#lilys microfics

[shares-a-vest]

'Lucky Guy'

@steddiemicrofic 🍰🍰🍰 < me sending you virtual slices of cake for the glorious offerings this month's prompt has brought so far.

August Prompt: 'Cake' Word Count: 311 | Rating: T | cw: Steve is really drunk but just being an annoying chatty-cathy.

“Eds... E-Eddie...” Steve croaks, speaking directly into his ear as he lays tucked in behind him, “I’s juz goin’ downstairsss for someofmybirthdaycake!”

He moves to swing his leg over but Eddie swats at him, groaning in frustration. How is this slurring chatterbox still conscious!

“Think maybe you should sleep off some of that beer before you try for the staircase Birthday Boy,” he whispers, patting his leg, “Had enough trouble getting you up here.”

“Wait!” Steve says clear as day, clamping a hand on Eddie’s own. He can feel Steve lift his head, “Why aren’t you spooning me?”

With great effort – and hindered by Drunk Steve’s jock strength –Eddie turns over and is met with a set of very sad puppy-dog eyes glistening back at him.

He cocks his head to the person snoring like a human garbage disposal behind his boyfriend, “Robin is spooning you, sweetheart.”

She’s holding onto Steve so tight, they look like one big pile of clothes and brown hair.

Steve’s eyes shine bright as he nods to himself, grinning, “Robin totally needs some cake!”

He barely lifts his head before his eyes roll back into his alcohol-filled skull.

“Wha-t’s hap-ing?” Robin rasps, stirring from their communal pillow.

At the sound of her voice, Steve’s lip quivers.

“Rob,” he sniffles, helicopter-kicking at the sheets until he is on his back and almost squishing his platonic soulmate into the mattress in the process.

“I’m just so lucky, Robs…” he hiccups as Robin shuffles around, teetering dangerously close to the edge of the bed.

Miraculously, Steve forces an arm around her – and squeezes Eddie impossibly tight against him too.

“Such a lucky guy,” he continues, humming contentedly as he slowly moves his head from side to side with every word, “I’ve got my boyfriend! And my best friend... And cake! Allonmybir-th... day...”

He fades into a snore.

[my-castles-crumbling]

heart - @wolfstarmicrofic - word count: 225

"There," Lily said firmly, slamming the parchment in her hand down on the table Remus was sitting on front of in the Common Room and giving him a stern look. "Do you believe me now?"

Remus looked down at the paper and recognized the handwriting almost instantly. Rather than looking more closely at what was actually written, he gasped dramatically and looked at his friend. "Lillianne-"

"You know my name is just Lily."

"- Marie-"

"Not my middle name, John."

"Evans," he finished smirking at her. "Did you actually steal Sirius's notes?"

The redhead scoffed and rolled her eyes. "So what if I did? I did what I had to, to put this stupid argument to rest. Now it's bloody obvious he's as gone for you as you are for him! Look!"

Swallowing, Remus looked back to the parchment to see that Lily was pointing at several smudged hearts in the margins, which surrounded the initials S+R. His stomach did a little flip-flop, but he refused to give himself hope. It was simply too good to be true. Sirius Black- gorgeous, smart, perfect Sirius Black, could not like him like that.

"They're probably friend hearts," he shrugged, only blushing a little.

Lily gave him an incredulous look and fell forward, banging her head on the table. "You're both so stupid," she murmured into the surface.

[marauders-bs]

"James?" Lily says. Her mascara is running tear tracks down her face. Marlene and Remus, who are flanking her, look similar.

"What's happened, Lils?" James asks, standing up quickly. She hands him a newspaper, which he unfolds.

The front cover:

Regulus Black, Heir to the Black Fortune, Now Presumed Dead Due to Unknown Circumstances.

He chokes. It's like someone's reached down his throat and ripped out his heart. Next thing he knows, Sirius is there, and Remus and Peter and the girls, but no Reg.

No Evan or Barty either.

"They probably sold him out," Marlene says, hand on Sirius's shoulder.

"They wouldn't," Remus says. "Those two were there for him when none of us were. They protect him like he's their kid, they're probably lighting shit on fire already."

