#people talk about how he thinks fabian is his best friend and YES BUT ALSO I RAISE YOU THIS:

[fighterpaladin]

this is your yearly reminder that riz has canonly said that he loves kristen the most out of the bad kids

[engie-ivy]

(Can be read as a stand-alone, but also as my attempt to give this slightly Angsty fic a happy ending!)

1845 words

Remus and Fabian are together, so Remus doesn't understand why Fabian would be so upset his best friend Benjy is dating someone. Until he learns who Benjy is dating.

Your Person

Remus feels a hint of annoyance as he sees Benjy’s cloak on the hanger. He came over to visit Fabian again. Yet, Remus knows he isn't one to question Fabian’s relationship with his best friend, as that makes him feel somewhat like a hypocrite, and that's a can of worms Remus prefers not to open.

At first, Remus is surprised when he hears raised voices, until he realizes Fabian and Benjy are having an argument about the same thing that has been bothering Fabian all week.

“…just doesn't sit right with me! Oh, hi darling,” Fabian says mid-argument as he sees Remus.

“Hello love,” Remus says, as he walks up to Fabian and gives him a quick kiss. “And hi again, Benjy.”

“Hi Remus,” Benjy says absentmindedly, before continuing the argument. “Fabian, I can't adapt my dating life to you having a ‘gut feeling’.”

“It's more than that! It's just a wrong match, Benj.”

“Then I'll find out in due time,” Benjy shrugs.

“But if I can save you the trouble…”

“Fabian, why do you care so much about who I date?”

Remus, who has just walked into the kitchen to pour himself a beer, thinks that is an excellent question, and he lets Fabian know by leaning against the kitchen counter slowly sipping his beer, while staring pointedly at Fabian.

“I just… That is… Only because… Because he's Remus’ ex!” Fabian exclaims. “You can't date Remus’ ex! That's just bad form.”

Remus isn't entirely surprised about the news that Benjy is dating a guy he has apparently dated before. There are only so many gay guys in their social circle, after all. But he isn't going to let Fabian make this about him. Fabian is the one who has a problem with Benjy dating, so Fabian is going to take responsibility for it. “I don't mind Benjy dating an ex of mine,” Remus says casually. “We all hang out with the same people, we all date guys, it's bound to happen.” He turns to open one of the kitchen cabinets to see if Fabian has any snacks left. “Who are you dating anyway, Benjy?”

“Sirius.”

Remus freezes with his hand halfway to a bag of crisps. “No.”

“Excuse me?” Benjy asks.

Remus turns around. “No. Just… no.”

Benjy frowns. “I thought you didn't mind me dating one of your exes?”

“Not Sirius,” Remus says instantly before he can think about it. “Sirius is… He's different.”

“What’s different about him?” Benjy asks.

“Yes, Remus,” Fabian echoes, looking more smug than upset though. “What's different about him?”

“Sirius and I are still…”

“Still what?”

Well, that is another excellent question. How to describe all the things Sirius still is to him? “We're still close friends,” Remus ends up on, running a hand through his hair. “That makes it different.”

“Of course it does,” Fabian says. “Now that it's about handsome, charming Sirius Black whom you're still oh-so-close with it's suddenly a whole other matter.”

Benjy looks from Fabian to Remus and back. “Something tells me this is more between you two than it has to do with me, so I'm going to let you sort it out.” He gets up from the couch and walks to the front door. “Bye Fabi, bye Remus. See you later.”

As Benjy leaves, Remus glares at Fabian. “Weren't you just saying yourself that you have a problem with Benjy dating my ex? I'm only agreeing with you.”

“I have a problem with the whole principle of it, not with it being Sirius Black!”

“No, but I bet it has to do with it being Benjy!”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Please, Fabian,” Remus says. “You've been acting annoyed and upset ever since you found out Benjy is dating someone. That, with all the time you spend with him, how am I supposed to feel?”

“Well, let me think,” Fabian replies sarcastically. “Probably about the same as it makes me feel when you talk about your ‘special relationship’ with Sirius Black.”

“I haven't been doing that though! I didn't even know it was him whom Benjy is dating until just now!”

“And only then you suddenly had an issue with it.”

“That's different!”

“Different indeed,” Fabian agrees. “I never dated Benjy, you did date Sirius.”

“Hardly,” Remus replies. “We dated for a short period when we were only fifteen years old, that's it.”

“And yet,” Fabian says. “He's not just an ex, he's somehow the ex.”

“At least I already had that experience with Sirius and decided we're better off as friends. With you and Benjy there might still be the question of ‘what if?’”

“I don't…” Fabian sputters.

Sensing an opportunity, Remus presses on. “You never wonder ‘what if?’ when it comes to you and Benjy?”

Fabian recovers himself, though. “You really consider you and Sirius a closed chapter?”

“You're not answering the question!”

“Neither are you!”

They angrily stare at each other in silence for a moment. Remus feels justified in his anger about Fabian having been so put out over the last week by the idea that Benjy is dating someone, but deep down he knows that lashing out at Fabian might also be a defense mechanism, as he doesn't want to deal with his own feelings about Sirius moving on. Their conversation at Lily and James’ wedding, where Sirius told him he still felt so much when it came to Remus, has been playing in Remus’ mind more often than he would like to admit.

As if sensing what Remus is feeling, Fabian tilts his head. “Why did you and Sirius never date again? I mean, I know you had this big fight back in fifth year, but you sorted yourselves out, so why did you never date him again?”

Now it's Remus’ turn to be taken off guard. “I… He… We… We barely managed to salvage our friendship. I almost lost him as a part of my life, I didn't want to take that risk again and potentially lose our friendship forever by turning it into something more. There was just too much to lose, he meant too much to me…”

“He what now?” Fabian asks.

“I meant…”

“I know what you meant! You're too scared to risk your ‘special relationship’, while apparently, I'm a whole lot less special than our perfect Sirius Black.”

“That's not what I said! Don't put words into my mouth!”

“I was right to warn Benjy. He should think twice before getting dragged into whatever is going on between you and Sirius.”

“Oh, like you even care who Benjy is dating,” Remus scoffs. “You don't want him dating anyone! Don't you think it's weird how no one is ever good enough for Benjy according to you?”

“He's my best friend! Of course I want what's best for him.”

“Is him being single not more what's best for you?”

“Maybe not,” Fabian snaps. “Maybe I should be with Benjy instead, rather than with someone who doesn't think I'm all that special anyway!”

“And maybe I should be with Sirius then,” Remus snaps right back. “As you're so obsessed anyway with how special our relationship apparently is!”

They are both standing across from each other, their hands clenched in fists, breathing heavily, as each other's words, but also their own words, sink in.

After a moment of silence, Fabian blinks. “I think I might have feelings for Benjy.”

“I think I might have feelings for Sirius,” Remus replies.

They stare at each other, before Fabian groans and lets himself fall on the couch, Remus dropping down next to him.

“Rem, what are we doing?” Fabian asks, hiding his face in his hands.

“Potentially dating the wrong people,” Remus offers.

Fabian lets his head fall on Remus’ shoulder. “We're a mess, aren't we?”

“Fabi,” Remus sighs. “What do we do now? They're dating each other, for Godric’s sake!”

Well, there are a lot of things Remus would rather be doing than going on a double date with his ex, the person he's in love with, and the guy his love interest is currently dating. Like going to the dentist for instance, or swimming with sharks, or jumping out of an airplane perhaps.

“Oh my, you're so funny, Siri,” Benjy giggles, squeezing Sirius’ arm.

Remus gives Fabian, who's knuckles are turning white around his fork, a pointed look. He was the one to agree to this double date after all. Something about observing how Benjy and Sirius are as a couple before potentially intervening.

“Excuse me for a moment,” Remus says, as Benjy makes a show of tickling Sirius’ side, before he heads off to the toilet, desperate to get out of there.

“Remus, I'm so sorry!”

Remus turns away from the sink towards Sirius, who's rushing up to him.

“Did you really think this was a good idea?” Remus hisses, his frustration with the whole evening getting the better of him. “After you basically told me you still have feelings for me at Lily and James’ wedding, for us to go on a double date?”

“I know, I know,” Sirius says, running a hand through his hair and looking unfairly handsome. “But on the bright side, at least I'm finally trying to move on?” He tries.

Remus just stares at him, as Sirius has no idea how little of a bright side that is.

“But for real,” Sirius continues. “Benjy just said a double date with friends, I didn't know it would be you and your boyfriend!”

“Me and my ex,” Remus corrects.

Sirius blinks, then shakes his head. “Merlin, this really is the most awkward double date ever!” Then he gives Remus a sympathetic look. “I'm sorry, Moony. I didn't know. What happened?”

Remus bites his lip, not sure whether saying ‘I realized I'm in love with you’ while Sirius’ date is right in the other room can be considered bad form. “We just realized we weren't each other's person.”

“How?”

“I…” With Sirius’ bright grey eyes looking at him like that, Remus can't keep it in. “I think I realized that you're my person, Sirius. I tried so hard to suppress it out of fear of mucking it up and losing you for good, but it's the truth and it has always been the truth.”

Sirius stares at him for a moment, before the most beautiful smile lights up his face. He takes a step forward and takes Remus’ hand. “Really? You mean it? You would like to finally try again? With me?”

“Pads…” Remus says, staring at their joined hands. “Benjy is…”

“Just trying to make Fabian jealous,” Sirius replies. “I mean, it's been fun with him, but nothing more than just fun, when we both needed a distraction as we were desperately pining after the one we really wanted to be with. As I was desperately pining after my person.”

“Your person,” Remus repeats softly, before returning Sirius’ smile.

As they walk back to their table, hand in hand, neither of them can help the smiles still on their faces.

“Benjy, Fabian, I think we need to switch places.”

[gods-favorite-autistic]

fantasy high hc ! all the bad kids know sign language (solesian sign language? their own made up sign? probably both lets be honest)

(semi/)nonverbal gorgus/riz being able to communicate easily with their friends if speech is hard or theyre overwhelmed, i also hc that adaine loses speech when she gets really anxious or stressed about something no im not projecting

also hoh fig my beloved, she started losing her hearing when her horns grew in and the whole being a rockstar thing probably doesnt help, she has hearing aids (special made and enhanced by gorgugs tinkering) but they dont fix her hearing 100% and hearing aids are not comfy to wear 24/7 so being able to take them out and still communicate is great

(sorry for the ramble lol)

⚡️

Yessss I love this

They get the idea sometime during freshman year, everyone is hanging out at Riz’s place and it’s just very very loud and Riz has not been having a good day before that and Fig kept punching his arm all bro-ey and he ended up hiding in the kitchen signing with his mom, Fig recognized it when she went to go get a snack and joined in (she had tried to learn it when her horns grew in, it’s really janky but she’s trying her best) and Riz was just so excited to have somebody else know it

Fabian has the most trouble learning it, he tends to gesture vaguely a lot with his hands while talking so having to talk with his hands very specifically is weird for him, but he puts in the effort for his friends

Adaine starts teaching herself it (her father thinks it’s unpractical, she has comprehend languages if she really needs it, so she usually goes to the school library and practices there) and then once she picks it up she helps teach the other Bad Kids

Kristen already knows some from doing outreach with the church (they were culty but they weren’t fully ableist) but it’s mainly religious words so it’s pretty much as broken as her Elvish, she does pick it up surprisingly quickly (despite her abysmal dexterity)

Gorgug knows a few specific words his parents taught him when he was little (he was not very good at thinking clearly enough to communicate when he was overwhelmed so it’s mainly just words like “mad” “sad” and “loud” that he can sign really quickly), him and Fabian have study sessions for while once they start learning and figure out they’re both abysmal at it

Fig steals her moms card and signs up for lessons before figuring out that not a single one of these people know how to sign conversationally (she’s the only actual hoh person in there including the teacher who is just so condescending like she’s aware of how to sign the word yes she’s not inept) so she quits after like day two and learns with Adaine

Riz learned how to sign when he was like 6 (his parents thought it would be a useful life skill but they also figured out it both gave his hands something nondestructive to do and a way to communicate during meltdowns so they worked extra hard to teach him) and he helps the others out with their signing (mainly Fabian and Gorgug)

If they don’t want to be overheard they have a tendency of slipping into sign language, which is very confusing when they go from the loudest corner ever to literal silence+the smacking of hands

Fig tries to very discreetly talk shit with Fabian and Adaine in front of Jawbone by signing except Jawbone decided to learn sign the first week he was counselor so she got in trouble anyways (he did not let her use the “but im disabled” card to get out of it)

Fig tries to be her own translator at concerts (“Adaine can make a simulacra it’ll be cool!”) but her label said no

Fabian tends to use sign language any time he’s at a party and doesn’t feel like ruining his voice for the night just to chat with his friends

Gorgug thinks it’s really funny to sign curse words in front of teachers and then lie about what they mean (especially Porter in Junior year he thinks it’s hilarious)

[cledubs]

i really don’t understand how some fantasy high enjoyers don’t see the very obvious metaphor for aromantic denial within baron from the baronies in sophomore year. baron is a nightmare creature that came into existence because riz lied about having a partner so his friends wouldn’t bother him about it? he made up baron when his friends were all talking about the people they wanted to kiss? how is that not aromantic to some people. maybe it’s more obvious to me because i HAVE been in denial about being aro and made up crushes for myself and tried to pretend i had them. just because i felt it was a thing i needed to do, that it was a thing that EVERYONE had to have a crush and that it was normal. how do you see the confrontation between baron and riz as anything other than accepting aromanticism. this thing, his nightmares personified, says to him “the years will go by, and everyone will find someone that matters more to them than you.” as an aro person yeah that’s gotta be up there with the top ten nightmares.

how do you look at this interaction and NOT see an aromantic boy.

(for further elaboration, yes i am aware that aromantic people CAN want to kiss others and hell yeah power to you, i’m just saying that it’s a common thing to not care about kissing/not want to do it)

and another thing with with the fhigh fandom is that like, some people will go through every loophole they can to try and pair up riz anyways. aromantic people CAN be in relationship, of course, but why would people take this specific boy, who has repeatedly expressed distaste in being in a relationship, and ship him with other people. especially since fabian and riz is a common ship. is it because they’re best friends? is it because people value romance over friendship? oh they’re such close friends they must have a thing! it’s so stupid. why is it, that when a character is asexual (riz, being confirmed asexual), people respect that. they don’t often go “oh yeah i know they’re asexual but asexual people can have sex! or want to have sex! it’s a spectrum!”. (that is true, btw, ace people can have sex and all that. but it’s different when allosexual people do it to try and just make up excuses to not treat asexual characters like they’re asexual.) why do i mostly see it done with aromantic people? one of this boy’s biggest fear is people pairing up and leaving him behind. how do you see that as a boy who WANTS to be in a relationship? do you think he WANTS to pair up as well?

just because it’s not been outwardly confirmed and directly said “riz gukgak is aromantic” doesn’t mean that it’s not true, y’know? there’s subtext, there’s symbolism, there’s metaphors, there’s DIRECT REFERENCES TO RIZ NOT LIKING ROMANCE! i don’t really know how people can see him as alloromantic

anyways thank you for coming to my ted talk, this is sam (confirmed aroace) signing off or something

(also some of my non-aro, romance enjoying friends have confirmed that the aro implications are very obvious so clearly it’s not just an aro brain thing to understand)

[bloodyshadow1]

wishlist for Junior year

Since Junior year is happening in January I thought I'd make a quick list of a few things I personally want to happen next season. You're free to tell me what you think, disagree, agree, hell add more if you're interested.

I want the maps back- I completely understand why they did the show like they did for their live show, but I miss the Rick Perry maps that were so cool. Also Brennan has a lot of epic battles that are kind of hard for me to visualize because I have adhd and missing one thing he says can confuse me for the whole battle. Seeing mini's really helps me keep things straight

less NPC interactions- the NPC's are not bad, by any means, I love the hirelings and the romance partners, but I feel like including them on the adventure lessened the interactions between the Bad Kids. Like Tracker and Kristen for a large part of the adventure were attatched at the hip, and other places, Gorgug spent a lot of his time trying to patch up his relationship with Zelda, Ayda gets a lot of interactions with Fig and Adaine, but there isn't a lot of time for the three of them just one on one leaving the other out more. Just me personally I would like if the season focused more on the party and their relationships

(I want to be clear, I don't want no interactions with our beloved NPC's just less them being part of the adventure and more them being NPC's that help and exist but aren't the DM's Player Characters)

I hope they stay in Elmville or at the very least Solace- I loved Sophomore Year, but a lot of the charm of the first season of Fantasy High was the unique setting they were in. An urban fantasy world where a large part of the population were adventurers. It felt more unique compared to Sophomore year's more high fantasy, but with people who know modern technology. Even if they leave Elmville, I wouldn't mind them exploring Solace as a whole to see what their country is like outside of their small town. (I want to more campaigns exploring Spyre too, but even with the Seven they leave Solace by ep 3 and spend most of their time in other countries in Spyre, I want to see what a modern urban fantasy setting is like)

Adaine using the Sword of Sight, wizard or not, as a high elf she's proficient in swords and with her boosted strength and her desire to punch/hit people it's perfect. I know cantrips will still be the better option, but when has Adaine, I punch my sister in the face, Abernant done the more efficient option. Adaine is my favorite character so I'd just like to see her being the terrible chaos gremlin that I know she's capable of being.

