#they go behind my own window and do stuff in the backyard

[regalrain]

.

[cherryobx]

Tomorrow

request: here

pairing: Rafe Cameron x reader

summary: your best friend Rafe picks you up from a party and takes you home

warnings: drunk shenanigans, mentions of alcohol, one sexual innuendo, Rafe being a gentleman (lmk if i missed anything), not proofread

wc: 1.9k

“Where is she?” Rafe grabs the arm of one of your friends and stops her in her tracks. He got many drunk texts from you in the past couple of hours which seemed to become more and more intelligible as time went on so he made the decision to pick you up before you did something you would regret in the morning.

He knew how anxious you were to come to this party but since it was your best friend’s birthday, you couldn’t exactly opt out. He had offered to accompany you but you insisted you’d be fine even though he knew you didn’t do very well in big crowds and were more comfortable with smaller groups of people or with him. Your best friend.

The house is almost shaking because of how loud the music is and he can barely hear himself think. There are so many people and he can’t spot you anywhere.

“In the kitchen, I think,” your friend answers before she’s pulled away by a group of girls who are excited about the song blasting through the speakers, claiming it’s their song.

Rafe pushes himself through the open space where people are dancing and goes in the direction he thinks the kitchen is in. When he finally makes it to the kitchen, you’re nowhere in sight. He frowns. Where the hell are you?

Then he spots you through the kitchen window in the backyard. You’re sitting in the hot tub with all your clothes still on. There’s a drink in your hand and you’re laughing at something someone said next to you.

Rafe takes a moment to take you in. It’s almost weird seeing you like this. You’re shy by nature and chatting with strangers is something you never do, so he’s almost starstruck by how stress-free you seem to be while conversing with the people sitting in the tub with you. 

He likes how you’re a more confident version of yourself when you’re drunk but he likes shy you way more because it’s just so authentically you. He likes when you hide behind him in social settings, using him as a shield. He likes when you make him order your food because you’re nervous to do it yourself. He likes how you’re quiet in front of people but start chatting his ear off once you two are alone. He likes how observant you are, always surprising him with stuff he himself didn’t even notice. He just likes you.

“Rafe!” you happily cheer as he walks through the patio door and towards the hot tub where you’re sitting.

He smiles ear to ear at your excitement. “Hi!” He greets you as you place your drink on the edge of the hot tub and wobbly stand up, exiting the water.

He grabs your arm gently, not wanting you to fall over as you climb out. Water drips from your clothes and he feels it hit his shoes and soak through the sneakers he’s wearing. But he doesn’t mind.

“What are you doing here?” you ask, looking up at him as you cling to him in an attempt to stay upright.

“I’m taking you home,” he states.

You furrow your brows in confusion. “Why?”

“Because you’re drunk.” He brushes a wet strand of hair out of your face and behind your ear. You subconsciously lean into his touch.

“So? I’m having fun.” You grab your drink and attempt to take a swig of the liquid in your cup but Rafe snatches it from your hands.

“You’re going to regret it in the morning.”

“I’m an adult I can make my own decisions,” you contended, placing your hands on your hips. Rafe can see how you’re trying your hardest to maintain your balance but the slight back and forth rocking gives you away. You’re really drunk.

“Come on, let’s go home.”

“I wanna stay.”

He says your name in a warning tone which leaves no room for argument. 

“Fine.” You roll your eyes. “But I’m choosing the playlist.”

“Deal.” He victoriously places his hand over your shoulders and leads you out of the house.

“Wait!” You halt. “Where’s my phone?” Patting over yourself, you feel it in the back pocket of your jeans. 

Realisation dawns on you. “Fuck.” It was there when you were in the tub.

You pull it out of the pocket and examine it. Attempts to turn it on are unsuccessful and you’re frustrated. “It’s not working.”

Rafe grabs it from your hands and puts it in his own pocket before you start freaking out over it. He doesn’t need a drunk meltdown right now. “It’s okay. I’ll buy you a new one.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

“It’s not up for discussion.” He says matter-of-factly as he starts leading you around the house and to his car which is parked on the street due to the driveway being full.

He buckles you into the passenger seat before he walks around the car and sits in the driver seat, turning on the ignition.

Rafe hands you his own phone which is already connected to the bluetooth in his car. “Put on that playlist you wanted.” He pulls onto the road and starts driving towards your place.

You happily take his phone and pull up your own account on Spotify and press play on one of your playlists which you love.

The whole ride you dance in your seat and sing along to the songs loudly, occasionally leaning over to sing in his ear and annoy him which he only laughs at.

“Let’s get you to bed, princess.” He opens the door for you and offers you his hand to help you out of the car.

“I don’t wanna go to bed. I wanna dance!” you jump around and he smiles at the sight. You’re so care-free.

“You need to go to sleep.”

“You need to go to sleep.”

He rolls his eyes. “Very mature.”

“Thank you.”

He chuckles at that and places his hand on your lower back, guiding you towards your house.

“Where are your keys?” he asks once you reach the front door. Your parents are sleeping and all the lights are off in the house.

“In my pocket.”

“Take them out then?”

“You take them out.”

“Stop being difficult.” He shakes his head as he sighs.

“I dare you to take them out of my pocket.”

“For Christ’s sake,” he says as he pinches the bridge of his nose before he gives into your antics and reaches into the front pocket of your jeans, pulling out the set of keys and finding the one which unlocks the front door. “What do I get for doing your dare?”

He opens the door and ushers you inside, locking it behind him.

“What do you want?” 

“I want you to go to bed.” He leads you towards your room and even opens the door for you, letting you enter first.

“Boring.” You boo him and give him a thumbs down which makes him chuckle.

“Put something dry on before you jump into bed, please,” he demands, making you groan. 

“These are just fine.”

“You’re literally soaking wet.” He regrets his choice of words immediately when he sees the smirk forming on your face. “I didn’t mean it like that and you know it.”

“Do I, Rafe? Do I?”

“Put something dry on. Now.”

“Yes, boss.” You straighten your back and raise your hand to your temple in a mock-salute. He just shakes his head.

You find your pyjamas and he turns around as you change out of your wet clothes. 

“No peeking,” you warn him.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“You totally would.”

He laughs and shakes his head. You’re impossible.

When you’ve changed your clothes, you sit against the headboard and shove your legs under the warm covers. Rafe sits on the edge of the bed beside you.

“How are you feeling?” There’s a hint of worry in his tone as he looks you over.

“Fantastic.” Your smile is wide.

“Of course you are.”

A moment of silence passes between you two before he notices you’re fidgeting with the rings on your fingers, indicating you’re nervous. He has picked up on your nervous habits over the years and this is one of them.

“You okay?” He places his hand gently on your thigh. Even with the covers separating your skin you feel your cheeks heat up at the contact.

“Will you stay?”

“Stay?”

“With me? Will you spend the night?”

He tilts his head, a soft look in his eyes. He doesn’t even have to think about his answer because he could never say ‘no’ to a request like that, especially coming from you. “Of course.”

He crawls under the covers with you and you curl up against him. Your faces are close and you’re breathing each other’s air. His arms are wrapped around you and he holds you as close to him as possible, warming you up with his body heat.

You bring your hand to his face and touch his face with the tips of your fingers, skimming over his eyebrows, nose, cheeks and then lips.

“What are you doing?” he asks out of curiosity.

The alcohol has given you courage you would never have sober. You’ve been hiding your feelings for him for so long and in this state it feels almost impossible to keep them to yourself any longer.

You lean in. Before your lips can touch his, he pulls back slightly. Looking at you with almost concern in his eyes.

“What are you doing?” he asks again.

“I wanna kiss you.” You admit, eyes drifting from his lips to his eyes and then back to his lips. God, he’s gorgeous.

“You’re drunk.”

“So?”

He scoffs. “So? You’re not in the right condition for this.”

“I’m exactly in the right condition for this,” you argue, fingers absentmindedly tracing patterns on his chest.

“No, you’re not.”

“Why don’t you wanna kiss me?” The disappointment is evident in your eyes and it breaks his heart. He would kiss you without thinking twice if you were sober while asking this. But you weren’t.

“Believe me, I want to kiss you more than anything but I’m not gonna take advantage of you in this state.”

“You wouldn’t take advantage of me. I know what I’m doing.”

“I know, sweetheart, but I’m not doing it when you’re drunk.”

“Please?” You make puppy-eyes at him and as much as he wants to kiss you dumb right then and there, he stands his ground. He’s wanted this for a long time but he’s a gentleman with morals after all.

“I’m sorry, no.”

He pulls you closer against his chest and you hide your face in the crook of his neck, your shyness returning. “I’m sorry,” you mutter.

“What are you apologising for?”

“For coming onto you like that. We’re best friends. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Hey.” He grabs your chin and makes you look him in the eye. “You’ll always be my best friend, even if whatever it is between us evolves into something else. But this is not the right time to have this conversation. Let’s talk about this tomorrow, okay?”

You give him a small smile as you agree. “Okay.”

“Good. Now, off to sleep you go.”

“Asshole.”

“You love me.” He presses a kiss to the top of your head as you drift off to sleep between his arms, feeling safe and secure.

part 2

[petitelepus]

The Demon Gift: Choosing Hantengu, Part 4

Demon!Slave!Hantengu X Fem!Reader

Summary: You manage to find yourself and your Demons a new home and go shopping for stuff.

Warnings: None

A/N: Demon Slave AU, Domesticated Demons, Reader Insert, Fem!Reader, Hantengu, Master/Slave, Karaku, Sekido, Urogi, Aizetsu

Tags: @hantenguclonesimp-minuszoha

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12

After a good night's rest and a healthy breakfast, you called a van for you, Hantengu, and his 4 clones with tinted windows so the sun wouldn't burn them. Sadly, due to the law, you had to put collars you had bought the day before around Sekido's, Karaku's, Aizetsu's, and Urogi's necks.

"These collars are humiliating!" Sekido growled from the back seat and you silently cursed in your mind. Bratty Demons usually got beaten to submission, but you didn't want any of that to happen to any of your Demons.

"You have a mouthy Demon there, little miss!" The driver said and you were almost tempted to tell him to mind his own business, but instead, you just laughed a little, "Ha ha, yeah…"

"Want me to help you with it?" The driver asked and you almost choked on air, "Excuse me?"

"I can beat some sense into it if you like and I only charge you 50 bucks for it!"

Were you hearing right? This man wanted to beat your Demon so he would quiet down and he expected you to pay for it!? How cruel could someone be? Then again, you remembered that your wicked family was in no way different.

Sekido and the other clones must have heard the driver's offer because they were all quiet in fear of being beaten by the burly driver. You scowled as you looked at the driver, "Thank you, but no thank you."

"Okay, I will do it for free!" The man tried and you shook your head, "No."

"Fine, I pay you!"

"I'm seriously not interested." You were starting to lose your patience with this idiotic driver. He was about to say something but before he could, you snapped, "One more word and I will give you a review so awful you will never drive in this city again!"

That made the man shut up and you were pretty pleased with yourself for the rest of the drive. Finally, you made it to the house you were supposed to see and you thanked the Gods that it was a cloudy day so the sun wouldn't burn the Demons.

"That would be-!" The driver started, but you didn't let him finish.

"Don't bother waiting." You said as you slapped some money on his palm and got out of the car, the Demons following behind you and you were all awed by what you saw.

The house was absolutely gorgeous looking and there was an enormous backyard that looked more like a fucking meadow.

"Ooh, look at all this space!" Urogi laughed as he looked around, excitement clear on his face, "So much space for me to spread my wings!"

"It does look amazing." You nodded as you guys walked towards the front door. You raised your fist, ready to knock, but before you could do so, the door was opened and a small woman with huge glasses greeted you.

"Oh, you must be the buyers I was waiting for!" She smiled and you blinked, "Uh, sorry, we were told to come here by 11am?"

"Oh, that Randal must have given me the wrong time, AGAIN." The lady chuckled, "I'm Hortensia and- Oh? Who are these handsome young men?"

"Oh, uh," You looked at the Demons over your shoulder and then smiled at the lady, "They are my Demons. This place does allow Demons, right?"

"Honey, this place and all the land are yours if we can agree on a deal." Hortensia smiled, "Now come on in before the sun comes out! We don't want you young men to ruin your handsome faces!"

You were a little stunned but this lady's acceptance towards Demons, but you were welcoming the change to usual harassment. You and the clones entered the house and you were taken aback by how amazing the whole place looked. Huge and spacious and the furniture was just as gorgeous.

"Does the furniture come with the house?" You asked and Hortensia smiled, "They do! Of course, you are going to have to bring your own electronics such as a TV or two, but the house comes with furniture. The owners want to get rid of this place as soon as possible."

"Why?" You asked, honestly confused why someone would want to do so to a house this gorgeous, and the woman smiled, "Nasty divorce."

"Aah," You nodded, suddenly understanding. As you guys explored the house, you found out that the kitchen was big and connected to a spacious dining room. You could see yourself and the Demons eating there together.

The open living room was huge and so were the windows, letting in as much light as possible… Which wasn't so good for Hantengu or his clones.

"These windows, uh…" You started carefully.

"The windows are huge, yes, but it's nothing that proper curtains won't fix." Hortensia smiled, "The whole place was renovated by the sellers to fit their modern taste."

"I see." You nodded as you glanced at the Demons who were following behind you, "What do you guys think?"

"It needs curtains…" Sekido nodded and you had never seen him so calm yet, "But it's sufficient."

"It's wicked!" Karaku laughed and Urogi joined him, "And awesome!"

"I could see us living here." Aizetsu thought quietly and you smiled and looked at the real estate agent.

"Honestly, this place looks amazing." You said and the woman smiled as she showed you guys around the house, "There are 5 bedrooms and a home office but if you want you can change it into a guest room with the convertible sofa in there. There are 4 bathrooms, 2 here downstairs and the other 2 on the second floor."

"Wow," You smiled but just as you were thinking that the place couldn't get any better, Hortensia smiled, "I also have no doubt in my mind that you are going to love the basement."

"Why is that?" You asked and she smiled as she motioned you to follow her, "Come come and you will see!"

You and the clones followed the old woman down to the basement and what you saw made you and the Demons gasp out loud. There was an absolutely amazing-looking indoor pool, but it wasn't actually a pool but a bath instead?

"What is this…?"

"You like it, right? The owners used to travel around the world and they fell in love with Japan's hot springs. Of course, they wanted almost exact replica so they built this indoor bath."

"It's amazing…!" You were in awe but then you noticed a glass door on the side and you got curious, "Where does that door lead?"

"Go ahead and take a look!" Hortensia smiled and you walked to the door and opened it to look inside.

"A wooden room?" You wondered out loud.

"That's a real authentic Finnish sauna! Like I said, the sellers loved to travel." The older real estate agent said cheerfully and you were honestly speechless. Just how amazing can a house get? Your old home, back with your horrible family was amazing, but you only felt safe and nice in your own room. This house felt so much like that safe room of yours.

"What do you think? Is this your new home?" The woman asked and you smiled as you looked at her, "When can we move in?"

Hortensia explained that as soon as the sellers got paid, the house and the land that comes with would belong to you. Not wanting to waste any time, you told her to contact the sellers and tell them that you were ready to pay and move in as fast as possible.

While your agent was calling the sellers, you were waiting for a new taxi van with a different driver to pick you and the Demons up and take you back to your hotel. You looked at your Demons and smiled, "So? How are you feeling about this place?"

The clones shared a quick glance with each other before nodding.

"It's far away from nasty humans…!" Sekido said and Aizetsu nodded, "Here we can be free."

"And I can fly as much as I like as long as the sun is out!" Urogi smiled and Karaku grinned, "Do we get our own rooms? That's wicked!"

"What about you Hantengu?" You asked as you pulled your shirt's collar down and looked down to see the small Demon who was trapped or resting between your breasts. It honestly depended on how you looked at it.

"I- I liked it…! N- no bullies here…! Just Mistress…!" The tiny Demon whimpered and you awed as you gently petted the bump on his head, "Aww, that makes me happy."

"I wish I could turn small," You heard Karaku comment behind you and Urogi laughed, "Yeah, that would make me happy also!"

"When the two of you need special care like Hantengu I'll make sure to give you some." You said and the two gleeful clones cackled as they high-fived each other. You couldn't help but roll your eyes at them, but you were still smiling.

Behavior like this would have earned you some glares back at your family, but now you and your Demons could be as free and silly as you liked to be.

Thanks to Hortensia, you were able to meet the sellers as quickly as was just possible. The couple looked like very normal people who used to be in love but were no longer. They were more than happy to sell the house and land to you and you were more than happy to move in as quickly as possible.

So couple of days later, it was time to say farewell to your hotel room that had served as your temporary home and you moved to the new house with the 5 Demons of yours.

"Freedom!" Urogi and Karaku both laughed as soon as they made it inside.

"Quiet down you two!" Sekido snapped, "You're being too loud!"

"Who cares?" Karaku laughed, "This is our place now!"

"Karaku is right Sekido," You said as you closed the front door behind you, "This is our place now so you guys can do whatever you want."

"Still…!"

"We are more than thankful for this humble home." Aizetsu said as he looked at you and you smiled, "I'm happy that you guys are happy."

You looked inside your shirt, and gently pulled Hantengu out to show him the huge living room area, "How do you like your new home Hantengu?"

"I- it's huge…!" He whimpered and you smiled a little as you walked to the huge dark couches and set the small Demon on the table between the soft furniture and your only possession, your computer.

You sighed, tired due to all the stuff that happened lately, but you still had so much to do. For example, your stomach was empty and so was your new fridge. You would have to buy food for yourself, meat for Demons, and at least curtains for the living room's huge windows to block out the sun…

But as you thought about what you needed, more and more things popped into your mind. Clothes, electronics, bed sheets, towels, and the list went on. You would no doubt also need a car so you could move all the stuff you would need to buy. That, and you wanted to be able to move easily with Hantengu and his clones and not rely on some unknown driver.

Good thing that you had a driver's license, so all you needed was to get a car. There was still plenty of money left from what your stepfather gave you so money shouldn't be a problem. You just needed a car big enough for 6 and space for groceries and other stuff.

"Guys, I need to go shopping in the city." You said and this caught the Demons' attention.

"You're leaving us alone?" Aizetsu asked and you remembered that no one really left their Demons alone in fear that they could escape or such. But these five weren't your slaves, but more like roommates.

So you told them that, "You are free to do as you please. I was thinking of buying us a television, but if you want, you can come shopping with me? While we are out there we could get you guys some stuff you would like in your own rooms?"

"I'm in!" Karaku jumped up from the couch faster than you had ever seen anyone move.

"Me too!" Urogi said, but you shook your head, "Urogi, you better stay here and watch the house. No offense, but you may attract a little too much attention right now."

"I'll stay with him." Sekido said, "It's better that someone sensible is here than just one knucklehead."

"If it's just alright, I would like to accompany you to the city?" Aizetsu asked, "I can help you carry stuff?"

"Okay, sounds good. But!" There was a huge but, "You need to put the collars on for the time we are out."

Karaku whined and you frowned, "I don't like it either but if you guys don't wear them then you could be taken away from me."

"P- please, don't leave me alone…!" Hantengu whimpered and awed as you gently petted the small Demon, "Sekido and Urogi will be here with you. I promise I will bring you something extra nice so wait for me here, okay?"

Hantengu looked like he wanted to cry, but instead, he nodded a little and you smiled as you ordered a taxi for you and the clones of sorrow and pleasure. While you waited, you fastened the collars around their necks, looking sorry and apologizing to them, "I'm sorry about these…"

"I know… But you're doing it because you care…" Aizetsu nodded as he frowned, "So I understand."

You smiled a little, "Thank you for understanding."

Finally, your ride arrived and you and the clones got on and headed towards the city. The first thing you did was to go and buy a new and spacious car for you and the Demons, but apparently, you couldn't just walk in there and buy the car you wanted.

No, they had to be ordered and delivered first. You were a little frustrated, but you couldn't do anything about it. You ended up ordering the biggest minivan there was and paid extra to have the windows tinted so the sun wouldn't burn your Demons. The nice salesman promised to have your car ready after a week and while you waited he rented you a huge delivery van you could use meanwhile.

With that done and over, you, Aizetsu, and Karaku headed to the shopping mall. As soon as you stepped inside, the Demons were in complete awe of everything, the lights, the number of people, and the stores.

"So many people…" Aizetsu muttered quietly and Karaku grinned, "So many!"

"Okay, you guys are about the same size as Sekido and Urogi, right?" You asked and the Demons nodded and you smiled, "Great, let's get you guys some clothes then."

The three of you headed to the clothing stores and time really passed when you were shopping. You were never a huge clothing shopping fan, but with your wardrobe shredded to pieces, you needed some new clothes as well.

Spring was on and Summer was just around the corner so you needed something light to wear. You could buy heavier and warmer clothes when Fall comes. You were rather happy with the bags of clothes you had gotten and even happier that you had two strong Demons who helped you to carry some of the bags.

"Okay, then we need-!"

"Ooh, Mistress, Mistress!" You heard Karaku call you and you stopped and turned to see what had caught the Demon's attention.

"What is it Karaku?" You asked and the Demon pointed at the store he had stopped in front of. You took a look and saw that it was a videogame store and a pretty big one also. There were even some kids trying out the games set for customers to try.

"What are those kids doing?" Karaku asked and you blinked, stunned that he didn't know what video games were, but then again, he was part of Hantengu and you doubted that the timid Demon had ever seen a game like that before.

"They are playing video games." You replied and Karaku repeated after you, "Video games?"

"We can get some if you would like?" You asked and that was when you remembered your destroyed Nintendo Switch that your awful stepsiblings had broken. You still had what was left of your console so you should be able to regain all your saved files.

Actually, you started to like the idea of having video games in your house. While it was daytime and you would be forced to stay inside to hide from the sun, you could play games together.

"You know what? Let's buy a couple of consoles and games." You smiled and Karaku was absolutely beaming in joy, "Alright!"

The three of you stepped into the stores and started to look around for interesting games and consoles. Knowing pretty much what to get, you grabbed a couple of Just Dance, Pokémon, Mario, and Sports games, and three newest Nintendo Switches. The salesman looked a little stunned by the Demons who followed your every step, but no man or woman ever says no to money.

Happy with your shopping, you and the Demons took the clothing bags and gaming things to your rental van, before heading back to the mall to continue shopping. You bought some pillows, blankets, curtains and sheets, cleaning supplies and once you had those bought, you went to buy something to fill your huge fridge with.

When you made it to the meat section in the store, you turned to ask Aizetsu and Karaku if they preferred their meat cooked or raw, but when you turned you saw them staring at the raw meat on the butcher's display. They must have been hungry and rightfully so, your last meal was at the hotel before you left.

"What are you guys looking at?" You asked as you walked next to them and they both looked at you.

"Lamb!"

"Beef." They replied in perfect unison and you couldn't help but smile a little as you turned to look at the butcher on the other side of the display, "Can we get some lamb and beef to go?"

"Of course, young miss!" The man nodded as he grabbed the meats on display and chopped them into fine pieces that he quickly wrapped in paper.

"Your Demons have a fine taste!" The butcher laughed as he handed you the meat over the display and you chuckled a little, "Thank you."

You noticed that Karaku and Aizetsu were staring at the meat packet and you smiled a little, "You can eat in the car once we leave."

The Demons nodded, both excited over the idea of food. You and they finished shopping quickly and once you had everything a human or Demon might need, you got into the van, removed the collars from Demons' necks, and drove out of the parking hall and towards your new home outside the city. While you were driving, Aizetsu and Karaku enjoyed some of the beef and lamb at the back.

"Leave something for Hantengu, Sekido, and Urogi!" You called and Karaku laughed, "They have their own meat!"

"But sharing is caring…" Aizetsu tried to say and you quickly added, "There is enough meat for all 5 of you! Now, tell me what did you like most at the mall?"

The three of you went through the things you had seen or bought and before you knew it, you were back at your new home and just in time as the sun settled. You parked the car and honked, accidentally startling poor Demon of sorrow, to which you quickly apologized.

Hearing the honk, Urogi, Sekido, and Hantengu on Sekido's shoulder came to inspect the noise and saw you guys with many, so many bags full of things you had bought.

"What is all this?" The Demon of anger asked as he took in all the bags at the back of the van and you smiled a little, "Clothes, food, stuff we might need."

"Ooh, did you bring anything for me?" Urogi asked excitedly.

