#was gonna put this in the jily tag but it has nothing to do with them

[jfleamont]

I have a kind of specific question that I'm hoping you and your followers could help me out with.

I'm writing my own version of the classic marauders fic, but I suck at writing the death eaters I don't enjoy writing antagonistic characters particularly and don't even have a super clear idea of who is who/ who fits to include(besides perhaps the main ones like Snape and regulus) especially since there's so little canon, so the majority is often fan made. of course they are essential to the plot though!

I want it to obviously be my own work, but I would really appreciate any pointers of where to start with these characters, even just a list of the right characters to start developing my own interpretations of.

this is obviously a very big ask, so any help or pointers anyone can offer to give me a nudge in the right direction I'd be so grateful for!

Hello! Sorry for the late reply, I had two exams and I have two more coming up but I've been dying to reply to this ask since you sent it :)

I'll preface this by saying that, much like you, I'm really not into these kind of characters and I don't enjoy writing them, nor do I have the skill to do so. I have only written one-shots and none of them had any Death Eaters in them; however, I do have a WIP (that I started almost one year ago and that I plan on finishing sometime this summer) that's going to be around 10k and it will most certainly feature those kind of characters, so this is actually really helpful for me too and it might help me get out of this funk since I haven't worked on that WIP in months.

That said, let's get to work!

The first name that comes to mind is Lucius Malfoy. We have quite a bit of info about him in canon, and I believe he's 6 or 7 years older than the Marauders. He was a prefect and was in the Slug Club, and was friends with Snape for the brief time they were at Hogwarts together. After leaving Hogwarts he married Narcissa Black, another pureblood, got a job at the ministry and at one point he met Voldemort. If you want to write him into your story, depending on the year your fic takes place, you could show him taking Snape under his wing and giving speeches about blood purity. I think by then he was already a prefect so he probably abused his power and gave detentions to Gryffindors and Muggleborns/Halfbloods for no reason; I don't know if he'd use violence or hexes, because he's far too diplomatic for that. I think he was really good at convincing people, he manipulated them and made them do the dirty work for him. He'd occasionally hex people for fun but due to his upbringing, he knew better than picking petty fights in the hallways, and he strikes me as the kind of person who was very driven and who thought about the bigger picture. He had, after all, a place in the wizarding world by right of birth, and his family was quite openly in favour of blood purity and all that racist bullshit. Snape, on the other hand, had always been picked on and he learnt at a very young age how to defend himself (and was easily triggered). Lucius didn't need to. He didn't have Snape's rage and didn't want revenge. If you want to start your story when the Marauders are a bit older (16 or 17), you could say that the wannabe Death Eaters at Hogwarts sort of idolised him because he was so young but already in Voldemort's inner circle; furthermore, you could have him actually recruit students, and have them take Unbreakable vows, teach them the Unforgivable Curses and make them get the Dark Mark. They could meet in Hogsmeade (since he's no longer a student), kinda like Harry does with his first DA meeting.

Barty Crouch Junior is another Death Eater that comes to mind and it could be an interesting character to work with. He was at Hogwarts during the 70s and roughly the same age as James & his friends. He came from a pureblood family, but I don't think they were the kind of people who actually wanted Muggleborns dead; after all, Crouch Senior was already a prominent figure in politics, and he was head of the DMLE (Department of Magical Law Enforcement). But he did have an aggressive approach towards criminals, which partly explains his son's obsession with violence. Barty Junior also had a very complicated relationship with his father, a man who was probably incapable of showing affection and was too busy working to take care of his son. I think Barty hated him but wanted to impress him at the same time and, in a very fucked up way, he did those horrible things because he wanted his father to pay attention to him. We don't know why he chose to become a DE, but my impression is that he was a very lonely, insecure kid and he found a sense of belonging at Hogwarts, something I don't think he ever felt when he was at home. Whether he joined the very people his father was after out of spite or not, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that he did believe in those things by the time he was older. He was also very intelligent - he disguised himself as Moody for nearly a year - albeit highly unpredictable. He was delirious and insane in some scenes, but overall quite reasonable when he pretended to be Moody, so he could have had a personality disorder, but if you want to write about that you should do some research and be careful, because associating villains with mental illnesses could do more harm than good if not done well, and it's a slippery slope. All I'm gonna say is that he definitely had some daddy issues, that's for sure.