James can't talk. That can't be true.

-

"Hey, James," Sirius calls through the house, appearing with a cat in his arms. "Cat's attached to me and Remus doesn't want it, do you?"

James looks at the cat. It's got white fur in a frame around its face and striking blue eyes.

"Yeah," James says. "Also, it's time for you to head out isn't it?"

"Yeah," Sirius says.

He just leaves. None of us believe in goodbyes.

"Morning, Potter," the cat says while transforming. "I must say, I had no idea my brother was that predictable."

James smiles and wraps his arms around Regulus Black. "Can't believe you faked your own death for me."

"You're alright."

"Ooh, alright, am I?" James asks, pressing his forehead to Regulus's, both of their visions tainted by bleached-white and curly brown hair.

Regulus grins, stands up on his tiptoes, and pressed his lips to James's. "Maybe a little more."

[uhhlifeig]

History of Magic Classroom - Nov. 9 - word count: 273 - @wolfstarmicrofic

Sirius Black slouched in his seat, trying not to yawn. 

History of Magic was supposed to be about epic duels and wizarding heroics, not sleep-inducing monologues that could knock out even the most enthusiastic Ravenclaw.

But who needed exciting lessons when Remus Lupin was sitting just inches away? 

With a sly grin, Sirius leaned over and pushed a folded piece of parchment onto his kinda-boyfriend’s desk.

Remus glanced at him, one eyebrow raised, before unfurling the note.

Moony, would you rather fight a goblin with a bad attitude or go on a date with me? Circle one.

The other boy rolled his eyes. He circled goblin with a bad attitude and shot the note back without missing a beat.

Sirius’ jaw dropped theatrically. Oh, he thinks he’s clever, does he? 

He wrote back furiously.

Rude. But understandable. I’ll try harder. How about this- would you rather listen to Binns’ lecture for an hour or go on a date with me?

When Remus sent the note back with still Binns’ lecture and a tiny, infuriating wink, the noiret let out a gasp so loud that Lily Evans turned around, glaring like she was ready to hex him into next Tuesday.

“Sorry,” he mouthed, giving her his most innocent smile. She rolled her eyes and turned back around.

Turning back to his parchment, Sirius scribbled another note, determined to win this ridiculous game.

You’re going to break my heart, Moony. One more: would you rather eat a slug, or snog in the library later?

Remus pretended to write painstakingly slowly before flicking the note back with a barely contained laugh.

Library. But don’t be late.

[vinylfoxbooks]

February 4 - Skirt | @into-the-jeggyverse | wc: 758

It’s a no-brainer really. When the girls come into the Gryffindor common room talking about how Slughorn got on their asses about wearing pants, over the weekend and in their free time to wear as they please, there’s nothing else to do. 

It’s how they ended up here, standing around in the dorm room figuring out what skirt should be worn by who. Currently, Remus has on a mid-length brown plaid skirt that Lily pulled out for him, Sirius with a leather miniskirt that Marlene gave him directly, Pete has on a long black skirt, and James is wearing a pleated red skirt they grabbed while Marlene was presenting her options for them. 

James swirls the fabric around, smiling down at the motion of it. Sirius does the same not far away from them. 

“Ready boys?” Remus asks, pushing himself up with his cane. The group agrees and they head up and out of the dorm where the girls are waiting in the common room. 

Marlene starts cackling upon seeing them, throwing her head back, “Oh my Merlin, you guys actually did it!” 

James does a little twirl, “Of fucking course we did. Any excuse to say fuck you to authority.” They reach out their hand to help her stand up. She takes their hand and moves to stand, nodding approvingly at them and Sirius. Lily and Mary stand up as well, complimenting the guys.

Sirius claps his hands, “Well lads and ladies, where shall we go?” 

“I for one,” Marlene smiles, “Think that we should go find Regulus and Dorcas and show them the glorious scene before me.” 

“You’re getting way too much amusement in this.” Remus shakes his head.  

