#what was it that quiz said. ‘do you really think you’ll find another creature like yourself on earth?’

[dzamie-oc]

05 - Space

Space prompt, eh? A good a time as ever for some hammer-space dragon! Featuring Sylvia, the loveliest little gold dragoness in the Dragonslayer Guild Hall.

Length: 2200 words Rating: M (noncon vore. Not sexual, but it’s still noncon and vore) Summary: Victoria, a dragonslayer in training, learns an unforgettable lesson about how hammerspace dragons work, and perhaps about assuming mundane explanations around fantastical creatures.

Minors DNI with this particular story. I am hella uncomfortable with the idea of y’all openly interacting with vore.

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“Hey, Sylvia, any chance I could borrow a gold coin? Need to test the magical affinity of this thing to some elements, and gold’ll do just fine,” the cheetah asked the little golden dragon perched on his shoulder. “Y’know, before I permanently affix the actual part.”

“Yeah, gimme a second. Hand, please.”

Behind them, Victoria watched the pair work - or, well, she watched Dzamie work, while Sylvia mostly just watched him from closer. She had initially stopped by to ask the katul about one of his swordwork lessons, but he seemed busy, so she was fine waiting... for ten minutes longer, maybe. A bit more if she thought she’d get to cuddle the adorable little dragoness. Yes, time and time again, Dzamie himself had repeated that every dragon can kill an incautious slayer, and it was almost always in reference to Sylvia, but the woman found it hard to take it seriously. Not that she’d ever say it aloud. Even if it turned out not to be true, Sylvia seemed to take pride in her rumored “danger,” and Victoria liked the little lady too much to rain on her parade.

A loud hiss filled the air, then Dzamie waved a gold coin in his hand back and forth, steam rising up from his paw and the coin. “What’s he doing that does that?” the human asked herself, aloud.

Dzamie, however, was the one to respond, without looking up. “Oh, fire spells come easy to me, so I use ‘em to quickly dry off stuff Sylvia gives me. Gives the workshop a certain smell, but it’s not really enough drool to bother humans.” His voice dropped to a mutter as he looked over his work, then nodded and spoke up again. “Yeah, that’ll work. But, yeah, if you ever catch me after a swim, I do the same thing to myself - just, with a silencing spell when there’s people around.”

Having been unofficially invited into the conversation, Victoria walked closer. The katul was working on what looked an awful lot like a gun from a video game. “Huh, forgot you did cosplay,” she remarked, “and, wait, why would what she gave you be wet?”

Two pairs of eyes swung to look at her, one tiny and yellow, one more her size and, well, also yellow, but with a purple aura around them that soon cleared. “I trust him to return items from my hoard,” Sylvia said, “and, naturally, anything I don’t bag up for protection gets wet.”

Victoria looked around, trying to find where the little dragoness might have put a hoard that she could somehow reach from Dzamie’s shoulder, to no avail. Luckily for her, Sylvia easily read the human’s face, smiled, swished her tail, and said, “Hmm, tell you what. You’re nice enough to me, good enough pets and all that.”

“Oh, is she the other one who’s been giving you strawberries?” Dzamie asked. He was looking back at the prop again, where a finger wreathed in green fire poked at a floating spell circle of the same color.

Sylvia huffed. “Anyway! Would you like to see my hoard, Victoria?” The golden dragoness sat up as tall as she could to deliver her next line, “just be aware that if you try to steal from me, your life is forfeit.”

Any tiny, intimidating effect she might have had was immediately discarded as her furry, feline perch moved his arm and sent her tumbling onto the table. In spite of herself, Victoria laughed. “Sorry, sorry!” she said, “it’s just, the timing. I would love to see your hoard, Sylvia. Assuming it’s not just that coin. Uh, no offense, you’re just, well, you-sized.”

Dzamie interrupted again, muttering “alright, let’s see if this doesn’t explode this time” as he picked up his project in one hand. “And Victoria, pop quiz! Zero percent of your grade. What species of dragon is this adorable golden derg?”

“Don’t call me a derg.”

“Adorable golden dragon,” the cheetah amended. The device in his hand whirred and glowed with his green magic, and successfully failed to explode, at which he gave a satisfied “heh.”

Victoria leaned against one of the other tables, trying to recall. “She’s a... hammer-something. Not hammerhead, hammer... hammerspace!” she said with a confident smile.

Dzamie nodded. “Fantacular. Just making sure you might know what you’re in for.” He turned to Sylvia. “I’m gonna go test this out proper. Back in a few.”

The dragoness on the table walked over to the edge and sat down, facing Victoria. “Okay, then, just set your sword... somewhere and give me your hands.” As she did so, unsheathing the weapon and laying it flat, Sylvia continued, “I never figured out whether it’s easier for you if I go slow or fast, but I like slow, so I’m gonna go slow.”

“Oh, and you’ll want to ditch the rest of your armor,” Dzamie added, gesturing to her with the toy gun, “trust me on this, it’s uncomfortable and then you just have to clean it unnecessarily.”

Victoria glared at him. “Sure, Teach, let me just strip down right in front of a male katul all alone in this room.”

Dzamie passed his prop to his other hand, then held up his fingers as he counted off, “okay, one, Sylvia’s here with us; two, just because I fit the stereotype doesn’t mean you should use it; and three-” he lifted his project, “- the only reason I’m coming back here in the next half hour is if this thing explodes on teleport. ...which you better not,” he muttered at the prop. Then, with a snap of his fingers, he was gone.

For a solid minute, Victoria stared at the spot he’d vanished, almost daring him to teleport back in. Sylvia coughed to get her attention. “He’s not wrong, though. I don’t know about armor maintenance, but usually people prefer to be in comfortable clothes.” The little dragoness turned her head away and flicked her tail back and forth. “If, uh, if they wear any, but people like that are few and far between. Look, it is pretty cramped on the way to my hoard, but I’d be an awful friend if I insisted you get rid of things that aren’t weapons.”

“Things that aren’t weapons?”

The golden dragon gave her a flat look. “Can you really blame me, a dragon, for not trusting dragonslayers with weapons?”

“Fair point.” Victoria sighed. After a moment more of internal debate, she started to remove her armor. She asked Sylvia for some help, and before long, she stood before the hammerspace dragon in a sports bra and athletic shorts, glad that her friend was a dragon and not a katul, or a human.

Sylvia looked her up and down; Victoria jokingly asked if she thought she was hiding knives or something. “I... already checked, actually. Just thought dragonslayers wore something more underneath. Laundry day?”

The human grimaced. “It’s done, just... I wasn’t thinking earlier. Er, so, hands?”

“Hands!”

Victoria tentatively held her hands out in front of Sylvia, who pressed them together with her little paws. She brought her muzzle right next to the woman’s fingers, then looked up and said, “just so you know, I’m not letting you back down from this.” Before Victoria could ask what she meant by that, the dragoness opened her jaws and lunged forward.

She could hardly believe her eyes. Her arms looked just fine all the way down to her wrists, but there... they simply weren’t. Sylvia’s snout started, and her arms stopped. Her hands were surrounded by something warm, squishy, and wet, and when she tried to move them or pull them apart, they were pressed back in on each other. Then, a wave of pressure rolled down the hidden hands, and Victoria watched as more of her forearms also shared her hands’ plight. She wiggled her hands more, but there was no change. It took a few seconds for her mind to finally piece it all together: Sylvia was eating her. Somehow.

Another swallow pulled her elbows in, locking her arms out straight. In the back of her head, Victoria knew that she really ought to be panicking, that being eaten by a dragon was something she should not be going calmly into. But still, even as she bent over to the table, leaning down towards the dragon’s tiny body, it was hard to really take it seriously. After all, if she turned her head, she could see that not one of Sylvia’s scales were out of place, so CLEARLY the tiny dragon couldn’t be swallowing her.

A moment later, and she no longer had that problem. Her head was buried deep in somewhere dark pink, surrounded by hot, wet flesh, and any time she moved her arms or twisted her head, all she heard was wet “shlrk”s and squishes as she was guided back into position. The dragoness’s next swallow came more quickly, as though anticipating the human’s reaction:

Now that her eyes were no longer trying to tell her she wasn’t being eaten, Victoria came to the obvious conclusion: her friend had betrayed her trust for a meal. However, she found that she wasn’t scared, or terrified. Be it her own natural inclinations, or her, admittedly incomplete, training as a dragonslayer, Victoria instead found rage. With a primal yell, she twisted and turned, thrashing her arms to try to choke or even gag Sylvia, and she kicked one knee up, trying to feel her way into slamming into the tiny trickster. Unfortunately, the next thing she felt was her knee pinned against her belly, joining the rest of her upper body in the tight, slimy tunnel. Dragon drool got in her mouth, so she spat and sputtered as her hips, shorts, and other thigh were engulfed by the irrationally long throat. Between the heat, the steady, almost soothing noises of wet throatflesh squishing against her skin, the humid, heavy air, and simple exertion, Victoria soon found the fight slip away from her. Ankle-deep in what she thought was a very small dragon, the human sighed and let Sylvia close her jaws after her foot without a struggle.

When her head pressed against the ring of muscle, Victoria had resigned herself to her fate as dragon food. After all, the only person who knew where she was was Dzamie, and that katul would probably demand something-

Her head ran into something solid, and a clattering sound entered her ears, rather than just the constant squelching of wet flesh. Victoria opened her eyes, then sat up and- well, sat up, brushed her hair and Sylvia’s drool from her eyes, and then really opened them to see...

A pile of assorted coins, gold, silver, bronze, and more, bars of precious metals, gems of many colors, piled up nearly as tall as Victoria, herself! A trio of abstract sculptures - possibly part of a set, Victoria reasoned, though one could never really tell with that much abstraction. And, for some reason-

“So, how is it? I’m glad you calmed down eventually,” came Sylvia’s voice from all around.

“There’s... a train engine...” was all Victoria could say.

The little dragoness laughed. “Haha, yeah! One of my earlier additions, actually. I bet every hammerspace dragon does one of those, ‘okay, but CAN I eat that?’ things; I just decided to keep mine for a while, as a trophy, and over time, well, it’s a bit sentimental now.”

“You ATE and KEPT an ENTIRE TRAIN OUT OF THE-?!” the human shouted, dumbfounded, then faltered. “Uh, what’s it called, train house?”

Another laugh. “No, no, I ate a MOVING train - well, just pulling out, not that fast - and kept the engine car. The passenger car and all the delicious treats within are years gone.” There was a pause, and then. “Don’t worry, though. I’m much nicer these days, keep myself in the green zone.”

Victoria sighed, crawled over to the vehicle, and climbed into a seat. “Well, as far as places to die go, this place at least looks nicer than I expected.”

“Die? Who said anything about that? I’m not letting you stay in my stomach, you’ve got stuff to learn and I’ve got strawberries to eat, given only to dragons who DON’T have anyone stewing away in their bellies. ...willing meals notwithstanding.”

Another sigh, though this time of exasperation. “Sylvia... stomachs digest organic material. I am an organic material. I just hope I pass out before the pain gets to me too much.”

This time, there was raucous laughter, followed by a shriek and a swear. “Uh, sorry, fell off the table. You should attend more dragon biology lessons. And/or ask Dzamie for some notes, though if you do, prepare to have an entire encyclopedia dumped on you. Unabridged.”

“I’m safe?”

“You’re the biggest danger to yourself in there. Don’t smash yourself in the head with a sculpture and you’ll be fine.”

Victoria’s mind was still reeling. Nearly half a dozen earthshaking revelations in only a few minutes was not an easy thing to deal with. “And... you’ll let me out when I ask?”

“Or in half an hour. I want strawberries and that’s when there are strawberries. Oh, but make sure you aren’t holding anything when you come back up, or you WILL be eaten again, and it WON’T be to see all my shinies.”

This time, Victoria decided to take her threat seriously. And she had more reason to not “rain on her parade” about being a deadly maneater.

[amyscascadingtabs]

expecto patronum

Post-The Fugitive. Jake and Amy talk Harry Potter, patronuses, and love.

✨read on ao3  ✨ 

“Hey, babe, I’m home!”

The door makes a distinctive clicking noise behind Jake as he locks it. It’s only one of the many sounds he’s getting used to; his new home is full of them, and they’ve become much more noticeable now that he’s here every day. He’s known his way around this apartment for a long time, but living there, permanently, is different. It’s a good kind of different, though. 

“In here!” Amy shouts from her – from their – bedroom, and Jake hurries to hang up his jacket and bag before going to greet his girlfriend. 

    He’s coming home late tonight. A questioning at work dragged over after a surprise confession, and as exciting as those are, Jake’s bitter over missing dinner and Property Brothers with Amy. He half hadn't expected her to be awake still, but once he was finally free to text her that he was on his way home, she replied straight away to tell him she'd be waiting. Rosa had teased him about how wide he’d been smiling, but Jake hadn’t found it in him to care. 

Amy’s laying on her stomach in bed with a thick book leaned against the pillow, resting her chin against one hand as she reads and holding up the cover with her other. Jake recognizes the book; it’s Prisoner of Azkaban, the third book in the Harry Potter series. He was reading it himself a few weeks ago.

“Ah, Harry Potter. Good choice.”

Amy closes the book against her index finger and looks up at him. “Yeah, you inspired me. How was work?”

“We got a confession,” he grins. “It was dope. Guy just started rambling, pretty much told us his whole life story for some reason, and now we have him. I even got to call the victim’s mom, tell her the news.”

“Sounds like a good day, then.”

“Yeah. Missed seeing you, though.”

“You see me all the time, babe. We live and work together.”

“I know, so it makes me feel even weirder when I don't!”

Amy laughs, letting out that adorable chortling sound he only ever hears when they're alone. Then she looks back to her book, scooching closer to her preferred side of the bed, and Jake takes that as an instruction to change into pajamas so he can join her. 

Any regular night, he would probably have taken time to shower and brush his teeth first, but it's been a long day. He simply undresses instead, smirking as he notices Amy’s subtle side glance when he takes off his shirt. This, these small moments of appreciation between them, is yet another one of the parts he loves most about sharing a life with her – it’s nearly midnight, he’s exhausted and he remembers Amy mentioning starting her period, so sex is almost guaranteed to be off the table – but she still makes him feel attractive, makes him feel confident and wanted. He never realized how much that being an equal exchange meant to him before their relationship.

   “So,” he asks her, “where are you up to in the book, then?”

“Almost finished the whole thing,” she says, looking very proud of herself. “I’m at the time-turner chapter. Harry thinks he saw his dad cast a patronus from the other side of the lake, but then he realizes just saw himself.” 

“Man, that part was so sad.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah!” Jake huffs, crawling underneath the covers. “I just… felt for him, you know? He wishes he could meet his parents, just once, even if he knows it's impossible. He wants this family he never had.”

“It makes you realize how in the end, he's just a kid. A brave kid, but a kid.”

“A kid in desperate need of therapy.”

“Amen,” says Amy, flipping a page. “Hogwarts mental health services do seem to be severely lacking. Did you know the dementors were inspired by the author’s own experiences with depression, by the way?”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Dark creatures with the power to bring out all the worst memories in your head, making you feel like you’ll never be happy again. Like you can’t even remember what it’s like. And the only way to defeat them is to hold onto the very happiest moments of your life and create a shield out of them.”

“Kind of deep for a kid's book,” Jake reflects, and Amy nods. 

“Maybe. But it's not pushed on them, either. It's a way for them to understand, without knowing that they're understanding. I always loved that about the Harry Potter books,” she says, a sudden dreamy look in her eyes. “They're just… intelligent.”

   Jake means to agree with her, but then his body remembers he's been at work for the entire day, and out comes an embarrassingly big yawn that makes Amy laugh. 

“Long day? I can read to you if you want.”

“Dreamgirl,” he mumbles. Amy rolls her eyes, but then she reaches out to pull him closer, her left hand running through his hair as she holds the book with her right, and he can see her smiling.

   Jake's not sure how long she's reading for. He loses track of time, but frankly, he doesn’t mind. Amy's reading voice is low, peaceful enough to relax him but varied enough to entice him at the same time. Her fingers keep brushing through his curls as she reads, tracing soft circles on his scalp. He listens to her read the part where Harry and Hermione fly on Buckbeak to rescue Sirius, and it doesn't matter that he read the book himself just a few weeks ago, because he could listen to her voice forever.

   He gets to do that now, he realizes, because they live together now. It may only have been a week, and not completely without its challenges, but it already feels like one of the best decisions of his life. Even though they were spending almost every night together before as well, there’s something special about coming home and Amy already being there. Not because they’ve made specific plans for her to be, but because that’s the norm, because home is the same place for the two of them now. There’s something intimate about getting to share a routine with her, working out a system for who gets the bathroom when in the morning, adding stuff onto the same grocery list. Even seeing his t-shirts next to hers in the dresser puts a smile on his face in the morning. It feels grown-up, and it feels stable, and it feels right. 

    He wonders sometimes if he could have imagined this the night she knocked on his door to tell him screw light and breezy. Honestly, he probably could have, even if he was too proud to admit it to himself in the beginning. But after a year and a half of dating, of which six excruciating months were spent apart (and hopefully no more will ever be, he thinks), Jake couldn’t care less about pride. He loves Amy Santiago, and he wants to spend all the time he can with her, give her everything and share his life with her for as long as she’ll let him. That, if anything, makes him proud. In any case, it’s like he said that first night undercover as Johnny and Dora – there’s really no one else’s opinion he cares about more than hers. 

    Amy finishes the chapter, reaching for a bookmark before putting the book on her nightstand.

“There,” she laughs. “That’s your goodnight story.”

“Mm, one more chapter.”

“Mm, no. It’s late, babe.”

“I have a question,” he says then, knowing it’ll garner her attention and give him some more treasured quality time before they really have to go to sleep. Amy raises an eyebrow and shakes her head lovingly at him, but then she nods. “Harry’s patronus is a stag, right? Like his dad’s animagus form. And in the fifth book, Hermione has an otter, and Ron some kind of dog.”

“A Jack Russell terrier. Yeah, why?”

“How is your patronus determined? Like… how does it know?”

“It’s supposed to reflect your innermost personality,” she answers, not missing a beat. “It represents something about you that makes you who you are. Something that gives you strength, I would say. So for Harry, that would be the thought of his parents fighting for him.”

“I like that,” Jake says. “A lot of things in that universe are just grossly poetic though, aren't they?”

This makes Amy chuckle. “Very true.”

“What do you think yours would be?”

“Oh. Hmm.” She presses her lips together. “I don't know. What do you think?”

“We could find out,” He grins, reaching for his phone. “I’m sure there's a BuzzFeed quiz.”

      He's right – and although Amy rolls her eyes at him at first, they end up having a laugh at the quiz, picking the options they think best suit the other one and shrugging when the results suggest Amy’s would be a horse, and Jake’s a stag.

“The descriptions are pretty accurate, though,” Amy says, reading from Jake’s phone. “Brave and fearless, and your greatest asset is your ability to love. Sometimes you get a bit hot-headed and impatient –” Jake fake-gasps. “– but your friends are your source of peace, getting you through the good and bad.”