Hallariel- I'd like to see her in battle if only once. I know I said I would like the NPC presence lessened, but I still want to see what Fabian's hot mom can do in a real fight. We've only seen her talked about as the best swordswoman in the world by Bill who himself is fearsome with a blade, but we only see her train/threaten her son. Even if it's a possession or mind control situation I'd like to see her in battle, even if it's against the Bad Kids.

For some reason I want a battle at a Fig and the Sig Figs concert- I don't really know why I want this, but I really liked the Broadway brawl ep of Unsleeping city, it made for some cool rules and the like and I would like, a less stressful, but still fight in the crowd of people while Fig and Gorgug are on stage.

Consequences for the Bad Kids and their friends/family- I don't really know where I'm going with this, but I just feel like the Bad Kids get away with a lot of stuff because that's how Elmville works, but I kind of liked how they suffered consequences near the end of Freshman year, even if I think months in Jail was a lazy way for Brennan to do a time skip until the finale battle. (I love the guy, but I believe what I believe). But specifically about YES! the god Kristen created and abandoned, creating a god and orphaning it should have more consequences than throwing out a sweater that you don't like any more. Are Adaine and Aelwyn treated differently given that their parents started a war over Aelwyn and wars have consequences, people died and have people to mourn them who probably aren't too keen on the two abernants in their country after that.

I'd like cameos by the Seven, not just Zelda.- again, I know I said less NPC presence, but still, they don't necessarily have to be NPC's just saying if someone wanted to drop by and play for an episode or 2. The Seven is probably my favorite D20 season and I would love to see what my girls are up to.

There's more that I might add, but this is it for now

[weasleylangs]

dirty little secret / g.w

‘i go around a time or two, just to waste my time with you’ 

Summary: Being friends with benefits was a mutual decision, a way to relieve stress when needed after a stressful twelve months. It was decided it was just between them, not to be anybodies business but George and Y/N’s, but she doesn’t want to be his dirty little secret anymore. Pairing: George Weasley x Fem!Reader Warnings: 18+ MINORS DNI !! no graphic depictions of sex but there’s one really fucking steamy kiss and sex & fwb situations/hookup culture is discussed heavily, sweet aftercare for both reader and George, jealousy & possession (nothing toxic), alcohol / drinking, food.  Word Count: 5.6k AUTHORS NOTE / aaaaa the first instalment for my pop punk series!!! this one is based off dirty little secret by the all american rejects! im going to kiss @weelittleweasley for helping me write the steamy kiss btw!!!!!

POP PUNK COLLECTION 

(all 18+) taglist / @spacexcowgirl @weelittleweasley​ @lumos-barnes​ @butterflybuchanan​ @levylovegood​ @omghufflepuff​ @mitsukui​ 

----------

Y/N hears George when he reenters her room, a glass of water in one of his hands, a washcloth in the other. Her legs still feel slightly numb from the pleasure she had just been on the receiving end of, a blissed-out expression on her face as she makes grabby hands towards the man in her doorway. 

George smiles dopily down at her, helping her sit up before handing her the glass of water. “How are you feeling?” he asks, checking in as he starts to help clean Y/N up. He quickly stops when she winces, scared he hurt her. “Fuck, sorry,” he whispers, pulling his hand away but when she laughs and grabs his hand, he relaxes.

“It’s fine,” she smiles, the look of euphoria still gracing her facial features. “Just a little sensitive,” she says honestly. George nods slightly, a proud smile on his lips as he goes back to cleaning her skin, taking extra care in areas where Y/N would be sensitive. 

He’s always like this after sex, making sure she’s okay. It’s a part of the reason why Y/N agreed on being friends with benefits with him in the first place, he’s the most trustworthy person she knows. 

It all started when they were twenty-one; the war had finished, their loved ones were safe and they so desperately needed to unwind in a very specific way after the stress of the previous twelve months. It was a mistake at first, two best friends drunkenly joking about sleeping together and the next thing they knew, they were rolling in the sheets together. Y/N was positive she ruined her longest friendship, but when George began his own personal ritual of aftercare, she knew she couldn’t let him go easily. 

This is why when the preposition of friends with benefits was put on the table by George, she immediately took it; six months later they’re still sleeping together, and even though her feelings for George are evergrowing, she’s happy with their current situation. 

“You sure you’re okay?” George presses when he’s noticed Y/N’s eyes glazed over. He’s worried he went a little harder than usual tonight. The stress of getting the joke shop back up and running has been getting to him and he needed a release of pressure in more ways than one.  

“Yes, I’m sure,” she says, taking George’s hand in her own before pressing a soft kiss to his knuckles that causes a soft red hue to develop across his freckled cheeks. That’s something else she’s learnt about George since she began sleeping with him; he needs aftercare for himself just as much herself, and he mostly needs it in some form of physical affection. “Just thinking, nothing bad. I promise.” 

George nods asking if Y/N’s good to be picked up. She giggles when she realises he’s taking her to the bathroom so she can pee. He sits her down on the toilet before turning around and gasping as he sees his reflection in the mirror. “Fuck woman,” he exclaims, before twisting his body so he can see the scratches that start at his shoulders and trail down his back. “Were you trying to rip me apart?” 

He hears a giggle come from behind him, quickly followed by a toilet flushing. He feels her frame push past him so she can wash her hands and when she reaches to grab some cream to put on George’s back she lets out her own gasp.

“George Fabian Weasley, what the fuck?” Her neck has a hickey, and not just a small one. She’s beginning to question whether George is part vampire when she looks up at him and he’s smirking at her, a mischievous glint in his eye. “It’s Spring! I have lunch with Angie tomorrow! I can’t cover these!”

George almost feels bad, but his admiration for his work on her neck is slightly winning over his guilt. “I’m sorry, darling,” it’s genuine and they both know it when Y/N’s scowl falters slightly, threatening to smile.

“No, you’re not,” she says, grabbing the cream for his back and pushing him back into her bedroom. Before she begins to help George, she stands in front of her drawers, grabbing clothes to put on now she’s come out of her post-sex haze. She hears the redhead behind her chuckle when he recognises the sweater she puts on as his own as he puts his own boxers back on. “But I guess it’s payback. Your back’s going to hurt tomorrow and Fred’s going to wonder why.”

None of their friends are aware of... their arrangement. They agreed, knowing they would make it weird. After all, Fred’s engaged to his long term girlfriend from their Hogwarts years and their other friends have all started putting themselves out there, so it’s safe to say, they’re the last two to start to settle down. 

But they like their current relationship; it’s carefree, it’s simple, it’s not complicated like a proper relationship and if they’re honest, they get some mindblowing sex out of it. So it’s not anybody’s business but each other’s. 

After a while, Y/N’s finished putting the cream on George’s back. She spent the time mumbling apologies whenever George winces, she didn’t realise how hard she was going so she makes a mental note to not rip apart his back the next time they see each other. She presses a gentle kiss to the base of George’s neck, something she doesn’t think too much about but it feels like it’s blurring the lines between romantic and platonic right now and she feels herself panic a tiny bit.

“Do you work tomorrow?” She asks George, who hums in agreement. His eyes are droopy like he’s almost falling asleep and Y/N expected this. He’s putty in anybody’s hands the second you start trailing your hands gently up any part of his body, specifically his back. “Are you sleeping here tonight?” she giggles as she asks and George sighs. 

“I probably shouldn't but-” he cuts himself off with a yawn before rolling over onto his back. “Your bed is just so much more comfortable than mine.” 

Y/N rolls her eyes, pushing him slightly before jumping off the bed and leaving George to frown at her when she moves from her spot next to him. She grabs her wand from her bedside table, walking through her flat to make sure all her lights are turned off before enchanting ‘lumos’ so she can light her way back to her bedroom. 

“You’re letting me stay?” She nods at his words, crawling into bed with him. While she knows George is a sucker for physical affection, Y/N is also well aware he hates sleeping cuddled up to people so she gives him his space in the bed. Because of this, she doesn’t expect George to shift his body so even though they’re not cuddling, they’re still close, a simple form of comfort that neither of them can decipher as platonic or romantic.

“Yes, you can stay,” she says, rubbing her thumb along George’s hand as a way of saying goodnight, “but you wake me up before 9am tomorrow and you die.” 

-----

When Y/N wakes up the next morning to her alarm going off, the side of the bed is empty and cold. Her alarm clock reads 10:30am, so she knows George has been gone for a few hours at this point. She feels a small sense of sadness, remembering how fun the mornings are the times George sleeps over and stays until she wakes up. 

She sighs, deciding there’s no point in dwelling on George’s absence. When she walks into her kitchen, she checks her kettle; cursing George when she finds it empty because she knows he just had to have a cup of tea before leaving this morning and rolls her eyes as she fills it herself. Her kettle’s boiling as she potters around when she spots a piece of paper with George’s writing all over it. 

‘George’s excuses for the hickeys’ the note reads in his messy scrawl, and Y/N has to stifle a cackle before she continues to read. ‘1. ran into a door’ is scratched out immediately and she knows George probably thought it was a good idea at first before realising the hickeys are on her neck, so the running into the door isn't feasible. ‘2. bug’ is the next one and she has to stop herself from rolling her eyes and when she goes back to George’s oh so incredible list, her breath hitches. 

‘3. be honest and say you hooked up with someone’ makes Y/N’s heart sink. She hasn’t slept with anyone besides George in the past six months, hasn’t wanted to either for that matter, but it makes her realise something. 

She doesn’t know if George is the same. 

She’s well aware of their situation and the lack of commitment outside of promising to come over later, but her emotions hit her harder than she thought they would. While she wouldn’t complain if she and George became something more, she knows it’s not what either of them is looking for at the moment, so she doesn’t understand why she’s so hurt. Does George think I shag other people? she thinks before the kettle starts to hiss to indicate the water is boiled and she’s brought back to reality. 

After drinking her tea, Y/N begins to get ready, trying her best to cover the purple bruises littering her neck and trying to keep herself under control while she admires them in the mirror. Soon enough, she’s out the door and making her way to Diagon Alley where she spots Angie, talking with Fred.

“Y/N!” Fred exclaims as she gets closer and waves frantically as she walks towards them. “We’re just talking about how we think George has a bird!” Y/N chokes on air, her brows furrowing at Fred’s words. They’ve been so careful, a bit too careful when it comes to hiding their relationship from their friends so she doesn’t understand.

“Why do you think that?” Her tone is casual, trying to act natural as she tries to find out what signs could point to their... activities being exposed, and to his brother of all people.

Fred starts laughing again, holding his stomach as he tries to tell the story. “He didn’t come home last night- I only noticed because I was up at 3 and his bedroom door was open which was weird because he didn’t tell me he was going out!” Fred’s animated when he’s talking, taking a sip of his drink and using his free hand to emphasise his story. “And when he was reaching for something in a closet today he winced, like his back hurt!” 

Y/N stares at Fred blankly, memories of the night before flooding her memory when Fred mentions George wincing. She knows now is not the time to start thinking about how good George made her feel last night. “What does wincing have to do with anything?” 

She knows she made a mistake when Fred’s eyes widen, staring at her. “Well, my dear prude Y/N, my back only hurts when it’s scratched up from a good fu-” 

“Okay, we do not need to hear about your sex life,” Angie says, grabbing Y/N by the shoulders and steering her off. “We have a lunch date that you’re not invited to.” She’s smiling when she says it and when Fred bids the two girls goodbye, Angie calls out something about making fun of George for her. 

She’s quiet on the walk to the cafe she and Angelina have planned for lunch, lost in thoughts. She’s stuck on the idea of George sleeping with other people even though she knows she was the one with George last night, that she was the one scratching up his back. They walk in tandem, Angelina raving about Quidditch while Y/N nodded in acknowledgement at appropriate times. 

Eventually, they reach the cafe, quickly taking a seat and looking at the menu. It’s then when Angelina’s hand pulls the menu down from Y/N’s face and she’s giving the girl a questioning look.

“What’s wrong?” She asks.

Y/N stares at her, not understanding how she did anything to convey any feeling at all, let alone a feeling of something being wrong. She’s about to deny it when she looks Angelina in the eye, and she realises she can’t lie to her because she’d be questioned for the rest of lunch. “Do you think George has a friend with benefits?”

Angelina giggles at Y/N’s words, smiling slightly. “I know you’re sleeping with him.” She says it so casually that Y/N doesn’t even process what she said for a few beats. She half expected her friend to admit she was also sleeping with George, after all, she used to suspect they had a thing when they were teenagers but this is the last thing she expected. 

She’s so baffled she can’t even deny it, no words leaving her mouth for a second before she just stares at Angelina, “How?”

Angelina keeps smiling, quickly ordering their drinks when the waitress comes over and requests a little longer to decide on food before turning back to her friend sitting dumbfounded across the table. “Fred might be stupid and oblivious, but I’m not. I see the way he looks at you.” 

Y/N doesn’t think George looks at her in any particular way, at least he doesn’t when she isn’t under him and she notices Angelina’s eyes soften when Y/N doesn’t say anything. “You didn’t know before sleeping with him?”

“Didn’t know what before sleeping with him?”

“That he likes you?” Y/N thinks Angelina’s being stupid; it’s always been her liking George and George not noticing, not the other way around. George has always been sweet and gentle in bed, way nicer and way more giving than any other romantic partner in her past, but she’s always chalked it up to him just being George. That’s how she’s always known him, how she knew him when they met at 11, how she knew him on the Quidditch pitch when they were 15 and how she knows him now, at 22 and in his bed. 

“He doesn’t like me, you’re just making stuff up!” She’s adamant Angelina’s just messing with her but Angelina just sighs, obviously ready to move on from the topic. “He doesn’t,” she whispers to no one in particular and she feels Angelina grab her hand, rubbing a thumb across the top in a comforting kind of way.

“I guess it’s not my place to say,” she starts, “but I’ve never seen George treat someone else like the way he treats you. It’s like... It’s like you’re glass, that he’s scared of breaking you and you have to be in his sights at all times.” It’s soft and Y/N knows it’s genuine as much as she hates to admit it. 

The conversation changes, thankfully putting Y/N and George out of the hot seat but she’s hanging onto every word of Angelina’s, suddenly overthinking every interaction she’s had with the redhead in the past few months. Panic starts to set in and it only gets worse when Angelina bids her goodbye.

Her thoughts are loud; does she like George or does she like the way George makes her feel? What if George has liked her this entire time and she’s mistaken her feelings for romantic when they’re purely physical? 

As she wonders, she realises she’s being stupid. Y/N knows she likes George, she’s liked George for so long and she likes him so much it hurts. That’s when a new thought arrives, a more sinister thought, a meaner thought; What if Angelina is just completely wrong, that’s always a possibility. What if George doesn’t like her back at all. 

-----

She wanders Diagon Alley, making her way to the Apothecary after remembering she needs some more Valerian sprigs to make a new batch of the Potion for Dreamless Sleep. She’s muttering to herself as she wanders the store, thinking about how these days her best night's sleep are spent besides George but the thought is quickly pushed away when she spots her ingredient of choice and she can barely reach it. 

“Fuck,” she mutters, looking around for a stool or a shop assistant so she can finally get out of Diagon Alley. She’s about to give up and leave herself when she’s met with a tough body slamming into her own. Apologies spill from her mouth quickly, feeling terrible she almost knocked this poor guy over in the middle of the Apothecary but when she looks up, George is looking down at her.

“What do you need, darling?” The nickname makes her heart race and she only hopes George can’t hear it seconds away from beating from her chest. She doesn’t respond immediately, preoccupied with how nice he looks and it’s not until he waves in front of her face that she responds.

“Sorry,” she says, shaking her head in a way to push away her thoughts, “was looking for some Valerian sprigs.” She hopes George minds his own business, memories from her meeting with Angelina flooding her thoughts. She starts to over analyse the way George looks at her, whether it’s as if she’s glass, like Angelina claims but when she looks at George, he’s reaching up and grabbing the jar for her.

“Treacle fudge?” He questions, and it takes her a moment to process he’s asking why she needs the ingredient. 

“Dreamless Sleep,” she replies, embarrassed. She’s never needed a sleeping potion when George is around, his presence alone is enough to fight off any unwanted nightmares but that’s the last thing he needs to know. Thankfully, he doesn’t comment, just puts the jar back up on the shelf when she’s done and motions for her to follow him around the store. 

He stops in front of the rose thorns, silently debating how many to get when he feels Y/N’s eyes on him. “Love potion, for WonderWitch,” he says, grabbing some and putting them in a bag before making his way to the counter. He grabs the Valerian sprigs from Y/N’s hand, placing them alongside his rose thorns and ignoring her protests when he hands some Galleons to the shopkeeper. 

“I get a discount,” he says when they exit the shop, “plus, I didn’t mind.” Y/N stares at him, not able to read a single emotion on his face. She thanks him and takes the Valerian sprigs from him and places them in her bag. 

“Do you wanna come over tonight?” He asks, rubbing the back of his neck. “Fred won’t be home.” His cheeks are flushed red, almost like he’s shy asking to see her for the second night in a row. The word ‘yes’ is on the tip of her tongue, threatening to spill out without her permission. She badly wants to let the word slip as well, but her thoughts from earlier come to the forefront once again and at this moment, Y/N can’t seem to convince herself that George wants her in the same way she wants him.