She shoots him a look, “You can’t fucking tell me that you’re not happy seeing Sirius in that skirt.” Remus doesn’t say anything, and she crosses her arms triumphantly like she knows that she won -- everyone does. Then she grins, walks up to James and Pete and intertwines her elbows in theirs, “Let’s go girls.” And with that, she marches out of the Gryffindor common room, Remus and Sirius following behind them hand in hand with Lily talking to Remus and Mary bringing up the rear. 

They all have different reactions to the looks, James grins at everyone who dares shoot them a disgusted look, laughing when the odd person wolf whistles at them or compliments them. They walk like that in their little entourage of women wearing pants and men wearing skirts. 

They figure that Regulus and Dorcas are in the library, so the group heads that way, not before dropping by Slughorn’s classroom -- and conveniently Snape on the way -- and getting him to see their attires. Lily runs into the library to grab the two of them while the rest of the group lingers around the hallway near it. She surfaces a couple minutes later with the whole Slytherin group in tow. 

The cackle that Barty lets out upon registering what the fuck he’s looking at is nearly immediate, joined quickly by Evan. Pandora makes their way over to Lily and Mary, asking about what is going on while Dorcas makes her way to Marlene, pressing a kiss to her cheek while Regulus ventures to James, looking him up and down rather salaciously. 

Mary grins, “Slughorn was being an asshole about us wearing pants because Merlin-forbid a woman wanting to wear something that’s not a skirt for once and so the guys all agreed to take our skirts out for a ride.”

Sirius hums, giving her a triumphant grin, “I think we rock it if I do say so myself.” 

Marlene hums, “You look better in my skirt than I do.” 

Regulus hums, looking them up and down, saying lowly, “I rather not say what I’m thinking about it, my brother is here.” James grins at him, leaning down and rubbing their nose against his. 

“What do you think?” James asks, smiling as Regulus wraps his arm around their waist. They bring their arms to rest on his shoulders, holding their own hands behind his head. 

“Oi, you two.” Marlene calls to them, “Get a fucking room, and you’re not doing anything in my skirt.” 

James pulls away from him, pulling him around so they’re side to side and James has an arm draped around his shoulder, “I mean… it is easier with clothes off.” Regulus rolls his eyes but reaches up with his free hand to grab at the one they have dangling over his shoulder. 

“My brother!” Sirius shouts, making the group laugh.

[bradleysass]

Skirt - @into-the-jeggyverse - wc: 554

James Potter was not one to back down from a dare, especially not one from Lily Evans. It started as a joke over breakfast, the Gryffindor table buzzing with laughter as James boasted about his unparalleled confidence.

“Alright then, Potter,” Lily had said, a glint of mischief in her green eyes. “If you’re so sure of yourself, I dare you to wear a skirt. The whole day.”

The Marauders erupted into cheers, and before James could even consider the implications, he was nodding. “Done. Easiest dare of my life.”

And so, by the time classes rolled around, James strutted into the corridors of Hogwarts in a knee-length pleated skirt. It swayed as he walked, his long legs bare save for his socks and polished shoes. He looked ridiculous, sure, but he was James Potter, and James Potter did not care.

Until he saw Regulus Black staring at him.

It wasn’t just a glance. It was full-on, unwavering, penetrating observation. From across the Potions classroom, Regulus’s silver eyes tracked every movement James made. At first, James assumed it was judgment—his boyfriend had a reputation to maintain, after all. But then he noticed where Regulus’s gaze kept settling.

His legs.

James had always been lanky, but Quidditch had sculpted his thighs, leaving them toned and, if he dared say, rather impressive. Normally, this was a detail only Regulus was privy to—during late-night encounters when fingers traced muscle and lips pressed into warm skin. But now, in the middle of class, with the entire Slytherin table just behind him, Regulus was openly, unabashedly staring.

James squirmed. He was not supposed to squirm.

He crossed his legs, then immediately uncrossed them when Regulus’s lips parted slightly, his tongue flicking over them like he was thinking something entirely inappropriate for class. James felt heat creep up his neck. He turned away, resolute to focus on Slughorn’s droning lecture, but he could still feel it—Regulus’s gaze burning into his skin.