Then of course we have Regulus, whose family was very much against Muggleborns. We know quite a lot about the Black household thanks to Sirius, and there are different headcanons floating around about the kind of bond the two brothers had. In my opinion, Regulus looked up to his brother and was envious of him: even at eleven years old, Sirius had already made up his mind about his parents' view of the world and wanted nothing to do with them. It shows that he was an independent thinker, and I think Regulus wondered for a long time how he could do that so easily. Was Regulus not strong enough? Or did he feel like he didn't have a choice? Because Sirius had James, so he wasn't completely alone. Regulus had no one. Obviously, I know he did have a choice, and he shared his parents' (and Voldemort's) political views. When Voldemort hurt Kreacher he turned against him, which is very interesting and unusual, mainly because pureblood families do not have any sort of respect or affection towards elves, while Regulus clearly did.

As for the others, I think Mulciber and Avery are mentioned by Lily while they were in Hogwarts, and they're the ones who cursed Mary Macdonald (this is mentioned in SWM). I think they went to Azkaban after the first war, unlike Evan Rosier (mentioned during Karkaroff's trial) who was killed when they tried to arrest him.

I suggest you also look into the Sacred Twenty-Eight - a list of pureblood families from which the Potters were excluded because they had been pro-muggle for a couple of generations, I think - to get an idea and maybe an inspiration for an original DE character.

So, if you want to include Death Eaters in your fic, you could make a list of possible characters and mention their relationships and friendships; you could make one of them really good at dueling, and another one good at flying (and make them James' rival during Quidditch matches). Death Eaters were Voldemort's followers first, and friends second, so it makes sense that there was a hierarchy: you can choose one of them as a leader, and the others could be the minions, the brawns and the brains (Snape would probably be the latter since he was smart and actually invented some hexes that were very useful to the DEs). And if you want to make things even more interesting, some of them could also be from different Hogwarts houses (not the ones I've mentioned because they're all canonically Slytherins), and they could also be girls!

If you want more ideas, there's a 2014 film called 'The Riot Club' (which I didn't like to be honest, but that's not the point lol) that explores the violent behaviour that often occurs in these kind of social circles; and while you're at it, you could also research 'hazing', a phenomenon that is often associated with fraternities and sororities in college that, while pretty disturbing, could also make for a much more compelling story.

Historically, boarding schools have often been described as toxic environments: for the majority of the year these young kids are separated from their families and while this is beneficial for some, for others it's very dangerous. During the most vulnerable period of their lives, they have to rely on authority figures that do not, however, provide the love and affection that parents do; this creates a dissonance, and kids either isolate themselves, or create their own 'families', and some are more dysfunctional than others (i.e. the Marauders vs. Snape's gang).

This is all I could think about, but as always people are welcome to add their own thoughts and headcanons!

Hope this helps, and feel free to ask me whatever you want :)

[lilacella]

The first chapter of the wolfstar fanfiction, that I started to obsessively write last night. Will put this on ao3 as well once I get my invite code since I appear to have forgotten the login to my old one. So this will have to do for now.

This has 11 chapters and stretches over the time from them falling in love in Hogwarts, over the years trying to navigate their relationshiph right to the end of it. There will be some Angst but overall it is fluffy and there's gonna be a (somewhat) happy ending (depending whether you stop after 9 o go through 11 as well).

Taglist: Canon divergence (no voldy, no war), Fluff, Wolfstar, Background Jily, Angst (it's Wolfstar after all).