"There is some prime meat for all of you. I'm going to put them in the fridge so they won't spoil while we get all the things in their places." You said as you grabbed heavy shopping bags and carried the bags filled with meat for Demons and food for you to the kitchen.

While you were gone, the Demons looked at each other.

"What did you find out?" Sekido asked and Aizetsu frowned, "She was very sweet and thoughtful… I think she is genuine."

"She bought us games and gave us delicious meat!" Karaku grinned and Urogi smiled excitedly, "Games?"

"Quiet!" Sekido snapped, "Are you two certain we can trust her?"

"Absolutely!" Karaku nodded and Aizetsu sighed, "I believe so also, so do we must test her so?"

"We can't be too careful…" Sekido glanced at Hantengu on his shoulder who whimpered as four sets of eyes bore into him, "I- I want to trust her, I really do…!"

"What are you guys talking about?"

The 5 Demons turned to see you standing by the house's entrance and you smiled, "Can you grab bags and bring them inside while I prepare some meat for you?"

"It would be our pleasure!" Karaku cackled and you smiled as you turned and headed back inside to prepare the Demons' meals.

"I think we can trust her, right?" Urogi thought out loud.

"Time will tell." Sekido nodded before looking at the bags in the van, "For starters, let's get everything inside. We are starving."

[concreteburialplot]

Intertwined // 03

03 - when the party’s over

pairing: noah sebastian x nicholas ruffilo

masterlist/intro: here | crossposted: ao3

word count: 5.6k

warnings; alcohol, frat house parties, angst, frat!folio/frat!miserable bryan, inaccurate depictions of college experiences lmao, slight panic attack/ [nonsexual] overstimulation, frat hazing, drowning? but it’s kinda funny, confused jealous sad nicholas, awkward noah trying to rizz, folio has a silly nickname, crying, fighting, lots of internal dialogue, etc, 18+ MDNI

reminder; this is AU, nothing is meant to be accurate or realistic, including family members/names

a/n: don't like it don't read it. don’t be mean for no reason & let others enjoy things thnx :)

NICHOLAS

In the bathroom across the hall, Noah messes with the pieces of his flippy hair that poke out and around his beanie.

In my room, I switch out the jewelry in my gauged ears and smooth out the short-sleeve button up shirt I chose.

The air between us had been somewhat distant and weird for the past 2 weeks since our… mutual activities. Though, I could tell that he was ready to go back to normal, which I do too.

It must just be harder for me to get past it, I guess.

We aren’t even out the door yet and I already regret agreeing to this stupid ass frat party.

He steps into the doorway and leans against the frame. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

“I just gotta brush my hair and then we can go.” I say, still turned away from him.

“Cool…” He trails off, “I’m just gonna chill in the living room.” He thumbs over his shoulder.

“Okay. Sounds good.” I reply instantly, almost before he’s even done talking.

Once I’ve quickly brushed through my shoulder length hair, I grab my keys from the wooden hooks near the front door. “Alright I’m ready to–”

My eyes land on Noah, who’s wearing a black sleeveless muscle tee-like shirt and tight jeans. I’ve seen him in similar outfits a million times before but for some reason right now he looks so different.

“You good?” He chuckles and shoves his phone in his back pocket.

I shake my head from whatever fog is lingering there. “Yeah, yeah, sorry. I must’ve just dissociated there for a sec.” Followed with a fake laugh.

When we pull up to the frat house, it’s packed with cars practically stacked on top of each other. Thankfully I find a spot not too far and claim it as my own.

As Noah and I walk up, I’m in absolute awe. I’ve only driven past this house; I’ve never been this close to it. It’s one of the various neighboring fraternities and sororities that border a huge lake. I can see the lake peeking out from behind the house and it makes me wonder what it’s like during the warmer months. A rush of cold fall wind reminds me that summer break is actually over. I stuff my hands into my jeans and continue towards the entrance.

The house itself is beautiful, it’s massive, white with columns and giant black Greek letters just below the roof. Colorful lights flash through the windows and follow the beat of thumping house music. People pour in and out of the front door and from around the backyard.

Everything about it screams college. It’s exactly what Noah wanted. It’s exactly what Folio wanted. But I hate it already and we haven’t even stepped foot in there.

We step up to the front door that’s being guarded by two muscular men who look like if they flicked us, we’d fall over. They very dramatically step together blocking the entrance. “Who invited you?” They ask sternly.

My heart rate immediately spikes from the interaction. I grab the hem of Noah’s shirt discreetly and tug at it to pull him away, but he surprises me.

“Folio.” He speaks up with the most obvious forced confidence and straightens out his back, pushing his chest out a bit.

Their serious faces break into hearty laughs. The one on the left leans back to see past the right one, “Trout! Your invites are here!”

Noah and I look at each other with stitched mouths not wanting to burst out laughing at Folio’s new nickname. Fishing is about 75% of what comes out of his mouth, it’s no surprise his new roommates have already heard all about it. The other 25% is dedicated to girls, weed, drums, and bikes, naturally. I am sure he’s stoked about the lake that’s quite literally in his backyard for him to fish from any time he wants.

Nick rips through the crowd and he looks… well just like a freshman in a fraternity. He’s wearing some ridiculous helmet with beer cans attached to the sides and a tube to drink from. His tank top is neon green plastered with frat symbols across his chest. The smile on his face is the biggest I’ve ever seen it, even bigger than when he somehow managed to get a 73% on his final where he blindly guessed on every question.

“Yesss! My bros!” He yells excitedly and pummels us in a giant hug. It’s only then that I realize he’s completely soaked in sticky beer.

“Ew, Folio.” I scrunch my face in disgust and peel myself away from him.

Noah just laughs, even though I know the beer on his clean clothes is driving him mad.

“Oh, don’t be a downer Ruffilo.” His words already strung together gives away how drunk he already is.

I pull my phone from my back pocket to check the time. “Nick it’s only 9, how much have you drank already?” I ask loudly over the music.

“It’s part of the like,” He lets out a slurred burp, “The initiation, or whatever. Freshmen have to drink a certain amount. And… I did.”  He drunkenly chuckles. Folio never drank much before this and if he did, he was always a lightweight. If he really did drink that much, it’s a miracle he’s even talking somewhat coherently right now.

“Well you really should’ve paced yourself–“ I begin but he cuts me off.

He rolls his eyes. “I should’ve known you’d be like this.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” My brows furrow defensively.

“I would’ve had Noah leave you at home if I knew you’d be like this.”

I know he’s joking but it doesn’t make the tightness in my chest any less.

“C’mon Nicholas,” Noah grabs my shoulders and gives me a little shake. “Loosen up!”

I hate everything about this. It’s so confusing to see Noah this way, he was never like this before. Parties were his worst nightmare – until now apparently.

“Yeah, you guys need to catch up to me! Maybe you’ll have more fun!” Folio gestures for us to follow him to the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen, there’s a couple frat guys playing bartender, one I recognize to be Bryan, Folio’s mentor.

“Bryan!” Nick runs up to him like a child asking for a toy. “My friends are here and they wanna get just as drunk as meee.”

The dark under eye bags on Bryan are borderline comical. The look in his eyes reminds me of the look that middle aged underpaid cashiers give you when you ask if you can use a coupon. He says nothing and mixes up a concoction that looks like battery acid.

“Here.” He slides two radioactive drinks towards us over a marble countertop. “That should get you pretty fucked up quick.” Then goes off taking orders from other people.

I dip close to Folio’s side, “Why does it look like he works here?”

“The sophomores have to ‘work the party’.” Nick hiccups, “So they stationed him there.”

“Oh.” Noah and I mouth in unison.

“It’s part of the initiation.” He repeats proudly, as if being indoctrinated into some sort of academic cult is something to be so proud of.

I take the time to actually look over the party – it’s packed to the brim. There’s every single kind of college student you could think of, even kids that seem “nerdier” than me and Noah.

Rockstar by Post Malone began blasting through the speakers and a grin instantly spreads over my mouth. A couple summers ago Rockstar was me and Noah’s song, we would blare it on repeat in my shitty car almost every day. We played it so much we got sick of it, and this was the first time I’ve heard it since then. I turn excitedly to Noah but find that he’s gone. I look around where I’m standing, suddenly feeling exposed. Everyone surrounding me is preoccupied one way or another, including Folio which I’ve just realized disappeared too.

Directly in front of me stands the only other person I even marginally know at this party.

I lean across the counter and tap at Bryan’s tattooed forearm. He looks at me and it’s different than he does when I’m with Folio. Thankfully, it’s a lot kinder.

“What’s up?” He asks over the music, leaning closer to me with his ear first.

“Did you see where Noah went?” I nearly shout at him.

He nods over to the couch across the room where Noah is sat talking to a group of what looks like sorority girls – no worse, wannabe sorority girls.

“Trout introduced them.”

What a comically horrible nickname.

My lips fall to a frown, and it feels like my heart has dropped into my stomach. I watch as one bottle blonde traces her fingertips over a tattoo on his arm that I did –  the first tattoo I’ve ever done on somebody else and the first tattoo he ever got. For some reason, the sight of it makes me feel sick, like I could throw up right where I stand.

When my gaze finally reaches back to Bryan, he’s ready to tell me the answer to a question I haven’t asked.

“I don’t know where Folio went.”

“Great.” I nod and push away from the counter. “Just…great.”  

I figured that we’d come here for a bit for Nick then leave. I didn’t expect us to actually interact – which seems naïve to think about now. Noah practically begged me to come with him to this incredibly obnoxious party, of course he’d wanna stay and participate.

I deflate, grab my cup of toxic chemicals and reluctantly walk over to Noah. I nudge his arm and when he turns, he looks surprised to see me, like he forgot I was here.

“Oh, hey I was just about to find you.” He slurs and throws an arm over my shoulders. “This is Kassidy.” He gestures to the small blonde girl he’s been talking to then gestures to another very similar looking girl. “And this,” He gives me a discreet extra nudge. “is Brooke.”

The girls give me over enthusiastic smiles and I give them a half-wave because that’s all I have left to offer. “Hey.”

“Whatever Bryan made us, is fuckin’ workin’.” He knocks back the rest of his drink. “Do you mind asking him for another for me?”

My brows raise involuntarily at his demand like I’m some butler.

“Here take mine.” I grumble and drop my full solo cup into his empty one.

“You didn’t like it?” He doesn’t wait to already take a sip.

“No.”

“I’m sure they have beer or something else-“

“I’m good. I have to drive your ass home anyway.” I snap and walk past him through the path between the couch and the coffee table. I plop right next to Brooke because I know that’s what Noah was trying to orchestrate, and where else would I go.

Brooke is blonde with what I assume are hair extensions poorly placed over her scalp. Her lips are overly full, like she drew around her lips with a lead pencil. Her exposed cleavage from a lowcut crop top would normally entice me, if she wasn’t so…her.

She tried talking to me, but I must’ve been too boring since she just hung onto every word Noah said instead. When Kassidy and Noah started making out was when she finally left and went to find new prey.

I’m stuck on the opposite side of the couch watching my best friend get his face eaten off by someone who doesn’t even know how to brush her hair properly. It’s been about an hour and a half since we got here, and it’s the exact opposite of “fun”. Maybe it’s because I’m not drinking that I don’t understand the appeal.

Noah or not, I’d rather be home playing Pokémon or Call of Duty or literally anything other than this. Between the blaring music and the belligerent people, the thumping in my chest returns. I run my hands up and down my thighs slowly in an attempt to calm down but the faster my heart races the quicker my hands go. The air seems to be thinning around me and the crowded people feel closer than before. But then when I look over and see Noah kissing Kassidy, I’m suddenly furious.

I’m not sure why I’m furious, maybe it’s because he dragged me here, or because he ditched me after dragging me here, or because both of my supposed best friends ditched me after dragging me to a place I didn’t want to be to begin with.

It’s anger and anger alone that forces me from my seat and quickly past by Noah, knocking his shoulder back abruptly. It’s clear that he doesn’t even fucking care that I’m here or that I’m miserable.

I brush past various sweaty party goers, hitting each shoulder on my way.

“Nick!” I hear a drunken Noah calling after me. He’s gaining on me quickly as his thin body easily passes through the crowd.

“I’m going home Noah.” I yell over my shoulder as I stomp through the crowd.

“What! Why!”

“Because I want to go fucking home.” I turn a corner I think might be an exit, but it turns out to just be another hallway in this massive fucking house.

“C’mooon Nicholaaas.” Noah drags out the words in the most annoying whine. The alcohol is blatantly tinging each word.

“I’m not talking to you when you’re like this.” I shout back harshly through gritted teeth.

I push on a door that I thought was a bathroom just to get away from him, but I stumble into what looks like a movie room. The room is dark with just a flat screen on the wall playing some random Netflix movie and a large couch.

Of course, only in a frat house would they have a dedicated Netflix and Chill room.

Noah staggers in behind me and takes in the room just as I do. He pushes past me, slams the door shut and locks it.

He crosses his arms, “Now you can’t leave.”

I sigh, extremely irritated. “Oh, I’m leaving.” I go to move past him to get to the door, but he steps over and blocks me.

My heart is racing so fast it’s really all I can think about. Everything is too much for me; the earsplitting music, my fuming anger, Noah, how dark the room is, the heavy brick sitting on my chest, how warm the house is, the fucking stupid movie on the tv, all of it is making me lose my fucking mind. My skin’s crawling just being here, everything in me just wants to book it out the front door. I can barely fucking breathe.

All I want to do is leave.

I need to fucking leave.

“Why are you acting like this?” He asks and his tone has a hint of sadness that suddenly makes me feel guilty for wanting to leave.

“Because I’m not having a good fucking time Noah. I want to go home. One of these girly bitches you’re talking to can take you home. Or you can get an Uber, I really don’t care. But I. am. leaving.” I say sternly to his face, my hands fisted at my sides.

Confusion washes over him, as if he hadn’t realized I wasn’t enjoying myself until just now. The confusion only angers me more because if he had even paid a single ounce of attention, he would’ve known I wasn’t having a good time.

He always knows when I’m not having a good time. I don’t know how he knows but usually I can just look at him and he’d just know.

Until now, apparently.

“Oh.” The edges of his mouth wilt downwards. “I just figured you’d hit it off with whats-her-name and…”

“Well, I didn’t. And I want to get the fuck out of here.” I cross my arms over my chest, using my heel to scuff at my opposite shoe.

Noah’s eyes divert to any place other than me in the room and shift back and forth on the balls of his feet. His fingertips fidget with his knuckles as the silence between us grows louder than the music outside.

“I don’t want to go home yet.”

The words feel just like a dagger straight through my chest, piercing my lungs and deflating me completely. I literally just told him I was leaving without him but for some reason hearing him say it aloud is more painful.

“Okay…” I can’t help the way my eyes drop to the ground. “Well, you can stay here then, I guess.”

“I mean if that’s-” Noah stops mid-sentence to pause and tilt his ear to the party noises behind the door. “Do you hear that?”

“Yeah, it’s just party shit.” I wave him off quickly so I can get out sooner.

His brows scrunch up trying to focus harder, “No, No, listen.”

It takes a bit but then I hear it too. “It sounds like chanting? What are they chanting?”

Noah leans towards the door and carefully cracks the door just a smidge in order to hear the crowd better.

“Are they chanting…”

“Trout.” We say in unison and look at each other with widening eyes.

It’s not unlike Folio to get into some sort of competition but this just doesn’t sound right.

“What the fuck?” I crack the door open further and watch as the entirety of the party makes its way through the back door.

We make it out of the room and follow the crowd into the backyard. Noah notices it before I do and grabs my arm, his eyes round and glued on the crowd.

“Oh no.”

“What? I don’t see-” Then I do. “Oh no.”

An extremely drunk Folio being carried over to the lake, frigid in the autumn cold.

“Well, I mean, it’s just a lake, right? It’s probably just part of the initiation shit.” I speculate, annoyed that I have to babysit not one but two of my friends at this party.

“No, no, you don’t understand, we have to stop them.” Noah says urgently. He grabs my hand and starts running towards the dock.

“Stop! Stop!” He yells though his voice isn’t strong enough to reach.

“Wait why!” I call after him, his longer legs crossing the vast backyard faster than I can keep up. My feet crunch various red solo cups that just thrown across the grass. “It’s just water, he’ll be fine.”

“Stop!” He halts where the lake meets the land, and his eyes don’t leave Folio for one second.

 “No, no, no.” He mutters between us.

I’m so out of breath I can’t even ask any further questions and double over just to breathe holding onto my knees. When I finally catch my breath and look back up to Noah, he’s shedding his clothes. He yanks off each of his Vans, tossing them into the grass.

“Hey whoa! What are you doing? You can’t go in there!” I stand there useless with the vague feeling of needing to copy his actions. “What’s wrong Noah, can you fucking talk to me?”

“He doesn’t know how to swim Nicholas! We have to get him.” His skinny jeans are already halfway off of him.

“What! What the fuck do you mean he can’t swim?” I hastily slip off my own shoes and begin unbuttoning my shirt. “All he fucking talks about is fishing. What kind of fisherman doesn’t know how to swim!”

“I don’t know, he’s a fucking idiot!” He’s at the edge, waving his arms and whistling but the roar of the crowd drowns him out “But he’s definitely not gonna be able to swim with how drunk he is. Hurry up!”

“I’m fucking going as fast as I can!”

I regret everything about this night.

I’m never going to another party ever again.

As if in slow motion Folio gets thrown in the water with the dock full of people calling out his stupid fucking nickname. Knowing him, he probably had no idea what was going on until he was midair. He lands into the cold water and the party carelessly makes its way back to the house.

We try getting their attention but they’re all so fucked up that not a single one listens. It’s completely still where he was dropped before a struggle erupts with flailing arms and splashing.

“I’m going.” Noah states urgently, regardless of how quickly I can get these tight pants off my legs. He runs in then jumps into full strokes towards Nick.

Once I’m down to my underwear, I follow Noah. I brace myself for the water and it’s even worse than expected. I hiss at the cold but hurriedly begin swimming after Noah. The water is green and murky and all I feel are long, slimy tendrils of seaweed tangling around my legs. I struggle to make it through without getting lake water in my mouth or my eyes but it's pointless.

Noah finally reaches Folio and even from the far distance I’m at, it doesn’t look good. Nick is heavier and stockier than Noah, and Noah can barely lift a gallon of milk. I’m not quite sure what he was thinking, maybe he was relying on some crazy adrenaline strength.

Noah’s got him but he’s a heavy, thrashing, coughing weight in his arms.

“God fucking damnit.” I mutter and push myself to swim even faster. “Is he good?” I yell from yards away.

“No! I need your help, Nicholas!” Noah’s voice is slurred, strained and breathless. That’s when I realize that I’m supposed to be the sober backbone of this operation.

When I reach them, Noah is just barely keeping Folio’s head above water. I assess the surroundings and decide getting him up on the dock would be the quickest option.

“Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do.” I say, manhandling Folio from Noah. “You’re gonna get up on the dock and I’m gonna try to lift him up to you and then you can pull him up. Got it?”

“Got it.” He nods and swims over the ladder, climbs up and kneels at the edge. “Okay, ready.”

With every bit of strength in my body, I swim both of us over and lift Folio up towards Noah. He hooks his arms under his armpits and by some miracle gets him up on the dock.

I cling to the metal ladder letting myself take a breath for a brief second. When I finally get up to the platform, Folio is on his side violently coughing, desperately trying to get out any water.

Once his hacking calmed down, he wipes the side of his mouth with the back of his hand and squints at us. “What the fuck happened?”

“You were drowning dumbass.” I snap with an eye roll crossing my cold, wet arms over my freezing chest. “Your ‘frat bros’ threw you into the lake.”

I’m suddenly very aware that I’m nearly naked on this dock and while it’s just the two of them, I still feel extremely exposed. I’m not fond of even having my shirt off on a beach day, nonetheless a dip in a frigid lake with a whole house full of strangers just a couple of feet away.

Noah rests back on his folded legs and places his hands on his boney knees.

“Are you okay?” His voice is light, soft, and airy. “We were really worried about you.”

Noah is gentle with Folio even though we just dove into freezing water for him. He’s kind and concerned and it’s the Noah I’m used to. Seeing him this way again swirls a flutter in my chest. I can’t tell if that’s happened before or if it’s new. Maybe it’s something that’s always happened, and I just hadn’t noticed until now? It feels both comforting and extremely daunting.

Maybe it’s just my body trying to heat itself up.

Folio continues to hack several dry coughs but ultimately nods. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good. I think.”

I can tell he’s still wasted and frankly, I’m surprised he didn’t just throw up Bryan’s mystery concoction when he was coughing up water.

“Okay can we go put our clothes back on now? I’m fucking freezing.” My teeth chatter as a cold gust of wind washes over my body.

We quickly ran over to the shore to put our mostly dry clothes back on, then came back to Folio on the dock. Noah got him to his feet and had him hold onto our shoulders so we could steady him back inside.

The party hollers as we make our way through with a cold and shivering Nick. It strikes an anger right through my spine. It’s a rage I don’t think I’ve ever felt in my life but it’s spreading through me like a bad infection.

I’m in a room of people ridiculing my friend who just almost drowned.

The same people who almost caused it.

And he still wants to be here.

These are the people he wants to be with.

These are the people Noah wanted so badly to come here for.

Folio guides us up the rounded staircase to his room. Since the house is so big and the frat is so exclusive, each member gets their own room. So, luckily for him, nobody else has to see this.

I drop his arm abruptly once inside but he’s too drunk to even notice. He sloppily rustles through his drawers to find clothes to take for a lake-cleansing shower.

“Well, if you’re going to take 5 million years to find a shirt, I’m just gonna dip.” I say more aggressively than intended.

Or maybe it was intended.

They both look at me with confused, furrowed brows.

“Whoa,” Nick slurs, “What fucking crawled up your ass?”

“Fucking nothing, I just want to fucking leave. I’ve been trying to fucking leave for the past hour.”

Noah looks more confused than him, if I wasn’t so angry, I’d even call it concerned.

“You weren’t having fun?”

“Oh my god, I already fucking told you I wasn’t having fun. If you had just been a half-decent friend for two seconds tonight, you might’ve seen that I was not having fun at all.”

My patience had long left me.

“Oh so, I’m a bad friend now?” Noah raises a brow and takes an offended step back.

A frustrated groan escapes my lips, “I just don’t understand why you both want to be here with these people.” I point in the direction of the party. “Those are who did that to you Folio. And you still wanna party with them?”

Nick looks at me like I have two heads.

“Yes? I’m part of this fraternity Ruffilo. This is like… my purpose or whatever.” He says, stringing along his words like they have long pauses between.

My eyes couldn’t roll hard enough. That was quite possibly the most frat-boy thing I’ve ever heard. Maybe this is the right place for him.

“Your ‘purpose’? Are you fucking kidding me with that shit?”

“They weren’t all bad…” Noah trails off while he scratches his arm, and his eyes fall to the ground.

“Oh who? Those whores you were talking to?”

A quiet hush falls across the dimly lit room and Noah’s face looks distraught, his eyes fluttering back down to the carpeted floor.

“What is your fucking problem, Nick?” Folio breaks the silence. He’s still shivering, dripping water everywhere, and holding a pile of sweats to change into after his shower.

“If you didn’t wanna fucking be here, you shouldn’t have come.” He pushes past both of us and exits the room.

Noah’s brown eyes land back on me once we’re alone. There’s a sadness to them that I can’t decipher.  

“Well, this is what you wanted isn’t it?” I question facetiously and spread my arms out grandiosely. “This big college experience?”

He blinks at me blankly. “Why are you being like this Nicholas?” He asks softly and it twists some invisible knife in my gut.

“Being like what? You dragged me here!” I drop my arms harshly back to my sides.

“Yeah, I thought you’d have fun.” He scratches his arm anxiously.

“What’s fun about sitting around watching you hook up with dumb sorority bitches?”

The words surprise me the minute they leave my mouth. I don’t even know exactly what they’re supposed to mean and I sure as hell don’t want to unpack it right now.

His brows curve up where they start and knit together. He notices the odd verbiage too.

Fuck.

“Is this because we-“ He begins but my accelerating heart rate can’t bear to even entertain what was about to come out of his mouth. Nor can I bear to hear it.

I can’t hear him say what we did together that morning those weeks ago. I’ve been trying to convince myself that it was just a dream - even though my mind hasn’t been able to let me forget it, nor has it stopped me from wishing it would happen again.

But I can’t hear him say it. That would make it real. And I so desperately want it to not be real.

