#mad eye moody mentioned briefly

[daughterofyourdarklord]

What is first war Delphi’s biggest fear then?

It was horribly loud. 

The little witch jumps up, she and the elf both startling at the bang. Violent voices are quick to follow, booming down the corridors. An eerie magic descends upon the estate, something Delphini has never felt before. It surrounds the castle grounds as though keeping something out - or someone in. 

“You stay here, Mistress Delphi. Tippy will go check on the visitors..” The house-elf disappears in a pop. 

Something isn’t right. More screams follow, deafening bangs as if furniture is being strewn about. 

The little witch takes a few hesitant steps backwards. The noise seems to be getting closer, frantic footsteps echoing down the hall. There’s another bang, this time right against the door. 

Delphi darts, hiding behind the expansive desk papa had just sat at days ago. Mama left to go find him… To make sure the bad guys didn’t have him... She’d left Delphini alone with the elf late last night.

The little witch peers around the desk, watching as the handle to the door abruptly turns. 

“Delphini!” 

It’s Mama! 

She’s up and running to Bella in a flash. Quickly, her mother slams the door shut. Delphini can still hear the echoing shouts of Uncle Rody, the screams of other wizards she does not recognize. 

“Mama!” She yelps, catapulting into anxious arms. She has so many questions but is far too frightened to voice them. There’s banging again, someone else is trying to get into their room. 

Her mother’s wand is hot from use, perched protectively against Delphi’s back. Bellatrix smells like smoke, her magic buzzing around her more frantic than Delphini has ever felt it before.

Mama’s scared.

Delphini doesn’t know what to do. 

Hastily, Bellatrix surges forward towards the large windows. She’s favoring her left leg. Delphini notices blood seeping down the back of her robes. Something is very wrong.  

“There’s wards!” A gruff voice shouts just on the other side of the door. 

Delphini is locked in her mother’s arms, head tucked against a slender shoulder as she watches with wide eyes as four wizards barrel into their rooms. 

The bad guys…They found us! 

She’s frozen in fear but mummy is not. With a wave of mama’s wand the windows along the back of the room shatter, it’s a steep drop to the grass below. She thinks mama is about to jump but something stops her. Before Delphini can process it, a wave of red flies by, Bellatrix twists them out of the way just in time. 

“There’s a child!” One of them screams, her mother’s hold is near suffocating. In a flash Bella's wand is raised and ready, eyes bouncing from one Auror to another. Several more of them begin to funnel into the room.   

“Don’t you move, Bellatrix!” A new angry wizard screams - he only has one eye. More wands than Delphini can count are pointing at them now. “There’s no escape - the manor is surrounded, there’s an anti-apparition ward cast over the entire estate. It's over.” 

Her mother is panting, heart racing so loud Delphini can hear it. The little witch’s eyes immediately fill with tears, so gripped with fear she can’t manage a sound. Slowly she turns in her mother's arms to get a better glimpse of these monsters. Bellatrix reaches up to shield her face, turning to try and hide her from view.

“There is no record of a Lestrange child… We weren’t briefed on this.” The youngest of the bunch speaks up, his teeth sharp. 

“Put that girl down.” 

Another steps closer. Bellatrix flinches away, arms protective around Delphini. She grips her mother’s robes tightly in return, her own arms shaking around Bella’s neck.

“Put her down, Bellatrix. No one else needs to get hurt today.”

Her mother responds with a savage curse.

Two of them are on the ground before Delphini can catch up, the rest on the defensive. A stray hex manages to slip through her mother’s shields, cutting along her sleeve and leaving a line of blood in its wake. 

“You can’t duel her! There's a child-” 

The one-eyed Auror growls in response, quickly sending another of her mother’s cursing spiraling back at them. Bella ducks, bringing them to the ground. The curse shatters a different window, glass spraying across the room.

Delphini sobs as shards rain down upon them. 

“Give us the girl, Bellatrix!” 

Mummy is crying too, silent tears rolling down her cheeks.  

The only thing standing between them and the near infinite number of Aurors is her father’s large ornate desk. 

Time stops, no one is sure how to react. Bellatrix lets out a shuddering breath, her hold around Delphini strengthening. 

She’s up again, a powerful curse soaring through the study and slamming into three of the closest Aurors. She's turning, a perfect blockade of defensive spells cast to protect their exit- Bella’s back leg gives out on her. The seeping blood from earlier now pooling beneath mummy’s robes. Another sob.

The next thing to go flying is her mother’s wand. It almost happens in slow motion, Delphini’s eyes following the arc of the wand before it lands in one of the wizard’s open hands. 

“It’s done, Bellatrix.” Before she can try and run again they have her ankles bound, knees crashing against the floor Delphini had just been playing on. She gasps, still clinging to her mama, shielding her tears against Bella’s collarbone. 

This can’t be happening. 

Angry feet hurry forward. She can feel mummy’s nails digging into her back. 

“Don’t touch her.” Bellatrix spits, her arms impossibly tight. Delphini is too terrified to look. 

“Hand the girl over.” 

Delphini feels a strange hand probing her shoulder, Bellatrix twists, freeing her daughter from the man's grasp with a vicious snarl.  

“No!” Several more step forward, rough hands along her mother’s shoulders. “No!” Wandless magic sends one of them backwards, slamming into the ornate desk. “No!” Delphi isn’t sure who is screaming, her or mummy. “No!” One has Delphini by the back of her dress. “Please - don’t!” 

“Mama!” She shrieks, little hands tearing at Bellatrix’s robes as she is ripped out of her mother's arms.

Her mind refuses to process it, arms still stretching out, reaching as hard as she can for mama. Slowly, she sees the horror creeping into her mother's eyes. Bellatrix looks as terrified as Delphini feels. Vaguely, she feels an unfamiliar arm wrap around her stomach.

The world comes crashing in on her all at once.

“NO!”

The little witch thinks she might be screaming but it seems so hard to hear anything at all. 

Distantly, she's aware she's wailing against the wizard who is still struggling to get a grip on her. Slamming her little fists all over him, sharp nails and harmful bursts of magic wherever she can reach. 

Delphini has never been so frightened.

“Don’t you touch her! She belongs with my father! With Cygnus Black! You take her to him - he’s her legal guardian!!” 

Her mother’s tormented voice is just about the only thing she can process amongst the chaos. Tears stream down Delphini’s face so aggressively she can hardly see.

She thinks she might be screaming for Bellatrix - for her father. She might just be screaming.  

Her captor is walking them towards the door, away from mummy, away from their rooms. 

Delphini turns, horrified eyes desperate for Bella. Seven Auror’s are holding her mama back. She watches as one of them kicks her mother hard in the stomach, the witch finally doubling over. 

“She’s a ward of the Wizarding State now, Bellatrix.” The Auror abducting her declares. Delphini almost doesn’t hear him over the ringing in her ears. “The Ministry will be charged to oversee her placement following your trial.” 

Her mother’s screams are the last thing Delphini will remember. 

[the-kittens-of-vol-tron]

It's Just Pretend

Chapter 8: Acceptance

AO3!

Chapter 8

First Chapter!

Word Count: 1,984

*Chooo choooo* angst trainnnnnn

Lance wasn’t even phased when he woke up holding Keith. His body was itching to move and stretch; the bed was a bit firm for his liking. But instead, he laid still, his breathing even. He loved the quiet moments he got with Keith. But he was infatuated when Keith was asleep and Lance could just hold him. Just feel the stress leave Keith’s body for a bit. 

Lance would stay here forever if he could. 

But forever ended up being only twenty minutes before Keith awoke with a jolt and Lance closed his eyes. Pretending to be asleep. 

Keith froze for a couple of seconds before sinking back down into a lack position. His breathing eventually calmed down into a restful pattern. Lance found himself holding his breath. Which, in reflection is more suspicious than just breathing but he wasn’t sure what Keith was going to do. 

Keith shifted. 

Lance fully expected Kieth to roll out of bed and start his day. Instead, he turned. Completely rotated so he was facing Lance. His face was pushed into Lance’s chest and his hand gently gripped the back of his shirt. 

Lance prayed he couldn’t hear how loud his heart was thumping in his chest. 

He was never going to get over him at this rate. 

—

“Morning Lance,” Adam poured some creamer into his coffee, not even glancing at the other boy. 

“Adam,” Lance grumbled out and moved to grab a cup. 

“Oh come on, you’re not still mad at me, are you?” 

Lance sighed and filled up his cup with water. “Why would I be mad? You only lied to me and hid the fact you knew my roommate for six months! How could I possibly be mad.” 

Adam sighed and grabbed his mug, “you never asked me if I knew.” 

“You could have helped a guy out.” He gulped his water down, “Whatever. I’ll forgive you when you’re making my drinks.” 

Adam chuckled, “Good, you’re my most loyal customer.” 

They fell into silence, both eventually making their way onto the porch. Taking in the morning view of the lake and trees surrounding them. 

“Where’s Shay and Hunk?” 

“Went to a sunflower garden.” 

“Oh….Matt and Pidge?”

“...I have no idea honestly.” 

“Hmmm,” Lance paused, “Where’s Shiro?” 

“He mentioned a hike.” 

“Surprised he didn’t take Keith with him.” 

Adam smirked, though he tried to hide it behind his drink. 

Lance squinted his eyes, “what?” 

“Oh, nothing.” 

“Adam!” 

He chuckled, “he went to invite Keith.” 

Lance’s heart leaped in his chest, “and?” He knew where this was going. He had briefly fallen asleep after Keith cuddled up to him. 

“You and Keith were very close to each other. He didn’t want to disturb him.” 

Lance ignored how his face burned and focused his attention forward. "People can cuddle in their sleep without it meaning anything. And I’m a natural cuddler. So there.” He stuck his tongue out like a kid, resulting in Adam laughing. 

Silence fell between them. 

“It’s okay you know.” 

Lance forze, “What do you mean?” 

Adam finished his drink before standing. Taking a moment to stretch his back. “If you fall in love with each other.” He went back inside without another word. 

Lance avoided Adam the rest of the day.

—

Keith lay in bed longer than he usually did. He was awake when Lance got up and headed downstairs. He just didn’t have the motivation to get up with him. 

Keith wasn’t usually a tired individual. But, when the nightmares got too much he struggled for a week or so. He knew enough now to be able to push through them. To function decently enough that no one would really notice past “Oh Keith is being moody again.” 

He knew it wasn’t a healthy way to cope. He knew he needed to actually push through his trauma and learn to live with it better. Learn to let go of the guilt he felt over his father's death. But every therapist felt like a regurgitation of the next. Their advice was either too textbook for him. Always told him to “feel his feelings” and “let go of his guilt” but wouldn't give him the tools to simply “let go.” Or they wanted to discuss other “important” things. 

“You know Keith, you’ve been in my office multiple times and never have once looked me in the eye.” Or, “So do you always struggle to make and keep friends?” Or, “Explain your daily routine and what would happen if you changed it?” 

It was never explained the reason behind these questions. Whatever response he gave would simply lead to their pencil gliding across the page as they nodded their head in a knowing way. 

It wasn’t his fault he was different from everyone. Doesn’t everyone struggle with friendships? Looking at other people, especially in the eyes. And what does a daily routine have to do with anything? If it works, why change it? 

He made his way downstairs, aiming to make a very late breakfast. He heard some commotion as he entered the kitchen. His heart skipped a beat as his eyes landed on Lance. He was sitting on the marble island. He swung his legs slightly as he leaned back on his hands. He was wearing black cargo shorts and a deep green sleeveless shirt. He was relaxed as always, smiling at whatever Hunk was saying as he cooked. 

Lance. Lance had always been someone for Keith. 

At the start, it was hard for Keith. His walls were up, and his aversion to talking to someone new was sitting on his chest like a dead weight. Lance was spontaneous, always inviting Keith out for coffee, asking him if they wanted to study together, and inviting Keith to parties and events. He was never upset when Keith declined, he never asked why, he would just smile and say “Another time.” 

He never questioned Keith’s quirks or awkwardness. When he would go on tangents about topics no one really cared for. When he never looked at his face for the first year or so of their friendship. 

Lance accepted him as he was, he never made him feel less or like he was faulty in some way. He didn’t become overbearing when Keith finally caved and told him about what happened to his dad. About his guilt and how much he blamed himself for his dad going back into the burning building. His support became gentler but he didn’t treat Keith like he was made of glass or he was about to break at any moment. Kieth owed him more than he could ever express. 

“It’s pretty, huh?”

Keith forced himself out of his thoughts and focused on Shiro. “Uh…yeah.” He looked out into the scenery, how long had Shiro and him been walking? He had been dragged out of the house after lunch by him. Shiro complained that Keith missed the morning hike that he wasn’t even aware he signed up for. 

Shiro sighed. There was no annoyance behind it though. “What’s on your mind?” 

Keith shrugged, “Just thinking about a lot.”

“Well,” Shiro moved to sit on an old fallen tree trunk. “I’m all ears.” 

Keith nodded, taking a moment to collect himself. His eyes focused on the vegetation around them. “Do you ever feel…broken?” 

“Uh…can you elaborate?” 

Keith groaned, trying to force his brain to communicate anything coherent. “Do you ever feel like you’re missing something? That everyone else seems to have but you?” 

Shiro frowned, “I’m not sure.” This wasn’t the first time he and Keith had similar talks. He would never complain or roll his eyes, he would just listen. Letting Keith vent the frustrations of knowing something was “wrong” but not knowing what. 

Keith moved and sat down next to his friend. “I feel like I miss a lesson in making friends and connecting with others. Like everyone was informed to go to ‘making friends 101’ but me. I just can’t connect with people Shiro. And I want to.” 

Shiro gently wrapped his arm around Keith’s shoulders. “You do connect with people. Just in your own ways. Look at you and Lance! You’re buddies!” 

Keith swallowed, trying to push the lump in his throat down. “He has other friends though.” He took a shaky breath, “everyone always likes someone more than me.” 

“That’s not true Keith. You don’t know how others are feeling or how they feel about you.” 

Keith shrugged, not having the energy to argue but that feeling sat heavy on his chest. Weight his body down as if the earth was trying to swallow him whole. But, Shiro was able to read Keith like a book. 

“It’s okay if you still feel like that. I can try and understand where you’re coming from.” 

Keuth’s fingers grasped the roots of his hair, “I know people like me. But I feel left out all the time. Like, an NPC in a video game! You have Adam, Lance, Hunk, and other friends, I know Pidge but no one can get between Pidge and Matt. And when it all boils down…I’m all alone.” 

Shiro nodded, if he had any thoughts, he kept them to himself. 

Keith swallowed again, willing the burn behind his eyes to go away. He wanted to stop talking. He needed to stop talking. But the gate was open and he couldn’t stop. “I like him, Shiro. Like, I actually like him. And we,” a broken sigh, “we aren’t a thing. And one day we won’t be a thing. He’s going to find someone he actually likes. And then bye-bye Keith.” 

“I don’t think he’ll ever leave you, Keith. Even if he finds someone else.”

“You don’t know that Shiro.” 

“You’re right, but I can see it in his face. He likes you, Keith. More than I think you realize. Hell, maybe even he realizes.” 

They let the silence grow around them. Keith forced himself to listen to the words Shiro said. Forcing himself to accept what he was saying. His brain was fighting each word. 

Shiro moved his arm and patted Kieth’s upper thigh.”Whatever happens, you’ll be okay.” 

“...promise?” 

Shiro smiled, “promise.” 

—

“Did you have a good hike?” Lance pulled the blankets over his body, waiting for Keith to turn off the light and lay down. Even on vacation, they still headed to bed at the same time. 

“Yeah…it was nice.” 

Lance frowned, “what’s wrong?” 

“Hm?” Keith turned off the light and climbed into bed. “Nothing’s wrong.” 

Lance released a small sigh, “Keith, you can talk to me. It’s okay. Judgment-free zone.” 

Keith smiled to himself in the dark, laying on his side so his back was to Lance. But he couldn’t say what was on his mind. He couldn’t tell Lance how he really felt about him and ruin their entire friendship. Everything they built together. He knew Lance liked him but Lance didn’t like him like that. Kieth wasn’t going to be the one to ruin it. He couldn’t ruin another friendship over his emotions. 

“Keithhhhhhhh,” Lance whined in a dramatic whisper. 

Keith huffed, “fine.” He chewed on his inner cheek for a couple of seconds before speaking. “How much longer are we going to keep this up? The fake relationship? I bet you are itching to actually date someone.” His heart pounded as he finished the sentence, a part of him hoping Lance would deny it. Lance would say he was fine with this for the rest of his life. That Lance liked him back. 

But Keith knew better than to be hopeful. 

Lance’s answer came in the still darkness, his tone unreadable. “Maybe after a year? We can still live together but just say we went our separate ways romantically. A clean breakup, and then we can both find someone new.”

Keith ignored hos his heart shattered and tears burned behind his eyes. Rejection. “Yeah…sounds like a plan. Night.”

"Night." 

-----

</3

Also, I had to vent about some struggles I've been dealing with because of my autism. The inability to connect to others is always a topic for me and my therapist

Thank you for reading <33333

[weasleyswizardpleases]

Who’s Gay in Harry Potter?

guess what. i’ll tell you who’s gay and not just that, i’ll tell you how they’re gay too. listen

harry: bi

ginny: le$bean

luna: mtf trans AND le$bean good for her.

george: bi

fred: ftm trans, duh

draco: oooh, gay

fleur: nonbinary

bill: also nonbinary, now isn’t that cute!

sirius black: bi

molly weasley: straight questioning

remus lupin: straight up gay

dumbledore: gay in a boring way

snape: trans but idk which direction, either stealth ftm or closeted mtf. sad

McGonagall: definitely likes women idk kinda sus

the janitor with the cat: queer or something. vibes u kno

mad eye moody: gay

angelina johnson: straight but briefly thought she was bi

katie bell: lesbian obvs

neville: ftm trans

tonks: queer

honorable mentions- probably straight but still weird gay ass vibes which i respect: cho chang, bellatrix, mad eye moody, umbridge, that opera bitch in the painting, trelawney

and sadly, some people who are just straight: hermione, ron, oliver wood, dudley, lily and james, hagrid, dobby, draco’s parents

[bookishofalder]

hi! i just recently found ur account and love it💞💞 can i request adam driver x reader and they are dating. reader is a bit younger and he gets jealous over one of her guy friends bc he thinks she deserves someone younger than him. & it ends super fluffy :)

@avengxrs423​

Yay, my first request! Thank you so much for the kind words. This was fun to write, I hope you enjoy!

Doubts

Pairing- Adam Driver X FemReader

Summary: Adam has always been aware of the age gap he has with his fiance. He tries to move past it, but a chance meeting with your famous old friend brings the worry crashing back.

Warnings: Language, insecurity, mild smut, paparazzi. WC-2,700

“Mr. Driver, over here! Miss (Y/L/N), this way!” Adam followed you out of the car, thanking the driver, his eyes on you as the crowd of reporters and paparazzi lined either side of the walkway into the restaurant. It was always these sorts of outings, where the press knew he’d be in attendance to a new hot spot, that made him nervous. Wary of how easily you could be accosted, even injured. He was nothing if not protective of you.

Standing closely next to you, Adam places his hand on your lower back, joining you in smiling around for the cameras as you slowly moved forward. His security team had the doors open ahead of you, mere steps away.

“Have you set a date for the wedding yet?”

“Let’s see the ring again, Miss. (Y/L/N)!”

“Mr. Driver, what do you have to say to fans who find the age gap between you to be too much?”

Adam worked actively not to react to the last question, his body tensing. When he looked down at you, he found you were already watching him, the glamorous smile still dazzling everyone, but he read the caution in your eyes. When you were both through the doors and they shut behind you, he began to breathe a little more freely, casting the reporter's rude question out of his mind.

He was taking you on a date and wanted to make sure the evening was special. His publicist had set it up, as this new restaurant was the current ‘place to be and be seen’ in New York City. While Adam could care less, he knew fans everywhere were chomping at the bit to see more of him and you together, in New York especially.

The makeup artist who won the movie star’s heart. It was a major headline when you first started dating publicly, which made you both laugh as Adam had to work to convince you he was interested, in the beginning. Newly engaged now, Adam could see the romance of it, could understand why fans enjoyed the story. But he hated, absolutely despised, how every damn article made sure to mention, directly or not, the age gap between the two of you.

He had had no intention of falling in love with anyone he worked with, he hadn’t been actively seeking-but you had shown up one day one and after one brief conversation, he was smitten. His feelings only grew over the two years you worked together, but he had hesitated greatly in acting on them, solely because you were 10 years younger than him.

When you finally got together, he felt like the luckiest man, that you would love him back, age be damned. You were cautious at first, eventually believing he genuinely wanted to be with you, not just have a fling. He had waited four months into the relationship to make it public (which was no easy feat, but you were supportive through all of it), and of course, the articles started on pointing it out straight away, some going as far as to point out where you were when he was enlisted in the Marines, or graduating Juilliard.

You told him it didn’t matter, repeatedly. And never got mad at him for fixating when a particularly brutal article was released. He had felt guilty many times that you had to comfort and reassure him so consistently, yet it made him love you even harder. And life went on, happily, your relationship solid.

When news broke that he had proposed, the articles started up with renewed fervour. He had been trying to hide from you just how much this upset him, how the doubt was creeping back into his mind...

Tonight was meant to be a sophisticated, romantic evening that served the double purpose of getting Adam press coverage before heading back to L.A. As you were shown to your table by the excited owner, Adam watched you chatting away with her, complimenting their design and success. You wore a beautiful hunter green dress made of satin, it fell to just above your knees and complimented your glowing skin perfectly. He was enraptured by you, whether your wore sweatpants, a dress-and especially when you wore nothing. Green was his favourite colour on you.

At the table reserved for the two of you, Adam helped you take your seat, his hand brushing gently against your hair, before taking his own. Annie and the waiter who had appeared handed you the course descriptions, before asking if you had any dietary needs. “Thank you so much, Annie-honestly just tell the chef we’re game for anything!” You said, grinning. Annie winked before setting off to the kitchen.

Adam nodded politely at the waiter, who took their drink orders, before sweeping away, finally giving him time to study you. “How do you like it?” He gestured around them, at the dark lit, moody and stylish venue. It was busy, filled mainly with notable celebrities, though he hadn’t seen anyone he’d met before. He hoped you liked it, not being one for going out to fancy dinners-you were a homebody, preferring to curl up with a good book.

“Adam, this is great! We haven’t been to a dinner like this in forever, and did you hear what Annie said?” You gushed, beaming, and Adam felt his worries washing away, “13 courses! 13! You’re going to have to carry me out of here, babe.”

