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imagrindylow · 7 months

Note

Would you pretty please write a leander fic with female MC that takes place after hogwarts. He is dating her roommate, but the roommate is awful and is not nice. He and MC end up falling for each other?

Yesssss! I love this idea and I loved working on this! SO SORRY that it took me such an embarrassing amount of time to finish your request, but thank you for sending it to me!

Worth the Wait

Leander Prewett / Samantha Dale; Leander Prewett / f!MC 14.8k Words Content Warnings: 18+ Explicit content; cheating, alcohol use, fluff, angst, oral sex, fingering, sex Summary: You were used to your flatmate's frequent complaints about her boyfriend, but as you got to know him better for yourself, none of those complaints made sense to you.

~~~~~~

It was over a game of Summoner’s Court with Samantha Dale during the final weeks of seventh year, when then two of you came to the decision to become flat mates upon graduating. You had mentioned how you wanted to move to London, because you had a goal of working at St. Mungo’s as a healer, but that you were worried about moving to the city on your own, and all of your close friends had plans to reside elsewhere. Samantha’s eyes had lit up, her mouth curling into a grin as she explained that she had plans on taking a Ministry position within the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, and as it happened, she was in the market for a flat mate as well. You and Samantha were little more than casual friends, on the outskirts of each other's main social groups, but you got on well enough with each other that you felt fine taking the opportunity as it appeared, and that was that.

The two bedroom unit was tiny, but it worked, and had been home for the past almost two years. Despite being flat mates, you saw relatively little of each other, with both of you working full time to save for something better, the goal having been to keep the living arrangement as temporary as possible. Especially over the last several months, Samantha was absent. You knew she was seeing someone, as she would return from nights spent away with stories and complaints. This Sunday evening was no different.

Stumbling out of the fireplace in a blaze of green flames at eleven at night after a weekend spent with her boyfriend, you could smell the fire whiskey wafting from Samantha’s breath as she slumped down on the other end of the sofa with a sigh. Her bag dropped to the floor at her feet as she relaxed.

Lifting your gaze from your book, you turn to Samantha with furrowed brows. “Don’t you work tomorrow?”

She nodded and groaned before listing her head towards you, her eyes drunkenly rolling in exasperation. “He’s so dull sometimes. The alcohol helps.” She muttered lazily, slumping further into the cushions.

You shook your head. “If he’s that bad, why keep seeing him?” It was a question you’d asked her at least a dozen times over the last five months. Sometimes he was dull, other times he was clingy, sometimes he was too sensitive. You rarely heard a good word from Samantha in regard to the man she spent so much of her free time with, and it was a conundrum to you.

It was a question she usually managed to dodge, but in her inebriation she opened up. “He’s nice and all...” She slurred. “And… it’s not like I have a better option at the moment.” She replied with a shrug, nonchalantly.

“So, you’re with this man because you’re bored?” You asked, trying not to sound too judgy, though Samantha’s dismissiveness made it difficult.

Samantha chuckled, a grin on her face. “Don’t act as though you wouldn’t if you could.” She said, her speech mumbled, then back peddled. “Not saying you couldn’t, if you tried… Oh, you know what I mean. I’m not doing anything wrong.”

“I suppose it’s not my business.” You said with a shrug. You knew it really wasn’t your place to lecture her. She was going to do what she wanted regardless.

“Sure isn’t.” She grinned. “Going to bed. See you.” Samantha said and pulled herself up from the sofa with a groan, and headed to her room with staggered steps.

~~~

It was untypical for Samantha to have her boyfriend over to your shared flat, she usually opted to spend time at his place, as he lived alone. It was even less typical for her to bring him round while you were home – the small space you shared not giving much opportunity for privacy. You hadn’t even met the man the entire time Samantha had been seeing him – didn’t even know his name – as though he wasn’t an important enough part of Samantha’s life for her to bring up that detail in conversation with you.

It hadn’t crossed your mind at all that the knocking on your door Wednesday evening could possibly have been your flat mate’s mystery boyfriend.

“Are you expecting someone?” You called from the sitting room to Samantha, who was in her room, getting changed out of her work robes – the knocking coming within minutes of her arriving home that evening.

“No!” She called back from behind her closed door.

You hadn’t been expecting anyone either, so with her answer, you expected the knock to be from a sales person. You lifted yourself from the sofa and made your way from the sitting room down the narrow hallway to your front door. Looking through the peephole in your door, you were shocked to see someone you hadn’t seen since leaving Hogwarts. Leander Prewett?

“One minute!” You called from the other side of the door, through the peephole you saw him nod in response. You would have had no problem just letting him in right away, but as a courtesy you wanted to give Samantha a heads up that someone was coming in. You made your way back through your flat and towards Samantha’s room, where she was just stepping into the hall, now changed from her work robes.

“Leander Prewett is at our front door. What in the world?” You asked her with a chuckle, making your way back towards the door to answer it, curious what he wanted after so long. You stopped in your tracks when Samantha’s hand found your shoulder, her jaw dropping in surprise before her lips turned up into a seemingly embarrassed grin.

“Ohh. It’s for me, then.” She began, and squeezed past you in the narrow hall. “That’s who I’ve been seeing.” She admitted, a look of what you could only describe as embarrassment crept over her face.

You looked at her with wide eyes, as you took in this information and pieced it together with everything she had said of the man she’d been seeing. All of her previous complaints had been about Leander? You weren’t very close with him, most of your interactions having been from fifth year when various students had been assigned to show you the ropes. You remembered him as being brash at times, yet reserved and fumbling at others, never really knowing which persona was closest to accurate. Sixth and seventh year you were friendly acquaintances, chatting in mutual classes but nothing much further.

When Samantha opened the door to allow him inside you were still in the hallway, trying to make sense of it all. You had been fairly sure that the pair didn’t even like each other, at least not back in fifth year, recalling that Samantha had badly beaten Leaner in numerous rounds of Summoners Court… back then, it was him who’d complained to you about her. You shrugged the thought off, knowing that time changes things. They obviously had gotten closer at some point in the later years of school.

Snapping out of it and trying not to be so overt in your eavesdropping, you headed off the hall and into the kitchen, starting the tea kettle while keeping your ears alert. From what you gathered, Leander had dropped by to surprise her with dinner, and despite her kind words, Samantha’s tone sounded less than thrilled with his unannounced appearance. The pair chatted in the threshold for a few minutes before the sounds of their voices drew closer as Samantha allowed Leander inside, their footsteps approaching the kitchen as you readied the tea.

Stepping into your kitchen together, Samantha spoke first, an informal re-introduction. “You two know each other, if I recall. Leander’s brought us dinner.” She said casually.

You and Leander each nodded at Samantha’s presumption, exchanging friendly smiles. Leander looked both surprised and happy to see you. “I knew Samantha had a flat mate, I didn’t know it was you.” He said with a chuckle. “How’ve you been, MC?” He asked.

“I’ve been quite well, thank you, and yourself?”

“Couldn’t be better.” He grinned, wrapping an arm around Samantha’s waist affectionately. His other hand held a fairly large brown paper bag. “I hope it’s not an imposition that I stopped by. As Samantha said, I’ve brought dinner, for all of us.”

“Of course it’s no imposition.” You said and invited him to sit at the table. “Tea?” You offered, and he nodded politely after taking a seat.

Samantha, having taken the bag from him, set it on the kitchen counter and pulled a large ceramic container from it. Clearly the bag had been enchanted to accommodate the large and heavy looking contents. She gathered dishes to eat with, while you served tea for the three of you. You shot Samantha a look, a grin that went to your eyes along with a subtle approving nod at his gesture, communicating silently to her, and perhaps trying to convince her – this is a good man. The half-hearted grin she gave you in return left a bad taste in your mouth.

The meal appeared to be a beef stew, still steaming hot as Samantha served it into bowls. “I didn’t know you cooked.” She complimented, smiling at Leander as she brought the bowls to the table, the three of you sitting down to eat, now. “It smells wonderful.”

“Actually, it’s my mum’s cooking. She turned up at my flat not thirty minutes ago with this massive pot. I told her I could never finish it all before it would go bad but she wouldn’t hear it, you know how mums can be. So, I thought who better to share it with.” He said, smiling adoringly at Samantha as he spoke. “I wanted to come by while it was still hot. I do apologize for showing up unannounced.”

“Of course.” Samantha nodded, tasting the stew. She gave the dish an approving nod, though learning that he didn’t prepare the meal himself seemed to have dulled her previous enthusiasm. “Well your mum is a lovely cook. This is delicious.” You said, thoroughly enjoying having the night off from cooking, something you and Samantha took turns doing. Tonight would have been your night. “I’ll let her know you both enjoy it. If there’s one thing she’ll never tire of, it’s people complimenting her cooking.” Leander said with a chuckle, dipping his spoon into the stew and eating.

For not being how you had anticipated spending your evening, it went well. Leander only spent about an hour or so visiting following dinner, worried about overstaying an unannounced appearance, though neither you nor Samantha had other plans that evening. Regardless of the short duration of his stay, you enjoyed catching up with him. You’d learned that he, like Samantha, also worked for the Ministry, though in separate departments. He currently held a position in the Improper Use of Magic Office. The longer the three of you talked, the more confused you were of Samantha’s frequent complaints of this man. He’d clearly come into his confidence, not coming across as overcompensating or nervous as he had in school. He held a good job, and clearly cared a lot for Samantha.

You silently reminded yourself that Samantha’s reasoning for dating Leander was not your business, after he left for the evening, when Samantha let out an audible sigh as she made her way back to the sitting room after walking him out.

“Sorry.” She said, looking apologetic as she sat back down on the sofa, idly fidgeting with the throw pillow beside her

“For?” You asked her, utterly confused on what she could be apologizing for.

“Unexpected company, having to entertain on no notice.” Samantha explained, her voice sounded drained, as though she’d just dealt with something arduous and unpleasant. As though the surprise of her own boyfriend coming by with a home cooked meal was anything other than kind and thoughtful.

“It hardly felt as though we were entertaining him.” You waved her off, assuring her. “Though, I am curious why you didn’t mention it was Leander that you were seeing.”

Samantha shrugged. “I didn’t think it was important, it’s not serious.” She said simply, her tone indifferent.

“He seems serious.” You retorted with a smirk. You didn’t want to argue with her, it was her relationship after all, but it was obvious, at least to you, that he seemed to be on a very different wavelength than Samantha was.

She sounded exasperated, “It’s only been a few months.”

“Right.” You disagreed with her definition of ‘a few’ but that was neither here nor there. You nodded, acknowledging her reasoning, leaning forward to the coffee table to grab the book you’d been reading lately.

Only a beat had passed before she groaned and started venting to you, sounding as though she was looking for your validation of her opinions. “Am I alone in thinking it’s… immature for him to have his mummy cooking him food and delivering it to him? And coming by unannounced...”

You laughed out loud. “Surely you’re joking? I’m sure he didn’t ask her to cook for him. You’re the one spending weekends at his flat, is he immature?” You asked her, looking at her inquisitively. When she didn’t reply after several seconds, you spoke up again. “It sounds like you’re actively looking for flaws to take issue with... Dropping in unannounced is one thing, but you’ve been seeing him for months, and I’m sure he thought you’d enjoy the surprise.”

“You’re right.” She said. You were unsure for a moment of which point she was agreeing with, but then she added, “Maybe I am just looking for flaws in him.”

Well, her admitting it was a start. You’d hoped that her realizing this point would lead her to either be more appreciative of this man who is clearly putting in effort, or, stop leading him along like a puppy and cut him loose.

~~~

It was just two weeks later when you found Leander at your doorstep again, though this time, you’d expected him. Samantha had let you know before she left for work this morning that he’d be over after work to pick her up, as they’d be heading out to dinner together. He’d arrived nicely dressed, and with a bouquet for her, and was visibly confused when you answered the door rather than his girlfriend.

Between now and your last conversation with Samantha about her love life, she’d stopped complaining about Leander, and the only assumption that you could draw was that her opinions of him were improving. You were very surprised that she wasn’t home from work yet when he came by to meet her.

“Hello, MC,” he smiled and nodded to greet you. “Is Samantha ready yet?” He asked after you opened the door for him.

“She’s actually not home from work yet.” You told him, your brow furrowing in commiseration for his evening not beginning as expected.

“Really?” He asked, his voice that of disbelief.

“Sorry… I’m not sure exactly when she’ll be back. She hadn’t mentioned needing to stay late, so something must have come up.” Your voice was soft and you had a look of sympathy on your face for him, as he was clearly put off by the whole turn of events.

He didn’t respond for a beat, looking at you with confusion, unsure of what the best move would be. “Umm… Well…” He began before trailing off again.

“You’re welcome to come in and wait for her, if you want to. And we can get those into a vase.” You offered, and gestured at the flowers.

“If that’s really alright, I’ll take you up on that. But I wouldn’t want to impose. Are you sure?” He said, sounding a little hesitant.

“I promise, it’s no bother.” You said and stood aside, gesturing for him to come in. He gave you an appreciative nod and stepped inside. “Alright let’s find a vase.” You said and led him into the kitchen. After a quick search through the back of one of the cabinets, you pulled out an old glass, which you transfigured into a suitable vase with a flick of your wand. You added water and he added the flowers, and you set the vase on the counter.

“I appreciate that.” He said.

“Mhm. She’ll love to see those after a long day at work.” You told him as you leaned back against the counter whilst you chatted.

“Is it often that Samantha works late?” He wondered, standing in the doorway to the small kitchen, resting his shoulder against the frame, his arms crossed casually.

“It happens from time to time, especially lately it seems.” You said, thinking back on the last few weeks. “But anyway, can I get you some tea while you wait?”

“No, no. I really don’t want to trouble you.” He said, waving the suggestion off, shaking his head. “You just… carry on with whatever you were doing and don’t let me bother you.”

“It’s not trouble. Are you sure you don’t want anything? I think tea sounds good right now. I think I’ll make some either way.” You said.

“Well… If you were going to make some tea for yourself anyway, I suppose I could take a cup.” He said with a grin. “Thank you, MC, again, I appreciate you letting me come in and wait.” He added. “Hopefully she wont be long.”

“Hopefully, but you’re welcome to wait as long as you’d like. I was just reading. You aren’t interrupting anything.” You said as you filled the tea kettle with water with a flick of your wand and sent it gliding through the air to the stove top, another point of you wand lighting the flame beneath the pot.

Several minutes later, after some idle chit chat about how your respective day had gone and about the weather, the two of you retired to the sitting room with your teacups. Leander took a seat on the arm chair beside the sofa you sat down on, and sipped the drink.

“When Samantha does end up working late, does she typically send an owl?” Leander asked you as he crossed his legs and got comfortable in his seat.

“No, I don’t think she’s ever sent notice, honestly.”

“My apologies for quizzing you – but, on her late evenings – when does she typically arrive back home?”

“Oh, it’s quite alright, Leander.” You assured him. You completely understood his line of questioning. “It varies. Sometimes an hour late, but occasionally more. Always with rather entertaining stories of whatever outstanding catastrophe kept her busy.”

Leander hummed and nodded his head, a faint look of disappointment on his face to hear that he may be waiting awhile. “May I?” He asked and gestured towards a copy of the Daily Prophet that was sitting on the coffee table in front of you.

“By all means. Like I’d said, I was just reading a book when you arrived, anyway. I can get back to that, then.”

Leander got up to grab the paper before settling back down in the armchair, and you reached for your book once again, picking up where you had left off before. The silence in the room while the two of you read was only mildly uncomfortable to start. Leander had the paper folded open for only a few minutes before he laid it on his lap to sip once again on his tea, and you noticed his gaze lingering in your direction while he drank… Though he wasn’t exactly looking at you.

“Hm?” You hummed, drawing his attention to your face.

“Oh, your book.” He said, gesturing to the hard bound copy of a large muggle book entitled Moby-Dick on your lap. “I didn’t know the Hero of Hogwarts was such an intellectual.” He teased.

“I’ve always enjoyed reading… I couldn’t very well duel and fight all the time.” She said with a smirk. “And don’t call me that.” She added, rolling her eyes, though her tone was light.

“Oh? Tired of that title? Fair enough.” He smirked.

“Have you read it?” She asked, nodding down at her book and ignoring the reminder of the title she’d earned in fifth year that seemed to continue following her around despite her best attempts at normalcy.

“I have. We can discuss it once you’re finished.”

“I’d like that.”

He nodded and gave you a smirk before turning his attention back to the Daily Prophet. You resumed your reading, slowly sipping your tea, hyper-aware of the quiet ticking of the antique clock mounted on the wall above the fireplace, as you turned page after page after page… Samantha was very late.

You were sure more than an hour had passed since you let Leander in to wait for his girlfriend, and with every passing minute you felt increasingly bad for him, as you racked your brain for the right things to say to him. It was well past dinner time, and Samantha had still not arrived or sent an owl.

Leander sat tapping his foot, you looked up from your book to notice him checking the time with his pocket watch against that of your clock, as though he was unbelieving of his current situation. The man looked anxious, not dissimilar to the teenager you knew in school.

You had to say something at this point, to try to ease the tension for him, to break the silence thick in the room. You’d thought back to your own dinner plans. You hadn’t counted on cooking for just yourself since you were anticipating being on your own for supper. You were going to treat yourself to a meal out at a local pub.

You cleared your throat before you finally spoke up. “You know, I was going to get something to eat at this pub around the corner.”

“Oh, gods MC, I am so sorry, I’m impeding on your dinner now. I can go, just… just tell Samantha I came by and to send an owl when she gets back home.” He said, speaking quickly, his tone apologetic. He shut the paper and tossed it gently back to the coffee table as he stood up, as though preparing to leave.

“Actually I was going to ask if maybe you’d like to join me?” You asked as you stood as well, closing your book and laying it on the arm of the sofa.

You noticed Leander’s face go immediately red at the invitation. A dinner alone with his girlfriend’s flatmate certainly did not sound appropriate to him at that moment, and his facial expression gave away his thought process to you. You regretted the proposal almost instantly, but you were already committed to the invitation so you stuck to it. Was it really so wrong to ask?

“We could just catch up some more and grab a quick bite. I didn’t stop for groceries, I hadn’t planned on cooking tonight thinking that Samantha would be out with you for dinner. And well.. I need to eat but it doesn’t feel right just telling you to leave when you’ve been waiting for Samantha for so long.”

Leander looked at you quizzically, but was weighing your offer. “What about Samantha?” He wondered, folding his arms as he debated.

That was the dilemma wasn’t it?

“I’m not sure.” You said and shrugged your shoulders. You had a lot of things you wanted to say about the situation itself and about Samantha in general. But that wouldn’t be appropriate. “You’re free to keep waiting while I go, if you don’t want to come.”

“You know what, I’ll come.” He decided. “I’m hungry… I’m… annoyed. And having dinner myself at home certainly won’t make me feel any better.”

“Well then. I’ll lead the way. The place is just around the corner.” You say as you head towards the front door of the flat.

Leander followed behind you as you headed out into the streets of London, but stopped before rounding the corner, looking behind him over his shoulder, clearly hoping to catch sight of Samantha, but there was no one. Waiting a few steps in front of him, you watched him shake his head, clearly disappointed, before catching up with you.

“I’m sorry.” You said as he walked beside you the final block to the pub.

Leander let out a half-hearted “mhm” as the two of you approached the pub, he pulled the door and held it open for you. Taking seats at the bar counter, the two of you ordered butterbeers while he looked over the chalk scrawled food menu on the wall behind the counter.

Raising his pint glass, Leander’s tone shifted towards something of amusement. He chuckled and shook his head before saying, “Well this is odd isn’t it? I don’t think we’ve ever shared a drink together.”

You thought on it for a moment before smirking and nodding in agreement. “You’re right, we haven’t. Cheers, then.”

“Cheers.” Leander grinned. Clinking your glass to his, you sipped your drinks, and made some small talk until the bartender interrupted to take your food orders.

It didn’t take long for you to forget your intentions of making this a quick outing. Your meals had arrived when you were each on your second drink, conversation flowing easily as you reminisced on your not so long since passed Hogwarts years. The more you spoke the more you wondered why you weren’t closer friends with Leander back in school. Hearing his stories from his time at Hogwarts, there was definitely more to him than had met your eye back then… Furthermore, you wondered what the bloody hell Samantha was talking about all of the times she had spoken poorly of him. He was funny, engaging, witty, and confident enough to poke fun at his previously awkward teenage self. Not to mention charming… and handsome.

Not ready to head back immediately following your meal, you each ordered a third butterbeer just for good measure, and carried on conversing about school, quidditch, work, life. It was Leander doing a double take on his pocket watch, a laugh falling from his lips at the shock of more than two hours having passed since you arrived that finally prompted the two of you to call for the cheque.

“What are you doing?” You ask as Leander snatches the cheque before you could even get a look at it. “What do I owe?”

“You don’t.” He said. “You’ve been too kind to me, letting me wait in your flat for Samantha for so long, making me tea, letting me impose on your dinner plans. I’ve got it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, I can pay for myself.”

“So stubborn, MC. I absolutely insist.” He said as he pulled a few galleons from his pocket and laid them on the counter. “Now, will you let me walk you back to your flat? It’s getting late.”

Charming, handsome and a gentleman.

You nodded. “I’ll allow it.” You chuckled. “You can pop back in, surely Samantha will be home by now.”

“I‘d appreciate that.” He said.

The two of you left the pub, and took the short walk back to your flat. It was dark outside now, dim light filling the streets from the lamp posts lighting the way. You were surprised when you unlocked the door to your flat and saw that the lights were off, as though no one was home. Not wanting to jump immediately to conclusions as you walked through your silent flat, you knocked on Samantha’s bedroom door while Leander waited in the kitchen. You assumed that maybe she had come home and laid right down. When after a few moments she didn’t call out or answer the door, you cracked it open just slightly, peering inside. She wasn’t home.

You closed her door and headed back down the hall and to the kitchen where Leander was leaning back against one of the counters with his arms crossed in front of his chest. “She’s not in there.” You told him. “I’m sorry, Leander.”

He shook his head, the disappointment and confusion apparent on his face. “You think she’s alright?” He wondered. He began to pace, fidgeting with his hands. Something about his stance and actions transported you right back to fifth year. This anxiousness of his was familiar to you. “Something serious must have happened in her department, then, right? I mean why else would she not be here yet? To just not show up when we had plans. Do you think-”

“I’m sure she’s alright. Probably just a staffing issue.” You suggested, cutting off his uneasy rambling. Honestly had no idea of what could have possibly been going on. You just wanted to reassure the man standing in your kitchen. “I’ll tell her to send you an owl as soon as she gets home.”

“Right, thank you again MC, for your hospitality. I'll just be going then. It’s getting late after all.” He said, talking quickly now, and heading back down the hall and to your front door. You followed behind him, seeing him out.

Standing in the door frame as he headed down the front stairs of your small porch, you found yourself speaking without having considered the words before they left your mouth. “I had a nice time with you this evening.”

You felt the warmth of embarrassment in your cheeks the moment the words left your mouth. You wondered why you had said that. He hadn’t been in your home to spend time with you. He was merely waiting on his girlfriend. Your flatmate. No matter their truth, if you could have sucked your words back out of the air, you would have. Leander stopped and turned around on the stairs, looking up at you, you saw his lips curve into a subtle grin.

“Me too.” He said. “All things considered, it was a rather pleasant evening.”

Him returning your sentiment while not sounding like he’d spoken out of pity or to ease your clear embarrassment, was a bit of a surprise to you. He was too kind. Much too kind to be wrapped around Samantha’s fingers, you thought.

The eye contact held between the two of you, remaining even after he’d spoken, was too much for you to keep up with for another second. “Goodnight, Leander.” You said, putting an end to the exchange you shouldn’t have started to begin with.

“Goodnight, MC.” He said, showing off that damn grin of his again before he nodded and turned, heading down the final stair onto the sidewalk, and away from your flat. You shut and locked your front door, leaning back against it with a sigh when he was gone. You shook your head, willing yourself to snap out of whatever delusion had you believing that it was appropriate to think of your flatmate's boyfriend in the ways you’d begun to as of late.

~~~

Samanatha was still not home by the time you’d readied yourself for bed that night, but the following morning, you awoke to the sound of the tea kettle whistling on the stove top, and you knew she was back. Pulling yourself from your bed, you headed to the kitchen, curious what had ended up keeping her so late last night. You knew it wasn’t really your place to question Samantha, but you couldn't help but let your curiosity get the best of you this morning.

Walking into the kitchen, you leaned against the wall, facing her, watching as she pulled the lid off the tin of chamomile tea on the counter. She looked as though she’d been up all night.

“Rough night at work last night?” You asked her.

“It was very busy.” Samantha replied, not even looking up at you when you spoke, but keeping her attention on her tea as she prepped it. Her short tone immediately gave you the impression that she was not interested in having this conversation at all.

You let out a short hum in acknowledgement at her statement, then cut right to the chase. “I told Leander I’d tell you to send him an owl when I saw you.”

“I already sent him one.” She said, glancing at you letting out a small huff as though annoyed. “In fact, he sent me an owl before you were even up.”

Samantha leaned against the counter opposite you, waiting on her tea to steep. “His brute of an owl was pecking at my window before 7AM. I’d still be asleep if it weren’t for that damned bird.” She added and shook her head in displeasure.

“He was worried.” You said, justifying Leander’s actions on his behalf, unable to blame him for reaching out to her this morning, even if it was quite early for an owl on a Saturday. “You stood him up. He thought something bad had happened to you.”

“I was busy. At work.” Samantha said, emphasizing her excuse but offering no further explanation as to what specifically held her up.

You couldn’t help but feel Samantha was being disingenuous with both her short response and her dismissive body language, casually drinking her tea as she spoke. She didn’t seem to have a care in the world over the fact that she’d upset her boyfriend with her unexpected absence from their date night

“Still, you could have sent him an owl and let him know you wouldn’t be home to meet him, couldn’t you have? It wouldn’t have taken more than a few moments.”