“You know what?” I suck my teeth. “I’m done. I’m fucking over this. I’m actually leaving now.” I march over to the open doorframe and turn back to him once more.

His hand moves up and down his arm repeatedly as if he’s trying to self-soothe.

“Okay.” He replies quietly and finally looks up at me from where his eyes were locked on the floor. “I guess um. I guess I’m gonna stay and make sure Folio is all right.” He thumbs over his shoulder towards the bathroom. “I doubt anyone’s sober to drive so, I’ll just stay here tonight.”

It feels as though my ribs caved in on my chest; sharp boney splinters piercing the organs they house.

I guess a part of me wanted him to beg me to stay.

But he didn’t.

“Okay.” I nod and head out of the horrendous frat house.

I fight the lump in my throat and the burning in my eyes all the way down the grandiose stairs, through the bustling crowd, down the front steps, over the green lawn, through all the parked cars, until the door slams behind me in my own car. All at once it hits me and the tears unleash. I cross my arms over my steering wheel pressing my crying eyes against them, heaving my sobs against them.

“Fuck!” I scream within the small confines of my car.

I’m crying and frustrated and angry all at the same time. I don’t even really know what I’m upset about. All I know is that my chest aches in a way it never has before, which frustrates me even more. The feeling reminds me of when you’ve been doing math for an hour but no matter how many times you try, you just don’t fucking understand it.

I just didn’t want to party, why am I fucking crying?

Why do I fucking care if my friends are staying and I’m going home?

I try to calm down before leaving but the tears keep pouring out of me. Everything’s blurry on the drive home and I’m grateful I didn’t take a sip of alcohol.

When I arrive home, the house is quiet. Every light is flipped off and there’s not even water droplet of noise. My mom is at her night shift at the hospital and my sister, Stella, is at a sleepover. Whenever I feel like this, I always go sit on one of their beds and talk to them. They always make me feel better even when there’s not much to say. Even though Stella is younger than me, she somehow always knows what to say. In a lot of ways, she’s smarter than I ever will be.

I don’t bother turning on a light and shuffle off my shoes at the door. I circle to the kitchen. When I open the fridge for a water, the light burns my already raw eyes. I take the cold bottle and press it on my under-eye bags then practically slam the fridge door closed. The cold plastic helps soothe some of the swelling.

I scuffle across the hall to my room and the minute the door clicks in place behind me, I let out a deep sigh. I feel water threatening to prickle into my eyes again, but my head is pounding and I’m so fucking sick of crying. I shed all my clothes since they faintly smell like lake and alcohol, and even though I should shower to wash off nasty lake residue, I just can’t walk out the door again. My chest aches too much for me to leave this room.

So, I slip on new boxers and a random Star Wars shirt and get into bed. I slip in from the right side and it immediately feels wrong.

And it sinks in.

My bed is not my own anymore.

It is half mine.

Half Noah’s.

I scooch back onto the left and try to sleep but I toss and turn for an hour and a half. My mind is racing, and it is only filled with Noah. Stuff that shouldn’t even matter.

Is he okay?

Is he still drinking?

Where is he sleeping?

Is he with her?

Does he wish I stayed?

Does he regret not leaving with me?

Does he want to come home?

Is he going to try to get a ride home? Would it be safe?

Did I overreact?

I should’ve stayed to help Folio sober up.

I should’ve just gotten drunk.

Maybe I could’ve had fun if I drank.

I wouldn’t be so upset if I had just drank, right?

I’m only upset because I wasn’t having a good time, right?

Maybe my two best friends wouldn’t fucking hate me right now if I just pretended to have fun.

Is this just what it is now?

Am I going to get dragged to a party every weekend and have to pretend to enjoy it?

Will I lose them if I don’t?

I flip on my side, facing the door and my back to the window. Between me and the door there’s the vast emptiness of Noah’s spot.

The bed feels so… empty without him in it.

I tug the comforter close around me as I’m suddenly aware of the low temperature in the room.

I hadn’t realized just how accustomed I’ve gotten to him being here in the short amount of time been moved in.

It’s nice having someone take up space next to me in bed.

It’s nice having warmth where there used to be none.

It’s nice laughing until my stomach hurts before bed every night.

It’s nice having someone to shut off the lamp when I’m already half asleep.

It’s nice not being alone.

I like not being alone.

I like not being alone with him.

And I don’t know what to do with that feeling.

Next Chapter -> 04 - Snapped Neck

tag list; @ladyveronikawrites @cryingabtab @sinkingteethinwhitenoise @kingdomof-omens @the-hell-i-overcame [comment if you'd like to be tagged?]

a/n; Thank you for the support on this series and on my other series, Virality. I appreciate it more than you know. I love reading your comments and asks, they really validate and fuel me lol. Even though I'm not the best at replying 😅 but i am incredibly grateful for them, thank you.

I hope you guys like this one, please lmk if you do💘

[iamawolfstarsimp]

Sup bitches im back

decided to throw out a cute lil unprompted summer fluffy fic for ya'll (cause who doesn't love those)

hope you guys' first week of 2024 has been good!

So yeah enjoy

Summer break was probably Sirius' favorite time of year. Which was funny to him because he remembered a time when he hated summer break.

Hogwarts was the first place that truly felt like home to him, so departing from that place was devastating. Ever since he had separated himself from his family and the god-awful house and spent summer break with James, it had been amazing.

He could go and do whatever he wanted in town, got three delicious meals everyday, and spent all of his time with his best friend.

It just got even better when Remus was allowed to spend summer with them as well. When Sirius first got word that Remus would on fact be spending summer with them, he anxiously waited everyday for any letter from Remus.

After what felt like forever, Mr. Potter was sent a letter and instructed to go and get Remus to bring him to the house safely. Sirius spent the whole morning waiting excitedly (which included looking out the front window every two minutes, bouncing his leg, and immediately jumping up when he heard a noise outside), much to James' amusement.

When Remus did show up, it didn't budge Sirius' newfound excitement to show Remus everything they did for fun at the Potter's. He spent the whole day dragging Remus around town showing him all the shops they went to, the mini quittitch pitch James had in his backyard, all the many rooms in the large house, introducing him to the house elves, and helping him unpack. Remus was tired but enthusiastic.

This particular evening, Sirius and James had pleaded long and hard enough to James' mum that she had let them sleep outside under the stars. Peter had brought two large sleeping bags that they would share, two in each bag and they all camped out, listening to Sirius point out all the different stars and constellations.

"-oh, and, the "star" next to the moon isn't actually a star, it's Venus." He said, folding his arms behind his head after pointing to Venus.

"Wow. How did you learn so much about astronomy?" Remus asked, probably the only on actually paying attention because he could distinctly hear Peter and James quietly giggling from their sleeping bag.

"It's one of the things mum wanted me and Regulus to know a bunch about. Partially because a lot of the black family names have to do with astronomy." Sirius shrugged.

"I think it's cool that you know so much about the stars and stuff." Remus answered quietly, sensing Sirius' embarrassment.

"Heh, thanks." Sirius smiled at him. Remus could faintly see the blush dusting Sirius' cheeks.

"Don't go shy on me now, that's my thing." Remus poked Sirius in the side. Sirius grinned and batted his hand away.

"Oh, what's this?" Remus grinned back, his grin meaning something different than Sirius' though.

"S-stohop!" Sirius giggled when Remus continued his poking, using his other hand as well.

"Be quiet, you're gonna wake up the others." Remus scolded.

"They're already awake!" Sirius kicked out, aiming for Remus' shins. Remus laughed and kicked back, poking anywhere he could reach.

Sirius rolled away but only ended up tangling himself and Remus in the sleeping bag. They both giggled as they rolled across the ground before bumping into James and Peter's bag.

James grunted. "What are you two idiots doing?"

"He's killing me!!" Sirius shouted, grappling with Remus' hands.

"He's fine!" Remus laughed along with Sirius.

Soon enough after hearing Sirius' complaint, James came crawling out of his own sleeping bag to help mess with Sirius.

"Noooo!" Sirius groaned as James crawled into the sleeping bag with the other two, smushing Sirius between Remus and himself.

Sirius was lost in his own mirth as James and Remus tormented him, not being able to cover up or protect himself wasn't helping.

Some time after James had joined them, Peter also crawled inside but mostly kept to himself and laughed at their antics.

"-stop stop stop stop, ple-hehehe-please!" Sirius had given up on trying to fight back and put all his efforts in curling into a ball.

James and Remus backed off, letting him breathe. Sirius immediately unfurled himself and attacked Remus though, digging into the werewolves' ribs. Remus yelped in alarm and burst out laughing, throwing his head back and squirming away from Sirius.

Peter and James laughed as well, joining in on playfully torturing the next victim. After a few minutes of tickling though, Remus managed to crawl out of the sleeping bag and run away from the others.

Sirius immediately hopped up chasing after him, James hot on his trail. Peter stayed where he was, watching the whole scene go down.

Remus (for once in his life) thanked his werewolf abilities which enabled him to see in the dark and run faster than the average teenage boy.

He out-ran the other two boys til they got tired and trudged back to their little camp. Too tired to actually tuck himself in, Remus plopped down on top of the other sleeping bag next to Sirius who was panting.

James was the first to speak. "I hope we spend every summer like this."

"Of course we will." Sirius nudged him. "We're marauders. We'll always stick together, no matter what."

Even though Sirius' mini speech was sappy, Remus quietly hoped that Sirius was right. He couldn't imagine summer any other way.

Hope you liked

[cherrybvmbx]

Vada camping with R and encountering a brown bear.

The Misadventures of Camping with Vada

(just a little comedic relief oneshot with Vada and Fem Reader )

Warnings:Mediocre writing, Mentions of Weed

“Y/N??!”

 

Her voice rang clearly as you were pitching the tent.

 

“What V? I can't stop now. I have to get the tent pitched before the rain comes rolling in. Which, by the way, reminds me to scold you. I told you to check the weather before we left.”

 

Vada whined in the background, trying to get her attention.

 

Y/N, NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO WORRY ABOUT THE WEATHER OR THE TENT WE HAVE BIGGER FISH TO FRY, I MEAN MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH EMPHASIZE ON MUCH BIGGER THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT.”

 

Y/N chuckled wryly.

 

“V I told you to lay off the weed. It's not doing you any favors; you're probably just seeing sh*t. After all, I don't hear anything, and this tent won't pitch itself.”

 

Vada tugged and tugged at Y/N's sleeve.

 

She finally finished pitching the tent and turned to face Vada. She gently swept a piece of hair behind her ear.

 

“Now what's the matter, V? What's the bigger fish we have to deal with?”

 

Vada huffed in annoyance and made a gesture to the wilderness.

 

Seriously, V, you knew it was in the woods. This isn't camping in yours or Mia's backyard; this is backwoods camping. The real shit.”

 

She glanced around the wooded area, but nothing caught her eye. She huffed in annoyance and grabbed the wood to start a fire.

 

V, where did you get your weed from? I've seen you behave all wonky because of this shit, but this stuff seems to be laced.

 

Vada huffed 

 

“Some kid in the parking lot. It's not out of the norm. You know, Mia says that this kid is trustworthy. Mia also said that I should just relax and trust her instincts and my own, and you know that I know that she has yet to fail me!”

 

She sent a knowing glare at the short girl. It wasn't jealousy; it was just pure annoyance at how oblivious and naive Vada is and how trusting she is. It was cute, but it would also likely be her demise.

 

 

 

Perhaps you should sit down or maybe wind down in the tent... for now, and I'll get you when I find it to be suitable.

 

Vada whined at the girl and begged and pleaded for her not to set her to the side.

 

 

“Please Y/N I'm not a child; I wish you wouldn't scold me like I'm one, and I wish you wouldn't place me to the side either. I'm not completely dumb; I can contribute to this camping stuff like fetching sticks or leaves. Is that what you need?”

 

She couldn't help but raise a brow at her.

 

“V? The fire is already going, and what in the hell would I need leaves for? If you want to help, you can use the bucket I brought and go straight forward to the creek side to fetch some water.”

 

 

Vada grabbed the bucket, muttered under her breath, and headed down the path she was instructed to go down. She kneeled down, scooped up some water, and sat by the creek as she watched a school of trout swim. She was entranced by how they swam in a group.

 

Suddenly, she saw a cute baby cub. She slowly approached it and went to pet it, because how many opportunities do you get like this? A loud growl filled the air. A mother bear and a bunch more cubs came to the corner. She was feeling threatened. She stood on her hind legs and snarled loudly. She drew her arm back to go and swipe at Vada, causing the stoned but small girl to quickly bolt with the bucket in her arms, water splashing everywhere.

 

Y/N Y/N Y/N Y/N!!!!”

 

She was panicking. She dropped the bucket and dived behind Y/N.

 

The more resourceful girl turned to look at Vada.

 

“What did you do, and what did you see?”

 

Vada pointed toward the direction where the mother bear decided to come from.

 

Y/N shrieked a bit, scooped up Vada, and booked it into the car.

 

“YOU ANGERED A MOMMA BEAR?!

 

The bear aggressively shook the car.

 

Causing the girls to yell in panic.

 

The girl reached into the backseat and grabbed a bear-repellent spray. She cracked open the window in panic and sprayed at the bear, causing it to run off. She laid over in Vada's lap.

 

“How did you somehow manage to get us nearly killed by a bear?”

 

Vada shrank back in the seat.

 

“It wasn't intentionally Y/N? I just wanted to pet the cute baby bear. Can you blame me? I mean, it was cute and fuzzy like a teddy!”

 

She sighed

 

“You are literally going to be the death of me.

[jhilsara]

AHHH That was so gooood, I know the final version is going to be incredible!! I hate to keep asking for more because I don't want to bother you BUT if you want to keep posting them I would more than appreciate it. :> If not, we can always wait until the actual next chapter comes out. Whatever your comfy with!

I'll keep feeding you, I've had this doc for so long and hopefully this will motivate me *v* here's part 3

After every guest leaves the boys and MC are sitting on the stairs exhausted.

“So that went well?” Matthew “As well as it could have.” James sighs. “How was the drilling of questions all night?” Erik “Not as bad, but draining. How was the rest of your night after you were dismissed?” James “It was better after my father left.” MC “F u c k your dad.” Sam “What happened?” Matthew “Her awful father put his hands on her and left a nasty bruise!” Erik huffs out in irritation. “He what?!” Matthew and Damien “It’s over, I’m fine, Sam saved me.” MC “Let us see.” James gently asks She avoids their eyes but takes the glove off. It’s nasty. It’s a gross yellow with purple poking through. It looks disgusting. “Oh MC…” Damien gently grabs her arm to look at the damage. “It’s over. He left and Sam definitely broke his hand.” She huffs out a laugh. “Sam!” James “I didn’t break it! …I just fractured it. Aggressively.” Sam avoiding eye contact with James but smiling at MC MC starts laughing and soon the whole gang is giggling. “We should probably clean up…”

Before they can even start to clean the devils burst into the home with a gunshot.

MC ducks before she realizes it was a blank, but the boys are in front of her.

Seeing the devils, she realizes they are not the same thing as just demons.  

“Honey I’m home~”Malix twirling his gun “Get out. This place is protected by holy magic. Your stuff won’t work here.” Damien “I don’t need that to kill you.” Malix states. “We’re really not in the fucking mood Malix. Get the fuck out.” Sam “Oh? Sorry did I barge in on you lot whoring yourselves out like the incubus you are?” Malix “Excuse me?” MC She tries to push past Sam but he won’t budge. He pushes her back. “Stay behind me.” He hisses out to her. “Oh? Is that her? That warlocks kin? C’mon share her, it’s not nice to keep playthings to yourselves!” Malix She freezes and grips onto the back of Sam’s jacket. His fists curl. “She’s protected too you animal.” James Malix raises a brow, “That’s intriguing…” He looks past Sam and his eyes pierce into hers. A nasty smirk plays on his face. “We’ll leave… but watch it outside of this protective barrier. You’re in our territory incubi.” Malix shrugs and acts to leave. He turns sharply and points his gun toward MC, Sam shifts to block her but she can still see the red devil staring her down… like prey. “You too sweetheart. We’re coming for you.” Sam turns to face MC after Malix leaves and sees the real fear in her eyes. His anger dissipates enough to hold her. He wraps one arm around her to give her some comfort. “What are they?” MC “Devils… they come from Hell.” Erik spits out. “Then where do you come from?” MC “The Abyssal Plains…Demons come from a different realm. We all have magic of our own and free wills. Devils on the other hand, their magic is tied to hell. It’s not theirs. They only live to cause chaos, murder, and mayhem in the human world.” James Her brain goes a million miles a minute. Damien reaches out to grab her hand, “We won’t let him harm you. It’ll be okay.” Sam squeezes her in reassurance, “We’ll kill ‘em.”

They do not clean that night, they all decide it’s a morning issue.

The next day MC stays home. In her bed for most of the morning/early afternoon. She watches videos on her phone and none of the boys seem to come and see her. They must be busy.

She finally crawls out around the afternoon and slugs her way into the kitchen after taking a shower and making herself slightly presentable.

She hears the boys outside through the sliding window into the backyard.

Peeking out she sees them all training, mostly using Sam as their trainer.

They all look exhausted.

“How long have you guys been out here?” She calls out. They all stumble before turning to see her. “What time is it?” Matthew She checks her phone, “Like two?” “We need a break… and food.” James says. “We don’t have time for a break.” Sam barks back to him. “You want one too Sam. We need food anyway.” Damien side eyes his brother. Sam rolls his eyes. “You guys just chill out. I’ll make lunch.” MC turns back into the kitchen on her phone scrolling and ignoring the faint protest.

She makes them a simple lunch. Nothing crazy, just sandwiches with fruits and veggies.  She makes herself a homemade parfait though.

Once the guys are inside she puts their lunches on the dining table, all of them looking thoroughly beaten.

They eat, thank her, and go back to training.

She sees them all again at dinner, but this time she put her foot down and decided they were getting take out. No one was cooking after the day they’ve had.

They veg out in the living room waiting for dinner. MC sits on the couch and Matthew and Damien are leaning on her left and right side. Sam is sitting in between her legs on the floor and she’s idly coming his hair and half paying attention to the movie. James went off to the study and told them to call him when the food arrived. Erik went to take a nap.

The four of them all almost pass out on the couch together. It’s impressive actually.   

The next day MC has classes… she is afraid to leave the home. So, the guys rotate a schedule with her. Whoever is free takes her to work or school. Between the 5 of them there should be someone with her at all times.

One day while Sam is dropping her off on campus

The bags under her eyes are dark. Darker than she normally gets during finals week. She has the mirror pulled down in the car and stares at her dark circles. Sam looks at her out of the corner of his eye. “How much sleep have you been getting?” the question sounds harsher than he means it too. She sighs and slaps the mirror back up, “Between studying for finals, working, and stressing out about my life possibly ending because of some devils… about 3ish hours.” “Do you work tonight?” he asks She tilts her head in confusion. “No. I have the day off. My last class gets out at 1 today then I’m done.” “Good.” He grunts out. “I’ll pick you up and then you’re going the fuck to sleep.” He stops in front of her classes building. “What? Sam, I have chores and studying and a million other tasks. Plus… I just c a n ‘ t sleep. It’s like my brain won’t shut off.” “Don’t worry about it.” He places his hand on top of her head and ruffles her hair a bit. “Sam! I just did that.” She pulls the mirror down and pouts as she fixes her hair. He rolls his eyes playfully. “Like I said I’ll get you later and you’re taking a nap today.” She gives him a look of disbelief before getting out to go to class. “Bye Sam.”

• He wasn’t joking when he told her she’s sleeping. Once home Same throws her in her bedroom, demand she put on something comfy, and let’s her change alone.

She opens the door once she’s in her hoodie and shorts. “Sam I’m not sleepy so I don’t see how I’m going to nap. I should probably just study.” Sam pushes her back into her room, ���Nuh uh, no way. Get in that bed.” She rolls her eyes but jumps onto her bed anyway, sitting cross legged on her blanket. “Scoot over!” Sam slips his shoes off and sits next to her. “Get under the covers doofus.” He chuckles at her. “Is the plan just you taking a nap with me?” She jokes and shuffles herself comfortably under the blankets. He rolls his eyes, “No. Lay down and just close your eyes okay?” She side eyes him for a second before fluttering her eyes shut. Sam starts running his hands through her hair gently and lightly massaging her scalp. She lets out a soft gasp and groans in comfort. She nuzzles herself more into her pillow.

• Before she realized it, she was asleep. She only realized she’s been out when she wakes up and realizes she wrapped around something… or someone.

Sam was out, snoring lightly laying on top of her comforter, one arm comfortably laying behind her. She was tangled around him, hugging him close like a stuffed animal. Her face flushed and she tried to untangle herself from him in embarrassment. She gently moved her arms off of him and tried to flip herself over, but Sam followed. He groaned and moved his body to face her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her towards him. If she wasn’t red she was now. She could see her phone next to her pillow and she relaxed into his grip and settled against his chest feeling his deep breathing. She was scrolling her phone for around twenty minutes before she felt him wake up. “What time is it?” he groaned out still holding her body. She giggles to herself knowing Sam isn’t fully awake, “It’s 7 at night.” “Five more minutes…” He mumbles into her neck. She shivers and that action has him sitting up STRAIGHT “Oh, my fucking god. I’m so sorry.” Sam She stretches and sits up, “Sam it’s fine you just feel asleep. We’ve been exhausted for over a week…” Sam looks her over and reads her sincere face. He sighs before he flops back down. He rubs his face in irritation before looking at MC “I’m more than exhausted…” he mutters to himself “What?” MC “It’s nothing.” He goes to stand up, but she grabs his wrist. “Sam…I-” she clams up blushing a bit and avoiding his eyes when she finally asks, “Do you need energy?” She feels him go rigid. “I’m fine.” He tells her in a hard tone. He doesn’t pull himself away from her touch. She finally pulls her gaze back to him and she can see how heavy the bags under his eyes are. He’s been training his brothers and trying to keep her safe for over two weeks now. He’s more than at the end of his supply. “Sam…you look like a dead man walking. Take my energy, I’m telling you it’s okay.” She can see him losing the battle internally. He scoffs and avoids her burning gaze. “Please. I promise it’s okay.” She sees his tense shoulders relax and he looks at her, eyes no longer green but rimmed in gold.  She smiles at him, a win. “Don’t look so smug, you’re gonna be tired after this.” He tells her as he moves his hand from her grip to holding it and laying her down. “Only if you do it right.” She bites back. “Oh, now you’re pushing your luck.” Before she can reply he’s kissing her. His hands don’t roam her body, but he keeps consistent pressure holding her waist down into the mattress. Her arms wrap around his neck and pulls him closer to her. Their mouths slot together easily and this is by far the best kiss she’s ever had. Unlike before when Sam kissed her, she’s acutely aware of the enthrallment. Which she’s realizing is making her crave him. She wants him all over her. She wants him to kiss her neck, caress her, mark her body up. She’s swimming in thoughts of Sam. Too much, she can’t decipher if they’re real feelings or just the enthrallment. Maybe she should have asked for instructions before she just dived into this. Sam shifts himself and kisses her jawline down to her neck. She lets out a moan she didn’t expect. She does not want him to stop. He chuckles into her neck and kisses her softly one more time before sitting back. “I’m good now. Thank you.” He’s smirking at her and she doesn’t know what her face looks like but she feels blissed out. She’s heaving, taking deep breathes, before she responds. “Uh yeah. Anytime.” She pushes herself to sit up facing him. Sam snorts and brushes her hair back, looking at her softly, “Don’t offer up something like that. I might make good on it.” He rustles her hair and leaves her room. She falls back on her bed, red in the face, heart beating astronomically fast.

• The next morning, she has Damien going with her to her class. She spends a lot of the car ride trying to focus on the music and not her very confusing feelings for Sam… or how she really enjoyed him kissing her. Nope not totally thinking about that while Damien’s sitting next to her. Or how confused she is about enthrallment.

Damien sighs and looks at her cocking his brow. “You know I’ve heard literally everything in your head and it’s the most over stimulating thing right now. It’s thought whiplash.” Damien She sighs and grips the steering wheel, she can’t hide from Damien. “How does enthrallment work?” she finally asks, her face red as a tomato. “Well, it obviously gives us your energy as incubi, but it doesn’t magically give you deep feelings for someone. It just enhances the pleasure of your experience as a human.” He tells her smirking. “So, my very confusing feelings aren’t from the enthrallment?” “Nope. That’s just you making yourself confused.” He has a very amused look on his face. “You’re not being helpful here Damien…” she pouts. He just laughs.

