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aftermathfanfic · 3 years ago

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Part 2, Chapter 10

The rest of the flight was made in silence. Even when they arrived in Paris, descending gently as the City of Lights stretched out before them with the Eiffel Tower as its centrepiece, the beauty of the view only seemed to make the tension all the more glaring.

May fled almost as soon as they landed, running from Mrs Beakley and disappearing into the crowd before anyone could stop her. Lena took after her immediately, with June and Webby following behind her, though not before promising to Mrs Beakley that they’d be back as soon as they found her.

Their search led them to the opposite side of the airport, bustling with activity even now. It was a little disorienting for Webby, surrounded on all sides by unfamiliar people speaking languages she didn’t understand, but it was a discomfort that she brushed aside. May’s wellbeing was more important.

It was June who found her, after ten minutes of searching. A text message from her revealed that the two of them were in a nearby restroom, to which Webby immediately made her way to. Gently, she walked into the pristinely kept white tiled room, empty save for two girls, sitting on the floor in front of one of the stalls. June had her arm around May’s shoulders, holding her as her sibling quietly cried, holding her legs to her chest. Webby slowly walked forward, gently sitting beside her, offering her silent support.

“…I’m so sick of being alone.” May choked out, burying her face in her knees.

“…I know.” Webby whispered.

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

Webby, let May and June know that they don’t have to come back immediately if they don’t want to. It’s clear that they need a moment to themselves, and forcing them to come back when they’re still angry isn’t going to solve anything. Stay out as long as they need, but make sure to come back before we leave for the auction at 8:00 PM. We’ll need you there.

- Grandmother

Webby read over the text slowly and unhappily. She looked up from her phone at her sisters, sitting on the opposite side of the table. They were at one of the airport cafés, but none of them were feeling particularly hungry. Webby had ordered a milkshake that she had yet to touch, while June had ordered a small glass bottle of fruit juice, slowly sipping from it with a morose expression. May hadn’t ordered anything, her eyes still red and her arms folded across her chest. Lena was still ordering something for herself, and hadn’t joined the table yet.

“…I’m sorry.” Webby mumbled. “I really thought this would work.”

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.” June replied quietly.

“Yeah, no, it isn’t.” May muttered in agreement, rubbing her eyes. “Sorry I snapped at you earlier, I’m just so… frustrated.”

“I know…” Webby said. “It’s not fair.”

They went quiet again, reflecting on the situation they had found themselves in. The twins would be confined to the simple airport hotel that Scrooge had rented for the trip, forced to stay behind once again while the rest of the family went adventuring. Webby found herself feeling resentful of Scrooge’s decision – a feeling that she did not have often, and one that she did not enjoy.

After a few moments, Lena walked over, chugging down the cup of coffee she had in her hand and slamming the empty mug on the middle of the table, causing the three of them to jump.

“Right.” She said resolutely, a fierce expression on her face. “You two are going to that auction. You’re going to help those assholes get that talisman. You’re gonna help them beat up the bad guys or whatever bad’s gonna happen, and you’re gonna have a good time doing it. Cool?”

May and June looked up at her in bewilderment. “But Mister Scrooge said that we had to stay at the hotel…” June pointed out.

“Yeah, well, fuck him.”

“Lena!” Webby exclaimed, aghast.

Lena gave her an exasperated look. “He’s the self-professed family man, spouting a line and doing something he doesn’t believe in. I know you don’t agree with that.”

“I don’t. But it’s not like he’s trying to be malicious, he’s just…” Webby bit her lip as she tried to collect her words. She turned to look at her sisters. “…He just doesn’t understand what you two are going through. And neither does Daisy.”

“So… what? We sneak in?” May asked confusedly.

“Not even.” Lena shook her head. “We just go. We just go there, and if he tells us to go back, we tell him to fuck off.”

“Lena.” Webby said firmly.

“…Sorry. Anger and caffeine don’t mix.” Lena muttered, rubbing her forehead.

“…You think that’s a good idea?” June asked.

“It’s about the only thing we can do.” Webby told her. “We’ve tried being stealthy, and it didn’t work. If we’re overt about it, maybe that’ll get them to listen to you.”

“That isn’t- that’s not why we did this!” May said frustratedly. “We went along with Louie’s plan because we don’t want to break the rules! We want to be Daisy and Donald’s kids, we don’t… want to be failures.” May squeezed her arms and sighed. “Doing this secretly would have meant that Daisy and Donald would have thought that we were still doing what we were being told. We don’t want to fight our family.”

“And I understand that.” Lena told her sympathetically. “But sometimes, the only way you can get the rules to change is by fighting them.”

May didn’t say anything for a moment. She looked over to her sister, who was staring into her juice bottle contemplatively.

“…I love this family.” June murmured. “Even though things aren’t perfect right now, you… you still rescued us from… a really bad situation. I’d do anything to pay you guys back.”

She looked up with a strangely resolute expression. “And… if this is the only way to show them that… then so be it.”

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“No, I cannae- she just ran off! Right after we’d passed customs, she- Well, what was I supposed to do?”

Scrooge marched into the airport hotel, his family following right behind him. Bentina watched as Scrooge argued with Daisy on the phone, feeling a profound sense of irritation at the entire situation. She understood that the twins were displeased with the arrangement that Daisy had made with them, but why did they have to try and challenge that now? Now, when there was so much at stake?

“What?” Scrooge snapped at the phone. “Why would I be callin’ you if I’d snuck them on board?”

Bentina rubbed her eyes. It was fine, she told herself. This wasn’t a disaster. She just had to re-evaluate some aspects of the plan, to accommodate for the inevitability of the twins going to the auction against orders. This was salvageable.

“Rest assured, Daisy, that I did not undermine you and bring the twins here against your wishes.” Scrooge continued as he made his way to the front desk, waving his cane about. “But I will say that this is exactly what I told you would happen! I said- Daisy, I told you that they would resent bein-!”

“Excuse me, sir.” The receptionist interrupted him politely, a young French duck with headfeathers combed to the side, wearing a neat white suit. “Do you have a booking?”

“Whu- Ah, sorry, erm-” Scrooge turned to Bentina and asked, “Would you mind, eh…?”

Bentina nodded curtly, stepping in front of him. “(Good evening.)” She addressed the receptionist, speaking in impeccable French. “(My name is Bentina Beakley, assistant to Mr Scrooge McDuck of McDuck Enterprises. I believe he has several rooms booked under his name?)”

“I know you’re tryin’ to protect them!” Scrooge declared furiously. “That’s the problem! You’re not givin’ them the freedom to figure out what they want on their own!”

The receptionist started typing on a computer by his side, maintaining a courteous, neutral expression despite the argument going on behind Bentina. “(Yes, we have… four rooms booked under that name…)” He replied, speaking back in French. “(Room 504 is the executive suite, rooms 417 and 418 are the junior suites, and… we also have rooms 319 and 320 booked for you.)”

“(…All on different floors?)”

“(…Is that an issue, madam?)”

“(Not at all.)” Bentina shot a glare towards Scrooge, still arguing behind her. “(I just wasn’t informed of that detail.)”

“I will have you know that my ‘reckless field trips’ are no more dangerous than any other daredevil escapade that teenagers these days get up to!” Scrooge growled into his phone.

Bentina waited patiently for the receptionist to go through the process of confirming their identities, welcoming them to the hotel, and explaining all the amenities that the hotel provided, all the while Scrooge’s heated phone conversation continued in the background. Finally, he handed Bentina a set of keycards, each displaying a room number and the logo of the establishment.

“…I can tell them to stay at the hotel, but I cannae do much if they sneak away! They didn’t listen to you, what reason do they have to listen to me?”

“(Thank you.)” Bentina said to the receptionist. She turned back to her family and handed two of the keycards to Della. “Here you go. Your suite is room 417, the boys are in 319.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Della said, taking the cards. Handing one of them over to the boys, she told them, “Come on, boys. Let’s, uh… let’s go upstairs, so we don’t have to listen to uncomfortable family drama.”

Bentina watched as she led the boys upstairs, trailing behind their mother somewhat awkwardly. She gave a stern glare to Louie as he passed, which he sulkily ignored, before turning back to Scrooge and folding her arms crossly.

“And the way you get them to be safe is to teach them how to do what they want to do safely!” Scrooge said emphatically into his phone. “You cannae just tell them ‘no’ whenever they want to do somethin’! It’s a matter of relinquishin’ control, not tryin’ to hold on tighter to it!”

Noticing Bentina approach with a keycard, he lowered his phone and took the executive suite card from her, saying, “Ah, thank you, Bentina.”

“Why exactly did you see fit to book our room on separate floors?” She demanded quietly. “What if one of us is attacked during the night?”

“Oh, come on. The security that goes into an airport these days? Tighter than a London calaboose, this place.” He began to raise his phone back up, then stopped and asked her, “Do we have a room for May and June?”

Bentina raised an eyebrow. “…I assumed they’d share a room with Webby and Lena.”

Scrooge shook his head. “Their room only has the three beds. They’ll need a room of their own.” He raised the phone back up and said to it, “Aye, I’m still here.”

“Then they’ll have to improvise.” Bentina said bluntly. “They broke the rules, they pay the price.”

“What? I-” Scrooge groaned at the phone and muttered, “Daisy, give me five minutes, I’ll be right back.” He lowered the phone and gave Bentina an imploring look. “Don’t be so heartless, Bentina. It’s one thing to tell them not to come, but to not give them a place to sleep?”

Bentina looked at him, then shrugged. “You can try, but this is an airport hotel. Most of the rooms are probably already booked.”

“You never know what they can move around.” Scrooge turned to the receptionist. “Ah, excuse me?”

“Yes, monsieur?” The young duck replied.

“I understand that this might be a tad presumptuous, but do you have any free rooms with at least two beds?” Scrooge asked apologetically. “See, I, uh, brought along three nieces instead of one, and I was hoping if they could have a room to themselves.”

The receptionist frowned as he started typing on his computer. “I do not know if we do, monsieur…”

“Come now, there has to be somethin’ available!”

“We have many people coming through this hotel, monsieur. Many of our rooms are already spoken for.”

“…Hrm… alright, then.” Scrooge sighed, bringing his phone back up. “Would I be able to speak to the manager, then?”

The receptionist looked back at him uncomfortably. “I… can ask if he is free to meet you, monsieur.”

“Good lad! Just tell him that Scrooge McDuck in suite 504 wants to have a word with ‘im.” Scrooge said with a chuckle, before turning back to Bentina. “In the meantime, just let the girls know that they don’t have to come here immediately if they don’t want to. Give them a moment to calm down.”

Bentina didn’t respond instantly. She was frowning, her mind processing what Scrooge had just said to the receptionist. As he started to turn away and go towards the nearby elevator, she looked at him and said apprehensively, “…Three nieces?”

“Hm? What…? Ah.” Scrooge looked back and smiled awkwardly. “It’s… easier to explain that way.”

He turned back towards the elevator, bringing his phone back up to his ear. “Daisy, you still there? …Ah, Donald. Yes, you probably heard my, ah, conversation with your missus…”

Bentina watched as a pair of steel doors closed behind him, lifting the elderly duck to the upper floors. She stood stock still in the atrium, guests moving around her, as she replayed those words in her head, alongside memories of words that Webby had spoken to him.

Please let them come with us, Dad.

Hey, Dad! Where are we going next?

Get away from my Dad!

Almost unconsciously, she felt her fist clench.

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

Dewey opened the door into their hotel suite, entering a short hallway that opened up into a small, cosy room with three beds, each neatly made with what looked to be a single wrapped chocolate on top of each pillow. A single armchair and desk sat at the end of the room, and a flatscreen television hung on the wall between two windows that opened up to the Paris skyline.

“…Okay, so I’m going to be in room 417, in case you boys need anything.” Della said as the triplets filed in, dragging their carry-bags behind them. “Uh, Mrs Beakley should be in the room next to me, she’ll get you guys at eight to go to the auction.”

Dewey turned back to his mom, frowning. “You’re coming with us, right?”

“Uh… no. I gotta stay back here, so I can quickly get to the plane in case things go… really wrong.” A look of nervous fear crossed her face before she shook it off and told them confidently, “Not that this will go bad, because it won’t. Not with you guys on the case!”

“Thanks, mom.” Dewey thanked her, smiling.

“Thanks, mom.” Huey parroted, his smile a little more forced.

Louie immediately sat down in the armchair and said nothing.

“…Okay, so, call me if you need me.” Della said, quickly rattling off a list of things. “This place has food service, Jetflix, uh… I think it has news and stuff, but it’s all in French… and Louie?”

Louie turned to look at her as she got close to him, kneeling down a bit.

“I just want to say, as far as I’m concerned, you’re not in trouble.” She told him gently. “I think what you did was actually pretty sweet.”

“…Thanks.” He mumbled.

Della smiled at him, then gave him a quick kiss on the forehead. Standing up, she looked at the other two and said brightly, “I’m just gonna go dump my things in my room. Talk to you in a bit!”

She left the room, closing the door behind her and leaving the three young ducks alone. Huey and Dewey each sat on a bed, while Louie remained slumped in the chair in front of them.

“…Should…” Huey said hesitantly. “…Should we have said something? Back on the plane?”

“…Probably.” Dewey murmured. He looked over to Louie and added, “I’m kinda still waiting on an explanation.”

Louie’s eyes flicked over to Dewey. Shrugging noncommittedly, he muttered, “I snuck them on board using a hollowed-out crate that I won’t be able to use again. What’s there to explain?”

“Well… I dunno.” Dewey replied, reaching over to the foil-wrapped candy on his pillow. “Like, is this part of the scheme you’re doing? Are they gonna help you steal something from Scrooge, or…?”

“No, they’re not-”

“Oh, my God!” Huey exclaimed, throwing his hands on his head. “Tell me that you’re not still doing that!”

“No, this isn’t a scheme! I’m just trying to be a good person for once!” Louie snapped aggressively. He relented with a frustrated sigh, and then grumbled, “So, yeah, of course it immediately blew up in my face…”

He looked back over to them, noticing that they were still waiting on him to elaborate. Reluctantly, he told them, “I dunno… I had an argument with May, thought this would be a good way to apologise… probably should’ve figured that if there was any day Scrooge would decide to be the responsible uncle, it would be today…”

“So you’re definitely not doing that scheme you talked about on the bus?” Huey asked.

“Dude, the only thing I knew in advance was that we were going to Paris.” Louie replied. “I was figuring, like, we’d go into a medieval tomb and rob it blind, or something, not the pending apocalypse. No. That scheme’s on the backburner.”

“…Okay…” Huey said, exhaling in relief.

Louie turned to look at his brothers, frowning now. “…Why didn’t you guys say anything?”

Both Huey and Dewey looked at each other guiltily. “Well…” Huey said anxiously. “Like we said back on the plane, we can’t afford any disruptions to the plan. What you guys did was pretty reckless, considering what’s at stake. What if…?”

“But they want to help us, right?” Louie pressed him, leaning forward in his chair. “Like, don’t we need all the help we can get, for when we inevitably get caught in a trap?”

“Well… it’s just…” Huey struggled for a moment, before throwing up his hands and admitting, “I don’t know. I don’t know what the right thing to do is.”

“I mean, for me… I just don’t think I know them that well.” Dewey explained, unwrapping his candy. “I feel like I used to, but… I mean, they don’t adventure with us, we don’t even go to the same school…” He shrugged apologetically, throwing the sweet into his beak without looking. “I don’t feel like I’ve gotten the opportunity to-”

Dewey gagged, then spat out a small white cube into his hand.

“That was not chocolate.” He muttered. “That was, in fact, a gross mint.”

Louie looked between his two brothers in disbelief. “…Holy shit… I thought I was the only asshole cousin here. You two have been asshole cousins as well?”

Neither of them said anything. Dewey threw the mint he’d almost eaten into a nearby waste basket, not looking at him.

“…Wow.” Louie laughed humourlessly. “Well done, guys. I guess all three of us need to work on how we treat the twins, huh?”

“…Language.” Huey muttered, lying down on his bed.

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honey-milk-depresso · 4 years ago

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Genshin Onboard The Crux!

Various Genshin Characters x Reader. Hope you enjoy!

“Kazuha?”

“Yes.”

Beidou had just introduced you to a member she had not showed you before.

Apparently, this white haired boy named Kazuha, was someone who originated in Inazuma.

Personally, you had never been there, but you heard Inazuma was a beautiful place, with loads of pretty trees, architecture and the sky was much clearer than anywhere from what you heard.

“So, Kazuha? You’re from Inazuma?”

“Sort of.”

“It might be a little selfish of me, since I just kind of met you, but... do you think you could bring me to see Inazuma one day?”

Kazuha pursed his lips, a little frown dawn on his face.

“Ah! Never mind! That was a stupid question wasn’t it? Of course, you won’t be free..”

Kazuha quickly snapped out of his trance, shaking his head vigorously in response as he puts his hands up.

“No, no, it’s not that it’s just... I don’t think they’ll want me to go back..”

“What do you mean?”

“Inazuma.... I was exiled from Inazuma.”

“Huh?”

“Ah..”

“Oh, never mind about that. But, do you like it here in the Crux? I’m not a member here, but I enjoy being here! I made new friends and they’re actually nice people here, although many people say the ship’s full of scavengers and stuff. And that’s not true!

Miss Beidou is actually nice! And Xiangling is super sweet and super cool! What do you think?”

Kazuha paused for awhile, before he looked at you, a small and soft smile adorned his features.

“Yes. And I say I made a new friend. You.”

He stayed like that, only to shortly blushed in embarrassment, covering his face with his two hands.

“That’s if... you do..”

You giggled. “Silly Kazuha, of course I do!”

=============================================================

“Hi Xiangling!”

“Oh! Y/n! Just in time! I made some new dishes for Miss Beidou and Mr Kazuha to try out! Plenty to go around for you too! Everyone got their fill except those two!”

“Miss Beidou, were you and Kazuha dealing with treasure hoarders back at-”

“Yeah, we were and-”

Beidou’s eyes widened. “Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt ya, Y/n.”

“It’s alright!” You plopped yourself in between Kazuha and Beidou, the seat in between them was vacant so why not?

“What’s on the menu today, Madame Xiangling?”

=============================================================

“And he was all shallow afterwards!”

The crowd that gathered around the dining table roared with laughter.

Everyone else seemed to be drunk like Beidou who was sharing her stories of today,

meanwhile you, Kazuha and Xiangling were minding you’re own business, having your own conversation between you three.

“Geez, everyone’s already gotten so drunk,” Kazuha commented.

“Well, the Crux is a very lively place!” Xiangling added.

“Yeah, actually, Mr Diluc gave me some fresh grape juice for me to try out! You three want some?”

“Sure.”

“All for it!”

You took three of your empty cups and poured the grape juice out. The sound of cheerful laughter echoed through the night.

You passed them the three cups. “Cheers!”

“Cheers!” as your cups clinked against each other, your quiet giggling erupting from the three of you seemed much louder than the drunk happy laughter from the back.

Kazuha and Xiangling, two best friends that made you really grateful and happy to have met them. And Beidou had always seemed like that badass mother taking care of the three of you.

You weren’t a member, but the Crux was like a second family to you. Memories after memories and you would never forget them.

Kazuha smiled at you as you sipped your grape juice. He covered your hand you laid down on your seat with his own.

You blushed. “Wha- Kazuha, what are you doing?? Don’t tell me you’re that light weighted that grape juice can take you out, too!”

Kazuha playfully rolled his eyes. “No silly,” his eyes softened as he stared at both of your hands. “I’m just really happy I met you guys. And especially you, y/n..”

“Oh?~ Kazu is actually getting REALLY soft for, y/n?~ How romantic! Ahahaha!” Xiangling teases, laughing.

Kazuha blushed a red that could rival Diluc’s hair, stuttering out, “I- It’s nothing like that! Stop laughing... Xiangling!!”

Beidou caught a glimpse of what was going on between the three of you, smirking as she gulped down her wine.

“Those three..” She muttered, shaking her head with a smile, before starting another drunk story of hers.

Always a happy day onboard the Crux!

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comfortwriting · 4 years ago

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The Haunt Of Happy Couples - F.W

Masterlist, Writing Prompt Masterlist, Requesting Rules, Taglist

Fred Weasley x Fem Reader

Prompt 63: You blushed and shook your head, hiding behind your book.

Prompt 64: The butterflies in your stomach flew around in circles, looking across the class his gaze met with yours, he smirked and winked at you.

About: Fred and Y/N have been sharing glances, flashing smirks and giggles for months but haven’t said a word to one another - only admiring from a distance. One afternoon, Fred decides to take things to the next level, as gentlemanly as he can be.

Warnings: mega fluff! mention of food and eating.

“Y/N” Your friend Becky whispered over breakfast “he’s looking at you again.”

You blushed and shook your head, hiding behind your book.

By ‘he’ you know who she meant - it couldn’t be anyone other than Fred Weasley, the lad in the year above who constantly got into trouble, and was always up to no good with his twin.

At first, it started off with meeting each others gaze of breakfast, it only happened once or twice until it became an everyday occurrence.

Soon enough, the two of you shared glances everywhere you passed, Fred throwing in the knee-shaking wink once or twice when he felt extra cheeky, making you blush and giggle which made him break out into the biggest smiles you had ever seen.

The two of you maintained eye contact, sharing these winks, blushes, and giggles through the halls, over your meals across the table, high up in the stands whilst you watched him play Quidditch; so much so you were becoming each others shadows, despite never actually saying a word to each other.

“He looks at me every day, Becky” you replied, a smile creeping up on your lips, still hiding behind your book - trying to play hard to get.

“I still can’t understand why you won’t ask him out, I mean..” your friend trailed off, realising she could be potentially stepping into dangerous waters - but you couldn’t blame how she felt - Fred had to be the most gorgeous lad you ever laid eyes on, every single thing about him was nothing short of perfect.

You gave her an odd look “The guy always makes the first move, besides, even if I wanted to I’m too scared! I don’t want to scare him off!!” you huffed.

Becky put her hands up in defence “I wasn’t going to make a move! Everyone knows you’re practically his girl”

You felt your cheeks heat up, Fred elevated in his seat, trying to catch glances of you whilst you were hiding away, his heart fluttering watching them flush red, he put his head down, pretending to focus on the boring Daily Prophet, listening in on your conversation.

“you wouldn’t scare him off either” she sighed, sipping the last few drops of her pumpkin juice “he wouldn’t flinch if Snape yelled at him”

You couldn’t help but chuckle, Becky was right, you wouldn’t scare Fred off at all, even if you had two heads. “But Snape doesn’t yell” you laughed, rolling your eyes, lowering your book down as you started to cool off.

The sound of your laughter was music to Fred’s ears, his heart fluttering even more, like butterflies being freed from their cocoons.

You and Becky left the table, setting off to your first class, you usually waited outside the great hall for Fred and suddenly pretend to bump into him - Fred knew you waited there on purpose and he thought it was the cutest thing in the world.

“You going to ask her then, Freddie?” George asked, watching you walk out.

Fred smiled to himself and folded up the newspaper on the table, placing it down on the table “you know what George” Fred replied, “I think I will.”

Fred stood up tall and waltzed out of the great hall, his brother following behind. Replaying the word he would say over and over in his head and going through the plan if you were to say yes, Valentines Day coming around the corner.

Finding you stood in the same place every morning like clockwork, his eyes searched your gorgeous Y/E/C ones, he walked towards you, your heart racing.

Oh my god, he’s walking over, he’s actually getting closer, he’s not doing this by accident. Play it cool, don’t be too excited but don’t be too moody, don’t overthink things, don’t underthink just breathe--

“Hello love” Fred smiled, now standing beside you.

This is the closest he had ever been, you could now count the individual freckles on his face, you could study his brown eyes, his eyelashes and soft lips, you could see the fabric of his clothing, you could smell his unbelievable, sweet and comforting scent.

“H-Hi Fred” you smiled back, your voice slightly shaking.

Becky stood there awkwardly, already feeling like a third wheel, slightly jealous but so excited that the ball was finally rolling.

“Uh,” Becky interrupted “I’ll see you in class, Y/N.” smiling and walking away, waving goodbye.

“I was wondering” Fred pursed his lips, feeling more nervous than he ever had in his life “if you uh, wanted to go out on a date in Hogsmeade, with Valentine’s Day coming up and that.”

Your heart sped up so fast you started to get dizzy, the world around you spinning uncontrollably like you were travelling through a portkey, your thoughts of excitement and pure shock drowning out the other students passing by.

He wants to go on a date... with me... with me... no other girl, just me.

Fred couldn’t help but feel relieved and fall even more in love with you because of your facial expression, although no words had escaped your mouth, you were smiling widely and your cheeks were as hot as usual, your eyes full of stars.

“Yeah of course I would love to” you babbled, starting to stumble over your words, the heat from your cheeks spreading across the rest of your face.

Fred couldn’t help but laugh at how cute you were, he brushed his golden hair out of his face, licking his lips.

“Saturday, I’ll wait for you here and we’ll go to Hogsmeade for the day” he smiled “don’t bring any money, everything is on me.”

The two of you stared at one another awkwardly, suddenly realising the number of students who were pushing past to get to their classes, you smiled sweetly and adjusted your bag on your shoulder.

“Well, I’ll see you Saturday” you blushed.

“Bright and early!” Fred replied, nodding, winking you goodbye and reuniting with his twin.

You were ecstatic, delirious even - you were going on a date with Fred Weasley, the lad that all the girls swooned over and talked about, you of all people. You rarely felt good about yourself, but this... this made you feel more alive than ever, finally catching up to other girls in the race, and beating them as you inched closer to the finish line.

Throughout Divination, you messed with Becky, refusing to tell her what happened whilst she got a head start to the worlds most boring lesson. All you could do was smirk, blush, laugh and smirk again, you were on cloud nine and couldn’t see yourself coming off it anytime soon.

“Please!” She begged, groaning at the tea leaves in the bottom of her cup “I’m desperate.”

You grabbed her cup and looked at her tea leaves, reading them “looks as if you’ve got an angry snake” you replied, pretending to cower in fear as Trelawney passed by.

“Oh come off it!” Becky complained, leaning back in her chair “I wasn’t on about that-”

“I know, I know, alright” you cut her off, giving in “He asked me if I wanted to go on a date with him on Saturday.”

Becky’s jaw dropped and an excited grin splashed across her face, she leaned in so fast on her chair she nearly sent her cup and saucer flying across the room.

“Oh that’s absolutely brilliant, Y/N!” she beamed, clapping her hands together and rubbing them “so, where is he taking you?”

“I’m not sure” you shrugged “somewhere in Hogsmeade!” you replied, beaming back at her, feeling the excitement sprout and bloom all over again in your tummy.

“Valentine’s Day too!” she squealed “oh how romantic, you and Fred, wow!”

“I know!” you giggled, looking over your cup and pretending to read your tea leaves, the two of you going quiet as Trelawney walked past again “I’m really excited” you whispered.

“What's the plan then, Freddie?” George asked, walking off the Quidditch pitch, mud and dirt covering his knees, arms, and chest.

“Well” sighed Fred, his muscles hurting slightly, “I’m going to take her to that tea shop, Madam Puddifoot’s, is it?”

“Oh yeah” grinned George, walking into the changing rooms, sitting down on the bench “ tacky, frilly, and cramped?”

Fred flipped his brother off and started to get undressed, thinking about what he would wear and how he would woo you.

“I’m quite nervous” he admitted “she’s the only girl I’ve ever really fancied” Fred pulled off his shirt, grabbing his towel to go for a shower.

George pulled his shoes off in synch with his brother, groaning from his backache “makes you go all tingly does she?” he teased.

“Oh bugger off” Fred yelled behind him, walking into the showers and stepping underneath the warm, running water.

George laughed “I’m only bloody joking, she’s so tiny compared to you, I think she’s proper cute” he grabbed a towel of his own and went for a shower too.

You counted down the days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and now finally Friday.

Unfortunately, no matter how nervous or excited you were, your last class of the day was dragging like no other; you were perched on your stool in Snape’s gloomy and cold dungeon, following the same sentence in your potions book - over and over and over, none of it making any sense. You were so drunk on the excitement of tomorrows date you thought you could hear Fred’s voice from behind you, you were going mad, surely, until -

“Y/N” Becky whispered daringly “look behind you”

Turning around and looking over your shoulder, Fred stood in the large, arched doorway, the butterflies in your stomach flew around in circles, looking across the class his gaze met with yours, he smirked and winked at you.