“I’m fine with that,” He replied, enjoying the flush that spread across your cheeks. “But let’s be honest, you’re going to end up giving me half your food, pretty girl, you always do.”

You pouted, “I’m making a renewed effort tonight, just wait.”

Adam laughed, and the two of you settled in, the conversation flowing as you discussed the upcoming film Adam was starring in, of which you were working as his artist. The food was, as expected, incredible. Adam loved how you took a photo of each plate, even though neither of you had social media accounts. You still took photos of all the food you ate, just for the fun of it, or as you told him ‘simply to document our adventures!’.

It was around the ninth course that the evening took a turn.

A commotion at the doors captured the attention of some of the patrons. Adam glanced up, but from where your table was, he couldn’t see much. The paparazzi outside were shouting too loudly to decipher what they were saying, so it wasn’t until Adam saw your friend walk in, his brother and friend in tow, that he knew his mood was about to shift.

Tom Holland was one of the first celebrities you had worked with when you started working in L.A. And he’d always kept in touch, even when his own fame skyrocketed and before you were public with Adam. And actually, Adam did like the kid-he was beyond well mannered and genuine, and from the stories you had told, a very considerate friend. Tom’s glowing recommendation of your work was part of the reason Disney had hired you on for the Star Wars films, which was how Adam had met you.

Really, Adam had no reason not to love Tom Holland and be happy to see him arrive with his brother Harry and friend Harrison. It was just the minor, ridiculous concern Adam had that, being close in age, you and Tom were more much suited for one another. A concern that had poisoned his mind for your entire relationship.

Seeing his eyes over your shoulder, you turned to look where Adam had been and exclaimed in delight when you saw your friend. Adam quickly arranged his features to match yours, nerves shooting through him. Tom spotted you when you stood, in all your dazzling beauty, and grinned before making a beeline towards your table. The owner, Annie, had been leading the men to a nearby table and stood back politely while you all greeted one another.

“(Y/N), love! How are you?” Tom gave you a hug, “And Adam, good to see you mate!” Adam took his offered hand, giving a quick handshake. (Y/N) hugged the other two, chatting amicably.

“Good to see you, Tom-hi Harry, Harrison,” Adam greeted the other two before placing his hand on your lower back. Inwardly, he felt more stable in doing this, but he worried it would look possessive. If you thought so, you made no objection, stepping a little closer to his side while you beamed at your friends.

“I didn’t realize you’d be in New York this week, Tom!” You said, smacking his arm playfully.

Tom held his hands up as if in surrender, “It was completely last minute, just stopping off for two days before we head to L.A.” He glanced between the two of you, “I nearly forgot-congratulations again on the engagement! This is the first time I’ve seen you both in person since!”

Adam smiled, “We really appreciated the gift you sent, Tom-that was too kind.” And it had been quite the gift, in addition to a beautiful and extravagant flower arrangement, Tom had made a personal donation to Adam’s charity, Arts in the Armed Forces, and shared the charity on his social media. They’d had an influx of new donations from his fans and followers.

“Arts in the Armed Forces is incredibly important to Adam and me, Tom-you really knocked that gift out of the park.” (Y/N) agreed, her arm snaking around Adam’s waist with affection.

Tom waved off their thanks good-naturedly, “Well, we’re going to leave you to what looks very delicious-Annie, I’ll have what Adam and (Y/N) are having!” Tom grinned briefly at the owner, “And we’re still on for lunch when you both come to L.A. Next week, yeah?”

After assuring Tom they’d see him soon and bidding their farewells, Adam and you sat back down, diving back into your food. You chatted happily about bumping into Tom, which quickly transitioned into excitement for returning to L.A., as the cold of January in New York City was getting a little old for you both. You loved it here, were all too happy to call it home when your relationship escalated and Adam asked you to live with him. And though you both spent a lot of time away from your New York brownstone, it was always going to be home.

Adam worked to enjoy the rest of the evening, but he’d rather lost his appetite, the food tasteless on his tongue. Because seeing Tom had brought the wave of insecurity crashing back down on Adam, that you were too good for him, too young, that you deserved someone better, to be with someone who smiled more easily and with whom you shared more in common with. He knew you loved him, but his brain kept asking-did you realize what you could have if you broke up?

When you climbed into the car after dinner, having said warm goodbyes to Tom and his party and touring the kitchen with Annie to thank the chef and his team, Adam’s smile dropped. He sat back in his seat, confirming with the driver that he could take them home, before dropping his head against the headrest and closing the divider between the front and back seats.

“Adam?” Your voice cut through the silence after only a few moments, concern evident in your tone.

Adam glanced down at you next to him, softening when he looked into your wide eyes, “Sorry, sweetheart, what’s up?”

You frowned, turning in your seat to face him more directly, “I want you to tell me what’s up, you’ve been in a funny mood half the night-you okay?”

“I’m alright, just tired-that was a lot of food over a long time.” He shrugged, looking away. For a moment, he thought you were going to leave it at that, but he should have known better; one of the reasons he adored you was your commitment to being the most stubborn person in the room. In an instant, you undid your seatbelt and slid from your seat, carefully climbing over him so that you could straddle his lap, all of his attention now on you.

Adam’s hands went to your hips instinctively to hold you steady, as you glared at him, “Babe, I know you’re not saying it, and I don’t want you to feel forced here, but I thought we’d talked about this.” The car hit a minor bump and you sank into his lap, nearly bumping heads, from the force.

He gripped your hips tighter, “We did, I just...I can’t help it, I feel like-like I’m holding you back.” He murmured with his eyes on your stomach, shame flooding through him.

You sighed, not without affection, “Holding me back from what, exactly? You are my everything, Adam, and without you...I can’t even begin to imagine my life without you.”

You slid your hands from his chest to his neck, where they rested gently, thumbs brushing across the lower half of his jaw. Adam closed his eyes briefly, “But if you did imagine it, properly, you might see that someone like Tom-I mean, he’s your age, goes to more parties and events, you’d have more fun-“

Your mouth was on his, cutting off Adam’s words, his mind going blank. The feel of you against him, your lips on his, was more than enough to render him speechless. After a moment, you pulled back, your cheeks flushed and expression serious, “I understand that sometimes, we notice the age gap a little more because the press thinks it’s interesting, but Adam, I need you to understand. I need you to see just how much I do not care about any of that, what they say or think or even about the actual difference in our ages! I never think about it, because it has no effect whatsoever on how fucking madly in love with you I am.” (Y/N) cupped his face in her hands, holding his gaze.

“I-I love you too, so much, pretty girl,” He sighed, his emotions raw, “I just want the best for you, always.”

“You are the best for me, which is why I said yes to marrying you when you got down on one knee, in our apartment, wearing nothing but those ridiculous shorts. It’s why I’d say yes, again and again, Adam. Do you think I like going to parties? That I don’t have fun with you?” Your voice raised slightly in exasperation, while Adam stared at you in wonder; you’d never been so passionate about this before-despite having had the conversation many times, “I have an adventure every single day with you, I love everything about our lives together, and honestly, babe...” Your voice lowered considerably, a soft breathy croon now, “I can’t picture a guy like Tom treating me how you do, knowing exactly what I need from a man, always taking such good care of me.”

She punctuated these words by grinding against him, her eyes darkening in arousal. Adam groaned at the sensation, “Pretty girl, you’re too good for me.”

(Y/N) smiled at Adam, “No, I’m just right for you and you’re just right for me.”

“Damn it, I love you!” He gasped, before sliding one hand from your hip to the back of your neck and pulling you close, his lips on yours before you could reply. You let out a small whimper, melting into him. Your arms circled around his neck, and Adam could feel the intent in your body, the overwhelming need to send him the message that he was yours, and you-you were his.

“I love you, Adam, forever.” You sighed against his lips, deepening the kiss further.

All thoughts that weren’t of (Y/N) kissing him in the back of their town car, soared from Adam’s mind. His new focus on getting you home, so that he could show you just how much he appreciated your patience and understanding. And as you shivered from his touch, his name on your lips, you successfully and unknowingly convinced Adam his doubts were unwarranted, that you loved him endlessly, as he loved you.

[beepen]

all I did was buy Hades and play it. now it’s been 3 weeks and 

than and zag are idiots, here’s a thing. i love them. fuck. 

hypnos is a little shit

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

There was something about Death that Zagreus believed should be savored, or rather, handled with great care. He didn’t know much about the ceremonies mortals held for their dead, only that Than had mentioned rituals and burials in the few conversations they’ve had about it. Thanatos wasn’t willing to give more than that, claiming he never had time to stay so long and observe the culture in which mortals laid their dead to rest. He simply followed the calling deep within his chest that led him to whatever unfortunate soul he was to take next, and afterwards, leave.

Zagreus hoped there was more to it, though. Not Than’s work—he hoped it was as simple as he described—but the mortals and how they deal with death. Did they honor it? Did they honor him? Did they understand that death was part of life, that they went hand-in-hand; that death...that Death was beautiful….

And gentle, Zagreus quietly mused, peaking around the corner to the West Hall with a bottle of Nectar carefully cradled in his arms. He didn’t even want to jostle it; it had to be in perfect condition. Nothing short of perfect should ever be gifted to Death Incarnate. It wasn’t a rule or anything, of course, just Zagreus’ own personal belief. It should be, though. It should be a rule. If he wasn’t on such bad terms with his father, he would ask that he make it so.

“You just missed him, Zagreus.”

The familiar voice lured Zagreus’ gaze from the empty spot at the end of the hall to Achilles standing at his usual place, just outside the King’s chambers. He had a knowing look about him, subdued yet piercing in his read of Zagreus’ dejected body language.

“He left moments before you arrived,” he informed, and Zagreus huffed in frustration, straightening from his little sneak position and walking towards the old warrior, still mindful of the bottle curled in his arms.

“You mean to say he left after having seen me emerge from the river.” Zagreus meant for it to be witty, but he couldn’t help the bitterness in his tone. Nonetheless, Achilles gave him a warm smile, albeit more out of pity than anything.

“Perhaps. Although he does have a rather demanding job.”

“Of course.”

Zagreus would have thought himself a narcissist for assuming Thanatos would leave in spite of him rather than because he had a duty to fulfill, but the accusation didn’t transpire simply because Chaos was feeling a little bored. Than had been avoiding him, that much was clear. If it weren’t for his obvious absences over longer-than-usual amounts of time, then it was the way in which he disappeared before Zagreus could get a single word in. Zagreus had known Than long enough to realize when the god was hiding away. And right now, Than was hiding from him.

Sighing, Zagreus loosened his hold on the bottle of Nectar and held it up to Achilles, keeping his gaze on the extravagant marbled floor. If Than was hiding from him, then it was probable he wouldn’t take too kindly to an unwanted gift. And Zagreus didn’t want to pressure him….

“For you,” Zagreus forced out, lifting the bottle higher for Achilles to take. “A token of my appreciation for everything you’ve done for me...you’re more of a father than my own—”

“Zagreus.” The interruption prompted Zag to shift his gaze from the floor to meet Achilles’ fixed stare. “I am honored, truly, but I’ve yet to find the time to drink the one you have already given me. Surely this one belongs to someone else?” He raised an eyebrow, as if trying to hint at something, trying to help Zagreus understand without outright saying it. The twinkle in his eyes was all-knowing.

“Yes, it was for....” Zagreus stared briefly at the little balcony, where Thanatos would be, if only he were there. He wanted more than anything to somehow find him and ravish him with gifts. Though, that would be too overwhelming for the gentle, moody god—and far too forward. Not to mention impossible, given how Zagreus is practically chained to the Underworld at the moment. There weren’t many places he could travel to in search for him.

Sighing, he shook his head and forced the strange desires to untangle their greedy threads from his heart. He nearly shoved the bottle of Nectar at Achilles.

“First come, first serve,” he joked, waiting for the old warrior to accept the bottle. Achilles didn’t bother even looking at the gift, instead reaching past it to comfort Zag’s shoulder.

“Thanatos will come back—this is his home, afterall.”

“Well, yes. But he won’t come back to me.” Zagreus immediately regretted the words the moment they slipped out, feeling unbearably selfish and exposed to his true feelings that he had, up until now, successfully avoided.. “I mean—that’s not how I meant to say it. It’s just...he’ll be back for you, for Nyx, Meg, and Hypnos, even. But not me. I’m not part of the reason he returns home.”

Not that Zagreus had any right to be. He was trying to leave the place Thanatos called home, for gods’ sake. And without telling him. Than had made it known he was upset about it based on their latest, and perhaps last, confrontation, but Zagreus knew Thanatos hardly revealed even a glimpse of what he truly felt. He couldn’t imagine how hurt Than really was….

Achilles’ grip on his shoulder tightened just barely, laughter twinkling in his eyes. “Prince, you are far too dramatic.” He didn’t elaborate further, almost as if the words were for his own amusement rather than to appease Zagreus’ worries. He backed off, hand slipping from Zagreus’ shoulder, and finally acknowledged the bottle still held up for his taking. “Keep that, and wait for him.”

Zagreus didn’t know what was so funny; the possible end of his friendship with Than was no laughing matter. And he didn’t want to give this bottle to Than anymore, anyway. It was all shaken up.

“Really sir,” Zagreus stepped forward, ready to shove the bottle in Achilles’ embrace if he had to. “It’s yours. I bestow it upon you.”

“I’m fine, dear Prince. In fact, I’m a little offended you would offer me a gift meant for someone else.”

Zagreus balked, interpreting Achilles’ slanted smile to be one of mockery. “Well I’m offended you won’t accept my gift! A gift I quite literally died for, might I add. Besides, I’m only going to offer you more in the future; there’s an abundance of them in Tartarus. Far too many for me to keep but enough for everyone to have multiple. I’m quite certain I will have another by the time Than shows his pretty face. Now, please sir, I demand you take this!”

He couldn’t possibly outstretch his hand farther, but he certainly tried his damned hardest, only for Achilles to cross his arms and shake his head. That slight smirk still adorned his face.

“Forgive me, Prince, but I do not accept your gift.”

Zagreus nearly growled. “Take it! I’ll stand here forever if you don’t!”

“You know as well as I that every soul, shade, and god alike are aware of your inability to stand in one place.”

“I—! I can stand in one place! I’ll do it now!”

It was only a few moments later that Zagreus was seen stomping away from the Great Achilles in humiliated anger, for the old warrior was correct: the Prince could not, for the life of him, stand still.

“Oh, shut up,” Zagreus grumbled, red hot in the face and fire at his heels (literally).

*****

Achilles was not his father, so he would not directly defy him as he did Hades, but he’d be damned if he walked away with a hurt pride and did nothing to make himself feel like a winner. So it was no surprise when he gave the wretched bottle of Nectar to Hypnos, practically announcing it to the entire House as if he were awarding a hero. Hypnos was glad to accept it, feeding off of the Prince’s drama and loudly proclaiming his thanks with a big smile until they were shouting back and forth, like kids playing pretend. That is, until Nyx urged them to be quiet, warning them that Lord Hades would be back any moment and that he did not tolerate the smuggling of Nectar.

And if Nyx heard them, then Achilles most certainly did too, and Zagreus walked back to his chambers with an inflated ego and his pride back in order, ready to tear through his father’s domain once again with the viscous intent to cause problems.

And caused problems, he did. The more chambers Zagreus tore apart, the more he began to think Achilles had purposely infuriated him. He was the one who trained Zag, afterall. He knew how to stir up trouble even better than the Prince himself, and it was a surprise to no one that the old warrior irritated Zagreus enough that the wretches of the Underworld cowered before his wrath.

Zagreus didn’t even know what he was so mad at. He was just riled up, stuck in his thoughts, so distracted he paid no mind to the aches and strains of his body from unconsciously pushing himself. He thought of nothing; just let the time pass and the monsters be slain, allowing his irritation to consume him entirely. It was almost impossible to recall the conversation he had with Meg, if any. The Fury may have said something upon his arrival, but Zagreus was in no position to respond, so they just fought.

Zagreus only acknowledged her defeat after the Lernagon Hydra crumbled to dust. By then he had ripped Asphodel a new one, with little to no recollection of how or when he got to this point.

“Must be a new record,” he mumbled to himself, the first he’d spoken since he jumped out of his window. He never made it this far….

His awareness came back to him, dragging himself down from the clouds he had been lost in. He took a second to catch his breath as he was made aware of how much his body hurt. Drinking from the fountain dulled it somewhat, but, gods, he must have been one hit away from collapsing. He wanted to collapse now, let the Styx consume him and heal him. And perhaps, now that his little fit was over and he had ransacked enough chambers to appease his emotions, apologize to Achilles for how rude he was back at the House. But up next was Elysium, and he had never been there; never was allowed to step foot in there. He wasn’t going to quit without going as far as his body physically allowed.

He didn’t expect Elysium to nearly blind him with its lush plants and sparkling sky, just as he hadn’t expected Asphodel to be so hot. It was far cooler up here, thank the gods, but he had to stay in the first chamber a few moments longer so his eyes could adjust to the brightness. He broke some precious pots too, of course. All of them, actually, and with a conniving grin on his face as he recalled his father yelling at him to stop being an ignoble brat.

Never.

Laughing almost maniacally, Zagreus dashed into the next chamber with newfound vigor, completely aware this time and not shrouded with overwhelming adrenaline. Every hit he suffered hurt more, but his focus allowed him to dodge more often and think properly, and he completed the chamber with only a few more scratches added to the ongoing list of wounds.

He was feeling good, confident. Anxious still, because he had never survived this far and had no idea what awaited him behind the next door, but what was the worst that could happen? Death? Ha.

And as he practically skipped into the next room, the toll of a bell stopped him in his tracks, draining all the warmth from his body as the already green chamber flashed an even greater, colder shade of green. Zagreus, although yielding under the sudden chill, still found himself wrapped in a blanket of familiarity, of something so beautiful he couldn’t find the words to describe it. That alone was enough to keep him from freezing to the bone.

“Thanatos…?” He whispered. He hoped. He dreaded. His heartbeat picked up, and his soul tried to rip itself from his body, drawn to the figure zapping into existence right in front of him. For a split second, wings encased Death’s godly form, dissolving as soon it appeared. A detail that was hardly noticeable, but Zagreus noticed it everytime and wished it lasted longer. He yearned to see those wings again.

“You’re easy to track down,” Than said, in a voice that was soft yet piercing, the pronunciation of every word perfect and clear. It caught Zagreus’ immediate attention, keeping his feet planted where they were. He smiled; he couldn’t help it.

“Aw, you were looking for me?”

And there it was: the slight downward twitch of his lips, the furrow of his brows, and of course, the subtle scrunch of his nose. Teasing Than was the best.

“No,” was Than’s indignant answer, and Zagreus of course didn’t believe him. “It was simply an observation of the debris you’ve left behind. I just happened to be in the area.”

“And you also just so happened to follow the trail, knowing it would lead to me?”

“No—! Ugh.” Flustered, lovingly so, Thanatos wielded his scythe. “Fight or die, Zagreus. Or, perhaps, do nothing, while I do all the work. Like how it's always been.”

Zagreus smirked. Well, he definitely wouldn’t mind sitting back and watching Death annihilate Elysium’s best warriors. He knew the god would make swift work of them. But to miss the opportunity to fight alongside the God of Death? Why, how could he decline such an offer?

Before the first shade could even materialize, Zag was on them, hacking and slashing like his body didn’t scream for him to follow Than’s advice. It was exhilarating, exciting. They worked as a team rather than competitors, Zagreus even pushing enemies into Thanatos’ dark circle of death. Than took notice, stopping to give Zagreus a confused look, before disintegrating three Brightswords at once.

Beautiful. Beautiful.

A few more Brightswords materialized, including a Greatshield and some Chariots, but they met their demise quickly before they could so much as breathe. Not that they needed to breathe; they were dead.

And now you’re deader, Zagreus mused, finishing off the last one while Than, ironically, floated and watched him do the work, perhaps giving him a pity kill. Zagreus didn’t keep track of their last competition and he wasn’t about to now; he’d let Thanatos worry about that. Though, he could estimate that he himself killed about five, while Thanatos...more than that, probably?

With the last warrior slayed, Elysium was quiet and peaceful once more, as Zagreus imagined it would be if he was sentenced to live his eternal life here. He took this opportunity to gather and absorb the dark energy a few enemies dropped, thinking about Nyx’s gift when he felt eyes watching him.

Goosebumps riddling his skin, he turned towards Thanatos, who continued staring a moment longer before offering his hand. Zagreus, confused, tilted his head and waited for an explanation. Upon receiving nothing except for Than’s unreadable expression, he took the invitation and shuffled closer.

“Your reward,” Thanatos mumbled, yet it was clear as day. Energy popped in his upturned palm, the remnants clinging to Zagreus’ skin and melting into the tissue, the bones. Zagreus watched a few scratches heal themselves. His body still ached, but his vitality grew stronger, like he could withstand more.

“Centaur heart,” Zagreus muttered, and he tilted his head back, traveling up Than’s floating form before stopping at a pair of two golden orbs. “Why?”

“It was a tie.”

“Oh.”

Zagreus was suspicious, but he didn’t speak on it. If Thanatos wanted him to stay home, like everyone else apparently, then he wouldn’t have given him something to keep his body going unless it was well-earned. Death was honorable like that.

“Ah,” Than cleared his throat, and standing this close Zagreus could see the beginnings of discoloration dusted across his cheeks. “My brother—Hypnos, that is—gave me a bottle of Nectar a little bit ago.”

Zagreus didn’t react to the random statement at first. He wondered why Thanatos was telling him, but also, how Hypnos could have gotten another bottle himself. The God of Sleep didn’t travel nearly as much as his older twin, or even Zagreus for that matter. Though, Zag supposed maybe he didn’t really know where Hypnos went when he wasn’t dozing off by the entrance to the River Styx. He always assumed the god was off sleeping somewhere more comfortably. Or maybe—

Wait. Zagreus frowned. He sensed something was amiss; something wasn’t right. The bottle, the one he gave Hypnos just before his most recent escape...he wouldn’t...couldn’t have…?

His eyes widened. No. Nonono—

“He said it was from you, Zagreus. That you asked he give it to me...as a gift.”

For the second time that day—or night, whatever—Zagreus found himself sputtering with disbelief. Irritation, embarrassment, anger, betrayal, amongst other feelings he refused to acknowledge—he couldn’t sort out which ones he felt the most.

“That—” he tried, but the words were locked in his throat, clogged together so he could hardly talk, hardly breathe. How dare Hypnos give away a gift Zagreus had given him. And how dare he thus give that same gift to Thanatos, lying in his name on top of it all!

“Zag?”

