#professor!Harry

[freedomfireflies]

Punished*

Summary: The one where you've been a brat to your dominant, Harry, and he's finally had enough.

Word Count: 5k

Content Warning: 18+, smut, degradation, spanking, voyerism, daddy kink, sir kink, age gap (6 years but not explicitly mentioned), exhibitionsim if you squint

Right about now, somewhere across town, Professor Styles is pulling your panties out of his pocket.

If you’re correct, he’ll be standing in the lecture hall, giving his opening remarks for his Applied Mathematics class, and reaching for his favorite pen. He’ll dip into his pocket, feel the silky fabric against his fingertips, and he’ll know.

And you will be royally and magnificently fucked.

Because around the time he realizes just what it is that you’ve snuck into his jacket, he’ll also realize that it means you are somewhere across town not wearing any underwear at all.

And he’ll be fucking furious.

But that’s why you did it. It’s what he deserved. After spending all evening torturing you, teasing you, edging you, and taunting you…he left you. Gave you exactly 0 orgasms by the time you went to bed, claiming you didn’t deserve any after being such a brat all day.

In your defense, you weren’t a brat. No, you didn’t exactly do the few things he’d asked of you. And no, you didn’t communicate with him that you were struggling with your essay and feeling stressed and overwhelmed. But you figured an orgasm would help fix a lot of that. Instead, he left you with none.

You felt rather proud of yourself as you subtly and effortlessly dropped your panties into the pocket while you kissed him goodbye. Knowing he’d be pissed and that he’d punish you for it. You secretly hoped he’d pull them out in front of the whole class. Or in front of the other faculty.

Either way, you knew the text was coming. And when your phone pings as you’re leaving your own class, you can’t help but smile. 

You’re in big fucking trouble, little one.

You bite your lip with glee as you head across campus. You don’t answer his message and you certainly don’t apologize. After all, the day is far from through. 

Around four, you return to his apartment. His office hours aren’t over until five and then he has a faculty meeting which will keep him out until seven. It’s hard some days to be away from him for so long. You miss him. It’s even worse that he doesn’t work at the same university you attend, so there’s not even the slightest chance that you’ll catch a glimpse of him during the day. 

It bothers you more than you’d like to admit. And maybe that’s why you like to challenge him. Because at least if he’s upset and punishing you, he’s paying attention. You don’t want to settle into a routine where he comes home, gives you a quick fuck and a kiss, and falls asleep. 

Or even worse…ends the agreement altogether.

You want to know you’re interesting enough to keep around. That you make this relationship worth it for him. He wants to be dominant. And you want to be his submissive. And even if that means getting spanked and edged from time to time…that’s okay.

So, once you get back to his place, you make a plan. He isn’t too upset yet. He needs a push. A gentle nudge.

And you know exactly how to nudge him.

You find his portable security camera, the one he only sets up when he’s out of town and away from the apartment. You bring it into the bedroom and then you turn it on. You know it’ll send him a notification that it’s active and that it’s sensed movement. From there, he’ll be able to open the app on his phone and see everything the camera does.

Which will be you.

On the bed.

Naked.

And touching yourself.

Breaking his favorite rule.

He won’t be able to do anything about it, either. Between office hours and faculty meetings, he won’t have time to send you a chastising text. He won’t have time to warn you or threaten you. 

But he will be able to watch. You know he will. Even if he has to pull it up behind a notebook, his eyes will be glued to the screen and the thought alone makes you giddy.

You set the camera on the dresser, giving him the perfect view of where you plan to sit against the headboard. You strip off your shirt and skirt, but there’s no need to discard of your underwear—he already knows where it is. 

You crawl onto the mattress, and you settle yourself into the collection of pillows. You find your favorite dildo and you spread your legs and you look directly into the lens. 

Then, you smile.

You start slow, first by rubbing your clit, and settling into the sensation. Praying that Harry is somewhere watching right now. Then you start to tease yourself. One finger…then two. Slowly thrusting them into your cunt until you can add a third. The sounds are wet and delicious, and you moan his name even though he can’t hear you.

When you finally work yourself up to the dildo, you’re shaking. It doesn’t take long for you to cum—twice. Making a mess on his bed and on your thighs that you don’t exactly plan to clean up just yet. And after a quick break…you go back for round three before finally tapping out.

And once you’re through and feeling rather victorious, you wait.

However, waiting proves rather difficult once eight o’clock hits and he’s still not home. Then eight becomes nine and you don’t even have so much as a text. 

And you realize not much later that he’s turned the tables.

Not only does he have the upper hand, but he’s using that hand to squeeze you out. To make you sit and sweat and bite the ends of your fingernails. He wants you to realize that he’s won. Even after everything you did today, he’s still won and he’s going to continue winning and you are undoubtedly fucked.

So, when the door finally opens about fifteen minutes later, your heart drops to your ass.

He strides in rather calmly. He tosses his keys into the bowl by the hallway. He slips off his large coat. He loosens his tie. And then he heads to the bar for a bottle of scotch.

He pours himself a drink and he doesn’t look at you as you sit on the sofa and wait anxiously for his reaction. He doesn’t offer you a hello. He doesn’t glare or even smirk. He keeps his back to you, and he takes two very deliberate sips.

Finally…he turns around.

He leans against the counter and begins to roll his sleeves up to his arms. Then, he crosses them over his chest, and in a gentle murmur says, “Hi.”

Desperate to please and to move the scene along, you scoot to the edge of the couch and place your hands in your lap. “Hi, Sir.”

He hums. Soft. Amused. “Sir, hm?”

You nod. “Yes. You are Sir, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” he echoes. “But you certainly didn’t treat me like one today, did you?”

You resist the urge to smile. “What do you mean, Sir?”

He pushes off the bar and takes one step closer. Then, he reaches into his pocket and pulls your panties free, dangling them from his finger. “Why were these left in my coat today, little one?”

“Oh…were they?” You bat your lashes. “Oops. I guess I forgot where I put them.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, Sir.”

He takes another step. “And does that mean you were in class all day without any?”

You shyly glance toward your lap. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“…yes, Sir.”

“I see.” He puts them back in his pocket. “So, like a little fucking whore, you paraded around campus in nothing but a short skirt with no goddamn panties just to piss me off?"

"...yes, Sir."

"Did you touch yourself during class?"

You blink up at him. "I thought about it. But I waited until I was in my car during lunch."

His expression grows harder. "So you touched yourself twice today. Without asking my permission for either one."

"That's right, Sir."

"And you wanted me to find your panties while I was teaching, then, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“To mock me.”

“No, Sir.”

“No?”

You shift and offer him your best pout. “I only wanted your attention, Daddy.”

“You have it.” He nods his chin at you. “But that’s not all you wanted, is it?”

You clear your throat. “What do you mean, Professor?”

He reaches now into his other pocket, pulling out his phone and hitting a few buttons before flipping the screen toward you.

And there you are. On the bed. Writhing, moaning. Coming.

Harry looks at you. “You went through quite a bit of trouble to make sure I’d see this, didn’t you?”

You bite your lip.

“In fact, not only did you want me to see you disobeying my rule, you wanted to rub it in my face. Wanted me to get caught watching you in front of all my colleagues and students.” He clicks the phone off. “Isn’t that right?”

He wants your honesty and even though you’re tempted not to give it to him…you need to see him upset.

You straighten up and look him dead in the eye. “That’s right, Sir.”

He leans back and studies you. He’s fighting a smirk now, but that mischievous green gives everything away. “Because you wanted my attention.”

“Yes.”

“And this is how you thought you’d get it.”

“Yes.”

“And how is that working for you so far, little one?”

“Pretty well, actually. You’re here, and you’re pissed, so…”

He leans closer. So suddenly, in fact, that it makes a breath catch in your throat and your eyes pop open.

He rests his hands on his knees and stares right through you. “Fine,” he agrees in an almost devious purr. “If you want me to punish you, darling, I will. In fact, I’d like nothing more than to bend you over my knee right now and feel your skin grow hot from my hand.”

You swallow.

“And then, once you’re fucking soaking my trousers, I’ll sit you down and return your generous favor.” He smiles. “And you…will thank me for every single spank and every single orgasm. The only words I will hear out of this mouth are, ‘Yes, Sir,’ ‘No, Sir,’ and ‘Thank you, Sir.’ Is that understood?”

You nod sheepishly. “Yes, Sir.”

“Good.” He straightens up. “You know what to say if you want to stop, yes?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Tell me.”

“Yellow or red.”

“Good. And what’s our safe word if you’d like to pause the dominant, submissive relationship and just be us?”

“Sunflower.”

“Good girl.” He reaches for your chin, pinching your cheeks tight between his fingers before forcing your head up. “What’s your color right now?”

“Green, Sir.”

“And you understand that my punishment is not a reward for this behavior?” He grips you a touch harder. “Just because I’m giving you what you want doesn’t mean I approve of the means in which you got it?”

Your lashes flutter as you nod in his hold. “I understand…Sir.”

“But you’re not the least bit sorry…are you?”

Slowly, you shake your head.

He smiles to himself before dipping down once again until his lips are only inches from yours. “I plan to change that.”

Your stomach flips.

With that, he releases you, and nods toward the bedroom. “Go. Wait on the bed. I’ll be in when I feel like it.”

You don’t waste another second. You run toward the bed and you sit on the edge and you wait like a good girl. You obey him because you know how badly you want what comes next.

He takes his time. He has another drink. Slips off his shoes. Maybe even answers a few texts. Then, after he’s finished teasing you, he strolls into the bedroom.

He says nothing as he takes a seat beside you on the mattress. He hardly even looks at you. His expression is stoic—unrelenting. The way it always is when he’s slipping further into the punishing dominant role. 

“Come,” he says, and pats his thigh. 

You do. You crawl over his lap and lay your stomach over his knees, bare ass eager and waiting. 

He squeezes your hip. “Are you ready, little one?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good.” He smooths his palm over the curve of your left cheek before there’s a sharp smack to the right. 

You jolt, sucking in a quiet gasp. “Thank you, Sir.”

You hear him hum appreciatively. He does it again to the other side this time. Hard. Firm. 

“Thank you, Sir.”

Again and again. Sometimes on the same side, sometimes in a specific pattern. He goes until you’re nearly numb and tears are pooling in your eyes. The same way arousal is pooling between your legs. Exactly the way he wanted.

Because it’s not the pain that does it for you. It’s his pain. It’s the knowledge that he trusts you enough to do this. And you trust him enough to let him.

He wants to take the time to punish you and make you a better submissive. And even though you annoy him and challenge him, he wants to keep you around. He isn’t going to lose interest.

But most importantly, he enjoys it just as much as you do.

By the fifteenth spank—with a few moments of rest in-between—you’re raw and undoubtedly very warm. Despite his slight anger, he makes sure to caress your skin and show it a bit of care along with the abuse. He listens closely for your safe word, and he only continues once you’ve thanked him. A sign that you’re coherent and still present in the scene.

After a couple more, he stops. “Tell me again why I’m doing this. Let me know that you understand.”

Through a few sniffles, you manage to answer, “Because…I disobeyed your rule.”

“And?”

“…and I disobeyed you.”

“And?”

“I went to class without any panties.”

“Mm.” He seems to huff to himself. “What else?”

“I could have embarrassed you in front of your students and colleagues.”

“And?”

“…and I’m not sorry about any of it.” You glance over your shoulder. “I’m a bad submissive.”

“You are,” he agrees. “Quite possibly the worst. My sweet angel became my little devil overnight all because she’s an attention whore who needs Daddy to constantly put her in her place.”

He reaches for your jaw again and forces your attention on him.

“Is that what you are, darling? A greedy little slut who throws a tantrum anytime her dominant stays out late? You have to disrupt my life, my work, and my students because you’re so cock-dumb and desperate?”

Your heart is racing. The degrading comments make your insides wrench in the best way as you squeeze your thighs together. “…yes, Sir.”

“I provide for you,” he continues, pinching your cheeks with a rather unrelenting grip. “I care for you. I work hard to make money just so I can spend it on you. And what do I get in return? A disobedient little fuck-toy that can’t follow a single goddamn rule. All because she couldn’t tell me she missed me.”

He pulls you up until you’re sitting and your ass begins to throb in pain as you’re forced over the rough fabric of his trousers.

“Tell me you missed me,” he demands sharply. “Be a good girl for once and tell me what you really need.”

“You,” you breathe. “I need you, Professor. I missed you. I wanted you around.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that sooner, huh?” He wraps his fingers around the back of your neck. “Why did you play games with me?”

You pout. “Because I like playing with you.”

He scoffs. “You’re a brat. You’re a fucking brat and you need to be broken.”

With that, you’re nearly shoved off his lap as he moves to one of the dressers to search for something.

Handcuffs.

You already know what comes next and even though you know you won’t like it…you can’t help but feel just a little excited.

“Move to the headboard,” he says. “Hands on the bars.”

You scoot into position, wrists firm against the poles as he tightens the cuffs and makes sure they’re nice and snug. 

In this position, he can do anything he wants. He can fuck you, he can taste you, he can have both holes at once. And you can’t do anything but let him. 

Once you’re where he wants you, he gets off of the bed, and begins to unbutton his fancy shirt.

You enjoy the show. In fact, you practically drool as you watch those long, nimble fingers pop each button on the way down. The way the fabric slides against his tan, tattooed skin before dropping down his arms and onto the floor. The way he tugs on his belt before undoing his pants and letting those go as well.

And there he is. Clad in nothing more than his briefs, that beautiful, gorgeous body on display. He puts in quite a bit of time to keep up his appearance and stamina. If he’s not teaching and he’s not with you, he’s at the gym. He runs, he does yoga, he plays basketball. He’s a very fit man and you honestly can’t believe how lucky you are to reap the rewards of his hard work.

Your lips part, ready to call for him. Your eyes feel heavy with lust and your legs are practically trembling. You part them in anticipation as he drops his briefs and puts a firm hand around his cock.

He strokes himself a few times before he grabs his phone. You stare like you’re in heat and maybe you are because fuck, the way his tip is so red and swollen and absolutely delicious. And his hand, his glorious hand. Nothing has ever looked so good. The way he squeezes and pumps. The way his thighs flex as he walks back toward the lounge chair in the corner of the room to sit. The way the tattoos move with every thrust.

You blink. “Wait…what are you doing?”

His eyes snap to yours. “Did I say you could speak?”

“…no, but—”

“Excuse me?”

You exhale sharply. “No, Sir.”

“No.” He leans back, one hand still around his cock while the other rotates his phone until he can watch the screen clearly. “What I am doing is returning your favor.”

Your brows furrow.

“See…you wanted to touch yourself. Without me,” he explains almost smugly. “You wanted to torture me. When I couldn’t do anything about it. When I couldn’t touch you or feel you or taste you. So, I’m following your lead. I’m letting you watch. I’m letting you see everything that you’re missing.”

And you realize then. You understand. You understand and you fucking hate it because this is so much worse than what you were imagining.

“Harry…Harry, wait—”

He clicks his tongue and shoots you a startling look of waning. “What did I say?”

You whimper. “Sir, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I made a mistake. I was just…I missed you and I—”

“I don’t care,” he says before he hits a button on his phone and the speakers come alive with the sound of your voice. “You get to watch me while I get to watch you. And it’s a shame. Because now I have to waste it on myself instead of filling that sweet pussy the way you love.”

You whine again but it’s lost beneath the sounds of your pants coming from his phone. He doesn’t look at the real you. He looks at the disobedient version on the screen. The one with spread legs and a rather pornographic moan that almost embarrasses you.

He fists himself in the kind of way that makes every glorious muscle in his arm flex and tighten. It’s cruel how he makes you wait here, calling his name. Unable to do for him what he’s doing for himself.

“Look at you,” he exhales, lashes fluttering as he stares at your performance. “Stretching your little cunt with your fingers. Bet it felt good, didn’t it?”

“Yes…yes, Sir—”

“Did you think of me, little devil? Did you think of my fingers when you were fucking your little pussy. Did you pretend they were mine?”

You nod so fast, your head aches. “Yes, Sir.”

“I bet.” He squeezes the tip and hisses before moving back down. His chest is heaving, skin practically glowing beneath the lamp beside him. He’s beautiful like this. Jaw clenched and thighs spread. “I imagined your voice when I was in my meeting, watching. Didn’t have the sound on…but I knew. I know your sounds. Play them in my head on a loop.”

You yank on the cuffs and you don’t care that they’re cutting into your wrists. What he’s doing hurts so much more.

“And that fucking dildo,” he continues. He groans softly and his hips lift. “Yet another toy you aren’t meant to use without me. But there you are. Taking it so well. All the way, hm? Like it’s nothing.”

You need him to look at you. He’s so close and you just…you need him to put his eyes on your body and see the way you’re dying without him. It’s warm in his light and you think you might disappear if he doesn’t look at you just once before he finishes. 

“It’s such a shame,” he murmurs. “Such a shame that you’d rather have silicone than my cock.”

You sniffle. “Daddy, no—”

“And if that’s what you want, that’s what you’ll get. For the next week, if I decide you get to cum, I’ll use the toy. And then I’ll let you watch as I finish myself off alone.” Finally, he looks up, and you want to wilt. “Or maybe I’ll use a toy, too. Maybe the fleshlight we got.”

Tears dance down your cheeks. You wish he was inside of you right now. Fucking you, stretching you. Pressing down on the bulge in your belly so you can really feel him. His hand is nothing compared to your pussy and you both know it.

“Professor, please—”

“Uh-uh,” he tuts. “No. You don’t get to cry. You don’t get to beg or feel sorry. You asked for this. You wanted to hurt me. To be punished and be noticed. So, I’m noticing you, darling. And what I’ve noticed is that I’ve been far too lenient with you.”

You squeeze your thighs in an attempt for relief, but it does nothing and he knows it.

“See, I thought you were good.” He rests his head back against the chair, overcome with pleasure, and you know he’s trying hard to hold out. “I thought…that when I asked you to do something, you did it. That if you needed me…if you needed to cum…you talked to me. You followed our rule and you obeyed. But clearly I don’t punish you enough if you think slipping your panties into my coat is a fun little game.”

“Sir…Sir, I don’t, I’m—”

“Or maybe they’re just the wrong sort of punishments,” he barrels on. “What you really wanted was to be spanked and tied up. Maybe even wanted me to use my belt, hm? Be rough with you? Make you cry? And I gave it to you. Because I’m a good dominant. But I need to be a better one. And a better dominant makes sure his submissive learns her lessons.”

You try to sit up. Catch his eye again. Plead with him. Because you don’t like where this is going.

“Starting now, your punishment will hurt. It will teach. If you so much as roll your eyes when I speak to you, I’ll have you sleeping in the guest room until you can fix your attitude.” He glances over his phone screen and hums when he sees you finish. “And if you try to pull another stunt like you did today, you won’t get to cum at all, and I might even send you back to your apartment.”

The tears feel hot as they drip down your chin. “Daddy…”

“Tell me you understand,” he demands of you now. “Tell me that you hear my rules. That you plan to obey them and respect them the way you need to obey and respect me.”

You’re tempted to throw a tantrum. To thrash and cry and beg, but you know it’ll only make things worse. So, you make a quick motion with your head, and whimper, “Yes, Sir.”

And your submissive reply is what tips him over the edge. He cums—hard—and with a rather lewd moan before spilling all over his hand, stomach, and thighs. 

You hate it. He was right, it is wasted. Staining his skin instead of yours. To be washed off and disposed of instead of slipping down your throat or filling your cunt. A cruel, sadistic punishment that he seems to enjoy.

And he still doesn’t look at you. He doesn’t acknowledge your pain. Pretends you’re not even in the room. Instead, he grabs a washcloth from one of the drawers and cleans himself up before coming over to you. So there’s no chance you’ll get even a single drop.

He sits on the bed beside you and looks down. He pinches your chin—softer this time—and makes your tear-filled eyes look at him.

“I expect you to follow these rules, little one,” he repeats gently. “And I expect you to understand why you’re being punished. I don’t do it to hurt you. In fact, it hurts me more than it hurts you. Having to send you away or use a toy instead of giving you my cock? That’s not what I want. But it’s what you deserve. And I have to be a good dominant and make sure you learn your lesson.”

You try to nuzzle yourself closer to his hand and he smiles. “I do understand, Daddy, and I’m sorry. Just…just missed you.”

His expression softens now and he seems gutted. “So you said. And I’d like to know what I’ve been doing to make you feel so neglected so that it doesn’t happen again.”

You shake your head quickly. “Nothing, Sir. Just…your hours have been later. And sometimes I have a lot to study. And by the time we’re both finally home, we have to sleep. And then I feel like I haven’t seen you in weeks.”

He coos and reaches down to press a kiss to the tip of your nose. “Oh, darling. I know life is a bit hectic right now. And I haven’t called to check-in as much as I should, have I?”

You sniffle. “You have. But a check-in doesn’t replace the real thing.”

“I know.” He leaves a kiss to your cheek now. “I’m so sorry, my love. With the end of the semester, I’ve got so much grading to do, and so many final projects to oversee. There’s a lot of discussion happening in our department, and I’ve been pulled in a lot of different directions. I’ve been absent and neglecting one of my favorite priorities. And for that, I’m so sorry. And I will try to do better. Can you forgive me?”

You smile and nod as quickly as you can. “Always, Daddy.”

He chuckles. “My good girl. But you know that just because I haven’t been as present doesn’t give you a right to act out, yes?”

“…yes, Sir.”

“And I expect you to talk to me in the future if you’re feeling like this?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good. Do you have any questions for me?”

You nod again. “Can you please hold me?”

His smile feels like a breath of spring. “Of course.”

He undoes the cuffs and takes careful hold of your wrists. He grabs some calming salve from the nightstand beside him and applies it to the slight marks on your skin, just to make sure you’ll be all right and won’t feel any more pain. And once it’s on, he pulls the covers back, and tucks you both in.

You feel good in his arms, your cheek against his heart. There’s still a very prominent ache between your thighs but you know better than to ask him to relieve it. This is part of your lesson. He’ll make it up to you later—even if he only uses a toy to do so. But it won’t even matter because it’s him. And you’ll take anything he gives you.

The slight scruff on his face scratches your forehead as he rubs it against you to make you squeal. And you feel so happy now that he’s your Harry again. The man you feel safest with. 

“Harry?” you whisper after the room has gone quiet.

“Hm?”

“I really am sorry about the panties. I didn’t want you to get caught.”

He laughs softly and kisses your temple. “I think if anything, it would have given me points.”

You grin. “The girls would have been so jealous.”

“Oh, I don’t think so.”

“I do. You’re hot, Professor. I don’t have to be your student to know all of your students want to fuck you.”

He glances down with a smirk. “All of them, hm?”

“Every single one. Have you seen yourself? Have you seen what you wear? And your hair and that beard and those eyes—”

“Okay,” he murmurs, and cups your cheek. “You’re very sweet, darling. And maybe you should give me your panties more often so I can remind everyone who I belong to.”

Your heart skips. The word belong means something more to the two of you than it might to anyone else. As his submissive, you do belong to him.

But he belongs to you, too. You belong to each other. This is a partnership—a relationship, no matter the dynamic. And the idea of him flaunting your claim on him makes you giddy.

“Daddy?” you whimper.

“Yes, little one?”

 “Can we please change the subject before this gets any worse for me?”

His brows furrow. “Worse?”

You shift your legs between his and his eyes widen when he feels the smearing of arousal against his thigh. 

“Ah,” he breathes before smiling. “M’sorry, honey. Know it must really ache, hm?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“And after all this edging, it’d probably feel so good to cum, wouldn’t it?”

Another nod. “Yes, Professor.”

“Mmm.” He kisses you. “Too bad. Maybe next time, yeah?”

You groan but you do kiss him back. Because you know that next time…

He’ll make it worth it.