“No, sorry,” she says bluntly, and she doesn’t miss the look of shock on his face. Y/N has never turned George down and while he respects her no, it confuses him nonetheless. “Just... Not feeling well. You know?”

Y/N knows George doesn’t believe her, she sees it in his eyes, but he hums in acknowledgement before lifting his wrist and checking his watch. “Look, I’ve gotta go, Fred’s going to kill me,” the words are forced like he wants to stay and make sure everything is okay between the pair and he’s being pulled away too soon. “I’ll see you sometime this week, yeah?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Y/N says, knowing he doesn’t mean sometime this week in his bed, but the thought happens before she can stop it and it’s right now she realises she needs to push George away before she gets more hurt. 

-----

It’s been a week since Y/N turned down George’s offer to come over that night, and she has a feeling he’s avoiding her. Usually, when Y/N denies him it only takes him a few days before he comes crawling back or vice versa; they’ve never been able to go long without falling into bed together, the co-dependency on each other for a hook up was one they never discussed, but was known, so the fact George didn’t end up in her bed during the week makes her painfully aware something is wrong and even though she knows it’s her own fault, it doesn’t make it hurt any less.  

The suspicion is only confirmed when she’s dragged to a bar in Muggle London on the following Saturday night. Angie, Katie and Alicia’s complaints that Y/N’s been too high strung this week getting to her and their peer pressure eventually worked. She doesn’t mind the bar- it’s not too busy but it’s still got enough people in it for a good time and Katie and Lee are getting everyone drinks when Y/N spots a head of bright, auburn hair across the room. 

She doesn’t even think twice before knowing it’s George, and it’s got nothing to do with the girl next to him, hanging off every word he’s saying not being Fred’s fiancée. The way she feels in her entire body when she spots him, the ache in her heart she feels is what confirms it’s George. He’s the only person to ever have this kind of power over her and at this moment, she wishes he didn’t. 

Because George is flirting with the girl next to him and she’s batting her eyelashes, clearly happy with the attention the cute redhead is giving her and Y/N wants nothing more than to be in her place and it hurts, even more, knowing she usually is in her place. George is a lot more comfortable talking sex once he has a few glasses of whiskey, so the flirting gets turned up to an eleven and all their friends laugh at his forwardness. 

Angelina sees Y/N staring longingly at the younger twin and without words she knows something is wrong. So she grabs the tequila from Katie and places it in front of Y/N. “Drink it.” She looks at Angelina, confused why her attention was stolen from George but smiles happily when the shot glass is in her hand. 

It burns as it slides down her throat, after all, tequila always does. She quickly takes the lemon from whoever’s holding it out to her, pulling a face as the sourness meets her taste buds. Angelina, Katie and Alicia and hollering when she looks back at them, her friends successfully stealing her attention from George as they drag her to the dancefloor. ABBA is playing over the loudspeaker, and the girls yell in excitement, they would never pass up the opportunity to dance to ABBA; memories of post-Quidditch parties and sneaking Firewhiskey into the Gryffindor Common Room coming to the forefront of their minds. 

They dance for who knows how long with Lee joining them as he dances between Alicia and Katie, playing up the ladies’ man role. It makes Y/N laugh, Lee clearly loving the attention from the girls but it’s at that moment she spots George and the girl from earlier, dancing; George’s hands are on her hips, respectful but holding her close and it fills Y/N with a feeling so horrible, she has to turn around to push the vile, green monster back down. 

Thankfully, or not so thankfully, she’s not entirely sure just yet, she turns to face a guy. He’s cute, got a puppy dog look about him and he smiles at Y/N in a way that indicates he’s asking to dance. She says yes, of course, and her hands wrap around his neck. She hates that she’s spending this time dancing with him comparing him to George; his hands aren’t as calloused, he smells like mint as opposed to the familiar scent of cinnamon and Earl Grey tea, her heart isn't racing like it would if she was with the redhead. 

George sees her across the dance floor because his eyes haven’t left her all night. He knows he’s leading this poor girl on, Bianca is her name; he’s not going to end up taking her home like he knows she’s hoping, but he needed a distraction. When he sees Y/N starting to dance with a guy, his jaw tenses and his eyes narrow; he knows he’s being stubborn. If he just talked to Y/N everything would be sorted but he doesn’t want to be the one to break, he wants Y/N to come to him, to want him. 

Their eyes meet across the dance floor, the guy’s head dipping into the crook of Y/N’s neck, his arm is wrapped around her waist as her back is pressed against his chest, grinding her bum onto his crotch. She tries to look away from George but she can’t, his eyes are enchanting and this is the most attention they’ve gotten from each other since that day in Diagon Alley. George whispers something into the girl’s ear, his grip on her hips getting tighter but his eyes never leave Y/N’s. 

It’s Y/N who breaks eye contact, her head falling back onto her dance partner’s shoulder and when George sees open mouth kisses pressed to Y/N’s neck, he snaps. He mutters an excuse to Bianca and walks as fast as he can to the girl he wants. He sees his friends snickering at each other as they dance but no one says anything.

She feels his presence before she feels him grab her wrist, so he doesn’t scare her. Her head immediately pops up, looking George in the eye. “Oi, nah. I had her first,” the guy behind Y/N says, his grip visually tightening on Y/N as if she’s a toy and George is coming to steal it, but he has to stifle a laugh; the guy’s confident, George’ll give him that.

“Nah, mate,” he starts, the music changing to a more sensual R&B song as he speaks. He sees Y/N blush at his simple words and he gently tugs at her wrist again, not in a demanding kind of way; he’s asking, pleading her to follow him and when she steps away from the guy she was dancing with, she mutters an apology before letting George drag her where he wants to go. 

----

They don’t even say two words to each other once they’re in the bathroom together. George pulls her inside quickly, before pushing her up against the door, attaching his lips immediately to her neck before he gently sucks and bites, subconsciously leaving a small hickey like it's the most natural thing in the world for him to do. She’s missed having him this close so when her fingers rake through his long hair, she gives it a gentle tug before pulling his mouth up to her own, wanting to kiss him with everything she has, needing him even closer. He obliges of course, always happy to give Y/N what she wants.

When George’s lips finally meet hers, he’s kissing her like it’s the last time they’ll ever kiss; it’s messy, desperate, like most of their kisses are, hands gripping wherever they can just to ensure the other isn’t leaving. George is intoxicating to Y/N like she can get drunk from the taste of his whiskey covered lips alone and her head spins when she feels his hands rake up her body, grasping her waist and pushing her harder against the door. A small moan leaving Y/N’s lips is all George needs to force his tongue into her mouth, massaging their tongues together and she tugs at the hair at the nape of his neck again, desperately needing him as close as humanly possible without defiling this public bathroom. The action makes George whimper, loving nothing more than having her fingers tugging at his auburn locks and it gives her a slight power trip. Just a slight one, as she tries to take control of the kiss. 

It doesn’t last long because before she knows it, she’s whimpering under his touch and surrendering everything she has to him as his hands caress her body, grabbing and pulling her to him wherever possible. His hands eventually land on her thighs, and when he grabs them and hoists her up, her legs immediately wrap around his waist. The action alongside the pressure on her crotch makes her moan and she feels George smirk at her noises, obviously feeling proud of being the only person to be able to do this to her. He pivots slightly once he’s holding her, placing Y/N on the counter next to the sink so they’re finally level to kiss comfortably. 

He keeps his spot between her legs, refusing to detach his lips from hers, his hands crawling from her thighs to tightly grasp her hips. If it was any other day, Y/N would’ve said something, telling him to be careful of bruises but right now, after watching him flirt with the girl out in the bar for hours on end, there’s nothing she wants, no needs, more than George marking her in every way he can. 

“Mine,” she moans without thinking, as his lips leave hers, slowly making their way across her jaw and onto her neck once again, licking, biting, sucking. George has always loved her neck and he knows how much she loves having her neck touched. “You’re mine,” she repeats when George doesn’t immediately push her away, and she doesn’t even have time to decide to panic before she hears a groan in her ear.

“Yours,” he whispers, his hot breath causing goosebumps to prickle along her skin. The words don’t even process in her brain before she feels George pull away from her. The lack of contact makes her whine, she never wants to be far away from George ever again but he smiles, presses the most gentle kiss on her lips before looking her directly in her eyes, “I’m yours.” 

Her heart stops, she never thought for a second she’d hear George mutter those words, let alone in a dingey, small bathroom of a bar in Central London, but here it is. “Don’t play with me, Georgie,” she whispers. From her spot on the counter, she can look him directly in the eyes; his cheeks are flushed red, his pupils are blown, lips swollen and red. His hair has gotten messy from her pulling at it but she can’t bring herself to feel bad that she ruined his perfectly styled hair because at this moment, she thinks this is the most beautiful she’s ever seen him, so vulnerable and the look of adoration in his eyes fills her chest with hope. 

“Would I ever play with you, darling?” He asks, his words are sincere and she knows it. It’s soft, reminiscent of all those times he’s looked after her after having sex, when he promises to look after her, always. 

“I’d hope not, I was having fun with…” She trails off, realising she never caught his name before she starts laughing. She feels George’s hands tighten against her thighs, hyperaware of his touch on her skin and she grabs one of his hands. “I didn’t actually know his name. I was pretending he was you.”

She says it so softly she wouldn’t be shocked if he missed it, but he didn’t. He hangs to every word she says, he always does and when he smiles, Y/N feels herself relax. “I was using Bianca to make you jealous,” he admits, laughing to himself. He knew the pair of them were being stupid, that they could have just talked but the fear of rejection clearly got the best of both of them. 

“I’ve liked you for so long, and maybe I shouldn't have put friends with benefits on the table knowing that, but I needed you.” He’s never spoken truer words, his left hand leaving her thigh and gently caressing her cheek. Her makeups smudged from both the sweat from dancing and the desperation from not even five minutes ago, her hairs messy and her lips are swollen just as much as his but he wants to take her home, right this second, and show her in so many ways how much he loves her.

“I like you, too.” 

His eyes prick up at her words and he didn’t realise he wasn’t holding eye contact until now. She takes her own left hand and mirrors George’s action on himself; hoping to convey everything she’s felt for him through nothing but looks. “I had to back away last week, I thought I had to get over you. Angie said some dumb shit and I started to overthink and I’m so-”

He cuts her off with a kiss and it’s so different to their usual ones. It’s soft and gentle like they could stay here for hours doing nothing but kissing and they’d be perfectly content. George pulls her body closer to his, desperate just to have her near when he pulls away, pressing his forward to hers. “Don’t say sorry, please.” 

She opens her mouth again to speak and that’s when he cuts her off again, with another kiss. This happens a few times before Y/N is a giggling mess and George is just kissing her for the sake of having their lips pressed together. “We know now, that’s all I care about.” 

This makes her smile and her heart soar; the boy she’s loved for so long, liking her back once felt like it could only be a dream, and she has to pinch herself multiple times before she finally believes it’s her reality.

They soon realise they’ve been standing in this dirty, bar bathroom for way too long and George helps her down, grabbing her by the hips to stabilise her when her legs slightly give out. He takes her hand in his, softly kissing her knuckles before he opens the bathroom door to sneak out. “My place or yours?” he asks, but he quickly stops, “I’m not expecting to fuck, but like I mean if it happens it happens but- Godric, we can just hang out I’m happy with that unless you want to fuck-”

Y/N’s giggling at his stumbling around on words and she shushes him slightly, his face going bright red when she's the one leaning to press a chaste kiss to his lips. His face is bright red when she speaks, “My place. I live alone.” she winks and runs off after saying this, George hot on her tails and even though there’s music and George’s favourite song is playing, Y/N’s laugh as he chases her out of the bar is his favourite noise. 

[justbeingtalea]

Opinions on friendships in Dimension20′s Fantasy High, with this only being the second part of so many more to come:

The dynamic between Riz Gukgak and Fabian Aramais Seacaster is one of the best in the whole Dimension20 universe (especially after FH: Sophomore Year) and nobody will be able to convince me otherwise.

Because, the thing is: Fabian is the kid that checks all the obvious boxes for the cool, popular kid, righ? Famous parent, rich, athletic, more confidence than necessary or good for someone, a very easily breakable ego, etc. And Riz is the personification of the weird nerdy loser. Poor, smart, wears a fucking vest to school, carries a giant briefcase around with himself, introduces himself with “greetings and salutations”, giving out business cards, way too invested in other peoples business, etc. 

But in the same way over time we found out that Fabian can also be a loser, how he really has like two braincells on a good day (I mean, that boy ate glass ... that’s nearly worse than thinking that you are your own dad), he doesn’t know when to shut up, made so many people hate him and doesn’t realize it, not being able to jump on tables, getting his foot stuck in a stalactite, etc. And Riz can be a total badass! The mirror trick against Kalina, grabbing a bad guy to jump of a staircase with him just to misty step up again, his halfpipe trick in season one, killing Kalavaxus, etc.

And outsiders won’t understand how these two can be friends, because they are so obviously in different worlds and when Riz says that they are best friends and Fabian will say nothing everybody will just smile and pity that poor goblin, because he really thinks that a boy like Fabian would be his best friend?

But it isn’t like that at all, is it? Fabian was the first person to be concerned when Riz vanished and after he didn’t pick up Fabians call, he totally panicked. Crashing his fathers ship into a building in literal hell, because Riz vanished AGAIN and like we established, that makes Fabian panic. After realizing that there was celestial energy, Fabian was one of the first people to believe that yes, that has to mean that Riz is an angel and has been this whole time, makes sense, totally tracks. Calling him LIttle Angel (and then immediately going back to The Ball). Abandoning everything to jump after Riz and saving him from falling, doing an athletics roll with a DC of 25 (!!!) to try and safe him. Clutching the unconcious Riz in his sheet and in his arms after saving him until he could get him healed by someone. Giving Riz Bardic Inspriration as soon as he good that feature and surprising Riz with that, because “Oh, that’s why you wrapped me in your sheet, I was concerned for a second”. 

They compliment each other so well, that people who don’t know the Bad Kids enough won’t be able to understand, that sometimes even the other Bad Kids don’t really understand. But Fabian knows (even if he doesn’t say it out loud because toxic masculity may be dead, but that boy has so many more issues to work out than just that) and Riz knows (even if he probably sometimes really thinks that maybe, maybe he did friend-trap Fabian) and that is all these two really need for now.

I can only imagine Fabian calling Riz at the most weirdest hours of the night, maybe to fuck with Riz, maybe as a social experiment to see if Riz slept like at all and maybe because he wanted to talk to Riz. Fabian talking to Riz about killing his father, because Riz also has no dad and now he doesn’t have a dad anymore and it feels weird and Fabian knows that it is different, because Riz was very young when his father died, but if one person could understand even slightly how it feels to loose a dad you love than it is The Ball. 

Maybe someday the Seacaster Manor will feel a bit empty and quiet and while his mother tries and learns from Cathilda, it is not the same. So Fabian gets on the Hangman, no matter the time, and gets to Riz office. Riz will be fully in conspiracy mode and Fabian will probably make fun of him, but in his mind will be glad for the distraction. And Riz will maybe teach Fabian one or two things about investigating, because he really doesn’t want Fabian to ever bite glass again in an effort to be like Riz. 

Riz, the boy with a dad in heaven and Fabian, the boy with a dad in hell. if I wouldn’t know better I would even say Ying and Yang, two sides of the same coin, Best Friends.

[sineala]

The gay Invaders

Hi, internet! Today I'd like to talk about one of the chronologically-first canonically-gay couples in Marvel Comics history: Brian Falsworth (the second Union Jack) and Roger Aubrey (The Destroyer). (I mean "chronological" in terms of in-universe timeline rather than RL publication date; I'm pretty sure Northstar is still the first to publication as far as unambiguously-gay Marvel heroes go.)

If you are a fan of reading or writing about Captain America being queer, you should care about Brian and Roger, because they were two of Steve's fellow Invaders in the 1940s, meaning that they are two of the people on the list of Steve's Old Gay Friends And Teammates, because, yeah, Steve sure had a lot of canonically gay friends during the war. Probably more than you'd think he would have had in the forties! (The other two are Percival Pinkerton, who's part of Nick Fury's Howling Commandos, and of course Steve's childhood friend Arnie Roth. Pinky is gay by word of Stan Lee, IIRC; Arnie was as canonically gay as DeMatteis could make him in the early 1980s, so they didn't say the word "gay" but it's really, really not subtle. Steve compares what Arnie feels for his "roommate" Michael to what Steve feels for his girlfriend Bernie. Yeah.)

I previously made a Tumblr post about Brian and Roger, rounding up some of the canonical evidence of their relationship, but that post is six years old now, and in the intervening years, Marvel has thoughtfully put the rest of the 70s Invaders run on Unlimited as well as the two Citizen V miniseries that star Roger and retcon his relationship with Brian as romantic. So I've read them now, and I've got panels.

Okay. I should probably begin by saying that Brian and Roger are not canonically gay in their first significant appearance together, which is in Invaders vol 1 #19 and #20, published in 1977. Roy Thomas does not seem to have intended them to be a couple, and they aren't canonically one in any of the original Invaders run. However, if you enjoy gay subtext, it's very nice.