By lunch, James was ready to throw in the towel. He had braved the catcalls from Sirius, the teasing from Peter, the loud cackles of the Gryffindor common room. But Regulus was a different problem entirely. He was looking at James like he wanted to devour him, and James didn’t know how much more he could take.

He cornered Regulus in an empty corridor after classes, pressing him against the cool stone wall. “You’re staring,” James accused, voice low, playful, but edged with something more desperate.

Regulus raised a perfectly arched brow. “You noticed?”

James huffed. “Hard not to when you’re practically eyeing me like a feast.”

Regulus’s lips curled, his voice smooth as silk. “I just never realized how good you look in a skirt.”

James swallowed. Hard. His knees nearly buckled when Regulus’s fingers brushed against his thigh, featherlight and teasing. “Not sure if I should be flattered or concerned.”

Regulus hummed, his fingers trailing up ever so slightly, just enough to make James’s breath hitch. “You should wear it more often. But only for me.”

James groaned, dropping his forehead against Regulus’s shoulder. “Merlin, I hate you.”

Regulus smirked, tilting James’s chin up with two fingers. “No, you don’t.”

James kissed him. Hard.

Lily would never let him live this down, but maybe—just maybe—the dare wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

[oh-phoenixx]

"Harry Potter" - Jegulus microfic @into-the-jeggyverse - 470 words

Tags: @abductedhiko (message or comment if you wanna be tagged when I post :3)

-

James was not one to show any negative emotions. He liked to keep it all bottled up inside of him and just pray that it wouldn’t backfire. So, he refused to let on that he was terrified for Regulus to meet Harry. What if his son didn’t like his boyfriend? They’d only been officially dating for two weeks, but Regulus was already so special to him, and if Harry didn’t like him, James didn’t know what he would do. 

James was so busy trying to calm himself down that he didn’t hear the knock on the door. “Daddy! Someone’s at the door!” Harry had to call from the living room. James was pulled from his thoughts. He took a deep breath and made his way to the door.

The door opened to reveal a very anxious-looking (but perfect nonetheless, as he always was, in James’s humble opinion) Regulus Black. He put on a, clearly forced, smile and greeted James with a hug. 

“It’ll be fine,” James assured him, though he didn’t know if he was speaking more to Regulus or himself.

James led Regulus into the living room, where a five year old Harry was playing with his toys. At first, none of them said anything. Harry barely looked up, and James didn’t tell him to greet Regulus for fear that it would make all of this real.

After taking another deep breath, James crouched in front of Harry and said, “Harry, say hi to Regulus.”

Harry glanced at Regulus, seeming almost to size him up, before a grin, identical to James’s, spread across his face. “Hi, Regulus!” He did not, actually, pronounce ‘Regulus’ correctly, though Regulus didn’t seem to mind. 

“Hello, Harry,” Regulus responded breathlessly, kneeling beside the young boy. “It’s nice to meet you. Your dad has told me a lot about you.”

“Daddy talks about you, too,” Harry said. James blushed and looked away. “A lot,” Harry added unnecessarily, in James’s opinion.

“Does he now?” Regulus asked, an eyebrow raised in James’s direction.

And though his son had somewhat embarrassed him in front of the man James was sure he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, he didn’t care. They got along so naturally, Harry rambling on about toys and games and Regulus listening just as eagerly, with not a single sign that he wasn’t actually as interested as he made it seem. James found it laughable that Regulus had claimed to not like children. 

When Regulus got up to go to the bathroom, James turned to Harry seriously. “Harry?”

“Yeah?”

“Regulus isn’t just my friend, you know. He’s my boyfriend. You know what that means, right?”

“Mhm! Like how Moony and Padfoot are boyfriends,” Harry replied confidently.

“Exactly, Re-”

“And how Mummy and Mary are girlfriends,” Harry continued.

“Sorry, what now?” James gaped.

[here-am-i-sitting-in-a-tin-can]

James Potter learned his passion in the good old-fashioned school of lover boys

[whoopsiesnodaisies]

August 19th - Magic - @jegulily-microfics - word count 259 - CW: drunk character

James was drunk off his ass and lying on the living room floor. “Maybe the real magic is my love for you.” He mumbled blinking at Regulus and Lily as they stood over him.