Additional tags might apply on each chapter. I will put any warnings at the Title.

Nightsky

Song recommendation:

Chapter 1: The tale of the two idiots

Next

Sirius wasn't entirely sure when it had started.

Maybe that time in 4th, when Remus had fallen asleep over his books in the common room and Sirius had noticed just how sweet he looked, when he was sleeping. Tie askew, strands of brown hair sticking to his forehead, one hand still wrapped around his quill.

Or maybe in 3rd, when Remus made a remarkably funny pun and made Sirius laugh so hard, that he almost choked on his breakfast.

Or maybe even in 1st, when Remus almost fell off his broom during flying class and Sirius grabbed the other boys broom to steady it, receiving a shy smile in return. A smile that would make Sirius heart flutter without any reason or merit.

Whenever it may have started, Sirius certainly could not deny it after 5th, when Remus had forgotten his silencing charm during a very private activity that Sirius now happened to overhear, causing interesting new layers to the whole issue.

Since then his head had been filled with thoughts of Remus. About his smile, his laugh, his voice, his smell, his hands, his...well you can imagine. Suddenly, being close to Remus made him unbearably nervous and queasy. A feeling that he was not quite used to and did not care much for. Sirius had to admit, that maybe he had a problem. A problem that he had vowed to keep to himself.

Of course keeping problems to himself was easy, he had year long experince with biting his tounge at family dinners to avoid being hexed to his chair and silencioed overnight - a punishment that his father had developed a taste for since he started talking back. There was just one tiny, tiny issue with this. The issue had unruly hair, glasses, an unbreakable ego and the uncanny ability to read Sirius thoughts right out of his head.

"So you do fancy him then?" James asked tentatively. Sirius felt the heat creep over his cheeks to his ears.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he snapped and sped up his pace so James had to almost jog to keep up with him.

"Oh come on pads, I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend you, okay? I was just wondering, since lately you've been so..."

"So what?" Sirius stopped abruptly and spun around, facing James. He shouldn't be running from an issue, he was a Griffindor after all! James, a bit taken aback by the sudden change of direction almost bumped into him.

"Well, you know," he ruffled his hair. "Just kind of...you always look at him like that."

"Like what?"

"Like I look at Lily Evans I suppose. I mean, of course I don't know what I look like when I look at her, but you look like I imagine I look like. You know? It was really just a thought, don't be mad."

Sirius sighed. As if he could be mad at James. And he was right. He did fancy Remus. Merlin, just thinking it felt terrifying.

"And what if. What if I did?" he asked quietly, not looking at James and staring past him instead.

"I suppose that's alright? I mean there's nothing wrong with him. He's a nice guy."

"So...it wouldn't bother you?"

James laughed. "Why would it bother me? I want you to be happy, mate." He jovially slapped Sirius arm. Then he got serious. "Where you worried about that?"

Sirius clicked his tounge in annoyance.

"Come on pads, there is nothing you could do to...to make me like you less. You're my best friend! I don't care who you shag."

"I'm not shagging anyone! I just...I just got a crush on him, that's all. I'll ignore it until it goes away." James didn't seem very convinced.

"I think you should just talk to him. Maybe he likes you back." Sirius snorted.

"Are you insane? I can't just tell him! It's not that easy. You wouldn't just walk up to your crush and..." He trailed off. His point was moot. James smiled triumphantly.

"See? It is actually not that hard, just ask him out."

"Just ask him out. What would that even look like? 'Hey Moony, wanna go to Hogsmead with me? No, not with the others, like just you and me. On a date.' He would think I am trying to prank him!"

"Hmm, I guess you're not completely wrong about that...but what if...what if you just sit him down and..."

"No. I will not do anything of the sort. I will just wait it out. This can't be going on forever."

"Right."

Sirius sighed. Then suddenly his eyes narrowed.