This whole arc is the one that introduces Roger in modern canon. He's been brainwashed by the Nazis and the Invaders rescue him and get him back to his normal self. But in #19 we get his backstory in flashback, as related by Montgomery, Lord Falsworth (Brian's father; yes, MCU fans, the name should look familiar) and it turns out that Roger and Brian were basically best friends since childhood:

They were the dearest of friends!

Anyway, they both ended up captured by Nazis, they presumably changed their minds about appeasement as a policy, Brian got out and joined the Invaders, then they had to rescue the brainwashed Roger, and it's a fair amount of fun in a two-issue arc.

The subtext is even more prominent in Invaders #34, in which they find out that someone going by the Destroyer (which is Roger's codename) has been doing villainous deeds, and the Invaders worry that Roger's gotten himself brainwashed again. Brian immediately insists that it can't really be Roger because he knows Roger and Roger Would Never:

Unsurprisingly, Brian is right. It's not really Roger; Master Man is impersonating the Destroyer, and the villains have taken Roger captive, and the Invaders break him out and there is an extremely significant moment where it just so happens that Roger has to catch Brian, saving his life for a change, and they stare deeply into each other's eyes and Brian seems to be having difficulty finishing his sentences:

Some people who read this therefore concluded that Brian and Roger were extremely gay for each other. While ordinarily this sort of shipping is mostly confined to fandom, in this particular instance, one of the people who started shipping Brian/Roger was Fabian Nicieza, and Fabian Nicieza, as you probably know, writes comics for Marvel. I think you see where this is going.

However, first I must inform you that, sadly, Brian has been canonically dead for years. Captain America vol 1 #253-254 -- the two-parter about Baron Blood in the Stern/Byrne Cap run in the 80s -- establishes that Brian died in a car accident in 1953. (This is also the run where Joseph Chapman -- a friend of Jacqueline Falsworth's son Kenneth -- becomes the third (and current) Union Jack.)

(Roger then appears in a bunch of T-Bolts issues; I assume there's nothing interesting there on the gay front because I feel like someone would have told me. I should probably read more than three T-Bolts issues someday.)

So, anyway, in 2001, Fabian Nicieza wrote a miniseries called Citizen V and the V-Battalion. Roger, who is still superheroing as the Destroyer despite being pretty old by this point, is part of the titular V-Battalion, and he has a very prominent role in this miniseries. And in #1, we have the usual splash page of character backstory, and there's a very, um, interesting line there:

Regarding Brian and Roger's relationship, the narration informs us: "It sounds much gayer than it probably was."

This is interesting, obviously for a couple of reasons. One is that, up to this point in canon, as far as I can tell, literally nobody thought any of this sounded the slightest bit gay at all. (Other than, I guess, Fabian Nicieza.) The other reason is that, as we soon find out, it actually was as gay as it sounds. Thanks, Fabian!

In 2002, Nicieza wrote a second miniseries, Citizen V and the V-Battalion: The Everlasting. Issue #1 opens with a flashback set in 1953; specifically, we see Brian's funeral:

Roger is extremely sad, and when Lord Falsworth expresses his sympathy about the death of Roger's "friend" and saying that he knows how much this hurts him, Roger mutters under his breath that he doesn't have the slightest clue:

All is revealed on the next page, when one of the other characters tries to ask Roger about superhero business and Roger snaps at him because, as he says, "I just watched my friend die in my arms."

Except "friend" isn't the word he starts to say:

Yep. That would be "lover." So Roger nearly outs himself. So, yes, now it's absolutely canon. Hooray.

Later on in the issue, which is set in the present day, we have a couple pages of Roger staring at pictures of the two of them and continuing to be sad:

Yeah. They were a couple.

So the question you -- being a Captain America fan -- might ask yourself is, okay, did/does Steve know about any of this? (The reason I started looking all this up was because I wanted to know if Steve knew.) I don't know if we have a panel of Roger specifically admitting any of this to Steve (and if we do, I would like to know about it), but I would be comfortable saying that Steve probably knew back then -- because, well, he seems like the kind of guy who would actually have been fine with it in the 40s, what with all his gay friends -- and also that I can't think of a reason why he wouldn't know now. Because he's definitely worked with Roger again in fairly recent comics, and also Roger is very much out, these days.

In fact, New Invaders #4 (2004) opens with Roger attending Pride:

So, yeah, he's out.

(Then he has to fight, as far as I can tell, homophobic Nazi vampires. They're yelling slurs in German. Great.)

In All-New Invaders #10, which is from 2014 (and which is not the same series as New Invaders), Roger shows up to help out the Invaders, and in passing, he just happens to mention to another character (Joseph Chapman, the current Union Jack), that he is in fact gay:

He and Joseph don't really like each other much; as far as I can tell, their acquaintance in New Invaders consists of Joseph being vaguely homophobic and Roger being bitter about him being Union Jack because he actually wanted to be Union Jack himself to honor Brian's memory -- you know, that thing superheroes sometimes like to do to honor their dead superhero significant others, viz. Hank when Jan was dead after Secret Invasion -- and now Union Jack is this annoying kid and not, y'know, the love of his life. This exchange from New Invaders #4 seems pretty representative of their relationship:

Anyway, yeah, he's pretty obviously out.

Steve isn't actually present for this conversation in All-New Invaders, but he mentions in a later issue of this run that he knows what Roger and his pals have been up to, plot-wise, so I feel comfortable assuming that he's talked to Roger at some point in the previous ten years or so, and therefore, since Roger is completely out at this point in canon, there's no reason Steve shouldn't know now.

On an unrelated note, it's also a fun issue if you're a Steve/Tony fan because this is clearly running in parallel with Hickman's Avengers run, which means that he spends half a page telling Namor that he's mad at him and the rest of the Illuminati (but mostly mad at Tony because... he's just obsessed with Tony in this run, I guess?) about the mindwipe:

This is the sum total of my knowledge about Brian and Roger. No, wait, I know one more thing, which is that Brian was a character in the late, lamented mobile game Avengers Academy, in which he was also actually gay; Roger does not seem to have been there. There's a CBR article that you can read about the whole thing, which mentions some of these details from the comics in passing. (I have no idea why it says that their relationship was alluded to in the Stern/Byrne run; unless I missed something big, the only thing those issues do is establish Brian's death. As far as I can tell, no one is gay in them.)

So, yeah, that's Brian Falsworth and Roger Aubrey, the two gay Invaders. Steve sure has a lot of gay friends.

[charlie-pippin-faraday]

House of Anubis birthday headcanons

This is a branch off my previous post where I talked about birthdays and star signs. Now I’m gonna talk about more detailed and ~fun~ headcanons

They are the 1995-96 school year

Nina and Joy are the oldest (I’ve already had lengthy discussions about this, about whether they’re the oldest or youngest. I personally believe they’re the oldest, so that’s what I’m going with in my headcanons). Their birthday is July 7, 1995 (Cancers 🦀). And yes usually July birthdays are on the younger end, but the wiki says Amber’s September birthday and Eddie’s November birthday are 1995, and fall birthdays are definitely on the older end. This means that the January-June birthdays of that year are gonna be in 1996. It’s not totally out of the question for a summer/July birthday to be on the older end instead of the younger one. Because Eddie’s November ‘95 and he’s in their year, they kind of have to be the oldest. So, conclusion: Nina and Joy are the oldest ones in the house

Both Nina and Joy definitely had pool parties for their birthday as kids. One or both of them almost definitely had ice cream cake at least once. Nina also thinks the idea of being in school on her birthday is barbaric

Season 3 is their senior year, meaning it’s the year they’re all turning 18. This is part of the reason Amber was making such a big deal about her birthday in S3; 1) it’s Amber so of course and 2) it was her 18th birthday, so she absolutely wanted it to be special

Because they were all turning 18, Amber wanted to make everyone’s birthday special. She planned to throw parties for everyone’s birthdays (except Joy, RIP, who turned 18 in the summer before the school year started). However, Amber wasn’t actually around to throw any of those parties. But she did leave all her party stuff behind, so the rest of them use her party supplies for everyone’s 18th birthday parties

Amber’s birthday is September 9 (a Virgo 😘), so every year she sees her birthday as the celebration to kick off the school year. She wants a huge celebration and a party and cake and presents for her birthday every year. She’s also definitely the high school girl who had her friends decorate her locker and had birthday balloons tied to her bag that she carried around all day on her birthday every year. She also definitely wore like a birthday tiara

I believe that Mara is a Libra (⚖️), and that her birthday is in early October (my headcanon is Oct. 6). She likes having a fall birthday because she likes how cozy it is and she likes to indulge in a pumpkin spice latte. She doesn’t like to make a huge deal about her birthday, and whenever people try to make a fuss she’s like no no there’s no need to make a big deal. She doesn’t want like the world’s biggest party, however, if anyone tries to make her do anything she doesn’t want to do on her birthday, she gets very pissy

Eddie’s birthday is November 19 (fuckin Scorpio 🦂), meaning that it is very close to American Thanksgiving. As a child he would always say to his mother that Thanksgiving “got in the way” of his birthday

Patricia’s birthday is December 8 (Sagittarius ����), and originally she’s not a big fan of her birthday and it makes her angry because she has to share her birthday with Piper (obviously) like she has to share everything. Birthday parties as children were not fun for Patricia bc obviously there would be one party for the both of them and her parents would skew it towards Piper. Patricia resented her birthday for awhile. However, Joy, always tries to go out of her way to make her birthday special and just for her (“You will have a good time on your birthday, Patricia!”), and eventually she comes around to enjoying her birthday as long as it’s exclusively her birthday

Fabian is absolutely a Capricorn (🐐), everything about him screams Capricorn. Which means his birthday is anywhere from late December to mid-January, and I believe his birthday is definitely two days before Christmas. He gets really grumpy and bitter about his birthday because of that; his birthday constantly gets pushed to the side for Christmas, and he can never spend his birthday with his friends because it’s always over the holidays. He says it’s fine (“it’s fine”) and that he’s just not a big birthday person, but that’s a lie he’s just grumpy about it. He was gifted many combo birthday-Christmas gifts as a child which he was not a fan of. He also does a little bit of “i hate my birthday out of spite” in the vein of Chandler Bing and Thanksgiving, but like only a little bit [side note: my dad’s birthday is two days after Christmas, so I can confirm that people with Christmas-adjacent birthdays are absolutely grumpy and “woe is me” like this]

I believe KT is an Aquarius (🏺) and that her birthday is at the very end of January (my headcanon is Jan. 29). She was definitely that kid in school who brought cupcakes into school on her birthday, and she continues this tradition at Anubis House. She wakes up early on her birthday so that she can make cupcakes to bring to class. Alfie’s a big fan

Willow is for sure a Pisces (🐟), and her birthday is in late February (my headcanon is Feb. 24). The thing she wants the most for her birthday every single year is for it to snow on her birthday. She wants her birthday to be “a winter wonderland.” And whenever it does actually snow on her birthday, it’s the best thing to ever happen to her in her entire life, and she spends all day in the snow

I believe Mick is an Aries (🐏), and his birthday is in late March (my headcanon is March 30)

I believe Alfie is also an Aries (🐏), and in my mind is birthday is on April Fool’s Day. No one believes him when he tells them at first. His birthday is always a riot. Everyone feels bad about getting mad at his April Fool’s Day pranks because they don’t want to make him upset on his birthday, and because of this he goes just a little bit mad with power

Because their birthdays are 2 days apart, Alfie and Mick often had joint birthday festivities. Alfie loves sharing; Mick is not so keen about it. Alfie often takes over the birthday festivities and tends to make them more about himself, which steams Mick a little bit. However, Alfie also enthusiastically calls the two of them “birthday buddies” which Mick can’t help but like

I can totally see Trudy either A) making two cakes or B) making one of those cakes that’s split down the middle, like one half is chocolate/chocolate and one half is vanilla/vanilla or whatever. And she totally puts their faces on the cake (which they both would love) and puts the face on each respective half so they know whose is whose. “Whoever’s cake you pick is who you love more,” Alfie declares every year, making the whole house choose sides

Now Jerome, I believe, is a Gemini (👯‍♀️), and his birthday is in mid-June (my headcanon is June 11). This means he’s the youngest one in the house, which he absolutely fucking hates. He tries to keep his birthday a secret from everyone for the longest time. For awhile, they think that Alfie is the youngest, and he would prefer to keep it that way. He absolutely does not want anyone to know that he is anubis house baby. He declares the day they find out the truth the worst day of his life. Everyone makes jokes about it which angers him to no end. “I am the tallest one here!! Don’t disrespect me like this!!” “Yeah but you’re still the baby of the house. Have you hit puberty yet?”

Once Jerome’s 18th birthday hits and they have the final 18th birthday party, Trudy gets incredibly emotional because all of her babies are adults now. She definitely cries a little. Or a lot

[cactusnymph]

Prompt fill #1 for @dimension20alphabet:

Alone

Riz knows that he’s a good detective. He has solved many mysteries, big mysteries even. He solved the case of his missing friend Penny, he solved the case of his dad, he solved—or well, helped solve—the puzzle of The Nightmare King. He’s good at his job.

 But there is one mystery Riz has trouble solving, and that is the mystery of himself.

 He’s not good at asking for help even though he’s sure he could need some. Maybe he could talk about this with his mom. The thought of that alone makes him break out in a nervous sweat. It was already kind of the worst to talk to his dad about it. Jawbone is probably good at this, but Jawbone is poly and had sex with many people just like everyone else he knows.

 Everyone else he knows is just so goddamn horny. All the damn time.

 Riz stops pacing in front of his desk and stares out of the window for what feels like two minutes straight but is probably only a millisecond.

 Finally he decides to be brave. He managed to walk through the forest of the nightmare king, this is going to be a piece of cake. No big deal. As easy as stabbing a huge dragon, probably.

 His mom is sitting at the kitchen table buried in a bunch of papers and thick textbooks.

“Hey mom. Can I—uh. Can I ask you something?”

His mom looks up from her work and she seems a little disoriented for a split second until her eyes focus on him and she nods.

 “Sure, sweetie. What’s up?”

 She pushes away a stack of papers from the second chair at the table so he can sit down. Riz feels the need to start biting his nails, so he stuffs his hands into his pockets and sits down on the chair, his leg bouncing and his throat dry.

 “So. Uh—“

 He searches for the right words. Words are hard and he’s never been very good at them. He knows clues. Feelings are just weird.

 “Have you ever—uh. Did you ever, like—um. Feel. Totally alone about something? Like, something that makes you you?”

 Sklonda blinks for a second and then her gaze softens as she stretches out her hand to reach for his. Riz hopes that she can’t feel how sweaty his palms are as she squeezes his fingers.

 “Honestly? I think that is a very integral part of being a teenager. You think you’re really weird and no one would ever feel the same way and then somewhere along the way you find out that there are actually tons of people who are going through the exact same thing”, she says.

 Riz stares at the only spot on the table that hasn’t been covered with papers or books.

 “So, what you’re saying is... I have to look at the clues again and—and find out who else fits the profile?”

 His mom ruffles his hair and Riz can see her shake her head fondly.

 “I wouldn’t have put it like that, sweetie. But. Sure, yeah. Find another suspect and interrogate them until you find the truth.”

 Riz can work with that.

 “Thanks, mom”, he says and flees from the kitchen to leave Sklonda to her studies. Back in his room he looks at his pin board that, during the last two weeks, has been carefully prepped with Riz’ most difficult case yet—the case of Riz.

 His eyes follow the differently colored threads across pictures of his friends and notes that he took.

 All his friends are on the board and Riz looks at all their picture, one after the other.

 Everyone is horny. Everyone.

 Everyone except—

 Riz grabs his crystal. He knows that, if he thinks about it too much and starts making plans, he is not going to do it because this is scary. And if he learned one thing on their quest for the Nightmare King’s crown, it’s that sometimes scary things are easier if you just rush ahead without a plan.

 “Do you have time to talk?”, he texts.

 Riz chews on his bottom lip without realizing that it started bleeding because his teeth are too sharp. He looks at his crystal and tries to will his beating heart to go slower but he fails miserably and as soon as he sees the three small dots that indicate typing on the other end of the line, he sucks in a breath and stares at the display as if he might will the answer to appear faster.

 “I have free time. Do you want to come over? Is everything alright?”

 Riz sucks the blood off his bottom lip and weighs the options. He loves the manor, but it’s loud and noisy. Noisy in a way that sometimes makes his skin crawl. He swallows, lets his fingers hover over the keyboard for a second.

 If everything goes to shit he can always leave the manor, but it would be awkward to throw a friend out of his office.

 “I’ll come over. Be right there.”

 Riz stuffs his phone into his pocket and rushes out of his room with adrenaline pumping through his veins. Maybe he isn’t such a great detective after all if he never really connected the dots about one of his closest friends.

 He remembers a conversation about “please don’t have sex in our tent when we’re also in there” and “this is too much information and I’m very uncomfortable right now” now that he really thinks about it.

 Adaine isn’t interested in dating anyone. Just like him. Well. No, that’s not correct, Riz thinks, as he rushes down the street to catch the bus. Maybe he would consider dating someone. But sex. Sex seems. Well.

 Maybe Adaine doesn’t want to talk about sex. Maybe she will look at him the same way Aelwyn looks at people sometimes. Riz really doesn’t want to think about Aelwyn, because that makes him think about Fabian and that on the other hand makes him think of them together and how much Riz wishes they weren’t a thing.