Hehe this was fun and I am so down to explore them more later if we ever want!!! THANK YOU FOR READING 😭💞

~ Main Masterlist

Amazing divider by @firefly-graphics! 💞

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The Work Call (1.3k words)

in which you’re desperate for Harry’s attention when he’s ignoring you on a work call

Too Hard to Keep Quiet (678 words) (boyfriend!harry)

in which you and Harry try to keep it down while having sex in your childhood bedroom down the hall from your family

The Doctor & the Psychopath (9.7k words)

extra

in which Harry is facing serious assault charges and you’re the forensic psychologist tasked with analyzing him or where Harry manipulates you into having sex but you kind of like it

Music For a Festival (896 words)

in which you meet Harry, the lead singer of a local rock band, at a music festival and you bring him back to your tent

Thank You, Next (7.3k words)

extra

in which you are at a club with your very drunk boyfriend and you and Harry spot one another from across the room or where you meet lhh!Harry at a club while you're with your boyfriend and he fucks you in the bathroom

A Public Nuisance (1.6k words) (coworker!harry)

you and Harry are office coworkers and everyone’s out tonight at the local bar celebrating, but you and Harry find yourselves in a rather compromising position

Sex Ed With Harry (7.4k words) (innocent virgin!reader)

in which you’re a sweet, innocent, Christian, virgin and you meet Harry at a college party and he can show you a few things

Dirty & Rough (1.6k words)

reader ask:harry cheats on his gf with you and maybe not necessarily a breeding kink but cream pie kink ?? like, “i’m gonna stuff you so full of my cum”. veryyyy rough and degrading like he’s just using you to get off. “cumdump” etc..maybe he’s quite a bit older than u as well. face slapping, spit kink, as dirty as possible…you get me LOL

I Guess You're All Mine (11.9k words) (friends to lovers)

based on a true story: in which Harry is the hot drummer in your boyfriend’s band and he tells you a secret that changes everything

The Long Weekend (9.8k words) (friends to enemies to lovers)

extra

in which you and Harry hate one another but then things change

The Wedding Guest (4.5k words)

in which you meet Harry at a friend's wedding and show up at his hotel room the next morning to take him up on an offer he made you the night before

Lactation kink (700 words)

reader ask: I don't know if this sounds weird, but you would write one where the reader and Harry had a baby and while she and Harry are having sex, milk starts to come out of her breasts and he starts to suck

The Scientist & the Stripper (15.2k words) (nerd!harry | virgin!harry)

extra #1 | extra #2

in which virgin/nerd!Harry moves in next door to you and you invite him over for a small get together with friends where he gets more than he bargained for at the end of the night

On Halloween Morning (8.7k words) (ghost!harry)

a horror-filled Halloween one-shot. Harry is a ghost and you don't believe in ghostsbut you find out you were dead wrong.

Psoriasis Fluff (652 words)

reader ask: Heyy, how you doinggg!! Could u write smthg abt a reader with psoriasis.. maybe she's insecure to go out in a dress or smthg and harry helps her feel better. Mines been pretty bad recently and I could use some fluffrry (no smut)

Mixed Signals (9.5k words) (best friends to lovers)

bestfriends to lovers one shot - You and Harry have been best friends since you were children and now that you're both adults you can no longer deny the feelings that have been there all along

The Threesome (3.3k words) (Fratboy!Harry)

Harry's hot but he's nice and he's into you tonight

A Delicate Thing (7.6k words) (mafia boss!harry)

extra

Harry is a crime boss and he meets the woman of his dreams on an important night.

Tell Me You Hate Me (12.1k words) (male!reader | enemies to lovers)

Based on this request - You and Harry work together as bartenders and your relationship is hot and cold which infuriates you to no end. But you can't say you don't find him attractive, regardless of his cocky attitude.

The Italy Blurb (1.6k words) (boyfriend!harry)

reader prompt: some plotless smut featuring a little bit of jealous yn riding Harry's tiger & yacht sex.

Bad Morning (3.6k words) (professor!h x professor!yn)

You run late to an important meeting with your colleagues and Professor Styles decides to punish you.

Spiderman (4.2k words) (fratboy!harry | lhh!harry)

You’re at the big Halloween frat costume party and get to flirting with someone dressed as Spiderman. The tall, masked man with a deep voice just so happens to know a private spot to reveal his true identity to you.

The Ex (3.4k words) ex!harry

Harry's your ex-lover and you see him at a wedding after many years apart. You're both married but Harry proposes something that you have a hard time saying no to.

Nympho (4.5k words) nympho!poly!harry

Y/n is a nymphomaniac who just loves people. One day she happens upon a "harem" arrangement that seems perfect for her and her insatiable appetite. Loosely based on this Tumblr request.

Harry bruises your cervix - blurb (450 words) husband!harry

A quick filthy, requested blurb. Nothing more and nothing less.

Next Door Neighbors (7.8k words) neighbor!harry

Part 2 (5k words)

You just wanted peace and quiet and Harry just wanted to jam out in his garage for his birthday. So you decide to confront your new neighbor but things don't go as you planned.

The Fleshlight Blurb (1.5k) subrry

Harry has to go on a business trip without Y/n so she gets him a special toy to use while he's away and she tells him to send her a video of him using it.

The Handyman (11k words) the check-in (3.6k)

When you inherit your aunt's estate after she passes away, you hire Harry to fix up the old house but that's not all he winds up being good for.

Breeding Kink Blurb (587 words)

Requested - just straight up smut

Sex Tutor (10k words) Part II (13k+ words)

Harry's got a reputation on campus and you're curious to know if he can help you.

Daddy's Pretty Girl | dom!daddy!h (4.4k words)

Harry just wants to make his princess happy OR The story of you and Harry, how you met, and all the rest.

The Trio (3k words)

Three strangers meet at a club and things get sexy. Featuring a MMF threesome.

Baby Daddy (14k words)

After you have a one-night stand with your good friend Harry and become pregnant he doesn't know for certain that the baby is his, but he has his suspicions.

Little Flower (4.5k words)

You're startled during a power outage late one night when your co-worker, Harry, is at your door, drenched from the rain. How does he even know where you live?  dark!harry | stalker!harry

Use Me Up (7k)

Harry's your boyfriend's best friend and he's very hard to resist. boyfriend's best friend!harry

Assistance Needed (3k)

Harry finds himself in an awkward position when you walk in on him in his office just as he's in the middle of something quite improper. ceo!harry x assistant!reader

The Babysitter (2k)

PART 2 (2.5K)

Based on this request: The cute babysitter Harry's wife hired has always tempted him, but now that his wife is away for the evening Harry might just give in. dad!harry x babysitter!reader

She Likes To Watch (4.8k)

Harry and his wife have an interesting lifestyle but when they invite you over for a night of fun you realize you're more into it than you thought you'd be. hothusband!harry

Truth or Dare (6.7k)

Based on this request: Harry's never been to a slumber party so Y/n decides to remedy that and give him a sleepover he'll never forget.

The Mushroomer | friendly!ghost!harry (11.5k)

Based on this request: Y/n moves into a small house in the woods and she soon realizes the house is haunted. But it really turns out to be not so bad at all to have a ghost when he's as kind as the one living with her.

Says Who? | demonrry (3.1k)

A Halloween Blurb! Y/n goes to an underground club and meets the devil and she'll never ever forget it.

DILF | older!harry (6.5k)

Based on this request: Y/n meets an older man at a bar and she's not taking no for an answer. Harry likes her persistence.

[stylesloveclub]

Prose (part 2)

In which not many students attend Harry's office hours, and y/n's kind of burnt out.

+++

“What’s that drink you’re always drinking?” Harry asks, sitting across from y/n in his office.

She’s the only student to show up to his office hours this week (again), and had come to ask about the first essay that’s due next week. While she types on her computer, writing down all the notes that Harry just gave her on her first draft, Harry finds himself staring at the iced drink sitting next to her laptop.

“Oh, it’s just an iced chai. I’ve been getting two pumps of pumpkin spice syrup in it recently though, since Starbucks has their fall flavors now.”

“Hm. I’ve never tried the fall drinks.” He twirls his red pen between his fingers, leaning back in his chair comfortably. “M’always too scared to try new drinks, y’know? Like what if I don’t like it? Then I’d have wasted five bucks and I wouldn’t even have a coffee to get me through my day.” He pouts to himself at the thought of it, and y/n finds it terribly endearing.

She’s happy to know that Harry is seemingly very comfortable in her presence, prattling on and on about the simplest of things – like coffee orders and his favorite food places on campus. When she first walked in, the first thing he’d asked her was her favorite place to grab lunch on campus, since he was starving and one of the other TA’s had offered to drop off some food for him. His personal favorite was the bagel place (he could have a cream cheese bagel at any time of the day, he told her), but that place closes early, so he was stuck between getting mexican or sushi.

Y/n advised him to stick with the burritos – her ex-roommate once got food poisoning from the sushi. Never trust the on-campus sushi, she warned.

“M’kinda like that too,” she responds once she finishes up her essay outline. “I usually just always get the chai, ‘cos I know I’ll like it. But sometimes I’ll be adventurous with like, the syrups I add, because it doesn’t really make a difference. Like right now, I have pumpkin spice syrup in here, and I can barely taste it so even if I didn’t like it, it’d be fine.” She takes a sip to somehow prove her point. “I just like adding the pumpkin for the fall vibes.”

“Is fall your favorite season?” he asks. It’s been a lot of this – Harry asking her questions, getting to know her. She wonders if it’s because she’s the only one who shows up to his office hours and, therefore, is the only person whose ear he gets to talk off – or if he genuinely is interested in her. The thought of it makes her heart want to do a backflip, but she kindly tells her heart to CALM THE FUCK DOWN before she starts getting carried away in her train of thought. Harry’s just a nice guy! A nice guy, who talks to her about books, and shares his umbrella, and gives her rides home when it’s rainy outside – and has pretty pink lips, and pretty green eyes, and pretty brown curls.

“Yeah, I think so,” she hums.

Her crush on him seems to grow more and more every time she sees him, like those tall annoying weeds that you constantly have to dig out of a pretty flower garden. The type of weeds that seem to grow back even stronger each time you cut their roots and spray anti-weed chemicals on them to ensure that they don’t come back. She’s tried to smush those bothersome butterflies in her stomach, continuously reminding herself that he’s just her TA. That he’s just being nice. That he just calls her smart, and tells her that she’s doing a good job, and praises her discussion posts because that is literally what a Teaching Assistant is supposed to do. But whenever he smiles at her with that boyish dimple and his eyes glimmer all sweetly and romantically and thoughtfully – well she just can’t help it! She’s given up and has let the crush invade her brain like the invasive garden plant that it is.

It’s just a harmless little crush, she rationalizes. Just a little fantasy of kissing him here and there to get her through her boring lectures with Dr. Richmond – nothing wrong with that, right?

She clears her throat, “What’s your favorite season?”

He stares up at the ceiling, pursing his lips thoughtfully, “Hmm… probably spring. I like seeing the flowers bloom, especially after a snowy winter.”

Oh, of course he likes seeing the flowers bloom. He’s a walking piece of poetry.

+++

Harry stands at the front of the classroom, lecturing once again. It’s the same as before – fourty-ish college students hanging onto every word like his words are a waterfall and they’re a group of dehydrated travelers.

He loves teaching, loves seeing the way his students’ eyes light up with wonder when he explains a certain theme or points out a new motif. He’s more than happy to hold their hand through the novel, be their guiding light through the Romantic era. Their questions make his day, and he’s beyond happy to see that, now that they’re a few weeks into their course, the students are opening up.

“Victor is so caught up in his experiment,” Harry lectures, “that he begins to ignore nature. Victor says– ‘The summer months passed while I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit. It was the most beautiful season; never did the fields bestow a more plentiful harvest, or the vines yield a more luxuriant vintage: but my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature.’ So what role does nature – or should I say – the lack of nature, play for Victor?”

Four hands shoot up into the air (relieving considering how last week he could barely get anyone to say anything). “Katie, right?” He smiles when she nods, and gives an exaggerated, celebratory fist pump that makes all of his students chuckle. “Told you I’d start getting your names down! Go ahead, Katie.”

Although he’s laughing and smiling – practically beaming since he and his students are getting along and actually discussing (instead of just him lecturing them) – he can’t help but feel a little pinch of sadness in the back of his mind. As his eyes scan over the seats, he can’t manage to find y/n in the class. He’d searched for her three times already – wondering if he accidentally missed her, or if she was hidden behind one of the tall boys near the front – but he couldn’t find his star student. He missed catching her eye, giving her sly winks and watching her duck her head down stifle a laugh. It kept him entertained whenever he had to sit through Dr. Richmond’s lectures, and he liked hearing her talk. Not only does she add amazing thoughts to their class discussions, but she also is just… nice to listen to.

“Good… I love how you said that Katie,” Harry carries on, “He embodies the corruption of nature in the quest for glory. And we already know how highly the Romantics regard the beauty of nature – their artwork is meant to connect us with the world, isn’t it?”

He wonders if she’s okay. She isn’t hurt or anything, is she? Did something happen to her on her walk to class?

“He’s disrupting the natural cycle of life, basically destroying nature, by trying to play God and create life himself–”

Y/n, as quietly as she can, sneaks into the classroom. She’s 15 minutes late, which isn’t late enough to just completely ditch the lecture, but still late enough to raise a few eyebrows. Of course, being the clumsy duck she is, she accidentally knocks the trash can over with a loud bang. She winces at how loud the sound is, and feels her cheeks turn hot when all eyes turn to look at her.

Harry turns as well, and can’t help but smile to himself – there she is.

He continues with his lecture, as if nothing happened, but watches as she hurries over to her set spot in the third row. She messily pushes her hair out of her face as she sits down, pulling the pull-out desk in front of her and grabbing her laptop from her bag. She types in her password quickly, and pushes the sleeves of her white cardigan up her arms so that they aren’t in the way. Her eyes briefly flicker upwards to the projector to see what she missed – but instead she accidentally catches Harry’s gaze, who’s already looking at her.

All of a sudden, Harry loses his train of thought. His eyes flicker between hers, and she stares back at him. They’re stuck like that for a moment – just the briefest moment – before he realizes that words are no longer coming out of his mouth and that the rest of the class is staring at him expectantly.

His cheeks tint pink. “Um… sorry, what was I saying?” He chuckles at himself embarrassedly, shaking his head at himself – it’s not often that he stutters over his words. But, luckily, it was brief enough to just pass as a slight fumble. Nothing too suspicious.

Harry tears his eyes away from y/n and resumes with his lecture. But somehow, as delusional as she might be, y/n can tell that that moment was something more than just a slight stumble.

+++

“I got this for you,” y/n says, standing in front of Harry’s desk, placing the iced drink down next to his pile of papers.

Harry furrows his eyebrows and sits up straighter. “What?”

“It’s a pumpkin iced chai… the same one I usually get. I thought, since last time you said you didn’t wanna waste five bucks trying a new drink–”

“Are you mental?” he interrupts.

She blinks. “Huh?”

“Why would you go on and waste five of your dollars instead?” he huffs. “Christ, y/n, don’t be silly, m’not letting you buy me a coffee. How much was it, let me pay you back–” he’s reaching into his back pocket for his wallet, but y/n is quick to refuse.

“No, don’t worry I didn’t pay for it! Starbucks has this thing– it’s like, if you buy one fall drink you can get a second one for free, but it’s only on Thursdays after 12. And I was gonna get one for myself anyway, so I was like– might as well just get the second one for free so that you can try it and not waste five dollars.”

He pauses, his wallet half open and a five dollar bill pinched between her fingers. He squints at her, “Are you lying?”

She gives an exasperated huff, “Why would I lie?!”

“I dunno, maybe you’re trying to butter me up with drinks and stuff so that I’ll grade your essays easier – which won’t work by the way! M’not easy to bribe!”

She rolls her eyes and plops into the seat across from him. “Please. If I was gonna try and butter you up, it would’ve started five weeks ago, when classes actually started. And I probably wouldn’t be in your office hours every week groveling over these stupid essays.” She lets her bag fall to the floor and blows the hair out of her face. “Y’know, Dr. Richmond does not explain the politics of 18th Century Europe well enough to expect me to write an entire essay on ‘the effects of globalization on romantic era literature.’ I signed up for a literature class, not European history. When are we gonna start writing essays on Frankenstein and feminism?”

Harry goes to respond, but right at that moment he takes a tentative sip of the drink that y/n had forced onto his desk. He cannot hide the grimace that graces his face.

Her eyes round out and her eyebrows pinch. “You don’t like it?” she says with a pout.

His lips smack together a few times, trying to get used to the taste of pumpkin in his mouth – but he actually really cannot stand it. “God,” he says, his nose wrinkles and his tongue aching for some water to wash away the pumpkin-y after taste. “What a waste of five dollars.”

“Oh my gosh– I did not spend five dollars on a drink for you!”

“Yeah, yeah,” he pushes the drink to the edge of his desk, the sight of it making his tummy turn a little bit (he really did not like that pumpkin flavor mixed with milk). He then states the obvious, “You were late today.”

“Yeah. I overslept.”

He tsks, “What happened to the punctual Miss y/n who showed up twenty minutes early on the first day of classes?”

She sighs, “Dunno. Was up kinda late last night. And then I guess I snoozed through my alarm.”

It’s only then that he notices the dark circles under her eyes, and how her face is missing that usual radiant glow. He’s so caught up in her smile and her eyes, that he nearly missed the exhaustion leaking off her body. “How late?” he inquires.

“Um… like 3 in the morning.” Harry gapes at her, and she shrugs.

“Tha’s not healthy,” he scolds like a father. “Why’re you staying up so late, hm? Should be in bed for at least 6-8 hours, don’t you know that?”

“I know,” she rubs at her eyes tiredly. “I just have a psych midterm next week that m’really freaked out about. I like– fell behind on the lectures, so m’trying to learn like the past three weeks of material in a few days.”

Harry feels his heart ache, sympathizing for this poor, tired, hard-working girl. He knows the struggles of undergrad – he was pulling all nighters too, back in his day, and he never dared to go above 16 units. He wonders how she’s surviving, taking 20 units while still being at the top of her classes – well, she’s at the top of this class, he knows for certain. His star student.

Her eyes are still hidden behind her hands, knuckling at her eyelids, but she pulls them away slowly when she feels Harry’s hand at her knee. She looks at him, and he’s suddenly aware of how red and glossy her eyes are. “Just don’t overdo the studying, okay?” he says with soft eyes and a gentle voice. His thumb rubs overtop her knee softly, saying a hundred words that he can’t say out loud just quite yet.

She nods, and swallows thickly. “Okay.”

He smiles. “So you want a crash course in European History? I can do that for you. Dunno why more people don’t show up to my office hours, m’literally about to tell you exactly what to write…”

+++

Y/n is exhausted.

Actually, exhausted doesn’t cut it. She is at her breaking point.

With midterms week upon her, she’s been drowning herself in her school work, trying to keep up with her lectures and recap everything that she’s learned up until this point. Kind of difficult, when she’s fallen so dreadfully behind and barely knows what’s going on in her stats class. And – to make things worse, not only does she have both her stats and psych midterm this Friday, but she also needs to finish this stupid Globalization essay by tomorrow’s deadline.

Seven pages about The Effects of Globalization on British Romantic Literature. She currently has three pages written.

She’s screwed.

It’s not like she was trying to get behind! She tried so hard to stay on top of her studies. She promised herself that she’d finish the globalization essay last night – went to starbucks with her noise canceling headphones, got herself an iced pumpkin chai as a motivational treat, and sat down to turn all her notes into a beautiful, magical essay on Romanticism that would make Dr. Richmond weep.

But… the words just weren’t wording! Her brain refused to cooperate with her, despite the fact that she stayed at the Starbucks literally up until they kicked her out. She read her sources, went over her excerpts, wrote and rewrote her thesis over and over again… and only got three out of the seven pages done. She doesn’t know whether to blame Dr. Richmond for assigning such a stupid essay, or just her own sleep-deprived brain.

She’d gotten maybe five hours of sleep last night. And the night before that, too. Harry’s words ring loudly in her head, scolding her to get at least six hours of sleep every night… but she just has so much work to do! She has to do her psych readings, her stats homework, the midterm practice her stats professor posted, and this essay… It's a lot. Plus having to actually attend all of her classes and go to work (she works at the campus bookstore) on top of all her homework and studying? She barely has time to eat!!!

Her tummy grumbles miserably, a painful reminder of the fact that she had forgotten to pack herself a lunch this morning in her haste to get to class on time. The pain is nowhere as bad as her headache, though. It’s the kind of migraine you get when you barely got any sleep. Her head feels heavy, her heartbeat pounding in her ears, and her eyes sting every time she blinks. It’s horrible. She can barely focus on anything. Not her stats homework, not the essay open in front of her.

Not even Harry, who’s sitting to her left, helping her with her essay. In fact, she’s completely missed what he’s spent the past minute explaining to her.

She blinks at him slowly. “Sorry… can you say that again?”

Harry’s pretty face pinches, his eyebrows furrowed and eyes glimmering with concern. She’s so clearly off today… he can’t ignore her red-rimmed eyes and zoning out any longer. “…are you okay?” he asks timidly.

“Yeah, yeah,” she says quickly, brushing off his concern. “I’m fine.” But it’s like as soon as she says those two words, the dam holding her together collapses, and a river of emotion comes barreling through her. She looks down at the open document on her laptop, stares at the cursor blinking at her. The blank page taunting her. Tears well up in her eyes, and her heart starts to swell sadly. She’s not fine at all.

She quickly hides her face from Harry, looking down at her lap. She is NOT allowed to cry in front of him, she reprimands herself. She’s kept herself together all day, why is she starting to get emotional now, in the middle of his office hours? Couldn’t it have waited until she was alone in her shower?

She swallows around the lump in her throat, and presses her palms to her stinging eyes. As if that’ll keep her tears at bay. “Sorry,” she mumbles, trying to conceal her shaky voice, “let me just think for a second.”

“Hey…” Harry sees right through it. “Hey, come on. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she says, mostly trying to convince herself. She sniffles as quietly as she can and tries to rub the tears away. “Sorry, nothing. I’m fine.”

She reaches for her laptop, but Harry grabs her hand. “No.” He can’t ignore the glossy sheen of her eyes, or the quiet sniffles. He just can’t. “We need to take a break.”

“It’s really fine–” she tries to say, but she can barely get it out with how her throat is swelling. She stares down at the floor. Harry holds her hand.

“What’s wrong? Talk to me.” His hands are big and warm, encasing her’s, wholly. A cross tattoo sits between the slit of his thumb and second finger, twitching as his thumb grazes her knuckles.

“M’just tired,” she says dejectedly. “I was up super late last night and I just… didn’t even get anything done. And now I have to finish this, and I haven’t finished my stats homework, and I have two midterms on Friday.” Her heart starts to race as she realizes much she has to do, and how little time she has. She’s stretched herself thin. “There’s just so much I have to get done,” her voice cracks, “and I’m so tired.” A big fat tear rolls down her face, and drops onto her shirt – shamefully staining the thin material.

Harry gets out of his chair and kneels down in front of her, resting their joint hands in her lap as he stares up at her. More tears fill her eyes without her consent, and her cheeks burn with embarrassment. “Sorry,” she sniffles. She refuses to meet his gaze, despite how earnestly he’s looking into her sad eyes. Another drop falls from her lashes.

“Don’t apologize,” he murmurs sadly.

“I thought I could handle it all,” she bleats. “But I’m so unprepared for my midterms, and I need to finish this essay, and I promised you that I’d stay on top of my work, but I’m falling behind–”

“Don’t worry about the essay,” he interrupts. “I’ll get you an extension on your paper.”

She shakes her head. “Dr. Richmond doesn’t do extensions, though,” she blubbers.

“I’ll talk to him,” he says firmly. “M’the one grading it anyway.”

“But Harry–” she whines, shamelessly childlike, “I promised you that this wouldn’t happen. I told you I could handle it.”

“And you can handle it. I know you can.” His green eyes are wide and round as he looks up at her, earnest and pleading. “You come to office hours, and you study hard, and you’d stay up all night to finish this essay – but I don’t want you to. You don’t have to prove yourself to me. I know you can do it.”

