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today-only-happens-once · 4 years

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and miles to go before I sleep

Title: and miles to go before I sleep

Word Count: 6,650

Chapter 1

Summary: Virgil came here to stop a curse and save his kingdom. But another Prince has the same goal in mind... and only one kingdom is supposed to come out on top. Slowburn Romantic Prinxiety. A Two Princes Podcast AU.

Chapter Warnings: stealing; lying; Patton is kind of working in a gray area but he means well and is only trying his best; Janus does some light treason I guess?; violence; giant hornet; plant monster; killing monsters/violence; blood mention/description; threats; if you are a die-hard fan of the podcast please be warned that I do take a few creative liberties with stuff from the podcast at times.

A/N: this idea has been knocking around my head for a while, and I finally started to write it. I thought I’d write it all before posting, but I’ve found that I’m starting to lose steam. So here’s the first part! If you like The Two Princes, I hope you’ll enjoy this Prinxiety twist to it! If you’ve never listened to it, I hope you’ll consider giving this a shot and then maybe going to check it out! <3 Editing done by yours truly. All mistakes are mine.

...

“Stop! Thief!”

Virgil takes a hard left turn down the Western Corridor of the castle, nearly tripping over his own feet in his rush. He sprints down the stone hallway, racing past the familiar stained-glass windows. The book in his hand is heavy and leather-bound, and Virgil tucks it tighter under his arm as he runs. The hood of his dark cloak nearly slips off his head in the process, and he uses his free hand to keep it from falling.

“Halt!”

Ahead of him, three members of the Royal Guard appear from around the corner. Virgil skids to a stop, whirling around only to find two more guards running up behind him. He’s surrounded and cornered. Nowhere to go. Virgil huffs a breath, holding his hands up and kneeling on the floor in surrender. He lets the book thud to the ground. He’s grateful that the hood of his cloak swallows his head, and he keeps his head downcast to let it shadow his face from view even though he knows his anonymity is really only a matter of seconds.

There’s the scuff of boots against the stone floor approaching him, the clanking of armor as the guards move aside, and Virgil grimaces to himself. He has the sinking feeling it’s his older brother.

“Your Majesty,” one of the guards from behind him greets the newcomer, confirming Virgil’s suspicions. “We caught this person attempting to steal the Forbidden Book.”

Virgil keeps his face hidden in the hood of his cloak, but he sees his brother’s boots step into his vision. “What’s your name?” his brother asks with that familiar soft friendliness.

Virgil knows that he can’t hide much longer--someone is going to pull the hood off his head at any moment--but he really doesn’t want to deal with the look of disappointment in his older brother’s eyes that he knows awaits him. He’ll push it off as long as he can manage. So Virgil stays resolutely silent.

He feels a slight tug on the hood of his cloak and the silky material causes it to fall to his shoulder blades effortlessly.

“Virgil?”

Virgil looks up sheepishly. “Hey, Patton.”

His brother was twelve years older than him but only a couple of inches taller. His hair wasn’t much lighter than Virgil’s, and their eyes were the same shade of brown that their mother’s had been. But Patton had seemed every bit older than him. Virgil couldn’t explain why--if maybe it was the weight in his eyes that would show only when he thought nobody was looking or if maybe it was the way he’d mastered the ‘I’m not angry I’m just disappointed’ stare years ago--but there were times when Patton seemed even older than twenty-nine.

“What the heck were you doing?” Patton swoops down and snatches the book from where Virgil had placed it on the floor in front of him. Virgil tries not to grimace. His brother hands it off to one of the guards who immediately rushes to take it back to the vault.

Virgil sighs and accepts the hand that Patton extends to him to pull him up to his feet. Patton waves a hand and the guards only hesitate for a moment before they turn abruptly to head back to their post. Virgil waits until they’re alone in the corridor before he answers.

“Patton, come on. You know exactly what I was doing.”

Patton frowns, his brow pinching together. “Virgil,” he starts, and Virgil has to stop himself from rolling his eyes because he knows that tone, “I already told you that book is no good for anybody.”

“No, I know you keep saying that. But our kingdom is under siege, and--”

“Siege?” Patton repeats. “I think that’s a bit of an overstatement there, kiddo. I should start calling you just ‘Anxiety’ with as much as you worry.”

“How else would you describe the forest that is overrunning our kingdom and has been for years? It’s nearly at our palace walls.” Virgil gestures out the stained glass window. “You can’t go anywhere in town without having to step over and around roots and vines. It’s been choking our food supply, it’s overrun our farming villages… That’s not normal. And nobody in this godforsaken castle will talk to me about it.”

Virgil sees that flicker of something he can’t identify pass through Patton’s eyes. It was the same look he got any time Virgil tried to mention the Forest or the Curse. But it was always too fast for Virgil to be able to identify it.

“Have you ever thought that’s because there’s nothing to talk about?” Patton tries.

“When was the last time you looked outside, Patton? That Forest is going to destroy our kingdom,” Virgil snaps. “I know it’s the Curse and I know that book has answers. I just don’t know why you don’t want me to know them!”

Patton presses a hand to his temple. “Virgil, will you just drop it? Please?”

“All I’ve done is drop it. From what I’ve been able to piece together from books that you will let me read, two kings from rival kingdoms held a grudge against each other a thousand years ago, and that grudge started some kind of curse. But I need more if I’m going to do anything to fix this.”

“Nobody is asking you to fix it--”

“Somebody has to!”

“Virgil…” Patton looks at him then. He looks tired, Virgil thinks. And… afraid. “Please. I… you’re my baby brother. I’m just trying to look out for you, okay?”

Virgil wants to argue. He’s seventeen. He doesn’t need his older brother protecting him like he did when they were little kids. He sometimes wonders if Patton still sees him as that six-year-old kid that would run to his room when he had a bad dream. He wasn’t. But he doesn’t know how to get Patton to understand that. Besides, a part of him falters at the tinge of desperation that colors Patton’s words.

“Okay,” Virgil agrees with a sigh, holding his hands up in surrender. “Okay. Fine.”

There’s a grateful twitch to the corner of Patton’s mouth. Then, his expression brightens with a sudden idea and Virgil has the feeling he’s not going to like it.

“Hey,” Patton says. “Your birthday is almost here. What do you say we throw an early birthday party for tomorrow?”

Virgil arcs an eyebrow. “My birthday isn’t for another four days.”

“I know, but I think we all could use a little something to boost the kingdom spirit, y’know?”

Virgil hesitates. “Patton, you can’t just use parties to distract yourself from problems.” It’s a conversation they’d had before, so he knows what Patton is going to say even before the words leave his brother’s mouth.

“I’m not, Virgil,” Patton replies, right on cue. “But I think focusing on something good and happy is better than wallowing in the negative. Right?”

“Right,” Virgil says hollowly.

…

Virgil hates parties. They’re crowded and loud and the repetition of forced, awkward small talk reminds Virgil of everything he doesn’t like about being a prince. Nobles and dignitaries mill around the ballroom, talking to one another without talking about anything that Virgil thinks ought to be discussed. He nods his appreciation and mutters a quick “thank you” as people wish him a happy birthday, and he tries to ignore the increasing desire to crawl into a hole and never come out.

Virgil snags a piece of bread off the snack table and clings to the edge of the growing crowd in the ballroom.

“You look like you’re having a positively terrific time, Your Highness,” a familiar voice says to Virgil’s left. When he looks, Virgil feels a twinge of relief at the familiar face of Lord Janus: his brother’s closest political adviser.

Virgil snorts. “Yeah, well. This was hardly my idea. You know how my brother is.”

“Hm,” Janus hums, a hint of amusement in his eyes. “Indeed.” Virgil stifles a yawn. Janus arcs an eyebrow at him. “Tired, Your Highness?”

“Sorry,” Virgil replies. “Just… didn’t sleep well.”

He thinks about the dream he’d had last night. He’d been cold, in the dark, surrounded by looming shadows that looked almost like trees. There’d been a deep, echoing, vaguely familiar voice calling his name. Virgil. Then a tugging sensation around his waist so strong it yanked his feet out from under him, and the falling sensation had jolted him from his sleep. He’d woken up in his room, trying to catch his breath, the echo of his name still reverberating in his head.

“I see,” Janus replies, his gaze narrowing slightly.

Virgil avoids his eyes, instead letting his gaze flit over the crowd of people. Some of them he recognizes from various meetings and prior parties that Patton had thrown over the years. He watches as a tall man he recognizes as Sloane--a long time family friend--lean over to whisper something into the ear of Corbin, one of the royal scribes. Corbin suppresses a smile.

“Are they… together?” Virgil wonders aloud. He couldn’t describe it, but there was something about the way they seemed to gravitate near each other, even while Sloane turns to talk to someone else, that makes him wonder.

Janus follows his gaze. “Yes,” he confirms. “To my knowledge, there’s an expected engagement to occur soon.”

There’s a part of Virgil that’s surprised. He wouldn’t describe himself as particularly close with either one of them, but they seemed like near opposites. His gaze lingers a bit longer on the two of them, catching the way Corbin deftly slips his hand into Sloane’s and squeezes. Virgil tears his gaze away, feeling oddly like he’s intruding on something intimate even though they’re in the middle of the ballroom.

He finds Remy weaving through the crowd, seemingly at ease in the sea of people. Remy is another of his brother’s advisers, though he doesn’t work as closely with Patton as Janus does. Virgil knows that Remy’s area of expertise is primarily in trade and commerce. Most of that had stopped around a year ago, as the growing Forest cut off most trade routes into and out of the kingdom.

“How does he still have a job?” Virgil wonders aloud, watching as Remy laughs politely at a joke a dignitary that Virgil doesn’t recognize makes.

Janus hums. “Your brother ensured that Remy’s original conception as an economic adviser would not be limited to inter-kingdom trade. Exchanges occurring within the kingdom and city walls fall under his domain of expertise as well.”

“Won’t be long before he’s out of a job anyway,” Virgil mutters.

“There are few things that the king cares about more than the well-being of his kingdom.”

“And I’m one of those things.” Virgil looks at Janus, challenging him to disagree. Janus merely returns Virgil’s stare with a steady, silent one of his own. Virgil has known the adviser long enough to recognize it as silent agreement.

Virgil releases a frustrated breath. “I’m not a child anymore, Janus. He doesn’t need to protect me.”

“I assure you that Your Majesty doesn’t view it that way.”

“I don’t even know what he’s trying to protect me from,” Virgil continues. Realization dawns suddenly, and Virgil narrows a glare on Janus. “But you do, don’t you?”

It makes sense to Virgil. There is little that Janus doesn’t know--he’s often said it’s his business to know things as the chief political adviser--and though Virgil may not understand how Janus gathers his information, he has no doubt that Janus knows exactly whatever it is that Patton has been hiding from him. The suspicion is only confirmed when he sees Janus’s lips press into a thin line.

Virgil shakes his head. “Unbelievable. I don’t understand.”

Janus arcs an eyebrow. “I think Your Highness does.”

“No, no I don’t,” Virgil hisses back in a low, frustrated voice. “What is my brother hiding from me?”

Janus grimaces, his gaze flitting over to Patton across the ballroom. Patton doesn’t seem to notice, too engaged with a conversation with the Lady Valerie to pay them much mind. Janus sighs, then turns back to the prince.

“Your Highness--”

Janus cuts off as the floor beneath them rumbles. The dining ware on the table clatters loudly from the tremor, and the ballroom falls silent with uncertainty. Virgil braces a hand against the nearby wall to keep balance.

“Uh, what is that?” he asks, too late.

With the sound of shattering stone, sections of the marble floor splinter open. Virgil watches, horrified, as green vines rise from the fissures almost like tendrils of an awakening monster. Cracking wood snaps sharply in the hall as what Virgil can only describe as tree roots thicker than his own body push their way up through the cracks in the floor.

Screams and shouts of alarm fill the ballroom, ricocheting off the stone pillars. Virgil watches as a vine curls around the ankle of a dignitary, yanking her off her feet. One of the guards, sword already drawn, rushes forward. They slash at it, slicing through the vine and helping the young woman back to her feet.

“The Forest is invading!” the guard shouts. “Everyone take cover! Guards, attack!”

The clamor of battle swells, and Virgil presses flatter against the wall. His gaze sweeps over the crowd, trying to locate his brother. Virgil sees a tree root snake around Corbin’s torso with a speed that isn’t natural for a plant. Sloane shouts for him, but a vine snaps around his wrist and he yanks a knife out of his boot to cut himself free.

Virgil goes to move to help--he may not be athletic exactly, but he can’t just stand around and do nothing when people are in danger--but something yanks him back to the wall like he’s attached to it. He glances over his shoulder and sees the vine twisting in the jacket of his suit. Virgil desperately wrestles out of the garment, but another has already begun wrapping around his chest.

“Hey!” Virgil yelps, trying to wrestle it off him. He sees a sudden flash of metal in the corner of his eye and the vine around his chest goes suddenly slack. Virgil shoves it off, looking over and realizing it was Janus, wielding the sword that had been at his hip, who cut him free.

“Janus,” Virgil says. “Thank you.”

“Of course. Here, take this.” Janus pulls out a piece of paper from his breast pocket and shoves it into Virgil’s chest.

Virgil stumbles back a step from the force, his brow furrowing in confusion. “What’s this?”

“A map,” Janus answers, quick and urgent. “It will take you straight to the Hollow. You have to leave immediately.”

“What? What Hollow?”

“Here.” Janus shoves the hilt of his sword into Virgil’s hand. “Take my sword.”

“Wh--No! I can’t leave you all in the middle of a battle!”

“You have to!” Janus snaps, and Virgil falters under the intensity in the adviser’s eyes. “The real battle--the one that will decide the fate of everyone in this kingdom--can only be fought in the Hollow, and only by you.”

“What are you talking about?”

Janus grabs both of Virgil’s shoulders. “There’s a prophecy your brother has been hiding from you. You have to go to the Hollow. Once you get there--”

“Look out!” a voice barks.

Janus’s head snaps to the side before he gives Virgil a hard shove, sending the prince staggering back. A tree root slams into the wall, precisely where Virgil had just been standing.

“Janus!”

“Go!” Janus shouts sharply over the clamor of the raging battle around them. “Get to the Hollow!”

Virgil runs, not noticing the vegetation shrinking back into the cracks in the floor as he races towards the Forest.

…

Hours later, Virgil is beginning to think that the Forest must hate him personally. If it’s true, the feeling is very much mutual. The Forest is dense with trees that leave long, lurking shadows on the damp floor. Virgil climbs over a particularly large tree root, hissing in pain as a thorn catches his shoulder.

“Great,” he snaps sarcastically. “You know, you go through all this trouble of getting me to come to you what with the weird dreams and then attacking during my birthday party--which, between you and me, I didn’t really mind the interruption, though I could have done without the violence--so you’d think maybe you could extend a little hospitality.” Virgil waits as if the Forest might actually respond to him. The chirp of insects and distant song of birds is the only answer the Forest offers.

“Of course not,” Virgil mutters. “I don’t know what I expected. You’re a monster-infested forest.”

Or in the very least, that’s what the rumors had always said. Virgil wonders if that might have been an old wives’ tale, passed on through the thousand or so years since the Curse first started to convince children to steer clear. Just because Virgil had heard his whole life that monsters lurked in the Forest’s shadows didn’t mean it was actually true, right?

Right.

Virgil sighs and yanks the map Janus had shoved at him out of his pocket. If the skull on the map was referencing the tree ahead of him whose branches vaguely resembled a skull, then--

A twig snaps behind him.

Virgil freezes, his head snapping up. “Hello?” he calls, shoving the map back into his pocket and yanking his sword out of the scabbard.

Nothing answers him. Wind rustles the leaves in the canopy above him. Virgil studies the trees and shadows around him. He can’t shake the vague feeling that he is being watched…

A distant buzzing interrupts his thoughts, and Virgil sees a dark blur rush towards him. He yelps, ducking his head and slashing blindly with the sword. When he looks, Virgil chokes. In front of him, buzzing loudly as it hovers a couple of feet in the air, is a giant hornet--nearly Virgil’s size.

“Look,” Virgil says to it. “My brother always says to avoid violence, but the last few hours has been the culminating impact of years of frustrations, so my patience really isn’t up for--”

The hornet dives for him, and Virgil slashes at it, clipping its side. He narrowly dodges its stinger, slashing again. Virgil’s arms are suddenly coated in a dark, viscous spray of black blood. The giant hornet falls to the ground at Virgil’s feet.

He releases a breath, grimacing against the acrid smell of monster blood that stings his nostrils. His heartbeat is still thudding in his ears, adrenaline pulsing through his veins. He just slayed his first monster. A relieved smile tugs at the corner of Virgil’s mouth. He wonders briefly if Patton would be proud of him or horrified. He tries not to think too long about it.

“Not too bad for a--whoa!” Virgil steps back and immediately finds himself falling through the forest floor.

He lands hard and takes a moment to blink stars from his spinning vision. With a grunt of effort, Virgil pushes himself up into a sitting position. The air around him smells… sweet and oddly familiar. On the ground beneath him is loose dirt and a carpet of white and pink mushrooms. A few bright green vines helped to cushion Virgil’s fall. A quick glance around also tells Virgil that he didn’t just fall into a hole--he fell into some sort of underground tunnel that continued on to his left.

He takes in another breath and feels the tension bleed out of his shoulders. It smells like… like Patton’s fresh-baked cookies on a rainy day and… was that his mother’s perfume? Virgil had never really been able to remember his mother’s face, but he remembers the scent the instant he inhales. He suddenly has the near overwhelming desire to curl up and sleep as the syrupy feeling of warm comfort spreads through his chest.

Maybe Virgil could just live here instead of… of… how did he get here again?

“Oh darling!” calls a soft, honey voice and for the briefest moment, Virgil wonders if it’s his mother. He dismisses the idea almost immediately. That isn’t possible.

“Wh--” Virgil’s tongue feels slow, his thoughts shifting through a molasses-sweet haze. “Who said that?”

“I did,” the voice echoes back, melodic and sweet. “Are you my darling?”

“I mean, maybe,” Virgil slurs, blinking owlishly at his surroundings. “I could be someone’s darling.”

“Where are you, darling?”

Virgil squints up at the hole he’d fallen through. “I’m at the bottom of a pit. Where are you?”

“I’m here too, just a bit further in. Come find me, darling.”

Virgil glances over to his left and sees a prick of light down the dark tunnel. Something in his chest tugs, urging, towards it. Virgil pushes himself to his feet, sliding his sword into the scabbard at his hip (why did he have it out to begin with?) and rushes down the tunnel, tripping over stray roots and the increasingly thick network of green vines. As he grows closer to the light, the smell of cookies and his mother’s perfume grows thicker and heavier. He can feel the way it clings to his thoughts in his mind, sticky like melted candy.

The tunnel opens up into a small cavern overrun with moss and flowers. Vines wrap up dirt walls, sprouting flowers of different sizes and colors so bright Virgil squints against the sudden onslaught on his vision. At the center of the clearing is a feminine figure--green skin and green hair that look almost like vines themselves. She turns towards Virgil as he steps into the clearing, her face brightening so much that Virgil almost doesn’t notice that her eyes are bright red like the flowers that dot her arms.

“There you are, my darling. I’ve been waiting so long for you.”

Virgil frowns, his brow creasing. “I’m sorry.”

She giggles, light and delighted. “Oh, that’s all right. What’s important is that you are here now. What’s your name?”

He… can’t remember. It starts with a V, doesn’t it? “V-V...Virgil. Yeah, that’s it. My name is Virgil. What’s your name?”

The woman floats closer. “My name is Flora. I’m the goddess of love.”

Her voice sounds like a music box, soft and lilting. Virgil wants to curl up and use her voice as a blanket. “Where… where am I?”

“This? Why this is the Garden of Delight. You needn’t worry about anything ever again.”

A soft, warm feeling squeezes around Virgil’s chest and it reminds him, distantly, of Patton’s hugs. “That… that sounds nice…”

The woman hums, stepping closer. The dress she wears seems to shimmer, like it had been spun from spider silk and dripped with dew. It did feel rather humid in here, now that Virgil thinks about it. Virgil feels an unusual draw to her, but as he goes to take another step, he finds his feet don’t move. Confused, he glances down. Green vines have snaked around his ankles, locking him in place.

“What--”

“My darling,” the woman purrs, moving closer. “Virgil is a beautiful name. You’ll stay here with me, won’t you? Forever?”

Something about that sounds extremely tempting, and Virgil had the vague sense that it had something to do with the lingering sweetness in the air that reminded Virgil of when he was a child. When things felt easier. Simpler. But he… couldn’t stay, right? He… he was supposed to be going somewhere…

“I… I can’t,” Virgil says, beginning to wonder why it’s so hard to just think right now… “I’m supposed to… um… there’s something I’m… I gotta get to the, uh… I can’t remember. Why can’t I remember?” He can feel the vines snaking up his legs, wrapping around his waist and anchoring his wrists to his hips.

He feels like his brain is fighting through gelatin.

“If you could uh, let me go?” he asks.

The woman smiles again, but Virgil swears it’s a row of sharp, pointed fangs that he hadn’t seemed to notice a moment ago. “But you only just got here.”

Virgil tries to wrestle his arms out of the net of vines but they only constrict tighter. He wheezes a cough as the vice-like grip forces some air from his lungs. “Yeah, I know, but--”

“Nobody leaves the Garden of Delight, darling.”

“I just really--”

“They stay here forever.”

“I really gotta--”

“You’re not going anywhere,” the woman growls, with something that definitely isn’t human edged sharply within the words.

Virgil jerks away. “You’re not a goddess.”

“No,” she agrees, grinning wickedly. “And it’s been ages since I’ve had a meal as large and scrumptious as you.”

Virgil thrashes, but he’s held fast by the vines that are only getting tighter. “Let me go!” This is how he’s going to die, isn’t it? He’s such an idiot. “Don’t!” he shouts, though he knows it’s fruitless. There’s nobody around to hear him. Not for miles. How could he have been so stupid--

“That’s enough, fiend!” A new voice, a rich baritone, shouts from the cavern entrance. Virgil tries to crane his neck to look behind him but he only gets a flash of red, white, and gold before the monster in front of him hisses with a flash of pointed teeth.

Through his haze of muddied thoughts, it’s hard for Virgil to follow exactly what happens next. But there’s a glint of silver out of the corner of his eye and the creature before him shrieks in pain and anger. The constricting grip around him slackens suddenly and Virgil shrugs out of the plant cocoon that had been ensnaring him.

He whirls around and sees a boy in a dirtied white prince suit jacket and a red sash across his chest. His dark brown hair falls across his forehead, and his dark eyes are intense with urgency.

“Who are you?” Virgil asks.

“Go back the way you came,” he says instead of answering the question. “You’ll find a rope that you can climb to the surface. I’m going to take care of this overgrown fly-trap.”

“Wait--”

The monster shrieks, her enraged scream echoing in the room. “I’m going to destroy you, you filthy, egotistical human!”

“Funny,” the boy shoots back, “because I was about to say the same thing about you.”

The monster lunges, and Virgil instinctively throws up an arm in front of his face to protect himself. The other boy snarls and slashes with the sword in his hands with expert precision. Virgil can’t help but be impressed. He’s certain that he never has looked that comfortable with a sword in his hands in his entire life.

The scream from the monster cuts out abruptly as the other boy lodges the blade inside of her. She falls, disintegrating into a pile of dirt and vines. The boy wipes the back of his hand across his brow and arcs an eyebrow at Virgil.

He motions to the cavern entrance. “After you.”

….

Virgil sighs as he pulls himself up over the ledge and back onto the forest floor. He never thought he’d be happy to see the Forest again, but he can’t deny the odd rush of relief. Anything was better than sharp fangs flashing in front of his face.

“That… was intense,” he says as he hears the boy behind him pull himself up and start untying the rope from around the nearby tree he’d used as an anchor. “What was that thing?”

The boy pauses thoughtfully. Sunlight filters in through the leaves of the canopy above them and they make the boy’s dark eyes sparkle a bit. “I don’t know what they’re called, but the Forest is full of them.”

“Huh. Well, it’s a good thing you came along, I guess.” Virgil rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. “Thank you for rescuing me, and for being so beautiful.” Virgil freezes.

So does the other boy, his gaze flashing over and his brow furrowing. “What?”

“Brave!” Virgil blurts and has to stop himself from cringing at his own lack of a filter. He wasn’t usually this clumsy. “Thank you for being so brave. Not beautiful. Wow.” He laughs awkwardly. “I don’t know why I said that. I think some of the toxins must still be messing with my head, y’know? Making me say crazy things. It’s not like I think you’re beautiful.”

The boy’s frown deepens and Virgil holds up his hands. “Not that I think you’re ugly! I mean, obviously you’re not ugly. Like, if you put a sword to my head and said are you attractive or ugly, obviously I’d have to go with attractive because objectively that’s just a fact--” Oh my God, Virgil, stop talking--“but it’s not like you’re so attractive I can’t stop looking at you or anything. Am I talking a lot? I feel like I’m talking a lot.”

“You are,” the boy replies absently, his gaze narrowing at something off in the distance. Virgil is oddly relieved to get the sense that he stopped listening a while ago.

“Right. So uh, I’m trying to say thank you.” Virgil takes a deep breath, trying to slow his still-racing thoughts and pounding heart. “Thank you for saving my life.”

“Then it’s a good thing I’ve been following you.” It’s only then that Virgil realizes the boy hadn’t been untying the rope from the tree--he’d been securing it more firmly.

“What? You’ve been following me?” He watches as the other boy loops the rope over the tree branch, then makes a lasso with the loose end in his hands. “Um, what’s the lasso for?”

“I have some questions,” he answers, his gaze narrowing. “And since I don’t know you nor do I trust you, I thought you might be more inclined to answer them if you’re dangling from a tree.”

“Oh,” Virgil says before it sinks in. “Wait, what--Hey!” Before he can stop it, the boy lasso’s Virgil’s waist and pulls, and Virgil sees the world spin violently before he’s staring dizzily at the boy upside down. “Let me down!”

The boy crosses his arms over his chest. “Now then. Who are you and what are you doing in this Forest?”

Virgil’s fingers twitch for his sword, but he figures he’d be about as likely to poke his own eye out than cut himself down. And even then, what would happen? He’d seen the boy face off with the forest monster and he’d sliced her like it was nothing with barely a flick of his wrist. Virgil couldn’t very well fight this boy. And besides, he doesn’t really want to.

“Me? Just--I’m nobody. I’m just walking through.”

The boy scoffs and shakes his head. He waves a hand at him. “Your clothes are filthy but clearly Western from the design and fabric choices. And your sword carries the insignia of the royal family.” His gaze darkens then, and he takes a step closer. Virgil watches the way his grip on the sword flexes in preparation. “Do you work for them?”

“No!” he says immediately. “No, I--I don’t. No royal family for me.”

“You’re alone then? You aren’t traveling with any member of the royal family?”

“No, definitely not.”

The boy studies him for a moment before he seems satisfied with the answer. “My apologies. You can never be too careful. Especially in this Forest.”

Virgil finds himself nodding despite the wave of confusion the comment brings. He just wants to get out of this in one piece. “No, of course.”

The boy slides his sword into the scabbard at his hip. “My name is Roman. Prince of the East. I’m sure you’ve heard of me.”

“Uh, not really?”

“The younger brother of King Thomas? Heir to the Polished Throne. Defender of the Perished Realm.”

Virgil sucks in a breath through his teeth. “Sorry.”

“Vanquisher of the Dragon Witch. Protector of the Sacred Flame. Champion of the Hero’s Forge.”

This is ridiculous, Virgil thinks. He arcs an eyebrow. “What was that last one?”

Something sparks in Roman’s eyes, and he places his hands on his hips as if posing for a portrait. “Champion of the Hero’s Forge?”

Virgil does take a second to wrack his memory, wondering if maybe he had read something about any of the ridiculous titles Roman had just rattled off, but nothing rings a bell. “Champion of the--no, sorry.”

Roman seems to deflate, his hands falling from his hips. “Really?”

He knows he shouldn’t--the boy is dangling him from a tree for crying out loud--but Virgil does feel a little bad for him. His ridiculous batch of titles notwithstanding. “We just don’t hear much about you guys in the West. Honestly, we weren’t even sure there was anyone left in the East. We’d sort of assumed the Forest had finished you all off.”

Which, now that Virgil thought about it, he honestly wasn’t sure if that was simply a misguided belief or another intentional deception to further obscure the truth about this Forest and the Curse from Virgil. Then again, Virgil thinks, Patton may have made a lot of mistakes, but he didn’t think willful deception like that was really Patton’s preferred method. He tended to just avoid things.

The most Virgil had heard about the East Kingdom had been in history books, scribbled in the margins of notebooks. From what Virgil’s been able to gather, the two kingdoms had gone to war ages ago. Virgil couldn’t figure out why, exactly, or even a direct timeline. He assumed it must have been thousands of years ago; so long that the true reason for the feud had been lost to history.

“Hm,” Roman says, his brows pinching together.

“But,” Virgil adds, “it’s nice to meet you, I guess. I’ve never met anyone from the East before. Honestly, I don’t even really know why we were at war with you. So like, maybe you could cut me down now?”

Roman’s careful, scrutinizing gaze sweeps over Virgil. His hand rests on the hilt of his sword. “You still haven’t told me who you are or what you’re doing in this Forest.”

Virgil’s thoughts trip over each other. He can’t very well give his real name--not when the boy had looked almost murderous when he asked about the royal family. He wracks his head for some kind of alternative. “My name is, um, Anxiety.”

Roman blinks at him. “Anxiety?”

Virgil could kick himself. Of course that was a stupid answer. “Uh, yeah. That’s--that’s what everyone calls me, anyway. Not that I know a lot of people. I, um, live here. In the Forest. Alone.”

“You live in the Forbidden Forest?” Roman arcs a skeptical eyebrow.

Virgil silently curses to himself. He’s really not that well-practiced in lying. He didn’t like it, generally. In his experience, it tended to just make things worse. But he could almost hear Janus’s voice in his head, telling him that lying to preserve his safety was preferred to getting hurt.

“Yeah. I’m uh, on the run. From the royal family in the West.” That was… at least somewhat true?

“Why?”

The memories from yesterday morning flash through his mind. “I’m a thief.” Also kind of true.

“A thief.”

“Yes,” Virgil confirms. “How else do you think I got this sword with the royal insignia on it?” Virgil hopes silently and fervently that Roman’s unexplained contempt for the royal family would work in his favor here.

Roman scoffs. “Great,” he mutters, mostly to himself though loud enough for Virgil to hear, “Just what I need. A vagabond with no sense of honor. Fine. The Forest can deal with you.” He turns his back and starts walking away.

“Wait!” Virgil calls out. “Where are you going? You can’t just leave me here.”

Roman turns back to him, crossing back the short distance. “What I can’t do is have a confessed criminal traipsing around the Forest.” He waves a hand to gesture around them.

So apparently his contempt did not outweigh his morals. Virgil has the vague thought that Patton would approve of that, if nothing else. “You misunderstood,” Virgil stammers hurriedly. “When I said thief, I meant like a… a…” What was that story Patton used to read to him when they were kids? “Robin Hood kind of deal. You know, steal from the rich, feed the poor. That’s why the royal family hates me. I’m like a, um, hero.”