"You can not tell him. Do you understand? If you tell him I will be so incredibly mad at you. I will..." he thought about an appropriate threat that would ideally not make any of them suffer too much. This was James after all. "I will not listen to any of your Quidditch ramblings ever again!"

**

"So you just don't like anyone? Are none of the girls good enough for you?" Lily asked teasingly playing around with her quill. Remus groaned.

"I came here to study, not to be quizzed about my lovelife."

"Hey! I am just trying to get know my boyfriends friends. Nothing wrong with that." She smiled sweetly.

"You have known me sufficiently since last year, I believe. There is really not that much interesting to learn about me." He  shuffled uncomfortably on his chair. As happy as he was for James to have finally made it with Lily - she was asking to many questions. And there were certain things that he wished to not share with her under any circumstances.

"Sure, and you seem like a decent guy to me. So no reason to spend such a fine day studying all by yourself."

"I am not by myself though, aren't I?" The reply sounded much more snarky than he had intended and he hoped that Lily wouldn't take it personally. She didn't.

"Sure sure but I'm sure there is someone who you'd rather be with right now?"

There was. And she couldn't find out about him.

"What about Henrietta Morrison? She's nice."

"I don't think she's my type. And I don't think I am hers."

"So what's your type then?"

Goddamit, she got him. Be vague, be vague.

"Uhhh I don't know. Dark hair, intelligent. Tall..." What was he doing. Lily looked at him intently.

"You know who that sounds like?"

"No," he replied sternly and tried to hide behind his book. This was a desaster. A slender finger appeared in front of him, gently but firmly lowering the tome to expose his face.

"Remus," she asked gently. "Is it Sirius?"

Remus winced. Why was she so good at this?

"Please don't tell anyone. Especially not James. If James knows, Sirius will find out immediately."

"Not if I ask him not to tell him," Lily said decidedly.

"He doesn't have to, they're like some sort of hive mind. If one of them knows something, the other does to." He sighes.

"So you don't want to tell him?"

"What?! No, of course not! Lily, are you mental? He would never like me. Have you looked at him? He is so...fucking handsome and smart and funny..."

"And mean and arrogant."

"Yes, but I kind of like that too," Remus admitted and buried his blushig face in his hands.

Sirius could not find out. There was just no way he would ever like him back.

[lexithwrites]

See this is why I don't respect your opinion or anything you have to say.

I truly love jily and jegulus. Shocker, I know. It can happen. I can have them both coexist in my brain without crying about it, and so it's strange to me how you cannot fathom people like different things than you.

Telling people to kill themselves, PERIOD, is wrong, disgusting and extremely thoughtless. You do not know what people are going through, not everyone takes that as a joke or has the ability to ignore it, you don't know the weight of your own words, at all. Grow up.

'I wish nothing but only bad things to you' for shipping characters? Are you insane? I swear, if you're not a literal dumbass child and are over the age of 18 (god forbid over 25, when your brain SHOULD be fully developed by now) you should be ashamed of yourself. You're so fucking tone deaf it's insulting to people that ship jily. People are actually being put off and turned away from the jily ship because of people like you. You're a boring, weird ass troll who is gaining nothing from spouting this type of shit except creeping people out.

'Real love'. I'm gonna hold your hand when I tell you this, they are not real. You are allowed to love them, respect them, write about them and enjoy them, but they are not real and never will be. You cannot say one ship is real love compared to another in this sense, it sounds ridiculous.

I truly do hope it isn't you that was sending the bullshit into people's inboxes because it's so pathetic and a waste of energy. What does anyone gain from doing that? No one should be telling anybody to kill themselves, ANYBODY. Idc how you feel about jegulus or regulus or anything, do not consume the media. This is basic. Stop tagging shit in it, stop looking at it, stop engaging. None of us jegulus shippers want to be interacting with you bro, but it's posts like this that just piss me off enough to actually give you what you so obviously want, some attention you clearly aren't getting irl.

