#they come off as super serious and uptight but they actually have a fun dry sense of humor and really are just very. put together

[spearcast]

i have a very VERY self indulgent original superpowers/superhero universe where the story is based around a majority of superpowered individuals being marginalized and over-policed and so on and so forth and a big theme of reconnecting as a community and coming against / dismantling both the government and a corrupt monopoly that takes charge of a lot of supes (the same way the us military takes advantage of marginalized individuals be they poor, poc, so and so forth). LONG STORY SHORT lots of fun themes and shit all floating around in the brain but sometimes you just need a very op self inserted main character and that is what hotspot is for me

i have. a lot of logistics and worldbuilding i want to at least put out into the universe under a read more but the TLDR of it is that hotspot is far too powerful for the govt and the organization (called CONQUEST) to really threaten and they soon begin to realize that hotspot is onto their shady goings-on and has to navigate the way to take them down (with the help of friends!! found family!! superpowered peoples reconnecting after forcibly being kept apart!!) without. like. tearing the planet in half bc they could if they put their mind to it. SDFHKSHDFS

essentially at a certain point in this universe people began being born with superpowers- it started off as a few at a time (which is where a lot of mythological heroes and characters in general are believed to have stemmed from, superpowered individuals born in ancient times) and by the time of 'present', there's a substantial portion of the population that have super-abled abilities. in the "80s" and "90s" (idk if i'm lining up this universe's time period with ours or not so 80s /90s are just concepts here SDHFKS) there came a lot of government regulation that was meant to keep superpowered people from becoming too powerful- or in their words "too dangerous" toward normal folk- and one of the major legislations was that heroes couldn't team up unless the team-ups were sanctioned by the national and international governments they were associated with. this also saw the birth of CONQUEST- an organization led by a woman named rebecca fowler and her husband meant to mentor and guide young supers into being helpful members of the community. behind this exterior, CONQUEST was really a world-power-funded military/weapon building corporation that actively took advantage of the supes they took under their wing. the alternative was to be an independent supe- "indie heroes" were governed solely by the mentor that chose them and a team of representatives and often had to do dealings with the government directly as opposed to following an organization's lead.

these were really the only two plausible options for anyone who had superpowers. anyone else was deemed a vigilante or danger to society and were either locked up for good in "defective supe" centers OR they were exterminated.

as was what happened with some supes, horizon renna was not born with their abilities. they began to develop when they were around seven or eight- and unfortunately for them, they were both blessed and cursed with terrifyingly apocalyptic abilities, and ended up destroying a section of their state when their powers emerged. thankfully they and their parents had been on vacation, in the middle of a state park when it happened- but the tumultuous volcanic and literally earth-shattering abilities they possessed were incredibly dangerous for a child with unstable emotions. there was much talk of just ending their life, because a small dose of being overwhelmed was all that led to a forest being turned to ash and molten rock, but a mentor stepped forward soon after- mililani kane aka ka wahine ‘ai honua (dubbed pele by the media), a renowned independent hero from hawai'i who at that time was in her mid 40s, saw much of herself in the child. while she didn't possess the massive destructive power that horizon did, she knew that she could use her knowledge of the extent of her own abilities to guide horizon to be able to control themself and their abilities. it was with mililani's help that horizon eventually grew to be one of the most powerful heroes, and most powerful supes across the board, in the world. it truly infuriates both rebecca fowler- who still heads CONQUEST in the present- and the united states government, considering they could've been brought into CONQUEST and be more easily manipulated.

essentially the LVL 0 rating that horizon has is due to how they categorize power levels within the universe (and i went numeral instead of the greek alphabet ranking that like. marvel uses SDFKHS):

6; least powerful, considered standard human base

5; first divergence from humanity

4; second divergence from humanity

3; power levels begin to become exponential; level 3 supers hold most of the high-level physical ability supers, like super strength and elemental abilities.