She pouts, still not looking up at him. She stares instead at their joint hands in her lap blankly.

“You’re doing so good,” he coos, “You’re coming to office hours even when you have so much going on, and you’re taking so many units. I know you’re giving it your all. S’okay.”

He reaches a hand out to rest on her shoulder, and suddenly she feels the weight of the world fall off of her chest. A long, shaky breath leaves her, and she blinks her eyes shut, letting more tears cascade down her cheeks. “Oh, sweetheart,” Harry’s heart breaks. He leans up to wrap his arms around her shoulders, a soft hug, and she rests her forehead on his shoulder, letting the tears silently fall. His hands rub big, soothing circles on her back, and he shushes her softly, “It’s alright.”

His blue dress shirt feels cool against her face, crisp and fresh, and he smells like vanilla and smoked wood. She doesn’t want to abandon his firm chest, his warm embrace, but he pulls back and looks into her eyes. For the first time, she meets his gaze. “No more crying, okay?”

She sniffles, and wipes the wetness off her cheeks. “M’kay.”

A soft smile smooths out the worried lines on his face. “Here’s what we’re gonna do,” he says, his hands slapping his thighs as he stands back up. “You’re going to take a nap–” he closes his office door and locks it with a click.

“A nap?” her watery voice exclaims. “But– I need to study!”

He gives her a firm look. “You’re not gonna get any studying done if your brain isn’t well rested.” From one of the bottom drawers of his desk, he pulls out a blanket (he sometimes will take a nap in his office if he needs a break from grading). “Take a nap. I’ll wake you in an hour and then y’can study in here.”

+++

You know that peaceful feeling that surrounds a room when a baby is taking a nap? How everyone tiptoes around the crib, their voices barely surpassing a whisper in fear of waking the sleeping baby. How parents will stand around, just watching the baby nap, smiling to themselves when their baby twitches in its sleep. How the world just seems more… peaceful?

That’s how Harry feels right now.

Y/n is on his couch, his cozy gray blanket pulled up to her chin. Her cheeks are puffed, her tired eyes shut with her eyelashes resting delicately on the tops of her cheeks. She looks angelic, the most relaxed he’s ever seen her be, with no midterms stressing her out. No papers due, no furrowed eyebrows, no crying. Like a sleeping baby, cherubic and sweet. He’s been tiptoeing around her for the past hour, grading papers as quietly as he can. He tried to be productive and just mind his business while she napped, but everytime he shuffled through one of the essays, he felt the urge to check on her, to make sure that he didn’t accidentally wake her up. And then he just wanted to… watch her. Not in a creepy way though!!! Not in a creepy way. In a kind of… sweet way. :( She was beautiful, especially when she slept.

His heart doesn’t want to wake her up – not when she looks so peaceful for the first time weeks. All the times he’s seen her since that very first week was her stressing and stressing and stressing – stressing about getting a permission code from Dr. Richmond, stressing about her exams, stressing about the rain. He’s never gotten to see her take a breath and be calm. She’s a hard worker, he can tell – which is a great trait that he admires in his students. But, with y/n… he just wants to make sure she’s okay, too.

He kneels down in front of the couch, and regretfully murmurs out, “y/n?” She doesn’t respond at all– she’s dead to the world. All the exhaustion that she’d accumulated this past week, all the hours of sleep she missed, are catching up with her now. He tries again, “Y/n… time to wake up.”

Her eyebrows furrow and her nose wrinkles, but she still refuses to open her eyes. The pull of sleepiness is too strong. It makes him chuckle. “Come on, bunny,” he says, in reference to her twitchy nose and pouty lips. “V’got a snack for you.”

Her sleepy eyes blink open, and immediately he can tell that she needed that nap. Her eyes are brighter, less red, and she stares up at him sweetly. “A snack?”

Of course that would get her to wake up. His dimple pokes his cheek. “S’not much. Just a granola bar. But it’ll help you while you study.”

She sits up, the blanket pooling around her waist, and rubs at her eye with her knuckle.

“Feeling better?” He asks, a hand on her knee.

She nods. She’d taken an Advil for her headache before she’d gone to sleep. That, with her nap, has made the prospect of studying a little bit more bearable.

When she looks around the room, she sees that Harry’s cleared up a portion of his desk for her to study at. Gone are his stacks of books, a bare square of wood right across from the stack of essays he’s currently grading. The usual foldable chair that he has students sit in during his office hours has been moved to the corner, and has been replaced with one of the more comfy, rolly chairs. He’s gone out of his way to make a sweet little study space for her while she napped in his office.

“Now… we’re gonna have to leave by 9,” Harry says, standing up and going round to his side of his desk. “Cos v’got to feed my cat. But that gives us at least… two hours of study time. N’then I can take you home. How does that sound?”

She blinks. “Harry… thank you.” She doesn’t know why he’s being so nice to her, or what she’s done to deserve such kind treatment. But it means the world.

He shrugs nonchalantly, but she doesn’t miss the dimple that pinches his cheek as he smiles to himself.

+++

They stay in his office until nightfall.

Harry’s nicely styled curls turn messy, his fingers tangling through his hair he graded the freshman papers (is he a harsh grader, or does this new generation truly not know how to write?). His eyebrows furrow behind his tortoise shell glasses, green eyes hard and serious. Y/n watches the way his lips purse, how he taps his red pen against his chin while he reads.

Her own brain is done with studying. After her nap, she started playing her classical music and sat down to finish her stats homework AND the practice midterm. Without the globalization essay to worry about, she managed to calm down and focus, get some of her work done, and catch up on the things she was so behind on. Does she feel any better about the exam? No. But at least she can say that she studied!

Harry manages to make a nice dent in the stack of ungraded papers as well, working well in the comfortable silence filtering between the two of them. There was no need for them to talk, and they didn’t distract each other either. Simply getting their work done next to each other, and enjoying each other’s presence (though neither one of them would outright admit how nice it is to just sit in silence with the other).

They pack up and head out together when it gets closer to nine. Harry holds the office door open for her and locks his door behind them, and they walk closely together towards the parking lot. It’s dark, the ground only lit by the few streetlights looming above them, and a shiver racks through y/n’s body from the cool autumnal air. She hadn’t planned on being on campus so late – she thought that she’d probably go straight home after office hours and pull an all-nighter to finish her essay – so therefore, she doesn’t have much of a jacket except for a lame cardigan over her shirt.

Harry, who usually is on campus until nightfall anyway, wishes he could do something for her when he notices the way she’s hugging herself, her cardigan pulled over her fingers. He wants to pull her to his side, wrap an arm around her and share his body warmth with her – but that would be entirely too unprofessional, he thinks. Instead he picks up his pace, forcing y/n to scurry in order to keep up with his long strides, and immediately turns on the heat for her.

He doesn’t need to ask for directions this time, knowing exactly where to turn and how to get to her apartment, and when he pulls up in front of her door, he turns to her quietly. “Listen. Don’t stress about the paper. Focus on studying for your exams, and then you can have the entire weekend to finish the paper, okay?”

“I feel… bad. Like, Dr. Richmond said no extensions, and you’re making these exceptions for me–”

“Don’t overthink it,” Harry interrupts. “Dr. Richmond just says that so people don’t just ask for extensions because they procrastinated. He will grant extensions when there’s a valid reason.”

“But, really it’s not a valid reason… everyone else has midterms.”

“But none of those other students have shown me how much they care about this class. I know you’re a hard worker, I know you aren’t just procrastinating.” He shrugs, “M’the one who makes the calls. And I think you deserve an extension.”

She sits there quietly, then says, “I-I just don’t want you to think I only came to your office hours to cry and make you give me an extension. I… come to your office hours for help. You’re like… helpful.” She says that last part awkwardly, and it makes him chuckle quietly.

“You can say I’m your favorite TA. I won’t tell.” His dimple pokes his cheek as he smirks at her teasingly, and she can’t help but giggle too. Her eyes twinkle as she looks at him with a small shake of her head. That wasn’t what she was getting at… but it is true.

They stare at each other for a moment too long. One of Harry’s hands rests on the wheel, while the other one comes up to play with his lip. Y/n’s hands sit politely in her lap, her bag sitting at her feet on the passenger’s seat floor. They’re both quiet, not knowing what to say. Yeah, they’re laughing and teasing each other, but something heavier lingers in the air around them. This tension… this magnetic energy. Neither y/n nor Harry know what’s causing it, or why the silence is suddenly so overwhelming. The smile on y/n’s face lingers in her eyes, which glimmer as she stares at Harry. And Harry, who had been smirking mischievously, now looks at y/n with a bit of a more serious air. He stares at her thoughtfully, his bottom lip pinched between his lips. His eyes wander down to her lips, pretty and heart shaped. She’s chewing the inside of her lip softly, and he wants to brush his thumb over her mouth and tell her to stop.

He catches himself, and quickly tears his eyes away before she notices. He clears his throat.

“Take care of y’self,” he says with a soft smile. “I want to see you well rested in class next week, okay?”

+++

HOPE U GUYS LOVED IT!!!!!! part 3 is up on my patreon already, and will come to tumblr next saturday (oct 21) pleeeeaaaase lmk what u rhink and give her a rb and a comment i love u guys so so much!!! more tarry to come!

Prose (part 3) is already posted on patreon! : In which y/n is Harry's favorite student, and she sort of somehow accidentally kisses him.

Prose Masterlist

[knittedjumpersandleatherjackets]

Notoriety - Drarry

Harry Prefers to be known for some things more than others.

Warnings - a/b/o dynamics, alpha!harry, omega!draco, pwp, p in a smut, begging, slight d/s dynamics, i'm wary of tagging tbh don't want it taken down

Harry Potter is known for a lot of things. He has been since shortly after his first birthday.

He's known for defeating the Dark Lord twice, for fighting in a Wizarding War, for winning said war, for being the youngest Professor in Hogwarts, and for being Witch Weekly's most eligible bachelor for eighty-three consecutive weeks.

He's also known for being the coolest godfather ever, the best friend a man could have, and for being the most awesome professor ever. All three of these are the accomplishments Harry relishes in having, clinging to those compliments when the others attempt to be too heavy to carry.

He's been accused of many other things.

Never this. Never in his wildest dreams had he hoped or even allowed himself to hope for this.

Draco Malfoy was willingly in his company, willingly stepping between Harry's spread thighs with flushed red cheeks.

Things were tentative, still just new to them both.

"You have to be the most self-restrained Alpha I've ever come across," Draco murmured, lowering himself to his knees.

No one had ever accused Harry of having self-restraint. Especially not Hogwarts' newest Potion Master. The second youngest Professor to ever be employed by Hogwarts.

"Is that so?" Harry's voice had dipped several octaves, coming out closer to a growl as Draco rested his hands on Harry's thighs. He smelled overbearingly sweet, the scent resting on Harry's tongue and reminding him of Honeyduke's most decadent chocolate.

"I've never had the issue of having to beg before, Harry." Draco looked up through his lashes, biting on his bottom lip. "But if that's what it will take then I'm willing to."

Harry freed Draco's lip with his thumb, smoothing the teeth mark gently. Draco's eyes were almost black as he slipped the digit into his mouth, letting his tongue brush the pad of Harry's thumb.

"Isn't there a three-date rule?" Harry chuckled, pressing down on Draco's tongue, trapping it so he couldn't speak, could use the usual Malfoy snark. "I'm trying to be a gentleman, to court you."

In truth, Harry had wanted to bend Draco over the hardwood of his office desk that day he had approached Harry tentatively on his first day in Hogwarts. He had come to make amends as if Harry could hold a grudge against the man.

As if Harry had a choice. As if he hadn't been half in love with him since they were children. The obsessive stalking, the dreams that had plagued him since he had first presented at sixteen.

There was something confusing about wanking yourself raw every time he spotted the man he was supposed to hate so fervently. Especially in the midst of a war where they had fallen on opposites sides.

But this Draco Malfoy, Professor Draco Malfoy, was no angst-ridden teenager. He was for all intents and purposes, the most attractive Omega Harry had ever seen.

Long graceful limbs, hair that had been grown out just long enough for Harry to wrap his fist in, and an arse that Harry had a hard time taking his eye off.

Harry watched saliva pool along the sides of his thumb, dribbling down Draco's chin as Harry kept his thumb in place, keeping the Omega silent.

Draco mewled, his hands sliding further up his thighs to the button of the Alpha's slacks. Harry allowed Draco to undo his button but caught his hands with his free one when they moved to his zipper. He stared Draco down when he swallowed roughly and dipped his head slightly in deference.

"I'm trying to treat you as I should. Trying to be chivalrous, walking you back to your door every night, buying you flowers, and treating you like a proper Omega should be treated." Harry reminded him. He pressed harder down on Draco's tongue when he attempted to speak. Instead, a garbled moan fell from his lips.

Harry arched into Draco's hands, pressing them tighter to his crotch with his own hands. "Coming back to my own chambers and fucking my fist thinking of that tight little hole."

Draco's eyes rolled in his head as he began to suck on Harry's thumb in earnest, flexing his hands. "You don't want to be treated right, do you?"

Draco blinked, attempting to focus on Harry's words but he was too far gone, his arousal permeating the air like a vat of Amortentia. Harry inhaled deeply, his cock throbbing. Draco flexed his hands again.

"You don't want me to buy you flowers or drop you off at your chambers every night, do you? You want me to drag you back to my own chambers and fill that tight little hole, don't you?" Harry released Draco's hands, batting them away to undo his own zipper. He freed his cock with a hiss.

Draco's hands fell down by his side as his breath heaved and his eyes locked on the almost angry-looking tip of Harry's cock like he was a starving man. "So here's what we're going to do. You're going to prep yourself, get that tight little hole all wet and loose for me. I'm going to stroke my cock and if you're ready before I come then you can sit on my cock. If not, well then I guess it's your hard luck."

Harry released Draco's tongue, spreading the saliva on it over his cock and groaning to himself. Draco watched with rapt attention, quivering in place. Harry smirked, stroking himself from root to tip before Draco spurred into action.

He vanished his trousers and pants, rather than move from his kneeled position, and his scent's potency increased tenfold. Harry groaned again, speeding his hand up and twisting his wrist just how he liked it.

He'd had a lot of time to perfect his wanking ability, none more so than in the last three months since Draco had joined the faculty. He was surprised he hadn't given himself carpal tunnel with how often he had found himself thinking of Draco exactly like this.

The man in question was moaning loudly, bouncing on the fingers he had unceremoniously shoved inside himself. He was sweating, a red flush spreading down his chest. Harry had missed him vanishing his shirt.

"That's it, baby. Just like that." Harry grunted, fucking up into his fist. "Show me how you fuck yourself while thinking of me."

Draco's eyes rolled in his head but he focused on Harry's cock again, adding another finger if his moan was anything to go by. Harry pressed his thumb against the gland that ran the length of his cock and bucked up again, clenching his jaw.

Draco appraised him with hooded eyes before deciding he'd had enough and scrambled up to straddle Harry's lap. When Harry attempted to push his trousers down Draco shook his head, one hand replacing Harry's and dropping himself down on Harry's cock.

"Let me get these off." Harry insisted, hand on his trousers again. Draco shook his head, freezing on Harry's cock as he bottomed out. His arse clenched and the tight heat had Harry restraining himself from thrusting up.

"Leave 'em on. It's hotter." Draco insisted. Harry smirked at Draco's very obvious interest in this power play, leaving him at Harry's mercy. before he could tease Draco about it his words were cut off by a loud growl as Draco began to bounce on Harry's cock.

"So good, so fucking good." Draco whimpered, falling forward to press his face against Harry's bonding gland, inhaling deeply.

"So fucking tight, Jesus Draco." Harry couldn't fight the urge, wrapping an arm around Draco's waist and fucking up into him. Draco was babbling incoherently now, every second word was Harry's name.

Slick dripped down Harry's cock, a sticky mess on his balls and thighs and he was sure that he'd smell of Draco for days to come, all of which drove Harry to fuck into Draco harder and faster.

"Please, please," Draco begged against Harry's neck, his hot breath making Harry's hair stand on end. "Knot me, knot me, knot me."

"That what you want, baby? You want to be the perfect little Omega, taking my knot, huh?" Harry growled against Draco's shoulder before biting down on the soft flesh.

Draco howled, babbling incomprehensibly again. Harry could feel the beginning of his knot, that familiar heat that had his eyes clenching shut. "Don't know if it'll fit, if you can handle me."

"Please, I can. It will fit." Draco wailed desperately. "I'll be so good, I promise. Alpha, please."

Harry tilted his head back as he thrust up, pushing the knot into Draco who screamed. Harry thrust shallowly, pulling at Draco's abused rim. "Please, please."

Three more shallow thrusts had Draco clenching down impossibly tight and cumming between their bodies. He sagged against Harry, hitching sobs as Harry continued to fuck into him, chasing his own release.

"Wan' it, Alpha. Please." Draco whimpered, clenching around Harry's knot. Harry gave in, allowing the sensation to pull him under, his hands clenching into Draco's hips as his vision whited out and he came.

When Harry blinked his eyes open again he smiled gently down at the Omega who was purring contentedly in Harry's arms. Hary stroked a hand up and down Draco's sweat-slicked back and the Omega sat up, clenching accidentally around Harry's knot.

He wore a soft smile, bashful after everything. Harry raised a hand to cup his cheek and pulled him into a sweet kiss, more than aware he hadn't kissed Draco since they were leaving the restaurant they had dinner in.

"Sweet boy." Harry hummed when he pulled away. Draco groaned, attempting to hide his smile in Harry's hand. "How do you feel?"

"So good." Draco stretched, clenching down on Harry again. This time it wasn't an accident. "Think you can go again, old man?"

"You're older than me." Harry protested with a laugh. "'sides, maybe we should let this knot go down first."

"Why?" Draco asked, bouncing himself shallowly. His own cock began to stir with interest and Harry felt his breath catch as he looked over his Omega.

His head was thrown back, one hand against Harry's chest for balance and the other on his own cock. "Alpha, my Alpha."

That one might be Harry's favorite thing to be known for these days.

[eternalsunshinehs]

this is professor!harry

[atlafan]

Carnal Attraction - Part One

a/n: sexology professor!harry is here!! Just a reminder, this is the only part being posted on here. The rest will be on Patreon. I can’t wait to know what you all think so far. This is going to be a good one, I think.

Warnings: talk of sexual acts, mentions of sexual misconduct

Words: 4.7K

Tumblr Masterlist I Patreon Masterlist

The world of academia is astounding. People stay in higher education for so many different reasons. Some go off to become medical doctors, others become doctors in specific fields like psychology or literature or philosophy. Some choose to stay in academia because they don’t want to sell their souls to industry work. Mavis always loved school. She was one of those kids that did well no matter what the subject was. She studied hard, wanting to take in more and more information. She was naturally gifted in the art of time management. Everything clicked for her. If something was puzzling, she’d figure it out.

There isn’t much she can’t figure out. Which is why she’s grown increasingly aggravated with her sexology professor. She can’t figure him out. She swears he hates her. He’s short with her, and less personable with her than he is with the other students. She’s never struggled like this with someone before. And he wasn’t even supposed to be the one teaching her courses!

When Mavis tells people she’s in graduate school for a master’s in sexology, they look at her funny. Furrowed eyebrows, puzzled facial expressions, etc. No one can ever piece together why someone would get an advanced degree in a subject like this. That’s because people can’t get their minds out of the gutter. In undergrad, Mavis majored in psychology, and minored in gender and sexuality studies. She eventually wants to produce literature and perform psychoanalysis on sexual behavior and sexual issues. She thought she wanted to be a psychiatrist, but that involves medical school. And as smart as she is, she’s rather squeamish when it comes to blood. So, then she thought maybe being a psychologist, some type of sex therapist would be good, but she honestly has a tough time speaking aloud about the various subjects. And sex therapy isn’t just for helping couples have better sex, a lot of it is helping people with history of sexual abuse recover and find ways to heal. Mavis doesn’t have the stomach for that. She cried too many times reading case studies about it in undergrad.

All that being said, she eventually wants to get her doctorate in psychology with a concentration in sexology, so when she found a graduate program to help get her started on that journey, she went for it. She could write about sexual disorders and the like all day. When she’s writing and researching, she’s quite helpful to others. She enjoys learning about sexual history, those were always her favorite courses. Learning about how trans people in the 1800’s used binders to hide their breasts, learning about how two opposite sex couples would get married, go in on a duplex together, and use the basement to sneak over to sleep with their same sex partner, learning about different gay and lesbian liberation movements, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and so much more was where her interest was. It all just fascinated her, it all astounded her, and a lot of it just made her downright upset. Tears would litter her textbooks as she read about people being beaten senseless until they were left for dead in the streets. She’d cry because all of it was happening not too long ago. She cried because it still happens today.

She’s quite empathetic, and almost too much to a fault. But she can’t help that she cares! She enjoys studying the psychology side of things, how the brain functions of these people work, how the brains of bigots function, if there’s a disparity between the two on scans or octopuses. All Mavis wants to do is hunker down in her own academic sanctuary and research and read and write and publish.

Mavis had been assigned an advisor over the summer, one whom she emailed with frequently to make sure she was taking the correct courses in the correct sequence. Her advisor recommended courses with one specific professor, Professor Amaro. Apparently, her classes were top tier, and she was a favorite amongst the other graduate students. No brainer – sign up for Amaro’s courses.

Except when Mavis showed up for her first day of Human Sexuality, a co-requisite for her Sexual Pleasure Education course, there was a man standing at the podium, hooking his laptop up to the HDMI cable so he could project onto the screen up front. At first, she thought maybe he was a TA just setting up for Professor Amaro. She paid it no mind. She found a seat in the middle front, and got her own things set up. It’s syllabus week, so there won’t be much to go over, but Mavis still likes to take handwritten notes. She pulled her agenda, a notebook, and her copy of the syllabus out, and set them on her desk. The classroom is small, only meant to hold about twenty-five people. Mavis prefers small classrooms. She’s not a fan of lecture halls with stadium-style seating.

“Is anyone sitting here?” A woman’s voice took over Mavis’ attention. The desks are set up for two people to sit at. “If it is, I can sit somewhere else.”

“Oh! No, go right ahead.” Mavis smiled. “I’m Mavis.”

“Thanks.” The woman says with relief as she sits down. “I’m Taraji, I use she/they pronouns.”

“Nice to meet you. I use she/her. Thanks for letting me know yours.”

“Nice to meet you too, and no problem. It’s something new I’m trying out. I don’t…I don’t always feel like a she, you know?”

“Totally get that.”

“Sorry, I hope that wasn’t too much info too soon.”

“No worries.” Mavis waves her off. “We’re going to be talking about some real shit in this class, it’s best to just be open and honest.”

“Agreed.” Taraji takes out her own agenda and notebook. “I hate that we have to take this course in conjunction with the sexual pleasure class. I feel like I’ve taken a million human sexuality courses at this point.”

“I know, it seems a little odd, but I figure there must be more high level stuff to discuss since this is at the grad level. And review isn’t always a bad thing, I like refreshers.”

“Well, aren’t you full of silver linings?” Taraji smiles. “We need more people like that in this world.”

The girls continue to chat while the class fills in. At 10:30, the man at the front closes the door and turns the projector on, revealing his screen. Mavis’ stomach drops when she sees Human Sexuality – Professor Styles – M/W 10:30-12:00 in big bold letters.

“What happened to Professor Amaro?” She whispers to Taraji.

“Beats me.” Taraji shrugs. “Maybe we signed up for the wrong section?”

“That can’t be it, this is the only section being offered.”

The man, Professor Styles, clears his throat to get everyone’s attention. He’s wearing a button up, but it’s not buttoned up all the way. You can see his undershirt. His sleeves are rolled up, revealing quite a few tattoos. Round glasses are on the bridge of his nose, and his hair is pushed back with a couple of curls falling forward on his forehead. He looks young. Who the fuck is this guy?