“What is so important, Mr Weasley?” Snape droned on, looking up from his projector.

Fred unfolded his arms “I’ve got a note that excuses me from next weeks detention” he spoke up.

You felt tempted to ‘ooo’ him but you knew Snape wouldn’t stand for it - detention with him alone scared you.

Snape sour expression became more exaggerated and his greasy hair fell in front of his face “do you have a note?”

“Yeah” Fred replied, digging in his pocket and pulling it out, handing it to Snape “there”

Snape looked over it for a second and appeared to be most displeased, almost clenching his teeth “Your head of house will be notified when I have chosen a day to reschedule, now get out.”

Snape faced the back of the class and continued to teach, Fred winked at you and mouth “I’ll see you tomorrow, love.”

You turned around and covered your mouth with your hand, if tomorrow didn’t come soon enough you felt as if you could explode. Luckily, after Snape’s class, the rest of your day flew by, but as you laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling, you couldn’t fall asleep - no matter how hard you tried.

You kept going over and over everything you would say, the questions you might ask, how you were going to laugh and smile, if you would hold his hand if he reached out for it, you were running through everything that would happen naturally and so did Fred.

He couldn’t sleep either, he stared at his clothes, the hand-me-down trousers from Bill, the boots from Charlie and the beautifully knitted jumper from his mother, Molly, the massive ‘F’ staring back at him, encouraging him to get some sleep.

Taking a deep breath, you left the common room after giving Becky a tight hug, Fred also on his way, gave George a thumbs up, both of you getting closer and closer.

You could make out the massive green ‘F’ on Fred’s brown jumper as he inched closer and closer, his maroon trousers and black boots making him look as if he were some sort of model or band member. Your heart pounded and you could feel yourself forget everything you went over one hundred times over the night before.

Play it cool, play it cool, it’s just a date - holy shit he’s so beautiful.

Fred fell head over heels at the sight of you out of your robes and in the long-sleeved yellow frilly dress, your daffodil necklace twinkling when the sun beamed down upon it, your adorable denim teddy bear Mary Jane buckle shoes made Fred want to run over and lift you up into his arms.

“Fancy seeing you here” he joked, pushing stray hairs behind his ears.

You nodded and laughed lightly “what a coincidence!”

Your walk to Hogsmeade couldn’t have gone any better, the two of you had plenty to talk about, and plenty more to laugh and smirk about, you were so interested in his dad’s career, along with his brothers Bill and Charlie. Fred couldn’t help but tease you for your perfect clean record, zero detentions and only scoring high grades.

When sharing things about yourself with Fred, he focused hard listened, remembering little details and making mental notes on your interests, what you did and didn’t like to do at the weekend, read about or even wear.

Entering Hogsmeade, the breeze blew your hair back and sent shivers down your spine, the hairs standing up on the back of your neck and on your arms, you shivered, wishing you had brought a coat or jumper out with you.

Fred noticed and thanked the weather for giving him this chance, a move he had planned thoroughly. Pulling off his jumper and making sure it wasn’t inside out, he handed it to you “Put this on if you’re cold, Y/N.”

Your heart skipped beats and the flowers of excitement that bloomed inside of you grew in size, the petals expanding, the pollen strengthening, calling out for bees.

You accepted his gentlemanly gesture “thank you” you smiled, pulling his jumper over you, your hands sliding down the long sleeves.

Fred’s cheeks went red, the sight of you drowning in his jumper made you stand out to him even more - no other girl could pull off his clothing as good as you, you had it all, you had everything that every other girl lacked, you were the one, you had to be.

Finally reaching Madam Puddifoot’s, Fred opened the door for you and followed you inside, he found the table he reserved for you and pulled out your chair before getting himself sat down.

You couldn’t believe your eyes, the entire tea shop decorated just for one day felt truly special, you couldn’t believe this was real life, wearing Fred’s jumper, on a date in a teashop celebrating such a small holiday. This realisation gave you the confidence you needed, after all, you were here, no other girls, just you.

You were amazed at the frills, bows, the lacy napkins and china sugar bowls that sat on the table, the golden cherubs throwing pink confetti in Fred’s hair.

You giggled at the sight, Fred went red and tried to brush the confetti out of his golden hair, muttering under his breath at the cherubs.

“You should leave it in” you giggled “you look so cute with pink confetti in your hair.”

Fred smirked and shook his head “I’m flattered, Y/N” he replied, “but pink isn’t my colour.”

“Well, I disagree” you beamed “the next time a jumper of my own stretches in the wash you’ll have to try it on” you teased, pulling on the sleeves of his jumper “Thank you for the jumper” you blushed, remembering it was his “it’s lovely and warm.” you nuzzled into it, the scent of cinnamon engulfing you.

“Keep it” Fred smiled, showing off his pearly white teeth.

After running through the menu together and more pink confetti landing in Fred’s hair, the two of you ordered your drinks which were served incredibly fast despite how many couples had arrived within twenty minutes of being sat down and flirting successfully with Fred.

The two of you continued to laugh, joke, flirt and learn more about each other over your drinks which had warmed your tummies in preparation for bracing the cold as you left the teashop, still having enough to talk about and having moments of silence that weren’t awkward.

Walking towards Honey Dukes hoping you could buy Fred some sweets as he paid for your drink, your hand brushed against his, and like Fred did when you shivered, you took your chance and took hold of his hand.

Fred looked down at his large hand in your small one, he let go for a moment, making you worry, until he snatched your hand in his, his thumb tracing circles over fingers, you felt relieved but also floating higher in the sky on cloud nine.

Fred stopped outside Honey Dukes, the end of your nose pink from the cold air, he admired every detail of your face and squeezed your hand gently, you admired his face too, counting those freckles you loved so much, the two of you so close you could feel his breath warm up your cold skin.

Fred closed his eyes and leaned in, knowing what was about to happen, you closed your eyes and tilted your head, leaning in too. Your lips brushed against his soft ones and finally joined up, the two of you kissing softly whilst his other hand snaked around your waist pulling you closer to him.

Taglist: @amourtentiaa @horrorxweasley @alwaysnforeverfangirl @inglourious-imagines @reeophidian @sebby-staan @onlyfreds @escapingrealitybyreading @a-castle-of--glass @pandaxnienke @xmalfoyweasleyx

#fred weasley #fred weasley x reader #fred weasley fanfiction #fred weasley x you #fred weasley imagine #george weasley #george wealsey x reader #george wealsey imagine #george weasley fanfiction #George Weasley one shot #harry potter #harry potter fanfiction #Harry Potter fanfic

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yoontopia · 4 years ago

Text

sobremesa | kth

pairing: kim taehyung x (f) reader

genre: childhood friends to lovers(?). tiny amounts of smut in the form of grinding, heavy makeout sessions in a car, mostly fluff, microscopic amounts of angst HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAE!!!!

rating: M

word count: 9.1k

sobremesa: a spanish word for that time spent after a meal, hanging out with family or friends, enjoying each others’ company

summary: you’ve known Kim Taehyung practically all your life – your parents are best friends and that inevitably leads to the two of you being forced to hang out at family gatherings – being the same age and all. But you don’t really know Kim Taehyung beyond cramped bedrooms, family potlucks, and annual New Year’s Eve parties. He’s never been a part of your picture and you’ve never been a part of his. You know Kim Taehyung in snapshots, periodic glimpses into his life over shared meals that will never overlap with yours outside these little moments. Or so you think.

-2006-

“This is my boy – Taehyung – he’s twelve too!” Mr. Kim announces, with a wide smile on his face. You stare curiously at the little boy hiding behind his father. He’s got a tuft of dark hair and he looks over at you curiously, like you’re a specimen at a museum. Your dad pats you on your back and one look at his face tells you that you’re meant to entertain this Taehyung kid.

“Oh, um,” you say, stepping forward. “We can just hang out in my room, I guess.”

“We’ll call you when dinner’s ready,” your mom tells you, smiling encouragingly. You nod and beckon Kim Taehyung upstairs. He follows you wordlessly and you usher him into your bedroom. He looks around, that same curious expression on his face before making himself comfortable on the beanbag chair you keep in your room.

“So, do you wanna like—watch a movie or something?” You don’t have a lot of experience with boys. Taehyung is small for his age though, and you can look at him in the eye if he stands up. He’s a lot smaller than the boys you’re used to at school, and so you find yourself more comfortable with him. He shrugs in response and you heave out your beloved laptop your dad had so kindly let you use for the night. Taehyung’s eyes flicker towards your bookshelf and his expression visibly brightens.

“You like Cardcaptor Sakura?” he asks, and you hear his voice for the first time. You look at him in surprise. No boy at your school likes Cardcaptor Sakura, but you love the series and your parents bought you a couple of volumes for your birthday.

“Yeah! It’s really cute. Uhm… do you wanna watch that instead? I have the DVD set.” Taehyung nods, looking far more enthusiastic than before and the two of you binge the entire first season, sitting shoulder to shoulder on your double bed.

-2007-

You don’t know anyone here. It’s somebody’s birthday, but they’re an adult and you don’t really care. These kids are unfamiliar and rowdy and honestly all you want to do is go home and read Harry Potter until you fall asleep. You’d hang out with your parents, but they’d ushered you to go play with the other kids. Looking through the various bedrooms in this ridiculously large house you hear voices coming from behind a shut door.

Knocking before opening it slowly, you peek in only to find Kim Taehyung with his arm around some kid’s neck. They’re on the floor, wrestling. Boys, you sigh mentally. Taehyung looks up, hair in his eyes, a sheen of sweat covering him.

“My phone—get my phone!” He’s yelling your name and you’re surprised he even remembers you. You’d only hung out a handful of times after your first, fateful meeting after all. You glance down and pick up the small black device the other boy is trying to reach for. Taehyung lets the other kid go and he’s gasping for air as you hand the phone back to its rightful owner.

“I’m Jungkook,” the boy introduces, voice high. “Junghyun’s younger brother,” You have no idea who Junghyun is, but you nod and introduce yourself anyway. “Are you Tae’s age?” Your eyes travel to Taehyung, who’s scrolling on his phone now.

“Yeah,” he answers for you, and you’re surprised to hear how his voice has deepened. “She’s my age. Close the door, will you? We’re watching Claymore and Kook’s mom will have a stroke if she finds out—he’s only ten.” You shut the door behind you cautiously. At least he hadn’t demanded you leave.

Feeling weirdly accepted and elated, you sit down to join the boys.

-2008-

Jungkook becomes a part of your small family-friends group. None of you even go to the same schools, but you see each other occasionally when your parents want to spend time with their friends. You like Jungkook, even though he’s younger. He’s friendly and bubbly and likes manga as much as you do. You’re still scared of his older brother though, but Junghyun is old (three whole years older than you!) and he’s allowed to stay home alone when his parents leave so he never comes anyway. Rumor has it that he even has a girlfriend.

You’re making it through life like any middle-schooler would. You have two close friends at school that you do everything with and it’s the year your dad presents you with your first phone. It’s got a full keyboard and you can text Jiyeon and Solhee whenever you want. You spend hours into the night talking about Jung Hoseok, who’s a ninth grader, and how cool he is. You have the tiniest crush on Hoseok – he’s the dance team captain, and he always smiles at you in the hallways even though he doesn’t know you. Hoseok smiles at everyone, it’s just how amazing he is. You’re too shy to talk to him though, envying the girls he speaks to on the daily. You think you and Hoseok would be good friends if you were braver.

-2009-

“You’re going to a French immersion high school? Seriously?” You don’t know if you’re more impressed or exasperated. Maybe both. Taehyung nods and accepts the cup of tea you offer him. You can hear your parents heartily belting out to some 80’s pop song in the basement – it seems the karaoke session is going well.

“Figured its never too late to learn,” he shrugs, taking a sip of the drink and wincing because its piping hot. His voice has deepened now that the two of you are fourteen, sounding like it’s dipped in honey. “Plus, all my friends are going there, and I don’t wanna be that guy who knows no one at his high school on the first day.” You try to laugh along, but it comes out all awkward—you don’t want to admit that that’s going to be you at your new school. Taehyung eyes you suspiciously.

“But of course,” he continues, in that same airy tone. “I think it’d be cool to start over somewhere where no one knows you. A clean slate.” You smile privately at his tact.

“It’s nerve-wracking though. What if I don’t make friends?” you sound small as you voice out the one fear you’ve been too scared to admit. Taehyung hums and sips his tea again.

“You will,” he says easily. “But if you don’t you always have me and Jungkook. We’re practically forced to hang out with you.”

You throw your wet teabag at him. He laughs, the sound rich and deep and you find your mind cleared of your anxiety.

-2010-

“Ay here comes the Frenchie,” Jungkook wolf-whistles and you turn around to see Taehyung making his way toward you. “Are you fluent yet?”

“No, but I can tell you to fuck off in more than one language now,” Taehyung grins, giving you a one-armed hug in greeting. He smells like vanilla and clean laundry – a refreshing contrast from the boys at school that drown in Old Spice. You want to bury your nose in his sweatshirt.

“Wow, school fees well spent,” Jungkook nods sagely. “I can’t believe I’m the only middle-schooler left.” Taehyung is taking his seat in the chair next to you, your hand still grasped in his, much larger and warmer one. Taehyung has always been physical – not just with you, but with everyone. You’re all at a restaurant this time, celebrating the fact that Junghyun not only got into his dream university, but managed to survive without flunking his first semester. You don’t know why you had to squeeze into a dress for this occasion, but alright. You barely even know Junghyun – he doesn’t fraternize with his kid brother’s best friends. “Oy, here’s Jimin.” The two of you look up to see another boy making his way towards you. “My mom’s best friend’s kid,” Jungkook whispers to you two, rather like he’s divulging the nation’s greatest secrets.

Jimin sits down next to Jungkook and you mutter polite hellos at each other. As it turns out, he’s the same age as you and Taehyung.

“So, this is the kid’s end of the table, huh?” Taehyung murmurs in your ear and you laugh.

“Don’t complain – would you rather sit next to my dad and have him clap you on the back hard every minute?” Taehyung winces at that, clearly having multiple war flashbacks. Jimin stares at you two.

“So how do you all know each other?” has asks. Taehyung blinks.

“Oh me? I’ve known her—since when—? We were like twelve,” you nod. Has it really been that long? You’re sixteen now. “And I met Jungkook not long after, I think.”

“The three musketeers,” Jungkook cheers, raising his glass as if its not full of just orange juice. Jimin nods. Taehyung rolls his eyes

As the dinner progresses, you find out you like Jimin too. He’s friendly and before you know it, you have each other on Facebook. Jungkook proclaims that all of you need a way to keep in touch and that’s how you find yourself in a group chat with three noisy boys.

-2011-

“Uno motherfucker!” Jungkook dramatically throws down his second-last card onto the pile. You groan. How is this boy so ridiculously good at literally every game?

“Not so fast, Jeon,” Taehyung is next to you, wearing pajama bottoms with ducklings on them. Throwing down his only wild card, he’s changing the color of cards up. You laugh delightedly because thank-you-Tae-you-lifesaver. He gives you a hearty fist bump. Jimin is on your other side, and as always, the man is more action than words because he quietly puts down a +4 that has Jungkook screaming into his pillow.

You’re all cooped up in your bedroom. Taehyung’s parents have already told him he could stay over, and he’s promptly changed into his sleeping clothes. It isn’t a rare occurrence for him to crash in your guest bedroom every time your parents hang out late into the night. Jimin and Jungkook are still in their jeans getting more and more uncomfortable by the hour. It’s past midnight and the parents downstairs have no intention of ending the party any time soon.

“You should’ve just stayed over too,” Taehyung says, watching Jungkook trying to change his sitting position for the third time in the last twenty minutes.

“I live literally down the block,” Jungkook snaps. It’s true – Jungkook’s family had moved onto your street only last year. “I’ll sleep in my own bed thanks.”

“Besides, is Jooyoung okay with you staying over at another girl’s house?” Jimin mutters, picking up a card and frowning. “Won’t she have a fit?”

“Who?” you and Jungkook ask at the same time.

“His girlfriend,” Jimin giggles next to you, and Jungkook is practically yodeling. Taehyung’s ears go slightly red. You look at him in surprise.

“I didn’t know you had a girlfriend,” you tell him and his ears, if possible, go even redder.

“He’s been with her for a whole month,” Jimin proclaims proudly and you’re looking at Taehyung again because wow—that seems serious.

You have no expertise in dating. There’s a cute boy in your English class called Choi Seungcheol that you like to look at. He’s got a nice smile and really long eyelashes over eyes that look like they hold galaxies in them. One time, he lent you his dictionary and you almost melted into a puddle of goo. But Seungcheol runs with the popular kids, even though he’s always been sweet to you, and you’re still somewhat of a recluse. All of a sudden, Taehyung seems really grown up and faraway.

“She already knows,” Taehyung says testily, and gestures wildly at you, “Plus it’s not like the two of us are even remotely close enough for her to care too much.”

You find you’ve suddenly lost all interest in the card game.

-2012-

“Can’t believe you’re leaving us,” Jungkook pouts as he stares at you and Taehyung. “Can’t believe I only have Jimin from now on.”

“Don’t be dramatic,” Jimin quips. It’s your graduation party – the third graduation party you’ve attended in the last two weeks – Taehyung had his first, then Jimin, and now you. You’ve chosen a university that’s three hours away. Jimin chose to attend college in town.

Taehyung, surprising you all, is moving a whopping six hours away, across the country. The art program he’s chosen is super elite and you’d all had a potluck at his house with your families when he’d gotten accepted. You sip on your wine, still getting used to the taste of alcohol. You turned eighteen only last month, but Jimin and Taehyung are still minors, and are both sporting matching cups of sparkling apple juice.

“We’ll be back for the holidays,” you tell Jungkook. “I can even drive back on some weekends!”

“Yeah, but when our families hang out, I’ll be the only one there,” Jungkook continues, looking genuinely upset. “Gonna just stay home from now on.”

“What about me?” Jimin asks indignantly. “I’m still here!”

“You have, like, a billion friends,” Jungkook huffs. “And a girlfriend.”

“Good point.” Jimin agrees. You and Taehyung laugh.

“Well, we still have all summer,” you say. “The four of us should find some time to hang out before I move at the end of August.” Jimin nods at that, reaching forward to eat the chips off the plate in front of him.

The four of you look at each other. Your lives really don’t overlap outside the confines of your bedroom and while Jungkook is upset, you know he’s got his own horde of friends back at school. He’s on the football team, and in the multimedia club. Your best friend’s little sister goes to his school and you’ve heard through her that he’s basically the school’s heartthrob. A little hard for you to believe though – Jungkook will always be that small child who Taehyung tackled to the ground for trying to steal his phone back when you were twelve.

You look around your room. You only have around ninety days left in these four walls, in this particular life, before all of you move into the next chapter.

-2013-

You’re shut up in a bathroom stall at your dorm, tears threatening to spill. Your first year as an engineering undergraduate is almost over, but your mother’s voice over the phone has opened all the flood gates you’d been so carefully keeping close these past few months.

“I can’t do this anymore,” you’re bumbling, and your mother can hardly make sense of you. You know that it’s probably coming as a huge surprise to them. You’ve spent so long pretending you’ve been fine all year that your family hasn’t had a clue how rough things really had been for you. “I want to drop out, mom, my grades are so bad, I’m so close to flunking out.”

Your mother is comforting you over the phone, but you continue to sob, months and months of tears and anxiety finally getting their chance to flow freely. You don’t care if your dormmates hear you – they were never really your friends anyway.

Weeks later, when your parents have picked you up, and have driven you back home, you know you’ll never go back to that place. You lie in your bed staring up at the ceiling, feeling void of any emotion. You’d always done fairly well in school so the significant drop in your grades at university had taken a toll on your mental health. The sun shines outside, the first signs of summer peeking through, but you can’t bring yourself to push open your curtains. You feel like a failure. You are a failure.

At some point during the day, Taehyung comes into your room, knocking quietly. He doesn’t speak, and you haven’t seen him for a whole year. Contact was few and far between and seeing Jimin and Tae do so well in their respective programs had made you put up a front with them too. He probably had no idea that anything was ever wrong.

Even if he had, you tell yourself, there was nothing he would really do. You find you barely know Taehyung, are only obligated to spend time with him because your parents are friends with his folks. But he’s here, in your room now, and you can’t hear Mr. Kim’s booming voice downstairs. You selfishly wonder if he came to see you by himself. Only for you, and not because of his parents.

He quietly lies down next to you, and the two of you lie there, shoulder to shoulder, staring up at the ceiling.

He stays like that until you finally fall asleep.

-2014-

You scream when you open the mail and Jimin jumps next to you, spilling milk all over the kitchen island.

“I got in!” you scream and Jimin blinks owlishly up at you. “Chim, I got in!”

“Oh my god that’s amazing!” Now Jimin is screaming, grabbing you out of joy and pulling you in. The two of you are jumping up and down in your kitchen and your parents are here wondering what the ruckus is. You’re merely shoving the letter towards them, too overjoyed to speak.

After taking the summer off, and pulling out of your old university, you’d applied to the college in your town – the same one Jimin attends. You figured you were better off in a program that genuinely excites you and come September, you and Jimin would be attending the same school.

“We gotta party,” your dad exclaims, a big grin on his face. You know your parents had partially blamed themselves for everything that had happened last year. For maybe forcing you towards a program you weren’t really interested in, only because the employment opportunities were higher, and you had the grades to get in. You’re pleased to see them so proud and happy for you. You’re in a better place now, have gotten the support you needed to help you get through that rough patch. Last year feels like a fever dream, like it belongs to someone else, someone that’s not you.

Your dad is calling the usual crowd up to celebrate, and you can’t wait to see Jungkook and Junghyun. It’s been months since you saw them last and you know Jungkook is a senior and is swamped with college admissions and his football games.

Taehyung doesn’t come home this year – working at an internship somewhere on the other end of the country that’s been keeping him busy. You don’t hear from him much at all.

-2015-

You gratefully accept the glass of wine from Jimin and glance over at the giant Christmas tree in his living room. The Parks have decorated it up to the nines, a real step-up from last year.

“Your ugly sweater is so not ugly,” Jimin groans from next to you, and you look down. It’s a simple grey sweater with a giant ornament on it, the baubles are three-dimensional.

“It was the only one I had,” you sigh, leaning back into his couch. “Where is everyone?”

“Jungkook is spending Christmas at his girlfriend’s,” Jimin tells you and you roll your eyes. “But he says he’ll see us for New Years. Tae’s family just arrived actually – he’s in the kitchen saying hello to everyone.”

“Bet all the moms flocked to him,” you mutter. Taehyung is the group’s golden boy – the success story. He’d secured himself a fancy internship and was pretty much guaranteed a job straight out of university when he graduated in a couple years. Jimin nods sleepily next to you. You cozy up next to him, resting your head on his shoulder.

Taehyung arrives in the living room then, his eyes travelling from the giant Christmas tree to the two of you folded onto the couch. You wonder if you’ve had too much wine already because you’re definitely imagining the strange look that crosses his face when he sees Jimin lean into you. It’s been a while since you’ve seen him in person – Instagram pictures really don’t do him justice. For some reason, Jimin quickly pulls away from your embrace.

He’s grown taller, and his hair is dyed a soft honey blonde falling into his eyes, a piece tucked behind one ear. He’s wearing a sweater that’s literally the same color as the Grinch but he manages to effortlessly pull it off. Taehyung has always been pretty, you tell yourself, but somehow, he’s managed to get even prettier. He’s half-tucked his ugly sweater into black slacks and looks more like a runway model than someone you’ve known since you were twelve.

He fist-bumps Jimin before collapsing into the couch on your other side.

“What’s the plan tonight Park?” he asks, taking a sip of his wine.

“I brought my poker kit,” Jimin says over your head. “Thought we could play.”

“Poker,” you sigh amusedly. “When only yesterday Jungkook was beating our asses at Uno.” Jimin laughs with his whole body and you giggle sleepily next to him.

“And, how are you?” It takes you a while to notice that Taehyung is talking to you. You straighten up, letting go of Jimin

“M’fine,” you murmur. Taehyung hums. There’s a strange sort of silence that befalls you. You and Taehyung never had a chatty relationship, but it was never like this either. Taehyung feels more and more like a stranger these days. You know facts about his childhood that you’re sure no one else does – the time he broke his arm falling off a bike you had dared him to get on, or the time he’d accidentally eaten a cookie with hazelnuts in it despite being allergic to them – but you don’t know this Taehyung. You don’t know the first thing about him. And it makes you sad.

The two of you make small talk – the weather, Taehyung’s internship, your finals – but it just doesn’t feel the same.

-2016-

It’s really been a whole year since you’ve seen any of these people – except Jimin, you see his ass on campus every damn day. The music is in full swing and your parents are laughing at something Taehyung’s mom is saying.

You’re sitting in a chair next to Jungkook, fresh off his first semester of university. His hair is longer, he’s inked up his right arm and smells like expensive cologne. Despite that, he’s still the lovable goofball you’ve known practically all your life. He lets you tease him about his ink, good-naturedly pulling at your cheek. He towers over you now, has for a few years.

Taehyung sits directly across from you. His hair is back to black, curling and long. He’s wearing thick black-framed glasses today, complaining about leaving his contacts back at university. Jimin isn’t here, having made plans with his dancer friends. It feels like every year, the only constant at these end-of-the-year parties, is you. The only one who makes a conscious effort to attend, who doesn’t treat these family gatherings like back-up plans.

“Jieun said she wants to meet you,” Jungkook is saying. He’s been dating this girl for six months now. “She’s gone home for the holidays, obviously, but maybe in the New Year. When do you go back Tae?”

“The twelfth,” Taehyung answers, mouth full of mashed potato.

“That’s later than usual,” you say in surprise. Taehyung shrugs.

“Didn’t come home for the summer, so figured I’d stay for winter break longer,” he answers, and you nod. You’re still on the “kids” end of the table, despite all of you now being full-grown adults. Some things really never change.

“Y’know we really should hang out,” Jungkook is saying. “I haven’t seen Jimin in two years – isn’t that crazy? Hey, remember when our parents would hang out and drag us with them. At least that meant we saw each other constantly. Now that we have our own lives, I don’t even go when our families hang out.”

You ruffle Jungkook’s hair and he gives you an adoring smile.

“I miss you guys,” he pouts, and something warm floods through you.

“I miss you guys too,” you answer, a little melancholy, a little sad, and Jungkook gives you a dopey grin, completely clueless. But Taehyung doesn’t return your smile, only surveying you quietly through his glasses.

-2017-

Jimin, Jungkook and Taehyung said they weren’t going to attend this year’s annual New Year’s bash. You can’t say you aren’t crestfallen at the news. It’s clear they all have lives outside their family. Taehyung and Jimin have graduated already. Taehyung doesn’t have enough time off to come home, and Jimin has plans with some guy he’s been seeing lately. Jungkook is going home with Jieun this year to meet her family.

You make plans with your friends from college, and the four of you end up at a bar. It’s fun – you sing karaoke and drink copious amounts of alcohol. You even makeout with strangers.

But somewhere deep down, you know you rather be sitting at the kids end of the table, stuffing your face with food.

-2018-

Taehyung hasn’t taken his eyes off you since you walked into his house. You’re wearing a dress and some heels because Jimin insisted that the four of you dress up for the occasion, considering you hadn’t been able to get together last year. It’s been a while since the gang was back in town at the same time, and you’d just graduated and secured a decent job right away. Jimin claimed it was a cause to celebrate.

The four of you are at the usual family party this winter, because where else would you be?

Taehyung is very obviously drunk. He isn’t rowdy like Jimin or Jungkook, but you can tell. He sways faintly to the music and his eyes are dark.

At the end of the night Jimin goes home to his boyfriend, and Jungkook to his girlfriend, leaving you and Taehyung to clean up the messes they leave behind. Your parents have long gone home, no longer caring if you stay a little longer, or stay over. Taehyung’s family is practically your family.

You eye him subtly as you’re putting away the board games – his hands are in the pockets of his burgundy trousers. A cream dress shirt is tucked into his pants. As always, he looks good. Taehyung suddenly turns to look at you and you feel your face go warm at his stare.

Before you know it, he’s reaching over to kiss you, large hand cupping your face, head tilting so he can slot himself better against your lips. Your hand grasps at the front of his shirt as you pull him closer and you don’t hesitate to intertwine your free hands.

He wordlessly pulls you towards his bedroom in the basement, careful not to wake his parents. He pushes you down on his bed before climbing on top of you to continue where you’d left off in the living room.