When she gets home that night with Erik she goes straight to her room. She’s not super hungry and her stomach flipping around is absolutely her nerves.

She’s in her room, staring at the ceiling, when someone knocks on her door.

“Come in!” she doesn’t move from her spot. “Have you been like that since you got home?” Sam She sighs and sits up, “Yeah just doing some mental gymnastics.” He laughs, “Don’t work too hard there you’ll blow a fuse.” She rolls her eyes and throws her pillow at him, that he easily catches. “What do you need Sam?” She asks smiling. He tosses the pillow back to her. Now he looks flustered, with a tinge of pink that lasts for a second before his eyes lock with hers. “I want you to know my real name, in case anything does happen with those Devils…” His voice is serious. “Real name?” she tilts her head. “Demons usually don’t give out their real names to humans, or each other really. Names for us have power. So, if you say my name, I’ll find you. I can literally appear if you need me.” “Oh…” she looks down at the pillow in her hands and fidgets with the edges of it. Her face is warm. She doesn’t notice Sam coming closer to her as he leans in to whisper in her ear, “My name is Aomaris.” A shiver runs down her back as he steps back. “Aomaris.” She tries it out, making sure she says it right. Sam’s face flushes red. “Uh, yeah.” He chokes out and looks away from her. He takes a deep breath before he continues. “Use it if you need me, okay?”

• She keeps his name locked in her mind. Running it around and around and around. She almost whispers it to herself once more before realizing how mortally embarrassed shed be if he just showed in her room not even ten minutes after he told her. • She didn’t realize how soon she would need to use his name. • It’s her graduation day from the school of business at her university, but she’s already applied to continue her education at the graduate level. She can have a masters degree in a different field. But for now, it’s her undergrad graduation and by god she is going and then partying with her friends. • All of the boys show up for her, and her father is no where in sight. She kind of feels relieved from that. • After graduation she takes photos with her friends and the boys join. It is a celebration.

“I’m going out with everyone, I’ll see you guys later tonight!” “Be safe!” Erik calls after her, knowing she’s with people is reassuring, but not completely settling. They are all humans MC goes with her friends to a couple of bars and having a blast. So much so she doesn’t realize she’s put herself in danger. Its late, around midnight, and she steps outside to get some fresh air. She unlocks her car to grab her jacket to keep her safe from the biting cold inside the bar. When it happens. She wasn’t paying attention and was alone. She gets shoved into her own back seat and before she can fight or scream she gets blindfolded and gagged. She clenches her face as it all happens, she’s seen enough true crime to know that she can move her face to mess with the blindfold and gag to loosen them without her captors knowing. They snatch her keys from her hand and whip her car away from the bar. Hopefully her friends can call for help. They know she’d never leave without saying something. Her phone was still on too, in her pocket. As long as they don’t turn it off yet, they can track her location. She overhears them talking and she realizes it’s the devils… and her heart plummets. She can see the road in the slim part of the blindfold she gave herself to look through. They’re downtown still. But just barely… Once they throw her car in park she’s hauled out of the vehicle. She’s thrashing against whoever is grabbing her but their grip just tightens. They throw her down onto the hard concrete and rips her blindfold off. She blinks trying to adjust to the low lighting. Malix stands in front of her, smiling at her like she’s a meal. She tries to meet his gaze with a glare, but her body shaking definitely gives her away. His smile is like a feral beast eyeing her up and down. He grabs her face pulling her closer to him, his grip hurts. “Told you it wasn’t safe out there girly. Can’t wait to gut you and leave your remains for those incubi.” She pulls her face back with all her force and headbutts him. It sends him back for a moment, and knocks the gag out of her mouth. She gasps taking a deep breath. Before she can shout for help Malix’s fist collides to her mouth. “You little cunt!” She’s bleeding and spits out a mouthful of blood before shouting, “Aomaris!” she chokes as she shouts but it works. A bright light cuts through and the Devils shrink back. In front of her is Sam and he finds her eyes immediately. His eyes widen and he rushes to her grabbing her gently by her face. “You okay?” he asks. His hands are shaking as he moves her face to see the damage. She just nods her head melting into his touch. “I got it okay don’t worry.” A gun shot goes off and Sam moves them before it can make contact, with his speed. He turns and glares back to Malix with his smoking gun. “I won’t miss next time Incubus.”  Malix growls out at them. Sam gently leans MC against the wall and turns to fight Malix.

• During the fight Sam loses his glamor, but Damien and the others find her and block her vision before she can see. It’s mostly blurs and hues of green. • Damien and Erik and fussing over her and assessing the damage. • While everything sounds like she’s in an echo chamber, she clearly hears James tell Sam to stop and Matthew give him a potion. • “Let’s go home. MC needs to wash up and ice her face.” Erik says and picks her up gently to put her in the car. • At home they tell her to take a shower and just rest. Erik sits on her bedside with an ice pack for her face and a glass of water with some pain killers.

“Where’s Sam?” she asks. Erik sighs, “Getting chewed out by James and probably blowing off the last of his adrenaline. He’ll come see you in the morning love.” She nods her head. “Thanks Erik. Did my friends call?” She noticed they had blown up her phone and she had told them she was home now. Erik nods. “Yeah they did. That’s how we knew something was up, then you called out to him. We just tracked your phone after Sam left.” She nods and sinks into her bed. “Do I tell them I got kidnapped?” Erik shrugs. “It’s the truth, and it’s true we just tracked your phone. So up to you. They’ll be mad if they think you just bailed without telling them and making them worry.” “You’re right…” “Don’t worry right now, just go to sleep. And if anything feels bad in the morning we can go the hospital.” Erik.

Her face is swollen from Malix’s punch but she had stopped bleeding the next morning. A massive purple bruise is on her check and she hisses touching it. She can’t cover that up.

There’s a knock at her door.

“Come in.” “How ya feelin’?” She turns quickly and sees Sam in her doorway. Arms crossed over his chest. “Could be better.” She smiles softly at him. She sees his eyes focus on her bruise. He comes into her room standing in front of her, holding her face and looking. “If he was still here I’d kill him again…” he says in a low tone. “It’s over.” She places her hand on top of Sam’s and leans into his touch on her good side. “Shouldn’t have even fuckin’ happened. We should have been out with you.” He growls out. “We don’t know that. I shouldn’t have left my friends to grab my jacket. It’s over now. No use in thinking what if.” Sam removes his hands and pulls her into his embrace. His grip is tight but she sinks into him and wraps her arms around his waist. “Thanks, by the way. I don’t know if I told you thank you.” She mutters into his chest. She feels him chuckle. He kisses the top of her head. “You don’t need to thank me. I would have found you no matter what.” Her grip tightens and she thinks her heart skips a beat.

A little treat

So I know I keep saying theres more but there is more.

I skip a little around timeline wise and I put the beach episode stuff after the devils... cause it felt kinda shitty to do Diana RIGHT AFTER like poor girl can't catch a BREAK

[baroquepopcorn]

I went out today

For a walk

I’m back home from uni for the Easter weekend. And the 13th is also coming up, for those who celebrate it

When I worked at the dominos down the street from my home I always used to go to the convenience store beside it after my shift

Often got a diet beverage — diet because I’m afraid of sugar, and they also carried Faygo

So last year I got a diet cola faygo to celebrate with. And this year I’m doing the same. Got redpop this time though

And I was walking there today, to get the soda.

There’s an old building down the street

It used to be a school a time ago, now it’s a church — apparently. Been a church all my life

I’ve seen it all my life

But I never stepped foot in it

Not even once

I’ve passed by it thousands — tens of thousands of times

Never went in

I walked past and looked at the grass. There were some muscari growing, always loved those

There’s an old cemetery right next to it

A tiny grassy lot. I went to it and looked at the graves

There was one that was like an obelisk

The grass felt spongey and uneven

There was a chain fence between the back of the lot and the restaurants behind, some old tangled trees and trash in between

The graves were there since the 1800

I walked to the crosswalk

Past an old diner that I went into a couple of times last year, to sate some curiosity

They put in new concrete, there are new walkways between the street and the tiny strip mall

I remember for a good year or so before I left they were doing construction on it, dug out the old stuff

It’s nicer

And I went there, and I passed the dominos where I used to work and saw my old coworker in the window

And I got the soda next door

And the cashier had a little translucent necklace

And he was wearing a dark side of the moon shirt

It was glass, the necklace. I know it was glass because I own one made of the same stuff — faux moonstone, glass made to look opalescent, blue like how smoke is blue, and also yellow in the right light

And I said “nice necklace”

And he said thanks

And I joked “I think if you’re wearing that shirt I’m supposed to ask you if you can name any other album by the band besides DSOTM”

And he rattled off a couple

And I rattled off a couple more

And he said “oh you must be a fan”

I said “nah, just absorbed it”

And I left

Might go back there, the next day, see if he’s still there

And I went into the dominos and said hi to my old coworker

And I was walking back

The church in the dead school was locked

There was a pottery class in the adjoining building though

An art studio in there

Didn’t know that

Maybe if they have classes in the summer I’ll go there

And I walked around to the back

To the empty field that used to be a schoolyard

Never been there before — actually

With an empty pit of tiny rounded pebbles that used to be a baseball diamond

We had one like that at my old school

Used to look at the tiny rocks, picking out the red ones — granite I think, and picking at the weeds that grew through

It’s just a place that was there

There were a couple of rusty benches

Some old dogshit

It felt strangely idyllic. Like the kind of semi secret place that semi interesting teens in a coming of age movie would hang out in — lamenting the boredom of a small town

I would’ve liked that

Walked home, past a mulberry tree by a driveway

Whoever lives there, in that house with the nice garden I always liked to look at, probably doesn’t know that the mulberries are edible

I didn’t know they grew till last year

In the summer, I think I’ll pick some

There’s plenty of mulberry trees, plenty of mulberries

Not enough people who know to eat them

Passed a man and his dog

Good evening

Went up to the steps in front of the retirement home across from my house

Memorial benches there

Seen that place tens of thousands of times

Walked by those benches thousands of times

Never once went up there

Today I did, I read the names too

I jumped down from the ledge and crossed the street

Went to the backyard

Down the dirty slope

Down by the creek in a flat shore filled with mud

And dead trees

Someone came and cut down a dying tree

They must’ve because I remember two years ago, the tree was there with enormous woody grape vines hanging down from its branches

Then one day, the tree was down — cut down

Someone must’ve done that to stop it from falling where it shouldn’t

That was years ago though

It’s full of little D-holes

Ash trees

The borer bug got to them

There’s so many things that shouldn’t be here

The muddy patch is full of lesser celandine

In the summer it’s full of garlic mustard

There’s multiflora rose

There’s white mulberry trees and Norway maples

There’s English ivy and periwinkle by the other side of the yard

The neighbours plant Siberian squill

And of course whenever we go driving, the lots between the roads are all phragmites

Headspace hotel has got me thinking about this

You should follow them — good blog

Anyway

March is a strange time of year

Too early for anything but a bit of grass and the crocuses

It’s like the 5 am of the seasons — too early to wake up, too late to go back to bed

I never liked it, dreary and muddy

Too warm for snow and the beautiful cleanliness of winter

Too cold and too early for spring

But there’s a solemness there

A liminality

Not everything is idyllic

Sometimes you have to just look at a patch of mud and dead grass and bare trees

I went back inside

So many little things that i just walked past all my life

Anyway, I got the soda.

Happy Easter

Happy 4/13 too

[atlaese]

at the end of the cul-de-sac — s.h.

summary: almost 10 years after leaving Hawkins and subsequently your best friend, you move back to start university. Haphazardly reconnecting with Steve means old feelings might resurface — if Steve hasn't moved on to another already.

pairing: steve harrington x fem!reader tw: childhood best friends to lovers, fluff, no spoilers, minor mentions of injury sustained as a kid (scraped knee kinda stuff), misunderstandings (so a tiny smidge of angst) robin is a sweetheart <3, I have decided there is a uni close to hawkins, happy fluffy ending!! words: 4.4K a/n: hi! i started writing this somewhere after vol 1. but I had finals, went to a festival & had covid, so that's why I only got to publish it now. i still hope you enjoy it though <3 thanks for the support <3 and I hope you have a good week!! p.s. i now have a library blog! go follow @aeristhotle and turn on notifs to get notified when i update!

reblogs and comments are highly appreciated ✨💗

STEVE HARRINGTON MASTERLIST | ALL MASTERLISTS

It had been nearly a decade since you said goodbye to Hawkins, Indiana, trading in the sleepy town for the bustling city of Washington. Your father had accepted some office job that forced you to say goodbye to everything you had ever known in your life.

You remembered thinking that it was the end of the world, leaving behind all your friends that had been there since the very beginning when you finally drove away from the street you grew up in.

The pale yellow house at the end of the cul-de-sac, the old pine your dad always complained about, the leaky gutter that always overflowed when there was a storm and the dent in the wall from where you had butted your head after cutting the corner short and sliding straight into the wall.

Now, it was all getting smaller as you looked out of the rear window, a long drive ahead of you. It was such a peculiar feeling to say goodbye to the home you grew up in. The place where you lost your baby teeth, where your dad taught you to drive a bike, the stick of a broom taped on as a handle to keep you balanced.

As your dad rounded a corner, the house finally disappeared from your vision. You weren’t sure if you’d ever see the house or the street it sat on ever again. Goodbye to the park behind the Rodneys house, goodbye to the countless hours you spend playing on the carousel and goodbye to the monkey bars you sat on as Steve climbed up the steps to join you.

Goodbye to Steve, too.

“I’ll write you letters, I have new stickers to decorate them, too,” you said, sitting next to Steve on the carpet at your house. The Harrington’s came over to say goodbye to your family, your parents’ friends ever since high school. 

“You have to!” Steve exclaimed, his little hands wildly gesturing. “You should send me a postcard of the Lady of Liberty, I heard she’s like 1000 feet tall or something.” 

“Lady Liberty is in New York City, silly,” you corrected him, “I’m not sure she’s that tall, but if we ever visit her I’ll let you know.” 

Laughter drifted in from the backyard where your parents were having drinks, and Steve’s head dropped down. Even at age 10, his hair had a life of its own, curls sticking out in every possible way. 

“Do you really have to go with them? I’m sure my mom would let you sleep on the couch if you asked her nicely,” Steve said, his voice toning down as the weight of the situation finally dawned on him.  

You grabbed his hand in yours, two little palms fitting over each other as they had done so many times before. 

“I’m starting at the new school next week and most of my stuff is already packed and ready to go in the truck.” 

Steve nodded, brown eyes getting a little red now he was sure his best friend was permanently leaving his life.  

“We have to keep in touch, pinky promise,” he finally looked up, his other pinky out for one of the most sacred promises a little kid could make. 

“Promise,” you said, wrapping your pinky around his as you had a final look at his boyish face. 

Promises made by little kids never are followed-up, unfortunately.

You wrote Steve three postcards and he called you twice on the house phone before you lost contact.

You quickly moved on to new friends at your school and Steve started hanging out with Tommy and Carol. Kids are always more focused on the present rather than on the past. You couldn’t blame it on anyone.

Steve Harrington would be nothing more than a sweet childhood memory, someone you thought about when you passed by the monkey bars or when one of your friends started dating a Stephen. A fleeting thought – a second that brought a smile to your face before disappearing again. Yet, he always held this fond space in your heart – and you knew that feeling would be for forever, and it was fine like that.

And now you are back in Hawkins, a little less than a decade later, a little taller than before and freshly graduated from high school, ready to start university close to the town you once called home. It only made sense for both you and your parents that you’d move back to the safety of the small town. God knows what goes on in those big cities.

The fact that Steve probably still lived in Hawkins was the deciding factor to pack your belongings and move back. Something, somewhere deep inside you longed to be close to Steve again. 

Though you had made new best friends, Steve was still the one that held a big piece of your heart. You had been friends from the very beginning, and it felt impossible to share such a bond with anyone else. A little voice at the back of your mind whispered that Steve would still be there, still the same loving boy who once called himself your best friend and that you’d be back to said status in no time. The same voice also whispered in your ear how Steve might have waited for you and you felt flutters erupt in your stomach. You always had a weak spot for his droopy brown eyes.

It was a tiny apartment that once belonged to one of your grandparents, a fifteen-minute drive to your campus, and close to both the local supermarket and some other shops you were sure you’d frequent often.

One of those shops was a branch store of Family Video and it was coincidentally the last thing on your list after a long day of moving in. 

Your plans were to rent a movie, pop a frozen dinner in the microwave, and enjoy your newfound freedom away from parental figures. The next few days you’d hoped to come across some familiar faces, but tonight you just wanted to get settled in.

It felt good to be an unsupervised adult.

The store was quite busy as you pushed open the door, most of Hawkins’ pre-teens and young adults looking for the perfect movie to end their day.

You slid into an aisle and tapped with your fingers against the spines of the VHSs, mumbling the names of the movies as you passed them. 

“E.T., seen already,” you murmured against yourself. “Superman was boring, let’s be honest.”

Your eyes landed on Ordinary People, and you grabbed the VHS and went on your way to the cash register. There was no use in hesitating to choose – with half of Hawkins in the store you didn’t want anyone to snatch the movie away right in front of your eyes.

“Hey, you little shit, that one is too scary for you, it says 18+ for a reason!”

“Quit bullshitting, it’s just a serial killer, you know I’ve seen worse,” a teen said to someone typing away at a computer, his face hidden by the massive machine. “C’mon man, you know I’ll keep complaining until I have it.”

The teen kept sliding the VHS over the counter, only for the cashier to slide it right back without even taking a second look at it. 

“Knock it off, Dustin, you’re gonna scare the customers away and I can’t lose another job!”

Dustin was about to slide the VHS over again, probably with a come-back, when he saw you standing behind him.

“Look I’ll even let the lady go in front of me, and you better get me this movie after as I’m also a paying customer!”

You pressed your lips together in a smile as a way to say thank you and pushed the VHS over the counter, hoping to get out of the busy shop quickly. 

“Name, please?” the guy said, not even looking up from the screen.

You had just uttered your first name, hadn’t even started on your last name as his head whipped away from the screen, brown eyes scanning your face instead of putting the movie in the system and telling you when to bring it back.

“Y/N?” he muttered, the floppy brown hair and puckered pink lips reminding you of your childhood best friend.

“It’s Steve, Steve Harrington,” he said now, still not believing it was you who was standing at his counter, so many years after he had last seen you. “You remember me, right?”

He, too, had grown a fair bit taller, but he still had that same doe-eyed look in his eyes, he still puckered his lips in the same way – he just had a little more confidence than when you left him. He had finally grown into that massive head of his and it looked like he found his own style, not anything like the clothes ms. Harrington used to put him in. Imagine if he still wore those obnoxious trousers with suspenders and a shirt with the top button done.

“Of course, I remember you, Steve,” you said, “I never forgave myself that we lost touch. Never.”

Steve looked down, guilt painted on his features as he recalled the few times he did reach out to you. “Me neither. I lost one of the best friends I ever had and it was my own fault.”

“But you’re back now!” he added, a new sense of joy replaced the guilt on his face. “Or is it just temporary?”

“I’m here for college, so we’ll see how that works out.”

“Hey now, you knew all 50 states before I could even say the alphabet, you’ll do great.”

You were about to ask him to hang out later, to reminisce about old times and to catch up on what you’d missed the last few years when a beautiful girl popped up behind him, a million freckles gracing her face – each one seeming to call Steve’s attention.

At her appearance, you immediately felt your confidence chipping away. The joyful bubble burst and it was time to pack up the beautiful daydream that started forming in your mind.

Why would he have waited on you? There had never been an indication you’d come back, never a moment where you had gotten back in touch with him. Who’s to say he hadn’t moved on and forgotten about how good you two were together? Why would he ever wait for a possible ‘what if’ if there were so many other opportunities, right here in Hawkins?

“Hey dipshit,” she called out to Dustin, slinging an arm over Steve’s shoulders as he remained comfortable under her touch. “How many times have we said no about the 18+ movies? You’re lucky we’re letting you get the 16+ ones!”

“Robin, stay out of this,” Dustin now bit back good-naturedly, still tightly gripping the VHS,  now counting a few coins as he seemed to be 100% sure he’d get the movie. 

How foolish that you thought you could just waltz back into Hawkins and expect everything to be the same. Steve was even friends with random kids now, and here you were, thinking that you could pick up where you left off. 

“Uhm, so when do I bring this back?” you spoke up, making Steve whip his head back to you as Robin checked you out, her eyes carrying an analytical weight trying to figure out who you were.

“It’s uh, one week, so next Saturday, but you can always call to extend,” Steve said, not realizing how uncomfortable you were all of a sudden. 

You rummaged around in your bag in search of a few dollar bills in exchange for the movie, “yeah… I’ll be fine, a week, okay.”

You hastily pressed the few dollars against the counter and plastered a quick smile on your face.

“Hey, y/n, Robin and I were thinking of hanging out tonight if you wanna come.”

Steve looked at you expectantly, brown eyes hopeful for an affirmative answer, but Robin’s stare made it into a definitive ‘no’ as much as you wanted to say yes. Her stare wasn’t mean or anything, you just felt like you had disrupted a moment between them and wanted to get out as quickly as possible.

“No, it’s fine, I really need to get home,” you said as you already started backing off. “Moving. Shit ton of work, you know.”

You were out of the store in the blink of an eye, leaving Steve wondering if he had said something wrong.

“Do you know her?” Robin asked, now picking at her nails as she threw another death stare at Dustin. “It’s still a no for you.”

“Yeah,” he trailed off, still looking at the door where you disappeared through. “That was my best friend who moved away.”

“That's the best friend huh?”

Robin now flashed her signature smirk, unknowing to Steve.

“Got anything to tell us, Steve?” Dustin now piped up after seeing Robin’s smirk. “You’re not really one to reminisce about the past.”

“Growing up with someone… it’s different. She was my whole life and I was hers,” Steve softly said, eyes glazed over with a mixture of wanting, loss, and a speck of hope. “You should know how bad it is to lose a friend like that.”

Dustin and Robin shared a look. They couldn’t believe the effect you had left on Steve, even if it was just a short visit.

“Whatever.” Steve stood up, shaking the feeling off and straightening up. “Hey, you get another movie now , or I ban you for the next year. Yeah, a year, you heard it right.”

“C’mon Steve, you’re being an ass,” Dustin pleaded, still trying one last time to get the adult-rated movie for his own movie night.

“Now!”

“Fine! Jesus, you’re getting old and cranky already,” Dustin stormed off, immediately talking in his headset to relay the message to his other friends, probably already scheming revenge on the older brunette.

“They’re your kids,” Robin snorted as she turned around to get back to reshelving VHS tapes, leaving Steve who felt like he had just been hit by a bat – twice.

After sulking all weekend that perhaps you weren’t as memorable as you thought, you returned to the video store on Monday, hoping to quietly drop off the movie and not come across the two people you desperately wanted to avoid. Egos were on the line, okay?

You not so subtly peered through the glass into the store, your body poorly hidden by a  few huge cutouts in the shop window. It felt like you were starring in a bad detective movie.

It was a quiet Monday at noon, with one car in the parking lot and no one visibly behind the counter.

Would it be so horrible if you just left the VHS on the counter and made a run for it? 

The door creaked as you pushed it open, which made Robin’s head pop out from under the counter immediately, her brown-blondish hair a fashionable mess as she plastered a smile on her face.

If it was socially acceptable to throw the VHS in her vicinity and run as fast as your feet could – you’d do it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t and Robin was already waiting behind the counter for you, her fingers rhythmically tapping the wood. 

“That was quick,” she stated as you slid the VHS over the counter, avoiding her eyes as she kind of intimidated you.

“No use in keeping it longer than I have to.”

You politely nodded and tapped the counter before turning back to the exit.

“He has told me a lot about you, you know, the past few years that I’ve gotten to know him.”

“Me?” you said as you turned around. Why would Steve be talking about you still? To someone that you didn’t know? Someone who could mean a whole lot more to him than you ever did.

“Yeah,” her voice had a hoarse tinge to it as a smile overtook her face. “When a certain song came on the radio he’d say something like ‘this song was y/n’s favourite’ or when we passed by that one curb he’d say ‘I ate shit here and y/n patched me up with those blue bandaids with little teddy bears on them.’”

