#need to change up twi’s hair eventually. change it a bit but. Also this is just Wild’s second main outfit. The archaic set is the other one

[fever-project]

Mirrored Links semi-shitposting posting whaaa. Wild has all the hearts he needs, why should he even bother with sleep? Food is the answer to everything in his mind. He’s very wrong. And very sleep deprived.

[luimagines]

It’s late. I should be asleep. *promptly types this in your inbox* For the Vai Clothes Anons, our dear beloved mod; Pinky and for every Twilight Simp out there. *blows kiss* Ignore all the copious self indulgence.

He hadn’t meant to. He really really really hadn’t meant to.

It all started with those awful wonderful vai clothes Wild had lent out. He hadn’t known you were changing behind that tree, he swears. All he knew was you were standing behind the tree, there was a brief rustle of fabric and a flash of skin before he whipped his head away from you so fast, his neck cracked.

“Wolfie? Are you ok?” He’d barely heard you ask, mind too occupied by the flash of soft skin he’d seen.

He shook his head and planted himself with his back to you to give you privacy. It was an accident, was all. No need to get worked up.

Later, Twilight would pin point that moment as the exact moment Hylia or Farore or some other deity had decided to take notice of his embarrassment and laugh.

———

The next time he saw more of you than you intended was when it was just you and him in wolf form. Monster guts had spilt all over your tunic and you plucked at it in disgust. Twilight had been too busy sniffing the air to really take any concern over it when he heard more fabric slid and a wet thump.

He turned his head on instinct and found you with both your over tunic and under tunic off and miles of soft, delicate skin on display for him. He could see the muscle move as you crouched over you bag and pulled out another set of tunics. You looked up and grinned at him.

Twilight felt faint as you approached him and ruffled the fur between his ears.

“Well done. You are such a good boy. Just let me put this on and we’ll go find the others. I bet you don’t want a super stinky friend travelling with you.” You said, a soft coo in your voice.

It took all the strength he had to turn away from the bare belly right in front of his nose and pretend to be interested in a tree as you put your tunics back on.

He had to take some very deep breaths and didn’t make eye contact with you that night when he was back on two legs.

———

The third time was his own fault admittedly. Twilight had gotten distracted with playing in the shallows of a slow river while taking a moment to himself. It was nice travelling in a group but he needed a minute or two to himself every so often as they all did.

“Having fun, lovely?” An amused voice called out and he nearly tripped over his own paws when he saw you with your boots off nearby.

Once recovered, he barked happily and splashed some more in the shallows. He was just a happy Wolfie right now. Nothing to see here, nope. (He knew none of the others in the know would ever let him live it but it was making you smile and that was enough.)

Just as he got deep enough to cover his legs without going swimming, he was suddenly splashed from an unexpected source.

Snapping his fangs in surprise, he turned to face whatever it was and was once again greeted with soft bare skin. Only this time the only thing he couldn’t see was the really important bits still covered by your underwear.

Oh sweet Farore, grant him strength. You were in your underwear.

You laughed, bright and loud, and he swore the sun grew brighter for it. But still that was a lot of skin.

You splashed him again and Twilight prayed he could focus on the emerging splash fight and less on the fact he could see exactly how much the sparring practice with the others was effecting you.

He barely spoke to you that night.

———

The last time was the final straw. You had gone missing for half an hour and while Time hadn’t been worried, merely giving his protégé a smug look, Twilight had shifted and gone looking for you.

Big mistake. Big big big mistake.

He found you.

You were fine. Perfectly fine!

You were also very very very naked.

Naked and wet.

Did he mention you were naked?

Of course most people are naked and wet when they bathe. That’s how it done.

But you were very very naked and that was a lot of bare skin and he’s never seen your hair flat like that and oh Hylia, kill him now, was that your-

“Wolfie!” You cried in glee.

Twilight startled so hard, he tripped on his paws and fell into the little pond with you. There was a moment of shock and water before strong arms wrapped themselves around him and helped him back on to the bank.

“Wolfie?! Are you okay, lovely? It’s okay. It’s okay.” Hands ran down his back as he hacked up the small amount of water he’d inhaled. He looked up and choked again. You were out of the water, on full display and looking very worried.

Twilight made the tactical decision there and then. He ran back to camp and refused to speak to anyone for the rest of the day.

———

You were ignoring him. He’d hadn’t notice for a few days, but the image of you bathing was just starting to fade and he felt like he could actually talk to you again without that being his first thought when he’d finally noticed you not making eye contact.

You avoided him for the whole day, ducking into other conversations and weaving though the group. You even risked egging an argument with Legend to avoid him and that’s when Twilight realised.

You knew.

———

“Can I talk to you?” It took Twilight all the courage he had (and some not so little encouragement from Wild, Time and Warriors of all people) and spoke to you that night.

You blinked up at him startled, your bright eyes shining from the lamplight. Eyes that adverted quickly.

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Privately. Please.” He clenched his fists, opening and closing them nervously.

The movement caught your eye and you reluctantly got to your feet, trailing after him out of the inn they were stay at in the middle of nowhere and behind the building that backed into the forest. It was a full moon and clear so he could still see your face.

You both stood in silence before you opened your mouth. “Twi, wha-“

I am so sorry!!!” He burst out. He couldn’t take it any more. He hadn’t meant to and now you’d figured it out and thought he was a pervert! (A part of him wondered why it was the pervert thing the worried him more than the shadow magic discovery thing).

You jumped. “What?”

He buried his face in his hands. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean for it to happen! I swear! I tried to look away and give you privacy each time!”

You frowned in confusion and you reached out to pull his hands away from his face. “What are you-“

“The fact I saw you naked! I saw you bathing and that time with the monsters and the vai clothes and when we had a splash fight and you were naked and I saw.” He let you pull his hands away only to run it through his hair and tug on it.

You froze. “Twilight. The only one who was there for all that was Wolfie. How’d you… Sweet Courage! You’re Wolfie?!??”

Twilight froze as well as you gaped at him. Ah. “You didn’t know?”

“No!”

Twilight swallowed heavily. So you hadn’t avoided him cause you found out he was Wolfie. Not that that mattered any more cause you did now.

“I’m sorry.” He said weakly. You just stared at him. “I really am! It’s just you were alway so happy to see me and I like your smile and your really attractive and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that no matter how much I liked looking and, oh Farore that makes it sound worse and I just really like…” he started to ramble, the words just spilling all over the place as he foolishly confessed every though he’d had about you from your utterly adorable bed head to the way you smiled to your wonderful personality.

Eventually, you pressed a hand over his mouth. “So you’re Wolfie.”

He nodded. Goddesses he hoped you could still be friends. He’d had his heart broken once, twice would be fine. He’d be fine.

“You liked seeing me naked.”

Again he nodded. He slumped down. There was no way you’d want to stay friends with him now. Who’d want to be friends with a pervert anyway?

The hand moved from his mouth, trailing lightly across his lips, down his neck and rested on his collar. He looked up and saw determination written all over your face with a dark look in your eyes.

“Well then. I hope you don’t mind if the reverse happens at some point.” You plucked daringly at the collar. “After all, I want to see if my dreams were right about you.” It wasn’t darkness in your eyes, it was heat.

Heat Twilight felt fill his own expression as his confidence soared. His hands carefully rested on your waist and he felt the soft skin he’d been dying to sink his teeth into ever since that day with the vai clothes.

“Oh and Twi.”

He was a little focused on the fact you’d slipped his hands over his shoulders and were squeezing them.

Your expression softened although the heat stayed. “I like you too.”

He couldn’t help himself and pulled you flush against him, growling.

Your eyes blew wide with heat and surprise. You pressed firmly against him and started breathing heavily as you clutched his biceps and oh, this was going to be fun.

I have no words.

Insanity.

Truly.

You've killed me.

[jinmukangwrites]

Whumptober 2021 - October 3 - "Who did this to you?"

Fandoms: Linked Universe

Ao3

Warnings: major injury, attempted murder, blood, near-death experiences

---

Trouble comes with a smiling face; not that Wild knows that yet. All he sees is an eager young woman with kind eyes and a humble dress, offering to show him where he can get some wine to cook with tonight.

He and the rest of the heroes have been on the road for quite a while now, without a single town in sight. Nothing but various barns to cross their path. This is the first actual town they’ve seen in miles, even though it’s not a very big one. Yet, there is a small inn for weary travelers, and a marketplace near the front entrance of the town where farmers can sell their goods and towns-folk and gossip. The whole group of them are rather low on funds, but the market seemed like the perfect excuse to relax. Spend some money that they just barely have. Pretend to be normal people for just a few hours.

Just until sunset.

It was Wild, Twilight, Warriors, and Hyrule out in the market while the others were making deals with the innkeepers to get cheaper rooms and more beds. Wild wasn’t really sure what the others were wanting to find out in the market today, but Wild was on the hunt for quality ingredients for quality food that he couldn’t make while on the road. He planned on making a meal tonight fit enough for Zelda herself, and he needed wine to do it. Not to drink, of course not, but to soak into fine slices of meat to add extra flavoring. Nothing strong enough to get a man tipsy—and if he ends up with extra wine, he’ll put it in a flask and gift it to the Old Man. Hylia knows he deserves it.

But he couldn’t find anything even remotely related to wine in these small markets. Some stalls sell alcoholic jars of milk, but Wild honestly has never even heard of milk that could be alcoholic, let alone ever cooked with it. By the time the sun was starting to caress the horizon, frustration was bubbling in his belly because of this and all he could think about were those berries he saw on a tree a few days ago that looked perfect for making some of his own wine out of.

Twilight and Warriors were looking at a jewel-smith's stall, admiring the finely crafted trinkets and murmuring to themselves about the ones that would match her eyes, or impress that gentleman at the tavern, and Wild soon lost interest in both the stall and his love-sick companions. He had stood several feet off, leaning against a brick wall, eyeing the closest stalls to him and hoping for even a small sight of anything close to wine set up for sale.

And then he saw her. Trouble, despite him not knowing it. He didn’t even suspect it. Perhaps he’s gotten too used to the threats of other worlds, that he forgot the threats of his own.

She walked up to him, a swish to her brown dress that seemed to almost have a pink tint. Her hair was brown, done up in messy braids and a bun above her head. Wild assumed she was the daughter of a farmer who was selling crops from their farm, so he didn’t assess her too critically. Before he knew it, she was stopped a few feet from him, swaying her dress side to side between her thin fingers.

“Is there something you’re looking for, travelers?” she asked, her voice sweet like sugared honey. Beside him, Hyrule blushed a bit at the ears.

Wild wasn’t much in a good mood at the moment, but he decided that asking for help might be his only option at this point. “I’m looking for wine, or any kind of beverage like it made out of berries?”

The girl hummed, pressing her finger to her chin in thought. “The most popular beverage ‘round here is milk…” she said, and Wild’s shoulders slumped. But then she continued. “Though, I know a liquor shop further in town where they sell all kinds of drinks. I’ll show you the way, but it closes really soon.”

Hope surged in Wild’s chest. Perhaps he would be able to make a fancy meal tonight after all! Feeling in lighter spirits than he had all night, he told Hyrule to inform Twilight and Warriors that he would be going to the liquor shop. Wild barely noticed the slight hesitation on Hyrule’s face before he turned and did as he was asked. Wild should have noticed it. He should have thought more about how eager and smooth talking the girl was, should have been more in tune with his companion’s concerns, but he followed her out of the market anyway.

And now he’s here, laying on the ground in a pool of his own blood thanks to a hole in his stomach. The “liquor store” was nothing more than an abandoned shop several blocks away from the market, but he only found that out when he walked inside and saw the hastily put together lanterns to give the illusion of life, each one placed among dust and cobwebs. Before he could even turn back and question what was going on, the girl was sliding her arm around his side and heartlessly impaling him with a familiarly curved, sickle-like blade.

Her laugh was also familiar as his knees gave out and he crumpled to the floor, wheezing. Though not familiar in a way that he knew her name; he knew her kind.

“Wh-” he gasps, using one hand to clutch at the floor blanketed in bloody dust, and the other to press onto the wound in his stomach like he’s trying to keep everything in. “What-”

“You’re probably wondering why I’m here, hero,” the girl… Yiga chuckles, stepping over his crumpled body to squat by his head. “To tell the truth, I’m not sure either. I fell into a portal… and found myself in a whole new world. And I saw you, and your friends. I can’t tell you how long I’ve been waiting for the perfect moment to take you down. This is for Master Kohga-” Wild’s too weak to fight her off as she reaches for his body, searching his pockets and taking the only healing potions that he had. “-and for Calamity Ganon. I don’t care what happens to me now, as long as you die painfully and slowly, right here.”

Then, she stands up, takes his potions, and leaves, shutting the door behind her as she laughs into the night.

Stupid. Wild is so stupid. How did he not guess something like this would happen? Did he truly let his guard down so badly that he forgot to always be on the lookout for Yiga soldiers? Has he become so comfortable traveling between worlds that didn’t have rogue Sheikah that it didn’t matter for him to worry about them as much?

He’s going to bleed out and die here, all because he wanted some wine to cook with in a town that only sold fucking milk and he couldn’t bother to make sure the person he was following was actually someone with good intentions. He can already feel his vision swirling, and his entire body feels pathetically weak and cold. The pain is unbearable, bringing tears to his eyes.

He coughs up blood, and does his best to prepare himself for a failure’s death, as he’s too weak to even call for help; let alone try and save himself.

Stupid…

His vision swirls white, and then fades black, and he knows nothing more.

-o-o-o-o-

“Something’s wrong,” Twilight says, several minutes after Hyrule told him and Warriors that Wild had gone off with some farmer girl to find a liquor store.

“Something is wrong,” Twilight repeats when they ask a local villager for directions to the nearest liquor store, and they reply the only alcohol this town sells is the milk in the market.

Hyrule is quick to point out the direction he remembers seeing Wild and the girl go off in, and then they thankfully split up to cover more ground. The second there’s no one to see, Twilight changes into his wolf form, sniffing the air desperately for his kid. Wild’s scent is one that he will always remember, it’s stored and locked within his brain, right next to Mipha, Zelda, and all the kids at Ordon.

He finds Wild’s trail after a nerve wracking few moments, and then he’s dashing through dimly lit streets like his life depends on it.

The feeling of something being horribly wrong only gets stronger when he finds Wild’s scent leading inside a run down looking building with dim, flickering lanterns in the windows. Then, the reek of blood hits his nostrils at full force. He shifts back into his human form and bursts into the front door without a single care on what’s on the other side.

The stench of blood is stronger here, even for his human nose. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that his eyes drop to the floor along with what feels like a stone in his stomach. Wild is at his feet, curled up like a child, red pooling around his terribly pale body.

“No-” Twilight drops down to his knees, already pulling out his spare red potion and gathering Wild into his arms. Wild makes a strangled groan through his throat, but his eyes are squeezed closed.

He’s alive though. The thought that he’s still alive is the only thing that gives Twilight enough strength to pull out the cork of his jar and shove the opening to Wild’s lips.

Wild chokes as the liquid enters his mouth, but Twilight doesn’t let up. It’s preferable to drink red potions, but when it comes to drastic situations like this, just getting it in the injured person's body is enough to save their lives. Wild coughs through the liquid and writhes in Twilight's arms, and it’s all Twilight can do to keep the bottle there and shakily whisper every comforting word that he knows. Eventually, color returns to Wild’s cheeks, and his eyes blink open blearily as his choking turns into instinctive swallows.

When the contents of the bottle is gone, Twilight lets the glass jar fall to the floor as he now uses his newly freed hand to check Wild’s wound.

It’s still nasty, and deep, but no longer life threatening. Another potion or some stitches and Wild will be as good as new. For the first time in what feels like years, Twilight allows himself to breath out a sigh of intense relief.

“Twi…?” Wild asks, voice incredibly small.

Twilight holds him just a little tighter, willing his heart to calm down. He’s almost… he’s come so close to almost losing-

“Who did this to you?” Twilight demands with a bite to his tone that he doesn’t mean to direct at Wild.

Wild doesn’t react to it though. He just closes his eyes and shakes his head. “It… doesn’t matter…” he replies in a whisper. Twilight feels anger swell in his stomach and he almost argues back, but Wild talks more despite how much it must still hurt. “Later,” he says. “’M hurt, wanna sleep. Deal with… it later.”