That night, you fall asleep in his arms, naked and satisfied.

-2019-

Kim Seokjin whispers in a terrible joke in your ear, making you giggle. He’s your date for the night – but the two of you aren’t actually dating. Seokjin was a friend from college, albeit your senior, but you’d asked him to accompany you to this year’s New Year’s party and by some miracle he’d said yes.

You know Jin doesn’t think about you in that way – you’re at most like a baby sister to him – but he plays his part and holds your hand and sits next to you and brings you refills whenever he sees your drink is running low. A part of you thinks he knows what the deal is, if the soft way he looks at you is any indication. You owe Jin a big one.

You didn’t want to be the only one in the group without a date. Jimin has brought Min Yoongi, his boyfriend of two years and Jieun is here with Jungkook.

And then there’s the pretty girl on Taehyung’s arm.

You bite your lip. After spending that one night together last year, you and Taehyung had woken up with smiles on your faces. It had been a happy moment, until you’d had to sneak out of his house without his parents noticing. He’d laughed, kissed you on the lips and you’d left. When you’d seen him next, you’d been with Jimin, Jungkook, and all your families. The two of you had shared secret smiles but hadn’t got a moment to yourselves and before you knew it, Taehyung had had to head back across the country – back to his life without you in it.

You hadn’t even gotten a chance to discuss whatever had happened between you, and you didn’t think it would be appropriate to discuss over the phone. You’d carried on talking to him like normal, assuming that you’d discuss this whenever he came back home next, and he never brought it up either. You hadn’t realized then that Taehyung only ever came home once a year – for Christmas.

Your heart sinks now, watching as he leans in quietly to talk to her over the loud bass of whatever rap beat Yoongi has chosen. You hadn’t told anyone, not even your college friends, about what had happened. You feel used – that whatever the two of you had, was maybe just a drunken one-night stand. But it hadn’t felt like that to you. It had felt… right. Like the conclusion to something that had been building up for many years now. But looking back, maybe it’s just you that thinks that.

Taehyung has never shown any interest in you in that manner, and you’ve known him for years. He’s dated in that time – even had relationships (Jooyoung from high school comes to mind, and you rack your brain trying to think of other serious girlfriends, but you only come up with girls he’s mentioned once or twice and then never again). Jimin already lives with Yoongi and Jungkook and Jieun are discussing moving in together. In your little group, only you and Taehyung have no strings when it comes to relationships.

You’ve dated too – of course – but never seriously. Your longest relationship lasted three months.

“Is he the one?” Seokjin leans over to ask you in a low voice. You turn to look at him nestled comfortably on the couch next to you, long limbs spread out. “The one you like?”

“Like...huh?” you take a large gulp of your wine. “I’ve never thought about him that way.”

“Then pray tell me why your face has longing written all over it?” Seokjin is astute.

“Thanks for coming today,” you say instead. Jin smiles lazily, long lashes casting shadows on his elegant cheekbones.

“I’ll even peck you on the lips at midnight if you want me to,” he says cheekily, and you slap his face away laughing.

“Aren’t you two adorable!” Jimin collapses on the couch next to Jin and offers him a friendly fist bump. Jimin knows Jin isn’t your boyfriend but is smart enough to not say anything.

“Are we?” Jin grins, throwing his arm around your neck to pull you towards him, your cheeks smushing together. “You hear that babe?”

“Oof,” you groan against him and he lets go of you to stand up. Motioning towards the bathroom, he flashes one of his infamous grins before making his way through the living room. Jimin slides over towards you, neatly taking your drink from your hand before taking a sip.

“Where’s Yoongi?”

“His parents called, he’s talking to them out on the deck,” Jimin looks at you. You look at him and raise your eyebrows. “You okay?”

“What makes you think I’m not?”

“I dunno, you always get this look on your face when you’re not,” he hums, sipping your wine again. “How long do you think I’ve known you?” You roll your eyes. You’re eyeing Taehyung again. He came to the party late and hadn’t as much as introduced his lady friend to you. He hadn’t even looked at you. Was this how your friendship with Taehyung was going to end?

“Who’s the girl?” you can’t help but ask, jutting your chin in the direction of the pair. A knowing look crosses Jimin’s features.

“Yoona something,” he says. “They work together, I think. Her flight home got cancelled so Tae brought her back here.” Jimin looks at you again. “They’re not dating – if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Fucking, then.”

“Well, probably,” Jimin laughs. “It’s Taehyung,” Of course. It’s Taehyung. You huff sarcastically. “Why do you care?”

“I don’t.”

“You do,” You groan. What is with your friends today. “When will you admit it to yourself?”

“Admit what?”

Jimin gives out a short laugh and stands up.

“You’re both so painfully alike, I’m going to get frustrated,” he mutters, half under his breath. You tilt your head curiously at his wording, but he doesn’t elaborate. “One is horrible with making a move and the other too dense to realize what’s staring at them in their face.” You watch Jimin head off, muttering to himself and shake your head.

When Jin returns with another bad joke about the toilet and pinches your cheek adoringly, taking up his spot next to you on the couch, you’re far too busy laughing to notice the way Taehyung’s eyes flash across the room.

-The Present-

“Tae’s coming home this year, isn’t he?” you mother casually asks. You’re in the middle of putting the cakes in the oven and you pause.

“Is he? I haven’t asked,” you answer, schooling your voice carefully.

“His mother mentioned that he doesn’t seem too happy lately,” you mom continues on from the other end of the kitchen. “They want him to move back here, or somewhere closer to here.”

“Good luck with that,” you snort. There’s three feet of snow that arrived last night and you’re not looking forward to shoveling it all by yourself. You haven’t seen Taehyung properly since the two of you had… fooled around some two years ago. Whatever idea you’d entertained about the two of you after that, it had all just been clearly in your head. Taehyung was barely home long enough for you to hang out as a group and if the rumors amongst the parents were anything to go by, you weren’t surprised he wanted to avoid the gossiping small town feel of this place.

Frankly, you’re dreading seeing Taehyung this year. This year’s party is definitely more exclusive than last year’s. It’ll just be the four of you this year. Like the old days. And Jieun and Yoongi, but you’ve known those two for years now.

“He’s such a good-looking boy,” Oh god, your mother is still talking. “I’m surprised he hasn’t thought about settling down yet. Of course, how can he think about settling down without a stable career first – freelance photography was it?”

“Mom, it’s none of our business,” you mutter.

“Oh, I know,” she says quickly. “But I’d always thought he’d go places, you know? He did so well at one of the country’s best universities, got that amazing job right after. And now what? He quit it after all this time and that Jimin who only did community college is earning twice the amount Tae is!”

“Mom!” you snap. “Let. It. Go.” Your mother stares at you in disbelief, closing her mouth quickly, and thankfully shutting up. “I’m gonna go shovel the driveway,” you mutter, taking your apron off, and shoving it onto its usual hook by the pantry.

You’re just opening up the garage and grabbing the big purple shovel when you see Jungkook floundering through the snow towards your house.

“When did you get home?” You ask, forgetting about your mother for a second.

“Two days ago—look,” Jungkook’s face is serious. “We need to throw Taehyung a totally bitchin’ birthday party.”

“What?! Why?” You begin shoveling while Jungkook stands there. You’ve never thrown Taehyung a party before – usually that goes hand in hand with the annual New Year’s Eve bash and the two are celebrated together, even though Tae’s birthday is the day before.

“Because he’s been weird ever since he came home – he never says anything, but I know, alright?”

“What? He’s back?” You stop shoveling and stare at the younger man.

“He didn’t tell you?” Jungkook asks, after hesitating. You bite your lip. You’ve always been the first to know whenever Taehyung decides to visit. “Is everything okay?” You sigh.

“Yes… I don’t know… probably not,” you groan. Jungkook blinks down at you, utterly clueless. “We…fooled around, alright?”

“When?!” Jungkook’s voice has gone up three octaves. “Oh, holy fuck.”

“Two years ago,” you hiss, motioning him to pipe down. “After that party at his house. We never spoke about it and I just assumed he wanted an easy fuck.”

“You’re an idiot,” Jungkook says and you wonder at his wording. “A blind idiot.”

“What?” you’re so confused. Jimin had mumbled something similar last year. Jungkook shakes his head, bits of snow falling off his beanie.

“Aside from that, I think the dude is just going through an overall rough time,” he says. “And no, it’s not because you two fucked. You in?”

“What—yeah fine,” you give in.

“Cool – then my house on the 30th. Bring your own booze. Wear something cute but comfortable.”

“Who else is coming?” You yell after him, watching Jungkook shuffling back down the street. He turns to look at you questioningly.

“It’s just us,” he says, surprise evident in his voice. “Who else?”

“Right.” You say, sighing inwardly.

That night, you run straight into Taehyung outside Jungkook’s door.

“Uh,” you say, wincing at yourself for sounding so horribly awkward. Taehyung stands in front of you, readying himself to knock on. You’d hoped to avoid him for a little bit longer but here you were, running into him right as you arrive. You grip your bottle of Merlot tightly. “Hey.”

“Hey,” he says back, raising an eyebrow at you. Taehyung is intimidating – has always been. You vaguely remember a time when he didn’t scare you, when you were both young and Taehyung was this small scrawny kid with big eyes and a mop of hair. “How’ve you been?” He towers over you now, all broad shoulders and long legs.

“Good,” you clear your throat. “You?” A ghost of a smile flits across his features.

“I’m sure you’ve already heard,” he says, almost bitterly.

“That you quit your fancy job? Yeah, I heard.” Maybe it’s your offhanded tone that throws him off but he’s gawking down at you before chuckling to himself. “What?”

“Nothing,” his face breaks into a bigger smile. “Should’ve known that you of all people wouldn’t give a shit if I quit my job or not,” You’re rushing to correct him that that was not how you intended to come off but he’s grinning, raising a hand to stop you. “No, it’s a good thing. I’m sick of people pitying me for something that was so obviously the correct decision.”

“Pity, huh?” you grin back at that. “Do they give you the sad head-tilt too?” You tilt your head mockingly to the side to demonstrate.

“Oh my god yes,” he snorts. “I’ve been getting those all week.”

“Welcome to the world of failures Kim,” you grin, holding out your hand in an honorary handshake. “We hate it here, but at least the expectations are now at a rock bottom. You can only go up from here.” Taehyung is about to reach for your hand when the door opens.

“Can you two quit flirting out here and come in?” Jungkook is indignant, holding a bottle of beer in each hand. Taehyung gives you a look you can’t quite decipher before heading in. You follow in after him, setting your wine down on Jungkook’s kitchen island. His apartment is small – only one bedroom – but it’s so Jungkook that you smile.

You hug Jieun as she comes out of their shared bedroom before moving on to join Jimin in the kitchen. Jieun is hugging Taehyung, wishing him a Happy Birthday. You watch them as you open your wine and reach for a glass from one of Jungkook’s cabinets.

“Not drinking tonight?” you ask Jimin. He’s dyed his hair blonde and it curls slightly. You think you like this look on him.

“I drove here,” he says easily. “What about you?”

“I’ll figure it out,” you grin. Taehyung comes up to dump the cheesecake you hadn’t noticed he’d been holding earlier on the counter. “Want me to put that in the fridge?” You address him.

“Yes please,”

“Not drinking tonight Tae?” Jimin throws your question at the dark-haired boy, as you shove the cake into Jungkook’s fridge. Taehyung’s eyes quickly glance at you before he speaks up

“I drove here,” he mutters and Jimin snorts.

“It’s your birthday party and you’re gonna stay stone cold sober? That’s sad man. Not to mention you brought your own cake,” he says, chin resting on his hand as he leans on the counter. Taehyung shrugs.

“Where’s Yoongi?” you ask and Jimin motions towards the living room where Jungkook and Yoongi are deeply immersed in what looks like Super Smash Bros Brawl. Judging by the way Yoongi is yelling, you assume he’s already tipsy. Taehyung comes up behind the counter to stand next to you to observe their game. You’re only faintly wary of his presence next to you as you sip on your drink. You don’t even realize Jimin has left the two of you to yourselves to go join Yoongi and Jungkook.

“Why’d you quit?” you ask, still staring at the TV. If Taehyung is surprised at your question, he doesn’t show it. “Your job, I mean.”

“It’s not what I went to school for,” he answers, hands in his pockets. “It became less about the art and more about kissing the asses of big corporations so they would fund us. I took the job because it paid well but at what cost?”

“Yeah, I understand,” you say softly. Taehyung looks at you.

“I know you do,” He says after a while, and your heart blooms at the honest faith in his voice. “My parents are disappointed. They don’t say it out loud, but I know they are. They think I’m going through something when the truth is that I know exactly what I want to do.”

“And that is?” you’re looking at him now and things suddenly fall into place. It’s as though the last few years never happened, that there was never a distance between the two of you. It reminds you of a different time – a time when you and Taehyung would tell each other everything even if you didn’t see him every day.

“Photography,” he answers. “My own studio. Maybe even sell my work – I don’t know. Just me, and art.” You smile.

“That sounds nice,” you say. “You know, Jungkook threw this party thinking you’re going through a quarter-life crisis,” Taehyung snorts at that and you can’t help but giggle along. “I wanted to tell him that he was crazy, but I didn’t have the heart to.” Taehyung is looking at you, questions evident on his face. “Call me crazy, I don’t know, but there has never been a day where you’ve been lost in your life. You’ve always known what you want, and you’ve made sure you get it,” You look down at your wine. The words unlike me are at the tip of your tongue but you don’t voice them. You know what—who you want, but you’re a coward.

You weren’t lying. Taehyung had always been ambitious – a go-getter. If he wanted you, he would’ve made it clear. The realization is heart-breaking.

Taehyung doesn’t reply to your statement, and only hums in response.

The night gets rowdier after that – Jungkook and Yoongi are a deadly combination when drunk and you’ve made it through your bottle of wine by yourself so you’re not doing too badly either.

Jimin and Yoongi leave first – Jimin basically dragging the older boy out. You’re scrolling through the train schedule when you notice Taehyung come up to you.

“I’ll drop you off,” he says. “You’re on the way to my parents house anyway.” You can only nod at that before he’s helping you stand up. The two of you bid a goodbye to Jieun (Jungkook has long since been put to bed and she’s collecting the myriad of beer bottles for recycling), and before you know it, you’re comfortably seated in Taehyung’s car.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been to your place,” he says at last, sounding only slightly guilty. You laugh and tell him your address and watch as he plugs it into the car’s GPS system. You had moved out only last year, finally in a place to be able to afford. The two of you drive in silence, with you watching Taehyung.

He’s wearing a dark button down, tucked into equally dark jeans, hair falling over his forehead. Rings adorn his fingers that are gripping the steering wheel, and you swallow as you eye his thighs in those pants.

The wine was a bad idea.

“Something on my face?” he asks lightly, eyes still on the road. You start in your seat. The wine has lowered your inhibitions considerably.

“No, just admiring how pretty you are,” you say and Taehyung chokes on air. “Did you know you’re pretty? You always have been,”

“Is that so?” There’s a wry smile on Taehyung’s face. You prop your elbow up on his window, chin resting in your hand as you look outside.

“Yeah, since the fucking beginning,” you snort. “Even when you were scrawny and twelve, you were this pretty little thing. Next to you I looked like a drowned rat.”

Taehyung scoffs, running one hand through his hair, pushing it back.

“The day you wake up and realize your self-worth,” he mutters. “You’re far too intelligent and beautiful to belittle yourself like this,” You freeze and turn to look at him. “What? I’m telling you a truth. Stop undermining yourself – you’ve done it all your life.”

“Do you want me to pull up photos from that one trip our families took in 2010? Your puberty kicked in and turned you into a teenage model. My puberty kicked in and I looked like Phineas and Ferb’s long lost sibling.”

“Chat shit all you want, but Jungkook and I spent that trip sneaking glances of you in that bathing suit.”

“You two did what?”

“And I told Jungkook to back off,” Taehyung says it so easily. He pulls up in front of your building and turns off the car. The two of you sit there in silence. “Do you know how hard it is for me to control myself around you?”

You’re dimly aware that Taehyung hasn’t had a single sip of alcohol tonight – that he’s completely himself.

“Then why are you controlling yourself?” you whisper. Taehyung gives you another one of his wry smiles, this one rather sad.

“Because you’ve never seen me the way I’ve seen you,” he says, voice just as hushed. “And for a while, I didn’t mind. It was just a little crush – and I only saw you once or twice in a year so how could it mean anything? I had an entire life outside of you that you weren’t even a part of. So how could any of this be real?” He pauses, and you wait for him to continue.

“But then… That Night happened,” and you know what he’s talking about. “And I thought ‘finally’ and once I’d had a taste, I wanted to keep coming back for more.” He looks up at you now, eyes distant. “And because you never brought it up again, I just thought that it didn’t mean anything—”

“Wait,” you interrupt him, heart racing so fast you can hear it thrum through your ears. “I thought you wanted nothing more.”

“Why would you ever think that?” he whispers. “When I never heard from you, I tried to move on—I had to move on, y’know? And this year I told myself that when I saw you, I’d be content with being your friend. I know I’ve been distant these past few years, but I needed that time to pick myself up—it was too hard to see you and know nothing could come of it.”

“Wait wait wait,” you wave your hands in front of your face, eyes tightly shut. “B-but you never mentioned that night again! I-I just assumed it was a one-night thing!” Taehyung blinks.

“A guy would have to be completely blind to only want you for one night,” he says quietly, and your heart soars. He’s reaching over for you and you shyly intertwine your fingers with his.

“You’re going to have to spell it out for me,” you whisper, tracing patterns on the back of his hand with your thumb. “Because I’m stupid and I won’t believe it until I’ve heard it—”

But Taehyung is reaching over to your seat and pressing his lips to yours. You’ve missed this taste and you reciprocate almost instantly. He tastes like the strawberries that were topped on his birthday cake and you lean into the kiss, sighing in pleasure.

Before you know it, he’s undoing your seatbelt and pulling you over to his side. It’s uncomfortable and you almost ram your head against the rear-view mirror, but eventually you find yourself comfortably straddling his lap, back to the steering wheel. Taehyung’s large hands span the width of your back as he holds you in place.

“I think I like you,” he says. You smile down at him, running a hand along his cheekbone, jaw, finally resting it on his shoulder.

“I think I like you too,” you say back. You lean down to capture his lips in yours one more time and this time he doesn’t hesitate in sliding his tongue into your mouth. You grasp at his shirt on his shoulders, while his hands travel down to rest on your thighs where they travel under the flowy dress you’re wearing, moving over your thighs and finally resting on your ass. You whimper into the kiss and Taehyung doesn’t miss the opportunity to explore more of your mouth.

It’s when you let yourself sit down on his lap completely that you feel it – the hardness in his pants. You gasp before straightening up, but he pushes you back down onto his crotch. You pull away from the kiss, lips swollen.

“T-Tae!” you’re gripping his shirt almost painfully right and he smirks up at you.

“See what you do to me?” he whispers. “We’ve barely done anything except swap spit and I’m already so hard it hurts.” Your ears go warm at his dirty words and you hide your face in the crook of his neck. You squirm on top of him and he groans in pleasure. “Any more of you moving that cute little ass on top of me and I’m going to cream my pants right here and right now.”

His lips latch onto your exposed collarbone where the strap of your dress has slid off and he sucks a bruise there. Your hips are swirling on top of him of their own volition and Taehyung has to throw back his head to let out a deep moan of pleasure. You stare at him in wonder – he looks so beautiful like this, dark hair clinging to his forehead, eyes blown out, lips swollen – and at your complete mercy. You kiss up his neck, biting his earlobe, before pressing a chaste kiss to his lips.

“I’m soaked,” you say, blushing. Your hand reaches down to tease your clit and you whimper before bringing your slick fingers up to show him. “See?”

Like a man starved, Taehyung is wordlessly reaching over to take your fingers into his mouth, and you watch in awe as his tongue swirls around them, licking up your juices instantly. His gaze doesn’t leave you for even a second and you’re so mesmerized. When you kiss him again, you taste yourself on him.

“You’re gonna have to stop here,” he puts a hand on your thigh to halt your ministrations. “I’ll seriously cream my pants.”

“I’m okay with that,” you mutter, leaning in to kiss him again, but he pulls back, a sly smile on his face.

“No, I’d much rather cream your pussy,” his grin is so wolfish that you feel a new wave of juices flow through you.

“Lucky for us we’re at my place though isn’t it,” you smile against his mouth. He laughs, a low, comforting sound before opening the door. You climb off him and out onto the sidewalk and straighten your dress. Taehyung gets off after you, hair mussed (thanks to you), and shirt half unbuttoned (also thanks to you). He reaches for your hand, which you take with a smile. This time, there is no hesitation, no hidden meaning.

-Sometime in the (not-so) distant future-

“Will you hurry up?” You hiss at Jungkook, but he’s too busy brushing his hair to pay any attention to you. “We’re so gonna be late!”

“You’re trampling on my mojo,” Jungkook tells you, straightening his tie and staring at himself in the mirror. Taehyung is next to you, tapping his foot in impatience.

“Okay, Jeon, that’s enough, you are not going to be late for your own wedding.” He says, face impassive and Jungkook sighs.

“Fine! Fine! I’ll be right out – you two go take your positions. Tae – you got the rings?” Taehyung rolls his eyes and pats his front coat pocket pointedly. Jungkook grins, face guilty and Taehyung is opening his mouth, probably to tell Jungkook off once and for all.

You laugh, knowing this is your cue to interrupt the fight before it actually happens, and pull Taehyung away from his best friend and push him out of Jungkook’s dressing room.

“Let’s go – if he’s late that’s on him but I don’t want us to be late either and you’re in the wedding you need to be up there.” You push Taehyung towards the main church towards the altar.

“God,” Taehyung is grumbling. “Promise me, our day won’t be so anxiety inducing.”

“How can it be when you’re such a micromanager,” you smile. “I expect our day to run like a German train schedule.” Taehyung rolls his eyes and glances at a dainty ring on your left hand. He does that often, as if to reassure himself that this is the reality, that you’re here and present and beside him. It makes you unbearably fond. Because even now, years later, Kim Taehyung still can’t believe he has you.

“Honestly, we could do it at city hall and I wouldn’t mind,” Taehyung hums. “Without all these clowns present.”

“Fine,” you play along. “Wanna go this weekend?” You’re not expecting the raised eyebrow he gives you, or the coy answer that follows – but it does make your heart race in a way only Kim Taehyung has ever been capable of.

#kwritersworldnet #bangtanarmynet #btswriterscollective #kim taehyung #taehyung fluff #taehyung angst #taehyung #tae #bts v #bts #bts fic

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ffakc · 4 years ago

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The Boys of Fall - a Jeffrey Dean Morgan fanfiction

I based this off a dream I had where Jeff and my dad were watching football together. I was being super flirty the whole time while Jeff just wanted to watch the game 😂

The Chicago Bears versus the Seattle Seahawks. Tim versus Jeff. My loving dad versus my loving husband. I prepared a feast of game day snacks for my guys and picked up their favorite brews. Today was going to be intense, to say the least.

I build a plate of food and head to the living room. The game was well underway. Jeff taps his knee with a smile and I sit on his lap.

“Here, try this,” I run my fingers through Jeff’s graying hair and kiss him. I hold a chip with hot spinach dip up to his mouth. He takes a large bite.

“Oh my,” he rolls his eyes back, “Did you make this?” he takes a sip of ice cold beer. I gesture to my mom. “Ma, you’ve really outdone yourself!”

“Thanks, Jeff!” my mom smiles. My husband looks over his array of snacks, trying to decide what to sample next.

“I’m 24 years old and I still don’t understand football,” I laugh and continue petting Jeff’s hair.

“I’ve explained it to you before!” my dad says.

“Well, the gist of it is the defense tries to prevent the offense from scoring the football. The offense must advance the ball at least 10 yards every four plays or downs. Each time the offense is successful in advancing the ball 10 yards, they get four more downs or what is called a ‘first down’. Does that make sense, sweetheart?” Jeff explains.

“A little bit,” I reply, “You’re so cute when you talk about the stuff you love.” I curl up under the fuzzy blanket while Jeff’s hands rub my back.

“These wings are delicious too, doll. And you don’t even miss the meat!” Jeff remarks, biting into a cauliflower Buffalo wing.

“Yeah, she made those for Grandpa once and damn near killed him,” my dad jokes.

“It’s true! I think I added more hot sauce than barbecue,” I giggle.

“I don’t mind a little heat,” Jeff replies.

“Well, if you’re going to eat those spicy wings,” I lean into Jeff’s ear, my voice barely above a whisper, “You better brush your teeth real good later. I want your mouth all over me, Daddy.” I feel Jeff get excited in his gray Seahawks sweatpants, grateful he was under the blanket, for those sweatpants definitely didn’t leave much to the imagination. He squeezes my backside and bites his lower lip. His face quickly turns to frustration.

“NOT A PASS!!! GOD DAMN IT!!!” my husband yells, causing me to flinch, “Sorry, babe,” Jeff rubs my shoulder, “Didn’t mean to scare you.” My dad laughs maniacally.

“Well, Mr. Morgan! Look who’s not doing so hot!” Jeff tosses up a middle finger with a smirk. “Hey now, play nice. Just because your team sucks doesn’t mean you get to flip off your father in law.”

“Can I smack your dad?” Jeff jokes.

“Jeffrey!” I playfully slap his chest and we all laugh, “How about another beer?” Jeff nods.

“God, I really love your daughter, Mr. C,” Jeff says as I hand him the beverage with a kiss, “Thanks, baby.” I sit back on my husband’s knee.

“I wouldn’t want anyone else for a son in law, Jeff. Look at the way she looks at you.” I make a goofy face and Jeff wheezes, “Okay, maybe not like THAT. But it makes me so happy to see her happy. She never holds back about how much she loves you, and don’t we all want that in a partner?”

“Very true, I’ll drink to that. I love you, (name).”

“I love you too, Jeffrey,” I nuzzle my head in the crook of his neck.

***

I waited for my husband to finish his shower as I dicked around on my phone. We were sleeping in my childhood bedroom. I shut off the lamp next to the bed, letting the moonlight illuminate the space I used to call my own. The crisp, fall breeze feels heavenly. Jeff appears in the doorway, hair damp and pajama bottoms clinging to his hips. His manly, brunette chest hair turned me on like crazy. He shuts and locks the door behind him.

“Nice room you’ve got here. I dig the orange walls,” my husband looks around.

“Yeah, I think we repainted my junior year of high school. I was going through an artsy phase,” I giggle.

“It’s very cozy,” Jeff smiles and places his glasses on the nightstand. I beckon with my finger. “What are you doin’, Princess?” He climbs on top of me and kisses me deeply, tasting very faintly of cigarettes, but mostly like minty toothpaste, “Oh, I see. I know what you want. Don’t worry,” he glides his tongue over his teeth, “Nice and clean, no more Buffalo sauce,” he teases. I laugh as he buries his face in my neck, kissing and moaning. My husband smells so damn good. Jeff’s kisses trail down my body, “Look at my little girl. Oh fuck yes. So wet already, Princess?” he rasps, burying his nose in the freshly trimmed hair of my most sensitive area.

“You always get me there, Daddy,” I nod and bite my lip.

“You smell scrumptious. Good enough to eat, baby cakes,” Jeff lowers his voice to a whisper, “We’re going to have to keep it down a bit, doll,” Jeff makes a satisfied “mmm” noise and he sucks my clit, “Don’t want Mom and Dad to know how good I tongue-fuck you, hm?” He slurps loudly, “That’s my good girl.” He kisses around my outer lips and slides a finger inside.

“Daddy,” I whine, “Oh fuck!” I rock myself against Jeff’s hot, wet mouth as he grips my hips. He adds another slender finger and begins curling them slightly, hitting just the right spot. “Jeffrey, oh god yes! Jeffrey!” I gasp. Staying quiet while my silver fox’s tongue dove in and out and around every inch of me was damn near impossible.

“You sure have a pretty little pussy, my gorgeous wife,” I LOVED when Jeff called me that. I was Mrs. Morgan, now and forever, and he was never going to let me go. Jeff brings me to the edge of a mind blowing orgasm and readjusts himself. He hovers above me, pressing his lips into mine. “I’m going to fuck your pretty little brains out now,” Jeff lets out a vaguely Negan sounding chuckle. I beg for it as he taps the tip of his hard cock against my clit, “But maybe,” I run my hands over his stomach and across his chest, his nipples hardening from the stimulation and the cool night air. “Maybe I want you to beg for it, sweetheart,” his croaky voice gives me chills.