“Morning, everyone.” His deep voice fills the room as he rounds the podium to stand in front of the desk attached to it. He leans back against it, gripping the edge behind him. “I’m Professor Harry Styles, I prefer to be called professor, so please try to remember that. I’m sure you’re very confused as to why I’m standing here and not Professor Amara.” He pauses to take a sip of water from his Nalgene. “I quite literally found out the other day that I would be taking over her courses. To be transparent with all of you, Professor Amaro is under investigation for sexual misconduct with her patients. As many of you know, a lot of the professors in the psychology department have their own practices outside of academia. Summer is when Professor Amaro picks up new patients. There was someone undercover seeing her for therapy, and she was caught taking advantage. It’s extremely disappointing. So, not only will she be losing her licensure, but she has been let go from the institution as well. We do not condone the abuse of patients. We also do not want someone so unethical being the one to teach our future therapists. How many of you are in here as part of the clinical licensure program?” More than half of the class raises their hands. “Right, I thought so. I usually teach undergraduate courses, but I’m fully prepared to teach at the graduate level just the same. I know many of you have already taken different iterations of Human Sexuality, but this course is integral for you so you can fully get what’s needed out of the Sexual Pleasure Education course. It says 10:30 to noon up here, but I’ll typically only be keeping you for about an hour, if that. Many of you have research and other time consuming things to do, and I want to be cognizant of that. I am also working towards my PhD, I’m about two years into my program and research.” He pauses again, knowing he just word vomited. The class is stunned with the bomb he just dropped about Professor Amaro, and they’re whiplashed going from that to the basic information about the course. “Any questions so far?”

“I have one.” A brave soul in the back raises their hand. “Which undergraduate courses do you teach? Will you need any TA’s since your load just got bigger?”

“Great question, thank you for asking. I will end up needing TA’s, but I have to wait to meet with the department chair to see what our budget is. I teach the undergraduate intro to gender and sexuality studies, and I also teach some of the higher level special topics courses. This semester I’m teaching the history of feminism, which is one of my favorites to teach, and I’m also teaching the film history course that focuses on how sex has been depicted in film since its start to the present.”

“You’re teaching a course about feminism?” Another person asks.

“Yes.” Professor Styles smirks. “It’s one of my main focuses of study. I may not be a woman, but I am a man that believes in equity and equality. Plus, I’m a huge history buff, so I enjoy teaching about how the movement began and how feminism has transformed over the years, both the good and the bad of it.”

Mavis swallows thickly. She’s a history buff too. Maybe she could be a TA for one of his classes. The extra money would be nice, and so would the bit of teaching experience if she were allowed to give a lecture or two.

“Let’s focus on this class. We’ll be going over a number of topics, and at times you may feel the need to giggle because of nerves. We’re going to discuss endorsement, communication, fantasy, masturbation, homosexuality, bisexuality, desensitization and resensitization, female and male sexuality, sexual enrichment, special problems, therapy, and cultural expression. So, this gives us a base for what we’ll be discussing in the co-requisite course. Now, I’m going to do something that I do with my undergrads, I’m going to say a ton of words and phrases that you’ll feel the need to giggle about as we discuss certain topics. This is your only chance to laugh. If you do it throughout the semester, then we’re going to have a problem. If you become a sex therapist, you can’t laugh at your patients. We’ll get into why these words make us feel nervous, and why we feel the need to laugh when we hear them.” He grabs the remote for the projector and clicks it. Everyone gasps and starts laughing when they see many words and phrases appear. “Alright: penis, vagina, pussy, cunt, cock, dick, mutual masturbation, anal, penetration, fingering, eating out, going down, blow job, hand job, sucking someone off, breasts, boobs, nipples, fetish, BDSM, whips, chains, handcuffs, threesomes, orgies, condoms, contraceptives, birth control pills, IUD, sex toys, dildo, vibrator, cock ring, lube, dirty talk, dominant, submissive, daddy, baby talk, douching, porn, clit, clitoris, prostate, prostate orgasm, orgasm, vaginal orgasm, stimulation, fucking, fisting, getting wet, wet, come, precome, squirt, squirting, ejaculation, and sex.”

The entire class is snickering and giggling and laughing, even Mavis. Hearing all of those things back to back and watching the words dance on the screen in an animated fashion is hilarious. What a fun approach to getting people more comfortable with these terms.

“There are many more words and phrases, obviously, but these will be the ones we use more often.” Professor Styles explains, smiling fondly to the class. “If you’d like to be considered for a TA position, please come up to me after you’re dismissed. “Any questions?” No one raises their hand. “Great, then you’re dismissed. Enjoy the nice weather.”

Mavis and Taraji exchange contact info, and agree to meet for coffee tomorrow morning before their sexual pleasure course. A few people go up to Professor Styles to tell him they’d like to be a TA, and he takes down their information. Mavis is the last in line, the last student in the classroom with Professor Styles.

“Name?” He asks, not looking up at her.

“Mavis Ashford.”

“Alright.” He looks up at her now, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Do you have a preference?”

“I’d love to help out in the feminism course or the film history course. I like the historical side of things when it comes to studying this content.”

“Great, those are usually the ones I have trouble finding help for.”

“Really? I’m surprised.”

“Since a lot of you are here to become licensed therapists or psychologists, not a lot of people are interested in the theoretical aspect of things.”

“Well, I definitely do not want to be a therapist. I want to do research, eventually get my PhD, like you, I suppose. I’m sad about Professor Amaro, I heard so many good things about her.”

“None of us knew about any of it. She hid what she was doing well. She had been doing it for years, supposedly.” He sighs and takes his glasses off, putting them into their case. Mavis catches how green his eyes are, almost like sage. “Did you have any other questions? I need to get across campus to my office so I can take some time to edit the Canvas courses a little more.”

“Oh! No, sorry. Guess I was just curious to know how long you’ve been teaching for. You mentioned you were in your second year of your doctoral program, so-“

“There’s a bio page for me. My listing lives under the Psychology department. I’ll keep you in mind for my special topics courses. See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” Mavis watches the very flustered, unorganized man leave the room in a rush. His papers were all over the place, and he just shoved all his things in his bag. How chaotic. Maybe if she’s able to become his TA, she could help him with that.

**

Since Monday went so well, including Mavis’ other courses, she’s excited for Tuesday. She meets Taraji for coffee, as planned, and then they head to class. A course about Sexual Pleasure Education at 9AM is wild, but if coffee doesn’t wake the class up, the content of the course sure will. Harry is at the podium, connecting his computer, just as he did yesterday. Mavis and Taraji sit at the same table they did yesterday. The class eventually fills in, and Harry turns the projector on.

“Let’s see, did I scare anyone off since yesterday?” He asks out loud, but it’s more for himself, as he checks off names on his attendance sheet. “Great, you’re all here.” He smiles. “I know you’re probably thinking how I could have possibly memorized all your names already, but I haven’t. I just have your student ID pictures next to your names on my sheet.” He leans back against the table, gripping the edge of it, same as he did yesterday, and scans over the class. “Welcome to Sexual Pleasure Education. In this class, we will discuss strategies for improved sex life, sex aids, sexual approaches, and male and female pleasuring. We will also be stressing the value of various body work techniques for persons intending to work in the field of sex therapy and counseling. Lastly, we will discuss sexological exploration of objects which have been created in response to sexual desire and experience.” He pauses to take a sip of water. “Basically, this is sex ed on crack.”

“Professor Styles?” A girl in the back raises her hand, and he nods for her to continue. “So, are there going to be, like, demonstrations in class?”

“Yes. Most people learn best by doing. And it’s important for you to know what you’re talking about if you end up becoming the type of therapist that has to make recommendations for couples. The conversations we’re going to have in this class are going to feel awkward and taboo. There are going to be days where we look at various sex toys and how to use them, and why people use them.”

“I sort of meant, like, is anything going to be demonstrated on an actual person?” The same girl asks.

“Considering that this isn’t a tantric sex workshop, no.” He smirks. “We’ll look at various anatomical diagrams to go over specific areas where people find pleasure and how best to get them to feel it in those areas.”

“Professor Styles?” A boy in the front raises his hand, and Harry nods for him to continue. “I know this isn’t technically a psychology course, but are we going to get into kinks and why some people have specific ones or like using specific objects?”

“Yes and no. We’ll discuss the psychology behind kinks in our Human Sexuality course. What we do on Mondays and Wednesdays will be more theoretical, and what we do on Tuesdays and Thursdays will be more practical. Great questions so far. Anyone have anything else?”

“Will there be trigger warnings?” Taraji asks. “For both classes?”

“Yes, when we get into some of the heavier topics, there will be trigger warnings. I’m working on updating the syllabus so you’ll all know when to expect those. If the topic is so heavy that you don’t feel as though you can come to class, please let me know so we can have a one-on-one session so we can go over the material. I can meet in-person or on zoom.”

“Thank you.” Taraji smiles softly.

“Are we going to be talking about our own personal sex lives in class?” Another girl asks.

“That depends on how comfortable you feel. We may share anecdotes, and we may not. If you become a therapist, remember that what might work for you, might not work for others. However, your patients will ask you about your personal experience with some of the things you recommend to them. I’m not saying you need to shove a butt plug up your ass in order to have a frame of reference, but sometimes it helps for your patient to know you’re a real person. Just don’t cross any hard boundaries. We all know that many patients tend to experience romantic feelings towards their therapists. That can happen twice as much with sex therapy. You need to make it clear right from the start that even though it’s a safe space for them, things will still be professional. No one is to ever take their clothes off during an appointment. That’s what leads to things like what happened with Professor Amaro to happen. Respect will be integral to this course, as well as not kink-shaming. You may find something weird that someone else may love, and vice versa. You don’t have to agree, but please be mindful of how you speak to and about others.” He drums his fingers behind him as he takes another pause. “All of that being said, if we do discuss personal sexual experiences, you need to speak about them educationally. I don’t want to hear things like, ‘this one time I was fucking this dude and he,’ blah blah blah. Okay?”

The class makes a collective noise of agreement that makes Harry very happy.

“I’m hoping to have the courses updated to my liking by next Monday. I should also know by then about TA positions for my undergraduate courses. Do we have any other questions right now?” No one answers. “Excellent. For tomorrow’s Human Sexuality class, I’d like you all to fill out these surveys.” He starts handing out papers row by row. “They’re to give me a pulse check on what you already know a lot about, and the areas you need a bit more information on. It’ll help for Thursday’s lesson in here as well.” Once all of the papers are passed out, Harry goes back to the front of the room. “If no one else has any questions, you’re all free to go.”

Everyone begins packing up their things. Mavis is stuck looking over the survey questions. Her cheeks are beat red, she just knows it.

“You coming?” Taraji asks her.

“Um, yeah.” Mavis blinks and starts packing up her things. “I just have a few questions for Professor Styles. Wanna get lunch later?”

“I’d love to. Text me later.”

Mavis nods to her new friend, and goes to the back of the line of students that have questions for Harry. Just like yesterday, it’s the two of them alone in the room. He doesn’t look at her as he stuffs his papers into his bag.

“Have you ever thought to use an accordion folder for all of that?” She asks him.

“You waited in line just to ask me that?” He looks up at her, taking his glasses off and putting them into their case.

“No.” She laughs sheepishly. “I just had a few questions about this survey.”

“Alright, shoot.” He tells her, crossing his arms over his chest loosely.

“The first question says to list five common sex toys that I know of.”

“Correct.”

“Then the second questions says to explain the function of each of the toys.”

“Also correct.”

“What if you’re not familiar with well-known sex toys? Is it okay to look up the functionality?”

“No, just give your best guess as to why someone would use it.” He looks at her, studies her. He has a question of his own to ask, but it could come off as inappropriate. “I’m going to try to phrase this in the most professional way possible…do you not have much, um, first-hand experience with sex toys?”

Mavis’ eyes widen. All she can do is shake her head no. Harry nods in understanding, not being the least bit judgmental.

“It’s not that I haven’t wanted to know more about them, like, I know a lot about the history of them, the…the theoretical side of things, as you mentioned before. But in practice…I guess that’s where I need to learn more.”

“That’s fine, you can just say that on the survey. You can keep it anonymous too. I didn’t leave a space for your names at the top.”

“So, it’s not a big deal if I haven’t personally done some of the things we’re going to discuss.” She says for clarification.

“Perfectly fine. You could be a virgin for all I care. You just need to be able to discuss and write about these things knowledgably and eloquently.”

“Well, I’m not a vi-“ She’s about to scoff, but he raises his hand to halt her from finishing her sentence.

“I don’t need to know the particulars of what you have and haven’t done, Miss Ashford.”

“You just said we need to be able to discuss these things, though.”

“Yes, as a class, when other people are around. Not when you’re in here alone with me. Someone could get the wrong idea about why we’re having this very conversation.” He slings his bag over his shoulder. “Don’t over think it, it’s just a pulse check.”

He leaves her there, sweating. Did he think she was coming on to him? Did he think she was flirting? She wasn’t! She would never do something like that with a professor.

**

The rest of the week goes by smoothly. Mavis makes sure not to ask Harry any questions after class. In the second session of Human Sexuality, they went through all the changes Harry made to the course Canvas page and to the syllabus. They did the same for the second session of Sexual Pleasure Education. Pretty easy stuff that the students are thankful for. The other courses Mavis is taking are research methods and a high-level sociology course. So starting off on the slower side is a major bonus. Harry lets them know that he’ll post a paper on his office door on Friday with who has been selected as TA’s.

Around noon on Friday, after a work out and a hearty breakfast, Mavis makes her way to the building Harry’s office is in. She takes her headphones out as she gets inside, and makes her way upstairs and down a hallway until she gets to the psych department office suite. His door is closed, so the paper is easy to read. Her eyes scan over it, and she’s taken aback when she doesn’t see her name. Four students were chosen: Eric, Alyssa, Mohamed, and Liza. Mavis frowns deeply. How could she not have been chosen? She spoke to Harry directly about helping with his higher level courses. What made these students better choices than her?

She hears the squeak of a sneaker skidding, and turns her head in its direction. There Professor Styles is. He looks rigid, almost like he had stopped short and was about to turn around. He sighs heavily and makes his way down the hall.

“Miss Ashford.” He nods and unlocks his office door. “I would have thought you would have been here first thing this morning.”

“Why didn’t you just email the students that got selected instead of making all of us come down here?”

“Because I didn’t make my decision until very late last night.” He tells her, opening his door and setting his things down on his desk. His office looks like a tornado hit it.

“Still, you could have emailed-“

“Miss Ashford, what is it that you need? I don’t have office hours today and I’m very busy.”

“I want to know why I wasn’t selected. I told you how much I love the history courses, I could have been a major help.”

“I’m sure that’s true, but I didn’t think you were the right fit for what I needed.”

“You came to that conclusion from only a week of knowing me?”

“I know the four students I selected better. I had them in my courses as undergrad students. They already know my teaching style and the learning outcomes of the courses.”

“Again, if you knew-“

“You need to go now.” He tells her, taking a dominant step forward, making her take a step back. “Don’t take it personally.”

“How can I not when you just told me I wasn’t the right fit?” She pouts, and she swears Harry’s eyes flicker down to her mouth, only for a millisecond.

“Mavis, I don’t feel comfortable with us being alone like this. There’s no one else in the office right now, I’m one of the few instructors that actually utilizes their space on Fridays.”

“But if you had office hours, I’d be alone with you.”

“Yes, with the door open, while other people are around.”

“Are you afraid of someone accusing you of doing what Professor Amaro did? I feel like you’re being overly cautious…with me.”

“You ask a lot of questions, and it’s annoying. You’re annoying. That’s why I didn’t select you. I don’t have any desire to be around you more than I’m already obligated to.”

“Are…are you allowed to speak to me like this?”

“Maybe.” He shrugs. “Or maybe not. Who’s to say? It’s your word against mine, right? No one else is here. Are you picking up what I’m putting down? I already told you I felt uncomfortable, now please go before I have to call campus police to escort you out.”

Mavis is stunned, and about ready to cry. Harry rolls his eyes when she doesn’t budge, so he goes into his office and slams the door in her face. What the fuck is his problem?!

**

[0nlythrowharrybeaux]

Wonderful World - Part 18

This is a huge fluff bomb for the most part. There are tiny little angsty bits but they get resolved quickly. THINGS ARE TURNING AROUND!

Series Masterlist

Warnings: mentions of underage drinking, mentions and use of alcohol/drugs, mentions of sex - that's all I can think of??

WC: 18.6k

Diana had dropped Celeste off and went off to run errands since Harry had planned for a longer session since Celeste hadn’t spoken to him practically all summer and she was starting school shortly. Harry was having a lovely time during his lunch appointment with Celeste. They had made things a bit more informal as they were sitting on the couch cushions on the floor and using the coffee table for their spread. They had been talking throughout the time, mostly about Celeste’s time at summer camp, but Harry soon noticed that she was keeping some stuff to herself, which he didn’t mind at all, but it did make him wonder what exactly she was not wanting him to know. But other than that she seemed to be doing really well after matters with the bullying were resolved and that she’d gotten her break from school. Currently they were in stitches as she kept trying to use her chopsticks to pick up a dumpling.

“I can’t do it!” She laughed.

“OK, look at how I’m holding mine…” he said and she groaned before trying to copy what he was doing, “Good, there you go. Now just grab the dumpling…Good! Yes!” He stated in excitement as she started to bring it up to her mouth but then it slipped out of her grip and bounced off the coffee table and onto the ground.

“Misty, no!” Celeste gasped as she just saw her little paw dart out from under the table and pull the dumpling out of her reach. “Sorry, she’s so fast.” Celeste apologized.

“S’alright, I think one won’t do her any harm.” He assured her with a smile and Celeste just put down the chopsticks and grabbed her fork again. “So are you excited to start sophomore year?” He asked and she nodded.

“Yeah, I think it’ll be a lot better. I’m excited about it a bit more now.” She shared as she stabbed through another dumpling.

“Any particular reason why?” He asked as she bit her lip.

“I ummm…I have a boyfriend now.” She said and Harry’s eyebrows arched up in surprise at this news. 

He wanted to ask her who it was. Was is that guy that had made her feel sad at the concert? How long had they known each other? How old was he? Had he had other girlfriends before? And why did those relationships end? Was he a good kid or was he a trouble maker? What was his family like? Did he have good relationships with his parents and secure attachments to them? Or was his family messy and neglectful, meaning he would need to work harder to have healthy relationships with others? And more importantly, after everything she’d endured the year before, could she handle a romantic relationship right now? What if it went wrong? What if he hurt her? There were just so many things that were going through his mind and it was so much that he had no idea how parents could just watch their children grow up!

“Oh…” he finally said, “Ummm…does your mom know?” He asked instead, just bringing all of his thoughts to a screeching halt. He had no business fretting about Celeste like this, but she meant a lot to him. He loved her to pieces and he just wanted what was best for her.

“Yup.” She said simply and he hummed. He wondered if Diana did any vetting of this kid before giving her approval.

“Does she really?” He asked, trying to mask his doubt in her response.

“Yeah, we even had a…talk about what things I should…know.” She said before cringing and then put her fork down.

“Well that’s good…ummm…are there any goals you have for the year?”

“Ummm…I want straight A’s this semester. I want to be involved in a school production, and…I don’t know of anything else, just those two for now.” She said with a smile.

“OK, well I think now with less stress on your plate you should be able to do just that this year. You’re so smart and capable and I know you work so hard.”

“I do get nervous that I might get anxiety again and like…mess things up.”

“Well feeling anxious is quite normal.” Harry assured, “And you know what to do about it now, don’t you?”

“Kind of…” she said and he smiled.

“Kind of?!” He asked incredulously, “I think you’ve got mastery over your anxiety. I think my only little nugget of wisdom for you is that just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you have to.”

“What do you mean?” She asked with furrowed eyebrows.

“I mean just that. Like sometimes you won’t want to deal with your anxiety or stress in a “mature way”.” He explained with air quotations, “Sometimes you might just want to let yourself wallow and do nothing about it, and that’s totally fine. Your negative emotions should be expressed too, obviously not in a way that is hurtful to yourself or others. But if it’s too much and you don’t want to or can’t figure out why it’s happening then you call me. Or talk to you friends or your mum. But just know that just because you have the skillset it doesn’t mean that you no longer need any help, basically.” 

“Oh, OK.” She smiled. Her fall semester was starting the next week and she was just a little bit unsure of the logistics of everything with Ben, that’s really what was on her mind. “Ummm Dr. Styles…I think I’m a bit concerned about how…things will change with Ben being my…boyfriend now. Like, what if everything changes?”

“Well I think there will definitely be changes, but that’s something to discuss with Ben. Obviously, your priorities can change with a partner. It’s natural to want to spend more time with him and try and merge your circles. But just because you’re with someone doesn’t mean that you need to do everything with them. And more importantly, it’s important to remember not to trade your own identity and life for a partner, you can do your lives together. For example, if it’s important for you to have time with your friends then let him know that. Find a balance with him about how you guys want to move forward.” Harry said and Celeste nodded.

“Yeah, that makes sense.” She smiled before reaching for another dumpling, “And what if…what if he doesn’t want that?” 

“Well communicate and see if there’s a way to compromise. But if that’s still not enough then I’d say that you need to consider what’s more important at that point.” He said sincerely and she frowned. “Is it important to you to have a boyfriend?” Harry asked and she shrugged.

“I mean, I do like it.” She said simply, “But this is really the first time anyone I’ve liked has liked me back and…I guess, I’m scared that if I mess it up that…maybe I might not find that again?”

“Well, it’s always gonna feel that way if a relationship ends, whether it’s your first or your twentieth. Losing someone you care for and love that deeply is never going to be easy. But ultimately, relationships are about putting your genuine self out there to be loved, so don’t put so much pressure on yourself to be perfect or to make it perfect. Again this is your first relationship with another person, you’re bound to make mistakes and to go about things the wrong way, you’re still learning how you love and care and support someone in this role, you know? And Ben knows that too, right?” He asked and she nodded, “I’m sure he’s not perfect either. Nothin truly is but so long as you both communicate and continue to respect and care for each other how you do now, things should be just fine no matter what happens.” He assured her and she exhaled nervously and nodded.

“OK.” She hummed with a small smile.

It was nearing their time when Harry started wrapping up the session and technically her treatment plan for her depression and anxiety. He was pleased to confirm that she had met her goals, she was symptom free now, and overall that meant that he had done what he had set out to do with her. He then started asking her about what classes she was taking, what her schedule would be looking like and ultimately, what did she want out of therapy - if she even wanted to continue working with him at this point in time. They had now resumed their regular seating positions, he in his chair and she on the couch.

“So from what I’m hearing, we’ve accomplished what we wanted to accomplish with your treatment plan. But moving forward do you want to do the bi-weekly appointments, like you had said earlier this summer? Or are you perhaps considering another option?” He asked as he glanced up to her and she nibbled on her bottom lip pensively.

In truth, Celeste felt really good for the first time in a while. She felt that personally she was doing well, her friendships were solid, her relationship with her mom was also on steady ground. She knew that she’d be performing a lot better in school without the pressure of the bullying, and her anxiety had diminished tremendously when things with Megan improved. She didn’t feel like there was anything for her to work on right now. However, she didn’t want to lose Dr. Styles. She wondered if being a child of divorce felt how she was feeling. Where most of the time she was with her mom, and she loved her mom, but when she got to see Dr. Styles it was usually the highlight of her week. He wasn’t just her therapist, at least not in her eyes, he was almost like family in her eyes and she didn’t want to see him only when she needed mental health support. She wanted him to be around for her life in general! She would be eternally grateful for all the ways in which he helped her overcome her depression and anxiety, for the way he cared and protected her, for the way he went out of his way for her. But then she felt selfish, because if someone else needed him more than she did now it wasn’t right to take up his time. But the idea of someone else taking her place also made her sad because to her, he wasn’t just another therapist.

“I ummm…” she paused, “I don’t know…” She sighed nervously. She didn’t expect to start tearing up but she did and Harry pouted as she reached for a spare napkin to dab under her eyes. “I’m sure there are other people who need you even more than I do-”

“I’m not worried about other people now, just you and your therapeutic journey.” He said and she sniffled.

