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jasmariswonderland · 2 years ago

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Shining Hearts Chapter 13 ~ The Point Of No Return

Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter Summary: With Vil behaving strangely, Danica recall’s Rook’s previous proposal to her and believes she’s finally made a decision. But just as she begins opening her heart to him, he begins closing his to her.

⚠General Warning For Chapters 12-17⚠: First off, thank you for sticking around with this fic for this long. As we inch closer to the moment of the overblot and it’s aftermath, be forewarned, the final chapters of this fic are gonna get…kind of intense. And may or may not include the following: Vil being mean, Rook being tactless, canon typical violence, language, sex*al harassment, misogyny, near de*th experiences, suic*dal thoughts and very, VERY HEAVY angst.

Warnings Specific To This Chapter: PAIN! PAIN! FUCKING PAIN!!!!!!

~~~

While all this was happening, Taima, Ione, Iman, and Vidaria stood outside the door, listening as best as they could. It didn’t require much genius to understand that Vil and Danica were arguing yet again. This time, it was worse than ever.

Many times, they could hear Vil angry, booming voice punctuated by Danica’s tearful sobbing. Soon enough, Taima’s concern for her friend became impossible to ignore, she wanted to burst through the door and to her surprise, Iman wanted to as well. But Ione and Vidaria held them back. Whatever was happening between Vil and Danica, they felt, should stay between Vil and Danica and it wasn’t their place to interfere.

“Danica is a strong person, stronger than most give her credit for,” Vidaria said. “She doesn’t need us to defend her, she probably wouldn’t want us to do that anyway since this is her battle to win.”

“Not to mention, there are a lot of press outside,” Ione added. “An overheard fight between Vil Schoenheit and his alleged love interest could cause a scandal that Danica would be implicated in.”

Taima and Iman grumbled, objectively, they knew Ione and Vidaria were correct but it didn’t sit well with either of them. Iman couldn’t bear thinking of how Vil could be tearing Danica’s confidence to shreds, after how long it had taken her to build it up in the first place. And imagining all the awful things he could be saying to her, along with the sound of her muffled crying, was all but unbearable to Taima. Objectivity often did not vibe well with either girl and Ione actually had to reach out to Iman to prevent her from opening the door.

“So what are we supposed to do?!” she asked, smacking Ione’s hand away.

“I’ll tell you what we’ll do, Sister,” Vidaria answered her. “Once they’re done, we’re going to go to Danica and be the support she needs. In the meantime, we should probably move away from the door so Vil won’t be on our behinds for eavesdropping.”

“Screw Vil’s opinion! What about…”

“No, Vidaria is right,” sighed Taima. “Plus Dani might not appreciate us trying to help either.”

“Actually, weren’t we supposed to go meet up with Ayse and the other RSA girls? Maybe we should do that.”

Iman bit back a scoff, irked with the knowledge that her best friend was correct and that Ione of all people agreed with her. In a fit of frustration, she turned her back to the others and began storming down the hallway with Vidaria following behind her. Taima and Ione remained at the door, the dressing room had gone silent and they hoped that the worst was over.

“You’re talking strangely! What are you going to do now?!”

They received their answer when they heard Danica shouting after Vil as the door slowly opened. He walked out, his demenor eerily detached and not even acknowledging Taima and Ione next to him. His eyes were completely glazed over and he moved as though he were in a trance, not aware of anything, or anyone around him.

“Vil-san!” Ione snapped. “What did you say to her?!”

But Vil did not answer her. He didn’t even glance her way as he walked past them and down the hall. Leaving her and Taima to go into the dressing room and find Danica shaking in the corner, looking as bewildered as they both felt at that moment. Ione went to shut the door and Taima immediately embraced her friend.

“What have I done?” Danica whispered, placing her arms around Taima.

“Nothing, that’s what,” Taima answered her. “This isn’t over. The contest hasn’t started yet, we’re still going to win and we’ll…

“No! No! That’s not what I meant!” Danica’s body began to tremble and she let out a whimper. “It’s Vil, something’s happening to him! This isn’t just about us changing our performance, it’s something else!”

“What do you mean?”

“I know what she means,” Ione murmured, sitting closer to them. “I saw it, just as Vil was passing us.”

“Are either of you going to tell me what’s happening?!” Taima asked.

“I really can’t say. It was literally only a second, just something about Vil’s eyes gave me a very sick feeling. And it reminded me of something that happened at Heartslabyul a few months ago. Something horrible that…” Ione paused, wrapping her arms around herself as she was taken by a sudden chill.

“Ione?”

“No, no. It’s nothing,” she quickly shook her head. “That was an outstanding circumstance. Nothing like that could happen now.”

“Like what?” Now Danica was curious as well. “What happened at Heartslabyul?”

“Ione, we really need you to NOT be cryptic right now!” said Taima. “What happened?”

“NOTHING! Really, it was nothing!”

Ione said this, more for her reassurance than anything else. But even as the words left her mouth, she felt a nauseous sensation twist at her stomach. She knew she wasn’t doing her teammates, especially Danica, any favors by concealing what she had seen in Vil’s eyes. And how it was so frighteningly similar to something she had seen in Riddle’s eyes months prior. Another chill seized her as she recalled the horrific events that proceeded.

But again, she reminded herself that those were outstanding circumstances, triggered in part by the gross stupidity of Ace and her other dormmates. Whatever his issues with Danica, Vil still had the support of NRC Tribe and their performance was worlds better than RSA’s. The situations between him and Riddle couldn’t be more different.

“I’m sorry,” she sighed. “I don’t mean to be cryptic. I’m just worried because I feel like in this state…Vil could be capable of anything.”

“That’s what worries me too,” confessed Danica. “He’s not just angry about our performance change. Neige and his group had a far better reception to their rehearsal with considerably less effort. And they very well might win, can you imagine Vil’s rage if that happens?”

“Really, Dani?” Taima couldn’t help but smile. “You honestly think such a childish gimmick could go up against our boys? Hell, we were more polished even in middle school!”

“Look I know it sounds strange but you gotta believe me! NRC Tribe might end up losing and when that happens, Vil is going to snap and it’s not going to be us he snaps at!”

“Danica, you can’t possibly mean…?”

Ione paused again, another chilling memory intruding upon her mind. She and Taima briefly locked glances, subconsciously thinking the exact same thing. And as the same concern washed over them, there came from the hallway a burst of high-pitched laughter that they immediately recognized as belonging to Neige and his friends. They listened until the sound faded, followed by footsteps coming closer to the dressing room door. The knob turned, it was Yuulan and Grim.

“Hey, I was wondering where you three were,’ said Yuulan, looking around the dressing room and then at the dejected looks on the three freshmen. “Is…everything alright?”

“We don’t know yet,” Ione replied. “Vil was far from happy about our performance change but now there’s something else we’re worried about.”

“Hmmm.”

Yuulan closed her eyes, visions of her ominous dream returning to her. It was happening again, now for the fifth time. “I think I know what you’re worried about, Ione. And honestly, so am I.”

“What are you worried about, Yuulan?” Danica asked. “Did you notice how Vil was behaving too?”

Immediately, Yuulan locked eyes with Ione and Taima. Yes, they had all seen it and by now, even Ione was beginning to worry that it might not be a coincidence. A horrific memory mutually shared by the three. But even as they all came to the same understanding, they also silently agreed not to voice a word of it, not yet.

None of them would dare distress Danica with what would soon happen to her down leader, not while there was still time to avoid it.

“What are you all goin’ on about?!” Grim snapped. “Why are we still talkin’ about Vil anyway?! I’m hungry and the dwarves are gonna clean out the food table if we don’t act fast!”

“Merciful Sevens!” Ione glared at the creature. “When are you NOT hungry?!”

“Seriously, Grim,” Taima added, rolling her eyes. “We’re trying to have a serious conversation here and all you can think about is your stomach?!”

"Well, that's Grim for you, ” Yuulan chuckled. “How about this: Ione, come with me. We’ll follow Vil around for a while to make sure he’s still in a stable headspace. I think Iman and Vidaria have the same feeling too because they haven’t left yet even when Jamil suggested it.”

“Iman turned down time with Jamil?!” Taima forced out a laugh in spite of her worries. “Damn, that’s how I know this is serious!”

“And what about Taima and I?” Danica spoke up.

“Dani, you need to rest,” replied Yuulan. “This has already been enough on you and you need to refocus your mind on the VDC. And giving the best performance you can.”

“You’re right. Come what may, the show must go on. That’s what we always said at my ballet school. And it’s true.” Danica stood up. “I’m not giving up yet. And as long as there is still hope for victory, I’m not even going to entertain any more doubts!”

“Spoken like a true queen,” Ione smiled before turning to Taima. “You should stay with Danica so she isn’t alone. If anything happens, either I or Yuulan will text you.”

“And can we PLEASE find something to eat at some point?!” Grim asked.

“YES YOU GLUTTONOUS CAT!” Yuulan snapped. “I promise! At some point, you will be fed!”

“NOT A CAT!”

“Thank you guys,” Danica sat back down. “We’ll stay here for a little bit and then go look for Iman and Vidaria.”

Yuulan, Grim, and Ione left, leaving Danica and Taima alone in the dressing room. The air swirled with anxiety, still thick with the tension of Vil and Danica’s argument. For a while, there was silence save for Danica’s heavy breathing and the occasional sound of voices outside the door.

At one point, Danica thought she heard Vidaria shouting angrily at someone. But Vil’s name was not mentioned and her mind was too preoccupied already for this to pique her interest. And with only the presence of her best friend, all of her thoughts and emotions had time to fully take shape.

Danica understood now. She understood everything. Despite his tenacity and drive, regardless of his beauty and talent, Vil would never top Neige in the public eye. Only the delicate allure of innocence could be deemed approachable to the populace. Vil’s intense elegance, on the hand, would always be seen as threatening. As he had so eloquently put it, beauty was often a double-edged sword; admired yet feared, coveted yet despised.

There was nothing threatening about the saccharine charm of Neige Leblanche. Nothing that would ever make people uncomfortable, fearful or think on a deeper level. He was adorable and made people feel good, but that was it. He would never match Vil’s intense elegance and Vil in turn could never match Neige’s innocence. People would always prefer the Neige over the Vil simply because it was impossible to be intimidated by someone so agreeable and childish.

Danica becoming Vil’s white swan was his only redress to make him more approachable, meant to prove to the world that he was indeed worthy of being a hero. It sickened her that people would be so fickle, so afraid of Vil’s brilliance that they couldn't acknowledge it for what it was. Regulating him to the place of a villain in order to confirm their own biases. Without ever giving him a chance to prove himself.

But while that was all true, there was something else that sickened her even more: that Vil himself would so willingly comply with such a cruel dichotomy. Considering the progressive values he tried to instill in others, she found it incredibly hypocritical. For someone normally so forward-thinking, it made no sense to her that he’d want too subject her to the same unfair treatment he had endured. Forcing her to shrink herself because some people were foolish. Vil was smarter than that, he was better than that. Why would he possibly want such a thing for her, when the public had subjected him to the very same thing for most of his life?

You told me that I captivated you, that I had the power to capture hearts. Why then would you want me to give that power away? And for what?

“Are you alright, Dani?” Without noticing, Taima moved closer to Danica, softly touching her arm to draw her attention. “I guess the better question is, are you going to be alright?”

“Tai-chan…” Danica exhaled deeply. “I’ll be alright. I’ve said that many times over the last few weeks and it hasn’t always been true. But I mean it this time. I’ll be alright, I’m just so confused.”

“What do you mean?”

“I never imagined that someone like Vil Schoenheit would take interest in a girl like me, for any reason. I was so ready to remain invisible for the time I was at NRC because before coming to NRC, I’d always been invisible. And I was okay with that!”

“But Dani, you’re far from invisible!” Taima clutched her hand. “And you don’t deserve to be invisible!”

“I might not have been invisible on the stage of Three Graces Academy or in the classrooms of the Pyroxene Royal Ballet Academy, but in every other part of my life, I was, especially at home. Fiona was the golden child of our family and anything I ever did was simply me just wanting to be like her. And it only became worse after she died.”

Danica pressed her hands to her face. “But on the other hand, in the few places in my life where I wasn’t invisible, I sometimes wished I was. The way people would look at me, made me wish I was invisible. I seemed to only attract jealousy or bewilderment, but never admiration, until I came to NRC.”

“You definitely seem happier since we came to NRC.” Taima observed. “Even when you are stressed.”

“It’s true, and one of the reasons I’ve been happier is because, for the first time in my life, I’ve found a place where not only was I not invisible, I wanted to be seen. I’ve met people like Kalim and Joker and my other clubmates who love seeing me perform. I’m in a dorm with other like-minded people who appreciate me for who I am. But most of all, I had a dorm leader who wanted to see me succeed. Who never ONCE compared me to my sister! That's why I don’t understand…”

Danica exhaled again, somehow managing to fight off any tears. “That’s exactly why I don’t understand why Vil wanted me to undermine myself for the very same kinds of people who made me want to be invisible in the first place! After all he has done to help my confidence, why the hell would he want me to go back to being the person I was before coming to NRC?!”

“I don’t understand it either,” replied Taima. “I haven’t understood anything Vil-san has done these last few weeks. But there is one thing I do understand.”

“What do you understand?”

“I understand that someone who loves you would want you to be the best version of yourself you can be, even if others don’t like it. That’s what mom always says. Vil might have been kind and encouraging to you in the past but now he’s different. He’s not the same person you fell in love with, I don’t think.”

“He definitely isn’t,” Danica lowered her head sadly. “That’s what hurts the most.”

“But on the other hand, there has been another person that you also like, one who has always been consistent in how much he cares about you.” Taima smiled. “Someone romantic and sweet who has been crazy about everything you do from the moment he set his eyes upon you.”

A soft tint of red spread across Danica’s cheeks. She knew exactly whom Taima was referring to and for the most part, it was all true. Between the two, Rook had always been the kinder one compared to Vil. She never had to wonder if he actually liked her as he made his feelings known from the beginning.

Even with his more unorthodox tendencies, even with him recently taking interest in other girls, Danica still believed that Rook had eyes only for her. And the only thing preventing him from getting closer to her was her own indecision.

It is my greatest desire that you will allow me to pay tribute to your radiance. You are an angel walking amongst mortals, cherie, and I see in your eyes what your lips hesitate to say. You want this don’t you? So why do you deny your heart what it so earnestly desires?

When they met during winter break, Rook had confessed a desire that they become lovers. He had always been honest with her, which was why she still believed his words even now. She had begun the new year with a confused heart, her emotions pulled in two different directions, towards two different people. And now, after everything Vil had done, the path she wanted to take was becoming progressively more clear.

I know you’ve warned me about swimming against the current, but I also know you would never hurt me in the way Vil has hurt me. Isn’t that right, Rook-san?

“Rook-san would never hurt you.”

Danica turned around, not realizing that she was thinking aloud. Softly, but loud enough for Taima to hear. With a nod, silence fell once again upon the dressing room. Several more minutes passed before another voice could be heard outside the door. It was Rook’s voice.

“I think that’s our sign,” Danica said, rising out of her chair at last. A new smile came to her face. “Everythings going to be alright, and best of all, I finally know what to say to Rook-san!”

“That’s awesome!” Taima beamed. “How ‘bout I come with you! For something like that, you’re gonna need moral backup and that’s what besties are for!”

“Sure, Taima,” Danica went to the door but turned to her friend with a mischievous little grin. “But only if I can be your moral backup when you eventually confess to cabbage-head!”

“Ohhh, NOW you wanna be cheeky!”

Taima got up but Danica just giggled and rushed out with her friend coming close behind her.

~~~

A small bubble of anxiety returned to them as they walked down the hall, anticipating the possibility of running into Vil. But he was nowhere to be seen. Everything seemed relatively normal and Danica noticed Rook’s silhouette further down the hall and eagerly walked over to him. Her heart was racing with excitement but it quickly stopped when she saw that Rook wasn’t alone.

Isabel and Minette were talking with him and he seemed particularly focused on the latter. His eyes narrowed on her in much the same way he was gazing at Athena earlier. When he didn’t appear to notice her presence, Danica stopped to listen. Her mind immediately returned to how she had seen him muse over Minette’s appearance earlier and the way he spoke to Athena right in front of her.

Unlike Athena however, Minette was smiling and enjoying the conversation. Or at least, that’s how it appeared at first glance. But sadly, at this delicate moment, one glance was enough for Danica to think the worst.

“C’est vrai? Your grandmother was the famous opera diva Adelè Belchatte?” Rook asked Minette. “Magnifique! I myself am a connoisseur of opera and am well-versed in her work. She was a marvel on stage, blessed by the muses themselves!”

“And not just her grandma,” Isabel spoke up. “Minette’s mom is also pretty famous too, mostly for piano. But she’s very talented too.”

“No need to brag on my behalf, Issy,” Minette blushed, but took a subtle step away from Rook even as he stared down at her intently. “Merci, monsieur, I come from a very musical family. But my true forte is in acting.”

“Ahh, that is tres admirable as well. It is good to be well versed in many skills and I see that the muses have also blessed you as well, ma cherie,” he leaned into her face. A delighted smile upon his lips. “Blessed in both talent and beauty.”

Rook…no…

Danica’s heartbeat was racing and she felt her knees buckle under her. Taima had caught up to Danica and noticed her trembling, placing her hand on her shoulder. At once, she knew she should say something but Danica squeezed her hand, silently telling Taima to hold her tongue. She was at a loss for words in any case. And just after she had tried to convince Danica that such a thing wouldn’t happen. After she herself was so sure of his fidelity. Guilt silenced Taima as much as shock.

They watched the way Rook spoke to Minette with increasing sickness. This time, there could be no misunderstanding. Minette was certainly charming, with very beautiful hair and eyes and an equally beautiful singing voice. As one devoted to beauty in all forms, Rook was sure to be taken with her.

Danica tried to mentally rationalize this, but it did little to soothe the sting.

No…it doesn’t seem like I’m good enough for anyone. Not Vil, not my parents, and now…and…now…I’m not enough for Rook either.

“You both were so lovely during rehearsals,” Rook continued. “Comme deux etoiles brillantes.”

“Th…that’s very kind of you, monsieur,” Minette shyly lowered her head. “But you really shouldn’t say such things. After all, we are from rival schools and singing on rival teams.”

“Ah that may be, mademoiselle. But you see, I’m not one to ignore something I find beautiful."

Rook smirked, coming closer to Minette even as she and Isabel took a few steps back. Her back hit a wall and she glanced up at him, eyes fluttering as she realized how close he was. Too close for comfort. His sharp green gaze narrowing up and down her form.

"And when that beautiful thing is out of my reach, I find it all the more impossible to ignore.”

“Monsieur, what do you mean by that? Do you…ahh!!”

Minette and Isabel were already finding this conversation more than a little peculiar. Rook had sought them out as they were leaving the coliseum to explore the festival. He seemed nice enough, extremely complementary if not a tad flirtatious. But the more he spoke, the more they felt uneasy.

A feeling that only increased when Rook boldly reached out for Minette’s soft white tail, taking it into his hand. Danica saw this happen, feeling sicker than ever, and even Taima was taken aback by Rook’s audacity toward their friend.

What the…?! No, he did NOT just do that?! Rook-san! Why?! Why the hell would you…?!

“Aahhh! Monsieur, please!” Minette yelped loudly, jumping to her side and moving away from Rook. Unfortunately, this was followed by a fit of giggling that was just as loud. “You flatter me, but please…”

“Sir, what the fuck?!” Isabel pulled Minette to her in a protective manner. Her normally cool nature swiftly set ablaze. “I don’t recall her saying you could grab her tail!”

“Ahh, pardon moi,” Rook attempted to laugh this off, but neither girl found this amusing. “Forgive me, I meant no harm, cherie. I was simply taken by the elegance of your pure white fur. It is as lustrous as a pearl, but far, far softer than I imagined.”

He leaned into her face, not noticing at all the mortified look. Even as she continued her frantic giggling.

“Monsieur!”

“Ahhh, and such a lovely scent, like jasmine and vanilla.”

She felt his hand land gently atop her head, between her ears. Minette shook her head, but he continued to pat it. This was enough for her to move further from Rook even as he advanced closer to her, grasping her tail to keep it out of his reach. Danica and Taima had seen quite enough.

“Monsieur please!”

“What the fuck is this?!” Taima pretended that she and Danica had just arrived and placed herself between Rook and Minette. “Rook-san! What the hell were you doing?!”

“What was I doing?” Rook repeated Taima’s question. “I was merely getting acquainted with the lovely ladies of the RSA team.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Danica stepped forward, speaking loud enough that Rook was finally forced to confront her presence. She was looking directly at him, but her next words were directed at Minette. Despite her shattering heart, she smiled at her friend. Her betraying not even the slightest hint of her hurt.

"Rook-san is very charming. Isn’t he, Mimi? Yes, I think so too.”

“Dani…I…I…” Minette stammered, seeing in Danica’s eyes a look of complete and total devastation. She then looked at Rook again, and then at Danica, understanding exactly what her friend was likely thinking. “I…I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

Without another word, Minette pushed past them and ran back down the hall. Tears of shame scorching down her cheeks. Isabel went after her, but not before shooting a murderous glare at Rook.

“Like hell he’s charming! If getting acquainted with us means being handsy and a creep then that’s exactly what he was doing!”

She hurried to catch up with Minette, leaving Danica and Taima standing alone with Rook. Both of them were still in shock at what they had just seen. Surprisingly, Danica was the first to speak again, somehow managing to push swallow all of her rage and sorrow back down her throat long enough to ask Rook a simple question.

“Why, Rook? Why would you do that? I thought…”

“I do not understand,” he interrupted her, looking ahead of the hallway and avoiding Danica’s eyes. “We were only chatting, did I do something wrong?”

“Something wrong?!” Taima gasped angrily at him. “Rook-san, you grabbed Minette’s tail! She hates being touched by people she doesn’t know! And beyond that, look at Dani! She saw the whole thing! How do you explain…”

“I truly meant no harm! And she was laughing the whole time, I figured…”

“THAT’S SOMETHING SHE DOES WHEN SHE’S NERVOUS OR SCARED! YOU WERE MAKING HER UNCOMFORTABLE! DON’T YOU GET IT?!”

Danica screamed at Rook before stepping back from him and Taima, realizing what she was doing. She buried her face in her hands with shame and began breathing heavily to stave off tears. Rook and Taima looked at her with genuine shock.

Both had seen her angry, but never like this, and Rook in particular couldn’t recall a single instance where she ever raised her voice in his presence. He understood now that he had made a serious faux pas with Minette. Yet somehow still failed to understand exactly what that faux pas was and, more importantly, how much it had hurt for Minette to endure and for Danica to see.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have shouted,” Danica glanced over her hands and saw Rook and Taima’s bewildered faces. She immediately calmed down. “But Rook-san, Minette is an old friend of mine and…”

“No, Dani, you had every right to shout!” Taima interjected. “Rook, you should have known better! Mimi’s bad habit notwithstanding, what made you think that would be okay to do?!”

“Mon Dieu,” Rook sighed. “I certainly did not mean to come off as vulgar or rude.” He shook his head. “Sometimes, I briefly miss my better judgment when enamored by one as enchanting as your friend.”

“You miss your better judgment,” Danica repeated his words aloud. Biting the inside of her lip as her chest burned with anger. “Miss your better judgement?! But Rook…what about me? I thought…do you no longer wish to…”

Do you no longer like me?

She tried to find the words. They were right there in her mind, but no matter how she tried, they would not pass her lips. In truth, Danica could still scarcely believe it herself and in spite of everything she had just seen, still wished to believe that this was all just a misunderstanding. And for the sake of that very fragile hope, she bit her tongue.

“I should apologize to her,” Rook said, beginning to walk away from them. “I truly did not mean any harm and I would hate for there to be bad blood between our teams or schools.”

“As if there hasn’t been bad blood between NRC and RSA for literal decades!” Taima sharply replied, jumping in front of him to block his way. “No, Rook-san! We’ll apologize to Minette on your behalf! That would be much better, trust me on this one and stay out of this!"

Before Rook could agree or object, Taima grabbed Danica’s arm and pulled her down the hall. They followed the sound of familiar voices to the dressing room meant for the RSA Divas. Minette was there, still looking shaken as Ayse comforted her, and surprisingly, Iman and Vidaria were as well. Isabel appeared to be arguing with them.

“Forgive me if we find your lies hard to believe!” Iman said. “This little kitten has been acting flirtatious around our boys all day!”

“I’m sorry!” Minette whimpered. “I really didn’t mean…”

“So what?!” Isabel snapped. “Mimi might have a playful personality, but that wasn’t an invitation for Rook to do what he did!”

“No, it certainly isn’t,” Vidaria agreed. “But we saw her and Rook alone not long after your rehearsal.”

“What?”

Danica cut in, walking over to Minette and kneeling down beside her with Taima following suit. She gave her a little smile, showing that she wasn’t upset at her for what she had seen. Iman scoffed.

“Don’t be nice to her! She was making moves on your man! Vidi and I saw!”

“I wasn’t!” Minette pleaded. “I swear I wasn’t! He was the one following me around! That’s why I asked Issy to join me while I was looking for Lilianne.” She glanced up at Danica with eyes red from tears. “I’m sorry, Dani! I didn’t mean…”

“Then why were you giggling, hmmm?” Vidaria impertinently asked. “If you didn’t like Rook-san flirting with you, why did you…”

“Your Highness,” Ayse spoke up. “I know it sounds crazy, but Minette really cannot control her laughter when she’s nervous. You should have seen her when we went to a haunted house this past Halloween.”

“I know it’s a bad habit,” Minette added. “I’m trying to work on it but…”

“Mimi, it’s alright,” Danica finally came to her friend’s defense, hugging her for good measure. “I believe you, I know you’re not to blame.”

“Dani…” Minette sniffed, returning her embrace. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know…”

“Mimi, Dani said it’s okay. We aren’t mad at you. Honestly, we should apologize to you because you are a guest of this school today and it sucks this should happen on our turf,” Taima smiled at Minette before turning to Iman and Vidaria. “And you two should apologize too! I get you were just trying to defend Dani but yelling at Mimi wasn’t the way to go about it!”

Vidaria made a quick but very sincere apology. Considering her own experiences with Rook, it wasn’t difficult for her to figure out what really happened between him and Minette. Her indignation quickly turned to disgust. How could Danica still have eyes for him? Iman however required a little more convincing, but eventually apologized as well.

“But while we’re on the subject,” said Isabel. “You NRC ladies should really know that Minette wasn’t the only one among us Rook has been sniffing around! Athena told us that he was following her around the festival earlier, trying to impress her with his archery!”

“Yeah, we saw that,” Danica sighed. “Apparently Rook and Athena competed in an archery tournament a while back and she beat him.”

“And not just them!” Ayse spoke up again. “There was an incident where one of the dwarves spilled water on me. Rook helped me dry off but he saw some of my changed skin and kept asking me all sorts of weird questions.”

“I don’t know if Ivy and Nadia dealt with anything similar but I wouldn’t be surprised,” said Isabel. “It doesn’t help that most of us are beastmen, fae, or in Nadia’s case, a mermaid. We weren’t gonna say anything since Athena is fully human but it just seems extremely fucked up to me!”

“No, no, we understand perfectly,” Vidaria replied. “At least I do, he’s the same way around me and I’ve even seen him act impertinent around Malleus.”

“WHAT?!” Ayse’s eyes widened. “He’s acted that way around Malleus Draconia?! Does Rook desire death?!”

“Guys, that’s enough,” Danica listened to all of this but she was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Isabel shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Miss Ledelle. I understand you might like Rook, but you really ought to know what he’s capable of if you’re going to set your heart upon him.”

“She’s right, Danica,” Iman added. “This is exactly why you need to go ahead and tell him how you feel!”