Twilight takes a deep breath, counts to five, then lets it out. He doesn’t feel any less upset. However, he keeps his voice level, deciding that arguing with Wild here will just upset the boy more than help him.

“Okay,” he agrees reluctantly. “I’m going to carry you, okay? I’m out of potions, but Wars or Hyrule should be nearby with some of their own. Then we can go get a well deserved sleep.”

Wild simply nods and relaxes into Twilight’s arms, breathing a sigh and closing his eyes. Twilight bites his lip, then resolves himself to hold one of his dearest friends close to his chest as he stands up. There’s blood everywhere, staining his hands, his tunic, his boots, his pants. But he got here in time. Wild will be okay.

That’s all that matters now. Once Wild has all his color back and his stomach no longer has a hole in it… then Twilight can make sure whoever did this regrets being born.

“I got you, kid,” he says, “I got you.”

[castielle-deanna]

Destiel fanfic masterlist

My Destiel fanfics in decreasing word count order:

Hold me tight or don't (Explicit, words: 37,677)

Tags: Canon Compliant up to 15x13 // First Kiss // Domesticity in the Men of Letters Bunker // Conversations in the Impala // falling!Castiel // New Relationship // First Time // Castiel is Jack Kline's Parent // Castiel and Dean Winchester in Love //Art Embedded //soundtrack

Summary: With Jack’s soul now back, the four inhabitants of the Bunker are working on establishing a new routine. Between hunts, God’s wrath hanging over their heads and Castiel’s dwindling grace, the angel is not particularly eager to mention his deal to the Winchesters. With everything that’s going on, allowing himself to be happy sounds impossible anyway, right? Wrong…

With art by the fantastic @lizleeships

“Why now?” The angel asked quietly, taking a small step back.

Dean's fingers tightened on the tie he'd been holding onto as if it was a lifeline. “You said we were real. I want to believe it.”

“Even if it ends in pain?”

“Cas, everything I do ends there, eventually. There is always a bigger, heavier, smellier shoe waiting to drop. Holding back in fear of it doesn't make it any smaller, lighter or... or... “

“Less odoriferous?” Cas offered.

“Is that even a real word?”

“It is, indeed.”

“Sometimes you sound like you eat dictionaries and Victorian novels for breakfast,” Dean shook his head, grinning.

My unintended (Explicit, words:10,202)

Tags: Angst with a Happy Ending // Post-Episode: s15e20 Carry On // FUCK CANON! // Saving Dean Winchester - Retconning the finale - The fangirl business // Castiel/Dean Winchester First Kiss // Castiel/Dean Winchester First Time Having Sex // Slow and Romantic Sex // Bottom Castiel/Top Dean Winchester

Summary: At first, Castiel is ready to honour his part of the deal with the Empty, but then Jack shows up with distressing news...

With art by the fantastic @jeanne-de-valois

Cas heaves Dean into a bridal carry, struggling under his weight, but still he shifts slightly when Sam moves closer to help. He knows he needs to stop keeping Sam away, because it’s not fair, and it’s not what Dean wants anyway, but Sam accepts it and simply hangs back with a nod before he speaks again.

“I also know it’s not my business, but… do you think you could talk to Dean once he’s up for it? I’m not blind, or stupid. You two have to stop only holding each other like that when one of you is hurt or dead.”

Love me right (Explicit, words: 2,436)

Tags: Established Castiel/Dean Winchester // Porn with Feelings // Dean Winchester Wears Panties // Light Bondage // Panty Kink // Wing Kink // Top Castiel/Bottom Dean Winchester // Light Dom/sub // Dom Castiel/Sub Dean Winchester // Light BDSM // Dean and Castiel watch porn then recreate it

Summary: Dean asks to be tied up - who's Cas to say no to that? Written for a prompt by @winchester-reload on Patreon: "Thee Pink Panties"

“I want you to tie me up,” Dean blurts out one morning, closer to being asleep than awake still. He has no idea if Cas is even in the bedroom with him - for once, the angel is not curled around Dean with his whole body, their limbs entwined to the point where they can’t tell where one of them ends and the other begins, cliché as it is.

There’s no reply, so Dean lifts his head and blinks the grogginess away to look around. Cas is in the room, sitting cross-legged on the green couch by the wall with an open book in his lap but he’s staring at Dean with eyes so comically wide Dean would think it humanly impossible if he wasn’t seeing it with his own eyes.

“For fun,” Dean adds in hopes that Cas catches his meaning. The angel looks slightly less taken aback at that, but he still appears confused and tilts his head as if a slightly different angle would help with unraveling the mystery of Dean's words. “During sex, Cas.”

Rewind the exit (Teen And Up Audiences, words: 2,408)

Tags: Post-Episode: s15e18 Despair // Fix-It // Grief/Mourning // Angst with a Happy Ending // Castiel and Dean Winchester in Love // Grieving Dean Winchester // Grieving Sam Winchester

Summary: "Rewinding the exit wound, I'm holding on to you 'Cause I need words like anyone, and I need love like everyone With those words I'm strong enough, and I need love like everyone." (Rewind the exit by Volbeat) Obligatory 15x18 fix-it.

The Bunker is haunted. It's haunted by two faint apparitions of humanity who mostly pass each other by in the corridors like ships in the night, silent and distant.

Dean prays. Every morning, every evening, and most waking hours between the two, he prays. He doesn't know if Cas can hear him, but the faith that he can is all Dean has, so it has to be enough.

It's not enough. Yet Dean clings to it, because if he doesn't have that, he doesn't have anything.

Bite me (Mature, words: 1,407)

Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence // Vampire Dean Winchester // Mild Blood!Kink (comes with the territory) // Castiel/Dean Winchester First Kiss

Summary: After Dean gets turned into a vampire during S06E05 - Live Free or Twi-hard, instead of going to Lisa's, he prays to Cas. Written for a prompt by winchester-reload on Patreon: "Vampire!Dean having a Cas snack"

“I can get you through this, and then we’ll burn any other bridges as we get to them,” Cas says earnestly.

“That’s not how the saying… you know what, never mind. I don’t want to get through this! I told you to kill me!” Dean pushes Cas away, but the angel holds onto both of his shoulders to stabilise him until Dean shakes him off in defiance. “Fucking stubborn angel, why can’t you just do as you’re told?”

“Because I’ve decided to disregard stupid orders!” Cas shoots back, and his previous stoicism is gone entirely. His eyes flare faintly with the light of his grace as he shrugs off his trenchcoat and goes to work on loosening his tie.

I wanna get you back again (Mature, words: 1,176)

Tags: Post-Episode: s15e18 Despair // Canon Divergence // Castiel/Dean Winchester First Kiss

Summary: Dean breaks into the Empty to save Cas. Written for a prompt by winchester-reload on Patreon: "Come on and lay it down/I've always been with you/Here and now/Give all that's within you/Be my Savior"

“Am I wrong in assuming that our friend who has the fashion sense of a flasher wasn’t the only one in love?” Balthazar smirked.

“Huh?”

Balthazar rolled his eyes. “Bit slow on the uptake, aren’t we? You know what, don’t answer that,” he shrugged, rolling right over Dean’s indignant splutter. “I’m talking about Castiel.”

“I know!”

“So which part of my question was confusing then?”

“Fuck you, Feather Boa, the Empty is trying to push me out and you want to chat?” Dean scoffed, trying to stomp his way past him.

“Your trenchcoated boyfriend is that way,” Balthazar said dryly, pointing to his left.

Forward is just the way ahead (General Audiences, words: 1,091)

Tags: Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor // Baby Jack Kline // Castiel is Jack Kline's Parent // Tattoo Artist Dean Winchester // Single Parent Castiel

Summary: Tattoo artist Dean falls for client. Written for a prompt by winchester-reload on Patreon: "Cas getting tattooed by Dean (or the other way around)"

“So,” Dean began, “It’s a simple black design, correct? Four rows of symbols?”

“Yes. It’s actually a warding-slash-protection spell in Enochian, the language of Biblical angels. There’s… well, there’s a story to it,” Cas chuckled.

“Is part of that story that you were named after an angel?”

Cas’ chuckle changed into full-blown laughter. “Yes. I have to say I wasn’t expecting you to know that. In fact, all my siblings have angel names, except for Luke, but only because they wouldn’t allow my parents to officially name him Lucifer…”

Waffles or kisses (Mature, words:1,026)

Tags: Domestic Fluff // Domestic Castiel/Dean Winchester // Established Castiel/Dean Winchester // Domesticity in the Men of Letters Bunker (Supernatural)

Summary: Cas tries to make breakfast for Dean - it doesn't quite work out... Written for a prompt by winchester-reload on Patreon: "Great British Bake Off contestants with fewer clothes and lots of flour!" I have nefariously tweaked the prompt to allow me to play in the canon!verse.

“You look like one of the Great British Bake Off contestants, but with fewer clothes... and lots of flour, what the hell are you even doing?” Dean guffaws.

“Is that Dean?” A slightly tinny female voice comes from somewhere underneath the bowls, and it takes a moment for Dean to recognise it.

“Hi Jody!”

“Am I on speaker?”

“Yes,” Cas says, rolling his eyes. Dean finds that his behaviour is not unlike Miracle’s after the dog got caught chewing Sam’s 3rd pair of slippers to shreds, and the comparison draws another laugh out of him.

“Hi, Dean,” Jody says warmly. “Nice to hear your voice, though it would be even nicer if you were the one calling, rather than hijacking a conversation between Cas and I…”

Dean ducks his head as Jody’s “mom voice” tries to work its magic on him. “I’m not hijacking anything! Can someone explain why my kitchen and my… Cas are head-to-toe covered in flour?”

“I was trying to make waffles for breakfast,” Cas replies barely audibly, looking down, shoulders drooping.

With those words I'm strong enough (Mature, words: 703)

Tags: Dean Winchester Deserves to be Happy // Dean Winchester's Birthday // Established Castiel/Dean Winchester // Non-Explicit Sex // Castiel and Dean Winchester in Love // Dean Winchester Says "I Love You" // Pillow Talk // Dean Winchester Lives // fuck 15x20

Summary: It's Dean's birthday and Castiel doesn't waste a single second to wish him a happy one (Utter finale denial and slight sap below.)

“Where did you go, my love?” Cas asks, ruffling Dean’s hair, curling a longer-than-usual strand of it around his index finger.

“Thinking.”

“Uh-oh, that’s never a good thing,” Cas deadpans and Dean whacks his upper arm with very little force. “Ow.”

“Sarcastic asshole in one moment, drama queen the next,” Dean grumbles, and he fully intends to kiss it better, but before he could get around to it, he’s pushed onto his back and there’s a former angel of the Lord straddling him with a grin on his face.

Domestic (General Audiences, words: 462)

Tags: Domestic Fluff // Established Castiel/Dean Winchester // Fallen Angel Castiel // Suptober 2020

Summary: Middle-of-the-night Destiel chat. Just a lightning-quick ficlet as my first and possibly only entry to Suptober 2020. The prompt was 'domestic'

“Of all the human things, the constant need to urinate is the worst,” Castiel complained as he slid under the covers with a yawn.

“The worst?” Dean huffed in sleepy amusement. “Being shot is worse. Broken bones. A toothache…”

“They are worse, but they are temporary. Urinating is permanent. I will have to put up with it for the rest of my life.”

[no-whump-on-main]

Apartment 307-8 (Grabbed by the hair)

Hi guys!! I'm so sorry it took me so long to update. School and work have been crazy but luckily I'm out of school next week so I'll have much more time and be posting more frequently! Apologies for the short chapter, I have no idea why but it just kicked my butt lol. I tried doing some cool multimedia stuff, I hope you enjoy! This is @sableflynn's BTHB request, grabbed by the hair.

TWs: Creepy, possessive whumper, mention of branding, also this chapter made me sad bc I love my mom and Elora's mom is sad so warning for that lmao

Elora was still lying there crying hours later. The tears had slowed from her initial keening sobs, but they still fell steadily down her face, accumulating in a small puddle on the tile by her head. She could see a bit of her reflection in the salty water; just her eyes, mostly. She saw green eyes that had once been so full of hope and life that were fading, the slow abandonment of hope almost making them gray out. She wanted to lie there forever, staring into her own eyes, until oblivion took her. If she cleared her head enough, she could pretend she was elsewhere, somewhere warm and loving; the blanket draped over her body did help with the fantasy, though she always knew somewhere in the back of her head that it was just that: a fantasy. She was still here. With him.

Clyde tried to give her time to recover, but his patience wore eventually. He began to get antsy after a few hours of watching her lie there, doing nothing but cry. Admittedly, he did enjoy it at first-seeing her so weak, so docile, because of him-but it eventually grew tiresome. Watching each tear drip down into the puddle became like watching paint dry.

He stood up abruptly. Elora was startled by the motion, flinching before stilling and watching him very carefully. What was he going to do?

“Get up,” he said simply.

Elora froze. She still felt sick, dizzy with pain and the lingering scent of her burning flesh in the bathroom. But why would he care about that? Why should she disobey him, when she knew what would happen?

Yet pride and pain got the better of her again.

“I can’t,” she whimpered. She felt weak. “I hurt. You hurt me.”

The piercing sound of a loud, sudden laugh began to echo through the bathroom. It reminded Elora of the laugh of a hyena. She winced.

“Darling, did you not think that was the point?”

Her expression hardened and her heart thumped in her chest. That was the point. She wanted to say something, but her mouth suddenly got dry.

The man simply grinned. “Get up,” he repeated, but she didn’t. She just laid there, dumbfounded.

He groaned angrily, rolling his eyes. “Fine,” he grumbled. “Be that way.”

He gathered up her hair in his hand, locked his fingers in a tight fist, and pulled up. Elora yelped and scrambled to get to her feet to relieve the pain, but he didn’t give her the chance; he carelessly dragged her off, out of the bathroom, through the hallway, and into the living room. She screamed and thrashed wildly, her hands desperately trying to push him away as her scalp burned like fire. Again and again, her feet scraped the ground to no avail, kicking and kicking but never able to gain enough traction to stand as she was mercilessly dragged. The man finally dropped her on the floor at the foot of a worn leather couch, releasing his death grip on her hair. Her hands immediately flew up to her head, applying gentle pressure to her scalp to try to ease the burning pain as she looked around the new room.

The living room was barren, like the man had half moved into it then given up. There was a dusty box in the corner, the couch, a worn coffee table, a small stand, and an old TV. Other than that, it was empty, in an eerie way. The aged carpet spanned the floor like an ocean.

The pressure didn’t do much and Elora dropped her hands, still wincing as the man plopped himself on the couch behind her, the leather making a loud crackling noise as he sat. She whipped her head around as her shoulders raised up to her ears instinctively. The man made a sour face, his features twisting into an ugly frown.

“Relax,” he commanded, forcefully pushing her shoulders down. At first, she tried to wiggle away, but that idea was abandoned when he tightened his grip, clearly as a warning. He grabbed the TV remote from the arm of the couch and turned it on. It started on some history channel documentary about cars, but Clyde quickly flipped through channels until he found the local news station.

A grin spread across his face as he read the blue banner spanning across the bottom of the screen. They were just in time.

UP NEXT: CAPE COD GIRL GOES MISSING; DESPERATE MOTHER PLEADS FOR HER RETURN

His hands wandered to Elora’s scalp and began to gently card through her hair. She inhaled sharply, and it took everything she had in her not to immediately shove him off. Somehow the gentleness felt worse than the pain; the false sense of care disgusted her. He was a maniac. He hurt her, he branded her, and now he was sitting on the couch petting her hair, pretending like none of it happened. It didn’t escape her attention how he set her on the floor instead of the couch, below him, like a dog.

The banner was bad enough, but she felt sick to her stomach when the station cut to a reporter sitting at a desk with a picture of her on half of the screen. It was the picture her mom took of her at the orchard last fall. It was candid; she remembered it. She was intently focused on a butterfly off on a tree, ignoring her mom as she snapped the photo. It was one of her favorite pictures of herself. And now, it was plastered all over the news.

The reporter on the TV began to speak. “Tonight, a desperate mother pleads for her missing daughter’s safe return. Elora Larkin, nineteen, of Barnstable county, Massachusetts has been missing since Friday night. She was last seen walking home from her job at Agathangelou’s bakery, wearing khakis, a black t-shirt, and black sneakers. The police have opened a tip line and are offering an unspecified reward for any information that leads to Miss Larkin.”