“But I didn’t, and it’s a new day. I replied to his owl. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to bed.” She said shortly, leaving no room for further discussion. She took her tea and headed past you and down the hall towards her room.

“Are you going to be home this weekend, then?” You asked her before she disappeared behind her door, your nosiness getting the better of you, you could tell from her facial expression when you’d asked.

“Yep.” She replied, increasing annoyance at your questioning in her voice. She shut the door behind her as she retreated into her room, leaving you in the kitchen with more questions than you had answers for. You sighed, your mind wandering.

Did they argue in their letters this morning? Are they even still together? Why do I care so damn much? The last thought weighing heavy this morning.

Not two minutes later, while you were still in thought in the kitchen, Samantha reemerged from her room, this time with a question for you. Her arms were crossed as she stood in the doorway between the hall and kitchen.

“You said he was worried. So worried he’d thought something bad had happened to me?” She began, her tone incredulous.

You nodded, recalling how anxious Leander had gotten by the end of the night, when she’d left him wondering and questioning for hours after she was supposed to have met with him.

“Hard to believe that would have been his immediate conclusion, even with how terribly anxious he can get. His letter said he waited awhile, hoping to see me. So, just how long was he here with you last night?” She asked, her question sounding almost like an accusation of wrongdoing on your part. You’d never heard Samantha sound this way over him before. As though she might have actually cared that you’d been alone with him.

“It was a few hours. I’m not even sure what time he left.” You answered honestly, curious the reaction this would get from her.

She looked shocked, though not angry with this information. If you hadn’t known better given the situation, you could have almost sworn you’d seen some faint amusement behind her eyes. “Sounds like he wasn’t as lonely as he’d let on in his letter, then.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? He was waiting for you.”

“Nothing.” She said, and smirked. So… she had been amused… It struck you as odd and unfitting. “It’s fine. I hope the two of you had a pleasant time catching up.”

“We did.” You confirmed, trying to keep your face from looking absolutely smug, but your tone conveyed that she should, in fact, be jealous that you got the time she missed out on with her boyfriend.

“Right, well, I’m glad.” She said, sounding too sincere for the scenario. “I’m exhausted, work was busy, as I said. I’m going to lay down.”

~~~

The next week brought more late nights at work for Samantha, and aggravation for you, as you were left with more responsibilities around the flat in her absence. During your twelve hour shift at St. Mungos on Saturday that week you found yourself hoping that your flatmate spent at least part of her day off back at home cleaning up the place a bit. You were feeling poorly and the last thing you wanted was to come home from such a long shift to a flat that needed cleaning.

However, as your morning went on your prevailing thought shifted to simply surviving your shift, as you started feeling worse after your lunch break. You must have looked ill, because the matron healer on your shift noticed your condition as soon as you’d met with her to discuss afternoon rounds. The older woman took one look at you, noting your pale and clammy state, and ordered you to go home and rest, sending you out the door with a bottle of Pepperup potion in hand.

When you apparated to your doorstep, you were no longer concerned with the state in which you’d find the flat, but rather just getting into your bed, drinking your potion, and sleeping whatever this is, off.

You strode through your front door with a groan, immediately starting to complain about how you felt, knowing Samantha was somewhere in the flat to hear you. You heard her muttering something or other from the living room as you headed down the hall and towards her voice.

Rounding the corner into the room, you dropped your vial of Pepperup potion in surprise when you saw Samantha. The glass shattering on the floor was what drew her attention to you, and you realized the muttering you’d heard hadn’t been directed to you at all, but to the man whose lap she was sat atop on the couch. A man who was not Leander.

“MC! I- I didn’t expect you home so soon. You- I thought you had a twelve hour shift today.” She sputtered, looking as though she’d seen a ghost, likely as pale as you were with your ailment.

“I was feeling poorly, and got sent home early.” You said flatly, your mouth hanging open, staring at her as she scooted off the man's lap and stood up from the couch. You didn't recognise her company, but the emblem on his shirt when he stood up beside Samantha had shown that he was a coworker of hers in the ministry. “You and Leander-”

“We broke up. Last week.” She said quickly, cutting you off from finishing your question, though her response had covered the answer you were looking for.

You nodded at her explanation, relieved to hear you hadn’t just caught her cheating, though you wondered why she hadn’t talked to you when it happened. You weren’t that close but you’d have thought a break up would have come up in conversation at some point. You also couldn't help but find it a bit odd that she already had another man in your shared home only a week out from her breakup, but this was neither here nor there. You shifted a bit awkwardly with the scene you’d stumbled in on, wondering what the final straw was for Samantha, or if she’d simply found, in her words, ‘a better option.’ Regardless, you were glad Leander was free of her. You’d thought for a while now that he deserved better than your overly critical flatmate.

“We’ll just head to my room and let you rest, then, you look poorly.” Samantha said, and pulled her wand from her pocket, vanishing the mess of shattered potion at your feet before leading this new man across the living room and towards her bedroom.

“I need to go replace that, actually. I won’t be long.” You tell her, and she nodded in goodbye before disappearing behind her bedroom door, while you head back down the hallway, and apparate with a crack from your door to Diagon Alley.

The shop lined streets were loud and crowded, especially with it being a Saturday. Diagon Alley was typically a place you loved the atmosphere of, but with your head pounding and your body feeling clammy and tired, you wanted to get what you needed and leave as quickly as possible. You dodged people left and right as you made your way down the street to the Apothecary, your head down in an attempt to keep the sun out of your eyes, the bright rays making your headache that much worse.

Finally making your way into the Apothecary, you navigate your way through the narrow aisles of ingredients to the back of the shop where ready prepared potions were kept for sale.

“Excuse me.” You say politely to the tall gentleman standing directly in front of the section containing the Pepperup potions you were looking for, blocking them from your reach.

“Oh, my apologies.” He said and shifted a step to the side and out of your way. It was then that you realized his voice was one you recognized. Stepping up from behind him to stand at his side, you look up and grin softly at Leander, a bottle of Pepperup potion in his hands, reading the back of the bottle.

“Are you coming down with something as well?” You ask him, picking up a bottle for yourself.

With your question, he finally shifts his eyes away from the label on the bottle and to you, his eyes widening slightly as he nodded. “I blame you, actually. You must have gotten me sick after dinner last week.” He teased, his face pale and clammy looking like yours, his cheeks lacking their usually rosy glow.

You rolled your eyes. “I don’t feel well enough to argue so I suppose I’ll take the blame. I’m always catching these little bugs from my patients in the hospital.” You say, pausing for a moment in thought, wondering if it would be too much to bring up his recent break up. Having the information on your mind made you want to offer condolences.

“Well I hope you’re feeling better soon.” He says, before you had come to a decision on whether or not to say more.

You nodded, shifting to face him and deciding to just go with it, your face softening as you spoke. “You too. And, I'm sorry about you and Samantha. She told me this afternoon.”

Leander’s eyes narrowed, his brows pulling together in confusion as he tried to make sense of your words. He tilted his head slightly to one side as he pondered. “What do you mean?”

“What do you mean, what do I mean?” You asked him, wondering how he could possibly not realize what you were talking about.

“MC, what exactly did Samantha tell you?” He asked, his voice sounding impatient for the information.

You swallowed hard, your palms starting to sweat as they gripped the potion bottle a little bit tighter. From his reaction, you were beginning to realize Samantha may not have been being honest with you earlier. “She said that the two of you broke up last week.”

Leander scoffed, looking absolutely taken aback. “She told you that we broke up? She told you that today? In person?” He asked, shifting his weight and shaking his head, his hand at the back of his neck in agitation.

“Did you not break up?” You ask him first, needing to know the truth before answering his other questions.

“No! We didn’t break up, we’ve never broken up!” He emphasized. “She told me she couldn’t see me this weekend because she was going to be out of town visiting her family.”

“Oh gods, I’m sorry Leander.” You say and groan, looking even more remorsefully at him than you had initially when you’d thought he’d just been through a breakup. “Yes, she told me today, in person” You said and shook your head. You were furious with Samantha for doing this to him, for lying to you, and that you were now in this position, feeling morally obligated to give him the truth.

“Let's pay for our potions and go outside, there is something else I should tell you.” You suggest, wanting to get the two of you out of the cramped shop before breaking the rest of the news to him, not wanting to bother the shopkeeper or other patrons.

“Bloody hell. Fine, let's go.” He said with a sigh and led the two of you to the counter where each of you checked out in silence before heading outside.

“What is going on MC? You’ve got my stomach in knots here. Just tell me.” He urged you as the two of you walked the cobbled street together, turning down a quieter alley off the main row of shops. He leaned his back against the brick side of one of the buildings, antsy, fidgeting with his bag after stuffing his bottle of Pepperup potion into it.

You took a deep breath, gathering your words and preparing to tell him everything he deserved to know. “She was in the flat with another man when I came home from work earlier.” You tell him, and he swore under his breath. Your own stomach was twisting, you hated being the one to break this to him. But he needed to know. He deserved better. “She was sitting in his lap when I came in. She was startled to see me, and when I left to get my potion, they went into her bedroom. I’m so sorry Leander.”

“She’s cheating.” He said softly, his head leaning back against the rough wall behind him as he let out a groan. “I appreciate you telling me. I’m glad I ran into you today.” He added, tilting his head to look down at you as you stood off to his side, leaning against the wall beside him.

You nodded. Though you didn’t see anything explicit happening, the fact that Samantha had been in the man’s lap and had lied and told you her and Leander had ended things was confirmation enough. She was doing something wrong and she knew it, and you had caught her.

“It’s a coworker of hers.” You told him. “I saw her department’s emblem on his shirt.”

He let out a huff of a chuckle at this information, staring ahead as he tried to piece this news together with thing’s Samantha had told him in the past. “She was never working late, was she? The night she stood me up. I was so worried, and she was with someone else.”

This was something you hadn’t considered, but now that he’d asked, it made all too much sense. “I don’t know, honestly. Her and I aren’t actually that close. She would never have talked to me about it, if she was seeing someone else. I’d have told you sooner if I knew.”

“Would you have?” He wondered, glancing back down at you, one of his brows raising.

You nodded. “You deserve better. That much I’ve thought for a while now.”

“Alright.” He said with finality and leveraged his body forward, stepping away from the wall. You got the feeling you’d said a bit too much for him at the current moment. You didn’t regret it though. In your opinion, he needed to hear it. “Well. I need to head home and drink this potion, and so do you.”

“Right… Sorry, again.” You offered.

“Don’t worry yourself about it MC. I’ll be fine.” He said bidding you goodbye, and apparating away before you had the chance to say anything else decidedly awkward.

You followed suit, apparating back to your flat and heading directly into your bedroom. You unlaced your boots and climbed back into bed with your bottle of Pepperup potion, uncorking the vial and downing it before laying back against your pillow. You hoped to sleep through the unpleasant side effect of steam pouring out of your ears.

~~~

The remainder of your weekend, and the next several days in your flat were tense. You’d confronted Samantha once your Pepperup potion had you feeling well again and it had gone about as well as was expected.

Samantha was unjustifiably bitter in finding out you’d told Leander everything you’d seen the day you ran into him in Diagon Alley, and you were completely unapologetic with her as she chastised you not keeping her indiscretions to yourself when you were supposed to be her friend.

She attempted to justify her own cheating with the fact you’d spent such a late evening with Leander awhile back, while she had in fact, been with another man as she missed her date night with her own boyfriend. Hearing that you’d enjoyed that evening with Leander after the fact made her feel less guilty for her actions, even though you reiterated to her that nothing had happened between the two of you. She had decided what she wanted to believe and there was no arguing with her.

Their actual break up came in the form of several letters exchanged via owl. The morning it happened, Samantha stomped angrily through the flat, grumbling to you about how she was going to be exhausted at work all day thanks to Leander sending his owl at an ungodly early hour. She blamed the bird for costing her sleep when it incessantly rapped at her window until she’d wake and take his letter. You couldn’t help but think Leander was being slightly vindictive in the timing of his owl, but you also couldn’t blame him. There was no doubt in your mind that she’d cost him sleep as well, with what she’d done to him.

Despite your relationship with Samantha being quite strained presently, you did agree to go gather her belongings from Leander’s flat for her. You could appreciate that neither of them wanted to see the other, and over the course of roughly six months, he’d apparently accumulated a good amount of her belongings. Exchanging your own letters with him, the two of you worked out an evening for you to come over. With a long list of things to collect tucked into the pocket of your coat, you spoke his address while standing in the hearth of the fireplace in your living room before dropping a handful of floo powder at your feet and disappearing in a rush of flames.

This was your first time in Leander Prewett’s flat, and you’d wished you were visiting under better circumstances. He was waiting in his living room to greet you when you stepped through his fireplace, a large cardboard box on the coffee table in the middle of the room with some of Samantha’s things already inside. The box was sitting besides a mostly empty lowball glass, still solid ice cubes being the only indicator that it had recently been full. Fire whiskey. You could smell it on his breath as he stepped towards you as you passed him the list of items Samantha expected back.

“I think I’ve gathered most of this stuff already.” He said as he read the list over, scoffing heartily as he worked his way through it. “Some of these on this list are mine! My cologne? Ridiculous, she gifted me that.”

“Really? That is awfully petty of her.”

“Isn’t it?” He agreed and shrugged his shoulders. “What’s she even want with it? Gift it to the other bloke?”

You couldn’t answer, simply shrugged as he headed out of the room and returned a moment later with the small glass bottle.

“She can have it.” He said and tossed the bottle haphazardly into the box amongst Samantha’s things. “Can I offer you a drink while you wait for me to find this stuff?”

“Oh, erm, sure. Thank you.” You said. Leander gestured for you to take a seat on his couch, which you did, while he headed into his kitchen to grab you something.

“Firewhiskey alright?” He called from the other room. “It’s what I was having, but I have-”

“Firewhiskey is fine.” You reply, cutting him off. No need for him to list all of the options when the first of them had always been a favorite if yours.

He set a fresh glass with ice down on the coffee table in front of you, and filled your glass before refilling his own.

“Cheers.” He said, picking up his glass and extending it to yours. You clinked his glass and sipped your drink, the strong cinnamon flavor warming your face immediately. He took a long swig from his own glass before setting it back down on the table with a satisfied ‘ahhh’ feeling the alcohol warming his bones.

“Let’s see, what else?” He mumbled, picking up the parchment and looking over it again. He disappeared back down the hall and into the other room, this time leaving you standing in his living room for several minutes before returning once again with what appeared to be a few shirts and some makeup. He tossed them into the box and cleared his throat. “That should be all of it.”

“Great. Thanks for taking the time to find everything.” You tell him as he folds up the top of the box, sealing it shut.

Leander took a seat on the couch beside you, picking up his glass once again and polishing it off. “I don’t usually drink like this, but this hurts, you know?” He said, gesturing to the box of his ex’s belongings on his table and picking up his bottle of firewhiskey, refilling his glass once again. The ice that had been there when you’d arrived was still present in the glass.

“I’m not judging…” You tell him, sipping again from your glass. “But maybe slow down a bit, yeah?”

“I don’t work tomorrow, I’m not worried about it.” He said, turning to flash a wide grin at you. “Maybe you should catch up.”

It didn’t take you much convincing beyond that, you had off work tomorrow as well. You shrugged your shoulders, returning his grin with a mischievous one of your own. “Ah, what the hell.” You concede, sipping more heavily from your drink, a smirk on your lips.

“That’s the spirit, MC. Live a little.” He encouraged with a chuckle, peering at you through his lashes while he tipped his drink back for another sip. “Can’t believe I’m telling you that.” He muttered.

But you did. You let yourself indulge in both the firewhiskey and in Leander’s good company. Spending time with him recently as Samantha’s boyfriend had been pleasant, but tonight was different, they weren’t together anymore. And though the evening had started as you just doing Samantha a favor by collecting her things, it was ending as the two of you spending time together because you both wanted to. You caught up to him in number of drinks over a game of wizard’s chess, sitting on the floor of his flat beside him, with the board set up on the coffee table.

You were terrible at the game, never having played it much in Hogwarts and not at all since graduating. Both of you were in stitches watching your chessmen falling to pieces on the board as Leander’s moved forward, taking control of the board. But the game didn't matter. The only thing that mattered to you right now was the way he teased you and questioned your moves before you made them; the way he leaned in towards you slightly when he spoke, looking at you with wide glassy eyes and a lazy, comfortable smile; the way nudged you playfully, teasing you for sending your chessmen to their doom or when you mistakenly tried to make illegal moves.

The game met an untimely end when you reached for the now more than half empty bottle of firewhiskey, knocking it against the board and scattering the pieces accidentally in your clumsily drunken state. This only made you laugh even harder, needing to set the bottle back down for fear of spilling it as you rolled back on the floor with tears in your eyes.

“Oh that’s rich! I think you did that intentionally because you were losing so badly.” He sarcastically scolded you. “Couldn’t handle losing to me, hm?” He teased as he picked back up the chessmen and resetting the board.

“Noo!” You denied, still laying on the floor and giggling. “In fact I demand a do over.”

“Do you, now? Do you think you can handle it? How are you going to play chess if you’re laying on the floor?” He teased, leaning back on one of his hands and looking down at you.

You shrugged your shoulders and sat back up, your cheeks red from your laughter and the alcohol alike. Leander took the liberty of refilling your glass for you. “Thank you. And yes, I can handle it. Can you handle it?”

“Oh I'm sure that I can.” He said with a wry grin. “Alright then, you’ll get your do over.”

Unsurprisingly to both of you, your second game was worse, but you were having fun. Leander couldn’t help himself from ribbing you on your moves. Any other more sober circumstance, he’d have taught you all about strategy, but neither of you were in quite the right mind for that tonight.

Paying more attention to the way Leander’s brows came together as he concentrated and how handsome his face was than the actual game itself, it was no shock to you when he’d won fairly quickly.

“Well, well, well! I’ve finally defeated the Hero of Hogwarts at something! Who’d have thought?” He teased, reveling in his win, a playful gloating tone in his voice.

“I’m certain I’ve asked you not to call me that.” You say, rolling your eyes, your cheeks sore from their grin.

“Oh, have you? I don’t recall.” He dismissed, smirking at you, resetting the board once again. “Besides, my win sounds more impressive when I use your proper title.”

“You’re insufferable.” You jest, sipping your drink, unable to wipe the grin from your face, bracing yourself for more of his teasing. Your buzzed state had you giggling preemptively.

But his mood had swung, and more teasing didn’t come. Leander’s gaze settled on the box of Samantha’s belongings on the floor beside the coffee table with a sigh. “Apparently so.”

“No, nonono. If there’s one thing we aren't doing, it’s being self depreciating.” You say firmly. “I was teasing. You aren’t insufferable at all. You’re actually quite pleasant to spend time with.”

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better.” He said finishing off the last of the firewhiskey from his glass and setting it heavily back down on the table. He let out a long exhale and stared into your eyes as though searching for the truth.

“No, I mean it.” You protest, giving him a pout. “I wouldn't have stayed if I wasn’t enjoying myself.”

“I suppose I’ll have to take your word for it.” He said with a sigh.

“I think I could prove it.” You tell him, sounding quite sure of yourself, your lips pulling upwards into a confident little grin.

“Oh? And how exactly would you do that?” He wondered, unable to resist a little smirk at the confidence in your claim.

You didn’t reply, just leaned in towards him slowly, unsteadily. The tip of your nose brushed upwards against his, and you could feel him sharply inhale at your sudden proximity. Your eyes locked to his, looking up at him through your lashes. When he didn’t pull away, you leaned in closer, pressing your lips to his and holding the kiss for several seconds before he pulled back from you slowly, resting his forehead against yours. Leander let out a slow and shuddered breath, grounding himself and taking a moment to process what had happened.

He had a bit of a woozy looking crooked smile, and the look of it made your heart flutter. You moved a hand to the side of his face, your fingers grazing lightly along his jaw and back towards the nape of his neck, pulling him closer, your lips seeking out his again.

But he pulled away. His eyes were shut tightly, his brows knitted together, as though every inch of space he put between the two of you was more painful than the last. With the distance in the way, your hand slid away from his face, settling back on your lap, your eyes searching his as he opened them slowly.

“You’ve had too much to drink, MC.” He whispered.

You sat there in silence for what seemed like much too long, wanting with every fiber of your being to deny his statement, but in the end and with much reluctance, you nodded. It had crept up on you, but you were quite drunk. Unable to peel them away, your eyes remained on his lips after he’d spoken. You hadn’t thought about them much in the past, but after feeling how right they felt pressed to yours, the little taste you’d gotten had left you aching for more.

“MC?” He asked softly, your eyes fixed on his lips making his already rosy cheeks burn an even brighter red. You finally brought your eyes back up to meet his, letting him know you were listening. “It’s getting really late.” He said.

You let out a defeated sigh, not wanting to take the hint he was giving you. You didn’t want to leave. In the back of your mind you damned floo travel for being such a safe and easy way to travel, even while intoxicated, because you’d have grasped at any chance to stay with him in his flat right now. But no such excuse existed. “Right. You’re right. I should get going.” You said trying to bury any shred of disappointment in your voice. Deep down you knew heading back home was probably for the best.

Leander got to his feet first, steadying himself with the coffee table as he stood. He extended you his hands and you took them, easily getting hoisted up from the floor with his help.

You gathered the box of Samantha’s belongings, tucking it under your arm and against your hip, you stood in the hearth of Leander’s fireplace and he held out his bowl of floo powder for you to use to travel back home.

“Have a good night, MC.” He said as you took a handful of the black powder.

“I did.” You reply, a grin on your face, your glassy eyes giving him a final once over for the evening. “Goodnight, Leander.”

“Sleep well” He said, returning your grin with one of his own, a breath of a smirk leaving him, taking amusement in the way your hazy eyes traveled his form.

You cleared your throat, taking a moment in your mind to ensure you’d speak clearly before speaking aloud your address. You vanished from Leander’s flat in a flash of green flames, and appeared moments later back in your own, a bit more unsteady on your feet than you’d have hoped to be, you braced yourself on the sooty brick of the hearth before stepping out into your living room, where Samantha sat with a book curled up with a blanket on your sofa.

Looking far too annoyed for someone who didn’t have to go gather their own belongings, she sighed when you stumbled into the room, marking her place in her book and setting it down to relieve you of the box you were carrying.

“Is it all here?” She wondered, setting the box down on the armchair beside the fireplace and pulling the flaps open to dig through the contents.

“Leander said he got everything.” You tell her, kicking your shoes off where you stood, far too drunk to care to set them at the front door.

While Samantha went through her box, making sure all of her possessions had come home to her, you strode heavily into the kitchen, grabbing yourself a glass of water and gulping it down quickly before returning to the living room and sprawling yourself across the sofa with a groan, completely taking over the space Samantha had previously been occupying.

She shot you a look, dumbfounded at your behavior, and you wondered whether or not she’d ever actually seen you in such a state of inebriation before.

“I was going to continue sitting there after making sure my stuff is all here.” She said, scoffing at you as she picked up the box, preparing to take it to her room. You only shrugged as she walked away, setting the box just inside her door and returning to the living room, her hands on her hips as she stared expectantly down at you.

It took her a moment of more closely watching your mannerisms, slow and unbothered, before she finally asked, “are you drunk?”

“Very.” You whine. You’d been feeling pretty good for most of the evening but now that you were laid out, your head was pounding, your several drinks had caught up with you and were making you nauseous.

“I knew there was something going on between the two of you. Ever since the other week when you let him in to wait for me, something has been up between the two of you.” Samantha said matter of factly.

You shook your head, rolling your eyes a bit too dramatically thanks to the firewhiskey in your veins. “That’s just your guilty conscience. Nothing happened when I let him in to wait on you.” You said cooly, grabbing the blanket that Samantha had been using and pulling it over your body, tucking it under your chin.

“And what about tonight?” She asked incredulously.

“Not your business.” You say with a shrug, trying to maintain a straight face, though your mind went instantly to the feeling of his lips against yours.

Samantha was so smug, shaking her head and crossing her arms across her chest. “Something happened, you are so obvious. You might not have touched him the other week but something was building. Tonight wouldn’t have happened out of nowhere. Not with him.”

“What do you care, Samantha? You were fucking your coworker while Leander was pacing our flat thinking something serious had happened to you. And nothing will ever change that fact.” You turned over on the couch with a groan, facing away from Samantha’s leering gaze. “Let me lie here. My head hurts.”