2; transition from physical abilities like elemental abilities and strength-based abilities to lower level psychic and metaphysical abilities

1; second most powerful, even more exponential than level 2, going from generic "looking at someone and reading their mind" to a more vast "can read and alter the minds of a room full of people"

0; the most powerful based upon what they could feasibly do with their already proven strong abilities. Hotspot is a level 0 super because she has the ability to connect deep within the earth and could ultimately destroy it on a whim if she so chose to. This has been proven by her holding back eruptions and earthquakes for even short periods of time. There are only a few physical-ability Level 0 supers like Hotspot, most are metaphysical supers.

there are also subcategories that they use to try to organize supes even more, like "celestial" being focused on star/space abilities, "substance" being focused on gravity/density abilities, "transmission" being focused on voice/sound abilities, "electronic" being focused on electronic/electric abilities, "psi" being focused on psychic/psionic/quantum abilities, and "vitality" being focused on life/death/youth/etc abilities. but. YEAH

originally from hotspot's pov it starts out as CONQUEST bad and indie good, but as the story progresses and they're forced to navigate the intricacies and politics of the supe world they come to realize while CONQUEST is a horrible company not all of the people within it really had much of a choice and then as some supes begin to go missing without much noise being made about it, along with the shadier sides of the organization and the government at large coming to light, they have some choices to make. i think it's fun and a lot of the characters surrounding horizon are either super self indulgent ocs or based on people from my life so AHSKDFHS yeeeee i had more but i think that's enough rambling for the moment

EDIT: OKOKOK WAIT i wanna give some hotspot-specific fun facts to end the rambling

they've learned there are many subcategories to their own abilities- they rarely get cold, their core is believed to be ABLE to reach the same temp as the core of the planet tho it would pretty much destroy their physical form as well as anyone around them so they don't ever try it- this also resulting in them being pleasantly warm to the touch at all times, though sometimes they can be searing in the middle of battle

most materials made of rock and mineral can be manipulated by them. glass? they can melt it and turn it into sand, or vise versa. gravel? can be turned to asphalt or tar or even solid rock. they can change rock to different parts of the rock cycle, especially after making it molten and melty. they can also pick up ANY rock and after a moment can tell you exactly what kind of rock/mineral it is. they have a lot of geologist friends SDFHKHSF

processing and melting plastic makes them feel sick in the same way that overexerting themselves without much to replace their energy makes them tired and go hibernal for some time. they've gotten to the point of having more stamina that staves off that hibernal period, but it still hits them now and then.

because of metal and magnetism having a connection, they can shift the rocks on their arms into magnetic rock and thusly can tell where true north is the same way a compass can. if dropped in the middle of wilderness they can make their way back to civilization because they are their own compass in that sense SKDFHSHDF

their body, while technically flesh like any other person, can be manipulated into a plasma-like state that mimics semi-solid lava and magma. this means wounds that harm them can be healed fairly easily by shifting from their human form to the lava form and just closing up the wound or whatever needs to be done- and this, as is learned later on in the story, means they can regenerate limbs, and ultimately, their entire self no matter how destroyed their body is.

[mermaidsirennikita]

(I know you've read a lot of romance books and I hope this is an appropriate question) Can you please rec me books with male leads who are kind of mischievous, charming and get along with others well? I'm thinking of book!Colin Bridgerton, or maybe Nikolai from S&B and (I dunno if you've read this, hopefully yes) Thorne from The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. I feel like that's really difficult to come by and really need some help!

Not inappropriate at all, and I think I have some recs for you!

A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare--My favorite romance novel Colin, personally. A rake, very charming, and everyone likes him except for the heroine, who thinks he's trash. Is he trash? He does dry hump her until they both come and justifies it with "there's a sheet between us so it's not sex", so like... perhaps. Makes a joke about her being a sword swallower while they're disguised as circus performers.

Duke Most Wicked by Lenora Bell--Out 9/27 and has a hero a lot like this. He kicks off the book trying to reform himself because he's like.. run out of money, lol.