Honey, go read some jily fics and go live your life. You don't need to be getting this heated over a fake person (also let's not call him a nazi, its insanely disrespectful to people that actually suffered at the hands of that fucking disgusting group and are still affected by it today).

Also, take wolfstar out of your fucking tags, they don't belong here.

jegulus shipers in my inbox trying to tell me how saying kys because of ship is wrong, like who's actually going to kill himself just because some user in internet typed that ?

idc about y'all, ship your nazi character with every hp character I don't care, but honestly I wish nothing but only bad things to you, your pathetic ship will never even be close to jily and their REAL love

cry about it

[clare-with-no-i]

For James, it’s always been Lily. She’s the one for him, it was meant to be. Or, so he thought. Now, he isn’t sure what to think, because, as fate has it, she isn’t the one. Jegulus summaries be like : and the best part is they went and put this in the jily tag.

gonna be honest, I only have one answer for any jegulus questions, which is: I don’t care about it, I’ve got nothing interesting to say, it’s not something I really think about lol

I do understand the tagging frustration—but honestly ever since I got into Jily, the tumblr tag for it has been mostly ATYD and Wolfstar content anyway, so I tend not to even look at it. I get my content from my mutuals and from the other blogs I follow for the most part.

this is all to say that I’d really prefer if y’all refrained from asking me about jegulus, simply because it would be a waste of both of our time and I feel bad letting anons pile up in my inbox without wanting to answer them lol

[roseskiesandbutterflies]

Killer Queen - a few things before we start

hi. I just wanted to say a few things about this story that you should probably know beforehand so I don't have to add a million things in the author's note or do the classic Clunky Exposition and Explanation thing. none of these are spoilers.

first of all, the first few chapters of this are shit. they just are. I was quite young when I started writing this and my skills were not exactly fully-formed. I just wanted to say this so you don't start reading it, go what the fuck this is shit (I do the same if I have to look back it's embarrassing), and stop reading. please just bear with them and then you'll get to the good shit. I do intend to rewrite them but fuck knows when that will be.

UPDATE 08/07/22: I am in the process of going back, rewriting, fixing things, changing things, etc. but I will be doing it in bits so I apologise for any inconsistencies with the story between now and when I finish changing what needs to be changed.

please for the love of christ take the things that happen in this fic with a grain of fucking salt. people are not perfect and neither are these characters. they are going to fuck up and do questionable things and it might not get addressed until much later on. just trust that if something concerning happens I will explore it properly at some point.

while im on this topic, I need to mention that they have sex. yes they're 15 at the start of this fic. yes that is a bit weird. yes I am going to explore this later on as carefully as I can. yes I myself am at that age so no im not sexualising teenagers. no there is no smut in this at all. once again just bear with me here.

it swears. a lot. I don't censor cos who can be arsed realistically.

most if not all of the main ships in this fandom (im talking wolfstar, dorlene, jily/flowerpott) will happen they're just gonna take a while to get going. just trust the process and all that jazz. this isn't a spoiler its literally in the tags lmao.

most of the characters are poc. deal with it lmao. some of yous fancasts are so white its boring. (ruth is jamaican, james is desi, sirius is chinese, remus is ugandan-jewish and welsh, dorcas is somali and lily is lebanese)

I know the sirius is east asian headcanon is controversial so I'll change it if anyone feels uncomfortable with it. the only reason im keeping it is that a lot of people who actually are east asian in this fandom like it (the first time I heard of it was from ashes-and-ashes on tumblr who is east asian herself).

james also has adhd. it's a pre-established thing, it's not really a plot line at all so it'll only get brought up when it's relevant, just thought I'd say now so no one's confused as I have no idea when it'll get explicitly mentioned or talked about.

this fic plays into a few stereotypes that I wasn't aware of until long after I created the plot points. the main one being the fact that ruth is black and her father isn't around. I was literally 11 when I made this up and I had no idea this stereotype existed. however now I know better (thank fuck). im not going to change it for the only reason that it's for the plot (its actually quite important but more on that later). so im just going to apologise for that in advance.