“Hmph, really, Sister?” Vidaria normally agreed with everything Iman said. But this time, she laughed. “Do you honestly think Rook would stop acting weird if he knew Danica harbored feelings for him?”

“It is possible,” Danica replied. “After all, I never actually told Rook how I felt. I’ve been too focused on Vil-san and preparing for today. But Rook has asked me in the past to be with him. If he thinks I’m not interested, it makes sense then that…”

“No, Miss Ledelle, I’m going to have to agree with Vidaria on that one,” Isabel said. “But on that note, we’re definitely not going to hang around here if we can help it. We talked about checking out the festival together so that’s what we’re gonna do until it’s time for the show to start.”

“Yeah, I still hope Ione is down for joining us,” said Ayse. “I haven’t seen her in a while.”

“If we see her, we’ll tell her you were looking for her,” replied Danica. “But we’re going to hang around here for a while since there are…a few more things we must take care of before showtime.”

“Okay, Dani. I hope we can hang out a little later after the VDC,” Minette, now calmer, smiled at her friend. “And I hope Rook’s behavior is one of the things you take care of!”

~~~

Danica decided that it would be best if she, Taima, Iman, and Vidaria walked the RSA girls to the outer part of the coliseum, watching them leave and longing to join them. Once they were gone, Danica was once again confronted with the sad reality of their situation. Vil’s strange behavior was worrying to them all and now he was nowhere to be found. And just when Danica thought she was ready to open her heart to Rook, he appeared to be closing his heart to her. Even going as far as making a move on her friend —an image she couldn’t shake from her mind.

And it wasn’t just the fact that Rook was flirting with Minette, or even that she felt that Minette was far prettier and more charming than her. Many of the words he had spoken to Minette paralelled things he had said to her. Words that had moved her heart and compelled Danica to trust him. And words she had been naive enough to believe that Rook would only ever say to her.

It was indeed naive, after all, just as Vil had told her, a black swan could never stand beside a prince. Danica was beginning to wonder if she would ever be good enough for anyone.

“We haven’t heard from Yuulan or Ione in a while,” Taima said as the four of them went back into the coliseum. “Do you think they’re still tailing Vil-san?”

“Yeah, but they haven’t tried to reach out to us,” Danica replied. “Maybe we were worried about nothing after all.”

That’s what she said and she truly hoped that was the case. It would subtract at least one thing from her list of concerns. It was their plan to return to their dressing room for a while longer, but as they walked back down the hallway, they saw Rook again. Epel was talking to him, but for once, Rook’s focus seemed to be elsewhere. He listened intently to the boy, responding to everything he said, but it was clear there were other things on his mind.

Vidaria made a small sound of disgust at the sight of him and began walking down the hall to their dressing room. Iman followed her, Taima did too, but Danica lagged behind.

“Dani, we should probably rest some before showtime,” Taima said. “And it probably would help to have a quick bite too.”

“I know, I know,” Danica nodded. “I just…I want to see something first.”

“Are you gonna try talking to Rook-san? If you do, can you please make him understand how uncomfortable he’s made the RSA Divas?”

“I…I’m not sure how much of an effect my words will have on him,” I’m not even sure if my words even matter to him at this point. “But I’ll try my best.”

Taima hurried to catch up with Iman and Vidaria, while Danica walked in Rook and Epel’s direction. Epel was the first to notice her and waved her over, their relationship having somewhat healed as he was beginning to see the error of his ways.

“You guys were soooooo amazing during rehearsal!” he grinned. “I know…there isn’t anything wrong with cute things, but I really do think your new song suits your voice better than the other one.”

“Thanks Epel. I think so too,” Danica smiled, though she couldn’t help but notice how Rook subtly frowned at this. Her uneasiness returned. “But do you mind if I talk to Rook alone for a few moments? I need to ask him something.”

“Oh? Yeah, that’s fine. I was just about to go look for Deuce anyway,” Epel looked up at Rook. “I’ll talk to you later, Rook-san.”

Epel left them, and as she waited for him to be out of sight, Danica pondered how to express her feelings to Rook—how hurt and confused she was, yet how she still wanted him despite everything. She thought about this, but was surprised when Rook was the first to speak. And was even more surprised by what he said to her.

“It seems that mon petit cygne has learned to swim with the current. And for that, I am thankful.”

This seemed odd to her. Considering his previous words, it seemed that the opposite was true. Danica had not accepted Vil’s wishes for her at all, but in the end she was still able to succeed without drowning, for the most part.

“More like I was able to brave the current,” she replied, allowing herself a small smile. “But there was something else I wanted to ask you, Rook-san.”

“How is your friend? I truly did not mean to make her uncomfortable,” Rook sighed. “Ah, such an enchanting creature, it grieves me that I might have caused pain to one so lovely.”

A sharp twinge of anger and jealousy jabbed at Danica’s chest. She shook her head to dispel the feeling.

“Minette is fine, but on that same note, Rook-san, I think it’s time we had a conversation we’ve been talking about for a few week now.”

“Oh, about my proposal to you?” he asked, smiling. “Has mon petit cygne finally come to a decision?”

“I have! I have!”

Danica’s heart began to race and her face went hot. She softly pressed her hands to her chest as she forced her heart to remain calm. After all, there was one thing that Danica had to know before giving herself to Rook. Something important that could very well change her answer before she had the chance to voice it. She took a deep breath, looking up to meet Rook’s gaze with scarlet cheeks and expectant eyes.

“Before I give you my answer, there is something I must ask you. Something I must know,” she closed her eyes as she formed the words in her mind.

“Rook-san, if we become lovers, will you…have eyes only for me? Or will you still be enamored with every beautiful thing you see?” Danica lowered her head. “Even things that are far more beautiful than me?”

Rook smiled and wasted no words. “As your lover, cherie, I will shower you with all the adoration that you deserve,” a bright scarlet tint rose to Danica’s cheeks. Unfortunately, his next statement made her feel cold. “But you cannot expect me to shut my eyes off to all the beauty this world has to offer.”

“I would never ask that of you. But does that mean…” she felt her voice breaking as her worst fears began taking shape. “…does that mean you would…continue pursuing beautiful things, and beautiful people? Even if…if…”

“Mademoiselle, I will cherish you completely,” he replied. “But as a hunter and one devoted to beauty, it is my nature to pursue it in any form. And support it in any way that I can.”

Danica felt the rage returning, as well as her heartbreak. It might have been too heavy a request, to ask Rook to be wholly devoted to her considering what she knew about him. But at the same time, she wondered if Vil would have given her a similar answer. And it was a pity that she now would never know.

But as she tried to find an adequate response to this, she noticed that Rook’s eyes were not no longer at her, but at something around the corner. She turned around to see what he was looking at, her face becoming hot with further anger.

Lilianne was down the hall, and after what Rook had just said to her, Danica’s immediate thought was that Rook was eying her. He certainly was, but there was something else he was looking at as well. Neige was talking to her, and neither of them realized that Vil was coming up behind them.

~~~

“Lili-chan, I know the VDC hasn’t started yet,” Neige said to her. “But have you given any more thought to what we talked about?”

“Come now, Neige-san,” Lilianne cooly replied. “We made a bargain, do you really expect me to go back on my word when we’re so close to the moment of truth, so to speak?”

“No, no, I would never want you to break an agreement, especially with me!” He tried to maintain a light and hopeful tone, but found her words made it difficult. “It’s just that…”

“It’s just that my statement still stands and our agreement still stands too,” she gave him a tight smile. “If you win, you’ll take me on a date, and if I win, I will kiss you. But we aren’t doing anything before then because that would be breaking the agreement.”

Neige sighed, at least Lilianne was committed to their agreement and he couldn’t help but find that admirable. But he also couldn’t help but feel discouraged by her continued cold shoulder. He was aware that VDC prep had been stressful for her, but it was his hope that once they were there, once Lilianne had seen him and his friends on stage, she might begin to have a change of heart.

Unfortunately, the opposite seemed to be true. Lilianne was as indifferent as ever and Neige was at loss as to what he could say or do to see her smile again. From the moment Neige first set foot upon a stage, people were always captivated with him. He was friendly and charming to every person he met and had a way of capturing hearts. People were taken with his adorable nature and he frequently brought people to tears with his talent.

With all of this true, if he was able to capture people’s hearts, why then was Neige unable to capture Lilianne’s? Her indifference cut deeper than he liked to admit, making him question himself in ways he never had before. Why couldn’t he, Neige Leblanche, who had always been able to charm anyone, reach her? What was he missing?

In truth, he already knew the answer. He didn’t want to admit it, for it secretly shamed him, but there was a reason he wanted to go against their bargain now. After seeing Vil’s dynamic performance and the equally exciting performance of the Black Swan Quintet, Neige was beginning to worry that victory might not come as easily as he had initially thought.

“Hello, Neige. I was hoping to find you,”

Their conversation was interrupted when a familiar voice forced Lilianne to turn around. She quickly stifled a gasp when she realized that Vil Scheonheit was now standing beside her. He was much taller up close, and far more regal than she could have imagined. How could Danica stand by his side so easily without always fairing on the spot? Because that’s exactly how she felt at that very moment.

“We didn’t get much of a chance to talk before rehearsal. I was hoping we could chat more, Neige,” Vil smiled warmly. “Oh? And who is this?”

“P…pleased to meet you, Mr Scheonheit,” Lilianne replied shyly. “I’m Lilianne Abilene and I am a huge fan of your work.”

“Thank you,” Vil’s smile became a little wider, at least there was one unswayed by Neige’s charms. But where had he heard that name before?

“Miss…Abilene? By any chance are you related to Taima Abilene?”

“Ohh!!” Lilianne blushed, forgetting her promise to her sister to keep their relationship secret. “N…n…no! I mean yes! I mean…uh…it’s complicated but…ohhh…”

“No need to explain, Miss Abilene,” Vil chuckled a little. “It was mentioned to me some time ago that Taima had a sister who went to RSA. I’m certain your parents are very proud having produced two very lovely, very talented daughters.”

Lilianne smiled, the red tint on her cheek darkening. Neige watched this with a heaviness in his chest, feeling an uneasy mix of admiration and envy. How was it that Vil could command such effortless attention. He wished he could cut this conversation short but also that such would be out of character for the sweet and wholesome Neige Leblanche. Thankfully, their moment was brief and Vil did so without Neige having to interfere.

“But Lilianne, would you be so kind as to let Neige and speak alone for a few moments?”

“Oh, certainly. My teammates and I were about to go check out some of the festival in any case,” Lilianne began walking back up the hallway, but not before turning to smile again at Vil. “Best of luck, Sir! I can’t wait to see you perform!”

For once, Neige was glad to see Lilianne leave. Happy at least that she was no longer in Vil’s presence and under his spell. And aside from that, he also wished to chat with Vil, hoping for some time with someone he deeply admired and considered a colleague. He smiled.

“I’m glad we can chat again like this, Vi!” He said.

“Where are your little friends?” Vil asked.

“Oh, they decided they wanted to check out some of the festival booths,” Neige gave a subtle frown. “Those guys can’t stay still for a second.”

Ah, so you’re alone. Perfect! No one will ever know! Vil smiled as well, a slight malicious glint in his eyes went completely unnoticed by Neige.

“The rehearsal of your performance was splendid. You have such a way of captivating everyone around you,” Vil sighed. “You always have. So adorable, so charming. Everyone is always in awe of you.”

Neige smiled, but Vil’s words did not have the flattering effect that he was seeking. Not everyone was in awe of Neige and as he thought of how to respond, there came from down the hall a mix of feminine voices and laughter. Neige took a brief glance down the hall and saw Lilianne chatting with Danica before she ran off on her own. She took one last glance over her shoulder at them, smiling, but her eyes were directed only at Vil.

“Being adorable…isn’t always the most important thing…” he muttered sadly.

“Hmm?” Vil asked. “What did you say?”

“Ohh, oh it’s nothing!” Neige quickly smiled, abandoning his pensive thoughts and returning to his cheerful façade. “Your performance was incredible too, you know! I could never pull off a song as cool as that one! My eyes were glued to the stage!”

“Well thank you, I suppose we both want what we don’t have,” Vil nodded, pulling from his jacket pocket a glass bottle. “Say, Neige, are you thirsty at all?”

In his hand was a bottle of apple juice, a homegrown brand of Epel’s family. Harvested with apples native to his hometown. Vil’s recent endorsement of the brand had brought a massive boom in business for Epel’s family and was in part responsible for his recent change of heart. Vil smiled as he offered the bottle to Neige, who took it cheerfully, blissfully ignorant of the lethal sorcery brewing within.

“By all means,” Vil said. “Drink it up.”

Neige brought the open bottle to his lips, savoring for a moment the sweet apple scent that wafted through his nose. He was about to take a sip when a loud voice rang through the hallway, calling out his name and stopping him.

“Rook!” Vil started. “What are you…”

“My apologies for interrupting your chat,” said Rook. “But Neige, the staff were looking for you outside.”

“Were they? Well then, I should probably be on my way.”

“Yes, Roi des Neiges,” Rook smiled, narrowing his eyes wistfully at him before realizing the façade he himself still had to maintain. “Ah, pardon, Neige.”

“Roi des…” Neige’s eyes widened. “Wait…are you…?”

“That apple juice you’re holding looks so refreshing. Might I trouble you to let me have it?”

“Oh this?” Neige handed the apple juice to Rook. “Sure, go right ahead.”

Rook…ROOK!! What the hell are you…?!

Vil watched helplessly as Rook took the bottle and beseeched Neige to leave immediately, which he did without question. Rook mused over the bottle, smiling as he envisioned a bright and tempting red apple, begging to be eaten. He brought the bottle to his lips.

“I shall drink it to the last drop, Roi du Poison.”

“Ah…!!!”

“ROOK! NOOOO!!!!”

As quick as lightning, Danica snatched the bottle away from Rook and Kalim flung it to the ground. A loud shattering sound echoed off the walls as Rook and Vil were confronted by them along with Yuulan, Grim, Ione and Taima.

“Why are you all here…?”

Vil asked this, though the question was completely rhetorical. But before he could receive an answer, the spilled juice flashed and began to bubble on the floor. Morphing from a pleasant golden brown to a sickly, poisonous purple. Danica’s eyes widened; she didn’t want to believe the worst, but the worst was right before her. She gazed up at Vil, struggling to find the right words to describe what she was seeing.

“Vil-san…why…? What did you…?”

“Vil-san!” Ione shouted. “You used your unique magic on the apple juice didn’t you?!”

“Poisoned apple juice…” Yuulan murmured. “You were…you were trying to take out your rival weren’t you?!”

“I had a bad feeling about this…” Kalim added. “I saw that look in your eyes during our rehearsal, when Neige came on stage. It was practically the same look Jamil had when he…when he…”

Taima placed her hand on Kalim’s shoulder, remembering exactly what happened and what he had seen. And Danica had heard about it as well —the nightmare was just continuing on without end . She took several steps back from Vil, her hands trembling as she was confronted with the frightening reality of what he could have done.

“Rook, why did you try to drink that?” Vil asked. “You should have known what would have happened. That it wouldn’t have ended well for you.”

“I wanted to believe in you, I didn’t want you to besmirch yourself by doing anything foolish,” he smiled slyly. “And if the juice was poisoned, I wanted to taste it. I wanted to taste the fruit of a poison derived from an obsession with beauty bordering on madness.”

Vil’s eyes widened. It was as though Rook was holding up an invisible mirror, showing him for what he truly was. And within that mirror, he was not the fairest one of all; far from it, he was a monster. He was mad, horrific, and he would never have what Neige had because at his root, he was indeed a villain. Never beautiful, never innocent, and never good. Worst of all, in trying to attain what he could never have, he had attempted the unthinkable. Vil truly was cursed.

But at that moment, Danica saw something completely different. Yes, Vil was horrific, because the world had made him horrific. Vil was far from mad, but he was very, very stupid, and apparently, Rook was as well. She’d had enough of both of them, and in a very rare moment of full courage, she finally took every ounce of her pinned-up rage, her suppressed sorrow, took it, and set it all free.

“Madness…how…HOW THE HELL COULD YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT?! YOUR BOTH MAD AND YOUR BOTH IDIOTS!”

She shouted, no longer caring who heard her or that her words were causing the very walls to vibrate with her rage.

“ROOK! YOU COULD HAVE DIED AND THAT’S ALL YOU CAN CONCLUDE?! VIL’S OBSESSION MIGHT HAVE PROMPTED HIM TO DO THE UNTHINKABLE BUT YOUR OWN OBSESSION WITH BEAUTY JUST NEARLY DUG YOUR FUCKING GRAVE! WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM?!”

“Danica!” Ione gasped. “What’s gotten into you?!”

“NOTHING HAS GOTTEN INTO ME BUT I HAVE HAD ENOUGH! I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF THESE TWO AND THEIR HYPOCRISY AND FOOLISHNESS! AND AS FOR YOU VIL! AFTER ALL YOU AND THE BOYS HAVE DONE TO MAKE A PERFORMANCE THAT MADE ALL OTHERS TODAY PALE IN COMPARISON, THIS WHAT YOU DO?! WHY?! JUST WHY?!”

“She’s right, Ione!” Kalim jumped in. “After all that, Vil, why would you stoop to this?!”

But Vil merely laughed, folding his arms, smiling in a way almost maniacal as he pondered the question himself.

“You see, I’ve finally come to the realization. THAT I CAN NEVER WIN! And that’s why…I’m going…I’m going…”

“Vil…” Danica murmured. “You…you don’t mean…”

“I’M GOING TO HANDLE NEIGE MYSELF!!”

But even as he spoke these words, even as he finished his statement, something in Vil’s eyes shifted once again. For a moment, the light returned to his eyes and what was once rage immediately melted into horror, and then sorrow.

“No…no…”

His mouth went slightly agape, and his eyes widened, as if realizing the words that had just been spoken and his complete and utter disgust that such words could pass from his lips.

The poisoned juice bubbled again, turning darker and fizzling across the floor, down the hall, transforming into an opaque smoke. A peculiarly pleasant apple aroma filled the air but Danica, Taima, and Ione were immediately seized by dizziness and a violent fit of coughing. Yuulan suddenly felt paralyzed, trying to cover her mouth as the apple scent assaulted her lungs. A poison as tempting in scent as it was deadly in impact.

“What’s…happening…” Kalim struggled to speak as the dark mist surrounded him and the poisonous apple scent clouded his nose, burning his throat.

“Everyone! Don’t breathe in the mist!” Rook said. “This is Vil’s unique magic. He can curse anything he touches and that mist evaporated from the cursed juice on the floor!”

“So…it’s true…” Danica brought her hands to her mouth as she tried to keep the poisonous fumes away. “Vil…you didn’t!”

She looked up at him, seeing in his eyes as much shock and disgust as she felt.

“Please…don’t look at me…DON'T LOOK AT ME!!”

Humiliated tears rushed down his cheeks, along with something else dripping down his arms that she could not make out just yet.

“DON'T LOOK AT ME WITH THOSE EYES! Why?! All I wanted was to be the fairest one of all. So why…why am I so…so…”

“No…”

“...ugly…?”

“Vil!!”

“UGLY?! UGLY?!”

He fell to his knees, sobbing loudly. More of the mysterious substance dripped from him as his shame overwhelmed him.

“WHY AM I SO UGLY?!”

Vil’s mind spiraled, his thoughts becoming a chaotic storm of self-hatred and despair. He had always prided himself on his control, his perfection, but now that veneer was shattered. Each tear felt like a drop of acid, burning through his carefully constructed identity. But the others still struggled to reach him even as he felt the darkness taking root.

“No, Vil, you’re far from ugly!” Danica said, tears streaming down her cheeks as well.

“Not ugly in the slightest, Roi du Poison,” added Rook.

“Yeah! And neither Neige nor Rook drank that juice!” said Kalim. “You haven’t hurt anyone!”

“They’re right!” Danica pressed her hands harder to her mouth even as she tried to speak. But it was getting harder by the second. “You haven’t hurt anyone, Vil! So please snap out of this! Please!”

“SILENCE!”

The poison spread further, its reach a metaphor for his consuming despair, and as the darkness enveloped him. Vil's mind was teetering on the brink of madness.

“What do any of you know?! It doesn’t matter who forgives me! I CAN’T FORGIVE MYSELF!!!”

What was dripping down from his arms suddenly made a rapid flush, spreading murky viscous darkness across the floor that mingled with his poison. Taima and Kalim gasped out and Ione screamed, but Danica was not yet aware of what was happening and ran towards Vil. Rook held her back.

“Stand back, Danica!”

“NO LET ME GO!” She struggled against Rook, managing to free one arm that she used to reach out to her dorm leader. “Vil, please! Rook! Let me go!”

“I cannot, cherie, and don’t touch the ink!”

“What’s happening?!” She cried, continuing to look at Vil with pleading, teary eyes. “Vil…what’s happening to you?!”

But Vil only laughed, the light in his eyes now completely extinguished. There could be no speculation now. It was the exact same horror that had taken over Riddle, the exact same dark transformation that consumed Jamil. Yuulan was well aware of what was happening to Vil and knew all the signs, having already seen this four times before. But the knowledge did nothing to relieve her. She, Ione, Taima, and Kalim managed to take several steps back, mentally preparing for what was about to happen.

“Yes…of course…”

A sick smile spread across Vil’s face as his mind finally, completely broke. All reason was lost and the ink flowed more rapidly, enveloping him its dark embrace.

“If I just melt everyone else into a hideous mess…then I shall be the fairest one of all, won’t I?!”

Somehow, Danica managed to rip herself free from Rook’s grasp and made one final attempt to call out to Vil as he was overcome by all of his sorrow. Screaming, sobbing and opening her arms to him as the ink wholly consumed him. Kalim and Taima barely managed to restrain her.

But it was too late and Vil was past the point of no return.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ink cocooned him before melting away like a sleek black curtain. Revealing a hideously gorgeous specter that embodied all the horror of Vil’s psyche. Gowned in regal, blot-stained blue and adorned by sharp, abrasive gold. Ink cascaded gracefully down his arms and legs and he wore a frayed black veil crowned by an unholy diadem of golden peacock feathers. A monstrous mass of black blot writhed behind him, taking the form of a hag that, based on its movements, also seemed to despair at this descent into madness.

Corrosive black tears ran down his cheeks yet somehow, his eyes retained their color and shape. Revealing the identity of this specter and the tragic transformation he had undergone.

“Don’t worry; this won’t hurt for long,” Vil said slowly, his voice taking on the haunting cadence of those affected by this horror. Your blood will run cold, and you will never wake up again.”

He laughed, a beautiful, terrifying sound that chilled them to the very bone. Danica could scarcely believe it. Taima had told her about this, she had heard whispers of something similar happening right before the interdorm spelldrive tournament back in October. And she had even heard Joker, Cater and some of her Heartslabyul friends mention something like this happening in the past. But nothing could have prepared her for seeing overblot firsthand, nor did she ever imagine that such a thing could happen to someone normally so calm and composed. Someone she admired and loved.

This clearly ran deeper than just petty jealousy of Neige Leblanche. What turmoil was Vil suffering for such a thing to happen?

“Oh Vil, what a frightful sorrow you are,” Rook sighed, captivated yet disturbed. “And yet so darkly dazzling. I can scarcely take my eyes off of you. However clouded they may be.”

“Really, Rook-san?! REALLY?!” Ione snapped. “Vil-san just overblotted and that’s the FIRST FUCKING THING to come to your mind?!”

“Uhhhh, I feel like that’s pretty on brand for Rook-san at this point…” Taima sighed.

“No…Vil-san…it can’t be…It’s getting harder to see…I can’t…I can’t…”

Through increasingly clouded eyes, Danica found herself frozen and Yuulan tried to pull her back further but she too was falling fast under the poison. Danica shut her eyes, not only because it was less painful, but because she couldn’t bear to look at what her dorm leader had become. Through her shut eyes, she began to weep again.

“Vil…why…”

“How dare you gaze upon my hideous visage,” Vil reached a sharp golden claw towards Danica. “Pitiful little potato, do I frighten you? Then you shall be the first to fall.”

“No!” Yuulan pulled Danica away from the apparition of her afflicted dorm leader. “Danica, everyone, we have to get out of here now!”

And just on cue, like a blessing from above, a streak of red and golden of fabric whirled quickly around Vil, temporarily getting his attention. Kalim jumped.

“My carpet! Is that…?!”

“Come on, guys! Everyone hop on!”

Jamil jumped down from the magic carpet, quickly motioning for everyone to hop on. Everyone did so without a moment’s hesitation. As soon as they were all on, the carpeted speeded past Vil and down hallways towards the exit, but even with magic, the carpet could not handle so many bodies upon it at once. It began to buckle and before escaping the coliseum, it began to falter. All the while, Vil had begun to give chase to them.

“Come on, carpet!” Kalim urged. “You gotta go faster! Otherwise we’ll…”

The carpet made a quick jump over some stage equipment, forcing everyone momentarily up in the air. Everyone landed back on the carpet safely but Danica’s leg was hanging off the edge and sliding off. She screamed as Taima tried to hold onto her.

“Please don’t let me go, Taima!” She cried. “I’m begging you!”

“I got you, bestie! Don’t worry! Don’t…ahhhhh…!!!”

Vil had caught up to them and yanked Danica off by her ankle with frighteing ease. Her body crashed onto the floor, watching from the corner of her eye as the carpet continued flying on. But Danica couldn’t stay down for long, a pair of razor-sharp golden heels floated before her and she didn’t have to look up to know whom they belonged to. And as much as it pained her, she refused to look at him. She couldn’t.

“Off the floor, Danica! You’ll get dirt in your hair!”

Iman quickly pulled Danica up to her feet and began dragging her back down the hall.

“We can’t die like this! Not before we win the VDC!” She closed her eyes. “Vanish with the sandstorm! A deception like fools gold! See me, follow me, into this desert mirage!”

Her unique magic activated, she and Danica watched as a double of the two of them formed out of thin air. They continued running and Vil, fooled by the deception, continued chasing the mirages. This gave them time to run in the opposite direction, until they managed to reach their dressing room. Vidaria was already hiding there and screamed when the door flung open. Iman and Danica were still invisible.

“Don’t worry, Vidi!” Iman called out. “It’s just Danica and me!”

She quickly slammed the door and began pushing chairs and other items in front of it. Soon her unique magic wore off and she and Danica were visible again. Vidaria sat in a fetal position on the floor.

“What the hell happened to Vil?!” Vidaria cried. “I felt when the poison began carpeting the floor and walls. We aren’t safe here either!”

“We just have to stay here until Vil is gone! That’s all!” Iman stopped what she was doing long enough to hold and comfort Vidaria before even more damage could occur. “We’ll be fine, Vidi. I promise.”

“But the poison is still seeping through the walls! Don’t you see it?!”

Vidaria pointed to the corners of the door. The sickly sweet apple scent brought on by the dark mist poured through the cracks and Iman and Danica both covered their mouths to keep from breathing it in. Danica quickly felt herself becoming weaker and she struggled to stand, Iman had to bring a chair over to her.

“What has happened?” She whispered. “How did it come to this?”

“Don’t you dare begin blaming yourself for this, Missy!” Iman said. “Whatever has happened to Vil is NOT your responsibility! But we have to find a way to combat this cause my UM clones only last for a few minutes!”

“But can we really fight him?” Vidaria asked. “I’ve never seen someone overblot before so I have no idea how to fight it!”

“Neither do I,” Iman admitted. “But if we don’t fight, we die, and I am NOT going out like this!” A sudden fit of coughing seized her throat as the apple poison burned her lungs. “No! I’m not dying like this! I refuse!”

“Sister!”