“He talked about me?” you repeated, still not believing her, though everything she mentioned sounded like things that happened in your past, stuff that you had seemingly forgotten and now it replayed in your mind. 

“That boy was in love with you and I don’t think a lot has changed.”

There was a lighthearted smirk on her face when she saw you get flustered, a sudden meek smile transforming your face in a heartbeat. 

“Don’t… you didn’t know him back then,” you countered, trying not to get the lighthearted feelings to your head. “He’s always been a flirt, he’s always been like that.”

“No no no,” she shook her head, her hair happily bouncing around, her freckles blurring together. “I know Steve and the way he acted after you left? That didn’t even happen when he started crushing on Nancy again.”

“Again?”

“She’s long in the past – just a mere detour from you ! Don’t worry about it,” Robin waved your worries away, her giddy nature making you feel giddy about it as well. Maybe you really shouldn’t have judged so quickly.

“C’mon, let me set you up or something, it’s been a while since I won a bet from Henderson.”

“You’re betting? Already?” you asked. It was never good if bets were involved, but Robin seemed so trustworthy. 

“You’ll get used to it,” she winked, preluding that maybe many more adventures with this group of friends would happen. “Do you want me to call Steve? I bet he’d get that ass over here in a heartbeat for you.”

You laughed at her readiness to change up her whole day, even if it was a slow day at the store.

“No, it’s okay, I need some time to think,” you rapped your fingers on the counter before pushing off towards the exit. “But I really appreciate this, Robin, I’m a little less doubtful about the future now.”

“Where are you going?” she called out. “It’s so boring here I need entertainment!”

“To this place where I bust my knee once,” you said, pointing to the knee with the weird scar. “It’s a special place to me.”

“Alright,” you heard her trail off before you left the store and got into your car. “I don’t like places that have bad memories but okay…”

The park behind the Rodneys house was still there, though the Rodneys themselves were no longer there, the house was now just gathering dust, well on its way to becoming the backdrop for many ghost stories.

The swingset had gathered some rust during the time you were away, the shackles making that eerie sound that every small town swing set seemed to make. 

But as you sat down on the weathered wood, you instantly felt years younger – as if the swingset was a time machine that transported you right back to before you left. The only thing missing was Steve pushing you, his giggles and snorts floating up in the air as you encouraged him to push you even higher. 

After everything Robin had told you, you desperately needed some time to think and process – the apartment felt suffocating and you didn’t want to hang around town in fear of encountering the one your thoughts were filled with.

Then you found yourself in front of the old park where you spend many hours running around with Steve and it all clicked.

Leaning your head against the shackles of the swing, you softly swung and watched the sunset. The sky was painted in hues of ripe plums and fresh raspberries – the colours bleeding over into each other as if someone had accidentally mashed the juicy fruits together. But just as everything that happened by accident, it had a bittersweet undertone that made everything worth it.

Just like years ago, it didn’t take him long to find you.

The other swing creaked as he sat down on it, his feet now touching the ground as his legs had grown, unlike back then when he barely could get up on the swing without almost breaking his neck.

You both stared at the skies for a bit, words on the tips of your tongues but not willing to break the silence that felt safe – just like how a kid felt safe from the monsters under the blankets.

“I was thrown off when I saw Robin,”  you started, testing the waters as you kept staring in front of you. “Though I had no reason to be, it was stupid and I’m sorry for assuming stuff and running off like that.”

Steve let out a soft sigh as he pushed his hand through his hair, his lips as always cherry-coloured. “You really don’t have to apologise. You did what any normal human being would do.”

The words clung to the air as you felt a little breeze pick up, the leaves on the bushes adding to the background noise.

“How’d you know I was here anyway?”

“Where you busted your knee and then had to get stitches and they healed in this super odd shape that either resembles an open mouth or weirdly shaped D .”

“Robin,” you tsked. “Right, you were there.” 

“I held your hand while they put in the stitches,” he snorted, eyes zeroing in on the scar on your knee. “You had a tight-ass grip for an 8-year-old.”

“After all those hours with you on the jungle gym, you bet I had developed some muscles already!” 

Once more you felt like no time had passed between you leaving and coming back. Between leaving Steve behind and finding him back. And even if time did pass, it felt like you could just continue on from the point where you left – the shared history would always be there as a background to provide a common ground no other people had. It was unique to the two of you – something you’d never find in any other person. 

“I did move on, you know,” he now made eye contact as he spoke truthfully, the pinkish colours of the sky now beautifully reflecting on one half of his face. “I moved on many times, yet any time I came close to loving someone, you were always at the back of my mind. Always.”

And while that statement did hurt, it also felt very familiar. It was something you, too, could relate to. To the loving someone else, yet this one person is still on the back of your mind, an itch waiting to be scratched, a memory, hidden somewhere deep only you could find. 

And Steve would be the only one to understand, too. Your new friends in the city couldn’t understand the impact he had had on you, just like his new friends couldn’t understand it to its full extent either.

“There was always this ‘what if’ scenario,” you whispered back, your hand now coming up to still the swing he was sitting on so you were at the same level. 

“Uhu,” he murmured back, his eyes constantly twitching between your eyes and your lips as your bodies were now immensely close you could feel the heat radiating off from him.

God, how handsome he had become. 

“I know we haven’t seen each other in like…years, but it feels like hardly any time has passed. Like we were both stuck in a limbo while the rest of the world kept turning,” you softly said. 

“You were always better at putting things in words than I was,” Steve mused, his left hand coming up to cup your cheek. “I feel exactly the same.”

At that moment, it felt like the final puzzle pieces fell into place – the jagged edges morphed together into a perfect picture.

His lips on yours were an unfamiliar feeling, yet it couldn’t feel more like coming home – that warmth and the softness, the scent of his cologne, and the hand on your cheek that was shivering just a little.

It couldn’t be more perfect.

After pulling away from this sweet kiss, Steve immediately pulled you back, a feverish look on his face as he couldn’t get enough of the feeling. Couldn’t get enough of you. Couldn’t get enough of this sudden hold you had on him, again. He had always been yours, even when the two of you didn’t know.

Both his hands were now holding on to your face, as yours were trying to stabilise the swings you were on, though most of your concentration was focused on Steve. 

Steve’s hands, his lips, the feeling of the slight stubble that was rubbing against your skin, his scent that still smelled like him, just now the added intoxicating smell of his cologne that made your head spin round and round. 

The two of you had sat there for hours, it felt like, but it could also be a few seconds. The only thing that marked the passage of time was the sky that had turned into a purplish blue, the sun now fully gone and a few stars twinkling in the sky.

“Just for the record,” Steve broke the kiss, his lips brushing yours as he spoke. “You’ll be here for a while, yeah? No running off to the big city any time soon?”

You pressed a soft kiss against his lips, a smile curving against cherry red lips from kissing.

“I’ll stay here, Harrington, even if it’s just to see your stupid face,” you laughed, putting a stray lock of hair behind his ear. “Still, we can always meet here, at the end of the cul-de-sac.”

“Hmm, I’ll take what I can get,” he pressed a kiss against your cheek, then onto the corner of your lips. “Even if it’s just a few kisses at the end of the cul-de-sac.”

Once more, you kissed him. 

Though it had been a long time since you were in Hawkins, these first few days showed that the sleepy town hadn’t changed a whole lot and that you still fit perfectly into this town, right beside your childhood best friend, once again ready to face the world together.

[lovelyyandereaddictionpoint]

Not sure if you're taking requests (If your not, I'm sorry and hope you have a good day or night), but if you are, could you do a yandere neighbor war with Deku and Bakugo? I've been really hooked on those! if possible could you do something like reader has an extra ticket to the movies and the boys spend all week trying to get her to give them the ticket, just for reader to give it to their cousin or someone. Even if you don't want to do this I thank you for your time and still hope you have a good day or night ❤❤❤

OOOOH I love this its so perfect

Thanks so much for asking!!!

Hope you enjoy🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Yandere Neighbor Wars: Movie Ticket for Me?

Bakugo💥vs Midoriya 🥦

💥🥦“I know. Right. At least he could have followed through on wanting to go…geez made me pay for him too.”

💥🥦You were venting, on the phone with your friend

💥🥦And Bakugo was listening from the outside of your window

💥🥦From what he could hear was that your date had fallen through after somehow duping you into buying for both his and your tickets

💥🥦He’d be sure to get the limp-freak’s name somehow

💥🥦He watched as you went to bed, before returning to his own house to catch some Z’s

💥🥦He fell asleep with a smug grin; he had a lag up against that annoying Deku

💥🥦“I’m free.”

💥🥦“What?”

💥🥦You both happen to be in your backyards at the same time; you building something and him in his garden

💥🥦He rolled his eyes at you like you were the one being weird

💥🥦“Its like I said if you got anything going on I’m free.”

💥🥦“Daww is the cute wittle baby Bakugo asking me to hang out?”

💥🥦Back in highscool he would have sworn up and down that that was not what he wanted but after all these years he wouldn’t deny his feelings

💥🥦He tsked as he could hear your teases from beyond the fence

💥🥦He couldn’t but smile at the sound of your joy ringing out

💥🥦With a crimson stare peeking over the pickets of the fence to look at you

💥🥦“Wanna go to a-” CRASH

💥🥦" Oh sorry! I'm just renovating." 💥🥦Big green haired (hunk) neighbor was carrying out the remains of a dresser the rest was on the floor 💥🥦"It's fine Izu. Hey are you by any chance renovating your living room

💥🥦"Yeah" 💥🥦The rest of your conversation with him was just pure banter about houses, renovating them, and whatnot 💥🥦All Bakugo knew was that somehow someway Deku knew about the tickets 💥🥦Why else would he so obviously drop that dresser right when you were going to ask

💥🥦"What was that you were going to say?"

💥🥦"I was saying something? Well I don't remember..." 💥🥦Great.

💥🥦On the other side of your house your other neighbor was just as peeved

💥🥦I can't believe you'd do this, honey!

💥🥦He went to his watchtower where he played the recording again

💥🥦"Tickets to see No Way Home. I mean who do I know is going to want to go to a superhero movie on a weeknight."

💥🥦He knew his chance would have to be soon you only had one more day

💥🥦"Hey (Y/n) how’ve you been lately?"

💥🥦You were on the lawn taking down some kid's frisbee from your roof, he was getting back from work

💥🥦"Oh...uh...I've been pretty good. You?"

💥🥦You were distracted and wearing legging that hugged you just right

💥🥦He had to deny himself the desire to at least poke the plump mounds on your behind

💥🥦*Click*

💥🥦You turned to see him taking a picture of the neighborhood cat

💥🥦You internally awed before returning to your task

💥🥦Successful, you climbed back down the ladder grabbing a magazine off your porch

💥🥦"Izuku there's some home improvement stuff in my mail, you want it?

💥🥦"Sure."

💥🥦He came onto your porch to grab the magazine also grabbing your hand in the progress

💥🥦"We-we should do something together?"

💥🥦He was rosy in the face and you giggled

💥🥦For such a muscular guy he was just so cute

💥🥦"Yeah? What'd you have in mind?" 💥🥦"Maybe we could go-" 💥🥦The sound of a lawn mower howled drowning out the rest of Izuku's suggestion 💥🥦He looked behind you at the perfectly centered rival reving up his machine 💥🥦"Omg! I just remembered something ive gotta do. I'll see you around” 💥🥦Izuku can’t help but believe that this has something to do with what he did the other day

Now that the score is even the boys have the day of to try and convince you that one of them is the right choice: Katsuki hated how often he and Deku were on the same page. He was peering through his blinds to see the green-haired neighbor hype himself to go ask you. He wasn’t as worried about Deku possibly never getting out what he needed to say. It was almost like everything around you had a way of stopping anyone from making advances towards you. If it wasn’t Izuku or him purposely sabotaging one another it was an animal or something breaking in your house. Like the guy who gave you those tickets according to Deku, who he bumped into while trying to scale the house, had apparently been hit by a car and had amnesia. That was why he cut off communications with you. He had no idea who you were and was way too focused on getting his life back on track. They both agreed to leave him out of pity but they both chalked it up to your romance curse. If this were a world where superpowers existed you’d have one barring you from romance unless you initiate it. You’ve flirted with him before and you did with Deku but neither of them have ever been able to make one back. Sure, they were able to make general compliments but nothing super obvious. He was worried this ordeal would backfire on the both of them but he still joined Deku who was still mumbling on your porch. “Shut it Deku. You're gonna scare them.” “Oh Kachaan!” Izuku squealed, “I wasn’t that loud…” Katsuki took the initiative of knocking on your door hiding his smirk as his rival fidgeted before becoming stiff as a board. You appeared in the doorway wearing a Spiderman jacket two times bigger than your typical size with some sweatpants. You definitely looked like you were ready to go to a movie theater but you smiled and asked them what they were both doing there. “W-we-w-were wond-” “We wanted to ask if-” “Auntie/Uncle (Y/n)!!!!” The two men cringed at the high pitched scream before being pushed aside by a little boy decked out in a Spiderman costume with a mask. “I’msoreadyforthismovie!!!Ihavesnackswecansmuggleinandiheardafterwardswecangogetspidermansmoothies-” The kid continued on as he latched onto your pants and pulled in excitement. You scooped him up, tickling him. “Are you ready to see the new Spiderman movie?” And there, ladies and gentlemen was your beloved romance curse. Katsuki and Izuku were going to just quietly slip away before you stopped them. “Hey are you guys doing anything today? Because if not, you can come with us.” They weren’t exactly fond of all the fussing you did over your nephew but having smoothies afterwards while the brat was sleeping was enough for them.

[ladyvesuvia]

[Navigation] [Masterlist]

@justadreamyhufflepuff: GSJSVSKSBSJD BABY CONGRATS- CAN I PLEASE GET A 🎠 -> Harry potter + soft love + fluff + prompts 9, 10, 32, 42 from prompt list 1. || for my 300 followers celebration

Prompts:

9. “You took all the pillows so I’m using you as one.”

10. “Stop moving and let me braid your hair.”

32. “Make a wish!”

42. “Darling I love you and all, but please step out of the kitchen.”

Pairing: Harry Potter x Fem!Reader

Summary: Moving into your new house with Harry.

Words: 3.1k

Warnings: fluff but with slight and subtle mentions of sexual activities + let me know if i missed anything!

A/N: omg yay harry fluff :DDD ok sorry go ahead btw this hasn’t been proofread yet mbad

After years of setting things up, they could finally move into their house. Of course, there were some parts of it that still needed fixing but they’ll eventually work it out. Right now, they wanted to bask in the comfort and triumph of their own house.

“Got your key?” said [Y/N], holding out her own key. She had already attached a duck keychain to it.

“Got it,” replied Harry, showing her his own. They both sniggered at his ridiculous bathtub keychain, which looked undeniably out of place but she was glad for it nonetheless. See, she had bought it years ago when they first talked about getting a house. “Will you do the honors?”

“You know, we could easily Alohomora the heck out of this bas —”

“Do the honors,” he teasingly urged, poking her on the waist where her tickle spot was and she recoiled. “Do it, [Y/L/N].”

“Ha! I’m Potter now, too. Ergo you’re not so special anymore,” she said as she marched up the raised porch. It was a lovely sight indeed — she could already imagine inviting the others to come over: roasting marshmallows either here or at the backyard and such. She giddily walked towards the door. This is it, she thought. “Wait, this is unfair. You carry me as you open it so I’ll be like a pretty wife.”

“That you are,” said Harry as he scooped her up into his arms. She let out a whoop of approval, patting his cheek as he put the key in and swung the door open.

All their boxes were on the floor already, with a lot more scattered all over the house. “Ooh, this is a lot of work. Wanna sleep it off?” she yawned, kicking some boxes aside on her way to the stairs. “What, you gonna protest, Mr. Potter?”

“Not at all, Mrs. Potter,” said Harry, and they both stopped and looked at each other, eyes narrowed while scrutinizing the name. “Mrs. Potter.”

“Does it sound a bit weird to you? I mean, no offense. I mean, I’ve waited for this half of my life but — you know?

“Yeah, like, [Y/N] Potter,” he said again, making arm gestures as if parting a curtain. She started to laugh. “I see what you mean.”

“You look like a . . . getching shooba driver but on land,” she said with a yawn.

“A what?” This time, Harry was the one stifling his laughter.

“Glitching scuba diver on land,” spat [Y/N], taking off her jacket. When she saw he’d been eyeing her with a dazed expression on his face, she made a show of getting off her right jacket sleeve with a suggestive smile on her face. “Wait, uh, can’t get it off. Sweat, I think. Help?”

“Will do, will do,” said Harry, approaching her and reaching out to pull it off her with a tight smile in an awful attempt to keep his laughter.

“Whatever. Can we sleep now, please? Where’s our bed again?”

“There,” he pointed somewhere in the kitchen room.

“I thought our room was upstairs?”

“Our room is upstairs, the bed is here.”

“Why would that be the ca—oh, no. D’we really have to assemble it?” she whined. They had to travel by Muggle transportation due to issues with the Floo network and they wanted to minimize suspicion, and the it was finally taking its toll on their entire energy: [Y/N]’s back was cramping from the long ride, Harry’s head was already hurting like hell. To make matters worse, neighbors were peeking through their windows so they had to go inside immediately.

“No, we can just bring the mattress up and assemble it all tomorrow, yeah?”

“Oh, yeah,” she said with a moan, tossing the jacket on the kitchen counter. “Yeah, yeah.”

“Oh, are we — ?” He shrugged hesitantly.

“No! I mean, do you want to? Now?”

“Do you?” The two chuckled nervously. They were standing there for probably around half a minute or one when the doorbell dinged and the two of them jumped. [Y/N] volunteered to get it.

A woman younger than her for about a year stood in front of her doorstep when she swung the door open, carrying a tiny baby probably about a few months old in her arms. [Y/N] managed a friendly smile as she wiped away a drop of sweat from her forehead.

“Hi, welcome to the neighborhood. I’m Karolina Martin. I live right across and I brought you something!”

“The . . . baby?” [Y/N]’s shoulders tensed as she thought about this over an over until she realized that was highly unlikely.

“No! You’re hilarious, though. I like you. I actually came here to give you” — the woman put down a bag she hung over her shoulder down on the floor — “this.”

Inside was a basket with a bottle of what [Y/N] could only assume was fine wine or champagne or whatever it was couples with a number of chocolates and cookies inside. She realized with a start there was also a pot inside.

[Y/N] laughed, holding up the pot. “Funny, because we’re Potters?” she asked, setting it back down again.

“You are?” Karolina said, impressed. “So which do you suggest I should start with first? Stoneware or earthenware? Ooh, what about fire clay?”

It took a few seconds before [Y/N] realized the direction of the conversation. “Oh! Well, heh, not that kind of potter.”

Karolina flinched, eyeing [Y/N] with suspicion. “You smoke — ?”

“No! Not that kind of potter. We don’t smoke po—Sorry, that’s on me, I should have clarified. I’m [Y/N],” she said. Karolina still looked confused. Composing herself, she managed a tight smile. “[Y/N] Potter.”

“Oh! Oh, my goodness. I’m so sorry!” Karolina chuckled. “I was a bit confused, I’m really sorry. I haven’t met someone around here about my age.”

“Don’t worry about it. Thanks for the welcoming gift, by the way. I just moved in with my . . . husband.” It still sounded surreal to call Harry that way, but she liked it all the same. Her eyes fell on the chubby little kid.

“Right! This is baby Sydney, she’s turning six months old next week. Would be really nice if you and your husband could come — and kid or kids, if you have some?” Maybe it was the coos the baby made or her adorable eyes and hints of two teeth growing, but [Y/N] felt intimidated by the little kid. She was bigger than she thought babies would be. Is this what she’d push through her bottom? She shuddered. “Do you . . . want to hold her?” asked Karolina, oblivious to the thoughts going on in [Y/N]’s heads.

“Listen, I’m really grateful you stopped by but we’re kinda tired. I’m so, so, sorry! Thank you a lot for these stuff. We’ll definitely come by next week — me and Harry, just Harry and me.” [Y/N] chuckled nervously again, smiling at the baby.

“I totally understand. Me and Joey were also very tired when we first moved in, hence Sydney.” Karolina laughed. [Y/N] simply chimed in the laughter as well, not wanting to jeopardize a newfound friendship over a joke. “Have a lovely evening, [Y/N]. I’ll see you around!”

When she shut the door with the bag over her shoulder, she jumped in fright at the sight of Harry just behind the door with an amused grin on his face. “What?” said [Y/N] as she rubbed her eyes.

“Husband?” he mused. When she shot him a glare saying not to push it further, he resorted to giggling. “Sorry, my wife.”

“Shut up, Harry,” she said. “Now, where’s that damned mattress?”

“Worry not, I got it upstairs already, all we gotta do now is take a quick shower and go to bed.”

After they finished dressing into more comfortable clothes, they made it a point to plop down as hard as they could on the mattress. To her relief, Harry had settled a plain white bedsheet on top of it earlier while she was talking to Karolina. She was the first to jump in, stretching her legs all over. “Finally!” she exclaimed.

“Your turn,” she said, pointing at a spot right next to her. Harry took off his glasses and was about to jump in next when she asked where the pillows were.

“Er — Accio pillow!” She could hear the sound of boxes moving downstairs bumping each other when a pillow came hurtling in and landed on Harry’s chest, forcing him to plop down on the mattress.

A shrill squeak sounded, and the two of them froze. [Y/N] narrowed her eyes, pointing her finger at him in accusation. “Did you fart?”

“No, we just still haven’t removed the plastic from the mattress.”

“You want to remove it?” she suggested, ready to get up and get her own wand when Harry gently nudged her back down.

“Okay, where’s my wand?“

[Y/N] looked left and right until she found it tying on an old bedside table he managed to set down earlier that day and said, “There! Bedside table.”

“Eh.”

“Agreed, let’s just say you did fart.”

“Agreed,” said Harry, who unconsciously wrapped his legs and arms around the pillow on top of him and closed his eyes to sleep. [Y/N] was quick to act. Not to take his pillow, but to turn him into one — metaphorically, of course. She laughed at the thought of using Transfiguration to turn Harry into a literal pillow.

Just as he wrapped his limbs around the only pillow, [Y/N] did the same to him. He woke up with a jolt, but did not take her off him. “I’m the little spoon?” he asked with a smile.

“Yes, and I happen to like little spoons a lot,” she said casually. Harry turned his head in her direction, with a wide grin on his pretty face. “Okay, that sounded wrong. It’s just that you hogged the only pillow so now I’m using you as one.”

“Well, do you want it?” he offered obliviously.

“Nope, I like this set-up. Go back to sleep.”

And he did — they both did. At some point during the night, they turned each other into a pillow. Harry, however, awoke to the sound of her snoring. It wasn’t like his Uncle Vernon’s, though. Looking at her face seemed to dull it all out. It wasn’t exactly an endearing sound, but the sight of her was more than so — tousled hair, mouth slightly open. . . . With one last smile on his face as he watched her sleep, he felt himself drifting off into a deep slumber.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥

A loud clanging from downstairs awoke Harry. Had he overslept? He found that his back ached whenever he did so much as move, but knew better than to bide his time if there was danger nearby. He reached out to the bedside table to grab his wand, but realized he had to put his glasses on first.

Harry ran downstairs, clutching his wand tightly with his outstretched hand as he listened for anything there was to hear. He paused. A stranger walked out of the kitchen, and he pointed his wand at them.

The stranger held their hands up with a bewildered look on their face until [Y/N] came out of the kitchen all sweaty with a frilly apron. “Harry!” she cried in bewilderment at the sight of him pointing his wand at their new neighbor. “Alright, uh, Karolina, this is my husband, Harry; Harry — stop pointing your . . . stick at her — this is our neighbor who lives across from us, Karolina.”

“Er — hello, Karolina. Sorry about the wa—” [Y/N] shot him a dirty look. “—ander. Wander. Sorry about the bad . . . wandering. You know what? I just woke up on the wrong side of bed and I got paranoid with the . . . new house and all.”

“He tends to get jumpy,” said [Y/N] in hopes of wrapping this up immediately. “Anyway, five minutes left till it’s done. Thank you so, so much for the help, Karol! One last thing, for the whipped cream, do I. . .”

He then noticed that some of the furniture were already arranged such as the sofa and the dining table. Some cabinets were decorated with non-magical framed pictures of them. Harry begged to disagree, though. Each picture there was more than just ma— Is that a baby? Sleeping in a car seat on their couch?