I wanted to make this as canon as possible when I first started this, but now I don't care. I am throwing all caution to the wind and letting you know now: THEY DO NOT DIE AT THE END this is going to have a happy ending or so help me god

also The Prank doesn't happen. why? I don't like it, it feels horrifically out of character and this is my story next question

I have a social media version of this as well if you're interested!! I started it more recently and its got some plot stuff that I would ideally like to have in the earlier chapters of this version. ill put them in here if I ever get round to rewriting this. anyways maybe consider checking out that one for the plot stuff if nothing else lmao

I will be updating this if I think of anything else that yous need to know beforehand

right now that's out of the way lets fucking begin.

[marlmckitten]

Blackstar Coffee Co Chapter 3: Not So Smooth

A/N: Honestly please let me know if chapter length bothers you. I like short chapters because when I am reading books I like short chapters because of the sense of accomplishment. Also when I am writing, I update more often if they are shorter because it is less of a commitment. Also, let me know how you like my version of James. I’m gonna change him a little because tbh I’m not his biggest fan. (As I was naming this chapter I realized I should have all named them different sorts of coffee and I am disappointed with myself for not thinking of that sooner.) And on my kick of a little push on treating barista’s better. Be like James.

Tag list: @thelaziestgeek @lilyofthelion @prongsmischief @padsmcfoot @blacklilyqueen @jily-swan-hinny1 (I hope that’s everyone!) Thank you all so much for the support, seriously it means so much. And if you want to be tagged in any upcoming chapters just let me know!

And as one last side note, I’ve been talking to @hufflepuffmarlenemckinnon and if you all want more great Blackinnon content, follow her! And another great blog for Blackinnon, Marauder, or Sirius Black content is @padsmcfoot plus she is only *1* away from her next hundred so let’s make sure she wakes up with that milestone!!

Of course, Marlene did nothing with the card or the number. She had considered ripping it up. She had wished she did it in front of him, but something kept her from doing so. Instead she stored it in her back pocket and didn’t touch it again. As attractive as he was, she still wasn’t impressed with how rude or assuming he was and would sooner give up her minimum wage job before date some young privileged boy who was playing weird games with her.

However, this time it was less than a day until she saw him again. She was standing at the till, near the end of her shift when a gentlemanly looking male, probably around her age walked in and very politely ordered himself a mocha. She smiled and wrote his name, James, on the cup while her coworker got started on the drink. “Is that drink really sweet?” He asked Marlene curiously.

The blonde chuckled, “Have you never had a mocha before?”

“No, it’s what one of my friends always gets, but he loves chocolate and anything else sweet so I just realized...”

“It’s pretty sweet,” she confirmed, “Did you want us to make you something else instead?”

“Nah, don’t worry about it, you’ve already started,” James nodded his head to the girl who was half finished his drink unsure if she should go on since he seemed on the fence about the whole thing.

“Are you sure, it’s not trouble,” Marlene replied, as she was trained to always make the customer feel at ease even when it really inconvenienced the rest of the team.

But there was an interruption before James could take her up on her generosity, “Wow, Marlene McKinnon providing good customer service, are you sick Marls?”

Marlene rolled her eyes at Lily’s voice, but didn’t say anything since her gaze locked onto the young man. His entire face dropped when he saw Lily standing at the till, it was as if he had never seen a woman before at all. His jaw literally stood ajar and he dropped his wallet, money falling everywhere. But even then he was too transfixed on the redhead to notice.

“Uhm, sir?” Lily waved her hand in front of his face.

Snapping back, James cleared his throat and looked at the floor around him, coins were still rolling around. He made a quick movement to put his wallet down and start collecting his mess, but just as he tried putting his wallet on the ledge, the barista put his hot coffee down, their hands collided and the steamed milk and espresso spilled all down the young man. “Shit,” James said under his breath, shaking his hand.