Vidaria grabbed Iman’s hand as she continued coughing, her eyes burning with tears. And Danica was quickly fading as she gasped and wheezed for any scrap of clean air her lungs could find. Vidaria was not affected by the poison, having an immune system stronger than regular humans. But it horrified her to think that her friends might be dying before her eyes.

“Neither of you is safe here! We have to escape!”

Suddenly, a loud crash came from the door as the walls of their sanctuary crumbled around them. They held onto each other as a heavy dark mist surrounded them and Vil discovered them huddled in terror together.

“Foolish spuds, you will never escape me!”

“Snap out of this, Vil!” Vidaria screamed. “Snap out of it or leave us alone!”

“Less talking, more running!”

Iman and Vidaria pulled Danica to her feet, though she was limping and struggled to keep up with them. The colosseum was falling apart and in the near distance, they could see the outside. If only they could reach it, if only…

“My unique magic…” Danica murmured. “Maybe…I could knock him out or…slow him down…if only for a moment…”

“But Danica,” Iman gasped through the poisoned fumes. “Your UM only has a 70% success rate. If it can’t affect fae, what makes you think it will affect overblot?”

“I…don’t know…but I have to try…I…”

Finally, it all became too much for them and Danica collapsed to the floor, still gasping for air. Iman screamed after her as she saw Vil approach her, but Vidaria pulled her away. They had to save themselves first and foremost before they could save her.

“Vil…I see your pain, please…”

Danica squirmed on the floor for a few moments, struggling to stand while keeping her head down. Vil’s shadow loomed over her but she couldn’t bring herself to look at him. Because if she did, she feared, she would never be able to look at him with kindness ever again.

“…this…isn’t who you are. Please…”

“SILENCE!!”

Vil grabbed her arm, searing her skin with his clawed grasp and making her cry out. He pulled her struggling form up in the air as she tried to kick herself free, screaming, pleading and wheezing all at the same time.

“You know nothing! And I shall drag you down with me! Along with all of them!”

“No…Vil…You…aren’t hideous.” She squeezed her eyes shut, with every voice in her head telling her not to open them. Not for anything in the world. “Not hideous…not…not…a villain…”

“Poor little potato, do not fight it. Accept your fate and all the pain will disappear.”

“Stop it…your hurting me…please!”

Danica hoped this plea would move him but it only made Vil tighten his grip upon her. She was fading fast, she knew it, she could feel her head fill with cotton as the poison quickly coated her lungs. Her head was throbbing and even with closed eyes, everything felt as though it were spinning as she struggled to hold on to consciousness.

No…I’m going to die…I’m really going to die…

A sinister chuckle filled her ears, and with her mind going hazy, Danica finally opened her eyes. Through her streaked, blurred vision, she took one last look at the beautifully grotesque figure that had taken over her dorm leader. What horrified her the most was that throughout this ghastly transformation, Vil maintained his facial features. He had held onto his beauty even in his darkest, ugliest hour. And when she gazed into his eyes, she did not see a lust for carnage; she saw anguish. Profound, heartbreaking anguish.

This couldn’t happen. It couldn’t end like this.

Vil might have been misguided, he might even have been cursed, but he was not cruel. His anguish might have pushed him to do cruel things, but his heart was far from cruel. The world might label him as a villain, he might even have believed it himself, but her was never cruel. To die like this, now by his hands, would only confirm the opposite. It wasn’t too late; Vil could still come to his senses and they could still win the VDC together. They could still prove their worth to the world. But she first had to survive.

With all the remaining fragments of strength she still possessed, Danica summoned her voice and sang out her final, desperate call for salvation.

“Silenced to my whim, en…enraptured to your…ruin…”

She struggled against the poison as it fought to take over her voice. Every note she sang was a visceral act of defiance against the pain searing through her body. Even as she felt the poison burn through her lungs, even as she felt her chest about to burst, she wouldn’t have it. She had to survive.

“A c…cursed serenade, my precious…swansong!”

Despite it all, her greatest fear was realized: her unique magic had no effect. She tried to sing out the spell again, but no sound came from her lips, everything felt numb and soon, there was nothing to feel at all. And with the rest of her body in agony, and with all her strength wasted on this fruitless effort, there was little else she could do now but give herself over to her fate.

In her mind, Danica whispered Vil’s name one final time before finally accepting the inevitable. More tears rolled down her cheeks as her eyes became too heavy to remain open. An array of images and memories played in her mind, which quickly became black as consciousness was lost. The final of these images was a memory of her and Vil at the new year's masquerade, right after their pas de deux.

A captivated audience applauded them as Danica made a deep and elegant reverence to her partner. Vil gently pulled her to her feet and took her hand to kiss it. Together they faced the audience and what he whispered to her was something that those watching could not hear. But in that moment, made her heart soar.

“You did wonderfully, see how you’ve captivated them? I hope you understand now, this, my little potato, is the power that you hold. At this moment, you are the fairest one of all.”