Roman’s brows shoot up in surprise. “A hero?”

“In a looser sense of the word--”

“How long have you been hiding in this forest?”

“Wh--oh. Years. Like… forever.” Virgil is starting to get a headache from the blood still rushing to his head.

Roman looks unimpressed. “Yet you nearly got killed by a talking plant moments ago because you stumbled blindly into her lair.”

“Yes,” Virgil says, unable to disagree with that point when they both had been there and Roman had been following him, apparently. “But that’s the first time that’s ever happened.” True. “Which, if you think about it, is sort of a point in my favor, right?”

“Hm.” Roman purses his lips before yanking the sword out of his scabbard. Virgil flinches as it flashes in the sunlight, but there’s the sound of snapping rope and Virgil lands clumsily on the forest floor. The sudden headrush makes spots dance across his vision and Virgil blinks to clear them away.

“Warn a dude, next time?” Virgil grumbles.

“I’ll make you a deal, Robin Brood,” Roman announces, ignoring the comment.

“You can call me Anxiety.”

“My first night in the Forest,” Roman presses on, “my horse got spooked and ran off with my map. Since then, I’ve been--”

“Completely lost?”

“In need of direction.” He points his sword towards Virgil with ease, like it’s an extension of his arm. “If you can take me where I need to go, I promise to spare your life and let you go at the end of our journey.”

That… seems fair to Virgil. He’d take this prince guy on a little side quest, and then he’d be able to rush to the Hollow shortly thereafter. A little detour should be fine, right? “Uh, sure. Yeah. I guess. Where do you need to go?”

“The Hollow of the Kings,” Roman answers as Virgil pushes himself to his feet.

Virgil freezes, his brow furrowing. “Uh, sure. Yeah. But why do you need to go there?”

“That is none of your business. Do we have a deal or should I get my rope?”

Virgil holds his hands up in surrender. “No, sure. Yeah. I’ll take you to the Hollow.”

Roman crosses over to a heavy-looking bag and picks it up. “Now that you work for me, you’ll carry my things.” He shoves the bag into Virgil’s arms. Virgil staggers under the sudden weight, cursing under his breath.

“Yeah, no problem, buddy,” he quips sarcastically, adjusting his hold on the bag to more easily manage the weight.

“Don’t call me buddy.”

“You got it, boss.” Virgil tries to hide a smirk. He couldn’t explain why, but there was something a little fun about teasing the other prince.

“Your Royal Highness is fine,” Roman replies without a shred of irony.

Virgil snorts. “All right, Princey.”

Roman scowls. “Also, please only speak when spoken to. You talk a lot, and it’s beginning to give me a headache.”

Virgil arcs an eyebrow. His ears are still ringing from the headrush. “I’m giving you a headache?”

“Yes. Also--”

“Oh my God, how many rules do you have?”

Roman whirls around and Virgil finds the tip of his sword poised just below his chin. Roman’s expression darkens. “If I find out you’ve been lying to me about anything, I will feed you to the nearest plant. Got it?”

Virgil swallows. “Got it.”

“Great!” he says brightly, sheathing his sword once more. “Then onward we travel. Lead me to the Hollow, Robin Mood.”

“Same joke.”

“It was a variation.”

...

Tags: @creativenostalgiastuff, @helloisthisusernametaken, @ren-allen, @quoth-the-sparrow, @princelogical, @random-pianist, @ravenclawicecream, @erlenmeyertrash, @milomeepit, @at-least-seven-pretty-potatoes, @rileyfirstname, @sassy-in-glasses, @vigilantvirgil, @generalfandomfabulousness, @lacrimosathedark, @thepoolofthedead, @monikastec, @heir-of-the-founders, @yourworstnightmare999, @artistictaurean, @kanejandkruge, @cdragontogacotar, @unikornavenger, @bopthesnoz, @spiralofsilencetheory, @finger-gunsss, @crownswriter123, @narniasfinestavengingsociopath, @swlotakulady34, @gaylotusthatexists, @analogical-mess, @dolphidragon, @flix-net, @friedlieb-ferdinand-runge, @procrastinations-my-middle-name, @theburntesttoast, @monroig, @secretlyawyvern, @puddinglec4t, @give-me-a-minute-to-think, @whispers-stuff-in-your-ear

#sanders sides #prinxiety #romantic prinxiety #prinxiety fanfiction #sanders sides fanfiction #virgil sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #janus sanders #stealing #lying #violence #blood #heed warnings #the two princes #ttpp #the two princes podcast #fanfic

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writings-of-a-daphodil · 4 years

Text

Fire Keeper: Chapter 18

Douxie x fem reader

Masterlist in Bio!

Series Summary: You are Jim’s older sister who is taking a break from college and has moved back home to Arcadia. You end up joining Jim and his friends on their adventures.

Chapter 18 summary: You take the trip to the past!

A/n: So it’s a really long chapter 6,336 words, I don’t know whether to say sorry or your welcome. Also I have no clue how shops were in twelfth century Englad so...yeah. Anyways, enjoy!

“Sorry, this is a lot to process! Pets can talk? The world is ending? Again?” Toby asked as you and Douxie met up with him at the book shop.

“Not the best timing, I know, but we need your help all the same,” Douxie said.

Toby looked at Douxie confusedly. “Douxie? Y/n?”

“Toby!” You hugged him tightly.

“Wai- hold up! I thought you worked at the cafe, or were, like, a model or something,” Steve questioned Douxie.

Douxie chuckled. “There's a lot about me you don't know.”

“Whoa!” Toby gasped as Douxie used his cuff to show off some magic. “You’re like Y/n.”

“What?” Steve asked incredulously.

“Come on, then. The answers to all your questions are within.” Douxie gestured for them to go inside.

Steve scoffed. “Yeah, right. In a bookstore?”

You all walked in to see Merlin levitating some of his books. “Ah! There's flying books!” Toby exclaimed.

“Whoa!” Steve gasped.

“Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! So cool! So cool! So cool! Ooh, what's that?” Toby fanboyed, admiring the cool displays of Magic.

Merlin scowled at Toby when he picked up something. “Put that down! Thank the ether you're here! We haven't a moment to waste.”

“Whoa! Crusty, creepy dude!” Steve exclaimed.

Merlin ignored Steve. “Though, I had hoped for more, Hisirdoux.”

“I tried. I couldn't find the changelings or the aliens. I'm pretty sure most left the planet,” Douxie explained.

Toby waved at Merlin. “Merlin, it's me-- Toby Domzalski! You know, War Hammer, Guardian of Arcadia, Geology Club president.”

Merlin sighed. “No one could forget you, chatty.”

“And Steve Palchuk, Creepslayer!” Steve announced.

“I have no idea who you are,” Merlin dismissed. “But we're desperate. Thankfully, we have the brute.”

“Yum!” Aaarrrgghh grunted, admiring Archie.

Archie swatted at Aaarrrgghh. “I'm not anybody's lunch. Got it?”

“Wait, where's Jimbo and Claire? I thought they were with you,” Toby asked.

You opened your mouth to answer, but Merlin beat you to it. “Answers forthcoming. Make preparations. We've a journey ahead. And don't-”

“-but, Master-”

“-'but, Master' me,” Merlin finished.

Douxie sighed. “But... are you sure you want to count on these children? They're clearly not ready for this.”

Steve scoffed. “Excuse me, college dude, these children fought off a 50-foot extraterrestrial!” Steve hit the helmet off of one of the knights. You were surprised to see that the knight reacted.

“Dude, let go of its head!” Toby ordered, trying to help Steve.

“It's got my head, too, man!” Steve cried.

“Just put it back!” Toby yelled and Douxie sighed, exasperated.

“Master, I'm ready for this,” Douxie promised.

“Doubtful,” Merlin said.

“I've spent years preparing, centuries-“ Douxie started.

Merlin cut him off. “Silence!”

Douxie frowned and you gently patted his back with your good hand.

Merlin sighed. “I mean, silence, all of you. Can you not hear that? Something wicked this way comes.”

You went to the window with Douxie to investigate when you heard a shadow mephit growl. It pounced on the window, only to be thrown back by a shield.

“Shadow mephits? Hisirdoux, did you lead them here?” Merlin asked.

“No, no! I mean, I don't think so?” Douxie chuckled nervously.

“Yes, we did,” Archie answered.

“He found us. The barrier won't hold for long. We must make egress! Tobias, take my things!” Merlin ordered, levitating Toby and up to the roof. “All of you, to the roof!”

You quickly ran up to the roof, fully aware that you would need to protect Toby and Steve if any climbed the building.

You used your good hand to blast a few of the mephits off the roof before Douxie, Merlin, and Archie arrived.

“Stand back!” Merlin ordered, throwing the ship out onto the roof. Glass shattered and the green mist exploded out and then condensed.

“Whoa! Ship just got real!” Steve marveled.

“Everyone on!” Aaarrrgghh called, throwing Steve and Toby on. You levitated on, blasting mephits as you flew.

Eventually you were all on the ship and Aaarrrgghh was trying to get on while the shadow mephits attacked. You and Douxie blasted a few, finally helping Aaarrrgghh up. Steve fell onto Merlin and the ship stopped moving.

You looked over the edge to see the Green Knight standing in the street. “Boy...” he rasped. Suddenly he sent the shards at all of you and you shoved Douxie to the ground.

“Look out!” Merlin grunted, finally getting the ship to move away.

You slipped a bit at the sudden speed, almost falling. Thankfully Douxie caught you, but he grabbed you by your hurt arm. You hissed in pain.

“Oh! Y/n, I’m so sorry,” he apologized.

You brushed it off despite the tears in your eyes, “It’s alright.”

“No, here, let me heal it.” He looked so eager to help so you slowly extended your arm to him. He held it gently as he began to perform a healing spell. Your arm was surrounded in a blue glow as Douxie healed it. You immediately felt the pain fade away. It felt like aloe had just been put on a bad sunburn.

Unfortunately Douxie pulled away. “Alright, good as new.”

You gave a small smile. “Thanks.”

He nodded and opened his mouth to say something else when Merlin slowed the ship down.

“Awesome sauce!” Toby exclaimed as he and Steve whooped. You grinned at them, it was nice to see them happy.

“This is so cool!” Toby called as you watched Arcadia grow smaller.

“What the heck is that?” Steve asked as Camelot came into view.

“Welcome, young squires, to Camelot,” Merlin said.

“Camelot? As in anceint-old-people-times Camelot?” Toby asked.

“Excuse me, I have a question. How is this castle flying right now?” Steve asked.

“The Heart of Avalon. Its magic keeps Camelot aloft, powered by time itself,” Merlin explained.

“You get used to it,” you called to Steve.

Merlin flew the ship past one of the towers and he waved at an old knight standing there. “Sir Galahad, how look the skies?”

“All quiet, my old friend!” Galahad replied.

“Keep your eyes on the horizon,” Merlin called, turning the ship to enter the castle.

You screamed a little as Merlin sped up. “I say, coming in a little hot, don't you think?” Archie asked.

“Rubbish!” Merlin yelled. The ship entered the castle skipping on the floor and you were glad you held on.

Douxie helped you off and you honestly didn’t want him to let go. You were just so tired, you needed the extra support. Thankfully, Douxie didn’t let go of your hand and you were grateful he was there with you.

“Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!” Steve yelled.

Toby gasped, admiring the grand castle. “Whoa!”

“It's been 900 years since I was last here. Hasn't changed a bit. Except for the flying part,” Douxie said.

Steve laughed. “'Nine hundred years'? Yeah, right. You're like, what? Like, 19?”

“Give or take a few centuries,” Archie said, jumping off Douxie’s shoulder and turning into a dragon.

“So, how many things can your cat turn into?” Steve asked.

Douxie smiled. “That depends. How many things are there?”

“Uh, cool, floating castle ship, but what's the grave danger you keep talking about?” Toby asked, trying to get to the point.

Right after he said that Claire, Blinky and Mao walked in. “Ah, there you are,” Merlin said.

“Claire!” Toby exclaimed.

Claire rushed to hug him. “Toby!”

“Arghumont!” Blinky called, running to hug his own friend.

“Blinky!” Aaarrrgghh called back. Aaarrrgghh pulled all of them into a group hug.

Claire gasped in pain. “Not so tight.”

“Oh, sorry,” Aaarrrgghh apologized, letting go.

“Whoa, hey, Steve's here, too! How 'bout, how 'bout some love for Steve?”

“Oh. Hi, Steve,” Claire said, unimpressed.

“What happened to you guys? Wait, where's Jim?” Toby asked, finallly noticing that your brother was missing. You felt a tear slip.

“This way,” Claire said, gesturing back the way they came.

“Jim... What happened to him?” Toby asked, observing the gem Jim was encased in.

“We were ambushed. Some ancient, dark warrior. An unstoppable knight clad in green who struck down Master Jim,” Blinky explained.

Douxie turned to Merlin. “Master, is that the same knight we saw at the bookstore?”

Merlin nodded. “One and the same. That onyx shard is working its way towards his heart. I placed the boy in stasis, stalling its progress... for now.”

“If I had my Shadow Staff, I could've saved him,” CLaire said.

You let go of Douxie’s hand to hug her. “Don’t blame yourself, I should have done something, but I didn’t.”

Toby glared. “Who is this Green Knight? How do I get my hands on him?”

“I do not know. The Green Knight said but one name, which chilled me to the bone, Morgana.” Merlin explained.

“Oh, I hate that lady. Wait, I thought we kicked her bewitched butt to the Shadow Realm?” Toby asked and you could see the poor kid shaking with anger.

“Which he appeared not to know, but he bore the emblem of Camelot. Come with me, quickly. I fear the answer lies in the past. A dark menace is coming, one even I cannot face alone.” Merlin gestured for all of you to follow him and you took hold of Douxie’s hand again.

Once you were all. Inside the new room Merlin spoke again. “You are all now soldiers in a war started centuries ago for the world of magic. Once, the realms of Magic and Man clashed in endless bloodshed. King Arthur sought to wipe out magic that ravaged the lands in his war against Gunmar. I brought what few spellcasters I could under my protection to spare them from the sword.”

“Including myself. Oh, and Morgana le Fay,” Douxie added.

“She was the finest student I ever taught... until she tried to kill me.” Merlin looked down. “Thankfully, in my all-seeing wisdom, I created a secret weapon-- the Trollhunter Amulet. The war came to a standstill and I imprisoned Morgana at the Battle of Killahead Bridge. This Green Knight that assailed us was clearly born of dark magicks but I have no memory of him, nor what connection he could have to Morgana. We know not what he is nor why he pursues us. Though, his presence is a dire omen of things to come.”

Right as Merlin finished his speech a bell began ringin frantically. You all looked away from what Merlin was showing you and gasped. Suddenly the castle was struck by something and you fell to the ground.

“What's happening?” Claire asked.

“Have you never been under attack before? To the battlements!” Merlin ordered and you immediately complied.

You got outside and saw another giant floating castle. It was all dark and creepy.

Archie gasped. “Oh, no! I think we have something of a problem.”

“Oh, fuzz buckets,” Douxie cursed.

“No... the Arcane Order... they found us!” Merlin said and for the first time ever, you heard pure fear in his voice. “Everyone, get to safety, now!”

You moved to put Mao inside and you heard Merlin shout a spell. “Fulgur praeca!”

The castle shook again and you fell. It suddenly got a lot colder so you sped up. The castle shook and you ran into Nari.

“I need to go help. Can you take Mao?” You asked.

“Of course.” You placed your familiar in her hands and took off running back to Merlin and Douxie.

You arrived outside to see a bridge of ice spanning the gap between the two castles.

“They're boarding us! We must break free! Steer us clear at my command!” Merlin ordered and you summoned your fire spell.

“I'm on it!” Douxie called back.

“All of a sudden, flying castles aren't so cool!” Steve screamed.

“These foes' powers are beyond us!” Merlin grunted as a blast of fire came at the two of you. You sent your own fireball back at the black castle.

“Merlin!” You heard Nari yell.

“No! Nari!” Merlin protested, running towards her as you continued to blast fire at your enemies.

“Archie, find the staff or we are all dead meat!” You heard Douxie yell.

“What do you people think I'm doing?” Archie retorted.

“Archie, I'm running out of time, here!” Merlin yelled, trying to cut the ice bridge with his sword while you did your best to melt it.

Finally Archie called, “Got it!”

You and Merlin jumped onto a tower that rose past you.

“Surrender, Merlin,” some creepy thing ordered.crof

“Never!” Merlin growled.

“Merlin! Merlin! Get everyone to safety!” Galahad called.

“No, Galahad! What are you doing?!” Merlin protested.

Merlin and you watched sadly as Galahad used his tower and his life to cut through the ice bridges. You and Merlin ran back to the castle as the bridge you were on was destroyed.

“Farewell, my old friend,” Merlin whispered. “Hisirdoux, now!”

You watched as a green portal opened up to show a completely different forest beneath you. You didn’t have much time to admire it though, you had to keep fighting.

Ice rained around you as you tried to send more blasts of magical fire at the black castle. Suddenly one of those ice shards hit you, sending you over the edge of the castle.

From there you pretty much just straight up tumbled into the portal. You screamed as you fell through the portal. You did your best to slow down your fall, but the landing still hurt.

You slowly got up from the ground and looked up at the portal in the sky. That was when the panic set in, the portal back to your time was slowly closing.

You were about to do something about it when you heard voices. They didn’t sound familiar so you hid behind a tree. Fear coursed through your veins as you waited for whatever was making the noise to come into view.

Men and women dressed in shiny metal armor eventually appeared and you crouched down. You didn't know where you were, or when for that matter. You were lost and alone.

Suddenly you heard screams from above you and you looked up. You watched as Douxie’s magic lit up the bright sky, slowing his descent. Unfortunately he crashed to the ground ahead of the group of knights.

This was bad, you needed to warn them about the knights. You did your best to run through the trees, but by the time you arrived to see Steve, Claire, Douxie and Jim, the knights were already there.

“Advance!” A knight called and suddenly a ton of knights were surrounding your friends. You got ready to attack, but you held back for a second. You would wait for Douxie to make the first move.

“Got them,” a knight replied as Steve screamed.

Douxie sighed. “It means... we are lost in time.”

One knight got off of his horse. “What manner of sorcery is this?” He asked. Weirdly enough, he looked like an older version of Steve.

“Sir Lancelot, um-“ Douxie started and you relaxed a little, Douxie recognized this guy.

“He's so handsome,” you heard Steve whisper.

“I- We-“ Douxie stuttered.

Lancelot seemed to realize something. “Wait! Aren't you Merlin's errand boy?”

“Apprentice,” Douxie corrected.

“He's like an angel-man. Whoa!” Steve whispered. Suddenly you heard a large crack and the green gem that was holding your brother broke.

Lancelot gasped. “The devil-?”

Jim groaned. “What? How did I-“

Claire rushed to hug him. “Jim! Are you okay?”

“Troll! Troll! To arms!” Lancelot called and you got ready to defend your brother and friends.

“Wait! Chill out, lads!” Douxie called in an attempt to calm everyone down.

Lancelot didn’t seem to understand. “Chill? Out?”

Douxie sighed. “Take a breath, all right? He's one of the good ones.”

“There are no good ones,” Lancelot growled. “Monsters are forbidden in Arthur's lands. You'll hang before the king for your insolence.”

You were unable to hear anymore as your friends were arrested. You watched as Jim was unfairly imprisoned in a wooden cage and the rest of your friends were herded away.

You carefully followed them from a distance, but when they got to Camelot you realized that you wouldn’t be able to just waltz in through the front gates with them.

You sighed in frustration. You didn’t understand why everything had to be so difficult. You just wanted to relax for a little while.

But, you had work to do, so you snuck into Camelot. You made your way to an area without many guards and used your magic to get over the wall.

By the time you got in, your friends were nowhere to be seen. You did your best to inconspicuously search the city, but as time passed you didn’t have any luck. With every second you grew more and more frustrated. You were in an unfamiliar place, your brother was injured and possibly dying, and you couldn’t find your friends.

You weren’t going to cry though, you had to stay strong. Sinking to the ground just to cry wouldn’t solve your problems.

You took a deep breath and began to think. You needed a plan, a plan would help you calm down.

First, you needed to blend in more. You had been getting many odd looks from those you passed. You didn’t blame the people. You were covered in dirt from your fall and you had dried blood all over your face from your fight with the shadow mephits back in your time.

Eventually you found a well and you took a clean looking rag from a woman. Using it you did your best to tidy up. Once that was done, you went to go get something better to wear.

You felt bad shoplifting, but you needed to fit in and if you thought about it, you hadn’t a doubt in your mind that your brother and friends had been taken to the castle.

You were obviously in the wealthier part of Camelot, so it wasn’t hard finding a dress shop. If you were gonna be stuck in ancient Camelot, you might as well have fun and dress fancy. You could always find something simpler later.

You stood up straight and did your best to make it look as if you had a purpose. Thankfully no one paid you any attention as you walked in, but you didn’t expect that to last long. While you were cleaner, you weren’t dressed for the time.

You would need a distraction and thankfully magic would give you one. You mice in your head did the hand movements. In seconds you heard squeals come from the back of the shop. You hoped that would keep whoever was here busy for a while so you went and looked for a dress.

Eventually you found a dress that you liked. It was an orangish peach color made of silk with silver embroidered swirls on the bodice. You also grabbed a sweater made of tulle, the same color as the dress. You finished off the look with a silver belt.

It was remarkably easy to take with a little help from your magic and you were able to get away without ringing any alarms or whatever they had in Camelot.

You used your magic to put the dress on and began to make your way towards the castle.

The second step you had come up with was finding a way into the castle. You felt you would be able to get in with the way you looked. Your hair was an absolute mess, but with a little magic it would be easy to hide.

You were able to find a side entrance and you were able to get in. It gave you confidence that your plan was working so well. Now that you were in the castle, it was time for step three.

Step three was the part where you would look for your friends auras, but that quickly became complicated. There were a lot of auras buzzing about the castle and you couldn’t identify exactly where your friends were.

So you would have to modify your plan. You’d wander the castle until you were able to find them. You’d be able to identify their auras if you were closer.

You started by making your way through the first floor. You’d make your way through the castle one level at a time.

While this was supposed to help eliminate any possible frustration, by the time you made it to the third floor tears were pooling in your eyes. You couldn’t find their auras and it was difficult to be sensing so many at once.

You were crossing a bridge, wishing you had stolen a handkerchief for your tears when you came across Douxie’s aura.

You were immediately relieved. Though you were still worried about your other friends and Jim, you had at least found Douxie.

Oddly, you heard Merlin scolding him. “Hisirdoux, do you have feet for hands? All the Slorr juice? You know how long it takes to milk one of those?”

“Sorry, sir. I was just trying to save time,” Douxie said and you got confused. Why was Douxie talking to Merlin like that? Maybe he was trying to cover up that he wasn’t from this time period?

“Your cutting corners has only cost me time,” Merlin said, continuing to scold Douxie. “It's hard enough creating Arthur's new weapon without your mucking about. I need you in the workshop, and you're milking the Slorr.”

As Merlin walked away you ran over to Douxie and hugged him. “Douxie! I’m so glad you’re okay!”

“Um?” Douxie mumbled and you realized that he wasn’t hugging you back.

“What’s wrong?” You asked, pulling away from him.

“I don’t mean any offense, but who are you?” With that you moved away from him, finally noticing that this wasn’t your Douxie.

You chuckled nervously. “I’m so sorry! Um, would you believe that I, uh, that I have a friend named Douxie that looks exactly like you. I mean what a coincidence. You know I’m, um, looking for him right now and I’m gonna go continue to look for him, seeing as you aren’t my Douxie. Haha, Bye.”

You were about to turn and leave when you sensed another aura. This other aura just so happened to also be like Douxie’s.

You turned back, just in time to see a Douxie who looked like the one you knew grab the other Douxie.

“Hey! Aah!” Archie protested and Douxie held his hands up in defense.

“Um, hey, me,” your Douxie said, chuckling nervously.

Past Douxie yelped. “Doppelgänger! You-you're me. I'm me!”

“No need to panic,” your Douxie soothed.

You stepped over to them. “Now, this is the Douxie I was looking for,” you explained.

“Well, how-- how... Wait, this can only mean one thing-” Past Douxie started.

“Time travel paradox!” Both Douxies yelled and you chuckled.

Archie sighed. “Double Douxies? This is a disaster!”

Both Douxies glared at him. “Give me a break, Arch!” They said in unison. “Oh, wow. This is wild!”

“Let's focus on the here and now. Where having two of us will be-“ Douxie started.

“-will be a logistical nightmare,” Archie cut in.

“I agree, uh, so the easiest solution...” Past Douxie trailed off.

“Is for one of us to go away till I return to my time,” Douxie informed.

Past Douxie nodded. “Great idea! But which one of us-?”

Your Douxie cut him off. “Interminus nocti sluumberso!”

Past Douxie suddenly fell asleep and your Douxie put him in a closet.

“I know this looks bad,” Douxie told you and Archie, “but I swear I've got this under control.”

“If that were true, things in the future have really changed,” Archie said.

Douxie laughed sarcastically. “Just don't go blabbing to Merlin, okay? I need to stay incognito. Aah!”

The cabinet burst open and past Douxie fell on Douxie.

“I’ve got it,” you promised, already levitating him back into the closet.

Archie chuckled. “This should be fun to watch.”

Suddenly you heard Merlin yell, “Hisirdoux, what is taking so long?”

“Just cleaning up another mess,” Douxie called back.

Douxie sighed and put his hair up into a bun. “Swore I'd never do this again,” he muttered, and you laughed.

“You look fine,” you soothed, taking his arm.

“So, I see you’ve got yourself a dress,” Douxie said. “I was looking for you, but I couldn’t find you. I was worried something bad had happened.

“I’m fine,” you promised when you felt Douxie’s aura spark with guilt.

“Good, I’m glad.”

“How’s Jim and everyone?” You asked.

“Oh, uh, Jim’s been arrested, but right now everyone else is fine. Steve is being trained by Lancelot and Claire is now Morgana’s handmaiden.”

“Morgana!” You hissed, worry for Claire suddenly overwhelming you.

“Don’t worry,” Douxie soothed. “She hasn’t gone bad yet.”

You hesitated. “What’s the plan then?”

“I’m gonna take you to where I used to live and then we can all meet up later to figure everything out. I’m gonna try and steal the time map to get us out of here.”

“Alright, but if you need any help don’t hesitate to ask.”

“I won’t,” Douxie said, leading you into a room. “Here you are, home sweet home.”

You looked around the room, it was off a decent size, but it was awfully drafty. “Nice place,” you said, taking a seat on a window bench.

“Thanks.” Douxie smiled. “Be careful if you go outside. You look like royalty, but people will question where you’re from.”

“Aw, thanks. You be careful out there too,” you called. “Will do.” He gave a little wave as he closed the door.

You gazed around the room, trying to think of something to do when you yawned. Suddenly you were very aware of how tired you were. If you thought about it you hadn’t slept in over twenty four hours.

You lied down on the bench and closed your eyes, easily drifting off into much needed sleep.

~~~~

You immediately sat up when you heard the door open. You looked around, confused at the sudden noise. Douxie was standing there frozen in the middle of the room.

“Sorry, Y/n. I didn’t mean to wake you,” he apologized.

You yawned. “It’s fine.” You looked over and saw Steve sitting in a chair. “How long have you been here?”

“Not long, I didn’t want to wake you.”

You nodded, grateful, but soon your kind smile turned into one of disgust. “What is that smell?” You asked.

“I, uh- I forgot how much I hate milking the Slorr,” Douxie muttered gagging at the smell he had trailed in. You mimicked him, plugging your nose.

Archie recoiled away from Douxie. “Ugh! Please!”

You looked over to Steve. “How was your guy’s days?”

Steve groaned. “I think Lancelot broke my everything.”

“And I still don't have the Time Map. One wrong move, and we will screw up history without even knowing it,” Douxie grumbled.

You were about to try and sooth the both of them when Claire burst in through the door. “We have to change history! Arthur's had enough. The trolls are gonna die at sunrise!”

“Oh, blimey Balroths! How are we supposed to stop this and stay inconspicuous?” Douxie asked and you could see the panic in his eyes. You felt bad about all the stress that was on him.

Claire sighed. “It wouldn't be a problem if I just had my Shadow Staff. I know you said to lay low, but we can't let Jim die.”

“No we can’t,” you asserted. “Douxie, I’m sorry, but we will have to change history.”

“Yes. Let's see what this future Douxie is capable of!” Archie cheered.

Douxie nodded. “You're right, sod the rules. It's time for a dungeon break.”

~~~~

The four of you snuck down to the dungeon and you watched from behind a post as Lancelot and Galahad laughed.

“No way!” Galahad grinned. The two of them were focused on their conversation so you decided to make a run for it.

“Ah! Oy! Young gentleman of Palchukia, join us in our nocturnal libations,” Lancelot called.

“We are looking for the Holy Grail!” Galahad took a drink. “Oh, well, it's not in that one either!”

Steve chuckled and began to saunter over to the knights. “Steve, no!” You whisper-shouted at him.

“Where do you think you're going, buddy boy?” Archie asked.

“Dude, I'm keeping the guards busy,” he whispered, “while having a righteous time! Ha! Yeah-eah! Drinking with knights! I'm so stoked for my first brew...uh, today.”

“I don’t condone this.” You glared at Steve before going after Douxie and Claire.

Archie sighed. “This is going to end badly. Ohh, I can’t wait.”

“This is going to end badly,” you muttered. The four of you continued to run, eventually coming across the section of the dungeon Jim was in.

“Jim! We're breaking you out,” Claire announced.

“Your stay in Terror Tower is over, mate,” Douxie said, conjuring magic knives for himself and Claire. Douxie cut open Jim’s cell.

“And presto, one liberated troll,” Archie announced.

“Hahaha! Take that, death! I elude you once again-“ a troll shouted as Jim freed her.

You hugged Jim tightly. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, no need to worry.”

“A big sister always worries,” you said before going to free more trolls.

As you freed the last one you heard Steve shouting/rapping. “My lord Arthur's in the building. Watch out, y'all, he's here to do some creep-killing. Get out of here.”

“Now, now, everyone just stay calm,” Douxie said in an attempt to sooth the trolls. Unfortunately his attempt completely failed.

All of the newly liberated trolls panicked and began to stampede out of the dungeon.

You were pushed up against the wall as the trolls left. You looked over to Douxie. “What now?”

“We do our best to help them.” You all ran out of the dungeon and into Camelot. When you got outside you say that the sky was fading from a light purple to a blue. You heard the metal armor of guards clanking after you.

“Is this part of your plan?” Archie asked.

“I'm improvising!” Douxie yelled, fiddling with his cuff.

“Quick, through the alleys! They can't catch all of us!” Jim’s friend called. You followed Douxie as Claire helped Jim.

You turned down a path, but stopped when you heard more clanking.

You looked to Jim one last time. “Stay safe!” You called.

“I will!” He promised.

“Did you see where they went?” A man you assumed was King Arthur asked.