“That’s why I’m…I don’t think I need therapy anymore, but I’ll still need you.” She explained with tearful eyes and Harry’s eyes softened as they met hers, “Like you’re part of my family. I know that might be weird and not technically allowed, but like I don’t have the same support system that other people do.” She shared, “I just need you because then it feels like…my life is normal, you know?” She spoke before sputtering on a cry and Harry tutted.

“Oh petal, don’t cry.” He comforted her as he stood and she made space for him not he coach before he sat and hugged around her shoulders as she leaned into his side. “Who’s to say what’s normal and what’s not, anyway?” He asked rhetorically and she sniffled.

“Technically you, since that’s basically your job.” She responded and he chuckled a bit. 

“You’re not wrong about that.” He reasoned and she smiled despite the tears streaming down her face, “I ummm…I have something I’ve been thinking of telling you as well.” He said nervously.

“Is it bad?” She whispered, not daring to pull away to look at him.

“No and yes.” He said as he fixed his gaze on the wall in front of him. “We don’t have to talk about this now, I know that we’re coming up on our time, but I promise you it’s more good than bad.” He said and she pulled away now and looked into his eyes.

“Can you just tell me now? Otherwise I’m gonna be worrying about it until we see each other again.” She chuckled nervously and he nodded and cleared his throat as she pulled back further to be able to properly look at him.

“Yeah petal, of course.” He said and she just looked at him expectantly as he gathered his thoughts a bit. “I ummm…I went to visit my family this summer-”

“In England?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, “And ummm…I was talking to my mum about work and clients and I mentioned you to her. And everything that you’ve been going through and I ummm.” He sighed, “I think I knew before then that I care about you differently than my other clients. I mean, I am invested and I want what’s best for you and I worry about you and I want to help out more because I see how your mum does it all on her own and like…I think she’s doing the absolutely best job a parent could ever do. But it makes me feel like I should do more for you, but that’s not really…my job.” He said and she frowned a bit as he said this.

“Ugh, what I mean is that I ummm…I-i have grown to…ummm, t-to love you like…my own.” He said with a furrow in his eyebrows and her eyes started welling up again, “I too think of you as family, like a daughter I guess. I mean, I think that’s what this feels like.” He said and her eyes softened as they met his nervous ones. 

“You do?” She asked in quiet surprise and Harry nodded his head.

“Yeah. When we see each other for our appointments I almost feel like it’s my visitation time, like it’s my turn to spend time with you.” He explained with a small, nervous smile, “I can’t wait to see you and hear what’s new with you. Hoping that you’re doing well. Worried that someone else might hurt you or give you a hard time about something. I’m always worried about you to some extent and just the fact that I now care for you in this way has made it difficult to…to be objective.” He explained.

“And what about this is bad news?” She questioned through a sniffle and he chuckled at her question before clearing his throat.

“The bad news is that in seeing you in this new light, I wouldn’t really make a great therapist to you.” He explained and she wiped under her eyes as her pooled up tears started to streak down her cheeks.

“Oh.” 

“Yeah. I mean, I’ll always be here for you if you want to talk. Or if you or your mum need help with anything, or a ride, $20, a DoorDash? Absolutely anything at all, I’ll be here for you. But it’s just getting hard for me to be a therapist to you when I want to act like a… parent to you, you know?”

“Well what about if you get married and have your own kids?” She asked and he shook his head.

“I don’t- well, I never really wanted kids of my own. That hadn’t really been something that I planned for. I mean, the fact that I’ve started to care for you in a paternal way was even a surprise to me! So I’m not entirely sure how to navigate it just yet.” He explained, “But I mean, I just think that I could…be around more, like Henry and Grace? Like if your mum is swamped and needs someone to pick you up from school or if you have an event or a dance, or just a bad day, I find myself wanting to know those things as they happen and be there for you in real time, you know?”

“Yeah, I get what you mean…You know, I’m always asking my mom to invite you to stuff, but she’s always reminding me that technically you shouldn’t do those things for me and it does make me sad when you can’t or say no.” she confessed and he nodded in understanding.

“She’s right. But I’m sorry because this is very unfair of me to do to you, Celeste. I’m sorry if I ever made you question my care for you because of things like that. I tried to…to be objective, to keep the emotional distance, but you mean a lot to me and I’ve been trying to be objective and do what’s best for you. That’s my main goal, is to do what’s best. If that means ending our therapeutic relationship, then I can even help your mum find you another therapist! Or if you’d prefer that I continue to work with you like this then maybe some time apart would be best. Just t-to help me get back in the right headspace to help you as a therapist. Or I don’t know, I’ll think of something if that’s what you want.” He suggested, “I just want you to know that I only want to do right by you.” He explained and she nodded.

“Thank you.”

“Of course. Does it matter more to you that I’m present in your life outside of therapy? Or is this what you prefer?” He asked.

“Both?” She chuckled through a sniffle. Her shoulders shrugged and he smiled as he reached for the tissue box and handed it to her.

“You’ve got some snot just-”

“Ugh, gross.” She huffed before taking one and quickly blowing her nose as he chuckled at her response.

“Again, I’m sorry for just springing this on you. Would it help t-to take some time to think about how we should proceed?” He asked and she nodded immediately.

“Yeah. Some time to think about it would be nice.” She concurred and he nodded.

“OK. And you take as much time as you need, yeah? I’ll keep your slot blocked off until you’re ready.” He assured her and she smiled as she crumbled up the tissue in her hand.

“Thank you.” She said with gratitude and he smiled.

“Course, just want what’s best for you, petal.”

“I know.” She smiled, “Ummm, c-can I hug you again?” She asked and he nodded and opened up his arms as she surged forward to hug him once more. “I…love you too, Harry.” She hummed softly and his whole heart instantly warmed. “Thank you so much for helping me. I couldn’t have made it through without you.” She sighed.

“I’m happy I could help.” He assured her and let go when there was a soft knock on his office door. He stood up and went over, opening it up to see Diana.

“Your 2pm is here.” She said to him and his eyes widened a bit.

“Oh, thank you for the warning!” He said and then she moved aside to let him peek into the waiting room, “Paul, sorry. I’ll be just a few more minutes.” He said to the man and he just smiled and nodded. “Can you ummm, help me clean up, I need to use the bathroom.” He said softly to Diana.

“Sure.” She agreed and grabbed her purse and Harry rushed into the bathroom. She saw Celeste dabbing at her eyes with a tissue before she went to toss it in the trash. “Are you alright, cariño?” Diana asked her and she just smiled and nodded.

“Just had a heart-to-heart.” She sniffled.

“Oh, OK.” Diana smiled, “His next patient is here, we should hurry to clean up a bit.”

“Right!” She said and finishing packing up the bit of left overs into one box and then the trash into one of the bags that the food had been delivered in. It was just a moment before Harry emerged with damp hands.

“Thank you so much for helping tidy up.” He said to them gratefully and they both nodded.

“Oh, let me pay you-”

“It’s alright, this one’s on the house.” He assured Diana and she looked at him skeptically, “I’m sure. We’re all good.” He confirmed.

“Oh OK, well thank you. Did you guys figure out a new schedule?” She asked as she turned to Celeste.

“I’m gonna let him know.” Celeste said to Diana, who then turned to Harry and he nodded with a smile.

“Yeah. I’m gonna keep her regular slot blocked off and when she needs to come in just call or make your appointment online.” He said.

“Sounds good. Thank you again, Dr. Styles.” Diana said and Harry nodded firmly.

“My pleasure. And please, take the left overs with you.” He said to Celeste.

“Are you sure?” Celeste asked and he nodded.

“Yeah, of course! The dumplings were for you.” He assured and she grabbed the bag happily. Diana then grabbed the trash bag to toss in the big bin in the hallway before he walked them over to the other door that led to the hallway, “Alright, ladies.” He said as they stepped out, “Get home safe.” He said to Diana who just offered a small nod and then he turned to smile at Celeste.

She couldn’t help it as she shoved the bag into Diana’s hands and just hurried forward and hugged around Harry’s torso once again. Harry chuckled and hugged around her shoulders in response. His eyes fluttered up to Diana’s who quickly looked away when their eyes met. It was almost too much to see him being affectionate with Celeste. It was great to see but it also made her feel a bit sad. It was too easy to just imagine these sweet and affectionate scenarios being so commonplace in their lives, but it just wasn’t a real possibility.

“We’ll talk soon.” He assured Celeste quietly.

“Yeah.” she whispered and nodded against his chest before letting go.

“Bye.” He waved as they made their way down the hall.s

The car ride was quiet, Celeste seemed very pensive, but not sad. It wasn’t at all what Diana was expecting after what seemed like a “goodbye” at Harry’s office. She wanted to ask what they had talked about or what they had agreed upon, but she knew better than to pry. Obviously, Celeste had been doing far better than before, so she knew that Celeste probably would’t need therapy at the same frequency as before, but it was clear that she wanted to keep working with Harry as needed. Diana was glad though, that out of everyone she looked into they ended up with Harry. It gave her an increasing sense of comfort to know that the person who was helping her daughter, the literal sunshine of her life, on such a personal level loved and cared about her as if she were his own. Maybe she couldn’t have him in the ways she wanted, but at the very least Celeste had him in her life and that was good enough for Diana. 

*********

The next few weeks before Celeste was back in school flew by. Since Diana taught in the summer she was going to have pretty lax fall semester. So in between prepping for her two classes she, Celeste, and Grace dedicated time do some back to school shopping. It was something they had done together since Celeste started Kindergarten. Things were vastly different now. And while Diana was aware that time flew by and that inevitably, Celeste would grow up, she found it a bit of an emotional experience to be in the Ulta as Grace helped her choose a perfume because now that she had a boyfriend, she wanted to smell extra nice.

“-just keep it away from your lady bits because it will burn. Badly.” Grace said and Celeste looked at her quite judgmentally.

“Yeah, duh. Who would even think to do that?”

“Look, when we were younger no one had candid conversations about those kinds of things with us. Even some girls now might not have anyone to have those conversations with them.” Grace defended, “So many women might still do a lot of really…harmful things to themselves in the name of being more “feminine”. But it seems your mom has done a good job of warning you about those things.” Grace said with a smile and Diana chuckled.

“Yeah, definitely. No one should go through all the weird things we went through as adolescents.” Diana agreed as she picked up a bottle of some new Dior perfume to spray on a test strip and immediately grimaced as she gave it a whiff. 

They searched around for some hair products Celeste wanted to try and once they finished, were soon grabbing some dinner together. Celeste inhaled her food and was talking to Grace about Ben and her plans for the school year. She was basically back to her old self, she seemed more confident, and prepared for whatever might come her way. Diana was so proud of her, she had said it to her many times, and she was glad to hear Grace reiterating to her how she too was proud of how far she’d come over the last year.

“I know my mom was like…nerdy in high school.” Celeste said and Diana scoffed, “You said you were!” She defended, “But what were you like, Grace?” She asked.

“I was actually very popular. I was on the tennis team and we were very good.” She shared. “But I was a nice popular girl. I was a thespian too…and part of the debate team…” She shared, “Oh, and ASB VP junior year, and president my senior year…it was as fun time.” She mused with nostalgia, “Obviously, prioritize school. But remember to enjoy this time and make all of the memories you can. You’re only 15 once.” Grace said with a smile.

**********

On Monday morning Diana had made Celeste a breakfast sandwich and an iced earl grey tea so that she could eat on the way to school. She looked so cute in her new outfit and Diana was so excited to see her daughter like this, feeling gorgeous, confident, and capable. That’s all she could really hope for her. It was a new school year with new possibilities for both of them. All there was to do now was to seize those opportunities as they came.

“Are you excited? Nervous? Calm?” Diana asked as they drove to her school.

“More excited. I feel like it’s going to be a really good year.” Celeste shared before having another bite of her sandwich.

“Good. Did your uncle text you?”

“Yeah. Sent me $200 too.” She smiled excitedly.

“Well, just be smart with it, OK?”

“Yeah, I will…” she hummed lowly, “Oh, I know that technically you don’t start teaching until next week, but is it OK with you if Ruben drives me home after school on the days that I have activities after school? He’s on the football team and has to stay a bit later for practice and Ben is just always waiting around for him alone.” She said and Diana bit her lip.

“I’ll think about it.” Diana decided and Celeste huffed.

“Mom…” she whined.

“He’s 17, mamita. I’m not saying no, I just need to give it some thought.”

“Ben said he’s a good driver…”

“I’m no saying he isn’t, but he’s a teenager and driving can be dangerous even if you’re being cautious-”

“Oh my god, mom, it’s just like a 15 minute drive! Nothing’s going to happen to me!” She insisted, her body was now turned towards Diana’s as they were stopped at a traffic light.

“You don’t know that! And young men just tend to be the most reckless drivers-”

“I’m not going to die like Wes did!” Celeste’s voiced her frustration loudly and Diana’s heart immediately sunk and her stomach knotted up, her good mood completely faded in an instant. She exhaled shakily and Celeste was completely frozen upon realizing what she had just said.

“We’re done having this conversation, Celeste.” Diana said softly.

“Mom-” Diana cut her off as she turned on the radio and immediately turned it up. It was comically ironic how “Perfect Day” by Hoku filled the space. Celeste frowned when she saw Diana swallow thickly and a few tears slid down her cheek as they started driving again.

Celeste had no idea what to even do next, she was just staring at her mom. Waiting, hoping that she would blow up on her because she deserved it. But she stayed quiet the rest of the time until they were coming up to the drop off point. When the car came to a stop her mom was just quietly staring out the windshield.

“Alright, ummmm, have a good first day.” Her mom said quietly and she had no idea what to do, she was still just starting at her in shock.

“Mom-”

“Go on then…” she cut her off once more.

“Mom, please-”

“I don’t want to talk to you right now. Get out, please.” More of her tears started to fall and Celeste felt like absolute shit.

“But-”

“Get. Out.” Her mom punctuated, “I’ll be fine.” She mumbled and she just hurried out of the car.

***********

As soon as she pulled out of the school parking lot Diana started to sob. What Celeste had said to her was absolutely cruel. She felt so sick to her stomach. She knew how teens could be and she had to keep her cool. Though personally, she had never been that gutsy with her parents, she’d thought plenty of awful things some times. And she was thinking awful things now, but she was an adult now and she needed to get out of the situation before she blew up horribly on Celeste and said something to ruin her first day at school. She had to pull over from how hard she was crying, but better to let it all out than keep it bottled up inside. 

When she got home she did a bit of laundry and tidied up around the house, just trying to work away the frustration and that lump that was apparently lodged in her throat now. Afterwards she just plopped herself in bed and scrolled through her phone silently until she decided to reach out to Josh, he had teenagers, maybe he could help her figure out how to deal with this situation with Celeste. He was quick to reply and let her know that he was free the next day and they planned to meet up at Cafe Flores at 9am. After coffee Diana could go into the office and work on her assignments for a bit.

She lazed around for a large part of the afternoon and then made some dinner before leaving around 4:30 to get Celeste, the first day of band was always longer as they got the new members set up and discussed the repertoire for that semester. She waited in the parking lot for a bit before she saw Celeste coming out with Ben at her side. They stopped at the gate and Diana glanced away when she saw Celeste looking around before Ben leaned in to kiss her cheek quickly before he hugged her tight. Moments later the passenger door was opening up and she glanced over to see Celeste looking at her reluctantly.

“Hey, how was it?” She asked softly.

“Ummm…good. Really good.” Celeste responded. Diana could feel the apprehension rolling off of Celeste in waves as she settled into the front seat.

“That’s good.” She hummed and then took off. Once again, it was quiet between them. As much as Diana wanted to say something, if she spoke she would cry, so she just decided to stay in her head and focus on the road. They made it home and as soon as they got inside Diana felt more calm, but she still needed some space.

“Ummm, dinner’s on the stove.” Diana said to Celeste.

“Mom, I’m really sorry for what I said today it was horrible.” Celeste blurted out and Diana sighed.

“I know you are. I do forgive you, I just ummm…I’m still upset though.” She explained and Celeste frowned.

“But mom-”

“You really hurt my feelings, mamita. I love you, but I just…I need a little space to get over it, OK? I’m not mad at you anymore, just need some space.” She assured before heading back to her bedroom. She stripped down, had a shower, and then soaked in the bathtub until the water was getting a little too cold to relish any longer. She had just finished rinsing the bath bomb off when there were some knocks on her bathroom door. “Yeah?”

“I made you some of that chamomile tea you like.” Celeste said through the door and Diana smiled to herself. She quickly put on her bathrobe and opened the door to see Celeste setting the mug down on a coaster on her bedside table. She turned quickly upon hearing the door open, “I’m really sorry for what I said, mom.” She apologized again as she hurried over and Diana nodded.

“I know you are. C’mere.” She sighed and Celeste smiled as she settled into her arms. “I love you.” 

“I love you too.” Celeste sighed, “I just…got mad at you for…not letting me catch rides with Ruben-”

“I didn’t say no, Celeste. Just that I need to think about it. I don’t know him all that well, I’m sure he’s a great kid, but I just need to trust him a bit more to let you in a car with him without any adult supervision.”

“He’s turning 18 in November…” she whined.

“Look, I get that you want a bit more freedom now that you’re…growing up, but I’m still responsible for you. If something ever happens to you based on a decision I made it’s going to eat me alive. I called Josh today and we’re going to meet up for coffee tomorrow. Just want to see what he thinks because if something ever happens, their family would also be implicated and I just need to make sure that Ben’s parents are also OK with Ruben driving other people around. OK?”

“OK…” Celeste agreed. 

“And look, as you get a bit older we might…clash a bit more. There are going to be things that you might want that I might not be on board with. And even if we disagree or fight, I will always do my very best to keep my anger or frustration in check. I will try to be patient and understanding and even when we fight, just try to remember that I love you and just want to do what’s best for you. You’re everything to me, mamita. I’m just trying to do my best.” Diana said and Celeste just nodded.

“I know.” She said quietly, “I decided that I’m trying out for the fall musical.” She shared and Diana pulled back with a smile.

“Really? What musical are you guys going to do?” She asked.

“The Wizard of Oz.”

“Oh! What part are you trying out for?”

“I want Dorothy, but I don’t know…Maybe Glinda or the Scarecrow.”

“Well, if you want to be Dorothy, audition for Dorothy. Don’t settle.”

“You really think I can do it?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard you sing! You know…I’m a bit of a singer myself. I haven’t played piano in ages, but I’d be happy to get a keyboard or something and help you prepare audition pieces if you want? We can spend a bit more time together like that?”

“Really?”

“Yeah! It’d be fun!”

“OK.” She agreed.

“When are auditions?”

“In one month. We’re making the sets first. Mr. Greene wants to see how we collaborate with each other or something like that, first.”

“Well sometimes when people get the lead roles they get a little…prissy. It happened to Carly DeWitt during our production of Legally Blonde my junior year. She started being mean to everyone and bossing everyone around, everyone hated her by the end of the semester. Not even her friends wanted to talk to her because she just felt like she was better than everyone and wouldn’t help around the production. So I think Mr. Greene is on to something.” Diana said and after catching up a bit about Celeste’s day while she brushed her hair out they each went to bed. 

*********

After dropping off Celeste at school the following morning, Diana made her way to Cafe Flores to meet Josh. She parked in the faculty lot by her building and then made the ten minute walk through campus to the cafe. It was still a bit busy despite the lack of student presence, it did get a lot worse during the school year. She greeted the staff over the counter and took a seat, waiting for him to show up and just a few minutes later he was coming in through the door and she stood.

“Hey, how are you?” Josh greeted her warmly with a hug and friendly smile.

“Good. And you?” She asked.

“Pretty good as well. Have you ordered?”

“No, I was waiting for you.” She informed and so with that they went up to place their orders before taking a seat. 

They first caught up a bit and finally she brought up the reason why she had asked to meet him. Diana took a sip of her coffee before clearing her throat.

“So I wanted to talk to you about something.” She said and he nodded, “Yesterday, Celeste and I got into a bit of an argument…” she explained and he hummed, “Well, more like she got mad at me because she wanted my permission to let Ruben drive her home on the days he has football practice so that Ben doesn’t have to wait for him on his own.” She explained, “And ummm, I told her I’d think about it. Then she…was like ‘nothing’s gonna happen to me’ and I just told her that she didn’t know that and then she…she got upset and said that it’s not like she would die like…her dad did.” Diana said more quietly and Josh frowned.

“Oh my god…I’m so sorry.” He said and she shrugged.

“Obviously, it hurt my feelings…but ummm, my concerns do stem from that. He was…18, had his whole life ahead of him and a drunk driver ran a red and…that was it. So anyway, I’m a bit reluctant and I guess I just wanted to know i-if I’m being irrational about it?”

“Absolutely not! Besides, he’s not allowed to drive anyone apart from Ben until he turns 18 because he got two speeding tickets this summer.” Josh shared. “And after what you’ve been through I don’t want to put you in a situation that will make you concerned over your daughter’s wellbeing. Also, Ben really likes her and well, he’s always been a bit more of a geek and has struggled a bit in making friends and fitting in well. Luckily, we’ve been able to curve any bullying because Ruben is such a conventional teenage guy and no one messes with Ben because of it, but ummm, I’m really proud of him for going for it with Celeste. He’s felt more confident and he looks really happy and ummm, I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that. Maybe we can revisit this when Ben get’s his license next year, but I think for the time being it’d be best to not.”

“OK, well thank you for being honest with me about this.”

“I’m just annoyed now that my little shits were planning a coup…It’s not like Ben doesn’t know about the conditions we gave Ruben.” He said and Diana chuckled.

“They’re teenagers…they can be sneaky.”

“I know but…ugh, now I know how my parents must have felt.” He chuckled and Diana did as well. “Were you a trouble maker too?” He questioned with a teasing smirk.

“Actually no. I was a choir geek, didn’t even have a boyfriend until Wes…he was my first and last boyfriend.” She said and he frowned a bit.

“You’ve been alone this whole. Fucking. Time?” He questioned and Diana shrugged.

“It’s not like I haven’t tried.” She said, “And the one time I did think that maybe…I could be with someone Celeste flipped her shit.” She said, “Thought I was going to forget about her…so that ended and then ummm…I just…chose her. Well, I don’t know what I’m complaining about when you’ve sacrificed so much yourself.” She shook her head.

“Don’t minimize what you’re going through.” He said reaching for her hand and squeezed it, Diana smiled, “Yeah, it’s different than what I’ve been through, but it’s still hard. And at the end of the day that’s what parenthood is. The ultimate sacrifice. It’s never about you ever again. Even when they’re gone they’ll still have your whole heart and I mean, it’s not like you even have a choice you know. It’s going to be them.Every. Single. Fucking. Time.” he said softly.

*********

Harry had an adjunct faculty meeting at the Mental Health & Behavioral Intervention department. It was something they did every year to provide updates on university policies, courses, staffing, and to set up direct deposit for paying the adjunct professors. Misty had been sick to her stomach so he had taken her to the ER vet and lost some sleep since he was monitoring her overnight, so Harry was exhausted. Thankfully, the vet called in the morning and let him know that it seemed like she ate some bug that she shouldn’t have and she’d be just fine. He was relieved to learn that she was going to be just fine, but he needed a bit of a boost to make it through this three hour meeting at the university, so he decided to make a quick stop at Cafe Flores. 

He stopped at the window by the door, he just wanted a peek inside to see if there was a long line since he had less than ten minutes to get to the meeting. However, his stomach sank and his mood crashed as his eyes were drawn to see some handsome, large, buff man holding Diana’s hand across the small table. They were smiling at each other and seemed to be talking rather intimately. It hurt and made him so mad. Despite that, he lingered there for a few moments. He watched them being so open, laughing, talking…he wondered if she was even hurting over him anymore? He still was. And sure, he had buried that deep down to be able to function properly, to be able to stop wallowing all the fucking time, but it still hurt.