“Maybe the real magic is the fact you haven’t gotten yourself killed.” Lily countered. “That’s the last time I’m letting you go drinking with Sirius alone.”

“Come on, James. Let’s take you to bed.” Regulus sighed, trying to pry James off of the floor.

“You seem lovely, but I’m married.” James slurred his words.

“You’re married to us, idiot.” Regulus rolled his eyes.

Lily slumped onto the couch, “Should we just leave him there? I don’t think we’re getting him up the stairs.”

Regulus grabbed a blanket and covered James with it, leaving him there in the carpet by the floo. Then he hopped on the couch, and he instantly cuddled close to Lily. “He’s a moron.”

“I heard that.” James mumbled back.

“Go to bed, baby.” Lily laughed at James, throwing her arms around Regulus. “Guess we’ll sleep here tonight.” She yawned and leaned her head on his shoulder, letting them get comfortable on the couch.

Regulus planted a kiss on Lily’s cheek, “I love you.” He whispered softly, letting his breath ghost over her ear.

James let out a whine, apparently feeling left out.

“I love you too, James.” Regulus groaned, he tucked himself and Lily in on top of the couch. Sleeping in the living room that night to make sure James didn’t die in his sleep from his own poor decisions.

[allstse]

anyone else has thought about jegulus supermarket au? no? regulus working in a supermarket and james becomes a regular because of regulus? no? just me? okay…. ☹️☹️☹️☹️

[three--eyed--cat]

!! james potter, moodboard !!

[shares-a-vest]

@steddiemicrofic July Prompt: One

Word Count: 111 | Rated: T for discussion about stealing a car (PSA don't commit grand theft auto, folks – leave it to your blorbos hehe)

‘Joyride’

“Whatcha thinkin’ about, Stevie?”

Steve merely hums, continuing to look out over the trailer park from their spot on the old couch on the porch. Eddie shuffles closer and bumps Steve’s shoulder for an answer.

“I wanna steal a car,” Steve sighs.

“What?”

Steve shrugs, mumbling, “At least that part was fun.”

“Stevie, we can’t – ”

“Come on,” Steve whines, gesturing to a red pickup across the park, “What about that one? Just this one time – for a joyride. Please?”

Eddie captures Steve’s pointing digit in his hand, brings it to his mouth, and kisses the tip.

“Fine,” he feigns a relenting tone despite his grin, “One more time.”

[my-castles-crumbling]

flirt - @wolfstarmicrofic - word count: 334

"I'm dying, Lils," Remus whined, pillowing his head in his arms and sighing into the desk he was leaning on. "It's just not fair."

"What, because he flirts with you?" Lily responded dryly. "You can't let it get to you, Remus. Sirius Black flirts with anything that moves. If you get all flustered, then he's won."

"I know that," Remus murmured, still slumped over, "but he doesn't realize that I.."

"Want to snog him senseless? No, I know," Lily replied, and Remus could hear the grin in her voice. "But you have to fight back, you know?"

He lifted his head and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "How? Hex him? He'd just laugh."

"No. Give him a taste of his own medicine," she shrugged.

Remus contemplated that for a while. Was he even capable of such a thing?

--

"Heya, Moons," Sirius said casually to him a few hours later, moving to sit next to him on the couch and give him an over-the-top wink. "That shirt looks delicious on you."

But rather than blush or stammer like he usually did, Remus steeled himself and thought about the responses Lily had helped him work out. "It...would look much better on your bedroom floor," he replied, using every ounce of his control to maintain eye contact with the other Gryffindor.

He expected Sirius to snort. To laugh or give him a high-five for finally standing up for himself.

What he did not expect was for his best friend to turn positively maroon and lose his voice completely, little pieces of words falling from his lips as he gasped for breath, eyes wide as saucers.

James, who was near them, burst out laughing. "I...I think you broke him!" he shrieked in between guffaws, tears streaming down his face.

But Remus was far too busy looking at Sirius, who seemed like he was the one who was flustered, for the first time in his life.

And Remus didn't hate that look on him at all.