“I still think it should be a ninja turtle,” he mutters. “But yours is true, too. Loyal, smart, underrated badass.”

“It just gave us the same patronuses as Harry and Ginny.” Amy smiles. “They do get together later, so I guess that works.”

“Spoilers! I haven’t gotten to that part yet!”

“Oh, come on, it’s really obvious.” She kisses the pouting grimace off of his face. “Different question. What memory would you use to cast your patronus?”

“I have thought about that,” he confesses, blushing. “It’s a three-way tie. The first time you told me you loved me. That evening when you stood outside my door and told me you wanted to be with me, for reals. Maybe even our first date, after the bet. All of those, together… I think they’d make a damn good patronus.”

“Wow.” Amy almost looks taken aback, like she wasn’t expecting that moment of sincerity. “I’m surprised you didn’t just say the first time we had sex or something.”

“Would you have wanted me to say that? Wait, is that yours? Santiago –”

“Oh my god, obviously not –”

“Obviously? Wow, hurtful, much –”

“Just let me finish!”

“Title of –”

“Stop!” Amy’s shaking with laughter, holding her hand on top of his mouth just for a second. “Stop, stop. What I meant to say was that it’s the same for me. That’s what I’d think of, too.”

“Even the bet? Even though you lost?”

“Yes, babe. Even though I lost.”

“So it wouldn’t be the first time we had sex, then.”

She smirks. “We’ve had better since.”

Then she leans over him, and her lips are on his, insistent but soft at once. His heartbeat’s speeding by the time she pulls away, and it satisfies him to see that her face is a little flushed, too. 

“For the record,” Jake mumbles as she rests her head on his chest after, “this, right here – would also work for a damn good patronus.”

“Oh, yeah. No dementor would stand a chance.”

“Mm. You’re a nerd, but I love you.”

“I love you, too. Goodnight, babe.”

“Goodnight,” he whispers, wrapping his arms around her and allowing himself a brief moment to revel in the feeling that’s started growing in him recently.

Forever, this could be forever.

[prettywordsyouleft]

After School Hours

Pairing: Joshua Hong x reader (ft. Seokmin, Soonyoung & Jeonghan)

Genre: teacher au / co-workers to lovers / fluff

Warnings: none

Word count: 4501

You tried to convince yourself to look away. You didn’t need to watch on any longer than you already had. You’d witnessed more than enough for your heart to ache and tears threatened to fall from your eyes.

Thankfully, a group of students interrupted your moment. Jackie stepped forward and reached out for your arm excitedly. “Miss L/N! I didn’t expect you to come to the carnival tonight!”

You hadn’t exactly planned to either. However, your housemate Sasha had begged you to join her, even mentioning your neighbour Tom would be coming along. And because you had a crush on the aforementioned, you had put on your favourite dress, done a satisfactory job with your makeup and even wore some heeled wedges.

You had put aside your dislike for crowds to come tonight, all to find Sasha locking lips with Tom in front of the cotton candy booth when you returned from the restroom.

Swallowing back your emotions, you smiled weakly at the teenagers before you. “I should be marking your assignments at home right now much as you all should be studying for your next pop quiz. Especially you, Tori.”

“Teach, it’s Friday, live a little. You look so cute tonight; maybe you’ll find someone to make you forget all about that little test next week. There’s no point working us so hard when the school year has just started!”

You laughed and shook your head. “Not a chance. It’s not your first year in school either so you know how much this year counts the most for college admissions.”

“It was worth trying, right Tanith?”

“How about we go ride the Ferris wheel before Miss L/N finds out how badly I did on that assignment.”

You shook your head at the three girls as they waved animatedly and dashed through the evening crowds, your faint smile fading when you realised the distraction they had gifted you with was over. Turning around again, you sighed when you saw the couple grinning and feeding each other the sugary fluffy treat.

Just how often had you proclaimed to Sasha that you found Tom attractive? You felt like an absolute idiot and willed yourself to find anything, anyone to take your attention away and for them to remain oblivious to your realisation. As you searched the crowds for an escape, you faltered, noticing four men sitting at a picnic bench looking your way.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that you had witnessed what you had, you were now questioning how much they had pieced together.

You closed your eyes, wondering in what universe you had even decided to come out tonight in.

“Y/N!” Sasha called out as you spun away, and you stopped walking off hastily. Looking back at the woman, you smiled weakly whilst exchanging your steps away to back towards her. As you got closer, you glanced in the direction of those watching you and then back at your friend.

Or, you at least thought of her once as a friend. Now you were unsure what to trust in. Tom was gone from her side and before you could mention an excuse of feeling unwell, she clutched at her stomach instead. “Oh, there you are! I was worried where you had gotten to since you don’t like crowds much. Are you alright?”

“Actually-”

“Good, hey I’m not feeling well so Tom has kindly offered to take me home. You’ll be able to get a ride home right? I don’t want your night to end here all because I need to go to bed.”

You stared back at Sasha and tilted your head to the side, biting your bottom lip. She wasn’t sick. One look at her could tell anyone that she was bright-eyed and bushy tailed. Her eyes flitted in the direction to where you saw Tom waiting and you almost laughed out loud. Were you really this pathetic that the pair thought they could fool you like this? You knew exactly what was about to happen. There wouldn’t be just one person in that bed, and going home now sounded like the last thing you wanted to do with your night.

You smiled brightly, surprising Sasha with your lack of opposition. “I’ll be more than capable of finding my way home. Don’t worry, I’m sure Tom will take really good care of you.”

“Are… are you sure?” the woman asked, trying to decipher what was going through your head. “Do you know anyone here?”

“Of course she does, right, Y/N?”

You glanced at Jeonghan, one of the student teachers from your school, now beside you, his arm securing around your shoulder. You found yourself nodding along with the intense stare he gave you. Satisfied he had you playing along; he turned to Sasha who was darting her eyes between his arm around you and his handsome face. For a moment, you focused on following through, the euphoria of stunning your roommate making you feel incredibly warm all over.

And once she had said an awkward goodbye and dashed off to Tom, you succumbed to sudden mortification. Ducking your head and shrugging off his arm, you sighed. “Thank you for helping me.”

“I’ve been there before,” he said simply, gesturing his head in the direction of the others. You winced. They definitely knew too much about you now. You didn’t know how you would be able to face any of them in the faculty office on Monday morning. Jeonghan tugged you gently over to them.

“I actually should get going.”

“Where exactly?” Seokmin wondered, looking to Soonyoung beside him. You cringed as your cheeks coloured and then flinched at the former’s laugh. “I know where!”

“I don’t trust that sudden enthusiasm,” the final member said, and you barely glanced at Joshua. Of all the teachers before you, Joshua was the one you were most familiar with, given he was training under you and your fellow English teachers.

“To the whack-a-mole booth! Let’s go!” Before you even had a chance to slip by, Seokmin was dragging you over, paying the money for a round and handed you a fabric club. He then waved to the machine. “Do your worst, Y/N!”

You were hesitant but when the first creature shot out from the hole you smacked it down, focusing on where the next one would come from. As the game sped up, you tried harder to keep in sync, laughing when one of the moles slipped back down before you could hit it. Eventually, your time was up and you grinned, handing back the game instrument to the booth attendant and turned to the others.

“No way, is that all you can do?”

You smiled faltered at Soonyoung’s exclamation, watching as he rolled up his sweater’s sleeves. He shook his head. “Come on, I’ll do a round with you.”

After three more sessions, your sides hurt from laughing so much and you felt better for the energy you had exuded.

Jeonghan cleverly suggested a stop at one of the drink shacks for a juice and then you moved onto a couple of rides, played a few more games and watched as the sky turned dark. Resting on another bench as Seokmin and Soonyoung fought over who was meant to pay for the last game, you looked to Joshua beside you.

He smiled warmly and spoke before you could. “Is this your first carnival?”

“No, I went a couple of times as a kid but usually I asked to not go. Even as a kid I wasn’t very fond of crowds.”

“Ah, that’s why it seemed like everything was brand new to you. I hope you had fun.”

“I did, actually. Thank you.”

“It’s our pleasure. If anything, you kept me from dealing with a headache.”

“Oh?” You frowned and Joshua grinned, pointing to his fellow teachers in training. “Ah, they’re fun though.”

“They’re the right kind of people to be around on a night like this.”

You knew what he meant and nodded softly. You hadn’t forgotten what happened earlier, the kiss still lingering in the back of your mind. However, you had less time to think about it when Seokmin was dragging you about, Soonyoung was challenging you to do another round and Jeonghan was calling for a rest in between.

Without the events of tonight, you would have simply remained on polite terms and not gotten to know any of the student teachers further than sharing a smile when you crossed paths in school.

You hadn’t felt lonely before, but tonight made you realise what you did miss out on when you were cooped up in front of the TV every weekend.

“It’s getting pretty late,” Jeonghan announced and you took Joshua’s hand to help you up, rocking a little on your heels. You vowed next time you would wear comfortable sneakers in the very least. You blinked, realising you wanted another round of fun out like this and smiled with the idea.

Jeonghan hiked his thumb towards the parking lot. “We’ll give you a ride home.”

“Oh, I can’t-”

“You can, we’ll not feel comfortable letting you find your own way home, right guys?”

You nodded softly at Seokmin’s statement and followed them over to a van.

Soonyoung shook his keys to the vehicle proudly. “I teach a bunch of kids how to dance so this thing comes in handy for events. It might not look the prettiest but it’s reliable and safe. Hop in.”

The ride home was comfortable, with conversation about the school and their time there so far. You enjoyed hearing about Seokmin trying to teach a student how to utilise his falsetto by failing to maintain his own in the exercise, Jeonghan having a run-in with the bossy Vice Principal and Soonyoung admitted teaching teenagers dance and physical education was a whole lot different than he had expected it to be. Joshua only had nice things to say about his time in your department, and you confessed to crying in your first week as a fully fledged teacher because one of your students threw his textbook out the window. It wasn’t every day where you got to chat about things like this outside of school and when your street arrived, you were almost disappointed the night was about to come to an end.

And then your eyes focused on the house next to yours where Sasha and Tom were sharing a passionate embrace on the doorstep of, no doubt having spent a whole lot more time in bed together too. It didn’t hurt as much as it had at the beginning of the night but it subdued your excitement from your time with the others.

Slinging your bag over your shoulder, you reached for the sliding door handle. “Thank you again for tonight. And for the ride home.”

“Y/N wait,” Jeonghan said as you opened the door slightly. Looking back at the man, he was giving you that intense gaze that you remembered from when he first came to your aid. “Don’t let them have the upper hand in this situation. If they want to be like this, why not show them up for thinking of you as a fool. I don’t know the whole situation but if it was anything like my own, I know they’ve pegged you as something less than what you deserve.”

“I probably am.”

“No, you’re not that at all.” Jeonghan licked at his lips and looked at his friends before continuing. “Climb out of the van and say goodbye loudly and then turn back and…”

“And?”

“Kiss someone! Just do it.”

Your eyes grew wide at the preposterous concept, and you shakily stepped out of the van. Glancing in the direction of Sasha and Tom, now guiltily caught in the act, you felt something within you snap. You repeated the sentence from before thanking the four of them and then took a deep breath, expecting to meet Jeonghan’s lips when you leaned back in.

Instead, you were surprised to see him out of the corner of your eye as Joshua pressed his mouth to yours. You didn’t know if it was because of the whole situation or the added surprise that your co-worker was now kissing you, but you felt dizzy, pulling away and stumbling a little on the sidewalk. You smiled and nodded softly, waving at them before turning around to head up the footpath to your front door. You focused only on your steps, not paying any attention to Tom and Sasha staring at you or listening out for the van to depart.

Which is why you were surprised when a hand reached for your lower arm, swinging you back around. You stared up at Joshua who was now soul-searching your face, his head lowering towards yours again for a second embrace. Clinging to his strong back, you closed your eyes and melted into his kiss. It had been too long since you had tasted a man like this, sucking in a deep breath as he moved in for yet another kiss. And when you were certain you had no air left, Joshua pulled away, blinking rapidly.

“I just… I felt something,” he confessed, now staring at you again. You bit at your swollen lip and he watched the action before smiling. “I couldn’t not take the chance to see if it continued.”

“Did it?” you asked softly and he nodded, brushing your plump lips gently with his thumb. You felt giddy, leaning into his touch. “Me too.”

“I’ll see you again, I hope.”

“Well yeah, we work together.”

Joshua rubbed at the back of his head awkwardly. “Right, of course. Goodnight, Y/N.”

“Goodnight.”

You covered your face as Joshua jogged back to jeers coming from within the van, hearing a loud toot as they pulled away from the curb. Once they were gone, you spun around and walked up to the front door, uncaring of Sasha waiting beside it.

“You... you kissed that guy!” she exclaimed as she followed you inside, lingering at your side as you placed your keys on the hallway stand. She continued along with you as you headed towards your bedroom. “That’s not something you do.”

“How do you know what I do and don’t do, Sasha? Just because you see me one way, and think you have me all sussed out, doesn’t mean I’ll follow along with your expectations. We’re housemates, not best friends.” You opened your door and stepped in, stopping to throw a look over your shoulder at the stunned woman behind you. “Oh, you’re looking like you’ve recovered from your illness well. I’m glad Tom helped you with that. Goodnight, I hope you feel better in the morning.”

And with that you shut your door, walking over to your bed in a daze and threw yourself down on it.

What a night it had been.

Monday morning arrived, along with a bundle of nerves. Even with the giddy feelings that overtook most of your weekend, you had enough time during those moments to realise that your trip to the carnival wasn’t your reality. You were unsure how you would remain professional whilst teaching a class that Joshua sat in on and there was a multitude of meetings and department needs where you would be expected to attend and keep on task. You were gravely concerned that after Joshua had kissed the life out of you that you wouldn’t be able to focus on anything but his lips.

You weren’t secure enough into your teaching contract at this school to jeopardise your professionalism by locking lips with Joshua again. Yet, the idea made your heart leap around erratically in your chest and before you made it to the faculty office upon arrival at school, you diverted into the library, groaning heavily as you leaned onto the top of the front desk. Your closest friend within these walls was the librarian and Ela looked up from a stack of books she was cataloguing. “Is that a it’s Monday morning groan or a I’m having a hard time with my emotions groan?”

“Why are they your only two options?” you questioned with a whine and Ela grinned knowingly. “It’s the second.”

“I knew it. What’s wrong?”

“I did something completely unlike what I normally do.”

Ela became thoughtful. “You went clubbing?”

“No, why would I do that?”

“You said something completely unlike-”

“I know what I said but that’s all that comes to mind?” Ela shrugged and you sighed heavily. “I kissed someone.”

“Scandalous.”

“A student-teacher,” you continued and you suddenly had her full attention. Chewing on your bottom lip, you caved when she began to shake your lower arm repeatedly. “Joshua Hong.”

“Details!” she chimed, pulling you around into the back office for privacy. You told her about everything that happened that night at the carnival, placating her moans for missing out on hanging out with the four men with you.

You smirked. “You don’t have to be so obvious about liking Seokmin.”

“If I hadn’t been out of town this week and you didn’t ring me to come join you, please know that I’d no longer give you extensions on the books you hire out for longer than you’re meant to.”

“Duly noted. But what am I meant to do now?”

“Go to work?” Ela suggested and you merely gaped at her. She grinned and clasped your hand within hers. “Come on, Y/N, you boldly kissed him in front of all his friends.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“I bet you were on his mind all weekend long. No one comes after you for another kiss if they don’t like you enough. Joshua’s probably been pining after you since meeting you at the start of the term.”

“Ela!” you warned, swatting your friend away. Still, your cheeks warmed at the possibility. And with several encouraging words, you got to your feet and walked as confidently as you could possess down to the faculty office, scanning the room for a specific face.

“Y/N!” Soonyoung called out and you grinned, waving gently. Walking over to the kitchenette area where he was making a coffee, you thanked him for the cup he handed you and then spluttered on your first sip when he said, “He’s not here yet.”

“I-I wasn’t looking for him.”

“Uh-huh.” Soonyoung seemed amused. “That was some kiss you both had.”

“Can you quieten down some?” you pleaded, looking at the other teachers within the room. You didn’t want news to travel any time soon.

Soonyoung held no tact, or rather, wasn’t about to let your suffering end. “You definitely outdid your housemate’s moment.”

“Soonyoung!” you breathed and then greeted one of the senior staff members awkwardly. Holding up your coffee cup, you grimaced. “Thanks for this.”

“I’m sorry it’s no-”

You covered his mouth and laughed weakly at the PE teacher who passed you by, reaching for a mug. Desperately searching your new friend’s eyes for his silence, you finally stepped back and all but rushed out the door.

During the rest of the morning, you bumped into both Jeonghan and Seokmin along your way, thankfully having an easier time than with Soonyoung. Still, it was evident they had given Joshua enough grief over how your night ended on Friday and you wondered if that was why you hadn’t seen him yet.

Of course, you knew you wouldn’t miss him in the English department’s meeting just after lunch. It was usually you who arrived to these meetings first, bringing your lunch in and using the office as a quiet place to read until the other teachers arrived.

However, Joshua had the same idea as you and chuckled softly when you placed your lunchbox down on the table. You didn’t say anything at first, merely staring at one another, the rush of Friday night overwhelming you again.

Joshua gestured to the seat beside him. “I won’t bite you.”

“Just kiss me?” you said without thinking, waving your hands around immediately to dismiss your comment. “Wow, I’m sorry, that just came out of nowhere.”

“I mean, I won’t deny that. I would kiss you again. But I have enough pride to wait until after school hours. I’m not about to jeopardise our professionalism all because I can’t get you off my mind.”

Sliding your lunchbox around the table, you took the seat beside him and nodded gently after sitting down. “Same.”

“So I was on your mind, huh?” he teased and you groaned.

“First Soonyoung teases me after handing me a coffee, and then Seokmin passed me by in the corridor making kissing noises. Thankfully Jeonghan wasn’t as bad but still! Are we back in high school?!”

You both broke out laughing when you realised the irony of your current location. Joshua swivelled in his chair to face you, reaching out to brush the strand of hair that had escaped your ponytail back behind your ear. You ceased all movement, looking slowly over at the man. “They’ve been relentless all weekend. I know Jeonghan was only going to help you because he’s had it done to him, but I think he was a bit miffed I moved in first.”

“I wasn’t expecting it to be you either,” you admitted.

“Did I disappoint you? Was Jeonghan your aim?”

“No, I didn’t-- I mean, I wasn’t looking around and trying to take my pick.” Taking in a deep breath, you smiled at him. “I wasn’t disappointed at all.”

“I was,” he replied and began to grin charmingly. “That I had to end it there. Given how many people were watching on, I guess it was appropriate to but just know the next time I kiss you, we won’t have an audience.”

“The next time?” you repeated and Joshua hummed in answer. “When’s that going to happen?”

“Tonight? Dinner?” he proposed and you nodded, letting out a relieved breath. Joshua took your hand as he began to eat and you both conversed with ease over your lunch, sighing when the bell went off to signal the next period was about to begin. You watched the door with annoyance.