Samantha let out an exasperated huff, grabbing her book from the side table and taking it into her bedroom and slamming the door behind her, the clap of the door against the frame making your ears ring.

~~~

You didn’t know exactly when it would be coming, but you had anticipated seeing Leander’s owl at your window at some point after your time together in his flat over the weekend. So on Tuesday evening, when you were in your room changing out of your work robes after a long shift, you were not at all surprised with the rapping of talons against the glass of your window.

You’d been waiting for his letter, knowing him well enough to know that he wouldn’t leave what had happened between the two of you up in the air for long. Opening the window, you gently pulled the rolled parchment from the bird’s claws, and gave him a treat from a container you kept on your window sill for this very purpose, and the owl stayed comfortably perched at your window, seemingly waiting on your reply to carry back to Leander.

You sat on your bed to read his letter, grinning widely, your heartrate picking up at his words as you took them in. You’d been on his mind, in the same way he’d been on yours more and more frequently lately. He wanted you to meet with him, wanted to talk about the kiss you had shared. Shifting to your desk, you pulled a piece of parchment from your drawer and promptly started writing him back, agreeing to meet with him the following evening after work, as he’d requested. You sent your response back with Leander’s owl, already looking forward to seeing him tomorrow.

Leander had asked you to meet him at a park near your house at six in the evening, and you arrived promptly to find him already waiting for you on a bench near a pond. It was a pleasant evening, the early springtime giving the air a slight chill especially as the sun was setting, but your body felt warm with anticipation, your stomach turning over as you made your way to sit beside him.

He turned towards you as you slid onto the bench beside him, a grin on his face and his honey brown eyes bright in the sunset. “Hey there. How was your day?” He asked.

“Good.” You said, trying to keep buried the feeling of eagerness you were feeling in his presence. “Uneventful, which is the best kind of day working at the hospital. How was yours?”

“Also uneventful, which is also good news in my office. It went by slowly. I was looking forward to this.” He said, nodding in your direction. “To seeing you.”

This made your cheeks warm, hearing him express feelings even remotely similar to the ones you’d been letting bubble inside. “I was looking forward to seeing you, too.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was merely the firewhiskey that had you so keen before.” He said with a smirk, but you could tell in his tone, and in the way his eyes hung on yours, he wanted the reassurance that what he said wasn’t the case.

You shook your head. “It wasn’t the firewhiskey.”

Leander let out a breath, his smirk turning into a genuine smile as he nodded, looking satisfied with your confirmation. “Seeing you last month when I brought over dinner was… well it- it brought up a lot of feelings I'd let myself forget about from back at Hogwarts…”

The more he spoke the redder your cheeks got. Though you weren’t very close back in school you still had enough fond memories with him that made you smile to think back on. You were silent, a dorky grin on your face as you listened to what he had to say.

“I had the biggest crush on you in school, did you know that?” He asked, tilting his head in wait for you to respond.

You shook your head, your cheeks still flushed. You weren’t happy to admit it, but you didn’t pay him the attention that he likely deserved in that way, back in school.

“Well I did, I thought it was obvious.” He continued. “But I didn’t think you’d ever look at me the same way. So I never dwelled on it. I let those thoughts go.” He said and took a deep breath, looking out over the pond in front of you. His hand rubbed the back of his neck and he spoke again with some hesitancy. “And then the other day you just… kissed me. Out of nowhere. I didn’t know how to respond. I don’t know why you did it or how to process it… Why’d you do it?”

“I just… I wanted to.” You admitted, your eyes flicking up to meet his, your shoulder raising in the faintest shrug. “I was having a good time with you and I wanted to.”

“But were you just trying to make me feel better about Samantha?” He wondered, fidgeting with the cuffs of his jacket. “Was it out of pity?”

You shook your head. “No.” You tell him definitively and pause to further gather your thoughts. You knew you had to tell him more to satisfy his questions. And he deserved your honesty. “I can’t say that I felt the same back in school, but spending time with you lately, like when we went out to the pub the other evening… I feel it now. I like you a lot, Leander.”

Leander let out a contented little huff with your words, the confirmation that he hadn’t been alone in his feelings recently seeming to brighten him from the inside out. He didn’t seem nervous now, “I like you too. And I’d like to keep spending time with you, and to see where this can go. I just… need a little time.”

You look equally pleased with his confession, your face softening with a gentle smile. “I understand. We don’t have to rush anything. But I’d like to keep spending time with you too.” You said. Taking a few moments to sit in a comfortable silence together, you take one of Leander’s hands in your own, lacing your fingers between his and holding it on your lap, your other hand tracing his knuckles gently.

~~~

Spending time together on your mutual days off from work became a priority to both you and Leander rather quickly. Neither of you were looking to rush into things, with him both wanting and needing time to process and heal from his breakup with Samantha, but it became more and more apparent to each of you while spending time together that you truly enjoyed each other's company and meshed well together. Your weekends were spent with him in his flat, becoming more proficient at wizards chess, discussing books you’d both read, and just talking. Getting to truly know him was slow going, and you found yourself silently cursing Samantha for reinforcing those walls of his as you came to realize how deeply her cheating had affected him. But you’d decided from the start that you were in this with him. He was just too sweet, too kind, too much of a gentleman not to deserve your effort and a real chance. You gave him your all and it paid off.

All of the stolen moments between the pair of you towards the end of, and immediately following Leander’s relationship with Samantha, led into a friendship that was affectionate and tender, both of you relishing in the knowledge that each of you cared deeply for the other. It was hard taking it slow with him. The urge to claim his lips with yours, to dishevil his neatly styled hair in the most passionate of kisses, nearly overwhelmed you every time you saw him. But you gave him the time he needed, and he would love you for that.

It took nearly two months before you were able to say that Leander Prewett was officially yours, but when those words were finally able to leave your lips, the time it took getting to that point was more than worth it.

You weren't home often anymore, and knowing what you were up to, what little relationship you had left with Samantha deteriorated rapidly. With every passing day, you watched the end of your rental agreement creep closer, and you took pleasure in telling Samantha you’d be finding your own flat and moving out in just a month, when the lease would be up.

You were able to find a new flat with relative ease, something smaller, since it would be solely yours, and close to St. Mungos so that you could walk to work on days when the weather would allow for it.

Leander was at your side that month later when it came time for you to move, helping you pack your belongings into the enchanted trunk you’d kept from your time in Hogwarts, and in your new flat alongside you helping you as you put things in their new places.

Magic undoubtedly made the moving process easier, but your day was still draining, both physically and emotionally. Leaving your flatmate of two years on bitter terms wasn’t something you’d anticipated at all when the two of you made the decision to move in together in the first place, but leaving felt like the right thing to do after all that had happened.

Despite being full of your own belongings, a mix of items that moved with you from your old flat and things you’d conjured with old spellcrafts you’d saved from school, you felt most at home in your new flat while laying in Leander’s arms. Sprawled out on your bed that evening as the warm light from the lampposts outside of your window spilt in through your blinds, Leander laid with his head on your chest, his weight against you making you feel comfortable and secure.

“Thank you for all of your help today.” You tell him, your fingers running through his hair gently as you held each other.

“Of course love. I wouldn’t have let you do it all on your own.” He said, nuzzling into your touch, his breath warm on your skin as he exhaled with contentment.

“Stay here with me tonight?” You suggest, kissing the top of his head.

He hummed happily and you felt him nodding against your chest. “I’ve no intention of leaving you alone on your first night in your new flat.”

“Good.” You murmur, your hands dragging softly up and down the span of his back, pulling at the hem of his top and raising it so your nails could tease along his skin, and he held you tighter.

“When you touch me like this, you make it very difficult for me not to just take you already.” Leander said quietly, the faintest groan in his throat as he cuddled against you. His fingers gripped your waist and you could almost feel his wavering restraint in the way his fingers dipped just below the waistband of your pants.

“Oh? Do I now?” You ask him, the flirtation in your voice making him even more excited. “If you’re ready, then I’m ready.”

This piqued Leander’s interest and he shifted his head up from your chest to look at you properly. “Do you mean that?” He wondered. “You want to?”

Having his eye contact made your breath catch. Your body absolutely ached for him. The longer you laid beside him, every single minute you spent in his presence, the harder it was to keep taking things slowly, the more you wished he’d make his move and tell you he was ready to take that step with you. Not that you wouldn’t continue waiting… But it was hard. “I mean it. I want you.”

Leander knew perfectly well that you had been the one waiting on him to be ready to take this step, and hearing you express out loud your desire for him made the last shreds of restraint in him vanish. His last relationship had hurt him and those wounds were only just starting to heal, but in this moment keeping himself guarded from you was a pain in and of itself, something that became more difficult to do with each passing day. He didn’t want to wait anymore. He didn’t want his past relationship to set the pace of this one anymore.

“I want you, too.” He said, leaning in towards you, his hand coming behind your head as he pulled you into a heated kiss which you eagerly returned and deepened, your tongue trailing his bottom lip before slipping into his mouth and pressing against his.

When your kiss broke Leander shifted himself up, sitting at your side as he pulled his top off over his head and tossed it onto your otherwise spotless floor. He took your hands and pulled you up beside him as well, his large hands sliding up your ribs and around your back, his nimble fingers at the buttons of your blouse before he pulled it up and off of you. His grip settled firmly on your hips, pulling you to him, you shifted onto his lap, straddling his thighs. Lips meeting passionately, your arms rest around his shoulders, fingers through his soft auburn hair as he deftly unlaced and removed your camisole. His hands palmed your chest, kneading your breasts gently, his back hunching down so that his lips could graze your neck.

Your body buzzed with anticipation that had been building in you ever since your drunken evening in his flat months ago now. You rocked your hips against his lap needily, making him groan into the crook of your neck. You felt his teeth against your skin, nipping and sucking sensually, marking you as his. “You’re driving me crazy right now, you know that?” He breathed, his lips never parting from your skin.

“Mhm,” You hum, your fingers gripping the hair at the nape of his neck and guiding his face back to yours, you lean in, languidly pressing your lips to his as his arms wrap around the small of your back, his fingertips pressing against your curves and pulling your body down against his as he sought the friction you’d given him when you’d rocked your hips.

Leaning forward against you, Leander guided you off of his lap and onto your back against your mattress. He slid from the edge of your bed, his eyes wide and longing as they took in the sight of you while his hands were at his belt, unclasping it and sliding his trousers and undergarments off. You bit your lip as you watched thoroughly enticed by the heat of his gaze and his body. You giggled when he took you by your legs, just below your knees, and pulled you to the edge of the bed towards him, where he unlaced your pants with a smirk and tugged at your pant legs, pulling them and your knickers off of you with help from a wiggle of your hips.

His broad, muscular shoulders looked so good flexing as he dipped his head down, kneeling on the bedroom floor between your parted legs as they rest against his shoulders over the side of the bed. He kissed up one of your legs, then slowly down the other, seemingly mercilessly skipping over spots in which you wanted his lips most of all. It would have been teasing if it was anyone else, but Leander Prewett wasn’t a tease. He savored and loved on you with a genuine appreciation for you and your body and for the opportunity he had to touch you so intimately.

Working you up and making you needy beyond comprehension for him was just a side effect of his attention to your every detail.

Hearing you whine and feeling goosebumps rise beneath his lips as they traced your inner thighs only reinforce his feeling that he was doing his job properly. Slowly, he kissed his way to your center, his tongue so soft and warm between your thighs. Your breath quickened as his tongue flitted against your clit, your fists gripping your bedding as he sucked at you. You felt heat radiating from your center as he worked you, lapping at you fervently, soft moans and hums coming from his lips as though he was savoring his favorite dessert.

Your breath only got sharper when you felt his long fingers rubbing against you below his tongue, grazing against you gently as he slickened them up with your arousal before slipping them carefully into your body. You moaned out his name and you could feel him grinning against your body at the sound of hearing your voice, so sweet and delicious as you called out for him.

Leander beckoned his fingers inside of you, his long digits rubbing that sensitive spot so expertly and making your back arch up off the bed and your legs tense against his shoulders.

Not wanting to part his lips from your body to speak for even a moment, Leander’s free hand found one of yours and laid over it, squeezing your palm affectionately. You gripped at his fingers tightly as you had been to your bedding, clutching onto him while your body writhed through the radiating ecstasy of the climax he brought about you.

Your breath was a shaky exhale of expletives and moans as you released against his fingers and tongue, panting still as he withdrew his fingers and leaned up over you, kissing his way up your body to your neck.

“You sound so lovely like that.” He whispered, his lips against your ear taking your lobe between his teeth playfully, nipping at it gently before pressing a kiss to your neck.

You were lost for words, wanting him desperately, your core still throbbing from the faintest touches of his body against yours as he leaned over you. Leander nudged you gently and nodded, gesturing for you to move back from the edge of the bed, and so you did, shifting to lay against your pillow, Leander crawled onto the bed overtop you, parting your legs with his knees and settling himself between them.

Your heart was still hammering away in your chest, but you felt a sense of calm as Leander laid over you, something you always felt in his presence. The tender way in which he loved you was comforting, no matter the intense feelings he’d brought upon your body.

Supporting himself on his elbows, Leander’s hands cradled your face as he kissed you breathless, his hips grinding against yours, you could feel the twitch of his arousal so eagerly nudging between your thighs. “Are you ready, love? Can I?” He asked, peppering your neck in kisses as you nodded eagerly.

“Please.” You murmur, your hands moving to his face and guiding his forehead to rest against yours.

Leander let out a deep breath, kissing your lips softly as one of his hands slipped between your bodies, adjusting himself to align with your slick and still very sensitive core, before finally pressing into you gently with a moan. Your breath hitched as you stared up into his eyes, the soft way he looked back at you as your body enveloped him had you completely transfixed. You adored him, and the look on his face, the way he held you so tenderly as he rolled his hips against yours, told you everything you wanted to know about how he felt in return.

You wrapped your legs around him, wanting to feel his body with every inch of your skin, wanting to hold him as closely to you as possible. Your arms clung around his shoulders, fingers trailing his back, you pulled him closer still, feeling his nose and lips drag along your cheek before settling against your neck, his breath hot on your skin as he panted with his efforts, rutting into you.

Your head lolled back, neck outstretched on your pillow for his lips to travel along. You let out a breathy moan, your grip tightening around his back, the way he hit that spot just right as with every hungry thrust of his hips had heat building deep within you, pressure building as his movements became more frantic and desperate, the sounds of his shuddered breathing telling you that he was right there with you.

Your back arched and your legs around his back gripped him as your muscles tightened. Your insides pulsing and clenching around him as he brought you to another climax made him whine your name against your neck. He chased his own release, body trembling overtop yours as he thrust again and again. Feeling his release approaching, he pressed into you with everything he had, his forehead resting against yours once again, gazing intently into your eyes he spilt inside of you with a low groan.

Sweating now and totally spent, Leander let his body relax overtop of yours, the weight of him over you a comforting and secure feeling you could get very used to. Catching your breath together, your fingers worked back into his hair, running through the strands affectionately, you turned your head to kiss his face.

Leander hummed in satisfaction at your affection for him, and shifted himself slightly ro return your kiss. “Was it worth the wait?” He asked you, his voice low relaxed now, he nuzzled his face close to yours.

“Worth every single moment.” You assured him, closing your eyes in your own total satisfaction.

You couldn’t have imagined a more perfect evening in your new flat, and knowing that you wouldn’t be waking up alone in the morning made it even sweeter. You were his and he was yours, and it was worth the wait. Worth the road it took to get here. If this was how perfectly content you were with him already, you couldn’t wait to see what your futures together held.

#hogwarts legacy #hogwarts legacy fan fiction #leander prewett fanfiction #leander prewett #samantha dale #leander prewett x mc #leander prewett x reader #leander prewett x you

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lacktastrophe · 2 years

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My issue with Paulo x Daisy is how it’s pushed in when Paulo’s sexuality is brought up. It bugs me that whenever he considers a guy an option, it’s immediately followed by Paulo x Daisy. I know that it’s important he accepts his sexuality and that him ending up with Daisy doesn’t change that. Why not just have him accept that he’s bi without all the back and forth with James? It’s a bit disheartening to see a chapter start with “ooh gay” and quickly shift to “nah”

Paulo has already accepted his bi-ness though, this happened back in Golden Hour. Paulo had already worked up to the idea that he was Bi in Boy Toy, but Casual Outing was dealing with an inner conflict that was stopping him, and that was really with the idea of others accepting him, particularly given it's a 180 from his earlier idea of believing hyper-masculinity would find him the kind of acceptance he was originally after. Paulo had to do so without Daisy's help through a greater number of interactions, one through David who had his own coming out (Paulo running away too because he's not at all well when he is the one receiving affection/positive afirmation, which also leads to....), and perspectives outside of his own from an older person who is just as scared as he is about his sexual identity and acceptance from others. That enabled Paulo's confidence into him understanding he's not alone with feelings like this or the one dealing with the worst cards out there.

And maybe also becoming juuuuuuust a little less judgy on people.

Had Paulo not already been confident in being bi himself I'd be pretty sure doing what he did to find out if Jordan was gay would've been more difficult if not an option if he was not already comfortable with the idea of trying the thing he does with women would work on men too, nor would I think he would've been more admitted or considering the idea of seeing either James or Mike as valid candidates in Track Meet. Paulo is not here in Track Meet gushing over the prospect of being bi still, he's upset and dealing with a broken heart because he mistook James' natural positive atitude towards him as potential interest of a closer relationship.

I'll take the Knuckle on the head for suggesting Good Enough was about Paulo's sexuality. That wasn't accurate, should've given it more thought; it's about relationships. It's a continuation of Track Meet and goes further with the previous story as Paulo is able to confirm for fact that James is absolutely set on Mike without a doubt, and he opens up to Daisy about the status of his interests among a number of things:

Daisy letting him know he can rely on her for support when it comes to his feelings, he doesn't need to internalise his problems like how Lucy had.

Paulo coming to terms with him losing out on a relationship and dealing with an indirect-rejection given James' interest and move in on a close friend and not him.

We understand Paulo never really tried to move the wheels on those relaitonships because we discovered they were fallbacks. Paulo's admits that his heart is absolutely set on Daisy. He's just jealous of the fact those two are likely ready to hit it off in a faster time than what it's taking for him (or for her for the matter) to work up to the courage of telling Daisy what she really means to him.

And yeah, the last point is that these two do love each other and they both KNOW this. But they are holding out, because neither believe they're Good Enough for the other.

David's still playing match maker

But yeah. I think the belief Paulo x Daisy is being shoehorned in is a misunderstanding. It really is more this was bound to happen because Paulo only ever apparently sought her out when it came to his feelings. He trusted her that much above the others, and this is more of a point especially as Paulo has access to older people who are marginally better adjusted to their sexuality and so on. Considering too that these two only ever see growth through these kinds of one-on-one interactions, it's hard to imagine there really being any other path available. Daisy being the more rational one over Paulo's brashness really just consolidates how they really are made to develop off one another. This is the same sort of thing that's really only stopping Paulo from developing other closer relationships too, whether that was Paulo x David/Jordan/Matt/Sue/Amaya/Rachel etc etc, it really is because Paulo is more comfortable with sharing the deeper ones with Daisy a greater percentage of the time.

Honestly not too different to how Lucy and Mike would only share their feelings between each other, now that I think about it...

#bcb #bitterssweet candy bowl

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purplerakath · 5 months

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So I've started watching Cobra Kai, and got through the first two seasons this weekend. I've been sitting on the choices in this show that bug me, trying to make coherent word things appear, and I think I got it. So this is a less polished more... Rush in, post.

Spoilers for S1-2, nothing for S3-5 which I'll watch next weekend.

1. Narrative Tragedy vs. Dramatic Tragedy

So some of the cast go through what I'm calling Narrative Tragedy: Bad thing happens so they learn and change. While others are going through what I'm calling Dramatic Tragedy: Bad thing happens because bad thing is happening.

The latter isn't bad, but it generally doesn't make the character change, and annoyingly most of this is to keep characters from growing.

The worst offender is honestly Demetri so far, but Sam is the easier one to explain.

Miguel when swinging on Robby hits Sam in the process, this means that instead of Sam focusing on how lying to her parents creates a lot of problems and maybe she should be honest when she has a boyfriend... She's mad at Miguel for being a Cobra. Bonus: Next Season she's secretly dating Robby and due to that messes things by not telling her parents... And we can't focus on that right away because Tory tries to kill her.

Demetri is worse because he just... Is not a fun or interesting character, nothing about his actions sell his friendships to anyone because he's kind of shitty to every friend about what they like, does all the shit the bullies did to him in season 1, and we're still expencted to feel bad for him.

Hawk is a ragaholic monster, but his narrative flow feels good, and when Moon dumps him it HITS.

2. Everyone in this show is kind of an asshole, but in line with their respective schools of karate

...except Moon, who is perfect and flawless and we love her.

So the Cobras are in your face fight god assholes. They are aggressive, loud, aware of their behavior, but think that they earned this rage from what's happened to them. And they aren't exactly WRONG but it isn't exactly healthy.

Miyagi-do are aloof holier-than-thou judgy assholes who assume because they have the high ground they are not just as toxic as the Cobras. And they're wrong, but in the same delusional way Danny is wrong.

This only applies to the main Miyagi-do kids, Robby, Sam, and Demetri.

This is a 'both sides are terrible' situation and that's real. The narrative doesn't really frame it this way though. The narrative seems very keyed into how the Cobras are bad... And then whatever the hell the Miyagi-do kids do the narrative seems to ignore.

Sam and Tory's rivalry is because Sam accused Tory of stealing, grabbed for her, and fell into a dessert table. Sam could have let this go, but looped it into her 'she's right, Cobras are evil.' Demetri releasing all of Hawk's secrets? Totally cool, Demetri gets to win the fight after this for- some reason.

So far the only Miyagi-do character to have narrative fallout for his holy war is Danny. Which he deserves.

3. Generational Trauma can be spread by the 'good guys' if they have no room for patience.

My friend summed this up as 'most of the plot wouldn't exist if Mr. Miyagi were still alive.

Danny has jumped to the same conclusion about Cobra Kai every time without a moment's hesitation, his actions have been terrible and toxic, he's ruined lives in the process of this. His holy war got his daughter hurt and...

I'm terrified Season 3 will just convince him he was right.

Johnny is only better in that Johnny has more self-awareness. Cobra Kai are pit fighters, they're crude, rough around the edges, but unapologetically sincere in their awful. He's also the only one expected to let this go, and he only gets back into it because Danny (or a proxy of Danny) keeps the thing moving.

See Point one about Tragedy.

4. Don't get me wrong, I'm complaining a little.

But I do sincerely enjoy this show. it's stupid, and doesn't make any sense, but the fight scenes are fun. And Moon is adorable. And I love trashfires like the Cobras.

Expect me later to do a Magic color identities for the cast because I am having fun.

#cobra kai #A show full of blorbos #Or are they babygirls?#Anyway if you ignore all the crime Hawk has done nothing wrong #Moon sincerely has done nothing wrong #I want to like Sam more but... Eesh #(yes I still ship Samtory in spite of my Sam issues)#(fite me)

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secondfuckingguessing · 6 months

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Not April's fool

I feel like so much has changed recently. I feel so different. It's easier to let go. Easier to choose what to focus on. Now the halo effect of last week's concert is gone, but I still feel fine. Not all is lost. Not everyone turned into a drag. Not every friend turned out weird. I had to give up everyone I felt was part of my identity. And yes, I was fun. I wasn't always hurt or had to be judgemental. I have it in me.

Things that used to consume all my thoughts and provoke visceral reactions don't hold as much power over me now. I know better than to let myself go without trying to stop it. It never led me anywhere good anyway. I lost some weight. I'm more accepting of my reality, my flaws and my mistakes. They happened. I've dealt with people who hurt me and that impacted my life a lot over the last decade. Yes. That also made me grow a lot and I'm finally reaching a point where the growth is greater than the resentment. I don't miss those people anymore. I let go of ana quite peacefully, my last strand of thinking i couldn't afford to lose the few friends I had (even though I didn't even identify with them that much anymore). Quite honestly, it didn't change much in my life. It turns out I was putting in all the effort once more. She might not be doing it on purpose,but still. It has been going on for far too long. I was completely shut off from her life. It's quite clear now she's on her trip I knew nothing about. I was silly to think it was my duty to keep the whole thing going while she healed or whatever. She's doing that through other people. I was feeling let down much more often than happy about the relationship. I felt sensitive and judgy and I honestly thought there's something wrong with me. I can't like my friends. I can't accept the way real relationships work. I'm delusional and I should care less. Maybe I'm finally learning what reciprocity means. Bia showed me that. Even though we hadn't seen each other in probably 10 years, it felt more natural than with people I thought I was close with. Am I resenting ana right now? No. But I don't exactly miss her right now either. Our good times, of genuine fun have not been recent. It was becoming this heavy weird friendship with lots of things unsaid and a lack of will to really show up to the friendship. Getting older sucks when you groe in different directions. At least I am growing, i can't say what she's interested in besides pokemon. She seems a bit too passive for my liking.

I'm letting go even of the illusion of f. I'd like to have what we had. I feel more openness in me to live that, but it's not about him. He never made me feel special. He never seemed too committed. He was just going with the flow. I know i have so much to give to someone who shows he really wants to be there, here with me. I just never felt that from him. I'm starting to think he's with someone new. I'm not sure why. If that's the case, I know I'm never seeing him again. He won't make the slightest effort to and it's not like he was even before. I'm not sure I care anymore. I truly feel I deserve better. It's his loss, honestly. I'm not that invested into chasing him just to make things right inside. If he's that big of a loser, I'll let him be.

Also, giovana. I'm not that pisssed, I'm not that hurt. She is kinda phony. She's kind of too invested in her own image, her persona. That's kinda lame, doesn't matter how many international travels she does a year. That's lack of character. Even when she thinks she's saying the right things, it feels empty. She's pretending to be this, but really she's investing in what she feels brings her more value. It's transactional in the end. I don't admire this kind of behavior, she can go fuck herself. It's good to see I'm not that hurt anymore. It's not about me being rejected anymore. These people around me really are more than what i thought previously. I don't exactly like this other side of them. Genuinely. I wouldn't choose them based on that. Julia feels childish in a way. She's deluded by parties and going after what she wants like the world is opening up to her more than 10 years later. Even after I talked to her she refuses to see anyone else than her. Funny that the only person she gave herself to was her ex, and it wasn't a great dynamic either. I wish her luck on her maturing.

I feel less lonely, even though not much has changed. I feel kike bia is someone I could on if I needed. Not exactly a shoulder to cry on, but on practical things. Like if i needed company to get a dress. I don't know why that's the thought that popped into my head. I don't want to be this heavy person always hurt and complaining. I can deal with my own sorrows. I do feel different and I hope it stays and expands and turns into something even greater and more beautiful. I feel less insecure. I feel better. Healing rocks and I'm glad to know there are good people still around, even for me.

I hope this leads me great places and that I bump into good people.

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sarah-dipitous · 11 months

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Hellsite Nostalgia Tour 2023 Day 287

Tombstone

“Tombstone”

Plot Description: the boys head to the famed Dodge City, where a ghoul posing as a gunslinger is committing robberies. Jack reckons with the consequences of his powers

Would I Survive the First Five Minutes??: I’ve never been in a cemetery at night and I don’t really see myself doing that

I think it’s kind of bullshit that angels go to the empty when they die. Demons are people who sold their soul and then their soul gets further corrupted in hell, but angels were literally just created like that, without choice. This still doesn’t really answer where monsters killed in purgatory go, though it could be

Jack meeting Castiel is 🥹

“I know what zombies are now!” He’s so excited to show off to Cas. He’s such a good little hunting student

Omgggg Dean, be more obvious. Jack brings your boyfriend back from the dead and all of a sudden you’re willing to check out his hunch on a case? When both Sam and Cas are skeptical?