Elora felt a lurching sensation in her stomach, so visceral she wanted to throw up. That was her. On the news. Gone. Missing.

Behind her, the man chuckled.

“Look at that, baby. You’re all over New England.”

“I’m not your baby,” she snapped, turning around. But her head was spinning. All over New England? It wasn’t the Cape Cod news station on the TV. It wasn’t even a state news channel. It was entirely unfamiliar, the reporter’s face one she’d never seen.. So he’d taken her across state lines, making her chances of being found lower yet.

The man shushed her and put a finger up to her lips. “Watch.” She almost bit him, but decided it wasn’t worth the inevitable punishment that would follow. Besides, they might say something useful, something that could help her. She needed to pay attention.

The screen changed, and a missing persons poster popped up. Hers.

It was up for a minute before it faded away as the reporter came back on the screen.

“Such a sad story. Everyone in the studio is hoping and praying for her safe return. Unfortunately, vigilance is so important in this day and age. Up next, we have a recording of a press conference with the girl’s mother.

The girl’s mother. Her mother. Elora felt her heartbeat thumping in her chest.

And there she was. Jodie was standing at a podium in a building that had to be a police station. Demetrios was standing by her side, offering support by merely being present. While Elora hadn’t seen him cry even once in all the years she’d known him, he now looked like he was on the verge of tears.

Her mom started to speak. She looked so sad. Withered, like the life had been sucked out of her, from fear and overthinking and sleepless nights.

“My daughter-My daughter Elora has been missing since Friday night. She’s got-she’s got blonde hair, and green eyes, and she’s real tall. I’m sure pictures have gone around by now. She was walking home from work and-and then she disappeared. We were supposed to have dinner Sunday and she never came. It was supposed to be her weekend off. I- If someone has her, please, I’m begging you, let her go. Bring her home safe. She’s a good kid, she works hard, she rescues cats in her spare time...she doesn’t deserve this. And Elora, if you’re seeing this, I love you. I love you so much, honey. If you chose to leave, please just tell us you’re okay. It’s okay. You can go see the world, just tell us you’re okay. And if something-something bad happened, we’re gonna find you. I promise, baby, I love you and we’re gonna bring you home. Promise.”

At that point, she set the microphone down and began to cry, tears streaming down her face as she hurried off to an exit, the cameras following her for a few moments. Elora’s heart twisted in knots. Seeing her mom’s face brought her so much joy, yet knowing how worried she had to be made her feel sick with guilt.

But she promised. She promised she’d find her.

“That your mom?”

Elora stilled. He already knew the answer.

"She’s kinda pathetic. Could barely keep it together long enough to tell them about you.”

She went cold. “Stop,” she seethed. Her voice was eerily calm, given her anger.

"Or what?” he replied, twisting her hair up in his hand and giving it another tug.

Elora was silent. There was no or what. She knew that.

The reporter came back on the screen.

“Well, folks, that’s all we have on the case for tonight. Remember to be safe and vigilant. This has been Hannah Brown with News12.”

The man released her hair, picked up the remote, and turned off the T.V.

“Notice how they only talked about you, not me?”

Elora turned her head around. She was crying.

“What?”

He scoffed. “I said, notice how they only ran their mouths about you the whole time. Never said a word about me. You know what that means? They don’t know jack shit about me. They don’t know who you’re with or where you are. I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but we’re in Connecticut. We crossed state lines twice. They’re never going to find you, you know that?

She tried to hide it, but he could see her expression falling with every word he said, hope beginning to seep out of her. She shook her head vigorously, her bottom lip trembling.

“N-no! No, they will, you’re just crazy! You’re just fucking crazy!”

A scowl formed on his lips. “No, they won’t.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but in a split second, his hand was gripping tightly around her throat, cutting off her air. Her eyes went wide.

“No one is coming to save you.”

Elora swallowed, fear bright in her eyes. She tried to rip herself away, but the man raked his fingers across the fresh brand on her collarbone, sending her to the ground, keeling in pain.

“We could’ve had a nice evening if you behaved. Listened,” he grumbled, standing and once again grabbing her hair tightly before dragging her off towards the bathroom.

Tags: @exploringspaceinpyjamas @all-whumped-out @badthingshappenbingo

[cummingforkylo]

Savage-Chapter One

Read it on AO3

Oh god, I can’t believe this is real. I seriously considered calling this Cracktok

Savage

Chapter One- Tiktok Wars

Rating: Explicit

CW: Crackfic, eventual smut and rough sex

Summary: Kylo Ren discovers Tiktok, first he is confused and then he is furious when he finds out what you are posting on there for everyone to see. He is also VERY angry to find out what thirsty people all over the holonet are saying about the Supreme Leader of the First Order. A complete Crackfic.

Word Count: 2,681

Tiktok had started as a way for you to fill your time while Kylo was training or on missions. You would scroll endlessly through the videos, laughing at pretty much everything you saw. Videos of life forms from all over the galaxy doing versions of the same dance, bands creating endless streams of music to advertise their specific bar or cantina, people telling stories or doing stupid things, pretty Twi-lek girls dancing or mouthing along to different quotes. There were also a surprising number of Tiktoks about the one and only Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader of the First Order and Emperor of the Galaxy. Of course, you lingered over those whether they were people joking around about him, or thirsting over him, you couldn’t help but giggle about them, especially while you lounged in his bed. Your For You page slowly became a lot of him.

You vowed to yourself that you’d never show him those videos, you didn’t think he’d take it very well and you definitely didn’t think he’d understand it. In your spare time you had learned some more of the popular dances, you got some views, and even a couple comments since it was obvious you were in a First Order star destroyer. You, of course, never answered any questions because you thought Kylo might force choke you to death if he were to find out you were talking about any of that to the whole holonet. You couldn’t help but imagine how all of tiktok would explode if you got a video with Kylo.  There were so, so many videos about him, both in awe of his power, thirsting after his body, and also joking about his…intenseness.  You would gain a following in seconds flat if you were able to post a video with him. There was no way he’d be interested and you knew that so you tried to repress your silly desire to show off your relationship with the Supreme Leader.

Kylo first found out about tiktok as you were lounging in bed, up much later than usual because you had spent far too long watching videos and the door to your quarters opened suddenly making you jump so hard you almost threw your phone.

“What are you doing?” He asked, his voice gruff, and obviously surprised to see you awake still.

“Just…on the holonet.” You said settling back against the pillows on the bed and glancing at him innocently. He still took your breath away whenever you looked at him, the stern look on his face that only seemed to soften once in a blue moon, the soft curl of his hair and the intensity of his dark eyes. Not to mention his plump lips, strong straight nose and jawline, all of it made you blush and feel like you were some stupid little girl. You had once wondered if there was something wrong with you, you didn’t think anyone else would be so affected by him. You found yourself wanting to do anything to please him, you were willing to leave everything behind to be with him. You hadn’t thought anyone could feel like this for anyway, let alone for someone like him…dangerous, murderous and…dark. But that had been proven to be untrue, in fact, there were thousands…if not millions of other people who felt exactly as you did for the man…as if there was something about his very soul that just drew people in. Especially young women. And you were lucky enough to share a bed with him.

Kylo took his time taking his boots off, his cloak, his belt, outer layers until he was just in his pants and soft undershirt. He sank down on the bed and looked over at you, his brow was furrowed as if he didn’t quite understand what you had meant by being on the holonet.

“What are you doing?” He asked again, you knew he wanted clarity.

“On the holonet?” You asked, buying a little time.

“Yes, obviously.” He snapped, a wave of irritation flooding his voice.

“Oh, just looking at tiktok.” You said, glancing at the phone in your hand, he looked over at it quickly.

“Tick-Tock?” He asked, leaning in farther towards you to look at your phone. Instinctively, you tried to pull your arm away from him so he couldn’t look at it but that was probably a mistake because his eyes turned to you. “Excuse me.” He growled. Your cheeks flushed dark and you moved closer to him,

“Sorry, tiktok…its like…videos, do you want to see some?” You asked, unsure if sharing your For You Page would be a good idea but then again, you couldn’t very well hide it anymore, that would just be a recipe for making him angry. Kylo sat back on the bed, his back pressed against the pillows and he looked down over your shoulder.

“Is it stupid?” He asked.

“A little, yeah.” You admitted, but he didn’t shift away from you like you thought he might, he wrapped his arm around your shoulders and tugged your body into his. You kept scrolling, pausing on videos and watching them, luckily most of your For You Page tonight was dancing and occasionally a funny video. Kylo watched from over your shoulder, you could just feel his confusion.

“Is this all it is?” He asked, now you could hear the confusion in his voice, you smiled to yourself and nodded.

“I mean, pretty much. Aren’t the dances good?” You tilted your head back to look up at him and the look he gave you so disdainful that you almost had to laugh.

“No?” He said. He looked at you almost pityingly and you giggled uncomfortably. It was lucky none of your For You Page had been of him. His look changed then, from that pitying look to something almost interested. “Have you made any of these?” he asked, you could hear a tinge of worry and a bit of…what was that? Teasing? Was he really teasing you over this? In answer to his question your cheeks started to turn red, you could feel the heat move down onto your neck. You looked back at your phone, not answering but giving enough of an indication without opening your mouth.

“Have you?” he asked, his voice was a little sharper, obviously not very happy that you hadn’t answered him yet. Still, the thought of showing him your stupid little dances was so horrifying and embarrassing you couldn’t find the words to tell him. Kylo pushed himself up so he was sitting up straight and his hand shot out and grabbed your jaw, forcing you to look up at him. “Answer me, little girl.” He growled. Your heart quickened at the familiar feeling of his hand on your jaw like that, at the sound of the nicest thing he would call you. He released you so you could answer,

“Yes,” you said forcing your eyes up to meet his. You could see sparks in his eyes, you couldn’t tell what it meant, it could have been anger or interest. Or lust. Kylo was impossible to read, you could pick up on the signals sometimes but half the time they meant something different from what they had meant last time. Kylo’s eyes looked down at the phone in your hands and you shifted a little, almost pulling it away. His hand shot out and grabbed yours, stopping you from moving it too far away from him.

“Let me see.” He breathed. Still, you couldn’t read his body language. You thought maybe that was a good thing, you would know if he was boiling with fury, right? You knew what that looked like and this was not that. You quickly went to your page. You only had five videos posted. Four were dances, one was a video from the window in your quarters, looking out at the blackness of space and you just said “I hate space.” And that was that. Kylo pointed out one of the ones of you learning a stupid dance, “I want to see that one.” He said. Your whole body was tense, you were so embarrassed. You didn’t even think you were a good dancer, it had taken a whole day to learn to do each of these dances well enough to post a video. You had just been so bored that you needed to find something to do with your time. You tapped the first video, the one he had pointed to and it played you doing the Renegade to Lottery. It was the first video you had posted, and it had taken you a long time to learn how to learn how to do it. Kylo’s body tightened a little as he watched it, you couldn’t tell if it was because he hated it, was confused or maybe somehow…liked it? He was silent for a while as it played through once, twice, three times. He reached out and took your phone so he could look at it better and finally,

“Did you make that up?” Kylo asked. You actually started laughing at that and he shot you a warning look.

“No, I didn’t…like tons of other people did it. Here- let me show you.” You reached out for the phone, took it back from him and tapped the sound. It took you to the page filled with people doing the Renegade. He watched as you showed him people over and over doing the same dance, the song repeating each time,

“Show me yours again,” You went back to your video and he watched it closely.

“You learned that?” He asked, he was obviously confused about what the point was.

“Yes?” You said.

“Why?”

“Because I was bored.” You explained and he nodded, but still seemed very confused.

“Show me the next one.” He said. You assumed he meant the next video of you so you scrolled up to the next one, this time it was you doing the dance to Supalonely, he watched you do that one, moving your hips with the music and then nodded,

“Next one.” He said. The next one was you dancing to Cannibal. Whenever you tell me I'm pretty, that's when the hunger really hits me. Kylo watched through this one quite a few times, seeming to try to really hear the lyrics. You're little heart goes pitter-patter, I want your liver on a platter. His eyes flicked to your face and you felt warmth spreading down your cheeks again, into your chest. Your eyes flicked over to look at him, he was just watching you now and you still couldn’t quite understand what his thoughts were about your dances. Did he think you were stupid? Or was he mad you would put that out on the holonet? You scrolled up to your last dance video, this time it was to Savage. This was another one that took you quite a while to learn, throwing it back had been the hardest part, you wanted to make sure it looked good. For whatever reason you imagined Kylo watching it while you were practicing, back then you had thought there was no chance of him actually seeing it but now here he was watching you do the dance. Unfortunately you had decided to do the sexiest dance you had learned thus far wearing the least amount of clothing. You were essentially in underwear and a long shirt, you really doubted this was going to go over well with Kylo. Instead of watching yourself dance, you decided to watch him watch it. Sassy, moody, nasty. His mouth fell open, you had never seen him look like that. Kylo’s hand shot out and he snatched the phone away from your hands,

“You put this on the holonet!?” Now, finally, it was obvious what his emotion was…angry. You swallowed and reached for your phone,

“Everyone does stuff like that, its not like people care about my video-“

“How many people have seen it?” he growled, you tried to remember exactly how many people had seen that one…it had been the one that gotten the most attention but it couldn’t have been that many? It wasn’t like you were constantly getting likes or views.

“I’m not sure.” You reached for your phone but he held it away from you. “I’m trying to see how many views to answer your question!” You snapped. His eyes were fiery and his and his jaw was clenched, indignant that you would put this out onto the holonet for just anyone to view. The other songs had been one thing but Savage had sent him over the edge. Kylo reluctantly handed over your phone and you looked at the video where it showed the views, it had about 2,000 views. You swallowed and looked at him, trying to seem innocent but also trying to brush it off like it wasn’t a big deal,

“Just like…2,000.” You explained.

“You thought you would put some…nasty video of you barely clothed onto the holonet for 2,000 people to see!?” he asked, his voice cracked out like a whip and you quickly sat up and away from him.

“2,000 really isn’t that much, people get millions of views.” You tried to explain it away, as if it wasn’t a huge deal, but you were sure it would be a huge deal to Kylo.

“Its still 2,000 people seeing something that isn’t theirs!” Kylo’s lip was twitching and you saw him clench and unclench his fist. “Take it down.” He ordered.

“No!” You said without even thinking about it, you knew you were in trouble and now you were making it worse. But this was your outlet, this was supposed to be something he couldn’t and wouldn’t control but suddenly he was telling you that you couldn’t have it. Even though it was just dancing.

“What?” His voice was icy now, cold, dangerous.

“I don’t want to! I like doing this sort of thing and I have so much spare time!” You whined. Kylo had sat forward on the bed now, he reached out and grabbed you, his hand tightening so hard around your wrist you couldn’t escape. You stared into his eyes, still clutching your phone in your other hand. There was more than just anger there, burning, bubbling lust that he was trying to repress. He had liked the video. He would never admit it, but the anger intermingled with the lust and he didn’t know which to act upon.

“Bend over, little girl.” The words were soft now, but not nice, still cutting with no question in them.

“No!” You tried to tug your arm away from him, but you didn’t have a chance, he could throw you around as easily as if you were a rag doll. Kylo reached out with his other hand and grabbed your upper arm now, trying to pull you over his lap.

“You know you need to be punished!” He growled. You struggled, pulling on your arm, trying to twist yourself out of his grip, trying to push yourself backwards on the bed,

“Let me go! No-“

“Have you seen the Supreme Leader recently? Like…let me just-OH MY STARS. This man could-phew! Break me in half if  he wanted…like yes! Stab me with that lightsaber, Daddy!”

You froze. Kylo froze. The sound was coming from the phone clenched in your hand. Tiktok was still open and somehow in the struggle it had navigated back to your For You Page and there a video was playing.

“What is that?” Kylo asked, his voice back to confused and…furious. You looked down at your phone and before you could navigate away from it Kylo reached out and ripped the phone out of your hands, looking at the screen.

He stared at the video, his face going stonier and stonier.

“Why the fuck are these people talking about me like this?” He growled, finally looking up at you, furious and almost wild looking.