Your hand was still loosely held by Joshua and you went to remove it when the door opened, however, he tugged it under the table, resting your linked hands within your lap. Shooting him a look and then greeting the head of the department distractedly, you felt the small encouraging squeeze he gave you, a silent plea to keep the connection there.

And you managed to for the whole meeting, actively participating in the session, only taking a couple of nervous looks at Joshua during the beginning of it. You reluctantly let go when it was over, collecting your things to head off to teach the first-year students for their final period of the day. Just before you got up to leave, Joshua leaned into your ear.

“I’ll pick you up from your house at six, okay?”

He was gone then and you tried not to openly swoon over how well he had you hooked on him now.

The daze from the romance you were under cleared a month later, Joshua looking a little nervous to meet with you for lunch today. You wondered why, given you had shared lunch together every day since that Monday.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah… actually no. I’ve not been entirely honest with this situation.” Your heart dropped and Joshua clued onto your thinking of the worst and he shook his head. “Oh no, not like that. It’s just, my placement here is up in two days.”

“You’ve got another six months of university, right?”

“Yeah, and I’m being sent to another school for my final placement so I won’t be coming to this school as the others will be in the spring.”

“How far away?”

“Two hours,” he replied and you nodded numbly. Whilst you weren’t heavily into your relationship with him, you were finding yourself more involved in romantic notions towards him. He was caring, playful, sensitive and incredibly good at kissing thus far. You could easily see yourself falling for him within a few months time.

It was still too early to cling on, however, and you sighed. “So when do you leave?”

“Sunday.”

“We can spend time together until then,” you announced and Joshua gauged your reaction.

“You sure? I feel like I led you on but I wasn’t exactly expecting to date whilst I was here.”

“It’s been fun and you’ve helped me open up from being so enclosed in my world. I’m going to miss this, but I know it’s too early for commitment over long distance. Just, if you ever head back this way…”

Joshua nodded, reaching out for your hand and rubbing it gently. “It’s not like we can’t keep in contact. I won’t disappear.”

And he didn’t.

Initially, you did keep in regular contact. However, with preparation for exams and Joshua’s own busy schedule, you became merely social media friends. You would see his sporadic posts and reminisce over that early autumn romance you had together and then moved on with your day after liking the post. A year passed and you even went along to the final carnival of the summer. Instead of Joshua, Ela joined you this time around, the laughter doubled and you hoped it would be her getting that special kiss from Seokmin when the night ended.

You were ready for the new school year to begin.

Arriving early for the first meeting for staff members, you frowned when you found a water bottle on the table already. You felt it and was surprised to feel how cold the water was, sitting down beside it and frowning.

Who else would get here before you?

“Oh sorry I was-”

You looked up then into a set of eyes you hadn’t seen in person in so long. Blinking slowly, you realised he was still standing there and not disappearing with your efforts. Rounding the table, without taking his eyes off of you, Joshua sat down in the chair beside yours and let out a small chuckle. “Some habits never change, huh?”

“You beating me to this room every time is a feat, you know.”

“One I take pride in.”

“What of your professionalism?”

“I have to protect it with all my might. This is my first job fresh out of school, after all.”

You nodded as your smile continued to spread. “It’s a good school to work for.”

“I know, it has a lot of opportunities for me.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

You took in a sudden breath when you felt his warm hand reach under the table for yours. Looking in Joshua’s direction, he bashfully grinned. “Is it acceptable for me to still take this hand? You haven’t given it to anyone else, right?”

“On the first day back at work, you sure are willing to risk things.”

Joshua leaned in closer, noting the way you gripped at his hand. “Don’t worry I’ll leave the kissing until after school hours.”

_________________

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[mcwriting]

The Marriage Project (3)

Anddddd I’m back with this bby. Sorry I’ve been slowing down some of my content. Last Friday I had to deal with family health matters on top of schoolwork and a sorority function I had to be at. Anyways. 

High school AU. Tom Holland. Yeah.

Story Masterlist

Warnings: mild language

Rating: Between T and M

Word Count: 2351

% approximately the 3rd week of September %

You’d had two away volleyball games that week and Tom had an away football game, so by Saturday you were exhausted. Your Friday game hadn’t been too far, but the football team had traveled a decent distance, so you figured they’d gotten home late.

You still showed up at Tom’s on time, though, as planned the day before.

Nikki opened the door at your arrival.

“Oh, hey, y/n! Come on in!”

You returned her greeting and entered, looking around expectantly.

“If you’re looking for Tom, he’s not up yet. They got home pretty late last night.”

“I figured that would be the case.”

You noticed that on the dining room table were a few grocery bags.

“Oh, do you need help with those? I can wait on Tom,” you offered.

“No don’t worry about those bags, but if you’re looking to do something, I was about to make some apple pies for a get together tomorrow. I’d love your help.”

You agreed and followed her into the kitchen. After peeling and chopping apples for a few minutes, someone else walked into the kitchen.

“Well who’s this? I don’t remember having a daughter,” Tom’s dad said. You turned to look at him and smile, then continued cutting fruit.

“Oh Dominic you know y/n. She’s the one Tom’s always talking about, competing and whatnot. They’re doing that marriage project together.”

Your face heated up so you continued to look down at the apple.

He talks about me? Like how much he hates me or what?

“Yes of course, how could I forget? You’re one of the best soccer players I’ve seen! Good to see you again,” he said.

“Nice seeing you, too, Mr. Holland.”

“Please, call me Dom. Now how come you’re down here and not with Tom?”

“I was waiting for him to get up. Plus, Nikki promised me a slice,” you grinned.

“Well I’d definitely call that a fair trade. Nikki’s pies are the best in the world,” he turned to his wife, “I’ll be back in a bit. I’m meeting with the publisher today.”

“Good luck, honey. I’m sure you’ll be great,” Nikki encouraged, giving her husband a quick peck.

“Thanks, dear. Once again, it was nice seeing you, y/n. Feel free to come make desserts here any time,” he joked and you just laughed and waved.

A few minutes after he’d left, Nikki spoke up again.

“You know, y/n. I’m glad you and Tom were paired up for this project. I’ve really liked having you around the past few weeks, and it seems like Tom has learned a lot from you. I mean, He even went out and bought some pads and tampons and things for his bathroom this week.”

Now your face really burned. 

“He did?”

“Yeah. He said he’d better be safe than sorry. I’m glad you two look out for each other like that, even if you are rivals. By the way, I made sure he didn’t get the cardboard ones,” she added. With that, you fell into rhythmic silence.

Not long after, you heard footsteps coming down the stairs. From the hall, Tom’s voice called out.

“Mom? It’s almost 2. Have you heard anything from-” he walked through the kitchen door. “Oh. You’re here. What are you doing?”

You grabbed a towel to wipe off your hands as you turned to face him.

“I got here at 1 but felt bad about you getting home late so I’ve just been helping your mom make pie. She promised me a slice.”

“You’re really gonna give her some mom? She doesn’t even deserve to see how they’re made!”

“Oh Tom I swear. Y/n is a nice girl, just get over yourself. But, if you two want to go get to work I think I’ve got it handled from here. I’ll bring you both some when the first one’s done.”

You grabbed your bag and headed up behind Tom and got to work quickly. Eventually you took a break when Nikki brought up pie and ice cream as promised with a couple waters. 

You ate in silence, Tom leaned against his bed and you against the wall across from him, when something she had said earlier popped into your head.

“Hey, Tom?”

“Yeah princess?” he replied, not looking up. You rolled your eyes and continued.

“Your mom said something earlier that I wanted to ask about.”

“If she told you anything incriminating it’s not true.”

“Suuuureeee. Anyways, she said you, uh, stocked up your cabinet in the bathroom. That’s really cool of you.”

“Yeah, well, can’t have you bleeding everywhere now can we? But, em. Yeah. The fact that you were so panicked over something that seems so trivial spoke pretty loud. I thought it’s better to just stay safe.”

You sat in silence for a little bit, just eating.

“Mind if I ask you something?” he said.

“Shoot.”

“What does it feel like? You know? They don’t mention that stuff in health articles.”

You contemplated for a little bit before answering.

“Well… like I said before, it’s different for everyone, but I’ll try my best. Cramps are kinda like being scratched and punched from the inside all at once. Freebleeding just feels like… wet and sticky. I find it disgusting so I wear mostly tampons.”

“Interesting. Thanks, princess.”

Once finishing off your snack, you got back to work. By the time you were done, it was almost 4.

“See you Monday, y/n”

“Yep. Oh, by the way, I have a small volleyball tournament next weekend so I can’t do Saturday. Is Sunday okay or do you wanna get together another day?”

“Can you do Thursday? We just have morning workouts that day.”

“Yeah I have practice last period so I’ll just shower and meet you in the parking lot? We can go to my place.”

“Can’t. I have to take the boys home.”

“If you want, you can take them home and I’ll pick you up. It’ll give me time to shower and change and then we can just carpool.”

“I don’t know. Sure you even know how to drive?”

“I’ll have you know I passed that test with flying colors sophomore year.”

Eventually he agreed and with that you were back out the door, giving one final thanks to Nikki.

%

By Wednesday you and Tom had finished your little quilt and Mrs. Flynn loved it. 

You and Tom obviously didn’t play when it came to grades, even if it was home economics.

Thursday, you were leaving your last class before practice and reminded Tom you were picking him up that afternoon, to which his friends looked at him funny and kinda messed with him.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

When you pulled up into his driveway after school, he plopped into the passenger's seat and held out a foil-wrapped object in his left hand.

“What is that?” you asked.

“My mom wanted you to have it. She made bread.”

“Oh. Well thanks. I’ll have to thank her for it next time I see her. You can just set it in the back seat for now.”

You drove back to your place, pulling into the garage and leading Tom through the door. Your parents were still at work, so you told Tom you’d just work in the living room.

“I don’t want them to say anything weird about us being home alone in my room,” you explained.

You sat on the floor quietly typing when you remembered something.

“Hey, how did you do on the calc test?”

“95. You?”

“Damn. 94. I’ll make a comeback next time,” you joked, earning an eye roll.

After a half hour, your mom came home.

“Hey honey, how was your day? Did you beat Tom in whatever you were competing with him in today?” she asked, part joking since she knew of your rivalry well.

“It was fine, and mom. We have a guest, remember?” you said through gritted teeth.

She looked over the couch, where she found Tom waving at her awkwardly.

“Oh. Hi there. I forgot you were coming over today. So sorry about that.”

“No worries, Mrs. y/l/n. I beat her by a point today so it evens out,” he joked. You were annoyed at his banter with your mom and cut it off.

“Okay, well, Tom. Let’s go finish this in my room now that my mom’s home,” you said, getting everything and carrying it to the bedroom.

You tossed your bag and papers on the floor and quickly picked up some random things laying around, such as a pair of volleyball shoes and stray athletic socks. You especially rushed to snatch a rogue lace bra.

From the corner of your eye, you could see Tom standing still, looking around the room like you had the first time at his house.

Your walls were light grey but covered in your paintings and other art. One shelf mounted to a wall held all of your ribbons and trophies from sports, quiz bowl, and art fairs. Your bedspread was baby pink and sheets light yellow, and the same pink was strewn around the room in the form of desk accents and other blankets. You had a large plush cat resting near your pillows.

“Wow. So you’re like… a real girl. Huh.” he stated flatly. You stood up from tossing everything into your closet.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Well, like, you’re all tough and smart and sporty but you have pink everywhere and a stuffed animal on your bed.”

“You do realize women are complex creatures right? Considering we’re human and all?”

“Yeah, of course. I guess I’ve just never seen this side of you. I shouldn’t have worded it that way. Sorry.”

It surprised you to hear Tom apologize over something so small. Usually he would stand his ground, wave you off, or just move on. 

“It’s fine. I just hate when people stereotype, you know? Like I can love science, art, sports, pink, sweatpants, and skirts all at the same time. And I do. And I’m not trying to sound like the ‘I’m not like other girls’ girl, because I am a girl, but I’m more than just one side or the other.”

“So why do you hide the ‘typically girly’ stuff? I’ve never seen you at school wearing a pink dress and makeup. I mean even at dances you always wear dark colors and at parties I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in something other than jeans or shorts.”

You shrugged as you made your way onto the floor next to your computer, Tom following suit.

“I guess I try to stick to one aesthetic. I mean, it already seems to shock the administration that I’m good at and enjoy doing two sports, art, and honors stuff. I don’t think they could handle another layer of me,” you chuckled. “Isn’t there anything you hide?”

He thought about it for a few seconds, leaning his head against the wall.

“Well, I guess you know this now, but I like Spider-Man.”

“Yeah, but it’s considered normal for guys to like comic book characters. When I tell people I like Spider-Man, they just assume I have a crush on the actor. Come on, there has to be something you don’t show off at school.”

“Okay fine. I’ve got a couple. One, I actually like to cook. A lot. It almost kills me to be partnered up with the guys sometimes because they’re so clueless in the kitchen. And two, I love dance. I did it for a bit as a kid but got embarrassed and decided to go the normal sports route. I still go to the Nutcracker every year, though.”

You found yourself smiling at his honesty.

“Really? You know my mom put me in little kid ballet classes for a while, but I was really disruptive in class because I had too much energy, so I got into other sports instead. Has the football team never done a ballet class? I know some schools make them.”

“One summer. Maybe two years ago? We were doing a team building thing and they made us take one. I couldn’t make myself pretend to be bad so I just let everyone believe I was a natural talent,” he laughed, causing you to do the same. “You should’ve seen those guys. That’s probably one of my best football memories.”

You both sit in comfortable silence for a while. You couldn’t remember a time that you both were open to each other without the slightest bit of tension.

After a few more moments, you both got back to work.

%

You didn’t realize that it was past 5 o’clock until your mother was at your doorway telling you dinner was ready.

“Feel free to stay. We’d love to have you for dinner, Tom,” she offered, then went back to the kitchen. 

“Do you mind? I can just walk home if not.”

“Just stay, man. What’s one dinner? I’d feel at least somewhat bad to make you walk all the way home. We’re done for the week anyways, so I’ll just drive you after we eat.”

You led him to the kitchen, where your mom had cooked some ravioli and tossed a salad. You built your plates and thanked your mom, then sat at the dining room table.

You ate in awkward silence since your parents were in the living room. Your dad had greeted you and Tom when he came home from work, not really realizing who Tom was.

Once your plates were practically cleaned, you cleared the table and took Tom home.

“Thanks again for dinner and driving me. Good luck this weekend.”

Who is this guy and where did he take Tom? He never wishes me luck.

“Yeah no problem. Thank your mom for the bread. And good luck on your game tomorrow, too. I hear it’s gonna be a tough one.”

”They just haven’t met me yet,” he joked, then got out of the car and headed to the door. He tossed one last wave back as you pulled away.

%

A/N: I’m happy to be posting the next part and with the free time that I have at the moment of formatting this I’m hoping that I can reedit ch 4 and have it up by next week. As always, love you all and thanks for reading!

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[bbyx]

ripple effect - part six

Summary: During her fourth year at Hogwarts, (y/n) Deauxville falls for none other than Cedric Diggory. But it's not easy when you have to deal with protecting your family's fortune, keeping your father's illness a secret and having two of your closest friends catch feelings for you.

Pairings : reader x cedric, reader x draco, reader x harry

It was Friday morning, the first week had gone relatively fast. (y/n) was still angry with Draco so she decided to sit at the Gryffindor table. She was popular enough that she didn't get to many glares as she sat down with her friends with her green robes.  You yawn, having spent all night studying.

"I have a quiz in muggle studies today"

"Who do you have class with?" Ron asks

"Ravenclaw" You sigh and bury your head in your hands " I'm bound to have the worst mark in the class."

"At least we have Care of Magical Creatures together." Hermione says playing with a strand of your hair.

You stare at your class notes trying to drill them into your brain.

"Guys, who killed Lincoln again"

"I didn't do it!" Fred screeches.

"I have an alibi! I swear!" George adds wearing an identical grin as his twin.

"John Wilkes Booth"

"Thank you Hermione" You answer glaring at the twins.

"You're eating again, I notice" Ron says to Hermione who's buttering a toast.

"I've decided there are better ways to make a stand about elf rights."

"Yeah....and you were hungry."

You, Daphne and Millicent walk down to Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical creatures.

"Ew what is that?" Millicent says pointing to the cage with strange lobster scorpion hybrids.

"Blast Ended Skrewts!" bellows Hagrid excitedly.

"Oh wow they're... interesting."

"Eurgh" squeals Lavender Brown.

"On'y jus' hatched," said Hagrid proudly, "so yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yerselves! Thought we'd make a bit of a project of it!"

"And why would we want to raise them?" says Draco turning his nose up.

(y/n) picks up some frog liver, trying not to gag and drops it inside the box of skrewts. A flash erupts from the rear end of one of the creatures and she feels a sharp pain in her right hand.

"Ow! Shit! It burned me."

You look at your shaking fingers, whimpering. Your index and part of your middle finger were bright red and blisters were starting to form all over. You bite back tears as a pale pair of hands grab yours.

"(y/n)! Are you alright?" Draco says with a frown as he looks down at your fingers "Bloody hell that looks bad. Come I'll take you to the infirmary."

Hagrid steps forward and tries to inspect your injury but Draco starts pulling you away.

"My father will hear about this." He spits out venomously.

Draco leads you inside the castle.

"Not gonna faint on me this time?"

You smile through the pain. "That was ONE time!" You say thinking back to when you and Draco were little and you fainted on him after scraping your knees.

"Not another one!" Madam Pomfrey exclaims as you walk inside the infirmary already full of students who were burned or stung by the skrewts. She grabs your hand "This is pretty bad" she mutters  quietly " You must have been close to the blast."

"Okay that's it (y/n). I'm taking you to St.Mungos right away." Draco says, looking paler than usual.

You roll your eyes at him. He's always been an overreactor

"Nonsense! Absolute nonsense! I'll have it fixed in a jiffy." huffs Madam Pomfrey, pulling out a turquoise paste from her apron. As soon as the minty paste touches your skin it instantly numbs the pain and makes your hand feel very cold.

"Apply this every morning for a week and you'll be just fine." She says, handing you the paste in your healthy hand.

You string together a few thank yous and slip out of the infirmary. You're walking next to Draco when he grabs your forearm and forces you to face him.

"(y/n) i'm sorry."

You let out a silent sigh of relief because some part of you feared that he would never apologize and your friendship would never be the same.

"For what?" (y/n) wanted to drag out his apology, she wanted to savour this moment, to embed it in her memory forever because Draco Malfoy never apologizes. She's known Draco since before he could talk and she swears he's only apologized to her twice.

"For being a dick." He says grudgingly.

"Annnnd?"

"And being rude to your friends." He chokes the words out like saying them was physically hurting him. He looks so uncomfortable that it's nearly impossible not to keep going.

"Becauseee?"

He signs and turns slightly pink "Because I was jealous."

"That wasn't that hard now was it Drakey?" You had about a thousand nicknames for Draco like Drakey, Dracula, Dee, Little Lucius, Casper the Ghost ect.

"Never doing that again." He scoffs.

"So you forgive me?" You nod. "Really? huh.Thought you would give me a harder time."

You laugh. You've missed this, how easy everything was with him.

