#I got a bad headrush and immediately told the teacher I needed to go to the nurse

[do-your-socks-have-holes-in-them]

On the Other Side / Ch3: Hide and Seek

Last / Masterpost / Next

Summary: For the past thirteen years, a secretive organization has been raising two groups of superpowered children. Half of them, since their very first memories, have been told they’ll grow up to be brave and strong superheroes; the rest were taught a much harsher view of the world, and groomed to become villains. Neither group knows of the other’s existence. But when a certain trio of heroes-to-be meets two future villains who really just want to be left alone, they all realize how much they haven’t been told.

Warnings: non-graphic violence, bullying, child abuse, sympathetic/good Deceit (Devon) is a main character

A/N: school has started happening to me in earnest. still feel pretty good about having the next chapter done on schedule, but can’t promise anything

Read on AO3

It wasn’t hard for Patton to sense where the two boys had gone.  In fact, he found himself actually pulling back a little from their emotional auras, wincing at the waves of panic he could feel from them.  Logan tapped his arm to bring him back to reality when a worried fog started accumulating around him.  He shook himself out of it and led his friends back down the hallway the way they’d come, stopping at the doorway of one of the classrooms in that hall.

Roman insisted on being the first into the darkened room: “It might be dangerous, you don’t know!”  He sounded entirely too excited about that prospect.  Logan rolled his eyes, but decided to let him have his fun.  Patton, however, got impatient when the dramatic scan of the room was taking too long and ducked under Roman’s arm, ignoring his noise of protest.  He was- for once- a little more focused on the main issue at hand.

“Hello?” Patton called softly, flipping the lights on.  “Anyone in here?  We’re not going to hurt you, I promise!”

He knew they were in there, of course- and could tell where their hiding spot was- but he wanted to let them show themselves on their own terms.  He’d felt a spike of fear from them when they heard him and his friends walk in, and he didn’t want to scare them even more by actually going over there and exposing them.  Behind him, Logan quietly closed the door; just because Patton was trying to make them feel comfortable didn’t mean he should risk them running off again.  Roman just stood there, fidgeting with a ball of light between his hands and dimming the rest of the room in the process.  He still wasn’t sure how to feel about the new friends Patton seemed determined to make.

Patton frowned.  It seemed like they were still scared of him.  No one had ever been actually scared of him before in the entirety of his ten years of life, and it was really starting to upset him.  He couldn’t get too upset right now, though, because he needed to be calm instead so he could help them be calm.  He took a deep breath and tried to focus, like he’d been learning in his meditation class.

A gentle breeze swirled around the room, shifting a few pieces of paper and ruffling everyone’s hair.  Roman blinked as some of his nervousness seemed to drain into the floor beneath him and, in turn, let the light drain out of his hands and back into the room around him, only keeping a few faint strands to play with.  Logan relaxed his posture as well, giving Patton a small smile, which he didn’t see because he still had his eyes closed for the whole focusing thing.  He exhaled and opened them after a few more seconds, and all three of them waited hopefully to see if the other two in the room would be convinced it was safe to come out of hiding.

Half a minute went by painfully slowly, and Patton began to slump a little.  It was looking like his gentle approach wasn’t going to work after all.  There went his chance of resolving the situation without any more conflict… wait!

Everyone perked up at the muffled shifting noises coming from one of the cabinets under the counter at the back of the room.  A second later, it was pushed open, and the boys tumbled out and ended up sprawled on the floor in front of them for the second time in fifteen minutes.  They were even more disheveled than before after cramming themselves in with a bunch of dusty school supplies.  The small one recovered first, clutching a not-very-sharp pencil in each hand and jumping up as if he still expected a fight.  His friend got to his feet behind him, brushed himself off and grabbed his arm to keep him from doing anything stupid, while Roman pulled Patton back a little to be safe.  Hopefully this round of awkwardly staring each other down would turn out better than the last.

Patton laughed nervously and struggled to keep projecting calm to everyone.  “Okay, guys, I think we might’ve got off on the wrong foot earlier…  we didn’t mean to scare you, really!”

There was silence.  The taller of the two boys managed to meet Patton’s eyes for a moment with a tight half-smile, but the other was aiming a distrustful glare at Roman, who made a face at him in response behind Patton’s back.

Okay, this was… still very tense.  Patton wilted a bit at the complete lack of response he’d gotten, but he wasn’t giving up yet.  Just keep talking?  Yeah, that would probably work eventually, right?  “Um… oh, uh, my name’s Patton!  And that’s Logan-” he waved a hand behind himself and nearly smacked Logan’s arm- “and this is Roman and he’s nice really, um, don’t kick him again please?  Or… stab him with pencils?”  He let out a nervous giggle and slapped a hand over his mouth to try and get himself under control.  Roman gave him a look, hurt that his best friend would laugh at the injustice that had been done to him, and Logan just sighed.