 If Riz cannot solve the mystery of Riz, maybe Adaine can help him like when they were investigating her mom’s room back on spring break. He goes through his pinboard in his mind and comes to the conclusion that Adaine is on there, but she has only been connected to Biz by a green threat, meaning one-sided sexual interest.

 He is so occupied by his own oversight that he barely registers getting to the manor. The thought of going through the whole house and potentially risking questions about why he’s visiting makes his skin crawl uncomfortably, so he uses his sword and teleports directly into Adaine’s bedroom. A loud shriek accompanied by the sound of a heavy book dropping to the floor makes him turn his head.

 “Was it really necessary to do this? We have doors”, Adaine says and Riz looks around to find her sitting on the bunkbed she shares with Aelwyn. Thankfully Aelwyn is nowhere to be seen so Riz can freak out in peace about what he’s supposed to talk about.

 “Yes. Sorry, uh—I thought maybe I might meet Kristen or—or Jawbone or. Someone else. And then they might look at me and ask questions or maybe Kristen would joke about something sex related and then I might have to vomit all over the stairs and—“

 “Riz, slow down. Do you want to hold Boggy?”, Adaine asks and scoots over on her bed to make space for him. Riz doesn’t really feel like sitting down so he starts pacing instead but he does take Boggy into his hands. His brain has gone into overdrive, he knows it as soon as it supplies him with the question of whether or not frogs feel conflicted about sex.

 “What’s wrong?”, Adaine asks, her pale blue eyes following him as he walks through the room as if the movement could calm his nerves.

 “So—uh. You know. I was wondering if maybe... I could talk to you about. You know. Sexandstuff.”

 “Sorry, about what?”

 “Sex. And... stuff”, Riz repeats and he can feel his face burning as he stares down at Boggy so he doesn’t have to look at Adaine’s face.

 “Oh, um. Well, I’m not sure if I’m the best person for that—“

 “I know! That’s why—that’s why I wanted to talk to you. Because. Like. You know. You think it’s icky when Kristen talks about sixtynine and stuff.”

 Riz takes a quick glance at Adaine and is relieved to find that she doesn’t look at him the same way that Ragh looked at him the first time they met each other. That is certainly encouraging. She actually looks a little thoughtful. Maybe even understanding. Maybe he’s reading her all wrong. Maybe she’s about to punch him out of the window because he mentioned Kristen and sixtynine and—

 “You mean because I’m probably asexual.”

 “Yeah, you’re—what?”

 “Asexual. And aromantic, but I suppose this is about the sex part, not the romance part.”

 “You’re. Wait. Ohhh—“

 Adaine pulls up her shoulders and gestures to the free space on the bed beside her. Riz’ brain has frozen over because he’s heard a term he hasn’t heard before and now he wants to find out what it means.

 The truth is that he considered searching for stuff like this on the crystalweb, but the thought of typing anything sex related into a search engine had him almost vomiting all over his office floor because it made him feel so terribly embarrassed and nervous that he quickly put the thought aside.

 “So—uh. What’s... that?”

 “Well, I talked about it to Jawbone and he gave me some things to read and I’ve been doing some research, because... you know, everyone is going on dates and talks about kisses or masturbation and all that and—um. Well. This stuff mostly just always makes me uncomfortable. And I thought, you know. It’s maybe because elves are a bit prudish, but Aelwyn is certainly not like that and she talks about sex like it’s no big deal, so I... I wanted to figure out what it means.”

 Boggy makes a sound like a squeaky toy as Riz accidentally squishes him a little too hard in his sudden excitement in the face of new clues and he quickly hands him back to Adaine.

 “So. You’re saying that—that it’s like... normal?”

 Adaine shrugs.

 “Probably not normal, if you’re going by the textbook definition of normal. But not normal doesn’t equal bad, you know. Just how being poly isn’t necessarily normal but that doesn’t mean it’s inferior to monogamy. It’s just a thing that some people are.”

 “So. So, uh—can I read that stuff? That you read?”, he asks, trying very hard not to keep chewing on his bottom lip again.

 Adaine gives him a smile that makes warmth spread all through his body.

 “Sure. I can lend you the book”, Adaine says and gets up from the bed, hands Boggy back to Riz and goes over to one of her numerous bookshelves to pull a small, purple book out from the top row.

 “It’s really interesting, from a strictly scientific standpoint, you know”, she says as she hands it to him. Riz looks down at the book. A whole book. Just about feeling weird about dating and sex. His mom was right after all.

 “Thanks”, he croaks and blinks rapidly.

 “I’m really glad there’s at least one other person who isn’t so terribly horny all the time”, Adaine says and Riz looks up at her, his heart twice its normal size.

 “Yeah. Me too.”

[engie-ivy]

Remus doesn’t go to the annual Halloween party because of the full moon, Sirius doesn't go to the annual Halloween party because of Remus, and the task befalls James to come up with an excuse as to why his two friends are both absent and should not be disturbed...

Short and cute happy Halloween fluff🎃

Self-fulfilling rumours

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

Remus looks up from his book to see a rather angry-looking Sirius glaring at him from the doorway, arms crossed over his chest.

“You all have calendars yourselves,” Remus replies calmly, focussing his attention back on his book.

Sirius rolls his eyes as he walks into the room. “Well, we obviously didn’t realise, so why didn’t you remind us then?”

Remus sighs and puts down his book. “It’s your favourite night of the year. You were already so excited. What’s the point of me putting a damper on the fun?”

“Well, it could’ve saved Jamie and I the trouble of coming up with our costumes...”

“You’re going to the Halloween party,” Remus says firmly.

Halloween and the annual Halloween party is one of James’ and Sirius’ favourite time of the year. Eating nothing but candy all day, pulling an extra amount of pranks under the excuse of trick ‘n treating, and always having the best costumes. If it were anybody else, people might have made fun of them for dressing up in over the top and matching, but when James and Sirius do it, it’s cool, which goes for about everything.

“Moony,” Sirius says frowning. “Of course we’re not going to the Halloween party this year if the full moon is that night.”

“Sirius,” Moony sighs. “I’m not gonna let all of you miss out on something you were so looking forward to on my account.” Sirius opens his mouth to protest, but Remus keeps talking. “Besides, I can’t leave the shack on the night of Halloween anyways. Much too dangerous, with people out and about trick ‘n treating or going on ghost tours. So there’s really no need for you to miss the party.”

“But when you’re in there alone...”

“I’ve handled it on my own for many years,” Remus smiles in a way he hopes looks more convincing than he feels. “I can handle one night more, so you can enjoy yourselves.”

“Stop talking like it’s a sacrifice for us!” Sirius says. “We love our nights during the full, it’s the highlight of the month.”

“When we can go out,” Remus chuckles. “Not when you’ll be obligated to spend the night in a small space with a cranky werewolf, while you could’ve been getting drunk on illegally obtained Firewhiskey and eating your weight in candy.”

Sirius stares at him for a while. Then he sighs. “I won’t argue with you then.”

As Remus sits alone and cold on the floor of the Shrieking Shack, feeling as miserable as always so close to the full moon, he starts to regret being so firm to Sirius. In reality, he dreads transforming on his own, and letting the wolf take out his aggression on himself.

“Wotcher, Moony.”

Remus can’t suppress his smile as Sirius casually walks into the room. “What happened to ‘I won’t argue with you’?”

Sirius shrugs as he sits down in front of Remus. “I didn’t argue with you, now did I? I decided to save us the trouble, and just do what I wanted anyway.”

Remus knows he should tell Sirius to go back to the castle and enjoy the party, but he can’t bring himself to do it. He’s too relieved to have Padfoot with him for this night.

“Won’t Prongs mind that he won’t have you in your prisoner of Azkaban costume to accompany his Dementor costume?”

“Nah,” Sirius says. “I let Wormtail take my place. He was delighted.”

“I really don’t want to keep you from what you love so much...” Remus tries one last time.

“You are what I-” Sirius stops himself and sighs. “I mean, I don’t want to be anywhere else, Moony.” Then he smiles. “Why would I want to hang out with fake werewolves all night when I have the real thing right here?”

Remus launches himself forward and hugs Sirius tight, relief washing over him. “Thank you,” he whispers.

The full moon isn’t as bad with Padfoot there to calm the wolf, even if they have to stay locked inside the entire night. Despite some slowly healing scars and the usual painful muscles, he’s able to make his way around the castle again not too long after. In the library, one of the Prewett twins drops down in the chair in front of him.

“Hi Gid,” Remus greets. “How are you? How was the Halloween party? I heard you and Fabian didn’t bothered with costumes and just said you were dressed up as each other.”

Gideon grins. “Yeah, it was definitely fun. But not as much fun as your night has been, or so I’ve heard.”

Remus blinks at Gideon who’s looking back with a suggestive grin. Remus knows Gideon cannot be referring to what he actually did that night, as he definitely wouldn’t use the word ‘fun’, nor would he be smiling at him like that. If he knew, he probably wouldn’t be talking to him anymore at all, though admittedly, Remus has been wrong about that before. Remus realises that he has no idea what excuse James has given for his absence. Attempting to stay as vague as possible, until he can check with James, Remus says “Yeah, well, you know how it is, right?”

Gideon throws his head back and laughs. “I honestly can’t say I do, Lupin. But I can say that I’ve sometimes wished I did,” he adds with a wink, before leaving for his next class, leaving behind a very confused Remus.

“I am never talking to you again.”

Remus doesn’t take this threat too serious, as Lily just ran up to him and hooked her arm in his.

“You have affronted me, Remus Lupin.”

Remus raises an eyebrow. “Did I now?”

“Oh, yes,” Lily says. “I’m not terribly surprised, as I’ve had my suspicions, but having to hear it from Potter!” Lily shakes her head. “So, what’s the deal? Is it, for lack of a better word, serious?”

“I...” Remus says hesitantly. “Am not sure?”

“Right,” Lily says nodding. “I guess these things can be complicated. Just know that as long as you’re happy, I’m happy for you.”

Remus starts noticing how people are, not even subtly, staring at him and talking about him. He sees lots of giggling and the occasional angry glare, but also suggestive smirks, winks and even a couple of thumbs up. Remus feels very much at a loss.

When Benjy Fenwick passes him in the corridor, he turns around to Remus. “Nice job, Lupin. From what I’ve seen in the Quidditch locker room, I can only say congratulations.”

When he tells Marlene he’s sorry he missed the party, she snorts. “Like hell you are, Lupin.” And then with a smirk “I trust you had a very pleasing evening?” And when Remus, caught off guard, stammers that he supposes it was quite satisfying, she bursts out in laughter.

Mary just runs up to him and gives him an overly-excited hug, saying that she’s super invested in it already.

Remus walks into the common room over to where James and Sirius are sitting. “Prongs, a word in the dorm please. Padfoot, you come too.”

James looks very guilty as he enters the dorm. “I’m sorry!” He immediately says. “I panicked, and I couldn’t come up with anything else in that moment. I didn’t expect every person in school to be talking about it.”

Remus pinches the bridge of his nose. “What exactly is everyone talking about?”

“Well,” James runs a hand through his hair, before speaking in a rushed voice. “People asked why you weren’t at the party, so I said you were sick, but McKinnon found it hard to believe that suddenly both of you were sick and she wanted to go up to our dorm to confront you, ‘cause she ‘wasn’t gonna let you skip on the party of the year that easily’, and before I knew it she was walking up the stairs and I had to think of something, as neither one of you was of course actually in our dorm, to convince McKinnon she really shouldn’t enter our dorm that evening, so, and like I said, panicking, I said that you two were... you know.”

Sirius’ eyes widen. “You told McKinnon we were shagging?”

“No,” James says defensively before turning his head away and softly muttering “I shouted through the common room that you were shagging.”

Remus flushes as he remembers all the looks and conversations from that morning. He hides his face in his hands and drops down on the bed. He’s vaguely aware of Sirius telling James through gritted teeth to give him a moment with Remus to talk about what to do, and not long after, he feels Sirius sit down next to him on the bed.

Remus tries to compose himself. “So this is of course terribly embarrassing,” he says, and notices how Sirius looks away with a strange expression on his face. “But I suppose I rather have people talk about me for hooking up with you, than have people talk about me for being a vile, vicious monster.”

“I’m glad people thinking you’re hooking up with me is just slightly better than people thinking you’re a monster,” Sirius replies bitterly.

Remus frowns. “I didn’t mean it like that.” Sirius stays silent, so Remus continues. “For Godric’s sake, how in Merlin’s name Prongs came up with that? And for people to actually believe something so ridiculous!”

Sirius now snaps his eyes back to Remus’ face with an angry glare, and Remus has the feeling he’s really screwing up, but doesn’t know exactly what he’s screwing up.

“I suppose the idea that you’d hook up with me is absolutely ridiculous,” Sirius says with something like suppressed anger and hurt.

“Well, yeah,” Remus replies, not understanding this reaction. “Everyone knows that you’re way out off my league.”

“What?” Sirius asks incredulously. “I am no such thing!”

“Please,” Remus says, making a dismissive gesture. “You can literally pick anyone you want, why in Merlin’s name would you pick me?”

“Because you’re clever and kind? Because you have a sharp wit and a wicked sense of humour? Because you have pretty eyes that light up when you laugh or read a book and a cute smile, especially when you do that adorable nose wrinkle-thing? Because you know exactly how to comfort me and make me feel better about myself?”

How Remus wishes he was better at this sort of thing, how he wishes he’d have the exact right words to describe how much he admires Sirius and the feeling it gives him when Sirius’ eyes meet his and he gives him one if those small smiles, but all he manages to say is “Oh.”

“Yeah.” Sirius sounds defeated. “Look, I’m sorry that these rumours bother you so much. I wish I could make it better for you, but I don’t know...”

As he speaks, Sirius moves to get up from the bed, but Remus grabs his wrist. “You could make it better for me.”

Sirius sits back down and stares at Remus, and now it’s his turn to mutter the eloquent “Oh.”

Remus nervously licks his lips and shifts a little closer to Sirius. “I’d feel much better about these rumours if there was at least some truth in them.”

Sirius swallows and shifts a little closer to Remus. “Yeah, I hate that Prongs had to lie for us.”

Having him so close, Remus musters his courage and places one hand on Sirius’ waist. “Precisely. I don’t like fooling Lily about it either.”

Sirius places a tentative hand on Remus’ cheek. “It’d be indeed much better for them if there was some truth to it.”

Remus leans into his touch. “And so many people seemed really excited about it.”

Sirius also leans in a little closer, and Remus can feel his breath on his lips as he speaks. “It’d be such a shame to disappoint them.”

“Yeah,” Remus whispers before letting his eyes fall shut and closing the last bit of distance. “Such a shame.”

[wonder-womans-ex]

Curtain Call

Act One, Scene Seven

Sirius stands there for what seems like hours—though it’s probably only a few seconds—just standing there, staring through the window. Maybe he should forget the whole thing and leave now.  

But Alice pushes the door open, waving when Remus and Lily look up. Before he can protest, Dorcas pulls him in by the elbow. 

It’s like time slows down when Remus’s gaze flickers past Dorcas and settles on him. He blinks, as though trying to clear his vision, and then he does the last thing Sirius expects. 

He smiles. 

It’s like Sirius’s brain just glitches. He imagines James’s voice in his head—as he so often does when he’s faced with situations similar to this one—saying ‘Padfoot.exe. has stopped working,’ and the thought is so ridiculous it actually shocks him back into the here and now. 

“This is Sirius,” says Dorcas for the second time in under ten minutes, and he waits, practically holding his breath, for Remus’s response. 

He’s prepared for anger. He’s prepared for indifference. He’s prepared for maybe, just maybe, ‘Yes, I know.’ 

He is once again surprised, because he is most certainly not prepared for Remus to lean across the table with his hand out and say, “Nice to meet you.” 

“I—um—nice to meet you, too?” 

It’s clear to Sirius that no one else—save Lily, of course—has any idea of the significance of this moment, especially because he’s not actually sure what that significance is. Obviously, they’re wiping the slate clean, but is it so they can start over again?

Or so they can pretend there was never anything written there at all? 

This is the only thing he can think about as Dorcas slides into the booth next to Lily, motioning for Sirius to sit across from her, and he does, even though it means he’s right next to Remus. Frank squeezes in beside him, and Alice behind Frank, and Mary hesitates a moment before she sits down, too, shoulder-to-shoulder with Dorcas. For a moment, he wonders where Fabian and Caradoc are going to place themselves—there’s no way two more people are going to fit in the booth—but then Fabian pulls two chairs out from a nearby table. He sits down in one, then abruptly stands up again. 

“I’ll grab menus,” he says, gesturing with one thumb towards the counter, and Sirius watches him go, if only for something to look at. 

Dorcas grins. “So, Sirius, tell us a bit about yourself.”

“Um—”

“Invitations to these get-togethers are rare, you know, but you know what’s even rarer? Second invitations. So start talking, buddy, and let the high council judge your crimes.”

“Dorc,” Alice reprimands, “you’re scaring him.” 

“Nah, it’s fine. My brother’s pretty, um, intense, too.”

Sirius’s confidence swells slightly at the laugh that earns him from the rest of the group. “I’m Sirius—I’m twenty-two, but I’m only in first year university because reasons. My favourite food is butter chicken. I was kicked out at age sixteen after I came out as bisexual, and I moved in with my best friend, who also happens to be my brother’s ex-boyfriend. Oh, and I’m an actor. I think that’s the basics? 