Marlene grimaced and quickly ran to the back to get a cool cloth and some burn cream for James while Lily helped him get some napkins and clean himself off. “You alright?”

“I, er, yeah, I, er, you are very beautiful-” He stumbled over his words, shook his head and got down on his hands and knees to start collecting his coins.

“Thanks,” Lily smiled kindly, tucking her hair behind her ear.

The door chimed open again and another person was added to the mix. His dark eyebrows raised drawing attention to his cool grey eyes. “What on Earth has happened here now? Every time I walk into this location it’s another mess!”

“Sirius, hi,” James stood up, finally peeling his eyes away from the new love of his life. “This was literally all my fault, I just got a little...”

“He lost his balance,” Lily covered for him, sneaking another look at the boy as his hand went up to ruffle up his hair for some odd reason. “Marlene’s just in the back grabbing some burn cream I would assume for his hand.”

“Really is my fault,” James apologized, “These two baristas have been lovely.”

Marlene finally returned, a mop in one hand and some cream and cloth in another. Lily took it to help out James while Marlene began mopping up the spilled drink. While James apologized profusely, Sirius let out a dark laugh. “I didn’t know this particular barista knew how to be ‘lovely’ honestly I don’t even know how she got hired.”

His voice did not sound threatening in the least, more playful, but still Marlene’s eyes cautiously looked up to Sirius and she forced a thin smile across her lips. “Good to see you’re back. I’ll get you your tall coffee so you can leave.”

“No need, I was just meeting my friend here,” he put an arm around a still very awkward James who was just starring with complete admiration as Lily applied the cream to his hand and wrapped a bandage gently around it.

“He also needs a new coffee since he decided to bless our floors with overpriced espresso and chocolate sauce,” Marlene retorted. Lily turned to glare at Marlene, shocked she was being so careless at this point.

“Right well, we can get one elsewhere, honestly the coffee here isn’t even that good. My family just likes to save every penny they can, even at the price of serving poor quality beans and acting like they are a privilege just to taste. Later blondie, don’t forget to use my number if you need anything!” Sirius quite literally dragged James towards the door while he kept looking back at Lily. As they got to the door however, Sirius rolled his eyes. “Or pass my number onto Little Red over there. I’ve been staying with James the past week so, he’ll be there, with me.”

As if it saved James any grace by this point, he stood up straight, his hand ran effortlessly through his hair and he winked to Lily. “Call me.”

The two boys finally left and Marlene and Lily looked at one another quickly bursting int hysterical laughter. “What even- what just- what was that?!” Marlene asked to Lily, thinking about how many times that James kid made a fool of himself.

Somehow Lily found it charming and her laughter came more from the awkwardness she felt for him combined with the butterflies she got as he winked goodbye to her. Once her laughter calmed down Lily’s smile did not fade, “He’s cute though.”

“And polite,” Marlene agreed.

“And he had a nice butt.”

“But,” Marlene interrupted, “I’m weary of who he chooses to keep as a friend.”

“He hasn’t fired you yet, that’s a good sign!”

The blonde huffed, “He hasn’t fired me yet because he tried asking me out yesterday!”

Lily’s mouth fell open. “He what?”

With an annoyed sigh, she reached into her back pocket. (Marlene had a horrible habit of wearing the same exact pair of black jeans to literally every shift while very rarely washing them.) And she pulled out his card, handing it to Lily. “He told me he’d give me a good tip if I smiled then gave me his number instead.”

“Disgusting...” Lily replied, her whole face scrunched up. “If that’s the case, you really don’t need this then?” She added in, slowly taking the card.

“Call them, get that black haired disaster of a boy to take you out on a date. And bring protection!”

“Marlene!”

“I meant a helmet, maybe some knee pads, definitely leather gloves. Seriously, imagine dinner with him! He will have knives to drop, wine, a full three-course meal, be prepared!” Marlene teased while Lily looked down at the number and programmed it into her phone.