The nickname made Zagreus flinch and want to wilt away, perhaps turn into a butterfly and hide in Than’s chiton forever. At least until Than eventually ran into Hypnos, where Zagreus would then use the element of surprise to strangle the sleepy god. But to hear Than call him by his childhood nickname rather than cruelly addressing him as ‘Zagreus’ enveloped the Prince with so much nostalgia and belonging it ached. What was the point of rewarding Zagreus a centaur heart if he was only going to wound him like this moments after?!

“I...Than.” The exchange of nicknames felt natural, but Zagreus was ashamed. It was enough to zap him out of his momentary panic, and he briefly locked eyes with Death before taking in not only the concerned tilt of his brow, but also the specks of flustered gold alighting his face. Than was...flattered, to say the least. Zagreus wasn’t so oblivious he couldn’t figure out that much. But it wasn’t because of his doing; not really. He could go along with it, pretend that it was, but. That wasn’t right. Death should be honored. This was not honorable.

Upon the sigh Zagreus released from his emotionally-constricted lungs were everything he had managed to feel in less than a second after the reveal of Hypnos’ betrayal. Whatever the reason for it, Zagreus wouldn’t accept the benefits of it, if any. He wouldn’t accept the outcome if it wasn’t truthful.

“Thanatos,” he began, the name not as sweet on his tongue, “That gift...was for Hypnos, not you. I never asked him to hand it off to you.”

The look on Than’s face was hard to read at first—perhaps a mixture of confusion and horror—but Zagreus hated it. Desperately did he wish to replace it with the bashfulness from before. That feeling he had felt earlier, to bask Thanatos in gifts, was back full force.

“You mean to say…” Than’s voice trailed off before his expression hardened. “This is a prank, then.”

“No! Of course not. Not by me, at least.” When Than didn’t look convinced, Zagreus stepped closer, reaching for his dark Chiton but pulling back when he noticed Than’s shoulders stiffen. “I swear, Thanatos, on my father’s name. I gave him the bottle and that was it. Maybe...maybe there was a miscommunication? Or perhaps he overheard—”

He stopped himself there, looking past Thanatos at nothing in particular. Maybe Hypnos overheard his back and forth with Achilles? He was right around the corner, afterall. And if Nyx could hear Hypnos and Zagreus, then Hypnos would have no problem eavesdropping on the happenings of the West Hall. If that’s the case, maybe Hypnos believed he was doing a favor by giving the bottle to its original intent?

“Overheard what, Zagreus?”

With another sigh, Zagreus gave up. “Okay. The Nectar was for you.” Before Thanatos could process the words, Zagreus rushed the next sentences out, fearing the god would think it was all a joke again. “Originally! It was intended for you, at first, but you weren’t at the House. You—you’re rarely at the House, and it’s clear you’ve been avoiding me as of late, so. And the bottle, it was shaken up. I couldn’t just give something like that to you! I wasn’t sure you would even accept a gift from me anyway so I tried to give it to Achilles but he wouldn’t accept it because he said it wasn’t for him even though I was obviously giving it to him and we may have argued about it loud enough for Hypnos to hear but he didn’t say anything about it when—”

Zagreus, whose words were starting to blend together as he quickly rambled his explanation of things, abruptly stopped when something small and hard was thrusted against his chest. He was nearly pushed back from the force of it, and he scrambled to hold onto the object when Thanatos pulled his hand back. Confused, Zagreus stared down at his hands.

“Do you ever stop talking?”

Zagreus had to force himself to look away from what appeared to be a butterfly, mesmerized by the intricate designs he could briefly make out before giving Thanatos his attention once more. He wasn’t looking at him, rather, his head was turned to the side, arms crossed with his scythe cradled between the bulge of his biceps. Dust of gold once again sparkled the soft glow of his cheeks.

“You shouldn’t worry about giving me anything, Zagreus. I’ve no interest in the little souvenirs you find in your futile attempts to escape this place.” Slightly, he cocked his head, fixing his golden stare on the small artefact held gently in Zagreus’ grasp. “But if you insist...you’ll have no choice but to hold onto that.”

A flash of green, a schlink, and Zagreus was alone in Elysium.

Than’s swift exits always left a hole in his chest, but this time he didn’t bother dwelling on it, the weight of the butterfly in his hands keeping his heart full and healthy and...happy. His fingers smoothed over the coolness of it, its subtle ridges and edges a fine testament to the workmanship it must have taken to create something so beautiful. And the colors—shades of purples and grays with a green tint on the outer rims of the design, giving the butterfly a glowing effect—reminded Zagreus so much of Thanatos, and the beauty of Death.

The Prince’s tendency to ramble, although grating to the ears of most in the House of Hades, seems to have avoided what would have been a terrible rift between the likes of Life and Death, courtesy of a telltale lie; but the Prince’s desire to strangle the God of Sleep still stands as is.

Blood trickled to the tips of Zagreus’ ears. “What are you talking—? Ugh, just shut up!”

[ciderxi]

She was supposed to be mine.  1

Title: She was supposed to be mine

Chapter- prologue + One

Pairing San x Reader X Yeosang

Word Count:1.8k

 Warnings: Mild Yandere in future chapters. Future mentions of abuse, smut, fluff, Jealous San and Yeosang, Love triangle

Starts off fluffy, gets dark towards further chapters. 

It had taken months for you to save just enough to not only buy concert tickets, but get tickets for the exclusive fanmeets as well. Months of practically turning yourself into a hermit just to save enough to see Yeosang in person. But it was finally the day. You started off by waking up in a panicked stupor, skin flush as you quickly examined your surroundings.

"Well that was..weird" You looked down at your stomach, rubbing the moody flab as you sat up in bed. You just had a really bad feeling in the pit of your stomach. As if it was trying, no, forcing you to stay in today. But that wasn't an option. You had the concert and fan meet today! There was no way in hell that you were going to miss that.

You quickly forced yourself out of bed, skipping breakfast, and immediately going to doll yourself up. Sure you didn't go all out of your makeup everyday, but today was special. You wanted to make sure to leave an impression on Yeosang, even if it was only for a minute.

~

Once you had gotten to the actual fanmeet, you stared at the endless line of people ahead of you. You swore to yourself that you wouldn't be long, you just need a drink after the concert. After all, all that screaming and singing along like a mad man left you parched. So there you were, already running late and still needing to use the bathroom. You mingled with other atiny's trying to get your mind off your bladder, but the endless laughter made things even worse. You had two choices, leave to the restroom, and lose your spot, or stay in line and risk pissing yourself in front of Ateez...

With that, you begrudgingly ran to the bathrooms. Taking a minute to adjust your hair and makeup before returning to the end of the line.

A long sigh left your lips are you resigned yourself to failure. Now it would be at least another half hour before you got to meet them, if at all. Knowing how busy their schedule was. You grumbled softly to yourself, letting yourself be distracted by the endless videos of Yeosang on your phone. That would at least take your mind off of the wait for now. Although not realizing it yourself,  two pair of eyes are watching her... a pair of eyes that'd she would only long for and fall head over heels for. Meanwhile the other pair is someone who she never thought would give her a passing glance. Unknowingly trapping herself in a sticky situation

While the rest of the members were busy with the last of their fans, San watched your oblivious figure almost hungrily, eyeing your every move. To him, you were perfect. Something almost ethereal in nature that he had yet to see before. Whatever it was, he had to have you

Unfortunately for him, she only had eyes for another, Kang Yeosang. All he had to do was make sure he got to her first, and he would make her forget all about Yeosang.

"Yo, San? Hellooo?" Mingi gently shook his band mate, shaking him out from his trance. He was too busy staring at you that he didn't even notice a fan sitting in front of him. He gave an embarrassed apology, then flashed the girl a smile, proceeding as if he wasn't just caught staring at someone.

It was finally time to meet your idols. You held tightly onto the album with one hand, and quickly adjusted your skirt with the other. Oh god I hope my makeup didn't run off. What if I have something on my face? WHAT IF THERE'S TOILET PAPER ON MY SH-

~

"Hi! I'm San, what's your name beautiful?"

You couldn't help but notice how intently his eyes were fixed on you. Man they weren't lying when they said they give you their full attention. You tried to hold back a smile as your cheeks reddened with embarrassment. "Hi! I'm Y/N, what's your na- I mean uh" you kept tripping over your words and San just smiled back. He reached out to put his hand over yours, feeling almost intoxicated. "Did you want me to sign anything?" He asks sweetly, gesturing towards the album in your hand.

"Oh yeah.. Here" you flip to his page while trying to avoid saying something stupid

"Here" his eyes temporarily leave your gaze to face the album "Who's your bias Y/n?"

"Yeosang! He actually became my bias at first sight " with that one name San stopped writing for a moment. His smile slowly faded into a scowl "Oh..that's cool,Yeosang is really nice" he tried to force back a smile as he finished signing your album "It was nice to meet you Y/n, don't forget to read it~"

You couldn't help but have a heavy feeling in the pit of your stomach, but wasn't sure if the feeling is something you should really worry about or not. Brushing it off as just nerves, you realize it's time to meet the next member so you gather your things. Your eyes immediately leaving from San's gaze.

Mingi noticed the way they reacted to each other, but he brushed it off, figuring that it was just another nervous fan. Although he wasn't the only one who noticed the way San looked at her.

You couldn't help but feel at home with the rest of the members, they were all so kind and seemed like a genuinely good people, cherishing each moment she spent having them sign her album. You couldn't help yourself but laugh at how they were basically all sharing Mingi's last brain cell.

As you reached Yeosang you both smiled at each other unsure who should make the first move. Making a bold move you started the conversation, "Hi.. my name is Y/n and you're my ultimate bias, I can't believe I'm actually getting to meet you." Stunned Yeosang was happy to hear that. He didn't get that many lines so he didn't think he had many fans. "I'm your bias, really? He asks excitedly, not being able to contain his smile. "Of course! You're so talented and sweet! I wish you had more lines"

Yeosang reached for your hand only wanting for the moment to stay like this, not wanting to let go of her hand. You blushed deeply, not expecting to ever get this close to your idol. "Will you sign my album?" you mumbled softly, too ecstatic to speak clearly. " Of course! Anything for you~"And he meant it, all he wanted to do was to get closer to you.

As you were both enjoying each others company, another pair of eyes were watching them, not happy with the sight before him. San watched as you finished your meet with Yeosang, your face that of a blushing bride.

"I won't let you take her away from me" he mumbled to himself

"What was that?" Mingi asked his friend "The fan meets over, why don't you go to one of the backstage rooms for a while? Were leaving in maybe about 2 hours"

San brought up a small smile as he nodded and headed backstage, but waited as he watched as you looked through your album.

"Meet me backstage Y/n, I'll be waiting~ " you rubbed your eyes for a second wondering if you just read that right. Was he joking? Maybe you had won a random contest you didn't know about. Oh well, what was the worst that could happen? You got up as everyone was leaving the fan meet, approaching the backstage as she saw a guard "Hi I'm-"

"Y/n L/n right?" you nodded "Follow me" the rather large man led you to the room, knocked on the door, and left.

San was standing behind the door, he was too excited. She actually came. He quickly opened the door and grabbed you by the wrist, dragging you in and closing the door behind you. Making sure no one saw them enter. Or so he thought.

"You wanted to see me?" you asked a little confused wondering if the other members are coming as well.

Looking around the room you didn't notice how close San was until you actually turned around, their skin so close to touching. Your breathing hitched as you felt his breath hit yours. "I-is there something on my face?". Your heart rate picked up,feeling her breathing becoming uneven. "You're just so beautiful"

San was so close to touching you, wanting to take your body and make you his, and only his. Just for a tease San slowly traced his fingers against your hand then up her arm, noticing the way you shuddered under his touch, but took it as a sign to proceed forward as you didn't step away from him.

San slowly wraps his hand behind your waist, snatching you close enough to smell the sweet perfume of your skin. Your breathing hitched as he inched closer, you like him of course...but you love Yeosang. But at the same time you couldn't deny the way he made you feel. As he inched his lips closer to yours, he could sense your hesitation. Urging him to press his lips against yours before you changed your mind.

Your eyes widened with surprise as you felt his tongue almost begging for entry. Against your better judgement you slowly opened your mouth, hoping to god that no one would walk in, he did lock the door right? In the midst of your thinking San continued to slide his hand lower, squeezing your ass. You let out a soft moan, encouraging him to take it a step further. Your arms roamed around his strong back, slightly digging your nails in, leaning further into the kiss, slowly becoming a moaning mess as you felt his fingers finding their way under your skirt. He briefly parted himself from the kiss, watching as your eyes fluttered back open. "Don't tease me San.."

"I just wanted to make sure you're enjoying this"

"Of course I am!" the neediness clearly showing through your voice.

He had you wrapped around his fingers, and he wasn't about to waste this opportunity. San pulled you close and back into the kiss, his fingers already taking a b-line to the hem of your skirt. Meanwhile making sure to leave a trail of hickeys along her neck.

San wasn't here to play, and neither were you. You lowered your hand to his, taking it and bringing it to your panties, giving him permission to explore. "San~ take me" you cooed under his touch.

San picks you up and places you in the corner, holding her ass as he slowly began thrusting against her "San!"

"Hey San we're about to lea-" Yeosang stopped in his tracks, his heart beginning to ache at the sight before him. The girl he liked, a moaning mess at the hands of his best friend.

[luxekook]

trivia love | knj

⇥ pairing: kim namjoon x reader

⇥ genre: non-idol au with fluff and smut

⇥ summary: in which the reader and namjoon become ridiculously attracted to each other over weekly late night trivia sessions

⇥ word count: 5.4k

⇥ warnings: 18+, cursing, dirty talk, terrible trivia team names, namjoon being devastating, low-key exhibitionism, smut in a bar bathroom, oral (f receiving), sub!joon, switch!reader, everyone being nerdy af

Weekly trivia used to be so fun. Your team - The Multiple Scoregasms - used to demolish the competition with ease. You used to be able to think so clearly and answer so correctly. You used to revel in the free drinks earned with your $20 bar credit winnings.

Keywords: used to

For the last two Thursdays, not only had your team lost miserably, you seemed to have lost all recollection past your own name.

The reason? Team Text Us, We're Single.

First of all, their team name was highly deceptive. There was no way that all seven of those beautiful team members were single. It was absolutely ludicrous.

Second of all, only one member of the group seemed to even take trivia seriously. And they still won. Twice.

And last of all, you were high-key attracted to said member. You sighed, thinking back to simpler times before you first saw him two Thursdays ago…

The first thing you saw when you walked into Queenie’s Bar was a squad of middle-aged men debating the merits of Draco Malfoy’s redemption arc.

And the second? Just the cutest smiling boy you’d ever seen in the entirety of your existence. He was tall and deliciously tan, with cute dimples that surfaced suddenly when he smiled at the bartender in thanks.

As you stood in the archway of the bar gaping at this dimpled god, you got jostled from behind by your friend Olivia. “What’s the hold up? Go claim our usual table, (y/n)! I’ll get the drinks.”

You snapped out of your reverie. Cute boy or not, he was likely to be part of tonight’s competition; and, therefore, you needed to annihilate him accordingly.

Nodding inwardly, you stalked past the men who now had moved on from Draco to a heated argument surrounding house-elves and their rights.
 “Hermione just dropped her whole campaign! S.P.E.W. was never mentioned again!” One man thrust his hand through his thinning hair in exasperation, “God, did the campaign buttons mean nothing?”

You cracked a smile as you settled into your usual table in the middle of the crowded bar. You loved Thursday night trivia with everything you had.

Thursdays brought in an eclectic sort of crowd to Queenie’s. The groups scattered throughout the bar represented everyone from middle aged Potterheads to skulking e-boys to nerdy young adults (READ: you) and - apparently - to models (READ: Dimples).

You spotted your roommate Jordan and your friend Marlene hurrying through the door and raised a hand to wave them down. Marlene noticed you first and yelled, “Yo, (y/n)!”

Typically, you would have been embarrassed by this behavior, but it happened each week without fail. So, you just gave a half-assed salute.

The only thing that Marlene, the only extrovert in your circle of friends, loved more than being the center of attention was forcing the rest of you into the spotlight with her.

Her reasoning? Something about comfort zones and shit. Your reasoning? Pure evil.

Jordan rolled his eyes at you and grabbed Marlene, dragging her over to your table. “She needs to be stopped,” Jordan said in lieu of a greeting, “She’s a menace to introverts everywhere.”

“Puh-lease,” Marlene plopped into her seat dramatically, “Y’all love me. Besides, if you got rid of me, who would do speed trivia rounds for you?”

You and Jordan exchanged a panicked look at the mere thought of being put on the spot in front of a large crowd. “You make a convincing argument,” you sighed, “I guess we’ll keep you.”

“Well,” Marlene concentrated on something over your shoulder, “I might leave voluntarily if other teams are out here looking like that.”

You turned, seeking out the team in question, and locked eyes with Dimples. He blushed furiously and ducked his head, blonde hair falling to cover his eyes. His friend to his left, equally as attractive, gave Dimples a weird look and shoved his shoulder. You whipped back around before you got caught staring - again.

“What the fuck?” Jordan whispers-yelled across the table to you, “Do you know that boy, (y/n)?”

“No,” you choked out, already halfway to whipped over someone you’d never even met.

“Well, damn,” Olivia finally arrived, somehow successfully holding four drinks, “What’d I miss?”

“Nothing,” Marlene smirked, “Just a cute boy thirsting over (y/n) from afar.”

“He is not thirsting!” Your disclaimer went by unacknowledged.

“Oooh, we love a thirsty boy,” Olivia slid into her seat next to you and turned around to assess the crowd, “Shit. Which one is he? All the boys at that table are hot.”

“The one with the dimples,” you automatically answered, your mind replaying his squinty-eyed smile in full HD.

“Whoa, hold on a minute,” Marlene whipped out her pen and notepad like she was about to take notes, “Now, how do you know he has dimples?”

“Uh,” you sank low in your seat, “A good guess?”

“Nope, try again,” Jordan cackled, “You twirl your hair when you’re lying, bitch.”

Goddamnit. You released your traitorous hand from your hair immediately. “Fine, because I saw him smiling when I arrived, okay?”

“Interesting,” Marlene scribbled gibberish on her notepad, “And how do you feel about that?”

Now, two long weeks later, you still had no idea how to answer that question. However, you did know that you longed to talk with him for hours and absorb the knowledge he seemed to hold in every crevice of his brain. You did know that a darker part of you wanted to see him kneeling before you, completely at your mercy. You did know that his thighs were distracting, to the point where you accidentally dumped your entire beer down your shirt because you were too gaping at the way he leaned over the bar to order drinks.

And, unfortunately, you did know that he seemed to be equally distracted by you. This bit of knowledge came via your friends; and, therefore, you were in full denial.

“Question nine,” the bartender-turned-announcer cleared her throat, jolting you from your inner thoughts. “Who wrote 1818’s Frankenstein?”

“Mary Shelley!” You whispered across the table to Jordan, who then scrawled the name onto your team’s answer sheet. Satisfied, you shot a furtive glance around the bar and frowned as the surrounding teams all seemed to be confident in their answers as well. Your gaze strategically skipped past the table in the back section of the bar before returning to face your teammates.

From her seat next to Jordan, Marlene spotted something in the very direction you had been avoiding and giggled, “Dimples is staring. Bottoms up, fam.”

“Again?” Olivia rolled her eyes and drank from her dwindling gin and tonic. “He just looked at her, like, thirty seconds ago!”

Your eyes swung to Jordan as he attempted to covertly take a sip of his vodka cranberry.

“Please tell me you all aren’t drinking every time he looks over here,” you groaned, crossing your arms, “How are you even sure that he's looking at me?”

“Maybe because his eyes were glued to your ass when you walked by his table earlier on the way to the bathroom,” Olivia cackled, “I mean, I can’t blame the guy. Those jeans really do make you look thick.”

“And that’s ‘thick’ with at least three C’s and possibly a Q,” Marlene added, shooting you a thumbs up and nod of approval.

Jordan arched an eyebrow slyly, sipped his mixed drink, and drawled,“Well, why do you think she wore them?”

That snake!

“Top ten anime betrayals,” you whispered, eyes wide in the wake of being exposed.

Marlene and Olivia gasped in unison and turned towards you. Olivia hissed, “You bitch. Have you been holding out on us? Have you been seducing him?”

“Question ten,” the announcement blared from the bar’s speakers, saving you briefly from the brewing interrogation you felt was headed your way. “What novel begins with the words 'Call me Ishmael’?”

“Moby Dick,” Marlene answered, “Now, back to the matter at hand. I cannot believe you didn’t tell us this crucial information. We could have been scheming together if we knew you liked him.”

“Like him?!” Your shriek drew the attention of the neighboring table, and you shot them a sheepish smile. When they finally looked away, you immediately reverted back to your murderous state, “I don’t even know his name! And when have you been scheming?”

“Fine,” Jordan acquiesced, stirring his paper straw around his drink, “Maybe you don’t like him yet, but you definitely want to sit on his dick. Am I right or am I right?”

Gleefully, Marlene and Olivia faced you with fierce looks of anticipation.

“Fine,” you sniffed, trying to scrape your shredded dignity off the floor, “Yes, I want to sit on his dick. Is that so wrong?”

“Oh, this is going to be good,” Olivia rubbed her palms together, grinning deviously, "I mean, we already know he's into you. Why can't you just say something to him?"

You looked at her like she had just spoken Latin backwards, "Have you seen him? He’s so sweet. I could ruin him.”

“I don’t think he’d even mind though,” Marlene sighed, gazing over at the boy in question.

Jordan snorted as you buried your head in your hands and audibly prayed for anyone out there to take pity on you.

"We're moving on to our next category, folks," the bar's sound system crackled to life, answering your prayers, "Harry Potter."

"Oh, fuck yeah," You and Marlene - resident Harry Potter dweebs - exchanged high fives. Finally, a category you could probably win with your mind functioning on minimal capacity.

"Question eleven: In the Goblet of Fire, who poses as Mad-Eye Moody, Harry's Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?"

"Barty Crouch," you and Marlene said, pausing for dramatic effect, "Junior."

You cracked up as Jordan and Olivia shook their heads. "I question our friendship every damn day," Olivia joked, gazing off into the metaphorical distance - aka at the wall.

"You love us, bitch-ass," Marlene aimed a kick in Olivia’s direction under the table.

You grinned at their antics and went to take a sip from your beer, only to discover it empty. "Another round?" You ask your friends, standing to head over to the bar.

"Yes, please," Jordan groaned, "Anything to make it through these next four questions."

"Anyone - besides Jordan - want another round?" You revised your original statement aloud.

"Wow, have I mentioned I love Harry Potter lately? Like, yes, ten points to Hogwarts, bitch," Olivia thrust her empty glass in the air.