Except for Remus, who knows most of this already, everyone stares at him, expressions ranging from stunned to well then. Remus is either trying to break the tension or goad Sirius into something embarrassing when he says, “An actor? Have you been in any movies?”

Deja vu smacks into Sirius like a cement truck. If he recalls correctly—and, honestly? There’s no way in hell he doesn’t—that’s exactly what Remus said the first time Sirius introduced himself. So, of course, he responds in the same way he did then, too. “Ew. Absolutely not. Stage life all the way for me, dude.” 

Immediately, he wishes he could pull up google. Key words: is it socially acceptable to call your ex ‘dude’? Is that, like, legal? 

But Remus just grins and tips his head back in laughter. After a moment, the others follow him in ways that range from a distracted smile (Mary) to a laugh so explosive he imagines Frank would have spit out his tea if he had any.  

They’re still laughing, all eight out of nine of them, when Marlene arrives at their table, one pencil tucked behind her ear and another between her fingers as she taps it absentmindedly against her coil-bound notebook. 

“Hi,” she says, glancing from person to person. “What can I get you tod—Sirius?”

“Hiya, Marls.” 

“Fancy meeting you here.” They both smile a bit at this, because it really isn’t that surprising—neither of them ever spends a whole lot of time away from Frankie’s, really. “Where’s James?”

Sirius gasps, pretending to be affronted. “I do have other friends, I’ll have you know. He and I aren’t joined at the hip.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“Well,” he says, deciding to change the subject, “I’ll get the, uh…” it feels wrong to order fries without James there, and he’s only just now realizing that he hasn’t actually tried anything else on the menu. “The BLT. And a Nanaimo bar, please.” 

“Branching out a little, are we?”

“Shut up.”

“Okay, okay. And for you?”

Without even thinking about it, he, too, turns to look at Remus, who’s got his nose buried in the menu. “A croissant,” he says, just like Sirius knew he would. “Wait, no. Two croissants.” 

“Plain? Chocolate? Cheese?”

It seems as though Remus sits up straighter. “Chocolate?”

“Are you asking me or telling me?” Marlene jokes in typical Marlene-fashion. 

“Telling. Croissant. Chocolate. Yes.” 

(A month ago, Sirius would have leaned over and whispered that he thinks the embarrassed blush colouring Remus’s cheeks and nose is cute. But now is not a month ago. Now, everything is different.)

Lily orders a Greek salad and an iced coffee, but Sirius isn’t paying attention to her. No, he has eyes only for the way Remus, seemingly out of sheer boredom, takes his phone out of his hoodie pocket and unlocks it, grinning at whatever he sees. Sirius wonders, somewhere in the back of his mind, whether that’s the same way Remus used to smile when he got a text from him. It doesn’t matter anymore, but he can’t help but hope that once upon a time he, too, made Remus that happy. 

He doesn’t speak again until everyone else has ordered, too (grilled cheese and a sundae for Alice, poutine for Dorcas, and bagels for both Mary and Frank; Fabian and Caradoc say they’ll share a banana split (could those two get any cuter, honestly)) and even then it’s only because Dorcas asks him a question. 

“What?” he says, shaking himself out of his thoughts. 

“Marlene—is she your friend? Girlfriend?”

“Yeah. Yeah, we’re friends. We’ve known each other for years. Community theatre, mostly, and I see here when I come here, which is probably way too often. But no, we’re not together—Marls swings completely the other way.”

Dorcas nods. “Cool. Think I have a shot? Am I her type?”

“Depends. Do you like Titanic?” 

“The movie? No.”

“Then yes, you’re her type.” 

He laughs under his breath when she adjusts her collar and tucks her hair behind her ear. It’s the classic ‘Preparing-to-ask-a-girl-out’ routine—he’s gone through it himself on many an occasion; here’s to hoping she has more luck—and he looks away to one side to hide a smile. Unfortunately, Remus has had the same idea, and their eyes connect for a few painful seconds. 

This time, Sirius makes himself look away first. 

He finds his gaze drawn to Lily, who’s scrolling through something—probably Instagram—on her phone. He tongue flicks out every once in a while to nudge at her lip ring, and he finds the movement almost mesmerizing.

Just out of curiosity, he thinks about kissing her. Her hair would be soft between his fingers. For some reason, he imagines it smelling like citrus. Her lips look soft, but in his head they’re slightly chapped, cool and warm at the same time as they press against his, and he pulls away to look into those shining amber eyes—

Wait, Lily’s eyes are green, not amber. He is most definitely thinking about someone else—someone with twelve freckles on his nose and golden hair that curls around his ears. 

Three guesses who it is. 

But no, he scolds himself, he is not here to mope over cute boys he used to date. Or any cute boys at all, for that matter. He’s here to have fun. To make friends. To eat good food. If Remus wants to play strangers, they’ll do just that. 

“So,” he says, turning his head sideways. “You’re John, right? John Lupin?”

Maybe, just maybe, someone will explain the whole fake name thing. 

And for once, his prayers are answered. 

“Well, no,” Remus says, and Sirius searches those beautiful eyes for any trace of the fact that they both know he knows this already. He’s not sure whether to be bitter or hurt or simply sad when he finds none, so he settles for a bit of all three. “Actually, John’s my middle name. My first name’s Remus. But if you’re a literature student with a name like Remus Lupin, the only people who are going to take you seriously are the ones—well, the ones with names like Sirius Black. So I started going by John, and it just sort of stuck.”

“Remus.” Sirius twists his mouth around it, enunciating both syllables carefully, like he’s saying it for the first time. He supposes he is, in a way—after all, by unspoken agreement they seem to be starting over. 

“It’s like—do you ever get—do people ever think your name’s just a stage name? 

“All the time.” He can’t quite be sure whether or not they’ve had a conversation like this before; it does seem familiar, but most things do these days. Even if they haven’t really discussed this already, they almost certainly have in Sirius’s head. Or something similar to it, anyway.

 “It’s like that. People assume it isn’t my real name, so I changed it.” 

“Huh.” Tilting his head slightly, Sirius puts on an ‘innocently curious’ air that he knows Remus will be able to see right through. “Anything else I should know about you? 

“I turn into a bloodthirsty werewolf on full moons,” Remus says without skipping a beat. It’s impressive, really, how long he holds a completely straight face, and Sirius watches carefully to try and catch even a glimpse of a smile. “All right,” he says when it becomes clear none will appear. “Monsters are people too, I guess.”

And there it is—that wide, oh-so-brilliant grin that still makes his breath catch in his throat. No, he reprimands. No. Absolutely not. You are not going to fall in love with him again. It will only end in pain. Your pain. 

That’s right. He’s not in love. He’s not even in crush. He’s just becoming friends with someone he used to date. No biggie. Plenty of people do that, right? James and Regulus broke up almost a year ago, and they still hang out. 

Sufficiently reassured, he plows bravely on. “What else? Have you, I dunno, killed anyone?”

“No, but I do have three tattoos.”

Sirius blinks slowly. He can picture one of them—the crossed ski poles on the inside of Remus’s ankle—but he doesn’t think he’s seen the other two. “Really?” 

“Yeah. I’ve got a pair of ski poles on my foot—I’m from Whistler; practically grew up on the hills—and here, on my wrist—” he pauses, rolling his sleeve up to expose his inner arm “—I’ve got the Illuminati symbol.”

There’s a beat of silence as Sirius waits for the ‘just kidding.’ None comes, however, and apparently none will, because now he can see the small triangle inked there, plain as day. 

“I was eighteen, okay?” continues Remus. “And I hadn’t slept in like four days and I might have been slightly drunk. Everyone who has tattoos also has tattoo horror stories, and this is mine. Don’t judge me.”

“I’m not judging you.” And he’s really not. He knows what it’s like to make bad decisions when one is young and tired—he fights off the flashbacks of a sixteen-year-old James piercing his left ear for him at two in the morning—and hey, at least Remus has learned to laugh about it now. “What’s the third one?” 

“The third tattoo?”

“Yeah.” 

Pulling up his sleeve even farther, Remus points to a patch of tiny lettering on the inside of his elbow. “It says ‘Leviticus 18:22.’” 

“What’s that?”

“It’s a bible verse. You’ve probably heard it before, or some version of it—'thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, ‘tis an abomination.'”

Sirius feels as though his thought process has been unceremoniously dumped into a blender. What? Remus can’t be a homophobe. Remus dated him, for heaven’s sake. 

(He’s also right—Sirius has heard that before. As soon as she found out he was queer, his mother pulled a bible out from he’s not sure where and read that verse out to him. It was, like, a whole thing.)

The only thing he can think of to say is ‘what,’ so that's what he says. “What?”

“Don’t worry,” Remus hurries to assure him, “I’m not a bigot or anything. I like guys, too. I just did it for the edge factor, y’know? It’s ironic; it’s supposed to be funny.”

“You have a really weird sense of humour.”

“I know.”

Slowly, Sirius shakes his head in disbelief. “So three tattoos—ski poles, Illuminati, and bible reference?”

“Yep.”

Then he hears, from the end of the table, “And the one on your neck.”

Both Sirius’s and Remus’s gazes dart to Fabian, who has stopped fiddling with the salt shaker and is looking over at them quizzically. “That constellation thing. The one you only got a couple months ago. 

Remus does not look like a deer in headlights. He looks like an escaped criminal caught in the flashlight beam of a police detective. 

Matters are only made worse—or better, Sirius reasons, depending on how you look at it—when Alice joins in. “Yeah, Moony! That’s the coolest one, if you ask me.” 

Remus blushes. It’s only because of the close proximity that Sirius hears his mutter “No one did,” under his breath. 

“This fucker here,”Alice says, seemingly oblivious to humiliation radiating from Remus’s corner of the booth, “Came home—we live together, Lily and Remus and Caradoc and me—in… what was it? January? With yet another tattoo, and he wouldn’t tell us why. My guess is that he just walked by and saw the design in the window and decided he liked it. Impulsive one, our Moony.”  

Sirius decides that he’s not going to ask where the nickname comes from. He has a sneaking suspicion he doesn’t particularly want to know. 

“It’s kind of funny, actually. Took him like a week for us to bully him into letting us see it, and it turns out he’s got the Sirius constellation right there above his collarbone.” She pauses. “Sirius. Huh. I guess Remus just, like, subconsciously decided you two should be friends, even though he hadn’t even met you yet. Maybe he’s psychic or something.” 

Even if his life depended on it, nothing in the world could make Sirius look at Remus right now. If he does, something terrible is almost definitely going to happen—one of them will drop dead of a rare kind of heart attack, or Frankie’s will blow up and kill them all before their food gets there, or Sirius will start crying. 

A tattoo. A fucking tattoo. It doesn’t make sense to him, no matter the number of times he adds it up in his head, because tattoos are something for people who are forever. 

It’s one of those things you just grow up learning—you don’t get tattoos of another person’s name (or the thing they’re named after; potato, potahto) unless you’re absolutely sure, and sure does not mean kissing other people at parties. 

Unless, apparently, you are Remus John Lupin. 

“Really?” Sirius asks. “Huh. That’s cool. Aren’t neck tattoos supposed to hurt, like, a shitton, though?”

There’s a pregnant pause, like the universe is holding its breath. Finally, Remus smiles tightly and says, just barely loud enough for Sirius to hear, “It was worth it.”

***

If Sirius was held at swordpoint and told to recount what the rest of their conversation entails, he would say ‘stab me.’ All he can say for sure is that whatever discussion is had, it stops as soon as Marlene arrives with the food. 

“Two croissants for you, Sir,” she says, placing Remus’s plate in front of him. “And an iced coffee and Greek salad for you, my lady; a banana split for the two utterly charming earls here; a grilled cheese and triple hot fudge sundae for our duchess and one whole grain toasted bagel with cream cheese for her duke, a plain untoasted bagel with cream cheese for the princess with the colourful hair, and one serving of poutine for the absolute queen I see in front of me.”

Sirius is positive Dorcas actually swoons a little at the ‘queen’ comment. Were this a cartoon, her eyes would now be comically large pink hearts. 

“Oh, and how could I forget. A BLT and Nanaimo bar for our resident court jester.” 

He sticks his tongue out at her. What can he say—he’s immature. And dramatic. The best combination, truly. 

Dorcas watches Marlene turn with a smile and walk back to the counter, and, once she’s sure the object of her affections is safely out of earshot, she sighs. “I think I’m in love.” 

“She snores,” Sirius tells her, to no avail. “Like a pig.”

“I love pigs.”

“No, Dorc.” Fabian’s eyes are glittering. “You love bacon.” 

“You guys are teaming up on me! This is homophobia!” 

“I’m literally gay.” 

“Fuck off.” 

Sirius catches Fabian’s eyes across the table. The ginger waves his ice cream spoon around his ear in a ‘crazy’ motion, and Sirius agrees wholeheartedly. Dorcas is, indeed, crazy. 

“You’re crazy, Dorcas.” 

“Crazy in love.” 

(At this point, he could probably tell the whole story about the tomatoes—acting out the best parts, no less—and it would not change her mind in the slightest.) (That’s a good thing, actually; no one deserves Marlene unless they can accept the tomato story in full.) 

Beside him, Remus is already halfway through his first croissant. Some would say he must be hungry, and those people clearly do not know Remus Lupin. He’s not hungry—well, he might be—he just loves chocolate that much. There were times during their relationship that Sirius joked about Remus loving chocolate more than he loved Sirius himself. 

Well. He supposes that now, after everything, it’s probably true. 

(No! Bad Sirius! No moping!)

His sandwich, he finds, when he takes a bite, isn’t actually that bad. It tastes—well, it tastes like bacon and lettuce and tomato and bread, which it is. It’s quite a good combination, he thinks, and he wishes he’d thought of it first. 

Finally, Dorcas motions for Mary to move out of the booth into the aisle. “I’m going for it,” she says, holding her hand up like a microphone. Sirius can’t help but laugh at the announcer voice she uses, and laugh more when she adds, “Wish me luck, my friends.”

“You won’t need it,” Remus assures her through a mouthful of croissant. 

“Who cares if I need it? It’s about the principle of the thing.”

“Good luck, Dorcas.”

“Thank you, Lily.” 

It would seem fitting, Sirius reasons, if they had popcorn right now. They’re certainly all watching intently, as if it's a movie, the shy way Dorcas and Marlene smile at each other before they start talking too quietly to hear. When Marlene starts twisting her blond hair around her index finger, Remus leans over to him.  

“You’ve certainly come on the right day—episode one of ‘Dorcas tries to woo the girl of her dreams.’”

‘You’re too close!’ Sirius screams in his mind. ‘How am I supposed to not fall in love with you when you’re whispering in my ear and your breath is warm on the back of my neck and if I turned my head we would be kissing and—’

“Look, she’s handing her phone over,” he says instead, and Remus moves away to rest his elbows on the table. 

“Would you look at that. It seems that Operation: get Dorc a girlfriend has progressed past stage one,” Alice jokes. 

Sirius leans forward to look over Frank at her. “What’s stage two?”

“Make sure said girlfriend doesn’t find out about the cactus shrine.”

“...I don’t think I want to know.” 

“No, you really don’t.”

But now Dorcas is walking back over to them, and she’s beaming, and she holds out her phone excitedly. “I got her number! She saved her contact in my phone, too—’Marlene; red heart emoji; parrot emoji.’” 

The first one to start is Lily, and Remus follows soon after. When Alice, too, brings her hands together, Sirius joins in, and soon they’re all slow clapping. He can’t quite be sure whether this is a sincere slow clap or an ironic one, but, judging by the way Dorcas’s grin only grows wider, he’s going to go with the former. 

“Thank you, thank you!” She bows dramatically, and Sirius looks around him at the other smiling faces of booth seven, and he can’t help but think, ‘Oh my god, I have friends.’

[lizardrosen]

Hello there!! I have a twelfth night exam tomorrow and the question is about deciet, deception, lies and truths within the play. What are your thoughts and opinions on these topics?

Hi! Because I don’t know exactly what questions will be on your exam, I’m not going to give you a simple thesis answer or anything. Instead I’ll give you some things to think about, mostly in the form of questions, and encourage you to look for your own answers, but hopefully it’ll be a good start.

The first thing I’d like to mention is that not all of the deception or mistaken identities are even intentional. Some examples:

Viola is disguised as a boy but she’s not tricking Olivia into falling in love with her — in fact she explicitly tells her that she can’t return her love and Olivia’s better off looking somewhere else.

Viola and Andrew aren’t trying to scare each other or appear better fighters than they are — that’s all Toby and Fabian exaggerating to make the fight more fun for them to watch

Viola isn’t trying to break Antonio’s heart when he mistakes her for Sebastian, and she tries to offer the help and money she can give him, unaware that by doing so she’s twisting the knife further.

Sebastian has no idea what’s going on when Olivia mistakes him for Cesario, and definitely isn’t trying to trick her — he wants to respect her by getting married. Now could he have handled it a bit better? Yes! Of course! But was he deceiving her? Not really! If anything Olivia was unintentionally gaslighting him.

Now that those exceptions are out of the way, let’s talk about some other (more straightforward?) ways those themes are conveyed!