"Yes well I need my study partner back before the Muggle Studies quiz."

"Study partner? Please! I'm practically your tutor."

"Whatever shut up Dee."

(y/n) was the last one to leave the Muggle Studies classroom after taking forever to finish her quiz. It wasn't that she wasn't smart but she had had a lot on her mind the past two years and it was taking a toll on her grades. And Muggles were so bloody complicated. She walks into the courtyard just in time to see Professor Moody turn Draco into a small white ferret.

There was a terrified silence and (y/n) ran forward and kneeled on the floor to pick up the ferret.

"Draco?"

"LEAVE IT!" Moody shouted.

"Leave — what?" Harry said, bewildered.

"Not you — her!" Moody growled.

Before you could turn around the ferret leaped out of your hands towards the dungeons.

"I don't think so!" roared Moody. He proceeded to levitate the ferret and slam it back and forth into the ground. You wince every time the ferret hits the floor but find yourself unable to move. Finally Professor McGonagall steps in and turns the ferret back into Draco. You practically jump on him, hugging him tightly while McGonagall scolds Moody.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt? Can you walk?"

"I'm fine" He huffs staring daggers at Harry but when he sees your worried expression his eyes soften and he offers you a slight smile. "Really, i'm all good"

His eyes are still glossed over when he mumbles in your ear "Just wait until I tell father about this"

"Oh yeah?" said Moody quietly, limping forward a few steps, "Well, I know your father, boy. . . . You tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son . . . you tell him that from me. . . . " He looks at you dead in the eyes, sending a violent shiver down your back. "That goes for you as well. Now, your Head of House'll be Snape, will it?" He takes Draco's arm and roughly shoves him towards the castle. You stay fixed in your spot pondering Moody's words.

"Don't talk to me," Ron said quietly to Harry, Hermione and (y/n)

"Why not?" said Hermione in surprise.

"Because I want to fix that in my memory forever," said Ron, his eyes closed and an uplifted expression on his face. "Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret . . ."

"Shut up Ron"

"C'mon I know you secretly loved watching Draco get his ass handed to him on a platter." He nudges you with his elbow.

A small smile hints at your lips. "Maybe a little"

It was Saturday morning, and you were sitting at the Slytherin table. Everyone was avoiding the topic of Professor Moody because Malfoy was still fuming about yesterday's incident.

"What's that?" says Theo pointing at your SPEW badge.

"Hermione's starting a society for the promotion of elfish welfare." The whole group burst into hysterics but you silence them with a lethal glare. Pansy practically skips over and squeezes herself between you and Blaise.

"Oooh Dracooo? Will you come to Hogsmeade with me today? I really need to buy something, pleaseee?"

"What are you buying?" He answers cooly.

"Guess! It's something I really need." She says with what you think is supposed to be puppy dog eyes but it just throws her facial proportions even more off.

"A personality?" You spit out venously. As if on cue Daphne adds " Some friends maybe?"

Pansy scoffs and turns back to Draco. "I need an owl."

Blaise jumps in, saving Draco "Draco didn't you say we would go buy new quidditch robes today."

"Oh right. Sorry Pansy"

(y/n) starts thinking about her owl, Juniper. Juniper is a streaked brown and white barn owl. Juniper didn't live in the Hogwarts Owlery. Instead she lived at the Deauxville Manor and it was specially trained to take your fathers letters before he could see them. Then Juniper would bring them to you and you would respond to your father's business letters for him. Reading your father's mail had felt uncomfortable at first but you had to remember that you were just trying to save his life’s work.

You watch Daphnee and Millicent blush and Draco clench his jaw. "Ready to go?"

You turn to see Cedric looking a little uncomfortable under the glares that most of the Slytherin boys were giving him. You give him your most reassuring smile.

"Yeah, let's go before my brother kills you."

He holds out his hand to help you up take it, feeling an electric rush pass through your arm as you do. Walking out, it seems that every single person in the Great Hall has their eyes fixed on the couple. Cedric doesn't seem to notice and throws you a chocolate frog. You catch it with ease.

"How do you have so many of these?"

"Easy. I have a box of them with (y/n) written in big red letters on it." He says with a grin as you plop the frog in your mouth.

"So what do you want to do?" Cedric asks while the two of you walk.

"I'm not sure. Let's go have butterbeers."

You're waiting at a booth in the Three Broomsticks while Cedric goes to buy two butterbeers. He hands you a mug full of rich brown liquid.

"Thank you."

"No problem at all" He pulls out a red liquorice wand and snaps it in half. He slides you a piece.

"Cedriccc. First of all where are you getting all these sweets from, second of all licorice is eurgh."

He shakes his head. " No, no, no. See this?" He says holding out the candy.  "This is RED licorice. It's big in the United States, tastes completely different. I want you to try it."

"No please don't make me. I'll throw up on you I swear" You plead.

"Yess"

"Noo"

Yes"

"No"

"Yes"

"Fine!" You finally give in when he flashes you his breathtaking lopsided grin. "You are so stubborn!" You slowly drop the red candy in your mouth. You expect the nauseating taste of molasses to take over but surprisingly all you taste is strawberries.

"Cedric! This is kind of good." You say while chewing. He laughs and your hands brush slightly together as he gives you another piece which makes your cheeks go red.

"So who do you think is gonna be the impartial judge who decides the champions?" You ask quickly hoping to distract him from your embarrassing blushing.

"Eh, maybe the sorting hat?"

"I hope the hat doesn't pick Nick then because he wouldn't last five seconds."

"Come on, give him some credit, he's pretty talented in transfiguration."

"Wouldn't know, we barely talk anymore." Your voice takes a bitter tone.

"Is that why you didn't come to St.Tropez this summer."

"Yeah and I had to take care of family stuff." You say not wanting to look at his face because it would make lying so much harder.

He grabs your hand on the table. "(y/n) I know your dad is sick."

"NICK TOLD YOU?? I'M GONNA KILL HIM HE REALLY IS A USELESS PIECE OF SHIT" You jump up raising your voice, everyone in the bar looking at you. Cedric's face stays calm and compassionate.

"Please calm down, let me explain." He grabs your hand and forces you to sit. "During the summer I found Nick crying by the pool one night. He didn't say much, just that your father was sick and there was no cure. He was really upset and kept mumbling stuff about being a shit brother and such. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up. I just wanted you to know that i'm here for you."

Cedric slides closer to you and wraps an arm around your shoulder. You rest your head on him.

"Alzeihmer's" you whisper.

"Pardon?"

"He has Alzeihmer's. He can't even remember my name most days." He wraps his other arm around you, engulfing you in a hug.

"God (y/n). I'm so sorry."

" It's okay, I've become a little bit numb to it all." You breathe in his scent. "Cedric you can't tell anybody okay? Promise me."

"I promise" He whispers and squeezes you tighter.

You stayed like that for a while, it was nice, for once your thoughts seemed to come to a stop as you focused on Cedric's heartbeat.

(y/n) and Cedric walk back to the castle. She has a bag full of candies from Honeydukes and bag with a pair of earrings for Millicent's birthday. He's holding your hand which makes your little heart do backflips in your chest.

"So what happened to your right hand?"

" A blast ended skrewt's ass exploded on me.'

He picks up your other hand and gives it a small kiss. "There. All better."

You try to contain the furious blush dotting your cheeks as you laugh. "You're so cheesy Ced."

"No but seriously I think there's a plant in the Hufflepuff common room that can help with the blisters."

"Whoa watch out for Cedric Diggory, future Mediwizard."

He smirks. "Dr.Diggory does sound pretty nice."

"Well Dr.Diggory how does it feel to have the second nicest common room."

"You're kidding right? Hufflepuff has THE nicest common room. It's next to the kitchens, it has plants, it always smells like cinnamon..." He keeps listing reasons why his common room is the nicest all the way to the castle.

"Unfortunately Cedric" You say standing in front of the entrance to the Slytherin common room. "This still remains the best common room."

Cedric is about to answer but you stop him in his tracks by standing on your tiptoes and kissing him on the cheek.

"Bye Dr.Diggory" You whisper in his ear before slipping inside.

The whole school was buzzing because today was the day that the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were arriving. All the Hogwarts students were waiting outside for their grand entrance. Dumbledore smiles and calmly says.

"Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"

"Where?" said many students eagerly, all looking in different directions.

"There!" yelled a sixth year, pointing over the forest.

Something large, much larger than a broomstick — or, indeed, a hundred broomsticks — was hurtling across the deep blue sky toward the castle, growing larger all the time.

"It's a dragon!" shrieked one of the first years, losing her head completely.

"Don't be stupid . . . it's a flying house!" said Dennis Creevey.

When the thing gets closer, you realise that it's an ornate powder blue carriage pulled by a giant winged horse. It comes to a stop and a boy in pale blue robes comes out and pulls out small golden steps. A comically huge woman walks out and greets Dumbledore in a thick accent. (y/n) spots Cedric in the crowd and he waves enthusiastically.

The Black lake starts to bubble and the water separates, a thick brown pole sticks out. A big wooden boat starts emerging from the hole. Durmstrang students start filing out of the boat. They were all muscular and bulky. You take a moment to look at the contrast between the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students. Ron gasps and jumps up.

"Harry — it's Krum!"

But you don't hear him because in the crowd you've spotted a familiar face in pale blue robes eyeing you. A beautifully creamy face wearing a very hateful expression.

Your cousin Fleur has arrived at Hogwarts.

[normallee]

They Were Roommates || Notia and Norma

TIMING: Before Christmas LOCATION: Norma (and Notia’s) Apartment PARTIES: @humanmoodring and @normallee SUMMARY: How to be a Human 101

“Hello, roommate! I have arrived home!” Norma called out as she hung her pirate hat onto the coat rack inside the door. The entire apartment looked bare to her. Nadia had been pairing down her belongings and attempting to make it appear more human. She wasn’t convinced she was doing a very good job but the ghost in a mortal’s body was the authority on these matters. She supposed she’d have to trust them. She stepped inside and looked around some more. “Did you leave Tom on the porch again? That’s not very nice. We need to keep him until Christmas. I heard it, too, requires a turkey. And I cannot imagine having two of them running around.” She went to the sliding glass door and let the turkey back into the apartment. It was big and smelly but she had grown strangely fond of this large feathered creature. Maybe it was because it reminded her vaguely of a shriken. She wasn’t sure. “Are we going to have more lessons today?” she asked. “I have a pen and paper and everything this time. I’ve been told that is what students bring to classes. They also always have gum in order to make bribes of friendship and annoy teachers.” She reached in her back pocket and pulled out a pack, holding it towards her roommate. “Would you like some chewing gum?”

The lack of loud colors in the apartment meant nothing when there was a loud turkey and an equally loud Norma running around, but Nadia had been nursing a cup of coffee long enough that she only flinched a bit when Norma walked in. “Hi, Norma,” she said, a bit too tired for a proper greeting. She wasn’t sleeping much, these days, and… she wasn’t cold, she didn’t get cold, but her body sometimes reacted like it was, shivering for hours before she could get it to stop. She was fine, now, but it came and it went. “Tom?” The fucking turkey. “Oh, yeah! You know, it’s actually proper etiquette that, between the holidays, the holiday turkey is kept out of living spaces. Turkeys need plenty of fresh air, you know. And grass. Keep ‘em inside for too long and they get interior depression.” The turkey thing had been Norma’s idea, sure, but Nadia was rolling with it because, fuck, it was funny. Annoying as hell, but so, so funny. “Yeah, I’m down for more lessons.” They were pretty fun, especially when half the shit that came out of her mouth was made up. Sure, she gave Norma a few good pointers; she didn’t want the woman to get caught and end up killing this body because of some bad advice. “Yes, perfect. It’s always good to take notes. You’ll be quizzed on all of this, later.” She took a stick of gum. “Thank you. See, politeness. A very useful tool.” She popped the gum in her mouth and settled in for the inquisition. “So, what do you wanna know today?”

“Yes, Tom the Turkey. He informed me that was his name through a series of gobbles.” Norma started scribbling notes already as the turkey started to follow her around. “I think he also says that he much prefers the indoors, but we will take your advice into consideration.” She sat on the couch, sitting on the edge with rapt attention with her pen in hand, ready to learn. She would have to take good notes if there was going to be a quiz. Did she need a highlighter? She saw most people studying used one of those and they looked like fun. Oh, right. She had to pay attention. “Well you rearranged my apartment and I’m still not sure as to why. So more about that, please. And as well, I need to understand how a book of faces works. And why toks tik. And what a yeet is. And what humans shop for. There are so many shops and strange items to purchase, I don’t understand the value structure. Did you know that some rocks cost more than others? Why? They’re all rocks. It’s very odd.”

“You… understand the turkey.” It wasn’t a question, but Nadia still cast a doubtful glance towards the creature, looking into its beady eyes for a sign of intelligence. It, Tom, whatever, stared back. Even though the turkey blinked first, Nadia felt like she’d lost a battle of wills or some shit. “Well, thank you both so much for your consideration.” She looked around the apartment, grateful that it wasn’t in the same state that it’d been when she arrived, though it was still a bit odd. The flamingos had been allocated to outside, and she’d managed to get rid of most of those damn trophies. The furniture was better put together, though she didn’t have the patience to really build shit, and she’d short circuited the fucking apartment twice putting things together, but it looked less like an alien lived in the joint. Instead, it looked like an alien and their human roommate lived there. “Okay, so I rearranged things to look, like, more human. Yeah, yeah, all the shit here was very human, but too much human stuff makes you look… less human and more human impersonating. Also, some of that shit was old and obsolete. You don’t need it. Now it looks more liveable, you feel?”

Nadia chewed thoughtfully on her gum. “Okay, so a book with faces on it’s like one of those people from Game of Thrones that’ll steal your face and pretend to be you, but a Facebook is a website, like that town forum thing but with more videos of cats and babies. Uhhh, toks tik is, like, a clock metaphor, and to yeet is to projectile vomit, I think. Humans are dumb, but they typically make purchases for necessity and amusement, in that order if they’re smart.” This was something that she knew about. “Necessity’s like food, water, booze… Toilet paper and hygiene stuff. Amusement’s literally anything to keep them entertained for their short, short lives.” And she knew all about that, didn’t she? “Most of the stuff you’ve got here’s amusement purchases. You need more necessities. Some stores specialize in certain things, be it necessity things or amusement things. And the rock thing is all about rarity and aesthetic. Some rocks are more valuable because they’re prettier, shinier, or because they’re so damn hard to get a hold of. Then, of course, there’s paper money, where someone just wrote a number on a piece of paper and the rest of us are supposed to go along with it like chumps.” Nadia snorted. “Don’t get me wrong, I love money, but it’s fuckin’ useless.”

“Well I can’t be completely sure but he’s easier to understand than most humans, I will say that much,” Norma said. Tom gobbled in agreement before waddling off looking for seeds. The entire apartment felt oddly empty now that Nadia had rearranged it and had removed some of her belongings. They had all been meaningless but she had come to enjoy them and the sense of familiarity they brought. “Old? None of it was very old. All of it was from the last century at least. That is very recent, let me tell you. Nothing has even started to rust yet.” There was barely any dust, too. She had been very proud of this fact. Humans were always so dusty. As Nadia talked, Norma scribbled furiously, taking as many notes as she could. They were in a few different languages, mostly something that just amounted to furious scribbles. She wasn’t entirely sure what note taking actually entailed but it seemed like she was doing it the same way she had observed. It’s not like she needed to read these later anyway. “Food, water, booze. Booze? This is alcohol, correct? That is necessary? Interesting. I do find humans more tolerable when inebriated.” It made them drop their inhibitions and without those, they were far more prone to chaos. She did very much appreciate the improved hygiene over the years, she would say that much. Her face scrunched up in confusion again. “Wait, money is useless? Then why is it so often considered valuable and a thing that mortals will both risk and waste their lives on?”

“Seriously?” Nadia asked, marginally curious. “What does he say?” She watched the turkey, completely confused by the dynamic that he and Norma had going on but, really, it wasn’t the weirdest thing about her roommate. Norma was odd as hell, and that was saying something because some of the fuckers Nadia had worked with over the years had been strange. “Anything older than, like, twenty years is considered old. Some old things are good. Old might mean that it’s worth more, or is considered vintage. But, sometimes old is shitty.” She paused. “Phones older than, like, three years are very shitty.” She peaked at Norma’s notes, frowning at what looked like a mess of squiggly lines. What the fuck? Some of that couldn’t even be an actual language. “You gonna be able to study those later?” she teased. But then she sobered up. “Booze is alcohol, yes, and it’s absolutely a necessity. The drinking kind, not the medical kind. That kind’s not important. But it’s vital that humans have alcohol at least once a week, unless their lame and abstain from that kinda thing. But yeah, most people are way better to be around drunk.” It made them more fun and easier to manipulate. Nadia was a fan of doing business in bars. “Because people apply a fictitious value to slips of paper, and people think they’ve got to work themselves to death to get it, which is dumb. It’s just paper. Just, like, take it.”

Norma thought that Nadia’s question was very strange. “He gobbles a lot. And makes strange clucking noises. Your ears function, yes?” She shook her head. Did she think the turkey spoke in English? That was very silly. Tom made another gurgling noise and she nodded. “You’re right, Tom. Humans are simple minded.” She made a mental note (and a scribble in her notebook) to get Tom more grain. He seemed to enjoy it very much. “Twenty years?!” Norma shot up and practically dropped her pencil. “That’s so recent! Like a blink of an eye!” She let out a huge sigh and reached down for her writing utensil. “How am I supposed to remember what’s recent? That’s such a short time span, the next twenty years are almost here.” She broke the tip of the pencil at her next eplatantion. “Three years? Why do you bother having these gadgets if they are immediately outdated? Why bother? This is silly! That’s no time at all. Do you all really think a year is a long time? Like it matters? This is exhausting. How do you all live so slowly and quickly at the same time?” This felt hopeless. She threw her pencil away, behind the couch. It didn’t matter. “So all humans need alcohol to survive and I can just take their paper money. What about their plastic money? That one is mostly unlimited, right? The currency that is allowed on the small rectangular cards? I ran into some issues the other day but I think I resolved it.”

“Yes, my ears fucking function.” Nadia sighed. “I don’t think that the turkey speaks English. I was wondering if you spoke turkey. How the hell do you understand him?” Asshole. But she didn’t call Norma that, didn’t want to come off as too much of a jackass, even though Norma was the one to start the name calling with that simple minded shit. “Yeah, twenty years is pretty recent, I guess. In the grand scheme of things,” Nadia mused. “But not all of us live for… how long have you been around again?” She was hoping, maybe this time, Norma would say. She was beyond curious about her seemingly ancient roommate. “Technology upgrades at a rapid pace. New stuff comes out every few months, each thing better and more technologically advanced than the last. We’ve come a pretty long way from the invention of the wheel.” She laughed a bit bitterly. “Good question! I did the smart thing and just upgraded bodies when the old one expired.” She took a sip of coffee, glad that Norma was at least absorbing some information. “Yes, and you can, but you’ve got to be sneaky about it. It’s not taking so much as stealing. And you can steal the plastic money, credit cards, they’re called, too, but you gotta be especially sneaky, and you can’t use them for long, or you’ll be tracked. Credit cards are pretty simple: you use one, and they charge you for it. Not immediately, but eventually. I don’t use ‘em. I don’t trust banks.” They were only good for being robbed.