"That's not even how House Points work, Liv," Marlene sighed, "Solid B- for effort."

You turned to leave. "Wait!" Jordan drew your attention back to your group, "Stick your ass out when you order. He'll be watching." He shot a quick glance in He Who Shall Not Be Named (Because You Don't Know It)'s direction. "Oh, wait. He already is. Go get 'em, Hedwig."

You inwardly screamed at the knowledge that you were being watched by the current focus of your attraction and decided not to comment before leaving.

"Hedwig?" You heard Marlene addressing Jordan as you walked away, "Did you mean Hermione? Hedwig is Harry’s fucking owl. RIP, by the way."

God, you loved your friends.

Arriving at the large wooden bar running the length of the room, you flagged down one of the bartenders and circled a finger in the air to indicate another round. You and your friends came often enough for most of the staff to know your orders by heart. It was awesome.

"Question twelve!" The sound jolted you upright. You hadn't noticed you were standing right next to one of the extra speakers the bar used for trivia. Idiot, you cursed yourself, why must you be like this?

"Why was the Whomping Willow planted?" Cringing again at the volume, you craned your neck and located Marlene, who gave you an affirmative nod of 'I got this, fam.'

"Here you go!" The bartender placed your drinks in front of you, "Same tab?"

"Yes, please," You nodded, attempting to smoothly grab all four drinks, "Thank you!"

"Need some help?" The sweetest voice you had ever heard in your life sounded from your left side. You slowly turned your head to face its source and was equally as stunned by the beautiful boy in front of you.

This was one of Dimples’ teammates - one of the Team Text Us, We're Single boys.

"Um," your brain resembled the scene from Spongebob where he forgot his name. Your eyes darted over the boy's shoulder in a deliberate attempt to avoid his cute scrunched eyes and wide smile. But, you were only faced with something even more devastating.

Six boys openly gaped at you from the back table. When you caught their eyes, three looked away, two grinned shamelessly, and one blushed right to the tips of his ears.

Cute. Your insides turned to mush over how adorable your Dimples was.

"They're the worst, right?” The boy in front of you commanded your attention once more, "So nosy. Now, let me help you. I'm Jimin, by the way, from Team Text--"

"Us, We're Single," you finished, "Yeah, you guys beat us the last two Thursdays. We had such a nice winning streak going, too."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better," Jimin smiled wide, "Most of us don't even care about trivia."

"That makes it even worse," you groaned, sliding two drinks his way, "I'm (y/n), from The Multiple--"

"Scoregasms," Jimin laughed, "Awesome name."

"Thanks!" Your confidence soared at his praise and you smiled genuinely, "It's some of my best work."

"Question thirteen!"

"Oh shit," Jimin muttered, "Let's go before I miss any more questions. Joon will have my ass on a platter."

You nodded, mind whirring to try to determine which team member this 'Joon' was. Maybe the intimidating-looking boy with the bleached blonde hair pushed back in a headband? Or the really muscular one in all black with the doe eyes and long brown hair?

"When Dumbledore and Harry first visit Horace Slughorn, what is he disguised as?"

At the question, you grabbed the two remaining drinks and head back to your table with Jimin following close behind. As soon as you began your journey, you rolled your eyes at the completely obvious way your friends were pretending they hadn’t been watching you and Jimin interact this entire time.

You had never seen them having such an animated conversation about... "Bagels are so good! I love how you can choose from so many different types, like cinnamon raisin, sesame, blueberry, honey wheat--"

"Hi," you forcefully placed the drinks down in front of your friends and succeeded in interrupting Marlene's riveting tirade about bagels, "This is Jimin. He was kind enough to help me."

"Hey, Jimin," Jordan eyed the boy appreciatively, "Decided to scope out the competition, huh?"

"Honestly, sort of," Jimin chuckled. Your eyes narrowed suspiciously, not liking the sly edge his grin took on in the slightest.

"Well, hopefully (y/n) didn't give much away," Olivia giggled, staring up at Jimin with heart eyes, "She's our team leader."

"Damn straight." You plopped back down in your chair, "Want to sit with us? We can grab an extra chair from a nearby table."

"Nah," Jimin glanced over his shoulder at where his teammates were probably still staring, "I should get back. Want to hang out after trivia though? We can merge tables!"

Before you could even answer, Marlene enthused, "Yes! That would be so fun. Don't you think, (y/n)?"

You gave her your most lethal side-eye, catching onto what seemed to be happening here, "Yes... so fun."

"Great!" Jimin ignored your dry tone, "Talk to you later then!"

You all watched as he sauntered away.

"Damn," Olivia sighed, "That boy is fine." You nodded sagely as your eyes stayed glued to Jimin's firm ass as he walked away in those tight jeans.

"So, what's the plan, team?" Jordan clapped, "We have T minus twenty minutes to get 'Operation Get (y/n) Dicked Down' up and running. Let's do this."

God, you hated your friends.

Twenty minutes later, your team had solidly lost. However, unlike the last two weeks, your loss did not come as a surprise or alongside any hard feelings. You four were too busy prepping to hang out with seven intimidatingly hot boys.

You were the only one not excited.

“And that concludes trivia for tonight, folks,” the bartender announced, “Team Text Us, We’re Single wins once again. Please come to the bar to collect your bar credits, lads.”

“Oh my god, okay, it’s happening,” Jordan bounced up and down in his seat as you all watched the bar start to clear out, “Stay calm. Stay fucking calm.”

“I don’t know how you have any room to call (y/n) and I nerds while you straight up quote The Office, Jord,” Marlene laughed.

“The Office is an Emmy award-winning show,” Jordan sniffed, “Come at me when Harry Potter wins a Pulitzer.”

“The Pulitzer is only for American authors,” Marlene cried.

“I rest my case,” Jordan lifted his glass.

“What?” Marlene yelped, “That makes literally no sense.”

“As much as I hate to interrupt this fascinating argument,” Olivia drawled, “We’re being summoned.”

You gulped, glancing behind you. Sure enough, Jimin was flagging you all down from across the bar, while a few of his teammates dragged over an empty table towards their own.

“Shit, I guess this is it,” you sighed.

“Jesus, you’re not going off to war, (y/n),” Jordan rolled his eyes, “You’re literally about to meet the your trivia daddy.”

“Please— and I cannot stress this enough,” you paused, “Never say that again.” With that, you stood, grabbing your drink and sauntering over towards Jimin with all the confidence you could possibly summon.

You heard your friends’ laughter behind you, and you discreetly flashed them the middle finger behind you back.

“Hey, Jimin,” you smiled at the boy as he greeted you and your friends.

“Hi, welcome!” His eyes were completely encompassed by his cheeks, and you internally screeched at his cuteness.

“This is Taehyung,” Jimin gestured to the curly-haired boy to his right. Taehyung greeted you all with a deep ‘Hi’ and a peace sign.

“Yoongi,” Jimin pointed towards the intimidating boy you noticed earlier with the bleached hair and the headband. Yoongi only nodded in your general vicinity as greeting.

“Hi, I’m Jin!” The stunningly handsome boy at the end of the table burst out, evidently unable to wait until he was introduced. Jin blew you all a kiss as his friends groaned.

“Please ignore him,” Jimin rolled his eyes before moving on, “Those two are Hoseok and Jungkook.” Jimin gestures towards the bar where two boys were collecting two pitchers of beer.

“And, last but not least, our trivia leader Namjoon,” Jimin’s grin turned devious as the boy in question raised his hand in greeting and ducked his head back down.

“Please sit,” Jimin gestured towards the scattered empty chairs amongst his group.

“(Y/n)!” Jin called suddenly, his arm flopping frantically in the air, “Come sit next to me!”

Your eyebrows shot all the way up as your heartbeat accelerated. Sitting next to Jin meant sitting next to Namjoon - your Dimples.

Nodding, you made your way over. It would be rude to refuse his request, and you could not help but wonder if Namjoon’s friends were also schemers.

You rounded the corner of the table and plopped down between the two boys. “H-hi,” you offered, eloquent as ever. You sipped your beer to cover up your burning embarrassment.

“Hi,” Jin grinned at you, “Thanks for joining us at the handsome end of the table.”

You choked on your beer, before cracking up, “The handsome end?” You loved this boy already and couldn’t resist the urge to tease him, “Oh, you meant Namjoon.” You shot the boy you just mentioned a sly smile as Jin spluttered.

Namjoon cocked his head slightly as he slowly broke into a shy smile, “Yeah, he definitely did, (y/n).”

Lord Almighty, the way he said your named almost sounded like a confession.

“Oh, this is insane, you fools!” Jin shook with incredulity, “I am worldwide handsome. Not Namjoon. Ugh, I need new friends.”

Jin stood and skulked over to the other side of the table as you all laughed. He was so extra, you could already tell. However, his antics had done wonders for your nerves.

Turning back to Namjoon, you leaned in closer, “Did he just make an Always Sunny reference? Or was that just me?”

Namjoon nodded, eyes glinting in amusement, “He did. You watch that show, too?”

Your conversation delved into your favorite shows, your favorite movies, your favorite meals. You felt like you had known Namjoon forever with how comfortable you already were with each other. Yet, you couldn’t help but notice how his eyes strayed to your lips every so often or how his hands crept closer to your thigh with every parting word.

The boy was into you. You were almost 85% sure of it. So, you decided to test him.

In the middle of Namjoon’s story about the time Jungkook almost burned down his apartment complex, you slid your hand over his. Namjoon paused, and you looked up innocently. He gulped and continued.

You smiled viciously on the inside. Your fingers played with his, intertwining with them, playing with his rings, brushing over his palm.

As Namjoon’s story drew to a close, you tugged his hand onto your thigh and released it. Nonchalantly, you picked up your beer and took a sip.

Shooting the boy a quick glance in your periphery, you found him staring openmouthed at his own hand encompassing your thigh. He gave your thigh a tentative squeeze, and you hummed in content. His eyes shot to yours.

“W-what are you doing?” Namjoon’s pupils were dilated as he blinked at you.

“I just wanted your hand on me, Joon,” you pouted, “You can take it off if you want.”

You moved to shift his hand off you, but his grip tightened. “I like having my hands on you, (y/n),” he said, his voice deeper than ever, “I also like you calling me ‘Joon’.”

“Two more things we can agree on,” you smiled at him, stomach full of butterflies and anticipation. Glancing around you, you realized that your friends were dispersed throughout the bar.

Marlene, Jordan, Hoseok, and Jungkook were dancing wildly in the middle of the bar’s tiny dance-floor. Jimin and Taehyung were bothering the DJ to presumably keep playing an assortment of random songs from the early 2000s. 

Olivia, Yoongi, and Jin sat at the bar, watching the others and laughing as Jungkook kept hitting the whoa no matter what song played. Currently, he was hitting the whoa to Baby Got Back.

Turning back to Namjoon, you find him looking at you with an unreadable expression.

“What?” you questioned, eyes searching his inquisitively.

He shoved a hand through his messy hair. “You’re so intimidating, (y/n). You’re so smart and beautiful, and it messes with my brain.”

“You’re intimidated by me?” You arched an eyebrow before smiling sweetly, “I promise I don’t bite… Unless you want me to.”

“I do,” he answered automatically. You both paused. His eyes widened comically, “F-forget I said that.”

“You want me to bite you, Joonie?” You sighed into his ear, relishing in his shiver, “You want me to mark your pretty skin?”

“Yes,” he breathed out.

“Okay,” your mouth descended to his neck, searching for a weak spot. His breath hitched as your mouth neared his thrumming pulse point. Bingo.

You placed an open-mouthed kiss onto his warm skin before sucking lightly. Namjoon moaned, shifting in his seat. 

You bit down, and his hips bucked instinctively. Pulling back slightly, you licked over the mark that was slowly blooming on his neck.

The clear imprint of your teeth on his neck had you grinning like a fool. You really wanted to own this cute, shy, intelligent boy.

You looked up at Namjoon. He was watching you with his puffy lips parted, his breathing hard. “Can I kiss you?” You asked, eyes focused on his. He nodded frantically, and your lips tugged up in a small smile.

Slowly, you inched your mouth closer towards his. Your breaths mingled. You pressed your lips to his gently and wrapped your arms around his neck.

You kept kissing Namjoon until you finally had to come up for air. Leaning your forehead against his, you locked eyes, breathing each other in.

“Can I sit on your lap, Joon?” You asked in between peppering kisses on his reddened cheeks.

After getting a nod in confirmation, you straddled his lap and returned your lips to his. The small part of your brain still thinking rationally reminded you that you were in a very public bar. The much larger and irrational part of your brain urged you on as your hips shamelessly grind onto Namjoon’s. The hardened cock that you felt through his jeans was too tempting. And, besides, exhibitionism was fun, right?

You bit down on Namjoon’s bottom lip, and he thrust against you.

You broke away and turned your head to the side, needing another moment to breathe. Namjoon began to kiss your neck, and you let out a small laugh as he nipped at your skin. He was marking you right back.

Namjoon lifted his head again as your lips parted. His face was inches away from yours. He stared at you like a starving man.

“Fuck, baby,” Namjoon said lowly, “I’m beginning to think you might be the devil, because you just snatched my soul.”

You stared at him. “That was so goddamned cheesy.” Your giggles made him turn an interesting shade of maroon.

“I knew I shouldn’t have listened to Jin-hyung,” you heard him mutter before you captured his lips once more.

As you kissed, his fingers slowly inched downwards, caressing you. You decided then and there that you would have this boy.

“Undo my jeans,” you commanded after pulling away from his mouth. His eager fingers dropped to your zipper, fumbling in their haste. Once your jeans were undone, you felt him hesitate. You instructed him, “I need your fingers.”

He thrust a finger into you. “Mm, Joon,” you dropped your head into the crevice of his neck as he pumped another one in, stretching you. His fingers curled inside you, as you shifted your hips.

“Rub my clit,” You demanded, and he pulled his fingers out and circled it immediately. You moaned at both the new sensation and at the loss of his fingers inside you. “Keep your fingers in me, use your thumb.” You gripped onto the back of his head, pulling on his hair in punishment.

His fingers thrust back into you without warning as his thumb circled your clit. You felt yourself clenching around him, so close to coming just from his hands. Still, you needed more. You were definitely a greedy bitch.

You pulled his hand from your pants, and he stared at his fingers, which were sticky with you. You watched enraptured as he lifted his wet fingers to his lips and sucked.

His eyes widened, “Fuck, (y/n), you taste so good. You have to let me eat you out. You need to let me put my head between your thighs. Please.”

“Bathroom,” you gasped out, “Now.” You shimmied off of Namjoon’s lap and onto shaky legs.

“Follow me in one minute,” you kissed his cheek and tried your best to casually make your way to the bathroom. However, you were pretty sure you had already blown all efforts to be casual as soon as you sat on Namjoon.

Finally, you entered the empty single-stall bathroom and let out a sigh of relief.

Two seconds later, a knock sounded. You barely opened the door wide enough before Namjoon was all over you. His hands gripped your ass as he backed you against the wall next to the sink.

He gazed down at you with hooded eyes, “You still want this, right?”

“Yes, Joon,” you leaned up to kiss him one more time.

Namjoon sank to his knees before you.

You audibly moaned at the sight. Quickly, you tugged your jeans down your legs and kicked them to the side. Your underwear followed suit.

Namjoon cursed lowly as you lifted a leg onto the ledge of the sink, baring everything to him. “Well,” you smirked, “You wanted to put that smart mouth on me.”

“You are going to kill me,” he muttered. His hot mouth closed over your clit. Parting your lips, he caressed you as he sucked and licked. His fingers thrust into you once more, pulling out slowly then pummeling back in.

“Harder,” you moaned. He fucked you faster, adding another finger, stretching you.

He pulled his mouth away from you, his lips swollen and pink. “How the fuck can you taste this good?” He panted as he carried on fucking you with his fingers, grabbing at your ass with his free hand.

His mouth returned to your pussy, circling your clit with his tongue and moaning against it. His fingers continued to push into you relentlessly.

You felt your toes curl as your orgasm approached at a maddening rate. “J-Joon,” you cried his name, your back arching as the pleasure built up with each stroke of his tongue and movement of his fingers.

Without warning, he sucked on your clit harshly, and you came, clenching around his fingers. Namjoon continued to pump them in and out of you, carrying you through your orgasm. He licked your pussy, lapping up everything you gave him with his tongue. After a bit, your fingers wound into his hair and pulled. “Stop,” you begged, legs shaking with overstimulation.

He pulled back immediately and lifted his head, looking thoroughly fucked-out. His lips were more swollen than ever. His hair was a tangled mess. You had never seen anything better. “God, you look so sexy right now,” you mused, reaching a hand to stroke at his cheek.

“Are you guys finally done in there?” You cringed as Jordan’s amused voice shouted at you through the bathroom door, “You have work tomorrow, (y/n).”

“Jesus H. Christ, Jordan! Go away!” You screamed back at your infuriating roommate.

“…I’m going to take that as a ‘yes’,” he replied, laughing, “See you out there, champ.”

“I’m going to murder him,” you seethed, accepting your jeans from Namjoon who held them silently out to you.

You scanned the floor of the bathroom, “Wait, where’s my underwear?”

Namjoon’s cheeks flooded with color as he lifted a hand to rub at the back of his neck, “I needed some form of reminder of tonight.”

You shrugged, giggling as you tugged on your jeans, “Let’s make a trade.”

“I’m listening,” he grinned, goddamned dimples popping out and making you want to kiss him forever.

“You keep my panties; I keep you,” you grinned back at him.

He blinked rapidly, “Keep me?” You nodded, nerves erupting. Had you misread the situation? Did he just want this to be a one-time thing? Shit, had you royally fucked this up already?

He kissed you suddenly, and you relaxed.

“Please keep me,” he mumbled, “I’m a mess, but I can be your mess if you’d let me.”

“We can be messy together,” you gripped his hand in yours, “Now, come on. We have to go face our friends.”

Namjoon gulped, looking rightfully terrified at that prospect. “Or we could sneak out the back?”

A smirk wound its way onto your face, “I really do like the way you think, Joonie. Let’s go.”

With that, the two of you snuck out of the bathroom and out the backdoor of the bar.

“I knew it!” Marlene and Jimin greeted the two of you with triumphant fists thrust high in the air. Jimin whipped his phone out before you or Namjoon could even say a word. “Hey, hyung? Yeah. They’re out here.”

Ignoring the gloating pair, you turned to Namjoon, “We could still make a run for it?”

He met your eyes; and, without a word, you both took off.

Shouts of your names followed you down the dark alley as you both cracked up. This was definitely not how you had pictured your typical Thursday trivia night to go down, but you were not disappointed. No, you shot the boy running beside you an affectionate look, you weren’t disappointed at all.

© luxekook. please do not repost, modify, edit or translate.

[criminalmindsmad]

Are you finished?

This one is SO long (3400 words long lol), and I must’ve been real moody when I wrote this but please don’t be mad at me! I’ve merged 2 requests together because they may have been very similar had I not! Let me know what you think! Leave any comments in replies or in the tags if you reblog ❤️- Ash x

Requests: 

-Something angsty for hotch, i know this is very broad but idm what you choose to do with it since all of your stories are amazing!!

-Can I request a Hotch x reader where they’re close/kinda flirty and work well together but then Hotch is suddenly really cold to her because he realised he has feelings for her and he’s forced to talk about it when they have to share a hotel room?

“Oh hey! Aaron!” you shouted across the precinct realising there were about 7 cops looking at you. You cleared your throat “Agent Hotchner. May I see you in the conference room for a second.”

He looked at you and cocked his eyebrow, he could tell by the look in your eyes you were up to something and as much as he loved it now was not the time. “Is it important Y/N?” you couldn’t stop your cheeky smile forming on your face, it couldn’t be less important if you were honest, but you nodded anyway. Hotch gave in and walked over to you and into the conference room. “What is it Y/N?” he tried to be serious but he couldn’t help but smile a little. You paused briefly wiping the smile off your face, looking out of the window for dramatic affect. 

“Your butt looks good today” you looked back over to him and he just shook his head, let out a little giggle and left. You quickly followed him. 

Over the course of the case you two were your usual selves, talking about everything and nothing in between bouts of case work, gently touching one another whenever you got the chance, catching the other staring and making fun of them. You and Hotch were best friends, anyone in the world could see how close you were. Which was…great…probably…you had resigned yourself to being best friends aware that being anything more was just completely off the table.

A major storm had hit the night you’d caught your unsub, grounding the jet and leaving the BAU stuck in Dallas with nothing to do. Most of the team had taken the opportunity to get some sleep retiring up to their hotel rooms one by one. You’d decided to stay at the bar for a little while and treat yourself to a glass or two of wine, things had been a little dicey on this case and you felt like you needed it. 

As you sipped at your wine and watched the rain splash against the window a warm hand pressed itself against the small of your back. You flinched at the touch and turned to face them, grabbing their wrist as you did so and yanking it away from your body. 

“Hey that’s not very polite!” Some smarmy guy in a business suit smirked in your direction as he put his hand up in defence. 

“Neither is touching someone without their consent.” You released his hand and shoved it away. 

“Look you don’t need to be a bitch, I was just trying to be nice!” He got up in your face, trying to intimidate you “Jeez you’re not even that pretty anyway!”

“Hey back off!” Aaron had emerged from behind him and began bounding over towards the pair of you. You smirked at him as you grabbed the guy harassing you and pushed his face into the surface of the bar, not spilling a drop of your wine. 

“If you think I was being a bitch then…you must think I’m a colossal bitch now! Ha!” You picked him up and shoved him away from you, Aaron caught him as he flew towards the door. 

“I think you owe my friend an apology.” The guy looked at you once again and shook his head. 

“Let him go Aaron, he’s not worth it.” You nodded to him as he let go of the man and walked over to you.

“You ok?” He put his hand on your arm and looked down at you. You smiled back and bought him in for a hug. 

“Yeah, much better thank you" 

That night you two spent hours talking, moving up to your hotel room at around 3am. 

“Look I just think if the toys in Toy story come to life because kids love them then of COURSE food is alive because we’ve all seen kids eat chicken nuggets!” You both laughed as you sat back down from your rant, sitting on the edge of the bed next to him. 

“Your brain is both amazing and stupid!” He laughed and leaned towards you, stopping both of your laughter in its tracks. Suddenly it felt like there was a rope wrapped around you both, pulling you together. Like the world moved in slow motion as your bodies moved closer, your eyes locked on his as you pressed your mouth against his. He returned your kiss moving his hand to your hair and holding your face against his. And then as suddenly as your lips met, your lips parted and Aaron moved away from you “Y/N! This is highly unprofessional” you looked at him with stunned eyes, your mouth hanging open in shock. 