Disguises

Viola as Cesario, Olivia and her gentlewomen wearing veils, Sebastian traveling with Antonio for three months under the name Roderigo, Antonio hoping not to be recognized in Illyria, Feste as Sir Topasz

Why are these disguises donned? Is it for self-preservation or for fun, or because SOMEONE doesn’t know when a joke’s gone too far? Who’s hiding parts of themself, and who’s using this as a way to uncover things they didn’t know and find a truer way to be themself?

Are the yellow stockings a kind of disguise for Malvolio, trying to change himself to be what he thinks Olivia wants him to be? On the other hand he already owned them, so maybe this is showing a side of himself he hasn’t been allowed — but then, was it himself or society that didn’t let him? Would that mean his fussy steward persona is a disguise, or masking? (See also this fantastic post about neurodivergent Malvolio)

Is Orsino’s bi awakening a disguise? Is he in denial about his feelings or does he just not understand what they are yet? This question could go for any of the characters going through similar queer transformations.

Messages and how they’re passed on

Written vs. word of mouth vs. physical objects vs. behavior/performance

Is it intended to be a truth or a lie? Is it even intended to be found/heard/read/observed? Sometimes watching how the message is received is the purpose of sending it

Andrew writes a challenge to Cesario which Toby immediately decides not to pass on, in favor of a verbal challenge to make him seem more of a threat.

Fabian begs Feste to show him Malvolio’s note

Maria says that sometimes she and Olivia can’t even tell their own handwriting apart

When Malvolio brings the ring to Cesario he exaggerates what he was told happened by adding “you peevishly threw it to her.” Does this count as a lie or an embellishment, or just the truth of what he assumes must have happened?

The sea captain tells Viola “Be you his eunuch, and your mute I'll be: When my tongue blabs, then let mine eyes not see.”

Some people let bits of the truth out even if they’re in disguise or hiding or lying

Viola as Cesario is able to speak a lot more frankly with Orsino than she probably would if he knew she were a woman, and it means they can take each other seriously. She uses this to push back against his assumptions and defend women’s hearts, including her own

Malvolio, alone in the dark, *knows that he’s not mad and that the house is dark as ignorance, and he’s just trying to reach out to someone who might believe him.

Feste!!

Yes they get their own section. Yes I’m using they/them pronouns. Just try and stop me.

They’re a fool as an occupation and as an archetype, so it is literally their job to use lies to reveal the truth. Have some classic examples:

FESTE I think his soul is in hell, madonna. OLIVIA I know his soul is in heaven, fool. FESTE The more fool, madonna, to mourn for your brother's soul being in heaven. Take away the fool, gentlemen.

and

FESTE Marry, sir, they praise me and make an ass of me; now my foes tell me plainly I am an ass: so that by my foes, sir I profit in the knowledge of myself, and by my friends, I am abused: so that, conclusions to be as kisses, if your four negatives make your two affirmatives why then, the worse for my friends and the better for my foes.

AND they reveal a lot about the themes of the play. Funny how Fools can do that for you.

Feste makes people laugh if they’re too sad and makes them think if they’re too thoughtless, but does it in a way that’s not overtly threatening.

And as the resident “corrupter of words” they see the truth that others can’t or won’t. It’s my opinion that they know what’s going on with Viola’s gender, and all the love polygons in this play, and because the truth can be a heavy lonely burden, they do what they do best: make a joke out of it.

In conclusion:

Who is doing the deceiving? Who is being deceived?

How and why is it done? Is it intentional?

Does it have the intended effect? Does it change things that weren’t intended?

Can the lies be undone?

[kindness-bliss]

New Beginnings Ch. 10

Timothy Thatcher x OC

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: none

 Maya sighed as she sat in the and leaned her head back against the headrest “Why did you lean in to kiss me ?” she finally asked  

 “I just felt the moment was right, you held my hand on your own and I thought maybe it was a good idea. I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable, I just did what I felt was right in the moment” he explained “I apologize, I really do. I would never wanna make you feel like it was forced”

  “Don’t do it again” she said softly “Now hurry up so you can drive me home and we can both change, you got your outfit ?”

  “Yeah, just um a black long sleeve button up and black pants, that okay ?” Marcel asked

“Perfect” she grins as they got out “Also feel free to loosen up tonight, I can handle my drinking”

He raised a brow as he pulled in and followed “Do I need to remind you about what happened in Berlin ?”

  Maya widened her eyes as she blushed and shot him a look “You said you’d never bring it up, so don’t start now”

  “Sorry but you causing world war 3 at a club at 2 in the morning that led to us running through the back door isn’t exactly a small thing” he laughed as he brought his bag in “I’m not even drunk ! I’m fine, let’s go dance !” he mocked in her voice “and then suddenly a fight about who knows what and bam we’re in a taxi. How you weren’t some kind of fighter in your life still shocks me”

  “I felt like it” she shrugged “she insinuated my Cartier bracelets were fake so I let her have it, period. Oh yeah and she hit on you right in front of me, she deserved it”

He laughed, shaking his head “how about none of that tonight ? Just fun, enjoy yourself with your friends and celebrate your cover”

“I invited Fabian” she blurted out, taking out her curling iron to touch up her hair “he said he’s coming, I gave security his name”

  Marcel nodded as she took off his t shirt and ironed his shirt “That’s cool, glad he can make it”

“If you two don’t say sorry and make up tonight I swear” she groaned. Yeah they had been friends for a little over half a year but that didn’t mean him and Fabian were back together. Those two were like a married couple and seeing him without Fabian made her sad, he wasn’t the same without him and it killed her inside

  “I can’t promise anything but if he’s there obviously he knows I’m going to be as well so who knows” Marcel admitted as he fixed his hair

  “Lay off the gel, you look you belong back in Germany in some grade school with this haircut” she laughed fixing her eye shadow “Plus it’s gonna be hot in there”

    “Then I’ll take my shirt off,” he smirked. “I think some girls there would  really like to see that, don't you think ?”

  Maya rolled her eyes, going into her closet and picking out a body con sequin dress, something to make her stand out from the others. She wanted to be absolutely sure she looked better than anyone else there, especially after what Tim had told her. Tim. As if that Dickies wearing, missing tooth asshole knew anything about fashion she shook her head. “No one cares Maya, he doesn’t matter at all” she repeated in her head turning and widening her eyes as she saw Marcel changing

   “Wow...wow” she muttered quietly as she hid behind her closet door and peaked, taking a look at his perfectly tan body and abs, watching him check himself out in the mirror while buttoning up his shirt. He had to me the most vain individual she had ever met yet there she was hiding so she could admire him from afar. Her, the actual model, hiding in a damn closet to stare at him of all people. She quickly snapped out of her own thoughts and changed, putting on her heels as she walked out

  “Alright all-” Marcel stopped speaking, practically stopping his breathing when he saw her

“Hey” Maya grinned softly as she saw his face

“Maya….I….” he took a moment to think clearly about what he wished to say, not wanting to make himself seem even dumber than he already did 

“I-wow” he chuckled out finally as he put his hands in his pockets 

“You...you look beautiful, stunning”

  “Marcel, you’ve seen me in dresses but thank you” she giggled 

 “You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve seen, ever” he said sincerely “you look beautiful every single day but tonight is just wow”

She looked at him, trying her best to keep her look calm and friendly but part of her wanted to jump him right then and there. “Come on, let’s get going it’s late” she grinned as she went back out with him to the car and allowed him to take a picture of them to post ******

  “So now explain” Johnny said as he sat with Tim in the living room of his home “why exactly did you um...snap ?”

  “I did not snap” Tim responded calmly as he pet their dog Pawdme 

“I...words didn’t come out as well as I hoped okay, that’s all”

  “Um...you went to college right ? like graduated, correct ?” he asked

Tim nodded as he gave a confused look “uh yeah, I uh have a degree in Journalism, worked at a newspaper company for years. Actually” he chuckled “when we met in evolve I was stil- wait what does this have to do with anything ?”

    “So you’re telling me you’re college educated with a degree in JOURNALISM of all things, like as in good with words and writing yet you don't know how to speak to a woman !” Johnny exclaimed “You legit use big ass words and write pages yet when a girl clearly is giving the whole “take me in the back seat of your car now” eyes you insult and demean ?” “Johnny, enough” Candice spoke up “He gets the point, clearly he’s upset and mad”

“Thanks” Tim nodded, “and to answer all your questions, yes, I get it. I acted like a moron and well here I am trying to think of ways to apologize once again and convince her I want her with me”   

“Well we can all talk about this tomorrow, we got somewhere to go” Johnny stood up dressed in a button up and black jeans along with Candice in a black dress

  “A funeral ?” Tim asked confused as he looked at both of them “sorry for your loss, whomever it may be”

 Candice let out a soft sigh as he looked at Johnny and nodded towards Tim with her head “tell him…”

“Okay, first it’s “Johnny, shut up!” and now it’s “tell him” he mocked in her voice as he put his hands on his hips and looked up at Tim 

“We’re…..we’re going to Maya’s cover launch party, she invited us a month ago and well we RSVP’d and honestly I won’t lie, it looks like a lot of fun, man. She rented out the entire club. It's at EVE and I mean we don’t get to do shit like this, it’s the best club in the city and we’re on the list and I feel special alright ?”

  “Wait wait, what ?” Tim asked bewildered “You two are going ? Like actually going ? This isn’t some sick joke right because if it is I got pranked” he put his hands up “the act can stop now, I get it”

Johnny and Candice looked at each other as they both turned and gave him a sorry look as Candice’s phone buzzed “sorry Tim...we gotta go now, Oney’s waiting with Joanne”

 Tim scoffed as he nodded and opened the door, catching Oney about to knock  “I know, don’t even try to explain” he said as he shut him up before he could even speak

  “Well damn” Oney shot him a look “Guess that means, you don’t wanna be my plus one….”

“What ?” the other 3 asked in unison as they looked at him

“Joanne can’t make it, she has work so that leaves me with a plus one” he showed the message “Maya never said I couldn’t bring Tim” he gave a shrug

“Wait…. He can’t go like that” Candice emphasized “babe quick, go look for a bigger shirt and Oney, switch pants with Tim and Johnny will give you another pair…..NOW !” she raised her voice at the 3 of them as she watched them scurry and go to her bedroom

    “Wow, who knew you could clean up so nicely” Johnny smirked “let me do your hair now, you can’t go out looking nicely dressed with messy hair, oh and cologne, you gotta smell good in case ”

“You’re not serious ?” Tim asked

“You want her to see you looking good right ? So listen to me, if you look good and smell good she’ll like fall in love with you, she won’t even remember you insinuated her work was cheap, or that bikini models are whores or that-” Johnny gulped when he saw him glare at him “here just..just add a little gel and um see you downstairs, hurry up”

  Oney chuckled as he watched him get ready “If this doesn’t work, then I don’t know. Not gonna lie you look….nice. You really do, this is probably what she wanted to see”  

 “Whatever” Tim shrugged as he finished buttoning up the shirt “I just wanna talk to her that’s all, talk to her and get this settled and we’ll go from there” he nodded as he followed him back to Candice and Johnny’s Uber and sat down 

  “Wow” Candice grinned “look at you, I mean it. You clean up so nicely Tim, you really do”

“Thank you” Tim said softly as he gave her a small grin. “How the hell did I get myself into this ?” he thought to himself. None of this was him, he could feel the sweat start to build up in his arm pits as he moved around in his seat lifting his head up when Oney offered him a mini bottle of Patron

“A roadie, to loosen up before we get there. You could use it, need a chaser ?” he offered some seltzer water widening his eyes as he watched him chug it down in one gulp

  “Give me another, now” Tim nodded as he reached out his hand, taking the second bottle and downing it “there, much much better”. No not really all that better but at least it calmed his nerves slightly as he watched them pull up to the club. He looked through the crowd to see who he recognized, some were definitely other models but lots were from work. She really had invited everyone but him, not like he expected it anyways.

    “Remember, leave no later than 3” Candice said as they got out and reapplied her lipgloss “Jesus, she’s popular look at all these people”

  “You don’t say” Johnny looked around “And she invited US, that means she really does like us and thinks of us as friends. She’s SO nice”

“She is. She really is something” Tim whispered to himself as he stood with them ************

“I love seeing you two so happy and together !” Maya smiled a little tipsy already as she put her arms around Fabian and Marcel’s shoulders 

“The two besties are back together ! You can go back to taking your little sexy shirtless gym pictures now !”  

 Fabian chuckled “well thank you I think ? Thanks for inviting me again”

“Yeah yeah of course, anything to get you two back together” she sipped her martini, feeling slightly buzzed as she sat next to Marcel and put her hand on his thigh “oh my god, you look so cute tonight I can’t believe I didn’t tell you already” she pouted

  Marcel chuckled as he placed her hand back on her lap gently “Thank you, you’re telling me now and to me that’s all that matters”

“Maya maybe, maybe we can stop the martini’s for a bit” Fabian suggested as he motioned for the waitress to come over and order them waters with lemon

  “What a complete party pooper, I thought Italians were supposed to be fun. This is NOT how Jersey Shore made it seem” she rolled her eyes, pulling out her compact to look herself over as she watched Fabian just laugh at her

 “Hey... still very very pretty,” Marcel grinned as he closed it for her. “There’s no need to keep looking at yourself when you look perfect, now have some water so you can sober up a bit and enjoy your night. Everyone’s here for you”

  Maya stood up and fixed her dress when she saw Candice walk towards her “hey, oh my gosh you look beautiful !” She gave her a hug and smiled, tilting her head when she saw Johnny take a selfie with her custom cake “why...why is he ?”

  “Listen he’s telling everyone we know he’s at a celebrity party and how you’re his friend, he’s truly living it up” she admits with a chuckle

  “I just...I like how you guys came, you two are so kind and nice and to be honest I kinda like you guys here more than the others my agent made me invite” she smiled softly “Can I offer you a drink ?”

  “Oh yeah sure, I’d love one of those fruity ones you’re having” Candice grinned as she walked over to the bar with her “Listen before we enjoy the night, I have to tell you that Oney’s girlfriend couldn’t make it so...so he brought Tim”

    “What ?” she spat out her water “He’s here ? As in right now ? Candice what the hell ? After what happened earlier ?”

Candice sighed as she took her drink in one sitting and got up “Long story short he feels horrible and wants to talk to you, really talk to you. 100% serious this time, no insults nothing so when you’re ready you let me know and I”m getting you two together to talk even if it’s the last fucking thing I do” she nods

  “I just wanna enjoy my night and maybe when I’m a little more drunk so I can let his ass know everything I’ve been feeling” Maya nodded as she cheered her and took what she believed was her 15th shot of the night 

    “So are those real ?” Candice asked as she pointed to her revealing dress “because they look real but they also look way too perfect to be real”

Maya laughed as she touched her shoulder with her arm “They are, but did you drink before getting here ?”

  “May have had a couple roadies” she admits as they continued to drink together, getting rowdier once everyone else came to join

  “Let’s give it up for Maya !” Johnny yelled as he raised his champagne glass “MY friend is a model and she’s on an ACTUAL magazine and on a billboard !”

  “To me ! For being really fucking pretty and having an amazing body !” Maya exclaimed drunkenly as she leaned on Marcel

    “And with REAL boobs !” Candice added as they all cheered together and moved to the dance floor as the DJ played a playlist of mid 2000’s songs

Everything was great, perfect actually until Oney spotted Tim talking to a girl, a little too close for comfort in his eyes as he left and sat down keeping a close eye on him

  “So what brings you here, do you know Maya ?” the girl asked Tim as she grinned and sat too close to him at the bar

  “In a way yeah, you ?” he nodded trying his best to keep up straight as the alcohol from the car ride and the beers he had consumed were beginning to hit him

  “well she won this cover over me. Some thing about brunettes over blondes, Kara by the way” she reached her hand out “and you are ?”

“Tim” he responded as he turned around and faced her, looking her up and down as he raised a brow at the less than favorable red number she had on “drink ?”

    “Vodka soda” she smirked as she ordered “oh is this your friend ?”

“What ?” Tim asked confused as he turned and saw Oney with crossed arms standing behind him

  “You’re drunk, come with me”

“He’s fine with me” Kara smiled sweetly “Don’t worry, your friend is perfect with me here”

“Tim….”