Vil smirked as the light in her eyes vanished and her eyes finally shut, tenderly laying her lifeless form upon the ground. “Sleep soundly, my little potato. For you will never wake up again.”

~~~

#twisted wonderland #twst fic #twst writing #twisted wonderland oc #twst oc #twst vil #twst rook #shining hearts ~ melodies and melancholy #twst overblot #things i write #otp: vildani

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idy-ll-ique · 3 years ago

Text

Voices.

Pairing: Chris Evans x F!Reader

Genre: nothing but floofy-floof

Warnings: none

Requested: nope

Summary: in which you can hear the voice of your soulmate in your head and Y/N's soulmate is someone really special— her celebrity crush.

Author's Note: Hiya peeps! do y'all know how long ago I wrote this fic, like— at least 2 years ago. damn. so in advance, im sorry if there are any grammatical mistakes or bad punctuation in the fic that I forgot to correct (apology for bad english 😌)

oh and

bold/italics - chris

only italics - y/n

---

Hey, you still there?

Y/N snapped out of a trance and focused on the voice. Yeah, yeah I'm still there, she thought to herself. She was hearing the voice of her soulmate, or rather, was speaking to him, telepathically. The thing is, you could hear the voice of your soulmate in your head. You could talk, hold conversations, but the only thing was that you couldn't ask for their name.

You had to guess. Most of the people made plans, like let's meet here or there and concentrate hard enough, I'll see your name written on a paper. It was a thing, I mean, if you concentrated hard enough, you could see what your soulmate was doing. It was like a cheat code of sorts. Most of them found their soulmate in that way.

You see, Y/N loved surprises, so she wasn't going to find her soulmate just yet. Y/N wanted to figure it out for herself. Your soulmate couldn't hear every single one of your thoughts, though (which was how she had zoned out mid-conversation). Listen, we should meet up sometime.

Aw, already? she thought with a pout on her lips. Yes, I'm very excited to meet you, I've been waiting for too long, the voice replied, chuckling. It was a manly voice, really deep and raspy. She loved it. When Y/N was small, about 4-5 years old, all she could hear were swear words and dirty thoughts; characteristics of a teenage boy.

From that, she inferred, that soulmate was much older than her, about 8-9 years older than her. She didn't mind, She was kind of into older guys anyway… But I like this game we have! Why do you want to ruin it? she asked, shaking her head. Alright, sweetheart, just for you, I'm holding back. But I don't have much patience, the voice laughed. Y/N smiled.

Without even meeting her, Chris loved the voice in his head. She sounded so sweet and welcoming, maybe she was younger than him. He couldn't wait to meet her. Chris had tried to plan their meeting for so long now, but she just wouldn't give in. She was also a feisty one. He smiled to himself as he walked down the street, engaged in thoughts about his soulmate.

In his haste, he accidentally bumped into someone. "I'm so sorry!" he blurted out, instead hearing a soft ouch, shit in his head. His brows furrowed. The lady he had bumped into just kept on walking. Are you alright? he asked his soulmate in his mind. Yeah, just bumped into someone while walking.

I bumped into someone just now too! he told her excitedly, still staring at the lady who had now stopped in her tracks. She turned around, scanning the crowd. Then she looked at him, but maybe she didn't realize that she had bumped into him. Holy shit, I see— Then it all went blank. See what? Chris questioned desperately.

He still wasn't sure whether the woman he had just bumped into was his soulmate or not.

Why can't I say the name of the guy who played the role of Captain America?

Chris froze and stared at the lady, jaw dropped. She was lost in her thoughts, confused. He slowly walked to her and stood in front of her; she stared back at him, her heart racing. This was her celebrity crush, who was currently looking at her as if she hung the moon. But why? Why was he looking at her like that?

"You can't say his name because that's me, you technically can't say his name because you aren't allowed to," Chris whispered to her, smiling softly. Her eyes widened.

"You! You're the voice I hear in my mind! Chris freaking Evans is my soulmate?! How did I not realize?!" The woman exclaimed, shocked. Soon though, she got a wide smile on her face. His eyes widened too, hers was the voice he heard as well! "What's your name?" he asked her as they hugged. "I'm Y/N Y/L/N," she replied, smiling.

"Wanna join me for a coffee?" he offered, holding his hand out. She put her palm on top of his and nodded. Both of them entered a nearby coffee shop. "So, what do you do?" he asked her after ordering two coffees. "Nothing. I'm unemployed right now, just got out of my last job. I gave an interview yesterday at Ralph Lauren, just waiting for a call back," she shrugged.

"Oh, into fashion?" he asked her, smiling. "Yeah, got my degree and all. Just needed a job, Ralph Lauren offers a good amount of money," she chuckled. Chris smiled again. "Reminds me of Rachel Green." She laughed more, which warmed his heart. Her laugh was adorable. Suddenly, her phone rang and she looked at him, wide-eyed.

He nodded dismissively and she picked up the call. She spoke for a while and when she ended the call, she had the biggest smile on her face.

"I got the job at Ralph Lauren, I'm starting tomorrow!" Y/N squealed. They couldn't have picked a better timing. "Congratulations, Y/N!" he told her, grinning. After spending some more time at the cafe, they parted ways. She went home while he went back to the sets where they were filming Avengers: Age of Ultron.

"Hi Chris, you were out for a long time, what's up?" Chris Hemsworth asked, smiling at Chris Evans as they stumbled upon each other. "Nothing, just met my soulmate, had a cup of coffee with her." The older Chris feigned nonchalance. "You what?! That's awesome, man! So, how is she, what does she do?" Hemsworth asked him excitedly as both of them walked inside.

Robert and Scarlett were there, talking. "She's so beautiful, I stopped functioning when I saw her. She works at Ralph Lauren, she's a fashion designer," Chris told him with a smile. Robert and Scarlett looked up. "Who?" Scarlett questioned. "Y/N," he said simply, sitting beside Robert. "Who's that?" Robert inquired. "My soulmate." Chris smiled, as if in a trance.

"Boy, you look like you're in love," Scarlett laughed. "Because I am, she's that beautiful," he told her adamantly. "Whoa, did you ask her out?" Robert snorted. "I'm back from our first date." We had our first date right now, didn't we? he asked her in his mind.

Of course we did, I loved it. Hope to meet you again soon, her voice replied and he could practically feel her smile.

Sure, I'm in town for a few more months, I'll mind-text you as to when I'm free, he told her, sporting a smile on his face. She outright laughed in the comfort of her own home. Mind-text? Sounds fun, she agreed and focused on the Netflix series she was watching, turning off the "magical telepathic link" between them.

Chris, too, focused on the others only to see them smiling at him. "Talking to her?" He nodded at Scarlett. A few minutes later, all of them went to another room to begin with the shooting of a new scene.

---

Y/N danced as she prepared dinner, singing along to You Don't Know Me by Jax Jones. It had been a month since she last saw Chris. He had promised her a date, but he didn't get time. She couldn't blame him, he was a busy man. Y/N was shouting the lyrics of the song in her head, unaware of the fact that Chris was snooping in on her mind.

Hey, calm down, she heard Chris chuckling in her mind and shrieked in real life. What are you— are you snooping on my mind? Chris! she thought, scandalized. He laughed more. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I wanted to ask you out. Are you free right now? We could meet in the same coffee shop, he asked. She grinned and nodded to herself. Of course, I'll be there in 15.

She quickly got dressed, wearing a pair of track pants and a t-shirt (like she was wearing on their first date). She didn't bother with her hair or makeup, it looked good anyway, she just bolted out of the house. Y/N entered the coffee shop to see Chris already sitting there, wearing a suit. She cursed herself mentally, making Chris look up.

He stifled a laugh. She went and sat in front of him.

"I'm so sorry I look like a single mother of two kids who hasn't slept in a year," she moaned, "I didn't know you were gonna show up in a suit." She facepalmed for good measure. "It's quite alright, you look beautiful. I wouldn't have you any other way, I should say. I'm coming back from a party right now, therefore the suit."

She blushed softly at his compliment. He ordered two coffees for them and they started talking. "So, how's your job at Ralph Lauren?" Chris asked, smiling at her. "It's amazing, I got promoted. Now I'm the head of the department, with my own office and all," she told him, smiling back. "That's great! Oh, congratulations, honey," he grinned.

"Thanks," she muttered, blushing slightly when he called her a nickname. "You look cute while blushing, has anyone ever told you that?" Chris winked as their coffees arrived. "No one, ever. I don't interact with people much, it's a tedious job," she half-joked, smiling.

"Really! So who are the people you talk to?" he joined in. "Well, there's my assistant, my mother, my bro and you. That's all. I've got some friends, but I rarely talk to them, only on the phone while texting, that is," she shrugged. "Nice, nice," he nodded as they finished their coffees. "Allow me to drop you home," Chris offered, taking out a key which she found out was for his bike as they left the café.

"No it's alright, I'll go," she refused immediately. "Nonsense, you're practically my girlfriend! I'm going with ya," he shook his head. They looked like an odd couple; one wearing a suit while the other looked like she had just woken up. Surprisingly enough, the one who looked like she just woken up had the best fashion sense among them. "Hop on," Chris grinned.

She sat down behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. Both of them chatted for the 2 minutes that took them to get to Y/N's home. Once they reached her building, she got down from Chris's bike and turned to him.

"Thanks, Chris, this has been an amazing second date. Can't wait for the third," she told him with a smile. "Me too," he smiled back. A few seconds later, she turned to leave but Chris suddenly grabbed her hand, turning her around. "Wha—" She didn't get to finish her sentence as Chris pressed his lips to hers. She kissed back, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I just had to, sweetheart," he panted as they pulled away from each other, breathless. "Wow," she breathed out as Chris rested his forehead against hers. "So, um, see you on the third date, yeah?" Y/N giggled as they stepped away from one another, smiling. "I'll make it as quick as possible. Can't stay away from you, darling," he winked.

"How flattering," she winked back and turned to leave, purposely adding a sway to her hips knowing that he was watching. And fuck, was he watching. "Oh, the things you do to me, my dear Y/N."

"I heard that!"

"Good!"

---

A/N: Thanks for reading, leave a like if you enjoyed!

#chris evans x reader #chris evans x you #chris evans x y/n #chris evans x female reader #chris evans characters #steve rogers x reader #captain america #ransom drysdale x reader #knives out #andy barber x reader #defending jacob #disney #mcu #marvel #avengers #fanfic #writing #writeblr

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fruitcoops · 3 years ago

Note

LOOPS RAILING CAP IN THE SHOWER - cause we all know he deserves it after a game

Not exactly after a game, but still some fun and frisky locker room shower times. Coops (and James) credit goes to @lumosinlove!

TW for smut, being sort-of walked in on (only after everything is said and done), cramping muscles

“Hurry up,” Sirius hissed as he teetered on one foot and accidentally dipped the toe of his sock into the water pooling beneath him.

“I’m trying!” Remus whispered back, still elbows-deep in his duffel bag. His face lit up and he rocked back on his heels with a small container.

“Absolutely not,” Sirius said immediately.

“It’s all I have!”

“Mon dieu,” he muttered, yanking his other sock off and kneeling by his own bag. “There is no universe in which that bullshit is going up my ass.”

“It’s Vaseline, baby, not battery acid.”

Sirius turned to him and raised an eyebrow. “It’s sticky, it’s slimy, and it’s cold as shit. You hate it, too!”

“Fair point.”

With a quiet, triumphant ‘ha!’, Sirius emerged with a small tube of clear aloe gel. “Who’s the Boy Scout now, sweetheart?”

“You’re the Boy Scout,” Remus grumbled, wincing as he stood and his knees crackled. “Alright, scoot, we don’t have a ton of time.”

“Oh, baby, talk dirty to me,” Sirius deadpanned.

Remus made a face to hide his smile. “Shut up, you.”

He peeked around the edge of the shower stall once more before backing up against the wall, then stifled a shout at the cold tile between his shoulder blades. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

“We do have a perfectly good shower at home.” Despite his words, Sirius could see the gleam of excitement in Remus’ eye as he was beckoned forward. The idea of maybe possibly maybe getting caught was a bit embarrassing if he thought about it too long, but it still sent a thrill through every nerve. That may have just been the feeling of Remus’ warmth on his front mixing with the chill on his back, though.

“Do you—” Sirius cut himself off with one more heated kiss, sliding a hand down Remus’ neck and laughing slightly at the squeak of his wet skin. “I wanna see you. Can you hold me up?”

Remus hummed, then pulled back with a thoughtful look. “Not before stretching. Sorry.”

“Pas de problem, mon coeur.” Sirius uncapped the aloe and handed it to Remus, using the side wall of the stall as a brace to hold himself up. He prayed his own tired muscles would do the job and not send them both tumbling to the floor in a heap of horniness.

“Here, let me…” Remus bit his lower lip and looped an arm under Sirius’ knee, lifting his leg around his waist. “Will that cramp?”

“Nah.”

He looked skeptical, but didn’t protest as he slicked his fingers and ran them down Sirius’ cleft. The water had finally started warming up to a more comfortable temperature; Sirius closed his eyes with a sigh and soaked in the feeling, letting the familiar tingles wash over him while Remus dragged his teeth along the side of his neck and the pad of his first finger slid in.

“You have magic fingers,” he murmured, gasping when cold air hit his pulse point. Whoever created aloe gel, I owe you a fruit basket.

He could feel Remus’ smile as his hitched-up thigh started trembling. “Merci.”

A door slammed down the hall and they both jerked in surprise—the digit rubbing gently around his outer muscle slipped very deep inside on very short notice and Sirius’ yelp was quickly muffled by Remus’ palm. “Fucking Christ,” he wheezed, torn between moaning in contentment and shrieking like a little girl at the sudden intrusion.

“Sorry, sorry, it was an accident.” Remus kissed his cheek. “Are you okay?”

“All good.”

“Will this be enough?"

“Considering we have—” Sirius did some awkward gymnastics to spot the wall clock. “—shit, just under an hour until the guys should start showing up, it’ll have to be.”

Remus chewed on the inside of his lip and glanced at the aloe. “I don’t know…”

“Hey.” Sirius cupped his face and kissed him. “This isn’t my first horse show.”

“Rodeo.”

“Same thing.” Remus’ lips twitched upwards and warmth spread all the way down to his toes, not just from the showerhead still spraying them like a firehose. “Besides, God knows you stretched me well enough last night.”

His concern turned to smugness and he crooked his finger slightly. “I did, didn’t I?”

“Bastard.”

The playful insult came out a little breathy as Sirius leaned his head back against the wall, losing himself to Remus’ practiced movements and damp, smooth skin touching him everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. Something blunt and quite a bit slicker nudged his entrance after a moment—after a slow exhale on Remus’ part and a whine from Sirius, he was in to the hilt with all ten fingers gripping Sirius’ hips.

“Oh, fuck.” Sirius was rather winded for reasons he couldn’t spare the braincells to name, and Remus laughed under his breath as he began to move. “Oh, fuck.”

“Shh.”

“I can’t.”

“I know you can.”

“I don’t want to,” Sirius corrected, rocking his hips to match Remus’ thrusts. His fingers began to get sore from holding the stall so tight, but heat was building in his gut and he was hard enough to almost hurt in the best way. “God, there.”

“Not god, just me.”

He flicked his arm with a teasing grin. “Smartass. This is exciting.”

“Uh-huh.” Remus caught him by the thigh as his other knee buckled after a particularly nice angle. “Can’t hold you, can’t hold you, baby—”

“Got it,” Sirius managed, propping himself up again. A clunky door echoed in a faraway corridor and he heard Remus’ breath catch. “Keep going.”

“Someone’s gonna hear.”

“So?” He quirked an eyebrow and wrapped his free arm around Remus’ upper chest, drawing him even closer for a kiss that was more tongue than lips. “That’s the whole point, right?”

“The point—” Remus punctuated his words with a harder thrust that left Sirius’ scrabbling for grip on the wet tiles with a shaky sound. “—is that we could get caught. We could get caught, and then everyone would see how whiny, and needy, and lovely you are while you’re begging for me.”

“Oh my god,” Sirius practically whimpered. He swallowed hard and wrapped his leg tighter around Remus’ waist.

The water was starting to lose some of its heat, but he was dizzy with lust, and pure pleasure dripped like wildfire through his veins. “Actually, I think they already know,” Remus murmured into the hollow of his throat, leaving a light bite there. “Our friends don’t need to find us fucking in the showers, do they? They just need to take one look at you and they’ll know that as soon as I get you between the sheets, you’re a wreck.”

Sirius’ eyes fluttered shut; he couldn’t seem to close his mouth anymore, nor could he muffle the short, guttural sounds slipping out with every quick movement. His left leg was completely numb; it was a miracle it hadn’t given out yet.

“But no,” Remus continued, hoisting him back up into the proper place with a huff. “No, we just have to be that couple that sneaks into the locker room an hour before call time because we just love to tempt fate.”

“This was—your idea—too,” Sirius panted.

“Yeah, because I can’t keep my hands off you.”

He melted into Remus’ palms as they ran along his ribs and back, then down to his ass to give it a firm squeeze. “Close?” he asked, half-slurred.

“Not as close as you.”

His free leg tried to buckle again as Remus stroked along his shaft, but he forced it to stay steady and settled for gritting his teeth around a loud moan that would surely give them away. Remus smiled and upped the pace, but kept his hips moving at the exact same speed. The contrast made Sirius’ head spin. “Please, please, please, please—”

Teeth sank into the junction of his shoulder and all the air fled his lungs. “What else do you want, baby?”

“I don’t know.” It came out far needier than he intended, but who cared? Stars were already popping at the corners of his vision, and he couldn’t even feel the lukewarm water very much anymore.

“Come.”

“I c—”

“Now.”

Sirius took one shallow breath, two, and then shuddered apart, leaning all his weight into the tiles while Remus pulled out and came on his inner thigh. Through his hazy vision, he saw they still had about forty minutes until any of the others would show up. “Love you. Oh, fuck yeah,” he sighed.

Remus made a questioning noise against his collarbone; Sirius felt his heartbeat pounding under his hand.

“We’ve got time to spare.”

“Thank god,” Remus said with a breathless laugh. “I don’t actually want anyone to catch us.”

“Sounds like a nightmare,” Sirius agreed. “I think I’d rather—”

“Sup, Mad-Eye?”

Both of them froze in place as a cheerful voice rang out down the hallway. Sneakers squeaked on the linoleum floors, drawing closer every second. Sirius had gone ice cold, but he didn’t think it was just the shower’s fault.

“Go, go, go!” Remus hissed, yanking away.

Unfortunately, Sirius’ thigh decided that was the perfect moment to cramp so hard it made his vision go white for a second. As soon as his foot touched the ground, his whole hamstring seized, and he doubled over with a strained “motherfucker!”

“Get up!”

“I can’t!”

James’ footsteps were getting louder. Sirius cursed under his breath and limped after Remus into the shitty little janitor’s closet in the corner, wedging himself next to a mop as he bit down on his knuckles to stifle the pained groans building in his throat. Remus shot him an apologetic look and squeezed his hand in sympathy.

The closet was not meant for much more than a handful of emergency cleaning supplies, let alone two mid-season-muscled hockey players. They were pressed chest-to-chest, holding their breath as doom approached.

Well, not doom. Just utter, world-ending humiliation. Not the kinky kind, either.

James whistled to himself as he neared the locker room—two seconds after Sirius buried his face in the side of Remus’ neck to breathe through the agony in his leg, the door slammed open and his best friend began clattering around.

All of a sudden, the room fell silent. Shit.

“Hello?” James called, sounding much too amused for his own good. “Anyone in here?”

Sirius’ pulse hammered in his ears.

“Huh. Looks like somebody left the shower on,” James said with a dramatic gasp. “And what’s this? Two whole duffel bags?”

Fuck, Remus mouthed as Sirius straightened up with a wince.

James started laughing. Deep, deep in his soul, Sirius knew he had spotted the aloe. The squeaking stopped just outside the closet. “Good morning,” James singsonged, though he didn’t open the door.

Remus opened his mouth, resigned, but Sirius jabbed him in the chest with his pointer finger and shot him a warning look. They weren’t going to engage in conversation while naked and crammed in a janitor’s closet. Especially not when James Potter was on the other side.

“I think it’s a little early for all this, but I could be wrong.” He could almost see James shrugging through the thick wood. “I suppose you’ve gotta take what free time you have. Cap, your showers are a lot nicer than these, though. At least they stay warm for more than a few minutes.”

Remus thudded his forehead against Sirius’ sternum.

“Alright, alright,” James said after a moment of quiet. “If anyone were to perhaps be hiding after getting off in the shitty team showers at seven in the morning—at least, I hope you got off—they should feel free to come out of the closet in a much more literal sense because I am leaving. And I will be out of the locker room for five minutes. Once again, that is five minutes, and then I will be back in here to get ready for my job like a responsible adult.”

The door opened and closed again with a click. They both waited with bated breath.

“Ugh, fine,” James groaned. The hinges creaked, his footsteps faded, and there was a loud slam as it shut for real.

“I’m going to kill him,” Sirius said as they shuffled out of the closet, knocking over several spray bottles in the process. “Really, I will.”

“I’ll help you bury the body,” Remus said wearily as he tossed the aloe back in his bag with a sigh. “That was horrific. Think we can sneak out and back in without him noticing?”

Sirius narrowed his eyes at the door. “The son of a bitch will be waiting for us. It’s better to just accept our fate and let him have this.”

“We’re putting shaving cream in his gloves after this, right?”

“Actually, I think Vaseline would be better.”

#fanfic #my fic #sirius black #remus lupin #coops #wolfstar #lumosinlove #sweater weather #smut #shower #james potter #alastor moody

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sgtjbbhasmyheart · 4 years ago

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Drunk Texting Is(n’t) Bad for Your Health- Chapter Two

Series Summary: Talk about your unconventional meet-cute! Bucky receives a text by mistake requesting he prove he's not Reader's sister. The easy dialogue between Reader and Bucky sparks a natural friendship, but could it lead to more? Bucky still deems himself unworthy of any form of affection or love. Reader is hellbent to prove him wrong. With the help of some (meddling) friends along the way, Bucky may get his happily-ever-after after all.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word count: 2921

Warnings: bad language words, blink and you’ll miss the angst, just some fluff

A/N: divider credit- @firefly-graphics

DO NOT copy or replicate without my permission

You awoke with a start, feeling as if you were late for work or something important and forgot to set your alarm. Your heart beat an erratic tattoo against your ribcage. Scrambling for your cell phone, you blindly reached across the side table near your bed in a panic. Unplugging the phone, you brought the device an ungodly closeness to your face. It was only 6:17. On Saturday.

Your pulse throbbed behind your eyeballs, and a strange stickiness coated the inside of your mouth. Did you drink that much last night?

How could you not? Timmons was a fair boss, and you enjoyed your job, but that dude loved the sound of his own voice.

The quarterly business dinners were mandatory for all employees, even for the P.A.s. Typically, they weren’t so bad, but last night, Timmons felt the need to toot his own horn for landing a massive contract with Stark Industries slash The Avengers. He went on and on about how great it was for the firm.

He was like a giant kid in a candy store with his ramblings. ‘We will be promoting the face of The Avengers and everything that goes with it,’ he spouted off like the firm was god’s gift to public relations.

You groaned at the reminder of last night’s presentation. The contract wasn’t even in effect yet, and you were sick of the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Timmons could be a real buzz kill.

Rolling to your back, you brought your phone up to tap the screen to read the emails you received overnight. On display was a text from 11:04 by someone named James. It read: “Goodnight, (Y/N).”

Your mind went back to last night again, trying to recall who this James was. He must be significant if you plugged his contact information into your phone already. Had you met someone last night?

Drawing a blank, you clicked on the text bubble to pull up the thread. Briefly scanning through the numerous texts, everything came rushing back. In an attempt to text your sister, Robyn, you mistakenly texted this mysterious, James.

You felt like an utter buffoon when you learned he wasn’t Robyn. You always did have a way with the cute boys. Probably why you were single. You groaned out loud as you read on.

You im safely inside my apartment. Pretty sure no one followed me home

James Did you triple check the lock on the front door?

You yes dad yeesh

James There are a lot of bad people out there. Just want to make sure you’re safe.

You sounds like you watch the news too much but its sweet of u to care

James I know from experience.

You r u the bad guy or have u been the one mugged?

James Let’s just say I have friends that have dealt with the bad things of the world.

You right i almost forgot ur a military-trained assassin athlete mchottie

James Did you ever send your sister a text?

You shit thanks for reminding me i have such a crazy story to tell her

James Only good things, I hope.

You oh yeah all the good things an enigmatic yet handsome stranger cares more about my safety than any of my ex-boyfriends ever did.

James My ma raised me right.

You id say

James_ I hate to cut this short, but I think you need your rest. Especially if you’re meeting your sister tomorrow._

You i dont want to agree but ur probably right

You whats ur name btw?

James My name? Why? Do you plan to continue texting me after tonight?

You duh ur fun to talk to

James Oh.

You or not its cool if u dont want to

James It’s James.

You nice to meet u james im (y/n)

James Nice to meet you as well.

You my sister just texted me back and were still meeting at 9 i should go

You goodnite james

James Goodnight, (Y/N).

Oh. My. God. Had you seriously drunk-flirted with a stranger and offered to keep texting him? You had no shame with a few drinks in you.

You brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of your nose and sighed loudly.

What did you know of this James? He had a New York area phone number. Check. He could have been a real dick about your mistake but wasn’t. Understanding. Check. He worried about you getting home safely in your inebriated state. Caring. Check. Not too forthcoming with the nine to five. Secretive. Check. His mouth looked so soft and plush, and his eyes were made to drown in. Gorgeous. Check.

A heat simmered beneath your skin as you recounted the shortlist you’d made. Were you lusting over someone you’d exchanged less than forty texts with? Had you somehow woken back up in high school?

Shaking your head to clear your thoughts, you stared at the screen displaying the message thread. Were you really considering this? You nodded your head to answer your own question. Where was the harm in a little shameless flirting? If worse came to worst, you could always block him.

With your mind made up, you began typing into your phone, constructing an apology.

You Good morning! First off, I want to apologize for the way I behaved over text last night.

You Though, I do like to imbibe in the occasional drink or two, I am, by no means, a lush.

You Please take everything I said with a grain of salt. Apparently, I get loose-lipped and cheeky with free wine. 😐

You Again, I’m sorry and understand if you wanted to cease our correspondence for my behavior.

You blew out a breath and tossed your phone aside. It was up to fate now and a stranger named James.

You laid in your bed for several minutes staring at the ceiling, contemplating between whether to send a ‘haha just kidding’ text and what the weather would be like, so you could forego shaving your legs in the shower today.

Your phone chimed during the pondering of hair removal, indicating a new text. You knew it was James proclaiming you a freak and to forget his number, but secretly, you hoped it was Robyn canceling today.

Seizing the phone from your mattress top, your heart’s beat increased with each second you went without looking at the screen. Finding the courage, you flipped the device over to read the message.

James Quite the formal apology, Ms. Professor.

You smiled at the text. It didn’t tell you to pound sand or eat shit. No, it was teasing and in jest. You sighed in relief.

You Cease our correspondence too much?

James No, no it was perfect if this was 1863, and you were breaking up with me via telegraph.

You Stop!

James Exactly! ‘Never speak to me again!’ Stop. ‘It’s not you, it’s me.’ Stop.

A belly laugh disrupted the tranquil air of your bedroom. You quickly thumbed out a reply once you caught your breath.

You You’re incorrigible.

James I’m glad to see you are using proper capitalization and punctuation this morning.

You Ha!

You When you are buzzed and/or tipsy, capitals and periods be damned. Like you’re so perfect when you’re drunk.

James We all have our flaws.

Was he implying he was a sloppy texter when drunk, too? You shrugged it off as him being cryptic again.

You What are you doing up so early on a Saturday? I didn’t wake you, did I?

You were suddenly stricken with guilt. You should have waited for a more reasonable hour to send out rapid-fire apology texts. Not at 6:36 in the morning. You didn’t want last night’s behavior hanging over you, though. Better to clear the air now than later. You could always ask for forgiveness again if you had disturbed his sleep.

James I had just gotten back from my run when I saw your texts. I have training this morning.

You Oh, right. For your hush-hush, super top secret mission/quidditch game.

You You ever gonna tell me what you really do?

James_ Maybe. Someday._

How far away was someday? Was he planning to text you until you both died or until he got bored? How did texting relationships even work?

You Or is it one of those situations where if you told me you’d have to kill me?

James 😈

You There you go again--being all mysterious.

James Keep ‘em guessing and coming back for more.

You Has that strategy worked well for you in the past?

James Got you to text me again this morning, didn’t it?

You scoffed at what he had suggested. He was correct, but your stubborn streak would deny everything.

You The only reason I texted you this morning was to apologize for acting like a drunken fool last night.

And to squash the curiosity burning in your veins. But he didn’t need to know that.

James Oh.

The reply caused you to furrow your brow and your stomach to drop. You regretted not adding more levity to your last text. Of course, it wasn’t the only reason you were drawn to him.

You I appreciate that the selfie you sent wasn’t a dick pic. And you genuinely seemed to care about me getting home safely. Thank you.

You And maybe- a teeny, tiny bit- is honestly interested in getting to know you better.

You waited on pins and needles for his text, watching the pulsing ellipsis on your screen. Was he just humoring you?

James Hook. Line. Sinker.

Reading his response generated a flush from your jaw to your hairline. You growled in embarrassment. You fell for the oldest trick in the book. He baited you for a compassionate answer, and you delivered beautifully. Hook, line, and sinker, indeed.

You You’re an ass. I take everything back.

James Don’t be mad. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, but you played into my trap wonderfully.

James If it makes you feel any better, all kidding aside, I want to get to know you better too.

James I fell asleep with a smile on my face last night and woke up with one this morning.

James Because of you, (Y/N).

A flutter broke apart in your chest. You hadn’t time-traveled back to high school; no, this was junior high territory.

You You’re lucky you’re so damn charming, James.

James Doll, you have no idea.

The subway ride into Manhattan usually gave you the chance to get a little reading in since it took nearly fifty minutes from Queens. Not today, though. You spent the entirety of the train ride texting back and forth with James. It was mundane stuff, but you were getting a grasp of who James was as a person.

You Favorite color?

James Black. You?

You Blue.

You Favorite ice cream flavor?

James Chocolate. Yours?

You Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia.

James I didn’t realize we were getting specific.

You We weren’t, but that’s my favorite.

You Favorite movie?

James I like the classics- The Wizard of Oz, It’s A Wonderful Life, Frankenstein.

You I have too many to list, so don’t ask.

You Okay. Lightning round because I’m almost to my stop.

James Where are you going again?

You paused your reply for a brief second, wondering if you should divulge your destination. You’d known James less than twenty-four hours; although, it felt like weeks after this morning. Where was the harm in telling him where you were meeting your sister? There were nearly nine million people in this city. There was no way you’d ever bump into each other.

You A bakery in the Upper East Side called Two Little Red Hens. Ever been?

James Don’t think I have.

You Well, since you like chocolate, they have a fantastic cake called Brooklyn Blackout. Super rich but delicious.

James Sounds right up my alley.

You Cats or dogs?

James I’m gone too much, so cats.

The answer piqued your interest. Maybe he was an athlete. Wouldn’t it be practice and not training, though? Or he’s FBI or CIA.

You Socks on or off for sleeping?

James Off.

You Silver or gold?

James Silver.

You Morning, noon, or night?

James Night.

You How do you take your coffee?

James Room for sugar and creamer.

You Boxers or briefs?

James Boxer briefs.

You laughed out loud, looking around the subway car to see if anyone was paying attention to you. Per usual, they weren’t.

You Touché.

As soon as the train stopped, you gathered your purse close to your body and made for the exit. You followed the crowd of fellow passengers through the turnstile and ascended the stairs onto street level.

The morning sunlight caressed your skin like a warm blanket. The humidity wasn’t too bad, yet, but the threat of afternoon thunderstorms still hung in the air.

Even with the reasonably early hour, the sidewalk was stuffed with people, carrying to-go coffee cups or shopping bags. You fought for your little spot of real estate on the grimy concrete.

Stopping at a red traffic light, waiting to cross, you typed out another question for James.

You Pineapple on pizza--yay or nay?

The light changed as you finished, and the throng of pedestrians around you guided you across the street. You spotted Robyn outside the bakery as your phone dinged with a new text alert.

“Wow, I’m surprised you made it on time,” Robyn said as you hugged hello.

You looked at the clock on your phone. 8:58. “You and me both, sister.” Glancing back at your phone’s screen, you giggled.

James What kind of monster puts pineapple on their pizza??

“What’s so funny?” Robyn asked as you accompanied her through the bakery’s door.

With a grin on your face, you punched out a quick reply:

You Well, it was nice knowing you, James. It was a swell friendship while it lasted--a whole 11 ½ hours.

Robyn elbowed you softly in the ribs with a look on her face, seeking an explanation.

“Ow,” you grunted. “What?”

“You tell me. I half expected a zombie to walk through the doors today after your text last night. Not Suzie Sunshine.”