“Quick! In here! This way, sir! Don't worry, sire, I'll freeze them on the spot,” Douxie offered, he messed with his cuff.

“Then do it! This way, men! Charge!” Arthur ordered. Douxie spun his cuff as Arthur and his men went to run after Jim, but at the last moment he cast a spell, opening two blue portals. Arthur and his men charged into them, only to appear out the other one. “What trickery is this now?”

Douxie sighed. Oh, fuzz buckets! I must have cast an Infinite Hallway by accident. You know how frustrating magic is. Uh, let me-let me just find the right spell.”

“Wizard, remove this enchantment or I'll remove your head!” Arthur threatened. “You! Girl! What are you doing?”

“Uh, me?” You asked.

“Yes, you!”

“Well, I’m-I’m terrified,” you cried. “This kind young man has been helping me.” You put the back of your hand to your forehead and pretended to look feint.

You leaned on Douxie and whispered. “Their auras are gone, you can let the king go now.”

Douxie did as you asked and Arthur and his men ran off. “Come on, we can’t let them get to the gate,” Douxie said, grabbing your hand and pulling you to a nearby house.

“Up we go,” you mumbled, using your magic to help you climb the house. You, Douxie, and Archie made it to the top of the house just as Arthur was about to reach the gates. Thankfully Douxie slammed them down just in time.

“Men, after them! Get this open at once!” Arthur commanded. You watched as Jim and his friend tried to run away, but they stopped when the sun hit the bridge.

The sun slowly spread, forcing the trolls to retreat closer to the gate Douxie was struggling to keep closed. You added your magic to his, and the gate glowed both blue and orange.

Unable to get the gate open, the knights put their swords and spears through the opening, trying to stab the poor trolls. You and Douxie gasped for breath as it became a struggle to keep the gate shut. Soon it became too much and you had to let go.

Suddenly, the day began to get darker and shadows spread across the bridge, paving a path for the trolls to get to the forest. You turned around, looking for the aura that was casting the incredible display of dark magic only to find Claire. You pulled Douxie towards her.

The two of you jumped from roof to roof till you managed to get to the bridge she was on. You could see the strain she was under and you raced over to her. Douxie caught her just as she collapsed.

“By the seven rings, how did you manage that?” He asked and Claire groaned. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Easy!”

“It’s gonna be okay, Claire. Jim and the trolls are safe.” You soothed.

“Are you sure?” She asked.

“I’ll check.” You closed your eyes and focused on Jim’s aura. You felt a shift and opened your eyes. Your projection was standing behind a tree.

You looked around, trying to get the gist of what was happening when you saw Gunmar and Bular standing in front of Jim. “Little king, these Wild Woods are my domain. I command the souls of all under its shade, and I decide who lives or dies!”

You saw shuffling and looked over to see one of the gumm-gumms kill a knight. You gasped at the horrific sight and Jim looked over to you. His friend helped him over to you.

“Y/n!” He whispered.

“Stay safe Jim. I’ll send more messages later okay?”

“Okay, I love you.”

“I love you too.” You gave a little wave to Jim as he left and you continued to watch the rest of the encounter play out.

“You can only push us so far, human,” Gunmar growled.

“This isn't over!” Arthur yelled, retreating.

“War is coming!” Gunmar retorted and you stopped projecting before he could see you.

You felt the shift and you were once again standing with Claire, Douxie and Archie. “He’s gonna be okay. All we need to do is figure out a way to get home.”

Douxie nodded. “Let’s go. Arthur is going to be furious when he gets back.

Claire took a step away from the two of you. “I want to go thank Morgana. I’ll meet up with you.” She went off and Douxie offered you his arm.

~~~~

“I was right, Arthur is furious. He's locked down the castle,” Douxie said, pacing.

“Luckily, he thinks you're so incompetent, you can't be a suspect,” Archie pointed out.

“At least we got Jim and the prisoners away safe,” Claire added optimistically.

“Yeah,” you agreed. “It’s not all a loss.”

Douxie turned to walk out the door. “Where are you going?” Archie and you asked in unison.

“To get that TIme Map. Hopefully with Arthur on the hunt, I've got a chance to finally snatch that thing,” Douxie answered and you grabbed his arm.

“I’m coming too.” Douxie nodded and you and Archie followed him to Merlin’s tower. You unlocked the door and the three of you snuck over to the vault. Douxie opened in only to find an old gnome skeleton in it. Douxie closed it again and tried to open it, only to find an old horn. He continued trying to no avail.

The both of you sighed when he opened it to a bird’s nest full of eggs.

“Looking for this?” The three of you jumped and turned to see Merlin holding the time map. “Or perhaps this?”

Merlin took the sleeping Past Douxie out of a cabinet and you noticed he had given him a pillow.

“Oh, fuzz buckets!” Douxie cursed.

“Have you any idea what you've done?” Merlin asked. “I knew my apprentice was an ignoramus, but traveling through time? Time!”

“Hey now!” You yelled, defending Douxie. Merlin ignored you.

“I think we handled ourselves just fine, all things considered. And, technically, it was your idea,” Douxie explained.

Merlin pointed his finger in Douxie’s face. “Well, then, you must have botched it up! My planning is flawless.”

Past Douxie spoke up, “For the record, Master, I had nothing to do with this. He did, which is he, and... ugh! Time travel, so confusing!”

Merlin went over to the time map and winced as it flashed red. “Aah! The timelines are in complete disarray!”

“Look, I can fix this, I swear!” Douxie promised.

Merlin shook his head. “Ah-ah, your meddling has already wreaked enough havoc on history.”

“Then surely we can use the Time Map to change things back, and then it'll all be as it was,” Archie suggested and you nodded along to his plan.

“It doesn't work that way. The map only offers glimpses of possible futures. There are no detailed instructions,” Merlin countered.

“Oh, come on, it's not that bad,” Douxie said optimistically. He tried to grab the time map, but Merlin swatted at his hand.

The timeline flashed to show Arthur's death and all of you gasped. “Aah! By my beard! Not that bad, eh?” Merlin asked.

“Oh, fuzz buckets,” Past Douxie cursed.

“Fuzz buckets,” your Douxie agreed.

Merlin walked over to the door. “Your little dungeon break must have changed fate. Now, unless I stop it, the king will die!”

****

So, tada, thanks for reading all of that. Honestly there’s a very high possibility that the next chapter will be even longer. He-he. The next chapter is gonna be really great and I’m so excited to write it. Anyways, I hope that y’all have a fantastically wonderful weekend.

~~~~

Also the scene where Douxie heals Y/n’s arm was inspired by @furblrwurblrrequest:

i! I'm curious to see one where doux kinda cares for her wounds? like a quick little fluffy one while they're on the ship after they get away from arthur? idk aaaa

~~~~

P.S. if you want to be on the taglist feel free to ask. I hope it works and please message me if it doesn’t.

#douxie x reader #douxie imagine #hisirdoux casperan x reader #hisirdoux x reader #wizards imagine #trollhunters #trollhunters imagine #tales of arcadia imagine #toa imagine #douxie #toa douxie #wizards douxie #trollhunters douxie #toa #tales of arcadia #tales of arcadia douxie #hisirdoux casperan #fire keeper

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meetthemidwest · 5 years

Note

About Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio playing video game, I have to know what they said during the subspace emissary gameplay. May we hear about what happened? Please and thank you, you fabulous person

This took so long and I’m so sorry but finals week happened and I had to study for apush! There are spoilers, but the game came out in 2008 so I’m not too concerned. I still put it under the cut just in case someone didn’t want it spoiled. I really hope tumblr doesn’t cut this, there’s a lot here.

Subspace Emissary is a two player story mode in Smash Bros Brawl, and since there are three of them, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio take turns. Indiana and Ohio play the first level.

Indiana: You know what? I kind of relate to Kirby.Kentucky: Please explain what the hell that means.Indiana: He inhales food and killed god.Ohio: Oh please, you haven’t killed god yet.Kentucky: Yet? YET??

After the whole fight with Mario and Kirby, there’s a part where the Halberd flies over the stadium and drops a bunch of shadow bugs.

Ohio: Those things look like the mold that was growing in my basement last year.Indiana: Glowing and purple?Kentucky: Delicious.Ohio: What the actual fuck Kentucky?Kentucky: No, you don’t understand, nature is delicious.Indiana: Oh really? I’ll be right back.She comes back in five minutes later with an armful of plants from Ohio’s backyard.Kentucky: *picks up a leaf* There’s a spider on this one.Indiana: Eat it.Ohio: DON’T EAT IT!Kentucky: Aw, it fell.Ohio: *jumps from his chair to the table* Fucking kill it already!Indiana promptly throws it at him and he screams like a girl. The video cuts there. It comes back to Indiana and Ohio arguing over who to save in the first boss battle.

Indiana: Zelda’s twenty times better than Peach you dumbass!Ohio: Peach is the original Nintendo princess! You respect the originals or I’ll put you in the goddamn dirt!Kentucky: You just got a game over.Indiana: No one asked for your input Bill Monroe!Kentucky: How the hell do you know who that is?The video devolves into screaming. It cuts to Kentucky and Ohio playing while Indiana eats a pot of Kraft macaroni and cheese. They’ve saved Peach and moved on.

Kentucky: Hey, it’s Pit from Kid Icarus on the NES!Indiana: Fucking nerd!Ohio: Nice redesign.Kentucky: Yeah, well, if we aren’t going to get Geno, it’s nice that an obscure Nintendo game is getting some love.Ohio: *looks directly into the camera* Localize Mother 3 you cowards.Kentucky: PLAYER TWO CAN TELEPORT HELL YES YOU’RE CARRYING THE TEAM OHIO!

Indiana: DOnkEy KoNG!Kentucky: Did Diddy Kong always have guns or is that a new thing?Ohio, drinking tea in the background: Neither of you have ever played Donkey Kong Country and it shows.Kentucky: Oh god, Danky Kang just sacrificed himself for his son!Indiana: Wish that was the relationship I had with Quebec but he just calls me his bastard daughter and I call him my asshole father.Kentucky: Oof.

Ohio: Oh shit, Indi, get your xylophone, we’ve got a pokemon!Indiana: *starts playing the original pokemon battle theme on the xylophone while Kentucky fights Rayquaza but dies because he’s laughing too hard.*

Indiana: That feeling when you’re kidnapped by a small primate in a baseball cap.Ohio: No, that can happen. Have you ever been to the zoo?Kentucky: Are you okay?Ohio: *voice crack* no.

*Lucas and Porky appear*Ohio, ripping the controller out of Kentucky’s hands: YOU LEAVE MY BABY ALONE YOU CAPITALIST FUCK!Indiana: Oh shit, he’s crying!Kentucky: And I’m the nerd?Indiana: Shut up nerd, Mother 3 was hard on him.

*Ness appears*Indiana: SNES is just a word scramble of Ness.Kentucky: Mother 3 confirmed?Ohio: NOOO NESS JUST GOT FUCKING KILLED BY WARIO!Indiana: Weak.

*Pokemon Trainer appears*Kentucky: ASH KETCHUM???Indiana: You’re so stupid. It’s Red, obviously.Ohio: Red and Ash Ketchum’s secret love child.Indiana: *Gets up* I quit.

*Battlefield Fortress*Ohio: You know what this looks like?Kentucky: Oh god please no.Indiana: *pulls out Kentucky’s xylophone* Ready when you are.Kentucky: Indiana, if you value our friendship, please don’t do this.Indiana: We’re not friends though.*Marth is introduced. Indiana starts playing Together We Ride on the xylophone. Ohio joins in on a green plastic kazoo. Kentucky slams his face into the table and gets a nosebleed.*

Indiana: Hey it’s Spanish Batman from Kirby Right Back At Ya!Ohio: Never say those words in front of me again.

*Ike appears*Kentucky: Please don’t-Indiana and Ohio: *Playing the recruitment theme With Us on their instruments.*Kentucky: *looks into the camera like Jim on The Office*

Kentucky: Luigi is my spirit animal because he’s a coward with a heart of gold, like me.Indiana: You’re a coward, but I know you had your heart surgically removed in 1847 so don’t even try that bullshit with me.Ohio: He had a heart before 1847? Damn. See, I relate more to King Dedede because he’s a king and his relationship with Kirby reminds me of Michigan and I.Indiana: Yeah, that sounds about right.Ohio: I don’t like the implications there.

*Link appears*Indiana, shoving Ohio and Kentucky out of the way and wearing a Legend of Zelda hoodie: Move bitches, it’s my time to shine.Ohio: Oh thank god Yoshi’s here because I’m not playing as Link. Kentucky, doing a scarily accurate impression of Yoshi: YOSHI!Indiana: What the FUCK Kentucky???Kentucky, coughing: If I do that for too long I lose my voice.Indiana: Then don’t do it!

*There are some enemies that I distinctly remember in this part that scared the hell out of me, and they’re called Puppits.*Ohio: Oh god, oh fuck, what are these things?Indiana: Kill it!Ohio: *dies* SHIT!Kentucky, eating gummy bears out of a paper bag: Why are y’all so bad at this? It’s just an enemy.Indiana: *throws her controller at Kentucky and hits him in the forehead.*

*The cutscene with the box*Indiana: Snake? SNAKE?? SNAAAAAAAAAAKE!!!!Kentucky: SPOILERS!

*Zero-Suit Samus*Indiana: I wish that were me.Ohio: Why? She’s not that much prettier than you.Indiana: Space guns.Kentucky: Of course.Indiana: Also I think a lot of girls would be into me if I had that ass.Ohio: There it is.

*Pikachu*Ohio: Did you guys know that this is how we powered the first rocket to the moon?Kentucky: Electricity rat.Indiana: Thomas Edison used Pikachu to power America, your history books have been lying to you.Ohio: We’re going to get killed by the government, aren’t we?Kentucky: Yeah, but not for this.

*The battle against Subspace Peach*Indiana: Mario’s going to be so pissed.Kentucky: Yeah, but Yoshi’s Mario’s lifelong friend, so surely everything will be a-okay!*Mario battle ensues*Ohio: Love blinds all.Indiana: Stop trying to sound wise, I literally watched you burn your tongue on your coffee and throw it into a wall.Ohio: You know what Indiana? Fuck you.

Indiana: Kirby Kirby Kirby that’s the name you should know!Kentucky: Kirby Kirby Kirby he’s the star of the show!*Both look at Ohio*Ohio, obviously disappointed in life: He’s more than you think, he’s got maximum pink.Indiana and Kentucky: Kirby Kirby Kirby’s the one!

Indiana: Ew it’s Ganondorf.Kentucky: Wait, I thought he was a pig?Ohio: Well Kentucky, people can be pigs without looking like them, like New York.Kentucky: No, wasn’t he literally a pig?Indiana: That was Ganon.Kentucky: They’re… they’re the same thing?

*Wario battle*Ohio: IS LUCAS DOING THE ARTHUR MEME?Indiana: HOLY SHIT HE IS!Kentucky: MOTHER 3 CONFIRMED!*they all start screaming incoherently. The video cuts to them actually fighting Wario. Ohio is Lucas, Kentucky is the Pokemon Trainer.*Ohio: My boy Lucas has seen some shit.Kentucky: Your boy Kentucky has also seen some shit, how about a little love over here?Ohio: No.Kentucky: Thanks.

*Bowser’s army attacks the castle Dedede is in.*Indiana: Oh my goodness he’s Dedede-dead!Ohio: I’m going to sew your lips together while you sleep.

*Bowser gets away with Peach’s trophy*Kentucky: This is so sad, Indiana play Ave Maria.Indiana: *plays Ave Maria on the kazoo*

Kentucky: I love how Ike, the youngest and most impulsive, jumps right off a cliff while both Marth and Meta Knight reach out to stop him.Ohio: Me with my bastard siblings.Indiana: Let me guess, Wisconsin’s Ike, Michigan’s Meta Knight, and you’re Marth?Ohio: No, because I don’t join them in their bullshit.Indiana: Oh? Then what do you call the time the three of you tied Illinois to a tree and left him there for a week?Ohio: It’s called knocking the wealthy down a few pegs.Kentucky: Guys, this was an appreciation of Fire Emblem characters and nothing more.

*Diddy Kong trophy*Indiana: PeRSonALLy I PrEFer ThE AiR!Kentucky: OH! GRAB THE FAN! *they proceed to get the giant Subspace Diddy Kong to 500% and launch him off the screen.*Ohio: The monkey’s kidnapping a bird.Indiana: I saw that happen in Florida once.

*Ridley battle*Kentucky: HE’S TOO BIG FOR SMASH BROS!*Kentucky then plays the Ridley theme on the xylophone while Ohio attempts to crawl out a window and Indiana screams*

*Olimar and Captain Falcon*Kentucky in the background playing Pikmin music on the xylophone: Isn’t this nice? Pikmin was one of the best games I ever played.*West Virginia kicks down the door and plays the F-Zero theme on an electric guitar*Kentucky: Get the hell out!West Virginia: While y’all were sitting in here playing video games I got arrested for tax fraud and broke out on my own.Indiana: Amateur. What’s your point kid?West Virginia: Get on my level. Get hobbies for god’s sake. You’re going to be killed one day, you gotta live in the moment.Ohio: I die when I decide, you little rat faced bastard. There’s a cupcake in the fridge, take it and get out.West Virginia: Alright, I’m going to elope with Mothman, see y’all later.

Indiana: DOnkEy KoNG!!!!Kentucky: Aw heck, I died.

*Ice Climbers*Ohio: That jumping noise definitely isn’t going to get annoying in the next few minutes.Kentucky: *slowly mutes the tv*Indiana: You guys are really dumb sometimes. You know that, right?

*the two groups meet up*Indiana: The gang’s all here!Ohio: If you play as Link again I’m going to suffocate you on camera.Indiana: With what?Kentucky: His Ohio State mascot body pillow.Indiana: What the fuck.Ohio: You’re next, Kentucky.

*Snake*Kentucky: Sometimes I just want to hide in a box while my problems run around without me.Indiana: Shame problems are like Lucario and can see right through your hiding place.Ohio: Guys, I dropped a hot pocket into the hole in the wall and I can’t get it out.

*Sheik and Peach*Indiana: I’m getting some strong Peach loves her strong girlfriend vibes from this.Kentucky: I’d love my strong girlfriend too if I had one.Ohio: No living organism would put up with you for more than a week.Indiana: YO PEACH IS SUCH A BADASS!Ohio: SEE???Indiana: Zelda’s still better though.Kentucky: Fox McCloud’s going down.Indiana: Do a barrel roll!Ohio: Shit, I want tea.Kentucky: Then make some!Ohio: Okay! Jeez, don’t yell at me.

Indiana: Where did Mr. Game and Watch even come from?Ohio: Hell.Kentucky: Actually, there’s a series of handheld games-Indiana: Shut up nerd!

*Subspace bomb factory*Indiana: American weapons storage.*the entire factory blows up*Kentucky:… American weapons storage.Ohio: It’s us when we try to get together for holidays.

Ohio: Kirby rides in on a fucking dragon to save the day!Indiana: Sakurai showing clear favoritism for his children.Kentucky: Virginia made West a pepperoni roll once and when I asked for one she told me that I could starve.Ohio: GUYS IT WASN’T MASTER HAND IT’S THIS ASSHOLE OLD MAN LOOKING GUY AND BOWSER’S DEAD STOP HAVING FEELINGS AND GET YOUR HEADS IN THE GAME!

*Everyone dies*Indiana: I want butterfly wings that kill people.Kentucky: Evolve and grow them.Indiana: Good idea.Ohio: LUCAS NOOOOOOO!

*Dedede, Ness, and Luigi**Ohio walks in dressed as King Dedede, Indiana’s dressed as Ness, and Kentucky is dressed as Luigi*Kentucky: I still think I should have done sexy Luigi, but whatever.Indiana: Ohio, say it.Ohio: I’m not going to say it, fuck off.Indiana: Say it.Ohio: No!Indiana: SAY IT.Ohio: I’m gonna clobber that there Kirby.Kentucky: That’s mama Luigi to you!Indiana: Fuck, Ness doesn’t have any funny lines. Ohio: Can we please play the game now?Indiana, clearly excited: OKEY

*Great Maze*Indiana: You’re going the wrong way!Ohio: You’re hogging the remote! Let Kentucky play!Kentucky: That’s the wrong door!*they start screeching at each other. Minnesota walks into the room about to say something, shakes his head, and leaves.*

*Tabuu fight*Kentucky: I’m vibing with this music.Ohio: Don’t try and sound young, we all know you’re old as fuck.Indiana: Ohio if you don’t stop dying I’m going to throw you out a window.Kentucky: SONIC SPEED! *proceeds to die* GOSH DARN IT!Indiana: WHY ARE YOU USING SONIC?Kentucky: HE WAS RIGHT THERE I HAD TO!*they die about twelve more times, but only one makes the final cut. At some point they beat the game*

Indiana: This was cute. I really liked the relationships in it.Ohio: Yeah, shame we’ll never get a wholesome and fulfilling story mode again, right guys?Kentucky: *plays the Smash Ultimate theme on the xylophone.*Indiana: I’ll go get my Switch.Ohio: You better.Indiana: I’ll hit you.Ohio: You’re in my house, that’s assault.*Indiana kicks Ohio out of his chair. The video cuts for the last time*

#i've still got another ask and i'll get to that one soon don't worry #statetalia #aph states #aph indiana #aph ohio #aph kentucky #hws states #hws indiana #hws kentucky #hws ohio #aph west virginia #hws west virginia #aph minnesota #hws minnesota #the states play video games

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daybreak-academy-fanfic · 4 years

Text

Daybreak Academy: Chapter 17

Ven’s Artful Eye

Summary: In which Ventus reluctantly helps Ephemer. Word Count: 1,445 First | Previous | Next ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆

Ventus had decided a long, long time ago that he should not be trusted with fragile things. Delicate china, priceless ceramic bowls, even stained glass windows- Ventus avoided them in fear of breaking anything. So why he ended up on the list to help organize the student art gallery was beyond him. Maybe Vanitas had done it as some form of a joke. Maybe it was just mandatory for First Years to help this week.

Either way, Ven was not happy.

So far, he was doing a pretty decent job of not being seen. He occupied himself with the art hooks, sorting through them based on height, so when someone needed a hook he'd just hand one off without any thought to it. It was easy, simple, and most people didn't even register that he was there to begin with. Was it rather lonely sitting in the supply closet? Yeah, but at least he knew he wouldn't mess anything up this way.

His peace was easily interrupted by an older boy shouting, “Hey! You wanna lend us a hand?”

Begrudgingly, knowing that the older boy couldn't have been talking to anyone else, Ven looked up. The boy calling to him was definitely older, but gave a youthful appearance with his still boyish face and short curly hair. With him was a small cart filled with student created paintings, and standing next to him was a girl with long black hair, light brown eyes that stared sharply at Ven, and star shaped earrings who looked incredibly impatient.

In some part of self defense, Ven held up his arms and tried to say, “O-oh no. I was just...”

“Doing nothing.” the girl immediately retorted. Just the tone of her voice made Ven flinch. Her friend noted this too and gave her a cold glare.

“Skuld, don't be rude.” he then said- a faint hint of mocking coming from his tone.

“I'm not being rude- I want to be finished so I can work on my math test.”

“But you've memorized all those formulas...”

“But am I practicing them? No, no I'm not. Knowing the formulas, and actually putting them to use, are two separate beasts.”

The boy gave his friend an uncertain look before turning his attention back to Ventus.

“Come help me out,” he once more offered. “So my lovely friend here can go back to studying.”

“I...” Ven tried to argue, but in finding he didn't have a good rebuttal, he gave a small sigh instead. “Alright.”

Slowly picking himself up, Ven walked over to the kid and his friend to dutifully follow them.

“We're going to hang these paintings up in the West Wing of the main building.” the older boy told the younger. “The snow last week inspired a whole lotta people, so we have permission to hang stuff up wherever!”

Ventus just gave a small nod to show he understood. His silence was the cause of interest in the older boy. A wide smile appeared on his face in some kind of hidden amusement.

“You're a first year kid, aren't cha?”

Without realizing it, Ven jumped.

“Y-yeah,” he agreed, “I am. How… how did you know?”

“I've got an eye for those kinda things.” he insisted, tapping his nose a few times for emphasis. “Besides, you still have some sense of hope in you, unlike my friend here...”

A half-hearted 'humph' from his friend illustrated that she was only partially listening to him. The boy playfully stuck his tongue out at her, perhaps because he knew she wasn't paying attention to him.

“Oh, by the way,” he then said to Ven, “The name's Ephemer. My cheerful friend over there is Skuld.”

“Ventus.” Ven replied, pointing to himself. “But most people call me Ven.”

Ephemer gave Ven a bright smile.

“Nice to meet you Ven!” he greeted, sounding just as pleased. Ephemer then looked up to see where they were. “This looks like a good spot to hang some artwork up.” he decided. “Hand me one of the hangers, Ven.”

For a moment, Ven jumped as if he hadn't expected Ephemer to actually talk to him. With a small nod, Ventus got out one of the art hooks and handed it to Ephemer. Ephemer did not take the hook right away; instead he was holding up a painting to determine where to place it.

“Do you think they meant to have this thing going sideways or upright?” he mused to no one in particular. Skuld absently looked up, looked at the painting, and tilted her head in thought.

“Upright.” she decided.

“I think it's meant to be a landscape painting.” Ventus objected before he could stop himself. This earned him an equal look from the other two.

“How so?” Ephemer entertained. Instead of answering right away, Ven could feel his body tense.

“W-well...” he tried to stutter, “If you look at the top, you can see that the artist tried to do a gradient skyline. And… and there, it looks like spires from a castle or something. Then there's that thing that kinda looks like a chain coming down from one of the spires to something off the painting, like it's being anchored in. It all leads down to that grass area. I-I guess.”

Ephemer raised an eyebrow at Ven before looking back at the painting. “You know,” he mused, “I think I see it.”

Despite himself, Ventus gave a small sigh. Good answer, Ven. Good answer.

The three of them continued to work until Skuld decided to leave. She had mumbled a word of good bye to Ephemer and nothing to the youngest boy, so Ven didn't even realize she had left at first. After Ephemer let Ven take a break for lunch, the boy decided to give a half-hearted attempt at making small talk.

“You two seem to know each other pretty well. It must be nice- I've never been that close to anyone before.”

“Who...” Ephemer started to ask, caught off guard by Ven's sudden statement. When he realized what the younger boy was talking about, a wide smile appeared on his face. “Oh, you mean Skuld? I've known her since she started coming to school. We've been practically inseparable since then!”

“So,” Ven then ventured to guess, “You're in the same year?”

Ephemer adamantly shook his head. “Nah; Skuld's actually a year older than I am, so she's in Seventh Year classes while I'm in Sixth Year classes.”

“Oh...”

“It's not all bad,” Ephemer then mused as he readjusted a painting, “I usually manage to snag her notes so I can use them later. Her notes are so well made, and she makes them look super nice too. I can only dream of taking notes as good as hers!”

The youngest boy gave a small nod of agreement. Not sure of what else to say, Ventus got back to helping Ephemer set up the artwork.

“There!” the older boy decided once the last painting was put up. He then turned to Ven as held out his hand, “Thanks for all the help, Ven. You've got a real eye for this stuff, you know?”

“Don't leave yourself out,” Ventus sheepishly replied, “You did most of the leg work.”

“Ah, you're too kind, Ven.” Ephemer grinned. “Let's meet up again soon. I'd like to see your do actual curating at the next art show- maybe even spearhead the whole thing so more folks come!”

“O-oh, I don't think I could. Vanitas wouldn't like it if I...”

“Vanitas?”

Ven froze dead in his tracks. Did he just mention Vanitas? Oh no, oh no, oh no…!

“He… he's my brother!” the young boy quickly said to the other. “Y-yeah, my twin brother! He's kinda cranky and doesn't like it when we're separated for too long. You know? I-isn't it funny? I'm the oldest and he acts like he's in charge of everything!”

“Can't relate.” Ephemer mused, folding his arms together in contemplation. “I'm an only child.”

“O-oh...”

“Maybe sometime we can all meet up again.”

“Huh?”

Ephemer smiled once again, a wide, genuine smile that almost made Ventus feel guilty for some reason.

“Let's meet up some day.” Ephemer repeated. “You, me, your brother, Skuld- heck, maybe we can even throw in Anora for good luck!”

Ven was taken aback for a moment. Anora? Who was Anora? Before he could ask, Ephemer stepped up to him and offered his hand out. Ven looked at his hand before looking up at Ephemer himself.

“I… Okay.” he agreed, taking the older boy's hand to shake it. Seeing Ephemer's grin grow only continued to make Ventus even more guilty. Vanitas was not going to like this.

#daybreak academy #chapter 17 #kingdom hearts fanfiction #Ventus #Ephemer #Skuld #Season 1

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bicon-korra · 6 years

Text

home is where you are

[Allurance, word count: 3,470, post-S7, canon-compliant]

Summary: Allura feels out of place at the Garrison (and Earth in general) and Lance provides some hecking support, Pidge and Keith make an appearance, Allura gets flirty and we get a first kiss

[Read it on AO3]

Allura woke up with a start to the sound of silence, her senses buzzing. It was early morning, telling by the white light streaming through her window. She began to hear birds chirping, signaling the start of a new day. So strange, this planet…Their sporadic lilts were a sharp contrast to Keith’s morning drill calls. She felt poised to jump into action but remembered that they were on Earth now, in a state of temporary peace.

She rubbed her eyes and took in her surroundings—the Garrison quarters didn’t feel like her room back in the Castle of Lions, or even her cramped space in the Blue Lion. The walls were painted cream. Old photos of the Garrison campus hung on the wall. Her new Garrison uniform was folded neatly on a wooden chair. Allura sat up and stretched, yawning loudly. She instinctively reached for her tiara at her bedside table and found nothing. That’s right. She lost it when she used its crystal for Shiro’s arm. She was utterly relieved that it stabilized him—something as inconsequential as giving up her crown was nothing in comparison to saving her dear friend. Still, she felt off not having it.

She slipped on her orange uniform jacket, its sleeves stiff and wide. Her pants were not as fitted as her paladin underarmor, with sharp creases running along each leg. Allura frowned as she looked down at her outfit. It was a far cry from her Altean uniform, which was safely tucked away in Blue. She tightened the belt at her waist to make it look more feminine. Not a vast improvement but one she could work with. She put up her hair hastily, using several pins to hold her heavy curls in place. The hologram of her parents on her bedside table caught her eye, and she felt a heaviness seep into her chest. The alarm clock next to it rang quietly and broke her stare. It was time for breakfast.

Allura walked to the end of the hall where Lance stood leaning against the wall waiting for her.

“Morning, Princess!” he chirped. He was always eager to start the day with her.

“Morning,” she smiled. She took in his clean-pressed Garrison look. His hair was still as mussed as ever, but he looked really sharp and handsome in his new suit, the jacket framing his torso perfectly. Allura felt something stir in her chest. Odd.

“So today’s breakfast is…you guessed it! The superfood combo again! Tomorrow they’ll probably shake things up and switch the skim milk to 1% milk,” Lance joked.

“I could really use a milkshake instead,” Allura sighed. The Garrison was not normally as rigid with their meal options, but the lack of supplies demanded a diet designed for nutritional sustenance over pleasure.

“Right there with ya.”

“Will we be sitting at our usual spot?”

“Sure, unless you wanted to sit somewhere else? I think Hunk is away doing systems checks right now but Keith and Pidge will be there.”

“No, it’s not that. I just—I feel like people…stare at me.”

Lance stopped walking and tried reading her expression. “Stare at you how?” he asked, his brows knitting in concern.

“They’re not bad stares, just…” She gestured to her face. “An Altean in a cafeteria is like a choferiak in a yelmore’s den.”

Lance smiled. “You know half of the people are trying to wrap their brains around the fact that an Altean princess is one of humanity’s last hopes for survival. The other half just wants to be you because you’re awesome,” he grinned.

Allura blushed, the warmth on her face a welcome surprise since they landed on Earth. So this is the effect Loverboy Lance has.

“You’re giving me too much credit. You know they’re staring at you too,” Allura said shyly. Lance’s eyes widened and he gave a lopsided smile.

“You, and the rest of the paladins,” she quickly added. Quiznack, why was it so hard for her to be honest with him?

Lance’s face relaxed a little. “I do feel pretty badass right now, after our fight with…whatever that thing was.” He scratched his head nervously.

“We’ll find out more about it, in time,” she reassured him. “We’re here. Let’s eat.”

---

Allura and Lance picked up their trays of food and walked over to where Keith and Pidge were sitting. Pidge was explaining something sciency, gesturing wildly with her hands, while shoveling food into her mouth. Keith seemed lost in thought, swirling his spoon in his bowl of oatmeal, but kept nodding to show he was paying attention.

“Hi guys!” Lance plopped down next to Keith and Allura next to Pidge.

“Hey,” Pidge and Keith greeted them.

“What are you guys talking about?” Lance asked.

“I was trying to explain Atlas’s construction to Keith, starting from my dad’s early designs. When he was imprisoned, the Galra found out he was an engineer and used his knowledge to design their weapons, which also drew power from quintessence.” Pidge chattered then paused. “He took a lot of what he learned—was forced to learn—and brought it here to Earth.”

Allura recognized the pain in Pidge’s eyes. “Your father is a strong man. His work has been instrumental to ensuring Earth and the entire universe’s survival. I’ve learned a lot from him since coming here, and I’m constantly in awe of his knowledge and perseverance. He must be so proud of the work you’ve done as a paladin. You’re a lot like him,” Allura said with a soft smile. She meant every word.

“Thanks, Allura. That means a lot.” Pidge said shyly, shifting in her seat. “And the feeling’s mutual,” she smiled. “My dad’s also impressed by you. He said you two are investigating the mecha that attacked us. Just thinking about that thing gives me nightmares.”

“I don’t know how you do it, Allura, jumping right back into work after our fight,” Lance chimed in.

“Do you know what’s powering that thing?” Keith asked. He looked worried, as if the thought had been nagging him all day. Their theories led to Haggar the witch whose Komar utilized quintessence in a similar way.

“We’re not sure yet,” Allura said, frustrated with their slow progress. “Just that it’s related to Haggar.”

One of the cadets walking past slowed down a little, his eyes darting to their table and back, and then quickened his pace. Allura stiffened and looked down at her untouched muffin. She curtly patted her mouth with her napkin and pushed the tray in front of her.

Lance’s eyebrows furrowed and he looked back at the cadet to give him the stink eye. “Allura, is that what you were talking about?”

Allura nodded. “Yes. I’ve been noticing it more and more each day. Even though I work with Sam and his team every day, a part of me still feels out of place,” she said sadly, propping her head on her hand. A strand of hair fell to obscure her face. She wanted to hide, shut herself in her room, something she hadn’t felt in a while when they were in space.

“Hey…” Lance said gently, reaching forward to push the strand behind her ear. The brush of his fingers made Allura shiver as she looked up at him. Pidge and Keith exchanged a quick look and Keith suddenly seemed intensely focused on his oatmeal.

“I’m sorry that they’re making you feel uncomfortable,” Lance said. “I don’t know what’s going through their heads, but I’m sure its nothing bad. You, Coran, Romelle…you’re the reason why we’re here. Alive. People here respect you, but they might not have a good way of showing it since they still don’t understand things that aren’t…human.”

“Yeah, I was talking with my dad and your tech is all anyone in the base can talk about,” Pidge added. “It’s some of the most advanced science that Earth has ever seen.”

Keith looked up from his plate and locked eyes with Allura. “Allura, I understand what it means to feel like an outsider here. Even growing up here, it felt so different from home,” he said.

Allura nodded, remembering her past conversations with Keith about growing up near the base with his father. Keith continued. “My mom, Kolivan…they’ve been getting weird stares too. Like Lance said, I don’t think they’re afraid, maybe just intimidated.”

Allura considered all of this. She commanded the room when they had their military briefings with little push back. That, and her meetings with Sam to investigate what was powering Haggar’s ship. People did respect her…so why did they stare so much? What else was going through their minds?

“Thank you all,” Allura said. A part of her still felt insecure, but their words did help soothe her anxiety. When they finished eating, Pidge and Keith excused themselves to go to their next assignments. Pidge gave her a quick hug and Keith squeezed her shoulder gently before leaving. Allura loved the feeling that only physical comfort could provide.

Like clockwork, Lance rose and scooted next to Allura, his thigh touching hers.

“Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Lance. I feel more at ease,” Allura said, hyperaware that their arms were touching too.

“Of course. I’m glad you do,” he soothed. He broke off a piece of her muffin and tossed it in his mouth, smiling at Allura.

“Lance, you’re like a vacuum,” Allura teased. She became well acquainted with the human appliance after Kosmo became her roommate in space despite her loud protests.

“I just really love blueberries. Do you want a bite?” he asked, breaking off another piece.

She felt her walls go down just a bit. Just because she was in the Garrison didn’t mean she couldn’t have a little fun. She smiled coyly. “Sure.”

Lance paused. “Um, do you want to—or do you want me to—” he stammered. Allura opened her mouth slightly, knowing this would be the death of him. She relished his expression as he fed her the muffin. Mmmm. Delicious.

“Christ, Allura.” Lance said, raking his hand through his hair as his face reddened. Allura chewed slowly, her expression smug.

“I could use another—” she jokingly crooned.

“Nope!” he said, throwing his hands up in defeat. They both laughed. Loverboy Lance bested again by the princess of Altea.

People were staring again but for an entirely different reason. It didn’t matter now to Allura—not when she and Lance were together.

“Well, this has been fun, as always, but I have work to do in the Altean database room,” Allura sighed. She wanted to take him with her. “They want me to keep combing the records for the Galra’s methods of extracting quintessence. It’s actually quite disturbing subject matter. And so tedious. Pidge and I have been working for what feels like phoebs.” She rolled her neck thinking about all the unexplored files that remained.

“Do you need a hand?” he asked earnestly. “You can teach me how to navigate the records. Or I could just give you a neck massage and back rub. Your pick,” he winked.

Allura smiled. “Sure, that would be great.” She was thinking about the back rub.

---

When they arrived at the database room, Allura led him to her workstation, data pads and archaic texts sprawled all over the desk. She gave Lance a simple coding script used to unpack the files so that she could transcribe them. During her explanation, Lance nodded occasionally, his eyes glazed over with the more technical parts, but eventually he got the hang of it.

“Easy peasy!” Lance said, cracking his fingers before getting to work. Allura rolled her eyes—this boy—and sat at her computer monitor to extract data from the unpacked files. Navigating through the records felt like flying the Castleship—her mind sharp and fingers swiftly typing in several commands. She and Pidge made good progress recently by finding one of the earliest robeast’s structural designs, similar to the one they fought on Balmera. They knew that Haggar’s dark alchemy was what powered the one on Balmera, so the ancient robeast must have thrived on similar magic. The thought of it set Allura on edge, raising the hair on her arms. She thought of Oriande, the birthplace of alchemy. She could only remember its ethereal pink-white glow in her dreams. The kiss of knowledge placed by the ancestors of alchemists before that radiated through every fibre of her being. How could such power be used to corrupt? Her memories harshly transitioned to her most recent reminder of home. Sendak’s disturbing holographic message that shook her to her core: If a planet refuses to give up, then we annihilate it. But only one planet has ever refused: Altea.

Allura stopped typing and seemed lost in a trance, thoughts of Altea, of home, flooding her mind. Lance rolled his chair toward hers, peering at her.

“Allura, are you okay?” he asked.

“I—I was thinking about Altea. I hadn’t thought of it in a while. Especially after traveling through space for decaphoebs. I guess losing the Castle of Lions made me remember what it felt like, growing up there and the work my father did.” She felt a lump in her throat and briefly glanced around the room. Everything was as it was yesterday but looking closer things felt so…alien. Lance nodded slowly, waiting for her to continue.

“Earth feels so different. I was so happy to see you and the others reunite with your families. Coran is my family, and I’m so grateful to have him. But…I still feel out of sorts. Being the daughter of King Alfor, my role as a diplomat was my birthright, so to speak. I always thought that I would carry out his work in space where I grew up, among all the planets we’ve fought to free. It’s hard for me to distance myself from this responsibility—being a recognizable representative of the Coalition across galaxies. I know our efforts as paladins and diplomats have not been fruitless—the people of outer space are being welcomed on Earth now, as allies and refugees. It’s what my father wanted, what Voltron has always fought to secure. I guess the distance from space makes me feel less needed as the Princess of Altea, if that makes sense,” she said, her voice tapering off at the end. The heavy feeling in her chest returned.

“Allura, I’m sorry you feel like all that responsibility is on you. And that you’re not needed as a princess,” Lance said softly.

“What’s more,” she continued, “when I arrived here on Earth I thought I’d feel like same responsibility, that same weight. But I don’t as much. Everyone here is doing the work at a much faster pace than I could have ever hoped to achieve. It sounds so selfish—I know it’s selfish—because that’s the entire purpose of the Coalition, but…Who on Earth is going to remember King Alfor the alchemist one hundred, one thousand decaphoebs down the line? I feel like a stranger in the room at present.”

Her voice began to shake and she reflexively reached to adjust her tiara—like she did whenever she was stressed—but again found nothing. This place survived on Altean technology but still felt far removed from home.

Lance moved closer and draped his arm around her shoulders. Comforted by the warmth of his body, she slowly exhaled, tears running down her face, and let her head lean against his chest. He rested his head on top of hers and his other hand reached for hers to hold it. She looped her fingers through his. Allura felt her muscles relax as Lance rubbed the back of her shoulder in a slow, soothing motion.

“Was it new to you too?” Allura whispered. “This place, new hallways to explore, people to meet?”

“It was,” he reminisced, his voice soft and wistful. “I grew up in Cuba, as you know, and life there is very different. In my hometown during the summer as a kid, I used to wander around the streets talking to shopkeepers and running errands for them. I guess it’s ‘cause I was a really fast runner. They would treat me with a Coke at the end of the day. School was fine, kind of boring, but space exploration? That’s something I could only dream of doing. When Veronica got accepted into the program, she was really nervous about leaving home. She cried the entire first week she was here.” The hum of his voice made Allura desperate to hear more.

“Veronica cried for a whole week?” she asked incredulously, wiping her runny nose with her hand. Veronica seemed like a paragon of strength among her colleagues at the Garrison, which Allura deeply admired. Lance chuckled and wiped some of the wetness from her face.

“Hard to imagine, huh?”

“Not really, considering she’s related to you,” Allura teased. Lance tousled her hair a little, making Allura squeal in protest. God, she’s so cute, he thought.

“But you know,” he continued, smoothing her hair, “I found another family here too. I thought going to a space academy would be an entirely different world—no pun intended—and it was. I was scared to be in a completely new terrain. I mean, it’s freaking Arizona, where there’s, like, no water. But there was still that sense of togetherness that I loved back home. Even though weekend training hours sucked, that’s how I got to know Hunk and we became best friends. Pidge came later in the picture, and she spent hours tutoring me before my physics tests. I was barely scraping by before I met her. Keith was a year ahead of us, so I only saw him when we did flight drills. Watching him was actually really helpful for nailing down flight patterns. Keith being Keith, I tried talking to him and got brushed off, but I know he remembers me,” Lance said smugly, and Allura giggled.

“All of us took the same classes, flew in the same simulators, pulled pranks on Iverson and got stuck in detention. I saw Keith there a lot too, actually…” he smirked.

Allura chuckled again, and the feeling of it on his chest made Lance want to melt.

“And…then I met you,” he said so affectionately it sent a pang through her chest. She looked up to meet his gaze. “I felt like all the pieces were being put together, like I was becoming the person I always wanted to be. I guess home is wherever I’m happy with my friends and family.”

Allura squeezed his hand. He looked so sure of himself, so unlike the time he first shared his insecurities with her. Something was definitely different about him. She saw it in the way he carried himself. In the way he sacrificed himself countless times for his teammates. They were here on Earth, in a dim room lit by pulsing monitors, and yet, when she looked at him she saw stars.

“I can imagine how much of a change it is for you,” he said. “But you’re still Altean, no matter where you are. And the people here respect you so much and your culture. Hell, your crystals saved Shiro. Again! And they made Atlas fly, and that thing is huge. I think the Garrison will start to feel more familiar over time. You have us. Whenever you’re feeling alone, I will always be here for you. Please know that.” His expression was serious this time. The weight of his promise began to sink in. It had always been there.

“It is a big change,” Allura agreed. She could continue talking for hours, but something inside her demanded exploring another option. “I guess I just need to give it some time to feel more adjusted. But hearing you talk about it makes me feel better. A lot better.” Their hands were still interlocked. She looked up at him, her eyes drinking in his vulnerable expression. He raised his eyebrows and swallowed hard. She fought the instinct to bottle her feelings. Her heart was racing. “Having you here already makes it easier.” She shifted his hand from his lap to hers and reached up to kiss him, trying not to laugh as his face spanned several emotions.

“Allura, what’re you—”

“Just stop talking, Lance.”

Her lips met his and she was instantly swept away. Lance buried his fingers in her hair and deepened the kiss, his movements swift, almost instinctual. She saddled herself on his lap, knocking down some papers in the process, and wrapped her arms around his head, her lips tight over his. They pulled away from each other, breathing hard.

“Allura?”

“Yes, Lance?”

“We should do this more often.”

Yes. She could definitely get used to this.