Dean’s cowboy obsession is so endearing. Jack, who��s been alive for 5 episodes, is even being judgy about it.

“I said we needed a big win. We got Cas back. I’d say that’s a pretty big damn win” ❤️ why can’t you be happy for your brother, Sammy?

Oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh. Castiel and Jack bonding is so precious

Good lord this is such a couple argument. Castiel hates having to wear this hat (literal hat, straw cowboy hat) and Dean’s annoyed that Cas doesn’t remember the movie Tombstone. Omg omg omg (I’ve never seen the movie but I’m guessing that was not the most famous line that Cas just quoted to impress Dean)

Oh oh Jack’s just doing his best as a hunter in training…but he’s not good at reading the room

Dean…is still wearing his cowboy hat (much better quality than the one he made Castiel wear)

You are entirely too excited to hunt a ghoul dressed up as one of your gunslinger idols…and honestly, I can’t blame you for being this excited to see him. He’s pretty

Dave just be so excited to be part of a good old fashioned shootout

Omg Jack nooooo bb. I get you’re basically invincible and you were trying to help but he accidentally killed the bank security guard. He’s really goin through it

This poor mortician. She just wanted a hot boyfriend and acceptance to beauty school.

YOU WENT DOWN THAT HOLE IN THE CEMETERY HEAD FIRST DEAN?!?!

I don’t think you’re helping, Cas. You are trying very hard to be reassuring though

I’m now getting tired of things that look like other things because I’m so suspicious of everyone but spn is not delivering that kind of twist

Jack feels so guilty, and while that sucks, he’s a good boy. Even Dean is starting to believe in him

So of course that means Jack feels he has to leave before he hurts anyone else

#hellsite nostalgia tour 2023

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professorspork · 3 years

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If you're accepting non-superhell prompts, I'd love to see a conversation between Nora and Emerald! I've been REALLY loving these microfics, I've subscribed to you on Ao3, I'll read whatever else you write

[Gahhh that’s so nice you’re so nice!! thanks for being patient on this one, finding my Nora took some doing]

It’s occurring to Emerald that she’s never had a close female friend before.

You say that like you’ve ever had any friends before, the voice in her head that sounds suspiciously like Mercury needles her, but she brushes it aside. Like—okay, yeah, she’ll concede the point when it comes to Cinder. In hindsight, whatever they’d had going on between them may have been... super intense... but it probably had never been friendship, in the usual definition. But she and Mercury were friends, no matter what the judgy little shitstain version of him who lives in her head has to say about it. They’d always gotten along. Told each other stuff. It’s not like there’s more to it than that, right?

It had always been like that. Been—instinctive somehow, with guys. Before Cinder, on the street, it was always the men who’d been easiest to manipulate; who would empty their pockets for a smile and a sob story. And then she and Merc had been two sides of the same coin for so long, and then... well, Hazel’d liked her enough to die for her, apparently. (Which—that’s a door that she keeps closed, thanks. She shuts it firmly again, now.) Oscar seems fond of her, in a sweet, uncomplicated sort of way that she really doesn’t know what to do with, seeing as he shares headspace with like a trillion year old man and the idea that anything to do with that kid could be “uncomplicated” is batshit. Ren vouched for her once, and then again, and now he keeps doing it, like it’s habit, like she should just be used to the fact that people are going to have her back, to ask her if she’s eaten, to turn to her with a raised eyebrow in conversation like her opinion would be constructive.

Anyway.

Now that she’s noticed the pattern, it seems like the kind of thing she should probably… work on, or whatever. And Nora seems like an obvious place for Emerald to start. They’ve been thrown in together a lot, lately, Emerald and Oscar expected to fill in the gaps of what’s left of the old JNPR by default. Not that they’ve ever really had a conversation about it—Emerald can’t think of the last time Nora said two words to her that weren’t combat warnings like “more Grimm coming” or “on your left,” but. That’s probably just because things have been tense. She remembers Nora being friendly, on the whole of it. Off-puttingly friendly, even, back at Beacon.

How hard could it be?

The answer, it turns out, is absurdly hard. Nora’s barely ever in the temporary barracks they’re all living out of, instead always checking on the refugees, going on supply runs over esoteric requests, volunteering for extra patrols. Emerald used to find that kind of dogged do-goodery gag-inducing, but now that she’s been the helping hand herself a few times, she’s starting to see the appeal. The way people look at you when you’ve been of service, it’s—nice. Really nice. But Nora works utterly thankless jobs, the kind most people don’t even notice, let alone appreciate. And when they have their insufferably long leadership meetings and they’re talking about distribution of resources or whatever, Nora’s a fierce debater—jumping in to advocate for the people from Mantle sometimes even before May can. As far as Emerald can tell, she does this stuff just because... she believes in it. Because it’s the right thing to do, and someone has to.

She can’t imagine what it would feel like, to have the attention of someone like that turned on her. She’s craved it from the wrong people for so long, but now that she has her pick of options... she’s letting herself actually want the right kind, for once. She thinks.

Which is all to say that largely through no fault of her own, Emerald unexpectedly finds herself sitting with a profound, fervent desire for Nora Valkyrie to think she’s cool.

She hates that.

Fighting with Nora is easy.

(—er. Alongside. Fighting alongside Nora is easy. Emerald’s done fighting with these people. Very done.)

It’s weird, because Emerald’s finding working with a full team to be a real adjustment. When battles get big enough to merit it, she’s used to keeping to the sidelines to use her Semblance for nefarious purposes, or, in a jam, used to having Mercury’s six—literally, because all the forward momentum from his feet-first style always left his back wide open. Figuring out where to put herself so that Oscar can use her shoulder as a fulcrum as he dodges, or trying to aim for the Grimm Ren isn’t already shooting (ugh)—it’s taking work.

But somehow, it’s not work for Nora. Nora seems to anticipate with perfect ease how Emerald will move or what she’ll be doing; Nora bobs and weaves around their ragtag little band with her war hammer like it’s breathing.

It doesn’t bother Emerald until it does, and she means to bring it up casually but there’s never a good time. So it just… stews, and stews, until she can’t keep it bottled up anymore.

Which means that instead of the earnest question she intends it to be, it comes out like this:

“Okay, seriously? It’s creepy how you do that.”

It’s just the two of them, plus the handful of dweeby Atlesian tech-types they’re escorting back from their foray installing some fancy hydro-filtration modules on the outskirts of the camp. And it’s not like Emerald had felt outmatched by the half-dozen Ravagers that had decided they looked like lunch—she can shoot Ravagers in her sleep, at this point—but still. The way Nora had moved around her, it was like they’d been fighting side by side for years.

Nora just cocks her head to the side. “Do what?” she asks, like she hadn’t just basically read Emerald’s mind in front of the water nerds.

Emerald does a complicated gesture with her hands, wrist over wrist, and then flicking two fingers—trying to evoke the way Nora had flipped over Emerald’s back and then kicked off, just trusting Emerald would reel her back in with a chain in midair before a Grimm could fly away with her sorry ass. “That.”

“Oh!” Nora laughs and rubs at the back of her neck, looking sheepish. “It’s nothing. I guess it’s just not a big deal for me? Like—I was there when Ren built StormFlower. The cables are newish, but we practiced so much back in Atlas… I dunno. It’s just reflex, when your weapons are so similar. Fighting with you, it’s almost like fighting with him. I don’t even have to think about it.”

Nora swallows, then, and makes a face Emerald can’t interpret—disappointed, maybe, or ashamed. Which: good. She probably should be, taking things for granted like that.

“Well—just—” Emerald’s not even sure what she wants to say. Ask, next time? Don’t? “You shouldn’t make assumptions. I’m not your boyfriend, okay?”

The venom she puts behind the word is directed more at herself than Nora—frustrated, again, that she’s put herself in the position of wanting so desperately to be liked.

Pathetic.

Nora just nods, looking glum.

“Yeah,” she murmurs, cheeks pulling in a bitter smile. “You’d think I’d be able to keep that one straight, huh?”

She says it with such pointed irony that for a second Emerald wonders if she’d gotten it wrong somehow, but like—Nora and Ren are a thing, right? That’s—everyone knows that.

“Hey, what—?”

“Let’s just go,” Nora says, and Emerald automatically falls into line behind her.

They make the rest of the walk back in silence.

Sometimes at night, when she can’t sleep, Emerald likes to climb up to the roof of the barracks and look out over the refugee camp.

It’s—peaceful, is all. A good reminder of where she is; how far she’s come. The night sky in Vacuo has more stars than she’s ever seen, and being able to watch over all these people who have somehow become her responsibility… well.

A part of her will always be standing on the rooftop at Beacon, looking down on pure chaos as a queasy, frightened sensation twists in her gut and its noxious voice whispers you did this, you did this, you did this. What did you think was going to happen, you stupid little girl? You don’t get to feel sorry for it now.

But she does.

Weird how the only thing that’s helped is actually doing something about it.

She hears a scuffling noise over her shoulder, and she’s got Thief’s Respite drawn and ready before she can even really register what she’s heard. She relaxes when she sees it’s Nora at the other end of the barrels, unarmed and hands raised—a funny little smile on her face, like yeah, fair enough, I should have known better than to try and sneak up.

“Just me,” she says, unnecessarily.

Emerald holsters her guns. “Can I help you?” she asks, and—what is it about her voice, that makes sentences that would be nice if any other human said them come out straight-up hostile?

Nora shrugs, hands dropping to her sides. “I was hoping we could talk; I figured you’d come up here if I waited long enough.”

Well, see—what kind of lesson is she supposed to take from that? She’s been hoping for Nora to talk to her for weeks, and acting like a bitch is the thing that gets her what she wants? Good guys are supposed to know better.

And there’s the way she said it, too. Like everyone knows Emerald comes up here to brood; like it’s a big open secret. The knowledge sits uncomfortably in her stomach, makes her feel watched. Even now, even here, she can’t get a moment alone. Not really.

“What, so you’re spying on me now?”

Nora’s eyes narrow. “I have a pretty bad track record when it comes to losing people. Makes a girl want to put in a little hustle when it comes to keeping tabs on her friends.”

And Emerald would snark at that, or maybe apologize, or something, only—

Nora thinks they’re friends?

“Well, take a seat, I guess,” she mumbles, scooching to the side as though she needs to make room on the massive, empty roof.

Nora walks over and joins Emerald on the asphalt, letting her legs dangle over the edge. Seemingly unsure of where to start, she stares at her hands. Emerald stares too, but her eyes can’t help but wander—tracing the way scars, silvery in the moonlight, spiderweb up Nora’s bare wrists and forearms to fetter her shoulders, clavicle, neck. Like cracks in a pane of glass, right before it shatters.

(Only that’s not it at all, is it? It’s not a sign of weakness, but a warning of strength. I care this much, her scars announce to the word. You wanna try me?

Hazel’s arms always looked like that.)

Emerald doesn’t want to be the one to break the silence, sure that whatever she’d say would be incredibly stupid.

Luckily, Nora has no such qualms, and opens with: “I really admire you, you know?”

Emerald stares, jaw slack, certain she’s heard wrong. “I—what?” She’d say something defensive, like yeah right or you don’t have to make fun of me, only Nora’s eyes are so wide and so guileless they don’t leave any room for argument.

“I mean it,” Nora adds. “I know we don’t know all that much about each other, but… here’s what I do know: I can’t remember a time I saw you without Mercury right behind. Just like me’n Ren. And the way you fought for Cinder…” Nora smiles a sad, private little smile. “You don’t fight like that unless it’s personal; unless someone means something to you. Just like me’n Ren. And now you’re here. All on your own. And you didn’t have to be. That’s—don’t you think that’s crazy brave? I sure do.”

Of course she fucking doesn’t. Crazy brave would have been walking away the first, tenth, hundredth time she had a flash of panic about what she was doing. Or, better yet, doing something about it. Crazy brave is taking thirty thousand volts to get to your friends; it’s flooding your veins with pure crystalline power and saying Go, I’m doing what Gretchen would have done, it’s—

She closes that door.

“It’s not like I really had a choice,” she sighs, dodging the question.

“Oh, you know that’s not true,” Nora scoffs dismissively, tilting sideways to nudge Emerald with her shoulder.

And Emerald jolts, because—look, it’s not like no one touches her. They have to manhandle each other all the time in battle, and… and Oscar gives her high fives sometimes, which makes her embarrassingly pleased. But what Nora’s offering now, that kind of buddy-buddy casual contact…

… it’s been a while, is all.

“So, why did you want to talk to me?” Emerald asks, overwhelmed and suddenly desperate to find a way to get this conversation over with. She feels like she’s sprinted five miles; like she’s had the crap kicked out of her and she has to go somewhere to lick her wounds. Too much, too fast.

Nora laughs—a chuffing, cynical noise that doesn’t sound at all like her. “Looking for pointers? See, I’m trying this thing where I do things on my own, but I just—I suck at it. Like today; you saw. Even when I’m not with Ren, all I do is… is act exactly the same way I do when I’m with Ren. Like I literally don’t know how to exist without him, whether he’s actually there or not. And I know that’s not fair to anyone; I didn’t mean to treat you like—” She shakes her head, biting her lip. “You’re not just some stand-in. It’s not you at all. I’m just—broken, or something. One trick pony.”

“No, hey—”

“But you figured it out,” she barrels on, which is good, because Emerald doesn’t actually have a clue what she would have said there. “You don’t have anyone and somehow you’re just, like—good to go!” Nora says it cheerily, like it’s a compliment, but has the grace to balk a little when she hears how it sounds. “…sorry. That’s—sorry.”

Emerald shrugs, drawing her knees to her chest and resting her chin there. She feels like an idiot; building it up for weeks like spending time with Nora would solve all her problems when, surprise surprise, Nora’s just as fucked up as she is.

“Hate to disappoint you, but I don’t have any hot tips,” she mutters into the crooks of her elbows. “I don’t have a clue what I’m doing. Like—you want to know the really sad part? I was just following your lead.”

“My…?” Nora can’t even finish repeating it, which: Emerald can’t blame her. It’s so dumb. “Huh?”

“Come on. You know.”

“I don’t,” Nora says, voice thick with exhaustion. Like she’s sick of herself. “Ask anyone—I’m not the brains of the operation.”

Hearing Nora talk about herself that way makes Emerald’s chest feel tight; like her ribs have locked in place so her lungs can’t expand. She doesn’t know how to explain it; not without sounding like a starry-eyed fangirl or a moron with a crush and that’s not what this—it’s only that—

She chooses to start a different way.

“You wanna know why I switched sides? Like, really why?”

Nora softens, and reaches out to touch the back of Emerald’s left hand, where it dangles over her knee. “Sure,” she says, but Emerald barely hears it; it’s taking all of her concentration not to clench her fist or pull away in response.

“I overheard Oscar—or, Ozpin, I guess, I don’t know—talking to Hazel about Salem, about her goals. And… listen. No one joins under Salem because they’re trying to kill the world, okay? I mean, no one but Tyrian, anyway. We were all just trying to… find ways to get by. And when Cinder found me, she—” Emerald swallows, hard. This cuts too deep, too close. It’s not something she can just say. “I wasn’t trying to be some big villain, or something. I was just—looking out for the people who were looking out for me. And why wouldn’t I? No one else ever seemed to think I was worth it.”

“Of course you are,” Nora cuts in, quiet but vehement. “Everyone is.”

“See, the worst part is that you mean that when you say it,” Emerald grumbles, scrubbing at her face until smears of color kaleidoscope behind her closed eyes. “I figured people like you didn’t exist, and then Cinder and Merc were glad to prove me right, and—I let them. You know? And maybe if I’d just held out a little longer…”

“You’re not the only one here who’s ashamed of her past. Harriet tried to blow up Mantle, like, a month ago.”

“That’s not—forget that. I’m talking about you. Nora.” It’s the first time she’s ever said her name like that—addressing her, in conversation. It feels… astonishingly intimate, for so small a thing. Emerald powers past it. “Every day, I see you do something ridiculous, like double back on a patrol because you forgot you promised some kid a candy bar, or something, and that—matters. To me. It’s so stupid, but it’s not, because… argh! I want—it’s—” She tries to get her mouth to form the words, that’s the kind of person I want to be, but they stop in her throat.

Still, Nora seems to get the message. Her eyes seem suspiciously shiny for a moment—but when she blinks, it’s gone. “I… thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Emerald grumbles. Saying it like she means it: seriously. Don’t mention it.

“I understand what you mean, though. For years, the only person who looked out for me was Ren. And if he’d said…” Nora trails off, then, cocking her head to the side as she works through something. “Huh.”

“What?”

“Nothing, just. I remembered something. I was about to say that if Ren told me the only way for us to get by was a life of crime, or something, I would’ve taken his word for it, but—the opposite happened. We decided to enroll at Beacon. And that wasn’t his idea; it was mine. I always wanted to be a Huntress. To… to be the one strong enough to help people, instead of always needing the help. He wasn’t sure if we would make it, but I was. We were together, right? How could we lose?” She chuckles, a little, shaking her head at herself. “Get a load of that. He followed me.”

They smile at each other, then. Like they’ve figured out something profound. Maybe Nora has; Emerald hopes so.

“I’m glad you’re here, Emerald,” Nora says, and—there it is again. The frisson of electricity that comes with being referred to by name.

Of course, then Emerald ruins it by blurting out:

“Of course you are, all your other friends are dead.”

Which—“Fuck!” she sputters, because she didn’t mean to say that. What is wrong with her? “Sorry! Sorry.”

Nora only grins at her, feral and incisive. “Yeah, well. Yours are evil, so. Pick your poison. At least I’m proud of mine.”

Touché.

“Still glad I’m here?” Emerald jeers, because her first instinct is still to press on the bruise to see how much it hurts.

Nora laughs, and gets to her feet. “Believe it or not, yes. If putting your foot in your mouth was all it took to get booted from Hero Club, I’d have been kicked out a long time ago.” She reaches down to offer Emerald a hand; Emerald takes it, letting Nora pull her to standing. “Now go and get some rest, huh? None of us can ever sleep when you’re up here thinking so loud.”

“That an order?”

“Advice. Friends give it, from time to time.”

And—yeah. Maybe they do.

#typeoneninja #emerald sustrai #nora valkyrie #rwby #emerald and nora #fic what i wrote

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jiminiesfavouritecolourisblue · 4 years

Text

Types of love - Jin Drabble ft Jungkook {fluff + angst} Housemate au

You hear a deep sigh beside you as you take out the laundry from the washing machine.

“Noona what are you doing?” Jungkook sounds exasperated with you and it’s only 7 in the morning.

“Jin’s got a meeting at 12, I told him I’d get his clothes ready for him,” you grin brightly at your youngest housemate.

“Why can’t Hyung do it?” He doesn’t return the smile.

“He wanted a lie in.”

There’s that sigh again but you ignore it, it made you feel a little shame that you tried to push down.

“Okay new question,” you could see him pinch the bridge of his nose from the coroner of your eye as you put the clothes in the dryer. “Why are you doing it?”

You shrug, “he’s been busy and I just though-”

“Noona,” cold judgy eyes came from the maknae.

“Kookie leave it, I’m doing it because I want to,” your sunny outlook on today was suddenly dampened by the annoying brat following you.

“He’s taking advantage of you and your feelin-”

“Kook I said leave it!”

You slam the door as you walk out.

——————————————————————————

It was no secret to anyone that you may have feelings for the oldest of your housemates, even though you’ve never ever said it out loud. Your actions spoke for you. You always went the extra mile due to your unrequited affection, but you didn’t mind, you were always taught to love without limits and you swore you did what you did without expecting anything in return. He was just so handsome and funny, you were happy just to be his friend, even if your heart hoped to be something more, you couldn’t help it. Maybe he did sometimes take a little advantage of you? But truly you were to blame for that and you took full responsibility.

You and Jin ignored the way Jungkook was staring daggers at him as you brought him his tea with some cakes to the table when he got back from a long day of work.

“How was work Jin?” You asked.

“Perks of being son of the CEO, everyone offered to do my work for me,” cue the windshield wiper laughter you loved to hear. “The new girl on my floor slipped me her number, it was a pretty good day.”

Your heart sank and with it your smile, you forced it to stay on as he rambled about his day and the pretty new girl, if they both could see your discomfort they didn’t say anything.

Jin wasn’t oblivious he just didn’t care, Jungkook on the other hand now watched your reactions like a hawk.

“It may not be the most professional thing to do as her potential new boss but I may have agreed to drinks Friday night,” he chortles, his spiel coming to an end.

“You’re not taking over the business any time soon Hyung, hold your horses,” Jungkook rolled his eyes.

“Wait Friday?” You suddenly speak after staying quiet. “Jin we’re all supposed to go for dinner Friday, we booked the table and everything.”

The three of you reserved dinner at the same place every year on the anniversary of you all moving in, it was an important night for you, you three were always so busy or tired so nights out were rare. Plus Jin was always so busy, he was either at work or at the gym or sleeping or out, the housemate anniversary was the only real time you got to spend with him.

“Y/n I think you missed the part of the story where I told you she was hot,” he argues with what he thinks is sound logic.

“Jin it’s the housemate anniversary, it’s sacred are you seriously ditching us for some random girl?”

“It’s not a big deal Y/n, hoes before bros you know?” he laughs at his own stupid joke and for the first time it irritates you a little.

“Not your bro Jin,” you grit your teeth.

“You might as well be Y/n, you’re not exactly the girliest girl ever,” he responds.

“Hyung,” Jungkook warns, finally butting in after watching your discussion like a tennis match.

You sit back in shock, did he seriously bro zone you? What the hell!

“Noona is pretty Hyung, stop being mean,” young Kookie comes to your defence when you fail to speak.

“Oh no I’m not saying she’s not, she’s just not my type,” why the hell was he talking about you like you weren’t there, he wasn’t even looking at you anymore. You sit deflated with you head low, biting back tears. Jin didn’t notice, when did he ever, Jungkook did.

“I think that’s enough.”

Jungkook was right, that was enough, you stood up to leave without uttering another word to them both. Once he heard your door close, Jungkook unleashed hell.

“What the hell hyung! Are you trying to upset her on purpose?” He seethed in a hush tone. “You know how she feels about you what the hell was that?”

“God Kookie don’t start on me it’s been a long day, it’s fun to pick on her a little, what’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is you hurt her feelings,” Jungkook says a little louder still trying to control the rage he felt at the man sitting in nonchalance while he had his fists formed and jaws clenched. Jin shrugged his shoulders and Jungkook wondered what happened to his good friend, he was never like this before.

“Hyung you take advantage on her all the time, she literally does everything for you because she cares about you without expecting anything in return and you treat her like shit,” he explains, “it has to stop.”

“I don’t know why you’re lecturing me you brat,” Jin rolls his eyes, “I’m older than you by 5 years, learn some respect.”

Jungkook walked away before he laid his fist into his friend and lived to regret it, he didn’t realise you heard every word.

——————————————————————————

“Is he seriously not coming?”

It was stupid to hope that Jin would make an appearance while you both waited for him at home dressed and ready. He still hadn’t come from work... he finished two hours ago. You weren’t upset because you liked Jin, you were upset because you thought at least you meant something as a friend. Jin and Jungkook became what you thought were best friends for you, regardless of stupid feelings, you just thought they felt the same.

Jungkook stood next to your sitting form, moving his weight from foot to foot.

“I don’t think he is Noona, he said he wasn’t going to,” Jungkook sighed. “Why are we still waiting, we’re going to miss our reservation.”

He hated seeing you sad, if he could punch some sense into Jin he would, hell he’d punch him anyway for making you look so downcast. He sighs deeply again, throwing his head back in exasperation.

He kneels down in front of you, taking you hands into his as you look up slightly to meet his gaze. He has stars in his eyes, you think, why hadn’t you noticed before?

“Noona should we just cancel?” He asks delicately. “We can go get our pjs and order an Indian and have a stupid movie night.”

He was really trying to make things better you could feel it, your blatant emotions for his friend must’ve made him feel so uncomfortable but he’s still trying for you. You offer him a small smile.

“Sounds great Kookie,” you say sincerely.

——————————————————————————

“Oh my god are you kidding me!” Jungkook says half seriously yelling at you. “Iron man is way better than Batman.”

You laugh out so loud, you can’t remember the last time you felt like this.

“I didn’t mean it Koo,” you say between breaths of laughter. “You’re just so cute!”

He fights the red feeling blooming in his face as he pokes the inside of cheek with his tongue in faux annoyance. Jungkook was loving your impromptu movie night, it was the first time in forever you didn’t mention he who must not be named.

“That’s just cruel, you don’t joke about iron man, it’s blasphemy,” his words make you laugh harder and it makes him break out in a big grin, one that wipes away as you both hear the keys turn.

Jin was not expecting you both curled up on the sofa with take away containers on the coffee table when he walked home from a rather boring date. Your laughter dies in your throat before he even walked into the room, eyes boring into the tv. Jungkook keeps his arm around you in place, he felt warm and comfortable he didn’t want this feeling to end.

“Good date Hyung?” He doesn’t know why he asked when he could feel you stiffen in his hold.

“Yeah,” he says a little dazed at the sight in front of him. “did you guys not go out?”

“Nah we stayed in and had a iron man marathon,” the bunny teeth were out as he grinned.

“I lost Rock Paper Scissors,” you offered meekly. Why did you feel like you were cheating on Jin? That was ridiculous, you were not dating Jin and you were just friends with Jungkook, right? “Wanna join?”

He shakes his head, “no you guys look like you’re having fun, plus I’m a bit tired so I’m going to head to bed.”

You normally offer him some tea and cake at this point, but you stay silent, Jin tries not to read into why it makes his chest feel heavy with disappointment and something else he can’t quite figure out.