[thedumbguywithaheart43]

Boomlords weird adventure

chapter 16 before

The next week or so went by rather quickly. Princess bubblegum started construction on a machine. Really it just looks like a fancy chair hooked up to a whole bunch of different wires and and tubing. Boom knew that a lot of science and magic went into making this as he's not quite sure if princess bubblegum or Twilight had gotten any sleep since they had begun. In fact it was safe to say that their mental state was quite fragile at this point as both of them had messy unkept hair and were covered in Grease and oil. At this point boom was worried about her mental state along with the rest of the girls. He walked over to the hard working Twilight."ok Twilight me and the girls have been talking and I think you need to go to bed."twilight ignored him continuing to work on some coding witch she picked up from princess bubblegum fairly quickly.boom picked up a Giggle from behind him the unmistakable sound of pinkie pie and rainbow Dash who were spying on his attempt to get the princesses to rest. "Okay Twilight either you're going to go to bed of your own free will or I'm going to pick you up and carry you!"his voice was serious filled with a tinge of anger but also concern for the now barely standing unicorn person."yeah yeah I'll do whatever when I'm done here."she completely ignored him. Boomlord shrugged before he grabed Twilight lifting her in the classic princess way. Right before he receives several punches to the face from Twilights protesting wails."Twilight your punches feel like a gentle jab to me."twi pouted at him."just let me finish my work!"He glared at her."let me make something very clear to you no one wants this machine done any more than I do but if you keep working like this you are going to kill yourself!Or at least cause some serious mental stain."boom scorned at her. Boom felt the chuckling increase as more of the girls and even a few banana guards.His cheeks got redder hearing this. The last few days had been pretty good between everyone even Applejack the one who trusted him the least have been unusually friendly to him for the last couple days since he had returned from the ice kingdom. The girls chatted with him more and even joined in conversations while waiting on construction, it had been admittedly strange to him as before they were far more aggressive with the exception of Spike and pinkie pie. But it now occurred to him that it was likely because rainbow Dash had spread some sort of rumor that he liked Twilight......witch was so fucking obvious. He narrowed his brow at the doorway knowing that they were getting a kick out of this. Despite this he was at least thankful that they were giving him a chance if for no other reason then it seemed they believe Twilight might like him back, a notion that he put to the side, believing it to be false.'damn she's cute when she pouts' the continuous pouting and light hits from Twilight broke his concentration of the commotion from the doorway. He made his way through the door carrying Twilight the sound of multiple people scrambling away in a hurry fill the quiet room. Princess bubblegum took notice of him leaving and was likely going to protest saying that she'd likely needed her for something but she never got the chance as Marceline came in and snatched her up in a giant bat monster grasp and flying her out the window towards the one of the towers likely being her room.

2 boom traversed the spindling staircases and surprisingly large amount of hallways within the castle. Boom believed it was a Wonder that the banana guards could ever navigate the absurd amount of turns it took to get around still they were literally made for this place so it wasn't too hard to believe. Boom eventually found his way to twilight's room it was a simple guest room comfy marshmallow bed, licorice lamp and ,other assorted candy furniture. He walked over to the bed gently placing the sleep deprived egghead onto the bed."please go to sleep Twilight I do not feel like having you pass out on me."Twilight stared up at boom grasping his arm when he tried to let go."nooooo don't gooo."her demeanor had completely changed to more like a rather adorable drunk at this point."sllllleep with me yoooouuuu don't get enough sleep either."boom face flash red again as the words hit his ears."Twilight please just go to bed I need to go."he attempted to pull his arm away from Twilight but only found she had a bit more strength to her than he would have initially thought as she pulled him down on top of her. It wasn't exactly the most subtle of positions he could have been in as he looked her right in the eyes.' oh shit this is close what do I do I..... Her eyes there like stars' He found himself gazing into her eyes for what felt like forever and she gazed back. There were no words no sound only blissful silence as they shared a moment of peace with each other. Boom wasn't exactly sure what brought him to this moment all he knew is that right now he didn't want to be anywhere else."you have a nice smile."Twilight said sounding almost like a drunk once more. And he was smiling he hadn't realized it but being around her it was a feeling he had grown to enjoy."I like your smell better it's always so honest."the words left him before he could stop them. Twilight's face had redden even more before sitting up right sobering up for a minute."is this weird what we're doing right now because I kind of like it?"Twi asked in a shy tone. Boom looked out the window before looking back at Twilight a smile still plastered on his face."Twilight I don't know if this is weird or if this makes sense I stoped making sense of things a long time ago things in my life don't happen easily."he took a big gulp of air trying to get most of the words he wanted to say out of him."and I've been through a lot I've seen things that would drive men insane and I've lost more than I think anyone will ever know the only thing that kept me sane was... My ex but even that went to shit since then I've been in a spiraling whirlpool of bullcrap and horror. But then I met you and I don't know why but you make me feel different than other people, even her... I can be real with you not a act or a joke or some other front I put up. I don't know why it is I feel this way about you and I kind of like that I don't know I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you "boom sighed."I like you a lot like a lot a lot like enough where this conversation is starting to make me feel nervous a lot."there was another very long silence the rest of them only felt very long but this one it could have lasted an hour before Twilight smiled."I love you too you big dork."before he could respond she planted a big fat kiss right on his lips.... Right before immediately passing the fuck out. Boom smiled again moving to rest next to her as he peered into the night sky of ooo."I love you too."he rested his head next to hers wrapping his arms around her never wanting to let go."not sure how I fell for a horse but I guess I'm all about being weird heh."he whisper to himself before falling asleep. And for the first time in a long time boom found himself with a gentle dream simply hundreds of stars passing his vision.

3 the next morning) Twilight awoke slowly her eyes heavy as the midday Sun lit up her room the golden cake walls being her first sight. She gave out a gentle yawn before getting up.... Except she couldn't she couldn't move and then she looked to her side and saw the sleeping form of Boom. And that's when she remembered what had occurred last night.' HOLY FUCKING SHIT WHAT DO I DO' her thoughts were in a panic as she had no idea what she was going to tell her friends much less the princesses when she finally returned home about this, specifically her newfound love for the crazy guy who broke into the castle and probably knocked out several guards to escape from his cell..... Yeah this did not look good for her at all. 'okay Twilight just calm down just tell him it was all a dream or something.... Oh who am I kidding I can't lie about that not to him!'Twilight felt sweat form on her brow unsure of what to do. Boom then suddenly pulled her closer fully embracing her in his sleep. Twilight felt herself calm down before her mind did and she simply melted in his arms it was like being hugged by a golden cloud of peanut butter.... Then she noticed he was actually glowing a slight ting of gold and his hair had darken from a blonde to Black his hair on top of that had straighten out not quite fully brushed but far neater than it had been. Then he woke slowly opening his eyes as the golden hue faded but everything else had remained the same."morning sunshine thanks for dragging me to bed.~"he teased in a flirty tone. This of course caused twilight's face to redden once more."s-shut up."boom released his tight grip over her and sat up. His gaze was now away from her."so uh how much of last night do you actually remember."Boom asked"everything boom I remember what you said and what I said and what I did and I don't regret anything I said last night."Twilight looked up waiting for his response."yeah same even if I sound like a complete and total dork."Twilight giggles before leaning and giving him a kiss on the forehead."yes you're a dork but you're still my dork."boom smiled."now that's not fair that's supposed to be my line."the two joked before embracing each other with a kiss again this one lasting a solid few minutes. Boom broke it first."so what are we going to tell the others?"Twilight blinked rapidly."holy shit what am I going to tell Spike?"Twilight blurted out.

[drabbledragon]

Linktober: Forest

It’s been a while since I had some free time to write and since exams are done and over with, I can now keep having that free time. So I present to you all, two months late, day 9 of Linktober. Also, please be cautious of the warnings: it does get a bit gory at parts and of course if you get too uncomfortable, you can always just skip this chapter.

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26749021/chapters/68583117

Summary: Nearly every one of the heroes' Hyrule is peaceful. Just nearly.

Warnings: Minor (teenager) character death, description of (teenage) character burning to death, and swearing. 

Day 9: Forest

The group looked curiously at the folded pile of cloaks Hyrule was offering them.

“If we’re heading into town, then you’re gonna have to wear one of these.”

The traveller didn’t miss the baffled glances he got in return, nor did he miss the hesitance they each displayed when reaching for their own part of the share.

“Why do we need to wear a cloak? We haven’t worn one in any other part of your Hyrule.” Sky questioned as he pulled the tattered piece of cloth over his head. The aforementioned apparel hung loosely around his body, falling just low enough to reach the top of his boots.

Hyrule opened his mouth to answer, thought better of it, and then just shook his head. “ We’ll need it here, trust me. Make sure you wear the hood on the back and whatever you do, don’t take it off until we’re alone.” He then proceeded to pull the hood of his own cloak up, and the others were quick to follow suit.

They wandered into town soon after, and they could immediately feel the hostile dread in the air. The place itself was a sea of uncontrollable weeds and messy dirt pathways, with abandoned buildings and makeshift homes placed haphazardly in crooked lines. Almost all the people they saw outside regarded the group with nasty and distrustful looks, with many of them going so far as to place a hand readily on the weapon hanging from their hips; they were anticipating some sort of attack, Twilight recognised, but he didn’t understand why.

The Hero of Hyrule eventually led them towards one of the bigger buildings in the back, and the broken door he opened wailed with a high - pitched creak. It appeared to be a run - down inn, and the young traveller promptly made his way to the front desk where a middle - aged woman eyed him with scrutiny.

“Hello, ma’am, four rooms, please.” Hyrule’s voice was soft and polite, and if he was unnerved by the woman’s gaze, he didn’t show it.

The tension in the air was nearly palpable, and the Links did their best to not let the innkeeper’s piercing gaze intimidate them. Once the woman had finally focused her attention back onto Hyrule, she questioned, “ What are you nine doing here?”

“We’re travellers, ma’am; we just came down from Darunia Town.”

“And your occupation?”

“We craft and sell instruments we make, ma’am.”

“Take off your hood.”

The group was nearly taken aback by the command, and a few of them were even ready to protest just based on the rude tone alone, but Hyrule didn’t care, and his fingers lingered at the edges of his hood for a moment before pulling it down. All of the heroes’s eyes widened at the sight before them: Hyrule’s usual brown hair had been colored a fiery orange and his eyes now shone with a light blue hue; his long and pointy ears had become rounded around the edges, making him appear more like a human and less like a Hylian. The hero looked to the woman expectantly, and after a few long seconds, she scoffed.

“20 Rupees for the rooms then.”

And so Hyrule paid, placing the gem delicately on the desk and accepting the keys. He led the group towards one of the rooms and locked the door without a word, and once he was sure that the nine of them were completely alone, he allowed his appearance to fade back to its usual self with a long, relieved sigh. He was bombarded with questions just a second later.

“Hyrule, what was that?”

“Seriously, what just happened?”

“Why’d you change your ears and eyes and hair, ‘Rule?”

“What’s that old lady’s problem? Why was she treating us like garbage?”

“What’s up with the people here? How come everyone’s looking at us weird?”

“Boys, enough.” Time had finally sounded over the fray, and when the rest of the heroes finally settled down, the eldest hero turned to the traveller and politely asked, “ Hyrule, what happened back there?”

The Hero of Time could tell the question bothered the other, if the sudden bite of his lip and darting green eyes were anything to go by; but after a few tense seconds, he finally piped up with, “ We needed a few rooms, so I got us a few rooms.”

“You need to elaborate on that. Why did you change your appearance? And why did you have us all wear cloaks?”

“Oh, well that’s, um ...” He struggled for a moment, and looked nervously to the floor as if the wooden boards would give him a sound answer. He could feel eight pairs of eyes boring right into his very being, and he couldn’t help but shrink under their anticipative gazes. “ It’s just a thing we need to do to … y’know, keep a low profile.”

“But why would we need to?” Warriors questioned next, taking an assertive step forward. “ Hundreds of other heroes have passed by here without any issues, correct? So with the exception of you, there really isn’t a need to go through the trouble of hiding ourselves; to them, we’re just ordinary Hylians looking for an overnight stay.”

“I know, I know, but it’s just -”

“We found another Hero of Hyrule!”

Their interrogation was abruptly cut short as a deep voice from outside suddenly caught their attention, and eight confused faces turned to look through the sole window in the room. From what little they could see, they were able to discern a large gruff man standing in the middle of the supposed town square, shouting the same message through cupped hands over and over again as he turned in all sorts of directions; just a few paces behind him stood three men, one of which was just a young boy with floppy brown hair, easily in his teens, and tightly bound around the wrists and ankles while the other two grown men supported him under the arms. Behind them was a slightly larger group that worked together to dig a large wooden pole into the ground, while others began piling sticks and wood around the structure as if to make a bonfire.

The heroes stood still, trying desperately to wrap their heads around the scene in front of them. That man … What did he keep calling out? ‘Another Hero of Hyrule’? But that made absolutely no sense: the Links all knew of one Hero of Hyrule and that was, well, Hyrule; but the man outside kept yelling out the title like it was something more than that - like it was some kind of breed rather than just one very specific person; couple that realisation with the strange structure the townspeople were setting up and that just released a whole new set of questions: what was so special about that one person versus everyone else in this town? Why was he tied up? What were the other people creating behind him? Why was there such a strong sense of bloodlust in the air?

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Twilight finally said, being the one to break the silence. “ But I do know that that guy needs help.”

He was about to take a step towards the door when a sudden hand clung fiercely to his pelt, and when he turned around, he was quietly surprised to find that it wasn’t a stoic Time stopping him, but rather an alarmed Hyrule.

“Twi, you can’t go out there right now.”

The ranchhand knitted his brows together. “ Huh? Why not?”

“It’s -.” He held his breath for a second before continuing in a small voice, “ It’s not safe there right now.”

“Well if you’re that concerned about safety,” The two heroes watched as Legend casually walked over to them before coming to a stop by Twilight’s side. “ Then I can stick with Farmboy here. One of us can make a distraction and the other can get the guy out; shouldn’t take more than ten minutes.”

The traveller only frantically shook his head in response, fixing his predecessor with a desperate look as he quickly said, “ No, the both of you can’t go either! It still won’t be safe!”

“Alright then,” Warriors added slowly as he made his way to the Ordonian in the same fashion. “ What about the three of us, then? Surely we’re enough to save that man now.”

But Hyrule only denied the group once again; and again when Wild offered to go, and again when Four offered to go, and again and again and again. Three faces had now become eight as the remaining heroes all looked to the Hero of Hyrule with a mix of confusion and impatience, each one of them asking a myriad of questions about what was so dangerous about the situation and why Hyrule of all people was preventing any of them from going. It was Wild who finally asked the key question with,

“‘Rule, are you hiding something?”

Those words made the traveller freeze, causing him to fall silent and fix the champion with a wide - eyed stare. It appears that the group had finally struck a chord in him, one that somehow instilled fear into their resident hero, and a few of them were starting to become worried at how quiet Hyrule had suddenly become at such a simple yet pivotal question. After what felt like hours, the traveller finally answered back:

“I’m sorry.”

Oh no.

That was all the Ordonian needed to hear before he was suddenly sprinting out of the small room and down the cramped hallway, ignoring the sudden shouts of surprise and alarm from his fellow heroes. He knew it - he knew from the moment he saw that young boy being dragged across the worn dirt by those men that there was something deeply wrong. He should’ve said something sooner - maybe something about how much Hyrule seemed to be dodging their questions - but he stupidly played along with this pointless game like he was some dog chasing its tail.

He just hoped he wasn’t too late to save him.

He felt the rotten wood press against his shoulder as he barged his way through the inn door and out into the cold night air, stumbling as the terrain suddenly switched from wood to dry dirt and overgrown weeds. He silently thanked the goddesses when he was steadily back on his feet in an instant and rushed towards the crowd centered around the square at a breakneck pace. He suddenly felt his stomach plummet as he heard the gruff man from before shout out:

“Death to the Hero of Hyrule!”