“Please, I need it so bad,” I can barely speak.

“I can’t hear you,” Jeff teases.

“Please, Jeff! I need your big, fat cock inside of me!” I speak a little louder.

“That’s it, pretty girl,” Jeff sinks into me with a groan, “I ain’t going to last long, you feel so go-oh hell yes, that’s it. Right there,” he bites his lower lip as he thrusts deep and slow, smooth and even. The fullness makes me shake. He hushes me gently as he brushes two fingers over my clit, “Jesus fuckin’ Christ, sweetheart, I’m so close.”

“Come on, Daddy. Finish inside me, Jeff. Please finish insi- oh fuck! Fuck me harder!” I whine. Jeff quickens his pace as small beads of sweat gather on his forehead. Jeff curses under his breath, making low growls of pleasure.

“You want it in your pussy, hm? You want Daddy to breed you good?” I nod quickly and inhale sharply as an intense orgasm overtakes me. I shove my face in the pillow, attempting to muffle my sounds. “I’m fucking cumming, Princess, oh fuck yes! Yes, baby girl! Oh god!” I drip with Jeff’s sticky, warm juices as he pulls out. He rests his head on my chest and I begin stroking his hair.

“Jeffrey Dean, you fucking animal,” I pant.

“I’ve still got it. At 54, I’ve still got it,” Jeff jokes.

***

Jeff pours himself a cup of coffee and joins us at the dining room table. He rests his head on my shoulder lovingly.

“Did you sleep good? You look tired, Jeff,” my mom laughs.

“Yeah, slept wonderfully,” Jeff smiles.

“Is everyone still coming over later?” I ask.

“As far as I know. If you two want to run to the store-“

“Okay, I have to say something. It’s bugging the hell out of me,” my dad speaks up.

“You okay, Mr. C?” Jeff looks confused.

“Yeah, um, I couldn’t sleep last night. Now, I can’t stop you guys from doing what married couples do, just know that the headboard in that bedroom is LOOSE and LOUD,” my dad says.

“Oh my god,” I bury my face in my hands and Jeff turns red.

“Just be more careful, okay bud?” my dad pats his son in law’s shoulder.

“Yes sir,” Jeff holds back laughter. I sip my coffee with a smirk, squeezing Jeff’s knee under the table. And here we thought we were being sneaky.

#denny duquette #fanfic #fanfiction #greys anatomy #jeffrey dean morgan #negan #the walking dead #older man younger woman #john winchester #supernatural

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housamo-side-blog-2 · 3 years ago

Text

Red Eyes

A celebrity is someone famous, not only for their blessings of beauty and knowledge, but for the hard path they have chosen to waik upon, However it can also be a double edged sword,for as one mishap of a wrong doing can end up being attacked by their followers,

Thus the role of being a celebrity is somewhat both an incredible achievement and a poise you have to maintained.Thus you have to bottle your emotions,for as you have the role of being a major role model for everyone. Anger, Sadness, Jelousy, and even kindness, people will always interpret it,,,, as another..

{Shinjuku Academy}

It is nightime Shinjuku, Thus, every student is safely inside their assigned dorm rooms, patroling the area out incase someone violates curfew, two teachers are assigned to patrol around the school,

However two unsuspecting figures managed to escape their rooms and quietly make their way towards Shinjuku Academy, What could they be doing at night that will cause them punishment?, And why at night specificly?

Student 1: Did you bring it?

A tall figure in a black jacket and pants quietly asked their accomplice, as they brought out a can of spray paint.

Student 2:Yeah,here.

Student 1: Awesome!, now then,,,Take this Harumo!

Student 2: Hahaha!

Furiosly spraying the wall,as if it was a canvas, the duo sprayed all around the wall as they write down letters that will cause a certain someone trouble

As they humbly sleep peacefully in their dorm room, dreaming peacefully and softly smiling as if they are having a wonderful time in their mind space.

Student 2: Dude,We better hurry before the teachers hear us!

Student 1: Hold on, I have to put that bastard’s name on it!

The second figure peaks to the side to check if they are nearby,

Student 1: Alright done!, Lets go!,...

Student 2: I can’t wait to see the look on that idiot’s dumb face when they get framed!

Student 1: Haha!, Yeah!

{Narrator}:What awaits your tomorrow Dear Harumo?

{Next Day}

{Shinjuku Academy}

You and your guildmates have just passed the entrance of the school, When Shiro noticed something strange.

Shiro: I wonder whats going on over there?

Looking upon the crowd of shocked students as they look upon wall, as the teachers are trying to get things around.

Kengo: Hey!, what the heck is going on here!?

Kengo asked a neaby student and said: Harumo spray painted the wall.

Shiro and Kengo: WHAT!

Harumo: Me!?,,

Ryota: Guys!, hah...hah...someone spray painted the wall, and...Harumo’s name is on it!

Harumo: What!, but i !

Kengo: What the hell are they taiking about!

Shiro: Its ludicrious for them think that!

Ryota: I don’t believe its Harumo either,but they are making sound as if you did it!

Harumo: Who?

Student 1: Hey look guys its the culprit who spraypainted on it!

Student 2: Why did you vandalised our school like that!?

All turn to gase you as they await your explanation.

Harumo: It wasn’t me!

Student 1: Yeah, tell that when your name is on it!

Kengo: Time to beat the shit outta him!

Shiro: Kengo stop, you’ll only make it worse!

Kengo: This assholes need a beating if they whats coming for them!

Harumo: For the last time!, I DID NOT DO IT!

Student 1: Yeah,yeah, criminals always lie whenever they did something wrong!

Student 2: Criminal! .Criminal!.

Ryota: Hey! Stop calling Harumo a criminal!, They will never do something like that!

Student 1: Then explain the grafiti then!

Ryota: Grrr..

Student 1: Yeah just like i thought!, Nothing!,Hey criminal! hu...

Harumo: FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

Like a thunderbolt you violently rushed towards the cocky bastard pushing them against the grafitied wall and gripped they’re neck tightly as you look at them furiosly in the eye,staring as if you’re gase is like someone had been bottling up they’re pent up aggresion, and only now you are able to release it like nuclear bomb. as the color of eyes changed into a crimson,glare, almost as if a predator is about to bare his fangs on their prey. As you growled, fist clenched and hand on them tight as a rope,

Student 2: Hey! what the heck let him go...!

Harumo: GRAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

Student 2: Graagghh,,Le...meee....gooo!

Harumo: GRAAAAAGGHHHHH!!!!!,,

Ryota: Harumo, stop!

Kengo: Partner!, you’re gonna kill them!

Shiro: Kengo! help me, loosen his grip!

Ryota embraced you from behind as the two try to loosen your grip on them, slowly the two about to drown students are about to run of oxygen,as you blocked they’re airways with your tight grip.

Ryota: Harumo...Please stop!...Please...

Kengo: Harumo...thats enough or you’ll end up killin them!

Toji: Forgive me later Harumo...

Ryota: Toji?

{Toji knocked the anger filled student cold}

Toji: Get Harumo to the clinic, I’ll deal with this two..

Kengo: Shiro,Ryota, take care of Harumo for now,{ Clicks his neck}

Toji: Takabushi, I trust you’ll only knock them out..

Shiro: Kengo, don’t be an idiot!, you’ll only get in trouble, worse you might even get expelled!

Kengo: I couldn’t care less!, IM MAD!

Shiro: Kengo think about this! if you do this, you’ll never see Harumo again!

Eyes widening in realisation, as his gritted expression turn to an expression as if he’s gotta comeback to finish you two off.

Kengo: Dammit...Fine..Toji im leaving them to you!

Toji: All of you get out now!, Now. i have some questions needed to be filled!

Kengo: I gotcha Harumo..

Ryota: ....Harumo.....

{Shennong’s Clinic}

Cold air from the ac,fills the room,you’re cooped up in, as you make out what appears to be clinic,

Harumo: What ...happened?

You rub your head as you feel your head spinning almost as the blood on your head going everywhere,

Harumo: Wait.....

{Remembers the incident}

Harumo: I...i almost...

Hands shaking from fear, you took a moment to get your bearings in order.

{Door opens}

Shennong: You’re awake..

Harumo: Shennong what happened?

Shennong: You passed out, probably from the stress, your friends brought you here, Fortunately, the students you strangled are fine.

Harumo: I...almost killed them......

Shennong: .....

Mr Mononobe: Harumo..Thank goodness you’re awake..

Harumo: {Hugs Mr Mononobe}

The moment you come into contact, you let it all out..as tears flow and drip on Mr Mononobe’s polo. buried in his abs, as you can feel the rockyness of it as you hurt yourself a little from the impact..

Mr Mononobe: There..there..Harumo..

Shennong:I’ll let the other teachers know..

Mr Mononobe: Thank you Mr Shennong keep up the good work!

{Hallway}

Mr Mononobe: Shhhh...Don’t taik now..I’ll take you to your room,

Harumo: But i..

Mr Mononobe: The other students have already spread rumors about your recent outburst lately, and...it could affect you..

Harumo: Oh..okay...Thank you Mr Mononobe.

Mr Mononobe: Its only natural i care for my students.

.Harumo: Im sure everyone thinks im a monster now..

Mr Mononobe:...I don’t think you are..

Harumo: I nearly killed them!,

Mr Mononobe: But you didn’t..

Harumo: Thats because i blacked out! .

Mr Mononobe: And?

Harumo: And??..

Mr Mononobe: If you truly call yourself a monster,then those wouldn’t be in the office right now.

Mr Mononobe: “A monster is being whom only exist to bring destruction”.

Harumo:....

Mr Mononobe: You need time to cool off and think rationally. I’ll inform Shiro that i brought you to your dorm. So don’t worry about them..

Harumo:..Okay...Thanks again Mr Mononobe,

Mr Mononobe: Just doing my job..

{Dorm room}

Harumo:.....

“A monster is a being whom only exist to brin destruction”

Laying on your bed,facing the sceiling. while recalling your outburst on the two students.. the very thought of it,makes you jump out in shocked as you stare at both of your rugged hands,probably from the tightness you were gripping caused it.

Harumo:.....

{Knock Knock}

???: Harumo,are you there? can i come in?

Harumo: That voice...

{Door opens}

Ryota: Harumo!..You’re okay..

Harumo: Ryota, why are you here?

Ryota: Hehe. i sneaked out, preteding i was going to the bathroom,

Harumo: Ryota{ Hugs Ryota}

Ryota: sHHH..its Okay..im here for you Harumo...

Harumo:*sobbing on Ryota’s shoulders*

Ryota: Lets sit down Harumo..

Ryota: Are you feeling okay now?

Harumo: A ...little...

Both of you sat to next to each other on the bed, as Ryota gave his bottle of juice to the crying young man..

Ryota: ...Good news!,Toji caught the culprits who tried to framed you,

Harumo: Really?!, who was it?

Ryota: It was those two.

Harumo: ..Okay..

Registering the goodnews. you can’t help but remember the way you strangle them without mercy as you are lost in your own train of thought, from it, Silence fills the room as you sip from the straw. Ryota breaks the silence.

Ryota: I’ve never seen you act like that Harumo...

Harumo: .....Yeah....me too...

Ryota: Do you....want to taik about it?

Harumo:......

Ryota: Harumo..you know im always here for you, so does Shiro, Kengo, Moritaka,and Toji, We’re all here for you..If you want to taik I’ll listen to every word.so please don’t ..hold it in .

Harumo: Am i a monster?..

Ryota: Off course not! why would you think of that!

Harumo:” A monster only exists to bring destruction” thats what Mr Mononobe said, But the more i think about it, the more its ...its actually true..

Ryota: You are not a monster Harumo.. You’ve never been one, ever since we’ve met on the park,

Ryota: Do you remember,what i said about you could have saved yourself if you just abandoned me..

Harumo:....

Ryota: You didn’t abandoned me,and you saved me, even though we were strangers that time, if you really are a monster then i wouldn’t be here taiking to you, i would have been in Oni’s stomach by now..

Harumo: But i....

Ryota: You didn’t killed them,, and thats whats important right now...

Harumo: {Stares at his shaking hands}

Ryota: Harumo...

The orange chubby places a gentle hand, to ease your quivering palms, you can feel the warmness in them as you feel the soft touch of his skin coming into contact with your rugged hands. and places it on his cheek.

Your quivering expression turns to shocked as you stare upon Ryota directly into his peach colored eyes. But you look as if you’re staring directly to his warm soul, that it almost made you tear up..And as you do,

Harumo: Ryota....!

Ryota:......

You embraced the chubby cinnamon roll slightly tight, as you cry on his shoulders on the other one, While Ryota gently strokes your fluffy greyish hair, and closes his eyes as you let it all out,

Embraced in a warming matter, the hallway echoes your emotions,for as the sun rays down on an warming atmosphere, making it much more ....peaceful...

. . .

#housamo #tokyo afterschool summoners #mc5 #Harumo #Ryota #Summoners #Red Eyes #Story #fanfic

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bopbopstyles · 5 years ago

Text

Temptation (pt. 3)

RATING: M/smut (cw: prior sexual harrassment mentioned)

WORD COUNT: 14.6k jesUs

CATEGORIES: fratboy!harry

He paid the price in Nora not being his. He couldn’t say anything when he saw guys looking at her from across the room, he couldn’t hold her hand when they walked down the sidewalk on campus, he couldn’t touch her whenever he wanted in public. There was a barrier they maintained during daylight hours—no contact in public. At night when everyone else was drunk they broke that rule and could barely keep their hands off each other, lasting on the dance floor of the parties for a mere thirty minutes before going up to Harry’s. But he couldn’t show her off the world, couldn’t sing her praises, couldn’t call her his. At least, not in the way that mattered. He called her his during sex, but that wasn’t the same, he couldn’t distinguish the fervor of sex from the reality of his feelings. And it pained him more than he had expected.

Because he was Nora’s.

She just wasn’t his.

Nora can’t figure out what she wants and Harry gets hurt in the process. (part three of this / fratboy!harry)

PART ONE | PART TWO

Harry woke to the sound of his door opening and an empty bed. Nora was standing at the end of his bed tugging on her pants, hair a beautiful mess.

“Oi, what’re you doing?”

Nora looked up and saw that Harry was awake, sitting up on his elbows and staring at her in confusion. She didn’t want to run out, but she had to. She had a fucking UTI and she was going to have to pee every five seconds, she needed cranberry juice, and she wanted to deal with all of those things not at a fraternity house. “I gotta run,” she said simply.

“Where?” Harry looked over to his alarm clock. “It’s eight AM on a Sunday. Where’re you going?”

“The store,” she replied. “Gotta pick up some things.” She buttoned her jeans and reached for her shirt, long forgotten on the ground.

Harry sat up fully, confused. Who would go to the store at eight in the morning on a Sunday when they could stay in bed? Especially with him? He didn’t want her to leave. “And get what?”

“Jesus Christ, you’re so nosy.” Nora pulled her shirt over her head, exasperated. “I’ve got to get some cranberry juice, okay? And then I have to go home and spend all day by my toilet.”

“What? Why?”

This boy was clueless. But then again, he was also a boy, so what was she to expect. “I’ve got a fucking UTI, H.”

Realization dawned on his face immediately. “Oh.” And then suddenly, he was out of bed, grabbing a fresh pair of boxers, a shirt, and a pair of jeans from his drawers. Nora watched him and tried not to ogle at his muscles as he lifted hisi arms to get his shirt on, or the way his hair flopped into his face ever so slightly when he pulled on his jeans.

“What are you doing?”

Harry stood up and grabbed his keys from his dresser. “Going to the store for you. Now get back in bed, put on some of my clothes that are comfortable, and tell me what exactly you need.”

“What—Harry—“

He pulled her into his body and pressed the most soft and delicate kiss to her cheek. “I’ve got an older sister. Know how much these things suck and I seriously doubt you want to move much farther than to and from the toilet. So get back into my bed and let me take care of you, okay?”

Looking back, that was the moment that Nora fell for him. Right there, Harry holding her close and telling her to let him take care of her. “Okay,” she said, because how was she going to deny him? Plus, his bed was more comfortable than hers, and he was right, the idea of getting in an Uber and going to the store and then home sounded horrific because she already had to pee again.

“Now, what do you need?”

“Pure cranberry juice,” she told him. “No sugars, no sweetener, no mixed with anything else—pure, unfiltered, cranberry juice, and two bottles of sparkling water.”

Harry nodded, memorizing her words. “That it?”

Nora bit the inside of her cheek. “Some Monostadt if you’re feeling courageous.”

“What’s that?”

“Medicine of sorts. Probably will be in with the tampons and stuff.”

Harry’s cheeks reddened—he couldn’t help it—but he just nodded. “Text me if you think of anything else, okay? I’ll be back in a jiffy. And ignore anyone if they tell you to hurry up in the bathroom.” He kisses her forehead with such kindness that Nora possibly melts right there on the floor, and then he’s out the door.

Harry finds Nora curled up in his bed in his Fleetwood Mac shirt, hair pulled up in a messy bun, and reading his copy of Americanah that he was reading for a Literature class. Looking back, this was the moment Harry fell for her. His heart stops a bit at her in his clothes, in his bed, waiting for him, but he pushes the thought from his brain.

“Got a few different kinds,” he says, rousing her attention from the book. “Wanted to make sure it was right.”

Nora sits up and watches him pull three cartons of cranberry juice out of the bag, two bottles of sparkling water, a pack of Monostadt, two bars of chocolate, and some chips. She hadn’t asked for the snacks, but he thought she would want them and that warmed her heart, and the fact that he braved the tampon aisle for her gave her immediately more respect for him. She surveyed the options and saw he had gotten two that would work. “Those two are good,” she said.

“Perfect,” he said. He grabbed a cup from his desk and sat down on the edge of the bed. “Supposed to mix the cranberry juice and sparkling, I assume?” She nodded. “And the juice is pretty strong?” She nodded again. “Ok. Let me mix something and you tell me if it needs more of one or the other.”

“Ok, Mr. Bartender,” she said and Harry chuckled. He poured the two together, focusing on making sure it wouldn’t be too strong for her to sip on. He handed her the cup and she took a sip—perfect. “S’good,” she said. “Thank you.”

He smiled at her, proud of his ability to make the perfect thing for her. “Course. Now shove over so I can get in with you.”

Nora blushed, scooted over, and watched him get undressed. He stripped down to just his boxers, and then crawled into bed next to her. “Thank you for doing this,” she said softly, carefully edging closer to him so her head was on his shoulder. “It’s a bit awkward, you know. We just...” Had sex, she almost said.

“Hey,” he said softly. He pushed a strand of hair that had fallen out of her bun behind her ear, fingertips trailing down her cheek. “I wanted to do it. Don’t care if it’s awkward.” He pressed another chaste kiss to her forehead, and then grabbed a remote from his bedside table. “Now, want to watch a David Attenborough nature documentary with me?”

“I’ve been meaning to watch Our Planet,” she said, settling in next to him.

Harry decided that she couldn’t get more perfect.

They laid in bed for most of the day watching nature documentaries and ended up cuddling without even thinking about it. Harry discovered that he loves Nora’s head on his shoulder, their legs tangled at the end of the bed, a thin blanket tugged over them to keep them warm in the late January cold that the heat can’t keep out. Sometimes her fingers found his skin and drew outlines over his tattoos, which never ceased to pull a sharp inhale from him and a plea that she didn’t pull away. But she always did. Nora was better at keeping her boundaries up—she didn’t hold his hand, she didn’t snuggle into him too much—there was almost a reticence to the way she relaxed into him. She wouldn’t stop fidgeting and even when she relaxed, he knew she wasn’t letting her full bodyweight lean into him.

She was up and down constantly to go pee and he kept pouring her more glasses of cranberry juice and sparkling water, but her UTI didn’t go away. He asked about it hesitantly, not wanting to make her uncomfortable, and she just blushed before shaking her head. After another trip to the toilet, she reached for the Monostadt from where it’s been sitting on his dresser.

“You okay, Cherry?” The nickname popped out and he immediately remembered saying it the night before, balls deep inside of her and the image made him harden immediately. He tried to disguise it with the blanket, but Nora saw it without him knowing. The image made her smile inside, the reality of what she did to Harry making her quite happy.

“S’not getting better,” she said. “Gonna take this and hope it helps.”

“Need anything?” He asked and she shook her head before heading back to the toilet. He leaned back against the pillows and sighed, keeping the documentary paused so she didn’t miss anything in her absence. His phone buzzed with a text and he grabbed it, swiping it open. It was Nash.

Who’s the girl who is going in and out of the bathroom and your room?

Nash lived upstairs, but he must’ve been cleaning the house and noticed Nora. Her name’s Nora. She’s not feeling too great.

Aren’t you a gentlemen

Harry chuckled before placing the phone back on the nightstand, the sound of Nora re-entering the bedroom making him want to forget everything else. She was on the phone, he realized when she stepped inside, but she was speaking in another language.

“Je vais bien, maman,” she said. It was French, he realized. He didn’t know she spoke French and the sound of it falling from her lips turned him on more than he wanted to admit. “Mon ami prend soin de moi.” She leaned against the door as she spoke to her mother, Harry understanding that much. “Non, un garçon. Non, on ne sort pas ensemble. Maman, arrête.” She sighed, her eyes catching with Harry’s, and she rolled her eyes. Sorry, she mouthed and Harry shook his head, as if to say No matter. “Maman, je dois y aller, d'accord? Je t'appellerai plus tard. Je t’aime. Salut.”

“You speak French?” He asked, amazed.

She nodded. “My mom’s French.”

“That’s so cool that you know French and German.”

Nora tried ignore the way the fact that he remembered that she spoke German made her heart warm. Without a word she laid down next to him, pulling the blanket up around her shoulders. “You can start it,” she said, and Harry followed her directions.

They laid in his bed until almost five o’clock, at which point Harry suggested they order food. They decided on sushi and they picked out a bunch of rolls and dumplings to try, and Harry grabbed the food when it arrives, making a spread on his bed for them. He didn’t tell her that he usually doesn’t let people eat on his bed because he made an exception for her, not being able to bear the idea of making her go downstairs and eat when she looked so cuddled up and warm in his blanket. They finished another documentary and it was seven o’clock when Nora declared it was time for her to go home. She was feeling better, she reassured a worried Harry, and Maddy was at home to take care of her. He insisted on driving her and Nora wore his Fleetwood Mac shirt with her jeans out of the frat house, since Harry wouldn’t let her give it back to him. He made sure she didn’t have to talk to any of his brothers downstairs, coming to grab her when he knew the coast was clear, and she appreciated it—she didn’t want to get whistled at or questioned, just to go home.

His car was a Prius, which Nora smiled at. He was so unlike any other fraternity brother she had ever met and he intrigued her more than she wanted to admit. When he turned on the car, Elton John blasted from the speakers and when Harry went to turn it down, Nora grabbed his hand and shook her head, telling him to keep it. He drove her home and they sang Elton John at the top of their lungs, both grinning from ear to ear, catching each other’s eyes sometimes. Harry loved seeing her in his car, loved having her around all day. When he dropped her off, she hopped out of his car without a kiss and he tried to ignore how it made his heart sink. He hated watching her walk away from him and inside her building.

It’s just sex, he thought to himself. It was what he had told himself time and time again and what he kept having to remind himself of.

The thing was, though, he was starting to have doubts.

In class, Harry checked in with Nora about how she was feeling and when she told him she was all better he smiiles warmly at her. They went and studied together after class, but Nora picked up her books around three and told him she was heading out, barely a look over her shoulder at him as she walked out.

She was creating distance. She needed it—after she’d spent all day with him she needed to remember that it was just sex, nothing more. When he dropped her off, she had gone into her apartment breathless purely from being around him and that whole night all she could think about was him. She needed space to figure out what was going on, to get her feelings in check. Nora had a life that she needed to focus on, grades to keep up, friends to see, an internship to search for. She filled her nights with homework and the job search instead of texting Harry, her mother reminding her that she needed to turn in applications soon if she wanted her dream internship position in London with the archival research department at the Museum of London. (She’d gone the past summer with her parents and fallen in love with the history of the city and decided she had to work there.) It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be around Harry, it was that she couldn’t. Everytime she was around him she felt this itch to fucking touch him and she couldn’t handle it anymore. She couldn’t handle how much she wanted to kiss him and curl her fingers in his hair and feel him between her legs. Nora needed air, she needed to re-calibrate, she needed to remember that she didn’t want to date and especially not a fraternity boy.

Harry’s texts went unanswered for the most part, other than the occasional quick response to something related to their classwork. He tried not to wonder if he’d done something wrong, but it was hard when he went from caring for her and her UTI to feeling iced out. Nora acted normal in class, small talk and shared laughter when their professor did something funny. But it wasn’t the same as usual and Harry was confused. When he asked Nash about it, he looked at Harry and said, “you’re just hooking up, right?” That made Harry self-concious—was he having feelings for her? And if so, did she not feel the same pull that he did between them? Being around Nora this week made him realize how much he just enjoyed her company, whether they were talking or studying or just sitting next to each other in class. He simply missed her, despite how much he tried to convince himself he didn’t.

He invited her to a party that weekend, hoping the weekend would mean he would be able to see her, but she responded a few hours later with a simple Sorry, I can’t :(. He spent the party sulking in the corner, sipping on whiskey and watching people have fun before going upstairs and calling it a night earlier than normal. Nash noticed and when he asked, Harry just replied, “She’s not here.”

The next week was just like before. They chatted in class, but beyond that it was radio silence. She responded to his texts even less and Harry was a confused mess. He threw himself into his school work, getting ahead on readings that he didn’t need to do for two weeks. All he wanted was an explanation, but he was too scared to even ask why she was doing it. Did she wants to stop hooking up? Had she been freaked out by his kindness? Maybe it was the nature documentaries. Did she want him to be more like Nash? More aloof? Did she want him not to care? Because he didn’t know if he could.

That weekend DSig had another party, but this time Harry told Niall, who was seeing Nora’s friend Maddy, he discovered, to invite them. Niall did as Harry had asked, but he didn’t know if they would come. And when Friday rolled around, Harry was stood in the kitchen, alone, drinking whiskey. Again.

Maddy and her friends had arrived, but Nora wasn’t with them. When Harry had asked her about Nora, Maddy had shook her head and said that Nora “wasn’t feeling it”.

“Harry!” It was Nash and he was properly drunk. “My man! Why aren’t you drunk, bro?”

Harry raised at his cup. “I’m drinking still.”

Nash looked in the cup and grimaced. “We’re doing shots,” he declared, looking around the kitchen. He grabbed a bottle of tequila, two limes, and handed a shot glass to Harry. The shots were doubles and Harry wasn’t looking forward to it, but he did it anyways, because if Nora wasn’t going to be there then he at least wanted to have fun. He was entitled to have his fun—after all, he was Harry Styles, as Nash kept reminding him. He was hot and people were into him right and left, guys and girls alike.

So Harry decided to have fun. He did four shots, his mind whirring by the end, and followed Nash to the sweaty dance floor. The music overtook him and he let go, blissfully and fully. He danced with girls who he could tell were interested, but everytime he looked at them all he could think about was how they weren’t Nora. Sure, they were pretty, but they didn’t look at him like she did. He danced with them anyways, but when they leaned in to kiss him he stepped away and found his friends again, not wanting someone else to touch his lips because Nora had touched them last.

It was after midnight when he stopped dancing. He was hot, trashed, and wanted Nora. He just wanted her, not some other girl to fill the Nora-shaped hole in his night. It wasn’t until this moment that Harry, drunk off his ass, realized just how deep he was. Something was different with her and he didn’t know why or what it was, but he needed it more than he needed to be at this party. So he pulled out his phone and called himself an Uber, not even telling Nora he was coming because he didn’t want her to turn him away.

The knock on the door had Nora looking at her clock and sighing. It was almost one and she was exhausted—she was winding down for bed and watching a documentary on deforestation, finishing a glass of wine, skin fresh from a face mask. Maddy was out with Taylor and Lauren, but Nora had stayed in. She wasn’t sure why, but when they’d asked her to come to the party with them, she had said no. The idea of seeing Harry made her nervous—the last time she’d been at his party they had hooked up, and she didn’t know if she was in a place where she could do that and not have questions after. So she avoided the situation entirely.

But when she opened the door to find Harry standing in front of her, she was just as lost. “H?”