Harry blinked. It stirred, eyes fluttering open. Harry was now holding his breath in anticipation. It was watching him curiously. When he did not move, the little thing started to giggle. Smiling sheepishly back, he made a show of raking his hand through his hair and walking into the kitchen.

It was still messy, but the fridge was on now, and some condiments were put where they belonged.

Karolina was washing a bowl on the sink when the baby outside started crying. She washed her hands quick and ran out, excusing herself while smiling apologetically at the two of them.

[Y/N] opened the oven, pulling out something that smelled of a scent that made Harry’s mouth water.

“Is that Treacle Tart?” he blurted out.

[Y/N] almost dropped the pan of delight she held in her mittened hands. She cleared her throat in an attempt to maintain her composure as she set it down on the counter and pulled off her mittens. Still panting, she looked at him and said, “Harry, darling, I love you and all but please step out of the kitchen.”

“Sorry,” he muttered as he pressed a kiss against her head.

“Don’t do that, my hair stinks. I haven’t showered yet,” said [Y/N].

“What do you mean? It smells just fine.”

“Yeah? Well, it’s greasy. Is it greasy?”

“Yeah, you kinda look like Snape from where I’m standing. Ow! Sorry, bad joke. Okay, keep doing what you’re doing while I. . .” he trailed off as he grabbed her wrist gingerly and pulled off the scrunchie off it and started braiding her hair whilst she shook the whipped cream. “Could you just stop moving and let me braid your hair?”

“Oh, shut up! This tart’s for you, anyway.”

“So it is a Treacle Tart?”

“Uh, Doy,” she said mockingly. “It’s for your birthday, genius.”

“But it isn’t till next month,” said Harry.

“Eh, well, thought we could spend some time together in our new house without a crowd for a while. Why’re you even braiding my hair?”

“That baby got me thinking about it,” said Harry, as the child’s sobs started to cease. “You know, like . . . do you think we’re ready?”

“Well, what will be, will be.” She squeezed whipped cream on each side, scanning the final product with narrowed eyes. Harry tied the poorly-done braid with the scrunchie, letting her hair fall down to her back. [Y/N] turned to him. “Honestly, I’m kind of scared about the whole thing, you know? Like, aside from the . . . bloody pushing, it’ll be a huge responsibility. And I want to know if you’re up for it.”

“Okay,” he found himself saying so casually.

“Okay?” [Y/N] repeated to him, with an expression the combination of excitement and disbelief. “Okay as in, ‘okay let’s start trying?’”

“Okay, yes! Let’s start trying now!”

“Okay, but not right now, though,” said [Y/N] under her breath.

“Why not?” he said. Merlin, I have to stop.

“For one, Karolina’s right there at the doorway with Sydney.”

Harry shifted his gaze from [Y/N] to Karolina, who was now trying hard to stifle her laugh with a sleeping Sydney in her arms. “Okay, I’m gonna pretend I didn’t just hear that,” she said with a suggestive smile. “I’ll get going now, [Y/N], Harry.”

“Oh, you won’t try the Treacle Tart out?” called out [Y/N].

“Nah, we’ve eaten a lot of that already. We’re having cheesecake for tonight. Anyway, see you two.” With a friendly wave, she went off her way, leaving the two of them alone in their house.

Harry expected her to berate him, but she was already facing him with a slice of a tart resting neatly on a plate with a lousy candle set in the middle of it. “Make a wish,” she told him.

“Uh. . . I’m bad at wishes, you know that.”

“Then wish to be better at making wishes then make a better wish next month,” she said.

“Okay, I wish to be better at making wishes,” said Harry before blowing the candle out. [Y/N] pulled off the candle and lead him to the living room, where she put down the pan and separated the entire thing to put it on an adorable floral plate she loved.

“Happy super advanced birthday, Just Harry,” said [Y/N], kissing his head this time. “Have some Treacle Tart. I tried, okay?” Laughing, she put a fork on his plate and went to slice one for herself.

“Thank you, soft love,” said Harry as he helped himself to his slice. “Merlin, this is per—”

[Y/N] bursted into laughter, a couple crumbs spitting on the table. She had to get a tissue and wipe the table as she bellowed. “What’d you say?”

“Soft . . . love. Does that mean something bad?”

“No, no, no. It’s just funny to hear it from you. Say it again,” she said, resting her elbow on the top rail of a chair, eager to hear him.

“Soft love?” said Harry hesitantly.

“Oh my— Who told you to say that? Where’d you learn that?” choked [Y/N], wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. “Okay, sorry.”

“Er — you see, before we left to go here, Ron told me to experiment with . . . pet names.”

“So you delivered?”

“Do you not like it?” said Harry, his fork frozen in mid-air.

“Oh, I do. I so do,” she replied, chuckling. “I’ve had enough of tough love, I could use some soft love. But d’you know what it means?”

When Harry shook his head, she took one step forward to run her hand through his hair, grinning. “Means you accept all flaws instead of trying to build up a wall just to better and correct those flaws.”

“Then what’s so funny?” he asked with genuine curiosity rather than annoyance.

“Oh, Harry. Nothing! I just find you trying new stuff very, very amusing. Moving in here was a good choice, you know. Now I get to find out new things about you,” said [Y/N].

Harry smiled back, his cheeks a tad warmer than usual. “So which do you prefer? Tough love or soft love?”

“Eh, a relationship can’t work with just one of the two. Both works. Now eat your slice before we get working on this house,” said [Y/N] as she snapped her fingers, picking up her own plate and savoring her own work. “Chop chop.”

“You mean home?”

“Yep, I mean home,” answered [Y/N] without any hesitation. Oh, and, just one small update: they didn’t remove the plastic wrap of the mattress until next week.

Taglist: @gingerale2017 @maybanksslut @hey-there-angels @mrzweasley @gwlvr @booksarealwaysbettersworlds-blog @greenlyblue @henqtic @meiitanoia @badass-yn @catching-the-train-to-hogwarts

[randomshyperson]

The Scarlet Witch Prophecy - The First Year

Series Masterlist ||  Read on AO3

Summary: As the youngest daughter of Howard Stark, you have ordinary expectations for your years at Hogwarts. Little do you know what adventures await you when your destiny is intertwined with the legendary Scarlet Witch.

Warnings: +16. Adaptation of the Harry Potter Saga, Magical Thematic, Prophecies, Mentions of Violence, Torture and dark magic, Language (swearing and minor/major offenses), manipulation of will, Underage kissing, insinuation of smut with minors, Smut (overage), descriptions of death, aggression, obscurity, angst, fluffy, soulmates analogies.

Chapters will have additional warning when necessary.

Tag list ( let me know if you want to be tagged or removed idk haha) @mionemymind / @abimess / @stephanieromanoff / @yourtaletotell / @tomy5girls / @justagaypanicking / @thegayw1tch / @idek-5 // @myperfectlovepoem // @helloalycia // @ENSORCELLME // @AIMEZVOUSBRAHMS @imapotatao / @aimezvousbrahms/ @ensorcellme/ @helloalycia

//////////////////////////////////

Part I - The First Year

Hogwarts will be fun was the first thought you had when you opened the letter in your hands.

Tony, your older brother, ruffled your hair slightly as he came down into the kitchen and watched you open the mail.

"Your letter finally arrived, huh, little witch?" He joked with a smile as he sat down at the table. 

"I can't wait to go!" You commented excitedly rereading the acceptance letter for the third time.

"Miss, after coffee, can we go to diagonal alley if you like?" Jarvis, your butler, asked you politely as he poured Tony's coffee making you hesitate slightly. Tony, who had his eye on you, forced a smile as he patted you on the arm.

"I'll go with you, don't worry." He assured and you nodded.

"I wish dad would come." You grumble as you sit down and Tony sighs.

" Yeah, me too." He says. "But you know he's busy, and we can't leave it to the last minute."

You mumble in agreement as you serve some sweetbreads on your plate.

Eating in silence for a few moments, you are startled slightly when Tony lets out an exclamation.

"Damn, I forgot to write back to Steve." He announces getting up and walking over to the next shelf where there were some stationery and pen.

"Your boyfriend will be upset." You tease lightly, and Tony mumbles softly without responding.

When he finishes writing the letter, he goes to the kitchen window and opens the metal, whistling loudly in a familiar rhythm. A few seconds later, Iron, his barn owl lands in front of him. Tony stroked the animal gently before dangling the letter in his paws.

" Please take this to Steve, Iron." He ordered and the animal made a noise before flying away again.

"Jarvis, I'll get ready to go." You tell the man as soon as you finish eating and head off toward the stairs.

//-//

Diagonal Alley is a noisy place.

Tony asked you to walk beside him, but you stopped walking at the first Quidditch shop you spotted, and he had to turn back halfway when he noticed you were no longer beside him.

"Don't do that." He warned, mildly annoyed, but you glazed over at the exposed broom in front of you, and he let out a chuckle when he noticed. "Come on, Y/N, you already have a broom."

"But that's no ordinary broom." You retorted with an impressed look. "It's a Nimbus 2000, it's the fastest broom there is."

"You have the 99, I don't understand the difference." He retorted with his hands in his pockets and you shrugged.

"Tony, can we buy it?" You asked pleadingly, making your brother laugh slightly.

"Let's buy your stuff first please" He retorted with a smile and you grumbled but accepted the arm he offered for you to hang on. Jarvis walked behind you with a keen eye on your surroundings.

After you had bought the vast majority of your supplies and replenished your stocks of potions items for Tony, Jarvis took you to Blossoms and Blurbs to buy this year's books.

"Good morning! Hogwarts, third and first year books, please." You heard Jarvis tell the clerk who approached you three. Tony nodded his head signaling you to feel free to walk around the bookstore in the meantime, and that is exactly what you did.

You found many interesting books in the place as you walked among the shelves. One in particular caught your attention, as there seemed to be little miniature magical creatures trying to jump out of the cover, and you grabbed it on a table, watching the item carefully.

You smiled when an ink dragon jumped into your hand, moving your head as if you were looking around. Distracted by the book, you let out a low exclamation when someone bumped into you.

"Sorry, kid." You heard a female voice speak in a humorous tone. It is a girl taller than you, short red hair. "I ended up tripping over some of those runner books."

"It's okay." You said with a smile. The girl looked at the one book in your hands for a moment.

"Do you enjoy creature tracts?" She asks casually as she reaches for a book on the bookshelf beside her.

"I don't know yet." You say and she looks at you slightly confused, "I never studied."

"Ah, first-year." She understands and you nod in agreement. "Hogwarts too or some other?"

"Hogwarts." 

"Cool, I guess I'll see you there then." She says. "I'm from Slytherin, third year."

You let out a surprised exclamation.

"Maybe you know my brother." You say and the girl takes her gaze from the books in her hand she was checking to look at you with her eyebrow raised in curiosity. "His name is Tony Stark, he's also from your house."

The girl lets out a short laugh.

"I can't believe you are Stark's sister." She says. "We're not exactly friends, but I've seen him around the dorm several times. And your brother is a pain in the ass, by the way."

You laugh lightly, agreeing.

"I am Natasha Romanoff." She introduces herself next, balancing her books in one hand to greet you. You introduce yourself with a gentle smile. "Good luck with your books." She says before turning away.

You think it's cool that you already know someone besides your brother before you start at Hogwarts.

//-//

Buying your wand is a rather strange experience.

Mr. Ollivander has a glint in his eye as if he knows everyone's secrets, and seems to disappear and reappear in his store very easily.

Tony sat on one of the stools while he waited for you, and Jarvis went to buy something for you two to eat.

After trying almost five wands, and exploding a glass vase when he tried the last one, Mr. Ollivander sighed.

"Sorry, I don't know why it's not working." You asked feeling nervous, but he smiled.

"Don't worry, dear." He said. "Difficult customers are so much fun." 

He walked back in between the shelves after that, and then reappeared with three new packages.

"I remember when Howard Stark bought his wand." He told smiling nostalgically as you opened one of the packages, a black wand in front of you. "Phoenix, Cedar, slightly flexible."

"Dad has changed wands thousands of times." Added Tony wryly, but Mr. Ollivander didn't seem to mind.

The wand you tested let out a faint spark when you tried to cast a simple conjuration spell, and the man in front of you was quick to take it from your hand the next second.

"I think I have a better idea." He announced turning around, and then climbed the ladder supported by the wall, picking up a package at the top.

"Try this one dear." He asked handing you a dark wand, the wood was shiny, a color you didn't know exactly what it was, but it was beautiful. 

When you grabbed the item, you felt a tingling sensation spread throughout your hand, and the wand vibrated slightly for a few seconds, causing Ollivander to let out a noise of excitement.

"You see, I knew I would find an owner for you dear." He spoke and you realized that he was speaking with the item in your hands. Soon he turned his gaze back to you. "Take good care of this one, will you, it was quite difficult to get dark elf blood for the core."

"R-right." You said with a slight frown, not quite sure what to make of that information.

Tony laughed lightly at the interaction, he should be used to Mr. Ollivander's eccentric manner by now, since he kept breaking his wands just like your father and often returned to the store to get a new one.

After paying, you and Tony met Jarvis outside, he was carrying some sweet rolls.

//-//

July ended too quickly for your happiness. You were very eager to go to school.

You spent most of August at home, playing quidditch with Tony in the backyard, curiously reading the magic books you bought, and trying to peek into the basement where your father worked, but he always caught you looking and smiled, asking you to go back to your room.

You would like your father to take you to the station, but he said he had a magic conference in September, and would be traveling for the next few weeks. Tony was upset, but he put his arm around your shoulders and asked you to hurry to get your bags.

When you finally got to the station, you were slightly nervous about going through a wall, but Tony laughed, and showed you how to go first.

You hugged Jarvis good-bye before following your brother along the way.

Tony dragged you across the train cars to the first empty cabin he could find. He commented that it would be nice if you made your own friends, but that he would like you to sit with him.

So here you were, sitting with Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, Tony's best friends since the first year. The boys smiled encouragingly at you. You already knew them, because Tony kept inviting them to spend holidays with him all the time.

"Hey, Y/N, how was your vacation?" Steve asked as soon as you sat down next to him. You shrugged, saying that it was nice, but that you were looking forward to attending Hogwarts.

Soon the boys started talking about what they were excited about next year, and you did your best to keep up, not knowing exactly who the people they mentioned were, or knowing the classes they talked about.

Many minutes after the train was moving, a girl opened the cabin door.

"Hey, strangers." She greeted with a smile. 

"Hi Peggy." Steve said with a smile, you frowned at the slight scowl on your brother's face.

"They're calling for us in the prefects compartment, Steve." She warned and Steve nodded, getting up. He and the girl then left, and Tony crossed his arms.

"What's wrong?" You asked noticing his posture and the way Bucky had a little smile on his face.

"It's nothing." Grumbled your brother, and as he turned his face to the window, Bucky who was standing in front of you, whispered to you.

"Tony thinks Peggy likes Steve." He recounted. "So he doesn't like Peggy very much."

"Oh." You said, pretending to understand the whole plot. It didn't make much sense to you because everyone couldn't be friends, but you figured that when you were your brother's age you would understand better.

//-//

The Hogwarts Express only stopped at night.

Properly uniformed, you smiled when your brother patted you on the shoulder, telling you that he would meet you at the castle, since the first-year students had to go by boat.

Your hands were sweating a little as you walked up to the extraordinarily tall man who introduced himself as Drax.

"First-year students, please, six in each boat." He shouted to the crowd, and the students moved closer together.

You sat in one of the first little boats, five other children you didn't know surrounding you.

"I'm so excited." A blonde girl commented cheerfully, waving her hands. She smiled at everyone as she introduced herself as "Harley Quinn". 

"I bet you''ll blow something up once we get there, Harley" Added a redheaded girl sitting next to you, you could tell by her tone that they were probably friends. The blonde, Harley, laughed.

"Shut up, Ivy." She said, and then Drax was back, climbing into one of the boats beside her. He checked the boats one last time, then waved his hand, and the transports began to move.

Everyone, including you, let out a chorus of excitement.

When you noticed the castle, you smiled. It was huge, and just as amazing as Tony used to tell you. 

"Wow, it must be amazing to fly over all that." You quietly observed, and the girl next to you turned her head in your direction, smiling.

"Do you like flying?" She asked, and you nodded. She looked at you for a moment and then held out her hand to greet you. "I am Diana. Diana Prince."

"Hi, Diana." You said introducing yourself next. "Do you also like to fly?"

"I love it." She says. "I hope i can make it onto the team."

"I don't know if the first-years have any chance, but I'll be rooting for you." You assure, and Diana smiles.

When the boats stop in the harbor, the students are all excited to get out and see the castle, but Drax's almost intimidating posture makes everyone properly behaved.

He leads the crowd to the staircase, and then there is a lobby. There is a woman waiting for everyone, her strict posture makes you think she is someone you wouldn't want to upset.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." She announces. "I am Professor Okoye, head of Gryffindor house."

The students exchange burbles next, but the teacher's gaze shuts them up almost immediately.

"As long as you are here, your houses will be like your families." She continues. "Your triumphs will earn you points, and if you break any rules, those points will be taken away." 

She says, casting a disapproving glance at one of the students in the corner, who giggled. "In a few moments we will begin the sorting hat ceremony."

The teacher then turns around, heading toward a large bronze door, and talking to someone on the other side. You hear someone laughing near you, and you turn your head to the side in curiosity.

It was a blond boy, and he seemed to be enjoying himself as he balanced one of the gold cups he picked up from the surrounding shelves. You thought he would be in trouble if he knocked it over, and this seemed to be exactly the same opinion as the girl next to him, who was looking at him disapprovingly.

"Stop being an idiot, Peter, put that back." She complained and he laughed, shrugging.

"Gamora, you're a spoilsport you know." He retorted and when he put the cup back, it spun and fell to the floor, breaking into several pieces. The boy turned pale as Teacher Okoye turned her head in his direction.

You rolled your eyes, walking over to them.

"Reparo" You said drawing your wand as you pointed at the broken object. Some children let out impressed exclamations when they saw the bowl form again, but you just put your wand away in shame. It was no big deal. Okoye caught up with the three of you next, looking reproachfully at the boy.

"I expect better behavior during the ceremony, sir..."

"Quill"

"Mister Quill." She completed and took one last look at the boy that had with his head down before turning back to the front of the crowd again, waving for the students to follow her.

"Hey, that was pretty cool." Peter commented beside you as you walked. You shrugged, focusing on the path.

//-//

The sorting hat was something exceptional.

Tony never told you how the choice was made, and you knew it was only to annoy you. He had sometimes joked that the students faced each other in a duel, and even though you told him to shut up, you had a look at his spell book before you came.

The actual ceremony was much simpler, however.

When it was your turn to climb onto the small stool, you bit your lips, hoping that everything would go smoothly. Just as the old cloth of the hat fell over your eyes, blocking your view of the rest of the hall, you heard a voice in your head.

" Hello, dear, no need to be so nervous." Announced the hat gently. "You are a curious little thing, I see."

"Is that a good thing?" You thought, and the hat chuckled lightly.

"It might be." He said mysteriously. "Interesting what I see here. Very interesting."

"What are you seeing?"

"Your memories, dear."

"Oh." You thought, feeling slightly embarrassed. That seemed like an intrusion of your privacy. The hat laughed again, and you remembered that he was on your head.

"You're hard to sort out." He says, and you squeeze the stool. "Don't worry, I'm not going to send you home, that's not how it works."

"Oh, right."

Hat was silent a few moments. 

"I see courage in your heart." He says and you try to remember the characteristics of the houses. "But that courage is well forged with your loyalty."

You swallow dryly, feeling your anxiety rising. This was definitely taking much longer than the people who went before you.

"You are as smart as your father and brother, both members of the Slytherin house." He says.  "There's a willingness not to let them down."

"That's personal." You grumble feeling your cheeks flush, but the hat doesn't care to apologize for bringing up your insecurities.

"Ah, this is interesting here. A pure kindness, yet pruned in your origins of shallow paternal affection”.

You frown, not understanding what he is saying.

"You are quite adaptable child, it has always been one of your best virtues." The hat remarks, and you get the impression that the next part is only said for you. "Tell me, where would you like to stay?"

"Isn't that your job?" You retort in thought, and hear him laugh again. You rush to correct yourself, not wanting to be rude. "Sorry, hat. I don't really know. I'd like to stay where I fit in best."

"You would do well anywhere." He retorts, and you frown. "And that's pretty impressive, you know. I haven't met another hatstall since the last century."

You swallow dryly, not knowing if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"I'll work hard, sir." You tell him. "I don't want people to think I'm a special witch just because of my family. That's something I'm sure, I don't know if it helps you choose."

Hat lets out a sigh of relief.

"Actually, that's exactly what I needed."

It takes a moment for him to speak again, and when he does, you feel your whole body shake.

"Hufflepuff"

//-//

Steve Rogers is the head boy of Hufflepuff and he celebrates excitedly when you sit down at the table next to him.

"That's so cool" He comments. "I'll be able to tease Tony all year about it."

After that, director Agatha Harkness, made the announcement of the beginning of the year. If her goal was to scare the students, she succeeded when she talked about the deadly dangers surrounding the forbidden forest and the punishments for the disobedient. Professor Strange interrupted her speech as he cleared his throat, awkwardly waving for Agatha to stop saying such things, and the woman giggled. 

Dinner is delicious, and then you are following the crowd of students into the communal rooms. 

"Butterbeer" Steve said to the portrait on the wall, and you blinked in surprise when the painting moved to the side, a door behind.

You sighed when you realized how cozy the Hufflepuff's common room was.

"Everyone please come in." Asked Steve in the center of the room, waving to the students who stayed behind. When everyone was around him, he smiled. "The dorms are divided by gender, but you can sleep wherever you feel most comfortable. I will only suggest that none of you try to sleep with the seventh graders, because they are scary." Steve joked making the crowd laugh lightly. "We have a supply of food in those lockers, just in case you feel like having a snack in the early morning, outside of the permitted hours for walking around the castle." He continues and stands thoughtfully for a few moments. "Most of the things you need to know are on the bulletin board on that wall, and you can also ask me anything you want. Your belongings have already been taken to the free beds, but if you want any help, you can organize among yourselves or just come talk to me."

Steve smiled as the crowd moved. You headed in the direction where he said the rooms were.

//-//

You let out a surprised exclamation as something landed on your head.

"Damn, sorry!" Asked an asian girl approaching you, and pulling the small being out of your hair as you entered the room. "Groot, I told you to behave yourself."

"I am groot." Grumbled the little creature. You looked at it wide-eyed, impressed.

"Wow, is that a tree?"

The girl laughed, putting the small creature sitting on her shoulder, sitting on the bed next to the one you identified as having your things.

"Yes and no." She said. "I found Groot in my garden over the vacations, and well, I don't know what he is exactly. But I think he was trying to make my mother's plants grow."

"He's really cute." You commented approaching with your finger extended. Groot smiled, accepting your touch.

"I am Mantis." Says the girl next and you smile at her as you introduce yourself. "We're going to be roommates."

"Yes, and so is Groot." You add as you take off your cape to throw on the bed that would be yours.

After eating so well at dinner, it doesn't take long for you to fall asleep. 

You dream of glowing green eyes and a red light, but you don't recognize them or understand what it means, and when you wake up, you no longer remember.

//-//

Two weeks since you started at Hogwarts, you are used to how eccentric everything can be.

The classes weren't as difficult as you imagined, but that's probably because you've had contact with magic all your life and always had an easy time learning things. All the teachers were unique in their own way. 

Professor Rocket, for example, taught Transfiguration and spent almost the entire period transfigured into a raccoon, even outside of class hours. He was temperamental and got irritated very easily when students talked too much in his class, so it was not recommended to do so.

There was also Professor Fury, who had an eye patch as a mandatory piece in his daily costume, and all the students spent more time trying to guess how this happened, than listening to his explanations of defense spells against the dark art.

Your astronomy class on Wednesdays was taught by Professor Odin, who like to claim that he was a descendant of the Olympian gods, but no one believed him. He was also the father of two of your classmates, Thor and Loki Odinson, who were the exact opposite of each other. While Thor was warm and friendly, Loki was cold and reclusive, plus the former was from Gryffindor and the other from Slytherin. Surprisingly, you liked them both. 

You ended up meeting the head of your house only on the second day.  

Professor Heimdall taught Divination, so you wouldn't have any classes with him until the third year.You bumped into him when you were late for fifth period and had to run to the common room for your Potions books, and almost fell on the floor when you turned the corner without looking and the professor was there.  He prevented you from falling with a wave of his wand, smiling gently. 