The Lady Gets Lucky by Joanna Shupe--It's actually a part of the hero's development in this one. He knows everyone likes him, but they don't take him seriously. And he wants them to!!! But also, he's gonna teach the hero some seduction lessons becauuuuse she has something he wants and a deal's a deal.

The Good Girl's Guide to Rakes by Eva Leigh--This is a "you wanna see a real party?" book, where the hero is taking the heroine around town to show her a good time while she tries to help him find a wife. He does wear eyeliner and write poetry. It's great.

Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas--The hero of this book has all his father's charm and none of his father's tendency to kidnap women. Accidentally compromises the heroine, and is like "well obviously I'll marry her" but plot twist! She doesn't wanna marry himmmm.

Married by Morning by Lisa Kleypas--Leo Hathaway is a reformed rake type, very snarky, has gotten over serious angst by the time his book has come around. The heroine is the only person who has damage with him because they're in an enemies to lovers dance. Especially good because while he's fun and witty in the streets, he's quite dominant in the sheets.

Suddenly You by Lisa Kleypas--Another "fun-loving man who's great at parties meets local woman who can't stand him" book, but with the twist that she's an author and he's a publisher. Also, she thinks he's the sex worker she ordered to divest her of her virginity at the beginning of the book, and he's like "well I'm not gonna say anything".

Sweetest Scoundrel by Elizabeth Hoyt--Asa Makepeace is the family scoundrel/fuckup (his family is made up of Quakers and he's running a pleasure garden lmao). The heroine is very uptight whereas he's super mischievous and fun.

Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt--As a note, this comes before Sweetest Scoundrel. The heroine is actually Asa's sister. The hero is a pirate king so he's dangerous, but he's also super snarky and charming. He's literally called "Charming Mickey". It is great, one of my favorite romances ever.

Notorious Pleasures by Elizabeth Hoyt--Heroine is engaged to a boring guy and begins an affair with his fun good-time brother who has a bad reputation but is, again, great at parties.

I think a lot of these are like... Colin Bridgerton (book!Colin that is) if Colin fucked hard. Some more than others, lol. But the "good time guy" is totally a romance hero type.

[imagineyouandharry]

enemies to lovers harry!

Yes! So, I got super inspired by this and rushed to pump this little bad boy out. Feedback is highly appreciated! I’m thinking this will be part one of a series! I love collage au Harry it makes me all fuzzy inside. TYSM anon!!

GHB - Harry Styles

warnings: drug and alcohol use, drink spiking, not proofread or edited as it was made in haste. 

word count: 4,704

It wasn’t that Y/N and Harry just weren’t friends, they despised each other. Ever since Harry weaselled his way into their friend group things had turned upside down, the dynamic had shifted, and it was a new person that Y/N had to get used to. His confidence and outgoing personality overpowered her shy, introverted personality tenfold. College life was difficult enough. Not only was Y/N learning how to balance academics with maintaining a social life and going out to parties, navigating things new to her like alcohol, drugs, and sex; but now she had to adjust to this shift in their friend group, and get to know this new guy. Her friendship group was her safe place, ‘family’ dinners at each other’s apartments, going out to dinner at bars, even little things like going for walks or taking a new yoga or pilates class. Now, that safe place didn’t feel so safe anymore, having to get used to this new guy being around all the time that everyone gushed over. Harry seemed so warm to practically everyone in the group towards Y/N, though everyone seemed to be clueless towards it except for her.

Harry and Y/N shared one class together, educational psychology. She’d been studying education to become a primary school teacher, and he studied psychology. It felt so fucking ironic that the one class they would ever have overlapping, they’d end up in the same class, to add salt to the wound in the second lesson they had been assigned to do a group project together. Harry hadn’t even shown up to that lesson though, so he’d yet to even acknowledge it. It was the second semester of Harry being around and not only did he barely acknowledge her when their friends weren’t around, but now they were to be working on an assignment together and he hadn’t even managed to show up to the first lesson discussing the topic.