“What he’s trying to say,” Logan cut in while Patton was incapacitated, “is that we don’t intend you any harm.”  He looked at them over his glasses, which didn’t quite have the desired effect when coming from an eleven-year-old.  “However, since we’ve been introduced now, I think it would only be right for you to return the favor and tell us who you are.  …And put the pencils away.”

The two exchanged a look and then, after a brief hesitation, a small nod.  The one brandishing said writing tools surrendered them to his friend, who set them on the counter- still notably within reach- and cleared his throat.

“I’m… my name is Devon and he’s Virgil,” he said, still holding on to Virgil’s arm.  His eyes darted over to Logan and the closed door, and his grip tightened.  “I apologize for… him earlier… it was an accident, he didn’t mean it, promise, we’re really sorry…”

Roman crossed his arms and interjected before Patton could go and say that it was totally fine or something like that.  “If he’s really sorry for attacking me, which I doubt, why doesn’t he apologize?”

“Ro…”

“What? I just want him to actually apologize, is that so much to ask?”  He was too preoccupied with being indignant to immediately notice Virgil doing pretty much the opposite of that, tensing up again and baring his teeth at him.  Jeez, the kid was practically feral.

“Roman.  You’re scaring them again.”  Patton tugged him backwards, and he grumbled under his breath about unfairness.  “But… it would be nice if you would say sorry for kicking him, Virgil.”

Virgil flinched at the use of his name, and Devon pulled him back against his chest in an attempt to calm him.  “He doesn’t like to talk,” he explained, mentally willing them not to push it any further.  “He- he only talks to me.”

Roman blinked and rubbed the back of his neck.  “Oh.  Um…”  He looked at Virgil again.  “Well, could you just… nod or give me a thumbs up or something, then?”

“Let him have this,” Logan advised, appearing over Roman’s shoulder.

Virgil squirmed and glared at the floor.  He didn’t like everyone looking at him.  But if it would make them leave him alone…  He glanced up and gave Roman the world’s most halfhearted jerky nod.

“Satisfied?” Logan asked drily.

“As a matter of fact, yes, I am.”

“Oh thank god,” Devon breathed, quietly enough that only Virgil heard it.  He started edging towards the door, which was currently unguarded.  “Great, we’ll just be on our way then-”

“Wait!”

They both froze and looked at Patton.  Virgil took a tiny step back, grabbing Devon’s sleeve in preparation.  Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.

“Nonono, I’m sorry, nothing bad-”

That sounded fake.

“-it’s just… where are you going to go?  Because I know you’re not in our class and if you stay here you’re going to get in trouble and I saw, you know, where you were before and it didn’t seem very… nice and- and you were scared.”

Devon stiffened, and Virgil wanted to bristle at the assertion that he had been scared just then or ever before, but… okay, maybe it was the adrenaline-plus-exhaustion headrush, but he felt weirdly chill about the whole situation and Patton in particular, like maybe… maybe for once someone who said they wouldn’t hurt him was being honest about it.

“So I kinda thought- I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want but maybe you could come with us and stay in our room?  You can hide if anybody comes in and it’ll be like a sleepover!  And then in the morning you can figure out where to go, and we can help you, okay?”

Patton held out his hand to them and attempted to hold in an excited grin.  Virgil and Devon looked at him and then at each other, communicating purely through small changes in facial expression.  A… sleepover?  That was pretty much a foreign concept to them, but not one that sounded too bad in theory.  It could still be a trap, of course- but on the other hand, it wouldn’t make much sense to lure them there when they were already cornered here.  Frankly, at this point, they didn’t have much to lose compared to the amount of trouble they’d be in once one of their teachers caught them here, wherever here even was.  And fuck it- maybe Patton really did mean what he said, and he would help them, and that was a better hope than they’d had in a while.  With a final nudge from Virgil, Devon swallowed nervously, then reached out and took Patton’s hand.

[sissytobitch10seconds]

I have two requests: First one - could you do Harry/Ron. Ron gets Harry pregnant &Malfoy overheard Harry telling Ron/ Hermione freaking out and panicking about being scared and thinking Ron is going to break up with him, his boyfriend/best friend comfort him. Malfoy spreads the word that the boy who lived was knocked up by Ron and they face a lot of backlash. To make things worse, Harry's pregnancy makes him ill from morning sickness and stress. Ron tells Harry they will get through it. (1/2)

This is split into two parts, so this is part one of two. You can find the entire thing on Archive!

The two teenagers continued down the hall at a hurried pace. They were both deeply worried for their friend, who had told them to meet him after school. Normally, when they had something secretive to talk about they just whispered to each other in the common room. The fact that he wanted to do it away from any other people concerned them more than his behavior for the past couple weeks had.