" Forgive me." You said clumsily, feeling slightly intimidated by the yellow irises as the magic set you on your feet properly, as well as catching your books in the air and placing them in your hands again. 

"Be careful with the castle corridors, Miss Stark." Said the man, and for some reason, you thought he wasn't just talking about this little incident.

"Professor Heimdall, let's talk in a private place, please."  Asked Professor Okoye, who was standing at his side, she looked at you with a certain disapproval, and you couldn't tell whether it was because of your intrusion, or the fact that your tie was hanging loosely around your neck, in addition to the open buttons on your shirt.

After this little incident, you asked Steve who Professor Heimdall was, and he explained that he was the head of Hufflepuff, and might seem intimidating at first glance, but that he was very kind.

But so far, the professor who has intrigued you the most was Professor Erik Lehnsherr, who taught Potions. He didn't say anything that wasn't related to the subject, didn't make any comments about behavior or events at school. And he had such a stern and mysterious look in his eyes that no student had the courage to ask him anything. You heard Peter Quill make a bet with Thor Odinson that Professor Erik was unable to smile because of some particular sorcery, but you thought it best not to laugh, especially since Mr. Lehnsherr was looking at your direction.

When you had your first Potions period with Slytherin, after herbology professor T'Challa needed to reschedule classes for an appointment, you were surprised to discover that professor Lehnsherr had children.

Gamora ended up on the same bench as you, and she was talking to her sister, Nebula, about an incident that occurred in their dormitory.

"Clearly, the professors' children have an easy time getting away with punishment." Nebula bitterly remarked, and you frowned in confusion. 

"I don't think it was the girl's fault." Gamora retorted as she put the ingredients into her cauldron. She looked at you quickly, realizing that you were listening to the conversation, but she didn't scold you, she just kept stirring the mixture.

"What happened?" you asked next, and Nebula looked at you with mild irritation. She seemed about to tell you to mind your own business, but Gamora smiled, moving closer to whisper to you.

"A girl lost her temper in the Slytherin dorm bathrooms last night." She told. "She's a second year, her name is Wanda Maximoff. She and her brother are Professor Lehnsherr's kids, and everyone is saying that she didn't go to detention because of it."

Your jaw dropped, impressed. 

"I can't believe Magneto has children." You said making Gamora and Nebula laugh at the nickname. Last week you found out that the school had been calling Erik that since he stopped the hall chandelier from falling on the teachers' desk two years ago when he used non-verbal magic to attract the metal, and everyone started calling him that behind his back. Tony told you and you liked the story.

"I know right, he seems so self-contained." Gamora remarked looking back briefly. Professor Erik was focused on his own potions book.

"That noisy kid from Gryffindor said he's married." Nebula added next and Gamora laughed lightly.

"Peter Quill?"

"Yes."

"Wow, that's surprising." Says the girl. You both return to stirring your cauldrons in silence after that little conversation.

When you have finished your mixing, Professor Erik gives Hufflepuff five points for your good work, and you smile with red cheeks.

"You're nice." Nebula suddenly said beside you as you were leaving the room. Gamora stood next to her. "Do you want to walk around with us?"

"We're already walking." You joked and Gamora laughed unlike her sister who grimaced.

"Yep, definitely cool." She added. "Do you want to have lunch with us?"

"At your table or mine?"

Gamora and Nebula exchanged glances.

"I'm not sitting with Hufflepuff." Nebula declared and you sighed, rolling your eyes.

"You know I'm from Hufflepuff, right?"

"I'm reconsidering the invitation." She retorted and you frowned, but Gamora smiled at you.

"Will you sit with us, please?"

You sighed, nodding in agreement. You could talk to Tony after all.

//-//

Lunch at the Slytherin table became an everyday thing after that day. It took two weeks for Mantis to start joining you, and then you realized that you had a small group of friends now.

At Christmas, neither you nor Tony came home, because your father was working and you didn't want to be alone in the Stark mansion. You ended up turning down Tony's invitation to spend Christmas with Steve Rogers and his family, because you weren't really friends with Steve. Tony insisted, not wanting you to be alone, but you assured him that you would be fine in the company of your friends, and that he needn't worry.

On Christmas morning, Groot woke you up by jumping on your face. You laughed lightly because he was so small that he was like a tickle, and stood up as you returned the little creature to Mantis' bedside table.

A few hours later, as you were opening your presents at the Slytherin table along with Gamora, Nebula, Mantis, and Peter Quill, who had also stayed at Hogwarts for the end of the year, you let out an excited exclamation.

"I can' believe it." You spoke, opening the package in front of you. It was a large box, it was bewitched and only revealed the actual wrapping once you tore the paper off. It was actually a broom.

"Wow, that's cool." Peter remarked as he looked at your present. 

That's how you ended up in the middle of the snow, testing your new broom while your friends cheered and celebrated below you.

"Are you sure you can fly?" You asked Peter as soon as he asked you if he could ride. He shrugged, smiling.

You and the girls watched as he controlled the broom for a few feet above the ground, and then he overspeeded it and sped away.

You all ran into his direction, while the broom seemed almost annoyed at his lack of control, and knocked him into a tree. Peter fell between the branches, onto someone who was resting under it.

When you all reached him, you frowned when there was a boy pushing Quill.

"Watch it, dude!" Warned the boy, but before you could say anything, Gamora was already stepping forward, wand in hand.

"It was just an accident." She said and the boy looked at her surprised with her wand outstretched. He crossed his arms however, not looking scared.

"Oh, you're going to spell me now, are you?" He teased.

"Piss off, Maximoff." Warned Nebula next, taking a step beside her sister. So this was Pietro Maximoff. You figured that confidence should come from being the son of one of the professors.

"I suggest you leave my brother alone." Warned a voice behind you. You turned next, only to catch sight of a girl with brown hair, green eyes that glittered with anger. 

Gamora clenched her jaw, and Nebula drew her own wand toward the girl, who also had her wand in her hands.

You sighed, raising your hands as you stood in the line of fire.

"Would everyone please calm down?" You asked. "It was just a misunderstanding, and the broom is mine anyway, no need to fight about it."

It takes a moment, but Gamora puts down her wand, and everyone follows her after that. She has an insinuating smile on her face.

"You really are a Hufflepuff, aren't you Stark?" She teases, and you laugh sheepishly, putting your hands in your pockets.  "Come on Quill." 

Gamora warns and the boy shoots Pietro an ugly look as he leaves. You accept your broom that he hands to you, and turn around, your gaze meeting that of the girl who is supposed to be Wanda Maximoff for a moment. You feel your face heat up at the intensity of the angry look, and you look away, following your friends.

//-//

The months went by quickly as the rest of the school year passed. You managed to do very well on the exams, and didn't get involved in any near-fights again.

When the year ended and the Hufflepuff didn't win the House Cup, you thought you should have been more upset, but you didn't mind having Gamora and Nebula celebrating beside you, laughing and hugging you excitedly.

You also didn't understand why you felt your stomach turn when you caught Wanda Maximoff smiling amidst the Slytherin celebration when you looked around.

[emmanelson]

It Started Out With a Kiss

i’d say I’m sorry for this filth but who are we kidding? more trash under the cut including speechless ben, possessive paxton and some very steamy, very public smut. also found on ao3 here.

request.

“I’m sure there’s a bed in the other room.”

Paxton’s allowed to be petty and a bit possessive as he latches onto his girlfriend’s waist and drags her behind the wall that separates them from the rest of the party and leads into the hallway. He catches Ben Gross’ eye over the duration of the evening one too many times now. The last fuck he gave flew out the window and now he dares the underclassman to pretend to stumble in their direction.

So when he hears Devi’s comment, in rather uneven breaths mind you, a laugh is bubbling against his throat. She would retract her statement the second he tells her they are at Trent’s house, and his friend probably masturbated in every single room of the house. It’s going to make his plan seem genius. His fingers skim the outline of her dress and he edges his tongue into her mouth, knowing exactly what buttons to press in order to get her in the mood. Which was more often than not because she thought about sex probably more than any girl he knew.

“No, I want you. Right here. Right now.” The firmness in his answer only weakens her resolve and soon heat is radiating off her body. Screw the party.

“Why here? We could just wait till we get back to your house?” His lips nibble on her ear and she’s struggling to find a reason to turn him down, his erection rubbing against her core.

“Guess you’re just that irresistible. It’s really your fault if you think about. If you didn’t show up looking so hot, I could concentrate on beer pong or whatever Trent and Marcus are currently trying to blow up in the backyard.”

It’s been months and she still can’t get used to the compliments coming from him. His breath is hot on her neck and just as his tongue brushes against her parted lips, she pulls back, gently lifting his head up to meet hers as she attempts to catch her breath.

“What brought this on?” She’s never seen Paxton this agitated by something, or someone before. Or this handsy.

At previous parties, he flirted sure, but in the past few gatherings they attended, they were practically attached at the hip. If Paxton didn’t have an arm slung over her shoulder or kept their fingers intertwined as Trent praised Eleanor’s latest performance, he was whispering in her ear or placing a hand on her hip. Even Zoe Maytag gave her props in the bathroom and admitted they only ever got to hand stuff and he wasn’t into PDA when he was ‘hanging out’ with her. Devi decided to save this information as future ammo if she needed it.

“I’m sorry but if I have to see Ben fucking Gross look at you with sad puppy dog eyes while blatantly ignoring his own girlfriend one more time, I might just snap. I might just fucking loose it and deck him.” The words are bitter, sharp coming off his tongue and it sends shivers down Devi’s spine. His gaze hardened, eyes getting darker, and her stomach flips, because for a moment he looks like he’s considering murder. And she would help him hide a body without hesitation. He drags his lips to bite down on her neck and she involuntarily throws her head back as her tries to suppress her moans.

“So what’s this going to prove?”

“Well what we obviously already know...That you can’t help jumping me even in public.” He chuckles into her hair as she rolls her eyes. And she thought she was competitive. Paxton and Ben took it to a whole other level. “But seriously, don’t tell me you didn’t notice the guy flaunting his relationship in front of you. It’s like he got some sick joy out of rubbing your nose in his happiness. This is a taste of his own medicine.”

“Who even says he’s going to notice or care?”

“I do. If he attempts to seek out where you went, which he obviously will, what he chooses to do after will either prove me right or you right. That he does care or doesn’t.”

Devi raised an eyebrow, throwing him an are-you-kidding-me glance before Paxton’s lips descended down on hers again. If he wasn’t kissing her lips, he was trailing his tongue down her neck, her shoulders, even her chest bone.

"Excuse me for caring. This whole longing, woe-is-me act was fine or whatever when you were both single. But he’s fucking with my girlfriend, my relationship and I’m not going to pretend to be okay with it.” Once again, his mouth was rough against her ear as leaned against her body and ground his hips against hers. While she wanted to be mad, she also found his protective nature incredibly hot and wasn’t about to say anything to end it anytime soon.

“He’s with Aneesa. I doubt he even thinks about me in that way anymore.” Devi’s voice attempts to reassure him as her fingers comb through his hair.

“I can’t say that I blame him.” His lips start trailing kisses from neck ear all the way to her cleavage, knuckles lightly kneading her breasts through the fabric of the dress. “I mean not only are you insanely hot but you’re also like the smartest person in the whole school. I just wish he wasn’t so obvious about it.”

“Is this you being jealous?” She has a smirk playing on her lips, eyes lit up in a teasing nature.

“I-”

“I just never thought I’d see the day where Paxton Hall-Yoshida got jealous. You’re usually so calm and level-headed.” Her voice falters as he starts stroking her breast, the nipple hardening under his touch.

“What can I say? When I opened my mind to studying, I learned stuff inside and outside of the classroom. For starters, noticing things more often. Noticing Ben for one, the rude comments one minute and longing stares the next.”

“Can we stop talking about him now?” Paxton had dropped to his knees in record time, lifting up her dress and practically diving underneath it, his laugh vibrating against her core.

“You aren’t wearing any underwear.”

“It’s laundry day, didn’t I mention that earlier?”

“Must have slipped my mind. Remind me to thank your mom later.” His joke only registered for a minute before he was seeking out her clit, swirling his tongue around it, repeatedly pushing against her until her legs are convulsing and she’s coming undone around his lips.

Ben’s silhouette hovers, quietly staring at the scene before him in agape. He only sees Devi granted, but it’s not just seeing his ex at a party outside of school, it’s seeing her flat against the wall, eyes closed, shallow breaths becoming audible every few seconds and seeing the way her body physically shook from whatever Paxton was doing to her. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going on. And Ben wanted to call out to them, sneer that this was a public place, someone’s house and if they couldn’t keep their genitals to themselves then they should just leave, but he was momentarily frozen.

Out of the corner of his eye he sees Devi’s body begin to come down from its high, Paxton rises and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. To Ben’s horror, it doesn’t end there.

Is she giggling? Paxton just shakes his head and captures his lips with hers again.

He turns his head and meets Ben’s eyes. Devi’s lips begin to attack his neck and he moans, all the while locked in a staring contest with the captain of who knows how many fucking clubs.

This time it’s Paxton wearing a rather smug smile, something that he’s seen on Ben one too many times in History class. Well, this was his History class. One area where he would always outsmart Ben and that in itself was enough to fill him with pride. Finally Devi detaches herself from her boyfriend and gently wipes her makeup remnants off his neck.

“I should probably go reapply my lipstick.” She’s still trying to steady her legs and with a wave of nausea coming over him, Ben is reminded of a conversation that took place months ago. ‘Well tomorrow I won’t be able to walk again because I’m about to go get railed.’ And that she did.

“You don’t have to you know. You look sexy like this.”

“You may think so, but my mom? Not so much Romeo.” Devi’s playfully shoving against his chest as she untangles herself from his arms, the fingers still interlocked until the distance makes it impossible and she’s heading further down the hall towards the bathroom.

“Dude are you just gonna stand there?” Paxton fixes Ben with a hard stare, equal parts creeped out and a little high off his assumption because his point was proven. It was a win-win situation. Satisfy his girlfriend and wipe the stupid smirk off Ben Gross’ face.

Finally Ben forces himself to look away and turns the corner in a hurry.

[tootiredmotel]

Give him the real thing

For @floral-cas 's event!!! First time writing from an outsider/oc's pov so bear with me. Huge huge congrats on your milestone K!!! You are a PILAR of this lil community and we all love you 💚🌺💚🌺💚🌺

Read on ao3. 1.7k words

"Alright, uh… confession. I got no idea what I'm doin' here."

He looked around the shop like a monster was about to pop out of any corner. Like the carnations were going to bite him and the pots lined up on the windowsill next to them would come to life and crush his feet. The poor guy looked terrified, but it's nothing Maya hadn't handled before.

"That's what I'm here for. What's your name?" She asked, sensing they'd be there a while.

"Dean."

On any other day, Maya would've been resenting a burly, middle-aged guy with no idea what he wanted coming into the shop twenty minutes before closing, especially on a Thursday. Jade had their A.A. meetings on Thursdays so Maya was alone for the evening. But this Dean guy? He looked so lost, so nervous, so utterly out of place. There was something else about him that made her want to help, too. Maya wasn't sure what, but she'd figure it out.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Maya. Let's start with this: why are you here today, Dean?"

"Anniversary tomorrow."

Concise and to the point. Maya made a mental note. She also noted how he wiped his palms on his jeans and clenched his jaw. Nerves.

"How many years have you been together?"

That got a smile out of him. "A lot. A whole lot. But this is, uh. First wedding anniversary."

She donned a wide smile. "Congratulations. That's wonderful."

"Yeah. Thanks, thank you." He stuffed his hands in his pockets, still not meeting her eyes.

"Doing anything special?"

"Nothin' fancy. My brother and his wife are taking the kiddo for the night so, picnic in the backyard, lookin' at the stars, all that cheesy romantic crap."

His words didn't match his tone. It was evident Dean was absolutely smitten, Maya recognized the look, and he was making an effort. He was filled to the brim with giddiness and adoration for this person, and it shone through from him just thinking about them. Jade still looked at Maya like that every morning and night, and so did Maya at them. Every day since freshman year of college. Maya's chest swelled.

"Thing is," Dean continued, a bit more relaxed now. "Cas knows all about this stuff. We got this huge garden behind the house that I'm not allowed to even touch. There's a million books about nature and trees and flower meanings on the shelf, and Cas has read all of 'em. I didn't even know flowers had meanings, I don't know jack shit about any of it, but…"

"You want to impress Cas."

"I wanna impress Cas. It's gotta be good." 

"You've come to the right place then." Maya kept an eye on Dean as she circled the counter. He was studying the pride flags hanging in the window with a clenched jaw, and Maya went on alert. She pulled out the binder they kept in the drawer and plopped it down in front of him a little harder than she needed to, calling his attention. "My partner Jade is more of a nerd about this stuff than I am, but they made this for situations like these."

Dean read the cover, Jade and Maya's Quick Guide to Flower Meanings, and smiled. "Nice."

They spent forty-five minutes walking around the store, binder in hand, slowly constructing the message Dean wanted to convey with his bouquet. He was adamant on it containing blue, so Maya went for the Forget-me-nots first. “Love and hope,” said the binder, which she deemed fitting enough for a first wedding anniversary. 

Dean looked like someone content with his life, and he agreed when Maya suggested they look under the happiness category. “Well, Cas makes me happy,” he said, and they settled on Felicias, also blue. 

Dean eventually got comfortable enough and leaned over to look at the binder in Maya’s hands. “Think there’s anything in there for grace?”

Highly specific, but possible, Maya thought. “Let’s find out.”

And they did. Plumerias, white.

“Anything else?” She asked him. Dean donned a thousand-yard stare as he thought about it, and Maya figured this man had been through a lot. More than she could ever imagine. She was glad he’d found some peace.

“Freedom,” Dean said finally. Freesias, white as well.

It was an odd bouquet, Maya admitted, but Dean was an odd man, and he looked happy with it. He was still nervous, still out of his element, but there was more excitement in the twinkle of his eyes than anything else.

“Cas will love it,” Maya assured him, and he beamed. She still knew very little about this Cas person— Dean could speak a lot without really saying anything, careful and reserved, even dancing around using gendered pronouns for Cas, which Maya found interesting—, but she could see Dean was living a happy life as their husband. That was good enough for her.

“Here’s hoping,” he said as he handed over his credit card, but he seemed a lot more sure than hopeful. He knew Cas would like it, and Maya couldn’t help a sense of pride grow inside her. Dean also put some cash in the tip jar and left with a smile. A good day’s work, and maybe a new friend in town.

---

“Maya?"

"Yeah, sweetheart?"

Jade poked their head in the door, beaming at Maya as she ran the books in the back room.

"There's a gentleman asking for you."

"By name?"

Jade nodded. Maya sent them a questioning look, to which they just shrugged. If Jade wasn't all that worried about it, Maya supposed there was no reason for her to be either. She made her way out, squeezing Jade's hip as she passed them, and stepped up to the counter. The trenchcoat-clad man smiled at her.

"Maya?"

The depth of his voice caught her by surprise, but she recovered in time to reply "That's me."

The man smiled wider. "It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Cas. You might not remember, but last week you-"

"Did you say Cas?" Maya couldn't contain her interruption, or the eagerness as she asked: "Dean's Cas?"

Cas's smile widened even more, which she didn't think was possible. It was blinding, and Maya, even in all her queerness, could definitely understand what Dean saw in him. "That's right."

Dean’s fixation on blue flowers suddenly made sense too, as she noticed his eyes. "He adores you, you know. You're his heaven and earth."

Cas's smile faltered at her words, and Maya feared she'd said something wrong.

"I'm sorry if I'm overstepping."

“No, no, it’s alright.” He looked down at his wedding band, and his smile returned. “He’s all that and more to me.”

Cas stared at his ring for a second longer. It was silver and had a small blue gem embedded into it. Maya could swear it appeared to swirl with light.

“Dean spoke wonders of you,” she said.

He looked back up at her. “You, too.”

She blinked in surprise at that.

“I loved the bouquet. I thanked him for it, over and over, and every time he said you were the miracle worker. That he was clueless the whole time and couldn’t have done it without you.”

“That’s not true,” Maya deflected, a steady heat rising to her cheeks. “He had a pretty good idea of what he wanted. And, if anything, he and I couldn’t have done it without Jade’s expertise.” She gestured toward her partner, helping a customer at the other end of the shop, and also tapped the binder, which was out on the countertop today.

“Then I suppose I’m here to thank both of you.”

He reached into a tote bag that Maya hadn’t noticed he was carrying and pulled out a plastic container. “We run a small baking business out of our home. These are on me. Apple and honey tarts.” He placed the container in front of her. On top of it was a label that read D&C’s Pastries. “They are also gluten-free, just in case.“

“What’s going on?” Jade asked, approaching Maya’s side with an expectant smile.

“Jade, love, do you remember Dean? From last week?”

“You told me about him, yeah, wedding anniversary.”

“Well this is Cas,” she gestured to him.

“Dean's husband,” Cas interjected. Jade and Maya shared a knowing smile. “I just wanted to drop these off as a thank you for helping Dean. Apple and honey tarts, gluten-free.”

“That is so sweet of you,” Jade exclaimed, eagerly taking the pastries. Maya rolled her eyes fondly at the pun, which Cas didn’t seem to catch.

“I was just doing my job,” Maya said. “But thank you.”

“Papa!”

They all turned to the child, blond and adorable, running excitedly toward Cas. At the door, where the child came from, stood an exasperated Dean.

“Jack,” Cas started, scooping the child in his arms. Jack wrapped his arms around Cas’s neck. “I thought I told you and Daddy to wait for me at the café, I wasn’t going to be long.”

“He missed you. We both did,” Dean gazed at him as he approached. “Dude, what are you-”

Dean scanned over the scene he’d just walked into and seemed to realize what was happening.

“So that’s what the tarts were for. Hey, Maya.”

“Hi, Dean.”

“And you must be Jade,” Dean said, extending a hand toward them.

“Yes! Heard about you, nice to finally meet you, Dean.”

“You too. You and that book of yours are life-savers. If I’d known the tarts were for you guys, I would’a made more.”

“These are more than enough, thank you. In fact, here...” Maya turned to a vase of daisies they had on a shelf and pulled out three. “Now I feel like we’re even.”

“Not by a long shot,” Dean said as he took his flower and Cas’s. He put his behind his ear, and Cas’s in his trenchcoat’s lapel, as Maya handed Jack his own flower.

They all promised to not be strangers, and kept their promise. Dean and Cas would bring over baked goods, and in exchange, Jade and Maya would let them take home a potted plant for their garden. Jack would always leave with a small flower in his hand, a different one every time, wrapped in Cas’s arms as he explained the flower’s origins or symbolism to his son. Dean would be the last one out the door, always turning back and mouthing a “thank you” to Maya. Every time, without fail.

And every time, Maya would think that she wanted what they had. Happiness, peace, a family, unconditional and true love. And every time, she would look over at Jade, and know she was well on her way.

[cjsinkythoughts]

FATWS One Shot #3 - Stars, Stripes, and Bubbles

Word Count: 1912

Warnings: Cursing, Fluff, erm…a Relationship that You Want to Happen but Know Never Will

Setting/Characters: The first part of Captain America: The Winter Soldier in 2014 after Steve’s hostage mission; Reader, Steve Rogers, mentions of Sam Wilson, Natasha Romanoff, and Nick Fury

A/N: This…isn’t what I thought it was gonna turn out to be. But I like it, it’s cute, and I needed something pure with the shield after that ending scene, so I’m posting it.

I have a few more One Shots planned that take place during TWS so I’ll be writing those today and tomorrow. This week is a lot less hectic than last week (I was being trained in another area of my job last week, hence crazy hours), so expect more One Shots coming this week. Again, I’m trying to post them chronologically, but there might be some out of order depending on what you guys request and when, which is totally fine!

For today, I have the Reader meeting Sam (which is kinda what this was supposed to be, but…oh well) and more about the notebook planned. Also Reader meeting Bucky unofficially for the first time because he’s, you know, brainwashed and stuff. Later this week I’m planning on AoU stuff which will include the Party Scene and Wanda interactions.

If I can get through those by Friday when the new episode comes out, I’ll start on CA:CW which will include Reader officially meeting Bucky and possibly the airport scene if you guys are interested in that. Then I’ve got some Wakanda scenes and some Peter interactions. If not, I’ll start CW:CA next Sunday. Once the backstory is set up and completed chronologically, I might go back and just write some drabbles and stuff of random moments - kinda like this one. 