“No, I’m serious Sarah. I don’t want to go. He didn’t even show up to class today, why should I give him my time of day by showing up to his stupid fucking party?” Y/N’s words were followed by a deep sigh, the way she curled her hair as she stared in the mirror contradicted her words. If all her friends were going, she felt like she had no choice but to go to. If not, she’d get major FOMO. “Babe, you’re taking it way too personality. It’s not like either of you knew you’d end up partnered together for the assignment. I really don’t get why you’re always so sour towards him.” Sarah replied with a slight shake of her head. “It’s been what, six months and the two of you still stand on opposite sides of the rest of us in photos? It’s either crazy sexual tension, or the there’s something that’s happened that the rest of us don’t know about.” This time Sarah couldn’t help but laugh, however all of their friend group had been theorising for a while now that Harry and Y/N were just too into each other and both too stubborn to admit their feelings.

Y/N scoffed, turning the curling iron off and placing it down on the counter. “Sexual tension? ‘d rather cut off my left arm than even think of Harry in a sexual way.” Her words had venom to them this time, grabbing a brush to brush out and soften her curls. Although she claimed to not have any attraction towards Harry, she’d put far more effort into her appearance than usual, and was wearing this little satin sage green dress that was exaggerating her curves.

“Whatever, you ready? Uber’s out front.” Sarah pushed herself up from the closed toilet seat she’d been sitting on, Y/N finished work late and Sarah had been far too excited to wait to get ready. Harry lived in a share house in the suburb over, and Sarah had been begging him to throw a party for months now. “One last shot on the way out?” She asked, it wasn’t a question though, she was already on her way to the kitchen to pout them one last shot of tequila before leaving. Y/N nods and follows her out, grabbing her oversized leather blazer and little handbag on the way. Y/N was shy, but around Sarah she was usually a lot more vocal, there was just a great deal of nerves surrounding tonight. Y/N always tried her best to come off as outgoing at parties and around other peoples, but really she hated the crowds, hating having to make conversation with people she knows nothing about. After a few drinks that shyness often faded though, and was usually replaced with either a blabber mouth, or being far more flirtatious than normal.

Both of the girls hastily downed their shots before exiting the apartment, hustling down the stairs and out to their ride that awaited them outside. The ride wasn’t long at all, it was too short if anything, and was spent sneaking sips of tequila from a flask that Sarah had in her purse. “Let’s have some fun tonight, yeah? I know you aren’t best of friends with Harry but there’ll be plenty of other people there, I doubt you’ll even see him much.” Sarah tells Y/N as the car turned into his street, able to tell that her best friend’s attitude was off. “I get that. It’ll be fine, stop worrying about me, yeah? It’ll be fun.” Y/N replied with a slightly forced smile in attempt to shake Sarah off of her tail. The Uber arrived before the conversation could go any further, both of the girls slightly drunk already made their thanks to the Uber driver probably too over the top before they left and made their way up to the house. People were overflowing already, some sitting on the grass outside the large brick house. The door was unlocked so they made their way in, the bass inside so strong that Y/N could feel it on her fingertips on the doorhandles as she opened the door.

Now, it wasn’t that Harry was known as a bad boy around campus or anything of the sorts. Everyone knows he’s approachable and friendly, which was probably what added to his appeal. He had a bright personality and knew how to make people feel special to him, and for that and his looks girls flocked to him. Harry was known to be fun, handsome, and good to be around (to everyone except for Y/N, that is). It was a given that the party would be full of girls, and full of guys ready to clean up any of Harry’s sloppy seconds or rejects.