“I don’t speak turkey, I just understand the turkey. It’s very different.” Norma gave an exasperated sigh. It was far less complicated than being human was so it was strange to her to get such pushback about it. Tom agreed. She could tell by the ruffling of his feathers. “I lost track,” Norma said nonchalantly as she doodled severed heads and some intestines spilling on the floor, along with some nice bleeding hearts with knives through them. “Based on your current calendar, quite a few centuries, I believe. But there have been other calendars and other systems of time so it’s all rather subjective and silly.” She added some more blood splatters around the heart with a flourish of her pen. “The real solution would be to get a better, less human body,” she said, mostly to herself, with another sigh. “Can you upgrade bodies like technology? That’s only a ghost thing, correct?” She had a feeling if humans could, they would. They tried so hard as it was to appear less old and feeble as they progressively aged. “Stealing. That’s a thing that is against the human laws, right? Most of them seem to be very against that. I know there are many in different places but that one has always been frowned upon. Humans are very possessive despite the fact their goods and money does not go with them to death.” Her next doodle was a man dying by way of a small plastic rectangle. ‘What’s not to trust about banks, though? Is that not where the money lives? Which you need. Please explain.”

Nadia blinked at Norma, unsure if this was a topic she wanted to keep discussing. “Okay.” It wasn’t. She cocked her head a bit looking at Norma’s paper with raised eyebrows. Violent. She could get behind that. “Damn, okay. That’s, like, an impressively long time. And you don’t age or…” Norma didn’t look much older than Nadia Diaz’s body. At the most, Norma didn’t look any older than Nadia had been the first time she’d died. “Right, right. Super subjective. Very silly. Time’s an illusion, and all that.” She raised her eyebrows a bit. “I mean, you’re not wrong or anything, but less human bodies aren’t exactly easy to find, you know? Outside of this town, at least.” She kind of liked her humanness, too. It was familiar and useful. So what if she couldn’t light herself on fire or have supernatural strength? She could blend in, and humans were in an abundant supply. They trusted their own, even if they didn’t always realize that other species existed. “Yeah, it’s just a ghost thing. I kinda dig this body, though. She’s worked well for me for, like, over six years, now.” She wouldn’t give up this body without a fight, at this point. Besides, it’d literally die without her in it, now, since Nadia Diaz was gone. “Stealing, yeah. It’s definitely against human laws, but laws are subjective. What’s another person to tell me what I can and can’t do, you know?” She grinned lazily, leaning back. “Doesn’t matter. We like to look good, impressive, for the living. Nothing’s more exciting to most people than being better than everyone around them. Wealth makes them believe they’re better. And banks steal money. They all just work for big corporations and the government, and they’re fucking useless when people come along and take your money from you.” Like Nadia literally did all the time. “Why should a group of bureaucratic assholes be in charge of the value of pieces of paper? It’s fucking ridiculous.”

“Physically? No, not really,” Norma answered, eyes still glued to her paper and the hatch marks she was adding to the spleen sketch to add some shading. “For the most part I believe I look relatively the same as I did when I was last human.” The words always felt a bit like boiling water in her mouth. To admit she was ever anything so plain was shameful and never something she enjoyed advertising to her demonic cohorts. They all thought they were so much better than her because they had never once been mortal but it was not her fault that her near godhood was delayed a few years. It hardly mattered in the grand scheme of eternity anyway. “If you say so. You are right, however. There really is an overabundance of humans. I see why it would be much easier to acquire one of their bodies. But you should really consider a siren. I think it would suit you.” Norma tilted her head to get a better look at her work. She ripped the page out, crumpled it up and tossed it behind her before she started on her next set of illustrations. Norma was unsure if anything that Nadia was saying about these bureaucratic institutions were correct but she found herself nodding along in the appearance of understanding and solidarity, something they had gone over in the previous weeks. Questions were an indication of non human behavior, at least that was what she had been told by her current tutor. “So we steal money to be wealthy and toppled the banks. Very much noted,” she said, letting out a small sigh as she finally looked back up at her current roommate. “This is all very nice. Thank you. I appreciate you. But can you just show me how to find the cat videos in the world wide web again instead?”

“Huh.” Nadia took all of Norma’s information in with interest; it was the first time the other woman had admitted to once being just that, a woman. A human woman, in fact, who had somehow managed to become immortal in a way that seemed way better than any deal the undead got. “That’s pretty fucking cool.” Maybe she could check in to figuring out how Norma had become, well, Norma. It’d be pretty fucking funny if she made this body immortal. Then, if Nadia Diaz’s ghost really was still hanging around, there would be no doubt that she’d outlast it. She laughed, though, at Norma’s next remark. “A siren? Makes sense, I guess. I’ve been told I have a wicked good tongue, anyway. Imagine if it was supernaturally so.” Whether or not Norma actually took her words to heart was irrelevant. Half the time, Nadia was just fucking with her. It was fun. Norma seemed to genuinely believe whatever came out of Nadia’s mouth, as long as she said it in the right tone. And, besides, what harm could it do? It was fun, and, if Norma ended up robbing a bank or something, it’d be funny as hell. She could feel that Norma was losing interest, though, so the cat videos question didn’t come as a surprised. Nadia was only a little exasperated as she finished her coffee and went to grab her laptop. “Actually, this time, you are gonna show me how to find cat videos. Remember, it’s just like I taught you.”

[curserp]

first of all, i just want to say i loved seeing all the thoughts and theories that were going on around all of this !!!  honestly, i think some of you guys gave me too much credit, because most of this is a lot simpler than the intricate stuff you came up with--- i wish i had thought of some of the things you all did !  but for now, finally, here’s  ( most of )  the clues i purposefully placed, as well as some general info, which i’ve tried to break up into sections for ease of reading.

SKELETONS / NUMBERS :

the skeletons are listed below with their id numbers  ( the tags are linked as well ) :

andromeda : #0237632.

arachne : #0272463.

cassandra : #0276372.

daedalus : #0323357.

helen : #0043536.

heracles : #0472537.

jason : #0052766.

medea : #0063332.

midas : #0064327.

narcissus : #0672787.

orion : #0067466.

pandora : #0726372.

paris : #0072747.

perseus : #0777387.

each of the id numbers were decided by entering the skeleton names onto the dial pad of a phone--- abc = 2, def = e, ghi = 4, jkl = 5, mno = 6, pqrs = 7, tuv = 8, wyz = 9.

phones in general were hinted at a few times.

in asks, as i tried to use the word ‘call’ repeatedly when asked about it, ‘key’ once, as well as the word ‘phony’ at one point. get it ? phone-y ?  that one was kind of a stretch, i know.

a phone prominently featured in a branch on the classification quiz.

the encoded text messages were, obviously, sent from a phone.

on an update before dropping stage 3, a strange voicemail was mentioned and you were encouraged to delete it from your phone.

the database speaks to you over the phone during curse finalization.

on the graphic for stage 3, a phone is the only object in the hallway.

some names did need to be shortened in order to fit all the same number of digits, so andromeda became adrmda, pandora became pandra, etc.

honestly, this code was weirder and more random than most of the other things, so i’d call it bonus points more than anything else. a lot of you puzzled out who was who without knowing what the numbers meant.

CURSE REGISTRATION / STAGE I   ( here ) :

i asked you all to send in these results to the curse database, and used those totals to decide the order in which the skeletons would be released ; midas ended up with the most results so they’re posted first, cassandra got the least so they’re last, etc.

results from all three stages will also factor in to some future plot drops, though i’ll keep those quiet for now.

TEXT POSTS :

these are pretty straightforward ; i chose text that i thought suits each skeleton as i’ve written them, and tagged them with their respective curse ids to tease the fact that there were ids at all.

FOLDERS PAGE   ( here ) :

this displays not only the skeletons’ classifications, but also their active danger levels ; one exclamation point for low, two for medium, three for high.

while the classifications were shown as only numbers 001-007 at that point, since the curse classification blog hadn’t dropped yet, in this ask a few posts previous i wrote the types as the first word of each corresponding number on the list.

CURSE CLASSIFICATION / STAGE II   ( here ) :

when you reach a result on the curse classifications, the clock at the top of the screen stops and displays a single time. that number corresponds to the number on the files image. when you get an error it shows only zeroes.

the classifications are :

chaos   ( pandora, paris )

death   ( arachne )

hero   ( heracles, jason, perseus )

infamy   ( cassandra, midas )

loss   ( daedalus, medea )

love   ( helen, narcissus, orion )

monster   ( andromeda )

yes, those are alphabetical. when i was making the folders page i just kinda said fuck it.

i took the hands off the clock on the image in the post, both because i wanted to draw attention to the clocks on the actual pages, and cause it looked sick.

if you get to page /c6, the clock stops and zeroes out. that’s because there’s no way to get anything but an error after that point.

i asked you all to send in these results to the curse database, too, and they were used as tiebreakers for the skeleton posting order. like, medea and pandora ended up with the same amount of results from registration, but there were more loss results than chaos from classification, so medea goes first.

TEXT MESSAGES   ( here, here, here, here, here, here, and here ) :

the encryption on the text messages is caesar cipher, where you shift the alphabet a certain number of letters over and substitute those letters for each other. for example, an alphabet with a shift of 1 would have a become b, b become c, and so on. the shift changes for each text message, depending on what the character’s curse classification is. so the text from narcissus  ( #0672787, classification of 6. love )  has a shift of 6.

the decoded texts are :

#0063332.  ( medea, shift 5 ) : you made your choice. now i am making mine.

#0672787.  ( narcissus, shift 6 ) : at least you’ll be hung in the stars. i’ll only be remembered like a cautionary tale.

#0072747.  ( paris, shift 1 ) : don’t blame me, please. i am not the villain.

#0272463.  ( arachne, shift 2 ) : did you make this for yourself, too ?

#0472537.  ( heracles, shift 3 ) : wasn’t my strength meant to earn me a better reward than this ?

#0237632.  ( andromeda, shift 7 ) : you cannot be a hero all the time. what if my monster wins ?

#0064327.  ( midas, shift 4 ) : i could have known better, at least. nothing this gold could come without consequence.

i also wanted to use this to kind of further their feeling of being watched ---which i hope i started to get across just in some answers to anons ---with the messages between skeletons be ‘intercepted’ by the database.

CURSE FINALIZATION / STAGE III   ( here ) :

before dropping this stage, a ‘data breach’ was mentioned twice in separate posts. this was to  ( hopefully )  encourage people to look for hidden information--- aka, the data that was breached.

there are five total hidden pages on this stage, and one secret extra message.

first is another intercepted message from one of the skeletons. the link is here.

on page /b2, click the word ‘key’ to get here.

the text message is from #0276372, aka cassandra, who is prophetic. cassandra is the only skeleton with anything set about their curse, and their prophecies will be a part of gameplay.

the url for this page is 0677437, and if you use the same keypad method as the numbers for the skeletons, that translates to ‘mssges.’

second is a chart monitoring active danger levels. the link is here.

on page /b3, the clock has stopped at 00:00:14, for the 14 skeletons. if you wait those 14 seconds, you will automatically be redirected.

the url for this page is 0003282, or ‘data.’

the third is a contact log between the database and a god. the link is here. 

on page /c2, a ‘source’ is mentioned. if you view the source code of the page, the first thing at the top is the url.

the clock on this page has stopped at 02:09:01, and the connection was lost at that same time ; if you substitute letters in for numbers, 291 spells ‘bia’, the goddess of violence, who the communication was with.

the url for this page is 0005647, or ‘logs.’

the fourth is an incident report from a monster attack. the link is here.

on page /c7, ‘time’ is mentioned repeatedly. click on the clock to get here.

the incident report is 8-1-18-16-25, which, with a substitution between numbers and letters, translates out to ‘harpy,’ the type of creature from the attack.

the url for this page is 0737678, or ‘report.’

the fifth is the list of id numbers and their skeletons. the link is here.

on this ask, i asked  ( yes, i sent this one to myself )  about the numbers, and responded ‘why haven’t you searched.’ put /numbers directly after the url of curse finalization to get here.

if you highlight above the ‘submitting’ text on the /finalize page, you can find a message : ‘you’re not safe here.’

the codes you all reached are going to remain kind of a mystery for now. there is a solution for it, if you’re really interested in puzzling it out, but i’m not going to list the answer here. they’ve helped me decide the first plot drop of the group. this is somewhat of a teaser for how the gameplay will go here ; the curse database will remain an active player, and you’ll often be helping choose events. you just might not always when you’re doing it, or how.

easter eggs / fun facts, i guess !

when you get an error in curse registration or classification, if you hover your mouse over the word ‘error,’ it shakes like a glitch. this serves no purpose and means nothing, it just took me a while to figure out how to code, so i wanted to point it out. just let me have this

i actually had a very different stage three planned when i dropped stage two, one incorporating the results from registration and classification more, but the classification results i got were totally different than what i’d expected. while the registration results were pretty varied, over half of the 40-something answers i got from your classifications were for ‘love,’ and i actually got only one ‘monster’ and zero ‘death’ results from you guys. which i suppose is fitting, since there’s only one skeleton of each !  but still, it threw things off a bit, and i had to pretty thoroughly rework stage three. besides, i ended up with like 100+ results from both stages, and i got kind of overwhelmed with my original idea. you all kept me on my toes !!

i sent two asks to myself : the one i needed to set up so i could list out the curse classifications, the one to drop a hint about the /numbers page. the rest all came from you guys !  and for that i am hugely grateful--- i had sort of escape plans the entire time if there wasn’t enough interest, where i’d be able to drop the main after stage one or two and skirt around the extras, but i’m so glad i got to follow through on this thing to the end. i wouldn’t have been able to do it without your engagement. every single time i get a little inbox notification i get excited.

i noticed some of you were getting a lot of error results, but that’s not on you !  there were 32 possible results on curse registration with 16 of those being errors, and 15 results on curse classification with 8 of those being errors. so don’t worry, you were more likely on those stages to get an error than a result.

some of you wondered if the general urls  ( /a1, /b2, etc. )  of the different pages on the registration, classification and finalization blogs meant something, and i’m sorry to say they don’t. originally i was going to customize them so they’d be harder to just sift through later, but there ended up being 130+ total pages between all three blogs--- and for my own sanity, and for the sake of easier organization when editing them, i just left them as they were with their letters and numbers.

someone asked me if this post was for cassandra since the quote involves cassandra in the source material agamemnon. whoops. it’s not, that post is actually just a nod to the fact that i don’t know how to read.

i think that’s just about everything !  there are all kinds of other small things as nods to skeletons, the plot, the database in general, future plot drops, all scattered throughout answers on the curse database--- and i’ll be here all day if i list them all. if you have any specific questions about anything i would love to answer them, so please feel free to shoot them my way !  i believe that’s the gist of it, though. thanks so much again for going along with me on all of this !!

[hillnerd]

Au headcanon of Ron Weasley and Hermes Granger

Ended up being a bit over 7k words, this one! And hey, just in time for pride month! :)  Romione but m/m! :)

 This has Hermes struggling to come to terms with his sexuality. Again, as with the f/f Romione story, I was inspired a lot by my experiences when I was younger. Also has a guest appearance by Ace!Charlie Weasley :) This is set in the 90s, so things aren’t quite as smooth as they would be if this story was set in the present day. People weren’t as sensitive to the needs of the LGBTQIA+ community then, weren’t as equipped with the vocab or knowing what to say etc. It was before my time, but I want to be as true to that as I can.

Trigger warnings: character being outted, homophobia, internalized homophobia

rated PG-13 for cursing and homophobia

RON AND HERMES

BEFORE HOGWARTS

Hermes Granger had never been a popular child growing up. He wasn’t sure if it was because his nose was always in a book, or if his nose was in a book because they were much more friendly company than the children around him. He was always seen as odd, and he supposed they were right. He wasn’t quite like the other boys his age. He preferred reading to sports, preferred the teachers to the other children, and he inexplicably had strange things happen around him.

Owls and cats seemed to listen to him. He could make any electronic short circuit when he got frustrated. He’d wish for things to happen– impossible poetic vengeful things, as we all are wont to do when someone is being particularly cruel or unjust– and a lot of the time they would happen. 

Philip Pickering, the biggest bully in their class, had taken Hermes’s diorama and poured paint all up inside it, ruining all the hard work he’d put in. Hermes wished someone would pour paint in something Philip liked, and then a horrible accident happened in art class- a whole wall of paint cans tipped over and covered Philip, and only Philip, head to toe in paint. His Air Jordans were ruined, along with everything else he was wearing, and even all the homework in his rucksack. Hermes was delighted, but also a bit afraid of how his darker wishes could come true. From that moment on he did his best to keep such wishes from coming true, and did an alright job of it.

When he found out he was a wizard it all sort of fell into place. He was odd because he was magical, but he’d find his place soon enough once surrounded by other wizards and witches at Hogwarts!

–

FIRST YEAR

It took time to find his place. At first he found his bookish ways and penchant for telling people what to do were just as disliked there as they’d been at his Muggle school. He’d been quite hopeful of making a friendship with two boys in particular- Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Harry was an important person in so many books, and that made him a fascinating person to meet and analyze. And then there was Ron- he wasn’t sure why he liked to look at him so much, but there was something different about him that make Hermes want to be his friend.

A few months of spats, and a culmination of taking down a mountain troll,  cemented his friendships with the other boys, and Hermes finally had close friends for the first time in his life. Not just close; Best friends. Wonderful friends, who made him smile every day, and gave him something to fight for that meant much more than just grades.

–

SECOND YEAR

Meeting Harry and Dumbledore, two people from books who had done great things, had been something special, but it paled in comparison to meeting a real life author. Hermes had only met a few authors in his life before, all Muggle at his local library, but Gilderoy Lockhart? He was something very very different. He was a hero. He had done great feats and had written about his exploits in many volumes. He also was very handsome, which Hermes hadn’t initially noticed, but after seeing him just a few times, it was hard to not notice it when so many of the girls were sighing over him. He felt a thrill when Professor Lockhart gave him another five points for answering another question right.

Hermes had never really noticed men being handsome like this before, and when Ron noted how many of the girls were taken with Lockhart, it finally clicked into place. Hermes was looking at Lockhart like the girls were…. Well, maybe he was? He wasn’t sure… I mean, who was sure of anything at thirteen? It felt like he was too young to know. He’d never looked at girls at anyone that way, boy or girl. He could tell if someone was good looking or not, of course- but that wasn’t quite the same as that feeling of having a crush on someone.

He’d always been different from everyone else, but this? Oh he couldn’t be that way. It was too different, probably even for the Wizarding world. Hermes hadn’t read about any gay wizards. He’d never read about gay anyone, really, other than Oscar Wilde, and things hadn’t exactly gone well for that Author.

Fleetingly he thought about talking about it with Harry and Ron- but the idea that they would look at him different, or get freaked out and not want to share a dorm with him? It was too much to bear.