“Excuse me, are you going in?” A woman said from behind him and he spun around quickly.

“Ummm, no. Sorry.” He mumble before walking off. He sped off, heart and thoughts racing as all of these questions ran through his head. He felt like a strop-py child because he had no reason to be this upset, but the fact that he was told him that he just needed distance. More of it. He was glad now that he had told Celeste how he felt about her because he knew she would take her time to make the best choice and the longer she took, the better.

**********

Diana knew Celeste would be annoyed when she broke the news to her about Ruben not being able to drive her, but it had to be done. So on the way to pick her up from school she stopped by to pick up pizza from a place Celeste really liked and then went to grab her.

“Ooh, smells good!” Celeste hummed as she made her way into the car.

“Great! It’s my consolation prize because I have some disappointing news for you.” She said and Celeste pouted as she buckled up.

“Ughh, what now?” She asked with a frown as Diana started to drive away.

“Well, I met with Josh to see what he thought about Ruben giving you rides and he informed me that he got 2 speeding tickets over the summer so he’s not allowed to be driving anyone but Ben to and from school.” Diana said and Celeste looked away. “You knew?” Diana asked, sparing her a quick glance.

“OK, yes…but I didn’t think it would be a big deal! It’s on the way so we figured he wasn’t technically doing anything wrong since we’re on the way to their mom’s.”

“Teenagers…” Diana huffed with a roll of her eyes.

“You’re not mad?”

“Of course I am! But it’s not happening now that Josh knows, so there’s no point in getting upset at you.” She shrugged and Celeste huffed. “Sorry. But I will reconsider when Ben gets his license next year.”

“How do you know that?” She asked, turning to her quickly.

“Josh told me.” She smiled.

“I never should’ve let you guys meet…” Celeste grumbled playfully.

… OCTOBER …

This first week of October was very eventful for both Celeste and Diana. Celeste had Homecoming and was also going to hear back about the auditions for the winter musical. She and Diana had been rehearsing several songs to prepare her and she sounded phenomenal with each one. Diana had been having a rough start to her semester, she had a handful of the guys from the basketball team in her class on Latin American culture and they were very disruptive. Even after nearly a month of having them and trying to engage with them, they were just dicks and extremely disrespectful and so unserious. She had just finished grading one of their assignments where this particular student had put in absolutely no effort into the easiest thing and she was so annoyed. She was reaching her breaking point and had no idea how she would be able to handle this for the entire semester. Thankfully, her alarm went off, alerting her that it was time to pick up Celeste. She was so happy it was and started to wrap up before heading out. She was also picking up Ben today, he was going to come over and do homework at their place and then Ruben would pick him up after practice, this was a good alternative that Josh and Elena had agreed upon after talking to their boys.

“Hey guys, how were your days?” Diana greeted them.

“I got a call back for Dorothy!” Celeste said excitedly as she slid into the back seat to be able to sit with Ben.

“Yeah? Congrats!” Diana said excitedly. She could definitely use some good news after the day she’d had.

“She sounded so good in her audition last week!” Ben said as he slid into the car as well.

“Hey, Ben!” Diana greeted.

“Hi.” He smiled timidly before scooting to the center seat to be by Celeste. 

“When’s the callback?”

“At the end of the week! They want us to sing Over the Rainbow.” 

“Oh! Good thing we’ve been practicing it, you sound incredible.” Diana said and Celeste grinned.

“Really?”

“Yeah, Judy Garland would be impressed.” She assured. 

The drive home was filled with chatter about that and about the Homecoming carnival that was on Saturday night. As soon as they got home, Celeste and Ben started doing their homework in the dining room and Diana soon joined them to finish grading her assignments. It was around 5:30 when dinner arrived and Ruben was on his way. They had enough food, so Diana just texted Elena and Josh that the boys were eating dinner at hers before they headed home. It was that time of the week where there was an overlap in their shifts, so the boys would technically be alone at Elena’s place.  It made her feel better to know that they were with someone for a bit, she knew they were likely used to it, but if she could prevent them from being alone for just a bit more she’d do it.

“Thank you so much for dinner, Miss Beltran.” Ruben said as he placed his dishes in the sink as she put on the kettle for her evening tea.

“Yeah, of course. You boys have my number, if you ever want to come over just let me know.” She assured. A few moments later they were heading home. 

*********

Finally, it was Friday and Diana was pulling up to Celeste’s school. She only waited a few minutes in the lot before she, Geri, Ozzy, and Ben were all running up to the car.

“Mom, mom, mom!” Celeste was basically bursting with joy as she threw the car door open.

“What?” Diana asked with a bright smile.

“I got it! I got the lead!” She shouted excitedly and Diana gasped and hurried out of the car to Celeste and hugged and jumped up and down, cheering excitedly for a few moments with her.

“I’m so proud of you!” Diana praised as she pulled back from their hug.

“I may have been a little overexcited and asked everyone over for dinner.” She said with a nervous smile, “They’re gonna get picked up from our house at 8?”

“Yeah, alright.” Diana said.

“OK guys! Get in!” Celeste announced and her little crew started piling into the car. Diana stopped at the store for some salad and sodas and as soon as they got home she ordered some pizzas while the kids went to TV room.

“I’ve texted Grace and Harry too.” Celeste said to Diana as she came into the kitchen.

“Oh, great!”

“Yeah. Can I get 1 sprite and 3 Dr. Pepper’s?” Celeste asked and Diana went into the fridge to grab the soda cans for her before handing them over. After a few minutes Celeste came back. “Grace said she and Henry can be here around 6:30 and Harry has plans.” She said and Diana turned around.

“Harry, huh?” Diana questioned and Celeste smiled.

“Yeah. Ummm, he said he sees me like family, like a daughter, and that he…loves me.” She said and Diana’s brows arched up in surprise at the news that he actually told her. “That’s why I was crying after we met. It made me really happy to hear that. And ummm, we talked about…him not being my therapist anymore so that he could…be here for things like this all the time.” Celeste said, “I told him I wanted to think about it for a bit.”

“So is this you choosing?”

“I talked to him about trying out for the musical in session, I felt it was pretty neutral to invite him to this so that I can…give it more thought.”

“Yeah, I think it is.”

“Would you like it if he was around more?” Celeste asked.

“Ummm, I wouldn’t mind it. I like Harry, he’s really great.” Diana said and Celeste nodded.

“I think so too.” She smiled.

*********

Harry had continued his routine of drowning himself in work and ignoring everything negative that was accumulating. He had hung out with Henry and Grace a few times. He had even contemplated going to Celeste’s impromptu celebration for landing the lead role in the school musical a few weeks ago, but he couldn’t bring himself to. He wanted to be in Celeste’s life, he had missed not hearing from her. But he understood she needed to take her time and her cautious manner was actually a blessing in disguise as he nursed his broken heart with pot and hookups when he got really sad. 

He was in that irritated at love phase and having to sit in front of Henry and Grace while they made eyes at each other was torture. They were quite perfect for each other and Harry loved how they loved each other…he knew that he and Diana would look at each other just like that if given the chance.

“Harry, we’re having a Halloween party this Saturday and you must come.” Grace said,

“I don’t know…”

“H, you’ve been getting out of plenty of shit, but not this. C’mon it’ll be fun. You could dress up and just not be your miserable self for a while.” Henry said and Harry chuckled.

“Yeah, alright.” He agreed.

*********** 

Diana was a tad worried as she helped Celeste get on her Eleven makeup for her costume. She had her first high school Halloween party and Diana was nervous for where the night could take her and her friends. After Ruben started hanging out with them more, some of the senior girls befriended her and invited her to this party.

“Celeste, there will be alcohol and drugs somewhere at this party and I-”

“Oh my god, mom…I’m not gonna do that!”

“Well-”

“I’m too scared!” Celeste scoffed and Diana smiled.

“Yeah, it’s scary.”

“Does it even taste good or does it all taste like that wine?” She asked and Diana giggled.

“Not exactly like that, but that bitter after taste, that’s all about the same.”

“Not worth it in my opinion.” She mumbled and Diana chuckled.

“Well, make sure that at least one of you is sober so that you make good choices.” She said and Celeste nodded. “Please be very careful. Do I need to call Elena to confirm she’s going to pick you guys up?”

“Oh no, Ben told me she had a night shift so she’s just getting caught up on her sleep. But she’s driving us there and back.” Celeste confirmed.

“Oh OK. God I don’t know how they do it…such long hours.”

“I know… so are you going to Grace’s party?”

“I think so. I had a long week, should get some fun in.”

“Yeah, you deserve it.” Celeste said and Diana smiled.

“I don’t even know what to dress up as.”

“Just choose a movie character. I’m sure you have something in your closet.”

“Yeah.” Diana said with a smile. At 6:30pm Diana was dropping Celeste off at Elena’s place. She was in the shower at the time, but Diana wasn’t too worried about having a chat with her as she was in a rush to get back home and figure out a costume. “Celeste, 12:30pm, OK? If you’re going to be late, please call.” She said and Celeste nodded. With that curfew confirmed she headed home and focused on finding her outfit for the night.

After digging around, Diana pulled out her most generic professor-aesthetic pieces and paired them together before opting to put on her glasses instead of her contacts and just go as a “sexy professor”. She wasn’t really in a mood to drink, but she’d go and try and have a night to loosen up. She had a light dinner and then drove over to Grace’s place. There was some traffic so it was a bit after 8:30 when she finally arrived. Grace’s town home was quite full with people. Grace very easily made friends, but now she was learning that Henry also had loads of friends. She had been introduced to coworkers of theirs and had entertained small talk and flirtations from a few people as she just lingered in the kitchen until she started to get a bit overwhelmed by one of the men chatting her up.

“Sorry to interrupt, I just really need to use the restroom.” She said to him.

“Oh yeah, go for it! Sorry, just talking your ear off…” he smiled, “I’ll look for you after.” He said and she just smiled and slipped away.

**********

Harry wasn’t huge on dressing up for Halloween, so he hadn’t the slightest idea what to go as to Grace’s mandatory dress-up Halloween party. After much googling he threw on his sweater vest and some slacks with his glasses - he could pull off a look that was very similar to Guillermo De La Cruz from What We Do In The Shadows. He had eaten an edible right after he had his dinner and then an uber was driving him to Grace’s. When he arrived he saw a couple of Henry’s friends who he’d met before and of course, he’d seen Diana from afar, she was just lingering around the kitchen but not drinking from what he could tell. He was able to avoid the kitchen as other people kept offering to bring him drinks, all while he lingered in the shadows watching attentively as person after person tried their best with her. She played coy…he knew she did, but seeing it, he couldn’t help but smile. No wonder he’d fallen victim to her, she was so effortless and gorgeous. But he could see her growing weary of these efforts and finally excused herself. He followed her with his eyes as she made her way out of the kitchen and down the hall to the front door. He lost her when a group of people crossed and so he decided to follow her against his better judgment.

“Hey H, where are you off to?” Henry asked as he brushed past him.

“Oh, just outside for a bit. S’stuffy in here.”

“Oh for sure! When you’re back in find me, we’ll do a shot, yeah?” Henry requested with a lazy smile.

“Why don’t we just do it now?” He suggested with a drunken grin.

“Yeah! Let’s go!” Henry cheered and he rounded up a few more people before they were all knocking back a shot followed by a jello shot as a chaser. After that chaotic minute Harry was weaving his way through the bodies and out into the cold night. The weed in his system plus the couple alcoholic drinks he’d had while being here for a good hour were catching up to him. He felt like he was viewing the world in HD, his eyesight felt sharper somehow. His cheeks were warm and his consciousness was just a bit removed from him. As soon as he made it out he looked around and saw a small group of people talking and smoking up on the small lawn and when he looked ahead he saw a figure on the swings at the little playground across the street from Grace’s. It was just the back of her, but he knew it was Diana. He wanted to leave her alone, but his heart was begging him to walk in that direction. As if she were some magnetic force that he was inevitably drawn to. He knew better than to confront her in his current state, but despite that nagging little voice in his head begging him to have some self-control, or some dignity…Harry made his way over and when he got close he saw her straighten up a bit.

“Hi.” He spoke first and she turned her body a bit to see him coming around the swing set.

“Hey, Harry.” She smiled at him, “Are we dressed as the same thing?” She asked with an amused grin.

“I don’t know? I’m supposed to be Guillermo from What We Do In The Shadows.” He explained as he glanced down at his sweater vest and she studied him just a bit. 

The weather was still so pleasant in LA despite it closing in on November. That’s what he loved about this place. He could always count on it to be comfortable and perfect, even when the weather was “off”. Everything about LA was placid. The people, everyone always minding their own business. The traffic even had its pattern, he considered himself a local now, so he knew what hours to travel at to navigate it with less inconveniences. The culture - art, music, food, nature, all of it was rich and perfect. You could have anything you wanted in this state; it was heaven on earth to him! And well, then there was Diana…he couldn’t picture this city without her benevolence and beauty anymore. She gave this whole place a new shine that he hadn’t experienced before and he was addicted to it.

“Oh, I do see that!” She concurred after she had looked over his outfit in the cold light from the lamps surrounding the small playground.

“Exactly!” He smiled. “So who are you supposed to be?” He questioned and she shook her head with a timid smile.

“A sexy professor.” She mumbled lowly in slight embarrassment. She was avoiding his gaze and focusing on her shoes as she admitted this to him.

“Oh, so just yourself then?” He flirted, “Very clever.” He slightly slurred.

"Poor planning on my part.” She said, “You’re already drunk?” She questioned.

“I’m a little bit crossed.” He confessed and she hummed, “Wait…if you assumed we came as the same thing are you saying I’m a sexy professor?” He grinned smugly and she giggled.

“I guess, I am.” She shrugged and he smiled a bit cockily to himself, “Yeah.” She then confirmed with a giggle.

“Are you not drinking?”

“No. Celeste went to her first high school party. She made friends with some seniors through Ben’s brother. Ben is her boyfriend, by the way!” She said and Harry chuckled.

“Oh my god, I know! She told me she has a boyfriend now…wild.”

“Yeah…well, she’s off doing that and I know she’s a good kid, but I’m just a little too preoccupied to drink. Like if anything happens I just want to be able to get to her if need be.”

“Yeah, that’s actually really smart.” He said and she nodded. “Speaking of significant others… I saw you a few months ago, you know?” He brought up stupidly. Because maybe she and Celeste had made a deal, that if Celeste could date, Diana could now too and it would explain what he saw at the cafe all those months ago.

“You did? And you didn’t say hi?” She asked in mock offense.

“You were…a bit preoccupied.” He said and she furrowed her brows pensively,  “You were on a date?” He reminded and she looked even more confused, “I saw you literally holding hands with some obscenely hot, beefy guy across a table.” He said, trying to keep down that accusatory lilt that as fighting to become more obvious in his tone. But Diana seemed too confused to notice as she racked her brain trying to figure out what he was talking about because nothing was coming to mind.

“Are you sure it was me?” She asked and he smiled sardonically.

“Of course! I knew you were you just now by looking at the back of you!” He said and she smiled.

“Well none of that rings a bell so I think your eyes are failing you, Harry.” She teased playfully and when she glanced back up at him she saw his face was set in a rather serious expression.

“I can’t move on, you know? I’m not as…detached as you are.” He said and here eyebrows furrowed again.

“Detached? I don’t think I’ve been detached with you.” She responded, trying to keep the defensive tone at bay as he looked at her incredulously.

“Whatever you say…” he huffed, “So your new boyfriend-”

“Oh my god…” she groaned, “I don’t have a boyfriend!” She said with slight irritation. His false nonchalance about this was getting under her skin faster than it normally would. Mostly because she had made her feelings for him so fucking clear the last time they saw each other. Sure, it was months ago, but she put her whole heart out on the line for him. So that he would stop doubting and see that she loved him just as much as he loved her. 

“Love, s’alright…” he shrugged, “You can be honest with me. I-I can take it.” He slightly slurred and she rolled her eyes.

“Clearly not.” She said lowly and he smirked as he reached for the chain of the swing and she glanced up at him.

“So you’re admitting it. He’s your boyfriend.”

“Jesus, Harry-”

“I just need to know so that I can move on! Or just tell me that we’re never going to happen so that I can-”

“Harry, jealousy is not a good look on you.” She huffed as she scowled up at him.

“M’not jealous. I just need to know…so that I can move on without feeling bad-”

“Oh please, don’t feel bad for me! If you want to date, date! We tried, Harry and we both agreed it wasn’t going to work! I’m not expecting you to just dwell on what could’ve been forever-”

“OK, don’t flatter yourself…” he smirked and she scoffed and shot up from the swing and started walking away. Harry frowned as she hurried off, “Di!” He shouted after her, “Diana!” He called once more, slightly jogging after her before things started to get a little too spin-ny for him and he stopped.

“I’m not doing this with you. You’re being an ass!” She called back as she continued to stalk off towards the house. 

Diana didn’t even spare a glance back at Harry, she was so annoyed at him. Why couldn’t they just have a normal time without this always being a topic. As much as she wanted to be friends with him maybe she wouldn’t be able to if he couldn’t just deal with his feelings. She was hurting too, she missed him, she felt badly about the possibilities of what they could’ve been. She was dealing with it all the time, but she loved him too much to put him at risk and if he couldn’t see that and was just being a selfish prick about it, then she wanted nothing to do with him outside of their official business with Celeste. She just wanted to go home. So as she squeezed past a few people she was determined to find Grace and get her to open up her bedroom so she could grab her bag and get going. She didn’t need this.

*********

“Fuck.” Harry plopped down on the swing Diana had been on. The seat still warm from her body. It made him sad to think that this was as close as he could get to her warmth again. He kept doing stupid shit to drive the wedge between them even further. Maybe it was self sabotage because there was no way he could be on good terms with her without continuing to pine after her. 

Harry genuinely hadn’t felt this way before in his life. He felt incomplete without Diana and Celeste. It was sick, the game the universe was playing his with heart. He loved them too much for his own good…it was tearing him apart. He was talking himself into clearing his brain fog a bit to properly apologize before she left when his phone started ringing in his pocket. He sighed, wondering who could be calling at near midnight, when he pulled it out he saw Celeste’s name on his screen and quickly answered.

“Hello?” He spoke into the receiver. All he could hear was heavy panting for a few seconds on the line before it crackled a bit and he immediately started to freak out as he thought the worse. What if she was in danger? Or having sex with this new boyfriend of hers? She was 15! He started to get angry and scared at what could be happening, “Celeste? Celeste! What he hell are you doing, Celeste?!” He shouted into the receiver, practically shaking in anticipation of hearing her excuse for this. He was seeing red. If anyone hurt her, he would surely be out for blood and no one in the world would be able to stop him from-

“Harry?” She finally spoke, still sounding out of breath and then he heard some laughter and muddled voices in the background, “Are you there?” She asked and the line crackled again.

“Yeah, I’m here. Where are you? What’s going on? Are you alright?” His anger dissolved as soon as he heard the fear in her voice.

“Someone called the cops on the party I came to! My mom gave me permission by the way.” She said quickly and he let out the biggest sigh of relief upon hearing this, “And we just…we ran like half a mile to not get caught and I don’t have great cell service in this area so we can’t get an uber and they’re all like 40 minutes away and my curfew is at 12:30! Ruben had too much to drink and either way he’s parked out by the house where the cops are and we can’t go back there! We need you to please come pick us up!” she was rambling, sounding panicked as she divulged all this information about how she’d gotten into this situation.

“Oh god…ummm…I didn’t drive here, petal.”

“What about Grace or Henry? Can you borrow their car or can one of them come for us?” She asked.

“I’m not sober enough to drive and they’re worse than me. Your mum hasn’t had anything to drink-”

“No! Not my mom, Harry. Anyone but my mom! She’s going to kill me!” She panicked.

“Celeste, listen to me, I-I’ll talk her down. I’ll be the buffer, yeah?”

“You don’t understand, if she comes to pick us up we’re all screwed!” She groaned into the phone.

“I-if you did something wrong, sooner or later you’ll have to face the music. Better to be honest about it than try to finesse your way out of it. I will talk to her, OK?”

“Harry, I…I broke a lot of rules tonight. One really, really big one!” She confessed worriedly.

“We’ve all been there, yeah? It’ll be fine, OK? A-are you drunk?” He had to ask.

“No, I tried a bit but I didn’t like it.” She confessed lowly and he smiled, “I just pretended.” She said and he chuckled.

“That’s fine you do what makes you comfortable. Now in the meantime, send me your exact location and I’ll go find your mum. I’ll text you when we’re heading over, OK?”

“OK.” She said quietly and after reassuring her few more times they hung up. 

Harry was combing through Grace’s house for Diana and finally, he caught a glimpse of her making her way towards the front door and he rushed through the people in his way.

“Diana!” He called after her. He saw her glance back before she rolled her eyes at him and kept moving more swiftly than before. “Fuck, please excuse me!” He groaned as he forced his way between a group who insisted on talking right by the exit of the house. They all protested as he broke through their little circle and jogged out after her. “Diana, wait!” He shouted as he tried to catch up with her and she came to a screeching halt before turning around, causing him to stumble as he stopped right before he crashed into her.

“What do you want?!” She questioned him with so much irritation that his mind blanked for a second. When everything caught up to him again a second later he sighed.

“Celeste just called me.” Her irritation morphed into concern immediately, “The cops crashed the party and she’s freaking out.” He said and she immediately reached for her purse and frowned when she saw there wasn’t a text or missed call from her or anyone actually.

“Ummm…Ben’s mom is picking them up-”

“Well she called to ask me to pick them up because someone’s too drunk to drive and the car is out by the house and they can’t go back there so they’re stranded-”

“Was it Ruben?” She asked and Harry nodded and he saw her jaw tense, “I’m going to kill her.” She said with frustration as she dug around for her keys.

“I’m gonna have to report that to CPS.” He joked with a grin and she took a break from her searching to glare at him.

“Not the time, Harry.” She seethed.

“Sorry. I know…ummm, she sent me her location.”

“Just text it to me.”

“I’m coming with you.” He said and she shook her head.

“No offense, but I don’t want to be anywhere near you right now. I just need to get to my kid and make sure she’s alright-”

“She’s safe, OK? She didn’t drink, she just made a mistake.”

“This is more than that. She lied to me! She knows she’s not allowed to ride around with Ruben! And he’s not allowed to be driving anyone other than Ben because-”

“OK, deep breaths.” He said reaching for her shoulders and she pushed his arms away.

“Don’t tell me to take deep fucking breaths! I have every right to be angry at her! We had the worst fucking fight over this when school started! And-”

“Diana, I’m sorry but just listen.” He interrupted and she sighed, “Look, she did what she did, we can’t change that now.” He shook his head, “She did the right thing though, she called us for help-”

“She called you because she knows she’d be in trouble if I found out.” She said to him.

“OK, but aren’t you glad that they had the sense to not escape in their car with a drunk driver?” He said and she sighed and shook her head.

“Still, Harry-”

“You have every right to be upset, but that’s not going to fix anything right now. Let’s just go get her, OK? Let’s get her back home and deal with it then.” He appealed. “I’ll come to be a buffer and besides I’m over this party.” He said and she sighed. “You can vent to me the whole way, catch me up on what I don’t know.” He said and she bit her lip pensively for a moment.

“Fine. But I’m dealing with this my way. OK?”

“Yeah, she’s…she’s your daughter.” He said and she nodded.

“C’mon then.” She said lowly before they headed off to their car.

Harry texted Celeste that they were on their way. It was nearly a half an hour drive, the home they had gone to was in hidden hills, quite far from where Diana thought the party was, which was another added layer to the issue. She explained the argument she and Celeste had about Ruben giving her rides and what she had said to her. Harry looked a bit shocked at that and Diana explained how angry and hurt she was about it, even after they had fixed things, she still felt hurt about it when she’d give it some thought.