The first to formally greet Y/N and Sarah was of course Mitch, who had been on the lookout waiting for the two of them since he first arrived to help set up. “M’ladies, ‘bout time the two of you showed up.” The stupid grin on his face and the way he hugged each of them probably a little too hard was enough to give away that he’d been drinking quite a bit already. He already had a drink in his hand waiting for Sarah, planting a kiss to her forehead as he handed it to her. “Two hands so I could only hold two drinks, but there’s heaps in the kitchen. Grab a drink and come meet us outside for a smoke?” Mitch asked down to Y/N, she didn’t take offence to him not getting her a drink, and to be honest she’d rather make her own anyway. “You got it captain.” Y/N replied, giving the tall man a playful salute before she made her way to the kitchen, dodging bodies and conversations so she could get herself a drink.

That drink became much more needed when she entered the kitchen, her mouth going dry when she saw Harry leaning against the counter as he looked down at his phone, ferociously texting. He looked up when Y/N brushed past him to grab a cup, pouring in some tequila. “Not going to say hey?” He asked, raising his eyebrows. He grabbed the Sprite from the fridge, although they didn’t speak he still knew her go-to. “Looked busy.” She responds, her voice blunt. “Thanks.” She adds in regard to the Sprite as he passed it to her, her guilty conscience wouldn’t let her live down being so impolite if she didn’t thank him. “Didn’t know this party would still happen since you didn’t show up to class today. We got partnered up for the presentation assignment.” She adds, it was bugging her far too much to just let it slide. “Yeah, sorry. I was meant to be back in time, had to pick coke up off this guy a few towns over and he kept me waiting outside his place for like an hour. Fill me in on it all when I’m not drunk?” He asks, standing next to her as he mixed his own drink. “I guess, yeah. Don’t expect me to do all the work though, and I actually want to go well in this class so it wouldn’t hurt if you actually put in some effort.” Maybe it was the alcohol, but Y/N was being a lot more demanding than she usually was, and her demeanour a lot more cold and forward than she’d often let on.

“Fuck, alright. I think you need to pour a bit more into your drink and loosen up some more.” Harry laughs, shaking his head before he grabbed the bottle of tequila and added an extra splash to her drink. Y/N took her first proper look at Harry, only to shoot him a narrow eyed glare. It was hard to stay mad though, the tequila from pre-game and the Uber was making it harder to be serious and angry, and his outfit was enough to make her drool. He wore cream wide legged trousers that went to the floor, and a white ribbed tank top tucked in. By far he had the nicest taste out of any guy she’d ever met, that was hard to deny. It was just a house party, but people often took any excuse they could to dress up a little bit. On the other side of things, Harry couldn’t take his eyes off of Y/N. He was used to seeing her in her usually Nike sweats and vintage sweater, which he still thought she looked beautiful in regardless but he’d never admit that to anyone. To him, Y/N was untouchable. Sure people in their friend group dated like Sarah and Mitch, but he didn’t want to ruin things. That, and she seemed too uptight for him anyway, he often mistook her shy attitude as coming off as a snob, and the way she spoke about the stupid group assignment only drilled that view of her into Harry’s head further.

“Get out of it.” Y/N grunts, sliding her drink away from Harry. “Love, can we just pretend to get long for one night? Have a dance, have a drink. Do you want some coke or something? Or, I think there’s people hot boxing the upstairs bathroom if that’s more your speed.” Harry offers, attempting to extend the olive branch to the standoffish girl beside him. “I’m far too sober to take up any of those offers. Anyway, good talk. Let me know when you’re free to talk about the presentation. I’ll see you ‘round, Harry.” Y/N said, giving Harry a far too sarcastic smile before she grabbed her drink and made her way out to the backyard to find Mitch and Sarah.