——————————————————————————

You were laughing loudly again, it was irritating the broad shouldered man to no end, he didn’t mind the sound honestly, he just hated the reason why you were in this state. Jungkook was making faces at you while you both cooked and honestly Jin couldn’t understand why you found it so funny.

“You look like a meme!” You chortle.

“Is dinner ready yet?” Jin interrupts.

“Patience Hyung,” Jungkook doesn’t break eye contact with you, still smiling brightly. He’s so pretty when he smiles, you felt like you hadn’t seen it for a while before your movie night.

“Are you two dating?” Jin slams his laptop shut in his outbreak, he didn’t mean to ask but it came out anyway. You nearly drop the plate you’re holding but Jungkook catches it before you let it go. Now your both holding a plate while staring at each other wide eyed, while Jin gawks at you both with a quiet anger simmering away inside of him.

Why are you both blushing furiously? Jungkook is the first to break away as he stares his Hyung down with his own anger.

“So what if we are?” He asks. “I don’t think it’s any of your business either way.”

“Jungkook...” you frown, you were not dating, why didn’t he just say no... why didn’t you just say no?

Jin scoffs, he couldn’t really say anything to that but it pissed him off.

“I didn’t realise you were into toy boys Y/n,” he jeers.

Now you were frowning at Jin as Jungkook started to shake with rage.

“I could treat her a lot better than you ever could,” he seethes back.

“You’re still a kid Jungkookie, Y/n always treats you like one,” did he seriously not hear the irony in his words?

“That’s enough!” It’s you that breaks up the inane argument. “Jungkook is not a kid Jin, just because he’s young and nice doesn’t make him any less of a man than you.”

They’re both shocked at your outburst.

“He’s been a wonderful friend to me for years, he’s always had my back, always looked out for me even when I was being a stupid idiot pining after you!”

The youngest of the trio can feel his chest full with warmth at your words and the way your glaring at the oldest with such disdain he never thought he’d see. Jin stays quiet at your onslaught starting to feel shame as he reflected on how he’s treated you through the years. He used to really adore you too, really appreciated everything you did for him but when everyone at work started treating him the same it became a normalcy, something expected instead of a gift.

“I’d be so lucky if Kookie dated me, although he’d be out of his mind to after how pathetic I’ve been, he’s the best guy I know, don’t speak to him like that.”

Jungkook can’t help the small smile fighting to turn the corners up on his mouth, Jin doesn’t miss the way he looks at you, full of love. You were an idiot not to see it, it had been there for a while.

“Noona, the pastas burning...”

You turn back to the stove feeling the heat in your face from your rant, you didn’t expect it from yourself to be honest. Jungkook stood beside you, mixing the sauce in the other pan while the room sat in silence.

He couldn’t help but steal glances at you, couldn’t help the hope in his heart build, maybe you felt the same way about him too. Maybe this is what redamancy feels like.

You try to sneak a peak at the man standing next to you, surprised to see his eyes already on you, you feel your heart stop for a second before it restarted anew.

You return his smile, you can’t help it.

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bibbykins · 4 years

Text

Penumbric Commitments (M)

A/N: Happy Valentine's Day!! I wrote this up real quick yesterday, so please forgive any lacking in quality, but I had the idea and absolutely sprinted with it! I hope you all enjoy and look forward to the next full length fic I post, which I gave a not so little hint in here to!

Warnings: 18+, unhealthy relationship, manipulation, yelling, rough sex, light bondage, the usage of a belt as wrist restraints (consensual), brief fingering, male cumming inside, talking about not wanting a child, daddy kink, threatening to leave, offering to kill someone, semi-graphic talks of killing someone

Word count: 3.8k

Genre: Soft Yandere, Mafia! Au

Summary: Hindsight says Namjoon so easily complying with not having children was too easy considering his position in the business and the nightmare his parents had readily become. What you didn't realize was how far Namjoon was willing to prove to you he meant what he said that day: all you both ever need is each other.

Note: this is a canon drabble apart of the Silhouetted Bonds fic linked here

It's times like these that you regret getting a traditional clock. The ticking was incessant and daunting. It felt like it was getting closer and closer to your ear with the deafening silence it was slicing through. Analogs had to be the way to go, or better yet, none at all. The last thing you needed right now was a reminder of how much time has been spent at this table. Namjoon had sprinted home the moment his mother called him after your meeting with her.

----

"Mrs. Kim, always a pleasure." You shook the older woman's hand with a tight smile.

She returned yours with an equally fake smile, "Please, you know you can call me mother." She chided, but nevertheless you stayed silent as you sat back down at the table in your home. It used to be mom.

It was 8 a.m. your mother in law wanted to meet, so to be petty, you stated 9 a.m. would be great. It's a shame that your relationship with her came to this, but truthfully, it was far from your fault.

While in the beginning she had been like a mother to you, things quickly took a steep downturn the moment Namjoon reintroduced you into his life. The woman who had once been lively, rebellious, and took charge became a demure, stoic, and merely content wife. She had given you talks about your duty as the wife of the boss and the expectations she expected you to fulfill nowadays as opposed to telling stories of her youth and teaching you how to bake eccentric treats. She had even admonished you for leaving Namjoon, an idea she gave you really. Since then, she had always stated your allegiance to the business and your own husband had yet to be proven in her eyes. The notion struck you to only provide her with business professional talks.

You had always known her and Namjoon's father had been a marriage of convenience, but there seemed to be intense love between them, at least at one point. You're not sure when that collapsed in your absence, and sure you felt bad,but you did not care for her patronizing tones. If Namjoon wouldn't retaliate, she almost definitely would've had you killed the moment you decided to leave her precious son.

"Now, I understand you're a busy woman, so I'll be chaste." She spoke as she took her seat, giving you a pointed look, "Do you feel as though you've made up for your betrayal?" This was obviously a trick question in her eyes, the simple answer being no.

However, you couldn't care less, "I have never betrayed anyone close to me, including Namjoon, if that's what you mean." You met her eyes with valor, "I don't see why you feel the need to ask such a silly question each time I see you."

She laughed humorlessly, "Maybe I'm hoping for the right answer to cross your stubborn mind." Truly, if Namjoon didn't love and cherish his parents so much you would've told her to fuck off and mind her business, maybe focus on her own shitty marriage, by now. Alas, Namjoon was a people pleaser and fiercely intent on being a filial son.

"You mean your answer to the question about how I feel?" You raised a brow, "Even when apart from Namjoon, I took no other man. I've never even lied to Namjoon, I've been nothing but an honest and hardworking wife after forgiving his own shortcoming in honesty." You watch her fist clench in her lap at the suggestion of her precious boy having a shortcoming of any sort, "A shortcoming well remedied, seeing as I'm still here." You chided lightly in spite of the heavy tension. You pitied your staff in this moment for having to watch this battle of wills.

"Sometimes husbands lie to… protect, their wives." She struggled to find the right words as she regurgitated what Namjoon's father undoubtedly told her one too many times. Misery loves company, and goodness, did she want you to be as miserable as her.

You returned her fake smile two fold before speaking, "That's lovely, but I don't need protecting from my husband, I need trust, honesty, respect." The final word made her back straighten, "I'd like to live in reality with him, not be shielded from it, but I respect what you wish for your own marriage, but this is what I like for mine."

She hummed in faux thought, "Very well, I can leave you to reflect on what marriage should be, you're still so young." You fought the urge to roll your eyes, "However, you're not that young…" This was a new addition, "When will I be receiving a grandchild?"

Your brows furrowed. Namjoon told you she took the news of no grandchildren quite well. He told you that she was informed of your no children rule mere days after you spoke the words. The radio silence on the topic of children each time you met with either of his parents confirmed much for you, and you had even found yourself quite proud of him for standing his ground with you. Surely, his parents are not nearly old enough to be so forgetful.

This was the first question in a while that made you falter, and you could see the satisfaction she gained from it, "Grandchildren? I'm unsure what you-"

"Namjoon told me the last time I visited him in prison, you wanted to wait for your fifth wedding anniversary before trying for children, isn't that coming up quite soon?" She raised a brow and you felt your heart shatter.

He lied to you. Again. He lied to you mere moments after you were ready to forgive him for lying to you the first time.

You let out a bitter laugh, "He did now?" She nodded and you shut your eyes for a moment, "It seems I've been made a fool of again." You sighed before looking as confusion crossed your mother-in-law's features, "I told Namjoon the very last time I visited him in prison that I did not want kids, ever."

"You know that's not possible for him, he's a successor." She laughed at your boldness.

"You know that he is an adult man with 6 brothers, biological or not, who will all marry one day, surely one of them will adopt or have a child." She scoffed at this, "I got my tubes tied years ago." This wiped the smile off her face.

"Does Namjoon know about this?" She snapped and you nodded with a bitter smile.

"He accompanied me to the appointment for moral support." You shot back.

"Well, your tubes can be untied and-"

"No." You deadpanned.

"No?" She mimicked in disbelief.

"If Namjoon requires a child, he will also require a new wife." Your voice was cold and you watched shock settle into the woman across from you, "With his habit of lying coming to light, he may have to find a new wife regardless."

She stood, "Don't be-"

"Please, do not waste your breath on orders I will not be following." You held your hand up to silence her.

"I'll call Namjoon, he can talk this out with you, so you can see things our way." She tried to sound reassuring as one of your staff rushed to see her out respectfully when you did not budge from your seat.

You stayed seated at the mahogany table, staring at your wedding ring. You didn't want to get a divorce. You loved Namjoon, more than anything, and yet, did he love you more than anything?

----

You're not sure how long you stayed there, questioning everything, but it was enough time for Namjoon to come home. He ripped the door open, eyes searching frantically, ready to make sure you had not already left him before his eyes landed on your figure. From there, he took his seat across from you at the table and waited until he could no longer take the silence.

"Are you going to say anything?" Your husband's voice was calm, although fear was evident in his timbre.

You sucked your teeth and shrugged, continuing to look at your freshly manicured nails, "What's there to say?" Your voice was short, as if you were already tired of the conversation before it could even start, "You lied to me."

Your husband dropped his head into his hands and sighed, "Junebug, I'm sorry, I-"

"You embarrassed me, again." You look at him for the first time all night with a sharp glare, "Are you trying to find an excuse to divorce or do you just not care about me?"

"Neither!" His head shot up and he met your eyes with deep regret when he realized you were looking at him with the anger and hurt he found you with all this years ago, "I love you, more than anything-"

"Obviously not!" You snapped, "Do you have any idea how it feels to explain to your shitty and judgy mother in law that, in spite of what her precious son said, you had no plans to have children, that you got your fucking tubes tied?!" Namjoon sighed, either in shame or pain, "Were you just hoping that would come around? That I'm such a fickle woman that I don't mean what I say?"

His brows furrowed, "No, if I thought that, why did I let you get your tubes tied?!"

"Let me?" Your voice was mockingly soft, "You let me, huh?" You cocked your head slightly and he closed his eyes in frustration, "How fucking charitable of you, my sweet husband, master of the fucking house, to let your dumb little wife make a choice for her body!" You stood, "How considerate of you to play supportive husband only to fold the moment your mother asks you a question-"

"You know what my duty as the only son is!" It was his turn to raise his voice, but he immediately regretted it as he saw your eye twitch.

"And you knew my stance on kids before you got out of prison." You seethed, "You know why I don't want a fucking kid, nor do I plan to fold on my stance, because I'm all I've got left there." Namjoon's mouth parted slightly before he pressed his lips together.

"It's not my fault you don't want a kid because you'd be a bad mother just like your own." The words left his mouth before he could even begin to consider the repercussions. He was about to open his mouth again to back track wildly, but it was far too late as you took a step back, the weight of his words being too much to take from across the table.

He watched hurt consume your irises for only the second time in his life, the first time being mere hours before you left him for years, before you made him promise to never betray you like that again as a condition for you to come back to him. A condition that he evident did not adhere to in your eyes. "Do you want to know what made my mother such a bad mother?" He watched as the embers of rage within your eyes were only stoked by his reflection in your pupils, although he could see a thin layer of moisture begin to build up, pain, "You know, like I would be?" Your words were almost mocking as he stayed eerily still, "An unsupportive, isolating, and shitty sorry excuse for a fucking husband." Your word hit him like a truck.

Unsupportive. Isolating. Sorry excuse for a husband.

You weren't wrong right now. He felt shitty. He knew he should've just stood his ground. His parents didn't matter if it meant losing you, "I didn't mean that, what I said about-"

"You're right." A tear fell and he felt his heart shatter, "So if you want a kid, it'll have to be with someone else."

"I don't want anyone else, I never have!" He made his way to you as you weakly stepped back, "You're all I need." His voice was soft as he went to grab your hand, but you pulled away.

"You said that last time." Your tears were beyond your control as you wiped at them in vain, "You said that mere days before you told your mom that we were going to have kids and you told me your mom took the news well." You sniffled, "You lied to me, I can't believe that you lied to me and let me just walk around like a fool believing you, again!"

He was stunned silent again. You were right. He had lost his back bone under the strict gaze of his parents and folded under pressure. He betrayed you, and all he could do was hope for your forgiveness.

You shook your head as he remained mute, "I need some time." You went to walk past him and to the door but he engulfed you in a hug, "Namjoon!" You struggled weakly to pull him from you but froze when you heard a sniffle.

"Please, don't go." He begged as he held you close, "I can't lose you again, I'm so sorry, please."

You fought sobs from escaping your mouth, "You lied to me, and your mom-"

"I'll kill her if you want me to." He spoke and your blood ran cold at his tone. He was serious, "My mom and my dad, I'll tell them we're not having children and if they can't handle that, they can leave us alone or die."

Your eyes were wide, tears frozen in time. Namjoon loved his parents. He was always a kid intent on surpassing their expectations, and he had made that clear to you when you started dating in highschool. You were his only sign of rebellion. He was intended to marry a woman from an affluent family, but he met you. You had figured that would be where his rebellion ended, but here he was, handing his parent's hearts in your hands and awaiting orders.

"Joonie, y-you can't mean-" You sputtered to reason but he only held you tighter.

"Or even if you just want me to kill them, I will, with my own hands of course, nobody else can know." His remained headstrong in his resolve, stroking your hair, "I don't care what I have to do to keep you with me." He kissed the top of your head, "You are the only person, the only thing on this Earth that matters to me I cannot live without you."

A sick, and extremely twisted part of you wanted to call your mother-in-law and say, "Hah!" You wanted to rub it in her face that her son, in spite of everything, chose you. Her precious boy has been yours for years now. However, your sanity slipped through the cracks as you shook your head again.

"You love your parents." You shook your head as you cried into his chest, "And if you felt that way, why would you lie to me?"

He sniffled, "I was weakened, not 100% sure you would truly accept me with open arms and I panicked when they asked." He sighed, "I know it's pathetic and I know I seemed like I knew we would make it, but I didn't know that. They never brought it up after that so I naively thought they would forget and when they asked me again, I would tell them the truth and-"

"You're so stupid." You cried harder into his chest and felt him nod, "If you're scared to face your parents, tell me, and we'll do it together." You were surely ruining his dress shirt, but he stroked your hair soothingly, "Your mom has been calling me a shitty wife for years and after today, she must truly believe it, and I-I should take some time-" Namjoon held you, arms sliding down your body as he got down to his needs and you felt your heart drop, and you gasped, "Stop, don't-"

You tried to help him up but he grabbed your wrists as he looked up at you with tear stained cheeks and eyes as wet as yours, shaking his head at your frantic protests as he kissed your hands and your wedding ring tenderly, "I can't lose you again." His voice was weighty with sorrow at the thought of you being away from him, "You matter more to me than my duty as a successor does, than my parents do, even more than this whole fucking business." He rubbed his cheek against your hand in desperation as you stood frozen from the shock of Namjoon begging on his knees with the utmost humility. The most powerful man in the city, undoubtedly the country as well, was on his knees crying and begging you to stay, "If killing my parents is what I have to do to prove it, I will. Name how you want it done, when you want it done, and I'll do it." He was dead serious and he could tell you knew it as tears spilled onto your cheeks even more, "You're a better wife than I deserve, and all I can ever hope is to be even a fraction of the husband you deserve, and I'm sorry I've been missing the mark." This made your face twist in pain, regret. Namjoon, up until today, had been nothing short of perfect, and even now he was making up for it, "Almost losing you nearly killed me, and-and I get that sometimes people need time to calm down but I would just prefer you beat the shit out of me instead-"

"I didn't mean that either!" You cried out as you sunk down to your knees to hug the sobbing man before you, "You aren't a sorry excuse for a husband, you're just a goddamn idiot, and I didn't want time I just didn'twant to see your stupid face because I was so angry." You laughed as he did for a moment, "Above all else, you're an amazing husband. I love you, always have, I just hate when you lie-" Your voice in his ear was like heaven as he felt a weight lift of his shoulders.

He grabbed your legs to wrap around his waist before you could properly settle onto your knees. He held you close and he soothed your cries, "I haven't lied to you since, I can promise you that." He sighed and you scoffed, "You don't have to believe me. I'm just asking you to stay with me so I can prove it over time."

"I'm...I'm not leaving you." You sighed into his neck before he pulled you back to trap your lips between his as he kissed your with a vigorous passion. When you returned his kiss with an equal amount of desperation, he began to stand with you in his arms before promptly laying you on the couch, never detaching his mouth from yours the whole time.

You settled into the velvet cushions as he ground himself into your sex, making you gasp, "I love you, my darling." He murmured into your mouth while one of his hands slid your dress up and your panties to the side before brushing his fingers across your pussy and groaning at your wetness, "Oh fuck, you're so wet, baby." His mouth went to your ear as you moaned, threading your fingers into his hair, "Was it me promising to kill for you or me getting onto my knees that did it, hm?" He rubbed slow circles over your clit and you gasped, "You get off on me spilling blood for you? You get wet by me demeaning myself to keep you right here, where you belong?"

"Yes, daddy, I do- fuck!" You clutched his hair harder as his finger slipped in and your hips wiggled impatienly, "Just fuck me, I don't care about being stretched, fuck me."

Too desperate to even hesitate, Namjoon undid his belt, ripping it from his trousers as he secured your wrists within the leather garment, as he had done many times before. He undid your belt as he pushed your arms up and his pants down with his boxers. He slid into you with a deep groan that you matched with a wanton moan. He fucked himself into you feverishly, wasting no time in chasing your high as his nimble finger went down to stimulate your clit, "I love you so fucking much, y/n." He groaned as he felt you tighten, "I don't care who I have to kill to prove it, I'll even let you watch the light drain from their fucking eyes if it means you'll stay with me."

You moaned out as he whispered gruesome threats to the outside world intermingling with sweet nothings as he held the belt around your wrists,using it as leverage to fuck you harder. If you were sane, you would not be getting closer and closer to orgasm as he cursed the rest of the world into painful deaths just to have you as his wife, but here you were, clenching around him and opening your legs further so he can go deeper, "Shit, I'm gonna cum!" You cried out, arms going over Namjoon's head so you could pull him down to you by the neck and kiss his lips messily.

His hand went from your clit as he wrapped his arm around you to hoist you up and slam himself into you further, "That's right baby, cum for daddy and I'll give you my cum." He cooed in spite of the strain to keep himself from busting you before you get your release. His words only threw you over the edge as you climaxed, hurdling him into his own. He fucked his cum into you like always and you moaned lightly until he was done.

He held himself inside of you as you both gained your breath again, exchanging occasional kisses, "You don't have to kill them, you know." You spoke finally "Although, I won't be so cordial with their bullshit anymore."

He nodded, "I'm by your side, Junebug, forever and always." You smiled before kissing him.

"And I, you." You hummed blissfully.

"We have everything we need between just the two of us, I promise." He smiled against your kiss while you nodded, "You'll be the only one calling me daddy for the rest of out lives- hey!" You smack his chest lightly as you both laughed blissfully, letting the seriously twisted shit that just transpired be a simple part of the past.

"Your mom is a bitch." You giggled tiredly as he chuckled.

"Don't worry about being nice to her if you don't want to, I have my priorities straight." He gave you another kiss that you returned with glee.

As he was cleaning you up, your hazy mind allowed you to feel smug at the fact that you just saved your shitty in-laws from certain death. You were their ticket to life. You were their precious successor's priority. You were his only true love.

Namjoon watched with nothing but love as he tucked your sleeping form into bed. Thinking on it now, he doesn't know if he could even stand the idea of you loving a child as much as you loved him. He enjoyed his monopoly over your affection, and a child would only throw a wrench in that for him. Taehyung liked kids, Jungkook seemed like a family man, maybe even Hoseok if that new girl he's saying is as serious for him as he says. All it took was one kid to carry on the business, so you didn't need to worry your pretty little head about it.

All you had to worry about was staying by his side and all he had to worry about was being a good enough husband to keep you there. He kissed your forehead as he held you closer to him, texting his mom the next time she disrespects you or his marriage, there would be consequences.

You were the only person he needed. He would do anything to make you understand that.

The ticking of the clock was nowhere to be heard as you laid in Namjoon's arms. You snuggled into him as you caught sight of the thinly veiled threat he sent to his own mother on account of your feelings. He was yours just as much yours were his and the victory of it all had never tasted so sweet. His heartbeat was all you could hear, steady, loving, and to the beat of the drum you commanded.

You both wouldn't have it any other way.

Masterlist

If you enjoyed and are able, please support my ko-fi!

#yandere au #yandere bts au #yandere namjoon #yandere bts #spft yandere bts #soft yandere namjoon #bts mafia au #namjoon smut #kim namjoon #namjoon scenario #namjoon imagine #namjoon drabble #bts smut #yandere bts smut #namjoon mafia au

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theres-an-impulstor-among-us · 3 years

Text

Friday Night Stabby best quotes part 25 (02/07/21)

Skizz is missing from this session so he was replaced by PearlescentMoon.

…

*Etho and Tango are accusing each other of murdering Impulse* Brody: I’m voting for Endless. Endless: That seems legit.

...

Brody, dead: Remember when we were alive? Joker, dead: Yeah… Tango, dead: Good times.

...

Pearl: I happen to have killed Impulse twice in a row now. Impulse: Yeah, she’s so mad about Timmy. Pearl: Yeah, poor Timmy fell into the void- Tango: What?! Impulse: Nothing nothing nothing nothing starting! Don’t worry about it! STARTING!!! Evil, to Tango: You really should watch the other Hermit videos. Impulse: I forgot he was still here.

...

*the game has bugged and made Astro slow without being giant* Brody: Mrs Tango and Astro, do you guys feel bad at all? Cuz we were just talking about Astro being a giant and I’m pretty sure Tango just like died right there and I didn’t see anyone come in here. Astro: There were more important things to worry about than Tango. Evil: Wow… Astro: I took all of the steroids and everything, and all I got was up to normal size. I’m very offended by this game right now.

...

Evil: *calls emergency meeting* Evil: Hi! Brody: What’s up? Evil: I just wanted to say that I was done with my tasks and, you know, use the meta of resetting the cooldown by calling a meeting and telling you all I love you. Impulse: Smart. Etho and Mrs Tango: Aww! Brody, whispering: I hate you. *pause* Evil: Except that Brody guy. He’s kind of a jerk. Brody: I hate you!

...

Impulse: *calls emergency meeting* Impulse: Announcement! Announcement! Impulse, with the announcer voice modifier: I have an announcement to make! I am done with my tasks! *they proceed to vote Impulse out*

...

*some people start chanting “MVP! MVP!” at Joker for finishing his tasks* Endless: B-L-T! B-L-T! Evil: Look what Timmy [the pig] turned into. Impulse: Uh oh. Ouch. Too soon, Evil! Too soon! Don’t tell Tango, I don’t think he knows! Tango, deadpan: Yeah I don’t know anything about anything like that.

...

Impulse: So last round I got thrown out for hitting the button. This round, I’m Button Barry. THAT’s not good…

...

*after Impulse gets kicked and Astro automatically becomes host* Impulse: This is Astro’s lobby, everybody listen to Astro’s rules or ejection into space. Astro: Um… no making fun of people for being short. Impulse: Alright shorty, that’s enough rules for me.

...

Impulse: Watch me scan. *hops on the scanner* Alright, got it? Now watch me nae nae. Joker: Oh GOD. I’m outta here. Shut up. Impulse: *laughs* Joker: If I could kill you right now, I would.

...

Astro: Impulse, I have to know. What was the joke that I killed you for? Impulse: Oh, I said “watch me scan”, then I got on and I said “now watch me nae nae”. Astro: Yeah, you deserved to die.

...

Tango: Hey guys, I’m going up to O2 here. Just letting you know. *pause* Joker: Did you hear something? Impulse: I dunno, Tango-. He always talks. I dunno what that was about.

...

Joker: Yeaaah, but you are kind of weird, though. Endless: Just for that, I’m not gonna do any more tasks. Joker, laughing: Yes you are. *long pause* Endless: You’re right. Joker: I know. Endless: I’ll see you later. Joker: See you, buddy.

...

*Pearl wins as jester because nobody believed Impulse when he said it was Evil* Impulse, with the announcer voice modifier: Attention attention! I am playing with a shipful of idiots!

...

*after dying early* Impulse: I was looking forward to being Brody’s lover :( *pause* Impulse: That sounds bad.

...

Impulse: They’re just mad cuz I’m fast, that’s all. They jelly. They all jelly cuz I can get my tasks done like a boss. Joker: Who ARE you?! Impulse: *laughs* Joker: I’m hip with what the new kids say. Astro: I’m… going over here now. Joker: What the new kids say nowadays. Impulse: Oh dude! Got my wires straight right away, poggers! Joker: Poggers?! Impulse: That was lit. Joker: Shut up!

...

Astro: All I’m gonna say, judging by the level of tasks that are completing, people are not killing very well, and I’m actually done with my tasks before the first meeting even got called. Endless: You’re awfully judgy, Astro. Tango: Wooow, look at you. Joker: That’s harsh. Evil: Okay, Judgy McJudgerson. Impulse: Way to make the imposters cry themselves to sleep tonight. Jeez. Astro: There’s only two people I’m judging here and that’s the imposters. Step up your game.