Harry smiled at the nickname, it settling the part of him that was nervous to see her. “Cherry. Hi.”

“What’re you doing here?”

“Seeing you.”

“I noticed,” she replied. “Why?”

“Wanted to see you.”

She took another look at him and realized he was drunk. Quite drunk, in fact. “How’d you get here?”

“Uber.”

That was a relief at least—he hadn’t drive himself. “Come on inside. You’ll freeze out there.” He’d not brought a jacket and Nora could see the raised goosebumps on his exmposed arms, the tattoos littering his body open for the world to see.

He kicked his shoes off in the entryway and watched as Nora poured him a glass of water. She rummaged through the cabinets before pulling out an Advil, which she handed to him. He took both, murmuring a thanks under his breath. She leans back against the counter and watched him, his presence in her apartment all consuming and more comforting than she had expected. He smelled of sweat and alcohol, but underneath it she could taste his cologne, the memories of it rushing back to her like a freight train. Him, close to her as he fucked her deep and fast, begging for her to finish. She pressed her legs together at the memory.

“Why are you here?” She asked him again, breaking the silence stretching between them.

Harry leaned on the kitchen island, his elbows digging into the granite countertops. “You didn’t come tonight.”

“Didn’t feel like going out,” she explained. She hadn’t expected him to be so disappointed, but she could read it on his face.

“You’ve been dodging my texts and not spending time with me.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“Bullshit,” he replied, his voice hard in the quiet of the room. She wasn’t answering him and he was about done with it. She was standing there, staring him down, and completely ignoring the meaning behind his questions. He wanted answers, goddamn it—he wanted to understand her. “We’re all busy. It’s more than that and I don’t get it. Did I miss something? Did I do something?”

The way his voice trailed off at the end, emotion radiating through his words, had Nora’s heart aching. She hadn’t meant to hurt him—she had been selfish, needing the time away from him and ignoring how it would affect him, or that it would affect him at all. “I needed space,” she said, trying to find the words.

Harry’s eyes met hers and the way they bore into her soul made her stop fidgeting for once and concentrate on him. “But why, Nora?”

The way he said her name made her realize she had to be honest with him. “We’re just hooking up,” she said, the words sandpaper on her tongue. “And I needed space to make sure it stayed that way. I’m not in the position for anything more and I didn’t want you to be confused.”

Harry didn’t reply. He just looked at her. Maybe it was the alcohol or the hour, but Nora thought she saw disappoint and defeat in his eyes. And if she did, she had nothing to offer him. She didn’t have the psace in her life for someone else right now, only herself. People were complicated, especially relationships, and Nora didn’t want that. She wanted simplicity and hooking up with Harry would only stay simple if she kept it that way.

“I know we’re just hooking up,” he reponded finally. The lie was bitter on Harry’s tongue, because she did need to. The minute her words met Harry’s ears he knew that he was craving more. He had fallen with her, one way or another, somewhere in the week he had known her. His crush was full-fledged and suffocating, because when he looked at her he could barely look away. In her oversized sweatshirt and tiny shorts, her hair loose and messy, face clean of makeup and eyes weary with exhaustion. So when he looked away from her, it took every bone in his body, but he knew if he continued to look at her she would know he was lying. And he wasn’t ready to lose her yet. “You didn’t need to avoid me to make that clear, you know.”

His answer brought comfort to her—he felt the same way, that it was just sex. He didn’t need more, he wouldn’t complicate her life. He would let her be her and not ask for more. “I’m sorry,” she told him. “Shouldn’t have done it.”

He watched as she rounded the corner of the kitchen island and came up to him, her body mere inches away from him. Harry could smell her coconut shampoo and see the wrinkles between her brows from when she frowned. The desire to touch her was almost too much for him. “I survived.”

Nora wanted to touch him with every bone in her body. She wanted to feel his skin under fingers and watch him inhale as she scratched down his back. Since they were on the same page, she realized she had no reason to stop herself anymore.

Watching closely, he exhaled sharply as she touched him for the first time. It was soft, reticent, a reminder and a memory of before. A simple brush of her forefinger down the length of his bicep that had his heart beating faster in his chest. “Cherry,” he said, his voice gravely with desire.

When their eyes met, a simple understanding passed between them in seconds. And then Harry was pulling her up, her legs were around his waist, and he was walking her into her room, their lips melded together as if no time had passed. They hadn’t forgotten how to kiss one another, it was like muscle memory, the need for one another feeding through their skin as they kissed, a shared desire for more and more.

Nora dropped to her bed and she wasted no time with shedding her clothing, her shirt and pants coming off before Harry could even tug off his shirt. He wasn’t drunk anymore—their conversation had sobered him—but when he looked at her skin, he thought he might be intoxicated again because he couldn’t get enough. Sheets curled in her fingers as he pressed his lips to her body, murmurs of how beautiful she was and how much he wanted her flowing from him freely. Gasping, she reached for his chin and pulled him up to her, needing him to kiss her properly again. Which he did. He ground into her, desperate for her to feel him, and Nora moaned at the feeling. How had she managed to go two weeks without him between her thighs?

“Need you,” she said, breathless.

He looked up from where he was attached to her nipple. “Where do you want me, princess?”

“You know where.”

Once he might’ve made her spell it out, but he was too spellbound. He lowered himself flat on his stomach and tugged her panties aside without another word, pressing his tongue to her hot skin.

Things passed like that for a few weeks. They texted each other when they needed one another, Nora went to Harry’s parties just for Harry, and they flirted all through their class. Nora was comfortable with where they’d left things—clear and precise on the fact that they were nothing more than friends who were fucking. No relationship and no future of one.

Harry, on the other hand, couldn’t shake the disappointment he felt that night when she told him they were just hooking up. It poured through every fiber of his being and the more time he spent around her the more he knew that he had messed up. Royally. He had missed the opportunity to tell her how he felt, he had missed the opportunity to steer their relationship in a different direction and he was going to pay the price.

Because he was Nora’s.

She just wasn’t his.

It was a Friday night and Nora wasn’t at DSig—a rarity. Maddy, Taylor, and Lauren had convinced her to go to the bars with them, telling her they needed a girls night. That she had been spending all of her time with Harry (a lie) and they missed her. So she dressed up, looking hot as fuck if she said so herself, and got drunk with her girls. They played drinking games in her and Maddy’s living room until they were all perfectly wasted, before taking an Uber to Slots.

At first, it was just the girls. The music flowing, dancing at the table they get in the corner, dragging each other onto the tiny and cramped dance floor. It was sweaty and drunk and so much fucking fun.

But then, some boys who Taylor knows came over, and one of them had eyes only for Nora. He was tall, but not as tall as Harry, with dark brown hair, but not as curly and gorgeous as Harry’s, and blue eyes, but they didn’t pierce her heart the way Harry’s do. His name was Leo and he stuck to Nora all night. She let him too, basking in the attention, loving when he bought her drinks and asked her about her classes and her life. She asked him about his and the more they talked the more Nora thought he was cute. Not in the way that Harry was—Harry was hot—but Leo was cute in his own way. A bit unsure, fumbled for words, searching for the way to say something in a way that Nora would like. She loved the power that surged through her veins at knowing that she was desired by someone other than Harry.

Leo was a Economics major and planned on working on Wall Street after college. He was from a few towns over from their college and had planned to go here most of his life. He wasn’t in a fraternity, but he was in a couple of clubs and they discovered quickly that they had some mutual friends. He was kind and made horrible jokes that Nora laughed at anyways because she saw that he wanted her to laugh. No—he needed her to laugh. He listened intently when she told him about her major, about her interest in German history, about her time abroad. He asked her questions and listened, diving deeper and asking her more and more. She felt like he wanted to know her in a way she wasn’t used to and she was surprised, but also flattered. Harry didn’t ask her these things, they just came up in conversation. But Leo sought them out, desperate for more information about her.

So when he asked for her number at the end of the night, she didn’t hesitate to give it to him. She didn’t know what to expect, but it couldn’t be anything big.

But when he texted her in the morning asking if she wanted to get coffee that afternoon, she was thrown off guard. She had told herself she wasn’t going to date anyone. But it was almost March and she had been seeing Harry and a part of her was intrigued by Leo. She wanted to get to know him, see what he was about. If all else failed, she could always tell him it wasn’t going to work out, she decided. So she said yes.

Harry was working Saturday afternoon shift, aka his least favorite shift. He usually spent the afternoons in the library or his room working on readings or writing papers. He had to work on his paper for the Urban Studies class he had with Nora, actually, he realized as he flipped the switch on the espresso machine. Would she want to help him outline maybe? It would be an excuse to hang out with her in a purely PG environment, something he was increasingly trying to find excuses for. He wanted more from his relationship with Nora and had decided he was going to try and ease into the idea—take it slow. Maybe they’d just…end up dating?

Somehow he sensed her presence the second she stepped in the door of the coffeeshop. Her hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail, a simple white tshirt and jeans that showed off her body in the ways he loved seeing. He watched her eyes lift from the floor and then they met his, a look of shock running across her face. Somehow they’d yet to have the discussion about which coffee shop he worked at, but here she was when he was working behind the bar making espressos and fancy coffees. Then, her eyesight shifted without even a smile in his direction, and he watched helplessly as she made her way over to a boy who had come in 15 minutes earlier—he was seated in the corner. He’d ordered some flavored latte, and Harry decided that was reason enough to hate him. He had never seen the kid before, but that wasn’t impossible at their school, especially if he wasn’t in a frat or in his classes.

“Harry.” He turned and Lauren, the other barista was looking at him in confusion. “You okay?”

He glanced back at Nora, her eyes bright and a smile dancing across her face. “Fine.” He grabbed the coffee cup Lauran handed him and turned back to the espresso machine, placing the cup under the drip and staring daggers at the back of this kid’s head.

Not too long after, Nora rose, her wallet in hand, and made her way to the bar. This guy wasn’t even going to buy her coffee? Maybe it wasn’t a date, he thought to himself. Any guy who didn’t take Nora out was an idiot, but that was a thought for another time. He heard Nora order her coffee, the same drop coffee and skim milk that he remembered, and tried to avoid making eye contact with her until she was standing right in front of his station and said his name.

“H,” she said, words soft. The nickname she used jolted through his body and he hated it. How dare she use while she was on a date with another guy? But then again, she wasn’t his, was she?

“What?” Harry knew his voice was gruff, but he didn’t care. She should know that he was pissed, even if he had no right to be.

She sighed as he filled her cup. “Why are you acting like this?”

Harry grabbed the milk and filled the cup the amount he knew she liked, and then looked up at her again. He rested his hands on the corner of the counter and leaned towards her—he wondered if she could feel the tension radiating between them. “You on a date?”

“I—“ she looked over to the guy who waved at her, and then back at him. “I don’t know.”

Fuck that. It was obviously a date. “Did he ask you to coffee, no studying or other excuse?” He handed her the coffee, but she didn’t move.

“Yes.”

“Then it’s a fucking date, Nora.”

Her fingers slid up and down the cup, moving the sleeve with them. “Are you mad?”

The laugh that left his lips was dry, mocking almost, and Harry didn’t have it in him to care. “No, I’m perfectly fine, Nora. We aren’t doing any more than fucking, right?” He ignored the way the hurt look on her face stabbed his heart and turned away, desperate for literally anything else to do. A beat later, her heard her footsteps as she moved away from the counter, and Harry tried to blink the tears from his eyes.

Nora knew she had fucked up, but how did she fix it?

She was lying on her bed, staring up at her ceiling and running through every moment she had shared with Harry in the past few months. The sly gazes in class, the conversations as they cuddled in his bed, the sex—the sex. And him. He was unlike anyone she’d known, he was unlike Jonas in all the ways that mattered and the ones she didn’t know were important. Harry was someone she never saw coming and the feeling she had for him she’d been trying and trying to push down since she’d met him, because if she let herself feel them then she would be ripped open for him to see. All of her demons out of the closet laid bare for him to investigate, to judge, to tell her how handle. And she didn’t think she wanted that.

And Leo was simple. He might want to date her, but she didn’t feel the need to share everything about her life with him. He was…easy. They could date for a while, just enough to get her mind off of Harry, and then she could break up with him. She didn’t want something serious and Leo didn’t scream serious at her—he screamed pure, kind, caring. The kind of guy who wouldn’t push her when she didn’t want to talk, wouldn’t bed to know everything about her. And that was exactly what she needed.

And the exact opposite of Harry. Harry desperately wanted to know her—she could see it in the way he looked at her, and it scared the shit out of her. He knew all the surface things and was begging to see the depths of her in a way that wanted her to lock a door and never reopen it. But she had hoped to at least stay friends with him, she enjoyed spending time with him. After the way he’d acted today, though, she didn’t know if that was possible, though. He seemed royally pissed off, despite the fact that he didn’t technically have the right to be, she told herself. She wasn’t his, not in any real way. Despite the way he had said the words, they were true—they were just fucking.

Her phone buzzed next to her and she rolled over to see who it was—Leo.

I had fun today. Study tomorrow?

Nora considered her thoughts, the things she knew and the ones she didn’t. Leo was something to be explored, she decided. See you at noon, she replied, pushing the sinking feeling in her stomach aside.

When Harry saw her on the dance floor, his heart lept in his chest. She’d come to another DSig party, despite the date on Saturday he’d seen. Despite the fact that they’d barely spoken this week, no funny texts during the evenings or study sessions or picking up coffee before class. Just words shared about the lecture and reasons given for goodbye. He could see her messy waves bouncing as she jumped and he smiled, he’d always loved how she danced. Carefree, not giving a fuck what anyone thought of her.

He wanted to go to her, touch her, make her his. But then the face of that other guy flashed through his brain, and he couldn’t rationalize it. She was seeing someone else unless she said otherwise. Off-limits, at least for right now.

“That Nora?” Nash leaned against the doorjamb next to him, handing him a beer. “What’s she doing here?”

“Fuck if I know,” Harry replied. He’d told Nash about what had happened in a rare moment of honesty over one too many beers on Saturday night, but now he was thankful to have someone who got it. “Think I misread the situation?”

Nash shrugged. “Dunno man. She’s coming over here, though, I think.”

Harry whipped his head towards her and saw Nash was right—she was weaving her way through the crowd alone and heading straight for him. Nash left his side so he could be alone, and Harry was thankful for it. Nash was one of the rare good ones.

“H,” she said, voice barely audible over the thud of the bass. “Hi.”

“Hi.” He wanted to talk to her with every fiber of his person, but his brain was screaming at him to walk away, leave her alone, let her figure out her shit and come back to him after. Her fingers ghosted over his chest and Harry sucked in a breath. He looked at her eyes and realized she was pretty drunk—drunker than he was, at least. Is that what it took for her to touch him—alcohol? “Nora,” he said, covering her hands with his, “what are you doing?”

“Touching you.”

“Why?”

She shrugged, her tumbling down her back, “want you.”

Harry gulped. Did he have the self-control? “What about that guy?”

“He’s not here.”

“Are you dating him?”

“No.”

Harry considered her words, the look in her eye that was begging him to fuck her. And for some reason, he decided to do it. “I’ll only do this if you’re sure you want to.”

She nodded, curling her fingers into his black t-shirt, slightly damp from the sweat of being in a room this crowded. “Positive.”

And with that, he decided to shove all of his thoughts telling him that she was just using him to the side and kissed her. Her arms wrappd around his neck immediately and he grasped her waist, pulling her flush to his body. Fuck, he’d missed how she felt against him, like she was made for him. Nora’s fingers curled in his hair and tugged slightly, a moan falling from his lips that he couldn’t stop. “Upstairs,” he said, voice rough with desire and hurt and disappointment.

She followed him up the stairs, hand grasped in his, and pulled off her clothes the minute she was inside his room. He raked his eyes over her, knowing it might be the last time, and decided to fuck her like it was. Slow, deep—make her remember that she wanted him. Make her know how much he wanted her, that he regretted not telling her when he’d had a chance.

And so he did. He left hickies all over her body, telling whatever boy she was talking to other than him that she was his, fucked her so deep she moaned his name like a prayer, held her so close that their skin felt like one, and didn’t let her go after. When she rolled over and crawled down his body, he let her, wanting to have her go down on him one last time, to feel her mouth and watch her grip his hips as she bobbed up and down. And he fucked her again, this time a little faster, a little rougher, but just as deep. And he licked into her after, drawing another orgasm from her, trying to memorize her taste on her tongue, how his name sounded off of her tongue, the way it felt for her fingers to curl in his hair and pull. After, when she was curled up in his arms, eyes shut and asleep on his chest, he prayed that she wouldn’t regret it in the morning. That maybe she’d tell him it meant something, that she wanted him and not the other guy, that she was his and only his.

But when he woke up, the only trace of her was her perfume on his pillowcase.

Weeks passed without more than a few words in class and it pained Nora, but she understood. When she’d woken up in his arms, him holding her close so her faced was smushed in the crook of his neck, she knew it was going to be a bad idea to let herself do this again. He’d barely returned his texts or replied to her in class, the smiles she adored were forgotten. She avoiding the coffee shop where he worked and told Maddy she wasn’t going back to DSig. He didn’t want to be her fuck on the side anymore and she would respect that. She spent time with Leo in small doses, trying not to give too much to him, and when they had sex, she tried not to think of Harry. But it wasn’t as good, it wasn’t the same.

Leo introduced her to his friends and she struggled to stay interested in the conversation, her thoughts anywhere and elsewhere. When they studied together, she found herself on her phone stalking Harry’s Instagram, wondering who the girls in the photo he’d just posted were. It came time to work on the second paper for the class she shared with Harry and she missed his insights into her outlines. Leo couldn’t provide the same help and got frustrated when she didn’t take his suggestions (which weren’t good).

The trees changed colors and as she laid out on the lawns with a book, Nora wondered if Harry liked the Spring as much as she did. Maddy laid next to her with an iced coffee and her computer, working on an assignment for her GIS class, eyes flittering over to Nora every once and a while.

Finally, Nora heard her voice break the silence. “What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing,” Nora lied. She was thinking about Harry.

“Bullshit.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“So you’re thinking about Harry,” Maddy said. She closed her computer and laid her head on her forearms. “Spill.”

Nora shut her book and sighed. She’d avoided talking about Harry with Maddy or any of her friends, never really telling them why it fizzled out. Just that it did and it was fine. Maddy had seen straight through her lies, but didn’t push. “I miss him,” she said simply.

“Then talk to him.”

“He doesn’t want me to.”

“Valid,” Maddy replied.

Nora whipped her head to her friend. “You’re supposed to say he’s stupid.”

“Well, he’s not,” Maddy said. “He’s got every reason to not want to talk to you—you started seeing another guy and then fucked him a week later.”

“But…”

Maddy sighed. “If you tell me you were just fucking, I’ll literally kill you.”

“We were, though!”

“Nora, you’re not stupid, so why are you acting like you are?” Nora narrowed her eyes at her best friend. How dare she?

“You’re supposed to always be on my side, you know.” “I am. You just aren’t thinking straight.”

Nora rolled over and shoved her face into the blanket they’d brought with them. “What am I supposed to do then?”

After a beat, she heard Maddy’s voice. “Do you like Leo?”

“He’s fine.”

“Fine.” Maddy parroted Nora’s word back to her and Nora grimed at how it souned. Bored, uninterested, which was exactly what she was most of the time. The interest she’d had in Leo had fizzled after the first two weeks, their conversations stalling, the desire dissolving.

Lifting her head nad making eye contact again, Nora said, “He’s boring.”

“And Harry?”

Harry. What was there to say and what wasn’t there to say? He consumed her thoughts and her dreams and she hated it. She’d had a sex dream about him last week while she was in Leo’s bed which was quite possibly the worst thing of all time. Sitting next to him in class was hell because she had to be close to his body, smell his cologne, just be around him, but she couldn’t switch spots because the other students would throw a fit. She missed the way he kissed her and touched her and said her name and laughed with her.

“He’s…Harry,” she said simply, becuase that’s all there was to say.

“Nor, I love you,” Maddy said, giving her a small smile, “but you fucked up.”

And Nora knew it the minute Maddy said the words. She’d hurt Harry and she just hoped there was some way she could fix it, because if she didn’t she didn’t know if she could forgive herself.

Leo was her first task. She texted him to see if he was at his dorm and when he said “yes!” she walked over, backpack thrown over her shoulder, a pit of dread in her stomach. Leo was perfectly nice, just not nice for her. He needed someone simple, easy, and most importantly, not completely infatuated with someone else, all things that she was not. Leo lived on the other side of campus in one of the nicer dorms, known for not having too many parties and only upperclassmen and thankfully for her, lived alone. If she had had to go in there and deal with a roommate after she broke up with him, nora didn’t think she could do it.

He answered his door immediately, a wide smile on his face, a pair of sweats and a loose t-shirt for their college adorning his body. “This is a nice surprise,” he said, kissing her cheek sweetly.

Nora nodded, making her way inside. “Are you busy?”

He sat down at his desk chair and gestured to the notes spread out in front of him. “Studying. Or trying to, at least.”

She sat down on his bed, the plaid bedspread reminding her of the nights she had spent cuddled up next to him in his Twin-XL, much too small for her tastes. Harry’s double bed in the frat hour was far superior. “I wanted to talk to you about something,” she said, the words rough on her tongue.

Leo cocked his head to the side but said nothing, shutting his laptop and giving her his full attention. Somehow, this was worse, having him stae directly at her. She almost wished he didn’t have the courage to look at her because she sure didn’t.

“I want to break up.” The words were blunt in the quiet of the room, the only sounds the soft echo of a door shutting in the hall. Leo blinked at her and Nora’s eyes shifted down to her lap, winding and unwinding her fingers. She knew she didn’t care deeply about Leo—not in the way she suspected he did—but she didn’t expect the words to come as easily as they did.

“Why?” Leo asked, his voice broken at the end of the word. Nora expected if she looked at him he would be tearing up; he was always more open with his emotions than she was. Vulnerable, something she did not excel at.

“I—I just…” Could she tell him? Be completely honest with him? Her eyes met his, trying to gauge what she should say.

But he beat her to it. “Is it Harry?”

“What?” She hadn’t even told him about Harry. Nora had kept those two parts of her life as far apart as possible, other than when Harry saw her first date with Leo. Otherwise, she made an effort to never mention Harry to Leo. She didn’t know if it was because she couldn’t bare it or if she said his name it would be harder to be around Leo. Either way, he wouldn’t have gotten Harry’s name from her.

“I saw his name on your phone one time. Asked around. Someone said that you and him were a bit of a thing before we started seeing each other.”

Thankfully this person seemed to have left out that Nora and Harry had last hooked up once she’d started seeing Leo. That was a truth that Leo didn’t need to hear. “It’s Harry,” she agreed, “but it’s also me. I’m…I’m just not right for you, Leo. I’m sorry it took me this long to figure that out, but it’s—this—just isn’t right.” That was about as honest as she could be with him without hurting him. And she didn’t want to do that, as much as she didn’t really care about him, she still cared about his feelings.

Leo studied her, his straight brown hair not falling into his face like Harry’s curls did. She loved Harry’s hair and somehow Leo’s always reminded her of Harry’s. Maybe that was the problem with Leo—he was a constant reminder of Harry, particularly of his not being Harry. “Why aren’t you right for me?” He asked, eyes darting around her face. “Like, how can you make that decision for me?”

God, so many things were wrong with them. “I’m not trying to make that decision for you,” she said, trying to backpedal, find her thoughts. “I—it’s...”

“So what you’re trying to say is that I’m not right for you.”

He was right. “Yes,” she said, voice soft. “But, fuck, it’s not like there’s something wrong with you. It’s just that I need someone and something else.”

Leo bit his lip, blue eyes hard as they looked at her. “And that someone is Harry?”

“Yes.”

It was silent in his room, Nora’s eyes falling to her hands still clasped in her lap. She didn’t have a plan for how to leave the room, but now she felt like she needed one. “Leo, I’m sorry—“

“Jesus, Nor, don’t fucking apologize.” She hadn’t heard Leo curse before, not even during sex, so the word was jarring. “If that’s how you feel then that’s how you feel, I can’t argue with you about it. I mean, I wish you’d been more upfront with me about how you felt, but I’m not going to sit here and say I thought we were completely fine. I just thought you needed more time or something…I just liked you so much, I thought you’d get there.” He swiped at a tear that fell from his eye and Nora softened. Just because she didn’t care for him in the way he did didn’t mean she was completely immune to his pain.

“I was hoping I did too,” she admitted. “You’re a really good guy, Leo. I hope you find someone who loves you in all the ways I couldn’t.”

Leo exhales and wipes his palms on his sweats before looking up at her. “Can…can you go now?”

“Fuck, yeah, ok,” she said, eager to get out of there if he wanted her out. She scrambled to grab her backpack and her shoes, tugging them on at the door. “I’ll see you around, I guess?”

Leo stood behind her in the doorway and just nodded. “Bye, Nora,” he said, and then shut the door in her face.

Which she guessed she deserved.

Harry didn’t know who—or what to expect when he heard a knock on his door at 12:30 at night. There was a party still going downstairs, it being a Friday night and all. Harry didn’t feel like attending tonight though, and had decided to spent the evening curled up in bed with a pint of ice cream watching re-runs of That 70’s Show on Netflix. He’d get up early and go for a run, he decided, and forcing pledges to clean up the mess downstairs. He’d probably end up helping them, though, because that’s just who he was as a person, no matter how many times Nash told him the pledges were supposed to do it.

So when he opened his door in just his boxers and a shirt, his glasses on the tip of his nose, the last person he expected to see was Nora. She stood probably a foot away in leggings and a big sweatshirt, her hair in a messy bun, and Harry wondered what looks she had gotten downstairs when she’d tried to get in. Although basically all the guys knew her by now, since she’d spent so much time in the house when they were…fucking.

Harry leaned against the door, waiting for her to say something. He decided after the last time that he wouldn’t hook up with Nora again, not unless she was properly his. So unless it was to tell him that, he decided he would kick her out, tell her to go home. Have one of the guys call her an Uber though, since it was late and all.

“I broke it off with Leo,” she said finally, brown eyes staring at him with such hope in his eyes he didn’t know what to do with it.

“Good for you,” was all he could come up with to say. What was he supposed to say? Thank god, I’m kind of obsessed with you still?

She looked at him and then into his room. “Could we talk…please?”

Harry stepped back and let her into his room, shutting the door softly behind her. She stood in the space as if she was meant to be there, a piece of art that had been on loan but was finally back home. Harry couldn’t shake the fact that he had been waiting for her to come and see him for so long and now that she was here he had no idea what to say to her. So instead he was quiet, waiting for her to speak, and went and sat down on his bed.

“Are you going to say something?”

“What do you want me to say?” That I can’t decide if I’m happy you’re here or mad it took you this long? That you look gorgeous? That I want you, but all of you not just the bits you give me? He didn’t have the words for what he wanted to say, which was everything.

“Just…fuck. I guess I’ll talk first?” She said, her words rambling—he could tell she was nervous. “I fucked up, okay? I pushed you away and I don’t even know why—well actually I do. But it wasn’t a valid reason. I should’ve talked to you, told you what I was thinking, not just started seeing someone else without any explanation.”

“Why did you push me away?” He asked, the rest of it blending into the background, zeroing in on those few words.

“I—can I sit?” She asked, gesturing to his bed.

He nodded, shifting over to give them space and so he could face her while she talked. Harry had this feeling that this was when he might finally know Nora after being on the outskirts of her emotions for so long. And he so desperately wanted to know. It felt like the only way to know her before this was through sex, through seeing her when no one else was looking and her emotions and her pleasure took over and she was just…her. But if she could give him words and context for the rest of who she was, that would be even better. Then he might, finally, know all of her.

“When I was in high school I dated this guy—Charlie—and we dated for a year, almost a year and a half. And he knew everything about me. All of my secrets, all of my past, all of the things about me that I was scared of people knowing. But he was a year older than me and so when he was going to graduate I wanted to break up because I didn’t want to be that high school girlfriend left behind, you know? I didn’t want to be worrying if he was going to cheat on me with some college girl, and I thought if it was meant to be we’d find each other again. But then, when we did break up, he spread this video of me going down on him around the school and it destroyed me.”

Harry’s heart stopped. Of all the things he thought Nora would share with him, this didn’t even make the list of things he expected. He wanted to hold her but she was sitting bent over, her eyes not even meeting his, and he knew that she had to do this on her own.