“What?” You could feel the tears prickling at your eyelids as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Aaron?" 

"This should not have happened. This was clearly a moment of weakness on both of our parts.” You stood up and walked towards him, holding you hand out. 

“Aaron can we talk ab…”

“No” he pushed your hand away “I won’t have to take any professional actions against you however we are not to talk about this with each other or our colleagues again, is that clear.” You nodded. Silently willing yourself not to cry. “Goodnight Agent Y/L/N.” and with that he left, leaving you in the dark of your hotel room.

You didn’t sleep at all that night. Instead sat tormenting yourself over what had happened, figuring out what signs you misread and at some point you questioned if it ever happened at all. 

Morning arrived and you slumped down in the lobby waiting for your team. As you glanced around to check if anyone had arrived before you, you noticed the guy from the bar last night staring at you from reception. You pulled your sunglasses down and tried to ignore his existence. 

“Hey, where’s your boyfriend?” The man wandered over a cocky expression plastered on his face “wouldn’t put out for him either?”

"Wow… I would almost have forgiven you for being a drunk asshole but I guess you’re just a regular asshole huh.”

“Listen bitch I know the sheriff. I can do whatever I want right now and you’re heading straight to county!” He tried to get up in your face. Standing up you met his eye level and tried desperately to wipe the smile off of your face. 

“I’m FBI jackass, I could break your arm right now and I wouldn’t get so much as a disciplinary.” It was an obvious lie but this douche didn’t need to know that. 

“Agent Y/L/N!” Aaron’s voice boomed from behind you, as you turned your head and spotted him and the team in your peripheral you suddenly felt a wave of embarrassment wash over you “what are you doing? Do we have to have a talk about your professionalism on cases?" 

"Sorry Aaron this is just the guy from the bar last night.” You motioned towards the now even more cocky man next to you.

“Once again Agent Y/L/N it is not professional to sleep with someone every time we are away on a case.” Your mouth dropped open as he spoke, eyes fixated directly on his. 

“What did you just say to me?” Anger radiated from your voice. “I did not sleep with this man." 

"No she didn’t but she did threaten to break my arm.” You looked at the man stood next to you and without missing a beat he recoiled away from you in fake fear.

“My apologies sir. Y/N you’re suspended. Find your own way back to Virginia and be in my office at 8am Friday.” He spoke as if it was the most natural thing in the world, as if you were just some background character that no-one ever knew the name of and not someone he considered a close friend mere hours earlier. He walked by you, stern face completely unmoved by the shock plastered all over yours. The rest of the team shuffled by offering comforting eyes and the occasional touch on the shoulder, they seemed as shocked and confused as you were. 

And then they were all gone, you were stuck in Dallas, alone and heartbroken…at least you were in a bar…silver linings.

***

“Aaron… do you want to talk about what happened back in the hotel?” Rossi cornered Aaron in the plane kitchen. Concern spread across his face. 

“What is there to talk about? An agent acted unprofessionally, as they had done many, many times before, and I finally realised I needed to do something about it. I will discuss this further with agent Y/L/N when we meet next week. As for now, I have some paperwork to get started on.” He walked away, leaving Rossi stood at the other end of the plane. Emily and JJ looked over to the older man with questioning looks on their faces which was met, to their dismay, with an equally confused face from David Rossi.

***

“You’re late Y/N” a very stern Hotch mentioned as you knocked at his office door, not bothering to even glance in your direction. 

“I’m 15 minutes early Aaron.” You noted the clock on the wall. 

“Exactly.” You fought the urge to scoff at his comment “take a seat” you did as he said, sitting yourself in front of him. Usually the time you spent in his office was either splayed out on the couch or perched on his desk, this chair was uncomfortable, no wonder you never sat here. “I’ve taken the difficult decision to place the incident and your behaviour on the case last week as a strike on your record" 

"What?” Your eyes and mouth open wide, you couldn’t quite believe what you were hearing. “But Aaron! That goes on my permanent record, it could affect my role in this team and the FBI as a whole. I find it very hard to believe that what happened last week is grounds for that kind of action." 

"You threatened a civilian Y/N." 

"After I was threatened and sexually harassed! You saw what he was like! I can’t believe what I’m hearing!” You stood up off of your chair and turned your back on Hotch, placing your hands on your head in frustration. 

“Please calm down Agent Y/L/N! Don’t make me extend your suspension further.” He stood up and slammed his hand on his desk making you turn around to face him. You stood eyes connected in complete silence breathing in unison. “The mark goes on your record. You may start back with us on Monday. Take the weekend to cool off and maybe think about what a professional wears to the office." 

You looked down at your v-neck and skinny jeans, an ensemble you had worn some variation of during your entire stint with the BAU. You let out a small scoff, composed yourself and spoke "fine. See you on Monday Agent Hotchner. Have a nice weekend." 

Leaving his office you shut the door and met the gaze of your teammates. JJ was the first to walk over, offering to walk you out. As you stood in the lift with her you decided to let your frustrations out. 

"I just don’t get it! It’s like some weird twilight zone where my best friend has been replaced by a nastier moodier version of himself and nobody but me knows!” She laughed at your comments and placed a reassuring hand on your shoulder. 

***

“Agent Y/L/N!” Hotch’s voice boomed across the North Dakotan precinct catching the attention of anyone within 15 miles of him. “interrogation room now!” You had become used to being dragged into rooms whenever Hotch saw fit, his eyes burning into you whenever you did anything trying to find a mistake or reason to call you up. And the once gentle touches had become rough pushes go get you to move in or out of somewhere. The last month had been Hell, on top of your one strike Hotch had managed to find a way to give you another, during a week of back to back late nights and stressful days you’d accidentally fallen asleep at a desk and no one had decided to wake you before they rolled out to apprehend an unsub, Reid had gotten injured and sure enough Hotch blamed you entirely ‘had you been there and not sleeping on the job we may have caught our suspect without an agent ending up in the hospital’ for some reason the rest of the team felt the same and your relationship with most of them had been a bit strained recently. 

“Hotch, have I done something wrong?” You asked, shutting the door to the interrogation room behind you. 

“What is this?” He threw a case file onto the desk, notes and pictures sliding out as it slammed against the table. 

“It’s Ryan Knowles, a potential suspect, I saw his name pop up a couple times and had Garcia run him through our system, juvenile crimes, peeping tom and a non existent mother figure. He fit our profile, I asked JJ to put him on the board so that we could…”

“And why would you do that?” His question took you aback, what was that supposed to mean?

“It’s my job? To follow a hunch and see if it pans out.” You furrowed your brow unsure why you were in trouble. 

“Maybe not for much longer. I’ve noticed you’re slacking, sleeping on cases, following ridiculous hunches and causing the team setback after setback!” He threw the case file against the wall sending paper everywhere “follow your hunch, and you better hope it pans out or you’re off this team" 

"You can’t do that!” You shouted trying to hold onto your composer for just a moment longer. He began to walk out of the room, putting his face close to yours,

“Watch me.” He pulled his face away and walked out of the room leaving you shocked and confused. You began to pick up the papers of your case file trying to put them back into some order as your tears began to blur your vision. 

You stood up and wiped away your tears, looking at a picture of your unsub you decided you were going to prove you were right and prove why you deserved that spot on the team, not that you really wanted to be there much more anyway. 

***

“Put the gun down Ryan!” Your unsub pointed his gun directly at you, you’d managed to catch him attempting to bury his victim,  You had radioed for backup as soon as you saw him and could hear the sirens in the distance “you don’t want to do this, hear those sirens in 30 seconds they’re all around here and if they see you standing there out in the open with a gun it’s not going to take too long for you to be the one in the ground.” You swallowed hard, keeping a level head as you gradually lowered your gun “but if you have me they’re not gonna shoot you, how about you let Amber go and take me instead, look I’m unarmed” you kicked you gun slightly away as you heard the screeching of tyres. 

“Come here.” You walked slowly to Ryan he grabbed you and quickly held the barrel of the gun to your head. You watched Amber run off and be caught by JJ, you sighed with relief that they had made it to you in time. 

As Aaron saw you his heart leaped to his throat and his stomach hit the floor. He’d thought he’d managed to bury his feelings for you after everything that had happened, but there you were completely vulnerable with a gun to your head and he couldn’t help but feel overwhelmingly worried. As Rossi tried to talk Ryan down Hotch kept his eyes focused solely on you, catching your stare right back. You nodded slightly and forced yourself downward allowing Morgan to land two shots directly into Ryan’s chest. 

As you pulled yourself free from his arms you ran forward to your team and for some reason Aaron was the first to pull you in for a hug. Your body tensed up and you blinked with confusion but at least you were safe and he wasn’t firing you. 

*** 

“I’m sorry Miss Y/N but there was an incident with your room. A pipe burst and unfortunately we cannot let you stay in that room this evening. We managed to collect all of you belongings before they were damaged but it seems you will have to share with one of your colleagues.” The older woman at the desk was ruining your life, not actually but in many ways she was. Your team had already gone up to their rooms while you spoke with reception. “I can give you a spare key to one of their rooms so you can just go and let yourself in ok?” You nodded and took the key, you didn’t mind sharing a room with most of your team, as long as it wasn’t Aaron. 

You knocked on the door and began to let yourself in “Hey it’s Y/N! My room got flooded so the front desk gave me your key! I guess we’re roomies for tonight huh!” You finished opening the door and was met with the face of Aaron Hotchner. You sighed “ah. I will go get a different key.”

“NO!” He cleared his throat “no it’s ok, we can share I don’t mind.” You silent nodded and closed the door behind you, putting you go bag down on the desk you began walking over to the couch to get comfortable “Agent Y/N.” Hotch stated sternly. You stopped abruptly and sighed, you knew friendly Hotch was too good to be true. Turning on your heels you didn’t give him a chance to speak first. 

“Look I know I was reckless, but you didn’t really give me much of a choice. If this means I get fired then fine because I saved a life today and that’s enough." 

"I’m not going to fire you. In fact I wanted to say something.” He looked sincere, and sad like whatever he was about to say was painful or something “that night in Dallas, when we talked for hours and then we kissed, well for some reason it broke me, I knew I liked you and knew I found you attractive, I just never put it all together until that moment. I realised I loved you and I wanted to be with you, and I freaked out. Everything I’ve done over the last month was because I was so scared that I was going to get hurt or that you were going to get hurt and it would break me, but then seeing you today and realising that you could die it all went out the window, I don’t have time to be scared, I want to be with you and I realise that now. I’m so sorry” He stopped his ramble, looking into your eyes with his big brown puppy dog eyes, pleading forgiveness and willing you to return the sentiment.

“Are you finished?” He looked shocked by your question nodding to respond. “And that’s it is it? You made my life hell because you love me?” He nodded again, quickly glancing to the floor. “What do you want me to say now? That I love you too? That I forgive you? Well I’m sorry but no. I used to, but then you ruined it. You cost my friendships with the team, you cost me my perfect record and my job and you almost cost me my life, because you are an immature, petty self centred prick! I’ve been so stressed and tired I’ve lost 10 pounds for god’s sake! I’m sorry Hotch but your half assed confession isn’t going to fix this.” You sat down on the sofa and put your head in your hands leaving Hotch stood in the middle of the room, eyes drilling a hole into the floor, looking the way you looked after he left you alone in your hotel room that night. Neither of you moved, both unsure as to what should happen next. “I’m…I’m not saying that we can never happen. I just need time to process, and forgive you and learn to love you again.” His eyes had moved up to you again and you noticed the tears that had formed starting to leak out as yours quickly did too. “What… what erm… what side of the bed do you want?” He laughed slightly at you comment and smiled weakly at you a smile which you returned. Maybe in a little while, this wouldn’t be so hard again. 

[lia-jones]

Growing Pains - Chapter Eleven - Sweet, Sweet Leverage

My alarm clock rang like it was insulting me. Due to yesterday’s events, I couldn’t sleep at all, replaying the entire dinner with Victor in my head, which led me to no conclusion at all. My head and my heart would not agree with each other, no matter how hard I tried. So I decided to completely drop the subject, or, even better, pretend that there was no subject at all. I had enough on my plate as it was, I couldn’t afford any more time on a one-sided crush.

I was finishing my breakfast and coffee, getting ready to leave, when someone rang my doorbell. It was Levi, the Krav Maga god, in all his glory. Freshly showered, his hair still wet, his muscles showing under his blue sweatshirt, beaming at me.

“Good morning, Andy.” He greeted me with a hug.

“Hey!” I said, hugging him back. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I’m sorry, I know it seems like I only come here to ask for favors, but-“

“You want me to walk Boris.” I interrupted him. “When?”

“Later tonight, if you don’t mind. I have training. And speaking of which, you didn’t go to last night’s training. I can’t remember you missing a single one. Is everything ok?”

“Everything is fine, my boss invited me to dinner, that's all.” I said, as I walked around the house looking for my phone.

“Your boss? The mean dude?” Levi made a face.

“Yes, and it turns out he’s not mean.” I said, looking for my phone between the cushions of my sofa.

“Can I help myself with some coffee from your pot?” Levi asked, going to my eating kitchen. “I forgot to buy ground coffee.”

“Sure, go ahead.” I yelled from my room. “Do you mind calling my phone? I can’t find it anywhere.”

After a minute, my phone started ringing. It was definitely inside my room, and it sounded muffled. After searching between the covers and under the pillows, I finally found it in the drawer of my nightstand. How did it get there? I have no idea.

“Found it!” I looked at the screen, it was 8:40 already. “Crap! I’m going to be-“ As I walked out of my room and into my kitchen I was met by Levi and… Victor. “Late. Good morning.”

“Good morning.” Victor was clearly in a bad mood. “Ready to go?”

Victor looked at me briefly, only to stare back at Levi, his eyes lit with anger and scorn. Levi was staring back at Victor, comfortably relaxed leaning against my kitchen counter, his legs crossed, a smug smile on his face as he sipped coffee from one of my mugs.

The air was suddenly hot and dense, the tension building in my kitchen. Suddenly I remembered I was late.

“I need to leave now. Nice seeing you, Levi.” I said, going for the door.

“Thanks for the coffee and for walking my dog.” Levi said, grabbing my head and kissing me on the forehead. “You’re such a sweetheart.” And with that, he went to his apartment, my mug still in his hand, closing the door behind him. I blinked.

“Don’t forget to lock your door.” Victor chimed in bitterly. “Or are you too smitten to care for your safety, sweetheart?”

“Oh, quit it.” I warned, not in the mood for his moodiness. “Why are you here anyway? Do you need something?” I said, locking my door and going downstairs.

“I came to pick you up. But it seems I interrupted whatever you were having with your little friend there.” Victor practically spat as he mentioned Levi, his words dripping with venom.

“Ok, listen.” I looked at Victor, ignoring his icy look, my expression dead serious. “Number one, although I appreciate the gesture, I do have a car. You don’t need to pick me up, and you really should call beforehand. If I wasn’t late, you probably wouldn’t even find me home.” Victor was about to retort but I raised my hand, and he kept quiet. “Second, not that’s any of your business, but Levi was there to ask me to walk his dog. That’s all. You didn’t interrupt anything.”

Victor unlocked his car and we got in. He didn’t start the car though, remaining seated, looking at the street through the windshield.

“He was drinking your coffee like he owned the place. He kissed you on the forehead. That is not nothing. That is intimacy.” Victor clenched his jaw, like he was stopping himself to speak any further.

“What are you talking about?” I was confused, I had no idea why he was acting like this, and I felt I was being punished for something I didn’t do. “I have no idea what led Levi to act that way, he was never like this before, but even if he was, what’s it to you? Why do you care?”

“What makes you think I do?” He asked coldly.

“Well, why are you so worked up then?” I faced Victor, daring him to deny it.

“This is going nowhere.” He said, starting his car. “We are late, we should go.”

The drive to LFG was tense, to say the least. Victor was clearly angry at me, and I had no idea why. And that made me angry at Victor, because I felt he had no right to intrude in my life like that. Sure, I had feelings for him, but I had no shred of evidence that he felt the same. We were just friends. Hell, I wasn’t even sure I could say we were friends in the first place.

We sat in our desks in silence, turning on our laptops. I didn’t want to spend the whole day with him fuming like this, since there was nothing to be mad about, at least from my perspective.

“I’m going to get some coffee. Would you like me to bring you a cup?” I asked softly, raising the proverbial white flag.

“I’m fine, thank you.” He didn’t even look up from the computer, his tone showing me he was still angry. Fine, Mr. Lee. Have it your way.

When I returned, coffee in hand, I found the office empty. Victor had already left, his laptop and phone gone with him. He probably had an emergency meeting. I let out a sigh of relief, at least the tension was gone. And maybe the meeting would be enough of a distraction to make him forget about all the craziness of that morning and return in a better mood.

 I grabbed my earphones, put some relaxing music on, and started to work. It was going to be a busy day. After a while, I was startled with the sound of the office door being forcefully open.

“Where’s that entitled little prick?!?” I flew from my chair when I recognized the voice.

“Ted?!? What are you doing here?”

Ted looked like he was as in shock as I was.

“You’re here?!?!?” He practically screamed. “You really are a go-getter, aren’t you, you sneaky little bitch! Fucking the CEO to get your way up to the top!”

I didn’t even reply. I bolted to the phone to try to call security. My body froze when I heard the cock of a gun.

“I wouldn’t try that unless you want me to decorate the bastard’s office with your brains.”

My mind was running wild, skimming through everything I had learned in my Krav Maga training. I knew I could hurt him badly, but for that I needed to be close, and he had a gun, so that wasn’t an option. Even if he didn’t shoot me, one of the shots he would fire could go through the glass windows and land on someone else. I looked at the windows, remembering someone could have seen already what was happening. All hope vanished in an instant, when I saw the blinds were down.

“Turn around.” I heard Ted’s voice again, closer to me now. I obeyed. Ted walked in my direction, making me lean on Victor’s desk, his body extremely close to mine, his gun against my chest. He ran it down across my stomach.

“You were never this cozy with me when I was your supervisor. Not powerful enough, I guess?” His gun left my stomach and traced my jawline. I shivered at the cold metallic touch, whimpering softly. “Aw, is the kitty scared?” He cooed at me. “Don’t worry, daddy is going to show you what you’ve been missing.”

He was interrupted by the sound of the door opening again. It was Victor. He froze for a second, registering the fact that Ted had me at gunpoint.

“Let go of her!” Victor roared, his expression fierce. He was about to run to Ted, but stopped dead on his tracks when he spotted the gun.

Ted lifted his armed hand, placing the edge of the gun under my chin.

“Easy, tiger… Not so brave now, that I can finish her right here, are you?” Ted teased. “Just sit back and enjoy, we were about to have a private show… But it doesn’t have to be so private, does it, cutie pie?”

My stomach turned, and for a moment I thought I was going to vomit.

“Let her go, Ted. She has nothing to do with this.” Victor’s voice was calm, but I could hear traces of rage and panic. “It’s me you want. I’m here. Let her go.”

“Oh, no, that is not going to happen. I know how much you like your precious little pet.” Ted forced the gun on my chin, tilting my head up, like he was admiring a prey. “If I let her go, I lose my leverage.” He held my cheeks roughly with both hands, making me face him. I noticed the barrel of the gun was facing upwards, not towards me.

“And you’re such a sweet, sweet leverage, aren’t you?” My stomach did a double turn when I saw his face come closer to mine, and I realized what he was about to do.

I found my opportunity when the bastard tried to kiss me. I forcefully grabbed the hand holding the gun and slammed it on the edge of the desk, hurting Ted's tendons and making him drop the weapon. Seeing Victor bolt to the ground to get it, I slammed my knee to Ted’s crotch, making him double himself in pain, and took the opportunity to slam it again against his nose. Ted slumped to the ground, knocked out.

Victor moved to the phone to call security, gun in his hand, eyes on Ted. I leaned against the wall, trying to catch my breath.

“Are you ok? Did he do something to you? Did he hurt you?” Victor softly held me by the shoulders and search my body with his eyes, probably looking for any injury. His jugular was jumping like crazy.

“I’m fine, he didn’t hurt me.” I said, feeling my stomach turn one more time.

Security came and handcuffed Ted, still passed out on the floor. Victor instructed them to take him downstairs and call the police, turning to me again.

“Are you sure you're feeling well? You look pale.” He searched my face again. “That’s it, I’m taking you to the hospital.”

My stomach turned again, and I immediately knew I had no time to chat. I bolted to Victor’s private bathroom and kneeled by the toilet, emptying the contents of my stomach in it. I felt warm hands in my neck grabbing my hair, pulling it up gently, until nothing would come out of my but a painful dry heave. I sat up, exhausted.

“Rinse.” Victor said, as he handed me a glass of water. I rinsed my mouth, spitting the water into the toilet and flushing it. He put the glass on the sink, and kneeled beside me.

“Feeling better?” Victor asked, as he softly stroke my back.

“Yes.” I wanted to sound strong, but it came like a whimper. Victor’s arms were suddenly around me, pressing hard, his face on my hair, his hand on the back of my neck.

“What you did was really stupid. Fighting him like that.” Victor’s voice, low and soft, whispered in my ear.

I didn’t reply. I didn’t realize how much I needed the comfort of his arms until I was enveloped in his embrace. I hugged him back, letting myself just be there for as long as he would let me.

[the-glitter-acetylcholine]

Harry Potter characters that were criminally underused (in no particular order)

(MAJOR SPOILERS)

Luna Lovegood - literally only introduced like halfway through the fifth book, yet probably the most influential ravenclaw character. Her odd mannerisms and odder outlook would have made her a fabulous addition to the golden trio’s shenanigans, yet she only serves this purpose in one case

Mad-eye Moody - he’s “well-developed” in the fourth book, and we get a lot of content of him... only to discover it wasn’t him at all. Then, he briefly appears with the order and then dies. Great. What a wonderful use of a skilled fighter and mentor.

Remus Lupin - okay, so he does get the whole third book but then... he just fucks off? Ofc then he, too, returns to fight with the order, fall in love with a woman half his age, have a baby with her, and then die immediately thereafter. He’s just such a cool guy with so much to offer to Harry and to readers (when it comes to insight on discrimination in the wizarding community) and he just doesn’t get a chance to do nearly enough. What a wasted opportunity.

Pravati and Padma Patil - yeah, these are two different characters, but we know so little about them that I can’t even discuss them individually. They’re twins in different houses! How cool! There’s so much to be explored there, especially considering the competitive atmosphere among houses that Harry perceives. Not to mention the fact that they inexplicably agreed to go to the Yule Ball with Harry and Ron respectively despite a) apparently not knowing them very well and b) not even being all that desperate to hang out with them at the ball (I think Padma asks Ron to dance a few times and then gives up) (side note: this made me extremely mad when I was little, because I had I major crush on Padma). What compelled them to do that? What are they like? What are the differences between them that caused them to be sorted into different houses? Gah, they could have been so interesting!