...

Evil: Mrs T, I love you. You’re amazing, you know that? Mrs Tango: Aww…! I love you too. Evil: Obviously, you follow me on twitter.

...

*Impulse caught Etho dancing around a body* Etho, giggling: So here’s what happened. Impulse came out of O2 and he was like “Etho, don’t go in there”. Impulse: *bursts out laughing* Etho: And I was like- I’m gonna go in there, right? And he’s like “no, Etho, don’t go in there”. Tango: I- Okay. Etho: And then he closes the door on me. Tango: I think we can establish that Etho is the jester now, right? Okay. Etho: And I open the door, and then I go and I check and there’s a dead Joker. Tango: This is- Etho, stick to solving crimes, man.

...

(the same round) *Etho caught Tango and Endless killing* Etho, laughing: So Endless- He was like “Etho, don’t go in there”. *everyone laughs* Etho: And I was like “make me”. And he couldn’t, he couldn’t stop me. Endless: 100% not Etho. Etho: And then I caught Tango, and Tango was also like “Etho, don’t go in there”. Tango: Alright. Etho: So they’re the double killers; it wasn’t me. Tango: I am so confused right now!

...

*that same meeting, votes are revealed as being tied between Impulse and skipping* Impulse: WHAT?! Evil: What the-?! How did it land on Impulse?! Impulse, with the announcer voice modifier: Four of you are idiots.

...

(the same round) Etho: *calls emergency meeting* Endless: For god’s sake, Etho! Etho: Hey everybody :D *pause* Etho: Okay, so, Impulse and Pearl just went to specimen together and Impulse killed Pearl without any hesitation. Pearl: What do you mean? Endless: Pearl’s not dead! Pearl: I’m still alive! Tango: Oh my gosh. Evil: Etho! Why are you doing this?! Etho: Vote Impulse. Tango: Has he been drinking?!

...

*the same meeting, the votes are tied between Tango and Impulse* Tango: OH my GOSH! Evil: Oh my god! Impulse, with the announcer voice modifier: Three of you are idiots. Endless: Well, you convinced one of them, Impulse. Brody: Pearl, aren’t you happy you joined us for this nonsense?

...

(that same round) *Etho’s body is reported* Evil: The Endless had had enough of Etho’s… stuff and cut him in half right in front of me. Endless: Let’s discuss this, Evil. *pause* Endless: We both know it was Impulse.

...

(later in the same meeting) Impulse: Let me explain, Endless. The better play would’ve been to say you were sheriff and you picked up on the fact that Etho was trying to overplay jester but he was actually covering up for the fact that he was imposter. But now that you haven’t done that- Endless: Don’t tell me how to play this game, Impulse. Astro was clearly morphed as me. Impulse: Oooookay. Astro: Where did I come into this conversation?!

...

(after the round) Astro: So Impulse, you kept saying there were four idiots. There wasn’t, there was just one idiot. Evil: *laughs* Astro: An idiot who voted for you every round. Impulse: What?! Astro: I used my mayor votes on you and I was committed at that point.

#friday night stabby quotes #friday night stabby #impulsesv #tangotek #pearlescentmoon #etho #astrozoan #evilnotion #brodyman #theendless #mrstango #misterjoker

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mel-the-fangirl · 4 years

Text

The Escort

Walter Marshall x Reader

Words: 2,064

Warnings: none

Happy super late Valentine’s, Cavillry! As usual, this is a very very late upload but in my defense, it does say in my bio that I am a procrastinator soooo... Anyway, I’m really excited about this miniseries because I love the movie (The Wedding Date, 2005) and I really wanted to write Walter, I hope I do him justice!

Feedback (good and bad!) means the world to me as rookie writer, so I hope you’ll like, reblog and leave me some replies!

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

You could not believe you were doing this. You just couldn't. But there you were doing it, even though your mind screeched at you to stop and save a little dignity for yourself.

The fact that you even considered doing this was already a serious loss of dignity points, so what the hell. People did this all the time, didn’t they? There wouldn’t be a whole network of people clumped into this app if it wasn’t a normal occurrence.

It just wasn’t a normal occurrence for you.

Once you filled your head with rationalisations to make yourself feel better, you took a deep breath and began browsing through what the great city of New York had to offer.

Z, 6’, loving hands, fit, athletic, good manners, for water sports, caramel complexion.

For water sports? What in the hell did that mean? And that single initial in place of an actual name? Serial killer vibes. No, thank you.

Lenny, 6’2”, pretty fit Italian, excellent dinner companion, all occasions catered.

Alright. Okay. Now we’re talking. Tall, European, excellent dinner companion equals to good conversationalist, accommodating. Lenny goes on the list of possibilities.

Terry, 6’, my soft voice will arouse you, my strong hands will pleasure you, let me show you how a woman should be treated, hourly/overnight rates.

Oh no no no. Major creep vibes from Terry. That ad alone had you reaching for another long swig of wine.

Joey, 5’8”, are you into champagne?, bodybuilder, will treat you like a queen.

“If you like piña coladas…” you sang in not even remotely the right key, topping off your drink

Josh, 5’9”, I can make you feel sexy and wanted. Fit, sensual, strong.

“Well!” you exclaimed drunkenly, almost spilling wine on your couch, “Tough beans, Josh! I don’t need a man to make me feel sexy and wanted!” you faltered a bit, your drunk mind still seeing the holes in your logic

“I just… Need a man to help me not look like a tragic spinster in front of my family and my ex...”

With that thought fresh in your mind, you reached for some more wine.

The ads went on and on as you scrolled through your phone, it was all a little overwhelming, how were you going to make sure you weren't hiring some psychopathic serial killing pervert to pose as your date to your sister's wedding?

The groan you let out bounced off the walls of your apartment. The reality of your situation was sinking in little by little.

Yes. You were hiring a male escort for your sister's wedding. It was your baby sister's wedding, by the way. You were a hundred percent aware that what you were doing was completely and utterly pathetic but you’ve already weighed the pros and cons in your head countless times.

Showing up alone: pitying looks, whispering behind your back, having to face ex by yourself, staggering levels of embarrassment.

Showing up with handsome -hired- date: mother can finally get off your back, date is more handsome than ex, ex will want to shrivel up and die, no one will know date is male escort except you and him.

Now, let’s break down some of the guests just for the sake of being thorough.

There’s your slightly overbearing mother (slightly meaning every call you have with her opens with the question: “how's your love life, dear?” or “I have the most amazing man to set you up with!”), all of her judgy eagle-eyed friends (mostly rich widows whose sons your mom shamelessly shoves your way), your extended family (some terrifyingly old school great aunts and uncles who will definitely ask if you’re married and smile sympathetically when you say you’re not), and last but certainly not the least, Jeffrey, your ex-fiancé (best man, but apparently not the best man for you, his words not yours).

"Lordy fuck." you exhaled hard, chugging your wine straight from the bottle

How on earth did you get here? Sitting alone in your apartment, working your way through your second bottle of wine (or third? Who was keeping count?), clicking on ads that spoke of "hot single males in your area" waiting to meet you.

Would it be fair to pin it all on the end of your engagement?

Picturing that moment, you decided that it was only fair. Those were five years of your life you would never get back, you were prepared to sign on for more but, yeah.

You were blindsided, that's the only way to describe it. All the while, you thought that you and Jeffrey were on the same page, at the same place in life. You were the golden couple, the couple that all the other couples wished they could be, when you two walked past, girlfriends would give their boyfriends a slap on the shoulder that meant, "Why can't we be more like them?"

It was so out of nowhere, one minute you were discussing wedding cake options over dinner, then suddenly you're putting the ring in his palm, completely in shock.

After that, you threw yourself into your work despite the fact that you were already a budding workaholic to begin with. That's how you ended up earning six figures a year.

Six figure salary, check. Doing pretty well in life all things considered, check.

But even with all that, there weren't any conversations over casseroles and cobblers about your many achievements. Nope, your mother and her friends would much rather discuss their worries that you would essentially, die alone.

Your little sister, Amy, getting married before you didn't exactly help to put a lid on all the chatter. And with Jeffrey being the best man? And you being maid of honour?

It was a disaster waiting to happen.

Maybe you could make up an excuse believable enough to get you off the hook so you wouldn’t have to go?

Were you really thinking about bailing on your little sister’s wedding? If she wasn’t taking cues from your mother, it would be the only one she ever had.

Not one of your finest moments as a sibling.

With the complications of your situation fully realised, you took to reading the ads with a little more effort. Luckily, you didn’t have to look for long.

Nick, 6’, male, tall, good looking, strong build. You will not be disappointed.

The ad was considerably less flashy than the others but you supposed that’s what drew you to it in the first place. It was understated, simple, and his ad wasn’t entirely made up of overcompensating flexing pics.

Mostly because he didn’t need them.

Call off the search, send the boys home. You had a winner here!

Staring up at you from your phone screen was the most handsome man you have ever seen in your life. Literally.

A mane of thick, artfully disheveled curly hair, eyes that were a light shade of blue that had a sort of dark intensity and intelligence that you could spend days trying to understand, and a smile. Oh, that smile was absolutely suckerpunching. It was odd though, something in your head was telling you that this man did not smile often.

You couldn’t tell if the warmth blooming in your chest and creeping towards your cheeks was from all the wine or from examining this prime specimen. Jeez Louise!

“Phew!” you fanned yourself upon stumbling on a photo of him crossing his arms in a tank top. Good God, you hoped he had a license for those guns!

You had to set your phone down for a minute to think things through although it seemed absolutely nuts that you had to think twice at all. It’s just that after the initial excitement and hormones wore off, it was becoming more and more evident that this man was too good to be true.

Just look at him! Were there actually men that looked like that? And why didn’t they live closer to you? A quick sweep of his profile placed him in Minneapolis.

What were the crime rates like there? And did they have a high rate of murders relating to escort services?

Before you could even google anything related to that, you stopped yourself. If you kept at this rate, you would never get anything done! Finally, after a methodical deliberation (aka ogling the pictures on his ad), you saved Nick’s contact number to your phone.

Aaand that’s as far as you’d go for the night. You could call him tomorrow when you weren’t a floundering drunk. It was like your mother always said, “Always be sober for a business transaction, but anything else calls for a cocktail.”

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

The following morning, you sat at your little breakfast nook, eggs still piping hot and untouched, and a hangover in full effect. You’ve been staring at the phone number for so long, you could say it in your sleep.

Come on, Y/N, the wedding is five freaking days away.

What if this guy was fully booked? You didn’t want to spend five days surrounded by family with Mr. my-soft-voice-will-arouse-you, did you?

You slammed your finger down on the call icon and stuck the phone to your ear. Your heart beat faster and faster with every ring and your palms became so slick with sweat that you almost dropped your phone a couple of times.

Maybe you should have taken your mother up on the multiple occasions that she wanted to set you up with someone. Alright, on second thought, you didn’t really want to be with someone who only looked good on paper but was actually an insufferable mama’s boy.

“Hello?” a male voice answered, catching you off-guard

Oh, God. Okay, you’re really doing this.

“Yes, hi! Hi. Uh, I’m looking for Nick!” you chirped, in a startled high pitched squeak you didn’t dare recognise as your own

The silence on the other end was starting to make you sweat behind the knees. It suddenly dawned on you that you didn’t mention any specifics.

“Uh, sorry! I got this number from the, uh, the ad. I’m looking for Nick?”

“Yes! Yes, that’s right, but Nick isn’t in right now. This is his manager.”

Was that a good sign? That a male escort had a manager? Did all male escorts have managers? You clearly didn’t know enough about this stuff.

“It’s a pleasure, Mister..?”

There was another beat of silence before the person on the other line answered, you tried your hardest not to overthink about what that could have meant.

“Foley! I’m Foley, Nick’s manager.” Mr. Foley’s voice returned to your ear, sounding much too bright for your liking.

Christ, what were you, a cop? To be honest, you were exhausted. Despite all the alcohol in your system last night, you barely got any sleep. You spent the rest of the night reading through some reviews of Nick’s service as an escort.

He had a glittering five star rating.

One woman hired him to pose as her husband at a high school reunion and by the end of the night, she ended up proposing to him. He respectfully declined and even bought her dinner afterwards.

That review alone was enough to convince you that you would be in good hands. So, it was time to buckle down, swallow the nerves, and handle your business like the adult you were.

“Mr. Foley,” you shook your hair out and put on your professional voice. “I’d like to book your client for five days, give or take. I need a plus one for a wedding. Is he available to leave on the-”

“Please hold. I’ll check his schedule.”

“Oh. But I didn’t mention when I-”

“He’s available. Would you prefer to pick him up at JFK or will he meet you at your place of residence?”

“Oh. Uh, I guess I could pick him up. Do I pay for his ticket or..?” you were feeling a teensy bit of whiplash at how fast this was all going

There was some rustling on the other line and the muffled sounds of bickering. You tried not to let that concern you.

“We’ll handle that, Ms. Y/L/N. We have your number, we’ll be in touch for further details. Good bye.”

The line went dead and you were left staring at your phone in confusion. Did you tell him your name?

#walter marshall #walter marshall x reader #night hunter #nomis #henry cavill #henry cavill x reader #henry cavill imagine #henry cavill fanfic #henry cavill fanfiction #henry cavill fic #Henry William Dalgliesh Cavill #geralt of rivia #the witcher #the man from uncle #napoleon solo #cavillry #fanfiction #fan fiction #fanfic

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tendertokyo · 4 years

Text

My take on NCT at Hogwarts

what is it with me and being active on this god forsaken app all of a sudden... anyways, i know that we've thrown jk rowling in the garbage but listen i can't just throw away my whole childhood for one stupid rich white cis woman. also i have no idea what's going on with the neos but when do i ever? alright here we go

taeil: he's giving me frustrated hufflepuff, like he really wished to be in gryffindoor but it didn't work out. think he'd be a halfblood and have a pet toad. likes to visit hagrid for tea sometimes. simps over some bad bitch in slytherin, really thinks she's into him too, everyone tells him she's way out of his league. broke his wand twice already trying to open a can of sardines

taeyong: also strong hufflepuff energy. he's the keeper and captain of their quidditch team and a prefect too, picked purely cause he's good with kids. walks around without his scarf in the cold winter because he wrapped it around ten's neck one morning and nagged on him for not taking care of his health properly, never got the scarf back and doesn't mind. i feel like snape would intimidate the crap out of him, like he would not be able to stay calm during his classes rip. he'd be adored by all the other teachers though, especially flitwick who believes he's really gifted in charms

johnny: a gryffindoor pureblood and keeper and captain of the quidditch team. always the one who tries to talk things out with mcgonnagall when they pull some stupid shit and get caught, never successful. has the marauders map and likes to throw underground raves in hidden rooms and tunnels. buddies with peeves and the house elves. buddies with everyone actually. and regardless of liking him like that or not, every girl in school has fantasized of fucking him in the quidditch locker room showers ooooop-

yuta: omg the heartbreaker of the school. a halfblood slytherin prefect and beater. snape's favourite student, like he gets whatever he wants from that man without trying. everyone is lowkey into him cause of his hot and mysterious vibe and there are so many rumours about his sex life circulating around, but no one actually knows if he's seeing someone. people also speculate he's a metamorphmagus but no lol he just dies his hair a lot. has a pet cat who's mean to everyone except him and mark. likes to explore the forbidden forest cause he's a weirdo

doyoung: a ravenclaw pureblood who hates quidditch, only shows up for taeyong's matches and nags him afterwards if hufflepuff loses. he's the headboy and happily uses his title to threaten haechan. hates divination with a passion and idolizes mcgonnagal, as he should. knows everyone's bussiness in the whole damn castle, never starts drama but almost always ends it. used to tutor some younger students but they quickly realised he's a mini mcgonnagall and zoomed straight outta there. snape lowkey wishes he was in slytherin but don't tell anyone

kun: gryffindoor headboy, probably the calmest person in that entire house and the only one who can kinda control the chaos. if yangyang or hendery annoy him too much he'll give them the wrong password on purpose, mcgonnagal has this unspoken respect for him for that reason. feels really bad for the house elves and wants to help them as much as he can. known as the dad or daddy of gryffindoor, depending on who you ask hehehehe

ten: the artsiest ravenclaw but fucking terrible at riddles, so he's always stuck at the door unless someone let's him inside lmao. is super into divination but purely for the aesthetic. never wears his uniform properly, always wears taeyong's scarf and lots of witchy jewelry. started a dance club in the room of requirement, loves hogwarts halloween with his whole heart. set a classroom on fire once and managed to sneak away undetected. always hooks up with someone at johnny's parties

jaehyun: the fucking fratboy of gryffindoor. he's a halfblood and a chaser on the quidditch team. left so many girls on read oh my god. sneaks alcohol and weed into school, coorganizes parties with johnny, yuta and mark. people think he's this hot bad boy or some shit, lol no bitch he's a dumbass don't waste your energy on a doofus like him, have you heard his laugh he sounds like a 45 year old man. mcgonnagall doesn't trust him at all, always looks at him with shifty eyes. the fat lady flirts with him everytime he approaches the commonroom door

winwin: on the snobby pureblood side of slytherin, like he gives off really judgy vibes. is in ten's dance club, there's a rumor going around that he's an animagus 'cause he moves gracefully like a cat or smth, but he isn't he's just really talented. spends most of his time in the owlery petting birds. the bloody baron freaks him out, most of the ghosts do. tried to be a big brother figure to renjun and chenle but they bullied his ass like crazy so he dropped them like hot potatoes

jungwoo: the most confident gryffindoor y'all. he's a muggleborn and a chaser. has the cutest pet owl, is really into care of magical creatures. snape hates him because he's too "sunny" of a person. wild at parties but looks fine in the morning somehow. the biggest flirt you'll ever meet and has so many bitches wrapped around his little finger lol, there's a rumor going around that he's real beast in bed. awesome at dueling, uses his cute airhead shtick to apsolutely destroy people. can you tell i love his pisces ass?

lucas: a hufflepuff halfblood and beater. wannabe fuckboy but can't because he cares too much lol, those muscles are made of feelings dawg. hits on every girl he sees and is almost always successful 'cause we're weak for cute and sweet himbos. is the biggest show off on the quidditch field and has his own fan club. really into care for magical creatures, like literally wants to befriend every single one of them, hagrid has to pull his ass away from them before he gets hurt rip

mark: a gryffindoor prodigy, a muggleborn and a chaser. the most stressed prefect you've ever seen. mcgonnagall has a soft spot for him and everyone knows it. snape dislikes him but respects him because he's fucking brilliant at potions. a lot of people like him and are into him but he doesn't know how to respond to them lol socially awkward king. plans parties with johnny yuta jaehyun and ten, is always roped into the dreamies schemes against his will. no one can fucking tell if him and haechan are on good terms cause they're at each other's throats all the time, but slobber all over each other like crazy when they get drunk

xiaojun: the most emotional ravenclaw. a halfblood and a prefect. he dated a girl for a long time and she broke his heart, moped about it in the prefect's bathroom for ages. lowkey believes she cheated on him with yuta but isn't sure, is extra weary around him though. says he's done with love but then simps over a new girl every two weeks smh. no one understands how he's such good friends with hendery and yangyang, like the combination of the two of them is a recipe for disaster. whenever they rope him into their bullshit, he always manages to drop their asses in the perfect time and doesn't get caught. many portaits are jealous of him 'cause he has better bone structure then them lol

hendery: the best definition of a gryffindoor. comes from a rich pureblood family, is a beater on the quidditch team. he's the life of the party, man. out of all the students he hates, he is the one snape hates the MOST and he's so proud of that. a really fast runner so he never ends up in detention 'cause it's just too hard to catch him. buddies with the ghosts and hagrid. tries really hard to impress girls, it only works half of the time when he's not being too intense

yangyang: also a gryffindoor pureblood, tried out for the chaser position but didn't make it, is still bitter about it. has a really fucked up owl that always messes up his letters. constantly in detention, like he's cleaned that entire castle by himself 43 times already. also in ten's dance club, also really good at dueling when he actually tries. really into muggle culture, explores it in his free time and shows everyone cool, new music he found all the time. gives kun daily headaches cause he's way too energetic in the morning

shotaro: imma say he's a hufflepuff but don't quote me on that cause i don't know him that well. he seems like he'd have lots of friends though and would be in ten's dance club

sungchan: don't know him well either so i'll just say gryffindoor??

renjun: i'm torn between ravenclaw and slytherin, gonna go with slytherin for him. he's a halfblood and a prefect, also uses his title to threaten haechan. loves defence against the dark arts anď herbology, might become a healer someday. gets tricked by the moving staircases all the fucking time, ends up at madam pomfrey's way more than he likes to admit. likes the slytherin aesthetic but can't stand the evil stereotypes. most people think him and chenle are brothers, wants to strangle chenle when he plays into it. once told the bloody baron to fuck off, no one dares get on his bad side since that day

jeno: pureblood hufflepuff prefect and a chaser. he's the cute, athletic guy everyone has a crush on. is on snape's good side 'cause he likes cleaning up his brewing station after finishing the task the lession is about. is the best flyer in the entire school and has the best chance of getting scouted in the future, everyone knows it but if you mention it to him he blushes like crazy. i feel like he's been in many fwb situations but they all ended well because he's a gentleman

haechan: a slytherin through and through. halfblood and seeker on the quidditch team. thought he was gonna be prefect and was hella pissed he wasn't chosen, i mean hello you're a snake who would want to give a snake authority goddamn it. also always complains during quidditch matches, calls everything a foul just 'cause he wants to win. puts up this persona of the mischevious slytherin boy but it falls flat on it's ass because he's peeves's favourite target

jaemin: a muggleborn hufflepuff, because of that reason he's sworn to himself he'll take care of jisung like a mother. a chaser on the quidditch team. such a sweetheart my gosh, like that dude is always so happy, unless he hasn't drunk his 6 cups of coffee. speaking of, mcgonnagall and pomfrey worry for his health like crazy but won't admit it. excells at care for magical creatures and charms, horrible at ancient runes like he didn't think there'd be so much math involved. girls are also crazy into him but he's such an introvert, the thought of someone wanting to be around him so much scares him. still flirts with everything that breathes lol

chenle: a slytherin and a pureblood, from one of those rich old families. because of that people expect him to be a lil brat, turns out to be the coolest guy you'll ever meet. he's friends with everyone regardless of house, a chaser on the quidditch team, known as the one who scores the most points in a game. he's great at defence against the dark arts and transfiguration, is thinking about becoming an auror 'cause that dude fears nothing i'm telling you. was made a prefect instead of haechan, rubs it in his face like crazy, but ultimately just let's people get away with stupid shit like "haha nice one, respect". memorized all the secret passageways of the castle in his head, helps johnny, mark, ten and jaehyun with their parties. pisses off filch like no other, was in detention all the time with yangyang until they realised how terrible it is when the two of them are in close contact lol so he gets let off the hook all the time. also fucking flirts with everything that breathes, the biggest fucking tease like you never know what he means smh

jisung: jaemin's muggleborn hufflepuff son, though most people are surprised he isn't in gryffindoor 'cause god the reckless shit that boy pulls... always late to breakfast with his uniforn all messy. people think he's very innocent but like his bestfriend is chenle, so how pure could he be. he's a seeker on the quidditch team, goes extra hard during hufflepuff-slytherin matches 'cause he wants to knock haechan off his high horse. blushes like crazy whenever he sees a cute girl which only gives chenle more reason to tease him 'cause he's a lil bitch like that. is the star of ten's dance club but has tripped and fallen down multiple flights of stairs, this kid's a walking paradox

to conclude:

gryffindoor: johnny, kun, jaehyun, jungwoo, mark, hendery, yangyang, sungchan

hufflepuff: taeil, taeyong, lucas, jeno, jaemin, shotaro, jisung

ravenclaw: doyoung, ten, xiaojun

slytherin: yuta, winwin, renjun, haechan, chenle

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pokemonswshbutionlyplayedsword · 3 years

Note

What personality trait would the gym leaders say they hate the most about another gym leader?

This is gonna be a long one, have a seat.

Milo

Nessa- Her tendency to stick to what she knows. She’s not willing to try new things.

Kabu- His tendency to lean towards places like Motostoke with no nature.

Bea- The fact that she refuses to slow down and appreciate nature, despite always being out training in it.

Allister- His shyness. It’s hard to connect to him if they never speak.

Opal- She’s arrogant about nature and the forest in a way that bothers Milo.

Gordie- Milo’s problem with Gordie is how outgoing he is. When they’re together, Gordie tends to be the loud leader, and Milo would rather just relax. It’s fine to be outgoing, but Gordie unknowingly leaves people behind sometimes.

Melony- Melony tends to treat people younger than her like children. She means well but Milo is a gym leader and a business owner.

Piers- Piers is incredibly dull to Milo. They have nothing in common and it feels like Piers doesn’t even try sometimes.

Raihan- Raihan can often accidentally forget about the people near him. He’s a good friend, but sometimes he gets too sucked into social media.

Leon- Leon’s a people pleaser. Milo can never trust his opinions because he always says what he thinks Milo wants to hear.

Nessa

Milo- He’s a little bit of a doormat. Nessa wishes he’d be more assertive.

Kabu- Kabu thinks he’s wiser than a lot of people for some reason.

Bea- Bea is too serious about herself.

Allister- Nessa doesn’t really have a problem with him.

Opal- Opal is creepy to Nessa. Old people make Nessa nervous in general though.

Melony- She can worry too much.

Gordie- He doesn’t like to socialize much. Hanging out with him isn’t much fun for her.

Piers- Piers can be a jerk sometimes. He’s just sour in general.

Raihan- He’s too competitive.

Leon- Leon can be easily distracted. Having a conversation with him is difficult, and Nessa hates not being heard.

Kabu

Milo- Milo is too insistent on growing plants and nature. Motostoke has a park, thanks.

Nessa- She doesn’t have a lot of respect for people. Especially older people (not that that applies to Kabu specifically.)

Bea- Kabu gets along with Bea pretty well, though her sense of humor is pretty dry.

