I bestow the power of the gods,” she whispered, transforming into her godly form. “Follow the path this shows you and life will come.” As the mortals scampered away, hands smoking and eyes dancing, Thanatos turned to her furious. From then on, Hecate was forced to spend the rest of her immortality guiding demigods, gods and mortals along the three crossroads. The mortals she blessed, though some may say cursed, used the powers how their minds begged them too, some for good, some for evil. But the magic went on, passed from generation to generation, family to family and will do so forever. Among all these powerful witches and wizards, as we call ourselves, were two men and two women. Born with magic unrivalled by anyone but Hecate herself.  They drew together and formed a school now known as ‘Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’.  From then onwards, magical folk have been taught, honing their abilities to perfection. Carrying out the vow Hecate made many eons ago.” 

The boys were speechless. Remus pointed to Dumbledore then his wand and back again. “So you’re…” “Yes” Dumbldore answered, turning towards them and giving a short little bow, “I am a descendant of Hecate.” “And you want us at this school of yours?” “With Hecate's blessing, yes.” 

Peter cuts ahead of his friends, raising his hand. “Interjection! How the hell are we supposed to get magic powers?”  Dumbledore smiles at him and holds his hand. “If you four trust me, I will take you to where everything will be revealed.” The godlings look at each other before holding onto the man in question, watching as he whispers something, waving his wand around.

The boys feel a tug on their abdomen and gasped as the world around them blurs, like they are on a moving train. They felt themselves morph, as if they were travelling through time. Their very fibre being pulled and torn. Before long, the scenery around them started to solidify, changing into a strange room with silver instruments and hundreds of portraits everywhere. “What the FUCK was that.” Sirius shouted from a pile of broken items he had staggered into, being vulgar as always.  Dumbledore merely dusted himself off and fixed his robe before moving behind the desk. “That, dear boy, was a form of magical travel called apparition.”  Peter lay on the floor, gasping for breath. “I think I prefer falling from the sky.”  “And I prefer lying on a couch throwing grapes at the nymphs.” James groaned, stretching out his back.

“So magical powers?” Remus asked, walking up to Dumbledore's desk as his friends gazed at him in shock, wondering how he could be fine after that supposed ‘hell’ they just went through. “Ah yes!” Dumbledore clapped his hands together, reaching into a drawer just behind his desk. Out of the drawer he pulled four glasses filled to the brim with grey smoke.  “Within these glasses contain the exact wisps Hecate used to infuse those seven mortals with magic. Take this and it shall do the same.” “I’ll drink to that.” Says Sirius, pushing past Remus and picking up a glass. 

In one go he downs it, smiling devilishly. “See men? All fi-” Suddenly, Sirius’ face freezes in a half smile as his hands fly up to throat. He falls to his knees, coughing horribly, eyes glowing silver. His whole body twitching uncontrollably.  As quickly as it started, it was over. He lay there gasping, trying to formulate a sentence. “That was delicious…” he wheezed “110% recommend you give it a go.”

After seeing what happened to Sirius, the other boys were more hesitant to take even a sip.  But one encouraging smile from Dumbledore made them drink it, going through the same process as their blood brother. 

When they had finally recovered from the side effects of the potion, Dumbledore was reading through a small scroll covered in glyphs. “I just need to ask your four a question in order to secure your stay here at Hogwarts. Now this may feel extremely unnatural, since I am jogging memories that don’t actually exist.” 

He looked up from the paper, his eyes holding that twinkle they had seen before.  “Boys, what house were you sorted into six years ago?” The godlings felt their soul pulse for a second and their mouths fell open of its own accord.  A movie tape started running through their mind, twisted and slightly burning. Back and forth it ran, so fast everything was a blur of colours.  Finally, it landed on a vision of their younger selves sitting on a stool in front of hundreds as a hat screamed out something. The boys on the stools were faceless and the edges of their bodies were blurred, as if someone had edited them into a scene. They felt something invisible reach towards the memory and rip it out of the tape, forming it into words. Speaking together, they all said “Gryffindor.” 

Their souls pulsed once more, and they were brought back to reality, grabbing their heads and groaning. “I swear if we have to go through that everytime we remember some pointless memory-” Sirius spat, grabbing at his hair like he was trying to rip the headache out. “No, do not worry, Sirius. This should be the last time it will happen. You will feel dizzy and weird when experiencing a memory though, since they were forcibly planted into your mind.” 

“That reminds me,” Remus interrupted, wincing as he stood up “How come we aren’t going dizzy from the sight of you? Something tells me we should know you even though we don’t .”  Dumbledore laughed “My, aren’t you inquisitive?”  “That's Remus for you.” said Peter smiling fondly at the boy in question. “Has to know everything about a subject the moment he finds out about it.”  Remus made a face at him before turning back to Dumbledore, eyes hopeful.  Dumbledore smiled kindly at him and continued. “That’s because I personally asked the gods not to include me in your implanted memories. I would prefer to get to know you as the boys you are now. Not what fake scenarios portray you as.”

The godlings look at each other, questions of trust in their eyes.  Taking the first leap of faith, James extended his hand for Dumbledore to shake. “You have left a good impression on us sir. You have earned our trust.” Delighted, Dumbledore shook his hand, once again smiling kindly at them all. “Now, I must show you to your dormitories…”

“No need Sir.” Sirius said, finally standing up. “We can get there just fine.”  They turned to leave, heading for the office door. Dumbledore cocked an eyebrow at their departing figures. “You may get lost” 

James stopped by the door just as the others went through, chuckling.  Turning around he winked at Dumbledore.  “That’s the thing about us chaos gods.” He said, grinning mischievously.  “We have impeccable navigational skills.”

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