Cho Chang - this is one that makes me genuinely a little mad (same goes for #6). She’s just so two dimensional, and that’s really not fair. She’s a decoration on Harry’s arm for what? A year or two? And she then cries, dates Diggory, and then she cries again (I think she dates Diggory first but you get the point). HER PURPOSE IS NOT JUST TO CRY OVER GUYS. She’s a ravenclaw. Let’s hear about that. Where do her interests lie? Is she an academic? Is she an artist? What kind of intelligence does she have, what kind of knowledge does she seek? What made her like Harry to begin with? Did Harry ever like her for more than her “sleek black hair” (not a direct quote, but I’m sure it’s described as something to that effect)? I want to knowwwww

Lavender Brown - aka... Ron’s brief, annoying girlfriend? The precursor to Romione? I mean, was this girl even in the D.A.? Maybe she was, but I don’t remember, and that’s the problem. She’s a Gryffindor. She’s brave, she’s headstrong, she’s proud! But she’s only ever portrayed as overbearing and clingy which SURE, may be some of her traits, because she’s allowed to have flaws, but that’s not all she is. I want to see her relationship with Pravati and Hermione, who she roomed with for six years (beyond her annoying Hermione when she dated Ron). But nope! I guess she’s just another accessory!

Nymphadora Tonks - i.e. Tonks. She’s funny and brave and powerful, but we barely get to see her in action (yes, before you ask, i had a crush on her, too). She’s interesting, so interesting, because her emotions are often expressed through her appearance, and she undergoes like two full personality shifts throughout the books (it’s worth noting that she’s also introduced pretty late in the series, book five, i think). She’s depressed for a while, then she falls in love, gets married, and has a son (and then dies), and, while it seems like this is a lot of usage (which it is), I can’t help but wish we had seen a little more of it all, specifically of her falling in love and of her married life, of her motherhood, before she died.

Xenophilius Lovegood - literallly (i would argue) one of the most interesting characters in the series, despite the fact that (I think) he is only featured heavily in one scene. I would definitely call him a more complex character than Snape. In his one scene, Xenophilius offers the golden trio one of their most important lessons through the Tale of the Three Brothers, the story which ultimately wins them the war against Voldemort. And yet, it’s a trap. He’s stalling, keeping them around so that Voldy’s goons can come pick them up and presumably kill them, or at least imprison them until Voldy comes ‘round again. But, and here’s the important part, he does it to save his beloved daughter. His daughter, who is the only family he has left, after his incredible scientist-witch of a wife died doing what she loved. The Lovegood’s are a family of inherently good people, yet Xenophilius sides with the very people who took his daughter in a weak effort to get her safely back. His plan won’t work, they won’t return Luna. They DON’T return her, but Xenophilius is fundamentally weak, made weak out of his love, and his fear of losing the last person in the world he has to care about, to protect, to love. He’s just SO DAMN INTERESTING ughhhhh give me more Xenophilius pleaseeeee

Kingsley Shacklebolt - he’s??? so cool??? Literally he’s just awesome, but we barely see him. He acts as a spy, essentially, when the ministry gets taken over by the death eaters, and helps the order actually get shit done, but he’s just so underused. Idk, I don’t have much to say except that he’s awesome and I want more Shacklebolt content

Cedric Diggory - he’s actually talked about a fair amount, so I don’t think I need to say much, except that he is literally the nicest guy ever, and, despite Harry actively hating him for like a whole year, he helps him in the Triwizard Tournament and represents Hufflepuff beautifully as being more than just the “miscellaneous house”. But then of course he’s killed before he and Harry can become friends, and before readers get a chance to understand anything about his social status (is he the asshole popular guy or sweet quite guy???) or motivations. Of course.

Percy Weasley - aka MY FAVORITE WEASLEY KID. R*wling did my boy so dirty. He’s cool because he’s kind of a stuck up academic asshole stereotype, or at least Harry perceives him as such, and then he changes slightly over the years as he and Harry both grow and mature and then it all culminates in his great moment of emotion and humanity! Fred’s death is, without much contest I think, the most devastating death in the whole series (Dobby could admittedly give him a run for his money, though), in part because he’s just so damn sweet and funny and innocent, and in part because right before it we FINALLY get to see Percy smile. He smiles at a dumb joke Fred makes, and then Fred DIES (a well placed death, I’ll admit begrudgingly), and just the juxtaposition of the moment... *chef’s kiss*. And then we never really check back in on Percy, and we don’t really get enough closure on that moment. :/

Colin and Dennis Creevy - again, two characters stuffed together, this time because we actually know a fair amount about them and... they’re kind of the same character. Colin is obsessed with Harry, and so is Dennis. That’s about it. I just WISH we got a little more on these kids, on why they felt so drawn to him as this apparently untouchable hero among them. Were they abused? Orphaned? Abandoned? Did they have some sort of trauma in their lives that made them so attached to the idea of a savoir? Or did they simply regard Harry as most little boys might, as a cool sort of action figure character? The world may never know :(((

Susan Bones - God, I wish I had more to say about her. She’s sweet, she a hufflepuff, I think she helps Ron at one point in Herbology. Her aunt dies I think. Is she the one who had the rabbit at one point? Idk, she’s just one of those characters who’s so far in the background that she almost stands out, and I kinda just wanna know more.

Fawkes - yeah, I know he’s a bird or whatever, but he’s fucking cool, and we get a Fawkes-ex-machina in the second book and then he’s essentially inconsequential for like... forever. I want to know how he and dumbledore bonded, why his feathers in those two specific wands were so attracted to Harry and Tommy boi specifically, other than symbolism uwu. Does Fawkes have a moral compass, or does he simply follow Dumbledore’s orders? Could his loyalty potentially be changed?

Narcissa Malfoy - please, for the love of god, give the Malfoy’s a chance. At least Draco and Narcissa. Narcissa is essentially the flip side of Xenophilius’s coin. Her side of the family is shrouded in dark magic, but her priority is keeping her dear son safe. I just want to know her and her inner struggle more intimately, because she’s such a contradiction, she’s a death eater who loves and protects, a dark magic user who wants to create something warm and beautiful for her family. She’s scared for a husband, a top death eater, one of Voldemort’s personal faves, and scared for her son, who she knows is good at heart but who struggles through the first steps of death eater initiation out of a sense of duty, a duty to her and his father. She’s the intimate mother figure, yet she’s an antagonist, fundamentally speaking. Fascinating.

These are just some I thought of off the top of my head, I’m sure there are literally hundreds more, from the two guys from the Knightbus to Bathilda Bagshot to Nagini the legend (also wtf happened to her in the Cursed Child?? Nvm, I can’t even get into that shithole right now), and I have to admit that I still love Harry Potter, for its characters and it’s incredible world building, though R*wling is a massive piece of terf-y shit.

It’s important to note that I understand the purpose of flat characters, I understand the purpose of background characters, of undeveloped characters. What I’m pointing out here is that there was a lot of potential in these characters that was largely squandered because R*wling focused her energy on attempting to redeem Snape without a redemption arch, attempting to redeem Dumbledore with an inadequate one, and refusing to properly redeem Draco despite his well-developed arch, for some fucking reason. If you can’t tell, I’m salty, but I’m only salty because I care. Ily, have a good day!!

[jeremiahgrey]

JEREMIAH GREY ##STATS&BIO

Basic Information

Full Name: jeremiah grey

Nickname(s): jay

Age: twenty-four

Date of Birth: march 23, 1995

Zodiac Sign: aries

Hometown: las vegas, nevada

Current Location: san francisco, california

Ethnicity: his mother is caucasian, his father is african american

Nationality: american

Gender: cis male

Pronouns: he/him

Orientation: heterosexual

Physical Appearance

Face Claim: justice smith

Hair Colour: dark brown

Eye Colour: dark brown

Height: 5′10″ (178 cm)

Weight: 149 lbs (68 kg)

Health

Physical Ailments: none

Neurological Conditions: borderline personality disorder

Allergies: none

Sleeping Habits: varies, depending on level of anxiety/current state of mind.

Eating Habits: varies. tends to snack frequently, rather than eat large meals.

Exercise Habits: goes for a run 1-2 times a day.

Emotional Stability: it varies, but overall about a 5 or 6.

Sociability: likes to be alone, or in the company of 1-5 other people. but he doesn’t fear public places or crowds and doesn’t have social anxiety (typically). just a preference.

Addictions: cigarettes, usually stress related.

Drug Use: none that he consumes habitually. he’s experimented with psychedelics and marijuana, but it’s just a once in while type thing.

Alcohol Use: about once or twice a week on average.

Personality

Positive Traits: adaptable, adventurous, amusing, charming, determined, quick witted, resourceful, tough

Negative Traits: detached, finicky, moody, obsessive, quick tempered, stubborn, unstable

Hobbies: swimming, running, conspiracy theories, hiking, visiting abandoned towns/buildings & old cemeteries, people watching

Habits: smoking, whistling, biting the skin around his nails, fiddling with objects or his clothing, tapping his foot

BIO:

TRIGGER WARNINGS: CHILDHOOD ABUSE, SELF HARM & SUICIDE IS BRIEFLY MENTIONED, MENTAL HEALTH

Jeremiah grew up in Las Vegas

His father left him and his mother when Jeremiah was 12. He had been verbally and physically abusive to both of them up until his departure.

The trauma stuck with Jeremiah and later led to him being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder

When he was in middle school he would have “episodes” of social and mental withdrawal. They would last a few hours typically, and without the clinical resources to diagnose it, he would always refer to it as being “trapped in himself”

Being trapped meant he was disassociating. He would basically just “blank out.” An inability to focus on one thing, just racing thoughts that he couldn’t keep track of or characterize. Often times he would have to physically escape as well, isolating from other people. A lot of the time he had urges to self harm, or even suicidal fantasies.

His personality for the most part was bubbly and charismatic, he was adventurous and always starting a new hobby or interest. And then he would become “trapped” in his mind.

His inability to characterize his mental illness, and his childhood trauma, culminated in a short temper.

He was suspended from school in his junior year for getting into a fist fight. He was sent to mandatory counseling sessions, where he was formally diagnosed as having borderline personality disorder.

For a few years he faded in and out, never quite having a quick fix or remedy when he felt trapped or angry. And he refused medication, or any forms of continued therapy.

His senior year of school he just couldn’t put up with it anymore. The bouts of aggression, being labelled a freak, the lost sense of loneliness that accompanied being “trapped.”

Every time he’d have an “episode” he would journal. An attempt at collecting and manifesting the racing thoughts. He would smoke a cigarette, hold his breath, count to ten, and write everything he possibly could. Then he would go for a run.

It worked, at least a little bit. It made him feel more in control. A way to cope. And whenever he feels it coming on, he has to get away, and chase that ability of control. He doesn’t always have to write, but he needs to do something. Go to the top of a building and yell his thoughts, or to a creek to throw rocks and count out his feelings. It’s not a one hundred percent fix, and he still has outbursts that mimic rage. But he can clench his fists and disappear and try to deal with it.

He moved to San Francisco when he was twenty one. Just to get out on his own, face the world. His mom had a new boyfriend, someone better than his father. And he felt okay leaving her, finding himself.

Today he’s still the same guy with borderline personality disorder, but it’s not a ghost that unwittingly haunts him. He just lets it happen, redefines it. Yeah, a bit unstable, but he doesn’t fear it anymore. Of course, he still has the traumatic threads of his pasts that still weave into his character from time to time. But he feels more free than he’s ever felt before. He has an apartment, and a job, and a different outlook on his mental health. It doesn’t feel like he’s trapped anymore, it’s just a burst of  inward thinking that he can channel into something recognizable and bearable.

Jeremiah works as a delivery guy for the businesses on Carroway Street.

FAST FACTS / HEADCANONS / PERSONALITY:

Goofy and lovable, unless he’s in a “mood.” Sometimes he may seem a bit odd or scatter-brained, jumping from topic to topic in conversation.

Likes memorizing random facts, and sprinkles them in when talking to people. He doesn’t naturally have a very good memory, so he tries to purposefully improve on that.

Often comes up with nicknames for people.

Sometimes he’ll just say some cryptic, vague shit. Something ominous or nonsensical. This is just him thinking out loud usually.

The way he interacts with people is usually pretty vibe based. If someones a dick, he’s a dick. If someones acting tough, he’ll probably try to get under their skin or irritate them a bit. He’s not afraid to say what’s on his mind, and usually the thought of “filtering” himself isn’t even present. It doesn’t feel controversial to him to say some of the things he says. He doesn’t think of himself as bold or brash, but he’s come to learn over his entire lifetime that it’s the reason he’s so often branded as a freak or a weirdo.

ALSO just because he doesn’t “filter” himself in conversations, doesn’t automatically mean he’s an asshole, or saying rude things constantly. A lot of the times he will say stupidly sweet things that the average person would find cringy or awkward to say to another human being so brazenly.

He’s also pretty good at reading people, just he’s not very good at acting accordingly and appropriately?? I guess? Like he can pick up on vibes, but that probably won’t change the fact that he’s gonna say what he’s going to say. 

And lastly (I promise this is the end and I’m sorry this got rambly oops) he’s kind of stubborn and can be bossy, like once he gets something in his head like THAT’S IT, he’s doing it and he wants you to do it. And you can call him bull-headed or balky but he’s just going to insist he’s passionate and determined. And it’s probably annoying to the people around him but he doesn’t really care honestly he’ll probably just rant and rave and somehow convince whoever he’s with because he has a sort of cheeky charm about him. but also he’s a pain in the ass sometimes i guess.

PLAYLIST:

coming soon

WANTED PLOTS/CONNECTIONS:

any of these can be platonic or romantic, depending on how we develop them!!!

a friend that he can just “shoot the shit” with. someone who will go on little adventures with and sit in the woods with or sit on the beach with and listen to music. they never pry about his mood swings and they give him space and stuff?

someone who works at jukebox records and doesn’t mind when he loiters around all day and recommends music to him, and sometimes they’ll sit at one of the listening booth things at the store and listen to each others recommendations together.

a drinking/karaoke buddy

someone he met when he first moved to san fran (3 years ago), and maybe he’s told them about his past and his mental illness and his coping mechanisms and they’re good at recognizing the signs and they kinda help him out and let him vent and they’re just supportive and understanding. but also respect when he just needs to be alone or escape, but checks up on him cause < 3 < 3

a neighbor (in his apartment, and im assuming he lives in the calloway apartments i guess) but they started off as enemies kinda? like maybe one of them would blast music and then the other would bang on the walls and be mad and leave little passive aggressive notes telling them to stop being annoying. but maybe the loud music stopped or something?? and then the other person was like “whoa are they okay?” so then they started leaving notes that were caring and supportive and maybe little gifts or knick knacks or food for them, or little scavenger hunts, and then they just kinda started hanging out one day. IDK, this can be discussed more in depth/particular in dm’s i guess. this would be cutesy i feel!!!

an ex girlfriend or ex fwb. but it didn’t work out because they couldn’t really deal with jeremiah’s mood swings or his need to disappear sometimes, and how vague he would be about it. or maybe they suggested he should go to therapy or a support group, and since he is such a stubborn little pain in the butt he just became distant and felt judged and went cold on them. maybe there’s still some lingering feelings there, either positive or negative. we can discuss the particulars in dm!!!

someone with mental health issues, that he met at a support group when he first came to san fran. but jeremiah stopped attending the meetings after only a few. this relationship could be a lot of different things! maybe it’s hostile/confrontational, because they have differing viewpoints on how to treat mental illness. it could be supportive. or maybe it’s like a secret?? like maybe this other person was at the support group for reasons that they’ve never told anyone, and like, jeremiah can be their trusted friend or confidante.

NOTE: if there are any connections that aren’t mentioned here, but you feel like would really suit my muse, please feel free to message me!!!!!! with anything!!!!!!!

[bave-de-crapaud]

Never Have I Ever

PART TWO

(Artist unknown)

Siruis x reader Post-Azkaban Reader is younger 1000+ words

Warnings: drinking, mentions of sex, mentions of depression/PTSD, swearing

One too many shots of tequila later, a game of ‘I Have Never’ and ‘Would You Rather’ - here are a few things you have found out about Sirius: -he’s been in love twice. Once at Hogwarts and once briefly a year after. The first was puppy love and the second went down in a blaze of dragon fire as he cheated on her. Admittedly he said that he had never felt so bad and never wants to feel like that again (among other feelings you imagine) but said the relationship was doomed anyway. -He has never tried tequila (it showed) -Has had 15 broken bones and counting on various occasions -Would ‘Marry, Murder, Fuck’ Minerva McGonagall, Rita Skeeter, and Mad-Eye-Moody in that order -Wet his pants once at school after a bet with James at who could last longer without the toilet -Is currently teaching himself bass guitar

Things Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Bill, Ron, Harry, and Luna found out about you: -Patronus is a corgi -Been in love once: he left you for a friend (everyone very kindly took a shot for this) “Don’t worry it worked out well in the end!” you exclaimed trying not to laugh at Harry who had choked midway through his shot and was now red in the face and coughing hoarsely. -Has had one broken bone from jumping down the stairs at aged 8 -Absolutely flipped out when you received your letter from Hogwarts. Your parents are muggles and were so proud. You recall your father’s reaction being a wry smile and something along the lines of “well that explains a lot.” -You sing in musicals and in the shower in your spare time.

“My turn! My turn!” Sirius exclaimed after the laughter had died down. “Y/N:  ‘Marry, Murder, or Fuck,’ Remus, Bill, or Me?!”

“I don’t think you are supposed to include people who are actually playing Sirius” said Remus glancing quickly at Tonks to gauge her reaction at her husband being on trial in quite frankly now you come to think of it a ridiculous game of ‘what ifs’ and ‘never going to happens’  but Sirius refused to be swayed prompting you to answer: “Remus, Sirius, Bill” in that order earning you high five from Bill, an gratified nod from Remus and a rather amused looking Sirius..almost like he didn’t believe you...

First to tap out was Harry, followed by Tonks, Bill, and Remus. Luna was holding her own until she caught sight of a nargle and left to investigate further. She vomited. 

Ron, who was drink for drink with you and Sirius got called out by a rather angry looking Hermione - apparently he had a job interview tomorrow in which a hangover was not part of the desirable criteria. So by the end of the night it was just you and Sirius. The questions became more and more lewd but the two of you found nothing other than hilarity in each others answers. It was surprising how relaxed and comfortable you felt around him...thank you tequila. 

Sirius’ questions continued to probe into your life especially that of your love life....current love life. Who were you seeing? What type? Did you prefer to make the first move? How long do you wait to know someone before you have sex? 

If you weren’t so tipsy. Nay, drunk, you would have noticed that these questions where leading somewhere...somewhere Sirius had been before and frequently pre-Azkaban. 

In his warm euphoric (drunk) state, Sirius had forgotten that he was a broken man fresh from a 12 year stint in the most foulest of hell holes - lacking confidence and complete with occasional mood swings, and internal self doubts. If he had grown up watching muggle movies he would have accurately diagnosed himself as a man who had lost his mojo. It wasn’t like he didn’t have offers he just couldn’t and wouldn’t deliver on them. You see Azkaban takes a lot from a person, it took a lot from Sirius and one of the things he wasn’t expecting to lose was his sex drive. Gone were the days of wild all night sex, hungry kisses behind closed doors, and that beautiful feeling of a crush growing into something more...or so he thought. 

Lately, he hadn’t been able to conjure enough lustful thoughts to feel aroused and that had only depressed him further. As well as depressed, he felt impotent, numb and at times panicked. If he had known the term he would have described himself as suffering from PTSD but instead he thought it was his own fault for getting himself locked up to begin with and that he deserved to not feel like the man he used to be. Sirius had started to give up any semblance of finding a partner and in all honesty he wagered that the little he had to offer was enough to warrant a celibate life anyway.

You were stirring some long lost feelings within Sirius. The main one being a warm tingling sensation in his chest and up his spine: excitement. Right now he felt alive. This was apparent to you however you knew that’s what tequila did to people so you thought nothing of it and continued to question and answer questions on your ever increasing dirty game.

Remus, on the other hand, who had had many a night imbibing various spirits with Sirius knew that the tequila was not having this affect on his friend at all. In fact, all alcohol did for Sirius these days was make him solemn and morose. Remus scratched his chin as he watched Sirius throw his head back and laugh at your latest response and thought to himself that if he still knew Sirius like he thought he did, he would be seeing a lot more of you at Grimmauld Place.

[whats-the-story-tc]

22nd of January, 2020

"The One with the Madhouse and Her Eyes"

[LONG POST]

Another day, another flannel. Huh. All I needed is to complain.

Last night, at about 11:30 PM-ish, my cousin (who lives with us) came in, and we had a good long talk about what I'm planning for the future. When I mentioned the A level Literature thing, and that I'm scared of it, but I found it important to add that "my teacher is a fantastic person", so the only reason I was scared is my own abilities. Which is quite right. But on to today, the proof to my statement.

Pocketwatch Friend needed to talk to V, so there we were again, seeking—but this time, finding. She stood in the huge bunch of people in the part of the corridor designated for teachers, as with the second term starting soon, everyone is going slightly mad and needs to talk to everyone all at once. When we showed up, V greeted us with a "What can I help you [the plural] with? I don't have any time by the way, but what can I help you with?" Then I backed away, outside the glass door separating the teachers' area from the other half of that floor and let them speak. Later, when I saw V leave, she was visibly quite moody.

We spoke about her, Pocketwatch Friend and I. She brought how scared she was of V at first, like I was, but when she was taking an exam and V was very kind to her and tried to comfort her with things like "It's okay, I forget what the examples of this and that are, too...", she grew to love her. My case is quite the same although a little different.

Lunch break after fourth period, in front of our classroom. V is listening to people from the other class in our year recite their poems, I'm waiting for my friends. As we gather up and talk, and V is alone, she comes up to us with her personal schedule in hand to tell us the bad news—when our classes will be. Tuesday 5th, Thursday 3rd, Friday 7th-8th double. Yes, you've read that last one correctly. They put a double lesson of an important subject into the time slot where all the school celebrations are and where it gets cancelled most of the time, so basically, they ensured we will get fucking nowhere with the curriculum. V wasn't at all happy about it (she explicitly stated she didn't ask for this), even though she tried to be in good spirits for our sake and even grinned as we spoke to her. But when I looked into her eyes, I could see how tired she was.