[marauders-bs]

Regulus & Dorcas microfic

Okay. First things first, Regulus Black is fine.

He's fine. Everything that just happened meant nothing to him at all. So what if Lily likes girls? It doesn't mean anything to him. He couldn't care less.

So what if the way she described Mary felt like he felt at James? It didn't mean he was in love with James. It meant nothing, nothing at all.

"Reg? You alright?"

It's just Dorcas. She's standing on the staircase to the Astronomy tower where Regulus comes to stargaze. "Fine," he calls back. "Everything is perfectly fine."

He can literally feel her raised eyebrow, even if he's not looking at her.

"Bullshit," she says plainly.

Regulus sighs. "Dorcas, did you know girls can like girls?"

Her footsteps pad over to him, and he looks over to her. Her hair is tucked into a bonnet and she's makeup-less. She looks tired and puzzled.

"Reg, you know I like girls, right?"

He stares at her, shocked.

"You didn't," she sighs. "Well, I do. Never fancied on a guy in my whole damn life. And Dora and I have a bet going on how long it'll take Barty and Evan to realize they're gay for each other."

Barty and Evan?

"What's brought this on?" Cas asks, sitting down beside him.

He thinks about saying nothing, briefly, but Dorcas knows him too well. "Lily likes Mary," he says. "They're dating, I think."

"They are," she supplies.

"I didn't know you could do that," Regulus whispers, and he can feel every emotion he's ever suppressed flood him at once, all the feelings just errupt inside him, and he doesn't know what to do but collapse into Dorcas's arms. He feels the tears on his cheeks and he didn't ask them to be there, and he still doesn't know why.

"Oh, Reg," Dorcas says, holding him. She's not judging him, not calling him weak, not doing anything but accepting him. It's so foreign that the tears only fall harder. "Who is it?"

He doesn't offer an answer, and she doesn't ask for one. They just sit there with just the stars and Regulus's tears to keep them company.

[coyotelip]

jegulus microfic: lipstick || modern au || @into-the-jeggyverse || wc: 400

Regulus is beaming.

Not a trace of the doubt and fear he started the night with is left on his face. Now, there is only a big smile and a warm gaze with which he responds to the girls' sincere words.

Mary compliments his pants, Marlene promises to take revenge on him next time at darts, Dorcas taps him on the shoulder and promises to write to him later about the book they were discussing.

James stands off to the side with Peter, watching as Lily is the last to reach Regulus, leaning in close to whisper something in his ear, that James obviously can't hear, and leaving a light kiss on his cheek.

Regulus beaming, and his smile grows even wider as he meets James' eyes and walks over to him after saying his goodbye's to girls.

"So, how did it go?" Regulus asks shyly.

"Oh, you're asking me? You literally stole all their attention, Prince Charming. I guess Remus isn’t their favorite anymore." James says to his boyfriend tenderly, unable to hide his own happy smile at the fact that the introduction of Regulus to his friends went so smoothly.

For a week after the invitation, Regulus had been nervously spinning and looking for reasons not to come, so sure that no one would like him. But James knew better, so he spent the week gently reassuring him otherwise. Now Reg's brilliant success felt like his own.

"You have something here," James says, reaching up to Reg's face to wipe away a pale mark on his cheek with his thumb. Pink lipstick remains on the pad of his finger.

"Oh, pay attention, Jamie," Remus's joking voice comes. "First Lils just refused to take part in your romantic life, and now she seems to be trying to cancel it altogether for you. A couple more nights like this, and Regulus will be enchanted, and you'll be left alone and forgotten."

James freezes at the thought of this, but a charming laugh escapes Regulus' lips in response to Remus' obvious teasing.

"Not a chance," Regulus confidently closes the short distance between them to press his chest against James' and leave a gentle kiss on his boyfriend’s cheek. "No one can take my attention away from this treasure now."

Perhaps James should let his friends get Regulus drunk more often if every time he will end up saying something like that.

[moutainrusing]

love letters

786 words, @pandalilymicrofics

“Barty, I swear on my dad’s dead corpse, if you carry on simping over my brother, I will stab this pencil through your eye,” Pandora threatened, emphatically raising the fist clenched around her pencil.