#writing #allurance #legitallurance #voltron #vld #voltron season 7 #lance #allura #pidge #keith #long fic #gimme an al kiss plz #blah blah

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broken-clover · 6 years

Text

12 Days of Whump- Search Party

Technically not late! At least one was posted before midnight. I hope to heck tomorrow’s actually comes in on time. I didn’t proofread as well as I usually do, I’ll look over it in the morning just to see if I can make it any better.

Day 11 of the 12 days of Whump- Search Party, featuring Zappa, Faust, and the Paranormal Investigation Team!

“Maan, it’s been a wild year, huh?”

Zappa perked up at that, turning to look at Randy. “I suppose so. What makes you say that now?”

“Are you serious, where have you been?” The man wore a cheshire smile as he leaned back in his chair. “Did’ja forget the fact that the last time we were in here, we wound up solving a mystery with demons and most up us wound up missing for two weeks?”

“Ah. Right.” Zappa paled a little. “I was hoping I’d finally be able to repress that memory.”

“You were the only one who didn’t fly out of a building like a goddamn firework! Besides, there was also the whole ‘end of the world because the pope turned out to be a genocidal robot’ thing.”

“Aside from that, though, has it really been that interesting? Up until the last couple of months, nothing was really happening.”

Randy’s smile fell. “Why’re you being such a downer today?”

Zappa shrugged. “Just don’t feel like teasing fate, is all. There’s only a few hours left until the new year, so I want to try and make it without any other accidents.”

“My food’s ready!” Alexis burst through the door, hoisting a dish of some kind of pasta. “Did you guys finish already?”

“I brought some drinks from home!” Randy gestured to a trio of colorful bottles on the table. “Nothing alcoholic, though, they wouldn’t let me ship that across country borders.”

The woman laughed at that, putting her steaming container down. “Bummer. How ‘bout you, Zappa? Anything good from Australia?”

“My mother sent some of the jams we make with the crops we grow.” He reached out and picked up a jar. “It’s really good on toast! The onion jelly is my favorite.”

“Who the heck makes jelly out of onions?” Shaking his head, Randy made a little gagging noise. “Friggin Australians…”

“Greetings, paranormal team! I come bearing food!”

All three turned to the door, bearing various shades of confusion as a too-tall figure ducked inside the room.

“Dr. Faust?” Zappa asked. “What are you doing here?”

“Spreading some festivity!” The bag-headed man’s voice was at its usual whimsical tone. “Mr Kiske mentioned there was some New Year’s celebration. I’d planned to head out in the morn, so a bit of last-minute festivities seemed apt before my departure! If it helps, I did bring my own dish to contribute.”

Randy glanced at his companions. “Listen, doc, I dunno why-”

“-You feel like you’d be unwelcome!” Alexis cut him off. “By all means, find a seat! We’d love to try whatever it is you’ve made!”

Faust lit up at that, though it was hard to tell with his face obscured. “Well, don’t mind if I do!”

It didn’t take long after that for the rest of the paranormal investigation team to show up, with everyone bringing a different dish to add to the swiftly-growing pile on the table. A few people eyes Faust’s unexpected appearance with wariness, but most of them were too caught up in the festive mood to react with more than a quick glance.

“Here’s to a new year, guys!”

“Hold it, Randy!” Someone interjected. “It’s New Years! We can’t toast without champagne!”

“Huh? Why not?”

“I dunno...just feels wrong, I guess.”

Someone else sent Faust an aside glance. “Should we really be discussing champagne around a doctor?”

“A bit of alcohol can be good for the cardiovascular system!” Faust chimed in. “Besides, I’m not immune to indulgences, myself. No need to hesitate around me!”

“Uhh, doc?” Randy said. “What exactly is it that you brought?”

“Hmm? Ah, I suppose I forgot to say that, didn’t I?” He made a little gesture towards his dish, a mix of something white in a red sauce. “Mapo tofu! Very popular where I grew up. A bit spicy, but very tasty.”

Someone raised their spoon. “Oh, oh, pass it! I wanna try!”

The team fell into loud, cheerful chatter, swapping stories and memories from the past year and their hopes for the next. Everyone seemed to lose track of time as the pitch-black sky opened up and began dumping down snow, creating a beautiful view through the unobscured windows.

Before long, the numerous dishes had been almost picked clean. “Ohhh, whoever brought the ziti, it was delicious, and also I think I’m gonna throw up.”

Alexis shook her head in disappointment. “Why did you eat so much, Randy?”

“Such good sauce....right, Zappa?”

When he got no response, he sat up and looked around. “Zappa? Where’d he go?”

“He mentioned he was leaving to go and get something.” Replied Faust. “Though, now that you mention it, it has been a rather long amount of time since I’ve seen him.”

“Randy, do you have his com?” Alexis asked.

“Yeah, good point. I’ll just send him a ping and see where he’s gone to. I’m sure it’s nothing…”

The chatter in the room quickly settled down as the magic com rang once, twice. It kept ringing over and over again, as the atmosphere grew more and more tense.

”Hi, um, this is Zappa, please leave a message-”

“The heck?” Randy looked at his own fading com in disbelief. “I can’t think of the last time he hasn’t picked up. Maybe the weather’s messing with it?”

Faust was already out of his chair. “This is concerning. Would everyone be willing to partake in a search before dessert?”

Unsure murmurs were passed between the group. Ultimately, nobody seemed to have any major objections, though the current ambiguity was making people worry.

“Here, this is the frequency for his magic-com, keep trying to call it until we can get him to pick up.” Randy gave a quick demonstration. “He can’t have gone too far. I guess we can split up into groups and look around whatever shops are still open and see if they’ve seen him at all.”

Despite the initial aversion, the team easily divided themselves into smaller groups and started heading out via the nearest castle exit. The weather was just as unpleasant as it looked, and everyone was immediately buffeted by snow.

“Sheesh, what the hell possessed him to go out in this weather?” Wrapping arms across his chest, Randy looked back and forth before picking a direction and starting to walk, followed closely behind by Faust and Alexis.

“I’m not sure. Though considering the temperature, it does concern me quite a bit. I do hope he’s managed to find shelter.” Faust said.

The town outside of the castle’s walls was bright with lights, but very few buildings were open so late with it being so late on New Year’s. Randy kept trying to make calls, only to be met with the answering machine over and over again.

“The grocer said he hasn’t seen him?”

Alexis shook her head. “Nothing.”

“Dammit. I’ll try calling again.”

Faust perked up. “Mr Randy, is your com malfunctioning?”

“Huh? No, why do you ask?”

“I’m getting an odd sort of feedback. Miss Alexis, is your com running?”

“No?”

“Then why…”

The doctor took off running down the snow-covered path, leaving his two companions behind. Randy and Alexis exchanged looks before sprinting off after him.

“The heck is he doing?” She asked.

“Finally lost it? I don’t know much about the guy. Just try not to lose him!”

As it turned out, Faust hadn’t been running off for no reason. As the two of them turned around the next corner, they spotted the man hunched over next to a lump half-buried in the snow.

“Is that…?”

“There we are, there we go.” Faust was muttering quietly, barely audible over the wind. He brushed his long fingers over the snow, feeling something underneath it. “Just keep ticking. I know it’s cold out. You’re going to be fine.”

In one smooth motion, he pulled the shape out of the snow and held it tightly. When he turned back around, Alexis and Randy realized that it was in fact Zappa, curled up in a ball and seemingly unconscious.

“He was out here the whole time?” Alexis sounded horrified. “Is he dead?”

“No, no.” Faust’s voice was unexpectedly calm. “Just cold. We’re going home now.”

It was Randy’s turn to be confused. “Home? What are you going on about? What about us?”

The doctor made a little motion with one hand. A green door suddenly appeared in the middle of the street. When it swung open, they weren’t greeted with the sight of the other end of the street. Instead, it opened up to reveal a dark, unfamiliar landscape, filled with odd somethings that neither of them could identify from a glance.

“Of course you’re coming with us. Step inside my door.”

The two looked at each other again, and reluctantly followed Faust inside.

++++++

What seemed like only a second later, the small group was dumped back out into the dining room, with everything exactly as they’d left it.

Aliexis looked back at the door as it swung shut and began to fade. “W-what the hell was that?!”

Randy looked around. “Huh?”

“In the door? Didn’t you see that?”

“Nah, I blinked.”

“You blinked?!”

While the two squabbled, Faust made his way over to one of the room’s couches, settling Zappa down on it. He reached into hammerspace and pulled out his oddly-patterned green tarp, lifting it up to be used as a blanket. Before he could toss it over the motionless figure, though, he noticed that he seemed to be wrapped around something.

“Oh? What have you got there?”

With a bit of maneuvering, he pulled out out a yellowish bottle, adorned with a pretty blue ribbon. Curiosity piqued, he took a glance at the card that hung off of it.

’Congratulations on a great year, guys, here’s to one more!

~Zappa’

“Aww…” With his free hand, Faust tossed the tarp-blanket over him, offering a little pat on the head.

Randy turned his head at the sound. “Faust, you say something?”

“Well, ah,” he hoisted up the bottle, “anyone up for a glass of champagne?”

#*dabs into the void*#guilty gear #Faust #Zappa

7 notes · View notes

trashyazeohane · 6 years

Photo

Wait For It - Hogwart!AU

Part 1/Part 2/Part 3

Summary: Max tries to help, David is really confused, Nikki and Neil are really good friends and Daniel seriously should choose a different time to knock on the door.

Additional comments: Kissing, Angst, Fluff, Slow Burn

Word count: 16 851

Beta-read by my amazing friend @maxvid-fan

You can also read it on AO3. Enjoy!

ﾟ｡･ * . ☆ ━ II ━ ☆ . * ･｡ﾟ

“(…) And we keep loving anyway

We laugh and we cry

And we break

And we make our mistakes (…)”

– Lin-Manuel Miranda

Christmas at Nikki’s house was nothing like Christmas at Max’s. His house was dull, empty, hollow and emotionless. It was cold and dreadful. It was ripped of all those warm tones it was supposed to have, even though the lights and colorful ribbons were scattered all over the place, decorating perfectly every possible corner in the house.

Max’s Christmas consisted of a silent dinner and too expensive gifts that never were useful and never brought even a simple spark of joy.

Nikki’s house was a mess – a very positive, lively, vivid, cheerful, warm, sizzling and beautiful mess that made Max want nothing more than to stay here forever.

Nikki’s father’s house wasn’t hollow – it was a disaster with dozens and dozens of toys (mostly belonging to Nikki’s younger brothers), clothes, half-finished furniture, half-eaten packets of biscuits and random utensils lying here and there. An iron in the middle of the kitchen? No problem. A pile of dirty clothes waiting to be washed in the corridor? Sure. An unfinished homework lying on the floor in the living room? Yeah, everyone had to jump over it.

It was a disaster, a mess without any control and Max loved it.

(Neil didn’t like it so much, especially as he stepped into a puddle of water after he had taken off his shoes.)

Nikki’s father welcomed Max with a heavy pat on the back. Nikki’s stepmother gave him cookies and pinched his cheek. Nikki’s little brothers almost tripped him when they ran through the corridor to the kitchen.

It was amazing.

Max decided to stay there for two days – he didn’t want to make things difficult for David, but he was still kinda selfish, so two days it was. He was going to sleep on Nikki’s floor in a borrowed sleeping bag. Neil too, but he brought his own one.

Max wasn’t sure how he should behave or what he should actually be doing during Christmas, but Nikki’s stepmother quickly found him and Neil a job. Nikki was left to get rid of the raccoons sleeping under the roof.

The house was loud – kids screamed, people laughed, things got broken, a dog loudly barked at the shimmering lights – and God, that was amazing.

The Christmas dinner wasn’t silent, but filled with voices, shouts, yelps, asks, answers, groans – with conversations ruling over the table to the soft accompaniment of clashing and squeaking utensils.

It was the best Christmas in Max’s life.

After the dinner they spent the evening and night in Nikki’s room, where they played something on a big, flat screen using weird thingies – controllers apparently or at least Nikki called them that. Max sucked at it first, but quickly found a way to defeat both his friends and be at the very top of the ranking. Nikki threw a giant pack of crisps at him which exploded, showering them with salty treats.

Max laughed when Neil started screeching that the salt got into his eyes.

They talked till the Sun welcomed them on the horizon.

***

“And this is a present from us!” Nikki happily said, pushing a package into Max’s chest.

“Is it gonna explode?” He asked, staring at the pink paper.

He could never be sure with Nikki nor Neil.

“Unfortunately no.” The girl sighed. “Neil killed the fun part.”

The teen huffed and stared at the girl from behind a book (his present from Max, thank you very much) with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, I’m so bad for not trying to kill my friend.”

“Totally.”

Max snorted and then put the package on his lap. He quickly tore through the childish, pink paper to unwrap a plain, brown box, which he then opened. Inside there were Filibuster Fireworks, tons of sweets and a scarf with a logo of his favourite Quidditch team.

Max grinned under his nose when he found a small note at the very bottom which only said ‘use fireworks only to mess with crazy Daniel’.

“Thanks guys.” Max said, feeling the happiness bubbling inside his chest, but he held it down strongly to not let it show on his face.

But it was probably a futile job, because Nikki was grinning at him like crazy. Even Neil had a soft smile tugging at the corners of his lips behind the book.

The rest of the day was spent eating the leftovers from yesterday’s dinner, watching TV, laughing at the lame jokes said there and occasionally fighting with Nikki’s brothers.

And too soon the evening came and Max had to return to the school.

Nikki’s stepmother packed him a whole bag of food (Neil too). Max had no heart to tell her that he didn’t have any place to hide it, so he just took it and thanked the woman. Nikki’s father shook his hand and smiled warmly. He told Max that he would always be welcome here.

In overall it wasn’t much, but damn, it was a lot in Max’s opinion.

***

To be honest Max was kinda tired when he returned to the dorm. Plus a soft hue coming from a candle wasn’t giving him much light, so it was logical that he didn’t see a few packages lying near his bed.

But he did notice them in the morning, when he almost crashed down because his leg got caught under one.

“What the…”

Oh yeah, his parents had also sent him a present – wrapped in a neat, gold paper. For a brief moment Max thought about leaving it here, maybe even throwing it out of the window, but then decided it was better to get this over with.

Some fancy clothes, a tie and a book – where the shirts looked uncomfortable, the tie had a disgusting pattern and the book was about economy.

Yeah, this present totally deserved being thrown out of the window. Or maybe he could burn it. It would probably burn nicely.

Max scoffed under his nose. Yeah, his parents will probably expect him to wear those things, so maybe getting rid of them wasn’t that best idea. Especially as he didn’t want nor had the energy to search for excuses.

So in the end he grabbed the pile and pushed it in the furthest part of his trunk. He had to give it a good few kicks to push it between some books, but soon the present was buried deep down and was hopefully taken off Max’s mind for at least few months from now on.

So what should Max do? He still had a few days of freedom and no detention. Of course he had a shit ton of homework he could do, but yeah… that could wait till the very last few days, so he could then curse himself that he didn’t start earlier.

So yeah, a day of doing nothing it was.

Beautiful.

***

Okay, maybe it wasn’t as beautiful as Max initially had thought, because damn it was fucking boring. The castle was so empty that he had barely seen anyone walking around!

Even the teachers’ table was almost empty. Yet he definitely saw crazy Daniel talking with a Numerology teacher.

(David was absent, but it was normal. He usually was late for breakfasts, so Max’s brain didn’t let him dwell too long on it, even though he kinda wanted to see the teacher.)

So he spent most of the day sitting in the common room and reading random books. For a brief moment he even wanted to start doing homework, but his brain quickly shot that idea down.

He wondered what David was doing. From what Max knew and heard from other people, David never really returned home. Not counting the fact that beside him there was no one here who could take care of the plants, it didn’t look like he had anyone to whom he could return.

Maybe that was why he was so gloomy during Christmas? It was a possibility, but Max had a feeling that this wasn’t exactly true. There were of course tons of rumors spreading through the school like a disease, but Max hardly believed them. They were only there to make people enjoy evenings in the common rooms.

Max hadn’t seen David for the whole day.

So Max spent this whole day doing nothing.

When he washed himself, he moved slowly to his empty bedroom (the rest of his roommates had gone home for Christmas), whistling some catchy song he had heard in Nikki’s house under his nose. A few people wished him a good night and he only nodded at them in reply.

Inside his bedroom he lit up a candle and slowly shuffled around, hiding his dirty clothes and books he had read today in his trunk. After that he stretched his hands above his head and then moved to his bed –

Only to stomp on something kinda crunchy during this process.

Max glanced down. It was hard to see anything in the dim light of the candle (he could definitely use Lumos, but well then it would be too bright), but there was an outline of something lying under his foot. He leaned down and grabbed it.

Max sat on the bed, moved the candle closer on the nightstand and looked at the thing he had stomped on.

It was a package, wrapped in a plain brown, kinda tough paper with a yellowish string holding it all together.

What the heck? Was it another Christmas’ present? But from whom? Some far away relatives? But then again why would they send it now, after so many years?

Only one way to find out.

Max grabbed the thread and pulled, untying it and letting it fall softly onto the bed. Then he slowly moved the paper away, which rustled and swished under the touch.

Max blinked.

Gloves. Typical gardening gloves. Kinda thick, navy blue gloves.

Max grabbed them, feeling kinda harsh touch of the leather under his fingertips. He rolled them over and oh! a small piece of parchment fell from between the fingers.

Merry Christmas!

I thought they may come in handy :)

David

Max stared at the gloves. There was a short silence inside his chest, but it was quickly broken when a sudden waterfall of emotions surged through his lungs – with happiness foaming at the very top and overpowering his chest and ability to breathe. It was a small present – a simple pair of gloves. Max wasn’t even interested in gardening or taking care of plants – but it still felt like he received the best present in the whole world.

It was stupid, maybe it was even childish or unreasonable – but feelings, crushes, always were. And Max was glad that currently he was alone in the bedroom, because damn, he knew he was smiling under his nose, he could sense his muscles stretching into a grin as joy stormed through his mind.

David had not only helped him have the best Christmas of Max’s life, but he had also given him a present. And he didn’t have to do either of those things!

Max’s mouth was dry as he slowly put on the gloves. They were kinda hard, as the material wasn’t bending to his will, just as the old one always did, but soon after he had the pair on his palms. He moved his fingers, wiggling them a little bit, feeling the leather bend and twist under the movement.

His heart rose inside his chest like it wanted to fly, float, run far away.

(Or maybe not far away at all, but just to the greenhouse a few floors away.)

It was stupid. It was only a pair of gloves – gardening ones – but Max still felt like he just received one of the best gifts ever.

And he felt a sudden urge to jump out of the bed and run, to the greenhouse, to the man and thank him somehow, but he quickly drowned those needs. First, even David at this hour probably wouldn’t be in the greenhouse and second… Well, there was no second reason – other than the fact that it was probably stupid.

But tomorrow he will definitely find David and thank him.

***

Easier said than done – as most things in life actually.

David wasn’t at breakfast, which wasn’t surprising. Plus Max wasn’t really sure whether he wanted to thank the man in front of the other students – not many students, but still students.

Surprisingly Daniel wasn’t present either.

Max furrowed his eyebrows, but decided not to dwell on it too much.

So this left only one thing to do and it was visiting David in the greenhouse. He was almost constantly there. Sometimes it even looked like he was sleeping there, but that wasn’t the truth. Though Max wouldn’t be surprised if the man indeed spent a few nights there, just because he fell asleep on his desk.

With every step bringing him closer to the greenhouse, Max felt more and more nervous, with the stress pulling on his nerves, like some kind of a musical instrument. The heart beat and drummed so loud in his ears that he barely heard any other sounds – including the snow crunching beneath his shoes.

And in just a few minutes he was in front of the greenhouse. A few breaths to calm his shivering chest and then he grabbed the doorknob.

Only to find out that the door was locked.

What the hell? David wasn’t here? But then where could he be?

Max tried the door once again, but it didn’t budge, only rattled loudly. After that he circled the greenhouse in search for some additional entrances. He found two, but one was barricaded with wooden planks and the other one was also closed.

Shit.

Max circled the building one more time, but when he found out there was no way of getting in, he stopped in front of it and kicked a lone pile of snow. The stress fully melted inside his body and was replaced with the mushy, muddy, uncomfortable mess of anger, disappointment and worry.

David didn’t appear at dinner nor supper and he wasn’t in his greenhouse till the end of the day.

***

When he didn’t appear for breakfast the very next day Max was kinda (really) worried.

Yeah, that something squeezing his insides, making them clench painfully, was definitely worry.

However today Daniel appeared near the teachers’ table. He didn’t smile at anyone, only gave them short, courteous nods as a greeting and then sat down to eat something.

Max observed the table from the corner of his eyes, eating bacon from his plate. It tasted perfect, but it still left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth.

Somewhere near the end of breakfast, Daniel leaned to Gwen, sitting on his left, and whispered something into her ear. The woman glanced at him, nodded and said something back quickly. Soon after Daniel took one last sip from his cup and then stood up. He was just about to move away when he turned to the table and snatched a raspberry muffin from one plate.

What the hell? Daniel hated sweets. No one even saw him sugaring his drinks, so why was he now stealing muffins?

***

The dinner was delicious, yet it felt like ash inside his mouth.

Okay, at this point Max couldn’t lie to himself anymore. David still wasn’t at the dinner. But that wasn’t the worst fact. It was Gwen, anxiously glancing a few times at a chair where the man was usually sitting.

So something had to be wrong.

Max had never stayed for the Christmas break, so he didn’t know if this was normal. And asking other students seemed like a bad idea. So this probably left two options possible – ignoring it and asking some teacher about it.

And damn, Max wanted to ignore it. But he couldn’t – even the simple idea of doing it was making him twitch internally, with his stomach churning painfully. So yeah, that was out of the question. Which left the more stressful option – asking someone about it.

(And this option had a high risk of accidentally revealing himself and Max didn’t want that.)

His best shot was Gwen. Of course he could always ask Daniel (as he was also friends with David – how was still beyond Max’s mind comprehension), but the teacher hated him, so maybe this wasn’t the best route here.

It took Max a few hours to find the courage to walk through the castle to Gwen’s office.

However he never reached it, because one voice stopped him:

“Max, can you come with me for a second? I need to talk with you about something.”

Shit, it was crazy Daniel, staring at him with that cold, deadly look.

Max didn’t have any good excuse that would help him escape the man, so he only nodded and followed Daniel into the Dungeons from which he had come out just a few minutes ago.

Their steps echoed loudly in the empty, stone corridors, accompanied by drops of water dripping somewhere in the darkest corners of this place. Not even once did the blond teacher glance back to check if Max was following him, but Max didn’t mind.

And way too soon they were stepping into Daniel’s dark office, illuminated only by a lone candle standing almost too close to the edge of the desk.

“Please sit down.”

Max was too familiar with this place. He had spent too many hours here – hours filled with Daniel giving him detentions, talking about his bad behavior or giving him long, boring lectures about acting his age. So he sat down on the used chair, feeling the familiar seat beneath himself.

Daniel circled the desk, flicked through a few pages of the open book he had there and then sat down. He intertwined his fingers and hid his mouth behind them.

Max put one leg on another and threw one hand on the backrest.

“So what did I do this time?” He asked.

Because this had to be it. Max didn’t know what he could have done wrong, what kind of thing pissed Daniel off now, but he must have done something to land here once again. He didn’t know what, but Daniel probably had no problem finding a small, unimportant reason.

However Daniel blinked, looking kinda taken aback.

“I’m not here because I have done something?” Max asked, raising his eyebrow.

“No, not this time.” The Potions teacher said, shaking his head a little. “I brought you here to ask for a… favor of sort.”

Favor? Daniel asking him for a favor?

Did Max die and was in hell? Because it had to be it. But where could he die? Maybe he had fallen from the tower and everything after that had been some weird, messed-up seconds of beautiful dreams before fully slipping away from this world? It was a possibility. A high possibility, because Daniel would never ask Max for help.

Plus he didn’t really want to do it.

“Favor?’ Max parroted.

“Or more like David is asking for a favor from you.”

Max’s heart skipped a long, painful beat, knocking on the chest heavily. He was fucking sure Daniel could hear it! Because there was no way the man hadn’t heard that!

So something indeed was wrong. This lone thought made Max flinch, made him shiver and tremble internally. He didn’t want that. He didn’t want for anything to be wrong.

“What happened?” Max found himself asking, letting his hand drop and leaning forward, closer to the desk and to the man.

Now it was Daniel’s turn to raise his eyebrow. He sighed and then flattened his hands on the desk.

“David is feeling… under the weather nowadays.” Daniel stated, stopping in the middle and looking around, like he searched for a perfect word to use in this situation. “So he is asking if you could take care of his plants in the greenhouses?”

Max was… lost. His brain stopped working for a second and only came back again after he blinked a few times. But no, Daniel was still sitting there, behind the desk, and staring intently at him.

And Max wasn’t sure how to respond. On one hand he was kinda happy about it, kinda even proud that David asked Max to help him around the greenhouse. But on the other hand he was terrified. Because it had to be really bad, if David wasn’t able to take care of his precious plants. And Max was scared of failing.

Because, to be honest, he didn’t have a green thumb. Back at home he hadn’t even remembered to water the only one plant he had had in his room and suddenly now he was supposed to be taking care of the whole greenhouse?

That was a great responsibility and Max really didn’t want to let David down.

“Why me?” He asked instead.

“I don’t know either.” Daniel stated the truth, and damn Max really felt his hand twitch, only to curl into a fist under the desk. “He asked me to ask you.”

“Why won’t you do it?”

Daniel’s eye twitched. He tapped one finger on the counter rhythmically.

“The plants in the greenhouse… don’t like me that much.”

Oh, to be honest that was really gratifying. Max wasn’t sure whether plants in David’s greenhouses liked him either, but knowing that they didn’t like the blond haired teacher was a very pleasant thought.

(Okay, it was a very amazing feeling, spreading through his chest like some kind of a virus.)

Max tried really hard to not show any emotions on his face, but he couldn’t stop the small twitch of his mouth. Daniel probably noticed it, because he furrowed his eyebrows and opened his mouth. Mas was expecting some kind of a snarky, unkind remark, but then the man sighed loudly and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Listen, Max. I just need an answer. Will you do it?”

Will Max do it? He wanted to do it, to somehow repay the kindness David had given and showed him, but he was terrified.

“I don’t know anything about his plants. I don’t know how to take care of them.” Max finally answered truthfully, slumping and sliding down the chair a little bit.

Daniel moved the hand back and put it into his pocket to take out a folded piece of parchment. He passed it to Max, who hesitantly grabbed it and opened.

It was an instruction – a pretty long one – which described what someone should do at specific hours, which plant should be watered, where to move them, which flower needed this or that potion and which had to be placed in shadowed spaces. It also had a small annotation where the utensils and gardening tools were hidden.

Max blinked. Everything was well thoroughly written there, step after step, in an easy, kinda sloppy, way.

Max swallowed hard. He could sense the stress pulling on his nerves, but it was also mixed with something else. Some kind of assurance and a spark of need of responsibility bursting behind his eyes.

“So?” Daniel asked, leaning back and crossing his hands.

Max could see he was displeased with the whole situation – probably the most humiliating thing he had done in his entire life was asking Max, of all people, for help.

Max took a deep breath and then folded the paper back.

“I need some keys, right?”

***

The door opened with a low croak and a whine when he pushed it and stepped into the humid greenhouse.

In the dim light of the afternoon Max could see a shift in the background, a slow movement of leaves, vines and petals fluttering around. Several flies buzzed in the air, circling Max’s head as he swatted them away. He lifted his hand and casted Lumos – a simple, blue ball floated above him, lightening up the place.

The Flutterby bush on Max’s left quivered and shook as he passed it to get further into the greenhouse.

The place without David happily singing around felt devastated, kinda scary, but mostly lonely. It seemed ten times darker, with the shadows dancing around as Max stepped above the vine and then jumped over a root sticking from the ground.

He could sense a few plants turning their pods and leaves at him, but he decided to ignore them. If they attacked him, he could always defend himself. However he really didn’t want to harm any of David’s precious plants – especially as he wasn’t feeling well nowadays.

They never had been hostile towards him, but also David always had been with him here. Now he was all alone, trying to do something at which he wasn’t good.

But he wanted to do it. He wanted to thank David somehow, to make him feel a little bit better and allow him to take his time to rest and then return back in the future, being the bright sunshine he always was.

Max took out the parchment and read through it one more time, even though he had already done it like fifty times.

He found every tool he needed and started working, moving around the thick atmosphere of the greenhouse and doing every task he should do during the afternoon and evening.

A few plants swished around him, almost peeking (if plants could peek) at him curiously, trying to decipher what he was doing and why it felt so different and unfamiliar.

Max only smiled sadly at them and then shook his head, moving the watering can to another pot.

It took a few hours to finish all the task he had to do. The sky turned black and the birds already left the place, leaving him accompanied only by the sounds of swishing around vines and leaves. When he was done, he hid everything in its rightful place, ran through the list one more time and then walked around the greenhouse to see if anything needed his assistance. Oh, there was one tilted bush which he put back in its straight position. There was also one flower which was bent, so Max took a stick and tied a thin thread around it and stalk, making it stand proudly once again. In the light coming from the orb above him he didn’t see any more anomalies, so he slowly moved to the exit and stepped outside, closing the door softly after himself.

***

Okay, waking up so early definitely wasn’t comfortable. If David had to do it every day, then no wonder he had bags under his eyes.

The early morning wind nipped painfully on Max’s nose and his fingers, so he fastened his pace and in just a few minutes he was in front of the door and taking out the keys. Opening the door now took way more strength, but it was probably due to the coldness of the night which had frozen the hinges.

Max stepped into the humid greenhouse, smiling at the emanating warmness which transferred to his skin.

A few leaves waggled, almost in a waving motion, shivering and bending around. Max clasped his hands, brushed them together to get some feeling back and then slipped on the gloves David had given him.

The morning routine was kinda shorter – or maybe Max felt like that, because now it didn’t take him twice as much time to find the needed things, tools, plants and rows. A few flowers even wiggled happily when the crystal clear water was poured on them (the note said that he should pour water on them and not only on soil) and it weirdly made Max vibrate inside.

The birds returned and flew above the glass ceiling, chirping and fluttering their wings.

Max moved to the small pot standing in the corner and watered it, bending down in the process. The plant’s leaves were kinda brown and it didn’t look like it was in the best condition.

It would probably break David’s heart to see it like this.

“Sorry, bud. Hope you’ll feel better.” Max said, not really sure why he was speaking in the first place. He wasn’t sure whether the plants could hear him, but he had seen David doing it so many times that the words slipped almost naturally from his mouth.

Maybe it was his imagination, but he could almost see the plant twitch after the words had left his mouth.

(It had to be Max’s brain playing tricks on him.)

He shook his head and stood up.

Though a few more times his mouth slipped and he found himself talking to the plants. Those weren’t big conversations, but simple words and sentences. Sometimes it felt like he had a response and sometimes not. Though once he had to scold one tree, because Max was sure it lifted its root just to make him trip.

He finished his tasks, took off his gloves – now dirty with soil, water and other different things – and then moved to the exit.

“See ya later.”

***

At some point Max fully stopped caring that he was talking with the plants. To be honest he was kinda lonely – without Nikki and Neil here, he didn’t have that many other friends with whom he could speak and most of them were at home anyway.

And if he had to be honest with himself, the greenhouse was calming him. Waking up in the morning was still a pain in the ass. However Max felt some kind of euphoria and fulfillment when one day a small pod leaned in his hand when he had scratched it.

Max was glad no one saw him smiling under his nose.

A few other plants also moved closer to his touch and Max felt accomplished – to this point one day he came here for a few more additional hours to do his homework.

But there was one plant with which Max had problems. It was the Venomous Tentacula. He had always felt some kind of hostility the plant emanated towards him. But to be honest, it didn’t like anyone, beside David, in the end. The Tentacula hadn’t tried to do him any harm on the first day, but kinda had scared Max with a sudden movement of its vines. After that he had been extra careful around it, keeping his distance in case it would try to do something. But it didn’t.

It looked down, really. The leaves were hanging sadly on the branches, swirling around whenever a small gust of wind passed them as Max opened the door, but other than that the Tentacula didn’t move much.

It was kinda sad to look at that.

Max wasn’t sure why he started to speak to it one afternoon. But to be honest the stress was eating at his nerves and he had no one with whom he could talk so openly. And somehow his heart poured so naturally from his mouth.

“I miss him too.” He mumbled, bending the water can and pouring water on soil around the Venomous Tentacula. “I know you would prefer David instead of me, but at least crazy Daniel isn’t the one doing it.” This brought a small smile to his face. “Though I kinda want to see him doing it.”

There was a flutter behind him, something similar to a laughter.

Max snickered under his nose and then moved the water can away. He grabbed a few vials and looked at them. He popped both open and then started to pour the insides on the ground, drop after drop, alternately.

“I also would prefer if he was here, you know? Without his giddy mood it’s kinda empty and lonely here.” Then like an afterthought, he added. “But don’t tell him that.”

The Tentacula didn’t move.

“I miss him walking around here. I miss seeing his dopey smile. I miss the happiness I’m feeling whenever I am around him. I miss him excitedly talking about random things. I miss seeing him almost cry when some student gets a bad grade. I miss his kindness. I miss so many simple things.” Max snorted. “Shit, it’s so stupid of me, pouring my heart out to you.” He added in a whisper, closing his eyes for a brief moment. “Sorry you had to listen to it. I’ll try not to do it in the future.”

The Tentacula still didn’t move and Max didn’t expect it to.

***

In the afternoon of the last day of the year David still wasn’t back. Max spent the last few hours in the greenhouse, doing his tasks and reading a book. At some point he sensed a movement to his right and saw a few plants bending in his direction.

“Seriously?” Max stared at them with one lifted eyebrow.

They twirled their leaves, pods, and roots, and Max could only sigh in return. He moved his chair closer to them and moved the orb of light closer to himself.

“If you tell anyone that I did this, I will personally cut all of you.”

And he started reading to them.

In the end he spent way too many hours in the greenhouse, to this point he could actually hear the fireworks being sent to the sky. Max had heard about them, but never had seen them. He closed the book and stood up, moving through the greenhouse in search for a perfect place to look at the fireworks from the inside.

He found a neat place from which the sparkly bursts were pretty visible and he stood there, staring at them in kinda childish awe. They shimmered and glimmered nicely in the dark sky, appearing, only to disappear during the next few seconds, leaving only a cloud of smoke and nice memories after themselves.

Oh, David would like them.

Max felt something sliding up his hand – and he had a giant urge to twitch and shake it off, but he knew better not to do that. He only glanced down to see, in the dim light, the Venomous Tentacula’s vine wrapping itself around his wrist and sliding further up his arm.

It didn’t look like it tried to hurt him and more like it sought comfort than anything else.

Max let it slide a few inches higher and then moved his other hand to pat it softly on the vine.

“He’ll be back soon.” He said softly.

Max wasn’t wrong.

***

Max walked through the grounds, stepping onto the old footprints and holding his hands under his armpits. His breath was coming out in thick, dense puffs, floating around his head.

Tomorrow the school was starting, so both Nikki and Neil should be back today. Well, now it was probably too early for them to be back yet.

But there was a more prominent problem. Or more like a worry. The classes were starting and David wasn’t anywhere in sight.

(And Max had something special for him, a teeny-tiny present he had ordered one evening.)