No. He’d have to sit on it and tell no one. It’s not like it mattered, really. He was just a kid- and no one was expected to do much dating before they were grown. It’s not like he liked anyone he could actually date anyway. And this was probably just an anomaly of some sort…

–

THIRD YEAR

“You gonna eat that?”

Hermes looked up from the seventh study guide he’d made himself to see Ron pointing at his plate.

“You can have it, I’m busy,” Hemes grunted. Why had he signed up for so many classes? It was absolute madness. He could barely keep up with what day of the week it was anymore, and had so many different exams coming up, and he just knew he’d fail everything, and have to go back home and be alone forever and–

“No, mate. You need to eat up. You’ve barely eaten anything and the meal’s gonna vanish in like ten minutes,” Ron said, pushing his plate over the parchment Hermes had strewn about him.

“No, I need to study! I have boat-loads of work to do, and no matter what I can’t seem to make myself the time to do it all properly, and I just know I’ll be expelled and my parents will never forgive me for disappointing them!”

“Look,” said Ron, gently stopping Hermes’s hands from gathering papers. “I don’t know what’s going on with you and this mad schedule of yours, but you’ve got to take care of yourself.”

Hermes looked up into Ron’s earnest face, and the freckled hands holding his own in place, and felt himself begin to blush.

“I… Erm-” Hermes said, flustered in a way he hadn’t ever been with Ron before. “Yes… Yes I need energy… yes…. But I also need to study.”

Ron rolled his eyes.

“You’re the smartest person I know, so you’ll be brilliant no matter what- but you can’t study without any energy to do it, right?”

Hermes nodded, his mind buzzing and blank as Ron peered at him.

“How ‘bout this. You finish your plate, and I quiz you while you eat?”

“Alright… I suppose I can do that.”

Ron gave a lopsided smile in return, and the nervous flush worked its way down Hermes’s spine again. He really did need to eat something, because his stomach was starting to lurch and he felt a bit dizzy as Ron grinned at him.

—-

FOURTH YEAR

Hermes had never been much for Quidditch, but the World Quidditch Cup would be an excellent way to learn about other Magical communities, and also it would give Hermes the opportunity to spend time at the Weasley household that summer. 

Mr Weasley had scored them some great seats at the top of the stadium, and Hermes couldn’t deny it was rather thrilling to be at such a large stadium like this.

“And now,” Ludo Bagman announced to the stadium, “without further ado, allow me to introduce… the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!”

“I wonder what they brought,” said Mrs Weasley, before leaning forward and polishing his glasses in a flury. “Aaah! Veela!”

“What are veel–?” Harry began to ask, but he trailed off as he looked down at the field. Hermes began to tell Harry exactly what Veela were, but stopped himself when he realized his speech was falling on deaf ears. Harry was staring down at the creatures on the field with a rapturous hungry look that made Hermes roll his eyes. He was about to nudge Ron so they could tease their friend, but strangely Ron was just as taken with the the Veela as Harry. In fact it felt like all the men in the box were looking similarly glassy eyed as they stared down at the women on the field. As the women began to dance the whole stadium’s population of men went mad. It felt like every male was looking on a bit agog, or starting to do something particularly embarrassing to get the Veelas’s attention. All of them except for Hermes.

Harry looked like he was about to fling himself from the box before Hermes stopped him, and Ron was pulled back from a dive by Charlie. The Veela were ushered off the field, and another mascot show of Leprechauns was brought out onto the field- but Hermes paid them no mind. He had a chill running through him. Why hadn’t the Veela affected him?

They’d made Harry and everyone else go mad… Ron too… But not Hermes.

As everyone gleefully scrambled for gold that was raining upon them, Hermes excused himself to the loo.

Since the match was beginning in moments, the room was blissfully empty, and Hermes had a moment to put water on his face and gather himself in total privacy.

“You alright, Hermes?”

He turned about to see Charlie Weasley leaning against the door frame.

“I’m… I’m fine. Just a bit overheated up there.”

“Yeah… energetic lot they are. Either they’re all going mad over gold that’ll disappear in an hour, or Veela are throwing ‘em into a frenzy,” Charlie said with a nod.

Hermes nodded unable to think of anything to say.

“Sure you’re alright? You started looking a bit pale after the Veela left.”

“Well…” Hermes let out, mind reeling for an answer. “Well, Harry and Ron nearly threw themselves from the top of the stadium box. It was quite frightening.”

“We stopped ‘em before making too big of arses of themselves,” Charlie said with a smile. “Even if we hadn’t, there are spells to keep them from falling off, so they weren’t in any real danger.”

“You!” Hermes exclaimed, practically pointing at Charlie, and feeling almost giddy relief. “You weren’t trying to jump out the box. You were able to keep your head like I did!” 

“Yeah… I’m not affected by Veela Magic.”

“So Veela… They don’t affect everyone the same then?” Hermes said, a smile on his face. He wasn’t broken or something. It was normal!

“That’s right...”

“Why is that?”

“Well, er…” Charlie said, a hand to the nape of his neck the same way Ron did when he was worried about something. “Veela magic only affects men who are attracted to women.” 

The cold feeling in Hermes’s gut was back tenfold. Hermes wanted the floor to swallow him up. He felt like crying.

“I… I’m-- I’m… I thought… So that means…” Hermes let out nonsensically.

“Doesn’t have to mean anything you don’t want it to mean,” Charlie said, coming close and putting a comforting hand on Hermes’s shoulder.  “In my case I’m not really attracted to, well, anyone, so I’m spared the whole Veela horndog nonsense. And you… You’re young and don’t have to have it all figured out right this moment. You can figure out who you are, and who you like, or don’t like, at your own pace. You’ve got plenty of time.”

Hermes swiped at his eyes, feeling tears trying to make their way down his face.

“Did- did anyone else notice?” Hermes murmured as he gave a sniff.

“Notice what? You not reacting? I don’t think so. They were all much more intent on making spectacles of themselves for the Veelas,” Charlie said with a smile.

“I’m already so different from everyone… Muggleborn and a-a bookworm… I don’t want this too!”

“I know…” Charlie said with a sympathetic look. “Want me to escort you back to the tent and make an excuse that you’re ill? Or hang here a bit then go back to the game? Whatever you need, we’ll do.”

Hermes thought a moment before deciding to go back to the game. Charlie did a spell to make Hermes’s face not be so obviously swollen from tears (’Handy spell that! Don’t want the other dragon wranglers to see you cry over a baby dragon being hatched!’)  and they decided the excuse for their absence would be they decided to use the loo before the game got going and the crowds got so thick.

As Hermes slid into his seat, Ron handed over his omnioculars for him to use.

“Recorded their entrances for you. Blimey, Hermes, I know you don’t care much for Quidditch, but this is one of the best parts!” he smiled, showing him the cool moves the different players did as they burst into the stadium and describing each one in detail. “And check out Krum! He’s the absolute best player in the world! And practically our age! We could know him. Can you imagine?”

Hermes played along with Ron’s enthusiasm for the game, and found it quickly became real. Ron didn’t seem to have noticed anything, and Hermes felt his body ease with relief. If anyone would notice something was amok with him, it’d be Ron. He felt a warm comfort as his friend put their heads together so he could describe each of the players for Hermes as they looked into the omnioculars. Ron was always so thoughtful that way… And his hair smelled something divine.

—-

FIFTH YEAR

“So… I’m gay.”

“I know.”

“What?” Hermes let out, staring agog at Ginny. “How did you know?”

“Well, I didn’t know-know, but I was pretty certain,” she replied with a shrug, leaning back on the dusty fourposter they sat on. They hadn’t gotten around to cleaning this Grimmauld room yet, they were so busy with their conversation. “I mean, Ron and Harry each have noticed their fair share of girls by now, between Veelas, and Cho… And you never have seemed to notice any girls.”

Ginny and Hermes had been a touch closer since attending the Yule Ball together the previous year, and his fourth year at Hogwarts had made him take the time to figure out who he was, and who he liked, just as Charlie had said he would.

Who was he?  Hermes Granger. Muggleborn. Gay. Who did he like? men, it seemed. And one in particular. Hermes kept trying to quiet the crush he’d been growing, but he could no longer deny the feelings that had been growing for Ron since third year.

“I haven’t told anyone else… Well, Charlie knows I’m not straight because of that whole Veela incident. And Viktor knows since, well… We snogged and all…”

“Hah, yeah, I’d say that’d lead to him knowing!” Ginny snorted with a good-natured grin. “Are you planning on telling Harry and Ron?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Hermes fretted, biting his lower lip. “It could change a lot of things…”

“Want me to feel it out for you? Not you being gay, but gay people in general? Just make sure you feel extra safe?”

“I don’t know that you need to do that. It’’s one thing for it to be gay people in theory, but quite another for it to be your friend and dormmate, so I’m not sure how much security I’d get with it. Thank you for the offer though.”

“Of course!” said Ginny before giving Hermes a hug. “Thank you so much for trusting me with this. I’m sure it will all go fine, though! I mean, it’s Harry and Ron!”

“Yes, I’m sure….”

“If they give you crap I’ll hex them.”

“I can hex them myself, but thank you for the offer.”

“Hex who?” came Ron’s voice from the hall coming into the bedroom.

“Snape, “ Ginny coolly lied. “How long you been out there.”

“Just escaped, haven’t I?” he said sitting on the bed beside Hermes. He was a bit covered in dust and sweaty. “Oh! This is a brilliant way to escape Mum. She won’t want to have to huff it up five flights.”

“She can just Apparate, can’t she?” Hermes suggested.

“She doesn’t like Apparition all that much, so hopefully she won’t. I just want to hang out with my mate, and I guess you too Ginny.”

“Thanks much, Ron,” Ginny said with a two fingered salute he returned. “I’ll go see what the twins are up to.”

“Maybe she’ll lay off a bit when Harry gets here?”

“She didn’t when I got here,” Hermes noted.

“Oh right.” Ron laid back on the bed and put his arms behind his head. He’d grown even taller over the summer, and laid out as he was Hermes found it hard to think straight. “Well, at least for now we get some time just you and me. We need to make sure to keep a habit of it this year. I miss it when we don’t have that. ”

“You do?”

“‘Course I do,” Ron said, giving a punch to Hermes’s arm that hurt a bit, but made him smile. “I know this isn’t much of a vacation for you, but I’m glad you came.”

Hermes couldn’t imagine being anywhere else, really. Even though Grimmauld place was dusty, dark and highly disturbing, it was worth sacrificing any trip with his parents to spend more time with Ron. And Harry too, of course.

–

SIXTH YEAR

Hermes had been feeling rather giddy that evening. He had successfully asked Ron to the Slug Club Christmas Party earlier that week, and he’d been thoroughly blissed out ever since. Sure, it wasn’t really a date. He couldn’t very well say it was one, of course- Ron was straight and Hermes hadn’t told anyone but Ginny he was gay…  But this certainly felt like a date and he could pretend, dammit. Ron looked happy to be his guest for the party, and Hermes was looking forward to seeing him in the dress robes the twins had gotten him.

“Hermes?”

He looked up from his homework to see a teary eyed Ginny approaching him in the common room. Dean had come in not long before, but had made a beeline for their dormitory.

“Are you alright?” he said standing from his chair, hoping Dean hadn’t done something to hurt her.

“I need to talk to you in private.”

“Okay…” He quickly gathered his work into his bookbag and followed her down the cooridor.

“Hermes. I’m… You’ll never forgive me, and you shouldn’t… But I can’t let you walk into this without knowing. I’m… I’m so so so sorry!”

“What are you sorry for?”

“I… I got into a fight with Ron. He and Harry walked in on me and Dean snogging, and he was doing his usual overprotective brother act and trying to shame me for kissing my effing boyfriend… And I was popping off- and then I… I told him he was the only one who thought it was disgusting because he had no experience, then I said Harry had snogged Cho and… I mentioned. Oh fuck–”

“What?”

“I said you had snogged Viktor! I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking and now they know. I’m so so so sorry!”

Hermes couldn’t breath.

“I’m so sorry, I said it and then not a second later I realized what it meant for me to have said it. I pointed my wand at them and told them not to tell anyone- I don’t know how to obliviate someone safely or I would. I’m so so sorry, Hermes. I didn’t mean to tell your secret.”

“Did… What did they say?”

“Not much. After I told them not to tell anyone, Harry said they wouldn’t, and Ron nodded- and then I ran straight here to tell you what happened.”

Hermes quietly leaned against the wall and slid to the ground, numb.

“No one else knows. I’m so sorry. Can I do anything?”

Hermes shook his head. Nothing could be done. They knew. Harry and Ron knew. He was out.

Hermes waited up as late as he could in the Common Room before slipping into his four poster. He set a tempus spell to wake him so he could avoid Harry and Ron that morning as well. He got up before them, went to the kitchens to eat, and then went straight back to his four poster. He didn’t have it in him to go to class, and instead spent most of the day getting ahead on homework, conjuring a flock of birds, and napping.  

“Hermes?” he heard Harry’s voice outside his fourposter. The room was quite dark. He must have slept a good portion of the day away.  He couldn’t answer, for fear that his voice would wobble and give out.

“We have sandwiches,” came Ron’s voice.

Hermes had to admit, breakfast was at least twelve hours away and his stomach was growling. He opened the curtains to see his best friends.

“Sandwich?” asked Harry, giving Ron a nudge that prompted him to proffer a napkin full of what must have been sandwiches. Hermes gave a shrug and took the proffered bundle of sandwiches.

“You missed class today,” said Harry.

“Yes I did.”

“Mind if we sit?”

Hermes shook his head. Harry sat on the edge of the bed, while Ron stood by looking for a place to put his hands, finally settling on his pockets.

“So…” Hermes began, deciding it best not to delay the inevitable. “Ginny told you that… That-”

“That you snogged Viktor Krum,” Ron finished for him, frowning at the floor.

“Yes… that,” Hermes said with a rough swallow.

“So does that mean you’re gay then? Or…” Harry trailed off.

Hermes slowly nodded.

“How’d you know?” Ron asked, sharply looking Hermes in the eye for the first time.

“Oh, erm…” said Hermes, thinking back to the Veelas he’d seen a few years prior. “I suppose at the Quidditch World Cup.”

“Oh… When you… Was it seeing Krum?” Ron frowned, while Harry nervously looked between the two of them.

Hermes was about to protest it was the Veela, but Harry interrupted with a–

“And that’s fine!” Harry said, looking like he wanted the conversation to end quickly, as he normally did whenever anyone talked about anything remotely personal. “You know it doesn’t matter that you’re… you’re gay or whatever, right? Not to us.”

They looked to Ron, who nodded as well.

“I promise, this won’t affect our friendship. Things between us all are completely platonic,” Hermes said, almost desperate to make eye contact with Ron especially. “You mean so much to me, and I just… I don’t know what’d I’d do if you stopped being my friends…”

He felt himself wanting to cry and swiped at his eyes before he could properly start.

“We’re still your friends, you daft bugger,” Ron said, before putting a hand to his mouth. “Can I say that? I’m sorry.”

“As long as we can call you that, I think I’ll let it slide” Hermes said with a smile.

“Oh like you ever swear,” Ron teased back. Peace seemed to have been restored, but Ron still looked a bit down. “Well… I’m gonna go off for a bit…”

Ron left the room without another word.

“Do you think he’s really ok with this?” Hermes asked Harry.

“Sandwiches are from him,” Harry said rather vaguely. This was as close to talking about feelings he and Harry had ever gotten, and neither were comfortable with that prospect. Harry continued to look at Hermes in a plaintive sort of way. “Er, well…. Maybe Ginny would explain it better.”

“Ginny’s done more than enough ‘explaining’ thank you very much,” Hermes said crossing his arms. “Why don’t you join Ron. I’ll be awful company.”

“You’ll come to class tomorrow, though, right?”

“I suppose I must. Thank Ron for the sandwiches.”

—-

The next morning Hermes woke early again, but instead of running away he waited for Ron and Harry in the common room. A feeling of deep relaxation had seeped into him. He was reminded of when he’d try to bring all the groceries into the house in one go for his parents- the bags cutting into his fingers as he precariously tried to balance them and not drop anything, and the strange elation he felt upon reached the kitchen island without dropping anything.

The triumphant unencumbered feeling was quashed rather quickly as he made his way to breakfast with Harry and Ron. Harry seemed his normal self, but Ron was in a dark mood no one could escape. He sat at breakfast stabbing his potatoes with much more violence than any starchy vegetable required, was being oddly icy and indifferent with Hermes during class, and even went to Quidditch practice snarling at everyone as if they too were errant potatoes that needed a lesson taught to them.

By the morning of the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin Hermes had enough and was barely able to be in Ron’s grouchy presence. Upon walking into the Great Hall, though, Hermes couldn’t resist checking to make sure Ron was doing alright with his pre-game jitters. As usual Ron’s nerves were shot, until Harry seemingly had put luck potion into the redhead’s juice. Hermes couldn’t believe Harry would stoop so low, and all through the game Hermes glowered as Ron played amazingly well, culminating in a fantastic Gryffindor victory. The whole of Gryffindor was so ecstatic they decided to throw a victory party.

Hermes couldn’t be happy for them, knowing Harry and Ron had cheated, but when he went to call them out Harry revealed there was no potion used at all. It was merely a trick to get Ron into a better mindset for the game.

“You added Felix Felixis to Ron’s juice this morning, that’s why he saved everything!” Ron said imitating Hermes’s uppish tone well. “See! I can save goals without help. Might not be an International Quidditch star, but I can play well.”

“I never said you couldn’t– Ron, You thought you’ve been given it too!“

Ron strode past Hermes without acknowledging him, broomstick on his wide shoulders.

“Er, shall… shall we go up to the party then?” Harry asked.

“You go! I’m sick of Ron at the moment,” he said storming out of the changing rooms. Why was Ron acting this way? They’d been getting on just fine, hadn’t they? Ron didn’t mind that Hermes was gay, did he? Even if he did, why would he be in a such a foul mood with everyone else?

Hermes went to the common room, where the party was in full swing. Alcohol was definitely involved creating a scene Hermes had little interest in. He was about to go up to his dorm room when he spotted Ron, wrapped in Lavender Brown’s arms, the two snogging as if it were the end of the world. A sickening sensation of falling came over Hermes, though he still stood on his feet quite steadily. Heart in his throat, and too many bodies between him and his dorm room, Hermes fled from the Common room to a small classroom down the hall.

Hermes had always known there was no chance between him and Ron. Ron liked Veela. He liked Madame Rosmerta. And now, he liked Lavender Brown. Buxom beautiful blonde women, that’s what Ron liked; Not bookish, brown, blokes. Not Hermes.

Hermes conjured some bird around him, hoping route spellwork might calm his flayed nerves, but any plans to gather himself together were quickly quashed when the door behind him burst open.

Ron came in laughing, pulling Lavender by the hand. “Oh,” he said, drawing up short at the sight of Hermes.

“Oops!” said Lavender as she backed out of the room giggling.

The door swung shut behind her. There was a horrible, swelling, billowing silence. Hermes stared at Ron, who refused to look at him, but said with an of mixture of bravado and awkwardness, “Hi… Didn’t see you at the party!”