You both edged closer to the counter as the line in front of you dwindled.

James Say it ain’t so, doll! Pineapple on pizza? Really??

You let out a low chortle as you skimmed the text. You glimpsed up at Robyn as you shuffled forward in line again. “Believe me, I’m pretty hungover,” you replied, shoving your phone in your back pocket. “It’s a funny story. I’ll tell you everything when we sit.”

Robyn stared at you warily, still trying to figure out what had come over you. “Okay,” she conceded, stepping to the register to order.

With each of you supplied with an iced coffee and a peach ginger scone, you found an empty table by a window along 2nd Avenue and proceeded to tell Robyn about James.

When you stopped to catch your breath, remembering the whirlwind the last twelve hours had been, you peered at your sister for her reaction.

She stared at you like you’d grown a second head. She shook her head in disbelief. “(Y/N), what where you thinking?”

Your brow pinched in confusion. Was she actually scolding you? You crossed your arms over your chest. “I was thinking about how my big sister is always telling me to meet new people and how it’s time I thought about settling down.”

“Not like this it’s not,” she hissed. “This is how your body parts end up in someone’s freezer!”

You choked on the piece of scone you shoved in your mouth before she started ridiculing you. After coughing to clear your airway and taking a sip of your iced coffee, you leered at Robyn. “Oh, my god! Dramatic much? Have you been binge-watching Dateline again? Jesus Christ, Robyn, he’s harmless,” you countered.

“You think you’ll be so careful, but you’ll let one little detail slip, and he’ll find you,” Robyn said before taking a pull from her coffee.

“You mean, like, how I was meeting you at Two Little Red Hens at nine o’clock?”

Robyn’s mouth popped open in an O. “What the hell, (Y/N)?” she stage-whispered. “Are you trying to get yourself kidnapped and sold into sex trafficking?”

“Please,” you drew out in one long syllable. “He doesn’t know what I look like. How would he snatch me?”

“He could look you up on Facebook.”

“Without a last name?” You shook your head, no.

“What about a reverse search on your number?” Robyn asked, pushing the plate holding her scone away. “That’s a thing.”

“Perhaps, but it seems like a lot of effort for a mistake I made. It wasn’t like he was seeking me or anyone else out.”

Robyn huffed out a breath and folded her arms in exasperation. Always the protective big sister. You could tell you were breaking her down, though.

“C’ mon, Robbie. It’s all in innocent fun. I’m not saying I’m hoping he’ll turn out to be Mr. Right, but the banter is fun,” you remarked. “James is charming and witty and nice to talk to.”

Robyn shook her head once more, frowning. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

You reached across the table for her hand and squeezed gently. “Me too.” You smiled slyly, remembering last night’s dinner and Timmons gushing about The Avengers. “If not, I know how to get ahold of a couple of centenarians who know chivalry isn’t dead.”

Chapter One | Chapter Three

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#drunk texting is(n't) bad for your health #dtibfyh #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes x you #bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #bucky x you #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky fanfiction #bucky fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic

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puppywritings · 4 years ago

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fidelium - johnny suh x gender-neutral reader masterlist

⇢ synopsis: you can’t wait to spend the weekend at johnny’s house. your boyfriend was a bad boy, and a motorcycle rider to boot. things were new, thrilling. perhaps more thrilling than you bargained for. you come to learn that it’s a lot more difficult to leave than to stay.

⇢ word count: 6.8k ⇢ trigger warnings: death, guns, toxic relationship involving manipulation, objectification, arguments. sexual elements and implied sex but no explicit scenes. ⇢ warning: the relationship displayed in this fic is in absolutely no way healthy or ideal. it’s one red flag after another. if somebody disrespects your boundaries, threatens you, objectifies you, manipulates you, or anything of the sort, they’re not a good person to be around and they don’t deserve to stay in your life. the contents of this fic may be upsetting to read.

⇢ a/n: this is my piece for @du0tine‘s 21 ways to kill your lover collab. intended for 18+ audiences. i also want to say, it’s not my intention to romanticize or glorify toxic, harmful, or abusive relationships - this is purely fiction. this writing also doesn’t reflect the real johnny suh, who i’m sure is a lovely person and would never engage in this sort of behaviour.

taglist: @prettyjaems @ethaeriyeol @1-800-seo @neonun-au (sorry if i forgot anyone i’m super disorganised w my taglists atm)

Johnny Suh didn’t fit your usual dating criteria. With his black leather jacket, heavy lace-up boots, and hulking motorcycle, he was a bit of a bad boy. And there was something exciting in that. You’d met him late one night, in the bar where you worked. You’d served him all night - rum and coke, his drink of choice. He certainly caught your eye, at first. He was handsome, with his brown eyes twinkling and his long blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. But it wasn’t until the two of you started talking that you became interested. It was a quiet night, and Johnny insisted on sitting at the bar in front of you. He was teasing, charming. And when he gave you his number at closing time, you actually tapped the digits into your phone, rather than just discarding it like you usually do. Unlike the rest of your patrons who thrust their contact details upon you, when it came to Johnny the interest was mutual.

So, while it was true that Johnny wasn’t quite the typical man you went after, the relationship had been going well. He’d been nothing short of a gentleman in the duration of your relationship, though he still thrilled you with his affinity for the more reckless things in life; late-night motorcycle rides, drinking just a little too much and partying all night. He took the mundaneness out of your life - he made your life an adventure.

Towards the end of your shift that Friday evening, you found yourself getting jittery; you checked the time every five minutes, and a swarm of butterflies was building in your stomach. Johnny was picking you up after work on his bike, and it was all you could think about. You almost ran out of the establishment, when the clock struck ten, marking the end of your shift. Your heart swelled at the sight of Johnny in the bar’s parking lot, leaning against his motorcycle with his hands in his pockets.

“Hey, angel,” he greeted you, affection glowing in his eyes and his smile.

“Hi,” you beamed, wrapping your arms around his waist and taking in his warmth. He picked you up immediately, holding you tight and spinning you. “Johnny!” you giggled, fingers grasping the cotton of his white t-shirt.

“You ready to meet my boys?” he asked you, punctuating his question with a kiss on your nose. He was referring to the friends he considered family; he lived with them, in a rather large house on the outskirts of town, from what you’d heard. They were special to him, and you knew it was important to him that you got along with them. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t completely terrified. You knew it’d be okay, though. If they had Johnny’s approval you were sure they’d be good people. Plus, you could never be too scared with Johnny’s hand in your own.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” you responded with a smile.

“Hop on,” he instructed you, tossing you a helmet and putting on his own. At the beginning of your relationship, he’d given you his own helmet, forgoing his protection for the sake of yours. You hadn’t liked this - this display of his reckless attitude that surpassed thrilling and sat nicely in the territory of dangerous - and so you’d pestered him until he bought a second helmet.

You secured your rucksack on your back, prepacked with all the clothes and toiletries you required for the weekend you’d be spending with your boyfriend, before climbing onto the large black bike behind him. Johnny had been driving you around on his bike for a number of weeks now, but you still weren’t quite used to it. The mix of fear and exhilaration, both from the wind whipping past your ears and from the sensation of your chest pressed flush against Johnny’s back, your arms tight around his waist. It made your heart race. The feeling you got from riding a motorcycle embodied everything that Johnny was: dark, exciting, intoxicating, addictive.

Johnny hadn’t been lying when he said he lived on the outskirts. The bright lights of the town centre were far behind you, and even the streetlights had begun to die out. You were alone with the moon and starlight now. The neatly paved roads gave way to rough muddy lanes. The built-up urban surroundings gave way to empty fields, then to a dense and seemingly endless forest. The bike’s headlamp shone a path through the trees, guiding Johnny to his home. Though your partner clearly felt familiar here, the environment sent chills down your spine - you could’ve sworn you felt eyes on you, peering out from the darkness. When your journey ended, at a solitary house looming tall against the dark backdrop of the forest, you were thankful.

“Here we are,” Johnny welcomed you, helping you off the bike. The house was bigger than you could’ve expected. The term mansion wouldn’t be amiss.

“So,” you commented, looking up at the structure, illustrated by the silver moonlight. “This is where you and your biker gang live?” You looked along the line of bikes, queued up around the house. They were of different styles and sizes, though (with your limited knowledge on motorcycles) they all looked rather impressive.

“I keep telling you, we’re not a biker gang,” Johnny corrected you, with a lighthearted roll of his eyes. “We’re just a group of friends who live together, and just so happen to ride together too.”

“And if that’s not a biker gang, what is?” you teased.

“Zip it,” Johnny said gently, and you complied. “Here, I’ll take your bag.”

“Ever the gentleman,” you commented, passing it to him. You braced yourself, as he led you into his home.

It was warm inside, much warmer than out in the chilly woodland. From what you could tell by looking at the entranceway, the place was tidy and well-lit. Your boyfriend led you down the hall, into an open-plan kitchen and living area, where Johnny's friends were sitting around the television.

"We're home, guys," Johnny announced, drawing their attention towards you.

"Hey, look what Johnny brought home!" one of them called out, bringing a blush to your cheeks.

"Watch it," Johnny warned, wrapping his arm around your waist and pulling you close to him. "Y/N is all mine. You can look, but you can't touch. In fact, you can only look for five seconds at a time."

“These are the boys” Johnny introduced you to them. “This is Jaehyun, Ten, Mark. And that’s Donghyuck. My protege, right kid?”

“That’s right, John” the boy grinned up at Johnny from where he was sitting.

You gave a shy wave as you looked around at Johnny's friends. Though he had named them all, introducing them, it was a redundant act. You'd asked to see pictures of everybody prior to that night, not wanting to get lost amid a sea of unfamiliar faces. You saw Jaehyun, with his dimples and broad shoulders; Mark, with pronounced cheekbones and a delicate nose; Ten, with a feline-like beauty; and Donghyuck, full cheeks and long eyelashes.

"I think we're just gonna turn in for the night, right Y/N?" Johnny spoke, looking down at you. "See you boys tomorrow."

You waved at Johnny's friends, with a polite, "Bye." The boys chorused their goodbyes back at you, and Johnny led you away.

You couldn't help but admire the house as Johnny guided you to his bedroom, your hand in his. The place was huge, grand. You weren't sure under what circumstances Johnny and his friends acquired this house, but it can't have been cheap.

"And this," he led you inside, "Is my room."

The room was a fair size, with several tall windows and a four-poster double bed. The matching furniture looked sturdy and high-quality, a dark antique wood.

"This is impressive," you told him honestly. Johnny beamed in pride; he was always looking for praise, and you were happy to feed his ego.

Johnny lounged on his bed, laying back propped up on his elbows. "Come feel how comfy my bed is," he invited you with a smirk.

"Johnny Suh, you are not smooth. I know that's just an excuse to get me into bed," you said, falling beside him.

"If you knew it was just an excuse," Johnny asked, pausing to plant a kiss on your jawline, "Then why'd you join me?"

"Because," you tell him, "Maybe I want to be in bed with you."

Johnny gave a low chuckle, before kissing you again; a line beginning at your jaw, trailing down to your neck, and ending at your collarbone, making you gasp and lean into his touch.

"Johnny," you purred, your voice full of want.

"Let Johnny take care of you, baby," Johnny hummed. You obliged, submitting to his touch and surrendering to the pleasure.

Coming down from your high, you collapsed against Johnny’s bed, smiling as you looked up at your boyfriend who lay beside you.

“You’re perfect,” Johnny told you, his dark brown eyes gazing deeply into your own. You felt the heat rise to your cheeks, and you looked away, only for Johnny to tilt your chin back up towards him. “It’s true,” he reiterated.

“I’m not perfect,” you denied, wrinkling your nose.

Johnny pecked your lips. “You are. My angel.”

You looked at him, lying beside you in his bed. His sex hair was immaculate, perfectly tousled from rolling around and from your fingers tugging on it. His lips were plump and pink from your kisses, and his collarbones were decorated in pink splotches. He looked beautiful, he was glowing, and you couldn’t help but grin at him.

“Hey,” Johnny says suddenly, sitting up and untangling himself from the blankets. “Let me give you a massage.”

“It’s okay, babe, you don’t have to,” you waved away his offer. He seemed deadset, however, cracking his knuckles in preparation.

“I insist. Roll over.” You obeyed, lying on your front and allowing your boyfriend to straddle your waist. His hands pressed into your skin, rubbing deeply into your muscles. The sensation was pleasant, you had to admit. Mostly, you just enjoyed the proximity between you and Johnny, and the feeling of being taken care of by someone you loved. You closed your eyes, allowing yourself to slip away and ease into the feeling.

You weren’t allowed to slip away for long, however, as your phone began to buzz, startling you. The vibrations against the hardwood of Johnny’s bedside table conjured a harsh screeching noise. You lifted your head, peering at the screen.

You lifted your torso, as much as you could with Johnny’s weight on you. “Oh, it’s my mom. I should-”

“You can call her back later, angel,” Johnny said, pushing you back down onto the bed. The action was gentle, but Johnny didn’t need to use much force to manipulate your body; your boyfriend worked out, and bordered on freakishly strong - at least, in comparison to you. His buff arms held your shoulders down, preventing any movement. "This is my time to pamper you," he explained, resuming the massage.

"Okay," you tentatively agreed. "I'll call her back later." You got the sense that this massage was much more for Johnny's benefit than for yours, but if it kept him happy, then so be it.

“Good morning, angel,” Johnny greeted you. Your eyelids fluttered open, adjusting to the light in his bedroom. With a groan, you stretched your muscles, stiff from sleeping. “I brought you a cup of coffee.”

You looked to your boyfriend, smiling at you as he entered the room, a mug in each hand. You couldn’t be sure how long he’d been awake, or what time it was, but he was dressed already, beige cable-knit sweater and loose jeans, with his hair pulled back in a low ponytail. It was a contrast to his usual greaser bad-boy image, and the sight warmed your heart. He looked cozy, soft. You smiled back at him, sitting up and letting the covers pool around your waist.

“Morning, Johnny,” you beamed at him, accepting the cup of coffee he handed to you. You took a sip and moaned in delight. Your boyfriend made a mean cup of coffee, perfectly sweet without being overbearing. He sat beside you on the bed, caressing your cheek lightly.

“I was thinking we could go out for a walk,” he suggested, before taking a swig of his own coffee. “It’s a nice morning.”

You nodded. “Okay.”

A while later, fully dressed and hand-in-hand with Johnny, you found yourself venturing through the forest that surrounded the house. There were a few man-made footpaths winding between the trees, but for the most part, you were truly in the middle of nature, an environment completely untouched by humans. Birds flapped their wings, rustling in the trees, and creatures whose species were unknown to you scrambled to run away in your wake, paws pounding on the forest floor. Johnny had been right; it was a nice morning. The sun filtered through branches and leaves, casting light and warmth down upon you, and the air was clean and fresh.

“It’s so nice out here,” you commented, looking around at the greens and browns that encompassed you.

“Yeah,” Johnny agreed. “I’m lucky to live here.”

“You really are. I’d walk through here every morning if I were you.”

“You’re lucky, too,” Johnny acknowledged, squeezing your hand. “You’re dating me. You can walk here whenever you want as well.” You smiled, your heart swelling at his words.

“It really is isolated, huh? Your house?” you remarked, peering around at your surroundings. The nearest road was so far away that you couldn’t even hear the rush of cars from where you stood.

“Yeah,” Johnny confirmed. “It’s not easy to get out of the house.” Why anyone would wish to escape this peaceful surroundings, you had no idea. It felt so far removed from the hustle and bustle of everyday life; your usual troubles felt so distant.

The sun had risen higher in the sky by the time you returned to Johnny’s house, and you realised you hadn’t even brought your phone with you. You hadn’t even thought to check the time once since you woke up. This was so out of the ordinary for you, particularly on a Saturday morning, when you’d usually be lounging in your apartment scrolling through social media.

The house had woken up by the time you stepped through the front door. It had been silent when you left, though now it seemed that the entire household was up and about.

“Where have you been, John?” Ten called out, as the two of you entered the kitchen.

“Just out for a walk,” he explained, taking a seat at the kitchen island, where you joined him.

“By the way, Y/N, it’s nice to meet you,” Ten greeted you, smiling sweetly.

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” you returned, smiling back politely.

Johnny leaned in close, stage-whispering. “It’s really not all that nice to meet him. He’s a pretty lousy guy. Into some real weird stuff. Has probably killed a guy.” Ten gave Johnny a pointed glare as he departed the kitchen, and you giggled at your boyfriend’s antics.

“So,” Donghyuck asked, his voice somewhat muffled as he peered into the open fridge. “What do you guys have planned today?”

“Hmm. Not much,” Johnny answered. “Have some lunch, take it easy.”

“I want to shower first,” you announced, stretching your arms above your head. The physical exertion of your outdoor walk, along with your heated activities the night before, had left you feeling a little less than squeaky clean.

“We should do that together,” Johnny suggested, pressing a lingering kiss to your cheek, which flamed at his proposition.

“Okay,” you giggled in spite of yourself. Johnny was the only man, since you’d been twelve years of age, who was capable of reducing you to such a blushing, giggling mess.

“Let’s go,” Johnny invited you, smirking as he stood up and held out his hand. You took it, and laughed when Donghyuck fake gagged and Johnny stared at him with daggers in his eyes. You allowed Johnny to lead you, your hand in his, all the way upstairs. After retrieving your toiletries and change of clothes, you joined him in the bathroom, closing the door behind you.

“The lock is funny,” he told you, leaning over you to fiddle with it. “You really have to twist it-” he grunted, “There we go.”

You smiled, bunching up his shirt in your hands and pulling him closer towards you. He looked smug as he leaned in to kiss you, his lips sweet and commanding. Your hands went under his shirt, ghosting over his chiseled abdomen, which tensed delightfully under your touch.

Johnny pulled away, his eyes scanning up and down your body, setting you alight with his gaze. “Why don’t you doll yourself up for lunch, huh? I want to show everyone how beautiful you are.”

“Okay,” you nodded, agreeing to his suggestion. He captured your lips again, and you smiled against his lips. “We need to shower, baby. And no funny business.”

“No promises,” Johnny grinned, his eyes twinkling. When he took his shirt off, however, your request of no funny business went completely out the window.

Sunday morning came all too fast, as your weekend with Johnny came to a close. It had been peaceful, relaxing, a greatly needed recharge, and you weren’t quite ready to return to your regular life. Walks through the city rather than through the woodland, and shifts in the bar all week long.

"I wish you didn't have to leave today," Johnny said, pouting as his fingertip traced shapes along your forearm as you lounged on his bed together.

"I know, babe, me too," you agreed. His eyelashes looked long, fanned across his cheeks as he gazed downwards.

"You should stay," Johnny suggested, a hopeful lilt to his voice. "Just another day or two?"

You shook your head at him. "I'm working all week babe, it's easier if I just go home. I can stay again next weekend."

Johnny sighs, an irritated huff, retracting his hand from your arm. "You don't wanna stay with me?" he asked, looking up at you with hurt in his eyes.

"It's not that I don't want to, John, it'll just be complicated. You'll have to give me a lift to work, and it's so far that I'll have to wake up a lot earlier."

"You don't even sound like you're going to miss me," he pointed out. His voice had a tinge of anger and it frustrated you in turn. He was acting so petty - you hadn't seen this immature side of him before.

"Of course I'll miss you, Johnny," you assured him with a roll of your eyes. "But we can see each other next weekend, okay?"

"Whatever," Johnny scoffed.

"Whatever?" you asked incredulously. "Johnny, you're acting like a child."

"Sorry. Sorry I'm going to miss my partner because they insist on leaving me."

You shifted away from Johnny, swinging your legs off the bed and facing away from him. "This is stupid," you muttered.

"I'm stupid?" Johnny exclaimed.

You rubbed your eyes in frustration. "I didn't say that."

"You didn't need to." Johnny jumped up from the bed, swiftly storming past you and exiting the room, complete with exaggerated stomps and a hefty slam of the door.

“God!” you cussed, in irritation and disbelief. You couldn’t believe he was acting like this. This side of Johnny, bitter and bad-tempered - you couldn’t say you enjoyed it. If anything, his outburst had only made you want to leave more. You cursed the complete and utter isolation of the place. You could hardly leave and catch a bus - you’d get lost if you even tried venturing out into the woods. Johnny was your ride home, and you didn’t want to face him. You weren’t even sure if he’d oblige, if you asked him to take you home.

You stood, scanning through your options, and your feet led you out of Johnny’s room. Down the hall, to the room you were sure belonged to Donghyuck. You knocked on the door, two uncertain taps.

“Yeah?” Donghyuck’s voice called out from within - bingo. You pushed the door open apprehensively. The room was smaller than Johnny’s, though still a decent size. He had a large television mounted on the wall, hooked up to a gaming system that looked rather impressive, to your amateur perspective.

“Oh, Y/N,” he remarked, sounding surprised and pausing his video game. “What’s up?”

“I’m sorry to bother you,” you prefaced, stepping into his room and closing the door behind you. “Johnny and I… had a bit of an argument. I was wondering if you could give me a ride home?”

“You fought?” Donghyuck asked. “What about?”

You sighed “It’s nothing. Something silly.” You didn’t particularly want to divulge the details to Donghyuck - you didn’t want to end up badmouthing Johnny to his friends.

“Hey, sit down,” he invites you, patting the space beside him, on the end of his bed. “Come play video games with me. Take a minute to calm down.” You hesitantly joined him, taking a seat on the end of his bed. “Think this through, Y/N, it’s probably not a good idea to storm out.”

You picked up the controller Donghyuck gave you, holding it loosely. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Johnny wouldn’t be happy if I left without saying anything.”

“That guy has a temper,” Donghyuck commented under his voice. You felt inclined to agree, after the way he’d acted that morning.

“How do I play?” you asked, examining the controller in your hands. Donghyuck leaned over, running you through the controls and rules of the game. The other boy pressed play, and you were flung into the game headfirst, forced to learn and adapt to the fast-paced course of the game. You didn’t know how much time passed, but by your fourth round of the game, you were laughing and shouting along with Donghyuck, all thoughts of smothering boyfriends erased from your mind.

“Feeling better, huh?” Donghyuck asked, beaming at you.

“Yeah,” you confirmed, nodding. “Thanks.”

“One more round?”

“I should probably go talk to Johnny,” you denied apologetically. “But thank you.”

“Any time,” he smiled, holding out his fist for a bump, which you obliged.

“Bye,” you bid him, before departing his bedroom and moving down the hall. You stood for a moment, outside Johnny’s bedroom door, taking a deep breath and bracing yourself.

When you pushed open the door, you found Johnny already standing in his room. You approached him slowly and with apprehension, speaking in a calm and gentle tone. “Hey, Johnny? I’m sorry for blowing up earlier.”

“It’s okay,” he assured you. His composure surprised you, after the volume of his outburst earlier. He didn’t look at you, nor did he turn around to face you. He stood before his dresser, apparently very focused on something inside it. “Why were you in Donghyuck’s room?”

Your eyes widened a little. He didn’t sound mad, nor did he have the right to be. But something about the situation, or perhaps about his demeanor, made you feel a little jittery. You didn’t know he’d been watching you. “Oh. Um. He was just convincing me to stay.” You cleared your throat, feeling the need to change the subject. “What are you doing?”

“Come look,” he beckoned you. You joined him, peering down into the dresser which he seemed so enthralled by.

You gulped. The open drawer was like something you’d find in a museum; it was lined with crimson velvet, and several vintage-looking pistols were laid out in it. They ranged in size and style, the smallest being the size of your palm and the largest stretching to the length of your forearm. “I… I didn’t know you had guns.” The sight of them made your heart race. If you were being honest, you’d led a rather sheltered life, and had never been in the presence of so many weapons. It made you feel uneasy.

“I don’t use them. They’re only collectibles.” Johnny picked up the smallest gun, and you flinched. He glanced at you, and the look in his eyes was undetectable to you - it wasn’t offence, nor regret, but his eyes definitely glinted with something. The way he handled the gun, you weren’t sure if you bought the ‘collectibles’ line. He handled it with such ease and grace, that it almost seemed like he was born with a gun in his hand. Though it was small, compact, barely the size of your hand - and it appeared even smaller in Johnny’s palm, which dwarfed it - you found yourself stunned and shivery, thinking about the damage it was capable of. Did Johnny collect bullets, too? you found yourself wondering.

You averted your gaze, discomfort taking over, and noticed that your phone lay atop the dresser. Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. You weren’t sure where, exactly, you had left your phone, but you were certain you hadn’t laid it there. “Hey - my phone-”

“Oh, right,” Johnny said, placing his gun back in the drawer and closing it sharply, twisting a key which sat in the keyhole, locking it away. “Your boss called. He said you don’t have to work tomorrow. That’s great, right? You can stay the night - you don’t have to leave.”

You nodded, feeling a little sick but faking a smile anyways. “Great.” You were tired, physically and emotionally. You felt bad for even thinking it, but you wanted a break from your boyfriend. You wanted some space. He was making you feel uncomfortable, bordering on unsafe, and you found yourself craving the security you felt in Donghyuck’s room.

“Um, I’m gonna take a shower,” you conjured the excuse for an escape.

“Okay,” Johnny accepted it easily, smiling widely. He wrapped his arms around your waist, planting a kiss on your forehead. “Don’t be gone too long, alright?”

“Alright,” you nodded, breathing a sigh of relief when he released you. You would stay another night; it wasn’t worth upsetting Johnny over.

You had to admit that you felt a lot better after showering. The warm water had relaxed you, along with the familiar and comforting scent of your shampoo grounding you and bringing your emotions to a calmer, neutral level. You were standing before the bathroom mirror, applying moisturiser to your face, when you heard a click. A turn.

The broken lock.

Before you could act, Donghyuck was before you, staring at you with wide eyes. You let out a yelp, turning around, though most of your skin was hidden beneath your towel.

“Fuck, sorry! I’m so sorry! Don’t tell Johnny about this!” he blurted.

“It’s okay,” you responded, cheeks flushed. You weren’t sure Donghyuck had heard your forgiveness, however; you’d heard him dash away while your back was turned. You laugh awkwardly to yourself at the mishap, before closing the door again and making certain to twist the lock properly. It had only been a silly mistake, you reassured yourself. And he hadn’t seen anything, besides your bare shoulders, which was hardly a great reveal.

You shook your head, before drying and dressing yourself. The poor boy had been so flustered, and you had to admit it was sort of endearing.

“Nice shower?” Johnny asked when you returned to his room, lying on his bed atop the covers.

You nodded, joining him on the bed. “I feel so relaxed now.”

He pulled you close to him, kissing your lips gently. “Jaehyun’s making dinner for everyone, it’ll be ready before long.”

“That’s nice of him,” you murmured, laying your head on Johnny’s shoulder. “Poor Donghyuck, though. We had a really awkward moment in the bathroom, I don’t know if he’ll be ready to face me.”

You felt Johnny tense, his muscles going hard beneath you. “What do you mean?”

“He walked in on me showering. I don’t think he saw much, but-”

Johnny sat up abruptly, causing your head to fall back on the bed. “He fucking what?” Johnny hissed.

“Johnny, it’s fine,” you insisted. “I was wrapped in a towel-”

“I’m going to fucking kill him,” Johnny cursed, standing.

“Johnny,” you spoke firmly, grabbing his arm in a tight grip. “Stop. I said he didn’t see anything.”

“I fucking hope not,” Johnny growled, sitting down once more. He tucked a lock of hair behind your ear, stroking your face lightly. His hand was trembling. “You’re my angel,” he said. “I don’t want anybody else seeing you like that.”

“It won’t happen again, okay? I’m all yours, I promise.” You placed your hand on top of Johnny’s, soothing him with your touch. His temper, flaring again. This wasn’t something you liked much about Johnny, and you hadn’t been all that glad to meet this side of him. But, you bargained, nobody was perfect - you certainly weren’t. Besides, you had been ready this time; your firm tone and gentle touch had helped to calm him.

Johnny stood up, rubbing his face with both of his hands. You heard him release a shaky breath.

“Please calm down, Johnny. I’m sorry.”

“I’m fine,” he said, nodding certainly. “I’m calm.”

“Let’s go get dinner, yeah?” You stood, intertwining your fingers with his.

“Yeah,” he agreed, squeezing your hand a little too tightly.

Johnny’s rather sour mood remained all throughout dinner, as evidenced by his clenched jaw and the protective hand he laid on your thigh. His sullen demeanor made him somewhat of a bore to be around, and you found yourself laughing and joking with his friends; you’d be happy to consider Donghyuck a friend, and Mark was hilarious too. Johnny didn’t seem to like this, however. You spent the last portion of the meal in silence, quietly eating and staying close to Johnny’s side.

Even afterwards, as you watched a movie with the group, Johnny refused to relax and let go of his needless worries. Everybody was laughing at the movie, but you couldn’t help but notice that Johnny hadn’t even cracked a smile the whole time. In fact, you didn’t even think he’d been watching the movie; his eyes hardly left you, flitting between your face and your body. As though if he stopped watching you, something horrible would happen. As though he were keeping guard.

He pulled you closer towards him, though there was very little space between the two of you on the couch beforehand. His lips connected with your cheek, before straying down towards your neck. You felt your skin heat up in embarrassment, although all eyes in the room were still trained on the television. Johnny wrapped his arm around your waist, using his strength to lift you onto his lap. You squeaked at the sudden action, earning inquisitive glances from Johnny’s friends, which only fuelled how flustered you were. He held your body close to his, squeezing you. His breath tickled your neck, sending shivers down your spine, before he sunk his teeth into your skin. You hoped your muffled moan went unnoticed, but your eyes were shut tightly so it was unknown to you. You squirmed in Johnny’s lap, thighs clenching together tightly.

In another show of Johnny’s strength, or perhaps just his relative power in comparison to your apparent weakness, he lifted you swiftly. The abrupt movement surprised you, and you gasped sharply.

“Y/N and I are going upstairs,” Johnny announced to the group, and you silently allowed him to guide you away.

“Because,” he continued as you two left the room, “I can take Y/N any time I want.”

“Johnny!” you scolded him, mouth agape with humiliation as his boys hollered in your wake. He ignored your cries of reprimand, scooping you up off your feet with a grin on his face.

“C’mon, baby,” he whispered, carrying you away to his bedroom. You sighed in fond exasperation, laying your head against his chest. You condemned his announcement of “I can take Y/N any time I want,” but the fact remained true that he could certainly take you then.

Monday morning. You were growing terribly bored of this big, old house in the middle of nowhere. Spending time with Johnny was nice, when he wasn’t baring his angry possessive side. Although you really liked him, you found yourself wanting some space. And so, when you woke up before Johnny, you left his sleeping form behind, pulled one of his oversized sweaters over your head, and set out to explore the enormous house that had become your confinement.

Nobody else was awake, or so it seemed when you ventured downstairs and poured yourself a glass of juice. You felt itchy, agitated. Even when you settled on the couch, the sense of calm you desired simply refused to fall over you. With an agitated sigh, you advanced throughout the house, exploring the ground floor. You had learned that all the bedrooms were on the first floor, and so you’d been wondering where one specific door led. Off the left of the hallway, aside from the kitchen and living area, and the ground floor bathroom.

The door creaked as you pushed it open, as did the floorboards when you stepped through the threshold. The room was dark, though you identified the furnishings of a study when you squinted your eyes. You moved to the far side of the room, drawing open the heavy red curtains thereby illuminating the space and releasing a cloud of dust at the same time. You waved the cloud away, choking.

There was a sturdy desk, littered with boxes full of clutter, accompanied by a rickety chair that looked like it would fall apart if you put any weight on it. You gasped a silent “wow” as you took in the wall opposite the door, lined with shelves that stretched from floor to ceiling, crammed to the brim with books of every size. You approached the extensive library, examining the titles. You didn’t recognise anything, apart from a few classics, but it was still an impressive collection. You began to wonder whether one of the boys had inherited the property from an older relative - none of them seemed particularly studious or academic, at least not enough to warrant an assortment of books this great. You trailed a finger along the spines, accumulating yet more dust. The books, much like the room in its entirety, had sat untouched for a long time.

“Boo!”

You shrieked, spinning around with your arms raised in defence, only to sigh in relief and clutch your heart. “Donghyuck! You scared me!”

The boy bent in half, in stitches at the fear he’d instilled in you. “I’m sorry! I couldn’t resist!” You couldn’t help but join in with his laughter; it was just so infectious. Even minutes later, you were cackling while wiping tears away from your eyes.