A group of people sat out by a fire pit in the corner of the backyard, garden chairs and outdoor lounges circling the source of warmth. Mitch and Sarah had saved Y/N a spot, to which she happily plopped down into. “Took you long enough.” Sarah teased, elbowing her side. “Mm, cup shortage going on in there.” She said, taking a sip. She fished the little nicotine vape out of her bag, sucking on that as she looked into the fire. Alright, if you don’t lighten up already everyone’s going to think you’re a party pooper and a trash time to be around. Loosen up. Make friends. Her little pep talk in her head, and the sip of her stronger than usual drink courtesy of Harry was motivating enough to engage in conversation with some other people around the fire pit. Most were smoking actual cigarettes or joints, Y/N preferred the little flavoured vapes. She’d never been addicted, but smoked more as a social thing, and at least this way it didn’t taste bad and she didn’t smell like cigarettes.

Conversation flowed, Naomi and Adam joined them, but Harry was still inside. Everyone just assumed he was probably distracted with some girl, or attending to party host responsibilities. “I’m going to pop to the toilet really quick and grab another drink.” Y/N told Sarah once she’d polished off what was left in her cup. She got up and made her way inside, she didn’t get all too far on her journey to the bathroom before she was stopped by Max.

Y/N and Max had known each other for a while now, they’d hooked up at parties a few times before she came to her senses and started avoiding him while out. He wasn’t taking the rejection all that lightly. “Hey, been looking for you. Drink?” He asks, holding out the little red cup containing God only knows what. The alcohol pumping through her veins was prohibiting her from thinking about it too much. “Uh, thanks. Didn’t know you’d be here tonight, friends with Harry?” She asked as she took the cup, having a sip. Tequila and orange juice, not her favourite mix but it would do. Max shrugged. “Figured you’d be here, thought we could catch up. Come down and dance with me?” He replied, moving his hand to her waist which made her stomach turn. “Maybe later, I’m in a hurry though. I’ll see you later on.” Y/N managed to push herself past him, only to get caught in a group of girls from a sociology class she’d taken last semester.

The girls babbled on, and as they did Y/N managed to finish off her drink. By the time the cup was empty she was desperate for the bathroom, the conversations ended up lasting almost half an hour, ending with promises of ��we have to catch up soon!’. When she managed to peel herself away from the girls she found the bathroom, ending up staying in there for a little while enjoying the solace of being alone. Things started to not feel right as she sat there on the bathroom floor. The room began to spin, and confusion began to set in about what was going on, or where she even was. Nausea began to set in, but she was too out of it to even begin to panic or use her phone to call or message anyone. The last thing she could remember was managing to lean over to vomit in the toilet before laying down on the floor as she lost consciousness, the cold tiles pressing against her bare legs.

Harry had been standing at the end of the hallway talking to Holly, a gorgeous girl from one of his classes that he’d been hoping to see tonight. Harry was an observant guy though, he always knew what was going on around him. From the corner of his eye he’d noticed Max give Y/N the drink, thinking not much of it as he knew that the two of them had hooked up before. Harry continued talking up and making out with the girl he stood with, making promises of having her over sometime to watch films and order in dinner. Harry would never take advantage of a drunk girl and had no intention of going any further with her than making out. The tall boy went downstairs to make himself and his girl of the night a drink, when he came back upstairs he noticed Y/N go into the bathroom. He continued his conversation with Holly, sipping their drinks as they laughed and flirted with each other. Concerns began to rise when Y/N never left the bathroom though, and it was like he began to sober up when he noticed Max making his way towards the bathroom. He set his drink down on the windowsill. “Give me a second.” He murmurs to Holly before he made his way to stand between Max and the bathroom door.

“This one’s occupied, mate. Try the downstairs bathroom.” He said, his voice stern. “Y/N texted me, said she wanted me to meet her in there.” Max replied, though Harry knew his phone had died at leat an hour ago as he heard him moaning about it to his mates. “Really? Because she just texted me saying she wanted me in there. I think it’s time for you to head off.” Harry stood his ground, matching his lies with his own. Harry was taller than Max, not necessarily more buff, but he was more intimidating when he wanted to be, and it was his house, full of his friends and people who would back him up. “You know what? Have fun. She’s too fucking difficult anyway.” Max was clearly disgruntled as he spoke, turning around and trudging off without another word.