That was it. That was the only warning Twilight got before a torch was haphazardly thrown into the pile of wood and the flames started to climb the stake. Everything became unbearably bright, engulfed in a swirl of bright orange and blinding yellow as brown wood burned to black ash in an instant and the fire climbed higher up the pole without any bit of hesitation, right up to the poor teen who was bound to the very top. It only took mere seconds for the agonised screams to fill the air, and even less for Twilight to smell the distinct scent of burning flesh as the flames mercilessly engulfed the body. Once - pale skin turned into blistering red, and the light - brown hue of the boy’s hair started to disintegrate and leave nothing behind but a memory of what used to be there. The Ordonian’s instincts told him to get over there and do something because he was supposed to be a hero - he was one of the few that Hylia had chosen to protect everyone - but all he could do was watch helplessly from the back of the crowd, his stomach churning threateningly as it promised to expel everything he had eaten in the past week.

Goddesses, the crowd. The crowd was thrilled at the sight of one of their own burning helplessly from where he was bound, his agonised screams appearing to be music to their ears. They watched him writhe and scream and plead to be released but they just watched him with some sort of maniacal fascination that only a true cold - blooded serial killer could have. The crowd was smiling, cheering, even echoing the same phrase of “ Death to the Hero of Hyrule!” as they watched someone burn to death, and perhaps what terrified Twilight the most was that some of the people in the crowd were literal children, and they seemed to be entirely fine with watching someone their own age burning right in front of them.

He jumped when he felt a rough hand gently touch his shoulder, and he quickly spun on his heels to find the source, relaxing just a bit when he saw his mentor’s face staring back at him.

Time looked pale. Had he just witnessed the same thing Twilight had just a moment ago?  

“Let’s go.” His mentor said after a moment, nudging his head towards the direction that Hyrule was leading the rest of the heroes towards. Twilight wanted to protest - to firmly tell Time that “no, we need to do something” - but the only thing that came out was a shaky sigh. His whole body felt numb, and the remaining rush of adrenaline from before seemed to have sapped him of all his strength and left him with a hollow feeling in his chest, so he didn’t refuse Time’s firm grip around his wrist, and he didn’t protest as Time led him forward.

It didn’t take long for the group to reach the outer edges of the town, and it certainly didn’t take long for them to disappear into a nearby forest. They wove their way through overgrown bushes and drooping trees, and treaded through murky waters and destroyed campsites, and didn’t stop until they reached a dark and desolate clearing that was far from any type of civilization. It was quiet here, and it was a welcomed contrast from the deranged cheers that filled the small town.

Four was the first to speak up as he shakily asked, “ That … That wasn’t real, right? It was just some - some stupid trick, r - right?”

The only immediate response he received back was a heartbreaking whimper from Wind as he dug his face further into Warriors’s scarf.

“I’m sorry.” Came Hyrule’s eventual answer, but the sound was barely above a whisper and his throat strained to keep his voice level. Any hint of anxiety or desperation from before seemed to have been completely wiped away, his tone now a clear reflection of the guilt and regret that was no doubt plaguing his mind. A few heroes opened their mouths to respond, but Legend beat them all to the punch.

“No. No, all of this is bullshit.” He claimed, anger and disbelief clear in his features. “ There’s no way in hell that a bunch of townspeople would just pick up a random kid off the street and burn him alive just for fun. He must’ve been a monster in disguise or - or a traitor that’s killed innocent people or just … just something.” He looked to his protege for some kind of assurance, but felt his resolve start to fall apart when Hyrule refused to meet his eyes. He took a shuddering breath as he said, “‘Rule, tell me this isn’t what people are really like here. Tell me that these are just some sick fucks who get a kick out of torturing people.” His voice took on an uncharacteristically small tone as he continued, “ Tell me this isn’t what I left behind for you.”

The traveller ducked his head even lower and hunched his shoulders as he repeated even quieter than before, “ I’m really, really sorry -.”

“Hyrule, I believe you owe us an explanation.” Time cut in, but instead of the stern and demanding tone the group was expecting, they were all surprised to hear his request as a quiet and gentle one. Perhaps he did it because they were all in shock, or perhaps he did it because Hyrule looked like he was one second away from a complete breakdown, or perhaps he did it because he was just so morbidly curious and he didn’t want to scare away the resident hero by forcing the answer out of him. Regardless of the reason, it got Hyrule talking.

“The people of my Hyrule want me dead.”

He let the air of initial shock settle for a moment before continuing.

“They’ve been hunting me down ever since they knew I was the Hero of Courage here because they all knew the legend: one drop of the hero’s blood on Ganon’s ashes will revive him. At first it was just a silly old wives’ tale that got passed down from generation to generation, but a group of villagers broke into Hyrule Castle one night and found out it was true through one of the books we have in the Royal Library. Word spread from person to person and that’s when people started to get … scared of me.”

The traveller bit his lip for a moment, the memory of first hearing that news all those years ago playing fresh in his mind.

“They thought I was a ticking time bomb - one slipup when fighting a Moblin or a Zora and the entire kingdom was pretty much doomed - so a few people started to hunt me down in order to lock me up or something like that; they just wanted me far away from danger - a place where no monsters would be able to get me. They found me eventually and told me about their plan, but I just ignored them because Zelda was in trouble, and if I didn’t reunite the Triforce in time, then the whole kingdom would be taken over by some prince. I needed to travel across Hyrule; I couldn’t just hole myself away somewhere when the whole kingdom was in danger, so I kept going. Weeks would go by without anyone seeing me, and the number of people that feared I was dead started to grow. More groups started to form in order to find me quicker, and they started to camp out in forests and by rivers just to keep a lookout, but they kept coming back empty - handed and that just made everyone more terrified. Eventually those groups just started locking up people that looked like me just to get rid of a potential Hero of Hyrule, so that’s why I -.”

“That’s why you changed your ears, eyes, and hair with magic earlier, and why you made us wear cloaks: to throw people off our trail.” Legend interjected, and Hyrule nodded in confirmation.

“Right. They knew the Hero of Hyrule was Hylian, had green eyes, and brown hair, so they just locked up anyone who fit the bill, but they wouldn’t even look twice at a human with orange hair and blue eyes. So I was taught how to change my appearance from a magic - user I met in a cave one day, and although that kind of magic took a lot out of me at first, I eventually got a hold of it and was able to pass under everyone’s radar. I travelled from town to town, learning whatever I could from other magic - users and getting whatever I needed to survive in the wild in order to look for Ganon. But because I was so good at hiding, the people that were trying to find me were getting more desperate.”

“They were tired of locking people up and asking if they were the Hero of Hyrule or if they knew where the Hero of Hyrule was, and as more monsters started to surround the villages and kill those who dared to travel, things started to become more serious. The groups started to kill Hylians that looked like me, skipping the whole interrogation part and going straight for the quickest and painless kill they could do in order to remedy a little bit of their guilt. Of course they regretted killing innocent people; nobody wanted to kill someone that was just living their lives and had nothing to do with being Hylia’s Chosen, but they justified themselves by saying that it was either the life of one potential ‘Link’ or the entirety of the Kingdom, and of course they would want to save the kingdom. But months went by, and the monsters kept coming closer, and the real Hero of Hyrule still hadn’t been found, and those villagers got to the point where they were too scared to harvest crops or go hunting or even step outside of their houses. They felt like they were living in a nightmare, and they needed to get out there and kill me or else they would never be able to live a normal life ever again.”

“People started to come out of their houses, daggers and swords in their hands, and got to killing any ‘me’s they could find. The killings weren’t painless anymore: people who were scared of Ganon coming back to full power again started to release all their frustration and fear on innocent people by killing them in the most gruesome ways possible; it was an outlet to them, and now all that guilt from before was starting to turn into satisfaction. To them, it was just getting revenge on the Hero of Hyrule for all the pain and suffering I’ve caused them. Every person, even if you were a salesman or a farmer, started to have weapons by their side just in case I happened to walk into town, and everybody started to become more suspicious of any travellers because they knew the Hero of Hyrule was one. Whether you were a little kid or an old man just passing through, as soon as people saw that you had brown hair and green eyes, then you immediately became a target. They’ll stab you to death, drown you, burn you alive - whatever they needed to do to get rid of the Hero of Hyrule, just so they could make sure that Ganon never comes back. It’s been like that ever since.”

It was a terrible story, the other heroes had silently agreed - like a morbid fairytale gone wrong. It was ironic: the very people Hyrule was chosen to protect were now actively out to get him just for the sake of quelling their own fears.

“...So you’re just letting this happen?”

Eight startled faces all turned to the group’s ranchhand, who looked to the traveller with a deep frown and crossed arms. His lip curled upwards as he snarled out, “ You’re just letting innocent people die because you’re too much of a coward to go and save them?”

Twilight wasn’t actually sure what compelled him to say something like that. Maybe it was because the thought of innocent people dying struck a very strong chord in him, or maybe it was because the people dying were those as young as Talo and Malo and Colin, or as old as Rusl and Mayor Bo; maybe it was a combination of both, and just the knowledge that Hyrule was refusing to do anything about the situation made his blood boil.  

The resident hero looked to the other with a mixture of confusion and hurt, but an underlying wave of anger made his tone a little more clipped than he wanted it to be. “ I know I’m a coward, but I’m not just letting them die because I want them to. The people here are aggressive: once they think you’re the Hero of Hyrule, there’s no way you can back yourself out of that situation. Having someone to come and rescue you will only make things worse, and there’s a pretty good chance that you’d be the next one to die.”

“Well if you know all of that, then why aren’t you doing anything to stop all of that from happening? We saw you change your appearance, and you gave us all cloaks to - what? Be less suspicious? - so why aren’t you doing any of that for the people passing through town? You could’ve saved hundreds of lives here, Hyrule, but you’re just staying quiet and watching people die in front of you.”

“I’m not!” Hyrule answered back sharply. His nails dug painfully into his palms. “ I always try to help them when I can, but I can’t be in a hundred places at once. It’s not just Nabooru Town who’s doing this, but literally every other town in this kingdom. People will be dying whether I’m there or not, and there’s no way I can rescue everyone who’s been accused of being me and protect Zelda and the castle.”

“Then think of some other solution!” Twilight threw his hands up, letting all of his pent up rage and disgust finally get the better of him. “ Have your Hyrule Castle give them a safe place to live or create some group to find the people that want you dead and put them in prison! I don’t know, kill them if you have to! Those villagers there are no better than monsters, so there’s nothing left to salvage.”

The Ordonian said that last bit with complete and utter conviction as his subconscious flashed him that same memory of that boy burning to death, and the villagers around him smiling and cheering as they watched the scene with absolute glee. They really were no better than monsters at this point, were they? Cold, cruel, heartless monsters.

“They’re not monsters.” The traveller replied just as firm. “ They’re only the way they are because they’re scared. They know the Hero of Hyrule is still out there - that I’m still out there - and they know that one little slip up could cost them and their entire family their lives, so if they have the chance to control that, then they’ll try everything in their damn power to do so, even if it means killing innocent people. It’s not their fault that they think like that; it’s because they’re all - because Ganon’s - I’m just -.”

“It’s because of mass hysteria.” Warriors interjected, and when the group’s collective attention was brought to him, he hardened his features and explained. “ Consider this: the people of this kingdom know that Ganon could be revived at any second as long as his followers had Hyrule in their possession. If you were a simple villager who hasn’t seen your Hero for weeks on end, wouldn’t you start to panic and fear for the worst? Like the traveller said, a single drop of blood on Ganon’s ashes would be enough to bring him back to life, and even more would bring him back to full power, so I understand the people’s worry for having Hyrule wander alone in a territory riddled with monsters. One wrong move, and their entire livelihoods would disappear, and they most likely won’t have a hero to protect them if Ganon does go too far.”

Hyrule nodded with a grim look on his face, and then redirected his attention to the ranchhand. “ They’re not monsters, Twilight,” He repeated, his voice softer and more controlled than before. “ They’re scared. They’re scared because they don’t have any control over anything, so they do whatever they can to make them feel in - control, even if it’s something as horrible as killing their friends. I know I’m causing this, and I know I’m not doing anything to stop this, but the sooner I get to Ganon and defeat him once and for all, the sooner things can get back to normal.”

It was strange to hear one of their own so conscious and accepting of the horrors around them. Twilight knew that Time and Wild both have regrets about the past and refuse to accept it, and he was sure that Legend and Warriors were both hiding something as well based on all those times they woke up screaming in the middle of the night, but to hear Hyrule, a meek and timid teen that rarely spoke at all, so readily admit that his land was nearly beyond saving and that it was all his fault, was something breathtaking in and of itself. The traveller knew that monsters and his own people were constantly after him, and he knew that if he let himself relax for just a second, the chances of him getting captured and killed would skyrocket to an unbelievable level, but despite all odds, he still chose to defend a kingdom that didn’t even show him an ounce of gratitude. To press forward when the whole world is against you takes a great deal of dedication, and perhaps Hyrule was more of a selfless hero than he made himself out to be.

The Ordonian let his shoulders sag with defeat. “ You’re right: I don’t know anything about what you’re going through, and it was wrong of me to be angry at you.”

Hyrule’s features softened, and any indication of outrage melted into quiet understanding. “ It’s okay, I know you didn’t mean any of it; you were just upset at what you saw and I don’t blame you, but there’s more to the story than whatever you see on your first night in one of the towns here.” He met the ranchhand’s eyes and tried for a tiny smile. “ Things will get better - I know they will - but until then, I have to do what I need to.”

The group had decided to set up camp for the night, all of them silently agreeing that a spot among the trees and dirt was the only safe place left in Hyrule’s era. Most of the heroes turned in for the night without a word, and barely any of them had the courage to look at the dancing flames of the small campfire they had started. It was ironic: how could a thing that brought the group warmth and light and a place to sit and chatter every night kill an innocent person without hesitation? Would it bring them that same sense of comfort ever again, or would they constantly relive that memory of their night in Nabooru Town, watching an innocent child burn to death at the hands of those he considered family?

In the end, it was just Time and Hyrule left at their makeshift campfire, both of them silent as they were lost in their own thoughts; that is, until a success of long howls filled the night air.

The traveller tensed, breath catching in his throat for a second, before realisation dawned on him. “ That’s Wolfie, right?” He questioned, and when he received a nod of confirmation from the other, he knitted his brows in worry. “ But he sounds … really sad tonight ...”

“I think he’s crying.”

Hyrule turned to the elder hero with genuine confusion. “‘Crying’? Why would he be crying?”

Time stared absently at the bright orange flames in front of him. “ I think he’s crying for all those who’ve lost their souls to such a cruel fate.”

[writhingcreature]

Prompt 5 - Stozier

"stozier w/ the song dear friend by dayglow" requested by @toomuchkenny

It changed everything.

And I don't mean IT it, though that changed a lot too. No, the Incident is what really turned the whole world on it's head- even compared to the demon clown that tried to swallow Stan whole. Maybe it was the clown that set it all off to begin with...

When it seemed to all finally be over, Stan couldn't look at Richie the same way again. All he could see is the bat in Richie's hand as they stood in the dark sewer, facing something that Stan was sure would be the end of them. Richie, with his bat, facing an actual monster that could so easily bring actual death to him with not fear but anger. Anger that drove him to curse the thing out and smash that stupid bat against its head as if something made of wood could do anything against a supernatural beast.

The rest of Summer there was too much trying to pull himself together- it wasn't until school started that Stan realized. He realized that loud noises set him off, and each time he would shrink towards Richie. He realized that Richie's shoulder was really comfortable and found himself constantly laying his head there or on Richie's chest to hear his heartbeat. He realized that Richie's smile was crooked and too wide but also incredibly contagious. He realized Richie was this light that had always seemed too warm and too bright and therefore was sometimes overwhelming even if Stan would take on Greta Bowie herself if she tried to do anything too stupid to the Trashmouth. He realized that what had been so much for him before was actually exactly what he needed.

Richie's light was guidance in the darkness, and warmth in the cold. As this blizzard began to consume him, Richie could always give him light and warmth and safety and made everything bearable and even wonderful. Suddenly his jokes weren't as stupid. Stan found himself rolling his eyes and glaring less and smiling and even laughing more and more often.

Suddenly, Stan realized something HUGE.

He was in love with Richie Tozier. He was in love with his best friend.

It didn't scare him. Maybe it should have. What would his parents say? What would Richie say? What would his friends think, if he was into guys? Wasn't it enough to be Jewish- he had to be gay too? He got enough trouble from the people of Derry as it was- this might be the thing that got him killed for real...