“And he didn’t even care? Or get it? Like he didn’t understand why I was so hurt--or he pretended not to, because if he didn’t think it would effect me then why did he even share them in the first place, you know? And then he graduated and he could just leave, but I had a whole nother year there in that place. And it was hell. My friends stuck by me, thankfully, but everyone else treated me like I was trash. And I couldn’t bring myself to file a police report or something because rehashing it all to some police officer felt even more horrible than just dealing with it on my own. But anyways,” she said, running her hand through her hair, “ever since then I’ve had trust issues with relationships. Especially when I have feelings for someone and trust them. And so with you, it was like I had this trust in you from the beginning and you were so good but also wanted me so much and it just…it was too much for me. But Leo I could hold at a length, you know? Like I could keep him away from my heart, but you, you wormed your way in without me even realizing it.” Her eyes met his then, and they just looked at each other for a bit, Harry struggling to find the right words. If there even were such a thing as the right words. Which there probably weren’t.

“I’m so sorry that happened to you,” Harry said, picking his words carefully. “For him to have done that to you…it’s horrific. And I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

She gave him a small smile, her hand flickering up to wipe a tear from her eye. “Thank you.”

“When you said I…I wormed my way into your heart,” he said, breathless, “did you mean that?”

She nodded, hair falling into her face.

Harry scooted closer to her, so close that their knees were touching. They both sat criss-cross-applesauce on his bed and somehow it felt so intimate, more intimate than anything they had done before because they were just looking at each other. “You wormed your way into mine, too,” he told her, a light chuckle leaving his lungs. “And you haven’t left. Did I?”

He ran his fingers over her knee and he could hear Nora’s inhale of breath. “No,” she said softly. “I just refused to believe it.”

“Well,” he said, taking her hands in his, finding joy in the feeling of her skin under his again after so long. “Do you believe it now?”

Her fingers interwined with his and when her eyes met his, Harry knew that she did. “Yes,” she whispered, and Harry didn’t pause before taking her face in his hands and kissing her the way he had been craving ever since he woke up in an empty bed.

Nora’s reaction was immediate, lips melding with his, body falling into him in the way he had missed. Her fingers scrambled up his back, pulling at the fabric with a desperation that Harry felt in his bones. After weeks apart, he wanted to see her—all of her—and feel her against him.

“Will you take this damn thing off?” Nora mumbled against his lips, pulling at the neck of his shirt. Harry smiled at her frustration and pulled it off, groaning from the way Nora traced his tattoos. Her mouth attached to her favorite spot—the place right above his swallow where she’d sucked a lovebite into the skin so long ago—and it felt like coming home. The pain of her teeth nipping the skin sent goosebumps up his spine and he couldn’t stop the helpless hum that left him, loving the feeling of her so close to him. He could smell her shampoo in her hair when he leaned his head down to rest on top of hers, and when he tugged her head up and traced a line from her earlobe to her neck, wrenching aside her sweatshirt that he wish was his instead, the scent of her laundry detergent filled his senses.

“Your turn,” he said, nudging up her sweatshirt so he could grab onto the bare skin above her leggings. “Wanna see you.”

Nora leaned back and smiled at him, one of the smiles she gave when she was perfectly at ease. The same one he earned when he brought her ice cream to the couch or tucked the blankets in around her in bed or wiped at a bit of toothpaste at the corner of her mouth. The fact that she was at ease with him again meant the world to him—he was safe for her. After so many men who weren’t, she trusted him, and Harry was never going to give her reason to think it was misplaced. She pulled off her sweatshirt and he helped her get it over her head when it got stuck, muffled curses leaving her mouth before their lips could reconnect.

But Harry missed her skin. So he gently laid her back and set about recreating one of their first moments together, kissing a line from the top to the bottom of her body. Trembling mewls fell from her lips as he went about his work, sucking on her nipples like it was his God-given duty. “I, missed, you,” he said against her skin, each word with a suck of his lips, earning him a wanton hiss that left his aching for her. “All of you.” He licked a stripe from her rib cage to her belly button, softly nipping at the skin of her belly. He loved digging his fingers into her skin and adored the fact that she let him suck marks onto her. Most girls hated them, but Nora didn’t mind in one bit, and Harry was an arrogant son of a bitch and loved the idea of her looking in the mirror and seeing proof of how much he cared for her.

When he made it to her leggings, Nora wasted no time in lifting her hips so he could peel them down her legs. Harry pressed his forefinger to the fabric right over her center and gasped, looking up to catch her eyes. “You’re dripping, love.”

The blush that colored her cheeks felt so out of place in the moment, but Harry loved it all the same. “Your lips are…” She paused, searching for the right word before settling on, “good.”

“Good?” He hooked his fingers in the hem and pulled them down. “You need to work on your vocabulary, baby.” He loved using that pet name on her and he loved even more when it made her smile.

“It’s not my fault I’m not a—fuck—literature major,” she replied, cursing when his tongue licked a circle on her folds. “H, please, Jesus.”

Harry peeked up at her and sucked harshly on her clit, a sharp squeal reverberating in his ears. “Not Jesus,” he teased, rubbing circles on her clit as he nosed at her skin, “just me.”

Nora snorted, but when Harry dipped his finger inside of her, it quickly changed to a gutteral cry that only rose as he found an even rhythm of his finger sliding in and out of her, his tongue licking cirlces on her clit at an even beat. It was like music to him, the most perfect symphony of sound. Her fingers wound into his curls and when he curled his finger inside of her she tugged on his locks, a groan leaving his lips and falling on her skin, drawing a gasp from her. It was give and take and give and take and it was Harry’s favorite game.

“H,” she said, tugging at his head, “need you.” She groaned as he sucked on her clit again, Harry ignoring her words. He had missed the taste of her on his tongue and he wasn’t about to give it up. “Please,” she cried, “I’m too sensitive, I want you.”

“What do you want?” He asked, adding another finger just to torture her for a little bit longer. He lived for her little whines and moans, he decided, the way her eyes fluttered shut and then open, desperately trying to keep him in view. “Use your words, princess.”

“Your dick,” she said, not even wasting a second. “Deep. Please. Please, H.”

“Fuck,” he breathed, drawing his fingers from her, storing the groan that left her deep inside of him to remember for later. Harry wasted no time in pulling at his boxers, tugging them off and dropping them to the floor. She bent at the waist, sitting up and pulling his glasses from his face—he wasn’t sure how they had survived his assault on her skin—and tugging open the drawer in his bedside table, searching around for a condom.

“You’re out,” she said, turning to look at him with a surprised look on her face.

Harry let out a string of curses and clambored over to the table to look inside. She was right though—the brothers must have stolen them in the weeks since he’d last seen her. He’d been low before then, but he hadn’t had any reason to restock. “I—I didn’t need to restock,” he said, looking at her, trying to gauge her reaction.

Nora wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him back down against her, his body resting on top of hers, his dick pressed against her skin. “You haven’t been with anyone else?”

He shook his head. “You…and him?”

She nodded slowly and Harry tried to ignore the part of him that hurt. She was with him now. In his bed, with him, no intention of leaving. “It wasn’t as good,” she whispered, runing her fingers across his jaw. “He didn’t know me like you do.”

That sure as hell made him feel better.

“And we always used a condom,” she continued. “So I’m clean.”

His eyes widened at her meaning. Bare? With her?

Harry thought he might cum from the thought itself. “Me too.”

Her voice was small when she asked him, “Is that okay with you?”

Harry took her face in his hands and kissed her nose, begging her to see how much he cared for her, wanted her in every which way. “Baby, that sounds like fucking heaven.”

She smiled, her lips crinkling at the edges, and Harry kissed a line across the freckles that danced on her cheeks. “I want to know what you feel like,” she said, testing the words, “bare. Inside me.”

The deep growl that left Harry was one he’d never heard before, but it perfectly encapsulated how he felt at hearing her speak like that. “You…are magnificent,” he told her and then he leaned his body up, just enough so that he could reach down. Her fingers drew circles on his arms as he pumped his dick once, twice, a hiss between his teeth filling the silence around them. When he brushed his tip against her folds, they both moaned and Harry recaptured her lips, wanting to feel her moan against his mouth. He wanted to not miss one single sound that left her when he pressed into her.

And when he did it was like remembering how to speak.

Nora’s hands grabbed at the skin at his shoulderblades, begging for purchase—something to grip as he pulled back and then in again. The feeling of being bare inside of her, of feeling the velvet of her walls and the way she gripped him when she clenched without meaning to, Harry decided this was better than any high. “Faster,” she mumbled against his chin, but Harry shook his head. He wanted her slow, he wanted to feel her.

“Want this to last,” he whispered, words threatening to expose his deepest fears.

But she knew immediately, her hands cupped his chin as he thrusted deep inside of her and she said, “I’ll be here in the morning. And every day after. Okay?” She kissed his nose, then his eyelids when his eyes shuttered closed at the grip she had on his heart. “We have all the time in the world.”

Harry gathered her in his arms, wanting to be as close to her as humanly possible, and drove himself as deep as he could. Her legs hooked around his waist, begging him deeper, the neverending stream of moans spurring him on. But he tried to hold back, wanting to enjoy every second of this. Because she—she was heaven and Harry didn’t want to leave.

“I know you want slow,” she said, digging her fingers into his skin, “but I need slightly faster. Please, H. Please.”

That was all he needed. He would have slower later. He wanted to please her, he wanted to give her everything she asked for and more. So he leaned her down on her back and lifted her foot to rest on his shoulder, earning him a deeper angle and drawing a gutteral moan from her chest as he slammed into her. Their hips met over and over again, the only sounds the sound of skin on skin and the moans and breaths that left them both. Harry drove deeper and deeper, wanting to find every inch of her and when he hit a spongy spot she keened, back arching up into him, her breasts bouncing up and down in a way that begged to be touched.

So he did, never wanting to let her be without his touch. “You’re perfection,” he mumbled against her skin as he licked patterns on her skin, kneading into the other breast as he drove his dick deeper inside of her, hitting the spot repeatedly. “Utter perfection. Goin’ to tell you all the time, yeah? Never want you to forget it. How perfect you are. Nora. Nora, fuck, you feel so good,” he said, words a mess in his brain. He didn’t even know what he was saying but from the way she gasped and clenched around him, he knew she liked it so she kept going. He told her that she was all he thought of, of how he’d tugged himself off in the shower to the thought of her, how he could barely stand to sit next to her in class knowing he couldn’t have her. How she ruled his every thought and dream.

“I’m about to come,” she said, arms hooking around his shoulder so he could press closer to her, “you?”

He nodded, hair sweaty against her shoulder where his face rested. Her legs had fallen back to the bed and they were impossibly close. Harry didn’t know two people could be this close, but with Nora it didn’t feel like enough. He wanted to be inside of her skin somehow. To see every nook and cranny of her. He dug his knees into the bed and kept up the pace, hands kneading every inch of her skin, words whispered in her ear for only her to hear, and she did the same. She told him how much she cared for him, how she missed him every moment of the day, how being with him was a new kind of solace. Her fingers drew lines down his back that he decided he would treasure for the rest of time.

Suddenly, her walls fluttered around him and then clamped down and Harry knew she was coming. Her back arched her hands scrabbled for purchase on his skin, his name leaving her mouth in an echo, a prayer, a desperate desire for salvation. Harry could feel himself falling after her and he slammed into her once, twice, and again, and then he fell, holding her still against him as he came, her name whispered in her hair.

She held him against her, arms a cage around him and Harry didn’t want to move. He didn’t have muscles left, he didn’t think.

“H,” she said, kissing his shoulder, “I should pee so we can sleep.”

“But I want to hold you.”

He could feel her smile against his skin. “After. Promise.”

“Fine.” He rolled to the side and she kissed his nose once before pulling on her sweatshirt and his boxers, padding over the door to go pee. Harry’s eyes fell to the sheets which they had claimed as their own and he smiled. He had missed her—everything about her, but this was how they had started in so many ways. This was where they learned each other, memorized one another.

The door opened and she was back, a smile on her face, a flush on her cheeks. It was quiet downstairs—the party must have ended while she’d been here, he realized. “C’mere,” he said, arms outstretched.

She answered by stripping off her clothes and falling back into him. Her chest pressed against his, legs intertwined, and they lay there. “Missed you,” she said softly. “A lot.”

“Me too.”

There was a pregnant pause before she asked him, “H?”

“Mhmm?”

“Can you…” She trailed off and Harry swiped at her hair, pushing it back so he could kiss her neck.

“What is it?”

“S’awkward,” she said and Harry chuckled.

“We just had sex, baby, you can’t say anything that’ll be awkward.”

She ducked her head so her chin rested on his arm which was wrapped around her. “Can you put it back inside me? Miss the feeling.”

He stilled. Fuck, he thought, where did she come from? “Course, love.” He lifted her leg slightly so he could fit there, and then tugged at his cock a few times before pushing gently inside of her. “Still wet,” he choked out. “How?”

“Always want you,” is what she replied and Harry keened.

He pressed kisses to the back of her head and tugged her closer into his body. “Sleep now, huh?”

“Love you,” she breathed out and Harry’s blood stopped in his veins. It was so sudden, but at the same time, so right. The words were what he needed to hear always, he realized. The ones he had been missing.

“Love you,” he answered and closed his eyes against her hair, thankful that she’d be there in the morning so he could say it again.

Waking up next to Harry, shirtless and holding her close, was a dream in of itself.

Nora blinked her eyes sleepily, adjusting to the sun streaming in his windows. He had these soft grey curtains that didn’t do much except hold off the harshest parts of the sun, so whenever she slept over she usually woke up fairly early. Not that she minded too much—it meant she got to watch Harry as he slept, which he hated her doing when he was awake. He always got twitchy under her gaze and ended up distracting her, usually with his lips.

She rolled slowly in his arms so that she could look at his face. His brown curls were smashed against the pillow, long eyelashes framing his cheeks with an impossibly sharp cut to themm. His nose—Nora had always loved his nose—and his perfectly soft lips. Nora reached out a hand and brushed her fingers across his jaw and Harry’s eyes fluttered, but didn’t open. Nora decided that was a good sign, and continued to trace the outlines of his features. She’d missed looking at him studying him, just being with him. She didn’t realize it until she was gone, how much she ached to be with him. And now that she was here, she wasn’t going anywhere. She pressed her lips to the column of his neck, right above his adam’s apple, before gently pulling his arms away from her waist. He was pliant under her touch, adapting quickly to her absence, which she tried not to think about too deeply.

A collection of paper had caught her eye. It sat in the opposite corner of his room, shoved up next to his guitar. It was the one he still had on loan from the guitar shop downtown. He’d taken Nora there once, wanting her to see guitars and understand them like he did. She tried to, but her favorite part was watching him appreciate them—that was enough for her. She slipped on his tshirt that was closest to her and her underwear and made her way over to the stack. Maybe it was snooping, but the truth was that Harry didn’t share this side of him with her all that often. She’d tried to get him to sing for her, but he had refused time and time again. Nora tucked her legs in and sat down on the floor, grabbing the stack to investigate further. The first couple papers were scribblings—words and letters—chords, she realized, Harry had shown them to her. Some chord diagrams too. But when she got fifth page, it was different. Full lines. Chords matched up with it, his handwriting crossing out things and changing them. It was lyrics, she realized. A song.

She looked up at Harry, still curled up in bed, the sunlight hitting his face perfectly, and wondered if this was too much of an intrusion. But when she glanced down at the pages, she couldn’t resist. She wanted to know his brain, that was all. She wanted to know what he thought about and how. And so she read.

Don't you call him "baby" / We're not talking lately / Don't you call him what you used to call me

I, I confess / I can tell that you are at your best / I’m selfish so I'm hating it

I notice that / There's a piece of you in how I dress / Take it as a compliment

Don't you call him "baby" / We're not talking lately / Don't you call him what you used to call me

I, I just miss / I just miss your accent and your friends / Did you know I still talk to them?

Does he take you walking 'round his parents' gallery?

Don't you call him "baby" / We're not talking lately / Don't you call him what you used to call me

She couldn’t help the tears that fell from her eyes because the lyrics were about her. About them. About when she ended things and started seeing Leo. About her calling him “baby” over the phone when he was being annoying, about him seeing her with Leo and the pained look on the face, about the graphic t-shirts that he’d bought that resembled her own. About her accent when she spoke in French that he always loved, how Maddy told her that Harry still would stop and talk to her in the quad. Leo’s parents owned a gallery a few towns over and he’d taken her there on a date, and she’d mentioned it in class one day. “Don't you call him what you used to call me” hit her the hardest, because she never could. The nicknames that she gave Harry, baby especially, they were all just for him. Leo would give her pet names and she could never do the same. The words came easily with Harry, but for Leo, they would’ve been forced and even she couldn’t do that.

When she left Harry it had caused him so much pain—pain she didn’t even stop to consider. It was a snap decision, Leo, and when she thought about him she thought only of herself. How it would be easier for her to leave Harry, to stop what they were doing, to shove her feelings to the side, ignore them. But she had forgotten that she wasn’t the only person in whatever relationship they had. And she had hurt him, despite that being the utter last thing she wanted to do. She had wanted to save him from the trainwreck that she was, from her inability to care for people in the deep way that Harry did for her. But she had surprised herself, because what she had said to Harry last night after they’d had sex, right before they went to sleep, it was true. She did love him. She loved him with every bone in her body, every hesitant, dubious part of her soul.

She was his, even though it scared her.

“Cherry?”

She looked up at the nickname, one he hadn’t called her in a while. He was sitting upright in bed, looking at her on the ground with his papers in her hand. “I was curious, I read them. I’m sorry if they were private, I just—I wanted to understand.”

Harry shook his head at her, giving her a warm smile that immediately put her at ease. “It’s fine, love. What do you think?”

Nora looked back at the paper she was holding and then up at him. “Is this one about me?”

Harry’s eyes widen and she can see the panic on his face. He must not have known this one was in the pile or that she’d read it. “Fuck. Um, yeah—I’m sorry, I just…I needed to process, you know? And then I wrote it, I’m so sorry, it’s so personal, I—“

“H, stop.” She got up, feet padding on the rugs on his floor over to his bed. She laid the paper on the duvet and crawled over to him, throwing her legs over his so she could sit comfortably at his waist. “Don’t apologize, yeah? It’s okay. You have every right to write all about me, about how I make you feel, about your pain. It’s not mine just because I cause it, it’s yours because you feel it.”

Harry’s eyes searched hers, trying to discern if the words were honest. But he would find no hint of a lie, because Nora wasn’t mad. She was angry at herself for being so blind to how her actions had made him feel. “Are you sure?”

She nodded, curling a finger in his hair. “I’m sorry for hurting you,” she said, and shushed him when he tried to speak. “I didn’t think about how I was going to hurt you, I was thinking about how to protect myself. I tricked mmyself into thinking that somehow by distancing myself from you I was protecting me and you, and in the end I just hurt us both. So I’m the one who gets to be sorry here, ‘kay?”

He brushed circles on her thighs, chin dipped to think about her words. “It was so hard,” he said softly, words quiet in the silent house. No one else was up yet, it was just them, wrapped in their own world. “Seeing you with him. Knowing what you were doing with him and not with me. Having to see you all the time—it was like my own specialized torture.”

“Never again,” she said, pressing a kiss to his browbone. “I promise. I’ll tell you what I’m feeling, what I’m thinking. No secrets.”

Harry wrapped his arms around her waist, tugging her body in close, and rested his head right between her breasts. It felt so intimate in a completely different way than anything they’d done before. This felt vulnerable in that way where your heart is completely bared open, ready and willing to be taken from you. “Love you,” he said, words muffled in his t-shirt that she still wore. “No secrets.”

Nora kissed the top of his head and rested her cheek against his soft curls. “I love you too, H.”

They sat there on his bed, their body curled up against one another like two commas, perfectly aligned. Meant to be, as long as there were no letters separating them. And for now, it was just them, the two commas, in a sentence all of their own.

——————————————————————————————-

YEEEE SHE’S DONE!!!!! this took so long to get my shit together to write--I had like half written and just couldn’t figure out how to finish. there were supposed to be four parts, but I ended up just rolling it all together in this one. I’m planning to do an extra (#italy!harry anyone!?!?!?!!) and lmk if you have any requests for Nora + Harry. love u all to pieces!

ask me about fratboy!harry here | masterlist here | fratboy!harry tag

PART ONE | PART TWO

#Harry Styles #Harry Styles Fan Fiction #harry styles fic #harry styles smut #college #college au #harry styles college #college harry styles #harry styles writing #harry styles one shot #harry styles drabble #fratboy harry #fratboy!harry #fratboy harry style #harry smut

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starchildarden · 3 years ago

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YES HELLO time to ramble abt SAYER :] for the ask meme, 8, 11, 17, 29, 33 & 35?

tumblr user electricshoop THANK YOU FOR MY LIFE oh my goodness

8. Favourite piece of random worldbuilding / lore Adam threw into an episode without ever explaining or elaborating

I don’t know that I’d say it was never elaborated on, but okay okayokay, the parallel door dimension? The Almost Cottage? The blood-red willows???? The shambling figure????? They can’t cut the camera feed to it no matter how much they try????? Help??? Mr. Adam Bash that is terrifying sir please respond???? i listened to it alone at work in an empty building and when i tell you i Did Not Get Any Sleep

11. Best character (main or minor; artificial or human) to share brunch with

I want to say my besties FUTURE and SAYER so so bad but I can’t honestly say they wouldn’t just make the whole thing a little bit uncomfortable? FUTURE’s gonna say something that makes me a little nauseous because it thinks it’s funny and SAYER just kind of. Feels like it’s staring condemningly even though it has far better things to do than watch a hapless human eat a crepe.

So my official answer for this is Evan Brady, because he has that tired, genial vibe to him and we could definitely just sip coffee in companionable silence while he reads over lab notes. 10/10 feel that my guy Brady would suffer begrudgingly through me showing him all the memes in the backlog that I like to inflict on people. gr8 guy, cool guy, my favorite science guy

17. Roadtrip with all the main characters! Who do you hand the aux cord to, who gets to drive, who brings the snacks, who’s responsible for navigating?

aux cord goes to FUTURE, because it Will choose a polarizing genre extreme. We will be swinging wildly back and forth between hyperpop and hardbass and Turkish rap like a temperamental pendulum and it will be fun. some linkin park at times of course it is still at That Point and so am i

SPEAKER gets to navigate! it is excellent at getting down to business and won’t meander through a very long soliloquy when you ask what exit to get off on (coughSAYERcough). my buddy here isn’t just a glorified clerk or hotel concierge, it is the only thing getting us where we’re going so smoothly and it doesn’t need the GPS to know which route is the most effective!

Anna Cordero was a teacher and Understands snacks. She knows the best kinds of snacks because elementary school children are always very hungry, and because being a teacher means that you Learn the healthy, sustainable, portable foods or you perish on the job. Anna brings almonds and pretzels and low-sugar juice and those cool cheese cracker things and it rocks and she rocks

bc it’s funny to me i think SAYER should be the driver, because i feel that it has Had Its Day backseat driving and judging others. my contractual best friend in the whole wide world could use a bit more direct responsibility. it’s in the car with us and it is very observant so I wouldn’t worry about careless driving except for the part about it being a disembodied voice with no hands most of the time but we will figure something out

29. How do you deal with SAYER endlessly rambling at you about how imperfect, inefficient and overly emotional you are?

the real question is how does SAYER deal with me endlessly going “cheers i’ll drink to that bro” every time he brings up my inefficient and emotionally rampant flaws. look, man, i know i have a ton of Feelings and i know i have the focus of a dead goldfish but joke’s on You, i have come to terms with it and i improve at my own pace and now you must come to terms with being my best FRIEND

33. In the parallel universe in which we get that happy ending where SAYER and Hale end up only somewhat grudgingly living together and learning how to be happy and care for themselves and each other - what do they call the stray cat that keeps showing up at their doorstep?

the answer feels like it should be “theseus” but SAYER would be acutely aware that it’s a misnomer even if it was intended to invoke the parable, because the ship wasn’t named theseus and that’s the focus of the problem? maybe “timber” as a nod to how they replaced the rotting planks?

hale is very. not adamant or zingy with the names so it might just end up being called cat which makes me laugh

35. Tell me about any crossover and/or AU you’d like to write/read.

WARFRAME okay everything i’ve ever been into has a warframe crossover living rent free in my head

okay so massive warframe spoilers? maybe? but WF and SAYER already have a ton of common threads

→ they are both In Space, as a freebie → they handle the concept of Identity, especially as respects the body you inhabit. if you spent your whole life in a construct, only to wake up in your body, which one is you? → warframe is at its core about how empathy and compassion and mutual seething anger can bring two parties together and form an iron bond okay, like to quote the game (spoilers), it’s about seeing into an ugly, broken thing and taking away its pain and FRANKLY i want to get FUTURE in a room with a savvy Tenno and see what kind of emotional catharsis can happen → (SPOILER) transference transference transference jacob hale is a low-level tenno already with the amount of mind-jumping he has done → the WF equivalent of the AI is actually more akin to the probes in nature tbh!! plus? what’s more human, a thoroughly shackled cephalon, or an AI endowed with a full range of emotion? → did OCEAN experience some kind of space madness?? like the kind brought about by travelling uncharted subspace??? when it experienced Null as it describes, sterile, is it like being touched by the Void in WF? → quite a bit of my future silhouette is based off of my valkyr bc she too has been harmed inside and is very, very angry and ready to rip things apart → i have SO many thoughts abt this okay i have SO many i love sayer and i love warframe and i would love to squish em into a single thing if i had the spoons

#sayer podcast #sayer ai #ocean ai #future ai #speaker ai #evan brady #anna cordero #warframe #asked and answered!#electricshoop #this was a ton of fun! i'll shoot some back atcha rn!! :D

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ecofinisher · 3 years ago

Text

Lady Frost and the Fire King - A familiar partnership - Chap 39

Chapter 39

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31330631/chapters/84485965

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13886468/39/Lady-Frost-and-the-Fire-King-A-familiar-partnership

In the evening several students had arrived at the Françoise Dupont school to attend the prom night organized by the school.

In the meantime, other students, which were invited for the prom were arriving as well at the moment, under them, Rollan was present along with Wayhem and Michael. Wayhem wore a black shirt and pants, which were from Gabriel, and a red tie, which belonged to the same brand. Michael wore dark-brown pants and a green vest with a bow tie.

„You paid 140 euros for that all?“ Asked Rollan shocked as he looked at the dark colors the boy wore.

„I like it. I‘m also planning to use it in the future on other occasions. No one says it‘s a one-time deal,“ Said Wayhem making Rollan nod.

„Unless it‘s a wedding. I hear many people do buy clothes for every different wedding. At least women,“ Commented Michael. „And the dress prices for women compared to our are huge,“

„Have you seen the prices for elegant suits of other brands? Or better for the ones specially used in weddings? They‘re more expensive than you think,“

„Okay, I believe so,“ Admitted Michael and the trio stopped in the middle of the court to see a few students standing around talking, two duos dancing and a few ones at the bankett table eating.

„Are you guys going to eat something?“ Asked Rollan making Wayhem nod and Michael shake his head.

„I‘ll be waiting here for Sofia,“ Responded Michael making the two boys nod.

„I‘m actually interested in trying out those snacks,“ Commented Wayhem, then Rollan nodded.

„I‘m actually a little hungry. I‘m coming as well,“ Mentioned Rollan, which followed Wayhem at the table to check out the various plates with different snacks, which had already a few missing.

„Lots of healthy snacks,“ Commented Rollan picking up a small toothpick with two cherry tomatoes and a mozzarella ball in it and shove a tomato into his mouth. Wayhem had picked up in the meanwhile from an etagere a triangle-cut sandwich with ham and salad and looked at Rollan taking the last two balls from his toothpick.

„Hey over there you got sweet stuff if you‘re interested,“ Commented Wayhem pointing at the end of the table, where Rollan just walked to encounter a plate with macarons only, then looked at the other ones and decided to pick up a half banana, which was covered in dry chocolate cream, which Rollan looked at it with a warily look.

„This looks interesting?“ Asked Rollan taking the stick, where the banana was attached to and took a bite from it, and smiled. „Mmh,“

„While you‘re on that I‘m gonna take this large Linzer cookie,“ Mentioned Wayhem picking up a large cookie, which had a smiley face on it, where you could see the jam filling of it. „Is this strawberry?“

Rollan finished the banana, then looked at Wayhem which was tasting the cookie and Rollan looked at the entrance to see more students enter, but there was no spurt of Gerda yet.