“Harry?” Ron’s voice was soft and tender as he knocked on the door to the empty classroom. He slipped inside as soon as he heard the shakey reply coming from his boyfriend. Hemione followed close behind him, shutting the door part way so that they could be seen as she did so.

“Is something the matter?” the girl asked, looking between the two boys with wide, confused eyes.

“Yes, something is the matter,” Harry snapped. He was sitting on top of an old desk. His hair was more of a mess than normal and he looked even paler than he had all week.

“Love, what’s wrong? We’re just worried about you,” Ron soothed. He walked close to his boyfriend and placed a comforting hand on his thigh.

Harry stared down at the appendage like it would attack him any second, adding to his peculiar behavior. He took in a couple of shaky breaths before his lips seemed to move on their own, “I’m pregnant.”

“What?” Hermione gasped, one hand flying to her mouth in a desperate attempt to cover her surprise.

Ron was frozen, his eyes wide and shocked. He blinked a few times as he looked over his boyfriend. He seemed to be searching for any kind of physical change, like the life inside of his boyfriend was a body-altering disease.

“Are you mad?” Harry whispered, desperately trying to swallow down the bile that was rising in the back of his throat from his nerves.

“Not mad,” Ron choked out. He wasn’t able to say anything else, and just wrapped his arms around the other man. Harry grasped his robes tightly to prevent Ron from pulling away now that he was here. He buried his face into his boyfriend’s neck as the tears bubbled out of his chest. Hermione had walked to his other side and was slowly rubbing circles on his back to try and soothe him.

The sobs wracked through his body. Tears rushed down his face, seeming to never stop flowing from his bright green eyes. The force of his cries caused his entire body to shiver. He was inhaling breaths like he had been drowning. His vocal cords ached with how loud his sobs were becoming.

“I’ve got you, Harry,” Ron tried to sooth. He was slowly rocking them as he desperately tried to get his boyfriend calmed down. “It’s okay. We’ll figure this out.”

When the raven-haired teenager had finally calmed down, he wiped at his face with the sleeve of his robe. He sniffled slightly and stared at the floor in front of him as he didn’t dare meet the eyes of his boyfriend and best friend. Ron threaded their fingers together gently. He used his other hand to tilt Harry’s eyes up to meet his own. “Are you really pregnant?”

“Yeah… I’m sorry. I know that we didn’t mean for this to happen, but I guess one of the charms didn’t work as well as I thought it would,” he sighed.

“How did you find out?” Hermione asked softly. She had already reached into her bag to perform one of the charms that they had used in their mandatory health class.

“I used the charm when I started feeling sick in the mornings. I could barely even stand the thought of eating anything until after noon,” Harry explained.

“I did notice that your appetite was going down, but I figured that it was just stress or one of those phases,” Ron whispered. He wrapped one arm around his lover and brought Harry almost impossibly close to him.

“Can I try the charm one more time to make sure that it’s true?” Hermione asked. She had her hand in her bag, wrapped firmly around the base of her wand. Harry only nodded instead of replying.

The female teenager removed her wand from her bagn and pointed it at his stomach. She said a couple of magic words and did the motions. The trio watched the smoke pour out of her wand and swirl around his belly for a moment. Slowly, it turned into a bright pink cloud.

“That means pregnant, right?” Harry asked, his voice heavy. Hermione only nodded as she tucked her wand away.

“Well, what are we going to do?” Ron asked after what seemed like an eon of silence hanging over them. “I don’t like the idea of an abortion, but it’s your body, Harry.”

“I’m not going to give up what might be my only chance at having a family,” Harry said, his arms immediately wrapped tightly around his abdomen. “You… you don’t have to stick around if you don’t want to. I don’t want to give the baby up for adoption once their born and I’m not getting an abortion, which means I want to be a parent.”

“Are you sure, Harry?” Hermione asked, her brows furrowing together. “No one is going to judge you if you give the baby away. We’re all really young and having a child is a big responsibility.”

“No. I want the baby to know that I love them. I grew up thinking that my parents didn’t love me and I don’t want my child to feel like that,” Harry shook his head. He glanced towards his redheaded lover nervously.

“I’m with you every step of the way, Harry,” Ron immediately soothed. Harry beamed and turned to the side, despite having been bawling his eyes out less than five minutes ago he was now overflowing with joy. He gently brought his lips to Ron’s, but kept it brief and simple so that they didn’t make Hermione feel awkward.

“Speaking of steps,” the witch said. She opened her bag and pulled out some supplies. Hermione placed a piece of paper down on the table and then dipped her quill into her pretty lavender ink. “We should make a list about the kinds of things that will need to be done now that we know about the baby.”