Her eyes are a bit cat-like when she's tired or not feeling well, that's something I noticed. Her gaze is very sharp and kind of intimidating at first glance, but if you look long enough, or know her well enough, you can see all that weight of whatever's wrong in them. This is why I used to be so scared of her, because the piercing look is all I saw. But when she's feeling well, you can see all that wisdom and all that beauty I never really saw before I met her properly, in class. Now that is what got me sold on her, long before I even realised it. I have never met someone so beautiful before. And I might never will.

And now, something(s) that absolutely had my jaw on the floor and my heart pounding in the best way. The title of this blog has never, ever been more fitting.

New schedule for the new term. New teacher coming in for foreign English (from now on I'll just say foreign English and V's English to help differentiate), everything is a mess and not even the teachers understood what was going on around them, much less us. So some of us, in absolute hysterics because of the buffoonery going on, just went to V as soon as we saw her, as she was nearest. She made this face of "oof" when Debate Friend told her about some changes that were made. Then I asked her about the new teacher. She was the only one who knew this is a whole new guy, then told us "but don't storm your homeroom teacher. She's really not doing well." And there they were again. The concerned eyes. It was just a short look, mostly directed at me, but we understood immediately.

I kept on fuming the whole German class through, then immediately headed towards the teachers' lounge with some of my friends, to look for my (now ex-)foreign English teacher. Poor thing didn't even know our classes with her today got cancelled. She then went along to hug me and say "I won't teach you anymore", which threw me off, as I thought she hated my guts in the past 3 years. I'm gonna miss her a lot, and it's a shame our group got taken away from her, which neither us, nor she asked for.

But onto V. As we were waiting by the stairway leading up there, my homeroom teacher and V were walking there together. They may have just met on the way, but I honestly think V accompanied her on purpose, because... that's her. She would do it to anyone in a heartbeat. Plus, V is kind of our surrogate homeroom teacher mainly for this reason—to help the actual one, as she can't deal with everything all at once alone. Later, as our homeroom teacher came to us with "Don't ask anything", then proceeded to tell us everything that was wrong, V walked by briefly upstairs, shooting us a look. But as I was walking home, ranting to my Dad over the phone in tears from frustration, as the situation really was that chaotic, something else also happened. I'll just translate what Pocketwatch Friend texted me when I asked her to tell me. (Don't worry, she knows about the blog, though she's never read my posts as of yet. She knows I'm writing to you guys about this, and she consented.)

"I'm going down the stairs, there's [a girl from our year], [friend of ours] and Art Friend. I'm telling Art Friend that you spoke to [ex-English teacher] and she doesn't know what's really up, when V comes down the stairs with her cute little hat and looks at us. She shoots a small smile so maybe she can brighten the situation and joins our little circle, then says 'Don't be nervous, okay?' [...] Then I added that we're fine, but this uncertainty is a bit concerning. And that not even the teachers know what's going on. Her face lights up, I could almost hear her mentally yelling 'Finally someone normal!' #noego I can't exactly remember what happened then, but that much I know that after a short exchange she looked back at me/us from the bottom of the stairs saying that 'Don't stress and TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES'"

She then proceeded to tell me that she finds her cute and now she totally understands me because to her, V is like a big sister she can't wait to ask how her day was and if she could help her with maths. She really does understand the love part, too, though, and tells me every time she wishes she could help. (And called what I wrote about V after Friday beautiful, as I showed her the more private part you guys didn't get to see.) Though I think my case is just a step or maybe two less platonic than hers is, as I actually call it love, it's probably still just more of an extreme case of admiration.

But like... how could I not admire (or love or whatever this is) her? How could any sane person not? I called myself a guardian angel yesterday, but... I'm a demon compared to her. I'm in awe of her kindness each and every day, I really am. Hence the title. "All the little ways she cares."

I have no idea what I'd do if she was the one they swapped out without warning. But if we're going with the demon metaphor... I was frustrated and angry today. But then, I'd raise hell. For her? Without question.

~ S ♡

[Every story I share here, no matter how specific I get with my wording, depicts actual events from my own life.]

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

Their Hero Academia - Interlude 2: Heroes and Villains

The next installment of my on-going, next gen, My Hero Academia fan fic “Their Hero Academia”, raw and unedited.

This interlude is actually in two parts, for easy readability.  Several of the work study pairs as well as portions of the dialog were suggested by @msalliepants

Chapters 0-24, plus the first interlude, can be found here

Their Hero Academia – Interlude 2: Heroes and Villains

Part 1: Heroes

Izuku Midoriya thanked the hostess who had shown him to the restaurant’s back room and looked upon some of his best friends in all the world.  They didn’t get to all see each other as much as they liked anymore, not since so many of them were so busy with their careers as Pro Heroes, but they liked to get together when they could.  At least he got to see Kacchan and Eijiro on a regular basis, since they actually lived next door to each other, with Denki and Kyoka on the other side, in a gated community that catered to Pro Heroes.  Tetsutetsu and Itsuka actually lived across the street, as did Monoma and his wife.

Momo had actually bought the restaurant many years ago so that they could get together when they wanted with some modicum of privacy.  Considering they counted among their number a very large number of Heroes in the Top Ten, it was a necessary precaution.

“Deku!” And there was the voice that could brighten his world immediately, his wife of twenty years, Ochako.  She leapt up from her chair next to Tsuyu and ran over to him, wrapping him in a hug that he gladly returned, followed by a kiss.   Behind them, he could hear Denki and Minoru hooting and hollering, but he ignored them.  

“Hey you,” he said. “You get the kids dropped off at Mom and Dad’s okay?”

Ochako smiled. “Yeah.  Hana’s being moody about the whole thing, but Mako’s just happy to be seeing her Grandpa Might.”

Not surprising.  At almost thirteen and with no interesting in turning Pro Hero herself, Hana was a typical teenager.  At five, Mako was perfectly happy to be her Grandpa Might’s “sidekick.”  So long as she wasn’t setting things on fire with her Fire Breath Quirk, anyway.

They’d come a long way from a classes of teenagers thrown into the deep end of the Hero pool.  Now they were adults with careers and families of their own.  They all had children, many of them more than one.  A lot of potential little Heroes, as Dad liked to say.

“Good,” he said, as he took her hand in his and joined their friends at the long table.  There were thirty-three of them all together.   Himself and Ochako, Tsuyu and Fumikage, Tenya and Mei, Denki and Kyoka, Momo and Shoto, Kacchan and Eijiro, Mezo and Haruko, Hitoshi and Camie, Hanta and Mina, Mashirao and Toru, Koji and Ibara, Minoru and Pony, Yuga and Haru, and Rikido; they were also joined tonight by Itsuka and Tetsutetsu, Kota and Eri, and Mirio and Melissa.  It made it a little hard to have a conversation, but they managed. Most of them had been through hell together and that had forged bonds that nothing would ever break.

For his part, he spent some time talking to Mirio and Melissa, gushing over how well their eldest, Tamaki, was doing as one of his sidekicks.  Considering both he and Mirio operated together out of Might Tower (an extraordinary graduation gift from Dad), and Melissa ran their Support division, it was probably unnecessary, but he couldn’t help but share what he felt.

Around him, the others were engaged in conversations of their own, interrupted only briefly by the wait-staff arriving to take their orders.  Ochako and Tsu exchanged parenting tips, Mei and Melissa were lost in some technical discussion he couldn’t follow at all, Haru and Haruko were talking as the always did, of the troubles of being a non-Hero spouse. Eijiro and Tetsutetsu were proudly sharing pictures of their youngest to anyone who would listen, while Kacchan looked more and more exasperated by his husband’s antics by the minute.  Mina was teasing Tenya about being future in-laws. And he was fairly certain he heard Mina telling Toru that she was pregnant again.

Finally, after the food had been brought and they eaten, Izuku clinked on his glass with his spoon to get everyone’s attention.

“Okay,” he said.  “As nice as this has been—really great to see everyone again—we actually do have a real reason for getting together tonight. As you know…”

“Oi, Deku!” Kacchan shouted, giving him an annoyed look.  “Nobody says “as you know!”  We all get it, the Sports’ Festival’s coming up in a couple weeks!”

Izuku moved on, not letting that stop him.  “Well… yeah,” he said.  “That. Anyway, we all know it’s coming up. And while I’m hoping all of our kids do well enough to get a lot of offers…”

“YEAH!” Eijiro interrupted. “My Katsumi’s gonna kick so much ass! You’ll all get to see how awesome she is!”

“Shit down, Shitty Hair,” Kacchan said, yanking him back down in his seat.

“Sorry, Izuku, Bakubabe!” Eijiro said.  “Got carried away.”

Izuku waved it off. “It’s fine, it’s fine.  But like I was saying, we’ve talked about it before, but we want to make sure all the kids have offers.  I know some of us can remember how bad it felt not to have any.”

Around the table, several of his friends and former classmates nodded.

“Just remember to keep an eye out for General Studies kids too,” Hitoshi said.  “U.A.’s gotten better about getting people into the Hero Course, but there’s still a lot of them slipping through the cracks.”

“Not that being in General Studies is bad,” Haruko said, from her spot next to Mezo.  “But we were all proud of you for making it, Hitoshi.”

Hitoshi gave her a polite nod in return.  “Lots of hard work,” he said.  “You could have made it too, you know.”

She shook her head. “I was never cut out for it. Besides, one Hero in the family is enough for me.”

“Anyway,” Izuku said, “I got an e-mail from Aizwa this morning and it basically said that if any of us even thought about taking our own kids for Work Study week, he would track us down and beat the stuffing out of us.”

Minoru let out a terrified shriek, clinging to Pony at the very thought.

On the other hand, Eri and Hitoshi both let out a laugh.   “Sorry,” Eri said.  “But that’s just such a Dad thing to say.”

“You really can’t see how frightening he is, can you, babe?” Kota asked.

“He’s really a softie,” she replied.  Kota gave her a look that suggested she’d gone mad, but didn’t belabor the point. All things considered, Izuku didn’t blame him.  He still considered Aizawa to be one of the scariest people alive and he’d taken on some incredibly frightening Villains in his career.

“He still means it though,” Hitoshi said.  “But he’s softened in his age if he’s giving us a warning.”

“Wait,” Denki piped in. “So that means…”

He trailed off and Kyoka buried her head in her hands.  “Take your time, Idiot.”

Denki have this some thought for a moment, before shaking his head.  “Nope, I got nothing.”

“I assume you’re suggesting there’s nothing preventing us from extending offers to each other’s children, Izuku?” Momo asked.

Izuku nodded.  “Right, Momo.  So I thought maybe we could work it out ahead of time.”

“I must object!” Tenya said. “Surely, this premeditated behavior is unbecoming of Pro Heroes such as ourselves, not to mention unfair to the sportsmanship of U.A!”

“Oh, relax, Tenya,” Ochako told him, looking mildly annoyed.  Izuku could understand it.  Tenya actually had relaxed some since they were in school, but could still be a stick in the mud most of the time.  “We’re not depriving the kids of any offers.  We’re just making sure they all have one if they want it.  And we can scout more than one student if we see someone else who really catches our eye.”

Tenya grumbled a reluctant agreement.

“Nejire and Tamaki let me know they want to be involved too, if they can,” Mirio said.  He’d known in advance, of course, since Izuku and Ochako had discussed it with him.  

“A good plan,” Shoto agreed. “But who gets whose kid?”

“I was getting to that, thanks, Shoto,” Izuku said.

“Well, hurry it up, Deku!” Kacchan snapped.  “Some of us haven’t got all night!”

“Funny you should mention that, fam,” Camie said.  “Hitoshi and I were talking, and we think it’d be mad lit if you’d take Shota.”

Kacchan’s eyes went a little wide as he fixed the two of them were a glare.  “And what makes you think I’d wanna take the little loudmouth?”

Hitoshi was unfazed by Kacchan’s glare.  “Shota has a Quirk that is both unique and powerful.  But he is prone to distraction and sometimes lacks discipline.  You should be able to provide some instruction on the first and temper the latter.”

After a moment of sustained eye contact, Kacchan backed down.  He waved a dismissive hand in the air.  “All right, but you owe me big for this, Sleepy.  Your kid never shuts up.”

Hitoshi simply shrugged in reply.  

“He gets his mad gift of gab from me, fam,” Camie said, proudly.

Izuku decided it was best to simply move on.  “All right, that’s one down.  Before we start digging into everyone, I, ah, I think it’s probably best that we deal with the “difficult” children first.”

“Difficult children?” Mina asked.  “We don’t have any difficult children!”

Well, this was going to be awkward.  But Izuku pressed on.  He coughed, awkwardly clearing his throat.  “Mika, Chihiro, Takuma, Katsumi, and the Twins.”

Predictably, the room exploded.

“How dare you accuse my little princess!” Minoru shouted.

“Minny…” Pony said, trying to calm him down.

“What’s wrong with Chihiro?” Denki demanded.

“She’s got your genes,” Kyoka told him, rolling her eyes.

“What the hell, Izuku?!” Mina shouted.  “I thought we were friends!”

“Your kid’s always getting Kenta into trouble, Mina,” Rikido said, crossing his arms.  Hanta just looked awkwardly between his friend and his wife.

“I am hurt by these unmanly accusations!” Eijiro cried out.

“Deku, you take that back, damn you!” Kacchan roared.

“What did you say about my babies?!” Mei screamed.

“Excuse me,” Tenya shouted, arms flailing through the air.  “My children are not difficult!”

The room went quiet for a minute, before everyone turned to state at him.

“They are a handful,” Tenya added, pushing his glasses up.  “There is a difference.”

Eyes returned to Izuku and he swallowed nervously.  He’d rather have been facing a room full of super-villains.  “We all know what I’m talking about,” he said after a moment. “We all love our kids, they’re all great kids.  But some of them need a little more guidance or a little firmer a hander than others. That’s it.  Maybe difficult wasn’t the best word, but… still…”

Fortunately, things settled after that.

“I’d be happy to take Chihiro,” Momo said.  “Kyoka and I have been talking with Eri already.  It will be a good opportunity to begin preliminary plans for Support equipment she can use.”

“Thanks, Momoyao,” Kyoka said, clearly relieved.  “Just remind her she’s got my genes too, okay?  Don’t let her do too many stupid things like my Idiot here.”

“When have I ever done anything stupid?” Denki asked, looking slightly hurt.

“You really don’t want me to answer that question.”

Minoru stretched a hand into the air.  “Oh! Oh!  Tsu!  You should take my little girl!  You’ve got an all-female crew, right?  No boys to get her in any trouble?”

“Minny, you know Mika doesn’t just like boys,” Pony corrected him.

He pressed on anyway. “Boys her age are nothing but trouble. Should have sent her to an all-girls school.”

Fortunately, Tsuyu didn’t’ focus on that part.  She put a finger to the side of her mouth.  “I’d love to whip her into shape,” she said, “but she can’t swim, *kero*.” Tsuyu had taken over from Captain Selkie many years ago and primarily patrolled the waters of Japan.  She was good at it too, good enough to have become the Number Nine Hero.  That she was popular with children and adults didn’t hurt.

“However,” Momo said, “she could use someone responsible and disciplined.”

Several pairs of eyes fell on Tenya.   Shock crossed his face at first, but was then replaced by his usual look of determination.  “Very well,” he said.  “I shall do my best to instill in her the proper values of a future Pro-Hero and UA student.”

“I can take Tensei,” Mezo volunteers.  “Your son is… excitable, Tenya, but skilled.  I can teach him how to observe and think.”

“And I can take Sora,” Mashirao adds.  “Mezo and I both have a pretty back to basics approach that’ll do the Twins some good.”

Mei waved a hand in their direction.  “Oh, sure, if you wanna be boring about it!”

Tenya was calmer, giving them both a polite nod.  “Thank you both,” he said.  “I apologize in advance for any trouble they may cause you.”

“Okay, we’ve got the Terror-Twins sorted out,’ Mina said.  “Can we go back to the part where you think Takuma is difficult?  Because that’s clearly wrong.  He’s just building his brand!”

“He’s a bad influence,” Rikido said again.  

“They’re just kids,” Toru said.  “And they’re having fun!”

“How can you say that, Rikido?  After everything I’ve done for you?”

“He lacks discipline,” Fumikage said, cutting through the arguing.  “I can correct that.”

Mina blew air out through her lips and Izuku was certain he was going to have to intervene. “Fiiine,” she wailed.  “But I don’t see what need fixing.”

No one was going to touch that point.  That Mina was a terrible disciplinarian who let her children run all over her was well known.  Hanta wasn’t much better, but he did try to keep things under control.

“Maybe if you didn’t have so many kids, Raccoon Eyes,” Kacchan sneered, “you could keep your eyes on this one.”

“Oh, come off it, Katsuki!”

Hanta placed a restraining hand on her arm.  “Honey, it’s not good for you to get stressed…  It’s not good for the babies.”

“Babies?” Eijiro asked, grinning.  “Are you pregnant again, Mina?  That’s fantastic!”

“Aren’t you a little o…” Denki began, but a sharp glare from Mina stopped him from completing that thought. It a rare show of life-preserving sense, he stopped talking.

“Yeah,” Mina said. “Twins this time.  Last kids, I promise.  I just can’t keep Hanta off me! Of course, it’s pretty hard to resist, with how big his…”  Next to her, Hanta turned several shades of red.

Izuku didn’t know how Mina and Hanta did it.  His and Ochako’s three were enough of a handful.  They had five kids already, and now two more?  He grinned, though.  “I guess congratulations are in order, then!”   Various congratulations went out from the other members of their group, except for Kacchan.

“There’s still time for you to get back in the contest, Tsu!” Mina said.

“What contest?” Tsuyu asked.

“The kids contest!”  It was true, after Mina and Hanta, Tsuyu and Fumikage had the most kids.

“That’s not a contest,” Tsuyu said.

“Said the loser.”

That got a few laughs from the group, before they moved on.

“Anyway,” Mina said, “I wanna take Asuka.  She could use a chance to loosen up.”

“Ah,” Hanta said. “You’re going off active duty before the Sports Festival, hon.”

“Aw, dammit!” Mina said. “I forgot!”

“I’ll take her!” Toru piped in.  Izuku assumed she was waving her arms excitedly, judging by how the straps of her dress were moving, but he couldn’t be certain.  “We’ll make it a girls’ week!”

“And teach her something, *kero*,” Tsuyu said.

“Yeah, that too!”

“Perhaps I should take Kimiko?” Yuga asked, one hand on his chest, staring slightly off to the side as he often did, as though looking into some invisible camera.  “The unseen could use a few tricks about visibility and standing out.”

“I’m going to have to pull rank on this one,” Eri interrupted.  “Kimiko’s expressed some interest in continuing her medical education and I’m do for some field work during that week anyway.  I think it might be good for her to see what it’s like out there.”

“Who am I to refuse such a lovely lady’s request,” Yuga said, bowing slightly in his seat.

“Let me know if you’ll be at my hospital,” his husband, Haru, said.  “I can probably arrange a few things if you can’t.”

“Of course, thanks,” Eri said.

“And thank you, Eri,” Mashirao said.  “Kimiko seems really excited about this.  I think she’s found her calling.”

Eri smiled.  “Just happy I could help.”

“I want to take Katsumi,” Ochako said.

“You do?  What’s your angle here, Round Face?” Kacchan asked. “She’s no Rescue Hero.”

“That’s not all I do,” she said.  “Besides… I think a little Gunhead-style martial arts instruction will really help her focus.”

“It is a manly art,” Eijiro said, rubbing his chin.  “I like it!  Thanks, Ochako!”

Kacchan crossed his arms and scowled.  “Fine. But no going easy on her!”

Ochako made her meanest face back at him.  Which looked more ridiculous than scary.  Izuku had to turn away to keep from laughing, which would have gone very badly for him.

“Okay,” Izuku said, “moving on…”

“I’m taking Toshi,” Mirio said.  “I already called this when he was born.  You’re not taking that from me.  I’ll fight you.”

“No you won’t,” Melissa told him.

“No I won’t,” he agreed. “But I am calling Toshi.”

“So instead of his dad, he gets somebody just like him.  Great.” Kacchan rolled his eyes again.  But he didn’t argue the point.  Mirio was good at what he did.  Izuku was well aware he’d set the bar as the Number One Hero incredibly high… and Mirio still found occasion to surpass him in the Rankings. Little wonder that Dad had once considered him a possible successor.

“Oh yeah,” Mirio said, grinning.  “Tamaki said he’s take Kenta.  Figures he could teach him a few things with an eating-based power.”

Rikido nodded thoughtfully. “That’d work.  Kenta’s working hard, but I know he’s struggling to find ways to make his Quirk work well.  Tell him thanks.”

Mirio tossed off a little salute.  “Will do.”

“I’ll take Daisuke,” Tetsutetsu said.  He flexed and let out a shout.  “It’ll be a manly week!”

Itsuka patted his bicep. “Inside voice, please.”

“Sorry, babe.  Got excited.”

That seemed satisfied to Mezo, who gave a simple nod.

“And who wants my darling boy?” Aoyama asked.  

Hanta cracked his knuckles noisily.  “I can do it. He might benefit from a down-to-Earth point of view.”

Aoyama turned to Hanta, who was wearing cargo-shorts, with sandals and socks.  He looked like he was turning a little green.  But Haru leaned close and whispered something in his ear and some of the tension seemed to leave him.

“Oh, very well.  A little worldly experience will do him good.”

“What about Izumi?” Shoto asked.  

Momo frowned.  “I’m afraid to admit, I’m a bit concerned… but she also hasn’t had any health or Quirk-related concerns since the one outburst.  Her doctors have given her a clean bill of health to continue.”

“I can do it.”

If he’d had a chance to bet everything he had on this, Izuku never would have expected that it would have been Denki who had spoken up.

“You?” Kyoka said, making the word almost an accusation.

“She’s gotta be careful not to overdue her Quirk.  I can help with that.”

“He… has a point, Kyoka,” Momo said, after a moment.  She turned to Shoto, who nodded.  “Please take good care of her, Denki.  We nearly lost her once, I don’t know what we’d do if anything happened again.”

Denki gave the both of them a thumbs’ up.  “You know it!”

“Can Akaya swim?” Tsuyu asked Koji and Ibara.

She can, Koji signed.  Surprisingly well.

“She takes well to the water,” Ibara agreed.

“Then I can take her,” Tsuyu said.  “I can teach her about water planets and how to use her Quirk in a different environment.”

“What about you, Izuku?” Mirio asked.  “Isn’t that everyone? Going to hold off judgement until the big day?”