Allister- Kabu doesn’t really know Allister well enough to have a greivance.

Opal- Only person on the league who is older than him, so she acts like she’s better than him sometimes.

Gordie- Kabu is Melony’s friend, so he doesn’t agree with Gordie’s choice to be a rock type trainer.

Melony- She’s bossy to him, but they’re best friends, so he expected that.

Piers- Kabu secretly (so secretly he’s never told anyone) thinks Piers made the wrong choice in not having Marnie live with Melony when she was young.

Raihan- Too engrossed in social media.

Leon- He’s a smart guy, but he doesn’t show it, and that annoys Kabu.

Bea

Milo- It bothers Bea that Milo is so passive.

Nessa- Nessa constantly tries to push Bea to do more feminine things.

Kabu- Kabu’s really judgy.

Allister- Bea knows Allister better than most, so she knows that he’s stubborn and a picky eater.

Opal- Opal constantly writes off Bea’s strength since she thinks brains are more important in battling.

Gordie- Gordie fakes being confident and Bea thinks he should just be genuine.

Melony- Melony doesn��t seem to think Bea is capable of taking care of herself.

Piers- Bea doesn’t think Piers cares enough.

Raihan- Raihan tries too hard. Bea’s all about giving it 110%, but Raihan’s driven by the wrong goal.

Leon- Bea thinks that Leon let the fame go to his head a little bit.

Allister

Milo- Milo wants to get to know him too much.

Nessa- Nessa can be pushy, but not to him.

Kabu- Kabu seems to think he’s wiser than he actually is.

Bea- Bea is too strict. With Allister and herself.

Opal- Opal thinks that being a fairy type trainer makes her better than everyone else.

Gordie- Gordie isn’t honest with himself and his fans. None of them know that Gordie isn’t the same person behind closed doors.

Melony- Melony wants to mother him and he doesn’t like it.

Piers- Allister thinks that Piers doesn’t care about his position. He does it for the wrong reason.

Raihan- He’s too loud and eccentric. It’s a lot for Allister to deal with.

Leon- Leon puts his position as Champion above being a person.

Opal

Milo- Milo is too content being at the bottom of the circuit.

Nessa- Nessa is arrogant and bossy.

Kabu- Kabu wants to be the best, but he doesn’t put the work in for it.

Bea- She doesn’t balance her training enough, and worries too much about the brawn.

Allister- Allister isolates himself and she doesn’t think it’s healthy.

Gordie- He’s not honest with himself and doubts everything too much.

Melony- She can be overbearing.

Piers- He doesn’t take care of himself, and then complains about it.

Raihan- His fame is more important than being a gym leader, despite how hard he works.

Leon- Leon is a people pleaser.

Gordie

Milo- He doesn’t stand up for himself enough.

Nessa- She’s constantly pushing others to do things they don’t want to do.

Kabu- Clings too closely to Kanto. He left for a reason, didn’t he?

Bea- She doesn’t have a sense of humor and doesn’t seem to want one.

Allister- Allister can be brutally honest, but Gordie doesn’t blame him, he’s just a kid.

Opal- Opal thinks she knows everything.

Melony- This one’s obvious.

Piers- Pier is his best friend, but Piers is bitter and low energy, so staying with him is too slow a lifestyle for Gordie.

Raihan- He’s more obsessed with his fanbase than Gordie is, and that’s saying a lot.

Leon- Leon distances himself from the others, so it’s hard not to feel like Leon thinks he’s better than them.

Melony

Milo- He doesn’t stand up for himself.

Nessa- She refuses help from people for no reason.

Kabu- Complains to her a lot and has a hard time listening when she complains back.

Bea- Doesn’t take care of herself.

Allister- Needs to let people take care of him because he’s so young.

Opal- Very judgmental.

Gordie- This one is also obvious.

Piers- She hates herself for this, but she doesn’t think Piers should have had Marnie stay in Spikemuth with him when they were younger. And sometimes she thinks he hasn’t done the best job with her.

Raihan- He cares more about his fame than being a person.

Leon- His position takes priority over the brother that needs him.

Piers

Milo- He’s too insistent on Piers bringing plants into Spikemuth.

Nessa- She’s bossy and doesn’t take no for an answer.

Kabu- Kabu sides with Melony a lot, but he’s more vocal about their negative opinions of him.

Bea- She doesn’t take him seriously.

Allister- Piers doesn’t really have an issue with Allister.

Opal- He can’t stand that she always wants to read and understand him.

Gordie- Gordie often leaves him behind because he’s too impatient.

Melony- Melony doesn’t realize he knows what she thinks about him keeping Marnie with him.

Raihan- Raihan constantly pushes Piers out of his comfort zone in the bad way and overwhelms him.

Leon- Leon is hard to communicate with because he divides his attention between as many people as possible.

Raihan

Milo- Milo insists on people being calm and living life slow. Raihan doesn’t want that.

Nessa- Nessa wants to turn everything into a competition with him.

Kabu- Kabu judges him pretty openly.

Bea- She shows off around him a little. He knows she’s not vain, so she must be trying to tell him something.

Allister- Raihan doesn’t have a grievance with him. He’s just a kid.

Opal- She insists on knowing everything about Raihan and doesn’t listen when he tells her he’s uncomfortable with it.

Gordie- Gordie sides with Piers whenever Piers and Raihan get in a fight.

Melony- Melony cares a little too much that Raihan was raised by a single father.

Piers- Piers is just bitter. Everything Raihan does seems to bother him sometimes.

Leon- Leon always seems to be one step ahead. It infuriates him that Leon doesn’t have to train as seriously as he does.

Leon

Milo- Milo can be pretty closed minded when it comes to things related to plants and nature.

Nessa- Nessa is impatient and tends to get mad at him too quickly.

Kabu- Kabu is one of the league’s main gossipers.

Bea- She has attempted to “correct” Leon’s training regimen. Multiple times.

Allister- Allister doesn’t involve himself in the league enough.

Opal- Opal has a lot to say about Leon’s childhood, which he doesn’t want to talk about much.

Gordie- Gordie tends to ignore others without realizing.

Melony- Melony is overbearing.

Piers- He doesn’t care enough about the league.

Raihan- Raihan refuses to drop the competition between them and takes it way too seriously.

Reminder: They’re all really good friends. They’re like family, even. But everyone has flaws.

#pokemon swsh #pokemon milo #pokemon nessa #pokemon kabu #pokemon bea #pokemon allister #pokemon opal #pokemon gordie #pokemon melony #pokemon piers #pokemon raihan #pokemon leon #ask #anon

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thefanficmonster · 3 years

Text

Never Satisfied [Chapter 9]

Corpse Husband x Original Female Character

Warnings: Language

A collaboration between Vy & Ashens

“is this what it’s like to be normal?“

After a bit of juggling of paper containers and laughter, Corpse settles into the cushions of the couch with Cora sitting close by. They ordered Chinese food and are now sitting with their feet up on the coffee table, munching away and laughing at the comedy special on the television. That’s where they stayed for a couple hours, her head resting on his shoulder. She joked about laying on his lap again but Corpse shut the idea down quickly, stating he didn’t want to be held hostage again tonight. He didn’t fail to mention that any other night wouldn’t be a problem for him though.

That's what brought them to their current situation. Corpse is standing in his bedroom, making a slight grimace at the clothes that he has scattered on the floor. He conveniently placed his laundry basket over the vomit stain from his panic attack. The mark serves as a reminder, one he’ll have to get rid of eventually to not feel his stomach turn every time he walks into his room.

He’s rather thankful she’s looking around the room and not at the floor. Her gaze, although curious, is in no way judgy. She is simply taking it all in without wondering why it seems so barren or empty like he sees it. He likes it that way and he’s glad she doesn’t have a complaint about it either.

“Would you…” He pauses, making a face as he tries to figure out the best way to voice the question he’s been thinking about. “You can borrow something of mine to wear if you don’t want to wear that.” He vaguely motions to her outfit which seems like it would be a little uncomfortable for sleeping.

“Oh, you bought me dinner so now you want me to take off my pants? I feel like we’ve been over this already.” Cora jokes, eyes sparkling as she nudges him with her shoulder.

He blushes a deep red, looking down as his cheeks burn, “I-I meant...”

“I’m kidding, Cujo.” she laughs, delivering a light smack to his arm that felt more like a caress than anything.

“Cujo?” He repeated the nickname questioningly, tipping his head toward her. She’s called him a lot of things but Cujo is a new one.

“Yeah. I mean, we met because of a collar, and you keep giving me puppy eyes.” She teases, reaching up to run her hands through his hair with a playful, cheeky smirk.

“I do not!” Corpse scoffs defiantly, cheeks a heavy shade of red caused by the embarrassment and wild butterflies in his stomach. Even as he denies her claims he knows she’s right: he absolutely does give her puppy eyes, be it intentionally or not. But he isn’t going to admit it, of course!

Before he could go on with his defense, she pushes up on her tippy toes and kisses his cheek, effectively shutting him up before he even starts rambling.

“You said you had a change of clothes?” She asks sweetly, plopping herself onto the end of his bed. He rolls his eyes fondly and turns around, digging into his dresser to retrieve a pair of plaid pajama pants. He offers them to her and, when she takes them, goes back to searching, pulling out one of his favorite shirts to pair with the pants he gave her. His fingers touch the design on the front of it, looking thoughtful.

Should I really give my favorite shirt to her?, he wonders as he looks at the graphic embedded into the material he’s so used to feeling on his skin and seeing in the mirror. What if she leaves like everybody else. I won’t be able to look at the shirt ever again without thinking of her smiling face when she wore it. He exhales before gripping it tighter and turning, handing it to her. It’s a sign of trust he knows she isn’t able to read. It’s a sign he believes she won’t hurt him. Not intentionally, at least. He just hopes he’s right and he’ll have something good in his life to stay for once.

With the clothes in hand, she smiles brightly and heads into his bathroom to change. She doesn’t close the door, but she’s still out of sight. Her clothes are tossed through the doorway and Corpse can’t help but swallow sharply.

Undressing. She’s undress- oh fuck that’s her bra. His face turns scarlet and he quickly whirls around, yanking off his jeans and changing into a pair of gym shorts before she could come back. He curses his libido, swearing at himself as he tries to think of something that would kill the flush of heat under his skin.

Naked grandma, creepypastas, Jeff The Killer, Slenderman, fuck!

Finally, after quickly looking over his shoulder to make sure she isn’t in the room, he reaches up and slaps himself as if to wake himself from a deep slumber or nightmare.

The impact startles him enough that he momentarily forgets why he had even done it. Turning around once again, he sees her wander into the room, the pajama pants rolled up to keep them from dragging and the shirt clinging to her...just so perfectly.

“You alright?” She asks softly, head tilting curiously as she comes closer. Corpse nods and smiles softly, reaching out to take her hand. She curls her fingers with his and reaches up, her fingers grazing across the side of his face he slapped moments prior, her touch cool against this hot cheek. “You look like you got bitch slapped.” She muses, lips forming a small smile that was a dead giveaway of the fact she was trying her best not to laugh.

“Yeah, um that’s...odd...” He croaks out, clearing his throat before turning to face his bed. “Um...l-ladies first?” He suggests, his other cheek slowly reddening to match the slapped one.

She side-eyes him before deciding the best course of action would be to DIVE into the bed. She tumbles into the blankets and rolls onto her back, laughing softly as she sprawles into starfish formation to take over the entire bed.

“Where are you going to sleep?” She asks him, a mischievous look flashing across her face as she practically claims the bed as her territory for the future undecided amount of time.

He almost says he’ll sleep on the couch if she doesn't want to share with him but when he realizes she’s joking, his eyes narrow into suspicious slits and he leaps in after her, flopping down at her side while a soft squeal leaves her lips. She laughs and her arms wind around his neck immediately, trapping him against her chest. He struggles a bit, managing to pull away just enough to tip his head up, cheeks pink. He didn’t want to make her uncomfortable by being face-first in her chest and he’s worried he might’ve. However, just then, as if sensing his thoughts and feeling the need to comfort and reassure him, she simply runs a hand through his hair, looking down at him fondly.

“Comfy?” She asks softly, thumb touching his forehead as she gently and lightly runs her nails over his scalp. He isn’t sure what the best way to answer that would be. Don’t get him wrong, he was absolutely comfortable. Does he think he should stay in that position though? Probably not.

“Yeah...but if you’re not-”

“I can move, yeah, yeah, I know. Corpse, if I didn’t feel comfortable, trust me, you’d know.” She murmurs, cutting off his worried rambling, placing a kiss on his forehead before letting herself settle back, stroking his hair gingerly as he lays his head on her chest. She tightens her grip on him causing him to sigh contently as he listens to the rhythmic thumping of her heart against his ear. He slowly closes his eyes, shoulders relaxing as he slides his arms to wind them around her torso, curling his ankle around hers.

Why and how is she so perfect?

How can one person completely change my life like this?

“Are you still wearing socks?” Her voice comes out of the blue, sudden and a little jarring.

He tipped his head down, following the valley of her stomach to her legs to check. Yep, he is definitely still wearing his socks. “Uh...yeah?” He says, looking back up at her.

“You sleep in socks?” There’s a judgmental and almost pitiful smirk on her face, eyes glittering with amusement.

“My feet get cold.”

“Get a blanket.”

“They still get cold under the blanket.”

“Get a better blanket.”

Corpse snorts softly and pulls his hands free from around her, sitting up just enough to be able to pull his socks off. Instead of tossing them away, however, he leans down and grabbed her ankle quickly. A yell of laughter leaves Cora’s lips as he struggles to put his sock on her foot, fighting with her leg like it was a restress, panicking fish.

“Hold still!” He laughs, trying to pin it down to the mattress without hurting her by accident. “You’re gonna wear the sock! You’ll see my point of view if you just. Put. On. The. So-fuck!” He cuts himself off with a yelp when he finds himself on the floor after Cora’s leg pushed him hard enough to slide him off the bed. A low thud echoes throughout the room as he hits the ground. Before she could even ask if he was okay, he’s jumped back into the bed, grabbing her around the waist and dragging her to him.

“Fine, no socks. But the day you start trying to get me to wear nightgowns we’ll have problems.”

“Oh, for the love of God, if I wear a nightgown please kick me out and never talk to me again.” she groans, head cocked back as she sighs dramatically. He leans forward and kisses her softly. And so suddenly. He can’t be sure where the urge came from, he just knows he wanted to do it. He smiles softly and blinks for a moment before kissing her again when she leans into it, clearly happy with his initiative.

“Thank you.” He whispers through another soft kiss. “Can I save my progress?”

Cora can’t help but giggle, brushing her nose against his affectionately, “Progress saved. Thanks for using the A.S.S.”

@vixenl @annshit @wineandionysus @wiseflamingoqueen

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everlarkficexchange · 3 years

Text

Not today

Written by: @emilia206

Prompt 4: Trope: Jealousy Katniss. Modern AU Katniss Everdeen sees his ex boyfriend as the date of one of her coworkers in the company party. She shouldn’t care, because she broke with him, one year ago and still…. when their song plays, against her better judgements, she finds herself dancing with him. [submitted by @alwayseverlark]

Rating: Mature

Word count: 8062

British lingo you might be unaware of:

A-Level’s - Last form of examination before students go off to university.

Ladbrokes - betting shop

Tesco - food store

(If I left anything out, let me know)

A/N: Thank you to my wonderful beta @melting-starlight, on ao3 she’s Starlight_Wren.

Forlorn, she stares down at her lager, it’s the first moment of quiet she’s had since she entered the pub. Plutarch had been the first to drag her away, talking about everything from what his lunch was like to how much the station was missing her shows. She had only been able to nod and smile, making agreeable noises at the appropriate times, but otherwise letting all of his words wash over her. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, Plutarch had bustled off through the crowd to go talk to another unsuspecting colleague. She had tried to crane her neck over the other patrons’ head, to see if she could spot either Johanna or Annie, the only reason she had relented and come to this thing. But before she could make any discernible recognition, Fulvia, Plutarch’s right hand woman, had sidled up behind her, saying that they simply must ‘catch up’. Ever straight to the point though, she had skipped pleasantries and gone right to the heart of the matter. What had she been doing this past year?

The answer was a pretty simple one, but for some reason that escaped Katniss, it needed lots of explanation. She had spent close to forty-five minutes getting her brain picked apart. Trying, to no avail, to explain to the silly woman the exact reason she had uprooted her and left everything behind to travel all over the globe. Meeting new people, not many, but some. Enough people, Katniss thought. At first, there hadn’t really been a point in it, other than she had to get away from the shit show that was her life. Five years she’d worked at that stupid radio station, blathering on about meaningless things that made her mind fog up with the mundanity of it all. And all she had gotten out of it was a small damp flat in the north of London, with expensive bills and an insufferable landlord. Five years of only seeing her little sister once, twice if she was lucky, a year. Five years of shattered dreams and a dead end job. And still, this woman could not understand why she would want to leave. Of course Katniss never said any of this to Fulvia, but it had been swimming around her head throughout the entirety of the conversation. Instead, she had given watered down reasons and held her tongue as Fulvia had gone on to say, “But what about that boyfriend of yours? I remember him being so supportive…”

She didn’t want to get into that, how she had left him behind. It had been a year and the wound that it had inflicted still ran too deep, was too painful to get into. Especially with nosy, judgy Fulvia. So, she had politely excused herself from the conversation, taking to the bar and ordering herself an overpriced pint. Fantastic. It wasn’t like she was strapped for cash or anything.

Having given up on searching for Annie and Johanna at this nightmarish reunion, she had found herself a quiet corner in the buzzing room, sitting on a lumpy sofa and setting her drink down on an aged wooden table that had ring marks on the surface from drinks overspilling. It wasn’t often that she thought about Peeta, having long since trained her mind to immediately turn and run in the other direction if any thoughts began leading her down that painful path. But now, with Fulvia bringing him up, and being surrounded by people who had all been privy to their relationship, it was only inevitable that she should think of him. Specifically, the last time she had seen him.

—————————–

His face had closed off, completely shuttering all emotions that would otherwise flick across his face. And still, as he stood, staring blankly at her, she continued talking. Trying to explain herself, explain why she just had to leave.

“Please Peeta, believe me when I say it isn’t you,” she whispered, “I just feel so trapped in my own life, and I feel as if I don’t leave now, I never will get anywhere.”

“What about us?” he replied, tone blank and neutral, but still betraying the underlying anger and confusion.

She shook her head sadly, tears falling unbidden from her eyes. Desperately wanting him to hold her and tell her it would be alright, but needing him to stay well away from her so that she could do this. Finish this, clean and precise as Johanna had told her to do it.

“Right,” Peeta said, voice hollow.

They stood there, silence engulfing the little flat. It was never silent in there, the generators downstairs always humming, her boiler constantly gurgling away, but it seemed even these held their breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“I think you should leave now,” Katniss said to her feet, not daring to look up at his face.

She stood in her kitchen, stock still, as if any movement from her would cause her to break and shatter on the linoleum tiles of the floor. She listened as Peeta collected his toothbrush and spare clothes. Katniss flinched at the sense of finality she felt when the door banged shut.

————————-

Their break-up had been anything but clean and precise, and it wasn’t a wonder considering that Katniss had been at the helm of it. It was ironic, really, that for five years, her income had depended on her being able to talk for hours about nonsensical things, always upbeat and on the ball for the listeners chiming in, but when it came to her own boyfriend, she hadn’t been able to get the words out right. She had made him think that it was him that was suffocating her, when in actuality it was everything. She was pushing thirty and already she could feel herself stagnating.

She wished that she could do it again, try not to make such a mess of it as she had done. How could she have known, though, the profound affect it seemed to have had on Peeta? He had always been so supportive of her decisions, only asking that she open up to him and be honest. Of course she hadn’t expected him to be completely OK with her decision, but she had been hoping that he would at least understand her reasoning. Instead, he had been angry and confused, perhaps even rightfully so, before he had completely shut down becoming cold and distant in the moments prior to him slamming out of her little home.

“Penny for your thoughts?” a perky voice said next to her, pulling Katniss out of her reverie.

Looking up, Katniss couldn’t help but smile at the big brown eyes that were peering down at her. Rue. Her intern from a year ago. She didn’t look much different, just a little older and worse for wear. But that’s what this job did to you, lured you in with promises of bigger and better ahead, before getting you trapped and very much stuck.

“You don’t want to know,” Katniss replied, shuffling over and making space for the young woman.

“Oh, and why’s that?” Rue asked, her lips quirked upwards in a smile.

“Neither thinking, nor talking about it will solve a thing,” she mumbled down at her glass before taking a prolonged drink from it. She reveled in the fizz and slightly bitter taste as it washed down her throat.

“Well, if you’re gonna be all closed off to me, your favourite intern, I’ll let you in on all of my issues to date,” Rue said, taking a sip from her own glass.

Katniss smirked. It was true that Rue was her favourite intern, but that wasn’t exactly a feat. Most interns that Katniss had been given the responsibility of taking care of had been so awful that they were fired within their first two weeks of working at the station.

“So, remember how you warned me before you left, that this job ‘will suck me dry of all inspiration and motivation’ whilst also ‘dashing my dreams and love for the craft’ but not before ‘restricting what me on what I can talk about, and instead giving me stupid shows that will make me want to die’?” Rue paused, taking a drink from her pint.

“Yes, I do recall telling you all of those things, I assume you’ve come to the conclusion that I was correct and that you should have saved yourself while you could,” Katniss said, trying not to gloat at the fact that she was at least right about something, and it wasn’t just her overreacting and being dramatic.

Rue nodded her head vigorously, her corkscrew curls bouncing, “Well, I’ll be honest. At the time, I thought you were just being dramatic, or maybe you were bitter about something, but you really were so right. I can’t get anyone to take me seriously or invest in any bigger show ideas, or get them to take on or promote more obscure artists. The sponsors continuously overlook me so that they can pour more money into presenters who have a body to boot. Even though that shouldn’t matter, ‘cause we’re on a fucking radio, nobody is looking at the face or body behind the voice anyway!”

“And as soon as I try to get Plutarch or Fulvia to give me a recommendation so that I can move to something a little more low key and less industrious, they tell me that I shouldn’t leave, that I have so much potential, and that it would be such a waste for me to go do something less mainstream, because how will I ever be recognised then?” Rue finished with a defeated groan, flopping back against the leather cushions.

Looking up at the ceiling, Rue asked, “How’d you get out? I mean for me, it’s just an endless cycle of early mornings, playing music that makes my ears bleed, and frustration that after all my hard work, I’ve just become another peppy girl on the radio.”

Katniss snorted at this, “Depressing, isn’t it? After all the analysing of different styles of music and poetry, it amounted to this.”

“Fuucckk,” Rue groaned at the ceiling fans, “It’s depressing because it’s so painfully true. Do you know how many hours I spent holed up in my room studying for my Music and English A-Levels just so I could at least get a seven, and now I’m stuck here.”

Katniss nodded her head, “Only ‘cause I did the same thing though. What were we thinking?”

“Ugh, I know! My mum told me that this was an ‘unsustainable career path’. I hate to say it, but I think she may have had a point.”

A crash came from the other side of the room, effectively interrupting their mutual venting session, a clattering of glasses fell to the floor and shattered, causing both Katniss and Rue to jump before turning around to see what happened. A flustered waiter apologised profusely to a skimpy blonde who looked upon him with narrowed green eyes, and a stain that looked an awful lot like red wine spilled on her yellow dress. The few people who had been applauding the waiters slip up began to slow their claps when they realised that the unfortunate woman who now had a stain across the front of her dress, was not taking it on the chin as it were. In fact, she looked like she was a few seconds from throwing a fit.

“Oof, would not want to be that guy,” Rue remarked, “Glimmer looks about ready to go get his ass fired.”

Katniss turned to look at Rue, who was leaning her chin on the back of the sofa, “How’d you know her name?”

Rue made a face, “She’s a presenter at the radio station, she does the show that Annie used to do.”

“Shit, really,” Katniss said, blowing air through her teeth to make a low whistling sound. “That show was one of the more popular ones.”

“Still is. Rumour has it that the company hired her to replace Annie, who was making noises to leave, so they sent her Glimmer as an intern. Annie left a week later, claiming that the work environment had become insufferable.”

Katniss had turned back to watch as the waiter bent to pick up the broken glass, whilst so-called Glimmer rolled her eyes impatiently at another waiter who was handing her paper towels to try wipe up the mess on her dress. While watching, Katniss listened intently to what Rue was saying, “People weren’t surprised when she quit. Glimmer is quite literally the epitome of a toxic work environment.”

“Oh well, this just makes me all the more glad that I left,” Katniss said. Annie had emailed her when she’d quit, but hadn’t given a reason why. At the time, Katniss had just assumed it was because both Johanna and herself had already left, but this must have been the breaking point for her.

“Oh, she’s not even the worst of it,” Rue said, a cynical smile touching her lips as they watched another woman with jet black hair and pinched features walk up to Glimmer, she took the paper towels from the waitress and threw them down to the floor, yelling something unintelligible, “That’s Clove. As you can see, she’s got quite a temper on her. She’s the one who replaced Johanna as DJ. The two of them together are quite… formidable.”

Katniss turned in her seat to grab her drink from the table so she could drink and watch this scene unfold in front of her. She would be lying if she said that it wasn’t just a teeny bit entertaining. Taking a sip from her mellowing beer, she almost choked when she saw who was joining the show. Blond ashen curls, broad shoulders, and a slight limp from a rugby injury that had never quite healed. It was Peeta. Her Peeta, consoling this shallow, pitiful, blonde bimbo.

She could feel Rue’s eyes on her, watching for a reaction. Katniss swallowed painfully, oblivious to the taste, eyes glued to what was happening in front of her very eyes. Maybe it wasn’t him. It couldn’t possibly be him. There was no way, absolutely no fucking way, that the Peeta Mellark that she had known all throughout secondary school, was even remotely affiliated with such a cow. Deep down, Katniss knew that she was possibly being a little harsh, but jealousy, lots of it, was rearing its ugly green head, skewing her opinions.