“Like what?” Ron asked.

“Well, telling the teachers, doing research about children, having Harry get check-ups with Madame Pomfrey,” she listed.

“I think that the first thing we should do is talk to Professor Dumbledore. Ron and I can get an appointment to speak with him through Professor McGonagall tomorrow,” Harry explained. “We should wait and see what happens after that. I don’t want to make any expectations if they decide that I need to be expelled.”

“I don’t think that they’ll expell you. Then again, I’m not sure that anything like this has ever happened at Hogwarts before,” Hemione wrapped up the parchment and put her quill and ink away. When her bag was back together, she stood up and announced, “I’m going to go to the library and do some research.”

Both boys let her leave the classroom in a hurry. They knew their friend well enough to know that once she got an idea like that in her head there was simply no getting her off of it. Ron turned back to his lover, “If you want, we could go talk to Professor McGongall now instead of tomorrow. I kind of want to get all of this over with sooner rather than later.”

“That would probably be a good idea. That way Hermione doesn’t try to talk us out of getting in trouble or just hiding the entire thing with magic,” Harry chuckled weakly. He slid off of the desk and took a moment to brace with the bit of headrush that he was getting. On top of his morning sickness, he had severe dizziness that had been impacting his ability to perform normally during Quidditch practices.

Ron gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. Slowly, they continued down the hall to try and get to the teacher’s office. They didn’t notice that someone had been listening behind the door.

When they arrived at the teacher’s office, they were both relieved and nervous about the fact that she was still grading. Harry raised his hand and knocked on the door, waiting for his cue to enter. When she called for them to come in, they did so both quickly and slowly.

“Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley,” she greeted, looking up at them over her spectacles. “Is there a problem?”

“Well, sort of, professor,” Harry began. He could feel his heart racing a million times a minute, feeling almost like a trapped bird in his ribcage.

“Oh?” she put the piece of parchment in her hand back down onto her desk.

“We need a meeting with Professor Dumbledore,” Ron finished for his boyfriend. “It’s nothing to do with a conspiracy or a plot against the school or anything like that. We just have something personal that we need to tell him about.”

“You’re lucky that you came to me when you did. He’s just told me that he’s free to see the students that need to see him, and you’re the first two that have come to ask me,” she said sternly. She rose from her chair and then gracefully moved around her desk. The two teenagers followed after her as she led them through the halls.

The duo quickly found themselves standing in front of a grand desk in the center of a circular room. Ron was still holding Harry’s hand, terrified that something bad would happen if he let his lover go. They didn’t have to wait too long as their headmaster appeared out of seemingly nowhere and walked to his desk.

“What did the two of you want to speak with me about?” he asked, sitting heavily in the chair behind the desk.

“Well, sir,” Harry swallowed harshly. “I’m, erm, I’m pregnant.”

“I should have guessed that this would have happened again sooner or later,” the headmaster said after a moment of terrifying silence. “I assume that Mr. Weasley is the father.”

“Sir, please don’t expell Harry!” Ron said before he had a chance to continue. “I know that we both should have been more careful, but it was an honest accident and neither of us really knew that this would happen.”

“Mr. Weasley, please calm down,” he chuckled, moving his hands in a shushing motion. “I have no plans of expelling Mr. Potter, especially now that he is with child. We are on the brink of war, and sending him away from Hogwarts would be the most foolish thing that I have ever done in all of my years of living.”

“But, Professor, we want to keep the baby,” Harry spoke up, swallowing the bile building in the back of his throat again.

“I expected as much, given the history of you both. I assume that you have already educated yourself on the risks of teenage pregnancy, Mr. Potter?” Dumbeedore asked.

“Yes, sir,” he nodded. “I also know that raising a child won’t be easy, but I’m prepared to do it.”

“I’ll have to write to both of your families and inform them of what has happened. I will also have to inform the rest of the staff about your pregnancy. I understand that you wish to continue your studies despite the child?” he asked.

“Yes,” Harry nodded simply. Ron had gone white as he realized that his mother and father were going to have to learn about his child, and he would most likely be getting a howler about it.

“Most of the potions and spells performed in DADA are not safe for expectant people to be around, so you’re going to have to take potions and Defensive Against the Dark Arts in a study only form, which means that professors Slughorn and Snape will give you assignments and passages from several books to go over instead of your normal lessons. I’ll have to look over your schedule again to see if anything else could be a potential risk,” Dumbledor went on.

The duo stayed in his office for a while longer until they were finally dismissed to go back to the dorm rooms. The halls were basically empty, with the exception of Hermione who they met halfway back to the tower. The duo swapped their story with hers and learned all about what she had learned about pregnancies in the school beforehand.