It was well known in the Hero community that Izuku always picked at least one, sometimes two students for Work Study after the Sports Festival.  He understood that the gambling halls spent considerable time and effort trying to figure out who he might pick, updating their odds until the very last minute. But no one had ever really figured out his pattern.   Despite being the Number One or Number Two Hero at any given moment, he never picked anyone who placed in the top three. He rarely even picked someone who placed in the top ten.  He’d been doing it for over twenty years and no one had ever figured it out.

Izuku always picked someone who looked like they deserved a chance to prove themselves.  Maybe not someone who’d placed high, but someone who was trying their hardest and just needed a little spotlight to make their mark. He knew how it felt to be a kid with no offers, to be trying so hard but not measuring up to some horribly high standard.  And he didn’t want anyone to go through that if he could help it.   It didn’t hurt that he still had a fantastic eye for analysis. He’d actually written a couple of books on Quirk analysis and application that were still being used as textbooks in a few of the Hero Schools.

“Maybe,” he said.  “Toshi’s been talking up one of the kid’s classmates. His parents aren’t Heroes, so I want to get a good look at him in the Festival.”

“Haimawari?” Shoto asked. “Izumi’s mentioned him too.  I think she still feels rather guilty for injuring him.  But I’d planned on watching too.”

Both snapped their attention to Eri and Kota, who had had more contact with the kid than either of them.

“Nope,” Kota said.  “I’m not playing favorites here or saying anything that might influence you.  You’re going to have to wait and watch.”

“He’s certainly got a heart for heroics,” Eri said, clearly not feeling bound by the same rules as her husband.  “Dad says he reminds him a lot of two of you when you were students.”

“Interesting,” Shoto said.

“Definitely,” Izuku agreed. “So… I guess we just watch and wait and if we like him, we’ll make offers and let him decide?”

“Sounds fair.”

Kacchan slammed a fist on the table.  “What’s so special about this kid that’s got everybody excited over him?!”

Izuku held up his hands to pacify his friend.  Even though they had put their differences aside ages ago, he’d be lying if he said Kacchan’s outbursts didn’t make some small part of him still flinch inside.  “Just hearing good things, Kacchan.  We’ll see where it goes.”

A smug grin crossed Kacchan’s face.  “Yeah, well, maybe I’ll watch for this kid too.  Snipe him right out from under you and IcyHot.”

“That’d be great!  You’ve got a lot to offer, Kacchan!”

“Dammit, Deku, you can’t even compete right…!”

Izuku just smiled, which only made Kacchan glower more.  Some things never changed.  “I think that’s everyone?  Tetsutetsu, Itsuka?  Did you want somebody to take Kana, or…?”

“I can do it!” Ejiro volunteered.

“Yeah, that’d rock, bro!” Tetsutetsu cheered.

“Bro.”

“Bro.”

“Bro!”

“Bro!”

“Boys!” Itsuka shouted. “That’s really nice, Eijiro, but probably not a good idea.  You and Tetsu are too alike for her to learn anything new.  Besides, she might start sliding back to when she and Katsumi wouldn’t tell you two apart.”

“We’re alike?” Eijiro asked. He looked at Tetsutetsu, who simply shrugged.

“But we’re fine, Izuku,” Itsuka said.  “Neito’s mentioned taking an interest in her, but we know she’ll do well enough to find somebody.”

“Or me!” Pony said.  “I’d love to take Kana!”

“Let her get some offers, Pony,” Itsuka said.  “But we’ll see.”

“I can respect that,” Izuku said.  

From there, the conversation drifted back to simpler topics.  Day to day concerns, children, choices of whether or not to take a side job or endorse some piece of merchandise.  For a little while, they world went away and they were just a group of friends getting together.  Izuku smiled. This happened far too rarely and he intended to savor every moment.

[pocminiseries]

3 A.M.

CLAIMED.

"PENOMECO-SMT"

•••••

Kim Taehyung was eight when his family decided to up and move from South Korea to the states due to his mother's rare illness. It was a last minute decision but the type of care that she needed was exclusively treated in the city of Richmond. Wanting his wife to feel comfortable, Ji-ho willingly agreed to her request to build her dream home in a nice, quiet town away from the bustling world around them.

In the beginning, Taehyung wasn't all that fond of his new surroundings or the people around them. Especially after his father decided to expand his company, buying several run-down businesses and turning them into money making machines which gave many people in their town and surrounding areas better jobs.

Just as his father wanted, they all worshipped the ground that man walked on and had the utmost respect for not only him but his family also. Taehyung hated it. 

The people treated them like royalty whenever they went out, waiting at his parents every beck and call like servants. Suck ups were what Taehyung described them as. It was pathetic in his eyes.

Of course being a foreigner, his knowledge of the English language was limited. Since his parents didn't trust the poor education system in America, he was provided with the best tutors they could find. By the time he was eleven, he spoke five different languages, although still preferring his native tongue.

Naturally, he didn't have many friends because he still possessed the mindset that he was better than everyone else which in return left him lonely. Occasionally his parents would fly out his close friends from back home but that only lasted for so long. 

One of the very few people Taehyung took a liking to was Ms. Brown, an older woman hired by his mother to cook and help around the house when needed. The small boy enjoyed the warmness that she brought whenever he was around her. She was sweet and wise, always making him feel comfortable and content on his usual moody days. Not to mention her cooking was probably the best he's ever tasted. He took a huge liking to a dish called gumbo, which she made often just for him.

On one particular day, he stumbled into the kitchen to see Ms. Brown watching over a little girl as she stirred something in a big bowl. His dark eyes scanned the girl's pretty brown golden skin and wild curls that were pushed back by a colorful bow headband. She had a toothy smile, showing an all white bright set of teeth.

But it was her eyes that he favored the most. They were a unique shade of green, a color he wasn't used to seeing in girls of her ethnic group.

"Hey! You wanna help?" Her small voice called out to him. She had paused her movements, giving him her biggest smile after spotting him standing by the entrance to the kitchen.

Usually, Taehyung would've denied the request to join in but this girl was special. Nodding his head, he slowly walked over towards the counter where she stood on a stool in order to reach the top of the countertop. He noted how much taller he was than her even at his age of being eleven. Moving the bowl in front of him, the little girl instantly took one of his hands and placed the wooden spoon inside of it for him to grab.

Ms. Brown watched the two closely, surprised that Taehyung even allowed her granddaughter to touch him since she knew how picky he was about skin to skin contact.

"I'm Kiana! What's your name?" She asked with such enthusiasm, still smiling at him happily.

Taehyung blinked at her a few times before softly introducing himself. "Taehyung." He answered simply, watching as she butchered his name a few times until she got it right. It was a sound that he would never forget.

Over the next few minutes, he stood there a bit awkwardly as the animated little girl he now knew as Kiana talked on and on about the most random things. She asked him many things as the two helped Ms. Brown prepare for dinner as best as they could. Taehyung had found himself deeply intrigued by her the more she talked, even staring at her for the longest time.

After that day, Kiana would join her grandmother a few days out of the week and spent time with Taehyung, bothering the older boy as much as she could.

He didn't realize that hearing all those rumors about his family were true. It was said that the Kim family had been cursed with a high level of insanity. A certain type of madness that made them obsessive and possessive over anything they held dearly, especially their loved ones. Without realizing it, young Kim Taehyung had a put a claim on Kiana that from that day forward, she belonged to him and only him.

Period. ___________

A miracle had happened.

Or at least that's what Kiana felt like it was when she had woken up the next day in her bed at exactly 10 A.M. Her mind was still hazy on what had occurred the night before with her only remembering bits and pieces of it.

She hadn't bothered to text Jazz or anyone for that matter and since today was Saturday which meant sleeping in late for most college students, she found herself in the school's library. It was a place usually damn near deserted on the weekends, and today was no different. She sat in the back where people barely wondered too, sitting on the floor with food she had purchased from Panda Express. There was no food or drink policy but Mrs. Adams didn't care since she knew Kiana was the responsible type to not damage any of the books.

Chewing on some noodles, she thought back to arriving at the party and Rich greeting them at the door but after that, everything became a blur. But she knew something had happened at the party, the hickeys on her neck made that clear as day.

But who the fuck gave them to her?

"I should have known you'd be here hiding from the real world." A voice spoke up from beside her, scaring her almost. Her head turned to see someone she hasn't seen in almost three weeks. She took in his handsome features, nothing out of place as usual with the exception that his hair had grown longer than before. 

"Ji-soo." She greeted him, her eyes briefly flickering to his lips. Ever since she's known him, she noticed that he didn't believe in this thing called personal space and this time was no different.

"Missed me?" He teased, smirking at her playfully. He had just arrived back in VA only two days ago from being away to handle...business. 

Kiana shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, sticking her fork into another piece of chicken and held it close to Ji-soo's lips. Slowly, he opened his mouth allowing her to feed him, something that two did occasionally. Mainly because Ji-soo could be kind of whiny when she didn't share her food with him.

She watched him chew, following his tongue sticking out to lick off the excess sauce. Typical Ji-soo, she thought to herself, rolling her eyes at his flirtatious ways.

"Where have you been?" She asked, already knowing he probably wasn't going to tell the truth anyway. He rarely ever did when he decides to just vanish into thin air.

"Private manners with the family." He told her half truthfully. The less she knew, the better. Ever since she's known him, she noticed that he always had a secretive, dark demeanor about him that no one else seemed to notice. That was probably because most of the girls they knew or even saw usually just wanted to fuck and the guys just dug his easy going personality and maybe something more.

She didn't exactly know of his sexual orientation. Not like it was any of her business anyways, so she naturally left it alone.

"How have you been sleeping?" She had anticipated the question before he even asked. Like Jasmine, he knows about her dream and the pattern of her waking up at 3 A.M. He even witnessed it for himself a few times from spending the night at her place.

"Surprisingly, I woke up at 10 this morning." She revealed, glancing at him to see a look of surprise cross his features. He looked at her curiously, taking in how beautiful she looked in her natural state.

"What did you do last night?" He questioned, thinking that she had to have changed something in her nightly routine. But then again getting her to fall asleep wasn't difficult, it was keeping her that way past 3 A.M.

"Jasmine took me to a party that Rich had hosted but I can't recall what happened after we arrived beside being inside a hot tub. Everything else is a blur." Even now she tried to think back but nothing stuck out. "And before you ask, I didn't drink anything. At least not when I arrived."

Ji-soo found what she said to be weird, and it honestly didn't feel right to him knowing something happened to her. He was going to have a few choices of words for Jasmine. If he was there, he wouldn't have let her out of his sight at all. Kiana tried to fight back a smirk, seeing the scowl on his face that she found way too cute. Turning his dark eyes back on her, his left eyebrow raised, eyeing her curiously.

"Not even going home?"

She shook her head. "Nope but I somehow know that Jasmine wasn't the one that brought me back to my apartment, much less put me to bed." Although they matched in height, Jasmine was smaller than her. Kiana witnessed first hand her friend attempting to help her once before, the petite woman struggled just to get her inside of her car. That alone let her know that she couldn't have been the one to bring her home safely.

Matter of fact she was convinced that Jasmine probably didn't even leave the party at all.

Ji-soo was quiet for a while thinking of multiple scenarios in his head. The whole situation was way too suspect for him. "You sure you were alone in the hot tub?" He knew Kiana wasn't the type to mingle amongst their peers, so he figured she probably headed straight to a place to be alone.

Subconsciously rubbing her neck, her fingers brushed over the hickies. "No. Someone put these here and I doubt it was an insect." She told him, showing him the dark marks. Ji-soo rubbed his thumb across them causing her to shiver from his cool touch. A small smile tugged at his lips from her reaction but faltered realizing that someone had touched her.

Without any warning, he grabbed ahold of the back of her neck pulling her closer to him. His mouth instantly attached to a hickey closest to him, sucking hard on the already tender piece of flesh. Kiana hissed, taken back completely by his sudden and definitely unexpected action. Her hand gripped his shirt as she gave into his assault knowing her panties would be soaked by this action alone.  

Wanting to see how far he could go, Ji-soo grabbed at her thighs hosting the woman onto his lap to straddle him. He sucked and licked her on her skin, leaving newer marks of his own. Her soft moans filled the air around them but he wanted more, he wanted to feel more.

He left soft kisses up her neck until his lips hovered over hers, lightly brushing against them. Her eyes were dark as he searches them for permission. On the slight nod, she gave him, their lips barely touched when the sound of someone clearing their throat caused the two to jump apart.

Falling back, Kiana caught herself quickly, looking up to see the face of the guy she remembered seeing at the coffee shop. He stood there with his hands in his pockets, staring down at her with that same unreadable expression as before.

Ji-soo stood up slowly, not seeming the least bit fazed by him being there. "Taehyung." He greeted lowly, the name causing a chain reaction on her brain as the events of last night came rushing back to her mind all at once. Kiana's face flushed red, getting warm at her coming to her senses at what she allowed to not only happen here in the library but the hot tub also.

Quickly grabbing her things, she clumsily stood up and power walked out of the library with their eyes staring after her.

It was silent between the two men until Kiana disappeared from their sight. "When I told you to watch over her, that didn't code for putting your lips on her," Taehyung said dryly, not all that surprised by Ji-soo's actions as the man smirked at him mischievously. 

"Now because of you, I have to punish her for it."

[blitheringmcgonagall]

Chapters: 32/? Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin

Warning: mention of parental physical abuse

Notes:

Happy Birthday Remus J Lupin!! It's mentioned in this chapter. He’s such a fucking brilliant 

              Chapter 32: The Centre Cannot Hold

“Look at this, Moony!” said Peter. “It’s unbelievable! The lies they’ve printed about James!”

Peter always loved gossip, to the point where he seemed to enjoy other people’s misfortunes, and seeing as they were talking about one of their best friends, his eager tone of voice was infuriating Remus.

“Give it,” he said tersely, grabbing The Daily Prophet from Peter’s hands.

“We were all terrified of him – Our new investigative journalist Rita Skeeter takes an exclusive, no holds barred, look at Hogwarts’ Head Boy accused of murder.” screamed the headline.

“He was always a bully, right from the start of first year, we were all terrified of him. Potter and his gang were always hexing other students, nasty dark magic, especially towards Slytherin students, for no reason. We used to dread bumping into him in the corridors, especially if one of us was alone. It was like he was immune from trouble with the Professors. We guessed it was because of his parents being so filthy rich.” So says one of the Slytherin students in Seventh Year, who agrees to speak with me on condition he remain anonymous. He says it’s because of fear of retribution. “One of the boys in his gang would definitely come after me if I give you my name, and I wouldn’t be able to defend myself,” he says, peering around in obvious fear.

“I’m disgusted he was ever made Head Boy, makes me sick,” says another classmate from Slytherin. “He had a vicious streak, nearly got expelled in Fifth Year. Should have been. Yet, lo and behold, he’s Head Boy. Madness. Even the Head Girl hated him. She always stood up to him and hated him for years? Then suddenly I heard they were dating. Dating? I nearly choked. She was obviously too intimidated to say no to him any longer.  I don’t know how she put up with him. I’ve no doubt she extremely relieved to be rid of him and hoping he gets sent to Azkaban for good. Pretty much told me so herself, in as many words. Of course, she’ll deny it if you ask her, she’s terrified of him too, poor thing.” The student shakes his shoulder-length hair sadly and looks very emotional.

I ask the first student if that isn’t going a bit too far.

“I couldn’t agree more,” the first student insists. “I’m wondering if he used the Imperius Curse to force her into dating him, I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s got a bad reputation when it comes to women. I heard he treats her very badly, that he’s very controlling of her. I’m loathe to suggest such a vile thing about a fellow Pureblood wizard, but I think the Ministry should check his wand just to be sure.”

Both students look very depressed as they tell me about the low morale among students in Hogwarts. They don’t hold out much hope that the teachers can keep the student body safe.

“Potter and his friends nearly got me expelled over false allegations last year,” the first student adds, sniffing tearfully. “My parents were appalled. Thank Merlin Professor Dumbledore cleared me.”

I am shocked at the revelations I hear from these brave students. I approach other students to talk to me about James Potter, but they seem reluctant and gets very angry with me when I gently try to probe, as though afraid to be seen talking to me. The two students agree with my observations.

“His friends are very intimidating. Potter tried to kill me in Fifth Year. Potter’s family must have paid off some members of the Board of Management because nothing came of it. I was treated abominably,” says the thinner boy, who looks visibly shaken.

I ask the poor boy if he is still traumatised by what happened, and he nods.

“One of Potter’s friends was particularly nasty. I can’t say more, except that what he did to me was criminal, and shortly afterwards, he ran away from home and now lives with the Potters. His parents are devastated. They’ve never gotten over it, it’s shocking. Such a lovely family too.”

“He’s mentally unstable, threatened to come after his little brother to kill him,” interrupts the first student, looking very upset. “He hates his little brother so much, it’s truly tragic. He tried to attack his brother at home one day, I heard he tried to cast a Crucio on him, and they had to intervene. I’m surprised that he hasn’t been charged with attempted murder, I personally think his parents were too good to him. They had to ban their terrified younger son from seeing his brother, it’s horrid,” he concludes. “I have a feeling that the Potters were forced by their son to take in his delinquent friend. I’ve heard Potter is very nasty towards his parents. Bullies them mercilessly and demands money from them all the time. They live in fear of him. You’d have to feel sorry for them, poor things, they’re very elderly.”

Remus put down the paper. He couldn’t read any more of the article. His hands were shaking.

“Peter, I think I’ll be in detention for some time after today,” he said, standing up. “I’m sorry it means I won’t be able to tutor you in History of Magic.”

Remus looked cool and composed, but Peter knew him too well. The glint in his eyes was murderous. Peter gulped and nodded, glancing outside to make sure he wasn’t mixing up his lunar calendar.

“Okay… fuckety, fuckety, fuck!” he muttered to himself, nodding at Remus.

“Good,” said Remus curtly, picking up the paper again and walking towards the Slytherin table where Wilkes and Snape were sitting.

“Fuck!” groaned Peter, looking over at the Professors’ table and back at Remus, whose long strides had almost reached his target, vacillating between coming to Remus’ aid and screaming at the teachers.

Remus placed the newspaper down lightly on the table and stared at Snape and Wilkes.

“I suggest you retract those lies,” he said, his voice deadly calm.

Snape and Wilkes stared back. Wilkes looked slightly disconcerted, Snape positively scared.

“You might want to give it some thought,” Remus said, pointing his wand at Snape. “The way I’m feeling at the moment, you’re lucky I’m don’t do worse.”

“Bracas Igni*,” he intoned calmly.

“What the fuck are you playing at, Lupin?” hissed Snape, who had never heard of that spell before.

He felt an unusual heat in his trousers, and stood up quickly, just as Wilkes was also hit by Remus’s spell. He couldn’t see anything, but the sensation of his legs being on fire persisted painfully.

“Did you just set my trousers on fire, Lupin?” shouted Wilkes, wincing and jumping from foot to foot.

“Liar, liar,” replied Remus coldly. “Ask Snape, he’s half-muggle, he gets it.”

Snape and Wilkes yelped with pain and made to leave the Great Hall, cursing loudly.

“Detention, both of you, for three weeks,” the shaking voice behind Remus was Lily Evans’.

The two opened their mouths to protest but the pain in their legs was getting the better of them.

“Mr. Wilkes, Mr. Snape, my office, immediately!”

Remus had never seen Mc Gonagall look so angry in his entire life.

“Longum Nasum mendacibus!**” said Lily, ignoring the Head of Gryffindor, hitting them both with a multi-coloured spell in front of the terrifying Professor.

“Miss Evans! What do you think you’re doing?” cautioned Mc Gonagall sharply.

“They lied,” she shot defiantly. “Vicious, horrible lies.”

“No we didn’t!” said Wilkes heatedly. “Fucking Merlin, my legs are killing me! Lupin attacked me, Professor, it’s agony!”

Snape’s eyes grew wide as he watched Wilkes’ nose grow by three inches.

“Really, Wilkes? Not interested,” Lily said, folding her arms, her green eyes narrowing. “Snape?”

“Er, most of what I said was true,” Snape said, alarmed as his own nose shot forwards even longer.

“What in Morgana’s hell is happening?” yelled Wilkes, looking furious.

“Ask Snape, he’s half-muggle, he knows,” Lily replied, tucking her wand back inside her pocket. “You’re lucky Professor Mc Gonagall arrived when she did.”

Remus laughed aloud then, shaking his head lightly. The sound had more than a hint of a snarl about it.

“Well played, Evans,” he said.

All the muggleborn students and some of the half-blood students had started to clap, making Lily smile briefly.

“I’ll deal with you both later, Miss. Evans and Mr. Lupin,” said Mc Gonagall firmly. “You two, Wilkes and Snape, follow me, Professor Dumbledore wants to see you both immediately. You are a disgrace to this school.”

If only looks could kill, thought Remus.

“But my legs!” howled Wilkes. “Make it stop.”

“Professor Dumbledore may know the counter-spell,” said Minerva. “I can’t say I do.”

“Any word from Sirius?” asked Lily quietly as they watched the back of Mc Gonagall’s cloak swishing angrily.

Remus hesitated, recalling the most recent owl he had received from his boyfriend.

Dearest Moony,

I fucking miss you. A lot. I had no idea Mum and Dad were ill until I went home with Mc Gonagall. They’ve both had a relapse of Dragon Pox. It’s pretty bad at their age. They’re besides themselves worrying about Prongs. So am I. And about them as well.

They can’t get any decent Legal Counsellors to defend his case. I don’t know what to do. There’s only two weeks to go till the trial starts. I don’t know how this case skipped ahead of a list of other serious crimes, but I can take a wild guess. I’m accompanying them to meet Moody tomorrow to see if he can help. Dumbledore and the Professors can’t ‘cause they’ve being called as witnesses for the Prosecution. Fucking nightmare.

I swear to you, my family is behind this. I don’t know what to do. I’ll have to do something.

Please can you and Evans start trying to figure out what the fuck happened? I’m staying here with Mum and Dad, they need help and they won’t accept it from anyone else. Being here is helping them, so they say. I can’t leave them, what if something happened and I wasn’t here? I’ve asked Minnie and she’s sending me on all the notes I’m missing from classes. She’s a fucking angel. I’ve done more swotting in the past week than in all of Seventh Year. Mum is proud of me. At least it’s making her smile occasionally.

I’m playing Reg’s piece a bit, the piano helps.

I don’t know what to do. I’m so worried about Prongs.

Love to Wormy and Lily. Poor Lily, this shit on top of everything else… give her a big hug from me. Tell her I won’t let anything bad happen to her future husband.

I love you so much, it’s hard to put it into words. You’re what’s keeping me going.

Yours faithfully,

Sirius

Keep reading  Chapter 32: The Centre Cannot Hold