“But Evan—”

“Do not. Say his name. Anymore,” Pandora shook the pencil, and Barty sighed wistfully. Fed up with this, Pandora suggested, “Why don’t you write him a love letter?”

“A love letter?” Barty pulled a face. “Ew?”

“How is a love letter more disgusting to you than the way you wax poetic about Evan out loud, to me?” Pandora bared her teeth in frustration. “It’s expressing the exact same thing that you already do in paper format and sending it to the actual recipient, instead of his sibling. Because in case you’ve forgotten, I’m related to Evan, and I don’t want to hear what you think about his mouth!”

Barty rolled his eyes, as if what Pandora was saying made no sense at all. “If I write this… love letter… you must give me something in return. After all, friendship is a business transaction.”

Pandora rolled her eyes. Sometimes, Barty made no sense at all.

Tapping his chin thoughtfully, Barty finally decided, “I’ll write him love letters instead of gushing to you all the time if you buy me lunch everyday.”

“Deal,” Pandora shook his hand. She also poked her pencil into his palm while doing so. The jury would be forever out on whether or not that was purposeful.

- - -

Dear the love of my life (Pandora: “Why are you calling him the love of your life?” Barty: “‘Cause this is a love letter? You basically told me to do that?”)

I am in love with you. (Pandora: “That’s unnecessary. It was stated in the first line.” Barty: “Was it though? Do you think your brother’s smart enough to understand if I don’t clarify?” Pandora: “…You make a good point.”)

Love from the love of your life (Pandora: “You’ve written ‘love’ way too many times.” Barty: “It’s a love letter!”)

- - -

“Now slip it through his locker,” Pandora advised.

“Where’s his locker?”

She shrugged, “Dunno.”

“You don’t know where your brother’s locker is?” Barty asked incredulously.

Haughtily, Pandora sniffed, “Stop acting like it’s an expectation of sibling relationships to know everything about each other.”

“It kinda is—”

“I think that’s his locker,” Pandora interrupted, pointing to a locker graffitied with ‘EVANS’ in bright red capital letters. Again, she sniffed disdainfully, “He’s the type to graffiti his locker. And miss out the apostrophe in Evan’s. It’s probably Evan’s locker,” she nodded. “It’s been branded Evan’s at least. Without the apostrophe. ‘Cause he’s a degenerate vandal.”

Barty side-eyed her, “I’ll never understand sibling rivalry…” He slid the folded paper through the frame, before the two of them shoved each other past the crowd of students, positioning themselves behind a vending machine to watch Evan’s supposed locker for any action.

But instead of Evan, a person who Pandora recognised very well, with the green eyes she’d dream about and the red hair she’d see while gazing at the person’s back during class, walked up to the locker. Oh. Evans. Lily Evans.

Suddenly, vandalism seemed very cool. And the graffiti was actually grammatically correct, so Pandora could let it slide. Plus, red was an ingenious colour choice, Lily’s taste was exquisite, Pandora was mesmerised by the sheer talent of it, the way the letters were perfectly positioned to spell out the surname of the love of her life. When Lily stood in front of her locker, rivulets of her red hair cascaded beside the graffiti, creating a remarkable gradient, perfectly blending orange into red like the sunset over a beach in the hot, humid summer—

Barty nudged her, probably to say that the mission had been a failure, except Pandora wasn’t really concentrating, so she stumbled out from behind the vending machine, winding up in the middle of the corridor and hovering there aimlessly.

Having read the letter, Lily looked around curiously, and Pandora was just there, staring at her. Eventually, Lily’s eyes landed on Pandora like darts pinning a dartboard, rendering her frozen in place, just looking at each other for an extended period of time, seconds which had slowed to hours, too long, this was dumb, Pandora should move, what was she doing? Then Lily smiled at her, hands fiddling with the corner of the letter.

She made her way towards Pandora, and they were both standing in the middle of the corridor, and Pandora’s heart was a drum beating inside her throat, reverberating through her body, echoing within her bones, loud, aggressive, but it calmed to the sound of waves in a conch shell when Lily said quietly, “Hi, love of my life.”