I did get a request earlier for Bucky’s perspective on the dancing scene in Part 4.2, so I’m planning on doing more rewrites of scenes in Bucky’s perspective, but that’ll come after the One Shots, so hopefully next week.

I think that’s all…umm…yeah. Once again, not beta’d so please excuse any mistakes! Thank you so much for reading! I’m so glad you’re all enjoying this almost as much as I am! Be kind to yourselves and others! Enjoy reading and stay tuned!

FATWS Masterlist

cjsinkythoughts Masterlist

The beeping of the timer made you groan and set down the book you were digging into. You were just starting to get to the good part, but the food smelled so good, so you decided it could wait.

You were so focused on your task of getting your breakfast ready that you didn’t hear your front door open or the footsteps that followed it shutting, the thud of boots hitting the floor just around the corner. Setting the ready food on the counter, you jumped at the arms that wrapped around your shoulders and waist.

“Shouldn’t you be more observant for a spy?”

You gave a hum at his deep voice, tilting your head slightly as he placed his cheek on your shoulder, nose pressing up against the column of your throat. “Shouldn’t you be heading over to the Triskelion for your debriefing with Fury?”

He growled at the mention of the mission he was just sent on yesterday morning. The first few assignments he had surprised you with how quick they were over, but then you remembered yours were a bit different than his and you got used to him being back within the next couple days.

“We don’t have secrets right? I’m so fucking tired of secrets.”

Your eyebrow quirked up as you turned to face him, his hands slipping down to your hips. You took in his state; he was still in uniform, dirt on his face, hair unruly, the shield on his back gray with the dust that covered it. He obviously hadn’t even gone to his own place yet, meaning he just got back. “What happened?”

He huffed, letting go of you to rub his face tiredly. “Natasha. She didn’t tell me that Fury sent her to do something other than what we were supposed to be doing.”

“They’re spies, bubs. It’s what they do.”

“You’re a spy. You wouldn’t do that.”

Chuckling a little at his comparison, you shook your head. “Our relationship is a little…different than yours and Nat’s.”

“I wish they’d put you on my missions. I don’t know why they don’t. We work well together, don’t we?”

You snorted. “That’s probably the reason.” At his confused look, you shook your head. “Never mind. Just…we’re closer. I know you better than they do. You can’t compare them to me. It isn’t fair.”

He grumbled, eyes glancing down to your feet. “They still should’ve told me.”

“Hey,” you tilted his head back up to meet your gaze. “It was a hostage mission, right?” He nodded. “Did you save the hostages?” Another nod, which made you shrug. “Then there you go. You did your job and you saved people. It was a success. That’s all that matters.”

“He got away.” Steve argued. “He got away because she didn’t feel the goddamn need to tell me-”

“She was following orders. Don’t be mad at her.”

“You’re right.” His quick admission stunned you for a moment, until he continued speaking. “It’s Fury’s fault. I think I’m gonna go-”

He started moving away, but you tugged him back, shaking your head again. “Not yet, bubba. You can talk to him later. Let’s get you cleaned up first. Then we’ll eat and you can tell me how that run you went on yesterday was. Okay?”

His features softened and he nodded, setting his forehead against yours. “Okay.”

You had half of your dresser sectioned off for Steve’s things. SHIELD had moved him to DC about a year previous to be closer to HQ, especially after the Helicarrier became decommissioned for repairs. You already had an apartment in DC - it was where you stayed for the most part, hence the reason you were more than willing to stay in New York for a couple years. 

The moment he moved in about ten minutes from you, you knew, just like in DC, he’d be spending a lot of time at your place. Which is why you made the executive decision to have him bring a bag over one night and unpack his stuff.

It wasn’t the first shower he took at your place and it most certainly wouldn’t be the last.

While he was cleaning up, you got to work washing his suit and the shield. You teased him by saying you’d just throw his suit in the washer and the shield in the dishwasher, but you wouldn’t actually.

His suit was air drying by the window and you were at the sink scrubbing off the shield, wishing you had a backyard and a hose, when he padded back into the room, hair plastered to his forehead, dripping down his temples, sweats and a t-shirt clinging to his body. He shook his head, leaning on the counter besides you. You always found it amusing how big he looked in your tiny kitchen.

“You know you don’t have to do that, right?”

You scoffed. “If you think I’m gonna let you walk around in that disgusting thing all day, you, my friend, are nuts.”

He chuckled, moving behind you and setting his chin on your shoulder, his larger hands stopping yours from their movements. “At least let me do this, then.” He murmured, taking the scrub brush from you, spreading the bubbles over the rings of the shield.

“You can help me. But I like finishing what I started.” You whispered back, reaching for a clean rag and dunking it into the soapy water, wiping down the star in the middle.

He placed a gentle kiss to your jaw, relenting easily. “Fine.”

You two worked in silence, the water running over the shield, taking the dirt and grime with it, hands occasionally brushing each other. Almost finished, Steve placed his hand over yours, moving it over to a certain spot. “The brush won’t get it.” He explained, his low voice sounding right beside your ear.

Smiling, you turned your head to look at him. There was a crease between his brow as he concentrated on getting rid of the smudge on the precious metal. Your lips turned up when you noticed a dark spot on his jaw he must’ve missed. He looked at you with a grin when you started giggling. “What’s got you giggling so pretty, honey?”

Letting go of the side of the shield you were holding, you reached up to wipe the dirt on his jaw that he missed with your thumb. “Can’t let that handsome face of yours get stained. And, speaking of stains,” you turned back to the shield, holding it up for the both of you to look at, the soft light from the window above the sink making it shine even more. “You think we got it all?”

“Hmmm. I think you missed a spot.”

Your eyebrows furrowed. “What? Where?”

He leaned closer to the shield, face right besides yours, cheeks practically brushing together. “Right…here.” His hand that you didn’t notice cupping water, came up and splashed your face.

You let out a shriek, stepping back, further into his chest, your jaw dropped. “Steven! My pjs!”

He cackled, leaning back and holding his chest, before gasping when you did the same thing back to him. “You’re on!” He grabbed his shield and filled it with water, making you squeak and try getting out of his hold. Stupid Super Soldier strength. He dumped it on you, water falling on your head, sliding down your back and making your pajamas stick to you. You quickly retaliated, grabbing the facet and turning it towards him, laughing at his shout.

The water fight continued for a few more minutes, bowls and cups coming into play, with Steve diving behind the counter and you slipping on the floor.

“Woah, there, honey!” He chuckled, the chortles coming from your lips reassuring him that you weren’t hurt. He leaned over you, reaching his hand out. “You okay?”

You nodded, taking his hand. “Let’s call it a truce, yeah?”

“Truce? Hell no! I won!”

“You did not! You just got lucky!”

He pulled you up, tugging you close. “Alright, alright. Fine. A truce. Let’s get you into some dry clothes, now. Don’t want you gettin’ sick, honey.”

You shook your head. “That’s actually a myth.”

“I’ll take note of that.”

An eyebrow of yours raised. “In that little notebook you never let me read?”

He smiled innocently. “Maybe. I added something else yesterday.” He informed you while tugging you down the hall to your room.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Marvin Gaye’s Trouble Man Soundtrack.”

You hummed with an approving nod. “Yeah. That was a good suggestion. Who gave it to you?’

“This guy I met on my run.” He shrugged, heading over to his dresser as you grabbed a couple towels. “Sam Wilson. He seemed like a good guy.”

“Yeah?”

He nodded, grabbed another set of sweats and a shirt, before turning to you and taking the towel you handed him. “Yeah. He served two tours in Afghanistan. Now he’s working down at the VA. Told me to drop by sometime.”

“Aww.” You stood on your tiptoes to ruffle his hair. “My bubba’s all grown up and making friends.”

He rolled his eyes, ducking away from your hand and running his own through his hair. “Yeah, yeah.” His smile dropped as he looked at the clothes in his hand. “I think I’m gonna head out now. I should talk to Fury.”

You frowned. “You have all day, Steve. Just eat first, okay?”

“Okay.”

He was holding something back, you could tell. Picking out your clothes for the day, you decided to question him about it. “What’re you thinking about?”

Your backs turned to each other, you started changing, just as you’d down countless times before. “I was thinking about going to the Air and Space Museum again. If you wanna come.”

“You know I do.”

It was quiet for a few more minutes, only the sound of rustling clothes and zippers filling the air. “I-I think I’m gonna go after. To see her, I mean.”

You froze, keeping your heart and your breathing steady so he wouldn’t pick up on anything. “It’ll be good for you. She…she always knows what to say.”

“So do you.”

You cleared your throat, finishing with the final touches of your outfit. “I actually forgot that I have some stuff to finish up at HQ today, so I dunno if I’ll be able to go-”

His hand grabbed your wrist, turning you around, eyes pleading and face fallen. “Please. Please come with me. Honey. I need you there. With me. Please.”

You inwardly cursed yourself for falling for those puppy eyes, a soft sigh leaving your lips. “Okay, bubs. I’ll come with you.” You might regret it later, but the relief that washed over his features was worth it for now. The power he had over you scared you, especially since you knew he didn’t realize the hold he had on you, but you couldn’t help it. It happened quickly, swiftly, and you were down before you recognized it. And you didn’t know how to deal with it other than taking it one day at a time.

“Let’s go get some breakfast, now. I can promise it’s at least decent.”

The beam he shot you made your heart flutter no matter how hard you tried keeping calm. “I’m sure it’s better than anything I could ever make.” He pulled you close, lips brushing over your forehead. “Thank you.”

“For what?” You sighed, leaning your head against his, eyes closing.

“Existing.”

***********

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All Works Taglist (Open):

@happygoreading​

@bibliophilewednesday​

[lifewithdavefarts]

DaveFarts - Episode 9 “Trapped In The Closet” [Episode List] Following the most blatant sit-com tropes you can think of, Dave decides to spy on his girlfriend, Dana, because he thinks she’s hiding something. Tim reluctantly decides to join his friend, but the two end up stuck in the girl’s closet, which will eventually turn into a gas chamber.

Trapped In The Closet

“Yeah Dana. Sure. No problem.”

Tim was working on some college tasks, but couldn’t help but to eavesdrop Dave’s conversation with his girlfriend, Dana, on the phone. He could only hear his friend’s replies, which being only the 50% of what they were talking about, it didn’t make a lot of sense. Not that he was interested: Dave was simply hanging out in his room because he had nothing better to do during that warm Summer evening, apparently, and so he simply showed up to Tim’s place with a couple of beers and a remarkable amount of procrastination powers.

Despite being relatively hot outside, Dave was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of long, grey levi jeans, kinda loose as usual. Something that Tim hated about his kink is how quickly he checked his friend’s outfit, something that he always did since Dave is now basically his “fart bud”, against all odds.

“Yeah… yeah… I love you. No… I love you more!”

Kinda funny how Dave, 24, would revert back to an awkward teenager at times whenever he and his girlfriend were on the phone. They probably even acted like that on purpose, because love is doing stupid things together after all.

“Tim. Car. Now!”

Dave hung up and turned weirdly serious, got up and walked downstairs, saying something about getting in the car.

“Wait, what?” Tim asked, questioning whether his friend was being serious or not, but he did follow him to wherever he was going.

“We don’t have much time, Tim. Dana will come back soon. She’s out with her own friends and we have… like… 15 minutes.”

The two walked outside and headed towards the girls’ house, actually only a few blocks away from Tim’s. Tim himself reluctantly followed his bro into this, knowing that, at best, it may turn into a funny mishap to tell to their other pals while being drunk and laugh about it.

“I’ll just pretend your words make any sense, like I usually do…” Tim chuckled, sarcastically, but still following his friend.

“I think she’s hiding something.” Dave explained, walking at a fast pace, Tim right behind him. “She’s been strangely elusive lately and I want to check her room for clues.”

Tim just chuckled in response. “Dave, you do realize that this is not a 90s sit-com, right? Her room? Really? What are you hoping to find out, exactly, anyway? That she’s having some kind of affair behind your back?” he asked, trying to reason with him.

“An affair? You think I’m that kind of guy?” Dave answered, looking surprisingly offended by Tim’s question.   “I just want to make sure she’s fine. She seemed worried about something and she’s like this organized haf-woman/half-machine hybrid who keeps sticky notes in her room to keep an eye on her busy life.”

“Oh…” Tim replied, rather sarcastically.   “Now that makes a lot of sense.”

“Leave your sassiness for later, dork. Can we take your car?” Dave asked.

“Why? We’re already right in front of her house…”

Dave realized that he was so worried that they did, in fact, walked for a couple of blocks and found themselves stepping in Dana’s backyard without even noticing. He just laughed a bit about it.

“Sorry. Love makes me blind.” he joked, knowing that it was a rather silly thing to say anyway.

“Not the words I would have used, but ok.” Tim answered.

“Come on, let’s get inside.” his bro said, with a smirk.  

“Alright… but please, let’s keep a low profile and no awkwa-”

But as they approached to the girl’s house, Dave awkwardly started muttering some kind of theme song that was oddly reminiscent of the Mission Impossibile’s most iconic soundtrack. This guy has a girlfriend, everyone.

“So much for keeping a low profile, Ethan Hunt…” Tim joked.

Dana’s room, following the usual   “average american house tropes” that the writer of this story grew up with in the 90s, was on the second floor. Luckily, the house was empty, so both Tim and Dave could easily climb it without fearing of someone noticing their totally legal actions.

“Look at Tim, such a rebel! Such a fast climber!” Dave whispered, noticing how good Tim was at climbing the girl’s house.

“Thanks. I learned it when I visited your mom.” he joked.

“I thought you’d prefer my dad, you know.” Dave played along, with a rather noticeable reference to Tim’s homosexuality.

“Just… just let’s get done with this.”  

After some awkward climbing, the two found themselves in front of a window leading to Dana’s room. The duo was sitting on a small portion of slanted roof, wondering how to get inside.

“Alright. I could just punch through the window and open it. But you know I don’t like violence against windows.” Dave said, somewhat joking, but really trying to come up with a way to get through this final obstacle.

“Never mind, it’s open.” Tim said, as his hand passed right through the window.   “Or, you know, I got ghost powers all of the sudden, but I doubt it.”

“You’re so funny I forgot to laugh.” Dave commented, as he got inside his girlfriend’s room, making sure no one was there, immediately followed by his sassy friend.

The room was fairly big and messy, books and magazines scattered all around the floor and the bed. Dana was a busy woman: she got a degree in economics but, given the tough times, she had troubles finding a decent job lately. Dave actually suspected that this was the reason she was being nervous about, well, everything, understandably.

“Why don’t you just ask her instead of acting like the perfect boyfriend material that you are?” Tim stated, in his usual snarky tone, noticing Dave basically rummaging through Dana’s more personal stuff.

“Just… let me do my thing ok?” he was serious again, trying to find something that could be clue, deep down knowing that all of that was quite non-sense and even ridiculous, but his stubbornness was showing.   “Wait…”

Something drew his attention. A red (therefore important, according to Dana’s code) sticky note on the nightstand. Something was written on it.

“Oh… I guess I was right…” Dave whispered, eyes glued on the note.

“Something about her job?”  

But Tim didn’t get an answer, as they heard someone coming from downstairs. They probably were so focused on their mission that didn’t even notice how someone got inside the house minutes after them. They went silent and tried to listen to the person’s footsteps.

“Yeah. I’ll keep you posted.”

They heard a muffled female voice getting closer, probably talking on her phone. A voice that was very familiar.

“Fuck! It’s Dana!” Dave whispered.

The two looked around, looking for a quick solution or a place to hide, blatantly ignoring the window they used to get inside in the first place.

“The closet!” Dave said.

Without even questioning whether this was a good idea or not, the duo sneaked inside Dana’s closet and closed themselves inside just as the girl came into her room, still talking on the phone about something.

Tim and Dave managed to mess things up however, as they ended up in a very small section of that apparently big, spacious closet, so they had to arrange themselves in a weird position. Dave was standing up, towering over Tim, who found himself sitting on the floor instead, right behind his friend… with his face perfectly aligned with his loose jeans butt. As his eyes got adjusted to the dark, Tim started to distinguish the seams and texture’s on Dave’s jeans ass, and the tiny red Levi tag on the right back pocket. He couldn’t help but take a look, which he felt really unnecessary, given the context.

“So… this is where you lived for most of your life…” Dave joked, looking around, as if the closet was some kind of fancy mansion.

“Haha! Another gay joke! Great timing, Dave!” Tim muttered instead. The last thing they had to do was talk.

The two waited for a couple of minutes, hoping that Dana would just leave again or even just go downstairs, so they’d have enough time to get out of there in the hopes that Dave didn’t leave any clue of his presence.

“As long a we remain silent…” Tim whispered.   “We have nothing to worry about.”

Only moments after saying that, he felt a very familiar sound greeting his face. It was a long, rumbling sound coming from Dave’s denim ass. It was one of his usual, well-known loud farts, a fart that he was desperately trying to keep as silent as possible. Luckily, Dana was too busy with her phone to even notice the weird noise coming from inside of her closet.

“Dave! What the fuck?!” Tim hissed.

The gassy friend tried not to laugh, realizing how idiotic the whole situation was.   “I’m sorry dude.” he murmured.   “You know what happens when I’m nervous!”  

The smell was unbearable already. Being in a such small space didn’t certainly help. Those were probably some of the smelliest farts Dave ever managed to rip in Tim’s face, although this time was, against all odds, more like an accident.

“Tim…” Dave whispered, carefully placing his butt closer to his friend’s face.

Another fart erupted, sounding dangerously louder than the previous one. The rough surface of Dave’s denim gently caressed Tim’s nose. The blast of gas then turned into something much more subtle, but still otherwise bubbly. Tim felt his nose burn, as really he had no choice but to breath all of that in.

“Dave I swear. If you don’t stop, Dana’s gonna–”

But another   “slow-paced” rumbly fart cut him off. Dave was seriously trying to contain his well-known farting abilities. Tim, instead, was trying to remain calm, feeling like the Universe was somehow messing with him. That was an insane situation: he certainly wasn’t new to Dave’s farts, but in that context, it felt almost like one of his weird dreams about his fart fetish.

“Tim I’m sorry, at least I know you don’t mind… I hope”

Funnily enough, despite the slightly amused tone in his whispering voice, Dave sounded genuinely sorry. Yet he was right: Tim was insanely enjoying it, but knowing that Dana was out there made the whole thing almost surreal. And, once again, as much as Dave always proved so chill about this stuff, he couldn’t help but feel somehow awkward about having his friend face-farting him so non-chalantly.

And yet another   “ninja” fart was ripped all over his face.   Being nervous really turned Dave’s stomach into a messy cloud of gas, and Tim’s nose was there to vacuum it all up, completely defenseless, standing before the sheer power of the gassy friend’s powerful denim-covered anus.

Even though the situation was absurd, Dave couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. After all, the smell hit him too, and it was getting insane even for the farter himself, whose gas just didn’t stop building up.

“Sorry bro… I have to do this.” he whispered.

Tim felt Dave’s hands gently grabbing the back of his head, holding it still, as he pulled him in the clutches of his denim butt. The warm fabric of the jeans was soaking in that unbearable smell. The sniffer then felt the weight of his gassy friend almost crushing his skull. Despite being dark, Tim realized that Dave was basically sitting on him, using his head as some kind of human stool.

The fart was directly ripped in Tim’s mouth at that point, that rumbly sound once again renewing the already destructive stench. It was supposed to be loud, so loud, that Dave had to basically use his friend’s face to deadpan its impressive thunderous noise. The gassy bro was trying to rip it in the form of a long series, hoping that Dana would fail to hear (or even recognize) his well-known gross, but rather impressive talent.

Tim heard his friend’s sighs of relief after each, rumbling fart, but Dave was also trying not to burst into a laughter that could blow their cover. Fart fetish or not, he couldn’t help but to find it more hilarious than gross.

As much as the lack of space in that closet wouldn’t really allow it, Dave even lifted his right leg a bit, while still   “sitting” on his stool-friend, as a way to facilitate the impressive amount of gas gushing out from his anus. It’s not like he had to worry about Tim passing out or finding it too gross, anyway.

That fart itself was lasting longer than both of them anticipated. They lost count of how much time passed, probably a full minute. Tim’s face was warm and sweaty now, still trapped in the clutches of his gassy bro’s denim butt, directly living in person that thin line between Fart Heaven and Fart Hell.

A final sigh of relief, followed by a louder toot and a chuckle.   “Sorry, bud.” Dave muttered, hoping that his plan worked.

Indeed, Dana didn’t hear a thing. She hung up and left the room, her footsteps slowly turning into a far, muffled sound, until silence announced that the duo was now free to get the heck out of there, especially considering how they were almost both choking on farts.

Tim forgot what fresh, non-fart air felt like in his nostrils and so took a deep, refreshing breath the moment he stepped out of that gas closet. Ironically, Dave did the same, maybe even wondering how would Tim even endure something as overwhelming as his farts, but he didn’t really mind anyway. Despite everything, that was oddly hilarious, as the two stared at each other and then bursted into a laughter.

“Now let’s get out of here…” the farter suggested.

But before the two could even walk towards the window, Dana showed up again in her own room. She didn’t even startle.

“What are you two doing here?” she asked, sounding more like an inquisitive mom than an angry girlfriend. She was fairly mature, after all. “I don’t know what you Dumb and Dumber are up to, but I swear if you–”

“I heard the news, Dana. We were just outside your window…” Dave explained, slightly tweaking the truth. “We wanted to play a stupid scary prank but then I heard it, while you were on the phone you know…”

Dana shook her head and laughed a bit. She hugged her boyfriend and kissed him.

“Yes! I got the job!” she giggled. “Sorry I’ve been so cold lately. The job interview made me so nervous…”

“It’s fine, Dana. You’ve always been stone-cold anyway!” Dave joked, earning a playful slap on his chest by his girlfriend.

“Yes, that’s a very import–wait what’s that smell?” the girl asked, sniffling loudly the air around him.

Tim’s heart almost stopped while Dave did his best to not just laugh like an immature prankster. His hair, clothes, skin, were completely “soaked” in his gassy bro’s gas, so naturally he’d himself smell like flatulence.

“Never mind. It must be you, Dave. He farts like crazy when he’s nervous, Tim, I swear.” she said, disgusted but slightly amused as well.

“Ow… it’s part of my charm, babe.” Dave replied, using what he would have considered an irresistible flirty tone of voice, which was super awkward instead.

“And yeah. Tim’s very aware of my skills, right?” he joked, winking at him, like the big teasing bastard he’s always been since he found out about his fart kink.

Tim just shrugged, faking a disgusted look, his heart racing fast, knowing that all he had to do after that was take the biggest shower in the hope that such unbearable stench didn’t fuse with the atoms in his body.

“Well, it’s gonna be a wild ride!” Dana exulted, happy about her new job offer.

“How about a round of beers to celebrate?” Tim suggested. “It’s on me, no worries.”

“Great idea, but I’m paying. I got the job, you dumb-dumbs get to drink!” Dana replied. She was in a very good mood.

“It’s fine, Dana! It’s the least we can do after-“ but Dave interrupted him.

“Come on Tim, stop living in outdated gender roles and let the pretty girl buy you a drink.” he said, faking a serious tone.

The girlfriend simply rolled her eyes and left the room “Just… meet me downstairs when you’re done saving the world, ok?”

As Dana was nowhere in sight, Dave simply turned to Tim and let another huge, long one rip.

“Shhh. Just tying up some loose ends here.” he said, shushing the gay friend, blasting what was left of his gas out.

“Are you finish-“ “Not yet” he simply said, as if he was making sure no particle of gas was left behind.

With one high pitched final note that was met with some immature laughter, Dave sighed in relief.

“With that said” he chuckled “You might want to take a shower.”

Tim simply nodded with an unamused expression.

“Oh, and you might want to leave the other closet you’ve been hiding.”

That was out of nowhere.

“No pressure bro, just know that we’re all always more than happy to have a beer with you.”

“Thanks Da-“

“Despite your bigoted views on gender roles of course.”

“I’m going to punch you now.”

The duo then headed downstairs and no one got punched luckily.

Tim thought about his friend’s words and how it was probably time to leave that metaphorical stuffy closet soon or later, not that he felt forced or anything.

Dana’s closet, however, that’s probably the only one he enjoyed being trapped into…

End of Episode 9