What if something really terrible had happened to him? Maybe he won’t be back for a few weeks or months? But if that was the case, then crazy Daniel would tell him, right? Max definitely hoped so as he tried to bury the dark thoughts swarming in his mind. He had to stay a little bit positive, but it was so hard. How could David do it almost all the time?

Max took out the keys, picked the right one, put it into the lock, only to find out it wasn’t moving.

What the hell? Had someone broken in? But why? Why would anyone want to steal something from the greenhouse? Besides David’s plant, there weren’t that many important things.

Wait.

With a loudly beating heart Max grabbed the handle, pushed it and opened the door with too much force than probably necessary. But damn, how could he not, when there was a slim chance, a small spark of hope that he would be –

David was inside, holding a giant bucket in both of his hands. When Max so haphazardly entered, the teacher lifted his head and looked at him. And even though Max could see the dark bags under his eyes (so terribly, terrifyingly big), David grinned at him and oh! – everything seemed so much better.

“Hey, Max! Beautiful morning, don’t you think so?”

Max stepped inside, still staring with wide eyes at the man.

“You’re here…” He mumbled.

“I sure am!” David said and then put the bucket away. He raised his hand and brushed his cheek, smearing the dirt there during this process. “Oh no, you had to wake up early today to come here! I’m sorry, I should have informed you somehow.”

Max shook his head, letting out a soft chuckle. He hasn’t even been here for two minutes and David still managed to start worrying about him, even though nothing that bad really had happened.

“You’re impossible.” Max said, raising his hand and combing it through his curls.

“Me?” David asked, tilting his head. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I get… what you mean.”

Max shook his head one more time and then moved forward.

“Did you already water the north greenhouse?”

***

“Max, I missed you!” It was Nikki, almost choking him to death as she had thrown herself at him when he had been in the middle of the dinner.

Max coughed, feeling as the grip on his throat was tightening with every passing second as Nikki brought him closer for a tight hug. He patted her shoulder, hoping that maybe she would free him.

“Nik, he can’t breathe.” Neil said, stopping next to him.

“Oh sorry.” The girl said and then finally moved away.

Max took a deep, sweet, delicious breath, feeling his lungs swelling up. He put his hand on his chest and only then finally turned to them.

“Hey.”

Neil waved with a soft smile tugging on his lips and then flopped down on his right. Nikki swirled and sat on the other side of Max’s.

“How was your sweet break without your parents?” The green haired girl asked, tilting her head. Her hair was tied with the small, red hair ties with tiny, cute reindeers.

For a brief moment Max thought about telling them the truth, but decided against it. At least for now, because he didn’t want to tell his story out loud in the Great Hall, where everyone could hear him. So yeah, this story had to wait for another time.

“Great, and yours?” He said instead.

Nikki jumped into wild stories about her break, filled with snow, sledding, eating cookies, pissing off the neighbor’s dog, and spending hours in front of the TV. Then Neil told him what he had done – and the story definitely wasn’t as exciting as Nikki’s, but it still sounded pleasant – however most of it was filled with homework.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about doing it.” Nikki said at the end.

Neil facepalmed and groaned loudly. Max snickered under his nose.

He liked spending time alone, but spending it with his friends was good too.

***

Max took a deep breath, fingers tapping rhythmically on the teeny-tiny pot in his hands.

To be honest he kinda felt like vomiting – with his stomach clenching unnaturally and painfully inside his body. He knew it was stupid and he shouldn’t even feel like that, but he couldn’t stop.

Because what if David doesn’t like it? What if Max makes a fool out of himself? What if he –

No, he had to do it. He wanted to do it, even though he was terrified.

Max stepped inside the greenhouse, exhaling slowly and feeling the hot, thick air warming up his skin. Or maybe it was only an explanation he wanted to believe. Because there could be ten thousand other reasons why his cheeks were suddenly so warm.

“Hey, Max, you’re early!” David said, peeking from his office and smiling like the brightest star in the galaxy.

Max felt like he could faint. His tongue seemed like it was made from heavy, dense lead and for a brief moment he couldn’t speak.

But David quickly disappeared back into his office and Max could breathe normally again. Or at least almost normally. His one hand fidgeted and he could feel that it was sweating quite a lot.

Damn, he was nervous.

However David had done so much for him, so it was almost natural to pay the favor back.

So gathering the last few sparks of bravery still roaming around his body, he closed his eyes, inhaled slowly and then moved to David’s office.

The teacher was in the middle of gathering the gardening supplies, when Max cleared his throat.

David straightened his back and glanced at him.

“Everything okay, Max?” He stepped forward, putting the tools away and brushing his gloved hands to get rid of the dirt residing there. “You look kinda stressed.”

For a moment Max lost all coherent thoughts his brain had possessed just a few seconds ago when David looked back at him, with that worried and hesitant smile tugging on his lips. But then Max’s fingers twitched, sensing the smooth structure under them and somehow he found some shadows of words inside his mind.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” Max said, patting himself on the back in his mind that he didn’t stutter. “I just… I mean… what you did really means a lot to me –”

David tilted his head and the worried tone in his grin was replaced with kind amusement.

“Yes?”

“And I… I mean…” Fuck, Max was lost, with his eyes jumping around and hands fidgeting in place. He was a disaster. A mess. But he was a mess with a job and he would be damned if he didn’t do it. “Shit, just– It’s for you!” And with that Max pushed a small, potted succulent in David’s direction.

He closed his eyes, but found the curiosity being bigger than any other emotion storming through his chest, so he slowly peeked open his one eye.

David stared with wide eyes at the small pot that was almost touching his chest. He lifted his hands and took the plant from Max’s palms – their hands brushed for a moment and Max’s heart jumped high in his throat – to bring it closer to his face.

“It’s for… me?” David slowly asked, licking his lips first.

Max nodded and only then answered:

“Yeah. Thanks… for everything.”

David opened his mouth and it looked like he wanted to say something, but it all died down when a single tear rolled down his cheek.

What?

Max snapped his head up, only to see the tears gathering in his teacher’s eyes. His heart dropped painfully down, hammering against his chest in some sick, terrific symphony.

“Oh, fuck, sorry Da– Mister David, I didn’t mean to… I mean if you don’t like it, you can throw it away or I don’t know just give it to–”

“I love it.”

“Of course I won’t be ma– Wait, what?”

“I love it, Max.” David whispered, lifted his one hand and softly patting the leaf with the mouth stretching into the happiest smile Max had seen in probably a month. Small, teeny-tiny dimples appeared in the corners, catching a few tears that sometimes streamed down the cheeks.

Max felt his throat constricting and lungs clenching with his stomach making a weird backflip inside his body.

“Really?” Max asked, literally dumbfounded.

David nodded and brought the small plant closer to his face, only to snuggle it to his tear–stained cheek.

“Yeah, it’s the most adorable present I’ve ever got.” Then the teacher blinked and sniffed. “You didn’t have to do it.”

“I know, but…” Max lifted his hand and scratched the back of his head, looking away for a moment. He could sense the heat raising to his cheek and he tried to muster all his body cells to calm down. “… I just wanted to do it.”

David looked up at him, and even though a few drops still rolled down his red cheeks, he looked like the happiest person in the whole word.

“Thanks, Max. I’ll treasure it.”

And somehow Max wasn’t surprised that he fell for David more.

***

“You did what?” Neil asked, raising his voice.

Max put a finger to his lips and tried to shush the Ravenclaw student a little. They were still in the castle and even though it didn’t look like there were that many people around, they could never be sure who was lurking around.

And the castle was full of too curious and noisy people.

“A little quieter, will you?” Max said, glaring at his friend.

Nikki looked surprised too and to be honest Max was kinda astonished she hadn’t been the one to shriek right now, but Neil. Usually she was the one to excitedly (or not excitedly) react to some news.

And yeah, Max had just told them that he had taken care of David’s greenhouse. Of course he hadn’t told them every detail, but the most important facts from the story.

“Wait, David gave you gloves?” Nikki finally asked, shaking her head first from whatever dreamland she had stepped into.

“Uhm yeah?”

“Dude, my teachers never gave me any presents. Maybe I should get a detention at David’s.” Nikki mumbled, looking up at the ceiling and scratching her chin.

She swayed back on the chair and for a brief moment Max almost saw her flipping back and falling down, but gladly it didn’t happen.

“But just how?” Neil asked, staring at him with bewilderment swirling around his eyes.

Max shrugged.

“I did everything the list said.”

And it was the honest truth. He mostly had done what the sentences written there had pointed him to do. The fact that he had done some additional things didn’t need to be said.

“But like… by yourself? No one forced you to do it?”

Max’s brow twitched.

“Is it so hard to believe?”

“I mean, kinda –”

“Neil, it’s because it was David.” Nikki butted into the conversation, grinning from ear to ear like a madman and glancing a few times at Max with that malicious glint.

Okay, you know what? On the other hand, he loved the peace without his friends in the castle. Especially right now.

Neil blinked and then glanced at the green haired girl. There was a sudden snap in his façade and the surprise immediately disappeared, replaced by full understatement.

“Oh yeah, now it makes sense.”

Yeah, now Max really was astonished how he could had missed them in the first place.

***

It was a calm afternoon filled with soft brushes of leaves moving in the greenhouse, delicate light coming from the candles and spells floating above their heads and warm hums coming from David’s lips.

It was one of those afternoons, when a lone thought invaded Max’s mind. Lately more often and often he had to brush it away, sweep it under a carpet, and hide it behind the door.

Although that said he started to like doing it. He started to like spending time in the greenhouse. He started to enjoy the company of the colorful plants, which lately started to turn to him and touch his skin. He started to find peace in the atmosphere and mostly in the presence near him.

He liked spending time with David.

And it was dangerous.

Of course, in the past he had had detention with David, but they had been shorter and he had still been a kid – kinda confused with his feelings that had swarmed his mind and heart back then.

And now he was older, turning into an adult in just a few days.

Oh, right, his birthday. It wasn’t that far away. It was even too close in Max’s opinion.

Max didn’t really like his birthday. Or to be more precise he often forgot about it. He didn’t understand why people made such a big deal out of it. Or at least he had thought so until he had met Nikki and Neil – for whom not celebrating the birthdays was a grave sin.

But even Max had to admit that this year was different. Because this year he will become an adult. Or well, at least this was what the wizarding world’s laws said.

(There was some small spark of enthusiasm inside his chest, but Max tried really hard to forget about it.)

And on such a normal, calm, peaceful and beautiful afternoon David dropped the bomb.

“Max?”

The teen hummed and then sprayed another leave with a mixture of some potions. Gladly David understood that he was listening and continued:

“You know… you helped me a lot nowadays and I thought that maybe we should shorten your detention?”

Max literally slipped, while standing, and almost crashed face first into the Valerians he was spraying. The flowers fluttered under his force. Gladly he somehow caught himself in time.

“W-what?” Max stuttered, looking back, only to find David staring back at him.

“I mean… you worked so hard through the whole detention and then you helped me during the Christmas break, so I thought it would be fair to let you off the hook earlier.”

But stopping the detention earlier meant stopping meeting David so often and, damn, that thought, that lone, terrible thought made Max’s insides squeeze painfully, twisting and curling like they were put under the Incarcerous Spell.

Max stared intently at the teacher to the point David blinked and then looked away, hesitantly with hands brought closer to his chest, fiddling with the small shovel resting in his palms. The eyes which had leaped to the floor, returned to stare back at Max unsurely.

“You don’t want that?”

No. Max didn’t want that. But the Max David knew would never say that. The Max David probably was familiar with would grab the first chance with both hands to run away from this place. The Max would grin at that idea and then bid farewell, while exiting the door, not even letting David finish.

But he… he didn’t want that.

What to do, what to do, how to plan his next movement to not accidentally shorten his detention? Oh God, even Max couldn’t believe he was thinking about it. Why was he acting so weird around David? Why could this man make Max do things he wouldn’t normally do! Like trying hard to make someone happy!? Or care for some plants? Or be happy after simply seeing someone!?

Why!?

But, God, he didn’t want to stop it. Max didn’t want to stop seeing that smile which made him all warm inside. He didn’t want to stop hearing this delicate, kind voice around him. He didn’t want to stop the heavy beating of his heart – that felt so alive and full and vivid and amazing.

“No.” Max finally said. “I almost destroyed the corridor I… I deserve it.” Though that wasn’t the full truth, but it was the closest to it, the closest to the truth that could make David change his mind. “Plus I don’t think Mister Daniel will agree.” He had a horrific habit of making Max’s life miserable for his own amusement and fun.

“I’m sure, if I talk with him –“

“No, it’s okay I don’t…” Max licked his lips. “I don’t mind.”

David blinked and then the gentle smiled surged onto his mouth, wavering a little, but holding strongly in the end nevertheless.

“O-okay, if that’s what you want.”

Max shrugged, trying not to show that this was exactly what he wanted, and returned to his work.

***

“Where is Neil?” Max asked, breathing at his hands to try to warm them up a little bit.

“Uhm… he went to some shop to buy uhm… a cauldron?” Nikki, next to him, mumbled, casting her gaze away with a hesitant smile tugging at her lips.

Suspicious.

The two of them walked through the snowy streets of Hogsmeade, maneuvering around students and other people who also visited this place. The happy chatters floated above the crowd, mingling with shouts and chirps of birds perched on the nearest branches. A man and woman on the right were arguing loudly about the prices of eel’s eyes that were staring at the people passing them by. On the left two lone boys were standing with their noses and cheeks glued to the window of Honeydukes, surrounded by the heavenly smell.

Max sighed and looked up at the gray sky. Damn, not enough sun today. He wondered if David moved the Flitterblooms so they would get enough sunlight. But knowing this guy, this was probably the first thing he had done today morning. Oh, wait, the drying petals probably should be moved –

Max felt a heavy tug and stepped away, missing being stomped by a horse.

“Watch out!” Nikki shouted, way too late.

If she didn’t drag him away, Max would actually be lying under the horse’s hooves, probably also in pain.

“Oh, sorry, got lost in my thoughts.” Max mumbled.

“Yeah, I can see. I fucking hope that they were filled with David at least.”

“Louder, Nikki.”

“I hope they were fi–“

In this very moment Max slapped his hand over Nikki’s mouth, silencing her.

“That wasn’t a challenge.”

The girl grinned and then licked his hand, leaving a wet, disgusting trail of saliva on his skin.

“Yuck! Nikki!”

Max brushed his hand on her coat and then both of them entered the Three Broomsticks.

Neil appeared almost forty minutes later, trying and failing miserably to hide a package that was clearly sticking out from his backpack. Max eyed it suspiciously and only hummed in reply to Neil’s greeting, taking a few big sips of a butterbeer standing in front of him.

Nikki already had finished two mugs.

“What were you doing?” Max asked instead, from behind his mug.

“Buying new quills, ink and parchment.”

Max hummed in reply, glancing at the girl. He didn’t point out the obvious fact that their stories were different. Of course he could, but why should he? They had to have their reasons to not tell the full truth to him, and Max, even though he didn’t like it, respected it. To some point that was.

Plus something told him that it had to do with the package in Neil’s bag, standing secure between his legs, so no one would focus on it too hard or try to take a peek.

Damn, at first Max wasn’t interested in it, but when Neil tried to hide it so hard he kinda was curious what was inside.

But till the end of their Hogsmeade trip Max hadn’t once been able to even get a look from where the package had come from.

It was so irritating!

***

“I don’t think it was your fault.” David suddenly said, without any sign that he was going to suddenly start speaking.

Max glanced at him and then moved the cup away from his mouth.

“What wasn’t my fault?” Max asked, having no idea what his teacher was babbling about.

To be honest Max had no idea about most of the things David was talking about. Most of which were related to the Muggle world. There were times when David would suddenly jump into long talks about this or that – like, what the heck even was an Apple phone? Max had no idea, but David could talk for almost half an hour about the differences between it and An… An–something.

(Max liked listening to David, seeing him so openly talking about random things, especially after the break.)

But this was on a whole other level.

“The fight.” David said, glancing down at the cup of tea he had in his hands. “I mean the one that gave you this detention. Not all the other ones.”

Max snorted and put his own cup away, next to the gloves David had given him.

“I did destroy the corridor.” He stated, lifting his one leg and resting the ankle on the knee. “Or almost destroyed.”

“I know, but…” David swirled the cup in his hand. “I don’t think you would do it without a reason.”

Max smirked under his nose, rested his elbow on the table next to him, only to put his chin on his palm and glance at the teacher sitting next to him.

“Like what?” He asked.

He kinda expected to play a little game with David – with the teacher trying to guess the correct answer and Max denying every one, simply because he didn’t expect David to even guess right.

Yet the man did, on the very first try.

“Like you wanted to protect someone.”

Max’s heart hammered loudly and his chin almost slipped from the palm, but he gladly and miraculously somehow remained in his place, not doing much beside twitching, which definitely had to give him away.

David looked at him.

“What happened?” He asked, staring right into Max’s eyes and damn –

David could break every wall Max had put around himself. He could in mere seconds destroy every barrier put in front of Max’s mind. He could smash to pieces every resolution Max had in himself.

Max swallowed hard, feeling as his stomach churned under this gaze, with his heart playing a symphony inside his skull.

“You know, the usual. Wizards from magical families bullying people from not fully magical ones.” He stated.

David blinked.

“But you are–“

Max quickly closed his eyes and shook his head slowly.

“Not me. But…”

Should he say the truth? But wizards teasing other people due to their blood relations wasn’t anything new. It was happening around the whole castle every day. Max never had offended anyone because of their ancestry, simply because he didn’t give a flying fuck about such stupid shit.

But some people did.

And during that day it had been one of the worse encounters.

“… Nikki.” Max finally said, glancing away for a second. “I guess it was just a bad day for everyone. Pikeman and his stupid friends stopped us and started insulting her. Usually those things don’t get to her, but that day… they kinda did. So I gave them a piece of my mind, which they didn’t like and well…”

He remembered the anger surging through his veins as he had listened to their venomous and spiteful words. Oh how much he had wanted to strangle them, to grip their necks and choke hard. How much he had wanted to make them scream in fear. How much he had wanted to make them pay for what they had said and done.

Maybe Max sometimes acted bad, maybe he sometimes forgot about anniversaries, maybe there were times when he said something mean to his friends without meaning to do so. He had made so many mistakes, errors. He had tripped so many times on the road of trying to be a friend. He had done so many things that he would change right now.

But he wouldn’t change his friends.

And he didn’t regret what he had done that night.

“Were you…” David licked his lip nervously. “… the first one to attack?”

“No.” Max quickly said. “Niksslip did. He casted Confringo.” There was an audible gasp coming from his right. “But missed.”

“Max, they should be gravely punished for what they did!” David almost shrieked with hand moving to his mouth. “Such kinds of spells shouldn’t be cast at each other in the castle!”

Max shrugged.

“Then you don’t know about half of the things which are happening around the castle when the teachers aren’t looking.”

David stood up suddenly.

“I need to talk about it with Daniel.” And with that he marched to the exit.

Or well he would do it, if Max’s hand didn’t shoot forward and catch his wrist, preventing him from moving further.

“Dav– Mister David, no.” Max said, raising his head and staring at the red haired teacher.

“Max, they need to be punished for what they did. I– I can’t allow students to get hurt! I can’t allow them to feel like they don’t belong here when they do!” David whimpered, trying to break his hand free and get to the door.

“Now there is nothing you can do. You can only make things worse.” Max said with his mouth pinched in a tight line, frowning at David who was struggling to escape the grip.

“But I have to do something!” David tugged harshly, but Max did too.

“You can’t.” Max said, raising his voice maybe too high, definitely having a tone that was inappropriate while talking with teachers, but he didn’t care. “It all happened a few months ago. We all healed and moved on. There is no use in going back and opening old wounds.”

David stopped struggling and lifted his face a little to stare at Max.

Something in David’s disheartened façade broke Max’s heart, made his breath stop in the middle of his throat, made him choke on this little bit of oxygen still residing in his lungs.

(He hated that look.)

Max loosened his grip on David’s wrist and with some fear noticed that the skin there turned pink. He kinda expected the man to retrieve his hand quickly, maybe even dart to the exit, but nothing like this happened. David was still staring at him with this devastated and miserable look on his face.

It didn’t fit him.

“Besides I think I punished them enough. They will definitely remember my Fiendfyre for some time.” Max slowly said, putting a mischievous smile on his lips, hoping and praying that this way he could –

Oh, David chuckled. He laughed softly under his nose, closing his eyes and barely moving his shoulder.

It was a sweet sound, which tickled Max’s chest and made him breathe once again, filling his lungs with delicious air.

They stayed like that for a few seconds, with Max holding David’s wrist and the teacher not moving away, when the male opened his mouth once again.

“You did it again.” He said softly, voice barely above a whisper.

“Did what?” Max asked, raising his one eyebrow, not sure what the other one meant.

“Almost called me by my first name.”

Oh shit.

“I’m sorry–“ Max quickly jumped to excusing himself, apologizing for the slip, but he was even faster interrupted by David’s giggles.

“No, don’t worry. I don’t mind.” He said, opening his eyes and staring at him. “I kinda like it.”

Max’s heart beat loudly as he snapped his head up and looked back at David who was smiling softly back at him. He could hear it resonating in his ears. He could hear it hammering almost painfully in his chest. He could almost hear it echoing on the glassy walls of the greenhouse.

He was almost sure David and every plant here could hear it.

David slowly retracted his hand.

“We should get back to work. We need to cut Aconites’ roots to dry them!”

It took Max a few seconds or maybe minutes to collect himself.

***

It was a day like any other.

Or at least Max thought it would be a day like any other. Because it started normally. He woke up, went to wash himself, put on more or less clean clothes, grabbed a few essentials for the morning classes and then slowly walked through the Slytherin common room to the Great Hall to eat much needed breakfast.

It was a day like any other.

Not counting the colorful streamers which were suddenly blown into his face, coming from both sides as he literally just sat down. The green, red, blue and yellow papers swirled for a few seconds around his head, blocking any way of seeing who actually had shot him – but he didn’t need to see to know who it was.

Nikki and Neil. It had to be them. They were the only crazy ones who could have done that.

But why? Did they want to murder him by making him choke on the small bits and pieces of paper fluttering around and now even getting into his mouth?

“What the fuck?” Max mumbled, trying to get the glittery scraps from his eyes. Shit, noisy little fuckers, getting stuck in places they shouldn’t even be touching.

And then he felt something being put on his head, messing up his black curls. And only when he managed to get the last few bits of the rainbow colored paper off his face, he could fully see what was happening around him.

Nikki was grinning from ear to ear at him with Neil standing next to her, who also looked well… happy, but kinda hesitantly happy. Almost like he expected Max to suddenly draw his wand and cast Expelliarmus. But they weren’t the only people here. There were also those two nerds from Ravenclaw with whom Max occasionally talked – Nerris and Harrison. There was also the other Neil – a tiny Hufflepuff, smiling at him, holding a ripped piece of paper. And of course, the most annoying of them all, Preston. Why was Nikki hanging with him anyway? Ah yeah, the same house and all that shit.

Max stared at them, eyeing everyone individually, until they opened their mouths and shouted:

“Happy Birthday!”

Oh.

Max stared at them, kinda pissed, kinda surprised and kinda – also – pleased.

Because they remembered.

And Max totally forgot. Yet again.

Max had to stare at them for a good minute, because they all started to look at each other nervously, whispering some questions and shrugging in replies.

“Did we get the wrong date?” The other Neil asked, standing on his tiptoes to whisper into Nerris’ ear.

“No, I think it’s the right one.” The girl answered, though she hesitantly glanced at Nikki and Neil.

“We got it right. Don’t worry, Max always acts like that.” Neil said, looking at them and pushing his glasses higher with a paper tube he had in his hands.

Max reached, grabbed a small piece of a tomato and flung it at his friend, who surprisingly dodged in time and the fruit hit a head of a random student behind Neil.

Max would say that he felt bad, but he didn’t.

“And he’s back.” Neil murmured, apologizing then to the person assaulted by Max’s tomato.

“Fuck you.”

Neil smiled at him, shaking his head softly.

“You may be an adult, but you’ll never change.”

Max grinned.

***

This day was the same as any other, yet it was different for a whole other reason.

Everyone sat at the table with him and ate breakfast, talking irrepressibly about everything and nothing in particular. Nerris gave him the enchanted dices – that were rolling the number he would think about or close, so he could cheat. Harrison gave him a colorful cube that will definitely waste Max’s endless hours while he will try to solve it. The other Neil gave him a book which described every constellation – poor guy probably thought Max was interested in them, but to be honest Max only had needed help with his homework. So that’s why he had asked the other Neil about the stars. Preston probably beat everyone by giving him the dark glasses that, while being on a nose, would cast an illusion that he had a beard.

So even though the presents were lame, Max really loved each and every one of them.

Near the end of the breakfast, his family owl dropped a small package in front of him, together with a letter. But Max liked his good mood, so he only threw the present into his room before going to classes and deciding to check what his parents had sent him later.

Much later.

Through the day a few of his friends also wished him a happy birthday. Even a few teachers gave him best wishes while passing him in the corridor. Some even let him slack off a little bit.

The dinner and afternoon classes were spent in the same cheerful atmosphere.

Max simply felt happy, with the joy bubbling inside his chest and spreading to his limbs, overpowering his mind, to this point it was sometimes hard to maintain his usual emotionless façade.

(He felt like maybe his life wasn’t that bad. He had good people around him, who loved and cherished him, so… yeah, it wasn’t that bad.)

Max felt like nothing could destroy this day.

Life had a funny way of doing exactly that.

***

“And this is a present… from us!”

Max eyed the package suspiciously, but after a few seconds he grabbed it and brought it closer to himself. He got rid of the sparkling paper surrounding it and was met with a simple brown box underneath it.

Nikki gleamed at him, but Neil looked kinda nervous. Or very nervous. His hand fidgeted as he corrected his glasses, pushing them higher on his nose.

Max opened the package to stare at… a blue sweater. It had to be hand–knitted, because the material was uneven in some places and crooked in others. But it was a sweater, made from the warmest wool he had ever felt – and the best written message at the very front.

(He had actually said it a few times in his life. Me? Sarcastic? Never!)

Max grabbed the sweater and took it out, only to see that beneath it there were at least seven more balls of yarn, two pairs of new needles and a frame. A plain white frame. But this single pearly white frame held a picture of the three of them, smiling at the camera. Or Neil and Nikki were smiling, Max was simply pleased.

They had made it during the vacation after their third year, when Max had run away from his home to crash at Neil’s house for a week.

That time had been a blast.

And yeah, maybe the present wasn’t much. Maybe it was childish, kinda stupid for some people or just too cheesy, but Max could feel a soft, prickling sensation in the corners of his eyes.

“Uh, the mistakes are mostly my fault. Knitting is not my thing.” Neil said, scratching his shoulder and staring everywhere, but at Max.

“This is the worst present I ever got.” Max mumbled, then took off his robe, put on the most disgusting (amazing) sweater and threw his dark robe back on his shoulders.

“I think he likes it.”

Max decided not to answer, instead he palmed the material in his fingers, smiling stupidly at the soft sensation under his skin.

They sat on the wooden stairs directing them to the Clock Tower and talked about small things, unimportant things, important and difficult topics, putting in a few jokes from time to time and even sharing some deep secrets.

It was an amazing day.

But everything good had to come to an end.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?”

Oh, Max immediately felt blood boiling inside his veins, storming through them with brute force.

“Fuck off, Pikeman.” Max snarled, looking up the stairs at the very center of his hatred.

The said teen indeed stood there, staring down at them with his chin darted up.

“Well you’re standing in my way. And I want to walk down the stairs.” The male said, glancing at them and furrowing his eyebrows.

But of course he wasn’t alone. His two dumb friends had to be with him. Niksslip and Petrol.

“There is a lot of space next to us for your fat asses to walk down.”

Maybe Max shouldn’t be so hostile right now, but the memories of the last fight were still vivid in his brain, were still swirling in his mind, were still reappearing in his nightmares, because what if he had been just a second too late, one small movement too short, one thought too slow –

Nikki glared at the trio, hand moving to her waist to rest protectively on her wand. Neil looked disinterested, but his hand was also close to his weapon. Even though the Ravenclaw was a major nerd, in dire times he didn’t hesitate. And Nikki… Nikki was simply reckless.

Pikeman snorted in reply, but obediently started to walk down the stairs with his two friends following his every step.

They eyed each other suspiciously.

Max could feel the thick atmosphere on his lips, the electricity and anger swirling in the air between them. It looked like it only needed a small spark and then everything would start to burn.

His heart beat so loud, so spastically inside his ribcage, banging vehemently on his ribs. Max unclenched his fist (which he didn’t know he had tightened) to relax it for a second, so he was ready to attack at any moment.

Pikeman, Niksslip and Petrol passed them and Max found pleasure in a sight of a scar on Pikeman’s face, which he was sure he had given him during the last fight.

Served him well.

“How is your detention going?” Pikeman suddenly asked, stopping next to Max and staring at him with hands behind his back.

Max couldn’t see the wand and wondered if it was already being held.

“Good. How is your pride?”

The red haired – so so different color from David’s warm one – male’s eyebrow twitched as he glared down at Max, who still sat on the stairs.

“Definitely better than your style.”

Billy snorted, but Petrol looked unfazed.

Max furrowed his eyebrows and his hand moved to the hip, but he held strongly.

“I don’t think you should be talking about style with a face like yours.”

This time it was Nikki’s turn to giggle. Neil simultaneously moved his palm to grab the handle of his wand.

There was a twitch in Pikeman’s body and Max was sure that he would attack, would draw his wand to cast something, anything, but everything remained in the thick air between them.

Pikeman didn’t move forward though, he remained in his position, almost beside Max but still one or two steps higher.

“Hilarious, Maxwell.”

Max smirked, like he just received a compliment.

But the boy didn’t stop talking, he didn’t stop to think that maybe it was all wrong to say or even mention. Or maybe he did that only to rile Max, to make him angry, to make him furious, to make him want to jump to his feet and kill the person right in front of him.

“But please do tell me if Mister David is any good in bed. I may know a few people that would want to check those suspicions.”

Max felt like he was burning. Like he was sizzling with fire under his skin that wanted to explode and hurt the person standing right in front of him. He wanted to scream and throw himself at the male and strangle him and see the color drain from his face. He wanted to see Pikeman’s face twisting in agony with the fear rippling through his eyes.

Max wanted to see it all with his own eyes. But David would probably move past all of those bad things thrown at him, he would welcome them with a smile stretched over his lips and warm words.

So Max remained in his place, glaring at Pikeman with the hatred he felt emanating from every part of his body.

The boy had to know that he had hit a sensitive spot, because he continued.

“Oh, why such an angry face?” The prolonged words hung in the air, slicing through it with perfect precision. “Are you jealous? Oh poor little Maxey! What? Even the good David didn’t want you? But it’s not surprising –“ There was a dry chuckle leaving his lips. “– who would want a fuck up like you, right?”

It hurt. It hurt like hell. But Max decided he wouldn’t budge. Or at least not in the physical way.

“Well, your mother found someone.” Max said, quickly searching for the perfect words to use here. “So I think I have a high chance actually in comparison –”

“You –“

Pikeman moved, together with his two friends behind. Hands were pushing away the folds of the robes to grab the wands –

Surprisingly they weren’t the first to attack.

Well maybe attack was too big word to describe this moment.

Surprisingly it was Neil who did it. But he didn’t take out his wand. No, no. He did something else. He reached into his pocket, took out something glittery and then threw it at the trio that was already shouting some words under their breaths.

They were enveloped in a cloud of pink, glittery streamers.

“Run!” Neil shouted.

No one had to be told twice. Max grabbed his package and they all ran down the stairs as fast as their legs could take them.

Max could hear loud curses coming from behind them and when he glanced back, he saw the puff of pink dust dissipating. Pikeman’s face was red, blaring red, as he lifted his hand and cast a spell. Max wasn’t sure what spell, but the only thing he knew was that it was too dangerous.

And yeah, fluttery, white light exploded near his head, leaving black, scorching soot on the stone wall.

Shit, it was bad.

“Run, run, run!” Max yelled, ushering his friend out the door while he grabbed the wand from his belt.

Only when Nikki and Neil were outside, Max glanced back. The trio were running down the stairs, glaring at them, all with wands in their hands. Max didn’t have enough time to think thoroughly about the consequences of his actions as he casted an Impediment Jinx.

This time he didn’t destroy anything, only slowed the trio down. But not for long.

Max jumped out of the building. They had maybe a few seconds or so. Not enough to get to the main part of the castle, but enough to hide.

They all searched for a perfect place, gasping and huffing loudly. Max felt the passing time on his skin as his eyes desperately searched for some safe hideout. And after five or so blissful seconds, Nikki pointed at a small, partially destroyed niche. Most of the walls were destroyed, with pieces of concrete lying on the ground. But at least half of it was still standing.

Plus it was in the direction of their escape.

The tree of them ran to the niche and hid behind a half–broken wall, crouching down, so not even an inch of their body would be visible.

Max could hear his heart inside his ears, beating loudly and almost stopping when he picked up the sound of the door to the Clock Tower bursting open.

“Where are you!?”

Well Max definitely wasn’t going to answer this question. And it looked like Neil and Nikki didn’t really want to raise their hands either.

They could hear the steps outside, shuffling around the grounds in front of the tower, muttering curses to each other. There was a brief silence and then someone cast a spell, causing a small explosion of rocks nearby. Too close for comfort.

And Max suddenly thought that maybe their hideaway was the worst option here. Because if they found them, Max and his friends would have no place to run. They would have to duel – something Max didn’t really want to do right now.

Because, to be honest, Pikeman and the rest were all a year higher than them and knew some highly offensive and dangerous spells. And Max didn’t want to see his friends getting or being hurt.

Why oh why had he opened his mouth!? Maybe Pikeman was right. Maybe Max was a fuck up. Maybe he was a mess. His friends were in danger and it was Max’s fault. They shouldn’t suffer because of his stupid mistakes and even stupider choices.

Max took a deep breath when he heard the ground rumbling too close for comfort.

As much as Max could he turned around to Neil and Nikki and whispered.

“Wait a little bit and then run.”

Neil was the first one to shake himself from the shock.

“Max, what are you –“

But Max didn’t hear the rest of the reply, as he jumped to his feet and leaped from their hiding place, leaving his present and friends behind. Miraculously, Pikeman and his band didn’t look in his direction so he had a few additional seconds to run through the ground and get away from the hideout.

“Hey dumbfuck!” Max shouted, holding a wand tightly in his palm.

The three of them immediately turned to him. Hands were put into motion, raised up to the sky and there was a soft glint of light –

Max wanted to say more, to rile Pikeman a little bit more, but it looked like he didn’t need to.

Now he needed to get the hell out of here and hope, pray, that his friends will be okay.

So Max ran. He ran through the school grounds, feeling the cold winter air moving through his veins and the wind swishing past him, messing with his clothes and hair. It was so chilly, so freezing outside, but he barely felt it, with the adrenaline rushing through him and a few explosions appearing too close to him for comfort. The white snow crunched under him with every step he took – faster, faster, faster, far away, as far as he could – it was a sick cacophony inside his ears.