„Did you come on your own or have you a date?“ Asked Rollan making Wayhem shake his head.

„Nope, I‘m all on my own,“ Mumbled the brunette. „I‘m fine for now,“

„Okay,“ Replied Rollan walking around the table to look at the available snacks, then approached a table across the one with the salty snacks and looked at all the glass, that had been filled in with various drinks and Rollan picked up one, which was grape juice then he took a sip of it and frowned a little disappointed at the taste. Rollan watched the baker of the bakery across the school appear with a plate with hot ham croissants and added them into a plate, which had been empty.

„Want to give my croissants a try?“ Asked Mr. Dupain. „They‘re filled with smoked ham and cream cheese Trust me, you‘re going to love it,“

Rollan smiled, then picked up one to try it and blew at it due to its temperature.

„Gracias,“ Answered Rollan, then Tom pondered for a little while and questioned the boy.

„You‘re alone here?“ Asked the adult making Rollan shake his head.

„Wayhem and Michael came with me,“ Answered Rollan. „There‘s also a girl, I‘m waiting for, but she hasn‘t arrived yet,“

„Really?“ Asked Tom making Rollan nod, then Tom approached the raven-haired Spaniard and led him to his side, where three piles of plates were and took one for the boy. „Why don‘t you collect this girl a few little snacks for her to when she arrives?“ Asked Tom watching Rollan look at the plate and shrug his shoulders.

„I guess it‘s a good idea,“ Commented Rollan and looked at the large variation, wondering what he should pick. „Epa, how should I know, what she‘s interested in?“

„You don‘t have to, just take a few things you think she should try. A few salty things, sweet things or healthy things,“ Suggested Tom. „There must be something, that would make her curious to try,“

„Yeah, I think there are a few things she could try,“ Admitted Rollan, then approached the table to look for diversity.

At the entrance, stood Kim together with Max and Nino talking with an African student, which wore headphones and carried under his arm a laptop.

„You‘re telling me, that Yuki and Urioto broke up because of an empty balloon someone left in his dorm?“ Questioned Kim shocked making the boy nod.

„It‘s hella stupid man. Werner only was in his room to ask Urioto‘s roommate for his party box and he had dropped it and eventually left it there. He wasn‘t expecting that there would happen such a big drama,“

„That‘s nuts,“ Commented Kim while Nino nodded.

„I don‘t know how people could mistake that for a contraceptive product, but yeah that really is crazy, that the two boys there fought because of this,“

„It‘s kind of weird this even happened that way,“ Commented Max making Kim nod.

„Hey before you go up at the stage, are you interested in meeting Rollan? The guy I told you about the basketball skills?“ Asked Kim making the older boy shrug his shoulders.

„I‘ve got to see, what exactly I have to plug in and out at the device, maybe I‘ll pass by before I start or after my part is over,“ Answered the dark-skinned boy making Kim nod, which then heard a familiar, squeaky voice and looked down to spot Luka coming along with his sister, the younger girl Rose and the new girl he knows from his class Gerda.

„Hey is that Gerda?“ Asked Kim surprised at seeing Gerda in a short, sleeveless dress with a woven surface over her front and small, white pearls on it. The skirt of the dress reached to her knees and had her shoes replaced with black ballerinas. Her hair she had let it open, passing over her shoulders down at her back. Nino looked along with Max and the DJ at the Quartett, that came upstairs.

„Hey guys!“ Greeted Rose, while Juleka waved at the group and Luka nodded with a smirk.

„Hey,“ Greeted Kim along with the others, while the unfamiliar boy approached Luka to high five.

„Is that your girl?“ Asked the boy curious making Luka shake his head.

„No, this is Gerda. She‘s in my sister‘s class,“ Answered Luka. „She has been invited to the prom by someone else if you‘re wondering,“

„Oh okay. Well, I‘d be surprised if someone like her wouldn‘t have someone. She‘s a natural beauty,“ Commented the boy with a smirk making Gerda feel embarrassed.

„Thanks,“ Answered Gerda, then looked up at the boys. „Has Rollan arrived yet?“ Asked Gerda making Kim shrug his shoulders.

„I know Wayhem did. Maybe he is in there as well and I haven‘t noticed,“ Answered the Vietnamese boy, then Gerda looked at Rose, which smiled and the group followed into the court, looking around at the decorations made for the evening, which were holiday-themed.

„The images up there of the things you see at the beach look realistic,“ Commented Gerda making Rose nod.

„That made our crafting club,“ Mentioned Rose proud. „A big chunk of the things we see all here now at the prom were done by the various after school activity groups,“ „Cool,“ Commented Gerda, then she spotted near the buffet tables Rollan looking around the table for more food for the plate on his hand, then Gerda chuckled and nudged Rose to show her his crush. „He‘s up there,“

„Aww, he‘s just like Nathaniel. Passionate about eating,“ Commented Rose holding her hands together against her chin.

Gerda approached the Spaniard, which was looking at the macarons, then she stepped beside him to look at his plate.

„That looks yummy,“ Commented Gerda, then Rollan looked at the girl and widened his eyes as he saw her now differently as usual.

„Gerda?…..Is that you?“ Asked Rollan surprised making Gerda nod. „I have never seen your hair open…...“

„Is it good?“ Asked Gerda while Rollan admired her hair dazzled, then Gerda moved her hand in front of his face to obtain his attention. „What do you think of it?“

„Your hair?“ Asked Rollan making Gerda nod. „It‘s great. Did your hair always look like this, when you had it open?“

„More or less,“ Commented Gerda. „Juleka cut the edges of my hair, cause it was a little sprouted,“

„You gotta keep your hair like that more often, it makes you look even more beautiful…..You know, you already are but like this you‘re…..uh better,“ Explained Rollan making Gerda laugh.

„That‘s sweet and you look stunning as well,“ Commented Gerda looking at his clothing. „White actually suits you well,“

„Gracias….I actually was going to take a red one, but then Arthur came along with a few of his old ones and I picked up this one here. It‘s slightly a little large, but it works well for me,“

„It really does,“ Admitted Gerda, then Rose gave Gerda a thumb up, which pulled Juleka away leaving the Norwegian back with the taller boy. Gerda watched her friends leave, heading to the other side of the court, then she smiled that the two girls have let her alone with Rollan without any other tries of helping them out.

„Gerda?“ Spoke Rollan getting the girl‘s attention, then he showed her the plate with the various snacks. „I picked up some variations for you….to try it out?“ Offered the Hispanic boy making Gerda smile and pick up a crystalized ginger slice to eat it. „If you want you can take them all. I had specifically picked up them for you,“

„I‘m probably not gonna eat all of this. You can have one or two as well,“ Said Gerda making Rollan nod, then she picked up one macaron and held it in front of Rollan‘s mouth, making him furrow his eyebrows, then he smiled and allowed Gerda to lead it into his mouth for him to eat. Rollan warped his face in disgust making Gerda shut her eyes up in shock.

„You‘re alright?“

„I‘m not very fond of pistachio,“ Commented Rollan making Gerda chuckle.

„Oh alright I‘m sorry,“

„It‘s fine,“ Commented Rollan watching Gerda take a small canapé with salmon on it and Rollan observed her eating with a smile.

At the small stage, which was placed under the stairs appeared the organized DJ, which had fixed his laptop to play on it and picked the microphone up to greet the students.

„Good evening students of the Françoise Dupont!“ Greeted the boy calling the attention of half of the students. „The name‘s Cristiano and I‘m one of the DJs for this prom. For the next 90 minutes you‘ll be listening to my mix, afterward, Principal Damocles will have for us a few words, before we continue with our next DJ, which most of you know, Nino Lahiffe. In the end, there will be a voting for our prom King and prom Queen and we will know who our winners are. So I suggest you all show your best side and show what you‘re worth for the prize!“

The students applauded watching the DJ give them a thumb up, then turn on the first song, which was a house-electronica song meant for partying.

„Oh yeah, our first song coming from the US-Rapper Okla-Homa. Always good for a wild night,“ Commented Cristiano loud watching students beginning to gather together in the middle to dance.

Gerda watched the students begin to dance with each other, then chuckled at the way some were dancing which was unfamiliar to Gerda. Gerda moved her fingers to pick up the last snack, which was a vanilla cookie and at the same time Rollan placed his finger as well meeting Gerda‘s and shrieked, then rolled his eyes at the girl, which beamed at the boy.

„You can take it,“ Offered Rollan shoving it with his index finger at the girl, which accepted it to eat. Rollan placed the plate aside afterward watched Gerda finish the cookie and looked up at Rollan, which smiled and looked at the students, that were dancing, additionally more students were arriving to join the others.

„Can you dance?“ Asked Gerda making Rollan shrug his shoulders.

„I can waltzer and others in company, but this style the others are doing I have never done before,“

„Neither have I,“ Stated Gerda. „Shouldn‘t we at least give it a try together?“

„Hmm I don‘t think it looks that hard….just in my imagination me doing that would be ridiculous,“

„If you want me to be honest I think everyone kind of dances awkwardly. Maybe this is the point of it,“ Commented Gerda making Rollan shrug his shoulders. „What do you think? Are you able to give it a try?“ Questioned the Norwegian girl, then Rollan watched the others dance and returned his eyes at Gerda.

„Let‘s go for it,“ Answered Rollan, then walked along with Gerda at the field, then both stood there waiting for one of the two to start, then Gerda watched Rollan observe the others, then looked back at her grinning a little sheepishly and Gerda began to dance as the others with Rollan watching her, then she approached the Spaniard placing her hands on his arms pushing him nearer to her and moved her shoulders and arms. Rollan grinned at Gerda‘s moves, then tried to copy the girl and looked at the others, which were all dancing on their own or with another person. Rollan looked back at Gerda, which continued dancing as the others were dancing, then Rollan slowly began to copy her moves and watched her nod and do a full spin, making Rollan smile, which stopped and did a quick spin while going on a tip toe and earned a small applause of Gerda.

„Hey that spin was good,“ Commented Gerda making Rollan chuckle, then he began to move his arms and dance, making Gerda glow at his confidence at copying the random movements, therefore she went along with the boy with their odd dance moves while the song was almost over.

„This is kind of funny,“ Commented Gerda making Rollan nod, then looked at the others, which began to jump up in the air, while holding their hands up and the duo did the same, then Gerda laughed excited about it.

„Eso es genial!“ Commented Rollan making Gerda grin, then the song was over and they stopped along with a few duos.

Marinette sat in her bedroom doing her homework and had on the computer a live stream of the prom night, which showed the DJ playing the music and it switched slowly to the dancing students. Marinette sighed, then picked up her smartphone to use the calculator, then shrieked as on her display appeared a phone number calling, which she attended it.

„Hello?“ Greeted Marinette.

„We‘re here,“ Said the voice making Marinette nod and turn the call off. Marinette went upstairs to get to the balcony, then encountered on the roof Su-Han along with a mysterious monk she had never seen before.

„Good evening,“ Greeted Marinette, then Su-Han held out his hand at Marinette to show her the fixed Ladybug miraculous making her smile and embrace the senior, which widened his eyes in shock. „Thank you so much for healing the miraculous for me,“

„There‘s no need to thank me for it. Now please put on your earrings to make sure she‘s good,“ Commented Su-Han watching Marinette put on the miraculous, then they got activated and Tikki showed up in front of Marinette.

„Welcome back, Tikki,“ Greeted Marinette holding out her hands at the kwami, which smiled and hugged them. „I‘m so sorry I have let an akuma take over me and…...you were now gone for a while,“ „What matters is, that we‘re both okay and the akuma was defeated,“ Stated Tikki making Marinette smile and look along with the kwami at the master guardian.

„This is the son of the former guardian of the Scandinavian miraculous box. He was going to step into his feet as the next heir until one faithful night the Snow Queen cursed the entire peninsula with her curse freezing almost every citizen including his father,“

„Oh and what happened next?“ Questioned Marinette looking at the monk.

„I never got the chance to work with that miraculous box, so after the Snow Queen was defeated I studied other legends, under them was the one of the wishing stone and this is where my topic is going to. You have these two new heroes in your group. The fire-themed one and the ice-themed one,“ „Yeah, Cat Noir said he found it in Gabriel Agreste‘s mansion. He has brought them from Norway I think according to his son Adrien Agreste, which we tried to send him undercover into figuring out details,“ Explained Marinette. „I already mentioned you that the other day, Master Su-Han,“

„I know that. This is now a way different topic now. Let him tell you, what he has to,“

„Okay, sorry, go on, Mister,“ Asked Marinette looking at the monk, which nodded.

„Those miraculouses your friends there were, you know the one with the fire and the ice powers. They‘re in potential danger to lose their control and be overtaken by the spirits of the Snow Queen and the Fire Demon. You have to get these miraculouses back, before they get turned into their slaves and lose their control for good,“

„Oh…...uh and how much time do I have to take them back?“

„I‘m not sure. I‘m the one, who experimented with their powers believing nothing would occur, but I have seen in one of the recordings made by surveillance cameras or any other ones, that recorded one of their fights. The fire boy‘s mind was nearly changing before something had interrupted him and prevent him to lose its tempter,“

„Does this mean…..if Fire King loses his tempter in a way he loses his control or….I don‘t understand,“

„I can‘t tell to 100% when exactly this could happen, but you really need to get them back before it happens. The spirits of the Fire Demon and the Snow Queen shouldn‘t be freed. They should return back into the wishing stone and I‘m at the moment the only one, who knows how to do that. I just need your help,“

„Okay, I just will need to know, where they are exactly. I don‘t know their identities to have it easier to find them,“

„Is there a way to gain their attention and get to them? Like a real-life issue? A faked akumatization?“ Questioned the monk making Marinette shrug.

„I haven‘t thought of anything yet, but I can come up quick with a plan,“

„We better leave it to you then and beware, if one or both of them end up losing their souls to these spirits, I‘ll tell you, it will be the hell to be able to defeat them all over again,“ Commented the monk making Marinette drop her mouth in shock at his comment.

„Don‘t break your head about it. I have my full trust in you, you‘re going to get them without a problem,“ Mentioned Su-Han making Marinette nod, then he jumped down off the roof along with the monk and Marinette dropped her back on the deck chair in shock.

„Did you hear that Tikki? What if we fail again?“ Asked Marinette making Tikki shake her head.

„We‘re not gonna fail, Marinette. All we need to do is to find out, who Fire King and Lady Frost are, then tell them what‘s up. Figuring out, who Fire King is won‘t be hard, Cat Noir already knows and we have proof, that something is wrong with Fire King. He will for sure understand and give the miraculous back,“ Stated Tikki making Marinette nod, then look around and back at Tikki.

„Let‘s get charged, we will look for Cat Noir,“ Warned Marinette making the kwami nod.

Later into the evening, Rollan stood at a corner watching a young couple take a picture in front of a wallpaper, which illustrated at the wall a picture of a beach and the ground had actual sand on it with a deck chair, a handmade sandcastle with a lying, red bucket and a shovel next to it. Rollan watched the couple being pictured by the photographer in a few poses at their choice making Rollan smile and cross his arms enjoying the sight.

The photographer gave the couple a thumb up, then looked at Rollan, which was watching the photo session, then approached the Spaniard.

„Hey! I haven‘t seen you here,“ Commented the photographer, then grabbed Rollan on his cheeks. „You‘re not from here aren‘t you?“

„I‘m from Spain,“ Mumbled Rollan, then watched the photographer take his hands down.

„I assumed you were Italian for some reason, but by looking at your built you‘re far too sporty in my opinion,“ Commented the Italian photographer making Rollan furrow his eyebrows confused.

„My friend Wayhem is sporty and Italian,“ Commented Rollan making the photographer grin.

„You‘re probably right, I was referring to the ones I know,“ Commented Vincent. „At least around here…...what do you think? Would you like to participate in a little photo session? I can see inside you hides a boy, that has potential to become a super model“ Complimented Vincent making Rollan shake his head.

„No, I‘m not interested in that kind of thing. I‘m more interested in being able to do something like helping people,“

„Alright and is it okay, if I take a normal picture of you?“ Questioned Vincent.

„Hmm I‘m not really fond of taking pictures,“ Commented Rollan making the photographer nod, then Rollan made his way along the side of the court to get closer to the restrooms, then watched a cook pass by with a plate filled with various cheese sorts shove into one single pike and Rollan took one giving the cook a smile, then took a bite of the first cube, then watched out of the restroom Gerda come out to his direction.

„Did you want a stick?“ Questioned Rollan moving his head at the cook, which was offering one piece at Myléne Hapréle from Gerda‘s class.

„It‘s fine,“ Responded Gerda, followed by Rollan shoving the last cubes into his mouth and looked around for a trash bin, then placed it on a plate, which contained more used sticks near the buffet table.

„What are you planning to do now?“ Questioned Rollan. „Shall we go to the dance floor again?“

„Are they going to play softer songs and not only the energetic ones?“ Questioned Gerda watching Rollan shrug his shoulders,

„Maybe they will play some,“ Answered Rollan. „We probably have to wait a little longer. They exchanged the musician over there, he might give us something else,“

„You‘re right,“ Agreed Gerda looking at the corner to see Juleka and Rose take pictures together, then she nudged Rollan on the shoulder and pointed there. „They‘re taking pictures,“

„That guy there asked me before if I wanted to take pictures,“

„And you didn‘t want?“

„I‘m not very comfortable with taking photos,“ Admitted Rollan, then she grabbed him by the hand and led him to the corner.

„Come, let‘s just take one picture together. As a memory of this night,“ Suggested the blonde. „Come you won‘t look bad I promise,“

„Alright, I‘ll do it,“ Announced Rollan, then the two stopped by the photographer, which took the last picture of the same-gender couple.

„Fantastic!“ Exclaimed Vicent, then looked at Rollan and Gerda that had alined for the photo session.

„I changed my mind,“ Said Rollan making Vincent smile and see Rose and Juleka pass by the man, then Rose picked the man by his arms as the older duo entered into the corner, so she could whisper something into the ear of the Italian.

„Okay, I‘ll do it,“ Said Vincent, then picked up his remote on his pocket to exchange the image behind the two into an image of a Balinese beach showing a beautifully light-blue water, and near the ground was the sand of the beach, which was compatible with the floor of the set. Vincent looked at the two, which stood beside each other normally, then he moved his hands to sign the two to get closer.

Rollan stepped to Gerda closer with an embarrassed face, while Gerda had rolled her eyes down heating up on the face at the boy‘s approach, then they smiled at the camera, which took a snapshot.

„Have something more in mind for this picture?“ Questioned Vincent seeing Rollan and Gerda look at each other, then Rollan grabbed Gerda‘s hand giving Gerda an unsure look. Gerda had a different idea, then shove the arm, which Rollan had grabbed into the gap between his arm and body, then held her other hand up over his upper arm. Rollan got surprised at her touch, then smiled a little seeing the girl look up at him with a smile, then Rollan‘s grew slightly more and together they faced the photographer, which gave them a thumb up to take a picture. At his third try, Gerda leaned her chin on Rollan‘s shoulder making Rollan exchange his facial expression seconds after the picture was taken and he looked down at the girl.

„Perfecto!“ Commented Vincent, then Rollan looked back at the picture and got bewildered about it.

„Didn‘t we had another picture before?“ Asked Rollan making Gerda shrug her shoulders, then they walked out of the corner to the middle of the court. Rollan stopped, followed by Gerda bumping into him and she giggled as she did that, afterward Rollan pointed out at the DJ, which had picked up his microphone to speak into it.

„Ladies and Gentle-dudes! We‘ve been through a wild ride together, but now it‘s time for us to slow it down a little with some light music and easy listening. I tried to search for something, that‘s a little known under some of you, maybe you‘ve heard it in your childhood, who knows. Our first song comes from a known country singer under the girls here,“ Nino said, then he pressed the play button to start the song, which had at the begin of the music a guitar solo.

The court now remained with couples and duos only beginning to dance slowly to the music.

Gerda looked at the pairs dancing, then noticed how close Juleka and Rose were to each other during the dance with the little blonde having her head lied against the chest of the girl friend. Rollan looked around to see the other couples dance together, then he looked at Gerda seeing her smile enchanted at seeing her two best friends happy together, then Rollan pondered about the circumstances and turned around at the girl.

„Gerda?“ Spoke Rollan earning the girl‘s attention, then he bowed down holding out his hand at the girl. „Puedo solicitor este baile?“

„You're asking me what?“ Asked Gerda looking down at his hand, then studied his sentence. „You‘re asking me to dance?“ Questioned Gerda making Rollan nod. „Oh…..so baile means dance?“

„El baile. Si,“

„Si,“ Responded Gerda. „Quiero bailar,“ Answered Gerda taking Rollan‘s hand, then he guided her into the middle to be distanced from all the other couples, then he received the hands of the blonde and he moved one hand after the other, placing one on his shoulder and the right one on his hand. The free arm, Rollan placed behind Gerda‘s back, then both gazed at each other‘s face, Rollan having a dumbfounded expression while Gerda had an enchanting smile, which had begin to bewitch the Spaniard.

Gerda signaled with her eyes the friend to move further, then Rollan shook his head returning to reality, and began to waltz with the girl to the country song.

The singer began to sing, then Gerda focused on the friend during their act with Rollan leading her on the dancefloor keeping her and himself steady on the floor to avoid making a mistake. Rollan made a stop, then allowed Gerda to roll out, while he held his hand up to hold her and she returned back to the Spaniard, that reversed back with her on his arms. A few steps later Rollan let Gerda spin again, then she returned back into his arms slowly locking her eyes up with the ones of the Spaniard, making her wide them from seeing his maroon-colored eyes.

„But you came along and you‘ve changed everything…..“

The two teens waltzed together away from their standing point around the floor along with the other duos, which were focused on themselves leaving the two lovebirds go with the flow in a very identical manner without a failure as if they had been practicing together for a while.

Alya, which had been filming from the side the people dancing had Juleka and Rose pass near her, then noticed Rose point at the side, then Alya saw Rollan along with Gerda have wonderful act together making the alter ego of Rena Rouge smile and aim the camera at the duo, which was slowing down a little to go along with the song.

During the dance, Gerda had twirled around Rollan‘s arms, then he felt the long, blonde hair pass in front of his nose, making him chuckle and he grabbed the edge of Gerda‘s streak to sense it between his thumb and index finger.

„Has your hair always felt so smooth?“ Questioned Rollan making Gerda chuckle and shake her head.

„Juleka borrowed me her hair conditioner. Oh and have you smelt the scent of the shampoo I got from her?“

„Uh no?“ Responded Rollan, then Gerda moved her head down at Rollan‘s hand, then he reached his nose to her hairstreak to pick up the scent. Rollan cackled, thereafter he leaned his face nearer to her head to get the full scent into his nose and took his head back. „It‘s very good. What smell is that?“

„Honey and Almond,“ Responded Gerda. „It‘s a mixture. You like it?“

„To be honest I like that smell on you. It fits you perfectly,“ Admitted the Spaniard, making Gerda beam at his compliment. Rollan smiled glad at seeing his date was having a blast tonight, then adjusted the girl‘s hand back on him to lead the girl along the dancefloor, making her drop her head back smiling brightly as the song returned to the refrain.

„You lift my feet off the ground, spin me around…..“

„Hmm…..Hmm…..“ Gerda hummed to the song, making Rollan smile enamored at the sweet tune of her voice. She took her head up to look at the Spaniard, which had his eyes deeply focused on her, then she went along his lead on the floor and made a rotation, while being assisted by Rollan afterward she returned onto his arms.

„I don‘t want to hide it anymore��..“ Rollan leaned his forehead on Gerda‘s making her smile lovely, enjoying the tender moment between the two, then gazed up at the brown eyes of the Spaniard, which from a happy smile changed to a charmed one and Gerda placed her hands up under Rollan‘s chin to plant her lips on his making him wide his eyes at her move, then he shut them down, wrapping his arms around her slowly, followed by taking the lead and have Gerda move her arms down up on his shoulders, crossing her wrists on the other behind Rollan‘s neck with a slight mumbling noise of delight.

Adrien sat on his chair in front of the desk reading a book as Plagg sat on the desk looking at the live stream of the prom watching the crowd dance slow, which made Plagg yawn.

„Your father did well to not allow you to this. It looks so boring,“ Commented Plagg, then Adrien looked at the stream to see half of the duos, which were mostly lovers to the other have their heads leaned to each other to the calm style of the music.

„If I had the chance there to be with Ladybug or even with Kagami, it would have been pretty,“ Commented Adrien, then looked at the side to see images on the side mostly from Ladybug and two of them were from Kagami.

„You had great chances with Kagami, but you fucked it up by yourself because you couldn‘t leave alone your other crush,“

„I tried to forget her, but I couldn‘t,“ Commented Adrien. „Kagami was my chance to get through it, but I couldn‘t from seeing Ladybug every day,“

„You know the difference here Adrien is, you didn‘t always see Ladybug because it was a superhero case, you saw her because you wanted to. You missed moments, you could work on your relationship with Kagami or even something different, but you didn‘t,“

„Alright, alright, Plagg. Enough. I know I did terrible back there. I would have taken it all back, but I can‘t,“

„Yeah. Fire King probably will learn it from your mistakes or at least I hope he‘s going different,“ Commented Plagg looking at the screen, making Adrien raise his left eyebrow up then noticed on the live stream Fire King‘s alter ego sharing a kiss with Gerda.

„Well at least he seems pretty relaxed for a first kiss,“ Stated Adrien, then he got up and made his way to the windows to look at the schoolhouse, which was lightened by lights. „I think our class is the only class, where a few students didn‘t go to attend the prom. I, Nathaniel, Lila, and Marinette I think too,“ „Weird, why wouldn‘t Lila come?“ Questioned Plagg making Adrien shrug his shoulders.

„I assume her mom didn‘t sign her declaration. The same thing happened when we went to New York and Toronto. Marinette probably stayed back because of the bakery tasks for tonight. Nathaniel must have been because of his grandmother,“ Recounted Adrien then saw in front of his eyes the superheroine Ladybug pass by running above the roofs, heading to the Trocadero.

„Oh look Ladybug is back,“ Stated Adrien with a smile.

„Great to know Tikki is alright,“ Added Plagg, then Adrien looked down at her.

„Shall we do her a little visit? Just to see how she‘s doing?“ Questioned Adrien making Plagg shrug his shoulders.

„I don‘t care to be honest, but it‘s better than watching this boring live stream there,“ Responded Plagg, then Adrien opened the window and announced his transformation phrase.

„Plagg, Claws out!“ Shouted Adrien transforming into Cat Noir, then jumped out of the window to follow the superheroine and whistled loud to call Ladybug‘s attention, which stopped on top of a building before crossing the Seine.

„Cat Noir?“ Asked Ladybug watching Cat Noir arrive by the roof. „Oh great to see you right now,“

„How are you doing? What‘s with Tikki?“ Asked Cat Noir making Ladybug nod.

„She‘s fine now. Thanks for asking. Great that you showed up right now. I need your help, remember what happened last time with Fire King?“

„You mean his transformation issue?“ Questioned the blonde making the heroine nod. „What‘s up with it?“

„Su-Han introduced me to a monk and he told me about a relict they call the wishing stone. Fire King and Lady Frost‘s powers in the miraculous were taken from there….we have to take their miraculouses away or they both will lose their minds to the Snow Queen and the Fire Demon, which will cause destruction to our city. This apparently already happened 100 years or more ago and they were hardly manageable to defeat.“ „Really?“ Asked Cat Noir in shock. „And how are we gonna do that?“ Asked Cat Noir.

„You know, who Fire King is, right?“ Asked the blue-haired heroine making Cat Noir nod. „You‘ll talk to him, what‘s up and retrieve his miraculous, and I will see if I can find Lady Frost anywhere. If you spot there anyone with a wreath, that resembles Lady Frost try to speak to her. Or we‘ll have to wait for her to show up,“

„You could ask Rena Rouge to fake a situation and call her attention?“ Suggested Cat Noir, making Ladybug wide her eyes.

„Hey, that could work. Make your way up to Fire King, if you know where he is. I‘ll see if I can contact Rena Rouge,“ Ordered Ladybug watching Cat Noir salute at her and jump down at the road to head to the school.

At the prom after a couple of songs, Gerda and Rollan had gotten nearer with the other during the evening. Rollan was leading the girl during the current song, which had more pep than the previous one, then smiled as Gerda lied her head next to his face to lean on the shoulder.