“Yeah, and then there’s that,” Rue uttered, “reason number fuck knows what as to why I ‘strongly dislike’ Glimmer.”

Katniss breathed deeply, shoving down the irrational, possessive anger that was overcoming her. She cleared her throat, which had become exceptionally tight in the last two minutes, “Are they… an item?”

“I wouldn’t say so,” Rue said, turning around to face the other way again, “as far as I know, they’re just fuck buddies. Who knows, though, maybe he does the wine and dining as well.”

Katniss, following suit, also turned around, sitting stoically, and taking slow sips from her sweating drink. “So he’s fucking her.”

Rue nodded, sighing a little as she did so, “I know it might not be my place to comment-”

“It probably isn’t then,” Katniss interrupted, wanting very much to go back to her hotel room now.

“But,” Rue continued, “you were really fucking dense to let that man walk away from you. I have no idea what happened between the two of you, but even I can appreciate that ass, and oh my god those shoulders,” she pretended to fan herself, before turning incredulous, “and he’s not even my type.”

Katniss snorted at this, turning around for a quick second, to survey the specimen that was now patting down an incensed Glimmer. She couldn’t deny that he still looked sexy as fuck. He definitely seemed to have fared this year a little better than her. Turning back around, she looked down at what she was wearing. A simple dress that she’d bought from a charity shop when she was sixteen, it was light blue and the material was soft and light, perfect for the humid weather that London summers were, but it did look as if it might be on its last legs. Her hair was loose for once, and hung in ebony waves down her back, but otherwise she hadn’t made much of an effort, as could be seen by her scruffy trainers and mismatched socks. She didn’t need to impress these people anyway.

“Yeah, stupid indeed,” Katniss muttered.

They sat there then, silence washing over them, until the unmistakable sound of a speaker system being plugged in echoed throughout the crowded room. Katniss looked up to see her friend climbing up onto the bar, a little wobbly on her feet, but her voice was commanding no less.

“Alrighty, I’ve been asked to do a little set tonight, but because I forgot to set up a good playlist that will please all of you old folk, I’ll be taking requests,” she made to get off the bar, but paused mid-step hollering across the room, “And if I think your song request is shit I won’t play it, feel free to take it personally.”

Katniss didn’t really care much for the offer to request music, she was just relieved to know that Johanna had, in fact, shown up. She had been wondering whether either of her ex-work-colleagues had actually bothered. Knowing that Johanna was here, though where she’d been all night was something Katniss would like to know, meant that Annie was probably here as well.

Rue, on the other hand, immediately got up. Kissing Katniss on the cheek, she proclaimed, “Oh, I have a song that Jo simply must play.”

She walked off into the crowd, but abruptly turned back, looking down at Katniss, who was still cocooned in the soft leather of the sofa, “Also, if you get any interesting job offers don’t be scared to recommend me,” with a wink, she waltzed off again.

Alone once again, and trying desperately to distract herself from the ‘pat down’ Peeta was assuredly still giving Glimmer, Katniss gulped down the rest of her pint, before standing to go get another.

Waiting at the bar for the barmaid to get to her drink, she tapped out a rhythm on the polished wood. Distracted, she almost didn’t notice the familiar opening chords to a song she hadn’t let herself listen to in a year.

Johanna’s voice sounded over the speaker system, “For all you lovesick idiots here tonight, Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey.”

Katniss’ breath stilled in her chest, this must have been some sick joke the universe was playing on her. Despite herself, Katniss searched the room for the familiar face that she had once danced to this with at prom. Scanning the crowd, her eyes finally landed on a seemingly just as stunned Peeta Mellark, his face so pale and pinched he looked like he was about to throw up. He, too, looked to be scanning the crowd. He couldn’t know that she was here, could he? She knew that she should probably shrink back into the shadows, or, better yet, vacate the premises and head back to her hotel room, to avoid any unnecessary drama that she most certainly did not need. Yet, against her better judgement, she stood her ground, not actively looking to be seen, but not hiding from sight either.

Her eyes stayed on him, noticing with a missed beat of her heart that Glimmer and Clove were both conspicuously absent. The song had already passed the first verse when Peeta’s eyes finally locked on hers. His eyes widened in surprise, but beneath it was still the same warmth and affection that had always been. Her sharp intake of breath told her all she needed to know, those baby blues could still make her knees weak, could still make her feel like she was adrift and untethered in a desolate ocean, with him being the only tether to reality. Their gazes locked on one another as the second verse began;

A singer in a smoky room

The smell of wine and cheap perfume

Peeta’s eyes stared holes into her, and for a moment it was as if no time had passed, as if he was standing on the other side of the school’s assembly hall as an entire year group of nervous sweaty eighteen year olds danced the evening away to overplayed 80’s tracks. Katniss was even greeted with the familiar erratic beating of her heart, wishing and hoping that he’d just bottle up the nerve and ask her already!

That night, she had been the one to walk across the dance floor to ask him to dance, but tonight, it seemed it would be Peeta who would take the first tentative steps towards her.

For a smile they can share the night

It goes on and on, and on, and on

Drink forgotten, Katniss stepped away from the bar, walking towards the people already congregating to dance on a small open space on the floor. The first chorus sounded through the room;

Strangers, waitin’

Up and down the boulevard

Their shadows

Searchin’ in the night

Streetlights, people

Livin’ just to find emotion

Hidin’ somewhere in the night

They met in the middle, and Katniss looked up at him through her lashes.

“For old times sake,” Peeta murmured down to her, offering his hand.

She tried not to let his remark sting, that their relationship is in fact in the past. That he had moved on from her, that she should too. But falling into his arms, head resting over his breast bone listening to his heart thumping away, letting him sway them to the music, felt so natural and familiar. The tears stung behind her eyes, and she bit her lip to stop herself from sobbing out loud. She didn’t want to be sad, to mar this song with her regrets, when it was accompanied by so many good and happy memories. Of the two of them messing around in his kitchen, or her bedroom.

So, she swallowed down her tears, and let herself fall back in time to when things were simpler. Letting the music and words wash over her, rejuvenating her weary soul.

Workin’ hard to get my fill

Everybody wants a thrill

Payin’ anything to roll the dice

Just one more time

Some will win

Some will lose

Some were born to sing the blues

Oh, the movie never ends

It goes on and on, and on, and on

She laughed when he spun her, then recaptured her in his arms. He swooped low, before lifting them back up and spinning them in slow circles.

Strangers waitin’

Up and down the boulevard

Their shadows

Searchin’ in the night

Streetlights, people

Livin’ just to find emotion

Hidin’ somewhere in the night

She took the lead, moving them faster, along to the tune of the song. Pulling away from his embrace, but holding on to his hands, as she spun herself to lean her back against his chest with his arms crossed protectively over her.

Don’t stop believin’

Hold on to that feelin’

Streetlight, people

Don’t stop, believin’

Hold on

Streetlights, people

As the song began to slow again, and Steve Perry ad-libbed his way through the end of the song, Peeta turned her again so that they were pressed chest to chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and their steps became so minuscule they could do it on a pie plate if they wished to do so. She stared up into his bottomless blue eyes, a genuine smile lighting up her face for the first time this evening.

“I missed you,” he whispered.

Her smile faltered slightly, and she looked down, ashamed at how easily she had let herself fall back into his arms. The moment of magic had ended, and she was thrown back into the icy cold reality of her life. For christ’s sake they hadn’t spoken in a year, and now suddenly they were dancing and laughing on the dance floor!

Don’t stop believin’

Hold on to that feelin’

Streetlight, people

He turned them one last time. He leant his cheek on the top of her head, sighing quietly as if knowing about the beratement Katniss was giving herself in her head. He swayed them as the song faded out. She pulled away, chancing a glance up at his face. The pain she had inflicted onto him shone through his eyes, and though it killed her to do it, she could only pull further out of his arms, backing away. He watched after her, arms limp at his sides, and she turned, pushing through the crowd.

“Oi, watch it!” Someone called after her as she shoved past people.

Finally, after stepping on numerous toes and elbowing a few people in the sides, she made it over to the makeshift DJ table. Johanna was leaning against it, chewing on a toothpick as she announced in a lazy drawl the next song. Behind her shoulder she could see Annie leaning heavily into some guy with bronzed curls and tanned skin, Katniss thought that she had seen him before in a couple of Annie’s instagram posts.

“Ahhh, Brainless,” Johanna called out when she spotted a breathless Katniss standing before the table, “here to make a song request? Maybe another one that you can dance to with lover boy.”

“What the fuck, Jo?” Katniss cried out, “Did you put that song on just to mess with my head? ‘Cause it sure as hell worked.” Katniss ran her shaking hands through her hair, not caring if she messed it up, or if it got tangled.

Johanna raised her eyebrows in surprise, “Wait, you don’t actually believe I put that song on, do you?”

“Well, who else, Johanna?!”

“I didn’t even know you were here up until five minutes ago, let alone him!” Johanna spat out, incredulity lacing her voice, “And besides, I’m only taking requests this evening. I did let everyone know,” she sniffed, rolling her eyes.

“Ok fine, if it wasn’t you, then who?” Katniss hissed, “Because I will start throwing arms if I have to, Jo.”

“Jeez, don’t get your knickers all in a twist, it was only a little dancey,” Johanna teased. Looking at Katniss’ bemused face, she relented, “If you promise to not beat the living lights out of her, I’ll tell.”

“‘Kay fine, I promise,” Katniss said, her anger subsiding a little. Whoever it was, it wasn’t their fault that she couldn’t just leave when she definitely should have, “Just tell me who.”

Johanna nodded her head in the direction of the bar, Katniss followed her gaze, eyes greeted with an apologetic looking Rue. Rue grimaced a little, apparently having watched Katniss’ outburst. At least she looked sorry, Katniss thought.

Her anger having dissipated, the feeling of regret and sadness settled cold and heavy in her stomach. She deflated against the table, feeling very tired all of a sudden, “I need a smoke,” she muttered, “Lighter,” she held out her hand.

Johanna grumbled under her breath, fishing through her pockets for a lighter. “Give it back after,” she warned, slapping it into Katniss’ outstretched palm.

Katniss weaved her way through the crowds once more, being a little more careful to not piss off so many people this time, until she got to the coat rack next to the door. The coat rack itself was leaning over under the weight of all the coats draped over the top of it. After some digging around, Katniss found her light jean jacket and pulled it out from underneath the mountain of others piled up on top of it. Pulling it on, she pushed open the door to the pub and stepped out into the night.

It looked like the sun had just gone down, streaks of orange fading into the sky as dusk settled over the stinking, sweltering city. It had cooled off quite a bit from earlier, and Katniss huddled herself further into her jacket, trying to leech off any residual warmth from it. She walked down the shallow stone steps, found herself a place to light her cigarette. Leaning against the cold brick wall behind her, not caring if she got her coat or dress dirty. She fished a loose cigarette out of her coat pocket, and lit the fag, taking a long drag from it, breathing it back out into the cooling air.

“Those things kill, you know,” A voice sounded from behind her. She scowled at how it made her heart leap hopefully in her chest.

“I know,” she almost growled, wanting him to fuck off back to Glimmer already. She couldn’t deal with having him thrust back into her life, pretending like nothing happened between them. Like she hadn’t irreparably fucked up their entire relationship, just because she felt ‘claustrophobic’.

“I thought you were quitting?” Peeta asked, walking to stand next to her and pulling out his own cigarette.

She passed him Johanna’s lighter, “You can’t talk,” she snorted as she watched him light his, “And anyway, I am. I just keep emergency ones in all of my coats, and in a few of my trousers.”

Peeta laughed at this, “Yeah, sure does sound like you’re quitting.”

“Hey,” she protested, “I never keep a lighter on me, that way I have to ask someone, and then they’re also accountable for my inevitable lung cancer.”

Peeta’s eyebrows rose at this, and he took a puff from his own cancer stick, “Oh yeah, and how long did it take you do that mental gymnastics.”

Katniss only rolled her eyes, and they both stood next to each other staring out at the street. They watched as a bus pulled up at the stop, and an old man stumbled out, hobbling into the Ladbrokes opposite. A siren blared somewhere in the distance. Two extremely drunk men sat on the steps a good ten metres away from them, but were loud enough for their slurred words to reach the two.

“Listen Katniss, about before,” Peeta started, breaking their comfortable silence, “I didn’t mean to make you feel crowded or guilty, or anything like that.” He looked to her, but she stared resolutely ahead, taking slow small puffs from her cigarette.

“It’s fine,” she finally said, “forget about it. I probably shouldn’t have even danced with you in the first place, what with you being with Glimmer and all.”

“Ah, shit,” Peeta breathed out, “I didn’t think you knew about that.”

“Yeah well, I do,” Katniss snapped.

Peeta looked as if he wanted to say something, but Katniss cut him off before he could, “I really don’t want to know.”

Peeta nodded his head. They were quiet for a moment.

“I mean, it’s not like you’re not allowed anyway,” Katniss said, scuffing the toe of her already scruffy trainer against the cracked pavement.

Peeta huffed out a bemused, short-lived laugh, “Care to explain that, whilst we’re out here talking civilly?”

“What?” Katniss asked, “Are you asking why I broke up with you?”

Peeta nodded his head once more.

Katniss sighed, “I feel like I’ve told myself and everyone around me the same explanation about a million times, but standing here it doesn’t feel like enough.”

“Well, that’s convenient,” Peeta whispered.

Katniss sighed, trying not to sound too exasperated. What’s it to him anyway, she thought. “Look Peeta, I told you before, and I’ll say it again. It wasn’t you.”

“Doesn’t mean I’ll ever stop asking myself if I did something,” Peeta said.

Katniss finally turned to look up at him, as he stared up at the darkening sky, searching it for the few visible stars, “We’re not even thirty yet, Peeta, I’m not ready to settle. I wasn’t last year, and I definitely am not this year. And I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if you told me you weren’t ready yet either, and you’re allowed to be with whoever you want, even if it is someone as silly and shallow as Glimmer. I guess it’s better to get your mid-life crisis out the way now,” she said with a smirk, before sobering and adding quietly, “I’m not completely oblivious Peeta, it’s not like I don’t see her appeal.”

Peeta looked down at her, opening his mouth, she was sure, to deny that Glimmer’s big boobs were the reason. She held up her hand to stop him, “Who knows though, maybe someone’ll convince me to come to this thing again next year, and I’ll see you again. Hopefully with someone other than Glimmer. And just like this year, I’ll steal you for a dance, and then lure you outside for a smoke, and we’ll catch up,” she paused for dramatic affect, stealing herself for what she was going to say next, “After that, you’ll kiss me, right up against the cold brick wall,” she watched as Peeta’s eyes widened at her bold statement.

Maybe it was her pint of beer that had made her so free and uncaring with her sentiments. Though Katniss would never describe herself as a lightweight, she admitted to herself that it had been a good six weeks since she’d had a proper drink. On second thought, she remembered the last time she drank before tonight being a little over a week ago, and it had been a cider. She grimaced at the thought. Fuck, she mused, when did I become a lightweight? Peeta cleared his throat uncomfortably, prompting her to continue, but unsure of whether she was finished or not. Katniss mentally shook herself before finishing in a low, sultry voice, “Just like you’re going to do this year.”

“Fuck,” Peeta breathed out, and Katniss watched him visibly struggle to swallow. She tried, and failed, to suppress her smug little smirk, that she could still affect him like this. It eased the green beast within her, the one that had wanted to stamp her foot and cry out earlier when she had witnessed Peeta wiping down the front of Glimmer’s dress. She shook her head. She didn’t want to think of Glimmer, Peeta was out here with her now, that must count for something, right?

“Are you, umm - being serious?” Peeta stuttered, and despite herself Katniss grinned at how flustered he was getting, the pink staining his cheeks betraying how agitated he really was, “Or are you just pulling my leg?”

Katniss took a long drag from her fag, sucking on it until it was down to the stub, “Do I look like I’m joking, Mellark?”

She watched as his pupils dilated even more in the darkening night, until the blue of his irises were only thin rings around the black pits of his desire. She reveled in being able to do this to him still, after all this time. It comforted her, in a weird, possessive, unhealthy sort of way.

“No,” he whispered, voice hoarse and barely audible. He dropped his cigarette on the floor, not even bothering to stamp it out before stepping forwards. Large hands came to a rest on her waist, pushing her further back against the wall. She bit back a slight moan at the way he seemed to shelter her, the stark contrast of the cold wall behind her, nipping at the backs of her legs, and the heat that enmantend from his body and radiated onto her. She took a deep shuddering breath, pushing her chest upwards against his. Her hand shook slightly as she stubbed out the remnants of her cigarette against the wall next to her, before letting it fall to the ground as well.

Their faces were so close now, their mouths only a hair’s breadth apart, all it would take is for one of them to lean in, to close the tantalisingly small space between them. “Tell me you want me to,” Peeta uttered, breath fanning her face. She bit her lip, a sly grin gracing her features.

She leant up on her tiptoes, tracing a path to his ear lobe with her breath, “Peeta Mellark, I want you to kiss me up against this brick wall, until I’m breathless and my knees are weak.”

He groaned loudly, and she was about to tell him to be quiet when his lips descended greedily on hers. Knocking the breath right out of her, as he sucked and bit tenderly against first her top and then her bottom lip. She whimpered, admitting to herself that she had missed the way it felt to be kissed by someone who cared. Who didn’t just do it as a way to get into her underwear.

It was his turn to smile smugly, he pulled away from her, and she chased his lips with her own. Wanting them back, wanting him to plunge and plunder. She huffed out a frustrated growl when he moved even further away. She opened her eyes, taking in his face that grinned with feigned innocence down at her, “What’s the matter Everdeen?” He asked teasingly, “Knees not weak enough yet?”

She glared at him, he knew exactly what he was doing, and she wasn’t having any of it, not tonight. Lifting her hands to his hair, she played with the blond locks, smiling up at him demurely. She would tell him what she wanted step by step if necessary, but she didn’t think it would be. Cocking her head to the side, she mirrored his look of feigned innocence, before tangling her fingers into the shorter hairs at the back of his head, and pulling his lips back down to hers. He grunted against her, and she opened her mouth ever so slightly in invitation.

It took her all of two seconds to lose all inhibitions, Peeta’s hands moved up from their resting spot on her waist, one cradling the back of her neck and one stroking up and down her back in a motion that made Katniss giddy with desire. Their tongues met in a dance, reacquainting themselves. Peeta’s dove into her mouth, rediscovering everything he already knew about her.

Peeta placed his leg in between her own, which had opened a little of their own accord, bringing it upwards slightly, daring her to grind up against it. Stubborn as ever, though, Katniss refused to take the bait. Knowing him, he would probably tease her, pull away before she could really get going. But when he tugged on her bottom lip with his teeth, she relented. She could feel her knees turning into jelly, forcing her to slump down onto his leg. She ground down on it experimentally, the rough material of his jeans rubbing up against her boy shorts. Katniss swore into his mouth, and did it again, letting the motion stimulate her throbbing center. She was almost glad that he couldn’t feel the intensity of the heat that seemed to be pouring from her core, but another part of her needed him to know that he could still do this to her. Could still drive her to do halfway insane things, like letting him ravage her up against a wall with all of her ex colleagues a mere few metres away. Pulling his head down further, she held him there, desperate to drink more of him in.

“Katniss,” he whispered against her mouth, before diving right back in.

It was her turn to grunt at the power in which he started almost devouring her mouth, she could only cling to the locks of hair wrapped around her fingers, in hopes that she wouldn’t just crumple to the floor. She was rocking against his leg in a steady rhythm, each stroke of his rough denim trousers against her center making her more frantic, desperate for more. Her nerve endings felt frayed, threatening to short circuit and send her spiralling through the abyss. Peeta continued to busy himself with her mouth, pulling away before delving back in, more thorough and rough each time, so that she could only whimper helplessly into his mouth.

It was when the hand that had been stroking leisurely circles into her spine crept towards her front before meandering downwards, that Katniss came somewhat to her senses. She stopped his hand with one of her own, before it could get to the hemline of the skirt to her dress. She pulled away from his lips that had been stroking soft sublime on hers, and looked at him. Eyes blown wide, lips swollen and red from kissing, blond hair tousled and mussed from all her incessant tugging. She was sure she was mirroring this disheveled appearance back at him. He lowered his leg from where it had stayed resting against her, but his hand stayed trapped between their two bodies. If it weren’t so painfully obvious how much they had missed each other, it would be comical how fast and hard they’d fallen back into heated touches and frantic kisses.

She took a deep breath, wondering if she should apologise, or at least explain, but her brain was still fogged with arousal, and she was finding it very hard to look him in the eye. Instead, she got back on to her tip toes and brought her arms up around his neck, pulling him close to her for a hug. She rested her head against his shoulder, and he slowly brought his arms around her waist, holding her to him as well.

“One day, Peeta,” she began, talking into his neck, “one day…”

“But not today,” he finished for her.

She nodded and squeezed him tighter, a hundred memories of them together flooding her mind, and for the second time this evening she had to fight back the urge to sob. She could only be relieved that he had understood, understood why she couldn’t let him do that, not now, and certainly not here.

He squeezed her back, and she swore she felt him inhaling her smell, at any other time this would have turned her on beyond reason, but now it only saddened her. How had she managed to fuck it up again? He pressed a quick kiss into the juncture of where her neck met her shoulder, before releasing her from his grasp.

She wobbled, still a little unsteady on her feet, but managed to start walking in the direction of her bus stop. As she walked past the two drunk men that were still sitting on the stone steps to the pub, she heard one of them call out to her.

“Is the show over, sweetheart?” he asked, sarcasm along with whatever he’d had to drink lacing his voice, “That’s a shame, me an’ Chaff here were really startin’ to ge’ into it.”

Katniss turned to look at the man who had said it, scathing reply waiting at the tip of her tongue, but before she could say anything, the other man, Chaff she assumed, slurred out;

“Won’t you give an ol’ man a kiss before you go?” The two men guffawed as he made kissy faces at her.

“Arseholes,” Katniss muttered under her breath.

The man with salt and pepper hair down to his shoulders called after her again, though all traces of amusement were gone from his voice. He sounded surprisingly sober when he told her, “I see the way you have him wrapped around your finger, sweetheart, you could live a hundred lifetimes and still not deserve what he gave you tonight,” he burped loudly and continued, “One day he’ll realise that, he’ll realise that he’s better than tha’, be’er than you.”

Katniss tried to ignore his words as she waited at the traffic light for the little green man to pop up so she could cross the road, but they still made her blood run cold, because maybe he was right. She turned her head to the side, waiting impatiently for the cars to come to a slow at the T-junction, when the old man, who had since left the betting shop, added his own snarky comment to the fray. If she had known how many people were watching them, she wouldn’t have let it get that far, or go on for so long.

“When do you think he’ll notice the exact degree of your indifference?” He asked in a voice that was weathered and old, but still demanded her attention. He had posed his comment as a question, but he said it as if he already knew the answer. She wasn’t indifferent, she thought, but doubt coursed through her. Hadn’t she just used him to prove a point? A stupid petty point, that she was better than Glimmer. She shook her head at the notion, it had just been a drunken mistake, nothing more.

She turned her head to face the decrepit old man, biting out a response, “Those are some awfully big words for a filthy old beggar, let’s hope you don’t choke on ‘em.”

The old man threw his head back and laughed, his cracked voice making it sound more like a cackle than anything. To her surprise the man actually did start choking, on his own blood. He bent forwards, crouching low as he spat blood to the floor.

“Gross,” Katniss muttered, before hurrying across the road. To hell with the traffic, she thought, she just needed to get the fuck out of here.

The shame and regret were already starting to curl themselves around her, and she felt almost sick with it. She was once again being reminded of how easily being around Peeta could fuck with her head, how it could make her do things that she otherwise wouldn’t do. That she’d sworn to herself wouldn’t happen again. Because, yes, her drink might have had something to do with it, but it was also him, he was intoxicating. The moment she had noticed he was in the room, she had wanted him, needed him. And it might be true that she could make him feel the same way, but people never seemed to see that he was just as good at it as she was. He was always the sweet golden boy, who had had the misfortune of falling in love with the likes of her.

She looked across the street when she arrived at the bus stop. The pub was pouring light from it’s windows and she heard the music playing. Peeta had already disappeared, and Katniss wondered how much he had heard. She hoped none of it. The old man was shuffling into the Tesco next door to the Ladbrokes, and the two men were still sat outside the pub, drinking from flasks. She looked up at the timetable that the bus stop provided, and cursed under her breath when she saw that her bus wouldn’t be arriving for another seven minutes.

She was about to start walking down the highstreet, so that she wouldn’t have to stand, waiting like a sitting duck, when her phone vibrated in her coat pocket with an incoming message.

Pulling it out of the pocket, she read what it said.

Johanna Mason [Sent 10:21pm]: Where are you? I’m hungry and bored, wanna get smth to eat?

Katniss considered ignoring the message, but her stomach rumbled in response to the thought of food.

Katniss Everdeen [Sent 10:22pm]: At the bus stop across the road. Don’t you have a set?

Johanna Mason [Sent 10:22pm]: Ofc you are. Yh I do, but any moron can do this. These song requests are driving me insane tho, so… food?

Katniss Everdeen [Sent 10:23pm]: Yh alright, what tho?

Johanna Mason [Sent 10:24pm]: I could really go for a kebab… and a smoke. We’re leaving now.

Katniss looked up from her phone. Shit. Johanna’s lighter. Peeta still had it. She watched as Johanna banged open the doors to the pub. Trailing after her was a wobbly Annie and the man from earlier. Katniss looked around her, hoping one of the many corner shops littering the street were still open, but they were all depressingly closed. Katniss glared at the closed signs on all the shop doors as if their existence offended her eyes, because in that moment, they really did.

She’d get that lighter back - she turned and saw the group crossing the road - though, maybe not today.

#emilia206 #alwayseverlark #prompt 4 #Springtime Edition 2021 #submission

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