Hermes didn’t know what possessed him to do it, but before he could think he shouted ‘Oppugno!’ and the birds he’d conjured rained down upon Ron like a hail of bullets, scratching and pecking at him as he yelped and covered his face with his hands.

Hermes didn’t care if boys shouldn’t cry. He ran down the hall to find another room and sobbed, unable to stop himself.

—

The next day the whole school was talking about it. Lavender had told Parvati, who had told Susan and Padma, who had told other people- and finally the whole school knew.

Hermes was jealous of Lavender. Hermes was gay for Ron.

He’d been straight up asked if he was gay by a Ravenclaw, and instead of lying he said yes. He hadn’t meant to, but he was so used to answering questions first and accurately that he’d shocked himself when he said it. 

Now everyone’s eyes were on him as he went through the halls the next few weeks. 

In class Ron ignored him, while Lavender pawed at him. Harry doggedly looked ahead and tried to act like nothing was happening, or glared at onlookers, but it was a bit hard for Hermes to ignore the whispers. Perhaps Harry was better at it as he was so used to rumors flying about him. Hermes was used to being ignored, and the sudden lack of anonymity was jarring.

Ginny made a point of walking with Hermes, and got as many friends as she could to do the same. Much of Gryffindor had rallied around him for meals, and it was a good thing too, because the rumor mill was getting particularly vicious one night at dinner.

“I mean are any of us actually surprised he’s a flaming homosexual?” said Zacharias Smith rather loudly at the Hufflepuff table. “He’s always been a bit of a limp-wristed bookworm. Don’t drop your soap around him! I heard he’s tried to go down on like all the male professors to get such good grades.”

“That’s it! I’m gonna remove your balls, Smith!” Ginny growled, bursting up from the table in a fury. Harry had similarly raised his wand, as well as a few other students.

“Don’t!” Hermes let out, but behind them there was a blur  of someone who kept moving forward, and Smith was on the ground in moments his face bleeding.

“You shut your fucking mouth, Smith! You shut your fucking mouth!” Ron was growling as he continued to pummel the blonde. Smith didn’t take it lying completely down, and rolled Ron’s head into the bench seat as he tried to punch and kick back.

“Mr Weasley! Mr Smith! What are you doing? Stop fighting this instant!” came the cry of Professor McGonagall, as she and a few other teachers flew from the Head Table. Ron punched the Hufflepuff a few more times until Harry and Neville pulled him off.

“‘E attaged me for no reason a’ all!” Smith lied as he wiped the blood from his mouth.

“That’s not true, professor, he was saying absolutely atrocious things about Hermes!” Lavender said, and many other students were nodding alongside her from the tables.

“I’d do it again!” Ron spat, wiping at the blood dripping down from his eyebrow.

“Yes, I’m sure you would,” McGonagall said, and Hermes was certain he saw a small smirk cross her thin mouth.

“Well, twenty points from both houses,” Sprout said.

“Bud he jumbt me!” Smith complained.

“Yes, that’s why we’re only taking the twenty from our house for your bullying, Smith,” Sprout said. “Best get you both to the hospital wing.”

“I don’t need to go to the hospital wing,” Ron said, swiping at his eyebrow.

“I’ll accompany them to my office for detention assignments as well as the hospital,” said McGonagall.

Hermes and Harry went to follow, but McGonagall stopped them with a quick gesture.

Just as many students were looking at Hermes as before, but he felt impervious to the stares. The only eyes that mattered were Ron’s as he glanced back at Hermes while being escorted from the Great Hall.

Later that night Harry and Hermes waited for Ron to come back, and when it was quite late he came through the portrait hole, a black eye forming.

“Oh no!” Hermes let out. “I thought you were going to go to the hospital wing.”

“I did. Fight like a Muggle get healed like a Muggle. Should’ve hexed his stupid mouth off,” Ron muttered sitting next to Hermes on the settee.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“Of course I did!” Ron said, looking to Harry for back up.

Harry fervently nodded in agreement. “Of course he did!”

“Well, at least let me heal you up. I’ll get some dittany.”

“I’ll get it,” Harry said, going up the stairs, leaving Ron and Hermes behind.

“You can’t go about fighting everyone. You two are ridiculous,” Hermes said, sitting back in his chair. 

“We’re not! People can’t talk that way about you, Hermes!” Ron said, his large fists balled so tight his bruised knuckles had gone white. Hermes took one of Ron’s hand to inspect the knuckles.

“I’m used to bullying because of what I am already,” he hummed. “This isn’t all that different really.”

“They didn’t try to say you don’t earn your grades because you’re Muggleborn, though. They didn’t try to make you out as some kind of… I don’t even know what word there is for it. It was sick.”

“Well, please don’t punch the next person who says something. You could get hurt more seriously than you already did,” Hermes said, thumb grazing near Ron’s cut in his eyebrow. Ron shut his eyes a moment and the two of them sat, just listening to each other’s breaths  “Thank you, though. For-- for standing up for me like that. I’m glad you… you still care.”

“Are you mad? Of course I care!” Ron said with a roll of his eyes.

“Well… After everything, you’ve been so mad at me, and then I attacked you, and now the rumors about me…”

“Which rumors?” Ron asked, expression closed, all except his eyes that pierced through any composure Hermes had.

“Well, the one really. The one about how I’m…” Hermes had to gather his courage to finish his sentence, “I’m jealous of Lavender.”

Ron’s breath seemed to stop, and so did Hermes’s.

“People are saying I’m jealous of Lavender and that’s why I attacked you with birds,” Hermes said, feeling his face begin to heat up. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done it.”

“Why did you then?”

“What?”

“Why’d you attack me with the birds if you weren’t jealous.”

“Well… The truth is…” Hermes couldn’t think of a good answer for that that would pass true muster. Ron was looking at him so fervently he decided lying made little sense. Even if it came to nothing, Hermes couldn’t keep up his facade with Ron a moment longer. He’d been hiding enough of himself. “The truth is, I am jealous.”

Ron’s eyebrows disappeared into his fringe, and his mouth almost hung open. “You said... You said it was platonic between us.”

“I’m sorry,” Hermes said quickly before pressing on. “I’ve… I’ve fancied you for ages, but I know you don’t feel the same. That’s why I’ve never said anything til now. Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry… I know you’re not… like me, and this doesn’t change anything in our friendship and–”

Ron’s lips met his, and Hermes froze in surprise. It was the tenderest most beautiful kiss he could have imagined. It ended all too soon though, as Harry’s footsteps echoed into the room, and they wrenched apart right before he rounded the corner.

He looked between his friends in a curious manner, before placing the dittany and a flannel between them.

“I’m a bit tired. Going off to Bedfordshire,” he let out, wincing at himself before leaving.

They were both red in the face and nervously began to laugh.

“I guess I better fix you up, then,” said Hermes, taking the flannel and applying  dittany to Ron’s wounds. Ron gave a small hiss as the wound closed up in his eyebrow.

“Thanks.”

“Not a problem,” said Hermes, stopping up the bottle again. “I suppose we ought to go to bed then?”

“Not yet, no,” Ron said, leaning over to gently hold Hermes’s chin and bring him in for another kiss. Hermes gratefully returned it, and was surprised at how quickly it became heated, burning through him, and growing a deep hunger within him that had nothing to do with food. As they came up for a bit more air, Ron let out snort.

“What’s so funny?”

“How daft the two of us are. You jealous over Lavender, and me over Krum.”

“Viktor? That was two years ago!”

“Well I didn’t know that! I only found out a month ago. He’s an international Quidditch player, and you snogged him. Plus, he was your ‘sexual awakening’ or whatever.”

“He was not!”

“You said you figured out you were gay at the Quidditch World Cup.”

“That was because I had no interest in the Veela. Not because of Viktor. I didn’t even know Viktor then.”

“Doesn’t stop you from thinking he’s good looking,” Ron said with a shrug, putting a hand on his neck.

“Oh ho! Who had a sexual awakening over Krum now?” Hermes laughed, delighted at the way Ron’s ears flamed up. “Frankly I was more distracted by you at the World Cup as you shared your omnioculars with me…”

“You were?” Ron smiled broadly.

“Yes,” Hermes smiled back, before it faltered. “So… I said I fancy you, but you haven’t actually said anything like that to me…”

“I was just kissing you!”

“You’ve been doing plenty of kissing lately,” Hermes said archly.

“Okay, that’s fair enough…” Ron said putting his head down. “I just… I was feeling down, and thought maybe it’d be easier to get over you if I tried things out with Lavender… She was there and believed in me… You were into famous Quidditch players, and said it was platonic between us- while she fancied me, of all people. I hadn’t a clue you might like me back. ”

“I do like you. Quite a lot, actually.”

“And I’ve fancied you for ages. Never thought it could actually happen though. Was bloody brilliant kissing you, finally.”

“It was bloody brilliant,” Hermes grinned.

“Let’s make a habit of it,” Ron said leaning in for another kiss.

“Are we… Are we going to be a couple then?” Hermes whispered as Ron’s mouth made its way down the column of his neck.

“Yeah,” Ron whispered back against his skin. “

“Publicly?”

“Is there another way to be a couple?” Ron asked, perplexed.

Hermes leaned back to stare at Ron, and take him all in. “You’re bloody brilliant, you are.”

“That’s my line,” Ron replied, before quieting Hermes with a kiss.

—-

just to be clear, Lavender wasn’t maliciously trying to out Hermes- this was the 90s and people were less aware of how to treat things like this then. 

So hope you guys liked it! If you did, let me know in the tags or comments! :D

[calcetineys]

Before the failure.

Note: This is a prequel to this. But honestly, I’m kinda curious how it reads if this goes first, so you do you. There are some spoilers for the show they’re talking about, but it’s pretty vague. 

“Piss off, Theo. I’m rewatching Gilmore Girls.”

The purposefully noisy footsteps heading from his bedroom window towards him pause. Stiles knew better than to believe that meant his instructions would be followed, so he turns the volume up and takes out one of his ear buds, deciding to see if he can pay attention to both the show and the annoyance behind him. 

“And you admit that?”

“Uh, yeah,” Stiles says, not bothering to look over his shoulder. Apparently, Theo isn’t satisfied not being the center of attention, because he comes up to Stiles’ desk and leans back against it.

“Any good?”

“Well, you’re here, so not really.”

Theo does that thing where he laughs at Stiles’ insults. It’s quite insulting in itself, so Stiles has stopped putting effort into it.

“Is it any good when I’m not here?”

“Most things are.”

Still not very original, but then, neither is the quiet snort from above him. Stiles doesn’t bother looking up to see the expression that goes along with it.

“What’s it about?”

“The description is easy enough to find online,” Stiles says, still staring at his computer screen. “And really? You might want to know the premise before you bash something. You’ll miss out on a lot like that. But I guess that’s a fitting punishment for all the bullshit you’ve pulled.”

“Now, does that mean you think my crimes weren’t that bad? Or are you just that serious about television?”

“The latter, definitely the latter.”

“Hm,” is all Theo says, and Stiles has to stop himself from looking up because that’s never a good response.

Turns out Stiles’ instincts are as good as they ever were, because Theo breaks the cardinal rule of talking to someone with headphones: he unplugs the jack.

Stiles stares at the now disconnected jack and Theo’s hand that’s still at the crime scene, the bastard, and if he weren’t determined to be the bigger person he might- well he’s not sure what he could do to annoy or maim Theo for this heinous offense, but he’d think of something and do it.

Like, a lot.  

He continues to stare as Theo’s hand trails across the keyboard to the volume button, pressing on the down button, because, okay, it was loud. It’s not like Stiles is the envy of hearing abilities anyway.

Ugh, and then Theo does that thing where he almost invades Stiles’ personal space, but not quite, even though Stiles can still feel the slightest bit of his body heat. Still, he rolls his chair to the side as Theo peels himself from the desk and stands next to him and looks down at the screen.

“You know, there’s this ingenious technology called Netflix that will let you stream this from the comfort of your own dank, horrifying lair. Less than ten bucks a month, too.”

“Thanks for the info,” Theo says, turning from the screen and smiling down at him as though Stiles just said something really great.

Which is somehow more insulting than snorting at his half-assed insults, because Theo knew Stiles could do better. He’d been on the receiving end of quite a few good ones, thank you. There’s no need to smile like that when Stiles basically just took the tagline from the commercials, alright?

And when did Stiles even look away from the screen anyway? This is why he doesn’t watch TV with people, not even people he liked.

“Are you just gonna stand there and watch? And no, that wasn’t an invitation to sit, you weirdo, get off my floor!” Stiles yelps when Theo starts to make himself at home on the carpet next to his chair.

“Really, Stiles, I don’t mind. Some people just aren’t natural hosts. I can help you make up for your inexperience.”

“Oh, there are so many openings there, so many things I could say, but no, it’s not worth the effort.”

“Is it worth the effort to restrain yourself?” Theo asks, looking up at him curiously.

Which- okay, maybe him saying that was for the best, because it takes Stiles back to the conversation where Theo tried to bring back the void. Even if right now Theo doesn’t mean that, Stiles hadn’t thought he’d ever be relieved to hear anything like it again.

Because right now, with this thing that’s happening here? The banter about television and seating arrangements and whatever the hell else Theo meant by inexperience? (Stiles knows exactly ‘whatever the hell else’ he’s talking about is, but no, his mind cannot right now.) That was- that was almost normal.

Stiles’ stomach churns because that’s- that’s just not how it is.

Theo can see Stiles’ reaction, because some of the curious light fades from his eyes, and he looks almost- he looks disappointed.

Ugh, no, that’s not just it either.

He fucking looks sad.

Stiles looks back at the show again. It seems Theo does too, and Stiles can’t really make himself drudge up the energy to tell him to leave. Mostly because he knows it won’t work.

But jokes on Theo, because this is the middle of the second season and he’s gonna be so lost. Or well, at least he won’t get the full emotional pay off, which truly is a severe punishment. Or it would be, if Theo understood feelings.

Or had any.

Stiles conveniently ignores the sad expression he saw just a few moments ago. Because it’s like, 95% certainly fake.

But he was right about him not knowing what’s going on, because two minutes later, Theo asks, “Wait, so that’s her daughter?”

“Yup.”

“She doesn’t look old enough to have a daughter that age.”

“Kinda the whole premise of the show.”

“Teenage pregnancy?”

“They keep it classy though. Mostly.”

“Huh.”

Theo keeps his mouth shut for another two minutes before: “Is that really the premise of this show?”

“It’s actually more about terrible, pretty people with ridiculous problems. So it’s just short of reality TV.”

“Terrible, pretty people?”

“Yeah, they’re all pretty much horrible. Except Michel. I like Michel. I identify with Michel.”

“And Michel is-?”

“One of the only rational characters.”

“You don’t seem to like this show that much.”

“It’s a guilty pleasure.”

Theo, amazingly, doesn’t have a reply to that. Stiles is so surprised by lack of reaction that he glances at the other boy, who’s moved to lean back on his palms so he can see the computer. He’s staring at the screen now, though his eyes are a little distant and Stiles wonders if he’s imagining the faint flush on his cheeks.

Whatever, Stiles thinks. As long as he doesn’t start leaking mercury on the floor.

Stiles should really get better standards for company. 

“What does Richard think he’s doing with Pennilyn Lott?”

Stiles blinks and looks over to find Theo standing at his locker. He pauses and wonders if he missed some new supernatural creatures enrolling at the school, because at this point, that wouldn’t even be surprising.

He glances around the hallway, trying to spot who Theo’s talking about, but Theo’s just staring at him.

“Am I missing something here?” Stiles finally asks.

Theo frowns and says, “A person doesn’t just ‘have lunch’ with an ex-fiancé for thirty-nine years.”

Stiles just stares back at him, because he’s clearly not talking about high school students anymore. But then what-

“Wait,” Stiles says, feeling his jaw drop. “Are you seriously talking about Gilmore Girls right now?”

“Yeah,” Theo says, like that should have been obvious.

“Oh my god,” Stiles breathes, turning back to his locker because he does not have time for this. Theo doesn’t have time for this. Nobody has time for this.

“He’s happily married to Emily-” Theo goes on, apparently not understanding or not caring about the concept of time and how little they have of it. Stiles is praying for the bell to ring because honestly, failing his history quiz would make more sense right now.

“What does it matter? None of that show makes sense,” Stiles interrupts.

“It matters,” Theo says with such conviction that Stiles has to look over at him. He doesn’t understand the intensity in Theo’s eyes, or why he’s so adamant about these people who don’t even exist. It matters, Theo says, when there’s very little else that matters to him. Stiles stares back at him and wonders why- why this is what matters.

When the bell does ring, Stiles doesn’t feel the relief he’d hoped for. But he shuts his locker and gives Theo another glance and heads to class anyway.

“Why did she think it was okay to see someone else?” Theo’s voice asks quietly.

Stiles is ready for it this time.  

“They’re separated, Theo. It’s what people do.”

“It’s not what they do,” Theo says in that same voice, leaning back on the wall Stiles is sitting against. He takes a breath and looks up to meet Theo’s eyes.  

He doesn’t ask why it matters. He doesn’t ask why Theo cares. He’s not sure he wants to hear the answer.

He just finds that he believes that Theo does, however unsettling that is.

“They aren’t happy,” Theo goes on.

“No,” Stiles agrees. 

He’s not surprised when Theo comes back a few days later, with a smile that Stiles decides to see as smug. He figures that Theo’s finished the series, and knows that his favorite couple are happy and in love and together and all that other nonsense.

Stiles wonders if he knows what happens in the sequel.

[inhalareexhalare]

Memento mori. 

Nynaeve recommended this before, and I loved it and am remembering.

It suddenly started raining.

Karu also said,

"I think I'm gonna be a terrible dad"

Out of nowhere.

We'd just been talking about his gig today about half an hour ago.

I feel a bit down that I can't seem to find the motivation to keep my work space organized, but I think that's because I put it down too much in my priority list. Dr. Seth told me to take one day off of work, to do housekeeping duties, to express how important it is to her.

Awesome.

From Karu:

Wala lang. I remember Aang being a terrible dad [It's nothing. I remember Aang being a terrible dad]

Aang was a terrible dad according to the old airbender guy from Legend of Korra

Apparently it was Katara that took care of the children cause Aang was busy being the Avatar

Kinda like how Naruto is busy being Hokage

Aang's airbender kid was also obviously favored over the non bender and the waterbender

To Karu:

Hahahahaha I see I see

We won't know until we get there, and we'll never know if we don't keep trying :)

God gave man a partner for a reason, so don't start thinking you're on your own

Outside family, there's also a reason why we're a team, remember? :) No man is an island, and no man is big enough to carry out a vision

I am technically your secretary, so don't hesitate to call for me. In fact, I'd love to help

We're still a small ship of a small crew in such a big sea, so of course it's gonna be busy

The burden gets lighter as more pillars are added, and as these pillars are slowly built with strength over time

...we teach the youth what wonders life can do :)

2018-11-07 12:00 Philippines Wednesday

BOOODLE FIIIGHT!!!!

I ATE TONS OF MEAT! Pork. Chicken. Fish!!!

I feel like I got closer with Ms. Charree.