It didn't scare him though. Despite everything, he was only curious and really excited. Sometimes Richie made him question his feelings - the boy was smart, and his grades showed it, but the things that came out of his MOUTH sometimes - but at the end of the day, he always knew he stood in the same place. And all he could see was a future where he woke up and Richie was next to him. Older. And they were all cuddled up and Stan slipped out of bed and made breakfast and the sunlight was soft and warm and Richie was there to hug him and kiss him on the cheek and Stan didn't know why but he could see it so clearly and it excited him.

He kept almost telling Richie, but then he just couldn't. What if Richie didn't like him back? What if Richie was straight and Stan had to pretend he didn't care as they continued to be friends? It made him nervous. Not scared. Hesitant. Hesitant enough to keep his mouth shut.

But then one day the Incident happened.

They were at a dance. Bev and Mike has come together as friends, and the others had gone stag. Mike didn't go to their school so this allowed them all to be together and spend some time together. It was one of those nights where they were all feeling light and were in a good mood. One of those nights where they were five minutes from ditching the dance and going something fun and wild with just the seven of them.

A slow song came on. Mike offered Bev a dance. "I feel like I've cheated you, honestly. We're technically on a date. I owe you at least one dance."

She laughed. "Yeah, I'd be down for that." The two of them went off and chatted excitedly, smiling wide and enjoying the dance like none of the other people in the room seemed to be. That was one of the magics of friendship I suppose.

A girl approached Bill after a few seconds as the others loudly teased Bev and Mike, who were ignoring them. "Uh, would you like to dance with me?"

He seemed surprised, but pleasantly so. "Uh. Yeah, sure." She smiled, and they branched off.

The interaction seemed to encourage Ben, who set his face and stood to his feet, moving toward a girl. She saw him coming and immediately booked it. The three Losers left frowned. Ben did this a few times. Sometimes girls left before he approached. Sometimes they waited or he caught them off guard. It was about twenty seconds of agony that seemed to stretch an hour before a girl grabbed his shoulder as he passed her, attempting to get to someone else. They had a brief exchange before Ben, stunned, nodded and she grinned and they moved to the dance floor.

Eddie stood. "This is dumb. I'm going to the bathroom." And he was gone.

Stan swallowed, eyes flickering between Richie and the dance floor. He looked at Mike and Bev. Ben and Bill and their partners. He saw them all smiling and laughing softly and talking- even if Bill was a little awkward. He wanted so badly to take Richie's hand and pull him up. GOD he wanted it so badly.

He felt a hand on top of his. He jumped, looking over as Richie stood, pulling Stan after him. For a second he thought Richie was pulling him towards the floor, but when Stan was standing, Richie dropped his hand and nodded towards the door. "I need some air. Mind coming with me?"

"Sure," Stan replied, trying to swallow his disappointment. He needed to stop that nonsense immediately. Even if they were together, dancing together here would be suicide. Maybe not in a dead sense... though maybe it wouldn't be too far fetched to expect.

The two boys went outside. Richie walked a bit out more and Stan stayed back, leaning against the wall of the school. It was a cool night- a relief from the warm room inside, when they were dressed up.

Suddenly Richie whipped around, his expression unnervingly serious. "Do you want to play 20 Questions?"

A voice in Stan's mind told him to book it. Something about Richie's sincerity in a question that should have been anything but intense set Stan on edge. "Sure." It was the second time he'd said it, and he realized he hadn't said much all night actually. Richie looked amazing and it made Stan nervous.

"You go first," Richie offered.

Stan thought for a second. What did he have to ask Richie? He couldn’t ask the one question he craved the answer to the most... so he played it safe. "What's your favorite part about school?"

"Triangle." Richie was suddenly incredibly close, taking long strides that made Stan tense up and press into the wall, startled and suddenly unsure. Their faces were inches apart and Stan only had a single beat to realize 'triangle' was not an appropriate answer to his question before Richie demanded, "Do you like boys?"

A Doctor could have told him he was dead and Stan wouldn't have been surprised. "Excuse me?" It sounded like he was choking. The words were raspy and too breathy, and choppy and far too wet sounding. He cleared his throat. Richie seemed suddenly frustrated. He said something Stan didn't hear clearly. "What?" Stan asked, trying to get him to repeat it.

There was a single second as Richie looked away, seeming to debate. Then suddenly he locked eyes with Stan again, his face set, and he whispered, "Fuck it."

It happened so fast. Hands were holding onto Stan's neck and jaw. Lips were pressed to his. Hair tickled his forehead- and it wasn't his. He had done it special for tonight. No strand out of place. A leg bumped his. His eyes fluttered close as his brain realized all these bits of contact were from not just any set of body parts, but from Richie.

Richie Trashmouth Tozier was kissing him.

And it was AMAZING.

Stan's hands drifted to Richie's waist and he pulled him close. Richie melted into him and when they parted, they both let out a shaky breath they'd each been holding. No words necessary. However it had happened, they liked each other. For now, that's all that mattered.

That's not how it stayed for long.

By their senior year, it was becoming nearly impossible to keep Richie at bay. They were in a secret relationship, unable to be coupley at school or in front of their families or in public at all. Not at the movie theater or under the table at dinner. Stan even got paranoid about doing things they used to do all the time before they were dating. He was TERRIFIED of getting found out. Finally Richie lost it. "I understand the caution, I just... It feels like you don't want to be dating me. Recently, even in front of the others you've been- weird! Do you not want to be with me anymore?"

"Of course I do, Richie!" Stan snapped, hating that Richie would ever doubt for a second how much Stan treasured their relationship and looked forward to finally achieving that dream for the future that seemed so wonderfully possible now. "I love you!"

The argument ended when Richie stormed off. It got escalated and they were both yelling and admitting emotions and fears and Stan was trying to defuse it but then Richie started crying, and it went from 'are you ashamed of me' to 'I hate this world and I just wish I wasn't apart of it sometimes.' The idea terrified Stan into stillness as Richie made his escape.

Someone heard. However it was had, word spread that Richie and Stan were dating by the day after the next. Just in time for them to make up and Stan to find the words to explain to Richie not only his love but the reasoning behind his choices. As if to punctuate why they had to be careful, Derry lashed out.

Eventually they got what they wanted. Richie and Stan broke up. After they made the decision, they stood face to face and Richie couldn't look Stan in the eyes. "I guess you were right, huh?"

Stan's face twisted with pain. "In situations like these, I wish I wasn't."

Their fear of the world kept them from getting back together, but their mutual feelings kept them from being friends... so eventually, they drifted more and more apart until they were suddenly graduated and going to college. And then, one day, they were so disconnected that they began to forget. Forget Derry. Forget the other Losers. Forget each other.

There was an emptiness. A space in their beds no one else could fill.

Stan tried. He met this wonderful girl named Patty and he saw this future with her that seemed promising. But something was wrong. He didn't love her, and he couldn't get himself to, and she deserves to marry and have kids like she wanted and be with someone who devotedly and passionately loved her.

Richie didn't even bother. For some reason, he thought about dating and it made him sick. He thought maybe there was a bad experience in high school, or an old girlfriend that had put a bad taste in his mouth. He was successful and happy and perfectly fine being single.

Then they got the calls. They heard Mike's voice and recalled Derry and IT and- and-

"Richie," Stan whispered.

"What?" Mike asked.

"Uh." He blinked. "Nothing." Who was Richie? "Ye- I'll be there. I'll see you soon." He ended the call.

Richie. Why did the name make his heart jump in his chest? Why did he feel so excited? Why is it that remembering that town from Hell and the THING that lives there made him feel... relieved? Why is it that when he remembered dark sewers and red hair and pointed teeth, the easiest thing to recall was a dark haired boy holding a bat?

Almost in a daze, Stan found himself packing and telling his work he'd be gone for a while. He balanced between the horrors of the Thing waiting for him.. and the curiosity and desperate need for the dark haired boy he somehow knew would be there.

And he was.

When Stan saw him, it clicked. "Richie." Suddenly so much of his mind cleared and so much made sense. Even as his nightmares came today life in memories he'd tried so hard to forget, Richie forever succeeded in lighting up the darkness and melting the cold, making Stan irrationally excited to go face a demon... simply because it would bring the two of them together again.

Richie seemed to have been knocked breathless. "Stan." There was a pause. Richie seemed over relieved, like he'd been expecting something terrible to happen and seeing Stan had proved that it wouldn't. "You got hot."

Without even thinking about it, Stan replied. "I've always been hot." It was half assed but Richie snorted. Stan couldn't help but smile.

There was a tension. A pause. A hesitation. It carried through their entire visit and battle against IT and the people of Derry - as idiotic and judgemental and aggressive and pathetic as usual. They were incredibly aware of each other, tip toeing around a possibility and feelings they were both so eager to take old of but so unsure of when it came to how the other person felt.

Then Eddie almost died.

Eddie saved Richie and Stan saved Eddie and they defeated IT and so much was put into perspective. They’d been running from people who cursed under their breaths for Stan and Richie’s deaths because they were different than other people. But now they really had faced death full on and almost been taken over by it.

And they hadn’t.

Outside of Neibolt, watching it cave in and fade into nothing, Richie looked at Stan next. He thought of all the odd habits he had. The excitement that burst in him, poking at the edges of thoughts he almost had but never did every single goddamn time he ever saw a bird. The kind of weird curiousity that drew him to judaism simply because it made him feel more whole. But not because of God or anything they taught. Because it was familiar. Because it reminded him of... something. His coworkers had thought he was crazy. Him? Religious? And yet....

He’d thought of Stan plenty of times, even if he hadn’t actually, directly thought of Stan.

And Stan had done the same as well. Feeling eyes on him, the man turned and locked eyes with Richie immediately. There was a sense of terror in Richie’s eyes. The same feeling that tightened his own chest. The fear that after this was all over, they’d go their separate ways and forget again. Forget IT and Derry - less bad - but also each other. Bill and Beverly and Ben and Mike and Eddie and... and Stan would forget Richie and Richie would forget Stan.

It didn’t matter that everything had just fallen apart right in front of them, finally ending. It wasn’t relief that filled them. They’d all survived. That didn’t matter. Nothing mattered if they lost each other again. So, despite the joy and relief they should have been feeling, they felt heavy and horrible and sick.

The only way to remedy that?

Richie moved first, but the second he had, Stan was too. They met in the middle, never breaking eye contact and not hesitating. Their hands were around each other, pulling each other as close as possible. They didn’t ram into each other- more, melted as their bodies touched, more and more the closer the got, until they had simply become one being.

Someone coughed. Stan and Richie ignored them. Someone else laughed.

Nothing else mattered. That kiss confirmed it all. Fuck people who wanted to tear them apart. Fuck Derry. Fuck fear. Forget everything else. Except each other. They’d never let anything come between them. Not ever again.

[marauder--harder]

Sleep Deprivation- A Remus Lupin Imagine (Part 4 of The Torturous Year)

A/N: Okay guys, I have been working on this for so long and it went through many, many edits and talks with my editor/bae to get it where it is now. I hope you guys like it. It is the largest piece I think I have ever written, being over 8k words but I think it is worth it. Sometimes the story just writes itself. :) Enjoy!

Previous Installments: The Torturous Year. (Part 1) -  Methods of Torture. (Part 2) - Pressure Points. (Part 3)

“Alright, just concentrate, Y/N. Think exactly about what you’re doing.”

Remus heard you groan and sigh loudly before snapping, “I’m trying, if you’d just shut up!”

“Okay, okay, jeeze. Don’t get your pretty little kickers in a twis—ow!” Sirius yelped as you sent a stinging hex his way and turned away from him, towards the cup on the table.

“I’d be impressed if I didn’t hear it coming, love. Now just concentrate.”

Remus stepped in through the portrait to see you staring intensely at a cup placed on the table in the common room, your wand pointing at it. He furrowed his brows as he watched the cup start to shake slightly.

“What’s going on here?” He asked, as he turned to Sirius who was watching just as intensely as you were.

Suddenly the cup teetered a bit more before falling over, spilling the water that was inside it on the table.

“Moony!” You groaned and flopped down onto the couch harshly. Putting a pillow over your face you pressed down, letting out a small, now very muffled scream.

Remus furrowed his brows in confusion, “sorry?” He turned to Sirius and shook his head in a silent question.

“Thank Godric you’re here. She’s killing me, mate. I can’t work with her anymore!”

Pulling the pillow away from your face, you launched it at him. “Well maybe I’d get it if you didn’t just say the same thing over and over again! Honestly, Sirius, I am concentrating and I still can’t do the bloody spell!”

Remus turned and set his bag down on the table, wordlessly cleaning up the mess of the spilled water before turning to you. He bent down, squatting next to the couch and smiled as you looked up at him in annoyance.

“Okay, so what spell is Sirius mucking up for you?”

Your brow furrowed, you flicked your eyes between him and the cup of water that was now sitting perfectly on the table. “I hate you, you know. You don’t have to show off…”

Remus’ brows rose in slight astonishment, watching as you crossed your arms over one another defensively and sat up. “Excuse me?”

“She’s trying to do nonverbal magic.” Sirius added, leaning on the arm of the chair nearest to the fire. “Except she is rubbish at it and I can’t seem to help her. Take over for me.”

Remus looked back over to you and smiled hesitantly. “I mean, I’m—”

“No.” You stated, and started gathering up your stuff. “I’m not some bloody pity case, boys; you can’t just shove me off to the next person when you are done. I’ll figure it out on my own!”

Remus sighed softly, reaching out to still your slightly frantic form. “Hey,” he started softly, and waited until you met his eyes. “Don’t you trust me?”

The two of you held each other’s gaze for a few moments before sighing and dropping your bag. “You know I do…”

“Then let me help you, yeah?”

Neither of you noticed Sirius slip back up to his own dorm, a proud smile on his face.

From then on Remus and you spent nights after his prefect rounds practicing nonverbal magic. Truthfully, he was a much better teacher than Sirius, even if you were a bit of an insufferable student. Your pride often got in the way of his lessons, and you’d often mumble that it obviously was the teaching and not your abilities making you unable to perform simple spells.

Remus, however, was quick witted and sharp, calling you out on your excuses, which only served to fluster you further. You’d dip your head with a rising blush and an apology for saying such harsh words. He didn’t mind you taking your frustration out on him, really; but still called you out in order to see the adorable pink tinting your cheeks.

Yet, Remus was also very kind. With the amount of snark he would give you about your own hot temper, he would know when to be gentle and soothing with you as well.

“I’m sorry, look this isn’t fair to you and I’m sure we’re both pretty tired. Why don’t you head off to bed and we’ll meet up next week.”

Remus smiled softly and sat down next to you, close enough your knees were touching. “Y/N,” he started, and you fought a small shiver at the sound of his deep, warm voice near your ear. “You’re going to get this. You just have to be patient. Nonverbal magic is difficult and many witches and wizards can’t ever do it.”

A bitter feeling swirled in your stomach, quickly rising up your throat and to your tongue. You couldn’t help the words that fell from your mouth. “Then why bother doing this? I’m sure I fall well within that group, Moony.”

Remus sighed softly in exasperation, clearly annoyed with the fact that you chose to focus on the wrong aspect of what he was trying to say. “Come off it, you know you’re capable of doing this. It’s a simple levitation spell. You just have to get out of your head.”

“Easy for you to say!” You snapped, pulling away from him as you felt the very familiar shame of inadequacy creep its way back up your throat. You suddenly felt all too warm, and tried desperately not to let your temper flare too much. “You’re nearly bloody perfect at it, and it comes so easy to you! You’re pretty much bloody perfect at everything come to think of it!”

“I’m not perfect, Y/N,” His voice was calm and even, a note that made you even more upset to think about. “And neither are you; nobody is. That doesn’t mean you can’t do this.”

You closed your eyes and took in a deep breath. When you opened them, you glanced over at Remus who was staring at you, a small yet hesitant smile on his face.

“I’m—”

“Sorry, I know. It’s okay. You’re dealing with advanced magic, sweetheart, you can’t expect it to just happen. It will take time.”

You sighed and sat back down next to him, leaning your head on his shoulder. “But I’ve been doing this for so long.”

Remus chuckled at your childish tone and patted your knee comfortingly. “You know, I think for my next lesson I’m going to have to teach you patience.”

A small smile spread on your face and you poked his side in a gentle protest. “I’m plenty patient.” You argued.

Remus’ laugh was louder this time, as he threw his head back slightly, “Sure you are. Isn’t it you that’s always bursting into the Hospital Wing moments after I arrive because you’re just so patient?”