“I’m fine” Tim shrugged “You go and continue being stupid, I’m fine here with her”

Oney shook his head and sighed as he left him alone and went back as he sat down on a couch and watched

 Maya pulled Marcel close to her as she turned around against him, moving to the beat of the music as she felt him move with her, putting his hands on her hips both swaying to the old Ice Cube song that played loudly in the club. They had gone to multiple clubs in the past and danced to way too many songs but this time something was different and they both felt it  

  Marcel felt the jolts in his body as he touched her hips and felt her backside press right against his groin area. Gulping to get rid of what felt like a ball stuck in his throat he made sure to keep his hands there as they moved

  “You good ?” she asked not realizing what was even going on with him as she looked up

“All good, we can keep going” he nodded

He was positive his once black shirt was now soaking and see through with sweat as he tried his best to make sure he didn’t get hard as he squeezed her sides every so slightly. As he heard the song end and change to what he recalled was an old Lil Jon song, he groaned feeling her move quicker.  Part of him felt like it was best to just leave to the car and handle what he needed to do but the other part said he needed to be composed for her. All that went out the window the second he looked down and saw her dress slowly ride up as she moved lower and lower

  “I...I gotta go to the bathroom” he blurted out as he turned her around and saw her eyes, he knew better than anyone what that look meant

  “We….we should go to the bathroom” she whispered as she laced his fingers with hers and leaned in to kiss the corner of his mouth gently

   Marcel shuddered as he looked around and noticed everyone too busy to even notice them gone, he quickly took her hand and rushed to the nearest bathroom with her as he pushed her against the wall and crashed his lips onto hers, moving his hands up and down her hips as he moved down to kiss her neck feeling one of her hands on the back of his neck and the other immediately trying to undo his belt

  “Not...not here” he whispered as he stopped her hands and held them in his as he kissed each of them “This...this is cheap, I don’t want it like this with you. You deserve more”

“My place” she kissed his lips again not wanting them away from hers any longer “You and me, my place. I want you, I need you Marcel” Marcel looked in her eyes trying to see any doubt , going with his gut as he nodded and walked with her, hitting a stall with his shoulder

“Busy” a female voice groaned “um really busy”

  “Sorry” Marcel apologized quickly, cursing as Maya tripped against him causing him to fall against the unlocked door, widening his eyes at the view in front of him

  “What’s going-” Maya stopped speaking immediately as she felt her heart drop to her stomach as she saw Tim entangled with a girl doing way more than kissing. She felt her legs turn into jelly as she watched him kiss and move her against him, at her party of all places.

   Tim heard her voice and immediately opened his eyes as he pushed Kara off and fixed his pants and shirt “Maya ! No…..No listen I-I” he stuttered struggling to form a cohesive thought as he reached his hand towards her earning a hard punch across the nose and kick in the groin “Fuck that hurt !” he grimaced in pain not sure if he needed to grab his balls or nose

  “Marcel, why is she crying ? what’s going on ?” Johnny asked concerned he watched Candice going after her “Did someone hurt her ? Tell me and I’ll knock them out !”

  “That, that’s what’s going on” Marcel said coldly as they both looked at Tim and Kara exit the bathroom both disheveled with Tim’s more than obvious broken bleeding nose

“I told him to stop” Oney spoke up “He didn’t listen, brushed me off. The second he saw me talk to Johnny is when he left”

  “It wasn’t your job to babysit” Johnny answered disappointed as he stared “Grown men can take care of themselves, or so we thought”

“You’re not getting a foot near her !” Oney exclaimed, fed up “How fucking dare you do this to her ? At her own fucking party ? Was this what you wanted all along ? To just come here and ruin her night ?”

Tim shook his head as he held his nose with his hand “I….I can’t….I can’t even talk, where is she ? I need to talk to her now” “You’re getting you and your little prost-.....friend the hell out of here NOW” Oney ordered

  Tim snarled as he felt her touch his hand “get the fuck away from me”, scaring her enough as he watched her walk away quickly and hurried out the door. He looked at the guys and pleaded with his eyes as he watched them walk away from him

Marcel clenched his fists in anger as he calmed himself down for a second before walking quickly to the parking lot of the club searching around space by space as he found Candice consoling Maya on the pavement and rushed over

  “Maya, Maya come on let’s get you home” he said softly as he kneeled in front of her and dabbed her face full of mascara tears with his sleeve. His own heart breaking as he saw how devastated she looked. Nothing mattered more to him than making sure he got her home and safe

  “Listen to Marcel, he’s gonna take you home sweetie” Candice whispered as she helped her stand up as Johnny, Fabian and Oney joined them with sorry looks on their faces “It’s brisk” Fabian said softly as he took off his suit jacket and put it over Maya’s shoulders to cover her up  “I’m gonna, I’m gonna take her home now, is that okay Maya ?” Marcel asked as he pet her head gently 

Maya simply gave a small nod as her eyes stayed glued to the floor, her whole night and heart done for.

[arielovessims]

The New Heiress Chapter 2, Part 5

“Mr. and Mrs. Summerdream, thank you for agreeing to meet with me today.”

“There is something very important that I would like to discuss with you, and I am hoping for your favorable response.”

“As you know, Puck and I have been best friends for a long time, and that we eventually developed feelings for each other. To get straight to the point, I am asking for his hand in marriage.”

“I know that you don’t want him and your family to be involved in the feud, but there has been peace in this town for the last seven years, and that is all thanks to you, Mr. Summerdream. I will also do my best to help maintain that peace.”

“Most importantly, I do not see anyone else in my future other than Puck. I love him, I really do. I hope you can see that.”

“We do see that you two are very much in love, my dear. And personally, I no longer have any qualms with your association to the feud. My only concern is if you two are truly prepared. Marriage is no fairytale. Nevertheless, if you are sure and ready, you have my blessing. But it is nothing without Titania’s approval too. She is, after all, the head of this family.”

“Of course you have my blessing, Hermia. No need for formalities or tradition, but we do appreciate you coming to us first. The fact that you wanted to seek our approval already tells us how much you value this.”

“But as Oberon said, please make sure you are ready first. We understand that as heiress, you might feel pressured to get married, but the both of you are still very young. And you know Puck, he has a childlike heart.”

“You are right. I am actually not in a hurry to get married, in fact I am frightened, but I just wanted to ask for your approval as early as now, for reassurance. And now, knowing that I have your support, I can plan my future with less anxiety.”

“Of course, it will all still be up to you and Puck, whatever you decide. We just wanted to give you advice because we have seen so many couples who used to be so in love, to end up divorced, and we don’t want that to happen to you.”

“If you ever need marriage or parental advice, you can always come to us.”

“I need to go now. Thank you so much for your time.”

“It’s been a pleasure. We would be delighted to have you as part of our family, Hermia. I hope all goes well with the two of you.”

“Good morning, Daddy.”

“Good morning, sweetie. You’re up early today? It’s Sunday.”

“I made sure to get up while the others are still asleep because I want to talk to you alone.”

“What is it, my dear? Is it so serious that you don’t want your siblings to know?”

“About your wedding, Daddy. I don’t want to be a flower girl anymore.”

“Oh, who will be our flower girl, then? Is something the matter, Ariel? Are you upset about the wedding?”

“No, it’s not about you and Uncle Kent, it’s just... I don’t think I’m a girl.”

“Oh. So does that mean...?”

“I don’t think I’m a boy, either.”

“I don’t understand why there has to be things for boys and things for girls. I like things for both.”

“And it makes me uncomfortable to think about my... you know. We are learning sex education in biology class and our teacher taught us about how there are people who are not male or female, and that’s when I knew.”

“People might think I’m too young to be thinking and deciding about this, but I’m nearly a teenager, and I’m pretty sure this is who I am. So I guess instead of a flower girl, I can just be called... a flower... child?”

“Are you upset, Daddy?”

“Oh no, Ariel, no. I’m just... processing it. But I think I understand.”

“Thank you Daddy! It means so much to me that you understand and accept who I am.”

“Well, we didn’t learn about those things when I was a boy, and I didn’t even know I liked men too until I got older.”

“Of course I accept who you are, my love. And you will forever be my baby. Didn’t I tell you that you could be whoever you wanted to be?”

“I’m so lucky you’re my dad.”

“What kind of father would I be if I didn’t love you for who you are?”

“Do you think Mommy would have accepted it too?”

“Yes, I think she would.”

“Of course you’d be here again.”

“I wanted to be alone, there’s too much people inside.”

“So, are you ready to tell me your secret? Or should I tell Dad that you were lying about where you’ve been the other night?”

“What do you mean?”

“I called Fabian, and unfortunately for you, it was his mother who picked up the phone and said there was no sleepover at their house like you claimed. So just tell me where you’ve been. If you don’t, I will ask Bottom, because I know she’s in on your secret.”

“Look, brother dear. I know I’m annoying, and nosy, and whatever else you want to call me. But I’m your sister, and I worry about you. When we were little, you always looked out for me because I always got in trouble, didn’t you? And now it seems our roles have switched. Now I have to look out for you, because you’ve been acting really suspicious. Whatever it is you’re doing, I just have a gut feeling that there’s something wrong.”

“Okay, I will tell you. But you have to promise me that you will never tell anyone. Not Dad, not Nonno or Nonna, not anyone. Do you promise?”

“Why not? How serious is this, Ben?”

“It’s a matter of life and death. Now, do you promise?”

“Alright, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Good. Well, I do have a girlfriend.”

“Ooooh, I knew it. Is that it, then? You know you can just tell Nonno that you’re not interested in Olivia.”

“Listen. She’s not just any other girl. I met her at that party we snuck into when we were kids.”

“No... no way...”

“She’s a Capp.”

“Ben... what on earth?! I thought you were the obedient and dutiful twin... do you want to give Nonno a heart attack? Have you learned nothing from what happened with Romeo? And Mom? Dad will kill you!”

“Listen, Bea. I don’t want this feud to go on forever. Don’t you too? And she’s not that different from us, so why can’t I be with her, just because our grandpa had a falling out with her grandpa? None of that was her fault. She just happened to be a Capp, and we happened to be in love. That’s why I’m going to fight for her, and marry her eventually.”

“Oh, God. You’ve gone off the rails. This is all my fault. I never should’ve let you follow me to that party.”

“I still have a functioning brain, and I also have a functioning heart. Come on Bea, you should be on my side here. Don’t you want peace in this town once and for all? Our generation... we don’t deserve to get dragged into the mess our grandparents created.”

“Of course I want peace, but I don’t want to get disowned too. Do you have a plan, then?”

“Well, not yet entirely. But I know we will have Aunt Bianca’s support when we tell her.”

“Well, loverboy. If you don’t have Plan A perfectly mapped out yet, you better have a Plan B for if we get kicked out.”

“So you’re with me then? Thank you, Beatrice!”

“Well, what can I do? I know I can’t stop you. And you’d do the same for me. I guess we’re more alike than we thought, huh?”

[kristenbeeapples]

@apple-scrumper‘s tags on this post about Zuko and Azula having the same vibes as Adaine and Aelwyn got me thinking about an a:tla au for fantasy high, and it spiralled out of control into this super long post. Enjoy!!

Adaine’s family are Fire Nation and are Important Advisors to the Fire Lord Kalvaxus. Adaine and Aelwyn have that sibling rivalry going HARD – Aelwyn has already mastered lightning-bending and Will Not Shut Up About It. Really, Adaine, it’s not that difficult, I don’t understand why you can’t do it? (Adaine punches her)

Adaine is invited to sit in on a war meeting and has a panic attack when she realises the evil things they’re all up to, embarrassing her parents. They send her on what they think is a futile quest to find the Avatar to regain her Honour. She is accompanied by Arthur Aguefort, another advisor to the Fire Lord but one who is... a problem, to say the least. Two birds with one stone for the Fire Nation!

Kristen is from the Northern Water Tribe and is a pretty powerful waterbender, with a focus on healing. Her parents are super involved in this weird bloodbending cult but she’s pretty sure it’s normal, right??? 

She also has some kind of connection to the Spirit World, which makes her extremely vulnerable to the weird end of days sacrifice Daybreak is doing to try and reopen the spirit world.

Fig lives in the Earth Kingdom in a town that’s been conquered by the Fire Nation and joins some other rebels pretty much as soon as she can walk. She’s sure she’s going to be an earthbender like her mom and kick some serious Fire Nation butt, but then it turns out she can firebend? Gilear’s not her dad? Her mom slept with someone from the Fire Nation??? How could she???

(It’s only when they visit the Fire Nation several shenanigans later and meet Ayda that she’s like.............okay I get it now.)

The Thistlesprings are metalbenders, and live in the same town as the Faeths. They adopted Gorgug from a village that was destroyed in a fire nation attack and aren’t super sure where his parents were from. Gorgug can’t bend, but he’s happy to be just a Guy with an axe helping out Fig and the other rebels.

UNTIL one time in the heat of battle his axe is knocked away from him and there’s a Fire Nation soldier going for an injured Fig and he doesn’t think, just reacts on instinct and his axe flies through the air and knocks the guy tf out. So seems like he is a metalbender after all? Cool!

He’s not super great at it yet, so he sticks with his axe while he’s learning, and mostly uses it to enhance his attacks by bending the axe head to hit a target more accurately. 

Fabian is technically Water Tribe through his dad and Air Nomad through his mom but Bill and Hallerial have spent the past twenty years being a scourge of the seas to all the nations indiscriminately so they might have disowned him. He thinks he’s a non-bender like his dad and gets by with his sword and athletic ability. 

It’s not until later in their adventures, after his dad dies and he has a brutal encounter with some of his ex-crewmates, that he visits one of the Air Nomad temples (which aren’t as destroyed in this au I guess lol) where his grandfather is an airbending monk teacher (for teens, ofc). Telemine teaches him to dance and helps him figure out he can airbend like his mom! 

Like Gorgug, he mostly uses it to enhance his swordfighting ability rather than being a primary bender, but starts using his sheet to glide and do other airbending stuff while fighting!

Riz and Sklonda live in the lower ring of Ba Sing Se, and both of them are earthbenders. Sklonda works for the earthbender guards but on the side she’s trying to work out what’s going on with the Dai Li, which Pok was investigating before he died. (Riz thinks his dad was killed by the Fire Nation.) 

Riz begins investigating the same thing without his mom knowing when his best friend/babysitter Penny Luckstone goes missing, presumed captured by the Fire Nation. His bending is this very precise form where he uses little rocks to go at high speeds like bullets and just fucking obliterate people, since in the middle of a crowded city there aren’t a tonne of places to practise with big rocks. 

The story begins properly when the rebels get word that very important people from the Fire Nation are visiting a nearby town. Fig and Gorgug lie in wait to ambush them and capture them for leverage.

Before they can attack, however, a pirate ship swings into the harbour, led by Bill and Fabian Seacaster, and opens fire. They don’t care about politics, they just want that fancy Fire Nation shit.

The rebels (read: Fig) decide, fuck it, we’ll attack with the pirates, and then the Fire Nation crew waiting on the shore go to fight them and it’s all extremely chaotic. 

Adaine is having a Very Bad Time.  She hasn’t found the Avatar, she’s no better at firebending, Arthur Aguefort is So Much All The Time, and now she’s being attacked by pirates??? Her life sucks. 

Fig, Gorgug and Fabian all end up in a standoff against her in the lower decks of the ship. Because it’s Adaine, she’s not going down without a fight, and she goes to blast the pirate-y looking dude with fire.

Except it’s not fire that comes rushing out. It’s air. 

Oh shit.

She’s the Avatar. 

Whilst she’s panicking about that, the rebel crew and Fabian agree that they need to get her away from the Fire Nation, and take her to Gorgug’s parent’s boat. Arthur Aguefort blows up the Fire Nation ship to let them get away and everyone thinks he died (spoiler: he didn’t)

Cue a series of insane shenanigans as Fig and Gorgug decide to adopt Adaine and take her around the world to learn other types of bending so she can restore balance to the world and kill her piece-of-shit abusive father (the Fire Lord, too, but the Abernants Are A Priority once Adaine warms up enough to them to talk about her parents). 

Fabian helps them escape but doesn’t join them straight away. They keep running into each other in weird places until eventually they’re like do you... just want to come with us?? Fabian: No. (Yes.) 

They save Kristen from this weird sacrifice thing whilst visiting the Northern Water Tribe, and she agrees to teach Adaine waterbending. She also helps her out with the spiritual side of being the Avatar.

Riz becomes Adaine’s earthbending teacher when they meet him in Ba Sing Se and help him figure out what the fuck is up the Dai Li. 

Once the Abernants and the Fire Lord hear what happened, they send Aelwyn after Adaine and the gang to finish what her sister started, not realising she’s the avatar. An epic sister/sister rivalry and eventually redemption on the levels of Azula and Zuko begins.

Stray thoughts

The entire point of this long-ass post was for me to say that Jawbone is Uncle Iroh in this au. He Just Is.

Tracker is a Kyoshi warrior. Kristen still has some weird internalised sexism going on from being raised in this cult and is like, women shouldn't fight!! They’re too soft and pretty!! Tracker helps her learn to let go of that, and then also kisses her and sends her into a gay panic.

Kalina is a bloodbender working with the Dai Li and is DEFINITELY involved in Pok’s death.

The Hangman as a Sky Bison! Boggy as Momo! (Adaine picks him up in the Swamp) 

This au is inherently funny to me bc Aang is a pacificist and struggles so much with whether or not to kill the Fire Lord, but if Adaine was the Avatar she would have absolutely no such qualms. Murder? Sign me up! 

The idea of Adaine, the avatar, with command over all four elements, bridge to the spirit world, still just decking someone when she gets mad is also really fucking funny.

So she learns waterbending from Kristen, earthbending from Riz, airbending from Telemine, and firebending from Ayda. I think she learns firebending properly last - it turns out the reason she struggled with it so much is because her parents taught her it comes from anger and hatred, and she needed to find and learn love before she could use it properly. 

Fabian gets the Zuko eye scar from being attacked by a firebender (Dayne) instead of it getting cut out. 

Gorthalax is a Fire Nation commander who rebelled and fled to the Earth Kingdom where he met Sandralynn. He got recaptured which is why he wasn’t around in Fig’s life, but they eventually find him in prison and set him free.

Gilear is the ‘my cabbages!’ guy, but he sells yoghurt.