“Well anyway…the day after that I had made plans to talk with Ben’s dad about this to see if they were even comfortable with having Ruben giving rides out to anyone other than Ben and his girlfriend. Like just for insurance purposes! He’s not even 18 yet, you know?” She explained and Harry nodded as they continued making their way down the 101 North. It felt reminiscent of their failed first date, they were taking the same freeway anyway, “So we went out for some coffee,” upon hearing her say this he started to feel like an idiot, “and he explained that Ruben got two speeding tickets over the summer so he wasn’t allowed to drive anyone but Ben and they would reconsider after his 18th birthday and-”

“Ummm did you…happen to get coffee at Cafe Flores?” He interrupted and she spared him a quick glance.

“That’s the only place I get coffee, Harry.” She said and then he sighed and shook his head in total embarrassment. Even his ears were getting hot as the realization came over him over what he had actually been witnessing. But he wasn’t the only one having realizations over this, when Diana gasped, he knew that she had figured it out, “Wait…is that what you saw?” She asked and he just stayed quiet. “You saw Josh holding my hand over the table while we talked?” She questioned and he was trying to figure out a way in which he could play down the way he’d practically gone off on her earlier in the night, “So you’ve been mad at me this entire time over something you assumed was a date?” She questioned, she glanced over to him, completely amused at this revelation. 

“What else was I supposed to think as you looked at each other like that and held hands?” He finally said. When he glanced over to her she was smiling a bit, “Don’t laugh at me…”

“I’m not. I’m just remembering that I was…talking about you when that happened. We were talking about how I’ve been doing this on my own and Celeste’s apprehension with me dating. And I had just said that I had met someone who I wanted to be with, but it got complicated with Celeste and we had to just not.” She explained and he frowned a bit, “He’s gay.” She said and Harry felt like an even bigger idiot now. 

“And who’s the asshole now…” he mumbled and she sighed.

“You’re not an asshole.” She said, “Well maybe sometimes. But, if I recall correctly I was feeling stupid for complaining about my love life because Josh and his partner, Vincent’s families are homophobic. Ben and Ruben’s mom, Elena, is basically his cover for it.”

“Oh…that’s so awful.” He said and she nodded.

“Yeah. She knows, they were together for ages. Agreed to have a family together because they both wanted that and they would just do their own thing. But then he met Vincent and they started their own life. They’re great coparents, the kids love them all and it’s going really well for them. But anyway, I was just saying how my troubles in love seemed so minimal compared to what he had to go through and how he couldn’t even be this authentic self with his family and that’s when he grabbed my hand and told me to not minimize my struggles in love and assured me that he understood what it was to just sacrifice everything for your kids.”

“Wow…he sounds like a really lovely man.”

“He is. He really is, we became friends really quickly.” She said and he hummed.

“I’m sorry.” He said to her and she just smiled at him before turning her vision back to road. “Really, I am. I feel like I’m always making a total ass of myself around you and it always comes back to haunt me.”

“Just stop jumping to conclusions, Harry.” She said and he sighed.

“Yeah…I should. I just…genuinely can’t wrap my head around how good we would be together and the fact that we can’t have that…”

“I told you that I love you, Harry. I’m not just going to move on from that after a few months. It took a lot for me to just be that vulnerable about my feelings and my wants with you…sometimes I regret it. I feel like if I hadn’t said it, it might be easier to get over, you know? But I said it. I spoke the words and it felt…way too real after that. I was so depressed I was bedridden, Harry.” She said and he frowned as he glanced towards her, not even thinking twice about wiping a tear as it slipped down her cheek.

“I’m really sorry, Di. I am…I’m such a fucking dick.” He said softly and she sighed.

“It’s…fine.” She said softly and he chuckled and shook his head.

“It’s not. I don’t know how to fucking act with you. Like a fucking child.”

“Just a bit.” She said with a smile and he returned her gesture.

“I get now why you’re so angry. This is a lot…in a way your biggest fear.”

“Yeah. Yeah, it is. I had no idea this was even going to be an issue until it was. Like she’s growing up and I’m losing control, I’m losing my say in her life bit by bit and I don’t think I can handle that!” She said and he nodded in understanding.

“I ummm…” he chuckled breathily before he spoke up, “I thought she had butt-dialed me during sex or something when she called because all I could hear was heavy breathing and-”

“No!” Diana groaned as she shook her head and Harry chuckled.

“I was livid.” Harry said with a shake of his hed, “God, I’d never been more ready to tear someone’s head off…” he chuckled. “The sigh of relief I exhaled when she said she had run half a mile to get away from the cops…”

“I mean, that’s still rather awful…” she said.

“Somehow that’s better than her hooking up with someone.” He said and Diana chuckled.

“Yeah, a bit…"

"Talk about feeling like you completely lost the reigns.” He said and she laughed.

“Yeah, I’m not sure that feeling ever goes away.” She said and he smiled.

“I don’t see how it would.” He concurred.

“She told me a few weeks ago about what you talked about last time.” She said and he turned to her.

“I hope that was OK. I just…I hate pretending like I don’t love her for the sake of work.” He said, “I wanted her to understand why I…continued to put distance in between us, you know?” 

“Yeah, I get it. I’m not sure if she’s still thinking about it or if she’s just been distracted with everything she has going on right now. But I mean…I think subconsciously she is choosing to have you in her life as a friend or family or whatever, rather than the limited version of you she gets in therapy.”

“Yeah, I think that would be more meaningful for her too. And ummm…I think I’m kind of done trying to find a way to…to make us work.” He said and she felt her heart twist with hurt and her stomach sink, “Wait, I’m drunk, that came out very different than what I was trying to say in my head.” He chuckled, “Like, obviously, I’m in love with you. But I feel like every time we try it just blows up in our faces, you know?”

“Yeah.” She agreed.

“So my strategy is just that I’m just going to let it be. I can only believe that we’re supposed to be together; it just makes sense. When it’ll happen? I don’t know… and I don’t care. But it will and I’m just going to let it happen in its own time.” He said and Diana felt relief as he said that.

“I think we are too. Supposed to be together.” She confirmed with a smile. “But what if that’s until Celeste is in college?” She asked him and he shrugged nonchalantly.

“Eh, what’s another 2 years?”

“Oh my god…that’s right! Just 2 years.” She said in shock and he smiled.

“Right?!” He chuckled in just as much disbelief, “I mean, there’s no rush though. The only thing that I feel would put any time constraints on us would be if you wanted to have more kids, but I mean, you don’t. I don’t. So we could even wait to be snowbirds together if that’s how you wanted it.” He said and she laughed.

“Definitely don’t want to wait that long to have my love life sorted out.” She giggled and he did as well.

“So ummm…friends?” He asked as he turned to her and she spared him a quick glance with a smile.

“Yeah. Friends.” She confirmed before turning back to the road, “Who are in love with each other.” She added.

“Yeah, tons of friends are in love with each other and they just…exist together without making a mess. We can do it.” He concluded and she smiled.

“We can. We’re adults. We can hang!” She said and he laughed and nodded.

“Yeah, we can.” He agreed. “So, as your friend…how is this situation with Celeste going to play out?” He asked and Diana shook her head.

“I have no idea. God, I hate that she lies though!” Diana groaned as she started to exit the freeway. “Like how can I…take care of her or trust her when she’s lying to me? You know?” He nodded in understanding as she looked both ways before peeling to the right per the directions his phone was giving, “She’s young, I know she wants to try different things and enjoy her youth, but if she does something she’s not supposed to do right now then obviously she’s going to get in trouble over it…like it’s part of the whole thing!”

“That’s what I told her on the phone. I mean, she was begging me to find another way to help her out that didn’t involve you. But I explained to her that sooner or later anything you do wrong just…comes to light and that it’s better to just face it head on than to try and pretend like nothing ever happened and get out of it somehow. I know that she’s smart and that she’s capable of making good decisions, I mean clearly.” He said and she nodded, “But you also need to be accountable for your not so good decisions.”

“Exactly.” She said and he smiled.

“So maybe tell her like that. And…I mean, you’re grounding her for a bit, I presume?”

“Oh definitely.” Diana chuckled as they came to another stop at a traffic light.

“How long we talking here?”

“Like…2 weeks?” She said as she glanced to him.

“That doesn’t seem like long enough…It’s just 2 weeks. Maybe a month?”

“But you said she didn’t drink. She just…lied about the ride thing.”

“True…” he mused pensively. 

“Am I making this bigger than it actually is?” She now questioned all of her anger.

“I don’t know…I mean, she lied about something that you’d both already agreed upon. She understands your reasonings and agreed to follow your rules…” he said and she sighed, “How do people do this? What is she even going to get out of a grounding? Like what privileges are being revoked?” He asked her and she sputtered out a laugh.

“I don’t know! I’ve never had to ground her before!” She exclaimed before they both started laughing for a bit.

“Well who is putting these ideas in her head? Is it the boyfriend? Because if so-”

“I don’t want to do that to her…take away someone meaningful to her? My parents did it to me. I mean, I hadn’t done anything wrong, it was just their…racism, but it’s just wrong in my eyes. To take away someone’s love and support from another person, that’s not a privilege.” She said to him and he smiled.

“Yeah, you’re right. Scratch that.” Harry said, “God, this is way too hard.”

“It so is!”

“Imagine how parents who have kids who are consistently challenging their rules? Like you run out of things to ground them over right? Like…how?”

“I guess so? But I’m thinking No hanging out outside of school stuff and no allowance for two weeks. Can’t take her phone or laptop, she’ll need those.”

“Right…” Harry chuckled, “You’ve done really well with her, Di. I mean, I think it’d be good to figure out why she felt like she needed to lie about this?” He said and she hummed. “Sure, I’ve been out of the loop for a bit, but from what I’ve seen you’ve always shown her that you’re willing to listen first, so there’s no reason for her to lie. Most people lie to avoid some sort of negative consequence. She could just be…scared of what you might do if she breaks a rule. And just the fact that she’s breaking the rule is so scary to her?” He tried to think of some motive.

“Yeah, like she immediately lies instead of trying to argue for a compromise to a rule that maybe she doesn’t agree with. Like this thing about Ruben not being able to drive her.”

“Right. Like it’s a big deal for you and it could be that this is more of a rule for your own peace of mind, you know? And she might feel like it’s not as serious as you might think it is.”

“Yeah, and I recognize that it is more for me. But his parents have also put up a boundary about him driving others around, so even if I agreed to let him give her rides, he still can’t until his parents say it’s OK.” She explained, “Which they haven’t so…”

“Yeah, so come at it from that perspective. Try and figure out why she thinks it’s not a fair rule, you know?” He suggested.

“Yeah, OK.” She hummed as they go a bit closer, “Thank you, Harry.”

“Of course.” He smiled, “You’re gonna make a left up here and they should be…oh, there they are.” He chuckled as he saw the four kids sitting on the sidewalk looking absolutely cold and miserable. “Maybe this was punishment enough.” He mused and she chuckled as she made a u-turn to come up beside them. As soon as they realized it was her they stood up.

“Sorry guys, it’s gonna be a tight fit.” Diana said as Celeste opened up the back door.

“S’alright we’ll fit.” Heather, Ruben’s girlfriend assured her, “I can just sit on your lap, babe. That way we can buckle up.” They heard her say to Ruben who agreed as Celeste slid in first and then Ben in the middle. As Heather and Ruben got situated Celeste glanced over to Harry, he turned to say to her and Ben, she looked so anxious and scared. They all were, it was eerily quiet as they made their way back home. It was so awkward that Diana ended up handing her phone to Harry so that he could pick some music to play on the drive. But eventually Ruben fell asleep, he was the one that was a bit trashed. And everyone else seemed to be sober.

“Guys, we’re almost home. Does anyone need any food?” Diana asked. Heather begged them to please stop by the in-n-out and she ordered herself and Ruben some food, everyone else was fine. And after that little detour they were coming to slow stop in front of Elena’s house.

“Do you need me to take you home, Heather?”

“No, it’s alright. My sister should be here in a few minutes.” She said to Diana.

“OK.” She smiled and they started getting out of the car. 

“M’gonna use the bathroom. Can’t hold it!” Celeste said before getting out of her side and hurrying off to the dark house with Ben. Diana put the car in park, waiting and watching as Heather and Ruben split up their food. Not even a minute later another car was coming up the street and Heather kissed Ruben before waving goodbye to her and Harry before she got in the car and they took off. Then Ruben came over and Diana scrolled her window down.

“Miss Beltran, I’m so sorry for this. I wasn’t planning on drinking since I’m in the middle of season, but we were playing this game and-”

“It happens, Ruben. You guys did the right thing calling for help.” She assured and he nodded.

“Ummm, also I wasn’t going to drive. But my mom had to cover a shift at the last minute and made an exception to let me drive just this once. I didn’t know that Celeste didn’t mention that to you when she found out. Not to place any blame on her, but if I had known that she was nervous to tell you that I would’ve made sure that my mom talked to you before she left for work. I swear, that’s how it all went down, I just don’t want her to get in trouble.” He said.

“Thanks for explaining, Ruben. I’m just glad that you’re all safe.” She said and he smiled and said goodnight before heading inside. Just seconds later Celeste and Ben were coming back outside. He walked her up to the car and opened the door for her and hugged her before letting her slip inside.

“Thank you for coming to get us ,Miss Beltran. I’m really sorry about this whole thing.” He said nervously. Even the fact that he was calling Diana “Miss Beltran” was an indicator that he was beyond nervous. He’d stopped calling her that for a while now.

“That’s alright, Ben.” She assured with a smile and he just gave one last wave and a goodnight to the three of them before he hurried inside and Celeste just exhaled shakily. “Ummm, off to yours?” Diana asked Harry.

“Yeah, we can go through a back way from this street.”

“Oh, OK. Just tell me where to go.” She said and he guided her though until they were pulling up to his house. “Well ladies, thank you.” He said and Diana smiled.

“Yeah, of course.” She hummed and he stepped out and dug around his pockets before frowning, “What’s wrong?”

“I left my keys and wallet in Grace’s room.” He groaned as he felt around his pockets again just in case.

“Oh, well we have a guest bedroom. You can crash and we can get your stuff tomorrow, yeah?”

“I don’t want to be a bother.”

“You’re not.” She assured him. “Is that OK with you Celeste?” Diana asked, glancing back to her and she looked up to her from her phone and then to Harry.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” She smiled.

“Hop in then.” Diana smiled at him and he settled back into the car and they made their way back to their house. 

As soon as they made it in Diana told Celeste that she wanted to have a talk with her and to just get ready for bed. Diana was searching for some clothes Harry could borrow to sleep in and well, she did find some that would fit. She showed him to the guest bathroom  upstairs so that he could change and wash up, she left him an extra toothbrush as well and she busied herself with turning down the bed in the guest room and bringing him an extra blanket in case he got a little cold. Harry came into the room right as she was setting the extra blanket down on the corner of the bed.

“Oh, just in case you get cold or something.”

“Perfect, thanks.”

“Can I get you any water?”

“I can get it. I’ll take a bit so you can have that chat with Celeste.” He said and she smiled.

“OK, thanks. And thank you again for everything tonight.”

“I hope it made up for me being a jealous prick.” He said softly and she giggled.

“Yeah, definitely did.” She nodded and he smiled.

“Good. OK, I’ll ummm disappear. Text me when you’re done, yeah?” She nodded and he made his way down stairs as Diana took a few steps over to Celeste’s door and knocked.

“Come in!” She called and Diana stepped inside and closed the door quietly behind her. Celeste was already on her bed, holding one of her decorative pillows in her lap, picking at the woven in beading anxiously.

“Hey, you alright?” Diana asked as she took a seat beside her and Celeste nodded and cast her eyes down. “What’s going on?” She asked her softly and Celeste sighed, “Why did you lie to me about Elena driving you guys?”

“She got called in last minute and told Ruben he could take us-”

“I know, Ruben told me while you were inside. But why didn’t you text me just to let me know there was a change in plans?” She asked

“I don’t know…I got nervous that you would change your mind about me being able to go to the party. Or say he couldn’t drive us in case he got drunk or something-”

“Which he did.” Diana said and Celeste frowned. 

“Ben said he doesn’t really drink at parties, this was the first time he drank like this.” She explained.

“So before the cops showed up what was your plan to get home safely by curfew?” Diana asked and Celeste sighed.

“I…I don’t know.” She confessed. 

“Mamita, lying about things like this is the worst thing you could do. Something as simple as a party can go terribly wrong and put you in situations that could compromise your safety. And not just yours, Ben’s, Ruben’s, Heather’s, and any of your other friends!” Diana explained, trying her best to keep her emotions regulated. She could see the tears forming in Celeste’s eyes and the anxiety radiating off of her was palpable. “Sometimes, telling the truth can be scary, but has there ever been a time where you have…tried to communicate something to me and I’ve just…dismissed you?” She asked and Celeste took a moment to think before she shook her head.

“I don’t think so.” She said softly.

“OK, so what makes you think or feel like I wouldn’t listen to you when it comes to stuff like this?” She asked, “I mean, I said yes to this party that was just for upperclassmen, didn’t I?” Diana asked and Celeste nodded. “Then trust me. Communicate with me, mamita! I just want what’s best for you and your friends. And I’m sure their parents feel the exact same way.” She said and Celeste sniffled as her tears finally started to fall. “Hey, don’t cry.” She said reaching for her hand. 

“I’m sorry.” She sniffled.

“I know you are. And look, the thing with Ruben, I mean…it’s his parents’ rule that he can’t be driving anyone around right now. I know that I…have a very specific fear about this and I need to learn to overcome that, especially as you get older and gain more independence, but that’s their rule. And if they made an exception then all you needed to do was let me know. Exceptions can happen. And I’ve gotten to know Ruben a bit more and he’s very responsible and sweet, I would’ve been OK with it just for tonight and probably figured out a plan B with you guys beforehand in case he drank too much. Especially knowing that his parents aren’t available.” She explained and Celeste nodded. “But despite the turn of events I’m glad you guys are all safe and sound and I’m glad you called Harry.” She said and Celeste smiled.

“He told me to own up.” She giggled through her sniffle and Diana smiled.

“Yeah, it’s important to own up when you’ve made a mistake. You’re really good at that, and I admire you for it. And yeah, it can be scary and difficult sometimes, but there’s nothing more important than being accountable for your choices and actions. And I hope that in the future you choose to be more honest with me when you’re in trouble. I mean, I don’t think that any of my rules are…unreasonable, but if you feel like something I’ve set up feels that way then please let me know. We can talk about it, come to an agreement perhaps, and other times I might just tell you that I’m not changing my mind and you’ll just have to accept that sometimes.”

“I know.” She mumbled.

“And look, I know that Ben is a great young man, and in having this relationship with him you’ll want more space and privacy. But I’ve noticed that after being with him you’ve started to lie more or to omit information and that’s not OK, Celeste. I don’t want to ever tell you that you can’t spend time with someone that’s important to you. That wouldn’t be right of me and besides, you’d just sneak around and it’ll be a mess! But I want you to understand that more freedom means more responsibility. If you want more space, more independence, more privacy, more of my trust, you need to show me that you are capable of being responsible. I know you already are with everything you have going on, but this is another layer to it. And the layers of things you’re responsible for will keep increasing until you’re a full-fledged adult and can call your own shots. It’s my job as your parent, to ensure that you have the ability to take ownership of your life and this is part of that. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah.” She nodded.

“So, I…don’t really know how to punish you because, I’ve never had to do this before…” Diana said and Celeste chuckled, “I’ve decided you’re grounded for two weeks. So no stuff outside of school and no allowance. I think that’s rather fair.” Diana said and Celeste frowned but kept quiet and nodded.

“Yeah, that’s fair.” She finally said. “Does that mean we can’t give Ben rides home from school when Ruben has practice?”

“Well that just messes with his schedule too, so he can still come over, but weekends you’ll be home with me. Doing… things. Chores.”

OK.” She agreed, “If I’m really good can we cut down the time?”

“No. You should be grateful it’s two weeks, Harry said a month.” Diana informed and Celeste’s eyes went wide.

“A month?!” She scoffed.

“Well, he doesn’t have kids so…he doesn’t know how hard it’d be to have a teenager on house arrest for a month.” She said and Celeste giggled.

“Yeah, two weeks is fine. I’m happy with two weeks.” She said quickly and Diana chuckled.

“I love you. Always.”

“I love you too. I’m sorry for lying.”

“Just don’t do it again.” She said and Celeste nodded, “Did you at least have fun at the party?”

“Yeah…I mean, one of the girls had me try her drink and it was…so gross. So I just made a fake one since they wanted to play beer pong.” She confessed and Diana smiled, “I was surprisingly good at that. A lot of the games were fun.” She said and Diana nodded. “But ummm…I’m a bit traumatized now…like I know I might look athletic but I’m not. And if every party is going to get crashed by cops I’d rather not go again until I’m fit enough to run half a mile uphill to hide from the cops.” She chuckled and Diana laughed along with her.

“Yeah, parties weren’t my thing. It was very messy…only started to go spring semester with your dad. He made it fun though, people wouldn’t force me to drink or do anything I didn’t want because of him. But ummm, yeah s’just something to get used to! And well, if you try again and absolutely hate it, you really don’t have to go to parties.” Diana said and Celeste nodded.

“Right.” She agreed. With that she got into bed and Diana made her way out of the bedroom and downstairs to grab her own glass of water before heading back up to her room.

When she got down there Harry was sitting at the kitchen island, scrolling through his phone with a bowl of food before him. She smiled at the sight. She imagined this is what he would look like after a long day of work when he just needed to have a chat about something that had happened with a client or in class. They could sit and talk, vent, discuss…whatever he needed. And she could just see herself gently scratching his back and listening attentively to everything he had to say. She’d finally have the chance to be there for him, the way he had been for her. When Harry noticed her lingering by the entrance of the kitchen smiling at him, he glanced over.

“Sorry, made myself at home. Got the munchies, should’ve taken advantage of our In-n-Out pit stop.” He admitted and she smiled.

“That’s alright.”

“It’s good, whatever this is.” He said as he looked down at the bowl and she walked over and peeked down at it.

“Oh, tallarines verdes.” She smiled.

“Mexican food?”

“Peruvian. Basically Peruvian pesto.”

“Yeah, it’s fucking delicious. I might finish it. Is that alright?”

“Yeah, of course. Celeste clearly didn’t like ‘em as much as you did, so please.” She insisted, “Should I get ‘em out?”

“Please. How’d it go?” He asked as she pulled the container from the fridge.

“Really good. I even pulled out something about how I understand that she wants more independence and privacy now that she has her little boyfriend, but in order for me to give her more of that she needs to prove to me that she’s responsible enough for more freedom. Just…pulled that out of thin air!” Diana said as she just stuck the Tupperware in the microwave.

“Oh…that’s really fucking good. I’m gonna use that.” He said and she giggled. “Good improv.”

“That’s literally parenting, all improv. Like you read all these books and understand all these theories and approaches but you just end up doing your own thing. Every child is just so different, you know?” She said and he hummed. “I may have… thrown you and your punishment suggestion under the bus to make the two weeks grounding sound less daunting. So sorry in advance.” She said and he chuckled.

“That’s fine. You needed the win.” He hummed and she smiled. When the microwave beeped she grabbed the container and just dropped the rest of the noodles into his bowl. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, of course.” She hummed before heading over to wash it.

“I’ve got that, don’t worry.” Harry said immediately when he realized she was cleaning up after him.

“Oh no, it’s OK.” She assured and quickly washed it before serving herself her tall glass of water. “Alright, just call me or knock on the door if you need anything, OK?”

“OK. Thank you. Good night.”

“Night!” She smiled and headed up stairs.

**********

Y/N had slept better than she had in a long time, she woke up feeling like everything was alright. And it was, with Celeste and with Harry. She felt like she’d done a great job of communicating her needs and had been heard and things could only get better from there. And as she laid in bed, contemplating when to get up she realized that she smelled something delicious and immediately went to wash up before throwing on her robe and getting into her slippers to head down stairs. The more steps she descended the clearer she could hear him singing along to the music he was playing from his phone, currently that was “Just the Two of Us” by Bill Withers and Grover Washington Jr. She smiled as she came into the kitchen to see him drizzling some pancake mix onto the hot griddle.