Max felt like he could faint, but he pushed his body to the limits, he forced his legs to move even though they were heavy and he was so so tired. But he miraculously still managed to jump over a stone fence and then tumble for a second on the ground.

(Faster, faster, faster, further away from the danger!)

“I’ll kill you!”

Max had no doubt that it could happen.

He had no time to glance back to see how many of them was following him, but judging by the heavy sound of footsteps definitely more than one. The sparkling, bursting spells quite confirmed his suspicions.

Oh, if he and his friends get out unscathed from this chase, Max will start listening during Potions. He will even answer Daniel’s questions, without being forced to! He won’t even wait till the last day to finish his essay.

He will do all of it!

Max felt like his lungs could collapse, like his heart could jump out of his hurt chest. But step after step he was getting away from the people behind him with their footsteps becoming some kind of background noises.

But he still needed a place to hide! A place to lay low for a few more minutes.

Max lifted his head, looking around for the first time in like forever and unfortunately he noticed that, even though he was dumb as fuck, his mind was miraculously even dumber.

(Or maybe it was too smart.)

Because he, of course, ran to the greenhouse.

Max had no other options, so he jumped to the front door and prayed hard with all his heart that it will be open.

It was.

Max wanted to scream in joy, but the only thing he did was fling the door open. After glancing back, he literally stormed inside. It took him two or maybe three steps, still looking back at the door he had shut down with too much force, to crash into someone.

They tumbled down to the floor, yelping. Max heard a small shout in front of him. There were movements, small kicks and pushes, there was sudden darkness and Max’s clothes fluttered around him, a small whimper of pain, a blurry vision jumping in and out of focus, before Max’s mind could fully process what had happened. Or tried to fully process what had happened.

“I’ll kill you, Maxwell!” Came a shout from the outside, too close for comfort.

Max’s brain acted on an impulse. His wand moved, making the lock in the main door move, blocking the pathway in and making all the candles inside the greenhouse die immediately, engulfing them in darkness. When the footsteps, running ones, came too close to the greenhouse, Max grabbed the body in front of him, or whatever part he could actually grab, and rolled them both weirdly and painfully under the table, pushing away the pots and smearing dirt around.

It wasn’t the perfect cover, but it was the best thing they could have now.

Max’s breathed hard. He felt his chest moving heavily up and down. He could sense his heart running wildly in his chest, trying to work properly to get the needed oxygen to his veins and organs. He could feel a weird pulsation in the back of his skull.

“Max, what is wrong?” David asked, his hot, but quiet breath tickled the skin near Max’s cheek.

Because yes, Max had the worst luck in the entire universe. Yes, he had crashed into David face first after entering the greenhouse. Yes, he had made both of them fall down on the dirty and rough ground. And yes, he had rolled them under the table to hide from the chase.

And now David was lying on the crummy ground under him, while Max prepped himself on his elbows above the teacher.

The situation couldn’t get any worse.

But of course it could.

“Max?” David repeated himself, wiggling a little beneath him and trying to move the hand which rested between him and Max, quite uncomfortably probably. “What is happening?”

“Shh…” Max shushed him and then glanced at the door.

There was a short span of time where nothing happened, a blissful two seconds or so, where Max hoped that maybe Pikeman gave up.

But the doorknob wiggled and then a loud thud resonated in the air, when someone probably punched the door.

“We know you’re there!”

Max wanted to curse. He wanted to scream and shout. He wanted to punch and kick and kill someone. He wanted to do all of those things, but he couldn’t do even a single one.

David’s breath hitched in his throat – it was weird, but Max could feel the movement reverberating inside his body. He could even sense David’s chest moving up, only to stop for a second.

“Don’t hide there!” The handle moved again, but this time too the lock kept them at bay.

Max swallowed hard, tightening his grip on the wand and glancing at the door. Even though the table was giving them half cover, they probably would still be pretty visible from the sides, especially from the window. It will probably take Pikeman and the rest a second to notice them. Or at least to notice Max who was above.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

There was a short span of calmness and then the footsteps moved to the side. The glassy side!

(No, no, no, no, no!)

Max felt his heart leaping painfully in his throat when he glanced to the side. Maybe if he ran through the back door, David would be safe and Max would only spend a few weeks in the Hospital Wing.

Max could feel air on his cheeks, a soft murmur leaving David’s lips, a shuddering resonance in his chest almost glued to his teacher’s one. There was a beat when nothing happened. Then Max could hear a flutter of something moving, a swishing sound of sneaking around, a tiny whisper of leaves quivering.

Then slowly, step after step, the image of the glassy side was blocked by the giant leaves, vines and tentacles moving around, intertwining, hanging or interlocking.

Max could only stare in awe as the plants moved, swirled, maneuvered, twirled and intertwined together to form something resembling a curtain – a green, beautiful, vivid curtain which would hide them from the outside world.

“Thanks.” David whispered.

And not even a second later they could hear loud footsteps behind the glass wall. Max could even see shadows moving behind the windows, but most of them were blocked by the plants, leaves and vines.

“Damn it! I can’t see a thing inside!” Pikeman yelled – Max could recognize this voice anywhere.

It seemed like the teen glued his face to the window, if the sounds were any indication.

“All I can see are those stupid plants.” Another voice added. It was Billy, definitely.

So Petrol was left with Nikki and Neil. They could take on one guy. Max believed in them.

David’s chest stopped moving as he stared at the glassy side. Max couldn’t see much in front of him, but he had a feeling that David furrowed his eyebrows.

“Fuck, we should burn them some day.”

Yeah, it was definitely a frown, followed by a clench of the fist still squeezed between their bodies.

“Do you think he’s here?”

Max stopped breathing.

“I’m not fucking sure. I think I saw him going in here, but it’s so fucking dark outside!”

The only source of light was the moon hanging low on the sky.

Max moved a little, trying to find a comfortable position between them, and he only managed to brush his body on David.

Not a good idea!

“Damn him. I’ll kill him the next time I see him.” Pikeman shouted and then it looked and sounded like he kicked the wall, because the glass shuddered heavily.

The leaves fluttered unhappily, but other than that they didn’t move.

“Let’s go. Some teacher could see us. Maybe Petrol had more luck.”

There was a short pause when nothing happened and then Max could hear a soft crunching of snow beneath the moving away feet.

“I swear, if I see…” But the words mingled and mixed together, forming a gibberish something which disappeared in the dark night around them, followed only by a faraway sound of laughter.

Max waited for a few more seconds, before he let out a loud breath through his mouth and nose.

Miraculously he was safe. Somehow.

There were another few heartbeats of silence when he listened intently to any other sounds that could indicate that they were back, but nothing like this happened. The leaves only fluttered above them and the vines twitched, retracting slowly to their previous place.

“Max… what the heck was that?” David whispered.

And only then Max finally managed to look back at the person in front of him? Below him? Being squished between him and a probably very cold floor?

And even though the adrenaline had been moving furiously through his body, now it felt like it stopped and then spurted once again.

“Eh…” Max licked his lips slowly and then glanced to the side. How should he answer? Should he tell the truth or lie? But he got David pretty deep into it, so… “Pikeman?”

“That didn’t answer my question.” David furrowed his eyebrows, wriggling his fingers that were between his and Max’s chest.

“You know… the usual happened…”

“The usual?” David said, huffed even. “Did you get into another fight?”

“To be more precise, I was running away from a fight.” Max quickly added, barely pushing the words through his throat.

“Max, what happened?” David asked, looking up, tilting his head just oh so slightly that Max could almost see his own reflection in the green, lush eyes.

“Pikeman and his gang decided to bug us. A few not quite nice sentences were thrown at each other and suddenly we found ourselves running away from them.”

David gasped, opening his mouth a little. The gust of hot air brushed past Max’s face.

“Max, we need to tell the principal!”

“So they could bug us even more?” Max quickly shot back, raising his eyebrow and lifting one corner of his mouth.

“But if they are bugging other students –” David shifted beneath him, but Max actually didn’t move, didn’t budge, didn’t twitch even an inch.

“Telling the principal will make the matter worse for some students. Did you think that there was no bullying around the school? Well then I have some bad news for you.” Max snorted back. “It is happening. Telling the principal won’t do shit and you can only harm someone by doing it.”

David was already opening his mouth – and oh how Max wanted to close it, to finish this pointless argument that was taking them nowhere. He wanted to end it. He wanted to shut David up. He wanted–

Max’s heart shuddered in his chest as he sensed another soft movement beneath him, as he felt another scent hitting his nose, as he heard another whisper of rustling clothes.

Max’s throat was dry.

He should move away, but he couldn��t. He felt like he was petrified.

The air around them was thick, heavy, but filled with something that was almost buzzing in his ears.

And then David’s mouth moved, turned into a small, hesitant smile and a low, kinda dry chuckle left his lips.

“You’re actually pretty caring, Max.”

“What?” Max snapped.

“You could simply let me tell the principal and you would be free. But you don’t want to do that so you won’t harm other people.” David said with sparkling eyes. “That is very noble.”

Max stared for a few long seconds, before he snorted loudly, right into David’s face at this point.

“I’m far away from being noble, David.”

Oh, he did it again. The name so naturally slipped past his lips. Max knew why this was happening. He often used teachers’ first names while talking with his friends, but he controlled himself around the real teachers. But with David there were times – short, small spaces and spans of intimacy – when Max’s brain couldn’t function properly, when it felt like reality was altered.

This was one of those moments, when even though Max had feared for his life a few minutes ago, now he felt at peace, calm and simply, kinda, happy.

David didn’t comment on the slip. Or at least not verbally. The corner of his lip twitched a little though and he tilted his head, making one lock curl on his forehead, and miraculously, somehow, moving closer to Max.

“I still think you’re kind, Max.”

Max wasn’t kind. But, God, he wanted to be. Nikki was kind. Neil was kind. His other friends were kind. Gwen was kind. David was kind beyond understanding. And Max kinda hated it, because spending time with David made him want to be a better person. And he was terrible at this. He couldn’t so naturally do something nice. He was a mess at this. It was all too hard and Max was so, so tired.

Max wasn’t a nice person.

“I’m not.” He said, feeling his heart thrumming loudly inside his chest as he sensed David breathing with him in synchronization.

“You are.” David said, grinning at him, like it was some weird, childish game. And damn, he looked so sincere, he spoke without even a particle of hesitation, like he fully believed his own words.

Max really wanted to believe them too. But they weren’t true and he knew that.

“No, I’m not. Just stop.”

Stop making him almost believe it.

“You can’t make me stop.” David said, a hint of childish bravado hanging on the last tone.

But Max could. He could make David stop believing it.

Because Max wasn’t a good person, no matter how hard he wanted to be or believe it.

And maybe it was the exhaustion hanging tightly on his bones, maybe it was the adrenaline still rushing through his veins, maybe it was the memory of almost being caught and killed.

Or maybe it wasn’t that.

Maybe it was the whole atmosphere of the greenhouse. Maybe it was the soft whisper of the leaves above him. Maybe it was the sensation of feeling David’s breath near his chest and on his skin. Maybe it was the beautiful feeling of comfort while being so near. Maybe it was his heart’s fault.

Maybe it was all of the above. Maybe they all were the reasons.

But he simply acted on an impulse – or maybe a need that was hiding inside his mind for a long period of time and now it grabbed the chance, holding onto it dearly.

Because Max seized the moment, grabbed the opportunity and kissed David.

There was a sudden spark inside his head, a sudden burst of emotions, a sudden vibrating sensation inside his chest as he felt his lips touching David’s in front of him.

It was amazing, it was astonishing, it was everything and even more than he had imagined through this whole time.

Max knew his brain – the rational part of it – was sending him loud alarms through his head, but he shut them down, smashed to pieces as he tilted his head a little bit, to feel more, needing to feel more and more of the lips under him.

David’s hand, resting between them, twitched. Max relaxed his fingers and moved them to intertwine with David’s hair scattered on the cold stone.

Maybe it was happening for a few seconds, maybe even a full minute, he wasn’t sure. However Max moved away, feeling the sudden need for air.

Max opened his eyes to stare at David beneath him. To say that the teacher was surprised would be an understatement. David’s eyes were wide, looking right at Max in response. His mouth opened a little bit to take a few big gulps of air with his chest heaving between them. His cheeks were flushed with bright, red colors, scattered all over the freckles, almost making them invisible.

But Max was sure his face was even worse, he could sense his cheeks blazing beneath the skin.

There was a short span of time, a sudden stillness, a small period of hesitation or incomprehension that floated between them.

And Max’s heart hammered loudly inside his chest. He threw every caution to the wind and dove down for more.

David’s lips weren’t particularly dry, they weren’t plump and soft either, they weren’t perfect in any definition of this word, yet they were the most amazing thing Max had ever tasted. Max could feel shivers running down his spine as his tongue moved, licked the bottom lip, hoping and praying, needing more and more and more.

David’s hair was soft under Max’s fingers.

There was a short heartbeat, a sudden gasp leaving David’s lips and Max used this occasion.

(Because he wasn’t a kind person.)

Max slipped his tongue inside, tilting his head so he could taste and feel more.

And it was amazing, astonishing, exciting and beautiful. It was too much and too little at the same time. It was a waterfall of energy surging through his body. It was a heartbeat soaring in the sky as he kissed David deeply, moving his tongue around, tasting every place he could.

David’s other hand moved and clenched Max’s robe tightly, grasping it as their bodies moved and brushed together, trying to find a perfect position.

Max tilted his head and, damn, it had to be his imagination, but he could swear he sensed David doing the same.

David tasted amazing, kinda sweet, but with a bitter aftertaste, that made Max move deeper and deeper, pushing his body further, trying to get more of the heat emanating from David’s body, trying to feel more of David as Max’s tongue roamed around.

It was intoxicating, it was addicting and it was stunning, incredible and wonderful. Max could feel his heart trying to jump out from his chest. He could sense every place where David’s body touched his own.

Max took more and more, swirling his tongue around, trying to get more and more and more. Then after a few seconds he found David’s tongue, unmoving, just like it was from the very beginning.

(Please, please, please! Max needed it!)

Max swirled his tongue around, hoping for some kind of a response, needing some kind of an reply, pleading for some answer, because, God, he wanted more.

Max’s heart jumped high, loud, painfully inside his chest when he felt a small movement, a sudden twitch, a short response from David. He felt like he could burst and explode with the sudden happiness surging through his limbs and chest, because a second later or so David’s tongue moved, making small, tiny, hesitant circles on Max’s one.

Max moved closer, got himself comfortable between David’s legs and brought himself as close as possible – enjoying the soft shudder that ran through David’s body, the short moan leaving his lips as their lips crashed, mingled and mixed together, the sudden tug of David’s hand on his robe as they brushed together, mouths moving passionately to–

Stop immediately when they heard a knock coming from the back door.

“David? Are you still there?” Daniel’s voice seeped under the door, not even a second later after he had knocked.

The connection was lost as they separated their lips. They turned their heads in the direction of the back door.

It felt like Max’s heart stopped beating when he saw the door handle moving.

TBC

#Maxvid #Mavid #Hogwart!AU #my art?#my stories?#Wait For It

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gruumpy-cat · 6 years

Text

The Art of Being Nonchalant (Or Not) / Chapter Nine

Another week passed by and there was still no word from grandad, but luckily, there were also no new articles about my family. I wondered what the hell was going on that he couldn’t be bothered to answer a letter, especially when he knew I’d get increasingly angrier with him the longer he put it off.

Osborne didn’t make another move yet, which made me think he was planning something big, though I couldn’t imagine what his sick mind would come up with. He avoided me, mostly because James took it upon himself to follow me everywhere since Osborne made his threat, which was both endearing and annoying. I could take care of myself and James knew it, and yet, it seemed he couldn’t help himself. Ash and Dom were royally pissed at him because he wouldn’t leave us alone, which meant he had to hear about their periods almost daily, not to mention the endless comparisons Dom made between Sean and Teddy. Their tactic wasn’t successful because James often butted in their conversation in a weirdly interested way. I zoned out more often than not when Dom talked about the two of them, but not James. No, he had his own opinions on how to successfully steal Teddy away from Victoire and it seemed to me that he and Dom were on the verge of concocting a cunning plan worthy of Al and his Slytherin ways.

The Friday afternoon before the first Hogsmeade trip was reserved for our longest Quidditch practice yet. James wanted to try out some of the moves grandad suggested to him over the summer so he thought the usual two hours of practice wouldn’t be enough.

“Is he mental?” Dom asked while I was once again looking for my Beater’s gloves around the dorm. I had a sneaking suspicion Ziggy kept stealing and hiding them just for the heck of it. Or maybe he was just pure evil. Who knows.

I sat down on the floor and looked under my bed, but all I could see was a couple of socks I thought were lost forever and a hat I ditched there sometime last week in a bout of frustration over Potions homework. Looking up at Dom, I caught sight of Ziggy observing my efforts with a self-satisfied expression.

“Mental?”

Dom was sitting on her bed, writing a letter and sucking on the end of her quill. She frowned at me, “A four-hour practice? That doesn’t sound mental to you?”

I looked up at her and raised an eyebrow, “Have you met my grandad?”

She let out a small laugh and shook her head, “You’re right, your grandad is mental.” Dom dipped her quill into the ink bottle on her bedside table and continued to write her letter.

As I paused in the search for my gloves, I tried to sneak a glance at Dom’s letter. It was very long and it was getting even longer, but Dom was doing her best to conceal the whole thing from me. Which was stupid on her part because I wouldn’t have been interested in it had she not tried to be secretive about it. I threw one of the socks I found at her face.

“Who are you writing this ridiculously long letter? Is it Teddy? Or do you have another secret boyfriend that I don’t know about?” I asked as she looked at the sock that was now covering her letter in disgust. She started playing with her dragon pendant, which was a sure sign that I’ve asked her something uncomfortable.

Dom sighed, “Yeah, it’s for Teddy.”

“Why the hell are you writing him a thousand-page letter if you’re going to see him tomorrow in Hogsmeade?”

Still fiddling with her pendant, Dom avoided looking me in the eye so she settled on staring out the window. “It’s complicated. We are meeting tomorrow, but it’s just for a shag. I’ll send the letter after he leaves.”

Thoroughly surprised by her answer, I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively, “So tomorrow is just a booty call? I thought you were in love with him.”

Dom twirled a strand of her silvery hair around her finger, not saying anything for a while. She wasn’t usually this moody and, against my better judgement and my tendency to not meddle with people’s love lives because I was terrible at it as much as I was usually disinterested in it, I decided to actually listen to her for once.

“You know I don’t judge people based on who they’re having sex with,” I started and she finally looked at me, seemingly surprised that I would continue discussing her problems, “but you can pretty much fuck any bloke you wanted and you choose to have Teddy as your, what, fuck buddy? While he’s in a relationship with your sister? It could’ve made sense if you were in love with him but I don’t get it.” I got up from the floor and sat on Dom’s bed, next to her.

“I’m not…He’s miserable with Victoire and we’ve been hooking up since last year, while they were still at Hogwarts. It’s just…There’s this…I can’t even explain it but we can’t keep our hands off each other when we’re alone. And I always liked him. So maybe it is love. I don’t even feel guilty about trying to steal my sister’s boyfriend.”

“Well, tell Teddy to make up his damn mind. What kind of a person stays with someone they feel miserable with? And then shag that person’s sister for over a year?!” I practically yelled that last bit so Dom started shushing me in case there was anyone passing our dorm.

“That’s what I wrote in the letter,” she said and gave me a small smile, “only, in a lot more words. He doesn’t want to hurt Victoire, you know how she gets. She’ll most likely murder us both if she finds out.”

“When she finds out. If he breaks up with her and the two of you get together, are you just going to hide? And how does Sean play into this whole thing? Why are you stringing him along?” I said, but I realised I probably shouldn’t have. It would be better if I didn’t know anything about this, but the damage was already done.

“Sean is…useful. So I use him and he doesn’t know and he better not find out,” Dom said, piercing me with her gaze. Fuck. Now that she told me all this, I would be better off if I never talked to Sean again because I will fuck up her secret. Maybe I should let her Obliviate me.

“I’m not going to intentionally tell him,” I told her and she narrowed her eyes, “Okay, fine! I’ll tell James to kick me if I start saying stupid things around Sean. He already thinks I’m not all there due to James telling him I got kicked in the head with a Bludger so people randomly kicking me when I start talking to him shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.” She sympathetically patted me on the back and returned to her monster of a letter.

I was still looking for my Beater’s gloves around the dorm when Ash walked in with an annoyed expression on her face. Her eyes fell on me and she rolled her eyes, “Accio Quinn’s gloves!”

The gloves flew up from their hiding place in Ziggy’s den and Ash caught them before throwing them over to me.

“Thanks,” I said but she only sprawled over her bed and sighed loudly.

Dom looked up from her letter, “What’s got your wand in a knot, Ash?”

Ash closed her eyes and pinched her nose, “Quinn’s shadow is waiting downstairs. I swear to Godric, I’m going mad with him following us everywhere,” she opened her eyes and sent me an annoyed look.

I shrugged, “I have no control over what James does.” As I opened the door of our dorm Ash called out after me, “Oh please, we all know that’s not true!” I decided to ignore her and left her with Dom.

James was indeed waiting for me at the foot of the stairs leading up to the girls’ dormitory with an excited grin on his face. I punched him in the arm instead of returning his grin and practically ran to the portrait hole. He yelped in surprise but he soon caught up with me, halfway down the corridor leading to the passageway we usually take to the Entrance Hall.

“What was that for?” James asked, still rubbing his arm, faking that it was still hurting him.

I rolled my eyes, “Will you stop following me around? Dom and Ash are going crazy. Osborne hasn’t tried anything for a week, I doubt he’ll do something now. And even if he does, I can hex him or punch him or both perfectly well.”

He ran his hand through his hair and smiled at me, “Okay, fine. But if he tries anything, can we please murder him?”

I grinned at him, “If you figure out a way to do it without the murder getting traced back to us, sure.”

We lapsed into a comfortable silence as we walked through the castle, occasionally passing other students until we reached the outside. The sun was shining brightly, with a couple of clouds visible in the distance.

“It’s good weather for Quidditch practice,” I said and James nodded, the excited grin long gone. I stopped walking and turned to look at him.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, poking him in the shoulder.

He frowned, “Are you really not going to Hogsmeade tomorrow with Wood? Or did you just say that to get me off your back?”

I turned away from him and started walking towards the Pitch, clutching my Beater’s bat and feeling like I could use it on James’ face. He ran up to me.

“Will you stop harping on about Wood? There is literally nothing going on between us except some snogging, and even if there were, it’s none of your business! And I never lied to you in all the years of our friendship so I’m not going to start over a supposed date with Jax!” I yelled at him, throwing my broom to the ground, but still clutching my bat, feeling incredibly angry at James for even thinking that I would lie to him, especially about something so stupid. We didn’t keep secrets from each other.

The expression on James’ face was one of bewilderment as if he couldn’t grasp why I was getting so worked up which in turn made me even angrier. We just stood there, halfway between Hagrid’s hut and the castle, staring at each other.

“I just don’t want you to get hurt,” he said in a low voice that I strained to hear, “Jax is –” he continued but I interrupted.

“He’s no worse than you or me! You’re starting to be worse than Ethan, for fuck’s sake! First, it was Logan, then following me around because of Osborne and now this? When the fuck did I stop being Quinn Jones and became a fucking damsel in fucking distress?!” I shouted at him, words spilling from my mouth, words which I might not have meant seriously, but the stress of not knowing what the bloody hell was happening at home, of being ignored, and then of James not trusting me was too much. Once I started I couldn’t stop myself. I saw that I hurt him and I didn’t care. I knew he didn’t mean it like what I took his words for but I needed to let out my anger and James was there. Grabbing my broom from the ground, I started to stomp towards the Quidditch Pitch, with James following me silently.

When we came to the Pitch, the rest of the team was already there, including the addition of Wendy’s girlfriend in the stands. I narrowed my eyes at Wendy. She stopped talking with Fred and stared at me as I made my way over. “In case you didn’t notice, Nott,” I spat out, still irate from my fight with James, “this is a Gryffindor practice. So go up there and tell your girlfriend to go away before I have to curse her.” My voice was pure acid and I momentarily felt disgusted at myself when I saw Wendy looking frightened as she walked towards the stands. Fred was looking at me as if I murdered somebody right in front of him.

“What?” I asked but he just shook his head and stayed silent. He knew there was no point in arguing with me when I was being angry and irrational. James, on the other hand, had a different way of dealing with me.

“Twenty laps around the Pitch!” he yelled at me, with the rest of the team following the staring contest that ensued with interest. James didn’t back down, though, and I couldn’t stand the look on his face, a mix of hurt and worry, so I turned away from him and started running.

“Fine!” I threw back over my shoulder, not bothering to cover up the anger in my voice. James didn’t say anything, which was even worse than him yelling something back at me.

I was still fuming by the time I finished the laps and I couldn’t wait until I was in the air, hitting Bludgers. I could have aimed them all at James but I wouldn’t let my emotions ruin my practice. So for the next four hours, I taught Lysander some of the moves I perfected over my years of playing Quidditch. He was a surprisingly quick learner, though my foul mood probably made him think of what I could do to him if he failed. So we tortured the rest of our teammates with well-placed Bludgers for the rest of the practice. Seth was particularly skilled at dodging them, which was a nice surprise, but Lily was awful. For someone so slight, she should have been much harder to hit. James ordered her to work with Lysander and me in order for her to get better. It didn’t end well.

We were almost at the end of our practice when Lysander hit the Bludger straight for Lily’s outstretched arm while she was trying to catch the Snitch. She was supposed to dodge, and she did but did it badly. The Bludger hit her in the face and there was a crunch, followed by blood. James and Fred both rushed over, managing to get Lily on the ground between the two of them while Lysander looked on with a horrified expression on his face.

I flew over to him and patted him on the shoulder awkwardly, “Don’t worry, James took an emergency Healing course.” He didn’t seem like that made him feel better and I rolled my eyes. “For Merlin’s sake, if it were a member of the opposing team you’d be elated. Think of it as good target practice.”

Lysander shook his head and there was an embarrassed smile on his face, “It’s not that. I just don’t think I’ll be able to walk around the castle freely for some time because she’s going to kill me.” I burst out laughing at his retort and mussed up his hair. I knew what he told me wasn’t the whole truth, but it was still hilarious.

We flew down to where everyone else was gathered around Lily. It got dark a while ago and the magical lights that shone down on us weren’t quite enough for me to see the damage to Lily’s face properly. James was waving his wand and muttering spells, but he didn’t look worried, which was a relief. As much as Lily sometimes annoyed me to no end, I didn’t want her to get hurt.

“I’m fine!” Lily said as she waved her brother away and James grinned at her in response.

“You could at least thank me,” he told her, making her laugh.

“Thanks, but I have a bone to pick,” she said and started walking towards Lysander who tried to hide behind Seth.

“No, you don’t,” I said, stopping her from marching up to Lysander, “You’re a fucking Quidditch player and Quidditch players get injured. Deal with it, little Potter.” Lily scoffed at me but didn’t say anything. I usually wouldn’t have stopped her but I didn’t think it would be a good idea for more people on the team to be fighting or anything close to it. It was enough that James and I didn’t look each other in the eye during the whole practice. I wasn’t about to lose the upcoming game against Slytherin because of hot-headed teammates.

I turned on the spot and left them all standing in the middle of the Pitch, staring at my back. I could feel the two sets of eyes boring into the back of my head as I disappeared in the locker rooms and I knew that either James or Fred would try and talk to me. So, instead of showering in the locker rooms, I trudged up to the castle in my filthy Quidditch gear, grabbed some food in the Great Hall, much to Ash and Dom’s astonishment, and made my way back to my dorm where I could shower and eat in peace, without anyone asking me uncomfortable questions. Because, besides the obvious resentment I’ve been harbouring towards my family that’s been building up ever since that article came out, I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out why exactly I was so angry at James just because he made some comment that I full well knew he didn’t actually mean in the way I wanted to interpret it.

As I sat on my bed and munched on my stolen dinner, I realised it really bothered me that I have been so angry all the time lately. My anger wasn’t that unusual, I was pretty explosive at times, but I was never cruel towards James. I remembered the last time we had a sort-of fight and his blurted out ‘I love you’. There was a sinking feeling in my stomach as I thought of how he was the only person in the world that could make me freak out and then laugh about it in the span of a couple of minutes with just a few words. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. There was no way in hell I would allow myself to feel guilty.

Despite my determination from the night before that I wouldn’t feel guilty, I woke up feeling dreadful. For once in my life, I was up earlier than Dom and Ash, and even Ziggy was still sleeping at the foot of my bed. I kicked off the covers and lay there, staring at the top of my four-poster, trying my best not to think about anything. It was proving increasingly difficult so I got up, got dressed and decided to leave for Hogsmeade early. That way, I could at least avoid everyone.

I made a quick stop at the Owlery before I left the castle. In the midst of all the things that have happened in the short span that I’ve been back at school, I forgot to send some fan mail to George R. R. Martin. Some would call it hate mail because I could get passionate about my begging for him to publish The Winds of Winter already. He never replied, obviously, but I felt like I could keep sending the letters and try my best at guilt-tripping him. It felt weird to take Antigone, so instead of her, I coaxed one of the school owls to take the letter with a couple of owl treats.

Luckily, there was no Osborne blocking my path this time, so I quickly made my way to the Entrance Hall and on the path towards Hogsmeade. It was a fairly cold day, so I hugged my jacket closer to my body as I walked, the wind blowing hard and making my hair a tangled mess. Since it was still fairly early, there weren’t many Hogwarts students walking around the village. However, I did see a group of hags huddled together in front of Hog’s Head and another group walking towards the Shrieking Shack. I was surprised at first, but then I vaguely remembered Fred talking about the HagCon that was supposed to take place in Hogsmeade during the next week. Obviously, he wanted to crash it to hang out with hags.

I walked down High Street until I arrived at the Hogsmeade branch of the Magical Menagerie. The shop was empty when I entered except for the shop owner, an older witch in pale blue robes. She was grooming a large Kneazle while I browsed the shop. I only had to buy food for Ziggy but I didn’t have anything better to do so I looked in on the various creatures in the shop. There was a lonely looking baby snowy owl. I came closer and it perked up, hooting merrily when I scratched its head.

The shop owner approached me with a smile on her face. “He likes you! Do you want to buy him?” she asked, her eyebrows raised in expectation.

“No, I think my cat would probably eat him,” I said, thinking of Ziggy and his tendency to devour small birds, leaving nothing but a coughed up feather as evidence of his crime.

The witch laughed. “How can I help you then?”

“I need two big packs of your premium cat food,” I told her, still petting the baby owl. She nodded her head and went behind the counter, rummaging around the cabinets until she found the food and put it on the counter. “Will that be all?” she asked and I nodded my head, scratching the baby owl one last time before I walked up to the counter and paid for the food. I waved my wand to make the two packs smaller and stuffed them in my backpack, leaving the shop and walking into somebody while I was closing the zipper.

“Sor –” I started to say but then I looked up and found myself face to face with Al. Despite James’ insistence that I apologise to Al, I haven’t talked to him since the party. He still looked hot and I mentally cursed myself for thinking that. There was a smirk on his face and I had a bad feeling this would turn out into another sexually tense encounter in the middle of fucking Hogsmeade. We stared at each other for a couple of increasingly awkward minutes.

“Excuse me?” a middle-aged wizard said in our general direction with a very annoyed look on his face. He was carrying a large empty cage. “You’re blocking the entrance,” he muttered and shot us dirty looks. I moved to the side and Al followed me, casually putting his arm around my shoulders as if he was guiding me away.

“Stop it,” I said, glaring at him and shrugging off his arm. The problem wasn’t that I didn’t like it. The problem was that I did. And he was fucking in love with me. Or so he thought.

“Listen, Al,” I started before we could enter another staring contest, “I’m sorry for leading you on, okay? I’m a fucked up person so I’m sorry. I broke up with you and I kept stringing you along, at The Howler and then at the party…” I trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

There was a sad smile on his face and I couldn’t remember the last time I saw him look vulnerable. “I know you don’t want the same things that I do. So I’ll, uh, stop…Whatever this is between us,” he said and there was a mischievous glint in his eyes. “You obviously can’t keep it in your pants around me,” he said in a teasing tone and I started to laugh. It felt good to be able to laugh with him again.

“Are you implying I have no self-control?” I asked, still smiling at him.

“I’m not implying anything, I’m simply stating the obvious –”

“Quinn?” A familiar voice called out and the smile disappeared from my face. I looked over Al’s shoulder and saw my brother standing there. But he didn’t look like Ethan. He looked like someone who hadn’t seen the light of day in a very long time.

“Ethan?” I said in a weak voice, running towards him, forgetting about Al. He would understand. When I neared my brother, I saw that he looked awful. There were bags under his bloodshot eyes and his usually neat hair was messy. He reeked of alcohol. I hugged him and he just stood there, stock-still, until he started shaking and I realised he was crying. I was getting worried now, a thousand thoughts running through my head, wondering if grandad and our parents were okay.

Finally, Ethan stopped shaking and I let go of him. “Ragnar is dead,” he whispered.

I was ashamed as relief flooded me. It wasn’t grandad or our parents who died, but Ragnar. And after the initial relief, I felt tears prickling my eyes, though I wouldn’t let them fall. Ragnar, my brother’s best friend and a fellow Hit Wizard, always acted like I was his little sister. As far as I knew he had no family. Ethan was his family, and so was I. There was a certain numbness spreading through me, interspersed with grief. Grief for Ragnar but also grief for my brother who looked completely broken.

I dragged Ethan towards the Three Broomsticks and sat him down at a table while I ordered some food and drinks. No alcohol.

He was holding his head in his hands when I put the fish and chips in front of him, along with two fizzy drinks.

“What happened?” I asked though I doubted he would give me an honest answer.

“We were on a mission…It didn’t go well,” he looked up at me and I had the urge to hug him again but I let him talk instead, “I…I couldn’t save him.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Ethan snorted at that and rubbed his eyes. “Not really. And even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. Magical contract and all that…” He drifted off, staring through the window. “I just wanted to see you, little demon, and tell you in person. I know you know I’m not fine but there’s nothing you can do to help.” His tone was resigned and his face was morphing into an emotionless mask. Nothing like the brother I held together not too long ago. I was used to him not talking about his job but I wished I could do something. Instead, I could just sit there with him while he transformed into the persona he showed to everybody else.

We ate in silence and Ethan started laughing when he took a sip of the drink I bought him. It wasn’t the reaction I was expecting.

“What?”

He shook his head and waved to the waitress who quickly appeared at our table. “Firewhisky,” he said and she went back to the bar, waving her wand and sending a glass of Firewhisky towards Ethan. He took it before it landed on our table and drained it in one go.