“So,” Donghyuck spoke, as his laughter died down. “What are you doing in here?”

“I don’t know,” you shrugged, still smiling. “Just exploring, I guess.”

“I don’t think there’s anything interesting in here,” Donghyuck claimed, looking around at the books.

“Really? It seems like hidden treasure to me.” You peered upwards, at the higher shelves, before standing on your tiptoes and stretching upwards, reaching for an eye-catching book with a golden spine.

“Careful,” Donghyuck murmured, placing a hand on the small of your back to steady you as you strained.

You heard Johnny’s growl, a split second before he entered your field of vision, entering the study and shoving Donghyuck away from you.

“Johnny!” you cried, feeling helpless and out of control as he squared up to the younger man.

Donghyuck had his hands raised in surrender, looking at his friend with concern tainting his expression. “Hey, man, calm down,” he attempted to pacify Johnny.

“Stay away from Y/N,” Johnny yelled, right in Donghyuck’s face

You leapt into action, maneuvering your way in between the pair, palm flat on Johnny’s chest. “Johnny, look at me,” you commanded him firmly. There was a fire in his eyes that you didn’t recognise. It flamed, bright and angry, threatening to burn anything and everything in its path. It scared you, and you resisted strongly against the urge to cower before him.

“Come on, Y/N,” he bit, gripping your forearm tightly. Potentially tight enough to bruise.

“Come on where?” you asked, stumbling as you struggled to keep up. He tugged you out of the room and down the hall, as you tried not to trip over your own feet.

“We’re going for a walk. Put your shoes on,” he demanded, arms crossed, waiting for you to obey.

“I- Johnny- What?” you sputtered. “Can I at least go upstairs and get my coat?”

“No,” he denied flatly. You rolled your eyes, slipping into your shoes. Wasting no time, Johnny pulled you out of the house, slamming the door behind you. You followed after him, your heart pounding with a mixture of uncertainty, anxiety, and speechless anger, as he marched you out into the woods, only stopping when you reached a clearing a good distance away from the house.

“Something’s going on between you and Donghyuck,” Johnny stated with hard certainty, as though it were fact. His face was flushed red, veins prominent along his forehead. He looked at you expectantly, but you had no idea what he wanted in response.

You sighed, rubbing your eyes tiredly. You couldn’t help but yell at him. “Johnny, what are you talking about? You’re my boyfriend. I like you. But not when you act like this, Jesus Christ!”

Johnny advanced, closing the gap between you, and you flinched when he regained his grip on your arm. “You need to stay the fuck away from Donghyuck, okay?”

“This is such a huge overreaction!” You tried to struggle away from his grip, but he was far too strong, his will iron.

Johnny leaned in, impossibly even closer to your face. “I brought you here, as my baby, to show you off to all my friends,” he hissed. “And you let them get their grubby little hands on you? I thought better of you, Y/N. I thought you were fucking faithful.”

Your heart raced, pounding wildly with how badly you wanted to get away from him. You didn’t think you could forgive him for this outburst. You just wanted to leave. “You’re fucking insane,” you shouted at him.

Johnny looked disgusted at your words. “Don’t talk to me like that.”

“Me?” you asked incredulously, finally shrugging out of his grasp. “Me, don’t talk to you like that? Listen, Johnny, I’m not your shiny little toy you can show off to your friends. I’m a human being. And you have no right telling me who I can and can’t talk to.”

“Come here.” Johnny was looking at you, his mouth a straight line, his eyes cold.

“Why?”

“Come here,” he repeated, and you hesitantly took a step forward, afraid to disobey him when he spoke in such an angry, demanding voice. Johnny reached out, gripping you by the arm before spinning you round quickly, pulling you close to him. Your chest was pressed tightly against his back, his arm across your chest, locking you in place. You could feel his heavy, ragged breathing.

“I’m not happy, Y/N,” he jeered, whispering into your ear harshly. “You’re my angel, and you’ve upset me. Maybe you aren’t such an angel after all.” You thrashed, but his grasp on you only tightened. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Johnny, please,” you begged, your voice nothing but a hoarse whimper.

“Let me talk,” he hissed at you. “You’ve hurt me. And I need to show you - I need to hurt you back.”

“What are you- let me go!” You continued to flail in his hold, kicking out your feet but failing to do any real damage to him.

“Shh, it’ll only last a second,” he hushed you, his lips touching your ear and sending shivers down your spine. You felt him fumble behind you, and found an opportunity for escape, but it was no use. His grip on you was iron-tight, unrelenting. Johnny jabbed you in the chest, slightly to the left of your sternum, directly over your banging heart. You looked down, choking on a sob.

One of Johnny’s pistols, the so-called collectible item, was pressing into your skin.

“Right in the heart, Y/N. That’s where you hurt me.”

“Johnny, please!” you cried, struggling in vain. Tears blurred your vision, and spit flew from your mouth as you pleaded with him. “Let me go, Johnny, I’m sorry!”

“Goodnight, angel.”

You heard the gunshot before you felt it. In fact, you hardly even felt it at all. There was a bang, your ears rang, and then nothing. You collapsed, falling limp in Johnny’s arms. His angel.

138 notes · View notes

mashedpotittiess · 4 years ago

Text

Games of Tomorrow

Header created by my muse and bb R. Title: Games of Tomorrow. Pairing: Taehyung x Reader. Mentions of: Hoseok, Jin, Subin (Victon) and OC’s Summary: A simple game of beer pong stirred up some not so innocent feelings between you and the man you held much disdain for. After all, he was your enemy. The person you couldn’t seem beat when it came to grades. You were never enough for the rich and popular but maybe just maybe you’d show them what you were all about. Words: 13k Rating: M Genre: Enemies to Lovers!au, College au!, Smut, Fluff, Angst.

This was all inspired by this photo which I just edited (color, background and the text)so all original photo credits go to the owner.

A/N: What started as a simple short drabble ended in this much longer than intended fic. This is my first pic so pls be gentle. I am but a noob to tumblr writing. I hope you enjoy this craziness <3 this fic is dedicated to my friend who picked Tae to be the first character I wrote about and sat there and listened to me freaking out cause the fic kept getting longer. Ily R. This is Un-Edited so i apologize in advance for the mistakes. I’ll re-read it and fix mistakes as i come across them. Tags/Warnings: Smutty smut smut, Jealousy, Drinking, Mention of Marijuana, Oral (female receiving) Fingering (female receiving), Unprotected sex (wrap it up kids) Fluff, Angst, Size kink, Tae mentioning his DIG BICK, semi rough sex (not really though).

Fic inspired Playlist Link:

spotify:playlist:77Hd51hVnDHe8Q9JaLxGbD

Taglist: @a-mess-of-fandoms @dnyad

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“Absolutely not” you said calmly into the cellphone receiver. “But y/n! You need to let loose once in awhile, and no I’m not talking about sitting on your couch eating bowls of Ramen and cheese popcorn while watching re-runs of Boy Meets World with a big glass of too much Whiskey” Layla practically whined. She had been trying to convince you to go with her to Seokjin’s party on Saturday for an entire hour. She was right, you knew this coming weekend you’d be plopped onto that same blue couch in your big band t-shirt and fuzzy socks doing exactly that. “I’ll think about it” you finally mumbled out and could practically hear the smile in your best friends voice as she exclaimed a ‘woot woot’ “Okay Hot Stuff, i’ll text you later, gotta get to Volleyball Practice” with that she hung up and you continued your walk to what you’d call a ‘Headache’ of a class. It’s not that you hated Econ per say, it’s that you studied your ass off, completed extra credit assignments with a flourish and took wonderfully color coded notes (if you say so yourself). But yet, HE still scored higher than you (even if it was just by one point) and what’s worse is that he NEVER seemed to study, never seemed to care. Trudging into class you took your usual seat in the second row close to the middle. Organizing your laptop, books and assortment of pencils and pens on the table. As Professor Carmine began his lesson writing “Principles of Economics” onto the whiteboard with his usual navy blue marker, you diligently took notes and nodded along with his rhetorical questions. “Before we end for today lets see who can answer this simple yet intriguing question, “Would you consider Inflation or Deflation of cost cycles to be more costly to a business?” You pondered on how to word your answer for about two seconds before raising your hand. “Yes Ms. Y/L/N” you shifted in your seat slightly. “While I know this question has no definite answer as it can be interpreted many ways, I would say with our current Economy, Inflation of prices would be more costly,” Before you could continue you heard a Deep Baritone voice that you knew too well scoff. “So you think Deflation would benefit a business? that’s essentially lowering your prices which in turn leads to loss of income” You rolled your eyes nonchalantly and turned around in your seat to look at the man in the fourth row who had not only interrupted you but disagreed and voiced his disagreement. “I said with our current economy Inflation could hurt a business. Do you think regular people can afford to buy a $3,000 purse when they make minimum wage? It could cost a company to make said purse for $200 with cost of material and labor. If you lower those prices by a fraction, said company would still be making money and you could possibly have more demand as more people with regular paying jobs can afford you buy said purse. If you higher the price less regular people can afford such a luxury item which could hurt the demand. Thus causing an issue with the income for a business”. You said staring at the red haired man pulling a cock of his right eyebrow from him. “Regular people don’t need a $3,000 bag, you want brands to lower the prices so poor people can buy their items? How sad. Tae is right, just higher the prices and get more money. Businesses will make their money regardless of the lower or middle class purchasing their items, as long as they have people like us,” a high pitched voice you recognized as Nami said gesturing to herself and the perfect barbies next to her “buying from them”. Before you continue the alarm from your Professors phone startled you and signaled the end of not only your Monday class but your discussion as well. You picked up your items, shoving them in your bag and trudged out of class. As you passed Taehyung with Nami, Michelle, Hoseok and Gigi at his back he smirked at you and you swore you heard Nami giggling ‘Bet she’s never even held a Chanel bag in her hands. she just wants everybody to be ratchet like people like her’. Smiling to yourself you turned around and flipped them the bird “At least I don’t have to go crying to daddy to buy me a new set of tits, I make my own money and work hard for it. Something you wouldn’t know a thing about, and THAT is what I find sad about your entailed fake ass”. your voice carrying through the hall as you turned back around and made your way back to your dorm. ——————————————— “You know what day it is? TACO Tuesday” You exclaimed while taking a shot of Jose Cuervo and stirring your meat to ensure its cooked properly. Your roommate Casey giggled and Layla downed a shot with you while blasting a Pitbull song. After plating your dinner of carne picada tacos topped with all your usual veggies and homemade Salsa you smiled while your friends posted pics to their instas, Captioning “BB y/n made us food”. “I still can’t believe you told Nami her tits were fake” Casey giggled while shoving a fistful of popcorn into her mouth. “y/n said her tits and her ass were fake” Layla corrected and you smiled at your dorky friends. “She deserved it, nothing I said wasn’t true. You all were sprawled out on the couch pilled high with fluffy blankets watching a random episode of The Nanny and laughing at random jokes Layla said while scrolling through her Insta feed. “OOOOOOh Valeria is getting ice cream with Subin” Casey practically pouted at the post and you sighed knowing your roommates crush on Valeria which did not go unseen by Layla, causing a metaphorical lightbulb to go off in her head. “You know Casey, Valeria is going to be at Jin’s party on Saturday” Casey being held buzzed sat up catching the bait and worried her bottom lip “Is she?” Layla nodded “This could be your chance to get a fistful of all that Latina, metaphorically and not so metaphorically” she crudely added with a wiggle of her eyebrows and you literally face palmed at your best friends words. Instead of being equally gassed out, Casey however downed her coke and stood up triumphantly “It’s time I tell her!” Layla stood up with her screaming a loud ‘yaaaaas queen’ and both pairs of eyes looked towards you sitting their nursing your Sprite. “What?” you questioned and immediately regretted when both girls practically jumped on you, squishing you between their bodies. “I can’t confess without knowing you and Layla are both there” Casey pouted her soft pink colored lips causing you to shake your head. “You do not need me there while you confess to your crush.” “But what if it goes bad? what if she rejects me, or worse; makes fun of me? What if i need to leave and I’m crying and I have snot everywhere an-“ Before she could continue you sighed and covered her mouth with your right hand. Nodding you stood up and smiled at both girls “Fuck it, Let’s get your Girl!” you knew Casey had liked her for literally an entire year and you knew you’d feel like shit if you weren’t there supporting your friend as she bared her heart. “I’m only doing this for you though, so know that I love you.” ——————————————— While the rest of the week you were dreading the party Saturday knowing Nami, Taehyung and the other were going to be there, it was Thursday night that was the straw that broke the Camels back. You had just finished returning your copy of Ulysses when you passed Nami practically hanging on the redhead talking about her Angel costume for Seokjins party. Rolling your eyes as you passed you stopped as you heard her ask “What are you rolling your eyes about? This is a private conversation” she flipped her hair over her left shoulder and you yet again rolled your eyes. “This is a public hallway, which means anything you say that can be heard by others can in fact get a response be it verbal or physical by someone other than the intended person in the conversation.” You were just about to turn around when she hmmphed “Whatever, mind your own business” turning around you were met with Layla jogging towards you. “Hot Stuff, what are we going to wear to the party? I’m thinking Doja Cat from the ‘Juicy’ MV, omg you should be -“ Before your best friend could continue, Nami stepped towards you with her arms crossed. “And how did someone like you, get an invitation?” punctuating the ‘you’ she pointed at you. “Jin and I are both on the Volleyball team” Layla stated and turned towards you “And he said I can bring whoever I wanted.” “I still don’t know why you hang around people like her” she once again pointed to you with her baby pink manicured index finger. You knew Layla had money and could very well fit in with their group. You sometimes felt like you were her downfall, the anchor to her social climb. But she always reassured you that she hated people like Nami and never understood why out of everyone, she hated you in particular for the passed two years. “Maybe because she’s my BEST friend, whoever gets invited to the party doesn’t involve you Nami. It’s JINS party, not yours.” Layla shook her head and you bit your bottom lip while curling your fists at your sides trying to calm yourself down.”Maybe she should be Donkey from Shrek, or maybe an edgy emo kid from 2010 with her ugly tattoos” Nami smirked and you heard Taehyung ‘who was scrolling on his phone let out a light laugh, his deep baritone further fueling Nami’s ego. “Have you ever even been to a party? like have you ever even left you dorm for something other than classes and your jobs” she sneered at the words jobs. “You should just reconsider coming, people like YOU don’t belong. People like YOU really should know your place” Your jaw visibly ticked “Seems like you have an obsession with anything my best friend does, is this like you having a big lesbian crush on her?” Layla said while placing a hand on your shoulder and doing her best Janice from Mean Girls impression. Before Nami could say anything back Taehyung nodded out a “Guess we will see you there then, bye Layla, bye y/n” turning to leave. Nami rolled her eyes and checked her phone “Not like it’ll matter what you wear, wait, OMG you should soo wear a ghost costume, it would suit you. Get it? cause you’ll be invisible and you don’t belong” then turned around, her yellow heels clacking against the tile as she following Taehyung down the hall cackling. “I still don’t know why she’s always hated you of all people? like it’s been two years of the same thing with her. I honestly don’t know how you haven’t hit her. I’ve seen you fight” She smiled and grabbed your hand, holding it while you all made your way down the hall, which made you smile and let out a small giggle at her comment about you fighting. She knew about your childhood and how you practically lived at you neighbors boxing gym to let off steam as a stress reliever. You had agreed to find a suitable costume as rage filled you from Navi’s moments and Taehyung’s lack of interest in the matter. (not that you would’ve expected much from him)

As you scanned the rows of costumes hung on the wall neatly you waited by the changing room while Layla and Casey tried on their costumes. “I think i’ll just go with this one” Casey smiled softly while twirling in her peter pan costume, her blond bob swishing lightly. “It’s so cute!” you hugged her and turned to see Layla emerging with a shake of her head “This isn’t giving me enough Doja Vibes”. You let out a hmm and pulled the pink/red mid length wig from your left and threw her a pair of red tights telling her to go put those on while you scoured the items on the racks. Layla finally emerged from the dressing room after you finished giving her the scattered pieces you had found. Clutching the green watermelon rind skirt, she twirled around in the same manor Casey did earlier and shook her pinky/red bandeau covered chest at you. After tightening the green suspenders that were connected to the skirt she smirked “Now it’s your turn Babe, and Casey and i are paying” before you could interrupt her she continues “not buts! You agreed to find a costume” Shaking your head you said a chorus of “No’s” vehemently at every option she held in front of you. “Y/n you need something to accentuate how hot you are! make her eat her words” you huffed and shook your head “Naughty Nerd is not the way to go Nami” Hanging the customer back on the rack she mumbled a “she said nerd so i figured hot nerd would be well, hot”. You grabbed a simple Witch costume that consisted of a mid length purple dress and a black hat with matching stockings, something low key but still a costume. Before you could go pay for it Layla grabbed your hand and stopped you. “No, y/n that isn’t enough, plays were paying” she pointed to herself and Casey who nodded. “Layla I don’t want to draw anymore attention to myself, I don’t need to look “hot” cause I’m not. I’m just a regular person who isn’t enough for these people. I’ll never be or do enough” You look down at your right arm and traced the intricate patterns of your black and white peonies and hibiscus that lined your inner arm. Your friends had never seemed you look so vulnerable, and something in Layla snapped. “She called you invisible and said you weren’t enough but guess what? She knows all about you makes sure you’re always uncomfortable around them. Which means she sees you as a threat”. you bit your bottom lip at her words “She has called you ugly, ratchet ‘which who says that anymore, poor, insignificant and she made fun of you working your ass off to pay your tuition because your deadbeat parents can’t do shit for you. You’re the smartest person in class, you’ve got street smarts and fuck man, you can literally kick a grown mans ass. Remember when those guys were grabbing Casey at the club and you stood up for her and literally fought two of them and won? Little miss prissy bitch couldn’t stand a 5 secs with that y/n. I know you don’t bother with fighting her cause you’re afraid of her connections and getting kicked out of school but fuck y/n grow some balls” Snapping your head in her direction you walking up to her standing in her face and exclaimed “Firstly Taehyung is the smartest in my Econ class. Secondly, don’t you think I’m already aware of what she says about me? don’t you think i want to punch that stupid smile off her face full of fillers? You wan’t me to grow some balls? FUCKING FINE, but I’m not wearing a “sexy nerd costume.” Smirking and trailing your fingers along a row of costumes you looked at your friends. “I’ll show her just how hot I can be” Layla smirked at you “That’s my girl, so what do you have in mind then” You slid your fingers along what felt like vinyl. Cocking your right eyebrow up you gripped the material. “What’s hotter than the Devil?” ——————————————— Standing in front of your mirror in your bedroom you were already regretting your choice in outfits for tonight. As you stared at yourself you reminded yourself why you were doing this. You were going to prove a point and that was all that mattered. you were going to prove you weren’t any of the negative things Nami said about you. Running your hands down the scrappy vinyl like material that was covering your chest and part of your upper body. Your hands stopped above your navel where the top stopped and you cocked your hip to the side, descending your hands further down your bare skin to the top of the matching vinyl like skin tight pants that resembled shiny black liquid covering your skin leaving little to the imagination. You plopped yourself in front of your desk to the makeshift vanity that was full of makeup products for the nights preparations. Curling the ends of your hair you laughed as Layla pranced around shimmying to Nasty by Brooke Candy. “Don’t trust that hoe he N A S T Y” you all yelled the lyrics. Finishing your Deep Burgundy and black smokey eye, you applied a sharp winged eyeliner and smoked out the lower lash line. Applying small round black jewels under your eyes you finished the look with a deep burgundy matte lipstick, fluffy lashes and a soft pink toned blinding highlighter. “We have like 5 minutes, get your asses in gear” Layla announced as you were tying your simple black leather choker around your neck. After zipping up your over the knee 5 inch stiletto vinyl black boots, you placed your black horned headband on your head securing the little clips in your hair and primped the strands around your face to frame sexily. The ride there was filled with bopping to music and Layla yelling that you were a bad bitch out of the windows for all of the campus to hear which caused you to yell as the Uber driver. Taking a deep breath, you exited the car and holding Layla and Caseys hands, you walked the short distance of the walkway to Seokjin’s Lavish off campus Townhome. The smell of weed and alcohol mixed with the sound of loud bass thumping greeted you as Layla pushed open the door. Walking through a sea of bodies you felt several pairs of eyes on you and you had to remind yourself it was fine. Settling yourselves in the kitchen, you started to make you all some drinks while Casey looked out for Valeria and Layla handed you cups and bottles. You decided simple Margaritas on the rocks were safe for the night and handed them to your friends. A tall and beautiful man you knew as Seokjin himself walked in and greeted you all, making sure to give Layla a hug to which you noticed her little blush creeping down her neck. “I’m glad you all could make it! Layla are you Doja Cat? omg Casey you’re Peter Pan! y/n are you the devil? oooooh are those Margs I see?” SeokJin asked which you nodded and asked if he wanted one as well. “Yes please! I suck at making drinks, oh and please just call me Jin” Smiling you stirred the mixture into a clear cup and handed it to him earning a dazzling smile. As he took a sip, Jin pressed his right hand to his chest over his heart “You NEED to come to all of my parties and make me drinks. This is so delicious” As he mimicked the chefs kiss signal you laughed and Layla beamed a smile at him. “Y/n works as a bartender part time at Nely’s next to campus” You nodded and sipped you drink while surveying the beautiful white marble kitchen and chrome accents. “You have a beautiful Home Jin” you smiled to him which made him softly pat you on the back “Thank you! I take pride in my kitchen. It’s where I blow off steam from Volleyball practice” Layla shook her head “You need to blow off steam? you practically don’t even sweat while we run plays” to which Jin scoffed “We all need to blow off steam Layla” You and Casey watched as both people seemed really comfortable with being around each other. You noticed Layla blush and Jin smile every time their eyes met. “Oh you’re here” said a shrill voice you knew none other than Nami herself, dressed in a fluffy white see thru robe, white satin dress that barely covered her butt, knee high white vinyl go-go boots, white lace stockings and sitting atop her head a thin gold halo attached to a headband. Next to you Layla smiled and placed her hand on her hip “Yeah, we said we would be here so here we are” you heard the brattiness in her voice and giggled when you notice Jin staring at her hips. “Ew, don’t stay too long” Nami said while walking out. Jin shook his head which prompted Layla to ask why he had invited Nami. “Well our families are friends and my roommates are friends with her” You cocked an eyebrow” You have roommates?” Before Jin could answer you heard a deep baritone laugh getting closer, turning your head to the side you saw Taehyung accompanied by Hoseok walking into the safe haven of the kitchen. “Tae, Hoseok, come meet Layla and her friends Casey and y/n!” Jin smiled “These are my roommates” As the men stepped closer you tried your best to cover the shocked look on your face. “HEY we have two devils!” Hoseok yelled out and smirked. Taehyungs hair was parted down the middle and some of his fringe was swept up into two red ‘horns’ he donned black skin tight vinyl pants, red shiny shoes that looked a lot like Gucci Mules, a sequined Blazer with only one button down right above his navel that accentuated his chest as he decided to forgo a shirt and a thing black choker similar to yours but tied in a small bow sitting in the hollow of his throat. Feeling his eyes roaming over your body and landing on you horns you busied yourself by chugging your drink and earned a holler from Hoseok. “Hey y/n can party!” Before anything else could be said, Casey spotted Valeria who was waving at you all to join her in the living room. Throwing your cup in the trash you followed Casey out of the now suffocating kitchen and tried to hide your expression as your eyes met the Red Devil while you slid passed him. “Hey girls!” Valeria smiled and hugged you both causing Casey to blush. Layla had stayed in the kitchen talking to Jin which made you smirk knowingly. “This is Subin” the man next to her looked up from his phone and sent a side your way, you noticed his costume as a werewolf from the looks of his tattered ripped shirt and what looked like a gnarly bite mark on his collarbone. “Hi I’m y/n and this is Casey” Casey narrowed her eyes at the man and how close he was standing to Valeria mumbling out a ‘I know who Subin is’. As you four talked you noticed Valeria standing closer and closer to Casey while laughing at some inside joke they shared. Before you knew it Valeria had swung an arm around your friend and they shared a soft smile. You really hoped all went well for Casey, if not, you might have to kick some ass. While you were thinking of the cuteness overload that Casey and Valeria together could be you heard a shuffle from your right “you look nice when you smile” Subin smiled at you and you felt the pink tint forming on your cheeks. As Casey pulled Valeria with her outside for some “fresh air” which you knew as go time. You decided to get straight to it and ask Subin himself “Are you and Valeria a thing?” choking on his drink he coughed out a loud ‘no no no no’ and you cocked an eyebrow. “Val and I are just friends, plus she’s not really into someone like me like that?.” “Someone like you?” Nodding Subin smiled knowingly and looked towards the door both girls had just slipped through. “As in she like boobs, your friends boobs to be exact.” Your eyes widened “Wait no! not her boobs, she liked your friend in general i was just saying boobs to accentuate how Val wouldn’t like me anatomically.” You giggled at how flushed he had gotten and he smiled along with you. You hadn’t noticed a pair of eyes staring as you talking to the man dressed as a werewolf. Hoseok noticed the look in his friends eyes, it was the same one Taehyung had gotten anytime you rolled your eyes at him, ignored his presence or had gotten in a heated debate. He had been sporting that look every time he looked at you for a little over two years now. Since your first year of college when you had shared a Psych class and battled for top spot in class. He knew his friend had taken an interest in you and it never dissipated. Taehyung sipped his beer and kept his eyes glued to your face while you smiled and laughed at something the man next to you had said. Hoseok was tired of nothing coming from this and slammed his beer down hopping onto the coffee table earning a ‘that wasn’t cheap get down!’ from Jin “It’s beer pong time!” Hopping off the table he stood in front of you in all of his Napoleon Dynamite Glory. “Y/n come play beer pong” he smiled at you and you could help but notice how beautiful Hoseoks smile was. Shaking your head “I don’t think i’ll be playing tonight Hoseok but than-“ Nami cackled at you from her band of barbies and interrupted “ Hope, don’t waste your time with her she isn’t worth it. Plus she probably can’t even play, she’s never even been to a party before.” Thats what caused you to roll your eyes and place your hand into Hoses outstretched one. “I’ll play”. You and Subin followed Hoseok to the side of the living room where a few beer pong tables were already set up. Layla and Jin had joined you as well, intrigued to see you playing. “Okay teams of two. Usual rules of no leaning over the table, must drink your drink if a ball is sunk, one re-rack per person on each team, and if a trick shot made with one hand behind your back and a foot away from the table is sunk by the opposing team they may make a request that you have to complete. Said request can’t be anything illegal or THAAAT bad. “Can I take a shot instead of drinking a beer? I don’t really do well with beer” you asked honestly which cause Hoseok to holler “Fuck yeah!” Before you could pick a teammate Hoseok smiled and pulled Taehyung over “We have to have the two Devil’s playing” You shrugged and asked Subin if he would be your partner to which he smiled an ‘of course’ which earned a cock of an eyebrow from Taehyung which Hoseok noticed and smirked. “I’d be on Tae’s team but I think to make it fair we should have another female” Nami walked over laying her hand on Taehyung’s shoulder and smirked “I’ll play” you rolled your eyes and mumbled an ‘i’ll play’ mimicking her shrill voice which earned a chuckle from Subin. “Ooh an Angel and a Devil on the same team, how heaven and hell” Hoseok smirked and set up the cups handing each team their set of ping pong balls. Layla and Jin brought you a bottle of tequila (your eyebrows shot up when you noticed it was ‘Gran Patron’ and then you remembered these people are well off. You had made the marg’s with a different bottle of Patron which while not cheap wasn’t as expensive as this particular bottle was) and shot glasses to replace the typical drink of beer if a ball is sunk. Beer really didn’t sit well with your stomach, you assumed it was the carbonation. “Layla you do know this is like a $500 bottle of alcohol right?” Layla smirked and Jin smiled responding “I don’t really drink Tequila unless it’s in a marg and my uncle left this bottle here from his last stay, as far as I’m concerned you can have it.” You opened the bottle letting the smell of Agave fill your senses and re capped it. “Ready?” Hoseok asked to which both teams agreed. Taehyungs team started to which Nami missed her shot, the next shot was Subins and he sunk it, picking her to chug what looked like some sort of fruity cider. Taehyung was next and he lined up his shot before seemingly sinking it before he looked up “Subin drinks” he said smoothly and Subin drank what was left in his cup. You were up next, carefully lining up your shot you watched as the ball plopped right into the cup and looked at the duo in from of you. “Nami drinks” Nami rolled her eyes “Ughh again??” she exclaimed and you smirked “What? can’t keep up?” you asked to which she grumbled and drank what looked like another cider. Nami sunk her next shot and picked you to drink, as you poured the liquid into your shot glass you smirked right at her while downing the shot like it was water. Unknown to you, a pair of dark eyes watched as you licked your lips while placing the glass down. The game continued with each of the teams missing and sinking shots until you won the game, hugging Subin you both had only had around 3 drinks each and decimated the other team. Taehyung called for another game as in 2/3 wins to win the full game. You had surprisingly agreed but only because Nami wouldn’t shut the fuck up with her little snide comments and you loved the look on her face every time she missed or you sunk her shot. The second game continued until there were only 4 cups left on your end and 3 on the opposing team. You and Subin hugged each other after your last shot that nailed Nami yet again and she held her stomach calling celebrity shot which basically called Hoseok into the game to replace her. You were 5 shots in and feeling light, not nearly drunk but nicely buzzing as you could hold your liquor well. Stepping in Hoseok smirked “Imma flip things up, If i sink this shot ya’ll gotta do my request” Folding his left arm around his back he took a few steps away from the table and focused on nailing the center shot, and to your surprise he actually did nail it. “Hmm little devil, I request that you take a shot” Your eyebrows shot up as that sounded easy enough. “Oh dear, not a normal shot. I’m talking about a body shot, your partner needs to lay on the table and you have to follow all body shot steps down to the lime in his mouth.” Rolling your eyes you turned to Subin to ask if it was okay with him. Your buzzing partner agreed and insisted after you asked if he was sure. Laying his body down on the table with the crown of his head facing Hoseok and Teahyung. He lifted his shirt up to his chest so that you could sprinkle salt from his navel up to his chest. Filling the shot glass, you placed it above his belly button and gave him the lime wedge to slip between his lips. Taehyung gritted his tech as you climbed onto the white table situating yourself above Subins lap. People who were watching the game from afar gathered closer to watch as you once again asked Subin if it was okay and he smiled a yes. Leaning down you tentatively dragged your tongue from his belly button up to his chest licking up the salt, then dipped back down to his belly button and wrapped your lips around the shot glass leaning up and getting the liquid pour into your mouth and down your throat. You crawled up his body and carefully took the lime from his mouth, making sure to dig into the flesh of the lime and not actually touch his mouth. After all, you just met him and didn’t want him to think you were taking advantage of anything. Throwing the wedge into a discarded cup you hopped off of the table and handed Subin a napkin to wipe the remnants of salt and tequila off of his body. “Can we get on with the game?” Taehyung grumbled and you rolled your eyes nodding. Subin sunk his next shot and Hoseok took a shot of Tequila instead of chugging a beer. It was now 3 to 2 and Taehyung missed his next shot, too focused on the way you were fanning your hand over the back of your next from the warmth the liquor was giving you. It was your turn and you sunk your next shot causing Taehyung to chug the beer Jin handed to him. Hoseok smiled and once again moved his left arm around his back “Might as well make it interesting, another request for another trick shot” you rolled your eyes and smiled at the brunette as he wagged his eyebrows and closed his eyes. You truly did not think he would sink another trick shot, let along with his eyes closed. But as you watched the ball sink into one of your cups your eyes went wide. You heard hollers and screams hyping up the shot that Hoseok had just made and mentally readied yourself for another body shot. “If you’re thinking I’m going to have you do the same thing, you’re wrong” Your eyebrows furrowed and he smirked “It’s Subins turn to take a body shot” Taehyung let out a deep warning “Hoseok, don’t” You didn’t understand why he would have a problem with it but you turned around to look at Subin to ask if he was once again okay with such a thing. He nodded and in turn asked if you were okay. Smiling you handed him a shot glass. After you situated yourself the same way Subin had, you saw him falter on