Harry knocked on the bathroom door, pressing his ear against it to see if he could hear anything coming from inside. “Y/N? You alright, love?” He calls, his voice competing with the loud music pumping through the house. After a minute of no responses to his knocks or calls he made his way into the unlocked room, closing the door behind him. “Fuck.” He hissed when he saw the girl on the floor, immediately he took out his phone and ordered an Uber. He leant down and put her bag over his shoulder, making sure it had her phone and things still in it before scooping her up. The way her body was completely limp in his arms made him sick. How could anyone do this to someone? He made sure she was breathing, she was breathing loud enough that she was practically snoring in his arms. “Fuckin’ hell, pet.” He couldn’t help but sigh. Harry had always had a protective nature, and while he’d never admit his attraction towards Y/N he clearly cared about her enough to do this. He carried her outside to wait out in the fresh air for the car, ignoring any questions from people that tried to stop him. The rest of their friend group were still in the backyard, oblivious to anything going on.

He had decided he’d have to take her home, she wasn’t showing any signs of waking up soon. Holly wasn’t even an afterthought for Harry right now, too concerned with ensuring Y/N’s safety. When the Uber eventually did arrive he got in, being careful to do her seatbelt up before he did his as he told the driver where to go. “Big night, huh?” The driver laughs, Harry attempted a laugh in response. He didn’t want to look suspicious, or like he was the one that had drugged her. “Very big night, gotta get this one home to bed.” Harry replied, attempting to joke around with the driver for the rest of the ride. Y/N still showed no signs of regaining consciousness, he contemplated whether or not hospital was the right idea but he was also pretty knowledgable about this sort of stuff. Not that he’d ever date raped someone before, but Harry experimented with drugs himself and he’d researched GHB before and knew the side effects. It was just something that interested him, chemicals and the impact they had on the body. It came in handy too, like in situations like this.

Once the car pulled up to Y/N and Sarah’s apartment building he took her up, managing to hold her over one shoulder as he fished the keys out of his back and pushed inside. The paranoid part of him made sure to lock the door after them, in case Max decided to follow. He took her to her bedroom, laying her on the bed and taking her jacket and heels off before tucking her under the blankets. He didn’t want to change her, not wanting her to feel more violated than she already had been. In place of putting warm pyjamas on her he managed to find an extra blanket to put over her, then putting a glass of water and a box of Advil beside the bed before he went and sat down on the couch to finally breathe for a minute.

He felt guilty, even though it wasn’t his fault he felt like it fell on his shoulders. It was his party. He hadn’t known that Max was like that, hell, he barely knew the guy. He laid down on the couch as he thought about it, staring up at the ceiling. He would never forget the feeling of having her limp body in his arms, or seeing her unconscious on that bathroom floor. He wasn’t sure how much time passed as he laid there contemplating the evening, but eventually he fell asleep there, still fully clothed with his shoes on.

***

The pounding in Y/N’s head was what woke her up so early, when she reluctantly opened her eyes to check the clock beside her bed it read 6:12am. What the fuck happened, and how did I get here? She barely even remembered the events that led to her in that bathroom, and she definitely had no clue how she got home. She sat up slowly as if to not anger the headache she had, reaching out for the water and Advil that was beside the alarm clock. Although she wanted to just curl up and hide under the blankets, she knew that wouldn’t help, and the makeup still on her face wasn’t helping how she was feeling. After taking the pain killers she made her way to the bathroom to have a hot shower, closing her eyes as she leant against the wall letting the hot water run over her body to comfort her. It was jut her and Sarah that lived in the apartment, and occasionally Mitch would come over, so she just wrapped a towel around her body after towel drying her hair before she went out to the kitchen to make coffee.