“Don’t you know that all Hit Wizards are alcoholics?” he said, still laughing at me. I stared at him, unsure of what to say. I thought it was his way of dealing with grief and pain so I stayed silent. Until I remembered the bloody article.

“Ethan, what the bloody fuck is happening at home? I sent grandad a letter and he didn’t respond.”

He looked at me, brows furrowed in confusion until he realised what I was talking about.

“Well…Mum flirted with Orlov. So he’d stop bugging her. She figured she could charm him…You know how she is.”

I couldn’t quite believe what he was saying. “What the actual fuck?”

Ethan smirked, “That’s what dad said.”

I felt like somehow I walked into an alternate universe when I woke up today.

“And the match?” I asked.

He shrugged, “I wasn’t there but from what grandad told me, Orlov took her seriously and then everything kind of blew up.” Ethan took the fizzy drink and drained that, too. He got up and threw a couple of Sickles on the table to pay for the Firewhisky.

“I have to go, little demon,” he said and again he was my brother, not the empty mask, as he leaned down and kissed the top of my head, “Grandad is too busy with politics right now to reply to letters. I love you.” I didn’t get a chance to say anything before he turned on the spot and Disapparated.

I didn’t know for how long I sat in the Three Broomsticks after Ethan left. Seeing Ethan, the news of Ragnar’s death, my mother flirting with Orlov had me reeling from too much information. I also didn’t know what to think anymore. I only knew I was once again angry, mostly at my mother who apparently decided to fuck things up. I couldn’t keep sitting there so I got up, left the pub and started running towards the castle.

I didn’t go to the Gryffindor Tower. Instead, I ran up to the seventh floor and the Room of Requirement. I walked in front of it, thinking I needed my boxing gear, my place to de-stress. After a couple of moments, the door appeared and I opened it up only to be met by the perfect recreation of my parents’ basement, with my leggings and sports bra neatly folded in the corner, the boxing gloves sitting on top of them.

The sound of me hitting the punching bag in the corner of the room was the only sound that could be heard for a while. It felt exhilarating, being able to hit away my emotions, to let out all my anger at the punching bag. After some time I had to stop to catch my breath. I was doubled over and breathing heavily when the door opened.

I looked up to see James closing the door behind him.

“What,” I started and took a deep breath, “What are you doing here? How did you get in?” I clutched my side as I looked at him, waiting for the answer.

“Al told me about Ethan when he got back from Hogsmeade. He said he looked bad…” James drifted off and his hazel eyes looked into my own for the first time since before our fight yesterday. “I couldn’t find you on the Map so I figured you must be in the Room of Requirement. It didn’t take much thinking to get to boxing.” He knew me too well.

“It’s nothing,” I muttered, not quite sure how I felt about James at this particular moment in time. I looked away from him, closing my eyes for a moment. When I opened them it was to see James taking off his shirt, pulling on his own boxing gloves and putting in a mouth guard.

We started to dance around each other, but I didn’t wait too long before I threw my first punch. I hit him in the side, hard, but he didn’t let out a sound. James did a couple of jabs and I managed to dodge some, but not all. I felt the contact but not the pain. I tried a hook to his lower body and felt satisfied when it connected. We continued in this way, punching each other, getting more vicious with each punch, but somehow, I felt my previous anger at him disappearing each time I made contact with his body. When I felt drained of all energy and ready to collapse in the middle of the ring, James encircled me in his arms and held me for a long time, not saying a word.

I moved away from him and looked him over. We were both sweaty and there was some blood trickling around his eye but he seemed fine overall. Nothing a couple of his Healing spells wouldn’t fix.

“James…I’m –”

He stopped me before I could finish apologising, “I know.”

I finally collapsed to the floor and James sat down next to me. I leaned against him, pulled off my gloves and took out my mouth guard. He ran his arm up and down my shoulder, muttering soothing words in my ear as I felt some tears finally making their way down my face. I wasn’t crying. The tears came and went and I was silent during the whole ordeal. When they stopped I turned to face James. He leaned his forehead against my own and I told him everything. He listened without interruptions and when I was finished he hugged me. The feel of his body so close to mine was not unfamiliar but it felt different. He felt different.

“Everything is going to be okay,” he said, face buried in my messy hair.

And I believed him.

#fanfic #hp fanfic #hp fic #james sirius potter #next gen #the art of being nonchalant

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donnieluvsthings · 4 years

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(babey Noah and April time) Noah stared at the girl one row over and two seats up. She had long brown hair and was listening intently to whatever was being said. He saw Claire glance back at him before whispering something in her ear. The girl looked at her before turning and gazing over her shoulder, making eye contact with Noah. She waved shyly under her desk. Noah blinked before waving back. The girl turned back to the front, ignoring the persistent whispers Claire was throwing her way. (1)

okayyyy just realized i never combined these so here it is im gonna CRY theyre the best besties and i love them sm🥺🥺🥺🥺 also heck claire all my homies hate claire

Noah stared at the girl one row over and two seats up. She had long brown hair and was listening intently to whatever was being said. He saw Claire glance back at him before whispering something in her ear. The girl looked at her before turning and gazing over her shoulder, making eye contact with Noah. She waved shyly under her desk. Noah blinked before waving back. The girl turned back to the front, ignoring the persistent whispers Claire was throwing her way.

There was a flurry of sounds and noise and suddenly the classroom was empty. Noah blinked, finding himself alone. He grabbed his stuff and left, walking down the stairs and squinting in the afternoon sun. Claire bounced up behind him, her hair swaying in the slight breeze.

“I saw you looking at her," she giggled, poking Noah's cheek. "Do you like her?" she sang, running ahead. Noah didn't respond. "You do! Oh, that's so cute, Deedee!”

He sighed, annoyed. "I don't like her, Claire."

"Don't lie to yourself, Noah! This is true love." She flung herself dramatically around. "The two of you are gonna be so in love-"

“No, Claire. I don't like her." He turned down his street, leaving Claire to sing annoying songs about him all by herself. A teenager stooped down, coming to meet his young height.

“How was school?"

“Good." Noah threaded his hand through the other's as they started to walk. "Where's Mom?"

“She's busy, so I offered to come.”

“Oh. Okay.”

The pair reached a door, and the taller one turned the handle. "We're back," he shouted.

“Thank you, Jason," a voice echoed from the kitchen as a woman stuck her head around the wall. "Make sure you boys finish your homework before you do anything else, okay?"

“Yep." Noah collapsed onto the couch, his feet swinging lazily. "I saw a girl in class today," he muttered. "She was cool."

{is there a part here idk aldkals}

[timeskip]

Noah drummed his fingers on his desk absently, watching the wind toss the leaves along the ground. There was a flurry of movement and sound and he glanced up to see the girl from a year ago smirking.

“Come on, pretty boy, I want to show you something."

He laughed and grabbed his bag. “Alright, fine-" Before he could finish, she grabbed his arm and tugged him out of the classroom. The two ran around the streets of the kingdom before she finally led the way up a hill with two trees at the very top. She collapsed to the ground, laughing before spiralling into a coughing fit. An smile of fond exasperation crossed Noah's face.

“Come on, April, you're better than that." He set down his bag gently against one of the trees. "Don't hurt yourself."

She busied herself with picking the flowers scattered around the hill, weaving them into each other. "When's your birthday?" she asked, focused on the flowers.

“June 7th."

“Hey, that's three days before mine."

“Yeah, I guess it is." She finished and hid her creation behind her back. "Close your eyes."

He glanced up. "Why?"

“Just do it." He did so and a small weight pressed itself into his hair. "Your majesty." He opened his eyes seeing her standing up and bowing to him.

He laughed, removing it from his head. "A flower crown?"

“Mom taught me how to make them last week."

He replaced it. "That's awesome."

“Yeah." She sat down again. "This is our kingdom now."

He looked over at her. "Ours?"

“Yeah. Here's all our people." She cupped a group of small flowers in her hand. "And there's our castle." She pointed towards the two trees, their branches swaying gently in the breeze. "And here's our awesome leader." She grinned brightly up towards Noah.

He laughed, taking off the crown and observing it carefully. "I'm not a leader, April."

“Yes, you are," she countered lazily. "You're epic. At everything." The pair sat in peaceful, comfortable silence for a few minutes as Noah studied April's work.

"Hey, April," he whispered. "Can you teach me?"

“Teach you what?" He looked towards the flower crown. "How to make one."

A bright smile grew onto April's face. "Yeah!”

[timeskip]

Noah watched the window, the leaves waltzing through the air by the silent wind. There was a flurry of noise and Noah couldn't see.

“Surprise," a voice smiled from behind him.

“Is the surprise me not getting to see where I'm going?" he muttered.

“Nope. Just go where I lead, and keep your eyes shut."

{uhh something part here i think}

He glanced around again, now noticing the small, leaf-shaped papers delicately and carefully tied along each of the branches. He stood up, reaching for the closest one and realizing there was writing on it.

He squinted, trying to read it. “The best friends are the ones that aren't trying too hard." He smirked. "Didn't Jayce say that when-"

“When you were trying to figure out how to make a flower crown last year?" she finished for him.

“Is that what this is? A bunch of people telling me to chill...”

{i think theres a part here}

[timeskip]

Noah watched the blur of red, yellow, orange, and purple flutter to the ground as someone yanked him up, out of his seat and dragged him along the hallways. "Come on, Deedee," Claire murmured, dragging him along the halls. "You're finally going to get a girlfriend."

“Excuse me?" he stuttered, almost tripping over his feet. "I don't-"

“Shh, Claire-bear and the girls have got it all worked out," she interrupted. "Today's the day!"

“The day for what?"

“The day you and April finally stop dancing around each other and you ask her out!" she squealed, pushing him forward and almost causing him to trip over April, who also had a few people shoving her towards Noah.

She blinked, avoiding eye contact. "Listen, Noah, I don't- I mean, I'm not-“

Noah sighed, beyond pissed off. He spun towards Claire. "Can you, like, back off? For two seconds?"

Her cheery smile was replaced with a confused one.

"Neither of us like each other. Not in that way." His eyes darkened. "So please, for the love of Nja, stop it. Just stop."

He glanced over his shoulder at the people behind April, already knowing he'd regret yelling at them but having no control.

“What's the point? Can't you tell how stressed she is? Or are you so blind to reality," he took a few angry steps, making them scatter, "that you're willing to put aside human emotions for your own purposes and lies.”

He paused, trying to slow down his breath. The only sounds were the quiet sniffles of the group. "Now go back to class. Please."

He let their footsteps echo down the halls as he turned towards April, blowing his hair out of his eyes.

“I'm sorry, they just-" Before he finished, he was cut off by April wrapping her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

“Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you for having the courage to say what I couldn't." Noah blinked, stunned, before hugging her back.

[timeskip]

The wind blew April's hair gently around, calm and slow. The two had been sitting on the hill for an hour or two, the sun beginning to set, just appreciating the other's company. A worried look crept onto April's face. Noah recognized it and sat up.

“What are you thinking about?"

She glanced over, surprised, before looking back to the sky. "It's nothing."

{missing but i think i can guess what she said aldjald}

Nah blinked. "No. You aren't broken, okay?" He reached out and gently rested his hand on her shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with you. Maybe you will like other people later. Maybe you won't; and either of those are great. But you aren't broken."

"Then what am I?" Her voice was low. "If I'm not broken then what am I?"

“I don't know," he answered quietly. "But whatever happens, I'll stay by your side."

He saw a small smile cross her face. “No matter what?"

“No matter what."

[timeskip]

Noah felt the breeze stab into his side, ripping his already torn heart into thousands of tiny pieces. The hill seemed steeper than before. He wanted to collapse, wanted to just give up, but he had to know. He had to make sure. A figure stood at the top of the hill, holding a single, small, delicate flower. He stopped by the tree behind them, shivering in the night air.

“Did you hear?" they muttered, monotone and emotionless.

“I'm sorry, April," he whispered, voice catching. He heard her take a few breaths before sitting down. He walked forward a few paces, kneeling beside her. “I'm so sorry."

He could feel her shaking, silent waves of grief passing over her in the darkness. “Not your fault," she stuttered out. "They- they said it was a gas leak, an accident." Silence worked its way in between the two. "Mom's gone." She shut her eyes, finally succumbing fully to the sadness and anger and fear. "She's gone."

Noah looked out across the kingdom, still seeing a faint trail of smoke.

“I'm the Sacred Knight now."

“I know."

“I don't know what's going to happen."

“I'll try to help."

“They're saying that I need a Guardian, Noah," she whispered quietly, determined. "I want that to be you." He took in her words, blinking slowly. "You're my best friend. And I'd trust you with my l-life." She pushed away the tears crawling down her cheeks. "I want it to be you."

“Alright."

“Thank you." She buried her face into Noah's chest, hugging him tightly. "Thank you."

He wrapped his arms around her, unsure whether this was happy or not. Eventually to two were looking towards the sky, night already taking over. April pointed upwards.

“See, there's Unileve the Dragon," she whispered out into the peaceful silence. "Legends say you can always feel xer smile, even from far away, and when xe laugh, it fills you with happiness and joy and light."

#its so good omgggg #🥺🥺 them #also u domt have to fill in the missing parts if u dont want to i get the gist aldjalfla #shadowstruck #shadowstruck writing #donnieanswersthings #boop!!

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secret-captain-swan-blog · 7 years

Text

Castle on the Hill

English Literature PhD student Emma Swan just needs money to pay for her last semester of grad school tuition. Killian Jones has always dreamed of opening a bookshop but has never been able to afford it. So when the small principality of Misthaven is looking for their lost princess, the pair decide that this might just be the perfect money making scheme.

A Multi-chapter Modern Day + Lost Princess (think Rapunzel/Anastasia-esque) + Book Lovers in a Coffee Shop AU

Rating: T

Word Count: 40791/ ?

Prologue (Part 1 + 2) // Ch 1 // Ch 2 // Ch 3 // Ch 4 // Ch 5 // Ch 6

Read on: Ao3

Emma’s rejected kiss stings Killian all weekend. He tries to throw himself into work. To make up for taking Friday night off, he works the day and night shift on Saturday. It is just as well, the intense schedule keeps him busy and that is all he can ask for.

“What are you so down in the mouth about?” Ruby asks, when they swap shifts on Sunday.

“Tis nothing,” Killian mutters.

“Yeah, uh huh,” Ruby teases, folding her arms on the counter and propping up her chin on her hand, “Seriously, Killian, I’ve never seen you so forlorn. Tell Madame Ruby and she’ll sort out all your troubles.”

“Rubs, I said it was nothing,” Killian replies. It comes out more aggressive than intended.

“Woah,” Ruby says, “What the heck?”

She pauses and surveys him, “It’s a girl, isn’t it?” She’s smirking, before adding, “Or a boy? We’ve never talked about that specifically, and you can’t really assume these days.”

Killian rolls his eyes. While he’s seen Ruby sneak both lads and lasses up to her apartment, avoiding her Granny’s watchful eyes- Killian hasn’t brought anyone back to his apartment. He’s had occasional dates, one dreadful bathroom hook up that may have done permanent damage to a sink, and a two-week fling that he ended before anyone could get hurt. But he hasn’t really dated anyone, not since he arrived in Misthaven. Not since he left his painful romantic past behind him.

But there was something different about Emma. He could tell she got it. He could see her being the exception to rule, mostly because she would understand the rule in the first place. She knew about survival.

And maybe that was why she drew away from his kiss. If it was, he could deal with that. He could pick at her walls till she was ready for love.

But there are a million other reasons she might not be interested in him.

Reasons like the fact that she nearly has a PhD, while he’s never gone to a day of college. Reasons like she teaches classes on literature, while he works drawing pints and breaking up bar fights. Or that she lives in a nice apartment in a hip neighborhood, while he lives in a cramped apartment above a noisy bar. Or that he has a criminal record. Or that he’s spent most of his life without a family and that the one time he tried, it fantastically fell apart.

There are more than enough reasons for Emma Swan to not be interested.

“Shoot,” Ruby murmurs, “It is a girl. Or boy.”

“Girl,” Killian huffs.

“Right, girl,” Ruby says, nodding, “So who is she?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Killian shrugs.

“Why doesn’t it matter?” Ruby asks, leaning forward and raising an eyebrow.

“Because I tried to kiss her and she pulled away,” Killian admits, letting the bottled-up words out.

Ruby pulls a sympathetic face. “Tell me more. What’s she like?”

“She’s bloody fantastic. She’s American, blonde. She’s brilliant, a graduate student in literature. She likes all the same weird books I do.”

“Hmm, she sounds like your dream girl,” Ruby muses, “And I can’t think she isn’t interested in you- I mean, look at you. You’re attractive. You’ve got a quirky, but sexy accent. You’re charming as hell.”

“Ah Rubs, you flatter me so,” Killian jests.

“So what’s holding her back?” She asks.

He lifts a shoulder.

“It could be that she’s guarded,” Killian says, “I can tell she’s been through a lot, but I’m not sure what really and I’m not sure how it’s affected her. That’s the thing about Emma. She gets the ‘tough past’ thing. You can see it in her eyes and little things she says. She gets it. She likes books for the same reason I do, which I never known anyone like that before.”

“So, you think it’s the guarded thing?” Ruby says, “Because you know you can work on that. She’ll come around with more time.”

Killian shifts uncomfortably.

“Or it could be me. Maybe she wants someone,” He pauses, “More?”

“More what?” Ruby asks. “You can’t play that game. At least not yet. Give her more time. She’ll either come around and fall into your arms fairy tale style, or you’ll know she’s not interested but gain a friend. Just have patience, young grasshopper.”

“Oh like you are the yoda of dating wisdom?” Killian teases.

Ruby shrugs and gives a hum before leaving for her time off.

Killian takes Ruby’s advice and decides not to give up on Emma quite yet. Besides, they are in a business deal together. Wounded as his ego may be from her rejection, they still have to work together to pull off their scheme. And well, he still really fancies her.

He heads to Mamie’s on Tuesday afternoon. He’s given her the weekend to have time for herself, but he hopes he’ll see her today. After all, tomorrow she’ll be meeting with the queen and he reckons it’s a good idea to be on the same page before that happens.

He breathes a sigh of relief when he sees her. She sitting by the window as usual, her laptop and bowl of cappuccino in front of her. She dressed casually, skinny jeans and black t-shirt. Her red leather jacket is draped over the back of her chair. She also The Red Stilettos sitting on her table as well.

Killian flinches at the book. It’s a Blanche Neige, but by the far the darkest. While Killian’s reread most of her novels several times, he’s only read this one once. It was too haunting, too grim to touch again. The Red Stilettos tells the tale of a young girl forced into a career of exotic dancing for The Dictator after a cruel pimp in Dark Times Misthaven forces her into a pair of stiletto’s that force her to keep dancing. Her only solution is to cut off her own feet.

“Well that’s some jolly reading for the afternoon,” Killian remarks.

“Hello Killian,” Emma says, rolling her eyes.

Good old Emma. Always rolling her eyes.

“I can’t stand that one,” Killian tells her.

Emma gives him a puzzled look and then glances down at The Red Stilettos.

“It’s pretty dark,” Emma admits, “But I think it’s one of the most important of Blanche Neige’s work.”

Killian side into the chair across from her, resting a hand under his chin, “How so?”

“Well, her other novels are about people saving Misthaven, delivering it from oppressive dictators. But this one isn’t. The only person that that the protagonist manages to save is herself. And she has to cut away part of herself to do it, but she does. She saves herself. It’s not about daring resistance schemes, but personal resistance. It’s about the little things that we can do every day to rebel, to fight for hope.”

Killian looks at her with a sense of awe. She’s brilliant. Here he had just thought of it as a bleak, gritty novel, but Emma had found a way to see it as something both academic and inspirational.

“I think that it might be how Blanche Neige felt herself. Like she couldn’t bring down a whole regime. She couldn’t be the hero of her books, but she could do something. She could write these stories and use them as her own act of resistance,” Emma adds.

“Do you think they made a difference?” Killian asks.

“They made a difference to us,” Emma says, stirring a spoon in her cappuccino.

“They changed our whole lives,” Killian murmurs.

Emma licks some foam off her spoon and adds, softly, “So I think that counts.”

“Listen, Emma, I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable on Friday,” Killian says.

“No, it’s okay, I was just being,” She hesitates and shrugs. He wonders what she’ll say- stubborn, guarded. “Me.”

“Well, I don’t ever want to come in the way of that,” He tells her, “But please, Emma, if you don’t want me around, if you don’t want to work with me- just say the words and I’ll disappear.”

“It’s not that,” Emma nibbles on the edge of the spoon, “I really like having you around. It’s just… I need to focus on my thesis. With this money-making plot as well, I really don’t have time for other… distractions.”

Killian isn’t sure if this was the whole story. Emma has so many walls and layers, he isn’t sure he’ll ever know her fully. But he knows that this is part of the truth. He knows how important her dissertation is to her. He wouldn’t ever want to stand in her way of following her ultimate goal.

“Just know that, um, if you change your mind, I’ll be here,” He says softly. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She looks up and meets his eyes.

Then just a blush begins to creep up on her, she lifts up her cappuccino bowl to cover her face. When she puts it down, the blush is gone and Emma is back to business. The emotionally intimate moment is pushed aside, or bottled up, or whatever it is Emma does to compartmentalize.

“So, I thought you were going to show me more of Misthaven,” Emma says, “It’s been what- a week- since you promised that and all I’ve seen so far is more of the Misthaven University library.”

Killian doesn’t mind the change in subject when it allows him another opportunity to take Emma on a date. Or maybe a not-date. Whatever, he’s happy for the excuse to spend more time with Emma.

“Your wish is my command, milady,” Killian says, “What would you like to see?”

Emma shrugs and runs her hand through her hair, “Something to get me out of my head.”

“Hmm, I thought you were avoiding distractions,” He teases.

Emma looks startled for a moment, before sticking out her tongue, “I can spare two hours off.”

Killian tries to think of something to do. It’s a gorgeous day, so maybe a hike in the mountains. Or a picnic in one of Misthaven’s many parks. Or a visit to the memorial gardens.

But she’s still so new to Misthaven, he thinks she needs another chance to get acquainted with the city.

“How do you feel about heights?” He asks.

Emma closes her laptop and smiles, “I don’t mind them.”

“Grand,” Killian says, “Grab your things. Let’s go.”

Emma follows Killian into the warm afternoon air. She stuffs her jacket into her purse, realizing that it isn’t necessary in the early autumn heat. They weave through Old Town. It’s buzzing, as usual, but slightly muted as the lunch crowd has headed back to work.

Killian stops in front the main church in town. Emma’s seen the dreamy steeple of the Cathedral de Sainte Ann many times, but she hasn’t ventured into the church before.

She isn’t really a church kind of person. Well, except for one time when she’d been fostered by a particularly religious family. They’d taken her and the three other foster kids to church every Sunday. She hadn’t minded it. There were always good stories. Men trapped in lion dens, others who walked on water- they were fascinating to listen to- nearly as good as fairy tales. But when one of her foster siblings had planted a handful of stolen money under her pillow, she was sent away and that was the end of churches.

She’s a little unsure of what they are doing outside of the building when Killian opens the door and gives her a little nod. Inside, glittering stain glass is scattering light everywhere. There is beautiful grey stone everywhere, like a portal to the past. The ceiling is decorated in little stars, with angels swirled in between.

“Chagall did the windows,” Killian whispers, “Take your time to take it all in.”

Killian goes to sit in one of the pews while she explores. Emma weaves around the church taking in each display of sparkling glass. She can’t tell what any of them are really. They are most dizzying displays of color and images. She loves the details of the place, the bits of gold decorating the alter piece, the ambo.

“It’s really nice,” Emma says, wishing she had better words to describe the fascinating building.

“It’s one of the oldest things in Misthaven,” Killian explains, “That and the castle, really.”

Emma hums, imagining all the history that took place here.

“But come on,” He says, “It’s time to see the true gem of this place.”

They walk together to entrance of the church. There is a small door there, the kind that might go unnoticed to a different eye. It could be leading to a closet, or maybe a space for a choir.

Killian puts a code into the lock on it and swings it open.

“You weren’t lying about the heights, right?” He asks.

Emma’s never been one to mind heights. After everything she’s gone through in life, a nice view has never turned her off. She shakes her head.

“Up we go, Swan. You never forget your first church tower.”

Emma follows him up into a small passage. The climb to the top of the tower is made up of several wooden ladders that lead up from platform to platform.

“Lady first,” Killian says, gesturing to her to begin the climb. “Or should I say Princess first.”

The name brings thoughts racing back to her head, thoughts that she’s been putting off all weekend because she can’t. She isn’t ready to think about them. She shoves them off for a moment more.

Emma begins the assent. The ladder isn’t rickety, but she is relieved that she doesn’t have any fears of heights or claustrophobia because that would make this a lot more difficult. When she reaches the first platform, she hears Killian begin on the ladder below her.

“How do you know about this?” She asks.

She doesn’t peg Killian for a church go-er. He’s a little too rogue for that kind of thing.

“Would you believe me if I told you that I used to be something of a Quasimodo? Living up in this very bell towers, ringing the bells, naming them all,” He rambles.

Emma rolls her eyes at him, even though he can’t see her.

“No,” She says flatly, reaching the second platform.

“Aw, come on. I named the biggest one after you. I call her the Swan,” He says.

“Still no,” She replies. “And are you calling me fat?”

“Of course not, love. Biggest for biggest heart, of course. And actually, she’s called The Vicious Swan,” His voice adds.

“Oh my god, Killian, I’m going to climb down and shove you off the ladder.”

“Only jesting, darling,” he says. “Would you believe me if I told you I worked odd jobs when I first arrived in Misthaven. During the Dark Times, the churches were destroyed and ransacked. This one in particular. I’m surprised the Chagall windows survived to be honest. The whole thing was in disarray. I spent a few weeks helping out here, just trying to be helpful. My biggest task was rebuilding these stairs and platforms.”

“So if they ever break- I’m blaming you?” She asks, stepping up to a higher one.

The image of Killian, hot, sweaty (and probably shirtless- What? A girl can dream!) building things, fills her head. She smiles to herself at the fantasy.

And then promptly cuts off her fantasy. Honestly, this “no Killian” plan is probably doomed.

“Precisely,” He says, “But they won’t. I’m excellent.”

“Are you really?” She asks.

Gesh, there are a lot of stairs to the top.

“Yes, Swan,” He says, mock annoyed.

“But yeah, I’d believe that,” Emma says.

She does, a lot more than his Killian of Notre Dame story.

“Well that’s the truth,” He says.

Emma’s nearly to the top, she thinks. Or at least she hopes. She may be fine with heights, but she isn’t in shape for a stepmaster workout.

“I slept on pews at night for my first week here because I didn’t have anywhere to stay yet. Just me fixing up the church and sleeping in it,” He tells her. “Eventually I paid for a room at the pub and then Ruby offered me the job and the rest was history.”

“Yeah, sounds like a literary classic right there,” Emma jokes, trying not to start puffing, “Killian Jones, Foundling.”

Emma can see a light peeking out of the top and finally climbs the last bit to reach the top of the last ladder.

Emma gets to the top of tower before Killian does. The final stairway gives way to small chamber lookout. There are four windows, each allowing a view of a different part of the town. She can hear him moving below her, but for now it’s just her and the city.

The whole city looks miniature below her. She can see the main sights- the river, the mountains, various spires of other, smaller churches. She can see the main building of the university. The rows of Old Town sprawl below her, winding along the curving roads, the buildings jutting out adorably.

If Killian is still talking, she can’t hear him. There aren’t any distractions here.

And her thoughts, the ones she’s been shoving down all weekend, the worries that rattle in her chest, twist in her stomach- they come full force forward.

How is she going to do this?

How is she going to have tea with the Queen of Misthaven?

Emma has never really been a daughter. Ingrid was the closest she came, but the way things ended there has left Emma even more uncomfortable with idea of family than she was before. She had just thought that it was something sure and loving, when the rug had been pulled out from under her.

How is Emma supposed to be someone’s daughter now?

Is she just going to sashay into the Queen Mary Margaret’s tea room and have a chat like old friends? All the while as she stars at her, looking to see her daughter in her eyes, her smile. All the while as Emma straight up tries to live a lie.

She feels her hands shaking before the enormity it comes crashing down on her.

“Swan?” Killian asks, as he reaches the top step.

A lump has settled in her throat and she can’t find the words. She rests her elbows on the ledge of the open window, leaning forward to busy herself looking over the city.

And to hide her face from Killian lest she does something embarrassing. Like cry.

“Emma, love? Are you alright?” He asks. She can hear him striding across the small room.

She doesn’t move. She doesn’t say anything. She can’t. Anything will make her guard drop at this point.

“Is it the heights?” He says, his voice right behind her. “If it is, we can go back down. I won’t even tease you about it.”

She turns to shake her head, words still sticking in her throat.

Killian extends his hands tentatively. She doesn’t shy away when he places his hands gently on her shoulders, or when he pulls her close for a hug.

She should, she definitely should be pulling away. A hug is one step away from an emotional make out session. But she doesn’t have the energy to resist. She steps awkwardly into his embrace.

Emma has never been good at physical contact. Hot and heavy? Sure. But this, this vulnerability, this gentleness- this is foreign. She never grew up with moms and dads who gave hugs or tender squeezes of a hand. Even Ingrid had been scarce with hugs, afraid of frightening Emma with contact after her previous home. This is so stupid. She doesn’t know even know how to hug someone.

Honestly- how is she going to do this?

But then Killian’s arms tighten around her and she melts.

She lets herself relax so that she fits inside the tiny curves that his encircling arms make. She lets her forehead fall to the crook of his neck. She knows that she’s going to make a mess of tears on his t-shirt, but something tells her already that he won’t mind.

He brushes a hand into her hair. It makes her feel like melting again, a soft, relaxing feeling starting at her head and passing calm through her body.

“What is it, love?” He asks, his voice soft.

It’s many moments later when she gathers her breath, finding the words to begin an answer.

“I’m not sure I can do this,” She whispers.

“Do what?” He asks, another gentle hand through her hair.

It soothes her enough to begin to answer.

“I’m not sure I can be someone’s daughter,” Emma says.

He gently, ever so gently, puts his hands on her face to guide her to look up at him.

“You’re an orphan?” He asks.

She swallows, wondering how he put it together so quickly.

He runs a thumb under her eyes, smearing the tears.

“I know that look,” He tells her before she can ask. “You’ve got a look in your eye of someone who has been left alone for too long.”

“How do you know?” She asks.

“I was too,” He tells her.

All of a sudden the intimacy of the moment hits her. Here they are, alone in this church tower, above Misthaven, faces just inches from each other, sharing the deepest of secrets. It’s way more than Emma is comfortable with, especially after running away from Killian the other night.

But she can’t run away, not now, not in his arms, not at the top of a freaking bell tower. Not after he just revealed a deep secret to her.

So, she lets him continue.

“My gran died when I was twelve. I ran away to England. I ended up lost in foster care with no one at all to care for me,” He explains. “I made a lot of mistakes. I spent a lot of time alone. I tried to have family and the bloody thing came crashing down on me.

“What I’m trying to say, Emma, is that I get it.”

And he does. She knew that they were kindred souls, but not to this extent. She didn’t know how similar they really were till this minute.

“It was the same for me,” She reveals, “Going from foster family to foster family. Some were good, others were really, really bad- but they never really felt like home.”

“It’s okay, Emma,” He says softly. “Love has been all too rare in your life, hasn’t it?”

She sniffles and nods. Then she looks up at Killian. He’s smiling a gentle, reassuring smile. It lets her keep going, letting her full worries pour out.

“I don’t know how to be Princess Emma. I don’t know how to be a girl who grew up with hot chocolate with cinnamon and ponies and parents who loved her.”

Killian makes a sushing sound and sways gently, a rocking motion. His hand is still coaxing her through soft brushes through her hair.

“I don’t even have a middle name. I had to make up my own last name. I’ve never known my birthdate or my parents name. I was just found; left in an airport. And it sucks. At least you had a brother one time. I don’t even know if I had siblings. I don’t know anything about my origins, just that whoever I belonged to didn’t want me.

This is why I’m so freaking terrified to have tea with the queen. She’s going to see right through me because I can’t possibly be like her. I can’t ever be someone so loved, so cared for.”

Killian is silent a moment. And Emma wonders if she is getting snot on his shirt and if he can tell.

“Oh Emma. First of all, you don’t have to be her. If you go in there demanding a hot chocolate with cinnamon and talking about ponies, it will be obvious that I told you all I know. It will look staged and silly. You don’t have to be a modern characterture of a three-year-old Princess,” Killian is rambling now. There is still something calming to it. She can tell he’s really trying to reassure her.

She sniffles again as he keeps going.

“Let’s be honest, Princess Emma is very likely dead. If she isn’t, she could be anyone. She could be someone in Misthaven or someone halfway across the world. She could be someone who was lonely, who grew up in foster care. For all we know, she could be a man now. There is no way to tell what happened to Princess Emma or what she’d be like now. You just have to be you. Just you Emma.”

He strokes his thumb along her jaw, rubbing over her chin. His smile is so sincere, bordering on tender that it melts her heart.

He continues, “And if the queen happens to believe you are her long lost daughter, then that’s amazing. You’ll become a pseudo-princess and you’ll have money to finish your studies and maybe help me with my shop. But if it doesn’t work- you haven’t failed either. You’ll get to sip tea in a bloody fancy house. You’ll get to talk to the queen about books, maybe make a new friend. Who knows, maybe she’ll even pay your school fees anyway, she’ll like you so much. The thing is, I really want this to work. I know we both do. But it doesn’t have to. And you don’t have to stress yourself out trying to be someone you aren’t. Be yourself and the rest will fall into place.”

She gives him a little nod that she understands. Her tears have lessened now. Her breath is still unsteady, a few stray hiccups sneaking in.

He pulls her back into a hug. It’s gentle and sweet and she just wants to stay in it forever. Silly Emma, not being used to physical attention and getting sappy about hugs. She wants to chastise herself, but she also just wants to be in this moment and take it in. Killian Jones, her kindred soul, her fellow foster child, comforting her in the simplest of ways.

“Come on Swan,” He finally says, his voice soft, “You’ll miss out on the greatest view in Misthaven.”

He runs his hands down her arms till he reaches her wrists. He tugs on them slightly, pulling her over to the window.

It’s just as lovely as it was moments before, the whole city laid out in front of her.

“Look,” Killian says softly, pointing, one hand still in hers, “You can see your apartment way over there. And over there, in Old Town, is my pub.”

“Hey, I still haven’t been there,” Emma points out, “I want my free drink.”

“All in good time, Swan,” He teases. “If you look over there, you can see the harbor. The opera house is just below us. You see the dome, right?”

Killian continues pointing out little details to her- the library, a few good museums, parks he promises they’ll visit on a nice day.

“And do you see that castle looking thing over there?” He asks, nodding at the mountain opposite.

She follows his gaze, taking in the small chateau tucked into green of the mountaintop. Even from far away, she can see it’s opulence.

“That’s where you’ll be having tea tomorrow. The queen doesn’t live in the main castle. You probably know that. She’s taken up residence in that little one. It used to be their summer home.”

Right, their summer home is just a slightly smaller castle. That’s totally normal. And so completely out of Emma’s league.

As quickly as Emma feels her fears return, they vanish as she lets the memory of Killian’s earlier words wash over her. She just has to be herself.

“You’re going to brilliant,” He says, his voice soft, “Just watch, you and the queen will get on perfect.”

Emma feels herself blush and smile demurely.

“Now love,” He says, “Enough adventure for today. I think you have a free drink to claim.”

“Really?’ She asks, turning back to face him, cheerfully.

“Yes, now come along Swan, before I change my mind,” He says, wrapping an arm around her to guide her back down.

@sambethe @lenfaz @pocket-anon @the-corsair-and-her-quill @kmomof4 @kiwistreetswan @princesseslikepirates @timeless-love-story @shady-swan-jones @katie-dub @1handedpiratewithadrinkingprob @midnightswans

#cs ff #captain swan #emma swan #killian jones #cs au #cs modern au #cs fic #cs mafia #cs crew #cs mc #cs

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