where to put the salt since your top stopped right above your navel, and you grabbed the bottle of salt from his hand and placed a trail from your collarbone up your next. You figured it was safer than your cleavage. Subin handed you the lime wedge and you softly bit into it watching him fill the shot glass and place it above your belly button. Layla looked down at you and smiled as she saw you getting chorus of “Fuck yeah y/n” which had made Nami who was sitting down roll her eyes. Climbing into your body and leaning down, Subin let his tongue drag along your collarbone to your neck slowly before leaning down and wrapping his lips around the shot glass in the same way you had done to him and leaned up to gulp it down. Leaning down once again he was about to take the lime wedge from your mouth when a hand n his shoulder stopped him. Before you could ask what was going on you saw a strand of red and felt a pair of lips on yours pulling the lime away. Taehyung had had enough, he was tired of seeing you with Subin and even more tired of the games Hoseok was playing. When he watched Subin lean down to your mouth he couldn’t take it anymore and his body reacted on it’s own. Doing what it had been wanting to do for years. You watched as Taehyung spit out the lime wedge a leaned back down to capture your lips in his in an upside down kiss. A chorus of oohs and oh shits followed which caused you to push him off and jump off of the table. You shook your head at him and wrapped your arms around your body “What the fuck Taehyung?” you asked but before anybody could answer you, you asked Jin where the bathroom was to which he pointed out and you ran there hearing a “wait” being yelled but you didn’t care you needed to get out of there. You were being watched by everybody and that accompanied with the kiss from someone you thought you hated and assumed he hated you as well, well that was too much. Walking into the first floor bathroom you slammed the door and made your way to the sink. You looked at yourself in the mirror then looked down, bracing your hands on either side of the sink trying to calm yourself down. You could hear the bass thumping, causing the walls to lightly vibrate. There was a loud knock on the door followed by a series of “y/n please please open the door.” Letting out a deep breath you ran your index finger along your lash line, wiping any excess makeup that had smudged during your beer pong game. Stepping towards the door you swung it open only to be greeted with your best friend flinging herself on your short frame despite the high heeled boots you donned. “Hi, I love you, and before you say it. I know you want to go home but please don’t let those people get to you. So what if Tae kissed you? Don’t even acknowledge that ass wipe, and omg you should’ve seen Navi’s face when he kissed you. She legit looked like she was going to blow up like some sort of doll filled with helium!” Layla placed her hands on either side of you, softly gripping your shoulders, her deep brown eyes staring into yours softly. “Hey, talk to me? If you really do want to go home, i’ll go with you. But I really think you shouldn’t let anything that just happened get you down. Let’s just go back to the living room and dance all these feelings away! You’ve got me, Jin, Subin and Casey and Val ‘not that i know where they are.” While she rambled on you took in your surroundings, noting the pristine glass shower situated in the corner followed by the chrome towel rack that supported plush light grey towels. The porcelain toilet stood across from it, tucked into a corner of the light grey walls that matched the towels. As she finished her speech you already knew what you had to do, you weren’t going to let this get you down. You were so fucking tired of letting people get to you, you had no control over your life growing up but you sure as hell had control over your current self. You had amazing friends, were incredibly intelligent, worked your ass off at both of your jobs and were happy with the way you looked. Quirking up the left corner of your mouth you leaned in and planted a big smooch on your besties left cheek. “Layla, you’re right” Surprise crossed your best friends face, followed by a knowing smirk. “That’s my best bitch! Let’s get our asses down there and show them what a bad bitch you are, not that you haven’t already. I mean, dude you totes slammed like 6 shots no problem and you look HOT AS HELL.” Giggling you took her arm into yours and let her take you down the hallway into the crowded living area. The LED lights lit a soft purple hue that bounced off of the cream colored walls, further creating that fantasy look that enticed party goers to let all their inhibitions go. You noticed someone had moved the coffee table to a far corner closer to the beer pong tables, which had expanded the makeshift dance floor. The DJ was bopping his head to the current track he was mixing and the sea of bodies moving themselves to the beat was massive. You clutched Layla’s hand in yours as she pushed her way through the dancers and you all finally settled closer to one of the couches that had been pushed to a corner opposite of the tables where Jin, Subin and Hoseok had been waiting for you two. Jin placed a hand on your shoulder as if you check if you were alright and you smiled while nodding. “I’m so so sorry y/n, are you okay?” Subin asked and searched your face for an answer. Smiling at the man who had been your partner in crime for the passed hour, you nodded. “It’s all good, no need to be sorry. I do need another drink though. I think that little stint in the bathroom may have sobered be up more than i’m happy about. Hoseok smiled and shouted a ‘Gotchu’ before he bounded back off to the kitchen mixing up some concoction you knew would be strong. “Theres seems to be a lot more dancing than before” you jutted your chin towards the sea of bodies and Jin laughed. “I think most people are in that drunks haze where dancing is all they can do since they can’t seem to stand straight.” You chucked softly as you knew all too well how dancing enticed drunk people. The brunette thrusted a clear cup into your hands, quirking an eyebrow at him he responded with a chuckle. “It’s just bourbon on the rocks” Testing the liquid in the cup you smiled confirming it was in fact bourbon and nothing gross. You spotted Nami hanging herself on Taehyung in the corner towards the tables, your eyes met as she looked back at you with what looked like rage. Leaning her body upwards she leaned in towards his right ear and appeared to be whispering something to which he shook his head while staring into his glass. This seemed to upset her, huffing she once again leaned back up and attached you pink gloss covered lip to his neck. For some reason this had annoyed you to no end. For years Nami had been al over the tall man, only to be semi rejected with her advances which had brought you an odd sense of joy and seeing her lips on his neck as he just stood there caused you to rip your gaze away fro the pair and bring your cup up to your still burgundy tinted lips as the lipstick had faded away and left you with a just bitten look. Leaning you head back you downed the contents of the glass and slammed it down on the nearby end table that was situated by the couch. “Let’s dance?” you handed Jin your purse pulling Layla to the dance floor with you, not needing an answer to your question. As you both pushed through to the middle of the grinding crowd you best friend leaned in to your ear letting you know she’d be right back. Before you could ask what she was doing you saw her watermelon headband bounding up to the DJ who nodded when she leaned in close to him. As the first notes of the beat started you couldn’t help the smirk that planted itself on your lips. You giggled as Layla shimmied her way towards you and the first lines of the song began. Letting your body sway to the music, Layla laid her hands on your hips. “That’s my best friend, she a real bad bitch. Got her own money.” You both sang as you moved your hips in her hands. Placing both of your hands on her shoulders you turned her around and pulled her back close to your chest. Jin had been staring at your friend’s hips swaying along with yours and you decided you wanted to put on a show for him. Running your hands up her tight covered thighs up to her waist she leaned forward and gave her ass a little twerk causing you to chuckle. Turning her body around she gripped your hand in hers and spun you around, you made sure to wiggle your hips as you spun. “She been down since the jellies and the bow-bows” you shimmied your hips and saw Casey and Val bounding their way towards you two. As they got closer you noticed Caseys Peter Pan hat had gone missing and Vals pink lipstick was smudged, both girls walking hand in hand. Throwing Casey a knowing smirk she shrugged lightly and Layla wrapped her arms around both girls, creating a circle. “Where have you BEEN?” Layla yelled over the music at the two but shook her head after taking in their appearances “Nevermind I don’t want to know, wait, or do I?” wiggling her eyebrows she smoothed down Caseys wild blonde bob. Val seemed to enjoy the blush that had formed on Caseys cheek and she leaned close to place a kiss on either cheek, further fueling the crimson on her cheeks. As the intro to Bad Bitch by Bebe Rexha came into play you all raised your hands up into the air and swayed to the beat. Hoseok came into view, thrusting a shot into each of your friends hands and you all posed for his snapchat video while downing the shots of what tasted like whiskey. “Gross, I don’t know how you like liquor” Casey said, her cute face scrunching up into a sour expression and you giggled. Leaning down you touched your toes and twerked your ass to the beat earning a “fuck it up” from Layla and Val. As you ground your hips back into your best friend you looked up catching Taehyungs burning gaze on your flushed face. Cocking an eyebrow up at him you turned around in Layla’s hold swaying your hips. “Ugh, prissy bitch incoming” Layla whispered into your ear and you followed her eyes to Nami who pulled Michelle and a bored looking Taehyung onto the dance floor. Your eyes followed Navi’s movements as they slid up and down the devils chest and Michelle settled her hands on his shoulders behind him. Your jaw tensed as Nami’s hands trailed up to his neck. Meeting his dark gaze you narrowed your eyes slightly and shook your head, turning around and grabbing Hoseoks hands pulling him closer to you. The LED lights turned a deep red hue as the opening to Streets - Silhouette remix started and Val exclaimed “Let me put this on insta, y/n your horns loom so good in this light!” Posing with your back towards Hoseoks with your head leaning onto his shoulder, the latter gripped your hips and leaned his face into your neck while Val took the picture. As the tune changed and the beat dropped with it’s intoxicatingly slow beat you swayed your hips against Hoseoks, bending your knees and slowly sliding up and down his body. Trailing his fingers up your sides he grilled your hips and turned you around to face him. You heard Layla lean into Casey saying something along the lines of ‘oh shit’. ‘I found it hard to find someone like you’ you slid your body down the Brunettes, never leaving his gaze ‘send your location come thru’. Leaning back up you rolled your head around and he wrapped a hand into your hair, his other gripping your right hip tighter. your hands settled themself on his shoulders and you leaned towards his left, your eyes catching onto Taehyungs dark gaze, his eyes never leaving yours as Hoseok ground his hips into yours. Even as Nami wiggled her hips in front of his and trailed her hands under his blazer, his arms stayed at his sides, never touching the Angel nor the Bunny who still danced her body against his back. Hoseok knew his friend was watching and he couldn’t help but smirk, gripping your hair tighter he moved your face towards him and pulled you in until you were a few centimeters from his lips as he moved your hips along with his. ‘We belong and I can’t be without you’ Doja’s voice crooned through the speakers as Hoseok leaned in closer to your lips over the hazey cloud of smoke and tightly packed bodies. You internally debated wether or not you truly wanted him to close that gap and land his lips on yours, but the only thing you could think of was the gaze of a certain someone on yours. Before you fully decided on if you wanted the man in front of you to kiss you, your body was pulled away from his. A strong grip was formed around your wrist and all you registered was Layla and Casey wide eyes before you were being pulled away from the dancing bodies and up the stairs. You barely registered the click of a door being opened followed by your back hitting the hard wood. “What the hell were you doing?” Taehyung rasped out staring deeply into your eyes with a mixture of what looked like want and fury. You placed your hands on his chest pushing him back slightly and jutted your chin upwards. “Excuse me? I was dancing with my friends and Hoseok, not that that’s any of you business” Taking a step towards him. “What the hell do YOU think you’re doing? dragging me up to this room and thinking you can manhandle me.” Receiving no answer you shook your head and were prepared to turn around and walk right back out of that door. “You drive me fucking insane. Seeing that Subin guys hands all over you and then you dancing like that with my best friend.” You felt yourself being pressed against the door once again with his large hands on either side of your head, his rings glinting against the soft light filtering in through the open curtains. Cocking your eyebrow up at him you stood your ground. “What? are you Jealous?” you snorted out. “Yeah, yeah I fucking am” At his surprising answer you looked up seeing nothing but want in his deep eyes with a glint of something else you couldn’t quite place. “You’re fucking insane. Don’t play with me” you rasped out, your voice hoarse from singing and dancing earlier. “I’m not playing” was all you heard before your head knocked back against the wooden frame of the door followed by a pair of plush lips crushing yours with a ferocity you suddenly craved. He tasted like cinnamon and liquor and you loved it. Something inside you both seemed to snap in that moment and you trailed one of your hands up, curling your fingers into his soft hair and tugging on the makeshift horns it was styled into. Your other hand settled itself onto his warm chest fingering the labels of his blazer. Taehyung growled out at you reciprocated the kiss and trailed his right hand down the door, settling on your hip and pulling you impossibly closer to his body. Feeling teeth nibbling at your lower lip you gasped out and he took the chance to slide his tongue into your mouth, your tongues immediately fighting for dominance. Tugging his hair harder you felt his hand that had been on your hip slide lower until it was gripping a handful of your ass cheek, followed by a grunt. You could still hear the music that was thumping downstairs but it was slowly being drowned out by the man in front of you. The plush pair of lips that was against yours slowly trailed down to your jaw, nipping at the flesh softly until they reached your neck. Nuzzling his face against your warm flesh as he littered the area with whisper soft kisses. Slipping your hand under his blazer you trailed your nails lightly along his skin earning a low hiss from his deep voice. Smirking, you dug you nails harder “You’re playing with fire babygirl” Taehyung gripped both of your hands into one of his large palms and pressed them against the door frame grinding his hips into yours. Feeling his length against your covered core you couldn’t help the soft whine that escaped your lips. Taehyung trailed his lips back to your neck and sucked on your pulse point causing you to arch your back. “Y/n i really don’t want to stop, but I need to know that you want this too” the man in front of you pulled back slightly while he waited for a response. Letting out a small ‘yes’ he leaned back down capturing you in another searing kiss. Flexing your wrists in an outwards circular motion you freed yourself from his grip and took a step forward placing your hands against his chest and effectively spinning him around so his back hit the door. Despite the height different even with your heels you kept your palms flat on his chest with your strength, keeping him against the door. Arching a dark brow up at you Taehyung smirked. “Not going to lie, that was pretty hot” you felt him grumble against your mouth as it attached itself to his tan neck. Sucking a few bruises against his flesh you felt his need growing against your stomach and you couldn’t help your involuntary clench of your thighs. His smell was intoxicating, a mixture of fresh linen, cinnamon and musk. You felt his hands trail up the backs of your thighs and grind the flesh under your ass, signaling you to wrap your legs around his waist. Leaving one more bite against his neck you complied and jumped up latching your legs around his sturdy hips. Walking you both backwards, Taehyung leaned you downwards until your back was hitting the large bed tucked against the wall. Arching your back towards him you pulled him onto your body by his shoulder and moaned into his mouth as he captured your lips in his. Biting down on your lower lip hard, Taehyung ground his hips down against yours. While his mouth felt incredible against yours you knew you wanted, no, needed more.“Need more” you whispered out causing his to chuckle against your lips and lean his body up. Smirking down at you he cocked his head to the side and trailed his index finger up your torso and chest. “Sorry love, I couldn’t hear you. What was that?” Rolling your eyes you reached up tugging his hair into your grip. “I said, I.Need.More” you said though gritted teeth at the knowing look in his eyes. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?” before you could retort you felt his mouth latch itself on your collarbone and his hands trailing down your legs, pulling the zippers to your boots down before tossing them on the floor somewhere. Trailing his hands behind your back he began trying to undo your top. “While these straps are hot, they aren’t fucking functional for shit. How the hell do I take this off?” Taehyung practically growled out causing a chuckle to leave your lips. Leaning up slightly you helped him unhook the main portion of the top and pull the strappy harness over your neck. Tossing the item he had been fumbling with to the side he couldn’t stop admiring your breasts covered only by your black lace bra. You shivered as he trailed his hands up your chest, his cold rings causing your nipples to perk up and a gasp to leave your mouth. Leaning his face down, Taehyung started trailing soft kisses along your chest downwards to your torso and back up. His hands were once again at your back, this time working fast successfully unhooking your bra. Looking into your eyes he hooked his fingers under the straps on your shoulder and slowly pulled down releasing your breasts from their confinement. Biting down on his lip he started at your perky nipples and full breasts. He had always loved your curves and didn’t ever think he’d get to see them this way. You felt his soft lips wrap around one of your nipples and gasped as his tongue lightly flicked against the hard pebble. Your hand in his hair pulled him closer to your chest and he smirked. He pinched your other nipple between his fingers which earned a low moan. His mouth being soft on one of your nipples and his fingers being rough on your other one caused an intoxicating juxtaposition and you couldn’t help the little whines that left your throat. Fiddling with your button and zipper, Taehyung successfully started to pull your pants down, leaning up and leaving your nipple with a loud pop of his mouth. Tugging to pull your pants off of your legs he hissed when he saw your core only covered by your thin lace panties. You heard your pants hit the floor in a loud thump and bit your lip in nervousness as you realized just how exposed you were in front of this infuriatingly beautiful man. “You’re fucking beautiful” He rasped out, trailing his eyes up your body and landing on your face. Before he could hike your legs open and upwards you spoke up “You have way too many articles of clothing on” Smirking he complied with your request and popped the single button holding his blazer together, sliding it down his shoulders and throwing it in a heap on the floor. You heard his shoes being kicked off as well before he leaned back down to resume his earlier ministrations. His large hands slid down the insides of your thighs and pulled them open to reveal your soaked panty covered core. You swore you head him let out a low whine but before you could comment on it you felt a warm pair of lips latch onto your clit through the fabric. Arching your back off of the bed you gripped his shoulder in your hand. Taehyung rubbed his index and middle finger along your slit and hooked themselves around the fabric pulling it to the side and exposing yourself to the cool air and his waiting mouth. Laying his left palm flat against your lower tummy he leaned in giving you a soft tentative lick to your slit. Biting your lip between your teeth you moaned out when he latched his mouth around your clit and sucked harshly. “F..Fuck” Hearing your moan he sucked against and gripped the flesh of your thigh with his other hand keeping your legs open. Alternating between sucking and flicking his tongue against your sensitive nub he loved the way you tasted and couldn’t get enough of it. If it was up to him he would do this all day every day. You ground your hips up into his mouth causing him to smirk against your cunt. “Needy” he growled out and trailed his fingers that had been on your thigh down to your slit, running the tip of his middle finger around your opening before sliding itself in to the knuckle. You brought your right fist to your mouth and bit down to keep yourself from moaning out. Slowly pumping his finger in and out, he watched as your finger disappeared into your wet heat taking him in so good. “Fuck you’re wet” Looking up into your eyes he saw you biting down onto your fist and stopped his ministrations “ If you want more I need to hear you babygirl” Muffling a ‘please’ you released your fist from your mouth and wove it into his hair. Pleased with your sounds he continued sliding his finger in and out of you, adding his index finger into your heat hissing at how tight you were. “Shit you’re tight, gotta make sure you’re nice and ready for my big cock babygirl” Arching your back, you felt his press against your inner walls and curl his fingers causing you to dig your fingernails into his shoulder and tug his hair harder with your other hand. Latching his mouth back onto your clit he lightly hummed which sent vibrations through your body. Whining with need you continued grinding your hips up onto his face and rolled your eyes closed. Taehyung looked up at you watching your fucked out expression and almost choked when he heard you whining his name. Working his tongue against your click he started to harshly pump his fingers into you before slowing down and inching his middle finger into your heat. You felt your cunt burning at the stretch but the look in his eyes caused another gush of arousal to seep out and coat his fingers further. “Jesus..fuck you’re so hot and you taste so fucking delicious” As he slowly pumped his fingers in and out you felt your stomach clenching, that familiar feeling on your realize building with each flick of his tongue against your clit. “Tae.. Tae i’m going to cum if you keep doing that.” Sucking harshly he curled his fingers and pressed against your g spot “Cum babygirl, let me taste you before I slid my fat cock into your needy cunt” Rolling your eyes back you felt your legs start to shake as you gripped his hair almost painfully between your fingers. Your stomach tightened and you felt yourself clench around his fingers. Your breath becoming shallow as you let out a series of ‘oh fuck yes’ and ‘omg omg’ your hand that had been on his shoulder came up to your chest as your pinched your nipple between your feelings and felt the metaphorical dam of your orgasm approaching. Taehyung sucked harshly before grazing his teeth lightly against your clit and your eyes shot open feeling your legs convulse and your toes curl. With a final whine you felt yourself cum all over his tongue which he licked up like a starved man. Breathing deeply you felt the sweat drip down your brow for your intense orgasm and when he stood your eyes followed down his torso gleaming with sweat and down to the prominent bulge in his pants. Biting your lip you caught him staring at your cunt that had just cum around his finger and he started to pull your beyond soaked panties down and off of your legs. Looking back up into your eyes he slipped each finger between his plums lips and licked them clean. Groaning at the action you felt yourself clench. “Think you can take more baby?” He smirked at you and you wrapped your legs around his waist pulling him against you and ground your soaking cunt against his covered length. “You’re getting me all dirty, fuck that’s hot” He growled out and slid his fingers down unbuckling his belt. Popping the button of his pants, he pulled the zipper down with your eyes following every movement. Sliding his pants down his thighs he kicked them off and hooked him thumbs into his black briefs. You couldn’t tell if you were really drooling but once his slid his fried down and his cock sprang free you knew me heard your very audible groan followed by a clench of your thighs. Sliding his hand along his shaft, he pumped his leaking length a few times and reached to the side opening a drawer and seemingly looking for a condom. Gripping his arm you shook your head “I’m on the pill, are you clean?” His eyes widened at the possibility of what you were saying and he nodded “I haven’t had sex in a few months and when I did I wore a condom, I also get checked every month if you want to see the results I have them on my pho-“ You cut him off by leaned up and kissing him. As you layed back down against the pillows you smiled up at him an he swore he felt his heart flutter and his cock pulsate. Hooking his right index finger under your thin leather choker he pulled you up and he ground his uncovered cock against your dripping pussy. “As much as I love these, they have to come off they’re barely hanging on your head. Not knowing what he was talking abut you felt his fingers prodding at your scalp and finally run through your hair with the devil horned headband and clips in his hand. Setting them down on the beside table he leaned back piping his cock and wrapping his fingers around his thick head of his shaft. Leaning down he took your mouth against his and you felt his thick tip push against your slit. Locking your ankles around his back you ran your hands down his shoulder and gripped his back. Your walls pulsated around him as he slid in inch by inch and you threw your head back as your walls accommodated his thick size. When he finally bottomed out in your heat he stilled letting you relax as he filled you to the brim. Sliding his tongue against your he grunted when you involuntarily clenched around him. “You're so fucking tight, you make me crazy” he growled out and settled his mouth against your neck, nipping and sucking the skin as he slowly pulled out only to ram himself back in. Moaning loudly your grip on his shoulders tightened and you knew you were leaving crescent moons on his luscious tan skin. “Crazy? you seem pretty soft to me. Why don’t you fuck me and show me just how crazy I make you” you teased. After sucking harshly on your neck he sat back up and gripped the undersides of your thighs pulling them apart from his hips. “You’re so bad, want me to ruin you? Open you up with my fat cock?” you nodded and trailed your tongue along your lower lip preparing yourself for what he was about to do. Ramming himself up into you again you grated your teeth and looked up into his dark eyes. His rhythm was slow and harsh, pounds into you with each thrust of his hips. Your walls enveloped him and he swore he wasn’t giving you up after this, hell he wasn’t giving you up after that first kiss on that beer pong table. He was going to make sure you knew how he felt and hopefully you felt the same way. If not, he’d respect it but at least he’d know you knew how he felt. Watching your tits bounce with each thrust he heard you mumble out a raspy ‘faster’ and he complied, pushing your thighs farther up against your chest. At this knew angle you swore you felt him in your stomach. “Oh god” you ground out and his eyes flashed even deeper if that was possible “Fuck yeah, moan for me y/n” Sliding himself in and out of you at a fast pace, you could hear his balls slapping against your ass. The room filled with shallow breathes and curses spewing from either of your mouths. Taehyung slid his palms under your ass and gripped your cheeks between his large hands, squeezing harshly before pulling you up so you were sitting on his lip with his cock still stuffed inside of you. As he thrusted upwards you met his thrusts by bouncing your hips and wrapping your legs around his waist. His hands held you by your ass, pushing and pulling your body on and off of his cock. Leaning towards him you sucked a bruise onto his neck and wrapped your arms around the back of his neck. Feeling his cock his that sweet spot you shuddered and clenched around him tightly. “Stop doing that before I cum” he gritted out and you pulled back from his neck smirking. “mm maybe that’s what I want” With a sharp thrust upwards into your tight cunt he splayed his right hand agains the bottom of your spine and pulled you as close as you could get. “You’re devilish, I swear. You want me to fill up your little pussy with my cum? is that what you want? to get filled?” his deep baritone voice filled your ears and you clenched impossibly tighter around his shaft. “T..Tae fill me up..I need it!” you moaned out loudly and he pushed your body back down onto the bed, pushing your ankles towards your chest he situated himself on his knees and started ramming into you to the point where your body slid against the bed. Reaching one hand down, he lightly gripped your neck. “Yeah? want me to fill you up? Then cum baby, cum all over my cock.” “Tae..Tae..I’m going t..to cum. Fuck you’re so deep” your eyes fluttered closed as he gripped your throat and you held onto his back. “Cum for me y/n, let me feel you soak my cock as I fill you to the brim” Feeling your body start to convulse you opened your eyes to see his fucked out face, sweat dripping down his cherry colored hair and down his neck. His hand flexing on your neck and his abs flexing with every thrust. His low moan of your name sent you over the edge and you clenched around him. Your thighs closed around his hips and you moaned out his name. Curling your toes your this quivered and your inner walls fluttered around his throbbing shaft. Arching off of the bed and towards him his grip on your neck loosened and he leaned down capturing your hips in his as his hips stilled and you felt his warm cum spitting inside of your waiting heat. Thrusting his cock back in and out slowly he let out a low groan as the remnants of his cum filled you. Taking deep breath he watched your face as he slowly slipped out of you and trailed his eyes down to watch the clear and white liquid leak out of you. Letting out a deep whine he leaned forward and captured your lips between his. His lips were soft against yours, still passionate but not as fiery as they had been earlier. Pulling back his gaze studied your face. “Tae..I” before you could continue he shook his head. “Wait before you say anything, please let me get this out. I’m sorry for the way things happened tonight but I don’t regret any of it. Iv’e literally liked you since we first argued about the attributes of the human brain during psych. That one time you called me an aloof imbecile I almost pulled you out of class and kissed that pretty look off of your face. I assumed you hated me and it made me mad, instead of being a normal human being and just asking you why you hated me I decided to take it out on you. If you didn’t like me, at least I could gain your attention arguing with you.” “And tonight, seeing you with those other guys..I couldn’t help but think it would’ve been better if it was me. I needed to stop being a pussy and just fucking tell you how i felt.” He shook his head as he spoke. “ What about you and Nami? and the fact that you laughed the other day when she made fun of what I should be for halloween and my tattoos” Scrunching his face he sighed. “First of all Nami is just a friend, well more like a family friend. Iv’e known her since I was young and I guess I was just used to her being there. Nami and i have never done anything and never will. Secondly, I didn’t laugh at whatever she said. to be completely honest I drowner out her voice after she asked how you got an invite. I has laughed at a meme Jin sent me of our other friend Namjoon whos away for a semester in Paris, with a bald cap on looking like a grandpa due to his old school vibe he always has. That being said, i’m sorry I never defended you when she said anything to or about you. I really wanted to but you were always so good at defending yourself and that one time Jose defended you, you had turned around and told him you didn’t ‘need a man’ to defend you. So that combined with me thinking you hated me, I just assumed you’d end up really hated me and wouldn’t give me the time of day when we argued anymore.” Climbing off of your body Taehyung sat down next to you and studied your expression. “I don’t hate you per say, I hated that you always argued with me, I hated that you scored higher than be despite never seeming to study while I worked my ass off, I hated that you came from money, you never had to fight for what you wanted or what you deserved. I hated that you were Nami’s friend and always seemed so aloof, like you really didn’t care about anything. But I didn’t..I don’t hate you as a person” you turned towards him. “Who said I never study? My parents would kill me if I scored sub-par. Hell, the only reason I can live here with Jin is if i keep up my grades and don’t disappoint them. If i didn’t care about anything my ass would be living in on campus housing and having an RA breath down my throat while my parents called me everyday asking if I was completing the study forms they sent over. Yeah I’m well off, but that’s my parents money and they worked hard for it. They put hard work and intelligence above all else.” your eyebrows rose at his confession and you get bad. You had assumed so much about him these passed two years and none of it seemed to be right. “I think that’s why I started to like you so much, you’re so intelligent, you work so hard at everything you do and you carry yourself like such a strong person. You kind of scare me if i’m honest” his deep voice chuckled and you smiled. “You’re beautiful inside and out” Taehyung said softly brushing his thumbs against your cheeks. You could feel the tenderness in his chest and your heart fluttered. “Maybe I liked you too, maybe that’s why I always waited for you to argue with me. I like how intelligent you are, I like that you always have something to say about whatever point I’m trying to prove.” You said softly and the corner of his mouth lifter slightly “liked? past tense” Rolling your eyes you covered your face and grumbled. “fine, LIKE. As in present tense” Taehyung stepped off of the bed and chuckled “THE y/n likes me? i’m honored. Sure its not cause I just made you cum twice?” throwing your arm off of your eye you watched his figure retreating into another door before flicking a light on. “Shut up Tae!” Chuckling he emerged from what you assumed was an ensuite bathroom with a wet cloth and situated himself between your legs. “I like when you call me Tae” he said and you blushed, feeling the cool cloth wipe gently along your folds. Sliding the cloth along your legs he finished cleaning you up and smiled up at you gently with his every so beautiful boxy smile. Returning to the bathroom to drop off the cloth you heard the water turn on and assumed he was cleaning himself off as well. Letting your gaze look around the room you noticed the bookshelf across from the bed you were currently on. On its shelf sat different picture frames, books and what looked like plushies. On the other side of the same wall sat a dark grey desk complete with a laptop, a mini plant and various knickknacks and a chair with a navy blue hoodie that you noticed to be Taehyungs hanging off of the back of the chair. Next to the bed was a nightstand that had a lamp, an iPhone charging dock and a bottle of water. The door that connected to the rest of the house was on the same wall. Against the wall to the right of the bed was a large dark grey dresser that matched the desk and what you now noticed to be the bed frame. On the dresser sat bottles of cologne, accessories and a picture frame. Next to the dresser was the door Taehyung had disappeared into and another door you assumed to be maybe a closet. Furrowing your brows you realized this was Taehyung’s room and not just another guest room. Up until his confession earlier you assumed he lived in a luxurious off campus house paid for by his parents. While this was a luxurious Townhome it still wasn’t what you had pictured. As Taehyung walked out of the ensuite he opened a drawer and dug through until he found was he was looking for. Sauntering up to the bed he handed you a t-shirt and what had seemed to be your phone that had been tossed on the floor earlier and pulled on a pair of briefs over his legs. Holding the soft cotton material in your fingers you smiled and thanked him before slipping over your smaller frame. Checking your phone you immediately noticed a series of texts from Layla starting from concerned up to a text that had a winky face telling you to ‘get it, I came upstairs to check on you but your moaning let me know you were doing just fine’. Smacking your palm against your face you blushed bright crimson. Taehyung who had looking over your shoulder when you gasped at the text was giggling and you smacked his chest. “Ow, you hit hard” He said while still giggling. “So, would you..uh stay the night and maybe grab breakfast with me in the morning? I mean know that we’ve realized we both don’t hate each other and we kind of lik-“ Pressing your lips to his you felt him smile against your lips before you pulled back. “Yes, now can we sleep?.” Nodding Taehyung pulled you against his chest and brushed a few strands away from your face as your eyes fluttered closed. Running his hand along the flowers that decorated your right arm he smiled to himself before eventually closing his eyes as well. Interesting how Misunderstandings happen, isn’t it?