“Morning!” She said and he jumped a bit in surprise.

“Jesus!” He gasped and she laughed.

“Sorry.” She apologized through her smile and he just chuckled and turned his eyes back down to the stove.

“Sure you are…”

“What’s all this?”

“I just wanted to do something nice for you guys.” He said and she smiled.

“You’re too sweet, thank you. It smells amazing.” She hummed.

“Thank you.” He smiled.

And yes, it did smell amazing, Celeste had woken up just moments after her mom. She figured she was making breakfast, but then remembered that she typically slept in on Sundays and that Harry had stayed over…meaning he was probably the one cooking up whatever delicious scent was wafting up from the kitchen. So she sprung out of bed and washed up before quietly making her way down the steps. The closer down she got the clearer the music he was playing became and the chatter between him and her mom. She stayed around the corner to eavesdrop just a bit and she was thanking him for talking her down from losing her shit on her last night. Celeste smiled because he had promised her that he would talk it out with her mom and he had done just that.

“Oh my god, I love this song!” Her mom suddenly groaned.

“Me too! You’ve seen “My Best Friend’s Wedding”, right?” He asked and she scoffed.

“Of course! I’ve seen every Julia Roberts film. She’s literally the perfect woman.”

“Right! Fucking breathtaking…” he mumbled and then they started singing.

The moment I wake up before I put on my makeup (makeup) - I say a little prayer for you.

And while combing my hair now and wondering what dress to wear now (wear now) - I saw a little prayer for you…

Suddenly she heard her mom squeal and she snuck a little peak to see Harry grab her and spin her around before he just started dancing with her as they sang loudly to the chorus.

Forever, forever you’ll stay in my heart and I will love you.

Forever and ever we never will part. Oh, how I love you.

Together, together that’s how it must be to live without you would only mean heartbreak for me! 

“Oh my god, don’t drop me!” She laughed as he dipped her low.

“I would never!” He chuckled, “You trust me with your child but not with your life?” He asked playfully.

“Oh, my life is on the line?” She questioned and he chuckled and then helped her straighten out as they laughed.

Celeste found herself smiling from ear to ear as she watched them continue singing into the second verse. Harry was using the spatula in his hand as a mic as he sang to her mom and she just looked at him in amusement.

“Your pancake is burning.” She said to him and he turned around quickly and saw it smoking more than normal and hurried to flip it over as she laughed a bit. 

Celeste snuck back around the corner, trying to keep herself composed before making her entrance. Her mom was asking him if he wanted some coffee to which he said yes, but they continued singing as they did their own tasks. Celeste could feel her heart racing in her chest at what she’d just seen. She didn’t expect to feel as happy about that as she had…but it was sweet. And maybe if Harry was around more they could all have more moments like this together. What if Harry started to like her mom and then…well, if it worked out she could have two parents who obviously loved her and cared about her. They were two good looking people…they would make a cute couple, wouldn’t they? And who better to date her mom than someone that she knew wouldn’t try to just take her from her. Harry knew her concerns about her mom dating, so he would be mindful of those things…and just like that she had decided that it was time to fire Harry as her therapist.

---- TAG LIST ----

@sunshinemoonsposts@anotherdudetteinthisworld @matildasatellite @sad-avocado@sunflovverharry @cherrysulewski @daphnesutton @gurugirl @jessitpwk@permanentllyharry @here4thefanfics @slutfortigertattoo @reveriehs @angelbabyyy99 @freedomfireflies @behindmygreyeyes

[hp-shippy-prompts]

Prompt:

Time travel AU. (Marauders’ era? 🤔)

Harry trips to the past during his year on the run. The war hasn’t quite broken out yet, and Harry’s takes a couple of years to sort his lie *cough* I mean, life out. Once he has, despite his meagre history and credentials, he ends up teaching DADA. (Even then Dumbledore struggled to fill the position because of the curse - it’s unknown!Harry or a Death Eater. 🤷‍♀️)

Harry isn’t anything special to look at. He’s a good teacher, and the students like him, but he doesn’t draw any particular attention.

Until he starts his second year as a Professor.

No Professor has lasted in the position for more than a year, and yet Harry has. This draws suspicion from Dumbledore and interest from Voldemort. When Harry begins teaching his third year, both sides begin investigating this man against whom the curse hasn’t risen.

(Meanwhile, Harry’s obliviously proud of himself for successfully flying under the radar.)

Aka- the one where Harry isn’t affected by the curse on the DADA position because he’s Voldemort’s Horcrux.

[isildurreborn]

harry potter except he didnt become a cop after school, instead became a professor at hogwarts.

[freedomfireflies]

Just read Punished, so sexy and darker than your usual dom. I loved it and you wrote them so well. But now I need a little blurb on why Sunflower is their safe word. I mean I get the connection to our Harry but would love to know what it means to these two and how they chose it. For some reason that one word in the fic really stayed with me so now I'm curious.

Harry had a lot of rules to go over before they official agreed to be in that type of relationship!!

They went over everything from personal hygiene, to cuddling, to how they communicate!! But the biggest thing was safewords and consent! He'd been in a couple dom/sub relationships before but this was new to her! And he wanted to make it very clear that if she ever wanted to stop or pause or just talk about something she didn't understand, they could and would!

She already understood the traffic light system, but then Harry suggested a safe word for when they didn't want to be the dominant and submissive, but just her and Harry.

She said she wasn't sure what word would work, and then she smiled and said, "What about Sunflower?"

Confused, his eyebrows furrowed and his head tilted. "Okay...any particular reason why?"

She pointed at his chest. "You have a sunflower tattoo. Right over your heart. And it's my favorite. Because it really does remind me of you and I think if I ever need to think of something safe...I'll think of that. Of you."

He began to grin, his heart splitting down the middle. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." She pressed her palm to it. "Why did you get it, by the way?"

"It was my mother's favorite flower," he admitted softly. "And it became mine, too."

"Wow." She trailed her fingers over his bare skin. "I think my crush on you somehow just got even bigger."

"Is that so?"

"It is, Professor."

And then he laughed and kissed her hard and tackled her onto the bed hehe

And since then, they've only ever used the word twice!!!

[gurugirl]

Bad Morning

professor!harry x professor!y/n

A/N: Started writing this a few days ago and then I got a request just now that just went so well with what I was already writing and this pic is giving these vibes so... here is the result. + a little background if you're interested.

Summary: You run late to an important meeting with your colleagues and Professor Styles decides to punish you.

Word Count: 3650

Warning: 18+ only, NSFW, smut, spanking with a paddle, slight degradation, punishment, barely proofread

It really had been just a shitty morning all around. Your alarm went off on time but in your half haze of sleep, you shut it off instead of snoozing it and so when you finally did bolt out of your bed to get ready you knew you’d be late for your meeting.

You didn’t even have time to button up your shirt properly. Running to your car carrying your bags in one arm with your mug of coffee in your free hand sloshing all over the ground and a toothbrush stuck in your mouth you knew you looked like a maniac.

Speeding down the street to get to the university (you were lucky it was only a 15-minute drive) you found a hair elastic to pull your strands into a bun the moment you parked. You’d barely touched your coffee, well, most of it was on your skirt, and your toothbrush fell into the floorboard below your feet when you opened your mouth to curse at the slow driver in front of you.

Parking in the closest spot you could find you quickly smoothed your hair down and tied it back with the elastic, thankful that you’d even found one, and grabbed your bags before running at full speed to enter the building and run through the hallways toward the science labs where Mr. Styles and the rest of the science and tech professors were likely waiting for you.

Today was a big day. You would be settling on a plan for the range of your experiments and choosing which students to bring along the following week to the energy conversion laboratory in Colorado.

 “Ms. Y/L/N. How nice of you to finally join us.”

You rolled your eyes as you quickly sat down on the floor, dropping your bags down before you crossed your legs and raised your brows at your devastatingly handsome colleague, “Sorry. Bad morning.” Was all you could say as you dug your notebook out. You hated how attractive he was. That you noticed how well-built he was and how he carried himself like he owned everything around him. And as much as you hated it (mostly because he was such a dick) you often imagined him taking you into his office out of nowhere. Spanking you and spitting dirty words into your ears. You even imagined him slapping you with those ringed fingers and fucking you with what you were sure was a nice big cock.

Professor Harry Styles was quite intimidating, though. You and all the staff thought so. He wasn’t unreasonable but he was very strict. Your teaching and working style was totally opposite of his but since you were both in the same department, your paths crossed often. Daily. Which meant you had plenty of fodder for yourself late at night when you were alone.

You shook your head at your dirty thoughts.

You and the other science and tech professors were in the process of planning a huge trip to a specialty lab your university didn’t have. It would be a costly trip and the school was footing most of the bill after raising close to a quarter of a million dollars for the “excursion”.

Everyone spoke in turn with their ideas and shared which of their students they’d like to bring. Each professor would choose two students (of those who volunteered to take part in the trip and experiment).

You’d selected your two and then offered an idea about coordinating schedules for the experiments and taking turns. You opened your notebook and explained your thoughts based on the notes you’d taken, “So, then on the third day, the third group can follow the timeline we set in place for group number 1–“ you continued to rattle off timelines, and looked up at Harry who did not appear impressed by you at all. In fact, his glare had you forgetting for a moment where you were going with what you were saying and you paused briefly before finally finishing your thought.

The entire meeting went like that. Glares from the head science professor aimed at you, making you feel tiny and unwelcome. You were a new professor but you’d earned your spot and you weren’t going to let him intimidate you (except for in your fantasies). You’d apologized for being tardy and while it was unfortunate that you’d showed up nearly thirty minutes late to a very important scheduled meeting, what was done was done. You couldn’t go back in time and have a redo. Though, you wished you could.

Everyone stood up when Harry clapped his big hands together and indicated that the meeting was over. You had no classes that day, as it was Saturday (another reason you’d slept through your alarm because you’d been out the night before).

You stuffed your notebooks into your bags and stood up, pushing your glasses back up to the bridge of your nose after they’d slipped the tiniest bit. You also hadn’t had time to put your contacts in. Obviously.

And just as you were about to make a beeline for the door and get out of there before anyone could talk to you, you were stopped in your tracks when you heard the low baritone of Harry calmly speaking your name.

You turned to look behind you at the tall man and realized he was dressed quite casually in a Mickey Mouse t-shirt that said I love you, the love being a red heart balloon. It was cute. And it almost made him less intimidating. Almost.

“Yes, Harry.” You addressed him by his first name the way he had just addressed you by yours as you turned to face him. He was already taking long-legged strides toward you, his face set in a serious expression, just as it had been for the duration of the meeting.

You stood in your spot as three teachers left the room and Harry stood over you, “Come to my office.”

That was all he said. And it wasn’t a question, but rather a command, which honestly you were used to with him by that point.

Harry had been at the university for quite some time. His office was one of the nicer and bigger ones. You’d seen it before in passing but had never stepped in until that day.

“You were late today,” Harry spoke as he closed his door behind him and then made his way across his office toward you. He sat at the edge of his desk and crossed his ankles together.

“Yeah, I know.” You scoffed. What was he playing at?

“Care to explain to me why you were so late to such an important group meeting?”

You blinked your eyes and began to sit in one of the chairs he had in front of his desk but he stood quickly and grasped your elbow, “I didn’t say you could sit.”

You looked down to where he was touching your arm and back to his face, “What are you doing?”

Harry pulled you to stand facing his desk and brought your arm down so your palm was flat on his desk, “Teaching you a lesson. If you want to survive being a professor at this university you need to learn discipline and respect.”

You turned to watch him as he stood behind you. You honestly were so confused by what was happening but when you looked at his eyes and noticed that he was dragging his gaze down your backside you stood up straight and removed your palm from the desk, “Mr. Styles! You are out of line. I was late, yes, but–“

He stepped in toward you, pressing his chest to your back, grasping your wrists, and making you place your palms back down onto the wood, “Do not move, Y/N. Not until I tell you to.”

He moved away from you and circled his desk to face you, opening a drawer with a key as he spoke, “We both know you have an attitude that needs fixing.”

You were suddenly feeling hot and embarrassed as your breaths deepened. Everything that was happening was straight out of your fantasy. It was as if you were writing this whole scene out from start to finish. You wondered where this was going. You were curious what he would do next.

Your eyes widened and your mouth dropped open as you watched him lay a paddle across his desk in front of you.

“Couldn’t even dress yourself properly. Look at you,” he gestured to your haphazard buttoning job and you realized your bra was exposed as you looked down over yourself. You laughed and looked back up at him but his face was not amused.

“I was in a hurry. I’m sorry if this offends–“

“Please stop talking.” He lifted the paddle up and rounded his desk to stand behind you.

The sudden awareness of what was going on had your skin pimpling with goosebumps. You were wearing a knee-length skirt and realized that all he had to do was lift it to expose your bottom to him. Your white panties covered your bum but it wouldn’t be hard for him to paddle you right through the thin material.

As your thoughts grew lewder about what was coming and what Mr. Styles would do you squished your thighs together and adjusted your palms as you turned to look over your shoulder at the professor.

“I’m going to give you 30 paddles to your bottom. One for every minute you were late. How does that sound for a punishment?”

You inhaled deeply and looked down at the leather-wrapped paddle and back to his eyes. It was wild that he’d even suggest it all. And so casually too? But of course, you understood that he was asking permission. Perhaps this was the beginning of some sort of thing you and he would have in secret.

You nodded slowly, “Yes, professor. I think that’s fair.” You gulped down your saliva. You had never been spanked with a paddle before so you hoped saying yes was the right choice.

Harry grunted as he let his eyes drop to your ass and when you felt him pull at your skirt and lift it up ward you held your breath and closed your eyes, turning to face his desk again.

But the small little groan you heard from behind you had your eyes popping open. It sounded like the groan of a man who was turned on. Frustrated. You sure hoped that was the case.

“Can you keep quiet like a good girl?” His dark tone was pinched as you felt his warm hand brush over your ass before pushing the material of your skirt up to your waist.

“Yes, sir.”

The shuttered breath he let out as he groped your ass, palming at the material of your panties had your heart thumping hard under your ribs. He was enjoying this.

“Good.”

The suddenness of the first hit had you rocking forward quickly and yelping. You hadn’t been prepared for it. You’d been spanked with bare hands before. Not with a paddle.

“Shh… said you could be a good girl for me. One more outburst and I’ll stuff these panties into your mouth.”

You didn’t know why but that idea had you moaning softly and rolling your eyes to the back of your head.

The next strike you were prepared for. You gritted your teeth and panted as he brought it down again on the other side, “That’s three. From now on, I need you to count for me. Keep track so I don’t. have to.”

You breathed out heavily and nodded, “Yes, sir.”

4, 5, 6, 7… All within range of you being able to tolerate the pain and keep your little noises in.

But 8? For some reason 8 came down especially hard and stung like a mother fucker so you gasped and cried out loudly.

The paddle was suddenly placed on the desk next to your hand and you tilted your head to look at your colleague as he met your eyes. Blown-out pupils and puffy, bitten lips. He looked like sex. He’d always looked like sex but in that moment…

“Tell me what happens when you can’t keep quiet.” He leaned over you, one palm down on the desk, his other smoothing over the cotton of your panties softly.

You gulped hard and blinked the tiny bit of tears away that had formed in your eyes, “You said you’d stuff my panties into my mouth.”

“S’right. At least you know how to listen. Too bad you don’t know how to keep quiet.”

You nodded, “I’m sorry, sir.” You really didn’t want him to stop. It hurt but you loved the way it felt to have this man standing over you and spanking you. Watching you. Enjoying the view he had of you.

“So what should I do, then?”

You gasped when you felt his thumb push under the elastic of your panties and slip over your bottom, “Take my panties off and put them into my mouth. Like you said.”

Harry’s lips turned up into a sinister grin and you watched his tongue swipe over his bottom lip before he nodded and moved behind you, both hands now in the elastic of your cotton panties as he dragged them down your thighs.

You felt him pause his motions and once your ass was fully bare to him. You were sure with the way you were leaned over his desk that he could see your pussy too.

“Fuck…” his words were whispered into the room before he gently tugged your panties the rest of the way down your legs and you stepped, one foot at a time to have them removed completely.

When his hands found your bottom you felt him massage your cheeks and suck in a sharp breath, “You okay?”

It was the first time he sounded as if he were truly concerned about you. Perhaps he could see the marks he’d given you with the paddle. Or maybe it was just that you were so exposed to him in that moment.

“Yes, sir. I’m fine.” Your voice was a little shaky. You were on edge completely. You’d be thinking about this tonight for sure, and for many nights to come. But you still hadn’t determined if it was even really happening.

Harry leaned over you and you felt the cloth of his pants brush against your ass, “Mrs. Y/L/N, you are absolutely soaked. Did you know that? Had to be careful pulling your wet panties down your legs and now looking between your thighs I can see how much you are enjoying this. Not much of a punishment is it?”

His deep voice traveled down the shell of your ear and to your neck as you softly moaned and shook your head, “No. It’s not much of a punishment. I like it.”

You heard him chuckle before lifting your messy panties up to your face, “Open.”

You complied as he shoved the cotton into your mouth and then returned to his position behind you.

“Since you can’t count for me anymore I’m going to do it for you now.”

The 9th swat came down and the sting of the paddle against your bare bottom made you yelp out, though it was nice and muffled just as Harry had hoped.

The progression of each of his swats only made you drippier and pushed you further away from reality. And as he counted, the higher the numbers rose, you could hear the lust and pain in his voice. He was putting himself on edge by just watching you squirm and get wetter and wetter between your thighs.

At number 21 you didn’t know what you were doing anymore. You needed to end your misery. Without much of a thought in your brain (you were hardly able to connect your thoughts together by that point) you removed one hand from the desk as you leaned forward further over the wood and spread your legs before you began rubbing your clit.

Harry stopped quickly and you heard the clunk of the paddle fall to the floor and then his hand was grasping your wrist, yanking it away from your pussy, “What the fuck are you doing?”

You felt fuzzy and so far beyond caring about anything but coming you moaned in muffled words as you tried to speak through your panties. You could barely open your eyes as you felt his hand on your chin to turn your face toward him.

“You are dirty, aren’t you? Naughty, dirty, disrespectful professor,” Harry pulled the panties from your mouth and you gasped softly, drool falling from your mouth over his hand that remained at your jaw.

“Is there no punishment that will set you right?”

His own face was flushed and his eyelids were heavy with lust.

You thought about his question but you had no answer for him. You couldn’t put your thoughts together to form a sentence even if you wanted to. You moaned and reached a hand for his forearm as you turned your body toward his, causing your skirt to fall and cover your bits.

Harry pulled you in close and pressed your bottom into his desk, spreading your legs and lifting your skirt back up to expose you to him. He kept his eyes on yours as he used his free hand to softly swipe at the damp skin just next to your pussy. You bucked your hips into his hand and he laughed, “And desperate too.”

The hand he had at your jaw smushed your cheeks together harshly, “And because I’ve been so good I think I deserve a treat. Don’t you?”

You moaned again and nodded, “Yes, sir.”

He grunted as he moved his hand from your face and began to unbuckle his pants. You looked down to where his cock was clearly engorged and pushing against the material of his pants, He got his zipper down and found his way back between your thighs, pushing you down flat to your back, “Can I have a treat?” He thumbed at your clit as he looked into your eyes and you nodded, “Yes. Please.”

“You sure? Because I have something very specific in mind. Want to know what it is?”

Nodding your head you reached for the collar of his t-shirt and pleaded with him, “I want to know. Please…” you hoped he’d fuck you. Hoped he’d rail you right on his desk just as you often imagined him doing.

He laughed darkly as he pulled his briefs down and his cock came in your view. He began stroking himself right over you, using his foreskin to pump his cock quickly and upward over his tip, repeatedly yanking and pulling as he looked from your pussy to your face, “This is my treat. Gonna fuck my fist and come all over your pussy.”

You watched in awe. His long cock and his fist jerking himself was the hottest thing you’d ever seen. You groaned and bucked your hips upward, “Please, Harry…” you whined.

Harry had one palm flat on the desk as he kept himself angled over you, his cock above your pussy, so close but not close enough for your liking. You wanted him inside of you.

He laughed as he continued pulling at his shaft and he began to pant his next words, “Not gonna fuck you because that would be a nice treat for you too. And you’ve been naughty, Y/n. So you don’t get my cock.”

You scrunched your brows together with a pout and brought your own hand down to your clit and moaned. Harry gasped as he neared his end but slowed his pumping as he slapped your hand away from your pussy, “You don’t get to come. This is your punishment,” he grunted as he got back to fucking himself with his fist.

You watched in awe as he began to slightly tremble and his soft moans got more frequent.

And just as you heard him cough out one loud moan you knew he was coming before you even felt the first drop of come spurt over your pussy. You took the moment to swipe his come up and your arousal and lift your fingers to his mouth, shoving your digits past his lips as he poured his hot sperm all over your wet pussy and down your thighs.

You moaned as he wrapped his mouth around your fingers, his palm still milking his cock, draining everything he had all over your labia. You felt his come drip down past your entrance and to your bum as he licked and sucked your fingers.

You’d never seen anything more erotic in your life. You wanted to come too but to watch him come on your pussy as he sucked on your fingers was worth it.

When he’d finally emptied everything he had he let go of his dick and you pulled your fingers from his mouth with a smirk on your face.

He pulled his pants back up and looked at the mess he’d made, “Guess you’re gonna have to go home and clean that up aren’t you?”

You sat up and watched him as he lifted your panties up and handed them to you, “Was thinking I’d just run to the bathroom first–“ “No. I want my come smeared all over your pussy and those panties full of your spit and your arousal. Want to know you had to sit in traffic all dirty and desperate.”

You scoffed but began to pull the panties up your legs anyway.

When you stood up and turned to look at the professor he was tucking his laptop into his bag, his eyes already on you, “Maybe next time, if you’re good for me, I’ll let you come.”

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[stylesloveclub]

Prose Masterlist

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Prose - part 1

In which y/n's taking way too many units, and Harry's the teaching assistant for her Literature class.

Prose - part 2

In which not many students attend Harry's office hours, and y/n's kind of burnt out. 

Prose - part 3

In which y/n is Harry's favorite student, and she accidentally kisses him. Coming to tumblr on 10/21!

Prose - part 4

Coming to Patreon tomorrow!

concepts tag! - all the TA!harry concepts!

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[mustachrryluvr]

that’s professor!harry 100%

[whitemancumslut]

imagine. y/n pulls up to class with harry’s hoodie. and it doesn’t take him long to notice- as he’s teaching she walks in late with his hoodie he left at her apartment.

[shouldiletthemalldie]

Professor Harry Styles

Hey there! I started a fanfic about Professor Styles, but it's in german. And german fanfics are not a thing on tumblr, I think. But anyways:

[atlafan]

The world of academia is astounding. People stay in higher education for so many different reasons. Some go off to become medical doctors, others become doctors in specific fields like psychology or literature or philosophy. Some choose to stay in academia because they don’t want to sell their souls to industry work. Mavis always loved school. She was one of those kids that did well no matter what the subject was. She studied hard, wanting to take in more and more information. She was naturally gifted in the art of time management. Everything clicked for her. If something was puzzling, she’d figure it out.

There isn’t much she can’t figure out. Which is why she’s grown increasingly aggravated with her sexology professor. She can’t figure him out. She swears he hates her. He’s short with her, and less personable with her than he is with the other students. She’s never struggled like this with someone before. And he wasn’t even supposed to be the one teaching her courses!

[CARNAL ATTRACTION COMING SOON] [ASK] [PATREON] 

Author’s Note: The first part will be on here, and the rest will be on patreon! this is the sexologist fic where harry is a sexology professor 😈 Mavis, our leading lady, is a 23 year old graduate student, and Harry is a 29 year old PhD student that happens to be teaching her courses. Come ask me questions!! I’m really excited about this one. I’ve thrown in a really interesting twist, as you may be able to tell from the banner.