It was the right choice to return to her side when she was left alone coincidentally. She's sociable, but also shy in many ways.

This is always a fun tradition in the Philippines hahaha! I still have a hard time eating rice with my hands though. My hands don't understand how to do it naturally.

“Privileged ignorance”

Born and bred With spoon and fed

Yes. I am one of those sheltered kids. It's one of the reasons why leaving home was particularly radical to the family tree. It seemed the natural thing to do though when words couldn't get through...

Though I think I could have tried other approaches to help them understand my thoughts. I'd never recommend leaving home abruptly.

It first assumes that you cannot trust your family. It also leaves things on a bad note.

Explorer's motto: always leave things better than when you arrived in there.

You'll have no power to fix things, but you always have the option to be kind and give love to others.

I thank God for sharing his strength and giving me courage today. I was able to smile sincerely at Dr. Seth, at Ms. Charree, at Ms. Len, Jun, Marg, and Deanne, and Cecilia—and I realized how much a tiny gesture can help lighten up someone else's day.

2018-11-07 13:00 Philippines Wednesday

Don't stop believing.

Cecilia dragged me into the Brothers' House tour with the rest of the gang. I suppose greeting them all the way to the other side at the boodle fight before returning to Ms. Charee was the right choice.

My intention to be a friend came through!

The brothers are so cool! So human. They make the most of life because they have confidence in the love of Life.

Skating, biking, childish jokes, friendships, rivalries, ambition, doubts, faith, laughter...

Being a brother, one of them said, is not about being worthy as a person, but instead about how God is worthy and all his greatness.

How very true!

To whoever’s out there:

No matter where you are in your life and no matter what position you are put into; whenever that nagging feeling comes—"do I deserve this?" remember that you ask a wrong question.

The question is always whether the cause is worth it or not. Answer that, and you'll know what to do and where to put your energy into.

We do not choose our calling, but we choose our faith and meaning.

Life always puts you where you need to be. Your sole resource is what you believe in.

Don't stop learning, don't stop growing. Be open to new ideas, but also stand up for what you believe in.

2018-11-07 14:00 Philippines Wednesday

It's funny how a person's confidence level can only either increase or decrease as the number of group mates fluctuate.

For me, my leadership instincts work better in small numbers. Big crowds tend to overstimulate me and I go quiet to reserve energy.

The commonality among everyone, I think, is that the extent that individuality is compromised is positively correlated to the number of people (that is part of the group) present.

2018-11-07 14:28 Philippines Wednesday

Don't you get it? The anomaly is us—the consciousness, the ego; entities aren't supposed to think about themselves.

Organisms act according to their survival and self-interest, but they think about and react to outside threats (or opportunities) and predators (or friends). They don't flee (or fight) thinking, "how do I defend myself?"

Rather, they think, "how do I survive from this predator?"

Get it? The focus is on the foreign object.

The same way we flail even after hours of practice just because we become overly conscious of how to do things instead of focusing on the goal which would have naturally assisted us in accomplishing it (since we already did practice and it should all have been muscle memory).

We are minor creatures, swayed and small-mindedly occupied with our shadows. No different from a cat that is enamored by a mere laser point.

This thought occurred out of nowhere. But I remember a video that can show you stuff about performance anxiety:

Still, studying the self has shown exactly how studying the self made us ineffective. Pop quiz. Do you call this a paradox, or an irony?

I rather think it's more of an irony.

2018-11-07 19:00 Philippines Wednesday

Mah keyss.

The girly not-key looks so girly and so unlike me that I like it. It says "Open your mind!" on the tiny pink heart of it.

I think this was an excess Christmas gift when I was in late elementary school days or high school and it used to be a keychain, not a key, but look what I did to it haha

I really like how Ms. Siomai smiles back at me sweetly when I greet her and when I thank them for the meal with my own smiles.

I know she's just being polite, but she seems like she can be an easy-to-talk-to friend.

God always provides enough for his people.

Thank you for this meal.

2018-11-07 20:00 Philippines Wednesday

Peak Meeting adjourned!

Exciting big quests.

“Calm Spell”

I feel sad for some reason, almost to tears But this ain't nothing And it sure as hell ain't everything.

Keep your cool. It's okay. Take it slow.

Focus.

Yana's soul is fuzzy. Like, cozy fuzzy.

She

Tries to reach out to me. In bits, in chewable pieces.

I can feel Her.

Karu and I are out to get the second half of our dinner.

We finally established at tonight's Peak meeting the curfew—23:00. Thank God. Thank you, Ira and Moira.

I don't usually draw that way by the way. I am pretty flexible with art style. The problem? I'm no practitioner. I'm just an on-and-off hobbyist. I'm not even sure I'd count it as a hobby anymore. I used to draw a lot, but then I realized my true love was words.

2018-11-08 00:32 Philippines Thursday

I cried. 

A lot. From about 01:00 to 02:38.

I didn't know whether I'd write about this or not, since it's pretty much an inconvenient coincidence that caused it, but here I am.

After the meeting, Karu and I walked outside to get food, right? While walking with him, I wrote that previous entry above this.

Karu had lots of ideas and stories. He cut himself off at least twice, saying instead that I should finish my entry first since I lose my ideas pretty fast when another thing catches my interest.

Turns out he's the same. Walking together, I kind of sensed his slight frustration. But I didn't make room to dive that thought because I wasn't done finishing my thoughts for the entry yet.

We reach stoplight after stoplight, and he suggests that we can get food from a carinderia (small eatery) instead. Cheaper, healthier.

But I still wasn't done analyzing my thoughts for the entry. I kept typing and told him I leave it up to him, and that I'm good with whatever.

Then I noticed we were heading towards the convenience store instead. Only then was I done with the entry. He got my full attention.

We look at sandwiches. They seemed the best option in there.

But we only got 70 pesos. A sandwich that was even worth our time is at least 39 pesos.

I kept suggesting to him that I can go walk back to the house to get more money and he can wait in the store since I knew how much he disliked the action of going back and forth for such trivial things (even things that matter to him).

But he kept saying that my suggestion made no sense. That we had enough.

That confused me. I tried suggesting the 30-peso hotdog sandwiches. Then he said he didn't feel like eating anymore.

He entrusted the money to me and so I walked inside the convenience store while he remained outside and sat on the sidewalk.

I tried to assess the situation, and I thought maybe he liked the 39-peso sandwiches better than hotdogs, but he didn't want to make me have to resort to a hotdog sandwich just to fit the budget.

So that's exactly what I did. Maybe he'd like the sandwich. He didn't feel like eating anymore but we both knew he needed it.

And we head back home and as expected the first thing he did was light up a cigarette at the dirty kitchen.

It was quick, so I could tell he didn't want to be around people. Job, Ira, and Zenith were around.

Entering our room that I occupied was the lesser evil.

After taking our bites, he finally shared why he's so pissed.

He made his own logical assessment of his emotions.

"You are annoying sometimes."

Firstly, he said, he forgot the ideas he wanted to tell me about. Secondly, for some reason he also wanted me to make our decision as he gave suggestions on where to eat. Lastly, he really just wanted to have the time with me to walk and talk to each other.

This was the first time anything like it happened so I was deeply affected. He left the room for water and I took the chance to cry by establishing the threshold: the point where the tears are about to overflow. I wouldn't let it, and distracted myself with other thoughts until I got my neutral face back and cried silently until I reached the threshold again.

He got back, lied down, and we turned the lights off.

When I couldn't restrain my now willingly hidden tears, I turned my back against him and lied on my left side.

My tears overflowed, dying to spill everything. Everything. I did it all silently. I cried hot tears soundlessly.

He clicked his tongue, as he always did when he got pissed. Either it's because he thought I was just leaving things unfinished and going straight to sleep, or his musician ears caught the irregular breathing of my tear-soaked lungs (figuratively). (Fuck musicians.) After a minute maybe, he apologized for "getting pissed."

I wanted to say that it wasn't something he should apologize to me about, but I couldn't say a word. I knew my voice would betray my tears.

I cried some more in the quiet and then finally got the leaning-positive shade of my personality back when I was satisfied with crying my shit out. I lied down on my right this time, facing him.

I asked if he needed the blanket that was accidentally on his pillow, and he gestured a yes by lifting his head. I had a bit of trouble unfolding it, since it was in a messy fold, and was surprised that he helped me.

His hand traveled under the sheets and took my left leg so it was laying over his, as he usually did to show affection. I couldn't muster the balls to hug him as I usually did to return his affection and he sensed it, taking my left hand to let it rest on his left shoulder.

He asked me what was making me feel bad, since according to his understanding of the situation, no one was to blame. It's not wrong to want to write my journal entries. It's not wrong to want to walk and talk with your wife.

After multiple hesitations and anxiety over his patience (he repeatedly asked me what's up with such gentleness), I finally said that it's because I vowed to be a wife and a partner. But all I am is a failure. He touched my face and confirmed my tears.

It's good that I got to deal with the self-obsession somehow, as I realized halfway how my thoughts are beginning to be overly critical and close-mindedly inward. Still, I felt sad.

I felt too guilty to get over this emotionally-perceived mistake.

He said I have more "successes" than "failures," the complete opposite of him. He asked me to mount him (nothing sexual, although it did come to that later when I promoted it HAHA) so I could hug him more naturally.

I wanted to tell him he's wrong, but all I could do was shake my head to our darkness-adjusted eyes, because my voice kept breaking. I'm bad with crying.

He comforted me, saying he couldn't stay mad at me even if he wanted to, unlike his signature temper.

We basically ended on a kind note, but I still think we didn't end with the good we could have. We ended good in a way, but we still have obsessive dwellings on our respective egos. He still thinks he's a bad husband most of the time, and I still think I'm a bad wife most of the time.

We must find a way to get out of this rut. Replace the mode of thinking. It doesn't help anyone.

Also, as a note, Karu didn't know exactly how we got there either. To that conflict. We're usually more flexible than that. I'm just realized after the fact last "night" that he just came from a gig.

That could actually make sense, but I'm not ready to conclude yet.

[ronaldreeves97]

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Get Ex Back After Months

[gggggghgghhvhb-blog]

The white door opened with the hinges squeaking. I looked there with Josh sweating like hell. I stood up to hug him. I honestly thought he was going to leave like he has been joking about this whole time.

It's been hours since I had seen him and he was finally at out some step. I fell asleep and he was in his bed too.

But when I woke up, two hours ago, I didn't see him anywhere.

I couldn't text obviously, so I just had to wait.

I actually asked Lynn, the lady at the front desk who was a massive friend of his, so she said she did see him pass a little before six in the morning. It was about nine in the morning now.

He had our bags in his hands nodding but needed me away. The bags we've been using before that day for school. I grabbed mine beaming.

I opened the top and thank fucking God my chemistry notes are just fine. These I help cheat off of for a quiz. Just stuff it in a cutout eraser and done. Flip it and hide it.

I flipped in my math sheets. Now Algebra I wouldn't need, but maybe it would help every once in a while.

"How is everything not damaged by the water?"

He quit searching around his leather bag staring me in the eye. "I'm sorry?"

"From the sewer, I mean."

"Oh, " He ran a sweaty hand in his sticky hair. " I actually know another way around, that's how my gun has been undamaged before that day." 

"Then why didn't you tell me about that one?"

His eyes moved to the ceiling, thinking of how to put it all lightly. "Your body just isn't at that, build?"

I knit my eyebrows feeling around my arms. "I can lift a few pounds."

"Oliver, I wouldn't count five to be enough."

"I mean, in PE I could swing a bat and have the ball go eight yards." He looked down my body and I could see his teeth show while he tried to smile, calling it out as bullshit.

"You should stay a nerd."

I rolled my eyes fishing around. I wanted to know if I had everything. Nothing behind.

A blue pencil pouch with three zippers dividing my markers and highlighters from glue sticks and away from the pens, erasers, and pencils. 0.5 binder just for my Ukrainian, three inches for all of my subjects, periods in order.  And a good luck charm. I was just going to take out the school workouts working on before and toss it in the trash. Cleaning my bag out.

"Did you have something wrong with your neck this morning?" I turn my head over to him, hair flicking out my eyes.

I felt around my chin, collarbone, and neck. I didn't find anything. "No?" I started from the left moving to the right.

That's when I found the bump. I poked, moving it around at it rolled up. Then moved its only self.

His eyes widened while I just sat there not knowing what to do. My face was draining from color with a heart going over the speed limit.

I gulped down my anxiety standing up.

I was rushing and tripping to the bathroom mirror. I turned my head in different angles for the best position to view this. I shook in fear backing away.

"Just, lay in bed and I'll find my box cutter. I think I already know what it is." He was already up to be looking around the room.

"Wait, you'll be doing surgery on me?" I mean, he's smart but he doesn't have a medical degree.

He looked around the floor, his pockets even nightstands panicking. "Josh, it could just be a wart, we could go to the hospital close by if it's that big of a worry!"

"Those don't move! They just, grow!" He had all drawers moving back and slamming shut, worried to death, shaking, and sweating again. "Where is it?!" He turned to search around. He exhaled when he finally found something that would do for him. He jogged grabbing the knife off his stand after looking around again. I shook my head backing up to the wall; he grabbed my arm pulling me to my bed and I stood my ground in fear. "I promise, I only want to see what this is."

"You don't know what the fuck you are doing!" I refused to lay in bed so he pushed me up the wall I was already against. I fought back but it was like pushing a wall of bricks. I couldn't push him off. "Get the fuck away from me!" The blade slides out. I whimper about moving the farthest I could.

Then he's cutting my neck. I bit my lip down gripping the ends of the door frame.

His whole face was dropping watching me cry out in pain. "I know, Oliver, I do, but please don't move." I looked in his eyes while he was concentrated. "I almost got it." He used the knife as a spoon bringing out a squirming creature. "Shit!" He jumped back watching it flop around the floor, just dying there. I joined him away from the premature big. He was up to the shower, the over side of the blood. I was jumping over the mess with a wasp, bumble bee, what the fuck ever holding down my bloody neck. "You see. Think about this next time you argue with me. Because just as for now, I probably saved your life. Twice. Both times you were arguing with me. In that forest and right now."

He exhaled. "I couldn't help out Jenna but I got you out of that car. I'm doing some good."

"Wait, "I ignored the blood dripping to the floor and sliding down my arm. "you know about Jenna?"

"Of course, I know about Jenna." He tore off the toilet paper to hold up my neck. "How else would I have magically come to your rescue?" He stood back crossing his arms.

"I- but how?" I could see he was getting impatient but so was I.

"You are arguing with me again."

"It's been almost five weeks of me wondering. Why can't I know?"

"Oliver, arguing. I think and said I had enough of it."

"But I-"

He pressed a finger to my lips, I smacked it away. "Just clean the damn blood, patch yourself, and flush that parasite down the toilet. Right now that's all that matters."

"You can't fucking make me! I shouldn't go by anyone's rules just because they saved my life! What is the meaning to save a life of you'll just control it and make the life feel useless!"

"Now you're being overdramatic. All I did, was cut your neck."

I looked at my puddle with the bee who stopped moving. "But why won't you tell me how you knew."

He rolled his eyes walking out of the bathroom. "Just clean the blood and I'll make your breakfast."

I huffed opening up a cabinet for towels. I found one green and ugly, deal. I set that on the sink. With toilet paper, I dropped it in the bowl flushing it down. I cleaned the floor watching it stain. I exhaled finding a rag, getting it wet, and scrubbed the red. I heard eggs boil rolling my eyes. Eggs I would eat because they aren't fertile, yet he loves to point out my hypocrisy for it. I worked my arms on the tile floor.

Josh walked in munching on the plain cookies we made two nights ago.

I looked up with a small smile. "I really think I would need stitches."

"I'll take you in then. It does look bad."

"Don't fucking worry me." I stood up gathering the two towels.

"I just told you the truth, was that not what you wanted?"

I pasted him with my hair hitting my shoulders, being sassy about it. "Don't manipulate this."

"Don't argue."

"You are talking too, Josh." I set the rag down on the top and wrapped a towel around like a scarf.

"I'm just responding."

"Well, " I crossed my arms, sitting on my bed, crossing my legs. "maybe I'm doing the same."

He clenched his jaw. To keep preoccupied, he was cleaning off his knife.

I shrug one shoulder heading out the door.

"Where do you think you are going?"

"To the um, hospital?

"Oliver, they'll have to ask for your name."

"I could bleed out!"

He stood up walking to the bathroom. "I could help you!"

"Josh, I think you should stop being paranoid and let me do what I know is right for me."

"If us two can walk in here so could solders!"

"Joshua, I'm bleeding! They have free health care around here, I know they do. Take me to the hospital or I'll fucking head there myself!"

He shook his head getting the knife. "They make one move and we'll be living outside in a cave." I hopped off the bed with a wide smile.

"I sure it'll be fine."

It was hard to explain to them what had happened to me. They shamed Josh for doing this without a license, but a good defense was saying we didn't have time. I was laying in bed with curtains around me. Another patient, I think he was hit by a car, was on my right, but curtains covering the view.

Here we had free health care. I was lying to stay alive but I won't complain about the bonus.

They also had a few cases this. Not much, only six to total, but to know parasites have moved to humans.

They bee without Josh left a scar around my back. Hard to see with the tattoos but it's there.

They only wanted me to stay a night to see if I'll be well, sleep okay and if my pain is just for a short period before they hand down medicine.

Turns out they came around three months ago but no one has been alerted. Every one of them was from the city, so with the next week, they will close the gates off to keep everyone here safe.

We don't know how they came to be all of a sudden, but they exist.

I asked a load of questions, I thought it could be a great report.

"My neck fucking hurts."

"I know, " He sighed looking down. "but I did the best I could do."

"No, I'm actually really thankful. Honest. It's just hell to have, this. And the unnecessary wires making it hard to move around."

"They are needed."

"Well, yes but still. They couldn't spend more time on making it teleport than making man-made viruses?"

"You're the brilliant one here and you pick to complain rather than to be a know it all?"

"I feel like we haven't meant."

"We did, you're just confusing. You want to study during our plans with Jordan and then you complain when you get a chance."

"I'm just in pain. Let me study and moan."

"Maybe I will leave you behind one day."

"You didn't today."

"Because you spend a little to too much time on a computer. Walk outdoors and talk to us all. I have to shoot people to spend only an hour with you."

I sat up raising an eyebrow. "So you wish to spend more time with me? I thought you hated me?"

"I never said I hate you, you can just be an idiot."

I gaze down my legs. "That's fair."

We had a little silence between us, but I wanted to speak when I was upset with him leaving.

"You should go to bed. You are in pain and you need a night to relax."

"What? No! Please don't leave."

"Oliver-"

"Well, what if you were right and there are shoulders from Seven here?" I wasn't convinced but I didn't like the idea of being alone.

"Oli-"

"What if!"

He exhaled nodding along. "Fine. I'll stay. But we won't talk, won't speak, just sleep. I'm tired too." I nodded moving to my side.

Now, I don't think I'm hunted down, but the thought of being alone somewhere I don't know about does scare the shit out of me.

Today was, a day. He went back to Seven for our school supplies and did homemade surgery on me.

I'll slap him one day for the pain.