————————————

Omg this was supposed to just be a drabble from the pic of red haired Tae and inso from a game of beer pong, BUT ALAS this monster was born. this is my first fit so any constructive criticism is appreciated. Any love is beyond appreciated too <3 I have some ideas for other pics but i just want to get my page situated first. Any messages are welcome too <3 i lub talking to people.

-C otherwise known as, Potitties

#taehyung #taehyung x reader #taehyung smut #btssmut #bts fic #bts taehyung #bts #smut #fic #college fic #enemies to lovers #tae #kim taehyung #tae smut #fanfic #fluff #angst #first fic

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1littleshippergirl1 · 3 years ago

Text

The First Day

With his worn out backpack over his shoulders, the straps digging into Harry’s skin with how much things he’d stuffed inside, he made his way into the building. There was a large Welcome Back banner over the front entrance. The colorful walls were something he’d greatly missed. The summer holidays weren’t nearly as fun for him, not when he was forced in his cupboard when he wasn’t working on his chores. Harry disliked his outdoor chores the most because not only would the heat be unbearable at times, but the faint noise of kids his age shrieking happily whilst they played would reach his ears, reminding him of how he couldn’t have fun like that.

But it didn’t matter now.

Now they were back in school and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had to let him out. He was in Year Four and felt very grown up. He’d even grown an inch or two since last year so that meant he didn't need to use the foot stool to use the water fountain anymore. He was thoroughly glad because his height was one of the many reasons Dudley and his friends made fun of him. But it wasn’t his fault he was so much shorter. Maybe his parents had been short, too.

Harry was lost within his own thoughts. He didn’t see a foot coming out of nowhere. Consequently, he tripped and let out a squeak of alarm. He face planted right on the marble tile. Behind him, there was some laughter. Harry’s face scrunched up in pain, slowly sitting back up. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the culprit: Piers. Piers was one of Dudley’s friends who often came around and was extra mean to Harry for no reason.

“Better watch your step, Potter,” Piers jeered.

Dudley came into Harry's vision next. “Good one,” he laughed like it was supposed to be clever.

Harry pulled his knee up close, grimacing. It was skinned already, bleeding a little, too. He glared up at them with as much intensity as an eight year old could muster. “That wasn’t very nice.”

Dudley and Piers made faces, imitating his words in exaggerated voices.

“That isn’t very nice! Oooh!”

“Stop it!” Harry didn’t like being mocked.

“Stop it!” They repeated in sync. “Stop it!”

Piers snuck a mischievous glance over at Dudley, snatching Harry’s glasses right off his face.

Harry jumped to his feet. “Give those back!”

“Give those back!” Piers mocked him.

“I mean it! They’re mine !” Harry’s heart quickened. He hoped Piers would give them back before the bell would ring. He couldn’t go through the rest of the day without them.

“Now, now, where are you manners?” Piers teased. “Didn’t anybody teach you some?’

“Nah,” Dudley chimed in, “he’s an orphan. He didn’t have anybody to teach him.”

They laughed.

Harry did not.

Piers turned to Dudley, grinning wickedly. “What should I do with ‘em?”

“Break them!” Dudley burst out gleefully.

“No!” Harry erupted.

“Mum and Dad won’t get him another,” Dudley told Piers.

“Please, Piers, don’t do it!”

“What’s in it for me?” Piers twirled the glasses in his hand.

“I don’t know,” Harry looked desperate. He’d be willing to do just about anything so he could see properly again. “What do you want?”

“Gimme your lunch,” Piers ordered.

Harry’s body slumped. “My lunch? But what am I gonna eat?”

Piers shrugged, holding his hands behind his back and trying to pull off a sad look on his face. “I guess you don’t want your glasses after all.... ”

He started to walk away. “No, wait!” Harry said quickly. He clumsily rummaged through his backpack through his blurry vision, coming across the plain brown sack he had his lunch in. “Here.”

Piers’ eyes widened greedily. He tossed the glasses to the side, eagerly digging through to see what goodies were inside. He threw out whatever he wasn’t interested in eating, which ended up being a plain turkey sandwich and a tiny bottle of water. “What’s the big idea?” He demanded. “Where’s all the good stuff?”

“He can’t have any,” Dudley jeered. “Freaks don't get sweets.”

Harry finally found his glasses. He got up and while he kept his eyes to the floor, he said bravely, “I’m not a freak.”

“Yeah you are!” Dudley insisted. “Mum and Dad says so!”

“You mean say so,” Harry quietly corrected.

Dudley didn’t like that all much. He shoved Harry to the ground, much to the amusement of the gathering crowd. They laughed at him when he went crashing to the floor on his back. It sent pain up his spine. “Freak!” His cousin shouted.

It got the other kids to chant as well. “Freak! Freak! Freaky boy!”

Harry hurryingly grabbed his backpack and his lunch items that Piers threw to the floor, pushing past the crowd as he went to his classroom. The laughter became distant after a while, but it still hurt nonetheless.

///

Harry went inside the colorful classroom. There were posters all over the walls, some were for measurements, others were for maps and reminders for how to make a sentence with the right punctuation or if one needed to know how to not make a run-on sentence. He stood near the door, glancing around. The desks were close to each other and oh! They had lids that lifted up where you could put your things inside!

“Hello there,” A pretty lady with soft looking light brown hair and a sweet smile came over to him. She had on a bright yellow dress and her hair was curly and bouncy on her shoulders. “I’m Miss Kelli. What’s your name?”

“Harry Potter,” Harry said shyly.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Harry,” Miss Kelli smiled. ‘Why don’t you take a seat? We’ll get started shortly. You can sit anywhere you like.”

“Okay,” Harry nodded and surveyed the room. Most of the seats were empty except for one desk that was next to the large window that faced the playground. A boy was sitting there all alone. His clothes were worn, like somebody had already had them before he did. His hair was dark brown, almost black like Harry’s own hair and he seemed to be frowning. Maybe he was upset because no one was sitting with him?

He went right over to him with a beaming smile on his face. The boy looked up. He didn’t say anything, he only stared. “Hi I’m Harry!” Harry extended his hand but the boy did not shake it. “What’s your name?”

The boy still didn’t speak.

“Did you hear me?” Harry tilted his head. Maybe he needed to be louder. “I said my name is Harry. What’s-”

“I heard you,” the boy said, annoyed.

Harry furrowed his eyebrows. “Why didn’t you say anything, then?”

“I didn’t want to,” The boy said coolly.

“You don’t have to be mean,” Harry frowned. “I was only asking.”

“Well don’t ,” The boy glared at him as if he caused all the problems in the world. Kinda like how Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon did.

“What’s going on here?” Miss Kelli came by, looking down at them, namely the boy, sternly. “Are you two getting along?”

Harry didn’t want the boy to get in trouble on the first day, even if he was a grouch. “We’re fine, Miss Kelli, honest.”

“You didn’t sound fine,” she wasn’t convinced. “Tom, you sounded upset. What’s wrong?”

So that’s what the boy’s name was.

Tom crossed his arms, another scowling coming out. “I’m fine,” he ground out.

“Tom, we don’t talk to people like that,” Miss Kelli said patiently. She pointed to a poster to the left of them, it was all about how to express yourself in a positive and helpful manner. “Do you see that over there? When you’re feeling angry, you need to take a deep breath and try to focus on something else. You don’t take it out on other people, okay?”

Tom huffed out a puff of air. “Fine.”

Miss Kelli said a few more things before she went back to her own desk. Harry stood there feeling awkward, like he was intruding on something. He waited until the teacher was gone to say anything else. “M’sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to get you in trouble.”

Tom spared him a two second look. Then he went back to looking down at the wooden desk.

“Can I sit down?” Harry asked, tentatively inching his way closer. Tom didn’t respond. But he also didn’t move or explicitly say no, so he took that as encouragement to sit down. “Are you new?” He decided to ask while taking out the materials he needed for the day. “I haven’t seen you around before.”

“No,” Tom said shortly.

“Really?” Harry was surprised. “Oh.”

A moment later, he had another question. “Were you in Miss Isobel’s class?”

The younger years were separated into two, sometimes three different classrooms depending on how big the year was. Harry’s year had lots of students so there were three classrooms for fourth years. They all had different schedules so that was likely why he didn’t notice Tom until now. It was strange, though; usually someone stayed with that same group until they were finished with primary school. They weren’t moved to another group unless they'd done something really bad. Tom didn’t look bad. He seemed harmless.

“Or Mr. Kenny’s?”

“So what if I was?” Tom grumbled.

“Why are you in this class then?”

“None of your business,” Tom told him.

“But why?”

“Because I said so.”

Harry got quiet after that. That’s what Uncle Vernon said during the rare times when he broke the Dursleys rule of asking a question.

///

“We should be friends,” Harry declared during art class. Miss Kelli took them to another room filled with artwork on the walls, easels in the corners and smocks hanging up to wear over their clothes. The easels were placed in rows and they were to sit at one next to their desk partner. They were allowed to paint whatever they wanted.

Tom was using a tiny brush dipped in green paint. He’d made a giant snake and was currently working on the scales. He paused, looking just like Aunt Petunia, as if he’d swallowed something unpleasant. “What?”

“We should be friends,” Harry smiled.

“No,” Tom said bluntly.

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to.”

“But why ?”

Tom gripped the brush much harder than before.

////

Tom was sitting alone at lunch. Just like in Miss Kelli’s room, he saw at the table that was furthest from everyone. Even though he declined Harry’s suggestion that they be friends, he was still going to try. Maybe Tom was having a bad day. No one talked to him at all. It was like Harry's situation, only this wasn’t because Dudley had scared the other kids. People just seem to naturally avoid Tom.

Poor Tom

Harry felt bad for him. He must have definitely been lonely. That only proved to him that Tom needed a friend. He couldn’t be by himself forever! So he made his way over there. He tried to be quick about it; Dudley was coming into peripheral vision.

“Hey freak !”

Harry sat on the bench, doing his best to ignore his cousin. “Hi,” he said.

Tom stared.

“I told you I didn’t want to be your friend.”

“Okay,” Harry said instead of arguing with him. “But I have nowhere to sit. Can I sit here.”

Tom muttered something he didn’t quite catch.

“Where’s your lunch?” Harry peered at him, his eyes brimming with curiosity.

Tom glowered at him.

It dawned on Harry in that minute. “Do you not have any lunch?”

Tom crossed his arms, his gaze wandering elsewhere. The faintest hint of red appeared in his cheeks.

“Do you want some of mine?” Harry offered. “I haven’t got much, only a sandwich and water. But you can have half of it.”

Tom looked like he didn’t believe him. Not until Harry unevenly tore the sandwich in half. He gave the bigger piece to Tom, who had a flash of surprise on his face. He hadn’t expected to be given anything. Harry glanced around, wondering how he could give Tom some water. He spotted a stack of plastic cups on a wheeling cart not too far from them. “You should get one of those,” he said. “I’ll give you some water.”

“Why?” Tom narrowed his eyes.

Harry blinked innocently. “Aren’t you thirsty?”

A few seconds passed by.

Tom got up to fetch the cup. He dropped the cup in front of Harry, watching determinedly as if to ensure that he was actually going to oit. And he did; he poured half of it into the cup and slid it back to Tom.

He didn't immediately dig in like Harry thought he would. In fact, he was just looking at it. Like it was some strange object.

“Do you not like it?” Harry asked. “I don’t have anything else but I can see if I can bring something different tomorrow.”

He watched as Tom’s eyes lifted from the sandwich to meet his own.

“Why did you give me this?”

“You looked hungry,” Harry said.

“You don’t even know me.”

“That’s alright,” Harry said. “I don’t mind. I’ll share with you tomorrow too if you want.”

Tom seemed like he was pondering his words and then very slowly he took a bite of the sandwich.

////

He didn’t know if he should go up to Tom this time. He was under a tall tree with his knees pulled up to his chest, glancing over at the fence. Harry wanted to; he wanted another chance at talking to him. But the other boy was giving off a feeling that made him reconsider; it was just like when Uncle Vernon had a bad day at work. He would go to his chair after coming back. Aunt Petunia knew better than to disturb and she’d tell Dudley to go find something else to do than watch the telly, which usually upset him until he was promised a new toy or a day full of fun with whatever he wanted to do.

Harry stood in the middle of the playground, watching him. He didn’t see Dudley coming up behind him until it was too late. He was yet again shoved, falling to the ground with one swift swipe. Harry turned on his side, looking up at his cousin with dread filling in his stomach.

“Leave me alone, Dudley,” Harry’s knees were aching.

“Why should I?” Dudley sneered.

“You’re being mean!”

“Aww,” Dudley mocked. “Is the freak gonna cry like a whittle baby?”

“I’m not a baby!” Harry jumped to his feet.

“Yeah you are!”

“No I’m not!”

“Yeah you are!” Dudley said loudly. “You’re a baby! Baby, baby !”

“Stop it!” Harry said hotly.

“Stop it,” Dudley imitated him.

Harry glared as fiercely as he could. He really wanted to wipe that look off his cousin’s face but he didn’t want to be grounded to his cupboard. Instead, he stormed off towards the tree Tom was under. He’d seen the whole thing, evidently. His expression was impassive as Harry plopped down.

“Do you know him?” Tom nodded toward Dudley’s direction.

“He’s my cousin,” Harry scowled for the first time that day. “He hates me.”

Tom only hummed. “He’s stupid,” he said at last. “He still can’t even remember his times tables.”

That brought a smile out of Harry. It was true; Dudley still struggled with previous years’ material. It was one of the reasons why Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia got mad at Harry whenever he did better than Dudley.

Tom’s eyes landed on Harry once again. It made him feel like the other boy was staring deep into his soul or something. “Does he hurt you?”

“Huh?” Harry blinked. “Er, sometimes.”

“Sometimes how ?” Tom said impatiently.

Harry squirmed. He wasn’t supposed to talk about that. “Er, well-”

“Don’t bother lying to me,” Tom said sharply. “I can tell when people are.”

“I wasn’t,” Harry insisted. He fiddled with his hands under the scrutiny of Tom’s gaze. “Er, well, he hits me sometimes...and he has this game he plays with his friends, Harry Hunting.”

Tom arched an eyebrow.

A flush came over Harry’s face. The stare made his fidgeting worse. “They like to chase after me. Once Dudley’s friend Piers....he held my arms and Dudley punched me.” He grimaced, just remembering how painful his stomach was to the touch for weeks after.

Tom’s cold gaze lingered on Dudley, who was a ways away, standing in front of a smaller boy, holding up his fist threateningly. “He’s a coward,” he spat. “Only bloody cowards hit people.”

Harry pulled out a wrinkled piece of parchment paper from his pocket and a couple of crayons. He was continuing to work on the picture he’d started this morning during their free time in Miss Kelli’s classroom. He still listened to what Tom was saying.

“-wonder how he’d like it, getting hit back,” Tom said in a scarily calm voice.

Harry’s head snapped in horror. Was Tom going to try and hit Dudley back? He didn’t want him getting hurt. He couldn’t, he just couldn’t! He’d be outnumbered.

“You’re...you’re not going to do anything, are you?”

Tom only smirked.

////

They were released at the end of the day. The younger years had to wait to be picked up by their parents but fourth years could walk home if they wanted to. Harry hurriedly grabbed his things, rushing down the hallway--but not running--so he could catch Tom in time before he left. The entrance doors flew open; he stood at the top of the cobblestone stairs, looking out for him. The sun was shining, a warm shadow coming over his face. He brightened up when he saw Tom at the end of the walkway, about to turn right.

He rushed down there. “Tom! Tom!”

Tom made a face when he saw him but it didn't hurt Harry’s feelings. He came to an abrupt stop in front of him, breathless and panting to re-catch his breath.

“What?” Tom said grumpily. “What do you want now ?”

Harry grinned toothily, but also a bit shyly. “I made you something!”

Tom blinked.

He held it up; it was a stick figure drawing of the both of them. Harry was drawn in red and he colored Tom in bright green. With a hopeful gleam in his eyes, he presented the drawing to him. He rocked on his heels. “Do you like it?”

Tom kept his eyes on the drawing, staring at it in wonder. “You drew this for me?” He demanded.

“Yeah,” Harry nodded. He pointed to the corner of the paper where Tom’s name was scribbled in. “See? It has your name on it. Well, do you like it?”

“It is...acceptable,” Tom decided on. In a whisper, he added, “Thank you, Harry.”

Harry beamed. “You’re welcome!”

There was a tiny smile on Tom’s face.

Both boys were quiet. The only noise came from the chirping birds, the cars that passed by and the chatter of the other children. That is, until the doors came open again and Dudley ran out. Harry’s hands flew up to his mouth, his shoulders beginning to shake with laughter.

Dudley had a bucket over his head and apparently, he was having difficulty getting it off. “Mummy!” he wailed, running around helplessly. (Harry wondered how he didn’t fall on the stairs). “Mummy, help!” Dudley’s friends tried to run after him, yelling for him to stop so they could help. He did not do that, however. He kept running until he hit a tree and fell right on his back.

Harry laughed.

“Oh, I wonder if he’s alright,” Tom said in a voice that suggested he felt oppositely. “Wouldn’t it be a shame if he was hurt?”

#Harry Potter #tom riddle #Dudley Dursley #piers polkiss #tom riddle fanfiction #harry potter fanfiction #friendship

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corinnesamuels · 4 years ago

Text

Guarding the Gates

Chapter 11: What’s Eating Sirius Black?

In which Lily finds out a Marauder secret, Remus returns, and the Order celebrates big wins. But the tide is beginning to change, in more ways than one.

Something is wrong with Sirius Black.

His body is usually so fluid, but lately, his movements have been punctuated by a tense staccato. His hair is beginning to skim the tops of his shoulder blades when his preferred length is just shy of his shoulders. And those shoulders? Often slumped, when his back usually stands so proud.

At first, Lily thinks these things are due to Remus’ mission. Dumbledore hadn’t allowed them to check in with him, so the only way they knew if their friend was okay—if he was safe—was during the headmaster’s mission reports. They were all on edge for Remus. Dorcas had resorted to biting her fingernails, a habit she had long since let go of but now serves as a marker for her most angst-filled days. James' knees bounced uncontrollably as he sat, nervous energy pleading to break free. Peter looked sad and seemed jumpier than she had recently seen him. Marlene helped Lily brew potions, keeping a store set aside and preserved specifically for Remus’ return. They didn’t know what he may need, but they wanted to be prepared for whatever news may come their way.

But something is eating at Sirius. Lily knows that he misses Remus and is worried about Remus, but she has a feeling something else is going on. She has seen Sirius Black when he’s worried. A worried Sirius Black snaps at others when he speaks, he paces, God, he smokes. This version of him isn’t anxious…this version of him…

This version of him is sad.

When his Patronus comes padding through her bedroom, asking her to come by Potter Manor to help him, James, and Peter cast the necessary spells to make his bike fly of all things, there’s no enthusiasm in his voice. None of the adoration he usually uses to describe that overly large hunk of metal. Just a quick ask and a brief “thanks” before the silvery dog dissipates into the air.

Right, then. Lily says to herself as she pulls herself from bed that morning. Let’s get to the bottom of this.

She consults a few books on more advanced potions and charms theory and taps her fingers together as she thinks through what she may need to pull off this admittedly dangerous, reckless behavior. But if Sirius is going to get back to normal, that’s the exact kind of behavior that tends to get him going.

When Lily apparates to Potter Manor, she does so with her favorite cauldron, two small blocks of wood, and the potions and charms books in tow. She knocks on the door and is delighted to see Fleamont, who has spent the day brewing something or other by the scent of him.

“So good to see you, my girl!” he says as he hugs her tightly. Fleamont steps back to observe her, placing both hands on her shoulders as his eyes lock onto hers. She can’t help but notice how similar they are to his son’s. “Are you being safe out there?”

Lily smiles sadly. She doesn’t want to lie to him but hates to see him worry. He’s too old to have this weighing on him. “As safe as one can be.”

Fleamont sighs but doesn’t put up a fight. “I’m so proud of you kids. I just…” He trails off and shakes his head. “I just want you safe.”

“Well, today, I may need a bit of help when it comes to keeping the Wild Boys safe.” Lily grins conspiratorially as she changes the subject. “Could I trouble your potions stores for an experiment?” She opens the potions book and points to one in particular that causes Fleamont’s eyebrows to rise appreciatively as he pulls his spectacles down to the tip of his nose.

“I have a feeling this has to do with Sirius’ motorbike.” Fleamont lets out a dry laugh before pushing his glasses back into place. “I’d rather not know the details of that, but I’m always interested in a good brew.” He waves her along into his study.

Fleamont helps Lily gather the necessary ingredients and gives his thoughts on the tips and tricks she may utilize in the brewing process, telling her that he was on his way out to run some errands but to make herself at home when it came to his stores.

By the time she makes it out to the old shed Sirius had pulled his motorbike around to, it seems that James, Sirius, and Peter are already outside talking through the methods they plan to use. But as she gets closer, she can tell something else is going on.

“The fact that you responded that way tells me that you know what I mean, but I’ll play.” She hears James say. “You showed up on your motorbike today saying that you wanted to make your bike fly—”

“You like to fly on a broom, I think I’d like to fly on a bike.”

“—and make it invisible.”

“How else will I keep it hidden from muggles?”

James tilts his head to the side and mulls it over. “Okay, that bit is fair.”

“It’s a necessity, considering the fact that this motorbike is the size of a small boat.” Lily says dryly as she approaches them. They must have been deep into whatever conversation they had been having because they hadn’t heard her approach. Her description of the bike isn’t an overstatement. The motorbike looks large enough to hold someone of Hagrid’s build, though Lily doubts Sirius would ever allow such a thing to happen. Entirely too risky.

“Ha ha, Evans.” Sirius says sarcastically. “I’ll remember that when you want to have a go on it.” He points a wrench at her to emphasize his point.

“You’ll remember and you’ll still let me ride it when I ask.” Lily laughs again. Sirius looks torn between denying it and smiling, because they all know that Lily is absolutely correct. “I think we’ll need some potions help in addition to the charm work and possibly the transfiguration. I’ll start this while we talk through the spell work. We’ll need a few levitation charms, obviously.”

“Obviously.” Sirius nods. “An ascension charm too. I reckon we’ll need something to regulate the speed, too.”

“And by regulate, I’m sure you mean enhance?”

“You know me so well, Red.”

Sirius, Lily, and James throw ideas back and forth, making note of what will and won’t be helpful, tossing out stray ideas and replacing them with better as Peter flips through the charms book with a hand pressed to his forehead. “If I had known this would feel like being in school again, I’d have skived off.” He says. James and Lily laugh, but Sirius just shakes his head.

They spend close to an hour thinking through spell theory and eventually have what they feel is the correct layering of charms, transfiguration, and finally, the potion, which is now a light blue color and giving off spirals of smoke. Lily estimates that it will take a few attempts to get the combinations just right, and Sirius and James agree. They’ll have to experiment if they want the bike to be able to fly and be invisible for long treks at a time.

The spell work is intense. They take turns going over the complicated wand movements and pronunciations, taking extra time to patiently guide Peter through each before they begin casting. At a certain point, they decide that they have made enough headway for a break, and Lily turns back to the potion, giving it a few good stirs before preparing more ingredients. There’s something about potions making that puts Lily in the zone. It grounds her, brings her focus.

Being in the zone may be why she didn’t see something hurtling toward her until it was too late.

“What is that…Lily, look out!” She hears James yell. Before she has time to look up, she feels his hands swoop in and yank her out of the way from the projectile.

A mottled SQUAWK! rips through the air as feathers, dirt, grass, and unfortunately, the contents of Lily’s cauldron go flying.

James and Lily land on the ground with a thud. “What was that?” She asks as she catches her breath.

“A barn owl, looks like.” Peter says, examining what Lily had assumed to be a rogue missile. “I hope you didn’t injure yourself, mate. I appreciate the dedication, but this is a little beyond the pale.”

“Bloody bird.” Lily mutters irritably. She’s just realized that some of the potion had landed on her shirt. She tries to scourgify it, but it’s no use. Knowing there’s nothing to be done for it, she sighs and goes to assess the damage. James gingerly approaches the bird and looks it over before taking the letter from its claws.

“Pads, it’s for you.” He says to Sirius, handing him the envelope absently before returning his attention to the owl and the odd angle one of its wings now sat in. He taps the wing lightly with his wand, and the owl hoots deliriously in his arms.

They are all so preoccupied—Lily with salvaging the potion, James with making sure the owl isn’t injured, and Peter with James—that none of them realize Sirius has gone quiet. But when they look up at him, they know instantly that something is wrong.

“It’s from Dumbledore.” Sirius says. “It’s—Regulus is missing.”

Lily doesn’t quite know what to say, seeing as she didn’t know the two Black brothers had been in contact. She looks to James and sees his face fall slightly before switching quickly into the look of a supportive friend.

“Maybe he’s just laying low, mate.” James says kindly as he sets the owl back onto the ground. He walks over to Sirius and clasps him on the shoulder. “No need to give up on him yet.”

Sirius presses the heels of his hands into his eyes, and a huff of air rushes from his chest. “Right…Right. I just need sleep or something. Think I’ll go have a quick kip, and we can finish this later if that’s okay?” His voice has taken on that overly polite quality Sirius employs when he’s avoiding something.

“Of course.” Lily says softly.

Sirius nods again and walks stiffly into the house, no doubt into the room he’d once occupied when he moved in with the Potters as a teenager.

Lily turns to James for answers, and he runs a hand through his hair tensely. “Regulus reached out to Sirius a few weeks ago. He's joined the Death Eaters and didn’t say that he wanted out, but…Sirius wondered if maybe he did.”

She lets out a sad sigh. “And so, Sirius offered to help him, and Regulus turned it down.” Lily surmises. James nods grimly. Lily isn’t surprised to hear that Regulus had joined the Death Eaters, considering who he spent his time with in school. They had never been subtle about what they planned to do after Hogwarts. But she also knows that as much as Sirius likes to pretend that he’s not troubled by his brother’s choices, Sirius had always wanted to be able to save him.

“Poor Sirius.” She says

“He asked Dumbledore to keep tabs on him even though Regulus said he didn't want help.” James says. “Dumbledore has spies everywhere. We might as well make the most of them, I guess.”

“Can’t hurt.” Lily agrees. She glances at Peter and sees his discomfort rising by the second, causing her to think, not for the first time, that they were all too young to be so burdened.

Lily looks to where her cauldron and supplies once sat, neat and organized, awaiting her attention. Now the ingredients are scattered across the grass, and what is left in the cauldron is contaminated. What isn’t in the cauldron is stuck to her shirt and beginning to smell. She pulls it close to her nose to confirm and grimaces when the scent hits her nostrils. “Do you mind if I borrow a shirt?” She turns toward James, who has conjured a bowl and some water from his wand for the deranged barn owl. “This one is ruined.” She throws a glare toward the bird, which James catches with a smirk. Thankfully he refrains from laughing.

“Sure. Do you want me to grab it?”

“No, I can find one. I need to go borrow some more ingredients from your father’s stores anyways.” She waves her hand lazily as she turns toward the house. “And you need to go back to Hogwarts.” She says pointedly to the owl. James doesn’t try to stop himself from laughing this time. She notes with a smile that Peter joins in.

“You did stick your beak in it, mate.” She hears Peter say as she walks away.

As she walks up the stairs to James’ bedroom, her heart feels heavy for Sirius. She knew in her gut that something was bothering him, but she hadn’t imagined it would be this. Men like him weren’t supposed to hold sadness in their bones. She didn’t recognize this version of him. Her friend was reckless, rebellious, irreverent, and fiercely loyal, but today he didn’t even have the words to describe how he felt or his usual quick wit to deflect from it.

She resolves to talk to Dumbledore about Regulus. Surely there must be something they could do.

As Lily opens the bedroom door, she starts at the sight of one of the largest dogs she’s ever seen lying on James’ bed. Its fur is jet black and shines like silk. Too well-kept to be a stray. The lads hadn’t mentioned anything about James getting a dog, but Lily has learned that sometimes it’s better not to ask questions. The dog notices Lily’s presence and seems to exhale heavily.

“Oh no.” She says as she reaches over to scratch behind its ears. “You’re too gorgeous of a dog to seem so sad.” The dog leans into her touch and seems to relax. If Lily didn’t know any better, she’d have thought the sigh it let out this time almost sounded…content?

“James, Sirius, and Peter haven’t mentioned that one of them got a dog, but you never know with them, do you?”

The remains of the half-brewed potion on her shirt must be affecting her perceptions of reality because now it looks as if the dog raised an eyebrow at her in confusion.

“I need to grab a shirt before I get too delirious.” She thinks out loud. She opens a few drawers in James’ dresser before finding his t-shirts, and with no one there to see her, she can’t help herself. She brings the shirt to her nose, closes her eyes, and inhales deeply. The dog barks, and it almost sounds like a laugh to her ears, but she’s already determined that the potion has become some kind of hallucinogen--like those mushrooms the muggles are doing--so she doesn’t think much of it. Instead, she smirks at the beast before tossing the shirt atop the dresser.

“Since you can’t talk, we’ll just keep that between us, shall we?” The dog looks confused again, but Lily notices as she begins to pull her shirt up that its eyes grow abnormally wide for a dog. Seeing the fright in its eyes concerns her, and she releases the hem of her shirt to reach out to it. “Are you okay?” she asks. When the dog’s expression doesn’t change, she shrugs and goes back to taking off her shirt. When she has it halfway over her head, the dog yelps as if it’s been kicked.

As she pulls the shirt off and drops it in a heap on the floor, she wonders if maybe the dog actually is an injured stray—

“For fuck’s sake, Evans! What are you doing?!”

The voice startles her, and she looks toward the door expecting to see Sirius walking in on her. But he isn’t walking in the door.

He’s on the bed.

He’s on the bed with his eyes covered, laying where the dog once was. And she’s standing in the middle of the room in her jeans and a bra.

A piercing sound rips through the air, and it takes Lily a while to realize that it’s her that’s screaming.

She’s still screaming when James barrels through the door thirty seconds later, wand drawn and Peter on his heels. Now fully in distress, Lily places a hand to her forehead as she tries to control her breathing. The potion must have seeped through her bloodstream now because she can’t be seeing what she thinks she saw.

“What the fuck.” She gasps.

“What the fuck is right!” Sirius says irritably, still covering his eyes with one hand and extending the other to ward her off. “The shirt, Evans!” He gestures blindly in her general direction with the hand he’s using to keep her away.

“What is going on?” James asks tensely. He looks from Sirius to Lily’s face and has to catch himself when his eyes drop just a notch lower before shooting back up to her eyes. Eventually, he gulps, looks away, and uses one of his hands to cover Peter’s shocked eyes. “Why are you shirtless, exactly?” His voice sounds abnormally strained.

“I told you I needed to change shirts.” Lily sounds lost. “But then there was a dog here, and I was petting it, and then it was Sirius.”

“Put. On. The shirt.” Sirius growls, eyes shut tightly. In a daze, Lily realizes that she is standing in the room with the three men, breasts very nearly on full display, and hurries to pull on James’ clean shirt as she feels a red flush rushing up her chest and cheeks.

“It’s on, it’s on.” She crosses her arms over her chest protectively and looks around the room awkwardly. “I think I’m hallucinating. The potion must have caused it because earlier I saw a dog there.” she gestures shakily toward James’ bed.

“Yes, I was taking a nap on James’ bed, and you came in here, sniffing shirts and taking off your clothes.” Sirius sounds as if the whole ordeal has offended him.

“Why were you on my bed?” James asks as if Lily hadn’t just mentioned that she’d seen a giant dog in the room.

“I didn’t feel like walking all the way to my room.”

“It’s just two doors down?”

“That doesn’t change my answer in the slightest—”

“You were taking a nap in here?” Lily cuts in, beginning to panic. Half-baked potions were dangerous. There was no telling what damage they could do. “I swear I saw a dog. Do I need to go to St. Mungo’s?”

Sirius scans the area around her head as if he’s observing her for a head injury. “Red, the dog was me. What the hell did that potion do to you?”

“I need to send a message to Marlene. I need…” But then the switches begin to click in Lily’s mind. The dog had been in the exact spot Sirius now sits. It had thrown her the same curious and confused looks that he does. Rolled its eyes like he does. Smirked at her like he does—Oh God. Sirius saw me sniffing the shirt. She doesn’t dwell on it long because the bigger, more pressing fact is glaring her in the face.

“You’re an Animagus.” She says breathlessly.

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#jily fanfic #jily #jily fanfiction #first wizarding war #First War with Voldemort #Harry Potter #james potter #lily evans #sirius black #mwpp #the order of the phoenix #mutual pining

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