You rolled your eyes and smiled wider, happy that from this angle Remus couldn’t see you blush. “Fine, I’ll be later next time then. Maybe in that down time I’ll just go read to the boys instead of you, yeah?”

Remus’ laughter died in the back of his throat imagining you sitting at the side of his friends’ beds, reading softly as they slept. You’d sit at the edge of the bed, or perhaps even lay with them so they could cuddle up to you, reading quietly, stroking their hair gently. He imagined the way the rising sun would cast a warm glow over you and frowned at the thought of you not being with him.

A yawn broke him from his thoughts, however, as he felt you drop more of your weight onto his shoulder.

“You’re tired.” Remus could only barely see the tip of your nose from this angle, and he focused on the fluttering of your long eyelashes.

You let out a soft hum of agreement, fighting to keep your eyes open. He glanced at the clock and noticed that it was well into the early hours of the morning. You were probably exhausted, trying to figure out this form of magic. It was draining even for him at times, and he now understood why you were so snappy with him.

“Let’s get you to bed then, yeah?” He placed a hesitant kiss to the top of your head before nudging you gently with his shoulder.

You stirred, and sat up, blinking repeatedly in order to shake yourself awake. You turned at looked up at Remus, smiling tiredly at him.

“You’re comfy, you know.”

He chuckled softly, gathering up both his and your things before responding, “good to know.”

“You’d be great at cuddling. You’re warm and soft and, oh my god, I’m actually saying these things out loud.”

“I should stay up with you more often. Sleepy Y/N is interesting.” He grinned and offered his hand for you to take.

Hesitantly you took it and he pulled you up, so you were standing closely in front of him. You watched as he stared down at you, a roguish grin on his face, and fought down yet another embarrassing blush.

You noted, even tiredly, how handsome he was and how much he truly did change within the last year. His jaw had sharpened, contrasting alluringly with the definition of his cheekbones. The boy who was once all thinned, hollow edges was now strong, full sharpness.

Similarly, Remus noted the way your long eyelashes fluttered slightly before looking up at him, innocent and doe eyed. He fought the urge to pull you even closer, flush against him, and reminded himself that even if you thought him attractive, he couldn’t take advantage of you like that.

“You should get some rest.” He mumbled, voice low and timbery.

You visibly shivered and the wolf deep within him swelled with pride. “Yeah. You should too.”

Neither of you broke apart for a few moments, just staring at one another, resisting the urge to step closer and meet.

“Thank you.” Your voice was a bare whisper, yet a beautiful smile lit up your tired face, “For dealing with me. For not giving up.”

Remus mirrored your own grin, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. “Of course. You’re a bright witch, Y/N. You’ll get it, I promise.”

Eventually you pulled away, grabbing your bag and heading towards the girls’ dormitory stairs.

“Goodnight Remus.” You called out and he stopped at the bottom of his own staircase to look over at you.

“Goodnight, sweetheart.” And Remus climbed the stairs to his room, thinking that he was going to need a very, very cold shower before bed.

After about another week of practice, you and Remus had been making steady progress with your ability to perform nonverbal magic. It started when Remus suggested trying a slightly different spell.

“Okay, let’s try a bit more of a reactive spell; something that comes from within yourself, and doesn’t deal with other objects.”

You sighed, and dropped your wand to your side. “Something easier because this is too difficult for me.”

Remus shook his head gently, walking over to the fire and silently casting a spell to put it out. You tried your best not to scowl, and failed miserably. He turned then and blew out the lights of every other lamp within the room. The only way you could see him was through the low light of the moon shining through a thin window opposite you.

“What are you doing?” You squinted as you saw Remus’ figure walk further into the shadows behind you.

“We’re trying something different.” His voice came from behind you, to your left and you whipped around trying to see him in the darkness. “Nonverbal magic works best when you don’t think about it. You just do. They are usually reactive spells; a wizard using their magic in order to better their situation.”

You felt a slight presence behind you and froze, a deep whisper in the shell of your ear. “Use a spell to see me, Y/N.”

You stopped, trying to concentrate on using Lumos in order to brighten the room. Moving your wand to the correct movement, you thought of the spell.

Nothing.

“Don’t think of the spell. React.” His voice was further now, standing somewhere potentially a few feet away from you to the right. “Think about me; about seeing me. It’s dark, you need to find me. You need light. What do you do?”

You closed your eyes, thinking of Remus’ face. You thought of his smile, and the way the corners of his eyes crinkled when he laughed. You thought of the many scars that you saw littered across his body that morning in the Hospital Wing.

Without thinking, you moved your wand, and thought of seeing him.

A small white light shone from the tip of your wand, steady and bright at first until it dimmed slightly.

You opened your eyes to see Remus standing in front of you, a large smile on his face.

“Found me.”

Squealing in delight, you beamed largely and felt the light at the tip of your wand grow. Stopping for a moment, you looked down at it and moved your hand in a wave like motion, effectively extinguishing the light.

“I did it!” Your voice was pitched and breathy, obvious astonishment laced through. You heard, but not saw, Remus chuckle and quickly lit your wand again in order to see the beautiful crinkles forming at the corners of his eyes.

“I knew you could. You just needed to get out of your head.”

Without thinking you reached out and threw your arms around Remus’ neck, standing up on your tiptoes in order to give yourself a few more inches in comfort. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! You’re the best teacher ever, I swear it.” Remus’ hands quickly found their way around your waist, holding you close to him.

“Well I’m glad that one success changed your mind, as I do recall you complaining that I was worse than Sirius at some point—much to my own offense, by the way.”

Even in his terrible teasing your smile did not fall from your face. “Well I will deny any such thing, you absolute blessing! This is so amazing,” you gushed, pulling away and practically jumping with excitement. “I could just kiss you!”

Before Remus had any time to react, you reached forward and placed a large, rather over enthusiastic kiss on both of his cheeks causing him to blush fiercely in the dark.

“Well, if this gets me a kiss, I can’t wait what will happen when you learn to levitate things nonverbally.”

Within the next few weeks, you had steadily improved your ability to perform nonverbal magic. You’ve passed being able to make objects levitate and now felt almost confident in your ability to cast any spell.

“Alright, hit me with your best one,” you started, practically buzzing with excitement.

Remus thought for a moment before nodding to himself, “let’s start with one that I know pretty well, yeah? Try incarcerous.”

Taking a mental note of the spell chosen, your brows rose in playful astonishment. “Very telling, that is Remus.” You smirked as you watched him roll his eyes, blushing softly. “Kinky. I like it.”

Clearing your throat you turned and pointed your wand at him. You closed your eyes and thought of Remus being tied up with a soft rope. At first, it seemed innocent enough, having his wrists tied together. Although soon enough your mind changed the scene, having Remus’ legs tied to a chair, his hands behind his back as you ground against him. A sharp heat pooled deep within you and you felt yourself squirm slightly at the thought. You pictured Remus’ eyes shut, head thrown back as you teased him mercilessly. You’d kiss up and down his neck, whispering every way he had been teasing you within the last year. He’d moan softly against your neck, trying desperately to gain more friction between—

“Um, Y/N,” Remus’ voice was tight and clipped, shaking you from your wayward thoughts.

You opened your eyes and blinked, looking down at Remus. Both his ankles were tied to the legs of the chair he was sitting in, his hands bound tightly behind him.

“Good job, but—” he paused, and squirmed slightly, trying to pull against the rope that only tightened further. “It’s a bit tight.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.” You mumbled, cheeks ablaze and horrified. You tried muttering a quick relashio spell in order to release him but failed. “Remus, I-I—” you felt your heartbeat pick up, and covered your face with your hands for a moment or two, trying not to die of embarrassment.

“Well, well, well, Y/N.” Sirius stated, walking up to the two of you, clearly coming back from another one of his late night escapades. “I guess you needed the right type of motivation to understand.”

You jumped at the sound of his voice and stared at him in a slight panic. “Sirius can you—”

Remus cut you off, chuckling softly, “Y/N, darling,” he started and you tried looking over at him but couldn’t hold his gaze. “Hey, calm down. You freaking out is only making this tighter.”

Sirius leaned forward, hands resting on the arm of the couch, his voice taking an obvious suggestive tone. “If I start tutoring you again, can I get tied up too?”

You shoved him roughly, before taking in a deep breath and closing your eyes. You forced yourself to picture untying him from the chair, with a high level of embarrassment as you knew the boys were bound to be staring. You imagined the way the ropes would fall to the floor, leaving Remus to move freely.

Opening your eyes, you pointed your wand at his binds and muttered the spell once again. This time the ropes loosened significantly before falling away, only leaving light red marks on his wrists in its wake.

“Okay, so I think I won’t use incarcerous nonverbally anymore.” You started, and Remus simply grimaced and nodded in return.

Once the next full moon came and went, your tutoring sessions with Remus turned into ‘catch-up’ lessons with him. Remus was usually good about not letting himself get behind, however with the change in pace within his NEWT level Potions, he was having trouble keeping up after days missed.

The two of you had talked to Professor Slughorn and convinced him to let you use the potions class after hours in order to “better prepare yourself for your NEWTs.” Being a legacy in the Slug Club definitely had its perks and you knew that it was a high chance that you were at least going to apprentice your father at some point before deciding if you were to be a potions master. Slughorn gushed at the opportunity to have “another Y/L/N in the community” and told you that you could use the classroom whenever you’d like, so long as you checked in with him the day prior.

Thus when Remus needed help brewing veritaserum, you were more than happy to offer your perks.

“Alright Remus, I think it’s just about done,” you said, hovering over the cauldron that the two of you had been working on the last month or so.

Veritaserum was a very difficult potion to brew, and even if you had more experience than most, you wanted to make sure that it was brewed correctly for him. As it was now nearing the next full moon, you realized that Remus was becoming just as difficult of a student as you were. His temper was running thin and he was constantly jittery.

Looking over at the young boy, who was finishing up the last paragraph of notes on the difficult brew, you noticed how pale he had gotten. Dark circles hollowed his eyes and you frowned, glancing at the clock. It never occurred to you how much more exhausting it was for Remus to stay up with you after his prefect rounds. He was probably running himself into the ground.

“Hey,” you called out softly, stilling his hand that was writing feverishly. “You can finish that in the morning, let’s test this and get you to bed, yeah?”

Remus sighed and shook his head slightly, reaching out to dip his quill back in its well. “I’m fine, and almost done with this. Just a few more minutes.”

You gave him a hard look and watched as his shoulders slumped. “Remus, I hate to tell you this, but you kind of look like shit. You need rest.”

“Thanks, Y/N, just what someone would want to hear from a pretty girl.” He pulled harshly away from you and continued writing down his notes.

Rolling your eyes, you sighed. “I meant that you look tired. You’ve been working with me almost every night and we’re both getting practically no sleep. With the full moon coming up, I just thought that you should maybe lay off a bit. It’s not healthy for you to be doing this with me every night.”

You watched with caution as his shoulders tensed sharply, “I see.” Still tense, he quickly started packing up his things. “You could have just said something, if I was taking up too much of your time.”

You groaned loudly and leaned forward, grabbing his large hands in your smaller ones, turning him to you. “Moony,” you started and waited until he met your eyes. You saw the exhaustion and surprising hurt that was settled deep within his eyes. “I care about you, and I see how tired you are. That’s all.”

He scoffed in return, “Y/N, I understand that I’m bothering you, it’s fine—’

“Fine, shut up and let me take veritaserum to prove you wrong.”

Remus stilled, and glanced over to the cauldron. After a few moments of silence you nodded and walked over to take a drink. Filling a cup up with the clear liquid, you knocked it back, letting it spread over your tongue before going down.

You waited a few moments before you felt your tongue grow heavy and mouth dry. You blinked a few times, trying to have the clarity of your mind remain. You hated the way veritaserum made your head go fuzzy, as if you couldn’t even think straight enough to try and tell a lie.

“Alright, Moony, let’s test this.”

He simply stared at you for a few moments, opening and closing his mouth as if he wanted to ask something but refrained. Finally he took in a deep breath, “Okay, try to lie to me. What is your name?”

“My name is…” you paused, your tongue growing heavier, as if you physically could not move it enough to pronounce a name not your own. “My name is…” You struggled against the fog that was clouding your mind further. “…is Y/N Y/L/N.”

Panting slightly you smiled and nodded to him. “See?”

“Looks like it works.”

“Then you’ll believe me when I tell you that I just wanted you to take a break because you looked absolutely knackered and I worry about you?”

Remus sighed softly before struggling his shoulders, stuffing his hands into his front pockets. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m fine.”

You crossed your arms over one another and raised an eyebrow in question. “Care to say that again under veritaserum?”

“Sure.” He replied smoothly, filling his own cup and downing it roughly. “You don’t have to worry about me.” He repeated, “I’m f—”

You smiled, knowing that deep down, Remus knew that he wasn’t feeling okay no matter how much he tried to convince himself.

“I’m f—” he tried again, only to fall short. “I guess I am tired then; but you really don’t have to worry.”

“Well I want to.”

“Well I d—” he stopped and felt his cheeks flush as he ducked his head to avoid your gaze. So he did want you to care…

Simply smiling in response, you continued to pack up your things and left the rest of the potion on Slughorn’s desk with a quick note to thank him for letting you get in your practice.

“Alright, Moony, let’s get you to bed then.” You reached out and took his larger hand in yours again, pulling him towards the Gryffindor tower.

While making your long journey up to the seventh floor, the two of you got to talking, still under the effect of the truth telling potion. Both of you found it fun to ask the other a question that may make the other squirm.

“Okay, where are you most ticklish?” You asked, a devious grin on your face.

His eyes widened, before quickly narrowing into a playful glare. “You don’t want to start this Y/N…”

Grin widening, a mask of terrible innocence fell over your face. “It could be thought of as only fair, because of what happened last time. A girl can’t be left defenseless against the big bad wolf, you know.”

Remus blushed as you winked at him, and struggled against the truth. The veritaserum was brewed pretty much perfectly, you didn’t know why he was always fighting it. “My ribs.”

Smiling in victory, you reached out and poked him for good measure. “Good to know.”

“I hate y—” he paused, unable to complete his sentence, which only made him pout further.

“You know you love me Moony, come off it. If it makes you feel any better, you can ask any question you please.”

Remus stilled for a few moments before smiling and nodding. “Okay fine, what was your most embarrassing childhood nickname.”

Rolling your eyes, you sighed softly, not even waiting for him as the staircase moved. “That’s your best question?” You called out watching as he waited down at the bottom with a small pout. You guessed that tonight would be one full of Remus pouting and your heart warmed at the thought. He really did look too cute in doing so.

Once Remus joined you again, after waiting “too bloody long” as he grumbled, you started back on your leisurely way. “My dad used to call me Bubbles as a kid because I would always try and mess with the bubbles in the potions he was brewing. It started off as something cute, but when he still uses it at the platform, it isn’t preferred.”

A few moments passed before you heard Remus snickering. He tried to contain it, keep a straight face but after a few more moments he was bursting out with a deep melodic laughter. “Bubbles! That’s brilliant; I’m so using that from now on.”

“Okay, ha ha, very funny. If you don’t stop it Moony I’m going to start asking questions that will make you squirm.” Your glare was only half playful this time, but you honestly couldn’t be too mad at him. It was a stupid nickname and he looked so darn cute when he laughed.

“Try me, Bubbles.” Was his only reply, giggles still bubbling up every now and then.

“Alright big boy, what are you packing? Boxers or y-fronts?” You stopped on a landing, crossing your arms over one another, a smirk on your face.

Remus’ giggles suddenly ended, leaving a very still, quiet, slightly pink cheeked boy in their wake. “Why do you want to know?”

You grinned wider, taking a step closer to him, meeting him at the landing. “I knew you’d squirm.”

“I’m not s—” he stopped, cursing this potion for what seemed to be the hundredth time tonight and glared down at you before taking yet another step closer, “Boxers, if you must know.”

Practically beaming, you looked up at him, noticing the real beauty of a flustered Remus. This was one of the first times that you’ve seen him blush without looking away. The freckles that were sadly fading with the cold contrasted greatly against his pink cheeks and his jaw was clenched ever so slightly, giving him a bit more definition. You wanted to lean up and kiss him, have your mouth trail down his defined jaw, leaving marks along the way.