On her way was when she noticed the snoring Harry on the couch, her eyes going wide as she tried to think about why on Earth he would be here. She figured they hadn’t done anything, considering he had slept on the couch and still had his fucking shoes on. She went to her bedroom and replaced the towel she was using to cover herself with a fuzzy white robe, then going to the kitchen to make coffee and wait for the Advil to kick in. Never had she ever get so hungover, she was usually blessed to never get bad hangovers, always making sure to drink loads of water and eat before bed after a night out. There was nothing worse than waking up like this.

It was early, so she decided to not wake Harry with a cup of coffee. She made hers and then returned to her room to scroll through her phone. There were dozens of missed calls and texts from her friends. Sarah had left a bunch of messages asking where she was, letting her know she’d be staying at Mitch’s for the night. There was even a few from Max calling her things like a ‘dumb slut’, to which she promptly deleted.

About an hour went by before she heard a rustling in the living room, venturing out to go see Harry, and hopefully find some answers about last night. “Hey, morning.” Her voice was soft as she leant in the doorway that connected the living room to the hallway that led to her and Sarah’s bedroom and the bathroom. Harry turned around to her quickly, his face full of concern. “How you feeling?” He asked, rubbing some sleep from his eyes. “I’ve felt better. Do you uh, know what happened last night?” She asked, holding her empty coffee mug in one hand. She’d refill hers and make Harry one if he decided to stay. “I think you were drugged, by that Max guy. Took you home ‘cause you were passed out in the bathroom. Don’t worry, nothing happened to you.” He said, sitting down on the arm of the sofa. He didn’t feel too bad, he sobered up pretty much completely before he fell asleep. “Oh…” Was all Y/N could respond with. She didn’t know how to handle that news, and she didn’t want to get all emotional in front of Harry. It was a confusing feeling that she wasn’t sure how to deal with.

“Want some coffee?” She asks him, part of her embarrassed about what had happened and the fact that he’d had to leave the party to take care of her. “That’d be lovely. Black, no sugar.” He said, a slight smile on his lips. He didn’t want to push her to talk about what happened, and it seemed like changing the conversation was how she wanted to handle it for now. Y/N nods, going into the kitchen to make some coffee for the two of them. Harry waited in his spot, running his hands through his hair. “You mind if I have a quick shower?” He calls out to her. “Sure! Mitch leaves clothes here, in the top drawer of Sarah’s dresser!” She called back, the volume in her voice was enough to somewhat trigger her headache again. She finished up making their mugs of coffee before she went to the couch to wait for Harry, setting his mug down beside hers. It felt strange, being alone with him.

When Harry came back his hair was still damp from his shower, and he smelt like her vanilla and honey body wash. “Thank you, for last night. I really appreciate it… I know it must’ve sucked leaving the party and if there’s any way I can make it up to you. I’m so embarrassed, and I’m really lucky that you were there to get me home.” Y/N was probably rambling, speaking almost too fast for Harry to comprehend this early in the morning. “Love, it’s fine. There’ll be other parties. Just glad you go home safe. If I see that weasel of a bloke again I’ll be giving him a fuckin’ piece of my mind.” Harry angered just thinking about what had happened, sitting down on the couch beside her. He wore some grey sweats and an old Pink Floyd t-shirt that Mitch had left. “Well, thank you. If you wanna stick around I’ll make some breakfast? Sarah and I usually make waffles and watch The Simpsons every Saturday morning.” She tells him, it was the most hospitality she’d ever shown towards Harry. It took him back slightly, not expecting her to be so warm towards him. He swears she’d even smiled at him as she made the offer, he’d never really seen her smile at him before. “Fuck it. It’ll be a good story to tell the others, doubt they’d believe we sat in the same room as each other and got along for this long.” He chuckles, sinking into the couch as he had a sip from his mug, looking to the tv as the girl beside him put on the silly cartoon. Maybe this was the start of a friendship, or not, but the two of them both felt at ease finally being at peace with each other for once, regardless for how long it was going to last.