„How are you feeling?“ Asked Rollan quiet, then heard the girl sighed enamored and the Spaniard understood, that she had been feeling well. „This is….“Began Rollan, then chuckled softly to watch Gerda move up her head to look at the raven-haired boy. „I have never thought about how both of us would have come this closer. I assumed we would be just friends and now…….this all happened,“

Gerda nodded, then leaned her arms around Rollan‘s head to nudge him with her nose gently.

„Me neither,“ Commented Gerda. „But when I got to know you a little I began to want more than just this,“

Rollan chuckled, then held his arms down aside Gerda‘s waist, allowing her to lean her forehead on his, then he rolled his eyes down to look into her crystal-blue eyes, which kept her focus on the brown iris.

„Remember, when I spoke about that one girl I liked?“ Asked Rollan making Gerda mumble.

„Uh hum,“ „You know I believe….I really never loved that girl. It‘s…..I don‘t know. I saw her every day and thought Damn, she‘s so beautiful, I never understood what was up there if I just found her pretty and was glad, when I was around her. With you….it‘s…..different. I‘m glad to see you and have you as a friend….. We…..we understand each other's lives and could be with each other when no one else could,“

„I have never been in love with someone before. You‘re the first guy I do perceive something and the need to get closer to you just grew more, instantly, that…..now that we‘re here together I‘m…...I couldn‘t be happier now,“

„I‘m sorry I didn‘t realize before how you felt about me,“ Apologized Rollan making Gerda chuckle, then get her head away from the boy to gaze at him.

„It‘s alright. You…..you spoke once about her right?“ Questioned Gerda making Rollan shrug his shoulders.

„I believe so. Her personality from the short time I saw her reminded me of you,“ Commented Rollan.

„Where did you see her in those short moments?“ Questioned Gerda curious, then Rollan pondered about what he should answer.

„Uhm basketball, after school,“ Lied Rollan making Gerda chuckle.

„This took you long to answer?“ Commented Gerda a little bewildered making Rollan nod.

„I had forgotten the word,“ Commented Rollan. „I‘m sorry,“

„It‘s alright,“

„I haven‘t seen that girl in her…...true form you know,“ Stated Rollan. „She wears a…..a long coat and has more makeup on her face, but I‘m not complaining about it. It‘s made well on her, it‘s not overly exaggerated as you‘ve seen on that blonde girl, that you saw bickering with Aurore from my class,“ Commented Rollan making Gerda chuckle.

„That‘s Chloé. Yeah, she‘s a little overdressed and overpainted. There I have to agree. This is why I begged Juleka and Rose to keep my face decent. I wanted you to like me for my real me, not an overly-changed Gerda,“ Stated Gerda watching Rollan cup her cheek, passing his thumb under her eye to uncover a bit of make-up, which had covered the freckles.

„I can‘t believe they covered up your skin points,“ Mentioned Rollan making Gerda a little confused, then figure out what he meant.

„Ah freckles you mean,“ Commented Gerda making Rollan nod, then Gerda took her hands down to grab Rollan‘s to question him something. „Just curious, what do you like about me? Do you have anything specific?“

„Personality-wise or something else?“

„Up to you.“

„Your kindness and confidence you‘ve shown, have caught my eye a lot,“ Commented Rollan, then both shrieked as the DJ had picked up the microphone making it shrill.

„Ops sorry dudes,“ Commented Nino, then showed up a paper on his hands. „Before our last song, I‘d like to announce to you the winners of the voting. As said before, The most voted girl and boy become the King and the Queen of the prom and in second place we get the Prince and the Princess. So open up your ears and listen up,“ Said Nino watching Principal Damocles come up at the stage along with Mrs. Mendeleiev, which were bringing the crowns and the tiaras for the winners. „Those aren‘t real ones, by the way, those were created by the crafting club together with the design club of Mr. Ross and Mr. Nickel,“ Explained Nino watching half of the students applaud.

„Okay dudes, we‘ll start with the second place“ Announced Nino. „Princess of the prom night tonight will be with 21 votes Aurore Boreal from class 12B!“ Announced Nino looking at the light, which searched for the girl, that was near the stage jumping excitedly in front of Wayhem and Luka, which observed the girl get up on the stage to receive the tiara, then the Principal ordered the girl to step forward at the stage to look at the crown, still excited about her win. „Our Prince Charming has gotten silver with 32 votes. Funnily equally voted by both genders. The award goes to Rollan from class 12B as well!“

„What?“ Asked Rollan confused looking at Gerda, which gave him a thumb up. „Why did I win?“ Asked Rollan confused, then Kim Chien Le showed up to clap the friend on his back.

„I voted for you man,“ Commented Kim, then pointed up the stage for Rollan to walk up in which he did and he received a silver-colored crown.

„Actually boys get the crown. Our DJ misunderstood me,“ Said Principal Damocles after setting the crown over Rollan‘s head, then he walked at Aurore, which waved at the Spaniard, which nodded and saw at everyone clapping at him, then swallowed hard tensed about the amount of attention.

Down came Vincent with his camera to take a picture of the two teens, then up the stage appeared the janitor to bring the two a simple rose with a ribbon on it with the number two written on it to hand it out to the silver-winners. After the prize, Rollan returned to Gerda, which stood there with Kim and Max, which were happy about Rollan‘s prize, then Kim held up his hand to have Rollan high-five him.

„What was the prize for?“ Asked Rollan, then watched Max adjust his glasses before explaining him.

„About 145 students had the chance to vote for any girl and anyboy here to become Prom King or Prince. You were elected by 32 students and got second place,“ Explained Max. „According to calculations sportsboys, Chads and anyone good-looking has greater chance to become the most votes, which happened to you,“

„Really?“ Questioned Rollan making Kim nod.

„You‘ve earned our votes. Sadly you didn‘t make it to King thought,“ Mentioned Kim making Max nod.

„I‘m fine with Prince. I would also be fine, if I didn‘t win,“ Mentioned Rollan looking at Gerda, which was looking at the ribbon and the quartett heard the next announcement, afterward Kim began to laugh as he heard Chloé had won the first prize.

„Who voted for her?“ Asked Kim making Rollan shrug his shoulders.

„I had no idea, where to vote,“ Said Rollan, then Gerda pointed at the box under the stage, which had large written Vote on it. „Oh,“

„I would have voted for you, if I knew that,“ Mentioned Rollan making Gerda grin at the comment.

„It‘s fine. I‘m also fine without the prize,“ Commented Gerda, then Kim began to yell as he saw Luka Couffaine get up on stage as he was elected Prom King.

„Almost all my classmates won,“ Commented Rollan making Gerda nod watching Luka and Chloé smile at the camera to get a picture taken, then they moved away and Nino played the next song, which was a pop song, which a soul-like topic.

Rollan placed his hands around Gerda‘s waist again, then watched her place her hands over his shoulders to go on for another dance session together, then she embraced the boy leaning her head by his head and noticed his shirt‘s collar have a notable, failed wrinkle on it, then passed her finger on it.

„Did you iron your shirt?“ Asked Gerda making Rollan nod.

„Yeah, did I miss something?“ Asked the Spaniard making Gerda shake her head.

„No I had noticed one wrinkle on it, which was made by the iron,“

„I was a little trebling with my hands,“ Commented Rollan. „I think I have two more, but under my arms somewhere,“

„Funny I haven‘t noticed anyone yet,“

„You know ironing isn‘t something I do every day, just once a week. Sometimes I do well, sometimes not so well. This one was okay thought,“

„It looks here like you have ironed from your back,“ Commented Gerda. „You know the textile part,“

„I do the arms first, then the body and the collar is the last thing I do,“ Explained Rollan watching Gerda move her head back to listen to his conversation with a charming smile while tapping him on his neck with her index finger. „Maybe the way I learned could help you better,“ Suggested Gerda moving her hand up at the collar lifting it up. „The best thing is to start at the collar and iron it from the inside, afterwards you move it around and go down here at the shoulder part,“ Guided Gerda moving her hand down under his neck, while going up slowly on her tiptoes to peck him on his lips, rousing up the boy, which had lost his attention when following the girl‘s words.

„I will give it a try tomorrow,“ Promised Rollan smiling courteously at the blonde, which replied back with a amused one and placed her head aside his, continuing their last dance under the open skyline over the school ground.

#snowqueen #miraculous #miraculous ladybug #crossover #x-over #fanfic #fanfiction #ao3 #archiveofourown #prom #prom night #снᴇжнᴀя коᴘолᴇвᴀ #снᴇжнᴀя коᴘолᴇвᴀ Роллан #снᴇжнᴀя коᴘолᴇвᴀ гердa #Роллан и Герда #снᴇжнᴀя коᴘолᴇвᴀ Роллан и Герда

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comfortwriting · 4 years ago

Text

A Walk To Remember - R.W

Ron Weasley x Fem Reader - Part 1/2

Masterlist, Request Rules, Part 2

A/N: To the lovely angel that requested this, thank you so much - this has been so therapeutic and enjoyable for me to write; thank you for being so patient and kind. I hope I’ve done this right!

Based HEAVILY on the movie: A Walk To Remember.

Warnings: mention of cancer, death, heavy theme of religion and god, blasphemy, fluff, sadness.

Since Ron and Harry fell out in fourth year because of the Triwizard Tournament, Ron unfortunately found himself surrounded by the wrong people, he didn’t have Harry anymore - his one true best friend and he didn’t have Hermione anymore to keep him level-headed. Ron wasn’t himself and everyone could see it, he cared more about his social status than being a good classmate, and a good wizard.

His parents were sending more Howlers to Ron than they had ever sent to Fred and George, no one could recognise him from the kid who put himself in the line of fire to protect Harry and Hermione when they were trying to retrieve the Philosopher stone, but you - you still wanted to see the good in him, you knew under the ridiculous attitude and his stupid behaviour, lay a heart of gold and lots of potential.

“He’s late again.” Lavender rolled her eyes, standing around in the dark, looking at the Hannah Abbott .

“Ron will turn up, don’t get your knickers in a twist.” Hannah replied, continuing her conversation with Dean Thomas.

“Took him long enough.” Seamus pointed towards a very tired Ron walking alongside Nigel Wolpert from a few years below.

Ron and Nigel continued to walk towards the rest of the group, Nigel shivering every now and then in his thin plaid pyjamas. Finally meeting up with the rest of the group the six of them continued their stroll to the Great Lake.

“Sleep well?” Hannah taunted Ron.

Ron shot her a sarcastic smile “brilliant, actually.”

Lavender instantly tried making a move on Ron but he blew her off “if you want to have a dance go and ask Neville.” causing everyone but Nigel to go on a tangent about how geeky, strange and pathetic the herbology student was.

Nigel wanted to speak out to defend Neville but in front of such cool people, especially Ron, he didn’t want to ruin his chances of climbing up the social ladder.

“So what is it that I have to do?” Nigel beamed up at Ron.

Obviously getting into any friendship group requires some sort of need to prove yourself, whether it’s promising to not share secrets, to never date another's ex, the usual ‘bro’ and ‘girl code’ but when it came down to this group, they would go to unfair and extreme lengths.

Dean, Seamus, Lavender and Hannah all stood at the edge of the lake, smirking.

“go on, tell him.” Seamus glided his outstretched hand, presenting the lake to Nigel.

“Well, uh, Nigel - you’re going to go for a swim in that lake, mate.” Ron tried to act coolly, unbothered and the least concerned.

Nigel’s face dropped, starting to panic. “But there's Merpeople in there, Grindylows - the Giant Squid!”

“It won’t be that bad” Hannah laughed.

“Yeah, dear Ron will be going in with you.” Lavender bit on her lip, staring at Ron.

Ron remembered to keep his act up, “yeah, you won’t be going in there alone” he lied.

Nigel nodded his head and agreed to go through with the orders he had been given, he took of his pyjamas and was left freezing cold in his boxers, he turned around to look at a fully clothed Ron.

“Are you not getting undressed?”

Ron shook his head, his arms folded. “Nah, I’m sensitive to cold temperatures, reminds me of uh.. you know.”

Nigel remembered the second challenge during the Triwizard tournament, not wanting to ask any questions or mention Harry and Hermione.

Nigel and Ron got closer to the lake, Nigel tipping on the edge.

“We’ll go on the count of three, alright?”

Nigel continued to shiver, nodding his head and wrapping his arms around him to keep him warm.

“Three, two, one!”

Instead of joining Nigel and swimming, Ron pushed the younger student into the Lake, causing him to fall head first into the water. The group broke into laughter, yelling at Nigel and cheering but the cheers soon turned into screams and sheer panic.

Nigel tried to swim but couldn’t his body went into shock due to the temperature of the water, and his fear of being attacked and dragged away by the residents under the water. His arms waved up above him as his head went under.

“Someone do something!” Lavender yelled, “Ron!”

Ron swore under his breath and quickly stripped out of his pyjamas, making a rope for Nigel to grab to pull him aside. Whilst Ron hurried into the water, grabbing a hold of Nigel’s arm, trying to get him out of the water. Nigel’s head fell back and his breaths shallowed, his lips and skin turning blue.

The yells coming from Mr Filch rang out through the school grounds - panicking everyone.

“We’ve got to go!” Hannah grabbed Lavender’s arm “if we get caught we could get expelled!”

“Hurry up, Ron!” Dean hissed, following the girls.

Seamus stayed for a moment as Ron got closer to the the edge he and Nigel were standing minutes ago, Ron got all of strength and lifted Nigel up, placing him down on the grass, Seamus pulled Nigel back and helped Ron out of the water.

Once Ron got back on his feet Mr Filch and now a yelling Hagrid stormed across the grounds, getting closer and closer to the three boys.

“We’ve got to go now!” Seamus glared “leave him here, he’ll be fine, lets go!”

Ron going against everything good within him, fled with Seamus and left Nigel, alone and inches from death.

Unfortunately, to Ron’s distaste, he didn’t get away with what happened that night - his friends did, but thanks to Professor Snape, he didn’t. Ron got caught moments before he got to the common room, Seamus miles in front of him. Ron spun his impressive web of lies, although Snape didn’t believe him - but everyone else did.

Stuffing toast into his mouth his eyes locked with yours for a moment whilst you took a sip from your goblet, you and Ron had known each other even before Hogwarts, you shared almost every class together, but that didn’t make you friends - you were far from it.

Deterring himself from your gaze, Seamus laughed.

“Stare any longer and your the pumpkin juice in your goblet will turn to wine.” Seamus teased.

“or my potions book will become a bible” Ron teased back.

You were a half-blood, your mother a witch and your strict religious dad a muggle - you found it hard to believe at times that you were even allowed to attend Hogwarts but your dad wanted the time that you had left to be enjoyable, he even moved to Hogsmeade so he wasn’t too far away if you needed him.

Ron and Seamus both swore under their breaths as Professor McGonagall stormed towards them.

“Mr Weasley, a word in my office.”

Professor McGonagall sat down, picking up her long piece of parchment that sat on her desk “after being caught up in such a serious incident, don’t think for one moment that you will go unpunished.”

Ron slouched in his chair and grinded his teeth.

“For this term, every weekday after dinner you will be helping the house elves clean down in the kitchens, every Saturday mornings you will be helping a handful of first years with their brooms bright and early! and you will also be taking part in a theatre production in Hogsmeade for the rest of your Saturday, to ensure that you won’t skive, you will be transported to Hogsmeade with other students.”

Ron’s face dropped, everything he hated all mixed together had been thrown on upon him whether he liked it or not, and worst of all, he couldn’t get himself out of it if he wanted to graduate.

Dean, Seamus, Hannah and Lavender found it hilarious seeing Ron clean up with the house elves, they too mocked you and your faith in god every chance they had.

Walking outside to join the rest of the students in Hogsmeade, you heard Lavender’s laughs from behind you.

“Oh Ronald just look at her, she’s as helpless as it gets. Clinging onto that bible as if her life depends on it.”

Ron stayed quiet, his eyes burning into the same sweater you wore every single day without fail.

“We should go together sometime” Lavender spoke out again at Ron.

Ron looked at his ex and almost grimaced “I’m not doing that again alright? we’ve been through this.”

Ron departed from his group, waving goodbye and walking slowly behind everyone else. Noticing Ron behind you, you slowed down so you could walk next to him - you were always alone when you went to Hogsmeade and you felt like having some company before your theatre class.

“So, you’re going to be in my group right?” you smiled, hoping the small talk wasn’t that bad.

Ron ignored you, continuing to follow the other students.

You didn’t want to give up on the golden haired boy just yet, you didn’t know why but there was something in him that stood out to you, something his friends couldn’t see - perhaps something Harry and Hermione missed.

“I think a change of scenery will be good for you - Nigel is also recovering slowly, you should visit him-”

Ron stopped in his tracks and gave you a horrified look “don’t you have bible verses to stress over? shouldn’t you be focusing on the mythical man instead of me?”

You raised your eyebrows and felt quite taken aback, you were used to having your head bitten off but you were trying to break the ice, you weren’t pushing your faith on anyone.

“You don’t know me at all” you replied, pursing your lips, storming past him.

You, like many of your group enjoyed theatre with a passion, the guy in your class had written the play himself and you were so proud, his writing more than a work of art and you could tell something beautiful would come from it.

After being assigned your roles, you couldn’t help but feel satisfied knowing that Ron had a role of his own, even if he wasn’t expecting such a thing. You felt a tinge of excitement inside of you, knowing that the two of you would be spending more time together.

Going through your lines, Ron was slouching in his chair as usual, speaking in monotone whilst he read his parts, you couldn’t understand why he didn't want to be here - to redeem himself.

After your first class, you didn’t go back to Hogwarts with the other students, you were allowed to visit your dad whenever you needed and today you felt like spending sometime with him, going through your bible and getting the reassurance you desperately needed.

Ron, who did not have permission to stay out, went against the rules anyway, getting himself a Butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks and some jelly slugs from Honey Dukes.

Leaving the extravagant sweet shop, Ron bumped into you, almost dropping his treats.

“what are you still doing out?” he asked, chewing down a slug.

You smiled sheepishly at him “I could ask you the same thing”

The two of you walked back to Hogwarts, going through the constant back and forth of him trying to test your faith and speak against god, trying to get you to reach breaking point - but it wouldn’t work. You had patience, you were full of love and you could see the beauty in everything - the exact opposite of the boy next to you.

“you shouldn’t dumb yourself down to fit in” you sighed, snuggling into your sweater. “you should care less about your social status and more about your future.”

Ron shoved another jelly slug into his mouth “you think you know me, do you? well you don’t.”

Ron and Seamus sat on the sofa in front of the fire, the two of them scrutinising the play, picking apart the script piece by piece and acting it out sarcastically.

“It’s gonna be brilliant” Seamus grinned, flicking through the pages.

“You sound like my brothers, it’s going to be a bloody nightmare.” Ron groaned, looking miserably into the flames.

“That's why its going to be brilliant, you’re going to make a fool of yourself!”

After another week of feeling tired and nauseated, you tried your best to pull through it, focusing on god - his love - his warmth, you focused on seeing your dad at the weekend, being able to drown your fears in the path god had chosen for you.

“Oi, y/n” Ron whispered, pulling you aside and tearing you away from your thoughts.

You stared at him and waited for him to continue talking, holding your bible to your chest.

“Look, can you help me with my lines after class on Saturday?” he asked, his mouth barely moving so everyone around him would find it hard to lip read.

“As long as you aren’t doing it only to benefit yourself”

Ron rolled his eyes “yeah, whatever - can you help me then or what?”

You nodded your head, ticking off a box from your list “I don’t see why not” you smiled “thanks to you I have one less box to tick”

Ron gave you a strange look, then noticed his friends walk down the hall towards the two of you.

“We’ll go to my dads, we can practice there, but promise me one thing?”

Ron started to become inpatient “bloody hell, what?”

You took a deep breath, facing your fears “promise you won’t fall in love with me.”

Ron felt delighted, he thought making this promise was the easiest thing he had ever done in his life “I didn’t think it would be that easy.” Ron’s friends stared at him, pulling faces behind your back “I’ll see you on Saturday” he paused before walking away “I promise.”

Little did Ron know, the promise he made would be the hardest one to keep.

“Ronald Weasley?!” Your father freaked out “I’ve told you to stay away from lads like that!”

You sighed, hearing a knock at the door, you stood up from the table “the lord preaches forgiveness, dad.”

Walking over to the door, you opened it, Ron stood there with another bag of jelly slugs, swallowing one down “can I come in then”

“Yeah - make yourself at home, wait in the living room, my script is upstairs.”

Ron walked around your living room. searching the moving faces in the picture frames, the candles on the mantle piece, pictures of Jesus and multiple mini statutes of him surrounding one another on a shrine.

He couldn’t help but feel the hairs stand up on his neck, he wasn’t used to all this religion thrusting itself into him, the eyes of a higher being judging him for each and every sin he committed.

“You must be Ronald.” Your father spoke out, almost making Ron jump out of his skin.

Ron turned away from the altar, holding out his hand for your father to shake, but withdrawing it soon after your father declined.

“Thank you for-”

“I didn’t” you father spoke over him “that was y/n decision.”

After being grilled for his behaviour from your father and running through the same romanticised script, Ron couldn’t wait to break free from it all, from judgement of the lord, your fathers none existent approval, slowly getting friendlier with you.

The more Ron noticed you, the more you stood out to him. You weren’t just the girl devoted to god that was glued to a bible - you loved animals, you thought they were magnificent and spent hours reading about them.

After finishing breakfast you walked over to where Ron was sitting with his friends, you felt confident and excited to see him again outside of Hogwarts.

“Will you be coming back to my place tomorrow?” you asked, smiling at him.

Seamus started laughing, almost choking on his juice.

Ron felt mortified, there's no way he could allow his friends to get the jump on him for being your friend.

“yeah, in your dreams” Ron spat, making Seamus laugh more.

Your butterflies wings felt like they had been ripped off, your smile fell and your heart ached, but you refused to curse him, instead you swallowed hard and walked away - reminding yourself that this was a good thing; he wasn’t falling in love with you.

Playing the piano and singing with your father, the two of you were interrupted by a sudden knock on the door, you ignored it, hoping whoever it was would go away but they didn’t. Standing up, you walked over to the door and saw Ron standing in same spot as he always did on your porch.

You tried to close the door before he stopped you, shoving his hand in the way.

“Look, don’t take it that personal, alright?”

You crossed your arms, pulling on the sleeves of your sweater.

“I still want your help, it’s just, you know what my friends are like.”

You couldn’t believe your ears, you couldn’t believe how heartless Ron was in this moment.

“Are you trying to say you want us to be friends in secret?” you faked a smile, noticing Ron’s face brighten up.

“exactly that! yeah, brilliant!”

You however didn’t brighten up, your fake smile crumbled and your expression turned sour. Tears made your vision glassy and you felt like taking your sweater off you were that hot with anger.

“I can’t believe you, Ron - I can’t believe I saw something good in you, let me go and cry to god about it.” you replied angrily, slamming the door in his face, going upstairs and questioning whether or not waiting the next few months out would be worth it.

Your confession struck something in Ron and he couldn’t explain it, out of nowhere he was practicing his lines without sarcasm but with seriousness instead, he genuinely worked hard at helping first years with their brooms and even encouraged them to give Quidditch a thought. During minor dress rehearsals of the play Ron was taking constructive criticism onboard, pushing himself to do better, to remember his lines and to be a persuasive actor.

He felt himself feeling guilty for what he had done and said to you each time his eyes landed on you, each time you shared the stage together, Ron wanted nothing more than to make things right, even if he found it to be incredibly difficult to begin with.

You noticed these changes in Ron like you had noticed everything else about him, you could see how much the first years appreciated his hard work, how much fun he was having away from the bad influences he wanted to impress so badly - deep down you were praying that he wasn’t doing all of this just to benefit himself.

Ron took a deep breath and walked through the hospital wing, seeing Nigel sat in his bed, reading a muggle children's book.

“Alright, Nigel?” Ron greeted nervously, standing at the end of his bed.

Nigel looked up at Ron and closed his book, staring at him. “Considering the fact I almost died and went into shock, I’m not too bad.”

Ron bowed his head in shame and felt like he did when his mum would scold him for misbehaving.

“I’m really sorry mate, I am.”

Nigel looked at Ron and shook his head “I was stupid for believing you’d go in there with me, I’m asking myself if it’s stupid of me to forgive you.”

Tonight was the night you had been looking forward to the most, the one and only performance of the play - the one night you were able to get yourself dressed up - your hair and make up done, the dress you rented fitting you perfect.

Dean, Seamus, Hannah and Lavender were sat in the front row, Lavenders camera at the ready taking pictures of Ron in his suit every chance that she could. The rest of the Weasley family were sat watching, Fred and George having the time of their lives thinking of ways to embarrass their little brother, Molly and Arthur feeling so relieved and proud that their son had started to pull himself together.

Your father sat at the front row also, feeling excited to see you come on stage, for you to experience such a special moment in the time god had left to give you.

The two of you read your lines, talking and acting like a couple who were in love, finally not hiding it amongst the other characters. Ron sat down in his seat and you pulled the cloak off your body and sat down next to him, continuing with your lines.

Ron suddenly forgot his lines that he had worked so hard to remember, your presence making him feel as if he was in the presence of an angel - this was how he felt when he saw Hermione at the yule ball, only making him more determined to make things right with you.

As soon as you revealed yourself, Lavender stopped snapping pictures and put her camera away, the jealousy she was now feeling eating away at her. Seamus had to close his mouth it was gaping open for that long, he couldn’t believe you were the same girl that wore the same sweater that only devoted herself to god.

Fred and George stopped bitching about their brother and like everyone else, they were captivated by you, trying to find out if you had bewitched the audience or took a potion before hand.

Reaching the last legs of the play, Ron failed to deliver his lines and had to improvise instead, his eyes roamed your angelic face and he blurted out such a compliment it made your heart skip a beat.

“You’re beautiful”

You wanted to correct him but at the same time you felt flattered, you weren't used to compliments unless they came from your dad. Getting lost in the moment, Ron leaned in and pressed his lips against yours, the two of you sharing a kiss whilst the red curtain knitted together, putting an end to the show.

Your breath hitched in your throat, you told yourself over and over that it was just a kiss - just part of the show - nothing more, nothing less - Ron wasn’t falling for you and you couldn’t allow yourself to fall for him.

Afterwards, Ron’s family praised him for doing such a good job, but Ron couldn’t stop himself from watching you, your father pulling you away from the big crowd. Walking out of the theatre, Ron spotted a familiar face, approaching him out of the crowd. It was Harry.

“You did an amazing job, Ron.”

Ron stared at the lad in glasses he once called his best friend, he stared into his eyes and allowed his anger to consume him.

“Clear off” Ron replied “I don’t want you anywhere near me.”

Burying yourself in another book about creatures, you couldn’t help but giggle at the illustrations of Nifflers holding gold in their hands. Ron walked into the Great Hall, everyone staring at him and Lavender whispering to her friends about you and him.

Ignoring them, Ron walked over to you and sat down beside you, seeming more cheerful than you had ever seen him.

“Reading another book about creatures are we?” Ron smiled.

You looked up from your book “it’s another box on my list, read one hundred books.”

Ron smiled “I think you’re brilliant.”

You felt a wave of irritability swirl in your stomach, you couldn’t tell if your health was crumbling even more or if it was because of Ron.

This was it, he was falling for you and you were falling for him, the two of you breaking such a sacred and important promise, committing one of the biggest sins that reined heavily in your head.

You stared at Ron and started to panic “what are you doing?” you barked, shutting your book “stop trying to figure me out”

You stood up, your heart pounding in your chest, you kept drilling the path god had chosen for you into your brain, telling yourself over and over that you and Ron couldn’t happen, no matter what it couldn’t happen.

Ron didn’t give up like he used to, instead he chased after you and trapped you into the corner outside.

“I thought a girl like you wouldn’t be afraid” Ron said in disbelief “don’t be a plonker, y/n. Don’t deny how you felt that night, I’m not denying it-”

You put your hands over your ears, shaking your head, if he knew why you were running he wouldn’t be so forceful, you wanted to tell him the truth right there and then but you were terrified.

“you have no idea what I feel Ron!”

“I do and you know it! you want to be with me like I want to be with you!”

Tears streamed down your face, your big secret sitting on the tip of your tongue, trying to pry your mouth open and set itself free.

“I can’t!” you cried “I warned you!”

Ron stayed still and watched you walk away, his heart and head screaming at him to follow you, to kiss you one more time, to just say screw it and start over again.

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