Wanting to make him squirm even further, to test the boundaries between you, you pressed on. “Good to know.” Your voice was soft and innocent, and you leaned in slightly to feel yourself almost pressing up against him. You knew this was dangerous territory for you, but you couldn’t help but continue, hoping to make him an utter mess by the time you were through. “So,” you watched as his pupils dilated slightly, and you pulled your bottom lip into your mouth, biting down gently. “Are you an arse or tits guy?”

And there it was. The shocked, flustered sputtering that you were hoping for. Over the time you’ve known Remus, you realized how much of a cheeky shit he always was, and it felt good to be on the other side of things for once.

“Y-You can’t just ask that sort of thing! T-That’s…” he trailed off, and watched as you continued to grin up at him.

“That’s what? It’s just a question Remus.”

“That’s like asking what kind of panties you’re wearing!”

You threw your head back with a loud laugh, pulling away slightly. “Remus, I’ve technically already asked you that.”

“Well I would try for the male equivalent but there is none. That’s a personal question, Y/N.”

You sighed softly, realizing that you may have taken this a bit too far. Carefully reaching out to touch his arm, you frowned slightly when he jumped. I guess there’s the reminder that he wouldn’t want to be with you.

“Look Remus, I’m not making you answer anything. I was just curious about your preferences, that’s all. For instance, I like broad shoulders, and toned arms.” You trailed off, having your eyes subconsciously dip down the expanse of his own shoulders and arms, before you took in a deep breath and continued. “If it makes you uncomfortable, you don’t have to answer me. I’d never make you do anything you didn’t want to.”

Remus looked down at you and knew that you were telling the truth, you had to. He didn’t mean to get freaked out, because honestly he didn’t care. Yet, when you asked the only thing that he could think of was grabbing you by your own arse and pulling you closer to him. The truth of his thoughts almost spilled from his own mouth and he knew that he couldn’t do it.

“Oh,” you started, and pulled your hand off his arm to reach the waist of your own skirt. “And since you technically asked…” Your hand went passed the waistband of your skirt and pulled up the waistband of your panties. “I wear bikinis. These ones are lace.” You smiled coyly and watched as Remus gulped harshly.

“Arse.” He finally said. Taking a step closer, he reached out to trail a hand up your outer thigh gently. You shivered as his hand made its way under the bottom of your skirt, before blushing madly and pushing his hand away, albeit truly reluctantly. “I much prefer a fit arse.”

“Hands, Lupin.” You warned and watched as he grinned guiltily. You really had no idea when the two of you escalated to this type of flirting, but the way his hands felt as the glided up your outer thigh made you want to shiver and pounce.

“No need to get those pretty knickers in a twist. I’m merely curious as to the shape in the back.”

Your eyebrows raised in mild surprise. “The shape of what, exactly?”

Grinning further, he traced the outside of your skirt waistband, hooking a single finger inside and giving a slight tug. “The lace, of course.” His words seemed solid, but the way he smiled made you question the truth of his statement.

Rolling your eyes, you smiled gently. “Well, curiosity killed the cat, you know.” The words coming out of your mouth were not lies, but definitely not the truth. You felt the haze cloud your mind further for reasons completely unrelated to the veritaserum.

“Ah yes, but the answer brought him back. Care to give me the breath of life?” He winked.

A large blush met your cheeks and you looked down at the stairs before turning and starting back up towards the common room. “Let’s go, big boy, before we get caught.”

Joining you, scaling two stairs at a time to reach you, he smiled. “I’m a prefect.”

“You’re a prefect who is off duty. Ask me another question and let’s get to bed. You’re still exhausted, remember?”

Remus grinned, even though you noticed the dark circles that were still hollowing out his beautiful cheeks. “I suddenly don’t feel all that tired…”

You laughed, and grabbed his hand, pulling him along with you. “Well I am, so let’s go.”

The two of you climbed in silence for a few moments before you heard him ask, “Who do you think the most attractive bloke is?”

Your eyes widened as you felt your tongue go heavy in response. You thought of guy after guy that were attractive, quickly trying to convince yourself that it wasn’t Remus. If he knew that you found him most attractive, there was no telling what he’d ask next. This question game was a bad idea.

“Y/N?” He asked and you felt your heart rate spike in panic.

“Y—” you started and you felt the haze settle even further over you. You blinked in response, trying desperately to choose your words carefully in order to not let it slip. “You’re not playing fair, Remus.”

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “what do you mean? How?”

“Because that involves feelings.” Shit, that isn’t what you meant to say.

“What?” He asked, obvious confusion across his face. “No it doesn’t.”

You sighed, knowing that you had to give him something otherwise he’d never let this go. “Of course it does. The way I feel about—” you paused, fighting to remain clear headed. “—the person makes them much more attractive versus otherwise.”

You could tell that Remus was about to ask you something until you turned, scaling the stairs and walking up to the portrait. You muttered the password and walked in quickly.

Calling after you, Remus climbed through the portrait just in time to see you at the bottom of the steps. “Y/N, wait!”

You stopped, knowing that running would just make it more obvious. “Yeah?”

“Hey, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything, you know.” He was clearly concerned and confused, trying to figure out what made everything change.

“You di—” you started, and sighed. “It’s not your fault. Look, I had fun tonight but we’re both really tired and you definitely need all the sleep you can get. We’ll talk in the morning, yeah?”

Remus nodded slowly, still trying to understand exactly what just happened. “Sure, yeah.”

You smiled softly, before muttering a quick “goodnight” and headed up the stairs.

Moony watched as your fit arse climbed the stairs, and wondered why you wouldn’t tell him who you were interested in. “Goodnight Bubbles.” He mumbled, to nobody in particular and climbed the stairs to his own room; waiting for a conversation that you were going to avoid for as long as you could.

Meanwhile, you were in bed, pillow clutched close to you in a desperate attempt to settle your raging heartbeat. Completely exhausted, you tried telling yourself over and over that you hadn’t officially fallen for Remus but the truth seeking potion never allowed the lie to fall past your lips.

Tortured: 0

Torturer: 1

The two of you did not meet after hours again until about a week after the full moon. You let Remus get as much rest as he could, and honestly didn’t want to risk him asking you about the night of the veritaserum. However, once Remus was healed better, the two of you made plans to start meeting up in order to help him with the classes he fell behind in.

Remus caught up quickly, but the two of you continued to meet. It sort of just became your regular thing, meeting late at night once Remus got back from his prefect rounds. Neither of you really made plans to do it, but over the past few weeks you’d linger in the common room just a bit after 10 o’clock, secretly hoping that Remus would join you. Little did you know that Remus, usually pretty okay with leisurely strolling back to the common room, now scaled the stairs two, if not three at a time, eager to catch you before you went to bed.

The two of you would often spend the time talking, lounging by the fire or even sneaking out for a late night snack to the kitchens. You both spent night after night laughing at silly stories, learning more and more about the other.

You openly cried the night he told you about getting bitten; and Remus was nearly brought to tears himself as he felt you cling to him, telling him over and over that it wasn’t fair, and he didn’t deserve a bit of the life he was forced to now live.

“Y/N,” Remus started as you buried your face further into his neck, hugging him tightly. “Look at me.”

You simply shook your head in response, sniffing ungracefully and letting out another restrained sob.

Rubbing your back gently, he clutched you close to him for a few more moments, trying to commit this feeling to memory. Even though he felt like his heart was breaking at the sounds of your own sobs, he still revelled in the feeling of you gathered in his arms. After a few more moments, he sighed softly and tried gently pulling away.

“Love, please,” he murmured, and you didn’t know if your own heart swelled or broke at the gentle endearment. He’d never called you ‘love’ before and the way it sounded was beautiful; yet another reminder that he was too good for such a horrid affliction. “Please look at me, I want to see you.”

Sniffling again, you shook your head, making no attempt to move even if you had calmed significantly. “I’ve been crying,” and you hiccupped almost to prove your point. “I look all ugly and snotty.”

Remus chuckled softly, “so you’re just going to stay attached to me forever? I mean, I’m not complaining but I think I’d like to see your face at some point.” He trailed off, sliding his hands down the small of your back towards your arse. “Even if this view is pretty good too.”

Feeling a slight squeeze on your arse, you yelped and pulled away in surprise only to see a grinning Remus as you did so. The two of you stared at one another for a few moments, not saying anything. Smiles slowly faded and you bit your lip to try to keep yourself from crying again. You truly didn’t know what was up with you tonight. You were never one to cry in front of others, especially not Remus. Yet, thinking about a poor defenseless four year old Remus, sitting terrified in bed as that monster came near him, it was too much for you to bear.

Slowly, so slowly as if not to scare you, Remus reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. “Hey, cheer up; this isn’t worth your tears.”

Brows furrowed, your voice came out as a strained whisper after your long cry. “Of course you’re worth it.”

Remus smiled softly, and cupped your cheek, his heart physically hurting at the thought of how deeply you cared. You were too good to be crying over him, to be hurting because of his terrible condition. He dropped his hand, and pulled away slightly, reminding himself to keep his distance. “I’m not, not really.”

Straightening your spine, your beautiful face set in hard lines. “Don’t give me that shit, Remus John Lupin. You are worth everything.”

Remus closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, fighting the own tears that sprung to his eyes. “How?” The word was meant to be bitter and angry, but only came out broken and so very unsure. His head hung low, he continued, “I’m poor; I’m ragged and thin; I have no prospect for a future; I will be lucky if I can find a small job to even get by. Y/N, I have and will always have nothing.”

Frowning, you wanted to reach out and pull him close but knew that it was not your right to do so. You fought yourself until you couldn’t take his broken sobs any more. Reaching out, your hand rested gently on his thigh, a small amount of comfort compared to what you wanted to give him.

“Remus, I—” you started, but the words died in your throat. You knew that there was not much to console as much of what he said was probably true. Finding work while being a registered werewolf would be tremendously difficult for him. “I didn’t know you felt like this. Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

Remus laughed bitterly, and he didn’t know if it sounded more haunted or angry. “Who would I tell? There’s nothing to be done anyways, it’s my fate that I have to deal with. I shouldn’t burden anyone else because of it.”

“But—” you started and he cut you off.

“But nothing! I’m not dragging anyone else into this life.” His breathing was labored, almost hyperventilating and your heart shattered.

“Well, you have me.” You gently rested your hand on top of his own, giving it a small squeeze. “I know now, and you can always come to me. Always, Remus.”

Slowly, he looked up and into your eyes. You saw how much he looked like a scared little boy, and not the almost young man he truly was—eyes and nose raw and red, tear stains down his cheeks, his lips swollen from worrying them.

“I’m scared, Y/N.” He whispered, so quietly that you didn’t know if you were imagining things.

Without thinking you reached out and pulled him close, climbing into his lap. Hands carded through his hair as he buried his face in your chest. You whispered sweet nothings in his ear, repeating how things were going to be alright. You were glad that you were no longer under the veritaserum because you didn’t know if anything was true, but you knew that they were the words you both needed to hear.

After he calmed down, now only shaking slightly in your arms, did you pull away slightly. You smiled softly at his mussed hair and puffy, red eyes. “Want to know a secret?” You asked, stroking his cheek softly, watching with a fluttering heart as he leaned into your touch.

He merely hummed softly, relishing in the intimate, albeit embarrassing moment of his crying.

“I’m scared too.” And his eyes snapped open, wide and vulnerable.

“Of what?”

You sighed and reluctantly pulled away, but Remus simply pulled you back and settled the both of you down into the couch. He really didn’t want to be away from you right now, and hoped that this wasn’t going too far.

“This okay?” He asked softly, looking down at you in worry.

You simply shifted slightly to get more comfortable and hummed in agreement. After a few moments you sighed again and started worrying your lip.

“Why are you scared?” The question was hesitant and soft, as if treading on thin ice.

“It’s the war.” You started, and were glad that you didn’t have to look Remus in the eye at this angle. You could stare deep into the fire and just let the words tumble out. “I don’t know if I can do it, you know? Like Lily, Sirius, James, you, and even Alice… they all are just ready to fight. I just don’t know if I’m ready to do that—if I’m ready to risk losing everything.

“And I know that I should be, because what that man is doing is wrong; and I hate it. To think that there are people, good people, who are dead because of that monster and his stupid followers, it’s revolting.” You took in a deep breath and stared into the dying embers of the fire, thinking about all the homes of muggle-borns and half bloods burned to the ground. “But then I think about my mother, and Lily’s parents, and even your mom… and I can’t help but think that maybe it would just be easier if they all lay low, with someone protecting them. If I’m out there, fighting Death Eaters every day then who will be there for them? I love them and I’m not willing to risk losing them because I wasn’t there to help them.

“And then I think of you guys and how passionate you all seem to be. How driven and… brave you are. I’m not willing to risk losing you either; but I just—” you paused, your voice growing small. “I just don’t know if I’m that brave.”

Remus stared up at the ceiling of the common room, listening to your fears. One arm was wrapped tightly around you, the other playing with your hair softly. He understood your fears and realized that maybe he wasn’t alone.

“I think wanting to protect that people you care about is very brave.” His voice was deep and comforting, and you snuggled deeper into him. “It’s okay to be scared, Y/N; but I think the reason that we’re all so ready to fight is because we’re scared. We know that this won’t change so long as people are living in fear, and we won’t do that. We’re not going to let fear win… So we fight.”

Both of you were silent for a few minutes, comforting one another in just your presence alone.

“You know,” Remus started, “you don’t have to join the Order. Nobody would think any less of you because of it.”

You frowned and propped yourself up on one elbow, looking up at him. “And cut myself off from you all? I don’t think so. Remus, I’m scared of this war but I’m more scared of losing you. If you guys join the Order and I don’t—” you bit your lip and fought the tears that were now trying to spill. “There’s a very good chance I’ll never see you again; and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”

Remus simply smiled at you, realizing that even if you didn’t see it, you had just as much drive and bravery as they all did, if not more. You protected the ones you loved fiercely, and this protection thought of more than just the wizarding world. Remus knew that James and Sirius probably haven’t thought much about protecting those who couldn’t for themselves, and it was very brave of you to try to take on that responsibility alone.

“I’m joining the Order.” You stated, and eventually settled back down onto his chest. “I’m just also terrified.”

Like you did only hours before, Remus carded his hands through your hair and whispered sweet assurances in your ear. After a few minutes he heard your breathing slow and smiled as he realized you fell asleep. Kissing the top of your head gently, he whispered a sweet “goodnight, love,” and quickly drifted off himself, thinking of how great you felt in his arms.

Remus awoke to hushed whispers and an annoying tapping on his forehead. Never really much of a morning person, especially on Saturdays, he simply furrowed his brows and shifted, mumbling for them to bugger off. However, when Remus felt the unfortunate painful tingling shooting up his arm as soon as he moved and the distinct feeling of something wet on his shirt did his eyes snap open.

Blinking a few times, Remus squinted against the harsh light of the morning in the common room and looked around to see three boys hovering over him, shit eating grins on their faces.

“Morning Moony!” James chirped, and Remus heard you mumble something incoherent before cuddling deeper into his chest.

“Shut it Prongs, or you’ll wake her.” Remus whispered, a rather large blush already creeping its way up his neck.

“Yeah, Prongs, we wouldn’t want to wake Sleeping Beauty here.” Sirius grinned further before looking at your soft smile on your face. “So you finally put the moves on Y/N?”

Remus rolled his eyes and tried not to shift uncomfortably under their gaze. “Bugger off, Padfoot. We just slept, is all.”

“Mhm, she looks pretty happy to be sleeping with you there Moony.” Peter whispered, before giggling along with the other boys.

Sighing softly, he glared at his three former friends. “Oh jump in the lake, all of you. We just slept, honestly. Nothing happened. Now leave us alone before she wakes up and freaks out that she has three boys creepily staring at her as she slept.”

Raising their hands in surrender, all three boys backed away slightly. “Fine, Moony, but make sure I get all the real details later.” Sirius winked and with that they finally left.

Once the common room was quiet again, Remus looked down at you and smiled. You looked absolutely adorable curled up at his side. Even with the slightly damp patch on his shirt where you ended up drooling on him made his heart warm.

He knew that he’d have to wake you soon, before the rest of his house was up for the morning, but he wanted to make this time with you last. He felt so right and at peace having you in his arms, and sadly realized that he had fallen for you, and hard.

Tortured: 1

Torturer: 0

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